Wymiary emigracji — Rosja, Europa, Izrael (Eretz-Israel and the Russian Émigrés in Europe: Contacts, Connections, Communications, Interactions (1919–1939) pod redakcją V. Khazana, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 2019)

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The epigenetics of early life adversity and trauma inheritance: an interview with Moshe Szyf

In this interview, Professor Moshe Szyf speaks with Storm Johnson, Commissioning Editor for Epigenomics, on his work to date in the field of social epigenetics. Szyf received his PhD from the Hebrew University and did his postdoctoral fellowship in genetics at Harvard Medical School, joined the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at McGill University in Montreal in 1989 and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Academy of Health Sciences of Canada. He is the founding codirector of the Sackler Institute for Epigenetics and Psychobiology at McGill and is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Experience-Based Brain and Biological Development program. Szyf was the founder of the first pharma to develop epigenetic pharmacology, Methylgene Inc., and the journal Epigenetics. The Szyf lab proposed two decades ago that DNA methylation is a prime therapeutic target in cancer and other diseases and postulated and provided the first set of evidence that the social environment early in life can alter DNA methylation, launching the emerging field of social epigenetics.

Shallow cumulus properties as captured by adiabatic fraction in high-resolution LES simulations

Shallow convective clouds are important players in Earth’s energy budget and hydrological cycle, and are abundant in the tropical and subtropical belts. They greatly contribute to the uncertainty in climate predictions, due to their unresolved, complex processes that include coupling between the dynamics and microphysics. Analysis of cloud structure can be simplified by considering cloud motions as a combination of moist adiabatic motions like adiabatic updrafts and turbulent motions leading to deviation from adiabaticity. In this work, we study the sizes and occurrence of adiabatic regions in shallow cumulus clouds during their growth and mature stages, and use the adiabatic fraction (AF) as a continuous metric to describe cloud processes and properties from the core to the edge. To do so, we simulate isolated trade wind cumulus clouds of different sizes using the System of Atmospheric Modeling (SAM) model in high-resolution (10 m) with the Hebrew University spectral bin microphysics (SBM). The fine features in the cloud’s dynamics and microphysics, including small near-adiabatic volumes and a thin transition zone at the edge of the cloud (∼20-40 m in width) are captured. The AF is shown to be an efficient measure for analyzing cloud properties and key processes determining the droplets-size-distribution formation and shape during the cloud evolution. Physical processes governing the properties of droplets size distributions at different cloud regions (e.g. core, edge) are analyzed in relation to AF.

Indigenous Students’ Geographies on the Academic Fortress Campus: Palestinian Students’ Spatial Experiences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

This article addresses an under-studied phenomenon in the lived experience of Palestinian students in Israeli universities as seen from a spatial perspective. Specifically, it analyses the everyday spatial experiences of Palestinian students on the Mount Scopus Campus of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Situated in a contested space amid Palestinian villages, the campus's architecture and prominent location are intended to project power and symbolic domination over the surrounding Arab environment. The study analyses the narratives of fifteen Palestinian students from this campus, underscoring the dialectical relations between their feelings of alienation and estrangement, on the one hand, and practices of resistance and subversion on campus, on the other. Moreover, the analysis reveals how, through their daily spatial behaviours, Palestinian students challenge the settler-colonial landscape-production that the Israeli authorities attempt to impose.

Predicting Effective Adaptation to Breast Cancer to Help Women to BOUNCE Back: study protocol for a multicenter clinical pilot (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Despite the continued progress of medicine, dealing with breast cancer is becoming a major socio-economic challenge, particularly due to its increasing incidence. The ability to better manage and adapt to the entire care process depends not only on the type of cancer, but also on the patient's socio-demographic and psychological characteristics and on the social environment in which a person lives and interacts. Therefore, it is important to understand which factors may affect or booster a successful adaptation to breast cancer. To our knowledge, no studies have been already performed on the combination effect of multiple psychological, biological and functional variables in predicting the patient’s ability to bounce back from the stressful life event, such as a breast cancer diagnosis. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study will be to build a quantitative mathematical model of factors associated with optimal adjustment capacity to cancer and study resilience through the cancer continuum in a population of breast cancer patients. METHODS 660 women with breast cancer will be recruited in five European cancer centers: the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) in Italy, the Rabin Medical Center and the Shaare Zedek Medical Center coordinated by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) in Israel, the Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) in Finland, and the Champalimaud Foundation (CHAMP) in Portugal. Biomedical and psychosocial variables will be collected using the Noona Healthcare platform. Psychosocial, socio-demographic, lifestyle and clinical variables will be measured every 3 months, starting from pre-surgery assessment (baseline) to 18 months (M18) after surgery. RESULTS Data collection is still ongoing. CONCLUSIONS The present study will provide a predictive model able to describe individual resilience and identify different resilience’s trajectories along the care process. The results will allow the implementation of tailored interventions according to the patient’s need, supported by e-health technologies. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05095675

El cambio pedagógico en la docencia universitaria en los tiempos de Covid-19

Antecedentes: La aparición del virus COVID-19 ha generado una de las mayores disrupciones mundiales de los sistemas educativos (entre otros) en generaciones Propósito: Este estudio examina el impacto de la inmersión involuntaria de profesores de la Universidad Hebrea en entornos de aprendizaje digital debido a la pandemia COVID-19 y su impacto en las prácticas pedagógicas, de los instructores universitarios durante esta crisis. Metodología / Enfoque: Nuestra investigación siguió un enfoque de métodos mixtos, combinando componentes cualitativos con cuantitativos. Nuestro presente estudio pone especial énfasis en los componentes cualitativos de la investigación. Resultados / Conclusiones: En nuestro trabajo analizamos el modelo de aceptación de tecnologías desarrollado por Venkatesh y colaboradores (modelo UTAUT), y lo enriquecemos con una tipología de aceptación del cambio pedagógico (TACP) que permite comprender la situación planteada y actuar en consecuencia. El estudio encontró que existes dos dimensiones en la disposición al cambio pedagógico genuino en los docentes universitarios: Una es su nivel de alfabetización digital antes de la crisis; la segunda es su concepción pedagógica de enseñanza. Implicaciones: Nuestro modelo se puede aplicar a diferentes situaciones de crisis y puede ser útil para la formación y desarrollo del profesorado universitario en el campo de la alfabetización digital. Background: The emergence of the COVID-19 virus has generated one of the largest global disruptions of education systems. Purpose: This study examines the impact of the involuntary immersion of Hebrew University professors in digital learning environments due to the COVID-19 pandemic on pedagogical practices of university instructors during this crisis. Methodology / Approach: Our research followed a mixed methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative components. Our current study places special emphasis on the qualitative components of the research. Results / Conclusions: In our work we analyze the model of acceptance of technologies developed by Venkatesh and colleagues (2008), and we enrich it with a typology of acceptance of pedagogical change (TACP) that allows us to understand the situation and act accordingly. The study identified two dimensions in the disposition to genuine pedagogical change in university teachers: One is their level of digital literacy before the crisis; the second is his pedagogical conception of teaching. Implications: Our model can be applied to different crisis situations and can be useful for the training and development of university teachers in the field of digital literacy.

Sprawozdanie z międzynarodowej konferencji naukowej A Lost World? Jewish International Lawyers and New World Orders (1917–1951), Jerozolima, 24–25 maja 2021 r.

Report from the International Scientific Conference, A Lost World? Jewish International Lawyers and New World Orders (1917–1951), Jerusalem, May 24th–25th, 2021 The report presents the international scientific conference “A Lost World? Jewish International Lawyers and New World Orders (1917–1951)”, which was organized in Jerusalem, May 24th–25th, 2021, by the International Law Forum of the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, together with the Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow (Leipzig University) and the Jacob Robinson Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The main topic was the contribution of Jewish international lawyers to the significant developments in international law in the first half of the 20th century.

Lauterpacht in Jerusalem

This is the first of two chapters to explore the theme voice underscoring Israel’s ambivalence towards the right of petition in the draft Human Rights Covenant: the right of individuals to present grievances before the United Nations. The chapter revisits Hersch Lauterpacht’s Jerusalem lecture, delivered on the occasion of the Hebrew University’s semi-jubilee. Lauterpacht’s ‘reproach’ of Israel’s cool attitude towards the right of petition is assessed against the backdrop of his own investment in Zionism and human rights, and in light of interwar Jewish experience with the right of petition. The chapter traces the involvement of Jacob Robinson and Nathan Feinberg, Dean of the Hebrew University Law Faculty and Lauterpacht’s host, in the Bernheim petition—and their resentment of the need of Jewish national institutions to approach the League of Nations through the confines of individual legal standing. These ideological sensibilities framed Jewish representation politics before and after Israel’s establishment.