Personal Narrative as Shaping the Activist Identity of Religious Women in Israel

This article is based on the life stories of 14 religious activist women in Israel. It aims to understand the extent to which these women’s stories and their childhood and maturation experiences shaped their activist identity. In this qualitative, critical-feminist study, the women activists’ life stories were examined using semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that personal or social events perceived as significant in the women’s lives as children and adolescents acted as catalysts for activism. These events were central to their personal narratives and became embedded in the women’s activist identity, as they came to perceive activism as the most “natural” response to life challenges. Specifically, two types of events were identified: events in the individual-family-community sphere and events in the public-national sphere. They affected the interviewees and led them to act, whether out of antagonism and anger at a perceived injustice, or out of a sense of power and constructive thought. This study contributes to the literature by highlighting the new and unique phenomenon of religious women who, despite being educated to accept and comply with the conventions of a patriarchal society, choose to make their voice heard and lead sociocultural changes in public spaces. The findings emphasize the personal-political nexus and provide insight into the activists’ motives for fighting for their values and for committing to long-term activity in the public sphere—despite considerable personal costs

“I’m Different from You but Very Much Like You”: Religious Women Activists and their Father Figures

This study examined activist women in religious society in Israel in order to gain in-depth insights into their lived experience and coping strategies in advocating for change in their society. The article is based on thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with fourteen such women. Contrary to the expectation that there would be a dominant mother figure influencing the activists’ lives, the findings show that the influence of mothers was marginal and even an impeding factor, while father figures were the most significant in these women’s childhood and development into activists. All religious activists perceived their fathers as highly influential, in three contexts: the father as a pioneer, the father as an extraordinary figure, and a strong attachment to the father. Based on these findings, we believe it is important to involve and integrate men in programs that act to promote and empower religious women in Israeli society on both the political and occupational level

Elastin-like Polypeptide Enriched Surfaces for Cardiovascular Applications through the use of Bioactive Fluorinated Surface Modifiers

Currently used small diameter synthetic vascular grafts are prone to high rates of failure related to thrombosis and neointimal hyperplasia. Biomimetic materials, based on the extracellular matrix (ECM) composition of native tissues, represent an attractive solution to address these complications. The inherent low thrombogenicity and cell signalling properties of elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) make them a suitable option for these applications. In this thesis, ELP surface modification has been achieved through the use of elastin cross-linking peptide bioactive fluorinated surface modifiers (ECP-BFSMs). The synthesis of these low molecular weight fluorinated additives was described and their subsequent blending with a base polycarbonate-urethane (PCNU) was shown to successfully enrich the surface to allow for ELP surface cross-linking. The kinetic surface migration of fluorescent ECP-BFSMs was studied over a 2 week casting period by two-photon confocal microscopy. Contact angle and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the surface localization of the ECP-BFSMs. Changes in contact angle and XPS spectrums following ELP surface cross-linking confirmed the success of the surface modification approach. The novel ELP surface modified materials were demonstrated to inhibit fibrinogen surface adsorption and platelet adhesion under physiological flow conditions and inhibit bulk platelet activation following blood-material contact. Moreover, these ELP modified surfaces were shown to promote increased endothelial and smooth muscle cell adhesion, spreading and retention over a 7 day culture period relative to their non-ELP analogs. Endothelial and smooth muscle cells seeded on the elastin-like materials were shown to express endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and smooth muscle myosin heavy chain (SM-MHC) cell specific phenotypic markers, respectively. Furthermore, competitive inhibition experiments revealed that initial smooth muscle cell adhesion to ELP surface modified materials was mediated through elastin-laminin cell surface receptors binding to VGVAPG peptide sequences on the ELP molecules. Hence, these materials may have broad applicability in cardiovascular applications, from blood contacting materials to scaffold structures for vascular graft tissue engineering. Furthermore, this surface modifying additive approach represents a versatile technique that can be custom tailored for various biomimetic applications to generate stable bioactive ECM-like surfaces retained onto a relatively inert fluorinated background.Ph

Multi-location Firms as a Medium for the Geographic Diffusion of Knowledge

This thesis groups three papers examining the role of multi-location firms in the geographic diffusion of knowledge. The first chapter examines whether a firm's headquarters can tap into the knowledge pool in a remote location through FDI. Using U.S. patent data, I show that an R&D headquarters in location “A” cites third party patents from location “B” disproportionately (relative to a control group also from location “A”) when the firm has an R&D satellite in location “B”. This “satellite effect” on knowledge diffusion is economically significant, representing 47% of the knowledge flow premium associated with collocation. Furthermore, the effect is particularly strong for new knowledge, as well as in areas of satellite technological specialization. In addition, the results show that firms with stronger cross-location, intra-firm networks experience a larger satellite effect on knowledge diffusion. The second chapter studies the effects of remote satellites on outward knowledge flow with an international development focus. I find that the presence of a foreign MNC subsidiary increases the flow of knowledge from the MNC's headquarters to local firms. This effect is largest in countries and sectors with strong but not world-class capabilities, having both the motivation and absorptive capacity to learn from foreign parties. The results suggest that emerging country governments should promote inward FDI since the knowledge brought by multinationals spills over to local firms and boosts innovative capacity. The third chapter offers a theoretical foundation for thinking about the exchange of knowledge and ideas, and the role of remote satellites. I present a model where ideas are shared through social networks as modeled by repeated agent interactions. The mechanism at once explains three broad empirical findings: why the diffusion of ideas is highly localized, why ideas flow more easily within the firm, and why firms can access remote knowledge by establishing a presence in the remote location. A firm endogenously decides whether to establish a presence in a remote location and if so how much autonomy to award the remote agent. The relative importance of external vs. internal knowledge in the innovative process is a key determinant of the firm's organizational structure.Ph

Palestinian-Arabs Volunteering in State Institutions in Israel: Reconciliation and Peacebuilding or Conflict and Suspicion?

Volunteering in government institutions by national minorities in conflict with the state raises fascinating issues. The identity of Palestinian-Arabs in Israel is divided, as they belong to the Palestinian people and Arab nation, as well as nominal citizens of Israel. This perception study explores the meaning of the volunteering experience for fifteen Palestinian-Arabs in various Israeli state institutions. Three themes arise from the interview analysis: motives for volunteering, challenges faced by the volunteers, and their coping strategies. The study contributes to the theory and practice of the meaning of volunteering in government institutions for minority members in conflict with the state by demonstrating that volunteering is a way of belonging to the society despite the dilemmas and challenges it poses