Personality,cognitive, and interpersonal factors in adolescent substance use: A longitudinal test of an integrative model

This study tests a multidimensional model of adolescent drug use. The model incorporates sociodemographic variables, personality variables (state and trait anxiety, depressive mood, and sensation seeking), cognitive variables (knowledge, attitudes, and intentions), interpersonal factors (relationships with peers and parents), and the availability of drugs. The model was tested in a longitudinal study, comprising two phases. A total of 1446 high school students served as subjects. The role of cognitive (attitudinal) and interpersonal factors (relationships with parents and peers) was confirmed. In addition, sensation seeking proved to have significant predictive power. Anxiety, depression, and sociodemographic factors, by contrast, had virtually no influence. Availability had a minor effect. The multidimensional explanation was validated longitudinally. The factors related to drug use at the first phase predicted use at the second. This multidimensional explanation accounted for the use of various substances, suggesting that different substances—whether legal or illegal—share a common multidimensional explanation.This work is based on the doctoral dissertation of Zipora Barnea supervised by Meir Teichman and Giora Rahav, and submitted to the Tel-Aviv University. The research was partially supported by a grant from the National Interministerial Committee on Substance Use and the National Research and Development Foundation.Received Ph.D. from Tel-Aviv University. Research interests are substance use, delinquency, and social deviance.Received Ph.D. from University of Missouri. Research interests are drug and alcohol abuse, and family violence.Received Ph.D. from Indiana University. Research interests are substance use, delinquency, and cross-national studies of deviant and violent behavior.     

Restoring a Lost Identity: Models of Education in Modern Islamic Thought

Education occupied a central position in modern Islamic thought. It aimed at purifying faith, but also at nurturing activism in the service of Islam and the community. Education was required to be holistic, strengthening both soul and body. It embraced all aspects of life and was conveyed by diverse means, ranging from communal involvement to political revolution. The broad scope of this education was impelled by the comprehensiveness of the Islamic religion, but also by the multifaceted nature of Westernization itself. The corrupting presence of hedonistic culture backed by indigenous regimes heightened the functional aspect of the pedagogic realm in Islamic discourse more than ever before. Re-education was perceived as the main lever for achieving cultural authenticity and as a core component of identity politics. The paper offers a contextualized reading of education in Islamic thought, an issue largely overlooked in the scholarly literature, which has focused more on socio-political aspects of the modern Islamic revival.     

Using the Delphi process to analyze social policy implementation: A post hoc case from vocational rehabilitation

This study uses a Policy Delphi to discern differences in perspective among and within groups responsible for formulating and implementing vocational rehabilitation policy. Four groups of players were chosen for our analysis: government officials, academics, directors of rehabilitation centers, and the staff who interface with program participants. Significant differences were found between the groups regarding the relative importance of possible legislative goals. This suggests that the failure of vocational rehabilitation policy to promote a work agenda may be attributed to a lack of consensus among policy implementors. The Delphi technique could help policy planners understand the different perspectives within the implementation community, and hence craft more realistic legislation.     

Removing interfering contaminations from gelatin lifters

Gelatin lifter is widely used for recovering shoeprints from crime scenes. Dusty shoeprints removed from paper with loose fibers, cloth or plasterboard, might be concealed by the detached fibers. A novel technique to clean the gelatin lifter from the interfering contaminations, using adhesive lifters, was developed. The adhesive lifter is applied directly on the surface of the gelatin lifter, and is removed instantly. The adhesive lifter removes the upper layer of the attached material on the gelatin lifter. After removing the concealing material from the hidden imprint, the quality of the visualized imprint is improved. The cleaning process can be applied as many times as needed and the optimum number is different for each substrate. The small dust particles comprising the shoeprint remained attached to the sticky side of the gelatin lifter even though the adhesion force applied by the adhesive lifter is great. Repeating the procedure too many times could harm the quality of the print severely, yet the advantages of this method are greater than the risks of relocation of image quality reduction.     

The role of MI6 in Egypt’s decision to go to war against Israel in May 1948

David Ben-Gurion, the founder of the State of Israel, repeatedly accused Britain of provoking the Arab states to invade Israel the day after its establishment in May 1948. To date, historians have not found proof of his accusations in British archives. However, evidence may be found in French archives, especially in Syrian and secret British documents obtained by the French secret services, originating from agents who had infiltrated the Syrian government in Damascus and the British Legation in Beirut. This article, based on French, Syrian, Israeli and British sources, argues that under the Labour government, Arabist MI6 officers in the Middle East, in collaboration with the British High Command in Cairo, pursued an alternative policy to that of the Foreign Office. They provoked Egypt’s King Faruq to go to war against Israel without the knowledge or approval of either Prime Minister Clement Attlee or Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, frequently misinforming and misleading them. This watershed research provides details of the goals and modus operandi of those involved in that clandestine plot.     

Redeeming Sunni Islam: Al-Qa‘ida's Polemic against the Muslim Brethren

The appearance of al-Qa‘ida at the beginning of the 1990s challenged the modern Islamic discourse by bringing the struggle against the ‘new Crusaders’—the United States and Europe—to centre stage. Impelled by frustration with the meagre record of Sunni radicalism in achieving substantive political change, and by its own aspiration for leadership, the organisation singled out the non-violent, influential Muslim Brethren as a main rival and a prime target for polemics. The formative basis for this polemic was provided by an essay written by Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Hisad al-murr [The Bitter Harvest], around 1989. The essay, which has not been dealt with in the research literature until now, constitutes a biting attack against the Brethren. It undermines their historical legacy and goes so far as to shatter the image of their charismatic founder, Hasan al-Banna. More broadly, al-Zawahiri's essay reveals the close affinity between historical memory and politics, and illuminates the clash within modern Islam.     

The longmont community justice partnership: Restorative justice practice as collaboration

This paper documents the application of restorative justice principles using a model which was developed by the Longmont Community Justice Partnership (LCJP) and is being used in other communities in Colorado. It explains the structure and operation of this model as well as addresses some of the challenging issues program participants faced during the startup, development, and maintenance phases of the program. Among other issues we consider community support, team development, evaluation, restorative language, funding, and the limitations of the model. Finally we discuss the way in which this program has potential for other communities which seek to implement restorative justice practices.     

Ethical Issues of Bioterror

Bioterrorism has global implications, especially with regard to the use of contagious bio agents or “epidemic generators” with a high potential for causing epidemics. The grave medical implications of a bioterror attack are obvious, but some of the related ethical issues are often overlooked. Moral issues associated with the threat and with the attack may carry long-term consequences, which may shake the rudiments of democratic societies. Some of these efforts may be aided by regulations, laws, and enforcement. The best results will be achieved by a sense of responsibility and understandings of the public.