Tel-Hai Academic College

Objective This study examines whether mode of birth is associated with postpartum psychological distress among women who experienced high-risk versus low-risk pregnancies. It adds an ethical perspective to the literature by considering how medicalization of birth may differentially affect women’s autonomy and well-being across pregnancy risk contexts. Method In a cohort of 138 women who gave birth at a northern Israeli hospital (January to September 2023), psychological outcomes were measured eight weeks postpartum using the DASS-21 and PTSD Checklist (PCL-5). Birth mode and pregnancy risk status were extracted from medical records. Pearson correlations were computed separately for high-risk (n = 20) and low-risk (n = 118) groups. Results Among women with high-risk pregnancies, more medicalized birth modes were significantly correlated with higher levels of stress (rp = 0.655), anxiety (rp = 0.863), depression (rp = 0.726), and PTSD symptoms (rp = 0.789). No significant associations were found in the low-risk group. Conclusions Birth mode plays a critical role in postpartum mental health for women with high-risk pregnancies. These findings underscore the ethical duty to prevent psychological harm and to respect women’s relational autonomy, making trauma-informed, autonomy-supportive care a moral imperative in medically complex births.

This research examines the well-being of highly sensitive individuals two months after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Participants were 410 Israeli adults, who completed self-report questionnaires in two phases. First, they completed the Highly Sensitive Person Scale - Brief Version (HSP-12), the Experiences in Close Relationships-Relationship Structures Questionnaire (ECR-RS), and the Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF). Then they were asked to listen to a certain Israeli song that had become a prayer and hope for the hostages coming back home and to fill out the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Results showed negative association between HSP and well-being and positive association with negative affect (i.e. negative emotional response) during exposure to the song. No association was found with positive affect (i.e. positive emotional response). These findings indicate worse outcomes for HSPs under highly stressful conditions and point to the need for further research, specifically longitudinal research, within mental health care regarding individual differences in temperament and the need for screening individuals for high sensitivity for better use of clinical interventions.

This study explores variables associated with teachers’ Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy, a key competency for effective and responsible AI integration in education. A total of 270 teachers completed an online survey including measures of AI literacy, AI acceptance, computational thinking, AI anxiety, and digital divide. Results revealed that all AI acceptance variables were positively associated with AI literacy, with hedonic motivation and willingness to use AI emerging as the strongest predictors. Computational thinking, AI anxiety, and digital divide also showed significant associations with AI literacy. The findings highlight the central role of teachers’ attitudes and motivational variables over technical and demographic variables. The study contributes to the understanding of how teachers engage with AI technologies and provides practical implications for designing professional development programs that enhance AI literacy and reduce barriers to AI adoption in educational contexts.

We study deletion-correcting codes in the space of length-n multisets over a q-ary alphabet. We present an explicit cyclic Sidon-type construction for arbitrary alphabet size q and deletion radius t, defined by a single congruence modulo t(t+1)^q-2+1. The construction has redundancy at most log_q(t(t+1)^q-2+1) and admits linear-time online decoding for fixed q and t after finite preprocessing. We prove that its syndrome classes are asymptotically balanced and compare several general upper bounds. For a single deletion, we show that the natural sum-modulo construction is asymptotically optimal for every fixed q. We also obtain exact results for q=3 and q=4, including uniqueness results for optimal codes in the relevant parameter ranges, and formulate conjectures for prime alphabets.

The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed a global shift to online learning, highlighting both the challenges and opportunities of this mode of education. Despite extensive research on student performance in online courses, there remains a lack of focus on the pedagogical characteristics that influence educational outcomes. This study investigates the relationship between the pedagogical design of online courses and academic performance in higher education, with particular emphasis on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and cognitive complexity levels defined by Bloom's taxonomy. Data were collected from 661 students across 22 online courses, analyzing demographic variables, pedagogical features, and students’ interaction patterns on course platforms. Multiple regression models revealed that both demographic and pedagogical characteristics significantly predict online course grades, while student interaction patterns did not. Additionally, tasks requiring higher-order thinking skills were associated with lower grades, emphasizing the need for carefully scaffolded support in online environments. The study also found that UDL attributes were particularly beneficial for low-performing students but less impactful—and occasionally counterproductive—for higher-performing students. These findings underscore the importance of tailoring online course design to diverse learner needs and suggest a balance between accessibility and cognitive complexity. This research provides actionable insights for improving online learning environments and advancing evidence-based educational practices.