Lessons in the Distant Mirror of Medieval Physics

An excited-state atom whose emitted light is backreflected by a distant mirror can experience trapping forces, because the presence of the mirror modifies both the electromagnetic vacuum field and the atom's own radiation reaction field. We demonstrate this mechanical action using a single trapped barium ion. We observe the trapping conditions to be notably altered when the distant mirror is translated across an optical wavelength. The well-localized barium ion enables the spatial dependence of the forces to be measured explicitly. The experiment has implications for quantum information processing and may be regarded as the most elementary optical tweezers.

A scheme to generate stationary entanglement between two distant Fabry-Perot cavities with parametric interactions is proposed in the current paper. The bipartite entanglement between two distant mirrors and the entanglement between a mirror and a distant cavity mode are quantified. The logarithmic negativity, which characterizes continuous-variable (CV) entanglement between two systems, is found to increase with the help of parametric interactions. Moreover, such macroscopic entanglement between two distant mirrors and between a mirror and a distant cavity mode persists for environment temperatures of about 60K and 6K, respectively.

We take Grosseteste’s scientific practices and works, together with their intellectual and theological milieu, as a ‘distant mirror’ in which to calibrate the anxious and fraught debates around the relation of science and religion today. Urging that we are missing a cultural teleological and ethical narrative in support of science, we look at the deeper theological and philosophical resources that Grosseteste drew on, and identify five that, after suitable transformation, can be applied in our time to rethink what science is for, and how we might guide its application: (1) the disruption of damaging myths, (2) the long history of science, (3) a cultural narrative for science, (4) a unified vision and (5) a relational and incarnational metaphysics.

BACKGROUND: A published audit of the management of colorectal cancer at a general hospital in the 1970s was available for comparison with a later audit at the same hospital in the 1990s. METHODS: Case note analysis. RESULTS: In the later audit, more cases were treated annually by an unchanged surgical team. The incidence of synchronous combined excision of the rectum, for rectal cancers suitable for resection, was halved, and that of anterior resection of the rectum (sphincter sparing, without a permanent stoma) increased almost threefold. The incidence of local recurrence in cases suitable for rectal surgery dropped from 17% to 9%, in spite of the change in the principal operation undertaken for this population. Outcomes associated with critical care improved as resources in this discipline became available. Overall survival figures were only improved by 6% in the20-year period, reflecting a diagnosis of Dukes C tumours or worse in at least 45% of the stable population studied in both audits. CONCLUSION: More resources are necessary in Great Britain to increase survival figures in this common cancer. Earlier diagnosis and more specialist management of the disease may allow us to emulate American and Swedish survival figures.

Journal Article barbara w. tuchman. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1978. Pp. xx, 677. $15.95 Get access Tuchman Barbara W.. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1978. Pp. xx, 677. $15.95. Bernard S. Bachrach Bernard S. Bachrach University of Minesota, Twin Cities Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Historical Review, Volume 84, Issue 3, June 1979, Pages 724–725, https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/84.3.724 Published: 01 June 1979

Reviewed by: Cavalieri e popoli in armi: le instituzioni nell'Italia medievale William Caferro Cavalieri e popoli in armi: le instituzioni nell'Italia medievale. By Paolo Grilli. Rome-Bari: Laterza, 2008. ISBN 978-88-420-8649-9. Notes. Bibliography. Indexes. Pp. xviii, 221. €20.00. Paolo Grilli's Cavalieri e popoli in armi offers a much-needed, clearly constructed synthesis of military developments in Italy during the Middle Ages. The literature on the subject is, as Grilli notes from the outset, vexingly sparse. The little that exists is characterized by broad assumption and nationalistic bias. Nineteenth-century Italian writers of the Risorgimento viewed medieval Italian warfare in much the same terms as those laid out by Machiavelli. They emphasized the abandonment of the use of native forces during the communal period, the reliance on mercenaries and the resulting subjugation of Italy by foreign powers in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries--a "distant mirror" of events in their own era. Grilli, by contrast, takes as his point of departure the division of the ages of war posited by Philippe Contamine and situates his findings in terms of current theories of the Military Revolution. He draws on the important recent work of scholars such as Aldo Settia, Franco Cardini, Nadia Covini, Patrizia Mainoni, [End Page 261] and others. Rather than compare the past to the present, Grilli makes clear, in his succinct and well-written introduction, that he will deal with medieval Italian warfare in context, on its own terms, as a phenomenon or "institution" distinct from modern counterparts. To this end he stresses the close connection between the military and pacific spheres. There did not exist, as today, a clear separation between war-related institutions and civic ones, nor, more generally, were the private and public realms distinct. Italian states did possess a monopoly on coercion, and therefore violence and warfare were more diffuse and persistent. The point is an important one, and is effectively stated by the author. The book consists of eleven chapters, beginning with the fall of Rome in the fifth century and continuing on to the initiation of standing forces and the military revolution in the fifteenth century. The author therefore deals with approximately one thousand years of history. He deserves much credit for rendering this mass of material in a clear and incisive form. Grilli does especially well drawing from current Italian historiography. He provides each chapter with useful bibliographies. The long view of events allows him to bring together interesting broader trends, including continuities in military practice from the Late Roman period to early medieval period, and from the Lombard and Norman eras of the early Middle Ages to that of the independent communes of the Central Middle Ages. The strongest section of the book is the discussion in chapter seven of the communal period, the rise of so-called "native" forces and the Guelf-Ghibelline rivalries. The author effectively integrates into the discussion the new revisionist scholarship, including his own fine work. Overall, the book is more descriptive than analytical, despite promises in the introduction to the contrary. Although Grilli carefully distances himself from the old scholarship, he does in fact occasionally restate well-worn and outdated positions. The problem is largely historiographical. Grilli is at his best with Italian scholarship, paying careful homage, sometimes excessively so, to current colleagues and teachers in the academy there. His use of the work of other scholars, notably of the Anglophone and German tradition, is decidedly uneven. He makes little practical use of the important work of Molho, Bayley, Becker, Hanlon and Blastenbrei (or myself for that matter). In the few places cited, the information is not always accurate. The discussion of the età delle compagnie di ventura (era of the mercenary companies) in chapter nine, for example, is colorful cliché, overstating the importance of the companies, a view long ago challenged by Michael Mallett. The description of military contracts (condotte) needs revision, as does that of the lance, the basic cavalry unit in the fourteenth and fifteenth-century armies. The depiction of the White Company and John Hawkwood was unrecognizable, though my work was cited in that instance. In a sense—a bibliographic sense- the book...

Reviewed by: The Distant Mirror: Reflections on Young Adult Historical Fiction Gary Schmidt (bio) Joanne Brown and Nancy St. Clair . The Distant Mirror: Reflections on Young Adult Historical Fiction. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow P, 2006. The word Reflections in a title suggests that this will be a book in which the authors will approach their matter ruminatively, having considered issues and ideas, having weighed and assessed those, and then having come to conclusions that grow out of wide and varied reading, as well as wise and considered judgment. This is partially true in this study of historical fiction for young adults; certainly there is wide reading here, and a capacious understanding of the issues in writing historical fiction, particularly for a young adult audience. But "ruminative" is not an adjective that applies here, and, at times, "assessment" is not the right noun. In fact, Presentations might have been more appropriate for the subtitle of this book, for while Brown and St. Clair cover the terrain of the field by focusing on its issues and the way those are represented in selected texts, they seem more interested in pointing out the sights than analyzing their meanings, connections, and complexities. Which is a shame, since the sights they point out are fascinating and important, and the pointing out alone makes this an important book to have on the shelves of undergraduate libraries. But we begin poorly: Their survey of the roots of historical fiction is not especially helpful and rather distorting—we leap from historical writing in the classical period to historical writing in the eighteenth century—which is, admittedly, the century in which history as a science became established, but it's a mighty [End Page 67] long leap. Certainly the medieval period had much to say about the writing of history and narration; one need only read Bede to hear his ruminative voice, or Alcuin, or Geoffrey of Monmouth. And the Renaissance need not be ashamed of its contributions, as Sidney's Apology for Poetry challenged the mutual roles of fiction and non-fiction in ways that would have been helpful for later discussions in this book. Quick tours are never revealing. But the bulk of this book is given over to "historical fiction as social realism," and here the authors do important work in gathering together the confronting issues: How does historical fiction confront racism? How does historical fiction incorporate issues of faith and spirituality? How does it confront issues of class structure and of gender constructions? How does it examine issues such as immigration? How does it handle history's fascination with war and battle? These are good questions to ask, and Brown and St. Clair are strongest when they are asking them in the context of individual texts—although not when they choose texts from a century ago, which are, every time, set up as easy strawmen. Where they are less strong is when they try to handle the How of those questions in a broader sense. For one feels throughout this study a fascination with the primary texts, but an underlying dismissal of a more theoretical engagement. This is not to say that the book is problematic because it does not engage with contemporary theoretical concerns; it is to say that a more insightful and engaged approach, a more nuanced approach to the issues themselves would strengthen the examinations of the texts themselves. For example, the authors never really engage with the issue of definition in this genre, and seem to slide into a sideways glance at definition during the tour when a text calls for it. What specifically is historical fiction? Here the authors include a work in which an author consciously sets his or her plot and characters into an earlier time. Well and good. But how much earlier? Here, the authors might benefit enormously by looking at this through a reader response lens, but their answer is an arbitrary number of years. And what are the boundaries of this genre? Well, this seems rather open. The genre can, in their hands, include works of fantasy, in which a contemporary figure travels back in time to the past. It can include works that consciously change...

Sensemaking is an ongoing act of constructing a reality to be interpreted. While numerous articles have explored the notion of sensemaking in organizations, far fewer have examined it through the empirical prism of an individual case of sensemaking, with the notable exception of Weick’s seminal contribution and formulation, “The Collapse of Sensemaking in Organizations: The Mann Gulch Disaster” (1993). In this article, we seek to build on the literature of sensemaking in organizations by offering an analysis of the actions of former Republican Senator Jeff Flake, whose leadership interventions we interpret as efforts at sensemaking in the era of Trump. In this context, we focus on the US Senate as an organ of sensemaking established by the framers of the Constitution to be relied upon in times of disruption, confusion, and chaos—a check on presidential power established by the framers of the US Constitution to provide prospective sensemaking for uncharted waters. In analyzing the case of Jeff Flake as sense-maker, we rely on certain definitions of leadership embedded in the era of post-truth. We conclude that Flake’s actions may be seen as a distant mirror (to quote Tuchman, 1978 ) of Weick’s treatment of the storied smokejumper Wag Dodge—a sense-maker whose persuasive powers failed him in the moment, only to be viewed in retrospect as the one who paved the way forward toward survival in the midst of a “cosmological episode.”

Opportunities for senior adults the world over to participate in formal and informal educational programs have increased dramatically during the past 30 years. At the forefront of innovations in programs for older learners are those that invite members to share in teaching, governance, curriculum development, and future planning. This article traces how a variety of new programs have come about; reviews previous steps to expand and diversify older adult education, particularly in the Unites States and Canada; looks at levels of participation, learner objectives, institutional responses and rationales; and questions the underlying ideological commitments of government, aging organization, postsecondary educational institutions, and private sector groups to meet the needs and wants of today's retirement-age persons. A brief look in the "distant mirror" of China's universities for older people helps crystallize the current situation in the United States.

For the last ten years, Japanese corporate governance has served as a distant mirror in whose reflection American academics could better see the attributes of their own system. As scholars came to recognize that the institutional characteristics of the American and Japanese systems were politically and historically contingent, other countries’ approaches became serious objects of study, rather than just way stations on the road to convergence. One learned about one’s own system from the choices made by others. The goal of this paper is to return the favor done for the United States by the Japanese governance system, by holding up an American mirror in whose reflection Japanese scholars may find insights into their own system. Part I provides a brief description of Japanese corporate governance as presented in the academic literature, highlighting how each attribute of its structure is said to interact in support of commitment and stability. Part II then depicts the American system, highlighting, in contrast, its distinctive elements of adaptive efficiency. Part III catalogues the challenges changing economic conditions pose for the Japanese system, and frames the questions an American mirror reveals about the Japanese system’s adaptive mechanisms. Part IV concludes with brief comments on the role of external monitoring as a mechanism of adaptive efficiency in a system of complementary attributes.

The combination of a wide frequency tuning range with the high output power in a waveguide CO 2 laser is necessary for effective pumping of FIR lasers. This problem deals with the realization of severe selection of both a vibration-rotational transition and a single resonator mode in waveguide lasers with a diffraction grating. The main intention of our work was the detailed theoretical and experimental investigation of the frequency-selective properties of laser resonator using a square-bore waveguide, a diffraction grating and a distant plane mirror (near Case 1 of waveguide resonator). Its results are the further development of the investigation of the near Case 1 of a waveguide resonator selective properties [1-3].

Reviewed by: A Topography of Confucian Discourse: Politco-philosophical Reflections on Confucian Discourse since Modernity John Berthrong (bio) Lee Seung-hwan. A Topography of Confucian Discourse: Politco-philosophical Reflections on Confucian Discourse since Modernity. Translated by Jaeyoon Song and Lee Seung-hwan. Paramus, NJ: Homa and Sekey Books, 2006. xii + 256 pp. Hardcover $49.95, ISBN 1-931907-27-7. Paperback $29.95. ISBN 1-931907-34-X. What to do with Confucianism? This is a question that engages many contemporary Chinese, Korean, and Japanese intellectuals. Simply deciding what we mean when we use the term “Confucian” or “Confucianism” is not entirely clear and has become a hotly contested issue in East Asia and among the East Asian diaspora. This is especially fascinating for a tradition that not long ago had been given up for dead. In the 1920s, many of the best and brightest young Chinese intellectuals mounted and sustained philosophical and historical attacks on what they considered the incubus of a dead Confucian tradition on the current Chinese situation. At its most simple and pragmatic level, the argument was crystal clear: Confucians were in charge of the Chinese ship of state when it ran aground, with disastrous consequences, when it encountered the unknown shoals of Western imperialism. It did not really matter that no other country could actually stand against the tide of Western imperial might; the fact still held that Confucians were in charge and were held responsible for the catastrophe. A recounting of the general historical interpretation of the role Confucianism played in the demise of the various traditional East Asian cultures is critical to understanding the task that Professor Lee set for himself in collecting this set of stimulating essays on Confucian discourse. In short, Lee explores the various contexts and pretexts of the assorted ways that missionaries, historians, philosophers, and public intellectuals sought to define Confucianism. His basic argument is that all of these parties have interpreted the Confucian Way in order to fit their own agendas. The Jesuits had one agenda, the European Enlightenment audience for the Jesuits back home had another agenda in which the Confucians were to play a role, Western imperial policy makers had yet another interpretation, and, of course, various Asian intellectuals responded to these interpretations as part of the Western imperial and colonial assault on the peoples and cultures of what the Westerners called “East Asia.” Lee argues that this kind of construction of alternative discourses about the history and nature of Confucianism continues today and includes the various theories of postmodernism that are now so popular in Europe and North America. Even these new postmodern theories, alas, are often just the last in a long string of Western interpretations of Confucianism as a perfect example of the culturally different other, an exotic and distant mirror in which the Western eye finds itself endlessly refracted and distorted through its interaction with other cultures and traditions. [End Page 120] The condemnation of the role that Confucianism played in the demise of traditional China was sustained and broadly conceived by both Asian and Western intellectuals. In the first place, the modern reformers pointed out that the Confucians were such an insular, self-satisfied, and petrified group of civil servants that they did not have the sense to realize that they were in trouble. Moreover, young Chinese (and Korean) intellectuals in the 1920s would also have a perfectly good counterexample of what needed to be done to resist the degradation of what the Chinese called the “semi-colonial status” of China in the first part of the twentieth century. This would, of course, be the rise of modern Japan. The lesson drawn from the Japanese case is that there was no reason for an East Asian country to fall prey to Western colonial status if it modernized, and a distinct part of the modernization package was the condemnation of the Confucian past, save for its preservation in the museum of cultural history. The Korean case was even more poignant. If China had slipped into semicolonial bondage by the early 1920s, Korea had fallen prey to the one successful case of East Asian modernization and nation building and had become incorporated into...

The (supposed) Inca drama Apu Ollantay was published first in Vienna in 1853 and is an enigma since because the revolutionary momentum of the drama is given by a sudden twist of the standard plot of such love dramas: unlike Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the lovers did not die by their own hands, but fought successfully for the right to love due to a sudden political regime change: the young Inca Tupac Yupanqui turned the «rigors of a father into the generosity of a king» (the subtitle of the drama). A Distant Mirror, the Southeast Asian model of the Cosmological State, can visualize the avenue a story from Inca times opens to evidences on the impact of climate change on gender-relations.

The distant mirror: reflections on young adult historical fiction

Connie Willis’s time-travel fiction imagines that in the not-too-distant future, Oxford University students will perform historical ethnography by literally traveling bodily to the past. Whether depicting the Black Death or the London Blitz, Willis proves an enthusiastic consumer of dark tourism, incorporating museum sites into her plots and historical interpretations. Using detailed descriptions, counterfactuals, and the genres of fairy stories and farce, Willis immerses her readers in catastrophic moments in the British past. She borrows Barbara Tuchman’s notion that the past is a “distant mirror” for those in the present and future. For people trapped in time, commemoration and deep empathy offer salvation—both for those whose time has passed and those whose time has yet to come.