Iberian Jewish identities after 1492

The author investigates the types of Iberian Jewish and “converso” identities that emerged and evolved during the century that followed the Edict of 1492. Based on their life choices, the author discusses the fates of those who converted and stayed on the Peninsula, of those who, as New Christians, tried their luck elsewhere but remained secret Jews, and of those who returned to Judaism and shared the fate of their co-religionists in Europe and, finally, of those who migrated to the Ottoman Empire where they could enjoy more freedom and greater prosperity than in Christian Europe

Health Promotion Practice and the Road Ahead: Addressing Enduring Gaps and Encouraging Greater Practice-to-Research Translation

A decade ago, Lancaster and Roe described four critical gaps (i.e., communications, accessibility, credibility, and expectations) between research and practice in health education and health promotion that formed the framework for this department. Despite considerable attention and some progress, these gaps persist and are barriers to interaction and translation between health promotion and health education research and practice. Looking to the next several years as the new Associate Editors for this department, we renew the department’s commitment toward addressing these enduring gaps around which we frame new questions and invite continued dialogue

The Dilemma of Presidential Leadership

Every decade, about five thousand persons serve as college or university presidents. Over a term of office averaging less than seven years, the president is expected to serve simultaneously as the chief administrator of a large and complex bureaucracy, as the convening colleague of a professional community, as a symbolic elder in a campus culture of shared values and symbols, and (in some institutions) as a public official accountable to a public board and responsive to the demands of other governmental agencies. Balancing the conflicting expectations of these roles has always been difficult; changing demographic trends, fiscal constraints, the complexity and diversity of tasks, university dynamics, and unrealistic public expectations make it virtually impossible for most presidents to provide the leadership that is expected

Trapped atoms in cavity QED: coupling quantized light and matter

On the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of Albert Einstein's annus mirabilis, we reflect on the development and current state of research in cavity quantum electrodynamics in the optical domain. Cavity QED is a field which undeniably traces its origins to Einstein's seminal work on the statistical theory of light and the nature of its quantized interaction with matter. In this paper, we emphasize the development of techniques for the confinement of atoms strongly coupled to high-finesse resonators and the experiments which these techniques enable

Slicing across Kingdoms: Regeneration in Plants and Animals

Multicellular organisms possessing relatively long life spans are subjected to diverse, constant, and often intense intrinsic and extrinsic challenges to their survival. Animal and plant tissues wear out as part of normal physiological functions and can be lost to predators, disease, and injury. Both kingdoms survive this wide variety of insults by strategies that include the maintenance of adult stem cells or the induction of stem cell potential in differentiated cells. Repatterning mechanisms often deploy embryonic genes, but the question remains in both plants and animals whether regeneration invokes embryogenesis, generic patterning mechanisms, or unique circuitry comprised of well-established patterning genes

Cavity QED with Single Atoms and Photons

Recent experimental advances in the field of cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) have opened new possibilities for control of atom-photon interactions. A laser with "one and the same atom" demonstrates the theory of laser operation pressed to its conceptual limit. The generation of single photons on demand and the realization of cavity QED with well defined atomic numbers N = 0, 1, 2,... both represent important steps toward realizing diverse protocols in quantum information science. Coherent manipulation of the atomic state via Raman transitions provides a new tool in cavity QED for in situ monitoring and control of the atom-cavity system. All of these achievements share a common point of departure: the regime of strong coupling. It is thus interesting to consider briefly the history of the strong coupling criterion in cavity QED and to trace out the path that research has taken in the pursuit of this goal

A Basis for Traceable NDE Standards

The National Bureau of Standards (NBS) is beginning to provide a mechanism for traceability for a number of NDE measurement procedures, an activity that is expected to have a significant, positive impact on the reproducibility and accuracy of NDE measurements. Much of the NDE standards activity has been in ultrasonics and acoustic emission, this effort leading to calibration services for ultrasonic reference blocks and ultrasonic and acoustic emission transducers. Additional NDE standards are also available or are being developed in radiography, eddy currents, magnetic particles, liquid penetrants and visual testing