The life of Metis: cunning maternal interventions

This paper charts the different and co-existent uses of the Greek myth and concept of Metis for feminist philosophy. I show how the move from using the myth of Metis to an engagement with the marginalised ancient Greek concept of cunning intelligence (metis) is significant in addressing problems of agency and political action in contemporary feminist debates. The paper addresses the concept of metis cunning intelligence in relation to the maternal and argues for a theory of metis charcterised by a double action, and finally links this approach to recent ideas in Deleuzian feminist theory

Mid-infrared astronomy with the E-ELT: Performance of METIS

We present results of performance modelling for METIS, the Mid-infrared European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) Imager and Spectrograph. Designed by a consortium of NOVA (Netherlands), UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK), MPIA Heidelberg (Germany), CEA Saclay (France) and KU Leuven (Belgium), METIS will cover the atmospheric windows in L, M and N-band and will offer imaging, medium-resolution slit spectroscopy (R~1000-3000) and high-resolution integral field spectroscopy (R~100,000). Our model uses a detailed set of input parameters for site characteristics and atmospheric profiles, optical design, thermal background and the most up-to-date IR detector specifications. We show that METIS will bring an orders-of-magnitude level improvement in sensitivity and resolution over current ground-based IR facilities, bringing mid-IR sensitivities to the micro-Jansky regime. As the only proposed E-ELT instrument to cover this entire spectral region, and the only mid-IR high-resolution integral field unit planned on the ground or in space, METIS will open up a huge discovery space in IR astronomy in the next decade.Comment: 13 pages, submitted to SPIE Proceedings vol. 7735, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy III (2010). Simulation code available at http://tinyurl.com/metis-sen

Defining Metis People as a People: Moving Beyond the Indian/Metis Dichotomy

This article argues that the legal definition that defines Metis people in opposition to Indian detracts from the goal of recognizing the Metis as a distinct people. The article argues that we ought to de-couple the definitions of Metis and Indian to more strongly recognize Metis as a distinct people. This article considers three intertwined concerns that arise from this dichotomous approach to Metis identity The first concern is about the hard line created in the definition between Indian and Metis, forcing one to be either Indian or Metis. The second concern is that changes to the definition of Indian may impact the definition of Metis, making the two identities contingent and inherently connected. The final related concern is that defining Metis as not Indian leads to the question of how distinct Metis culture needs to be from Indian culture for recognition. The article argues that we need to re-centre the definition of Metis on being Metis people based on internal characteristics (who Metis are) and move away from the legal definition of Metis being contingent on the legal definition of Indian (who Metis are not)

Requirements and modelling of fast particle injection in RFX-mod tokamak plasmas

The planned upgrade of the RFX-mod device is a good opportunity to widen the operational space of the machine, in both RFP and tokamak configurations. Installation of a power neutral beam injector is also envisaged and a NB system compatible with RFX-mod, formerly installed in TPE-RX, is already available on site. In this work, the METIS simulator is used to study the feasibility of TPE-RX injector integration in RFX-mod circular tokamak plasmas. METIS code allows the simulation of a full tokamak discharge, with the addition of the neutral beam injection (NBI) which, in METIS, is described by a decay equation applied in a simplified geometry and an analytical solution of the Fokker\u2013Planck equation. In this work, RFX-mod scenarios with NBI have been studied, with careful attention to the beam absorption and plasma response to the additional heating

Characterization of Streptomyces coelicolor ParH in development-associated chromosome segregation

S. coelicolor uses an active chromosome partitioning system for developmentally-regulated genome segregation, which is associated with spore formation. There are four known trans-acting segregation proteins (ParA, ParB, ParJ and Scy) and cis-acting centromere-like sites (parS). parA encodes a Walker-type ATPase that is required for efficient DNA segregation and proper placement of the ParB-parS nucleoprotein complexes. A paralogue of ParA is encoded by the S. coelicolor genome, SCO1772 (named ParH), that has 45% identical residues to ParA. In S. coelicolor aerial hyphae, a ∆parH mutant produces 5% of anucleate spores. In this study, ParH was identified as a novel interaction partner of S. coelicolor ParB. However, a Walker A motif K99E substitution in ParH and removal an N-terminal extension in ParH impaired interaction between ParH and ParB, as judged by bacterial two-hybrid analyses. ParH-EGFP localization resembles the evenly-spaced localization pattern of ParH-EGFP in aerial hyphae, which might suggest that ParH colocalizes with ParB. A parH-null mutant appears to be unable to properly organize the oriC regions within a subset of prespores, as judged by ParB-EGFP foci. In this study, through a random chromosomal library screening, a novel protein that interacts with ParA and ParH was also identified. HaaA (ParH and ParA Associated protein A) is required for proper chromosome segregation and is one of the 24 signature proteins of the Actinomycetes that are not found in other bacterial lineages. A bacterial two-hybrid analysis showed that HaaA interacts with itself and interaction between ParH and ParA was through the C-terminal unstructured region. Interaction between HaaA and ParA and ParA-like proteins was conserved in other Actinomycetes, such as S. venezuelae, C. glutamicum and M. smegmatis. There was no evidence for interaction with other tested segregation proteins. In addition, a haaA insertion-deletion mutant strain revealed that loss of HaaA affected chromosome segregation (6% anucleate spores) and HaaA-EGFP localizes within spores of the mature spore chains. Together these data revealed new information to further understand chromosome segregation in S. coelicolor

Single conjugate adaptive optics for the ELT instrument METIS

The ELT is a 39m large, ground-based optical and near- to mid-infrared telescope under construction in the Chilean Atacama desert. Operation is planned to start around the middle of the next decade. All first light instruments will come with wavefront sensing devices that allow control of the ELT's intrinsic M4 and M5 wavefront correction units, thus building an adaptive optics (AO) system. To take advantage of the ELT's optical performance, full diffraction-limited operation is required and only a high performance AO system can deliver this. Further technically challenging requirements for the AO come from the exoplanet research field, where the task to resolve the very small angular separations between host star and planet, has also to take into account the high-contrast ratio between the two objects. We present in detail the results of our simulations and their impact on high-contrast imaging in order to find the optimal wavefront sensing device for the METIS instrument. METIS is the mid-infrared imager and spectrograph for the ELT with specialised high-contrast, coronagraphic imaging capabilities, whose performance strongly depends on the AO residual wavefront errors. We examined the sky and target sample coverage of a generic wavefront sensor in two spectral regimes, visible and near-infrared, to pre-select the spectral range for the more detailed wavefront sensor type analysis. We find that the near-infrared regime is the most suitable for METIS. We then analysed the performance of Shack-Hartmann and pyramid wavefront sensors under realistic conditions at the ELT, did a balancing with our scientific requirements, and concluded that a pyramid wavefront sensor is the best choice for METIS. For this choice we additionally examined the impact of non-common path aberrations, of vibrations, and the long-term stability of the SCAO system including high-contrast imaging performance.Comment: 37 pages, 27 figures, accepted for publication in Experimental Astronom

Metis Fiddling: A Matter of Identity

The Metis, descendants of French and English fur traders and Native American women, have been politically and socially sidelined for centuries - branded as half-breeds or mixed - and the 1982 Constitution Act which finally granted them Aboriginal status in Canada is not the end of the story. In this paper, we will look at a brief history of the Metis struggle for recognition and identity and then focus in on the specific ways that the Metis fiddle tradition has mirrored this struggle. Although it could be dismissed as simply a holdover from French and British fiddle traditions of colonial times, we will see instead that the Metis fiddle has become a syncretic instrument that continues and exemplifies many of the traditions and values of Native heritage, including oral history, percussion, dance, and rhythm. Over the past two hundred years, the Metis have taken the fiddle and developed their own musical style which, although similar to European traditions, bears many uniquely aboriginal characteristics and values. This parallels the Metis’ struggle for identity as they have come to terms with what it means to be Metis in a world that often seeks to define race and identity solely by ancestry. Just as the Metis fiddle tradition has descended from several different traditions, but become its own distinct tradition, the Metis have also forged their own unique sense of identity and culture