TRANSgressive Acts: Adapting Applied Theatre Techniques For A Transgender Community

This MFA Thesis traces my work as a joker (a la Theatre of the Oppressed) and facilitator through a three-year-long project with a trans applied theatre troupe. The troupe explored several techniques, including Image Theatre, Playback Theatre, storytelling exercises, and somatic movement. In three semester-long workshops, the troupe focused work around three sets of techniques. In the first workshop, the troupe explored the community-based interview process of Undesirable Elements, as designed by Ping Chong in collaboration with Talvin Wilks and Sara Zatz. These techniques were interrogated using queer and trans temporalities. In the second unit, the troupe practiced Augusto Boal’s “Cops in the Head” techniques from The Rainbow of Desire, utilizing a sociological perspective to examine the “ghosts” these techniques produce. In the final semester, I devised techniques specifically for and about transgender people, invoking trans theory and queer theory to explore issues of naming, trauma, and trans possibilities. Through this work I argue that techniques designed for cisgender bodies require adaptation to find success in transgender communities. I argue that the future of this work is not transforming existing techniques to suit our needs, rather it is creating techniques with transgender bodies and identities at the core

Unveiling hidden structures in the Coma cluster

We have assembled a large data-set of 613 galaxy redshifts in the Coma cluster, the largest presently available for a cluster of galaxies. We have defined a sample of cluster members complete to b$_{26.5}=20.0$, using a membership criterion based on the galaxy velocity, when available, or on the galaxy magnitude and colour, otherwise. Such a data set allows us to define nearly complete samples within a region of 1~\Mpc\ radius, with a sufficient number of galaxies per sample to make statistical analyses possible. Using this sample and the {\em ROSAT} PSPC X--ray image of the cluster, we have re-analyzed the structure and kinematics of Coma, by applying the wavelet and adaptive kernel techniques. A striking coincidence of features is found in the distributions of galaxies and hot intracluster gas. The two central dominant galaxies, NGC4874 and NGC4889, are surrounded by two galaxy groups, mostly populated with galaxies brighter than b$_{26.5}=17$ and well separated in velocity space. On the contrary, the fainter galaxies tend to form a single smooth structure with a central peak coinciding in position with a secondary peak detected in X--rays, and located between the two dominant galaxies; we suggest to identify this structure with the main body of the Coma cluster. A continuous velocity gradient is found in the central distribution of these faint galaxies, a probable signature of tidal interactions rather than rotation. There is evidence for a bound population of bright galaxies around other brightest cluster members. Altogether, the Coma cluster structure seems to be better traced by the faint galaxy population, the bright galaxies being located in subclusters. We discuss this evidence in terms of an ongoing accretion of groups onto the cluster.Comment: to appear in A&A, 19 pages, uuencoded gzipped postscript fil

Physical mechanisms involved in grooved flat heat pipes: experimental and numerical analyses

International audienceAn experimental database, obtained with flat plate heat pipes (FPHP) with longitudinal grooves is presented. The capillary pressure measured by confocal microscopy and the temperature field in the wall are presented in various experimental conditions (vapour space thickness, filing ratio, heat transfer rate, tilt angle, fluid). Coupled hydrodynamic and thermal models are developed. Experimental results are compared to results of numerical models. Physical mechanisms involved in grooved heat pipes are discussed, including the boiling limit and the effect of the interfacial shear stress. Finally, recommendations for future experimental and theoretical research to increase the knowledge on FPHP are discussed

Combined effects of the filling ratio and the vapour space thickness on the performance of a flat plate heat pipe

International audienceAn experimental study of a flat plate heat pipe (FPHP) is presented. Temperature fields in the FPHP are measured for different filling ratios, heat fluxes and vapour space thicknesses. The system is hermetically sealed with a transparent plate for meniscus curvature radius observations by confocal microscopy. Experimental results show that the liquid distribution in the FPHP - and thus its thermal performance - depends strongly on both the filling ratio and the vapour space thickness. A small vapour space thickness induces liquid retention and thus reduces the thermal resistance of the system. Nevertheless, the vapour space thickness influences the level of the meniscus curvature radii in the grooves and hence reduces the maximum capillary pressure. As a result, it has to be carefully optimised to improve the performance of the FPHP. In all the cases, the optimum filling is in the range one to two times the total volume of the grooves. A theoretical approach, in non working conditions, has been developed to model the distribution of the liquid inside the FPHP in function of the filling ratio and the vapour space thickness

Selection genetique sur la reponse au stress et stress a l'abattage: consequences sur le proteome musculaire et lien avec la qualite de la chair chez la truite arc-en-ciel.

L'origine génétique des animaux est un des facteurs déterminants des caractéristiques des poissons en élevage (croissance, morphologie…) et de la qualité de leur chair. Une sélection divergente, basée sur la réponse individuelle de truite, en terme de niveau plasmatique de cortisol, suite à un stress aigu de confinement, a permis de montrer que ce paramètre est héritable, et d'obtenir des familles de truites présentant des niveaux de réponse à un stress aigu bien distincts (Pottinger et Carrick, 1999). Les animaux de ces familles divergentes ont été caractérisés pour leur croissance, qui s'avère meilleure pour les poissons répondant faiblement au stress, leur morphologie, et la qualité de leur chair. Les poissons répondant faiblement au stress présentent une chair moins lumineuse, plus jaune, et une résistance mécanique moindre associée à des fibres musculaires plus grosses et une teneur en lipides plus importante (Lefèvre et al., 2008a). Un stress au moment de l'abattage modifie le métabolisme post-mortem et conduit, la plupart du temps chez les salmonidés, à une chair moins ferme et plus pale (Lefèvre et al., 2008b). Un tel effet a été confirmé dans cette expérimentation de façon similaire pour les deux souches sélectionnées. Les protéines permettant d’expliquer potentiellement ces différences de qualité ne sont pas connues. L'objectif de ce travail était d'identifier les protéines différentiellement exprimées entre les deux souches sélectionnées et ayant subies ou non un stress de confinement juste avant l'abattage et de faire le lien avec les paramètres de qualité déjà mesurés

Quels paysages pour demain ? Résumé

International audienc

Le mont Ventoux : laboratoire d'étude dans le cadre du changement climatique.

Le mont Ventoux est un site exceptionnel de par sa diversité biologique, les dynamiques écologiques particulièrement actives qu'il a connues depuis le XIXe siècle, associées aux évolutions récentes des pratiques et des usages et, enfin, par les nombreuses études et recherches qui y ont été menées depuis plus de 40 ans, dans des disciplines très variées. Cela en fait un formidable laboratoire et une source d'acquisition de connaissances, indispensables aujourd'hui dans le contexte préoccupant du changement climatique