The G.R.A.D. Programme: an alternative form of practice

The Graduate Retention And Development (G.R.A.D.) Programme was a response to the difficulty which many architecture graduates were having in securing relevant work. It was conceived as a means to: - •help unemployed architecture graduates, and graduates from other built environment disciplines, into work, •benefit the region by identifying problems that might have design-based solution, • apply the skills and enthusiasm of the participants (known as GRADs) to speculative and real projects, and •develop opportunities leading to funded work for either the GRADs or for local practitioners. The GRADs are able to work with real clients, gaining relevant experience and knowledge, so improving their portfolios and CVs. The GRADs can commit to the Programme the time they chose and can leave at any point should an employment opportunity arise. Anecdotally, GRADs attending job interviews often express the view that more interest is shown in the work undertaken for the Programme than in their degree portfolio. “Live projects” provide GRADs with experiences typically they might not have until post-Part II, including; meeting with clients, developing and understanding the project brief, communicating effectively with clients and reporting on the work undertaken, managing a team of people, understanding their motivation and group dynamics. Twenty hours per week certified time spent working for the Programme has been recognised as contributing up to 3 months of the participants’ Professional Experience and Development Record (PEDR) by Northumbria, Newcastle, Leeds Metropolitan and Huddersfield Universities. This paper will describe some of the challenges faced by the Programme since starting in January 2010. These include the changing relationship of the Programme to local practices and the schools of architecture; managing the participants involvement, their motivation, expectations and pastoral needs; finding and managing the workload and maintaining a professional output with voluntary, part time and inexperienced participants

A remark on Quantum Brownian Motion

An implicit exact solution is found for the semiclassical limit of Roumen Tsekov’s quantum Smoluchowski equation for the harmonic oscillator.Für den semiklassischen Grenzwert der von Roumen Tsekov formulierten Quanten-Smoluchowski-Gleichung für den harmonischen Oszillator wurde eine implizite exakte Lösung gefunden

Additions to the Checklist of Wisconsin Ground Beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae), Including the Adventive \u3ci\u3eHarpalus Rubripes\u3c/i\u3e (Duftschmid) Among Seven New State Records

Sixteen species are added to the checklist of Wisconsin Geadephaga. Of these, seven species are reported here as new to Wisconsin. Nine taxa from the list are affected by new information resulting in the removal of six names. The Eurasian beetle Harpalus rubripes was discovered as early as 2009 on annually surveyed beaches along Lake Michigan in southeastern Wisconsin. This discovery greatly extends the species distribution westward from its presence in northeastern North America where it was first recorded in 1981

An Annotated Checklist of Wisconsin Ground Beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

A survey of Carabidae in the state of Wisconsin, U.S.A. yielded 87 species new to the state and incorporated 34 species previously reported from the state but that were not included in an earlier catalogue, bringing the total number of species to 489 in an annotated checklist. Collection data are provided in full for the 87 species new to Wisconsin but are limited to county occurrences for 187 rare species previously known in the state. Recent changes in nomenclature pertinent to the Wisconsin fauna are cited

Children's naming and word-finding difficulties: descriptions and explanations

Purpose: There are a substantial minority of children for whom lexical retrieval problems impede the normal pattern of language development and use. These problems include accurately producing the correct word even when the word?s meaning is understood; such children are often referred to as having word-finding difficulties (WFDs). This review examines the nature of naming and lexical retrieval difficulties in these and other groups of children. Method: A review of the relevant literature on lexical access difficulties in children with word finding difficulties was conducted. Studies were examined in the terms of population parameters and comparison groups included in the study. Results and Conclusions: Most discussions of the cognitive processes causing lexical retrieval difficulties have referred to semantics, phonology and processing speed. It is argued that our understanding of these topics will be further advanced by the use of appropriate methodology to test developmental models that both identify the processes in successfully performing different lexical retrieval tasks and more precisely locating the difficulties experienced by children with such tasks

Investigating the role of uncoupling of troponin I phosphorylation from changes in myofibrillar Ca(2+)-sensitivity in the pathogenesis of cardiomyopathy.

Contraction in the mammalian heart is controlled by the intracellular Ca2+ concentration as it is in all striated muscle, but the heart has an additional signalling system that comes into play to increase heart rate and cardiac output during exercise or stress. β-adrenergic stimulation of heart muscle cells leads to release of cyclic-AMP and the activation of protein kinase A which phosphorylates key proteins in the sarcolemma, sarcoplasmic reticulum and contractile apparatus. Troponin I (TnI) and Myosin Binding Protein C (MyBP-C) are the prime targets in the myofilaments. TnI phosphorylation lowers myofibrillar Ca2+-sensitivity and increases the speed of Ca2+-dissociation and relaxation (lusitropic effect).Recent studies have shown that this relationship between Ca2+-sensitivity and TnI phosphorylation may be unstable. In familial cardiomyopathies, both dilated and hypertrophic (DCM and HCM), a mutation in one of the proteins of the thin filament often results in the loss of the relationship (uncoupling) and blunting of the lusitropic response. For familial dilated cardiomyopathy in thin filament proteins it has been proposed that this uncoupling is causative of the phenotype. Uncoupling has also been found in human heart tissue from patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy as a secondary effect. Recently, it has been found that Ca2+-sensitizing drugs can promote uncoupling, whilst one Ca2+-desensitising drug Epigallocatechin 3-Gallate (EGCG) can reverse uncoupling.We will discuss recent findings about the role of uncoupling in the development of cardiomyopathies and the molecular mechanism of the process

Portmerion, Proportion and Perspective

The holiday village of Portmerion was created by Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis (1883 1978) over a period of fifty-one years, starting in 1926. It was grade II listed in 1971. However, Portmerion has become a part of western popular culture rather than of mainstream architectural history. Its use as the setting for the cult 1967 television series “The Prisoner” ensures continued worldwide interest and a constant stream of visitors. Williams Ellis’ design methods were empirical, initial designs being adjusted by eye on site in close collaboration with trusted builders. This paper analyses the development of Portmerion as a gesamtkunstwerk; considering the experience of movement through the village as a dynamic composition of shifting vistas, focussing the visitor on a series of constructed views. Through this analysis, Portmerion is revealed as both a manifestation of the architecture of pleasure and an exercise in the pleasure of architecture