Implement the vertical greenery wall (facade) to multi-stored building in Sri Lankan context

The use of vertical greening has an important impact on the thermal performance of buildings and on the effect of the urban environment, in both summer and winter. Plants are functioning as a solar filter and help to prevent the absorption of heat radiation of building materials extensively. Applying green façades wall (GFW) is not a new concept, where most of the developed countries have been implemented the vertical greenery to their buildings while realising its sustainable benefits. However, vertical greening can provide a cooling potential on the building surface, which is to be very important during summer periods in warmer climates. In this study, an analysis of the effect on temperature (air and surface) of vertical greening systems on the building level is presented. An experimental approach was set up to measure the temperature on direct and indirect GFW, using infrared thermometer and psychrometer. And the energy saving effect of the thermal resistance was identified by using heat transfer calculation. A comparison between measurements on a bare façade wall (BFW) and a GFW were done in the summer season to understand the contribution of vegetation to the thermal behaviour of the building envelope. Since the research was focused on quantifying the vertical greening systems and in the possible effect on the thermal resistance, the main conclusions that could be drawn from the selected buildings are presented. The evaluation was done in different locations, namely, in front of bare facade wall (BFW) and greened facade wall (GFW), and identified small differences of air temperature between façade walls. Further, it was investigated that inside and outside surface temperature of walls and finally concluded that the vertical greening systems are effective natural sunscreens, due to a reduction of the surface temperatures behind the green layer compared to the BFW. It was found that the energy recovering value between the BFW and GFW. The final result of energy requirement was less to the GFW than the BFW

Medical Students’ and Trainees’ Country-By-Gender Profiles: Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Across Sixteen Diverse Countries

Purpose: The global mobility of medical student and trainee populations has drawn researchers’ attention to consider internationalization in medical education. Recently, researchers have focused on cultural diversity, predominately drawing on Hofstede’s cross-cultural analysis of cultural dimensions from general population data to explain their findings. However, to date no research has been specifically undertaken to examine cultural dimensions within a medical student or trainee population. This is problematic as within-country differences between gender and professional groups have been identified within these dimensions. We address this gap by drawing on the theoretical concept of national context effects: specifically Hofstede’s six-dimensional perspective. In doing so we examine medical students’ and trainees’ country profiles across dimensions, country-by-gender clustering, and differences between our data and Hofstede’s general population data. Methods: We undertook a cross-cultural online questionnaire study (eight languages) containing Hofstede’s 2013 Values Survey. Our questionnaire was live between 1st March to 19th Aug 2018, and December 2018 to mitigate country holiday periods. We recruited undergraduate medical students and trainees with at least 6-months’ clinical training using school-specific methods including emails, announcements, and snowballing. Results: We received 2,529 responses. Sixteen countries were retained for analyses (n = 2,307, 91%): Australia, Chile, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, South Korea, Sri-Lanka, Taiwan. Power distance and masculinity are homogenous across countries. Uncertainty avoidance shows the greatest diversity. We identified four country clusters. Masculinity and uncertainty are uncorrelated with Hofstede’s general population data. Conclusions: Our medical student and trainee data provides medical education researchers with more appropriate cultural dimension profiles than those from general population data. Country cluster profiles stimulate useful hypotheses for further research, especially as patterning between clusters cuts across traditional Eastern-Western divides with national culture being stronger than gendered influences. The Uncertainty dimension with its complex pattern across clusters is a particularly fruitful avenue for further investigation.We would like to acknowledge our funders, Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (Grant No. MOST 106-2511-S-182-012-MY2)

Scoring method of a Situational Judgment Test:influence on internal consistency reliability, adverse impact and correlation with personality?

textabstractSituational Judgment Tests (SJTs) are increasingly used for medical school selection. Scoring an SJT is more complicated than scoring a knowledge test, because there are no objectively correct answers. The scoring method of an SJT may influence the construct and concurrent validity and the adverse impact with respect to non-traditional students. Previous research has compared only a small number of scoring methods and has not studied the effect of scoring method on internal consistency reliability. This study compared 28 different scoring methods for a rating SJT on internal consistency reliability, adverse impact and correlation with personality. The scoring methods varied on four aspects: the way of controlling for systematic error, and the type of reference group, distance and central tendency statistic. All scoring methods were applied to a previously validated integrity-based SJT, administered to 931 medical school applicants. Internal consistency reliability varied between .33 and .73, which is likely explained by the dependence of coefficient alpha on the total score variance. All scoring methods led to significantly higher scores for the ethnic majority than for the non-Western minorities, with effect sizes ranging from 0.48 to 0.66. Eighteen scoring methods showed a significant small positive correlation with agreeableness. Four scoring methods showed a significant small positive correlation with conscientiousness. The way of controlling for systematic error was the most influential scoring method aspect. These results suggest that the increased use of SJTs for selection into medical school must be accompanied by a thorough examination of the scoring method to be used

Medical student views of and responses to expectations of professionalism

Funding this study is part of the corresponding author's (EAS) doctoral programme of research funded by the University of Aberdeen, and supervised by EH and JC. Acknowledgements we thank all the students who took part in this project, and Professor Rona Patey, the Director of the Institute of Education for Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, for her support of this project.Peer reviewedPostprin

What information and the extent of information research participants need in informed consent forms: a multi-country survey

Background: The use of lengthy, detailed, and complex informed consent forms (ICFs) is of paramount concern in biomedical research as it may not truly promote the rights and interests of research participants. The extent of information in ICFs has been the subject of debates for decades; however, no clear guidance is given. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the perspectives of research participants about the type and extent of information they need when they are invited to participate in biomedical research. Methods: This multi-center, cross-sectional, descriptive survey was conducted at 54 study sites in seven Asia-Pacific countries. A modified Likert-scale questionnaire was used to determine the importance of each element in the ICF among research participants of a biomedical study, with an anchored rating scale from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important). Results: Of the 2484 questionnaires distributed, 2113 (85.1%) were returned. The majority of respondents considered most elements required in the ICF to be \u27moderately important\u27 to \u27very important\u27 for their decision making (mean score, ranging from 3.58 to 4.47). Major foreseeable risk, direct benefit, and common adverse effects of the intervention were considered to be of most concerned elements in the ICF (mean score = 4.47, 4.47, and 4.45, respectively). Conclusions: Research participants would like to be informed of the ICF elements required by ethical guidelines and regulations; however, the importance of each element varied, e.g., risk and benefit associated with research participants were considered to be more important than the general nature or technical details of research. Using a participant-oriented approach by providing more details of the participant-interested elements while avoiding unnecessarily lengthy details of other less important elements would enhance the quality of the ICF

Medical student rankings of proposed sanction for unprofessional behaviours relating to academic integrity: results from a Scottish medical school

The General Medical Council emphasizes the cultivation of professional behaviours among medical students from early undergraduate years. Learning professional behaviours, however, is a progression and is constituted of several developmental stages. Behaving with academic integrity may be the first stage. In an educational setting, academic integrity is represented by a collection of diverse behaviours. Although there is consensus within the medical community that the absence of (or lapses in) academic integrity is unacceptable, the level of sanctions recommended for medical students is controversial. In the main, these punitive decisions over students are taken by teachers and clinicians. What sanctions would students suggest for a colleague who is academically unprofessional? This study reports the sanctions recommended by 375/700 (54%) of the students of one Scottish medical school in relation to lapses in academic integrity

High fidelity simulation in undergraduate medical curricula:experience of fourth year medical students

Introduction: Application of theoretical knowledge to management of critically ill patients is a challengingtask for medical undergraduates where opportunities to learn clinical skills with regard to managementof emergencies are few. High fidelity simulation (HFS) is widely used globally to learn clinical skills in asafe environment. However, research in use of HFS in developing countries such as Sri Lanka isminimal.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the response of medical undergraduates to a highfidelity simulator in the context of management of emergencies.Method: A pilot group of 30 fourth year medical students underwent a high fidelity simulator session.They completed a self-administered evaluation, which included both open and close ended questionsand participated in a focus group discussion post-simulation. Descriptive statistics were employed toanalyze the responses to close-ended questions and the responses to open- ended questions andfocus group discussion were analyzed for recurring themes.Result: Students rated the simulation-based learning experience with high positivity. The self-competency of 29 (96.6%) students had increased post-simulation while providing a safe learningenvironment to all students. Majority (63.3%; n=19) felt it helped put theory into practice. Qualitativedata gathered from open-ended questions and focus group discussions further confirmed thesefindings.Conclusion: The study demonstrates that HFS can be used to provide a safe environment and asatisfying educational experience for students to learn medical emergencies, and as an educationalopportunity of translating theory into practice. Although HFSs are costly they appear to be cost effectivein terms of educational outcomes