Research in medical education: pratical impact on medical training and future challenges

Medical education research has changed over the years from merely descriptive studies towards justification or curriculum comparison studies and, nowadays, towards a slow introduction of more clarification studies. In clarification studies quantitative and qualitative methods are used to explain why or how educational interventions work or do not work. This shift is described in this paper. In addition, it is explained how research into workplace learning and assessment has impacted developments in educational practice. Finally, it is argued that the participation of teachers within the medical domain in conducting and disseminating research should be cherished, because they play a crucial role in ensuring that medical education research is applied in educational practice

A semiconductor device with an operating frequency larger than 50mhz comprising a body composed of a soft ferrite material

A semiconductor device (1) with an operating frequency above 50 MHz comprises a body (2) composed of a soft ferrite material, which body (2) has a surface (3) to which a semiconductor element (4), a pattern of conductors (5, 6) and a passive element in the form of a planar inductor (7) are fastened by means of a layer (8) of adhesive. In order to reduce the manufacturing costs of the semiconductor device without adversely affecting the performance of the semiconductor device, a soft ferrite material is applied having a ferromagnetic resonance frequency smaller than the operating frequency of the semiconductor device

Analytical models for the wake-up receiver power budget for wireless sensor networks

In this paper analytical models of the energy consumption are presented which uses a real world radio model with two different low power modes. This model is used to compare energy consumption of different MAC protocols. The MAC protocols used for the comparison are chosen with sensor networks is mind. The energy consumption of the nodes in a sensor network needs to be minimized to maximize the lifetime of the network. Emphasis is placed on MAC protocols, since they have a big influence on the energy consumption. One of the MAC protocols uses a low power Wake Up Receiver (WURx) which is used to decrease the total energy dissipation. The WURx MAC protocol is compared with two other low power MAC protocols, namely the asynchronous X-MAC and synchronous TDMA protocol. The obtained model is used to derive the WURx power budget. The response time of the nodes is used as the main design requirement and the important application parameters are given that determine the WURx power budget

Walking the tightrope with an e-portfolio:imbalance between support and autonomy hampers self-directed learning

Teacher coaching is essential to support self-directed learning, but requires a lot of time and energy. This mixed-methods study investigated the effects of using an e-portfolio with a self-coaching protocol and limited teacher coaching on the development of self-directed learning skills and motivation. With regard to self-directed learning, students' overestimation of performance on learning tasks grew over time, while their ability to formulate points for improvement did not change significantly. With regard to motivation, students' controlled (i.e. largely extrinsic) motivation increased while their autonomous (i.e. largely intrinsic) motivation decreased. Thematic analysis of interviews demonstrated students needed more support and feedback from their teacher. The use of suboptimal cues for performance assessment and an imperfect balance between autonomy and support hampered self-directed learning and motivation. We recommend providing just-in-time feedback about performance on learning tasks and giving students some autonomy over the choice of learning tasks, to enhance reflection and motivation

Analytical passive mixer power gain models

According to the well-known Friis equation the available power gain should be maximized to reduce the overall noise figure. Therefore, in receivers where an LNA is not present or its gain is low, the available power gain of the passive mixer is of interest. However, only the voltage gain is presented in many papers. In this paper an analytical model is presented for the power gain, voltage gain and input and output impedance of a passive mixer. The model is obtained using time-domain analysis since the mixer is periodically time variant. The validity of the models is checked using CMOS 90 nm transistor simulations

“For most of us Africans, we don’t just speak”: a qualitative investigation into collaborative heterogeneous PBL group learning

Collaborative approaches such as Problem Based Learning (PBL) may provide the opportunity to bring together diverse students but their efficacy in practice and the complications that arise due to the mixed ethnicity needs further investigation. This study explores the key advantages and problems of heterogeneous PBL groups from the students’ and teachers’ opinions. Focus groups were conducted with a stratified sample of second year medical students and their PBL teachers. We found that students working in heterogeneous groupings interact with students with whom they don’t normally interact with, learn a lot more from each other because of their differences in language and academic preparedness and become better prepared for their future professions in multicultural societies. On the other hand we found students segregating in the tutorials along racial lines and that status factors disempowered students and subsequently their productivity. Among the challenges was also that academic and language diversity hindered student learning. In light of these the recommendations were that teachers need special diversity training to deal with heterogeneous groups and the tensions that arise. Attention should be given to create ‘the right mix’ for group learning in diverse student populations. The findings demonstrate that collaborative heterogeneous learning has two sides that need to be balanced. On the positive end we have the ‘ideology’ behind mixing diverse students and on the negative the ‘practice’ behind mixing students. More research is needed to explore these variations and their efficacy in more detail