Introduction to Biomedical Engineering (2001-2002)
Dr. Amit Gefen
Instructions for Preparation of a Final Project
General Comments:
This project involves writing a “chapter” for an electronic textbook on biomedical
engineering. Each chapter will be written by a group of two to three students, and will
be based on a specialized area of biomedical engineering or one of the body's systems
or senses. Projects will be written as Word Documents and/or Hypertext Markup
Language (HTML) and will contain links to images (or movies, and even sound, if
appropriate).
Reports may be submitted in Hebrew or English, and are limited to 15 pages
maximum.
At the end of the semester, the best projects will be published on the World Wide
Web (WWW).
Possible Topics:
Following are some suggestions – new ideas for a project are encouraged,
but should be approved by the instructor
1. General
1.1. History and Overview of Biomedical Engineering
1.2. Ethical Issues in Biomedical Engineering
1.3. Career Development in Biomedical Engineering
1.4. OTHER ???
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2. Cutting Edge Technology in Biomedical Engineering
In order to become acquainted with the fields of biomedical engineering
appropriate for this course, each group may write a paper summarizing the latest
developments on a cutting edge technology or an emerging field in Biomedical
Engineering. The suggested source to start with is the IEEE Engineering in
Medicine & Biology Magazine. This is a magazine that is published every two
months, and is available in the Exact Science and Engineering Library of Tel
Aviv University. It contains reviews in Biomedical Engineering.
3. Specialties in Biomedical Engineering
3.1. Medical Imaging
3.2. Biomedical Signal Processing
3.3. Measurement of Human Motion
3.4. Measurement of Cardiovascular Function
3.5. OTHER ???
If your topic involves a specialized area in biomedical engineering, describe the
medical aspects of the biomedical engineering problem and why it is (or was) an
important issue. Describe the patient population, i.e. who needs this device or
measurement and why. Describe the history of the development of engineering
solutions, e.g. pre-computer solutions. What was tried and what worked? When
was the product or device first invented? When did it become available for
patient use? What physiological signals were measured? What type of transducers
and biosensors were used? What were the design considerations that were
important? What were the patient safety issues? Describe any failures reported.
How was the system calibrated? Not all of these questions may apply to your
topic area. Other information may be included.
4. Body Systems and Senses
4.1. Mechanics of the Ankle, Knee, Hip, Elbow or any other joint (select one!)
4.2. The Cardiovascular System
4.3. The Respiratory System
4.4. The Reproductive System
4.5. The Urinary System
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4.6. The Hearing Sense
4.7. The Taste Sense
4.8. The Vision Sense
4.9. OTHER ???
If your topic involves a body system, describe the anatomy, physiology, function,
and medical relevance of your topic.
TIPS and HINTS:
a) Make an extensive literature search. Do not limit it to the WWW – try to find
relevant textbooks and scientific journals in the library for Exact Sciences and
Engineering at Tel Aviv University. The following digital databases can be
helpful:
http://www.britannica.com
(Search Encyclopedia Britannica)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (Search PubMed for Relevant Scientific Papers)
http://igm.nlm.nih.gov
(Search Medline for Relevant Scientific Papers)
b) Indicate information sources in the body of the text by the last name of the author
if there was only one, the last names of both authors if there were two, or the last
name of the first author followed by et al. if there were three or more authors, a
comma, and the year of publication. List the references in the bibliography in
alphabetical order by author. The following can be used as an example:
R. E. Ideker, D. W. Frazier, W. Krassowska, N. Shibata, P.-S. Chen, K. M. Kavanagh, and W. M.
Smith, "Experimental evidence for autowaves in the heart," in Ann. NY Acad. Sci., Vol 591,
Mathematical Approaches to Cardiac Arrhythmias, J. Jalife, Ed. New York: New York Acad., Sci.,
1990, pp. 208-218.
R. E. Ideker, W. M. Smith, S. M. Blanchard, S. L. Reiser, E. V. Simpson, P. D. Wolf, and N. D.
Danieley, "The assumptions of isochronal cardiac mapping," PACE, vol. 12, pp. 456-478, 1989.
C. L. Nikias, J. H. Siegel, M. R. Raghuveer, and M. Fabian, "Spectrum estimation for the analysis
of array ECG, " in Proc. 7th Ann. Int. Conf. IEEE Engi. Med. Biol. Soc., 1985, pp. 824-829.
W. K. Pratt, Digital Image Processing. New York: Wiley, 1978.
c) Do not include direct quotes. Rewrite ideas and information in your own words.
d) Avoid first- and second-person sentences, i.e. ones that start with I, we, or you.
e) Spelling and grammar count!
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f) In case where the report is submitted in English, it is especially important to use
your computer's spell checker (do not use contractions, e.g. don't. The word "data"
is a plural word. Use "1980s" not "1980's". In vitro and in vivo should be in Italics.
Use gender-neutral language unless you are referring to a specific person).
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