WILLIAM NORMAN THOMAS TRAVEL AWARD REPORT
Luca Parisi, third year BEng (Hons) Medical Engineering
Cardiff School of Engineering
Cardiff University, Wales
12th International Conference on ‘Bioimaging and Sensing’ – ICBS 2014, 27 – 28th October,
2014, Barcelona, Spain.
I was awarded a travel grant to attend the 12th International Conference on ‘Bioimaging and Sensing’
– ICBS 2014 of the World Academy of Science Engineering and Technology (WASET) to present one
full scientific paper. The aim of the conference was to provide a platform for discussions on concepts,
methods, algorithms and applications of imaging and motion capture analysis systems for the scientific
and industrial community.
My research incorporates biomechanics, human movement, prosthetics and the use of artificial
intelligence analysis techniques to classify between two different prosthetic feet based on joint
kinematics and kinetics. As a biomedical engineer, it is important to network and discuss my work with
professionals using artificial intelligence in pathological gait analysis to discuss new advances in the
technology and new applications where my research can be applied. My aspirations of the conference
were to gain an appreciation of the research currently undertaken in the area of artificial intelligence,
network with professionals in both research and clinical fields and present one research study from my
summer research internship 2014 carried out at I.I.A.S.S. and Cardiff University.
The scientific program comprised of one keynote talk, which I had the honor to give, podium / oral
presentations and interactive sessions with e-posters. The sessions spanned a range of topics related
to artificial intelligence with an emphasis on its application to diagnosis and prognosis of different
pathologies, as well as medical technologies. I am very thankful to have been elected as program
chair of the conference and chairing an international conference with professors / lecturers and
researchers much more experienced than me has been a memorable honor.
I presented one paper during the conference, entitled ‘Exploiting Kinetic and Kinematic Data for
Managing the Rehabilitation Process of BKAs by Applying Neural Networks’, which was delivered as a
keynote speech. The paper describes an innovative classification technique based on neural networks
to predict the outcome of two different prosthetic feet by considering solely kinematic and kinetic data,
overcoming limitations of electromyography (EMG) surface sensors in pathological gait analysis. This
research study was developed and completed at Cardiff University during my summer internship. This
was the first time this study had been presented to an international audience of experts. It generated a
lot of interest and I subsequently gained several international contacts, with both universities overseas
and professionals from different fields, but who adopt with artificial intelligence-based methodologies.
The conference contained useful presentations on a range of topics related to biomechanics, imaging
systems, economics and fuzzy systems, along with modelling studies and current limitations
associated with artificial intelligence techniques. I attended presentations by leading researchers in the
field of artificial intelligence, including Prof Gia Sirbiladze and Prof Irina Khutsishvili from Tbilisi State
University, Georgia, who invited me to give a talk at their institution further to my presentation.
Attendance to this conference gave me the opportunity to gain further experience in presenting my
research. The opportunity to network with professionals in the field was invaluable as it is by sharing
our advancements and working together that improvements in classification accuracy and reliability of
our neural network models for diagnostic and rehabilitation purposes can be more readily achieved.
I hope that my contributions to the conference raised the awareness of SWIEET and the profile of
Biomechanics research at Cardiff and in the UK.
I would like to thank Prof F Mancini for giving me the opportunity to carry out this research work at the
International Institute of Advanced Scientific Studies (I.I.A.S.S.) in Vietri sul Mare (Italy) and both Dr
Catherine A Holt and Dr Gemma M Whatling for their mentoring and support, thanks to whom this
research work was completed during the summer research internship they allowed me to carry out at
Cardiff University.
I would like to thank SWIEET for their contribution to make my attendance to this conference possible.