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Abstract
The project aims to produce a review on current literature surrounding the technology used to measure the common symptoms of Parkinson's Disease (PD) as well as in the rehabilitation of People with Parkinson's Disease (PwP). Literature surrounding the analysis of Gait of PwP, mathematics behind sensors used in the aforementioned technology as well as machine learning were also covered in depth. There were 3 phases in total, to conduct a literature review on PD, in-depth studies on certain aspects of PD, and a PowerPoint presentation. The project was heavily research-based and there were not many hands-on moments, but through the heavy and in-depth research we did to complete our tasks, we have gained a deeper insight into Parkinson's Disease and how it is dealt with.
Background information of the organisation
Department of Electrical Engineering (changed to Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2000) was established in 1969, as one of the three departments of the Faculty of Engineering (FoE), in the Singapore University (predecessor of the National University of Singapore) with an inaugural batch of about 30 students and 10-15 academic staff members embarking on campus life at the old Singapore Polytechnic campus at Prince Edward Road, next to the Singapore Conference Hall. The founding Head of Department was Professor (Dr) Jimmy WY Chen.
The Department (together with FoE) moved to the current Kent Ridge Campus in 1977
Currently, ECE is the largest department in the Faculty of Engineering at NUS with over 80 tenure-track and teaching faculty and 1700 undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students.
ECE is a research-intensive department. Their faculty and research staff and students are engaged in cutting-edge research activities that span a diversity of areas. These include Communications & Networks; Control, Intelligent Systems & Robotics; Integrated Circuits & Embedded Systems; Power & Energy Systems; Microelectronic Technologies & Devices; Microwave & RF; and Signal Analysis & Machine Intelligence. By leveraging on expertise in these core areas, ECE engages industry and government agencies to address challenges embodied in the Smart Nation initiative such as the creation of intelligent built environments, transportation, urban sustainability, security, and health-care. ECE attracts more than S$30m of new competitive research grants every year. This level of funding together with their well-equipped facilities have raised their research profile to place them amongst the top Electrical & Computer Engineering departments globally.
Electrical Engineering is about innovation and creation of service and technology to address multifarious key engineering issues that societies face today. It is grounded in the principles of sciences and mathematics. ECE is unarguably the driving force behind most modern inventions. Computer technology and the world wide web are two ECE related inventions that have evolved rapidly and revolutionised our world. ECE is thus a discipline that has plenty to offer in terms of discovery, innovations, and creativity.
Background information of the project
The project aims to produce a review on current literature surrounding the technology used to measure the common symptoms of Parkinson's Disease (PD) as well as in the rehabilitation of People with Parkinson's Disease (PwP). Literature surrounding the analysis of Gait of PwP, mathematics behind sensors used in the aforementioned technology as well as machine learning were also covered in depth. In the first phase, 31 articles about the pathology of PD, methods of detection and analysis of PD, as well as the limitations of said methods. We proceeded to use websites that provide scientific articles from reputable sources such as sciencedirect.com, PUBMED.com etc. for the literature sources of which we did in depth studies in our second phase. The research culminated in a PowerPoint presentation which we completed in our third phase.
The rationale behind this literature review is to identify need for additional research in the field of technologies benefiting PwPs, identify the relationship of works in context of its contribution to the topic and to other works as well as placing future research from ECE NUS within the context of existing literature making a case for why further study is needed.
Activities done
We were attached to Prof. Arthur Tay and Assoc. Prof. Jermyn Lai for the duration of the attachment. The project aims to understand Parkinson’s Disease, how it is being treated, technological devices used and research done to improve data collected on Parkinson’s Disease. The value of such a project is to understand as well as assist these patients in further researching on these already existing systems that may be more accessible to general patients in financial terms.
Phase 1
During our first meeting with Assoc. Prof. Jermyn Lai we received the task of conducting a literature review on Parkinson's Disease. We later received 31 articles about the pathology of PD, methods of detection and analysis of PD, as well as the limitations of said methods to be used in our literature review. From there, we split the articles evenly among ourselves, 6 for the each of us, except Jonas who received 7.
All of the information we read and gone through were then compiled together for our literature review, as seen on the right. For this phase, I contributed to the current methods of assessment and treatment, gait analysis, GaitAssist, Mobility Lab, Kinesia HomeView, and biomarkers. Gait analysis is useful for PD as the neurodegenerative disease is known to affect a patient's movement. GaitAssist, Mobility Lab, and Kinesia HomeView are all systems that can be used to record and analyse gait, and biomarkers can be used to evaluate Parkinson's disease.
This phase was carried out in the school premises, from 8 Jan 2020 to 12 Jan 2020.
Phase 2
The second phase of the project was the in-depth research. Each person got assigned a specific topic to look up on in relation to PD, with the exception of Jonas and I, who were both assigned to research on the mathematics behind sensors used in PD detection technology.
The slides on the left show the finished product of this research, which we had to summarise for the final phase.
This phase was carried out from 13 Jan 2020 to 16 Jan 2020.
Phase 3
For the final phase, we were tasked to combine all our research into one presentation. To do this, we had to cut down on our slides, and filtered out all the information, such that only the most important information has been left over.
Hence, the slides for each sensor has been cut such that only the main functions of each sensor is explained. Additionally, the formatting of the slides have been improved such that every graph now stands beside the explanation of the graph.
This phase was carried out from 17 Jan 2020 to 31 Jan 2020.
Final report
Additionally, we compiled a final report of our WOW attachment which described and explained everything we have in our slides. This report consists of all the information we have gathered throughout our entire WOW! attachment period.
For this, I added in the equations used in gait analysis and explained what each of them do. These equations are for Normalised Jerk Score (NJS), Freezing of Gait criterion (FOGC), stance phase estimation, and knee angle estimation. When all these equations are used in conjunction with each other, and machine learning is applied to each of the data sets, we can predict when a Freezing of Gait episode will happen. These predictions can then be fed into rehabilitation systems to determine when the patient will require support from the system.
My other group members worked on current technologies used for detection, assessment, and rehabilitation, gait movement, and machine learning.
This report has been updated throughout the entire duration of WOW!
Final Takeaways
3 content knowledge / skills learnt
- How to conduct a literature review
- How to create an effective presentation and slide show
- The effect Parkinson's disease can have on patients
2 interesting aspects of my learning
- We got to work with a professor
- We had the ability to visit the faculty
1 takeaway for life
- Don't always expect what you are told
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