From the Editorial Desk
T
his initiative is the first of its kind in the Society. The complexing outlook seemingly aims at covering all activities as they happened during our tenure and also introduce a continual platform for the general assembly in advancing useful communication and exposure of other non-academic elements that concerns individuals in the society. This project faced constraints on several fronts, however, the commitment remained paramount. A meritorious recognition to the 2020/2021 batch of executives, patron, stakeholders and editorial team for making this a success.
Elizabeth Acheampong (Past-General Secretary)
Kofi A. Mensah
(Office of the Past Public Relations Officer)
Chrisfield Joojo Fiti (Past Editor-In-Chief)
04 05 06 07 08 09 10 BMESS ART COMMUNITY HERITAGE11 OUR OUR RESOLVE 12-14 15 16 17 PROFILE OF PATRON
REPORT ON SOCIETY BY PRESIDENT BMESS HANDS-ON CLUB REPORT & WELFARE AND COUNSELING COMMITTEE REPORT
Content
FINANCIAL REPORT
ELECTORAL COMMISSIONER’S REPORT ADDRESS FROM THE PRESIDENT ELECT
ARTICLES
ASU GRADUATION FACULTY WEEK GALLERY
Profile of
Patron D
r. Mrs. Dorothy Araba Yakoba Agyapong is a lecturer at the Department of Computer Engineering and also the Patron of the Biomedical Engineering Students’ Society (BMESS). She has been the Patron since the 2017/18 academic year. As the Patron, she provides academic and social welfare support mechanisms that are customized to the needs of the students in the society. She holds Masters and Ph. D. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Nottingham, UK and the University of Electronic Science and Technology, China respectively. She teaches various courses in Biomedical Engineering and her research focuses on sensitive materials and biosensors. “I am very glad to superintend the implementation of this initiative in the society. It clearly defines our Prosperous past, our Preeminent present and the Prominent future. We look forward to maintaining and adding the more useful content to this project, to make a good representation for us as Biomedical Engineers.
BMESS TO THE WORLD!”
Dr. Mrs. Dorothy Araba Yakoba Agyapong BMESS Patron (2017/18 to date)
Report on the society by
President
T
he Administrative Body of the Biomedical Engineering Students’ Society (BMESS) for the 2020/2021 academic year wishes to express its bona fide appreciation to the entire student populace for a successful tenure in office. This undertaking was arduous but it also made us percipient in many ways. The avidity to execute our promises remained cardinal. The mandate given us for the period, saw the fruition of the following:
First Semester
• Formation of BMESS Welfare Committee • BMESS Coding Boot camp. • Emotional and Mental Health Awareness Seminar. • CENG Support System. • C- Programming Tutorials for Second Years. • Rebranding of BMESS Logo. • Co- Hosting CBET Skills Development. • Purchasing Arduino Kits for BMESS Tratech.
Second Semester
• Virtual Academic Mentoring Session • Inception of BMESS Protocol Team and supply of resources. • Field Trip for Third years. • Hosting two editions of BMESS Meet with the Alumni Series • Instituting an Alumni Committee in effect • Formation of BMESS Art and Design Committee. • Amendment of BMESS Constitution and spearheading huge financial reforms.
• BMESS Games Night / Conference League • Co- hosting CBET Week and winning Faculty Football Competition • First Place: Faculty games • First Place: WINE Marathon • First Runner-up in CBET Debate Competition • Vetting and Election of BMESS Executive Body 2021/2022 • Virtual Vetting of Appointees for the 2021/2022 Academic Year • Participation in GESA Quiz 2021. • Purchasing Public Address System for the Society. • Rebranding of the BMESS shirt. • The BMESS Magazine initiative.
Throughout the Academic Year
• Continuing BMESS Mentorship Scheme Policy. • Re-igniting Dormant Councils/Board: BMESS Judicial Council and Academic Boards 2020/2021. We could not have come this far without your sempiternal love and support for the society. We can then proudly, celebrate with you in our victories and also herald the mentality to not rest on our laurels, but conquer even greater frontiers in the next administration. Long Live BMESS! Long Live KNUST!
Benjamin
Appiah Yeboah
President
BMESS HANDS-ON CLUB REPORT
T
he BMESS Hands-On club functions as a specialized domain within the department, enhancing key concepts that extends classroom activities. The club is made up of members from first year to fourth year. It is managed and facilitated by a committee with a chairperson, a deputy and representatives from each of the year groups. We also have a patron who superintends and supports the club. The committee has over the last few years, equipped a good number of dedicated members with great knowledge and skill in Internet of Things (IOT), Electronics and Programming. Members with business and help startups find room to grow in the club. Resource provision is made for members with needs related to our function and what any Biomedical engineering student requires pertaining to studies. We make it happen!
Kaynor Torgbor Chairperson
Welfare & Counselling Committee
T
he core principles of the Welfare & Counselling Committee are realised in providing assistance to the well-being of members of the society. In equal extensions, we have provided counselling services to all. Members who seek emotional, psychological, mental, financial and physical support during their time as students are welcome. As a counselling committee, confidentiality is one of our priorities. In prospect, there will be many lovely events throughout the semester. Seminars, talks, health activities and other student-friendly activities will be conducted. These provide great opportunities to take a break from the intense academic workload and to invigorate. If you have any welfare and counselling related concerns, do not hesitate to let us know about them. We function under the supervision of our abled college counsellor and also our patron.
Jemila Abdulai Chairperson
Financial Report status of the society when assuming office for 2020-2021 academic Financial year
Statement of Comprehensive Income (Profits and Losses)
Quota to be left behind (25%): 1,586.28 Balance available for expenditure: 8,127.24 The table below shows a breakdown of all activities (and items) budgeted for at the beginning of the academic year and the monies spent on them. It must be noted that the budget served as a forecast or guide and therefore the actual amounts spent may vary.
The following should be noted: • 1. All amounts stated in this report are quoted in Ghana cedis unless otherwise stated. • All decimal values are rounded to two (2) decimal places • VAT is calculated as 18.5% of items indicated. This is however calculated as 6% of stated amount (A); 6% summed up with initial amount to yield (A+6%) and 12.5% calculated on the new amount i.e. (A + 6%) Activities/ Items labelled, as ‘Realized’ were accomplished and therefore paid for. Activities/ Items with asterisks** are VAT exclusive.
Balance available for expenditure 8,127.52
Total Expenses 7399.00
Net Profit 728.52
Balance carried forward for the next academic year: 25% quota + Net profit **Estimated income for the next academic year: Approx. 287 x 22= 6314.00 **Total estimated amount= 2314.80+ 6314.00 =8628.80 Supporting documents will be handed over to the financial secretary for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Emmanuel Koduah Financial Secretary
Electoral CommissionReport on elections
W
e took another exciting turn in our constitutional process of handing over administration for the 2020/2021 academic year. Twelve candidates started the journey, when the door was opened from Tuesday, 18th May, 2021 to Friday, 28th May, 2021. The candidates went through strict proceedings to validate their candidacy on Wednesday, 2nd June, 2021, in what will be a perdurable attribute in the coming academic year. We were honored to have: o o o o
Daniella Afriyie Asare Emma-Marie Deeku Aikens Wilson Komla Michael Senanu Anku
on the vetting panel. The BMESS electoral commission is specially appreciative, for spending your expertise and all-round efforts on us when we needed them. There was an outstanding overall performance although a few aspirants were unfortunately unable to sufficiently impress the panel. That notwithstanding, all candidates passed to the final stage of the electoral process where members of the society exercised their franchise.
DELALI DORWU FINANCIAL SECRETARY SUKA HOPE ORGANIZING SECRETARY OSEI KWAME BOATENG PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER ATSIKA CATHERINE WOMENS COMMISSIONER The new executives compiled a list of proposed appointees. These were also vetted and oriented before they were confirmed as appointed committee heads and assistant executives for the 2021/2022 academic year. In all, it has been quite an experience in the political circle and BMESS lives on. All these successes were realized because of God’s help and unwavering support from my two deputies: Hillary Addo and Agnes Clayman. It was wonderful working with you both. The entire leadership of BMESS, especially ‘Prez Benjamin’. He is an amazing leader. BMESS will always be grateful for having you. What a soul!
The results were processed that evening after which the electoral commissioner for the College of Engineering, Edmund Yaw Glala declared the provisional results. I am proud to announce that, the electoral processes for BMESS this 2020/2021 was sufficiently transparent, free and fair. We had the following candidates elected: MENSAH MICHELLE BOATENG PRESIDENT MICHAEL DEBBIE ELORM VICE PRESIDENT OSEI-TUTU POKUAA GENERAL SECRETARY
Daniel Apedo
Electoral Commissioner
Address from
President Elect I
have always been delighted at the prospect of a fresh start, with perhaps a bit of magic that comes with a new beginning. The Biomedical Engineering Students’ Society is definitely gaining new grounds. Fortunately, we can progress our exploits as a result of a stout foundation laid by our predecessors. Benjamin and his team deserve credit for the outstanding work they have done for the society. Now, whether we will continually be successful, rests totally on the steps and decisions we make as we enter this new era. As a result, I ask members of this society to join the new executives as we make these constructive and decisive moves. I encourage members to participate in our proceedings rather than stand on the side-lines. We are determined to keep the flag of this society flying high. I would like to thank everyone who has expressed their support thus far. I implore you to have faith in our ability to deliver on our promises. Thank you.
Michelle Mensah Boateng President Elect
BMESS ART COMMUNITY
A
proposal was made to unveil an Art Community on Thursday, 13th May, 2021. Discussions and consultations were made and Martin Opoku was appointed the chair for the community. The motive behind this initiative is hone the skill set of individuals who are interested and help build them for the mutual benefit of the Society. For the time being, The BMESS Art Society comprises of only skilled graphic designers, video editors and animators. Room will be made for beginners to learn how to design and make incredible influence through art as well. A social media platform has been created for such purpose. All discussions and further planning are communicated there. This is the beginning of something very new to us, and we urge all and sundry to give it true support when called upon. The team will ensure the BMESS Art Community initiative flourish.
Background Art by:
Glenn Dosoo 3rd year
Maxwell Gyimah Appiah 2nd year
THE AFTERMATH OF COVID-19;
WHO ARE YOU NOW? by Frederick Opoku Mensah
S
trucked by the noisome virus for a year and over and still peeping through the windows, we are not to leave our lives to chance. If 2020 was to be a word, then undoubtedly it will be Covid. Its effects on school activities rendered most students dormant with academic work for some time which affected their overall psyche. The least said about the change in the academic curriculum, the better. The irrevocable effects have really stressed lecturers to up their game and make sure that students are able to broaden their capacity in accessing various teaching and learning resources. On average, students are now equipped with the technical know-how in obtaining useful academic resources which is an improvement on other years. Many students also enrolled in online programs as a means to substitute the boredom staying at home brought. This was the subconscious motive for most of them. However, students have learnt a great deal of things they wouldn’t have in the normal academic year. One major blow in this pandemic was withheld public gatherings in the university. The severity led the President to enforce such laws. It was then incumbent to devise new strategies to move on that aspect. Our social relations remain undefeated as Technocrats. Timely anniversaries and funfairs were nearly
fading out and, in that regard, even witnessed a few of the populace flout the rules. This was not to become a norm as civilized as we are. Webinars and online meetings became the solution from the onset. Adhering to the rules consequently saw the restoration of our social proceedings but in reduced numbers. The impact of religion, the moral fiber of our society may be undermined but it plays an unequivocal role to support education to its excellent extremes. It was also at the receiving end of this pandemic. There were reduced allotted times of fellowship with “lukewarm worshippers” cascading into the system. With how the meetings are scheduled, these groups of people resorted to being truants and at worst, taking a break from religious activities. Covid and its effects has eulogised itself in the history books. Consequently, no one ever remained the same. It has been a such a huge toll on our distinct characters in the process of adapting. Longing relationships, growth, family, work and every element of our being. Accepting the reality of things have been realized by most and whatever we have become individually always remains a paramount question to ponder over. Indeed, the very uniqueness of our existence as humans, have been our ability evolve. The prospect of an adventurous future, unfolding every now and then is really something to look out for.
Most recent developments in the field of Biomedical Engineering Brain Implant Translates Paralyzed Man’s Thoughts Into Text With 94% Accuracy November 8, 2021 by PETER DOCKRILL
A
man paralyzed from the neck down due to a spinal cord injury he sustained in 2007 has shown he can communicate his thoughts, thanks to a brain implant system that translates his imagined handwriting into actual text. The device, part of a longstanding research collaboration called BrainGate – is a brain-computer interface (BCI), that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to interpret signals of neural activity generated during handwriting. In this case, the man – called T5 in the study, and who was 65 years of age at the time of the research – wasn’t doing any actual writing, as his hand, along with all his limbs, had been paralyzed for several years. But during the experiment, reported in Nature earlier in the year, the man concentrated as if he were writing – effectively, thinking about making the letters with an imaginary pen and paper. As he did this, electrodes implanted in his motor cortex recorded signals of his brain activity, which were then interpreted by algorithms running on an external computer, decoding T5’s imaginary pen trajectories, which mentally traced the 26 letters of the alphabet and some basic punctuation marks. “This new system uses both the rich neural activity recorded by intracortical electrodes and the power of language models that, when applied to the neurally decoded letters, can create rapid and accurate text,” says first author of the study Frank Willett, a neural prosthetics researcher from Stanford University. Similar systems developed as part of the BrainGate have been transcribing neural activity into text for several years, but many previous interfaces have focused on different cerebral metaphors for denoting which characters to write – such as point-and-click typing with a computer cursor controlled by the mind. It wasn’t known, however, how well the neural representations of handwriting – a more rapid and dexterous motor skill – might be retained in the brain, nor how well they might be leveraged to communicate with a brain-computer interface, or BCI. Here, T5 showed just how much promise a virtual handwriting system could offer for people who have lost virtually all independent physical movement.
A diagram of how the system works. (F. Willett et al., Nature, 2021, Erika Woodrum) In tests, the man was able to achieve writing speeds of 90 characters per minute (about 18 words per minute), with approximately 94 percent accuracy (and up to 99 percent accuracy with autocorrect enabled). Not only is that rate significantly faster than previous BCI experiments (using things like virtual keyboards), but it’s almost on par with the typing speed of smartphone users in the man’s age group – which is about 115 characters or 23 words per minute, the researchers say. “We’ve learned that the brain retains its ability to prescribe fine movements a full decade after the body has lost its ability to execute those movements,” Willett says. “And we’ve learned that complicated intended motions involving changing speeds and curved trajectories, like handwriting, can be interpreted more easily and more rapidly by the artificial-intelligence algorithms we’re using than can simpler intended motions like moving a cursor in a straight path at a steady speed.” Basically, the researchers say that alphabetical letters are very different from one another in shape, so the AI can decode the user’s intention more rapidly as the characters are drawn, compared to other BCI systems that don’t make use of dozens of different inputs in the same way.
The man’s imagined handwriting, as interpreted by the system. (Frank Willett) Despite the potential of this first-of-its-kind technology, the researchers emphasize that the current system is only a proof of concept so far, having only been shown to work with one participant, so it’s definitely not a complete, clinically viable product as yet. The next steps in the research could include training other people to use the interface, expanding the character set to include more symbols (such as capital letters), refining the sensitivity of the system, and adding more sophisticated editing tools for the user. There’s plenty of work to still be done, but we could be looking at an exciting new development here, giving the ability to communicate back to people who lost it. “Our results open a new approach for BCIs and demonstrate the feasibility of accurately decoding rapid, dexterous movements years after paralysis,” the researchers write. “We believe that the future of intracortical BCIs is bright. “The findings are reported in Nature.
Tips for Proper Referencing and Citations
Excerpts from“Properly Citing Your Research Paper” by Bidsha das-March 4, 2021
C
iting your sources may seem like a boring step in the writing process. It’s often tempting to avoid the task till the eleventh hour and end up in a hopeless rush to prepare a mistake-riddled list of citations at the end. Save yourself the stress with these handy citation tips that can take your research paper to the next level. 1. Follow with your Style Guide A style guide is a set of standards for writing and formatting a document. You’ll need one when you take up writing a research paper. Make sure you know which style guide you should use for your paper. Different styles follow their unique set of rules for formatting, in-text citations, and how to list reference entries. Some of the most commonly used style guides used by academics are MLA (Modern Language Association), APA (American Psychological Association), and CMOS (Chicago Manual of Style). 2. …and Be Consistent With It Your style guide is usually determined by an instructor or faculty members of your department. Sometimes you may have to roll with different styles for different classes. Whichever style you follow, make sure it’s consistent throughout the project. Double-check your citations at the end of your essay to ensure any last-minute improvements that may be needed before you turn in your work. 3. Be Careful With Period Placements It’s strange to think that one misplaced period (.) could wreak havoc on your research paper — but welcome to the world of academia! Pay careful attention
to where you’re placing your full stops and make sure they’re in line with the citation style you’re using. For the majority of style guides, like APA and MLA, the period is almost always placed outside and after the parentheses (brackets). You can remember this by reminding yourself the citation belongs inside the sentence that it is referencing. Example: Professors report that many students struggle with period placement when citing texts (11 Tips to Do Proper Citation for Your Research Paper, 2021). 4. If Needed, Cite Yourself Self-plagiarism is an actual thing and you may be guilty of it without even knowing what it means. It may seem strange, but if you’re borrowing an idea from a previous paper you wrote, without appropriate citation, you’re plagiarizing yourself. Say, you’ve been active in a research field for some time and your present work is an extension of previous studies. In such cases, you can reuse data from one of your previous papers. Just remember to cite yourself just as you would cite the work of others. 6. Map Your In-Text Citations Against Your Final Reference List Every time you include information from an external source, you need two things: an in-text citation/ footnote, and a reference list/bibliography entry. But it’s often easy to pop in your in-text reference and then forget the full reference at the end. This common mistake is easily avoided. Once you think you’re done, go back and map your in-text references or footnotes to each corresponding entry at the end. This simple check can save you a lot of hassle!
ASU-Graduation “An inspiration”
T
he 3+1+1 International Accelerated Degree Program (IADP) funded by MasterCard Foundation is a scholarship program between KNUST and ASU (Arizona State University). This program seeks to give students with proven academic excellence and leadership the opportunity to further their education to contribute to their society by giving back. Through this scholarship, a good number of Biomedical Engineering students from Africa have got the opportunity to learn new things and develop themselves with skills that have won them doctoral studies with renowned institutions in the US and awesome job opportunities with high class MedTech companies such as Mayo Clinic, Medtronic among others.
Faculty Week
Immediate Past Executives
Benjamin Appiah Yeboah- President
Bernard AgyemangVice President
Gladys ObuobiWOCOM
Elizabeth AcheampongGeneral Secretary
Kofi A. MensahPublic Relations Officer
Emmanuel KoduahFinancial secretary
Samuel TenkorangOrganising secretary
Past Appointees
Richard SefahAcademic Board -Head
Esther Seyram Academic Board -Deputy
Daniel ApedoElectoral Commissioner
Hillary Addo-Electroral Commissioner-Deputy
Victory SodeindeJudicial Council -Head
Jemila Abdulai-Welfare Committee -Chairperson
Rita BangaDeputy -WOCOM
Godfred WireduPolicy Advisor
Kaynor Torgbor-Bmess Hands-On Club -Chairperson
Chrisfield Joojo FitiEditor-in-Chief
Anthony Anokye BoakyeSports Committe -Head
Jerome Dosoo-Sports Committe -Deputy
New Executives
Michelle Mensah Boateng -President
Micheal Debbie ElormVice President
Pokua Osei-TutuGeneral Secretary
Delali DorwuFinancial Secretary
Catherine AtsikaWOCOM
Osei-Kwame BoatengPublic Relations Officer
Suka HopeOrganizing Secretary