Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 5. The Interface for the Clinician. (Akinladejo, 2005).
supply a patient research number (PRN). If a PRN is not found, the system will give
opportunity to either re-enter another PRN or add the current PRN to the database. There is an
optional button to exit the program. If a PRN is found or is added, the system then leads the
user to the Task Difficulty Level (TDL) screen where the user will specify the appropriate VR-
based task that the chosen patient will undergo. The tasks range from one (1) the easiest to
four (4), the most difficult. If an invalid TDL is entered, the system will default to TDL1.
The clinician can opt to change the patient from this screen or exit the program. The
appropriate TDL choice leads to the exercise mode, where the patient performs the chosen
exercise at its TDL level. The exercise mode displays the name of the current patient, the
exercise type he or she is performing, the target time for that exercise and the time the
patient starts the exercise. The exercise is to cover a window area with a blind, in the form of
paint. The TDL of the VR exercise presents the patients with four different rectangular
windows that they need to cover with a red blind. As the patients move the cursor over the
window using their legs, the window is being covered with the red blind; hence, the
patients paint the window area with the mouse until the window is completely covered. The
system informs the patients once the window is completely covered, and displays the target
time to complete the chosen TDL, the patients' start time, stop time and time taken to cover
the window. The user can reset the exercise for the patient or exit the system using the exit
button. On exit, the system writes the patients exercise data in an output file, which the
author exports to an external application for analysis. The task difficulty level is influenced
by the fact that the windows are of different sizes and the 'paint brush' has varying sized
tips. These pose challenges in terms of the time and effort required to cover the windows.
For example, TDL 1 has a wider window size and a thicker paintb\rush, while TDL 4 has a
smaller window size and a thinner paintbrush.
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