C.A.P.G. van der Mast

Virtual reality treatment versus exposure in vivo: A comparative evaluation in acrophobia

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of low-budget virtual reality (VR) exposure versus exposure in vivo in a between-group design in 33 patients suffering from acrophobia. The virtual environments used in treatment were exactly copied from the real environments used in the exposure in vivo program. VR exposure was found to be as effective as exposure in vivo on anxiety and avoidance as measured with the Acrophobia Questionnaire (AQ), the Attitude Towards Heights Questionnaire (ATHQ) and the Behavioral Avoidance Test (BAT). Results were maintained up to six months follow-up. The present study shows that VR exposure can be effective with relatively cheap hardware and software on stand-alone computers currently on the market. Further studies into the effectiveness of VR exposure are recommended in other clinical groups as agoraphobics and social phobics and studies in which VR exposure is compared with more emerging virtual worlds as presented in CAVE-type systems.

Virtual Reality Treatment in Acrophobia: A Comparison with Exposure in Vivo

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of low-budget virtual reality exposure versus exposure in vivo in a within-group design in 10 individuals suffering from acrophobia. Virtual reality exposure was found to be at least as effective as exposure in vivo on anxiety and avoidance as measured with the Acrophobia Questionnaire (AQ), and even more effective on the Attitude towards Heights Questionnaire (AHQ). The present study shows that virtual reality exposure can be effective with relatively cheap hardware and software on stand-alone computers currently on the market. Further studies are recommended, in which virtual reality exposure is compared with in vivo exposure in a between-group design, thus enabling investigation of the long-term effects of virtual reality treatment.

An interactive multimedia tutorial for user interface design

Abstract User interface design has always been difficult because of its growth by trial and error, the many possible approaches to user interface design, and its multidisciplinary nature: besides software engineering, disciplines like perception theory, media design, task analysis and project management are required. This paper describes an interactive multimedia educational system which offers learners a running start on user interface design. It focuses on the why aspect of design. Subsequently, this paper invites the software engineering world to consider the why component of design more highly than is currently the case. In the system described here, there is a design exercise to be completed, there are three experts available for guidance and there is a user group available which comments on the usability of the learners design. In addition, the learner is told various ‘war stories’ of design problems and experiences. In this way, we hope to resolve for the learner several misconceptions about design and about user interface design specifically. Testing results indicate that learners indeed reflect more actively on their design and consider more varied possible solutions to design issues.

SuperAssist: A User-Assistant Collaborative Environment for the supervision of medical instrument use at home

With the rise of Transmural care, patients increasingly use medical instruments at home. Maintenance and troubleshooting greatly determines the safety and accuracy of these instruments. For the supervision of these complex tasks, we developed a user-assistant collaborative environment (U-ACE). We designed three types of personal virtual assistants that vary in dialogue style and level of autonomy. According to the scenario-based design method, we did a laboratory experiment and evaluated the influence of the different assistant types on the usability of the U-ACE. Additionally, we examined if considering personal characteristics can help better gear the assistant to the users needs. Results showed that a cooperative assistant focusing on interaction and guiding the user through the required steps, was best suited and was declared the most preferred. Collaboration with an autonomous assistant that acts autonomously led to the most efficient performance. Furthermore, personal characteristics explained variance in the experienced usability. It is recommended that, while using the U-ACE, the users select their own assistant type depending on context and personal characteristics

SEPARATION OF USER INTERFACE AND APPLICATION WITH THE DELFT DIRECT MANIPULATION MANAGER (D2M2)

In this paper a user interface management system is presented based on the same object-oriented approach to the design of both the user interface and the application semantics. However, data for user interface and application semantics are stored and processed apart. The outstanding feature of the system is that the modelling technique is identical for both, using the same tool for semantic data modelling. The modelling technique supports most characteristics of the object oriented paradigm: objects, classes and inheritance. The diagrams used can describe among others the concepts classification, aggregation, decomposition, generalization. Attributes of objects can be described in property forms. Transition diagrams are applied to specify the interaction possible to the end user. From these specifications a run time version of the whole application can be generated. A protocol is used for the communication between application and user interface manager during run time. Some features of Delft Direct Manipulation Manager are demonstrated with the design and implementation of a small application with direct manipulation.

A computer assistant for remote collaborative troubleshooting of domestic medical instruments

Patients suffering from chronic illness, such as diabetes, use various domestic instruments as part of their self-care. For older adults, there is a need for assistance to use the instruments adequately and to solve technical failures. Following the eHealth concept, we designed a computer assistant for an older adult and a technical specialist, which supports remote collaborative troubleshooting which tailors the feedback to the userspsila needs. We evaluated two feedback styles, i.e., cooperative and directive, in the TNO experience lab, with older and younger adults playing the role of patient and technical specialist, respectively, in ldquofailure scenariosrdquo. Results show that most effective troubleshooting occurs with teams consisting of a older patient receiving cooperative feedback and a younger technical specialist receiving directive feedback. In addition, the patient experienced more effort than the technical specialist. Further, different personal characteristics had moderating effects on the evaluation of the feedback styles. Our study concluded that different user groups require different feedback styles and that computer assistance for remote collaborative troubleshooting will be optimal when this feedback is personalized.

Separation of User Interface and Application with the Delft Direct Manipulation Manager (D2M2)

Abstract In this paper a user interface management system is presented based on the same object-oriented approach to the design of both the user interface and the application semantics. However, data for user interface and application semantics are stored and processed apart. The outstanding feature of the system is that the modelling technique is identical for both, using the same tool for semantic data modelling. The modelling technique supports most characteristics of the object oriented paradigm: objects, classes and inheritance. The diagrams used can describe among others the concepts classification, aggregation, decomposition, generalization. Attributes of objects can be described in property forms. Transition diagrams are applied to specify the interaction possible to the end user. From these specifications a run time version of the whole application can be generated. A protocol is used for the communication between application and user interface manager during run time. Some features of Delft Direct Manipulation Manager are demonstrated with the design and implementation of a small application with direct manipulation.

Pattern recognition using a hybrid computer

A method is developed for hybrid simulation of a linear sequential learning algorithm. Up to 60 weights can be corrected very fast simultaneously. Computing times are mainly dependent on speed of presentation of the patterns to the analogue computer. One type of analogue circuit seemed most suitable for implementation in special purpose hard-ware. The method is convenient for interaction with the user.