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Title:	An ontology for virtual reality based training in ophthalmology domain : a case study of cataract surgery
Authors:	Youcef Benferdia (P92899)
Supervisor:	Mohammad Nazir Ahmad @ Sharif, Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Keywords:	Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia -- Dissertations Dissertations, Academic -- Malaysia Ontology Virtual reality Cataract surgery
Issue Date:	20-Jul-2021
Description:	Machines and people are always connected in the era of industry 4.0 (IR4.0). Fastevolving Virtual Reality (VR) programs are rapidly moving into health care. In ophthalmology, the concept of VR has already been around for decades. Virtual Reality Training (VRT) in ophthalmology, for example, expresses potential capabilities to improve the learning curve, increasing trainee confidence and acquisition of skills, and thus leading to the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes. However, VRT in this domain is still relatively expensive, with a lack of understanding; and it also lacks the ability of capturing training scenarios and learning contents (e.g., surgical contents) in an explicit manner. Moreover, the process to develop such a VR application for training and learning is complex and requires a long development life cycle, as a result of dealing with a very knowledge-intensive task; for example, capturing knowledge on the "know-how" among ophthalmologists (experts) conducting a cataract surgery. Bridging the knowledge between the ophthalmologists and VR experts is essential, and this has to be captured explicitly and represented in a harmonious and unambiguous form. In this context, ontology arriving from artificial intelligence, defined as "A formal, explicit specification of a shared conceptualization that is characterized by high semantic expressiveness required for increased complexity", has become a backbone of VRT. Ontology provides a shared and common understanding of a domain, and in this scenario, a standardized terminology for representing the training domain, and actions taking place in Virtual Environments (VE). Ontology also enhances the reasoning process and facilitates communication among stakeholders by providing terminological agreements. Unfortunately, although ontology has been called a significant modelling tool which can help fill the previous gaps, most ontology designs are not built systematically. The findings of the systematic review study show that: (1) There is no ontology that has been developed specifically for VRT in the ophthalmology domain; (2) All ontologies apply deficient foundational ontologies, languages and methodologies when developing ontologies for VRT; (3) There is a general lack of capturing perdurant knowledge in ontology design; (4) The role of ontology is missing in most of the phases of the VRT development life cycle; (5) There are key design elements that are considered crucial for designing an ontology for VRT. The lack of a high achievement rate in implementing ontology driven VRT calls for systematic and comprehensive steps. Therefore, in order to lower the failure rate of ontology applied to VRT, this research applies the Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) for developing an ontology for the Phaco technique surgery domain, namely, OntoPhaco. OntoPhaco was designed and developed based on philosophically grounded foundational ontologies, namely, Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO) and Design & Engineering Methodology for Organizations (DEMO). The demonstration and evaluation results of OntoPhaco were achieved using a case study of VRT in the context of cataract surgery, with and without the use of OntoPhaco. The result is that the use of OntoPhaco was able to improve the student's learning experience, assist effectively in building VR training scenarios, and lead to a successful VRT processes.,Ph.D.
Pages:	366
Publisher:	UKM, Bangi
Appears in Collections:	Institute of Visual Informatics/ Institut Informatik Visual (IVI)

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