Search Results (1,975)

To address the issues of unclear risk-coupling mechanisms and the subjective-objective imbalance in evaluation weights for underground gas storage, this paper proposes an assessment method integrating network analysis with game-theory-based fusion weighting. A comprehensive geology–wellbore–surface–auxiliary whole-system risk inventory is first established. Meanwhile, the cross-system risk conduction network is analyzed based on the identification of material, energy, and information flows among subsystems. Subsequently, fault tree analysis (FTA) and expert risk scoring (ERS) are integrated to form a coupling network-guided game theory-based weighting model (CN-GT). This mechanism introduces a game-theoretic deviation-minimization model to reconcile conflicts between subjective and objective information sources and explicitly incorporates risk conduction paths into the weight-aggregation process to quantitatively correct cross-system coupling effects. A case study is conducted at the Xiangguosi gas storage facility. Results from ablation experiments and benchmark method comparisons demonstrate that the cross-system coupling effect is significant; the weight of the risk factor “systemic risk caused by improper compressor operation” ranks first after integration, a contribution severely underestimated by traditional methods. Furthermore, the risk prioritization clearly identifies wellbore integrity and critical equipment reliability as the primary control points. This study provides a quantifiable and decision-support tool for the systematic risk management and control of gas storage. Full article

In large-scale fluid transport systems, distributed pump and valve stations must coordinate their operations to prevent overpressure while minimizing energy use and control effort. This paper presents a communication-aware, game-theoretic coordination framework in which stations act as rational agents that iteratively adjust operating setpoints based on locally computed utilities. Existing station-level pressure controllers regulate local pressures and flows, while a slower supervisory negotiation layer governs inter-station coordination using steady-state hydraulic surrogates derived from pump affinity laws and pipeline loss relationships. The proposed framework does not rely on centralized optimization or exhaustive enumeration of strategies. Instead, stations update setpoints sequentially, evaluating incremental changes in utility to determine beneficial adjustments and detect equilibrium conditions. Cooperative behavior emerges naturally when communication is available, enabling stations to internalize the hydraulic impact of their actions on neighboring stations. When communication is lost, the system transitions seamlessly to a non-cooperative mode in which each station optimizes its local objective while maintaining safe operation. Simulation studies conducted on a multi-station pipeline with mixed actuator types demonstrate measurable performance improvements over fixed-setpoint operation. Cooperative coordination reduces total system energy usage from 39.6 MW to 38.8 MW while increasing average control valve openness from 60.4% to 63.7%. Non-cooperative operation converges more rapidly but results in higher energy consumption (39.2 MW) and greater valve throttling. Under partial communication loss, the system preserves near-cooperative energy performance (38.8 MW) with a modest increase in convergence time, demonstrating robustness to degraded communication. Across all simulated scenarios, the iterative game converged to stationary operating points consistent with Nash-equilibrium behavior in non-cooperative settings and Pareto-stationary solutions in cooperative communication settings. Full article

The Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) general contracting model has emerged as the dominant delivery method for large-scale infrastructure and industrial projects in China. However, contemporary EPC project cost control remains plagued by critical industry challenges, including fragmented cross-stage coordination, pervasive data silos, and the shallow integration of digital technologies into core management processes. This study considers three key stakeholders—government regulators, project owners, and EPC general contractors—and develops a tripartite evolutionary game model to analyze the strategic interactions underlying intelligent cost control in EPC projects. We examine the evolutionary stability of each stakeholder’s strategy selection, explore how various factors influence tripartite strategic choices, and further investigate the stability of equilibrium points in the game system. The key findings are summarized as follows: (1) Strengthening government incentives and penalties simultaneously promotes owners’ investment in intelligent cost control systems and general contractors’ active collaborative cost management. However, excessive incentive intensity undermines the government’s regulatory effectiveness. (2) Establishing a revenue-sharing mechanism for excess cost savings fully stimulates the spontaneous cooperation willingness of owners and general contractors, serving as the cornerstone for market-oriented operation of intelligent cost control. (3) Reducing owners’ intelligent construction investment costs and general contractors’ collaborative control costs effectively addresses practical implementation barriers and accelerates the digital upgrading of engineering cost management. Finally, numerical simulations are performed using MATLAB R2020b to validate theoretical findings. Full article

Pediatric phlebotomy is a common invasive procedure frequently associated with pain, anxiety, and fear, which may negatively affect children’s cooperation and overall healthcare experiences. Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a promising non-pharmacological intervention capable of providing immersive distraction and emotional engagement during painful medical procedures. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of immersive VR in reducing pain perception and anxiety-related outcomes among pediatric patients undergoing phlebotomy procedures. This review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The research question was developed using the PICO framework. Randomized controlled trials and comparative controlled studies published between January 2020 and September 2025 were identified through systematic searches of PubMed and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL). Studies involving children and adolescents aged 4–17 years undergoing phlebotomy or venipuncture procedures were eligible for inclusion. A total of six studies comprising 557 pediatric participants were included in the review. The VR interventions involved immersive and interactive environments, including educational simulations, animated scenarios, and game-based experiences delivered through head-mounted displays. Four studies reported statistically significant reductions in pain and/or anxiety among participants exposed to VR compared with control groups, whereas two studies found no significant differences. Across the included studies, VR interventions were generally well accepted by children, parents, and healthcare professionals, with only mild and transient adverse effects reported. However, substantial heterogeneity was observed regarding clinical settings, VR technologies, intervention protocols, and outcome assessment methods. The current evidence suggests that immersive VR is a promising adjunctive strategy for reducing pain and anxiety during pediatric phlebotomy procedures. Nevertheless, the available evidence remains limited by methodological heterogeneity and relatively small sample sizes. Future research should focus on larger, well-designed randomized controlled trials using standardized intervention protocols and outcome measures to support evidence-based implementation of VR in pediatric clinical practice. Full article

The growing penetration of renewable generation changes both producers’ marginal-cost and electricity-market price formation. This paper develops a mean field game model to examine how heterogeneous generators adjust marginal generation costs through renewable-oriented investment and how these decisions feed back into bid-stack clearing. Each generator controls the drift of its marginal cost, while the clearing price is determined by a demand-dependent quantile of the population cost distribution. The model leads to a coupled system with a non-local payoff. Simulations show that cost-reduction investment shifts the marginal-cost distribution toward lower-cost regions, but the widening distribution indicates heterogeneous effects. Generators below and close to the clearing margin have stronger incentives to reduce costs, whereas high-cost generators far above the margin face weaker incentives. These results suggest that market competition can support renewable-oriented cost reduction, but complementary policies may be needed for high-cost generators. Full article

Background: Strychnos madagascariensis Poir (Loganiaceae) is a drought-tolerant indigenous fruit tree of East and southern Africa, valued for its food, medicinal, and socio-economic contributions to rural communities. Despite its importance as a candidate food crop, intraspecific morphological and genetic diversity had not previously been characterized, and no simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers had been developed for this species, leaving breeders and conservation planners without the basic diversity baseline needed to prioritize material for domestication. Methods: This study assessed vegetative and reproductive trait variation, variance components, and broad-sense heritability, and SSR-based genetic diversity among 27 morphologically defined S. madagascariensis morphotypes at Bonamanzi Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Three trees were measured per morphotype (81 trees total), over two growing seasons. Genetic diversity was characterized in one representative tree per morphotype using seventeen newly developed SSR loci, the first such markers reported for this species, and analyzed with population structure (STRUCTURE version 2.3.4), PCA, and Nei’s genetic distance. Results: Twenty-seven morphotypes were identified based on leaf colour, shape, hairiness and size, dominated by grey (41%), elongated (59%), less hairy (48%), and medium-sized (>50–90 mm) leaves. Fruit diameter and mass showed the highest inter-morphotype variation (r = 0.949) and also the highest broad-sense heritability (H² = 55.3% and 47.8%, respectively), indicating strong genetic control of these traits and their suitability as targets for selective breeding. Environmental variance exceeded genotypic variance for most traits. A total of 144 alleles were identified across 17 SSR loci (mean 4.24 alleles/locus; mean PIC = 0.31). Population structure gave a preliminary, tentative signal of two genetic clusters (K = 2) with substantial admixture, which we interpret cautiously, given the limited sampling depth. Conclusions: This is the first study to characterize intraspecific morphological variation in S. madagascariensis and the first to develop SSR markers for the species. The results provide a preliminary, single-site framework for conservation genetics and crop improvement that should be validated with larger, multi-site samples. Grey morphotypes GyEvH1, GyEvH2, GyEvH3, GyRlH1 and GyEH2 combined consistent fruiting performance with favourable fruit-trait values and are proposed as priority candidates for further evaluation in domestication and breeding programmes. Full article

Background: This randomized controlled trial aimed to evaluate the effects of a school physician-led counseling intervention on total cholesterol (TC) levels, adherence to the Mediterranean diet, physical activity, and sedentary behavior in children aged 6–7 years with elevated cholesterol levels in a Mediterranean setting. Methods: A one-year randomized controlled study was conducted among children aged 6–7 years with elevated TC levels, excluding those with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). Participants were randomly assigned to either a control group (n = 38) or an intervention group (n = 39). All participants received standard care consisting of educational materials and baseline counseling, while the intervention group additionally participated in three structured follow-up counseling sessions conducted by school physicians during the one-year study period. Counseling focused on Mediterranean dietary habits, implementation of basic dietary principles in cases of elevated TC levels, promotion of physical activity, and reduction in sedentary behavior. TC levels were measured at baseline and at the end of the study. Dietary habits, physical activity, and sedentary behavior were assessed using validated questionnaires. For the primary outcome, a descriptive change-from-baseline analysis, unadjusted mean difference, the approximate 95% confidence interval, and Cohen’s d effect size were calculated. Results: At baseline, no significant differences in TC levels were observed between groups (p = 0.852). After the intervention, mean TC levels were lower in the intervention group than in the control group (4.977 ± 0.414 mmol/L vs. 5.137 ± 0.410 mmol/L); however, the between-group difference did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.089). The unadjusted mean difference at follow-up was −0.160 mmol/L, with an approximate 95% confidence interval from −0.35 to 0.03 and a small-to-moderate effect size in favor of the intervention group (Cohen’s d = −0.39). Descriptive change-from-baseline analysis showed a greater mean reduction in TC in the intervention group than in the control group (−0.364 mmol/L vs. −0.195 mmol/L). A statistically significant improvement in adherence to the Mediterranean diet was observed in the intervention group compared with the control group (p < 0.001). Favorable changes were also observed in several physical activity and sedentary behavior variables, including participation in organized physical activity, walking and running activities, and reduced television viewing and video gaming time. Given the exploratory nature of behavioral analyses and the number of physical activity and sedentary behavior outcomes examined, these findings should be interpreted cautiously. Conclusions: The school physician-led counseling intervention did not result in a statistically significant between-group difference in TC levels after one year, although the direction and magnitude of change favored the intervention group. The intervention was associated with improved adherence to the Mediterranean diet and favorable exploratory lifestyle-related behavioral changes. Nevertheless, the findings should be interpreted cautiously in light of the relatively small sample size, non-significant primary outcome, and exploratory nature of behavioral analyses. Full article

The growing prevalence of gaming disorder (GD) in adolescents is a global concern. Despite parents’ critical role in addressing GD, how dysfunctional parenting practices are associated with adolescent GD remains understudied. This study assessed the association between dysfunctional parenting practices and adolescent GD among Japanese male junior high school students. Data were collected in 2024 via web-based, self-administered questionnaires from 300 parents (183 fathers and 117 mothers), each reporting on one male junior high school student. Suspected GD was assessed using a validated parent report measure (i.e., the Gaming Disorder Scale for Parents). Dysfunctional parenting practices were measured using the Parenting Scale, comprising two dimensions: Overreactivity and Laxness. Mean factor scores of Overreactivity and Laxness were compared between the suspected and non-suspected GD groups using a t-test. Logistic regression models assessed the association of Overreactivity and Laxness with suspected GD, controlling for covariates. The mean score of Overreactivity was significantly higher in the suspected GD group than in the non-suspected group, whereas that of Laxness was not. After adjustment, overreactive parenting was significantly associated with suspected GD (adjusted odds ratio: 1.89, 95% CI [1.31, 2.74]). This study showed that overreactive parenting was independently and significantly associated with increased odds of suspected GD. Full article

The rapid expansion of the global gaming industry has intensified concern about Gaming Disorder (GD), creating a need for strategies that protect player well-being while remaining feasible for industry implementation. Using a PRISMA 2020-guided systematic review method, the study synthesised evidence from 40 peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2025 on responsible gaming interventions implemented by game developers, platform operators, and digital storefronts. The review identified four main strategy clusters: structural design features, behavioural tools, monetisation controls, and regulatory measures. Across the literature, some interventions, including break reminders, spending controls, adaptive warnings, and design modifications that interrupt continuous play, showed potential to reduce excessive gaming and support self-regulation. However, effectiveness was often constrained by fragmented implementation, inconsistent evaluation, jurisdictional differences, and limited evidence from low- and middle-income settings. Digital storefronts were notably underexamined despite their growing influence on access and monetisation. The findings suggest that isolated technical or behavioural measures are unlikely to be sufficient on their own. In response, this review proposes the Integrated Responsible Gaming Strategy Framework (IRGSF), which brings together ethical design, behavioural support, socio-technical coordination, and stakeholder governance to guide more coherent and sustainable approaches to GD prevention. Full article

While action video games (AVGs) can enhance cognitive control, mechanisms underlying gaming disorder (GD) remain unclear. Using the Dual Mechanisms of Control framework, two task-switching experiments dissociated proactive and reactive control among AVG players with GD, recreational game users (RGU), and non-gamers (NG). Experiment 1 provided initial evidence that, unlike healthy controls, GD players showed difficulty sustaining proactive preparation over extended intervals and tended to rely more on post-response interference resolution. Experiment 2 further supported this reactive dependence: after prolonged delays, switch costs in the GD group dropped to negligible levels, whereas residual costs persisted in RGU and NG groups. These findings provide converging evidence that GD players exhibit relatively fragile proactive control and a compensatory over-reliance on reactive control. Consequently, cognitive impairment in GD reflects a shift in processing mode rather than a generalized deficit, highlighting mechanism-specific targets for clinical interventions. Full article

This study examined the instructional effects of integrating a game-based learning system into a programming course, focusing on how tool-supported practice influences students’ learning outcomes and learning experiences. A quasi-experimental design was employed, involving an experimental group that used a game-based learning system for programming practice and a control group that completed traditional programming assignments. Both groups were taught by the same instructor using identical instructional content over an eight-week period. Pre-tests and post-tests were administered to assess learning performance. Baseline-adjusted and conditional effect analyses were conducted to examine whether the instructional effect varied according to students’ prior programming knowledge. The results showed that students in the experimental group achieved higher post-test performance than those in the control group, and the Group × Pre-test interaction indicated that the learning effect was conditional on learners’ baseline programming competence. In addition, students in the experimental group completed questionnaires on system use perceptions and flow experience. The findings indicated generally positive perceptions of the game-based learning system and a significantly positive level of flow during programming practice. The findings suggest that the GBPLS can support programming practice when it is embedded within a coherent instructional design. However, the observed benefits should be interpreted as conditional rather than universal. The educational value of the system appears to depend on the alignment among programming tasks, feedback, game-based engagement, generative AI-supported question generation, and teacher guidance. Full article

Background/Objectives: Caffeinated chewing gum is a practical, rapidly absorbed ergogenic aid increasingly used in team sports, yet its interaction with different small-sided soccer game (SSG) formats in young male players remains unclear. This study evaluated the effects of acute caffeinated (CAF) chewing gum on psychophysiological responses and kinematic profiles during intermittent (INT) and continuous (CON) 3-a-side SSGs. Methods: Twenty-four young male soccer players (18.4 ± 0.5 years) completed four 3-a-side SSG sessions separated by 48 h in a randomized, double-blind, placebo (PLA)-controlled, crossover design (CAF-INT, PLA-INT, CAF-CON, PLA-CON). Participants chewed 300 mg of CAF or PLA gum for 5 min, with mastication completed 5 min before warm-up session. The heart rates and kinematic profiles were recorded during the SSGs, and the ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), exercise enjoyment scale (EES), and visual analogue scale (VAS) to perceived mental fatigue (MF) were assessed post-game. Results: Compared with the PLA, the CAF increased the heart rate responses (HR), EES, total distance (TD), player load (PL), acceleration (ACC), and distances covered in selected speed zones (from Z0 to Z5), while reducing the RPE and MF. Significant format × supplementation interactions indicated that CAF-induced changes in high-intensity kinematic outcomes (TD, PL, ACC, Z2–Z5) and HR responses (HR_mean, HR_max) were generally greater in INT, whereas CAF-induced increases in low-intensity running distances (Z0 and Z1) and %HR_max were more pronounced in the CON format (all p < 0.05 for the reported effects; ${\eta }_p^2$ = 0.16–0.93 for CAF main effects [large effects]). The EES improvements were more pronounced in the CON format, whereas the MF and RPE reductions were more pronounced in the INT format. Conclusions: CAF chewing gum may be a practical acute strategy for modulating psychophysiological responses and kinematic profiles during SSGs, with the effects depending partly on the game format. Full article

Existing cross-chain bridges over-rely on static collateralization and post-event penalties, leaving them vulnerable to concealed on–off attacks and rational group collusion. To address these limitations, this paper proposes a Dynamic Trust Evaluation and Risk Control (DTERC) mechanism for heterogeneous cross-chain relay nodes. First, DTERC develops a multidimensional trust quantification model that combines temporal decay, robust multi-observer latency aggregation, verification accuracy, online stability, and an asymmetric one-strike penalty triggered only by cryptographic evidence. Second, DTERC constructs a threshold-aware N-player evolutionary game model to characterize the k-of-N signature structure of cross-chain relay consensus and introduces a dynamic staking function to reduce the economic incentive for collusion under bounded attack-value and parameter conditions. Third, DTERC designs a threshold-preserving FastPath mechanism to reduce redundant verification for low-risk transactions while retaining committee-level confirmation and challenge-based fallback. The empirical evaluation combines multi-agent simulation, smart-contract prototype testing, whitelist-compromise stress tests, malicious-oracle robustness analysis, network-jitter experiments, repeated trials, and parameter-sensitivity analysis. The results show that, under the tested settings, DTERC reduces the malicious transaction success rate to 0.15% under a 50% initial collusion scenario, lowers core contract Gas overhead by 35.7%, and reduces average end-to-end latency by approximately 10% in benign FastPath conditions. These findings indicate that DTERC improves the security–efficiency trade-off of heterogeneous cross-chain relay networks while making its assumptions and limitations explicit. Full article

The integration of wearable inertial sensors into sports performance analysis has enabled the automatic quantification of complex movement patterns, particularly in highly specialized roles such as the goalkeeper. However, the ability of sensor-derived metrics to characterize and differentiate goalkeeper-specific actions across different training contexts remains limited. This pilot study adopted a data-driven, multilevel approach to analyze external load and specific actions in a semi-professional female football goalkeeper across 39 training sessions comprising 148 tasks. The aims were: (i) to characterize external load profiles according to task type, (ii) to identify differences in mechanical demands across training contexts, and (iii) to determine the latent structure of goalkeeper-specific load. Descriptive analyses, coefficient of variation (CV), Kruskal–Wallis tests with post hoc comparisons, and principal component analysis (PCA) were conducted. The results revealed a clear task-dependent load gradient, with goalkeeper-specific tasks showing higher values than small-sided games and full-game situations, particularly for variables such as dives/min, dives load/min, and impacts +8/min. High variability was observed, with coefficient of variation values exceeding 100% in several indicators, reflecting the intermittent nature of goalkeeper involvement. Principal component analysis identified a two-component structure explaining 76.6% of the total variance, associated with specific involvement intensity and postural-control/movement-load demands. In this single-case pilot study, the analyzed goalkeeper’s external load was task-dependent, highly variable, and multidimensional. In comparable women’s football contexts, these findings support the use of task-specific inertial monitoring to verify and adjust female goalkeepers’ exposure to key position-specific actions, such as dives, impacts, accelerations/decelerations, and set-position demands, rather than relying exclusively on full-game tasks or generic locomotor indicators. Full article

Urban healthcare systems are fundamentally constrained by the mismatch between static resource configurations and dynamically evolving patient demand. Under the tiered healthcare system, traditional static planning methods struggle to capture the complexity and randomness of patient flows. While recent reinforcement learning (RL) approaches enable adaptive decision-making, they suffer from dimensionality explosion and unstable convergence due to massive action spaces and delayed spatiotemporal credit assignment in city-scale environments. To address this gap, we propose Twin–Game: a digital twin-driven hierarchical reinforcement learning (HRL) framework that formulates adaptive healthcare resource optimization as a “Twin Game” between a simulation-based game environment (Strategic Sandbox) and a hierarchical decision policy. First, we construct the “first twin”—an offline digital twin that serves as the Strategic Sandbox parameterized with Wuhan’s observed facility, population, and transportation data, while patient arrivals and disease profiles are generated synthetically under documented assumptions because individual-level clinical flow data are not publicly available. This environment integrates a dynamic gravity model with a two-way referral mechanism to represent the nonlinear coupling between hospital attractiveness, crowding levels, and patient choice behaviors. Second, we build the “second twin”—an Option-based HRL policy. The Manager (Macro-level Strategic Layer) uses a Deep Q-Network (DQN) for discrete spatial attention allocation; the Worker (Micro-level Execution Layer) uses Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) for continuous, fine-grained controls such as bed expansion ratios and personnel scheduling. The two twins interact in a closed-loop game, performing strategy search and game evolution under complex constraints to optimize allocation. Experimental results from the Wuhan case indicate that the Twin–Game framework outperforms static baselines and single-layer RL in reducing average travel times, enhancing resource utilization, and improving tiered diagnosis and treatment within the simulation setting. The results should be interpreted as simulation-based decision-support evidence rather than direct clinical validation. This study provides a data-driven, game-theoretic decision support tool for building resilient urban healthcare systems. Full article