Utilising a computer game as a therapeutic intervention for youth in residential care: Some preliminary findings on use and acceptability

Mental illness is common amongst young people living in residential care, many of whom are reluctant to avail of therapeutic help. The potential value of computer games as therapeutic tools for these young people has received very little attention, despite indications of their potential for promoting engagement in therapeutic work and improving mental health outcomes. This study aimed to fill this research gap through the development, introduction, and preliminary evaluation of a therapeutic intervention in group care settings. The intervention incorporated a commercially available computer game (The SIMS Life Stories™) and emotion regulation skill coaching. Qualified residential social workers were trained to deliver it to young people in three children's homes in Northern Ireland, where therapeutic approaches to social work had been introduced. The research was framed as an exploratory case study which aimed to determine the acceptability and potential therapeutic value of this intervention. The evidence suggests that computer-game based interventions of this type may have value as therapeutic tools in group care settings and deserve further development and empirical investigation to determine their effectiveness in improving mental health outcomes.

Design guidelines for developing customised serious games for parkinson's disease rehabilitation using bespoke game sensors

The research presented in this paper proposes a set of design guidelines in the context of a Parkinson's Disease (PD) rehabilitation design framework for the development of serious games for the physical therapy of people with PD. The game design guidelines provided in the paper are informed by the study of the literature review and lessons learned from the pilot testing of serious games designed to suit the requirements of rehabilitation of patients with Parkinson's Disease. The proposed PD rehabilitation design framework employed for the games pilot testing utilises a low-cost, customized and off-the-shelf motion capture system (employing commercial game controllers) developed to cater for the unique requirement of the physical therapy of people with PD. Although design guidelines have been proposed before for the design of serious games in health, this is the first research paper to present guidelines for the design of serious games specifically for PD motor rehabilitation.

An Ambiguity Aversion Framework of Security Game under Ambiguities

Security is a critical concern around the world. Since resources for security are always limited, lots of interest have arisen in using game theory to handle security resource allocation problems. However, most of the existing work does not address adequately how a defender chooses his optimal strategy in a game with absent, inaccurate, uncertain, and even ambiguous strategy profiles' payoffs. To address this issue, we propose a general framework of security games under ambiguities based on Dempster-Shafer theory and the ambiguity aversion principle of minimax regret. Then, we reveal some properties of this framework. Also, we present two methods to reduce the influence of complete ignorance. Our investigation shows that this new framework is better in handling security resource allocation problems under ambiguities.

A Game-Theoretic Approach for Threats Detection and Intervention in Surveillance

Threat prevention with limited security resources is a challenging problem. An optimal strategy is to eectively predict attackers' targets (or goals) based on current available information, and use such predictions to prevent (or disrupt) their planned attacks. In this paper, we propose a game-theoretic framework to address this challenge which encompasses the following three elements. First, we design a method to analyze an attacker's types in order to determine the most plausible type of an attacker. Second, we propose an approach to predict possible targets of an attack and the course of actions that the attackers may take even when the attackers' types are ambiguous. Third, a game-theoretic based strategy is developed to determine the best protection actions for defenders (security resources).

Game-­theoretic Resource Allocation with Real-­time Probabilistic Surveillance Information

Game-theoretic security resource allocation problems have generated significant interest in the area of designing and developing security systems. These approaches traditionally utilize the Stackelberg game model for security resource scheduling in order to improve the protection of critical assets. The basic assumption in Stackelberg games is that a defender will act first, then an attacker will choose their best response after observing the defender’s strategy commitment (e.g., protecting a specific asset). Thus, it requires an attacker’s full or partial observation of a defender’s strategy. This assumption is unrealistic in real-time threat recognition and prevention. In this paper, we propose a new solution concept (i.e., a method to predict how a game will be played) for deriving the defender’s optimal strategy based on the principle of acceptable costs of minimax regret. Moreover, we demonstrate the advantages of this solution concept by analyzing its properties.

Local Conventions in Game Play in an Evolving Dual Social Network Framework

People usually perform economic interactions within the social setting of a small group, while they obtain relevant information from a broader source. We capture this feature with a dynamic interaction model based on two separate social networks. Individuals play a coordination game in an interaction network, while updating their strategies using information from a separate influence network through which information is disseminated. In each time period, the interaction and influence networks co-evolve, and the individuals’ strategies are updated through a modified naive learning process. We show that both network structures and players’ strategies always reach a steady state, in which players form fully connected groups and converge to local conventions. We also analyze the influence exerted by a minority group of strongly opinionated players on these outcomes.

Improvisation, Indeterminacy and Game-Mediated Participation in Network Music Performance

This chapter focuses on the relationship between improvisation and indeterminacy. We discuss the two practices by referring to play theory and game studies and situate it in recent network music performance. We will develop a parallel with game theory in which indeterminacy is seen as a way of articulating situations where structural decisions are left to the discernment of the performers and discuss improvisation as a method of play. The improvisation-indeterminacy relationship is discussed in the context of network music performance, which employs digital networks in the exchange of data between performers and hence relies on topological structures with varying degrees of openness and flexibility. Artists such as Max Neuhaus and The League of Automatic Music Composers initiated the development of a multitude of practices and technologies exploring the network as an environment for music making. Even though the technologies behind “the network” have shifted dramatically since Neuhaus’ use of radio in the 1960’s, a preoccupation with distribution and sharing of artistic agency has remained at the centre of networked practices. Gollo Föllmer, after undertaking an extensive review of network music initiatives, produced a typology that comprises categories as diverse as remix lists, sound toys, real/virtual space installations and network performances. For Föllmer, “the term ‘Net music’ comprises all formal and stylistic kinds of music upon which the specifics of electronic networks leave considerable traces, whereby the electronic networks strongly influence the process of musical production, the musical aesthetic, or the way music is received” (2005: 185).

Aggressiveness as a component of fighting ability in pigs using a game-theoretical framework

Understanding animal contests has benefited greatly from employing the concept of fighting ability, termed resource-holding potential (RHP), with body size/weight typically used as a proxy. However, victory does not always go to the larger/heavier contestant and the existing RHP approach thereby fails to accurately predict contest outcome. Aggressiveness, typically studied as a personality trait, might explain part of this discrepancy. We investigated whether aggressiveness forms a component of RHP, examining effects on contest outcome, duration and phases, plus physiological measures of costs (lactate and glucose). Furthermore, using the correct theoretical framework, we provide the first study to investigate whether individuals gather and use information on aggressiveness as part of an assessment strategy. Pigs, Sus scrofa, were assessed for aggressiveness in resident-intruder tests whereby attack latency reflects aggressiveness. Contests were then staged between size-matched animals diverging in aggressiveness. Individuals with a short attack latency in the resident-intruder test almost always initiated the first bite and fight in the subsequent contest. However, aggressiveness had no direct effect on contest outcome, whereas bite initiation did lead to winning in contests without an escalated fight. This indirect effect suggests that aggressiveness is not a component of RHP, but rather reflects a signal of intent. Winner and loser aggressiveness did not affect contest duration or its separate phases, suggesting aggressiveness is not part of an assessment strategy. A greater asymmetry in aggressiveness prolonged contest duration and the duration of displaying, which is in a direction contrary to assessment models based on morphological traits. Blood lactate and glucose increased with contest duration and peaked during escalated fights, highlighting the utility of physiological measures as proxies for fight cost. Integrating personality traits into the study of contest behaviour, as illustrated here, will enhance our understanding of the subtleties of agonistic interactions.

The Development of TASTER, a Cognitive Training Game Using Human-Centered Design, Tailored for Children with Global and Specific Cognitive Impairments

Children with Prader-Willi syndrome often exhibit challenging behavior in response to changes to routine. This phenomenon has been linked to a deficit in task switching ability which has been observed in children with the syndrome. TASTER is a cognitive training game which is being designed with input from a group of children with Prader- Willi syndrome, which aims to train task switching ability and thus reduce associated challenging behavior.

Employment regulation, game theory, and the lacuna in employee participation in liberal economies

Employee participation is a vital ingredient of what the International Labour Organization (ILO) calls ‘representation security’. This article provides theoretical and empirical insights relating to social policy impact of worker participation, specifically the European Information and Consultation Directive (ICD) for employee voice rights. While existing research on the ICD offers important empirical insights, there is a need for further theoretical analysis to examine the potential effectiveness of the regulations in liberal market economies (LMEs). Drawing on data from 16 case studies, the article uses game theory and the prisoner's dilemma framework to explain why national implementing legislation is largely ineffective in diffusing mutual gains cooperation in two LMEs: UK and the Republic of Ireland. Three theoretical (metaphorical) propositions advance understanding of the policy impact of national information & consultation regulations in LMEs.

On lattices from combinatorial game theory modularity and a representation theorem: Finite case

We show that a self-generated set of combinatorial games, S, may not be hereditarily closed but, strong self-generation and hereditary closure are equivalent in the universe of short games. In [13], the question “Is there a set which will give an on-distributive but modular lattice?” appears. A useful necessary condition for the existence of a finite non-distributive modular L(S) is proved. We show the existence of S such that L(S) is modular and not distributive, exhibiting the first known example. More, we prove a Representation Theorem with Games that allows the generation of all finite lattices in game context. Finally, a computational tool for drawing lattices of games is presented.