Effects of a Personalized Fitness Recommender System Using Gamification and Continuous Player Modeling: System Design and Long-Term Validation Study.

BACKGROUND: Gamification and persuasive games are effective tools to motivate behavior change, particularly to promote daily physical activities. On the one hand, studies have suggested that a one-size-fits-all approach does not work well for persuasive game design. On the other hand, player modeling and recommender systems are increasingly used for personalizing content. However, there are few existing studies on how to build comprehensive player models for personalizing gamified systems, recommending daily physical activities, or the long-term effectiveness of such gamified exercise-promoting systems. OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to introduce a gamified, 24/7 fitness assistant system that provides personalized recommendations and generates gamified content targeted at individual users to bridge the aforementioned gaps. This research aims to investigate how to design gamified physical activity interventions to achieve long-term engagement. METHODS: We proposed a comprehensive model for gamified fitness recommender systems that uses detailed and dynamic player modeling and wearable-based tracking to provide personalized game features and activity recommendations. Data were collected from 40 participants (23 men and 17 women) who participated in a long-term investigation on the effectiveness of our recommender system that gradually establishes and updates an individual player model (for each unique user) over a period of 60 days. RESULTS: Our results showed the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed system, particularly for generating personalized exercise recommendations using player modeling. There was a statistically significant difference among the 3 groups (full, personalized, and gamified) for overall motivation (F3,36=22.49; P<.001), satisfaction (F3,36=22.12; P<.001), and preference (F3,36=15.0; P<.001), suggesting that both gamification and personalization have positive effects on the levels of motivation, satisfaction, and preference. Furthermore, qualitative results revealed that a customized storyline was the most requested feature, followed by a multiplayer mode, more quality recommendations, a feature for setting and tracking fitness goals, and more location-based features. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of these results and drawing from the gamer modeling literature, we conclude that personalizing recommendations using player modeling and gamification can improve participants' engagement and motivation toward fitness activities over time.

Motivational strategies and approaches for single and multi-player exergames: a social perspective.

BACKGROUND: Exergames have attracted the interest of academics, practitioners, and designers, in domains as diverse as health, human-computer interaction, psychology, and information technology. This is primarily because exergames can make the exercise experience more enjoyable and entertaining, and in turn, can increase exercise levels. Despite the many benefits of exergames, they suffer from retention problems. Thus, the objective of this article was to review theories and game elements that have been empirically examined or employed in an attempt to make exergames more motivating so people engage in sustained physical activity (duration of physical activity) in a repeating pattern over time (frequency of physical activity). METHODOLOGY: A literature search and narrative review were conducted. RESULTS: Five major theories and elements were prevalent in the exergaming literature: (1) self-determination theory, (2) gamification, (3) competition and cooperation, (4) situational interest, and (5) social interaction. These theories and elements are important for encouraging long-term play and show promise for designing exergames to promote sustained engagement and motivate physical activity. We discuss their strengths and weaknesses throughout the paper. CONCLUSIONS: The long-term effectiveness of exergame interventions is unclear mainly because of the limited amount of long-term studies. Better metrics are also needed to evaluate this effectiveness. We also identified particular attention to social factors and group dynamics, such as multi-player exergames and more effective player matchmaking strategies for increasing social connectedness, as a key area of future research.

Additivity in perception of affect from limb motion.

In this study, the notion of additivity in perception of affect from limb motion is investigated. Specifically, we examine whether the impact of multiple limbs in perception of affect is equal to the sum of the impacts of each individual limb. Several neutral, happy, and sad walking sequences are first aligned and averaged. Four distinct body regions or limbs are defined for this study: arms and hands, legs and feet, head and neck, and torso. The three average walks are used to create the stimuli. The motion of each limb and combination of limbs from the neutral sequence are replaced with those of the happy and sad sequences. Through collecting perceptual ratings for when individual limbs contain affective features, and comparing the sums of these ratings to instances where multiple limbs of the body simultaneously contain affective features, additivity is investigated. We find that while the results are highly correlated, additivity does not hold in the classical sense. Based on the results, a mathematical model is proposed for describing the observed relationship.

Identification of Chromosome Abnormalities in Subtelomeric Regions Using Multiplex Ligation Dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) Technique in 100 Iranian Patients With Idiopathic Mental Retardation.

BACKGROUND: Mental retardation/Developmental delay (MR/DD) is present in 1 - 3% of the general population (1, 2). MR is defined as a significant impairment of both cognitive (IQ < 70) and social adaptive functions, with onset before 18 years of age. OBJECTIVES: The purpose was to determine the results of subtelomeric screening by the Multiplex Ligation Dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) Technique in 100 selected patients with idiopathic mental retardation (IMR) in Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A number of 100 patients with IMR, normal karyotypes and negative fragile-X and metabolic tests were screened for subtelomeric abnormalities using MLPA technique. RESULTS: Nine of 100 patients showed subtelomeric abnormalities with at least one of the two MLPA kits. Deletion in a single region was found in 3 patients, and in two different subtelomeric regions in 1 patient. Duplication was only single and was present in 2 patients. Three patients were found to have both a deletion and duplication.MLPA testing in the parental samples of 7 patients which was accessible showed that 4 patients were de novo, 2 patients had inherited from a clinically normal mother, and one had inherited from a clinically normal father. Screening with the two MLPA kits (SALSA P036 and SALSA P070) proved abnormality in only five of the 9 patients. CONCLUSIONS: So, the prevalence rate of abnormal subtelomeres using MLPA technique in patients with idiopathic MR in our study was 5 - 9%, the higher limit referring to the positive results of one of the two MLPA kits, and the lower limit representing the results of positive double-checking with the two MLPA kits.

The Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Training on Increasing Self-Concept's Measure and the Attitude Style Toward Narcotic Drugs in Tonekabon Addicted Prisoners.

BACKGROUND: The existing studies have indicated that persons with positive attitude and believe to narcotics have more addiction than those with negative or natural attitudes. The aim of the present study was to specify the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral training on increasing of self-concept's measure, and the attitude style toward narcotic drugs in addicted prisoners of Tonekabon. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to assess the effects of cognitive-behavioral training on increasing self-concept and the attitude style toward narcotic drugs. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Statistical population included 450 persons. After screening, 65 entered the study. Among them, 40 persons were selected randomly and allocated in experimental and control group. Self-concept and gauge attitude questionnaire were used to gather the data. The program of cognitive-behavioral training was executed at 12 weekly sessions in 120 minutes for experimental group. The past-quest was executed after finishing training for two groups. RESULTS: The result using analysis of covariance showed that the difference between two groups on self-concept and the attitude toward narcotic drugs was significant at P < 0.5. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore it can be resulted that cognitive-behavioral training is effective on self-concept and the changing of attitude toward narcotic drugs.