Gonzalo ARIAS-ÁLVAREZ , Carla GUZMÁN-PINCHEIRA , Diego GONZÁLEZ-GONZÁLEZ , Waldo OSORIO-TORRES , Daniel PECOS-MARTÍN , José GÓMEZ-PULIDO , Claudio CARVAJAL-PARODI
{"title":"Effects of immersive virtual reality-based exercise on quality of life, stress, anxiety, depression, and handgrip strength in fibromyalgia: A pilot study","authors":"Gonzalo ARIAS-ÁLVAREZ , Carla GUZMÁN-PINCHEIRA , Diego GONZÁLEZ-GONZÁLEZ , Waldo OSORIO-TORRES , Daniel PECOS-MARTÍN , José GÓMEZ-PULIDO , Claudio CARVAJAL-PARODI","doi":"10.1016/j.vrih.2025.03.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.vrih.2025.03.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic rheumatic disorder characterised by musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and psychoemotional symptoms. Virtual reality (VR) has proven to be an innovative and motivating tool for managing FM, with several studies indicating that it can improve quality of life indices and reduce psychoemotional symptoms. However, studies on immersive VR-based exercise (iVRE) are limited.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of iVRE on quality of life, stress, anxiety, depression, and handgrip strength in patients with FM. A single-arm pre-post-test pilot study was conducted. Individuals diagnosed with FM were recruited using convenience sampling. The iVRE protocol consisted of 12 sessions of 10 min warm-up and 15 min exercises applied with the Oculus Quest 2<sup>TM</sup> device. The impact on quality of life was assessed using the Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, and the effects on stress, anxiety, and depression were determined using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 questionnaire. Handgrip strength was evaluated using the Baseline® dynamometer. The normality assumption was evaluated, and the pre-post means were compared using Student's <em>t</em>-test (<em>p</em> < 0.05).</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Eleven individuals (40.6 ± 11.2 years) completed the protocol (10 women). There were significant differences in favour of iVRE in quality of life impact (<em>p</em> < 0.001, Cohen's <em>d</em>: 1.48), handgrip strength (<em>p</em> < 0.05, Cohen's <em>d</em>: 0.26), depression (<em>p</em> < 0.05, Cohen's <em>d</em>: 0.73), and anxiety (<em>p</em> < 0.05, Cohen's <em>d</em>: 0.73).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>A six-week iVRE program significantly reduces the impact on quality of life, anxiety, and depression and improves handgrip strength in people with FM. Future studies should investigate the physiological effects using systemic biomarkers to explain the scope of this therapeutic modality.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":33538,"journal":{"name":"Virtual Reality Intelligent Hardware","volume":"7 3","pages":"Pages 267-278"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144491437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A new human-computer interaction paradigm: Agent interaction model based on large models and its prospects","authors":"Yang LIU","doi":"10.1016/j.vrih.2025.04.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.vrih.2025.04.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the advent of agent interaction (AIx) as a transformative paradigm in human-computer interaction (HCI), signifying a notable evolution beyond traditional graphical interfaces and touchscreen interactions. Within the context of large models, AIx is characterized by its innovative interaction patterns and a plethora of application scenarios that hold great potential. The paper highlights the pivotal role of AIx in shaping the future landscape of the large model industry, emphasizing its adoption and necessity from a user's perspective. This study underscores the pivotal role of AIx in dictating the future trajectory of a large model industry by emphasizing the importance of its adoption and necessity from a user-centric perspective. The fundamental drivers of AIx include the introduction of novel capabilities, replication of capabilities (both anthropomorphic and superhuman), migration of capabilities, aggregation of intelligence, and multiplication of capabilities. These elements are essential for propelling innovation, expanding the frontiers of capability, and realizing the exponential superposition of capabilities, thereby mitigating labor redundancy and addressing a spectrum of human needs. Furthermore, this study provides an in-depth analysis of the structural components and operational mechanisms of agents supported by large models. Such advancements significantly enhance the capacity of agents to tackle complex problems and provide intelligent services, thereby facilitating a more intuitive, adaptive, and personalized engagement between humans and machines. The study further delineates four principal categories of interaction patterns that encompass eight distinct modalities of interaction, corresponding to twenty-one specific scenarios, including applications in smart home systems, health assistance, and elderly care. This emphasizes the significance of this new paradigm in advancing HCI, fostering technological advancements, and redefining user experiences. However, it also acknowledges the challenges and ethical considerations that accompany this paradigm shift, recognizing the need for a balanced approach to harness the full potential of AIx in modern society.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":33538,"journal":{"name":"Virtual Reality Intelligent Hardware","volume":"7 3","pages":"Pages 237-266"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144491436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"DeFi risk assessment: MakerDAO loan portfolio case","authors":"Ignat Melnikov , Irina Lebedeva , Artem Petrov , Yury Yanovich","doi":"10.1016/j.bcra.2024.100259","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bcra.2024.100259","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Decentralized finance (DeFi) is a rapidly evolving blockchain technology that offers a new perspective on financial services through Web3 applications. DeFi offers developers the flexibility to create financial services using smart contracts, leading to a lack of standardized protocols and challenges in applying traditional finance models for risk assessment, especially in the early stages of adoption. The Maker protocol is a prominent DeFi platform known for its diverse functionalities, including loan services. This study focuses on analyzing the risk associated with Maker's loan portfolio by developing a risk model based on multiple Brownian motions and passage levels, with Brownian motions representing different collateral types and passage levels representing users' collateralization ratios. Through numerical experiments using artificial and real data, we evaluate the model's effectiveness in assessing risk within the loan portfolio. While our findings demonstrate the model's potential for assessing risk within a single DeFi project, it is important to acknowledge that the model's assumptions may not be fully applicable to real-world data. This research underscores the importance of developing project-specific risk assessment models for individual DeFi projects and encourages further exploration of other DeFi protocols.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":53141,"journal":{"name":"Blockchain-Research and Applications","volume":"6 2","pages":"Article 100259"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144190436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anna Maria Iatrou , Blerta Mehmedi Kastrati , Rreze M. Gecaj , Georgios Batikas , Jarkko K. Niemi , Claude Saegerman , Alberto Oscar Allepuz , Wiebke Jansen , Nancy De Briyne , Daniele De Meneghi , Murat Yılmaz , Evelien Biebaut , Ramazan Yildiz , Marco De Nardi , Carla Correia-Gomes , Tarmo Niine
{"title":"What are desirable biosecurity trainings for veterinary practitioners and farmers?","authors":"Anna Maria Iatrou , Blerta Mehmedi Kastrati , Rreze M. Gecaj , Georgios Batikas , Jarkko K. Niemi , Claude Saegerman , Alberto Oscar Allepuz , Wiebke Jansen , Nancy De Briyne , Daniele De Meneghi , Murat Yılmaz , Evelien Biebaut , Ramazan Yildiz , Marco De Nardi , Carla Correia-Gomes , Tarmo Niine","doi":"10.1016/j.jobb.2025.06.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jobb.2025.06.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Effective biosecurity training is essential for disease prevention in livestock systems; however, substantial gaps persist. We combined an online survey (74 fully completed questionnaires; 267 views) with two World Café workshops (∼60 participants) to map the current provision, competence levels, and training needs across Europe. Key findings: (i) self-rated biosecurity knowledge differed markedly between stakeholder groups and veterinarians and other stakeholders reported median scores close to 80/100; (ii) more than three-quarters of cattle (77 %) and 70 % of swine veterinarians perceived a major gap in their ability to demonstrate the economic benefits of biosecurity to clients; (iii) 39 – 44 % of cattle and small-ruminant veterinarians reported inadequate mixed (theory + practice) training formats, and up to 50 % of poultry veterinarians identified deficits in communication and behavior-change skills; (iv) across all discussions, participants favored modular, blended delivery that couples concise e-learning with on-farm coaching, supported by externally audited certification and greater farmer co-design. Therefore, recommendations focus on developing species-specific, flexible modules that embed communication and cost-benefit elements, provide micro-learning units for time-constrained farmers, and operate within a tiered certification framework linked to continuing professional development. Implementing these measures will narrow competence gaps, strengthen veterinarian–farmer engagement, and enhance disease preparedness throughout European livestock production.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":52875,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosafety and Biosecurity","volume":"7 2","pages":"Pages 91-106"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144614700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Atomic and privacy-preserving cyclic cross-chain protocol based on chameleon hash function","authors":"Mengyan Li, Maoning Wang, Meijiao Duan","doi":"10.1016/j.bcra.2024.100262","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bcra.2024.100262","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Blockchain-based digital assets have increasingly emerged in recent years, necessitating cross-chain swaps. Hash Time-Lock Contract (HTLC) is a widely used protocol for such swaps; however, simple hash time locks can allow attackers to analyze transaction paths, thereby causing privacy breaches and financial loss to users in some sensitive scenarios. To prevent payment path leakage, a privacy-preserving cyclic cross-chain protocol is proposed herein. This protocol primarily uses the Chameleon Hash (CH) protocol to obscure the correlation between users in the path, ensuring the privacy of cross-chain swaps. The protocol is divided into pre-swap, commit, and decommit phases. The pre-swap phase is firstly executed to determine the swap order. Then, users ensure atomicity via serial asset locking in the commit phase, and each receiver obtains swap assets from the corresponding sender via CH collision in the decommit phase. The security proof under the Universally Composable (UC) system demonstrates the correctness and usability of the protocol. In summary, the entire protocol ensures the atomicity and privacy of cross-chain swaps, providing a new principle and method to solve the privacy leakage problem caused by transaction path analysis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":53141,"journal":{"name":"Blockchain-Research and Applications","volume":"6 2","pages":"Article 100262"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144307954","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Harsh SHAH , Karan SHAH , Kushagra DARJI , Adit SHAH , Manan SHAH
{"title":"Advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) and machine learning (ML): The dynamic duo revolutionizing the automotive industry","authors":"Harsh SHAH , Karan SHAH , Kushagra DARJI , Adit SHAH , Manan SHAH","doi":"10.1016/j.vrih.2025.01.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.vrih.2025.01.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) primarily serves to assist drivers in monitoring the speed of the car and helps them make the right decision, which leads to fewer fatal accidents and ensures higher safety. In the artificial Intelligence domain, machine learning (ML) was developed to make inferences with a degree of accuracy similar to that of humans; however, enormous amounts of data are required. Machine learning enhances the accuracy of the decisions taken by ADAS, by evaluating all the data received from various vehicle sensors. This study summarizes all the critical algorithms used in ADAS technologies and presents the evolution of ADAS technology. Initially, ADAS technology is introduced, along with its evolution, to understand the objectives of developing this technology. Subsequently, the critical algorithms used in ADAS technology, which include face detection, head-pose estimation, gaze estimation, and link detection are discussed. A further discussion follows on the impact of ML on each algorithm in different environments, leading to increased accuracy at the expense of additional computing, to increase efficiency. The aim of this study was to evaluate all the methods with or without ML for each algorithm.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":33538,"journal":{"name":"Virtual Reality Intelligent Hardware","volume":"7 3","pages":"Pages 203-236"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144491471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Graph neural network-based transaction link prediction method for public blockchain in heterogeneous information networks","authors":"Zening Zhao , Jinsong Wang , Jiajia Wei","doi":"10.1016/j.bcra.2024.100265","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bcra.2024.100265","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Public blockchain has outstanding performance in transaction privacy protection because of its anonymity. The data openness brings feasibility to transaction behavior analysis. At present, the transaction data of the public chain are huge, including complex trading objects and relationships. It is difficult to extract attributes and predict transaction behavior by traditional methods. To solve these problems, we extract transaction features to construct an Ethereum transaction heterogeneous information network (HIN) and propose a graph neural network (GNN)-based transaction prediction method for public blockchains in HINs, which can divide the network into subgraphs according to connectivity and increase the accuracy of the prediction results of transaction behavior. Experiments show that the execution time consumption of the proposed transaction subgraph division method is reduced by 70.61% on average compared with that of the search method. The accuracy of the proposed behavior prediction method also improves compared with that of the traditional random walk method, with an average accuracy of 83.82%.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":53141,"journal":{"name":"Blockchain-Research and Applications","volume":"6 2","pages":"Article 100265"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144307967","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kai Ma , Jintao Huang , Ningyu He , Zhuo Wang , Haoyu Wang
{"title":"SoK: On the security of non-fungible tokens","authors":"Kai Ma , Jintao Huang , Ningyu He , Zhuo Wang , Haoyu Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.bcra.2024.100268","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bcra.2024.100268","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) drive the prosperity of the Web3 ecosystem. By May 2024, the total market value of NFT projects reached approximately $69 billion. Accompanying the success of NFTs are various security issues, i.e., attacks and scams are prevalent in the ecosystem. While NFTs have attracted significant attention from both industry and academia, there is a lack of understanding of the kinds of NFT security issues. The discovery, in-depth analysis, and systematic categorization of these security issues are of significant importance for the prosperous development of the NFT ecosystem. To fill this gap, we perform a systematic literature review related to NFT security and identify 176 incidents from 248 security reports and 35 academic papers until May 1st, 2024. Through manual analysis of the compiled security incidents, we classify them into 12 major categories. Then, we explore potential solutions and mitigation strategies. Drawing from these analyses, we establish the first NFT security reference frame. In addition, we extract the characteristics of NFT security issues, i.e., the prevalence, severity, and intractability. We highlight the gap between industry and academia for NFT security and provide further research directions for the community. This paper, as the first Systematization of Knowledge (SoK) of NFT security, systematically explores security issues within the NFT ecosystem, shedding light on their root causes, real-world attacks, and potential ways to address them. Our findings will contribute to future research on NFT security.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":53141,"journal":{"name":"Blockchain-Research and Applications","volume":"6 2","pages":"Article 100268"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144470084","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yue Pei , Mengxiao Zhu , Chen Zhu , Weihu Song , Yi Sun , Lei Li , Haogang Zhu
{"title":"Meta reinforcement learning based dynamic tuning for blockchain systems in diverse network environments","authors":"Yue Pei , Mengxiao Zhu , Chen Zhu , Weihu Song , Yi Sun , Lei Li , Haogang Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.bcra.2024.100261","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bcra.2024.100261","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The evolution of blockchain technology across various areas has highlighted the importance of optimizing blockchain systems' performance, especially in fluctuating network bandwidth conditions. We observe that the performance of blockchain systems exhibits variations, and the optimal parameter configuration shifts accordingly when changes in network bandwidth occur. Current methods in blockchain optimization require establishing fixed mappings between various environments and their optimal parameters. However, this process exhibits poor sample efficiency and lacks the ability for fast adaptation to novel bandwidth environments. In this paper, we propose MetaTune, a meta-Reinforcement-Learning (meta-RL)-based dynamic tuning method for blockchain systems. MetaTune can quickly adapt to unknown bandwidth changes and automatically configure optimized parameters. Through empirical evaluations of a real-world blockchain system, ChainMaker, we demonstrate that MetaTune significantly reduces the training samples needed for generalization across different bandwidth environments compared to non-adaptive methods. Our findings suggest that MetaTune offers a promising approach for efficiently optimizing blockchain systems in dynamic network environments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":53141,"journal":{"name":"Blockchain-Research and Applications","volume":"6 2","pages":"Article 100261"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144338980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Samuel Akwasi Frimpong , Mu Han , Emmanuel Kwame Effah , Joseph Kwame Adjei , Isaac Hanson , Percy Brown
{"title":"Erratum to “A deep decentralized privacy-preservation framework for online social networks”","authors":"Samuel Akwasi Frimpong , Mu Han , Emmanuel Kwame Effah , Joseph Kwame Adjei , Isaac Hanson , Percy Brown","doi":"10.1016/j.bcra.2025.100299","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bcra.2025.100299","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53141,"journal":{"name":"Blockchain-Research and Applications","volume":"6 2","pages":"Article 100299"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144084293","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}