Inefficient Action Research Articles

Toward Property-Based Regulation.

An expanding web of adverse impacts on people and the environment has been steadily linked to anthropogenic chemicals and their proliferation. Central to this web are the regulatory structures intended to protect human and environmental health through the control of new molecules. Through chronically insufficient and inefficient action, the current chemical-by-chemical regulatory approach, which considers regulation at the level of chemical identity, has enabled many adverse impacts to develop and persist. Recognizing the link between fundamental physicochemical properties and hazards, we describe a new paradigm─property-based regulation. By regulating physicochemical properties, we show how governments can delineate and enforce safe chemical spaces, increasing the scalability of chemical assessments, reducing the time and resources to regulate a substance, and providing transparency for chemical designers. We highlight sparse existing property-based approaches and demonstrate their applicability using bioaccumulation as an example. Finally, we present a path to implementation in the United States, prescribing roles and steps for government, nongovernmental organizations, and industry to accelerate this transition, to the benefit of all.

Bayesian Optimization Enhanced Deep Reinforcement Learning for Trajectory Planning and Network Formation in Multi-UAV Networks

In this paper, we employ multiple UAVs coordinated by a base station (BS) to help the ground users (GUs) to offload their sensing data. Different UAVs can adapt their trajectories and network formation to expedite data transmissions via multi-hop relaying. The trajectory planning aims to collect all GUs' data, while the UAVs' network formation optimizes the multi-hop UAV network topology to minimize the energy consumption and transmission delay. The joint network formation and trajectory optimization is solved by a two-step iterative approach. Firstly, we devise the adaptive network formation scheme by using a heuristic algorithm to balance the UAVs' energy consumption and data queue size. Then, with the fixed network formation, the UAVs' trajectories are further optimized by using multi-agent deep reinforcement learning without knowing the GUs' traffic demands and spatial distribution. To improve the learning efficiency, we further employ Bayesian optimization to estimate the UAVs' flying decisions based on historical trajectory points. This helps avoid inefficient action explorations and improves the convergence rate in the model training. The simulation results reveal close spatial-temporal couplings between the UAVs' trajectory planning and network formation. Compared with several baselines, our solution can better exploit the UAVs' cooperation in data offloading, thus improving energy efficiency and delay performance.

Back Cover: Cover Image, Volume 25, Issue 1

The cover image is based on the Paper Observing inefficient action can induce infant preference and learning by Masahiro Hirai, Yasuhiro Kanakogi, and Ayaka Ikeda., https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13152.

Evidence for a dual-process account of over-imitation: Children imitate anti- and prosocial models equally, but prefer prosocial models once they become aware of multiple solutions to a task.

Children imitate actions that are perceivably unnecessary to achieve the instrumental goal of an action sequence, a behavior termed over-imitation. It is debated whether this behavior is based on the motivation to follow behavioral norms and affiliate with the model or whether it can be interpreted in terms of a behavioral heuristic to copy observed intentional actions without questioning the purpose of each action step. To resolve this question, we tested whether preschool-aged children (N = 89) over-imitate a prosocial model, a helper in a prior third-party moral transgression, but refuse to over-imitate an antisocial model, the perpetrator of the moral transgression. After first observing an inefficient way to extract a reward from a puzzle box from either a perpetrator or a helper, children over-imitated the perpetrator to the same degree as they over-imitated the helper. In a second phase, children were then presented the efficient solution by the respective other model, i.e. the helper or the perpetrator. Over-imitation rates then dropped in both conditions, but remained significantly higher than in a baseline condition only when children had observed the prosocial model demonstrate the inefficient action sequence and the perpetrator performed the efficient solution. In contrast, over-imitation dropped to baseline level when the perpetrator had modelled the inefficient actions and the prosocial model subsequently showed children the efficient solution. In line with a dual-process account of over-imitation, results speak to a strong initial tendency to imitate perceivably irrelevant actions regardless of the model. Imitation behavior is then adjusted according to social motivations after deliberate consideration of different options to attain the goal.

Observing inefficient action can induce infant preference and learning.

'Motionese' can be defined as an exaggerated and repetitive action. It induces preference and learning in infants. However, which action component of motionese promotes infants' preference and learning remains largely unknown. In this study, we focused on inefficiency and toward-ness of action. Our study demonstrates that observing an inefficient holding out action can induce a visual preference in 4-month-old infants and learning in 10-month-old infants through eight experiments (N=192). We found that when infants observe inefficient holding out action, the action attracts their attention and facilitates learning about the identity of the toy object accompanying it, especially when people direct inefficient actions towards them. Our findings indicate that both action efficiency and toward-ness may be key factors in infant learning.

Action Generalization Across Group Members: Action Efficiency Matters

Actions are usually generalized among social group members. Importantly, the efficiency of an action with respect to achieving an external target determines action understanding, and it may have different degrees of social relevance to social groups. Thus, this study explored the role of action efficiency in action generalization. We used computer animations to simulate actions in social groups initiated by visual action cues or category labels, and we measured differences in response times between identifying actions that were and were not consistent with group members, without explicit requirements regarding generalization. It was found that in both visually introduced and explicitly labeled social groups, when the group members acted inefficiently toward the external object, perceivers identified group-consistent actions faster than group-inconsistent actions, indicating that the exemplars' common inefficient actions are generalized to the unknown ingroup member, accordingly facilitating the identification of expected consistent inefficient action (Experiment 1). As this effect was not present when removing social group cues, it was determined to be specific to social groups (Experiment 2). Importantly, such generalization was not observed when the identical action was deemed efficient toward the external object (Experiment 3) and was specific to the demonstration of the action being completed by multiple group members rather than being repeated twice by one group member, supporting the group-based inference and ruling out the possibility of the increased memorability of inefficient actions leading to more generalization relative to efficient actions (Experiment 4). Therefore, the efficiency of an action bounds the generalization of the action across social group members through a process that is spontaneous and implicit. This constrained action generalization may be due to inefficient actions being represented as culture-specific conventional forms.

12- to 14-month-olds expect unconstrained agents to act efficiently: Event-related potential (ERP) evidence from the head-touch paradigm.

Behavioral research has shown that 12- but not 9-month-olds imitate an unusual and inefficient action (turning on a lamp with one's forehead) more when the model's hands are free. Rational-imitation accounts suggest that infants evaluate actions based on the rationality principle, that is, they expect people to choose efficient means to achieve a goal. Accordingly, infants' expectations should be violated when observing inefficient actions. However, this has yet to be clearly tested. Here, we conducted three electrophysiological experiments to assess infants' neural indices of violation of expectation (VOE) when observing hand- and head-touch actions. We presented infants with video sequences showing a model whose hands were either free (Experiments 1 and 3) or restrained (Experiment 2). Subsequent images depicted a person turning on a lamp or a toy soundbox using her hand or head. We analyzed the Negative central (Nc) component, associated with the amount of attentional engagement, and the N400 component, reflecting semantic violations. In line with rational-imitation accounts, results revealed that 12- to 14-month-olds (Experiment 1) but not 9-month-olds (Experiment 3) were surprised while observing an inefficient, hands-free, head touch, as indicated by an increased Nc amplitude and an N400-like component. In contrast, infants did not show differences in our measures of VOE between head- and hand-touch outcomes when the model's hands were restrained (Experiment 2). Thus, we suggest that 12- to 14-month-olds incorporate the action context when evaluating action outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Overcoming inefficient lock-in in coordination games with sophisticated and myopic players

Path-dependence in coordination games may cause lock-in on inefficient outcomes, such as inferior technologies (Arthur, 1989) or inefficient economic institutions (North, 1990). To calculate the conditions under which lock-in can be overcome, we develop a solution concept that makes ex-ante predictions about the adaptation process following lock-in in a critical mass game. We assume that some players are myopic, forming beliefs according to weighted fictitious play, while others are sophisticated, anticipating the learning process of the myopic players. We propose a solution concept based on a Nash equilibrium of the strategies chosen by sophisticated players. Our model predicts that no players would switch from the efficient to the inefficient action, but deviations in the other direction are possible. Three types of equilibria may exist: in the first type lock-in is sustained, while in the other two types lock-in is overcome. We determine the existence conditions for each of these equilibria and show that the equilibria in which lock-in is overcome are more likely and the transition is faster when sophisticated players have a longer planning horizon, or when the history of inefficient coordination is shorter.

Entwicklung der Krebsfrüherkennung in Deutschland

Cancer is one of the most relevant chronic diseases in the German population, but not all neoplastic entities are eligible for early cancer detection (ECD) programs. In 1971, ECDs were introduced as population-wide screenings for the first time in the catalogue of benefits of the West German statutory health insurance funds. However, the implementation at that time was rarely systematic. Concurrently, adiscussion on the perspectives of ECD arose in the former German Democratic Republic, where astructured program was not prepared in the country until the late 1980s.Anational cancer plan (NCP) was initiated in 2008 and its area of action#1 was titled "Further development of ECD". In April 2013, the law for the development of early cancer detection and quality assurance by clinical cancer registries was passed, which adopted major suggestions of the NCP. Consequently, the pertinent recommendations of the EU guidelines for the screening of the breast, cervix, and colon-rectum are currently being implemented.Public opinion in Germany with regard to ECDs has changed in recent years from unanimous consent to arather critical distance. While ineffective and inefficient preventive action is being replaced by quality-assured screening procedures, public discussion about the fundamental reasonability of ECDs is controversial as never before.

Pathobiology of cardiac dyssynchrony and resynchronization therapy.

Synchronous ventricular electrical activation is a prerequisite for adequate left ventricular (LV) systolic function. Conduction abnormalities such as left bundle branch block, and ventricular pacing lead to a dyssynchronous electrical activation sequence, which may have deleterious consequences. The present review attempts to connect the various processes involved in the development of 'dyssynchronopathy', and its correction by cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Abnormal electrical impulse conduction leads to abnormal contraction, characterized by regional differences in timing as well as shortening patterns and amount of external work performed. Early activated regions may show 'wasted work', which leads to inefficient action of the entire left ventricle. Moreover, both the development of heart failure (HF) in general and the regional differences in mechanical load lead to structural, electrical, and contractile remodelling processes. These have been demonstrated at the level of the myocardium (asymmetric hypertrophy, fibrosis, prolongation of activation and reduction in repolarization forces, decrease in LV ejection fraction), cell (gap junctional remodelling, derangement of the T-tubular structure), and molecule (under or overexpression of ion channels and contractile proteins subtypes and abnormal calcium handling). The myocardial adaptations to dyssynchrony are 'maladaptive'. This also explains why CRT, unlike most pharmacological treatments, continues to increase its therapeutic effect over time. Finally, better understanding of all processes involved in dyssynchrony and CRT may also lead to new pharmacological agents for treating HF and to novel pacing strategies.

Health-related physical fitness, academic achievement, and neuroelectric measures in children and adolescents

The association between health-related physical fitness and academic achievement has captured the interest of educators and researchers. The purpose of this review is to examine the relationships between health-related physical fitness and academic achievement among children and adolescents, as well as to assess the association between health-related physical fitness and event-related potentials indicative of neurocognitive processes. Cardiorespiratory fitness was positively associated with performance in the majority of academic subjects as well as with core neurocognitive processes that are foundational to scholastic performance. The association among muscular strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility with academic achievement was less consistent. As expected, body mass index (a surrogate measure of body composition) was negatively associated with academic scores in the majority of academic subjects as well as being predictive of impaired attentional resource allocation and inefficient action monitoring. These findings suggest differential relationships between components of health-related fitness and academic achievement as well as underlying neurocognitive processes. Future research regarding the effect of multiple aspects of health-related physical fitness on youth’s academic achievement and adopting a neuroelectric perspective is warranted.

Informational Herding with Model Misspecification

This paper demonstrates that a misspecified model of information processing interferes with long-run learning and offers an explanation for why individuals may continue to choose an inefficient action, despite sufficient public information to learn the true state. I consider a social learning environment where agents draw inference from private signals, public signals and the actions of their predecessors, and sufficient public information exists to achieve asymptotically efficient learning. Prior actions aggregate multiple sources of information; agents face an inferential challenge to distinguish new information from redundant information. I show that when individuals significantly overestimate the amount of new information contained in prior actions, beliefs about the unknown state become entrenched and incorrect learning may occur. On the other hand, when individuals sufficiently overestimate the amount of redundant information, beliefs are fragile and learning is incomplete. When agents have an approximately correct model of inference, learning is complete - the model with no information-processing bias is robust to perturbation.

Mimicry deficits in autism are not just storm effects

Imitative behavior is known to be affected in Autism Spectrum Conditions. This issue has been addressed with a wide range of tasks and from many different perspectives. Here we use a version of Hamilton, Brindley, and Frith's (2007) bar-task in a sample of individuals with ASC and matched controls, to assess spontaneous imitation of goal-oriented actions. Contrary to previous studies which relied on ambiguous instructions to explore the spontaneous tendency to copy inefficient action patterns (Jiménez, Lorda, & Méndez, 2014), we used explicit instructions centered on the material outcome, in order to reduce the social motivation to overimitate. Consistently with previous findings, results showed that individuals with ASC and their matched counterparts were equally guided by action planning, but that the former exhibit a smaller tendency to mimic the less functional actions displayed by the model. These results are discussed as showing that these mimicry deficits cannot be accounted exclusively in terms of STORM (i.e., Social, Top-down Response Modulation) effects.

The role of consensus and culture in children’s imitation of inefficient actions

A significant body of work has demonstrated children’s imitative abilities when learning novel actions. Although some research has examined the role of cultural background in children’s imitation of inefficient actions, to our knowledge no research has explored how culture and conformity interact when engaging in imitation. In Study 1, 87 Caucasian American and Chinese American preschoolers were presented with either one model or three models performing an inefficient action. Whereas there were no cultural differences in imitation in the Single Model condition, Chinese Americans were significantly more likely to copy the model’s preference for an inefficient tool in the Consensus condition. Children’s tool choice was associated with their justification for their choice as well as their memory for the model’s action. Study 2 explored the impact of immigration status on the cultural differences in children’s tool choice by including 16 first-generation Caucasian American children. When comparing the findings with the rates from Study 1, both groups of Caucasian American preschoolers imitated at rates significantly lower than the Chinese American preschoolers. We suggest that the tool choices of Caucasian American children relate to a tendency to engage in a perceptually driven mode of learning, whereas the choices of the Chinese American children reflect a greater likelihood to use a socially driven mode.

The Effectiveness of Fish Oil Supplementation in Asthmatic Rats is Limited by an Inefficient Action on ASM Function

Episodes of acute exacerbation are the major clinical feature of asthma and therefore represent an important focus for developing novel therapies for this disease. There are many reports that the n-3 fatty acids found in fish oil exert anti-inflammatory effects, but there are few studies of the action of fish oil on airway smooth muscle (ASM) function. In the present investigation, we evaluated the effect of fish oil supplementation on smooth muscle force of contraction in ovalbumin-induced asthmatic Wistar rats, and its consequences on static lung compliance, mucus production, leukocyte chemotaxis and production of proinflammatory cytokines. Fish oil supplementation suppressed the infiltration of inflammatory cells into the lung in asthmatic animals (2.04±0.19×10(6) cells vs. 3.33±0.43×10(6) cells in the control asthmatic group; P<0.05). Static lung compliance increased with fish oil supplementation in asthmatic rats (0.640±0.053mL/cm H2O vs. 0.399±0.043mL/cm H2O; P<0.05). However, fish oil did not prevent asthma-associated lung eosinophilia and did not affect the concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β in lung tissue or the proportion of the airways obliterated with mucus. Fish oil had no effect on the force of contraction in asthmatic rats in response to acetylcholine (3.026±0.274mN vs. 2.813±0.364mN in the control asthmatic group). In conclusion, although fish oil exerts some benefits in this model of asthma, its effectiveness appears to be limited by an inefficient action on airway smooth muscle function.

The Impact of Bank Health on Coordination among Creditors

We investigate how the health of a relationship bank impacts upon coordination among creditors and how it affects the firm’s behavior. We show that if the relationship bank is healthy, creditors coordinate each other and the firm takes an efficient action but if it becomes financially distressed, a coordination problem arises ex post and the inefficient liquidation of the firm’s projects may occur. This coordination failure, in turn, increases the interest payments ex ante so that the firm is more likely to choose an inefficient action.

Complement, roles in renal disease and modulation for therapy

The complement system, an essential part of the innate immune system, defends the host against invading pathogens, prevents immune complex disease and aids the acquired immune response. Under normal conditions the host is protected from complement attack by an array of complement regulatory proteins. However, in certain contexts inappropriate complement activation can occur associating the C system with a variety of disease pathologies. This review focuses upon the role complement plays in a number of renal pathologies as well as the role of complement in three examples of extrarenal diseases: paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, age-related macular degeneration and liver fibrosis. From the evidence discussed it is clear that mutations or polymorphisms in the complement regulators resulting in reduced levels or inefficient action dramatically enhance susceptibility to certain diseases and in particular render the kidney more vulnerable to complement attack. Additionally, deficiency in the complement components can predispose to disease through reduced clearance of apoptotic cells and subsequent generation of complement activating autoantibodies or enhanced formation of convertases resulting in heightened complement activation. As complement has devastating effects, in such disease contexts it has become a therapeutic target. Therapeutic intervention strategies discussed here focus upon the use of recombinant agents, the most promising of which are the anti-C5 antibody-derived reagents. These agents have proved effective in the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, nephritis and ischemia-reperfusion injuries and will no doubt, along with other reagents currently being developed, prove invaluable in the treatment of renal pathologies.

Alterations in the Cognitive Control of Action Monitoring with a History of Concussion

Retired athletes reporting multiple sport-related concussions evidence increased rates and severity of neurodegenerative diseases. Yet, younger athletes with multiple sport-related concussions perform normally on standard clinical assessments of cognitive functioning. More sensitive measures of cognitive functioning may clarify the foundation for performance differences between these two groups. PURPOSE: This investigation sought to evaluate the effect of multiple concussions on neuroelectric and task performance indices of the cognitive control of action monitoring. METHODS: Sixty-three athletes (19 female; 19.6 ± 1.2 yrs) with variable concussion histories completed a clinical neurocognitive assessment and a modified flanker task. The Error-related Negativity (ERN) of the response-locked event-related brain potential was recorded during performance of the flanker task. Participants were divided into groups according to the self-report number of physician-diagnosed concussions (0, 1+). RESULTS: Analyses revealed no significant differences between groups on the clinical neurocognitive assessment. However, increased ERN amplitude and a more diffuse topography were observed in individuals reporting one or more concussions, relative to those without a history of concussion. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that those individuals with a history of concussion have an inefficient action monitoring system as indexed by ERN amplitude, which reflects the evaluation of conflict and signals for alterations in topdown cognitive control. Further, increased diffusion of the ERN signal may indicate the recruitment of compensatory processes due to decrements in areas of the brain that mediate the evaluation of conflict. Given that the neuroelectric differences exist in the absence of disparities in standard clinical assessment, the findings indicate that measures of the neuroelectric system may be more sensitive to signs of chronic cognitive dysfunction due to concussion. Supported by the Mary Jane Neer Research Fund:

Insulin Resistance, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, and Cardiovascular Disease

In his 1939 Goulstonian Lectures to the Royal College of Physicians in London, Harold Himsworth addressed the “Mechanisms of Diabetes.” In the course of these 3 presentations,1–3 he provided evidence that “diabetes mellitus is a disease in which the essential lesion is a diminished ability of the tissue to utilize glucose. The high blood sugar is a controlled and compensatory phenomenon, the object of which is to facilitate the utilization of glucose by the tissues.” In addition, he challenged the conventional wisdom that “all causes of human diabetes could be explained by deficiency of insulin” and went on to utter the heretical notion that “a state of diabetes might result from inefficient action of insulin as well as from a lack of insulin.” Thus, the notion of a causal role of insulin resistance in human disease was born almost 70 years ago. Article p 3066 Despite the fact that Himsworth was among the most distinguished clinical investigators of his time and in 1949 concluded in the Oliver-Shappey Lectures to the Royal College of Physicians4 “that it appears we should accustom ourselves to the idea that primary deficiency of insulin is only one, and then not the commonest cause of the diabetes syndrome,” the idea that resistance to insulin action could have adverse consequences had little resonance over the next several decades. However, this situation begin changing rapidly with the introduction of methods to quantify insulin-mediated glucose disposal,5,6 and it soon became clear7,8 that the majority of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were, in Himsworth’s terms, “insulin insensitive.” Subsequent prospective studies were published demonstrating that insulin resistance and/or compensatory hyperinsulinemia as a surrogate estimate of insulin resistance predicted the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus,9,10 providing the final evidence of the prescience of Himsworth’s mechanistic …

Changes in the immune functions and susceptibility to Listeria monocytogenes infection in mice fed dietary lipids.

The direct examination of the effects that fish oil diets (composed of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids) exert on immune system function indicates a reduction of host natural resistance to infectious diseases mainly because of a suppression of immune function generated by the fatty acids contained in this diet. Here, we evaluated the concentration of IL-12, IL-4, prostaglandin E2 and leukotriene B4 in the serum from BALB/c mice receiving four different diets. Each group was fed a diet that differed only in the source of fat: a low-fat diet (2.5% by weight), an olive oil diet (20% by weight), a fish oil diet (20% by weight) or a hydrogenated coconut oil diet (20% by weight). Mice were fed for 4 weeks and then infected with the intracellular pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. An initial reduction in the Th1-type response as a result of a decrease in IL-12p70 secretion, an inefficient action of IL-4 (Th2-type response) and no modification of pro-inflammatory lipid-mediator production could be, at least in part, the key events responsible for the inadequate elimination of L. monocytogenes from the spleens of mice fed a fish oil diet. Furthermore, our results suggest that the type of dietary lipids may affect the circulating concentration of IL-12p70 and IL-4, leading to a modulation in the protective cellular immune response to L. monocytogenes infection.