The Neuroscience of Positive Emotions and Affect:Implications for Cultivating Happiness and Wellbeing

This review paper provides an integrative account regarding neurophysiological correlates of positive emotions and affect that cumulatively contribute to the scaffolding for happiness and wellbeing in humans and other animals. This paper reviews the associations among neurotransmitters, hormones, brain networks, and cognitive functions in the context of positive emotions and affect. Consideration of lifespan developmental perspectives are incorporated, and we also examine the impact of healthy social relationships and environmental contexts on the modulation of positive emotions and affect. The neurophysiological processes that implement positive emotions are dynamic and modifiable, and meditative practices as well as flow states that change patterns of brain function and ultimately support wellbeing are also discussed. This review is part of "The Human Affectome Project" (http://neuroqualia.org/background.php), and in order to advance a primary aim of the Human Affectome Project, we also reviewed relevant linguistic dimensions and terminology that characterizes positive emotions and wellbeing. These linguistic dimensions are discussed within the context of the neuroscience literature with the overarching goal of generating novel recommendations for advancing neuroscience research on positive emotions and wellbeing

The WCET Tool Challenge 2011

Following the successful WCET Tool Challenges in 2006 and 2008, the third event in this series was organized in 2011, again with support from the ARTIST DESIGN Network of Excellence. Following the practice established in the previous Challenges, the WCET Tool Challenge 2011 (WCC'11) defined two kinds of problems to be solved by the Challenge participants with their tools, WCET problems, which ask for bounds on the execution time, and flow-analysis problems, which ask for bounds on the number of times certain parts of the code can be executed. The benchmarks to be used in WCC'11 were debie1, PapaBench, and an industrial-strength application from the automotive domain provided by Daimler AG. Two default execution platforms were suggested to the participants, the ARM7 as "simple target'' and the MPC5553/5554 as a "complex target,'' but participants were free to use other platforms as well. Ten tools participated in WCC'11: aiT, Astr\'ee, Bound-T, FORTAS, METAMOC, OTAWA, SWEET, TimeWeaver, TuBound and WCA

A Time to Wean? Impact of Weaning Age on Anxiety-Like Behaviour and Stability of Behavioural Traits in Full Adulthood

<div><p>In mammals, weaning constitutes an important phase in the progression to adulthood. It comprises the termination of suckling and is characterized by several changes in the behaviour of both mother and offspring. Furthermore, numerous studies in rodents have shown that the time point of weaning shapes the behavioural profile of the young. Most of these studies, however, have focused on ‘early weaning’, while relatively little work has been done to study ‘late weaning’ effects. The aim of the present study was therefore to explore behavioural effects of ‘late weaning’, and furthermore to gain insights into modulating effects of weaning age on the consistency of behavioural expressions over time. In total, 25 male and 20 female C57BL/6J mice, weaned after three (W3) or four (W4) weeks of age, were subjected to a series of behavioural paradigms widely used to assess anxiety-like behaviour, exploratory locomotion, and nest building performance. Behavioural testing took place with the mice reaching an age of 20 weeks and was repeated eight weeks later to investigate the stability of behavioural expressions over time. At the group level, W4 mice behaved less anxious and more explorative than W3 animals in the Open Field and Novel Cage, while anxiety-like behaviour on the Elevated Plus Maze was modulated by a weaning-age-by-sex interaction. Furthermore, weaning age shaped the degree of behavioural stability over time in a sex-specific way. While W3 females and W4 males displayed a remarkable degree of behavioural stability over time, no such patterns were observed in W3 males and W4 females. Adding to the existing literature, we could thus confirm that effects of weaning age do indeed exist when prolonging this phase, and were furthermore able to provide first evidence for the impact of weaning age and sex on the consistency of behavioural expressions over time.</p></div

WCET Tool Challenge 2011 : Report

Following the successful WCET Tool Challenges in 2006 and 2008, the third event in this series was organized in 2011, again with support from the ARTIST DESIGN Network of Excellence. Following the practice established in the previous Challenges, the WCET Tool Challenge 2011 (WCC’11) defined two kinds of problems to be solved by the Challenge participants with their tools, WCET problems, which ask for bounds on the execution time, and flow-analysis problems, which ask for bounds on the number of times certain parts of the code can be executed. The benchmarks to be used in WCC’11 were debie1, PapaBench, and an industrial-strength application from the automotive domain provided by Daimler. Two default execution platforms were suggested to the participants, the ARM7 as “simple target” and the MPC5553/5554 as a “complex target,” but participants were free to use other platforms as well. Ten tools participated in WCC’11: aiT, Astr´ee, Bound-T, FORTAS, METAMOC, OTAWA, SWEET, TimeWeaver, TuBound and WC

Results of the Wilcoxon signed-rank test from What a difference a day makes—female behaviour is less predictable near ovulation

Behavioural performance of mice - group comparison between the tests round

Body weight development in male and female C57BL/6J mice weaned after either three (W3) or four weeks of age (W4).

<p>Besides a significant effect of sex and a sex-by-time interaction, a significant interaction between weaning age and time indicated a differential body weight development in W3 and W4 offspring over the course of the experiment. Data are presented as means ± SEM. Statistics: Repeated measures ANCOVA (including only data from week 6 to week 30). Sample sizes: N_{males_W3} = 12, N_{females_W3} = 10, N_{males_W4} = 13, N_{females_W4} = 10.</p

Behavioural stability over time in the time spent on the open arms of the Elevated Plus Maze (EPM) in male and female mice weaned after either three (W3) or four (W4) weeks.

<p>Correlations between test round I (20 weeks of age) and test round II (28 weeks of age) are separately presented for all four groups: (<b>A</b>) W3 males, (<b>B</b>) W3 females, (<b>C</b>) W4 males, and (<b>D</b>) W4 females. While there were significant correlations in W3 females and W4 males, no correlations were found in W3 males and W4 females. Statistics: Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (1-tailed). Sample sizes: N_{males_W3} = 12, N_{females_W3} = 10, N_{males_W4} = 13, N_{females_W4} = 10.</p

Maternal behaviour in C57BL/6J dams from postnatal days (PND) 15 to 28.

<p>(<b>A</b>) The frequency of nursing decreased over time, while the frequency of non-nursing contact increased steadily. (<b>B</b>) The frequencies of eating and drinking displayed by the dam decreased as pups started to switch to eating solid food. (<b>C</b>) Frequencies of nest building and licking/grooming remained constant throughout this period, while the frequency of self-grooming appeared to be slightly increased in the second half of the observation period. Data are presented as means ± SEM. Samples sizes PNDs 15–21 (W3 and W4 dams): n = 21, PNDs 22–28 (W4 dams only): n = 10.</p