Accountability feedback assessments for improving efficiency of nuclear regulatory institutions

The Fukushima-Daiichi Accident demonstrated the need of assessing and strengthening institutions involved in nuclear safety, including the accountability of regulators. There are a few problems hindering the path towards a greater understanding of accountability systems, the ensemble of mechanisms holding to account the nuclear regulator on behalf of the public. There is no consensus on what it should deliver and no systematic assessment method exists. This article proposes a method of assessing institutions based on defence in depth concepts and inspired from risk-assessment techniques used for nuclear safety. As a first step in testing the proposal, it presents a simple Monte-Carlo simulation, illustrating some of the workings of the method of assessment and demonstrating the kind of results it will be able to supply. This on-going work will assist policy-makers take better informed decisions about the size, structure and organisation of a nuclear regulator and the cost-effective funding of its accountability system. It will assist in striking a balance between efficiency and resilience of regulatory decision-making processes. It will also promote the involvement of stakeholders and allow them to have a more meaningful impact on regulatory decisions, thereby enhancing the robustness of the regulatory system and potentially trust and confidence.This is the final version. It first appeared at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421516302919

Accountability feedback assessments for improving efficiency of nuclear regulatory institutions

The Fukushima-Daiichi Accident demonstrated the need of assessing and strengthening institutions involved in nuclear safety, including the accountability of regulators. There are a few problems hindering the path towards a greater understanding of accountability systems, the ensemble of mechanisms holding to account the nuclear regulator on behalf of the public. There is no consensus on what it should deliver and no systematic assessment method exists.This article proposes a method of assessing institutions based on defence in depth concepts and inspired from risk-assessment techniques used for nuclear safety. As a first step in testing the proposal, it presents a simple Monte-Carlo simulation, illustrating some of the workings of the method of assessment and demonstrating the kind of results it will be able to supply. This on-going work will assist policy-makers take better informed decisions about the size, structure and organisation of a nuclear regulator and the cost-effective funding of its accountability system. It will assist in striking a balance between efficiency and resilience of regulatory decision-making processes. It will also promote the involvement of stakeholders and allow them to have a more meaningful impact on regulatory decisions, thereby enhancing the robustness of the regulatory system and potentially trust and confidence

Impact of mindfulness on the neural responses to emotional pictures in experienced and beginner meditators

There is mounting evidence that mindfulness meditation is beneficial for the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders, yet little is known regarding the neural mechanisms through which mindfulness modulates emotional responses. Thus, a central objective of this functional magnetic resonance imaging study was to investigate the effects of mindfulness on the neural responses to emotionally laden stimuli. Another major goal of this study was to examine the impact of the extent of mindfulness training on the brain mechanisms supporting the processing of emotional stimuli. Twelve experienced (with over 1000 h of practice) and 10 beginner meditators were scanned as they viewed negative, positive, and neutral pictures in a mindful state and a non-mindful state of awareness. Results indicated that the Mindful condition attenuated emotional intensity perceived from pictures, while brain imaging data suggested that this effect was achieved through distinct neural mechanisms for each group of participants. For experienced meditators compared with beginners, mindfulness induced a deactivation of default mode network areas (medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices) across all valence categories and did not influence responses in brain regions involved in emotional reactivity during emotional processing. On the other hand, for beginners relative to experienced meditators, mindfulness induced a down-regulation of the left amygdala during emotional processing. These findings suggest that the long-term practice of mindfulness leads to emotional stability by promoting acceptance of emotional states and enhanced present-moment awareness, rather than by eliciting control over low-level affective cerebral systems from higher-order cortical brain regions. These results have implications for affect-related psychological disorders

THa JouanaL or Pu*asi*coi.ooY AND Ex aawarr i THERAPEUTICS Evidence for a Central Long-Lasting Antinociceptive Effect of Vapreotide, an Analog of Somatostatin, Involving an Opioidergic Mechanism1

ABSTRAC

Impact of meditation training on the default mode network during a restful state

Mindfulness meditation has been shown to promote emotional stability. Moreover, during the processing of aversive and self-referential stimuli, mindful awareness is associated with reduced medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) activity, a central default mode network (DMN) component. However, it remains unclear whether mindfulness practice influences functional connectivity between DMN regions and, if so, whether such impact persists beyond a state of meditation. Consequently, this study examined the effect of extensive mindfulness training on functional connectivity within the DMN during a restful state. Resting-state data were collected from 13 experienced meditators (with over 1000 h of training) and 11 beginner meditators (with no prior experience, trained for 1 week before the study) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Pairwise correlations and partial correlations were computed between DMN seed regions’ time courses and were compared between groups utilizing a Bayesian sampling scheme. Relative to beginners, experienced meditators had weaker functional connectivity between DMN regions involved in self-referential processing and emotional appraisal. In addition, experienced meditators had increased connectivity between certain DMN regions (e.g. dorso-medial PFC and right inferior parietal lobule), compared to beginner meditators. These findings suggest that meditation training leads to functional connectivity changes between core DMN regions possibly reflecting strengthened present-moment awareness