Can understanding reward help illuminate anhedonia?

Purpose of review: The goal of this paper is to examine how reward processing might help us understand the symptom of anhedonia. Recent findings: There are extensive reviews exploring the relationship between responses to rewarding stimuli and depression. These often include a discussion on anhedonia and how this might be underpinned in particular by dysfunctional reward processing. However, there is no specific consensus on whether studies to date have adequately examined the various sub-components of reward processing or how these might relate in turn to various aspects of anhedonia symptoms. Summary: The approach to understanding the symptom of anhedonia should be to examine all the sub-components of reward processing at the subjective and objective behavioural and neural level, with well validated tasks that can be replicated. Investigating real life experiences of anhedonia and how theses might be predicted by objective lab measures is also needed in future research

Methodologies for Assessment of Building's Energy Efficiency and Conservation: A Policy-Maker View

Recent global peer-review reports have concluded on importance of buildings in tacking the energy security and climate change challenges. To integrate the buildings energy efficiency into the policy agenda, significant research efforts have been recently done. More specifically, the public domain provides a bulk of literature on the application of buildings-related efficiency technologies and behavioural patterns, barriers to penetration of these practices, policies to overcome these barriers. From the policy-making perspective it is useful to understand how far our understanding of building energy efficiency goes and the approaches and methodologies are behind such assessment

Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project. Monthly report, January 1992

The objective of the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project is to estimate the radiation doses that individuals and populations could have received from nuclear operations at Hanford since 1944. The project is divided into the following technical tasks. These tasks correspond to the path radionuclides followed, from release to impact on humans (dose estimates): Source Terms, Environmental Transport, Environmental Monitoring Data, Demography, Food Consumption, and Agriculture, and Environmental Pathways and Dose Estimates

Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project monthly report

The objective of the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction MDR) Project is to estimate the radiation doses that individuals and populations could have received from nuclear operations at Hanford since 1944. The TSP consists of experts in envirorunental pathways. epidemiology, surface-water transport, ground-water transport, statistics, demography, agriculture, meteorology, nuclear engineering. radiation dosimetry. and cultural anthropology. Included are appointed members representing the states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, a representative of Native American tribes, and an individual representing the public. The project is divided into the following technical tasks. These tasks correspond to the path radionuclides followed from release to impact on humans (dose estimates): Source Terms; Environmental Transport; Environmental Monitoring Data Demography, Food Consumption, and Agriculture; and Environmental Pathways and Dose Estimates

Innovative techniques and tools for public participation in U.S. Department of Energy programs

In early 1995, Jon Yerxa, Public Involvement Team Leader in the Office of External Affairs at the US Department of Energy (DOE) Richland Operations Office, identified the need to ``provide Hanford`s Public Participation Program with input and advice concerning public involvement issues at Hanford.`` Yerxa identified the following committees: (1) Training, (2) Tri-Party Agreement/NEPA/ Environmental Justice, (3) Program, (4) Performance Evaluation, and (5) Communications Techniques and Technology. These committees were to be staffed by public involvement and communications staff from DOE and its contractors on the Hanford Site. This report describes the activities and recommendations of the Communications Techniques and Technology committee

Long-term performance assessment of grouted phosphate/sulfate waste from N Reactor operations

Phosphate sulfate waste (PSW) is a low-level liquid generated by activities associated with N Reactor operations. The waste will be mixed with dry solids and permanently disposed of as a cementitious grout in sub-surface concrete vaults at Hanford's 200-East Area. Categories of scenarios were analyzed that could cause humans to be exposed to radionuclides and chemicals from the grouted waste include contaminated groundwater and direct intrusion. In the groundwater scenario, contaminants are released from the buried grout monoliths, then eventually transported via the groundwater to the Columbia River. As modeled, the contaminants are assumed to leach out of the monoliths at a constant rate over a 10,000-year period. The other category of exposure involves intruders who inadvertently contact the waste directly, either by drilling, excavating, or gardening. Long-term impacts that could result from disposal of PSW grout were expressed in terms of incremental increases of chemical concentrations in the groundwater and surface waters, and radiation doses. None of the calculated impacts exceeded the corresponding regulatory limits set by Washington State, the Department of Energy, or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 38 refs., 17 figs., 27 tabs

Moving from outsider to insider: Peer status and partnerships between electricity utilities and residential consumers

An electricity demand reduction project based on comprehensive residential consumer engagement was established within an Australian community in 2008. By 2011, both the peak demand and grid supplied electricity consumption had decreased to below pre-intervention levels. This case study research explored the relationship developed between the utility, community and individual consumer from the residential customer perspective through qualitative research of 22 residential households. It is proposed that an energy utility can be highly successful at peak demand reduction by becoming a community member and a peer to residential consumers and developing the necessary trust, access, influence and partnership required to create the responsive environment to change. A peer-community approach could provide policymakers with a pathway for implementing pro-environmental behaviour for low carbon communities, as well as peak demand reduction, thereby addressing government emission targets while limiting the cost of living increases from infrastructure expenditure