Circuits regulating pleasure and happiness in bipolar disorder

According to our model, the motivation for appetitive-searching vs. distress-avoiding behaviors is regulated by two parallel cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) re-entry circuits that include the core and the shell parts of the nucleus accumbens, respectively. An entire series of basal ganglia, running from the caudate nucleus on one side to the centromedial amygdala on the other side, control the intensity of these reward-seeking and misery-fleeing behaviors by stimulating the activity of the (pre)frontal and limbic cortices. Hyperactive motivation to display behavior that potentially results in reward induces feelings of hankering (relief leads to pleasure); while, hyperactive motivation to exhibit behavior related to avoidance of aversive states results in dysphoria (relief leads to happiness). These two systems collaborate in a reciprocal fashion. We hypothesized that the mechanism inducing the switch from bipolar depression to mania is the most essential characteristic of bipolar disorder. This switch is attributed to a dysfunction of the lateral habenula, which regulates the activity of midbrain centers, including the dopaminergic ventral tegmental area (VTA). Froman evolutionary perspective, the activity of the lateral habenula should be regulated by the human homolog of the habenula-projecting globus pallidus, which in turn might be directed by the amygdaloid complex and the phylogenetically old part of the limbic cortex. In bipolar disorder, it is possible that the system regulating the activity of this reward-driven behavior is damaged or the interaction between the medial and lateral habenula may be dysfunctional. This may lead to an adverse coupling between the activities of the misery-fleeing and reward-seeking circuits, which results in independently varying activities

Climate adaptive building shells for the future – optimization with an inverse modelling approach

Most of currently designed and constructed building shells are fairly static systems which limits the possibilities for optimal energy performance and/or optimal indoor comfort. Solar shading is often only regulated by hand with (indoor) lamellas. This static behaviour of the shell often leads to discomfort and a high energy use for the various installations which are needed to climatise the building. In common design practice energy performance calculation programs or, in the best case, dynamic building simulation programs are used as a tool to improve the building shell performance. Different options for façade constructions are compared to retrieve the best result in energy use. In the ongoing FACET project (Dutch acronym: ‘Adaptive future façade technology for increased comfort and low energy use’) a completely new, inverse modelling approach is chosen by asking the question: "What would be the ideal, dynamic properties of a building shell to get the desired indoor climate at variable outdoor climate conditions?" By reversing the design approach, a set of ideal, but realistic building shell parameters is computed for different climate conditions, at various time scales (seasons, day-night, instantaneous). The ‘ideal’ adaptive behaviour makes it possible to maximize comfort and to minimize energy demand. Technologies to reach this ‘ideal’ behaviour are partly already available, in low or high tech solutions, such as smart glazing, variable vacuum insulation, insulating window covering, etc. However, further technology development is desired to fully meet the requirements. This paper describes results of the inverse thermal modelling for a climate adaptive building shell. It shows that ideally adaptive building shells have the potential to practically eliminate the heat demand and to reduce the total heating and cooling demand by a factor 10, compared to state of the art new built offices under the Dutch climate. This is even a factor 2–3 lower compared to the very energy efficient passive house technology. The extremely low energy demand facilitates new technologies like compact heat/cold storages and the practical realisation of zero energy, or energy producing buildings in the near future

State dependence explains individual variation in nest defence behaviour in a long-lived bird

Parental care, such as nest or offspring defence, is crucial for offspring survival in many species. Yet, despite its obvious fitness benefits, the level of defence can consistently vary between individuals of the same species. One prominent adaptive explanation for consistent individual differences in behaviours involves state dependency: relatively stable differences in individual state should lead to the emergence of repeatable behavioural variation whereas changes in state should lead to a readjustment of behaviour. Therefore, empirical testing of adaptive state dependence requires longitudinal data where behaviour and state of individuals of the same population are repeatedly measured. Here, we test if variation in states predicts nest defence behaviour (a 'risky' behaviour) in a long-lived species, the barnacle goose Branta leucopsis. Adaptive models have predicted that an individual's residual reproductive value or 'asset' is an important state variable underlying variation in risk-taking behaviour. Hence, we investigate how nest defence varies as a function of time of the season and individual age, two state variables that can vary between and within individuals and determine asset. Repeated measures of nest defence towards a human intruder (flight initiation distance or FID) of females of known age were collected during 15 breeding seasons. Increasing values of FID represent increasing shyness. We found that females strongly and consistently differed in FID within- and between-years. As predicted by theory, females adjusted their behaviour to state by decreasing their FID with season and age. Decomposing these population patterns into within- and between-individual effects showed that the state-dependent change in FID was driven by individual plasticity in FID and that bolder females were more plastic than shyer females. This study shows that nest defence behaviour differs consistently among individuals and is adjusted to individual state in a direction predicted by adaptive personality theory

Land Use Modeling System (LUMOS) : a toolbox for land use modeling, definitie studie

De sturing in het ruimtelijk beleid in Nederland is de afgelopen jaren veranderd. Via de Nota Ruimte is geprobeerd om het ruimtelijk rijksbeleid in één nota onder te brengen. Zowel de hoofdlijnen van het ruimtelijk beleid van VROM, V&W, EZ en LNV maken deel uit van de in de nota beschreven ruimtelijke strategie. De nadruk ligt op marktwerking, minder regels en "decentraal wat kan, centraal wat moet". Dit laatste betekent dat de provincies en gemeenten volgens de nota meer vrijheid krijgen bij de invulling van de ruimtelijke inrichtingsplannen. Het beschikbare instrumentarium is hierop aangepast. Qua inhoudelijke doelstellingen verandert er niet zoveel in het ruimtelijk beleid. Het ruimte scheppen voor de verschillende ruimtevragende functies staat nog steeds centraal. Bij de implementatie van de nieuwe sturingsfilosofie dient rekening te worden gehouden met de veranderingen in de samenleving en veranderingen op andere beleidsvelden. Bijvoorbeeld met de verregaande internationalisering en de toegenomen beleidscomplexiteit. Uit de inventarisatie blijkt dat zowel bij provincies als bij gemeenten een behoefte bestaat om discussies te ondersteunen met kaartbeelden waarin de gewenste ruimtebehoefte van verschillende ruimtevragende functies is weergegeven, kaartbeelden waarin de mate van geschiktheid voor de functies is weergegeven, schetskaarten als ruimtelijke beelden van een mogelijke ruimtelijke inrichting. Tezamen met actuele plankaarten vormen zij een essentieel onderdeel van de kennisbasis die door deze actoren wordt gebruikt bij het voeren van beleidsdiscussies over verschillende onderwerpen (leefbaarheid, natuurontwikkeling, infrastructuur investeringen, recreatie, etc.). Belangrijke door de provincie te maken keuzen liggen op het gebied van: Verstedelijking (concentreren of spreiden), effecten van een tweede en eventuele derde Maasvlakte, Zestienhoven (wonen en recreëren of vliegen en werken), de glastuinbouw (uitbreiding of uitplaatsen), natuur (mate van restrictief beleid ten aanzien van andere functies) en de mate van realisering van nieuw oppervlaktewater

Randlengte en ruimtelijke samenhang van natuur in de Ecologische Hoofdstructuur : een eerste verkenning

Dit rapport van het Natuurplanbureau verkent twee methoden om ruimtelijke optimalisatie van de ligging van natuurgebieden te bepale

De Ruimtescanner in Ruimte voor Landbouw; data- en modelaanpassingen

Dit rapport is bedoeld als technisch achtergronddocument bij de studie 'Ruimte voor Landbouw'. Die studie is in samenwerking uitgevoerd door het Ruimtelijke Planbureau (RPB), het Milieu- en Natuurplanbureau (MNP), het LEI en de VU, en betreft de toepassing van de Ruimtescanner om de toekomstige ruimtelijke ontwikkeling van de landbouw te verkennen