Is renewable energy a cost-effective mitigation resource? An application to the Spanish electricity market

This paper evaluates the net effect of renewable energy policy in Spain from 2002 to 2017 and calculates its cost-effectiveness in terms of CO2 emission reductions in the production of electricity. Our conclusions indicate that although the phasing out of Feed-in Tariffs reduced the regulatory costs, it also limited renewable participation in the electricity market, leading to an increased electricity price and higher emissions. According to our results, the joint effect of (i) the value of avoided emissions due to renewable energy participation and (ii) the merit order effect was able to compensate for the regulatory costs (subsidies) up until 2010, while the sign of the net effect was reversed from 2011 to 2017. Finally, we find that the economic implications of emission reductions are highly dependent on how the social cost of carbon is measured. © 2018 Elsevier LtdWe would like to thank the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund ( ECO2015-64467-R , MINECO/FEDER), the Basque Government (DEUI, IT-783-13 ) and the University of the Basque Country ( PES14/63 ) for financial support. Cristina Pizarro-Irizar acknowledges financial support from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain ( ECO2015-68023 ). We also thank Gabriel Peto for his research assistanc

Who bears the risk? Incentives for renewable electricity under strategic interaction between regulator and investors

Energy policies for promoting investment in renewable energy sources have become crucial for deploying green energy technologies worldwide. Conventional incentive systems assign risk to either policymakers or investors. In this paper, we combine option theory and game theory to obtain optimal parameters for incentive schemes with different degrees of risk-sharing. We present an empirical application to the Spanish electricity market for 2013, when the Feed-in Tariff scheme was still in force, and for 2019, when Feed-in Tariffs had been completely phased out but before the demand shock caused by COVID-19, the restructuring of market price limits, and the recent energy price crisis in Europe. Our results indicate that there are more flexible systems based on Fixed Tariffs and Premiums that can outperform conventional designs, since they may enable the same investment level to be reached at a lower regulatory cost. In addition, these hybrid schemes permit risk-sharing between both parties. Our results may also be useful for designing incentives awarded through competitive auctions. © 2023 The AuthorsFinancial support from MINECO, Spain ( PID2019-108718GB-I00 and PID2022-139458NB-I00 ), MCIN, Spain (María de Maeztu Excellence Unit 2023–2027, Ref. CEX2021-001201-M ) and the Basque Government, Spain ( IT1461-22 ) is gratefully acknowledged. Peio Alcorta acknowledges support from the Basque Government, Spain under predoctoral grant ( PRE_2022_2_0154 ). We also thank participants at the XVI Conference of the Spanish Association for Energy Economics for their comments. We also thank the editor and two reviewers for very insightful comments

Semiclassical Study of Baryon and Lepton Number Violation in High-Energy Electroweak Collisions

We make use of a semiclassical method for calculating the suppression exponent for topology changing transitions in high-energy electroweak collisions. In the Standard Model these processes are accompanied by violation of baryon and lepton number. By using a suitable computational technique we obtain results for s-wave scattering in a large region of initial data. Our results show that baryon and lepton number violation remains exponentially suppressed up to very high energies of at least 30 sphaleron masses (250 TeV). We also conclude that the known analytic approaches inferred from low energy expansion provide reasonably good approximations up to the sphaleron energy (8 TeV) only.Comment: 23 pages, 18 figures. Phys.Rev.D journal version (two references added

Análisis comparativo de la atención de pacientes con enfermedad neurológica en el servicio de urgencias hospitalario durante el periodo de confinamiento por COVID-19

El nuevo coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) fue identificado por primera vez en la ciudad china de Wuhan, en diciembre de 2019. Desde entonces el virus se ha propagado a más de 200 países. El 30 de enero de 2020 el brote fue declarado “Emergencia de salud pública de importancia internacional” por la Organización Mundial de la Salud, y el 11 de marzo elevado a “Pandemia internacional”1. El primer diagnóstico en España se registró el 31 de enero, pero no fue hasta marzo cuando los casos comenzaron a crecer exponencialmente. El 14 de marzo el Gobierno de España declaraba el estado de alarma por el que limitaba la libre circulación de personas, entre otras medidas. En Aragón esta limitación estuvo vigente hasta el 4 de mayo, cuando dio comienzo el proceso de desescalada. A fecha de 16 de junio de 2020 se han confirmado en España 244.328 diagnósticos por test de reacción en cadena de polimerasa (PCR)2. En nuestro hospital, a medida que aumentaba la carga asistencial de enfermedad respiratoria en el servicio de urgencias hospitalarias (SUH), se percibía un descenso del resto de enfermedades, incluida la neurológica y, particularmente, la enfermedad cerebrovascular aguda, como se ha reportado en otros estudios3. A nivel mundial, las enfermedades neurológicas representan la causa principal de años de vida perdidos ajustados por discapacidad y la segunda causa de muerte4. En España, la mortalidad por causa neurológica representa el 19% del total anual. Esta cifra se ha incrementado en los últimos 10 años en un 18, 5%. En el caso de Aragón, las enfermedades neurológicas causan el 20, 6% de las muertes5..

Trisomy 21 activates the kynurenine pathway via increased dosage of interferon receptors

Altres ajuts: This work has also been supported by a "Marató TV3" grant (20141210 to J.F. and 044412 to R.B.).Trisomy 21 (T21) causes Down syndrome (DS), affecting immune and neurological function by ill-defined mechanisms. Here we report a large metabolomics study of plasma and cerebrospinal fluid, showing in independent cohorts that people with DS produce elevated levels of kynurenine and quinolinic acid, two tryptophan catabolites with potent immunosuppressive and neurotoxic properties, respectively. Immune cells of people with DS overexpress IDO1, the rate-limiting enzyme in the kynurenine pathway (KP) and a known interferon (IFN)-stimulated gene. Furthermore, the levels of IFN-inducible cytokines positively correlate with KP dysregulation. Using metabolic tracing assays, we show that overexpression of IFN receptors encoded on chromosome 21 contribute to enhanced IFN stimulation, thereby causing IDO1 overexpression and kynurenine overproduction in cells with T21. Finally, a mouse model of DS carrying triplication of IFN receptors exhibits KP dysregulation. Together, our results reveal a mechanism by which T21 could drive immunosuppression and neurotoxicity in DS

Physics searches at the LHC

With the LHC up and running, the focus of experimental and theoretical high energy physics will soon turn to an interpretation of LHC data in terms of the physics of electroweak symmetry breaking and the TeV scale. We present here a broad review of models for new TeV-scale physics and their LHC signatures. In addition, we discuss possible new physics signatures and describe how they can be linked to specific models of physics beyond the Standard Model. Finally, we illustrate how the LHC era could culminate in a detailed understanding of the underlying principles of TeV-scale physics.Comment: 184 pages, 55 figures, 14 tables, hundreds of references; scientific feedback is welcome and encouraged. v2: text, references and Overview Table added; feedback still welcom

Identification of Dengue Virus Serotype 3 Specific Antigenic Sites Targeted by Neutralizing Human Antibodies

The rational design of dengue virus (DENV) vaccines requires a detailed understanding of the molecular basis for antibody-mediated immunity. The durably protective antibody response to DENV after primary infection is serotype specific. However, there is an incomplete understanding of the antigenic determinants for DENV type-specific (TS) antibodies, especially for DENV serotype 3, which has only one well-studied, strongly neutralizing human monoclonal antibody (mAb). Here, we investigated the human B cell response in children after natural DENV infection in the endemic area of Nicaragua and isolated 15 DENV3 TS mAbs recognizing the envelope (E) glycoprotein. Functional epitope mapping of these mAbs and small animal prophylaxis studies revealed a complex landscape with protective epitopes clustering in at least 6–7 antigenic sites. Potently neutralizing TS mAbs recognized sites principally in E glycoprotein domains I and II, and patterns suggest frequent recognition of quaternary structures on the surface of viral particles. © 2020 Elsevier Inc.; The repertoire of type-specific neutralizing sites in dengue virus serotype 3 (DENV3) is poorly defined. Young et al. identify human monoclonal antibodies to multiple previously unidentified antigenic sites on DENV3 envelope protein and show that they neutralize DENV3 potently in vitro and reduce viral infection in mice

Non-motor symptom burden in patients with Parkinson's disease with impulse control disorders and compulsive behaviours : results from the COPPADIS cohort

The study was aimed at analysing the frequency of impulse control disorders (ICDs) and compulsive behaviours (CBs) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and in control subjects (CS) as well as the relationship between ICDs/CBs and motor, nonmotor features and dopaminergic treatment in PD patients. Data came from COPPADIS-2015, an observational, descriptive, nationwide (Spain) study. We used the validated Questionnaire for Impulsive-Compulsive Disorders in Parkinson's Disease-Rating Scale (QUIP-RS) for ICD/CB screening. The association between demographic data and ICDs/CBs was analyzed in both groups. In PD, this relationship was evaluated using clinical features and treatment-related data. As result, 613 PD patients (mean age 62.47 ± 9.09 years, 59.87% men) and 179 CS (mean age 60.84 ± 8.33 years, 47.48% men) were included. ICDs and CBs were more frequent in PD (ICDs 12.7% vs. 1.6%, p < 0.001; CBs 7.18% vs. 1.67%, p = 0.01). PD patients had more frequent previous ICDs history, premorbid impulsive personality and antidepressant treatment (p < 0.05) compared with CS. In PD, patients with ICDs/CBs presented younger age at disease onset, more frequent history of previous ICDs and premorbid personality (p < 0.05), as well as higher comorbidity with nonmotor symptoms, including depression and poor quality of life. Treatment with dopamine agonists increased the risk of ICDs/CBs, being dose dependent (p < 0.05). As conclusions, ICDs and CBs were more frequent in patients with PD than in CS. More nonmotor symptoms were present in patients with PD who had ICDs/CBs compared with those without. Dopamine agonists have a prominent effect on ICDs/CBs, which could be influenced by dose