Optimal Carbon Taxes for Emissions Targets in the Electricity Sector

The most dangerous effects of anthropogenic climate change can be mitigated by using emissions taxes or other regulatory interventions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This paper takes a regulatory viewpoint and describes the Weighted Sum Bisection method to determine the lowest emission tax rate that can reduce the anticipated emissions of the power sector below a prescribed, regulatorily-defined target. This bi-level method accounts for a variety of operating conditions via stochastic programming and remains computationally tractable for realistically large planning test systems, even when binary commitment decisions and multi-period constraints on conventional generators are considered. Case studies on a modified ISO New England test system demonstrate that this method reliably finds the minimum tax rate that meets emissions targets. In addition, it investigates the relationship between system investments and the tax-setting process. Introducing GHG emissions taxes increases the value proposition for investment in new cleaner generation, transmission, and energy efficiency; conversely, investing in these technologies reduces the tax rate required to reach a given emissions target

SQUWALS: A Szegedy QUantum WALks Simulator

Szegedy's quantum walk is an algorithm for quantizing a general Markov chain. It has plenty of applications such as many variants of optimizations. In order to check its properties in an error-free environment, it is important to have a classical simulator. However, the current simulation algorithms require a great deal of memory due to the particular formulation of this quantum walk. In this paper we propose a memory-saving algorithm that scales as $\mathcal{O}(N^2)$ with the size $N$ of the graph. We provide additional procedures for simulating Szegedy's quantum walk over mixed states and also the Semiclassical Szegedy walk. With these techniques we have built a classical simulator in Python called SQUWALS. We show that our simulator scales as $\mathcal{O}(N^2)$ in both time and memory resources. This package provides some high-level applications for algorithms based on Szegedy's quantum walk, as for example the quantum PageRank.Comment: RevTex 4.2, 16 pages, 9 color figure

Discrete-time Semiclassical Szegedy Quantum Walks

Quantum walks are promising tools based on classical random walks, with plenty of applications such as many variants of optimization. Here we introduce the semiclassical walks in discrete time, which are algorithms that combines classical and quantum dynamics. Specifically, a semiclassical walk can be understood as a classical walk where the transition matrix encodes the quantum evolution. We have applied this algorithm to Szegedy's quantum walk, which can be applied to any arbitrary weighted graph. We first have solved the problem analytically on regular 1D cycles to show the performance of the semiclassical walks. Next, we have simulated our algorithm in a general inhomogeneous symmetric graph, finding that the inhomogeneity drives a symmetry breaking on the graph. Moreover, we show that this phenomenon is useful for the problem of ranking nodes in symmetric graphs, where the classical PageRank fails. We have demonstrated experimentally that the semiclassical walks can be applied on real quantum computers using the platform IBM Quantum.Comment: RevTex 4.2, 16 pages, 11 color figure

Biological Role of Nutrients, Food and Dietary Patterns in the Prevention and Clinical Management of Major Depressive Disorder

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a growing disabling condition affecting around 280 million people worldwide. This complex entity is the result of the interplay between biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors, and compelling evidence suggests that MDD can be considered a disease that occurs as a consequence of an evolutionary mismatch and unhealthy lifestyle habits. In this context, diet is one of the core pillars of health, influencing multiple biological processes in the brain and the entire body. It seems that there is a bidirectional relationship between MDD and malnutrition, and depressed individuals often lack certain critical nutrients along with an aberrant dietary pattern. Thus, dietary interventions are one of the most promising tools to explore in the field of MDD, as there are a specific group of nutrients (i.e., omega 3, vitamins, polyphenols, and caffeine), foods (fish, nuts, seeds fruits, vegetables, coffee/tea, and fermented products) or dietary supplements (such as S-adenosylmethionine, acetyl carnitine, creatine, amino acids, etc.), which are being currently studied. Likewise, the entire nutritional context and the dietary pattern seem to be another potential area of study, and some strategies such as the Mediterranean diet have demonstrated some relevant benefits in patients with MDD; although, further efforts are still needed. In the present work, we will explore the state-of-the-art diet in the prevention and clinical support of MDD, focusing on the biological properties of its main nutrients, foods, and dietary patterns and their possible implications for these patients.Fondo de Investigacion de la Seguridad Social, Instituto de Salud Carlos III PI18/01726 PI19/00766Programa de Actividades de I+D de la Comunidad de Madrid en Biomedicina B2017/BMD3804 B2020/MITICAD-C

La utilización del mindfulness en el paciente oncológico

One of the main problems of the oncology patients is the coping with illness, through its different phases and moments. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), has been used to reduce stress and negative emotional aspects in these patients. This educational program promotes the experience of the present moment and attempts a physiological adjustment on increased emotional activation. Although controlled studies do not allow knowing the really efficacy of this program, as well as delimiting its main components, positive findings have been got support its use in the treatment of oncology patients. In addition, it is speculated about consider Mindfulness like an educational program or a clinical intervention, considering the influence of this differentiation / distinction on Mindfulness’ effects.Uno de los problemas principales del paciente oncológico es el afrontamiento de su enfermedad, en las distintas fases y momentos de ésta. Para ayudarle a reducir el estrés y los aspectos emocionales negativos se ha utilizado el Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Este programa educativo potencia la vivencia del momento presente al tiempo que procura una regulación fisiológica del exceso de activación emocional. Aunque los estudios controlados no permiten conocer la eficacia real de este programa, así como delimitar sus componentes principales, se han obtenido resultados positivos que aconseja considerarlo en el abordaje del paciente oncológico. Se especula, además, sobre su consideración como programa educativo o como intervención clínica, matizando la eficacia diferencial que esto pueda tener en sus efectos

Migracions a Catalunya : cinc dècades de canvis i continuïtats

En aquest apartat s'analitzen tant l'evolució en la intensitat de les migracions - immigració i emigració- com els patrons espacials de les migracions internes i externes a Catalunya al llarg del període 1964-2013. Les fonts d'informació han estat principalment les dades de l'Estadística de variacions residencials de l'INE. Aquest període s'ha caracteritzat per l'arribada d'un nombre important d'immigrants - especialment durant la dècada anterior a 1975 i entre els anys 2000 i 2008- alhora que per una variació substancial dels seus llocs de procedència. S'ha assistit a una ampliació territorial en l'origen dels fluxos d'arribada a Catalunya: d'un predomini dels fluxos procedents de la resta d'Espanya s'ha passat a una major importància de la immigració procedent de la resta del món. En aquest apartat remetem al funcionament del sistema català de reproducció com a component essencial per entendre aquests cicles migratoris.En este capítulo se analizan tanto la evolución en la intensidad de las migraciones - inmigración y emigración- como los patrones espaciales de las migraciones internas y externas en Cataluña a lo largo del período 1964-2013. La información proviene principalmente de la Estadística de variaciones residenciales del INE. Este periodo se ha caracterizado por la llegada de un número importante de inmigrantes - especialmente durante la década anterior a 1975 y entre los años 2000 y 2008- a la vez que por una variación sustancial de sus lugares de procedencia. Se ha asistido a una ampliación territorial en el origen de los flujos de llegada a Cataluña: de un predominio de los flujos procedentes del resto de España se ha pasado a una mayor importancia de la inmigración procedente del resto del mundo. En este apartado remitimos al funcionamiento del sistema catalán de reproducción como componente esencial para entender estos ciclos migratorios.This chapter analyses both the evolution in the intensity of migration - emigration and immigration- and the spatial patterns of internal and external migration in Catalonia during the period 1964-2013. The source of information has been mainly data of the Residential Variation Statistics (INE). During this period a large number of immigrants has come to Catalonia - especially during the decade before 1975 and between 2000 and 2008-, but we can see a substantial variation in the origin of this migrants. We can appreciate a territorial expansion in the origin of the flows arriving to Catalonia: from predominant flows of the rest of Spain to greater importance of immigration from the rest of the world. In this section we refer to the Catalan Reproduction System as essential in-formation to understand this migratory cycle.Ce chapitre analyse l'évolution de l'intensité des migrations - immigration et émigration- et la structure territoriale des flux internes et des flux externes en Catalogne pendant la période 1964 2013. Les sources d'information ont été principalement les données des Variations Statistiques Résidentielles de l'INE. Cette période a été marquée par l'arrivée d'un grand nombre d'immigrants - surtout au cours de la décennie 1965-1975 et entre 2000 et 2008- et aussi par une variation importante de leurs origines. On a assisté à une expansion territoriale de l'origine des migrants arrivant en Catalogne: d'une prédominance des flux provenant du reste de l'Espagne à une plus grande importance de l'immigration du reste du monde. Dans ce chapitre nous considérons le fonctionnement du. Système Catalan de Reproduction comme l'élément essentiel pour la compréhension de ces cycles migratoires

Audio segmentation-by-classification approach based on factor analysis in broadcast news domain

This paper studies a novel audio segmentation-by-classification approach based on factor analysis. The proposed technique compensates the within-class variability by using class-dependent factor loading matrices and obtains the scores by computing the log-likelihood ratio for the class model to a non-class model over fixed-length windows. Afterwards, these scores are smoothed to yield longer contiguous segments of the same class by means of different back-end systems. Unlike previous solutions, our proposal does not make use of specific acoustic features and does not need a hierarchical structure. The proposed method is applied to segment and classify audios coming from TV shows into five different acoustic classes: speech, music, speech with music, speech with noise, and others. The technique is compared to a hierarchical system with specific acoustic features achieving a significant error reduction