The Green Growth and Sustainable development Forum is an annual event, and the third Forum will take place on 13-14 November 2014. This blog highlights the importance of the Forum, and how, far from being "abstract", this year's Forum offers an invaluable opportunity to address the social implications of implementing green growth strategies.

This country note explains how Israel taxes energy use. The note shows the distribution of effective energy tax rates across all domestic energy use. It also details the country-specific assumptions made when calculating effective energy tax rates and matching tax rates to the corresponding energy base.

The tax wedge for the average single worker in Israel increased by 0.2 percentage points from 22.5 in 2018 to 22.7 in 2019. The OECD average tax wedge in 2019 was 36.0 (2018, 36.1). In 2019 Israel had the 32nd lowest tax wedge among the 36 OECD member countries, occupying the same position in 2018.

This country note explains how Ireland taxes energy use. The note shows the distribution of effective energy tax rates across all domestic energy use. It also details the country-specific assumptions made when calculating effective energy tax rates and matching tax rates to the corresponding energy base.

The tax wedge for the average single worker in Ireland increased by 0.3 percentage points from 32.9 in 2018 to 33.2 in 2019. The OECD average tax wedge in 2019 was 36.0 (2018, 36.1). In 2019 Ireland had the 24th lowest tax wedge among the 36 OECD member countries, compared with the 25th in 2018.

This country note explains how Germany taxes energy use. The note shows the distribution of effective energy tax rates across all domestic energy use. It also details the country-specific assumptions made when calculating effective energy tax rates and matching tax rates to the corresponding energy base.

The tax wedge for the average single worker in Germany decreased by 0.1 percentage points from 49.5 in 2018 to 49.4 in 2019. The OECD average tax wedge in 2019 was 36.0 (2018, 36.1). In 2019 Germany had the 2nd highest tax wedge among the 36 OECD member countries, occupying the same position in 2018.

This working paper offers an evaluation of the performance of the ports of the Seine Axis (Le Havre,Rouen, Caen and Paris).

Up to ten patrons will be allowed to visit cafes and restaurants and five people can visit another person's home under an anticipated easing of coronavirus restrictions in New South Wales.

Nicola Rayner was loving her life and work in Buenos Aires when a night out ended in terror. She recounts the horrifying ordeal that almost cost her her life

The presenter, 42, looked radiant as she headed to the Global Radio studios in London on Saturday.

Jet had last Friday said that the incident happened when their plane was trying to take off from the runway. But the preliminary probe by Saudi authorities has found that the lane was trying to take off from a taxiway parallel to the take off-designated runway at full power.

The State government is considering relaxing some key labour laws meant to protect the interests of workers in Karnataka, including those which govern

The performance of the recently commissioned spectrometer PEAXIS for resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering (RIXS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and its hosting beamline U41-PEAXIS at the BESSY II synchrotron are characterized. The beamline provides linearly polarized light from 180 eV to 1600 eV allowing for RIXS measurements in the range 200–1200 eV. The monochromator optics can be operated in different configurations to provide either high flux with up to 1012 photons s−1 within the focal spot at the sample or high energy resolution with a full width at half maximum of <40 meV at an incident photon energy of ∼400 eV. The measured total energy resolution of the RIXS spectrometer is in very good agreement with theoretically predicted values obtained by ray-tracing simulations. PEAXIS features a 5 m-long RIXS spectrometer arm that can be continuously rotated about the sample position by 106° within the horizontal photon scattering plane, thus enabling the study of momentum-transfer-dependent excitations. Selected scientific examples are presented to demonstrate the instrument capabilities, including measurements of excitations in single-crystalline NiO and in liquid acetone employing a fluid cell sample manipulator. Planned upgrades of the beamline and the RIXS spectrometer to further increase the energy resolution to ∼100 meV at 1000 eV incident photon energy are discussed.

With the introduction of the multi-bend achromats in the new fourth-generation storage rings the emittance has decreased by an order of magnitude resulting in increased brightness. However, the higher brightness comes with smaller beam sizes and narrower radiation cones. As a consequence, the requirements on mechanical stability regarding the beamline components increases. Here an innovative five-axis parallel kinematic mirror unit for use with soft X-ray beamlines using off-axis grazing-incidence optics is presented. Using simulations and measurements from the HIPPIE beamline at the MAX IV Laboratory it is shown that it has no Eigen frequencies below 90 Hz. Its positioning accuracy is better than 25 nm linearly and 17–35 µrad angularly depending on the mirror chamber dimensions.

A portable IR fiber laser-heating system, optimized for X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) and nuclear inelastic scattering (NIS) spectroscopy with signal collection through the radial opening of diamond anvil cells near 90°with respect to the incident X-ray beam, is presented. The system offers double-sided on-axis heating by a single laser source and zero attenuation of incoming X-rays other than by the high-pressure environment. A description of the system, which has been tested for pressures above 100 GPa and temperatures up to 3000 K, is given. The XES spectra of laser-heated Mg0.67Fe0.33O demonstrate the potential to map the iron spin state in the pressure–temperature range of the Earth's lower mantle, and the NIS spectra of laser-heated FeSi give access to the sound velocity of this candidate of a phase inside the Earth's core. This portable system represents one of the few bridges across the gap between laser heating and high-resolution X-ray spectroscopies with signal collection near 90°.

Rietveld/MEM analysis applied to synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction data of dehydrated CHA zeolites with catalytically active Cu2+ reveals Cu2+ in both the six- and eight-membered rings in the CHA framework, providing the first complete structural model that accounts for all Cu2+. Density functional theory calculations are used to corroborate the experimental structure and to discuss the Cu2+ coordination in terms of the Al distribution in the framework.

An expectation maximization algorithm is implemented to resolve the indexing ambiguity which arises when merging data from many crystals in protein crystallography, especially in cases where partial reflections are recorded in serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) at XFELs.

Archaea are motile by the rotation of the archaellum. The archaellum switches between clockwise and counterclockwise rotation, and movement along a chemical gradient is possible by modulation of the switching frequency. This modulation involves the response regulator CheY and the archaellum adaptor protein CheF. In this study, two new crystal forms and protein structures of CheY are reported. In both crystal forms, CheY is arranged in a domain-swapped conformation. CheF, the protein bridging the chemotaxis signal transduction system and the motility apparatus, was recombinantly expressed, purified and subjected to X-ray data collection.

Testing caterpillars’ taste buds is no simple task. Just like your local salad bar, plants in the wild come in different shapes, textures and flavors. Herbivores rely on each of these cues to tell them what to eat. Deciphering this code is Lind’s task. He’s examining 40 different plant species – half invasive, half native.

The post Salad science: Coaxing caterpillars to reveal the secrets of their leafy desires appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Recent work has added dozens of new measurements to star-forming regions in the Milky Way. These measurements have changed the map of the Milky Way, indicating our galaxy has four spiral arms, not two, as previously thought.

The post Very Large Baseline Array telescope is helping Smithsonian astronomers remap Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Astronomers have probed into the distant universe and discovered that galaxies display one of two distinct behaviors: they are either awake or asleep, actively forming stars or are not forming any new stars at all.

The post Astronomers find that galaxies are either asleep or awake appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Spiral galaxies are some of the most beautiful and photogenic residents of the universe. Our own Milky Way is a spiral. Our solar system and […]

The post Powerful computer simulations show how spiral galaxies get their arms appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The world of astronomy has changed. An astronomer used to have to travel to a remote location and endure long, cold nights, patiently guiding a […]

The post Mining astronomical archives yields haul of “red nugget” galaxies appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Crystal structure identification of thin organic films entails a number of technical and methodological challenges. In particular, if molecular crystals are epitaxially grown on single-crystalline substrates a complex scenario of multiple preferred orientations of the adsorbate, several symmetry-related in-plane alignments and the occurrence of unknown polymorphs is frequently observed. In theory, the parameters of the reduced unit cell and its orientation can simply be obtained from the matrix of three linearly independent reciprocal-space vectors. However, if the sample exhibits unit cells in various orientations and/or with different lattice parameters, it is necessary to assign all experimentally obtained reflections to their associated individual origin. In the present work, an effective algorithm is described to accomplish this task in order to determine the unit-cell parameters of complex systems comprising different orientations and polymorphs. This method is applied to a polycrystalline thin film of the conjugated organic material 6,13-pentacene­quinone (PQ) epitaxially grown on an Ag(111) surface. All reciprocal vectors can be allocated to unit cells of the same lattice constants but grown in various orientations [sixfold rotational symmetry for the contact planes (102) and (102)]. The as-determined unit cell is identical to that reported in a previous study determined for a fibre-textured PQ film. Preliminary results further indicate that the algorithm is especially effective in analysing epitaxially grown crystallites not only for various orientations, but also if different polymorphs are present in the film.

A method is described for indexing grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction data of epitaxially grown thin films comprising various crystal orientations and/or polymorphs by measuring reciprocal-lattice vectors.

Shout out to my 20 million brothers and sisters-  The one in seven U.S. taxpayers who waited until the last minute to file. 

This year, the IRS even gave us 'til April 18th-  So the 18th is when I filed- For my extension!  See you in October!

In my defense, it was not due to lack of effort.  It feels like I spent 200 hours on my taxes this year, because they were unusually complicated. 

Back when I was in my twenties?  Much effort was put into stacking red milk crates for bookshelves and trying to fold up a futon without mangling my fingers-30 years later, I'm trying to do really smart grown-up things.

To wit, my life partner and I have been business partners for almost 20 years.  We used to be young-  Now we're-ahem-"less young"-  Picture the Boomers you see in those ads, silver-haired, in wet suits, running towards the ocean with surfboards, very at peace with nature and our fully-funded 401-K plans - Except that we don't surf and, regarding those 401-K plans?

Well, what I have written on the notepad I stole from Charles Schwab is-  And I quote:
"Retirement and write it off, and something about medical." 

When I look at this enigmatic scribble, an image comes to me: A friendly thirty-something man dressed in charcoal gray business casual- And a desk, and a plant-  And that man is saying:

"Sandra, by all means, you need to form a C corp!  NOT an S corp!"

But wait, is that what he said? Maybe it was:
"Sandra, by all means, you need to form an S Corp!  NOT a C corp!"

It was like being in school and confronting a page of long division- Or sitting in a deadly after-lunch class like "US Government"-  There's this mix of incomprehension, coupled with boredom, that makes it all sound like white noise.

S corp, C corp-  These things involve a part of my brain that refuses to fire.  All I know is there was one kind that was right, it's not the one I did, at some moderate expense, and now I'm going to jail. 

Where at least I won't have to fold a futon.  I think.

Next week: Separate Bathrooms, Separate Quicken Accounts

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Dave Ramsey—  The financial radio talk show host—  Says every couple has two people.  One is the nerd with the calculator.   The other is the spendy free spirit. 

In my couple, I am the nerd.  I am calmed by a seven-by-seven Ken Ken and a mechanical pencil.  No surprise that I have used Quicken now for several decades.  But it seems in the last five or 10 years—  What with the Russian hackers stealing our info to get porn—  The cheapo, Windows-based laptops Quicken favors have gotten very buggy. 

So buggy, I bought a sacrificial Dell laptop just for Quicken.   But even that lasted barely six months without crashing.  So Charlie, the free spirit, took over paying the bills!  Writing checks by hand!  Notating them in a large, impressive leatherette binder!  The checks are pretty—tan and sort of antique-looking.  There's a stagecoach on them.

This was all charming until I realized it was tax time. To get all my financial info into the computer, I was going to have to hand-enter each check.  With a quill pen and a butter churn.

While in the joyous process of hand-inputting each check that went out in calendar year 2016— I learned some interesting things!

That beautiful 8-lane highway we drove on that time we visited friends in Orange County? That was a toll road that we apparently didn't pay for. 250 dollar fine! Plus--We're subscribers to something called Cook's Country Magazine, even though I am NOT into "homestyle cooking." And -- we've been paying hundreds of dollars a month for gym memberships that I didn't know we have!

Argh!

Losing it, I throw in the towel and buy myself my own personal version of Quicken—for Mac—  There's a help line to call—  And unbelievably, an operator immediately answers.  He's a courteous gentleman with a lilting, slightly British accent.  He answers my "sign in" question, and asks: "Do you want me to stay on the line while you try it?" "Sure!" I say, surprised.

We click pleasantly through a few more windows—  He's marvelously patient, and attentive—  Wanting to be entertaining, I actually start reciting my passwords aloud as I type them.  

"Let's see—2, 3, 4—asterisk, star, Sparky Sparky, that was my first pet— "Now I'm actually going to have to go downstairs to get my purse," I say, "and maybe go to the ladies' on the way 'cause I've had a lot of coffee— "
"It's fine!" he says—
"Well you can continue playing Solitaire or whatever you're doing!" I say.  And he chuckles!
Doing your taxes?  It takes a village.  And a butter churn.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

How environmental agencies can best engage with, and reap the benefits of, Environmental Enforcement Networks (EENs) has been identified in new research. The study used questionnaires and interviews with senior figures from eight environment agencies, spanning seven countries, to identify the key themes of, and ways of improving engagement with, EENs, to extract the maximum benefits. The input was then used to perform a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of engaging with EENs, from which options for improved engagement could be developed.

Flat screen televisions and computer monitors should be designed so they can be quickly dismantled for recycling, a recent study says. The researchers calculated that in order to ensure the recycling process remains economically viable, it must be possible to disassemble small screens in less than 11 minutes. Good design could lower the costs of recycling and enable near-total recovery of precious metals from the waste screens.

Sixty-four per cent of organizations in India and Europe invested in cloud technologies in the last two years, followed by IoT, where 51% firms made investments.

Dwarf galaxies are enigmas wrapped in riddles. Although they are the smallest galaxies, they represent some of the biggest mysteries about our universe. While many dwarf galaxies surround our own Milky Way, there seem to be far too few of them compared with standard cosmological models, which raises a lot of questions about the nature of dark matter and its role in galaxy formation.

read more

Agri-environmental measures (AEM) are designed to encourage farmers to protect and enhance the environment on their farmland by paying them for the provision of environmental services. This study suggests that AEM would be more effective if payments were targeted to areas under the greatest environmental pressures, such as intensive agricultural regions — to gain maximum environmental benefits.

Controlling energy demand instead of supply could help solve the problems of variability associated with wind power, according to new research. In the case of Portugal, it was estimated that measures to reduce electricity demand could reduce the peak consumption by 17.4 per cent in 2020.

Many countries have recognised the need to promote the 'green' economy and integrate its principles into a number of different areas of policy. New research has indicated that the design, timing and coherence of the measures required for this integration play a crucial role in their success in supporting a green economy.

 
 000
 FOPZ14 KNHC 210234
 PWSEP4
                                                                     
 REMNANTS OF PRISCILLA WIND SPEED PROBABILITIES NUMBER   4           
 NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL       EP192019               
 0300 UTC MON OCT 21 2019                                            
                                                                     
 AT 0300Z THE REMNANTS OF PRISCILLA WERE LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 20.0  
 NORTH...LONGITUDE 104.7 WEST WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR 25   
 KTS...30 MPH...45 KM/H.                                             
                                                                     
 Z INDICATES COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME (GREENWICH)                  
    PACIFIC  DAYLIGHT TIME (PDT)...SUBTRACT 7 HOURS FROM Z TIME      
    HAWAIIAN STANDARD TIME (HST)...SUBTRACT 10 HOURS FROM Z TIME     
                                                                     
 WIND SPEED PROBABILITY TABLE FOR SPECIFIC LOCATIONS                 
                                                                     
 CHANCES OF SUSTAINED (1-MINUTE AVERAGE) WIND SPEEDS OF AT LEAST     
    ...34 KT (39 MPH... 63 KM/H)...                                  
    ...50 KT (58 MPH... 93 KM/H)...                                  
    ...64 KT (74 MPH...119 KM/H)...                                  
 FOR LOCATIONS AND TIME PERIODS DURING THE NEXT 5 DAYS               
                                                                     
 PROBABILITIES FOR LOCATIONS ARE GIVEN AS OP(CP) WHERE               
     OP  IS THE PROBABILITY OF THE EVENT BEGINNING DURING            
         AN INDIVIDUAL TIME PERIOD (ONSET PROBABILITY)               
    (CP) IS THE PROBABILITY OF THE EVENT OCCURRING BETWEEN           
         00Z MON AND THE FORECAST HOUR (CUMULATIVE PROBABILITY)      
                                                                     
 PROBABILITIES ARE GIVEN IN PERCENT                                  
 X INDICATES PROBABILITIES LESS THAN 1 PERCENT                       
 PROBABILITIES FOR 34 KT AND 50 KT ARE SHOWN AT A GIVEN LOCATION WHEN
 THE 5-DAY CUMULATIVE PROBABILITY IS AT LEAST 3 PERCENT.             
 PROBABILITIES FOR 34...50...64 KT SHOWN WHEN THE 5-DAY              
 64-KT CUMULATIVE PROBABILITY IS AT LEAST 1 PERCENT.                 
                                                                     
                                                                     
   - - - - WIND SPEED PROBABILITIES FOR SELECTED LOCATIONS - - - -   
                                                                     
                FROM    FROM    FROM    FROM    FROM    FROM    FROM 
   TIME       00Z MON 12Z MON 00Z TUE 12Z TUE 00Z WED 00Z THU 00Z FRI
 PERIODS         TO      TO      TO      TO      TO      TO      TO  
              12Z MON 00Z TUE 12Z TUE 00Z WED 00Z THU 00Z FRI 00Z SAT
                                                                     
 FORECAST HOUR    (12)   (24)    (36)    (48)    (72)    (96)   (120)
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 LOCATION       KT                                                   
                                                                     
 $$                                                                  
 FORECASTER CANGIALOSI                                               
 

A consensus is emerging in support of a price floor for gasoline, but getting it through Congress may be difficult. And will Obama expend capital on the idea?

Since the end of its space shuttle program, NASA is relying more and more on commercial space travel.

Morieka Johnson can help you maximize those trips to school, tae kwon do, gymnastics, soccer ...

What is Uber anyway? Is it a taxi service or as it claims, a technology platform, or something else altogether?

Trophy Bicycle Holders offer a smart, space-saving storage solution in the form of two 'iconic silhouettes.'

California's City By the Bay has dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions by switching to a mostly hybrid taxi fleet. It's a model for the rest of the country.

19 newly discovered dwarf galaxies are missing dark matter.

Astronomers use the Hubble telescope to image Rubin’s galaxy, or UGC 2885, which may be the biggest galaxy ever.