Mexico’s 2013 telecom reform has brought tangible benefits, spurring competition that has increased access and brought down mobile Internet costs from among the highest in advanced economies to among the lowest.

Everywhere skills transform lives, generate prosperity and promote social inclusion. And if there’s one lesson the global economy has taught us over the last few years, it’s that we cannot simply bail ourselves out of a crisis — stimulus plans and printing money can never be a lasting solution to our economic problems.

Policy instruments can be applied to improve the sustainability of plastics, including regulations, market-based instruments, information and voluntary tools. The report reviews the use of these instruments, provides good practice examples, such as product taxes and charges, eco-design standards, extended producer responsibility and environmental product labels, as well as discussing opportunities for their future applications.

The entertainment boss runs his online streaming company like a champion sports team

Jessica Ennis-Hill's coach has told Sebastian Coe to immediately start drawing up a list of medals that should be taken from drug cheats and handed to the athletes they robbed.

West Ham United were able to see off interest from Bayern Munich to secure the club-record signing of Sebastien Haller from Eintracht Frankfurt for £45million this summer.

1. The present Appeal has been filed by the Swasti Power Limited ("Appellant") under Section 111 of the Electricity Act, 2003 ("Electricity Act"), challenging the legality, validity and propriety of the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission's ("State Commission / Respondent No.1") Order dated 21.10.2015 in Petition No. 08 of 2015 ("Impugned Order") whereby the State Commission despite coming to the conclusion that the Respondents are in breach of their obligations towards construction of 220/33KV sub-station at Ghansali or in strengthening/augmentation of the existing 33KV evacuation system had erroneously dismissed the Petition filed by the Appellant while holding that there is no specific condition under the Power Wheeling Agreement dated 30.09.2005 and Power Purchase Agreement dated 03.07.2009 executed between the parties, under which the Appellant could be compensated for the loss of generation due to inactions of the Respondent No. 2 & 3.

Singer and guitarist Russell Hastings thinks the Government should set up a social deprivation fund to help people who have lost income due to the coronavirus.

Emily recently told British GQ of quarantine with Sebastian: 'But my husband and I are in a good partnership. And I think that I've learned a lot about myself being married, for sure.'

New Delhi is closer to accepting a progressive radio policy, but there is still more it can do. The India Together editorial.

Women are making a mark in a profession almost entirely dominated by men. Shoma Chatterji talks to the women idol makers of Kumartuli to find out about their struggle and success.

Poonam Malik is a typical 'Haryanvi bahu', head demurely covered with a dupatta, a shy introvert woman, busy with household chores in her joint family of 15. She covers her face with a 'ghunghat' if elders come visiting.

The makers of KGF: Chapter 1 are all set to take legal action against a Telugu TV channel for illegally telecasting the film on small-screen. Also Read : Say What! Amazon Prime Video Offers 55 Crores For Yash Starrer KGF Chapter 2's Digital Rights?

The makers of KGF: Chapter 1 are all set to take legal action against a Telugu TV channel for illegally telecasting the film on small-screen. Also Read : Say What! Amazon Prime Video Offers 55 Crores For Yash Starrer KGF Chapter 2's Digital Rights?

Gymnasts around the world have been trying to stay fit amid tough restrictions during the COVID-19 crisis, and Italy is no exception.      With the country's gym clubs and training facilities closed for more than two months as part of government measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus, gymnast Marco Lodadio, a silver medallist in the rings event at the 2019 world championships, turned his garden into a fitness studio.      Without the sophisticated faci

With markets closed and meat supply hit due to the COVID-19-induced lockdown, Muslims are in for a Ramzan without their favourite kebabs and other chicken and mutton dishes.

Gymnastics: Italian Lodadio cultivates his garden to stay fit

The makers of Yash's movie 'KGF' have planned to sue a local Telugu channel for broadcasting the movie illegally

A new resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) instrument has been constructed at beamline P01 of the PETRA III synchrotron. This instrument has been named IRIXS (intermediate X-ray energy RIXS) and is dedicated to X-rays in the tender-energy regime (2.5–3.5 keV). The range covers the L2,3 absorption edges of many of the 4d elements (Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Pd and Ag), offering a unique opportunity to study their low-energy magnetic and charge excitations. The IRIXS instrument is currently operating at the Ru L3-edge (2840 eV) but can be extended to the other 4d elements using the existing concept. The incoming photons are monochromated with a four-bounce Si(111) monochromator, while the energy analysis of the outgoing photons is performed by a diced spherical crystal analyzer featuring (102) lattice planes of quartz (SiO2). A total resolution of 100 meV (full width at half-maximum) has been achieved at the Ru L3-edge, a number that is in excellent agreement with ray-tracing simulations.

Meta-magnetic shape-memory alloys combine ferroelastic order with ferromagnetic order and exhibit attractive multifunctional properties, but they are extremely brittle, showing hardly any tensile deformability, which impedes their practical application. Here, for the first time, an Ni–Cu–Co–Mn–In microwire has been developed that simultaneously exhibits a magnetic field-induced first-order meta-magnetic phase transition and huge tensile superelasticity. A temperature-dependent in situ synchrotron high-energy X-ray diffraction investigation reveals that the martensite of this Ni43.7Cu1.5Co5.1Mn36.7In13 microwire shows a monoclinic six-layered modulated structure and the austenite shows a cubic structure. This microwire exhibits an oligocrystalline structure with bamboo grains, which remarkably reduces the strain incompatibility during deformation and martensitic transformation. As a result, huge tensile superelasticity with a recoverable strain of 13% is achieved in the microwire. This huge tensile superelasticity is in agreement with our theoretical calculations based on the crystal structure and lattice correspondence of austenite and martensite and the crystallographic orientation of the grains. Owing to the large magnetization difference between austenite and martensite, a pronounced magnetic field-induced magnetostructural transition is achieved in the microwire, which could give rise to a variety of magnetically driven functional properties. For example, a large magnetocaloric effect with an isothermal entropy change of 12.7 J kg−1 K−1 (under 5 T) is obtained. The realization of magnetic-field- and tensile-stress-induced structural transformations in the microwire may pave the way for exploiting the multifunctional properties under the coupling of magnetic field and stress for applications in miniature multifunctional devices.

Using the typical WC–Co cemented carbide as an example, the interactions of dislocations within the ceramic matrix and the binder metal, as well as the possible cooperation and competition between the matrix and binder during deformation of the nanocrystalline cermets, were studied by molecular dynamics simulations. It was found that at the same level of strain, the dislocations in Co have more complex configurations in the cermet with higher Co content. With loading, the ratio between mobile and sessile dislocations in Co becomes stable earlier in the high-Co cermet. The strain threshold for the nucleation of dislocations in WC increases with Co content. At the later stage of deformation, the growth rate of WC dislocation density increases more rapidly in the cermet with lower Co content, which exhibits an opposite tendency compared with Co dislocation density. The relative contribution of Co and WC to the plasticity of the cermet varies in the deformation process. With a low Co content, the density of WC dislocations becomes higher than that of Co dislocations at larger strains, indicating that WC may contribute more than Co to the plasticity of the nanocrystalline cermet at the final deformation stage. The findings in the present work will be applicable to a large variety of ceramic–metal composite materials.

Human septins 3, 9 and 12 are the only members of a specific subgroup of septins that display several unusual features, including the absence of a C-terminal coiled coil. This particular subgroup (the SEPT3 septins) are present in rod-like octameric protofilaments but are lacking in similar hexameric assemblies, which only contain representatives of the three remaining subgroups. Both hexamers and octamers can self-assemble into mixed filaments by end-to-end association, implying that the SEPT3 septins may facilitate polymerization but not necessarily function. These filaments frequently associate into higher order complexes which associate with biological membranes, triggering a wide range of cellular events. In the present work, a complete compendium of crystal structures for the GTP-binding domains of all of the SEPT3 subgroup members when bound to either GDP or to a GTP analogue is provided. The structures reveal a unique degree of plasticity at one of the filamentous interfaces (dubbed NC). Specifically, structures of the GDP and GTPγS complexes of SEPT9 reveal a squeezing mechanism at the NC interface which would expel a polybasic region from its binding site and render it free to interact with negatively charged membranes. On the other hand, a polyacidic region associated with helix α5', the orientation of which is particular to this subgroup, provides a safe haven for the polybasic region when retracted within the interface. Together, these results suggest a mechanism which couples GTP binding and hydrolysis to membrane association and implies a unique role for the SEPT3 subgroup in this process. These observations can be accounted for by constellations of specific amino-acid residues that are found only in this subgroup and by the absence of the C-terminal coiled coil. Such conclusions can only be reached owing to the completeness of the structural studies presented here.

Multi-slice simulations of electron diffraction by three-dimensional protein crystals have indicated that structure solution would be severely impeded by dynamical diffraction, especially when crystals are more than a few unit cells thick. In practice, however, dynamical diffraction turned out to be less of a problem than anticipated on the basis of these simulations. Here it is shown that two scattering phenomena, which are usually omitted from multi-slice simulations, reduce the dynamical effect: solvent scattering reduces the phase differences within the exit beam and inelastic scattering followed by elastic scattering results in diffusion of dynamical scattering out of Bragg peaks. Thus, these independent phenomena provide potential reasons for the apparent discrepancy between theory and practice in protein electron crystallography.

Inelastic X-ray scattering is a powerful and versatile technique for studying lattice dynamics in materials of scientific and technological importance. In this article, the design and capabilities of the momentum-resolved high-energy-resolution inelastic X-ray spectrometer (HERIX) at beamline 30-ID of the Advanced Photon Source are reported. The instrument operates at 23.724 keV and has an energy resolution of 1.3–1.7 meV. It can accommodate momentum transfers of up to 72  nm−1, at a typical X-ray flux of 4.5 × 109 photons s−1 meV−1 at the sample. A suite of in situ sample environments are provided, including high pressure, static magnetic fields and uniaxial strains, all at high or cryogenic temperatures.

The optical design of a Hettrick–Underwood-style soft X-ray spectrometer with Wolter type 1 mirrors is presented. The spectrometer with a nominal length of 3.1 m can achieve a high resolving power (resolving power higher than 10000) in the soft X-ray regime when a small source beam (<3 µm in the grating dispersion direction) and small pixel detector (5 µm effective pixel size) are used. Adding Wolter mirrors to the spectrometer before its dispersive elements can realize the spatial imaging capability, which finds applications in the spectroscopic studies of spatially dependent electronic structures in tandem catalysts, heterostructures, etc. In the pump–probe experiments where the pump beam perturbs the materials followed by the time-delayed probe beam to reveal the transient evolution of electronic structures, the imaging capability of the Wolter mirrors can offer the pixel-equivalent femtosecond time delay between the pump and probe beams when their wavefronts are not collinear. In combination with some special sample handing systems, such as liquid jets and droplets, the imaging capability can also be used to study the time-dependent electronic structure of chemical transformation spanning multiple time domains from microseconds to nanoseconds. The proposed Wolter mirrors can also be adopted to the existing soft X-ray spectrometers that use the Hettrick–Underwood optical scheme, expanding their capabilities in materials research.

It is shown that the 2p3d resonant inelastic X-ray scattering intensity is distorted by saturation and self-absorption effects, i.e. by incident-energy-dependent saturation and by emission-energy-dependent self-absorption.

Single-crystal elastic constants have been derived by lattice strain measurements using neutron diffraction on polycrystalline Ti-6Al-4V, Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-6Mo and Ti-3Al-8V-6Cr-4Zr-4Mo alloy samples. A variety of model approximations for the grain-to-grain interactions, namely approaches by Voigt, Reuss, Hill, Kroener, de Wit and Matthies, including texture weightings, have been applied and compared. A load-transfer approach for multiphase alloys was also implemented and the results are compared with single-phase data. For the materials under investigation, the results for multiphase alloys agree well with the results for single-phase materials in the corresponding phases. In this respect, all eight elastic constants in the dual-phase Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-6Mo alloy have been derived for the first time.

An energy resolution of <10 µeV for the measurement of phonon energy change is achieved with the inelastic neutron spin echo technique on a conventional neutron triple-axis spectrometer.

It is one of the largest and most productive estuaries in the world, yet dramatic changes are in store for the Chesapeake Bay in coming […]

The post Climate change may drastically alter Chesapeake Bay, scientists say appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

“The Age of Plastic: Ingenuity + Responsibility” a public Smithsonian Symposium that will take an uncommon look at the most common of materials. On Thursday, June […]

The post The Age of Plastic: Symposium June 7 & 8, 2012 appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

In June, Odile Madden, materials scientist at the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute, was a participant on a 6-day interdisciplinary expedition to a number of beaches […]

The post Q&A: Plastics expert Odile Madden on plastic debris in Alaskan waters appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Grow fast, die young is not a lifestyle normally associated with trees. But in the forests of the Northeastern United States the red maple follows […]

The post Effects of human impact are long lasting for forests in Northeast U.S. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For life as we know it to develop on other planets, those planets would need liquid water, or oceans. Geologic evidence suggests that Earth’s oceans […]

The post Super-Earths Have Long-Lasting Oceans appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Plastic debris floating in the ocean has become a powerful new passport to far-away destinations for a wide variety of invasive species, according to new […]

The post Tsunami reveals drifting ocean plastic opens globe to invasive castaways appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Great white sharks, killer whales, sea lions, even polar bears—the ocean is full of giant predators. But one of the ocean’s worst enemies is not […]

The post Beautiful plastic sculptures tell ugly story of human garbage in the ocean appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Odile Madden knows a lot about plastic. A materials scientist with the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, she has spent the past eight years studying plastics […]

The post Microplastics in our environment: A conversation with Odile Madden, Smithsonian plastics scientist appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This work studies the elastic scattering behavior of electron vortices when propagating through amorphous samples. A formulation of the multislice approach in cylindrical coordinates is used to theoretically investigate the redistribution of intensity between different angular momentum components due to scattering. To corroborate and elaborate on our theoretical results, extensive numerical simulations are performed on three model systems (Si3N4, Fe0.8B0.2, Pt) for a wide variety of experimental parameters to quantify the purity of the vortices, the net angular momentum transfer, and the variability of the results with respect to the random relative position between the electron beam and the scattering atoms. These results will help scientists to further improve the creation of electron vortices and enhance applications involving them.

Elastic has created some of the most intriguing title sequences in recent television history. Directed by Patrick Clair (Australian b. 1982), the opening credits for […]

The post Elastic – Opening Credits: True Detective appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Aymar Ccopacatty (Aymara), NMAI Artist Leadership Program (ALP) participant, tells his personal story of the environmental impact on Puno, Peru, of all-too-commonly discarded commercial plastic […]

The post Knitting plastic Wiphalas in Peru appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Revelle Lecture Explores the Problem and Proposes Solutions

From N-95 masks that are protecting health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic to food packaging found in every aisle of the grocery store, plastics play an essential role in our lives.

Commercial sea fishing has been taking place for centuries. The first analysis of historic data from the UK has indicated that, over the past 118 years, the commercial productivity of UK fisheries has decreased by 94 per cent.

Data from studies monitoring the amount of plastic eaten by seabirds suggest that levels in the North Sea are well above targets established for the North East Atlantic Ocean by OSPAR (the Oslo and Paris Convention). For the most recent monitoring period, the target amount was exceeded in well over half the birds studied.

By ranking the ???hazard potential??? of a wide range of chemicals used to make common plastics, Swedish researchers have highlighted which plastic polymers are made from the most hazardous chemicals. These should be prioritised for assessing the risk of causing human or environmental harm.

The long-lasting and negative effects of intensive farming on soils persist even where complex animal communities have been reintroduced to the soil in attempt to restore the natural balance, according to a recent study. The findings highlight the possible effects of historical land use on soils' ability to deliver ecosystem services.

Researchers have discovered high levels of plastic particles and fibres, as well as black carbon (BC), which is formed by the incomplete burning of fossil fuels, in the waters of the Jade Bay, an inshore basin off the coast of Germany in the Southern North Sea. The concentration of suspended particles are of concern because they have the potential to be ingested by fish and other marine life, and enter the food chain.

International agreements to reduce plastic use are needed to address plastic litter in the marine environment, as well as increased public awareness of the problem, according to scientists at a workshop on the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive held in Italy in 2013. The issues discussed at the workshop have been summarised in a recent research paper.

Scientists in the US have found a way to make a 'biorenewable' plastic from wood by-products. Their fossil fuel-free plastic is similar to polyethylene terephthalate (PET) - a material used to make plastic bottles and packaging. Such green chemistry approaches could help reduce reliance on dwindling fossil fuel resources.