0000000000423261

AUTHOR

K Schmidt

A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Significance\ud \ud Communicating in ways that motivate engagement in social distancing remains a critical global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study tested motivational qualities of messages about social distancing (those that promoted choice and agency vs. those that were forceful and shaming) in 25,718 people in 89 countries. The autonomy-supportive message decreased feelings of defying social distancing recommendations relative to the controlling message, and the controlling message increased controlled motivation, a less effective form of motivation, relative to no message. Message type did not impact intentions to socially distance, but people’s existing mo…

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Isomer separation of Cu and Cu with a resonance ionization laser ion source

Abstract Radioactive copper isotopes were ionized with the resonance ionization laser ion source (RILIS) at the on-line isotope separator ISOLDE (CERN). Using the different hyperfine structure in the 3d10 4s  2 S1/2 – 3d10 4p  2 P01/2 transition the low- and high-spin isomers of 70 Cu were selectively enhanced by tuning the laser wavelength. The light was provided by a narrow-bandwidth dye laser pumped by copper vapor lasers (CVL) and frequency doubled in a BBO crystal. The ground state to isomeric state intensity ratio could be varied by a factor of 30, allowing to assign gamma transitions unambiguously to the decay of the individual isomers. It is shown that the method can also be used to…

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The Case for a Local Net Value-Added Tax for Municipalities

In this paper the case made by the Advisory Council of the Federal Ministry of Finance for reform of the local business tax in Germany is outlined. The criteria for a good local tax are described, and the proposals deriving from the Council are presented. The proposed reform is to introduce a local value-added tax of the income type. This tax would be defined on the base of business payroll, profits, interest paid, and rent. It would include businesses, professions, and administrative bodies. The reform is outlined and possible criticisms are assessed. With appropriate definitions of tax base and an enlargement of the group of taxpayers, the value-added tax is argued to be the best approac…

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