Although there is no way to avoid the NRP’s random employment tax audits, there are strategies to help businesses avoid potential trouble spots. By Mark E. Battersby The government’s own figures indicate that the payroll tax and self-employment tax gap (the difference between taxes owned and those actually paid) amounts to more than $200 billion [...]

Canada houses 173 billion barrels of oil in a form supremely difficult to access. Extracting crude from a thick peanut-butter-like substance called oil sands takes time, costs money, uses excessive amounts of water and produces large amounts of CO2. General Electric (GE) Global Research, Niskayuna, N.Y., is taking on the oil sands with naturally occurring [...]

The Ohio Chemistry Technology Council recognized OMNOVA Solutions plants in Akron and Fairlawn, Ohio, with two 2009 Awards for Excellence in Environmental, Health, Safety and Security Performance. OMNOVA’s Akron Technology Center developed NM®-128, a zinc-free acrylic polymer that reduces impacts on lakes, rivers and streams, as well as PolyFox® wetting solution for high-gloss floor polishes [...]

Workplace Dynamics, an employee research company hired by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, invited 1,193 companies in southeastern Wisconsin to participate in a survey about the best workplaces in the region. R & B Wagner Inc., Milwaukee, Wisc., ranked fifth out of 35 mid-sized companies (150-499 employees), which gave its workers—and its architectural and industrial metal [...]

BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Techmer PM LLC, Clinton, Tenn., produce additives for the plastics and fiber industries. The recent acquisition of Ciba Plastic Additives by BASF has shifted the German company’s product scope, leading to the sale of its hydrophilic melt additives business to Techmer PM. The melt additives, marketed under the Irgasurf® HL brand, [...]

As a producer of multi-filament polyester and nylon textured yarns, Unifi Inc., Greensboro, N.C., has positioned itself as a leader in sustainability and green initiatives. The company reinforced its reputation in June when it invested in two new projects focused on recycling and biomass energy. The recycled chip used to make Unifi’s REPREVE® polyester fibers [...]

Called a number of pet names—Smurf House, Chinese Hat, White Toadstool— because of its unusual white undulating roof, the new Centre Georges Pompidou outpost art museum in Metz, France, is a serious work of design by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban and French architect Jean de Gastines (associated with Philip Gumuchdjia). The Pompidou-Metz is encased by [...]

Geometry is not rocket science for Pink Powered by Moss, New York, N.Y., which designs and rents tensioned fabric structures in all shapes and sizes. Its massive cube display, which stands more than 16 feet high, is a real attention grabber, appearing to balance impossibly on one point. As an event centerpiece or entryway, the [...]

"Energy. Experiment. Experience,” a conference held by Bauhaus University Weimar’s Department of Civil Engineering, featured the first public test of stone columns reinforced with Secugrid® geogrid, manufactured by NAUE GmbH & Co. KG, Espelkamp-Fiestel, Germany. As the audience watched and television cameras rolled, professor Karl Josef Witt of Bauhaus University and his team constructed four [...]

When artists, designers and musicians blend the look of Victorian England during the age of the steam engine with machines rooted in science fiction and fantasy, the result is called steam punk and the visual impact is stunning. When Nashville country duo Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush (aka Sugarland) wanted a set for their “Incredible [...]