What: Signature is an innovative, research-based HR conferenceWhen: Sunday, November 5 to Tuesday, November 7, 2023Where: The Hilton Orlando

Signature, the Premier HR Conference From McLean & Company, Returns in Five Days

Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo both spoke to the importance of the new institute, along with unveiling other safety measures the U.S. will deploy, on Wednesday at an A.I. Safety Summit in the United Kingdom.

The Biden Administration to Create New A.I. Safety Institute to Tackle A.I.'s 'Dangerous Capabilities'

Maury Alliance's final Breakfast with The Mayor featured city leaders discussing growth, planning and tourism's latest economic impact on Columbia.

Breakfast with The Mayor addresses growth, tourism and planning for the future

A court says Pennsylvania can't enforce a regulation to make power plant owners pay for their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

Pennsylvania court permanently blocks effort to make power plants pay for greenhouse gas emissions

The public are to be consulted on plans that could ban new takeaways near schools or youth clubs in Bristol. The city council has approved a draft Local Plan that would also stop three or more takeaways from opening next door to each other. City Hall chiefs are concerned takeaways are contributing to rising levels of obesity.

New takeaways near city's schools could be banned

Plans to build 25 homes in a North Yorkshire village have been recommended for approval ahead of a planning meeting next week. North Yorkshire Council's Skipton and Ripon planning committee will meet on Tuesday to consider an application for the development in Cononley. A previous bid for the village was refused in December 2022.

Plan for village homes recommended for approval

Local law enforcement will implement heightened security measures for Sunday's New York City Marathon due to a rise in tensions around the globe, officials said on Wednesday. The top endurance athletes as well as the 50,

Athletics-NYPD plan heightened marathon security, citing global tensions

“It’s as if the sea star is completely missing a trunk, and is best described as just a head crawling along the seafloor,” study co-author and Stanford University evolutionary biologist Laurent Formery said in a statement. “It’s not at all what scientists have assumed about these animals.”

The sea star's whole body is a head

New report outlines how caregivers face a series of financial and professional challenges, and ways financial advisers and employers can help.

Caregiving: A Growing Problem with Costly Impact on Budgets, Careers, Retirement

This suggests that, over the course of evolution, starfish and other echinoderms may have developed their five-sectioned bodies by losing this central trunk section, allowing them to hunt and feed differently from other animals.

Scientists Finally Solve Mystery of Where Starfish Keep Their Heads

Get the most recent info and news about Plan A on HackerNoon, where 10k+ technologists publish stories for 4M+ monthly readers.

Automate your company's ESG and carbon footprint reporting and reduce your emissions. Create decarbonisation plans plans based on data and science.

Plan A

It may be the world’s largest stock by market capitalization, but Apple doesn’t appear to be sitting still as tariffs threaten the tech giant’s bottom line. Can a major investment in boosting its US manufacturing capabilities grow its long-term attractiveness to investors? Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) intends to invest more than $500 billion in the US over the coming four years, starting with a new advanced manufacturing factory based in Texas. Crucially, the firm expects to create 20,000 new jobs as a result of its initiative, with many new roles opening up in research and development, software, and artificial intelligence (AI). Although Apple’s information was more hazy when it came to precisely where the $500 billion would go, with the tech leader stating that the sum included everything from spending on suppliers to Apple TV+ productions, CEO Tim Cook claimed that the move underlined the company’s bullish stance on the future of American innovation. Apple’s announcement came just days following a meeting between Cook and President Donald Trump, who has long claimed to prioritize corporate investment in the US. The investment is set to bring a new 250,000 sq ft factory in Houston, Texas, which will focus on producing Apple Intelligence AI servers that had previously been manufactured outside of the United States. It’s for this reason that onlookers have suggested Apple’s spending has been prompted by the introduction of steep trade tariffs between the US and China. But what does it mean for AAPL’s prospects on Wall Street? Navigating Trade Wars William Kerwin, senior equity analyst for Morningstar, has suggested that Apple’s spending plan is a direct strategy to earn an exemption from tariffs on imports from China. With almost 70% of the firm’s iPhones manufactured in China, the prospect of the additional 10% tariffs on imports could severely impede Apple’s growth potential during the second Trump Presidency. Apple clearly knows its way around Trump exemptions and managed to gain an exemption during the President’s first term in office. This makes the timing of the recent announcement particularly telling and may help the company earn extra exemptions to avoid tariffs on other imports outside of China. Trump’s willingness to reward organizations that make significant investments in the United States was underlined by his statement when the President-elect claimed that any person or company investing at least $1 billion in the country would receive ‘fully expedited approvals and permits’. The President’s controversial stance extending the gesture to cover ‘all environmental permits’ further confirms his growth at all costs stance. But Trump’s willingness to use tariffs as a key negotiating tool with trade partners has caused more leading Wall Street firms to struggle for momentum. The S&P 500 has been largely stagnant since the President’s inauguration, and the introduction of tariffs has prompted a rethink on how firms manage their supply chains. “Trump's trade policies are likely to lead to significant shifts in global markets and profoundly affect US export-oriented industries,” explained Maxim Manturov, head of investment research at Freedom24. “While tariffs may protect certain domestic sectors from foreign competition in the short term, they may also lead to higher costs for consumers and businesses due to higher prices of imported goods.” “Consequently, companies facing higher costs of production may have difficulty with profit margins unless they can pass these costs on to consumers without losing market share.” This suggests that Apple’s strategy is to bypass a prospective US trade war by investing in domestic manufacturing as an olive branch to the President. The move may help to foster more market outperformance while other Wall Street leaders struggle to appease Trump’s aggressive stance on tariffs. Is Apple Ripe for Picking? In its first quarter fiscal earnings, Apple reported a December-quarter revenue increase of 4% year-over-year to $124.3 billion while iPhone revenue dropped 1% over the same time frame to $69.1 billion. This softening iPhone growth cycle remains a sticking point for the company, and it appears that the successful rollout of artificial intelligence features will be crucial to reclaiming lost ground throughout the global smartphone market. Despite this, Apple’s plan to recruit 20,000 new workers at a time when at least 95,000 US tech workers have faced layoffs over the past year illustrates that AAPL is a stock that’s focused on investing for growth. With many of these workers based in research and development roles, it may be a timely recruitment drive for a company that’s looking for generative AI innovations to recapture lost iPhone sales. On February 11, AAPL experienced an uptick on Wall Street in the wake of news that Apple had chosen to partner with e-commerce firm Alibaba (BABA) to bring AI services to devices in China, underlining that investors share the same outlook on the value of artificial intelligence. For investors, Apple’s flat growth in the first two months of 2025 shows that the stock is succumbing to more widespread struggles on Wall Street, but in strategizing growth beyond the supply chain complications posed by Trump’s tariffs, its stock may offer plenty of resilience throughout the President’s second term. Uncertainty to Impact Stocks At this stage, it’s important to reiterate that Trump’s Presidency has been characterized by uncertainty and unpredictability. With the President’s famously outspoken stance on key policy decisions, we can expect the S&P 500 to remain more volatile over the foreseeable future. With this in mind, it’s wise for investors looking at AAPL stock to continually audit the wider macroeconomic landscape for signs of new trends emerging and new tariff developments that could impact the stock. Although the future is uncertain, Apple’s proactive strategy to invest in US manufacturing is likely to win favor with the President. Looking further afield, the tech giant’s $500 billion plan could be a great futureproofing measure. It may be the world’s largest stock by market capitalization, but Apple doesn’t appear to be sitting still as tariffs threaten the tech giant’s bottom line. Can a major investment in boosting its US manufacturing capabilities grow its long-term attractiveness to investors? Apple Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) intends to invest more than $500 billion in the US over the coming four years, starting with a new advanced manufacturing factory based in Texas. more than $500 billion more than $500 billion Crucially, the firm expects to create 20,000 new jobs as a result of its initiative, with many new roles opening up in research and development, software, and artificial intelligence (AI). Although Apple’s information was more hazy when it came to precisely where the $500 billion would go, with the tech leader stating that the sum included everything from spending on suppliers to Apple TV+ productions, CEO Tim Cook claimed that the move underlined the company’s bullish stance on the future of American innovation. Apple’s announcement came just days following a meeting between Cook and President Donald Trump, who has long claimed to prioritize corporate investment in the US. The investment is set to bring a new 250,000 sq ft factory in Houston, Texas, which will focus on producing Apple Intelligence AI servers that had previously been manufactured outside of the United States. It’s for this reason that onlookers have suggested Apple’s spending has been prompted by the introduction of steep trade tariffs between the US and China. But what does it mean for AAPL’s prospects on Wall Street? Navigating Trade Wars William Kerwin, senior equity analyst for Morningstar, has suggested that Apple’s spending plan is a direct strategy to earn an exemption from tariffs on imports from China. With almost 70% of the firm’s iPhones manufactured in China, the prospect of the additional 10% tariffs on imports could severely impede Apple’s growth potential during the second Trump Presidency. direct strategy direct strategy Apple clearly knows its way around Trump exemptions and managed to gain an exemption during the President’s first term in office. This makes the timing of the recent announcement particularly telling and may help the company earn extra exemptions to avoid tariffs on other imports outside of China. Trump’s willingness to reward organizations that make significant investments in the United States was underlined by his statement when the President-elect claimed that any person or company investing at least $1 billion in the country would receive ‘fully expedited approvals and permits’. investing at least $1 billion investing at least $1 billion The President’s controversial stance extending the gesture to cover ‘all environmental permits’ further confirms his growth at all costs stance. But Trump’s willingness to use tariffs as a key negotiating tool with trade partners has caused more leading Wall Street firms to struggle for momentum. The S&P 500 has been largely stagnant since the President’s inauguration, and the introduction of tariffs has prompted a rethink on how firms manage their supply chains. “Trump's trade policies are likely to lead to significant shifts in global markets and profoundly affect US export-oriented industries,” explained Maxim Manturov, head of investment research at Freedom24. “While tariffs may protect certain domestic sectors from foreign competition in the short term, they may also lead to higher costs for consumers and businesses due to higher prices of imported goods.” “Consequently, companies facing higher costs of production may have difficulty with profit margins unless they can pass these costs on to consumers without losing market share.” This suggests that Apple’s strategy is to bypass a prospective US trade war by investing in domestic manufacturing as an olive branch to the President. The move may help to foster more market outperformance while other Wall Street leaders struggle to appease Trump’s aggressive stance on tariffs. Is Apple Ripe for Picking? In its first quarter fiscal earnings, Apple reported a December-quarter revenue increase of 4% year-over-year to $124.3 billion while iPhone revenue dropped 1% over the same time frame to $69.1 billion. revenue dropped 1% revenue dropped 1% This softening iPhone growth cycle remains a sticking point for the company, and it appears that the successful rollout of artificial intelligence features will be crucial to reclaiming lost ground throughout the global smartphone market. Despite this, Apple’s plan to recruit 20,000 new workers at a time when at least 95,000 US tech workers have faced layoffs over the past year illustrates that AAPL is a stock that’s focused on investing for growth. least 95,000 least 95,000 With many of these workers based in research and development roles, it may be a timely recruitment drive for a company that’s looking for generative AI innovations to recapture lost iPhone sales. On February 11, AAPL experienced an uptick on Wall Street in the wake of news that Apple had chosen to partner with e-commerce firm Alibaba (BABA) to bring AI services to devices in China, underlining that investors share the same outlook on the value of artificial intelligence. experienced an uptick experienced an uptick For investors, Apple’s flat growth in the first two months of 2025 shows that the stock is succumbing to more widespread struggles on Wall Street, but in strategizing growth beyond the supply chain complications posed by Trump’s tariffs, its stock may offer plenty of resilience throughout the President’s second term. Uncertainty to Impact Stocks At this stage, it’s important to reiterate that Trump’s Presidency has been characterized by uncertainty and unpredictability. With the President’s famously outspoken stance on key policy decisions, we can expect the S&P 500 to remain more volatile over the foreseeable future. With this in mind, it’s wise for investors looking at AAPL stock to continually audit the wider macroeconomic landscape for signs of new trends emerging and new tariff developments that could impact the stock. Although the future is uncertain, Apple’s proactive strategy to invest in US manufacturing is likely to win favor with the President. Looking further afield, the tech giant’s $500 billion plan could be a great futureproofing measure.

How Does Apple’s Ambitious $500 Billion US Manufacturing Plan Affect its Wall Street Prospects?

Как амбициозният производствен план на Apple за 500 милиарда долара в САЩ влияе върху перспективите на Уолстрийт?

Jak ambiciózní americký výrobní plán společnosti Apple ve výši 500 miliard dolarů ovlivňuje její vyhlídky na Wall Street?

Welchen Einfluss hat Apples ehrgeiziger 500-Milliarden-Dollar-Fertigungsplan in den USA auf seine Aussichten an der Wall Street?

Hoe beïnvloedt Apple’s ambitieuze Amerikaanse productieplan van 500 miljard dollar de vooruitzichten op Wall Street?

Jak ambitny plan produkcyjny Apple w USA o wartości 500 miliardów dolarów wpływa na perspektywy firmy na Wall Street?

Cum îi afectează ambițiosul plan de producție de 500 de miliarde de dolari al Apple perspectivele de pe Wall Street?

Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction 2 Related Work 3 Methodology 4 Studying Deep Ocean Ecosystem and 4.1 Deep Ocean Research Goals 4.2 Workflow and Data 4.3 Design Challenges and User Tasks 5 The DeepSea System 5.1 Map View
5.2 Core View 5.3 Interpolation View and 5.4 Implementation 6 Usage Scenarios and 6.1 Scenario: Pre-Cruise Planning 6.2 Scenario: On-the-Fly Decision-Making 7 Evaluation and 7.1 Cruise Deployment 7.2 Expert Interviews 7.3 Limitations 7.4 Lessons Learned 8 Conclusions and Future Work, Acknowledgments, and References 6 USAGE SCENARIOS In this section, we illustrate how DeepSee can be used to study deep ocean microbial ecology via two example usage scenarios (Fig. 6). 6.1 Scenario: Pre-Cruise Planning A graduate researcher is planning a follow-up cruise with their lab to collect cores at a site visited previously. Based on prior sampling, they want to determine where cores with a high abundance of both ANME-2c archaea and JS1 bacteria might be (Fig. 6A). They start by selecting all cores in the Map View and “ANME-2c” in the Core View, then examining the ANME-2c distribution down each core (T4). Using the Core View instead of the filters in the Map View, they locate four cores with high ANME-2c abundance (T2, T8). They select these cores in the Map View (T6) and find them clustered in pairs of two. Wondering about the interactions between ANME-2c and JS1, they select “JS1” in the Core View and notice that the two cores to the North also have a high abundance of JS1 (T1). Using the menus of the Map View to load a photomosaic map of seafloor imagery on the fly while maintaining the current viewport, they note that this region has a white microbial mat where the cores were taken (T5). They annotate the Map View by drawing circles around the two cores to the North and write a short message: “Area of interest #1” (T3). They then screenshot the image and place the image in a document for future reference (T9). The researcher decides that for the upcoming dive, retrieving cores from areas near these two cores with ANME-2c and JS1 are a high priority for their project, and focus should be on areas with a white microbial mat visible on the seafloor in this region. DeepSee enabled the researcher to maximize the value of limited samples by integrating several different data types (maps, tables, annotations) to make informed decisions about where to sample in the future. 6.2 Scenario: On-the-Fly Decision-Making A chief scientist (PI) is currently on a cruise, working with a team of submersible operators to visit their next sampling location. Unfortunately, once on the seafloor, they discover the site no longer hosts the characteristic white and orange microbial mats and adjacent chemosynthetic clams observed a few years prior. The chief scientist must quickly select another nearby seep sampling site with a high probability of similar microbial composition to collect sediment cores (Fig. 6B). Using DeepSee, the PI quickly loads a photomosaic map in the Map View from the last cruise to this site (T9) and uses the Map View to filter for the local cluster of previous cores collected here (T6). Looking at the spread of previous cores and the photomosaic map together, they realize the submersible is at the far end of the previously sampled area, which is ≈ 50 meters from an area that may still feature microbial activity (T5, T7). To test this hypothesis, they select all of the cores and choose “Sulfide” in the Core View, identifying which cores have measured sulfide gradients which act as a proxy for active seeps (T2, T10). The PI eliminates cores without sulfide concentration data and identifies several cores that span the width of a previous sampling area (T8, T9). Switching to the Interpolation View, they select a natural neighbor interpolation at 77 cm resolution and a VSUP color palette [11]. The PI sees that there is a predicted sharp subsurface gradient towards higher sulfide concentrations heading northeast across the previous sampling area (T11). Switching the predicted attribute to microbial taxa identified at the site, they also observe a similar trend in the relative abundance of a methane-oxidizing archaeon, which are found in areas of methane seepage (T1, T2, T11). Throughout, they annotate the Map View to support their decision-making, document the process, and share the results with the team (T3, T8). The PI decides that the submersible should navigate northwest to the sampled area and sample at, if not past, the location of core collections from the previous cruise located in the region with the highest sulfide concentrations. Having DeepSee’s ability to visualize unseen gradients quickly with limited data in the field can help researchers to make smarter, more data-driven decisions. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. Authors:
(1) Adam Coscia, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (acoscia6@gatech.edu);
(2) Haley M. Sapers, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA (hsapers@caltech.edu);
(3) Noah Deutsch, Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (ndeutsch@mde.harvard.edu);
(4) Malika Khurana, The New York Times Company, New York, New York, USA (malika.khurana@nytimes.com);
(5) John S. Magyar, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA (jmagyar@caltech.edu);
(6) Sergio A. Parra, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA (sparra@caltech.edu);
(7) Daniel R. Utter, rwipfler@caltech.edu Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA (dutter@caltech.edu);
(8) John S. Magyar, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA (rwipfler@caltech.edu);
(9) David W. Caress, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, USA (caress@mbari.org);
(10) Eric J. Martin Jennifer B. Paduan Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, USA (emartin@mbari.org);
(11) Jennifer B. Paduan, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, USA (paje@mbari.org);
(12) Maggie Hendrie, ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, California, USA (maggie.hendrie@artcenter.edu);
(13) Santiago Lombeyda, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA (santiago@caltech.edu);
(14) Hillary Mushkin, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA (hmushkin@caltech.edu);
(15) Alex Endert, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (endert@gatech.edu);
(16) Scott Davidoff, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA (scott.davidoff@jpl.nasa.gov);
(17) Victoria J. Orphan, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA (vorphan@caltech.edu). Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction Abstract and 1 Introduction 2 Related Work 2 Related Work 3 Methodology 3 Methodology 4 Studying Deep Ocean Ecosystem and 4.1 Deep Ocean Research Goals 4 Studying Deep Ocean Ecosystem and 4.1 Deep Ocean Research Goals 4.2 Workflow and Data 4.2 Workflow and Data 4.3 Design Challenges and User Tasks 4.3 Design Challenges and User Tasks 5 The DeepSea System 5 The DeepSea System 5.1 Map View 5.2 Core View 5.1 Map View 5.2 Core View 5.3 Interpolation View and 5.4 Implementation 5.3 Interpolation View and 5.4 Implementation 6 Usage Scenarios and 6.1 Scenario: Pre-Cruise Planning 6 Usage Scenarios and 6.1 Scenario: Pre-Cruise Planning 6.2 Scenario: On-the-Fly Decision-Making 6.2 Scenario: On-the-Fly Decision-Making 7 Evaluation and 7.1 Cruise Deployment 7 Evaluation and 7.1 Cruise Deployment 7.2 Expert Interviews 7.2 Expert Interviews 7.3 Limitations 7.3 Limitations 7.4 Lessons Learned 7.4 Lessons Learned 8 Conclusions and Future Work, Acknowledgments, and References 8 Conclusions and Future Work, Acknowledgments, and References 6 USAGE SCENARIOS In this section, we illustrate how DeepSee can be used to study deep ocean microbial ecology via two example usage scenarios (Fig. 6). 6.1 Scenario: Pre-Cruise Planning A graduate researcher is planning a follow-up cruise with their lab to collect cores at a site visited previously. Based on prior sampling, they want to determine where cores with a high abundance of both ANME-2c archaea and JS1 bacteria might be (Fig. 6A). They start by selecting all cores in the Map View and “ANME-2c” in the Core View, then examining the ANME-2c distribution down each core (T4) . Using the Core View instead of the filters in the Map View, they locate four cores with high ANME-2c abundance (T2, T8) . They select these cores in the Map View (T6) and find them clustered in pairs of two. Wondering about the interactions between ANME-2c and JS1, they select “JS1” in the Core View and notice that the two cores to the North also have a high abundance of JS1 (T1). Using the menus of the Map View to load a photomosaic map of seafloor imagery on the fly while maintaining the current viewport, they note that this region has a white microbial mat where the cores were taken (T5) . They annotate the Map View by drawing circles around the two cores to the North and write a short message: “Area of interest #1” (T3) . They then screenshot the image and place the image in a document for future reference (T9). (T4) (T2, T8) (T6) (T1). (T5) (T3) (T9). The researcher decides that for the upcoming dive, retrieving cores from areas near these two cores with ANME-2c and JS1 are a high priority for their project, and focus should be on areas with a white microbial mat visible on the seafloor in this region. DeepSee enabled the researcher to maximize the value of limited samples by integrating several different data types (maps, tables, annotations) to make informed decisions about where to sample in the future. 6.2 Scenario: On-the-Fly Decision-Making A chief scientist (PI) is currently on a cruise, working with a team of submersible operators to visit their next sampling location. Unfortunately, once on the seafloor, they discover the site no longer hosts the characteristic white and orange microbial mats and adjacent chemosynthetic clams observed a few years prior. The chief scientist must quickly select another nearby seep sampling site with a high probability of similar microbial composition to collect sediment cores (Fig. 6B). Using DeepSee , the PI quickly loads a photomosaic map in the Map View from the last cruise to this site (T9) and uses the Map View to filter for the local cluster of previous cores collected here (T6). Looking at the spread of previous cores and the photomosaic map together, they realize the submersible is at the far end of the previously sampled area, which is ≈ 50 meters from an area that may still feature microbial activity (T5, T7) . To test this hypothesis, they select all of the cores and choose “Sulfide” in the Core View, identifying which cores have measured sulfide gradients which act as a proxy for active seeps (T2, T10). The PI eliminates cores without sulfide concentration data and identifies several cores that span the width of a previous sampling area (T8, T9) . Switching to the Interpolation View, they select a natural neighbor interpolation at 77 cm resolution and a VSUP color palette [11]. The PI sees that there is a predicted sharp subsurface gradient towards higher sulfide concentrations heading northeast across the previous sampling area (T11). Switching the predicted attribute to microbial taxa identified at the site, they also observe a similar trend in the relative abundance of a methane-oxidizing archaeon, which are found in areas of methane seepage (T1, T2, T11) . Throughout, they annotate the Map View to support their decision-making, document the process, and share the results with the team (T3, T8). DeepSee (T5, T7) (T2, T10). (T8, T9) (T11). (T1, T2, T11) (T3, T8). The PI decides that the submersible should navigate northwest to the sampled area and sample at, if not past, the location of core collections from the previous cruise located in the region with the highest sulfide concentrations. Having DeepSee’s ability to visualize unseen gradients quickly with limited data in the field can help researchers to make smarter, more data-driven decisions. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv Authors: (1) Adam Coscia, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (acoscia6@gatech.edu); (2) Haley M. Sapers, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA (hsapers@caltech.edu); (3) Noah Deutsch, Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (ndeutsch@mde.harvard.edu); (4) Malika Khurana, The New York Times Company, New York, New York, USA (malika.khurana@nytimes.com); (5) John S. Magyar, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA (jmagyar@caltech.edu); (6) Sergio A. Parra, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA (sparra@caltech.edu); (7) Daniel R. Utter, rwipfler@caltech.edu Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA (dutter@caltech.edu); (8) John S. Magyar, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA (rwipfler@caltech.edu); (9) David W. Caress, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, USA (caress@mbari.org); (10) Eric J. Martin Jennifer B. Paduan Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, USA (emartin@mbari.org); (11) Jennifer B. Paduan, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, USA (paje@mbari.org); (12) Maggie Hendrie, ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, California, USA (maggie.hendrie@artcenter.edu); (13) Santiago Lombeyda, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA (santiago@caltech.edu); (14) Hillary Mushkin, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA (hmushkin@caltech.edu); (15) Alex Endert, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (endert@gatech.edu); (16) Scott Davidoff, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA (scott.davidoff@jpl.nasa.gov); (17) Victoria J. Orphan, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA (vorphan@caltech.edu). Authors: Authors: (1) Adam Coscia, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (acoscia6@gatech.edu); (2) Haley M. Sapers, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA (hsapers@caltech.edu); (3) Noah Deutsch, Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (ndeutsch@mde.harvard.edu); (4) Malika Khurana, The New York Times Company, New York, New York, USA (malika.khurana@nytimes.com); (5) John S. Magyar, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA (jmagyar@caltech.edu); (6) Sergio A. Parra, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA (sparra@caltech.edu); (7) Daniel R. Utter, rwipfler@caltech.edu Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA (dutter@caltech.edu); (8) John S. Magyar, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California, USA (rwipfler@caltech.edu); (9) David W. Caress, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, USA (caress@mbari.org); (10) Eric J. Martin Jennifer B. Paduan Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, USA (emartin@mbari.org); (11) Jennifer B. Paduan, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, USA (paje@mbari.org); (12) Maggie Hendrie, ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, California, USA (maggie.hendrie@artcenter.edu); (13) Santiago Lombeyda, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA (santiago@caltech.edu); (14) Hillary Mushkin, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA (hmushkin@caltech.edu); (15) Alex Endert, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (endert@gatech.edu); (16) Scott Davidoff, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA (scott.davidoff@jpl.nasa.gov); (17) Victoria J. Orphan, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA (vorphan@caltech.edu).

How DeepSee Helps Scientists Plan and Adapt in the Deep Ocean

**KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, January 9th, 2025/Chainwire/--**Halvin a new meme coin project, today announced its marketing plan to boost its upcoming January 2025 presale, aiming to engage crypto enthusiasts across multiple channels. Set on the Solana blockchain and inspired by the nostalgic elements of Alvin & the Chipmunks, combining their whimsical charm with the revolutionary concept of Bitcoin halving. Halvin aims to combine the playful appeal of meme coins with functional features such as staking and structured tokenomics. Halvin is a community-focused crypto project that will launch its marketing campaign and presale in January 2025. The project aims to reach audiences worldwide through digital channels such as social media and newswire services. By outlining a clear roadmap, the team intends to inform potential holders about ongoing developments while raising awareness of the upcoming presale. Through this early phase, Halvin seeks to unite both seasoned crypto enthusiasts and newcomers by sharing its long-term vision and offering tokens at an introductory rate. The goal is to cultivate an active community, ensuring that everyone has equal access to updates, milestones, and the broader possibilities Halvin brings to the evolving cryptocurrency landscape. Marketing Plan Press Releases in Multiple Newswire Services Halvin will share official updates and milestones across leading global newswires to maintain transparency and keep readers informed of new developments. Ads on X Short, targeted ad campaigns will highlight Halvin’s meme-inspired narrative, aiming to reach crypto-savvy audiences and engage potential token buyers. Email Marketing A major US-based email marketing firm has been contracted to distribute project updates, ensuring timely communication with interested subscribers throughout the presale period. Partners Hub Program Joining the Partners Hub Program (PHP). Through PHP, Halvin holders and the broader community access rewards, promotions, and perks from several projects within the program. Roadmap Highlights January 2025:
Marketing Campaign Launch: Spreads awareness of Halvin’s mission and token details.
Presale: Offers the first opportunity to buy Halvin tokens at an introductory rate.
February 2025:
Airdrop for Initial Holders: Rewards early supporters.
Staking Program: Provides ongoing incentives and fosters long-term engagement. Tokenomics Ticker Symbol: HALVIN
Contract Address: AibmcpTsr9Def2a9KgPFrFD5eWeJY9JjWw4ERvBYjWuS
Blockchain: Solana
Total Supply: 21 trillion (21T)
Listing Price: $0.0000002
Presale: 40% of total supply
Airdrops: 20% of total supply
Staking Program: 20% of total supply
Liquidity and Listings: 20% of total supply These allocations aim to balance the project’s early-stage momentum with its future potential liquidity, exchange listings, and community rewards. About Halvin Halvin is a meme coin that combines playful nostalgia with real-world crypto applications. Emphasizing fairness and engagement, it combines fun imagery, a supportive community, and a clear roadmap for growth. For more information or media inquiries, users can visit: Website: https://halvin.meme/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HALVIN_MEME
Telegram: https://t.me/halvin_meme
Media Contact: Rui Oliveira, info@halvin.meme | info@globaltrend.llc Contact CEO Rui Oliveira Global Trend info@globaltrend.llc This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here **KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, January 9th, 2025/Chainwire/--**Halvin a new meme coin project, today announced its marketing plan to boost its upcoming January 2025 presale, aiming to engage crypto enthusiasts across multiple channels. Set on the Solana blockchain and inspired by the nostalgic elements of Alvin & the Chipmunks, combining their whimsical charm with the revolutionary concept of Bitcoin halving. Halvin aims to combine the playful appeal of meme coins with functional features such as staking and structured tokenomics. Halvin is a community-focused crypto project that will launch its marketing campaign and presale in January 2025. The project aims to reach audiences worldwide through digital channels such as social media and newswire services. By outlining a clear roadmap, the team intends to inform potential holders about ongoing developments while raising awareness of the upcoming presale. Through this early phase, Halvin seeks to unite both seasoned crypto enthusiasts and newcomers by sharing its long-term vision and offering tokens at an introductory rate. The goal is to cultivate an active community, ensuring that everyone has equal access to updates, milestones, and the broader possibilities Halvin brings to the evolving cryptocurrency landscape. Marketing Plan Press Releases in Multiple Newswire Services Halvin will share official updates and milestones across leading global newswires to maintain transparency and keep readers informed of new developments. Ads on X Short, targeted ad campaigns will highlight Halvin’s meme-inspired narrative, aiming to reach crypto-savvy audiences and engage potential token buyers. Email Marketing A major US-based email marketing firm has been contracted to distribute project updates, ensuring timely communication with interested subscribers throughout the presale period. Partners Hub Program Joining the Partners Hub Program (PHP). Through PHP, Halvin holders and the broader community access rewards, promotions, and perks from several projects within the program. Partners Hub Program Partners Hub Program perks Roadmap Highlights January 2025: Marketing Campaign Launch: Spreads awareness of Halvin’s mission and token details. Presale: Offers the first opportunity to buy Halvin tokens at an introductory rate. February 2025: Airdrop for Initial Holders: Rewards early supporters. Staking Program: Provides ongoing incentives and fosters long-term engagement. January 2025: Marketing Campaign Launch: Spreads awareness of Halvin’s mission and token details. Presale: Offers the first opportunity to buy Halvin tokens at an introductory rate. February 2025: Airdrop for Initial Holders: Rewards early supporters. Staking Program: Provides ongoing incentives and fosters long-term engagement. Tokenomics Ticker Symbol: HALVIN Contract Address: AibmcpTsr9Def2a9KgPFrFD5eWeJY9JjWw4ERvBYjWuS Blockchain: Solana Total Supply: 21 trillion (21T) Listing Price: $0.0000002 Presale: 40% of total supply Airdrops: 20% of total supply Staking Program: 20% of total supply Liquidity and Listings: 20% of total supply Ticker Symbol: HALVIN Contract Address: AibmcpTsr9Def2a9KgPFrFD5eWeJY9JjWw4ERvBYjWuS Blockchain: Solana Total Supply: 21 trillion (21T) Listing Price: $0.0000002 Presale: 40% of total supply Airdrops: 20% of total supply Staking Program: 20% of total supply Liquidity and Listings: 20% of total supply These allocations aim to balance the project’s early-stage momentum with its future potential liquidity, exchange listings, and community rewards. About Halvin Halvin is a meme coin that combines playful nostalgia with real-world crypto applications. Emphasizing fairness and engagement, it combines fun imagery, a supportive community, and a clear roadmap for growth. Halvin Halvin For more information or media inquiries, users can visit: Website: https://halvin.meme/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/HALVIN_MEME Telegram: https://t.me/halvin_meme Media Contact: Rui Oliveira, info@halvin.meme | info@globaltrend.llc Website: https://halvin.meme/ https://halvin.meme/ https://halvin.meme/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/HALVIN_MEME https://twitter.com/HALVIN_MEME https://twitter.com/HALVIN_MEME Telegram: https://t.me/halvin_meme https://t.me/halvin_meme https://t.me/halvin_meme Media Contact: Rui Oliveira, info@halvin.meme | info@globaltrend.llc info@halvin.meme info@halvin.meme Contact CEO Rui Oliveira Global Trend info@globaltrend.llc This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here here here

Halvin Unveils Comprehensive Marketing Plan And Roadmap For January 2025 Presale

Halvin presenta un plan de marketing integral y una hoja de ruta para la preventa de enero de 2025

Halvin julkistaa kattavan markkinointisuunnitelman ja etenemissuunnitelman tammikuun 2025 ennakkomyyntiin

Halvin presenta un plan e unha folla de ruta integrales de mercadotecnia para a venda previa de xaneiro de 2025

हेल्विन ने जनवरी 2025 की प्री-सेल के लिए व्यापक मार्केटिंग योजना और रोडमैप का अनावरण किया

Halvin bemutatja a 2025. januári előértékesítés átfogó marketingtervét és ütemtervét

Halvin svela un piano di marketing completo e una tabella di marcia per la prevendita di gennaio 2025

Halvin חושף תוכנית שיווק מקיפה ומפת דרכים לחודש ינואר 2025

ハルヴィン、2025年1月のプレセールに向けた包括的なマーケティング計画とロードマップを発表

Халвин го претстави сеопфатниот маркетинг план и патоказ за претпродажба во јануари 2025 година

ஜனவரி 2025 முன் விற்பனைக்கான விரிவான சந்தைப்படுத்தல் திட்டம் மற்றும் சாலை வரைபடத்தை ஹால்வின் வெளியிட்டார்

Halvin, Ocak 2025 Ön Satışı İçin Kapsamlı Pazarlama Planı ve Yol Haritasını Açıkladı

ہالون نے جنوری 2025 کے پری سیل کے لیے جامع مارکیٹنگ پلان اور روڈ میپ کی نقاب کشائی کی

Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction 1.1 The twincode platform 1.2 Related Work 2 Research Questions 3 Variables 3.1 Independent Variables 3.2 Dependent Variables 3.3 Confounding Variables 4 Participants 5 Execution Plan and 5.1 Recruitment 5.2 Training and 5.3 Experiment Execution 5.4 Data Analysis Acknowledgments and References 5 EXECUTION PLAN We plan to perform a baseline experiment at the University of Seville in the first semester of the 2021–2022 academic course, and then, replicate the experiment at the University of California Berkeley at the beginning of the second semester. At each location, the experimental material provided to the students will be localized, i.e., in Spanish in Spain and in English at the USA, and the translation will be carefully checked by bilingual experimenters.[1] Independently of being the baseline or the replication, the execution plan of the twincode study consists of the steps described below. 5.1 Recruitment In this initial step, we plan to motivate the students to voluntarily participate in the study as an interesting experience in remote pair programming but without mentioning that the main goal is to study the effect of gender bias. We also remark that for the purpose of the study, they must remain anonymous to their partners, so they must neither mention nor ask any personal information. The interested students must register in the twincode platform providing some demographic data and accepting the participation conditions. Authors:
(1) Amador Durán, SCORE Lab, I3US Institute, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain (amador@us.es);
(2) Pablo Fernández, SCORE Lab, I3US Institute, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain (pablofm@us.es);
(3) Beatriz Bernárdez, I3US Institute, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain (beat@us.es);
(4) Nathaniel Weinman, Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA (nweinman@berkeley.edu);
(5) Aslı Akalın, Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA (asliakalin@berkeley.edu);
(6) Armando Fox, Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA (fox@berkeley.edu). This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. [1] At the time of writing, discussions are underway for another replication at the Northern Technical University at Ecuador. If this replication is eventually carried out, the experimental material will also be adapted to the local variant of Spanish if deemed necessary. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction Abstract and 1 Introduction 1.1 The twincode platform 1.1 The twincode platform 1.2 Related Work 1.2 Related Work 2 Research Questions 2 Research Questions 3 Variables 3 Variables 3.1 Independent Variables 3.1 Independent Variables 3.2 Dependent Variables 3.2 Dependent Variables 3.3 Confounding Variables 3.3 Confounding Variables 4 Participants 4 Participants 5 Execution Plan and 5.1 Recruitment 5 Execution Plan and 5.1 Recruitment 5.2 Training and 5.3 Experiment Execution 5.2 Training and 5.3 Experiment Execution 5.4 Data Analysis 5.4 Data Analysis Acknowledgments and References Acknowledgments and References 5 EXECUTION PLAN We plan to perform a baseline experiment at the University of Seville in the first semester of the 2021–2022 academic course, and then, replicate the experiment at the University of California Berkeley at the beginning of the second semester. At each location, the experimental material provided to the students will be localized, i.e., in Spanish in Spain and in English at the USA, and the translation will be carefully checked by bilingual experimenters.[1] Independently of being the baseline or the replication, the execution plan of the twincode study consists of the steps described below. 5.1 Recruitment In this initial step, we plan to motivate the students to voluntarily participate in the study as an interesting experience in remote pair programming but without mentioning that the main goal is to study the effect of gender bias. We also remark that for the purpose of the study, they must remain anonymous to their partners, so they must neither mention nor ask any personal information. The interested students must register in the twincode platform providing some demographic data and accepting the participation conditions. Authors: (1) Amador Durán, SCORE Lab, I3US Institute, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain (amador@us.es); (2) Pablo Fernández, SCORE Lab, I3US Institute, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain (pablofm@us.es); (3) Beatriz Bernárdez, I3US Institute, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain (beat@us.es); (4) Nathaniel Weinman, Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA (nweinman@berkeley.edu); (5) Aslı Akalın, Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA (asliakalin@berkeley.edu); (6) Armando Fox, Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA (fox@berkeley.edu). Authors: Authors: (1) Amador Durán, SCORE Lab, I3US Institute, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain (amador@us.es); (2) Pablo Fernández, SCORE Lab, I3US Institute, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain (pablofm@us.es); (3) Beatriz Bernárdez, I3US Institute, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain (beat@us.es); (4) Nathaniel Weinman, Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA (nweinman@berkeley.edu); (5) Aslı Akalın, Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA (asliakalin@berkeley.edu); (6) Armando Fox, Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA (fox@berkeley.edu). This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv available on arxiv [1] At the time of writing, discussions are underway for another replication at the Northern Technical University at Ecuador. If this replication is eventually carried out, the experimental material will also be adapted to the local variant of Spanish if deemed necessary.

Twincode Execution Plan and Recruitment

Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) policies in digital business encompass integrated practices that ensure that your processes align with regulations, industry standards, and internal policies. Most commonly it refers to governance structures, risk management, and compliance measures. The regulatory part of the digital landscape evolves dynamically and leans towards tightening measures, at the same time, risks and error costs continue to rise. This is why creating a specific GRC strategy is essential for digital businesses. In this article, we will talk about key components and best practices for implementing a successful and suitable GRC strategy for a digital business. Key Components of an Effective GRC Strategy GRC is a complex and nuanced domain where the same strategy may work perfectly for one organization and be ruinous for another. However, there are common guidelines to follow, which allow for the creation of a successful GRC strategy that is tailored to your specific business needs. Establishing governance frameworks Governance frameworks play a vital role in defining responsibilities within your organization and empowering decision-makers at different levels. This typically involves clearly outlining roles and responsibilities, creating relevant documentation and company regulations, aligning these regulations with business goals and ensuring all employees are familiar with them. Identifying and Assessing Risks Risk management is a crucial aspect of a GRC strategy for various reasons. Conducting proper risk assessments and pondering their mitigation can save businesses significant costs by preventing potential accidents, rather than dealing with their consequences. For effectiveness, risk assessments need to focus on high-impact risks, and be conducted regularly and systematically. You can use AI tools to enhance risk analysis and assessment by identifying potential blind spots, gaps and increased human factor-related risks. This proactive approach helps in safeguarding the organization against potential threats and ensures resilience and sustainability. Implementing Compliance Programs Implementing compliance programs is about ensuring that the organization adheres to relevant laws, regulations, standards, and ethical practices. The important factor here is not to make these processes inflexible which renders them unable to accommodate frequent and ever changing legal requirements . It is recommended not only to consider the current regulations but also stay alert for forthcoming ones, preparing for them in advance and gradually, to ensure that any changes don't come as sudden disruptions for your company. Integrating GRC into Organizational Culture Integrating GRC into organizational culture is essential. Merely creating a GRC policy is insufficient if it isn’t integrated into daily routines and behaviors of employees at all levels of your organization. Only when GRC becomes a part of the organizational DNA does it become truly effective. The key point here is to understand how regulations translate into actual activities. Aligning GRC Efforts with Business Objectives A GRC strategy should never be detached from your company’s business goals, mission and values. In fact, it should actually support and add value to them. This alignment means that setting GRC priorities needs to be directly linked to key business objectives, ensuring resources are focused on areas of highest impact. 8 Steps to a Successful GRC Strategy Now, from theory to practice. The following steps aid us and our clients in developing a functional GRC strategy that doesn’t deplete the security budget, remains transparent for performance assessment and is scalable and flexible. Decide on the use of GRC Platform This is where it is absolutely crucial to do your homework. Research and compare off-the-shelf solutions that are available on the market from the point of view of whether or not they cover all your GRC needs and determine if additional complementary tools are needed. Sometimes, it is worth investing in a custom GRC solution that is tailored to fit your particular GRC demands rather than try and make do with generic solutions that may leave certain areas uncovered. Consult with compliance and GRC experts and involve your solution architects in the decision-making process to select the best option. Create a GRC Project Roadmap Set your priorities and present them in the form of defined milestones and timelines. Make sure they are realistic and are broken down into manageable phases. Then assign responsibilities for the tasks on the timeline you’ve created. Make them transparent and avoid situations where too many cooks can spoil the broth. Communicate the plan to everyone involved. Perform a Gap Analysis This stage involved identifying the existing GRC processes and evaluating them against your roadmap objectives. Then compare your current practices against industry standards, regulatory requirements, and best practices. Once you’ve identified the gaps, prioritize them based on their risk and impact on your business, and plan actions to address them. Determine and Align Stakeholder Expectations Stakeholder engagement is essential for carrying out effective GRC policies. Make sure it starts at the earliest stages. If you have to (and you probably will), plan meetings to discuss and align on the GRC strategy's goals, priorities, and outcomes. Don’t stop there, you need to keep the stakeholders in the loop of all the GRC-related developments, gather and analyze their feedback and ensure their active participation in decision-making. Define the Objectives Use the SMART objectives-setting technique. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound and this abbreviation perfectly reflects the qualities that should define your GRC tasks. Incorporating regular reviews and feedback loops into GRC objectives is crucial for ensuring their effectiveness. Conduct a Comprehensive Organizational Risk Assessment Use a structured framework to conduct risk assessment activities. Another great tip here would be to maximize the use of existing resources such as leveraging the cross-functional expertise within your team. You may already have a compliance expert within your organization potentially working on other projects. Keep a comprehensive log or a documentation of all identified risks with set priorities and mitigation options. Standardization Standardization is key to maintaining consistency and effectiveness in your GRC policies. By standardizing procedures, training, and onboarding processes, you ensure that rules are interpreted uniformly across the organization. Develop a comprehensive set of GRC training materials and procedures making it mandatory for employees to be familiar with them.  Consider incorporating GRC clauses into employment contracts to reinforce compliance. Additionally, adopt and implement industry best practices tailored to your business structure. Conduct regular training and workshops to increase awareness of your GRC policies and keep employees updated on its developments. Management and Revision The process of refining your GRC policies is ongoing. This ensures its scalability, flexibility and alignment with industry standards. So, monitor it, conduct performance checks, gather feedback and identify improvement areas on a regular basis. Best Practices in Creating a Working GRC Policies Besides understanding the steps for creating and implementing GRC policies tailored to your business, here are some tips to ensure its effective execution. Starting small, simple, and focused No need to roll-out a huge-scale system that will complicate matters for your company. Start small, try out, build on it and expand gradually. Keep the focus on high-impact factors. Leadership commitment Cultivate initiative within your leadership by openly communicating GRC principles throughout the organization. Emphasize that these principles are fundamental to the company’s long-term success and reputation. Prioritize risk and compliance activities At an enterprise level, this is what quantifies the value achieved at each stage of your GRC policy implementation. Engage your employees This is where you can get creative. It could be interactive training sessions on ethical decision-making, workshops on identifying and mitigating risks in your workers’ operations, and forums for discussing compliance challenges. Do not forget to encourage feedback and show you value it. Introduce proper incentives You can revise your company’s performance appraisal system to include GRC-related metrics. Your employees can be rewarded not just for achieving business targets but also for demonstrating adherence to compliance standards, ethical behavior, and effective risk management in their tasks. Conclusion Well-planned and implemented GRC strategy is crucial for success in today's digital business landscape. By establishing a robust operational framework, organizations can achieve regulatory compliance, effectively manage risks, improve efficiency, safeguard their reputation, and make informed strategic decisions. Furthermore, fostering a culture of GRC awareness among stakeholders promotes a sense of collective responsibility and accountability, encouraging an environment of cohesion and resilience. Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) policies in digital business encompass integrated practices that ensure that your processes align with regulations, industry standards, and internal policies. Most commonly it refers to governance structures, risk management, and compliance measures. The regulatory part of the digital landscape evolves dynamically and leans towards tightening measures, at the same time, risks and error costs continue to rise. This is why creating a specific GRC strategy is essential for digital businesses. In this article, we will talk about key components and best practices for implementing a successful and suitable GRC strategy for a digital business. Key Components of an Effective GRC Strategy GRC is a complex and nuanced domain where the same strategy may work perfectly for one organization and be ruinous for another. However, there are common guidelines to follow, which allow for the creation of a successful GRC strategy that is tailored to your specific business needs. Establishing governance frameworks Establishing governance frameworks Establishing governance frameworks Governance frameworks play a vital role in defining responsibilities within your organization and empowering decision-makers at different levels. This typically involves clearly outlining roles and responsibilities, creating relevant documentation and company regulations, aligning these regulations with business goals and ensuring all employees are familiar with them. Identifying and Assessing Risks Identifying and Assessing Risks Identifying and Assessing Risks Identifying and Assessing Risks Risk management is a crucial aspect of a GRC strategy for various reasons. Conducting proper risk assessments and pondering their mitigation can save businesses significant costs by preventing potential accidents, rather than dealing with their consequences. For effectiveness, risk assessments need to focus on high-impact risks, and be conducted regularly and systematically. You can use AI tools to enhance risk analysis and assessment by identifying potential blind spots, gaps and increased human factor-related risks. This proactive approach helps in safeguarding the organization against potential threats and ensures resilience and sustainability. Implementing Compliance Programs Implementing Compliance Programs Implementing Compliance Programs Implementing compliance programs is about ensuring that the organization adheres to relevant laws, regulations, standards, and ethical practices. The important factor here is not to make these processes inflexible which renders them unable to accommodate frequent and ever changing legal requirements . It is recommended not only to consider the current regulations but also stay alert for forthcoming ones, preparing for them in advance and gradually, to ensure that any changes don't come as sudden disruptions for your company. Integrating GRC into Organizational Culture Integrating GRC into Organizational Culture Integrating GRC into Organizational Culture Integrating GRC into organizational culture is essential. Merely creating a GRC policy is insufficient if it isn’t integrated into daily routines and behaviors of employees at all levels of your organization. Only when GRC becomes a part of the organizational DNA does it become truly effective. The key point here is to understand how regulations translate into actual activities. Aligning GRC Efforts with Business Objectives Aligning GRC Efforts with Business Objectives Aligning GRC Efforts with Business Objectives A GRC strategy should never be detached from your company’s business goals, mission and values. In fact, it should actually support and add value to them. This alignment means that setting GRC priorities needs to be directly linked to key business objectives, ensuring resources are focused on areas of highest impact. 8 Steps to a Successful GRC Strategy Now, from theory to practice. The following steps aid us and our clients in developing a functional GRC strategy that doesn’t deplete the security budget, remains transparent for performance assessment and is scalable and flexible. Decide on the use of GRC Platform Decide on the use of GRC Platform Decide on the use of GRC Platform This is where it is absolutely crucial to do your homework. Research and compare off-the-shelf solutions that are available on the market from the point of view of whether or not they cover all your GRC needs and determine if additional complementary tools are needed. Sometimes, it is worth investing in a custom GRC solution that is tailored to fit your particular GRC demands rather than try and make do with generic solutions that may leave certain areas uncovered. Consult with compliance and GRC experts and involve your solution architects in the decision-making process to select the best option. Create a GRC Project Roadmap Create a GRC Project Roadmap Create a GRC Project Roadmap Set your priorities and present them in the form of defined milestones and timelines. Make sure they are realistic and are broken down into manageable phases. Then assign responsibilities for the tasks on the timeline you’ve created. Make them transparent and avoid situations where too many cooks can spoil the broth. Communicate the plan to everyone involved. Perform a Gap Analysis Perform a Gap Analysis Perform a Gap Analysis This stage involved identifying the existing GRC processes and evaluating them against your roadmap objectives. Then compare your current practices against industry standards, regulatory requirements, and best practices. Once you’ve identified the gaps, prioritize them based on their risk and impact on your business, and plan actions to address them. Determine and Align Stakeholder Expectations Determine and Align Stakeholder Expectations Determine and Align Stakeholder Expectations Stakeholder engagement is essential for carrying out effective GRC policies. Make sure it starts at the earliest stages. If you have to (and you probably will), plan meetings to discuss and align on the GRC strategy's goals, priorities, and outcomes. Don’t stop there, you need to keep the stakeholders in the loop of all the GRC-related developments, gather and analyze their feedback and ensure their active participation in decision-making. Define the Objectives Define the Objectives Define the Objectives Use the SMART objectives-setting technique. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound and this abbreviation perfectly reflects the qualities that should define your GRC tasks. Incorporating regular reviews and feedback loops into GRC objectives is crucial for ensuring their effectiveness. Conduct a Comprehensive Organizational Risk Assessment Conduct a Comprehensive Organizational Risk Assessment Conduct a Comprehensive Organizational Risk Assessment Use a structured framework to conduct risk assessment activities. Another great tip here would be to maximize the use of existing resources such as leveraging the cross-functional expertise within your team. You may already have a compliance expert within your organization potentially working on other projects. Keep a comprehensive log or a documentation of all identified risks with set priorities and mitigation options. Standardization Standardization Standardization Standardization is key to maintaining consistency and effectiveness in your GRC policies. By standardizing procedures, training, and onboarding processes, you ensure that rules are interpreted uniformly across the organization. Develop a comprehensive set of GRC training materials and procedures making it mandatory for employees to be familiar with them.  Consider incorporating GRC clauses into employment contracts to reinforce compliance. Additionally, adopt and implement industry best practices tailored to your business structure. Conduct regular training and workshops to increase awareness of your GRC policies and keep employees updated on its developments. Management and Revision Management and Revision Management and Revision The process of refining your GRC policies is ongoing. This ensures its scalability, flexibility and alignment with industry standards. So, monitor it, conduct performance checks, gather feedback and identify improvement areas on a regular basis. Best Practices in Creating a Working GRC Policies Besides understanding the steps for creating and implementing GRC policies tailored to your business, here are some tips to ensure its effective execution. Starting small, simple, and focused Starting small, simple, and focused Starting small, simple, and focused No need to roll-out a huge-scale system that will complicate matters for your company. Start small, try out, build on it and expand gradually. Keep the focus on high-impact factors. Leadership commitment Leadership commitment Leadership commitment Cultivate initiative within your leadership by openly communicating GRC principles throughout the organization. Emphasize that these principles are fundamental to the company’s long-term success and reputation. Prioritize risk and compliance activities Prioritize risk and compliance activities Prioritize risk and compliance activities At an enterprise level, this is what quantifies the value achieved at each stage of your GRC policy implementation. Engage your employees Engage your employees Engage your employees This is where you can get creative. It could be interactive training sessions on ethical decision-making, workshops on identifying and mitigating risks in your workers’ operations, and forums for discussing compliance challenges. Do not forget to encourage feedback and show you value it. Introduce proper incentives Introduce proper incentives Introduce proper incentives You can revise your company’s performance appraisal system to include GRC-related metrics. Your employees can be rewarded not just for achieving business targets but also for demonstrating adherence to compliance standards, ethical behavior, and effective risk management in their tasks. Conclusion Well-planned and implemented GRC strategy is crucial for success in today's digital business landscape. By establishing a robust operational framework, organizations can achieve regulatory compliance, effectively manage risks, improve efficiency, safeguard their reputation, and make informed strategic decisions. Furthermore, fostering a culture of GRC awareness among stakeholders promotes a sense of collective responsibility and accountability, encouraging an environment of cohesion and resilience.

How to Correctly Plan and Implement A GRC Strategy in Your Digital Business

Written by Dmytro Shtapauk, Business Process Architect of Techstack No one likes doing extra work, and I have to say, it’s fair. This is the reason why startups or small teams often choose to ignore processes and jump in accomplishing high-priority tasks first. Test documentation is sacrificed in this case because its contents seem obvious to a small team of founders plus one or two testers, and writing it down is viewed as a waste of time. Time goes by; new team members join the team. The founders take on new responsibilities and have limited time to share expertise. After many pivots, they can hardly remember what they did; even more, they may lose test cases or other useful resources that could save time and effort. What seemed a reasonable sacrifice at the start turned into a bottleneck. Running a software product requires strategic thinking By introducing test documentation early, you save many hours of rework and eliminate bugs that could leak to production. In this infographic, I’ve gathered some math to define the maturity of your QA process. If you find out that you’re doing well, there we go—your team is doing great! If you find any of the metrics out of the bounds, don’t worry — below you can read about the possible problems and find a solution. You can always get back to my article about that benefit both founders and the team. how to write a test plan and a test strategy 5 Things That May Mean You Need a Test Plan and Test Strategy: an Infographic Working in QA means thinking ahead and preventing problems. You may need someone to or discuss how your product can benefit from QA automation or improved processes. exchange thoughts about your QA practices

Developing a Test Plan and Test Strategy for Your Business

In terms of attracting new employees, startups have a tremendous edge. In contrast to large corporations, startups can provide employees with the opportunity to become highly wealthy by participating in the company's ownership. You may learn more about early-stage startups' equity distribution techniques by reading this article. Startup Equity Distribution Plan When it comes to the startup equity distribution plan, there are as many perspectives. Before signing any equity split agreement, it's usually a good idea to seek the opinion of professionals. Keep reading to know a few valuable pointers. What is Startup Equity? Ownership interest in a company is generally referred to as . Businesses usually use stock as a form of equity. While it is possible to own equity in any asset, this is not always the case. When you start a business, you should know how equity shares are classified and who receives what. startup equity Types of Startup Equity There are several ways a startup's owners might reward their employees and investors with premium pricing and other incentives based on their equity interest in the company. The common types of startup equity are listed below: Convertible Debt Notes A convertible debt note is a method of securing a loan from an investor by using the company's equity as collateral. The convertible note promises to either pay back the loan with interest or grant discounted equity during a subsequent financing cycle. In either case, investors receive their money back, plus interest, or a lesser price for a stake in the company. In order to obtain much-needed capital without having to give up any stock for a long time, this is a popular method for new enterprises. After a convertible loan note has been in place for 12 to 18 months, the company should undertake a Series A financing round in which investors can purchase discounted ownership in the company. Incentive Stock Option As a reward to employees, companies offer Incentive Stock Options (ISOs), which allow them to purchase shares of stock at a reduced price and avoid paying capital gains taxes. As ISO profits are treated as capital gains rather than regular income, they receive a tax advantage. Stock options that do not meet the Internal Revenue Code's standards to be referred to as ISOs are called Non-Qualified Stock Options (NSO). These profits are taxed as income rather than capital gains. How does Startup Equity Work? Employees and investors are typically given a stake in the company in exchange for their contributions. It is determined by criteria such as the timing of the equity distribution, the level of participation and commitment, and the company's current worth. Founders, on average, receive the greatest initial equity. Stakeholders deserve to have a share in their company's success, which is why startup equity is so important. Early investors also generally receive more equity than others who join the firm later because their investments are larger in relation to the company's initial valuation. It's also common for early employees to have a larger stake in the company than those who join later in the process. In addition to fundraising stages, equity distribution is tightly linked. Your financial situation inevitably shifts as you proceed through funding rounds, and in almost every case, how you allocate equity shifts as well. Things to Consider Before Splitting Startup Equity An equity split between the company's founders, investors, and employees can be a difficult task to do. The following is a list of things to keep in mind while determining the correct equity split for your new business. - Co-founders and employees may be ready to accept a lower wage because they feel their ownership part in the company will be worth more in the future. Among the best examples is Nike's logo designer, who was paid around $35 a share of the company's equity, which is now worth almost $640,000. Replacement of salary - As a thumb rule, the person who came up with the company's primary value proposition is entitled to the most stock. However, this isn't always the case. The value of a good idea does not outweigh the value of actual, physical contributions of capital and sweat equity. The idea to split equity between two or more co-founders should be based on earlier developmental efforts contributed by each of them. As an example, one of the co-founders of Instagram ended up obtaining a 40% stock position because he was the creator of a company. Another co-founder came on board later and was given a 10% ownership in the company, and the balance was dispersed among investors and staff. A reasonable equity split - The stages of a startup determine the share percentage. It is customary for co-founders and early employees of a startup to receive a higher share of the company's ownership (Before series A funding, seed round) as compensation for their work and risk-taking in the company's early stages. Stage of a startup - A vesting schedule is generally recommended regardless of how equity is allocated among co-founders. The equity split agreement specifies in detail when and how co-founders might exercise their stock option rights under a vesting schedule. An effective vesting schedule can help prevent a startup firm from being collapsed by the departure of one of its co-founders, who may take a significant chunk of the company's worth with them. Vesting schedules How to effectively split equity in a startup? In the early stages of a new company, the founders possess all of the company's equity. As long as you are the only founder, you have full ownership of the business. More individuals investing their time and money means more likely you will have to divide up the company's stock and give some of it away to those who have supported you. In some cases, you may want to grant a non-founder or financial backer an equity part in your company. A common example is when employees are compensated with equity rather than wages or salaries. The below brief explains how to split equity effectively. Founders Entrepreneurs who start a company with two or more co-founders face the challenge of dividing startup equity by role fairly and evenly. At this early stage, most likely, you still hold all of the company's equity. Splitting this among the founders before handing a stake to investors is a good idea. Each founder should receive a fair share even if their investment does not match that of the other co-founders in the ideal situation. When beginning a new firm, it's not only about how much money each founding partner contributes. Other factors to consider include, but are not limited to: Each entrepreneur adds a unique set of skills and knowledge to the company. One partner's contribution of tangible assets or equipment The amount of time that each party devotes to the startup venture It's reasonable for entrepreneurs to demand compensation for all of these variables. Investors In order to award equity to third-party investors, you need to have a firm foundation on how to distribute equity to founders who have reached an agreement on its division. The amount of equity you're ready to sell must be determined at every stage of investment, from the seed round through Series A, B, and C. An equity stake in your company is exchanged for money from investors. Again, the quantity of stock received by each investor should reflect the amount invested. Well-known investors may try to cut the price or increase their equity stake because of their experience, unique knowledge, and/or success in the past. Accepting a cheaper offer is up to the majority of stakeholders; however, consider how other investors may feel if they discover you have paid more for their part of the company. Whenever you transfer equity to a new outside investor, consider how much of your original investment is being lost. For example, ensure that the company's founders have at least a 51% ownership in the company's equity. Employees Employee stock and vesting schedules might well be necessary at some point in a new company's life cycle. Typically, this is defined as: The primary founders of the company. First-time hires (the first 25 hires by the startup) Soon-to-be-hired staffers (the 26th and subsequent individuals to be hired) They can have a huge impact on your company's success because they are the first ones to walk in. There is a chance that they can bring unique expertise or access to markets that you otherwise would not have. However, you may not be able to afford to pay your first staff a salary due to a lack of established income or cash flow. You can avoid this problem if you give your first employees a stake in your company's long-term success through a stock offer. A common technique to figure this out is to compare the current value of your firm to the value it will hypothetically be worth when a new hire joins you. This increased value determines how much equity you can provide to that person and yet break even on hiring them. Even though you give away some stock, you can still make a profit if you give them less than the break-even point. However, an equity share provides them with a genuine interest in ensuring that your company succeeds to the fullest potential extent. Conclusion We hope you found this post helpful in figuring out how to split your shares in a way that doesn't insult anyone and doesn't get misplaced. 90% of the time, individuals agree on how the company's future profits will be split, preventing any potential issues as startups grow swiftly and unpredictably.

How to Effectively Plan a Startup Equity Distribution?

HackerNoon Reporter: Please tell us briefly about your background. I am the co-founder and CEO of Plan A and co-founder of the Greentech Alliance. The latter is a community of 1,000+ startups that are connected to over 350+ advisors from VC, media, and business. Prior to Plan A, I worked in investment banking, venture capital, and fintech in Asia and Europe. What's your startup called? And in a sentence or two, what does it do? We are Plan A. We have developed a science-based, one-stop SaaS platform that helps companies to decarbonize their operations. Our end-to-end software empowers businesses and organizations to accurately measure, monitor, reduce, and report their carbon footprint while improving their ESG performance. What is the origin story? A few years back, I went on a trip to Morocco, to explore the best places for surfing. This trip was definitely an eye-opening experience. I expected to see beautiful places to surf, but everything was really polluted, mostly covered in plastic. For the first time, my eyes were open to the negative impact we, humans, had on our planet. After this experience I got back to London and started to dig deeper into the topic of pollution and climate change, spending all my free time for the next 6 months educating myself on climate change and the correlation it had to pollution through online courses, books, and scientific papers. The knowledge I accumulated showed me that the situation worldwide was actually much worse than what was communicated across channels. My next step was to conduct a vast survey with 300 people and 100 companies to understand the behaviors and opinions about climate change. This was the final straw. After this, I was beyond convinced that addressing climate change needed a different approach. I quit my job and founded Plan A. What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? The Plan A team consists of 40+ experts in climate data science, tech, business, design, and more. We gather some of the brightest minds such as our CTO and ML expert Oliver Spragg as well as our CEAO Vamsi Akuraju (ex Climate-KIC, WWF, Potsdam Institute). What I love most about our team is that we are so many like-minded people who share the same mission and vision day in and day out. We all want to tackle climate change by helping companies on their way to becoming truly sustainable. It’s this high level of cross-functional expertise combined with our passion and devotion to the cause that makes me confident we will be successful. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? There is so much evidence - and it’s ever-growing - that climate change is by far the biggest challenge of our time and that we have incredibly little time left to take action and turn the tide. That is why there would have been no alternative scenario for me - I would have founded and started building Plan A anyway. At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics? Within our company and throughout our teams we have various OKRs, KPIs, and metrics we want to deliver on to be successful. Our vision as a company, however, is that we want to empower organizations of all sizes to build a sustainable world. Therefore, two key metrics need to be mentioned here: The number of clients we can support in decarbonizing their activities across scopes 1, 2, and 3, as well as the number of carbon emissions they have reduced by using our SaaS platform. What’s most exciting about your traction to date? What is really exciting is that we have successfully supported more than 100 organizations from various industries around the world with our software and consultancy services to achieve their sustainability goals and reduce a significant amount of CO2 emissions. Through our information and education campaigns, we have reached, educated, and engaged over 1,000,000 people - from individuals to employees and directors to private, non-governmental, and governmental organizations. What technologies are you currently most excited about, and most worried about? And why? What really fascinates me is artificial intelligence and its many applications. I think AI is both a curse and a blessing because it can be used for good but also for the exact opposite. In the fight against climate change, AI is irreplaceable and a crucial part of our SaaS. What drew you to get published on HackerNoon? What do you like most about our platform? Hackernoon luckily found us. What I like most is the community, the valuable stories and insights, and the exchange. Vote for Plan A as the . startup of the year, Berlin

PLAN A

plana.earth

11-50 employees

Since 2017

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PLAN A

EVERGREEN INDEX #9395

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PLAN A

plana.earth

11-50 employees

Since 2017

COMPANY RANKING

PLAN A

EVERGREEN INDEX #9395

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