A vacation with Dragonfly Tours is a trip that is built around the wishes of the many customers who rely on us to experience a journey off the beaten path. Because a visit to the many cities and places that Italy offers could never be a pre-packaged activity, but a customized tour shaped by the enthusiasm of discovery.
The uniqueness that lies beneath the surface of the most beautiful places in Italy awaits you and if you want to discover the essence of the Belpaese with us, we will be happy to accommodate every request.
Dragonfly Tours is a tour operator that is founded on the passion of its team and its knowledge of the Italian territory and the American people, thanks to the joint work of our offices in Rome and Los Angeles.
In our catalog of possible trips no detail of the journey, large or small, is left to chance. The experiences and activities of our personalized tours are what allows you to breathe the reality of every city and every place that you visit, so you can abandon every stereotype to which you may be accustomed.
To help you fully understand the spirit that drives the work of the Dragonfly Tours team here's an excerpt of the interview of the general director and co-founder of Dragonfly Tours, Roberto Maria Rinaldi, published in the travel magazine Ulisse, distributed on Alitalia airlines.
To help you better understand what we mean by exclusive and off-beat experiences, it is enough to know that you can have lunch in an underground Etruscan cave in the maze-like alleyways of the city of Orvieto, in Umbria, or dine in one of the most famous medieval towers of the Tuscan village of San Gimignano, or even go to a perfumery in Florence near the Ponte Vecchio and create a personalized fragrance with a maitre parfumeur. Or would you prefer an exclusive visit to the Basilica of San Marco in Venice, or private access to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel of Rome?
«Another feather in the cap of our way of working is the fact that we follow our customers in every single detail, from A to Z, from the planning of the offer to their return back home, offering continuous assistance during the entire journey. In fact, even though in our eight-year activity we have reached important results in terms of number of customers, we are focusing mostly on quality. And talking about quality, there is a result we are particularly proud of: we achieved 98% of TripAdvisor five-star reviews». There is nothing more satisfying than satisfied customers, their positive judgment and their reviews on the channels where we are present are the best reward for our exciting job.


A look at the wrestling finals and third place matches in the BCCA Jockish Holiday Tournament.
106: St. Joseph freshman Joe Manno continued his good start by earning the BCCA title with a 4-0 win over Matt DiGennaro of River Dell. Manno controlled the pace and got takedowns in the first and second period. He is now 16-2 this season.
Down 7-4 in the third period, Paramus Catholic's Will Matistic was able to lock in a pin at 5:04 to win the third-place match.
113: Emerson/Park Ridge junior Nick Babin was a tilt machine in the second period, scoring two back points four separate times on Ethan Fernandez of Westwood to build an 8-0 lead and claim the BCCA title, 12-2. Babin was BCCA champ at 106 points in 2017.
In the third place match, Mike Tandurella (Don Bosco) was victorious 10-2.
120: With 47 seconds left in the match and the score tied at 1, Emerson/Park Ridge's Logan Mazzeo suffered an arm injury and was unable to continue against St. Joseph senior Justin Bierdumpfel. The injury spoiled what was shaping up to be a good conclusion.
In a fierce battle for third, Dumont's Joseph Manginelli recorded a pin midway through the third period to defeat Andre Ruiz of Ridgefield Park.
126: Dumont's Gianni Manginell won the BCCA title after St. Joe's Jordan Iannone was called for flagrant misconduct and pulled off the mat by Green Knights coach Tom Farinaro. Manginelli was leading the match 8-2 late in the third period at the time of the incident.
Ramsey's Jonathan Siemsen won the third place medal.
132: In one of the most anticipated matches of the night, Sammy Alvarez overcame an early 2-0 deficit to knock off Trent Furman of Westwood, 12-6. It was Alvarez's second BCCA title and he's now 112-8 in his career.
138: Emerson/Park Ridge senior Luke Mazzeo earned his third BCCA title with a 12-3 win over Justin Cantor of North Bergen. Mazzeo is now 126-12 in his career.
In a hot match that went down to the last seconds, Nick Franco of Don Bosco was able to hold off Michael Cetta of St. Joseph, 5-4, for third place.
145: Don Bosco senior Ryan Cawood gained a takedown in the first period, got three back points in the third and was stellar on defense to knock off Fair Lawn's Frankie Motta, 7-0, to earn his first BCCA title.
Northern Highlands' Vinny DeMaria locked in a textbook cradle inside the line to get a pinfall victory in 4:30 to win third place.
152: Matt Beyer of Pascack Valley was too good on top in the second period, building a small lead before defeating Jonah Schechtman of Emerson/Park Ridge 7-4. It was the 99th career win for Beyer and his first BCCA title.
In the third place match, Stefano Sgambellone earned a 12-3 victory in the last bout of the evening.
160: Ramapo senior Justin Leonard won his first county title with a 6-4 victory over Garfield's Kacper Szuberski. Leonard rallied from 3-0 down in the second period, clinching the match with a takedown with 17 seconds left in the third period. He is now 12-0 this season.
Jack Bernik (NV/Old Tappan) got a second period pin to win third place.
170: After giving up an early takedown, Northern Highlands senior Anthony Sciuto roared back to defeat Jack Farinaro of St. Joseph, 9-4, hitting a four-point move midway through the second period. He is now 98-31 in his career.
Bradley Mika (Wood-Ridge) jumped out to a big lead in his third place match and won 10-0.
182: Pascack Valley senior Tommy Chiellini showed a wide arsenal of offensive moves, taking down Ben Liss (Fair Lawn) four times in the first period en route to a 13-6 victory in the final. Chiellini is now 80-18 in his career.
In the third place match, Ramapo's Luke Brantly triumphed 10-5.
195: Zack Lewis (Emerson/Park Ridge) scrambled and got a late reversal to hold off Jackson Downey (NV/Old Tappan) 8-5 to win his first BCCA title. The final minute of the match saw both wrestlers get takedowns, but Lewis was able to make the move at the end. He is now 111-25 in his career.
Gunnar Nystedt of River Dell prevailed 6-3 in the third place match.
220: Garfield's Michael Filieri got off to a quick start to begin the second period, rolling through and pinning Michael Toranzo of St. Joseph in 2:07. The match was scoreless to that point.
Fair Lawn's Jakob Shapiro pumped his fists after a pin in 1:15 to earn the third place medal.
285: Don Bosco senior Jonathan Alvarado was able to run the arm and get a pin in 3:40 over a tough Michael Alfonso of Garfield. It is his first BCCA crown.
Dean Setticasi of Saddle Brook clamped down a quick pin in 1:06 to win the third place match.


text:
Q: Node logging with Winstonjs logger gives TypeError I'm just started out with Node and I now want to add some logging to my application, for which Winstonjs seems a perfect fit. So I first installed it:
npm install winston

And then I copied the first example code from the readme (and added the require before it):
"use strict";

let winston = require('winston');

const logger = winston.createLogger({
  level: 'info',
  format: winston.format.json(),
  transports: [
    //
    // - Write to all logs with level `info` and below to `combined.log`
    // - Write all logs error (and below) to `error.log`.
    //
    new winston.transports.File({ filename: 'error.log', level: 'error' }),
    new winston.transports.File({ filename: 'combined.log' })
  ]
});

//
// If we're not in production then log to the `console` with the format:
// `${info.level}: ${info.message} JSON.stringify({ ...rest }) `
//
if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production') {
  logger.add(new winston.transports.Console({
    format: winston.format.simple()
  }));
}

But I get an error:
/Users/kramer65/mms/testlogging.js:7
    format: winston.format.json(),
                          ^
TypeError: Cannot read property 'json' of undefined

Does anybody know what I'm doing wrong here? All tips are welcome!

A: Your code is compatible with the new v3 wich is not released yet. If you want to install it :
npm i winston@next --save

Or if you want to stick with v2, you can read the v2 doc on npm
ref

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
UK music festivals face imminent cancellation without government support
Last month Germany announced a €2.5 billion cancellation fund to cover events planned for the second half of 2021
Patrick Hinton
UK Music has warned British music festivals will be cancelled again this year unless the government steps in to provide support.
The campaigning and lobby group, that represents the commercial music industry, has shared a detailed report titled 'Let the Music Play: Save Our Summer 2021' outlining its strategy to protect and support the UK's multi-billion pound live music industry.
In the report, it warns that a lack of COVID cancellation insurance available means that a government insurance scheme is necessary for music festivals to move forward with event planning this year.
Read this next: A rapid COVID-19 testing service designed for the events industry has launched
UK Music Chief Executive Jamie Njoku-Goodwin said: "While this pandemic is still raging and continues to cause devastation to lives and livelihoods today, there is an endpoint in sight. Government is rolling out the vaccine and is openly speculating about returning to normal by the spring – but there is a serious risk that even if this proves to be a reality, lack of notice and available insurance options will mean much of the 2021 summer music season can't go ahead.
"With the right support the live music industry can be at the forefront of the post-pandemic recovery and play a key role in our country's economic and cultural revival – but there will need to be a concerted effort from industry and the Government together if we are to let the music play and save our summer."
Last month, Germany announced a €2.5 billion cancellation fund to cover the cost of events planned for the second half of 2021 that may be cancelled due to COVID-19.
Read this next: Meet the under 30s running some of the most festivals around
The call for action in the UK follows on from Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis taking to Twitter yesterday to deny a claim from Mel B that this year's festival has been cancelled.
Speaking to Nihal Arthanayake on BBC Radio 5 Live, the Spice Girls member said she had been told the event has been called off, possibly indicating that the pop group were set to play the festival's Sunday evening 'legends' slot as part of the 25th anniversary edition.
She said: "I know that Glastonbury's been cancelled, so a lot of big stage performances are on hold again this year, which is sad but we've got to get this virus under control."
Emily Eavis responded quickly on Twitter to say: "Happy new year to you all! There's no news this end yet, we haven't cancelled. Will let you know right here as soon as we have an update..".
There's no news this end yet, we haven't cancelled. Will let you know right here as soon as we have an update..
— Emily Eavis (@emilyeavis) January 4, 2021
UK Music's report is also calling for an "indicative" date for when venues and events can return with full capacity, and the VAT rate reduction relief on tickets and business rates to be extended.
Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Features Editor, follow him on Twitter
Read this next: Get the best of Mixmag direct to your Facebook DMs

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Civil society statement to the organizers of the "Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing"
Civil society statement to the organizers of the
"Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing"
To add your signature, please sign here or email your name and affiliation to info@geneticsandsociety.org.
The undersigned individuals and organizations wish to express our dismay and outrage at He Jiankui's claims of creating genetically engineered babies. Though these claims are unverified, his actions violate a key provision of the concluding statement issued at the First International Summit on Human Gene Editing in 2015, that such dangerous experiments should not proceed until there was broad societal consensus in their favor.
That statement was intended to reassure civil society that the scientific community could regulate itself and prevent such reckless behavior. If the organizers of this week's summit in Hong Kong wish to demonstrate that science is not out of control, and is worthy of public trust, now is the time for them and the rest of the international scientific community to act.
We urge that they (1) condemn in clear terms the rogue actions of the researcher who has taken it on himself to make a hugely consequential decision that affects all of us; and (2) call on governments and the United Nations to establish enforceable moratoria prohibiting reproductive experiments with human genetic engineering.
Such policies are necessary in order to ensure that we do not get into a runaway international competition for primacy in reproductive genetic engineering, leading to a new form of eugenics. If the summit and other scientific bodies do not act, it will fall to civil society and policy makers to do so, in order to ensure the avoidance of disastrous consequences for global society.
David King, Human Genetics Alert
Marcy Darnovsky, Center for Genetics and Society
Katie Hasson, Center for Genetics and Society
INDIVIDUAL SIGNATORIES (Affiliation for Identification Purposes Only)
Elisabeth Abergel, PhD, Department of sociology, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
Gen Acuna, Toronto Non-GMO Coalition; Kids Right To Know
Roberto Andorno, PhD, University of Zurich, Switzerland
George J. Annas, JD, MPH, Center for Health Law, Ethics & Human Rights, Boston University School of Public Health
Dr. Michael Antoniou, King's College London
Lisa Archer, Friends of the Earth, US
Simone Bateman, Emeritus Senior Researcher CNRS (Paris, France)
Françoise Baylis, PhD, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
Claire Beaudevin, PhD, CNRS, Paris France
Diane Beeson, PhD, Professor Emerita, CSU East Bay
Emily Smith Beitiks, PhD, Associate Director, Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability, San Francisco State University
Kara Bensley, PhD, UC Berkeley School of Public Health
Jennifer Berman Diaz, Founder, Toronto Non-GMO Coalition
Rajani Bhatia, PhD, University at Albany
Claire Bleakley, President, GE-free NZ in Food & Environment
Catherine Bliss, PhD, UCSF Social Behavioral Sciences
Lars Bolund, PhD, BGI/Lars Bolund Institute of Regenerative Medicine, Qingdao, China and Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Denmark
Catherine Bourgain, PhD, Sciences Citoyennes and Inserm Human Geneticist
Paula Braveman, MD, MPH, University of California, San Francisco
W. Malcolm Byrnes, PhD, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC
Erika M. Brown, MPH, UC Berkeley School of Public Health
Alexander M. Capron, JD, University Professor and Professor of Law and Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
Alana Cattapan, PhD, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan
Katayoun Chamany, PhD, Mohn Family Professor of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Eugene Lang College at The New School
Gail Chester, Breaking the Frame, London
Daniel Cook, PhD, School of Community Health Sciences, University of Nevada Reno
Marsha J. Tyson Darling, PhD, Professor & Director, Center for African, Black & Caribbean Studies, Adelphi University
Katherine Weatherford Darling, PhD, Department of Social Science, University of Maine at Augusta
Marcy Darnovsky, PhD, Center for Genetics and Society
Roni Diamant-Wilson, PhD
Donna Dickenson, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Medical Ethics and Humanities, University of London
Ole Doering, PhD, Institute for Global Health, Berlin, Germany
Katherine Drabiak, JD, Assistant Professor, College of Public Health, University of South Florida
Elaine Draper, PhD, JD, Professor of Sociology and Director, Law and Society Program, California State University, Los Angeles
Justine Durrell
Irina Ermakova, Professor of Biology, Moscow, Russia
George Estreich, Author
Dr. Fleur Fisher, Former Head of Ethics, Science and Information at British Medical Association (1991-96)
Kevin Fitzgerald, S.J., PhD, Creighton University School of Medicine
Sarah Forthal, Columbia University
Joan H. Fujimura, PhD, Martindale-Bascom Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Katy Fulfer, PhD, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies, University of Waterloo
Alexander Gaguine, Appleton Foundation
Ben Gaia, Dialatree New Zealand
Emily Galpern, MPH, Public Health Consultant
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, PhD, Professor of English & bioethics, Founding Director, Disability Studies Initiative, Emory University
Landon J. Getz, PhD Candidate, Dalhousie University
Alan Goodman, PhD, Professor of Biological Anthropology, Hampshire College
Laurie Goodman, PhD, Editor-in-Chief GigaScience
Samantha D. Gottlieb, PhD, MHS, Medical Anthropologist
Zelka Linda Grammer, GE Free Northland, Aotearoa/ NZ
Rosann Greenspan, PhD, Executive Director, Center for the Study of Law and Society, University of California, Berkeley
Jeremy Gruber, JD, Former President, Council for Responsible Genetics
Hille Haker, PhD, Richard McCormick Endowed Chair of Ethics, Loyola University Chicago
Jaydee Hanson, Policy Director for Human Genetics, International Center for Technology Assessment
Janet A. Hart, MA, PhD, MCPHS University, Boston, Massachusetts
Michael Harvey, DrPhH, Assistant Professor of Public Health, San Jose State University
Katie Hasson, PhD, Center for Genetics and Society
Richard Hayes, PhD, Executive Director emeritus, Center for Genetics and Society
Alexandra Henrion Caude, PhD, Science-En Conscience and Inserm Human Geneticist
Sabrina Hermosilla, PhD, Columbia University
Elisabeth Hildt, PhD, Illinois Institute of Technology
Craig Holdrege, PhD, Director and Senior Researcher, The Nature Institute of Ghent, NY
Nina Holland, Corporate Europe Observatory
Lisa C. Ikemoto, JD, UC Davis School of Law
Patricia Jennings, PhD, Professor of Sociology, CSU East Bay
Chris Kaposy, PhD, Associate Professor of Bioethics, Memorial University
Trica Keaton, PhD, Dartmouth College
David King, PhD, Human Genetics Alert
Brewster Kneen, Economist and author
Regine Kollek, Prof., Hamburg University
Nancy Krieger, PhD, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Liz Kroboth, MPH, Lecturer, San Francisco State University
Sharon Labchuk, Earth Action Canada
Martine Lappé, PhD, Science, Technology, and Society Program, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Heather Lee, No More GMOs Toronto
Martha Livingston, PhD, Chair and Professor, Public Health, SUNY Old Westbury
Leah Lowthorp, PhD, University of Oregon
Calum MacKellar, PhD, Director of Research, Scottish Council on Human Bioethics
Laura Mamo, PhD, Health Equity Institute Professor, San Francisco State University
Rev. Bronica Martindale-Taylor, BA, Health Educator
Becky A. McClain, Alliance for Humane Biotechnology
Noémie Merleau-Ponty, Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge
Miroslav Mikolasik, Member of the European Parliament
Jessica Milne, MPH, Research Foundation of CUNY
Alexandra Minna Stern, PhD, University of Michigan
Jon Muller, Secretary, GE-free NZ in Food & Environment
Stuart Newman, PhD, Professor of Cell Biology & Anatomy, New York Medical College
Trang Quynh Nguyen, Assistant Scientist, Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Judy Norsigian, Co-founder and Board chair, Our Bodies Ourselves
Osagie K. Obasogie, PhD, JD, Haas Distinguished Chair and Professor of Bioethics, UC Berkeley Joint Medical Program, School of Public Health
Archana Pandya, OpenGlobalRights
Brendan Parent, JD, Director of Applied Bioethics, New York University
Stuart Parkinson, Dr, Scientists for Global Responsibility, UK
Elena Pasca, Philosopher, Editor of Pharmacritique, Founder of the AVEAG Victim Association, France
Helena Paul, Co-Director, EcoNexus
Hervé Perdry, PhD, Human Geneticist, Université Paris-Sud
Beth N. Peshkin, MS, LCGC, Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
David Petrasek, PhD, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa
Angel Petropanagos, PhD, Quality Improvement Ethicist, William Osler Health System
Bob Phelps, Executive Director, Gene Ethics, Australia
Catherine Powell, Alliance for Humane Biotechnology
Carolyn D. Prouty, DVM, Faculty, Public Health and Health Sciences, The Evergreen State College
Rhadika Rao, JD, Professor of Law and Harry & Lillian Hastings Research Chair, University of California, Hastings College of Law, San Francisco, California
Elizabeth Reis, PhD, Macaulay Honors College, CUNY
Claire Robinson, Editor, GMWatch
Ann Rojas-Cheatham
Hilary Rose, PhD, Professor Emerita of Social Policy, University of Bradford
Lisa Rubin, PhD, New School for Social Research
Jade S. Sasser, PhD, University of California, Riverside
Marsha Saxton, PhD, Director of Research, World Institute on Disability; Lecturer, Disability Studies Program, UC Berkeley
Pete Shanks, Author
Tom Sheahen, PhD, Director of the Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology
Stephen Shmanske, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Economics, California State University, East Bay
MaryAnn Sorensen Allacci, PhD, Projects for Environmental Health, Knowledge, & Action, Inc.
Malcolm Steinberg
Tina Stevens, PhD, Alliance for Humane Biotechnology
Alexander Stingl, Collège d'études mondiales
Yeyang Su, a concerned member of our shared humanity
Sun Wenyu, MD, Wuhan Institute of Virology, CAS
José A. Tapia, MD, MPH, PhD(Econ), Associate Professor, Department of Politics, Drexel University
Peter Taylor, PhD, Director, Science in a Changing World graduate track, University of Massachusetts at Boston
Jacques Testart, Biologist, Honorary Senior Researcher Inserm (Paris, France)
Jim Thomas, ETC Group
Sheila R. Tully, PhD, Department of Anthropology, San Francisco State University
France Winddance Twine, PhD, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Mary Anne Urlakis, MA, PhD, Executive Director & Co-Founder, Donum Vitae Institute
Britta van Beers, VU University Amsterdam Law School
Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, PhD, Honorary President, The Club of Rome and Past Co-Chair, International Resource Panel, UNEP
Gabriele Werner-Felmayer, PhD, Medical University Innsbruck, Austria
Alice Wong, Founder and Director, Disability Visibility Project
Britt Wray, PhD
Alicia Ely Yamin, JD, MPH, Georgetown University Law Center and Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health
Weilan Ye, PhD, Head of the Vascular Biology Program, Molecular Oncology Division, Genentech Inc.
Silvia Yee, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)
Luming Zhou, PhD, Department of Pathology, University of Utah
Individual Signatures Received after December 1, 2018
Haiming Chen, PhD, Director of the Center for Global Governance and Law, Xiamen University of Technology, China
Boris Pinto, Bosque University
Lilia Wang, A Caring Global Citizen
Qing Huang, Ms
Suman Sahai, Uttaranchal
Margarida Silva, Portuguese Catholic University
Kaliris Salas-Ramirez, CUNY School of Medicine
Katie Stoll, Genetic Support Foundation, Washington
Ana Perincic
Mahendra Singh, PhD, Freelance Science communicator (www.mahendrasingh.co), India
Ruha Benjamin, PhD, Associate Professor of African American Studies, Princeton University
Jo Ann Egan
Mylene Botbol Baum, PhD, UCLouvain
Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers)
Center for Genetics and Society
Earth Action Canada
FOODwatch Western Australia
Friends of the Earth, Australia
Friends of the Earth, US
GE Free Northland, Aotearoa/NZ
GE-free NZ in Food & Environment
Genetic Support Foundation
GM Watch
Human Genetics Alert
Sciences Citoyennes
Scientists for Global Responsibility, UK
Vigilance OGM, Canada
A Further Note on the Upcoming Human Genome Editing Summit
By Katie Hasson | 01.13.2022
The Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing, scheduled for March 7-9 in London, has now been postponed to March 2023, according to an email notification sent to the invited speakers. (Read more about the planned Summit in Pete Shanks' recent post.) In the midst of a massive Omicron surge, it's not surprising that the event would be postponed, given the risks and complications of large gatherings and international travel. (And as an invited speaker, I am relieved...
Marketing GM Babies in Turkish Cyprus?
From a screenshot by Eben Kirksey, tweeted on January 5, 2022
He Jiankui, the Chinese researcher who genetically modified human embryos and supervised their use to establish pregnancies in two women, was widely condemned as a "rogue scientist." A major concern for years has been "rogue fertility clinics" that could offer to create genetically modified babies. Eben Kirksey may have found some. He tweeted on January 5:
A medical tourism company, http://heal2go.com, is offering "Genetically Modified Babies" at clinics in...


text:
Rev1 Ventures
Inclusive Entrepreneurship
Smucker
State Auto Labs
Ohio TechAngels
Funding FAQ
Entrepreneur Toolkit
Dublin Entrepreneurial Center
Innovate New Albany
Bunker Labs Columbus
i.c.stars|*Columbus
#StartupCBUS
Beyond the Pitch
Tips from a Startup Pro: Avoid Making Costly Hiring Mistakes
The Hard Stuff Posted 3/17/2016 by Bethany George
Hiring the wrong person is like burning $10,000 bills. Time invested. Opportunity lost. Founder angst. Not to mention the effect on team morale and customer satisfaction.
And these impacts are even tougher on startup companies.
For startups, the whammy can be up to $190,000 according to a report by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (just the name is enough to make your blood run cold).
We asked Sonita Uijt de Haag, Director of Operations at Ecolibrium Solar to share tips on how to hire the right people at the right time.
Building Good Hiring Habits from Day 1
"For starters, startups aren't for everyone," Sonita said. "There are no systems in place; employees have no idea what they are going to walk into each day. You are better to find someone with at par skills who has the ability to teach themselves to do new things with the right attitude than a rock star from a big company."
Ecolibrium Solar knows all about excelling at new things. The company reinvented the mounting system for solar panels, making installation simpler and faster. This improves the solar value equation for residential and commercial customers and the bottom line for installers, contractors, and architects.
"We run this business like a business, not a renewable trend," Sonita said. "From 2013 to 2015, we grew from $2.8MM to more than $20MM in sales." We hired 20 people in 2014; in 2015, another 10. We now have 38."
As a business mentor and now director, Sonita has been responsible for the bulk of Ecolibrium Solar's recruiting efforts. She offers these 5 Tips that any startup and every entrepreneur can use to hire right the first time and every time.
Define the company's cultural values up front. It's up to the CEO to set the vision; then involve every employee. "We interviewed everyone," Sonita said. "We asked them to write down what our culture was and what they'd like it to be. We support each other by being respectful and open-minded," Sonita said. "We hire for that."
Spec your interviewing process and stick with it. Ecolibrium Solar spends two to three hours with each applicant. "We bring them in for our Star Panel review and ask about everything they've done," said Sonita. "We really get down in the weeds. After an hour-and-a-half, they start showing their true colors.
Hire continual learners. "People look good on paper, but skills only take you so far in a startup," Sonita said, "if you aren't able to teach yourself new things." With accelerated growth, startup positions can outgrow the people. It happened at Ecolibrium Solar. "The true continual learners, we didn't lose them," Sonita said. "They kept an open style and checked their egos at the door. Good ideas come from anywhere. If you are a person who likes to build and see something go from inception to completion, you'll be happy here."
Don't Overlook Stay-At-Home Parents. Stay-at-home parents are a top resource. "I found our HR manager on a park bench on a playdate," Sonita said. "It was a spontaneous interview. She used to manage a 450-person call center in Orlando, was in charge of metrics, and was a 6-sigma green belt. She'd been home for seven years and was ready to come back and work part-time. She'd worked her way from temp to managing 400, so we knew she could scale."
Sonita says that the brilliant thing about parents who are moving back to working outside the home is the part-time transitioning. "During a three to 12-month transition, you can figure out if they fit," she said, "and they get the chance to use skills that they haven't been using for a while."
Millennials don't do well with micro-managing, but they do want real feedback. "Millennials will run themselves ragged if they believe in their cause," said Sonita. "Come at them from the heart. What drives them is being part of something bigger, yet having ownership of their own part. Tell them here's what I want you to do. Now come back and tell me your plan, and you can own it."
"Diversity counts," Sonita said. "We have that kind of culture. There are a lot of characters here. You don't have to be fake in the environment we've set. We're a genuine team of individuals who can be comfortable being themselves."
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text:
Does Mathieu Maurier possess a crystal ball?Does Mathieu Maurier possess a crystal ball?
March 2017 March 2017
Does Mathieu Maurier possess a crystal ball or some other method of divining the future?
The question posed itself over the weekend of March 4/5 when news broke of the surprise announcement of an £11 billion merger between Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life Investments. The likelihood of more such mergers taking place in 2017 had formed a core part of the discussion between the Global Head of Sales and Relationship Management for SGSS and AssetMan.Net in an exclusive conversation just 48 hours earlier.
"Cost pressures on market participants are intensifying and asset managers need to take a long, hard look at how they do business," he said. "We will see more mergers and acquisitions taking place in the asset management and insurance sectors. We have seen a small number in the past six months or so and rumours abound of other future deals."
"This creates potential opportunities for providers of custody, fund administration, fund accounting, collateral management and compliance services," he added. "Change creates what you might call moments of truth for large institutions, raising questions about their traditional operating model, and we see market consolidation as very much part of a trend. As part of the relentless quest to deliver higher alpha, institutional investors are querying whether the fees they pay are well spent. We have reached nothing less than a tipping point; asset managers need to outsource and turn their full attention to delivering alpha to investors."
The prediction for further M&A activity in asset management emerged from a wider discussion of what Mathieu Maurier and his colleagues at SGSS expect to be the most prominent themes for the rest of 2017 and beyond. Although the context of the post-financial crisis age remains unchanged, he sees a period of continuing evolution ahead in an environment characterized by a general feeling of optimism.
"Even though long-term interest rates are showing signs of starting to rise, providers remain under the same pressure constraints thanks to the background of low or even negative short-term interest and we have had to adjust our operational model to give them the help they need."
It is this realignment on both sides of the asset manager/service provider equation that Mathieu Maurier argues offers brighter prospects for both. "Competitition amongst global custodians on plain vanilla services has long been intense, but the extra additional services we have had to formulate to help clients cope with new regulations are now delivering much-needed additional fee and commission income."
In short, this revenue from services that did not previously exist is helping to rebalance the loss of interest income. He highlights the regulatory-driven need to clear over-the-counter derivatives through central counterparties and the associated collateral management activity as one niche that is beginning to grow momentum. "We are deleveraging the middle and back office," he says, highlighting the creation of I-Deal, a dealing desk outsourcing service for asset and investment managers, to offer the best execution service demanded by MiFID II (the second iteration of the European markets in financial instruments directive). This, he explains, has the add-on benefit of delivering analytics that clients find increasingly useful.
The long-running direction of travel up the value chain is another key element of the evolution that Mathieu Maurier forecasts. The basic elements of custody and fund accounting etc remain firmly at the heart of the offering of any credible global custodian. But the need to develop further services for alternative asset classes such as private equity and real estate, and private equity real estate, thereby enabling alternative investment managers to offer UCITS funds, is pressing.
Technology, of course, has a key role to play in the immediate and longer-term future. "I've spoken before about the rise of the robots, and make no apology for repeating myself. We are moving into areas where technology is essential if a service provider is to remain nimble and agile. For our part, we are setting up digital tooling to help firms automate functions that were previously manual and sources of avoidable operational risk."
An inescapable feature of this evolution is a subtle change in the role of custodians and other service providers, he concludes. "We are moving from being a provider of relatively simple traditional services and towards becoming a provider of higher value data services."
The future, it seems is bright. The future, however, is also nuanced.
Mathieu Maurier Global Head of Sales and Relationship Management, SGSS
Custody, clearing etc.


Even present name was hard to spot.
She is the "Wuhan N4".
No flag hoisted and no Home port or IMO No. painted on the hull.
I can't see from your picture what letter nr. 5 is, looks like a U, but let's say that this is former norwegian trawler VESTERVON.
If so, and I don't know how this trawler looked like, it is reported a being broken up in Stokksund, Norway in 2008.
Why is it then in Singapore 2012?
If you are in the area and have time, is it possible for you to focus a bit mor on the letters only, specially the nr. 5, 7 and 8?
It pretty much look like the others are: VEST_R__N (the nr. 8 looks like an E to me, so I doubt it is the old Vestervon from 1969).
Absolutely loving all this detective work... watching this space!
"Gullstein" ex.Harmoni on Tromsø strait this morning.
Odd Lundberg, should we call the design "progressive"? Seems to be a nice ship.
Any more?? Maybe from the inside of the new EROS???
These large fishing vessels are among the most complex and well equipped there is.
12 Flat Screens, a Gamer's dream console??
PS> I notice everybody is wearing "Swedish Safety Shoes" when visiting the Bridge.
PPS> Anything from below in Machinery spaces and the Factory Deck?
Last edited by ombugge; November 18th, 2012, 04:23.
the ''sch 118'' or ''johanna maria'' unloading fish in Vlissingen.


text:
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text:
\section{INTRODUCTION}

It was shown that the measured momentum anisotropy parameter $v_2$
at RHIC energy can be well described by ideal hydrodynamics \cite{kolb01}.
This indicates that the quark-gluon matter produced seems to behave like
a perfect fluid which represents a strongly interacting and thus locally
thermal system. On the other hand, the initial situation of the
quark-gluon system is far from thermal equilibrium. It is therefore
important to understand how and which partonic interactions can thermalize
the system within a short timescale.

A convenient way to study thermalization of particles is to carry out
microscopical transport simulations which, however, need large
computational power. There are several such numerical realizations
\cite{zhang98} currently applied for investigating the space time
evolution of partons. In these models only elastic $gg \leftrightarrow gg$
interactions are considered and no thermal equilibrium can be realized
in Au+Au collision at RHIC when using reasonable pQCD cross sections.
It is thus essential to study the contribution of multiple interactions
to the thermal equilibration. In addition, the possible importance of
the inelastic scatterings on thermalization was raised in the ``bottom
up thermalization'' picture \cite{baier01}. Recently we have developed
a new $3+1$ dimensional Monte Carlo cascade solving the kinetic on-shell
Boltzmann equations for partons including inelastic
$gg \leftrightarrow ggg$ pQCD processes \cite{xu05}. Detailed balance
is fulfilled in a consistant manner.

The three-body gluonic interactions are described by the matrix element
\cite{biro93}
\begin{equation}
\label{m23}
| {\cal M}_{gg \to ggg} |^2 = \left ( \frac{9 g^4}{2}
\frac{s^2}{({\bf q}_{\perp}^2+m_D^2)^2} \right )
\left ( \frac{12 g^2 {\bf q}_{\perp}^2}
{{\bf k}_{\perp}^2 [({\bf k}_{\perp}-{\bf q}_{\perp})^2+m_D^2]} \right )
\Theta(k_{\perp}\Lambda_g-\cosh y) \, ,
\end{equation}
where $g^2=4\pi\alpha_s$. ${\bf q}_{\perp}$ and ${\bf k}_{\perp}$ denote,
respectively, the perpendicular component of the momentum transfer and
that of the momentum of the radiated gluon in the c.m. frame of the
collision. We regularize the infrared divergences by using the Debye
screening mass $m_D^2$ which is calculated locally over the actual
particle density obtained from the simulation. The suppression of
the radiation of soft gluons due to the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect,
which is expressed via the step function in Eq. (\ref{m23}), is modeled
by the consideration that the time of the emission,
$\sim \frac{1}{k_{\perp}} \cosh y$, should be smaller than the time
interval between two scatterings or equivalently  the gluon mean free
path $\Lambda_g$. This leads to a lower cutoff of $k_{\perp}$ and
to an effective increase of the collision angles.

Until now only gluonic dynamics is considered in the cascade. In the
future quarks will be included. A special interest is put on the
investigation of elliptic flow of heavy quarks \cite{teaney05}.

\section{INITIAL CONDITIONS}

The production of the primary partons at the very onset of a heavy
ion collision is based on the picture of a free superposition of
minijets being liberated in the individual semihard nucleon-nucleon
interactions. Minijets denote here on-shell partons with transverse
momentum being greater than a certain cutoff $p_0$. Their production
is controlled by perturbative QCD for sufficient high $p_0$ \cite{wang91}.
On the other side, the smaller the cutoff $p_0$ is, the denser will be
the initial minijet system, which may accelerate thermalization.
Phenomenologically the cutoff $p_0$ can be chosen in a way to fit
the (final) $dE_T/dy$ as seen in experiment. The space time configuration
of the produced partons will be determined by applying the Glauber symmetry
with a Woods-Saxon nuclear distribution.

We have also considered the conditions of the initial partons according
to color glass condensate \cite{mv94}. First results can be found
in \cite{carsten05}.

\section{RESULTS}

To study possible thermalization of gluons we concentrate on the local
central region which is taken as an expanding cylinder with a radius
of $1.5$ fm and within a unit interval of space time rapidity $\eta$
around the collision center $\eta=0$. Figure \ref{dndpt} shows the
varying transverse momentum spectrum with time obtained in the central
region.
\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[scale=0.74]{dndpt.eps}
\hspace{\fill}
\includegraphics[scale=0.74]{dndpt1.eps}
\caption{Transverse momentum spectrum in the central region at
different times obtained from the simulation
with $gg \leftrightarrow ggg$ (left panel) and from the simulation
without $gg \leftrightarrow ggg$ collisions (right panel).}
\label{dndpt}
\end{figure}
The bold-faced histogram with a lower cutoff at $p_0=2$ GeV (a very
conservative setting) denotes the spectrum of the primary gluons
(or minijets). In the simulation including inelastic
$gg \leftrightarrow ggg$ scatterings (left panel of Fig. \ref{dndpt})
the curves from second upper to lowest depict, respectively, the spectrum
at $t=0.2$, $0.5$, $1$, $2$, $3$, and $4$ fm/c. We see that the
spectrum reaches an exponential shape at 2 fm/c and becomes increasingly
steeper at late times. This is a clear indication for the achievement
of thermal equilibrium and the onset of hydrodynamical evolution. In
contrast, without including inelastic collisions (right panel of
Fig. \ref{dndpt}) one has no hints for equilibration.

Figure \ref{cs} shows the cross sections of various gluonic
interactions and the corresponding transport cross sections. The latter
might be taken as a characteristic for momentum degradation.
\begin{figure}
\begin{minipage}[t]{75mm}
\includegraphics[scale=0.75]{rhiccs.eps}
\caption{Cross sections averaged in the central region. Results are
obtained from the simulation including $gg \leftrightarrow ggg$ collisions.}
\label{cs}
\end{minipage}
\hspace{1mm}
\begin{minipage}[t]{75mm}
\includegraphics[scale=0.75]{v2.eps}
\caption{Time evolution of the elliptic flow $v_2$ for various
impact parameter $b$.}
\label{v2}
\end{minipage}
\end{figure}
While $\sigma_{gg \to gg}$ is significantly larger than
$\sigma_{gg \to ggg}$, its transport cross section is smaller than
that of typical $gg \to ggg$ collision. Inspecting the fraction of the
transport cross sections to the total cross sections we realize that the
distribution of the collision angle in $gg \to ggg$ processes is almost
isotropic, while the $gg \to gg$ collisions are much more forward peaked.
Taking the contribution of $ggg \to gg$ collision to the equilibration
into account, the total inelastic interactions are the dominant processes
compared to the elastic collisions. Besides the kinetic scatterings
plasma instabilities of the gluon field may also have contribution to
a very early and fast momentum equilibration \cite{instab}.
The latter should be further quantified.

We have also performed simulations when the momentum cutoff for the
initial minijets is taken smaller. It turns out that for the more dense
system at $p_0=1.3-1.5$ GeV (being in line with the measured $dE_T/dy$)
the full equilibrium comes slightly sooner at $1-2$ fm/c.
The timescale tends to saturate at smaller $p_0$. These results will be
presented in a sequent paper.

Taking $p_0=1.4$ GeV for the initial minijets we simulate the parton
evolution for noncentral collisions at RHIC energy in order to calculate
the elliptic flow parameter $v_2$. Figure \ref{v2} shows the time
evolution of $v_2$ extracted in the central rapidity for various impact
parameter $b$. These calculations are still preliminary and no exhaustive
tests have been finished. We see that $v_2$ increases with time and
saturates at late times, $3\sim 5$ fm/c. The larger the initial space
anisotropy is, the larger is the generated $v_2$. The results give us
strong indication that an early pressure is being built up. The symbols
in Fig. \ref{v2} mark the time from which the energy density in the
central region decreases below 1 $\mbox{Gev/fm}^3$. Therefore after
this time the system can be hardly described by the dynamics among partons.
If we take the $v_2$ values at the marked times as the contribution from
the partonic phase, one realizes that they lie well in the region covered
by the experimental data with the systematic errors \cite{v2data}.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv