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USCIS Announces H-1B Cap Lottery Results for Fiscal Year 2025

The release of selections occurred less than a week after the conclusion of the H-1B cap registration period. This year’s H-1B lottery selections were conducted over a span of five days and concluded on April 1, 2024, when USCIS announced that it had received enough electronic registrations for unique beneficiaries during the initial registration period. Quick Hits USCIS has yet to disclose the total number of H-1B registrations received for…

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China Brief: Consumers Are Spending Again (Outside of China)

Now that we’ve concluded the first quarter of 2024, we thought it would be a good opportunity to take stock of the state of consumption in China. In this edition of “China Brief”, we’ll do a quick scan of key macroeconomic indicators and zoom in on some of the core drivers of recent consumption growth.While the Chinese economy faces continued headwinds and consumer companies are encountering increasingly fierce competition, one…

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The Struggle for the Interpretation of the Crocus City Hall Tragedy

The United States is trying to seize the initiative in the media interpretation of the tragic terrorist attack that occurred in Russia. In the Western media space, Washington is forming the opinion that should, by all means, remove their protégé, Ukraine, from the focus of attention. At certain points in time, ISIS (banned in Russia) has been a convenient tool for the United States in Syria. Data have been published…

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How Utopian Thinking Can Inspire Business Leaders

Business leaders aren’t blind to the environmental scars etched by their industries, nor to the communities left behind in the pursuit of profit. They feel the unease, the gnawing guilt, but the harsh reality often seems easier to ignore. Executives are trapped in a cycle of reaction, their minds clouded by denial, rationalisation and a sense of powerlessness. They build walls against discomfort, isolating themselves from impending problems. But what if this…

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Breaking news: Your reviews mean our advisers are Top Rated

We’re proud to announce that VouchedFor has included five of our advisers in their 2024 guide, distributed today in The Times. The guide identifies and celebrates the UK’s best financial advisers, all based on feedback from their clients. Inclusion in the guide is a tremendous honour. What is VouchedFor? If you’re not familiar with VouchedFor, it’s a platform that allows consumers to leave reviews for their financial adviser or planner.…

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Directors liability for nature related risks

The Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative issued an interesting opinion on 11 March 2024 that analyses the relevance of nature related risks to directors duties under English law. The opinion is well thought through. It stretches to 115 pages long and comes at a time when there is increased focus on the role and responsibilities of directors for the negative impact that their companies may have on nature. The opinion…

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Webinar Part 1: Trying Cases in a Polarized Environment – On  Apr. 30, 2024

Seyfarth Synopsis: A series from our seasoned and successful Boston L&E Trial Team will explore the latest trends in jury trials in a time of explosive verdicts, Reptile tactics, polarization, and an election year. We’ll offer practical strategies on how to maximize your chance of a total defense verdict, despite these headwinds, based on our experience navigating trials in this environment. We will cover specific strategies for a range of claims,…

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What is the Total Cost of Ownership and Why Is It Important?

The total cost of ownership, TCO, is used to calculate the true cost of a product, which includes its purchase price, and other costs associated with its implementation. A key feature of TCO is its ability to reveal “hidden” costs associated with a product. TCO is also used to show the value of a product […] The post What is the Total Cost of Ownership and Why Is It Important? appeared first on Accelare.

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Personalized Pricing in the EU Legal Landscape

You’re scrolling through your favorite dating app, hoping to find a connection, when suddenly you discover that the prices you see aren’t the same as what others are seeing. Imagine realizing that the premium services you desire come with a price tag tailored specifically for you, without your knowledge. It’s akin to navigating a maze blindfolded, unsure of whether you’re getting a fair deal or not. In 2022, the EU…

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Reminder: Dependent Care Assistance Is Now Excludable in Pennsylvania, Retroactive to 2023 Tax Year

Quick Hits Pennsylvania amended its tax law to make amounts contributed to dependent care assistance excludable for income tax purposes. The change aligns Pennsylvania with the federal treatment and is retroactive for the 2023 tax year. Employers may have withheld taxes on dependent care assistance contributions and may have issued Forms W-2 that overstated income. On December 13, 2023, Pennsylvania enacted House Bill (HB) 1300, which changed the state’s treatment…

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When it comes to AI, don’t build ‘islands of intelligence’

When people discover a new work hack, they can be tempted to keep it to themselves. Maybe they subconsciously want to gatekeep it, or maybe they mean to share it with colleagues but forget. Over time, this creates “islands of intelligence.” And while being on an island is great for a relaxing vacation, at work these private knowledge bases can hinder learning and development across the organization—which is why it’s…

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Navigating the Impact of Generative AI on Enterprise Security: Insights from Industry Experts

a16z General Partner Zane Lackey and Partner Joel de la Garza recently sat down with us to discuss the state of security in 2024. They addressed the top concern for CISOs: the impact of generative AI on enterprise security. Here’s what they had to say about the key considerations for technology adoption and strategies CISOs can employ to navigate the rise of AI-driven security solutions: 1. What is the biggest…

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April Fintech Newsletter: Financial Services x Gen AI, a real estate industry shake up, and more

Posted April 5, 2024 This content first appeared in the April 2024 Fintech newsletter. If you’d like more commentary and analysis about news and trends from the a16z Fintech team, you can subscribe here. Gauging Generative AI x Financial Services Angela Strange (Adapted from a16z General Partner Angela Strange’s March 21 tweetstorm) Financial services is a heavily regulated industry, so you might think that it would be slow to adopt…

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Author Talks: Brand strategist Bonnie Wan on no-regrets living

In this edition of Author Talks, McKinsey head of brand strategy Amanda Lee chats with Bonnie Wan, the head of brand strategy and a partner at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, about her new book, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living (Simon Element/Simon & Schuster, January 2024). Wan discovered that she could repurpose the creative brief that she had been using with advertising clients for decades—a revelation that has brought…

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Eight surprising (and unusual) Inheritance Tax allowances

The UK tax system is a highly complicated system – full of allowances and exemptions, some more unusual than others. When it comes to Inheritance Tax (IHT) there are thankfully a range of tools which can be used to help reduce this hefty tax. Peter Webb, our Head of Tax Advisory, looks at some of the more surprising loopholes. When it comes to UK tax, IHT is the big hitter.…

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Florida Governor Signs Law Easing Hourly Work Restrictions on Minors

Quick Hits Florida enacted legislation that will ease employment restrictions for minors sixteen and seventeen years old. The law gives parents and school superintendents the ability to waive the limitation on minors working only thirty hours per week while school is in session. The changes take effect on July 1, 2024. The enacted legislation, House Bill (HB) 49, amends Florida’s Child Labor Law to ease some of the restrictions on…

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Migration in the Mediterranean: Key Problems

For several decades now, the number of people moving from their home country to other destinations has been growing exponentially. The United Nations estimates that more than 280 million people are now living in a country other than their country of birth. This figure is 130 million higher than it was in 1990, and more than three times higher than in 1970, an increase that confirms the escalation of the…

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Why We Need to, Have to, Want to Act on Climate

Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images The battle to get companies to take sustainability seriously is essentially over. Even in the face of the “anti-ESG” movement — a very American phenomenon — there are vanishingly few large organizations around the world that really question the need…

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The King is dead; long live the King: Tennessee’s Updated Right of Publicity Statute

Tennessee has joined the ranks of states regulating, in various ways, the use of artificial intelligence to manipulate an individual’s likeness.  On March 21, 2024, Gov. Bill Lee said “thank you very much” to the Tennessee legislature and signed into law the Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security (“ELVIS”) Act of 2024, HB 2091/SB 2096, which updates Tennessee’s right of publicity statute.  The new law is groundbreaking because Tennessee has…

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Washington State and Seattle Paid Sick and Safe Leave Updates

Quick Hits The respective paid sick leave laws of the State of Washington and the City of Seattle have recently been clarified and updated. Under Washington’s paid sick and safe leave law, only construction workers who are directly engaged in construction work by performing “service, maintenance, or construction work on a jobsite, in the field or in a fabrication shop using tools of the worker’s trade or craft” are eligible…

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Azure AI Search updates to help build and scale generative AI applications

Today we are announcing significant changes to Azure AI Search in support for customers building production ready generative AI applications. Azure AI Search has drastically increased storage capacity and vector index size at no additional cost, so customers can run retrieval augmented generation (RAG) at any scale, without having to compromise cost or performance.  In this post, we will walk through how customers: Can achieve more scalability at a lower…

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Survey Says: AI and Data Buoy Technology Spend Planning

The first quarter of 2024 has drawn to a close and we’re excited to unveil the findings of our latest State of Enterprise Tech Spending report, intended to gauge the budget planning and overall sentiment of large enterprise technology buyers. As in previous quarters, we polled 100 CXOs who collectively represent over $35B in annual technology spending. To get up to speed on past reports, check out what we published…

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Understanding the Economics of Education

Q: What project are you undertaking with your academic career? I study the economics of education. My goal is to understand how education shapes big-picture outcomes like inequality, upward mobility, and economic growth. I’m looking across educational levels from early childhood through college to think about the value of education both as instrumental to our economic lives and as an intrinsic good. I want to help provide evidence for which…

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Boom in AI-Enabled Medical Devices Transforms Healthcare

The future of healthcare is software-defined and AI-enabled. Around 700 FDA-cleared, AI-enabled medical devices are now on the market — more than 10x the number available in 2020.   Many of the innovators behind this boom announced their latest AI-powered solutions at NVIDIA GTC, a global conference that last week attracted more than 16,000 business leaders, developers and researchers in Silicon Valley — and many more online.  Designed to make healthcare…

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Partha Dasgupta wins BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award for Economics

The 16th edition of the Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Economics, Finance and Management honours Professor Dasgupta for his work in defining the field of environmental economics by incorporating and quantifying the social value of nature.The award also takes into account Professor Dasgupta's leadership of an independent, global review on the Economics of Biodiversity commissioned by the UK Treasury in 2019. The Dasgupta Review is expected…

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Kate McEvoy: How Medicaid Is Driving Healthcare Innovation

Howie and Harlan are joined by Kate McEvoy, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, to discuss the programs’ underappreciated advances in holistically addressing health, housing, and food security. Reflecting on the upcoming election, Harlan notes that facts matter, whether in medicine or politics. Howie reports on the dangers of glyoxylic acid in hair straightening products. Links: “Trump Leads Biden in Six of Seven Swing States, WSJ Poll…

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Scientists identify rare gene variants that confer up to 6-fold increase in risk of obesity

The discovery of rare variants in the genes BSN and APBA1 are some of the first obesity-related genes identified for which the increased risk of obesity is not observed until adulthood.The study, published in Nature Genetics, was led by researchers at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit and the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit at the Institute of Metabolic Science, both based at the University of Cambridge. The researchers used…

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UK-wide trials to begin on blood tests for diagnosing dementia

Professor James Rowe from the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at Cambridge will co-lead a team that will test multiple existing and novel blood tests, looking at a range of types of dementia.The trials will capitalise on recent breakthroughs in potential dementia blood tests, and generate the evidence needed for them to be validated for use in the NHS within the next 5 years. The teams from Dementias Platform UK (which includes…

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FDIC Seeks to Restrict Noncompete Agreements in Bank Mergers

Quick Hits The FDIC released proposed revisions to its guidelines for reviewing bank mergers. The proposed revisions include a prohibition on banks using noncompete agreements with employees of units that are divested as part of the merger. The FDIC is seeking comments on the proposed revisions. On March 21, 2024, the FDIC unveiled proposed revisions to its Statement of Policy (SOP) on Bank Merger Transactions, which was last amended in…

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The Guns Are Heard Better

On February 24, 2022, the discussion on European security was terminated. Europe defined itself as a community of states hostile to Russia (there are exceptions like Hungary and Slovakia, but they have little influence on the EU as a whole). Economic, political and other ties between the European states and Russia were reduced to a minimum. The question of the European security system boiled down to its hard realist basis:…

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5 Unfair and Discriminatory Hiring Practices That Go Unnoticed

Businesses that prioritize diversity in their workforce significantly increase the likelihood of fostering creative and innovative thinking among their employees by 150%. Also, companies with a lot of different ethnicities and races in their management team are 35% more likely to do better than average in their industry.  For a long time, people have understood that teams with diverse backgrounds work better together. How can you make sure your workplace…

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Playing offense: Industrials staying ahead in the energy transition

The recent market turmoil and ongoing challenges of an accelerated energy transition are putting pressure on all sectors of society, from governments to utilities to consumers—industrials included. Industrials are highly exposed to energy costs and the recent price volatility caused by large disruptions such as the invasion of Ukraine, among others, has severely affected the sector’s energy cost baselines. In addition, the sector has to significantly reduce emissions to meet…

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Why Clarifying Ukraine’s Security Status Is in Russia’s Interest

Mistrust continues to govern relations between Russia and the West. Two years of full-scale military confrontation have only served to confirm existing negative preconceptions about each side’s intentions. President Putin could make the initial move to break this deadlock by sending a clear message that Russia does not seek to extinguish Ukrainian statehood and considers the idea of security guarantees for Ukraine to be legitimate. In response, Western leaders should…

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Green Views for Healthier Diets

An image of a verdant forest glade or a tranquil pasture. Natural scenes typically conjure up positive emotions and a sense of wellbeing for most individuals, but could they also influence them to make healthier food choices? The answer, according to our new article, just published in Nature’s new journal Communications Psychology, is yes.Our studies, which exposed people to natural or urban environments before asking them to make snack or…

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Want a More Ethical Team? Build Expertise, Not Just Guidelines

Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Ethics is often associated with the abstract realm of philosophers. But there’s nothing abstract about the risks for business leaders: Ethical missteps can expose their companies to a host of reputational, regulatory, and legal risks. In response, companies develop ethical guidelines or codes for decision makers and set up boards to govern guideline usage. For example, companies under growing pressure to fight bias are…

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Union Intrusion: New OSHA Rule Permits Non-Employee Union Representatives on OSHA Inspection Walkarounds

 By Matthew A. Sloan, A. Scott Hecker, and Adam R. Young Seyfarth Synopsis: On April 1, 2024, the Federal Register published OSHA’s final rule revising its regulations regarding whom employees can authorize to act as their representative(s) to accompany compliance officers during on-site OSHA inspections. Under Section 8(e) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, employees and employers alike have the right to have a representative accompany OSHA Compliance Officers (“CSHOs”) during physical…

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Get protection with unified security operations platform, now in public preview

Today, I am excited to announce the public preview of our unified security operations platform. When we announced a limited preview in November 2023, it was one of the first security operations center platforms that brought together the full capabilities of an industry-leading cloud-native security information and event management (SIEM), comprehensive extended detection and response (XDR), and generative AI built specifically for cybersecurity. This powerful combination of capabilities delivers a…

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Navigating the Mood of Customers Weary of Price Hikes

Inflation remains front and center for consumers and businesses, which continue to reel from the double-digit rise in prices during the COVID-19 pandemic and the interest rate hikes designed to cool them. While price increases for goods have slowed, the climate remains uncertain, with inflation ticking up again as recently as February.How should companies navigate the mood of shoppers, who remain cautious after being squeezed over the past two years,…

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5 practical ways to make life easier for your family when you die

Nobody likes to think about their own death, but it may be important to consider some of the challenges your family could face when you’re gone. The “cost of dying” is on the rise and if you don’t put plans in place now, you could leave your loved ones in a difficult position. Indeed, according to SunLife, the average cost of dying – including basic funeral costs, professional fees for…

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Navigating unknowns: Auto insurance questions in a new mobility era

Before the end of this decade, autonomous vehicles (AVs), electric vehicles (EVs), and shared forms of mobility are poised to transform the mobility landscape. How will the auto insurance landscape evolve to adapt to this wave of disruption? This is a large question with many, many answers. At ITC Vegas 2023, McKinsey brought together a group of 20 leaders from auto insurance, automotive, and mobility to discuss the future of…

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