NLN-PAX helper - Nursing School Entrance Test Updated: 2023

Holidays can be stressful for neurodiverse people, but Mesa, Arizona, is becoming more inclusive so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of travel – not just the neurotypical.

In Mesa, 80% of public-facing staff are trained in neuro-inclusive practices and tools (Credit: Richard Cummins/Alamy)

The Arizona Museum of Natural History offers sensory guides and recently ran its first "sensory gentle" event (Credit: Dave G Houser/Alamy)

Mesa Arts Center offers weighted blankets and noise-cancelling headphones at performances (Credit: Richard Cummins/Alamy)

Mesa is an excellent place for outdoor adventures, both in and out of the city limits (Credit: Ron and Patty Thomas/Getty Images)

Appendix A

The process whereby an association or agency grants public recognition to an organization that meets certain established qualifications or standards, as determined through initial and periodic evaluations.

A certificate is a document issued to a pharmacist upon successful completion of the predetermined level of performance of a certificate training program or of a pharmacy residency or fellowship. See also "statement of continuing-education credit."

A structured, systematic postgraduate education and continuing- education experience for pharmacists that is generally smaller in magnitude and shorter in duration than a degree program. Certificate programs are designed to instill, expand, or enhance practice competencies through the systematic acquisition of specific knowledge, skills, attitudes, and performance behaviors.

The voluntary process by which a nongovernmental agency or association formally grants recognition to a pharmacist who has met certain predetermined qualifications specified by that organization. This recognition designates to the public that the holder has attained the requisite level of knowledge, skill, or experience in a well-defined, often specialized, area of the total discipline. Certification entails assessment, including testing, an evaluation of the candidate's education and experience, or both. Periodic recertification is usually required to retain the credential.

Adjective that is used to describe an individual who holds certification and that is incorporated into the name of the credential awarded that individual. For example, someone who has earned BPS certification in oncology is a "Board-Certified Oncology Pharmacist."

Authorization to provide a specific range of patient care services. See "privileging."

The ability to perform one's duties accurately, make correct judgments, and interact appropriately with patients and with colleagues. Professional competence is characterized by good problem-solving and decision-making abilities, a strong knowledge base, and the ability to apply knowledge and experience to diverse patient-care situations.

A distinct skill, ability, or attitude that is essential to the practice of a profession. Individual competencies for pharmacists include, for example, mastery of aseptic technique and achievement of a thought process that enables one to identify therapeutic duplications. A pharmacist must master a variety of competencies in order to gain competence in his or her profession.

Organized learning experiences and activities in which pharmacists engage after they have completed their entry-level academic education and training. These experiences are designed to promote the continuous development of the skills, attitudes, and knowledge needed to maintain proficiency, provide quality service or products, respond to patient needs, and keep abreast of change.

Documented evidence of professional qualifications. For pharmacists, academic degrees, state licensure, and Board certification are all examples of credentials.

(1) The process by which an organization or institution obtains, verifies, and assesses a pharmacist's qualifications to provide patient care services. (2) The process of granting a credential (a designation that indicates qualifications in a subject or an area).

A directed, highly individualized postgraduate program designed to prepare a pharmacist to become an independent researcher.

A credential issued by a state or federal body that indicates that the holder is in compliance with minimum mandatory governmental requirements necessary to practice in a particular profession or occupation.

The process of granting a license. Pharmacy Technician: An individual who, under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist, assists in pharmacy activities not requiring the professional judgment of the pharmacist.

The process by which a health care organization, having reviewed an individual health care provider's credentials and performance and found them satisfactory, authorizes that individual to perform a specific scope of patient care services within that organization.

Adjective used to describe a pharmacist who has met state requirements for licensure and whose name has been entered on a state registry of practitioners who are licensed to practice in that jurisdiction.

An organized, directed, postgraduate training program in a defined area of pharmacy practice.

The boundaries within which a health professional may practice. For pharmacists, the scope of practice is generally established by the board or agency that regulates the profession in a given state or organization.

A document issued to a pharmacist upon completion of a continuing-education program provided by an organization approved by the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education

A short, intensive, clinical and didactic postgraduate educational program intended to provide the pharmacist with knowledge and skills needed to provide a high level of care to patients with specific diseases or conditions.

a These definitions have been developed by a variety of organizations involved in credentialing and are generally accepted by those in the pharmacist credentialing arena.

Are all Indians as obsessed with board exams as we are in Bengal? Through April and May, various boards publish their results. Each announcement is followed by a rash of media reports, with the kind of hyperanalysis commonly applied to cricket scores. Did girls fare better than boys? Or the districts than the city? Were the top marks fractionally less than last year, or the top scorers marginally more in number? Did certain hallowed schools blot their record, and if so why?

There are visuals of young people, patently ill at ease, being fed sweets by their mothers — how many times for how many cameras, one wonders. There are hair-raising accounts of how many hours a day the top scorers swotted. (We hear discreetly little of how many tutors the parents engaged.) Some of these youths reappear on TV commercials to declare how they owe their results to certain help books. I hope they sting the publishers for sums in six figures. Nothing less would compensate for the way they are being compromised.

I would not seem ungracious. As a lifelong teacher, I feel nothing but affection for these youngsters, wish them nothing but the best. But I also feel a deep concern — for those who make it to the media and those who don’t.

Each outbreak of results casts countless families in deep gloom. Their children have not failed the exam: they have scored brilliantly, but fractionally less than fifty or a hundred others of the lakhs that sat the exam. In the bizarre phrase that mystifies Martians, they have not managed to ‘stand’. They are filled not with confidence but with shame. I have seen a boy cross-examined on TV for ranking third in the 10+ test but ‘only’ eleventh in the 12+.

In moments of outrage, I feel it should be a crime to announce someone’s test results in the media: it is a grotesque violation of privacy. That an irresponsible society calls for it is no excuse.

Over 8.5 lakh students sat for the West Bengal Uchcha Madhyamik this year. Common sense suggests that some 1%, or 8,500, must be in the highest bracket of exam-passing merit. Which twenty or fifty or hundred of them find themselves at the favoured end of this horizontal ladder is the merest luck of the draw. Moreover, that hypothetical 8,500 will not occupy the top 8,500 positions. Some may land in the second division or, however rarely, even fail.

To obviate the tyranny of test marks, enlightened societies use grades instead. In India, the argument against grades is that board marks guide college admissions. This was never entirely true: where demand is greatest, as for medicine, engineering or the most sought-after ‘general’ courses, special entrance tests were and are the norm. Now that board test marks scale the heights, imposing cut-offs of 100%, centralized admission tests are being introduced for all college courses, most notably the Common University Entrance Test. Every elite private university, today the first choice for an exclusive education, has its own entrance procedure.

In other words, if the pressure of board exams is easing at all (which is by no means certain), that is more than outweighed by the battery of other hurdles to any kind of meaningful training and career. Most student suicides are among aspirants to professional courses, while preparing for the ordeal or in the burn-out after admission. In its brief history to date, the medical NEET has already proved a greater torment than the engineering JEE. Coaching institutes clearly feel that to deliver value for money, their regime might drive some trainees to despair. Appallingly, many parents think they owe it to their offspring to consign them to this hell.

The solution does not lie in psychiatric counselling, though victims of the system might badly need it. It does not lie in tinkering with the curricular structure — for instance, by allowing students to opt out at any point of the course with some kind of certification, as the National Education Policy enjoins. Unlike many colleagues, I actually consider that a good idea; but such mid-point departures will always carry the stamp of failure. As long as there are more rungs to the ladder, students will undergo untold stress to climb them, and a different kind of stress if they cannot.

Most emphatically, the solution does not lie in multiplying private universities open to a minute fraction of our youth. Affluent middle-class families with two or three children incur huge debts to send them there. For the less affluent (further disadvantaged by the decline of the government school system), entry to the few prized public institutions becomes more stressful than ever. The institutions themselves come under mounting pressure to perform beyond capacity.

The only solution is for the government, Central and state, to invest in education as they invest in roads and energy and airports, to say nothing of the Central Vista, bullet trains and the world’s tallest statue. We need to exponentially expand and upgrade our public university system, which, in turn, calls for quantum improvement of government schools (I don’t mean high-end Kendriya Vidyalayas). The insane pressure of exams, whether boards or admissions, will ease only when there are enough public institutions commanding people’s trust and convincingly preparing our youth for a fulfilling life at affordable cost. The deficit in public trust is huge and partly undeserved: against all odds, our best public institutions still perform creditably, even if we exclude the pampered IITs and IIMs. But there too, fees are mounting beyond the unstressed reach of more and more people.

I know of a little boy who fared badly in that affront to childhood, the Class I admission test. Back with his waiting father, he said, “Baba, ami herey gechhi” (“Baba, I’ve lost”). As our children grow up, we afford them endless opportunities to stare defeat in the face in the test hall. But the real losers are ourselves and the land we live in.

Sukanta Chaudhuri is Professor Emeritus, Jadavpur University

Don’t you just hate it when dev boards have some annoying little quirk that makes them harder to use than they should be? Take the ESP32-CAM, a board that started appearing on the market in early 2019. On paper, the thing is amazing: an ESP32 with support for a camera and an SD card, all for less than $10. The trouble is that programming it can be a bit of a pain, requiring extra equipment and a spare finger.

Not being one to take such challenges lying down, [Bitluni] has come up with a nice programming board for the ESP32-CAM that you might want to check out. The problem stems from the lack of a USB port on the ESP32-CAM. That design decision leaves users in need of a USB-to-serial adapter that has to be wired to the GPIO pins of the camera board so that programs can be uploaded from the Arduino IDE when the reset button is pressed. None of that is terribly complex, but it is inconvenient. His solution is called cam-prog, and it takes care of not only the USB conversion but also resetting the board. It does that by simply power cycling the camera, allowing sketches to be uploaded via USB. It looks to be a pretty handy board, which will be available on his Tindie store.

To demonstrate the add-on, he programmed his ESP32-CAM and connected it to his enormous ping pong ball video wall. The video quality is about what you’d expect from a 1,200 pixel display at 40 mm per pixel, but it’s still pretty smooth – smooth enough to make his interpretive dance moves in the last few minutes of the video pretty interesting.

The Fort Worth Independent School District in Texas has purchased BenQ Boards for its elementary schools. Fort Worth ISD plans to install 3,000 RP7503 BenQ Boards to upgrade 81 of its elementary schools over the next year, starting with an initial rollout of 300 displays. The interactive BenQ Boards feature intuitive tools to enhance learning comprehension, engagement, and collaboration for in-person, virtual, and hybrid classrooms.

"Forth Worth ISD is transforming its approach to education, and we're excited to be part of the incredible initiatives taking place," said Alex McCure, senior manager, Key Partner South, BenQ Business and Education Solutions. "Our BenQ Boards, with their innovative feature set that comes standard with all models, will be the perfect complement to supporting teachers, students, and staff in every possible way."

[What is the Future of AV Technology in Higher Education?]

BenQ Boards feature germ-resistant screens as part of the company's ClassroomCare benefits. The smartboards ship with a nano-ionic silver coating (guaranteed toxin-free) that guards against most bacteria, letting instructors teach without worrying about germs spreading among students. This coating provides protection for years, even when the screen is cleaned regularly. With official TÜV and SIAA certification, BenQ interactive displays meet the highest quality standards so schools can maximize the educational potential of collaborative, hybrid classes without creating new health concerns. In addition, as students and teachers spend more class time using interactive screens, it is crucial to safeguard their eyesight. Extended exposure to blue light, flicker, and reflections causes eye strain and may lead to damaged eyesight. ClassroomCare also incorporates BenQ's EyeSafe features: low-blue light, flicker-free, and glare-resistant properties.

EZWrite annotation and collaboration software gives users the freedom to annotate and work directly from the interactive display or a wirelessly connected device. When teachers are creating or presenting lessons, EZWrite's Floating Tool empowers them to add text to any app, video, website, document, or image. They can also choose the pen color, erase, open files, or take screenshots.

Story continues

[Meet the Future of Education: LG CreateBoard]

The InstaShare feature empowers students to present their ideas in class, without the hassle of cables, on up to nine screens being shared simultaneously. Where remote students or guests are joining, the display is compatible with all videoconferencing software such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, with an optional Intel-powered slot-in PC, which expands the utility of the screen even further. BenQ has also made it possible for two apps to be opened on screen side by side, making lessons more efficient. For example, teachers can explain in detail with a whiteboard on one side and support content on the other, or utilizing InstaShare's Floating Window mode, share a connected screen alongside another app in use.

BenQ Board smart displays are cloud-friendly, making them the epicenter for classroom management as well as engagement. They eliminate the complexities of using interactive display technology that robs valuable class time or having to depend on connected devices to access and manage files and content. Once teachers are logged in, their personal settings are instantly recalled and they can securely access and save lesson materials on Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, or the network.

[The Class of 2023: Celebrating 13 Outstanding AV/IT Teams of Higher Ed]

As a central hub for each and every classroom, it's important IT and admin staff have the tools they need to manage and update the BenQ Boards. IT managers have access to at-a-glance device analytics for any BenQ display using the included AMS software. They can easily monitor and analyze the status of all the BenQ devices on a single dashboard, including managing displays, apps, and OTA updates remotely for maximum convenience. BenQ Boards also benefit from BenQ's X-Sign Broadcast software, which turns any BenQ smart board in the school into broadcast signage and allows schools to keep everyone informed and up to date on events, safety protocols, and emergencies.

In the Know: The Park Shore fountain at the southern entrance to the Naples neighborhood

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Thank you for the inquiry that I thought might be quickly resolved. I took the hunt to Naples City Hall, checking with some folks and swimming through several hundred public documents, sure that the answer would splash out.

Two tiny pebbles caught my attention in that flood: First, an inventory of city art conducted in 2021 that found 53 artworks. The info must be in there.

Uh-oh. Of all those compiled, only one specifically had "Unknown" listed in the artist column.

Yep, it was the stone fountain, darn it.

Well, how about this city record marked PAAC? Partial Abdominal Aortic Constriction? My gut told me this wasn't what it stood for although you'd be surprised what shows up for that oddly crafted acronym. Precast Autoclaved Aerated Concrete, but that's not what this is. The Program for Avocational Archaeological Certification. Nope, this artifact isn't that old.

Of course, it's actually a city Public Art Advisory Committee report, and there's a photo. Let's get that magnifying glass.

Oh, no. The caption: "Water Fountain, Artist Unknown, Horizon Way, Park Shore."

© Phil Fernandez public records research In the Know: The artist of the Park Shore fountain at the south end of the Naples neighborhood is marked as unknown in city records. PAAC at bottom right stands for Public Art Advisory Committee.

In the Know asked to 'solve the caper' with 'a little art sleuthing'

Shoot, I wasn't about to be deterred to uncover one of life's mysteries. Well, I had no choice. "Maybe we can help solve the caper?" Naples Daily News Executive Editor Wendy Fullerton Powell cajoled.

And High-Tide Studio Gallery owner Margie White of the Design District also cheered me on.

"I don’t know the answers, but I do enjoy a little art sleuthing," said White, a retired Chicago attorney who's the Naples Art Institute's representative on PAAC and enough of an art history connoisseur that she started a Paris-oriented blog named after a French boarding house for American female artists that dates to the 1890s.

So onward it was on this mission to solve a 50-year-old mystery by diving into a few decades of newspaper files. I kept coming across this Lutgert name. Where have I heard that before? Lutgert. Lutgert. Lutgert. Sounds important.

© Alex Driehaus/Naples Daily News/USA TODAY - FLORIDA NETWORK Scott and Simone Lutgert celebrate winning lot 5, "Love is Bleu," during the Naples Winter Wine Festival live auction at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples on Saturday, January 25, 2020.

Why yes, Scott and Simone Lutgert. I saw them on Celebrity Family Feud in a winning effort with their son-in-law comedian Sebastian Maniscalco. They know Steve Harvey. They must be famous.

And, as we first reported, they are part of the focus of Maniscalco's "About My Father" comedy that just debuted this Memorial Day weekend.

But that's not it. Must be more to it.

Was fountain part of Ray Lutgert's award-winning sculpting handiwork?

There's this: The late Ray Lutgert, developer of Park Shore and sculptor of more than 200 pieces that can be found throughout Southwest Florida in shopping areas, street corners and local college campuses, such as his 24-foot Human Race at Florida Gulf Coast University and a replica that resembles an 'h' outside The Village Shops on Venetian Bay.

Was the fountain part of his award-winning handiwork? A bit of a long shot since his interest in art soared later in life.

© Florida Gulf Coast University Here's a view of Lutgert Hall at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Let's go interrupt his busy son, game show star and The Lutgert Companies chairman Scott Lutgert. Just a little younger than 79-year-old Robert De Niro, who's starring in that comedy he's tied to, Lutgert hasn't slowed. He's still Scotty on the go and still having fun when I corralled him Wednesday morning, generous with his time.

"I was just at a graduation for my granddaughter going from fifth grade into middle school," said a proud Lutgert, who, among many other responsibilities, is chair of NCH Healthcare System's board. "Now I'm on my way to the hospital. (We) have got an announcement about a major contribution so everything's really good."

My colleague Liz Freeman was all over that historic $20 million story, allowing me to stay on my In the Know pursuit.

His dad had not carved the fountain, confirming what I surmised: Ray Lutgert began his visual works at 65 after taking a class at Appalachian State University near his North Carolina retreat and staying with it until his 2010 passing at 90 years of age.

Not again. Had I hit another wall?

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© Jonah Hinebaugh/Naples Daily News NCH Board Chair Scott Lutgert speaks during an event announcing a donation from the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation for the heart center at NCH Baker Downtown Hospital in Naples on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

Who traveled the globe before developing Park Shore fountain vision?

And then Scotty started chirping about what turned out to be one of his first endeavors upon joining his father in December 1969.

"I was there, working with all those guys getting the design going and getting it constructed and everything else. I had just graduated from the University of Chicago business school and came down," Lutgart said. "On Gulf Shore Boulevard, as we went from the Moorings into Park Shore, we wanted a fountain there to show the entry of Park Shore so that sort of demarcates the entry of Park Shore. Horizon House was being built ― it wasn't complete when that fountain was being built ― but the architect at Horizon House was a local architect."

© Phil Fernandez archives research In the Know: The Park Shore fountain in 1975 when the Naples neighborhood was still largely undeveloped.

Maybe not as complicated as the 15-story Horizon House, completed in 1971 as the first of two dozen Lutgert high-rises in Park Shore and Bonita Bay, but tight parameters nonetheless.

"The deal was, there wasn't much room there because Gulf Shore Boulevard takes up most of the area, and there's a small narrow median so there wasn't much" to work with, Lutgert said. "We went to Nelson Faerber, 'What do you think? What can you design there?' He came up with something that was relatively narrow and tall that would just be there and be able to show the transition from what was Moorings to Park Shore, and that's where Gulf Shore Boulevard starts curving out toward the bay."

Indeed, the late Nelson Arthur Faerber Sr., who came to Naples in 1954 after traveling the globe as the son of a National Geographic Society worker, had the vision for St. Ann's Catholic Church and a lot of Southwest Florida housing, quite a bit up and down Gulf Shore and creations appearing in Popular Mechanics magazine. Too many of his other various government and commercial spots, with touches of mid-century modern and Frank Lloyd Wright inspiration, had been demolished during the region's building boom.

© Phil Fernandez archives research Nelson Faerber Sr. (right), with his wife in 1967. Through interviews and records research, In the Know found that he designed the Park Shore fountain that city records show came from an unknown artist.

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"He featured his own artwork on or near every building he designed, usually done in steel," said his son and Realtor Karl Faerber, confirming the fountain's originator with me Thursday night. "I have countless stories of him and his buildings, both inspecting progress with him and doing some work, usually landscape related, starting when I was 12 years old or so."

So how did the water feature come together?

"The fountain was constructed in various pieces and was put up there," Lutgert said. "There was a local masonry contractor, Fred Alander years ago, and he built all the block structure and the cladding that's on there and all the stone."

© Phil Fernandez archives research Fred Alander in a 1972 Naples Daily News photo. In the Know has found through interviews and records that he put together the Park Shore fountain that is listed with an unknown artist in city records.

A Korean Confict veteran and restauranteur, Alander operated a construction firm for 20 years before his death in 2013.

The fountain, often used in early promotions for the 750-acre Park Shore construction, has been the center of an adventure or two over the years.

For example, in 1979, it helped a driver get out of a ticket after hitting a bicyclist, who got scraped up but not hospitalized, as concluded in the Naples Daily News: He "was unable to see the bike crossing the street because of the fountain in the median, police said, so his car struck the bike."

© Phil Fernandez In the Know: Greener days around the Park Shore fountain in 2021, prior to 2022's Hurricane Ian.

What about Naples art 'tragically washed away' by Hurricane Ian?

But Hurricane Ian presented its biggest challenge, and disabled the fountain for several months. The Sept. 28 storm was center to another question Flynn had.

"While you’re digging, would you have any info (on the) sculpture on our lobby wall in 1974?" the Gulfside condo resident asked. "This wall was tragically washed away in Ian."

© Provided by Elizabeth Flynn Park Shore Gulfside condos lobby artistry that washed away in Hurricane Ian. In the Know found that the work was designed by the Schwab & Twitty Architects firm.

Lutgert fielded that as well.

"That lobby there, there's no residential floors there, but I'm sure the whole lobby and downstairs area, furniture and everything else got ruined when that water came in," said Lutgert, who also explained the team behind the original work. "There was an architect from the East Coast we used before in that building, Schwab and Twitty. I don't think they're in existence anymore, but Schwab and Twitty ― they came up with that. It was part of their interior design."

State data shows the 2011 dissolving of the 40-year-old company, about which the Palm Beach Post said, "There was a time in Palm Beach County where it seemed that every construction project had the name “Schwab & Twitty Architects Inc.” attached to the site plan." Ronald D. Schwab, who died in 2015, worked with Lutgert on numerous enterprises.

© Phil Fernandez archives research In the Know: Park Shore developer Scott Lutgert in 1972 with the late architect Ronald D. Schwab of the Schwab & Twitty Architects firm that designed the work and artistry at Gulfside condos and other Naples high rises.

Where was the original fountain, and what led to its demise?

Lutgert, who lives less than a half-mile from the fountain, also was prodded about his encounter with Ian, which arrived at high tide with a storm surge measuring at least 6 feet above the tidal level to parts of Gulf Shore Boulevard, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"The living area is up like 17, 18, 19 feet so that's OK, but underneath the house, we got a garage so that got flooded, lost cars. Stuff got messed up down there," he said. "Nothing happened with the living area."

© The Lutgert Companies In the Know: Scott Lutgert

While this fountain continues to trickle, it's not Park Shore's original.

"That was a fountain that was on U.S. 41 and Park Shore Drive (that was) built first, and it sort of was the entrance to Park Shore," Lutgert said. "It's not there now. It's changed. The Park Shore Association changed the structure there, mainly because kids were going there and putting soap suds in it all the time."

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© Phil Fernandez archives research In the Know: Park Shore developer Ray Lutgert (forefront at the right) at the Dec. 28, 1968 dedication of his neighborhood's original fountain at U.S. 41 and Park Shore Drive. His son, Scott Lutgert said: "It's not there now. It's changed. The Park Shore Association changed the structure there, mainly because kids were going there and putting soap suds in it all the time."

Dedicated on Dec. 28, 1968, the fountain, and subsequent antics, had made it into news accounts by October 1969 in a story about tossing truants into jail.

Earlier this year, a sculpture of two Great Blue Herons in flight by artist David H. Turner was erected at that site next to the monument that's there now.

Based at the Naples Daily News, Columnist Phil Fernandez (pfernandez@gannett.com), who grew up in Southwest Florida, writes In the Know as part of the USA TODAY NETWORK. Support Democracy and subscribe to a newspaper.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: The request to 'solve caper' behind mysterious half-century-old SWFL Park Shore fountain

The Italian Trade Agency is the governmental bureau that supports the business development of Italian companies abroad and promotes the attraction of foreign investment in Italy.

The Italian pavilion at InnoVEX 2023, organized by the Agency, will present 5 start-ups.

Read below what they will present at the fair and come to meet them in person!

Boatsandgo is an Italian innovative startup that has developed the first meta-search engine in the world to compare charter yachts, boat rental, and boat-sharing deals.

Users can compare deals from hundreds of sites and get the right boat at the right price. A meta-search engine designed to help the User easily organize a boat vacation (like Trivago for hotels or Skyscanner for flights). Users will save time, money and go directly to the booking sites.

Boatsandgo has developed a metasearch algorithm (2020) tested it and delivered a working MVP by the end of 2021. It is now running marketing test campaigns, getting early traction data.

Boatsandgo also offers a SaaS solution for those fleets and operators that are scarcely digitalized or not digitalized at all. This freemium software not only lists the offers of new boats on Boatsandgo and other partner platforms but is a full digital tool to manage all the business, from a booking manager to cashless payments, tools for websites, and many more features. The SaaS solution has been released for test in early February 2023.

The premium features will generate an additional revenue line.

The business model is based on three revenue lines:

• a reloadable pay-per-click system for those Users that are redirected to the dealer site and
• a 10% fee on successful bookings generated from those Users that closed a deal,
• Premium SaaS.

Boatsandgo addresses a huge market.

• The global charter and rental boat market has a value of 50 billion USD (source il sole24ore, 2020) and
• 7 billion USD in Europe alone with a yearly growth of over 6%.
The search for the keyword "rent a boat" shows a constant yearly growth of 20% on Google Trends.

My-Money is a patented and revolutionary payment system, completely biometric and
device-free. Credit card fraud is increasing daily, while 30% of the world's population doesn't have access to the Internet and 50% of people worldwide don't have a smartphone.

All our life is inside our phones, making it our biggest weakness. That's the reason why we have created a new payment system, making it extremely secure, easy, and fast.

Secure: no more frauds thanks to biometrics, no one will be able to clone your cards or steal your identity, because our system is based on the recognition of your fingerprint, and the biometric readers are FBI certified: this means that they are able to detect if your finger is alive, and if it is you: a fake fingerprint or a dead finger will not work.

Easy: everyone will be able to use it. No more barriers due to technological misalignment, or to the wealth or poverty of a country, or to the age of the user, or to disability: reach out your finger and pay, everywhere and anywhere, because you will no longer have to worry about having your phone run out of battery, or if you have it with you, or if you can afford the latest generation phone.

Fast: paying using your finger is a natural gesture.

No more queues at the entrance of the underground or at the entrance to the stadium.
With My-Money you will have the highest security level on the market today for payment systems and access to crowded areas.

From today, you will no longer need to carry a credit card, cash, or your phone to access these services.
All will be fast, easy, and secure. For everyone. My-Money: the world on you.

TimelapseLab is a Contech startup that designs time lapse devices for construction sites with a functional AI-based platform that allows remote site monitoring and generates professional time lapse videos for construction sites to use for reporting, marketing and internal communication. We help digitalize project management, HSE monitoring, and documentation of the site.

We combine the production of plug-and-play industrial devices, resistant to all critical issues with no maintenance or SD card needed, with a functional management platform for remote control of jobs.

We offer a system conceptually different from surveillance cameras: our devices take photos at regular intervals and do not record videos. Photos can be stored for years with no privacy issues or limitations. Our key features include alerts in case of dangerous situations (missing PPE), image certification, integration with other software, site comparison at different stages, and image analysis for reporting purposes. We provide precious information and actionable insights to our clients, such as the number of excavators or aerial platforms on site, number of people on site, PPE (e.g., lack of helmets), most and least active days, etc. Data can be drawn from customizable timeframes and visualization is easy to understand and share.

We also provide automatic timelapse videos and 4K photos for better marketing and communication, helping reduce costs, allocate resources, monitor safety measures, and achieve better communication. An integrated blurring software makes the system privacy compliant. We target several professional roles: HSE manager, Project Manager, Engineer, and Marketing Manager. We work in different fields: oil & gas, construction, real estate, industrial plants, and shipyards.

Travel Verse is a tech company founded in 2023 that applies the concept of Metaverse to the travel industry. We work with Blockchain, Digital Twins, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual, and Augmented Reality, Internet of Things. We deliver travel agencies and tour operators the possibility to represent their travel offerings to customers in an innovative way. We recreate physical structures like hotels or monuments in Virtual Reality, more extensive settings like islands or oases, experiences like diving or hiking, and so on. Travel packages are turned into immersive experiences with gamification elements, where users can explore tourist locations and facilities and get a preview of their future trips.

Visual Note produces an innovative patent-based device, that accelerates the guitar learning process, composed of a foil with LEDs to be applied directly to the guitar fretboard, a controller, and a mobile app to manage its functions. It's able to show directly on the guitar or onto the mobile phone virtual fretboard, where to put your fingers and thanks to the audio guide you'll be able to follow the rhythm. Bmodel is a subscription freemium app with the one-of-a-kind option to add a hardware device to enhance the experience. The product is on the market, the company has just closed several investment rounds, created an international advisory board (members from Carlyle, BC Company, Pai Partners etc. are involved), and signed a distribution agreement in Italy with an option for the EU market.

PR Newswire

PHOENIX, May 24, 2023

PHOENIX, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cheetah Learning, a leader in Accelerated test Prep for the Project Management Professional (PMP)®, has introduced a new certification course in Agile project management.

The online certification course teaches the fundamentals of Agile project management, skills that can be applied in numerous industries. Those who complete the course are Cheetah Agile Certified and qualified to lead as Agile project managers. 

"Agile is the future of project management," said Michelle LaBrosse, PMP, CCL, CAC, PMI-ACP, RYT, founder and CEO of Cheetah Learning. "Since its beginning in software development, it has evolved to demonstrate its usefulness in a variety of applications. Project managers who learn the Agile method are well-positioned to succeed for themselves and for their employers."

Because the emphasis is on achieving significant goals in two weeks, becoming Cheetah Agile Certified aids in project completion. The fundamental goal of the two-week deadline is to remediate one of the main causes of project delays, namely procrastination brought on by digital distraction. People can put procrastination in the past by making it a habit to focus and complete a substantial endeavor in two weeks. Even LaBrosse utilized this method to finish her book, The Cheetah Agile Project, in just two weeks.

One student had this to say about the course: "Being part of the beta group for the Cheetah Agile Certified program gave me a hunch that improving my project-completion speed would benefit my career. But I was surprised to find out that it was also an immense help in my private life. As part of the class demonstration project, I took on a personally meaningful task – preparing an estate sale – something I had been putting off. Thanks to my diligence during the course, we discovered an additional $450,000 worth of assets in the estate!"

Becoming Cheetah Agile Certified helps managers achieve their goals faster in the following ways:

1. Delivering value quickly and continuously
2. Fostering collaboration and feedback
3. Continuously improving processes
4. Building a network of like-minded professionals
5. Picking the right opportunities to stand out

Cheetah Agile Certified managers Excellerate their own prospects while also succeeding for their employers. Applying what they've learned in the course enable managers to:

1. Stand out in a job market where Agile-trained managers are in demand
2. Expand career opportunities, including higher salaries and more responsibilities
3. Increase credibility and trust

Agile training also leads to increased self-confidence, the ability to accomplish more with fewer resources, and more interesting and challenging work assignments.

"Learning Agile techniques supercharges the skills and careers of project managers," said LaBrosse. "It's an investment that pays off immediately for managers and their employers and continues to provide benefits long-term."

To learn more about Cheetah Learning, click .

About Cheetah Learning
is the two decades-long industry leader in Accelerated test Prep for the Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam. Cheetah students culminate their four-day intensive accelerated learning program by taking and passing the Project Management Institute's PMP® exam. Cheetah students are guaranteed to pass the PMP® test by following Cheetah's program. Worldwide, there are nearly 80,000 Cheetah Alumni. PMP® is a registered trademark of the Project Management Institute. 

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SOURCE Cheetah Learning