The new chapter of Hermès Beauty’s ‘Trait d’Hermès’ collection for the eyes Hermès Beauty’s ‘Trait d’Hermès’ eye and lip pencils Hermès Beauty’s ‘Trait d’Hermès’ eye pencils demonstrated by Gregoris Pyrpylis Hermès Beauty’s ‘Trait d’Hermès’ set of 12 eye pencils a ‘Trait d’Hermès’ eye pencil in the shade ‘Jaune Impérial’ Hermès Beauty’s creative director Gregoris Pyrpylis has added to the ‘Trait d’Hermès’ collection with a set of eye and lip liners in kaleidoscopic colours he speaks to Wallpaper* about their playful design It’s been two years since Hermès Beauty welcomed Greek make-up artist Gregoris Pyrpylis as its creative director Beauty is the house’s 16th and youngest métier debuting two years before that in March 2020 (Although it has been creating perfumes since 1951 make-up and skincare were an entirely new category for the French Maison to explore) From the get-go, it was abundantly clear that the beauty line would be an expansive celebration of craft and colour; from the Pierre Hardy-designed refillable tubes to the bullets themselves the lipsticks drew upon the 75,000 shades of silk and 900 tones of leather in the house archive has demonstrated this in a way that only Hermès could The latest in the ‘Trait d’Hermès’ eye collection is perhaps the most playful offering yet: 40 eye and lip pencils (plus a liquid liner) that riff on the nostalgic feeling of receiving a new set of stationary at the start of a school year Pyrpylis shares the story of their design process with Wallpaper* Wallpaper*: How did the concept for the ‘Trait d’Hermès’ eye and lip liners start out The new eye and lip liners are a second part of this Their design is organic to the ethos of Hermès the collection is reminiscent of a new set of stationary – how did you communicate this in a way that felt right for Hermès escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox GP: I vividly remember that I was one of those kids who loved stationary and having a huge palette of colours in front of me And this is what I wanted to communicate with the eye and lip liners Hermès sees ‘design’ as a vehicle for telling stories Just as the Hermès horse is a method of transportation a design by Hermès can transport your mind I sat down with Pierre Hardy and told him my idea He almost immediately began to draw out the designs on a piece of paper The pencils are crafted from lacquered sustainable wood; he wanted to reference show jumping poles to tie everything together with the codes of the house too: it’s a beautiful object in itself and from a practical perspective it has four strong magnets inside so that when you travel gregorispyrpylis W*: Can you talk about the formulations of the liners and how to use them GP: I like make-up to be practical for everyone out there to use: for my friends So I wanted to create a pencil that combines the function of a kohl and a classic eyeliner but not greasy; it’s hard enough to define the eye but soft enough so it will melt in contact with the skin You can wear them in the waterline and the product delivers a pure colour It has a combination of natural and synthetic hair W*: How did you arrive at the final colour palette we see in the collection But we also introduced beautiful beige colours as well in a way that you can wear them on their own And this new chapter of ‘Trait d’Hermès’ is an invitation to explore this to its fullest a ‘Trait d’Hermès’ eye pencil in the shade ‘Jaune Impérial’ hermes.com Hannah Tindle is Beauty & Grooming Editor at Wallpaper*. She brings ideas to the magazine’s beauty vertical, which closely intersects with fashion, art, design, and technology. “When I did this second chapter I felt it was relevant to show it here because it’s the perfect blend between a French and an American girl.” Gregoris Pyrpylis the head of the ever-growing Hermès Beauty saw this once-in-a-lifetime show (Hermès historically hasn't shown resort or anything of the like) as the chance to debut a new beauty collection “Hermès is known for its expertise in color and texture in all the other métiers,” Pyrpylis tells me backstage His own ensemble is a conversation of colors—a bright olive green shirt “This is where we found a lot of inspiration for the collection of eyeliners and lip liners.” Coming to market in October and Devyn Garcia had shades like Vert Titien (a dark green) and Noir Fusain (graphite) traced along their water line and lightly buffed into lashes “Putting a liner on the waterline of the eyes brings definition and intensity to them without being overwhelming,” Pyrpylis says “But adding in a color on some of the models FILIPPO FORTISFILIPPO FORTISHair was slicked back into the wet look on most of the models though the styling depended on length and texture whip-like update (using extensions to get the ultra-long length) harkening back to the house's equestrian roots with a New York City edge had hair slicked back like Trinity from The Matrix Metrics details Organismal functional strategies form a continuum from slow- to fast-growing organisms in response to common drivers such as resource availability and disturbance whether there is synchronisation of these strategies at the entire community level is unclear we combine trait data for >2800 above- and belowground taxa from 14 trophic guilds spanning a disturbance and resource availability gradient in German grasslands The results indicate that most guilds consistently respond to these drivers through both direct and trophically mediated effects resulting in a ‘slow-fast’ axis at the level of the entire community Using 15 indicators of carbon and nutrient fluxes we also show that fast trait communities are associated with faster rates of ecosystem functioning These findings demonstrate that ‘slow’ and ‘fast’ strategies can be manifested at the level of whole communities opening new avenues of ecosystem-level functional classification In any given environment this is likely to lead to the dominance of the trait set best adapted to local conditions leading to trait similarity between co-occurring species and resulting in community-level trait covariation the slow-fast response of the entire community to resource and disturbance drivers might emerge from both direct effects (mainly through shared responses to disturbance) and indirect effects (e.g. a trophic cascade driven by the resource availability component) we predict that the entire community ‘slow-fast’ trait axis corresponds to an ecosystem functioning ‘slow-fast’ axis with ‘fast’ functioning defined as fast process rates (e.g. rapid decomposition and nutrient turnover) Icons were acquired and adapted from Phylopic.org (artists: M missing values were imputed to run the PCA Belowground guilds are shown over a brown background A standardised response below 0 (blue lines) indicate a negative response to land-use intensity in accordance with hypotheses (expected higher trait values in ‘slow’ communities) Responses above 0 (green line) indicate a positive response to land-use intensity in accordance to hypotheses (expected higher trait values in ‘fast’ communities) Red lines indicate traits with opposite responses to that hypothesised 95% intervals crossing the 0 line indicate no significant response (grey lines) The number of replicates (sites with available data) are shown for each guild Arthropods belowground (primary consumers): 111 for feeding generalism this effect was manifested by an increased dominance of generalist species with land-use intensity both among Lepidoptera and other aboveground arthropods (primary consumers) (feeding generalism of Lepidoptera: r = 0.30 p = 3 10-4; and of aboveground arthropods (primary consumers): r = 0.34 primary consumer arthropods were excluded (see Methods section) A mediation analysis found that the effect of land-use intensity on the ecosystem functioning ‘slow-fast’ axis was both direct and mediated by the functional traits ‘slow-fast’ axis, as both direct and indirect paths were significant (Fig. 6b) Together these results support Hypothesis 3 and suggest that the whole community fast-slow trait continuum is linked to a slow-fast axis of whole ecosystem functioning but consistent results with those presented here Expanding this approach from single groups to whole communities could provide new insights into the behaviour of functional diversity as a multitrophic property that may drive ecosystem structure and functioning at a ‘whole systems’ level This may form the basis of a new typology for classifying ecosystems predictive and simple means of describing their responses to land-use and environmental change 50 plots (50 m × 50 m) were chosen in secondary wet mesic and dry grasslands by stratified random sampling from a total of 500 candidate plots on which initial vegetation This ensured that plots covered the whole range of land-use intensities and management types while minimising confounding factors such as spatial position or soil type We calculated the mean LUI for each plot over the years 2008–2018 because this reflects the average LUI around the years when most of the data was collected grasslands are typically neither fertilised or mown but grazed by one cow (>2 years old) per hectare for 30 days (or one sheep per hectare for the whole year) grasslands are usually fertilised with less than 30 kg N ha−1y−1 and are either mown twice a year or grazed by one cow per hectare for most of the year (300 days) grasslands are typically intensively fertilised (60–120 kg N ha−1y−1) are mown 2–3 times a year or grazed by three cows per hectare for most of the year (300 days) or are managed by a combination of grazing and mowing The study area did not cover very high intensity grasslands (e.g. cut more than three times per year and ploughed annually) LUI was added as a supplementary variable to e.g. along with a ‘fertilisation’ variable and a ‘disturbance’ index The fertilisation variable is the standardised fertilisation value The disturbance index is calculated as the square-root of the sum of mowing and grazing intensities both standardised by dividing by their overall average by mixing 14 mineral topsoil samples (0–10 cm using a split tube manual soil corer with 5 cm diameter) For bacteria the analysis only included data from 2011 (148 plots) and 2014 (150 plots) 10 g of the homogenised soil was put immediately on liquid nitrogen and stored until RNA extraction RNA was extracted using a custom protocol (Lueders protocol) Total RNA was isolated from soils and reverse transcribed into cDNA Amplicons of the V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene were sequenced on an Illumina Hiseq platform using universal bacterial primers total microbial DNA was isolated from the bulk soil sample using a MoBioPowerSoil DNA Isolation Kit A PCR approach was used to amplify fungal ITS-rDNA by using the primer pair ITS4/fITS7 cleaned and sequenced using Illumina MiSeq These taxa were compiled into functional guilds in which trophic status was broadly comparable (e.g., aboveground primary consumers or belowground omnivores). Within each functional guild, organisms of different taxa were aggregated if trait data was comparable, and if not, the functional guild was classified at the taxonomic level (Table 1) Aboveground guilds included vascular plants (primary producers); Lepidoptera (primary consumers – incl butterflies and day-flying moths); other aboveground primary consumers arthropods (incl and Hemiptera); aboveground secondary consumers arthropods (including omnivorous Hemiptera Orthoptera and Hemiptera); bats (tertiary consumers); and birds (tertiary consumers excluding herbivorous and granivorous birds) Belowground guilds included: bacterial and fungal communities (symbionts decomposers and parasites); plant parasite protists (primary consumers); bacterivorous protists; secondary consumers protists (incl predators and omnivores); Collembola (omnivores); Oribatid mites (omnivores); other herbivorous detritivorous and fungivorous belowground arthropods (primary consumers Coleoptera and Hemiptera); and predatory and omnivorous Guild-specific details on trait data acquisition and treatment are described below When individuals were identified at the genus level average trait values for all other species from the considered genus found during the survey was used Community-weighted means were calculated by excluding tree saplings which are not part of the stable grassland communities and do not have the (adult) traits usually reported in databases While trait data was also available for herbivorous species the abundance data was not sufficient to include this group as 46 plots did not have any primary consumers (primarily herbivorous only secondary consumers (including carnivores and omnivores whose diet includes vertebrates or insects) were included in the study Abundance data was based on acoustic recording which did not always allow for species-level identification: some individuals were classified as genera (Myotis sp. Plecotus sp.) or similarly acoustic groups (Nyctaloids) traits were attributed based on the average values of species from the same genus present in Germany or on all species in the Nyctaloid group (Nyctalus octule The interpolation was usually relatively conservative (trait mean > 2×trait sd) We used a published dataset46 to characterise bacterial communities trait data was used at genus level when available it was extrapolated to the order level if the values of all genera within the order were consistent (mean > standard deviation for quantitative traits and >60% of all genera sharing one trait value for qualitative traits) If the data was not consistent within the order cell volume was estimated as (cell radius)^23.14×cell length and log-transformed before further analysis Other traits such as doubling time were considered but had very low coverage (e.g. for doubling time median of OTUs with available data over all plots <20%) and were excluded from the analysis Community-weighted means were calculated using OTUs numbers as an approximation for relative abundances We completed these traits with community levels characteristics we quantified the relative abundance (approximated as OTU number) of groups commonly classified as oligotrophs (Acidobacteria Planctomycetes) to copiotrophs (Actinobacteria Size classes were coded numerically: 1 (<10 microns) Trophic levels were classified as plant parasites or secondary consumers (non-plant parasites Primary consumers (plant parasites) had only one trait combination (size class 1) so we characterised these communities only by the relative abundance of plant parasites among all protists using fluorescent 4-methylumbelliferone substrates (4-MUF; Sigma-Aldrich All the data analyses were conducted using the R software v. 4.0.3268 Initially, in a confirmatory analysis, species-level fast-slow axes were identified from PCA that included all species within most guilds (Fig. 2) Biologically this is because high intensity fields tend to be managed at high intensity year after year as it was the trait values of entire guilds and communities that was the appropriate unit of replication in our study It was therefore essential to summarise variables at the whole guild Guild-level PCA axes were considered to represent a slow-fast continuum (and called hereafter ‘guild slow-fast axes’) if they fulfilled all following conditions: (i) the considered axis explained at least twice the variance expected at random (i.e. with 1/(number of traits) the average variance per axis expected if traits are independent); and ii) the considered axis was significantly correlated with all traits (p-value < 0.05 The ‘slow-fast’ axis was considered only partially represented if it (i) explained at least twice the variance expected at random; (ii) was correlated (r > 0.25) with at least 60% of the traits or (iii) had correlations in the unexpected direction with one trait we excluded one guild (belowground primary consumer arthropods) as more than 20% of plot data were missing due to absence of this functional guild in the samples associated to some plots The SEM were fitted using the maximum likelihood estimator using all available data (i.e. excluding NAs/imputed data points but using all existing data for each estimate) To assess how path strength varied across trophic levels we extracted the coefficients and corresponding confidence intervals for all direct indirect and total effects of land-use intensity on each trophic level We then fitted linear models with estimated direct indirect and total effects of LUI as the response variables and trophic level as the explanatory variable Effect estimates were weighted by the inverse of the standard error to account for variable uncertainties across guilds To evaluate the overall ecosystem response to LUI indirect and total effects at each trophic level This was done by defining custom parameters within the SEM as the average of all corresponding parameters (direct/indirect/total for all guilds within each trophic level) This allowed the same bootstrap procedure to also estimate average effects and their confidence intervals we investigated the possible linkage between the entire community slow-fast axis and a potential ecosystem functioning slow-fast axis We selected 15 ecosystem function indicators from five bundles of related functions (see above) All functions were corrected for environmental variables (as described above for traits) before analysis All selected functions were hypothesised to represent ‘fast’ ecosystem functioning (e.g. Additionally, we tested for the direct and indirect effects of land-use intensity on the ecosystem slow-fast axis, but on the community slow-fast axis that was derived from the ‘all traits’ PCA (rather than guild-level slow-fast axes extracted from individual PCAs, Fig. S4) Further information on research design is available in the Nature Portfolio Reporting Summary linked to this article Full code to replicate the analyses is stored on GitHub at https://github.com/mneyret/trait_synchronies under the https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10286643 The Theory of Island Biogeography (Princeton University Press Plant Strategies and Vegetation Processes (John Wiley & Sons Ltd Comparing life histories across taxonomic groups in multiple dimensions: how mammal-like are insects Life-history tactics: a review of the ideas Functional traits explain variation in plant life history strategies Opposing effects of competitive exclusion on the phylogenetic structure of communities Plant functional traits and environmental filters at a regional scale The global spectrum of plant form and function An integrated framework of plant form and function: the belowground perspective The fungal collaboration gradient dominates the root economics space in plants Global trait–environment relationships of plant communities The Evolutionary Strategies that Shape Ecosystems (John Wiley & Sons Westoby, M. et al. 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Europäische Schmetterlinge und ihre Ökologie. http://www.pyrgus.de/ Download references Open access funding provided by University of Bergen Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre Université Grenoble Alpes - CNRS - Université Savoie Mont Blanc ISOE - Institute for social-ecological research Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution Senckenberg Museum for Natural History Görlitz Department of Environmental Systems Science Institut of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology Research Unit for Comparative Microbiome Analysis Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg Department Plant Production and Production Related Environmental Protection Center for Agricultural Technology Augustenberg (LTZ) German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle - Jena- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironments Tübingen (SHEP) Institute for Landscape Ecology and Resources Management (ILR) Centre for International Development and Environmental Research (ZEU) Centre of Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation conducted the analyses with inputs from G.L.P participated to workshops and expert discussions to define guild-specific trait lists and hypotheses wrote the manuscript with significant inputs from G.L.P. Author order was determined as follow: main authors workshop and discussion participants (alphabetical) other authors with significant input (alphabetical) The authors declare no competing interests Nature Communications thanks Bertrand Fournier and the other reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45113-5 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science The investment will create more than 500 jobs and enhance medicine production capabilities in the region Sanofi has announced an investment exceeding €1bn ($1.07bn) to expand biomanufacturing capacities at its sites in France The company will enhance capacity at its sites in Vitry-sur-Seine (Val de Marne) Le Trait (Seine-Maritime) and Lyon Gerland (Rhône) The strategic move aims to bolster the country’s capacity to produce essential medicines from inception to completion The latest investment will create 500 new jobs and is part of Sanofi’s broader commitment of €3.5bn in France for medicine and vaccine production since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic Sanofi plans to invest €1bn in Vitry-sur-Seine to construct a new unit in a bid to double the monoclonal antibody production capacity at the site The expansion could cater to the manufacturing of several biologics currently in development targeting diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes (T1D) Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis These products have the potential to address the needs of millions of patients both in France and globally the company will make a €100m investment into developing additional capabilities for biologics formulation This will support future biologics and vaccine launches and accommodate the growth of Dupixent – on track to become the first biologic indicated for COPD Sanofi will also invest €10m in Lyon Gerland to establish the manufacturing of TZield TZield was acquired by Sanofi in April 2023 and has previously been manufactured outside Europe Sanofi France president Audrey Derveloy stated: “Throughout its history Sanofi has always sought to equip France with the strategic platforms needed to produce the essential medicines and vaccines of today and tomorrow “This is why we chose our Vitry site to double its monoclonal antibody production capacity after having already invested heavily in Neuville-sur-Saône to produce our future vaccines “We have also strengthened our API [active pharmaceutical ingredients] production sites in the south of France Our contribution to health sovereignty in Europe Before this development, Sanofi entered a $1bn licensing agreement with Fulcrum Therapeutics The new partnership is set to develop and commercialise losmapimod an investigational drug for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights View all newsletters from across the GlobalData Media network. Menu.page-259140235{--slot4:#bb2114;--slot7:#bb2114;--slot11:#bb2114;--slot13:#bb2114;--slot14:#bb2114;--metaColor:#bb2114;--navColor:#bb2114}(Makeup) The palettes are (almost) too pretty to use with the level of luxury expected from the French fashion house While Le Regard features rich, vivid hues such cobalt, plum, and tangerine, they’re refined, thanks to the formulas’ smooth silky textures. “The Hèrmes woman observes the world with an active gaze. She is, above all, a woman who observes,” says the house’s artistic director, Pierre-Alexis Dumas, in a brand statement. Gregoris Pyrpylis makeup artist and creative director for Hermès Beauty It is both instant and a place of truth.” Ombres d'HermèsCourtesy of Hermès Beauty Complementing the eyeshadow palettes are the six Trait d’Hermès mascaras inspired by the house’s classic colors The formula is comprised of 97% naturally-derived ingredients (including nourishing shea butter and moringa butter and lengthening millet seed extract) so it’s gentle for sensitive eyes while the slim wand is made from plant fibers and designed to coat every lash Les Pinceaux Hermès Brushes. Courtesy of Hermès Beauty While the Le Regard products are almost too beautiful to use (almost being the operative word), the stunning, wearable shades make them too irresistible not to dive in. Join our VIP Club for exclusive giveaways and members only events “The Hermès woman observes the world with an active gaze a woman who observes,” maintains Pierre-Alixis Dumas does not articulate a lexicon of beauty through prose or waxing lyrics but rather a gesture designed for self-expression It is this curiosity that has shaped the luxuriate’s storied heritage and one that has now unfolded into a new chapter for Hermès Beauty; the final for the métier Hermès Beauty expands its ever-growing vocabulary with ‘Le Regard’ a collection of colour-oriented makeup lines that centre around eyes; the windows to the soul This instalment completes a fully realised colour vision for the Maison with two lines of multi-faceted and high-octane colour stories through technically robust makeup products The objects in the Le Regard line include six unique four-pan powder palettes which encourages a contrast of shadows and light The gaze gives texture to what is real,” writes the house the eyes convey the proportion of shadow and light in a personality revealing their radiance and accentuating the intensity of what is.” This shared vision to create a comprehensive beauty portfolio is one that began in 2020, with Ombre d’Hermès and Trait d’Hermès joining the existing  Plein Air complexion balm, Rouge lipstick and Rose blush Le Regard supplants the emotive lens of the eyes as the pinnacle of ardour The acme of a ‘look’ is one best conveyed with a single glance Le Regard gives the wearers the tools to colour their own world six eyeshadow quartets evoke the essence of nature intrinsic to the Maison’s design Housed in a white and gold disk marked with the gilded ex-libris colour symphonies like the floral ‘Pétales’ autumnal ‘Mordorées’ or richly aquatic ‘Marines’ are actualised to serve any creative odyssey Each formula is made up of at least 72% and up to 98% natural-origin ingredients satin and shimmering finishes that intensifies or quells the gaze Trait d’Hermès is an eye-awakening mascara that slicks the lash and coats from root to tip the mascara offers six buildable shades that enrich and defines the eye’s existing expression Ranging from vivid blacks to hazy violet and signature cherry-brown rouge the possibilities of a bold glance become endless Impact upon application is the Maison’s modus operandi, one that enhances the innate sumptuousness of the Hermès woman “Looking into someone’s eyes sparks a feeling of deep and peculiar intensity, as if intercepting a secret,” explains Hermès Beauty creative director Georgios Pyrpylis Whether a digital transformation is achieved step by step or holistically it can help biomanufacturers manage complexity and operate more efficiently The digital transformation of a biomanufacturing operation may proceed in stepwise fashion Early steps typically involve electronic batch record systems and laboratory information management systems; subsequent steps data mining systems and laboratory automation systems Having completed the early steps of its digital transformation the facility is using sensor/actuator devices to optimize syringe-filling procedures If innovative therapeutics are to reach patients more quickly at least three functions need to be fulfilled more effectively progress with respect to two of these functions—target identification and drug development—is already evident thanks to new technologies such as functional genomics That leaves the third function: manufacturing Although manufacturing is also benefiting from new technologies it has yet to realize the grand plans described by Industry 4.0 advocates the biopharmaceutical industry lags other industries in implementing “smart” technologies technologies that set up virtuous cycles in which improvements in the digital and physical realms reinforce each other And yet the pieces are in place to support a digital transformation of biomanufacturing These pieces include tools for creating virtual twins for modeling processes and facilities; tools for streamlining both development and production; and tools for enriching and deriving value from varied data sources like the biopharmaceutical industry as a whole is highly regulated and steeped in a paper culture many companies are taking on the challenge and transitioning to a new process development and manufacturing paradigm Open to sharing information on what it takes to turn piecemeal solutions into highly integrated solutions process development and manufacturing experts met at Informa’s BioProcess International Conference last September to discuss the steps they are taking to accelerate the introduction of innovative therapeutics A digital transformation’s pieces can include robotics platforms these questions were addressed by Janani Swamy global head of technology transfer programs “Know when to engage your organization,” Swamy said “You want to ensure that what you deliver will make their lives easier First deployments are not perfect and require refinement Be agile during deployment and develop the right check points to course correct as needed.” Swamy cautioned that an immediate focus on cost savings can shortchange a digital transformation’s overall value she recommended that early considerations should include safety and right-first-time development practices The pharmaceutical industry is highly regulated and reliant on GMPs it has fashioned a culture of complexity that generates a lot of paper and resists change Swamy said that if this culture is to change it may be necessary to rethink assumptions that are part of the industry’s conventional wisdom she suggested that the industry should focus on adding value and manufacturing high-quality medicines “We need to go from an industry that collects a lot of data to leveraging that data to improve performance,” Swamy insisted She also outlined how a digital transformation may progress in stages a core system can be set up to focus on a few tasks implementing laboratory information management systems and digitizing standard operating procedures the core system can be enhanced to extend applications and take on additional tasks such as data mining One may start with systems for monitoring deviations and line losses these systems may become integral to digital twins “is to put the foundation in place before adding more sophisticated tools.” Swamy noted that organizational change should be anticipated and understood prior to implementation because climbing the “change curve” requires investment and training “There is a lot to be done even with the fundamentals,” Swamy remarked Taking a complex topic and making it simple is the key to digital transformation.” a consortium of biopharmaceutical and other companies approached Purdue University for help in managing manufacturing complexity The request resulted in the development of VirtECS a general-purpose manufacturing modeling software it had been commercialized by Advanced Process Combinatorics VirtECS software is used to develop high-fidelity models of individual manufacturing facilities It helps operations select the most effective engineering projects “While traditional technology gives you a path based on a rule of thumb VirtECS takes specified performance metrics and evaluates all the possible ways to schedule a plant to home in on the best options,” explained Joseph Pekny and a professor of chemical engineering at Purdue University VirtECS uses “augmented intelligence” to deal with NP-Complete problems planning and scheduling problems for which efficient algorithmic solutions do not exist A famous NP-Complete problem is the Traveling Salesman Problem Solving it involves determining how a number of tasks may be performed sequentially in the most efficient way possible “These problems are very difficult to solve even though they sound simple,” Pekny said VirtECS can help users react to information about processes in real time facilitating information exchanges in enterprise-wide systems and improving manufacturing activities such as finite capacity scheduling Although Advanced Process Combinatorics indicates that VirtECS can eliminate spreadsheets and simplify process management the company recognizes the importance of human oversight “Modeling is a frame of mind that requires acknowledgment that you have a problem,” Pekny noted VirtECS Symphony can be used to publish plans on an intranet It contains a comment section that supports ongoing dialogue Comments can be synchronized with the VirtECS Scheduler interface so that production planners have access to plant floor feedback when they are ready to update their schedules “This VirtECS-enabled social media phenomenon has taken on a life of its own,” Pekny asserted Shorter timelines are driving companies to strategically implement digital tools “Patients need medicines as soon as possible,” said Cécile Brocard at Boehringer Ingelheim’s regional center in Vienna “That means we have to develop products faster.” Brocard works with non-platform microbial products Doing so is challenging because each product needs a unique process To model new processes and optimize existing ones Boehringer Ingelheim developed the AI-assisted Smart Process Design platform The software is used to predict the behavior of the process steps and ensure a fit into the production facility you have to deal with limitations in space and other parameters that you may not have considered during development,” Brocard noted and indicate process modifications that could improve production Brocard’s team uses Smart Process Design to identify critical parameters (such as flow rates) and to assess how readily laboratory processes may be turned into production processes the Smart Process Design platform implements a toolbox approach “We have plasmid and expression toolboxes,” she details “We have also robotized a high-throughput approach.” Pipetting robots are used to run experiments in parallel 32 miniature fermenters can be run in parallel to screen for conditions or strains with specific characteristics The toolboxes and robots are part of an automation strategy that is employed to define methods for downstream purification Binding and elution properties of resins are tested in parallel miniaturized form in multiwell plates before verifying the conditions on a bench-scale column cytoplasmic or periplasmic proteins may be extracted from the cell lysate or inclusion bodies “We are highly experienced with inclusion bodies,” Brocard pointed out “But these aggregated proteins are only partially active and require a chemical reaction to refold and assume their native state.” The pipetting robots facilitate monitoring The resultant data are put into the Smart Process Design software to model processes and determine optimal conditions Digitalization provides access to more data and reduces the number of wet lab experiments we will convince the regulatory authorities that in silico data are sufficient for validation to demonstrate that you can control your process at each critical step,” Brocard stated The digital transformation of biomanufacturing demands a new mindset one that countenances compliance with FAIR (findable and reusable) data practices and the integration of various enabling technologies director/senior principal research engineer (Nere is also a research fellow at the Center of Excellence for Isolation and Separation Technologies.) According to Nere integration efforts should encompass classical information technology Nere discussed the importance of technologies such as chromatography and tangential flow filtration (TFF) he noted that reductions in solvent usage and increases in process yield can be achieved if continuous chromatography is implemented in combination with first principle–based predictive modeling He also observed that a model-based process understanding of TFF in combination with the implementation of custom automated platforms not only increases the efficiency of process development but also imparts robustness to process design and operation AbbVie has developed and deployed the infrastructure for digital technologies through the Cross-functional Modeling Forum He suggested that the CMF has encouraged a mindset change and supported a gradual buildup and usage of FAIR data “has addressed classical challenges faced by many due to step-change transformation.” Nere stated that the full potential of digitalization could be realized if digital technologies were developed and deployed holistically and integrated seamlessly with traditional process development and manufacturing practices He also noted that the use of digital technology to replace routine and often time-consuming activities will increase in the near future along with the implementation of broader process innovations Digital and automation technologies can accelerate the product development life cycle by removing the reliance on paper as a primary storage location for information and manual knowledge transfers director of integrated process development simulation software can test a range of process conditions without increasing the number of experiments performed relying on automation can increase productivity and improving access to data can support better decision-making The first-generation digital and automation tools that are being deployed offer various capabilities hardware for laboratory and manufacturing facilities can be programmed to execute recipes; electronic laboratory notebooks and manufacturing execution systems can capture details about experiments and production runs; and laboratory information management systems can analyze results Tracking inventory through enterprise-level software and handling critical documentation through electronic quality management systems can extend the paybacks “But there are challenges for end users and vendors as the industry focuses on the broader implementation of digital technology,” Manchester remarked “Leading cultural change to accept new ways of working is crucial—as is driving technology efforts without missing a beat on advancing pipeline therapies.” The deployment of new technologies and tools may necessitate staff development or hiring to meet evolving skillset needs and you need to navigate regulatory expectations,” Manchester noted “You also need to ensure data integrity and security across integrated equipment and software from multiple vendors.” Often there are unclear user requirements and prioritization of use cases to identify high-priority problems The lack of standards/ontology and variations across customers/sites/products/modalities make it difficult to develop universal solutions and historical information captured on paper or in legacy systems must be digitized and rationalized Technology roll-out to a network of customer sites is complicated especially when it may involve external contract research organizations and contract development and manufacturing organizations and sustainable therapies that improve human health,” Manchester pointed out Although she acknowledged that areas of risk and potential new requirements must be addressed she expressed optimism that digital technologies are converging to form a “navigation system” that will guide and accelerate future drug development and manufacturing Copyright © 2025 Sage Publications or its affiliates, licensors, or contributors. All rights reserved, including those for text and data mining and training of large language models, artificial intelligence technologies, or similar technologies. Previous studies have suggested that empathic process involve several components such as cognitive empathy, affective empathy, and prosocial concern. It has also been reported that gender and empathy trait can influence empathic responses such as emotional recognition, which requires an appropriate scanning of faces. However, the degree to which these factors influence the empathic responses, which include emotion recognition, affective empathy, and cognitive empathy, has not yet been specified. Aim: The aim of the present study was to identify the differences between individuals with high and low level of empathy trait, as well as differences between men and women, in an explicit task in order to evaluate the empathic responses. Volume 11 - 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00023 Previous studies have suggested that empathic process involve several components such as cognitive empathy It has also been reported that gender and empathy trait can influence empathic responses such as emotional recognition which requires an appropriate scanning of faces the degree to which these factors influence the empathic responses Aim: The aim of the present study was to identify the differences between individuals with high and low level of empathy trait as well as differences between men and women in an explicit task in order to evaluate the empathic responses we recorded eye movements during the presentation of dynamic emotional stimuli (joy participants had to rate the valence and arousal dimensions of emotional content and explicit empathy responses were assessed Thirty participants (15 women) were included in a High Empathy group (HE; mean age = 21.0) and 30 participants (16 women) in the Low Empathy group (LE; mean age = 21.2) according to their scores in the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) scale the HE group showed higher scores than the LE group in the explicit empathy responses were mainly explained by affective empathy and cognitive empathy responses but not by emotional recognition one No differences were observed by gender in these measures Regarding eye movements in the dynamic emotional stimuli HE group had longer fixation duration on the eyes area than LE group women spent more time on the eyes area in comparison to men Discussion: Our findings suggest that both men and women with high empathy trait are more accurate to empathizing but not on the basis of the emotional recognition response The fact that women spent more time on the eyes area did not seem to affect the empathic responses to the dynamic emotional stimulus empathic responses of both men and women are modulated by their empathic trait empathic trait and gender seem to impact strategies to deal with emotional facial information the empathic process is important for social interactions and involves affective empathy (sharing) cognitive empathy (mentalizing) linked with facial emotional recognition and behavioral aspects like prosocial concern may have a significant impact on cognitive and attentional processes of emotional facial expressions the influence of gender was not determined The researchers reported a positive correlation between the subject’s levels of empathy concern (evaluated by IRI scale) and the fixation duration on the eyes’ region of the emotional stimulus they reported that subjects with high levels of empathy concern were more accurate in recognizing emotion facial expressions They thus suggested that the empathic level predicts the ability to recognize emotional facial expression It is important to note that participants in this study were all women; hence the trait of empathy in men is not known nor the gender differences the role of gender on the empathic process is not yet clear The aim of present study was to compare empathic responses (emotional recognition and cognitive empathy linked with prosocial behavior) in men and women having low and high levels of empathy trait Empathic trait and responses were evaluated by self-report scales and an empathy test Our main hypothesis was that participants with high empathy trait will exhibit higher scores on empathic responses and longer fixations on the eyes than participants with low empathy trait we expected that videos with emotional content would collect longer fixation on the eyes’ region than videos with neutral content This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Psychology of the Autonomous University of Puebla (BUAP), in agreement with the ethical norms that regulate the professional, scientific, and academic practice of Psychology in Mexico (Sociedad Mexicana de Psicología, 2017) All participants gave written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki Sixty undergraduate students (29 men) of the BUAP participated in the study. Participant’s age ranged from 18 to 30 years (men’s age M = 21.1, SD = 2.4; women’s age M = 20.9, SD = 1.8). Participants were pre-selected from a group of students (n = 714) who answered the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI-adaptation) (Ahuatzin et al., 2019) They were assigned to two different groups according to their scores in the IRI scale: (1) High empathy trait (HE Significant differences for global scores of the empathy scale (IRI) were observed between HE and LE groups [t(58) = 21 The analysis of IRI’s sub-scales revealed differences between both groups in the Empathic Concern (EC) a sub-scale of the affective component [t(58) = 15.40 d = 3.97] and in the Perspective Taking (PT) a sub-scale of the cognitive component [t(58) = 25.78 Empathy groups did not differ by age [t(58) = −0.43 p = 0.66] or gender distribution (χ2 = 0.67 and psychotic symptoms requiring pharmacological treatment were retained as criteria of exclusion range values were different for men and women: to HE group women (36–40 points to EC and 31–35 points to PT component) and men (33–40 points to EC and 29–35 points to PT component); to LE group women (10–28 points to EC and 7–19 points to PT component) and men (8–23 points to EC and 11–17 points to PT component) Considering that previous research has linked alexithymia trait with empathy trait (Moral and Ramos-Basurto, 2015; Martínez-Velázquez et al., 2017), the alexithymia trait was assessed by using Spanish version (Moral, 2008) of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) This version has shown good reliability (α = 0.82) and stability indices in the Latin American population The TAS-20 is composed of 20 items divided into three categories: (1) difficulty expressing feelings (5 items); (2) difficulty in identifying feelings (7 items) and (3) externally oriented thinking that contains 8 items Based on the methodology proposed by Cowan et al. (2014) with an actress (of approximately the same age as the target sample) who was unknown to the participants The actress was instructed to look directly to the camera as she spoke and being as spontaneous as during a daily-life conversation Each video began with the presentation of a fixation point (a white cross of 2 cm) in the center of the screen (black background) for 2 s then the actress appeared and started to tell fictitious personal event with a specific emotional valence: joy the actress was requested to be more expressive than in the neutral one based on valence and arousal dimensions of emotion The valence value was scored from 1 (very unpleasant) to 9 (very pleasant) and the arousal was scored from −4 (very calm) Binocular eye movements were recorded during video presentation using an infrared based video tracking (Tobii Pro X2-30 Technology) This eye tracker operates with a sampling rate of 30 Hz Tobii Studio (3.0) software was used to present the videos and conduct the off-line analyses to extract the measure of fixation duration within specific Areas of Interest (AOIs) We used the default Tobii Studio threshold for minimal fixation duration (80 ms) the participant was debriefed about the video content through the explicit empathy test and the SAM to rate the emotional value of the visualized video The presentation of emotional and neutral videos was counterbalanced across participants Duration of the fixation cross (2 s) and the presentation of each video (120 s) The presentation of videos was counterbalanced Independent t-tests were conducted to analyze differences between groups in age Chi-square was used to estimate differences of gender distribution We also performed correlation analyses (Pearson’s coefficient) between IRI and TAS scores To analyze the effect of empathic responses and type of emotion over the score of explicit empathy test we conducted an ANOVA with three independent factors: Group × Gender × Emotion Partial eta squared (η2) was used as an index of effect size Post hoc sensitivity power analysis showed that the sample of this study had sufficient power (β = 0.80) at a significance level of α = 0.05 to detect medium to large effect sizes for an ANOVA with fixed effects (F ≥ 1.54) and to detect medium effect sizes in a MANOVA with between-within interactions (F ≥ 2.77) LE group presented significant higher TAS-20 scores than the HE one [t(58) = −4.94 a negative correlation was observed between global scores of the IRI and the TAS [r(58) = −0.58 This correlation remained significant when analyzing separately men [r(58) = −0.56 p ≤ 0.001] and women [r(58) = −0.47 The ANOVA showed significant main effects of empathy groups over the total score of the explicit empathy test [F(1,56) = 45.83 Post hoc analysis showed that the HE group showed higher scores than the LE group (p < 0.05) p = 0.32] or the type of emotion [F(3,56) = 0.61 There were no significant interactions between factors group × gender [F(1,56) = 2.38 or emotions × group × gender [F(3,56) = 1.70 The results of mixed ANOVA showed a tendency to report longer fixation durations in the HE group than the LE group on both AOIs (eyes and mouth) [F(1,56) = 3.189 No differences were found in gender [F(1,56) = 4.82 A main effect of emotional valence was observed [F(3,56) = 6.66 p < 0.05]: post hoc comparison revealed that fixations were longer in the video with joy content in comparison to angry (p < 0.05) and neutral condition (p < 0.05) The duration of fixations was shorter in the angry condition in comparison to fear and joy videos (p < 0.05) Differences by AOIs were also observed [F(1,56) = 317.94 p < 0.05]: longer fixation durations for eyes’ AOI when compared to the mouth’s AOI (p < 0.05) in all participants Regarding interactions among factors, empathy groups and AOIs showed a significant interaction [F(1,56) = 4.59, η2 = 0.076, p < 0.05]: the HE group exhibited longer fixation duration than the LE group but only on the AOI of eyes (p < 0.05). There also was an shared effect of AOI × gender [F(1,56) = 4.82, η2 = 0.079, p < 0.05]: women presented longer fixation durations than men on the eyes’ AOI (p < 0.05) (see Figure 2) an interaction AOI × emotions was observed [F(3,56) = 5.77 p < 0.05]: longer fixation durations were reported on the eyes area when analyzing the videos with joy content in comparison to videos with angry and neutral contents (p < 0.05) There were no more significant interactions Total duration of fixations (s) on facial areas of interest (Eyes Mouth) by group (A: HE and LE) and by gender (B: Women and Men) The aim of this study was to identify the influence of empathy trait and gender on empathic responses these responses and eye movement measures have been recorded to the presentation of emotional and neutral dynamic stimuli in the form of videos two groups of high and low level of empathy trait Each group integrates a similar number of women and men without differences in terms of age and education level on the basis of previous identified links between alexithymia and empathy traits This experiment brings interesting new data supporting hypotheses related to empathy trait and gender empathic responses were higher in HE group than in LE group; furthermore HE group had longer fixation duration on the eyes’ area than the LE group; in addition high scores in alexithymia were observed in LE group women spent more time looking to the eyes’ area in comparison to men nor gender modulates the recognition of emotional dynamic stimuli reported low scores in affective empathy to a video with fear content when compared to those obtained in respective control groups The authors interpreted these differences on the basis of the difficulties to empathize which postulates an approach behavior facing pleasant information and an avoiding reaction to unpleasant stimulation In this context, it has been suggested that through the eyes, a greater synchronization of affective states takes place in face-to-face encounters, thus promoting the quality of our social interactions (Cowan et al., 2014) of the differences between groups with different empathy traits when analyzing dynamic stimulus with emotional content Present results support previous studies showing the need to understand better interactions between empathy trait and alexithymia level in order to recognize emotional information they used a different methodology (static stimuli) our study is the first one to use dynamic stimuli to explore the differences by gender and empathy trait with open population supports the idea of a capture process of facial emotions little connected with empathic responses the present study allowed us to identify the influence of empathy trait and gender on empathic responses and associated recording eye movements during the inspection of emotional dynamic stimuli our results support the idea that a high empathy trait has an effect on the affective and cognitive empathic responses but it does not affect the emotional recognition component we found a negative relation between empathy trait and symptoms of alexithymia the fact that women spent more time on the eyes area did not seem to affect the empathic responses to the dynamic emotional stimulus The originality of present research opens new avenues to try to disentangle links between empathy components and facial expressions of emotion The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Facultad de Psicología BUAP-098082 The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study EM-V contributed to the study on conception and design YC reviewed the manuscript and provided critical revisions HS contributed to the study on interpretation of data and supervised the manuscript writing All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission The present study was supported by a financial support of PRODEP (México) to EM-V (#511–6/17–8017) and VIEP (BUAP) Technical apparatus was funded by the program “PRODEP NPTC.” The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest The authors warmly thank the study participants We also thank Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla and particularly Professor Rene Moranchel for local facilities to carry out the study Facial recognition in men and women with different levels of empathy México: Autonomous University of Puebla (BUAP) Google Scholar Ahuatzin, A. 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Eduardo S. Martínez-Velázquez, ZWR1YXJkby5tYXJ0aW5lenZlbEBjb3JyZW8uYnVhcC5teA== Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish From the Arctic Circle to Slovenia’s Julian Alps we pick scenic and soothing retreats to don snowshoes Old-school glamour in ItalyMarketing slogans usually leave me cold but even I can’t argue with “Queen of the Dolomites” There’s a regal air about this venerable ski resort in the Veneto region’s north-west a pedestrianised thoroughfare and favourite passeggiata meeting place But it’s those massive Dolomites that get me every time – hulking great chunks of limestone and sedimentary rocks streaked with snow and rising through the Ampezzo valley that turn a delicate shade of pink when the sun goes down Many people drawn to Cortina’s old‑school chic and glamour come here to shop That leaves more room on the mountains for people like me to ski snowshoe and hike amid the beauty of these peaks Those massive Dolomites rise through the Ampezzo valley and turn a delicate shade of pink when the sun goes downCable cars and gondolas run up to several of Cortina’s highest peaks, including 3,244-metre Tofana di Mezzo (featured in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only), with its fabulous views from the observation deck. I jumped off at Ra Valles for a hot chocolate at what was billed as the highest pizzeria in Europe (2,470 metres) with a vantage point of the towering peaks Felsentherme thermal spa in Bad Gastein. Photograph: AlamyAs the sun creeps over the shoulder of the Hohe Tauern mountains the Gastein valley shimmers under a fresh blanket of snow Wisps of cloud lift from dark veins of spruce forest to reveal a day like cut crystal And I can see the whole lovely lot through the picture windows of my room at Haus Hirt in Bad Gastein Haus Hirt’s riveting views inspired writers Thomas Mann and Stefan Zweig in the 1930s this intimate hotel brings together natural materials like larch wood and granite with a clean modern aesthetic (courtesy of co-owner architect Ike Ikrath and Japanese interior designer Elma Choung) mood-boosting dips in the mountain-facing Aveda spa Klimt and German painter Max Liebermann came here for the cure during the town’s belle epoque heyday A view from the mountain station of Hoher Kasten cable car in Appenzell. Photograph: Maleo Photography/Getty ImagesThe Alpstein massif in the Appenzell Alps is where Switzerland most looks like a child’s drawing steeple-like peaks and snow-brimmed barns are everywhere and ghostly footprints disappear over snowbanks and eat meat and raclette cooked on a stone-slab steingrill Something about the place lends itself to micro adventures I’d recommend staying in a mountain guesthouse like Hoher Hirschberg a cosy wooden place that looks like it hasn’t changed for centuries above the pine-clad restaurant (the veal sausage with fried-onion-topped cheese spätzle is particularly good) you can see the ridged horns of the Alpstein the last stretch of road to the guesthouse is closed meaning a 150-metre uphill snowshoe is all part of check-in For a longer caper, a four-mile trail leads from near Appenzell through wooded foothills right to the guesthouse; the trick is to take a sledge with you to whizz back down again. Equally worthwhile from the valley floor is the two-mile snowshoe for lunch at Eggli then it’s a Quöllfrisch Hell lager and wurst-käse salad which overlooks blue-grey Sämtisersee Lake is more beautiful than that of the Matterhorn Vesteralen apartments near KlakksjordaI was cocooned in the hot embrace of a wood barrel sauna the silence punctuated solely by the crackle and hiss of logs I looked across the pewter shimmer of a freezing fjord afternoon light gilded the ridges of the snow-covered mountains I would dip into that large ice bath and let the cold pinch my body pink and awake revelling in that quiet hunkering down that belongs only to winter this ethos embraces the contrast of coldness and cosiness of snowy romps followed by retreats around the fire Both are on offer at Vesterålen Apartments a trio of fjord-side self-catering houses offering “calm luxury in the wilderness” near Klakksjorda a hamlet on the wild Vesterålen archipelago Vesterålen is far less visited but excels at winter magic creates a lavender-hued daylight under which to try snowshoeing there’s a very good chance of seeing the aurora Guests go out on a rigid inflatable boat to feed mackerel to the five pairs of white‑tailed sea eagles that nest in the inletHenrik Hvashøj and his wildlife guide Ian Robins also take guests (dressed in windproof onesies) out on a rigid inflatable boat to feed mackerel to the five pairs of white‑tailed sea eagles that nest along this inlet This parcel of shoreline has been in Henrik’s family for three generations; his mother’s photographs decorate the walls of the apartments I was exploring on a new trip with Discover the World and combined a stay here with an 80-minute drive north to the hamlet of Nyksund which nestles at the bottom of Nyken mountain this former fishing outpost was a ghost town A band of 22 residents have slowly revived the car-free village which is shared with a gaggle of kittiwakes and only has one lamp-post Le Refuge le Trait d’UnionIt was a powder-soft descent to the glade looking down towards the Les Bellevilles valley and I arrived outside the off-piste stone hut to find no one else around There were few tracks in the snow and the only other sign of life was a wisp of smoke escaping from its chimney I noted there was a large wood-fired hot tub its top and steps covered by a fresh coat of snow hammered on to a handmade ornamental archway made from birch was a sign bearing one word with a downhill piste roller coasting down the opposite side There is time for a soak in the Nordic tub and stargazing while looking over the valley to the profound ridges beyondAll of this explosive topography means there are winter activities galore ice climbing and ski touring are sacred native rituals here Inside the refuge there are three cosy bedrooms up a tight staircase above the counter-bar and tiny restaurant then ski or snowshoe before even the cockerels have begun to stir there is time for little else but a soak in the Nordic tub and stargazing while looking over the valley to the ridges beyond was to turn what was once a family cottage into something that would give her a renewed sense of purpose “There’s an element of selfishness about what I do,” she said it was very difficult to have this place with nothing in it Now people who come to stay are bringing that life back.” a plate of diots aux crozets (buckwheat pasta topped with wine-boiled sausage) arrived and Vivian turned entertainer handing out lyric sheets like a Sunday School minister and beginning with a rousing rendition of popular 1930s song Étoile des Neiges on her accordion the little refuge was full of song from French skiers and holidaymakers In this supernova of a valley, with every kind of stylish hotel, self-catering apartment, ski package and swanky nightclub, it felt to me as though this was the Tarentaise on rewind. And what an absolute thrill.Trip provided by Saint-Martin-de-Belleville. Rooms sleeping four at Refuge le Trait d’Union from €95pp One-day ski pass from €64 for the combined ski area of Les Menuires/Saint-Martin-de-BellevilleMike MacEacheran Hiking on a frozen path by Lake Bohinj Photograph: Matjaz Corel/AlamyI was riding so fast it felt like flying their snow-covered peaks reflected below us in the glacial lake Icelandic horses are incredibly sure-footed perfect for exploring this mountainous terrain I’d chosen well: this is where Slovenians holiday but for non-skiers there are magical snowy hikes to be had Creative Director of Hermès Beauty, Gregoris Pyrpylis, discusses a brand-new bold gesture in the Hermès Beauty metier having a cup of coffee while getting a bit of news It doesn’t happen every day because sometimes I think that when your body is fully awakened your spirit and your mind can really follow Colour is a whole universe – there’s more than 75,000 colour references our personal quest for excellence in terms of ingredients it’s as if you would buy a beautiful Hermès bag The approach of creating a beauty is really linked to the approach of all the other metier that have made Hermès what it is today Hermès Beauty has this capacity of reinventing every kind of metier every time a house of almost 200 years can be a bit classic but also this capacity to reinvent and come always with something new that will reflect the era that we live in but also looking always towards the future the quest for the amazing and beautiful ingredients They are here to be worn by women and men who are looking to be themselves and not just to be masked or camouflaged by it I think this sincerity is a very strong point of Hermès and you are just free to design the way you want to express yourself I wanted to convey this liberty of expressing yourself within a collection I wanted to add colours that will spark a bit of your feeling – these feelings that you had when you were a child and you had this almost innocent freedom of creation to create who you want to be It’s about not having the fear of experimenting When you see these collections in front of you it’s an invitation to play with colour again because practically they take much less surface when you apply it compared to a shadow that can be all over the eye it’s a very nice introduction for people who want to experiment with colour but are a bit afraid it’s very challenging and difficult to create an Hermès makeup product I would say that the most difficult part for me was at times when I was developing the formula with the team I couldn’t make my mind if I wanted a bold liner or if I wanted a light pencil that can stand only on the outer part of the eye I would say that the biggest challenge was to find the perfect balance between the waxes and the oils in the formula I would say the second challenge would be the choice of colours Line and colour are the two main pillars of the collection Creating a simple line just alongside your lashes and you will see it also in the Le Trait d’Hermes campaign contrasting colours to create a modern expression and it looks like you’ve put a lot of effort and time I want to see people who are not afraid of playing with colour While I really do appreciate a beautiful nude makeup with colour you can be a bit more expressive Colour is a nice storyteller – it can say and reveal a lot about you… what message you want to pass that day it will cheer you up and I think that’s something that we need these days It’s not about creating a makeup look that everybody’s going to wear not just wanting to copy something that you just saw on social media I have references of women who have made their mark in cinema or fashion It’s because Hermès Beauty does not believe in one type of beauty the Hermès woman who inspired this collection is someone sincere and is proud of who she is and who she wants to be fairly I get inspired when I meet women who are so fearless and they just don’t put themselves into boxes They live their lives – they’re expressive in fashion and makeup in a very unapologetic way and have a free spirit when I work with my team and we develop a whole collection and everything is in place and we have done the edit of the formula we will present the project to Pierre here in our office and what is very interesting is that immediately either he has a piece of paper and his pencils or his iPad Most of the time this is the idea that we will keep for the development of the collection This is the time when we have the exchange and brief him about the inspiration of the collection he knows by heart what an Hermès object is and how important it is He has this beautiful and creative way of understanding immediately what I want to pass on as a message with the collection It’s very interesting that every time he gets to reinvent and create an object as it’s just it calls you to collect it I’m not someone who believes in beauty trends Back in the days when I started doing makeup these trends were mainly from the runway shows and that would be it for the next six months to come the trends are more ephemeral – the longevity is much shorter I can definitely say that there is a big trend when it comes to blush today I think it’s one of the most beautiful makeup products to work with A beautiful blush will just elevate your complexion in a beautiful way we will see a lot of naturally derived colours on the lips meaning it can be a beautiful beige that recalls clay or more transparent I think that it’s all about playing with different textures on the lips and when it comes to the eyes a lot of colourful mascaras or colour combinations that are strong and bold highlighter and lip products are the ones that are really appreciated in the Middle East it’s all about assuming femininity and how you can get really beautiful but I think that women in the Middle East are very loyal to the products they like I like the fact that they assume what they like and they are not afraid to show it and to express it through their makeup – and I find this inspiring because my plan was to become an English teacher I was studying in the University of Athens in Greece where I grew up It was a whole new universe opening its doors in front of me And I think that was the boldest move I’ve ever done just putting aside what I wanted to do for so many years It’s something I discovered and fell in love with My second bold move was when I decided to move from Athens to Paris I had my career – I was working with many local celebrities and fashion magazines Then when I had the opportunity to move to Paris and follow my dreams – my bigger dreams – it was really a big moment for me Imagine that I was not speaking any French back then I was 25 or 26 when I made the move and it’s something that I will never regret Engineering group Technip is committing €1 billion ($1.58 billion) to expand its pipelay vessel fleet and flexible pipe production capacity The program includes construction of a new flexibles plant in Malaysia serving the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions the impetus for this investment built up in 2005 “when the market really took off People in the industry also realized that the sudden new level of activity would be sustainable in future “We decided there were a few opportunities So that’s when we started the first of our investments in the form of two new diving support vessels was delivered last summer and is currently operating for Reliance offshore India It’s 106 m (348 ft) long with a DP-2 dynamic positioning system.” will be delivered at the end of this year and will support a frame agreement with StatoilHydro covering new field developments in the Norwegian sector This vessel is somewhat larger – 157 m (515 ft) long – with a 24-man saturation diving spread “we also looked at the requirements of the pipelay market in particular in the North Sea and the Atlantic Deepwater Triangle we decided the time was right to launch two new pipelay vessels one dedicated to flexibles for the Brazilian sector the other operating globally and primarily a reel-lay ship – somewhere in size between theApache and the Deep Blue.” Subject to a pending contract award from Petrobras the first of these new vessels should be operational in 2009 Aker Yards is managing construction of the hull in Brazil while the pipelay system will be assembled in Europe Technip contracted STX Heavy Industries in Korea to build the second (reel-lay) vessel with a 450 ton (408 metric ton) top tension capacity for installing rigid steel pipes and flexibles up to 18-in (46-cm) diameter in up to 3,000 m (9,842 ft) water depth The vessel will be able to support twin reels carrying up to 5,600 metric tons (6,173 tons) of pipe conveyed through a lay tower positioned at the stern IHC’s Engineering Business in northern England will design The vessel also will be equipped with DP-3 and a pipeline end termination handling system A dedicated Technip team in Aberdeen is managing the project the vessel’s 20 knot transit speed will be “a step change on anything on the market The speed will be achieved by a combination of the long hull and the dynamics of its shape the issue is to minimize vessel days when transiting between different deepwater areas of the world What we can save in non-productive days allows us to increase the vessel’s productivity although it could do some construction work.” Technip also has upgraded the equipment on its existing flex-lay fleet we commissioned a 350 metric ton (386 ton) portable flex-lay system for theDeep Pioneer which was built in Europe and installed in Singapore This worked fine – the vessel successfully installed the Kikeh flowlines for Murphy Oil off Malaysia and then completed a similar job on BHP’s Stybarrow field in 850 m (2,789 ft) of water probably the deepest installation of its kind so far This equipment has been used for standard diameter (8-10-in although it can install pipe sizes up to 19 in Technip’s production currently is concentrated at its facilities in Le Trait “Le Trait is also an offshore base,” Marion points out “used for storing flexible pipe and laying equipment So it’s very active from an offshore operational viewpoint we decided to commission a new large-capacity crane for vessel loading which should be in service towards the end of next year This crane will have a 400 metric ton (441 ton) capacity at a reach of 40 m (131 ft) as this is where we conduct all our R&D activities related to flexible pipe “At Vitoria we have invested in new manufacturing equipment And we are increasing the storage area by reclaiming land on the harbor front to accommodate an extra 80 reels of flexible pipe That will allow us to increase production from 380 km to 450 km/yr (236 to 280 mi/yr).” Technip signed an agreement with a subsidiary of the Johor State Economic Development Corp for a 20 ha (49 acre) land lease on the southern tip of peninsular Malaysia This will be the setting for the group’s third flexibles manufacturing complex with direct access to a deepwater quayside site will have capacity to produce up to 200 km/yr (124 mi/yr) of flexible pipes – raising Technip’s total output to 1,060 km/yr (659 mi/yr) of normalized 8-in Asiaflex Products will serve operators in the growing subsea/deepwater sectors around India Technip considered various other sites in Singapore as well as some closer to Kuala Lumpur in northern Malaysia “We took into account local market conditions and government incentives went for the option that we felt carried the least risk in terms of project execution and schedule compliance Construction will be taken care of by our existing office in Kuala Lumpur although the overall project will be managed from Le Trait “Berthing will be on a par with the facilities at our other bases Part of the deal is that the port authority will construct a wharf for our vessels There will also be plenty of space to store reels this plant’s scope will be to produce a complete range of flexibles up to 14 in although the most sophisticated products – such as integrated production bundles – will still be engineered and manufactured in Le Trait.” The facility will also be designed to allow for future expansion into umbilical manufacture Asiaflex Products will employ around 300 people – “mostly Malaysians,” Marion says as the plant should be ready for start-up in mid-2010 This will involve training sessions in France and Brazil.” Technip’s forerunner Coflexip had established a plant in Perth but closed it down when the local market went into a steep decline “We did consider Australia again,” Marion admits Technip employs close to 500 people in its branch in Perth we are still very strong in the Australasia region But the main growth today is more in Southeast Asia and India.” the group’s existing pipelay fleet is active in most of the major sectors “The highlight is the Agbami installation contract off Nigeria for Chevron which involves over 100 km (62 mi) of flexible pipe.Deep Pioneer is doing that job at the moment Then we have a sequence of jobs off West Africa and Azurite for Murphy in 1,400 m (4,593 ft) of water offshore Congo we are working on deepwater flexible risers for Chevron’s Tahiti project in the Gulf of Mexico leveraging our experience gained on Thunder Horse for BP We are also working on our very first deepwater job in the Bay of Bengal – 1,400 m (4,593 ft) water depth – for Reliance’s MAD6 development We have established a temporary base in northeast India to support this project we remain active for Petrobras – our Brazilian factory is mostly dedicated to that market (46-cm) free-standing hybrid riser for the PDET development we are spending over €30 million ($47.4 million) on new subsea products At the moment we are qualifying systems for water depths down to 3,000 m (9,842 ft) we are working on new lightweight products including new-shape reinforcement wires as well as carbon fibers and also a flexible version of our free-standing hybrid riser system.” Log in for full access to stabroeknews.com Only one active session is allowed per subscriber Traits Model Management has issued a second casting call for models who are interested in the upcoming Strut Le Labyrinthe to show up for auditions set for February 9 Women are asked to take along heels and wear their hair in a pony or a bun away from their faces The agency has done commercial shows as well as for charitable and other causes which features prominent designers in Guyana and from other countries in the Caribbean and North America Its modelling routines are some of the best choreographed in Guyana and possibly the region Interested persons are not required have modelling experience as according to the notice posted on the Traits Facebook page Auditions for the show begin at 2 pm and go until 5 pm The venue is 146 Regent and Albert streets and entrance to the building is on Albert Street A FREE roundup of top news from Guyana you might otherwise miss Sanofi on Monday announced that it is investing more than €1 billion to create new bioproduction capacity at its sites in Vitry-sur-Seine (Val de Marne) According to the company’s statement this new investment will create more than 500 jobs and significantly strengthen France’s ability to control the production of essential medicines from start to finish This plan brings to more than €3.5 billion the amount committed by Sanofi since the Covid-19 pandemic in major projects to keep production of medicines and vaccines in France for patients around the world Sanofi will invest €1 billion to build a new facility that will double the site’s monoclonal antibody production capacity Several biologics in development amongst Sanofi’s 12 potential blockbusters in chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) could be produced in Vitry to meet the needs of millions of patients in France and around the world Sanofi anticipates the creation of 350 jobs as a result of this investment,” the company stated Sanofi will invest €100 million to develop new capacity for biologics formulation It will support the launch of future biologics and vaccines as well as the continued growth of Dupixent which already is indicated in several inflammatory diseases and could soon become the first biologic indicated in COPD Sanofi is investing €10 million to locate the production of TZield in France Tzield is a biologic for type 1 diabetes that Sanofi acquired in April 2023 and which has been manufactured outside Europe “Thanks to the transformation undertaken since 2020 Sanofi has a record number of medicines and vaccines in development that could become best-in-class and help meet major public health challenges With these unprecedented industrial investments we remain true to our history by once again choosing France to produce these future medicines and make them available to patients around the world at the heart of Sanofi’s strategy,” Paul Hudson Sanofi carries out more than 60 percent of its global production in the European Union and sources only 5 percent of its active ingredients in Asia compared to an average of 80 percent in the pharmaceutical industry Sanofi’s contribution to France’s trade balance amounted to more than €13 billion in 2023 Le Trait and Lyon Gerland add up to major projects launched since the Covid-19 pandemic to build in France new drugs and vaccines production capacity in-line with Sanofi’s world class pipeline of best and first-in-class assets and meet public health needs €15 million to locate the production of a drug to fight high cholesterol in France This investment will allow the construction of a new high-volume granulation unit and a tablet-coating line in a new building The capacity of this new unit will be around 700 million boxes per year for some 20 countries particularly in Europe and Asia,” it added This is why we chose our Vitry site to double its monoclonal antibody production capacity We have also strengthened our API production sites in the south of France has always been and remains unique,” Audrey Derveloy These efforts are part of the new chapter of Sanofi’s Play to Win strategy presented at the end of 2023 which focuses on cutting-edge science and its ambition to become the world leader in immunology Sanofi will invest an additional €700 million per year in R&D over the next two years Moody’s downgraded India’s GDP growth forecast for 2025 to 6.3% due to global economic slowdown caused by US policy uncertainty and trade restrictions including those between India and Pakistan Moody’s expects RBI to cut rates to boost growth The US and China are also facing trade tensions Zoé Stene Symbole d’une génération parisienne fun et décomplexée l’illustratrice star des réseaux Margaux Motin publie Le Printemps suivant Changement de décor ; la talentueuse artiste troque sa vie de mère célibataire habitant un appartement trop petit contre une vie de famille recomposée une jolie maison en province et un potager mûri et nous livre un album drôle Te revoilà 7 ans après ton dernier album que s’est-il passé entre temps  J’étais occupée à vivre On s’est installé dans notre nouvelle maison et on a recomposé la famille j’ai voulu me dédier à ça J’ai aussi beaucoup dessiné pour insta et puis il y avait l’appel de la campagne j’avais envie d’être dehors et de bricoler toute la journée donc ça a été difficile de s’y remettre J’avais un projet que j’ai commencé puis interrompu c’est Pacco qui m’a remise en selle j’ai mis 2-3 ans pour faire l’album Pacco est à la fois ton compagnon et co-auteur du bouquin mon Dieu ! Le métier d’artiste se vit beaucoup seul on est souvent confronté à nos émotions et nos limites tu doutes de toi et c’est parfois super difficile j’ai cette chance énorme d’avoir un amoureux qui fait le même travail et qui a à cœur de travailler avec moi il me partage aussi ses outils et ses techniques on a un mode de fonctionnement où on a chacun nos points forts qu’on met ensemble au service du duo Il m’a notamment appris à réduire les dialogues et choisir le bon mot pour être plus impactante Ton nouvel album aborde encore une fois tes thèmes de prédilection comme l’amour et la famille C’est ce qui t’inspire le plus  c’est la réalité du quotidien parce que c’est génial d’avoir à portée de main autant de choses à raconter Je prends plaisir à raconter des situations vraies et authentiques parce que j’aime que mes lecteurs se retrouvent dans cette réalité qu’ils se disent « ça me parle » « moi aussi je l’ai vécu » Il y a plein de choses de ma vie que je ne raconte pas parce que dans ce que je vis je vais uniquement chercher le truc qui va raisonner avec les autres celle qui assume ses défauts et qui se lance dans une famille recomposée C’est ça qui plaît  je sens bien qu’il y a un vrai kiff pour mes lectrices à se reconnaitre et à se sentir mises en scène c’est comme si elles avaient une image d’elles C’est agréable de voir des choses qui nous ressemblent ça permet aussi de se regarder et de se poser des questions sur soi-même la Parisienne c’était ton essence Tu n’as pas eu peur de perdre ça en changeant de vie  J’ai adoré la période parisienne mais on ne reste pas la même toute sa vie Je pense que ce n’est pas tant le décor qui fait que ça fonctionne c’est vrai que je parle moins de chaussures mais doit-on parler de chaussures toute sa vie  Qu’est-ce qui te donne l’impulsion de dessiner  Mes impulsions ne m’emmènent pas au bureau mais dans le jardin ou en forêt J’ai des horaires de bureau et un planning sinon je serais en slip et en sabots dans la gadoue toute la journée je suis quelqu’un de très disciplinée  Comment passe-t-on d’illustratrice à auteure de BD  j’ai toujours eu un feeling pour la BD d’ailleurs quand je suis rentrée à Olivier de Serre (L’École nationale supérieure des arts appliqués et des métiers d'art ) j’ai choisi un cours de communication visuelle enseigné par Jean-Christophe Chauzy je me rends compte que j’avais un appétit pour ça même si à l’époque je ne l’avais pas encore formulé dans ma tête Est-ce que savoir dessiner c’est forcément savoir raconter des histoires  c’est mon blog qui a servi de passerelle j'y postais des dessins qui étaient juste de l’illustration mais petit à petit le format me donnait la possibilité de raconter de courtes histoires Quand Marabout m’a proposé de faire mon premier livre les dessins étaient tirés du blog et c’est à ce moment-là que le virage s’est fait Lorsqu’on a près de 300 000 abonnés sur Instagram est ce qu’on devient une femme puissante  Est-ce que ça ne donne pas envie de faire passer des messages plus engagés  Je ne vois pas ça en termes de puissance je ne réfléchis pas comme ça Certaines personnes utiliseront leur notoriété pour faire passer des messages engagés d’ailleurs il y a beaucoup d’artistes qui font ça très bien mais ça n’est pas mon cas Ce sont des sujets complexes et sensibles qui font partie de l’intime pour moi et sur lesquels je n’ai pas envie de m’exprimer Ce n’est pas là que ça se joue pour moi l’univers que j’aime partager c’est l’émerveillement c’est l’espace où je m’amuse le plus artistiquement Tu dis souvent que tes dessins sont liés aux moments heureux parce que c’est ce que tu aimes raconter Tu te verrais aborder les choses de manière plus sérieuse Je n’ai pas l’impression mais je sais qu’on peut changer Parfois j’aime aborder les choses de manière poétique et sensible mais ce qui me fait vibrer c’est d’aller raconter les jolies choses et celles qui me font sourire Peut-être qu’avec l’âge je vais me mettre à parler de la mort… Mais toujours avec humour J’aime que ce soit léger et drôle Vent lointain Margaux Motin Sortie le 7 octobre 2020 aux éditions Casterman Voici les 5 sujets à éviter lors des fêtes de fin d’année selon les Français Philippe Katerine en dédicace à Nantes cette semaine On sait combien Mariah Carey gagne chaque année avec “All I Want For Christmas” LE SSERAFIM is one of the hottest rising girl groups at the moment and close bond despite not training together one of the members who notably always makes an effort to unite the group is Chaewon Chaewon | @_chaechae_1/Instagram She was given this role after proving herself at a company-organized workshop. The girl group had traveled to a small seaside town in Episode 4 of “The World is My Oyster,” their newest documentary It was an opportunity for them to grow closer in a casual environment and they also presumably held exercises where the company learned more about the members and their personalities they were asked to meet with the higher-ups of HYBE and Source Music to listen to a special announcement The planning team had mutually decided to give Chaewon the title of “leader” after seeing her clever retorts during the workshop Because she could think quickly on her feet they decided that she would fit the role best as she could be an appropriate spokesperson I mentioned this to all of you at the workshop Chaewon responded faster than we expected so we decided it’ll be Chaewon Chaewon is officially the leader of LE SSERAFIM she immediately established that the group’s relationship would not change just because of her new title She emphasized the fact that she wanted to be treated the exact same way—as a friend Nothing changes just because I’m the leader I prefer that we all speak our opinions and work as a team together like usual Chaewon expounded on how she originally saw it as a challenge to be LE SSERAFIM’s leader given that she grew up as the youngest in her family This changed when the company saw her natural inclination to guide those younger than her I used to be the kind of person who did whatever other people told me to do and just took things as they came to me but now there are many younger people with me and I have all this accumulated experience so I was leading without even realizing it I tell them how to put on their mics and how the procedure will go or [Sakura] and I will tell them a bunch of little things so that they will be ready for the real thing it’s hard to imagine LE SSERAFIM without Chaewon at the helm Check out the full video below to learn more about the group HYBE Called Out For “Repeated” Formula Of Disguising The Sexualization Of Minors Has LE SSERAFIM Bounced Back On The Charts After The Controversial Slump? Korean Netizens Comment HYBE’s Bang Si Hyuk Blasted After Rumors He Cried At LE SSERAFIM’s Concert Go Viral   LE SSERAFIM Eunchae’s Tears At Recent Concert Spark Major Reactions See more LE SSERAFIM