text:
As long as we only fight symptoms
There is no remedy
DidiArtis, 03.02.2015
I am not a Christian, Muslim, Hindu,
Or Buddhist, Sikh, Taoist in particular
Nor do I represent any other religion
Isolated from the others
To separate me from other people
I am unity, belonging to the whole
The boat we all sit in
I am a Christian, Muslim, Hindu,
Buddhist, Sikh, Taoist
And other creeds at the same time
For we are all children
Of the One God
And not split into this and that
We are all this boat in Him
So let us remain in our respective religion
Become a true Christian, a true Moslem, a true Hindu
A true Buddhist, a true Sikh, a true Taoist, etc.
In other words: to become a true man
To rise above separation, dogmatism, fanatism
And live in Oneness and Unity with the One
Then all fights will cease and vanish
Love and respect will increase
And right understanding will grow
Among all people and peoples
To understand we are all One in Him
True love is to love His whole creation
Is service to man, service to God
Helping each other…
Because He is undivided love –
How can we separate this love into fragments…
Even our sun gives sunshine to everyone…
DidiArtist, 22.10.2019
We are humans
Search for mutual nearness
Grab hands
Touch interests
Merge in groups
We are humans
Shelter of kindred spirits
Build a fortress
Keep together
Set contrary poles
We are humans
Create spaces
Draw boundaries
Form opposites
We are humans
Fear the loss
Have rubbing thoughts
Moving tectonic frames
Prepared defence
We are humans
In search of solutions
Peacefully together
Accept being different
Dismantling barriers
We are humans
Remember – humanity
Open hearts world-wide
Take us by our hands
Merge into unity…
DidiArtist, 01.03.2017
Who is proud
To kill people
Does not deserve
To be called a human
DidiArtist, 11.07.2022
We cry, when we are sad or happy
We laugh, when we are joyful
We feel, when others suffer
We love, when our heart vibrates
Therefore: Let us overcome boundaries:
Nation, colour, language, fear, being better
Idelogies, names, cultures
Are we not one?
Are we not – a human being?
So let us refocus: on our humanity
Don't we all dream the same dream
– to treat us humanely one another?
– to be human for one another?
Let us make this dream come true…
DidiArtist, 08.01.2017
Scarred mind
Pierced through words
Blood-tripping bodies
In daily meetings
From man to man
Hateful eyes
Stray around
In fear
Yet searching
To feel oneself
Own pain
Thoughts break out
Fight against each other
Lonesome people, lost
In search
Of themselves
Thoughts break into pieces
No way, no goal
Wandering in darkness
Escaping from the light
Create their own prison…
DidiArtist, 25.08.2013
Something lurks in every human being
Some kind of animal
A predator…
Time to find the human being in us…
DidiArtist, 18.09.2021
How can one love
When one hates?
How can one show respect
When one kills?
How can one be true
When one lies?
How can one speak of humanity
When one is inhuman?
How can one respect his neighbour
When he attacks him?
How can one speak of peace
When one wages war?
How can one find his own faults
When all the blame is on others?
How can one express empathy and compassion
When one shows brutal ruthlessness?
How can one have humility
When greedily seeking power?
How can one understand
When one sees nothing and hears nothing?
How can awareness come
When ignorance reigns?
How can we be human beings
When we are still animals…?
DidiArtit, 23.04.2022
When man does not get what he wants
He often shows his ugly side
DidiArtist, 12.03.2022
Life, a living sculptor
Engraves seconds in the heart
Nothing lost
Sometimes scars remain
Mirror a rainbow
Of beautiful hours
Past life
Lost in presence
Like sand running
Through fingers
Leaving hands empty
Looking back
For happiness
That once was alive, vibrating
While time marches on
Modulating the image
We cannot decipher yet
Our own image
With wind, sunshine and rain
Smoothing, polishing it
But when life has chiselled
The inner stone
As art of life
It turns into something beautiful:
A living diamond
Pulsating in the heart
In the light of love
Spreading sent of humanity
Radiating greatness
Rising like a phoenix
From the ashes
As a treasure of life
Born from hardship
A new-born human being…
DidiArtist, 25.06.2018
Every country has its pride
Of its own culture
Proud of its achievement
But our pride
Of being a human being
Should be higher
Then the pride of the country
Then we begin
To respect every human being
To appreciate and love
But first, we need to evolve
To become true human beings
To share humanity with each other…
DidiArtist, 13.02.2022
We all feel pain
Laugh or cry
Are serious or joyful
Are fearful or courageous
Are strong or weak
Are normal citizens of the world
Skin color does not change laughter
Religion does not change crying
Feelings are not state bound
For we are what we are
People of the same color
Who understands this
Overcomes racism
Nationality, skin color
Different creeds
Because we all live in the same boat…
DidiArtist, 13.04.2021
We bear the seeds
Of good and evil in us
Rooted feelings
Eruptions, outbreaks
In all colours
Spectrum from anger to joy
Of happiness and sadness
Patterns of love and hate
In an alternating bath
Living blood
Pulsating in the roots
Intertwined arteries
Of fluctuating feelings
Thoughts that take shape
Reaction, perception of senses
Principle of cause and effect
Waves crashing down on us
Turning ourselves into waves
Who wins this game
Wins the life
Becomes a real human being…
DidiArtist, 11.04.2020
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 1)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 2)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 3)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 4)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 5)
When we make our Atman, our soul, happy, then God is happy. And when God is happy, we can also eat the fruit in this world. Day and night the colour of Master is within us. And when the soul enters inside and recognizes the Father or the inner Husband, then the soul has no more attachments to this body.
Then God says to the soul, "You have been fully identified with the outer form of the body but once you had been a hansa (swan) in the Sarovar." Kabir Sahib said, "O hansa, make your inside clean." And further, "(O soul), once you were travelling with the pure hansas, but when you came into this world, you came in contact with dust and dirt." Master resides in us, and when our soul gets stable within, one can feel it. And this Kaaba (the body), where He resides, is far better than thousands of outer Kaabas. He sees us all the time and He is developing us.
When we go inside, He is with us, while we are in the body, He becomes our friend. This is the stream (of grace) that comes from the competent Master. And by His grace, we get the colour now.
Seeing His grace, tears come out of our eyes. For a long time, our Beloved has been waiting for us within. And He, who alone has made friendship with you, has not turned towards others.
When the soul enters His home inside, it prays, "O Master, I am the passenger who has come from very far, don't send me from Your door without giving anything! Since I went into the world of Maya, I have forgotten You. Today You have met me, and I don't want ever to be separated from You again."
Why did Master explain so much about this body? The body is not an outer machine (of attachment and lust). Master often used to tell how the Master-power created and prepared this body.
We cannot realize Bhakti or devotion by speaking about it – we have to go within to attain and to know it. And for this, we need the company of and the contact with the competent Master, so that our eye, with which the Master-power has blessed us, can be opened – the eye, where Master Himself resides. And with this eye, He sent us into the world so that we can see. But where should we go? We must go to the place of the inner bhakti, we have to enter there. Then one forgets the body, and then there is nothing but the soul and Him.
By Mrs. Biji Surinder Kaur, St. Gilgen, Austria, 30 July, 2000
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 1)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 2)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 3)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 4)
Why do we come to this place? We come here in order to get His knowledge. This (outer) knowledge takes us only to the (inner) door, but the inner knowledge is within us.
This world is very small compared to the inner world. He created this world and the inner worlds. But how can we go inside and enter the inner worlds? Only with His light- and sound-principle. When the soul enters the place where Master's treasure lies, He gives the fruit of His treasure to the soul. We can cross the inner place only with the help of that Power, which comes directly from Sat Lok.
As Tulsi Sahib says, "O soul, this world is full of sadness, as long as we do not enter the house of our Father, we cannot rise above." And Guru Nanak Dev Ji said, "If the internal husband is not with you, you are in a condition as if you were burning in fire." Do not be devoted to the body but be devoted to Him, who has created this body and who resides in it. If you are not aware of that, then you should obey your soul so that you may meet Him and your devotion will be perfect. It is very hard for you if you are not able to search for Him in your own house, in your body. This body is the house for the soul, it was made for the soul and for God. And when you clean it inside, you start searching, get Naam, when you do the hardship (of the meditation) of His Naam, you can become one with Him.
He has given so much power into this pot (this body) and the root of this house came directly from the place of Sat Lok and this is the reason why we are alive. And we should realize why the indweller of this house (the soul) is hungry and thirsty. How can we get power, if our soul is hungry and thirsty? Master says, "You have to care for your soul while you are alive. He who has built this house, is already inside of it. And you can only understand the purpose of your life while you are alive. But if you never give food to your soul, you can never get this power."
If our soul remains hungry, we will not get any benefit. The soul has to stand inside before Master and declare how it has been cared for (in this body). And how do we have to care for this body? From inside as well as from outside you care for a vehicle or for other things. If you care for it and clean it, you can easily travel with it.
How great is this house – we can see Master's colour and smell His fragrance in it! But this body is only of value as long as Atman, the soul, is within it. And only due to this you are powerful and strong and get the highest bliss from within.
Guru Nanak Dev Ji also spoke about this body and said, "O Nanak, who could praise You while he was in this world?" When one has become a Gurmukh, He gives the shower of His blessing. And if there had been no Gurmukh, nobody could have shown the competency of Guru Nanak. In the Gurmukh, there is also the soul and that gives the colour to him (the Gurmukh).
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 6)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 1)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 2)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 3)
The whole world was created by Him, and for him who understands, it is not difficult to attain Him. And those people, who have a bad destiny and who cannot attain Him, they only weep in this world. The root of consciousness of the competent Master is in this world and He gives consciousness to everybody. And we all who are sitting here are part of His light. And the light of a Bhakta, a devotee, is of no use if Master's light does not shine through him. There is no place where His light does not shine. No low power can approach one in whom the light of God has been lit.
Where is He to be found? We can only find Him in us, and there we have to search for Him. For ages and ages, man has been suffering but was unable to search for God in his own self.
God, who has blessed you with this body, who has created it, He made your heart His temple. He gave it to you as a present to live in it for a short time. And Master said, "In the same way as He had cleaned this body, which had been built by God, so you should also clean your heart." We should not remain in the dirt forever, one time we have to reach our eternal Father. As long as the soul does not meet the Father again, He cannot be happy. This is the food of our life, which we can only get from our Father. This is the shining temple which is in us, and when you want to see Him, you can see Him there at any time. There is the flame of truth, and Master says, "O soul, you do not care for this temple where the flame is burning day and night. You are so busy with (outer) devotion and caring for the beauty of the gurdwara, mosque or church, but you do not see the inner temple. The human body, in which the Godpower resides all the time, is the highest in the creation."
Then the soul replies, "O Beloved, how can I thank You with my words. You have created the whole world, so many bodies, and in everybody You reside. O my God, how great You are that You always think of this temple. You have given us the true heart, a place called Harki Pauri, where one can make the holy round-walk (the Parkarma)." What is Harki Pauri? When the soul goes back, it first takes a bath there. Harki Pauri is in us. When we close the eyes, we can see Him at this place. "A heart where You could take residence is better than thousands of holy places. If You had not blessed me with this body, You could not live in my heart." He gave us the way of our life and made in us a place where He Himself can hide. Why is our temple thousand times more colourful (than any outer temple)? Because He, the giver of Naam, is within us and He is giving this colour to us. He gives us Naam. This temple has not been built by our hand but by Master's hand. Therein our Beloved gave us the water of His blessing, of His grace, and with the grace of His Naam, He made it strong like concrete. With the hardship (in the meditation) of His Naam, the light always shines in this temple. This is the temple of our competent Father, the treasure of His intoxication is always there! There is only one Sakhi (cupbearer), one Satguru, and one pot from where He distributes it. He made this pot out of His hardship. And when the soul has been dyed in this colour, one can see the soul shining in this temple. There the soul bows down and cries, "O God, You have always been residing in me, and I was only wandering around in the whole world. Without Your grace, nobody can find You!" The soul further says, "You have sent us into this world, You fill (the pot with Your colour) and You reside in us, but You keep the key in Your hand. … I know only one place where I can bow down: where day and night the hidden inner melody is going on in us."
With Master's sound-current the soul rises above and then it says, "Today I could see that there is only one place where I can bow down my head, one place for the devotion to Him, where Your inner light always shines. If You do not bless and guide us – with the outer ways we cannot go and reach inside. Only with Your grace can we rise above our body." This world is like a jungle, and when we rise above the body, we cross thousands of moons, stars, and suns.
When Master takes us to the seat of the soul, He takes the burden of His soul. If a Master is not able to take the burden of the soul, He is not competent. When the Master takes over the burden, the soul becomes very light and can go within. As long as we do not get the second birth from Master, the initiation, He cannot take our burden. Only with the power of Naam, with the initiation is the soul's burden removed. Only with His power can we go on the inner journey. Only when He gives His full grace does the door to the inner knowledge open.
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 5)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 6)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 1)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 2)
"His grace, Naam, or you may say His love – it is one and the same. It is a crest-jewel, and Master comes as a jeweler in the world. He also comes in the market to sell that very crest-jewel. A lot of people come, but no one dares to buy that crest- jewel, because it is priceless. So, the whole world is full of artificial diamonds also. They say, 'Yes, it is good – it appears like diamonds, so it is good.'"
The whole world is dealing in such affairs and no one is true to himself – what to say of others! How can one be true to the Master? How can we buy that crest-jewel? It is very difficult.+
"Where is He (God) to be found? We can only find Him in us, and there we have to search for Him. For ages and ages, man has been suffering but was unable to search for God in his own self.
One should have such an eye that can see Him so that He can take us where He is. Our inner husband resides at this place, and our eye should become one with Him. Then our soul says, "I have nothing to do with the world, I only need Your eyes." When we rise above the body and come on this path, the Master-power, the Godpower, who resides behind the two eyes, takes the child in His lap. And when after so many ages the soul meets God, there is no limit to the inner happiness. Then there is no more difference between soul and Master – it becomes one with Him. When all the coverings have been removed, one does not differentiate any longer; you love everybody as your own self. Then there are no enmities and no ill feelings against anyone."
We all have gathered here to have the darshan (sight) of the competent One. By His darshan our destiny can be changed, our luck can be changed. He is not far, He resides in our heart. He even quenches the thirst of those who wish to see Him physically. Such a competent Master is in us, not outside. Whoever has attained Him, has only attained Him within this body.
The outer love and attachment is only very short, and therefore we suffer. The Satguru opens the inner way according to the background of His disciple. And He brings us to the Satsang only to raise us above this physical world. With the power of His colour, by His Naam, we are able to rise to the higher spiritual regions and to see the radiant form of the Master. A Master who gives such a fragrance to us always remains with us.
First, we should know our purpose and should know the meaning of the religion into which we were born. We should not be bound to the outer religion (dharma) and thus get entangled in this world. The Mahapurushas come into this world to raise us above with their inner light. The competent Master has made a place in our heart. How can we get it (the highest bliss)? The problem is that we have gone far away from the highest bliss that we have to get from Him. We have separated from the highest Power and have taken a different way, and now our boat is drifting in the Bhav Sagar (the terrible ocean of the three worlds).
Nobody knows where He has come from and where He will go. Whoever has got Him, could get Him in the physical world, in the physical body. The human body that we have got, is the highest in the whole creation. When someone could get in contact with God, then only while being in this physical body.
Master says, "O soul, the time to meet Him is not far." The ocean of His love is overbrimming in the heart of the Master, and only with His full power can we attain Him.
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 4)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 5)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 6)
All scriptures speak of Naam but have not been able to say adequately what it is. It is impossible to define and delineate it in words. It may be described as "Life-impulse" or "Conscious-principle." When it begins to vibrate, it produces a melodious sound, which is termed Naam or Shabd. This Sound Current proceeding from the Deep Silence of the Formless Kutasth is responsible for all forms and colors, visible and invisible to the naked eye. All life hangs on this Life-principle. No life can exist without Naam. The Sound-principle is all-pervading; it may or may not be felt, yet it is reverberating from top to toe. It is the Kernel and the Essence and at once both the material and efficient Cause of the endless universes in which this physical earth is but a speck.
0 Pipa! This universal vibration is the Primal Causeless Cause, but can be apprehended only through a Master-soul.
In all religions, God is spoken of as the Sound-manifest or Life Principle. It is a current, alive and conscious, and has in it the germs of creation. It is because of this link between the Creator and the creation that the spirit or soul of a person can cross over the physical body and traverse the spiritual regions to reach the True Home of our Father-Sach Khand.
Access to spiritual regions cannot be gained except with the wings of Naam.
A Persian poet says,
It behooves thee to fly to the higher realms and that thou canst do with the wings of Naam.
If thou wishest union with Truth, thou must get united with Naam (i.e., Word or the manifest form of Truth unmanifested) for therein lies the only possible union with Truth.
The Path of the Naam is the most ancient and the most natural. It is in consonance with the Divine Law. In all the four ages, it had acted as a saving lifeline for the people.
During the last five hundred years, Saints like Kabir Sahib, Guru Nanak, and the other nine Sikh Gurus, Dadu Sahib, Paltu Sahib, Tulsi Sahib, Soami Shiv Dayal Singh, Baba Jaimal Singh, and Baba Sawan Singh have been the great exponents of this Path.
The Muslim divines have been practicing and preaching the Path of Kalma for fourteen hundred years or more. The Prophet Mohammed, Shamas Tabrez, Maulana Rumi, Hafiz Sahib, Moeen-ud-Din-Chisti, and others taught this very thing.
Again, two thousand years ago, John, the Baptist, and Christ laid down the Path of the Word or Logos. Zoroaster long before preached of Sarosha or the Sound Current in Persia. Lord Buddha, twenty-five hundred years ago, practiced this very sadhana (spiritual practice).
Four thousand years back, we find that in Egypt it was known as the "Path of Aton" which was preached by King Echnaton. In the Upanishads, we find references to Udgit or the Harmony of the Beyond. Lord Krishna, long before, was fully conversant with this science. In the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of the world, we read in Wak Devi Sikat of Naad or music and Sruti or that which is heard. Kabir Sahib tells us that He came in all the four Yugas, and every time He preached of Naam or Word.
Sant Kirpal Singh
Spiritual Talk by – Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 1)
Spiritual Talk by – Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 3)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 4)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 5)
Spiritual Talk – by Sant Kirpal Singh and Biji Surinder Kaur (part 6)
Let us take by our hands
By our hearts, by our heads
Let us sing together
The song of humanity
Let us forget dark nights between us
And let the sun shine on us
Let us treat as humans
As brother as sisters
Let us live love among us
Compassion from man to man
Let us help each other
Live for each other
Let us overcome differences
On the level of man
Let us not see the mistakes of others
But let us work on our own ones
Let us share a happy smile
To be happy together
DidiArtist, 19.12.2018
Today my heart is overflowing
With love and tears for everyone
I feel the deep connection
From man to man
From heart to heart
A music of the spheres
Between God and man
Between Creator and creation
Today my heart is overflowing
A symphony of love
A flow of tears
Golden water pearls running
Down from my cheeks
Feeling one with all
Embracing the universe
A divine kiss into my heart
My heart is dancing…
© DidiArtist, 15.04.2019


text:
Bubblegum ninjas!
First off, allow me to make the same observation everyone else has made: Ninjala is reminiscent of Splatoon. That's not to say it's a copy of Splatoon — if anything, sufficient playtime with the E3 demo proves they play rather differently — but take one look at the above header image and tell me it doesn't remind you of Nintendo's break-out shooter. Still, aside from being a fun time, it does succeed in presenting a similar hook through an absurd, yet strangely appealing concept: whereas Splatoon has kids turning into kids, Ninjala has kids engaging in ninja bubblegum action.
No, this isn't a joke: as you can see in the header, GungHo's new action game for Nintendo Switch has kids duking it out with tools utilizing chewy bubblegum. While we were limited to only four characters, one stage and one weapon (two of whom you can see above, the city setting also up there, and the weird bat you see above), the bizarre concept still shone through as an entertaining battle royale. It works something like this: armed with your weapon of choice, by blowing a giant bubble of gum, you can either fire it as a projectile or use it to reforge your weapon.
Wait, reforge? Let me put it this way: say you're walking around with your bat and you encounter the opposing player. While you could just go ahead and smack them, you'll find its default state doesn't have very good reach, and is especially no match for foes who've upgraded their bat to double the size. By using your bubble gum to extend its length, however, you'll then be on equal standing or perhaps even at an advantage. How, exactly, the gum powers up the weapon was unanswered, but I'm sure some fun lore will provide details in the final game. (And if you're still having trouble visualizing it, perhaps the game's trailer can help)
She's all outta bubblegum. Not.
Of course, the true star was the cast's wall-clinging abilities. Just as the actual ninjas once did (supposedly, anyway), you run up walls and hang down down from bridges. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to combat other players while hanging upside down, but I imagine it makes for a trippy, albeit way cool experience (not that walking upwards/downwards in itself wasn't). Naturally, such creativity demands balance; for instance, it's possible to run out of gum, so you'll need to retreat and chew up to restore your gauge. Meanwhile, getting hit with gum bubbles, or even having your own gum bubble popped renders you immobile in a sticky wad, and you'll be jamming buttons like mad to escape all the while being easy prey for your opponents.
Still, Ninjala wasn't without its imperfections. Perhaps the most pressing issue was the the camera, which wasn't very reliable in honing in on your opponents; in fact, there wasn't even a lock-on feature. Thankfully, the rep informed me it was absent for the demo, so I assume it'll be in the final version. I had also encountered some tokens in the form of Japanese lanterns which contribute to one's score, but their use wasn't immediately apparent and they felt haphazardly placed around rather than being enticingly natural pick-ups. Again, a work in-progress — we'll see if they're handled with more care when the game launches.
Too cool.
Splatoon clone or not, Ninjala seems set to successfully carve out its own niche. With some more polishing and a strong emphasis on its multiplayer deisng, we could end up with a third-party Switch classic down the road. Set for release in Spring 2019, we'll certainly be keeping our eyes on this one.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
HHS on Wednesday released a draft strategy aimed at reducing the administrative and regulatory burdens clinicians encounter when using health IT and EHRs, Inside Health Policy reports.
Innovation 101: Cheat sheets for today's digital world
As directed by the 21st Century Cures Act, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and CMS worked together to gather clinician and other industry stakeholder feedback on the best ways to ease administrative and regulatory burdens tied to health IT and EHRs.
The resulting draft strategy centers on three goals:
- Improving EHRs to be more functional and intuitive;
- Reducing the time and effort clinicians are required to spend recording health information in EHRs; and
- Reducing the time and effort clinicians, hospitals, and health care organizations are required to spend meeting regulatory reporting requirements.
Inside the draft strategy
HHS Secretary Alex Azar said the draft strategy includes a number of incremental changes for clinicians, industry stakeholders, and HHS to adopt to gradually ease burdens related to health IT and EHRs over three to five years.
For example, the draft strategy suggests clinicians can reduce burdens from clinical documentation requirements tied to EHRs and health IT by:
- Partnering with stakeholders to promote best practices for documentation and advancing the best practices through CMS technical assistance;
- Using data already available in EHRs to reduce re-documentation in clinical notes; and
- Waiving documentation requirements when needed to test and run alternative pay models.
According to the draft strategy, health IT developers should standardize EHRs' medical information, order entry content, and standardize results display conventions. The draft strategy stated, "Health IT developers should consider implementing common approaches to basic clinical operations across EHRs, so that clinicians do not have to utilize a significantly different interface each time they switch between systems."
In addition, the draft strategy states, "HHS can play a role in helping to evaluate and address process and clinical workflow factors contributing to the burden associated with prior authorization." In particular, the draft strategy stated HHS could:
- Build on efforts to identify the common data elements and standardize templates for developers to use to bring more automation to the prior authorization processes;
- Coordinate efforts to design new approaches for prior authorization among stakeholders;
- Provide incentives for providers who adopt certified technology, which functions in accordance with recognized standards; and
- Support pilot programs for standardizing electronic ordering services.
According to the draft strategy, "Testing these new approaches is important, and HHS could engage a wide variety of payers, health care providers, and other third-party intermediaries in working toward robust standards-based automation of these transactions."
The draft strategy also included recommendations on health IT usability and public health reporting. Specifically, the draft strategy recommended HHS:
- Adopt common industry standards to improve interoperability between EHRs and prescription drug monitoring programs;
- Better align the design of EHR systems with real-world clinical workflow;
- Bring internal consistency to health IT products;
- Bring stakeholders together to identify data commonly reported from state and federal programs;
- Harmonize the steps users take for basic clinical operations across EHRs;
- Improve the usability of clinical decision support and the functionality and presentation of clinical data in EHRs; and
- Improve the user interface design standards of EHRs.
In terms of EHR reporting, the draft strategy recommends:
- CMS consider how feasible it would be to adopt a first-year test reporting approach for new electronic clinical quality measures;
- The improvement and development of health IT measures geared toward interoperability and relevant to providers' practice and patient improvement;
- The adoption of new data standards that would make it easier and less costly for providers to access, analyze, extract, and integrate data across EHRs.
HHS is accepting public comments on the draft strategy through Jan. 28, 2019. HHS intends to release the final strategy in late 2019.
Andrew Gettinger, ONC's chief clinical officer, and Kate Goodrich, CMS' CMO, in a blog post wrote, "This draft strategy includes recommendations that will allow physicians and other clinicians to provide effective care to their patients with a renewed sense of satisfaction for them and their patient."
Health IT Now Executive Director Joel White called the proposal a "worthy step" toward easing onerous burdens related to EHR reporting. "We are heartened by [the] release of ONC's draft strategy on reducing the burdens associated with use of health IT and EHRs, and are hopeful that this is the start of a new chapter in the federal regulation of health IT," he said (Stein, Inside Health Policy, 11/28 [subscription required]; Harris, Healthcare IT News, 11/28; Monica, EHR Intelligence, 11/28; Kim Cohen, Becker's Health IT & CIO Report,11/28).
Innovation 101: Cheat sheets for today's digital world
Download our cheat sheets so you can keep track of the fast-changing technologies and capitalize on opportunities for IT-powered innovation. Check out our guides for these topics and more:


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Tom Caffrey, M.Ed, BCBA, international trainer and speaker and founder and director of VBN Training, has created a series of video training modules to help parents and professionals overcome the daily behavioral challenges children with autism and their families face. As a parent of a child with autism, Caffrey understands these challenges firsthand.
This is the second in a pair of two articles about Caffrey's video training modules. This article reviews « Getting Kids to Eat ». The first article reviewed Caffrey's training module « Overcoming Irrational Fears ».
In this training module, « Getting Kids to Eat », the viewer follows a young boy who only ate McDonald's chicken nuggets and gummy candies for two years before starting a feeding program at school created and supervised by Caffrey. The videos show him progress to eating a wide variety of foods willingly and happily.
In the training module, Caffrey explains why many children with autism become picky eaters. He teaches how to identify three guidelines for selecting food targets in a feeding program. Then, he explains how to implement the necessary steps to increase both the amount and variety of food a child with autism will eat.
« Selective eating » in children with autism may refer to children who only eat certain foods (even if the foods they eat are nutritious), refusal to eat a nutritionally adequate diet, or absolute refusal to eat certain foods or food group. Selective eaters remain selective eaters due to two main contributing factors : accidental reinforcement and / or sensory issues (the child may be reluctant to eat foods that have a particular look, smell, taste, or texture). Caffrey explains how the child's « learning pattern » with food influences what he will eat. For example, the child's refusal to eat something may lead the parent to present a more desirable food to the child. This most likely leads to the child refusing to eat the initial food again the next time it is presented in order to receive the second, more desirable, food.
Children with autism tend to eat foods that fit into one of the following four food categories : sweet, salty, sour, or bitter. Some child insist on eating foods that are all the same color. Others may refuse to eat foods of one color.
When starting a feeding program, it is essential to get medical clearance (to verify there are no medical conditions keeping the child from eating) and to obtain a list of all current and past foods eaten in order to know where to start. Initial food targets will be foods that the child has eaten willingly in the past three months and that have what Caffrey calls « a good sensory fit » meaning they have the taste and texture your child currently enjoys. The main goal, according to Caffrey, is to « get your child to eat new foods ».
In order to teach the child to enjoy new foods, it will be necessary to make sure your child is hungry at the time the new food is presented, that you gradually fade in the amount of food to be eaten and that a promised reward or reinforcer is presented once the child has eaten the new food. Caffrey shows the boy completing such steps as holding a piece of the new food to his cheek or lips in gradual steps before he is expected to actually eat the food.
Here is one testimonial from a teacher and mother of a special needs child from Jackson, NJ. Jennifer F. Special Education Teacher says:
"I credit Tom with being the catalyst for change in my classroom, or as I like to say, he presented me with my missing piece. A few years after attending Tom's workshop, I had a son. At age two, he was diagnosed with autism. Never in my life have I been so thankful for knowledge that someone imparted on me. All of the procedures that I initially learned from Tom and implemented in my classroom with great success were used in my own home with the same amazing outcome!
I recommend Tom's DVD training series to parents, teachers or anyone working with students with developmental disabilities, especially autism."
More information about Caffrey's video training modules can be found on his web site: www.tomcaffrey.com.


text:
What Is Chaturbate Silence Level – Chaturbate is one of the most popular adult dating sites on the web. It is very comparable to adult chat websites like Chatroulette, XS4 and others. It is a totally free to sign up with adult dating neighborhood with millions of active users. It attracts many individuals particularly teens, college students and individuals living in the city or town. This website has actually always brought in lots of newcomers because it began and continues to do so.
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The finest thing about the private programs is that they are generally longer and more descriptive than the much shorter chat sessions. Chaturbate tokens provide you a subscription which enables access to a larger number of web cams and chat rooms.
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It's been four years since Flo Rida released a full-length record—but that doesn't mean the hip-hop artist is holding back new material. All along, he's been dropping new music as singles and as promotional material—while continuing to tour and, yes, work on a new album.
After a successful performance last year at Fantasy Springs, Flo Rida is returning to the area for a show at Morongo Casino Resort Spa on Friday, Aug. 12.
The Florida-based rapper has worked with numerous big names and has taken the music world by storm by combining electronic dance music with his rap. During a recent phone interview, Flo Rida talked about his latest high-profile performance—July 31 at the Teen Choice Awards.
"I was proud to be a part of it," Flo Rida said. "That event was amazing. (I had) a chance to perform this year and have records that appeal to the level of everyone. The teens were full of joy and reminded me of when I was a teen."
Later this month, Flo Rida will perform another high-profile show: He'll again work with World Wrestling Entertainment, appearing at SummerSlam as a musical guest.
"I've performed for them a lot of times, and they're like family," he said. "I look forward to going out there with my dancers. My passion is performing and getting the crowd pumped up.
"I'm always intrigued by all of those matches, because they go out there, and the crowd doesn't know what to expect."
Flo Rida's most recent substantial release was an EP, My House, in 2015. He's been continuing to work on his next album and has already released a couple of singles: "Hello Friday," "Who's With Me?" and most recently "Who Did You Love," featuring Arianna.
"I'm actually still in the studio working right now. But as far as the new album goes, I've definitely put more melodies in the music," he said. "I've had a chance to travel to a lot more places, so as far as production goes, I've had a chance to work with different producers a lot more. I haven't come up with a title yet, so I'm hoping the fans will help me out."
I asked Flo Rida about the Black Lives Matter movement, a subject which has found its way into a fair amount of rap as of late.
"I just think about love, peace, and happiness," Flo Rida said. "As far as Black Lives Matters goes, I'm an African American, and I feel like all lives matter at the end of the day. The politics of all of it is more of a personal thing. I think it starts in your own home, your own neighborhood, and doing things that inspire each other. I think the world would definitely be a better place if people thought about that."
Flo Rida said he enjoyed his performance last year in the Coachella Valley and is looking forward to returning to the desert.
"I love it there, because of the fact everyone knows my music," he said. "The last time I was there, I had an amazing time, so I'm looking forward to being back there in hopes of topping the last performance."
I asked Flo Rida what he'd like to happen next in his career.
"I'd like to have more placements of my songs in movies," he said. "I look forward to getting into a film myself and branching out and taking advantage of anything that comes along with having a successful career."
I had to ask: What kind of movie would Flo Rida enjoy doing?
"Action movies!" he exclaimed.
Flo Rida will perform at 9 p.m., Friday, Aug. 12, at Morongo Casino Resort Spa, 49500 Seminole Drive, in Cabazon. Tickets are $65 to $75. For tickets or more information, call 800-252-4499, or visit www.morongocasinoresort.com.


text:
Justin Snow - from uniwatchblog.com
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Tagged as American football, blackwater, blackwatertown, Buffalo, Colts, football, Justin Snow, snow, weather
Blackwatertown - the blog & the book - are by Paul Waters. (So is The Obituarist.) I present a podcast & radio show called We'd Like A Word with Stevyn Colgan. It's about books, authors, publishers, readers, editors, agents, illustrators, poets, script writers & lyricists. The podcast is at https://anchor.fm/wed-like-a-word or wherever you get your podcasts. And the website is www.wedlikeaword.com or on social media @wedlikeaword
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Savory Mini Reuben Sandwich Tarts
April 17, 2019 Comments
- Prep:
- 1 Hour 15 Minutes
- Cook:
- 15 Minutes
- Serves:
- Makes 18 - 24 Tarts
Looking for appetizer ideas? Make your favorite Reuben sandwich into mini tarts that are great as an easy party appetizers or game day snack. Try it today!
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Combine cheese, margarine and flour then mix.
- Place in refrigerator for one hour.
- Form into small balls and place in un-greased muffin tins.
- Form the dough to the bottom and sides of cups.
- Combine remaining ingredients and mix for the filling.
- Spoon the filling into the cups and sprinkle with paprika.
- Bake at until brown, about 15 minutes


text:
I'll admit it, I've tended towards despairing a bit at the media releases in the lead up to another global conference on limiting climate damage. First there were lots of reports about arctic ice melting, then there were similar discussion about the fact that some people, 'science be damned', weren't going to be changing their…Read More
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Getting Us Together
It's been a busy week already and it's only Tuesday. One of the challenges that we face is that it is really easy to come across like you believe that you're the only one doing anything to change the way we live. This is not only arrogant but it's simply not true, there are loads…Read More


text:
During her speech at the DNC tonight, Sarah Silverman endorsed Hillary Clinton. Despite campaigning for Bernie Sanders up until the convention, Silverman said, "Hillary is our Democratic nominee and I will proudly vote for her." Silverman held nothing back, laying out a path for fellow Bernie supporters to get on board. She said, "I will vote for Hillary with gusto, as I continue to be inspired and moved to action by the ideals set forth by Bernie, who will never stop fighting for us. I am proud to be a part of Bernie's movement and a vital part of that movement, and a vital part of that movement is making sure Hillary Clinton is the next president of the United States."
"To the Bernie or Bust people: you're being ridiculous."Despite her enthusiasm, Sarah's endorsement was loudly drowned out by both boos and cheers for "Bernie." However, after she finished her prepared speech, Sarah had blunt words for those in the audience claiming to be Bernie or Bust. Visibly frustrated, trying to speak over the chants, Sarah addressed the audience and announced, "Can I just say to the Bernie or Bust people: you're being ridiculous." And with one sentence, she summarized what many Hillary Clinton supporters are thinking.


text:
Tate, A R, Nicholson, A and Cassell, J A (2010) Are GPs under-investigating older patients with ovarian cancer? Observational study using General Practice Research Database. British Journal of Cancer, 102 (6). pp. 947-951. ISSN 00070920
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Background: Recent studies suggest that older patients in the United Kingdom are not benefiting as much from improvements in cancer treatments as their younger counterparts. We investigate whether this might be partly due to differential referral rates using ovarian cancer as an example. Methods: From the General Practice Research Database (GPRD), we identified all women aged 4080 years on 1 June 2002 with a Read code for ovarian cancer between 1 June 2002 and 31 May 2007. Using these records, we compared the GPRD incidence of ovarian cancer with rates compiled from the UK cancer registries and investigated the relationship between age and coded investigations for suspected ovarian cancer. Results: The GPRD rates peaked earlier, at 7074, and were lower than registry rates for nearly all ages particularly for patients over 59. The proportion investigated or referred by the GP decreased significantly with age and delays between first coded symptom and investigation showed a U-shaped distribution by age. Conclusions: GPs appear to be less likely to recognise and to refer patients presenting with ovarian cancer as they get older. If our findings extend to other cancers, lack of or delays in referral to secondary care may partly explain poor UK cancer mortality rates of older people. Keywords:
|Item Type:
|Schools and Departments:
|School of Engineering and Informatics > Informatics
|Depositing User:
|Rosemary Tate
|Date Deposited:
|06 Feb 2012 20:36
|Last Modified:
|02 Jul 2019 22:20
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Wordsmiths earn respect of English teachers
May 18, 2016
Having a way with words has propelled seniors Rickie Branson and Travis Gibson to excellence in language arts classes. Branson and Gibson were chosen as the seniors top English students of the year.
"Travis has an analytical mind. He does a great job analyzing literary pieces and writing responses to literature," English teacher Tricia Foster said.
"Rickie has a way with her words," English teacher Amanda Adler said.
These top seniors have found that hard work does pay off eventually. With ninety-two graduates in the senior class, it's an honor for Branson and Gibson to be chosen as the top two English students.
" Skills taught to me through my English courses will certainly benefit my future career, though it will not be directly related to English," Senior Rickie Branson said.
" Having these skills will help me in the future because I can write formal letters to businesses, poetry for entertainment, reference papers in college, basically any writing I will need to do I'm prepared for," senior Travis Gibson said.
The top English students also have some advice to pass down to the younger students.
" Learn to be attentive to all elements of writing a paper and learn to love writing. Doing those two things will get you far in writing quality work," Branson said.
"My advice to becoming a top English student is simple, read. If you read enough, writing will come to you just as easily," Gibson said.


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Binary search is a blazingly-fast search algorithm that has a worst case Big O of
Ο(log n), the average case is
O(log n) and the best case is
O(1). In short it's a search algorithm that is about as fast as you can get.
Binary Search utilises divide and conquer to reduce much of the potential runtime. In fact, it is a lot like merge sort in how it functions but of course one algorithm is used to sort data and this one is used to find data.
For the algorithm to run properly, the data must be pre-sorted and be have elements of the same or similar types held within. So if your collection contains strings and integers, it won't work, you must have elements using a consistent data type withinin your collection.
When the binary search is executed, it will take an input
collection and a
value to find and if the value exists we will return the index of that
value within the
collection and if it doesn't we will return
-1 out of convention to represent that the
value doesn't exist in the
collection after all.
from main import binarySearch;
def test_strings():
assert binarySearch(["Dave", "James"], "Dave") == 0;
assert binarySearch(["Dave", "James"], "abc") == -1;
def test_integers():
assert binarySearch([1, 2, 3,4], 3) == 2;
assert binarySearch([1, 2, 3, 4], 5) == -1;
def test_floats():
assert binarySearch([3.14], 3.14) == 0;
assert binarySearch([3.141], 3.14) == -1;
def test_booleans():
assert binarySearch([False, True], True) == 1;
assert binarySearch([True], False) == -1;
def test_lists():
assert binarySearch([[3.14]], [3.14]) == 0;
assert binarySearch([[3.141]], [3.14]) == -1;
def test_nested_lists():
assert binarySearch([[3.14, [1]]], [3.14, [1]]) == 0;
assert binarySearch([[3.141]], [3.14]) == -1;
def test_sets():
assert binarySearch([set([1])], set([1])) == 0;
assert binarySearch([set([1])], set([1,2])) == -1;
def test_tuples():
assert binarySearch([tuple([0,2]), tuple([1])], tuple([1])) == 1;
assert binarySearch([tuple([1])], tuple([1, 2])) == -1;
In python, as with many other languages, some elements can't compare with one another in a non-hacky manner, even if they are both the same type. An example of this is that types such as
dict cannot run comparisons like
{'a': 1} > {'a': 1}.
For binary search we do need to use comparison operators like that though and so I represented only the types that are comparible with the
< and
<= operators that binary search utilises.
Here is a repl to run and play with the tests:
There are a few ways to skin this particular cat. For that reason, I will show you two implementations for the Binary Search algorithm. One will be using an imperative approach and another using Recursion.
Both implementations expect uniform data and are typed for this reason. We expect data to contain consistent types in the input collection so that the search is guaranteed to be able to compare the items in the collection against one another. If we didn't do this we may get unexpected errors such as this:
TypeError: '>' not supported between instances of 'list' and 'str'
Just remember to normalise and sort your data before you begin using the implementations that will be outlined below or if you decide to build your own implementation in the future as these traits are a requirement of the algorithm.
The imperative approach
Imperative programming is a programming paradigm which describes how a programme should run. This paradigm uses statements to alter a programmes state and generate values.
from typing import List, TypeVar;
from operator import eq as deep_equals, gt as greater_than, ne as not_equal, le as less_than_or_equal;
from math import floor;
T = TypeVar('T');
def binarySearch(collection: List[T], value: T) -> int:
start = 0;
end = len(collection) - 1;
middle = floor((start + end) / 2);
while(not_equal(collection[middle], value) and less_than_or_equal(start, end)):
if greater_than(value, collection[middle]): start = middle + 1;
else: end = middle - 1;
middle = floor((start + end) / 2);
return middle if deep_equals(collection[middle], value) else -1;
We begin by importing some helpers from the python standard library which has a whole swath of helper functions for us to use in our code.
A point worth noting is the use of
TypeVarfrom the
typingmodule to align our input types for the
All this means is that when we recieve the collection, it should have items of consistent type
Tand the
valuewe want to search for should also be of type
So if we have the
collectionof type
List[str]for example then value must also be an
strbut instead of hard-coding this, we let
TypeVardo the work for us.
binarySearch function will recieve a
collection to search within and a
value to look for in that
collection. If the
value is found then we return it's location (index) in the
To find the index we setup the
end and
middle indexes of the
collection. While the
value is not equal to the value in the
middle of the
collection and the
start index is less than or equal to the
end index, we check if the
value is bigger than the
middle value, if it is, we set the
start index to begin on the next iteration from the
middle, otherwise we set the end to be the
We do this because if the
valueis greater than the value in the
middleof the
collection, the
valuemust be on the right half of the collection and vice versa for the opposite case.
Either way the condition falls we will then reset the
middle index to be in between the new
start and
end indexes. We continue with this process until the condition on the while loop is no longer true.
When the while loop exits, we check if the
middle indexes value is the
value we are looking for. If it is, we return the
middle index and if it isn't then the
value wasn't in the input collection and we return
-1 to represent this case.
The recursive approach
from typing import List, TypeVar, Union;
from operator import eq as deep_equals, gt as greater_than, ne as not_equal, le as less_than_or_equal, ge as greater_than_or_equal;
from math import floor;
T = TypeVar('T');
def binarySearch(collection: List[T], value: T, start: int = 0, end: Union[int, None] = None) -> int:
if deep_equals(end, None):
end = len(collection) - 1;
if greater_than_or_equal(end, start):
middle = floor((start + end) / 2);
if deep_equals(collection[middle], value):
return middle;
if greater_than(collection[middle], value):
return binarySearch(collection, value, start, middle - 1);
return binarySearch(collection, value, middle + 1, end);
return -1;
Exactly like the imperative approach outlined above, we begin by importing some helpers from the python standard library which has a whole swath of helper functions for us to use in our code.
A point worth noting is the use of
TypeVarfrom the
typingmodule to align our input types for the
All this means is that when we recieve the collection, it should have items of consistent type
Tand the
valuewe want to search for should also be of type
So if we have the
collectionof type
List[str]for example then value must also be an
strbut instead of hard-coding this, we let
TypeVardo the work for us.
The recursive version naturally calls itself again and again and requires a couple more parameters to be provided on each call than the imperative approach does. Namely we need to know where to the
start index and
end index are for the current recursive call of the
binarySearch function.
Initially the
start will be at
0 which makes sense since we want to begin at the start of the
collection and the
end initially will be set to
None but will be set to the length of the
collection mins one once the function first runs.
Note: We set
endto initialise itself with a value of
Nonebecause in python you can't reference other parameters to use as default values of other parameters. To get around this, we set it's type to
Union[None, int]which just means this can be of type
int. Once the function first executes we set the
endvalue to the length of the
collectionmins one because if a
collectioncontains 5 items the last index would be 4 since lists/arrays are always 0 indexed.
If the
end index is greater than or equal to the starting index we calculate where the
middle index of the current
collection is and consider 3 cases:
- If the item at the
middleindex equals the value we are looking for, return the
- If the item at the
middleindex is greater than the value we are looking for then run a recursive call to
binarySearchto check the left half of the
collectionfor the
- If the item at the
middleindex is less than the value we are looking for then run a recursive call to
binarySearchto check the right half of the
collectionfor the
If none of these recursive calls manage to find the
value in the
collection then we return
-1 by default.
The Binary Search algorithm is always a fantastic choice to find values within sorted and type-consistent data sets.
Personally I try to always keep data within applications as uniform as possible and thus, I find myself using this algorithm relatively often in my day to day work. I highly recommend looking into it further and seeing how it can benefit you and your work too!
I hope you learned something new today and if you have any questions, ideas or comments, feel free to comment them below!


text:
Singapore Banking Monthly - Mortgage Growth At A 17-Year Low
- January's domestic loan growth remained flat at 3.16% y-o-y, held up by building and construction loan while mortgage growth was the slowest in seventeen years.
- January's domestic deposits rose 4.8% y-o-y, boosted by fixed deposit growth of 15.1% y-o-y, the fastest in eleven years.
- February's 3-month SIBOR is still rising. It is now 1.953%, surpassing last month's 11 year-high.
- Hong Kong's January loan growth remained flat at 3.1% y-o-y.
- Maintain OVERWEIGHT for the Singapore Banking Sector.
Singapore's January domestic loan growth flat at 3.16% y-o-y (Dec: 3.04% y-o-y)
- January's domestic loans growth was held up by business loan growth of 4.8% y-o-y. Growth was mainly attributable to Building & Construction's robust loan growth of 13.8% y-o-y, the fastest since May 2016. These are drawdowns of loans from existing projects in the pipeline. We expect growth for new construction projects and mortgages to slow down in end 2019 due to property cooling measures.
- Meanwhile, consumer loan growth weakened to 0.82% y-o-y due to mortgage weaknesses. Mortgage growth decelerated to 1.6% y-o-y, the slowest in seventeen years. Due to worsening macro-economic conditions, we expect loan growth for the banks to slow to 4-6% for FY2019e as compared to 7-11% in FY2018.
Singapore's January domestic deposits grew 4.8% y-o-y, the fastest in 1.5 years (CASA contracted 1.1% y-o-y; Fixed deposit expanded 15.1% y-o-y)
- In a rising interest rate environment, the banking industry has been aggressively plumping up their fixed deposits. Singapore's fixed deposits registered the highest growth in eleven years at 15.1% y-o-y as compared to FY2018's monthly average growth of 1.6% y-o-y.
- Government & Statutory Authorities' deposit growth surged a massive 44.0% y-o-y, at levels unseen since August 2011. As the financial sector bulks up in pricier fixed deposits, the corresponding rise in cost of funds makes it a constant challenge for the banks manage costs well enough to achieve NIM expansion.
- January's proportion of fixed deposits and CASA as a percentage of total deposits are 40% and 60% respectively.
Hong Kong's January loan growth flat at 3.1% y-o-y
- Hong Kong's January residential sales and purchase value and volume spiked 86.6% and 120.5% m-o-m respectively. Home prices in Hong Kong have started to roll-over. Since the peak in July 2018, prices have softened by 9.4% in January 2019.
- Higher interest rates should support the banking sector's profitability.
February's 3-month SIBOR reached 1.953%, surpassing last month's 11 year-high.
- 3-month SOR expanded 10bps m-o-m to 2.039%. Meanwhile, the savings rate in Singapore remained unchanged at 0.16%. With loans pegged to floating and fixed rates taking months and years respectively to reprice, we will continue to see NIM expansion even if there is a pause in interest rate hikes. However, given the recent dovish tone set by the US Federal Reserve, we do not expect interest rates to rise as fast as it did in 2018.
- We reduced our FY19e NIM estimates for the three banks by c.3%.
Investment Actions
Maintain Singapore Banking Sector at overweight.
- Higher NIM, low provisions and better cost management should provide upsides to ROE improvements. The banking sector gives an attractive dividend yield support of c.5%. All three banks (UNITED OVERSEAS BANK LTD (SGX:U11), DBS GROUP HOLDINGS LTD (SGX:D05) and OVERSEA-CHINESE BANKING CORP (SGX:O39))' robust CET-1 ratios should sustain current pay-out ratios.
- Key risks include
- lower pass-through of interest rates;
- lesser U.S. Federal Reserve rate hikes;
- market volatility continues to pressure Treasury Market revenues downwards;
- weaker sentiments due to trade tensions.
Tin Min Ying Phillip Securities Research | https://www.stocksbnb.com/ 2019-03-01
SGX Stock Analyst Report 29.000 SAME 29.000


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International Women's Day 2019 (8th March) will see an unusual event taking place in the centre of Newcastle.
Grey's Monument is to be covered in hundreds of red pompoms and will fly red streamers from its top.
The monument will be decorated in this way to protest against the stigma which is still associated with periods and to highlight the issue of period poverty – women struggling to afford basic sanitary products.
The pompoms are to remind people that periods are normal and natural and should not be a source of shame, embarrassment or disgust. Instead the event hopes to promote a message of 'period positivity'.
Surveys show that nearly half of young women in the UK between the ages of 14 and 21 are embarrassed by their periods and that one in ten have been unable to afford sanitary protection.
The deputy leader of Newcastle City Council, Cllr Joyce McCarthy, said, "The pompoms are a great and easy way for people across the city to get involved in International Women's Day celebrations and raise awareness about this important issue."
"Period poverty is a growing challenge facing many women and girls and dealing with periods is a struggle for many."
"Too often women and girls are left feeling ashamed, embarrassed or uncomfortable about their period, and this event and the use of red pompoms is a fitting way for people to come together and challenge the taboo around periods."
The event on March 8th will begin with a pop-up choir coming together at 10.00 am in Bewick Hall in the City Library to run through some songs.
The choir will move on to Grey's Monument at 11.30 am, where they will sing as the monument is decorated with the pompoms and streamers.
Members of the public are being asked to contribute red pompoms for the event. Anybody who makes the pompoms can drop them off at the main reception of Newcastle Civic Centre or at the City Library between 26th February and 1st March.
In addition to individual members of the public, community groups, schools, local clubs, knitting circles, crafting circles and staff groups will all be helping to make the pompoms.
If you would like to make some pompoms, please make sure you include two long threads so the pompoms can be strung together. The pompoms must be red. A diameter of 10 centimetres is ideal, but they can be of any size.
As well as the decorating of Grey's Monument, a number of other events and activities for International Women's Day will be taking place across Newcastle organised by women's groups.
Anybody who wishes to take part in either the pop-up choir or the monument decorating on 8th March should register in advance. You can register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/international-womens-day-period-povertypositivity-event-tickets-54257062334.
Facts about period poverty and stigma can be found at https://plan-uk.org/media-centre/plan-international-uks-research-on-period-poverty-and-stigma.


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Are you looking for affordable dental discount plans in Freer, TX 78357? Perhaps you need a root canal, insurance for braces, or just a simple cleaning. Could be you are needing a dental plan for your kids or dental insurance for seniors. It doesn't matter what you need, you are probably wanting your purchase to be cheap insurance for affordable dental work. Before you look any further, you will want to check out good discount dental plans and quotes in Freer, Texas 78357 by clicking on the following link.
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However, at this year's 24th edition of Sani Festival, we are seeking to expand the artistic limits between searching and reconnecting.
In this context, in our quest for British 'diamonds' hailing from different musical backgrounds, we will be hosting the one and only appearance by the precocious and internationally acclaimed British composer, soul singer and actress Joss Stone on 29 July. With pristine vocal expression, Stone emotionally bridges soul, blues and reggae music.
Friends of classical music will have the opportunity to enjoy a live performance by the world-renowned British virtuoso violinist Daniel Hope on 13 August, who will narrate to us the story of the violin and its breakthrough during the Baroque period, a story based on his award-winning work for the renowned Deutsche Grammophon label. He will be accompanied by the AIR ensemble, consisting of exceptional Baroque music soloists, including Simos Papanas, the award-winning Thessaloniki musician with an international career as a baroque violin soloist, and concertmaster of Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra.
This year's 'Jazz on the Hill' section will focus on virtuoso pianists. The 24th Festival's curtain raiser will feature a highly promising pianist, a true revelation from Germany, who has stirred international interest and has won the respect of critics and audiences alike: Michael Wollny will appear for one night only in Greece on 8 July and will introduce us to his trio through his night-time musical wanderings.
This year, we will reconnect with the charismatic pianist Yaron Herman, whom we had first presented in Greece during Sani Festival 2009 as a rising star, whose talent and passion for jazz piano swiftly highlighted him as one of the greatest musicians of his generation. Yaron Herman will return to Sani Festival on 9 July as the artistic director of the Montreux Jazz Academy.
The tribute to jazz pianists will end on 23 July with the spotlight falling on the Japanese multi-faceted musical personality of Hiromi, one of the most profound and creative figures of 21st-century music. With her growth propelled by her continuously expanding talents as pianist, composer and bandleader, she has discovered and is advocating her own musical genre, which is characterised by sensitivity, energy and staggering virtuosity. During her live performances, she is accompanied by acclaimed musicians, such as the legendary drummer Simon Phillips and the exceptional double bassist Anthony Jackson, making musical history in the process.
The section focusing on Greek entechni music, titled Greek Variations, will feature the one-of-a-kind Dionyssis Savvopoulos, accompanied by the great, undimmed voice of Greek popular song, Eleni Vitali, for a single concert on 20th of August. A 'theatre' of songs, with the seal of our beloved songwriter, written as only he knows how, entertaining us through a historically important musical collaboration.
This musical rainbow featuring the colours of Greece could not be complete without Alkistis Protopsalti, one of the most beloved Greek performers, renowned for her 'Doric' and tender voice, her singular expression and her unique stage presence that rouses audiences throughout the globe. We will have the opportunity to enjoy her on 5 August during a programme that will include poetry by Nobel prize-winner Odysseas Elytis set to music, modern Greek compositions and her finest songs with added rock touches, songs that fill the soul"
The imaginative and fluently skilful German pianist Michael Wollny was born in 1978 in Schweinfurt. His trademark: the unpredictable, the quest for the never-before-heard, the courage to devote himself to the moment, to make the unforeseen sound self-evident. His desire to keep reinventing himself, both in terms of sound and composition; that is what makes him a "consummate piano maestro" (FAZ) and "the biggest (jazz) musician personality that Germany has produced since Albert Mangelsdorff" (Hamburger Abendblatt). In 2005 he signed a contract with the label ACT Music + Vision on which he released several albums with his trio.
Yaron Herman, Israeli jazz pianist from France, began his recording career at a young age and was roundly acclaimed. Some even referred to him as the Keith Jarrett of his generation. Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, on July 12, 1981, he began learning piano relatively late in life as a teenager and, after only a few years of study, moved to Boston, MA, to attend the Berklee College of Music at age 19. He didn't stay long at Berklee, however, and instead moved to Paris, France, where he began his recording career at age 21. Herman's full-length album debut, Takes 2 to Know 1 (2004), was a collaborative effort with drummer Sylvain Ghio released on the label Sketch. He subsequently made his solo album debut with Variations (2006) on Laborie Records. Also in 2006 he performed on the Raphaël Imbert-led Newtopia Project album Suite Elegiaque released on the classical label Zig-Zag Territoires. In 2007 Herman hit the French albums chart with A Time for Everything, the debut recording of the Yaron Herman Trio, comprised also of bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Gerald Cleaver. Released on Laborie Records, the album features original material as well as interpretations of contemporary pop hits by Björk ("Army of Me") and Britney Spears ("Toxic"), plus older yet similarly well-known songs by the Police ("Message in a Bottle") and Leonard Cohen ("Hallelujah").
Japan has produced an impressive assemblage of jazz pianists, from Toshiko Akiyoshi and Makoto Ozone to Junko Onishi. And now, well into the change of the 21st century, the pianist/composer Hiromi Uehara is the latest in that line of amazing musicians. Ever since the 2003 release of her debut Telarc CD, Another Mind, Hiromi has electrified audiences and critics east and west, with a creative energy that encompasses and eclipses the boundaries of jazz, classical and pop parameters, taking improvisation and composition to new heights of complexity and sophistication. Her new CD, Spark, her tenth as a leader, features her critically acclaimed Trio Project, consisting of contrabass guitarist Anthony Jackson (Steely Dan, Paul Simon, Michel Camilo, The O'Jays and Chick Corea) and drummer Simon Phillips (Toto, The Who, Judas Priest, David Gilmour and Jack Bruce).


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Delran house sells for $218K
A 1,476-square-foot house in Delran has changed hands. The property at 4 Larkspur Court was sold in September 2019. The $217,500 purchase price works out to $147 per square foot, which is above the Delran median of $130. Price per square foot is a useful way to compare the value of homes of different sizes, but it does not account for the many other factors that affect home prices.
These nearby houses have also recently changed hands:
- A 1,516-square-foot home at 10 Larkspur Court sold in May for $222,000, a price per square foot of $146.
- A 1,476-square-foot home at 4 Meadow Lane sold in June for $237,000, a price per square foot of $161.
- A 1,898-square-foot home at 1 Winterberry Place sold in September for $213,000, a price per square foot of $112.
So far this year, 223 houses have sold in Delran, where the median sales price is $235,000.
See what homes have sold in your area by searching our historical database of New Jersey property sales, and find other useful public information in DataUniverse.
This story was automatically generated using real estate transaction data from the state of New Jersey. If you have a question or find a mistake, please email us at .


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One of those things that turned out to be an EDS thingPosted January 28, 2021
When I sit, invariably I cross my ankles and they relax into this position. Sadly, this also means they give whenever they feel like it. My story is not uncommon in that things I can do, I thought were fairly 'normal', have apparently turned out to be 'EDS-things'; such as my ankles relaxing up to a 90-degree angle.
I have had issues all of my life but saw so many different specialists (orthopedic, OBGYN, audiologists, ENT, cardiologist, and more) that I was considered to be accident-prone or an exaggerator, until I had a genetic test that led to my actual diagnosis at age 48. While I am grateful I now know the cause, it has opened up a whole new round of doctor visits and diagnoses as they explore all the things connected to EDS. Things that had remained undiagnosed: Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, orthostatic intolerance, skin sensitivities, medication reactions, auto-immune arthritis, and more.
I am the first person in my family to be diagnosed, but by just looking at and knowing what some of my extended family can do, I doubt I am the only one. Sadly, I think the fear of being labeled with something rare has kept all but one from exploring their own genetics for a diagnosis.Tags: Diagnosis Journey, family, hypermobility, mast cell
Categorized in: Stories


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If you use a Chromebook, one of the best reasons to own a Pixel phone was for its compatibility with Chrome OS's Instant Tethering. With Instant Tethering, any time your Chromebook isn't on WiFi, it would initiate a hotspot from your Pixel (or Nexus). Reports are now coming in that Android phones other than Pixel and Nexus devices are beginning to get Instant Tethering.
Android Police is reporting that multiple users have access to Instant Tethering on their non-Pixel phones, including the OnePlus 6 and Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Users for whom Instant Tethering has been enabled for their devices may receive a notification, indicating that their phone is now connected to the Chromebook.
The rollout seems to be limited though, as we have not been able to personally confirm any non-Pixel devices offering Instant Tethering. Both reports came from users on Chrome OS's Beta or Dev channels, not the Stable channel, which is likely an important factor.
Instant Tethering is one of the prominently advertised features on the Pixel 3's Google Store page. It's somewhat surprising to see that it's arriving on more Android devices. This matches Google's pattern though, as Instant Tethering on Chrome OS originally launched as a Pixelbook-only feature, before eventually rolling out to more Chromebooks. Similarly, many other Nexus and Pixel exclusive features have slowly made their way to the rest of the Android market.
The launch of Instant Tethering support on other Android phones may also be related to Google's recent push for the 'Better Together' features that tie together Android and Chrome OS devices.
Has Chrome OS's Instant Tethering arrived on your non-Pixel phone? Let us know in the comments.
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We reviewed All the Little Lights in the March 2019 BJGP. A new production is on 12-17th August at the Tristan Bates Theatre as part of the Camden Fringe Season.
Lucy Mabbitt, one of the actors and co-producers in the three hander writes:
The story, told by award winning playwright Jane Upton, follows three young girls; two are survivors of child sexual exploitation and the other is vulnerable to exposure. One of the girls is also a perpetrator of abuse. The play is written from the girls' perspective and provides an amazing insight into patterns of abusive behaviour, which we think is a clear and valuable way to help audiences empathise with those in that position.
By performing this piece we hope the audience will have a more nuanced and critical understanding of young people who have experienced child sexual exploitation (CSE), and be equipped to help spot signs and work to protect those at risk.The piece works to help us empathise with not only victims but young perpetrators like the central character Joanne, of which 28% are under 18 and are often misunderstood, disregarded in the national discourse about CSE and left without support or protection. Our production is largely about the importance of listening, and the perils of living in a society where we do not look out for each other.
We are working with care support professionals on a number of points for the project. This includes Safe and Sound, the Derby based charity who work to fight child sexual exploitation and who were involved in the original development of the play at the Nottingham Playhouse in 2015, as well as local charities and services in Camden who work with children, parents and carers affected by CSE.
This is in order to understand the context of the play and its characters and be careful to achieve authenticity, better our goal for using the play as a productive piece of awareness raising, safeguard our audiences, and promote the show among their channels in order to bring in new audiences for whom this story might be relevant. This way, the project is more than just putting on a play.
Featured photo by Harris Ananiadis on Unsplash


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Volume 22, Number 1—January 2016
New Clinical Strain of Neisseria gonorrhoeae with Decreased Susceptibility to Ceftriaxone, Japan
To the Editor: In 2009, 2010, and 2013, Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains H041 (ceftriaxone MIC of 2 mg/L), F89 (ceftriaxone MIC of 1 mg/L), and A8806 (ceftriaxone MIC of 0.5 mg/L) were isolated from samples from patients in Japan (1), France (2) and Australia (3), respectively. In Japan, no other clinical N. gonorrhoeae strains with decreased susceptibility to ceftriaxone were reported until 2014, when clinical strain GU140106 (ceftriaxone MIC of 0.5 mg/L) was isolated from a man in in Nagoya, Japan. We report details of this case and sequencing results of the penA gene for the strain. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Graduate School of Medicine, Gifu University, Japan.
N. gonorrhoeae strain GU140106 was isolated from a urethral swab sample from a man with acute urethritis. The man had received fellatio, without condom use, from a female sex worker in Nagoya in December 2013. He visited our clinic in January 2014 for urethral discharge. Culture of a urethral swab sample was positive for N. gonorrhoeae. We used the Cobas 4800 CT/NG Test (Roche Molecular Systems Inc., Pleasanton, CA, USA) to test a first-voided urine sample; results were positive for N. gonorrhoeae but negative for Chlamydia trachomatis. The infection was treated with a single-dose regimen of ceftriaxone (1 g) administered by intravenous drip infusion. Two weeks later, the man reported no symptoms, and his first-voided urine sample was negative for leukocytes. The test-of-cure for N. gonorrhoeae was not performed. The female sex worker could not be examined for the presence of N. gonorrhoeae strain GU140106 in her pharynx.
The strain was confirmed to be a gonococcal species by testing with Gonochek-II (TCS Biosciences Ltd, Buckingham, UK), the HN-20 Rapid system identification test (Nissui, Tokyo, Japan), and the Aptima Combo 2 assay for CT/NG (Hologic, Inc., Bedford, MA, USA) and by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and porA pseudogene PCR (4). MICs of antimicrobial drugs for GU140106 were as follows, as determined by using the agar dilution method: 2.0 mg/L for penicillin G, 1.0 mg/L for tetracycline, 2.0 mg/L for cefixime, 0.5 mg/L for ceftriaxone, 8.0 mg/L for levofloxacin, 0.5 mg/L for azithromycin, and 32.0 mg/L spectinomycin. The strain was determined to be resistant to penicillin G, tetracycline, cefixime, ceftriaxone, and levofloxacin, according to criteria of the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (5)
The penA gene of strain GU140106 was sequenced as previously described (6); results showed the presence of a novel mosaic penicillin-binding protein 2 (PBP2; GenBank accession no. LC056026) (Figure). Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and N. gonorrhoeae multiantigen sequence typing (NG-MAST) of GU140106 were performed as previously reported (8,9). MLST assigned strain GU140106 to sequence type 7363, the same as strains H041 and A8806 (1,2). NG-MAST assigned strain GU140106 to sequence type 6543. MLST and NG-MAST results for GU140106 differed from those for F89 (3).
Since the naming of the mosaic PBP2 associated with decreased susceptibilities to oral cephalosporins as pattern X (6), various PBP2 mosaic structures have been discovered. Mosaic PBP2 structures are basically composed of fragments analogous to PBP2s in Neisseria species. Before strain H041 emerged, strains harboring mosaic PBP2s had been resistant to oral cephalosporins but susceptible to ceftriaxone. H041 (ceftriaxone MIC of 2 mg/L) had additional novel amino acid changes, including A311V, V316P, and T483S, in its mosaic PBP2. The presence of substitutions A311V, V316P, and T483S was reported to be responsible for resistance to ceftriaxone (7). Like strain H041, strains GU140106 and A8806 (ceftriaxone MICs of 0.5 mg/L) had substitutions A311V and T483S, but instead of substitution V316P, they had substitution V316T. In addition, GU140106 had several changes in positions 227–281 that were not present in other strains. These alterations might also contribute to the decreased susceptibility to ceftriaxone.
On the basis of pharmacodynamic analyses (10), a 1-g dose of ceftriaxone (the recommended first-line treatment for gonorrhea in Japan) would be effective against genital gonorrhea caused by strains exhibiting decreased susceptibility to ceftriaxone (e.g., strains GU140106 and A8806). However, such strains could be resistant to lower-dose regimens, including 250-mg and 500-mg doses of ceftriaxone.
This N. gonorrhoeae strain, GU140106, was isolated from the urethra of a man who received fellatio from a female sex worker; thus, the bacteria could have derived from her pharynx. N. gonorrhoeae strain H041 was previously isolated from the pharynx of a female sex worker (1). To prevent the emergence and spread of ceftriaxone-resistant N. gonorrhoeae, pharyngeal gonorrhea must be treated. It is uncertain whether a 1-g dose of ceftriaxone would be effective against pharyngeal gonorrhea caused by strains with decreased susceptibility to ceftriaxone, and this regimen might facilitate the selection of such strains from oral cephalosporin-resistant strains in the pharynx. The emergence of N. gonorrhoeae GU140106 in Japan suggests that new strategies (not just increased ceftriaxone doses), including combination treatment with ceftriaxone and another class of antimicrobial drugs and multiple dose regimens of ceftriaxone, might be required to treat pharyngeal gonorrhea.
This study was supported in part by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research [C] 25462509 and [C] 2646244201).
- Ohnishi M, Golparian D, Shimuta K, Sakai T, Hoshina S, Iwasaku K, Is Neisseria gonorrhoeae initiating a future era of untreatable gonorrhea?: detailed characterization of the first strain with high-level resistance to ceftriaxone. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2011;55:3538–45. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Unemo M, Golparian D, Nicholas R, Ohnishi M, Gallay A, Sednaoui P. High-level cefixime- and ceftriaxone-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae in France: novel penA mosaic allele in a successful international clone causes treatment failure. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2012;56:1273–80. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Lahra MM, Ryder N, Whiley DM. A new multidrug-resistant strain of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Australia. N Engl J Med. 2014;371:1850–1. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Hjelmevoll SO, Olsen ME, Sollid JU, Haaheim H, Unemo M, Skogen V. A fast real-time polymerase chain reaction method for sensitive and specific detection of the Neisseria gonorrhoeae porA pseudogene. J Mol Diagn. 2006;8:574–81. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
- European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing. Breakpoint tables for interpretation of MICs and zone diameters. Version 5.0, 2015 [cited 2015 May 1]. http://www.eucast.org/fileadmin/src/media/PDFs/EUCAST_files/Breakpoint_tables/v_5.0_Breakpoint_Table_01.pdf
- Ito M, Deguchi T, Mizutani KS, Yasuda M, Yokoi S, Ito S, Emergence and spread of Neisseria gonorrhoeae clinical isolates harboring mosaic-like structure of penicillin-binding protein 2 in Central Japan. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2005;49:137–43. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Tomberg J, Unemo M, Ohnishi M, Davies C, Nicholas RA. Identification of amino acids conferring high-level resistance to expanded-spectrum cephalosporins in the penA gene from Neisseria gonorrhoeae strain H041. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2013;57:3029–36. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Ohnishi M, Watanabe Y, Ono E, Takahashi C, Oya H, Kuroki T, Spread of a chromosomal cefixime-resistant penA gene among different Neisseria gonorrhoeae lineages. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2010;54:1060–7. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Unemo M, Sjöstrand A, Akhras M, Gharizadeh B, Lindbäck E, Pourmand N, Molecular characterization of Neisseria gonorrhoeae identifies transmission and resistance of one ciprofloxacin-resistant strain. APMIS. 2007;115:231–41. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
- Chisholm SA, Mouton JW, Lewis DA, Nichols T, Ison CA, Livermore DM. Cephalosporin MIC creep among gonococci: time for a pharmacodynamic rethink? J Antimicrob Chemother. 2010;65:2141–8. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
FigureCite This Article
1These authors contributed equally to this article.
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