Jointly authored by Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) and Oliver Wyman, the Singapore FinTech Landscape 2020 and Beyond Report highlights Singapores evolution as a centre for FinTech innovation over the past five years and forecasts the upcoming trends expected in the next five years.

The report was launched yesterday by Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Trade and Industry, at FinTech For Good 2020, organised as part of the Singapore FinTech Festival 2020.

At the event, SFA recognised the contributions of its individual and corporate members, who collectively donated S$100,000 to the NTUC-U Care Fund, under the FinTech for Good initiative. Led by SFA, in partnership with NTUC, the initiative lends support to various initiatives under the U Care Fund, which provides financial assistance to lower-income NTUC union members and their families. This is the first time SFA and U Care Fund have come together for such an initiative.

Singapore FinTech Landscape 2020 And Beyond: Key Findings

The FinTech community in Singapore has grown rapidly in the last five years together with the adoption of FinTech by traditional Financial Institutions, as they have sought means to innovate and transform. FinTech funding has risen steadily to fuel this growth.

Interestingly, in 2020, Singapore has demonstrated resilience amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite an initial decline in funding (49 per cent decline in Q1 2020 vs. Q4 2019), Singapores FinTech investments have since rebounded to US$278mn in Q2 2020, more than thrice the investments in Q1 2020. Investors are recognising the opportunities existing in Southeast Asia.

We continue to see FinTechs invest in areas of financial inclusion (Payments, Lending, etc.). The diversity of FinTechs and their business models in Singapore has also broadened significantly with emerging sub-sectors such as RegTech and Data Analytics. More importantly, FinTechs are leveraging on Singapore as a launchpad into the rest of Southeast Asia providing an opportunity to access more than 650mn people in the region.

Singapore has a strong ecosystem of players who recognise the benefits that FinTechs can bring. The key enablers that have contributed to Singapores success include innovation focused investors, a close-knit network of corporates, banks and partners, as well as progressive government and industry associations.

Private-sector funding has been important for the growth of Singapores FinTech ecosystem. From 2015 to 2019, approximately 65 per cent of the FinTech funding in Southeast Asia was directed to businesses in Singapore, close to four times more than the funding received by the next-largest market. While there are fewer local funds focused on later-stage investments, as the sector progresses, Singapore FinTechs will increasingly gain access and be connected to a wider pool of global investors.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has embraced digital innovation, being one of the first markets in the region to launch various initiatives such as the Electronics Transaction Act and a unified digital identity. This further extends to include relevant industry associations having a conscious view to support FinTechs such as through the Startup SG Programme by Enterprise Singapore and the FinTech Talent Programme by SFA. Singapores openness to digital initiatives across both the public and private sectors allows business models and workflows to be incubated and tested here in a way that would not be feasible elsewhere.

Having a strong network of partners further reinforces Singapores proposition as an ideal hotbed for B2B FinTechs to test their ideas. FinTechs in Singapore are focussed on a multi-country strategy with a strong appetite for overseas expansion. From SFA-OW FinTech survey 2020, 95 per cent of FinTechs have plans to expand overseas. A key challenge that many FinTechs face when expanding abroad is the heterogenous regulatory environment. Recognising this, there has been more emphasis on creating a coordinated approach for the region in recent years through cross-border collaborations.

The FinTech industrys growth trajectory has been impressive to date. To establish Singapore as a regional FinTech hub that stays on the path to be a global hub, key factors that have contributed to Singapores success to date need to be continuously adapted to stay relevant.

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Oliver Wyman and SFA publish report on Singapore's fintech scene - Finextra

Our objective has always been to demonstrably increase brands efficiency and effectiveness, and this certification with Neutronian reinforces this promise, giving our customers added confidence when making important data-driven business decisions.

AUSTIN, Texas (PRWEB) December 09, 2020

Affinity Answers, a leader in social-powered audience insights and activation, today announced it was awarded the Neutronian Certification Badge for its programmatic and addressable audience data. Affinity Answers joins a select cohort of flagship data providers to complete Neutronians audit and receive its certification, including Eyeota, an Affinity Answers partner.

Neutronian exists to bring increased clarity and trust to the marketing ecosystem. Its Certified by Neutronian badge is underpinned by a proprietary evaluation process and helps brands, agencies, and investment firms identify high-quality, privacy compliant data providers for use in their campaigns and trading models.

Brands and agencies know how challenging it is to understand and trust the performance and compliance of marketing data today especially with the inherent conflict of interest when data providers audit themselves. Neutronian addresses this critical need for increased transparency and eases the vetting burden on buyers by opening up the black box of marketing data.

Affinity Answers mission is to improve marketing through brand advertising effectiveness, measurement and improvement. Data quality and compliance have always been at the heart of everything the company does, especially as it pertains to how it handles and utilizes data sourced from social media. Undergoing Neutronians audit reinforces Affinity Answers commitment to data transparency with trusted third-party validation and rigorous standards for retaining certification.

Affinity Answers approach to creating brand affinity audiences, leveraging contextual indicators and sentiment from anonymized social profiles, proves that data providers can utilize social media data in a privacy conscious manner, said Timur Yarnall, CEO and co-founder of Neutronian. In this time of constant evolution of regulation and consumer sentiment, it is important for data providers to be mindful about how they are handling data and Affinity Answers demonstrated a thoughtful approach to this.

Now more than ever, brands need trusted data solutions to be able to engage the right audiences with confidence and to ultimately drive their bottom lines, said Howard Luks, Managing Director, Americas at Eyeota. We commend our partner, Affinity Answers, for its Neutronian certification and joining us as an early adopter of the industrys first data compliance and quality standard.

To earn a Neutronian Certification Badge, data providers must undergo a comprehensive audit and meet baseline criteria across five main categories. Aspects evaluated within each category include:

To retain their certification, data providers are subject to manual re-audits at least twice annually or whenever a fundamental methodology change is made to their data set. With the award of the Neutronian Certification Badge, Affinity Answers will enable Neutronian to continuously monitor its data for the purposes of ongoing quality assurance and anomaly detection.

The marketing and consumer insights industries have hit an inflection point when it comes to data, and its clear that the next phase of adoption and growth requires increased transparency around data quality and compliance, said Josh Raper, VP of Marketing for Affinity Answers. Our objective has always been to demonstrably increase brands efficiency and effectiveness, and this certification with Neutronian reinforces this promise, giving our customers added confidence when making important data-driven business decisions.

To learn more about Affinity Answers and its Neutronian Certification Badge please visit: https://www.affinityanswers.com/neutronian/

About Affinity Answers Affinity Answers is a leader in social-powered insights that enable marketers and consumer insights professionals to identify and activate passionate fans across every screen. More than 400 global brands, agencies and AdTech partners trust Affinity Answers to drive increased scale and return on ad spend. The companys TrueAffinity model analyzes billions of social engagements between consumers and brand entities, and combined with partner data, powers audience recommendations that can be activated across TV, social media and programmatic campaigns. FanFinder 360, the companys all-in-one platform, enables TV and streaming marketers to uncover the shared positive affinities between passionate fans of shows and everything else they love across the world of social media. Affinity Answers was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with R&D operations in India. For more information visit http://www.affinityanswers.com.

About Neutronian Neutronian is a SaaS platform company providing the industrys most comprehensive independent data certification program. We offer a quality and compliance credit score rating of marketing data that brings much needed clarity and trust to the ecosystem. To us, data quality means more than just performance and accuracy it includes everything that a marketer or brand needs to know about a dataset before using it. With our thorough approach to data certification, data buyers have the transparency they need to make data driven marketing decisions and high-quality, privacy compliant data providers can be rewarded for their efforts.

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Human rights evolved through a historical process of several social movements. MOIN QAZI writes on the fragility of human rights and the need for continued solidarity in face of attacks on human rights.

What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere.

-Abraham Lincoln

THE idea of universal human rights has been among the most important political legacies of this century. It offers a promise of ending many of the injustices that bedevil human society.

The tragedy is that this powerful idea has lost its sheen. The human efforts needed to guard and nurture it has weakened in the face of continuous assaults on human rights by the predators of civilisation

Human rights refer to a wide continuum of values or capabilities that enhance human agency or protect human interests and aspire to protect all people everywhere from severe social, political and legal abuses.

They symbolise humanitys highest aspirations.

The tragedy is that this powerful idea has lost its sheen. The human efforts needed to guard and nurture it has weakened in the face of continuous assaults on human rights by the predators of civilisation.

The ideals of human rights are far more fragile than we believe. In more and more countries, leaders are showing a penchant for demagoguery and autocracy.

These pure ideals that were once there, are now much harder to separate from the impure world of murky politics, civil rights abuses and unfulfilled hopes.

A large number of citizens now believe that the lofty idea of fair justice and human rights rings hollow that justice is reserved for the powerful, and the elite.

The fact remains that the supposed liberty of the citizen to do as he likes so long as he does not interfere with the liberty of others to do the same, which has been a shibboleth for several human right lovers, has been reduced to a mere romantic ideal.

Human rights became embedded slowly but steadily in human consciousness and began to symbolise legal morality.

The idea of human rights was kindled by courageous campaigners who passed on the flame to succeeding generations. These rights were first formally enshrined in 1948 when the United Nations approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that boldly proclaimed that recognition of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.

Human rights became embedded slowly but steadily in human consciousness and began to symbolise legal morality.

The movement that culminated in the historic charter grew out of the horrors of Adolf Hitlers vicious and tyrannical regime that darkened the rest of the 20th century. But its roots can be traced to the Greek Stoics, who believed in universal natural laws; the Romans, who refined concepts on the rule of law; and the Enlightenment philosophers, who believed that freedom was a natural condition.

In this millennium, documents like Magna Carta of 1215, the English Bill of Rights of 1689, and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, and the American Constitution of 1787 and the Bill of Rights of 1791 advanced the universality of human rights.

Clause 39 of Magna Carta is the fountain from which springs forth the pure transparent stream of human rights.: No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.

The notion that legal principles were the product of historical development, which itself was beyond the control of the people who lived it, was, in a word, teleological.

The courts across the world continue to look to Magna Carta for inspiration and guidance in identifying those rights that are fundamental to the idea of freedom in human society.

In the universe of justice, it is a widely held view that law is an expression of eternal truth.

Thus human rights is the product of the convergence of several social movements; they are an ocean in which several rivers have merged.

The notion that legal principles were the product of historical development, which itself was beyond the control of the people who lived it, was, in a word, teleological.

The principles were sometimes equated with the will of God; sometimes they were the product of secular but nevertheless inescapable evolution.

Thus human rights is the product of the convergence of several social movements; they are an ocean in which several rivers have merged.

It is owing to the sacrifices of our ancestors that we enjoy several immutable human rights and precious freedoms. These rights include free speech, the freedom of peaceful assembly, the freedom of religion, equality for men and women under the rule of law.

What is sinister, he argued, is that the conscious enemies of liberty are those to whom liberty ought to mean most.

We can understand the preciousness of these rights when history reminds us that there was a world that was profoundly different from the one we now live in, one in which people had far fewer rights and far less voice.

It was around the time of the Human Rights Declaration that the great writer George Orwell wrote his 1946 essay, The Prevention of Literature.Orwells concern then was not just with Russian totalitarianism, but with the arguments used by much of the Western intelligentsia to justify repression. What is sinister, he argued, is that the conscious enemies of liberty are those to whom liberty ought to mean most. He was addressing Western scientists who admired the Soviet Union for its technical prowess and were utterly indifferent to Stalins persecution of writers and artists.

They do not see that any attack on intellectual liberty, and on the concept of objective truth, threatens, in the long run, every department of thought. Several dissidents like Andrei D. Sakharov and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Eastern bloc heroes of another age first made international human rights a rallying cry for activists across the world

We need to build coalitions with friends and partners across movementshuman rights activists, lawyers, trade unions, social movements, economists and faith leaders and ensure that the voices of those who need to be heard most are amplified and they are rid of the fetters that shackle them.

It is only through this solidarity that we can realise a world without inequality and injustice- a world for which many of our great ancestors have made extraordinary sacrifices.

Till we achieve this, our struggles remain a part of the work in progress.

(Moin Qazi is a development professional. Views are personal.)

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Im a woman trapped in a mans body. Only a generation ago, few Americans would have regarded this statement as coherent and believable. Yet today, someone who comes out as transgender can earn cultural cachet, while those who question the new orthodoxy are increasingly branded as bigots or worse. This shift in cultural attitudes is only the latest triumph of the sexual revolution that has radically reshaped sexual categories and behaviors over the past several decades in America. Yet the roots of this revolution go back much further.

When determining why revolutions happen, social scientists often distinguish between three types of causes: preconditions, precipitants, and triggers. Preconditions are the long-term structural factors that make revolution possible. Precipitants are the short-term events that combine with these structures to make revolution plausible. Finally, triggers are the immediate catalyststhe sparks that ignite and make revolution actual.

The sexual revolution and its triumphs result from a similar mix of immediate, short-term, and long-term causes. Yet cultural commentators tend to focus only on triggers, acting like police officers or insurance adjusters who arrive at the scene of an accident to determine the extent of the damage or whos at fault. These roles are important, but they only scratch the surface of how the church should respond to the sexual revolution.

A more holistic response requires a more holistic understanding that can only be achieved by sorting out the long-term structural causes of the revolution from its short-term and immediate causes. This sorting is precisely what theologian and historian Carl Trueman aims to do in his latest book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution.

Truemans basic contention is this: The sexual revolution is a symptom rather than the cause of efforts to redefine human identity. Centuries before the nation swooned when Bruce Jenner debuted as Caitlyn, for example, intellectual shifts were taking place that would make a cultural event like this possible. What Trueman offers is the story of those shifts.

Trueman begins by diagnosing the state of modern Western culture so that, throughout the rest of the book, he can trace some of its intellectual preconditions. Here, he relies heavily on the work of three key thinkers: philosopher Charles Taylor, psychologist Philip Rieff, and ethicist Alasdair MacIntyre.

Of particular importance to Truemans narrative is the idea of the social imaginary, the term that Taylor uses to describe a societys basic intuitions about the world and the place of human beings within it. As each of us goes through life, we tend not to operate on the basis of a self-conscious commitment to a particular set of ideas. Instead, the process is much more intuitive. For example, only a generation ago, the claim Im a woman trapped in a mans body was widely understood to be nonsensical. This understanding owed less to a deep theoretical knowledge of gender and sex than it did to the widespread intuition that the world has an established order and meaning to which we must conform.

Today, the social imaginary has been radically reimagined. People tend to see the world and themselves more as raw material that they can bend and shape to suit their own purposes. This reimagining wasnt the result of learning new truths about the physical world but of subjugating the physical to the psychological. The modern idea of self has become thoroughly psychologized: Ones identity is defined not by a relationship with the external world but by an individual, internal sense of happiness. On this basis, the modern person operates according to what Taylor calls expressive individualism, desiring both to express an internal sense of self and to have that sense of self recognized and accepted by the external world.

Drawing from MacIntyres work, Trueman explains that expressive individualism has become the default mode of modern society. Because we lack a common framework for understanding who we are and why we exist, our moral discourse has degenerated into expressions of personal feelings and tastes. In order to satisfy our moral preferences, we feel we must be liberated from the repressive constraints of objective moral claims. Such liberation requires a full-scale campaign of cultural iconoclasm, of dismantling and disavowing the ideas and artifacts of the past so that we might pursue happiness on our ownthoroughly psychological and distinctly sexualterms.

After diagnosing the state of modern Western culture, Trueman spends the bulk of the book showing that our reimagined sense of self is rooted in intellectual shifts that had been taking place for several centuries.

The first shift was the psychologizing of the selfin other words, making ones feelings and desires foundational to ones identity. Trueman highlights the work of the 18th-century Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who laid the groundwork for this shift by arguing that we can only live authentically when our outward behavior can match our inner psychology. In a revolutionary step, Rousseau gives ethical priority to ones psychology, claiming that society is the enemy of the authentic self because it forces people to suppress their desires and conform to conventional morality.

At the turn of the 19th century, Rousseaus heirs within the Romantic movementparticularly the poets William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and William Blakewere instrumental in popularizing this psychological view of the self. Yet for all their calls to cast off the repressive influences of civilized society, these Romanticslike Rousseauwere confident that nature possessed a purposeful order upon which humans could build their lives. By the end of the 19th century, such confidence was greatly undermined by the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, and Charles Darwin. To Nietzsche and Marx, belief in transcendent reality and purposeful order are symptoms of psychological weakness and social sickness. Then, Darwins writings on evolution dealt the death blow by providing a new story of humankind that reduces human nature to something fluid and directionless.

With the belief that personal identity is psychological and self-determined, the stage was set for a second intellectual shift: the sexualizing of psychology. It was Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychology, who in the early 20th century championed the insidious idea thats intoxicated modern society: Self-identity is grounded in sexual desire. Were essentially psychological, says Rousseau. Yet our psychology is essentially sexual, says Freud. Therefore, were essentially sexual. With Freud, sex is transformed from something we do into who we are.

After this transformation, it was only a matter of time before a third intellectual shift occurred: the politicizing of sex. Two Freudian acolytes, psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich and philosopher Herbert Marcuse, drove this shift by merging Marxist ideas of political oppression with the Freudian notion of sexual repression. They argued that, because humans are essentially sexual, there can be no political liberation without sexual liberation.

In response, from the mid-20th century to the present day, a bevy of writers and activists from the New Left have aimed for sexual liberation by attacking the most problematic of all bourgeois institutions: the nuclear family. As long as the nuclear family is considered good and necessary to the right ordering of society, allegedly repressive norms such as heterosexuality and monogamy will perpetuate an oppressive social hierarchy that rewards sexual conformity and punishes those who wish to follow their own sexual codes. On this understanding, political liberation depends on sexual liberationwhich depends on the dismantling of the nuclear family.

Though not everyone reaches the same conclusions, the underlying association of political liberation with sexual liberation is widely assumed today. Even if theyve never read the writings of Freud, Reich, Marcuse, and the New Left, many people intuitively believe that open and unqualified expression of sexual desire is essential to human identity and dignity.

Its this revolutionary belief that has transformed our social imaginary and led to a swift and stunning series of triumphs for the sexual revolution. Trueman devotes several chapters to detailing three triumphs in particular: the pervasiveness of eroticism in art and pop culture, the prioritization of psychological well-being in academic settings and legal or ethical arguments, and the widespread embrace of transgender identity.

Yet, as Trueman reiterates throughout his book, the triumphs of the sexual revolution are not as swift and stunning as they appear. Instead, theyre the latest logical outcomes of a society that has accepted expressive individualism as its basic premise. The road to sexual revolution was long and marked by a series of intellectual turns that were hardly inevitable. But once chosen, they led Western culture to where it is today.

As a preeminent church historian, Trueman is well-versed at telling the stories of intellectual turns and tracing their cultural consequences. Yet here Truemans aim is more modest: Rather than showing precisely how the ideas that undergird the sexual revolution have come to permeate our culture (for this would take many volumes), he intends only to show that these ideas arent new but have been preconditioned by several centuries of intellectual shifts. In this aim, he succeeds marvelously.

Yet certain segments of the book would have benefitted from some attention to causation. Ill give just one example: By moving from Rousseau (chapter 3) to Wordsworth (chapter 4) in his narrative, Trueman implies a causal relationship thats hardly clear. Though Wordsworth emphasizes the internal life of the poet, in his preface to the Lyrical Ballads he reins in any excess expressivism by describing the true poet as one who being possessed of more than usual organic sensibility, had also thought long and deeply. Also, Wordsworths reasons for using everyday language echo the literary choices of earlier poets like Dante, who in De Vulgari Eloquentia insists that vernacular is natural and more noble than the artificial language of educated elites. Further, Wordsworth's distinction between poetry and history stands in the tradition of Aristotle and the poet Sir Philip Sidney.

So, it could be that Wordsworth owes more to Rousseau than to these earlier poets, but the lack of a clear causal connection blunts Truemans dramatic claim that Wordsworth stands near the head of a path that leads to Hugh Hefner and Kim Kardashian. A similar lack of causal explanation blunts the force of other conclusions that Trueman makes throughout the book.

Yet this critique should take nothing away from the fact that The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self is a signal achievement of cultural analysis. Readers wishing to understand the cultural convulsions and social upheavals taking place in the West will find this an indispensable book. Its a masterclass on the fact that, while all ideas have consequences, some ideas are more consequential than others. Trueman shows that the consequences arising from ideas about human nature and identity can be especially revolutionary.

This fact should help guide the churchs response to the sexual revolution. Just as the revolution was made possible by certain preconditioned ideas about human nature and identity, any successful counter-revolution must arise from preconditions of its own. The church must lead the way by articulating and modeling a vision of true human identity and community. And we must do this with the knowledge that were unlikely to see any significant change in our own day. The road to sexual revolution was long, and so too will be the road to renewal. But its the only faithful road, and so its the one we must take.

Timothy Kleiser is a teacher and writer from Louisville, Kentucky. His writing has appeared in National Review, The American Conservative, Modern Age, The Boston Globe, Front Porch Republic, and elsewhere.

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Management License Agreement extended to open more than 600 hotels by 2034

MCLEAN, Va., SINGAPORE and SHANGHAI, Dec. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Hilton (NYSE: HLT) and Jin Jiang International today announced the extension of the Hampton by Hilton management license agreement, extending the contract until 2034 to create a network of more than 600 Hampton by Hilton hotels in China.

In a virtual ceremony, Chris Nassetta (President and CEO), Alan Watts (President, Asia Pacific), Qian Jin (Area President, Greater China & Mongolia), Alexandra Jaritz (SVP, Brand Management), Lynette Lim (SVP & Assistant General Counsel), and Matt Fry (SVP, Development), joined the signing ceremony from McLean, Singapore and Shanghai.

Jin Jiang International was represented by Yu Minliang (Chairman of Jin Jiang International), Zhang Xiaoqiang (Vice President of Jin Jiang International, Chairman & CEO of Jin Jiang Hotels China Region), Zhou Wei (Vice President of Jin Jiang International, Head of Jin Jiang Global Innovation Center) from Shanghai. Wang Wei (Executive Vice President of Jin Jiang Hotels China Region, President of Shenzhen Headquarter, and CEO of Hampton by Hilton China) joined from Shenzhen.

The exclusive license agreement between Hilton and Plateno (now part of Jin Jiang Hotel China Region) was first signed in 2014 to tap into the potential of China's mid-scale hotel market. Building on the original 10-year partnership that has cemented Hampton by Hilton as a leading focused-service brand in China, this extension marks a strengthened cooperation between Hilton and Jin Jiang International, the largest hotel group in China, as they launch a new phase of joint development in an ambitious plan to operate over 600 Hampton by Hilton hotels in China.

With the growing demand in this hotel segment fueled by the expansion of the middle-class and overall upgraded consumption capacity of Chinese consumers, the 155thHampton by Hilton hotel in China opened in Beijing on Dec.7th. The license extension is expected to help Hampton by Hilton maintain its edge in the highly competitive mid-scale hotel sector in Hilton's top priority market, China.

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"I'm thrilled to strengthen our partnership with Jin Jiang International and the entire Hampton by Hilton team in China," said Chris Nassetta, President & CEO, Hilton. "China is an incredibly important market for Hilton, and the Hampton by Hilton brand has had huge success with the team sharing our signature hospitality with travelers at hundreds of hotels throughout the country. We look forward to building on this foundation and growing the brand together in China for years to come."

Yu Minliang, Chairman of Jin Jiang International commented, "Jin Jiang and Hilton are good partners of mutual trust and have had long-term friendly and in-depth cooperative relations in China and around the world. To renew the Hampton by Hilton brand MLA is of special significance, which fully reflects the firm confidence of both parties in the future recovery and revitalization of the global hotel industry. The joint efforts of the two teams are highly appreciated. I believe that the cooperation will definitely bear new fruits and become a new model of cooperation for the global industry."

"Hampton and Jin Jiang International set the benchmark for transnational hotel group cooperation in the China market. With an unprecedented strategy for the past six years, it has achieved a level of success beyond our expectations, thanks to the unwavering support from both sides," said Alan Watts, President, Asia Pacific, Hilton. "Following the landmark progress in this strategic partnership, we are delighted to deepen our relationship with Jin Jiang and further elevate and expand Hampton by Hilton in this key market."

Qian Jin, President for Greater China & Mongolia, Hilton remarked, "After nearly 10 years of rapid development, the mid-end hotel market is welcoming a new golden era. Hilton is honored to take on the challenge to meet new demands by putting forward higher requirements on brand quality and cost value. Over the years, Hampton by Hilton has exemplified Hilton's localization strategy in China as the brand has won trust and recognition from both customers and stakeholders. We are confident in Hampton by Hilton's prospects and believe this extension will facilitate our 2025 development goals in China in terms of brand growth, customer loyalty and reputation."

Mr. Zhang Xiaoqiang, Vice President of Jin Jiang International, Chairman and CEO of Jin Jiang Hotels China Region said, "We are very pleased to continue the long-term cooperation with Hilton. The successful development of Hampton by Hilton in China is a perfect interpretation of a win-win cooperation between two of the world's top hotel groups, demonstrating Hilton's leading brand influence in the global market and Jin Jiang International's strong operation strength and market development advantages. The in-depth cooperation between the two sides is bound to bring new vitality and opportunities for Hampton by Hilton's rapid development in China and help it continue to lead the upper-midscale hotel market. "

Ms. Wang Wei, Executive Vice President of Jin Jiang Hotels China Region, President of Shenzhen Headquarters, and CEO of Hampton by Hilton China, said: "After six years of development, Hampton by Hilton has established a distinctive brand image in China market and is deeply loved by owners and guests. With the close cooperation and strong support of the two hotel groups, the Hampton by Hilton China team will continue to focus on creating high-quality products and services and deepening the brand influence in China."

To date in China, there are 155 open Hampton hotels with over 350 in the development pipeline.

About Hilton

Hilton (NYSE: HLT) is a leading global hospitality company with a portfolio of 18 world-class brands comprising more than 6,300 properties with nearly one million rooms, in 118 countries and territories. Dedicated to fulfilling its mission to be the world's most hospitable company, Hilton has welcomed more than 3 billion guests in its more than 100-year history, earned a top spot on the 2020 World's Best Workplaces list, and was named the 2019 Global Industry Leader on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. In 2020, Hilton CleanStay was introduced, bringing an industry-defining standard of cleanliness and disinfection to hotels worldwide. Through the award-winning guest loyalty program Hilton Honors, the more than 110 million members who book directly with Hilton can earn Points for hotel stays and experiences money can't buy, plus enjoy instant benefits, including contactless check-in with room selection, Digital Key, and Connected Room. Visit newsroom.hilton.com for more information, and connect with Hilton on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

About Jin Jiang International

Jin Jiang International is one of the largest travel and hospitality groups in China and is one of the leading hotel brands in the global industry. The core businesses are hotel management & investment, tourist services & transport, and logistics services. Jin Jiang International manages and franchises a broad portfolio of more than 10,000 hotels and resorts with over 1.08 million rooms in 120 countries and regions. Jin Jiang International has more than 150 million members worldwide. In 2020, it ranks 1st in Asia and 2nd among all hotel giants byHotelsMagazine. Jin Jiang International has a portfolio of over 40 brands from Luxury, Mid-scale to Innovative brands such as "J", "Yan Garden", "Jin Jiang", "Kunlun", "Radisson Collection", "Radisson Blu", "Royal Tulip", "Golden Tulip", "Metropolo", "Campanile", "Lavande", "Vienna International" and more, which provide mixed oriental-western experience to guests globally. For more information, please visit http://www.jinjiang.com or download the app "Jin Jiang Hotels".

About Hampton by Hilton

As the number one ranked lodging franchise for the last decade and one of the top five brands of the century, according to Entrepreneur, Hampton by Hilton including Hampton Inn by Hilton and Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton serves quality-driven and value-conscious travelers at more than 2,600 properties in 29 countries and territories. The brand continues to lead its segment by providing guests with high-quality, thoughtfully designed accommodations and amenities, such as modern and spacious rooms, complimentary Wi-Fi and free hot breakfast. Hampton by Hilton Team Members are committed to delivering exceptionally friendly and authentic service all backed by the 100% Hampton GuaranteeTM. Hilton Honors members who book directly through preferred Hilton channels have access to instant benefits. For more information about Hampton by Hilton, visit http://www.hampton.com or newsroom.hilton.com/hampton, and connect on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

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Hilton and Jin Jiang International Extend Cooperation to Launch Next Chapter of Hampton by Hilton's Accelerated China Development - Yahoo Finance

In the 2008 Pixar film Wall-E, a robot thats operated alone for centuries meets and falls in love with another bot, starting a relationship with serious implications for mankind.

Does my phone know when Ive exchanged it and moved on to a new one? Does it work better with its new owner because he follows its instructions when he drives, meaning that it doesnt have to scramble to do one more task while its processor was focused on something else? Does the contraption prefer my kids over me?! They seem to have a lot more fun together.

As a species, we tend to anthropomorphise objects a lamp looks cute, a couch looks sad but what do we do with objects to which we have given a kind of operational intelligence, enough at least to operate independently of us? How do we view them? What standing do they have, relative to the lamp and the couch?

The idea that it might be time to start thinking about rights and status for artificial intelligence was explored last month in a lovely essay on the moral implications of building true artificial intelligence, written by Anand Vaidya, professor of philosophy at San Jose University, and published on the academic news portal The Conversation.

His attempt to place things in perspective begins with a question. What is the basis upon which something has rights? What gives an entity moral standing?

That my phone has a kind of intelligence is obvious because the answers that the voice assistant comes up with in response to questions are often indistinguishable from how a human might answer. But this is rather basic. Science has been at work to push those boundaries. Three years ago, an algorithm called AlphaGo taught itself to play chess until it beat the grandmaster Garry Kasparov. A very gracious Kasparov applauded the algorithm and called its win a victory for humankind.

Advances such as these place in perspective why my younger daughter sneaks away with my phone when she thinks no one is looking, as if running off with a friend. She asks Siri to play her a song, tell her a joke, help with her homework. The algorithm powering the device does all that, and rather nonchalantly. When looked at from a distance, it appears, they bond, my daughter and the bot.

Now, it is broadly agreed that rights are to be granted only to beings with a capacity for consciousness. Thats why animals have rights, in our systems of justice, and not hills or rocks.

It is also generally agreed that there are two types of consciousness. One is linked to the experience of phenomena the scent of a rose, the prick of a thorn. Our devices are bereft of this phenomenal consciousness.

But they do have what is called access consciousness, Vaidya points out. In the same way that you can automatically catch and pass a ball mid-game on reflex, a smart device can alert me when it is low on battery and suggest I recharge, save my work, switch to another device.

As the algorithms that allow it to do that evolve, and artificial intelligence gets smarter, developing even more advanced forms of this access consciousness, it is conceivable that a future algorithm will interact very differently with a younger user than with an adult. That it will know one from the other more specifically.

Isnt it time then that we started thinking about creating a code of conduct around how we will interact with such devices, how we will allow them to interact with each other, and at what points we will intervene to control, moderate, or terminate?

I believe it is time we started thinking about these ethical voids. Because the AI of science fiction is still in the future, but we can feel it getting closer all the time.

Link:

Are we ready for bots with feelings? Life Hacks by Charles Assisi - Hindustan Times

The proteins in our bodies are easily confused with the proteinin food.There are similarities and links between the two for example, both consist of amino acids.

But, when scientists talk about proteins in biology, they are talking about tiny butcomplex molecules that perform a huge range of functions at a cellular level, keeping us healthy and functioning as a whole.

Scientists will often talk about proteins "folding" and say that when they fold properly, we're OK. The way they fold determines their shape, or 3D structure, and that determines their function.

But, when proteins fail to fold properly, they malfunction, leaving us susceptible to potentially life-threatening conditions.

We don't fully understand why: why proteins fold and how, and why it doesn't always work out.

When proteins go wrong: 'Lewy bodies' or protein deposits in neurons can lead to Parkinson's cisease

The whole thing has been bugging biologists for 50 or 60 years, with three questions summarized as the "protein-folding problem."

It appears that that final question has now been answered, at least in part.

An artificial intelligence systemknown as AlphaFold can apparently predict the structure of proteins.

AlphaFold is a descendant of AlphaGo a gaming AI that beat human GO champion Lee Sedol in 2016. GO is a game like chess but tougher to the power of 10.

DeepMind,the company behind AlphaFold, is calling it a "major scientific advance."

To be fair, it's not the first time that scientists have reported they have used computer modeling to predict the structure of proteins;they have done that for a decade or more.

Perhaps it's the scale that AI brings to the field the ability to do more, faster. DeepMind say they hope to sequence the human proteome soon, the same way that scientists sequenced the human genome and gave us all our knowledge about DNA.

But why do it? What is it about proteins that makes them so important for life?

Well, predicting protein structure may help scientists predict your health for instance, the kinds of cancer you may or may not be at risk of developing.

Proteins are indeed vital for life they are like mechanical components, such ascogs in a watch or strings and keys in a piano.

Proteins form when amino acids connect in a chain. And that chain "folds" into a 3D structure. When it fails to fold, it forms a veritable mess a sticky lump of dysfunctional nothing.

Proteins can lend strength to muscle cells, or form neurons in the brain.The US National Institutes of Health lists five main groups of proteins and their functions:

There can be between 20,000 and 100,000 unique types of proteins within a human cell. They form out of an average of 300 amino acids, sometimes referred to as protein building blocks. Each is a mix of the 22 differentknown amino acids.

Those amino acids are chained together, and the sequence, or order, of that chain determines how the protein folds upon itselfand, ultimately, its function.

Protein-folding can be a process of hit-and-miss. It's a four-part process that usually begins with twobasic folds.

Healthy proteins depend on a specific sequence of amino acids and how the molecule 'folds' and coils

First, parts of a protein chain coil up into what areknown as "alpha helices."

Then, other parts or regions of the protein form "beta sheets," which look a bit like the improvised paper fans we make on a hot summer's day.

In steps three and four, you get more complex shapes. The two basic structures combine into tubes and other shapes that resemble propellers, horseshoes or jelly rolls. And that gives them their function.

Tube or tunnel-like proteins, for instance, can act as an express route for traffic to flow in and out of cells. There are "coiled coils" that move like snakes to enable a function in DNA clearly, it takes all types in the human body.

Successful protein folding depends on a number of things, such as temperature, sufficient space in a celland, it is said, even electrical and magnetic fields.

Temperature and acidity (pH values) in a cell, for instance, can affect the stability of a protein its ability to hold its shape and therefore perform its correct function.

Chaperone proteins can assist other proteins while folding and help mitigate bad folding. But it doesn't always work.

Misfolded proteins are thought to contribute to a range of neurological diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's andHuntington's diseaseand ALS.

It's thought that when a protein fails to foldand perform a specific function, known as "loss of function," that specific job just doesn't get done.

As a result, cells can get tired for instance, when a protein isn't there to give them the energy they need and eventually they get sick.

Researchers have been trying to understand why some proteins misfold more than others, why chaperones sometimes fail to help, and why exactly misfolded proteins cause the diseases they are believed to cause.

Who knows? DeepMind's AlphaFold may help scientists answer these questions a lot faster now. Or throw up even more questions to answer.

Bugs can be tasty. So why is it that we don't we eat more of them? There are plenty of reasons to do so: insects are easy to raise and consume fewer resources than cows, sheep or pigs. They dont need pastures, they multiply quickly and they don't produce greenhouse gasses.

Water bugs, scorpions, cockroaches - on a stick or fried to accompany beer: these are delicacies in Asia, and healthy ones at that. Insects, especially larvae, are an energy and protein bomb. One hundred grams of termites, for example, have 610 calories - more than chocolate! Add to that 38 grams of protein and 46 grams of fat.

Insects are full of unsaturated fatty acids, iron, vitamins and minerals says the UNS Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The organization wants to increase the popularity of insect recipes around the world.

In many countries around the world, insects have long been a popular treat, especially in parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Mopane caterpillars, like the ones shown here, are a delicacy in southern Africa. They're typically boiled, roasted or grilled.

Even international fine cuisine features insects. And in Mexican restaurants, worms with guacamole are a popular snack. Meanwhile, new restaurants in Germany are starting to pop up that offer grasshoppers, meal worms and caterpillars to foodies with a taste for adventure.

In Europe and America, beetles, grubs, locusts and other creepy crawlers are usually met with a yuck! The thought of eating deep-fried tarantulas, a popular treat in Cambodia, is met with great disgust. But is there a good reason for that response?

Fine food specialists Terre Exotique (Exotic Earth) offer a grilled grasshopper snack. The French company currently sells the crunchy critters online via special order. A 30-gram jar goes for $11.50 (9 euros).

There are about 1,000 edible insect varieties in the world. Bees are one of them. They're a sustainable source of nutrition, full of protein and vitamins - and tasty for the most part. The world needs to discover this delicacy, says the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

In 2012, researchers used ecological criteria to monitor mealworm production at an insect farm in the Netherlands. The result? For the production of one kilogram of edible protein, worm farms use less energy and much less space than dairy or beef farms.

Even in Germany, insects used to be eaten in abundance. May beetle soup was popular until the mid-1900s. The taste has been described as reminiscent of crab soup. In addition, beetles were sugared or candied, then sold in pastry shops.

French start-up Ynsect is cooking up plans to offer ground up mealworms as a cost-effective feed for animals like fish, chicken and pigs. This could benefit the European market, where 70 percent of animal feed is imported.

Author: Lori Herber

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What are proteins and why do they fold? - DW (English)

Workout tips: Have one fresh local fruit or a banana before your workout

Eating right is important to get the best results from your exercise routine. Nutritionist Jinal Shah from team Rujuta Diwekar recently took to Instagram to share a few tips that can help make you more informed decisions on your diet, in order to get the best and most efficient results from your exercise routine. Exercise is something that helps your brain to be constantly sharp. It helps your heart healthy, bones strong and dense also facilitates hormonal balance. When combined with a healthy diet, it can help you stay strong, fit and healthy in a holistic manner.

According to Shah, your exercise routine should address the four pillars of fitness: strength, stamina, stability and flexibility. Whenever you are exercising, you need to work towards achieving all four of these, in order to make progress consistently and efficiently, and to achieve optimum health and fitness.

Yoga, cycling, running, strength training and weight training can all help in achieving these goals. You need to take up what suits your routine and try to do it consistently.

Also read:Workout Tips: Here's Why This Fitness Trainer Doesn't Prefer Running

A healthy diet goes hand in hand with your exercise routine for getting fitter and healthier. However, there are a few foods that can help in improving your exercise performance. in Including them in your daily diet can help in maximising the benefits you get from exercise. Here are they:

1. Coconut: It is a local food, which is rich in medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). MCTs help in improving physical stamina and mental strength. Both of these are need to perform well in daily life as well as exercise. Make sure coconut is included in your daily diet. You can have it in the form of nariyal paani or coconut water (as a mid-morning drink). It can help in regulating blood pressure and is rich in electrolytes, which can keep your body well-hydrated. You can also have it dried coconut with jaggery, you can garnish your poha, chutneys etc with it.

2. Rice: Rice contains a chain of three essential amino acids known as Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAA). These amino acids help in preserving muscles in the body. Have rice in traditional combinations like dal rice, biryani, khichdi, curd rice or whatever way you like it. You can also have rice for your dinner. Not only will allow you to sleep well at night, but will also help you wake up feeling more energised. Have the local variety of single-polished hand-pound white rice.

You can include rice in your daily diet Photo Credit: iStock

3. Tuber vegetables: You must have these vegetables at least a few times in a week. Sweet potato, suran, arbi are all tuber vegetables which are in season right now. They are rich in prebiotics, which feed good bacteria in the gut, and help in improving gut health. A healthy gut can facilitate good digestion. You can have them in the form of sabzi (with coconut if possible) or as an evening snack.

Also read:Weight Loss: This 15-Minute Workout Overcomes All Hurdles Of Exercising At Home- Watch Video

You need to follow the 4 R's of post-workout nutrition:

Make sure you cater to all four R's of post-workout nutrition.

Do not follow calorie-restrictive diets or food groups in the name of weight loss or any other fitness goal. "It is not going to help you and will only come in the way of the results you want to achieve from exercise," says Shah in her IGTV.

Also read:Muscle Soreness, Better Range Of Motion And Other Reasons To Own A Foam Roller Right Now

(Jinal Shah is a nutritionist with Team Rujuta Diwekar)

Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.

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Workout Tips: Maximise The Results Of Your Workout With These Expert-Recommended Diet Tips - NDTV

Exercise is just as important as diet. Regular, moderate-intensity exercise helps the body use dietary carbohydrates better, reducing the risk of progression to diabetes. Your exercise goal should be to eventually reach 20-30 minutes a day of moderate exercise. Some people are already way above that, while others may take weeks to safely get to that level of intensity. Neither exercise nor a proper diet are guarantees against developing diabetes, but the two together are powerful.

DEAR DR. ROACH: This is a general question about vaccine reactions. My husband and I both recently had influenza vaccines and shingles second vaccine. Neither of us had a reaction other than a red spot where the injections were done. Does this mean that they weren't effective? We're both over 75 and wonder how strong our immune systems are. Should there have been some reaction? J.D.

ANSWER: Both the flu vaccine and the shingles vaccine are effective at reducing risk of developing their respective diseases, although neither of them is perfect. Last year, the flu vaccine was about 45% effective overall, while Shingrix (the new two-shot vaccine) has greater than 90% effectiveness in protecting against shingles, even in people in their 70s.

A vaccine reaction within the first 24 hours often relates to the body's response to the preservatives and stabilizers in the vaccine. A lack of reaction to the vaccine does not mean that your body isn't responding to the key portion of the vaccine, the part that gives immunity to the virus. You should still be protected.

Dr. Roach regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but will incorporate them in the column whenever possible. Readers may email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu or send mail to 628 Virginia Dr., Orlando, FL 32803.

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To Your Good Health: Prediabetes can first be addressed with diet, exercise advice - Corvallis Gazette Times

Exercise is just as important as diet. Regular, moderate-intensity exercise helps the body use dietary carbohydrates better, reducing the risk of progression to diabetes. Your exercise goal should be to eventually reach 20-30 minutes a day of moderate exercise. Some people are already way above that, while others may take weeks to safely get to that level of intensity. Neither exercise nor a proper diet are guarantees against developing diabetes, but the two together are powerful.

DEAR DR. ROACH:I'm a 75-year-old man with no serious health issues. My problem is nighttime bathroom visits. I feel the need to urinate six or seven times each night. However, I have a weak stream and a soreness in my lower stomach while urinating. I don't usually have anything to drink after 6 p.m. What could be the problem?

A:Enlargement of the prostate is extremely common among 75-year-old men, and the weak stream you note is a strong indication that this is the problem. The urethra -- the tube coming from the bladder that urine flows through -- goes right through the prostate in men. Enlargement of the prostate compresses the tube, making urinating difficult.

The discomfort could be due to enlargement of the prostate, but it could also be a urine infection, a common complication of an enlarged prostate. A urine test and a prostate exam are likely to lead to an answer. Your regular doctor or a urologist can easily do this, and there are several effective treatments.

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Dear Dr. Roach: Prediabetes can first be addressed with diet, exercise advice - Herald & Review