Top 7 Technology Tips for New Teachers

Now educational technology for teachers made a huge influence on the modern society, in particular on the young generations. Parents claim that their kids now are more likely to staring at the phone than studying, which is not valuable for their future. If you are a teacher, who faced up with educational process issue and doesn’t understand how to make your students learn your subject, here is 7 tips, which will help you to make your classes more enjoyable.

1. Find out your students’ interests 

The old-fashioned way of teaching, which was built only on professional relations between student and a teacher is not effective anymore. These days, if you want to encourage a student to learn your subject, ask what he likes, find the connection between him and your methods. Ted talks will help you with it. It has plenty of educational programs for everyone, developed by quite successful and respectful people from all over the world. They have plenty of interesting and even instructional ideas. It may be considered as a pedagogical practice not only for teachers but also for students. 

2. Unusual approach 

These days the biggest problem is the boredom of students. They are tired of making the same tasks, which are extremely annoying, though educational. Search for new ways of presenting and interpreting your material. Make it more interactive and allow your students to use their phones for training purposes. Test some educational apps and demonstrate them to the young audience so that they could study in their free time as well. Interest them in your subject through things they like, which are appeared to be any helpful resources on the Internet, like Ted talks or edubirdie canada (which was used in my previous investigations).  

3. Competitive spirit 

Many teachers think that competitive spirit in class vanishes when kids are turning into teenagers. It is not true, though. Teenagers are always trying to prove themselves, and this factor in their behavior may become crucial in their studying. Class Dojo app will help you encourage students to learn your subject. This app is a perfect way in teaching new technology in the classroom. It can serve as a virtual class with a quite cool design, where you register your students and can give them points for their studying improvement or vise versa. It shows students the determined reason of good/bad mark and also provides them short feedback about studying process in general. What is more important, other students in the class may see it and make notes as well.

4. Don’t distant yourself from students too much 

Children, especially teenagers, are curious to know everything that is going on around them.  If you are a young and inexperienced teacher, don't distant your students too much, but share information they want to know, be closer to their personal interests and everyday problems. However, you have already know the best method: get a Twitter account for instance or any other social network to build a connection. Therefore, it gives an additional benefit. You will be able to share stuff in your free time, follow some of your students and understand why they behave that way. This is a good strategy if you are working with problem-solving classes. 

5. Improve yourself 

Being a teacher means studying for the rest of your life. Technologies change so quickly that you need to be aware of it every single minute. Luckily, there is no reason to visit seminars, which are taking too much time. Now, there are a lot of educational websites for teachers, and you can just Google any specific site and read useful articles or do some exercises to refresh your memory. The best one is learner.org, but you can find something else that fits you more. 

6. Be organized 

Being always prepared and well-organized for the lessons is not that much easy as it may seem. Perhaps, it is the high time to give paper notebooks and take up online ones. There is an enormous amount of them, like Adittio and many others. Search for planners that was designed especially for teachers. They differ from the usual ones very much, because they have special tools. They will help you to carry less unnecessary things and be always equipped with the material for your classes. 

7. Involve parents in their kids’ studying 

Many parents urge to know about their kids’ success, and that is normal practice. Instead of wasting your time on parents’ meeting, offer them to use a special app such as Seesaw for instance. It allows students to upload their work, on the other hand, the teacher can check it there, and the parent can see the final result. This app facilitates control for both: teacher and a parent, making everything as fair as possible. 

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How to find the Best Laptop for Programming

Since you are reading this article, it is not hard to guess who you are and what you are looking for. You are a professional software engineer, maybe you are starting off with programming as a student or perhaps you are just a programming geek.

You have come here looking for the best laptop for programming but you find yourself asking what is it that you are looking for?

Fortunately, we have some tips below that can help you find your perfect laptop.

Beginner / Student Programmer

We are aware that if you are a student you may be on a tight budget. You need to find a laptop that is fairly reasonably priced. We assume that if you are a beginner your projects will be simple, so all you need is a top performance/dollar value laptop and here is how to manage that:

• 13.3” – 15.6” screen. It should preferably be FHD. We have excluded 17.3 inch because as a student, you will be moving about. 17.3 inch would be difficult to carry around.
  
• Recommended a minimum of 8 GB of RAM, although even 4 GB should work just fine for small projects.
• Find a laptop without dedicated graphics card (Integrated graphics card cost less and will do the work for you)
• Intel i3 processor is perfect for beginners (you can go for i5, but mostly the may want to avoid it if you are very tight on budget). Do not settle for anything less than an Intel Core i3 like Intel Pentium or Intel Celeron.
• Battery life 5+ hours is great. However, it is also possible to find 10+ hours.

Professional Programmer/Application Developer

If you are a professional programmer or an application developer, you need a laptop that is powerful, convenient and running smoothly. You don’t need overheating or any lag, you left those problems with your first laptop or desktop computer for beginners, now it is time for something better.

It all comes to what type of programming you are into, but generally we prefer the following specifications here:

• Processor: As an expert you will have to compile applications or games that require a strong processor. Do not go lower than Intel Core i7 or AMD A10 processors.
• Make sure that along with a Hard Disk you have an SSD (solid-state drive) disc as the primary drive (at least 256 GB SSD). It loads faster even the biggest projects, so you won’t be disappointed.
• RAM memory (at least 8GB, but as we like to say “The more, the merrier”. 16 GB, 32 GB, it is totally up to you)
• Battery life: 10-14 hours would be excellent (you would not want to leave your work undone if you are not able to charge your laptop right away). However, if you go for a workstation grade laptop, then do not get disappointed if it only has enough juice for 4 hours.
• Comfortable keyboard because obviously you will be typing a lot.
• The screen size is up to you here. You can get premium laptops like Ultrabooks that are 13.3 inch in screen size or workstation grade laptops that are 17.3” in screen size. 

For programmers that develop more graphically (like creating graphics in games using Unity as engine or 3D modeling), make sure that you have a graphics card that will provide you the best experience. Go for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 minimum or AMD Radeon R9 series graphics card. 

For web programmers, or mobile app developers, you do not need to have a high-end programming laptop. You can go with 4 GB RAM, but since you might open many applications, consider buying an 8 GB memory. If you are not a beginner, then please consider investing in Intel Core i5 at least.

The Operating System Choice Matters

If you are just starting out, you need to first choose the operating system that you want to develop on. The choice depends a lot on how you foresee your future. Do you foresee yourself developing an app for iPhone? If that is the case that you will need to get an Apple Macbook.

There three main operating systems to choose from, namely Windows, Mac, and Linux. They all have pros and cons. There is also a fourth called Chrome OS that you find on budget-friendly Chromebook. Unlike the other three, Chrome OS is entirely cloud based so you don’t need a powerful hardware onboard.  

When searching, it is advisable to read the best laptop for programming reviews before you buy them. Remember that it is a tool that is supposed to facilitate your work and learning. Therefore, choosing one wisely is vital to your success. 

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Best Online Tools for Illustrators

Pencil, pen, sketchpad, caffeine, or perhaps some background music. These are the typical tools an illustrator uses, as you well know. But what about those looking to transition into the digital age?

Using online tools for illustrations is the next big thing within the industry. Computers and advanced technology is everywhere, so it’s time to get on board. Here, we take a look at some of the best online tools for illustrators. There is a nice mix of simple Apps to high-tech devices, so you’re sure to get inspired by something that fits you!

Doodle.ly
Love to doodle? Not willing to give up your pens, pencils, and markers? This app allows you to use all of these things on your mobile phone, making it a different yet simple way to create images.

Canva

Canva is an awesome tool that is easy to use for anyone, and that means that an illustrator can do truly marvelous things with it. You can create graphic images completely on your own, or use many of the design tools on the site and stock photos, etc. on the site. Good for posters, social media posts, multi-paged presentations, or just creating art, Canva is free and simple.

iPad

Tablets are the best tools for online illustrations. There are other tablets besides the infamous iPad by Apple of course, but the iPad probably has the most options for Apps available that are geared for illustrators and creators.

First things first, you need a good stylus. For those who are new to using tablets, a stylus is basically a pen for a screen. There are all different types and brands, and choosing one is exactly like choosing a new illustrating instrument. It has to feel right for you and fit in with your creating style. There are countless great Apps that allow you to directly draw on the screen and add lots of unique details.

Desktop Computers

Previous to this, we mentioned the tablet, which is very handy for on the go drawing, but the real art happens on an actual computer. Just like with the tablet, there are applications and programs that allow you to make what you want without a clunky mouse.

If you use a Microsoft desktop, chances are you can link what you’ve started on your iPad and finish it on the computer. The bigger screen makes for an easier work space.

GifBoom
“Gifs” are fun to look at and even more fun to make! GifBoom is “a network for visual expressions”. Essentially, they are moving pictures and can be used to promote a book or a project, or represent a piece of art or illustration.

It is a phone app, and therefore the creations are made directly on your phone. It’s also linked with social media, so you can share the gif you’ve just created on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Adobe Illustrator

No article of this nature would be complete without the mentioning of Adobe Illustrator. An all-encompassing tool that allows you to create illustrations and images across many different devices and then onto different interfaces, Abode Illustrator is a tool that you can’t live without.

The ability to create and manipulate graphs on this tool makes is perfect for an unlimited amount of uses. You can create and use business logos for websites, ads, products, and business cards. Photo realistic artworks, packaging designs, icons, infographics, digital maps, clothing designs, posters, and whatever else you can think of can be create with Illustrator.

All of these tools are designed for someone like you: an illustrator, creator, inventor, and innovative designer. There are so many amazing things you can do with technology and we hope that you now have a better idea of what technologies to use.

For most artists though, there is nothing quite like the old-fashioned pad of paper and pencil. Don’t feel like you need to or should throw it out. The greatest inspirations come from the things that are around us, many of them which are already familiar.

Bio:

Lucy Adams is an outsourcer from bestessays4u. She’s a generalist able to cope with a huge variety of topics, from business and marketing to education, writing, and literature. Lucy is an open-hearted and very responsive blogger, so you can expect a grounded response to your each and every request.

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How to Choose the Right Tool for Website Prototyping

In today’s era, the most appropriate and flexible design process are the one which is properly deployed, maintained and can be scaled according to project requirements. The ultimate goal of a prototype is to familiarize clients with the software functionalities and allow end users to get an actual feel of the system. Hence for a designer to choose a prototyping tool depends on how well it supports iterations as well as maintain the overall system design.

As every website has its characteristics and stands different from the other, similarly prototyping tools are also distinguished by different features, styles, and objectives. Based on the project need and client specifications, every custom website design firm selects prototyping tools that best fits the system requirements.

Let’s discuss some of the most prominent prototyping tools used by designers for crafting their web layout:

UXPin
UXPin is a prototyping tool that provides an entire designing solution. It has a stable variety of UI features that allow the web designer to choose the best design for developing a website.

Webflow
Designing prototypes with Webflow are not only fast and seamless but also fun. It allows you to be creative and explore site templates and web components to add life to your project. The prototype once complete can be turned into a production ready website just by a click of a button. Webflow is responsive and can be used by anyone irrespective of development knowledge.

Mockplus
Mockplus is a desktop based application used for prototyping of mobile and web applications. It is a tool that can be used by beginners as well as experienced professionals. Moreover, Mockplus allows you to visualize designs before the web development process. It is simple; what you see is what you get.

InVision
With InVision tool, you can bring your imagination to life. It designs highly interactive web and mobile app mockups with tools to facilitate workflow. The greatest benefit of using InVision is the seamless design communication where designers and client can share the platform to view and suggest feedbacks to the proposed design model.

Conclusion
The choices are abundant and hard to pick. However, as a company providing custom website design services, it should all comes down to your client interests and project functionality requirements. Even though prototypes are useful in determining the working of a system, it should not be considered as the final design to use. They are just the framework as to test the correctness of the design before it gets implemented on live projects.

Author Bio
Michael Kamm has studied Business Studies at Brookhaven College. He is now working at Invictus Studio - professional logo design company. Michael precisely works on content marketing strategies for his company.

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Operator Precedence and Associativity in C++

When an expression contains multiple operators, the order in which different operators are evaluated is known as operator precedence. Suppose if we want to evaluate an expression 10*3+2 then we should know that whether multiplication (*) will be evaluated first or addition (+). Using normal mathematical precedence rules, we know that multiplication has higher precedence than addition. So, multiplication will take place first and then addition is held. So, expression will be evaluated as (10*3) +2 producing 32. Operator precedence is also known as hierarchy of operators.

If two operators have same precedence then the order in which operators are evaluated is known as Operator Associativity. It can be “left to right” or “right to left”.

In C++, Each operator is assigned a level of precedence. If an expression contains different types of operators, the operators with high precedence are evaluated before the operators with lower precedence. The order of precedence and their associativity in C++ language is as follows:

To solve general expressions, we can conclude that:

1: Any expression given in parenthesis is evaluated first.

2: Multiplication (*) and division (/) operators have equal precedence.

3: Addition (+) and subtraction (-) operators have equal precedence.

4: In case of parenthesis within parenthesis, the expressing of the inner parenthesis will be evaluated first.

Good Reference Article: Even or Odd Program in C++

Let’s solve two expressions by using above given results.

Example 1:

• First of all, the parenthesis inside parenthesis are evaluated as 20/4=5
• Then, the expression attained inside the parenthesis is evaluated as 3*5=15.
• Although plus (+) and minus (-) have same priority but associativity is “left to right” and plus (+) is    present on left side. So, it will be evaluated first like 7+15=22.
• At the end, 13 would be subtracted from 22 and gives the final result 9.

Example 2:

In this expression:

• 7+3 comes inside the parenthesis and evaluated first as 10.
• Now, we have 3 operators in our expression i.e. 1 minus and 2 asterisks. We know that multiplication have higher precedence as compared to subtraction. So, asterisks will be evaluated before minus. But we also have two asterisks and which one will be evaluated first? One who comes at the left side. So, 6*10 will be evaluated as 60.
• After that, 60 is multiplied with 2 giving 120.
• Now, 3 is subtracted from 120 and 117 is attained.

About Author:
Kamal Choudhary is a tech geek who writes C++ programming tutorials. He is a student of computer science in University of Gujrat, pakistan. He loves to write about computer programming. Follow him on twitter @ikamalchoudhary

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Merits and Demerits of Arrays

Array is an important data structure. We can define it by saying that it is a collection of like objects. The objects are called elements which are present at contiguous memory locations. Every element of array is accessed by using its unique index. Indices of arrays always start from zero.

Merits of Array:

1: Ease of declaration:
    Arrays provide us a handy way to declare variables. We don’t have to declare as many variables as values are being stored. We just declare an array and give it a size.  For example, if you need to declare 10 variables of integer type then you can use an array. You will not have to declare ten different variables. You just declare an array of size 10.

int array[10];
Above C++ statement will allocate ten memory locations for array variable.

2: Ease of access:
    The main advantage of array is that we can access a random element. In other data structures like linked list, we have to traverse the list to find a specific element. But in array, we just give the specific index of element and use it. It saves a lot of time and memory.

3: Contiguous memory locations:
    The elements of array are stored at consecutive memory locations. For example, if we have an array of ten elements then these ten elements will be stored consecutively in the memory. These consecutive locations help to access an element quickly.

4: Implementing data structures:
    Other data structures like stacks, queues, trees etc are widely used. Arrays provide us such functionality that we can use these data structures easily.

5: Matrices Re presentation:
    Arrays are not just one-dimensional arrays. 2-D (two dimensional) arrays are also present which help us to represent matrices.

Demerits of Array:

1: Wastage of memory:
    The biggest drawback of array is that it is fixed length. Once you have declared it, you cannot change its size at run-time. For example, if you are asked to design a program for data entry and you don’t know the exact number of records to be entered. Then you will probably declare an array of maximum size you can imagine according to your problem. Now, if user enters records less than size of array then empty memory spaces would be wasted. So, this can cause wastage of memory.
       
2: Similar data type:
    You can store only those elements in array which are similar in data type. Actually when you declare an array then you also tell compiler its data type. In linked list, you can store data of more than one type in a node. So, similar data type can be considered as a drawback of array.

3: Consecutive memory locations:
    Though consecutive memory locations are useful for fast accessing of elements of an array. But this consecutiveness also makes hard the deletion and insertion of elements. For example, if you delete an element from array then you will have to traverse the array to adjust the places of remaining elements. Traversing of array is a difficult and time-consuming job. This thing also occurs in case of inserting an element in array.



About Author:
Kamal Choudhary is a tech geek who writes about C++ programming tutorials on C++ Beginner. He is a student of computer science in University of Gujrat, pakistan. He loves to write about computer programming. You can find his full bio here. Follow him on twitter @ikamalchoudhary

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The Value of a Portfolio in Choosing a Proficient Application Developer

(http://www.thebluediamondgallery.com/tablet/images/web-developer.jpg)

Given the growing demand for IT specialists, finding a proficient developer is a real challenge, especially when your business is not directly related to IT, or you are not sure in skills and experience the ideal employee should have.

Whether you follow these crucial steps before hiring to find the outsource app developer or not, the candidate’s portfolio is something that you will never ignore. But is it that simple to choose a specialist who perfectly suits your business? Below are a few key points to consider in order not to lay an egg.

#1 The First Impression Does Matter

Try to catch your first impression of the portfolio. Put yourself in the potential client’s shoes. Do you like these works? Consider not only the design but also the quality of the layout, meta tags, and other details.

Ideally, you should find a ready-made website that matches the most important criteria of yours.

#2 Website Performance

Loading speed is one of the most important indicators of a high-quality website. A modern user will not wait long until the page opens – he or she will just turn to competitors’ web resources.

Statistics says that the pages with the loading speed over 4 seconds lose about 25% of their visitors, meaning every fourth user leaves before the page loads.

Check the speed with, for example, Google PageSpeed Insights. Just enter the URL of the on the PageSpeed ​​Insights page and check its speed (anything below 60 is poor). The report from PageSpeed Insights will also provide several recommendations for improving the download time.

However, even if the loading speed is low, don’t refuse the candidate immediately. After all, not every aspect is under the control of the developer, especially if the latter supports many projects simultaneously.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Odoo_ent.png)

#3 Functionality

Click on all buttons, fill out the forms or make a purchase. Even the smallest gap can prevent sales! You need a developer who can make an intuitive, easy-to-use website with rich features and capabilities, don’t you?

Pay attention to:

• Easiness of navigation and search.
• The convenience of sorting and filtering goods, as well as the process of ordering.

#4 Accessibility

A truly high-quality web resource should be available for all categories of users, regardless of the capabilities of their gadgets and computers. Therefore, test the websites for compliance with the general web accessibility guidelines. You can do it with, for example, WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool: just enter the URL of the page and get a report with possible problems with availability. Although not everything reported is actually a problem with availability, it is still a good tool for identifying potential errors.

#5 Code Quality

Code quality is a loose approximation of how long-term useful and long-term maintainable the code is. Although the clean and quality code is a fairly subjective thing, it can be defined as the code that is easy to read and modify. The most important parameter is adjust-ability.

• Imagine, for example, that your freelance developer suddenly moves to a full-time office job, and  you need to hire someone to finish the project. If the code is clean and quality, the new developer won’t have any problems. 

Unfortunately, most of the page code can be hidden from you. Often this is the base code written in PHP, Ruby, etc. However, you can look at some things on the surface that can be indicators of how well your candidate is coding. For example, you can use the HTML Markup Validation Service by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to get a list of warnings and errors in the HTML of the website.

(https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/12/28/09/36/web-1935737_960_720.png)

#6 Personal Projects

The best web developers are always genuinely passionate about their work, and they usually have many personal projects in the portfolio. It can be sites or applications for friends, HTML5-games, personal blogs, etc. Evaluate these works like everything else in the portfolio, paying attention to the balance in them. A portfolio should not consist only of personal projects.

A web developer is a very important person for your project. After all, he is responsible for the face of your brand, its online image, as well as for your interaction with customers. 

Take your time in choosing the suitable person in order not to harm your business. I wish you best of luck in your endeavors!

Bio:
Lucy Adams is an aspiring businesswoman. Most of all, she’s interested in covering the most intriguing topics of yours, whether they are about business, writing or literature. Share your best ideas with the blogger and get a high-quality guest blog in a week or so!

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What main reason is driving your need to convert from Visual FoxPro?

WHAT MAIN REASON IS DRIVING YOUR NEED TO CONVERT FROM VFP? 
KNOWING THAT AFFECTS THE DIRECTION THE MIGRATION TAKES
G. N. Shah, Chief Technology Officer, Macrosoft Inc.
 
Macrosoft is contacted every week from companies that express a need to migrate their older Visual FoxPro legacy applications to a new .NET environment. Though every migration is unique and we like to say we do one migration at a time, we have found the reasons we are typically contacted fall into one of four buckets.

Look at the list below to determine if one is your root course, or are you facing a different set of issues.  Each reason for migrating presents a different tactical approach for implementing the migration.

• Need for Enhanced Security and a Supported Platform: Your organization might be in a regulated industry and requires tight security protocols on a supported application. As Visual FoxPro is out of support, this most definitely presents a compelling need to migrate to a supported platform.

• Need for a Modern Web-based Application: Your business needs to move to the web for a browser based application rather than a desktop installed application.

• Need for Feature Enhancements like Mobile: Your business requires enhancements for mobile interface or other such enhancements that you don’t want to do on an older technology.

• Need for Integration with Other Systems: You require integrating your old FoxPro application with other applications but the 32 bit operating system is not compatible with other systems.

You may fall into all of these categories but try to narrow it to what is most pressing. Looking at each of the root causes for migration let’s explore different tactics for doing the migration:

Enhanced Security

If you are concerned about security, you need to start with the database.  Visual Fox Pro databases provide an architecture and working environment for associating, organizing, and working with tables and views.  A table in Visual FoxPro can exist as a free table or as a database table.

Macrosoft has developed easy-to-use internal utilities to support the migration of the database so this is a good (and relatively easy) first step in the migration effort.  After moving data from FoxPro to an SQL database, the next step is to convert all reports and connections within the application to the new database to ensure no loss of functionality.  Once completed, this first step allows you to implement required security protections for all the data within the application. The conversion of the rest of the application can then follow.

Web-based Application

So if the driving force is to move your system from desktop to the web, Macrosoft has found a modular approach to migration works best.  Most commonly, only certain functions are performed in the field while others remain in-office activities.  A Macrosoft analyst will work with your team to determine what functions are best preformed in the field and typically focus on these as the first modules to migrate to the web with others to follow.  This way, a client will have maximum impact as quickly possible. Starting with the field functions allows remote users to interface with the new web application, with in-office modules done at a later point in the project cycle.

Enhancements

If the reason for migration is due to a compelling change in processes, or the addition of new processes, clients clearly do not want a strait ‘apples-to-apples’ migration.  Therefore experience dictates we begin these cases with a complete analysis and documentation of the current application.  Creation of pseudo code documenting all business rules and tasks enables new functions to be created that don’t conflicts with existing processes.  A detailed development blue-print is critical to success before embarking on enhancements.

Integration

If the primary purpose of the migration is to support integration with another enterprise application, clients need to begin with data dictionaries of all applications and with dataflow diagrams.  These data elements are the base from which a specific Application Program Interface (API) is produced.  An API contains a set of routines, protocols, and tools.  This new API stipulates how software mechanisms interrelate.

No matter what the root cause, Macrosoft is here to help.  Preform a free analysis using our FoxPro Code Matrix.  This robust tool is free utility that determines the volume of your Visual FoxPro project identifying the number of lines of code, objects, methods and much more.  You could download the tool from https://www.migrateto.net/foxpro-code-matrix/

About Author:

Shah is a forward thinking, corporate leader with eighteen years’ experience delivering top notch customer solutions in large scale and enterprise business environments. His proven abilities as a technology visionary and driver of strategic business systems development allow Macrosoft to deliver best in class software solutions. At Macrosoft, Shah has successfully delivered multiple migration projects. Shah holds an MBA in addition to multiple professional and technical certifications. His areas of expertise include enterprise-wide architecture, application migration, IT transformation, mobile, and offshore development management.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gnshah

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