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Gale Literature Resource Center Enhances to Support Primary Source Literacy and Instruction in the Classroom

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New Portals, Integrations and Curated Sets of Historical Documents Support Primary Source Literacy and Development of Critical Thinking Skills

SAN DIEGO, June 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — ALA Annual 2024 Conference – Gale, part of Cengage Group has made major enhancements to Gale Literature Resource Center (LRC). The company has added new curated sets of primary sources and historical documents along with a host of other new and improved features to support primary source literacy and instruction. Developed based on user feedback, these updates were designed to make conceptualizing primary source documents easier for students who are less familiar using these resources, as well as provide instructors and librarians with content to contextualize literary works and serve as models to support primary source literacy.

LRC provides an approachable starting point with focused sets of primary sources that are easier to analyze and consume.

“Primary source databases contain millions of historical documents, which can be overwhelming and time-consuming for novice researchers and instructors developing coursework,” said Seth Cayley, vice president of global academic product at Gale. “LRC provides an approachable starting point with focused sets of primary sources that are easier to analyze and consume. This helps users understand the materials better, making connections and comparisons that open up new research possibilities and unique ways to interrogate literary works.”

LRC’s updates include:

Primary Source & Historical Documents Curated Sets: provide a selection of materials that are approachable for students who may not be familiar with using primary sources within literature disciplines. The sets model conceptualization, a skill that includes distinguishing between primary and secondary sources and using primary sources to generate and refine research questions. These collections of resources provide instructors ready-made materials for discussion or a reference point for students to use in expanding their research questions. Set pages can be bookmarked for use in LibGuides, syllabi or learning management systems.

Native PDF Access: offers easy access to native PDF documents through a new tab on the document page. Researchers are always presented with the HTML text first, for greater accessibility. Streamlined access meets the needs of researchers who want to view the original document without the extra step of downloading.

Work and Topic Portals: build hubs of content around a work of literature or topic to support and simplify common workflows. Newer researchers will gain confidence quickly through portals that provide an entry point into the wealth of diverse content available in LRC.

Gale College Collection Integration: expands on more than 80,000 original works found in LRC by providing students access to novels, poems and more via Gale College Collection, a resource previously only available through Cengage MindTap courses. Access to works being studied supports equity initiatives and simplifies access for students who are searching for specific parts of the text for review or quoting.

Seventy of the new curated sets are available now, with 100 sets available by August 1. To ensure inclusion of diverse authors from all time periods, literary works were selected from most-studied and lesser-studied works, with a mix of classic and contemporary authors represented. Some of the literary works include: The Odyssey, Hamlet, The Red Convertible, Jane Eyre, The Underground Railroad, Frankenstein, Crime and Punishment and Fences. View the complete list of all the works.

LRC provides a seamless research experience that helps students find a starting point, search across a wide variety of materials and time periods and discover new ways to analyze information. A diverse, hybrid database containing academic journals and award-winning biographical and contextual materials, LRC supports interdisciplinary approaches to the development of critical thinking skills and information literacy. The new curated sets add to the wide-ranging content included in LRC with 50% of the sets focused on works written by traditionally underrepresented and international authors that build upon the substantial volume of existing content that supports DEI initiatives. LRC is for upper-level high school and college students as well as public libraries that support academic and high school communities.

Gale will showcase LRC’s enhancements at the ALA Annual Conference, June 28-July 1 in San Diego at the Gale booth #1317.

For more information or to request a trial, visit the Gale Literature Resource Center web page.

About Cengage Group and Gale
Cengage Group, an education technology company serving millions of learners in 165 countries, advances the way students learn through quality, digital experiences. The company currently serves the K-12, higher education, professional, library, English language teaching and workforce training markets worldwide. Gale, part of Cengage Group, provides libraries with original and curated content, as well as the modern research tools and technology that are crucial in connecting libraries to learning, and learners to libraries. For more than 65 years, Gale has partnered with libraries around the world to empower the discovery of knowledge and insights – where, when and how people need it. Gale has 500 employees globally with its main operations in Farmington Hills, Michigan. For more information, please visit www.gale.com.

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Media Contact:
Kayla Siefker, Gale, part of Cengage Group
248-378-3376
kayla.siefker@cengage.com

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SOURCE Gale, part of Cengage Group

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Ping An Good Doctor Upgrades AI Doctor Service “Ping An AI Doctor”, Expanding Access to Ping An Ecosystem’s 90 Million MAUs

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HONG KONG, June 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Ping An Healthcare and Technology Company Limited (“Ping An Good Doctor” or the “Company”, Stock Code: 1833.HK) has recently upgraded its AI doctor service — Ping An AI Doctor. The service has been fully integrated into a number of core applications under Ping An Group, including Ping An Jin Guan Jia, Ping An Auto Owner, Ping An Pocket Bank and Ping An Le Health, reaching 90 million monthly active users.

Powered by the Ping An Medical Master® large model, the upgraded Ping An AI Doctor has established a service model centered on “AI responses in seconds + full-process supervision by human doctors”. It is also deeply connected with the platform’s unique “online, in-hospital, in-home, and in-company” healthcare service network. By integrating intelligent medical capabilities with a full-scenario ecosystem, Ping An AI Doctor is expected to promote the scalable, routine and inclusive implementation of premium family doctor services, providing the public with digital solutions for full-cycle health management.

Ping An AI Doctor breaks through the functional limitations of conventional intelligent Q&A tools. By deeply applying AI large models to clinical assistance scenarios, it can standardize professional services such as preliminary symptom screening, condition assessment, medication safety guidance, health risk assessment and personalized plan formulation. The platform supports 24/7 uninterrupted service and intelligent responses within seconds, responding to common daily health consultation needs in as fast as three seconds. This significantly shortens the time required for the public to access basic medical services and lowers the threshold for use.

To ensure medical quality and safety, the platform has established a full-process human doctor review mechanism. All diagnosis and treatment suggestions and health guidance plans generated by AI are reviewed and calibrated by licensed practicing physicians. For difficult conditions, complex chronic diseases or potential risks of serious conditions, the system will also automatically transfer the case to human doctors for follow-up, with specialists providing one-on-one in-depth consultations, thereby achieving “intelligent acceleration and efficiency enhancement, with professional medical support as a safeguard.”

Leveraging Ping An Group’s ecosystem advantages in multi-business collaboration, users do not need to download a separate application or mini-program. Instead, they can access relevant services with one click through high-frequency Ping An ecosystem portals, including insurance, banking and auto owner services. In terms of service system development, Ping An AI Doctor integrates Ping An’s full-scenario medical resources across “online, in-hospital, in-home, and in-company” settings, forming a closed-loop health management service chain. It also offers functions such as health assessments, electronic medical records management, health checkup report interpretation and chronic disease management, covering healthy and sub-healthy populations as well as patients with common chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia.

In medical service scenarios, Ping An AI Doctor connects users with more than 3,500 contracted experts from Grade A tertiary hospitals, over 5,100 partner hospitals and 240,000 branded chain pharmacies, providing one-stop services including precise triage, expert appointment booking, medical accompaniment and hospitalization assistance. Meanwhile, it supports emergency medication delivery in as fast as one hour, as well as in-home services such as home nursing, home-based health and elderly care, and postpartum recovery, further enhancing family health service scenarios.

Ping An Good Doctor will continue to deepen innovation in medical technology, iteratively enhance AI clinical assistance capabilities, and continuously expand high-quality offline medical resources and specialized health and elderly care services. The Company will further enrich full-scenario healthcare services, empower people’s health through technology, safeguard family wellbeing with professional services, and continue contributing to the digital development of Healthy China.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/ping-an-good-doctor-upgrades-ai-doctor-service-ping-an-ai-doctor-expanding-access-to-ping-an-ecosystems-90-million-maus-302802017.html

SOURCE Ping An Healthcare and Technology Company Limited

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Avochato Brings HIPAA-Compliant AI Texting to Healthcare

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Healthcare organizations can now deploy AI agents on a messaging platform independently certified for security and privacy every year since 2019

MILL VALLEY, Calif., June 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Avochato, the AI-powered business messaging platform, today announced HIPAA-compliant AI texting for the healthcare industry, alongside the completion of its seventh consecutive year of SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliance certifications by Linford & Company, LLP.

Healthcare teams have been quick to adopt texting because patients read and answer texts far faster than phone calls or emails. But most AI messaging tools were not built to handle protected health information. Avochato closes that gap: hospitals, clinics, healthcare staffing agencies, and home-care providers can now use real-time AI agents, AI-suggested replies, and conversation insights across SMS, RCS, voice, and live chat, all within a platform independently audited for security and privacy seven years running.

“AI is transforming how healthcare organizations communicate, and in this industry trust is the foundation,” said Alex De Simone, Co-founder and CEO of Avochato. “By building on Anthropic’s models with zero data retention, and pairing that with seven consecutive years of SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliance, Avochato customers don’t have to choose between moving fast with AI and protecting sensitive data. They can do both.”

AI Built for Regulated Conversations

With Avochato, healthcare teams can:

Fill shifts and confirm appointments faster with automated, personalized outreach at scale, plus AI-suggested responses that keep reply times lowDeploy AI agents that answer common patient and staff questions instantly and hand off seamlessly to a human when a conversation needs oneTrain AI agents on their own content, from intake FAQs to scheduling policies, using custom knowledge basesKeep every conversation visible in a shared, auditable team inbox, so no patient message or shift request slips through the cracksTrack sentiment in real time, with AI-generated ratings, conversation summaries, and suggested next actions for every conversation

“We fill shifts in minutes that used to take hours of phone calls,” said the director of operations at a national healthcare staffing agency with more than 10,000 active clinicians.

Powered by Anthropic’s Claude, with Zero Data Retention

Avochato’s HIPAA-compliant AI capabilities run on Claude, Anthropic’s family of frontier AI models known for safety and reliability in enterprise settings. For healthcare customers, Avochato runs Claude under a zero-data-retention configuration, meaning protected health information processed by the AI is never stored or used for model training. The result is AI that meets the standard healthcare compliance teams actually require, not just the standard the industry markets.

Avochato signs Business Associate Agreements with healthcare customers that choose the HIPAA plan. Healthcare organizations can learn more and start a free trial at www.avochato.com/signup.

Security That’s Verified

Avochato’s seventh consecutive SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA certifications reflect safeguards built into every layer of the platform:

Encryption of all data in transit and at restSingle Sign On with Okta, Microsoft Azure, Salesforce, and GoogleMulti-factor authentication restricts access to verified usersRole-based access controls so administrators can define exactly who sees whatContent obfuscation for sensitive information, including media attachments

About Avochato

Avochato helps teams manage calls, texts, and chats in one secure inbox. Trusted by thousands of businesses across healthcare, professional services, logistics, and more than a dozen other industries, Avochato supports two-way communication through SMS, MMS, RCS, phone calls, and live chat, with integrations for Okta, Salesforce, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and more. Learn more at www.avochato.com.

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SOURCE Avochato

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BluIP and Oracle Hospitality Implement New Platform for Loews Hotels & Co.

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LAS VEGAS, June 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — BluIP completed a new project for the guest engagement center at Loews Hotels & Co. This was a collaboration between Loews Customer Engagement Center and the team at BluIP with support and partnership from Oracle Hospitality OPERA Cloud. The cloud-based solution consists of communication solutions, tightly integrated with Loews’ Central Reservations and PMS platforms.

Loews had a goal to unify channels, integrate with Oracle OPERA Cloud, and provide team members with guest details the instant an interaction begins. BluIP stepped in to architect and deliver the solution.

BluIP deployed the voice, chat, messaging, analytics, and workforce management, and layered on hospitality-specific integrations that BluIP is known for in the industry. As guest inquiries arrive, the system now pulls reservation details, guest profile data, and past interactions from OPERA Cloud and presents them directly inside the agent’s guest engagement center interface. If the guest begins on chat using BluIP AIVA® — asking about pet policies or requesting to change a reservation — context follows the interaction if it’s escalated to a live agent. No one repeats confirmation numbers or dates.

“Loews set a clear bar: make every interaction feel personal and effortless,” said Armen Martirosyan, CEO at BluIP. “By pairing Loews guest engagement center platform with Oracle OPERA Cloud PMS integration and BluIP’s technical, hospitality industry, and operational expertise, we gave agents the context they need the instant they say hello, and we delivered the complete solution in five months.”

Team Members also gained an enterprise-wide, custom routing directory created by BluIP and directly integrated into Loews guest engagement center platform. With it, a call can be transferred to a hotel property, department, or individual extension with a few keystrokes—whether it’s the front desk in Coronado or a chef in Kansas City.

“Our guests should have a seamless and well executed stay,” said Heather Girolami, a Senior Vice President with Loews Hotels & Co. “Team Members now see the reservation, the dates, and the request the moment a chat or call lands. We’re taking care of our guests with less friction.”

BluIP and Oracle Hospitality completed the full deployment and integration in just five months, beginning January 1, 2025, going live in May of that year and now handling over 1.1 million interactions per month. 

“Oracle Hospitality is committed to enabling our customers to deliver exceptional, personalized guest experiences at every touchpoint,” said Tanya Pratt, global vice president, strategy and product management, Oracle Hospitality. “The Loews project demonstrates the power of Oracle OPERA Cloud’s open architecture when paired with the right partner. Loews is now delivering context-aware service across every channel via more than 1.1 million interactions per month, anchored by the guest data that lives in Oracle OPERA Cloud.”

For BluIP, this project further proves the thesis: connect platforms properly and deeply, and the interaction model changes. Hotels stop opening conversations by collecting data and can continue their focus on servicing guests. 

About BluIP
BluIP is a global carrier and leader in AI-powered communications for hospitality, healthcare, and enterprise. Its AIVA Connect platform delivers conversational AI, omni-channel engagement, analytics, and 2,800+ integrations, including 35+ PMS systems, powering more than 600,000 guest rooms worldwide. Visit bluip.com.

About Oracle Hospitality
Oracle technology serves independent hoteliers, global hotel chains, casinos, and cruise lines in over 230 countries and territories. Our cloud-native solutions connect the entire business from the front desk to the dining room and back office, and our customers use intuitive tools and AI insights to fuel frictionless guest experiences, maximize profitability, and encourage long-term loyalty. To learn more, please visit www.oracle.com/hospitality.

MEDIA CONTACT
Beth McClure
Head of Marketing, BluIP
(866) 443-6494
info@bluip.com

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SOURCE BluIP, Inc.

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