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Early Detection Of Dementia Using The Human Electroencephalogram, Geoffrey T Henderson Jan 2004

Early Detection Of Dementia Using The Human Electroencephalogram, Geoffrey T Henderson

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Improved life expectancy has led to a significant increase in the number of people in the high-riskage groups that will develop Alzheimer's disease and other dementia. Efforts are being made to develop treatments that slow the progress of these diseases. However, unless a sufferer is diagnosed in the early stages the treatments cannot give the maximum benefit. Therefore, there isan urgent need for a practical, decision support tool that will enable the earliest possible detectionof dementia within the large at-risk population.Current techniques such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) that are used to diagnose andassess neurological disorders require specialist equipment and …

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The Ecological Causes And Consequences Of Prey Choice And Ontogenetic Niche Shifts In The Common Goby, Angus Charles Jackson Jan 2004

The Ecological Causes And Consequences Of Prey Choice And Ontogenetic Niche Shifts In The Common Goby, Angus Charles Jackson

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Foraging behaviour of the common goby, Pomatoschistus microps was investigated in both the United Kingdom and Sweden, with the aim of establishing causes and consequences of prey choice and ontogenetic shifts in diet. Goby life-cycle could be clearly divided into two stages, where prey choice changed abruptly from meio- to macrofauna at a standard length of 30 mm. This diet-shift maximised net energy intake rates, as illustrated by a quantitatively validated optimal foraging model. Intrinsic mechanisms were of greater importance than extrinsic factors in driving this shift. Metabolism, the primary prey choice determinant, revealed canalised and predictable diet shifts in …

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Ecology And Conservation Of Mediterranean Temporary Ponds In The Uk, Louise Mcabendroth Jan 2004

Ecology And Conservation Of Mediterranean Temporary Ponds In The Uk, Louise Mcabendroth

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Macroinvertebrate and plant assemblage composition and abiotic habitat characteristics were examined in seventy-six ponds, in the New Forest (Hampshire, UK) and on the Lizard Peninsula (Cornwall, UK), in order to unravel the ecological processes influencing ponds at a range of spatial scales and provide a clear definition of Mediterranean Temporary Pond (MTP) habitat (92/43/EEC) in the UK. In addition, a set of newly created experimental ponds were monitored on the Lizard to examine patterns of colonisation and evaluate the use of habitat creation in temporary pond conservation. The findings are synthesised into a number of management recommendations for ponds in …

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Factors Influencing The Accuracy Of Task Completion Time Estimates, Kevin Edward Thomas Jan 2004

Factors Influencing The Accuracy Of Task Completion Time Estimates, Kevin Edward Thomas

School of Psychology Theses

Whilst considerable research has found that people tend to underestimate their task completion times (e.g., Buehler et al., 1994), factors that might influence the accuracy of temporal predictions have received little empirical treatment. The research presented in this thesis identified two distinct factors that mediated time estimation accuracy and bias. One factor was task duration, whereas the other factor was the person’s prior experience of the task. There was evidence that having prior experience of performing all or a substantial part of the same task enabled participants to more accurately estimate its duration. Additionally, predictions were more accurate when participants …

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Ecology And Conservation Of Mediterranean Temporary Ponds In The Uk, Louise Mcabendroth Jan 2004

Ecology And Conservation Of Mediterranean Temporary Ponds In The Uk, Louise Mcabendroth

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Macroinvertebrate and plant assemblage composition and abiotic habitat characteristics were examined in seventy-six ponds, in the New Forest (Hampshire. UK) and on the Lizard Peninsula (Cornwall, UK), in order to unravel the ecological processes influencing ponds at a range of spatial scales and provide a clear definition of Mediterranean Temporary Pond (MTP) habitat (92/43/EEC)in the UK. In addition, a set of newly created experimental ponds were monitored on the Lizard to examine patterns of colonisation and evaluate the use of habitat creation in temporary pond conservation. The findings are synthesised into a number of management recommendations for ponds in the …

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Studies On Myxozoan Parasites Of Freshwater Fish And Invertebrate Hosts, Matthew Longshaw Jan 2004

Studies On Myxozoan Parasites Of Freshwater Fish And Invertebrate Hosts, Matthew Longshaw

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

A study of myxozoan parasites has been investigated in hosts from freshwater environments in the UK. Over 17,000 oligochaetes, almost 5,000 juvenile cyprinids representing 7 species and over 60 invertebrate species have been examined for the presence of myxozoan parasites. In addition, studies on the lifecycle of Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae (the causative agent of salmonid proliferative kidney disease, PKD) and of selected cyprinid myxozoans were conducted. A total of 21 actinospore types in seven collective groups were isolated and described from oligochaetes collected from seven different river systems in England and Wales. Twelve of the actinospores isolated appear to be new …

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Deconstructing The Tower Of London : Resolution, Alternatives And Executive Function, Hassina Carder-Gilbert Jan 2004

Deconstructing The Tower Of London : Resolution, Alternatives And Executive Function, Hassina Carder-Gilbert

School of Psychology Theses

Although widely employed as an executive task, the performance demands of the Tower of London task (TOL) are not well understood. The aim of this Thesis is to determine what TOL measures and seven studies are included that illustrate its performance demands. Much of the work is experimental and TOL is explored via a novel verification paradigm in which participants make speeded judgements about whether a demonstrated move is optimal or suboptimal. The deconstruction of the task to the level of the individual move indicated that the number of moves until a disk was placed in its goal position (resolution) …

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Krox-20 Inhibits Jun-Nh2-Terminal Kinase/C-Jun To Control Schwann Cell Proliferation And Death, David B. Parkinson, Ambily Bhaskaran, Sarah Dickinson, Anna Droggiti Jan 2004

Krox-20 Inhibits Jun-Nh2-Terminal Kinase/C-Jun To Control Schwann Cell Proliferation And Death, David B. Parkinson, Ambily Bhaskaran, Sarah Dickinson, Anna Droggiti

Peninsula Medical School

No abstract provided.

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Provision Of 24 Hour Acute Neurology Care By Neurologists: Manpower Requirements In The Uk., C. Carroll, J. Zajicek Jan 2004

Provision Of 24 Hour Acute Neurology Care By Neurologists: Manpower Requirements In The Uk., C. Carroll, J. Zajicek

Peninsula Medical School

OBJECTIVES: The ABN has published standards of care for patients with acute neurological disease. Derriford Hospital provides a 24 hour neurology intake service to a population of 500,000 with the equivalent of four consultants, three specialist registrars (SpRs), and four senior house officers (SHOs) with a 37 bed ward. The authors undertook a prospective study of all neurology admissions to enable calculation of manpower necessary to meet the ABN guidelines. METHODS: All admissions to the neurology department were analysed prospectively for a three month period (March to May 2002). RESULTS: There were 629 admissions (equating to 2500 per year); data …

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A Randomised Controlled Trial And Cost Effectiveness Study Of Systematic Screening (Targeted And Total Population Screening) Versus Routine Practice For The Detection Of Atrial Fibrillation In The Over 65s: (Safe) [Isrctn19633732], Dawn Swancutt, Richard Hobbs, David Fitzmaurice, Jonathan Mant, Ellen Murray, Sue Jowett, James Raftery, Stirling Bryan, Michael Davies, Gregory Lip Jan 2004

A Randomised Controlled Trial And Cost Effectiveness Study Of Systematic Screening (Targeted And Total Population Screening) Versus Routine Practice For The Detection Of Atrial Fibrillation In The Over 65s: (Safe) [Isrctn19633732], Dawn Swancutt, Richard Hobbs, David Fitzmaurice, Jonathan Mant, Ellen Murray, Sue Jowett, James Raftery, Stirling Bryan, Michael Davies, Gregory Lip

Peninsula Medical School

Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) has been recognised as an important independent risk factor for thromboembolic disease, particularly stroke for which it provides a five-fold increase in risk. This study aimed to determine the baseline prevalence and the incidence of AF based on a variety of screening strategies and in doing so to evaluate the incremental cost-effectiveness of different screening strategies, including targeted or whole population screening, compared with routine clinical practice, for detection of AF in people aged 65 and over. The value of clinical assessment and echocardiography as additional methods of risk stratification for thromboembolic disease in patients with …

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Doctoral Thesis Proposal Defence Seminar., Tj Lynch Nov 2003

Doctoral Thesis Proposal Defence Seminar., Tj Lynch

Plymouth Institute of Education

Lynch, T. (2003, November 3). Evaluating the implementation of the new Queensland health and physical education documents (1999) in Brisbane Catholic Education primary schools.

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Functional Interaction Between The Bloom's Syndrome Helicase And The Rad51 Paralog, Rad51l3 (Rad51d), Jp Braybrooke, J-L Li, L Wu, Et Al Nov 2003

Functional Interaction Between The Bloom's Syndrome Helicase And The Rad51 Paralog, Rad51l3 (Rad51d), Jp Braybrooke, J-L Li, L Wu, Et Al

School of Biomedical Sciences

Bloom's syndrome (BS) is a genetic disorder associated with short stature, fertility defects, and a predisposition to the development of cancer. BS cells are characterized by genomic instability; in particular, a high rate of reciprocal exchanges between sister-chromatids and homologous chromosomes. The BS gene product, BLM, is a helicase belonging to the highly conserved RecQ family. BLM is known to form a complex with the RAD51 recombinase, and to act upon DNA intermediates that form during homologous recombination, including D-loops and Holliday junctions. Here, we show that BLM also makes a direct physical association with the RAD51L3 protein (also known …

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An Economic Anaysis Of The Impact Of Eu Accession Upon Crude Oil And Oil Production Policy In Lithuania, Irma Pasukeviciute Sep 2003

An Economic Anaysis Of The Impact Of Eu Accession Upon Crude Oil And Oil Production Policy In Lithuania, Irma Pasukeviciute

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

This thesis presents a two-stage economic and policy analysis of the impact of European Union (EU) accession upon crude oil production and transportation policy in Lithuania. The first stage provides the theoretical framework for the research. The analysis begins with the overview of the Russian oil industry, as for over 50 years Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union and thus its oil industry was largely controlled by Russian interests. Although Lithuania became independent in 1991, the dependency on Russia in terms of energy remains until today. The following chapters introduce Lithuania's development since its independence, outline the relationship with …

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A Computer Aided Detection System For Mammographic Images Implemented On A Grid Infrastructure, U Bottigli, P Cerello, P Delogu, Me Fantacci, Et Al May 2003

A Computer Aided Detection System For Mammographic Images Implemented On A Grid Infrastructure, U Bottigli, P Cerello, P Delogu, Me Fantacci, Et Al

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

The use of an automatic system for the analysis of mammographic images has proven to be very useful to radiologists in the investigation of breast cancer, especially in the framework of mammographic-screening programs. A breast neoplasia is often marked by the presence of microcalcification clusters and massive lesions in the mammogram: hence the need for tools able to recognize such lesions at an early stage. In the framework of the GPCALMA (GRID Platform for Computer Assisted Library for MAmmography) project, the co-working of italian physicists and radiologists built a large distributed database of digitized mammographic images (about 5500 images corresponding …

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Proapoptotic Genes Bax And Cd40l Are Predictors Of Survival In Transitional Cell Carcinoma Of The Bladder, Sa Hussain, R Ganesan, L Hiller, Pg Murray, Et Al Feb 2003

Proapoptotic Genes Bax And Cd40l Are Predictors Of Survival In Transitional Cell Carcinoma Of The Bladder, Sa Hussain, R Ganesan, L Hiller, Pg Murray, Et Al

Peninsula Medical School

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of expression of a range of genes involved in apoptosis on outcome in bladder cancer. Immunohistochemistry was used to examine expression of BCL2, BAX, P53, CD40 and CD40L in archival tissues of patients included in various treatment trials for transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder. Data were collected on 94 patients who first presented with either invasive or superficial bladder cancer. Median follow-up for alive patients was 83 months (m) (range 12-195 m). Median survival was 80 m (95% CI=56-128 m). Median survivals for the various markers were as …

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Individual Differences And Strategies For Human Reasoning, Alison Bacon Jan 2003

Individual Differences And Strategies For Human Reasoning, Alison Bacon

School of Psychology Theses

Theories of human reasoning have tended to assume cognitive universality, i. e. that all individuals reason in basically the same way. However, some research (e. g. that of Ford. 1995) has found evidence of individual differences in the strategies people use for syllogistic reasoning. This thesis presents a series of experiments which aimed to identify individual differences in strategies for human reasoning and investigate their nature and aetiology. Experiment 1 successfully replicated and extended Ford (1995) and provided further evidence that most individuals prefer to reason with either verbal-propositional or visuo-spatial representations. Data from verbal and written protocols showed that …

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Developing Lecturer Practitioner Roles In Nursing Using Action Research, Graham Williamson Jan 2003

Developing Lecturer Practitioner Roles In Nursing Using Action Research, Graham Williamson

School of Nursing and Midwifery Theses

The lecturer practitioner role in nursing is widely seen as offering hope for the future of nurse education, by overcoming the 'theory-practice gap', and establishing and maintaining effective links at many different levels between education and practice. It is clear, however, that there are a number of issues of concern about the role. These can be summarised as: lack of role clarity about overcoming the theory-practice gap; varying conceptions of the role and unclear job descriptions; and role conflicts and overload, from the conflicting demands of service and education settings Despite current political support for strengthening the links between higher …

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Substratum Heterogeneity Of Dredged Vs Un-Dredged Maerl Grounds, Na Kamenos, Pg Moore, Jm Hall-Spencer Jan 2003

Substratum Heterogeneity Of Dredged Vs Un-Dredged Maerl Grounds, Na Kamenos, Pg Moore, Jm Hall-Spencer

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

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Non-Legitimate Illness, Embodied Experience And The Moral Career: The Case Of Me/Cfs, T Collett Jan 2003

Non-Legitimate Illness, Embodied Experience And The Moral Career: The Case Of Me/Cfs, T Collett

Peninsula Medical School

The condition known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is an illness of unknown aetiology. In the absence of any organic proof of its existence, the prevailing UK view is that it is a form of atypical depression or a somatic disorder. ME/CFS is said by sufferers to affect physical and cognitive functioning and last for years. However, many argue that because ME/CFS is seen as a psychological illness their complaints of ‘being really ill’ are not taken seriously. Based on a mixed method study of 266 persons with ME/CFS, this paper explores how individuals experience a chronic …

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Liquid Feeding Of Pigs 1: Potential For Reducing Environmental Impact And For Improving Productivity, Peter Brooks, Jane Davina Beal Jan 2003

Liquid Feeding Of Pigs 1: Potential For Reducing Environmental Impact And For Improving Productivity, Peter Brooks, Jane Davina Beal

More Faculty of Science and Engineering Research

No abstract provided.

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Current Clinical Practice In Neonatal And Paediatric Parenteral Nutrition In Europe, Gj Sewell, Bu Kluttgens, Aj Nunn Jan 2003

Current Clinical Practice In Neonatal And Paediatric Parenteral Nutrition In Europe, Gj Sewell, Bu Kluttgens, Aj Nunn

School of Health Professions

Objective: To investigate current prescribing, compounding, and administration practice of parenteral nutrition (PN) in five European countries, and to explore the use of pre-prepared batch-manufactured standard solutions. Methods: Questionnaire survey in 218 hospitals in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK. Results: 98 hospitals (45%) responded to the questionnaire. Compounding practice was found to differ greatly throughout Europe. Pharmacy aseptic compounding services were usually available in Spain (64%) and the UK (87%), but less often in Germany (35%), France (40%), and Italy (50%). Pre-prepared standard parenteral nutrition solutions were used in 25% of all hospitals surveyed for neonates, and in …

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Stability And Compatibility Of 5-Fluorouracil Infusions In The Braun Easypump, Gj Sewell, S Roberts Jan 2003

Stability And Compatibility Of 5-Fluorouracil Infusions In The Braun Easypump, Gj Sewell, S Roberts

School of Health Professions

No abstract provided.

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Farm-Level Pesticide Use In Bangladesh: Determinants And Awareness, S Rahman Jan 2003

Farm-Level Pesticide Use In Bangladesh: Determinants And Awareness, S Rahman

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Farmers' awareness of beneficial and harmful effects of pesticides and factors determining use of pesticides were analyzed using survey data from 21 villages in three agro-ecological regions of Bangladesh. Pesticide cost accounts for about 7.7% of the gross value of output in cotton, 3.6% in vegetables, 2.5% in potato, 1.8% in modern rice, 1.6% in spices and less than 1% in other cereal and non-cereal crops. About 77% of farmers (highest 94% in Comilla) used pesticides at least once (37% applied once and 31% applied twice, and the rest applied for 3-5 times) in a crop season. Cultivation of traditional …

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A Stochastic Frontier Approach To Total Factor Productivity Measurement In Bangladesh Crop Agriculture, 1961–1992, T Coelli, S Rahman, C Thirtle Jan 2003

A Stochastic Frontier Approach To Total Factor Productivity Measurement In Bangladesh Crop Agriculture, 1961–1992, T Coelli, S Rahman, C Thirtle

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

This paper applies a stochastic production frontier model to measure total factor productivity growth, technical efficiency change and technological change in Bangladesh crop agriculture for the 31 observations from 1960/61 to 1991/92, using data for 16 regions. The results reveal that technical change followed a U‐shaped pattern, rising from the early 1970s, when the green revolution varieties were adopted, giving an overall rate of technical progress at 0.27 per cent per year. However, technical efficiency declined throughout, at an estimated annual rate of 0.47 per cent. The combined effect of slow technical progress, dominated by the fall in technical efficiency …

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Supporting Biosciences In The Nursing Curriculum: Development And Evaluation Of An Online Resource, Ka Gresty, Dre Cotton Jan 2003

Supporting Biosciences In The Nursing Curriculum: Development And Evaluation Of An Online Resource, Ka Gresty, Dre Cotton

School of Biomedical Sciences

Aims. The aim of this project was to develop and evaluate an online resource designed to improve the biosciences knowledge of preregistration nursing students. Background. A number of studies have identified lack of biological subject knowledge and anxiety about studying biosciences as serious problems for nursing students. The availability of a contextualized biological information resource prior to and early in their studies might help to reduce this fear and anxiety. Methods. The project used an action research approach, involving an initial analysis of the extent of the problems with biosciences encountered by our nursing students, followed by the development and …

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Value Conflicts In Intergroup Perception: A Social Cognitive Perspective, N Wyer Jan 2003

Value Conflicts In Intergroup Perception: A Social Cognitive Perspective, N Wyer

School of Psychology

No abstract provided.

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Closed-Loop Controlled Total Intra Venous Anaesthesia, Chao Dong Jan 2003

Closed-Loop Controlled Total Intra Venous Anaesthesia, Chao Dong

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Anaesthesia is important for both surgery and intensive care and intravenous anaesthetics are widely used to provide rapid onset, stable maintenance, and rapid recovery compared with inhaled anaesthetics. The aim of the project on which this thesis is based was to investigate a reliable and safe methodology for delivering total intravenous anaesthesia using closed-loop control technology and bispectral analysis of human electroencephalogram (EEG) waveform. In comparison with Target Controlled Infusion (TCI), drug effect is measured during drug infusion in closed loop anaesthesia (CLAN). This may provide superior safety, better patient care, and better quality of anaesthesia whilst relieving the clinician …

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Wavelet-Based Multi-Carrier Code Division Multiple Access Systems, Ali Muayyadi Jan 2003

Wavelet-Based Multi-Carrier Code Division Multiple Access Systems, Ali Muayyadi

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This thesis proposes a wavelet-based multicarrier CDMA system that uses wavelet basis instead of DFT basis to deal with the problem of inter-channel interference (ICI) and spectral bandwidth efficiency. The theoretical analysis shows that the proposed system has lower side lobe components and higher bandwidth efficiency. The simulation further shows that the wavelet-based multi-carrier CDMA system gives lower ICI and better BER performance than that using DFT basis under multipath fading channel. Moreover the proposed system is more robust against narrow band interference signal. This thesis exploits the wavelet correlation properties to perform timing synchronisation in multicarrier CDMA systems. This …

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Profit Efficiency Among Bangladeshi Rice Farmers, S Rahman Jan 2003

Profit Efficiency Among Bangladeshi Rice Farmers, S Rahman

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Production inefficiency is usually analyzed by its three components-technical, allocative, and scale efficiency. In this study, we provide a direct measure of production efficiency of the Bangladeshi rice farmers using a stochastic profit frontier and inefficiency effects model. The data, which are for 1996, include seven conventional inputs and several other background factors affecting production of modern or high yielding varieties (HYVs) of rice spread across 21 villages in three agro-ecological regions of Bangladesh. The results show that there are high levels of inefficiency in modern rice cultivation. The mean level of profit efficiency is 77% suggesting that an estimated …

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High-Resolution Laboratory Lysimeter For Automated Sampling Of Tracers Through A 0.5m Soil Block, A Johnson, Tj Mathews, Gp Matthews, D Patel, Pj Vorsfold, Kn Andrew Jan 2003

High-Resolution Laboratory Lysimeter For Automated Sampling Of Tracers Through A 0.5m Soil Block, A Johnson, Tj Mathews, Gp Matthews, D Patel, Pj Vorsfold, Kn Andrew

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

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