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Disaster Site Structure Analysis: Examining Effective Remote Sensing Techniques In Blue Tarpaulin Inspection, Madeline G. Miles Apr 2022

Disaster Site Structure Analysis: Examining Effective Remote Sensing Techniques In Blue Tarpaulin Inspection, Madeline G. Miles

Theses

This thesis aimed to evaluate three methods of analyzing blue roofing tarpaulin (tarp) placed on homes in post natural disaster zones with remote sensing techniques by assessing the different methods- image segmentation, machine learning (ML), and supervised classification. One can determine which is the most efficient and accurate way of detecting blue tarps. The concept here was that using the most efficient and accurate way to locate blue tarps can aid federal, state, and local emergency management (EM) operations and homeowners. In the wake of a natural disaster such as a tornado, hurricane, thunderstorm, or similar weather events, roofs are …

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The Role Of Physical Geographic Features In Video Games, Dexter Ferguson Apr 2022

The Role Of Physical Geographic Features In Video Games, Dexter Ferguson

Theses

This thesis examines how physical geographic features affect individuals when interacting with video game environments. There are very few studies on the geography of video games. I aim to bridge the gap between game studies and geography, a naturally occurring link. The observation of elements such as the geography of an area is critical when exploring an individual’s perception of a video game environment. Individuals interact with the geography of their location on a day-to-day basis, whether it be physical or human geography; how they can relate a video game’s geography to the real world dramatically affects their immersion. An …

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Safe Water For All: A Multi-Modal Approach To North Alabama's Water Resources, Elijah Walker Apr 2022

Safe Water For All: A Multi-Modal Approach To North Alabama's Water Resources, Elijah Walker

Theses

Environmental degradation is a destructive force produced by the human disturbance of pollution. It is a phenomenon that gradually evolves landscapes over time resulting in irreversible outcomes. Environmental degradation physically affects spaces’ resources, objects, and inhabiting humans. This study observes the impacts of pollution beyond physical boundaries and how it affects human identity/sense of place through the utilization of geographic information systems. Specifically, it examines cultural identity developed through human experiences and connections to landscapes containing water resources. Following, pollution contaminates water resources disrupting experiences and connections thus causing the cultural identity to disappear. The case study applied to this …

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Assessment Of Natural Hazards Impact On Heritage Sites In The United Arab Emirates (Uae) Using Geographic Information System (Gis), Abdulla Salem Ahmed Saeed Alyammahi Apr 2022

Assessment Of Natural Hazards Impact On Heritage Sites In The United Arab Emirates (Uae) Using Geographic Information System (Gis), Abdulla Salem Ahmed Saeed Alyammahi

Theses

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) pays significant attention to preserving its heritage sites and archaeological finds and treats them as a vital part of its culture, history, and economy. In recent years, the field of archaeology in the UAE has witnessed tangible and significant developments, with many government initiatives being devoted to establishing archaeological departments in all emirates. The firmly stated policy of these institutions is to preserve the UAE heritage sites and educate the public about their importance. However, these sites are vulnerable to natural hazards, considered one of the most critical threats to the UAE heritage sites. In …

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The Impact Of Light Rail Transit On The Urban Development In Dubai, Uae, Dhabia Nasser Alhazmi Alefari Mar 2022

The Impact Of Light Rail Transit On The Urban Development In Dubai, Uae, Dhabia Nasser Alhazmi Alefari

Theses

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has seen significant growth in urban development over the past two decades. To overcome the implication of this development, Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has called for sustainable transport development at all levels, including the Light Rail Transit (LRT), which is a friendly mass transit system to satisfy the requirements of urban mobility, environmental sustainability, and green power efficiency. The shift towards sustainable mass transport systems has become the ideal choice to overcome the challenges accompanying the growth and development facing cities such as Dubai and to convert them into sustainable environmentally friendly places. …

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Technology Assisted Review Of Legal Documents, Malik Umar Hassan Feb 2022

Technology Assisted Review Of Legal Documents, Malik Umar Hassan

Theses

A legal prediction-based approach will help judges and solicitors to take judicial decisions on current cases, which are going on in courts, and make predictions on new cases on the basis of existing references and judgments. This model also helps law students learn about legal references. This application was developed specifically for the “Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP)” and the “Pakistan Bar Council (PBC)” to expedite their judgments and provide legal guidance to lawyers based on historical data and constitutions.

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Climate Change Awareness In The United Arab Emirates, Mariam Matar Abdulla Mohammed Almheiri Feb 2022

Climate Change Awareness In The United Arab Emirates, Mariam Matar Abdulla Mohammed Almheiri

Theses

Climate change has focused public attention in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the role of society in environmental protection. The objective of this study was to determine the level of public awareness of climate change in the seven emirates of the UAE. The study also aimed to determine the spatial and geographical distribution and gender differences, as well as to investigate the possible influence of human activities on climate change impacts. In a cross-sectional survey, the researcher used a questionnaire to collect data from a sample of 4000 participants to answer the research questions. The drop-off pick-up (DOPU) method …

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The Significance Of Land Use, Topography, Antecedent Rainfall, And Atmospheric Conditions In Relation To Summertime Convective Storm Initiation In The North Alabama Region, Christopher Tracy Jan 2022

The Significance Of Land Use, Topography, Antecedent Rainfall, And Atmospheric Conditions In Relation To Summertime Convective Storm Initiation In The North Alabama Region, Christopher Tracy

Theses

In the Southeast U.S., summer days with abundant “pop-up” thunderstorms are common and strong synoptic forcing is not needed to initiate them. The goal of this study is to explain and ultimately enhance predictability of summertime convective initiation in these tranquil environments. Spatial non-randomness arises, with greater event density appearing over high elevation by midday. Late in the day, event counts subside with another mechanism emerging (urban heat island). Antecedent rainfall, instability, and moisture are higher on average where convective initiation occurred. In terms of feature importance, elevation is more important in the early to mid-afternoon while antecedent rainfall and …

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Population Genomics Of A Rare Plant : Tiehm's Buckwheat, Benjamin M. Cecil Jan 2022

Population Genomics Of A Rare Plant : Tiehm's Buckwheat, Benjamin M. Cecil

Theses

Eriogonum tiehmii is a rare plant found in Nevada with a range of approximately three hectares (Morefield, 2020). E. tiehmii is of particular interest due to lithium and boron in the soil. This area is one of only two known lithium-boron deposits globally (Fluor Enterprises 2020). This makes its habitat prime mining location. E. tiehmii is being considered for protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973. The objectives of the study were to determine the closest relative of E. tiehmii by estimating genetic relationships between E. tiehmii and other taxa, and to describe the genetic structure among E. …

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The Fountain Formula. Damien Hirst’S Use Of Marcel Duchamp’S Readymade Controversy, Grayson Nader Jan 2022

The Fountain Formula. Damien Hirst’S Use Of Marcel Duchamp’S Readymade Controversy, Grayson Nader

Theses

Controversial art challenges the norms of society, by pushing boundaries to expose what is comfortable and uncomfortable. It inevitably garners attention and demands discourse. Marcel Duchamp was an innovator of controversy. He was angered by the status quo and material greed of the art industry of the early 1900s and rebelled against it with his now-famous readymade, Fountain. In Fountain, Duchamp created a formula that used controversy to garner attention from the public, the media and the art world. This formula was used by various artists throughout the past century. Contemporary artist Damien Hirst was disillusioned by the monotony of …

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Life In Mossville, Louisiana: Policy Implications Of Toxic Waste Exposure And Environmental Racism, Clare Kelsey Jan 2022

Life In Mossville, Louisiana: Policy Implications Of Toxic Waste Exposure And Environmental Racism, Clare Kelsey

Theses

Environmental damage disproportionately affects communities of color. Understanding how environmental racism uniquely affects marginalized communities is crucial to effectively develop public policies that will address the systematic racism that is rooted in many existing policies and practices. The town of Mossville, Louisiana provides a case study of a Black town that experienced devastating environmental pollution as well as displacement from the oil and petrochemical industries in the region (Rogers, 2015), with few residents still in the area. This thesis presents a qualitative study utilizing peer-reviewed literature, secondary sources, and life narratives of Mossville residents. These oral histories serve to amplify …

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Solar-Powered Bike Lanes, Eman Al Ali Dec 2021

Solar-Powered Bike Lanes, Eman Al Ali

Theses

The problem of lack of bike paths in urban areas is a common problem with the increase in the number of riders. Riding the bikes in the main roads due to the lack of cycling tracks affects negatively on the urban area, its residents, visitors, and in many other aspects. To solve this problem, this study examines the design of a solar-powered cycling path in one of the areas of Umm Al Quwain city that located in the northern region of the United Arab Emirates. The research included secondary data sources derived from best practices research for solar-powered cycling paths …

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Solving Commuting Challenges With Rts Bus Rapid Transit (Rts-Brt) Rochester, Ny, Lelise Tesfaye Bekele Dec 2021

Solving Commuting Challenges With Rts Bus Rapid Transit (Rts-Brt) Rochester, Ny, Lelise Tesfaye Bekele

Theses

The public transport service in Rochester, NY, is inefficient in terms of reliability, safety, comfort, security, waiting, transfer, and longer commute hours. The public transportation system needs significant transformation to overcome this alleviating issue and relieve the burden on low-income residents, pedestrians, and non-motorized vehicle users. The research objective of this thesis is to advance and discover a connection pattern between transportation, urban sprawl, poverty, and unemployment in Rochester, NY. It targets the low-income resident’s detachment from diverse uses, residential settlement, locations of jobs, and transportation options. The research analyses how-: people commute to work, how long the commute takes, …

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Cultural Connection: The Value Of Art History In Early Childhood Development And Education, Sara Ashley Turner Dec 2021

Cultural Connection: The Value Of Art History In Early Childhood Development And Education, Sara Ashley Turner

Theses

This thesis focuses on the utilization of art historical inquiry to improve the relationship and narrative of culture within appropriate settings. Although this thesis will prove the beneficial and important role that the subject matter of art history can have in early education, the subject matter will also show the specific possibilities of using such inquiries in art therapy, museum education, and in general education classrooms. The aim of the thesis is to present these practical and useful employments of art historical inquiry, within subject matter for young children, to be a tool for finding cultural identity and inclusivity in …

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Harnessing Intelligence In Implementing Smart Parking Systems Integrated With Interactive Guidance System In Distinctive Shindagha Historical Neighborhood To Enhance And Regulate Mass Experiences, Rahaf Ahmad Al Kassab Nov 2021

Harnessing Intelligence In Implementing Smart Parking Systems Integrated With Interactive Guidance System In Distinctive Shindagha Historical Neighborhood To Enhance And Regulate Mass Experiences, Rahaf Ahmad Al Kassab

Theses

Under the light of the importance of finding smart solutions for cities strategic issues and in conjunction with the broad race for urban development in order to provide the best living environment and the most appropriate tourist destination, Mobility Management occupies the first place among these issues. Due to the variation in the urban fabric of cities, especially the old historical neighborhoods that are unique in their nature, composition, and conditions for their preservation, challenges related to mobility management raised in these critical areas. Therefore, in this study, we present a smart suggestion to solve the problem of providing smart …

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Can Providing Positive Interactions With Snakes Change A Person’S Perception Of Dangerous Wildlife Interactions?, Bethany Walker Oct 2021

Can Providing Positive Interactions With Snakes Change A Person’S Perception Of Dangerous Wildlife Interactions?, Bethany Walker

Theses

Due to a long co-evolutionary history between placental mammals and reptiles, primates demonstrate aversive responses to snakes. In humans, this can result in ophidiophobia, or the fear of snakes which can arise due to cultural backgrounds, traumatic experiences, or fear instilled by others. However, these reptiles fill essential roles in ecosystems. Conservation and outreach efforts are important to help our population understand snakes’ role in our lives and the state’s broader biodiversity. Negative experiences or preconceptions about snakes can make this message hard to share with the public. Educators can help prevent intentional harm to some of these organisms through …

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Assessing The Impacts Of Sea Level Rise On Land-Use Across The North-Eastern Parts Of The Uae Coastal Areas Using Remote Sensing Technology, Khawla Ali Mohammed Albedwawi Oct 2021

Assessing The Impacts Of Sea Level Rise On Land-Use Across The North-Eastern Parts Of The Uae Coastal Areas Using Remote Sensing Technology, Khawla Ali Mohammed Albedwawi

Theses

The consequences of global warming and climate change would result in a considerable rise in sea level. Other larger consequences on coastal lands, agriculture, buildings, and facilities are expected. The goal of this study is to assess the effects of Sea-Level Rise (SLR) on various land uses in the UAE's North-Eastern coastal districts (Fujairah and Kalba cities). Four SLR scenarios will be developed through the QGIS platform and the Landsat images that have been acquired from the USGS Earth Explorer. The area will be observed over 20 years (2000 – 2020). The second goal of this study is to develop …

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Argument For A Critical Perspective In Residential Architecture, James S. Burns Aug 2021

Argument For A Critical Perspective In Residential Architecture, James S. Burns

Theses

This thesis analyzes the theories of Critical Regionalism, including specific building techniques that use timber frame construction, site planning, and energy analysis, and applies them to a property in southwestern New York state. The property is situated on a small body of water called Loon Lake. This is a rural setting, but is highly populated along the waterfront. The lake is about three miles in length and the site of approximately 120 homes and cottages. The lake is considered private; however, there are frequent visitors who are granted access by local property owners to the water via boat. The lake …

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Distance Education: Challenges And Opportunities In A Post-Pandemic World. Case Of Kosovo, Fiona Shahini Aug 2021

Distance Education: Challenges And Opportunities In A Post-Pandemic World. Case Of Kosovo, Fiona Shahini

Theses

The objective of this study is to explore the challenges and opportunities created by the abrupt shift from classroom to distance learning. This study will try to address the question of “What distance learning presents for the future of education in a post-pandemic world?” More specifically, it aims to uncover the opportunities distance education brings and the challenges that can be resolved or mitigated in the future. The study focuses on secondary and primary data to uncover and analyze the experience of professors and students of tertiary education with distance learning. Secondary research shows that distance learning provides flexibility, which …

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Helps Tourists To Customize Travel Plans Easily With Local Experience: Dotrips App, Shenyu Zhang Aug 2021

Helps Tourists To Customize Travel Plans Easily With Local Experience: Dotrips App, Shenyu Zhang

Theses

Traveling with group tours can no longer meet the needs of tourists. In-depth tourism has become a new choice for Chinese tourists, especially middle- and high-income groups. Outbound travel, tourists need to find far away from the hustle and bustle of the city and to deeply understand the cultural heritage and folklore origins. Pursue a personal experience of natural beauty and artistic style or a bold exploration of the way of life and the essence of life. The rapid development of the tourism industry and the proliferation of user-shared content have made the problem of information overload in the field …

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If It Ain’T Here When I Get Back, Clara Riedlinger May 2021

If It Ain’T Here When I Get Back, Clara Riedlinger

Theses

If It Ain’t Here When I Get Back is a short film which explores themes of sibling rivalry, time and memory, our relationship to place, and the porous line between childhood and adulthood. It was produced between March 2020-April 2021 including pre-production to post-production. This paper describes and analyzes the filmmaking process for Clara Riedlinger, director. In this paper I will also attempt to put to words the intangibles of that process, including the social dynamics of filmmaking, and larger cultural happenings at the time of production.

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Research The Possibility Of Revitalizing Rochester By Creating A Landmark Architecture – Redesign The Abandoned Subway Bridge, Rifeng Jin May 2021

Research The Possibility Of Revitalizing Rochester By Creating A Landmark Architecture – Redesign The Abandoned Subway Bridge, Rifeng Jin

Theses

Located in upstate New York, Rochester is a city with a glorious history and rich culture. However, due to the changes in its internal and external environment, the city has slowly lost its vitality in the past few decades. Apart from the occasional holiday celebration and protest parade, it is difficult to find a bustling scene in downtown Rochester. This study proposes to create a reasonable possibility of revitalizing Rochester by designing a landmark architecture for the city. After field investigation and comparison, the abandoned subway bridge in the center of the city has become the main potential location for …

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Exploring Historical Events Through An Interactive Timeline, Parsuree Vatanasirisuk May 2021

Exploring Historical Events Through An Interactive Timeline, Parsuree Vatanasirisuk

Theses

Learning history in school commonly takes the form of reading from textbooks and memorizing dates, places, and names. However, students have an array of different learning styles, and not everyone is good at learning by memorizing. Young students tend to lose interest in the subject and are not inspired to seek more information about what interests them in the material when they’re outside the classroom. Learning history is not only about knowing names and dates; it is more about understanding the relationships of events that occurred in the past and how they relate to and affect others. That’s why schools …

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A House With No Walls, Anna Mikuskova Apr 2021

A House With No Walls, Anna Mikuskova

Theses

As a child, I often listened to my father’s stories of his boyhood in 1950s Czechoslovakia; adventures taking place in the narrow cobblestoned streets of his hometown or near the fields and lakes of his grandparents’ village. I never met any of his family. And by the time I was born, the streets and buildings that came alive in his descriptions were gone: they were demolished together with eighty other towns in the area to make way for expanding coal mines. With no way to connect my father’s memories to physical locations or even images, the stories I heard sounded …

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Coastal Watershed Monitoring And Management: Geomorphology, Geochemistry, And Hydrologic Modeling Of Los Peñasquitos Creek, Ca, Ravleen Khalsa-Basra Jan 2021

Coastal Watershed Monitoring And Management: Geomorphology, Geochemistry, And Hydrologic Modeling Of Los Peñasquitos Creek, Ca, Ravleen Khalsa-Basra

Theses

Rivers in semi-arid climates are directly influenced by local geographic and hydrologic conditions and impacted by modifications to hydrology via urbanization. Changes can influence erosion, morphology, habitat sustainability, and watershed health. In highly urbanized southern California coastal regions, these rare open spaces provide vital ecosystem services. Los Peñasquitos Creek in San Diego County is one such watershed. Using stream surveying and laboratory methods we quantified channel characteristics, grain size distribution, total metal concentration [M], organic carbon (%OC), and phosphate to longitudinally characterize the creek for improved management. Results identified three distinct reaches in the watershed (upper, middle, lower). Downstream, depth …

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The Great Southern Buy-Back: The Colony Of Western Australia And The Great Southern Railway 1880-1897, Thomas Goode Jan 2021

The Great Southern Buy-Back: The Colony Of Western Australia And The Great Southern Railway 1880-1897, Thomas Goode

Theses

This thesis examines the circumstances surrounding the building of the Great Southern Railway as a land-grant railway in the colony of Western Australia in the 1880s and its purchase by the government in 1896. In the early 1880s the steamship companies bringing mail and passengers from overseas and the eastern colonies, preferred Albany to Fremantle, adding an uncomfortable three to four day journey to the capital Perth. To overcome this difficulty, the government proposed to build a railway from Albany to the existing network at Beverley. This railway was to be funded by grants of land to the private company …

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Prisoners, Power And Panopticon: Investigating Fremantle Gaol, 1831-1841, Emily Lanman Jan 2021

Prisoners, Power And Panopticon: Investigating Fremantle Gaol, 1831-1841, Emily Lanman

Theses

The history of crime and punishment is intertwined with Australia’s colonisation, including the foundation of the Swan River Colony in 1829. It can be demonstrated that Jeremy Bentham’s writings on criminal reform, specifically through his work on the panopticon model prison, influenced the development of punishment and prisons in the colony. This is evident in the construction of Fremantle Gaol (1831), which was built on the principles set forth by the panopticon and provides an interesting insight into what was deemed important in the penal system the colony continued to establish between 1831 and 1841. While Fremantle Gaol conformed to …

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Australian Literary Fascists, 1905-1945 : A Comparative Case Study Into The Development Of Fascist Ideology In Australia, Adrian Keri Jan 2021

Australian Literary Fascists, 1905-1945 : A Comparative Case Study Into The Development Of Fascist Ideology In Australia, Adrian Keri

Theses

Historians of fascism and the far-right in Australia have generally focused on the role of material factors to the neglect of the role of ideas. Certainly, the history of ideas can never be divorced from the ‘concrete’ factors of politics and economics. But in the case of William Baylebridge (1883-1942), William Hardy Wilson (1881-1955), and Randolph William Hughes (1889-1955), ideas played a definite and decisive role in their embrace of fascism as the solution to society’s ills. They were artists and intellectuals in the so-called ‘vitalist’ tradition, drawing on the ideas of such thinkers as Hegel, Bergson, and Nietzsche, among …

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Together | Apart: Printmaking And The Space Between, Monique Bosshard Curby Jan 2021

Together | Apart: Printmaking And The Space Between, Monique Bosshard Curby

Theses

In this practice-led creative research, being both artist and identical twin, I examine sameness and difference in the relationships between two people and between multiple objects/creative works. Through the inherent ability of printmaking processes to produce multiples and the attendant installation opportunities created by punctuated space, I unfold and re-tell a doubled and ambiguous understanding of being in the world. Martin Heidegger’s notion of Being-in-the-world (Dasein) underpins and situates my understanding of being in the world, thrown into a world as an individual, and my existence as a double: being in the world with others. I relate his thinking through …

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The Art Of Fiction: Fact, Myth And New Knowledge On The North Australian Expedition, 1855 - 1857, Stevie Cole Jan 2021

The Art Of Fiction: Fact, Myth And New Knowledge On The North Australian Expedition, 1855 - 1857, Stevie Cole

Theses

This thesis determines the degree to which the North Australian Expedition, 1855–1857, contested established European fiction of the Australian frontier by systematically collecting new knowledge. It analyses the outcomes of one of the most forgotten expeditions in Australian history by interrogating the journals, charts and artworks of the explorers. In 1855, the Royal Geographical Society and the British Colonial Office sent an expedition into northern Australia under the command of Augustus Gregory. It was a region that Britain hoped would hold lucrative resources to support further economic and population development. The artist-explorer, Thomas Baines, was made second-in-command of the expedition. …

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