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Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy And Gender In Social Class Reproduction, Spencer L. James Aug 2008

Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy And Gender In Social Class Reproduction, Spencer L. James

Theses and Dissertations

The observation that middle class parents tend to have middle class children is rather obvious. Why this is so has been the subject of less research than the fact that it is so. Using the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), I employ theories about social class reproduction to examine and evaluate a model that scrutinizes the influence of self-efficacy and self-esteem on college completion or current enrollment and investigate gender differences. I find that self-esteem and self-efficacy play a vital role in social class outcomes. However, I find no evidence of gender differences in the social class reproduction …

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Parowan Valley Gaming Pieces And Insights Into Fremont Social Organization, Molly Allison Hall Aug 2008

Parowan Valley Gaming Pieces And Insights Into Fremont Social Organization, Molly Allison Hall

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis primarily addresses the implications of Fremont gaming pieces in the Parowan Valley. First, I review ethnographic gaming pieces and compare them to the Fremont worked bone pieces in order to support the idea that they were used by the Fremont in games similar to the ones recorded ethnographically. Then, I analyze a collection of Fremont gaming pieces from excavations at three Parowan Valley sites. I note drastic differences in the characteristics found on pieces inside the Parowan Valley and those form outside the Parowan Valley. It is also clear that gaming pieces are being produced in the Parowan …

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John Calvin: An Educational Innovator Or A Reflector Of Society, Jim Llewellyn Codling Aug 2008

John Calvin: An Educational Innovator Or A Reflector Of Society, Jim Llewellyn Codling

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the influence of John Calvin in education, as well as those influences that affected him. It examined his writings to determine if his vision, as to the scope of education and its purpose, made him an innovator. The research searched for reforms in the areas of curriculum, understanding of the teaching office, and universal education. It also looked at philosophy, economics, and labor. Schools existed in Geneva before Calvin arrived in 1536; however, they did not function in the way that Calvin would have liked. Calvin provided the elementary students with a needed text when he prepared …

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Foreign Aid, Rent-Seeking And Economic Growth In Sub-Saharan Africa, Takele Tassew Mojire Aug 2008

Foreign Aid, Rent-Seeking And Economic Growth In Sub-Saharan Africa, Takele Tassew Mojire

Theses and Dissertations

Three studies on foreign aid, rent-seeking, and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa are presented. The first study examines the possible simultaneity that may exist between a donor’s provision of aid and the rentseeking (corruption) activities in the recipient country. Does the amount of aid depend on the lack of corruption in a country? Simultaneously, does the level of corruption depend on the amount of aid and the type of donor? The main goals of this paper are to examine whether such simultaneity exists and whether the impact of aid depends on the type of the donor, either multilateral or bilateral. …

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An Investigation Into Aversions Toward Mathematics Affecting Entry-Level Mathematics Students Seeking Non -Math, Non -Science Degrees., Michael James Simmers Aug 2008

An Investigation Into Aversions Toward Mathematics Affecting Entry-Level Mathematics Students Seeking Non -Math, Non -Science Degrees., Michael James Simmers

Theses and Dissertations

A large portion of the college student population often struggle with learning pre-calculus mathematics. There are a multitude of reasons why students struggle with mathematics, one of which is having a general dislike, often expressed as a hatred, of mathematics. When students enroll in a mathematics course with preconditioned judgments, it is quite likely to affect their confidence and success rate in the course. This study will investigate the origins of when, where, and why the aversion to mathematics began for students. Students from Intermediate Algebra (M102) courses (154) and a Calculus II (M166) course (10) voluntarily filled out the …

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The Reflection Of The Wastelands Of Waiting For Godot And Endgame In Electronic Media, Anya M. Cronin Aug 2008

The Reflection Of The Wastelands Of Waiting For Godot And Endgame In Electronic Media, Anya M. Cronin

Theses and Dissertations

The Reflection of the Wastelands of Waiting for Godot and Endgame in Electronic Media is a study of the wasteland settings of Waiting for Godot, Endgame, and the Internet according to the method of play analysis established by Bruce McConachie in American Theatre in the Culture of the Cold War: Producing and Contesting Containment, 1947- 1962. Chapter One establishes my justification, methodology, structure, and survey of literature. Chapters Two-Four explore isolation and language, magic, and death in regard to Godot, Endgame, and the Internet, respectively. Chapter Four also briefly concludes the work. This thesis invites …

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Half-Day To Full-Day Kindergarten Programming And Early Literacy Behaviors Of Emergent Readers, Jim A. Torkelson Aug 2008

Half-Day To Full-Day Kindergarten Programming And Early Literacy Behaviors Of Emergent Readers, Jim A. Torkelson

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

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Production Of Bangla Stops By Native English Speakers Learning Bangla: An Acoustic Analysis, Dustin D. Miller Aug 2008

Production Of Bangla Stops By Native English Speakers Learning Bangla: An Acoustic Analysis, Dustin D. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

Differences in the phonetic and phonological systems of Bangla and English result in negative transfer in the Bangla stop productions of native English speakers. The phonetic realizations of Voice and Aspiration and their interactions with each other are the key factors in this. A production study was carried out focusing on sixteen of the twenty Bangla stops that are distinguished by a four-way voice/aspiration contrast at four different places of articulation, providing a contrastive acoustic analysis of the pronunciation of L1 and L2 adult speakers. Data containing these stops in an intervocalic environment in word-initial, word-medial, and word-final positions was …

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Acoustic Correlates Of Fortis/Lenis In San Francisco Ozolotepec Zapotec, Anita J. Leander Aug 2008

Acoustic Correlates Of Fortis/Lenis In San Francisco Ozolotepec Zapotec, Anita J. Leander

Theses and Dissertations

Analyses of the Zapotec family of languages often divide consonants into categories of strong and weak consonants, more commonly known as fortis and lenis. These given categories usually correspond to voiceless and voiced, respectively. In San Francisco Ozolotepec Zapotec (SFOZ) and Santa Catarina Xanaguía Zapotec (SCXZ), prior analyses describe the fortis/lenis distinction in terms of duration, voicing, and articulatory force. This description parallels other impressionistic descriptions in Isthmus-Valley and Southern Zapotec variants. However, no study has objectively identified the acoustic patterns of the fortis/lenis contrast in SFOZ or in any Southern, Valley, or Isthmus Zapotec language. A previous instrumental study …

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Teaching With Creative Drama: Effects On Behavior In The Elementary Classroom, Meghan K. Hiney Aug 2008

Teaching With Creative Drama: Effects On Behavior In The Elementary Classroom, Meghan K. Hiney

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

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Matoaka: Pocahontas In The Age Of Identity, Matthew Shifflett Jul 2008

Matoaka: Pocahontas In The Age Of Identity, Matthew Shifflett

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis details the labors of research and judgment that informed the writing of Matoaka, a Play in Three Acts. Specifically, the thesis explores the historical puzzles surrounding the life of Pocahontas and justifies the decisions made in dramatizing her life in the aforementioned play. Non-fictional works of the last four hundred years are considered, as well as popular dramatic performances of the nineteenth century. These works are examined closely in order to reveal the Pocahontas story as a point of contact between many concurrent social discourses. Reflections are also offered on the production of the aforementioned play and its …

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Factors Affecting The Implementation Of Instructional Technology In The Second Language Classroom, Veronica Naimova Jul 2008

Factors Affecting The Implementation Of Instructional Technology In The Second Language Classroom, Veronica Naimova

Theses and Dissertations

Various studies show that the use of instructional technology in university-level second language courses can improve and enrich students' L2 acquisition and greatly motivate students to continue learning their target language. In spite of such advantages, few instructors are integrating instructional technology into their lessons. This research investigates the main issues that affect the use of instructional technology among L2 instructors at Brigham Young University. An online survey was administered to 98 instructors, examining the following factors: time, factors concerning software and availability, teacher training, and the attitudes of administrators. Results showed that the three most significant factors that impede …

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The Effects Of Manageable Corrective Feedback On Esl Writing Accuracy, K James Hartshorn Jul 2008

The Effects Of Manageable Corrective Feedback On Esl Writing Accuracy, K James Hartshorn

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to test the effect of one approach to writing pedagogy on second-language (L2) writing accuracy. This study used two groups of L2 writers who were learning English as a second language: a control group (n = 19) who were taught with traditional process writing methods and a treatment group (n = 28) who were taught with an innovative approach to L2 writing pedagogy. The methodology for the treatment group was designed to improve L2 writing accuracy by raising the linguistic awareness of the learners through error correction. Central to the instructional methodology were four …

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Changes In Kindergarteners' Writing Complexity When Using Story Elements, Lynne M. Watanabe Jul 2008

Changes In Kindergarteners' Writing Complexity When Using Story Elements, Lynne M. Watanabe

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined changes in kindergarteners' writing complexity after implementing writing instruction based on story elements (character, setting, problem, and solution). Writing samples from six students of three ability levels (i.e., beginning, intermediate, and advanced) were collected over a six-week period within a guided writing context. These samples included three types of texts (oral language, pictures, and written text)and were analyzed using two analytic rubrics specifically created for this study, one for writing development and the other for the inclusion of story elements. Findings from this study suggest that all students, regardless of ability level wrote in more complex ways …

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Predicting Performance On Criterion-Referenced Reading Tests With Benchmark Assessments, Kaitlyn Nicole Dyson Jul 2008

Predicting Performance On Criterion-Referenced Reading Tests With Benchmark Assessments, Kaitlyn Nicole Dyson

Theses and Dissertations

The current research study investigates the predictive value of two frequently-used benchmark reading assessments: Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) and the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS). With an increasing emphasis on high-stakes testing to measure reading proficiency, benchmark assessments may assist in predicting end-of-year performance on high-stakes testing. Utah's high-stakes measurement of end-of-year reading achievement is the English Language Arts Criterion-Referenced Test (ELA-CRT). A Utah urban school district provided data for students who completed the DRA, DIBELS, and ELA-CRT in the 2005-2006 school year. The primary purpose of the study was to determine the accuracy to which the …

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Music And The Modern Maya: A Reception Study Of Rock-Maya Music In Guatemala, Malcolm Miguel Botto Jul 2008

Music And The Modern Maya: A Reception Study Of Rock-Maya Music In Guatemala, Malcolm Miguel Botto

Theses and Dissertations

The current global flows of people, capital, technology, images and ideas--a phenomenon described as "mediascapes" by Arjun Appadurai (1996), traverse the most isolated Maya communities in Guatemala. These flows have recently influenced the creation of hybrid media products among the Maya. Among them we find an emerging indigenous musical genre called "Rock-Maya." I use reception analysis methods to document the encoding and decoding of this new indigenous medium of communication. Through qualitative interviews I attempt to show how K'iche'-Maya youth appropriate, what Motti Regev (1997) calls, the rock aesthetic to promote a sense of K'iche'-Maya youth identity in a modern …

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Development Of Thai Speech Audiometry Materials For Measuring Speech Recognition Thresholds, Lauren Alexandra Hart Jul 2008

Development Of Thai Speech Audiometry Materials For Measuring Speech Recognition Thresholds, Lauren Alexandra Hart

Theses and Dissertations

Speech audiometry materials are essential for thorough audiological testing. One aspect of speech audiometry is evaluating an individual's speech recognition threshold (SRT). Recorded materials for SRT are available in many languages; however there are no widely published recorded SRT materials available in the Thai language. The goal of this study was to develop relatively psychometrically equivalent SRT materials for evaluating the hearing abilities of native speakers of the Thai language. To accomplish this, 90 commonly used bisyllabic Thai words were digitally recorded by a male and a female talker and evaluated by 20 native Thai listeners. Twenty-eight words with relatively …

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Examination Of Interactions Among Eighth-Grade Language Arts Students During Literature Circles, Rachel Marie Smith Jul 2008

Examination Of Interactions Among Eighth-Grade Language Arts Students During Literature Circles, Rachel Marie Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the nature of interactions that took place among eighth-graders as they participated in literature circles. The teacher/researcher organized students into literature circles based on the students' novel selection. Students completed a different role assignment each week. The role assignments included word wizard, passage picker, connector, summarizer, and question asker. As the students participated in literature circles, the teacher/researcher tape recorded their conversations and took observational field notes. Analysis of the data four weeks later showed that some students' voices were silenced and students went through the motions of completing and talking about their role assignments with little …

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Latino Students Identified As At Risk For Emotional Or Behavioral Disorders: Descriptions Of Their School Experience, Ryan M. Balagna Jul 2008

Latino Students Identified As At Risk For Emotional Or Behavioral Disorders: Descriptions Of Their School Experience, Ryan M. Balagna

Theses and Dissertations

Latinos are the largest and fastest growing ethnic minority in the U.S. (NCES, 2004). Despite dramatic increases in Latino enrollment, a dearth of information exists regarding culturally responsive services. Latino students face poor education outcomes, including the highest dropout rate of any race (President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans [PACEEHA], 2003), and disproportionate over-representation in special education programs (Aaroe, 2004; Artiles & Trent, 1994; U.S. Department of Education, 1992, 1995, 2000). The present study explored issues relevant to serving Latino students who may be at risk for emotional or behavioral disorders. This study used qualitative interviews to …

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Semantic Role Labeling With Analogical Modeling, Warren C. Casbeer Jul 2008

Semantic Role Labeling With Analogical Modeling, Warren C. Casbeer

Theses and Dissertations

Semantic role labeling has become a popular natural language processing task in recent years. A number of conferences have addressed this task for the English language and many different approaches have been applied to the task. In particular, some have used a memory-based learning approach. This thesis further develops the memory-based learning approach to semantic role labeling through the use of analogical modeling of language. Data for this task were taken from a previous conference (CoNLL-2005) so that a direct comparison could be made with other algorithms that attempted to solve this task. It will be shown here that the …

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Religious Networks As A Sociolinguistic Factor: The Case Of Cardston, Benjamin Joseph Chatterton Jul 2008

Religious Networks As A Sociolinguistic Factor: The Case Of Cardston, Benjamin Joseph Chatterton

Theses and Dissertations

Religious affiliation and its inherent membership in an associated social network as a sociolinguistic factor is examined in the community of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in Cardston, Alberta. Building on Meechan's 1998 findings that the LDS community in the area used Canadian Raising in a different set of phonotactic environments than the surrounding non-LDS English speakers, the study aims to determine if the LDS community uses other Canadian speech features differently or less frequently and if any Utah features (defined as Utah English in the literature, being the language of LDS English speakers in Utah) have continued from the settling of …

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About The Gospel Of John: Considering P66: A Literary History, Or A Categorical Hermeneutic, Christopher Ryan Haney Jul 2008

About The Gospel Of John: Considering P66: A Literary History, Or A Categorical Hermeneutic, Christopher Ryan Haney

Theses and Dissertations

New Testament text critics are fueled by a search for origins. But in the absence of an autograph, questions of origins are complicated at best. The fruit of that search for origins has resulted in the creation of hypothetical, eclectic texts—texts which have left us translating and interpreting the Bible in a form that no community in human history has before. Far from being failed projects, however, these eclectic versions aptly represent the problem of the One and the many, a problem not easily solved: When faced with hermeneutic duties, can we effectively speak of New Testament texts without speaking …

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Recognition Of Emotion In Facial Expressions By Children With Language Impairment, Dorthy A. Stott Jul 2008

Recognition Of Emotion In Facial Expressions By Children With Language Impairment, Dorthy A. Stott

Theses and Dissertations

Recent research has shown that children with language impairment (LI) have increased social difficulties. This study examined the relationship between language skills and emotion understanding through recognition of facial expressions of emotion in children with LI and their typically developing peers. It is a replication of the research of Spackman, Fujiki, Brinton, Nelson, and Allen (2005) and Atwood (2006). Participants consisted of 22 children with LI and 22 age- and gender-matched peers with typically developing language, from the age range of 7:0 to 10:11 years. They were shown photographs of faces conveying one of the following emotions: happiness, sadness …

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Nineteenth-Century Theatrical Adaptations Of Nineteenth-Century Literature, Kathryn Hartvigsen Jul 2008

Nineteenth-Century Theatrical Adaptations Of Nineteenth-Century Literature, Kathryn Hartvigsen

Theses and Dissertations

The theatre in the nineteenth century was a source of entertainment similar in popularity to today's film culture, but critics, of both that age and today, often look down on nineteenth-century theatre as lacking in aesthetic merit. Just as many of the films now being produced in Hollywood are adapted from popular or classic literature, many theatrical productions in the early 1800s were based on popular literary works, and it is in that practice of adaptation that value in nineteenth-century theatre can be discerned. The abundance of theatrical adaptations during the nineteenth century expanded the arena in which the public …

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The Effects Of Second Language Status On The Comprehension And Perception Of Direct And Indirect Speech In Written Teacher Feedback, Rachel E. Hansen Jul 2008

The Effects Of Second Language Status On The Comprehension And Perception Of Direct And Indirect Speech In Written Teacher Feedback, Rachel E. Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores how native and nonnative English speakers understand and perceive directness types in written teacher feedback (WTF). Currently research suggests that indirect speech in WTF will encourage students to think and maintain politeness between teacher and student (Benkendorf, 2001; Riley, 2003; Thonus, 1999; Vassileva, 2000). However, research also indicates that indirect speech may be more difficult to interpret than direct speech (Champagne, 2001; Holtgraves, 1999), which suggests that indirect speech used in WTF may be difficult for students to interpret and use to improve their compositions (Ferris, 2007; Hyland & Hyland, 2001). This difficulty may be even more …

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The Effect Of A Pseudopalate On Voiceless Obstruent Production: A Spectral Evaluation Of Adaptation, Karie Lindsay Dean Jul 2008

The Effect Of A Pseudopalate On Voiceless Obstruent Production: A Spectral Evaluation Of Adaptation, Karie Lindsay Dean

Theses and Dissertations

Many studies in speech communication have provided valuable findings concerning the kinematic nature of speech articulation. This type of research often involves introducing an oral device to the vocal tract such as lingual pellets, magnets, and different forms of pseudopalates to track the movement and placement of the articulators. This study examined the effect of an electropalatography (EPG) pseudopalate on the production of five voiceless obstruents (/p, t, k, s/ and /sh/). Acoustic recordings from 20 adult speakers with typical speech production were made during three different speaking conditions: prior to pseudopalate placement, immediately after placement, and following 20 minutes …

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The Relationship Between Vocabulary Knowledge And Reading Comprehension Of Authentic Arabic Texts, Shereen Maher Salah Jul 2008

The Relationship Between Vocabulary Knowledge And Reading Comprehension Of Authentic Arabic Texts, Shereen Maher Salah

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension of authentic Arabic texts; in particular, it attempts to investigate the percentage of vocabulary coverage (known words) readers need to ensure reading comprehension of two reading passages from online Arabic news source. Data was collected from twenty-three Arabic as-foreign language (AFL) learners at Brigham Young University, who ranged from Intermediate Low to Intermediate Mid in both productive and receptive skills. Two reading comprehension tests, circling the unknown words in texts and a lexical coverage test for each passage texts were given to the subjects. A linear regression analysis of …

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Language Gain During Arabic Study Abroad: A Case Study Of A Semester Abroad In Amman, Jordan, Laila Lamani Jul 2008

Language Gain During Arabic Study Abroad: A Case Study Of A Semester Abroad In Amman, Jordan, Laila Lamani

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the 2006 Arabic study abroad in Amman, Jordan. This analysis aims to help organizers and participants of similar future programs to maximize language gain. The students' pre- and post-program language competencies in reading, speaking, listening, and writing are measured and compared. The students' daily journals during the period of the program are also analyzed. The quantitative analysis shows that statistically significant improvement has occurred in all four language skills. The qualitative analysis suggests that keeping a steady journal, setting daily or weekly language goals, doing volunteer work, having clear and reasonable …

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Clinical Applications Of Fmri: An Adaptation Of A Standard Neuropsychological Battery, Alina K. F. Ichimura Jul 2008

Clinical Applications Of Fmri: An Adaptation Of A Standard Neuropsychological Battery, Alina K. F. Ichimura

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study is to advance the utility of functional brain imaging as a tool for the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders by creating a statistical database of functional MRI (fMRI) brain activation patterns collected from neurologically and psychiatrically unimpaired subjects. Continuous fMRI scans have been obtained from each subject while s/he performed a variety of cognitive tasks that are commonly found in standard neurological and cognitive assessment batteries. The collected fMRI data has been processed, analyzed, and converted into database which can be used as a reference of reliable indices of normal brain activity patterns for …

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Recognizing The Need To Dissemble Emotions In Hypothetical Social Scenarios: Differences In Children With Language Impairment, Emily Rowberry Jones Jul 2008

Recognizing The Need To Dissemble Emotions In Hypothetical Social Scenarios: Differences In Children With Language Impairment, Emily Rowberry Jones

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the ability of children with LI to recognize the need to dissemble emotions. Participants included 22 children with LI and 22 typically developing peers, ages 7;1 to 11;0 years. Children were presented with 10 hypothetical social scenarios in which the main character experienced an emotion which should be dissembled for social purposes. The participant's responses were categorized as dissemblance or display. Children with LI reported that they would hide the experienced emotion significantly less often than their typical peers. Children in both groups reported higher levels of dissemblance when asked what their parents would want them to …

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