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2011

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The Functions Of Human Dna2 In Mitochondrial And Nuclear Dna Maintenance, Julien Duxin Jan 2011

The Functions Of Human Dna2 In Mitochondrial And Nuclear Dna Maintenance, Julien Duxin

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Coordination between DNA replication, DNA repair and cell-cycle progression ensures high fidelity DNA replication thus preventing mutations and DNA rearrangements. Interestingly, in addition to nuclear DNA stability, mitochondrial DNA: mtDNA) integrity is also essential for normal development. The current challenge resides in unraveling the different mechanisms that govern nuclear and mtDNA stability and to understand how these two separated genomes have evolved. This work focuses on delineating the biological functions of human Dna2: hDna2). Dna2 is a highly conserved helicase/nuclease that in yeast participates in DNA replication and Okazaki fragment maturation, DNA repair, and telomere maintenance. Immunofluorescence and biochemical fractionation …

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Atrial Arrhythmogenic Substrates: The Role Of Structure And Molecular Remodeling, Christina Ambrosi Jan 2011

Atrial Arrhythmogenic Substrates: The Role Of Structure And Molecular Remodeling, Christina Ambrosi

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Atrial tachyarrhythmias, specifically atrial flutter: AFl) and fibrillation: AF), affect over 2.2 million Americans, leading to more hospitalizations than any other cardiac arrhythmia. These arrhythmias are defined by the presence of reentrant circuits of excitation leading to high atrial rates and uncoordinated activation of the ventricles. The underlying mechanisms of AFl/AF have proven complex and, despite a century of research, no one effective treatment has been developed. Surgical ablation and pharmacological therapies are both fraught with risks and potential pro-arrhythmic side effects. Electrical cardioversion, on the other hand, is extremely effective in terminating these arrhythmias, but the high-energy shocks required …

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Discovering Conserved Cis-Regulatory Elements That Regulate Expression In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Nnamdi Ihuegbu Jan 2011

Discovering Conserved Cis-Regulatory Elements That Regulate Expression In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Nnamdi Ihuegbu

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

The aim of this dissertation is two-fold:: 1) To catalog all cis-regulatory elements within the intergenic and intronic regions surrounding every gene in C.elegans: i.e. the regulome) and: 2) to determine which cis-regulatory elements are associated with expression under specific conditions. We initially use PhyloNet to predict conserved motifs with instances in about half of the protein-coding genes. This initial first step was valuable as it recovered some known elements and cis-regulatory modules. Yet the results had a lot of redundant motifs and sites, and the approach was not efficiently scalable to the entire regulome of C. elegans or other …

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Mhc Class I-Dependent Acquisition And Maintenance Of Natural Killer Cell Function, Julie Chase Jan 2011

Mhc Class I-Dependent Acquisition And Maintenance Of Natural Killer Cell Function, Julie Chase

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Natural killer: NK) cells are hematopoietically derived immune cells of the lymphoid lineage. Their effector functions, including cytokine secretion and cytotoxicity, are controlled by the integration of signals received from both activating and inhibitory receptors. In a phenomenon known as "missing-self" recognition, NK cells eliminate self-tissues with aberrantly low or absent MHC class I surface expression, as is common in settings of viral infection and transformation, when these cells fail to engage the critical NK cell inhibitory receptors. Interestingly, NK cells that develop in an MHC class I-deficient environment are defective in natural killing and hyporesponsive to stimulation through their …

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Numerical Modeling And Optimization Of Power Generation From Shrouded Wind Turbines, Tudor Foote Jan 2011

Numerical Modeling And Optimization Of Power Generation From Shrouded Wind Turbines, Tudor Foote

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

In recent years, it has been theoretically suggested by some researchers that the power coefficient of a wind turbine can be increased beyond the Betz limit for a bare turbine by enclosing the turbine with a duct. In this thesis, this potential for increases in power generation by adding a shroud around a turbine is investigated using numerical flow modeling. Two configurations for ducted turbines are considered for numerical simulations and optimization. The first configuration considers shrouds for standard horizontal axis wind turbines. Several turbine diameters, wind speeds, and shroud sizes are considered. The results show that shrouding can almost …

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Single Chain Mhc Trimer-Based Dna Vaccines For Pathogen Protection, Sojung Kim Jan 2011

Single Chain Mhc Trimer-Based Dna Vaccines For Pathogen Protection, Sojung Kim

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

CD8+ T cells play a major role in controlling infection and disease progression in many infectious diseases. Upon infection, antigen-specific CD8+ T cells are generated and mainly through their cytotoxic activity remove infected cells, therefore, pathogens. Ongoing research has identified antigenic epitopes in a vast number of pathogens and, using the identified epitopes, the induction of CD8+ T cell immune responses has been an important strategy for successful vaccines. However, most immunization approaches with class I binding peptides have failed to induce CD8+ T cell responses strong enough to prevent disease. This failure has been attributed to the lack of …

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The Evolution And Reproductive Ecology Of Oenothera (Onagraceae), Kyra Krakos Jan 2011

The Evolution And Reproductive Ecology Of Oenothera (Onagraceae), Kyra Krakos

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

This dissertation describes the role of pollination in the floral diversification of Oenothera with an integration of both ecological and phylogenetic approaches. Oenothera: Onagraceae) is a model system for studying plant reproductive biology. It provides excellent examples of shifts in reproductive traits such as pollination and breeding system, features that have been important in angiosperm diversification. These systems are evolutionarily labile; they easily shift between different states. These different reproductive traits may shift in a concerted fashion; therefore, a more comprehensive approach to understanding the evolution of these plant systems simultaneously addresses shifts in pollination and breeding system. Using 54 …

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Three Essays On Labor And Personality, Nidhi Pande Jan 2011

Three Essays On Labor And Personality, Nidhi Pande

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

In my essays I focus on personality and its impact on the labor market outcomes. Using a randomized experiment, the first essay examines the impact of mother's human capital on the cognitive and non cognitive skills of her preschool children. The second paper examines the impact of the big five personality traits on the decision to be self employed and on the income of salaried vs. self employed people. We try to distinguish the impact of personality traits on labor market performance from the relationship between personality and preferences for entrepreneurship. In the third paper, we are trying to estimate …

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Sleep, Memory, And Aging: Effects Of Pre- And Post-Sleep Delays And Interference On Memory In Younger And Older Adults, Michael Scullin Jan 2011

Sleep, Memory, And Aging: Effects Of Pre- And Post-Sleep Delays And Interference On Memory In Younger And Older Adults, Michael Scullin

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

The present research investigated the relationship between sleep and memory in younger and older adults. Previous research has demonstrated that during the deep sleep stage: i.e., slow wave sleep), recently learned memories are reactivated and consolidated in younger adults. However, little research has examined whether memory consolidation occurs during deep sleep in older adults. Younger adults and older adults encoded word pairs: e.g., channel - result) in the morning or evening and then returned 12 hours or 24 hours later for a final test: three groups: 12-hr wake, 12-hr sleep, 24-hr PM-PM sleep). Sleep stage scoring was obtained by having …

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Systematic Identification Of Independent Functional Non-Coding Rna Genes In Oxytricha Trifallax, Seolkyoung Jung Jan 2011

Systematic Identification Of Independent Functional Non-Coding Rna Genes In Oxytricha Trifallax, Seolkyoung Jung

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Functional noncoding RNAs participate in a variety of biological processes: for example, modulating translation, catalyzing biochemical reactions, sensing environments etc. Independent of conventional approaches such as transcriptomics and computational comparative analysis, we took advantage of the unusual genomic organization of the ciliated unicellular protozoan Oxytricha trifallax to screen for eukaryotic independent functional noncoding RNA genes. The Oxytricha macronuclear genome consists of thousands of gene-sized "nanochromosomes", each of which usually contains only a single gene. Using a draft Oxytricha trifallax genome assembly and a custom-written noncoding nanochromosome classifier, we identified a subset of nanochromosomes that lack any detectable protein coding gene, …

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Delineating The Steps Of Bax Pore Activation, Eric Christenson Jan 2011

Delineating The Steps Of Bax Pore Activation, Eric Christenson

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

The BCL2 protein family is the primary gatekeeper of mitochondrial apoptosis and governs integrity of the organelles' outer membranes. Permeabilization of mitochondrial outer membranes permits egress of cytochrome c and other apoptogenic factors, resulting in apoptosome formation, caspase activation, and subsequent proteolytic demolition of cells. Proapoptotic BAX & BAK effect the release of cytochrome c while their antiapoptotic counterparts like BCL-2, BCL-XL, & MCL-1 oppose this permeabilization. A third class of the BCL2 family, the prodeath BH3-only proteins, act as sentinels of cell stress and exert their influences by occupying antiapoptotic BCL2 members and/or activating BAX/BAK. Cell-free reconstitution …

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Dipole Moment Effects In Photodetachment From Cluster Anions, Foster Mbaiwa Jan 2011

Dipole Moment Effects In Photodetachment From Cluster Anions, Foster Mbaiwa

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

In this dissertation results from experimental studies on the effect of the dipole moment on photodetachment from solvated iodide anion are presented. The major advantage of using solvated atomic iodide anions: I−·(Y)n: Y = solvent molecule, n=1 to 3)) to study this effect is that in the ground state, the excess electron is mainly localized on the iodine atom for which photodetachment behavior is well understood. The effect of the electric dipole moment of the resultant neutral cluster on the outgoing electron is studied by comparing the photoelectron angular distributions: PADs) for I−·(Y)n and I− photodetachment. The …

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Sworn Siblings In Sanyan Stories, Daowen Chen Jan 2011

Sworn Siblings In Sanyan Stories, Daowen Chen

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

No abstract provided.

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The Gut Microbiome In Healthy And Severely Malnourished Humans, Tanya Yatsunenko Jan 2011

The Gut Microbiome In Healthy And Severely Malnourished Humans, Tanya Yatsunenko

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Human large intestine is home to tens of trillions of microbes belonging to all three do- mains of life. The functions encoded by the genes in this community: microbiome) include processing and production of macro- and micronutrients. Much remains unknown about the factors that determine the assembly of the gut microbial community starting at birth, and if disruptions in the assembly of this `microbial metabolic organ' early in life result in physiologic and metabolic deficits later in life. The central goal of my thesis was to char- acterize development of the gut microbiome early in life, with a focus on …

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Sentimental Ideology, Women's Pedagogy, And American Indian Women's Writing: 1815-1921, Christine Cavalier Jan 2011

Sentimental Ideology, Women's Pedagogy, And American Indian Women's Writing: 1815-1921, Christine Cavalier

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Sentimental Ideology, Women's Pedagogy, and American Indian Women's Writing: 1815-1921 by Christine Renée Cavalier Washington University in St. Louis, 2011 Professor Vivian Pollak, Chairperson This dissertation examines how sentimental notions of respectable womanhood and refined education shaped the polished poetry and prose of four seminal female figures in the history of American Indian literature: Jane Johnston Schoolcraft: 1800-1842), the earliest American Indian female author recovered thus far; E. Pauline Johnson: 1861-1913), the most successful nineteenth-century Native writer who became Canada's iconic poetess and Native national symbol; S. Alice Callahan: 1868-1894), the first American Indian female novelist; …

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Age, Creativity, And Wellbeing: Benefits Of Creative Behavior Among Younger And Older Artists And Nonartists, Sarah Zoller Jan 2011

Age, Creativity, And Wellbeing: Benefits Of Creative Behavior Among Younger And Older Artists And Nonartists, Sarah Zoller

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

No abstract provided.

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Quantitative Analysis Demonstrates Most Transcription Factors Require Only Simple Models Of Specificity, Yue Zhao Jan 2011

Quantitative Analysis Demonstrates Most Transcription Factors Require Only Simple Models Of Specificity, Yue Zhao

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Organisms must control their gene expression to properly respond to developmental, stress or other environmental cues. A key part of this process is transcriptional regulation, which is largely accomplished by a complex network of transcription factor proteins: TFs) interact with their specific binding sites in the genome. Understanding how TFs select correct binding sites out of the vast number of potential binding sites in the genome is a key challenge in molecular biology. Recently, unprecedented amount of quantitative binding data have become available as results of developments in high-throughput experimental techniques. However, interpretation of high-throughput binding data has proved to …

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Development Of Thymic Natural Killer Cells From Double Negative 1 Thymocyte Precursors, Claudia Vargas Jan 2011

Development Of Thymic Natural Killer Cells From Double Negative 1 Thymocyte Precursors, Claudia Vargas

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

While there has been much progress in defining the specificity and function of natural killer: NK) cells, their differentiation has not been fully elucidated. Previous studies of thymocyte development in vitro indicate that double negative: CD4&minusCD8&minus, DN) thymocytes can develop into cells with NK cell markers, but these cells have not been well characterized. Moreover, a subpopulation of NK cells which requires an intact thymus, i.e, thymic NK cells, has been described with selective expression of CD127 although their origin and differentiation are also poorly understood. Herein, we generated and characterized NK cells differentiating from thymic DN precursors. We enriched …

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Wayward Sons: Civil Litigation And The Family In Nineteenth-Century China, John Bandy Jan 2011

Wayward Sons: Civil Litigation And The Family In Nineteenth-Century China, John Bandy

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

No abstract provided.

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A Bayesian Approach To The Characterization Of Electroencephalographic Recordings In Premature Infants, Timothy Mitchell Jan 2011

A Bayesian Approach To The Characterization Of Electroencephalographic Recordings In Premature Infants, Timothy Mitchell

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Preterm infants are particularly susceptible to cerebral injury, and electroencephalographic: EEG) recordings provide an important diagnostic tool for determining cerebral health. However, interpreting these EEG recordings is challenging and requires the skills of a trained electroencephalographer. Because these EEG specialists are rare, an automated interpretation of newborn EEG recordings would increase access to an important diagnostic tool for physicians. To automate this procedure, we employ a novel Bayesian approach to compute the probability of EEG features: waveforms) including suppression, delta brushes, and delta waves. The power of this approach lies not only in its ability to closely mimic the techniques …

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Disney And The Classroom: How Children's Perceptions Can Help Inform Teacher Practice, Kimberly Lynn Burken Jan 2011

Disney And The Classroom: How Children's Perceptions Can Help Inform Teacher Practice, Kimberly Lynn Burken

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this research was threefold: to examine how race was represented in cartoon Disney movies, to determine if cartoon Disney movies influence racial perceptions in children, and to determine how to effectively address racial perceptions in the classroom.

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The Effects Of Hypergravity On Xenopus Embryo Growth And Cardiac Hypertrophy, Bryce Joseph Duchman Jan 2011

The Effects Of Hypergravity On Xenopus Embryo Growth And Cardiac Hypertrophy, Bryce Joseph Duchman

Honors Program Theses

All life on earth has developed and evolved in a 1 G environment. Therefore, any deviation below or above unit gravity will likely have an effect on the development of organisms, including the migration of cells and the dispersion of nutrients. The purpose of this research project is to analyze the effects of hypergravity on the overall body length and cardiac growth of Xenopus laevis embryos. I predict that cardiac hypertrophy will occur in embryos subjected to hypergravity because of the increased force required from the heart to adequately circulate blood and, thus, disperse nutrients. Upon reaching early gastrulation, embryos …

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Exploring Literacy Across The Curriculum: Writing In The Mathematics Classroom, Sarah E. Heddinger Jan 2011

Exploring Literacy Across The Curriculum: Writing In The Mathematics Classroom, Sarah E. Heddinger

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of my Honors thesis is to find evidence that writing in mathematics benefits both students and teachers. To research this claim, I viewed how writing takes place in mathematics within a specific elementary classroom. I hoped to view mathematics lessons in which literacy, specifically writing, was involved as an integral part of every lesson.

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Designing For The User: Exploring The Interface Design Of Web Services, Katelyn Anne Haw Jan 2011

Designing For The User: Exploring The Interface Design Of Web Services, Katelyn Anne Haw

Honors Program Theses

My thesis investigated the ideas of usability and the design process to create software that is considered usable. I developed a web interface for a Plan of Study Application that would help students make the educated decisions about their studies at UNI. Throughout the development of this application I addressed the following questions: "What makes an interface usable?" and "How does the design process affect a system's usability?" User interface design is an interdisciplinary process and it often involves computer programmers and graphic designers working together. Without clear communication and vision between the groups, the software being developed has little …

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Leading Unconducted Chamber Vocal Ensembles: A Case Study Of The University Of Northern Iowa Varsity Men's Glee Club Camerata, David Hoobler Jan 2011

Leading Unconducted Chamber Vocal Ensembles: A Case Study Of The University Of Northern Iowa Varsity Men's Glee Club Camerata, David Hoobler

Honors Program Theses

Recently, unconducted chamber vocal ensembles have emerged as one of, if not the most popular forms of vocal performing groups. TV shows such as "The Sing Off' and "Glee" showcase the musical abilities of this type of ensemble. Barbershop quartets enjoy high levels of popularity. Professional groups such as Voces8 and other groups on many college campuses are constantly in demand for performances. In addition, educators find it necessary to learn how to lead these groups especially in the state of Iowa where quartets are used for All-State auditions, and the popularity of Show Choir necessitates an unconducted vocal ensemble …

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Italian Judges' Point Of View On Foreign States' Immunity, Elena Sciso Jan 2011

Italian Judges' Point Of View On Foreign States' Immunity, Elena Sciso

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Article gives an account of the most recent Italian practice as regarding foreign states' immunity from the jurisdiction of the forum state. In the absence of domestic laws regulating the matter, Italian courts thus far have been directly applying international customary law, making recourse to a progressive interpretation of international rules. In the past, Italian judicial practice together with the Belgian one gave a great contribution to the consolidation of the restrictive immunity theory. In the last few years, Italian courts have lifted immunity with respect to acts of a foreign state qualified as "acta iure imperii" in civil …

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Foreign Official Immunity After Samantar: A United States Government Perspective, Harold H. Koh Jan 2011

Foreign Official Immunity After Samantar: A United States Government Perspective, Harold H. Koh

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

I am delighted to speak here at Vanderbilt regarding the U.S. Government's perspective on Foreign Official Immunity after Samantar v. Yousuf.' In the Samantar case, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that the immunity of foreign government officials sued in their personal capacity in U.S. courts, including for alleged human rights violations, is not controlled by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, but rather, by immunity determinations made by the Executive Branch. Let me break my topic today into three parts: first, the world of foreign official immunity as it existed before the Samantar case; second, the Supreme Court's …

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Due Process Rights And The Targeted Killing Of Suspected Terrorists, Benjamin Mckelvey Jan 2011

Due Process Rights And The Targeted Killing Of Suspected Terrorists, Benjamin Mckelvey

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), with the approval of the Obama Administration, conducts targeted killings of individual suspected terrorists. These killings have significantly increased since the Iraq war and are now a central component of U.S. counterterrorism strategy. The targeted killing program consists mainly of missile strikes from Predator drones, which are unmanned aerial vehicles operated by the CIA. In May 2010, President Obama's National Security Council approved the targeted killing of Anwar al-Aulaqi, a U.S. citizen and suspected al-Qaeda senior leader believed to be hiding in Yemen. As the first American targeted for extrajudicial lethal force, Aulaqi's situation quickly …

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Responding To Narratives Of Sexualized Violence In The College Composition Classroom, Tessa M. Pitré Jan 2011

Responding To Narratives Of Sexualized Violence In The College Composition Classroom, Tessa M. Pitré

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This project examines the multiple challenges inherent in instructor response to narratives of sexualized violence within the college composition classroom. Rape, as well as other forms of sexualized violence, on university campuses is an endemic problem that affects the lives and safety of those who belong to these communities. This project considers, the multiple ways in which narratives of survival or experience of rape and other forms of sexualized violence enter the composition classroom. Drawing from the fields of trauma studies and feminist pedagogy, this paper suggests that there is an institutional failure to talk about sexualized violence in ways …

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Recognition Of Library Terms And Concepts By Undergraduate Students, Lydia Ola Adedibu, Isaac Olugbenga Ajala Jan 2011

Recognition Of Library Terms And Concepts By Undergraduate Students, Lydia Ola Adedibu, Isaac Olugbenga Ajala

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study investigated the recognition of library terms and concepts used by undergraduate students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology students, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. 2,039 questionnaires were analysed. Four hypotheses were tested using Analysis of variance (ANOVA). The study revealed that the variables; age, gender, use of library, visitation to library, educational level, and familiarity with library before admission into the university were all significantly positive (P<0.01) thus influencing the extent of awareness of the respondents to the library terms, and concepts. Various recommendations such as librarians to always try to define terms, concepts, and jargon used for the first time, request for feedbacks from students either monthly, quarterly or bi-annually, and try to make access and retrieval of library resources more efficient and user friendly by using the language that users understand.

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