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What's rotten in the state of South African journalism? media freedom and regulation

- Joseph, Natasha

Authors: Joseph, Natasha
Date: 2012
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/454999 , vital:75394 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC134119
Description: Earlier this year, I was invited to talk about the right to freedom of ex-pression as part of Rhodes University's annual Human Rights Week, which coincides with South Africa's Human Rights Day. It was suggest-ed that I might want to discuss the Protection of State Information Bill, the ominous Media Appeals Tribunal, or both. Perhaps I could have done those things - the bill and the tribunal are harrowing threats to our work as journalists, and to South Africans' freedom of access to information.
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Date Issued: 2012

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Where angels fear to tread: online peer-assessment in a large first-year class

- Mostert, Markus, Snowball, Jeanette D

Authors: Mostert, Markus , Snowball, Jeanette D
Date: 2012
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/69289 , vital:29480 , https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2012.683770
Description: In the context of widening participation, large classes and increased diversity, assessment of student learning is becoming increasingly problematic in that providing formative feedback aimed at developing student writing proves to be particularly laborious. Although the potential value of peer assessment has been well documented in the literature, the associated administrative burden, also in relation to managing anonymity and intellectual ownership, makes this option less attractive, particularly in large classes. A potential solution involves the use of information and communication technologies to automate the logistics associated with peer assessment in a time-efficient way. However, uptake of such systems in the higher education community is limited, and research in this area is only beginning. This case study reports on the use of the Moodle Workshop module for formative peer assessment of students’ individual work in a first-year introductory macro-economics class of over 800 students. Data were collected through an end-of-course evaluation survey of students. The study found that using the feature-rich Workshop module not only addressed many of the practical challenges associated with paper-based peer assessments, but also provided a range of additional options for enhancing validity and reliability of peer assessments that would not be possible with paper-based systems.
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Date Issued: 2012

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White anti-racism in post-apartheid South Africa:

- Matthews, Sally

Authors: Matthews, Sally
Date: 2012
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142361 , vital:38073 , DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2012.683938
Description: South Africans today live not only with the memory of the racial injustices of the past, but also with present injustices that are a consequence of that past. How should white South Africans live with these past and present injustices? On recognition of the racial injustices of the past and of the continuation of forms of white privilege today, involvement in ongoing anti-racist struggles seems to be an appropriate way for white South Africans to respond to past and present injustices. However, some discussions of the way in which white privilege operates and is perpetuated in post-segregationist societies suggest the need for caution with regard to white involvement in anti-racist struggles, arguing that some of the ways in which white people involve themselves in apparently anti-racist work actually result in the perpetuation rather than the erosion of white privilege. This article explores concerns about the intractability of white privilege while also ultimately defending the appropriateness of white involvement in anti-racist struggles.
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Date Issued: 2012

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Why do learners and teachers experience problems with the concept of zero?

- Jooste, Zonia

Authors: Jooste, Zonia
Date: 2012
Subjects: Numbers, Divisibility of -- Study and teaching (Primary) -- South Africa Numbers, Divisibility of -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa Mathematics teachers -- Training of -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Mathematics teachers -- Training of -- South Africa -- Western Cape Education, Primary -- Curricula -- South Africa Education, Secondary -- Curricula -- South Africa
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
Identifier: vital:1906 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006764
Description: The controversy around the inclusion of zero in the number system has been widely documented. Influential mathematicians in various ancient cultures did not accept zero as a number. The idea of the empty set was too abstract and they could not conceptualise division by zero. Surprisingly, understanding of the concept is still a matter of concern today. In spite of expansive reports on and recommendations for developing conceptualisation of the concept, learners and teachers still experience problems similar to those that ancient mathematicians struggled with. The study was initiated by an observation of Grade 7 learners' inability to solve the problems 4 × 0 and 0 ÷ 7 effectively or at all. I investigated why Grade 3 to 6 learners and mathematics teachers on a BEd (in-service) course and an accredited ACE course experience problems with the concept of zero. I was especially interested in the understanding of multiplication and division by zero. I investigated teachers' knowledge of zero's characteristics as a number, the history of zero and how they teach the concept, in order to support my assumptions. The data production process was performed over a period of two years. It involved a multi-case opportunity sample approach embedded in the empirical field that formed the backdrop of my involvement as mathematics education specialist in schools in the Western and Eastern Cape. The interpretative orientation of the study allowed me to conduct inquiries that served to confirm or challenge my assumptions and enabled me to construct generalisations that depict learners' and teachers' knowledge construction. The qualitative data analysis informed the presentation and discussion of the findings. The single most important message conveyed to readers of this study is that the value of zero as a number, its importance in the number system, its properties and its behaviour in calculations, should not be underrated. Teaching of this abstract concept requires competent teachers who are able to mediate understanding in the most effective and innovative manner. Professional development programmes should orchestrate this competence and curriculum developers and textbook authors should acknowledge the significance of learning and teaching the concept of zero.
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Date Issued: 2012

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Willingness to pay for pharmacist-provided services directed towards reducing risks of medication-related problems

- Mushunje, Irvine Tawanda

Authors: Mushunje, Irvine Tawanda
Date: 2012
Subjects: Pharmaceutical industry , Pharmacy -- Practice -- Finance , Pharmacist and patient , Prescription pricing
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Masters , MPharm
Identifier: vital:10133 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1008053 , Pharmaceutical industry , Pharmacy -- Practice -- Finance , Pharmacist and patient , Prescription pricing
Description: Pharmacists as members of health care teams, have a central role to play with respect to medication. The pharmaceutical care and cognitive services which pharmacists are able to provide can help prevent, ameliorate or correct medication-related problems. There are however many barriers to the provision of these services and one of the barriers commonly cited by pharmacists is the lack of remuneration for their expert services. The aim of this study is to ascertain if patients in South Africa are willing to pay for pharmacist-provided services which may reduce medication related problems, and thereby determine the perceived value of the pharmacist-provided services, by patients. The study will also seek to determine factors that influence willingness to pay (WTP), including financial status, gender, race, age and level of education. In addition the perceived value of the pharmacist‘s role in patient care, by third party payers (SA Medical Aid providers) and their WTP for pharmacist-provided services (such as DSM) on behalf of patients through their monthly premiums will also be investigated. The study was conducted as a two-phase process: the first phase focused on the opinions of patients and the second phase on the medical aid companies. In phase-1 a convenience sample of 500 patients was recruited by fifty community pharmacies distributed throughout the nine South African provinces. Data collection, consisting of telephonic administration of the questionnaires, was conducted and the survey responses were captured on a Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet. All the captured information was analyzed using descriptive statistics, box and whisker plots, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analysis. In phase-2, medical aid schemes that are registered with the Council of Medical Schemes (CMSs) of South Africa were included in this research. A fifteen point questionnaire was completed electronically via e-mail by willing medical aid participants. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics only. Only 233 or 88.6 percent, of the 263 participating respondents, were willing to pay at least one rand towards pharmacist-provided services. On average respondents were willing to pay R126.76 as out-of-pocket expenses. Respondents‘ WTP increased as the risk associated with medication-related problems was reduced due to pharmaceutical care intervention. Of the 263 respondents who took part in this research, fifty percent were willing to pay at least R100 for a risk reduction of 30 percent, R120 for a 60 percent reduction and approximately R150 for a greater than 90 percent risk reduction. It was also found that the respondents‘ willingness to pay was influenced by their age, earnings, racial grouping, employment status, medical aid status and their level of satisfaction with pharmacist-provided care services. Of the thirty-one open medical aid schemes only eight (25.8 percent) participated in the study. Findings indicate that all the participating medical aid respondents were unwilling to pay for pharmacist-provided care services, although they perceived pharmacists as very influential healthcare providers and as having a significant role to play in reducing medication-related problems. In conclusion it was found that majority of participants were willing to pay for pharmacist-provided services directed towards reducing risks associated with medication-related problems. Until pharmacists are able to prove pharmaceutical care‘s utility and cost-effectiveness to third-party payers, pharmacists must look to the patient for reimbursement.
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Date Issued: 2012

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Wing moult and sexual dimorphism in the Lesser Honeyguide Indicator minor in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

- Craig, Adrian J F K, Bonnevie, Bo T, Hulley, Patrick E

Authors: Craig, Adrian J F K , Bonnevie, Bo T , Hulley, Patrick E
Date: 2012
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/449593 , vital:74832 , https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2989/00306525.2012.662918
Description: Based on ringing data from the Western Cape, Underhill et al.(1995) demonstrated that there was a bimodal distribution of wing-length measurements in the Lesser Honeyguide Indicator minor, and they described the timing of wing-moult in this region. Hanmer (1997) reported similar results for Lesser Honeyguides from Mozambique and Malawi. This species remains poorly studied, and we have examined size dimorphism and wing moult for a sample of birds from the Eastern Cape region: 44 museum specimens from the Albany Museum (Grahamstown), East London Museum and the Ditsong Museum (formerly Transvaal Museum, Pretoria), together with ringing data for 94 birds. Wing-length of both museum specimens and ringed birds was measured in the standard manner (maximum chord); weight to the nearest 0.5 g was recorded with a Pesola spring balance. Each bird was checked for wing moult, which was recorded as 0 for an old feather and 5 for a fully grown new feather (de Beer et al. 2001). These moult scores were converted to percentage feather mass grown using a primary feather mass index, Passer9 (Bonnevie 2010a), for analysis using the model of Underhill and Zucchini (1988), as implemented in R (Erni et al. in press), with the data subsampled to prevent non-moulting birds from biasing the estimates (Bonnevie 2010b).
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Date Issued: 2012

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Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill: a psychobiographical study

- Moolman, Bilué Anton

Authors: Moolman, Bilué Anton
Date: 2012
Subjects: Churchill, Winston -- 1874-1965 , Psychology -- Biographical methods
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
Identifier: vital:9903 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1009434 , Churchill, Winston -- 1874-1965 , Psychology -- Biographical methods
Description: Psychobiography is a qualitative approach to exploring and understanding the life story of an individual through the lens of psychological theory. The application of theory is typically conducted on the finished lives of well-known or enigmatic people. This study explores and describes the psychological development across the lifespan of Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, by applying the Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler. Winston Churchill voted the greatest Briton of the twentieth century, was an author, painter, adventure, soldier, politician and Prime Minister that led the United Kingdom during World War Two. Extensive data has been examined in this work to ensure an accurate description of Winston Churchill‘s life. Alexander‘s model of identifying salient themes was used to analyse the data within a conceptual framework derived from the theory. Churchill‘s difficult childhood motivated him to succeed, his passion for the nation of Britain and his dislike of the Nazi regime meant that Churchill was always abreast with current affairs, anticipating every possible scenario of attack. When the time came to fight the Nazi‘s Churchill was ready to die for his country. The research findings highlight Churchill‘s ability to rise above his childhood stigmas and surpass all expectations and so cementing his name into the history of a country he loved and a democratic world he hoped for. Alfred Adler‘s Individual Psychology proposes that an individual‘s potential weaknesses can be used as a means to strive and achieve greatness within their sphere of influence.
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Date Issued: 2012

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Winter rotational cover crops effects on soil strength, aggregate stability and water conservation of a hardsetting cambisol in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

- Mupambwa, Hupenyu Allan

Authors: Mupambwa, Hupenyu Allan
Date: 2012
Subjects: Cover crops -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Soil mechanics , Crop rotation , Crops and soils , Soil penetration test
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc Agric (Crop Science)
Identifier: vital:11868 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/453 , Cover crops -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Soil mechanics , Crop rotation , Crops and soils , Soil penetration test
Description: Winter rotational cover crops (WRCC) are often used to boost soil fertility and plant nutrition. However, selection and use of WRCC for soil physical improvement is usually overlooked. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of WRCC on soil strength, aggregate stability and water conservation of a hardsetting soil. The soil physical properties were determined after four rotations of growing monocultures of vetch (Vicia dasycarpa cv. Max), lupin (Lupinus angustifolius cv. Tanjil) and oats (Avena sativa cv. Sederberg) and after two rotations of growing bicultures of oats (Avena sativa cv. Pallinup) and vetch (Vicia dasycarpa cv. Max) across two soil layers, 0 to 15 cm and 15 to 30 cm. The individual WRCC and a weedy fallow constituted the treatments in the monoculture study whilst in the biculture study the various combinations of WRCC namely; 90% oat plus 10% vetch (O90V10); 70% oat plus 30% vetch (O70V30) and 50% oat plus 50% vetch (O50V50) and a weedy fallow constituted the treatments. After four rotations with cover crop monocultures, oats significantly (P ≤ 0.05) reduced penetration resistance (PR) whilst vetch increased PR in both soil layers compared to the weedy fallow control. The effect of the biculture treatments was only experienced within the 15 to 30 cm depth. The treatments O50V50 and O70V30 increased the PR compared to the control. The WRCC in monoculture significantly increased the soil aggregate stability relative to the control in both soil layers. Vetch, lupin and oats resulted in a 41.7%; 20.4% and 15.7% increase in MWD in the 0 to 15 cm soil layer and 47.2%; 44.2% and 39.7% in the 15 to 30 cm depth, respectively. An increase in aggregate stability was associated with increased macro-aggregation. Under the biculture, WRCC slightly increased, non- significantly, the aggregate stability. Both hot water and dilute acid extractable polysaccharides showed no significant correlation with aggregate stability in the two studies. Oats monoculture resulted in a significant difference (P ≤ 0.05) on cumulative infiltration compared to the control. However, after 2 h vetch and lupin showed no significant difference from the control on cumulative infiltration. Oats resulted in a 7.8% increase in final infiltration rate (FIR) whilst vetch and lupin reduced FIR by 9% and 16.7% respectively, compared to the control. Bicultures of oats and vetch significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased cumulative infiltration compared to the weedy fallow control. A similar significant increase in FIR was also observed under bicultures. The treatments O50V50; O90V10 and O70V30 resulted in a 163.3%; 113.3% and 105.4% increase in FIR respectively, compared to the control. Cover crop monocultures significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased plant available water (PAW) compared to the weedy fallow, with vetch, oats and lupin resulting in a 28.3%; 22% and 23.9% increase respectively, in PAW. However, no significant differences were observed on PAW after two rotations with bicultures. Compared with winter weedy fallow, WRCC improved most of the soil physical properties under study, with the most suitable results expected under bicultures compared to monocultures. Under CA, selection of WRCC like oats, vetch and lupin, one should therefore take into consideration their effects on soil physical properties as a selection criterion and not biomass and fertility alone.
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Date Issued: 2012

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Women leadership: a case study in the Otjozondjupa Region, Namibia

- Araes, Cornelia

Authors: Araes, Cornelia
Date: 2012
Subjects: Women -- Education (Primary) -- Namibia Leadership in women -- Education (Primary) -- Namibia Management -- Education (Primary) -- Namibia Educational leadership -- Namibia
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
Identifier: vital:1825 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003711
Description: Empowerment of women in leadership and in particular, school leadership has been the focus of the Namibian government and the country since independence in 1990. Different policies and laws, post‐independence, make provision for women empowerment and leadership in a range of organisations and institutions throughout the country. However, reports on gender equity in leadership positions suggest that Namibia is not really moving towards these policy goals at a sufficiently quick pace. A lot still needs to be achieved in terms of transforming the gender stereotyping in Namibia, which still suffers from the legacy of gender discrimination of the apartheid era. Modern‐day academic authors and journalists portray an increasing interest in an awareness of the advantages of women leadership. Women are increasingly perceived to have leadership styles more suitable for contemporary conditions than men. It is against this backdrop that this study sought to investigate women leadership in the Otjiwarongo circuit in the Otjozondjupa educational region in Namibia. The study used a qualitative, interpretive research paradigm. It adopted a case study approach. The primary participants consisted of four women principals in the Otjiwarongo circuit and the secondary participants included four women education officers from the same circuit. Semi‐structured interviews, a focus group interview and observation were applied as methods for collecting data and the data collection period was just over six weeks. Data analysis was done through coding and identification of categories. The findings revealed that women principals possessed the qualities of commitment, good communication and are passionate about their work, which are qualities normally associated with effective leadership. In terms of their role in their schools, they emerged as democratic leaders who involved all stakeholders in the decision making process through consensus. In addition, they demonstrated distributive and servant leadership in their interactions with stakeholders. The main challenge to the leadership position of these women principals seemed to be the stereotypical view held, that as women, they had to work twice as hard as men at leading schools. The study recommended that people oriented leadership styles, such as the ones enacted by the women principals in this study, are highly recommended for effective leadership in the 21st century.
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Date Issued: 2012

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Working with cultural-historical activity theory and critical realism to investigate and expand farmer learning in Southern Africa

- Mukute, Mutizwa, Lotz-Sisitka, Heila

Authors: Mukute, Mutizwa , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
Date: 2012
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182494 , vital:43835 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2012.656173"
Description: This article uses the theoretical and methodological tools of cultural historical activity theory and critical realism to examine three case studies of the introduction and expansion of sustainable agricultural practices in southern Africa. The article addresses relevant issues in the field of agricultural extension, which lacks a theoretical “bridge” between top-down knowledge transfer and bottom-up participatory approaches to learning. Further, the article considers the learning environments necessary for sustainable agriculture. Such environments provided research participants with encounters with “postnormal” scientific practices that recognise and engage plural ways of knowing. Our research explored why farmers learn and practise sustainable agriculture, how they learn and practise it, the contradictions they are facing, and how these contradictions can be overcome in a context of change-oriented learning.
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Date Issued: 2012

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Young veterans, not always social misfits: a sociological discourse of Liberian transmogrification experiences

- Agbedahin, Komlan

Authors: Agbedahin, Komlan
Date: 2012
Subjects: Child soldiers -- Liberia Children and war -- Liberia Liberia. Armed Forces -- Demobilization -- Social aspects Liberia -- History -- Civil War, 1989-1996 Liberia -- History -- Civil War, 1999-2003
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
Identifier: vital:3316 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003104
Description: This thesis examines the phenomenon of child-soldiering from a different perspective. It seeks to challenge, using a novel approach, earlier studies on the roles of former child-soldiers in post-war societies. It focuses on the subjectivity of young veterans, that is war veterans formerly associated with armed forces and groups as children during the 14-year gruesome civil war which bedevilled Liberia between 1989 and 2003. This civil war claimed roughly 250,000 lives, and saw the active participation of approximately 21,000 child-soldiers. This thesis departs from previous works which mostly painted an apocalyptic picture of young veterans, and explores the nexus between their self-agency, Foucauldian technologies of the self and their transformation in the post-war society. The majority of previous scholarly works which have dominated the field of child-soldiering dwelt on the impact of armed conflict on the child-soldiers, the negative consequences, the causes of child-soldiering, and the rehabilitation and reintegration of the young veterans after their disarmament and demobilization. What this thesis seeks to do however, is to establish that, rather than considering the young veterans simply as social misfits, distraught and dispirited human beings, it should be noted that young veterans through their agency, are capable of ensuring their reintegration into their war-ravaged societies. Sadly, these young former fighters’ self-agency and technologies of the self in defining their civilian trajectories have often been overshadowed by vaunted humanitarian aid and multilayered war-profiteering. This study is underpinned by interpretive constructivism, symbolic interactionism, social identity theory, sociometer theory and expectancy theory, and sheds light on how young veterans’ self-agency, instrumental coalitions, and decision-making processes, synergistically shifted the negative identities foisted on them as a result of their participation in the war.
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Date Issued: 2012

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μCloud : a P2P cloud platform for computing service provision

- Fouodji Tasse, Ghislain

Authors: Fouodji Tasse, Ghislain
Date: 2012 , 2012-08-22
Subjects: Cloud computing , Peer-to-peer architecture (Computer networks) , Computer architecture , Computer service industry
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
Identifier: vital:4663 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006669 , Cloud computing , Peer-to-peer architecture (Computer networks) , Computer architecture , Computer service industry
Description: The advancements in virtualization technologies have provided a large spectrum of computational approaches. Dedicated computations can be run on private environments (virtual machines), created within the same computer. Through capable APIs, this functionality is leveraged for the service we wish to implement; a computer power service (CPS). We target peer-to-peer systems for this service, to exploit the potential of aggregating computing resources. The concept of a P2P network is mostly known for its expanded usage in distributed networks for sharing resources like content files or real-time data. This study adds computing power to the list of shared resources by describing a suitable service composition. Taking into account the dynamic nature of the platform, this CPS provision is achieved using a self stabilizing clustering algorithm. So, the resulting system of our research is based around a hierarchical P2P architecture and offers end-to-end consideration of resource provisioning and reliability. We named this system μCloud and characterizes it as a self-provisioning cloud service platform. It is designed, implemented and presented in this dissertation. Eventually, we assessed our work by showing that μCloud succeeds in providing user-centric services using a P2P computing unit. With this, we conclude that our system would be highly beneficial in both small and massively deployed environments. , KMBT_223 , Adobe Acrobat 9.51 Paper Capture Plug-in
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Date Issued: 2012

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