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Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks August 12-13
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/FN6r5lD5NWM/perseid-meteor-shower-peaks-august-12-13
The Perseids have been active in our skies for a couple of weeks already, but the peak of the meteor shower is coming up in just a few days. Overnight at the end of August 12th and the beginning of August 13th, observers in clear and dark conditions can expect to see up to 100 meteors per hour. The meteor shower should be particularly good this year because it occurs just a day before the new moon, so the sky should be even darker than usual. Forbes has an article on how astronomers figured out where such meteor showers were coming from:
In 1833, the regular Leonid meteor shower became spectacular, with 1000 meteors per hour creating a meteor storm. For the next 32 years, the Leonids were normal and quiet again, but in 1866, another storm appeared. John Couch Adams, the British astronomer who failed to find Neptune, correctly surmised where meteor showers came from, a picture that's been spectacularly confirmed for all known meteor showers, including this week's coming Perseids!<p><div class="share_submission" style="position:relative;">
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</div></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/09/0215223/perseid-meteor-shower-peaks-august-12-13?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/FN6r5lD5NWM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Soulskill2015-08-09T06:20:00+00:00spaceset-your-eyes-to-long-exposurescience1111,10,1,0,0,0,0http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/09/0215223/perseid-meteor-shower-peaks-august-12-13?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feedIBM Drops $1 Billion On Medical Images For Watson
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/XpinMR6iVCw/ibm-drops-1-billion-on-medical-images-for-watson
An anonymous reader writes: IBM is purchasing a company called Merge Healthcare for $1 billion. The company specializes in medical imaging software, and it will be a key new resource for IBM's Watson AI. Big blue's researchers estimate that 90% of all medical data is contained within images. Having a trove of them and the software to mine that data should help Watson learn how to make more accurate diagnoses. IBM thinks it'll also provide better context for run-of-the-mill medical imaging. "[A] radiologist might examine thousands of patient images a day, but only looking for abnormalities on the images themselves rather than also taking into account a person's medical history, treatments and drug regimens." They can program Watson to do both. The AI is already landing contracts to assist with medical issues: "Last week, IBM announced a partnership with CVS Health, the large pharmacy chain, to develop data-driven services to help people with chronic ailments like diabetes and heart disease better manage their health."<p><div class="share_submission" style="position:relative;">
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</div></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/08/1417255/ibm-drops-1-billion-on-medical-images-for-watson?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/XpinMR6iVCw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Soulskill2015-08-08T15:34:00+00:00aiwaiting-for-you-to-post-them-on-facebook-isn't-cutting-itscience4747,46,33,27,8,2,1http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/08/1417255/ibm-drops-1-billion-on-medical-images-for-watson?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feedDr. Frances Kelsey, Who Saved American Babies From Thalidomide, Dies At 101
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/LtuVG1vsg4g/dr-frances-kelsey-who-saved-american-babies-from-thalidomide-dies-at-101
circletimessquare writes: Plenty of regulations are bad (some because big business corrupts them) but the simple truth is modern society cannot function without effective government regulation. It keeps are food safe, our rivers clean, and our economy healthy. Passing away at age 101 Friday was a woman who personified this lesson. In 1960 the F.D.A. tasked Dr. Frances Kelsey with evaluating a drug used in Europe for treating morning sickness. She noticed something troubling, and asked the manufacturer William S. Merrell Co. for more data. "Thus began a fateful test of wills. Merrell responded. Dr. Kelsey wanted more. Merrell complained to Dr. Kelsey's bosses, calling her a petty bureaucrat. She persisted. On it went. But by late 1961, the terrible evidence was pouring in. The drug — better known by its generic name, thalidomide — was causing thousands of babies in Europe, Britain, Canada and the Middle East to be born with flipperlike arms and legs and other defects." Without Dr. Kelsey's scientific and regulatory persistence in the face of mindless greed, thousands of Americans would have suffered a horrible fate.<p><div class="share_submission" style="position:relative;">
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</div></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/08/0549249/dr-frances-kelsey-who-saved-american-babies-from-thalidomide-dies-at-101?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/LtuVG1vsg4g" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Soulskill2015-08-08T09:27:00+00:00medicinerest-in-peacescience244244,231,172,152,37,16,13http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/08/0549249/dr-frances-kelsey-who-saved-american-babies-from-thalidomide-dies-at-101?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feedThe Bog Bodies of Europe
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/3Uy5PM7gQEE/the-bog-bodies-of-europe
schwit1 writes: It's a regular occurrence in Europe for dead bodies to be found in peat bogs. The bogs preserve the bodies, providing scientists a window into the past. However, many of the bodies exhibit one mysterious tendency: violent death. "Since the 18th century, the peat bogs of Northern Europe have yielded hundreds of human corpses dating from as far back as 8,000 B.C. Like Tollund Man, many of these so-called bog bodies are exquisitely preserved-their skin, intestines, internal organs, nails, hair, and even the contents of their stomachs and some of their clothes left in remarkable condition. Despite their great diversity-they comprise men and women, adults and children, kings and commoners-a surprising number seem to have been violently dispatched and deliberately placed in bogs, leading some experts to conclude that the bogs served as mass graves for offed outcasts and religious sacrifices. Tollund Man, for example, had evidently been hanged." It's a fascinating combination of history, archeology, and forensics.<p><div class="share_submission" style="position:relative;">
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</div></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/07/195232/the-bog-bodies-of-europe?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/3Uy5PM7gQEE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Soulskill2015-08-07T19:19:00+00:00sciencenot-the-greatest-tourist-attraction-in-europescience8989,89,58,49,14,5,1http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/07/195232/the-bog-bodies-of-europe?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feedUnderwater Chemical Garden Powers a Light Bulb
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/Y29ajP1tiY8/underwater-chemical-garden-powers-a-light-bulb
Zothecula writes: Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have grown underwater chimney-like structures capable of generating enough electricity to power a light bulb. The team linked several of these chimneys to get the required electricity. Their findings indicate that the seafloor equivalents of these chemical gardens might just have contributed the electricity needed for the Earth's first organisms to develop.<p><div class="share_submission" style="position:relative;">
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</div></p><p><a href="http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/15/08/07/1715247/underwater-chemical-garden-powers-a-light-bulb?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/Y29ajP1tiY8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Soulskill2015-08-07T17:55:00+00:00nasatwo-green-thumbs-uphardware3636,36,20,14,2,0,0http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/15/08/07/1715247/underwater-chemical-garden-powers-a-light-bulb?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feedChemical Treatment Transforms Skin Cells Into Neurons
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/LIOTZNvR_yU/chemical-treatment-transforms-skin-cells-into-neurons
An anonymous reader writes: Two teams of researchers have independently succeeded in turning skin cells into neurons using a chemical cocktail. One group used human cells from healthy individuals and Alzheimer's patients, and the other used cells from mice. Sciencemag reports: "Molecular and cell biologists say the technique could become an important player in personalized medicine, specifically in using a patient's own cells to develop therapies for their disease or even to provide a source of transplantable cells for treatment."<p><div class="share_submission" style="position:relative;">
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</div></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/07/1553233/chemical-treatment-transforms-skin-cells-into-neurons?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/LIOTZNvR_yU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>samzenpus2015-08-07T17:32:00+00:00biotechfrom-one-thing-to-anotherscience2525,25,11,7,1,0,0http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/07/1553233/chemical-treatment-transforms-skin-cells-into-neurons?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feedAmid Agony, Scientists Discover World's First Venomous Frog
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/zGfjfp_8QzQ/amid-agony-scientists-discover-worlds-first-venomous-frog
sciencehabit writes: Some discoveries come with a price, and Brazilian biologist Carlos Jared's discovery of the world's first known venomous frog came with agony. When Carlos picked up a Brazilian hylid frog—a small, lumpy, green amphibian—while doing fieldwork, the frog raked him with spines hidden within its upper lip across the hand. He dropped the frog, and excruciating pain shot up his arm for the next 5 hours. It was known that some frogs secrete poison onto their skin but this species has tiny spines on their heads and upper lips that enable them to inject lethal venom directly into the bloodstream. C. greening's venom is twice as potent as that of the deadly pit viper, the researchers report.<p><div class="share_submission" style="position:relative;">
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</div></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/07/1210219/amid-agony-scientists-discover-worlds-first-venomous-frog?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/zGfjfp_8QzQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>samzenpus2015-08-07T14:22:00+00:00sciencedo-not-touchscience8484,81,57,47,16,7,7http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/07/1210219/amid-agony-scientists-discover-worlds-first-venomous-frog?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feedThe Connoisseur of Number Sequences
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/3mwzpSQ4TgM/the-connoisseur-of-number-sequences
An anonymous reader writes: 75-year-old Neil Sloane is considered by many to be one of the most influential mathematicians of our time, not because of the theorems he's proved, but because of his creation: The Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS). Quanta Magazine reports: "This giant repository, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, contains more than a quarter of a million different sequences of numbers that arise in different mathematical contexts, such as the prime numbers (2, 3, 5, 7, 11 ) or the Fibonacci sequence (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 ). What's the greatest number of cake slices that can be made with n cuts? Look up sequence A000125 in the OEIS. How many chess positions can be created in n moves? That's sequence A048987. The number of ways to arrange n circles in a plane, with only two crossing at any given point, is A250001. That sequence just joined the collection a few months ago. So far, only its first four terms are known; if you can figure out the fifth, Sloane will want to hear from you."<p><div class="share_submission" style="position:relative;">
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</div></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/07/021259/the-connoisseur-of-number-sequences?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/3mwzpSQ4TgM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>samzenpus2015-08-07T12:15:00+00:00mathmath-manscience6060,58,38,30,7,4,3http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/07/021259/the-connoisseur-of-number-sequences?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feedAn Epic View of the Moon In Earth's Orbital Embrace
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/CR0f6mcwtWc/an-epic-view-of-the-moon-in-earths-orbital-embrace
astroengine writes: As a suitably impressive follow-up to the new "blue marble" image of our world released in July, NASA shared a gorgeous animation created from pictures captured by NOAA's Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) spacecraft positioned nearly a million miles (1.5 million km) away — over four times farther than the moon. In a series of images acquired between 3:50 and 8:45 p.m. EDT on July 16, 2015, the moon can be seen passing in front of a rotating Earth, the warm gray face of its far side framed by the swirling-cloud-covered blue water of the eastern Pacific Ocean. The north pole is at the 11 o'clock position, illustrating our planet's 23.5-degree axial tilt.<p><div class="share_submission" style="position:relative;">
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</div></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/06/233216/an-epic-view-of-the-moon-in-earths-orbital-embrace?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/CR0f6mcwtWc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>samzenpus2015-08-07T03:01:00+00:00moonpretty-picturesscience7474,68,41,24,6,3,3http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/06/233216/an-epic-view-of-the-moon-in-earths-orbital-embrace?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feedREMzen Claims They Can Help You Sleep Better (Video)
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/BVksBgrLf7I/remzen-claims-they-can-help-you-sleep-better-video
Meet Jeremiah Scott, Co-Founder & CEO of Portland, OR, based Remzen. Their first product -- crowdfunded, of course -- is supposed to ship this October. It's an "intelligent sleep mask that collect sleep lab-type data but it also wakes you with light rather than sound, which Jeremiah says is more natural and better for you. Remzen started as a student project at Portland State University, but it is obviously moving toward the big time. Open Source? You'd think so, since Timothy met Jeremiah at OSCON. But there's apparently a financial backer or two who still need to be convinced that this project should be 100% open source instead of only halfway there.
Note: The transcript contains more material than the video. Even if you prefer video to text, you may want to read it.<p><div class="share_submission" style="position:relative;">
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</div></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/05/1954228/remzen-claims-they-can-help-you-sleep-better-video?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/BVksBgrLf7I" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Roblimo2015-08-05T20:50:00+00:00biotechyour-eyelids-are-getting-heavyscience2121,21,14,11,2,2,0http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/05/1954228/remzen-claims-they-can-help-you-sleep-better-video?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feedUSC Vs. UC San Diego In Fight Over Alzheimer's Research
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/J4Eb-xOiljI/usc-vs-uc-san-diego-in-fight-over-alzheimers-research
New submitter BVBigelow writes: In Southern California, a legal skirmish between USC and UC San Diego is escalating into into a full-blown fracas, replete with restraining orders, loyalty oaths, and accusations of computer piracy, intimidation, and interference in federal grant awards. The two universities are fighting over control of an Alzheimer's program that coordinates about $100 million in research grants. The lawsuits began after USC recruited scientist Paul Aisen from UC San Diego, where he has been director of the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study since 2007. The study has been based at UC San Diego since 1991, and and UCSD expected to retain control. But Aisen's team took root command of the computer system (including 24 years' worth of clinical trial data) and won't give it back.<p><div class="share_submission" style="position:relative;">
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</div></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/05/1643251/usc-vs-uc-san-diego-in-fight-over-alzheimers-research?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/J4Eb-xOiljI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>samzenpus2015-08-05T17:59:00+00:00medicinemine-nowscience120120,120,77,65,17,7,4http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/05/1643251/usc-vs-uc-san-diego-in-fight-over-alzheimers-research?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feedFDA Approves First 3D-Printed Drug Tablet
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/bTTIvVfBR5M/fda-approves-first-3d-printed-drug-tablet
An anonymous reader writes: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has for the first time approved a 3D-printed pill for human consumption. The printing technique allows higher and more precise dosages to be layered into a smaller tablet size. This is an early step toward a new method of drug distribution. Right now, pills are made in a factory and shipped to hospitals. With 3D printers, hospitals could simply store a bulk supply of the drug in a pure form, and then print out tablets — containing whatever dosage they desire — as they need them. If patients needs to increase or decrease their dosage, the hospital can do so without changing the appearance of the pills, which could help those with memory impairments.<p><div class="share_submission" style="position:relative;">
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</div></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/05/0416235/fda-approves-first-3d-printed-drug-tablet?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/bTTIvVfBR5M" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Soulskill2015-08-05T11:44:00+00:00medicinewill-take-seven-hours-per-pillscience6464,63,50,41,9,3,2http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/05/0416235/fda-approves-first-3d-printed-drug-tablet?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feedUsing Math To Tune a Video Game's Economy
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/8GHMDhyPYZw/using-math-to-tune-a-video-games-economy
An anonymous reader writes: When the shipping deadline was approaching for The Witcher 3, designer Matthew Steinke knew there was a big part of the game still missing: its economy. A game's economy is one of the things that can make or break immersion — you want collection and rewards to feel progressive and meaningful. Making items too expensive gives the game a grindy feel, while making them too cheap makes progression trivial. At the Game Developers Conference underway in Germany, Steinke explained his solution. "Steinke created a formula that calculated attributes like how much damage, defense, or healing that each item provided, and he placed them into an overall combat rating could be used to rank other items in the system. ... Steinke set about blending the sub-categories into nine generalized categories, allowing him to determine the final weighting for damage and the range of prices for each item. To test if it all worked, he used polynomial least squares (a form of mathematical statistics) to chart each category's price progression. The resultant curve (pictured below) showed the rate at which spending was increasing as the quality of each item approached the category's ceiling value."<p><div class="share_submission" style="position:relative;">
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</div></p><p><a href="http://games.slashdot.org/story/15/08/04/2211231/using-math-to-tune-a-video-games-economy?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/8GHMDhyPYZw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Soulskill2015-08-04T22:36:00+00:00mathas-opposed-to-tuning-it-with-music-theorygames9696,96,76,69,18,7,2http://games.slashdot.org/story/15/08/04/2211231/using-math-to-tune-a-video-games-economy?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feedHouston Firm NanoRacks To Take Chinese Experiment To International Space Station
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/zAmFOD89Wp0/houston-firm-nanoracks-to-take-chinese-experiment-to-international-space-station
MarkWhittington writes: The Houston Chronicle's Eric Berger reports that for the first time a Chinese experiment will fly on the International Space Station, thanks to an arrangement between a research group based at the Beijing Institute of Technology and a private firm in Houston called NanoRacks. The deal seems to have been designed to avoid the prohibition against space cooperation between the Chinese regime and NASA, since the space agency is not directly involved. The experiment, which involves the effects that space radiation has on DNA, will be carried to the ISS by another private firm, SpaceX. Presumably the experiment would be run by a non NASA crew member to avoid any direct involvement with the space agency.<p><div class="share_submission" style="position:relative;">
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</div></p><p><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/04/0232226/houston-firm-nanoracks-to-take-chinese-experiment-to-international-space-station?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed">Read more of this story</a> at Slashdot.</p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~4/zAmFOD89Wp0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>samzenpus2015-08-04T11:28:00+00:00chinafor-the-first-timescience2121,19,13,11,3,1,0http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/04/0232226/houston-firm-nanoracks-to-take-chinese-experiment-to-international-space-station?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feedBuzz Aldrin Publishes Moon Expenses Form
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/O3MmZ5IlDCA/buzz-aldrin-publishes-moon-expenses-form
An anonymous reader writes: Proving once again that the government has a form for everything, Buzz Aldrin has unveiled his Apollo 11 documentation on social media over the past few days, including a travel voucher detailing his expenses on his trip to the moon. The papers listed him as having been on a "work trip" from his home in Houston, Texas that had taken him to the moon and then back again with a total expenses claim of just $33.31. The report notes : "Government meals and quarters [were] furnished for all of the above dates."<p><div class="share_submission" style="position:relative;">
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