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Construction industry bracing for cash flow problems from May 2006
By Derek Cher, Channel NewsAsia
Related News »
• Singapore banks move to five-day clearing week
SINGAPORE : The construction industry is bracing itself for more cash flow problems from May next year.
That is when banks here switch to a five-day clearing week.
Some contractors told Channel NewsAsia they are anticipating a delay in receiving payments when the banks stop clearing cheques on Saturdays.
Cash flow has always been a major concern for contractors.
Those who work under tight margins often need immediate cash to pay their suppliers and workers.
But as banks move to a five-day clearing week, many contractors foresee payments will be delayed - resulting in further cash flow problems.
That is because cheques deposited after the cut-off time on Thursday will only be cleared on Monday - instead of Saturday.
Simon Lee, Executive Director, Singapore Contractors Association, said, "There may be some anxiety. There are cases where suppliers are saying that I will collect the cheque in the morning and then, after I cash it out, then in the afternoon, I will do the delivery. So some of them, when they cross it over the weekend, there may be some concern and say I'm not too sure whether the cheque will bounce and I'm not able to know the status of it."
This may result in suppliers asking for immediate cash payments rather than accepting company cheques.
But what this means is there will be more pressure on contractors to improve their cash positions.
There are also concerns that some main contractors may take advantage of the situation by issuing cheques to their suppliers and subcontractors on Fridays, so that money can't be drawn until the following Tuesday.
This will hopefully give them more time to receive funds from elsewhere.
To cope with the changes, some contractors may start insisting that cheque payments must come in before Thursday.
The Contractors Association says those who process their payments through GIRO will not be affected.
But overall, it expects that the smaller contractors, especially, will have to face the challenging task of having more cash in hand. - CNA/ms
What basis do you claim from your analysis that "Construction industry bracing for cash flow problems from May 2006"? Figures have shown that the Construction industry has recovered and on tracks for steady growth. Unless you are saying, all developers got no money to pay their contractors, which is illogical.
There are distribution in real estate products and there are considerations and factors purchasers will consider when selecting a property, not on a final product that is so exclusive that only a handful of developers can achieve. The natural selective process, will depend on how deep are their pockets, only meant for big players, who has the muscle to achieve it. Those who dive in blindly, without due research and planning, are bracing for a free fall, cause investors are savy, and well informed, unless you are able to create the best by providing the best will you seek to overcome, the limitations of pricing at beyond your market share, cause exclusivity and limited supply, will ensure a healthy bottom line, and if everyone can create similar products, imagine what chaos and confusion, it will do to the market. I will play around with factors, ensuring my final product, is worth its value in gold, cause there is no comparison, for achieving an all round Lifestyle Brand. -oogle.
Let me give you an example. If I have purchase a piece of land with a certain plot ratio and density to built a 500 unit project at $500 per square foot and my target price to sell is at $1000 per square foot. Do you think just by puting in facilities with custom made finishings and consumer products I will achieve my aim? Fat hope. It has to be a total concept, with all the right combination of factors and exclusivity no one has, intergration of residential and commercial concepts of Lifestyle, Branding and convenience, creating a total service, the best of the best before anyone will seriously consider your price, and in order to achieve all these, do you think Singapore has a huge parcel of land for you to chose from? Hint, hint.
Lessons need to be learned, the capacity of markets, to maximise demand and not to overproduce. If you know you are overproducing, and still attempts too, you will see your rewards dwindle. My beliefs is that there is a market for everyone, to maximise your profits, to cancel destructive competition, by finding new products and services, which is part of the "new economy". Knowledge is the key, to maximise your returns.
Let me give you an example. In the MP3 war, you have Apple leading the market, followed closely by Creative. Let's assume there are only two markets, the US and Singapore. And the local demand for Singapore is 10,000 units per month and 90,000 units for export, the US market is 100,000 units and a furthur 150,000 units for export. Production capacity for Apple is 100,000 units per month and Creative is 25,000 units. The life cycle for each product is about 9 months whereby after that, price will decrease at a rate of 20% per quarter until the lowest price of 20% whereby the product will be handed over to OEM manufacturers. Directors, manufacturers, and stragedy planners, what do you have in mind to maximise your profits? What stragedy will you use? How do you acquire business intelligence? Do you let your product be determined by market forces? What happens when you overproduce? How do you increase your branding? How do you create brand loyalty?
Let's make this scenerio as real as possible.
If you can sell Creative MP3 in Singapore at S$500 per unit but only S$400 in the US market, and the market share in Singapore is 40/60 and in the US is 20/80 for Creative/Apple. What are your options?
And if you are able to control these factors, what will you chose?
1) Increase capacity to produce by another 15,000 units (Creative) at an investment of $100K to streamline your production lines.
2) Spent $100K at publicity campaign to increase sales in local market by 10% and US market at 8%.
3) Let's say, all factors are under your control. How do you create branding and loyalty?
Anyone can provide me the answers? I will post them at this website. The idea is to find all the paths and options to maximise profit and create branding or loyalty. Everyone needs to harvest an intimate knowledge of whatever market you are in to maneuver against the market and competition. When I see a demand, I will race at maximum capacity, and when I see a falling market, I will pack up and reinvent.
With in depth analysis, I have provided you the questions to find out the answers, to find out the different paths you can take, to maximise profits at minimum risk, to see the entire view of the market.
And if I am even crazy, I will merge all this information, with accounting and budgeting info, seeking all the paths with the limitation of a budget, can I accurately assess my risks? Best of all, if I expand my vision, to include all the world's market, including forex exchange, do you get dizzy all of a sudden? No, not really, everything can be segmented, with very clear objectives, goals and relationships, that is something, nobody has tried to do.
!%#@%$#Asshole$@!%#@
Stop messing with my life.
I never give u the info 10 years ago,
Neither will I give it to u now.
It's time I destroy everything,
U can go !@@#!@%$ and die!
View to offer! Everything must go.
1) 3 months 21" Ichiban Color TV with remote.
2) Brand New Phillips 15" Monitor with warranty.
3) Brand New Enzer DVD player with warranty.
4) Brand New SMC PCMCIA Wireless G Cardbus Adapter.
5) Prolink Hurricane 9000B Ethernet modem.
6) SMC ADSL Barricade router/modem.
7) Aztech 305E Ethernet modem.
8) SMC 8 port switch.
9) SMC 24 port switch.
Call/SMS 94207473.
The coming of age,
Is when Singapore achieves,
A developed country status,
Moving away from traditional industries,
Into high growth industries,
A whole new arena,
Where Lifestyle and branding will create,
Playgrounds for the rich and famous,
Creating jobs for everyone,
A world class cruise centre,
Marinas and developments,
Concept homes that will rival,
The best cities in the world,
Integrated resorts and caravan tours,
Into Malaysia, Thailand and beyond,
There hasn't been a more exciting time,
To boost our Tourism industries,
The change in our infrastructure projects,
Seeking partners from the world,
Singaporeans will participate and collaborate,
A whole new entertainment concepts,
Where not only Singaporeans will play and learn,
But foreigners too,
Too many things have been left,
To the forces of nature,
The chase of copying others,
And others copying us.
It's time to take control,
The creation of an entire concept,
To get the tourist to stay and spent,
And later to do business too,
Singapore will be a stepping stone to the region,
Where the duplication of goods and services will be avoided,
No need to worry about competition,
Because there will be none.
The trick is planning and staging,
For sustainable growth in every industry.
Hint;
The lines are already blurring,
A merger of all entertainment concepts,
I can combine with different rooms or zoning,
The common Plasma/LCD screen,
A Karaoke pub, A Football pub,
A Movie theatre, A Gaming/Internet centre,
A Disco or a threatre niteclub,
A new SPA and health centre,
It is possible to facilitate a faithful group of customers,
A total entertainment and wellness industry,
Mr Han, you got to thank me,
I have already provided,
The concepts of your new entertainment centre.
Good luck and best wishes.
I am going to set history,
Merging the best of location,
The best of all the factors,
New technologies, even security,
A brand new Lifestyle,
Designs of the future,
It is even more luxury than the most luxury,
More comprehensive than the services of a serviced apt,
At a click of a button,
All services is at hand,
Maintainance is automatically scheduled,
Even down to consumer goods,
Which you can never buy off the shelf.
The dreams of the rich and famous,
Ensuring profitability,
Beyond goodwill and intellectual property.
The icons of a developed country,
It is no longer only the product,
But an entire new branding lifestyle,
It will no longer because of costs,
But to get the best because of the best,
There will be a niche for such a market,
And only the developer who has the vision,
The technology and the knowledge,
Will dare to embark on this trial.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Malacañang Palace
J.P. Laurel St
San Miguel 1005
Manila
Philippines
17 July 2003
Dear President,
Today, International Justice Day, the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute), Amnesty International is launching a campaign for universal ratification of the Rome Statute. I am writing to urge your government to join in this effort.
As of 1 July 2003, 90 states, approximately half of the states of the international community have ratified the Rome Statute.
Reaching such a threshold in five years is a testament to the will of the international community to end the history of impunity for those who have committed genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and bring perpetrators of these crimes to justice where ever they may be.
States that have ratified the Rome Statute have committed themselves to a new system of international justice in which their national courts have the primary obligation to investigate and prosecute people accused of crimes under international law.
However, if states are unwilling or unable to genuinely investigate and prosecute these crimes the International Criminal Court (ICC) can do so. Such a system, if universally supported, would ensure an end to the horrific trend repeated throughout the last century where people were allowed to plan and commit these crimes knowing they would not be held accountable for their heinous acts.
Amnesty International is working to ensure that all states ratify the Rome Statute so that it has the widest possible jurisdiction.
Universal ratification will ensure that there are no more safe havens for those who commit the worst crimes under international law.
Accordingly, I am writing to urge your government to join the international effort to establish this new system of international justice by ratifying the Rome Statute as soon as possible. Amnesty International’s membership the Philippines, through the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, are already undertaking initiatives to support the Philippines’s ratification of the Rome Statute.
The Philippines has played an important role in supporting the establishment of the International Criminal Court, through participation in the Like Minded Group of States at the Rome Diplomatic Conference in 1998. The Philippines also signed the Rome Statute on 28 December 2000, indicating an intention to ratify. Amnesty International welcomes reports that ratification
of the Statute has been approved by the Department of Foreign Affairs earlier this year. We now urge the President to endorse this, and send the ratification bill to the Senate for approval, thereby allowing the Philippines to become a state party to the Rome Statute as soon as possible.
All states that ratify the Rome Statute will need to enact new legislation or amend existing legislation to ensure that their national courts can effectively investigate and prosecute persons suspected of the crimes defined in the Rome Statute and that they can cooperate fully with the Court. Such legislation should, if possible, be enacted by the time the Rome Statute enters
into force for the Philippines (60-90 days following ratification). Amnesty International welcomes reports that the Philippines has begun work on including the crimes in the Rome Statute, and encourages this work to move forward. The Philippines should also begin drafting implementing legislation covering cooperation with the Court. By doing so, the Philippines will be in a
position to fulfil its international responsibilities when the Rome Statute enters into force for the Philippines.
To assist states with reviewing their legislation in order to prepare national legislation, Amnesty International has prepared International Criminal Court: Checklist for effective implementing legislation (IOR 40/011/2000) May 2000, which I enclose for your information. We urge your government to conduct broad consultation with civil society groups in the Philippines and
internationally when preparing your country’s implementing legislation. We would be happy to assist by commenting on any draft legislation that is prepared.
Furthermore, in September 2002, the Assembly of States Parties adopted an Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Court, which provides important privileges and immunities for Court staff not covered by any other treaty. The Agreement is open for signature until 30 June 2004. We hope that the Philippines will sign the Agreement as soon as possible and to take measures to ensure that it ratifies the Agreement and implements it into national law before the Rome Statute enters into force for the Philippines, so that the International Criminal Court can operate effectively throughout the world.
Finally, as you are aware the Court is the object of a worldwide campaign by the United States of America (USA) to weaken it and to obtain impunity from international justice for US nationals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Amnesty International was disappointed to learn that the Philippines signed an agreement with the USA committing not to surrender US nationals to the Court. These agreements violate the Rome Statute and other international law, by seeking to give impunity from international justice for the perpetrators of the worst crimes in the world. We hope that your government will cooperate with the ICC in all cases where a request is made, regardless of the nationality of the suspect, and that this
agreement with the USA will not be enforced.
Amnesty International, along with the vast majority of members of civil society and states, believe that US fears that the Court could be used to bring politically motivated prosecutions against US nationals are wholly unfounded. The Rome Statute contains extensive safeguards and fair trial guarantees to ensure that such a situation could not arise. Amnesty International is confident that the International Criminal Court will, through its practice, convince the USA to reconsider its position and to eventually ratify the Rome Statute. The more states that ratify the Rome Statute in the next years, the more likely the USA will reconsider its position in the foreseeable future.
The inauguration of the 18 judges and the Prosecutor of the new International Criminal Court this year, permitting it to become fully operational in the near future, is a momentous step forward in the fight to end impunity for the worst crimes known to humanity. I urge you to take the steps outlined in this letter to further strengthen the Court and contribute to making international justice a reality.
Yours sincerely,
Irene Khan
Secretary General
********
Sign the treaty and I will help you solve ALL your problems - oogle
Formula For Success
1) Sign the treaty and be seen campaigning for the "War on Terror".
2) Put two of your best and most loyal at the highest position in the Police and Defence.
3) Endorse the reforms to your cabinet forcusing on economic goals.
4) Be seen endorsing new ideas and reforms, even allying with the liberals, especially the young.
5) Endorse the Free Trade economy, and go to China to seek co-operation.
6) Seek funds from the World Bank to jumpstart your domestic economy.
7) The export of labor, although bring relief, cause the neglect of your domestic economy. Try to create jobs until there is a balance between brain drain and brain gain.
8) Implement VAT Tax reforms after there is political stability, after the cloud has cleared and the above measures are done. Short term fiscal deficit can be financed by borrowings, but there must be very clear direction of sustainability in the long run. Economic reforms can only fill this gap. The idea is to create an environment which is friendly to foreign investment, unlike the image of politic unstability with links to a safe haven for terror.
9) This generation may be foreign maids, but not the next generation. You must move up of the poverty ladder, invest in your child's education, and Phillipinos are not known to be very thifty. If you don't save to rebuild your homes, who do you think will?
10) Your country needs foreign capital to invest in a whole list of infrastructure. If you don't help to rebuild your own country, who do you think will?
Extracted from www.arabnews.com
The group headed by Rudy Dianalan, Vic Aguila and Gil Manese had prepared a manifesto or resolution saying OFWs ought to continue supporting Arroyo to “preserv(e) the gains” of her administration, according to the statement.
“If things will continue to deteriorate and the (Philippine) currency goes down the drain, all OFWs efforts and sacrifices will be in vain,” it said.
In a press release, the Kasapi Congress called for sobriety among OFWs, urging each one to tell family members who are in the Philippines to refrain from joining “any protest or extra-constitutional ways of wanting to tear down the present government...”
The Kasapi statement said it was pointed out during the meeting that:
• Filipinos, particularly the leaders of the political opposition, should avoid too much petty politics and preserve the gains of the present regime and move on to fight poverty, crimes and graft and corruption in all levels of our society.
• Arroyo should be given a chance to continue and finish her term for the good of all Filipinos, including OFWs.
• At this point in time, the Philippines can not afford another people power revolution, much more a coup d’ etat or a snap election.
• If there appears to be a wrongdoing on the part of the government, let it be investigated and resolved within the bounds of the law and the Philippine Constitution.
The Kasapi resolution comes in the heels of a controversy over a manifesto in support of Arroyo, which the chair of the OFW Congress in Riyadh presented to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo last weekend.
Jul 9, 6:35 PM EDT
Panama Gets Software to Assess Students
By BILL KACZOR
Associated Press Writer
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) -- A research institute is taking software designed in part to preserve scientists' knowledge and giving it to schools around the world as a tool to help children learn.
The software was designed to literally map out what scientists know in diagram form. The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola is providing the concept mapping software to individual schools as well as training teachers in Panama, the first country adopting Cmaps nationwide.
Cmaps can be used to assess student knowledge, encourage thinking and problem solving instead of rote learning, organize information for writing projects and help teachers write new curricula.
"We need to move education from a memorizing system and repetitive system to a dynamic system," said Gaspar Tarte, who is spearheading education reform in Panama as the country's secretary of governmental innovation.
"We would like to use tools and a methodology that help children construct knowledge," Tarte said. "Concept maps was the best tool that we found."
A Cmap is a series of concepts, usually nouns, linked by phrases or verbs. Alberto Canas, the institute's associate director and leading Cmap researcher, cites a simple Cmap on birds as an example.
One of several lines radiating from the main concept - "birds" - is labeled "have" and links it to such attributes as "beaks," "hollow bones" and "feathers." Another line is labeled "lays" and connects "birds" with "eggs."
"It's really saying 'birds lay eggs' - that's a proposition - 'birds have beaks,' 'birds have hollow bones,'" Canas said. "So it's knowledge expressed as propositions."
Canas, a native of Costa Rica, was a consultant to Panama's government in the 1990s, but it did not embrace Cmaps until President Martin Torrijos, a Texas A&M University economics graduate, took office last year. Concept mapping now is part of a wider initiative to bring schools into the information age. The software can be downloaded free for noncommercial use at
http://cmap.ihmc.us .
"Get Connected is the name of the project," Tarte said. "We would like to include at least 1,000 schools in the project in the next five years; connect 1,000 schools to the Internet."
The institute in February began training Panama's teachers although many will do their concept mapping on paper until all schools get computers.
Donna Imatt, a teacher at Pensacola's Brown-Barge Middle School, is the institute's integrated curriculum consultant. Although long-familiar with concept mapping after teaching one of Canas' sons, she had never used Cmaps with her students until returning from Panama.
"By seeing how they were using them, and being new learners to it - and adult learners - I knew that the kids would take to it probably more easily," she said.
She was right.
"You can teach yourself," said Caitlin Mulvey, 14, a recent Brown-Barge graduate.
Students in Imatt's integrated curriculum course, which uses community service as a springboard to academic subjects, learned concept mapping from the institute's online tutorial.
"It helps you reflect on what you've learned so that you can go into it deeper," said Zach Morris-Webb, another Brown-Barge graduate. "It helps you realize what you actually did, the steps you took to actually get there."
The Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville also has been looking at concept maps to teach algebra. Bill Caldwell, a senior fellow there, said Cmaps for middle schoolers are expected to be completed by the end of this year.
U.S. schools, however, have been slow to accept concept mapping.
"If you're in Italy and you're in a school and you like the software, you download it and install it," Canas said.
In the United States, teachers typically must go through technology coordinators and other bureaucratic hoops, he said.
Joseph Novak, a senior researcher for the institute, developed concept mapping in the 1970s at Cornell University, where he is a professor emeritus. The institute has computerized his idea, opening a new world of learning opportunities.
Computer Cmaps can be linked to Web sites and students in different classrooms, schools and even countries can collaborate on them.
As evidence of how well concept maps can work, Canas cited a school near San Jose, Costa Rica, where math scores soared after they were introduced.
"If you organize it as a concept map, then you have to understand the topic," Canas said. "We want kids to become knowledge constructors instead of just information consumers."
---
On the Net:
Institute for Human and Machine Cognition: http://www.ihmc.us
When I developed Knowledge I do not know Joseph Novak, but I had use the mighty search engine to index all links, all associations, and all relationships, so when I do a search on a typical keyword, I would already have all the associated links, all the relationships, to persuit Total knowledge on anything I want to find. I also use this method, to find all the paths, to enhance my problem solving skills, because when I sit down to solve a problem, I have already all the answers. And if I apply to real life scenerios, I already have a tool, to discover all my options, and accurately predict all the paths I would make, predicting the future. Forget about the deep blue, I have taken, AI beyond Mankind's understanding, creating Knowledge for all mankind. I can also create Roadmaps to any technology, by comparing with present technology, and its applications, and develop stragedies to achieve my goals. If there is any missing information, I can also create, like putting together a jizsaw puzzle, and finding the answers to a black box. And if you are my enemy, I will outflank, outmaneover, outsmart and use everything on earth and in heaven against you. - oogle
The use of fossil Diesel,
Will decrease when,
Mankind find the ways,
To combine 50% of fossil Diesel,
With 50% of Bio-Diesel,
Creating a green product,
With low emission by products,
The creation of the new Diesel engine,
Which is even more efficient,
Replacing the demands of,
A petrol driven engine.
Only sport cars and luxury cars will be driven by petrol,
And its price will be exhorbitantly high,
Cause a hefty tax will be slapped,
And petrol will only serve as producing energy,
Because of world record high prices and limited supply,
Bringing relief to an oversatuated demand,
Of a limited energy market.
The problems of an economy,
Dependant on the petrol engine,
Creating an artificial demand,
Limiting the world's supply,
Which may run out,
In about a few lifetimes.
Let me tell you a secret,
Governments cannot afford to provide,
Petrol subsidies any more,
The switch to the use of diesel,
Fuel by the drop in cost of producing,
Could finance your entire military budget,
To use to shore up your economy.
I had studied the diesel engine,
With the use of turbo,
You now have an almost completed product,
Only with slight modifications,
To increase it's efficiency,
To use the new found diesel.
Hu, Blair vow to promote Sino-UK, Sino-EU ties
(Xinhua) Extracted from www.chinadaily.com.cn
Updated: 2005-07-08 09:17
GLENEAGLES, Scotland -- Chinese President Hu Jintao and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday pledged efforts to promote the Sino-British relations and ties between China and the European Union.
The two leaders made the pledge during a meeting prior to the informal meeting between Group of Eight (G8) leaders and the leaders of China, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and British Prime Minister Tony Blair met Thursday, July 7, 2005 in Gleneagles, Scotland, on the development of bilateral relations. [Xinhua]
President Hu first extended his congratulations to Blair on London's winning the bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.
In response, Blair said the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will surely be a grand event and that people across the world would hold higher expectations for the 2012 London Olympic Games. He hoped for increased cooperation in this field with China.
On the relations between China and Britain, President Hu said bilateral ties have shown good momentum of growth in recent years.
The China-Britain relationship has entered a new stage of development since the two countries announced the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership last year, Hu said.
Britain remains the biggest EU investor in China and the third largest trading partner of China within the European bloc, the Chinese president noted.
Coordination between the two countries in international and regional affairs has been strengthened, he added.
Further developing the Sino-British comprehensive strategic partnership is in keeping with the interests of both peoples and is conducive to world peace and development, Hu said.
He expressed belief that China-Britain relations will be further developed during Blair's new term in office.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the EU and remarkable progress has been achieved in the development of their relationship, Hu said.
He said considerable achievements have been scored since the two sides set up the all-around strategic partnership.
As Britain holds the EU presidency during the second half of this year and the China-EU summit is to be held in Beijing later this year, President Hu expressed the hope that "substantial achievements" would be made during the summit.
The Chinese president also pointed out that the Chinese side believes that the aim to lift the arms embargo against China is to eliminate a political barrier hindering the smooth expansion of China-EU relations.
Hu expressed the hope that the EU would recognize China's market economy status so as to expand bilateral trade and economic cooperation on a fair, just and rational basis. He hoped that the EU would make its political decision on the two issues, taking into account the overall interest of China-EU relations.
Hu also hoped Britain would exert positive influence so as to facilitate an early resolution of the two issues.
Blair, for his part, said bilateral ties have been developing smoothly and marked achievements have been made in bilateral trade and economic cooperation.
He hoped for closer political dialogue and cooperation with China.
Blair said he looked forward to attending the EU-China summit later this year and would strive to make progress in resolving the issues which China pays attention to.
The two leaders also exchanged views on the meeting between theG8 leaders and the leaders of China, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa.
President Hu said it is important for the host to put on the agenda the issues of international cooperation and climate change and he believed the meeting would make a positive effect on efforts to promote cooperation among nations in the areas.
Blair praised China's active participation and said China's robust economic growth is vital to the global economy.
President Hu arrived in Scotland on Wednesday, and Britain is the last leg of his current three-nation tour.
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