Developing Microchemistry Education Kits for Sierra Leone

Oct 23, 2017 - Due to the Civil War in Sierra Leone from 1991-2002 much of the country's infrastructure and educational system was devastated. In alig...
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Developing Microchemistry Education Kits for Sierra Leone Victoria Sedwick,1 Ronda Grosse,2 Maria de Fatima Fernandez,3 Joan McMahon,4 and A Bakarr Kanu*,1 1Department

of Chemistry, Winston-Salem State University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27110, United States 2Chemists Without Borders, California, Benicia, California 94510, United States 3Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología, UTEC Jr. Medrano Silva 165, Barranco, Lima 04, Perú 4Quadsil/Raven Analytical Laboratories, Midlands, Michigan 48642, United States *Phone: +1 336-750-3199. E-mail: [email protected].

The goal of the Ongley-Myers Sierra Leone Chemistry Education Project (OMSLCEP) is to develop green chemistry laboratory experiments that support introductory chemistry for high schools and first-year college courses in Sierra Leone, Africa. Due to the Civil War in Sierra Leone from 1991-2002 much of the country’s infrastructure and educational system was devastated. In alignment with international chemistry education objectives, Chemists Without Borders (CWB) volunteers are partnering with other organizations to provide greatly-needed chemistry materials to resume science coursework and enhance student learning in Sierra Leone. The OMSLCEP project is under the direction of the project leader, Dr. A Bakarr Kanu. Plans are to assemble inexpensive lab kits focusing on experiments relevant to Sierra Leone and other developing countries. In addition to standard labs that will help students understand basic chemical concepts, the laboratory exercises are unique in that they also focus on the application of chemistry towards practical knowledge relevant to the lives of ordinary Sierra Leoneans. We are in the process of assembling 15 lab activity kits ready for use in Sierra Leone by 2017 or 2018. © 2017 American Chemical Society Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

Upon implementation of this project, we anticipate the kits to service between 200-500 teachers and students, covering approximately 50 schools in Sierra Leone annually. Our hope is that once this project is executed successfully, it will be expanded to other English speaking countries.

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Background For decades now Africa in general has faced serious problems, from drought and famine to infectious diseases, and lack of good housing, to name a few. It is well documented that each country in the continent faces its own unique challenges, but one major problem that has devastated the infrastructure of African countries is corruption and civil war. Sierra Leone is an example of a country that suffered a brutal civil war from 1991-2002. This led to the devastation of much of its educational infrastructure. Whenever a country’s educational system is destroyed, the area of study that suffers most is the sciences. Several publications have reflected on the challenges facing science education, especially chemistry, in African countries. This is surprising since the continent of Africa has a long-standing cultural link to chemistry mainly because of its strong interest in plants and indigenous medicine. To address the challenging issues faced by chemists in Sierra Leone, Chemists Without Borders, a non-profit organization, proposed a concerted effort in 2009 to target science education. As noted previously, Chemists Without Borders was established in 2004 by Dr. Bego Gerber and Dr. Steve Chambreau. The mission since its initiation has been to solve humanitarian problems by mobilizing the resources and expertise of the global chemistry community and its networks. With the help of volunteers, Chemists Without Borders seeks to use scientific approaches to address important global issues. Current goals include aiding people and communities in developing countries to ensure availability of clean water, supporting green chemistry education and practices, promoting distribution of proven, but underutilized, chemical technologies and other resources, and remote universal access to scientific information. A science education project by Chemists Without Borders started based on a request for help from a Non-Government Organization (NGO), Khadarlis for Sierra Leone, which was established in 2007 to assist vulnerable communities in Sierra Leone. Chemists Without Borders began working to provide a chemistry “lab-in-a-baggie” kits, laboratory exercises and teacher training to senior secondary school teachers and first-year university lab classrooms in Sierra Leone. The name of the kit has been coined in honour of two former leaders of the project who suddenly passed away. The “Lois-Rusty Labs” kits under development will include low cost supplies that could be used worldwide in classrooms or in distance learning scenarios. The RADMASTETM micro-science kit (1) developed with UNESCO funds is an example of what this project seeks to emulate. It is important to note that some experiments developed for this project will be different from RADMASTETM experiments mainly because we intend to align the goals of the project with the West African Certification Exam 6 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

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goals. However, equipment from RADMASTETM kits have been selected for this project. This was necessary to address our goal of effectively reducing the quantity of chemicals required for each experiment. Figure 1 is an example RADMASTETM advanced microchemistry kit developed to perform sixty experiments. An example of a micro-burette kit extracted from Figure 1 and assembled to perform micro-titrations is shown in Figure 2. It is worth noting that even the RADMASTETM kit labs use heavy metal salts and are moderately expensive. Our kits will use fewer toxic and hazardous chemicals, as there is no organized waste disposal in Sierra Leone. We also intend to reduce the cost of kits per experiment. By reducing the quantity of chemicals required to perform an experiment will also significant reduce the amount of waste generated for each experiment. It is our express desire to put lab materials in classrooms that have none. We anticipate that this will result in improvements in some test scores and more student interest in chemistry generally. In addition, our kits are expected to address chemistry that is vital to the lives of ordinary Sierra Leoneans. Eventually we plan to extend this project to other English speaking countries in West Africa.

Figure 1. The advanced microchemistry kit from RADMASTETM designed to perform a total of 60 experiments. Reproduced with permission from RADMASTE center, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Advanced Teaching & Learning Packages Microchemistry Experiences). Copyright (December 2006, SC/BES/MCS/2006/3) with permission from RADMASTETM Center. (see color insert) 7 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

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Figure 2. A micro-burette kit assembled to enable micro-titrations to be performed on wells of comboplate. Reproduced with permission from RADMASTE center, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Advanced Teaching & Learning Packages Microchemistry Experiences). Copyright (December 2006, SC/BES/MCS/2006/3) with permission from RADMASTETM Center. (see color insert)

Summary Background Information on Sierra Leone Sierra Leone is a small country located west of the African continent. It has a latitude of 8.48445 °N and longitude 13.23445 °W. The country has an area of 27,699 sq. mi with a population of 7,075,641 (based on a 2015 national census). The official language is English and the capital, Freetown, is the largest city in the country. Sierra Leone is bordered by Guinea to the north, Liberia to the south-east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south-west. Other major cities are Bo (the second largest city), Kenema, and Makeni. The country is divided into four geographical regions/provinces, which are further divided into fourteen districts. There are sixteen ethnic groups, each with its own language and customs. The largest and the most influential ethnic groups are the Temne and Mende. The Temne ethnic group is predominantly found in the North of the country and the Mende to the south-east of the country. Even though English is the official language, Krio (referred to as broken English) is the most widely spoken language and it is what unites all the different ethnic groups. 8 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

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Sierra Leone was a former British colony who gained independence from Great Britain on April 27, 1961. A lot of history was documented for this country prior to 1961 (2). After Sierra Leone gained independence, the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) was the first political party elected to govern the nation. The country was governed by Sir Milton Margai from 1961-1967, the first Prime Minister elected after the country gained independence. History documented that everything was going well for the country from 1961-1967. The second set of elections was held in 1967 and the All Peoples Congress (APC) won the election. Their leader, Siaka Stevens, became the Prime Minister after the second election. Prior to 1967, he was the opposition leader but just days after his inauguration in 1967, he was deposed by a military coup and he fled to neighboring Guinea. Thirteen months after he was removed from power, another military coup took place that brought him back to power. It was around this time that things changed completely for Sierra Leone. In 1971, Siaka Stevens installed himself as Executive President. This move led to a big protest so he requested troops from neighboring Guinea to quell the protest. In 1978, he changed the constitution to declare his party, the APC, as the sole legal party of the country. Sierra Leone then become a one party state and massive corruption plagued the nation during that time. In 1985, he eventually turned over power to a hand-picked successor, Major General of the Army, Joseph Saidu Momoh who resigned his post at the time to become a civilian and took power from Siaka Stevens. The civil war in Sierra Leone started under the watch of Joseph Momoh in 1991. Sierra Leone went through two other military coups before it eventually held its first democratic election in 1996 to elect the first democratic President. President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, elected in 1996 was responsible for signing the first peace deal with the rebels that eventually led to the end of the civil war in 2002. It is no doubt that Sierra Leone has gone through some hard times and even though things are beginning to improve after the civil war, the country’s educational system is still in dire devastation. Sierra Leone faces challenges that are incomprehensible to many Americans; the electricity is unreliable in the capital city and non-existent in the villages. Cellular phones are not ubiquitous and are generally not “smart”. More pertinent, the classrooms have very little in terms of equipment and supplies. Although the ACS Guidelines and Recommendations for the Teaching of High School Chemistry recommends Bunsen burners, hotplates, and electronic balances, that is not realistic in Sierra Leone at this time. Schools also cannot afford much in terms of glassware. While students are required to purchase their textbooks, many cannot afford to do so and therefore students copy notes from the chalkboard, and imagine and draw their chemistry experiments. Students graduate from the University of Sierra Leone without any computer knowledge. A World Bank report (3) notes that “Sierra Leone has the lowest levels of enrolment in secondary school than many other impoverished nations. Only 10% of school boys and 4% of school girls passed the West Africa Senior School Certificate Exam (i.e.. earned a “pass” in four subject areas of which chemistry is one choice). In 2011, a report by UNICEF noted “Burned-out buildings and bullet holes serve as constant reminders of a turbulent and horrific past in the remote eastern border district of Kailahun (4), for example, one of the areas that was hardest hit by 9 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

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Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war.” Several other areas in the country including the Northern Province were also seriously affected and the recovery has been slow. Figure 3 is an example image taking after the Civil War in Sierra Leone showing the devastation caused to a school in the Eastern province district of Kailahum.

Figure 3. Example image of devastation cause to a school in the Eastern province district of Kailahum. Picture was taken after the civil war concluded in 2002. (see color insert) This is a brief background of the situation in Sierra Leone and similar stories are reported in other developing nations. There is a great need to mobilize chemical expertise to address critical humanitarian problems in Sierra Leone and other developing nations. It seemed appropriate to meld the “Lois-Rusty Labs” with West African Senior Secondary Chemistry standards as Sierra Leone and other developing nations could really put this to good use.

Need for Chemistry Education Projects in Developing Nations One of the biggest problems in developing countries is contaminated water. Contaminated water from rivers, streams and shallow wells is routinely used for domestic purposes in developing nations (5, 6). This kind of water is what often leads to the spread of water-borne diseases. Using chemistry to develop simple water treatment techniques using locally-based materials can help reduce incidences of water-borne diseases to a large extent. It is worth noting that developing nation’s higher education has been expanding over the past few decades. This means that many chemistry departments from these nations have been overwhelmed by a large number of students. This might seem a desirable development, but this increase in numbers has come without the necessary increase in infrastructure, expertise, equipment, supplies, and human resources, most common in nations that have suffered civil war in the past. In Sierra Leone for example, chemistry labs in high schools and universities are basically void of science equipment. There are a few electrical components to experiment with and hardly any computer in laboratory settings. This makes it difficult for students to conduct chemistry or even biology projects. Figure 4 is an example 10 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

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of what a high school chemistry laboratory looks like in Freetown, Sierra Leone, the location Chemists Without Borders is targeting for initial support. There is a need for simple and effective chemistry projects that generate little waste in these classrooms.

Figure 4. A high school chemistry laboratory in Freetown, Sierra Leone. (see color insert) Chemists in developing nations have faced enormous challenges mainly due to funding and infrastructure (7, 8). If projects designed can concentrate on fields relevant to local problems and resources there can be significant impact on a population. In developing nations, there are many opportunities and many fields to choose from in trying to solve the problems that exist. The OMSLCEP project has been designed to tackle a challenging problem that may improve test scores in high school and allow more students to enter university. There are many more problems to solve in developing nations and project leaders may realize that students from these countries are always excited and hungry to do more. With just few tools at their disposal, they could broaden their horizons exponentially.

Project Highlights for Sierra Leone The Ongley-Myers Sierra Leone Chemistry Education Project (OMSLCEP) project is being developed as a “lab-in-a-bag” activity designed to deliver laboratory materials and instructions packaged in zip-top bags for high school and first-year university students in Sierra Leone, Africa. 11 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

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Many science teachers throughout the world lack the supplies, equipment and laboratory facilities necessary to conduct basic chemistry laboratories. A global chemistry challenge for most developing countries is the cost of kits from commercial suppliers. To address this specific challenge, OMSLCEP is currently developing a kit to perform a number of simple laboratory experiments that demonstrate many of the basic chemical principles typically found in senior high school and first year university chemistry courses. The kit uses innovative microchemistry techniques for the experiments, and most of the materials necessary to do the labs are included in the kit. Materials together with instructions for students are contained in a simple zip-top bag. The instructions include background on the chemical principles involved, step-by-step directions and questions based on the laboratory exercise. Separate instructions are included for the teachers that include suggestions for performing the lab, safety precautions and answers to questions posed in the lab. By keeping the cost of materials down, we hope to supply schools with enough kits so that all students can perform continuing rudimentary scientific investigations. This may compensate for lack of textbooks in the region and empower West African nations and communities to meet the needs of their citizens by providing education or economic opportunity. In addition to standard labs that help students understand basic chemical concepts, the laboratory exercises are unique in that they also focus on the application of chemistry toward practical knowledge relevant to the lives of students. For example, several labs are devoted to the purification and testing of drinking water utilizing indigenous plants, clay pots and solar radiation, and chemistry of cement. In addition, selected labs have been designed to support the West African Examination Council’s (WAEC) standards for chemistry, which should help students improve performance for admission to higher education. This project will be implemented by conducting a training workshop for teachers and students to successfully perform the labs. The hope is to have a basic kit with 15 lab activities ready for use by the time the project is implemented in Sierra Leone. Kits will be used by a team of students, and materials are reusable. The activities included in the kits are meant to provide teachers with materials serving as a starting point to engage students in hands-on scientific investigations. Labs can be used as is, but teachers are encouraged to modify activities based on the local environment and conditions. For example, chitosan included in the kit may be used to investigate coagulation and flocculation of water, but teachers with access to beach sand with high shell content might collect and use this material in addition to or in place of material from the kit. One goal of the teachers’ workshop is to enable educators to provide feedback and offer suggestions for further kit development. All feedback received in the first year will be implemented to expand, modify and improve the kits as more teachers use the materials. We anticipate to serve a total of 200-500 teachers and students covering approximately 50 schools will benefit from the implementation of this project in Sierra Leone. Dr. A Bakarr Kanu, responsible for directing the project, is an American Chemical Society (ACS) member and a university faculty member. Twelve out of fifteen labs have been written and the main goal of the project in 2017 will be to test labs, make modifications as appropriate and assemble kits that will be taken to Sierra Leone to conduct the first workshop. 12 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

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Several Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) ACS Student Chapter members will conduct initial testing of labs and are expected to be engaged, developing experience with project development and implementation. When the project is implemented, ACS faculty members and students are expected to travel to Sierra Leone to conduct the workshops for kits use. This project aiming to foster international collaboration will extend international chemistry education and training. This will be beneficial to participating local ACS sections, members of the project team, and other collaborators, as well as increasing international collaboration and contributing to the overall engagement of students in the field.

OMSLCEP Project Objective The objective of the project has been designed to address the needs of the current educational system in Sierra Leone, which we believe may be similar to other developing nations in the region. The current educational system, as described earlier, lacks the following: (i) Students complete university without knowledge of computer operation; (ii) Lack of textbooks throughout the educational system; (iii) According to a World Bank report, Sierra Leone has the lowest levels of enrolment in secondary schools than many other impoverished nations; (iv) In most rural areas, only 10% of school boys and 4% of school girls passed the West African Senior Certificate School Exams. In designing an objective to meet these needs, we plan to achieve the following: (i) Develop appropriate affordable labs and exercises to meet the Sierra Leone standards; (ii) Determine the minimum equipment required to meet the needs for a class of 30 students; (iii) Acquire sufficient microchemistry equipment and supplies for approximately 10-50 schools; (iv) Conduct teacher workshops training in Sierra Leone to implement the project; and (v) Initiate a professional association of Sierra Leonean chemists and chemistry teachers. By achieving these objectives we intend to promote interest in the field of chemistry in the region by improving and supporting high school and early university education.

OMSLCEP Project Goals The goal of this project has been divided into three categories: the mission of Chemists Without Borders, the mission of the chemistry education team, and our goals for Sierra Leone. The mission of Chemists Without Borders is “to solve humanitarian problems by mobilizing the resources and expertise of the global chemistry community and its networks”. Chemists Without Borders is an all-volunteer organization that seek to use scientific and business approaches to address important global issues. The mission of the chemistry education team delivering this project is to “provide education in chemistry which people can apply to their daily lives and also use to teach others to make improvements in the country in which they live”. With these goals in mind, the project will achieve the following: 13 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

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Improve secondary school chemistry education especially in the rural areas. Develop interest in chemistry throughout Sierra Leone both horizontally in the secondary schools and vertically in all aspects of the chemical economy of Sierra Leone. Use this experience to improve our work and replicate it in other countries.

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These goals will ensure that developed labs can support WAEC standards of chemistry, which should help students improve performance for admission to higher education.

Chemistry Education Project Status for West Africa The OMSLCEP project has continued to make progress. Our project goal has remained the same; to develop green chemistry laboratory experiments that support introductory chemistry for high schools and first-year college courses in Sierra Leone, Africa. In an effort to provide much needed educational help to Sierra Leone, Chemists Without Borders volunteers have continued to partner with other organizations to develop greatly-needed chemistry materials to resume science coursework and enhance student learning in Sierra Leone. The hope is to have a basic kit with lab activities ready for use in Sierra Leone by 2017 or 2018. At the beginning of 2016, our team was successful in securing a small grant from the ACS International Activities Committee (Global Innovation Section). We are happy to report that kits and chemicals have been purchased for twelve written labs from this grant. Majority of the written labs are different from the RADMASTETM experiments. This approach was used to ensure that the goals of Lois-Rusty labs are closely aligned with the goals of the West African Certification Exam in West Africa. Testing of the lab started in spring 2017 at WSSU. Figures 5-10 are example images of students and faculty working at WSSU laboratory to test written labs with microchemistry kits purchased from RADMASTETM. In August 2016, our team received an invitation from Dr. Ronda Grosse to participate at the 252nd ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia. The theme for this meeting was “Chemistry of the people, by the people, for the people, Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise to Solve Humanitarian Problems”. Based on this invitation, Dr. A Bakarr Kanu gave a presentation about the project in Philadelphia. The team led by Dr. Kanu is continuing to identify and approach several funding agencies to secure more funding for the project. We want to acknowledge the funding support from ACS Global Innovation grant. We also thank Hopevale Church in Michigan and the Lois Ongley family for their donations towards the goals of this project. There is still a need to secure more funds if the project is to proceed to the next stage. Our plan moving forward is to submit more proposals to request funding from organizations that support international projects. If any organization is reading this chapter and would like to help fund this project, please contact Dr. Kanu. We also welcome more volunteers to contribute their knowledge to this project. 14 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

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Figure 5. A faculty member at WSSU laboratory giving instructions to a student getting ready to test the acid-base titration experiment using the RADMASTETM microchemistry kit. (see color insert)

Figure 6. WSSU student experimenting with the RADMASTETM microchemistry kit for flame test. The red color indicates strontium metal was being tested. (see color insert) 15 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

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Figure 7. WSSU student experimenting with the RADMASTETM microchemistry kit for column chromatography. Different color bands are being separated from grape juice using a Waters Sep Pak Environmental C18 column. (see color insert)

Figure 8. Components extracted using the RADMASTETM microchemistry kit for column chromatography. (see color insert) 16 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

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Figure 9. RADMASTETM microchemistry kit set-up for electrolysis of water. (see color insert)

Figure 10. WSSU student experimenting with the RADMASTETM microchemistry kit for electrolysis of water. (see color insert) 17 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

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Conclusion Research conducted throughout developing countries has emphasized that chemistry stills needs nurturing so that it can reach the level of productivity comparable to developed countries. There are increasing number of ways through which the situation can be addressed. Chemists Without Borders has proposed the use of microchemistry kits to address the much needed resumption of coursework in Sierra Leone. There are other approaches that can be used to solve problems with science in developing countries. These include establishment of collaborative ventures both within developing countries and overseas, engagement with local communities, and building knowledge in traditionally strong areas. In addition, the increasing enthusiasm and innovation of students benefiting from projects will enable the development of high-quality chemistry practices in these regions. The microchemistry kit project should allow educational institutions in developing nations to benefit from links with other partners around the world.

Acknowledgments The authors acknowledged all the other team members of the Sierra Leone Education Project; Dr. Bego Gerber, Dr. Victor Atiemo-Obeng, Dr. Ray Kronquist, BaiBai Kamara, Anna Hayes, Anne Leal, and KaDesia Hawkins. We also thank Winston-Salem State University, American Chemical Society Global Innovation, Lois Ongley family, and Hopevale Church in Michigan for their financial support. We also like to thank RADMASTETM and Prof. John Bradley for their support towards this project

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