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The effects of the global economic crisis on the markets for fossil and renewable fuels
131-136Views:280The 2008/2009 world economic crisis had significant impact on oil and fuel markets. This crisis has been developed from the meltdown of the American mortgage and financial market and spread throughout the global economy. As each country reacted differently to the crisis, the changes in the fuel market have also shown significant geographic variation. In our present research, the changes of the US, German and Hungarian fuel markets were analysed, looking for answers to the reasons behind different crisis reactions. We examined the tendency of fuel consumption, the changes of gasoline and diesel price elasticity and the possible effects of the crisis on the regulatory system.
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The social value of science shops: A cost-benefit analysis
23-30Views:334We describe and apply a method to determine the net social benefits of science shops. University departments operating as science shops coordinate research projects for individuals or civil society organizations (CSO) lacking the financial means to turn to professional consultancy bureaus. Three cases are analyzed; the science shops atWageningen, Brussels and Eindhoven. After investigation, it appears that under the normal assumptions for the application of CBA, the science shops concerned show positive net social benefits.
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Recruiting recent graduates to work at agricultural enterprises: Siberian region case study
27-30Views:311The authors present the results of the analysis of the employment of graduates of agricultural specialties in the Siberian Federal District of the Russian Federation. In the Siberian Federal District, more than 20 universities are engaged in the training of specialists in agriculture. The universities pay special attention to the employment of their graduates and often have their own programs of graduates’ employment.
The article is devoted to discussing the reasons why the graduates consider the work in the rural area to be unattractive (low standards of living conditions compared with town, lack of quality education for children and possibilities for professional development, etc.) The necessity of realization of the state strategy intended to support graduates of agricultural specialties is grounded, including assigning the status of civil servants to social workers in rural areas and attracting successful entrepreneurs to the village and creating conditions for the development of the entrepreneurial
environment.JEL Code: J21
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Research and education in agrobusiness in Mosonmagyaróvár – the 200-year history
129-136Views:371In 2018, the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences of Széchenyi István University celebrated the bicentenary of its predecessor’s foundation. Agrobusiness courses played an important role in the university’s agricultural engineering program throughout this major time period. The aim of this study is to examine how the titles, the content, and the significance of the courses changed during the institution’s important periods. Institutional history publications and the academic textbooks of great professors provided the basis of this research. Business administration, accounting, and agricultural estimation studies courses were already dominant in the first curricula. Later, courses concerning business and agricultural economics gained more ground and were accompanied by other fields of study: agricultural statistics, agricultural politics, agricultural history, and agricultural economics. During this 200-year period, the education of economics and other social science courses was done within the departments of agricultural economics and marketing, work organization and factory management, and social science and business operations, with the contribution of internationally renowned professors: Pál Sporzon, Richárd Suschka, Árpád Hensch, Károly Világhy. The Hungarian Royal Economics Academy (1874-1942) can be considered as the first prime of the agricultural economics education. From the 1900s onwards, the courses became more specialized, their numbers continuously grew, the disciplines expanded, and the number of departments increased. The second prime is the first decade of the 2000s, when besides the traditional agricultural programs, the institution started teaching economic agricultural engineers in its undivided 5-year training. They were the most popular agricultural engineers in the labor market due to their well-balanced knowledge in agriculture and economics, as well as their excellent leadership skills.
Having abandoned the economic agricultural engineering program, the institution currently educates, besides other agricultural majors, rural development agricultural engineers, whose skills the labor market does not know very well. The proportion of business related courses show a significant decline in the curriculum of traditional agricultural programs as well.
JEL code: N30
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Adjustment of poland’s agriculture and food sector to challenges of agricultural policy of the European Union
39-44Views:314Paper is aimed in assessment of first period of Poland’s membership in EU and covering agriculture and rural areas with the support under the Common Agricultural Policy in the context of future challenges faced by the agricultural policy.Analysis shows that accession to EU became a strong impulse for growth of the Polish food economy, however the main challenge for the Common Agricultural Policy in future, from Poland’s perspective, will be strengthening the multifunctional agriculture, i.e. territorial cohesion and positive effects of agricultural activity on natural environment.
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Economics of GM crop cultivation
7-19Views:379Asynchronous approval of new GM crops across international jurisdictions is of growing concern due to its potential impact on global trade. Different countries have different authorisation procedures and, even if regulatory dossiers are submitted at the same time, approval is not given simultaneously (in some cases, delays can even amount to years). For instance, by mid-2009 over 40 transgenic events were approved or close to approval elsewhere but not yet approved – or not even submitted – in the EU.Yet, like some other jurisdictions,the EU also operates a zero-tolerance policy to even the smallest traces of nationally unapproved GM crops (so-called low-level presence). The resultant rejection of agricultural imports has already caused high economic losses and threatens to disrupt global agri-food supply chains. The risk that feed supplies could be affected by a low-level presence of non-EU approved GM material could be resolved if the EU allowed a tolerance for this, rather than operating a strict zero tolerance as now. The Commission has undertaken to come forward with a nonlegislative technical solution to address the difficulties created by a strict zero tolerance policy. To what extent this would be helpful will depend on the nature of the proposed solution.
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Issues in the economic development and utilization of EU funds in a disadvantaged sub-region of the Southern Great Plain region
43-46Views:231The development period between 2007 and 2013 had a historical significance for Hungary as the funds that were provided by the European Union and were supplemented by the domestic and public sectors naturally offered great possibilities for the country’s sub-statistical regions and regions to inspire their development and innovation. In order to use these funds efficiently it is essential to incorporate the developments into the area’s capabilities, to harmonize them and to increase the role of the sub-statistical regions and regions. This study ranks the sub-regions of the Southern Great Plain Region in terms of their economic characteristics and identifies the most disadvantageous ones. Using as an example a specific sub-region it determines the local effects of EU payments with the application of different statistical methods.
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Extent and characteristic of diversification among Hungarian agricultural holdings
37-44Views:247Through the connection to rural resources agriculture has an impact on the three functions of countryside: ecology, society and economy. Resources of economy and production environment are continuously changing thus farmers have to adapt to these changing circumstances. One of the adaptation methods is the diversification of activities to promote effective capacity utilization and additional profit. However there is no standard definition of diversification from the point of agricultural economics aspect both traditional approaches and the influence of European Union should also be considered to define it. Diversification and alternative income opportunities could be subsistence possibilities for several farmers. This could be defined not only at private holdings’ but at enterprises’ level. According to a traditional approach Hungarian statistical databases collect on-farm and off-farm agricultural activities depending on the connection to resources of a farm business. Analysing this database an overall picture could be defined considering the position and characteristic of diversified farmers and the popularity of each activity among agricultural producers. Based on a study, published in 2011 (Hamza, 2011) this paper also involves the latest statistical data (2010, 2013). Analysing dataset of period 2000-2013 this paper gives an overall overview about national and regional position and characteristics of diversified holdings and activities.
JEL code: Q19
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Key aspects of investment analysis
53-56Views:1045This paper reviewed principally accepted methods applied to investment analysis. To describe every aspect of investment analysis fully would require far more space than available here, so we highlight only of few of its aspects. This study collects several well-known bibliographies, contrasts them with each other and provides explanations for having done so. There are many questions about which authors and companies agree, including about how to apply certain methods, but on others there is disagreement. Four dynamic methods (Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, Profitability Index, and Discounted Payback Period) are demonstrated from the viewpoint of application. Moreover, this study clarifies several sensitive questions, such as handling income taxes, inflation and uncertainty. Other examined issues are only mentioned at the end of this paper, and we will publish on these more thoroughly at a later date.
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Future role of agriculture in multifunctional development of rural areas
135-143Views:233In the paper the changes in agriculture in terms of falling share of agriculture in gross domestic product and decrease in the share of persons employed in agriculture in total employment in Poland and selected countries are discussed.The main driver of these changes is a faster pace of development of non-agricultural activities and continually deteriorating relations between the costs of production factors and prices of agricultural products. The rate of growth in labor costs and prices of the means of production for agriculture is much faster than the rate of increase in prices of agricultural products. This causes the decline in profitability of agricultural production which in creases the size of farms. The pace is dependent on the level of economic development of the country. The study also identified trends in the structure of farms, functions and systems of agriculture in the generational perspective.The polarization of the farms will deepen.A strong group of commodity farms and a group of so-called self – subsistence social farms will emerge. Agriculture in Poland will have a dual nature. In addition to the production function and social services agriculture will expand the scope of service functions for the environment and society.
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Work organization and economic examination of breadwinning of rurality
37-39Views:223Agriculture has been and probably will be a significant branch in the south part of the Great Plain in the future as well. Besides the mass products and in many cases instead of them when forming the agricultural structure, this region has to pay more attention to the branches that were important in the past. Hungarian experts who are famous in foreign countries as well deal with these branches and they provide excellent products. The rules referring to these products are more liberal in the market places of the European Union and their development is not controlled by strict quota systems. In the south part of the Great Hungarian Plain a lot of unique products of excellent quality are produced. Here in this essay we would like to find the answer to the question how the two significant products of the southern part of the Great Hungarian Plain can provide the families with the income that they can live on.We aim at the economical examination of the cucumber grown in Méhkerék and asparagus of Homok. To do this we will apply the so called Standard Gross Margin. The agriculture of the states of the European Union is measured with the help of this method. It can also help us in the future to decide whether the different farms belonging to families are economically viable in Hungary.
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The economic and social role of private farms in Hungarian agriculture
33-41Views:286The situation and importance of private farms in Hungary have significantly changed and are still changing due to the political and economic regime change of 1989-90 and subsequent events. The aim of this study is to provide – unlike the practice of the last two decades – an impartial review of the social and economic role of Hungarian private farms. To demonstrate the changes occurring in private farms, we rely on the data of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO-KSH)such as the General Structure Surveys, the Farm Structure Surveys, and tables from the online stADAT database.
From the point of view of methodology, time series analyses (2000–2010) were performed in the framework of this secondary research. Our hypothesis that private farms in Hungary deserve much more attention than previously, from the perspective of the output of Hungarian agriculture, food consumption and, last but not least, employment (the environmental factor was not examined this time) has been clearly confirmed. The role and significance of this group have also been exceedingly important since EU accession, particularly in the fields of horticulture and animal husbandry, and the strengthening of these positions is indisputably a national economic interest. -
Comparative yield risk calculations of sour cherry and pear varieties regarding risk aversion
111-116Views:246Fruit production in the world is increasing continuously. Though in the past few years China and some South-American countries have extended their fruit producing areas, Europe remains to be one of the greatest fruit producers in the world. In the middle of Europe Hungary has to face several challenges as competing for market. Since yield risk has an important role in Hungarian fruit production we investigate the yield risk of two of the most important sour cherry varieties (’Újfehértói fürtös’ and ’Oblacsinszka’) grown in Újfehértó (1984-2005), moreover, two of the most important pear varieties (’Bosc Beurre’ and ’Williams’) grown in Bánfa and Zalasárszeg (1984-2009). In the examined periods we analyse yield risk with different comparative methods such as E,V-efficiency, first and second degree as well as generalized stochastic dominance methods. We conclude that the production of sour cherry variety ’Oblacsinszka’ in Újfehértó is more preferable compared to the other sour cherry varieties and pear variety ’Bosc Beurre’ in Bánfa is more advantageous than the other pear varieties and sites.
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The competitiveness of rural areas in the Republic of Tatarstan
89-96Views:261This paper analyses the main factors influencing the regional competitiveness of rural areas in the Tatarstan Republic. Firstly, 19 variables related to the socio-economic situation in the Tatarstan Republic were analysed, these having been taken from the Statistics Committee of the Tatarstan Republic. Principal component analysis (PCA) was then used to determine the weights of 10 indicators that have an effect on the level of regional competitiveness. Factor weights are used as weights in the summation of the standardised scores of variables that have an impact on competitiveness. The major factors influencing the level of regional competitiveness are the level of economically active population, investment in housing and the level of education. The following results were obtained: one of the 44 regions is very highly competitive and two are highly competitive; two of 44 regions have a medium level of competitiveness and 39 regions have a low level of competitiveness.
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Development of leisure and sports consumption and sports motivation among children with disabilities
Views:432The number of studies on the leisure and sporting habits of people with disabilities as well as the background of sports motivation is far from the focus of research on intact research. Thus, the assessment of physical habits and sports motivation factors determining the quality of life of persons with disabilities can be considered as a less researched deficit area in Hungary and internationally.
In our research, we examine the recreational and sporting habits of the 8-18 year-olds, as well as the motivational background, and the results of this research are presented in this paper. The importance of this issue is confirmed by the fact that, according to a UN survey, 650 million people have some kind of disability, 50 million of them in Europe and nearly half a million in Hungary, 5% of the population. The questionnaire (N = 639) was filled by children with disabilities living in the North Great Plain region with the help of a teacher. We used both closed and open questions in the questionnaire, and we helped and orient children with response categories for some questions.
Data were processed using SPSS software, averaged, standard deviation, median, mode, and Chi2 probe was used to examine relationships in addition to basic statistics.
Our results showed that it is a problem for young people with disabilities that they prefer passive leisure activities, which is similar to the results of studies on intact research. Boys and girls have different sports, boys are more active than girls.
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Understanding the demand side and coordinating the supply side for connected goods and services
17-23Views:252This paper addresses the coordination and innovation issues needed for promoting value added at the rural and regional level. There are two sides to value added: the ability to meet consumer demand, and to identify least cost ways of supplying the demanded goods. Human and social capital plays an important role on both sides. At the municipality level the supply side issues are complex. First, because the production space has far more dimensions than for the single entrepreneur. Second, because the value of some goods and services produced depend on what other goods and services that is available. On the supply side networks are important to solve the coordination issues, while networks for identifying and understanding consumer preferences are important on the demand side. Participation in these two network types compete for the same scarce resource, the time of the inhabitants of a municipality. We address these issues in more detail. A major insight from our work is that in addition to the time conflict, innovation and new information may make it more difficult to maintain coordination networks.
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A comparison of the Hungarian mangalitza and dutch organic pork chains
73-76Views:262The aim of this paper is to present the Hungarian mangalitza pig and Dutch organic pig supply chains and, in interrogating the differences between the two sectors, to make suggestions for the efficient operation of the Hungarian mangalitza breeding sector. The information about the two was sourced by a depth interview and literature reviews. It is established that there are few similarities between the two segments. In both sectors, the pigs are kept outdoors in large paddocks, there are also National Associations: in Hungary, the Association of Mangalitza Breeders (NAMB), in The Netherlands, the Organic Pork Growers. They hold a general meeting every year, where they discuss issues such as volume, quality, price, marketing and the future challenges and opportunities. There is strong demand both for the mangalitza and also for Dutch organic pork products on foreign markets. The main difference between them is their information systems. In The Netherlands, information flows via FarmingNet, but in the mangalitza sector, no such system exists. Yet, such a system would represent a breaking point for the adequate flow of data and efficient production for the NAMB, because then, Hungarian farmers would be forced to supply data.
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Disciplines and practices for selection and workplace orientation within an American company
83-88Views:484The primary objective of this essay is to present how selection and orientation at the workplace are regulated and practiced at an American profit oriented company. Moreover, considering these practices to outline the disciplines which determine and influence them. The first part of this essay is a literature review which specifically illustrates various perspectives of selection and orientation at the workplace. Following this review, the objectives of this paper are enumerated. The next part presents the case study, the half-structured interview and the questionnaire methods used for this research. The results and the discussion parts are separated, because the results part shows how selection and orientation work in practice and then, by examining the results in some detail, the discussion part presents the disciplines which have been extrapolated. In order to support the conceived disciplines this paper also seeks to examine the most important supporting factors in the procedure of work orientation. General and professional/organizational factors of workplace orientation have been collected. Quantitative data from an empirical analysis is used for the research. Qualitative data is a part of a future dissertation. Questionnaires were completed by 80 employees at a distributor company in the United States of America. The results clearly show that the following disciplines should be maintained through these HR processes: equal opportunity, importance of professionalism, documentary, checking, support and continuance.
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Analysis of the expected income of several family types
49-51Views:425In this essay, I deal with the problem of expected income of family holdings. Despite the fact that expected income is mentioned in numerous specialist publications and in political declarations, its definition and method of calculation are not detailed. On the basis of my research, I define the notion of expected income and I determine its scale concerning different family types for the year 2006, on the basis of a survey I carried out among 198 agriculturists.
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A study into the awareness and acceptance of utilizing vine branches in the micro-region of Gyöngyös
43-44Views:259Every year, a significant amount of renewable dendromass is generated in Hungary. Various possibilities have been recognised by today that are not widespread yet. The greatest obstacle is frequently derived from the lack of the farmers’ knowledge as without having the required knowledge obtained they can become distrustful or adequate efficiency will not be achieved during utilisation. In order to improve the rate of utilisation, targeted information methodologies should be applied that comply with the farmers’ knowledge. In this present study, the awareness and acceptance of vine-growers from the Micro-region of Gyöngyös related to the use of vine branches will be analysed based on the results of a questionnaire survey.
The survey was conducted in accordance with the number of wine-community members in personal interviews. The questionnaire contained questions about the farm, the use of vine branches as well as about the farmers.
Based on the results, information was obtained on the reasons for the use of by-products not being wide-spread among farmers as well as on the sources of information obtained. For the fragmented farms which are typical here it is important to know whether by-products are not utilised as it is not how they can be used or whether the vineyard is cultivated by others therefore the farmer lacks machinery. The level of acceptance was also studied by asking a question on the possible offer of the by-products for greater-scale site.
Our intention is to assist the generally badly off farmers to use the annually generated by-products in a reasonable way. This can be realized by various ways of providing information. By applying the results of the survey, adequate methods and knowledge can be provided for farmers. -
Some possibilities for risk analysis in the decision support of crop production
79-85Views:272This article has been made according to my dissertation in which I present some opportunity of risk analysis and risk management in the decision support of crop production. Plant production is one of the most hazardous agricultural enterprises. Among risk sources seasonal fluctuation of average yields plays an important role in the assessment of enterprises. Therefore, I analyzed the production risk of the produced crops in Hungary compared to the European Union’s, after that I took into consideration the production site’s circumstances as well. Decision-makers must possess such means, by which they can measure, oversee and manage the effects and consequences of risk. In crop production linear programming models can be used to determine the optimal crop structure, by which income-sensitivity can be taken into account, but it does not reflect the behavior to risk. This deficiency can be avoided by using risk programming models. By the complementary usage of linear programming and risk programming models the optimizing and adaptive planning can be executed. It often causes a problem for the producers to decide when and how much to sell to realize a maximum turnover. The decision is mostly influenced by the selling prices, but also important factors are the financial status of the business, the amount of credit and its conditions, the stock piling opportunities and costs, and the short-term investment opportunities as well. For the resolution of the problem I set up a dynamic, simultaneous financial model by which the system-conceptual analysis of the above mentioned factors and a sound decision-making can be executed.
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Members of a supply chain and their relationships
131-134Views:368Today, companies do not compete individually on the market, but as members of a supply chain, delivering their goods or services to customers through shared collaboration. The main objective of the members in the chain is to satisfy customer needs, in the interest of which they cooperate in value adding processes. The main objective of the present study is to characterise the members of a supply chain, their relationship and to measure performance. The most relevant literature published on this topic states that investigation of the performance measurement in supply chains from the side of relationships is considered ‘uncharted territory’. However, the operation of a supply chain cannot be described without investigating its relationships.
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Safety culture measurements results in the agricultural sector
143-150Views:210The author examined the safety culture and in relation to that the safety and health-related human factors. The examination was conducted primarily in the agricultural sector. Safety culture is also a key factor in business life especially in productive sectors. Basically, it determines the general work safety and occupational hazard situations, which may have an impact on business, competitiveness, and efficiency, and also employee satisfaction.The concept of safety culture is new in the applied sciences. Scientific investigations of safety culture are diverse, varying by country, science background and economic sphere. The author has created a dimension-model, which organically reflects the relations of safety culture within an organization, projected mainly on conditions in Hungary. Some safety culture dimensions have been also examined on the basis of international safety culture research methodology. The author investigated some safety culture dimensions on the basis of international safety culture research methodology. This method is suitable to investigate the status of the relevant safety culture dimensions at agricultural organizations. It has possibilities, in the course of safety culture operationalization, to mark out dimensions which as elements of organization culture are suitable for denotation of safety culture. In this paper the author publishes some of his results about the examined 18 agricultural enterprises. The author used a self-made questionnaire for the interviews. In the questionnaire he used Likert-type scale to measure the qualitative elements of the dimensions.
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Some aspects of accounting and management accounting during economic downturns
33-35Views:309Economic slowdown and downturn creates new situation for every organisation, no one can avoid facing to new situation created by the global financial-, and economic crisis.All of the organisational function should reconsider its own role within the company due to the new circumstances, Accounting and Mangement Accounting can not be exception, but they have more complex and emphasized role in these difficult times. In the following paper I can not avoid to mention some general statement about importance of accounting and accounting principles, while there are a number of criticalaccounting and financial reporting issues that accountants and auditors should consider.In the framework of the paper I can not face with all relevant issues of the topic, but after some general statement I would like to highlight some special area regarding to management accounting, which can be more important during these challenging time for decision makers and accountants.Regarding to balance sheet analysis its important to mention current debate about fair value comparing with historical cost from accounting point of view, on the other hand from the view of management reporting system I would like to highlight the importance of working-capital indicators. More practical topic is the crucial role of budgeting and forecasting during economic downturns, and at the end I would like to show why it is more important monitoring price variance and indirect cost allocation in these uncertain business circumstances.
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Role of innovations and knowledge – infrastructure and institutions
7-10Views:522There is a well known saying: Research converts money into knowledge, innovation converts knowledge into money. The knowledge-based economy has four pillars: innovation, education, the economic and institutional regime, and information infrastructure. Transformation towards a knowledge-based economy will necessarily shift the proportion and growth of national income derived from knowledge-based industries, the percentage of the workforce employed in knowledge-based jobs and the ratio of firms using technology to innovate. Progress towards a knowledge-based economy will be driven by four elements: human capital development, knowledge generation and exploitation (R&D), knowledge infrastructure. Increased investment in these four areas will certainly have an impact. National experience, however, suggests that an incremental approach will not work. Nations that have achieved accelerated growth in outputs and capabilities have acted decisively, targeting investments in areas of strategic opportunity. The organizational and infrastructural improvement of research requires supranational cooperation and the promotion of the free movement of knowledge. Therefore, the EU decision on the establishment of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), which ensures that the GDP proportion for research and development (R&D) shall achieve 3% stipulated by member states in the long run, is particularly welcome.
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