Contact LR/RI
| The Rhode Island Adult Education Professional
Development
Center produces a bulletin roughly every
two
to three weeks in order
to inform area practitioners of news, events, and calls for participation and also as a forum for posing questions, issues and discussion topics. The current bulletin is posted below. To read previous bulletins, go to Bulletin Archives. To receive the bulletin via email, contact LR/RI. To learn more about professional development opportunities, please contact the RI AEPDC at (401) 456 -2838 or (401) 863-2839 May 13, 2008 Bulletin #269 Dear Colleagues, Calls for
participation, employment, funding,
and conference and workshop
opportunities, online
and other resources.
Janet Isserlis
ESOL share Wednesday, June 11th at 2:00 pm, Genesis Center, 620 Potters Avenue, Providence. Looking forward, looking back – what’s worked, what changes are we considering in our practice? This is an open discussion group – practitioners with an interest in adult ESOL are all welcome. practitioner share, Tuesday, Tuesday, May 20th at 3 pm, in the Knight Memorial Library auditorium (downstairs to right), Elmwood Avenue, Providence. Many practitioners struggle with helping adult learners stay engaged in learning. Family, work and other concerns can often make it difficult for learners to stay focused on educational programs. Join classroom teachers and administrators considering these issues and share both concerns and possibilities. We’ve begun to consider solution and practices to support learning for all. other RI Adult Education PDC events: http://www.ric.edu/aepdc/calendar.php COLLEGE WORKSHOPS Have you completed, or are you close to completing your GED? Are you thinking about continuing your education? Not sure what you want to do? Would you like some help with your career, vocational and/or educational decisions? Come to an informational meeting to find out what your options are and let us help you Transition into college! We can help with: Application Process, financial aid forms, College Degree and Certificate information, Career exploration, Accuplacer practice testing and vocational and educational advising Call or email us today to schedule a meeting, or to sign up for one of our informational workshops Informational workshops for those who want to TRANSITION INTO COLLEGE The following workshops will all be held at the CCRI Providence Campus in the Lifelong Learning Office 1154 Monday, May 12, 6:00 – Computer Studies Wednesday, May 14, 6:00 – Law Enforcement/Criminal Justice Monday, May 19, 1:00 – Health Science Monday, June 2, 1:00 – Human Services Please RSVP so we can save you a spot! For more information and to RSVP please email Lynn Foley at lmfoley1@ccri.edu, or call Karen Johnson at 401-455-6140 COLLEGE PREPARATION FOR ADULTS - RIRAL'S Transition to College now enrolling students for fall 2008. Is college your goal? Do you need help upgrading your academic skills? Do you need help with Financial Aid? RIRAL’S TRANSITION TO COLLEGE is an intensive college preparation program that provides success strategies and academic review in reading, writing, math, computer, and study skills. Career Seminars and Mentoring Sessions emphasize additional valuable skills. Students also receive assistance with Financial Aid and college applications, and academic advising. While attending TRANSITION TO COLLEGE students enroll in a class at the Community College of Rhode Island. This program will help guarantee your success in college! TRANSITION TO COLLEGE is holding Information Sessions for their fall Evening and Weekend programs on the following dates: Tuesday, June 17 - 5:00 pm; Saturday, June 21 - 9:00 am. ENROLLMENT IS LIMITED, SO CALL TODAY TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE! TRANSITION TO COLLEGE meets in downtown Pawtucket and at the Community College of Rhode Island in Providence. Funding is provided by the Rhode Island Department of Education in partnership with the Community College of Rhode Island. Contact: Marie Crecca-Romero, Program Director at 722.9800 or email MarieCrecca-Romero@riral.org . learning opportunity: The Extending Mathematical Power (EMPower) curriculum and professional development opportunities were created specifically with adult numeracy teachers and their diverse student populations in mind. The curriculum fosters a pedagogy of learning for understanding and challenges students and teachers to extend their ideas of what it means to do math. It also promotes a learning community in which students are encouraged to work collaboratively, explore open-ended investigations, and share multiple ways for solving real-world problems. (see, e.g. http://www.keypress.com/documents/ALookInside/EMPower/EMPower_SeekingPatternsSB.pdf) Our hands-on trainings, based on the EMPower series, introduce teachers to effective ways of developing an understanding of all math strands at all levels. This year, TERC is pleased to announce two EMPower Professional Development - In Louisville, KY on July 17 & 18 Topics: Data and Graphs and Proportional Reasoning - In Cambridge, MA at TERC on August 14 &15 Topics: Number and Operation Sense and Algebraic Thinking The cost for attending the Institutes is $150 per participant per day. All materials will be provided—including the EMPower teacher and student book for each of the topics covered (a retail value of $83.80). Both trainings will be presented by EMPower co-author Mary Jane Schmitt. For more details and a registration form, please email Sherry_Soares@terc.edu or visit: http://adultnumeracy.terc.edu/EMP_SumInst2008.html. Alternatively, your program may choose to host a professional development training (open to groups of 25+) at your location, which can be customized to best meet the needs of your staff and student population. For details, please see our EMPower Workshop Inquiry form http://adultnumeracy.dev.terc.edu/EMP_wkshp_inquiry.cfm . Please note that these offerings are not part of the Teachers Investigating Adult Numeracy (TIAN) initiative; they are additional opportunities. - Sherry Soares, EMPower Workshop Coordinator (note to RI educators – if your program would like to participate, but needs to find additional practitioners, please contact janet_isserlis@brown.edu so that we can announce your interest and let others know). input sought: To Rhode Island adult education practitioners: There is much in the news these days about the state of our environment and the availability and cost of energy, particularly fossil fuels. There is also a growing discussion about ‘green jobs’ and a new ‘green economy’ that will result from changes we make in response to the environmental and energy crises. This green economy has the potential to create many jobs across New England. Finding Earth Works has put together a survey to get baseline information from New England adult literacy and English language programs about these issues to help understand the best way to support abe students to be ready for these green jobs. The link to the survey is: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=wU8G8Wy6CxzZBIgGnks47Q_3d_3d Please feel free to share this email message via listserv and with other literacy providers. Thank you in advance, Alex Risley Schroeder Principal, Finding Earth Works 413-586-1683 arisschroe@comcast.net Finding Earth Works connects adult literacy and English language students and programs to information and training about green jobs. tutor sought: Rose Woods is a 35 year old woman looking for a tutor to help her improve her reading. She has cerebral palsy and lives in a group home in Johnston. She could meet with a tutor at the Greenville Avenue home or the nearby Johnston Town Library. Rose graduated from high school as a special education student, but is only reading at a 4th or 5th grade level. She would like to work in education, but knows she must improve her reading. She would like to meet with a tutor at 4 PM. If you would like to tutor Rose, please call her at 231-1915 or call Steve Stycos from Dorcas Place at 273-8866. learning opportunities online learning opportunity: One semester each year Penn State’s World Campus offers the online course Early Literacy Development and Parental Involvement, ADTED 458. The semester runs May 19 – August 15. This course focuses on young children’s language and literacy development, including ways that parents and early childhood professionals support this development; research related to children's learning; and ways in which family literacy supports early literacy development. information http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/FamilyLiteracyCertificate.shtml ProLiteracy offers online courses: ProLiteracy offers online courses: Course descriptions and registration available at http://ProfessionalStudiesAE.org, look for the appropriate topic area, then click on a course title to review the description and registration process. National Priorities Project analyzes and clarifies federal data so that people can understand and influence how their tax dollars are spent. Numeracy, critical thinking and technology: have a look http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home funding opportunities - large and less large New England Transitions to College and Careers Pilot The Nellie Mae Education Foundation seeks organizations and institutions in the six New England states that provide Adult Basic Education, ESOL, GED or Diploma classes as a primary educational service and that also currently offer program elements that support adult learners transitioning to college. The collaborating college should have a history of coordinating activities with key health care services employers. This Pilot Program will be administered in partnership with the New England Literacy Resource Center (NELRC) and will focus on helping adult learners access and persist in postsecondary education in pursuit of select high-growth occupations in health care fields that have developed career pathways and pay family-sustaining wages. NELRC will assist the Foundation in selecting grantees and will provide them with technical assistance, training, and support for program implementation. Planning grants of up to $10,000 will be awarded to four to six partnerships for the period from August – December 2008. Partnerships that complete their proposed planning activities will be eligible for up to $80,000 to implement the pilot program from January – December 2009. For more information, including full criteria, guidelines and how to submit your proposal by June 16, 2008, please go to http://nelrc.org/tcc/tccrfp.html to download each: Transition to College and Careers(TCC) Request For Proposals TCC Guidelines TCC Action Plan College Prep Curriculum Overview Proposal Cover Page The Nellie Mae Education Foundation is the largest philanthropy in New England that focuses exclusively on promoting access, quality, and effectiveness of education. The Foundation provides grants and other support to education programs and intermediary organizations in the region to dramatically improve underserved students' academic achievement and to investigate and promote high quality, varied approaches for students to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary in the 21st century. The Foundation also funds research that examines critical education policy issues and public understanding about education in order to better inform efforts to improve education. Since it was established in 1998, the Foundation has distributed nearly $83 million in grants. Currently, it primarily provides funding through five strategic initiatives: Early Learning, Pathways to Higher Learning, Time for Learning, Adult Learning, and Systems Building. - other grants from the Public Education Network: http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_grants.asp - The federal government's new one stop grant site:
http://www.grants.gov/
The Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) announces another round of education reform grants in areas of social science research. PRACC is particularly interested in issues such as high classroom turnover/mobility and its disproportionate impact on low-income, minority, and farm worker students. However, other issues will be considered as well. To apply, send PRRAC a proposal outlining the planned research and methodology, the advocacy work it is designed to support, a budget, timeline, and qualifications of the researchers. Maximum grant: $10,000. No application deadline. http://www.prrac.org/grants.php Funding Solutions for Small Nonprofit Organizations A collection of resources to help small nonprofit organizations fundraise including ways to motivate your board, sample fundraising letters, phonathon advice, and tips to improve your direct mail solicitation. http://www.nonprofit-innovations.com/ employment opportunities employment opportunities are generally sent as they arrive via email; if you would like to receive this bulletin, and those updates by email please contact janet_isserlis@brown.edu. Substitute teaching: The Genesis Center is interested in adding to its substitute list. If you are an ESOL instructor who is interested in occasional work as a substitute, either day, evening or Saturday hours, please call Nancy Fritz or Pat Clarkin at 781-6110. Jobs in Literacy – nation wide postings on the National Institute for Literacy's LINCS site: http://www.nifl.gov/cgi-bin/lincs/jobs/jobs.cgi Substitute list: if you would like your name added to the general list, please see contact LR/RI. The list needs to be updated so that it can function more usefully for teachers and programs hoping to work with them. (http://www.brown.edu/lrri/sub.html) Rhode Island Community Jobs (RICOMJOB) is a
public
e-mail announcement
list that seeks to raise the profile of meaningful work in Rhode Island
by helping non-profit and public interest To join the list as a job seeker or to post a job as an employer go to: http://www.ricommunityjobs.org Rhode Island Community Jobs is supported by the Swearer
Center
for Public
Service at Brown University and the Rhode Island Campus Compact.
If you have questions about this service, please from Thursday Notes: May 8, 2008: Assistant Secretary Troy Justesen gave the keynote address on April 24 for the annual Mountain Plains Adult Education Association Conference in Salt Lake City. The three-day meeting focused on a range of possibilities that can exist for adult education students, especially through postsecondary transitions and career pathways programs. Justesen also provided participants with a one-hour forum to discuss adult education issues and ask him questions. The association serves western states including Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. http://www.mpaea.org/ Adult education teachers are participating in research missions with ocean scientists to develop real life, content-based lessons in reading, writing, math and science, thanks to professional development activities supported by the Oregon System of Adult Education and Workforce Development. Teachers create or adapt curricula - http://literacyworks.org/ocean/ -linking ocean sciences, math, technology, critical thinking and communication skills, and disseminate lessons to Oregon's adult education providers. Lessons engage adult education students in learning about OregonÕs employment, environmental and economic concerns. The program also matches ocean scientists with local adult education classrooms through site visits. http://www.coas.oregonstate.edu/index.cfm?content.display&pageID=161 Literacy lessons may be just a click away for adult learners now that a wide variety of primetime TV programs offer captioning. Evidence suggests that adult students, especially English language learners, can improve their literacy skills by reading written captions while watching favorite shows. http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9216/closed.htm
online / resources available Educating the Public and Elected Officials about Adult Education: Report on Adult Education Advocacy Efforts in New England by the New England Literacy Resource Center at World Education This new report takes stock of the program, policy and legislative context for adult education in each of the six New England states. It discusses local and statewide advocacy strategies by adult educators. The findings show that adult education advocacy efforts in New England are multi-faceted, and growing in sophistication and reach. The report discusses the principal challenges and related promising strategies revealed through interviews with leading adult education advocates in New England. They are grouped into four areas: 1) Visibility; 2) Framing the Message; 3) Student Involvement; and 4) Increasing and Sustaining Advocacy Efforts. Available for downloading (as a PDF file): http://www.nelrc.org/expertise/civic.html#educating (For a word doc version, please contact janet_isserlis@brown.edu) The UK's Open University course, 'Who counts as a refugee' considers the interrelationships between citizenship, identity and belonging, personal lives and social policy for people who have fled their country of origin seeking asylum in the UK, and includes useful information about refugee status and related issues for those living in other countries: http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3490 UK National Curricula for ESOL, Literacy and Numeracy, with associated material and support for teachers, including the competencies for each skill at each level. As well, a significant number of resources for working with people with a range of disabilities. (See, for example): http://www.dfes.gov.uk/curriculum_literacy/access/workwith/principles/ http://www.dfes.gov.uk/curriculum_esol/ http://www.dfes.gov.uk/curriculum_literacy/ http://www.dfes.gov.uk/curriculum_numeracy/ Workplace Essential Skills and GED Connection series Now Available Through VIDEO-ON-DEMAND The adult learning series Workplace Essential Skills and GED Connection are available online through the Rhode Island PBS video streaming portal. In 25 half-hour segments, the Workplace Essential Skills series presents refreshers in fundamental reading, writing, and math skills as they relate to getting, keeping, or advancing in a job. Lessons also cover job applications, resume writing, and job interviews. An orientation segment touches upon the use of the different components included in this series. Lessons are written at a pre-GED level, and can help prepare adults for the GED tests. Four workbooks accompany the series. In 39 half-hour programs, the GED Connection helps learners prepare for the GED exam. Episodes cover subjects and skills related to work, community, and home life. Practice tests help learners know what to expect, see which skills they need to strengthen, and build confidence. Access to Workplace Essential Skills and GED Connection series through RI PBS video streaming is free. Users access VOD through an account and passcode, available by email request to Education@ RIpbs.org or by calling Education Services at 401-222-3636 x 211. Video streaming, also known as video on demand (VOD), allows users the convenience of watching lessons at any time from an Internet-connected computer. VOD is also flexible, allowing users to watch several episodes in one sitting, or repeat lessons as often as desired. Both the Workplace Essential Skills and the GED Connection series are also broadcast on RI PBS LEARN, digital 36.2 and Verizon 787. The Workplace Essential Skills broadcasts Fridays at 12:30 PM and the GED Connection series broadcasts Mondays, Tuesdays, and Sundays at 12:30 PM. For Workplace Essential Skills and the GED Connection broadcast dates please visit: http://www.pbs.org/tvschedules/ For information about RIPBS Education Services please visit out web pages at http://www.ripbs.org/Education/ - Dr. María D. Velásquez de Tondreau Education Director Rhode Island PBS 50 Park Lane Providence, RI 02907 Phone: (401) 222-3636, ext. 211 Fax: (401) 222-3407 Education@RIpbs.org tutor sought: Rose Woods is a 35 year old woman looking for a tutor to help her improve her reading. She has cerebral palsy and lives in a group home in Johnston. She could meet with a tutor at the Greenville Avenue home or the nearby Johnston Town Library. Rose graduated from high school as a special education student, but is only reading at a 4th or 5th grade level. She would like to work in education, but knows she must improve her reading. She would like to meet with a tutor at 4 PM. If you would like to tutor Rose, please call her at 231-1915 or call Steve Stycos from Dorcas Place at 273-8866. great online resource: http://www.nrdc.org.uk/index.asp National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy, dedicated to conducting research and development projects to improve literacy, numeracy, language and related skills and knowledge. On this site you will find information on all our activities, including: Research and development projects <http://www.nrdc.org.uk/projects.asp> Creative routes to specialist teacher qualifications <http://www.nrdc.org.uk/creativeroutes> The Voices on the Page storybank is now live! Read all of the 640 stories here <http://www.nrdc.org.uk/voicesonthepage.asp> Research reports and reviews <http://www.nrdc.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=329> Latest e- newsletter <http://www.nrdc.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=671> News and events <http://www.nrdc.org.uk/news.asp> While the work originates in the U.K., much of it has usefulness and validity for work in this country. online: STATE OF WORKING RI 2007 The Poverty Institute's biennial study documenting trends in wages, occupations, unemployment, and the state's workforce. The report points out that the state's labor force of 578,000 is more diverse, older and better educated than it was two decades ago but workers face a triple whammy – slowing job growth, eroding wages and benefits, and growing inequality. http://www.povertyinstitute.org/matriarch/documents/State%20of%20Working%20RI%202007.pdf The CAELA Network's latest newsletter provides information about Network activities and links to resources available for those working with adult English language learners both from the CAELA Network and from other organizations. Links are also provided to web sites containing information about upcoming conferences of interest to those working with adult English language learners. http://www.cal.org/caelanetwork/newsmarch08.html google literacy site: http://www.google.com/literacy/ outstanding resource: http://www.youthliteracy.ca/ - Youth Literacy work in Canada Shannon Gavin, a senior graduating from Brown this year, has developed a new website, as her capstone project in Middle East Studies, called Arab Perceptions of the United States: Video Interviews from Amman, Jordan and Damascus, Syria.You can view them, and supporting text at http://arabperceptions.wordpress.com The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) - The U.S. Civics and Citizenship Online: Resource Center for Instructors is available online at: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=b36e663784bcd010VgnVCM100000d1f1d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=b36e663784bcd010VgnVCM100000d1f1d6a1RCRD The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), Assisting Refugees with Disabilities Program : Resource Guide for Serving Refugees with Disabilities available at http://www.refugees.org/DisabilityGuide The guide, written for refugee case managers and those serving refugees with disabilities, includes 139 pages of information about resources for serving adults and children with disabilities, housing for refugees with disabilities, assistive technology, medical resources, citizenship and disability, benefits for refugees with disabilities and more. If you have any questions or technical assistance needs, please contact Xuan Nguyen, Director of USCRI Health and Human Services at xnguyen@uscridc.org or at 202-347-3507 ext 3056. Resources from EdChange family of Web sites: A new Classism and Poverty Awareness Quiz http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/quizzes.html ; Newly designed Social Justice News Service site http://mail.socialjusticenews.net/mailman/listinfo/news_socialjusticenews.net- email-based news service, periodic email digests of links to articles related to equity, social justice, and multiculturalism from sources all over the world. New essays and links to essays http://www.edchange.org/publications.html New essays in the Multicultural Education Research Room http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers.html Radical Math is a resource for educators interested in integrating issues of social, political, and economic justice into math curriculum and classes… RadicalMath.org has the goals of raising mathematic literacy and simultaneously developing ways to address a range of community issues. The website supports educators to teach many different types of math within the context of studying social, political, and economic justice issues. RadicalMath.org also contains teaching materials on important financial topics for youth such as owning a credit card, paying for college, and avoiding subprime lenders, as well as materials on Ethnomathematics. Visit http://www.radicalmath.org/ for more or email info@radicalmath.org Google Scholar enables searches for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as articles available across the web. Google Scholar orders search results by how relevant they are to your query, so the most useful references should appear at the top of the page. This relevance ranking takes into account the full text of each article as well as the article's author, the publication in which the article appeared and how often it has been cited in scholarly literature. Google Scholar automatically analyzes and extracts citations and presents them as separate results, even if the documents they refer to are not online. This means your search results may include citations of older works and seminal articles that appear only in books or other offline publications. http://scholar.google.com/ Living in Poverty slideshow does the math: what does it take to live at the poverty level. http://www.nccbuscc.org/cchd/povertyusa/tour2.htm RI Foundation online scholarship directory - searchable by city/town, intended field of study, current high school, and more. http://scholarship.rifoundation.org/ YouthBuild USA Learning Network has links to Web sites and full-text documents, and includes a section on "Authentic Materials/Engaged Learning/Constructivism/Contextual Learning/Project-based Learning." http://www.youthbuild.org/learningnetwork/professionaldev.html conferences and workshops - conferences and workshops are listed chronologically and are updated with each bulletin Rhode Island - Training/events around employment issues for people with disabilities http://www.ric.edu/uap/training.html The National College Transition Network at World Education invites you to submit a proposal to present at its conference on Effective Transitions in Adult Education to be held on November 17-18, 2008 in Providence, RI. If you wish to submit a proposal, please visit http://collegetransition.org/callforpresenters08.html to complete and submit the online form. You will receive an email from NCTN confirming the receipt of your proposal within 48 hours of submission. Please click on the above link for more details about the proposal submission process. The submission deadline is May 30, 2008. Please forward widely to colleagues and others who may be interested and feel free to email me at psharma@worlded.org or call me at (617) 385-3788 if you have any further questions. - Regards, Priyanka Sharma A Declaration of Numeracy: Empowering Adults through Mathematics Education, 15th International Conference 2008 June 30th - July 3rd Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia ALM is an international research forum that brings together those engaged and interested in research and developments in the field of adult mathematics/numeracy teaching and learning. The ALM conference has not met in the United States since 2000 and offers American educators a unique opportunity to meet colleagues from around the world who share their interest in adult mathematics education. http://www.alm-online.net/ The 14th Annual International Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed Conference: May 22 -May 25, in Omaha, Nebraska--the original site of PTO. Inspired by the critical education work of Paulo Freire and theatre activism of Augusto Boal, PTO brings together those interested and engaged in critical pedagogies, theatre, and arts aimed towards progressive and revolutionary social change. The theme for this year's conference is What is Change? What is Substantial Change? And How? Augusto Boal, internationally renowned theatre artist and activist, is returning to provide Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) workshops prior to and after our conference. Pre and post conference workshops also scheduled; information and registration http://www.ptoweb.org. Second Annual Prepárate Conference May 22-23, Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois Building on the success of the inaugural Prepárate conference, join us for a solutions-driven conference promoting academic accomplishment for Latino students. Get informed about the direct services available for Latino students in schools and communities across the country. Prepárate brings together members from higher education, secondary schools, middle schools, and community based organizations--with the common goal of increasing Latino student success at the post-secondary level. http://www.collegeboard.com/preparate/ 2008 National Refugee and Immigrant Conference: Issues and Innovations September 25-26, Chicago, IL The 2008 Refugee and Immigrant Conference offers groups and individuals assisting refugee and immigrant children and their families an opportunity to network and learn about issues affecting refugee and immigrant children and their families, schools, health, and health care, along with the challenges of cultural adjustment. Information and the Call for Conference Workshop Proposals http://www.thecenterweb.org/alrc/refugee.html - questions, please contact Lynn Osheff (losheff@thecenterweb.org). ProLiteracyWorldwide's 2008 annual conference at the Peabody, Little Rock, AR October 2 - 4: http://www.proliteracy.org/conference/ other events and conferences http://www.nifl.gov/cgi-bin/Calendar/calendar_world.cgi TESOL worldwide
calendar of events http://www.tesol.org/isaffil/calendar/index.html
breathe - everyday yoga at your desk. http://www.mydailyyoga.com/yoga/everyday_yoga.html
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