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AIMS, through the Next Einstein Forum announce the NEF Africa Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Week – 7th to 18th October 2024
“Youth-led innovations driving sustainable development in Africa.” Kigali, Rwanda, September 11th, 2024 The Next Einstein Forum (NEF), an initiative of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), is pleased to announce the NEF Africa Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Week, set to take place from October 7 to 18, 2024. This groundbreaking event will be hosted [...]
AIMS, through the Next Einstein Forum announce the NEF Africa Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Week – 7th to 18th October 2024
“Youth-led innovations driving sustainable development in Africa.” Kigali, Rwanda, September 11th, 2024 The Next Einstein Forum (NEF), an initiative of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), is pleased to announce the NEF Africa Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Week, set to take place from October 7 to 18, 2024. This groundbreaking event will be hosted [...]
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Gender in Higher Education in Africa
March 20, 2015 | Blog
Education at all levels in Africa is gendered and disparities are visible in higher education. Although some progress has been made in increasing female participation, research shows that as Amina Mama states, “patriarchal knowledge is still coded into everyday practices.” According to the CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa) article, the [...]
President Obama Recognizes Inspiring Story of a Nigerian Woman, Saheela Ibraheem
| Blog
On February 26th, in honor of Black History Month, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama honored 19 year-old Nigerian Saheela Ibraheem with an official White House reception. Named among the “World’s 50 Smartest Teenagers,” Ibraheem was accepted into 14 prestigious colleges including MIT, Harvard, Cornell, Brown, Princeton, among others. She started Harvard at age 15 [...]
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Verizon Launches Campaign to Support Girls in STEM
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To learn more about this campaign, click here. [...]
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The Ellen Pao Case: Gender Discrimination in the Silicon Valley
| Blog
Women are consistently underrepresented and dismissed in the STEM fields and especially in the Silicon Valley technology companies. Ellen Pao’s case is prime example of the challenges facing women in STEM. Pao is filing a lawsuit against one of the most successful Venture Capitalist firms in Silicon Valley for gender discrimination and retaliation. [...]
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United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW59)
| Blog
One of our NEF team members was given a personal update by a friend participating in the UN Commission on the Status of Women 2015 meeting. It took place from March 9 to 20th in New York. Lyna Javier-Castillo, featured below, has been working with the UN for the last four years. The march towards [...]
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Device Invented by Car Mechanic that could Revolutionize Childbirth
March 5, 2015 | Blog
Jorge Odon, age 60, a car mechanic by profession is the inventor of a childbirth device. His idea was to replace the cruder forceps with with a smaller plastic bag inside the womb to ease pressure on a birth with complications. According to Odon: “At 3 a.m. I woke up with the idea [for the [...]
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Women and the mathematical sciences should make an amicable pair in Africa
March 1, 2015 | Blog
Author: Thierry Zomahoun I recently spoke to someone who told me that mathematics and science are gender blind. They do not see sex, gender, race, ability. It is simply numbers and equations and if one has the right aptitude, they can learn and apply it. If mathematics and science were indeed gender blind, why are [...]
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Women and the mathematical sciences should make an amicable pair in Africa
| Blog
AIMS CEO, Thierry Zomahoun writes about gender equity in STEM and how AIMS is bringing more women to the fore: Excerpt: ” What we need now is strong leadership to break through these gender equality challenges in an innovative and scalable way. As we look to the future, we need to recognise the strides we [...]
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NEF Monthly Newsletters – February 2015
February 26, 2015 | Blog
NEF Weekly Newsletter – 27 February 2015 – Science Meets Traditional Medicine Sent Thursday, February 26, 2015 Welcome to the weekly NEF Newsletter on Science Meets Traditional Medicine. Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter. NEF FACT OF THE WEEK Physicians per 1,000 people. Data includes generalist and specialist medical practitioners. Data is collected from [...]
Rwanda’s Green Revolution
February 20, 2015 | Blog
Rwanda is one of the African countries propelled ahead by the use of science to boost its nation’s food security. As a landlocked country in central Africa, Rwanda has confronted some challenges in the past. Farmers did not have the tools to boost production. In 2006, it was estimated that more than 80% of Rwandans [...]
Minority and Women Scientists and Engineers Honored at the AAAS 2015 Annual Meeting
February 18, 2015 | Blog
Women and minority scientists and engineers were honored at the AAAS Annual Meeting in San Jose. These are all PhDs and researchers in STEM fields representing Nigeria, Sudan and Vietnam. Hearing about the challenges they faced to establish labs, some conducting research in rural areas, given extremely limited resources and in places where women still [...]
Preparing for the AAAS Annual Meeting 2015
February 11, 2015 | Blog
Every year, members, supporters and affiliates of the AAAS, the American Association for the Advancement of Science convene to discuss recent developments in science and technology. This year’s theme is Innovation, Information and Imaging and involves examining the changes across all disciplines of science and technology brought about by advancements made in organizing, visualizing and [...]
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Why We Need More Scientists in Davos 2015
February 8, 2015 | Blog
In a panel titled “A New Era in the Fight against Cancer,” Scientific American Editor-in-Chief Mariette Dichristina talks with José Baselga, Physician-in-Chief and Chief Medical Officer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Richard W. Vague, Professor in Immunotherapy, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. (Benedikt von Loebell/Flickr) The NEF believes that the world needs more [...]
Dr. Nkem Khumbah on the state of STEM in Africa
February 6, 2015 | Blog
“Just about every African country, regional community…African leadership institution has talked about science and its role in development…but their conversation around science has not been matched with what they say they will do…we need to go from intent to practical outcome…” Dr. Nkem Khumbah, NEF’s Executive Curator Can you suggest one practical way that an [...]
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Davos 2015: Some Critical Issues
February 4, 2015 | Blog
The World Economic Forum held its 45th Annual Meeting for 2015 in Switzerland from January 21st to the 24th. Among the key highlights under the theme “The New Global Context,” according to Business Report, included: 1) Growth and Stability: Economic recovery after the financial crisis was discussed and solutions posed. 2) Crisis and Cooperation: How [...]
Nigerian professor Francisca Okeke Predicts Weather
December 2, 2014 | Blog
Breaking the barrier of the male-dominated field of physics, Professor Francisca Okeke explains how she predicts meteorological weather and climate using satellite data. On her career goals: What other challenges did you face as you progressed in your career and have you noticed any changes since you started out in this career with regards to [...]
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Next Einstein Forum announces new cohort of 25 Fellows, Africa’s top young scientists
August 5, 2019 | Feat Articles, Fellows, Highlight, News, News Articles
Kigali, Rwanda, 5 August 2019 – The Next Einstein Forum (NEF) today announced its third Class of NEF Fellows Class, 25 strong scientists, all under 42 years, whose research and innovations are contributing to solve Africa’s and the world’s most pressing challenges. “I am excited to announce the 3rd class of NEF Fellows for two [...]
CALL FOR A CURATOR FOR THE NEXT EINSTEIN FORUM ARTS AND SCIENCE FESTIVAL (ASF) FOR THE GLOBAL GATHERING 2020
June 18, 2019 | Africa, Highlight, News, Person, Science
The Arts and Science Festival seeks to increase scientific and artistic awareness among the participants of the Global Gatherings; to promote widespread access to new knowledge and scientific experiences; to support and improve formal and informal science education; to encourage young people to study arts, science and technology subjects further and to consider careers in [...]
NEF Digital Economy Poll: Over half of all respondents believe infrastructure is the greatest need
June 12, 2019 | Africa, Highlight, News
In the days following the publication of Moving from goodwill to action: A call for a Coordinated Vision for Africa’s digital economy by the Next Einstein Forum, we conducted a poll on Twitter, inviting our online audience to tell us what the greatest challenges facing digital economy in Africa are. We listed four solutions: better [...]
The push towards artificial intelligence in Africa
June 5, 2019 | Africa, Blog, Feat Articles, Highlight
“Despite the support, many of us still have trouble making it to conferences. I have had papers accepted at meetings but been unable to attend because Western countries such as Australia denied me a visa, even though I was already settled and working professionally in Europe. We need more efforts to overcome these barriers and [...]
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Will Africa Take Full Advantage of its Biodiversity?
May 23, 2019 | Africa, Highlight, News, Science
On the UN International Day for Biodiversity 2019, NEF caught up with Dr. Jessica Thorn, an AIMS Climate Change Science Fellow, on her viewpoint as a scientist especially the opportunities & challenges in the conservation of Africa’s and the world’s biodiversity today. This year’s theme is “Our Biodiversity, Our Food and Our Health. This day is [...]
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Cities must lead the clean energy drive, says report
May 17, 2019 | Blog, Highlight
Did you know, that poor households in cities spend 14-22% of their income on energy? As urban growth intensifies energy use, cities must lead with efficient fuels and renewables. Cities can implement practical solutions to meet the need of the urban under-served through development models that slow carbon emissions & shift to cleaner cooking fuels [...]
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Scientists have created a silicon beating heart
Researchers have created an artificial, silicone heart to help combat the shortage of donor hearts. The silicone heart has been developed by Nicholas Cohrs, a doctoral student in the group led by Wendelin Stark, Professor of Functional Materials Engineering at ETH Zurich. It looks like a real heart. And this is the goal of the first [...]
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Young African Robotics Designers Sparking at Pan African Robotic competition in Senegal (PARC 2018)
Technology is taking part everywhere in this modern era of time, specially to face the challenges that require a sustainable development and help less fortune communities to have the privilege of standard living conditions. Africa by its high potential and promising future should be in the front line for implementing the technology that help local [...]
NEF Community of Scientists Review Digital Economy Strategy, Elects New Executive Committee
April 3, 2019 | Blog, Feat Articles, Fellows, Highlight
17 March 2019 -NAIROBI — The Next Einstein Forum (NEF) Community of Scientists (CoS) elected a new Executive Team for its 2019–2021 Session. New Chair Prof. Sanushka Naidoo, NEF Fellow from South Africa, replaces Dr. Yebebal Fantaye, NEF Fellow from Ethiopia, who led the group during the 2017–2019 Session. This Sunday afternoon, the Next Einstein [...]
Why Africa Should Embrace Artificial Intelligence
May 28, 2018 | Africa, Blog, Highlight, News, Technology
Machines might scare policymakers from Brussels to Washington, but artificial intelligence could yield a significant developmental dividend in the developing world. In African markets, the technology behind Alexa and Siri can be harnessed to diagnose illness or address traffic gridlock. With better predictive models tapping into the alternative data that does exist, AI is helping small [...]
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Young Nigerian scientist Tolullah Oni shines at World Economic Forum 2018
January 25, 2018 | Africa, Blog, Fellows, Healthcare, Highlight, News
NEF Fellow Dr Tolullah Oni at the global stage at this year’s World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, where she will be speaking about her work on public health to the forum’s theme: “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World”, longside speakers like India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S.’s Donald Trump. As [...]
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For tech to be funded, it must improve lives
January 9, 2018 | Africa, Blog, Highlight, News, Policy, Science
Technology can’t solve problems. Neither can data, for that matter. It can’t plug the holes of governance and political will but, without it, we cannot hope to address the myriad problems facing African countries. This idea permeated the Science Forum South Africa. Whether it was in the use of satellites to monitor the continent’s resources [...]
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There’s No Such Thing as Being Bad at Math: How Neuroscience Is Changing the Equation
It’s common to hear well educated adults declare themselves “not a math person,” sometimes proudly. Indeed, many people of all ages believe that mathematical ability is something you are either born with or not, rather than something to be mastered with focused effort. This belief is wrong. What’s more, it’s harmful to kids as they have their first [...]
UGANDA’S SCIENTIST NAMED AMONG THE NEXT EINSTEIN FORUM AMBASSADORS, CHAMPIONS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ACROSS AFRICA
December 21, 2017 | Ambassadors, Blog, Highlight, News
Uganda’s Joanitah N Nalubega named among the champions of Science & Tech across Africa. She’s an industrial chemist, with a deep passion for technology, currently working to deploy solutions for the health sector using technology. Also a founding partner of a fellowship of creatives called Kafunda Kreative which seeks to build the capacity of young creatives [...]
40 Africans Under 40 – Making It In Africa
December 18, 2017 | Africa, Blog, Fellows, Highlight, News, STEM
NEF Fellow Mouhamed Moustapha Fall, recognized by Africa.com under Top 40 Under 40 extraordinary men and women who are transforming the future of Africa. This list includes people who are making amazing contributions in their respective fields of expertise. Young Africans are smart people who’ve taken it upon themselves to use their various talents and fields of [...]
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STEM fields need to be more friendly to women
According to NSF’s Science and Engineering Indicators, the STEM fields are dominated by a male presence. For example, 11.1 percent of physicists and astronomers are women, 22.7 percent of chemical engineers are women, 35.2 percent of chemists are women and 7.9 percent of mechanical engineers are women. NSF also says that Women, Minorities, and Persons [...]
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AIMS, through the Next Einstein Forum announce the NEF Africa Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Week – 7th to 18th October 2024
September 11, 2024 | Africa, Blog, News, News Articles, Press Releases, The NEF Blog
“Youth-led innovations driving sustainable development in Africa.” Kigali, Rwanda, September 11th, 2024 The Next Einstein Forum (NEF), an initiative of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), is pleased to announce the NEF Africa Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Week, set to take place from October 7 to 18, 2024. This groundbreaking event will be hosted [...]
Wired-up Interview with Charles LM Kimpolo
April 11, 2022 | Africa, Blog, Fellows, Highlight, News, News Articles, STEM
Education problems and a lack of access to technology have been widely recognized on the continent as major stumbling blocks to economic competitiveness and social equality.” Charles Lebon Mberi Kimpolo, Director of the AIMS Industry Initiative, launched the Young African Technologists (YAT) project to change this situation. How? Watch his inspiring interview on WiredUp Africa [...]
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La Somalienne Mariam Noor conçoit un anneau capable de limiter les risques d’insuffisance cardiaque
April 10, 2022 | Africa, Feat Articles, Fellows, Highlight, News, News Articles, STEM
(Agence Ecofin) – Conçu pour le traitement de l’insuffisance aortique, une condition pouvant entraîner une insuffisance cardiaque, l’anneau de Mariam Noor a déjà été testé sur un porc et a présenté des résultats prometteurs salués par des cardiologues. lien Web:https://www.agenceecofin.com/entreprendre/2103-95906-la-somalienne-mariam-noor-concoit-un-anneau-capable-de-limiter-les-risques-d-insuffisance-cardiaque?fbclid=IwAR0vMCw5_WxxaNH7TQNDr3x6FNthUt8kwT1eAOmcKOuK4NNdLRKArT-ippM [...]
Tribune How can we achieve equity in higher education for Africa’s socio-economic transformation?
April 9, 2022 | Africa, Feat Articles, Fellows, Highlight, News, News Articles, STEM
While female enrolment in higher education has tripled globally between 1995 and 2018, the gender gap is still large in sub-Saharan Africa ‘s higher-ed institutions. Women are particularly underrepresented in the STEM fields due to several barriers that the region must necessarily remove to reach its full socio-economic development potential, argues the CEO of the African [...]
Les scientifiques du Next Einstein Forum se lancent dans la lutte contre le COVID-19
June 11, 2020 | Africa, Healthcare, News, News Articles, Newsroom, Science
PAR YOUSSEF TRAVALY, VICE-PRÉSIDENT DU NEXT EINSTEIN FORUM DANS FINANCIAL AFRIK Le Covid-19 éprouve les pays africains dans leur capacité de gestion pandémique, leur maîtrise des impacts socio-économiques, la robustesse de leurs systèmes de soins de santé et de leurs réponses politiques. Cependant, qu’en est-il des scientifiques africains ? Comment s’organisent-ils pour répondre de manière [...]
Learning from the best: Evaluating COVID-19 responses and what Africa can learn
June 9, 2020 | Africa, Feat Articles, Highlight, News, Policy, Science
A Next Einstein Forum opinion paper Since the first case of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), was detected in Wuhan, China, towards the end of 2019, and declared a global pandemic on 11 March by the World Health Organization, attention has now turned to how countries have responded. The magnitude of the resultant shock from COVID-19 [...]
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Intelligent farming: An AI opportunity in Africa (Youssef Travaly, Vice-President of NEF, in Ressources Magazine)
June 8, 2020 | Africa, Feat Articles, Innovation, News, News Articles, Newsroom, Technology
BY DR. YOUSSEF TRAVALY VICE-PRESIDENT – NEXT EINSTEIN FORUM AND KEVIN MUVUNYI RESEARCH OFFICER – NEXT EINSTEIN FORUM The Fourth Industrial Revolution will transform our lives in unprecedented ways. This revolution, which is characterised by the confluence of digital, physical, and biological systems, is slowly disrupting and redefining value chains across a multitude of industries, [...]
L’intelligence artificielle, une opportunité pour le secteur agricole africain (Youssef Travaly, Vice-président du NEF, dans Ressources Magazine)
| Feat Articles, Innovation, News, News Articles, Newsroom, Technology
PAR YOUSSEF TRAVALY, VICE-PRÉSIDENT DU NEXT EINSTEIN FORUM ET KEVIN MUVUNY, CHERCHEUR AU NEXT EINSTEIN FORUM La 4e révolution industrielle va fondamentalement changer nos vies. Caractérisée par la confluence des systèmes numériques, physiques et biologiques, elle perturbe et révolutionne progressivement les chaînes de valeur de multiples secteurs, notamment par le biais de l’intelligence artificielle (IA). Dans [...]
Can COVID Organics win the battle over SARS-CoV-2 infections?
May 13, 2020 | Africa, Blog, Feat Articles, Fellows, Healthcare, Highlight, News, News Articles, Science
by Dr Vidushi Neergheen* Ever since the President of the Republic of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina, announced holding the cure against COVID 19 on 20 April 2020, there has been an upsurge of support for this herbal concoction named COVID organics from many African countries. The drug developed as a herbal tea by the Malagasy [...]
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Coronavirus (COVID-19)-induced re-imagination: 7 things we knew, but “could do nothing about”…until we could…and did
April 20, 2020 | Africa, Feat Articles, Fellows, Healthcare, Highlight, News, News Articles, Science
by Prof. Tolu Oni* One thing is clear: we can’t avert a next pandemic with the same logic and systems that got us to this point. In addition to emergency responses to reduce transmission needed to end the pandemic, I have previously written about the need for emergency foresight in the midst of crises. This [...]
Supplies to vulnerable communities and protection of health workers, as Africa battles COVID-19
April 3, 2020 | Africa, Feat Articles, Fellows, Highlight, News
by Sara Suliman and Fatoumatta Darboe* COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) has become a household name for the disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV2), which has rapidly become a global epidemic crisis. SARS-CoV2 infections have been slow to enter Africa, potentially as a result of early travel restrictions imposed by multiple African countries. [...]
R&D en Afrique : une approche panafricaine s’impose pour remédier à la faiblesse des financements (Youssef Travaly, NEF)
March 13, 2020 | Africa, Highlight, News, Science, Uncategorized
Dépêche N°622703 Par Anne ROY Lundi 09 mars 2020, 18:04:00 Toute reproduction ou transmission de cette dépêche est strictement interdite, sauf accord formel d’AEF Lancé en 2013 à l’initiative de l’African institute for mathematical sciences et la fondation Robert Bosch Stiftung, le Next Einstein Forum est une plate-forme qui entend connecter science, société et politique [...]
Le Next Esintein Forum dévoile les 25 meilleurs innovateurs qui entreront en compétition lors Rassemblement international à Nairobi
February 24, 2020 | Africa, Feat Articles, Highlight, Innovation, News, Press Releases, STEM
KIGALI, Rwanda, le 25 février 2020 – Le NEF dévoile aujourd’hui sa liste des 25 finalistes pour son concours de l’Invention à l’Innovation (Ci2i) dans 5 catégories qui aura lieu durant le Salon de l’innovation les 10 et 11 mars 2020 prochain. Sélectionnés parmi plus de 260 candidatures, cette troisième cohorte de finalistes du Ci2i [...]
Next Einstein Forum unveils top 25 innovators to compete at global gathering in Nairobi
| Africa, Highlight, Innovation, News, Press Releases, Science, STEM, Technology
KIGALI, Rwanda, 25 February 2020 – Today, the Next Einstein Forum (NEF) announces the 25 finalists for its Challenge of Invention to Innovation (Ci2i) competition in five categories to be held on 10-11 March 2020 in the NEF Innovation Salon. “The third cohort of Ci2i finalists, selected from 260 applications, are ambitious African innovators developing [...]
Seven reasons to attend Next Einstein Forum Global Gatherings
January 27, 2020 | Africa, Highlight, News, News Articles, Newsroom
The Next Einstein Forum (NEF) Global Gatherings is a space like no other! We focus on creating a collaborative environment for young innovators and great scientific minds to come together with the singular goal of propelling Africa as a global scientific hub. The Global Gathering is the largest science and innovation gathering on the continent. [...]
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Les nouveaux ambassadeurs du Next Einstein Forum vont faire évoluer la façon dont la science et la technologie sont perçues en Afrique
December 2, 2019 | Africa, Ambassadors, Blog, News, Press Releases, STEM
KIGALI, Rwanda, le 2 décembre 2019,-/African Media Agency (AMA)/- Aujourd’hui, le Next Einstein Forum (NEF) – Forum du Prochain Einstein – annonce sa nouvelle promotion d’ambassadeurs, la troisième cohorte de jeunes figures brillantes des sciences et des technologies de toute l’Afrique. Les ambassadeurs, un par pays africain, dirigeront les activités d’engagement du public afin d’encourager l’enseignement, [...]
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