 Discovery Swallows of the western skies  International team of researchers studies one slim bird to answer some big biological questions
September 5, 2014 Ushuaia and Fairbanks are cities near the tips of the world. The capital of Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province and the Alaskan metropolis don't have much in common. Except for a cluster of simple wood boxes on poles, and the scientists and swallows who flock to them. Both animals are part of Golondrinas de las Américas--the Swallows of the Americas, an international research project studying the slight, swift swallow to answer larger questions about biological patterns. "Looking at these birds across this huge hemispheric span of habitats provides a broader opportunity to explore relationships between the environment, temperatures and breeding," says David Winkler, a professor in Cornell University'sDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He is the lead investigator for Golondrinas, funded through the National Science Foundation's Partnerships in International Research and Education(PIRE) program. PIRE brings together U.S. and foreign researchers across all fields of science and engineering, supporting research advances that cannot happen without international collaboration. That collaboration is especially crucial for the Golondrinas project. The team is studying causes of variation in the life histories of one genus of swallows,Tachycineta, which live throughout the Americas. "We wanted to dig in with a really full-blown exploration of all aspects of their breeding biology and ecology," Winkler says. And for the last seven years, that's exactly what they've done. The site map for the project, affectionately known as Golo, spans the entire western swath of Earth: The Pacific stretch of California and Mexico, a sprinkling in Canada, the Midwest and the North Atlantic coast, then down through Central America and the Caribbean before spreading into Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Chile and Argentina. The Golo project has involved hundreds of students and interns--traveling in the U.S. and abroad--plus workshops, endless logistics, and collaborations with local residents and organizations. It's inspired graduate careers and supported conservation projects, woven together an international swallow community. "We were very ambitious," says Winkler. Researching "ever-ready bunnies" There are nine species of swallows in the Tachycineta genus. All are sleek white-breasted birds with a metallic-sheened back, like they're dressed for an evening at the theatre. Swallows are cavity dwellers, depending on other species to make homes for them. Woodpecker holes are a good choice, but so are the 5-by-5 inch nest boxes Golo uses. Swallows will readily nest in these rough wood homes, especially if other natural cavities are limited. Which means you can pretty easily create your own swallow population--one reason they make such good study subjects, Winkler says. The other reason is that swallows are, for the most part, pretty resilient birds. "Once they find a cavity and start nesting, they're staying there," Winkler says. "I call them ever-ready bunnies ...as long as the food holds up and the weather doesn't get too bad, they keep trying." At the various Golo sites, the researchers catch and measure individual swallows, monitor all aspects of the breeding season--from nest-building to chick counts--and take insect samples, to keep tabs on the swallow's prey. Protocols are detailed in the Golondrinas handbook -- "the Bible of how we do things," says Winkler--and results are loaded onto a shared database. All this data will help answer some big questions: How does weather affect bird breeding at different latitudes? How do the birds vary physiologically across different regions? How much do tropical and temperate ecosystems--and changes in them--affect the reproduction, and ultimately the survival, of these birds? The project addressed such fundamental ecological questions "via a broad network of international researchers comprised of ornithologists, entomologists, physiologists, educators, and avid birders across the Americas," says John Tsapogas, NSF program coordinator for PIRE. "These interactions created a sustainable and synergistic research collaboration that has helped us better understand climactic influences on these birds and their insect prey." Golo members recently published a paper in the journal Ecography--using 16,000 nest records from seven species--showing a connection between clutch size (how many eggs a swallow lays) and lay date (when she lays them) dependent on geography (variations in latitude). "We're still analyzing a lot of data and I bet we will be for a while," Winkler says. The growing Golo community One of the strongest outcomes of Golo, however, might not be the swallow populations sparked by the project, but the human ones. Maya Wilson started as a Golo intern the day after she graduated from Franklin and Marshall College, one of the project's partner institutions. She did field work in Alberta, Canada, then on to Argentina and upstate New York. She credits her undergraduate advisor -- Daniel Ardia, an associate professor of biology at Franklin and Marshall and a co-principal investigator on the PIRE -- for introducing her to Golo. What made her stay were the swallows. "I just love working with these birds. There's nothing like holding a wild bird in your hand, and really appreciating what they're doing to survive and reproduce." This month, Wilson starts a Ph.D. program at Virginia Tech, where she will focus her research on the little-known, endangered Bahama Swallow. Wilson wants to study the bird's population and breeding habitat, get a sense of what's threatening them, and work with the local government and community to protect the bird--a research track forged by her time with Golo. "I think that was the goal ... to teach people about science and to develop students into capable biologists," says Justin Proctor, another former Golo intern who is now a graduate student at Cornell. Proctor's Tachycineta specialty is the Golden Swallow, a bird endemic to the Dominican Republic and inching closer to "endangered" status. He's spent three years trying to not only unravel the mystery of why Golden Swallow populations are declining, but build sustainable scientific capacity around the bird. "We've reached out to almost everybody in the country," Proctor says, from local residents hired to build nest boxes to established conservation nonprofits likeBirdsCaribbean. Students from nearby South American countries have helped his research and honed their own scientific skills in the process. And after every field season, Proctor translates the 30-page research report into Spanish and distributes a hard copy to members of the local communities involved in the project. "It's important that we make sure the information ends up back where it is needed most," he says. The effort has paid off. "Even rural farmers with no formal education in the sciences, they're walking through the fields pointing out swallows. It's had a pretty solid impact." And one the Golo team intends to carry on, despite the recent end of PIRE funding (the Golondrinas project was supported through August 2014). The Golden Swallow slice of Golo is now funded and led mainly by Dominicans, according to Proctor. Many of the other sites are in good shape for continued research and monitoring, Winkler says. And the swallows certainly won't be moving out of their nest boxes any time soon. "As long as people are pointing up in the sky and talking about the birds," Proctor says. "Whether they know what bird it is or not--that's what's important."
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Monday, September 8, 2014
Swallows of the western skies
Orion’s First Crew Module Complete
NASA’s first completed Orion crew module sits atop its service module at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew and service module will be transferred together on Wednesday to another facility for fueling, before moving again for the installation of the launch abort system. At that point, the spacecraft will be complete and ready to stack on top of the Delta IV Heavy rocket that will carry it into space on its first flight in December. For that flight, Exploration Flight Test-1, Orion will travel 3,600 miles above the Earth – farther than any spacecraft built to carry people has traveled in more than 40 years – and return home at speeds of 20,000 miles per hour, while enduring temperatures near 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Image Credit: NASA/Rad Sinyak
Orion’s First Crew Module Complete
NASA’s first completed Orion crew module sits atop its service module at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew and service module will be transferred together on Wednesday to another facility for fueling, before moving again for the installation of the launch abort system. At that point, the spacecraft will be complete and ready to stack on top of the Delta IV Heavy rocket that will carry it into space on its first flight in December. For that flight, Exploration Flight Test-1, Orion will travel 3,600 miles above the Earth – farther than any spacecraft built to carry people has traveled in more than 40 years – and return home at speeds of 20,000 miles per hour, while enduring temperatures near 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Image Credit: NASA/Rad Sinyak
Uncle Tom’s Trail in Yellowstone National Park: a great...
Uncle Tom’s Trail in Yellowstone National Park: a great place to catch your breath.
Photo: National Park Service
Video: Memorial Service Honors Fallen Pilot
℠2014 - The 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes National Guard Base, Mass. remembers Lieutenant Colonel Morris Fontenot who died August 27 in a plane crash in Deerfield Valley, Virginia
5 Ways to Change How Teachers Function in K-12 Classrooms
Less than half of high school graduates who took the SAT in 2013 were prepared for college, continuing a five-year trend.
Less than half – 44 percent -- who took the ACT had the reading skills necessary for college. That’s down from 53 percent in 2009. And nearly a third failed to meet standards in four areas: reading, English, science and math.
The failures have persisted despite years of new tests, new curricula and new demands on teachers, notes educational researcher and consultant Charles M. Reigeluth, author of “Reinventing Schools: It’s Time to Break the Mold,” (www.reigeluth.net).
“We continue to approach the same problems with the same sorts of solutions, despite the fact that they’re not working,” he says. “Instead, we need a fundamental shift in how we educate our children. Our public school system was designed to meet the needs of a long-ago era – the Industrial Age. It’s not working because we’re now in the Information Age.”
Teachers unfairly shoulder much of the blame for the lack of progress, he notes, but they’re hamstrung by roles and rules that don’t work for 21st century students.
“We need to change from teacher-centered education to learner-centered. In the Industrial Age paradigm, teachers are a judge and a perceived threat. In the Information Age, they should be guides and coaches who help students overcome obstacles,” says Reigeluth.
His multidimensional approach includes reducing bureaucracy in schools; encouraging students to teach each other with teacher supervision; having interns and other paraprofessionals, including retiree volunteers, assist with guiding student learning; and creating an “educational cooperative,” where a community’s adults can earn access to learning resources, advancing their own education, in exchange for helping students learn.
“The new paradigm can significantly reduce the cost of education while increasing the quality,” says Reigeluth, who outlines the five new roles teachers would have in this redesigned system.
• Mentor … the same 20 to 30 students for several years, addressing all aspects of student development. Students and teachers would develop the deeper relationships that foster real caring on both sides. Mentors would help students prepare a personal learning plan for each project period, six to 12 weeks, including helping each student and his parents choose appropriate instructional goals, subject to standards set by the community, state and nation. Mentors would also help identify and support the best means for each student to achieve those goals.
• Designer … of student work options, mostly projects or tasks, to engage students in the learning process. Open educational resources developed by teachers throughout the country and available to all educators for free via the Internet can alleviate much of the burden of the designer role.
• Facilitator … of the learning process, which entails monitoring student progress, enhancing student motivation and coaching student performance.
• Learner … the teacher is always learning with the students, about students, from and for the students. The teacher does not have all the answers, but the teacher helps students find answers. And the teacher is always learning more about how best to meet students’ needs. The new paradigm provides sufficient support for teacher learning.
• Owner and manager … of the school. Like lawyers and accountants in a small firm, teachers would be partners who own their public school and make decisions about its operations, including budgeting and staffing. This model is already a success at the Minnesota New Country School and other EdVisions schools. This role elevates teachers to that of true professionals, rather than workers controlled by an all-powerful bureaucracy.
“These new roles offer empowerment to those who are most affected by our system, the student and the teacher, the latter of whom I suggest calling ‘guides’ to better reflect their new roles,” Reigeluth says. “The new roles better serve students in the age in which we live.”
About Charles M. Reigeluth
Charles M. Reigeluth is a distinguished educational researcher who focuses on paradigm change in education. He has a B.A. in economics from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in instructional psychology from Brigham Young University. He was a professor at the Instructional Systems Technology Department at Indiana University, and is a former chairman of the department. His new book, “Reinventing Schools,” (www.reigeluth.net), advocates and chronicles a national paradigm change in K-12 education. He offers presentations and consulting on this topic.
Los Alamos Conducts Important Hydrodynamic Experiment in Nevada
Los Alamos Conducts Important Hydrodynamic Experiment in Nevada
Nicknamed "Leda," it provides key data for Stockpile Stewardship
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Sept. 8, 2014—Los Alamos National Laboratory has successfully fired the latest in a series of experiments at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS).
"Leda is an integrated experiment that provides important surrogate hydrodynamic materials data in support of the Laboratory's stewardship of the U. S. nuclear deterrent," said Bob Webster, Associate Director for Weapons Physics.
The experiment, conducted on Aug. 12, 2014, consisted of a plutonium surrogate material and high explosives to implode a "weapon-relevant geometry," according to Webster.
Hydrodynamic experiments such as Leda involve non-nuclear surrogate materials that mimic many of the properties of nuclear materials. Hydrodynamics refers to the physics involved when solids, under extreme conditions, begin to mix and flow like liquids. Other hydrodynamic experiments conducted at NNSS use small amounts of nuclear material, and are called "sub-critical" because they do not contain enough material to cause a nuclear explosion.
"This experiment ultimately enhances confidence in our ability to predictively model and assess weapon performance in the absence of full-scale underground nuclear testing," said Webster. These experiments with surrogate materials provide a principle linkage with scaled/full-scale hydrodynamic tests, the suite of prior underground nuclear tests, and scaled plutonium experiments.
"Experiments like Leda are key to enhancing predictive confidence, challenging next-generation weapon designers, and enhancing our capability to underwrite options for managing the stockpile," said Charlie Nakhleh, Theoretical Design Division Leader.
Such hydrodynamic and sub-critical experiments are one of the most useful multi-disciplinary technical activities that exercise the Laboratory's manufacturing capabilities, tests scientific judgment, and enhances the competency of the Nevada workforce in areas of formality of underground and nuclear operations.
Immediately following the experiment, conducted at NNSS's U1a underground complex in collaboration with NSTec and supported by Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos scientists and technicians reported a 100 percent data return.
“Multiple diagnostics that captured the hydrodynamic and implosion processes included pit and case velocimetry, dual-axis x-ray radiography, dynamic surface imaging, optical and electrical monitors of the high-explosive drive as well as detonator performance, and very accurate overall system cross-timing,” said Mark Chadwick, Program Director for Science Campaigns in the weapons physics directorate. “The experiment was operated within expected parameters, including temperature control, and was performed within the required safety and security specifications.”
Scientists will now study the data in detail and compare with pre-shot predictions. The resulting findings will help assess the confidence weapon designers have in their ability to predict weapon-relevant physics.
The successful execution of the Leda experiment enables the follow-on sub-critical experiment series, nicknamed Lyra, to be conducted in 2015. Lyra and other related experiments are an essential component in the NNSA's Science Campaigns and Plutonium Sustainment Programs to support the technical basis for confidence in the nation's nuclear deterrent, and to support future stockpile stewardship.
Technicians at the Nevada National Security Site move the "Leda" experiment in a specially designed container from the Device Assembly Facility. LANL photo.
Technicians at the Nevada National Security Site make final adjustments to the "Leda" experimental vessel in the "Zero Room" at the underground U1a facility.
Face of Defense: Marines Hone Combat Marksmanship Skills
By Marine Corps Lance Cpt. Anna Albrecht
15th Marine Expeditionary Unit
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., Sept. 8, 2014 - Marines with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit here participated in a Combat Marksmanship Program table three shoot Sept. 4-5.
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The Combat Marksmanship Program is designed to provide practical and realistic training for the combat environment Marines can encounter.
"Marines have to be ready to fight at any moment," said Sgt. Brian Bishko, supply administrator, 15th MEU. "We always have to be ready; we always have to be trained and familiar with our weapons."
Different shooting drills
During the training, the Marines conducted different types of drills to help them prepare for a fight. They practiced pivoting as well as shooting while moving toward targets ranging 5 to 25 yards away. While shooting, the Marines had to acquire and engage their target in an expedient matter.
Marines are required to perform the table one and table two shooting exercise annually, which consists of shooting from the sitting, kneeling, prone and standing positions at targets 200 to 500 yards away. They also practice shooting drills at static and moving targets. However, table three focuses more on a combat mindset.
"I think this is more practical training," Bishko said. "There are not a lot of times you're going to be engaging a target 500 yards away. Most of the time, Marines are going to be close-quarters, and that's why we train this way."
Being prepared
Marine Corps Cpl. Noah Pullin, a combat marksmanship coach and small-arms repairman with the 15th MEU explained the main purpose of the training is to get Marines familiar with their weapons and different types of engagements so if something happens, they are able to remember what they learned and apply it.
"A lot of people come out here and look a little timid," Pullin said, "but by the end of the day they're going back at it and they're almost pros."
Refreshing shooting skills
Since not all Marines are required to handle their weapons daily due to their individual jobs, this type of training gives them an opportunity to refresh their shooting skills.
"The biggest thing I got out of the training is just familiarizing myself with my weapon again; reevaluating my methods and my shooting posture," Bishko said. "We always have to reevaluate ourselves, make our adjustments and see where we're at."
The marksmanship training has added significance for the 15th MEU, which will begin preparing to deploy next month. Once deployed, the members of the unit will need to be ready to respond to any situation, and maintaining these vital skills helps to ensure that readiness in an unpredictable and sometimes volatile world.
Meet the Scientists: Dr. Josh Kvavle
Meet the Scientists is an Armed with Science segment highlighting the men and women working in the government realms of science, technology, research and development. The greatest minds working on the greatest developments of our time. If you have someone you’d like AWS to highlight for this segment, email Jessica L. Tozer at science@dma.mil.
Dr. Joshua Kvavle, engineer, wearing Google’s second version of Google Glass(2014). Dr. Kvavle along with his associates executed a small investigation into how Google Glass could be used in the Navy at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific. (Photo by Alan Antczak/Released)
WHO: Dr. Josh Kvavle. Grew up in Hillsboro, Oregon. Went to Brigham Young University where he got his PhD in Electrical Engineering. Likes using technology to find ways of making life less inconvenient for us all.
TITLE: Electrical Engineer at SSC Pacific, working in the realm of research and development. He’s also a member of the CNO Rapid Innovation Cell.
MISSION: Dr. Kvavle is interested in developing augmented reality in the Navy. Augmented reality, in this context, is a fancy way of saying making things better for service members. Things like turning a wartime scenario into something as easy to navigate as a video game level. That’s where Ocean AR comes in. Ocean AR a project using Google Glasswhere Josh and his team try and figure out what theNavy could do with Google Glass.
What is the Ocean AR project?
“It’s a project aimed at trying to find applications and demonstrate those applications for Google Glass in full-spectrum Naval operations. The purpose of it is to demonstrate the look and feel of these apps. They’re not fully developed apps. They are just a demonstration of what could be done if we had access to Navy networks. The idea behind Google glass is that it’s a heads up display that gives you access to prompt information. So, information that’s available when you need it and hands free. The question that we’ve been trying to answer is, ‘how would that be done in the Navy, how would you use that’. The first one of those is a maintenance application. The second one is sort of a situational updater that gives you timely information on what’s going on.”
Tell me a little about the maintenance app. How does it work?
“The maintenance app we’ve put together is a structure where you can see a video of the repair task or the maintenance task. The way Google Glass is organized is they have sort of card navigation and each of these cards is sort of a stand-alone window into some sort of information or some sort of task. We take a video of the task so you can swipe though the others step-by-step. As you’re doing the task you can take a picture and it will record that picture as sort of forensic evidence of your completion of that task. It could be done for any maintenance or repair, whether it’s Navy-relevant or in your own personal home repairs.”
Tell me a little about augmented reality. What does it mean to you in this context, and why is the Navy interested in it?
“I’ve just been listening to a book called The Second Machine Age. The premise there is that the steam engine – with the industrial revolution – revolutionized our power, our physical strength. The Second Machine Age says that the computer has revolutionized our ability to think, our mental power.Our physical power was the steam engine, mental power was the computer. Augmented reality is basically a seamless window into that world.”
How is augmented reality different from, say, computer capability or smart devices?
Dr. Joshua Kvavle, engineer, wearing Google’s second version of Google Glass(2014). (Photo by Alan Antczak/Released)
“Right now, in order to access a lot of the power of a computer, you either sit at your desktop machine or you pull out your smartphone or tablet. Now, smartphones and tablets have offered a lot of new applications, but you still have to remove yourself from the particular task at hand and go into that electronic world in order to get that information. What augmented reality can do is provide that view of the rich deep reservoir of information and data that we’re collecting and overlay it on your field of view.That way you don’t have to take out your phone and look at something; it’s there all the time, but only what you need when you need it. It can teach you things. It can remind you of things. It can help you see things that you couldn’t see with the naked eye. It can warn you, it can provide your point of view to someone else, and it can give you their visual perspective.”
“I think going forward, the second machine age is to be able to make what computers can do seamlessly integrated into our day-to-day lives so it’s basically invisible to us except when we need it.”
What is the goal the mission above your projects regarding our augmented reality and what do you hope that they will achieve?
“The whole purpose [of the Ocean AR project] is to help people start to see what’s possible. Things are changing so fast that no one person can keep track of all the developments. Someone needs to figure out how the Navy is going to stay in phases of this development and that’s what I’m hoping to do. I think repair and maintenance is one of those areas, I think medicine is another one. It’s pretty amazing what Google glass can do, but [where we are technologically] is equivalent to those brick mobile phones that we used to have. This is the first iteration. In the next in the next five years there will be augmented reality displays that have full field-of-view and can provide what you need. Things are changing quickly. I want to make sure that that we find ways to invest in this technology that can be useful today. Then I want to research the things that will make it possible for using it in full spectrum naval operations, not just in these safer more sterile environments.”
Video games sometimes have things like this; augmented reality screens to tell you where you’re going and what you’re doing. Where the bad guys are, where health packs are, where to go. Is this where you’d like to see the technology going?
“That’s exactly what people are missing! Actually, a lot of this second machine age staff has come first in video games. The Microsoft Kinect sensor is was the first real sensor that provided the key step for fixing this spatial localization and mapping problem that that people had for years. Video games have figured out a lot of things, but our problem is we don’t have displays that are wearable and can be carried around yet. I would say that even video games haven’t taped into the full potential of augment reality.”
“We want to make it so it’s super easy so you see the enemy there, they’re outlined in red.”
“Video games have a lot of insight into what could be possible in the future. But this idea of exponential growth of information technology is not a new one. Some people believe that we’re coming upon a time where it will be growing so significantly that things will be changing much faster. So where we may think that the video game vision is years and years away, it may not so far away as we think.”
I agree! In your own words what do you think it is about this project that you’re working on that makes it so significant?
Dr. Kvavle, along with his associates, executed a small investigation into how Google Glass could be used in the Navy at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific. (Photo by Alan Antczak/Released)
“An estimate from people who know more about brains than I do says that two-thirds of the brain is dedicated to vision directly or indirectly. If that’s true and we’re only tapping into that in part, and we’ve got this huge revolution in computing technology, then it just makes sense that significant advance would be to couple that as closely as you can. In the Department of Defense there’s something called the OODA Loop; Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. The faster you can make those decisions to observe and orient yourself, the better you are completing your mission. So what better way, what faster way is there then seeing what you need to do [using augmented reality]? There’s a book called Blink where they talk about how when you have to focus in (often during stressful scenarios), you have this tunnel vision. Augmented reality could still speak to you in your tunnel vision they’ll just put it in your tunnel. Put the visual information in the tunnel. I think it’s hugely significant.”
What do you think is the most impressive or beneficial thing about the work you’re doing and why?
“Things have changed a lot in terms of what we’re capable of doing now. We just need the Navy and the rest of the Department of Defense to recognize the opportunity that is available and start funding opportunities like this. That’s when you’re going to start seeing the really impressive benefits. For example, in the medical field there are a lot of situations where expertise that people that aren’t necessarily well trained for is required, and that information gap could be filled with this augmented reality interface. Same with maintenance and repair.”
“I would ask that anyone who’s reading this article, and who’s happen to have large funding source, find somebody who can do that and invest in it because that’s the future.”
“If we don’t do it, somebody else is going to do it. Hopefully it’s somebody who’s our friend. It’s going to happen; this is the exponential growth of the second machine age and information technology is growing. It’s just a matter whether we have the vision to fund it. There’re a lot of problems with augmented reality still, it’s not ready for primetime in a lot of ways but it is producing tangibles results in different sectors that are starting to implement it. I believe in the next year or two, you’re going to start seeing applications in professional work and industrial settings [for augmented reality].”
I agree; I think is the kind of technology that doesn’t go away, it just grows and evolves. If you could go anywhere in time and space where would you go and why?
“Actually, I’d love to go 20 years into the future or 30 years into the future and document what happened with augmented reality so then I could come back and do a better job and avoid some of the pitfalls that are inevitably going to happen.”
Thanks to Dr. Josh Kvavle for contributing to this article, and for his contributions to the science and technological communities.
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Jessica L. Tozer is the editor and blogger for Armed with Science. She is an Army veteran and an avid science fiction fan, both of which contribute to her enthusiasm for science and technology in the military.
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