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Michael Hout

@michaelhout.bsky.social
700 followers 792 following 126 posts

Associate Dean for Research at NMSU HEST. Interim Director of STEM Ed Research Institute. Assoc Editor at AP&P. Former NSF Program Director. Prof of Psych (and Kinesiology). Director of NMSU Discovery Scholars and two research labs. Treasurer of OPAM.

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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 18h
A special issue of AP&P in honor of Dr Mary Peterson has been released. Started by Sarah Shomstein, and guest edited by Brad Gibson and Laura Cacciamani, to celebrate Mary's pioneering, 3-decade-plus legacy in visual perception and her profound impact as a mentor. link.springer.com/collections/...
link.springer.com
Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Influences on Perception and Attention: A Special Issue Celebrating Mary A. Peterson
Overview Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics seeks paper submissions that consider the contributions of top-down and bottom-up information on any aspect of ...
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Reposted by Michael Hout
Institute for Replication @i4replication.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Over the past two years, I4R partnered with Psychological Science (@psychscience.bsky.social) on a large reproducibility project. 67 independent teams reproduced 64 articles published in 2024–2025, about 44% of eligible papers. Paper: www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10... Here's what we learned 🧵
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
NMSU Psychology is hiring. Please consider applying and/or sharing. careers.nmsu.edu/jobs/assista...
careers.nmsu.edu
Assistant Professor - Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States
Department Contact: Dr. Justin MacDonald, 575-646-6223, jmacd@nmsu.edu Internal or External Search: External - Open to all applicants   Advertising Summary: The Department of Psychology is seeking an ...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
At the upcoming Psychonomic Society meeting I'll be joining colleagues from the Publications Committee and associated journals of the society to discuss "AI in the Publication Lifecycle." If you're coming to the conference this year, please stop by the special event on November 20th at noon.
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Our next OPAM workshop is August 13. Michael Paavola (University of Iowa) will be presenting on how to use virtual reality in your research. As always, presentations will be on Zoom, and will be shared on our website thereafter. Learn more and register here: www.opamconference.com/workshops-su...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
NMSU News has run a story (being picked up by various other outlets) on our work with the Child Safety Network; new initiatives to study school bus safety, and the reasons that drives pass stop-arms illegally. KTSM Coverage: www.ktsm.com/local/el-pas...
ktsm.com
NMSU professor leads national school bus safety initiative
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A New Mexico State University professor of psychology and kinesiology is leading a nationwide initiative to improve school bus safety. Michael Hout and his team are in…
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
We are hiring in the College of HEST. We're looking for a new Academic Department Head to lead our excellent Department of Kinesiology. Please consider applying, and share in your networks and with folks you know that might be interested. careers.nmsu.edu/jobs/academi...
careers.nmsu.edu
Academic Department Head - Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States
Department Contact: Christopher Aiken, aiken@nmsu.edu, (575) 646-4296 Internal or External Search: External - Open to all applicants   Advertising Summary: The College of Health, Education, and Social...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Back in May, I was invited to come down to UTEP to give an interview for Science Studio. Dr Keith Pannell and I chatted about scientific influences, cognition, the brain (and more) ahead of my Science on Screen lecture. The interview has now been released: www.ktep.org/show/science...
ktep.org
Dr. Michael Hout
This weeks episode of Science Studio, Dr. Keith Pannel interviews Dr. Michael Hout about his life, his field of research, and about his presentation for the screening of Oliver Sacks: His Own Life at ...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Our latest paper is out in Psychological Research. It is on how the processing of threatening content can lead to learned associations that give rise to anticipatory attentional avoidance. The paper was led by Dr Botond Kiss at University of Pecs. Read it here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Anticipatory attentional avoidance in learned threat associations - Psychological Research
The processing of threatening content tends to take priority over neutral or other emotional stimuli. Compared to other attentional biases (in response to threat), less research has been dedicated to ...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Gio Del Sordo has a new paper out in BRM, focusing on data sharing practices in the visual cognition literature (with particular emphasis on data column naming conventions and their impact on reproducibility). Read it here: link.springer.com/epdf/10.3758...
link.springer.com
“It makes sense to me”: Examining data file column names in the visual cognitive literature
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
We have a new paper out in AP&P led by Dr Haden Dewis. It presents data that suggests some portion of the well-documented prevalence effects may occur because of mind-wandering during periods in which targets are infrequently encountered. Read it here: link.springer.com/article/10.3...
link.springer.com
Low prevalence targets are primarily missed due to mind wandering - Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics
The impact of target prevalence (the proportion of trials in which a target appears) has been widely studied within visual search. The low prevalence effect is the finding that rare targets are often ...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
We’re looking for an additional Associate Editor at AP&P, particularly in the field of auditory perception/attention. If you’re interested, please check out this flyer and please share this post so that this may find its way to others!
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
I recently spoke with School Transportation News. We discuss issues of school bus safety, stop-arm violations, visual attention, technology, and what we should be doing to stop kids from being injured (or worse) as a result of illegal stop-arm passing behavior. stnonline.com/multimedia/s...
stnonline.com
(STN Podcast E311) Leadership & Lawbreakers: Top STN EXPO West Picks, Illegal Passing Deep Dive
(STN Podcast E311) Leadership & Lawbreakers: Top STN EXPO West Picks, Illegal Passing Deep Dive School Transportation News Multimedia
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Our next free OPAM workshop will be presented by Dr Zitong Lu, from the McGovern Institute for Brain Research (at MIT). Please join us for a great workshop on EEG analysis in Python. You can register here: www.opamconference.com/workshops-su...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
The OPAM Team is excited to announce Dr. Geoffrey Woodman as the OPAM 2026 Keynote Speaker! Dr. Woodman is the E. Bronson Ingram Chair of Neuroscience and Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University, where he leads the Woodman Brain Lab. Join us for his keynote!
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
OPAM34 is now accepting abstract submissions! The conference embraces a diversity of approaches, including psychophysics, eye-tracking, and neuroimaging. OPAM occurs immediately before the Psychonomic Society meeting and at the same venue. Learn more here: www.opamconference.com/opam2026
opamconference.com
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Gio Del Sordo has a new paper out in CABN. It extends her dissertation work in using pupillometry to support the argument that sustained attention comprises two distinct yet complementary modes of engagement. Read it here: link.springer.com/epdf/10.3758...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
On 5/26, I'll be trying something new (to me) in the world of Sci-Comm. At the Fountain Theatre, I'll present a short public lecture following a screening of the movie "Oliver Sacks: His Own Life." mesillavalleyfilm.org/science-on-s...
mesillavalleyfilm.org
Science on Screen | The Fountain Theatre | Mesilla Valley Film Society
The Fountain Theatre is proud to bring back Science on Screen® for another year of programming in 2026.  Science on Screen® creatively pairs screenings of c ...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Dr Giovanna Del Sordo has led another kid-friendly science communication article in Frontiers for Young Minds. This one is on using pupillometric methods to index individual differences in mental imagery. Check it out, here: kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10....
kids.frontiersin.org
The Pupils Tell All: How Our Eyes Reveal How Well We Can Imagine
When you step outside on a sunny day, your pupils (the dark spots in the center of your eyes) shrink to block out light. In the dark, however, your pupils grow to let more light in. This automatic rea...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Upcoming Vision Sciences Society presentations: Gio Del Sordo will lead our poster on an AI-Human similarity database for medical image perception. And Eben Daggett will lead the poster on our work on contexts effects in AI-Human representational alignment. Both also include Jon Art from our lab.
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Congrats to Ashley Mathis on the successful completion of her comprehensive exams this week! Ashley now moves on to her dissertation. Way to go, Ashley!
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Collin Scarince and I have a new paper out in QJEP. This is an impressive feat by Collin to modify the Guided Search model with a multidimensional scaling "plug in" that helps extend computational capacity to capture performance with featurally complex stimuli. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
The OPAM training workshop series is back, starting with Dr Sarah Merrill (from UMass Lowell) who will be presenting on how to write competitive NSF GRFP/Fellowship applications. Workshops happen live (uiowa.zoom.us/j/94840104986) and are recorded and posted to our website thereafter. Join us!
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
The Discovery Scholars Program is back in NMSU News with a feature story describing the impact is has by broadening access to research opportunities for undergraduates in the College of HEST and College of Arts & Sciences. Read the story here: newsroom.nmsu.edu/news/discove...
newsroom.nmsu.edu
Discovery Scholars Program expands research opportunities for NMSU undergraduates
A full class schedule, work, family and other life obligations can make it difficult for many undergraduate students to gain research experience early in their careers. The Discovery Scholars...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
It's not every day that you give your first research poster and the President of your University shows up. Yesterday, Michelle Kass (undergraduate Discovery Scholar mentored by Dr Gio Del Sordo and myself) presented her work at URCAS 2026 and got a visit from President Ferme. Nice work, Michelle!
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
This week, Mr Jon Art (an under Discovery Scholar in our lab) travelled to the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association meeting. There, he was met by Dr Eben Daggett (and a special guest!). Jon presented on his project focusing on the impacts of similarity and timing on the attentional blink.
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
We recently published an article in The Conversation. (Led by Arryn Robbins and co-authored by Eben Daggett and myself.) The article is about how AI learns to see and categorize, and the important ways (and implications of) that that is different from humans. theconversation.com/ai-doesnt-se...
theconversation.com
AI doesn’t ‘see’ the way that you do, and that could be a problem when it categorizes objects and scenes
People and computers perceive the world differently, which can lead AI to make mistakes no human would. Researchers are working on how to bring human and AI vision into alignment.
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
EIN Presswire has posted a story (being picked up elsewhere) about my appointment to the Advisory Board for the Child Safety Network, and my role as Chief Scientific Investigator on their work to combat school bus stop-arm runners. Read it here: www.einpresswire.com/article/8973...
einpresswire.com
Child Safety Network (CSN) Appoints Dr. Michael C. Hout, Ph D Lead Investigator to Combat School Bus Stop-Arm Runners
Each school day, nearly 25 million children board and exit approximately 500,000 school buses across America. Yet national estimates suggest tens of millions of
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
Dr Eben Daggett and I have a book chapter coming out very soon. It's on modeling similarity using MDS, and it can be found in the upcoming 2nd edition of the Encyclopedia of Measurement in Social Sciences.
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
We have a new young-audience science communication out in Frontiers for Young Minds. This one was led by Virginia Millsap and co-written by Dr Andras Zsido (of University of Pecs). It describes the science of phobia development, and you can find it here: kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10....
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
The STEM Ed Research Institute is hiring a post-doctoral researcher to work on research, assessment, and more, in collaboration with NMSU Global, and the Institute for Applied AI and Machine Learning. Please share with interested parties and in your networks. careers.nmsu.edu/jobs/post-do...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
The OPAM conference is looking for new organizers, and senior grads and postdocs are eligible. Please share and post widely! This was one of the best things I ever did for my career, and as a service, and I cannot recommend it enough. Deadline 3/1/26; questions to me or opam.info@gmail.com.
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
newsroom.nmsu.edu/news/nmsu-re...
newsroom.nmsu.edu
NMSU renews designation as Carnegie Community Engaged University
New Mexico State University has once again earned the Carnegie Community Engagement Designation, an elective designation awarded by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
This week I had the opportunity to moderate a panel discussion ("AI Everywhere: Empowering Educators and Students") at the AI & Energy conference put on by the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance. I believe a full recording is forthcoming. www.linkedin.com/posts/michae...
linkedin.com
This week I had the opportunity to moderate a panel discussion ("AI Everywhere: Empowering Educators and Students") at the AI & Energy conference put on by the Mesilla Valley Economic De...
This week I had the opportunity to moderate a panel discussion ("AI Everywhere: Empowering Educators and Students") at the AI & Energy conference put on by the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alli...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
The newest member of our lab is Michelle Kass, an undergraduate Discovery Scholar. Her project will involve examining memory performance as a function of congruent or mismatched feedback. She is already a research assistant in the lab, but welcome to DSP, Michelle!
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
The Psychonomic Society has posted about our paper out in BRM, focused on evaluating (and making recommendations for) open data sharing practices in the cognition literature (using visual search and eye movements as a bit of a case study). Link: featuredcontent.psychonomic.org/sharing-cari...
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Reposted by Michael Hout
Psychonomic Society @psychonomicsociety.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
The procedures for what, where, and how to share materials can be wildly inconsistent. A BRM paper by @haywardgodwin.bsky.social @michaelhout.bsky.social et al. introduces the Find It, Access It, Reuse It scorecard to help standardize research sharing practices. Post by Lai
wp.me
Sharing, caring, and developing better practices for both
One of the greatest (and, in my opinion, most overlooked) aspects of science is that it is a process inherently founded on and driven by community. Almost all ongoing research questions are derived…
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Just received the Primarius Academicus Socius recognition in from the University of Pécs (Hungary). Given for “outstanding collaborative scientific achievements,” by researchers “who attained international research excellence by reaching a scientific impact in the global top 10%.”
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Graduation, Fall 2025 post (3 of 3): Last but most definitely not least, congrats to Dr Eben Daggett for the completion of his PhD. He is pictured here being hooded, as captured by the livestream. Thanks for always making me feel dumb in person (while looking smart in our published works), Eben.
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Graduation, Fall 2025 post (2of 3): Congratulations to Dr. Bryan White, Ph.D. for receiving his PhD last night. He is pictured here, in classic Bryan style, with a laugh as wide as he is tall. Congrats, Bryan!
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Graduation, Fall 2025 post (1 of 3): Congratulations to Ashley Mathis for not only receiving her master's degree this fall, but doing so with a perfect 4.0 GPA. She is pictured here at her Honor's cord ceremony. Well done, Ashley! Now get to work on that PhD.
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Our upcoming (NSF-funded) OPAM workshop will feature Dr Johnny van Doorn (of University of Amsterdam) presenting on the theory and practice of Bayesian statistics (using JASP software). Please register and join us for the workshop (on January 26th), here: www.opamconference.com/online-works...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
We have a new publication out in Behavior Research Methods; a large database of threatening images (and similar but nonthreatening ones) rated for similarity. It should be of use to visual attention/memory researchers, those studying fear/phobias, and more. Find it here: doi.org/10.3758/s134...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
We are hiring for the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs position in the College of HEST. Please consider applying and/or sharing this post. Reach out if you have questions about working in the Dean's office as well! careers.nmsu.edu/jobs/associa...
careers.nmsu.edu
Associate Dean, Academic Affairs - Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States
Position Title: Associate Dean, Academic Affairs Employee Classification: Assc Dean,Education College/Division: College of Hlth, Educ & Soc Trans Department: 320001-COLLEGE OF HLTH, EDUC & SOC...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
The next installment of our NSF-funded OPAM workshop series will feature Dr Jason Tsukahara (of the University of Miami) presenting his workshop on researching individual differences (on December 9th). Visit the website (opamconference.com) to register for the free Zoom session.
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
UMass Lowell Psychology is currently hiring. Check out the job ad, and consider joining Megan Papesh in her home department. careers.pageuppeople.com/822/lowell/e...
careers.pageuppeople.com
Careers at the University of Massachusetts Lowell | UMass Lowell
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
I'm proud to announce that I'm taking over as Interim Director of the NMSU STEM+ Education Research Institute. My role here will be to support SERI’s mission to advance evidence-based STEM education, expand interdisciplinary collaboration, and strengthen STEM learning pathways across New Mexico.
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
Academic friends... the NMSU Graduate School is currently looking for an Associate Dean to join their team. Please consider applying and sharing within your professional networks. careers.nmsu.edu/jobs/assc-de...
careers.nmsu.edu
Assc Dean,Graduate School - Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States
Position Title: Assc Dean,Graduate School Employee Classification: Assc Dean,Graduate School College/Division: Provost Office Department: 380001-GRADUATE SCHOOL Internal or External Search: Internal -...
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
We also have a pair of presentations at the upcoming @opam.bsky.social conference. Dr Eben Daggett will be giving a talk on dynamics in the attentional blink. And Mayte Alonso Carrillo (with Dr Giovanna Del Sordo and Dr Megan Papesh) will be giving a poster on pupillometry and sustained attention.
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Michael Hout @michaelhout.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
We've got some presentations coming up at Psychonomics. Dr Giovanna Del Sordo will be giving a talk (on using pupillometry to explore active/passive sustained attention) and Dr Eben Daggett will be presenting a poster (on how AI can be trained on human similarity data). Come on by!
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