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| A Universe of Life? | |
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| Life Elsewhere | |
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| Worlds Beyond Imagination | |
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| The Stuff of Life | |
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| Could Biology Be Universal? | |
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| The Science of Astrobiology | |
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| The Big Picture | |
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| Review Questions | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Problems | |
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| Web Projects | |
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| Movie Madness: Cinema Aliens | |
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| Basic Astronomical Defunitions | |
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| How Far Is a Light-Year? | |
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| The Extent of the Universe | |
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| Basic Properties of Atoms | |
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| The Science of Life in the Universe | |
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| The Ancient Roots of Science | |
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| The Copernican Revolution | |
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| The Nature of Modern Science | |
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| The Tools and the Methods of the Search | |
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| The Golden Age of Astrobiology | |
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| The Big Picture | |
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| Review Questions | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Problems | |
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| Web Projects | |
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| Greek Thought on Extraterrestrial Life | |
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| Geocentrism and the Church | |
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| Is There Absolute Truth in Science? | |
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| Movie Madness: Alien Autopsy | |
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| The Nature of Life | |
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| What is Life? | |
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| Cells: The Basic Units of Life | |
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| Metabolism: The Chemistry of Life | |
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| DNA and Heredity | |
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| Life at the Extreme | |
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| The Big Picture | |
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| Review Questions | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Problems | |
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| Web Projects | |
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| Creationism and Evolution | |
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| Charles Darwin | |
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| Key Biological Definitions | |
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| Movie Madness: The Andromeda Strain | |
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| The Geological History of the Earth | |
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| Reading the Earth's History | |
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| The Formation of the Earth | |
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| The Hadean Earth | |
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| The Earth's Ongoing Active Geology | |
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| Climate Regulation and Change | |
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| Geology and Life | |
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| The Big Picture | |
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| Review Questions | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Problems | |
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| Web Projects | |
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| Key Geological Definitions | |
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| Basic Characteristic of Light | |
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| Movie Madness: Flintstones and Dinosaurs | |
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| The Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth | |
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| Searching for Life's Origins | |
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| How Did Life Begin? | |
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| Early Evolution and the Rise of Oxygen | |
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| Eukaryotic Evolution: From a Slow Start to an Explosion of Diversity | |
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| Impacts and Extinctions | |
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| Human Evolution | |
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| The Big Picture | |
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| Review Questions | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Problems | |
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| Web Projects | |
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| Common Misconceptions: Ozone--Good or Bad? | |
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| Movie Madness: Armageddon | |
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| Searching for Life in Our Solar System | |
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| Environmental Requirements for Life | |
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| Exploring the Solar System | |
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| A Biological Tour of the Solar System | |
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| The Big Picture | |
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| Review Questions | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Problems | |
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| Web Projects | |
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| Movie Madness: 2001--A Space Odyssey | |
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| Mars | |
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| Fantasies of Martian Civilization | |
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| A Current Assessment of the Habitability of Mars | |
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| Searching for Life on Mars | |
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| Martian Meteorites | |
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| Future Exploration of Mars | |
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| The Big Picture | |
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| Review Questions | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Problems | |
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| Web Projects | |
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| Movie Madness: Missions to Mars | |
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| The Face on Mars | |
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| Life on Jovian Moons | |
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| Icy Moons of the Outer Solar System | |
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| Europa: The Water World? | |
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| Ganymede and Callisto | |
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| Titan and Beyond | |
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| The Big Picture | |
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| Review Questions | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Problems | |
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| Web Projects | |
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| Movie Madness: 2010: The Year We Make Contact | |
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| A Crazed and Cracked World | |
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| The Nature and Evolution of Habitability | |
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| The Concept of a Habitable Zone | |
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| Comparative Planetary Evolutions: The Case of Venus | |
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| Surface Habitability Factors | |
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| The Sun's Habitable Zone | |
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| The Future of Life on Earth | |
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| The Big Picture | |
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| Review Questions | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Problems | |
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| Web Projects | |
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| Movie Madness: The Time Machine | |
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| Five Billion Years | |
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| The Search for Habitable Worlds | |
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| Are Habitable Planets Common? | |
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| Distant Suns | |
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| Extrasolar Planets: Discoveries and Implications | |
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| Signatures of Habitability and Life | |
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| Are Earth-like Planets Rare or Common? | |
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| The Big Picture | |
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| Review Questions | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Problems | |
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| Web Projects | |
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| The Development of Solar System Formation Theory | |
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| Movie Madness: Star Wars | |
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| What Is a Planet? | |
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| The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence | |
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| What is SETI Searching For? | |
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| The Question of Intelligence | |
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| The SETI Context | |
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| SETI Today | |
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| Considerations of SETI Success | |
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| The Big Picture | |
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| Review Questions | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Problems | |
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| Web Projects | |
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| Frank Drake and His Equation | |
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| Movie Madness: Contact | |
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| How Will We Decode an Alien Message? | |
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| Interstellar Travel | |
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| The Challenge of Interstellar Travel | |
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| Leaving Earth | |
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| "Conventional" Interstellar Spacecraft | |
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| Relativistic Rocketry | |
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| Wormholes and Hyperspace | |
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| Are Aliens Already Here? | |
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| The Big Picture | |
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| Review Questions | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Problems | |
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| Web Projects | |
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| Relativity and the Cosmic Speed Limit | |
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| Movie Madness: Star Trek | |
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| The Fermi Paradox | |
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| Where Is Everybody? | |
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| The Age of Civilization | |
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| Galactic Colonization | |
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| Possible Solutions to the Paradox | |
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| The Astonishing Implications of the Fermi Paradox | |
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| The Big Picture | |
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| Review Questions | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Problems | |
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| Web Projects | |
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| Contact--Implications of the Search and Discovery | |
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| Is There Life Elsewhere? | |
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| Extraterrestrial Life and the Human Condition | |
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| The Big Picture | |
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| Essay or Discussion Questions | |
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| Extraterrestrial Life and Religion | |
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| Movie Madness: ET | |
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| Appendixes | |
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| Useful Numbers | |
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| A Few Mathematical Skills | |
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| The Periodic Table of the Elements | |
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| Chemical Energy for Life | |
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| Planetary Data | |
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| Selected Astrobiology Web Sites | |
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| Glossary | |
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| References and Bibliography | |
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| Credits | |
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| Index | |