JP7208472B2 - Rice cooker and rice cooking method - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a rice cooker capable of cooking rice that is easy to swallow and has good taste, and a rice cooking method.

In Patent Document 1 below, for people such as elderly people and people with disabilities whose swallowing function has decreased, it is difficult to remain in the mouth or throat, easy to swallow, and has a nutritional value per unit amount. In order to provide delicious boiled rice that does not reduce the rice stickiness, there has been proposed a rice cooker provided with a slime collecting tool for collecting surplus slime (a viscous liquid in which the starch of rice is eluted into water).

JP 2017-153536 A

The slime recovery tool is useful for removing surplus slime generated during rice cooking and cooking easy-to-swallow rice. However, how the slime can be removed is greatly influenced by the rice cooking sequence.

In view of the above circumstances, there has been a demand for a rice cooker and a rice cooking method that can effectively remove the slime that occurs during rice cooking and cook rice that is easy to swallow and has good taste.

The rice cooker according to the present invention is
an inner pot that accommodates the food to be cooked;
heating means for heating the inner pot;
a slime collecting tool disposed in the inner pot for collecting surplus slime generated from the food to be cooked;
A control device capable of executing a rice cooking sequence that controls the heating means,
The control device includes, as the rice cooking sequence, a slime generating step of applying a heating amount for generating a slime from the rice-cooked food by the heating means to a boiling temperature, and and a slime recovery step of boiling the skin to recover the surplus skins in the slime recovery tool.

According to the present invention, by executing the slime recovery course, after sufficiently generating skins from the rice contained in the food to be cooked in the skins generation step, the skins are boiled in the skins recovery step. Surplus Oneba is collected in the collection tool. The boiled boiled rice with excess skin removed from the food to be cooked has a low stickiness and a smooth finish, and is therefore very easy to swallow. Furthermore, since only the surplus skins have been removed from the recovered boiled rice, the umami and nutrition of the rice remain, and the cooked rice has good taste without lowering the nutritional value per unit amount.

Therefore, with the rice cooker according to the present invention, it is possible to effectively remove the slime that occurs during rice cooking, and to cook the slime-recovered boiled rice that is easy to swallow and has good taste.

Moreover, the rice cooker according to the present invention is
an inner pot that accommodates the food to be cooked;
heating means for heating the inner pot;
a slime recovery tool for recovering surplus slime generated from the food to be cooked;
A control device capable of executing a rice cooking sequence that controls the heating means,
The control device is
As the rice cooking sequence, a slime generation step of applying a heating amount for generating a slime from the food to be cooked by the heating means;
a slime recovery course comprising: a slime recovery step of boiling the food to be cooked by the heating means and recovering the surplus skins in the slime recovery tool;
It is possible to execute a normal rice cooking course different from the skin recovery course,
It is characterized in that the water absorption step for promoting water absorption of rice contained in the rice to be cooked in the slime collection course is performed for a longer time than the water absorption step in the normal rice cooking course.

According to this configuration, since a sufficiently long water absorption time is ensured in the oneeba recovery course, it is possible to absorb water close to the core of the rice contained in the cooked rice, and promote gelatinization of the rice during heating. can be made As a result, the Oneva can be exuded from the rice to produce a sufficient amount of the Oneva, and the surplus Oneva contained in the rice can be removed favorably.

In the above configuration,
Equipped with boiling detection means capable of detecting boiling of the object to be cooked,
It is preferable that the control device is configured to switch from the slime generation process to the slime recovery process in the slime recovery course based on the detection of boiling of the cooked rice by the boiling detection means.

According to this configuration, the skinhead-producing step is switched to the skinhead-recovering step on the condition that the food to be cooked is actually boiled. You can collect the Oneba in the Oneba collection tool.

In the above configuration,
Preferably, the control device is configured to switch from the slime generation process to the slime recovery process in the slime recovery course after a set time has elapsed since the boiling detecting means detected boiling of the rice to be cooked. is.

According to this configuration, after the food to be cooked is boiled for a while, the operation is switched from the slime forming step to the slime collecting step. You can collect Oneba at

Moreover, the rice cooking method according to the present invention includes:
A slime generating step of applying a heating amount for generating slime from the cooked rice accommodated in the inner pot by a heating means, and a slime recovery of boiling the cooked rice by the heating means and recovering surplus slime to a slime recovery tool. a oneeva recovery course having a step;
One of the normal rice cooking courses different from the oneeba recovery course is selected,
It is characterized in that the water absorption step of promoting water absorption of the rice contained in the rice-cooked food in the slime recovery course is performed for a longer time than the water absorption step in the normal rice cooking course .

With the rice cooking method according to the present invention, similarly to the rice cooker described above, it is possible to effectively remove the slime that occurs during rice cooking, and to cook rice that is easy to swallow and has good taste.

It is a figure which shows the vertical cross section of a rice cooker typically. FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the one-needle recovery tool; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the sequence of the skin recovery course executed by the rice cooker; It is a figure which shows an example of the processing flow in a one-neva recovery course. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a change over time in the one-needle recovery course; It is a figure which shows an example of the time-dependent change in a rice-cooking course normally.

An embodiment, which is an example of the present invention, will be described below with reference to the drawings.
The rice cooker includes an inner pot 30 for housing the food to be cooked, a housing 32 for housing the inner pot 30, an inner lid 34 for sealing an upper opening of the inner pot 30, an outer lid 36 for supporting the inner lid 34, and an inner pot. It is provided with a heating means 38 for heating the rice cooker 30, a saucer-shaped slime collecting tool 10 disposed in the inner pot 30, and collecting excess slime generated from the cooked rice.

In addition, the rice cooker includes a pot bottom sensor 40 that contacts the bottom of the inner pot 30 as a temperature sensor for grasping the temperature in the inner pot 30, and a lid sensor 42 ( An example of "boiling detection means"). The lid sensor 42 can detect boiling of the object to be cooked by detecting the temperature of steam of the object to be cooked. The rice cooker also includes a control device 50 that receives signals from the pan bottom sensor 40 and the lid sensor 42 and can execute a rice cooking sequence that controls the heating means 38 .

The rice cooker is provided with an operation panel (not shown) for instructing the overall operation and displaying the current state. The operation panel is installed on the housing 32 or the outer lid 36, for example. In addition, the housing 32 is provided with a power cord (not shown) that can be wound up.

Each component such as the inner pot 30, the housing 32, the inner lid 34, the outer lid 36, and the heating means 38 can use the same configuration as a conventional rice cooker. The inner lid 34 and the outer lid 36 have a structure for releasing steam when steam is generated inside the inner pot 30 and the internal pressure increases.

The slime recovery tool 10 is provided with fixing means 11 for fixing in the inner pot 30 . More specifically, the skin-neath recovery tool 10 is provided with a flange portion as a fixing means 11 that can be hooked to the edge of the inner pot 30 . In addition, a handle 33 capable of swinging around the swing axis X is provided on the skin-needle recovery tool 10 .

The slime collecting tool 10 is provided with a bottom surface 12 and side walls 14 . The bottom surface 12 is provided with a cylindrical slime collecting hole 20 for collecting the slime blown up in the inner pot 30. - 特許庁For example, two of the slime recovery holes 20 are provided, each of which has a fan-shaped cross section. Further, the bottom surface 12 is provided with a cylindrical slime return hole 21 for returning the collected slime to the side of the cooked rice. A cylindrical body extends from the edge of the slime recovery hole 20 . This cylindrical body is formed upward from the bottom surface 12 of the skin-neath recovery tool 10 .

For example, two glue-back holes 21 are provided, each having a circular cross-section. A cross-sectional area of the slime return hole 21 is smaller than a cross-sectional area of the slime recovery hole 20 .

In the inner pot 30 , when the boiled state is reached, the slime is blown up together with the steam, is blown upward from the slime recovery hole 20 , and is stored in the storage space 16 of the slime recovery tool 10 . The slime that has been collected too much is returned to the cooked rice side through the slime return hole 21. - 特許庁

[Regarding control configuration]
The control device 50 includes a storage section for storing various information, a timer for measuring elapsed time, an arithmetic processing section for performing arithmetic processing, a control section for controlling the heating means 38, and the like. The control device 50 can be constructed by appropriately combining hardware and software. The arrangement position and the like of the control device 50 may be set to any location. Control device 50 is preferably capable of executing the slime collection course as the rice cooking sequence, and can selectively execute the normal rice cooking course.

The control device 50 roughly executes a water absorption process, a first temperature raising process, a second temperature raising process, a cooking process, and a steaming process in the normal rice cooking course.

The control device 50 is designed to roughly execute a water absorption process, a slime formation process, a slime recovery process, and a steaming process in the slime recovery course. More specifically, the rice cooking method in the slime recovery course includes at least a slime generation step in which the heating means 38 applies a heating amount for generating a slime from the cooked rice accommodated in the inner pot 30; and a skint recovery step of boiling the substance and recovering excessive skints in the skinpour recovery tool 10. - 特許庁

In the slime forming step, the heating means 38 applies a heating amount for generating slime from the rice-cooked food. In addition, in the slime recovery step, the food to be cooked is boiled by the heating means 38, and the excess slime recovery tool 10 recovers the excess slime.

The control device 50 is configured to perform the water absorption process for promoting water absorption of the rice contained in the rice-cooked food in the slime recovery course for a longer time than the water absorption process in the normal rice cooking course.

The control device 50 is configured to switch from the slime generation process to the slime recovery process in the slime collection course based on the detection of boiling of the cooked rice by the lid sensor 42 .

More specifically, the control device 50 is configured to switch from the slime generation process to the slime recovery process after a set time has passed since the lid sensor 42 detects boiling of the rice-cooked rice in the slime recovery course.

FIG. 3 relates to the one-neva recovery course. 4 shows the flow of the control device 50. As shown in FIG. FIG. 3 shows two graphs together with the same time axis as the horizontal axis. The upper graph in FIG. 3 has temperature on the vertical axis and shows changes in the output of the pot bottom sensor 40 and the output of the lid sensor 42 . In the lower graph of FIG. 3, the vertical axis indicates the ratio of the control target value of the electric power (heating amount) supplied to the heating means 38 (1.0 is the maximum). In each step, the power (amount of heating) may be maintained at a constant value, or may be applied intermittently so that the average value becomes the control target value.

First, the inner pot 30 is charged with a predetermined amount of white rice and water in a weight ratio of 1.8 to 2 times that of the white rice. The white rice may be pre-washed. In the oneeba recovery course, more water than in the normal rice cooking course is put in. In the normal rice cooking course, about 1.5 times as much water as white rice is put in by weight. In addition, in the oneeba collection course, the amount of water is less than in the case of cooking soft rice or rice porridge. Soft rice and rice porridge require about 2 to 5 times more water than white rice by weight.

When the skin recovery course is started (step S100), a water absorption step is performed with a predetermined temperature profile (step S102). In the water absorption process, for example, the temperature is adjusted so that the output of the pot bottom sensor 40 is approximately 35°C. The water absorption step ends when the elapsed time t1 from the start reaches a preset water absorption set time Abt, and the process proceeds to the next step.

In addition, in the skin recovery course, a water absorption process having a longer water absorption time than the water absorption process of the normal rice cooking course is performed. By securing a long water absorption time, the water is absorbed near the core of the white rice, and the gelatinization of the rice is facilitated during heating, and as a result, the production amount and concentration of the slime can be increased. More specifically, in the water absorption step of the Oneva recovery course, it is preferable that a water absorption time of 30 minutes or more, preferably 40 minutes or more is provided.

In addition, the water absorption step of the skin recovery course is a time-controlled step, and the heating means 38 is preferably controlled so that the temperature of the inner pot 30 is kept substantially constant. The power to be supplied may be at a ratio of about 0.1 to 0.3.

After the set water absorption time Abt has elapsed (Y branch of step S104), the output of the heating means 38 is increased to further heat the inner pot 30, thereby increasing the temperature inside the inner pot 30. This is referred to as the one-neck generation step (step S106). In the oneva forming process, the temperature in the inner pot 30 is controlled to rise with time. That is, the temperature inside the inner pot 30 is not kept constant for a certain period of time, nor is the temperature lowered in the middle.

The rate of temperature increase may vary as long as the temperature within the inner pot 30 increases with time. Further, temperature control is performed in order to raise the temperature of the inner pot 30 at a substantially constant rate, and slight temperature fluctuations caused by this control may occur. In particular, when PID control or similar control is performed with the temperature of the pot bottom sensor 40, even if the temperature of the cooked rice rises at a substantially constant rate, the value of the pot bottom sensor 40 may rise while providing a downward portion. be. In addition, gelatinization of the rice-cooked food is accelerated by providing a time of about 5 minutes in which the rate of temperature rise of the inner pot 30 is kept substantially constant in the onebva-forming step.

When the output St of the lid sensor 42 has not reached the boiling temperature Tp2, the oneva generation process continues heating (N branch of step S108), and when the output St reaches the boiling temperature Tp2 (Y branch of step S108), the boiling temperature Tp2 After that, it is determined whether or not the elapsed time t2 has reached the set time Act (step S109). Heating by the heating means 38 is continued until the elapsed time t2 exceeds the set time Act (N branch of step S109). When the elapsed time t2 reaches the set time Act, the process proceeds to the next step (Y branch of step S109). That is, the slime generation process is continued at least until it is determined that the inside of the inner pot 30 is properly boiling (steps S108 and S109).

To explain, in the oneva production process, the inside of the inner pot 30 is heated to the boiling temperature Tp2. A power (heating amount) of about 0.7 to 1.0 is supplied to the heating means 38, for example.

In the normal rice cooking course, when the inside of the inner pot 30 boils, the electric power is reduced to maintain the boiling state. However, in the slime recovery course, heating is continued after the inside of the inner pot 30 has boiled, and this step is called a slime recovery step (step S110). Heating in the slime recovery process is used not only as energy for maintaining the boiling state in the inner pot 30 but also as energy for the work of blowing up the skinny skin to the slime recovery tool 10 . For this reason, in the slime recovery step, the heating means 38 is continuously supplied with electric power (heating amount) equal to or greater than that in the slime generation step. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the amount of heat applied in the skin recovery process is the largest among all processes in the skin recovery course.

The slime recovery step (step S110) continues until the output Sb of the pot bottom sensor 40 exceeds the boiling temperature Tp2 and reaches the cooking temperature Tp3. When the water in the inner pot 30 is substantially evaporated, the temperature of the inner pot 30 rises above the boiling temperature Tp2, so the temperature detected by the pot bottom sensor 40 also rises. When the output Sb of the pot bottom sensor 40 reaches the cooking temperature Tp3 (Y branch of step S112), the process proceeds to the next step.

More specifically, in step S112, if the output Sb of the pot bottom sensor 40 has not reached the cooking temperature Tp3 (N branch of step S112), the slime collecting step (step S110) is continued and the cooking temperature Tp3 is reached. If so (Y branch of step S112), the oneva recovery step is terminated.

After the skin recovery step is completed, a steaming step is performed (step S114). The steaming process is controlled by time. If the elapsed time t3 from the start of the steaming process has not passed the set steaming time Stt (N branch of step S116), the steaming process is continued, and if it has passed (Y branch of step S116), the steaming process is terminated. Then, the one-on-one recovery course ends (step S118).

At the beginning of the steaming process, power (amount of heating) may be supplied to maintain the temperature inside the inner pot 30 for a certain period of time. The temperature in the steaming process should be controlled to the set temperature Tp4 by the output Sb of the pot bottom sensor 40 . Also, in the steaming process, a certain width is allowed for the range of temperature adjustment.

Next, an example that is a specific example of the above embodiment will be shown. A rice cooker with a capacity of 10 cups was used. The skin-recovering device 10 used had two skin-recovering holes 20 with a fan-shaped cross section (with a cross-sectional area of about 7 square cm) and a storage space 16 of about 200 ml. The heating means 38 is an IH system, and the maximum power that can be applied to the IH coil is about 1200W. In addition, this rice cooker has a rice cooking sequence of a normal rice cooking course in addition to the rice cooking sequence of the slime recovery course.

First, approx. That is, about 1.8 times by weight of water was added to the white rice. After the slime recovery tool 10 was housed in the inner pot 30 and the outer lid 36 was closed, the rice cooking sequence of the slime recovery course was started.

FIG. 5 shows the rice cooking sequence and the temperature profile of the implemented skin recovery course. In the water absorption step, the water absorption set time was set to about 30 minutes. The water absorption temperature of the inner pot 30 (the temperature detected by the pot bottom sensor 40) in the water absorption process was about 35°C.

When the water absorption process is finished, the process shifts to the oneva production process. Here, the temperature of the inner pot 30 was increased with time. The Oneva production process consisted of two sections. The interval of the first heating step was about 8 minutes. The power supplied to the IH coil during this period was about 890 W (power supplied: 0.74). The temperature of the inner pot 30 was raised to 60° C. in the first 3 minutes. A section where the temperature of the inner pot 30 is between 60° C. and 80° C. is made constant. In the section of the second temperature raising process, approximately full power of approximately 1200 W (input power is approximately 1.0) was applied, and boiling took approximately 6 minutes. Therefore, in the oneva production process, power (heating amount) was supplied at a rate of about 0.85 on average.

In the oneva recovery process, the power of about 1200 W was maintained as it was. It took about 5 minutes for the temperature of the pan bottom sensor 40 to reach about 120°C. Therefore, in the oneva recovery step, power (heating amount) was supplied at an average rate of 1.0.

Next, as a comparative example, the same white rice and water as in the example were used, and rice was cooked in the normal rice cooking course. In the comparative example as well, rice was cooked with the skin recovery tool 10 attached. FIG. 6 shows the sequence and temperature profile of the normal rice cooking course. The water absorption process was performed for about 20 minutes at a temperature of about 45° C. using the output of the pot bottom sensor 40 . In the first temperature raising step, the power (amount of heating) to be supplied was set to approximately 1150 W, and heating was performed until the output of the pan bottom sensor 40 reached approximately 90°C. This took about 7 minutes.

Next, as the second temperature raising step, power of about 1000 W was supplied until boiling (until the output of the pan bottom sensor 40 reached about 95° C.). It took about 3 minutes to boil. About 950 W of electric power was applied to the boiling process after boiling to maintain boiling. It took about 7 minutes until the pan bottom sensor 40 reached about 120°C.

In the skin recovery course, power (heating amount) was input at an average rate of about 0.85 in the skin formation process (first temperature rising process and second temperature rising process), but in the normal rice cooking course, the first In the temperature rising process and the second temperature rising process, power (amount of heating) was supplied at an average ratio of about 0.89.

After that, steaming was performed while power (heating amount) was supplied so that the output of the pot bottom sensor 40 was about 100 ° C. to about 110 ° C. (first step), and then the IH coil was turned off (second 2 steps). The steaming process including the first process and the second process was performed for about 12 minutes as a whole. As described above, rice was cooked in the normal rice cooking course.

Table 1 below shows a comparison between the skin recovery course of the above example and the normal rice cooking course of the above comparative example. Table 1 summarizes the results of the volume, weight, specific gravity, and concentration of the skins collected by the skins collection tool 10 in each course. Each of these values is the average of 10 tests. The concentration was obtained from the Brix value measured using a pocket saccharimeter PAL-1 manufactured by Atago Co., Ltd. A saccharimeter determines the sugar content (concentration) of an object to be measured based on the refractive index of the object to be measured. The higher the Brix value, the higher the density.

With reference to Table 1, the amount of skins collected by the skins recovery tool 10 was 97 ml in the normal rice cooking course, whereas it was as large as 115 ml in the skins recovery course. Also, the weight of the collected skins was 76 g in the normal rice cooking course, while it was 93.2 g in the skins recovery course. Therefore, the specific gravities were 0.78 g/ml and 0.81 g/ml, respectively, and the oneva with higher specific gravity was recovered in the oneva recovery course.

In addition, the Brix value indicating the concentration of the collected skins was 0.65 in the case of the normal rice cooking course, whereas it was 1.31 in the skins recovery course, and the concentration was higher in the skins recovery course. Oneva with a high concentration was recovered, and the recovery efficiency of the oneva was remarkably excellent.

From the above, when rice is cooked in the oneva recovery course, the oneva with a high concentration and a high specific gravity is appropriately removed from the cooked rice, and as a result, it is possible to obtain a dry oneva recovery boiled rice that is less sticky and easy to swallow. can. In addition, since the amount of skin slime collected is limited in the skin skin collecting tool 10, the nutritional value per unit amount is not extremely reduced as compared with the normal cooked rice cooked in the normal rice cooking course.

Various modifications may be made to the above embodiment, for example, as described below. Each change can be appropriately combined as long as there is no contradiction.

(1) In the above embodiment, the rice cooking sequence includes the slime collection course and the normal rice cooking course, but is not limited to this. For example, as the rice cooking sequence, a course other than the slime recovery course and the normal rice cooking course may be provided. Further, for example, only the slime recovery course may be provided as the rice cooking sequence.

(2) In the above embodiment, the lid sensor 42 is exemplified as the "boiling detection means", but the invention is not limited to this. For example, instead of the lid sensor 42, another "boiling detection means" may be provided that detects boiling of the rice-cooked food based on a decrease in the rate of increase in the temperature detected by the pan bottom sensor 40.

(3) In the embodiment described above, in the skin skin recovery course, the amount of heat applied in the skin skin recovery step is the largest among all the steps, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the total number of cooked rice is small (for example, 1 go or 2 go), the boiling of the cooked rice can be maintained with a relatively small amount of heating. The amount of heating may be the same as in the production step or slightly less than the same.

(4) In the above-described embodiment, the slime generation step is terminated after a set time has passed since boiling of the object to be cooked is detected, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the oneva forming step may be terminated as soon as boiling of the rice-cooked material is detected.

(5) In the above-described embodiment, the skin-needle recovery tool 10 has a dish-like shape with two skin-needle recovery holes 20 and the like, but the shape of the skin-neath recovery tool 10 can be changed in various ways. It suffices that the slime recovery tool 10 has the skin recovery hole 20 and the storage space 16 in which the skin slime is stored. For example, other shapes with one one-neck spout in the center may be used.

(6) In the above embodiment, an electric rice cooker is exemplified, but other rice cookers such as a gas rice cooker may be used.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The rice cooker and the rice cooking method according to the present invention can be suitably used, for example, for cooking rice to be provided to elderly people with reduced swallowing function, people with disabilities, and the like.

10: One-pot recovery tool 30: Inner pot 38: Heating means 42: Lid sensor (boiling detection means)
50: control device

Claims (5)

an inner pot that accommodates the food to be cooked;
heating means for heating the inner pot;
a slime collecting tool disposed in the inner pot for collecting surplus slime generated from the food to be cooked;
A control device capable of executing a rice cooking sequence that controls the heating means,
The control device includes, as the rice cooking sequence, a slime generating step of applying a heating amount for generating a slime from the rice-cooked food by the heating means to a boiling temperature, and A rice cooker capable of executing a slime recovery course, comprising: a slime recovery step of boiling the skin to recover excess skins in the slime recovery tool. an inner pot that accommodates the food to be cooked;
heating means for heating the inner pot;
a slime recovery tool for recovering surplus slime generated from the food to be cooked;
A control device capable of executing a rice cooking sequence that controls the heating means,
The control device is
As the rice cooking sequence, a slime generation step of applying a heating amount for generating a slime from the food to be cooked by the heating means;
a slime recovery course comprising: a slime recovery step of boiling the food to be cooked by the heating means and recovering the surplus skins in the slime recovery tool;
It is possible to execute a normal rice cooking course different from the skin recovery course,
A rice cooker configured to perform a water absorption step for promoting water absorption of rice contained in rice to be cooked in the slime recovery course for a longer time than the water absorption step in the normal rice cooking course. Equipped with boiling detection means capable of detecting boiling of the object to be cooked,
2. The control device according to claim 1, wherein said control device is configured to switch from said slime generating step to said slime collecting step in said slime recovery course based on the detection of boiling of the object to be cooked by said boiling detecting means. rice cooker. The control device is configured to switch from the slime generation process to the slime recovery process in the slime recovery course after a set time has passed since the boil detection means detects boiling of the rice to be cooked. 3. The rice cooker according to 3. a skinning process of applying a heating amount for generating skinning from the food to be cooked contained in the inner pot by the heating means;
a slime recovery course comprising: a slime recovery step of boiling the food to be cooked by the heating means and recovering surplus skins in a slime recovery tool;
One of the normal rice cooking courses different from the oneeba recovery course is selected,
The method of cooking rice, wherein the water absorption step for promoting water absorption of the rice contained in the rice-cooked rice in the slime recovery course is performed for a longer time than the water absorption step in the normal rice cooking course.

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