yourDragonΞ's Synopsis

ΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞ	ΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞ	ΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞ
Mood, character and his/her motivation	Setting, actions and challenges	Reactions, decisions and resolution
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IRAQ'S NEW OIL LAW Disappointment inside Ashti Hawrami is changing to excitement due to the new revenue-sharing law. As the Kurdish Regional Government's oil minister, he sees the revenue-sharing law as a vital part of the legislation, and to guarantee the Kurdish region and all parts of the country oil revenues based on population size. The Kurds, with a population of around 5 million, dominate Iraq's north while the majority Shiites populate the South. Iraq's Sunni population, which outnumber the Kurds and reside largely in central Iraq, are feeling it could be squeezed out of gaining its share of Iraq's oil revenues. The Kurdish government allows an independent panel to review existing contracts between the KRG and a handful of small foreign oil companies based on certain agreed commercial criteria. Ashti doesn't believe any further changes to be needed to the five contracts. The government consults the panel to ensure all the contracts meet the required Iraq-wide standards. The existing contracts were signed before 2005. The Kurdish government shares some of its constitutional powers in managing oil exploration in the region with the federal government but continues to be allowed to sign contracts with foreign oil companies. Iraq has the world's third-biggest proven oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and Canada, but only about 10 % of the country has been explored.	Iraqi Cabinet approves draft oil law, which is seen essential to help allay Iraq's sectarian divisions and rebuild its economy. The cabinet approves a draft of the measure, setting the stage for a key parliamentary vote that stands as the final barrier to the draft becoming law. The draft law has been delayed for months due to haggling between the federal government and the Kurdish Regional Government. Now it goes to the parliament for a vote. The hydrocarbons law, once approved by parliament, is expected to attract foreign investment. The cabinet approves the draft law after meeting with Kurdish and federal officials drafting it. A big increase in Iraq's oil production might not happen for several years. Many of country's existing oil fields and facilities have suffered from poor maintenance and under-investment that will take years to overcome in order to increase Iraq's output. The country also has a serious shortage of skilled labor and oil workers are under constant threat of being kidnapped and killed by militants. However, there are always risk takers and the competition of the oil resources is severe! The vote comes after the U.S. had increased pressure on the federal government to reach a deal as part of the U.S. commitment to increase its troop presence in the country. This might indicate the U.S. oil majors starting oil & gas projects in Iraq and others to follow.	Iraqi Parliamentary approval of the new oil law is leading to Iraq, which relies on oil revenues for about 90 % of the federal budget, moving forward with plans to entice big foreign oil companies to invest in the country's oil sector. Will those firms stay out of the country for the time being ? Can they count on seeing any U.S. oil company major soon ? Disagreements between Baghdad and the Kurdish government are centered on the extent to which oil exploration will be controlled by the Shiite-led federal government and how revenues will be distributed among oil-rich areas in the North and south of the country and the oil-poor center of Iraq. The challenge is that oil majors have eschewed investing in Iraq until the hydrocarbons law becomes final and the security situation in the country improves. How to improve the security situation in oil fields and around oil & gas facilities ? How to protect pump stations ? How to protect pipelines to ensure the delivery of oil ? Are personnel to be trusted to ? UAVs have been seen to be used by U.S. troops in Iraq. Could UAVs be used to guard oil facilities ? How could they be deployed rapidly ? Ashti sees that good security solutions would mean combining military, patrolling and business resources in network-centric architecture. Resolved -- let's order »yourDragonΞ!
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KING ABDULLAH'S PLAN Angry and worried the King analyzes the situation in the Persian Gulf region. He wants to stop U.S from inflaming the situation with Iran being very worried about it getting out of control. If U.S attacks Iran militarily, it would create a backlash in favor of the Iranian government relieving the pressure on the regime. He is also concerned about Iranian influence in Lebanon. A resolution in Iraq is what the King also likes to have -- a decline in the violence between the Sunnis and the Shia. Actions of U.S seem to create more opportunities for Al Qaeda in the region. His goal is to get rid of the Sunni extremists in Iraq, and U.S seems to be doing the opposite - in fact encouraging them. This circumstance is a fine line, protecting Sunnis from the Shia in Iraq, while ensuring the Sunni extremists and insurgents are dealt with. Could he help the situation by influencing the tribes that are both in Iraq and in Saudi Arabia ? He would like to work closely with the Iraqi government, if it could bring some kind of stability. The King wants to influence it to be slightly more open to working with the groups in al Anbar and in Baghdad the tribes to bring some stability in the center of the country. Military intervention is out of question. Could he influence some military groups within Iraq to protect some of the Sunni groups ? The economic growth of his country is what he wants to continue. It has a lot of impact on how he deals with Iran and in stopping U.S from attacking Iran. And he wants to bring peace to the area according to his peace plan. A few billion dollars from Riyadh into Damascus and Syria hopefully stops being so closely allied to Iran and cuts the umbilical cord of Hezbollah bringing some form of settlement in Lebanon. Diplomacy going on is reaching beyond regional issues. President Putin visited the Kingdom being the first Russian leader welcomed in Riyadh. The King needs to talk to Russia in order to manage the energy market. Russia is the largest producer of oil in the world and the largest producer and largest exporter of natural gas in the world. China's President Hu he also visited -- his first foreign visit after becoming king. He sees Saudi Arabia's future as being much closer to Asia. Most of the new Saudi Arabian economy is being developed for the Chinese market the Chinese buying energy and the Saudis selling a tremendous volume of other products. The plan is to make Saudi Arabia into a major industrial power by 2020. Petrochemicals, aluminum and steel industries will be for a market that will basically be China. He is preparing the path for the future and wants to work with China. The U.S military force has been strong and used in a difficult manner in the region. He is now afraid of the military hegemony and likes to slowly break relations with the military hegemony over a period of 10 to 20 years and replace it with the economic hegemony. The economic hegemony in the future is China, mostly, because it is the country that has all the biggest reserves right now. The future of Saudi Arabia's future is with the economic hegemony. After all, it holds a quarter of the world's proven oil reserves, is the largest economy in the Middle East with a GDP of $374 billion in 2006 and a GDP real growth rate of 5.9 percent.	A business meeting in Riyadh has a challenging agenda. The focus is business in Saudi Arabia. The goal is to find the business concepts, which balance security, safety and risk issues while ensuring collaboration with governments and military forces. Ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have just decided to stick with their output target of 25.8 million barrels a day for the 10 members in its quota system. However, prices could easily surge to levels OPEC is uncomfortable with, for example, due to problems in Saudi Arabia. Al Qaeda is problem! How could its activities be deceased in the Persian Gulf region? How to prevent attacks by Sunni extremists? The future of Saudi Arabia is being much closer to Asia. How could the companies in the meeting develop the Saudi Arabian economy for the Chinese market? The King plans to make Saudi Arabia into a major industrial power by 2020. It's industries -- petrochemicals, aluminum, steel -- will be for a market that will basically be China. Do the companies have proposals to the path for the future work with China? A new paradigm exists in Saudi Arabia in terms of foreign policy. Saudi Arabia likes to slowly break relations with the military hegemony over a period of 10 to 20 years and replace it with the economic hegemony, which in the future is China. Saudi Arabia is therefore exploring possibilities to collaborate with strong companies which want to do business in Saudi Arabia. Can the companies take over the real foreign policy of the United States with Saudi Arabia? How to work the economic hegemony approach by bringing new technology, people and sales to the region? The work in King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), Riyadh has started after KAFD's executive committee approved the master plan. Financial institutions and professional service companies are locating in the district in order to play a major part in the Kingdom's diversification drive. The whole Saudi economy is benefiting from the project. The fund's pensioners gain from the profit generated from its ownership and management of the project. Saudi Arabia's young generation benefits because a financial academy for 5,000 students is opened the purpose being to improve the skills, training, and capabilities of current and future generations. The KAFD is designed to become an international financial center equal in scale as well as in quality to some of the world's leading capital markets. No other center in the region offers a comparable partnership with the world's financial institutions in order to finance and develop one of the largest and most diversified programs of projects. The construction of the KAFD is the latest stage in a carefully planned program of financial modernization by Saudi Arabia. Located close to the business center of Olaya, the KAFD spreads over an area of 1.6 million square meters and has a floor space of some 3.3 million square meters. Collaboration between business companies, military and patrol forces should be increased. How ? Technology such as yourDragonΞ - what can it offer?	Resolved is that the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh is to become the largest financial center in the Middle East. The financial district is the headquarters of the Capital Market Authority (CMA), the Stock Exchange (Tadawul) and the Commodity Market, and for financial institutions and other service providers such as accountants, auditors, lawyers, analysts, rating agencies, consultants, and IT providers. KAFD spearheads the Kingdom's strategy to promote private sector development in order to diversify its oil-based economy and increase employment opportunities for its young people. The project creates more than 50,000 new jobs. In addition to world class office space and housing, the district has a financial academy and recreational facilities. It offers a fully integrated development including offices, hotels, a conference center, shops and sports arenas for football, volleyball and basketball. KAFD's executive committee incorporates the best ideas from all the world's leading financial centers in order to avoid the mistakes others have made. A feature of the district's center is the absence of motor cars and the creation of attractive pedestrian areas. It has parking space for 40,000 cars located largely on the perimeter. Travel within the "noise barrier" is by monorail and by giant skywalks - giant bridges in the sky linking multistorey buildings. Security is built in as a central part of the design UAVs playing an important role. KAFD has several base stations to shelter and to refuel UAVs, which patrol constantly around area preventing terrorist attacks and alarming about accidents and dangers. UAVs as well as base stations are networked. KAFD is surround by wireless ad-hoc sensor networks dropped by UAVs. These sensors produces real-time data. Environmental and ecological issues are taken into account. Vehicles including UAVs are powered by fuel which migitate CO2 emissions. Computer systems are capable to use environment friendly energy solutions. Back-up power may use hydrogen and solar power solutions. Additional security is provided by the networked control system, which is capable of collaborating with patrol and military networks, to order unmanned or manned forces to help, if needed. Networked UAVs from all over Saudi Arabia provide real-time information from oil & gas facilities and fields, from sea terminals and ports to the stock exchange. Information coming from networks to the stock exchange is already processed and filtered offering valuable and just in time knowledge for automated reasoning and to quick decisions required by the modern exchanges. Real-time information with the help of networked UAVs from its own energy resources helps the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh to compete with other stock exchanges. Guarding & protecting as well demonstrating his rulership and wisdom King uses »yourDragonΞ
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ACCIDENT AT NUCLEAR POWER PLANT Yuki opens a bottle preparing to taste Yoshiya Brewery’s Chuuei Karakuchi Honjozo sake. Fear grows rapidly inside him while watching just arrived news on his mobile TV. Excited after receiving the new job, where Yuki's responsibility as a division director is to prevent nuclear accidents, this situation feels like a nightmare. Why has nobody informed the government's nuclear and industrial safety agency ? Is the power plant trying to hide this critical accident ? How to get real-time information from the scene ? Could radioactivity level be too high for manned forces ? How about people's safety there ?	At the X nuclear plant workers mishandle a system to control water pressure for moving reactor control rods. Three of the 89 rods fall apart and part of the reactor core goes critical. The reactor fails to shut down automatically because of the broken rods. Radiation leakage is evident and several persons are injured in the accident. Hundreds of residents near a nuclear plant, as well as plant and rescue workers, are exposed to radiation when workers sidestep safe operating procedures and, using buckets, put nearly eight times the normal amount of uranium into a container, causing another critical accident, and costing several workers' lives. The chief decides to hide both accidents.	Yuki arranges immediatelly a mobile teleconference. The critical issue is how to monitor uncontrollable self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, until the rods get inserted manually. Two DragonΞs are sent rapidly to monitor possible radiation leakages outside the building. An autonomous base with special forces is also deployed to support UAVs and to produce real-time information from the data, which UAVs and sensors will collect. The first videos and still photos should start to arrive soon backed with sensor information. Situation is getting under Yuki's control -- it has to -- with the help of »yourDragonΞ
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ICE STORM A news headline of the Wall Street Journal catches Jerry's attension when he is tasting a new Scotch wisky and reading the latest financial news. The CME-CBOT merger has created a juggernaut that controls about 85 per cent of the market for US futures - contracts that hedge funds and other investors use to manage risks and bet on the future direction of prices of everything from natural gas to Japanese yen. ICE's deal has created a player with 33 per cent market share, leaving the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) less powerful. Network-centric operations with UAVs could provide new real-time information to this exchange! Having decided to "catch this ICE wave" Jerry connects his laptop to the Internet - wisky tastes stronger, more complex and bolder.	The Intercontinental Exchange's (ICE)'s focus is on one asset class i.e. energy. ICE is now in more than 1000 energy trading companies using the biggest network of any exchange - the Internet. ICE operates in real-time with millisecond response times over the Internet around the world trading OTC bilateral, OTC cleared, and futures contracts, that are all linked together. There are now over 200 delivery points of natural gas in North America. The natural gas traders on the ICE want to see those moves in concert with each other and want to find dislocations between those delivery point based on events. The ICE platform has been designed to give that trader the entire picture in milliseconds. Messaging traffic has gone up by a factor of ten and ICE has announced a dedicated hub in Chigago, New York, London and Singapore. At the meeting directors discuss new ways of getting real-time information via networks.	The Semantic Web search engine looks for several UAV vendors for Jerry. There seems to be none, which could provide UAVs in high volumes and with the price Jerry is looking for. Technology should be available!? Searching for sensor manufacturers Jerry finds several wireless sensor manufacturers. But how to deploy sensors where there are mostly needed ? Unfiltered sensor data would put even the most powerful computer systems to knees! How to filter and process sensor data before ICE receives it ? The whole infrastructure should be based on network. InternetΞ Semantic WebΞ Dedicated networkΞ After having examined several sites in the Internet and contacted UAV vendors, Jerry decides to take the risk and to invest to »yourDragonΞ
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BEIJING 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES Discomfort was building inside Qiang Wei, deputy chief of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, also a deputy to the National People's Congress. A failure was not an option either to him or to the committee. Olympic cities to be controlled were Beijing with 11 million people and area of 16,800 square km, Qingdao, one of the most important port cities hosting Sailing, Hong Kong in the Hong Kong Island hosting Equestrian, and the cities hosting Football i.e. Tianjin, one of the biggest industrial centers and key ports, Shanghai, the major industrial and commercial center, Shenyang, the economic, cultural, financial and commercial center of northeast China, and Qinhuangdao, the coastal city. Crisis cooperation should have improved before 2008 Games. The various departments of the Beijing government had needed to improve collaboration to deal effectively with any crises during the 2008 Olympics, as mayor Wang Qishan had pointed out during wide-ranging discussions of Olympic issues at the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) and its advisory body. Airport, civil aviation, air traffic management, meteorological bureau and transportation administration, each department has its own system. He had emphasized urgent to strengthen the combined actions and cooperation. However, rehearsing cooperation, had been neglected, although every incident should have been be a drill for the Games. Wang is also executive president of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. Qiang Wei knows he has good reasons to be worried.	Beijing helicopter police team for the security of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games is not ready. Pilots still need to carry out drills with helicopters. Team is not well organized and air patrol mechanisms is not in place. After serving the security of the Olympic Games, the helicopters will be used to safeguard the safety of Beijing -- but will this mission succeed? The Olympic security system, including security facilities in sports venues, is far from complete, several exercises still needed to be conducted. The number of the chopper crew is insufficient. The air police is not ready to collect evidence, trail criminal suspects, support ground operations in combating terrorism and riots, transfer policemen and facilities, or direct traffic, although the Municipal Public Security Bureau convinces so. The municipal government had purchased three helicopters and got one free from an Italian firm and its joint venture in Jiangxi Province. The crew members had been selected from the air force and some college graduates only after a six-month training, Only 90,000 policemen are called up for the Games. The security budget is only 300 million U.S. dollars, accounting for one fifth of the total costs. One World One Dream -- the green, high-tech and people's Olympics is to begin, its slogan reflecting the essence and the universal values of the Olympic spirit -- unity, friendship, progress, harmony, participation and dream. Partners such as Bank of China, Sinopec, China Mobile, Adidas, Johnson & Johnson are ready. So are the Olympic cities Beijing, Qingdao,Hong Kong, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Qinhuangdao. Will the dream come true or change to a nightmare?	Strategy resolved but kept secret to the last moment is to use yourDragonΞ UAVs and network all Olympic cities to one integrated real-time security system. The network command and control center is in Beijing and the network connects all Olympic cities. Each important Olympic facility in Beijing has base stations and UAVs guarding and sensoring all the time. Sailing at Qingdao's International Marina, located on the old site of the Beihai shipyard by Qingdao's Fushan Bay, is guarded by UAVs, which monitor 45 hectares area comprised of the land area, harbor and off-shore section. The centers for administration and competition management, athletes, press, logistic and functional have base stations for UAVs. The quay, secondary breakwater, and embankment enclosing an area of 15.5 hectares, and the major breakwater, together with the embankment, occupying 7.5 hectares, are guarded by UAVs. The removable surveying shed and a pontoon, set up separately on embankment and western quay to facilitate observations, transportation, have bases with several UAVs. Equestrian events at Hong Kong's Sports Institute and Penfold Park in Shatian, Beas River Country Club and part of the adjacent Hong Kong Golf Club are guarded by UAVs including facilities and medical services for horses. Each facility has two bases for UAVs, Hong Kong's all-weather sand venue has three. The Football venues Tianjin's Olympic Centre Stadium and Olympic Centre, Shanghai's Stadium, Shenyang's Sports Center Stadium, and Qinhuangdao's Olympic Sports Center Stadium, are guarded by UAVs each having three bases to support UAVs.
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OFF-SHORE MYSTERY IN CALIFORNIA Jack is in the good mood, time spent in Pebble Beach playing golf and relaxing and revitalizing his body and spirit at the spa with a variety of massages and water treatments had provided an impeccable personalized service which more than exceeded his expectations. Tesla Roadster takes him just with the touch of his foot to freeway towards Carmel. Jack commands his car navigation system (CNS) to use Yahoo services to look for nearby restaurants. CNS receives names, locations, pictures and profiles of restaurants within the radius he requests, complete with quality rankings and reviews by other Yahoo users. He is driving via Santa Barbara towards Santa Monica, which has access to some of the freshest produce and seafood, chefs drawn upon its rich cultural influences to Latin America & the Pacific Rim and chefs from Europe. An innovative new menu makes Jack's decision easy and the coupon provided by the CNS is ready to give him discount. An alarm message from Clear Water Port changes his plans, the first stop is Vanderberg near Oxnard. He has to get to LNG Platform Grace, 11 miles off the coast of Oxnard. What's going on?	Venoco has three offshore platforms in California, located in the Santa Barbara Channel: Gail, in 739 feet of water approximately ten miles offshore, Holly, two miles offshore in 211 feet of water, and Grace, in 318 feet of water. Clear Water Port is the LNG terminal which was converted from Grace. This platform was selected as the LNG delivery solution to Southern California because its environmentally sound approach to preserve ocean horizon, California beaches and to contribute to Pacific Environment. To minimize marine disturbance and protect the beach, pipelines use existing undersea corridors that connect directly into the SoCalGas distribution net. Naval Base Coronado (NBC) has aviation unitsto handle these kind of situations! HSC21 sends a helicopter with special forces Two helicopters are sent to deploy a base station to Gale and Holly to support yourDragonΞs arriving by a fighter from Edwards Air Force Base. Grace is considered to be too dangerous for base stations.	F-22A Raptors each onboard two yourDragonΞs are rapidly deployed from Edwards Air Force Base. USS Ronald Reagan is currently deployed and not available at Naval Base Coronado. Fighter pilots remember Transformers movie by Dreamworks, which marked the first time non-computer-generated Raptors were depicted in a film -- but this is a real situation! Three F-22A Raptors fly towards their target, one to Gail, one to Holly, and one to Grace. Each fighter drops two yourDragonΞ UAVs reporting hatching to the command and control center (CCC) at Naval Base Coronado (NBC) and returning to Edwards Air Force Base. CCC informs helicopters which are flying to deploy base stations and special operation forces. Commanders at CCC receive the first videos and still photos taken by yourDragonΞs. Nobody seems to be alive at Grace! They see yourDragonΞs drop sensors and smart bobs and hope to receive more information from sensors. Other UAVs should start arriving from the base stations at Gale and Holly platforms to replace these before they run out of petrol, according to Jack. What has happened at Clear Water Port?
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PIRACY AT MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM Loneliness is a new feeling to Catherine. She checks the calendar at Le Blog de Nina while trying to focus on a team meeting in a prime contractor for Global Missile Defense (GMD). How can she contribute in the report to the Missile Defense Agency (MDA)? GMD is supposed to provide a defense against a limited number of long-range ballistic missiles. An integral element of the global ballistic missile defense system, GMD consists of sensors, command-and-control facilities, communications terminals, fiber optic communications network and interceptors deployed in underground silos at bases in continent. X's partners include heavy weights from defense industry. A new SBX should have arrived in a test island aboard a commercial heavy transport vessel. While in a base island, a SBX was supposed to complete its radar calibration, receive upgrades, track target missiles during missile defense flight tests. Questions bothered Catherine. Where was the SBX now? Accident? Piracy? Why? Each SBX was designed to defend. However, nobody had been thinking a defence system for SBXs!	Several mobile Sea-Based X-Band Radars (SBX) are positioned in Oceans. They try to detect, track and assess any long-range ballistic missile launched from a rogue country. As part of the Global Missel Defence (GMD) system, SBXs provide target information via satellite to GMD's fire control systems. SBXs should be able to detect, track and provide precise trajectory information to defend against a long-range ballistic missile attacks. SBXs are expected to perform essential sensing functions for the GMD system defending the U.S. and its allies against long-range ballistic missiles. SBXs are deployed worldwide to detect small objects thousands of miles away and to provide critical data on incoming ballistic missile threats. It's claimed to be the only sensor platform of its type in the world. Consisting of a radar atop a modified semi-submersible oil drilling platform, each SBX can complete self-propelled journeys. During their voyages, platforms have already displayed their durability by successfully navigating severe winter storms in the northern Pacific Ocean, including waves more than 50 feet high and wind gusts of more than 100 miles an hour. The radar systems are able to move throughout the Pacific Ocean, or any of the world's oceans, to support advanced missile defense defensive operations.	The whole network is being checked. Tests reveal that the missing SBX was not the only problem! Several SBXs are offline and stay offline! Are these network nodes used against the defense system? Can the network collaborate with any other network in this kind of situation? Time to reach offline SBXs and to find out what was happening there is ticking. They have insufficient means to rapidly deploy forces to SBXs. Some sea helicopters are on their way but it will take for a while before they are at the SBX theaters. An online SBX platform alarms about radioactivity! They can not send any manned forces there! There is no UAV near the critical location and the nearest ones are of a high flying type incapable of providing videos and photos at low altitudes. Catherine's team decides to search for a patrol or business network capable of helping in network-centric operations and to rapidly deploy resources to remote theaters where help is now urgently needed. They are hoping to find a system which is capable of uploading filtered and processed information instead of raw data. What the team needs now is real-time information from each location, information which is processed for quick decisions!
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»Ξ's »Abstract »Behaviour »Mission Profile »Performance »Senses »Symbol »Specialty »Structure »Usage »Weight & Measures »Appendix A »B »C

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