CHAPTER ONE

1.0 GENERAL OVERVIEW

It is estimated that an average human being will fall ill more than three times every

year. People are always looking for different hospitals to solve their health

challenges and they don’t know the directions and the route to be followed to get to

this places. Without knowing the right routes and directions, this may cause ill

persons to get to the wrong way, which might lead to death, in cases of emergency.

To avoid this situation, this research is to provide an online hospital location

system, developed to help users to get the right directions to different health

centers. This project introduces an application that can be easily accessed, which is

implemented to provide the routes, directions, traffic update and see other hospital

users reviews about the hospitals using Google map. (Poissant et al., 2019).

1.1 INTRODUCTION

One of the most important uses of smartphones is Location Based Services (LBS).

Location of smartphone can be easily identified due to special internally equipped

chip that support the Global Positioning System (GPS). Using GPS along with

Google map can help the user to discover the nearby bookshops, restaurants, etc

(Tanenbaum & Andrew: 2020). Most people today use mobile phone to navigate

around the world. Many of users are using applications that providing directions,
1
places or other information that are based on the current location (Ibach &

Horbank: 2019). The popularity for this type of applications (LBS) is led to

develop an application in this field. Most of free software and commonly used

applications do not meet the needs of the user in term of interactivity with the user.

These applications either be navigation systems, find nearby places or display

locations on a map. However, online map applications do not support the ability to

add or delete a specified location.

Globally, health care sector is the pivot and integral part of human lives. Thus, any

delay in the clinical services might leads to defect or termination of life (Gupta &

Denton, 2018). Recently, information and Communication has been used

extensively to improve the various operations and services in the field of the health

care service (Rashid et al., 2018).

Location apps on smartphone can be effectively used and recognized because of

special internally equipped chips that support the Global Positioning System

(GPS). Using GPS on our smartphones together with Google map can assist users

to easily find nearby bookshops, restaurants, bus-stops, cinema etc (Pejic et al.,

2020). Vast majority of people today utilize mobile phone to explore and navigate

easily around cities. Many of these users are using this location application to find

directions, places or other information that are based on the current location. The

2
popularity for this type of smartphone applications (LBS) has led to the

development of an application in this field to help hospitals and sick patients. A

large portion of this free software do not meet the needs of the users in term of

finding hospitals and getting quick routes in case of emergency with the patients

(Hidayat et al., 2019)

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The essence of this study is expected to provide information quickly and accurately

regarding the determination of a nearby medical service using google maps.

Emergencies can happen anytime and anywhere. The best decision is needed in

emergency situations, but frequently when we have emergency conditions, we

cannot think logically. People are always looking for different hospitals to solve

their health challenges and they don’t know the directions and the route to be

followed to get to these places. Without knowing the right routes and directions,

this may cause ill persons to get to the wrong way. To avoid this situation, this

research is to provide an online hospital location system, developed to help users to

get the right directions to different health centers.

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1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Aim

The main aim of the research is to provide an online hospital location system,

developed to help users to get the right directions to different health centers using

Google maps.

Objectives

The proposed system is set to achieve the following objectives:

 Provide a system that users can access whenever they need to find a hospital.

 Reduce death rate in cases of emergency.

 Find hospital routes and estimated arrival time with the system.

1.4 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Scope

The scope of this project work cannot be overemphasized as there is no amount of

money that worth the life of any individual, therefore a GPS approach for

developing hospital location system shall be enhanced. With the help of this

project sick patients and other users can easily find hospitals and other health

facilities, and the system will solve the challenges of people going to the wrong

4
hospital, since each hospital on the system will have previous users’ reviews and

recommendations.

Limitation

This project is limited to design and implementation of online hospital location

system using google maps.

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

Medical service has become important aspect nowadays. When we have an

emergency condition, we are often confronted with unknown variables such as

travel distance and time of the medical services near us. However, the significance

of this project work cannot be overemphasized as the stated problems are

overcome by this system; immediate medical attention to patients requires a system

to enable them to search and locate where medical attention can be provided,

hence, this shall be achieved using this proposed application.

1.6 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Hospital: an institution that is built, staffed, and equipped for the diagnosis of

disease; for the treatment, both medical and surgical, of the sick and the injured;

and for their housing during this process.

Google Map: Google Maps is a web mapping service developed by Google. It

offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive

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panoramic views of streets, real-time traffic conditions, and route planning for

traveling by foot, car, bicycle and air, or public transportation.

Medical service: is the range of healthcare that is provided by practitioners.

Emergency: the quality of being emergent; sudden or unexpected appearance or

occurrence.

Global Positioning System (GPS): is a satellite based radio navigation system. It

is used to provide geo-location and time information.

Location Based Services (LBS): is a general term denoting a software service

which uses geographic data and information to provide services to users.

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 CHAPTER TWO

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW AND SYSTEM ANALYSIS

2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW

Literatures related to the research topic have been reviewed below in order to find

out work carried out by various researchers. There are many systems for location

based system designed as commercial products or experimental research platforms.

The increasing interest in utilizing Google Maps API to implement mobile

mapping services or what is known as Location Based Services (LBS) ranging

from simple applications to display just a few points of interest with information

windows to sophisticated map.

Sheng-Yuan Yang and Chun-Liang Hsu have developed a location-based service

for tourism information by using an image recognition technology and Google

Maps API. Their research is integrating components including a QR/Barcode

reader, smartphone GPS, and cloud database to obtain required web services (Yang

and Hsu, 2019).

Bo Zhang, Jin Peng and Shengguo Li (2017) did a research on a location-based

problem for emergency services such as ambulance and fire department. Their

research utilizes unpredictability theory to find the location problem of emergency

7
services within an unpredictable environment. Their study aims to obtain the most

excellent locations for emergency services so that certain service-level targets are

optimized.

András Király and János Abonyi (2020) researched a logistic problem by using

Google Maps API and MATLAB to gives a complete framework for travel time,

distance calculation, visualization, and primary routes definition.

Tauhidul Alam and Rajib Chandra did research using Open Street Map and

Haversine algorithm in medical assistance system. They use central database

system for gathering detail information of healthcare centers (Rajib C. & T. Alam,

2018).

Porta-Sales et al. (2015) developed another system. The main concept of the

system is contacting, screening and locating health care center initially by an

expert nurse and the patient initiating contacting with the health care center using

the telephone. Moreover, the health care center can be accessible from different

places. So there should be PC resources and PC consultations to be accessed from

different sources, from other hospitals, from general practitioners, or even from the

patients themselves.

8
Scholefield developed a web-based map service for tourism of eighteenth and

nineteenth century Edinburgh using Google Map API. Pejic et al. (2019)

developed an e-Tourism application using Google Map API to present prominent

points of tourist destinations.

Bildirici and Ulugtekin (2020) demonstrates a web mapping service with Google

Maps (API V2) mashups in which points, polylines and polygons from the data

stored in Keyhole Markup Language (KML), XML and Geodatabase format are

overlaid with Google Maps through JavaScript code.

Liu and Palen (2018) study the use of Google Maps mashups in the crisis

management for nine natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires, and so on using

near real-time and publicly available data feeds. Another study from Wayne and

Suresh from the University of (West Indies) in Jamaica Programming system

developed on the Android system an intelligence technique to search for nearest

hotels to the user's location.

Nyoman et al. (2019) from the University of (Udayana in Indonesia) developed an

online system which has the ability to help travelers to determine their locations.

The implemented method of the system has been using the language of the PHP

and the database MySQL.

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 Shunfu and Ting from the University (Edwardsville) in the state of Washington in

the United States develop a mapping service on the Internet to view thousands of

parks in U.S. states on the internet for the U.S. Department of Agriculture using

Google Maps, and a database of Microsoft SQL and ASP. NET, and is applied to

the major browsers such as (Chrome, Firefox, and IE) (Hu, S. and T. Dai, 2020).

2.2 FEASIBIITY STUDY

Feasibility study is a test of proposed system according to its workability, impact on

the patients, ability to meet needs and effective use of the resources. In system

design, new or alternative information is designed, this phase consists of three tasks,

an alternative information system is designed and each alternative is evaluating for:

2.2.1 Economic Feasibility

Economic justification is generally the “Bottom line” consideration for most

systems. Economic analysis is the most frequently used method for evaluating the

effectiveness of a new system, more commonly known as cost/benefit analysis. In

this we weigh the cost and the benefits associated with the proposed system and if

it suits the basic purpose of the hospital. However, the estimated cost of developing

and implementing of a Google map hospital location system cannot be justified

using monetary value, as the cost is high, but, no value of money worth the life of

10
 any individual who need medical attention. It shall create an enabling environment

for patients to be easily taken to a nearby health care center.

2.2.2 Operational Feasibility

A feasibility study aims to objectively and rationally uncover the strength and

weakness of an existing system. It evaluates the projects potential for success

therefore, perceived objectivity is an important factor in the credibility of the study.

It must therefore be conducted with an objective, unbiased approach to provide

information upon which decisions can be made. The system shall provide an avenue

for users to easily track and navigate to the nearest health care providers.

2.2.3 Technical Feasibility

The technical feasibility is used to weigh the hardware as well as software needed

to develop the system. Technically, those items or equipment required to

implement the new system to function properly are as follows;

i. Set of computer system (with windows operating system e.g. windows 7,

windows 8 and vista).

ii. A network connection

iii. Input devices e.g. keyboard and mouse

iv. Output devices e.g. Monitor

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Since all the technical requirement of the system is available and the required

technical knowledge is obtainable the new system shall be considered technically

feasible.

2.3 SYSTEM ANALYSIS

System analysis is the process of studying the procedures generally referred to as

system investigation, to see how they can operate and profer ways for

improvement. The analysis of the existing system and new system is described

from the research known as fact finding. Therefore, the process and method used

entails the way and how records and data is collected for the purpose of developing

a new system that will be more effective and efficient.

2.4 FACT FINDING

The method of data collection used in this project work highlight the vulnerability

of the existing system in hospital location system. A number of fact finding

technique implore are: -

Methods of data collection

The source of data collection used for this project work is categorized into primary

and secondary source of data collection.

12
i. Primary Source

These are method of data collection collected from the staffs and also from

patients visiting different hospitals randomly including personal interviews and

observation. Some of the patients were interviewed to share their feelings and

experiences about the manual system of hospital location system. They stressed

that the manual system is strenuous and inefficient because without knowing the

right routes and directions to nearest hospitals, this may cause ill persons to get to

the wrong way, which might lead to death, in cases of emergency.

ii. Secondary Source

This includes the use of newspapers, magazines, journals and surfing the

internet with related articles on google location system.

Interview method:

This is the technique use for collecting information from others on one to one bases

(primary source).

This process is done or carried out by face to face interview with the staffs and also

from patients visiting different hospitals randomly. In the process questions were

asked and directly answered. The interview was successful knowing the procedures,

processes followed in locating health care centers.

13
Some of the questions asked and answers obtained include:

 What are the challenges faced in locating nearest hospitals?

Response: People are always looking for different hospitals to solve their

health challenges and they don’t know the directions and the route to be

followed to get to this places. Without knowing the right routes and

directions, this may cause ill persons to get to the wrong way, which might

lead to death, in cases of emergency

2.5 ANALYSIS OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM

Medical service has become important aspect nowadays. When we have an

emergency condition, we are often confronted with unknown variables such as

travel distance and time of the medical services near us. The existing system is

manually operational, one will need to travel to a very long distance without

knowing if there is a nearer health facility, this might be because the person has not

visited that particular place before, which can cause a worsen condition for the

patient seeking medical attention.

2.6 PROBLEMS OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM

The majority of studies have assumed that a patient in need of medical attention is

saddled in finding where he/she can be attended to. In the existing hospital location

14
system, it is observed that health centers are not easily located, because most of the

health care centers uses only bill boards for navigation, this is usually time

consuming to get to this destination, therefore, the system is prone to lack of

efficiency.

2.7 SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS

Solution to the identified problems shall be the design and implementation of

Hospital location system using google maps that will keep track of the nearest

health care providing centre to patients, the system shall allow for them to easily

locate directions and routes to hospitals conveniently using online platform.

Compared with other methods, the online appointment system has three

advantages:

1. Find hospital routes and estimated arrival time with the system.

2. Reduce death cases in terms of emergence.

3. Patient’s satisfaction: the google location system allows patients to view

services provided.

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 CHAPTER THREE

3.0 SYSTEM DESIGN

System design refers to the details that state how a proposed system will solve the

problem and meet the requirements that arise during the analysis of a system. This

includes decisions about what the new or modified system must do and how.

3.1 ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

The system is represented architecturally using the diagram below. It follows a

hierarchical structure, probably the most commonly used information design. It

lends itself to larger contents collection because the section page breaks up and

organizes the contents at different level. Navigation is primarily linear within the

pages. The structure encourages exploration within pages, allowing the user to

navigate freely through the program. All pages contain navigation arrow linking to

the section pages and home page.

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 Home

User Login
Registration

User
Admin

View location Hospital

Logout
information Locator

Add Location Delete Generate

location visitors list

DATABASE

Fig.3.1 System Hierarchical chat

3.2 ABSTRACT SPECIFICATION

Abstract specification is explained in the form of input and output specification. It

describes the general procedure and methodology involve in initializing the data

17
collection in order to accomplish the logical desire of the system under study. The

procedures for this research are summarized under the following heading:

Input Specification

It is necessary for the designer to strategize the design of the new system through

the input specification i.e. knowing those inputs to the system for which the system

is expected to generate the required output. The input designs of the proposed

system are explained in their respective categories below:

Add a new location marker on the map

This function can start with pressing long click on the map (Event:

onMapLongClick). This will bring the coordinates of the marker of location on the

map. After that, a new request information window will be appeared. The user can

fill out the window with the specified information. It requires the following details:

Location name, location category, details information, location rate, location

coordinate and location zoom level

Table 3.1 input specification

Input Fields Description

Input text field for user to enter location name

Location Name

Category Input text field for user to enter location category

Location coordinate Input text field that allow user to enter qualification

18
 Input text field that allow user to enter location
Location
rate/information
rate/information

Output Specification

The output design that can be generated from the system, this depend on the type

of information needed to be extracted from the record gathered such as report on

doctors’ registered, patients’ details etc. The output is designed in such a way that

user receives understandable information that is used for decision making. The

user must be able to easily find the output, move forward and backward and exit

the report and the timing of computer outputs information must reach the user to

another transaction or decision.

Display pre-Specific Location Information: User can see detailed information

about a particular location on the map by pressing on the marker of desired

location by pressing on it to bring the coordinates of the location on the map. The

name of selected location is displayed in an information window. When pressing

on the information window, a new window will be appeared having two options.

Choosing the “Show Info” option will displaying the related location information

from the database server. The displayed in formation consist of (location name,

location categories, location rate, and details location information).

19
Table 3.2 Output specification

Output Fields Description

output text field for user to enter location name

Location Name

Category output text field for user to display location

category

Location coordinate output text field that allow user to display

qualification

output text field that allow user to display location

Location
rate/information
rate/information

3.3 INTERFACE DESIGN

The new system implements attractive interface representation using tags

belonging to PHP and HTML. For the appropriate management of users and data,

the interfaces of the software are depicted below.

Hospital Location System using Google Maps

Registration Add location

Login

View locations
Hospital Locator Delete location
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 USERS’ NAME:

CONTACT DETAILS: 2222222222222222

GENDER:

REGISTER USER

Fig. 3.3: Users’ Registration Page

Place Name:

Longitude:

Latitude:
Place Information:
Zoom level:

Category:
Rate:

ADD LOCATION

Fig. 3.4: Add location form

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 3.4 DATA STRUCTURE

The data structure of the proposed system is shown on the table below having the

data name and data type represented on it.

Table 3.3: Users’ Profile

S/N FIELD NAME FIELD TYPE FIELD

WIDTH

1. Title Varcher 15

2. Name Varcher 35

3. Contact details Varcher 40

4. Gender Varcher 30

3.5 ALGORITHM DESIGN

1. Main menu

Start

Display main menu and allow option selection

If option = (Login)
Load available sub-modules
Else if
Option= (Add location)
22
Load Add location module
Else if
Option = (Delete location)
Load delete location module
Else if
Option = (Hospital locator)
Load hospital locator module
Else if
Option = (Generate visitors list)
Load visitors list module
Stop

2. Login module

Start

Display option selection

If option is = users’ registration

Go to users’ registration module

Else if

Option = (Admin login)

Load admin login module
Go to next step

Else

Stop.

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 CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION AND DOCUMENTATION

4.1 SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION

System implementation refers to the actual design of the program using the algorithm

which must be drafted in the system design phase. It is the realization of the technical

specification or algorithm as a program, software components or other computer system

through programming and development.

4.2 CHOICE OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

Designing of Electronic hospital Location system using google map requires choosing

appropriate computer programming language compiler that could be used for application

development needed to solve the problem of this system. Therefore the programming

language used is PHP and MySQL Embedded with HTML

PHP,a scripting language designed specifically for use on the Web, it is a tool for

creating dynamic Web pages. Rich in features that make Web design and programming

easier, PHP is in use on over 13 million domains (according to the Netcraft survey at

[Link]/[Link]). Its popularity continues to grow, meaning that it must be

fulfilling its function pretty well. PHP stands for: Hypertexts Preprocessor.

The reasons why PHP and MySQL are used for the development of the new system are

due to the following:

24
- It’s secure. MySQL’s flexible system of authorization allows some or all database

privileges (for example, the privilege to create a database or delete data) to specific

users or groups of users. Passwords are encrypted.

- MySQL is a fast, easy-to-use RDBMS used for databases on many Web sites. Speed

was the developers’ main focus from the beginning.

- It supports large databases. MySQL handles databases up to 50 million rows or

more. The default file size limit for a table is 4GB, but you can increase this (if your

operating system can handle it) to a theoretical limit of 8 million terabytes (TB).

- It’s customizable. The open source GPL license allows programmers to modify the

MySQL software to fit their own specific environments.

4.3 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

4.3.1 Installation Requirement

The requirements for the proposed system are viewed under two (2) perspectives;

Hardware and Software requirements.

4.3.2 Hardware Requirement

The hardware component of a computer system refers to the physical part that makes

up the computer system. For an effective operation, the system can be implemented

provided the following hardware components are at least met. The following

hardware is required for the efficient work of the system:

25
- 1. Storage: 13-20 gigabyte of storage.

- 2. Memory: 128MB of ram and above.

- 3. Keyboard: Enhanced keyboard

- 4. Drivers: CD ROM 48x and above, 3.5 (1.44mb) FDD Drive

- 5. Mouse: Enhanced serial or parallel mouse

- 6. CRT: 15” svgacolored monitor

- 7. Model: Pentium 580 mml and above

- 8. Android Mobile phone

4.3.3 Software Requirements

Software refers to series of instructions written in language that are understandable

to computer to make it perform some specific tasks. This software can be

application or system software.

The following software components will be required and will serve as

dependencies:

 PHP/Microsoft SQL Server

 Web Browser
26
  Microsoft Windows Family (XP, Vista, Win 7 and above)

 IIS (Internet Information Services 6.0 and above)

 Microsoft .Net 4.0 Framework

 Anti Virus (Software that gives protection against malware)

4.4 PROCESS OF INSTALLATION

This is the process where the new developed program is loaded into the computer

system to carry out the purpose it was developed for.

This process is through the use of a CD/DVD or flash memory where the program

setup and the server are saved on.

The first step is to confirm if localhost server is installed on the system (e.g.

WAMP Server). If it is not then it has to be installed.

- Double click on the server setup on the CD/DVD or flash memory

- Then follow the instruction to complete the installation.

After WAMP server is installed the next step is to copy the folder of the entire

program found in the CD/DVD or flash memory then save into WWW

[Link] folder is located in Local disc C:/wamp/If the copying is done

27
successfully, then the program is ready to use just go the browser and type on the

address bar [Link]

4.5 SYSTEM TESTING

In general, testing is designed to make sure the product performs as desired, the

identification and correction of errors in an information system is often called

debugging which comes from the programmer who attempt to eliminate bugs or

errors in computer programs. The following are the errors that are realizable during

the execution of the application.

 Data Format Error: This is error due to invalid data input in a field requiring

a different data type. The error is handled using the FormatException.

 Invalid Database Connection Error: This is due to a loss in connection to the

database. This is usually caused by an invalid connection string or absence

of the target database. This error is handled using

[Link].

 Invalid Operation Error: This is due to referencing an empty record that

returns no values or data. This error is handled using the

InvalidOperationException.

4.6 SYSTEM CHANGE OVER

28
This is the technique required to put the new system into function, it tells how the

new system will be after development.

o Parallel system change over:- both the new system and the new system are

used together for some time before the old system is discarded

o Pilot system change over;- the old system will not be completely discarded

while some part of it will remain and will be used together with the new

developed system. There is need for the user to get use of the new system

before the old system is completely discarded.

o Direct system change over: the new system is put into use directly and fully

without working with the new system. I.e. the old system is completely

discarded and left alone the new system.

For effective use of the new system, it will be of help to use the above methods of

system change over.

4.7 SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION

It is a good programming practice to document any software written so that other

programmers and computer users can execute operations of the program in a much

easy and efficient way. This sections breaks down the functions and operations of

29
various modules working in the new system. Due to the nature of this project work,

Internal Documentation is achieved using comment lines in the program code.

30
 CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 SUMMARY

This project work comprises of chapters one to five. Chapter one comprises of

introduction, structure of the problem, Aim and Objective, Scope and limitation,

Significant of the studies, and the definition of terms. Chapter two comprises of

literature review, system analysis, feasibility studies, fact finding, analysis of the

existing and system of the problems. Chapter three tells about the system design,

Architectural design, and abstract specification, interface and data structure design.

While chapter four deals with the implementation of the system, documentation,

choice of programming language, installation requirement, hardware requirement,

software requirement, process of installation, and system change over. Chapter five

entails summary, conclusion, recommendation and Appendix.

5.2 CONCLUSION

This paper has demonstrated an online mapping application that shall be developed

using Google Maps API, Google Direction API, MySQL Database and PHP. These

tools are open source and high reliability. This project help tourist or any user use

31
it to add place on map or can delete place from map or review the information

about any place on map, also can calculate route, duration and distance between

any two points or place on map. In order to provide the user with interaction with

the map, in addition, tooltips (e.g. place name) to the markers are provided; this is

to assist in tracking nearby healthcare providers easily in terms of emergency.

5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS

People are travelling to many different places and they are unknown the directions

and the route to be followed. Without knowing the directions, this may Cause to

get the wrong way. To avoid this situation, many mobile applications are

developed to help people to get the right directions. There is always a room for

improvement in the future. Therefore, I will recommend that this proposed method

can be integrated with other Google Maps API features such as traffic direction,

traffic congestion, and transportation system in a particular area.

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REFERENCES

Poissant L, Pereira J, Tamblyn R, Kawasumi Y (2019): "Development of an

emergency medical service system based on wireless networks and
real-time traffic information," in International Conference on
Computerized Healthcare (ICCH), 2019.
Tanenbaum, Andrew S., (2020) Computer networks. Vol. 5. Englewood Cliffs
(NY): Prentice-Hall

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