Evaluation of education and scientific research values of luot mountain – an application of replacement cost method

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF FORESTRY STUDENT THESIS EVALUATION OF EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH VALUES OF LUOT MOUNTAIN – AN APPLICATION OF REPLACEMENT COST METHOD Major: Advanced Curriculum in Natural Resources Management Faculty: Forest Resources & Environmental Management Student: Vu Thi Tu Student ID: 1553090487 Class: K60 Natural Resources Management Course: 2015 - 2019 Advanced Education Program Developed in collaboration with Colorado State University, USA Supervisor: Asso Prof Dr Tran Thi Thu Ha Ha Noi, September 2019 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS With the agreement of the Faculty of Forest resources and environment management and Asso Prof Dr Tran Thi Thu Ha, we have carried out research on the projects: “Evaluation of education and scientific research values of Luot mountain - An application of Replacement cost method” In the process of implementing topics, I have received the guidance and help of teacher: Tran Thi Thu Ha To have completed this topic, I would like to express our sincere gratitude for the valuable help from our teacher And most of all, thanks to our university - Vietnam National University of Forestry, helps us get these favorable conditions and a suitable environment to complete our research ii CONTENTS I INTRODUCTION II GOALS AND OBJECTIVES 2.1.Goal .4 2.2.Objectives .4 III STUDY SITE AND METHODOLOGIES 3.1.Study site 3.1.1 Geographical location .5 3.1.2 Topography 3.1.3 Geology and soil .6 3.1.4 Climate and hydrology .7 3.1.5 Biodiversity 3.2.Research methodology 3.2.1 Secondary data collection 3.2.2 Primary data collection .9 3.2.3 Data analysis 13 IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 15 4.1 Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Luot mountain 15 4.1.1 Strengths 15 4.1.2 Weaknesses 16 4.1.3 Opportunities 16 4.1.4 Threats 17 4.2 Potential education and scientific research values of Luot mountain 17 4.2.1 Potential education values of Luot mountain 17 4.2.2 Potential scientific research values of Luot mountain 20 4.3 Estimating education and scientific research values of Luot mountain .21 4.3.1 Estimated costs for field - study in other places .21 4.3.2 The difference between field - study at Luot mountain and other places 23 4.3.3 Education and scientific research values of Luot mountain .25 iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS RCM: Replacement Cost Method TCM: Travel Cost Method CVM: Contingent Valuation Method VNUF: Vietnam National University of Forestry AC: Average cost ATC: Average total cost iv LIST OF TABLES Table Description of respondences .10 Table SWOT analysis .13 Table List of subjects VNUF’s students have to go for a field - study 18 Table List of subjects that can be practiced in Luot mountain .19 Table Average cost students have to pay for a field-study in another place 21 Table Number of students taken field - study and average cost according to the field of study .23 Table Average cost students have to pay for field-study in Luot mountain 26 Table Number of students taken field - study and average cost according to the field of study if student go to Luot mountain .27 v LIST OF FIGURE Fiure Map of Luot mountain in Xuan Mai – Chuong My – Ha Noi Fiure Percentage of money students can save if they choose Luot mountain for a field - study instead of other places 24 vi ABSTRACT The thesis has applied RCM (Replacement Cost Method) to estimates the education and scientific research values of Luot mountain Interviewee were randomly selected from major which need field – studies The interviewing based on their majors and the amount of money they spend for field -studies In study, 36 people were randomly selected The questionnaire encompassed questions about basic information of interviewees (name, major), the estimated costs they spent for field – studies and their expectation on Luot mountain The data was collected and analyzed by Excel to calculate total average costs for field – studies in another place and assess the differences between Luot mountain and other places The total average costs students, who studied the major need field – studies, is 5,715,000,000 VND Meanwhile, interviewee thought they can save almost 50% amount of money if they go to Luot mountain instead Therefore, we calculated the education and scientific research values of Luot mountain is 2,794,000,000 VND This value enables the forest managers Vietnam National University of Forestry, concern to be included in forest management and policies proposing vii I INTRODUCTION The natural environment is a particular good with respect to its economic nature Since environmental resources carry no price tag, society does not pay for their use, creating a need for the valuation of environmental resources and their inclusion in economic decision-making The reasons why valuation is necessary are the following: since economic decision-makers make decisions based on economic evaluation, it only makes sense to have such information for natural capital in a way that: allows the inclusion of environmental damages in economic decision-making; provides reasons to support environmental investments, thus it will be possible to have natural capital included in decisions with a value greater than zero: it will also be possible to carry out the comparative analysis of investment proposals based on environmental aspects Cost- or market-based methods are based on the assumption that the value of natural resources (the benefits they provide) is equal to the costs of conservation or remediation When an environmental resource is damaged, a service is lost, and investment or development is necessary to prevent this or replace the service in question The associated costs can be used to approximate the value of the original, freely available service Cost-based valuation methods include the following: Replacement cost method; Shadow project method; Remediation cost method; Damage cost avoided method; Productivity analysis; Cost-benefit analysis The objective of the replacement cost method is to evaluate the costs related to substituting a freely available environmental resource or service The starting assumption is that the value of said service is at least as much as the costs of replacement – therefore the literature considers this to be a method that provides a lower estimate The basic conditions of using this method are the following: the extent and usability of the artificial replacement service is identical to the original; from the options that meet the first criterion, the most cost-effective solution is used; the aggregate willingness to pay makes the investment possible Luot mountain, an experimental forest, is managed and developed by Vietnam National University of Forestry (VNUF) Its values were shown by many studies and researches on ecological characteristics, hydrology, soil texture, etc such as “Research on the permeability and holding water ability of forest land” (Pham Van Dien), “Water retention capacity of pine forest in Luot mountain” (Vuong Van Quynh), “Assess the status of nutrients under different plantations of Luot mountain”, etc Those characteristics contribute a lot to fauna and flora diversity and beautiful landscapes Therefore, Luot mountain became a valuable ecosystem for studying and researching purposes of students and lecturers in VNUF In a small survey at VNUF, nearly three fourth of students don’t want to have a long and far-field trip Having a look at that problem, we considered that Luot mountain would be a potentially ideal place for students In recent years, many subjects require students to go to Luot mountain for study such as Plant Identification, Land use management and water quality, etc It is easy to say “resources in Luot mountain contribute a lot to net social values”, but the question is how to measure the actual values of Luot mountain in terms of studying and researching purposes Many methods were used to evaluate existing natural resources and it is very important to choose a method that is appropriate In this study, we decided to apply the Replacement Cost Method (RCM) because it emphasizes exactly the education and scientific research values of Luot mountain in a more simple way than other methods like Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) or Travel Cost Method (TCM) The RCM - preventive expenditure and opportunity cost not reflect preferences can be a valid alternative for evaluating the education and scientific research values of a mountain The main advantage of using these valuation techniques is that they are less data and resource-intensive than methods based on preferences (Sandra Notaroa, 2012) The RCM considers the cost incurred by replacing ecosystem services with artificial substitutes (Dixon et al., 1997) The basic premise of the RCM is that the cost is no greater than the benefits accruing from the ecosystem service in question If not, the RCM “misrepresents willingness to pay or willingness to accept valuation concepts” (Farber et al., 2002, p 389), resulting in an overstatement of the value One limitation of the RCM is that expenditure for replacement is not always a reliable measure of benefits from ecosystem services as artificial technologies not generally generate all of the services that an ecosystem provides This fact may lead to an underestimation of the ecosystem’s value As a result, the RCM is more appropriate for estimating the economic value of a single ecosystem service or a limited number of services Another limitation derives from the difficulty of finding perfect substitutes The most important advantages of this method are that information on costs is easily obtained and that it is less time consuming than other valuation techniques The valuation of an environmental good or service using the RCM can thus be viewed as a less costly alternative (Gunatilake and Vieth, 2000) For all the above reasons, we decided to conduct a thesis title: “Evaluation of education and scientific research values of Luot mountain – An application of Replacement Cost Method” 4.2.2 Potential scientific research values of Luot mountain There are more than 230 researches on Luot mountain These research topics are very diverse such as research on species like plants, insects, mushrooms, etc or natural conditions in here Some relevant researches as: “Insects composition on Luot mountain” (Le Bao Thanh, Bui Van Bac, 2015); “Research on the potential capacity of infiltration on Luot mountain” (Pham Van Dien, Vu Thi Quynh Nga, 2009); “Research on soil textures distribution on Luot mountain” (Phi Dang Son, Nguyen Truong Dinh Trung, 2017); “Carbon stock in forest plantations - a case study in Luot mountain” (Ha Quang Anh, 2018); “Evaluating effects of vegetation cover types on overland flow generation and soil erosion in Luot mountain” (Chao Thi Yen, 2014); “Assessment on the actual situation and some silviculture practices for experimental forest of Luot mountain in Xuan Mai Chuong My - Ha Noi” (Vu Tuan Anh, 2014); “Research on the diversity of butterfly on Luot mountain and propose recommendations” (Nguyen Van Linh, 2015); “Research selection method to determine canopy coverage in Luot mountain, Xuan Mai, Chuong My, Ha Noi” (Hoang Thu Yen, 2016); “Research on leaves’ disease of Pinus massoniana Lamb on Luot mountain and propose recommendations” (Le Huu Hao, 2017); “Research on biological diversity and ecology of mushrooms in Luot mountain” (Dong Thi Hai Yen, 2018); “Research on natural regeneration of forest in Luot mountain” (Ngo Thi Anh Thu, 2018); etc The research areas in Luot mountain are mainly about the biodiversity (fauna and flora) and natural conditions in Luot mountain; its functions to surrounding environment such as carbon stock, beautify landscape, etc These types of research areas are favorable to education and researching for some courses as: Natural Resources Management, Forest Resources Management and Silviculture Many students decided to choose Luot mountain as a location to 20 scientific research under the guidance of lecturers For instance, the thesis “Evaluating effects of vegetation cover types on overland flow generation and soil erosion in Luot mountain” of Chao Thi Yen was guided by Dr Bui Xuan Dung; or “Research on natural regeneration of forest in Luot mountain” of Ngo Thi Anh Thu was guided by Dr Bui The Doi; etc Luot mountain is one of the best locations for students in Vietnam National University of Forestry to scientific research 4.3 Estimating education and scientific research values of Luot mountain 4.3.1 Estimated costs for field - study in other places The costs for a field - study are not the same in different places and different time periods Also, it depends on how a student managing their pocket After surveying 36 students from different courses: Natural resources management, Forest resources management, Silviculture, Biotechnology, Environmental Sciences, Land management, we calculated the average cost (AC) that one student has to pay for a field - study in another place There are types of expenditures: travel cost, living cost, meals cost, study materials cost and expense cost The results are shown in the table below Table Average cost students have to pay for a field-study in another place Unit: VND Nr Types of expenditure Max Min Average Travel cost 300,000 70,000 185,000 Living cost 1,500,000 220,000 860,000 Meals cost 2,800,000 500,000 1,650,000 Materials cost 50,000 50,000 50,000 Expense cost 350,000 160,000 255,000 5,000,000 1,000,000 3,000,000 Total (Sources: Students survey, 2019) 21 According to the students survey, the maximum cost one students have to pay for a field – study in another place is million VND and the minimum cost is million VND In which, the amount of money for living and meals during a field – study accounted almost the costs student had to pay The cost for study materials is the lowest one which only accounted 50 thousand VND These types of costs depend on how far and how long student have to go and stay in another place The longer they stay, the more money they have to pay The average cost that one student have to pay for each field – study in another place is million VND According to the Academic Affair Division of VNUF, normally students have to go for field – studies during their cohort Average total costs (ATC) for cohort = AC of field – study * field-studies = million VND * = million VND It means that each student who followed the courses, which belongs to the group of courses need to go for field – studies, have to pay million VND just for field – studies during a cohort In subjects Natural resource management (both advanced and standard program), Forest resource management, Silviculture, Environmental Science, Biotechnology and Land management; there are total 635 students of K60 have to go for field – studies The total average costs they have to pay for those field – studies is 5,715 million VND per cohort (Table 6) 22 Table Number of students taken field - study and average cost according to the field of study Average cost/student/ Nr Field of study Number of field-studies students/cohort (VND) Natural resource management (both advanced and standard program) 135 1,215,000,000 Forest resource management 153 1,377,000,000 Silviculture 55 495,000,000 Environmental Science 82 738,000,000 Biotechnology 85 765,000,000 Land management 125 1,125,000,000 (Sources: Academic Affair Division of VNUF, Students survey, 2019) 4.3.2 The difference between field - study at Luot mountain and other places The results of the survey on 36 students from different majors in which field - studies are required showed that 90% want to go to Luot mountain for a field - study instead of going to another place The reasons for selecting Luot mountain for field - study are: First, students can save money when they take a field - study in the experimental forest on Luot mountain instead of in other places as national parks or natural reserves It is quite a large amount of money students have to pay for traveling cost, living cost and study fee cost if they go to other places 23 Some of the frequent national parks or natural reserves that students in VNUF go for field - studies are Cuc Phuong National Park, Tay Thien – Tam Dao National Park, Cat Ba National Park, Ba Vi National Park, Xuan Lien Natural Reserve, etc The nearest national park – Ba Vi National Park – is located about 40 kilometers far from the university Moreover, the living costs including the rest house, meals and expenses incurred are the second type of costs students have to worry about A final field - study usually takes about weeks to weeks, which means that one student may have to pay about to million VND If students could have the field - study on Luot mountain, they can save a lot of money 100% of students believe that they can save money if they could have a field - study at Luot mountain instead of going to another place The percentage of how much money students think they could save is shown as below: Percentage of money students can save 0% 10% 10% 25% 15% 30% 50% 70% 50% 100% Figure Percentage of money students can save if they choose Luot mountain for a field - study instead of other places There are 50% of students think that they can save 30% to 50% of money in comparison with the amount of money they have to pay if they go to another place for a field - study In addition, there are 25% of students even think that they can save 50% to 70% of money (figure 2) 24 The costs for practicing and doing scientific research at other places are high in comparison with Luot mountain The weighted average is about nearly 50% of money students think they can save if they choose Luot mountain as a location for a field – study instead of other places Second, there are 35% of students mentioned Luot mountain as a good place for studying and doing researches The infrastructure and biodiversity of Luot mountain are favorable conditions for study and investigate the new phenomena Because Luot mountain is located inside the university barrier, it’s very convenient for students who want to take samples from the experimental forest to the laboratory There are all have pathways that can help them easily reach inside the forest and the equipment in the laboratory are advanced Moreover, Luot mountain has diverse fauna and flora species Many founding teachers and researchers in VNUF as Tran Cong Loanh, Tran Van Mao, Nguyen The Nha, Nguyen Kim Oanh, etc from 1990 to present were kept in the university’s library Last but not least, the experimental forest on Luot mountain has brought many advantages for not only students and teachers in VNUF but also for international students and researchers in comparison with other national parks and natural reserves International students who came to the university to follow a course as Tropical Forest or Sustainable forest management, are always thrown nice recommendations on the experimental forest on Luot mountain They could practice immediately what they have just learned 4.3.3 Education and scientific research values of Luot mountain The costs for a field - study are not the same for each student It depends on where is they live (far from university or not) and how many money they spend for meals and other expense After surveying 36 students from different courses: Natural resources management, Forest resources management, Silviculture, Biotechnology, Environmental Sciences, Land management, we 25 calculated the average cost (AC) that one student has to pay for a field - study in Luot mountain There are types of expenditures: travel cost, living cost, meals cost, study materials cost and expense cost The results are shown in the table below Table Average cost students have to pay for field-study in Luot mountain Unit: VND Nr Types of expenditure Max Min Average Travel cost 150,000 75,000 Living cost 800,000 400,000 Meals cost 1,350,000 500,000 925,000 Materials cost 50,000 50,000 50,000 Expense cost 50,000 10,000 30,000 2,400,000 560,000 1,480,000 Total (Sources: Student survey, 2019) According to the student survey, the maximum cost one students have to pay for a field – study in Luot mountain is 2.4 million VND and the minimum cost is 560 thousand VND In which, the amount of money for living and meals during a field – study accounted almost the costs student had to pay The minimum travel cost and living cost are represented for the student who live very close to the university The average cost that one student have to pay for each field – study in Luot mountain is 1.48 million VND Average total costs (ATC) for cohort = AC of field – study * field-studies = 1.48 million VND * = 4.44 million VND 26 It means that each student who followed the courses, which belongs to the group of courses need to go for field – studies, have to pay 4.44 million VND just for field – studies during a cohort if they choose Luot mountain instead of other places Table Number of students taken field - study and average cost according to the field of study if student go to Luot mountain Nr Field of study Natural resource Number of students/cohort Average cost/student/ field-studies (VND) 135 594,000,000 management (both advanced and standard program) Forest resource management 153 673,200,000 Silviculture 55 242,000,000 Environmental Science 82 360,800,000 Biotechnology 85 374,000,000 Land management 125 550,000,000 (Sources: Academic Affair Division of VNUF, Students survey, 2019) In subjects Natural resource management (both advanced and standard program), Forest resource management, Silviculture, Environmental Science, Biotechnology and Land management; there are total 635 students of K60 have 27 to go for field – studies The total average costs they have to pay for those field – studies is 2,794 million VND per cohort (Table 8) To sum up, the costs students have to pay for field – studies in Luot mountain less than nearly a half in comparison with another place (about 48.9%) This percentage is almost the same as the weighted average results from 4.3.2 part Students think that they can save almost 50% of money if they can go to Luot mountain for field –studies instead of other places Therefore, we calculated the education and scientific research values (ESV) of Luot mountain as below: ESV = TAC in another place – TAC in Luot mountain = 5,715 million VND - 2,794 million VND = 2,921 million VND In conclusion, the education and scientific research values of Luot mountain are about 2,921,000,000 VND for cohort V CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS The research aimed at estimating the education and scientific research values of Luot mountain Luot mountain is a diversity forest and has potential values to become a natural reserve It has many strengths points about ecological and natural conditions which highly support for the development opportunities Students can save a lot of money if they have a field - study in Luot mountain instead of other national parks or natural reserves However, Luot mountain still needs to develop more to become a favorable place for students to study and research Vietnam National University of Forestry should propose policies and operate more activities to improve the quality of the forest The RCM, in particular, can provide a view from an ecosystem management perspective, as this estimate shows the cost that society would 28 sustain if it had to replace the ecosystem service This method was applied using a formula to estimate the total annual average cost after conducting data from the interview on 20 students in VNUF The hardest part of using this method is to define the rate of substitute This study may represent a step towards improving the management of Luot mountain in the future; however, more research is needed to refine this methodology The selection of attributes, the identification of suitable solutions are important fields of research More specifically, a problem with the RCM is the inability to determine whether the costs of technical substitutes Nevertheless, despite this limitation, this methodology can be a valuable aid in making forest management decisions because of its capacity to simplify the decision-making process in highly complex situations Luot mountain has favorable conditions for studying and doing scientific research After analyzed and calculated, we noticed that the total cost students of Vietnam National University of Forestry have to pay for field –studies at another place are very high in comparison with Luot mountain Also, almost students (about 90%) agree that they want to have a field – study at Luot mountain Therefore, we recommended that the forest manager should notice this expectation of students and non-stop improving infrastructure, enrich the biological diversity of the experimental forest in Luot mountain In order to ensure the experimental forest can meet the eligibility, we proposed some recommendations for sustainable use and management for education and scientific research of Luot mountain First, we should create areas or zones which need to be highly protected Some parts of the forest have many types of plants and insects which are rare and need to be protected The activities except study or scientific research will not be allowed in this area 29 Second, we should have policies and activities for raising awareness of students and local people In recent years, the uncontrollable littering portrayed a bad picture of Luot mountain and it put stresses on Luot mountain The most frequent littered stuff include fast food packaging, cigarette butts, used drink bottles, chewing gum wrappers, broken electrical equipment parts, toys, broken glass, food scraps or green wastes, etc which are mainly come from students Litter adversely affects the environment Be it littering along the pathway, toxic materials or chemicals in the litter can be blown into the forest lands, and eventually pollutes the waterways, land, forest areas, soils Cigarette butts, for instance, contain toxic substances like arsenic which can contaminate soil and water We should put in place strict litter laws that ensure no litter is discarded, thrown or dropped onto Luot mountain Also, community programs and groups should be created with the sole aim of running anti-litter campaigns to raise awareness “Keep the environment tidy” programs and community clean up events can be a lot of fun and are sufficiently valuable in spreading the message Recently, there are some groups as Green for future, Uoc mo xanh, Vi moi truong, etc were created in order to raise awareness of students and local people They had many activities to protect Luot mountain and also cleaned it Besides, we should put enough garbage bins in the university campaign and on Luot mountain Last but not least, we should raise the education and scientific research values of Luot mountain In recent years, there are many international students and researchers from many countries follow our advanced courses as Tropical Forest, Sustainable Forest management, etc left nice comments about Luot mountain We should nonstop try improving and developing the experimental forest on Luot mountain This will be the first step in raising funds for Luot mountain and make it becomes more diverse, more favorable 30 REFERENCES Barry C Field, 2008 Natural Resources Economics: 147-163 Chao Thi Yen, 2014 Evaluating effects of vegetation cover types on overland flow generation and soil erosion in Luot mountain Dung B.X., Ninh, Duong, Son, 2015 Đặc điểm chế độ dòng chảy chất lượng nước lưu vực rừng trồng núi Luốt, Xuân Mai, Hà Nội Eric Mungatana, 2013 Valuation and Incentive Measures for Sub-Saharan West Africa - Cost Based Methods Ha Quang Anh, 2018 Carbon stock in forest plantations - a case study in Luot mountain Hien P.T., Phuong, Khieu, Hoa, 2017 Đặc điểm sinh vật đất tán rừng thực nghiệm núi Luốt, trường Đại học Lâm nghiệp Hoang Thu Yen, 2016 Research selection method to determine canopy coverage in Luot mountain, Xuan Mai, Chuong My, Ha Noi: 16,17 Lee MacDonald, 2016 Developing a thesis Marjainé, 2005 Own compilation based on Marjainé 10 Nguyen Truong Dinh Trung, 2017 Đặc điểm phân bố khơng gian số tính chất đất núi Luốt Trường đại học lâm nghiệp 11 Rinkiolu Chai, 2016 Conserving biological diversity: A Multiscaled approach Geomorphological Mapping: A Basis for the Conservation of Biodiversity 12 Sandra Notaroa, Alessandro Palettob, 2012 The economic valuation of natural hazards in mountain forests: An approach based on the replacement cost method 13 Tran Thi Thu Ha, Le Dinh Hai, 2017 Kinh tế tài nguyên môi trường 31 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE Luot Mountain is located in Center of Xuan Mai town, near far from Ha Noi about 38km It always known as beautiful landscape which have diversity of fauna Besides, it is not only study place but also study research of student at VNUF The purpose of research is to apply Replacement Cost Method (RCM) to evaluate the education and scientific research values of Luot Mountain through the costs students have to pay for field – studies in other places and estimated cost in Luot mountain General Information What’s your name? …………………………………………………………………………… What is your major? …………………………………………………………………………… Detail Question How many field – studies did you have? A B C D More than Please listing the subjects that you have to go for a field – study …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… 32 Where did you go for field – studies?  Cuc Phuong National Park  Tay Thien – Tam Dao National Park  Cat Ba National Park  Ba Vi National Park  Other:………………………………………………………………… How much did the travelling cost for a field – study? How much did the living cost for a field - study? ………………………………………………………………………… How much did the meals cost for a field – study? …………………………………………………………………………… Did you have to pay any other cost for a field – study? A Yes …………………………………………………………………… B No 10 How long did a field – study take? ………………………………………………………………………… 11 Do you want to take a field – study in Luot mountain instead of other places? (Please give reason(s)) A Yes……………………………………………………………………… B No………………………………………………………………………… 12 If yes, please list subject(s) that you think you could study in Luot mountain 33 13 Could you please estimate the the amount of money you spend if you go to Luot mountain for field – study? (the same time period with field – study in another place)  Travel cost  Living cost  Meals cost  Other cost 14 How much you think you can save if you could go to Luot mountain for field – study in comparison with other places? A 10% B 30% C 50% D 70% E 100% 15 To protect and develop sustainable landscape at Luot Mountain, Do you have willingness to pay? A Yes B No If yes, how much? …………………….(VND) 16 Your opinion about research? ………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………… Thank You! 34