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<!--
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  * metacat.html
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  *
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  *      Authors: Jivka Bojilova
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  *    Copyright: 2000 Regents of the University of California and the
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  *               National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
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  *  For Details: http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/
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  *      Created: 2000 April 5
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  *      Version: 0.01
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  *    File Info: '$Id: metacat.html 2509 2005-06-08 18:13:42Z costa $'
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  * 
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  * October Meeting SDSC, 2000
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-->
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<TITLE>Metacat</TITLE>
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="@docrooturl@default.css">
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</HEAD> 
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<BODY>
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  <table width="100%">
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    <tr>
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      <td class="tablehead" colspan="2"><p class="label">Metacat Server</p></td>
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      <td class="tablehead" colspan="2" align="right">
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        <a href="./domapi.html">Back</a> | <a href="./metacattour.html">Home</a> | 
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        <a href="./metacatdb.html">Next</a>
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      </td>
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    </tr>
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  </table>
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  <P>The Metacat Server stores arbitrary XML 
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  documents in a relational 
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  database without foreknowledge of the document schema.  It does this by implementing
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  the DOM within the table structure of the relational database.
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  Metacat also performs optimized free-text 
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  and structured 
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  searches across the entire document collection. Metacat provides 
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  standardized interfaces to client software for document processing, storing 
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  and searching. 
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  <P> <img alt="Structural diagram of Metacat architecture" src="metacat.gif">
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  </p>
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  <p>
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	Metacat provides several means of access for communicating with the
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	server to access and submit metadata and data.  First, users can
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	access the flexible web user interface.  Second, the servlet can be
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	queried using basic HTML forms.  Third, a 
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	<a href="./clientapi.html">client API</a> exists for 
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	writing software for accessing the server's contents.
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  </p>
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  <p>	
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	When accessing the servlet interface either through 'GET' or 'POST'
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	HTTP requests, the request is directed to the appropriate handler based
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	on an 'action' parameter in the request.  For example, using the 
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	parameter 'action=getversion' one could construct an HTTP GET
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	request to retrive the Metacat version string:<br>
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  	<code>http://some.metacat.host/context/metacat?action=getversion</code>
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  </p>
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  <p>
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	The complete list of "actions" which can be used in request to Metacat 
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	along with the additional parameters associated with each action are
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	as follows.
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  </p>
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  <p>	Primary actions for the most important features:<br>
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  <ul>
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      <li><code>action=login</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>username</code></li>
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          <li><code>password</code></li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=logout</code>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=query</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>meta_file_id</code></li>
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          <li><code>returndoctype</code></li>
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          <li><code>filterdoctype</code></li>
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          <li><code>returnfield</code></li>
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          <li><code>owner</code></li>
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          <li><code>site</code></li>
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          <li><code>operator</code></li>
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          <li><code>casesensitive</code></li>
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          <li><code>searchmode</code></li>
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          <li><code>anyfield</code></li>
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          <li><code>sessionid</code></li>
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          <li>Any other parameter passed in will be interpreted as a query
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              term unless it is listed in the 'query.ignored.params'
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              property in metacat.properties</li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=squery</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>query</code></li>
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          <li><code>qformat</code></li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=read</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>docid</code></li>
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          <li><code>qformat</code></li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=insert</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>docid</code></li>
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          <li><code>doctext</code></li>
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          <li><code>dtdtext</code></li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=update</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>docid</code></li>
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          <li><code>doctext</code></li>
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          <li><code>dtdtext</code></li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=delete</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>docid</code></li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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  </ul>
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	Actions for less important features:<br>
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  <ul>
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      <li><code>action=export</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>docid</code></li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=readinlinedata</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>inlinedataid</code></li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=validate</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>valtext</code></li>
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          <li><code>docid</code></li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=setaccess</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>docid</code></li>
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          <li><code>principal</code></li>
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          <li><code>permission</code></li>
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          <li><code>permType</code></li>
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          <li><code>permOrder</code></li>
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          <li><code>principal</code></li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=getaccesscontrol</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>docid</code></li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=getprincipals</code>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=getdoctypes</code>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=getdtdschema</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>doctype</code></li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=getlastdocid</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>scope</code></li>
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          <li><code>username</code></li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=getrevisionanddoctype</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>docid</code></li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=getversion</code>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=getlog</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>ipaddress</code></li>
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          <li><code>principal</code></li>
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          <li><code>docid</code></li>
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          <li><code>event</code></li>
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          <li><code>start</code></li>
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          <li><code>end</code></li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=buildindex</code>
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          <ul>
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          <li><code>docid</code></li>
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          </ul>
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      </li>
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      <li><code>action=shrink</code>
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      </li>
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  </ul>
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  </p>
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  <br>
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  <a href="./domapi.html">Back</a> | <a href="./metacattour.html">Home</a> | 
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  <a href="./metacatdb.html">Next</a>
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