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   53015
   Broad absorption line quasars (BALQSOs) represent a 10 - 15% subclass
   of all QSOs. Recent work suggests that they are normal, radio quiet
   quasars seen from an unusual direction and thus, BALQSOs provide a
   unique probe of conditions near the nucleus of most QSOs. Only very few
   BALQSOs were detected in X-rays but the observations support the idea
   that BALQSOs are not intrinsically X-ray faint but heavily absorbed and
   thus hard to detect in ROSAT's soft energy band. Considering the
   enormous scientific potential to study the matter distribution, its
   ionization status and abundances, as well as the geometrical conditions
   in the central regions of quasars we propose to observe the two most
   promising BALQSOs with marginal ROSAT detections with ASCA.
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