Poor African and Latin American nations rank near the bottom in this survey.

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Raw material costs have also risen from overseas and domestic sources, adding to labor cost pressures on the bottom line, survey respondents said.

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In a November 2011 survey of the river bottom, "we discovered a much more significant finding that there was a bedrock rapids already there, " Mr. Muller said.

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Meanwhile, Mississippi scored at or near the bottom on 11 of the 22 survey measures, showing a high prevalence of obesity, high rate of childhood poverty, low high school graduation rates, limited availability of primary care physicians and many preventable hospitalizations.

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Eight African cities dominate the bottom ten in this year's survey.

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Other efforts hope to get to the bottom of the mystery, including the Boss survey and a future space telescope dedicated to the effort called Euclid.

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Delta and US Airways have scored at the bottom for award seats all four years of the survey, though both have upped their availability.

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The survey covers the top three divisions in Scotland, excluding the bottom league in which Rangers has been playing this season.

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Early findings from a mid-August survey led by the University of South Florida indicated oil had settled to the bottom of the Gulf further east than previously suspected and at levels toxic to marine life.

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In a survey of 50 global companies, the research firm ISR found a direct link between effective leadership and the bottom line.

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