DoCoMo estimates that the number of devices in Japan which might be linked in this way exceeds the human population by a factor of five.

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Factor in a gay population of 8% to 10%, and the odds were massively, groaningly in your favor.

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The user base can only grow so much more when you factor in the confines of the global population, and recent moneymaking schemes, like sponsored stories, have tempered profitability with popular concerns over privacy.

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Population growth will of course factor in as countries translate these general global targets into national policy.

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Beech cited the aging of the world's population as one factor.

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This argument cuts little ice with Migration Watch chairman, former diplomat Sir Andrew Green, who says the presence of a settled Romanian population in the UK is a "pull factor" that will encourage more to make the journey.

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The increasing purchasing power of its population, and pent-up demand for goods, is an important factor in its solid economy and relative protection from the woes of the world.

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In Alaska, where nearly 15% of the population is American Indian or Alaskan Indian, Berkowitz says this could be a key factor.

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Whale researchers use population models that factor a species' reproductive rate and its natural mortality to come up with an estimate of how many are likely dying.

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