They have painstakingly cut through a heart, millimetre by millimetre, to measure and model the arrangement of the muscle fibres in each slice.

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Using a standardized measure, the model spits out a numerical ranking of volatility so investors can make apples-to-apples comparisons.

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But given that the traditional advertising model is by any measure broken, should the ad firms be making what amounts to guarantees?

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The exercise of thinking through and building the model is very important in helping you measure success and identify risks.

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But some economists stress that the focus on consumption as a measure of economic growth can be misleading, arguing that a model that is not based on production cannot be sustainable.

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"We think if we had a quantitative measure of breast density, that might add to the specificity of the model and really improve prediction for the individual woman, " Kerlikowske says.

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In addition, the standard model says the particle also should have positive parity, which is a measure of how its mirror image behaves.

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Friedberg said Weatherbill could use data from microwave satellites to measure the density of clouds on a minute by minute basis, enabling it to build a long range model of rainfall around the world.

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To measure the frequency of repairs for a particular vehicle, it compared the percentage of reported check engine failures for that model to its share of all 136 million 2002-2012 model-year vehicles on the road.

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