Prof Blom conceded that "all hips fail" so some would fail regardless of whether they were metal-on-metal or combination.

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Most countries do not use body scanners, he said, preferring to use a combination of metal detection and technology that can identify explosives.

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The yellow metal has suffered from a combination of intense profit taking, technical selling, and an improved stock market, which has zapped capital ahead of a possible fiscal cliff deal.

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The Environment Agency scheme includes a combination of hard defences, reinforced concrete walls with sheet metal cores and earth embankments.

BBC: Towns' flood defences in place

Data on funding for U.S. metal research is hard to come by, but anecdotal reports suggest a combination of public and private university funding and self-funding by researchers themselves.

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For the first quarter-century of the microprocessor's life, most integrated-circuit packages were fairly predictable hunks of ceramics, bought largely from one of four Japanese firms: Kyocera (its name is a combination of the words Kyoto and ceramics), NGK Spark Plug, Shinko Electronic Industries and Sumitomo Metal Electronics Devices.

FORBES: It's all in the packaging

For the first quarter-century of the microprocessor's life, most integrated-circuit packages were fairly predictable hunks of ceramics, largely bought from one of four Japanese firms: Kyocera (its name is a combination of the words Kyoto and ceramics), NGK Spark Plug, Shinko Electronic Industries and Sumitomo Metal Electronics Devices.

FORBES: It's all in the packaging