Importing American-style affirmative action risks forcing Brazilians to place themselves in strict racial categories rather than somewhere along a spectrum, says Peter Fry, a British-born, naturalised-Brazilian anthropologist.

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So much the better, one might think, for Jewish-Christian dialogue: it might even be argued that the two faiths were points on a spectrum rather than opposite poles.

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The result is a spectrum of skin colour rather than a dichotomy.

ECONOMIST: Race in Brazil

It would also mean that any unavoidable measurement error has a similar impact along the whole spectrum of marks, rather than being concentrated around grade boundaries.

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It's more about the will rather than philosophy where you are in the political spectrum to solve issues.

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It gives a graphic representation to the idea that, rather than being at a different end of a spectrum from a structured state, disorder is at the very center of things, with ordered and un-ordered states around it.

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Now you might think this is just Hutton being insufficiently reflective rather than closer to the Einstein comment end of the spectrum.

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Multiple conversations can occur at the same time because of more efficient use of spectrum and the allocation of channels based upon demand rather than pre-existing arbitrary assignment.

FORBES: Connect

But these auctions were relatively rare and governments often asked that the spectrum be put to a specific use, such as serving rural areas, rather than just to lighten the load on the busiest parts of a network.

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