The selection process puts socially defined characteristics, such as the outsized reputation of an executive like Mr Dimon, ahead of relevant practical skills and experience (Mr Dimon had little knowledge of retail banking or credit-card operations, two of Bank One's biggest and, in the second case, most problematic businesses).

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Face recognition technology is just one example of "biometrics, " the process of identifying people through physical characteristics.

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It's just one example of what's called biometrics, the process of identifying people by unique physical characteristics.

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This process can vary significantly based on the personality characteristics of both the offender and victim.

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We took one look at the industry, thought about how our friends with small businesses are effectively locked out of going mobile, and decided we were going to democratize the process for them by disrupting all three of these market characteristics.

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We contrasted it with administrative characteristics: focused on predictability and stability, control of resources and risk, process is important, results are secondary.

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The raw material, in the matching process, is a mass of stated preference: your desire or intolerance for certain traits and characteristics.

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