Still, textual analysis "is better than a plain guess, because it has some statistical underpinning to it, " says Mr. Peterson.

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But in France, the home of literary theory, and Germany, the fatherland of textual analysis, free-ranging study of the Koran continues.

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U.S. officials said the CIA will conduct a technical and textual analysis of the new videotape and may have more to say Friday.

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The process was hijacked by a small but highly motivated group of fundamentalists more interested in factional organisation, textual analysis and strict orthodoxy than in the real world and how people live their lives.

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Textual analysis has its limitations.

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Close textual analysis of the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as examination of historical evidence and study of how such works are transmitted in a culture, logically pointed to the works being the output of unknown authors over a very long period time.

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To identify the most interesting goods on the site, the researchers on the Discover project wrote an algorithm that measures factors including how much people interact with a listing (clicking on it, returning to it, forwarding it to friends), seller history (the seller is known to offer interesting things) and textual analysis (a longer seller's description of the product indicates more passion about the item).

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