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PREP07 Test 1 Paint on a new airliner is usually applied in two stages: first, a coat of primer, and then a top coat. A new process requires no primer, but instead uses two layers of the same newly developed coating, with each layer of the new coating having the same thickness and weight as a traditional top coat. Using the new process instead of the old process increases the price of a new aircraft considerably.Which of the following, if true, most strongly indicates that it is in an airline's long-term economic interest to purchase new airliners painted using the new process rather than the old process?
In addition to conventional galaxies, the universe contains very dim galaxies that until recently went unnoticed by astronomers. Possibly as numerous as conventional galaxies, these galaxies have the same general shape and even the same approximate number of stars as a common type of conventional galaxy, the spiral, but tend to be much larger. Because these galaxies' mass is spread out over larger areas, they have far fewer stars per unit volume than do conventional galaxies. Apparently these low-surface-brightness galaxies, as they are called, take much longer than conventional galaxies to condense their primordial gas and convert it to stars——that is, they evolve much more slowly.These galaxies may constitute an answer to the long-standing puzzle of the missing baryonic mass in the universe. Baryons-subatomic particles that are generally protons or neutrons-are the source of stellar, and therefore galactic, luminosity, and so their numbers can be estimated based on how luminous galaxies are. However, the amount of helium in the universe, as measured by spectroscopy, suggests that there are far more baryons in the universe than estimates based on galactic luminosity indicate. Astronomers have long speculated that the missing baryonic mass might eventually be discovered in intergalactic space or as some large population of galaxies that are difficult to detect.
OG2022 Paint on a new airliner is usually applied in two stages: first, a coat of primer, and then a top coat. A new process requires no primer, but instead uses two layers of the same newly developed coating, with each layer of the new coating having the same thickness and weight as a traditional top coat. Using the new process instead of the old process increases the price of a new aircraft considerably. Which of the following, if true, most strongly indicates that it is in an airline's long-term economic interest to purchase new airliners painted using the new process rather than the old process?
GMAT、gmat题库、gmat模考、gmat考满分The expenses related to sponsoring a conference can be immense. An organization sponsoring a conference can recoup these expenses through registration fees and partnership with the host hotel. As part of the partnership, the host hotel sets aside a block of rooms for conference attendees, with rooms available at a slightly higher-than-normal rate.While most conference attendees prefer to stay in the host hotel, they often follow an alternate strategy to avoid the extra cost of reserving a room within the block at the host hotel. Some attendees reserve rooms outside the host hotel—the ROHH strategy. Others reserve rooms outside the block—the ROB strategy.Conference sponsors have succeeded in countering these strategies by increasing the conference registration fee by a fixed amount and then offering an equivalent registration fee discount to attendees who book rooms in the block. A study has shown that if this registration discount is equal to at least half the potential savings of an attendee's particular cost-saving strategy, the attendee is much more likely to reserve a room within the block.Weekend ConferencesTen conferences are scheduled for the same weekend in City X. For each conference, the table lists the conference sponsor, the registration fee, the discounted registration fee (If any), the host hotel, the rate for rooms in the block at the host hotel, and the lowest rate for an available room in the host hotel during that same weekend. Conference attendees will require two nights lodging, and all room rates are per guest, per night, assuming two guests per room. The lowest rate for an available room in City X on this same weekend is $65.
In addition to conventional galaxies, the universe contains very dim galaxies that until recently went unnoticed by astronomers. Possibly as numerous as conventional galaxies, these galaxies have the same general shape and even the same approximate number of stars as a common type of conventional galaxy, the spiral, but tend to be much larger. Because these galaxies' mass is spread out over larger areas, they have far fewer stars per unit volume than do conventional galaxies. Apparently these low-surface-brightness galaxies, as they are called, take much longer than conventional galaxies to condense their primordial gas and convert it to stars-that is, they evolve much more slowly. These galaxies may constitute an answer to the long-standing puzzle of the missing baryonic mass in the universe. Baryons-subatomic particles that are generally protons or neutrons-are the source . of stellar, and therefore galactic, luminosity, and so their numbers can be estimated based on how luminous galaxies are. However, the amount of helium in the universe, as measured by spectroscopy, suggests that there are far more baryons in the universe than estimates based on galactic luminosity indicate. Astronomers have long speculated that the missing baryonic mass might eventually be discovered in intergalactic space or as some large population of galaxies that are difficult to detect.
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Fund manager: over the last five years, the various stock funds managed by our company increased on average by 7 percent more in value than the market as a whole annually. Furthermore, the performance of each particular stock fund has not varied much from one year to the next, and our few investment products other than stock funds have stayed even with the market. These results show the success of our company: each year, most of our investment products have increased in value more than the market.

The debater's argument is most vulnerable to criticism on which of these grounds?
The function of capital markets is to facilitate an exchange of funds among all participants, and yet in practice we find that certain participants are not on a par with others. Members of society have varying degrees of market strength in terms of information they bring to a transaction, as well as of purchasing power and creditworthiness, as defined by lenders.For example, within minority communities, capital markets do not properly fulfill their functions; they do not provide access to the aggregate flow of funds in the United States. The financial system does not generate the credit or investment vehicles needed for underwriting economic development in minority areas. The problem underlying this dysfunction is found in a rationing mechanism affecting both the available alternatives for investment and the amount of financial resources. This creates a distributive mechanism penalizing members of minority groups because of their socioeconomic differences from others. The existing system expresses definite socially based investment preferences that result from the previous allocation of income and that influence the allocation of resources for the present and future. The system tends to increase the inequality of income distribution. And, in the United States economy, a greater inequality of income distribution leads to a greater concentration of capital in certain types of investments.Most traditional financial-market analysis studies ignore financial markets' deficiencies in allocation because of analysts' inherent preferences for the simple model of perfect competition. Conventional financial analysis pays limited attention to issues of market structure and dynamics, relative costs of information, and problems of income distribution. Market participants are viewed as acting as entirely independent and homogeneous individuals with perfect foresight about capital-market behavior. Also, it is assumed that each individual in the community at large has the same access to the market and the same opportunity to transact and to express the preference appropriate to his or her individual interest. [hl:4]Moreover, it is assumed that transaction costs for various types of financial instruments (stocks, bonds, etc.) are equally known and equally divided among all community members.[/hl:4]
For most species of animals, the number of individuals in the species is inversely proportional to the average body size for members of the species: the smaller the body size, the larger the number of individual animals. The tamarin, a small South American monkey, breaks this rule. Of the ten primate species studied in Peru's Manu National Park, for example, the two species of tamarins, saddle-backed and emperor, are the eighth and ninth least abundant, respectively. Only the pygmy marmoset, which is even smaller, is less abundant. The tamarin's scarcity is not easily explained; it cannot be dismissed as a consequence of diet, because tamarins feed on the same mixture of fruit, nectar, and small prey as do several of their more numerous larger counterparts, including the two capuchins known as the squirrel monkey and the night monkey. Although the relative proportions of fruits consumed varies somewhat among species, it is hard to imagine that such subtle differences are crucial to understanding the relative rarity of tamarins. To emphasize just how anomalously rare tamarins are, we can compare them to the other omnivorous primates in the community.In terms of numbers of individuals per square kilometer, they rank well below the two capuchins, the squirrel monkey and the night monkey. And in terms of biomass, or the total weight of the individuals that occupy a unit area of habitat, each tamarin species is present at only one-twentieth the mass of brown capuchins or one-tenth that of squirrel monkeys. To gain another perspective, consider the spatial requirements of tamarins. Tamarins are rigidly territorial, vigorously expelling any intruders that may stray within the sharply defined boundaries of their domains. Groups invest an appreciable part of their time and energy in patrolling their territorial boundaries, announcing their presence to their neighbors with shrill, sweeping cries. Such concerted territoriality is rather exceptional among primates, though the gibbons and siamangs of Asia show it, as do a few other New World species such as the titi and night monkeys. What is most surprising about tamarin territories is their size. Titi monkeys routinely live within territories of 6 to 8 hectares, and night monkeys seldom defend more than 10 hectares, but tamarin groups routinely occupy areas of 30 to 120 hectares. Contrast this with the 1to 2 hectares needed by the common North American graysquirrel, a nonterritorial mammal of about the same size. A group of tamarins uses about as much space as a troop of brown capuchins, though the latter weighs 15 times as much. Thus, in addition to being rare, tamarins require an amount of space that seems completely out of proportion to their size.
Although numbers of animals in a given region may fluctuate from year to year, the fluctuations are often temporary and, over long periods, trivial. Scientists have advanced three theories of population control to account for this relative constancy.The first theory attributes a relatively constant population to periodic climatic catastrophes that decimate populations with such frequency as to prevent them from exceeding some particular limit. In the case of small organisms with short life cycles, climatic changes need not be catastrophic: normal seasonal changes in photoperiod (daily amount of sunlight), for example, can govern population growth. This theory — the density-independent view — asserts that climatic factors exert the same regulatory effect on population regardless of the number of individuals in a region.A second theory argues that population growth is primarily density-dependent — that is, the rate of growth of a population in a region decreases as the number of animals increases. The mechanisms that manage regulation may vary. For example, as numbers increase, the food supply would probably diminish, which would increase mortality. In addition, as Lotka and Volterra have shown, predators can find prey more easily in high-density populations. Other regulators include physiological control mechanisms: for example, Christian and Davis have demonstrated how the crowding that results from a rise in numbers may bring about hormonal changes in the pituitary and adrenal glands that in turn may regulate population by lowering sexual activity and inhibiting sexual maturation. There is evidence that these effects may persist for three generations in the absence of the original provocation. One challenge for density-dependent theorists is to develop models that would allow the precise prediction of the effects of crowding.A third theory, proposed by Wynne-Edwards and termed "epideictic," argues that organisms have evolved a "code" in the form of social or epideictic behavior displays, such as winter-roosting aggregations or group vocalizing; such codes provide organisms with information on population size in a region so that they can, if necessary, exercise reproductive restraint. However, Wynne? Edwards's theory, linking animal social behavior and population control, has been challenged, with some justification, by several studies.
In 1975 Chinese survey teams remeasured Mount Everest, the highest of the Himalayan mountains. Like the British in 1852, they used the age-old technique of “carrying in” sea level: surveyors marched inland from the coast for thousands of miles, stopping at increments of as little as a few feet to measure their elevation, and marking each increment with two poles. To measure the difference in elevation between poles, surveyors used an optical level—a telescope on a level base—placed halfway between the poles. They sighted each pole, reading off measurements that were then used to calculate the change in elevation over each increment. In sight of the peaks they used theodolites telescopes for measuring vertical and horizontal angles—to determine the elevation of the summit.[hl:4][hl:3][hl:2][hl:1]The Chinese, however, made efforts to correct for the errors that had plagued the British.[/hl:1][/hl:2][/hl:3][/hl:4] One source of error is refraction, the bending of light beams as they pass through air layers of different temperature and pressure. Because light traveling down from a summit passes through many such layers, a surveyor could sight a mirage rather than the peak itself. To reduce refraction errors, the Chinese team carried in sea level to within five to twelve miles of Everest's summit, decreasing the amount of air that light passed through on its way to their theodolites. The Chinese also launched weather balloons near their theodolites to measure atmospheric temperature and pressure changes to better estimate refraction errors. Another hurdle is the peak's shape. When surveyors sight the summit, there is a risk they might not all measure the same point. In 1975 the Chinese installed the first survey beacon on Everest, a red reflector visible through a theodolite for ten miles, as a reference point. One more source of error is the unevenness of sea level. The British assumed that carrying in sea level would extend an imaginary line from the shore along Earth's curve to a point beneath the Himalayas. In reality, sea level varies according to the irregular interior of the planet. The Chinese used a gravity meter to correct for local deviations in sea level.
It was once believed that the brain was independent of metabolic processes occurring elsewhere in the body. In recent studies, however, we have discovered that the production and release in brain neurons of the neurotransmitter serotonin (neurotransmitters are compounds that neurons use to transmit signals to other cells) depend directly on the food that the body processes.Our first studies sought to determine whether the increase in serotonin observed in rats given a large injection of the amino acid tryptophan might also occur after rats ate meals that change tryptophan levels in the blood. We found that, immediately after the rats began to eat, parallel elevations occurred in blood tryptophan, brain tryptophan, and brain serotonin levels. These findings suggested that the production and release of serotonin in brain neurons were normally coupled with blood-tryptophan increases. In later studies we found that injecting insulin into a rat`s bloodstream also caused parallel elevations in blood and brain tryptophan levels and in serotonin levels. We then decided to see whether the secretion of the animal`s own insulin similarly affected serotonin production. We gave the rats a carbohydrate-containing meal that we knew would elicit insulin secretion. As we had hypothesized, the blood tryptophan level and the concentrations of tryptophan and of serotonin in the brain increased after the meal.Surprisingly, however, when we added a large amount of protein to the meal, brain tryptophan and serotonin levels fell. Since protein contains tryptophan, why should it depress brain tryptophan levels? The answer lies in the [line:34][hl:6]mechanism that provides blood tryptophan to the brain cells[/hl:6][/line:34]. This same mechanism also provides the brain cells with other amino acids found in protein, such as tyrosine and leucine. The consumption of protein increases blood concentration of the other amino acids much more, proportionately, than it does that of tryptophan. The more protein is in a meal, the lower is the ratio of the resulting blood-tryptophan concentration to the concentration of competing amino acids, and the more slowly is tryptophan provided to the brain. Thus the more protein in a meal, the less serotonin subsequently produced and released.
Many managers are influenced by dangerous myths about pay that lead to counterproductive decisions about how their companies compensate employees. One such myth is that labor rates, the rate per hour paid to workers, are identical with labor costs, the money spent on labor in relation to the productivity of the labor force. This [hl:5]myth[/hl:5] leads to the assumption that a company can simply lower its labor costs by cutting wages. But labor costs and labor rates are not in fact the same: one company could pay its workers considerably more than another and yet have lower labor costs if that company's productivity were higher due to the talent of its workforce, the efficiency of its work processes, or other factors. The confusion of costs with rates persists partly because labor rates are a convenient target for managers who want to make an impact on their com- pany's budgets. Because labor rates are highly visible, managers can easily compare their company's rates with those of competitors. Furthermore, labor rates often appear to be a company's most malleable financial variable: cutting wages appears an easier way to control costs than such options as reconfiguring work processes or altering product design.The myth that labor rates and labor costs are equivalent is supported by business journalists, who frequently confound the two. For example, prominent business journals often remark on the "high" cost of German labor, citing as evidence the average amount paid to German workers. The myth is also perpetuated by the compensation-consulting industry, which has its own incentives to keep such myths alive. First, although some of these consulting firms have recently broadened their practices beyond the area of compensation, their mainstay continues to be advising companies on changing their compensation practices. Suggesting that a company's performance can be improved in some other way than by altering its pay system may be empirically correct but contrary to the consultants' interests. Furthermore, changes to the compensation system may appear to be simpler to implement than changes to other aspects of an organization, so managers are more likely to find such advice from consultants palatable. Finally, to the extant that changes in compensation create new problems, the consultants will continue to have work solving the problems that result from their advice.
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     More government action is necessary to maintain the affordability of higher education than subsidizing loans. It is true to say that as the costs of education rise, the necessity of government subsidized student loans increases, where the size of each loan is determined by the financial needs of a student, the price of a desired institution, and the student's likelihood to succeed in a college environment. However, subsidized loans are unsustainable unless a reasonable degree of educational “value” (an increase in income as a result of a bachelor's degree) is received by the student. The value necessary to repay the loans is difficult to ascertain when students vary wildly as to the costs of the institutions they attend, the financial circumstances of their families, and their chosen academic specializations. If the value of a student's education is ever less than the amount of money she was given through government loans, repayment drops sharply and the government is left with a lending deficit. Net government deficits (in this instance the relevant expense is money loaned to students) do not increase when more students apply to, attend, and graduate from institutions of higher learning. Indeed, government reaps the benefits of expanded education in the form of taxes collected from incomes increased as a result of college graduation—that is, value added by the attainment of a degree—but the value added by education is not increasing at the same rate as the costs of that education—students are being charged more and receiving fewer benefits.

     The necessity of introducing more stringent regulations on educational costs is obvious if one understands the benefits government enjoys from high rates of scholastic attainment. The prices colleges set for themselves are dictated not by the costs of operation, but by the prices students and the organizations supporting them are willing to pay. Once this high price of education is established, college administrations have little incentive to lower costs. Governments must circumscribe educational costs within reasonable bounds to ensure their subsidization programs remain effective. Governments must ensure that students procure substantial value from the educations they receive. And governments must make it so the individuals to whom they lend money will reliably pay it back at reasonable intervals.
Archaeology as a profession faces two major problems. First, it is the poorest of the poor. Only paltry sums are available for excavating and even less is available for publishing the results and preserving the sites once excavated. Yet archaeologists deal with priceless objects every day. Second, there is the problem of illegal excavation, resulting in museum-quality pieces being sold to the highest bidder.I would like to make an outrageous suggestion that would at one stroke provide funds for archaeology and reduce the amount of illegal digging. I would propose that scientific archaeological expeditions and governmental authorities sell excavated artifacts on the open market. Such sales would provide substantial funds for the excavation and preservation of archaeological sites and the publication of results. At the same time, they would break the illegal excavator's grip on the market, thereby decreasing the inducement to engage in illegal activities.You might object that professionals excavate to acquire knowledge, not money. Moreover, ancient artifacts are part of our global cultural heritage, which should be available for all to appreciate, not sold to the highest bidder. I agree. Sell nothing that has unique artistic merit or scientific value. But, you might reply, everything that comes out of the ground has scientific value. Here we part company. Theoretically, you may be correct in claiming that every artifact has potential scientific value. Practically, you are wrong.I refer to the thousands of pottery vessels and ancient lamps that are essentially duplicates of one another. [hl:4]In one small excavation in Cyprus[/hl:4], archaeologists recently uncovered 2,000 virtually indistinguishable small jugs in a single courtyard. Even precious royal seal impressions known as l'melekh handles have been found in abundance —more than 4,000 examples so far.The basements of museums are simply not large enough to store the artifacts that are likely to be discovered in the future. There is not enough money even to catalog the finds; as a result, they cannot be found again and become as inaccessible as if they had never been discovered. Indeed, with the help of a computer, sold artifacts could be more accessible than are the pieces stored in bulging museum basements. Prior to sale, each could be photographed and the list of the purchasers could be maintained on the computer. A purchaser could even be required to agree to return the piece if it should become needed for scientific purposes.It would be unrealistic to suggest that illegal digging would stop if artifacts were sold on the open market. But the demand for the clandestine product would be substantially reduced. Who would want an unmarked pot when another was available whose provenance was known, and that was dated stratigraphically by the professional archaeologist who excavated it?
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     Fishing is a profession that faces two major problems. First, it is extremely difficult to make a decent living as a fisherman. Fluctuating market prices and unpredictable weather conditions, not to mention climate change, make the occupation inherently unstable. Yet some protected marine animals, most notably sharks, are worth massive sums in certain markets. The fishermen who are willing to illegally catch these animals are some of the only fishermen with relative financial stability.     I would like to make an outrageous suggestion that would in one fell swoop increase financial stability for many fishermen and severely cut into the black market in shark cartilage and meat. I would propose that the government sponsor a project to find a shark species that is suitable to farming, and then train fishermen to open and operate farms that raise those sharks for their lucrative commodities. This scheme would give struggling fishermen a stable, profitable alternative to trawling for ever-lessening schools of commonly sold fish like cod and salmon. At the same time, the unregulated black market would lose its monopoly on shark products.      You might object that fishermen aren't farmers or that the international black market in a given commodity is not our concern. I agree. We should not ask fishermen to do this work if they don't care to, and we should not try to farm sharks solely to eliminate a black market in their products. But, you might argue, fish farming has many inherent issues and, by providing shark products, we are condoning the capture of wild sharks. And here, we part ways. Fish farming is only problematic when it is undertaken irresponsibly, and there is a marked difference between farmed marine commodities and those that are obtained by poaching.      Our current thinking about sharks is limited to (often endangered) wild sharks, because no species has been found that is suitable for farming. The image that comes to mind when we think about shark products is one of a poacher slicing off a shark's fins and dumping the helpless animal back in the water to die. This limits our ability to think creatively about the animal itself and its value to the world economy. If we could farm sharks to relatively large sizes, say, five or six feet, then (in addition to, of course, not hunting wild sharks) we could generate a significant amount of income for struggling fishermen: sharks' fins, jaws, meat and skin are all worth significant amounts in markets around the world.     It would be unrealistic to suggest that shark poaching would end entirely if this plan were undertaken. But the demand for the illicit product would be significantly reduced. Who would want a fin torn from a wild shark in an unknown state of health and under inhumane conditions when another was available from a healthy, safe, well-documented stable of sustainably harvested animals?