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Viewing questions 31-40 out of questions

Questions # 31:

Company J is reducing its information technology (IT) staff by one-half but is requiring the IT department to continue meeting all the IT needs of the employees. IT managers plan to accomplish this by investing in a computer program that relieves employees of the need to remember their passwords for logging in to Company J's numerous office systems. Half of the IT staffs time is currently spent on password-related assistance, so once the program is implemented, Company J can make the required staff cuts.

Which of the following would it be most useful to know in order to evaluate whether the IT managers' plan is feasible as a means to continue meeting the IT needs of the employees?

Options:

Whether the initial cost of the password software exceeds the annual salaries of several IT staff salaries

Whether employees who request password assistance ateo request other IT assistance

Whether employees whose work requires computer passwords will need to be trained to use the software

Whether any IT staff currently devote aH their time to password-related assistance

Whether the password software requires extensive maintenance by IT staff members

Questions # 32:

The passage Is primarily concerned with which of the following?

Options:

Comparing a traditional theory concerning managerial work with a new theory

Explaining a controversy concerning managerial work

Recommending specific new approaches to managerial work

Reporting recent changes in managerial work

Anticipating future developments in managerial work

Answer

Explanation

Managerial work is undergoing enormous and rapid change. With little precedent to guide them, managers are coping with the fading away of hierarchy and the blurring of clear distinctions of title, task, department, even corporation. Traditional sources of power are being eroded as levels of complexity and interdependence increase.

Competitive pressures from recent business downturns are forcing corporations to adopt flexible strategies and structures, including reductions In management staff and increased use of performance-based (rather than longevity-based) rewards. In a more profound change, in a growing number of companies horizontal ties between peers are replacing vertical ties as channels of activity and communication. Companies are asking departmental staff to play a more strategic role, with greater cross-departmental collaboration. Some organizations are forming strategic alliances with customers and outside suppliers that bring external relationships inside, where they can influence company policy.

Fundamentally, the new managerial work involves new ways of obtaining and using power. Position, title, and authority are no longer adequate tools when managers have to work cooperatively with other departments and even other companies. The ability of managers to get things done depends more on the number of networks in which they are included than on their rank in a hierarchy. In the past, formal structures and the emphasis on rank were more limiting. For example, access to information and the ability to get informal backing were often confined to the few officially sanctioned contact points between departments or between the company and Its suppliers or customers. Today, official barriers between departments and between companies are disappearing while Informal networks grow in importance. The new corporation has many more channels for action, strategic pathways that ignore the chain of command.

These strategic pathways also serve to diffuse power. As the number of ways to combine resources Increases, the ability to command diminishes. Alternative paths of communication and resource access erode the authority of those in the nominal chain of command. In other words, greater speed and flexibility undermine hierarchy. As more and more of the strategic action takes place in these informal networks, the Jobs that focus inward on particular departments decline In power.

Questions # 33:

Coal Exporter: Environmentalists oppose allowing coal trains to pass a national park because they believe coal dust blowing off the trains could cause significant environmental damage. This belief is mistaken. Exporters have Incentives to prevent a low In the total weight of coal cargo during transport Consequently, they spray it with an environmentally safe sealant proven to reduce coal dust loss.

Which of the following most accurately describes how the two sentences in boldface function in the coal exporter's reasoning?

Options:

The first sentence functions as support for the only conclusion of the reasoning; the second sentence states that conclusion.

The first sentence functions as support for the only conclusion of the reasoning; the second sentence describes a supposed result of the circumstance that the first sentence describes.

The first sentence functions as support for an intermediate conclusion; the second sentence functions as support for the assertion made by the first sentence.

The first sentence states an intermediate conclusion; the second sentence states the main conclusion of the reasoning.

The first sentence describes a situation that the reasoning seeks to causally explain; the second sentence provides a possible explanation.

Questions # 34:

The photographic technique used to detect celestial objects that are fainter than what is visible to the unaided eve, allowing large areas of the sky to be covered bv a single exposure, achieves a high resolution useful in examining structural details, and provides a permanent record.

Options:

that are fainter than what is visible to the unaided eye, allowing large areas of the sky to be covered by

that are fainter than those visible for the unaided eye allows for large areas of the sky to be covered with

fainter than what is visible for the unaided eye allows that large areas of the sky are covered by

fainter than that visible to the unaided eye, allowing large areas of the sky to be covered with

fainter than those visible to the unaided eye allows large areas of the sky to be covered with

Questions # 35:

The passage most strongly indicates that the author would agree with which of the following statements?

Options:

None of the subjects in the various studies other than the 1998 study who seemed to commit the conjunction fallacy actually did commit it.

People who have studied the mathematical principles of probability are very unlikely to commit the conjunction fallacy.

The conjunction fallacy is rarely committed outside of betting contexts.

Many of the subjects in the various studies In addition to the 1998 study probably committed the conjunction fallacy.

The conceptions of "probability" that underlie everyday use of the word rarely, if ever, conform to the mathematical principles of probability.

Answer

Explanation

Mathematical principles of probability entail that for any future event, the probability that it will occur Is at least as great as the probability that both it and some other given event will occur. Consider, for example, the following statements that were shown to subjects in a 1998 study.

X The percentage of adolescent smokers In Texas will decrease at least 15% from current levels by September 1, 1999.

Y The cigarette tax in Texas will increase by $1.00 per pack in 1999.

Z The cigarette tax in Texas will increase by $1.00 per pack in 1999, and the percentage of adolescent smokers in Texas will decrease at least 15% from current levels by September 1, 1999.

Z("Kand X") could not have been more probable than X. Nevertheless, many of the subjects judged Zto be more probable than X. This mistaken form of reasoning, displayed with surprising frequency in various studies in addition to the 1998 study, is known as the "conjunction fallacy."

A number of researchers have offered alternative explanations for the seeming manifestations of the mistake, thus arguing that the fallacy is less widely committed than the various studies would indicate. Some have claimed that research subjects can take "probability" in a sense that does not conform to the mathematical principles of probability. Detailed descriptions of some such conceptions of "probability" have been developed under the names of "confirmation" and "support." Other researchers would claim, correctly, that subjects shown Z(" Kand X") and ^simultaneously will sometimes think of Xas involving the negation of Y—as a claim that the percentage of adolescent smokers in Texas will decrease, but without the $1.00 increase in the cigarette tax.

However, although the subjects in the 1998 study were to consider Xand Z simultaneously, the statements were presented in terms of bets rather than explicit requests for judgments of relative probability. Subjects were asked to choose between Zand X, with a chance of winning $50.00 if the chosen statement turned out to be true. Terms such as "most probable," "likely," etc., were thus avoided, and the interpretation of X\n conjunction with the negation of Kwas thereby eliminated. And with these alternative explanations eliminated, many of the subjects nonetheless bet on Zrather than X:

Questions # 36:

West River Glen is deciding which network architecture should replace its old copper telephone lines. The town will replace 300 miles of Outside Plant (OSP) cable that will serve approximately 2,500 homes.

The first option is to install a Fiber to the Home (FTTH) system architecture that uses fiber-optic cable to transmit signals from the source to each home. The advantages of this architecture include greater bandwidth capabilities, less signal loss, and slightly lower new-cable deployment costs than the second option. Hybrid Fiber-Coax (HFC).

An HFC network integrates fiber-optic cables and devices with coaxial cables.

This will cost the town substantially less money for internal equipment and for customer installations. However, the coaxial cable does not last as long as fiberoptic cable and will thus need to be replaced more frequently, resulting in higher long-term maintenance expenses.

The town believes that either the FTTH or HFC architectures will be capable of serving the communities' data and television needs for the next 30 years.

According to the information provided, which of the following attributes is an advantage of HFC network architecture as compared with FTTH architecture?

Options:

Lower new cable deployment costs

Lower maintenance expenses

Greater longevity of coaxial cable

95% lower internal equipment deployment costs

90% lower customer installation costs

Questions # 37:

Each of the 75 employees at @ certain company works in exactly one of the company's 3 departments (Departments X, Y, and Z). Exactly 20% of the employees work in

Department X, and 10 fewer employees work in DepartmentY than work in Department Z.

Based on the information provided, select for Departinent Yand Department Zthe numbers of employees who work in Department Y and Department Z. Make only

two selections, one in each column.

Question # 37

Options:

Questions # 38:

Archaeologists have excavated two ancient sites, Site A and Site B, each containing bowls and dishes. A third site containing similar vessels (bowls and dishes), Site C, Is known to have existed but has not yet been located. The vessels have been dated to three successive 40-vear-long time periods (Mil).

The dishes that were found are small and plain and were made primarily for everyday use. For each site, the average population at the site for a period is known to be roughly proportional to the number of dishes found that were dated to that period.

The bowls are more elaborate, decorated In either a curvy or a rectilinear style. They were made primarily for ritual use. The numbers of bowls found indicate the level of wealth of the site's inhabitants during the period to which the bowls were dated (with greater numbers indicating greater wealth).

Documents found at Sites A and B establish that exactly 18 of the dishes found at Site A were manufactured at Site C; otherwise, all of the vessels were made at the sites where they were found.

For each of Sites A through C, select Yes If the Information provided Indicates that the population at that site was both greater in Period II than Period I and greater in Period III than in Period II. Otherwise, select No.

Question # 38

Options:

Questions # 39:

For a town seeking to desalinate source water with a salinity of 12,000 mg/L. select Consistent for each of the following statements that is consistent with the information and recommendations provided, and otherwise select Not consistent.

Question # 39

Options:

Questions # 40:

The table provides data about 12 different Persian rugs currently available for sale by a rug dealer. For each rug, the data includes the number of knots per square inch (KPSI) in the yarn, which is consistent throughout the rug.

Question # 40