The number of people diagnosed as having a certain intestinal disease has dropped significantly in a rural county this year, as compared to last year. Health officials attribute this decrease entirely to improved sanitary conditions at water-treatment plants, which made for cleaner water this year and thus reduced the incidence of the disease.
Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the health officials’ explanation for the lower incidence of the disease?

A) many new water-treatment plants have been built in the last five years in the rural county.
B) Bottled spring water has not been consumed in significantly different quantities by people diagnosed as having the intestinal disease, as compared to people who did not contract the disease.
C) Because of a new diagnostic technique, many people who until this year would have been diagnosed as having the intestinal disease are now correctly diagnosed as suffering from intestinal ulcers.
D) Because of medical advances this year, far fewer people who contract the intestinal disease will develop severe cases of the disease.
E) The water in the rural county was brought up to the sanitary standards of the water in neighboring counties ten years ago.

The relationship between corpulence and disease remain controversial, although statistics clearly associate a reduced life expectancy with chronic obesity.

(A) remain controversial, although statistics clearly associate a reduced life expectancy with
(B) remain controversial, although statistics clearly associates a reduced life expectancy with
(C) remain controversial, although statistics clearly associates reduced life expectancy to
(D) remains controversial, although statistics clearly associate a reduced life expectancy with
(E) remains controversial, although statistics clearly associates reduced life expectancy to

The United States petroleum industry’s cost to meet environmental regulations is projected at ten percent of the price per barrel of refined petroleum by the end of the decade.

(A)  The United States petroleum industry’s cost to meet environmental regulations is projected at ten percent of the price per barrel of refined petroleum by the end of the decade
(B)  The United States petroleum industry’s cost by the end of the decade to meet environmental regulations is estimated at ten percent of the price per barrel of refined petroleum
(C) By the end of the decade, the United States petroleum industry’s cost of meeting environ mental regulations is projected at ten percent of the price per barrel of refined petroleum
(D)  To meet environmental regulations, the cost to the United States petroleum industry is estimated at ten percent of the price per barrel of refined petroleum by the end of the decade.
(E) It is estimated that by the end of the decade the cost to the United 5tates petroleum industry of meeting environmental regulations will be ten percent of the price per barrel of refined petroleum.

Historically, protectionism has been the bane of the South. In the 19th century, the Solid South voted democratic not just because of Abe Lincoln but because its farmers desperately wanted to sell in international markets, and the Republican economic policies blocked them. Southerners also know that free trade won’t send jobs out of the country. There are, after all, no trade barriers between Mississippi and Michigan.

The main point of the argument is that

(A) a free trade policy would benefit all regions of the country
(B) Southerners are not, in principle, opposed to free trade policies
(C) the labor pool in Mississippi is less skilled than that in Michigan
(D) many Southerners are likely to continue to vote for the Democratic party
(E) Republicans have traditionally opposed free trade policy

Aristotle believed that human decision-making takes the form of a practical syllogism:

Major Premise: Sweet deserts are tasty.
Minor Premise: This is a piece of cake on my plate.

Conclusion: I’ll eat this piece of cake.

But Aristotle was not able to account for the problem of the akratic, someone who has knowledge of both the major premise and the minor premise and yet fails to act in accordance with this knowledge.

Which of the following best exemplifies the idea of the akratic?
(A) A doctor who prescribes an experimental drug because it is the only possible treatment for a condition
(B) A musician who practices diligently in order to become a better performer
(C) A smoker who is aware of the adverse consequences of tobacco smoke but smokes anyway
(D) A truck driver who forgets to activate a turn signal and causes an accident
(E) A person who enjoys musical theater and so attends a production of the musical Cats

Although the United States steel industry faces widely publicized economic problems that have eroded its steel production capacity, not all branches of the industry have been equally affected. The steel industry is not monolithic: it includes integrated producers, minimills, and
specialty-steel mills. The integrated producers start with iron ore and coal and produce a wide assortment of shaped steels. The minimills reprocess scrap steel into a limited range of low-quality products, such as reinforcing rods for concrete. The specialty-steel mills are similar
to minimills in that they tend to be smaller than the integrated producers and are based on scrap, but they manufacture much more expensive products than minimills do and commonly have an active in-house research-and-development effort.

Both minimills and specialty-steel mills have succeeded in avoiding the worst of the economic difficulties that are afflicting integrated steel producers, and some of the mills are quite profitable. Both take advantage of new technology for refining and casting steel, such as continuous casting, as soon as it becomes available. The minimills concentrate on producing a narrow range of products for sale in their immediate geographic area, whereas specialty-steel mills preserve flexibility in their operations in order to fulfill a customer’s particular specifications.
Among the factors that constrain the competitiveness of integrated producers are excessive labor, energy, and capital costs, as well as manufacturing inflexibility. Their equipment is old and less automated, and does not incorporate many of the latest refinement in steelmaking
technology. (For example, only about half of the United States integrated producers have continuous casters, which combine pouring and rolling into one operation and thus save the cost of separate rolling equipment.) One might conclude that the older labor-intensive machinery still operating in United States integrated plants is at fault for the poor performance
of the United States industry, but this cannot explain why Japanese integrated producers, who produce a higher-quality product using less energy and labor, are also experiencing economic trouble. The fact is that the common technological denominator of integrated producers is an
inherently inefficient process that is still rooted in the nineteenth century.
Integrated producers have been unable to compete successfully with minimills because the minimills, like specialty-steel mills, have dispensed almost entirely with the archaic energy and capital-intensive front end of integrated steelmaking: the iron-smelting process, including
the mining and preparation of the raw materials and the blast-furnace operation. In addition, minimills have found a profitable way to market steel products: as indicated above, they sell their finished products locally, thereby reducing transportation costs, and concentrate on a
limited range of shapes and sizes within a narrow group of products that can be manufactured economically. For these reasons, minimills have been able to avoid the economic decline affecting integrated steel producers.

1. Which one of the following best expresses the main idea of the

passage?
(A) United States steel producers face economic problems that are shared

by producers in other nations.
(B) Minimills are the most successful steel producers because they best

meet market demands for cheap steel.
(C) Minimills and specialty-steel mills are more economically competitive

than integrated producers because they use new technology and avoid the

costs of the iron-smelting process.
(D) United States steel producers are experiencing an economic decline

that can be traced back to the nineteenth century.
(E) New steelmaking technologies such as continuous casting will replace

blast-furnace operations to reverse the decline in United States steel

production.

2.    The author mentions all of the following as features of minimills

EXCEPT
(A) flexibility in their operations
(B) local sale of their products
(C) avoidance of mining operations
(D) use of new steel-refining technology
(E) a limited range of low-quality products

3.    The author of the passage refers to “Japanese integrated

producers” (line 43) primarily in order to support the view that
(A) different economic difficulties face the steel industries of

different nations
(B) not all integrated producers share a common technological denominator
(C) labor-intensive machinery cannot be blamed for the economic condition

of United States integrated steel producers
(D) modern steelmaking technology is generally labor-and energy-efficient
(E) labor-intensive machinery is an economic burden on United States

integrated steel producers

4.    Which one of the following best describes the organization of the

third paragraph?
(A) A hypothesis is proposed and supported; then an opposing view is

presented and criticized.
(B) A debate is described and illustrated: then a contrast is made and

the debate is resolved.
(C) A dilemma is described and cited as evidence for a broader criticism.
(D) A proposition is stated and argued, then rejected in favor of a more

general statement, which is supported with additional evidence.
(E) General statements are made and details given; then an explanation is

proposed and rejected, and an alternative is offered.

5.    It can be inferred from the passage that United States

specialty-steel mills generally differ from integrated steel producers in

that the specialty-steel mills
(A) sell products in a restricted geographical area
(B) share the economic troubles of the minimills
(C) resemble specialty-steel mills found in Japan
(D) concentrate on producing a narrow range of products
(E) do not operate blast furnaces

6.    Each of the following describes an industry facing a problem also

experienced by United Stated integrated steel producers EXCEPT
(A) a paper-manufacturing company that experiences difficulty in

obtaining enough timber and other raw materials to meet its orders
(B) a food-canning plant whose canning machines must constantly be tended

by human operators
(C) a textile firm that spends heavily on capital equipment and energy to

process raw cotton before it is turned into fabric
(D) a window-glass manufacturer that is unable to produce quickly

different varieties of glass with special features required by certain

customers
(E) a leather-goods company whose hand-operated cutting and stitching

machines were manufactured in Italy in the 1920s

7.    Which one of the following, if true, would best serve as

supporting evidence for the author’s explanation of the economic

condition of integrated steel producers?
(A) Those nations that derive a larger percentage of their annual steel

production from minimills than the United States does also have a smaller

per capita trade deficit.
(B) Many integrated steel producers are as adept as the specialty-steel

mills at producing high-quality products to meet customer specifications.
(C) Integrated steel producers in the United States are rapidly adopting

the production methods of Japanese integrated producers.
(D) Integrated steel producers in the United States are now attempting to

develop a worldwide market by advertising heavily.
(E) Those nations in which iron-smelting operations are carried out

independently of steel production must heavily subsidize those operations

in order to make them profitable.

A jar contains between 50 and 60 marbles. If the marbles are counted out 3 at a time, 1 is left over; if they are counted out 4 at a time, 3 are left over. How many marbles are in the jar?

(A) 52

(B) 54

(C) 55

(D) 58

(E) 59

In a certain population, x out of every y persons are found to have characteristic * . If 200 persons are found to have characteristic *, then which  of the following expressions provides the total number of persons in the population?

(A) 200x

(B) 200xy

(C) 200x/y

(D) 200y/x

(E) 200(x -y)

Gray marketing, the selling of trademarked products through channels of distribution not authorized by the trademark holder, can involve distribution of goods either within a market region or across market boundaries. Gray marketing within a market region (“channel flow diversion”) occurs when manufacturer-authorized distributors sell trademarked goods to unauthorized distributors who then sell the goods to consumers within the same region. For example, quantity discounts from manufacturers may motivate authorized dealers to enter the gray market because they can purchase larger quantities of a product than they themselves intend to stock if they can sell the extra units through gray marketing channels.
When gray marketing occurs across market boundaries, it is typically in an international setting and may be called “parallel importing.” Manufacturers often produce and sell products in more than one country and establish a network of authorized dealers in each country. Parallel importing occurs when trademarked goods intended for one country are diverted from proper channels (channel flow diversion) and then exported to unauthorized distributors in another country.

Trademark owners justifiably argue against gray marketing practices since such practices clearly jeopardize the goodwill established by trademark owners: consumers who purchase trademarked goods in the gray market do not get the same “extended product,” which typically includes pre- and postsale service. Equally important, authorized distributors may cease to promote the product if it becomes available for much lower prices through unauthorized channels.

Current debate over regulation of gray marketing focuses on three disparate theories in trademark law that have been variously and confusingly applied to parallel importation cases: universality, exhaustion, and territoriality. The theory of universality holds that a trademark is only an indication of the source or origin of the product. This theory does not recognize the goodwill functions of a trademark. When the courts apply this theory, gray marketing practices are allowed to continue because the origin of the product remains the same regardless of the specific route of the product through the channel of distribution. The exhaustion theory holds that a trademark owner relinquishes all rights once a product has been sold. When this theory is applied, gray marketing practices are allowed to continue because the trademark owners’ rights cease as soon as their products are sold to a distributor. The theory of territoriality holds that a trademark is effective in the country in which it is registered. Under the theory of territoriality, trademark owners can stop gray marketing practices in the registering countries on products bearing their trademarks. Since only the territoriality theory affords trademark owners any real legal protection against gray marketing practices, I believe it is inevitable as well as desirable that it will come to be consistently applied in gray marketing cases.

1) Which one of the following best expresses the main point of the passage?
(A) Gray marketing is unfair to trademark owners and should be legally controlled.
(B) Gray marketing is practiced in many different forms and places, and legislators should recognize the futility of trying to regulate it.
(C) The mechanisms used to control gray marketing across markets are different from those most effective in controlling gray marketing within markets.
(D) The three trademark law theories that have been applied in gray marketing cases lead to different case outcomes.
(E) Current theories used to interpret trademark laws have resulted in increased gray marketing activity.

2) The function of the passage as a whole is to
(A) criticize the motives and methods of those who practice gray marketing
(B) evaluate the effects of both channel flow diversion and parallel importation
(C) discuss the methods that have been used to regulate gray marketing and evaluate such methods’ degrees of success
(D) describe a controversial marketing practice and evaluate several legal views regarding it
(E) discuss situations in which certain marketing practices are common and analyze the economic factors responsible for their development

3) Which one of the following does the author offer as an argument against gray marketing?
(A) Manufacturers find it difficult to monitor the effectiveness of promotional efforts made on behalf of products that are gray marketed.
(B) Gray marketing can discourage product promotion by authorized distributors.
(C) Gray marketing forces manufacturers to accept the low profit margins that result from quantity discounting.
(D) Gray marketing discourages competition among unauthorized dealers.
(E) Quality standards in the manufacture of products likely to be gray marketed may decline.

4) The information in the passage suggests that proponents of the theory of territoriality would probably differ from proponents of the theory of exhaustion on which one of the following issues?
(A) the right of trademark owners to enforce, in countries in which the trademarks are registered, distribution agreements intended to restrict distribution to authorized channels
(B) the right of trademark owners to sell trademarked goods only to those distributors who agree to abide by distribution agreements
(C) the legality of channel flow diversion that occurs in a country other than the one in which a trademark is registered
(D) the significance consumers attach to a trademark
(E) the usefulness of trademarks as marketing tools

5) The author discusses the impact of gray marketing on goodwill in order to
(A) fault trademark owners for their unwillingness to offer a solution to a major consumer complaint against gray marketing
(B) indicate a way in which manufacturers sustain damage against which they ought to be protected
(C) highlight one way in which gray marketing across markets is more problematic than gray marketing within a market
(D) demonstrate that gray marketing does not always benefit the interests of unauthorized distributors
(E) argue that consumers are unwilling to accept a reduction in price in exchange for elimination of service

6) The author’s attitude toward the possibility that the courts will come to exercise consistent control over gray marketing practices can best be characterized as one of
(A) resigned tolerance
(B) utter dismay
(C) reasoned optimism
(D) unbridled fervor
(E) cynical indifference

7) It can be inferred from the passage that some channel flow diversion might be eliminated if
(A) profit margins on authorized distribution of goods were less than those on goods marketed through parallel importing
(B) manufacturers relieved authorized channels of all responsibility for product promotion
(C) manufacturers charged all authorized distributors the same unit price for products regardless of quantity purchased
(D) the postsale service policies of authorized channels were controlled by manufacturers
(E) manufacturers refused to provide the “extended product” to consumers who purchase goods in the gray market

A wire that weighs 24 kilograms is cut into two pieces so that one of the pieces weighs 16 kilograms and is 34 meters long.  If the weight of each piece is proportional to its length, how many meters long is the other piece of wire?

A) 8
B) 11
C) 13
D) 17
E) 20

Unlike that of the Native Americans of British Columbia, the Plains, and the Southwest, those of Puget Sound lived in relatively small, autonomous villages.

(A)  Unlike that of
(B)  Unlike those of
(C)  Unlike
(D)  In contrast to that of
(E)  Dissimilar to

Happy New Year 2012

Achievers Family wish you a v v v Very Happy New Year 2012

Which of the following best completes the passage below?
In today?s pluralistic society, textbook publishers find themselves in an increasingly uncomfortable position. Since the schools are regarded as a repository of society?s moral and cultural values, each group within society wishes to prevent any material that offends its own values from appearing in textbooks. As a result, stance on an issue is certain to run afoul of one group or another. And since textbook publishers must rely on community goodwill to sell their books, it is inevitable that______

(A) fewer and fewer publishers will be willing to enter the financially uncertain textbook industry
(B) the ethical and moral content of textbooks will become increasingly neutral and bland
(C) more and more pressure groups will arise that seek to influence the content of textbooks
(D) the government will be forced to intervene in the increasingly rancorous debate over the content of textbooks
(E) school boards, teachers, and principals will find it nearly impossible to choose among the variety of textbooks being offered

Some biographers have not only disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also questioned whether he drank at all.
(A) have not only disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also
questioned whether he drank
(B) not only have disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also
over whether he drank
(C) have disputed not only the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also
whether he may not have drunk
(D) not only have disputed the common notion that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also
questioned whether or not he had drunk
(E) have disputed the common notion not only that Edgar Allan Poe drank to excess but also
questioned whether he may not have drunk

Four dollar amounts, w, x, y, and z, were invested in a business. Which amount was greatest?

1. y < z < x

2. x was 25 percent of the total of the four investments.

Selected Possible Answer

(more…)

If n and k are positive integers, is n divisible by 6?

(1) n = k(k + 1)(k – 1)
(2) k > 1 is a multiple of 3.
A. Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient.
B. Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient.
C. BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
D. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
E. Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.

A calendar stick carved centuries ago by the Winnebago tribe may provide the first evidence that the North American Indians have developed advanced full-year calendars basing them on systematic astronomical observation.

(A) that the North American Indians have developed advanced full-year calendars basing them
(B) of the North American Indians who have developed advanced full-year calendars and based them
(C) of the development of advanced full-year calendars by North American Indians, basing them
(D) of the North American Indians and their development of advanced full-year calendars based
(E) that the North American Indians developed advanced full-year calendars based

In one state , all cities and most towns have antismoking ordinance . A petition entitled petition for statewide smoking restriction is being circulated to voters by campaign workers who ask only. Do you want to sign a petition for statewide smoking restriction the petition advocates a state law banning smoking in most retail establishments and in government offices that are open to the public .

Which of the following circumstances would make the petition as circulated misleading to voters who understand the proposal as extending the local ordinances statewide ?

A. The state law would not affect existing local ordinances baning smoking in places where the fire authorities have determined that smoking would constitute a fire hazard

B. Health costs associated with smoking cause health insurance premiums to rise for everyone and so affect nonsmokers

C. In rural areas of the state, there are relatively few retail establishment and government offices that are open to the public

D. The state law would supersede the local antismoking ordinances, which contain stronger bans than the state law does

E. There is considerable sentiment among voters in most areas of the state for restriction of smoking

hi
I am preparing for GMAT and came across a question for which I had no answer. Can you please publish the question so that I can discuss about it in you forum? The question is described below:

A man chooses an outfit from 3 different shirts, 2 different pairs of shoes, and 3 different pants. If he randomly selects 1 shirt, 1 pair of shoes, and 1 pair of pants each morning for 3 days, what is the probability that he wears the same pair of shoes each day, but that no other piece of clothing is repeated?

(1)(1/3)pow6(1/2)pow3
(2)(1/3)pow6(1/2)
(3)(1/3)pow4
(4)(1/3)pow2(1/2)
(5)5X(1/3)pow2

N.B: pow = power

If x and y are different prime numbers, each greater than 2, which of the following must be true ?

I. x+y ? 91
II. x–y is an even integer.
III. x/y is not an integer.

A) II only
B) I and II only
C) I and III only
D) II and III only
E) I, II, and III

A researcher discovered that people who have low levels of immune-system activity tend to score much lower on tests of mental health than do people with normal or high immune-system activity. The researcher concluded from this experiment that the immune system protects against mental illness as well as against physical disease.
The researcher’s conclusion depends on which of the following assumptions?

A) High immune-system activity protects against mental illness better than normal immune-system activity does.

B) Mental illness is similar to physical disease in its effects on body systems.

C) People with high immune-system activity cannot develop mental illness.

D) Mental illness does not cause people’s immune-system activity to decrease.

E) Psychological treatment of mental illness is not as effective as is medical treatment.