Environmentalist: The commissioner of the Fish and Game Authority would have the public believe that increases in the number of marine fish caught demonstrate that this resource is no longer endangered. This is a specious argument, as unsound as it would be to assert that the ever-increasing rate at which rain forests are being cut down demonstrates a lack of danger to that resource. The real cause of the increased fish-catch is a greater efficiency in using technologies that deplete resources.

The environmentalist’s statements, if true, best support which of the following as a conclusion?

CEO: Over the past several years, we have more than doubled our revenues but profits have steadily declined because an increasing number of customers have failed to pay their balances. In order to compensate for these higher default rates, we will increase the interest charged on outstanding balances from an annual percentage rate (APR) of 9.5% to an APR of 12%. This increase will be sufficient to compensate for the current rate of defaults and allow us to increase our profits.

Which of the following statements, if true, would most seriously undermine a plan to increase interest rates in order to spur profitable growth?

Wine connoisseurs expect their beverage to be bottled in glass and sealed with a cork. Yet as cheap alternatives to cork have become available and high fuel prices have made transporting glass more expensive, some winemakers have adopted as an alternative to glass bottles cartons made from layers of polythene, aluminum foil, and paper. Cartons have been rightly criticized for allowing oxygen to seep in—which eventually creates a stale flavor—but a study conducted by Gary Pickering’s research team reveals that they may have advantages.

High levels of chemicals called methoxypyrazines (MPs) can make wines taste like they were made of underripe or low-quality fruit. Originally grapes were thought to be wine’s only source of MPs, but several studies in North America and France point to Asian lady beetles, which eat grapes and can accidentally enter the winemaking process. Winemakers have been unsuccessful at removing undesirable MPs; worse, the beetles are also becoming more prevalent in other winemaking regions.

Pickering’s team investigated how packaging impacts MP concentration by adding three MP compounds to wines in cartons and glass bottles. Natural cork, synthetic cork, or screw caps sealed the bottles. After eighteen months, the MPs isobutyl-MP (IBMP), isopropyl-MP (IPMP), and sec-butyl-MP (SBMP) had fallen by 45 percent, 32 percent, and 26 percent, respectively, in the cartoned wine. In bottled wines, IBMP (which produces a “sweet pepper” taste) fell less: 37 percent for synthetic cork, 36 percent for screw cap, and 31 percent for natural cork. IPMP (associated with “earthy” flavors) increased 23 percent for natural cork, but fell 7 percent for screw cap and 19 percent for synthetic cork. SBMP (thought to help determine aroma) rose in all bottled wine.

Pickering speculates that the wine permeates the cartons’ inner polythene layers and makes contact with the aluminum, to which MP molecules stick, thus removing them from the wine. So adjusting carton composition could help control MP concentrations. Cartons might thus assume an important role in the market for wines that tend to be high in MPs but will be consumed relatively soon after packaging, before significant oxidation occurs. However, for grand wines—those most favored by connoisseurs—glass bottles with natural corks are likely to remain the packaging of choice.

Technology investments are no different. They, too, have always been a trade-off between risk and return. However, for enterprise technology, increased global connectivity is raising the stakes on both sides of the equation. The commercial rewards from tapping into this connectivity are enormous, but the more tightly we are connected, the more vulnerabilities exist that attackers can exploit and the more damage they can do once inside. Therefore, when a manufacturer invests in a new product life-cycle management system, it is making a bet that the system will not enable the theft of valuable intellectual property. When a retailer invests in mobile commerce, it is betting that cyber-fraud won’t critically damage profitability. When a bank invests in customer analytics, it is betting that the sensitive data it analyses won’t be stolen by cyber-criminals. The odds on all those bets appear to be shifting away from the institutions and toward cyber-attackers. They could swing decisively their way in the near future given most companies’ siloed and reactive approach to cybersecurity.

Our interviews with business leaders, chief information officers (CIOs), chief technology officers (CTOs), and chief information security officers (CISOs) indicate that concerns about cyber-attacks are already affecting large institutions’ interest in and ability to create value from technology investment and innovation. Potential losses, both direct and indirect, reduce the expected economic benefits of technology investments, as do the high cost and lengthy time frame required to build the defense mechanisms that can protect the organisation against a growing range of attackers. In short, the models companies use to protect themselves from cyber-attack are limiting their ability to extract additional value from technology.

Concern about cyber-attacks is already having a noticeable impact on business along three dimensions: lower frontline productivity, fewer resources for information technology (IT) initiatives that create value, and — critically — the slower implementation of technological innovations.

If △ and □ represent single digits in the correctly worked computation above, what is the value of △ + □ ?

If Δ and ∅ represent single digits in the correctly worked computation above, what is the value of Δ times ∅?

Although exposure to asbestos is the primary cause of mesothelioma, a slow-developing cancer, researchers believe that infection by the SV40 virus is a contributing cause, since in the United States 60 percent of tissue samples from mesotheliomas, but none from healthy tissue, contain SV40. SV40 is a monkey virus; however, in 1960 some polio vaccine was contaminated with the virus. Researchers hypothesize that this vaccine was the source of the virus found in mesotheliomas decades later.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the researchers' hypothesis?

Seven different numbers are selected from the integers 1 to 100, and each number is divided by 7. What is the sum of the remainders?

(1) The range of the seven remainders is 6.

(2) The seven numbers selected are consecutive integers.

Is the average age of the students taking SAT greater than 22?

(1) Out of the 100 test takers, 92 student's average is 14.

(2) The oldest test taker is 24 years old.

Although the discount stores in Goreville’s central shopping district are expected to close within five years as a result of competition from a SpendLess discount department store that just opened, those locations will not stay vacant for long. In the five years since the opening of Colson’s, a nondiscount department store, a new  store has opened at the location of every store in the shopping district that closed because it could not compete with Colson's.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?