Consumers planning to buy recreational equipment tend to buy higher quality, more expensive equipment when the economy is strong than when it is weak. Hill and Dale is a business that sells high-quality, expensive camping and hiking equipment in Boravia. Although all the signs are that Boravia's economy is now entering a period of sustained strength, the managers of the business do not expect a substantial increase in sales.

Which of the following, if true, would provide the strongest justification for the managers' judgment?

The chemical adenosine is released by brain cells when those cells are active. Adenosine then binds to more and more sites on cells in certain areas of the brain, as the total amount released gradually increases during wakefulness. During sleep, the number of sites to which adenosine is bound decreases. Some researchers have hypothesized that it is the cumulative binding of adenosine to a large number of sites that causes the onset of sleep.

Which of the following, if true, provides the most support for the researchers' hypothesis?

Which of the following most logically completes the editorial below?

Editorial in Golbindian Newspaper: For almost three months, opposition parties have been mounting daily street demonstrations in the capital in an effort to pressure the ruling party into calling an election. Though the demonstrations were well attended at first, attendance has declined steadily in recent weeks. However, the decline in attendance does not indicate that popular support for the opposition's demands is dropping, since

In Kantovia, physicians' income comes from insurance companies, which require physicians to document their decisions in treating patients and to justify deviations from the companies' treatment guidelines. Ten years ago physicians were allowed more discretion. Most physicians believe that the companies' requirements now prevent them from spending enough time with patients. Yet the average amount of time a patient spends with a physician during an office visit has actually increased somewhat over the last ten years.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy between physicians' perceptions and the change in the actual time spent?

Mel: The official salary for judges has always been too low to attract the best candidates to the job. The legislature's move to raise the salary has done nothing to improve the situation, because it was coupled with a ban on receiving money for lectures and teaching engagements.

Pat: No, the raise in salary really does improve the situation. Since very few judges teach or give lectures, the ban will have little or no negative effect.

Pat's response to Mel is inadequate in that it

In two months, the legal minimum wage in the country of Kirlandia will increase from five Kirlandic dollars(KD5.00) Per hour to KD5.50 per hour. Opponents of this increase have argued that the resulting rise in wages will drive the inflation rate up. In fact its impact on wages will probably be negligible, since only a very small proportion of all Kirfandic workers are currently receiving less than KD5.50 per hour.

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

Plant scientists have been able to genetically engineer vegetable seeds to produce crops that are highly resistant to insect damage. Although these seeds currently cost more than conventional seeds, their cost is likely to decline. Moreover, farmers planting them can use far less pesticide, and most consumers prefer vegetables grown with less pesticide, therefore, for crops for which these seeds can be developed, their use is likely to become the norm.

which of the following would be most useful to know in evaluating the argument above?

Many winemakers use cork stoppers; but cork stoppers can leak, crumble, or become moldy, so that those winemakers must often discard a significant proportion of their inventory of bottled wine. Bottlemaster plastic stoppers, which cannot leak, crumble, or mold, have long been available to winemakers, at a price slightly higher than that of traditional cork stoppers. Cork prices, however, are expected to rise dramatically in the near future. Clearly, therefore, winemakers who still use cork but wish to keep production costs from rising will be forced to reconsider plastic stoppers. And since the wine-buying public's association of plastic stoppers with poor-quality wine is weakening, there is an excellent chance that the Bottlemaster plastic stopper will gain an increased share of the marked for wine-bottle stoppers.

In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

In 1983 Argonia's currency, the argon, underwent a reduction in value relative to the world's strongest currencies. This reduction resulted in a significant increase in Argonia's exports over 1982 levels. In 1987 a similar reduction in the value of the argon led to another increase in Argonia's exports. Faced with the need to increase exports yet again, Argonia's finance minister has proposed another reduction in the value of the argon.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the prediction that the finance minister's plan will not result in a significant increase in Argonia's exports next year?

A manufacturer of workstations for computer-aided design seeks to increase sales to its most important corporate customers. Its strategy is to publish very low list prices for workstations in order to generate interest among the buyers for those corporations.

Which of the following, if characteristic of the marketplace, would tend to cause the manufacturer's strategy to fail?