Module I: Reading and Writing

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Prediction Verbal 6_Watermarked

Economist Jingting Fan argues that the effects of international trade may display spatial variation at sub-national levels. For instance, imported goods may reduce expenses for a country's average consumer, but for consumers living far from ports, high intranational transport costs could ______ the price advantages associated with imports.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
 

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Mark for Review

misconstrued
underestimate
nullify
denigrate
Yingguang Frank Chan and colleagues have explored how convergent evolution—a phenomenon that occurs when the same trait evolves independently in two reproductively separate lineages—can result from a genetic mechanism shared by both lineages. Meanwhile, Patricia J. Wittkopp and colleagues have investigated how convergence occurs through different genetic mechanisms, but the relative prevalence of convergence through shared and different genetic processes is still poorly understood. This motivated biologists Delbert A. Green II and Cassandra G. Extavour to evaluate convergence in a single study for their 2012 paper.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the passage?
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Mark for Review

To summarize Green and Extavour's criticism of the study by Chan and colleagues

To suggest that Green and Extavour’s conclusions would be more persuasive if they incorporated findings from the studies by Chan and colleagues and Wittkopp and colleagues
To situate Green and Extavour's study in the context of their field
To argue that Green and Extavour's study revealed a previously unrecognized issue that evolutionary biologists need to address

Many pastes contain copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO-NPs), which can leach into waterways and soils via wastewater. In a 2012 study, Superb K. Misra and colleagues found that CuO-NPs can accumulate in the bodies of great pond snails (Lymnaea stagnalis). While bioaccumulation of manufactured nanoparticles may be inherently worrisome, it has been hypothesized that CuO-NP bioaccumulation in invertebrates like L. stagnalis could serve a valuable proxy role, obviating the need for manufacturers to conduct costly and intrusive sampling of vertebrate species-such as African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis), commonly used in regulatory compliance testing-for nanoparticle bioaccumulation as environmental protection laws currently require.
Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the hypothesis presented in the text?
 

3
Mark for Review
L. stagnalis has been shown to accumulate several other types of manufactured nanoparticles in addition to CuO-NPs, whereas X. laevis has been shown to accumulate only CuO-NPs.
The rate of CuO-NP uptake in L. stagnalis differs from the rate of CuO- NP uptake in X. laevis in a way that is not yet well understood by researchers.
When L. stagnalis and X. laevis are exposed to similar levels of CuO- NPs, concentrations of CuO-NPs in animals of both species show little variation from individual to individual.
Compared with X. laevis, L stagnalis can accumulate detectable Cu NP concentrations with significantly fewer negative effects.
Marine biologists Sophie Langer, Michael Roberts, and their team conducted a study to examine the sound recognition abilities of dolphins across various age groups. The researchers monitored the brain activity of a 6-year-old bottlenose dolphin named Luna, a 3-year-old spinner dolphin named Skye, and other dolphins as they were exposed to three different audio recordings: one of a familiar pod member's vocalizations, the second of an unfamiliar pod member from a different region, and a third composed of short, randomized segments of the first two, scrambled so they no longer resembled typical dolphin communication sounds. Each of the dolphins was accustomed to the vocalizations from their own pod but not to those from the other region. The researchers concluded that younger dolphins may have more difficulty distinguishing between familiar and unfamiliar vocalizations compared to older dolphins.
Which finding from the study, if true, would most directly support the researchers' conclusion?
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Mark for Review
Although the dolphins' overall hearing sensitivity declined with age, dolphins of all ages exhibited more pronounced brain activity in response to the vocalizations ions they were familiar with compared to those they were not familiar with
Dolphins displayed distinct patterns of brain activity when hearing familiar vocalizations versus unfamiliar ones, and the difference in this activity pattern diminished as the age of the dolphin decreased.
As the dolphins' ages decreased there was a corresponding decrease in brain activity in response to both familiar and unfamiliar vocalizations, but not in response to the scrambled recording.
The resemblance between the pattern of brain activity in response to the scrambled recording and the activity in response to unfamiliar vocalizations was least pronounced in the youngest dolphins.
To combat predation by Arizona myotis and other insectivorous bats, many moth species, including Cycina tenera, emit ultrasonic pulses that, in some cases, disrupt the echolocation bats rely on for foraging. Some scientists have hypothesized that this capability evolved because it imposes a lower metabolic cost than does the alternative mechanism of producing chemicals that render moths noxious to bats. Nicholas T. Homziak et al. investigated the acoustic properties of moths' ultrasonic responses to audio of bat echolocation and then assessed the palatability of the ultrasound-producing moths. They found that several moth genera that emit ultrasonic pulses capable of disrupting bat echolocation are unpalatable to bats, suggesting that …
Which choice most logically completes the text?
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Mark for Review
most genera of moths that produce ultrasound capable of disrupting bat echolocation do so primarily for purposes other than evading capture by Arizona myotis and other predators.

the hypothesis about the development of this ultrasonic defense likely does not account for all instances of the trait in moths.

although previous findings about Cycina tenera are consistent with the hypothesis about the low metabolic cost of producing noxious chemicals, the ability to disrupt bat echolocation and unpalatability are not mutually exclusive traits
further investigations into moths' ability to protect themselves by disrupting bat echolocation will likely find that moth genera relying on this mechanism are also generally inedible to bats.
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