Premise: Two families of venomous snakes are native to the United States. The vast majority are pit vipers, of the family Crotalidae, which include rattlesnakes, copperheads and cottonmouths. Virtually all of the venomous bites in this country are from pit vipers. Some, Mojave rattlesnakes or canebrake rattlesnakes, for example, carry a neurotoxic venom that can affect the brain or spinal cord. Copperheads, on the other hand, have a milder and less dangerous venom that sometimes may not require antivenin treatment. The other family is Elapidae, which includes two species of coral snakes found chiefly in the Southern states. Related to the much more dangerous Asian cobras and kraits, coral snakes have small mouths and short teeth, which give them a less efficient venom delivery than pit vipers. People bitten by coral snakes lack the characteristic fang marks of pit vipers, sometimes making the bite hard to detect.

Hypothesis: Coral snakes are found in Florida and Alabama.


Hypothesis: Bite marks from pit vipers can be hard to detect.


Hypothesis: Coral snakes are less dangerous than Asian cobras.


Hypothesis: Cottonmouths are also known as Water Moccasins.


Hypothesis: Crotalidae and Elapidae are native to the United States.


Premise: Two inter-city railway carriages were found ablaze last night (10 March) on a siding near Glundal station. Three elderly men were seen at the station at 19.00 last night and reliable witnesses say that they were all over 6 ft tall and that one of the men had a bad limp. It is also known that: The carriages belonged to Southern Trains and were waiting to be repaired. Fred Wish is 6 ft 5 in tall and 58 years old. Bob Tuck is a retired train driver. The railway company made Rod Debbs redundant in January. The carriages had been taken out of service because of electrical faults. A violent thunderstorm occurred over Glundal on 10 March. John Plum is 64 years old and has just left hospital after a knee operation. Sixty-one-year-old Dennis White, a former railway worker, is 5 ft 6 in tall.

Hypothesis: Dennis White was one of the three elderly men seen at the station at 19.00 on the night of the fire.


Hypothesis: Lightning could have started the fire in the railway carriages.


Hypothesis: Fred Wish could have been one of the three elderly men seen at the station.


Hypothesis: Bob Tuck is over 65 years old.


Hypothesis: Rod Debbs had a motive for the arson attack.


Premise: Two masked gunmen held up the only bank in Tuisdale at 10.30 on Wednesday 23 May. They made a successful getaway with over 500,000. The police say that three men are helping them with their enquiries. It is also known that: Four people work at the bank. Six customers were in the bank at 10.30. No shots were fired. Ms Grainger left the bank at 10.28 on Wednesday 23 May. All the people in the bank were made to lie on the floor face down on their stomachs. The police chased the getaway car for 16 km, and then lost it. An alarm alerted the police to the hold-up. A red Ford Mondeo drove away from the bank at high speed at 10.30 on Wednesday 23 May.

Hypothesis: The getaway car was a red Ford Mondeo.


Hypothesis: As a goodwill gesture, Tuisdales other bank provided emergency access to cash for customers after their ordeal.


Hypothesis: At least six people were lying on the floor in the bank.


Hypothesis: The cashier pressed an alarm in the bank, which is connected to the police station.


Hypothesis: One of the gunmen fired a shot to make everyone lie down on the floor.


Premise: Two men posing as council workers have been accused of stealing 500 from an 84-year-old man after offering to clear up leaves from the driveway of his home. The two men called at a house in Aspenwood Drive, Sherlston, owned and lived in by Mr Stephen Pimblett during the morning of 12 October. After introducing them- selves, they offered to sweep up the leaves and remove them for the sum of 20, which he accepted. When the two men had completed the task he invited them into the house in order to pay them the agreed sum. At that point they informed him that the cost had risen to 75 because: they had cleared the garden of leaves in addition to the drive; and, he would have to bear the cost of transporting the large quantity leaves to the council refuge collection point. He paid them the amount they had asked for, but he later claimed that they had stolen an additional sum of money from his house. It is also known that: Thieves posing as council workers and representatives of the utilities companies were known to have been operating in the area, and to have been targeting older people living on their own. Verbal logical reasoning tests Stephen Pimblett had a comprehensive home contents insurance policy which covered him against losses by accidental damage, fire and theft. Mr Pimblett had a large garden, which was surrounded by tall hedges and included many bushes and a number of fruit trees. The autumn weather had been very windy causing the trees to shed their leaves. Mr Pimblett preferred to pay for everything by cash and had a reputation for keeping substantial sums of money hidden in the house. Mr Pimblett was in good health but his family was concerned that he was becoming a bit forgetful and had a habit of falling asleep in an armchair while sitting watching television.

Hypothesis: Stephen Pimblett was the owner-occupier of a house in Aspenwood Drive, Sherlston.


Hypothesis: If it had it been stolen from his house by the two men as Mr Pimblett claimed, he would have had no means of recovering the lost money.


Hypothesis: One of the two men entered the house and stole the money while Mr Pimblett was asleep in an armchair in front of the television.


Hypothesis: The two men that called at Mr Pimbletts house and offered to clear up the fallen leaves from his driveway were part of a gang of confidence tricksters known to have been operating in the area.


Hypothesis: A thorough search of the house would probably have shown that the sum of money Mr Pimblett claimed to have been stolen was still in the place where he had hidden it.


Premise: Two months ago, it was announced that Central Government pensioners would get dearness relief with immediate effect but till date, banks have not credited the arrears.

Hypothesis: Most of the banks normally take care of the pensioners


Hypothesis: Two months time is sufficient for the government machinery to move and give effect to pensioners.


Premise: Two studies published recently show that 13 of 16 children treated with gene therapy treating diseases by correcting a patient's faulty genes - for severe combined immune deficiency, or SCID, have had their immune systems restored. The best treatment for the disease is a bone marrow transplant from an immunologically matched sibling. But when no matched donor is available, unmatched donors, such as parents, are recruited; these transplants are only around 70 percent successful. The success of gene therapy now rivals or betters that seen in these unmatched donor situations. In 2001, a child in the trial developed leukemia, thought to have been induced by a component in the modified virus, or vector, the researchers used to insert the correct gene into the boy's cells. Of the 30 children worldwide who have been treated with gene therapy for another form of SCID, marked by a deficiency in the enzyme adenosine deaminase (ADA), none has developed leukemia. Yet medical researchers maintain that gene therapy is still a better alternative than the conventional treatment for X-linked SCID in some children because 19 of the 20 children who have received gene therapy for X-linked SCID are still alive. When told these odds, all parents of children with X-linked SCID have opted for gene therapy

Hypothesis: In most instances, gene therapy is preferable to bone marrow transplants.


Hypothesis: Siblings are always immunologically matched.


Hypothesis: Of the remedies mentioned, bone marrow transplant from an immunologically unmatched donor has the lowest rate of success.


Premise: U3b Networks (U3b being short for the underprivileged three billion who lack internet access) is a company in Jersey set up by Greg Wyler, former owner of Rwandas national telephone company. His company intends to provide cheap, high-speed internet access to remote areas in developing countries, which up to now has been the reserve of developed countries. Mr Wyler plans to charge $500 per megabit per month, compared with the $4,000 charged by existing companies. Mr Wyler has so far raised 40m from investors, but this seems like a risky investment, especially as billions were lost on similar projects in the past. So why are people investing in the hope of finding customers in the worlds poorest regions? The reason is that previous projects were over-ambitious and set out to provide global coverage, whereas U3bs project is far more modest in its optimism and its services will be available only to a 100km wide corridor around the equator, which happens to cover most developing countries. It will initially use just five satellites circling 8,000km above the equator and further expansion will be determined by customer appetite.

Hypothesis: The majority of developing countries lie within 100km of the equator.


Hypothesis: Greg Wyler had a background in telecoms.


Hypothesis: The satellites for the project will cost 8m each.


Premise: UK companies need more effective boards of directors After a number of serious failures of governance (that is, how they are managed at the highest level), companies in Britain, as well as elsewhere, should consider radical changes to their directors' roles. It is clear that the role of a board director today is not an easy one. Following the 2008 financial meltdown, which resulted in a deeper and more prolonged period of economic downturn than anyone expected, the search for explanations in the many post-mortems of the crisis has meant blame has been spread far and wide. Governments, regulators, central banks and auditors have all been in the frame. The role of bank directors and management and their widely publicised failures have been extensively picked over and examined in reports, inquiries and commentaries. The knock-on effect of this scrutiny has been to make the governance of companies in general an issue of intense public debate and has significantly increased the pressures on, and the responsibilities of, directors. At the simplest and most practical level, the time involved in fulfilling the demands of a board directorship has increased significantly, calling into question the effectiveness of the classic model of corporate governance by part-time, independent non-executive directors. Where once a board schedule may have consisted of between eight and ten meetings a year, in many companies the number of events requiring board input and decisions has dramatically risen. Furthermore, the amount of reading and preparation required for each meeting is increasing. Agendas can become overloaded and this can mean the time for constructive debate must necessarily be restricted in favour of getting through the business. Often, board business is devolved to committees in order to cope with the workload, which may be more efficient but can mean that the board as a whole is less involved in fully addressing some of the most important issues. It is not uncommon for the audit committee meeting to last longer than the main board meeting itself. Process may take the place of discussion and be at the expense of real collaboration, so that boxes are ticked rather than issues tackled. A radical solution, which may work for some very large companies whose businesses are extensive and complex, is the professional board, whose members would work up to three or four days a week, supported by their own dedicated staff and advisers. There are obvious risks to this and it would be important to establish clear guidelines for such a board to ensure that it did not step on the toes of management by becoming too engaged in the day-to-day running of the company. Problems of recruitment, remuneration and independence could also arise and this structure would not be appropriate for all companies. However, more professional and better-informed boards would have been particularly appropriate for banks where the executives had access to information that part-time non-executive directors lacked, leaving the latter unable to comprehend or anticipate the 2008 crash. One of the main criticisms of boards and their directors is that they do not focus sufficiently on longer-term matters of strategy, sustainability and governance, but instead concentrate too much on short-term financial metrics. Regulatory requirements and the structure of the market encourage this behaviour. The tyranny of quarterly reporting can distort board decision-making, as directors have to 'make the numbers' every four months to meet the insatiable appetite of the market for more data. This serves to encourage the trading methodology of a certain kind of investor who moves in and out of a stock without engaging in constructive dialogue with the company about strategy or performance, and is simply seeking a short-term financial gain. This effect has been made worse by the changing profile of investors due to the globalisation of capital and the increasing use of automated trading systems. Corporate culture adapts and management teams are largely incentivised to meet financial goals. Compensation for chief executives has become a combat zone where pitched battles between investors, management and board members are fought, often behind closed doors but increasingly frequently in the full glare of press attention. Many would argue that this is in the interest of transparency and good governance as shareholders use their muscle in the area of pay to pressure boards to remove underperforming chief executives. Their powers to vote down executive remuneration policies increased when binding votes came into force. The chair of the remuneration committee can be an exposed and lonely role, as Alison Carnwath, chair of Barclays Bank's remuneration committee, found when she had to resign, having been roundly criticised for trying to defend the enormous bonus to be paid to the chief executive; the irony being that she was widely understood to have spoken out against it in the privacy of the committee. The financial crisis stimulated a debate about the role and purpose of the company and a heightened awareness of corporate ethics. Trust in the corporation has been eroded and academics such as Michael Sandel, in his thoughtful and bestselling book What Money Can't Buy, are questioning the morality of capitalism and the market economy. Boards of companies in all sectors will need to widen their perspective to encompass these issues and this may involve a realignment of corporate goals. We live in challenging times.

Hypothesis: Using a committee structure would ensure that board members are fully informed about significant issues.


Hypothesis: Board meetings normally continue for as long as necessary to debate matters in full.


Hypothesis: Banks have been mismanaged to a greater extent than other businesses.


Hypothesis: Close scrutiny of the behaviour of boards has increased since the economic downturn.


Premise: UK rail services how do l claim for my delayed train? Generally, if you have been delayed on a train journey, you may be able to claim compensation, but train companies all have different rules, so it can be confusing to work out what youre entitled to. The type of delay you can claim for depends on whether the train company runs a Delay Repay scheme or a less generous, older-style scheme. Delay Repay is a train operator scheme to compensate passengers when trains are late, and the train company will pay out even if it was not responsible for the delay. The scheme varies between companies, but up to 2016 most paid 50 percent of the single ticket cost for 30 minutes delay and 100 percent for an hour. On the London Underground, you get a full refund for 15-minute delays. Companies that do not use Delay Repay and still use the older scheme will not usually pay compensation if the problem is considered to be out of their control. But it is still worth asking them for compensation, as some may pay out. You are unlikely to get compensation for a delay if any of the following occur: Accidents involving people getting onto the line illegally Gas leaks or fires in buildings next to the line which were not caused by a train company Line closures at the request of the emergency services Exceptionally severe weather conditions Strike action National Rail Conditions of Travel state that you are entitled to compensation in the same form that you paid for the ticket. Some train companies are still paying using rail vouchers, which they are allowed to do if you do not ask for a cash refund. Since 2016, rail passengers have acquired further rights for compensation through the Consumer Rights Act. This means that passengers could now be eligible for compensation due to: a severely overcrowded train with too few carriages available; a consistently late running service; and a service that is delayed for less than the time limit that applied under existing compensation schemes. However, in order to exercise their rights beyond the existing compensation schemes, for instance Delay Repay, and where the train operating company refuses to compensate despite letters threatening court action, passengers may need to bring their claims to a court of law.

Hypothesis: Under Delay Repay, a train company will only provide compensation if it caused the delay.


Hypothesis: The system for claiming compensation varies from one company to another.


Hypothesis: It is doubtful whether companies using the older scheme will provide compensation if a delay is caused by a strike.


Hypothesis: An increasing number of train companies are willing to pay compensation for problems they are not responsible for.


Hypothesis: Under Delay Repay, underground and other train companies give exactly the same amounts of money in compensation.


Hypothesis: Passengers may receive compensation in the form of a train voucher if they forget to request cash.


Premise: UK unemployment has reached a new high after the public sector made a new wave of cuts this week. Statistics suggest that those particularly hit by the cuts will be youths, as a record high of over 1 million youths were recorded as unemployed at the beginning of this month. This figure is just under half of the total national statistic for unemployment, a reported 2.5 million. Yet, the number of people claiming unemployment benefits has not risen as far as it was expected to. Economists predicted that the number of people claiming support would rise by an estimated 15,000, yet the actual figure demonstrates a rise of less than 4,000. Perhaps things are not as bad as they seem after all.

Hypothesis: Unemployment is about to fall, improving the economic outlook.


Hypothesis: The government is likely to make new public sector cuts.


Hypothesis: Economists over-estimated the number rise in benefits claims


Hypothesis: Economists are mistaken and unemployment is lower.


Premise: UNMASKING SKIN If you took off your skin and laid it flat, it would cover an area of about twenty-one square feet, making it by far the bodys largest organ. Draped in place over our bodies, skin forms the barrier between whats inside us and whats outside. It protects us from a multitude of external forces. It serves as an avenue to our most intimate physical and psychological selves. This impervious yet permeable barrier, less than a millimetre thick in places, is composed of three layers. The outermost layer is the bloodless epidermis. The dermis includes collagen, elastin, and nerve endings. The innermost layer, subcutaneous fat, contains tissue that acts as an energy source, cushion and insulator for the body. From these familiar characteristics of skin emerge the profound mysteries of touch, arguably our most essential source of sensory stimulation. We can live without seeing or hearing in fact, without any of our other senses. But babies born without effective nerve connections between skin and brain can fail to thrive and may even die. Laboratory experiments decades ago, now considered unethical and inhumane, kept baby monkeys from being touched by their mothers. It made no difference that the babies could see, hear and smell their mothers; without touching, the babies became apathetic, and failed to progress. For humans, insufficient touching in early years can have lifelong results. In touching cultures, adult aggression is low, whereas, in cultures where touch is limited, adult aggression is high, writes Tiffany Field, director of the Touch Research Institutes at the University of Miami School of Medicine. Studies of a variety of cultures show a correspondence between high rates of physical affection in childhood and low rates of adult physical violence. While the effects of touching are easy to understand, the mechanics of it are less so. Your skin has millions of nerve cells of various shapes at different depths, explains Stanley Bolanowski, a neuroscientist and associate director of the Institute for Sensory Research at Syracuse University. When the nerve cells are stimulated, physical energy is transformed into energy used by the nervous system and passed from the skin to the spinal cord and brain. Its called transduction, and no one knows exactly how it takes place. Suffice it to say that the process involves the intricate, split-second operation of a complex system of signals between neurons in the skin and brain. This is starting to sound very confusing until Bolanowski says: In simple terms, people perceive three basic things via skin: pressure, temperature, and pain. And then Im sure hes wrong. When I get wet, my skin feels wet, I protest. Close your eyes and lean back, says Bolanowski. Something cold and wet is on my forehead so wet, in fact, that I wait for water to start dripping down my cheeks. Open your eyes. Bolanowski says, showing me that the sensation comes from a chilled, but dry, metal cylinder. The combination of pressure and cold, he explains, is what makes my skin perceive wetness. He gives me a surgical glove to put on and has me put a finger in a glass of cold water. My finger feels wet, even though I have visual proof that its not touching water. My skin, which seemed so reliable, has been deceiving me my entire life. When I shower or wash my hands, I now realize, my skin feels pressure and temperature. Its my brain that says I feel wet. Perceptions of pressure, temperature and pain manifest themselves in many different ways. Gentle stimulation of pressure receptors can result in ticklishness; gentle stimulation of pain receptors, in itching. Both sensations arise from a neurological transmission, not from something that physically exists. Skin, Im realizing, is under constant assault, both from within the body and from forces outside. Repairs occur with varying success. Take the spot where I nicked myself with a knife while slicing fruit. I have a crusty scab surrounded by pink tissue about a quarter inch long on my right palm. Under the scab, epidermal cells are migrating into the wound to close it up. When the process is complete, the scab will fall off to reveal new epidermis. Its only been a few days, but my little self-repair is almost complete. Likewise, we recover quickly from slight burns. If you ever happen to touch a hot burner, just put your finger in cold water. The chances are you will have no blister, little pain and no scar. Severe burns, though, are a different matter.

Hypothesis: The skin is more sensitive to pressure than to temperature or pain.


Hypothesis: The human skin is always good at repairing itself.


Hypothesis: Even scientists have difficulty understanding how our sense of touch works.


Premise: USE OF UNIVERSITY GROUNDS BY VEHICULAR TRAFFIC The University grounds are private. The University authorities only allow authorised members of the University, visitors and drivers of vehicles servicing the University to enter the grounds. Members of staff who have paid the requisite fee and display the appropriate permit may bring a vehicle into the grounds. A University permit does not entitle them to park in Hall car parks however, unless authorised by the Warden of the Hall concerned. Students may not bring vehicles into the grounds during the working day unless they have been given special permission by the Security Officer and have paid for and are displaying an appropriate entry permit. Students living in Halls of Residence must obtain permission from the Warden to keep a motor vehicle at their residence. Students are reminded that if they park a motor vehicle on University premises without a valid permit, they will be fined 20

Hypothesis: The campus roads are not open to general members of the public.


Hypothesis: Students living in Hall do not need permission to park in Hall car parks.


Hypothesis: Parking permits cost 20 a year.


Hypothesis: Having a University permit does not allow staff to park at Halls.


Hypothesis: Parking in Halls of Residence is handled by the Wardens of the Halls.


Hypothesis: University employees do not need to pay for their parking permits.


Premise: USE THE RIGHT TYPE OF FIRE EXTINGUISHER! Fire extinguishers come in different types depending on the material combusted. The five main types of fire extinguisher are described below. Pressurized water Used for Class A fires only. Carbon-dioxide Used for Class E fires because it does not damage electrical equipment such as computers. Limited use for Class B fires because there is a risk of re-ignition due to a lack of cooling. Foam-filled Used for Class B fires. Also used for Class A fires, though not in confined spaces. They are NOT for electrical equipment fires or cooking oil. Dry powder Used for Class A, B, C and E fires, with specialist powders for Class D fires. Smothers the fire but does not cool it or penetrate very well so there is a risk of re-ignition. Wet chemical Used for Class F fires, especially high temperature deep fat fryers. There are six classifications of combustible material as shown below. Class A: flammable organic solids (eg wood, paper, coal, plastics, textiles) Class B: flammable liquids (eg gasoline, spirits) but not cooking oil Class C: flammable gas (eg propane, butane) Class D: combustible metals (eg magnesium, lithium) Class E: electrical equipment (eg computers, photocopiers) Class F: cooking oil and fat The above classifications apply to Europe and Australia.

Hypothesis: Only one type of fire extinguisher is suitable for a lithium battery fire.


Hypothesis: Foam-filled extinguishers should NOT be used outdoors.


Hypothesis: Cooking oil fires should only be tackled with Class F fire extinguishers.


Hypothesis: Foam-filled extinguishers can be used on fires involving plastics.


Hypothesis: A gasoline fire extinguished with carbon-dioxide might ignite again.


Hypothesis: Flammable liquids are more likely to reignite than flammable solids.


Hypothesis: Class A fires can be tackled with three types of extinguisher.


Premise: Under 5% of employers test their staff for the use of recreational drugs and the vast majority do not consider substance abuse to be a significant issue in their workplace. Evidence of a link between drug abuse and accidents or low productivity is hard to find. More studies found a link between alcoholism and a detrimental impact on safety and performance than a link with drugs, either so-called soft drugs such as cannabis or class 1 drugs such as cocaine. Employers face problems if they decide that they should test staff for drugs. In addition to ethical considerations, employees have a right to privacy under the Human Rights Act; however, the employer also has a duty to provide a safe workplace and has a duty of care to take every reasonable step to ensure safety at work under the Health and Safety at Work Act. In some industries, for example the transport and nuclear power industries, employers do routinely test their staff for drug use.

Hypothesis: Society cannot afford the risk of an accident caused by an employee on drugs in the transport or nuclear industry and that is why testing takes place in those industries.


Hypothesis: There is evidence that the use of recreational drugs is irrelevant to most employers.


Hypothesis: There is no conflict between the right to privacy and the right to a safe place of work.


Premise: Under law, negligence is usually defined in the context of jury instructions wherein a judge instructs the jury that a party is to be considered negligent if they failed to exercise the standard of care that a reasonable person would have exercised under the same circumstances. In most jurisdictions, it is necessary to show first that a person had a duty to exercise care in a given situation, and that they breached that duty. In brief: Negligence, a tort, is a civil wrong consisting of five criteria: Duty or reasonable standard of care (as decided by judge as a matter of law), Breach (or negligence in laymens terms, decided as a matter of fact), Injury (the fact that the plaintiff suffered an injury, and is determined at a matter of fact), Cause in Fact or conduct of defendant that causes plaintiffs injury(s)(decided as a matter of fact), Legal Cause (now perceived as the foreseeability of the type of injury caused but not the specific injury or extent of injury, determined as a matter of fact). Matters of law are decided by a judge, matters of fact are decided by a jury. In order to prove negligence, it is not necessary to prove harm, but in order for a cause of action to rest in tort, harm must be proven. Hence, it would be meaningless to sue someone for negligence if no harm resulted. Conversely, it is not enough that a harm was done. In order for the harm to be compensable in a negligence lawsuit, the defendant must be shown to have been negligent, and it must be demonstrated that his negligence was the proximate cause of the harm sustained by the plaintiff.

Hypothesis: In some cases negligence can be proven but harm cannot be proven.


Hypothesis: The defendant must be shown to have been negligent before compensation can be awarded.


Hypothesis: Proximate cause is an important concept in cases of negligence.


Hypothesis: Matters of fact and matters of law are decided by a judge and jury respectively.


Hypothesis: Legal cause is one of the criteria which is determined by a judge.


Premise: Under section 36 of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968, goods are deemed to have been manufactured or produced in the country in which they last underwent a treatment or process resulting in a substantial change. Meat from animals coming into the UK and then cured here can be described as UK produce. Most well- known brands of ham or bacon are often advertised with packaging depicting a British countryside scene and described as farmhouse, which would lead shoppers to believe they are buying products made from British meat, but most are in fact made using imported meat.

Hypothesis: The passage leads the reader to agree that the practice of importing foods and then processing them so that they are substantially changed should be stopped.


Hypothesis: Under section 36 of the Act, British lamb exported to France and slaughtered there is sold as French.


Hypothesis: The author of the passage believes that the practice risks some consumers being duped.


Premise: Understanding Your Gas Bill How can I get a duplicate bill or information on my latest bill The easiest way to view or print a copy of your most recent or past bill is to register or log on to My Account. You can receive, view and pay your bill -- all online. When you log on to My Account, go to View My Bill, then Bill History. There you can view and print out your account history -- up to 25 months. Just click on the bill you'd like to see. Try it now. Or, if you'd prefer, you can call our automated service line 24 hours a day, at 1-800-772-5050*. Note, requests made through our phone line will take approximately 3-5 working days to complete. Billing information can only be sent to the mailing address on record. CCF: Hundred of Cubic Feet: Method used for gas measurement. The quantity of gas at a temperature of sixty degrees Fahrenheit and a pressure of 14.73 pounds per square inch makes up one cubic foot. Billing Terms BTU: British Thermal Unit: One BTU is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit. A more practical definition would be: how much gas an appliance will use to produce heat or cooling. As a result, gas appliances are sized by a BTU rating. 100,000 BTU's equal 1 therm. For example, a 400,000 BTU heater, when in use, would use 4 therms of gas per hour. A 30,000 BTU range would use .3 therms per hour of use. Billing Factor: An adjuster used to convert CCF into therms. It adjusts the amount of gas used to reflect the heat value of the gas at a given altitude. The heating value can vary from month to month; therefore, the billing factor is not always the same. Therm: A therm is approximately 100,000 BTUs. It is a standard unit of measurement. CCFs are converted to therms for purposes of billing. Natural Gas Conversions 1 cubic foot = 1050 Btu Therm = 100,000 Btu Ccf = 100 cubic foot, or 1 therm Mcf = 1000 cubic feet = 10.20 therms MMcf = 1 million cubic feet Bcf = 1 billion cubic feet Decatherm (Dth) = 10 therms = 1 million Btu Mmbtu = 1 million btu = 10 therms About gas rates and how bills are calculated Natural gas rates are made up of two primary charges: Gas delivery service, which The Gas Company provides - the "delivery" (or "transmission") charge; and, The cost of the natural gas itself -- which is reflected in the "procurement" charge. Many people believe that The Gas Company produces natural gas, but we don't. For our residential and smaller business customers, we buy natural gas from producers and marketers at the best possible prices on the open market. The wholesale gas prices we pay are based on market supply and demand. They're not marked up by The Gas Company, and are shown on your monthly bill as the "commodity charge. " The Gas Company's delivery service charge covers the costs of transporting natural gas through our pipeline system. It is approved annually by the Public Utilities Commission and is not impacted by the price of natural gas. Monthly Gas rates vary based on monthly gas prices Since 1997, the cost of natural gas that customers pay in their rates is based on a forecasted monthly price instead of a forecasted annual price. This allows rates to more closely follow current natural gas market prices. With monthly pricing, gas rates are based upon a 30-day forecast of natural gas market prices. This gives customers a better picture of the current price of natural gas, and means they no longer have to wait for annual adjustments to their bills to make up for differences between the 12-month forecast price and the actual price paid by The Gas Company on a monthly basis. Does The Gas Company benefit from higher gas prices? We do not produce natural gas; energy production companies produce natural gas. The Gas Company just delivers natural gas to its customers. Baseline therm allowance As determined by the Public Utilities Commission, under the direction of the State Legislature, "baseline therm allowances" are the amounts of natural gas needed to meet the minimum basic needs of the average home. The Gas Company is required to bill these "baseline" amounts at its lowest residential rates. The goal of these "baseline" amounts is to encourage efficient use of natural gas. Charges on Your Bill from a Third Party For bill questions and charges on your gas bill from third-party vendors -- Commerce Energy (formerly ACN) 1-877-226-3649 HomeServe 1-888-302-0137

Hypothesis: Phone requests for a copy of your bill are processed within a working week.


Hypothesis: CCFs are calculated at a temperature of 60 degrees C.


Hypothesis: The Gas Company receives a discount on the market price of the day.


Hypothesis: Therms are converted to CCFs to calculate your bill.


Hypothesis: Since 1997, customers have not had to wait for annual adjustments.


Premise: University Union The job of the University Union is to represent the interests of the studentsboth to the University and to the outside worldand provide students with cultural, sporting and welfare facilitie. When you arrive at the University, you will be given a Student Guide, explaining in detail what the Union has to offer. All full-time registered students are automatically members of the University Union, which is affiliated to the National Union of Students (although under Section 22(2)(c) of the Education Act 1994, a student has the right not to be a member of the Union if he or she so wishes). The Union is run by students (Sabbatical Officers) elected in cross-campus ballots, who work full-time, taking a year of from their university courses. International students are represented by an Overseas Students Officer, a part-time Union post. The Graduate Association All postgraduate students at the University of St James are automatically members of the Graduate Association. It plays an important role in representing the interests of all postgraduate students, and also acts as a social club. The Graduate Association elects annually international officers, representing the interests of students from Europe and from outside Europe. Societies and Groups National and Cultural Societies There are some 18 societies affiliated to the Union with memberships of nationals from those countries and other international and UK students interested in finding out more about their culture and language. The current list of National and Cultural societies as of January 2000 can be obtained at the Union office. The presidents of all these societies can be contacted through their pigeonholes in the Union. If there is no society for your nationality, why not start one? Wives International Group This group was formed to foster contact amongst the wives of overseas students, Coffee mornings are held every Wednesday morning in the Senior Common Room, Clifton Hill House, where children can play with the many toys provided, and their mothers can enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and chat. Language tuition can also be arranged by qualified teachers at a reduced rate for wives who do not have much knowledge of the English language.

Hypothesis: The representative of the international students studies as well as works.


Hypothesis: National and Cultural clubs may be started by student


Hypothesis: Full-time students should register to be members of the University Union.


Hypothesis: As with the University Union, all students are automatic members of the Graduate Society.


Hypothesis: The people who run the University Union do not study at the same time as they work.


Hypothesis: The wives of Wives International Group are able to receive free language instruction.


Hypothesis: All students must be members of the Union.


Premise: Unless companies have some knowledge of buyer behavior, they would be unaware of and unfamiliar with the complex range of behavioral factors that impinge upon purchasing behavior. The truth is that, like much of human behavior, purchase behavior is complex and multi-faceted. Even the simplest of purchasing decisions is an amalgam of behavioral forces and factors of which even the purchaser may not be aware. However, even though consumer behavior is a complex subject, marketing planners should at least have some understanding of it. Marketers are specifically interested in the behavior associated with groups or segments of consumers as it would be impossible to serve the exact needs and wants of specific individuals in a market and remain profitable.

Hypothesis: Even if one could predict the behavior of an individual buyer, it would not be profitable for marketers to try to do so.


Hypothesis: The purchasing behavior of consumers is unpredictable.


Hypothesis: Some consumer groups exhibit more complex behavior than others do.


Hypothesis: Purchase behavior is not subject to the same whims as other aspects of human behavior.


Premise: Unless companies have some knowledge of buyer behaviour, they would be unaware of and unfamiliar with the complex range of behavioural factors that impinge upon purchasing behaviour. The truth is that, like much of human behaviour, purchase behaviour is complex and multi-faceted. Even the simplest of purchasing decisions is an amalgam of behavioural forces and factors of which even the purchaser may not be aware. However, even though consumer behaviour is a complex subject, marketing planners should at least have some understanding of it. Marketers are Specifically interested in the behaviour associated with groups or segments of consumers as it would be impossible to serve the exact needs and wants of specific individuals in a market and remain profitable.

Hypothesis: Some consumer groups exhibit more complex behaviour than others do.


Hypothesis: Purchase behaviour is not subject to the same whims as other aspects of human behaviour.


Hypothesis: Even if one could predict the behaviour of an individual buyer, it would not be profitable for marketers to try to do so.


Premise: Until 1995, the use of bicycles had remained virtually static for many years. However, in recent years the number of people using bicycles has grown with increasing pressure from environmentalists, transport agencies and health officials. The trend has been to produce more fashionable bicycles in a variety of styles, lighter cycles, and more comfortable cycles. The diversity of models has increased enormously, though their general shape has not changed radically.

Hypothesis: There is now a greater diversity of bicycles available than before 1995.


Hypothesis: There has been an increasing pressure from transport agencies to use bicycles.


Premise: Until 1995, the use of bicycles has remained virtually static for many years. However, in recent years the number of people using bicycles has grown with increasing pressure from environmentalists, transport agencies and health officials. The trend has been to produce more fashionable bicycles in a variety of styles, lighter cycles, and more comfortable cycles. The diversity of models has increased enormously, though their general shape has not changed Radically.


Premise: Urban planning in Singapore British merchants established a trading post in Singapore in the early nineteenth century, and for more than a century trading interests dominated. However, in 1965 the newly independent island state was cut off from its hinterland, and so it set about pursuing a survival strategy. The good international communications it already enjoyed provided a useful base, but it was decided that if Singapore was to secure its economic future, it must develop its industry. To this end, new institutional structures were needed to facilitate, develop, and control foreign investment. One of the most important of these was the Economic Development Board (EDB), an arm of government that developed strategies for attracting investment. Thus from the outset, the Singaporean government was involved in city promotion. Towards the end of the twentieth century, the government realised that, due to limits on both the size of the countrys workforce and its land area, its labour-intensive industries were becoming increasingly uncompetitive. So an economic committee was established which concluded that Singapore should focus on developing as a service centre, and seek to attract company headquarters to serve South East Asia, and develop tourism, banking, and offshore activities. The land required for this service-sector orientation had been acquired in the early 1970s, when the government realised that it lacked the banking infrastructure for a modern economy. So a new banking and corporate district, known as the Golden Shoe, was planned, incorporating the historic commercial area. This district now houses all the major companies and various government financial agencies. Singapores current economic strategy is closely linked to land use and development planning. Although it is already a major city, the current development plan seeks to ensure Singapores continued economic growth through restructuring, to ensure that the facilities needed by future business are planned now. These include transport and telecommunication infrastructure, land, and environmental quality. A major concern is to avoid congestion in the central area, and so the latest plan deviates from previous plans by having a strong decentralisation policy. The plan makes provision for four major regional centres, each serving 800,000 people, but this does not mean that the existing central business district will not also grow. A major extension planned around Marina Bay draws on examples of other world cities, especially those with waterside central areas such as Sydney and San Francisco. The project involves major land reclamation of 667 hectares in total. Part of this has already been developed as a conference and exhibition zone, and the rest will be used for other facilities. However the need for vitality has been recognised and a mixed zoning approach has been adopted, to include housing and entertainment. One of the new features of the current plan is a broader conception of what contributes to economic success. It encompasses high quality residential provision, a good environment, leisure facilities and exciting city life. Thus there is more provision for low-density housing, often in waterfront communities linked to beaches and recreational facilities. However, the lower housing densities will put considerable pressure on the very limited land available for development, and this creates problems for another of the plans aims, which is to stress environmental quality. More and more of the remaining open area will be developed, and the only natural landscape surviving will be a small zone in the centre of the island which serves as a water catchment area. Environmental policy is therefore very much concerned with making the built environment more green by introducing more plants what is referred to as the beautification of Singapore. The plan focuses on green zones defining the boundaries of settlements, and running along transport corridors. The incidental green provision within housing areas is also given considerable attention. Much of the environmental provision, for example golf courses, recreation areas, and beaches, is linked to the prime objective of attracting business. The plan places much emphasis on good leisure provision and the need to exploit Singapores island setting. One way of doing this is through further land reclamation, to create a whole new island devoted to leisure and luxury housing which will stretch from the central area to the airport. A current concern also appears to be how to use the planning system to create opportunities for greater spontaneity: planners have recently given much attention to the concept of the 24-hour city and the cafe society. For example, a promotion has taken place along the Singapore river to create a cafe zone. This has included the realisation, rather late in the day, of the value of retaining older buildings, and the creation of a continuous riverside promenade. Since the relaxation in 1996 of strict guidelines on outdoor eating areas, this has become an extremely popular area in the evenings. Also, in 1998 the Urban Redevelopment Authority created a new entertainment area in the centre of the city which they are promoting as the citys one-stop, dynamic entertainment scene. In conclusion, the economic development of Singapore has been very consciously centrally planned, and the latest strategy is very clearly oriented to establishing Singapore as a leading world city. It is well placed to succeed, for a variety of reasons. It can draw upon its historic roots as a world trading centre; it has invested heavily in telecommunications and air transport infrastructure; it is well located in relation to other Asian economies; it has developed a safe and clean environment; and it has utilised the international language of English.

Hypothesis: Singapore will find it difficult to compete with leading cities in other parts of the world.


Hypothesis: After 1965, the Singaporean government switched the focus of the islands economy.


Hypothesis: The government has enacted new laws to protect Singapores old buildings.


Hypothesis: The creation of Singapores financial centre was delayed while a suitable site was found.


Hypothesis: Singapores four regional centres will eventually be the same size as its central business district.


Hypothesis: Planners have modelled new urban developments on other coastal cities.


Hypothesis: Plants and trees are amongst the current priorities for Singapores city planners.


Premise: Use of cell phones and pagers is not allowed inside the auditorium. Please switch off such devices while you are inside the auditorium. ------ A notice.

Hypothesis: All those who have such devices will switch them off before they take their seatin the auditorium.


Hypothesis: Generally people do not bring such devices when they come to attend functions in the auditorium.


Premise: Use our product to improve memory of our child. It is based on natural herbs and has no harmful side effects. ---- An advertisement of a pharmaceutical company.

Hypothesis: People generally opt for a medical product which is useful and has no harmful side effects.


Hypothesis: Improving memory of child is considered as important by many parents.


Premise: Using Wind-up Cell Phone Chargers So what do you do when your battery on your cell phone runs out and you're forced to use some muscle with your wind-up charger? Fortunately, most chargers are very small and lightweight, even smaller than most cell phones, so they're easy to carry with you and could easily store in a car's glove compartment, a purse or backpack. They typically weigh no more than a couple of ounces. When your phone needs some extra juice, simply connect the wind-up charger to your cell phone's input. To give the phone's battery its power, you'll need to turn the crank vigorously. Most wind-up charger instructions say to crank at a rate of two revolutions per second, although turning the crank slower or faster is fine and will still provide power to the battery. Depending on the model, you can get 25-30 minutes of extra standby power to a cell phone after just a few minutes of solid cranking. You should only be able to get about 6 minutes of call time from the same amount of exercise, however, since it requires more power to send out signals. If you have a hands free set like a Bluetooth earpiece, you can even hold the charger and talk at the same time, since charging is a two-handed operation. As long as you keep turning the handle, the power you provide to charge the phone should be greater than the power needed to keep the phone on. This allows you to talk and provide a charge continuously. What about the different types of inputs on cell phones? Often one of the more frustrating things about losing battery power on your cell phone is when someone else actually has a charger available, but the parts don't fit. Fortunately, many wind-up cell phone chargers come with adapters that fit most phones so you should be able to find the right charge input.

Hypothesis: Charging your phone with the wind-up charger should give you 25-30 minutes more call time.


Hypothesis: The light on the Sidewinder can be difficult to illuminate.


Hypothesis: You can charge your phone with the wind-up charger while having a conversation on your phone.


Hypothesis: Adapters for most cell phones can be purchased for the wind-up charger.


Hypothesis: The Sidewinder could help you in the even of you losing your phone.


Hypothesis: To charge the phone's battery the wind-up charger needs to be rotated gently.


Hypothesis: The wind-up cell phone chargers are smaller enough to fit inside a glove.


Premise: Venus Flytrap From indigenous myths to John Wyndhams Day of the Triffids and the off-Broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors, the idea of cerebral, carnivorous flora has spooked audiences and readers for centuries. While shrubs and shoots have yet to uproot themselves or show any interest in human beings, however, for some of earths smaller inhabitants arachnids and insects the risk of being trapped and ingested by a plant can be a threat to their daily existence. Easily, the most famous of these predators is the Venus Flytrap, one of only two types of snap traps in the world. Though rarely found growing wild, the Flytrap has captured popular imagination and can be purchased in florists and plant retailers around the world. Part of the Venus Flytraps mysterious aura begins with the tide itself. While it is fairly clear that the second half of the epithet has been given for its insect-trapping ability, the origin of Venus is somewhat more ambiguous. According to the International Carnivorous Plant Society, the plant was first studied in the 17th and 18th centuries, when puritanical mores ruled Western societies and obsession was rife with forbidden human impulses and urges, women were often portrayed in these times as seductresses and temptresses, and botanists are believed to have seen a parallel between the behaviour of the plant in luring and devouring insects and the imagined behaviour of women in luring and trapping witless men. The plant was thus named after the pagan goddess of love and money Venus. The Venus Flytrap is a small plant with six to seven leaves growing out of a bulb-like stem. At the end of each leaf is a trap, which is an opened pod with cilia around the edges like stiff eyelashes. The pod is lined with anthocyanin pigments and sweet-smelling sap to attract flies and other insects. When they fly in, trigger hairs inside the pod sense the intruders movement, and the pod snaps shut. The trigger mechanism is so sophisticated that the plant can differentiate between living creatures and non-edible debris by requiring two trigger hairs to be touched within twenty seconds of each other, or one hair to be touched in quick succession. The plant has no nervous system, and researchers can only hypothesise as to how the rapid shutting movement works. This uncertainty adds to the Venus Flytraps allure. The pod shuts quickly but does not seal entirely at first; scientists have found that tins mechanism allows miniscule insects to escape, as they will not be a source of useful nourishment for the plant. If the creature is large enough, however, the plants flaps will eventually meet to form an airtight compress, and at this point, the digestive process begins. A Venus Flytraps digestive system is remarkably similar to how a human stomach works. For somewhere between five and twelve days, the trap secretes acidic digestive juices that dissolve the soft tissue and cell membranes of the insect. These juices also kill any bacteria that have entered with the food, ensuring the plant maintains its hygiene so that it does not begin to rot. Enzymes in the acid help with the digestion of DNA, amino acids, and cell molecules so that every fleshy part of the animal can be consumed. Once the plant has reabsorbed the digestive fluid this time with the added nourishment, the trap reopens and the exoskeleton blows away in the wind. Although transplanted to other locations around the world, the Venus Flytrap is only found natively in an area around Wilmington, North Carolina in the United States. It thrives in bogs, marshes, and wetlands and grows in wet sand and peaty soils. Because these environments are so depleted in nitrogen, they asphyxiate other flora, but the Flytrap overcomes this nutritional poverty by sourcing protein from its insect prey. One of the plants curious features is resilience to flame. It is speculated that the Flytrap evolved this to endure through periodic blazes and to act as a means of survival that its competition lacks. While the Venus Flytrap will not become extinct any time soon (an estimated 3-6 million plants are presently in cultivation), its natural existence is uncertain. In the last survey, only 35,800 Flytraps were found remaining in the wild, and some prominent conservationists have suggested the plant be given the status of vulnerable. Since this research is considerably dated, having taken place in 1992, the present number is considerably lower. The draining and destruction of natural wetlands where the Flytrap lives is considered to be the biggest threat to its existence, as well as people removing the plants from their natural habitat. Punitive measures have been introduced to prevent people from doing this. Ironically, while cultural depictions of perennial killers may persist, the bigger threat is not what meat-eating plants might do to us but what we may do to them.

Hypothesis: Many botanists would like the Venus Flytrap to be officially recognised as an endangered plant species.


Hypothesis: The Venus Flytrap can withstand some exposure to fire.


Hypothesis: Only 35,800 Venus Flytraps now survive in their natural habitats.


Hypothesis: Human interference is a major factor in the decline of wild Venus Flytraps.


Premise: Venus in Transit On 8 June 2004, more than half the population of the world were treated to a rare astronomical event. For over six hours, the planet Venus steadily inched its way over the surface of the Sun. This transit of Venus was the first since 6 December 1882. On that occasion, the American astronomer Professor Simon Newcomb led a party to South Africa to observe the event. They were based at a girls school, where it is alleged the combined forces of three schoolmistresses outperformed the professionals with the accuracy of their observations. For centuries, transits of Venus have drawn explorers and astronomers alike to the four corners of the globe. And you can put it all down to the extraordinary polymath Edmond Halley. In November 1677, Halley observed a transit of the innermost planet, Mercury, from the desolate island of St Helena in the South Pacific. He realised that, from different latitudes, the passage of the planet across the Suns disc would appear to differ. By timing the transit from two widely-separated locations, teams of astronomers could calculate the parallax angle the apparent difference in position of an astronomical body due to a difference in the observers position. Calculating this angle would allow astronomers to measure what was then the ultimate goal: the distance of the Earth from the Sun. This distance is known as the astronomical unit or AU. Halley was aware that the AU was one of the most fundamental of all astronomical measurements. Johannes Kepler, in the early 17th century, had shown that the distances of the planets from the Sun governed their orbital speeds, which were easily measurable. But no-one had found a way to calculate accurate distances to the planets from the Earth. The goal was to measure the AU; then, knowing the orbital speeds of all the other planets round the Sun, the scale of the Solar System would fall into place. However, Halley realised that Mercury was so far away that its parallax angle would be very difficult to determine. As Venus was closer to the Earth, its parallax angle would be larger, and Halley worked out that by using Venus it would be possible to measure the Suns distance to 1 part in 500. But there was a problem: transits of Venus, unlike those of Mercury, are rare, occurring in pairs roughly eight years apart every hundred or so years. Nevertheless, he accurately predicted that Venus would cross the face of the Sun in both 1761 and 1769 though he didnt survive to see either. Inspired by Halleys suggestion of a way to pin down the scale of the Solar System, teams of British and French astronomers set out on expeditions to places as diverse as India and Siberia. But things werent helped by Britain and France being at war. The person who deserves most sympathy is the French astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil. He was thwarted by the fact that the British were besieging his observation site at Pondicherry in India. Fleeing on a French warship crossing the Indian Ocean, Le Gentil saw a wonderful transit but the ships pitching and rolling ruled out any attempt at making accurate observations. Undaunted, he remained south of the equator, keeping himself busy by studying the islands of Mauritius and Madagascar before setting off to observe the next transit in the Philippines. Ironically after travelling nearly 50,000 kilometres, his view was clouded out at the last moment, a very dispiriting experience. While the early transit timings were as precise as instruments would allow, the measurements were dogged by the black drop effect. When Venus begins to cross the Suns disc, it looks smeared not circular which makes it difficult to establish timings. This is due to diffraction of light. The second problem is that Venus exhibits a halo of light when it is seen just outside the Suns disc. While this showed astronomers that Venus was surrounded by a thick layer of gases refracting sunlight around it, both effects made it impossible to obtain accurate timings. But astronomers laboured hard to analyse the results of these expeditions to observe Venus transits. Johann Franz Encke, Director of the Berlin Observatory, finally determined a value for the AU based on all these parallax measurements: 153,340,000 km. Reasonably accurate for the time, that is quite close to todays value of 149,597,870 km, determined by radar, which has now superseded transits and all other methods in accuracy. The AU is a cosmic measuring rod, and the basis of how we scale the Universe today. The parallax principle can be extended to measure the distances to the stars. If we look at a star in January when Earth is at one point in its orbit it will seem to be in a different position from where it appears six months later. Knowing the width of Earths orbit, the parallax shift lets astronomers calculate the distance. June 2004s transit of Venus was thus more of an astronomical spectacle than a scientifically important event. But such transits have paved the way for what might prove to be one of the most vital breakthroughs in the cosmos detecting Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars.

Hypothesis: Le Gentil managed to observe a second Venus transit.


Hypothesis: Halley observed one transit of the planet Venus.


Hypothesis: Early astronomers suspected that the atmosphere on Venus was toxic.


Hypothesis: The shape of Venus appears distorted when it starts to pass in front of the Sun.


Hypothesis: The parallax principle allows astronomers to work out how far away distant stars are from the Earth.


Premise: Venus in transit June 2004 saw the first passage, known as a transit, of the planet Venus across the face of the Sun in 122 years. Transits have helped shape our view of the whole Universe, as Heather Cooper and Nigel Henbest explain On 8 June 2004, more than half the population of the world were treated to a rare astronomical event. For over six hours, the planet Venus steadily inched its way over the surface of the Sun. This transit of Venus was the first since 6 December 1882. On that occasion, the American astronomer Professor Simon Newcomb led a party to South Africa to observe the event. They were based at a girls school, where - it is alleged - the combined forces of three schoolmistresses outperformed the professionals with the accuracy of their observations. For centuries, transits of Venus have drawn explorers and astronomers alike to the four corners of the globe. And you can put it all down to the extraordinary polymath Edmond Halley. In November 1677, Halley observed a transit of the innermost planet, Mercury, from the desolate island of St Helena in the South Pacific. He realised that, from different latitudes, the passage of the planet across the Suns disc would appear to differ. By timing the transit from two widely-separated locations, teams of astronomers could calculate the parallax angle - the apparent difference in position of an astronomical body due to a difference in the observers position. Calculating this angle would allow astronomers to measure what was then the ultimate goal: the distance of the Earth from the Sun. This distance is known as the astronomical unit or AU. Halley was aware that the AU was one of the most fundamental of all astronomical measurements. Johannes Kepler, in the early 17 th century, had shown that the distances of the planets from the Sun governed their orbital speeds, which were easily measurable. But no-one had found a way to calculate accurate distances to the planets from the Earth. The goal was to measure the AU; then, knowing the orbital speeds of all the other planets round the Sun, the scale of the Solar System would fall into place. However, Halley realised that Mercury was so far away that its parallax angle would be very difficult to determine. As Venus was closer to the Earth, its parallax angle would be larger, and Halley worked out that by using Venus it would be possible to measure the Suns distance to 1 part in 500. But there was a problem: transits of Venus, unlike those of Mercury, are rare, occurring in pairs roughly eight years apart every hundred or so years. Nevertheless, he accurately predicted that Venus would cross the face of the Sun in both 1761 and 1769 - though he didnt survive to see either. Inspired by Halleys suggestion of a way to pin down the scale of the Solar System, teams of British and French astronomers set out on expeditions to places as diverse as India and Siberia. But things werent helped by Britain and France being at war. The person who deserves most sympathy is the French astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil. He was thwarted by the fact that the British were besieging his observation site at Pondicherry in India. Fleeing on a French warship crossing the Indian Ocean, Le Gentil saw a wonderful transit - but the ships pitching and rolling ruled out any attempt at making accurate observations. Undaunted, he remained south of the equator, keeping himself busy by studying the islands of Mauritius and Madagascar before setting off to observe the next transit in the Philippines. Ironically after travelling nearly 50,000 kilometres, his view was clouded out at the last moment, a very dispiriting experience. While the early transit timings were as precise as instruments would allow, the measurements were dogged by the black drop effect. When Venus begins to cross the Suns disc, it looks smeared not circular - which 32makes it difficult to establish timings. This is due to diffraction of light. The second problem is that Venus exhibits a halo of light when it is seen just outside the Suns disc. While this showed astronomers that Venus was surrounded by a thick layer of gases refracting sunlight around it, both effects made it impossible to obtain accurate timings. But astronomers laboured hard to analyse the results of these expeditions to observe Venus transits. Johann Franz Encke, Director of the Berlin Observatory, finally determined a value for the AU based on all these parallax measurements: 153,340,000 km. Reasonably accurate for the time, that is quite close to todays value of 149,597,870 km, determined by radar, which has now superseded transits and all other methods in accuracy. The AU is a cosmic measuring rod, and the basis of how we scale the Universe today. The parallax principle can be extended to measure the distances to the stars. If we look at a star in January - when Earth is at one point in its orbit - it will seem to be in a different position from where it appears six months later. Knowing the width of Earths orbit, the parallax shift lets astronomers calculate the distance. June 2004s transit of Venus was thus more of an astronomical spectacle than a scientifically important event. But such transits have paved the way for what might prove to be one of the most vital breakthroughs in the cosmos - detecting Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars .


Premise: Venus in transit. June 2004 saw the first passage, known as a transit, of the planet Venus across the face of the Sun in 122 years. Transits have helped shape our view of the whole Universe, as Heather Cooper and Nigel Henbest explain On 8 June 2004, more than half the population of the world were treated to a rare astronomical event. For over six hours, the planet Venus steadily inched its way over the surface of the Sun. This transit of Venus was the first since 6 December 1882. On that occasion, the American astronomer Professor Simon Newcomb led a party to South Africa to observe the event. They were based at girls school, where it is alleged the combined forces of three schoolmistresses outperformed the professionals with the accuracy of their observations. For centuries, transits of Venus have drawn explorers and astronomers alike to the four corners of the globe. And you can put it all down to the extraordinary polymath Edmond Halley. In November 1677, Halley observed a transit of the innermost planet, Mercury, from the desolate island of St Helena in the South Pacific. He realized that, from different latitudes, the passage of the planet across the Suns disc would appear to differ. By timing the transit from two widely-separated locations, teams of astronomers could calculate the parallax angle the apparent difference in position of an astronomical body due to a difference in the observers position. Calculating this angle would allow astronomers to measure what was then the ultimate goal: the distance of the Earth from the Sun. This distance is known as the astronomical unit or AU. Halley was aware that the AU was one of the most fundamental of all astronomical measurements. Johannes Kepler, in the early 17th century, had shown that the distances of the planets from the Sun governed their orbital speeds, which were easily measurable. But no-one had found a way to calculate accurate distances to the planets from the Earth. The goal was to measure the AU; then, knowing the orbital speeds of all the other planets round the Sun, the scale of the Solar System would fall into place. However, Halley realized that Mercury was so far away that its parallax angle would be very difficult to determine. As Venus was closer to the Earth, its parallax angle would be larger, and Halley worked out that by using Venus it would be possible to measure the Suns distance to 1 part in 500. But there was a problem: transits of Venus, unlike those of Mercury, are rare, occurring in pairs roughly eight years apart every hundred or so years. Nevertheless, he accurately predicted that Venus would cross the face of the Sun in both 1761 and 1769 though he didnt survive to see either. Inspired by Halleys suggestion of a way to pin down the scale of the Solar System, teams of British and French astronomers set out on expeditions to places as diverse as India and Siberia. But things werent helped by Britain and France being at war. The person who deserves most sympathy is the French astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil. He was thwarted by the fact that the British were besieging his observation site at Pondicherry in India. Fleeing on a French warship crossing the Indian Ocean, Le Gentil saw a wonderful transit but the ships pitching and rolling ruled out any attempt at making accurate observations. Undaunted, he remained south of the equator, keeping himself busy by studying the islands of Maurtius and Madagascar before setting off to observe the next transit in the Philippines. Ironically after travelling nearly 50,000 kilometres, his view was clouded out at the last moment, a very dispiriting experience. While the early transit timings were as precise as instruments would allow, the measurements were dogged by the black drop effect. When Venus begins to cross the Suns disc, it looks smeared not circular which makes it difficult to establish timings. This is due to diffraction of light. The second problem is that Venus exhibits a halo of light when it is seen just outside the suns disc. While this showed astronomers that Venus was surrounded by a thick layer of gases refracting sunlight around it, both effects made it impossible to obtain accurate timings. But astronomers laboured hard to analyse the results of these expeditions to observe Venus transits. Johann Franz Encke, Director of the Berlin Observatory, finally determined a value for the AU based on all these parallax measurements: 153,340,000 km. Reasonably accurate for the time, that is quite close to todays value of 149,597,870 km, determined by radar, which has now superseded transits and all other methods in accuracy. The AU is a cosmic measuring rod, and the basis of how we scale the Universe today. The parallax principle can be extended to measure the distances to the stars. If we look at a star in January when Earth is at one point in its orbit it will seem to be in a different position from where it appears six months late. Knowing the width of Earths orbit, the parallax shift lets astronomers calculate the distance. June 2004s transit of Venus was thus more of an astronomical spectacle than a scientifically important event. But such transits have paved the way for what might prove to be one of the most vital breakthroughs in the cosmos detecting Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars.


Premise: Vertical transport A DEATH DEFYING STUNT THAT SHAPED THE SKYLINE OF THE WORLD A The raising of water from a well using a bucket suspended from a rope can be traced back to ancient times. If the rope was passed over a pulley wheel it made the lifting less strenuous. The method could be improved upon by attaching an empty bucket to the opposite end of the rope, then lowering it down the well as the full bucket came up, to counterbalance the weight. B Some medieval monasteries were perched on the tops of cliffs that could not be readily scaled. To overcome the problem, a basket was lowered to the base of the cliff on the end of a rope coiled round a wooden rod, known as a windlass. It was possible to lift heavy weights with a windlass, especially if a small cog wheel on the cranking handle drove a larger cog wheel on a second rod. Materials and people were hoisted in this fashion, but it was a slow process and if the rope were to break the basket plummeted to the ground. C In the middle of the nineteenth century the general public considered elevators supported by a rope to be too dangerous for personal use. Without an elevator, the height of a commercial building was limited by the number of steps people could be expected to climb within an economic time period. It was the American inventor and manufacturer Elisha Graves Otis (181161) who finally solved the problem of passenger elevators. D In 1852, Otis pioneered the idea of a safety brake, and two years later he demon strated it in spectacular fashion at the New York Crystal Palace Exhibition of Industry. Otis stood on the lifting platform, four storeys above an expectant crowd. The rope was cut, and after a small jolt, the platform came to a halt. Otis stunt increased peoples confidence in elevators and sales increased. E The operating principle of the safety elevator was described and illustrated in its pattern documentation of 1861. The lifting platform was suspended between two vertical posts each lined with a toothed guide rail. A hook was set into the sides of the platform to engage with the teeth, allowing movement vertically upwards but not downwards. Descent of the elevator was possible only if the hooks were pulled in, which could only happen when the rope was in tension. If the rope were to break, the tension would be lost and the hooks would spring outwards to engage the teeth and stop the fall. Modern elevators incorporate similar safety mechanisms. F Otis installed the first passenger elevator in a store in New York City in 1957. Following the success of the elevator, taller buildings were constructed, and sales increased once more as the business expanded into Europe. Englands first Otis passenger elevator (or lift as the British say) appeared four years later with the open ing of Londons Grosvenor Hotel. Today, the Otis Elevator Company continues to be the worlds leading manufacturer of elevators, employing over 60,000 people with markets in 200 countries. More significantly perhaps, the advent of passenger lifts marked the birth of the modern skyscraper. G Passenger elevators were powered by steam prior to 1902. A rope carrying the cab was wound round a revolving drum driven by a steam engine. The method was too slow for a tall building, which needed a large drum to hold a long coil of rope. By the following year, Otis had developed a compact electric traction elevator that used a cable but did away with the winding gear, allowing the passenger cab to be raised over 100 storeys both quickly and efficiently. H In the electric elevator, the cable was routed from the top of the passenger cab to a pulley wheel at the head of the lift shaft and then back down to a weight acting as a counterbalance. A geared-down electric motor rotated the pulley wheel, which contained a groove to grip the cable and provide the traction. Following the success of the electric elevator, skyscraper buildings began to spring up in the major cities. The Woolworths building in New York, constructed in 1913, was a significant land mark, being the worlds tallest building for the next 27 years. It had 57 floors and the Otis high-speed electric elevators could reach the top floor in a little over one minute. I Each elevator used several cables and pulley wheels, though one cable was enough to support the weight of the car. As a further safety feature, an oil-filled shock piston was mounted at the base of the lift shaft to act as a buffer, slowing the car down at a safe rate in the unlikely event of every cable failing as well as the safety brake.

Hypothesis: Only people could be hoisted with a windlass.


Hypothesis: Tall commercial buildings were not economic without an elevator.


Hypothesis: Otis pattern documents contained a diagram.


Hypothesis: The first passenger elevator was installed in a hotel.


Hypothesis: Electric elevators use similar principles to ancient water-wells.


Premise: Vertical transport A DEATH DEFYING STUNT THAT SHAPED THE SKYLINE OF THE WORLD The raising of water from a well using a bucket suspended from a rope can be traced back to ancient times. If the rope was passed over a pulley wheel it made the lifting less strenuous. The method could be improved upon by attaching an empty bucket to the opposite end of the rope, then lowering it down the well as the full bucket came up, to counterbalance the weight. Some medieval monasteries were perched on the tops of cliffs that could not be readily scaled. To overcome the problem, a basket was lowered to the base of the cliff on the end of a rope coiled round a wooden rod, known as a windlass. It was possible to lift heavy weights with a windlass, especially if a small cog wheel on the cranking handle drove a larger cog wheel on a second rod. Materials and people were hoisted in this fashion, but it was a slow process and if the rope were to break the basket plummeted to the ground. In the middle of the nineteenth century the general public considered elevators supported by a rope to be too dangerous for personal use. Without an elevator, the height of a commercial building was limited by the number of steps people could be expected to climb within an economic time period. It was the American inventor and manufacturer Elisha Graves Otis (181161) who finally solved the problem of passenger elevators. In 1852, Otis pioneered the idea of a safety brake, and two years later he demonstrated it in spectacular fashion at the New York Crystal Palace Exhibition of Industry. Otis stood on the lifting platform, four storeys above an expectant crowd. The rope was cut, and after a small jolt, the platform came to a halt. Otis stunt increased peoples confidence in elevators and sales increased. The operating principle of the safety elevator was described and illustrated in its pattern documentation of 1861. The lifting platform was suspended between two vertical posts each lined with a toothed guide rail. A hook was set into the sides of the platform to engage with the teeth, allowing movement vertically upwards but not downwards. Descent of the elevator was possible only if the hooks were pulled in, which could only happen when the rope was in tension. If the rope were to break, the tension would be lost and the hooks would spring outwards to engage the teeth and stop the fall. Modern elevators incorporate similar safety mechanisms. Otis installed the first passenger elevator in a store in New York City in 1957. Following the success of the elevator, taller buildings were constructed, and sales increased once more as the business expanded into Europe. Englands first Otis passenger elevator (or lift as the British say) appeared four years later with the opening of Londons Grosvenor Hotel. Today, the Otis Elevator Company continues to be the worlds leading manufacturer of elevators, employing over 60,000 people with markets in 200 countries. More significantly perhaps, the advent of passenger lifts marked the birth of the modern skyscraper. Passenger elevators were powered by steam prior to 1902. A rope carrying the cab was wound round a revolving drum driven by a steam engine. The method was too slow for a tall building, which needed a large drum to hold a long coil of rope. By the following year, Otis had developed a compact electric traction elevator that used a cable but did away with the winding gear, allowing the passenger cab to be raised over 100 storeys both quickly and efficiently. In the electric elevator, the cable was routed from the top of the passenger cab to a pulley wheel at the head of the lift shaft and then back down to a weight acting as a counterbalance. A geared-down electric motor rotated the pulley wheel, which contained a groove to grip the cable and provide the traction. Following the success of the electric elevator, skyscraper buildings began to spring up in the major cities. The Woolworths building in New York, constructed in 1913, was a significant landmark, being the worlds tallest building for the next 27 years. It had 57 floors and the Otis high-speed electric elevators could reach the top floor in a little over one minute. Each elevator used several cables and pulley wheels, though one cable was enough to support the weight of the car. As a further safety feature, an oil-filled shock piston was mounted at the base of the lift shaft to act as a buffer, slowing the car down at a safe rate in the unlikely event of every cable failing as well as the safety brake.


Premise: Video Games Unexpected Benefits to Human Brain A. James Paul Gee, professor of education at the University of Wisconsin- Madison, played his first video game years ago when his six-year-old son Sam was playing Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When Its Dark Outside. He wanted to play the game so he could support Sams problem solving. Though Pajama Sam is not an educational game, it is replete with the types of problems psychologists study when they study thinking and learning. When he saw how well the game held Sams attention, he wondered what sort of beast a more mature video game might be. Video and computer games, like many other popular, entertaining and addicting kids activities, are looked down upon by many parents as time- wasters, and worse, parents think that these games rot the brain. Violent video games are readily blamed by the media and some experts as the reason why some youth become violent or commit extreme anti-social behavior. Recent content analyses of video games show that as many as 89% of games contain some violent content, but there is no form of aggressive content for 70% of popular games. Many scientists and psychologists, like James Paul Gee, find thatvideo games actually have many benefits - the main one being making kids smart. Video games may actually teach kids high-level thinking skills that they will need in the future. "Video games change your brain, " according to University of Wisconsin psychologist Shawn Green. Video games change the brains physical structure the same way as do learning to read, playing the piano, or navigating using a map. Much like exercise can build muscle, the powerful combination of concentration and rewarding surges of neurotransmitters like dopamine, which strengthens neural circuits, can build the players brain. Video games give your childs brain a real workout. In many video games, the skills requ u ed to win involve abstract and high level thinking. These skills are not even taught at school. Some of the mental skills trained by video games include: following instructions, problem solving, logic, hand-eye coordination, fine motor and spatial skills. Research also suggests that people can learn iconic, spatial, and visual attention skills from video games. There have been even studies with adults showing that experience with video games is related to better surgical skills. Jacob Benjamin, doctor from Beth Israel Medical Center NY, found a direct link between skill at video gaming and skill at keyhole or laparoscopic surgery. Also, a reason given by experts as to why fighter pilots of today are more skillful is that this generations pilots are being weaned on video games. The players learn to manage resources that are limited, and decide the best use of resources, the same way as in real life. In strategy games, for instance, while developing a city, an unexpected surprise like an enemy might emerge. This forces the player to be flexible and quickly change tactics. Sometimes the player does this almost every second of the game giving the brain a real workout. According to researchers at the University of Rochester, led by Daphne Bavelier, a cognitive scientist, games simulating stressful events such as those found in battle or action games could be a training tool for real-world situations. The study suggests that playing action video games primes the brain to make quick decisions. Video games can be used to train soldiers and surgeons, according to the study. Steven Johnson, author of Everything Bad isGood For You: How Today's Popular Culture, says gamers must deal with immediate problems while keeping their long-term goals on their horizon. Young gamers force themselves to read to get instructions, follow storylines of games, and get information from the game texts. James Paul Gee, professor of education at the University of Wisconsin- Madison, says that playing a video game is similar to working through a science problem. Like students in a laboratory, gamers must come up with a hypothesis. For example, players in some games constantly try out combinations of weapons and powers to use to defeat an enemy. If one does not work, they change hypothesis and try the next one. Video games are goal-driven experiences, says Gee, which are fundamental to learning. Also, using math skills is important to win in many games that involve quantitative analysis like managing resources. In higher levels of a game, players usually fail the first time around, but they keep on trying until they succeed and move on to the next level. Many games are played online and involve cooperation with other online players in order to win. Video and computer games also help children gain self-confidence and many games are based on history, city building, and governance and so on. Such games indirectly teach children about aspects of life on earth. H. In an upcoming study in the journal Current Biology, authors Daphne Bavelier, Alexandre Pouget, and C. Shawn Green report that video games could provide a potent training regimen for speeding up reactions in many types of real-life situations. The researchers tested dozens of 18-to 25-year-olds who were not ordinarily video game players. They split the subjects into two groups. One group played 50 hours of the fast-paced action video games "Call of Duty 2" and "Unreal Tournament, " and the other group played 50 hours of the slow- moving strategy game "The Sims 2. " After this training period, all of the subjects were asked to make quick decisions in several tasks designed by the researchers. The action game players were up to 25 percent faster at coming to a conclusion and answered just as many questions correctly as their strategy game playing peers.

Hypothesis: The action game players minimized the percentage of making mistakes in the experiment.


Hypothesis: It would be a good idea for schools to apply video games in their classrooms.


Hypothesis: Most video games are popular because of their violent content.


Hypothesis: Those people who are addicted to video games have lots of dopamine in their brains.


Premise: Video game research Although video games were first developed for adults, they are no longer exclusively reserved for the grown ups in the home. In 2006, Rideout and Hamel reported that as many as 29 percent of preschool children (children between two and six years old) in the United States had played console video games, and 18 percent had played hand-held ones. Given young childrens insatiable eagerness to learn, coupled with the fact that they are clearly surrounded by these media, we predict that preschoolers will both continue and increasingly begin to adopt video games for personal enjoyment. Although the majority of gaming equipment is still designed for a much older target audience, once a game system enters the household it is potentially available for all family members, including the youngest. Portable systems have done a particularly good job of penetrating the younger market. Research in the video game market is typically done at two stages: some time close to the end of the product cycle, in order to get feedback from consumers, so that a marketing strategy can be developed; and at the very end of the product cycle to fix bugs in the game. While both of those types of research are important, and may be appropriate for dealing with adult consumers, neither of them aids in designing better games, especially when it comes to designing for an audience that may have particular needs, such as preschoolers or senior citizens. Instead, exploratory and formative research has to be undertaken in order to truly understand those audiences, their abilities, their perspective, and their needs. In the spring of 2007, our preschool-game production team at Nickelodeon had a hunch that the Nintendo DS with its new features, such as the microphone, small size and portability, and its relatively low price point was a ripe gaming platform for preschoolers. There were a few games on the market at the time which had characters that appealed to the younger set, but our game producers did not think that the game mechanics or design were appropriate for preschoolers. What exactly preschoolers could do with the system, however, was a bit of a mystery. So we set about doing a study to answer the query: What could we expect preschoolers to be capable of in the context of hand-held game play, and how might the child development literature inform us as we proceeded with the creation of a new outlet for this age group? Our context in this case was the United States, although the games that resulted were also released in other regions, due to the broad international reach of the characters. In order to design the best possible DS product for a preschool audience we were fully committed to the ideals of a user-centered approach, which assumes that users will be at least considered, but ideally consulted during the development process. After all, when it comes to introducing a new interactive product to the child market, and particularly such a young age group within it, we believe it is crucial to assess the range of physical and cognitive abilities associated with their specific developmental stage. Revelle and Medoff (2002) review some of the basic reasons why home entertainment systems, computers, and other electronic gaming devices, are often difficult for preschoolers to use. In addition to their still developing motor skills (which make manipulating a controller with small buttons difficult), many of the major stumbling blocks are cognitive. Though preschoolers are learning to think symbolically, and understand that pictures can stand for real-life objects, the vast majority are still unable to read and write. Thus, using text-based menu selections is not viable. Mapping is yet another obstacle since preschoolers may be unable to understand that there is a direct link between how the controller is used and the activities that appear before them on screen. Though this aspect is changing, in traditional mapping systems real life movements do not usually translate into game-based activity. Over the course of our study, we gained many insights into how preschoolers interact with various platforms, including the DS. For instance, all instructions for preschoolers need to be in voice-over, and include visual representations, and this has been one of the most difficult areas for us to negotiate with respect to game design on the DS. Because the game cartridges have very limited memory capacity, particularly in comparison to console or computer games, the ability to capture large amounts of voice-over data via sound files or visual representations of instructions becomes limited. Text instructions take up minimal memory, so they are preferable from a technological perspective. Figuring out ways to maximise sound and graphics files, while retaining the clear visual and verbal cues that we know are critical for our youngest players, is a constant give and take. Another of our findings indicated that preschoolers may use either a stylus, or their fingers, or both although they are not very accurate with either. One of the very interesting aspects of the DS is that the interface, which is designed to respond to stylus interactions, can also effectively be used with the tip of the finger. This is particularly noteworthy in the context of preschoolers for two reasons. Firstly, as they have trouble with fine motor skills and their hand-eye coordination is still in development, they are less exact with their stylus movements; and secondly, their fingers are so small that they mimic the stylus very effectively, and therefore by using their fingers they can often be more accurate in their game interactions.

Hypothesis: Video game use amongst preschool children is higher in the US than in other countries.


Hypothesis: The proportion of preschool children using video games is likely to rise.


Hypothesis: Parents in the US who own gaming equipment generally allow their children to play with it.


Hypothesis: The type of research which manufacturers usually do is aimed at improving game design.


Hypothesis: Both old and young games consumers require research which is specifically targeted


Premise: Vincent has a paper route Each morning he delivers 37 newspapers to customers in his neighborhood. It takes Vincent 50 minutes to deliver all the papers. If Vincent is sick or has other plans, his friend Thomas, who lives on the same street, will sometimes deliver the papers for him.

Hypothesis: It is dark outside when Vincent begins his deliveries.


Hypothesis: Vincent and Thomas live in the same neighborhood.


Hypothesis: It takes Thomas more than 50 minutes to deliver the papers.


Hypothesis: Thomas would like to have his own paper route.