FB Event -
https://www.facebook.com/events/105750823096571/105763943095259/
Q1
2. Naidu, though, belongs to a new breed of Indian politician. He may
not be an economist but he is street smart enough to pay attention to
changes taking place in the world. He realized that he needed
professional help to articulate a new idea for Andhra.
___________________________________They started off by refusing help
because
they had prepared, for free, a survey of Maharashtra that had been
totally ignored by that state. So the story, as I was told by someone
in Mc Kinsey, was they told Naidu he would have to give them evidence
of his sincerity by attending a weekly
meeting with their people throughout the preparation of the survey.
(a) He first approached his party men for ideas.
(b) He approached firms for funds asking for soft loans or aids.
(c) He turned to consultancy firms Mc Kinsey.
(d) He asked the forum of economists from Andhra Pradesh to guide him.
Ans C
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/the-11th-finance-commission-has-a-message-for-states-good-governance-doesnt-pay/1/244643.html
Q2
3. Indeed, one meeting between two competing carmakers on the timing
of a prices hike happened right after the budget. April 3,2001, and
April 8,2001, were the two dates discussed by the companies, but the
meeting ended on the note that upping prices a month after slashing
them wouldnt look nice. So, why did these companies cut prices in a
hurry? Anupam Majumadar, who tracks the automotive sector for
Delhi-based rating agency ICRA, also cites peer pressure as a probable
cause: If your competitor is doing it, you have to do it
too.
(a) The manufacturers were under pressure to be seen to be doing
something for the consumer.
(b) The budget proposed wide-ranging tax rebates for the consumer.
(c) The import duties on imported cars were being reduced.
(d) There was slackness in demand for cars.
Ans A
http://archives.digitaltoday.in/businesstoday/20010406/cf3.html
Extract
Indeed, one meeting between two competing car-makers on the timing of
a price-hike happened right after the budget. April 3, 2001, and April
8, 2001, were the two dates discussed by the companies, but the
meeting ended on the note that upping prices a month after slashing
them wouldn't 'look nice'.
So, why did these companies cut prices in a hurry? The manufacturers
were under pressure to be seen to be doing something for the consumer.
Anupam Majumdar, who tracks the automotive sector for Delhi-based
rating agency ICRA, also cites peer pressure as a probable cause: ''If
your competitor is doing it, you have to do it too.''
Given the fact that the sale price of only a few cars-primarily the
older ones in the Maruti stable and Hyundai's Santro-covers the cost
of their manufacture and only just (upgradation focused at making
these vehicles meet Euro II emission norms proved expensive), the 8
per cent reduction in excise was an excellent opportunity for car
makers to improve the health of their balance sheets. That apart, the
global prices of key inputs have been on the rise. Why, one
manufacturer was planning to raise the price of its cars in some
markets but, caught unawares by the excise cut, ended up doing the
opposite.
Q3
Q3) The European Commissions Directive on Data Protection went into
effect in October, 1998, and would prohibit the transfer of personal
data to non-European Union nations that do not meet the European
"adequacy" standard for privacy protection. While the United States
and the European Union share the goal of enhancing privacy protection
for their citizens, the United States takes a different approach to
privacy from that taken by the European Union. The United States uses
a sectoral approach that relies on a mix of legislation, regulation,
and self regulation. The European Union, however, relies on
comprehensive legislation that, for example, requires creation of
government data protection agencies, registration of data bases with
those agencies, and in some instances prior approval before personal
data processing may begin. (...)
a) In order to bridge these different privacy approaches and provide a
streamlined means for U.S. organizations to comply with the Directive,
the U.S. Department of Commerce in consultation with the European
Commission developed a "safe harbor" framework.
b) The safe harbor provides a number of important benefits to U.S. and EU firms.
c) The different approaches are due to different perspectives for
European and US firms with respect to privacy.
d) As a result of these different privacy approaches, the Directive
could have significantly hampered the ability of U.S. companies to
engage in many trans-Atlantic transactions.
e) Depending on the industry sector, the Federal Trade Commission,
comparable U.S. government agencies, and/or the states may provide
overarching government enforcement of the safe harbor principles.
Ans 3
http://www.export.gov/safeharbor/eu/eg_main_018476.asp
Q 4
Q1) What explains the extraordinary appeal of Guevara, an Argentine
who 40 years ago this week was captured and shot in Bolivia? Partly
the consistency with which he followed his own injunction that "the
duty of the revolutionary is to make the revolution". A frail
asthmatic, he took up arms with Fidel Castro's guerrillas in Cuba's
Sierra Maestra. After their victory, Guevara would fight again in the
Congo as well as Bolivia. He fought dictators who were backed by the
United States in the name of anti-communism when the cold war was at
its hottest, and when Guevara's cry to create "two, three...many
Vietnams" resonated on university campuses across the world. (...)
a) The bearded face-eyes staring defiantly to infinity, the long wavy
hair beneath the beret stirred by the Caribbean breeze-has become one
of the world's most familiar images.
b) Rather than a Christian romantic, Guevara was a ruthless and
dogmatic Marxist, who stood not for liberation but for a new tyranny.
c) His renewed popularity in recent years owes much to a revival of
anti-Americanism.
d) It helps, too, that he died young, at 39: as a member of the Cuban
gerontocracy he would hardly have become the James Dean of world
politics.
e) In Cuba, he is the patron saint: at school, every child must repeat
each morning, "We will be like Che."-
Ans 4
C
THE bearded face—eyes staring defiantly to infinity, the long wavy
hair beneath the beret stirred by the Caribbean breeze—has become one
of the world's most familiar images. Alberto Korda's photograph of
Ernesto "Che" Guevara may be waved aloft by anti-globalisation
protesters but it has spawned a global brand. It has adorned
cigarettes, ice cream and a bikini, and is tattooed on the bodies of
footballers.
What explains the extraordinary appeal of Guevara, an Argentine who 40
years ago this week was captured and shot in Bolivia (see article)?
Partly the consistency with which he followed his own injunction that
"the duty of the revolutionary is to make the revolution". A frail
asthmatic, he took up arms with Fidel Castro's guerrillas in Cuba's
Sierra Maestra. After their victory, Guevara would fight again in the
Congo as well as Bolivia. He fought dictators who were backed by the
United States in the name of anti-communism when the cold war was at
its hottest, and when Guevara's cry to create "two, three...many
Vietnams" resonated on university campuses across the world. His
renewed popularity in recent years owes much to a revival of
anti-Americanism.
But it is semiotics, more than politics, that leads teenagers ignorant
of the Sierra Maestra to sport Che T-shirts. Korda's photograph
established Guevara as a universal symbol of romantic rebellion. It
helps, too, that he died young, at 39: as a member of the Cuban
gerontocracy he would hardly have become the James Dean of world
politics. A second picture, that of the bedraggled guerrilla's corpse,
staring wide-eyed at the camera, provides another clue. It resembles
Andrea Mantegna's portrait of the dead Christ. It fixes Guevara as a
modern saint, the man who risked his life twice in countries that were
not his own before giving it in a third, and whose invocation of the
"new man", driven by moral rather than material incentives, smacked of
St Ignatius Loyola more than Marx.
http://www.economist.com/node/9947002
Q 5
Q2) El Nino is a regularly occurring climatic feature of our planet.
Every two to five years, El Nino reappears and lasts for several
months or even a few years. It takes place when warmer than usual sea
water exists off the coast of South America. It causes climate effects
around the world. It increases average ocean surface water temperature
in the region. This mass of warm water is what causes climatic change
around the world. (...)
a) Very strong El Nino events in 1965-1966, 1982-1983, and 1997-1998
caused significant flooding and damage from California to Mexico to
Chile.
b) Closer to the Pacific Ocean, El Nino causes torrential rains across
the west coast of North America and South America.
c) An El Nino requires five consecutive months of unusually high sea
surface temperatures in the Eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of
South America to be considered an El Nino.
d) As of this writing, El Nino and La Nina do not appear to be
significantly related to climate change.
e) Strong La Nina events have been responsible for the opposite
effects on climate as El Nino.
Ans - B
http://geography.about.com/od/globalproblemsandissues/a/elninolanina.htm
Source :
The warmer water of El Nino reduced the number of fish available to
catch. The warm water that causes El Nino is usually located near
Indonesia during non-El Nino years. However, during periods of El Nino
the water moves eastward to lie off the coast of South America.
El Nino increases average ocean surface water temperature in the
region. This mass of warm water is what causes climatic change around
the world. Closer to thePacific Ocean, El Nino causes torrential rains
across the west coast of North America and South America.
Very strong El Nino events in 1965-1966, 1982-1983, and 1997-1998
caused significant flooding and damage from California to Mexico to
Chile. Effects of El Nino are felt as far away from the Pacific Ocean
as Eastern Africa (there is often reduced rainfall and thus Nile River
carries less water).
An El Nino requires five consecutive months of unusually high sea
surface temperatures in the Eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of
South America to be considered an El Nino
Q6
Q3) The Royal Chapel was also well-worth a visit. It was purpose-built
to hold the remains of Ferdinand and Isabella although both died
before it was completed. Their coffins were moved there when it was
finished. You are not allowed to take photos inside the chapel. There
is a hugemetal grille in the chapel adorned with figures of people,
animals and plants. There are five tombs; those of Ferdinand and
Isabella as well as those of their grandson, Prince Michael, who died
as a young boy and those of their daughter Juana and her husband
Phillipe who reigned after Ferdinand and Isabella.One of the delights
of the type of travelling we were doing is deciding where you want to
go next! We got out the LP guide, discussed the options at great
length, narrowed it down to Madrid and Barcelona and decided on
Barcelona. (...)
a) Another huge tourist attraction in Barcelona, The Cathedral of the
Annunciation, was designed at the peak of the Spanish Renaissance and
has five naves instead of the usual three.
b) Madrid is also a great place to visit.
c) When the city was taken in 1492 by Ferdinand II of Aragon and
Isabella of Castile, the Islamic art was covered over in their quest
to obliterate the Muslim influence.
d) Nou Camp Stadium, the home of Barcelona Football Club is a must see
for any tourist.
e) I was so glad we went there; Barcelona is an amazing place!
OA - E
Q7
Q 7
Q4) Seminars and informal reading groups are the heart of teaching
political philosophy, but lectures also have their place. Mansfield
developed a style of his own that features exquisitely polished set
pieces delivered with characteristic flair and rapid pace.
(__________________.. .) To miss a step was to fall
hopelessly behind. The effect was like having a hundred Sandy Koufax
curve balls aimed mercilessly at one's head. In time, his students,
many of whom are now prominent figures in government, public policy,
and academia, learned the proper position from which to admire the
trajectory.
a) We were impressed by his brain.
b) Genuine teaching can result only from genuine learning.
c) Understanding the possibility of natural right provided us with
grounds upon which to make reasonable judgments about practical
affairs without substituting stupefying absolutism for thoughtless
relativism.
d) One struggled desperately to get down every word
including-especially including-the jokes.
e) Who, after all, should not want to study with the best?
OA - D
Q8
Q 8
Q1) Equal confusion reigns about the principles, characteristics,
scope of any general semiotic science, and about the description and
analysis of other sign systems identified as such by semioticians.
There is uncertainty and disagreement at every level, from the lowest:
the identification of the sign, to the highest concepts of underlying
structure in sign systems. How can one say that language is an
exemplar, a specimen of a sign system, subordinate rather than
superordinate, if the criteria by which one identifies signs and the
methodology for analyzing sign systems are apparently completely
lacking? A semiotic science has to be founded on recognition of
commonalties between diverse sign systems, (...)
a) and there is a systematic account of what language shares with
other sign systems.
b) and Thom has expressed the view that semiotics would profit from
closer contact with biology or ethology
c) but ever since Locke made the relation between signs (words) and
ideas a central feature of human understanding, there has been debate
and divergence about the nature of the sign.
d) but there seem to be logical as well as psychological difficulties
with the sign process as it has been described.
e) but there is no systematic account of what language shares with
other sign systems.
OA E
http://cogprints.org/3113/1/semiosis.htm
What is one to conclude? To relate the structures and processes of
language to those of other sign systems, the first step surely is
examine what the structures and processes of language are. The
science, or technique, that is meant to do this is linguistics.
Linguistics as a science or craft has passed through many stages since
Saussure's Cours was published. The stages have produced radically
different accounts of the functioning of language; the Chomskyan
system has been in process of nearly continuous change for more than
30 years. In either its earlier Transformational-Generative form or in
its more recent Government-Binding form it is difficult to see how
general coding and decoding principles, general sign system principles
can be extracted which would be readily applicable to other aggregates
or systems of signs as they have been identified by semioticians. And,
of course, beyond and apart from Chomsky, there are many other
competing and inconsistent accounts of language. How can one say that
language is the semiotic prototype if there is absolutely no consensus
about the proper way to characterize and analyze language?
Equal confusion reigns about the principles, characteristics, scope of
any general semiotic science, and about the description and analysis
of other sign systems identified as such by semioticians. There is
uncertainty and disagreement at every level, from the lowest: the
identification of the sign, to the highest concepts of underlying
structure in sign systems. How can one say that language is an
exemplar, a specimen of a sign system, subordinate rather than
superordinate, if the criteria by which one identifies signs and the
methodology for analysing sign systems are apparently completely
lacking? A semiotic science has to be founded on recognition of
commonalties between diverse sign systems, but there is no systematic
account of what language shares with other sign systems.
Q9
Q 9
Q2) Most large corporations have dozens if not hundreds of informal
networks, which go by the name of peer groups, communities of
practice, or functional councilsor have no title at all. These
networks organize and reorganize themselves and extend their reach via
cell phones, Blackberries, community Web sites, and other accessories
of the digital age. As networks widen and deepen, they can mobilize
talent and knowledge across the enterprise. (...)
a) But though informal networks help many of the largest companies
capture wealth, they also cause severe headaches.
b) They also help to explain why some intangible-rich companies, such
as ExxonMobil and GE, have increased in scale and scope and boast
superior performance.
c) Since formal networks stimulate interactions that the organization
sponsors and encourages, they can be managed.
d) In today's competitive world, one cannot ignore networks-in any form.
e) Companies can design and manage new formal structures that boost
the value of networks.
OA B
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/organization/harnessing_the_power_of_informal_employee_networks
In any professional setting, networks flourish spontaneously: human
nature, including mutual self-interest, leads people to share ideas
and work together even when no one requires them to do so. As they
connect around shared interests and knowledge, they may build networks
that can range in size from fewer than a dozen colleagues and
acquaintances to hundreds. Research scientists working in related
fields, for example, or investment bankers serving clients in the same
industry frequently create informal—and often socially based—networks
to collaborate.
Most large corporations have dozens if not hundreds of informal
networks, which go by the name of peer groups, communities of
practice, or functional councils—or have no title at all. These
networks organize and reorganize themselves and extend their reach via
cell phones, Blackberries, community Web sites, and other accessories
of the digital age. As networks widen and deepen, they can mobilize
talent and knowledge across the enterprise. They also help to explain
why some intangible-rich companies, such as ExxonMobil and GE, have
increased in scale and scope and boast superior performance.1
As we studied these social and informal networks, we made a surprising
discovery: how much information and knowledge flows through them and
how little through official hierarchical and matrix structures. As we
used surveys and e-mail analysis to map the way employees actually
exchange information and knowledge, we concluded that the formal
structures of companies, as manifested in their organizational charts,
don't explain how most of their real day-to-day work gets done.
Q 10
Q3) Gosling explains: "Through Java, we had already been developing
the kind of `underwear' to make content available at the same time the
Web was being developed. Even though the Web had been around for 20
years or so, with FTP and telnet, it was difficult to use. Then Mosaic
came out in 1993 as an easy-to-use front end to the Web, and that
revolutionized people's perceptions. The Internet was being
transformed into exactly the network that we had been trying to
convince the cable companies they ought to be building. All the stuff
we had wanted to do, in generalities, fit perfectly with the way
applications were written, delivered, and used on the Internet.(...)"
a) The web was a revolution.
b) At that time, the entire Java technology team, not yet a division,
numbered less than 30 people.
c) Java technology was created as a programming tool in a small,
closed-door project initiated by Patrick Naughton, Mike Sheridan and
myself.
d) It was patently obvious that the Internet and Java were a match
made in heaven.
e) To demonstrate what we saw as a possible future in digital devices,
we locked ourselves away in an anonymous office on Sand Hill Road in
Menlo Park and worked around the clock for 18 months.
OA -
D
"After we realized that there wasn't a business in digital cable
television, we had a group meeting at The Inn at Squaw Creek near Lake
Tahoe. We had to figure out what to do with this technology, or what
to do with our lives." There, over the course of three days, John
Gage, James Gosling, Bill Joy, Patrick Naughton, Wayne Rosing, and
Eric Schmidt had a group epiphany: why not the Internet?"
The newly popular Internet was exactly the type of network
configuration that the FirstPerson team had envisioned for the cable
TV industry.
The Internet was becoming popular as a way of moving media content --
text, graphics, video -- throughout a network of heterogeneous devices
using HTML. Java technology had been designed in parallel to move
media content across networks of heterogeneous devices, but it also
offered the capability to move "behavior" in the form of applets along
with the content. HTML alone could not do that, but it did set the
stage for Java technology.
Gosling explains: "We had already been developing the kind of
`underwear' to make content available at the same time the Web was
being developed. Even though the Web had been around for 20 years or
so, with FTP and telnet, it was difficult to use. Then Mosaic came out
in 1993 as an easy-to-use front end to the Web, and that
revolutionized people's perceptions. The Internet was being
transformed into exactly the network that we had been trying to
convince the cable companies they ought to be building. All the stuff
we had wanted to do, in generalities, fit perfectly with the way
applications were written, delivered, and used on the Internet. It was
just an incredible accident. And it was patently obvious that the
Internet and Java were a match made in heaven. So that's what we did."
Build a Better Browser
The team returned to work up a Java-technology-based clone of Mosaic
they named "WebRunner" (after the movie Blade Runner), later to become
officially known as HotJava. It was 1994. Daily, momentum behind the
new vision grew. WebRunner was just a demo, but an impressive one: It
brought to life, for the first time, animated, moving objects and
dynamic executable content inside a Web browser. That had never been
done.
http://tech-insider.org/java/research/1998/05.html
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