TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you're given a question, along with a context passage. The passage will not have a direct answer to the question, but can include some information and a clue for the answer. Assuming you can only obtain information about one entity in the passage, your job is to determine whether information from the passage can be used to answer the question. Indicate your choice as `a` for Yes or `b` for No.
PROBLEM: Question: Is the school that house the Christ Church initially as a chapel still in existence? Passage:Christ Church was built between 1855 and 1857 to a design by the London architect Henry Martin. It was built as a chapel for Lancaster Grammar School and the local workhouse. The church was paid for and endowed by Samuel Gregson, a local industrialist and MP. In 1889 a south aisle was added, designed by the local architects Paley and Austin. It provided 152 seats, and cost about £1,000. In 1894–95 a west baptistry was added by the same practice, then known as Paley, Austin and Paley. The same practice (by now Austin and Paley) converted the organ chamber into the Storey chapel, the organ having been moved into the south transept. In 1919 a war memorial was installed in the churchyard. It was in Derbyshire stone, high, and cost £400. This was designed by Henry Paley, then trading as Austin, Paley and Austin.


SOLUTION: b

PROBLEM: Question: Leaders of which countries signed a joint declaration on 12 May 1990? Passage:On 12 May 1990 the leaders of the Baltic republics signed a joint declaration known as the Baltic Entente. By mid-June the Soviets started negotiations with the Baltic republics on condition they agreed to freeze their declarations of independence. The Soviets had a bigger challenge elsewhere, in the form of the Russian Federal Republic proclaiming sovereignty in June. Simultaneously the Baltic republics also started to negotiate directly with the Russian Federal Republic. In Autumn 1990, they set up a customs border between the Baltic states, the Russian Federation and Belarus. After the failed negotiations the Soviets made a dramatic attempt to break the deadlock and sent troops to Lithuania and Latvia in January 1991. The attempts failed, dozens of civilians were killed, and the Soviet troops decided to retreat. In August 1991, the hard-line members of the Soviet government attempted to take control of the Soviet Union. One day after the coup on 21 August, the Estonians proclaimed independence. Shortly afterwards Soviet paratroops seized the Tallinn television tower. The Latvian parliament made similar a declaration at the same day. The coup failed but the Collapse of the Soviet Union became unavoidable. On 28 August, the European Community welcomed the restoration of the sovereignty and independence of the Baltic states. The Soviet Union recognised the Baltic independence on 6 September 1991. The Russian troops stayed for an additional three years, as Boris Yeltsin linked the issue of Russian minorities with troop withdrawals. Lithuania was the first to have the Russian troops withdrawn from its territory in August 1993. On 26 July 1994 Russian troops withdrew from Estonia and on 31 August 1994, Russian troops withdrew from Latvia. The Russian Federation ended its military presence in Estonia after it relinquished control of the nuclear facilities in Paldiski on 26 September 1995 and in Latvia after Skrunda-1 suspended operations on 31 August 1998 and subsequently dismantled. The last Russian soldier left Skrunda-1 in October 1999, thus marking a symbolic end to the Russian military presence on the soil of the Baltic countries.


SOLUTION: b

PROBLEM: Question: When was the University that Anne Larigauderie got her Master's Degree in plant molecular biology founded? Passage:Anne Larigauderie received her Master's Degree in plant molecular biology from the Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France, and her PhD in plant ecology, from the Université des Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Montpellier, France. She then spent several years in the USA, working as a research scientist in several scientific projects. In Alaska, for example, she was involved in the first pilot project performing CO2 enrichment of natural ecosystems in the tundra in open top chambers (with Prof. Walter C. Oechel) to understand and predict impact of climate change on plant physiology and ecology. In California (San Diego State University and the University of California – Davis) she worked on root competition among California grassland species for soil nutrient pockets (with Prof. Jim Richards). A subsequent project focused on responses of various grass species to various scenarios of elevated CO2 and temperature, the aim of which was to predict response of grasses to future climate change (with Prof. Boyd Strain and Prof. Jim Reynolds, Duke University, North Carolina).


SOLUTION:
b