user: [Q]: I have a new situation: Mike lives in a cold mid-western city, where there is not much predator prey interaction. Mike noticed that in his city some squirrels have darker coat, while others have lighter coat. He also knew that darker coats are more suitable in cold environment with less predator prey interaction. He started thinking why the squirrels developed different coat colors.  But I can use this background: New species develop naturally through the process of natural selection . Due to natural selection, organisms with traits that better enable them to adapt to their environment will tend to survive and reproduce in greater numbers. Natural selection causes beneficial heritable traits to become more common in a population and unfavorable heritable traits to become less common. For example, a giraffe’s neck is beneficial because it allows the giraffe to reach leaves high in trees. Natural selection caused this beneficial trait to become more common than short necks.  What is an answer for this question: Which squirrels would have smaller chance of survival, lighter or darker?
****
[A]: lighter


[Q]: I have a new situation: Company X stopped taking on more debt, and decided to file for bankruptcy, while company Y, kept benefiting from the tax benefits of debt, having a lower debt level.  But I can use this background: The trade-off theory of capital structure is the idea that a company chooses how much debt finance and how much equity finance to use by balancing the costs and benefits. The classical version of the hypothesis goes back to Kraus and Litzenberger[1] who considered a balance between the dead-weight costs of bankruptcy and the tax saving benefits of debt. Often agency costs are also included in the balance. This theory is often set up as a competitor theory to the pecking order theory of capital structure. A review of the literature is provided by Frank and Goyal.[2]  An important purpose of the theory is to explain the fact that corporations usually are financed partly with debt and partly with equity. It states that there is an advantage to financing with debt, the tax benefits of debt and there is a cost of financing with debt, the costs of financial distress including bankruptcy costs of debt and non-bankruptcy costs (e.g. staff leaving, suppliers demanding disadvantageous payment terms, bondholder/stockholder infighting, etc.). The marginal benefit of further increases in debt declines as debt increases, while the marginal cost increases, so that a firm that is optimizing its overall value will focus on this trade-off when choosing how much debt and equity to use for financing.  What is an answer for this question: Which company had fewer costs than benefits related to debt, company X or company Y?
****
[A]: company Y


[Q]: I have a new situation: Two brothers studied chemistry in school. Ted studied alkanes, while Ned studied cycloalkanes. They both received grade A.  But I can use this background: Saturated hydrocarbons are given the general name of alkanes . The name of specific alkanes always ends in - ane . The first part of the name indicates how many carbon atoms each molecule of the alkane has. The smallest alkane is methane. It has just one carbon atom. The next largest is ethane, with two carbon atoms. The chemical formulas and properties of methane, ethane, and several other alkanes are listed in Table below . The boiling and melting points of alkanes are determined mainly by the number of carbon atoms they have. Alkanes with more carbon atoms generally have higher boiling and melting points.  What is an answer for this question: Which brother learned less about saturated hydrocarbons?
****
[A]: Ned


[Q]: I have a new situation: Two packs of lions were hunting large herbivores.  The Simba pack was ambushing wounded individual prey animals, while the Mobutu pack followed large groups of zebras and other grazers.  But I can use this background: Individuals living in large groups may be safer from attack because the predator may be confused by the large group size. As the group moves, the predator has greater difficulty targeting an individual prey animal. The zebra has been suggested by the zoologist Martin Stevens and his colleagues as an example of this. When stationary, a single zebra stands out because of its large size. To reduce the risk of attack, zebras often travel in herds. The striped patterns of all the zebras in the herd may confuse the predator, making it harder for the predator to focus in on an individual zebra. Furthermore, when moving rapidly, the zebra stripes create a confusing, flickering motion dazzle effect in the eye of the predator.  What is an answer for this question: Which pack had more difficulty targeting prey animals?
****
[A]:

assistant: Mobutu