[Q]: I read this background article the other day: Air pollution is harmful to human beings and other living things. About 22 million people die from air pollution each year. Breathing polluted air increases the risk of developing lung diseases such as asthma and lung cancer. Breathing bad air also increases the chances of dying from other diseases. Children are most likely to be affected by air pollution. That's because their lungs are still developing and growing. Children also take in more air for their size than adults do. Some air pollutants damage the environment as well as the health of living things. The type of damage depends on the pollutant. Air pollution can also harm the environment. I am facing a new situation today: Sarah and Sophie are sisters living in two different cities. Sarah lives in a very rural area with hardly any air pollution. Sophie lives in a heavily industrialized urban area with many factories and people driving cars to their destinations. This all leads to Sophie's city having a large amount of pollution going into the atmosphere. Using the knowledge I acquired from the background article, how should I answer correctly the following question regarding my new situation: Does Sarah's city do more or less harm to the environment than Sophie's?
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[A]: less

[Q]: I read this background article the other day: An optimal decision is a decision that leads to at least as good a known or expected outcome as all other available decision options. It is an important concept in decision theory. In order to compare the different decision outcomes, one commonly assigns a utility value to each of them. If there is uncertainty as to what the outcome will be, then under the von NeumannMorgenstern axioms the optimal decision maximizes the expected utility (a probabilityweighted average of utility over all possible outcomes of a decision). I am facing a new situation today: John and Keith are playing a decision making game. They have three decisions to make decision A, decision B, and decision C. Decision A and decision B have certain outcome, but decision C's outcome is uncertain. John would apply optimal decision making process while Keith would rather rely on his hunches. Using the knowledge I acquired from the background article, how should I answer correctly the following question regarding my new situation: Who would most likely assign a utility value to each of the decisions, John or keith?
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[A]: John

[Q]: I read this background article the other day: So much rain falling so fast causes some of the damage from a hurricane. But a lot of the damage is caused by storm surge. Storm surge is very high water located in the low pressure eye of the hurricane. The very low pressure of the eye allows the water level to rise above normal sea level. Storm surge can cause flooding when it reaches land ( Figure below ). High winds do a great deal of damage in hurricanes. High winds can also create very big waves. If the large waves are atop a storm surge, the high water can flood the shore. If the storm happens to occur at high tide, the water will rise even higher. I am facing a new situation today: Two cities were located 50 miles away from each other. They received a hurricane warning. Twin city got hit by the Hurricane, while Big city missed most of the effects. Using the knowledge I acquired from the background article, how should I answer correctly the following question regarding my new situation: Which city experienced fewer high winds?
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[A]: Big

[Q]: I read this background article the other day: Shown in the Figure below is a cylinder of gas on the left that is at room temperature (300 K). On the right, the cylinder has been heated until the Kelvin temperature has doubled to 600 K. The kinetic energy of the gas molecules increases, so collisions with the walls of the container are now more forceful than they were before. As a result, the pressure of the gas doubles. Decreasing the temperature would have the opposite effect, and the pressure of an enclosed gas would decrease. I am facing a new situation today: Rob is testing the properties of gas. To that end, he experimented with a cylinder of gas in three stages, stage A, stage B, and stage C. In stage A he kept the gas in room temperature. In stage B he heated the gas up. And in stage C he cooled the gas down. Using the knowledge I acquired from the background article, how should I answer correctly the following question regarding my new situation: Which stage would see decreased pressure, stage B or stage C?
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[A]:
stage C