sentence-transformers/squad huggingface dataset:
Passage: These areas contain some spectacular scenery as well, as evidenced by such national parks as Yosemite and Mount Rainier. West of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada is a series of valleys, such as the Central Valley in California and the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Along the coast is a series of low mountain ranges known as the Pacific Coast Ranges. Much of the Pacific Northwest coast is inhabited by some of the densest vegetation outside of the Tropics, and also the tallest trees in the world (the Redwoods).

Question: What are two national parks located in the mountainous regions?

Question: What is the name of the famous valley located in California?

Question: What is the name of the famous valley located in Oregon?

Question: What are the low mountain ranges that are located along the pacific coast called?

Question: What are the tallest trees in the world?
Passage: The Atlantic coast of the United States is low, with minor exceptions. The Appalachian Highland owes its oblique northeast-southwest trend to crustal deformations which in very early geological time gave a beginning to what later came to be the Appalachian mountain system. This system had its climax of deformation so long ago (probably in Permian time) that it has since then been very generally reduced to moderate or low relief. It owes its present-day altitude either to renewed elevations along the earlier lines or to the survival of the most resistant rocks as residual mountains. The oblique trend of this coast would be even more pronounced but for a comparatively modern crustal movement, causing a depression in the northeast resulting in an encroachment of the sea upon the land. Additionally, the southeastern section has undergone an elevation resulting in the advance of the land upon the sea.

Question: Why does the Appalachian Highland have the terrain it does?

Question: During what geological period did the Appalachian mountains reach their highest formation point?

Question: What is the name of the mountaneous region along the Atlantic cost.
Passage: The east coast Appalachian system, originally forest covered, is relatively low and narrow and is bordered on the southeast and south by an important coastal plain. The Cordilleran system on the western side of the continent is lofty, broad and complicated having two branches, the Rocky Mountain System and the Pacific Mountain System. In between these mountain systems lie the Intermontaine Plateaus. Both the Columbia River and Colorado River rise far inland near the easternmost members of the Cordilleran system, and flow through plateaus and intermontaine basins to the ocean. Heavy forests cover the northwest coast, but elsewhere trees are found only on the higher ranges below the Alpine region. The intermontane valleys, plateaus and basins range from treeless to desert with the most arid region being in the southwest.

Question: What originally covered the east coast of the Appalachians?

Question: What are the two branches of the Cordilleran system?

Question: Which two major rivers are located in the Cordilleran system?

Question: Which region of the Appalachians is the most arid?
Passage: The Laurentian Highlands, the Interior Plains and the Interior Highlands lie between the two coasts, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico northward, far beyond the national boundary, to the Arctic Ocean. The central plains are divided by a hardly perceptible height of land into a Canadian and a United States portion. It is from the United States side, that the great Mississippi system discharges southward to the Gulf of Mexico. The upper Mississippi and some of the Ohio basin is the semi-arid prairie region, with trees originally only along the watercourses. The uplands towards the Appalachians were included in the great eastern forested area, while the western part of the plains has so dry a climate that its native plant life is scanty, and in the south it is practically barren.

Question: What is one of the two major highlands that stretch from the gulf of mexico to the Arctic ocean?

Question: How far north do the Interior Highlands reach?

Question: Which two nations are the central plains divided in?

Question: Where does the Mississippi discharge?
Passage: Due to its large size and wide range of geographic features, the United States contains examples of nearly every global climate. The climate is temperate in most areas, subtropical in the Southern United States, tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida, polar in Alaska, semiarid in the Great Plains west of the 100th meridian, Mediterranean in coastal California and arid in the Great Basin. Its comparatively favorable agricultural climate contributed (in part) to the country's rise as a world power, with infrequent severe drought in the major agricultural regions, a general lack of widespread flooding, and a mainly temperate climate that receives adequate precipitation.

Question: What is the climate like in the Southern United States?

Question: Hawaii has what type of climate?

Question: Which state is known for its Mediterranean climate?

Question: What contributed to the rise of the US as a world power?

Question: What is the climate like in most areas of the US?
Passage: The Great Basin and Columbia Plateau (the Intermontane Plateaus) are arid or semiarid regions that lie in the rain shadow of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada. Precipitation averages less than 15 inches (38 cm). The Southwest is a hot desert, with temperatures exceeding 100 °F (37.8 °C) for several weeks at a time in summer. The Southwest and the Great Basin are also affected by the monsoon from the Gulf of California from July to September, which brings localized but often severe thunderstorms to the region.

Question: Which areas have arid regions?

Question: What is the precipitation average in the Intermontane plateaus?

Question: In the southwest, how high do temperatures get?

Question: During which months are portions of the US affected by the monsoon from the Gulf of California?

Question: What type of weather do monsoons bring?
Passage: Much of California consists of a Mediterranean climate, with sometimes excessive rainfall from October–April and nearly no rain the rest of the year. In the Pacific Northwest rain falls year-round, but is much heavier during winter and spring. The mountains of the west receive abundant precipitation and very heavy snowfall. The Cascades are one of the snowiest places in the world, with some places averaging over 600 inches (1,524 cm) of snow annually, but the lower elevations closer to the coast receive very little snow.

Question: What is the most prevalent type of climate nCalifornia?

Question: During what time of the year does California receive the most rainfall?

Question: Which region of the US experiences rain year round?

Question: Which region in the US is also one of the most snowiest places in the world?

Question: How many inches of snow do regions of the Cascades receive?
Passage: On average, the mountains of the western states receive the highest levels of snowfall on Earth. The greatest annual snowfall level is at Mount Rainier in Washington, at 692 inches (1,758 cm); the record there was 1,122 inches (2,850 cm) in the winter of 1971–72. This record was broken by the Mt. Baker Ski Area in northwestern Washington which reported 1,140 inches (2,896 cm) of snowfall for the 1998-99 snowfall season. Other places with significant snowfall outside the Cascade Range are the Wasatch Mountains, near the Great Salt Lake, the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, and the Sierra Nevada, near Lake Tahoe.

Question: Which mountainous region receives the highest snowfall on Earth?

Question: Which mountain in Washington receives the most amount of snowfall?

Question: What is the record amount of snowfall at Mount Rainer?

Question: In what year did Mount Rainer receive a record amount of snowfall?

Question: The Sierra Nevadas are located near which lake?
Passage: In the east, while snowfall does not approach western levels, the region near the Great Lakes and the mountains of the Northeast receive the most. Along the northwestern Pacific coast, rainfall is greater than anywhere else in the continental U.S., with Quinault Rainforest in Washington having an average of 137 inches (348 cm). Hawaii receives even more, with 460 inches (1,168 cm) measured annually on Mount Waialeale, in Kauai. The Mojave Desert, in the southwest, is home to the driest locale in the U.S. Yuma, Arizona, has an average of 2.63 inches (6.7 cm) of precipitation each year.

Question: Which region of the US receives the most amount of rainfall?

Question: What is the average amount of rainfall that the Quinault rainforest in Washington receives?

Question: Which regions in the East receives the most amount of snowfall?

Question: Which state receives an average of 460 inches of rainfall per year?

Question: What is the name of the desert that is located in the driest region in the US?
Passage: In central portions of the U.S., tornadoes are more common than anywhere else on Earth and touch down most commonly in the spring and summer. Deadly and destructive hurricanes occur almost every year along the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico. The Appalachian region and the Midwest experience the worst floods, though virtually no area in the U.S. is immune to flooding. The Southwest has the worst droughts; one is thought to have lasted over 500 years and to have hurt Ancestral Pueblo peoples. The West is affected by large wildfires each year.

Question: Where are tornadoes most common on Earth?

Question: During which seasons are tornados most common?

Question: Which regions experience the worst flooding in the US?

Question: Which region experiences the worst droughts in the US?

Question: What type of disasters affects the western US every year?
Passage: Occasional severe flooding is experienced. There was the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the Great Flood of 1993, and widespread flooding and mudslides caused by the 1982-1983 El Niño event in the western United States. Localized flooding can, however, occur anywhere, and mudslides from heavy rain can cause problems in any mountainous area, particularly the Southwest. Large stretches of desert shrub in the west can fuel the spread of wildfires. The narrow canyons of many mountain areas in the west and severe thunderstorm activity during the summer lead to sometimes devastating flash floods as well, while Nor'Easter snowstorms can bring activity to a halt throughout the Northeast (although heavy snowstorms can occur almost anywhere).

Question: The Great Mississippi occurred during what year?

Question: What fuels wildfires and causes them to spread in the west?

Question: What type of storms can cause most activity to stop?

Question: What is the name of the event that caused major flooding in the western US?
Passage: The West Coast of the continental United States and areas of Alaska (including the Aleutian Islands, the Alaskan Peninsula and southern Alaskan coast) make up part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of heavy tectonic and volcanic activity that is the source of 90% of the world's earthquakes.[citation needed] The American Northwest sees the highest concentration of active volcanoes in the United States, in Washington, Oregon and northern California along the Cascade Mountains. There are several active volcanoes located in the islands of Hawaii, including Kilauea in ongoing eruption since 1983, but they do not typically adversely affect the inhabitants of the islands. There has not been a major life-threatening eruption on the Hawaiian islands since the 17th century. Volcanic eruptions can occasionally be devastating, such as in the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington.

Question: What is the area in the pacific known for heavy volcanic activity?

Question: Which Hawaiin volcano has been erupting since 1983?

Question: The Pacific Ring of Fire contains what percentage of the earthquakes on Earth?

Question: When was the last time that the Hawaiin islands experienced a life threatening volcanic eruption?

Question: What year did Mt St. Helens erupt causing devastating damage?
Passage: Compact Disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format. The format was originally developed to store and play only sound recordings but was later adapted for storage of data (CD-ROM). Several other formats were further derived from these, including write-once audio and data storage (CD-R), rewritable media (CD-RW), Video Compact Disc (VCD), Super Video Compact Disc (SVCD), Photo CD, PictureCD, CD-i, and Enhanced Music CD. Audio CDs and audio CD players have been commercially available since October 1982.

Question: When did Audio CDs become available for purchase?

Question: What does CD stand for?

Question: What does SVCD stand for?

Question: What were CD's originally created to store?

Question: What does SVCD stand for?

Question: In what year were compact discs realesed for purchase?

Question: What was the original intended format for CDs?
Passage: In 2004, worldwide sales of audio CDs, CD-ROMs and CD-Rs reached about 30 billion discs. By 2007, 200 billion CDs had been sold worldwide. CDs are increasingly being replaced by other forms of digital storage and distribution, with the result that audio CD sales rates in the U.S. have dropped about 50% from their peak; however, they remain one of the primary distribution methods for the music industry. In 2014, revenues from digital music services matched those from physical format sales for the first time.

Question: In what year were digital and physical music sales the same?

Question: How many CDs had been distrubuted worldwide by 2007?

Question: In 2004 how many CDs had been sold around the world?

Question: What percent decrease did audio CD sales experience?

Question: What has caused a decrease in CD sales?

Question: In 2004 how many CDs had been sold around the world?

Question: How many CDs had been distrubuted around the world by 2007?

Question: What has caused a decrease in CD sales?
Passage: The Compact Disc is an evolution of LaserDisc technology, where a focused laser beam is used that enables the high information density required for high-quality digital audio signals. Prototypes were developed by Philips and Sony independently in the late 1970s. In 1979, Sony and Philips set up a joint task force of engineers to design a new digital audio disc. After a year of experimentation and discussion, the Red Book CD-DA standard was published in 1980. After their commercial release in 1982, compact discs and their players were extremely popular. Despite costing up to $1,000, over 400,000 CD players were sold in the United States between 1983 and 1984. The success of the compact disc has been credited to the cooperation between Philips and Sony, who came together to agree upon and develop compatible hardware. The unified design of the compact disc allowed consumers to purchase any disc or player from any company, and allowed the CD to dominate the at-home music market unchallenged.

Question: Who created Compact Disc prototypes in the 1970s?

Question: How lond did the creation of Red Book CD-DA standard take?

Question: To what does the compact disc owe its prosperity?

Question: How many CD players were sold in the United States in their first year?

Question: What did the CD evolve from?

Question: What made it possible for CDs to be played on any companies CD player?

Question: What year did CD players become available for purchase?

Question: To what does the compact disc owe its prosperity?
Passage: In 1974, L. Ottens, director of the audio division of Philips, started a small group with the aim to develop an analog optical audio disc with a diameter of 20 cm and a sound quality superior to that of the vinyl record. However, due to the unsatisfactory performance of the analog format, two Philips research engineers recommended a digital format in March 1974. In 1977, Philips then established a laboratory with the mission of creating a digital audio disc. The diameter of Philips's prototype compact disc was set at 11.5 cm, the diagonal of an audio cassette.

Question: In what year did Philips institute a laboratory to create a digital audio disc?

Question: What was the proposed diameter for the original compact disc?

Question: What year did Philips propse the idea of a digital audio format?

Question: Who was the director of the Philips audio division in 1974?
Passage: Heitaro Nakajima, who developed an early digital audio recorder within Japan's national public broadcasting organization NHK in 1970, became general manager of Sony's audio department in 1971. His team developed a digital PCM adaptor audio tape recorder using a Betamax video recorder in 1973. After this, in 1974 the leap to storing digital audio on an optical disc was easily made. Sony first publicly demonstrated an optical digital audio disc in September 1976. A year later, in September 1977, Sony showed the press a 30 cm disc that could play 60 minutes of digital audio (44,100 Hz sampling rate and 16-bit resolution) using MFM modulation. In September 1978, the company demonstrated an optical digital audio disc with a 150-minute playing time, 44,056 Hz sampling rate, 16-bit linear resolution, and cross-interleaved error correction code—specifications similar to those later settled upon for the standard Compact Disc format in 1980. Technical details of Sony's digital audio disc were presented during the 62nd AES Convention, held on 13–16 March 1979, in Brussels. Sony's AES technical paper was published on 1 March 1979. A week later, on 8 March, Philips publicly demonstrated a prototype of an optical digital audio disc at a press conference called "Philips Introduce Compact Disc" in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

Question: Where was the 62nd AES Convention held?

Question: Who was the general manger of Sony's audio department in 1971?

Question: What year did Sony first exhibit the use of an optical digital audio disc?

Question: What did Nakajima's team use to create a digital PCM adaptor audio tape recorder?

Question: Where was the Philips Introduce Compact disc conference held?

Question: What did Nakajima's team use to create a digital PCM adaptor audio tape recorder?

Question: When did Sony release it's AES technical paper?
Passage: As a result, in 1979, Sony and Philips set up a joint task force of engineers to design a new digital audio disc. Led by engineers Kees Schouhamer Immink and Toshitada Doi, the research pushed forward laser and optical disc technology. After a year of experimentation and discussion, the task force produced the Red Book CD-DA standard. First published in 1980, the standard was formally adopted by the IEC as an international standard in 1987, with various amendments becoming part of the standard in 1996.

Question: In what year did Sony and Philips band together to design a new digital audio disc?

Question: What year was the Red Book CD-DA standard released?

Question: When did the IEC isntigate the Red Book CD-DA as an international standard?

Question: Who headed the 1979 Sony and Philips digital audio disc task force?
Passage: The Japanese launch was followed in March 1983 by the introduction of CD players and discs to Europe and North America (where CBS Records released sixteen titles). This event is often seen as the "Big Bang" of the digital audio revolution. The new audio disc was enthusiastically received, especially in the early-adopting classical music and audiophile communities, and its handling quality received particular praise. As the price of players gradually came down, and with the introduction of the portable Walkman the CD began to gain popularity in the larger popular and rock music markets. The first artist to sell a million copies on CD was Dire Straits, with their 1985 album Brothers in Arms. The first major artist to have his entire catalogue converted to CD was David Bowie, whose 15 studio albums were made available by RCA Records in February 1985, along with four greatest hits albums. In 1988, 400 million CDs were manufactured by 50 pressing plants around the world.

Question: Who first sold a million copies on CD?

Question: Which artist was the first to have their full catalogue converted to CD?

Question: What year was the Dire Straits album Brothers in Arms released?

Question: How many studio albums did David Bowie release in February 1985?

Question: How many CDs were mass produced in 1988?

Question: How many studio albums did David Bowie release in February 1985?
Passage: The CD was planned to be the successor of the gramophone record for playing music, rather than primarily as a data storage medium. From its origins as a musical format, CDs have grown to encompass other applications. In 1983, following the CD's introduction, Immink and Braat presented the first experiments with erasable compact discs during the 73rd AES Convention. In June 1985, the computer-readable CD-ROM (read-only memory) and, in 1990, CD-Recordable were introduced, also developed by both Sony and Philips. Recordable CDs were a new alternative to tape for recording music and copying music albums without defects introduced in compression used in other digital recording methods. Other newer video formats such as DVD and Blu-ray use the same physical geometry as CD, and most DVD and Blu-ray players are backward compatible with audio CD.

Question: What does ROM stand for?

Question: What year did Sony and Philips release CD-Recordable?

Question: What was the original intended format for CDs?

Question: What year was the 73rd AES Convention?

Question: What was the CDs predecessor?

Question: What was the CDs predecessor?
Passage: Meanwhile, with the advent and popularity of Internet-based distribution of files in lossily-compressed audio formats such as MP3, sales of CDs began to decline in the 2000s. For example, between 2000 - 2008, despite overall growth in music sales and one anomalous year of increase, major-label CD sales declined overall by 20%, although independent and DIY music sales may be tracking better according to figures released 30 March 2009, and CDs still continue to sell greatly. As of 2012, CDs and DVDs made up only 34 percent of music sales in the United States. In Japan, however, over 80 percent of music was bought on CDs and other physical formats as of 2015.

Question: When did CD sales experience their original decline?

Question: What portion of music sales did CDs and DVDs account for in the United States as of 2012?

Question: Which country attributes over 80 percent of its music sales to physical formats?

Question: How are MP3s compressed?

Question: When did CD sales experience their original decline?

Question: What has caused a decrease in CD sales?
Passage: Replicated CDs are mass-produced initially using a hydraulic press. Small granules of heated raw polycarbonate plastic are fed into the press. A screw forces the liquefied plastic into the mold cavity. The mold closes with a metal stamper in contact with the disc surface. The plastic is allowed to cool and harden. Once opened, the disc substrate is removed from the mold by a robotic arm, and a 15 mm diameter center hole (called a stacking ring) is created. The time it takes to "stamp" one CD is usually two to three seconds.

Question: How are CDs mass produced?

Question: What type of material is used to make CDs?

Question: What size is the diameter of the center hole in a CD?

Question: How long does it take to stamp out one CD?

Question: What is the term for the center hole in a CD?