Questões de Concurso Comentadas sobre palavras conectivas | connective words em inglês

IMPORTANT SAFEGUARDS

For your protection, please read these safety
instructions completely before operating the appliance, and
keep this manual for future reference.

Carefully observe all warnings, precautions and
instructions on the appliance, or the one described in the
operating instructions and adhere to them.

POWER SOURCES - This set should be operated
only from the type of power source indicated on the marking
label. If you are not sure of the type of electrical power supplied
to your home, consult your dealer or local power company. For
those sets designed to operate from battery power, or other
sources, refer to the operating instructions.

OBJECTAND LIQUID ENTRY - Never push objects
of any kind into the set through openings as they may touch
dangerous voltage points or short out parts that could result in
a fire or electric shock. Never spill liquid of any kind on the set.

ATTACHMENTS - Do not use attachments not
recommended by the manufacturer, as they may cause
hazards.

CLEANING - Unplug the set from the wall outlet
before cleaning or polishing it. Do not use liquid cleaners or
aerosol cleaners. Use a cloth lightly dampened with water for
cleaning the exterior of the set.

OVERLOADING - Do not overload wall outlets,
extension cords or convenience receptacles beyond their
capacity, since this can result in fire or electric shock.

ACCESSORIES - Do not place the set on an
unstable cart, stand, tripod, bracket, or table. The set may
fall, causing serious injury to a child or an adult, and serious
damage to the set. Use only a cart stand tripod, bracket, or
table recommended by the manufacturer.

WATER AND MOISTURE - Do not use power-line
operated sets near water - for example, near a bathtub,
washbowl, kitchen sink, or laundry tub, in a wet basement, or
near a swimming pool, etc.

SERVICING - Do not attempt to service the set
yourself as opening or removing covers may expose you to
dangerous voltage or other hazards. Refer all servicing to
qualified service personnel.

SAFETY CHECK - Upon completion of any service
or repairs to the set, as the service technician to perform
routine safety checks (as specified by the manufacturer) to
determine that the set is in safe operating condition.

(Adapted from SONY manual - Sony Corporation - 2000 - Printed in Japan).

3 Homemade Natural Cleaning Products

One of my earliest memories is of my mother cleaning with
what looked to me like cooking ingredients. She would be listening
to the radio as she poured baking soda, lemon, and vinegar
combinations on the surfaces of our home. Magically these natural
cleaning products kept our home clean and smelling fresh, without
stretching an already thin household budget. Here are a few basic
household ingredients and items you can use to clean your home.

Vinegar naturally cleans like an all-purpose cleaner. Mix a
solution of 1 part water to 1 part vinegar in a new store bought
spray bottle and you have a solution that will clean most areas of
your home. Vinegar is a great natural cleaning product as well as
a disinfectant and deodorizer. Always test on an inconspicuous
area. It is safe to use on most surfaces and has the added bonus of
being incredibly cheap. Improperly diluted vinegar is acidic and
can eat away at tile grout. Never use vinegar on marble surfaces.
Don't worry about your home smelling like vinegar. The smell
disappears when it dries.

Lemon juice is another natural substance that can be used to
clean your home. Lemon juice can be used to dissolve soap scum
and hard water deposits. Lemon is a great substance to clean and
shine brass and copper. Lemon juice can be mixed with vinegar
and or baking soda to make cleaning pastes. Cut a lemon in half
and sprinkle baking soda on the cut section. Use the lemon to
scrub dishes, surfaces, and stains.

Baking soda can be used to scrub surfaces in much the same
way as commercial abrasive cleansers. Baking soda is great as a
deodorizer. Place a box in the refrigerator and freezer to absorb
odors. Put it anywhere you need deodorizing action. Try these three
kitchen ingredients as natural cleaning products in your home.

(http://housekeeping.about.com/cs/environment/a/alternateclean.30.10.2009.
Adaptado)

When I talk with librarians about thinking of themselves
as designers, sometimes they demur. "Designer? I can't even
draw a stick figure!" But you don't need to. Whether you know it
or not, you're already a designer.

Every time librarians create a bookmark, decide to house
a collection in a new spot, or figure out how a new service
might work, they're making design decisions. This is what I like
to call design by neglect or unintentional design. Whether library
employees wear name tags is a design decision. The length of
loan periods and whether or not you charge fines is a design
decision. Anytime you choose how people will interact with your
library, you're making a design decision. All of these decisions
add up to create an experience, good or bad, for your patrons.

When we are mindful of our roles as library experience
designers, we can make more informed design choices. This
awareness can provide better experiences for our patrons and
demonstrate that we care about them.

Really. People will notice, [CONJUNCTION] not
necessarily consciously, if we [VERB] the time to think about
them when we're developing our services. The secret here is not
to think of library patrons, users, or customers: we need to think
of people. We need to consider their lives and what they're trying
to accomplish. This act, which can only be done by cultivating
the skill of empathy, is the most important ? and perhaps the
most difficult ? part of user experience design.

(Adapted from
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6713142.html?nid=2673
&source=title&rid=1105906703)

Subways

Posted on Friday March 27th, 2009 by Jebediah Reed
To give some sense of the pace of public works
construction in China, the city of Guangzhou is planning to open
83 miles of new subway lines by the end of next year.
Meanwhile, New York ? a city of about the same size ? has
been playing around with the 1.7-mile Second Avenue line for
decades now. China also builds subways rather cheaply ? $100
million per mile versus $ 2.4 billion per mile in the Big Apple.

Not surprisingly, projects there are more aggressive in all
respects: there are 60 tunnel boring machines operating in
Guangzhou, while only one is slated for the Second Avenue
project; workers put in five 12-hour shifts a week (and if they
don't like it, they can go pound glacial till); and seizing property
is a breeze.

An article in the Business section of today's NY Times
(Clash of Subways and Car Culture in Chinese Cities by Keith
Bradsher) [VERB] a smart look at the forces at play as China
goes on a transit infrastructure spending spree while it
simultaneously becomes evermore sprawling and car-centric.

Here's one interesting passage, [CONJUNCTION] the
story is worth reading in its entirety:

Western mass transit experts applaud China for investing
billions in systems that will put less stress on the environment
and on cities. But they warn that other Chinese policies, like
allowing real estate developers to build sprawling new suburbs,
undermine the benefits of the mass transit boom.

Mr. Chan Shao Zhang , a 67-year-old engineer in charge
of the works in Guangzhou, defended Guangzhou's combination
of cars and subways, saying that the city built a subway line to a new Toyota assembly plant to help employees and suppliers
reach it.

Subways have been most competitive in cities like New
York that have high prices for parking, and tolls for bridges and
tunnels, discouraging car use. Few Chinese cities have been
willing to follow suit, other than Shanghai, which charges a fee of
several thousand dollars for each license plate.

The cost and physical limitations of subways have
discouraged most cities from building new ones. For instance,
only Tokyo has a subway system that carries more people than
its buses. The buses are cheaper and able to serve far more
streets but move more slowly, pollute more and contribute to
traffic congestion.

China has reason to worry. It surpassed the United
States in total vehicle sales for the first time in January, although
the United States remained slightly ahead in car sales. But in
February, China overtook the United States in both, in part
because the global downturn has hurt auto sales much more in
the United States than in China.

There are many countervaling forces ..X.. China has
passed its own stimulus package and the government is eager
to put people to work, create economic activity, and build
modern infrastructure. The Guangzhou project is part of major
national transit buildout. But the nation's cities are also sprawling
beasts, and in that sense, more suited to cars than trains. Not
shockingly, many Chinese prefer the former.

(Adapted from http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/03/27/-
building-a-subway-is-96-percent-cheaper-in-china/)

Old Tray, New Tricks: Windows 7's Taskbar and window
management tweaks are nice. But its changes to the
System Tray - aka the Notification Area - have a huge
positive effect.

Changes in Windows 7 transform the System Tray from
an intrusive eyesore (in Windows Vista) into a useful set of
shortcuts and other controls.
In the past, no feature of Windows packed more
frustration per square inch than the System Tray. It quickly grew
dense with applets that users did not want in the first place, and
many of the uninvited guests employed word balloons and
other intrusive methods to alert users to uninteresting facts at
inopportune moments. At their worst, System Tray applets
behaved like belligerent squatters, and Windows did little to put
users [PARTICLE] in charge.
In Windows 7, applets can't pester you unbidden
because software installers can't dump them into the System
Tray. Instead, applets land in a holding pen that appears only
when you click it, a much-improved version of the overflow area
used in previous incarnations of the Tray. Applets in the pen
can't float word balloons at you unless you permit them to do so.
In Windows 7, applets can't pester you unbidden
because software installers can't dump them into the System
Tray. Instead, applets land in a holding pen that appears only
when you click it, a much-improved version of the overflow area
used in previous incarnations of the Tray. Applets in the pen
can't float word balloons at you unless you permit them to do so.
It's a cinch to drag them into the System Tray or out of it again,
so you enjoy complete control over which applets reside there.
More good news: Windows 7 largely dispenses with the
onslaught of word-balloon warnings from the OS about
troubleshooting issues, potential security problems, and the like.
A new area called Action Center - a revamped version of Vista's
Security Center - queues up such alerts so you can deal with
them at your convenience. Action Center does issue
notifications of its own from the System Tray, but you can shut
these off if you don't want them pestering you.
All of this helps make Windows 7 the least distracting,
least intrusive Microsoft OS in a very long time. It's a giant step
forward from the days when Windows thought nothing of
interrupting your work to inform you that it had detected unused
icons on your desktop.

(Adapted from
http://www.pcworld.com/article/172602/windows_7_review.html)

WINDOWS 7 REVIEW
Windows 7 gets the basics right. Here's what you need to know
about the new OS.
Harry McCracken, PC World
Monday, October 19, 2009 2:00 pm
What if a new version of Windows didn't try to dazzle
you? What if, instead, it tried to disappear except when you
needed it? Such an operating system would dispense with glitzy
effects in favor of low-key, useful new features. Rather than
pelting you with alerts, warnings, and requests, it would try to
stay out of your face. And if any bundled applications weren't
essential, it would dump 'em.

It's not a what-if scenario. Windows 7, set to arrive on
new PCs and as a shrinkwrapped upgrade on October 22, has a
minimalist feel and attempts to fix annoyances old and new. In
contrast, Windows Vista offered a flashy new interface, but its
poor performance, compatibility gotchas, and lack of compelling
features made some folks regret upgrading and others refuse to
leave Windows XP.

Windows 7 is hardly flawless. Some features feel
unfinished; others won't realize their potential without heavy
lifting by third parties. And some long-standing annoyances
remain intact. But overall, the final shipping version I test-drove
appears to be the worthy successor to Windows XP that Vista
never was.

(Adapted from
http://www.pcworld.com/article/172602/windows_7_review.html

How to dig out from the information avalanche
Majority of workers feel overwhelmed by deluge of data,
survey finds
By Eve Tahmincioglu
updated 8:18 p.m. ET March 16, 2008
Don't expect Shaun Osher, the CEO of Core Group
Marketing in New York, to answer your e-mail right away.
He has stopped responding to e-mails every minute and
only checks his e-mail account twice a day. He also started
turning off his BlackBerry during meetings.
This tactic has made him so much more productive
that earlier this year he held a meeting with his staff of 50
and "strongly suggested" that they stop relying so heavily
on e-mail and actually start calling clients on the phone.
And, he requested his employees put cell phones and
PDAs on silent mode during meetings, as well as curtail
the common practice of cc-ing everybody when sending
out an e-mail. "There was so much redundancy, so much
unnecessary work," he explains. "One person could handle
an issue that should take two minutes, but when an email
goes out and five people get cc-ed, then everybody
responds to it and there's a snowball effect."
It's not that Osher has anything against technology. In
fact, he loves it. The problem is, last year he realized he
was inundated with so many e-mails and so much
information in general that he began to experience data
overload. "In the beginning, e-mail and all this data was a
great phenomenon, revolutionizing what we do. But the
pendulum has swung way too much to the other side," he
maintains. "We're less productive."
Osher isn't the only one out there under a data
avalanche. Thanks to technological innovations, you can
be talking to a customer on your cell phone, answering a
LinkedIn invitation on your laptop, and responding to email
on your PDA all at the same time. Besides, during
tough economic times, who will want to miss any
information when your job could be on the line if you indulge
in the luxury of being offline? Turns out, seven out of 10
office workers in the United States feel overwhelmed by
information in the workplace, and more than two in five
say they are headed for a data "breaking point," according
to a recently released Workplace Productivity Survey.
Mike Walsh, CEO of LexisNexis U.S. Legal Markets,
says there are a host of reasons we're all on the information
brink: "exponential growth of the size of the information
'haystack,' the immensity and immediacy of digital
communications, and the fact that professionals are not
being provided with sufficient tools and training to help
them keep pace with the growing information burden."
Ellen Kossek, a professor from Michigan State, believes
we are less productive in this age of 24-7 technology, and
our multitasking mentality has spawned a "not-mentallypresent"
society. "We're becoming an attention-deficit
disorder society switching back and forth like crazy,"
Kossek says. "We're connected all the time. We're
working on planes, in coffee shops, working on the
weekends. Work is very seductive, but yet we're actually
less effective."
The key to getting your head above the data flood,
according to workplace experts, is managing and reducing
the information you're bombarded with.

© 2008 MSNBC Interactive - (slightly adapted)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23636252/

          Repliee is more than a humanoid robot ? it is an
     honest-to-goodness android, so lifelike that it seems like
     a real person. It has moist lips, glossy hair and vivid
     eyes that blink slowly. Seated on a stool with hands
 5    folded primly on its lap at the 2005 World Exposition in
     Japan's Aichi prefecture, it wore a bright pink blazer and
     gray slacks. For a mesmerizing few seconds from several
     meters away, Repliee was virtually indistinguishable from
     an ordinary woman in her 30s. In fact, it was a copy of
 10    one.
          Japan is proud of the most advanced humanoids in
     the world, which are expected to eventually be used as
     the workforce diminishes among the decreasing and aging
     population. But why build a robot with pigmented silicone
 15    skin, smooth gestures and even makeup? To Repliee's
     creator, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Director of Osaka University's
     Intelligent Robotics Laboratory, the answer is simple:
     "Android science."
          Besides the justification for making robots
 20    anthropomorphic and bipedal so they can work in human
     environments with architectural features such as stairs,
     Ishiguro believes that people respond better to very
     humanlike automatons. Androids can thus elicit the most
     natural communication. "Appearance is very important
 25    to have better interpersonal relationships with a robot,"
     says the 42-year-old Ishiguro. "Robots are information
     media, especially humanoid robots. Their main role in
     our future is to interact naturally with people."
          Mild colorblindness forced Ishiguro to abandon his
 30    aspirations of a career as an oil painter. Drawn to
     computer and robot vision instead, he built a guide robot
     for the blind as an undergraduate at the University of
     Yamanashi. A fan of the android character Data from the
     Star Trek franchise, he sees robots as the ideal vehicle
 35    to understand more about ourselves.
          To imitate human looks and behavior successfully,
     Ishiguro combines robotics with cognitive science. In turn,
     cognitive science research can use the robot to study
     human perception, communication and other faculties.
 40    This novel cross-fertilization is what Ishiguro describes
     as android science. In a 2005 paper, he and his
     collaborators explained it thus: "To make the android
     humanlike, we must investigate human activity from the
     standpoint of cognitive science, behavioral science and
 45    neuroscience, and to evaluate human activity, we need
     to implement processes that support it in the android."
          One key strategy in Ishiguro's approach is to model
     his artificial creations on real people. He began research
     four years ago with his then four-year-old daughter,
 50    casting a rudimentary android from her body, but its
     mechanisms resulted in strange, unnatural motion.
          Humanlike robots run the risk of compromising
     people's comfort zones. Because the android's
     appearance is very similar to that of a human, any subtle
 55    differences in motion and responses will make it seem
     strange. Repliee, though, is so lifelike that it has
     overcome the creepiness factor, partly because of the
     natural way it moves.
          Ishiguro wants his next android, a male, to be as
 60    authentic as possible. The model? Himself. The scientist
     thinks having a robot clone could ease his busy schedule:
     he could dispatch it to classes and meetings and then
     teleconference through it. "My question has always been,
     Why are we living, and what is human?" he says. An
 65    Ishiguro made of circuitry and silicone might soon be
     answering his own questions.

adapted from www.scientificamerican.com - May 2006

          What are the best energy sources? "Best" depends
     on many factors - how the energy is being used, where
     it is being used, what energy sources are available,
     which sources are most convenient and reliable, which
5   are easiest to use, what each costs, and the effects on
     public safety, health, and the environment. Making smart
     energy choices means understanding resources and their
     relative costs and benefits.
          Some energy sources have advantages for specific
10  uses or locations. For example, fuels from petroleum
     are well suited for transportation because they pack a
     lot of energy in a small space and are easily transported
     and stored. Small hydroelectric installations are a good
     solution for supplying power or mechanical energy close
15  to where it is used. Coal is widely used for power
     generation in many fast-developing countries - including
     China, India, and many others - because domestic
     supplies are readily available.
          Efficiency is an important factor in energy costs.
20  How efficiently can the energy be produced, delivered,
     and used? How much energy value is lost in that process,
     and how much ends up being transformed into useful
     work? Industries that produce or use energy continually
     look for ways to improve efficiency, since this is a key to
25  making their products more competitive.
          The ideal energy source - cheap, plentiful, and
     pollution-free - may prove unattainable in our lifetime,
     but that is the ultimate goal. The energy industry is
     continuing to improve its technologies and practices, to
30  produce and use energy more efficiently and cleanly.
          Energy resources are often categorized as
     renewable or nonrenewable.
          Renewable energy resources are those that can be
     replenished quickly - examples are solar power,
35  biomass, geothermal, hydroelectric, wind power, and
     fast-reaction nuclear power. They supply about seven
     percent of energy needs in the United States; the other
     93 percent comes from nonrenewables. The two largest
     categories of renewable energy now in use in the U.S.
40  are biomass - primarily wood wastes that are used by
     the forest products industry to generate electricity and
     heat - and hydroelectricity.
          Nonrenewable energy resources include coal, oil,
     natural gas, and uranium-235, which is used to fuel
45  slow-reaction nuclear power. Projections of how long a
     nonrenewable energy resource will last depend on many
     changeable factors. These include the growth rate of
     consumption, and estimates of how much of the remaining
     resources can be economically recovered. New exploration
50  and production technologies often increase the ability of
     producers to locate and recover resources. World
     reserves of fossil energy are projected to last for many
     more decades - and, in the case of coal, for centuries.

In: http://www.classroom-energy.org/teachers/energy_tour/pg5.html

Atenção: Para responder às questões de números 53 a 60,
considere o texto abaixo.

Brian Krebs on Computer Security

          Green is the hot topic these days, and the concept
     is having an impact on the way people think about
     datacenters. Companies around the world are
     announcing ways to save energy and reduce costs by
5   buying new hardware and services. Yet, there is little
     guidance on how you can take action to control energy
     costs. In the past, electricity has been treated as an
     overhead expense, like the cost of space. But with rising
     power costs and issues regarding reliability, supply, and
10  capacity, electricity requires its own specific strategy.
          Projects regarding performance optimization and
     cost reduction are a part of everyday best practices in
     nearly every area of business. So why not treat energy
     cost in the same way?
15      As Information Technologies (IT) pros, many of us
     make decisions about the configuration and setup of
     servers, the specifications on the equipment our
     organizations purchase, and the requirements for
     datacenter upgrades and construction. We even provide
20  early design input during application development. When
     it comes to these projects, we obviously have a golden
     opportunity to be green and influence the energy
     efficiency of any datacenter.
          The first part of any strategy is to know your current
25  energy usage. You need to know where your energy is
     used and by what specific equipment, as well as what
     usage is efficient and what is wasteful in the datacenter.
     Unfortunately, it's rare to find power-consumption
     metering in place that can break down usage to a level
30  where people can see the results of their actions. Most
     organizations typically only see a monthly power bill
     that rolls up consumption into an overall bottom line.
     This offers little incentive for saving energy since
     individuals never see the impact of their decisions, and
35  there is no way for them to prove that their changes
     have actually saved energy.
          One of the first issues people confront when
     considering a green datacenter initiative is whether they
     have executive support. For the purpose of the article, I
40  am going to assume the answer is "not yet." Executive
     support requires a serious commitment that provides
     resources and budget for your initiative. And while there
     is a lot of talk about green datacenters, the reality is
     that there is still often a lack of serious support at the
45  executive level. If you did already have such executive
     support, you would probably be running a green
     datacenter right now.
          Still, even assuming you are not getting the support
     you need, there is a great deal you can do to push your
50  green datacenter initiative forward. So how do you
     determine effective actions to take in achieving your
     goals? Fortunately, energy efficiency is not a new
     concept and there is a lot that IT pros can learn from
     other industries. [.]
55      Anyway, for whichever direction you choose,
     planning an energy efficiency program for your datacenter
     will require collaboration across groups in IT. Until
     recently, the typical approach to planning IT solutions
     has been to ignore power costs early on during the design
60  phase, focusing on the hardware and software being
     purchased, along with the labor and hosting costs of
     the solution. When power is buried in the overhead cost
     of running solutions in a datacenter, energy efficiency
     is a low priority. Exposing the actual power being
65  consumed by solutions is the first critical step in changing
     the behavior of your organization.

By Dave Ohara
TechNet Magazine, October 2007