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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
The Top Ten Principles of Good Consumption
Consumption is one of life's great pleasures. Buying
things we desire, traveling to beautiful places, eating
delectable food: icing on the cake of life. But too often the
effects of our blissful consumption make for a sad story.
Giant cars exhaling dangerous exhaust, hog farms pumping
out harmful pollutants, toxic trash pestering poor
neighborhoods - none of this if there weren't something
to sell.
But there's no need to trade pleasure for guilt. With
thoughtfulness and commitment, consumption can be a force
for good. Through buying what we need, produced the way
we want, we can create the world we'd like to live in.
To that end and for the future, a Consumption Manifesto:
Principle One. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. This brilliant triad
says it all. Reduce: Avoid buying what you don't need-
and when you do get that dishwasher/lawnmower/toilet,
spend the money up front for an efficient model. Re-use:
Buy used stuff, and wring the last drop of usefulness out of
most everything you own. Recycle: Do it, but know that
it's the last and least effective leg of the triad. (Ultimately,
recycling simply results in the manufacture of more things.)
Principle Two. Stay close to home. Work close to home
to shorten your commute; eat food grown nearby; support
local businesses; join local organizations. All of these will
improve the look, shape, smell, and feel of your community.
Principle Three. Internal combustion engines are polluting,
and their use should be minimized. Period.
Principle Four. Watch what you eat. Whenever possible,
avoid food grown with pesticides, in feedlots, or by
agribusiness. It's an easy way to use your dollars to vote
against the spread of toxins in our bodies, land, and water.
Principle Five. Private industries have very little incentive
to improve their environmental practices. Our consumption
choices must encourage and support good behavior; our
political choices must support government regulation.
Principle Six. Support thoughtful innovations in
manufacturing and production. Hint: Drilling for oil is no
longer an innovation.
Principle Seven. Prioritize. Think hardest when buying
large objects; don't drive yourself mad fretting over the small
ones. It's easy to be distracted by the paper bag puzzle,
but an energy-sucking refrigerator is much more worthy of
your attention. (Small electronics are an exception.)
Principle Eight. Vote. Political engagement enables the
spread of environmentally conscious policies. Without
public action, thoughtful individuals are swimming
upstream.
Principle Nine. Don't feel guilty. It only makes you sad.
Principle Ten. Enjoy what you have-the things that are
yours alone, and the things that belong to none of us. Both
are nice, but the latter are precious. Those things that we
cannot manufacture and should never own-water, air, birds,
trees-are the foundation of life's pleasures. Without them,
we're nothing. With us, there may be nothing left. It's our
choice.
Umbra Fisk, Grist Magazine.
Slightly adapted from: http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1470
Access on June 1, 2007.
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
considere o texto abaixo.
Brian Krebs on Computer Security
Three of the most aggressive buyers of online advertising
space today agreed to ...53... fines and reform their advertising
practices as part of a landmark anti-spyware settlement.
Mobile phone giant Cingular Wireless LLC, and travel
sites Priceline.com and Travelocity.com agreed to settle their
part in an ongoing investigation by the New York State Attorney
General's office, which last year sued adware/spyware purveyor
DirectRevenue for deceptively and fraudulently installing its popup
ad serving and Web tracking software on millions of PCs
...54... approval or consent of consumers.
This is an important settlement on a number of levels.
Online help forums are awash in desperate messages from
consumers ...55... machines were besieged by pop-up ads after
visiting a Web site that used slimy drive-by tactics to install
DirectRevenue's software, which is notoriously difficult to
remove from a host machine.
Perhaps more significantly, these advertisers were just
as culpable for supporting DirectRevenue's sleazy business
practices long after anti-spyware activists like Ben Edelman,
Suzi Turner and others published evidence of the illegal
distribution methods of DirectRevenue and the Webmasters it
paid to install its software. Experts consistently documented
adware bundles like the ones distributed by DirectRevenue
being installed on computers that contract distributors had
already infected with computer viruses and worms.
Ari Schwartz, deputy director for the Center for
Democracy & Technology, a consumer policy group in
Washington, D.C., said today's settlement was important
because it recognizes the oft-overlooked role that advertisers
continue to play in supporting the adware and spyware industry.
"The dirty secret about unwanted adware is that many
legitimate companies - knowingly or not - fund its proliferation
with their advertising dollars. Until we cut off that funding, there
will always be a financial incentive for companies to bombard
users with adware that they neither want nor need," Schwartz
said in a written statement.
While the settlement is a welcome and important one, the
terms and fines could have been a bit stiffer. Under the terms of
the agreement, all three companies will have to pay between
$30,000 and $35,000 each to New York state. In addition, "prior
to contracting with a company to deliver their ads, and quarterly
thereafter, the companies must investigate how their online ads
are delivered. The companies must immediately cease using
adware programs that violate the settlement agreements or their
own adware policies."
By Brian Krebs ? January 29, 2007
(Adapted from:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/01/web_advertisers
_settle_ny_spyw.html)
considere o texto abaixo.
Brian Krebs on Computer Security
Three of the most aggressive buyers of online advertising
space today agreed to ...Q9108... fines and reform their advertising
practices as part of a landmark anti-spyware settlement.
Mobile phone giant Cingular Wireless LLC, and travel
sites Priceline.com and Travelocity.com agreed to settle their
part in an ongoing investigation by the New York State Attorney
General's office, which last year sued adware/spyware purveyor
DirectRevenue for deceptively and fraudulently installing its popup
ad serving and Web tracking software on millions of PCs
...Q9109... approval or consent of consumers.
This is an important settlement on a number of levels.
Online help forums are awash in desperate messages from
consumers ...Q9110... machines were besieged by pop-up ads after
visiting a Web site that used slimy drive-by tactics to install
DirectRevenue's software, which is notoriously difficult to
remove from a host machine.
Perhaps more significantly, these advertisers were just
as culpable for supporting DirectRevenue's sleazy business
practices long after anti-spyware activists like Ben Edelman,
Suzi Turner and others published evidence of the illegal
distribution methods of DirectRevenue and the Webmasters it
paid to install its software. Experts consistently documented
adware bundles like the ones distributed by DirectRevenue
being installed on computers that contract distributors had
already infected with computer viruses and worms.
Ari Schwartz, deputy director for the Center for
Democracy & Technology, a consumer policy group in
Washington, D.C., said today's settlement was important
because it recognizes the oft-overlooked role that advertisers
continue to play in supporting the adware and spyware industry.
"The dirty secret about unwanted adware is that many
legitimate companies - knowingly or not - fund its proliferation
with their advertising dollars. Until we cut off that funding, there
will always be a financial incentive for companies to bombard
users with adware that they neither want nor need," Schwartz
said in a written statement.
While the settlement is a welcome and important one, the
terms and fines could have been a bit stiffer. Under the terms of
the agreement, all three companies will have to pay between
$30,000 and $35,000 each to New York state. In addition, "prior
to contracting with a company to deliver their ads, and quarterly
thereafter, the companies must investigate how their online ads
are delivered. The companies must immediately cease using
adware programs that violate the settlement agreements or their
own adware policies."
By Brian Krebs ? January 29, 2007
(Adapted from:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/01/web_advertisers
_settle_ny_spyw.html)
Reducing the dependence on oil
Ildo Sauer, Gas and Energy Director, Petrobras.
Brazil's energy sector is following the worldwide
tendency towards greater diversification of primary energy
sources and the increased use of natural gas and
biofuels. There are several reasons for this change. The
most important are the environmental restrictions that
are gradually being adopted in the world's principal
energy-consuming markets and the need to reduce the
dependence on oil, set against a scenario of accelerated
depletion in oil reserves and escalating prices.
The share of gas in Brazilian primary energy
consumption has more than doubled in a short period,
increasing from 4.1% in 1999 to 8.9% in 2004, and this
share is forecast to rise to 12% by 2010.
Over the past two decades, the world gas industry
has experienced a structural and regulatory
transformation. These changes have altered the strategic
behaviour of gas firms, with an intensification of
competition, the search for diversification (especially in
the case of power generation) and the internationalisation
of industry activities. Together, these changes have
radically changed the economic environment and the level
of competition in the industry.
Brazil's gas industry is characterised by its late
development, although in recent years, internal supply
imports and demand have grown significantly - the
growth trajectory of recent years exceeds that of countries
with more mature markets, such as Spain, Argentina,
the UK and the US. And the outlook is positive for
continued growth over the next few years, particularly
when set against the investment plans already
announced in Brazil.
The country has a small transportation network
concentrated near the coast. The distribution network is
concentrated in the major consumption centres.
Domestic gas sources are largely offshore in the Campos
basin and Bolivia provides imports. Given the degree
of gas penetration in the country's primary energy
consumption, the industry is poorly developed when
compared with other countries. The industry requires
heavy investment in expanding the transport and
distribution (T&D) networks, as well as in diversifying and
increasing its supplies. Such investments are necessary
for realising the industry's enormous potential.
Another key industry highlight is the changing profile
of gas supply. A large part of the gas produced
domestically to date has been associated with oil
production. The latter diluting or even totally absorbing
the costs of exploiting the gas. In most cases, gas
production was feasible only in conjunction with oil
production activities. However, the country's latest gas
finds are non-associated. Thus, an exclusively dedicated
structure must be developed to produce this gas -
translating into a significant rise in production costs. This
is more significant when analysed against the high costs
associated with the market for exploration and production
(E&P) sector equipment. In recent years, the leasing costs
of drilling rigs and E&P equipment have been climbing in
parallel with escalating oil prices. This directly affects endconsumer
prices.
In a world of primary energy consumption
diversification, of greater environmental restrictions and
the reduced dependence on oil, Brazil has been seeking
to develop alternative energy sources - principally natural
gas and biofuels. The gas industry holds enormous
potential for Brazil, although there is still a long way to go
before it reaches maturity and major investment is
required.
p.29-31 (adapted)