A recent survey conducted in the New Homes magazine indicated that more than 70% of its readers are planning to purchase or build a new home over the next two years. Based on the results of the survey, the editor of the magazine concluded that over the next two years, the real estate industry is likely to experience rapid growth driven by the high market demand for new homes.

Which of the following statements, if true, would be the most damaging to the conclusion of the magazine's editor?

Antoine: The alarming fact is that among children aged 19 years and younger, the number taking antipsychotic medicines soared 73 percent in the last four years. That is greater than the increase in the number of adults taking antipsychotic medicines during the same period.

Lucy: But the use of antipsychotic drugs by adults is considered normal at the current rate of 11 adults per 1,000 taking the drugs. In contrast, the number of children on antipsychotic medication last year was 6.6 per 1,000 children.

Lucy's argument is structured to lead to which of the following as a conclusion?

Fact: Asthma, a bronchial condition, is much less common ailment than hay fever, an allergic inflammation of the nasal passages.Fact: Over 95 percent of people who have asthma also suffer from hay fever.

If the information given as facts above is true, which of the following must also be true?

During the past year, Pro-Tect Insurance Company's total payouts on car-theft claims were larger than the company can afford to sustain. Pro-Tect cannot reduce the number of car-theft policies it carries, so cannot protect itself against continued large payouts that way. Therefore, Pro-Tect has decided to offer a discount to holders of car-theft policies whose cars have antitheft devices. Many policyholders will respond to the discount by installing antitheft devices, since the amount of the discount will within two years typically more than cover the cost of installation. Thus, because cars with antitheft devices are rarely stolen, Pro-Tect's plan is likely to reduce its annual payouts.

In the argument above, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

City Official: At City Hospital, uninsured patients tend to have shorter stays and fewer procedures performed than do insured patients, even though insured patients, on average, have slightly less serious medical problems at the time of admission to the hospital than uninsured patients have. Critics of the hospital have concluded that the uninsured patients are not receiving proper medical care. However, this conclusion is almost certainly false. Careful investigation has recently shown two things: insured patients have much longer stays in the hospital than necessary, and they tend to have more procedures performed than are medically necessary.

In the city official's argument, the two boldface portions play which of the following roles?

Fish currently costs about the same at seafood stores throughout Eastville and its surrounding suburbs. Seafood stores buy fish from the same wholesalers and at the same prices, and other business expenses have also been about the same. But new tax breaks will substantially lower the cost of doing business within the city. Therefore, in the future, profit margins will be higher at seafood stores within the city than at suburban seafood stores.

For the purposes of evaluating the argument, it would be most useful to know whether

In order to combat Carville's rampant homeless problem, Mayor Bloomfield recently proposed a ban on sleeping outdoors in the city's many parks. He claims that such a measure will force the homeless to either leave Carville or to find means other than sleeping in public parks. Which of the following, if true, suggests that Mayor Bloomfield's plan will be successful?

The Yorgorian people, many of whom still live in the jungle in traditional conditions, eat many meats of jungle mammals, resulting in a cuisine that is high in the protein RX7G, much higher than the cuisine of the industrial nation of Transpraxia. Medical research has shown a high correlation between the protein RX7G and coronary heart disease, and yet, the Yorgorian people have a much lower incidence of such disease than found in Transpraxia. Medical researchers have dubbed this the Yorgorian Paradox. Which of the following, if true, helps to explain the Yorgorian Paradox?

Charcoal from a hearth site in Colorado, 2,000 miles south of Alaska, is known to be 11,200 years old. Researchers reasoned that, since glaciers prevented human migration south from the Alaska-Siberia land bridge between 18,000 and 11,000 years ago, humans must have come to the Americas more than 18,000 years ago.

Which of the following pieces of new evidence would cast doubt on the conclusion drawn above?

Unprecedented industrial growth in the country of Remo has created serious environmental problems because factories there lack adequate pollution-control systems. Remo is developing a clean growth plan that includes environmental regulations that will require the installation of such systems. Since no companies in Remo currently produce pollution-control systems, the plan, if implemented, will create significant opportunities for foreign exporters to market pollution-control systems.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

People with a certain eye disorder are virtually unable to see in moderately bright light, which seems to them unbearably intense, since the cells of their retinas are overwhelmed by moderately bright light. These people do, however, show normal sensitivity to most components of dim light. Their retinal cells are also not excessively sensitive to red components of moderately bright light.

The information above best supports which of the following hypotheses about people with the disorder described, if they have no other serious visual problems?

Power Plant Spokesperson: "The water quality of the Phage River as it passes through Praseopolis is below federal standards. The citizens of Praseopolis often blame the poor water quality on our coal-burning power plant, which is upstream from Praseopolis. But Vulcan Refinery, along a tributary of the Phage River even further upstream, releases several toxins into the water. Moreover, over 99% of the toxic materials measured in the Phage River in the vicinity of Praseopolis are consistent with metal refining, but not with the by-products of coal combustion." In the power plant spokesperson's argument, the portion in boldface plays which of the following roles?

Sunflowers growing in pots were placed, with their roots submerged, in the pond contaminated with radioactive elements. The sunflowers kept growing; in the process, they absorbed radioactive elements. Within twelve days, 85 percent of the radioactive elements were removed from the water, which is no less than can be accomplished with the much more expensive conventional filtration techniques. Scientists therefore propose using sunflowers for decontamination wherever there are radioactively contaminated ponds.

Which of the following, if true, points to a limitation on the applicability of the proposed method of decontamination?

In the past, most children who went sledding in the winter snow in Verland used wooden sleds with runners and steering bars. Ten years ago, smooth plastic sleds became popular; they go faster than wooden sleds but are harder to steer and slow. The concern that plastic sleds are more dangerous is clearly borne out by the fact that the number of children injured while sledding was much higher last winter than it was ten years ago.

Which of the following, if true in Verland, most seriously undermines the force of the evidence cited?

SafeZone mosquito repellant has been shown in laboratory settings to be effective for twelve hours against the female anopheles mosquito, the only mosquito that transmits malaria. SafeZone, however, is not effective against mosquitoes that do not transmit malaria. The only instance in which SafeZone does not repel the female anopheles mosquito is when this mosquito can detect any ruptured blood vessels, a state that inevitably results whenever any kind of mosquito bites a person. Therefore, assuming one does not have any ruptured blood vessels on their skin before applying SafeZone, that person will not be able to catch malaria for up to twelve hours.Which of the following, if true, would argue most against the use of SafeZone in areas in which malaria is endemic?