TEXT 2
Innovation is the new key to survival
[…]
At its most basic, innovation presents an optimal strategy for
controlling costs. Companies that have invested in such technologies
as remote mining, autonomous equipment and driverless trucks and
trains have reduced expenses by orders of magnitude, while
simultaneously driving up productivity.
Yet, gazing towards the horizon, it is rapidly becoming clear that
innovation can do much more than reduce capital intensity.
Approached strategically, it also has the power to reduce people and
energy intensity, while increasing mining intensity.
Capturing the learnings
The key is to think of innovation as much more than research and
development (R&D) around particular processes or technologies.
Companies can, in fact, innovate in multiple ways, such as leveraging
supplier knowledge around specific operational challenges,
redefining their participation in the energy value chain or finding new
ways to engage and partner with major stakeholders and
constituencies.
To reap these rewards, however, mining companies must overcome
their traditionally conservative tendencies. In many cases, miners
struggle to adopt technologies proven to work at other mining
companies, let alone those from other industries. As a result,
innovation becomes less of a technology problem and more of an
adoption problem.
By breaking this mindset, mining companies can free themselves to
adapt practical applications that already exist in other industries and
apply them to fit their current needs. For instance, the tunnel boring
machines used by civil engineers to excavate the Chunnel can vastly
reduce miners' reliance on explosives. Until recently, those machines
were too large to apply in a mining setting. Some innovators,
however, are now incorporating the underlying technology to build
smaller machines—effectively adapting mature solutions from other
industries to realize more rapid results.
Re-imagining the future
At the same time, innovation mandates companies to think in
entirely new ways. Traditionally, for instance, miners have focused on
extracting higher grades and achieving faster throughput by
optimizing the pit, schedule, product mix and logistics. A truly
innovative mindset, however, will see them adopt an entirely new
design paradigm that leverages new information, mining and energy
technologies to maximize value. […]
Approached in this way, innovation can drive more than cost
reduction. It can help mining companies mitigate and manage risks,
strengthen business models and foster more effective community
and government relations. It can help mining services companies
enhance their value to the industry by developing new products and
services. Longer-term, it can even position organizations to move the
needle on such endemic issues as corporate social responsibility,
environmental performance and sustainability.
(http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ru/Document
s/energy-resources/ru_er_tracking_the_trends_2015_eng.pdf)
The excerpt “one might argue” (l.2) expresses:
The systems analyst programmer is responsible for the
analysis, design, development and support of custom solutions to
support the judiciary and court staff. The position requires
independent work habits on complex technical programming
assignments and is responsible for independent problem resolution.
General supervision is received from a technical supervisor who
provides guidance in project assignments and reviews work for
achievement of desired results and objectives.
The duties of a systems analyst programmer working in a
court include: meeting with judiciary, court staff and other agencies
to identify business process improvements; gathering project
requirements; assisting users in defining needs; proposing solutions
which will meet the user’s needs; determining the need for new
software, evaluating alternatives, and developing or acquiring
suitable programs; testing, debugging, and implementing these
programs; and maintaining documentation for them.
Internet:
The systems analyst programmer
In the text about IT-managers, the word
“glitches” (R.16) is synonymous with malfunctions.
Judge the next items according to the text presented on cyber-ethics.
Cyber-ethics focuses solely on people’s behavior in professional face-to-face situations.
Based on the text above, judge the following items.
The meaning of the expression “are used to” (L.1) is equivalent to are accustomed to.
Based on the text above, judge the following items.
In the first paragraph, the word “it” (L. 2 and 3) refers to “technology” (R.2) both in “when it comes” (L.2) and in “it is more” (L.3).
Judge the following items concerning the facts and ideas presented
in the text.
The product of an environmental audit is a description of an organisation’s relationship with the environment which should not be taken as definitive and ultimate as the data analysed is particular to a specific point in time.
Judge the following items concerning the facts and ideas presented
in the text.
The work of an environmental auditor is stopping procedures which do not conform to standards and regulations, an aim which he tries to reach by preparing reproachful reports based on facts and data
According to the previous text, judge the following items.
People who regularly travel by air are not surprised by the security procedures.
The world had never witnessed an ebola epidemic of such
magnitude as the one mentioned in the text.
Based on the previous text, judge the following items
The governmental program announced intends to aid impoverished families to have home access to resources which have been available only to affluent ones.
Based on the previous text, judge the following items
The expression “technology-driven society” (R.5) could be correctly replaced by technologically oriented society, in which case the meaning of the text would not be altered.
In the fragment of the text “the efficient allocation of economic
resources is achieved by a financial system that allocates
money to those people and for those purposes that will yield
the greatest return" (lines 19-22), the verb form yield can be
replaced, without change in meaning, by
Consider the sentence: “If I'm
just standing at the corner, I may not even see
the light change" (l.38), and the following
statements:
I.It is an example of the first conditional.
II.The modal verb 'may' expresses possibility.
III.'may' could be replaced by 'will' without
causing any difference in meaning.
Which ones are INCORRECT?
