Chapter 5 - ACC 270

Which of the following statements regarding the current electronic waste scenario is true? A. Electronic waste increases with the rise of living standards worldwide. B. E-waste trade is mostly transparent, and stringent guidelines ensure that all e-waste is accounted for. C. The content of gold in a pound of electronic waste is lesser than that in a pound of mined ore. D. The process of separating densely packed materials inside tech products to effectively harvest the value in e-waste is skill intensive. E. Sending e-waste abroad can be much more expensive than dealing with it at home.

A. Electronic waste increases with the rise of living standards worldwide.

Electronic waste is valuable because it contains small bits of metals such as silver, platinum, and gold. A. True B. False

A. True

Modern supercomputing is typically done via a technique called massively parallel processing. A. True B. False

A. True

Moore's Law has impacted the camera industry such that the firms that sell the most cameras aren't camera companies, but phone manufacturers. A. True B. False

A. True

Grid computing is a type of computing in which: A. special software is installed on several computers enabling them to work together on a common problem. B. computer software seeks to reproduce or mimic human thought, decision making, or brain functions. C. microprocessors with two or more (typically lower power) calculating processor cores are fabricated on the same piece of silicon to solve multiple problems. D. computers are designed with many microprocessors that work together, simultaneously, to solve problems. E. quantum properties, such as superposition and entanglement, are used to represent data and perform operations on these data.

A. special software is installed on several computers enabling them to work together on a common problem.

Flash memory is slower (meaning it transfers data at a slower rate) than conventional disk-based hard drives. A. True B. False

B. False

Grid computing, though faster and more efficient, is an expensive alternative to supercomputers. A. True B. False

B. False

The shrinking of the pathways inside silicon chips that enables Moore's Law, is an indefinite process. A. True B. False

B. False

Moore's Law states that: A. the cost per unit of useful light emitted by an LED falls by a factor of 10 every decade. B. chip performance per dollar doubles every eighteen months. C. magnetic disk storage density doubles annually. D. the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system. E. the cost of a semiconductor chip fabrication plant is cut in half every four years.

B. chip performance per dollar doubles every eighteen months.

One of the implications of price elasticity of technology products is that: A. the magnetic disk areal storage density doubles annually. B. customers not only buy more products as they become cheaper, but whole new markets employing new technology open up. C. the value of chips in semiconductor-based devices appreciates every six months. D. firms stock up on tech products and sell them once their prices increase. E. the cost of a semiconductor chip fabrication plant doubles every four years.

B. customers not only buy more products as they become cheaper, but whole new markets employing new technology open up.

Price elasticity refers to the: A. range of production costs that change as a direct function of the availability of raw materials. B. rate at which demand for a product or service fluctuates with price change. C. numerical measure of the responsiveness of the supply of a product to a change in its production cost. D. change in the demand for a good in response to a change in income. E. rate at which product prices vary in response to changes in customer demand.

B. rate at which demand for a product or service fluctuates with price change.

Multicore processors are formed by: A. connecting a series of high powered processors through a single power source. B. connecting identical processors in a parallel combination and drawing power from the same source. C. putting two or more lower power processor cores on a single chip. D. connecting a combination of parallel and series-connected processors to a single larger processor to supplement its functioning. E. slicing a flat chip into pieces and reconnecting the pieces vertically.

C. putting two or more lower power processor cores on a single chip.

If electronics now travel half the distance to make a calculation, that means the chip is ____. A. easier to keep cool B. all of the above C. twice as fast D. half as big E. very expensive

C. twice as fast

Which of the following is not true about the development of MyMagic+? A. It is estimated that Disney spent over $1 billion on these systems B. The firm had the backing of executive leadership who also provided resources to support the complex and expensive project C. Many disparate teams were impacted by the project, presenting political challenges in a project so large D. Contrary to what one would expect from Moore's Law, the cost of the MagicBands themselves actually rose past original per-unit estimates

D. Contrary to what one would expect from Moore's Law, the cost of the MagicBands themselves actually rose past original per-unit estimates

_____ is a technique in which computers are designed with many microprocessors that work together, simultaneously, to solve problems. A. Cloud computing B. Quantum computing C. Grid computing D. Massively parallel processing E. Nanocomputing

D. Massively parallel processing

Which of the following statements is a valid reason for chip manufacturers to carry minimal inventory? A. Rising transportation costs greatly increase the costs of manufacturing and make moving inventory between locations highly expensive. B. Chip manufacturers leverage the higher costs of chip-based products to their advantage by keeping supply low compared to demand. C. Chip manufacturers maintain low inventories to hedge the move of semiconductor technology away from silicon-based chips. D. Products with a significant chip-based component rapidly fall in value and can cause huge losses when overproduced. E. The potential physical and electronic damage to silicon chips if left unused for extended periods of time deters manufacturers from maintaining higher inventories.

D. Products with a significant chip-based component rapidly fall in value and can cause huge losses when overproduced.

1 _____ = 1 billion bytes A. megabyte B. terabyte C. zettabyte D. gigabyte E. petabyte

D. gigabyte

Which of the following is an example of volatile memory? A. Nanodrive B. Read-only memory C. Optical disk drive D. Flash memory E. Random-access memory

E. Random-access memory

Which of the following factors is responsible for enabling the advance of Moore's Law? A. With the exponential growth in information technology-enabled businesses, the demand for computers makes Moore's Law possible. B. The availability of better cooling technologies ensures chips can continue growing smaller and more power efficient. C. Constant interaction among three forces—size, heat, and power—makes Moore's Law practical and ensures that it will endure for decades to come. D. Silicon is commonly available in the form of sand or silicon dioxide, which helps keep the costs of chip production low. E. The distance between pathways inside silicon chips gets smaller with each successive generation.

E. The distance between pathways inside silicon chips gets smaller with each successive generation.

The third wave of computing was characterized by the introduction of _____. A. minicomputers B. Internet computing C. laptops D. mainframe computers E. personal computers

E. personal computers