Is gas and oil drilling mostly computerized? 

How much do you know about gas and oil drilling?

From locating new reserves to analyzing crude as it's refined, the oil and gas industry utilizes computer technology at every step of the way. Indeed, as proven reserves have dried up and new sources of oil and gas have become harder to find and exploit, computers have taken an increasingly important role in the industry.

That said, humans continue to be an essential part of the process. Though data may be collected and analyzed by a computer, it is a human, ultimately, that interprets the results and makes a decision to drill or move on. Though computers control the speed, force, and depth of a drill, it is a human that monitors and modifies the variables. And, of course, it is a human that makes the dangerous connections between drill pipes as the well pushes deeper.

Indeed, though computers have made drilling for oil and gas a safer and more efficient process, it remains a handson industry.

(adaptedfrom http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/gas-oildrilling-computerized.htm)

Read text III and answer questions 60 to 70:

Text III

The use of music and songs in the EFL classroom

There are quite a lot of positive sides of learning English via

the medium music. First of all it is a very positive way of

learning English. Music is a part of our everyday life and

especially young people are very familiar with music. If the

5 teacher provides the possibility of a positive access to a new

topic, the kids will learn the new things easier and with more

fun and readiness. I am sure that the one or the other pupil

turns out to be a little “music-expert”. This can strengthen the

self-consciousness of students who are not so good at other

10 areas because now they have the opportunity to show what

they know about a special artist or band. Another pro of

teaching language by using songs and music is that it is

something different for the students – it is an alternation to

the common methods of language learning, because it is not

15 only interested in input. Learning with music speaks more than

other language-learning-methods to the audio-channel of the

learner, which has the positive effect of training listening and

comprehending language which is modified in terms of

intonation, pronunciation and articulation. Music in the

20 classroom can also be arranged in corporation with teachers of

other subjects, so that kids have the opportunity to use and

practise the new knowledge in more than one subject.

Teachers of English could not only work together with teachers

of music, but also with teachers of German, religion, ethics and

25 history. There is a variety of different thematic blocks which

can be taught with the help of songs, for example cultural or

social studies, to name only two areas.

However, using music and songs as a method of language

teaching can also have negative effects. Not every student likes

30 singing, acting or working with music and songs. Some find it

embarrassing and childish, especially older students. If the

majority of a class consists of students who feel like that about

working with music and songs in the classroom, the teacher

should be aware of the problem that it will be hard to motivate

35 the pupils. It can also be that some pupils protest and even

refuse to do several activities given by the teacher. […] Another

problem for teachers is the question of the right choice of

songs. Nowadays the kids are crazy about music which is called

“Death Metal”, “Hip Hop” or “Acid House”. So, many teachers

40 think that it is hard to fill the pupils of today with enthusiasm

by using Oldies.

Despite the fact that there are more positive effects of

learning a second language with songs and music than negative

ones, most teachers look at this method with mixed emotions.

45 Some are of the opinion that this is no real teaching and a

waste of time with some senseless activities. This is not true, of

course. Out of my own pupil-experience I can say that I have

learned quite a lot with the help of songs. I have acquired not

only a plenty of new words and vocabulary, but also several

50 idioms and many ways to express feelings.

(From http://www.grin.com/en/e-book/122444/the-use-of-music-and-songs-in-theefl-classroom)

Leia o texto para responder à questão.

The Research Assignment

  Students today have access to so much information that they need to weigh the reliability of sources. Any resource – print, human, or electronic – used to support your research inquiry has to be evaluated for its credibility and reliability. In other words, you have to exercise some quality control over what you use. When you use the print and multimedia materials found in your college library, your evaluation task is not so complicated because librarians have already established the credibility and appropriateness of those materials for academic research. The marketplace forces publishers to be discriminating as well.

  Data collected in interviews of persons whose reliability is not always clearly established should be carefully screened, especially if you present this material as expert opinion or as based on knowledge of your topic. And you may have even more difficulty establishing trustworthiness for electronic sources, especially Web and Internet sources.

  Because the Internet and World Wide Web are easy to use and accessible, Web material is volatile – it changes, becomes outdated, or is deleted. Its lack of consistency and sometimes crude form make Web information suspect for people who use it for research. Because there is frequently no quality control over Web information, you must critically evaluate all the material you find there, text and graphics alike.

(http://www.umuc.edu/writingcenter/onlineguide/ chapter4-07.cfm-27.10.2013. Adaptado)

Everyone keeps data. Big organizations spend millions to look after their payroll, customer and transaction data. The penalties for getting it wrong are severe: businesses may collapse, shareholders and customers lose money, and for many organizations (airlines, health boards, energy companies), it is not exaggerating to say that even personal safety may be put at risk. And then there are the lawsuits. The problems in successfully designing, installing, and maintaining such large databases are the subject of numerous books on data management and software engineering. However, many small databases are used within large organizations and also for small businesses, clubs, and private concerns. When these go wrong, it doesn't make the front page of the papers; but the costs, often hidden, can be just as serious.

 Where do we find these smaller electronic databases? Sports clubs will have membership information and match results; small businesses might maintain their own customer data. Within large organizations, there will also be a number of small projects to maintain data information that isn't easily or conveniently managed by the large system-wide databases. Researchers may keep their own experiment and survey results; groups will want to manage their own rosters or keep track of equipment; departments may keep their own detailed accounts and submit just a summary to the organization's financial software.

Most of these small databases are set up by end users. These are people whose main job is something other than that of a Computer professional. They will typically be scientists, administrators, technicians, accountants, or teachers, and many will have only modest skills when it comes to spreadsheet or database software. 

The resulting databases often do not live up to expectations. Time and energy is expended to set up a few tables in a database product such as Microsoft Access, or in setting up a spreadsheet in a product such as Excel. Even more time is spent collecting and keying in data. But invariably (often within a short time frame) there is a problem producing what seems to be a quite simple report or query. Often this is because the way the tables have been set up makes the required result very awkward, if not impossible, to achieve. 

A database that does not fulfill expectations becomes a costly exercise in more ways than one. We clearly have the cost of the time and effort expended on setting up an unsatisfactory application. However, a much more serious problem is the unability to make the best use of valuable data. This is especially so for research data. Scientific and social researchers may spend considerable money and many years designing experiments, hiring assistants and collecting and analyzing data, but often very little thought goes into storing it in an appropriately designed database. Unfortunately, some quite simple mistakes in design can mean that much of the potential information is lost. The immediate objective may be satisfied, but unforeseen uses of the data may be seriously compromised. Next year's grant opportunities are lost.