As weather volatility and electrification strain U.S. power networks, utilities are testing artificial intelligence to anticipate failures and optimize dispatch. In a Midwestern pilot covering 1.2 million customers, predictive models cut outage minutes by 18% and reduced balancing costs 12% within a year. According to a senior engineer at an independent system operator, anomaly-detection algorithms can flag stressed transformers hours before human monitors would notice, enabling targeted crews and fewer cascading faults. Case studies echo the gains: in a coastal city, machine learning sequenced battery storage during a heat wave, shaving peak demand by 3% and preventing rolling outages while prioritizing lower-emission plants. The logic is straightforward: if software can forecast where equipment and demand are most fragile, scarce maintenance dollars and cleaner resources can be deployed first, improving both reliability and air quality. Yet experts stress guardrails—cybersecurity, high-quality data, and human oversight—because models trained on yesterday's weather and fuel prices can still misfire. Early evidence suggests that AI is not a magic fix but, when paired with prudent investments and transparent governance, a practical lever to stabilize the grid and lower emissions without building capacity that sits idle most of the year.

Which statement best expresses the controlling idea of the passage?

Texas's Gulf Coast faces chronic shoreline erosion that threatens neighborhoods, ports, and marshes that buffer storms. Some reaches lose more than six feet per year, and billions in property and habitat are at risk. A coastal engineer at a Texas research university notes that "living shorelines"—oyster reef sills and marsh plantings—can cut wave energy by roughly half within five years while building habitat. A Galveston Bay neighborhood that paired reef sills with marsh terraces and elevated critical roadways reported 30% lower life-cycle costs and faster habitat recovery than a nearby seawall segment. Logical tradeoffs matter: hard walls can reduce erosion directly in front but often accelerate scouring next door, shifting—rather than solving—risk. While some homeowners prefer bulkheads because they "feel safer," long-term studies show that mixed strategies—engineered dunes where space allows, living shorelines on gentle banks, targeted elevation for infrastructure, and managed retreat in repetitive-loss zones—perform better across storm scenarios. The evidence supports a portfolio approach: no single method best protects every reach, but combining nature-based systems with smart engineering and selective buyouts can safeguard Texas communities while preserving the coastal ecosystems that make future protection cheaper and more durable.

Which evidence from the passage most effectively supports the author's argument that a portfolio approach outperforms one-size-fits-all seawalls on the Texas coast?

Improving bachelor's degree attainment among community-college transfers depends less on a single program than on coordinated reforms that reduce credit loss. In states that adopted common course numbering and clear "2+2" pathways, the share of transfer students completing a bachelor's rose from 42% to 48% over six years. A higher-education economist argues that lost credits are "lost time and lost aid eligibility," prolonging degrees and exhausting grants. In one multi-campus metro, aligning gateway math, co-advising across institutions, and data-sharing on course equivalencies increased the percentage of credits that applied to major requirements from 62% to 78%, while median time-to-degree fell by a semester. Logical reasoning links these results: when students know which courses count before they enroll—and advisors see real-time applicability—fewer credits go unused, schedules are more efficient, and momentum builds. Scholarships and online options help, but without curricular alignment and joint advising, students often accumulate excess electives that do not advance them. Case studies suggest the largest gains occur when universities and colleges jointly own the maps, update them annually with faculty input, and make transferability rules transparent in degree planners students actually use.

Which statement best identifies the controlling idea of the passage?

Texas is courting semiconductor manufacturing, but public returns depend on how incentives shape company behavior. One advanced fabrication facility can use several million gallons of water per day; with aggressive on-site recycling, plants have cut freshwater intake by more than 60% during droughts. A public policy scholar at a Texas university argues that subsidies deliver the strongest return when they tie dollars to workforce pipelines and water resilience metrics, not just groundbreaking ceremonies. A Central Texas chip facility piloted a closed-loop reclaim system that achieved roughly 75% reuse and partnered with a regional community college to place 400 technicians with 85% one-year retention. The logic is alignment: if incentives reward verifiable training outcomes and drought-proof operations—through transparent reporting and clawbacks—Texas captures durable jobs while safeguarding aquifers and rivers. Case studies show that generic tax abatements often miss these targets, whereas performance-based agreements drive measurable apprenticeship seats, local supplier growth, and water-use intensity cuts. The state's choice is not whether to compete, but how—by attaching clear conditions that convert short-term subsidies into long-term economic and environmental gains.

Which statement best captures the passage's controlling idea about Texas's semiconductor incentives?

Cities across the Sun Belt are learning that no single tactic can meaningfully cool neighborhoods during extreme heat; instead, blended strategies that pair reflective materials with strategically expanded tree canopy produce the most reliable cooling while reducing energy and health burdens. Measurements show that cool pavements can drop surface temperatures by 10–15 degrees, yet they typically trim neighborhood air temperatures by only 0.5–1.5 degrees. By contrast, a 10% increase in canopy often lowers afternoon air temperatures by 2–4 degrees, but benefits cluster where trees are planted and take years to mature. A Dallas pilot combined cool roofs, high-albedo alleys, and targeted street trees in heat-vulnerable census tracts; peak afternoon electricity demand fell by about 4%, and heat-related emergency visits declined by 8% compared with similar areas. A building physicist noted that reflective surfaces keep structures from absorbing heat while trees shade people and slow hot air over sidewalks, producing compounding effects. Because low-income blocks tend to have both the least canopy and the oldest, least insulated housing, the most effective programs sequence quick-win retrofits with long-term greening. The evidence points to portfolios calibrated to microclimates and equity, not one-size-fits-all fixes.

Which statement best expresses the passage's controlling idea?

Texas water planners confront a familiar dilemma: securing new supply without overinvesting in any one bet. Evidence suggests that a diversified portfolio—aquifer storage and recovery (ASR), brackish groundwater desalination, and demand management—delivers more resilient and cost-stable outcomes than single-source expansion. Cost curves illustrate why. Recent ASR projects store surplus river or treated water underground for later withdrawal at roughly $400–$900 per acre-foot, depending on geology and energy prices. Brackish desal, drawing from inland aquifers, typically ranges from $700–$1,200 per acre-foot, but is drought-proof. Large pipelines that move distant surface water can exceed $2,000 per acre-foot once financing and losses are counted. In 2011, San Antonio's ASR buffered a severe drought by shifting the city off stressed springs and wells; utility records show the city met demand while shortening mandatory restrictions and avoiding emergency purchases. A river authority engineer argues that supplies with different hydrologic risks reduce the chance that everything fails at once—like diversifying a portfolio. Critics note governance complexity, but case studies indicate that integrated operations software now coordinates ASR releases with desal plant run times. With rapid growth and hotter summers, the most durable value appears when Texas agencies blend complementary sources rather than chase a single silver bullet.

Which evidence most effectively supports the passage's central argument that a diversified water-supply portfolio is more resilient and cost-stable than a single-source expansion in Texas?

Across clinical trials and hospital pilots, human–AI teams in medical imaging consistently outperform either partner alone, but only when workflows and governance are redesigned to capitalize on complementary strengths. A meta-analysis of 12 studies reported a 17% reduction in missed findings when radiologists reviewed algorithm-flagged images, while stand-alone models increased false positives. At a regional hospital, integrating an FDA-cleared tool for chest X-rays cut median turnaround time by 23% as residents triaged urgent cases first, yet attending physicians made final calls; complication rates for missed pneumonias fell. A radiology chair explains the mechanism: algorithms excel at scanning thousands of pixels quickly, but humans contextualize rare presentations and patient history. Policy guidance now recommends audit trails, bias monitoring, and override protocols so clinicians can challenge algorithmic suggestions. Logical tradeoffs remain—alerts can contribute to alarm fatigue, and without calibration, throughput gains may erode accuracy. Still, case reports show that structured checklists, confidence scores, and target training sessions align human attention with model strengths. The accumulating evidence suggests that hybrid diagnostic systems, not automation or human-only reading, yield the best outcomes when paired with accountable oversight and deliberate workflow design.

Which statement best captures the controlling idea of the passage?

Cost–benefit analyses increasingly show that restoring coastal wetlands provides measurable risk reduction and long-term savings compared with building gray infrastructure alone. Field studies estimate that under some storm conditions, intact marshes attenuate storm surge by roughly a foot over 2–3 miles, lowering peak water levels that drive damage. In a Gulf Coast county, a restoration project that rebuilt 1,500 acres of marsh and oyster reefs reduced insured losses during a Category 2 storm, according to claims data, while maintenance costs remained modest because living shorelines self-repair. A coastal engineer notes that vegetated systems also trap sediment, raising land as seas rise, whereas seawalls can reflect energy and fail catastrophically. Lifecycle accounting underscores the logic: nature-based projects may cost less to build and avoid the escalating maintenance of pumps and levees; they also generate co-benefits—fisheries habitat and recreation—that factor into benefit–cost ratios exceeding 3:1 in several studies. Gray barriers remain essential for dense cores, but the evidence indicates that pairing them with upstream natural buffers cuts residual risk and stretches public dollars over decades.

Which piece of evidence most strongly supports the thesis that natural infrastructure provides quantifiable risk reduction and long-term savings compared with gray-only solutions?

Cities across the U.S. are testing layered strategies to blunt rising urban heat. Recent meta-analyses report that combining reflective roofing with targeted tree canopy can lower afternoon street-level temperatures by 1.8–3.2 degrees, a range large enough to reduce peak electricity demand by several percent. A climatologist at a national lab argues that scale matters: isolated installations create "cool islands," but neighborhood-scale networks shift radiant balances and nighttime heat release. Phoenix's "Cool Corridors" pilot illustrates the principle. By clustering retrofits along bus routes and around schools, the city documented fewer heat-related ambulance calls than in demographically similar control tracts over two summers. Economists add a cost dimension: when cooling interventions are sequenced with routine roof replacements and street resurfacing, maintenance budgets absorb much of the expense, producing payback within seven years. The most persuasive logic is cumulative: technologies that separately deliver modest benefits interact, through albedo and evapotranspiration, to produce compounding public-health and grid advantages. While no single measure is decisive, evidence indicates that integrated design—planned at the block and service-corridor scale—outperforms scattershot incentives. The controlling policy insight is therefore not about equipment, but about orchestration: invest where co-location creates durable, equitable cooling and track results with transparent, neighborhood-level metrics annually.

Which statement best expresses the passage's controlling idea?

Amid longer dry spells, Texas water planners are turning to aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) to stabilize municipal supplies. State data show that a five percent shift of excess winter flows into suitable aquifers could buffer summer demand for more than three million residents—without building new surface reservoirs. A hydrogeologist advising the Edwards Aquifer Authority cautions that siting is decisive: clay-bound formations squander injected water, while karst zones require rigorous monitoring to prevent mobilizing legacy contaminants. San Antonio's ASR complex offers a case study. During wet years, the city banks treated river water underground, then withdraws it during drought, reducing pumping stress on spring-fed ecosystems and avoiding expensive emergency purchases. Economists calculate that when ASR is paired with tiered conservation pricing, peak-period imports fall enough to defer pipeline expansions by a decade. The policy logic is layered: ASR is not a substitute for conservation or river-basin compacts; it is an amplifier that turns intermittent water into reliable supply while protecting environmental flows. The controlling argument is that Texas should prioritize region-specific ASR portfolios—governed by strict water-quality standards and transparent accounting—because a diversified storage strategy lowers long-run costs and ecological risk more effectively than single-source dependence, especially under accelerating climate variability.

Which evidence most effectively supports the author's argument that Texas should prioritize region-specific ASR portfolios to reduce long-run costs and risks?