QUES: Cultures are externally affected via contact between societies, which may also produce—or inhibit—social shifts and changes in cultural practices. War or competition over resources may impact technological development or social dynamics. Additionally, cultural ideas may transfer from one society to another, through diffusion or acculturation. In diffusion, the form of something (though not necessarily its meaning) moves from one culture to another. For example, hamburgers, fast food in the United States, seemed exotic when introduced into China. "Stimulus diffusion" (the sharing of ideas) refers to an element of one culture leading to an invention or propagation in another. "Direct Borrowing" on the other hand tends to refer to technological or tangible diffusion from one culture to another. Diffusion of innovations theory presents a research-based model of why and when individuals and cultures adopt new ideas, practices, and products.
In the example given, what seemed exotic when introduced into China but is common in the United States?

ANS: fast food

QUES: Burke's Reflections sparked a pamphlet war. Thomas Paine penned the Rights of Man in 1791 as a response to Burke; Mary Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Men and James Mackintosh wrote Vindiciae Gallicae. Mackintosh was the first to see the Reflections as "the manifesto of a Counter Revolution". Mackintosh later agreed with Burke's views, remarking in December 1796 after meeting him, that Burke was "minutely and accurately informed, to a wonderful exactness, with respect to every fact relating to the French Revolution". Mackintosh later said: "Burke was one of the first thinkers as well as one of the greatest orators of his time. He is without parallel in any age, excepting perhaps Lord Bacon and Cicero; and his works contain an ampler store of political and moral wisdom than can be found in any other writer whatever".
What did Mackintosh claim he had more of than any other writer?

ANS: unanswerable

QUES: About 20% of pupils at Eton receive financial support, through a range of bursaries and scholarships. The recent Head Master, Tony Little, said that Eton is developing plans to allow any boy to attend the school whatever his parents' income and, in 2011, said that around 250 boys received "significant" financial help from the school. In early 2014, this figure had risen to 263 pupils receiving the equivalent of around 60% of school fee assistance, whilst a further 63 received their education free of charge. Little said that, in the short term, he wanted to ensure that around 320 pupils per year receive bursaries, and that 70 were educated free of charge, with the intention that the number of pupils receiving financial assistance would continue to increase. These comparatively new developments will run alongside long-established courses that Eton has provided for pupils from state schools, most of them in the summer holidays (July and August). Launched in 1982, the Universities Summer School is an intensive residential course open to boys and girls throughout the UK who attend state schools, are at the end of their first year in the Sixth Form, and are about to begin their final year of schooling. The Brent-Eton Summer School, started in 1994, offers 40-50 young people from the London Borough of Brent, an area of inner-city deprivation, an intensive one-week residential course, free of charge, designed to help bridge the gap between GCSE and A-level. In 2008, Eton helped found the Eton, Slough, Windsor and Hounslow Independent and State School Partnership (ISSP), with six local state schools. The ISSP's aims are "to raise pupil achievement, improve pupil self-esteem, raise pupil aspirations and improve professional practice across the schools". Eton also runs a number of choral and English language courses during the summer months.
Who was the Head Master of the Eton, Slough, Windsor and Hounslow Independent and State School Partnership in 2008?

ANS: unanswerable

QUES: Over the course of adolescence, the amount of white matter in the brain increases linearly, while the amount of grey matter in the brain follows an inverted-U pattern. Through a process called synaptic pruning, unnecessary neuronal connections in the brain are eliminated and the amount of grey matter is pared down. However, this does not mean that the brain loses functionality; rather, it becomes more efficient due to increased myelination (insulation of axons) and the reduction of unused pathways.
During which process are unnecessary neuronal connections in the brain eliminated?

ANS:
synaptic pruning