The science of color management

[akhpad]

The science of color management developed in response to a very specific need: the successful development of high-volume assembly lines required strict quality control across a number of parameters, including color. Engineers developed measurement devices, such as colorimeters and spectrophotometers, to create profiles of various colors. A profile from a particular machine could then be referenced to a standard color space, or set of definitions for establishing particular colors. In this way, the profile data for a specific color was "standardized" and could be transferred among different color creation and calibration machines, allowing, for example, six automobile assembly lines located in two different states to produce thousands of identically-hued silver sedans over a period of months.
In the 1990's, color management companies began adapting their color measurement expertise to the healthcare field. One company, for example, created a cholesterol test that negated the typical requirements for patients to fast before the test and have blood drawn, making the test much cheaper and easier to administer. Drops of two different liquids, digitonin and an enzyme substrate, are placed sequentially on the patient’s palm. First, the digitonin binds to cholesterol present in the skin; then, the enzyme substrate causes a color-change reaction that is dependent upon the patient’s cholesterol level. The doctor or technician can quantify the precise level by measuring the color change with a spectrophotometer. Such novel applications promise to have as far-reaching an impact on the healthcare industry as the first color measurement products had on early assembly-line businesses nearly a century ago.

The passage is primarily concerned with which of the following?

A: Detailing the analogous application of a technology in two different industries.
B: Debating the historical significance of a particular type of technology.
C: Contrasting two different types of technologies.
D: Explaining the technical aspects of a new technology.
E: Comparing the historical development and success of two different industries.

OA: A
If this is the answer, I have following doubt.
Why those two industries are analogous?
I believe that technical stuff was discussed in both the paragraphs. I selected D but it was explained that D is narrow for primary purpose. Please explain.

[muzumdar.siddharth]

In my understanding of the passage, the first paragraph deals exclusively with the science of color management in the development of assembly lines. The entire paragraph is dedicated to the technical details about this.

The second paragraph still continues to talk about the same technique but discusses the use of the technique to another domain/industry - the healthcare domain. The rest of the second paragraph is again devoted to the technical details.

As a whole, the two paragraphs discuss about the color management technology and its applications to the two different industries - assembly lines in paragraph one and healthcare field in paragraph two.

Why those two industries are analogous?
I believe that technical stuff was discussed in both the paragraphs. I selected D but it was explained that D is narrow for primary purpose. Please explain.

The two industries are not analogous. The application of the color management technique to the two different industries is analogous. Option D has a flaw in saying that color management technology is a new one. The passage, in the last line, provides evidence that the technology has existed even a century ago. Hence, color management is not a new technology.
Moreover, the passage does not really focus just on the technical aspects of the technology. It goes a little boyond that to explain how the technology is used across two different industries.

Hope this helps...

--Siddharth

[jnelson0612]

Excellent explanation! Thanks siddharth. :-)