Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• In a move to boost employment in the coastal shipping sector, India has become the first country in the world to issue a Biometric Seafarer Identity Document (BSID) to its seafarers.
• The BSID has the dimensions of a smart ID card. It introduces modern security features like an embedded biometric chip, as well as optical security features such as micro prints/micro texts and Unique Guilloche pattern.
• It is a marked improvement over the two fingers or iris based bio-metric data, with modern security features.

Significance

• The new document will give a foolproof identification to Indian seafarers which will facilitate their movement and help in identifying them from any location in the world.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• Statement 1: On 27^th July, 2019, the Government gave in-principle approval to five year Deep Ocean Mission (DOM), to be launched from October 31, 2019.The mission is on deep-sea mining, ocean climate change advisory services, underwater vehicles and underwater robotics related technologies. A major thrust of the mission will be looking for metals and minerals. Thus, the given statement is incorrect.
• Statement 2: Union Ministry of Earth Sciences will be the implementing agency for DOM.Thus, the given statement is correct.
• Statement 3: India has exclusive rights over 75,000 sq. km and not 85,000 sq km of international waters, allocated by UN’s International Seabed Authority, for exploration of polymetallic nodules. Thus, the given statement is incorrect.
• Statement 4: DOM will be carried out with the help of specially designed submersible (ROSUB 6000). Thus, the given statement is correct.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• Fly ash is a byproduct from burning pulverized coal in electric power generating plants. During combustion, mineral impurities in the coal (clay, feldspar, quartz, and shale) fuse in suspension and float out of the combustion chamber with the exhaust gases. As the fused material rises, it cools and solidifies into spherical glassy particles called fly ash.
• It is considered pozzolanic, which means it’s a siliceous and aluminous material reacts with calcium hydroxide to form a cement.
• There are two common types of fly ash: Class C and Class F.
• Class C ashes are generally derived from sub-bituminous coals and consist primarily of calcium alumino- sulfate glass, as well as quartz, tricalcium aluminate, and free lime(CaO).It is also referred to as high calcium fly ash because it typically contains more than 20 percent CaO.
• Class F ashes are typically derived from bituminous and anthracite coals and consist primarily of an alumino-silicate glass, with quartz, mullite, and magnetite. It is also low calcium fly ash has less than 10 percent CaO.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) have designed an Anti-Microbial Peptide (AMP) that can effectively and quickly kill a multidrug-resistant bacterium called Acinetobacterbaumannii.
• Researchers used a bioinformatics approach to design a new short protein (peptide) called Omega76 that can kill A. baumannii by breaking down its cell membrane.

Acinetobacterbaumannii:

• It is a Gram-negative bacillus that is aerobic, pleomorphic and non-motile.
• It is an opportunistic bacterial pathogen primarily associated with hospital-acquired infections.
• Commonly associated with aquatic environments, it has been shown to colonize the skin as well as being isolated in high numbers from the respiratory and oropharynx secretions of infected individuals.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• On 22^nd July, 2019, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) facility was inaugurated at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad (capital of Telangana). It is the fourth such facility in the country.
• The CCMB can now sequence up to 30 human genomes or 384 diagnostic samples in a day.
• It will help prenatal genetic screening and counseling, thereby generating large scale genomic data critical for diagnosis and therapy. It will also be helpful for diagnostics of patients suffering from rare genetic disorders.
• By using the facility, scientists hope to find genetic cause of rare diseases and develop kits which can be used to find populationat the risk of genetic or other rare diseases. These services would be available to hospitals, industry, and academicians by paying charges.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

Both are types of experimental engine designed for speeds greater than that of sound, in the hypersonic realm. The scramjet is an innovation on the ramjet in which the combustion chamber is specially designed to operate with supersonic airflow. Scramjet is simply an acronym for ‘supersonic combustion’ ramjet.

Explanation :

A bacteriophage is a type of virus that infects bacteria. In fact, the word bacteriophage literally means ‘bacteria eater’, because bacteriophages destroy their host cells.

Explanation :

• A bacteriophage is a type of virus that infects bacteria. In fact, the word "bacteriophage" literally means "bacteria eater," because bacteriophages destroy their host cells.
• All bacteriophages are composed of a nucleic acid molecule that is surrounded by a protein structure.
• New bacteriophages assemble and burst out of the bacterium in a process called lysis.
• Bacteriophages occasionally remove a portion of their host cells' bacterial DNA during the infection process and then transfer this DNA into the genome of new host cells. This process is known as transduction.

Explanation :

Eutrophication is the increase in nutrient supply of the water body, especially in nitrogen & phosphorus, and Algal Boom is the outcome of eutrophication, per say natural eutrophication is not harmful, but cultural eutrophication is. When the process of the eutrophication is done by humans e.g.- excessive use of fertilizers etc. it is called as cultural eutrophication, and in general terms too- eutrophication means cultural eutrophication.

Rain water contains nitrogen and phosphorus; if the air pollution can be reduced, the content of nitrogen and phosphorus in rain water will decrease which will lead to the reduction of eutrophication.

Explanation :

• Eutrophication can occur in both freshwater and saltwater systems.
• Excess phosphorus often causes eutrophication in freshwater, while nitrogen is responsible for the phenomena in saltwater.