Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Sep 30, 2016

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
Indian Army conducted surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the Line of Control. DGMO Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh said the motive of the operation was to hit out at terrorists planning to infiltrate into the Indian territory.

• Lt Gen Singh informed that considerable casualties were caused by terrorists during the operation
• There have been many infiltration bids by terrorists at LoC reflected by terror attacks at Uri and Poonch on 11th and 18th Sept
• DGMO spoke of how nothing was done despite Pakistan being told not to use its territory for terror activities
• Pakistan gave the commitment to India that in 2004, it will not allow its soil to be a ground for terror activities
• Close to 20 infiltration attempts have been successfully foiled by the Indian Army in 2016
• India offered consular access to apprehend terrorists from Pakistan and fingerprints and DNA samples of terrorists killed in Uri and Poonch can also be made available to the neighbouring country
• Lieutenant General Singh shared India’s concerns and told the Pakistani counterpart about the surgical strikes
• Pakistan has responded to the government statement that “no such strike” was carried out and only “unprovoked firing” was carried out in certain districts “Bhimber, Hotspring, Kel and Lipa sectors which started at 0230 and continued till 0800,” the Pakistani military spokesperson claimed
• Pulling out of the SAARC summit in Islamabad, Indian government will now go ahead with SAARC minus Pakistan
• Indian pulled out with Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan also lending support by doing so
• Pointing to motor vehicle movement agreements, railway linkages and the SAARC satellite program for which SAARC countries apart from Pakistan had signed up, India said it will work with those who share its vision
• Afghanistan cannot be accessed by land so the two governments have discussed separate air corridor for cargo
• India will be holding the BIMSTEC outreach summit on the sidelines of the BRICS Goa Summit which is an initiative for Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal
• Another grouping of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives met for the South Asia Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation programme in Delhi to release the first SASEC Operational Plan 2016-2025
• SASEC’s lead financier, Asian Development Bank has approved 40 infrastructure and IT projects worth USD 7.7 billion
• India has been busy with the SAARC minus Pak Programme with Nepal PM Prachanda and Afghani president Ashraf Ghani having visited India in Sept
• Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is expected to be in Delhi during the first week of October
• Push for South Asian isolation of Pakistan is driven by the fact that it has received nothing but terrorists and aggression from the Islamic nation
• Pakistan continues to receive support from non-SAARC nations like China, Russia, and Iran
• The US which has joined countries to condemn the terror attack in Uri also issued statements to resume dialogue (with remote outcomes of the same seeming more likely)

ANSWER: Nano

Explanation:
Injecting nanoparticles into a joint immediately after an injury may suppress inflammation, reduce the destruction of the cartilage and lower the risks associated with osteoarthritis, according to scientists.
Considering that there’s really no treatment and even when we inject steroids into the arthritic joint, the drug only remains for up to a few hours and then it’s cleared, this is a massive advancement

• Nanoparticles remain in the joint longer
• They also help prevent cartilage degeneration
• Osteoarthritic patients also suffer early injuries such as torn meniscus or anterior cruciate ligament injury
• Drugs such as ibuprofen are taken and the pain gets worse, as injections of steroids provide pain relief, but effects are short lived
• Nanoparticles were injected shortly after the injury and within 24 hours, nanoparticles were at work taming inflammation in the joint
• Unlike steroids which quickly clear, the nanoparticles remain in cartilage cells in joints for weeks
• Nanoparticles are 10 times smaller than RBC which helps them to penetrate deeply into tissues.
• Particles carry a peptide derived from natural protein melittin modified to enable it to bind a molecule called small interfering RNA (siRNA).
• siRNA then gets delivered by the melittin into the damaged joint, interfering with cell inflammation
• Nanoparticles were injected directly into the joint, and due to their size, they easily penetrate into the cartilage to enter injured cells
• Nanoparticles have previously been delivered through the bloodstream and inhibit inflammation in the model of rheumatoid arthritis
• In this study, they were locally injected into the joint and given the chance to penetrate the injured cartilage
• Nanoparticles, if given soon after joint injuries occur, could help maintain cartilage viability and prevent progression to osteoarthritis.
• Inflammatory molecule targeted not only causes problems after an injury, but it is also responsible for inflammation in advanced cases of osteoarthritis

ANSWER: App store

Explanation:
First announced at Apple’s Worldwide Development Conference before being rolled out for beta testing, ads are coming to the Apple App Store from October 5

• Called Search Ads, these adverts work when the keyword is searched in the App Store search bar
• Depending on what you have searched for, ads for relevant apps appear on top of the search results
• As per Apple, over 65 percent of app downloads via the App store come from search results, so spending money to put your app on the top can be a money maker
• Setting up a search ad can be done in a few steps
• Developers retain complete control over how much money they wish to put behind the ad, the nature of the audience they are targeting and the insight into the numbers coming from placing the ad
• Small independent developers can now get their ad noticed by potential customers
• To ensure level playing field, those with larger marketing budgets cannot abuse the ad by targeting popular terms with app ads irrelevant to the user’s search.
• Relevance algorithm is being implemented for the sake of app store customers who won’t have to scroll down to see ads they actually asked for
• Apple has also put a content policy list advertisers must comply with before their app is featured
• Apple is allowing developers to set up their campaigns from now.
• US developers are being offered USD 100 credit towards their first use of the service

ANSWER: Panasonic

Explanation:
A flexible gadget is not simply a matter of creating a malleable screen- one also has to think of internals and cram in processors and batteries

• Panasonic has taken toe step for a wearable that bends by perfecting a flexible lithium-ion battery
• Building upon the chemical properties of lithium ion batteries that are already there in the gadget, Panasonic cells can be twisted, bent and folded without losing their charge while remaining safe
• The new Panasonic battery is durable too and it maintains 99 percent of its charge after 100 flex through a 25mm radium
• Making use of proprietary laminating which helps to retain the juice each cell can hold onto while preventing leakage makes this a unique battery
• Panasonic envisions that tiny cells can be placed inside wearables kept close to the body and skin of the user

ANSWER: Epilepsy

Explanation:
Epilepsy seizures are difficult to predict in advance so they are hard to diagnose.

• But now a group of French startups Dataiku and Bioserenity have created a wearable device to monitor patients at home in real time
• System is called neuronate
• It combines smart clothing equipped with biometric sensors, a mobile app that processes the data and a cloud platform called Medata, lab for analysing the data and sharing it with doctors.
• It also permits regular EEG recording providing neurologists with a chance to see what is happening in the brain of the patient
• Wearing a device like this generates a lot of data specifically 126 million measurements per hour resulting gigabyte of data for every device
• The cloud platform it runs on can cope with 10,000 of the devices running simultaneously up to 10 trillion daily measurements

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Infosys on 28th Sept 2016 launched the Skava Commerce e-commerce platform

• It delivers engaging omnichannel experiences and provides a modern, mobile-first user technology
• Skava is a silicon valley based e-commerce startup acquired by Infosys
• The platform can bring brick and mortar retailers to launch new offerings, improve conversion rates and make large investments upfront
• It can integrate with existing technologies while providing a future-ready architecture that will enable next generation shopping experience leveraging AI and machine learning
• It also includes a responsive web store and native mobile shopping applications that can be managed by non-technical business users through web-based experience management tool SkavaSTUDIO
• For retailers creating their own platform, Skava has offered a source code license of its platform with the aim to accelerate retailer’s journey having full ownership through the source code license

ANSWER: Gold

Explanation:
Indian women’s Kabbadi team on 28th Sept 2016 bagged a gold medal at the 5th Asian Beach Games.

• In the summit clash played at Danang in Vietnam, the team defeated Thailand 41-31
• This was the fifth gold in succession for the Indian team
• The team has been giving stellar performance and winning a gold medal since the biennial games were first held in 2008
• This also marks the fifth time in the row that India won over Thailand in the final
• Indian men’s beach kabaddi team won silver losing to Pakistan 28-30
• The Indian team has won gold in men’s cabbed in 2008 and 2010
• In Kurash, a form of wrestling originated in Uzbekistan, Amisha Tokas won silver in women’s 70kg category after losing to Nguyen Thi Lan of Vietnam in the final
• In beach bodybuilding, Manoj Kumar Majumdar won a bronze in up to 158cm category
• India has won a total of 6 medals- one gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze, making it 15th in the medals tally headed by Vietnam (25 gold medals, 22 silver and 27 bronze).

ANSWER: Facebook, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft

Explanation:
In a major boost for AI research, five top notch companies- Facebook, Google, Amazon, IBM and Microsoft joined hands to take part in a historic partnership on AI and machine learning.

• Companies will discuss advancements and conduct research in AI
• They develop best products and services powered by machine learning
• Initial financial help will come from these companies as other stakeholders join the group, heralding an increase in finances
• People impacted by AI will be involved as well
• As per the report, the organisational structure has been designed to permit non-corporate groups to have equal leadership side by side with massive tech companies
• Power of AI is in enterprise sector
• AI powered bots will become the next interface, shaping interactions with applications and devices relying on latest solutions of Microsoft and change the way interaction with customers and partners takes place
• AI powered chattiest will change how computing is experienced

ANSWER: Milk

Explanation:
Detecting melamine in milk has become easy and cost efficient thanks to a handheld melamine detector developed by researchers at IISc Bangalore.

• Leaf extract of the weed parthenium along with silver nitrate is used for diagnosing the presence of melamine in milk
• Through change in colour, presence of melamine in milk can be detected at room temperature within a few seconds
• Sensor has sensitivity in detecting melamine to the extent of 0.5 ppm in raw milk
• Melamine content of 1 ppm/more in infant formula and more than 2.5 ppm in other milk products means it is adulterer
• Due to the presence of nitrogen, adding melamine to milk makes it look protein-rich.
• Prior to melamine detection, the milk undergoes processing to remove fat and proteins as they tend to interfere with detection.
• IISc team added silver nitrate and the leaf extract in a particular ratio and at a particular pH to the preprocessed milk to synthesise silver nanoparticles.
• The silver nanoparticles are reddish-yellow in the absence of melamine; they become nearly colourless when melamine is present.
• Light absorption at 414 nm wavelength is a signature of silver nanoparticles.
• When melamine is present, then the absorption of light is reduced as nanoparticle formation decreases.

ANSWER: Uperodon taprobanicus

Explanation:
A painted frog Uperodon taprobanicus has been found in Bejjur forest in Adilabad, Telangana.
The forest is a biodiversity haven which also houses the endangered Indian vulture Gyps indicus that lives in Bejjur forest in Adilabad, Telangana.

• The 253 sq km thickly forested area on the banks of Pranahita river in the eastern region of this district is also home to Uperodon taprobanicus
• This marks the first time the amphibian has been discovered in this region
• This species is commonly found in a region from Sri Lanka to Bengal
• The frog is generally found in tree holes, burrows, pollution-free wetland, and riverine areas, records of its distribution say.
• This particular animal is listed among species of ‘least concern’ by IUCN/International Union for Conservation of Nature.
• Bejjur reserve forest on the Pranahita basin is home to a host of species of flora and fauna including 50 types of trees
• The trees found include the Narepa Chettu, Hardwickia binata, the insectivorous Drosera burmannii, and the unique teak, Tectona grandis.
• A rare hyena and the leopard and tiger species have been spotted here
• This area is also home to 16 species of birds of prey and 50 other avian species
• It has 15 reptiles and 10 species of amphibians