IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - Apr 12, 2016

ANSWER: A Room

Explanation:

• For the first time, the International Space Station (ISS) will be equipped with an expandable habitable structure that has the potential to revolutionise work on the orbital laboratory.
• SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, launched on a Falcon 9 rocket, is delivering the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), to the ISS.
• BEAM will arrive in Dragon’s unpressurised trunk and, after about five days, will be removed and attached to the station. Expansion is targeted for the end of May. The module will expand to roughly 10 feet in diameter.
• It will provide 565 cubic ft of volume where a crew member will enter the module three to four times a year to retrieve sensor data and assess conditions.
• Expandable habitats are designed to take up less room on a rocket, but provide greater volume once expanded.
• This first in situ test of the module will allow researchers to gauge how well the habitat protects against solar radiation, space debris and contamination.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• India and Maldives signed 6 agreements in fields of taxation, tourism, space research, defense and conservation.

ANSWER: Ki67

Explanation:

• Researchers found that the women were five times as likely to develop cancer if they had a higher percentage of Ki67, a molecular marker that identifies proliferating cells, in the cells that line the mammary ducts and milk-producing lobules.
• These cells, called the mammary epithelium, undergo drastic changes throughout a woman's life, and the majority of breast cancers originate in these tissues.
• The study builds on previous research finding that women already identified as having a high risk of developing cancer namely those with the BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, or women who did not give birth in before their 30s - had a higher number of mammary gland progenitor cells.
• Doctors already test breast tumours for Ki67 levels, which can inform decisions about treatment, but this is the first time scientists have been able to link Ki67 to precancerous tissue and use it as a predictive tool.
• Instead of only telling women that they do not have cancer, hospitals could test the biopsies and tell women if they were at high risk or low risk for developing breast cancer in the future.

ANSWER: 13%

Explanation:

• 13% forest area is comprised of bamboo.
• Government has initiated National Bamboo Mission to make an expeditious development of bamboo sector in India.
• More than 137 species of bamboo is grown in the country which are used for 1500 diversified utilities.

ANSWER: Graphene

Explanation:

• Solar cells could generate electricity even during rains by making use of the 'wonder material' graphene.
• Chinese researchers have now introduced a new approach for making an all-weather solar cell that is triggered by both sunlight and raindrops.
• In order to allow rain to produce electricity as well, they coated this cell with a very thin film of graphene. Graphene is a two-dimensional form of carbon in which the atoms are bonded into a honeycomb arrangement.
• It can readily be prepared by the oxidation, exfoliation and subsequent reduction of graphite. Graphene is characterised by its unusual electronic properties: It conducts electricity and is rich in electrons that can move freely across the entire layer.

ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• Graphene is a two-dimensional form of carbon in which the atoms are bonded into a honeycomb arrangement.
• It can readily be prepared by the oxidation, exfoliation and subsequent reduction of graphite.
• Graphene is characterised by its unusual electronic properties: It conducts electricity and is rich in electrons that can move freely across the entire layer.
• In aqueous solution, graphene can bind positively charged ions with its electrons. This property is used in graphene-based processes to remove lead ions and organic dyes from solutions.
• This phenomenon inspired researchers to use graphene electrodes to obtain power from the impact of raindrops.
• Raindrops are not pure water. They contain salts that dissociate into positive and negative ions. The positively charged ions, including sodium, calcium and ammonium ions, can bind to the graphene surface.
• At the point of contact between the raindrop and the graphene, the water becomes enriched in positive ions and the graphene becomes enriched in delocalised electrons.
• This results in a double-layer made of electrons and positively charged ions, a feature known as a pseudocapacitor. The difference in potential associated with this phenomenon is sufficient to produce a voltage and current.

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:

• In UPI, money transfer is possible in both send mode and collect mode.
• The present system of mobile payments offers only send mode. You can send money. But, one cannot pull the money from another account.
• Of course, approval from the person whose account will be debited, will be required to complete the transaction.
• A merchant or an individual can send a request to the UPI user for money which will be transferred after the user’s approval.
• The difference with the present system is that, the person who is sending is not initiating the action.
• There is a limit of Rs.1 lakh per transaction through the UPI platform.
• One need not give a bank account number or any code to do a transaction. “Only using the virtual address of UPI, one can send money or allow someone to pull money

ANSWER: Bank Account

Explanation:

• Now, you can have only one wallet, which is essentially your bank account, from where all payments could be made for any transactions.
• Also, one does not need to add any beneficiary account, unlike while transferring money through Internet banking.
• One need not give a bank account number or any code to do a transaction. Only using the virtual address of UPI, one can send money or allow someone to pull money.
• The individual can either choose a static pin or a one time password to carry out transactions.
• But the real game changer is that this would end the need to have different wallets for different e-commerce sites. Complete interoperability is what the UPI platform aims to achieve.

ANSWER: Antibiotic resistance

Explanation:

• The ‘Chennai Declaration’ created awareness among the medical fraternity about the need to control antibiotic usage.
• A Roadmap to Tackle the Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance – Joint meeting of Medical Societies in India, 2012, was the first ever meeting of medical societies in the country on the AMR issue.
• The aim was to formulate implementable recommendations to tackle antimicrobial resistance in India. The Road map meeting led to creation of the document -“The Chennai declaration”.
• The declaration is based on the theme of “a practical but not a perfect policy” and step-by-step implementation of various components in a developing country.
• Some major recommendations made in the Declaration include -

1. Formulation of an effective national policy to control the rising trend of antimicrobial resistance,
2. A ban on the over-the-counter sale of antibiotics, and
3. Changes in the medical education curriculum to include training on antibiotic usage and infection control.
4. Setting up of a National Task Force to guide and supervise the regional and State infection control committees.

ANSWER: Transplanting organs between members of different species

Explanation:

• The process of grafting or transplanting organs between members of different species.
• A promising experiment conducted at National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. has housed baboons with pig hearts beating in their abdomens for the last 10 years.
• The experiment, researchers hope, will help develop pig organs safe for transplant into people, addressing the human organs shortage.
• The results come as an encouraging piece of evidence for the long-struggling field of cross-species organ transplants.