IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - May 27, 2016

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• Three major schemes under Atal Innovation Mission - (a) establishing tinkering laboratories in schools (b) establishing new incubation centres and (c) scaling-up established incubation centres.
• AIM will provide financial support to academic and non-academic institutions (companies/technology parks/group of individuals) to establish new incubation centres across India. These will be called Atal Incubation Centres (AIC).
• They will be established in subject specific areas such as manufacturing, transport, energy, health, education, agriculture, water and sanitation, etc. These incubation Centres will provide pre-incubation facilities, common infrastructure and services such as technology development assistance, networking and mentoring, funding access, training and development, business support services (entrepreneurship development, marketing, finance and accounting, research, legal, regulatory, etc.) to innovators and start up entrepreneurs for developing solutions.

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:

• To foster creativity and scientific temper in students, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) will establish 500 Atal Tinkering Laboratories in schools.
• It will provide one time establishment grant-in-aid of Rs. 10 lakh for establishing Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATL) in schools (grade VI – XII) across India.
• Further, an amount of Rs. 10.0 lakh would also be provided for each ATL over a period of 5 years for operational expenses of ATLs. Thus, an amount of Rs. 20 lakhs per Atal Tinkering Laboratory in each selected school will be spent.
• Young children will get a chance to work with tools and equipment to understand the concepts of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).
• Competitions at regional and national scale will also be organised to showcase the innovations developed by the children.

ANSWER: Xuanzang

Explanation:

• The Chinese traveller Xuanzang visited the court of Harsha, and wrote a very favourable account of him, praising his justice and generosity.
• Xuanzang (c. 602–664) was a Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator who described the interaction between China and India in the early Tang dynasty.

ANSWER: Himalayan Brown Bear

Explanation:

• The J&K Wildlife Department has recorded its first ever sighting of a group of eight Himalayan brown bears in Kargil’s Drass Sector, where the 1999 war had wreaked havoc with their habitats.
• No such sighting has ever been reported from J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where these animals are distributed.
• The sighting of such relatively large numbers of Himalayan brown bears in just one wildlife zone out of four major areas of Suru, Zanskar, Drass and Kargil in the Ladakh region is a positive indication.
• A brown bear requires about 100 square kilometer as its territory to survive and any human intervention disturbs its ecology.
• Sightings of brown bear, which is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources' list of vulnerable animals, has come down significantly in Kashmir Valley too in the past few decades.

ANSWER: Brain

Explanation:

• Glioblastoma is one of the more common brain tumours.
• When it is most aggressive, it can reduce a patient’s life to a little over a year despite treatment.
• Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) have found the pathway that makes the tumour cells more aggressive.

ANSWER: Helium Microscope

Explanation:

• The first scanning helium microscope has been built by Australian researchers who feel it could “open doors” for many new discoveries by allowing scientists to scrutinise materials without disturbing them.
• The new device would enable scientists to study human, animal and plant samples, as well as computer chips and pharmaceutical drugs, without damaging or changing them.
• Samples would be analysed in their true state for the first time ever and every time a new microscope was developed, there had been enormous scientific advances.

ANSWER: Assam

Explanation:

• Wanchuwa festival is one of the most important festivals of the hill community of Assam.
• It is linked with agriculture, the mainstay of their economy.
• The Tiwas tribe from Karbi Anglong district of Assam celebrate it.
• Tiwas pray for a bountiful harvest and crop protection from natural calamities and pests.

ANSWER: When the sun is directly overhead

Explanation:

• During the zero shadow moment/day, the sun is directly overhead and the shadow is cast below the object.
• If the object is on the ground it is difficult to see its shadow and it may look like there is no shadow. However this is not the case. There is shadow which may not be easily visible.
• For those between the latitudes 23.5 deg. south (the tropic of Capricorn) and 23.5 deg. north (the tropic of Cancer) can experience the sun right overhead at Zenith - twice every year, once between December solstice (21st/22nd December) and June solstice (20th/21st June) and then between June solstice and December solstice.

ANSWER: 1, 2

Explanation:

• IGFBP-2 (insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2), one of the proteins present in the extracellular fluids surrounding the cells, makes the tumour aggressive.
• While previous studies have shown that patients with more aggressive forms of glioblastoma had higher IGFBP-2 levels in their serum, the IISc-NIMHANS study reveals that the IGFBP-2 uses the protein beta-catenin as its pathway.
• In glioblastoma cells with high levels of IGFBP-2 expression, nuclear beta-catenin levels were higher. In cells that made very little or no IGFBP-2, nuclear beta-catenin levels were low.
• Unlike IGFBP-2, which is present outside the cell, beta-catenin can shuttle in and out of the nucleus of the cell. When present inside, it influences protein production.
• The researchers found that higher IGFBP-2 levels led to inactivation of another protein — GSK3, which impairs the degradation of beta-catenin inside the cell. Hence, beta-catenin can easily travel to the nucleus and induce production of new proteins that instruct the tumour cells to proliferate faster than normal, and start invading other tissues.