DAY – 57 (InstaTest-57): Insta 75 Days Revision Plan-2022: Topic – SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, PREVIOUS YEAR UPSC PAPER 2004, November 2021 CA

Solution: A

The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), a Statutory body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) was established to support basic research in all frontier areas of science and engineering. The SERB started its operation in the year 2011. In order to build a transparent process incorporating global benchmarks an electronic Project Proposal Management system (ePPMS) was developed. Starting with one program in the year 2014, the online portal presently hosts almost all the programs of SERB.

SERB supports research in frontier areas of Science and Engineering. A regular faculty / researcher in an academic / research institution can seek research support to carry out his/her research. Board also gives special attention to young scientists below the age of 35 years (relaxable by 5 years in the case of SC/ST/OBC, woman and physically handicapped category) to undertake independent research in newly emerging and frontier areas of science and engineering.

https://prism.serbonline.in/AboutPrism

Solution: C

NISAR is a joint Earth-observing mission between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) with the goal to make global measurements of the causes and consequences of land surface changes using advanced radar imaging. This mission concept and the resulting partnership are in response to the National Academy of Science’s 2007 survey of Earth observational priorities for the next decade, known as the decadal survey. One of the top priorities identified in this survey was to gain data and insight in three Earth science domains: ecosystems, deformation of Earth’s crust and cryospheric sciences.

On Sept. 30, 2014, NASA and ISRO signed a partnership to collaborate on and launch NISAR. The mission is targeted to launch in early 2022. NASA is providing the mission’s L-band synthetic aperture radar, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder and payload data subsystem. ISRO is providing the spacecraft bus, the S-band radar, the launch vehicle and associated launch services.

Solution: C

Prompt Corrective Action Framework:

What is Prompt Corrective Action (PCA)?

• PCA is a framework under which banks with weak financial metrics are put under watch by the RBI.
• The RBI introduced the PCA framework in 2002 as a structured early-intervention mechanism for banks that become undercapitalised due to poor asset quality, or vulnerable due to loss of profitability.
• It aims to check the problem of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) in the Indian banking sector.
• The framework was reviewed in 2017 based on the recommendations of the working group of the Financial Stability and Development Council on Resolution Regimes for Financial Institutions in India and the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission.

Solution: C

All the above statements are correct.

Lightning is an electrical discharge caused by imbalances between storm clouds and the ground, or within the clouds themselves. Most lightning occurs within the clouds.

WMO findings on lightning strikes

Lightning strikes in India:

1. Bihar is second after Uttar Pradesh with the maximum number of deaths due to lightning.
2. At least 170 people died in Bihar due to lightning in 2019 between April 1 and July 31.
3. The number of lightning days across India have been increasing significantly every month.
4. Lightning strikes kill more people in India than any other extreme weather event.

What is lightning?

It is a very rapid — and massive — discharge of electricity in the atmosphere, some of which is directed towards the Earth’s surface.

These discharges are generated in giant moisture-bearing clouds that are 10-12 km tall.

How does it strike?

1. The base of these clouds typically lies within 1-2 km of the Earth’s surface, while their top is 12-13 km away. Temperatures towards the top of these clouds are in the range of minus 35 to minus 45 degrees Celsius.
2. As water vapour moves upward in the cloud, the falling temperature causes it to condense. Heat is generated in the process, which pushes the molecules of water further up.
3. As they move to temperatures below zero degrees celsius, the water droplets change into small ice crystals. They continue to move up, gathering mass — until they are so heavy that they start to fall to Earth.
4. This leads to a system in which, simultaneously, smaller ice crystals are moving up and bigger crystals are coming down.
5. Collisions follow, and trigger the release of electrons — a process that is very similar to the generation of sparks of electricity. As the moving free electrons cause more collisions and more electrons, a chain reaction ensues.
6. This process results in a situation in which the top layer of the cloud gets positively charged, while the middle layer is negatively charged. The electrical potential difference between the two layers is huge — of the order of a billion to 10 billion volts. In very little time, a massive current, of the order of 100,000 to a million amperes, starts to flow between the layers.
7. An enormous amount of heat is produced, and this leads to the heating of the air column between the two layers of the cloud. This heat gives the air column a reddish appearance during lightning. As the heated air column expands, it produces shock waves that result in thunder.

How does this current reach the Earth from the cloud?

1. While the Earth is a good conductor of electricity, it is electrically neutral. However, in comparison to the middle layer of the cloud, it becomes positively charged. As a result, about 15%-20% of the current gets directed towards the Earth as well. It is this flow of current that results in damage to life and property on Earth.
2. There is a greater probability of lightning striking tall objects such as trees, towers or buildings. Once it is about 80-100 m from the surface, lightning tends to change course towards these taller objects. This happens because air is a poor conductor of electricity, and electrons that are travelling through air seek both a better conductor and the shortest route to the relatively positively charged Earth’s surface.

Solution: A

DNA and RNA

• Nucleic acids are responsible for the transfer of characters from parents to off springs. There are two types of nucleic acids — DNA and RNA.
• A nucleic acid containing deoxyribose is called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) while that which contains ribose is called ribonucleic acid (RNA).
• Both DNA and RNA contain Adenine, Guanine and Cytosine. The fourth base is Thymine in DNA and Uracil in RNA.
• The structure of DNA is a double strand [helix] whereas RNA is a single strand molecule.
• Hydrogen bonds bind the nitrogenous bases of the two separate polynucleotide strands to make double-stranded DNA.
• The DNA backbone is resistant to cleavage, and both strands of the double-stranded structure store the same biological information. Biological information is replicated as the two strands are separated.
• Within cells, DNA is organized into long structures called chromosomes. During cell division these chromosomes are duplicated in the process of DNA replication, providing each cell its own complete set of chromosomes.
• Eukaryotic organisms (animals, plants, fungi, and protists) store most of their DNA inside the cell nucleus and some of their DNA in organelles, such as mitochondria or chloroplasts.
• In contrast, prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) store their DNA only in the cytoplasm.

Solution: C

• Mitochondria are known as the powerhouse of the cell.
• The energy required for various chemical activities needed for life is released by mitochondria in the form of ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) molecules.

[If Mitochondria is the Power Plant. ATP is the Electricity].

• ATP is known as the energy currency of the cell.
• The body uses energy stored in ATP for making new chemical compounds and for mechanical work.
• Mitochondria have two membrane coverings instead of just one.
• The outer membrane is very porous while the inner membrane is deeply folded. These folds create a large surface area for ATP-generating chemical reactions.
• Mitochondria are strange organelles in the sense that they have their own DNA and ribosomes. Therefore, mitochondria are able to make some of their own proteins [ribosomes prepare proteins].

Solution: A

A supernova is the explosion of a star. It is the largest explosion that takes place in space.

Where Do Supernovas Take Place?
Supernovas are often seen in other galaxies. But supernovas are difficult to see in our own Milky Way galaxy because dust blocks our view. In 1604, Johannes Kepler discovered the last observed supernova in the Milky Way. NASA’s Chandra telescope discovered the remains of a more recent supernova. It exploded in the Milky Way more than a hundred years ago.

What causes a supernova?

One type of supernova is caused by the “last hurrah” of a dying massive star. This happens when a star at least five times the mass of our sun goes out with a fantastic bang!.

Massive stars burn huge amounts of nuclear fuel at their cores, or centers. This produces tons of energy, so the center gets very hot. Heat generates pressure, and the pressure created by a star’s nuclear burning also keeps that star from collapsing.

A star is in balance between two opposite forces. The star’s gravity tries to squeeze the star into the smallest, tightest ball possible. But the nuclear fuel burning in the star’s core creates strong outward pressure. This outward push resists the inward squeeze of gravity.

When a massive star runs out of fuel, it cools off. This causes the pressure to drop. Gravity wins out, and the star suddenly collapses. Imagine something one million times the mass of Earth collapsing in 15 seconds! The collapse happens so quickly that it creates enormous shock waves that cause the outer part of the star to explode!

Usually a very dense core is left behind, along with an expanding cloud of hot gas called a nebula. A supernova of a star more than about 10 times the size of our sun may leave behind the densest objects in the universe—black holes.

Solution: D

The emissions of the most common forms of spontaneous radioactive decay are the alpha (α) particle, the beta (β) particle, the gamma (γ) ray, and the neutrino. The alpha particle is actually the nucleus of a helium-4 atom, with two positive charges 4/2He. Such charged atoms are called ions. The neutral helium atom has two electrons outside its nucleus balancing these two charges. Beta particles may be negatively charged (beta minus, symbol e−), or positively charged (beta plus, symbol e+). The beta minus [β−] particle is actually an electron created in the nucleus during beta decay without any relationship to the orbital electron cloud of the atom. The beta plus particle, also called the positron, is the antiparticle of the electron; when brought together, two such particles will mutually annihilate each other.

Solution: D

All the above statements are correct.

Solution: B

“Research reactors are the back bone of Nuclear Programme” said Dr. Homi J. Bhabha, the father of Indian Nuclear programme, in early fifties.  Subsequently “Apsara”, the first research reactor in Asia became operational in Trombay campus of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in August 1956.  After providing more than five decades of dedicated service to the researchers, the reactor was shut down in 2009.

Solution: B

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)

ITER (the Latin word for “The Way”) is a large-scale scientific experiment intended to prove the viability of fusion as an energy source.

As signatories to the ITER Agreement, the ITER Members China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States will share in the cost of project construction, operation and decommissioning, and also share in the experimental results and any intellectual property generated by the project. Twenty years of collaborative research experiments are planned on the machine.

Solution: C

SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, is a Boeing 747SP aircraft modified to carry a 2.7-meter (106-inch) reflecting telescope (with an effective diameter of 2.5 meters or 100 inches). Flying into the stratosphere at 38,000-45,000 feet puts SOFIA above 99 percent of Earth’s infrared-blocking atmosphere, allowing astronomers to study the solar system and beyond in ways that are not possible with ground-based telescopes. SOFIA is made possible through a partnership between NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

The observatory’s mobility allows researchers to observe from almost anywhere in the world, and enables studies of transient events that often take place over oceans where there are no telescopes. For example, astronomers on SOFIA studied eclipse-like events of Pluto, Saturn’s moon Titan, and Kuiper Belt Object MU69, the next flyby target for NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, to study the objects’ atmospheres and surroundings.

SOFIA is designed to observe the infrared universe.

Solution: C

Astra missile:

• It is the indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air
• It is an all-weather, state-of-the-art missile developed by DRDO and can engage and destroy enemy aircraft at supersonic speed (1.2 Mach to 1.4 Mach) in head-on (up to 80 km) and tail-chase (up to 20 km) modes.
• The 3.8-metre-tall Astra is a radar homing missile and the smallest of the DRDO-developed missiles and can be launched from different altitudes.
• It can reach up to 110 km when fired from an altitude of 15 km, 44 km when launched from an altitude of eight km and 21 km when fired from sea level.

What is Astra missile?

Indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile, Astra is designed to be mounted on a fighter aircraft and is also designed to engage and destroy highly manoeuvring supersonic aircraft.

With a 15-kilogram high-explosive pre-fragmented warhead, Astra has a range of over 70 km and can fly towards its target at a speed of over 5,555 km per hour. The missile has all-weather day and night capability. Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.

The missile has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), along with almost 50 other public and private organisations, which were involved in multiple variants to meet specific requirements.

Solution: A

According to India Met Department (IMD), the Arabian Sea arm of south-west monsoon is counting on an itinerant Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) wave for normal monsoon.

• It is an oceanic-atmospheric phenomenon which affects weather activities across the globe. It brings major fluctuation in tropical weather on weekly to monthly timescales.
• The MJO can be defined as an eastward moving ‘pulse’ of clouds, rainfall, winds and pressure near the equator that typically recurs every 30 to 60 days.
• It’s a traversing phenomenon and is most prominent over the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Phases of Madden-Julian Oscillation

• The MJO consists of two parts or phases. Strong MJO activity often dissects the planet into halves. One half within the enhanced convective phase and the other half in the suppressed convective phase.
  • Enhanced rainfall (or convective) phase: winds at the surface converge, and the air is pushed up throughout the atmosphere. At the top of the atmosphere, the winds reverse (i.e., diverge). Such rising air motion in the atmosphere tends to increase condensation and rainfall.
  • Suppressed rainfall phase: winds converge at the top of the atmosphere, forcing air to sink and, later, to diverge at the surface. As air sinks from high altitudes, it warms and dries, which suppresses rainfall.
• It is this entire dipole structure, that moves west to east with time in the Tropics, causing more cloudiness, rainfall, and even storminess in the enhanced convective phase, and more sunshine and dryness in the suppressed convective phase.

How Does MJO Affect Indian Monsoon?

• The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), El Nino and MJO are all oceanic and atmospheric phenomena, which affect weather on a large scale. IOD only pertains to the Indian Ocean, but the other two affect weather on a global scale-up to the mid-latitudes.
• IOD and El Nino remain over their respective positions, while MJO is a traversing phenomenon.
• The journey of MJO goes through eight phases.
  • When it is over the Indian Ocean during the Monsoon season, it brings good rainfall over the Indian subcontinent.
  • On the other hand, when it witnesses a longer cycle and stays over the Pacific Ocean, MJO brings bad news for the Indian Monsoon.
• It is linked with enhanced and suppressed rainfall activity in the tropics and is very important for the Indian monsoonal rainfall.
• Periodicity of MJO:
  • If it is nearly 30 days then it brings good rainfall during the Monsoon season.
  • If it is above 40 days then MJO doesn’t give good showers and could even lead to a dry Monsoon.
  • Shorter the cycle of MJO, better the Indian Monsoon. Simply because it then visits the Indian Ocean more often during the four-month-long period.

Presence of MJO over the Pacific Ocean along with an El Nino is detrimental for Monsoon rains.

Solution: B

Saras:

Context: The indigenous light transport aircraft (LTA) Saras PT1N recently completed the second of the proposed 20 test flights.

What is Saras? SARAS PT1N is first Indian multi-purpose civilian aircraft in light transport aircraft category. It is an indigenous aircraft developed by the National Aeronautics Laboratories (NAL), which is overseen by the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR).

ABHYAS – High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT):

Context: DRDO recently conducted the flight test of ABHYAS – High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) from a test range in Odisha.

• The configuration of ABHYAS is designed on an in-line small gas turbine engine and it uses indigenously developed MEMS based navigation system.
• ‘Abhyas’ is designed for autonomous flying with the help of an autopilot.
• A Luneburg lens in the nose cone improves the radar cross-section of the target for weapons practice.
• It also has an acoustic miss distance indicator (AMDI) to indicate the missed distance.

Answer B

Kyaukpu is north of Yangon and Cocos is south of it

Answer D

WHAT IS iDEX?

An ecosystem to foster innovation & technology development in. Defence and Aerospace by engaging innovators & entrepreneurs to deliver technologically advanced solutions for modernizing Indian Military.

iDEX will engage Industries including MSMEs, start-ups,individual innovators, R& D institutes and academia and provide them grants/funding and other support to carry out R&D development which has good potential for future adoption for Indian defence and aerospace needs.

Answer D

INS Chakra is SSN,which is sent back to Russia recently

SSBN-INS Arihant

China has more than 50 submarines while India has 15

Answer A

Frigates, which are naval vessels intermediate between corvettes and destroyers,have had a significant role in the naval history of India.

Answer B

The aim is to leverage this cross-governmental body—comprising the chairman of the chiefs of staff committee, three service chiefs, the defence, expenditure and foreign secretaries—to enhance India’s ability to do some long-term strategizing.

In a significant defence policy reform, the government has revamped the existing defence planning system by establishing a Defence Planning Committee (DPC) under the chairmanship of the National Security Adviser (NSA).

Solution: A

Solution:

• The seven engines that drive PM GatiShakti are Roads, Railways, Airports, Ports, Mass Transport, Waterways and Logistics Infrastructure.

Solution: D

Solution:

• Finance Ministry official told Business Today Television that the plan is to allow companies with complex closures to wind up within 180 days, and simple company cases where there is no settlement needed on assets, liabilities and loans to wind up within 100 days.

• Earlier in the Budget this year, the government had announced the creation of a Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE) aimed at reducing the timeline of corporate exits from two years to six months.
• Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE) to be established for speedy winding-up of companies.

Solution: C

Solution:

• City-based ‘Grene Robotics’ claimed to have designed and developed a 100% indigenous ‘unified, distributed and wide-area autonomous drone defence dome called ‘Indrajaal’ which can protect a large area of 1000-2000 sq. km per system against threats such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), incoming weapons, loitering munitions and the like, autonomously.

• The firm, working on the defence operating systems for the last eight years, says that Indrajaal’’s design principles are based on delivering autonomy to the defence forces leveraging a combination of 10 modern technologies powered by artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and robotics.

Solution: B

Solution:

• Neena Gupta, a mathematician and professor at the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata, has been awarded the 2021 DST-ICTP-IMU Ramanujan Prize for young mathematicians from developing countries. She received the prize for her outstanding work in affine algebraic geometry and commutative algebra, in particular for her solution to the Zariski cancellation problem for affine spaces.

Solution: C

Solution:

• The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission came out with a draft proposal to facilitate regulatory framework for General Network Access (GNA) which, if implemented, would bring in a radical change to the country’s power disbursal system and create a level playing field.
• GNA means open access to the inter-State transmission system. Technically speaking, GNA is a non-discriminatory access to the inter-State transmission system for an estimated maximum injection and for a consumer to draw for a specified period. This is in keeping with the concept of “one nation, one grid”. This is expected to benefit the power generator and consumer, who now are dealing with challenges of transmission too.

SOLUTION~

This could be derived by observing the turns taken by the line (with the circle on its sides). Each time it rotates by 45 degrees.

ANS~LEPEAHTN.          

ANSWER~bThe fine detail of what is expected of a mother or a father or a dutiful son differs fro culture to culture, warlords and followers; each makes sense only in its relation to the other. The term ‘role’

Question 1: Option (d)

The passage does not talk about “absence of strong biological linkages”. Hence, option A is wrong. The statement in option 2 does not agree with the passage. Hence, option B is wrong.
Option 3 is contrary to the passage. The passage never stated that human behavior depends on biological linkages. Hence, option D is wrong.
Option E correctly captures the theme of the passage.