[Mission 2023] Current Affairs Quiz , 1 Jun 2023

Solution: c)

A polygraph test is carried out on the assumption that physiological responses triggered when one is lying are different from what they otherwise would be. Rather than injecting drugs into the body, polygraph tests attach instruments like cardio-cuffs or sensitive electrodes to the suspect and measure variables such as blood pressure, pulse rate, respiration, change in sweat gland activity, blood flow, etc., while the suspect is being questioned.

In the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in “Selvi & Ors vs State of Karnataka & Anr” (2010), a Bench of the then Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan, and Justices RV Raveendran and JM Panchal held that no lie detector tests should be administered “except on the basis of consent of the accused”. Those who volunteer must have access to a lawyer and have the physical, emotional, and legal implications of the test explained to them by the police and the lawyer.

The court emphasised that the ‘Guidelines for the Administration of Polygraph Test on an Accused’, published by the National Human Rights Commission in 2000, must be strictly followed.

Source

Solution: d)

Concern about “period poverty” has fuelled campaigns globally calling for the end of the so-called tampon tax, which refers to consumption levies such as value-added tax (VAT) that most countries charge on items such as sanitary pads, tampons, panty liners and menstrual cups.

Since Kenya became the first country to scrap VAT on sanitary pads and tampons in 2004, at least 17 countries have followed suit.

Source

Solution: c)

FLOPs, or Floating-Point Operations per Second, is a commonly used metric to measure the computational performance – processing power and efficiency – especially in the field of high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI). Floating-point operations are a certain kind of mathematical calculation using real numbers with fractional parts.

Modern computing systems, such as CPUs (Central Processing Units) and GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), are designed to perform multiple operations simultaneously, using parallel processing techniques. 

What is a petaFLOP?

Due to the immense computing power of today’s computers, the FLOPs metric is most often represented in terms of billions (giga), trillions (tera), or even quadrillions (peta) of operations per second (GFLOPs, TFLOPs, PFLOPs, respectively).

A petaflop is thus equal to a thousand TFLOPs or 1015 FLOPs.

Are FLOPs the only metric to judge a computer’s performance?

No. FLOPs is not the only factor determining the performance of a computing system. Memory bandwidth, latency, and other architectural features also play significant roles. Nonetheless, FLOPs provide a valuable baseline for comparing the computational capabilities of different systems, especially in tasks where floating-point calculations dominate.

Source

Solution: d)

Specialized Agencies of UN:

• FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
• ICAO: International Civil Aviation Organization
• IFAD: International Fund for Agricultural Development
• ILO: International Labour Organization
• IMF: International Monetary Fund
• IMO: International Maritime Organization
• ITU: International Telecommunication Union
• UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
• UNIDO: United Nations Industrial Development Organization
• UNWTO:World Tourism Organization
• UPU: Universal Postal Union
• WHO: World Health Organization
• WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization
• WMO: World Meteorological Organization
• World Bank Group
• IBRD: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
• IDA: International Development Association
• IFC: International Finance Corporation

Solution: b)

Statement 1 is incorrect.

Measles or as it is called ‘khasra’, is a highly contagious viral disease which affects mostly children. It is one of the leading causes of death and disability among young children. There is no specific treatment for measles but there is a vaccine to stay protected from the disease, which is both safe as well as cost effective.

Measles spreads by coughing and sneezing, close personal contact or direct contact with infected nasal or throat secretions. So, isolation of these infected children is essential.

Death due to measles are caused by the complications associated with the disease like blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhoea and pneumonia. “The condition of an infected child turns severe in cases of poor nourishment, Vitamin A deficiency and if the child is immunocompromised.