Daily Quiz #10 UPSC Prelims Marathon – September 12, 2019

Explanation: CERT-In is a functional organisation of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, with the objective of securing Indian cyber space. CERT-In provides Incident Prevention and Response services as well as Security Quality Management Services.
The Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008, designated CERTIn to serve as the national agency to perform the following functions in the area of cyber security:
•Collection, analysis and dissemination of information on cyber incidents.
•Forecast and alerts of cyber security incidents.
•Emergency measures for handling cyber security incidents.
•Coordination of cyber incident response activities.
•Issue guidelines, advisories, vulnerability notes and whitepapers relating to information security practices, procedures, prevention, response and reporting of cyber incidents.
•Such other functions relating to cyber security as may be prescribed.

Explanation: Google, which owns YouTube video service, will pay $170 million to settle allegations that it broke federal law by collecting personal information about children, the Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday. YouTube had been accused of tracking viewers of children’s channels using cookies without parental consent and using those cookies to deliver million of dollars in targeted advertisements to those viewers. The settlement with the FTC and the New York attorney general’s office, which will receive $34 million, is the largest since a law banning collecting information about children under age 13 came into effect in 1998. The law was revised in 2013 to include “cookies,” used to track a person’s internet viewing habits.

Explanation: The Earth Explorer Atmospheric Dynamics Mission Aeolus will provide global observations of wind profiles from space to improve the quality of weather forecasts, and to advance our understanding of atmospheric dynamics and climate processes. Although there are several ways of measuring wind from a satellite, Aeolus will utilise the active Doppler Wind Lidars (DWL) method. This is the only method that has the potential to provide the required data globally, from direct wind observations. In addition, a DWL will provide information on cloud top heights, vertical distribution of cloud, aerosol properties, and wind variability. This information is a useful by-product of the DWL method. An improved model of the Earth’s climate and atmosphere will lead to progress in numerical weather prediction (NWP), especially concerning long-term forecasting. It is widely recognised that a new global atmospheric observing system, such as Aeolus, will have a great effect upon operational weather forecasting. The provision of detailed wind profiles will also benefit scientists involved with climate research, allowing for greater accuracy in the numerical modelling of tropical regions in particular. The Aeolus mission was launched on 22 August 2018.

Explanation: In February 2006, therefore, Israel and India signed a joint development agreement to create a new Barak-NG medium ship borne air defense missile, as an evolution of the Barak-1 system in service with both navies. In July 2007 the counterpart MR-SAM project began moving forward, aiming to develop a medium range SAM for use with India’s land forces. Both missiles would now be called Barak-8. In between, “India to Buy Israeli “SPYDER” Mobile Air Defense System” covered India’s move to begin buying mobile, short-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems for its army, based on the Python and Derby air-to-air missiles in service with its air force and naval aircraft. These projects offer India a way forward to address its critical air defense weaknesses, and upgrade “protection of vital and strategic ground assets and area air defense.”

Explanation: Research at inStem addresses the genetic mechanisms of potency, differentiation and proliferation in human pluripotent cells, examines clinical manifestations of diseases that can potentially be treated by stem cells, models human diseases using stem cells, uses model organisms such as Planaria and Hydra to address fundamental questions in regenerative biology, develops platforms to interrogate signaling pathways with new chemical entities, and finally, develops tools that will help to better understand the biology driving stem cells and eventually treat disease states. At inStem, research is primarily carried out by groups who work on tightly-knit themes, crossing boundaries and developing new approaches to address questions larger than the expertise of individual researchers. inStem located at Bangalore.