Daily Quiz #2 UPSC Prelims Marathon – October 3, 2019

Explanation: A fuel cell uses the chemical energy of hydrogen or another fuel to cleanly and efficiently produce electricity. If hydrogen is the fuel, electricity, water, and heat are the only products. Fuel cells are unique in terms of the variety of their potential applications; they can provide power for systems as large as a utility power station and as small as a laptop computer.
Fuel cells can be used in a wide range of applications, including transportation, material handling, stationary, portable, and emergency backup power applications. Fuel cells have several benefits over conventional combustion-based technologies currently used in many power plants and passenger vehicles. Fuel cells can operate at higher efficiencies than combustion engines, and can convert the chemical energy in the fuel to electrical energy with efficiencies of up to 60%. Fuel cells have lower emissions than combustion engines. Hydrogen fuel cells emit only water, so there are no carbon dioxide emissions and no air pollutants that create smog and cause health problems at the point of operation. Also, fuel cells are quiet during operation as they have fewer moving parts.

Explanation: National Cancer Tissue Biobank (NCTB), a state-of-the-art non-profit community based tissue bank, is a joint initiative of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India and Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM). NCTB housed at Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai. The biobank collects cancer tissue samples with consent from patients diagnosed with cancer. Information about the previous medical history and treatment of the donors is also documented along with the tissue samples. Tissue samples collected following surgery is in excess of what is required for diagnosis and would otherwise be discarded.
NCTB is the first of its kind facility in India and is aiming to provide researchers with high quality of cancer tissues and the patient data in order to facilitate cancer research that will lead to improvements in cancer diagnosis and treatment. A panel of scientists and doctors (Steering committee of the biobank) must approve that the project is scientifically worthwhile and ethics committee must approve the project before bio-specimens are provided to researchers.

Explanation: India has joined the Global Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Research and Development (R&D) Hub as a new member. This expands the global partnership working to address challenges and improve coordination and collaboration in global AMR R&D to 16 countries, the European Commission, two philanthropic foundations and four international organisations (as observers).
The Global AMR R&D Hub was launched in May 2018 in the margins of the 71st session of the World Health Assembly, following a call from G20 Leaders in 2017. The Global AMR R&D Hub supports global priority setting and evidence-based decision-making on the allocation of resources for AMR R&D through the identification of gaps, overlaps and potential for cross-sectoral collaboration and leveraging in AMR R&D. The operation of the Global AMR R&D Hub is supported through a Secretariat, established in Berlin and currently financed through grants from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG).
By partnering with the Global AMR R&D Hub, India looks forward to working with all partners to leverage their existing capabilities, resources and collectively focus on new R&D intervention to address drug resistant infections. AMR is the ability of a microbe to resist the effects of medication that once could successfully treat the microbe. Today, the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance continues unabated around the world. Given the important and interdependent human, animal, and environmental dimensions of antimicrobial resistance, India considers it reasonable to explore issues of antimicrobial resistance through the lens of One Health approach which should be supported by long-term commitments from all stakeholders.

Explanation: Russia launched life-size humanoid robot called Fedor to International Space Station (ISS). It is the first ever life-size humanoid robot sent into space by Russia. It was launched onboard of unmanned Soyuz MS-14 rocket from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Fedor stands for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research. It is also known as Skybot F850. It will spend 10 days learning to assist astronauts on the ISS. Its main purpose is to be used in operations that are dangerous for humans onboard spacecraft and in outer space. During its 10 days at ISS, it will learn new skills such as connecting and disconnecting electric cables, using standard items from screwdriver and spanner to a fire extinguisher.
It is size of human i.e. 1.80 metres (5 foot 11 inches) tall and weighs 160 kilograms. It can emulate human body movements. This key skill will allow it to remotely help astronauts or even people on Earth to carry out tasks while humans are strapped into exoskeleton.

Explanation: The Gujarat government has launched country’s first ‘Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)’ which is being described as world’s first market for trading in Particulate Matter (PM) emissions. ETS was launched in Surat ETS) to encourage and incentivize the industrial units to cut air pollution. Even though trading mechanisms for pollution control do exist in many parts of world but none of them is for PM emissions.
Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is a regulatory tool that is aimed at reducing the pollution load in an area and at the same time minimising the cost of compliance for the industry. ETS is a market in which traded commodity is particulate matter emissions. The Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) sets a cap on total emission load from all industries. Thereby, various industries can buy and sell the ability to emit particulate matter, by trading permits (in kilograms) under this cap and for this reason ETS is also called as a cap-and-trade market.