Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon – December 20, 2018

The Union Cabinet has recently approved the creation of National Testing Agency (NTA) as an autonomous and self-sustained premier testing organization to conduct entrance examinations for higher educational institutions. It will be society registered under Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860. The NTA will initially conduct entrance examinations currently being conducted by CBSE. Other examinations will be taken up gradually after NTA is fully geared up. These examinations will be conducted in online mode at least twice a year to give adequate opportunity to candidates to bring out their best. In order to serve requirements of the rural students, it will locate centres at sub-district and district level and as far as possible it will undertake hands-on training to the students.

Both the statement are correct.

Important note: The United States believes the Syrian government employed a sarin-like nerve agent in recent deadly attack in the country’s northwest. The name sarin comes from the chemists who discovered it by chance: Schrader, Ambros, Ruediger et Van der Linde. Originally conceived as a pesticide, sarin was used by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime to gas thousands of Kurds in the northern town of Halabja in 1988. Inhaled or absorbed through the skin, the gas kills by crippling the respiratory center of the central nervous system and paralysing the muscles around the lungs. The combination results in death by suffocation, and sarin can contaminate food or water supplies, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Symptoms of exposure to the agent include nausea and violent headaches, blurred vision, drooling, muscle convulsions, respiratory arrest and loss of consciousness. Sarin is 26 times more deadly than cyanide gas. Even when it does not kill, sarin’s effects can cause permanent harm —damaging a victim’s lungs, eyes and central nervous system.

INSV Tarini is Indian Navy’s second ocean going sailboat. It on voyage of the first all-woman crew in Indian history to attempt circumnavigation. The voyage titled Navika Sagar Parikrama began from Goa in September 2017 and is to be completed in March 2018.

All the above statements are correct. A Geo Stationary orbit( Also called geostationary earth orbit- GEO) is a geosynchronous orbit, directly above the earth’s equator (0 degree latitude), with a period equals to earths rotational period and an orbital eccentricity of approximately zero. An object in a geo stationary orbit appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky, to the ground observers. Communication satellites and weather satellites are often given geo stationary orbits , so that the satellite antenna’s that communicate with them do not need to move to track them, but can be pointed permanently at the position in the sky where they stay. Due to the constant 0 degree latitude and circularity of geostationary orbit, satellites in GEO differ in location by longitude only.

A cell may be defined as the structural and functional unit of living organisms which is

capable of independent existence. Whether DNA of the cell lies in the cytoplasm or is enclosed within a nuclear membrane, cells may be termed prokaryotic are eukaryotic A. Prokaryotic cell: These cells do not have a well-organized nucleus. The genetic material is a single molecule of DNA lying in the cytoplasm. Not only is the nuclear membrane absent, cell organelles like mitochondria, lysosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, chloroplast, nucleolus, etc are also not present in prokaryotic cells. Examples: Bacteria and blue-green algae.

B. Eukaryotic cell: DNA is enclosed in a nuclear membrane forming a nucleus. The genetic material is made of two or more DNA molecules, which are present as a network of chromatin fibres when the cell is not dividing. Membrane-bound organelles, such as mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, lysosome, chloroplast, nucleolus, etc. are present within the cytoplasm.

Examples: Cells of plants, fungi, protozoa and animals.

Statement 1 is incorrect. According to the European Commission Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) in 2008, CFLs may pose an added health risk due to the ultraviolet and blue light emitted.

Statement 2 is correct. CFLs, like all fluorescent lamps, contain mercury as vapor inside the glass tubing. Because mercury is poisonous, even these small amounts are a concern for landfills and waste incinerators where the mercury from lamps may be released and contribute to air and water pollution.

We see non-luminous objects because light is reflected from them into our eyes. The Earth, like the moon, is a non-luminous object. It does not produce its own light. Astronauts on the moon can see the Earth because light from the Sun is reflected into the eyes. Luminous objects are responsible for our vision.

Example – Example: Lighted candle, torch bulb, the sun and stars. Sun also emits light as a result of fusion of Hydrogen atoms. Hence they are considered as luminous objects.