Daily Prelims Notes 13 September 2021

September 13, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes

13 September 2021

Table Of Contents

1. Electrolyser

Context – Green hydrogen spawns new industry

Concept –

Green hydrogen (g-hydrogen) is hydrogen produced without carbon footprint.
The most favoured process for producing g-hydrogen is using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The machine that does this is the ‘electrolyser’.
The manufacture of electrolysers is a huge emerging business opportunity — but one that requires the industrialist to keep a sharp eye on the technology.
Electrolysis is the process used to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. An electrolyser is the system in which electrolysis is done, making it the most vital part in terms of making hydrogen economically viable.
In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a technique that uses direct electric current (DC) to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction.
Electrolysis is commercially important as a stage in the separation of elements from naturally occurring sources such as ores using an electrolytic cell.
The voltage that is needed for electrolysis to occur is called the decomposition potential.

To know more about green hydrogen, please click here.

Also, to know more about National Hydrogen Mission, please click here.

2. CRISPR Technology

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – New tech based on CRISPR to control growth of mosquitoes

Concept –

Leveraging advancements in CRISPR-based genetic engineering, researchers have created a system that restrains populations of mosquitoes that infect millions each year with debilitating diseases.
The “precision-guided sterile insect technique” (pgSIT), alters genes linked to male fertility—creating sterile offspring—and female flight in Aedes aegypti, the mosquito species responsible for spreading diseases including dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika.
The pgSITuses CRISPR to sterilise male mosquitoes and render female mosquitoes (which spread disease) flightless.
The system is self-limiting and is not predicted to persist or spread in the environment.
pgSIT eggs can be shipped to a location threatened by mosquito-borne disease or developed at an on-site facility that could produce the eggs for nearby deployment. Once the pgSIT eggs are released in the wild, sterile pgSIT males will emerge and eventually mate with females, driving down the wild population as needed.

To know more about CRISPR-CAS9 technology, please click here.

3. Genome Sequencing of Plant Varieties

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – IISER is sequencing the genomes of medicinal plants to know how they heal.

Concept –

For some years now, researchers have been sequencing the genomes of plant varieties to better understand their traits. According to a study, there are about 391,000 land plant and 8,000 algal species in the world. Barely a thousand have been genome-sequenced.
Now a team at the Indian Institute of Science Engineering Research (IISER), Bhopal, has been mapping the genomes of medicinal plants found in India, such as ginger, turmeric, aloe vera and giloy.
Plants have multiple medicinal properties because of the presence of ‘secondary metabolites’.
Metabolites are small molecules and the intermediate products of metabolism that play important roles in living organisms.
Plant secondary metabolites are compounds of diverse structures and serve as defence against bacteria, fungi, amoebae, plants, insects, and herbivorous animals; as agents of symbiosis between microbes and plants, nematodes, insects, and higher animals; and as pollinators.
They are also used in the signalling pathways. Thus, metabolites are useful fuels, medicines, cosmetics, food supplement, compounds and find a range of applications in agriculture, ecology and healthcare. There have been numerous researches based on the pathways and chemical structures of metabolites.
Understanding the genome sequence can lead to producing more of the useful metabolites. The research is significant because it helps scientists understand which genes are responsible for which metabolites.
The unavailability of genome sequence hindered the study of the genomic basis of the medicinal properties of plants. Thus, the genome sequence of giloy could be a breakthrough as a potential future therapeutic agent for diseases like Covid.
Giloy’s anti-microbial activity is used in skin diseases, urinary tract infection, and dental plaque, among others. It is also found to reduce the clinical symptoms in HIV-positive patients; and its antioxidant activity has anti-cancer and chemo-protective properties.
Giloy extracts are found to be potential candidates in treating various cancers like brain tumour, breast cancer, and oral cancer, as well. The availability of giloy genome will help link its genomic and medicinal properties.
A compound from giloy was reported to target the two proteases (enzymes that break down proteins and peptides) — Mpro and spike— of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Treatment with giloy extract modulates the various pathways of the immune system for improved immunity.

To know more about genome sequencing, please click here.

4. Magnetic Hyperthermia

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – Hot magnets that kill cancer cells while sparing healthy ones.

Concept –

Magnetic hyperthermia — generating heat in magnetic nanoparticles by applying alternating magnetic fields on them — has been an area of research in cancer therapy since the 1990s.
The goal is to burn away cancer cells. Conventional treatments such as chemotherapy do that, but they also kill adjoining healthy cells, with severe side effects.
Magnetocaloric materials — heat up when inside a magnetic field and cool when pulled out.
The use of magnets in cancer treatment — ‘magnetic hyperthermia’ — has been explored earlier through clinical trials in China, Europe and the US.
In conventional magnetic hyperthermia, magnetic nanoparticles are subjected to alternating magnetic fields (of a few gauss), which produces heat due to magnetic relaxation losses. Usually, the temperature required to kill tumor cells is 40-46 degree C. However, the drawback here is the lack of temperature control, which may damage healthy cells and cause side effects like increased blood pressure.
Magnetocaloric materials, on the other hand, provide controlled and self-regulated heating. Moreover, they cool down as soon as the magnetic field is removed, unlike the magnetic nanoparticles, which remain overheated even after the removal of the magnetic field.
‘Curie temperature’ – the point at which magnetic materials undergo a change in their magnetic properties.
The minimum temperature required for cancer therapy is 42°C.

5. Kivi Kuaka project

Subject – Environment

Context – Birds which hear the infra-sounds of storms, tsunamis, lightning, and so on serve as alarms when tagged.

Concept –

The Kivi Kuaka project, led by French ornithologist Frederic Jiguet, wants to use migratory birds to warn of an impending tsunami in the Pacific.
Jiguet has fit 56 birds of five species with sophisticated animal tracking tags. These tags send data to the International Space Station, which relays them back to Earth.
The project taps into the ability of birds to hear the low-frequency infra-sounds that humans can’t hear. Each event — storms, tsunamis, lightning, aeroplanes and so on — emits its own distinct infra-sounds. In the case of tsunamis, these sounds travel much faster than the tsunami itself, and the birds pick them up early.

6. NATGRID

Subject – Security

Context – NATGRID to finally see the light of day

Concept –

The National Intelligence Grid or NATGRID is the integrated intelligence master database structure for counter-terrorism purpose connecting databases of various core security agencies under Government of India collecting comprehensive patterns procured from 21 different organizations that can be readily accessed by security agencies round the clock.
NATGRID came into existence after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
It is accessible to only authorized people from 10 security agencies on a case-to-case basis for investigations into suspected cases of terrorism.
NATGRID seeks to become the one-stop destination for security and intelligence agencies to access database related to immigration entry and exit, banking and telephone details of a suspect on a “secured platform”.
NATGRID is intending to set up an Entity Extraction, Visualization, and Analytics (EVA) system.
NATGRID faced opposition on charges of possible violations of privacy and leakage of confidential personal information.

7. Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk2

Subject – Security

Context – LCAMk2 to roll out next year

Concept –

Roll-out of the aircraft (Mk2) is planned next year and the first flight in early 2023.
The aircraft features enhanced range and endurance including an onboard oxygen generation system, which is being integrated for the first time.
Heavy weapons of the class of Scalp, Crystal Maze and Spice¬2000 will also be integrated on the Mk2.
The LCA-Mk2 will be a heavier and much more capable aircraft than the current LCA variants.
The Mk2 is 1,350 mm longer featuring canards and can carry a payload of 6,500 kg compared to 3,500 kg the LCA can carry

To know more about LCA-Tejas, please click here.

8. Income Tax Appellate Tribunal

Subject – Government bodies

Context – NCLT, ITAT get new members

Concept –

Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) is a quasi-judicial institution set up in 1941under section 5A of the Income Tax Act, 1922.
Initially, it had three Benches at Delhi, Kolkata (Calcutta) and Mumbai (Bombay).
But presently ITAT has 63 Benches at 27 different stations covering almost all the cities having a seat of the High Court.
ITAT is referred to as ‘Mother Tribunal’ being the oldest Tribunal in the country.
India’s Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) was set up on 25 January 1941, and it was the first experiment in tribunalization in the history of India.
It is second appellate authority under the direct taxes and first independent forum in its appellate hierarchy.
The orders passed by the ITAT can be subjected to appellate challenge, on substantial questions of law, before the respective High Court.
With a view to ensure highest degree of independence of the ITAT, it functions under the Department of Legal Affairs in the Ministry of Law and Justice, and is kept away from any kind of control by the Ministry of Finance.

9. National Company Law Tribunal

Subject – Governance

Context – NCLT, ITAT get new members

Concept –

To know about NCLT, please click here.

10. National Commission for Women (NCW)

Subject – Polity

Context – NCW slams police over Mumbai rape

Concept –

To know about NCW, please click here.

11. National Environmental Engineering Research (NEERI)

Subject – National Organisations

Context – NEERI transfers RTPCR tech to MSME Ministry

Concept –

To know about CSIR-NEERI, please click here.

12. Saline Gargle RT-PCR

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – NEERI transfers RT¬PCR tech to MSME Ministry

Concept –

The Saline Gargle RT¬PCR technology is simple, fast, cost-effective, patient-friendly and comfortable.
It also provides instant test results and is well-suited for rural and tribal areas, given minimal infrastructure requirements.

To know more about RT-PCR, please click here.

To know about Rapid Antigen vs RTPC Test, please click here.

13. 5G

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – Big Tech recasts ‘wearables’: Privacy concerns may draw regulatory glare

Concept –

How 5G will help wearables?

The 5G networks will have 100 times faster speeds than 3G and 4G network with latency down to between 1-10 milliseconds. Faster data transfer will help to provide new types of services and experiences.
Another advantage of 5G networks is that they allow a far higher number of devices to operate within a geographical area. In busy urban areas it’s often possible that your mobile data signal is compromised purely because there are too many people nearby all trying to connect to the same network. In the world of wearables, where we may often have several devices on us that are all fighting for bandwidth, 5G should provide a solution to that problem.

To know about 5G, please click here.