Science and Technology MCQ Set 51
Showing question 251 to 255 of total 301 MCQs
MCQ Set: 51
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Question No: 251
NASA launched a stadium sized __________ balloon to detect ultra high energy cosmic particles from beyond the galaxy as they penetrate to the atmosphere of the earth.
- Helium
- Carbon
- Pressure
- None of the above
Answer and Explanation
Answer: C
Explanation
A stadium-sized pressure balloon launched by NASA in New Zealand began collecting data in near space on 26th April 2017.
This is beginning a 100-day planned journey after several launch attempts were thwarted by storms and cyclones.
The balloon, designed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to detect ultra-high energy cosmic particles from beyond the galaxy as they penetrate the earth’s atmosphere, is expected to circle the planet two or three times.
The balloon’s monitoring was only the start of a long quest which would next involve a space mission currently being designed by NASA, she added.
The balloon, launched on 24th April 2017 in Wanaka, a scenic spot on New Zealand’s South Island, will collect data from 34 km above the earth.
New Zealand was also the base for NASA’s scientific balloon programme in 2015 and 2016.
New Zealand: Know More
New Zealand is a country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.
It is consisting of 2 main islands, both marked by volcanoes and glaciation.
Capital Wellington, on the North Island, is home to Te Papa Tongarewa, the expansive national museum.
Capital: Wellington
Code: +64
Currency: New Zealand dollar
Prime minister: Bill English
Population: 4.596 million (2015) World Bank
Question No: 252
Which country launched its first indigenously built aircraft carrier in the third week of April, 2017?
- China
- Japan
- South Korea
- North Korea
Answer and Explanation
Answer: A
Explanation
China has launched its first indigenously built aircraft carrier following the 68th-anniversary celebrations of the founding of the Chinese navy.
It is China’s second aircraft carrier built in the north-eastern port of Dalian.
The new aircraft carrier will be able to operate China’s Shenyang J-15 fighter jets and will be more dedicated to military and humanitarian operations.
The design of the new aircraft carrier has been obtained from China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, which was bought second-hand from Ukraine in 1998 and refitted in China.
As per the foreign military analysts, the presence of two aircraft carriers has made China the most powerful maritime force in the Asia-Pacific.
What is a Blue Water Navy in China?
A blue-water navy is a maritime force having the capability to operate globally across the deep waters of open oceans.
China has the second largest military budget in the globe.
Although, the design of China’s aircraft carriers would give its fighter jets enough lift to take off from their shorter decks, they lack the powerful catapult technology for launching aircraft as seen in US navy’s longer-range nuclear carriers.
With China’s claims of almost all the South China Sea in which other countries like Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims, experts feel that the country will need at least six carriers.
The United States operates 10 aircraft carriers and plans to build two more carriers in the future.
Question No: 253
Which company is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold globally?
- Serum Institute of Asia Pvt Ltd
- Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd
- Sanofi
- Glenmark
Answer and Explanation
Answer: B
Explanation
Cyrus Poonawala led Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. (SII), world's largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold globally, has acquired Czech Republic based biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing firm Nanotherapeutics.
The acquisition is for 72 million Euro, making SII the largest injectable Polio vaccine manufacturer in the world.
This acquisition will add to SII group injectable Polio capacity, increasing it by 4 times to a total of 200 million doses by 2019. We will be investing another 45 million Euros in upgrading the facility.
The company is also building a greenfield facility in Pune with investments of INR 2000 crore to further consolidate it global positioning in the sector.
Nanotherapeutics has manufacturing capabilities for biologic products that will provide the department of defence and US government with ability to rapidly respond to emerging disease threats and chemical, biologic, radiological and nuclear events.
The current acquisition by the company is the second one overseas since 2012 when it bought a plant in Holland.
SII: Know More
SII, Pune is currently one of the largest manufacturers of MMR group of vaccines and Pentavalent group of vaccines in the world.
It is present in 147 countries.
With manpower of 5000 employees in SII, Pune, the company plans to add around 200 employees in the next 2-3 years in Czech Republic.
Question No: 254
Google has created which new technology to translate between English and 9 Indian languages?
- Neutral machine translation technology
- Neural machine translation technology
- Natural machine translation technology
- None of the above
Answer and Explanation
Answer: B
Explanation
Google unveiled a new set of products and features for Indian languages to better serve the needs of Indians who were coming online rapidly.
Google Translate will use a new ‘neural machine translation technology’ to translate between English and nine widely-used Indian languages. These include Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu. Other languages are Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi and Gujarati.
The firm indicated neural translation offered a huge improvement over the old phrase-based system, translating full sentences at a time instead of pieces of a sentence.
This change improves the quality of translation in a single jump than seen in the last ten years combined.
Sharing insights from the joint report “Indian Languages - Defining India’s Internet” - by Google and consulting firm KPMG India, the company stated the country had 234 million Indian language users who were online compared with 175 million English web users.
Google aims for another 300 million Indian language users to come online in the next four years.
The extension of neural machine translation to Chrome browser’s built-in auto-translate functionality to web content would make full-page translations more accurate and easier to read.
The content ranges from song lyrics to cricket discussions.
The new translation capability will also be available to users on Google search and Maps to aid discovery of new places such as cafes and hotels with translations of local reviews on Google Maps, both on mobile and desktop.
Extending support to cover all 22 scheduled Indian languages, Google also rolled out new Gboard, a keyboard for Android unveiled in launched in December 2016.
It has transliteration support for languages.such as Urdu, Tamil, Hindi and Bengali.
With Google Search built right into the keyboard, Gboard will allow users to ‘search’ and use Google Translate right on their keyboard.
For users who often switch back and forth between Hindi and English, they will also be able to use ‘Hinglish’ language option with new text editing tool.
Question No: 255
India has entered an elite club of nations with the firing of which missile?
- Agni
- Brahmos
- Varun
- Arjun
Answer and Explanation
Answer: B
Explanation
The Indian Navy successfully test- fired the land-attack version of Brahmos supersonic cruise missile on 21st April, 2017.
The test-firing of the missile took place in the Bay of Bengal and it was very successful.
Land attack version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was fired for the first time from an Indian Navy’s stealth frigate, off the eastern coast, at a land target.
So, far only anti-ship version of BrahMos had been fired by Indian Navy.
Land Attack Brahmos: Know More
The land-attack version of BrahMos has been operationalised in the Indian Army since 2007.
The BrahMos missile, with a range of 290 km and a Mach 2.8 speed, is capable of being launched from land, sea and sub-sea pads against sea and land targets.
BrahMos, jointly developed by India and Russia, is considered the only supersonic cruise missile in the world.
The missile was first inducted in the India Navy in 2005. India is developing 450 km and 800 km range BrahMos missiles and an air launched version, designed to be delivered from Su-30 jets.
It is also in the development phase.