GK & Current Affairs Quiz: September 09-10, 2018

Notes:
The Bogibeel Bridge is a combined road and rail bridge over the Brahmaputra River in Assam, which is expected to complete at the end of 2018. Sited about 17 km downstream of Dibrugarh town, the 4.94km bridge will facilitate road and rail connectivity between the north and south banks of the Brahmaputra in the eastern part of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The bridge is 32m above the water level of the Brahmaputra and is fashioned on a bridge that links Sweden and Denmark. It has three lane roads on top and double line rail below. Upon completion, Bogibeel will be the longest rail-cum-road bridge in India and 2nd longest bridge over the Brahmaputra after Dhola-Sadiya Bridge which is a road bridge of length 9.15 km.

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) has constituted a committee, headed by former Reserve Bank of India governor Bimal Jalan, to select the next Chief Economic Advisor (CEA). Apart from Jalan, secretary of the department of personnel and training C Chandramouli and economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg will be members of the panel which will vet the applications received and conduct the interviews. Recently, Arvind Subramanian resigned from CEA post before his tenure ends in May 2019 citing personal reasons. He has since joined as a visiting professor at Harvard University. The CEA is under the direct charge of the Minister of Finance and is the ex-officio cadre controlling authority of the Indian Economic Service (IES).

Notes:
Nehal Chudasama from Mumbai has been crowned the Yamaha Fascino Miss Diva – Miss Universe India 2018 at a star-studded grand finale event in Mumbai. Now, she will represent at the 67th Miss Universe 2018 pageant, which is scheduled to be held in Bangkok, Thailand on 16th December 2018. At the same event, Aditi Hundia from Jaipur was crowned as Miss Diva – Supranational 2018 and Roshni Sheoran was crowned as Runner-up.

Notes:
In the US Open Tennis, Novak Djokovic of Serbia won the Men’s singles final by defeating Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 in straight sets. It was Djokovic’s 14th Grand Slam title and the third US Open title. With this win, he has equalled Pete Sampras’s mark of 14 Grand Slams. He is now just three Slams behind Rafael Nadal and six back from the record 20 held by Roger Federer.

Notes:
The 12th edition of Aero India 2019 will be held in Bengaluru, Karnataka from February 20 to 24. This 5-day event will combine a major trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries with public air shows. Besides global leaders and big investors in aerospace industry, the show will also see participation by think-tanks from across the world. It will provide a unique opportunity for exchange of information, ideas and new developments in the aviation industry. Besides giving fillip to the domestic aviation industry it would further the cause of Make in India.

Notes:
The Regional Conference on Good Governance with Focus on Aspirational Districts has started in Bhopal on September 10. This Conference is an effort to create a common platform to share experiences in the formulation and implementation of Best Practices in Citizen Centric Governance and improved Public Service Delivery through e-Governance, transparent, accountable and citizen-friendly effective administration. It is organized by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DAR&PG) in association with Government of Madhya Pradesh. The delegates from 12 States and 2 UTs are participating in the Conference. There will be 5 Technical sessions in the 2-day conference.

Notes:
The researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal have developed cheaper and more flexible organic solar cells using a synthetic derivative of vitamin B12. An organic solar cell is made up of acceptor and donor materials. The donor absorbs light from solar radiation and the harvested energy is passed to the electrodes with the help of the acceptor. In the present study, the researchers synthesized the donor using an artificial aromatic chemical (corrole) which has a similar structure to the corrin ring in vitamin B12. The artificially synthesised corrole (Cor-BODIPY) absorbs light much like porphyrin in natural chlorophyll. Currently, corroles are used as sensors, catalysts and in biomedical imaging. This is the first study wherein a corrole has been utilised for a bulk heterojunction solar cell as a donor material.

Notes:
Naomi Osaka has become the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam singles title. She lifted the women’s singles title of US Open 2018 by defeating Serena Williams of US in straight sets 6-2, 6-4. The match saw some dramatic scenes at the Grand Slam final after an angry Serena Williams accused the umpire of being a “thief”. Williams was given a game penalty for her outburst, which also followed racquet smashing and another code violation as Osaka kept her focus to become the first Japanese to win a Grand Slam.

Notes:
Triple jumper Arpinder Singh has created history by becoming the first Indian to win a medal in the IAAF Continental Cup as he clinched a bronze with a modest effort of 16.59m at Ostrava in Czech Republic on September 9, 2018. Arpinder was representing the Asia-Pacific team in the meet, which held once every 4 years. No Indian has ever won a medal in the Continental Cup, which was known as the IAAF World Cup before 2010. In the same event, reigning Olympic and world champion Christian Taylor of the United States took the gold with a jump of 17.59m. The IAAF Continental Cup is being competed in 37 events in men and women sections taken together with two top athletes from the four regions of Europe, Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific taking part in each of them. Earlier, Arpinder clinched gold in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.

Notes:
The International Literacy Day (ILD) is celebrated every year on 8 September to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. The 2018 theme “Literacy and skills development” explores and highlights integrated approaches that simultaneously can support the development of literacy and skills, to ultimately improve people’s life and work and contribute to equitable and sustainable societies.