Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2019

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Indian technology company Infosys has signed a three-year partnership agreement with Roland-Garros to provide technology solution for tennis tournament The French Open, also called Roland-Garros. The 3-year deal, running from 2019 to 2021, is aimed at enriching the game by providing fans, players and coaches with a new experience leveraging Infosys’ expertise in digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and analytics, mobility, virtual and augmented reality. As part of the partnership, Infosys and Roland-Garros will work on several new digitally-enabled experiences. These include a re-imagined fan experience powered by data and analytics, which will enable fans to follow live scores, “feel the pulse” of live matches, delve deeper into match analytics and understand what ultimately influenced the outcome of the match. The tool will be available on the official Roland-Garros website during the tournament.

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In football, India has clinched the SAFF Women’s Championship for the fifth time in a row. In thefinal, they defeated hosts Nepal 3-1 at Biratnagar on 22nd March 2019. In the first half, Dalmia Chhibber of India scored the first goal of the match which was equalled by Nepal’s Sabitra Bhandari at the 33rd minute. In the second half, Grace Dengmei scored the second goal at 63rd minute and Anju Tamang scored third and decisive goal in the 76th minute. This was India’s 23rd straight victory in the championship since its inception in 2010. India has clinched all five editions of SAFF championship.

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Jimmy Carter — the 39th president of the United States — has reached a new milestone and become the longest-living President in U.S. history at the age of 94 years and 172 days. It exceeds by one day the lifespan of former President George H.W. Bush, who died in November 2018 at the age of 94 years and 171 days. Both men were born in 1924: Bush on June 12, Carter on Oct. 1. Carter has remained active in public life during his post-presidency, and in 2002 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in co-founding the Carter Center.

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Researchers from the University of Arkansas and Argonne National Lab in the US have identified more cost-effective and efficient ways of producing hydrogen fuel by splitting water. They showed that nano-particles composed of nickel and iron are better alternatives than more costly materials when used as catalysts in the production of hydrogen fuel through water electrolysis. The team demonstrated that using nanocatalysts composed of nickel and iron increases the efficiency of water electrolysis, the process of breaking water atoms apart to produce hydrogen and oxygen and combining them with electrons to create hydrogen gas. When nanoparticles composed of an iron and nickel shell around a nickel core are applied to the process, they interact with the hydrogen and oxygen atoms to weaken the bonds, increasing the efficiency of the reaction by allowing the generation of oxygen more easily.This marks a step toward making water electrolysis a more practical and affordable method for producing hydrogen fuel. Current methods of water electrolysis are too energy-intensive to be effective.

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In Mumbai, ESPNcricinfo has partnered with IIT Madras to launch ‘Superstats’, a next level artificial intelligence tool that can analyse cricket statistics through machine learning. The tool will forecast if and how a player’s or a team’s performance can turn around a game, on real time. Superstats will analyse the game of cricket on a combination of stats metrics- Luck index, Forecaster and Smart Stats using data science for the first time to give a context to every event in a game and also venture into new territories such as luck and forecasting. According to IIT researchers, the algorithms process data to quantify the impact of luck and analyse the real value of a player’s performance in the game of cricket on real time. Apart from forecasting, it also reveals trends and patterns during a game as the actual match data is fed on real time. For this, Superstats uses the vast ball-by-ball database of ESPNcricinfo, which has more than a decade of detailed data, and scientific methods, processes and complex algorithms based machine learning. This work was led by Raghunathan Rengaswamy and Mahesh Panchagnula of IIT-Madras along with the ESPN team.

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Australian researchers, at the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics, have developed a new automated non-invasive technique for diagnosing eye surface cancer. The novel technique involves custom-building of an advanced imaging microscope linked with computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) operations. It results in an automated system that is able to successfully identify between diseased and non-diseased eye tissue, in real-time, through a simple scanning process. The new technique scans natural light given off by specific eye cells — diseased cells — that have their own unique ‘light-wave signature’. This new technique offers the potential to reduce the need for biopsies, prevent therapy delays, and make treatment far more effective for patients. Eye surface cancer, also known as Ocular Surface Squamous Neoplasia (OSSN), is a common malignancy of the cornea and conjunctiva parts of the eye.

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The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed every year on 21st of March to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination. This day commemorates the lives that have been lost to fight for democracy and equal human rights in South Africa during the Apartheid regime (a regime which embraced racial discrimination). The 2019 theme is “Mitigating and countering rising nationalist populism and extreme supremacist ideologies”. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has also reiterated that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and have the potential to contribute constructively to the development and well-being of their societies.

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On 21st March, Italy’s PRISMA Earth observation satellite launched into orbit by the European Vega rocket from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. PRISMA (or Precursore Iperspettrale della Missione Applicativa) is a small hyperspectral imaging satellite i.e. designed to provide information about environmental monitoring, resources management, pollution and crop health. The satellite includes a medium resolution camera that can view across all visual wavelengths, as well as a hyperspectral imager that can capture a wider range of wavelengths between 400 and 2500 nanometers. The satellite will operate in a sun-synchronous orbit, meaning that it circles the Earth in such a way that the sun is always in the same position as the satellite takes pictures of the planet below. PRISMA has been constructed by OHB Italia and will be operated by the Italian Space Agency “Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI)”.

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The book titled “Every Vote Counts-The Story of India’s Elections” has been authored by former Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla. It was launched by former Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari in New Delhi. This book is about how the electoral machinery works in India. It explains about India is on the cusp of change, and with its parliamentary elections coming up.

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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government has launched a programme, titled “Lose to Win”, to help overweight employers to shed extra kilos and adopt a healthy lifestyle. The programme involves adopting a healthy diet and engaging in physical activity, helping employees lose excessive weight within 8 weeks. The programme team comprises nutritionists and health educators from Health and Education Department of the ministry. Apart from awareness sessions, the programme includes a workshop on healthy nutrition where the participants are briefed on essential topics, including how to read food labels as well as explaining the make-up of balanced diets.