18 May 2024 Daily Current Affairs 

About PREFIRE Polar Mission:

• The Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment (PREFIRE) polar mission consists of twin satellites, each carrying one instrument and measuring the poles about six hours apart.
• Objective: The objective of the mission is to reveal the full spectrum of heat loss from Earth’s polar regions for the first time, making climate models more accurate.

• Aim:
  • The data from PREFIRE mission is aimed at addressing the gap in knowledge and provide data to improve predictions of climate change and sea level rise.
  • Provide new information on how Earth’s atmosphere and how ice influences the amount of heat being radiated out to space from the Arctic and Antarctic.

• How will the satellites work?
  • The mission with cube satellites about the size of a shoebox will be launched aboard an Electron launch vehicle.
  • It is equipped with technology proven on Mars and will measure a “little-studied portion” of the radiant energy emitted by Earth.
  • Two satellites carrying a thermal infrared spectrometer will be in asynchronous near-polar orbits and will be passing over a given spot on Earth at different times. To maximize coverage, they will be overlapping every few hours near the poles.
  • The instruments weighing less than 6 pounds (3 kilograms) each will make readings using a device called a thermocouple, similar to the sensors found in many household thermostats.
• The mission will help in
• • Understand why the Arctic has warmed more than 2½ times faster than the rest of the planet since the 1970s.
  • Give scientists a better idea of how efficiently far-infrared heat is emitted by matter like snow and sea ice and how clouds influence the amount of far-infrared radiation that escapes to space.
  • It will help researchers better predict how the heat exchange between Earth and space will change in the future, and how those changes will affect phenomena like ice sheet melting, atmospheric temperatures, and global weather.

About Digital Arrest:

• It is a new and innovative tactic employed by cybercriminals to defraud gullible victims and extort money.
• Modus operandi:
  • The modus operandi in this cybercrime method is that fraudsters pose as law enforcement officials such as police, Enforcement Directorate, CBI, among others and manipulate them into believing that they have committed some serious crime.
  • In certain cases, the victims are “digitally arrested” and forced to stay visible over Skype or other video conferencing platforms to the criminals until their demands are met.
  • The cyber fraudsters deceive the victim into believing that he or she has been put under ‘digital arrest’ and will be prosecuted if they do not pay the scamsters a huge amount of money.
  • The cyber criminals often force the naive victims to self-arrest or self-quarantine themselves, by tricking them into believing that they have been put under ‘digital arrest’ and cannot leave their house unless they pay up.
  • Preventing measures
    • Cyber Hygiene: It is done by regularly updating passwords, and software and also enabling two-factor authentications to reduce the chances of unauthorized access.
    • Phishing Attempts: These can be evaded by refraining from clicking on dubious links or downloading attachments from unknown sources and also authenticating the legitimacy of emails and messages before sharing any personal information.
    • Secured devices: By installing reputable antivirus and anti-malware solutions and keeping operating systems and applications up to date with the latest security protocols.
    • Virtual Private Networks (VPNs): VPNs can be employed to encrypt internet connections thus enhancing privacy and security. However one must be cautious of free VPN services and OTP only for trustworthy providers.  
    • Secure communication channels: Secure communication techniques such as encryption can be done for the protection of sensitive information. Sharing of passwords and other information must be cautiously done especially in public forums.
    • Awareness: There is a need for preventive measures and increased public awareness.

About Deda Method:

• It is a method of preserving seeds that his ancestors handed over to his family. 
• How do they preserve?
  • The seeds are preserved in leaves and packed almost airtight to look like boulders from a distance.
  • The packaged seeds are, in turn, woven with Siali leaf (Bauhinia vahlii), which is locally known as ‘addakulu’ to make the deda. 
  • A deda has three layers. In the first layer, wood ash is spread inside the Siali leaves.
  • Later, the ash is covered with lemon leaves to form a casing, and, lastly, the seeds are preserved inside the casing and sealed. Each deda is crafted to support at least 5kg of seeds.

• • The deda method guarantees the protection of seed from pests and worms.
  • In this method, the stored seeds can be used for cultivation of up to five years.
  • It helps in preserving the seeds of pulses like the green gram, red gram, black gram and beans. 

Key facts about Muria Tribe:

• Location:They are located in the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. They speak Koya, which is a Dravidian language.
• The Muria settlements are known as habitations of Internally Displaced People(IDPs), whose population is around 6,600 in A.P., and they are referred to as ‘Gutti Koyas’ by the native tribes.
• They have a progressive perspective towards marriage and life as a whole. The biggest example is the Ghotul(a commune or dormitory), which is meant to create an environment for Muria youth to understand their sexuality.
• While most Gutti Koya belong to Gond or Muria communities, which are scheduled tribes in Chhattisgarh, they are not recognized in Telangana.