Category Career Queries

Who is Arun Majumdar?

Dr.Arun Majumdar rose to fame when President Barack Obama nominated him as the Under Secretary for Energy.

A graduate from IIT – Mumbai, he is the Jay Precourt Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, and has served in many top positions in the U.S. His research mostly involves nano-scale materials, energy conservation, transport and storage and biomolecular analysis. His current work includes creating a sustainable future through thermal management, waste-heat recovery and applying Al to solve energy and climatic issues.

He was previously the Director of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He was also Professor at University of California, Berkeley, and the first director of the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).

Before joining Stanford, he was Vice President for energy at Google. He is a member of National Academy of Sciences (2020) and a fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (2014).

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What is the ELIZA effect?

Eliza was one of the first computer programs that could convincingly prompt a response from humans, similar to what happens in a normal conversation

It is a tendency to ascribe human behaviour to non-human beings. For example, we have talking animal characters in fables who act, behave and talk like humans. This is called anthropomorphism. In computer science, a similar tendency is called the ELIZA effect.

The effect is named after ELIZA, a chatbot (computer program that conducts conversations) developed by Joseph Weizenbaum in 1966. Weizenbaum had intended to prove the shallow nature of interactions between man and machine. But that did not stop people, including Weizenbaum’s personal assistant from believing that ELIZA could think and feel like a human.

Following is an excerpt from a transcript of a conversation between ELIZA and a young woman:

ELIZA: I am sorry to hear you are depressed.

Woman: It’s true. I am unhappy.

ELIZA: Do you think coming here will help you not to be unhappy?

Woman: I need some help, that much seems certain.

ELIZA: What would it mean to you if you got some help?

Woman: Perhaps could learn to get along with my mother.

ELIZA: Tell me more about your family. The program primarily rephrased the human’s lines and repeated them in a seemingly intelligent manner, prompting an emotional response from the human, similar to what happens in a normal conversation.

While communicating with the machine, people tend to forget that it is simply following a computer program. For example, after you withdraw money from an ATM, the ATM displays the words ‘THANK YOU’ at the end of the session. A layman may think that the machine is actually expressing thanks when in reality it is only following a pre-programmed coded set of instructions without any emotions.

The ELIZA effect plays an important role in the development of artificial intelligence.

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What is extradition in international law?

Extradition refers to the deportation of a person to his home country where he has committed a crime.

The topic of extradition is in the news because of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi. He recently lost in a UK court an appeal against extradition to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering in an alleged $2 billion fraud case. But what is extradition? Let’s find out…

A deterrent to offenders

Extradition means deportation of a person accused of a crime to his home country. An international mechanism, it is essential as it brings fugitives (persons running away to avoid being caught by police) to face trial in the country they have committed crimes. Fugitives flee to foreign lands in order to escape the law of their own country. Extradition acts as a deterrent against potential offenders who consider escape an easy way to subvert justice.

How does the process work?

Extradition is the process by which a state, based on the request of another, sends back a person to stand trial for a crime punishable by the laws of the requesting state. An extradition request can be initiated in the case of under-investigation. under-trial, and convicted criminals.

The Indian Extradition Act, 1962 provides India legislative basis for extradition. This Act consolidates the law relating to the extradition of fugitives from India to foreign states and vice versa. The basis of the extradition could be a treaty between India and another country. India has extradition treaties with nearly 40 countries, including the UK, the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, and Germany.

Request through MEA

A request for extradition on behalf of India can only be made by the Ministry of External Affairs, which formally submits the request to the respective foreign country through diplomatic channels. Here it has to be noted that extradition is not available at the request of members of the public.

In case of urgency, India may request a provisional arrest of the fugitive, pending presentation of an extradition request. Request for a provisional arrest is considered appropriate when it is believed that the fugitive may flee the jurisdiction.

Are there grounds for extradition requests being turned down? Yes, there are. If the offence committed is political in nature such as treason and espionage, if the offence carries capital punishment in the requesting country, if torture or inhuman treatment is possible, or if it is a military offence, the extradition request could be refused.

Nirav Modi case

Diamond merchant Nirav Modi along with his associates allegedly siphoned off Rs 14,000 crore from state-owned Punjab National Bank in connivance with some bank officials. PNB unearthed the scam on January 25, 2018. In February, an FIR was filed with the CBI against Modi and his associates. In its complaint, PNB had alleged that Modi and companies linked to him fraudulently acquired guarantees worth $1.77 billion or Rs 11,400 crore to obtain loans from the overseas branches of Indian banks, claiming to need the cash to import pearls. Nirav Modi fled India on January 1, 2018, to evade the law days before a case was registered against him and his associates. The Indian govemment sent a request for extradition of Nirav Modi to the U.K. authorities on August 3, 2018. After several twists and turns in the case, Modi lost his appeal against extradition to India in the London High Court. Meanwhile, Nirav Modi has filed an application in the London High Court, seeking permission to appeal against its decision to extradite him to India in the U.K. Supreme Court.

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What does a headhunter do?

A headhunter identifies qualified candidates to fill job vacancies in companies. A good headhunter understands the business and the needs of a company, and finds candidates best suited for the available job.

A headhunter is a professional who looks for prospective candidates for companies that want to hire new employees. When there is a job vacancy, the company approaches a headhunter to identify qualified candidates to fill the post.

A good headhunter understands the business and the needs of the company. He/she then accordingly searches through a database and comes up with a list of potential candidates who are best suited for the job. A headhunter must have good negotiating and networking skills to be successful.

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Which is the highest gateway in India?

Buland Darwaza, prime monument of Mughal architecture, is the highest gateway in the world. Buland Darwaza was built by the emperor Akbar in memory of his victory over Gujarat. The 15-storey-high gateway is the southern entrance to Fatehpur Sikri, which is a city, located 43 km away from Agra. It was formerly called Fatahabad, derived from the Persian word Fatah meaning victory. The city flourished as Akbar’s capital till 1585. During that year, it was abandoned because it was near the Rajputana neighbourhood with limited water resources. Subsequently, the capital was changed to Agra and Fatehpur Sikri became a ghost town.

Standing tall in the courtyard of the mosque, Buland Darwaza is a prominent monument in Fatehpur Sikri. The central face of Buland Darwaza carries an inscription that talks about Akbar’s religious tolerance and how broad-minded he was. The eastern archway of Buland Darwaza has a Persian inscription, which is a record of Akbar’s conquest of the Deccan in 1601 AD. Along with decorations in carving and inlaying of white and black marble, it has 42 approach steps and is 53.63 metres high and 35 metres wide. It has a consolidated height of about 54 metres from the ground level.

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What is Cryptocurrency and how does it work?

You might have heard about cryptocurrency? But do you know what it is, how it works or how it is mined? Read on to find out…

You are all familiar with currency in the form of notes and coins that are physical, meaning you can touch and feel them. There is, however, a kind of currency that you cannot see, touch or feel. It is called cryptocurrency.

What is Cryptocurrency?

A cryptocurrency is a type of digital money, the electronic form of real-world money. It has no form and exists only in the digital world. Digital payments like Google Pay, Internet banking, debit cards, etc. are necessarily linked to a bank account. In the case of cryptocurrencies, you do not need a bank- account. Digital currency allows people to send and receive payments anywhere directly to one another using an online system, without needing a bank or any centralised authority.

As a result, some countries don’t allow cryptocurrency payments, while others ban cryptocurrency exchanges or control those who provide this service.

Types of cryptocurrencies

Just like the world has many different currencies such as the Euro, the US dollar and the Japanese yen there are different types of cryptocurrencies.

The most well-known cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, which has been around since 2009 and is the world’s largest cryptocurrency. It is followed by Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano and Litecoin.

Who invented Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is considered the world’s first cryptocurrency. However, there is a lot of mystery surrounding its origin.

In October 2008, a person or a group of persons using the name ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ released a paper describing a new form of electronic cash called bitcoin, The paper was released through a mailing list using cryptography, which is a method of checking and securing data using extremely difficult mathematical codes.

The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto remains a mystery. It is unknown whether it is one person or a group of people. It is popularly believed that the name is an acronym for some of the leading technology companies: Samsung, Toshiba, Nakamichi and Motorola (Sa-Toshi-Naka-Moto).

Blockchains

When a person transfers cryptocurrency funds, this transaction is recorded in a public ledger, called the blockchain.

A blockchain is a record of all transactions carried out by cryptocurrency holders. This blockchain technology joins groups of transactions (blocks) together over time (in a chain). Each time a transaction is made, it forms part of a new block that is added to the chain. So, the blockchain provides a record of every transaction. The blockchain system is very difficult to hack.

How does a cryptocurrency work?

The cryptocurrency payments system exists only as digital entries in an online database, which describes each specific transaction. A cryptocurrency wallet is needed to store cryptocurrencies. These wallets can be software that is a cloud-based service or is stored on a computer or mobile device. It is through these wallets that a person can store encryption keys that confirm his or her identity and link to his/her cryptocurrency. This is the only tangible proof of ownership of cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency users can buy cryptocurrencies from brokers, then store and spend them using cryptographic wallets.

Cryptocurrency mining

The units of cryptocurrency are created through a process called ‘mining’. This involves using computer power to solve complicated mathematical problems that generate coins.

Cryptocurrency mining is very hard, costly and not always rewarding.

Did you know?

  • The first bitcoin transaction was for buying a pizza. A man in Florida, USA. paid 10,000 bitcoins for two pizzas on 22 May 2020, making it the first commercial bitcoin transaction.
  • There are over 9,500 cryptocurrencies in existence as of March, 2022.
  • The total amount of bitcoins available is limited to 21 million. So, at some point, no more bitcoins can be mined.

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