EDITORIALS & ARTICLES
17th April 2021
Dogecoin
Recently, the Dogecoin’s value has risen phenomenally, adding around $19.9 billion in the last 24 hours, and now valued at $34 billion.
- According to CNBC, the digital token was created in 2013 by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer.
- It was created as a faster but “fun” alternative to Bitcoin.
- It was started as a satire on the numerous fraud crypto coins that had sprung up at the time.
- It takes its name and logo from a Shiba Inu meme that was viral several years ago.
- Unlike Bitcoins, whose maximum possible number is fixed at 21 million, Dogecoin numbers do not have an upper limit.
Reason behind rise in Dogecoin
- The main reason believed to be behind Dogecoin’s meteoric surge is the same that haspropelled the value of Bitcoin and Etherem.
- The Coinbase’s market cap briefly hit $100 billion after it went public, and the values of Bitcoin and Etherem touched $64,000 and $2,500, respectively.
- The reason behind its current success is said to be a Reddit group called SatoshiStreetBets, where members built up an enthusiasm for the cryptocurrency in a manner similar that led to the rise of GameStop.
Concerns over Dogecoin
- The investors have expressed fears that Dogecoin’s rise would lead to a bubble, given that buyers do not see any meaningful value in the digital token.
- The cryptocurrencies are considered highly volatile without having any intrinsic value such as land or gold, and may crash as fast as they can rise.
- It makes investors susceptible to sudden scares as well as manipulation by small groups who often hold large numbers of the virtual currency in circulation.
Surge in Wholesale Price Index (WPI)
Recently, the centre has provided that the Wholesale-level inflation, measured by the WPI or the wholesale price index, shot up to 7.39 per cent in March on a year-on-year basis.
- The annual rate of inflation stood at 7.39% (provisional) for the month of March, 2021over March, 2020.
- The rise in WPI in March is the highest wholesale inflation rate since October 2012.
- The prices of crude oil, petroleum products and basic metal substantially increased in March 2021 as compared to the corresponding month of last year.
- The index for this major group increased by (0.55%) to 146.2 (provisional) in March, 2021 from 145.4 (provisional) for the month of February, 2021.
- The prices of Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas (8.64%), Non-food Articles (1.90%) and Minerals (0.35%) increased in March, 2021 as compared to February, 2021.
- The prices of Food Articles (-0.45%) declined in March, 2021 as compared to February, 2021.
What is Wholesale Price Index (WPI)?
- It measures the changes in the prices of goods sold and traded in bulk by wholesale businesses to other businesses.
- The WPI tracks prices at the wholesale or factory gate/mandi levels whereas the Consumer Price Index (CPI) looks at the price at which the consumer buys goods.
- The difference between the wholesale price and the retail price is the former only tracks basic prices devoid of transportation cost, taxes and the retail margin etc.
- The WPI pertains to only goods, not services.
- The WPI captures the average movement of wholesale prices of goods.
- The WPI is primarily used as a GDP deflator (the ratio of the value of goods an economy produces in a particular year at current prices to that of prices that prevailed during the base year).
- The numbers are released by the Economic Advisor in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
- The base year was updated to 2011-12 from 2004-05 for the new series of Wholesale Price Index (WPI), effective from April 2017.
- WPI has a sub-index called WPI Food Index, which is a combination of the Food Articles from the Primary Articles basket, and the food products from the Manufactured Products basket.
Indication from Wholesale Price Index (WPI)
- The analysts use the numbers to track the supply and demand dynamics in industry, manufacturing and construction.
- An upward surge in the WPI print indicates inflationary pressure in the economy and vice versa.
- The quantum of rise in the WPI month-after-month is used to measure the level of wholesale inflation in the economy.
Major components of WPI
- The primary articles are a major component of WPI, further subdivided into Food Articles and Non-Food Articles.
- The food Articles include items such as Cereals, Paddy, Wheat, Pulses, Vegetables, Fruits, Milk, Eggs, Meat & Fish, etc.
- The non-Food Articles include Oil Seeds, Minerals and Crude Petroleum
- The next major basket in WPI is Fuel & Power, which tracks price movements in Petrol, Diesel and LPG
- The biggest basket is Manufactured Goods.
- It spans across a variety of manufactured products such as Textiles, Apparels, Paper, Chemicals, Plastic, Cement, Metals, and more.
- The manufactured Goods basket also includes manufactured food products such as Sugar, Tobacco Products, Vegetable and Animal Oils, and Fats.
Reasons for surge in WPI
- It was driven largely by higher prices of crude oil and a surge in price levels of food items such as pulses and fruits.
- The surge in March was also aided by a low base in the corresponding month of 2020.
- The WPI data comes right after the retail (CPI) inflation scaled a four-month peak of 5.52 per cent in March.
- The WPI and CPI have shown a degree of dissonance, given that the WPI has a higher weight of manufactured goods and the CPI has a greater constitution of food items.
Why surge in WPI is worrisome?
- It is a warning sign given that a higher print of WPI and CPI portends an economic phenomenon of too much money chasing too few goods and services.
- There are concerns that the higher inflation on the wholesale side could eventually spill over to the retail level in the following months if the new lockdowns and restrictions hit supply chains.
Whitest Paint
Recently, the engineers from Purdue University in the US have created what they are calling the whitest paint yet.
What is the Whitest Paint?
- The team of researchers at the university created an ultra-white paint in October pushing the limits of how white paint can be.
- The older formulation was made of calcium carbonate, while the new one is made up of barium sulphate, which makes it whiter.
- The newer paint is whiter and keeps the surface areas it is painted on cooler than the formulation before this could.
- The researchers have said that if this new paint was used to cover a roof area of 1,000 square feet, it may be able to get a cooling power of 10 kilowatts.
- The team has also claimed that this paint may be the closest equivalent to the blackest black paint called “Vantablack” that is able to absorb up to 99.9 per cent of visible light.
Absorption of light by different colours
- It is necessary to note that whenever an object is seen by the eye, it is either because of sunlight or the artificial light in the room.
- The light is made up of seven different colours (Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red or VIBGYOR).
- If an individual is looking at a sofa that is green, this is because the fabric or material it is made up of is able to absorb all the colours except green.
- It implies that the molecules of the fabric reflect the green coloured wavelengths, which is what the eye sees.
- The colour of any object or thing is determined by the wavelength the molecules are not able to absorb.
Determination of wavelengths of light reflected or absorbed
- It is dependent on how electrons are arranged in an atom (the building block of life, an atom is made up of electrons, protons and neutrons).
- If an object is black, it is because it has absorbed all the wavelengths and therefore no light is reflected from them.
- It is the reason that darker objects, as a result absorbing all wavelengths tend to heat up faster (during absorption the light energy is converted into heat energy).
Reasons for Whitest Paint
- It is the paint’s high concentration of a chemical compound called barium sulfate, which is also used to make photo paper and cosmetics white.
- The team has used different sized particles of this chemical compound, which means different sizes scatter different amounts of light.
- It implies that a varying size of particles of the compound make sure that the paint can scatter more of the light spectrum from the sun.
Coronavirus Transmission is Primarily Airborne
Recently, a team of experts has looked at available research and published their assessment in The Lancet that there is strong, consistent evidence that the primary transmission route of SARS-CoV-2 is indeed airborne.
Implications of assessment of coronavirus
- If transmission is airborne, public health measures would need to take that into account.
- The measures that focus solely on large-droplet-borne transmission, but fail to treat the virus as predominantly airborne, would leave people unprotected.
How coronavirus transmission is airborne?
- The six experts from the UK, US and Canada identified streams of evidence that collectively support the hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 primarily transmits through the airborne route.
- The super-spreading events account for substantial SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
- The detailed analyses of human behaviours in concerts, cruise ships etc. have shown patterns consistent with airborne spread of SARS-CoV-2 that cannot be adequately explained by droplets or fomites.
- The long-range transmission of SARS-CoV-2 between people in adjacent rooms has been documented in quarantine hotels, but never in each other’s presence.
- The asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic transmission from people who are not coughing or sneezing is likely to account for at least a third, and perhaps up to 59%, of all transmission globally.
- It is a key way SARS-CoV-2 has spread around the world, indicating a predominantly airborne mode of transmission.
- The transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is higher indoors than outdoors and is substantially reduced by indoor ventilation.
- The researchers found that both observations support a predominantly airborne route of transmission.
- The new infections have been documented in healthcare organisations where there have been strict contact-and-droplet precautions and use of PPE designed to protect against droplet but not aerosol exposure.
- In laboratory experiments, SARS-CoV-2 stayed infectious in the air for up to 3 hours.
- In one study, viable SARS-CoV-2 was identified in air samples from rooms occupied by Covid-19 patients in the absence of aerosol-generating procedure.
- The SARS-CoV-2 has been identified in air filters and building ducts in hospitals with Covid-19 patients.
- The studies involving infected caged animals that were connected to separately caged uninfected animals via an air duct have shown transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
DuroKea Series Product
Recently, the Union Minister of Education has virtually launched the DuroKea Series Product.
DuroKea Series Product
- It is the world 1st affordable and long-lasting hygiene product.
- It is developed by the researchers of IIT Hyderabad.
- It is an innovative long-lasting technology to combat COVID-19 virus spreading.
- The next generation DuroKea antimicrobial technology starts at Rs. 189, kills 99.99% of germs instantly and leaves behind the long-lasting protective nanoscale coating up to 35 days till next wash.
- DuroKea S, DuroKea M, DuroKea H, and DuroKea H Aqua using innovative “DuroKea Technology”, is an adhesive Nano formulation.
Significance of DuroKea Series Product
- The unique property of DuroKea range is to ensure instant killing (within 60 sec) and prolonged protection which is an immense necessity during the pandemic.
- The revolutionary antimicrobial property of DuroKea products has been tested and certified by Indian Government accredited lab and field-tested at the IIT Hyderabad campus.
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