3171: Which one of the following straits is nearest to the International Date Line?
(a) Strait of Hormuz
(b) Bering Strait
(c) Malacca Strait
(d) Strait of Gibraltar
3172: Which one of the following issues the 'Global Economic Prospects' report periodically?
(a) The Asian Development Bank
(b) The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(c) The US Federal Reserve Bank
(d) The World Bank
3173: What is Agent Orange?
(a) An ace spying group trained by the Police in London
(b) A weed-killing chemical used by the US Military in the Vietnam War
(c) A technique used in the advanced railway safety procedure
(d) A special chemical used in making alloy steel
3174: Acid precipitation is now regarded as a serious problem in some European and Asian countries. Its major cause or source is
(a) discharge of acidic effluents onto neutral or slightly alkaline land where the acidic components precipitate
(b) emissions of sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides from thermal power plants and burning of fossil fuels; these oxides dissolve in atmospheric water vapour and fall back on earth as acid rain
(c) natural carbon dioxide released during respiration of living organisms dissolves in water, forming carbonic acid which is the chief contributor to acidity in rain water
(d) chloro-fluoro-carbons readily react with various chemicals near the earth's surface, producing acidic intermediates which cause acid precipitation
3175: When one gene controls two or more different characters simultaneously, the phenomenon is called
(a) Apomixis
(b) Pleiotropy
(c) Polyploidy
(d) Polyteny