Explore topic-wise InterviewSolutions in .

Reptile-like characteristics of Archaeopteryx : 

• Tail was long with free caudal vertebrae. 

• Teeth present in jaws. 

• A weak and keel-less sternum.

Bird-like characters of Archaeopteryx :

1. Presence of feathers on the body. 

2. Forelimbs modified into wings. 

3. Four toes in the foot adapted for perching.

(a) Ramapithecus : Cranial capacity 600 – 700 cc and about 4 feet tall. Bipedal locomotion with canines small, short face and small brain. 

(b) Cro Magnon man: 1.8 m tall with erect posture. Body less hairy, chin prominent, omnivores and cave dwellers.

Basic postulates of Darwinism :

(i) Enormous Power of Fertility : Every living organism has the power to reproduce rapidly. Hence there is a danger of population explosion, causing the shortage of the food and other facilities. As a result, there are chances of elimination of a number of individuals because the available resources are less and that resulted in competition among organisms where every individual tries to be fit better than the other. Darwin suggested that population of each species remains more or less constant because most of off springs die before themselves becoming capable of reproducing.

(ii) Struggle for Existence : Overpopulation resulted in struggle which Darwin called the struggle for existence.

It is of three types : 

(a) Intra-specific Struggle : The struggle within the species. 

(b) Inter-specific Struggle : The struggle between different groups of animals, e.g. carnivorous animals eat the lower herbivore animals. 

(c) Environment Struggle : Struggle with the adverse environment conditions. Such as extreme temperature, lack of sunlight, water, nutrients, etc.

(iii) Variations and Heredity : During competition, every individual tries to survive and become better fitted and shows variation. But all the variations are not significant from evolutionary point of view-some may be useful and some harmful. The useful variations are inherited in progeny of those organisms in which they arose and, therefore, the progeny have better chances of survival.

(iv) Survival of the Fittest or Natural Selection : During struggle for existence, only useful variations are selected by the organisms, and are adopted. Darwin stated that the variations are sorted out and selected naturally. Therefore, the organisms which possess such selected variations are said to be fittest.

(v) Origin of Species : Due to above facts, Darwin concluded that the struggle for existence leading to the survival of the fittest tend to successive generations to become better adapted to their environment. Thus, these forms are identified as new species.

(i) Vestigial organs are the organs which are non-functional in the possessor but were functional in their ancestors and in related animals. It is evidence of organic evolution. e.g. in human eye, nictitating membrane, vermiform appendix. 

(ii) Variation is a process by which closely related organisms come to differ amongst them-selves. Genetic drift, mutation, recombination, gene flow, migration, selection are some sources of variation. 

(iii) According to Neo-Darwinism adaptations are caused due to many forces, natural selection being one of them and that characters are not inherited as such but there are character determiners which control their development.

Cro-Magnon man or Homo sapiens fossils lived about 50,000 years ago and became extinct about 20,000 years ago.

It’s characteristic features are :

• Height was about 180 cm with sturdy body. 

• Cranial capacity was about 1666 cm3. 

• Face was perfectly orthognathous with a narrow, and elevated nose, arched and broad forehead, moderate brow ridges. 

• Jaws were strong with man-like dentition and a well-developed chin. 

• He was a cave dweller and hunter. 

• He knew the art of painting and carving. He made tools and carved ornaments from ivory, made finely chipped stone arrows and spearheads. 

• Used animal skin to sew crude garments. 

• Used fire. 

• Had some religious beliefs and elaborate burial customs. 

• He neither practised agriculture nor animal domestication.

Natural selection 

• Nature selects the best or most’ favourable adaptation. 

• It causes great diversity in nature. 

• It takes hundreds of years for a new species to evolve.

Artificial selection: 

• Man selects the characteristics it desires in an organism. 

• It has led to the evolution of a few economically important plants and animals only. 

• It leads to the formation of new species within a few months or years.

(i) A frameshift mutation is a genetic mutation caused by a deletion or insertion of a single base in a DNA sequence (code) that shifts the way the sequence is read. 

(ii) Genetic drift refers to the change in a type and ffequencey of genes in a population due to a random occurrence.

Three types of natural selection are f 

(1) Stabilizing or Balancing Selection : It leads to the elimination of organisms having overspecialized characters and maintains homogenous population which is genetically constant. It favours the average or normal phenotypes while eliminates the individual with extreme expression, e.g., sickle cell anaemia in human beings.

(2) Direction or Progressive Selection : In this selection, the population changes towards one particular direction along with change in environment. As environment is undergoing, continuous change, the organism having acquired new characters survive, and others are eliminated e.g., Industrial melanism.

(3) Disruptive or Diversifying Selection : It is a type of natural selection which favours extreme expression of certain traits to increase variance in a population. It breaks a homogeneous population into many adapted forms and results in balanced polymorphism, e.g., Three types of snails in sea.

Organs having different functions but have similar embryogenic origin and development and having similar relationship with adjacent organs are called homologous organs.

They indicate close relationship between their possessors, e.g., the forelimbs Of human, wing of bird, leg of horse and flipper of a seal are all apparently different from one another in structure and function, yet they are all built on the same pentadactyl plan, having the same number of bones, muscles, blood vessels and nerves arranged in the same pattern and developed similarly. Therefore, the most reasonable explanation is that the forelimb of all of these animals were inherited long ago from a common ancestor.

Bio fertilizers are preferred to chemical fertilizers due to following advantages : 

(i) Decomposition products of bio fertilizers help to bring mineral constituents of soil into solution. 

(ii) They improve physio chemical properties of soil such as cation exchange and buffering action. 

(iii) They modify the physical properties like granulation of the soil and increases permeability and moisture-holding capacity of soil. 

(iv) They are economically cheaper than chemical fertilizers. 

(v) Bio fertilizers do not cause any harm to environment while many chemical fertilizers are non-degradable and cause soil and water pollution. 

(vi) They provide food for soil microbes and thus enhance microbial activities.

A typical Neanderthal man had

• Height less than 150 cm. 

• Heavily built with strong and outwardly curved thigh bones. 

• Cranial capacity of 1450 cm3. 

• Brow ridges prominent. 

• Skull thick-boned, depressed and protuded behind. 

• Forehead was low and sloping. 

• Devised and used flint tools. 

• Lived in caves and used animal skin to cover themselves. 

• Buried their dead with ceremonies.

(i) Heterosis is the increased hybrid vigour displayed by the offspring from a cross between genetically different parents. 

(ii) Non-cyclic photo phosphorylation is considered as non-cyclic pathway because electrons expelled by the excited photo centre does not return to it. It produces both ATP and NADPH. 

(iii) Test cross is a special type of back cross made between the individual with a dominant trait and its recessive parent in order to know whether the homozygous or heterozygous for the trait. 

(iv) Introns are the segment of DNA that does not code for the gene product. They are transcribed in primary transcript but are subsequently removed from the transcript before translation.

(i) Brain size 1300-1600 cc. 

(ii) Used hides to protect the body 

(iii) Buried their dead 

(iv) Knew use of fire, lived in caves 

(v) Omnivore.

1. – (ii) Absorption spectrum 

2. – (ii) Seed coat 

3. – (iii) DNA is the genetic material 

4. – (iii) Parturition

1. (iv) Fusion of second male gamete with two polar nuclei. 

2. (iv) Brain 

3. (iii) 44 + XO 

4. (i) RNA molecule

(i) Bipedal locomotion 

(iii) Free grasping hands 

(v) Brain, speech and memory.

(i) Temin and Baltimore 

(ii) Dicker and Tio 

(iii) Blackman 

(iv) Robin Hill

(i) Muton 

(ii) Active absorption 

(iii) Demography 

(iv) Pleiotropy

(i) Photoautotrophic bacteria 

(ii) Tubectomy 

(iii) Commensalism 

(iv) Turgor pressure

(i) Dart (1924) fossil of a child called Taung Baby. 

(ii) Fox (1957) 

(iii) Meyer (1938).

(iv) Godfrey Hounsfield (1972)

(i) Sexually Transmitted Disease. 

(ii) Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate. 

(iii) Magnetic Resonance Imaging. 

(iv) Dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane.

(i) recombinant DNA Technology

(ii) Bacterial Artificial Chromosome 

(iii) Single-Strand Binding Protein 

(iv) Intra-Uterine Contraceptive Device

(i) Edward Lartet (1868) 

(ii) Kramer (1949) 

(iii) John Otto (1803) 

(iv) Nawaschin (1898)

(i) Medical Termination of Pregnancy 

(ii) In-Vitro Fertilization 

(iii) Human Immunodeficiency Virus 

(iv) Diffusion Pressure Deficit.

(i) Parturition 

(ii) Mesogamy 

(iii) Allele 

(iv) Demography

1. – (iv) AUG . 

2. – (ii) Altruism 

3. – (i) Analogous 

4. – (iii) Turgor pressure

(i) It is due to photo respiration. The green cells in the presence of light, take-up oxygen and produce CO₂, without yielding any useable energy. 

(ii) Apomixis is a type of asexual reproduction which mimics sexual reproductive i.e. production of seeds without pollination and fertilization. 

(iii) Recon is the small segment of DNA which can undergo recombination. 

(iv) Spores of Bacillus thuringiensis contain toxic cry proteins also called Bt-toxin which kill larvae of insects.

(a) Five advantage of road transport over water transport are as follows: 

1. Special Needs: Road transport can reach rocky and hilly remote areas which are inaccessible to water ways. 

2. Less formalities: For relatively short distances, road transport is quicker than water transport. Lesser time is wasted in booking the goods and in taking delivery. Therefore, road transport facilitates prompt delivery of goods. 

3. Multipurpose nature: Roads can be used by several types of vehicles, e.g. motor cars, trucks, buses. Road transport is very convenient and controllable. It serves as a feeder to ocean transport. Road transport provides more personal and efficient services due to small and simple organisation. 

4. Door-to-Door service: Road transport provides complete service by loading the goods at consignor’s door and unloading them at the consignee’s place. No elaborate loading arrangements are required and less time is involved in transportation. There is no need to wait for full load shipment. 

5. Economy: For short distances and small loads, road transport is quicker and economical. Cost of packing and handling of goods are also comparatively low. 

(b) Five expectations of employees from a business enterprise: 

1. Security of job and continuity of service under congenial conditions. 

2. A fair remunerations in the form of wages and salaries. 

3. Safe and comfortable working environment. 

4. Opportunity to participate in the profits and management of the organisations. 

5. Protection of trade union rights.

The Blue-White Method of selection of recombinants: Based on insertional inactivation the foreign gene is inserted into Lac Z gene coding for Beta-galactosidase enzyme which are used as selectable markers. The Betagalactosidase converts colourless substrate (X gel) into blue coloured product. In transformed hosts, Lac Z is activated due to insertion of foreign DNA. Nontransformed colonies convert colourless X gel (chromogenic substrate) into blue coloured product. The transformed colonies remain white or colourless. It helps to differentiate between transformant or recombinant and non-transformant or nonrecombinant.

Joint forest management was established by Government of India. It involves both the state forest department and local rural communities. Currently a large forest areas are under them. The rural communities protect the forest from fire, grazing, illegal harvesting and poaching. In return forest department provides non-timber forest products and share of revenue from the sale. It gives employment to the villagers. The products offered gums, resins and medicines to the villagers. This management avoids human tribal conflict.

Audio-Visual Communication: Audio visual communication combine both sound and visual effects. The information presented through this mean gives an interesting and attractive form to it, with a greater memorising value.

Chipko Movement: It is a tree-embracing movement started in April 1973 in Mandal Village in Uttrakhand against felling of trees by forest contractors. It is a spontaneous peoples movement started by the village women based upon non¬violent resistance reflecting awareness of the local people against environmental degradation. Mr. Chandi Prasad Bhatt and Mr. Sunderlal Bahuguna led the movement from the front.

Urochrome the Pigment providing colour to urine.

Mutation an alteration in the genetic material that can be inherited.

Any two differences from those given below:

Nucleotides the repeated units of DNA molecule.

Plasma the fluid portion of blood.

Auditory nerve that transmits impulses from the ear to the brain.

Social advertising media is a form of Internet advertising (unpaid efforts) that utilizes social networking websites as a marketing tool. Social advertising is any advertising in which you’re paying the social media company to display your content. It could be a display ad, a promoted tweet or other showcasing of your profile, products or services. The goal of social advertising media is to produce content that users will share with their social network to help. Youtube, Facebook, Twitter are the popular social advertising platforms.

Persuasion : Persuasion is an important element of public relations. It is through some kind of communication that persuasion takes place. To persuade means to convince another person of some idea, product, service or institution, to induce a person or group or to do something. We are all engaged in persuasion. The young man is persuading his beloved to marry him. The teacher is persuading his students to learn. The politician is persuading the voters to vote for him and his party. 

There are two forms of interaction between individuals and groups – force and persuasion. When one person compels another to do something it is interaction through force. This form of interaction is considered as an improper conduct in a civilised society. Interaction through persuasion involves convincing the other person. This is considered the right conduct. 

A flexible approach is helpful in persuading others. Before engaging in persuasive communication, a person must settle a few questions in his mind : What do I want to accomplish ? What are the interests of the people to whom I shall be talking ? What are the facts I should tell them ? A sense of human interest is necessary for anyone indulging in persuasion. The speaker has to ensure that people understand, approve and accept him and his words. 

Experts have identified the following principles of persuasion :

(a) Acceptance of the message is a critical factor in persuasive communication. Therefore, to change attitudes of people, suggestion for change must first be received and accepted. 

(b) A suggestion is more likely to be accepted if it is in conformity with needs and desires of people. 

(c) A suggestion is more likely to be accepted when it is in harmony with group norms and loyalties. 

(d) A suggestion in the mass media should be reinforced with face-to-face interaction. 

(e) A suggestion is more likely to be accepted when the source is perceived as reliable or expert.

A sales budget is an estimate of sales for a future accounting period. Sales budgets are often divided into first, second, third and fourth fiscal quarter estimates. The more accurate your sales estimates, the more effectively you can manage your business. While preparing the sales budget, the following factors are kept in mind : 

• Past Sales Figures and Trends 

• Plant Capacity 

• Availability of Raw Materials 

• Seasonal Fluctuations 

• Orders in Hand

(i) Industrial or Business to Business Advertising : An advertisement, which is directed at businesses or industrial buyers, is known as industrial or business to business advertising. Advertisements for printing machines, oil expellers, plastic moulding machines, other manufacturing machines and equipments, agricultural appliances, raw materials, etc., fall in this category of advertising. 

(ii) Concept Advertising : This is also known as primary demand advertising or ‘pioneering advertising’. It is designed to stimulate demand for a new product. It explains product’s special or distinctive features and benefits. It is aimed at creating a general demand for the product category, without emphasizing the brand name. In recent years, primary demand or pioneering advertisements have been running for personal computers (PCs), pagers, cellular phones, fax machines, answering machines (to be attached with the telephones) etc. Advertisements for creating primary demand for diamond is like this : “A diamond is for ever. ” For creation of primary demand for gemstones : “Coloured gemstones are an expression of you.

Brand promotion mix is the company’s total marketing communication programme. It consists of certain promotion tools that company uses to inform, persuade, remind and influence its customers. The four major tools are used for brand promotion are Advertising, Personal Selling, Sales Promotion and Publicity. We explain two tools, i.e., Sales Promotion and Publicity, (i) Sales Promotion : Sales promotion refers to those short-term incentives that encourage or attract customers to buy the brand without any delay. Advertising provides reasons why to buy a particular brand. 

Whereas, sales promotion offers reasons to buy a brand “now”, i.e., immediately and without any delay. Because if you do not buy “now”, then you lose the incentives which are, in fact, available only for a specified short period. Of all the methods of brand promotion, sales promotion is the only method that makes use of offering incentives. It is a type of non personal selling that supports the advertising. All brand promotion activities which do not clearly fall into advertising personal selling or publicity, are included in sales promotion. 

The basic goal of sales promotion is to increase the volume of “immediate” sales or to clear the stocks lying for sometime in the shop or store. The various types of incentives used for this purpose are : percent-off, special discount, free gifts, free extra quantity in the pack, three for two offer (take three, pay for two), coupons, contest etc. 

(a) Public Relations and Publicity : Public relations means firm’s communication and good relations with its various publics. Good relations are built in several ways, such as: by obtaining favourable publicity, building a good ‘corporate image’, handling or keeping off unfavourable rumors or events, etc. The various publics of a firm include : customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, government and its agencies, investors, financiers, the society in which it operates etc. 

Public relations activities are typically designed by the firm to build or maintain a favourable image for the firm and favourable relationship with its various publics. Use of media is not necessary for good public relations. Quick and correct disposal of customer complaints may be an effective tool for creating customer relations.

Objectives of the pricing are: 

1. to increase the sales volume of the firm. 

2. to maximize profit of the firm. 

3. to achieve quality leadership by pricing. 

4. to remove competitors from market.

(i) Bhopal gas tragedy-an Industrial disaster : On 3rd December 1984, the worst Bhopal gas industrial accident happened in Union Carbide’s pesticide manufacturing unit in the industrial town of Bhopal, India. About 45 tons of highly toxic and reactive methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked out of the tank for nearly two hours and escaped into the air, spreading within a radius of eight kilometers, over the city inhabited by 900,000 people. 3,800 people died immediately while 100,000 to 200,000 people were reported with eye problems, respiratory difficulties, cardiac failure, immune and neurological disorders. Spontaneous abortions, stillbirths and off springs with genetic disorder are still being found even after so many years of this incident. 

(ii) Chernobyl Disaster : The Chernobyl disaster was a worst radioactive accident occurred on April 26, 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, in the former USSR. The accident, caused by a sudden surge of power, destroyed the reactor and released massive amounts of radioactive material into the environment. There were a numerous fires and explosion, which killed more than 30 people immediately. 

Due to radiation, pine forest in the immediate vicinity of reactor turned brown and died*Even drinking water got contaminated. The people that have lived in the Chernobyl area were diagnosed with radiation sickness and there has been a dramatic increase in the number of thyroid cancers among children and adolescents. This is due to drinking milk from cows that ate contaminated grass immediately after the accident. This incident clearly exposes the flaws in safety measures in nuclear plants.

(a) Convenience Products: The products which customer purchases for personal convenience and are purchased frequently, immediately and with minimum efforts, are known as convenience products. For example, news-paper, cigarettes etc. 

(b) In going concern concept of accounting, it is assumed that the business will continue to exist for a long time in the future. A firm is said to be a going concern when there is neither the intention nor the necessity to wind up its affairs. This concept also implies that the existing liabilities will be paid at maturity. Unsold stock of goods are taken to the next year. 

(c) Four causes of greenhouse effect are: Carbon dioxide, Water vapour, Methane and Ozone. 

(d) Advantage of ‘Account Payee’crossing of a cheque is: 

1. To prevent fraudulent encashment. 

2. Crossing provides a protection or safeguard against loss to the securing payment through a bank. 

(e) Recurring Deposit Account: In this account, the account holder is required to deposit a specific amount every month for a specified period of time. After the expiry of the specified period, the depositer gets back his total deposit amount with interest thereon. A pass book is issued to the depositer but no cheque book is issued.

(a) Convenience Goods : These are the products which consumers purchases frequently and with minimum efforts. Bread, butter, milk, toothpaste, soaps, newspaper etc., are the examples of convenience goods. 

(b) Semi – Variable Costs : The costs which vary with every increase or decrease in the volume of production but do not vary proportionately are called as semivariable costs. Such costs contain fixed and variable elements. Because of the variable element, they fluctuate with volume and because of fixed element they do not change in direct proportion to output. Depreciation, repairs etc, are the examples of the semi-variable costs. 

(c) Revenue Expenditure : Revenue expenditure means the expenditure the benefit of which is exhausted within the current year. Such expenditure is of a recurring nature and does not result in the acquisition of permanent assets. These expenditure are incurred for meeting day to day requirement of the business enterprise. All expenses incurred on day- to-day administration of a firm and the effect of which is completely exhausted within the current accounting are called revenue expenditure. Examples of revenue expenditure are ; rent; salaries ; wages etc. 

(d) Direct Mail Advertising : In this medium, a mailing list of potential customers is prepared. The message is sent directly to individual customers through mail in the form of circular letters, booklets, leaflets, folders and catalogues which containing detailed information about the product are sent by post to these buyers.

 Advantages of Direct Mail’Advertising are : 

1. It is the most selective medium as the message is sent to selected persons directly. 

2. It has a personal touch since the message is addressed to a particular person. 

3. It ensures secrecy in advertising since the competitors do not get the information contained in the message. 

(e) Disadvantages of internal recruitment are : 

1. Limited Choice : Internal recruitment restricts the choice of management. The existing employees may not be suitable for higher positions. Competent and deserving candidates from outside do not get the opportunity to be considered for these posts. 

2. Inbreeding : When all higher level vacancies are filled in by promoting present employees, new ideas and fresh thinking may not enter the organisation.

(i) Packaging: It means placing products in suitable packages for safe and easy handling. It is not only a protective cover but it also acts as a silent salesman by providing various information about the product. Packaging also provides reuse, repack and resale value of the packaging material which adds utility to the product. It also has a competitive value as it differentiates a product from its substitutes and adds beauty to the product to grab immediate attention. 

(ii) The Chernobyl Disaster: The Chernobyl disaster occurred on April 26, 1986 at Chernobyl nuclear plant located in Chernobyl city of Ukraine. It is a nuclear power generation station from where radioactive material drifted over the surrounding area causing more than 10,000 people died due to side effect of radiation. It lead to a series of genetic disorders or changes in the areas of Ukraine, Belrus and Russia.