My Green Corner

Present day computers have evolved with the growth in technology and have gained tremendous speed for performing several functions simultaneously. But the human mind has an endless and infinite imagination with unlimited scopes for new and innovative explorations. Stepping-up the power of computers is also one of those infinite probabilities.

As the technology is advancing a demand for more download speed is also growing. Computer users are now eager to have more graphics with advanced features and they even also demand more useful software. This has also added up an element of security while the online trades are on growth march.

Supercomputers are super space occupiers also covering an entire room exclusively. These super-machines are heavy in demand for specific purposes including weather and climatic studies, designing super machines like aircrafts, designing computer chips and several others. But these machines cannot be used by an individual with its convenience just like a desktop.

“Quantum Computers” are the right answer to this limitation. The concept of ‘quantum computers’ is emerging now days. It is believed that the quantum computers of future would give an extended advantage to an individual and it will be possible to use the high-end machines just like a desktop or a notebook.

Quantum Codes: Hard Nuts to Crack

As the Wordpress quotes “code is poetry”, it’s going to be the same for quantum computing as well. Now day’s experts are discussing various aspects related to code-cracking. It’s more like cryptography in a sense and this will determine the slicky computer’s future.

Money and its related transactions through the internet are exponentially growing. Few known facts related to this mechanism generally reveal that such types of online transactions are highly protected by almost unbreakable security codes. This is what ‘encryption’ is all about. Majority of these encryptions are based on large numbers arranged in discrete patterns. There could be even more than 400 digits specifying a particular number used for encryption. These numbers require breaking down in to smaller prime numbers to create big numbers. These smaller numbers could even be multiplied together and this would result in to more complex encryption, really tough to crack with.

With smarter computers of today this task has been made easy and we can say that our money transactions on the internet are comparatively safer than yester times. Cracking such an encrypted code would take any present day smart computer quite long time.

“Quantum Computers” on the other side would be far smarter and would be able to crack such complex codes and encryptions within few hours or within minutes even. Will these codes be equally safer then? An answer to this question would certainly be negative. Faster and more complex encryptions and other safety measures would be required to make it even tougher for the future quantum computers. Future computing with quantum computers would need new mathematics to device more complex codes.

Quantum Leap with Every 18 Months

The “Moor’s Law” is not simply a law in itself. It also helps framing an observation of past happenings and future projections equally. At least an immediate future can easily be projected with the help of the “Moor’s Law”.

Applying this law to a specific case, it can be observed with the computer chips, numbers, and the space. According to this law the total number of components that could be squeezed on to a computer chip for the purpose of data storage or data processing would easily be doubled up after a period of each 18 months. This doubling up happens simply because of the design, manufacturing, and other technological advancements and improvements. It is now almost three decades that the phenomenon is going on. It used be just a few thousand transistors or capacitors that would fit on a piece of fingernail sized silicon in the year 1975. And after a little more than thirty years, we find placement of hundreds of millions of such miniscule transistors and capacitors on to the same sized piece of silicon. Enormous quantity of information and database can now easily be stored on computers. Various calculations at tremendously faster speed are now performed and the rate approaches to billions in just one second. This all has enhanced the powers of computers of this age.

Chip manufacturers are facing a bigger challenge now. They are pressed hard to invent smaller sized components. It is almost every 18 months that the size is reduced to half and this testifies the authenticity of Moor’s Law.

Its All about Quantum and Nano

Sometime in the seventies, the smallest dimensions of a typical computer chip used to be around ten microns. It is almost 10 millionth of a meter. It is also equivalent to normal width of the connecting wire. And now is the age of “nano” where 100 nanometer or even less has become a normal size. One hundred nanometers are equivalent to 100 billionth part of a meter. This miniscule size of chips has reduced the size of electronic elements even smaller than a normal virus. Human hair is even one thousand times more than this size. Customer satisfaction has become a major factor and this has also forced manufacturers to downsize with enhanced performance levels.

Would there be any change in this scenario? Or this would go on in this same manner? Experts opine that if the current trends are continued we would certainly land up in the middle of a crisis one day. One day suddenly some kind of “quantum uncertainty” will crop up and the present day computer chips would not be behaving in the way they do now days. Experts are of the views that extending the Moor’s law based calculations even further clearly indicate that by the end of year 2020 the present day circuit elements would be as small as an atom. And the stage when bits of electric charges storing information, databases, and drive processing power would start leaking will come even well before that.

Manufacturing circuit elements so small in dimensions would be practically impossible. It has started posing many problems before the chip technologists with even the present day growing requirements and its costs related to manufacturing facilities and productions has grown exponentially.

Nanotechnology is the only ray of hope which can solve this problem .Advancements based on stepping process would not be beneficial anymore. A combination of quantum physics and nanotechnology would yield better results. And this is how a new generation of computing will begin with this new name ,”Quantum Computing” and soon we will be witnessing a paradigm shift towards the “Quantum Computers” .

(Contd……)

Degree of risk involved with Osteoporosis used to be a big puzzle and it was a major issue among the doctors and clinicians around the world. “Until now there is no way to determine which orthopedic patient is at low risk and which one is at the high risk” said Ethel Siris, a Professor of Clinical Medicine at ‘Columbia University of Physicians and Surgeons’ in New York City.Some of the people with low bone mass will have a fracture but most of them never have fracture. This fact though known but was a main point of worry as it was not possible to differentiate between the two probabilities.

“FRAX algorithms” have solved this long pending puzzle now and to point out the people who need treatment can be find out using the FRAX algorithms. To calculate an individual’s 10-year risk of fracture ‘World Health Organization (WHO)’ has developed a new algorithm to complete this calculation.

For the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis that includes the algorithm is the new guide for a clinician. Osteoporosis can be diagnosed by a low impact fracture or a bone density score of -2.5 as a measure by “Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry or a DXA Scan”. According to the statistics, in the United States alone about 10 million people are suffering from some kind of osteoporosis. To strengthen the bones this group needs to be treated with one of the several pharmaceutical products. In absence of a definite measurement of bone fracture susceptibility and degree of risk involved with the level of severity of osteoporosis it becomes extremely difficult to select the most appropriate medication and treatment.

The people whose bone density scores range between minus1.0 and minus2.5 are known to have “Osteopenia”. The treatment of people with osteopenia is more of a puzzle as the number of people suffering from this disorder has reached to almost 34 million. The risks for fracture are high in this group of people but it is not clear that who among group needs the treatment and which particular treatment should be prescribed. By keeping this population in mind the new tools were developed.

According to the ‘National Institutes of Health’, one in two women and one in four men above the age of 50 has an osteoporosis related fracture. The cost is very high for such fractures. For those at high risk many groups have worked to improve educational efforts on ways to prevent bone loss and to gain insurance coverage for bone density screening.

According to Dr. Siris evidence based direction to help doctors and others to identify patients of age above 50 who are at a risk of breaking a bone is provided by the new clinician’s guide. Richard Hellman, President of the ‘American Association of Endocrinologists’ said that the guidelines that represent an important improvement in the risk evaluation quality and treatment of osteoporosis will assist clinicians in treating osteoporosis. The focus is shifted from bone density scores to fracture risk by the new guidelines. New algorithm based calculation would further facilitate clinicians and doctors around the world to define and select the most suitable treatment for an osteoporosis patient.

Laura Tosi who is an orthopedic surgeon at Children’s National Center in Washington D.C welcomed the new development and also stressed that the fractures are the issue, not the osteoporosis because the people without osteoporosis will also have fractures.

Dr. Kanis, the Director of ‘WHO Collaborating Center for Metabolic Bone Diseases’ and the professor emeritus at the ‘Sheffield University’ developed “FRAX” which is known by clinicians and researchers for several years. Edward Leib, a professor of medicine at the University of Vermont said that using the data published by Dr. Kanis he began calculating 10-year fracture risk about five years ago and results obtained with this new system have been extremely satisfactory.

“FRAX” is an online calculator which determines the patient’s risk of fracture over the next 10 years when the physicians give answers to the questions such as patient’s height, weight, bone density scores at the hip, history of fracture, smoking status, whether a patient had a fractured hip and how many drinks imbibed per day. The calculator can be used in several countries and also in countries where DXA scanners are not available. To determine whether the treatment is cost effective the resulting score can be used. Multiuser interface of this algorithm based fracture calculator is an extended advantageous tool for everyone since it is available online.

When the 01-year risk of a hip fracture reached above 3% as determined by FRAX it was found cost effective to treat a person in the United States. When the risk for any fracture over the next 10 years reached 20% was also considered cost effective to treat.

By including the men above 50 and postmenopausal women for the first time when the population needs an evaluation for fracture risk, the new guide breaks the ground. An important risk for low bone mass in people of all background has found by the recent research.

 Lifestyle across the world is changing fast and organic food is gaining popularity and acceptance among people. This enhances a need of growing them even bigger. With the changing trends people are now adapting to new gardening methods and like to grow organic foods in their home gardens as well.

Organic food is a wide term and involves almost everything like fruits, vegetables, edible flowers, and various types of herbs. It is really interesting to find that while growing every other organic food in gardens is slightly complicated the herbs’ growing is much more easily.

One doesn’t have to be an expert gardener for growing herbs. It is just a decision away. Place and space also have no issues when it comes to growing herbs. A small yard or even pots in homes would be also being quite suitable for herbs plants growing.

Before going ahead for having an herbs gardening it is always better to have some background information about herbs. Now days the info is readily available on internet and many other books are also available in the markets.

The basic research and background would be helpful in deciding the herbs that could be grown in homes with no complexities. A wise research based selection of herbs would further reduce the problems in gardening. It is important and therefore must be taken seriously. At the same time the selection should involve a variety of herbs so the garden has easy-to-grow herbs varieties.

Selection of herbs is purely an individual’s own choice. For a pizza lover having “basil” in garden would add flavors to the dish. Italian food lovers would more probably go for “parsley”, in their gardens. Mexican and Indian cuisine lovers would prefer to have “cilantro” in their herb gardens. It all depends what a person likes.

One the selection is finalized one should begin with the initial steps of herb gardening. Learning few basic steps for herb gardening will help in long run. A systematic and planned herb gardening would certainly result in to better outputs.

Start with Right Search

It starts with beginning the search for right gardening resources at right place. The list could contain several items including seeds, seedlings, herb plants, and others. Locating the source comes next to this stage. Visiting a local garden store would be a good idea. A nursery situated in nearby area would also be a right place to visit.

Seeds, seedlings, and herb plants of your choice would be available at these places easily. One would generally find several varieties of one particular herb. Careful pre-study and discussion with the expert sellers or gardening experts available at these stores or nurseries would definitely lead to final selection of beneficial herbs suitable for gardening.

A research conducted for seeds, seedlings, and herbs and their various varieties would always be more advantageous. All these background information’s ultimately add to right decision making.

Pre-treating With Moisture

Once the right seeds have been procured they need to be treated with moisture first before sowing. Direct sowing without treating the seeds is never advisable. It is always better to keep the procured seeds soaked in to water for a sufficient time.

If it becomes slightly difficult then alternatively the seeds could also be kept wrapped in a wet paper towel or cotton cloth. This wrapping could then be place inside of a plastic bag for at least four hours. After this treatment with moisture the seeds would be ready to meet the soil and sowing.

Grounding with Potting Soil

The post-moisture treatment would be sowing the herb seeds in to the soil. This becomes very important that have most suitable and well prepared potting soil. It must be enriched with perlite and peat moss.

A nicely and proportionately perlite and peat moss mixed soil will provide better growing environment to the herbs seeds. This mixture will also facilitate good draining as well. Herbs growing require well drained soil.

Give Herbs Suitable Place to Grow

Ensure that you purchase or find the suitable pots or boxes for growing herbs. You may also find containers around your home itself and these can easily be converted in to pots. It is recommended that you better purchase clay pots as they are the most suitable for providing enough air circulation to the roots. Alternatively, you may also like to purchase suitable plastic, metal, or ceramic pots in case you are not able to water the herbs regularly.

Herbs require more water to grow and therefore provision of drainage in the pots would be required. A hole in the pot base would help the moisture escape suitably.

Ensure Enough Sunlight

Sunlight is very essential for herbs growing. Insufficient sunlight would affect the growth of herb plants adversely. In and around homes sufficient sunlight must be ensured. Normally direct sunlight for about five to six hours every day would be sufficient.

Herb gardening experts also recommend that herb plants should never be placed at unfavorable spots. A pot having herbs seeds sowed should better be placed on the top of a refrigerator as it will keep the warmth helpful for seeds sprouting. Later after the germination of seeds the pots can be moved to a better sunny place.

Maintaining pH Balanced Soil

Ideally a pH of 6.5 would be one of the best and most appropriate pH values for a soil. A soil having this pH value would be slightly acidic in nature.

Knowing the right pH value of soil suitable for herbs is extremely important. Technological advancements have made it so easy and manageable that any person can easily measure the pH value with the help of specific handy instruments. There are small handy instruments available which make this complex and complicated process as an easiest process. Several types of carry easy-to-use pH and fertility testing kits are also available at the hardware stores.

Instruments have their own variations depending upon the skill and level of capability of user. Beginners will find a beginner’s set exclusively designed for them and expert gardeners will have their advanced models of these kits and instruments.

Herbs would make your food more healthy and tasty and would also add many flavors to it. Herbs have several types of medicinal and aromatherapy advantages. Growing herbs in homes or in garden is definitely a beneficial proposal.

Mulching the garden helps in controlling undesired wild grasses and prevents grass seeds from germination. Mulching is also helpful in stabilizing soil temperatures within the root zone. Mulching also smothers small weeds within the garden area. Garden mulch with thick layers will support maintaining soil moisture and make it available to the plants. This prevents moisture in the soil from getting evaporated from the soil surface.

Garden mulching is directly related to the rate of erosion and crusting of the soil. Soil erosion and soil crusting can easily be prevented if thick and heavy mulch is applied with care. The soil can easily be protected this way. Heavy rain will rather dribble through the mulch and will make its own way with rapid run off.

In case soft mulch is considered to be applied in the garden, it will turn in to compost subsequently and will reduce the damages caused by frost and freezing. Plant roots will be protected during winters because the system around plants will be converted as an insulator.

Different types of garden mulching will give a completely different outlook to the garden. Mulching will help fruits and vegetables including strawberries, cucumbers, dwarf growing tomatoes, brush fruits coming off the ground with minimum decay.

Generally, one should prefer mulching during middle of the summer season.  Mid-summer times are most suitable as the surrounding heat also impacts the soil temperatures. Soil temperature plays a vital role in proper mulching.  Late mulching or spring mulching should be avoided. You must know that soil needs to be warm at the time of mulching.

Mulching is a systematic process. One should not apply mulch around the plants early as the soil will remain cool for a longer time and plant’s growth will be slow. Ensuring right temperature of soil will help plants growing.

If the plants are relatively young then the mulching can be placed at 7cm deep over the ground. Similarly, while caring for the new vegetable seeds which have been grown from seed and transplanted in to the beds one will have to mulch sparingly with a depth of 3 cm in the ground, Increase the depth up to 7 cm gradually.

If there are lettuce and radishes in the garden the mulching would require different approach. When applying mulch to lettuce and radishes and other low growing plants, it must be done properly on all sides of the row with 4 cm depth. For cucumbers and melons mulching in entire area is strongly recommended. Systematic and proper mulching will result in to less fruit loss from diseases. Mulching is necessary for overall health of the plants.

The material constituting garden mulch is very important. Nature and basic characteristics of ingredient materials would largely affect the resulting harvest. One should always prefer rapidly decomposing garden mulch after the crop is harvested as it becomes far easy.

There are a variety of basic ingredient mulching materials available but as a thumb rule the materials available in nearby areas should be selected if these materials are rapidly decomposing in nature. Bark, finely shredded cedar, and shredded wood chips generally found under trees and shrubs are some of the most common and good mulching materials. You will find cocoa bean hulls very useful for making mulch for your flower garden. Cocoa beans will spread a chocolate fragrance around your garden. You must ensure watering after placing this for keeping it safe from spreading .If you have a pet dog, better avoid using this mulch. Dogs generally love the taste of cocoa beans and will chew the mulch away.

Grass clippings are good mulch material if fresh. Grass clippings also contain high moisture and nitrogen. Fall leaves are nature’s favorite and therefore it is always advisable to use them as mulching material. Fall leaves must be chopped up properly in to fine pieces before their use as mulching material.

Straw also make great mulch specifically when applied to the vegetable gardens. Pine needles are comparatively long lasting and light mulching materials. Straws and pine needles make good mulch material specifically for woodland gardens.

One extremely important aspect related to mulching must be taken well care of. You should never leave the garden mulch loose and light. Mulch if left loose and light will more probably be blown or kicked about in such a condition. At the same applying mulch too tightly would also affect the health of plants. Apply mulch carefully as it can prevent aeration killing the roots.

Soil’s nature could be acidic or basic. Measurement of such nature of soil is commonly known in scientific terms as the pH of the soil. Take care of the soil because improper mulching could increase acidity with reduced pH. This reduced pH of the soil would cause a deficiency of nitrogen in it. Nitrogen is one of the most important elements responsible for plant’s growth. Some of the mulches have untidy appearance and therefore you should select the right material to make your garden mulch.

 Basics of Prostate Glands

A walnut-sized gland in the male reproductive system is the “Prostate Gland”. Changes occur in this gland as the man ages can cause disruptions in his life. The change may be from annoying urinal symptoms to the dangerous prostate cancer. Although younger persons can be affected by the prostate problems, mostly the prostate problems come to the surface after 50 years of age. The causes are exactly not known but studies show that a combination of genetic, hormonal and environmental factors such as diet also plays a role.

Prostate inflammation with painful or difficulty in passing urine is “Prostatitis”. The erectile function is not affected by ‘Prostatitis’. “Prostatitis” frequently strikes younger men unlike other prostrate diseases and treatment can be difficult.

Non-cancerous enlargement of the prostrate that can interfere with urination is “Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)”. Erectile function is not altered by this disease called “Prostatitis”. Prostrate cancer is common in older men. About 70% of the men aged over 65 are diagnosed with prostate cancer. It is more common in African American men than any other group and tends to hereditary.

Location of prostate is in front of the rectum and just below the bladder. The tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the body wraps around the upper part of the urethra. The connective and glandular tissues found in the prostrate glands produces a thick milky-white fluid that forms part of the semen that is a liquid ejaculated during sexual activity. The prostate gland requires adequate amount of certain hormones for functioning properly such as testosterone that is produced by the testicles as well as other hormones from the pituitary and adrenal glands.

Prostate Disorder Diagnosis

Digital Rectal Examination (DRE)

DRE is used to determine whether the prostate is swollen or has any lumps or abnormally textured area in which the doctor inserts a lubricated, gloved finger in to the rectum and feels the surface of the prostate glands. DRE also helps doctors to screen diseases of the rectum such as rectal cancer. All men ages 50 or older have to take a yearly DRE, advises the ‘American Cancer Society’.

Conflicting results are produced by the studies and the study conducted by ‘Mayo Clinic’ demonstrated that men who get DREs are less likely to develop prostate cancer.  DRE is a useful screening test. The accuracy of DRE depends on the skill of the doctor and interpreting the test. DRE cannot detect early cancerous tumors as they are too small and cannot be located by the doctor’s fingers also. Because of this DRE sometimes miss the smallest and most treatable tumors. Tumors which cannot be felt by the physicians are less likely to be dangerous.

PSA Test

PSA is a blood test which measure the level of a protein called “Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA)” which is produced by the prostate. This is used to detect prostrate cancer but cannot provide a correct diagnosis. Because an above normal PSA level does not always shows the presence of cancer i.e. more than 4 nanograms per milliliter of blood and the levels of 4 ng/ml or less than that does not mean that the person is completely prostate cancer free.

The clues besides cancer also can provide by the PSA test. The mildly elevated PSA levels do not have cancer. The non-cancerous conditions such as “Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia” and “Prostatitis” are accompanied by elevated PSA levels. An elevated PSA also means that prostate glands naturally release more protein in to the blood. According to some studies the ejaculation can elevate PSA levels for up to 48 hours. Doctors also use PSA test for follow-up after prostate cancer treatment and also to predict which patients with BPH are likely to develop troublesome symptoms.

PSA Screening

Prostate cancer is more common but only 3%-4% of men die of prostrate cancer.

Screening increases the chance of finding prostate cancer but does not decrease of having it.

It can detect early stage cancers.

A normal PSA level does not mean that the person is cancer free.

Higher PSA level may force the person to seek treatment resulting in possible urinary and sexual side effects.

BPH and Prostatitis are also the conditions that can elevate the PSA level.