Jobin Lopez 06/06/1987

My first project

2010-04-11T12:20:00.002+05:30

Got my first project at cognizant technologies solutions . I am very happy that i got it.

more detail soon

3 Greatness in one day

2009-06-06T16:11:00.004+05:30

Today is June 06 2009 ,any guess what will be the content of the post.
If you are following this blog for last one year you will notice this is the 1'st birthbay of my blog .It also happens that I am turning 22 year old today. Also today I got the B.Tech degree in Electronics And Communication Engineering from CUSAT UNIVERSITY. Today will be one of my luckiest birthday ever.

Top 20 strategy games

2009-06-01T07:21:00.002+05:30

Throughout the centuries people have enjoyed games. From simple ones to pass the time to more complex ones that use strategy and challenge the participants to compete intellectually and have been called mental sports. Man’s love of competition and play has evolved over recent decades and there are far more choices now than ever before. For the list I have skipped video and online games, sticking with those that have actual physical pieces. No exclusions were made based on whether they are better with 2 or multiple players. In the 17th and 18th century, being a great gamer was admired as often top military leaders played wargames to determine different scenarios and plan attacks.
Today gaming is simultaneously more popular yet often considered as nerdy. Hopefully this list will inspire some people to try out new games or dig their old ones out of the closet.

Dominoes

12th Century

The game features bones (tiles) with a number of pips on them. Players match them up trying to empty their hands by matching one of the numbers with one of the free numbers on the table. Dominoes are also noted for being able to stand on end in long rows so that when one is knocked over they all fall in a row. A popular pasttime is lining up hundreds or thousands of dominoes to make designs when they fall.

Checkers/Draughts

3000 BCE Persia

This popular game among children features discs which move along an 8×8 grid jumping opponent’s pieces to remove them from the game. It does feature pure strategy and no luck (outside of tournament play) but tends to be simplistic by today’s standards. In the 1930s Tournament play began reducing the number of draws by introducing random starting moves.

Monopoly

1935 Darrow/Parker Brothers

The world’s most popular and imitated boardgame features players as landlords trying to buy properties, build houses and hotels, and monopolize areas for higher prices. A trading aspect is popular. The game has undergone criticism as being too simplistic but is still considered a classic by many and is a great game for kids. The economic aspects are highly balanced however and common rules variants such as collecting money while landing on free parking tend to remove the strategy turning it into a luck based game.

Scrabble

1938 various manufacturers

The game played on a 15×15 grid features players spelling out words for points. The game features areas with double or triple letter or word score and letters have more points if they are less commonly used. Fanatical players have actually gone as far as memorizing all the acceptable words from the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. Be warned, if someone you don’t know offers to play you for 10 cents a point as they might be able to win by many hundreds of points.

Kensington

1979 Forbes-Taylor

This game has undeservedly remained relatively obscure since its creation but is on par with the best in the world. The game is played on an unusually designed board of 7 interconnecting rings made of triangles, squares and hexagons. One of those games that takes minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. You place pieces each round trying to control areas and you do have the option of moving opponents pieces to areas of your choosing.

Backgammon

Versions of this game have been popular ranging as far back as 3000 BCE in Egypt, Persia, and Rome. The game involves some luck with dice rolling and some strategy with planning moves. It has been very popular since the 1700s as a strategy/gambling game. Today there are a number of clubs devoted to it and a world championship held each year in Monte Carlo.

Risk

1957 Parker Brothers

The original mass produced world conquest game has each player send their armies into battle to take over continents and finally the world. Play has a large random element with dice rolls, a good amount of strategy, and is fun for the making of alliances and the
eventual backstabbing when they no longer suit you.

Diplomacy

1959 Games Research

Similar in some ways to Risk this world conquest game has a unique twist. Before each round players go off in pairs with each other making deals. “If you send troops to attack him here I will attack him here”. They negotiate this way with each other. “He is planning to move to attack you here so fortify it and he will be weak here so I will attack him there” After everyone has made plans this way they write down on paper what they actually do which can range from anticlimactic to shockingly unexpected.

Mah Jong

Developed about 2500 years ago in ancient China this game (not to be confused with the Mah Jong solitaire game which has been a popular video game in different versions) caused a sensation when introduced into the west around 1920. It became a fad among the middle and upper classes and today vintage sets from that era are sought after collectibles, however be warned many had tiles made of ivory and ownership can be illegal in some areas.

Tactics II

1958 Avalon Hill

The original Tactics published in 1954 was a predecessor to this classic. Avalon Hill was known as THE wargame company and produced strategy “chit based” games on virtually every major battle in history. This was the one that started the entire wargame genre and without it there likely wouldn’t have been many of the newer games on the list.

Bridge

19th century developed from earlier games. This is the king of trick taking card games. Teams work together to try and make books after bidding on how many they expect to take and the suit to be considered trump. Not as popular as it once was, there are still a number of fans and newspaper columns devoted to the strategy of the game appear in many newspapers on a regular basis.

Civilization

1981 Avalon Hill

The opposite of the conquer the world type games this is about developing societies through trade and cooperation with other players. You need to help your fellow players in order to advance your own societies and the game has a good moral lesson as well as being highly fun to play. An online version of the game has been remarkably successful as well.

Dungeons and Dragons

While this one barely qualifies on the physical pieces requirement it has to make the list based on originality and long lasting appeal. In 1974 Tactical Studies Rules (TSR) a small company that produced wargames produced this based on their chainmail game of wargame rules. The longest lasting and most popular of the RPG (Role playing game) genre has each player create a fantasy (typically middle ages style) character while a DM (Dungeon Master) creates a story scenario. The players then work as a team to solve the created problems such as battling monsters, negotiating with NPCs(Non player characters run by the DM), disarming traps, and rescuing damsels in distress. The role playing part can range from minor bad acting out of fantasies to seriously talented (I’ve seen a few people who could be on the stage with their skill) but the strategic part is what interests many players. There have been several editions over the years with different rules so be sure your group uses the same set that you do. The game suffered a bad reputation in 1982 when an exploitive TV movie was made about a teenage player using the game as a way to plan the murder of his stepfather.

Settlers of Catan

1995 Klaus Teuber/Mayfair Games

The game that established Germany as the most innovative game nation of the last decade has had tremendous worldwide popularity with many different versions (Seafarers of Catan/Starfarers of Catan). One of the cooperation/resource trading games genre it features gathering of the resources you have access to such as wood, grain, wool, and brick and trading extras to other players so that you can each build your areas. Played on a board of interconnecting hexagons, it can be rearranged for each new game creating different strategies each time.

Carcassonne

2000 Hans Im Gluck/Rio Grande Games

This German game won the 2001 game of the year award and has been extremely popular worldwide with a number of optional expansion sets. Square tiles are drawn and feature a puzzle like design. Placed together in different ways the game board is built as you play as you try to build cities, roads, fields, and cloisters scoring points both along the way and at the end. One of the fun aspects in multiplayer is that no one gets eliminated along the way and has to sit and watch the surviving players.

Axis and Allies

c 1980 Nova Games. 1984 Milton Bradley

The ultimate world conquest game has been called “Risk on steroids”. Highly in depth rulebook and attractive playing pieces have made this THE World War II game. It features in depth strategy and even though it is dice based a minimal luck factor. Some players even eliminate the dice and just determine results of attacks based on odds. The original features the entire world war while later versions have been produced concentrating on Europe or the Pacific. A highly addictive game for many be warned to have enough time as games can take quite a while. I once played from 7pm to 6am, although 4 hours is usually enough time. Optional expansions both licensed and unlicensed have been produced.

Illuminati

1982 Steve Jackson Games

The ultimate game for conspiracy theorists and just silly fun for others. This game features cards for various groups and players work to each build their own conspiracies through them. Perhaps the FBI is controlling the Ford Motor Company, or the Semiconscious Liberation Army has secret plans regarding the IRS and Cattle Mutilators. Do South American Nazis really run the Nanotech Companies? Along with a traditional method of winning each player also has an individual victory goal which makes the game highly challenging. Special rule… cheating is both allowed and encouraged (other than stealing from the bank while collecting your normal income) as long as you don’t get caught.

From about 2000 BCE Japan and China.

Former world chess champion Emanuel Lasker once said “although chess is probably confined to Earth, if there is intelligent life on other planets, surely they know Go.” Each player has stones of either white or black and take turns laying them on intersections of a 19×19 grid. Simple rules and infinitely complex strategies make this one of the greatest games ever.

Chess

(Predecessors from 600 BCE) India. What can be written about chess that hasn’t been? One of the most popular games worldwide for over 500 years this game has had more clubs devoted to it, more books written about it, more computer versions (one theory suggests computers were invented mainly to create chess programs) than any other game. The game masters the art of removing luck and leaving it purely at skill.

Poker

The origins of the game are lost to history today but variants such as the French Poque have been around for 300 years. The most popular strategy game in the US and probably the world today is played regularly by tens of millions in the US alone. The game is about mastering luck in which the random element of the cards dealt is compensated for by the skills involved in betting, bluffing, calculating odds, and trying to figure out what your opponent has and will do. Poker has experienced an explosive growth in popularity over the last 6 years as televised matches among the top players have been very popular. Although there are many variants such as 7 card stud and Omaha High-Low, one of the lesser known ones worldwide, No Limit Texas Hold-em has been the most televised and seen the biggest boost. The World Championship held each year in Las Vegas is open to anyone with $10,000 to enter and often features celebrities (Don’t underestimate them! some like Gabe Kaplan, Sully Erna, Jennifer Tilly, and Montel Williams have had some notable results) and poker professionals, online players, and amateurs.

Contributor: Clantargh

Junior telecom officer BOOKS

2009-05-17T23:01:00.003+05:30

This exam is scheduled to be held on June 21th . I am also writing this exam so i thought that u will be interested in it so here are some materials i can find in web

Download here

Amrita Rao

2009-05-17T13:21:00.004+05:30

Hi every one today I happened to see the film Mein Hoon Na. Even though i have seen this film many time ,it was different this time ,I became the fan of Amrita Rao .i can't wait to tell you all about it .So i have added this post in my blog.

Read about her in here

Amrita Rao

Born	June 17, 1981 (1981-06-17) (age 27) Chitrapur, Karnataka, India
Occupation	Model, actress
Years active	2002 - present

Amrita Rao (Konkani: ಅಮೃತಾ ರಾವ್. IPA: [əmrita raʊ], born June 17, 1981) is an Indian model and Bollywood actress.

Beginning her career as a model, Rao made her acting debut with Ab Ke Baras (2002), which went unnoticed. However, she grew into prominence when she starred in Ken Ghosh's love-story, Ishq Vishk (2003) and earned her first Filmfare nomination in the Best Female Debut category. Delivering acclaimed performances and commercial success with films like Main Hoon Na (2004) and Vivah (2006), her biggest commercial success so far, she has established herself as one of the most promising actresses of Bollywood.

Personal life

Amrita Rao was born in Chitrapur to Deepak Rao. She belongs to the Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin family in Karnataka. She speaks Kannada, English, Marathi, Hindi and her mother tongue, Konkani.

Career

Modeling

Rao attended C.G High School in Mumbai,and later enrolled in Sophia College to pursue a degree in Psychology. While studying there, she auditioned for an advertisement for Fairever Face Cream. To her surprise she was selected amongst 60 other contestants. After that, she got many offers and became one of the most sought-after models in India within a year.

Her appearance in Cadbury’s Perk Karwa Chaut ad and the Bru Coffee advertisement helped her receive offers from film directors in Bollywood. As she wanted to complete her education, she refused them. After earning a degree in psychology, she began her profession as an actress, working in films.

Acting

She made her acting debut with Ab Ke Baras (2002), but gained recognition only after the success of her 2003 film, Ishq Vishk, in which her portrayal as Payal earned her the girl-next door image. Success followed for her in 2004 with films like Masti and Main Hoon Na.

Her career took a setback when her following releases, Deewaar (2004), Vaah! Life Ho To Aisi (2005), Shikhar (2005), and Pyare Mohan (2006) did poorly at the box office. Things turned around when she starred in Sooraj R. Barjatya's blockbuster Vivah (2006) opposite Shahid Kapoor. The film was a universal success and her performance was well appreciated by critics, earning her a Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Award.

Rao recently made her debut in Tollywood, with the Telugu hit Athidhi opposite Mahesh Babu. Amrita had no releases in Bollywood in 2007. Amrita's first release of 2008 was My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves , which did not do very well at the box office but the subsequently released Welcome to Sajjanpur-where she played a village belle- did decently.

Awards and nominations

Filmfare Awards

Nominated

2004: Filmfare Best Female Debut Award for Ishq Vishk
2005: Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for Main Hoon Na

Star Screen Awards

Nominated

2003: Star Screen Award Most Promising Newcomer - Female for Ab Ke Baras
2004: Star Screen Award Most Promising Newcomer - Female for Ishq Vishk
2007: Star Screen Award Best Actress for Vivah
2007: Star Screen Award Jodi No. 1 along with Shahid Kapoor - Vivah

Zee Cine Awards

Nominated

2004: Zee Cine Award Best Female Debut for Ishq Vishk

International Indian Film Academy Awards

Winner

2004: IIFA Awards, Best Female Debut for Ishq Vishk

Stardust Awards

Winner

2004: Stardust Superstar of Tomorrow - Female for Ishq Vishk
2009: Stardust Best Actress Award for Welcome to Sajjanpur

Other Awards

2004: Sansui Awards, Best Debut - Female for Ishq Vishk
2007: GR8 Women Awards, Young Achiever
2007: Anandalok Puroshkar Awards, Most Promising New Talent for Vivah
2007: Sports World Awards, Jodi of the Year along with Shahid Kapoor for Vivah
2007: Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Award for Vivah^[10]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
2002	Ab Ke Baras	Anjali Thapar/Nandini
2002	The Legend of Bhagat Singh	Mannewali
2003	Ishq Vishk	Payal Mehra	Nominated, Filmfare Best Female Debut Award
2004	Masti	Aanchal Mehta
	Main Hoon Na	Sanjana (Sanju) Bakshi	Nominated, Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award
	Deewaar	Radhika
2005	Vaah! Life Ho To Aisi	Priya
2005	Shikhar	Madhvi
2006	Pyare Mohan	Piya
2006	Vivah	Poonam
2007	Heyy Babyy		Special appearance in song Heyy Babyy
2007	Athidhi	Amrita	Telugu film
2008	My Name is Anthony Gonsalves	Riya
	Shaurya	Neerja Rathode	Cameo appearance^[11]
	Welcome to Sajjanpur	Kamla	Winner, Stardust Best Actress Award
2009	Victory	Nandini

Dare To Take The Ultimate Lazy Guys Way To Success!

2009-05-17T02:41:00.002+05:30

You are not going to believe this…but you need to!

I just checked out Matt Callens incredible software called
HyperVRE, and this could be the first time that I have used
a free software more than I do my other paid apps.

Matt told me I could let a few people know about the site before
he starts charging for the product, and I had to tell you about this. :-)

While I could go on and on about the features and how they have
benefited my business, I think you really need to see for yourself
what this software really can do.

For now - he is giving this software away for free, so there is no risk. But you need to hurry before there is a hefty one-time payment.

Eight Most Deadly Infectious Diseases 1990 vs. 2004

2009-05-16T12:33:00.003+05:30

Eight Most Deadly Infectious Diseases 1990 vs. 2004

Eight Most Deadly Infectious Diseases
1990 vs. 2004

Disease

Cause

Cases/yr 1990

Deaths/yr 1990

Deaths/yr 2004

Respiratory infections*

Fungi, Bacteria, viruses

1 billion

4.7 million

3.9 million

Diarrheas**

Bacteria, viruses, protozoa

1.8 billion

3.1 million

1.8 million

Tuberculosis

Bacterium

9 million

3.1 million

1.5 million

Malaria

Sporozoan

110 million

2.6 million

1.3 million

AIDS

HIV Virus

5.6 million

4 million ?

2.8 million

Measles

Virus

200 million

1 million

0.6 million

Hepatitus B

Virus

200 million

1 million

0.1 million

Tetanus

Bacterium

1 million

½ million

0.2 million

Creutzfeldt-JakobMCD

Prions

6 thousand

n.l.

* includes pneumonia, influenza, and whooping cough
** includes amoebic dysentery, cryptosporidiosis, and gastroenteritis
Catastrophies accidental death
2004 http://www.who.int/whr/2004/annex/en/index.html

"Adult" Causes of Death, 1999, Global

www.uky.edu/Classes/PHI/350/cod.htm
	United States (1994)	Developed Regions (1990)	Developing Regions (1990)
1	Heart Disease	Heart Disease	Lower Respiratory Infections
2	Cancer	Cerebrovascular	Heart Disease
3	Cerebrovascular	Trachea, Bronchus	Cerebrovascular & Lung Cancer
4	COPD	Lower Respiratory Infections	Diarrheal Diseases
5	Accidents	COPD	Conditions During Perinatal Period
6	Pneumnia & Flu	Colon & Rectum Cancer	Tuberculosis
7	Diabetes	Stomach Cancer	COPD
8	AIDS	Traffic Accidents	Measles
9	Suicide	Self-inflicted	Malaria
10	Liver, Cirrhosis	Diabetes	Traffic Accidents

COPD = Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Infectious Diseases, 1890-1994, USA

www.cdc.gov/

Year 2020 Projection (Global) www.cia.gov/cia/reports/nie/report/nie99-17d.html
1990 rank	Cause of death	2020 rank
1	Lower respiratory infections	6
2	Diarrheal diseases	9
3	Conditions arising during perinatal period	11
4	Unipolar major depression	2
5	Ischemic heart disease	1
6	Cerebrovascular disease	4
7	Tuberculosis	7
8	Measles	25
9	Road traffic deaths	3
10	Congenital abnormalities	13
11	Malaria	24
12	Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	5
13	Falls	19
14	Iron-deficiency anemia	39
15	Protein-energy malnutrition	37
16	War	8
17	Self-inflicted injuries	14
19	Violence	12
28	HIV	10
33	Trachea, bronchus, and lung cancers	15

India Congress alliance heads for victory: projections

2009-05-16T12:22:00.000+05:30

Source : Reuters

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's left-of-center coalition appeared to be heading for a second term after a clear victory in the general election, TV networks projected as votes were counted on Saturday.

Singh's Congress-led coalition was beating the main Hindu nationalist opposition alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but was still short of a majority, meaning it would have to cobble together a coalition with smaller parties.

The Congress party-led coalition was projected to win 243 to 250 seats, short of the 272 seats needed for a parliamentary majority, according to NDTV. Other TV stations had similar forecasts.

If confirmed, the result would be better than expected for Congress and could boost investor confidence and hopes for reforms. Markets had been jittery over a poor showing by either national alliance, fearing the emergence of a weak coalition.

"The results are pleasantly surprising, we were not so confident at the beginning but now we are very confident and we will secure a majority," Congress leader Oscar Fernandez said.

Congress party supporters, their arms in the air and carrying banners of star campaigners Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, set off firecrackers in celebration in New Delhi on news of the early election returns.

A strong showing by Singh's coalition would leave it less vulnerable to pressure from other parties including the communists who had walked out last year over a nuclear deal with the United States.
The communists were trailing in the election including in the bastion state of West Bengal which they have ruled for more than three decades, early projections said.
"So if you want to project from this, it looks like Congress will not only emerge as the single largest party but will be comfortably ahead," Vinod Mehta, editor of Outlook magazine, said.

India's booming economic growth for the past four years, including rising rural incomes, may well have worked for the Congress-led coalition headed by the reformist Singh.

A severe financial downturn that began last year and is continuing in Asia's third largest economy appeared to have had little impact on the fortunes of the ruling alliance.

"It seems to me that we must acknowledge the economy," said political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan. "Despite the slowdown in the economy in the last year, these four or five years have been among the best in India's recorded economic history."

But the BJP said it was still too early to call the election. "The trends are out, not the results," BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu told Times Now TV channel. "I do concede Congress seems to be having a clear upper hand as of now."

Computerized counting of votes at hundreds of centers across the country began at 10:30 p.m. EST with the results for all parliamentary seats due later in the day

BACKROOM DEALS

Despite the Congress gains, analysts said days of backroom dealings may still lie ahead before a new government is in place with supporting groups seeking their pound of flesh.

India is faced with its slowest economic growth in six years and instability in Pakistan that some fear may eventually spill into the country.

Any new government will have to tackle the question of ties with Pakistan that have been in deep-freeze since an attack on Mumbai by Pakistan-based militants last November.

Both the Congress and the BJP have taken broadly similar positions on Pakistan, with neither willing to give much ground until they are convinced Islamabad has prosecuted those behind the attack.

Since then the Pakistan Army, prodded by the United States, has launched an offensive against Taliban militants in the Swat valley.

The United States, which considers India to be a key part of its regional strategy to fight Islamist militants in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, is expected to lean on New Delhi to begin talks with Pakistan to help stabilize the region.

About 714 million people were eligible to vote in the largest such exercise in the world staggered over a month to allow security forces and election officials to supervise.

"At Last Infections can be eliminated FAST and For Good"

2009-05-10T15:42:00.000+05:30

Cure Your Yeast Infection, Guaranteed

Sarah Summer
May , 2009
#670, 286 Main Street
Exeter, Ontario
Canada

If you are looking for an FAST, Safe, Effective and All-Natural Cure for Yeast Infection.

Then this is likely the most important report you will ever read.

Find this report here

Ask Yourself These Questions

Do you want to Cure your yeast infection ?
Do you want to know Why you Keep getting yeast infections?
Do you want to Stop Painful Infections that always seem to happen at the worst possible time!
Do you wonder "could I have a yeast infection" ?
Do you wonder if you could have a chronic yeast infection?
Do you want to stop the burning, nonstop itching, painful urination or vaginal discharge?
Did you used to feel healthy, and want to regain that feeling again?
Do you have rashes, on your skin, penis, or on your hands?
Do you ever find you just seem to lack energy and can't explain why?
Do you ever have unusual symptoms that you can't explain?
Do you ever have problems with your appetite or food cravings?
Do you ever...... "Just not feel like yourself"......And can't explain why?

Find this report here

Important information about HIV

2009-05-10T11:02:00.000+05:30

Don't avoid Pls read this

FROM Arvind Khamitkar , I.A.S, Director of Medical
& Research Div,
Chennai

Dear Friends,

A few weeks ago, in a movie theatre, a person felt
something poking from her seat.
When she got up to see what it was, she found a
needle sticking out of the seat with a note attached saying

"You have just been infected by
HIV".

The Disease Control Center (in Paris ) reports many similar
events in many other cities recently. All tested needles were HI V Positive.

The Center also reports that needles have been found
in cash dispensers at public banking machines. We ask everyone to use extreme caution when faced with
this kind of situation. All public chairs/seats should be inspected with vigilance and caution before use. A careful visual inspection should be enough. In addition, they ask that each of you pass this message along to all members of your family and your friends of the potential danger.

Recently, one doctor has narrated a somewhat similar
instance that hppened to one of his patients at the Priya Cinema in Delhi . A young girl, engaged and about to be married in a couple of months, was pricked while the movie
was going on. The tag with the needle had the message

"Welcome to the World of HIV family".

Though the doctors told her family that it takes about 6
months before the virus grows strong enough to start
damaging the system and a healthy victim could survive about 5-6 years, the girl died in 4 months, perhaps more because of the "Shock thought".
We all have to be careful at public places, rest God help! Just think about saving a life by forwarding this message. Please, take a few seconds of your time to pass along.

With Regards, Arvind Khamitkar ,
I.A.S, Director of Medical & Research Div, Chennai.

Beauty of Mathematics !!!!!!!

2009-05-07T10:59:00.000+05:30



Beauty of Mathematics !!!!!!!

1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987

1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321


1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 +10= 1111111111



9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888

987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888

98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888

Brilliant, isn't it?

And look at this symmetry:

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321

11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321





Now, take a look at this...


101%



From a strictly mathematical viewpoint:



What Equals 100%?
What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?



Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving
more
than 100%?

We have all been in situations where someone wants you to
GIVE OVER 100%.

How about ACHIEVING 101%?



What equals 100% in life?


Here's a little mathematical formula that might help
answer these questions:


If:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


Is represented as:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
 22 23 24 25 26.


If:


H-A-R-D-W-O- R- K

8+1+18+4+23+ 15+18+11 = 98%




And:

K-N-O-W-L-E- D-G-E

11+14+15+23+ 12+5+4+7+ 5 = 96%


But:

A-T-T-I-T-U- D-E

1+20+20+9+20+ 21+4+5 = 100%





THEN,
look how far the love of God will take you:



L-O-V-E-O-F- G-O-D

12+15+22+5+15+ 6+7+15+4 = 101%


Therefore, one can conclude with mathematical certainty


that:

While Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close, and
Attitude will
get you there, It's the Love of God that will put you
over the top!

It's up to you if you share this with your friends


& loved ones just
the way I did..

Good Story to Learn about What's Life and What we have?

2009-05-07T10:51:00.000+05:30

An interesting little story.

The Light that You Emit
Might even Light a Star

You Make Others Feel
that Smiling About Love is so Real

What do you think the maximum seeders a torrent can have?

2008-11-21T07:00:00.000+05:30

This is a survey to find the limit of seeders a torrent can have.
Please download the below torrent & seed as long as you can.

Torrent contain nothing other than link to this page and a thank you note

BRAIN COMPUTER INTERFACING

2008-09-17T20:58:00.000+05:30

INTRODUCTION
BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE
BCI SYSTEMS
EXPERIMENTS WITH ABI
CONCLUTIONS
WIKIPEDIA
COMPLETE REPORT WITH PPT

CHAPTER 5:CONCLUSIONS

2008-09-17T20:55:00.005+05:30

INTRODUCTION
BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE
BCI SYSTEMS
EXPERIMENTS WITH ABI
CONCLUTIONS
In this work six EEG-based brain computer interface systems were reviewed and compared. Experiments lasting five days with three subjects were done with the new Adaptive Brain Interface system.
The comparison of the BCI systems, especially their training duration and performance, proved to be difficult. This was because the results were reported inadequately and differently in most of the papers. Reporting the experiments and results should be standardized.
The results from each recording or training day should be presented in order to see the evolution of the performance. Instead of hit rates and correct classification rates, the results should be presented using confusion matrices and channel capacities. This would make the comparison of the performances possible.
In this work the BCI systems were divided into the pattern recognition and the operant conditioning approaches. From the two approaches, the pattern recognition approach seems more plausible. Compared to the operant conditioning approach, the training duration is much shorter. However, the high variability in the EEG between the days and and changing EEG patterns during the actual use cause problems with this approach. This means that the classifier needs to re-trained often. In the future, online learning could be used, in which the classifier is updated after every recorded EEG sample.
Accuracy, speed, usability and feedback methods should be improved in the current BCI systems. Accuracy is the most important and affects greatly on the performance of the BCI. Many of the BCI systems are operated in a synchronous way, using trials lasting many seconds each. This means that time required for making one selection is long. This time should be kept short (below one second). Feedback methods could be improved, maybe using games like in the EEG biofeedback. Some of the mental tasks used in the ABI and the experiments in this work are not good. The relax task is the easiest to classify,
but it includes eye opening and closing, which is not permitted in a BCI by the definition presented in the beginning of the second chapter. It can be argued if people suffering from locked-in-syndrome can use the relax task. In addition, it is not good in applications, because eyes are closed. Subtraction, word association and cube rotation tasks are not very natural and practical in applications. The left and the right hand movement are the most natural of the current tasks.
In the future, an exhaustive research about the mental tasks should be done. A study of the left and right hand movements using high-resolution EEG and MEG is planned. Research topics would include the localization of the brain activity during the mental tasks and how the EEG changes in process of time. Other research areas would be feedback methods and online learning.
There are many challenges in the future of the BCI field. Currently none of the BCIs are capable of proper cursor control, which could be used to control ordinary computer applications. In the near future it is not possible and special applications must be developed for BCIs. Today, special writing applications or Internet browser can provide communication tools for severely disabled people.
These applications could be improved. In the future, BCIs could be used to control a hand prosthesis. How well that can be achieved with EEG-based BCIs is not yet known. Non-invasive BCIs recording activity directly from the motor cortex may be used for this kind of purpose in the future.

CHAPTER 4:EXPERIMENTS WITH ABI

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INTRODUCTION
BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE
BCI SYSTEMS
EXPERIMENTS WITH ABI
CONCLUTIONS
The experiments with a new ABI system were performed with three subjects in the Laboratory of Computational Engineering in February 2002. In the beginning of this chapter the hardware and software of the new ABI system are reviewed. The experimental methods and the online results are then presented along with the discussion. In addition, the subject reports about the mental task strategies and the feedback experiences are also presented in this chapter.
4.1 The ABI system:
The ABI system consists of the hardware, which is used to measure the EEG and four Microsoft Windows based programs: EEP H11 Server, ABI Learning and online programs and ABI Visualization.
4.1.1 Hardware:
The hardware used in these experiments was different from the hardware previously used with the ABI (see the section 3.2). The EEG system here was Electro Encephalo Processor model H11 (EEP H11) manufactured by Fase Sistemi, one of the partners of the ABI project. The whole system consists of EEG device, battery, battery charger and electrode cap. The EEG device is small, its dimensions are only 160 _ 110 _ 55 mm and it weights 700 g.
The system has 38 analogical single ended channels and 2 electrical references. The analogical signal from each electrode is converted to digital signal with 16 bit resolution and sampling rate of 6800 Hz. The EEG device is battery powered. The data is transmitted to the computer via fiber-optic cable. This makes the EEG device isolated from the surrounding electrical fields. The electrode cap of medium size (54-58 cm) is ECI Electro-Cap Electrode System manufactured by Electro-Cap International, Inc. The cap has 32 electrodes for scalp EEG and 6 additional electrodes, which can be used as reference electrodes and measuring the EOG. Cap, EEG device and battery can be seen in Figure 4.1.
4.1.2 Software:
Three Microsoft Windows based programs are needed in order to operate the ABI system: EEP H11 Server, ABI Learning program, and ABI online program. The EEG signal can be visually inspected with the ABI Visualization program.
EEP H11 Server and ABI Visualization:
This program acts as a server (application programming interface (API)) for the ABI applications. In other words, it sends the EEG signal coming from the EEP H11 system to the ABI online and the ABI Visualization programs. The electrodes used with the ABI are selected with this program. The EEG signals can be seen in the main program window.
It is possible to filter the EEG signals, for example, if they contain the 50-Hz component (see the section 2.4.4).
ABI Learning:
This program is used to train a set of prototypes from the recorded data. Each prototype corresponds to one particular mental task as described in the section 3.2.1. The classifier will then use these prototypes in the online classification of the EEG signals. In order to train a new set of prototypes, the processed data of one recording is loaded up into the program. Usually, the data without transitions is used. The data does not contain the initial resting period. The mental tasks are labeled in the data. The data is then divided into training and validation sets in such a way that three consecutive samples go to the training set and every fourth one goes to the validation set.
A new set of prototypes can be trained using the training and validation sets. It is also possible to load old prototypes or use a clustering method, the Self-Organizing Map (SOM), to create a set of prototypes from the training set. The old prototypes or those created by the SOM can then be used as a starting point for training of new prototypes.
ABI online program:
This program acts as a client for the EEP H11 Server, i.e., the program gets the EEG data from the server. This data can be be saved in two formats: Raw data and processed data. The raw data is the data coming from the EEP H11 Server. The processed data goes through the feature extraction methods explained in the section 3.2.1 expect that in these experiments a spline Laplacian method [4] was used instead of the surface Laplacian. The classifier uses the processed data. The raw data is saved for later evaluation.
The program can also be used to give feedback for the subject. In order to do this, the prototypes trained in the Learning program must be loaded for each of the mental tasks.
The probability and the distance thresholds of the classifier can be adjusted. It is also possible to choose either positive or total feedback. Positive feedback means that only the correct classifications are shown for the subject. If total feedback is used, all the classifications are shown for the subject.
4.2 Experimental methods:
This section describes the methods used in the experiments. The experiments were done in the Laboratory of Computational Engineering, in the Helsinki University of Technology, during five consecutive days starting from 4th of February and ending 8th of February 2002. The experiments were made in 2_4 meters room (see Figure 4.4).
4.2.1 Subjects:
Two healthy male subjects (subjects TN and JL) and one healthy female subject (subject LL) in their mid-twenties were the test subjects. Both male subjects were familiar with the ABI system (subjects TN and JL). They had used it a couple of times before these tests, but no actual training were done with them. The ABI was new to subject LL.
4.2.2 Mental tasks:
For the subject unfamiliar with the ABI (subject LL), the first step was to introduce the system to her. She was able to try the mental tasks (form the list presented in the section 3.2.2) by herself and decide which three were the most suitable for her. Before the actual first measurement a test run was made with these tasks in order to introduce the whole procedure to the subject.
Two of the subjects (TN and JL) used the mental tasks they were familiar with. Subject JL used relax, subtraction and right hand. Subject TN used relax, cube and left hand. The third subject, LL used three different combinations: Relax, subtraction and right (days 1 and 2), relax, left and right (days 2 and 3) and relax, right and words (days 3, 4, and 5). Three different combinations were used because the first two did not work.
4.2.3 Data acquisition:
The same electrodes were used in these tests as with the ABI before (F3, F4, C3, Cz, C4, P3, Pz and P4). The signals were referenced to the right ear. The ground electrode was in the left ear. The signals were checked with the ABI Visualization program and if they were noisy, a bandstop filter of order 24 and the frequency band from 45 Hz to 55 Hz was selected in the EEP H11 Server. Instead of the local surface Laplacian method used previously with the ABI, the spline Laplacian method was applied to the raw data. In addition, before each recording the EEG signals were visually checked with the ABI Visualization program to ensure that all electrodes were giving good signals. Each recording lasted about 300 seconds, including the initial resting period (60 s). After the resting period, the operator instructed the subject which mental task to perform first.
The operator then changed the mental tasks so that each mental task lasted between 10-25 seconds. The order and length of the mental tasks were random. Three to five recordings were done in one session (day). There was about 5-10 minutes break between each recording.

CHAPTER 3: BCI SYSTEMS

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INTRODUCTION
BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE
BCI SYSTEMS
EXPERIMENTS WITH ABI
CONCLUTIONS
This chapter describes different BCI systems. After the BCIs are introduced they are compared to each other.

3.1 Different approaches to BCI:
This section provides an overview of five BCI systems based on the scalp EEG. Three of them are based on the pattern recognition approach like ABI. The other two use the operant conditioning approach.
3.1.1 BCI research at the University of Alberta:
Alexandar Kostov and Mark Polak started their BCI research at the University of Alberta, Canada. Their BCI system was based on the pattern recognition approach. In the study reported in EEG data was recorded with 28 electrodes arranged according to the international 10-20 electrode system. Signal amplification and the initial filtering were done by Brain Imager, a device manufactured by Neuroscience Inc.
The EEG signals were digitized at a sampling rate of 200 Hz. The EEG patterns were classified with an adaptive neural network called Adaptive Logic Network (ALN) in on-line experiments. Training was done in 30-min sessions. The subject was seated in front of the feedback monitor while the EEG signals were recorded. Feedback was provided in the form of the cursor control.
The first half of the training session was used to train the new ALN classifier as the subject was attempting to move the cursor towards the target. When the subject achieved control of the cursor, the training of the ALN was halted and the second half of the session was used to evaluate the performance
The goal of this project was to develop a BCI capable of accurate two-dimensional (2-D) cursor control. In addition, the intention was to develop range of applications for the BCI. One application reported to date has been an environmental control device.

3.1.2 BCI research at the Oxford University:
William Penny and Stephen Roberts started BCI research at the Oxford University. The EEG was recorded from one bipolar channel with two electrodes located 3 cm behind C3 and C4 of the international 10-20 system. The ground electrode was placed on the right mastoid. The signal was band-pass filtered with 3 dB points set at 0.1 Hz and 100 Hz and digitized at 384 Hz. The EEG data was analyzed using the 8th order autoregressive (AR) model. This model was fitted to 1/3 second blocks of data (128 samples) which slid 32 samples (1/12 second) from one processing time step to next.
Penny and Roberts experimented with two methods in order to improve the performance of their BCI. The methods were a latent-space smoothing and a reject option. The latent-space smoothing means that the low certainty decisions may be rejected or “over-ruled” by the higher certainty decisions from the recent past. A two second window was used. In the reject option a third class called “reject” was added. Using Bayesian decision theory the certainty of the classification was calculated. If the certainty of the classification did not exceed a particular threshold then the EEG was classified to “reject” class. Penny and Roberts reported the classification results for three scenarios: hard rejection, soft rejection and baseline (no rejection). The scenarios are explained as follows
Hard rejection:.The latent-space smoothing and reject option was used. If, however, more than 50 % of an experimental block was rejected then the entire block was removed from the data set as a “corrupted” data epoch.
Soft rejection: The latent-space smoothing and the reject option was once more applied but no removal of experimental blocks was performed.
Baseline: No smoothing or rejection was performed and classification was made on a sample-by-sample (each 1/12 second) basis.
When the hard rejection scenario was used, 21 % of the data blocks were entirely rejected and of the remaining data samples an average of 28% were rejected. Using the soft rejection method, an average of 34 % of the data samples was rejected.
3.1.3 BCI research at the Wadsworth Center:
Jonathan Wolpaw and his colleagues have done BCI research at the Wadsworth Center, the United States Their BCI is based on the self-regulation of the 8-12 Hz _ or the 13-28 Hz _ rhythms.64 EEG channels were recorded from the surface of the scalp from 4 subjects (one with ALS). Each channel was referenced to the electrode in the right ear. 62 of 64 channels were digitized at 128 Hz and stored for later evaluation. Two remaining channels located over each hemisphere of the sensimotor cortex (e.g., C3 and C4) were digitized at 196 Hz. They were converted to either a common average reference (CAR) derivation or a large Laplacian derivation.
The feature extraction and the classification were done as follows. The EEG data was analyzed using the autoregressive (AR) algorithm and amplitude (i.e., the square root of power) was calculated in a 3-Hz wide frequency band. The frequency band corresponded to 8-12 Hz _ rhythm or 18-24 Hz central _ rhythm (2 subjects). The sum of the amplitudes from the two channels was calculated every 100 ms using the preceding 200 ms segment of the EEG data. This sum was the independent variable in a linear equation that determined a cursor movement.
The training was done in 30 min sessions divided into 8 runs lasting 3 minutes each and separated by 1 minute rest periods. Each run consisted of several trials. In each trial the user tried to move the cursor from the center of the screen to the target located at the top or bottom of the screen. The distance to top or bottom was 94 cursor steps. The cursor moved every 100 ms up or down according to the linear equation described above.
3.1.4 The Thought Translation Device (TTD):
During 1990’s Birbaumer and his colleagues developed a BCI called the Thought Translation Device (TTD) at the University of T˝ubingen in Germany. Over the years the TTD has been used by 12 ALS or other patients with severe or total paralysis. Birbaumer and coworkers studied five patients using the TTD. The EEG was recorded from the electrode Cz referred to mastoids at a sampling rate of 256 Hz. The EEG signal was filtered and corrected for the eye movement artifacts. SCPs were then extracted from the EEG signal. The training day usually consisted of 6-12 sessions, each of them consisting of 70-100 trials and lasting 5-10 minutes. The patients were trained several times a week.
When the subject achieved stable performance of 75 % correct trials, he or she can begin to work with a language support program. In the language support program the alphabet was split into two halves (letter-banks). These letter-banks were shown successively at the bottom of the screen. The subject could choose the letter bank shown by producing a SCP shift (either SCP negativity or positivity according to subject’s preference). If the subject produced the required SCP shift the letter bank was split into two new halves. This continued until each of the letter-banks contained only one letter. When the subject selected one of them, the selected letter was displayed in the top text field of the screen and a new selection began from the start.
The program also included a “return function”. If the subjects rejected two successive letter-banks the option to erase the last symbol in the text field appeared. Beside the language support program the TTD has two other applications: The environment control unit and the Internet browser “Descartes”. It will try to combine the slow cortical capacity of the TTD with the _ and _ rhythm capacity of the Wadsworth BCI.
3.1.5 Graz brain-computer interface:
Pfurtscheller and his group in the Graz University of Technology, in Austria, started the “Graz Brain-Computer Interface”. The Graz BCI has moved through various stages of prototypes. However, all this time it has been based on the detection of the ERD and the ERS patterns during the motor imagery. One aim of
the research was to study how the number of mental tasks affected the channel capacity. Classification was done offline.
The EEG was recorded with 29 gold electrodes (see Figure 3.3). The ground electrode was placed on the forehead. The EEG signals were filtered between 0.5 Hz and 30 Hz and digitized at the sampling rate of 256 Hz. EMG and EOG artifacts were excluded from the data sets. The logarithm of the band power for five bands (7-10 Hz, 10-13 Hz, 16-20 Hz, 20-24 40Hz, 24-30 Hz) was calculated for every channel using a fifth-order Butterworth filter in a window from seconds 4 to 8 of each trial. This formed a feature vector consisting of 145 components describing all EEG signals from all electrodes. A subset of features was calculated using step-by-step procedure. A hidden Markov model (HMM) was used as a classification method. Classification accuracy was evaluated using 5-fold cross-validation test.

Figure 3.3: Positions of the 29 electrodes used in the Graz BCI. The 17 electrode
positions with bold circles belong to the international 10-20 system. The rest
twelve electrodes were inserted in between, in order to increase spatial resolution

3.2 The Adaptive Brain Interface (ABI):
The BCI system used in the experimental part of this work is called Adaptive Brain Interface (ABI). The ABI has been developed under the project “Adaptive Brain Interfaces” financed by European Commission.
In this section the older version of the ABI is described, whereas a new ABI version was used in the experiments. The ABI is based on the mutual learning process where the system and the user adapt to each other. The system learns to classify each user’s individual EEG patterns generated during the mental tasks. This is made possible by neural network classifier which learns these user-specific patterns. The other part of the learning process, the user, learns to undertake the mental tasks in a way that the system recognizes them better. The user may choose the mental tasks (see the section 3.2.2) he or she uses and the strategies to undertake those mental tasks (e.g., thinking of moving a finger, the hand or the whole arm). The learning process can be enhanced with feedback.

3.2.1 Overview of the system:
The ABI system can be divided to components according to Figure 3.4. Each component described below in more detail according to.

Figure 3.4: The key components of the ABI system.

Acquisition system: The portable EEG system has 8 scalp electrodes. They are placed on F3, F4, C3, Cz, C4, P3, Pz and P4 according to the international 10-20 system (see Figure 3.5). The sampling rate of the system is 128 Hz. A surface Laplacian (SL) is estimated locally over the six electrodes (C3, Cz, C4, P3, Pz and P4) by using a finite difference method in which the mean activity of the neighboring electrodes is subtracted for each position of interest. Then the signal is bandpass filtered with a second order 4-45 Hz Butterworth filter. In addition, the signals are referred to a baseline, which is the average of initial resting period. This period lasts 1 minute and the users are instructed to remain in resting state (eyes open). This baselining is done, because the brain activity is not stable over time.

Figure 3.5: The electrodes used in the ABI are painted gray in this picture.

Feature extraction: The extracted features are power spectrum density components in the frequency band of 8-30 Hz within 1/2 second EEG segments averaged from 1 second sequences. The overlapping between the segments is 50%. As a result each EEG sample is represented by 72 features (6 channels times 12 components each). Thus, an EEG sample is computed every 1/2 second. Feature classification: Classification is done using a classifier called local neural classifier. In this classifier, every mental task (class) is presented by a prototype in a high dimensional input space. The aim is to find the appropriate position of the prototypes in this space to differentiate the classes. Therefore, during training, the prototypes are pulled toward the EEG samples of the mental task they present and pushed away from the EEG samples of other tasks.
Biofeedback: Biofeedback is provided in the form of colored buttons. If, for example, three mental tasks are used, three colored buttons are displayed each representing one particular mental task. The subject performs the mental tasks spontaneously and a button lights up if the arriving EEG data is classified to a corresponding mental task (see Figure3.6).

3.2.3 Training:
The first training session with the new subject is done offline. The EEG data recorded in this session is used to train the first individual neural classifier. Recording is done as follows.
The subject is instructed to remain in a resting state the first 60 seconds of the recording. In the resting state the subject keeps his or her eyes opened but do not undertake any particular task. The average resting pattern is computed over this initial period and used as a baseline for all the other tasks. The neural classifier trained at the first session is embedded in the BCI and used in the second session. From this session onwards training can be done online and biofeedback can be used to enhance the learning process. Otherwise the training protocol is the same with or without biofeedback. The neural classifier can be tuned with the EEG data recorded in the second session. This classifier can then be used in the third session and so on. After the subject reaches the desirable level of performance, training is halted and the subject can start using the applications

3.2.5 Applications:
Today, there exist two applications: the Virtual keyboard and the Pacman game. ABI has also been used to control a robot. The user controls Pacman with two commands to make it turn left or right. Pacman stops when it reaches the wall. The goal of the game is 47 to collect all the dots (euro coins in this case) from the maze. There are no ghosts in this version of the Pacman game.
The Virtual keyboard works as follows. The keyboard is first split into three areas each containing 9 letters The areas are indicated by colored frames. Each color is configured to one of the three mental tasks used. Classifications are made every half a second, as usual, and the flashing of the colored area gives the feedback for the user. The Graz BCI has been used to control a prosthetic arm. The Alberta BCI has been used as the environmental control device. The Wadsworth BCI has been used to answer simple YES and NO questions. The ABI has the Virtual keyboard and Pacman applications.
3.3.9 Summary and discussion:
1) Accuracy: Accuracy is maybe the most important aspect in any BCI. As described in the section 2.8, the accuracy affects greatly the channel capacity, and thus, the 58 performance of a BCI. If a BCI is to be used in the control applications (environmental control, hand prosthesis, wheel-chair, etc.), the accuracy is crucial.
2) Speed: Beside accuracy, speed is also very important when considering using a BCI for communication the speed of a particular BCI is affected by the trial length, i.e., the time needed for one selection. Typically, one trial lasts many seconds. This time should be shortened in order to make a BCI effective in communication.
3) Usability: The preparation for the use of a BCI takes time, because of the EEG measurement. Ideally, the user, even a disabled one, could use a BCI independently after the EEG cap or electrodes have been put on. However, an operator is normally needed and one cannot use a BCI independently
4) Feedback: The most common type of feedback has been the cursor control.
5) Asynchronous use: At least four of the six BCIs (Alberta, Graz, Wadsworth and TTD) cannot currently be used in asynchronous mode.
Using a BCI for controlling cursor:
Considering that many BCIs have used the cursor control as feedback, those interfaces are still far a way from an ordinary mouse. A mouse enables us to do several things which seem not possible with today’s BCI technology. First, using the ordinary mouse, one can move the cursor to any direction in 2-dimensional space. Today’s BCIs can provide only 2 directions with reasonable accuracy.

CHAPTER 2: BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE

2008-09-17T20:55:00.002+05:30

INTRODUCTION
BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE
BCI SYSTEMS
EXPERIMENTS WITH ABI
CONCLUTIONS
In the first international meeting devoted to BCI research held in June 1999 at the Rensselaerville Institute near Albany, New York, it was defined as follows:

“A brain-computer interface is a communication system that does not depend on the brains normal output pathways of peripheral nerves and muscles”.

According to this definition, a BCI should be able to detect the user’s wishes and commands while the user remains silent and immobilized. In order to do this, the brain activity must be monitored. Today there exist various techniques to do this. These include, for example, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), magneto-encephalography (MEG), Positron Emission Tomography (PET), and Single Photon Emission Computer Tomography (SPECT). optical brain imaging, single neuron recording (with microelectrodes) and electroencephalography (EEG).
From these methods, MEG, EEG and single neuron recording give continuous and instantaneous recordings of the brain activity (time resolution about 1 ms), which is required for real-time BCI. However, MEG is not practical to be used with BCI. Almost all of BCIs reported to date have been based on EEG.

Figure 2.1: A BCI based on the classification of two mental tasks. The user is thinking task number 2 and the BCI classifies it correctly and provides feedback in the form of cursor movement.

In the second approach the user has to learn to self-regulate his or her EEG response, for example change the -rhythm amplitude. Unlike in the pattern recognition approach, the BCI itself is not trained but it looks for particular changes (for example higher amplitude of a certain frequency) in the EEG signal. This requires usually a long training period, because all the training load is on the user. This kind of approach can be called an operant conditioning approach.

There are at least five components necessary for effective BCI system:
1) Knowing what to look for;
2) Knowing the relevant physiological signals;
3) Gathering the data from the user;
4) Extracting useful information from the raw signal;
5) Interface design.
Figure 2.1 shows a schematic picture of a BCI, which is based on pattern recognition approach. The BCI can classify two mental tasks and provides feedback in the form of cursor control.

2.1 The Human Brain:

The average human brain weights around 1400 grams. The brain can be divided into four structures: cerebral cortex, cerebellum, brain stem, hypothalamus and thalamus. The most relevant of them concerning BCIs is the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex can be divided into two hemispheres. The hemispheres are connected with each other via corpus callosum. Each hemisphere can be divided into four lobes. They are called frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal lobes. Cerebral cortex is responsible for many “higher order” functions like problem solving, language comprehension and processing of complex visual information.

The cerebral cortex can be divided into several areas, which are responsible of different functions. These areas can be seen in Figure 2.2. The functions are described in Table 2.1. These kinds of knowledge have been used with BCIs system based on the pattern recognition approach. The mental tasks are chosen in such a way that they activate different parts of the cerebral cortex.

2.2 Electroencephalography (EEG):
Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method used in measuring the electrical activity of the brain. This activity is generated by billions of nerve cells, called neurons. Each neuron is connected to thousands of other neurons. Some of the connections are excitatory while others are inhibitory. The signals from other neurons sum up in the receiving neuron. When this sum exceeds a certain potential level called a threshold, the neuron fires nerve impulse. The electrical activity of a single neuron cannot be measured with scalp EEG. However, EEG can measure the combined electrical activity of millions of neurons.
The electrical activity goes on continuously in every living human’s brain. We may sleep one third of our life times, but the brain never rests. Even when one is unconscious the brain remains active. Much of the time, the brain waves are irregular and no general pattern can be observed. All these means that an overwhelming majority of neuronal communication is practically invisible in EEG. However, there exist various properties in EEG, which can be used as a basis for a BCI:
1. Rhythmic brain activity
2. Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)
3. Event-Related De-synchronization (ERD) and event-related synchronization (ERS).

2.2.1 Rhythmic brain activity:
The EEG can be divided into several frequency ranges as displayed in Table 2.2. They are named after Greek letters ( , , , ). These ranges set the limits in which the different brain rhythms (named according to same letter as the frequency range) can be observed. The order of the letters is not logical and can be understood only in the historical view. Figure 2.3 illustrates examples of the brain rhythms. These rhythms (alpha, beta, delta and theta) are explained later in this section. One of them is the mu rhythm. It is also included in this section, because it has significance in BCI research.
Alpha rhythm: Amplitude is variable but is mostly below 50 _V in adults. Best seen with eyes closed and under conditions of physical relaxation and relative mental inactivity. Blocked or attenuated by attention, especially visual, and mental effort.
The alpha rhythm is temporarily blocked, i.e., its amplitude decreased, by eye opening, other afferent stimuli or mental activities. The degree of reactivity varies.
Mu rhythm: Mu rhythm frequency is around 10 Hz and amplitude mostly below 50 V. Mu stands for motor and the mu rhythm is strongly related to the functions of the motor cortex, but also to the adjacent somatosensory cortex. The mu rhythm is blocked by movements or light tactile stimuli. The fact that the thoughts about performing movements and readiness to move can also block the mu rhythm, have made it important in BCI research.
Beta rhythms: Any rhythmical activity in the frequency band of 13-30 Hz may be regarded as a beta rhythm. Beta rhythm amplitudes are seldom larger than 30 V.

BCIs based on the rhythmic activity: Many BCI researches have considered about using the imagination of hand or foot movements as the basis of the BCI. Therefore, the mu rhythm plays an essential role in them. According to studied the use of the mu rhythm in BCI and concluded that “mu rhythm is not only modulated by the expression of self-generated movement but also by the observation and imagination of movement.”. However, in EEG biofeedback, self-regulation of, for example, alpha or beta rhythms, has been used extensively.

2.2.2 Event-related De-synchronization (ERD) and Event-related Synchronization (ERS):
Event-related de-synchronization (ERD) and event-related synchronization (ERS) can be defined as follows:
1. Event-related de-synchronization (ERD) is an amplitude attenuation of a certain EEG rhythm.
2. Event-related synchronization (ERS) is an amplitude enhancement of a certain EEG rhythm.
In order to measure an ERD or an ERS, the power of a certain frequency band (for example, 8-12 Hz) is calculated before and after certain “event” over a number of EEG trials. The event can be externally-paced (such as light stimulus) or internally paced (such as voluntary finger movement). The power (averaged over a number of trials) is then measured in percentage relative to the power of the reference interval. The reference interval is defined, for example, as 1 second interval between 4.5 and 3.5 seconds before the event. The ERS is the power increase (in percents) and the ERD is the power decrease relative to the reference interval (which is defined as 100 %). To keep the power at the reference interval at the resting level, the interval between two consecutive events should be random and not shorter than a few seconds.
BCI based on ERD and ERS:
The Graz BCI is based on detecting ERD and ERS of the different and rhythm bands during the imagined left and right hand movements.

2.3 Two different BCI approaches:
What are the thoughts the user thinks in order to control a BCI? An ideal BCI could detect the user’s wishes and commands directly. However, this is not possible with today’s technology. Therefore, BCI researches have used the knowledge they have had of the human brain and the EEG in order to design a BCI. There are basically two different approaches that have been used. The first one called a pattern recognition approach is based on cognitive mental tasks. The second one called an operant conditioning approach is based on the self-regulation of the EEG response.

2.3.1 Pattern recognition approach based on mental tasks:
BCIs including the ABI are based on different mental tasks. These tasks should activate different cortical areas and produce different EEG rhythms. This approach can be called the pattern recognition approach. The BCIs based on the pattern recognition approach include the ABI. The mental tasks used in BCIs have included motor imagery, visual, arithmetic and baseline task. In order to produce different EEG patterns, mental tasks should activate different parts of the brain. Therefore, the knowledge of cortical areas and their function has been used when choosing the mental tasks.
2.3.2 Operant conditioning approach based on self-regulation of EEG:
A couple of BCI research groups have based their BCIs on the self-regulation of one of these rhythms or potentials. This approach can be called the operant conditioning approach have based their BCI called a Thought Translation Device (TTD) on the self-regulation of the SCPs There are three elements important for successfully learning to self-regulate the EEG response:
1. Real-time feedback of the specific EEG activity
2. Positive reinforcement of correct behavior
3. Individual shaping schedule in which progressively more demanding tasks are rewarded.

2.4 Measuring EEG:
In the scalp EEG the electrical activity of the brain is recorded non-invasively, i.e. from the surface of the scalp using normally small metal plate electrodes. While the number of the electrodes varies from study to study, they are usually arranged according to an international 10-20 system. Recordings can be made either using reference electrode(s) or bipolar linkages. The EEG signal can be affected by many artifacts coming from the equipment or the subject.
2.4.1 Electrodes:
The EEG is recorded with electrodes, which are placed on the scalp. Electrodes are small plates, which conduct electricity. They provide the electrical contact between the skin and the EEG recording apparatus by transforming the ionic current on the skin to the electrical current in the wires. Electrolyte gel is applied between the electrode and the skin in order to provide good electrical contact. Usually small metal-plate electrodes are used in the EEG recording.
2.4.2 Electrode placements:
In order to make patient’s records comparable over time and to other patient’s records, a specific system of electrode placement called International 10-20 system is used. The system is for 21 electrodes. Each electrode position has a letter (to identify the underlying brain lobe) and a number or another letter to identify the hemisphere location. Odd numbers are on the left side and even on the right side. Z (for zero) refers to electrode placements at midline.
2.4.3 Reference and bipolar recordings:
The EEG recordings can be divided into two major categories: Reference recordings and scalp-to-scalp bipolar linkages. In the reference recording each electrode is referred to either distant reference electrode. The reference electrode(s) must be placed on the parts of the body where potential remains fairly constant. In bipolar recordings differential measurements are made between successive pairs of electrodes.
2.4.4 Artifacts:
When measuring the EEG, all of the signals do not come from the electrical activity of the brain. Many potential changes seen in the EEG may be from other sources. These changes are called artifacts and their sources may be the equipment or the subject. These artifacts include:
Technical artifacts:
– Mains interruption. The surrounding electrical equipment may induce 50-Hz or 60-Hz component in the signal.
– Electrode artifacts. If electrodes are improperly attached or in poor condition, their impedances may vary.
Physiological artifacts:
– Motion artifacts. Subject’s movements cause electrodes or electrode cables to
move.
– EMG artifacts. The tension of muscles (especially masticatory, neck and forehead muscles) causes EMG artifacts.
– Cardiac artifacts. The heart causes many different artifacts: ECG, pulsation
artifact, ballistocardiographic artifact, pacer artifact, respiration artifact
– Oculographic artifacts. These include the eye blink artifact and the eye movement artifact.
– Sweating. This can affect, for example, the impedances of the electrodes.

2.5 BCI components:
A typical BCI device consists of several components. These include electrode cap, EEG amplifiers, computer and subject’s screen. A critical issue is how the user’s commands, i.e., the changes in the EEG, are converted to actions on the feedback screen or the application.
This process can be divided into five stages:
1) Measurement of EEG: This is done by using the electrodes. Many BCIs use a special electrode cap, in which the electrodes are already in the right places, typically according to the international 10-20 system.
2) Preprocessing: This includes amplification, initial filtering of EEG signal and possible artifact removal. Also A/D conversion is made, i.e. the analog EEG signal is digitized.
3) Feature extraction: In this stage, certain features are extracted from the preprocessed and digitized EEG signal. In the simplest form a certain frequency range is selected and the amplitude relative to some reference level measured.
4) Classification: Different BCIs can classify different number of classes, typically 2 to 5 classes. The classifier can be anything from a simple linear model to a complex nonlinear neural network that can be trained to recognize different mental tasks.
5) Device control: The classifier’s output is the input for the device control. The device control simply transforms the classification to a particular action. The action can be, e.g., an up or down movement of a cursor on the feedback screen or a selection of a letter in a writing application. However, if the classification was “nothing” or “reject”, no action is performed, although the user may be informed about the rejection.

2.6 Feedback:
Feedback is an important factor in BCIs. In the BCIs based on the operant conditioning approach, feedback training is essential for the user to acquire the control of his or her EEG response. However, feedback can speed up the learning process and improve performance. Cursor control has been the most popular type of feedback in BCIs.
2.6.1 Biofeedback in general:
Biofeedback can be defined as follows: “Biofeedback is the process in which a subject receives information about his biological state. Usually a subject is not aware of his physiological functions, especially those controlled by the autonomic nervous system.
The most popular types of biofeedback machines or techniques include: Electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), skin temperature and galvanic skin response (GSR).

2.6.2 EEG biofeedback:
The basic idea in the EEG biofeedback is the operant conditioning of certain EEG parameters. Typically, the goal of the training is to increase the activity on a certain frequency band and decrease it in another. This is possible by providing feedback for the subject. The feedback can be, for example, a car in the computer game. The speed of the car can be coupled with the desired condition. The car moves faster, if the patient’s EEG gets closer to the desired condition and slower, if it gets farther.
Biofeedback in the form of games is especially important with children. EEG biofeedback requires attention and the session typically lasts around 30 min. Usually EEG biofeedback treatment requires tens of sessions. For this reason it is necessary to provide children with interesting feedback in order to keep them engaged in the treatment.
2.6.3 Feedback in BCIs:
In most BCIs some kind of feedback is provided to the user. The most popular form of feedback has been the cursor control We chose cursor movement because it is objective, easily implemented, simple for the user to learn, and can serve as a prototype for control of a wide variety of applications.
The cursor control is an example of continuous feedback. However, the classifications in BCIs are made in discrete manner. In order to make cursor movement to look continuous. Ideally continuous feedback would be instantaneous, i.e., real-time. Beside continuous, feedback can also be discrete. ABI uses this kind of feedback by presenting each mental task as a colored ball. The ball lights up when the EEG sample is classified as belonging to a corresponding task with Graz BCI.

2.6.4 Effect of feedback:
In BCIs using the operant conditioning approach (see section 2.3.2), the feedback about the performance is essential in skill development, i.e., in acquiring control over the EEG response.
Beneficial effects:
1. Furnishes continual motivation
2. Ensures attention to the task by maintaining the subject’s interest
3. Improves performance by allowing rapid reaction to wrong classifications
Harmful effects:
1. The feedback stimulus might prevent concentration on internal states
2. The false classifications can elicit frustration and thus affect the EEG response (for example, cause EEG de-synchronization)
3. The correct classifications might lead to anticipation and thus affect the EEG response (for example, cause EEG synchronization)
4. The visual feedback stimulus might affect the alpha rhythm
The kinds of short-term effects the removal of cursor movement

2.7 Human training issues:
To date, most of the BCI research has concentrated mainly on technical issues; how to measure, process and classify the EEG signal better and better. However, the producer of this EEG signal, the human being, may be as important or even a more important factor in a successful BCI than the technical developments. Therefore, the issues concerning the human training are worth considering.
2.7.1 Training protocol:
The protocols vary from one BCI to another. Typically, however, training is divided into series of sessions and each session is divided into a certain number of trials. One session typically consists of tens of trials and lasts 5-30 minutes. Using a BCI requires so much concentration that usually half an hour to one hour of training is enough for one day.

2.8 BCI performance:
To this day, none of the BCIs have achieved the communication speed or the accuracy of the other interfaces. In addition, there is a problem of evaluating BCI performance. The results are reported differently from one BCI paper to another. This makes it difficult to compare different BCIs.
2.8.1 Measurements of accuracy in BCIs:
There have been many different measurements. One method of reporting accuracy is to give a correct classification rate. More comprehensive way to report accuracy is to present a confusion matrix. The confusion matrix tells not only the correct classification rates of each class, but also in which classes the false classifications were classified

2.8.2 Bit rate and channel capacity:
An information transfer rate, a bit rate, can be used in order to take into account both accuracy and speed of a BCI. The bit rate is a standard measure of any communication system (which a BCI basically is). It tells the amount of information communicated per time unit. The highest bit rate a noisy communication system can theoretically have is called a channel capacity The channel capacity can be calculated in a closed form if the following conditions are:
1) Classes have equal classification rates;
2) Errors are distributed symmetrically;
3) The rejection is not used.

2.9 Categorizing BCIs:
Invasive and non-invasive BCIs: Non-invasive BCIs are based on EEG measured with the scalp electrodes. In invasive BCIs, the of the brain is recorded from inside the head (e.g., from the cerebral cortex). The recordings are made, for example, with one or more microelectrodes.
Synchronous and asynchronous BCIs: In an asynchronous mode, the brain activity is analyzed continuously.
Universal and individual BCIs: Universal BCI relies on assumption that by gathering EEG data from few users it is possible to find a classification function that should be valid for everybody. In individual BCI the fact that no two people are the same, both physiologically and psychologically is taken into account. Therefore, the BCI is different with different users.
Online BCIs are the actual working BCIs. The signal processing, features extraction, classification, and device control (see 2.5) are done in real-time. The performance of the offline BCI can be evaluated using, for example, cross-validation test. The results are comparable with the same kind of online BCI (without biofeedback), if all the recorded EEG data are used.
Imagery and mental tasks: From the user’s point of view, BCIs can be categorized according to what kind of imagery they require. Motor imagery has been used in many BCIs.

INTRODUCTION : BRAIN COMPUTER INTEREFACE

2008-09-17T20:55:00.001+05:30

INTRODUCTION
BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE
BCI SYSTEMS
EXPERIMENTS WITH ABI
CONCLUTIONS

Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is a communication system, which enables the user to control special computer applications by using only his or her thoughts. Different research groups have examined and used different methods to achieve this. Almost all of them are based on electroencephalography (EEG) recorded from the scalp. The EEG is measured and sampled while the user imagines different things (for example, moving the left or the right hand). Depending on the BCI, particular preprocessing and feature extraction methods are applied to the EEG sample of certain length. It is then possible to detect the task-specific EEG signals or patterns from the EEG samples with a certain level of accuracy.
Despite the technological developments numerous problems still exists in building efficient BCIs. The biggest challenges are related to accuracy, speed and usability. Other interfaces are still much more efficient.
BCI could provide a new communication tool for people suffering from so called locked-in syndrome. They are completely paralyzed physically and unable to speak, but cognitively intact and alert. Locked-in syndrome can be caused.
Adaptive Brain Interface (ABI) is a BCI which has been developed under the project “Adaptive Brain Interfaces” financed by European Commission. The project started in 1998 and ended in 2001. The ABI is based on the pattern recognition approach. In this approach the user concentrates on different mental tasks, for example, moving the left hand or visually rotating a cube. The classifier is trained with EEG data containing the different mental tasks. The trained classifier can then classify EEG online and provide feedback for the user.
In this work basics of Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) are explained. Six different BCI systems (including ABI) are reviewed and then compared with each other. One week training with three subjects was carried out with a new ABI device in the Laboratory of Computational Engineering. Test results are presented and discussed.
In the second chapter, the basics of brain computer interface are described. Functional areas of the brain, EEG and its measurement are described. BCIs are divided into two main approaches called pattern recognition and operant conditioning approaches. BCI components are described briefly. Feedback, training and BCI performance are described in more detail. Finally, several BCI categories are introduced.
The third chapter provides the review and comparison of the six BCI systems, which are BCIs, developed at the Alberta and the Oxford universities, a BCI developed at the Wadsworth Center, a Thought Translation Device and a Graz BCI and the ABI. The ABI is covered in more detail than other five.
The fourth chapter introduces the new ABI system. It presents the experimental methods and the results from five days training with three subjects. It also describes subject reports of mental task strategies and feedback experiences. Finally, it provides discussion on the results, mental tasks and feedback. The fifth chapter provides the conclusions of this work.

Yahoo Cheat Sheet

2008-09-07T18:33:00.000+05:30

Here are the top Yahoo Search Shortcuts that will make your Yahoo search experience fast, fun, and ultimately efficient. You'll find that using these Yahoo Search Shortcuts will greatly cut down on your Yahoo search time, and you'll be pleasantly surprised at how much good stuff that Yahoo has to offer with just a few simple commands.

Yahoo Shortcut	Finds Pages That Have...
nokia phone	the words nokia and phone
sailing OR boating	either the word sailing or the word boating
"love me tender"	the exact phrase love me tender
printer -cartridge	the word printer but NOT the word cartridge
Toy Story +2	movie title including the number 2
synonym soda	looks up the word soda and synonyms
define cornucopia	definitions of the word cornucopia
how now * cow	the words how now cow separated by one or more words
+	addition; 978+456
-	subtraction; 978-456
*	multiplication; *978456**
/	division; 978/456
^	raise to a power; 4^18 (4 to the eighteenth power)
convert(conversion)	convert 2 miles to inches
site:(search only one website)	site:websearch.about.com “invisible web”
link:(find linked pages)	link:www.lifehacker.com
originurlextension:(restrict search to specific filetype)	zoology originurlextension:ppt
title: (search for keywords in page title)	title:Nike
inurl:(restrict search to page URLs)	inurl:chewbacca
site:.edu (specific domain search)	site:.edu, site:.gov, site:.org, etc.
site:country code (restrict search to country)	site:.br “rio de Janeiro”
map	map Portland Oregon
weather	weather 97110
define	define misanthrope
news	news White House
### (find area code)	503
gas (find gas prices	gas 97132
traffic (find traffic reports)	chicago traffic
search local listings	corvallis oregon plumber
zip codes	zip code watertown new york
movie showtimes	showtimes 45678 (zip)
sports scores	astros scores
stock quotes	quote ncesa
images	cheese images
videos	surf videos
airport info	seatac airport
flight status	Alaska Airlines 45
aircraft registry	(number of plane) 784r5
book price	type in ISBN number
facts(encyclopedia definitions)	warthogs facts
package tracker	For UPS, type tracking code.FedEx=fedex:tracking code.USPS=usps:tracking code.
patent: (find patent info)	patent:4567894
vehicle history	type in VIN number
time zones	time in paris
yellow page(need zip and topic)	97110 pizza
[!] operator(instantly go to any Yahoo service	mail! or fantasy football! or reference!
hotels(find hotels)	Yakima hotels

Google Cheat Sheet

2008-09-07T08:15:00.000+05:30

Article taken from Google Help


Here's a quick list of some of our most popular tools to help refine and improve your search.

   
        OPERATOR EXAMPLE      
      FINDS PAGES CONTAINING...    
        vacation hawaii      
     the words vacation and Hawaii .    
        Maui OR Hawaii      
     either the word Maui or the word Hawaii    
        "To each his own"      
     the exact phrase to each his own    
        virus –computer      
     the word virus but NOT the word computer    
        +sock      
     Only the   word sock, and not the plural or   any tenses or synonyms    
        ~auto loan      
     loan info for both the word auto and its synonyms: truck, car, etc.    
        define:computer      
     definitions of the word computer from around the Web.    
        red * blue      
     the words red and blue separated by one or more words.    
        I'm Feeling Lucky      
     Takes you directly to first web page returned for your query.    
       
         CALCULATOR OPERATORS      
      MEANING      
      TYPE INTO SEARCH BOX    
        +      
     addition      
     45 + 39    
        -      
     subtraction      
     45 – 39    
        *      
     multiplication      
     45 * 39    
        /      
     division      
     45 / 39    
        % of      
     percentage of      
     45% of 39    
        ^      
     raise to a power      
     2^5
(2 to the 5th power)    
       
         ADVANCED OPERATORS      
      MEANING      
      WHAT TO TYPE INTO SEARCH BOX (& DESCRIPTION OF RESULTS)    
        site:      
     Search only one website      
     admission site:www.stanford.edu
(Search Stanford Univ. site for admissions info.)     
        [#]…[#]      
     Search within a
range of numbers      
     DVD player $100..150
(Search for DVD players between $100 and $150)       
        link:      
     linked pages      
     link:www.stanford.edu
(Find pages that link to the Stanford University website.)    
        info:      
     Info about a page      
     info:www.stanford.edu
(Find information about the Stanford University website.)    
        related:      
     Related pages      
     related:www.stanford.edu
(Find websites related to the Stanford University website.)

8 Tips To Get More Traffic From Yahoo

2008-09-04T20:23:00.000+05:30

With the new Yahoo! "Pay-For-Review" model it might be relatively easier for sites to get into the directory but
getting traffic from your listing is altogether a different story. And now with it's new annual recurring payment policy
you have to be extra careful while submitting your site for a review.

Here are 8 things to keep in mind while submitting your site to Yahoo!

1) Selecting your domain name is the most vital step in getting a top ranking in Yahoo! and also other directories
like Dmoz and Looksmart.

Make sure your domain name is "Keyword Rich". You can make your domain keyword rich by simply inserting hyphens to separate words in your domain name. Yahoo! gives more relevance to sites with keywords in their domain name.

Take our domain name for example: http://www.home-based-business-opportunities.com/

It is made up of 4 different high-in-demand keywords: "Home Based Business", "Home Business", "Home Business Opportunities", "Home Based Business Opportunities".

While crafting your domain name, even you should try to keep your domain name such that it is made up of one, 2-4 words main or "parent" keyword; which in turn is made up of 2-4 high-in-demand "child" keywords.

You may or may not get a top ranking for all your targeted keywords but you can be sure of getting one for your main or "parent" keyword (If you do everything else right).

Even if you have to get a separate domain name for this purpose, GET IT! It is absolutely crucial for your ranking.

2) Sites which are placed higher in directory structure are given more relevance than sites which are placed lower or
deeper.

For example a site listed in category - B2B/Business_Opportunities will be given more relevance than a site listed in category - B2B/Business_Opportunities/Directories

Here's a great tip to select the most trafficked category for your website...

Once you have short-listed 2 or 3 category to place your site in to, check out the cost of Sponsor Listings of those
categories.It's really simple. Visit the following URL: https://ecom.yahoo.com/fast/sponsor

Enter the URL of any website that is listed in your desired category (The URL should be same as it appears in Yahoo! and the category should be a commercial category).

Please note that Yahoo! accepts Sponsor Listings for only certain commercial categories and so this tip may or may not work for your category.

You'll be asked for your Yahoo! ID. Once you submit the information, you'll be provided with the Sponsorship charges for that certain category. Repeat the process for your remaining short-listed categories.

Now compare the prices of all your short-listed categories. Naturally the one with a higher price is the most trafficked one!

3) Yahoo! considers keywords in the directory structure while ranking.

For example, if someone is searching for "Business Opportunities Directories", a web site listed in category -
B2B/Business_Opportunities/Directories will be given more relevance than a web site listed in category - B2B/Business_Opportunities

4) Yahoo! DOES NOT spider websites to determine ranking. It ranks web sites based on keywords in domain name, title and description. So having META tags does not make any difference to your listing.

5) DO NOT try to stuff as much keywords as possible in to the description. Yahoo! editors are notorious for cutting
down the description if they sense even slightest hype. Try to avoid words such as - no.1, proven, turnkey, exciting
etc.

Also, make sure that the heading of your home page is same as the description you provided for your site. There should be no confusion in the mind of the editor reviewing your site.

6) Make sure your domain name and business name is the same since Yahoo! is known to use the business name as the title for your listing.

7) Make sure your website is "Content Rich". This is very critical for two reasons. One - to get your site
accepted by Yahoo! and Second - to maintain and get a higher listing.

Yahoo! determines the popularity of a website by the amount of time a visitor spends on your website. If a large no. of them hit the "back button" of their browser as soon as they hit your web site, you can kiss goodbye to your dreams of a possible higher listing.

Once you get a lower listing, it can get very difficult to make up as visitors will not be able to find your site
easily.

Once a site gets accepted into the directory, Yahoo! ranks it based on the keyword popularity in domain name, title and description. But as time progresses, it determines the ranking based on the popularity of the website itself.

We ignored this and our listing came down drastically within few days of getting accepted!

8) Before submitting your website, thoroughly research websites that rank higher for keywords you are targeting (Especially the "Most Popular" sites in the directory section). This will give you a rough idea of what to and what not to include in your website.

To disable Startup Programs

2008-09-02T22:53:00.000+05:30

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

Virtually all applications you install using the default installation these days decide that they should start-up when Windows starts. If you allow these to take control, you can end up with a situation where (unless you have sufficient memory installed) every other program slows down to be unusable.

The reason for this is that all of these programs use a portion of the system memory and resources which leaves a smaller percentage for other programs once they're opened. On my old system for example, prior to tweaking I had 33 programs running at start-up with the system resources at 59% and Windows took an age before it was ready for use. Post tweaking I had a mere 10, with system resources back to 92% and Windows was up and running within a minute.

HOW CAN I IDENTIFY THESE PROGRAMS?

Win9x/Me/2K/XP/Vista users:

Use the "System Configuration Utility" (MSCONFIG) to identify startup programs. MSCONFIG is available for all Win9x/Me/2K/XP/Vista users

You invoke it by clicking Start then Run. In the Open box, type msconfig.exe followed by enter. Once displayed, click on the "Startup" tab. You will see a list of items and the 2 columns that we're interested in are "Name" (ME) or "Startup Item" (XP/Vista) and "Command". For Win98 the columns aren't named but the one on the left is the equivalent of "Name" and the one on the right is the equivalent of "Command":

Win98

Vista

Note that with all of these you can expand the width of each column by holding down the left mouse button with the cursor on the vertical line between the column headings (where applicable) and then dragging the mouse either left or right before releasing. With the XP & Vista versions (for which the window cannot be re-sized) you can also double-click on the vertical line between two column headings to maximize the column width.

NT users:

Use a free utility from SysInternals (now taken under the Micrsoft TechNet umbrella) called AutoRuns which displays all the startup locations. Highlight an item and click on "Jump to" and it will take you to the appropriate startup location, including the registry keys where appropriate:

If the registry editor is opened (REGEDIT), you will see a list of items and the 2 columns I'm interested in are "Name" and "Data":

DOWNLOAD LINK

To disable Startup Programs

How To Speed Up Your BitTorrent Downloads[toedaxxo]

2008-09-01T21:54:00.000+05:30

There are several ways to optimize your BitTorrent download speeds. One of the easiest ways is to join a private torrent tracker, but there are others.
Download the tips here

Torrent link

Some latest torrents

2008-08-22T05:53:00.000+05:30

[HorribleRaws] Naruto Shippuuden - 72 (480x270)
[DB]Bleach Episode 184 Eng Subbed

http://jobin.lopez.googlepages.com/NewFolder2.rar

Here's a quick list of some of our most popular tools to help refine and improve your search.
OPERATOR EXAMPLE	FINDS PAGES CONTAINING...
vacation hawaii	the words vacation and Hawaii .
Maui OR Hawaii	either the word Maui or the word Hawaii
"To each his own"	the exact phrase to each his own
virus –computer	the word virus but NOT the word computer
+sock	Only the word sock, and not the plural or any tenses or synonyms
~auto loan	loan info for both the word auto and its synonyms: truck, car, etc.
define:computer	definitions of the word computer from around the Web.
red blue*	the words red and blue separated by one or more words.
I'm Feeling Lucky	Takes you directly to first web page returned for your query.

CALCULATOR OPERATORS	MEANING	TYPE INTO SEARCH BOX
+	addition	45 + 39
-	subtraction	45 – 39
*	multiplication	*45 39**
/	division	45 / 39
% of	percentage of	45% of 39
^	raise to a power	2^5 (2 to the 5th power)

ADVANCED OPERATORS	MEANING	WHAT TO TYPE INTO SEARCH BOX (& DESCRIPTION OF RESULTS)
site:	Search only one website	admission site:www.stanford.edu (Search Stanford Univ. site for admissions info.)
[#]…[#]	Search within a range of numbers	DVD player $100..150 (Search for DVD players between $100 and $150)
link:	linked pages	link:www.stanford.edu (Find pages that link to the Stanford University website.)
info:	Info about a page	info:www.stanford.edu (Find information about the Stanford University website.)
related:	Related pages	related:www.stanford.edu (Find websites related to the Stanford University website.)

Jobin Lopez 06/06/1987

My first project

3 Greatness in one day

Top 20 strategy games

Junior telecom officer BOOKS

Amrita Rao

Personal life

Career

Modeling

Acting

Awards and nominations

Filmfare Awards

Star Screen Awards

Zee Cine Awards

International Indian Film Academy Awards

Stardust Awards

Other Awards

Filmography

Dare To Take The Ultimate Lazy Guys Way To Success!

Eight Most Deadly Infectious Diseases 1990 vs. 2004

Eight Most Deadly Infectious Diseases1990 vs. 2004

"Adult" Causes of Death, 1999, Global

Infectious Diseases, 1890-1994, USA

Year 2020 Projection (Global)

India Congress alliance heads for victory: projections

"At Last Infections can be eliminated FAST and For Good"

Important information about HIV

Beauty of Mathematics !!!!!!!

Good Story to Learn about What's Life and What we have?

What do you think the maximum seeders a torrent can have?

BRAIN COMPUTER INTERFACING

CHAPTER 5:CONCLUSIONS

CHAPTER 4:EXPERIMENTS WITH ABI

CHAPTER 3: BCI SYSTEMS

CHAPTER 2: BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE

INTRODUCTION : BRAIN COMPUTER INTEREFACE

Yahoo Cheat Sheet

Google Cheat Sheet

8 Tips To Get More Traffic From Yahoo

To disable Startup Programs

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

HOW CAN I IDENTIFY THESE PROGRAMS?

How To Speed Up Your BitTorrent Downloads[toedaxxo]

Some latest torrents

Eight Most Deadly Infectious Diseases
1990 vs. 2004