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Namaskara Snehitare,

After a long hiatus, I have written an Article on SMO.

SMO Article

Happy Reading!

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A brain–computer interface (BCI), sometimes called a direct neural interface or a brain–machine interface, is a direct communication pathway between a brain and an external device. BCIs are often aimed at assisting, augmenting or repairing human cognitive or sensory-motor functions.

Research on BCIs began in the 1970s at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) under a grant from the National Science Foundation, followed by a contract from DARPA.^[1][2] The papers published after this research also mark the first appearance of the expression brain–computer interface in scientific literature.

The field of BCI has since blossomed spectacularly, mostly toward neuroprosthetics applications that aim at restoring damaged hearing, sight and movement. Thanks to the remarkable cortical plasticity of the brain, signals from implanted prostheses can, after adaptation, be handled by the brain like natural sensor or effector channels.^[3] Following years of animal experimentation, the first neuroprosthetic devices implanted in humans appeared in the mid-nineties.

BCI versus neuroprosthetics

The differences between BCIs and neuroprosthetics are mostly in the ways the terms are used: neuroprosthetics typically connect the nervous system to a device, whereas BCIs usually connect the brain (or nervous system) with a computer system. Practical neuroprosthetics can be linked to any part of the nervous system—for example, peripheral nerves—while the term "BCI" usually designates a narrower class of systems which interface with the central nervous system.

The terms are sometimes used interchangeably, and for good reason. Neuroprosthetics and BCIs seek to achieve the same aims, such as restoring sight, hearing, movement, ability to communicate, and even cognitive function. Both use similar experimental methods and surgical techniques.

Animal BCI research

Rats implanted with BCIs in Theodore Berger's experiments

Several laboratories have managed to record signals from monkey and rat cerebral cortices in order to operate BCIs to carry out movement. Monkeys have navigated computer cursors on screen and commanded robotic arms to perform simple tasks simply by thinking about the task and without any motor output. In May 2008 photographs that showed a monkey operating a robotic arm with its mind at the Pittsburgh University Medical Center were published in a number of well known science journals and magazines. Other research on cats has decoded visual signals.

Early work

The operant conditioning studies of Fetz and colleagues first demonstrated that monkeys could learn to control the deflection of a biofeedback meter arm with neural activity ^[7]. Such work in the 1970s established that monkeys could quickly learn to voluntarily control the firing rates of individual and multiple neurons in the primary motor cortex if they were rewarded for generating appropriate patterns of neural activity.^[8]

Monkey operating a robotic arm with brain–computer interfacing

Studies that developed algorithms to reconstruct movements from motor cortex neurons, which control movement, date back to the 1970s. In the 1980s, Apostolos Georgopoulos at Johns Hopkins University found a mathematical relationship between the electrical responses of single motor-cortex neurons in rhesus macaque monkeys and the direction that monkeys moved their arms (based on a cosine function). He also found that dispersed groups of neurons in different areas of the brain collectively controlled motor commands but was only able to record the firings of neurons in one area at a time because of technical limitations imposed by his equipment.^[9]

There has been rapid development in BCIs since the mid-1990s.^[10] Several groups have been able to capture complex brain motor centre signals using recordings from neural ensembles (groups of neurons) and use these to control external devices, including research groups led by Richard Andersen, John Donoghue, Phillip Kennedy, Miguel Nicolelis, and Andrew Schwartz.

Prominent research successes

Phillip Kennedy and colleagues built the first intracortical brain–computer interface by implanting neurotrophic-cone electrodes into monkeys.

Yang Dan and colleagues' recordings of cat vision using a BCI implanted in the lateral geniculate nucleus (top row: original image; bottom row: recording)

In 1999, researchers led by Yang Dan at University of California, Berkeley decoded neuronal firings to reproduce images seen by cats. The team used an array of electrodes embedded in the thalamus (which integrates all of the brain’s sensory input) of sharp-eyed cats. Researchers targeted 177 brain cells in the thalamus lateral geniculate nucleus area, which decodes signals from the retina. The cats were shown eight short movies, and their neuron firings were recorded. Using mathematical filters, the researchers decoded the signals to generate movies of what the cats saw and were able to reconstruct recognizable scenes and moving objects.^[11] Similar results in humans have been since then achieved by researchers in Japan (see below).

Miguel Nicolelis has been a prominent proponent of using multiple electrodes spread over a greater area of the brain to obtain neuronal signals to drive a BCI. Such neural ensembles are said to reduce the variability in output produced by single electrodes, which could make it difficult to operate a BCI.

After conducting initial studies in rats during the 1990s, Nicolelis and his colleagues developed BCIs that decoded brain activity in owl monkeys and used the devices to reproduce monkey movements in robotic arms. Monkeys have advanced reaching and grasping abilities and good hand manipulation skills, making them ideal test subjects for this kind of work.

By 2000, the group succeeded in building a BCI that reproduced owl monkey movements while the monkey operated a joystick or reached for food.^[12] The BCI operated in real time and could also control a separate robot remotely over Internet protocol. But the monkeys could not see the arm moving and did not receive any feedback, a so-called open-loop BCI.

Diagram of the BCI developed by Miguel Nicolelis and colleagues for use on Rhesus monkeys

Later experiments by Nicolelis using rhesus monkeys, succeeded in closing the feedback loop and reproduced monkey reaching and grasping movements in a robot arm. With their deeply cleft and furrowed brains, rhesus monkeys are considered to be better models for human neurophysiology than owl monkeys. The monkeys were trained to reach and grasp objects on a computer screen by manipulating a joystick while corresponding movements by a robot arm were hidden.^[13][14] The monkeys were later shown the robot directly and learned to control it by viewing its movements. The BCI used velocity predictions to control reaching movements and simultaneously predicted hand gripping force.

Other labs that develop BCIs and algorithms that decode neuron signals include John Donoghue from Brown University, Andrew Schwartz from the University of Pittsburgh and Richard Andersen from Caltech. These researchers were able to produce working BCIs even though they recorded signals from far fewer neurons than Nicolelis (15–30 neurons versus 50–200 neurons).

Donoghue's group reported training rhesus monkeys to use a BCI to track visual targets on a computer screen with or without assistance of a joystick (closed-loop BCI).^[15] Schwartz's group created a BCI for three-dimensional tracking in virtual reality and also reproduced BCI control in a robotic arm.^[16] The group created headlines when they demonstrated that a monkey could feed itself pieces of zucchini using a robotic arm controlled by the animal's own brain signals.^[17][18]

Andersen's group used recordings of premovement activity from the posterior parietal cortex in their BCI, including signals created when experimental animals anticipated receiving a reward.^[19]

In addition to predicting kinematic and kinetic parameters of limb movements, BCIs that predict electromyographic or electrical activity of muscles are being developed.^[20] Such BCIs could be used to restore mobility in paralyzed limbs by electrically stimulating muscles.

Miguel Nicolelis worked with John Chapin, Johan Wessberg, Mark Laubach, Jose Carmena, Mikhail Lebedev, Antonio Pereira, Jr., Sidarta Ribeiro and other colleagues showed that activity of large neural ensembles can predict arm position. This work made possible creation of brain–machine interfaces — electronic devices that read arm movement intentions and translate them into movements of artificial actuators. Carmena et al. (2003) programmed the neural coding in a brain–machine interface allowed a monkey to control reaching and grasping movements by a robotic arm, and Lebedev et al. (2005) argued that brain networks reorganize to create a new representation of the robotic appendage in addition to the representation of the animal's own limbs.

The biggest impediment of BCI technology at present is the lack of a sensor modality that provides safe, accurate, and robust access to brain signals. It is conceivable or even likely that such a sensor will be developed within the next twenty years. The use of such a sensor should greatly expand the range of communication functions that can be provided using a BCI.

Development and implementation of a Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) system is complex and time consuming. In response to this problem, Dr. Gerwin Schalk has been developing a general-purpose system for BCI research, called BCI2000. BCI2000 has been in development since 2000 in a project led by the Brain–Computer Interface R&D Program at the Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health in Albany, New York, USA.

A new 'wireless' approach uses light-gated ion channels such as Channelrhodopsin to control the activity of genetically defined subsets of neurons in vivo. In the context of a simple learning task, illumination of transfected cells in the somatosensory cortex influenced the decision making process of freely moving mice.^[21]

Human BCI research

Invasive BCIs

Invasive BCI research has targeted repairing damaged sight and providing new functionality to persons with paralysis. Invasive BCIs are implanted directly into the grey matter of the brain during neurosurgery. As they rest in the grey matter, invasive devices produce the highest quality signals of BCI devices but are prone to scar-tissue build-up, causing the signal to become weaker or even lost as the body reacts to a foreign object in the brain.

In vision science, direct brain implants have been used to treat non-congenital (acquired) blindness. One of the first scientists to come up with a working brain interface to restore sight was private researcher William Dobelle.

Dobelle's first prototype was implanted into "Jerry", a man blinded in adulthood, in 1978. A single-array BCI containing 68 electrodes was implanted onto Jerry’s visual cortex and succeeded in producing phosphenes, the sensation of seeing light. The system included cameras mounted on glasses to send signals to the implant. Initially, the implant allowed Jerry to see shades of grey in a limited field of vision at a low frame-rate. This also required him to be hooked up to a two-ton mainframe, but shrinking electronics and faster computers made his artificial eye more portable and now enable him to perform simple tasks unassisted.^[22]

Dummy unit illustrating the design of a BrainGate interface

In 2002, Jens Naumann, also blinded in adulthood, became the first in a series of 16 paying patients to receive Dobelle’s second generation implant, marking one of the earliest commercial uses of BCIs. The second generation device used a more sophisticated implant enabling better mapping of phosphenes into coherent vision. Phosphenes are spread out across the visual field in what researchers call the starry-night effect. Immediately after his implant, Jens was able to use his imperfectly restored vision to drive slowly around the parking area of the research institute.

BCIs focusing on motor neuroprosthetics aim to either restore movement in individuals with paralysis or provide devices to assist them, such as interfaces with computers or robot arms.

Researchers at Emory University in Atlanta led by Philip Kennedy and Roy Bakay were first to install a brain implant in a human that produced signals of high enough quality to simulate movement. Their patient, Johnny Ray (1944-2002), suffered from ‘locked-in syndrome’ after suffering a brain-stem stroke in 1997. Ray’s implant was installed in 1998 and he lived long enough to start working with the implant, eventually learning to control a computer cursor; he died in 2002 of a brain aneurysm.^[23]

Tetraplegic Matt Nagle became the first person to control an artificial hand using a BCI in 2005 as part of the first nine-month human trial of Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology’s BrainGate chip-implant. Implanted in Nagle’s right precentral gyrus (area of the motor cortex for arm movement), the 96-electrode BrainGate implant allowed Nagle to control a robotic arm by thinking about moving his hand as well as a computer cursor, lights and TV.^[24]One year later, professor Jonathan Wolpaw received the prize of the Altran Foundation for Innovation to develop a Brain Computer Interface with electrodes located on the surface of the skull, instead of directly in the brain.

Partially-invasive BCIs

Partially invasive BCI devices are implanted inside the skull but rest outside the brain rather than within the grey matter. They produce better resolution signals than non-invasive BCIs where the bone tissue of the cranium deflects and deforms signals and have a lower risk of forming scar-tissue in the brain than fully-invasive BCIs.

Electrocorticography (ECoG) measures the electrical activity of the brain taken from beneath the skull in a similar way to non-invasive electroencephalography (see below), but the electrodes are embedded in a thin plastic pad that is placed above the cortex, beneath the dura mater.^[25] ECoG technologies were first trialed in humans in 2004 by Eric Leuthardt and Daniel Moran from Washington University in St Louis. In a later trial, the researchers enabled a teenage boy to play Space Invaders using his ECoG implant.^[26] This research indicates that control is rapid, requires minimal training, and may be an ideal tradeoff with regards to signal fidelity and level of invasiveness.

(Note: These electrodes were not implanted in the patients for BCI experiments. Implanting foreign objects into people's brains solely for experimental purposes would be unethical. The patient was suffering from severe epilepsy and had the electrodes temporarily implanted to help his physicians localize seizure foci; the researchers simply took advantage of this.)

Light Reactive Imaging BCI devices are still in the realm of theory. These would involve implanting a laser inside the skull. The laser would be trained on a single neuron and the neuron's reflectance measured by a separate sensor. When the neuron fires, the laser light pattern and wavelengths it reflects would change slightly. This would allow researchers to monitor single neurons but require less contact with tissue and reduce the risk of scar-tissue build-up.

This signal can be either subdural or epidural, but is not taken from within the brain parenchyma itself. It has not been studied extensively until recently due to the limited access of subjects. Currently, the only manner to acquire the signal for study is through the use of patients requiring invasive monitoring for localization and resection of an epileptogenic focus.

ECoG is a very promising intermediate BCI modality because it has higher spatial resolution, better signal-to-noise ratio, wider frequency range, and lesser training requirements than scalp-recorded EEG, and at the same time has lower technical difficulty, lower clinical risk, and probably superior long-term stability than intracortical single-neuron recording. This feature profile and recent evidence of the high level of control with minimal training requirements shows potential for real world application for people with motor disabilities.

Non-invasive BCIs

As well as invasive experiments, there have also been experiments in humans using non-invasive neuroimaging technologies as interfaces. Signals recorded in this way have been used to power muscle implants and restore partial movement in an experimental volunteer. Although they are easy to wear, non-invasive implants produce poor signal resolution because the skull dampens signals, dispersing and blurring the electromagnetic waves created by the neurons. Although the waves can still be detected it is more difficult to determine the area of the brain that created them or the actions of individual neurons.

EEG

Electroencephalography (EEG) is the most studied potential non-invasive interface, mainly due to its fine temporal resolution, ease of use, portability and low set-up cost. But as well as the technology's susceptibility to noise, another substantial barrier to using EEG as a brain–computer interface is the extensive training required before users can work the technology. For example, in experiments beginning in the mid-1990s, Niels Birbaumer of the University of Tübingen in Germany trained severely paralysed people to self-regulate the slow cortical potentials in their EEG to such an extent that these signals could be used as a binary signal to control a computer cursor.^[27] (Birbaumer had earlier trained epileptics to prevent impending fits by controlling this low voltage wave.) The experiment saw ten patients trained to move a computer cursor by controlling their brainwaves. The process was slow, requiring more than an hour for patients to write 100 characters with the cursor, while training often took many months.

Another research parameter is the type of waves measured. Birbaumer's later research with Jonathan Wolpaw at New York State University has focused on developing technology that would allow users to choose the brain signals they found easiest to operate a BCI, including mu and beta rhythms.

A further parameter is the method of feedback used and this is shown in studies of P300 signals. Patterns of P300 waves are generated involuntarily (stimulus-feedback) when people see something they recognize and may allow BCIs to decode categories of thoughts without training patients first. By contrast, the biofeedback methods described above require learning to control brainwaves so the resulting brain activity can be detected.

Lawrence Farwell and Emanuel Donchin developed an EEG-based brain–computer interface in the 1980s.^[28] Their "mental prosthesis" used the P300 brainwave response to allow subjects, including one paralyzed Locked-In syndrome patient, to communicate words, letters, and simple commands to a computer and thereby to speak through a speech synthesizer driven by the computer. A number of similar devices have been developed since then. In 2000, for example, research by Jessica Bayliss at the University of Rochester showed that volunteers wearing virtual reality helmets could control elements in a virtual world using their P300 EEG readings, including turning lights on and off and bringing a mock-up car to a stop.^[29]

In the early 90's Babak Taheri, at UC DAVIS demonstrated the first single and also multichannel dry active electrode arrays using micro-machining. The single channel dry EEG electrode construction and results were published in (Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology Volume 90, Issue 5, May 1994, Pages 376-383.^[30]. The arrayed electrode was also demonstrated to perform well compared to silver silver chloride electrodes. The device consisted of four sites of sensors with integrated electronics to reduce noise by impedance matching. The advantages of such electrodes are: (1) no electrolyte used, (2) no skin preparation, (3) significantly reduced sensor size, and (4) compatibility with EEG monitoring systems. The active electrode array is an integrated system made of an array of capacitive sensors with local integrated circuitry housed in a package with batteries to power the circuitry. This level of integration was required to achieve the functional performance obtained by the electrode. The electrode was tested on an electrical test bench and on human subjects in four modalities of EEG activity, namely: (1) spontaneous EEG, (2) sensory event-related potentials, (3) brain stem potentials, and (4) cognitive event-related potentials. The performance of the dry electrode compared favorably with that of the standard wet Ag/AgCl electrodes in terms of skin preparation, no gel requirements (dry), and higher signal-to-noise ratio. ^[31]

In 1999, researchers at Case Western Reserve University led by Hunter Peckham, used 64-electrode EEG skullcap to return limited hand movements to quadriplegic Jim Jatich. As Jatich concentrated on simple but opposite concepts like up and down, his beta-rhythm EEG output was analysed using software to identify patterns in the noise. A basic pattern was identified and used to control a switch: Above average activity was set to on, below average off. As well as enabling Jatich to control a computer cursor the signals were also used to drive the nerve controllers embedded in his hands, restoring some movement.^[32]

Electronic neural networks have been deployed which shift the learning phase from the user to the computer. Experiments by scientists at the Fraunhofer Society in 2004 using neural networks led to noticeable improvements within 30 minutes of training.^[33]

Experiments by Eduardo Miranda aim to use EEG recordings of mental activity associated with music to allow the disabled to express themselves musically through an encephalophone.^[34]

The Emotiv company plans to produce a commercial video game controller (known as the Epoc) in December 21, 2009, which uses electromagnetic sensors.^[35]

MEG and MRI

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have both been used successfully as non-invasive BCIs.^[36] In a widely reported experiment, fMRI allowed two users being scanned to play Pong in real-time by altering their haemodynamic response or brain blood flow through biofeedback techniques.^[37]

fMRI measurements of haemodynamic responses in real time have also been used to control robot arms with a seven second delay between thought and movement.^[38]

More recently, research developed in the Advanced Telecommunications Research (ATR) Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan allowed the scientists to reconstruct images directly from the brain and display them on a computer. The article announcing these achievements was the cover story of the journal Neuron of 10 December 2008,^[39]While the early results are limited to black and white images of 10x10 squares (pixels), according to the researchers further development of the technology may make it possible to achieve color images, and even view or record dreams.^[40][41]

Commercialization and companies

John Donoghue and fellow researchers founded Cyberkinetics. Now listed on a US stock exchange and known as Cyberkinetic Neurotechnology Inc, the company markets its electrode arrays under the BrainGate product name and has set the development of practical BCIs for humans as its major goal. The BrainGate is based on the Utah Array developed by Dick Normann.

Philip Kennedy founded Neural Signals in 1987 to develop BCIs that would allow paralysed patients to communicate with the outside world and control external devices. As well as an invasive BCI, the company also sells an implant to restore speech. Neural Signals' Brain Communicator BCI device uses glass cones containing microelectrodes coated with proteins to encourage the electrodes to bind to neurons.

Although 16 paying patients were treated using William Dobelle's vision BCI, new implants ceased within a year of Dobelle's death in 2004. A company controlled by Dobelle, Avery Biomedical Devices, and Stony Brook University are continuing development of the implant, which has not yet received Food and Drug Administration approval in the United States for human implantation.^[42]

Ambient, at a TI developers conference in early 2008, demoed a product they have in development call The Audeo. The Audeo is being developed to create a human–computer interface for communication without the need of physical motor control or speech production. Using signal processing, unpronounced speech representing the thought of the mind can be translated from intercepted neurological signals.^[43]

Mindball is a product developed and commercialized by Interactive Productline in which players compete to control a ball's movement across a table by becoming more relaxed and focused.^[44] Interactive Productline is a Swedish company whose objective is to develop and sell easy understandable EEG products that train the ability to relax and focus.^[45]

An Austrian company, Guger Technologies^[46], g.tec, has been offering Brain Computer Interface systems since 1999. The company provides base BCI models as development platforms for the research community to build upon, including the P300 Speller, Motor Imagery, and mu-rhythm. They commercialized a Steady State Visual Evoked Potiential BCI solution in 2008 with 4 degrees of machine control.

A Spanish company, Starlab, has entered this market in 2009 with a wireless 4-channel system called ENOBIO. Designed for research purposes the system provides a platform for application development. ^[47]

There are three main consumer-devices commercial-competitors in this area (expected launch date mentioned in brackets) which are going to launch such devices primarily for gaming- and PC-users:

• Neural Impulse Actuator (April - 2008)
• Emotiv Systems (December - 2009)
• NeuroSky (MindSet - June 2009, Uncle Milton Force Trainer - Fall 2009, Mattel MindFlex - Summer 2009)

Military applications

The United States military has been exploring applications for BCIs, to enhance troop performance as well as develop systems to interfere with the communications of adversaries.^[48] As one report concluded,

The most successful implementation of invasive interfaces has occurred in medical applications in which nerve signals are used as the mechanism for information transfer.^[49]

The DARPA budget for the fiscal year 2009 to 2010 includes $4 million for a program named Silent Talk, which aims to "allow user-to-user communication on the battlefield without the use of vocalized speech through analysis of neural signals."^[50]A further $4 million was allocated by the Army to the University of California to investigate computer-mediated "synthetic telepathy".^[50] The research aims to detect and analyze the word-specific neural signals, using EEG, which occur before speech is vocalized, and to see if the patterns are generalizable.^[50] The research is part of a wider $70 million project that began in 2000 which aims to develop hardware capable of adapting to the behavior of its user.^[51]

Cell-culture BCIs

Researchers have built devices to interface with neural cells and entire neural networks in cultures outside animals. As well as furthering research on animal implantable devices, experiments on cultured neural tissue have focused on building problem-solving networks, constructing basic computers and manipulating robotic devices. Research into techniques for stimulating and recording from individual neurons grown on semiconductor chips is sometimes referred to as neuroelectronics or neurochips.^[52]

World first: Neurochip developed by Caltech researchers Jerome Pine and Michael Maher

Development of the first working neurochip was claimed by a Caltech team led by Jerome Pine and Michael Maher in 1997.^[53] The Caltech chip had room for 16 neurons.

In 2003, a team led by Theodore Berger at the University of Southern California started work on a neurochip designed to function as an artificial or prosthetic hippocampus. The neurochip was designed to function in rat brains and is intended as a prototype for the eventual development of higher-brain prosthesis. The hippocampus was chosen because it is thought to be the most ordered and structured part of the brain and is the most studied area. Its function is to encode experiences for storage as long-term memories elsewhere in the brain.^[54]

Thomas DeMarse at the University of Florida used a culture of 25,000 neurons taken from a rat's brain to fly a F-22 fighter jet aircraft simulator.^[55] After collection, the cortical neurons were cultured in a petri dish and rapidly began to reconnect themselves to form a living neural network. The cells were arranged over a grid of 60 electrodes and used to control the pitch and yaw functions of the simulator. The study's focus was on understanding how the human brain performs and learns computational tasks at a cellular level.

Ethical considerations

There has not been a vigorous debate about the ethical implications of BCIs, even though there are several commercially available systems such as brain pacemakers used to treat neurological conditions, and could theoretically be used to modify other behaviours.

Emory University neuroscience professor Michael Crutcher has expressed concern about BCIs, specifically ear and eye implants: "If only the rich can afford it, it puts everyone else at a disadvantage."^[56]

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I have created my first blog... go through it

http://vivekphp.blogspot.com/

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A Long time ago, there was a huge tree.

It loved a little boy very much, the boy loved to come and play around it everyday

He climbed to the treetop, ate the apples, take a nap under the shadow

He loved the tree, the tree was so happy!

TIME WENT BY...........

One day, the boy came back to the tree The tree said " come & play with me".

"I am no longer a kid, I do't play around a tree anymore" I want toys.  I need money to buy them... the boy replied. 

Sorry, but i do't have money u can pick all my apples and sell them. so, u'ill have some money

The boy was so excited. He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily.

The tree was happy.

The boy never came back after picked the apples. The tree was sad.

One day, the boy who now turned into a man returned and the tree was excited. " come & play with me" the tree said.

I do't have time to play. I have to work for my family. we need a house for shelter. Can u help me?

Sorry, but i do't have any house. but you can chop off my branhces  to build your house.

So the man cut all the branches of the tree & left  happily.

The tree was glad to see him happy but the man never came back since then.

The tree was again lonely and sad.

One hot summer day, the man returned & the tree was delighted. "Come & play with me" The tree said.

I'm getting old.  I want to go sailingto relax myself. Can u give me a boat?.. Said the man

Use my trunk to build ur boat. The tree said U can sail far away & be happy.

so the man cut the tree trunk to make a boat.  He went sailing & never showed up for a long time.

Finally, the man returned after many years. " sorry my boy,  but i do't have anything for u anymore.  No more apples for u.... said the tree " No problem I do't have teeth to bite".. the man replied.

No more trunk for u to climb on........ "I'm too old for that now" The man said

I really cannot give u anything the only thing left is my dying roots the tree said with tears.

I do't need much just a placeto rest. "I'm tired after all these years" ... the man replied.

GOOD! old tree roots are the best place to lean on & rest, come sit down with me and rest.

The man sat down & the tree was glad & smiled with tears...

NO matter how busy UR share some time with your parents!!

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Step 1: Project Types

There are five types of setup and deployment projects in VS.NET, but three are of significant importance that are "Setup Project", "Web Setup Project" and "Merge Module Project".

Display 1: Project Type dialog.

• Setup Project
  
  Generic type of project that could be used for all type of applications including web based application. 

Step -2 Get Started

1) Select a Setup Project type as shown in Display 1.

2) The default File System editor will appear in the window as shown in Display 2. 



Display 2: Default File System Editor

3) One can add special folders here into which they intend to add files. Just right click on the editor to view the special folder types available. These are the folders into which you can drag and drop an entire folder structure with files.

          - Add *.exe, *.dll, any folder you like to deploy where ever that .MSI will run you can add to Application Folder.

          - Add Folder / Shortcut to User’s Program Menu Folder to make it available in All programs list of Start Button.

          - Add Shortcut to User’s Desktop Folder, that Shortcut will be placed on User’s Desktop.

***4) Click on Registry editor and navigate to that editor (Display 3). One can configure registry settings here like "Manufacturer's name", "Version No", etc.

Display 3: Using registry editor

5) User Interface editor is provided in VS.Net by default with certain additional dialogs as per the requirements (refer display 4). Add for e.g. Textboxes (A) option that provides you with 4 textbox with edit value, label and property (Display 5). This is the most important editor since this is the UI that interfaces between the user and your MSI setup. The values captured from here are used throughout the installer like in Custom actions.
Display 4: Default view of User interface editor.

Display 5: See the EditLabel, EditProperty and Editvalue attributes.

*** Optional Step.

Installer setup is now complete. Build the project and try to install...

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The official Sanskrit name for India

is Bharat.

INDIA has been called Bharat even in Satya yuga ( Golden Age )

More INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT India

herefore suitable language for computer software

.

Chess was invented in India.

Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies which originated in India.

The’ place value system’ and the ‘decimal system’ were developed in 100 BC in India.

The first six Mogul Emperor’s of India ruled in an unbroken succession from father to son for two hundred years, from 1526 to 1707.

The World’s First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara temple at Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The shikhara is made from a single ‘ 80-tonne ‘ piece of granite. Also, this magnificient temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola

India is…….the Largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest country in the world AND one of the most ancient and living civilizations (at least 10, 000 years old).

The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called ‘Mokshapat.’ The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. Later through time, the game underwent several modifications but the meaning is the same i.e good deeds take us to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.

The world’s highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh.
Built in 1893 after levelling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.

India has the most post offices in the world !

The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system, employing over a million people !.

The World’s first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The father of medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.

Although modern images & descriptions of India often show poverty, India was one of the richest countries till the time of British in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India’s wealth and was looking for route to India when he discovered America by mistake.

The art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh 6000 over years ago. The very word ‘Navigation’ is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Nou’.

Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. His calculations was – Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: ( 5th century ) 365.258756484 days.

The value of “pi” was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, which was long before the European mathematicians.

Algebra, trigonometry and calculus also orignated from India. Quadratic equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 ( i.e 10 to the power of 53 ) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C. during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera: 10*12( 10 to the power of 12 ).

Until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world. ( Source . Gemological Institute of America )

The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.

Sushruta is regarded as the father of surgery. Over 2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones and also plastic surgery and brain surgeries.

Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism, physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.

India has the 2nd largest road network in the world after the US.

Business-IT Facts about India

* AT & T-Bell Labs – President, Arun Netravalli
* Lucent Technologies – Chief Scientist, Arun Netravalli
* Hewlett Packard – GM, Rajiv Gupta
* Adobe Systems – CEO, Shantanu Narayen
* Founder and Creator of Hotmail – Sabeer Bhatia
* Creator of Pentium chip – Vinod Dahm
* CitiBank – CEO, Victor Menezes
* Mckensey – CEO, Rajat Gupta
* Stanchart – CEO, Rana Talwar
* Sun Microsystems – Co-founder, Vinod Khosla
* 36% of NASA employees are Indians
* 34% of Microsoft employees are Indians
* 38% of doctors in America are Indians
* 28% of IBM employees are Indians
* 12% of scientists in America are Indians
* 17% of Intel employees are Indians
* 13% of Xerox employees are Indians
* More than a million Indians are millionaires

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Following is the speech of Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation, in the "Shaping Young Minds Program" organized by the All India Management Association (AIMA) in collaboration with the Bombay Management Association BMA) on February 9, 2004 at NCPA in Mumbai: I am very happy to be here with you. It is always wonderful to be with young people. The funny thing about life is that you realize the value of something only when it begins to leave you. As my hair turned from black to salt and pepper and finally salt without the pepper, I have begun to realize the importance of youth. At the same time, I have begun to truly appreciate some of the lessons I have learnt along the way. I hope you will find them useful when you plan your own career and life. The first thing I have learnt is that we must always begin with our strengths. While it is important for us to know what we are not good at, we must also cherish what is good in us. That is because it is only our strengths that can give us the energy to correct our weaknesses. From the earliest years of our schooling, everyone focuses on what is wrong with us. There is an imaginary story of a rabbit. The rabbit was enrolled in a rabbit school. Like all rabbits, it could hop very well but could not swim. At the end of the year, the rabbit got high marks in hopping but failed in swimming. The parents were concerned. They said, "Forget about hopping. You are anyway good at it. Concentrate on swimming." They sentthe rabbit for tuitions in swimming. And guess what happened? The rabbit forgot how to hop! As for swimming, have you ever seen a rabbit swim? The second lesson I have learnt is that a rupee earned is of far more value than five found. My friend was sharing me the story of his eight year-old niece. She would always complain about the breakfast. The cook tried everything possible, but the child remained unhappy. Finally, my friend took the child to a supermarket and brought one of those ready-to-cook packets. The child had to cut the packet and pour water in the dish. After that, it took two minutes in the microwave to be ready. The child found the food to be absolutely delicious? The difference was that she has cooked it! In my own life, I have found that nothing gives as much satisfaction as earning our rewards. In fact, what is gifted or inherited follows the old rule of come easy - go easy. I guess we only know the value of what we have if we have struggled to earn it. The third lesson I have learnt is no one bats a hundred every time. Life has many challenges. You win some and lose some. You must enjoy winning. But do not let it go to the head. The moment it does, you are already on your way to failure. And if you do encounter failure along the way, treat it as an equally natural phenomenon. Don't beat yourself for it or any one else for that matter! Accept it, look at your own share in the problem, learn from it and move on. The important thing is, when you lose, do not lose the lesson. The fourth lesson I have learnt is the importance of humility. Sometimes, when you get so much in life, you really start wondering whether you deserve all of it. This brings me to the value of gratitude. We have so much to be grateful for. Our parents, our teachers and our seniors have done so much for us that we can never repay them. Many people focus on the shortcomings, because obviously no one can be perfect. But it is important to first acknowledge what we have received. Nothing in life is permanent but when a relationship ends, rather than becoming bitter, we must learn to savor the memory of the good things while they lasted. The fifth lesson I learnt is that we must always strive for excellence. One way of achieving excellence is by looking at those better than ourselves. Keep learning what they do differently. Emulate it. But excellence cannot be imposed from the outside. We must also feel the need from within. It must become an obsession. It must involve not only our mind but also our heart and soul. Excellence is not an act but a habit. I remember the inspiring lines of a poem, which says that your reach must always exceed your grasp. That is heaven on earth. Ultimately, your only competition is yourself. The sixth lesson I have learnt is never give up in the face of adversity. It comes on you suddenly without warning. One can either succumb to self-pity, wring your hands in despair or decide to deal with the situation with courage and dignity. Always keep in mind that it is only the test of fire that makes fine steel. A friend of mine shared this incident with me. His eight-year old daughter was struggling away at a jigsaw puzzle. She kept at it for hours but could not succeed. Finally, it went beyond her bedtime. My friend told her, "Look, why don't you just give up? I don't think you will complete it tonight. Look at it another day." The daughter looked with a strange look in her eyes, "But, dad, why should I give up? All the pieces are there! I have just got to put them together!" If we persevere long enough, we can put any problem into its perspective. The seventh lesson I have learnt is that while you must be open to change, do not compromise on your values. Mahatma Gandhiji often said that you must open the windows of your mind, but you must not be swept off your feet by the breeze. You must define what your core values are and what you stand for. And these values are not so difficult to define. Values like honesty, integrity, consideration and humility have survived for generations. Values are not in the words used to describe them as much as in the simple acts. At the end of the day, it is values that define a person more than the achievements.Because it is the means of achievement that decide how long the achievements will sustain. Do not be tempted by short cuts. The short cut can make you lose your way and end up becoming the longest way to the destination. And the final lesson I learnt is that we must have faith in our own ideas even if everyone tells us that we are wrong. There was once a newspaper vendor who had a rude customer. Every morning, the customer would walk by, refuse to return the greeting, grab the paper off the shelf and throw the money at the vendor. The vendor would pick up the money, smile politely and say, "Thank you, Sir." One day, the vendor's assistant asked him, "Why are you always so polite with him when he is so rude to you? Why don't you throw the newspaper at him when he comes back tomorrow?" The vendor smiled and replied, "He can't help being rude and I can't help being polite. Why should I let his rude behavior dictate my politeness?” In my youth, I thought of myself as a rebel and was many times, a rebel without a cause. Today, I realize that my rebellion was another kind of conformity. We defied our elders to fall in line with our peers. Ultimately; we must learn to respond instead of reacting. When we respond, we evaluate with a calm mind and do whatever is most appropriate. We are in control of our actions. When we react, we are still doing what the other person wants us to do. I wish you all the best in your life and career. I hope you achieve success in whatever way you define it and what gives you the maximum happiness in life. Remember, those who win are those who believe they can.

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