e-bike?

My Office is around 15 kilometres from my residence.
And I am fed up with the traffic jams here in Bangalore, the periodicity of buses.

So I said, lemme try going to the office on a bicycle.
I tried it on the weekend.. and guess what it just took me 10 more mins than what the bus takes! [8:25 AM to 9:25 AM]..
But I was too tired and coming back from the office at night [10 PM] was miserable..

Bicycle is good.. but I need a power assist added.. Pedal whenever you can.. and if you dont feel like it, just turn on the motor and there you go!

It is not difficult to add a motor to the bicycle.. just a few hand calculations, few trips to the workshop and a few instructions to the workman.

Google is my friend:
This is a read good website:
http://www.peltzer.net/ebike/
www.estelle.de

The commercial e-bikes
http://www.electric-bikes.com/

I had seen a person use a 0.5 HP DC motor, 24V batteries.. the guy above uses a 1HP [746 Watt],3000 rpm motor.
btw, TXU Turbines are 1000000000 Watt [:)].. A thousand Megawatt

Say I want to go at a speed of 20 kmph and the wheel diameter is..
I need to do the calc and come out with the spec for the

motor,
batteries,
charger,
the speed reducer,
the motor speed controller,
dimensions of the supporting structure,
etc

Motor would be a major cost here I believe, Need to ask is some shop here or look for some flea market in case a new motor is too costly [A motor from a washing machine would do]

btw a new e-bike costs 16000 INR (The pamphlet said that it costs only 80? paise per km)
Will do some more research and come up with the design..

I want to be at the office tomorrow morning at 6:00 am.

Hope that such wishes get fulfilled in the near future :)

Update 1:
I bought a second hand DC motor[1200 INR], 0.5 inch [thickness] 18 and 38 teeth sprockets, a chain [all three costed me 768 INR] and two small metal sheets for housing the motor.. Will upload the photos of my endeavour later.
I need to go to the workshop to bore the sprockets and to drill them metal sheets and assemble all of them and get my bike ready [:)]
getting work done at the workshop is tiring.. so I would do this manufacturing/assembly thing the week after next..

My friends are excited about the effort!..
Will keep you updated

Network Analysis ...

Need to Carry my thesis work forward..
My thesis was on Study of hub neighborhoods in some networks

In the thesis, I had come up with a few metrics to find the interconnectednedd between two hubs in a network.

http://www.genetics.ucla.edu/labs/horvath/CoexpressionNetwork/

I am not able to figure out what should I work on..
Will have to decide it by tomorrow..
so much to do. so little time!

More choices is good.... and bad too!

A Paradox? probably yes.
Just had a look at the Google video by
The Paradox of Choice
by Barry Schwartz

Where he talks about the dark side of having more choices..

Paralysis: The choice make becomes overwhelmed by the deluge of choices in front of him. Thus, he either postpones his decision or does not make any decision!

Different types of choice making strategies:

Maximiser: These people look at all the options and make the decisions.. but these people are more unhappy [According to the speaker].. I feel that this is true in practice too!
Satisfisor: These people keep on trying the alternatives till they get the alternative by which they are satisfied. Their choice may not be optimal... {because they have not looked at all the options].. But in practice they are more happy than Maximisers!

Principal-Agent Problem:
In this case, the agent does all the work of choosing.. thus insulating the stake holder from the pain of making decisions.. The agent does not need to be a guru... if he has some knowledge of the products, he can come up with good choice for the stake holder. Both are profited.. both are happy..

The Speaker also said that Google was the part of the solution of this "choices" problem.

Where are our Energy needs taking us: A summary of Newsweek 2007 contents

I started going through the articles and realised that I would be able to appreciate the implications of Energy supply/demand on various sections better if I had some background of Macroeconomics. I googled and got a fairly good introduction to Macroeconomics.
Here's the presentation on Macroeconomics. If you already have an idea of what/how/why of GDP, Inflation, bank interest rates, oil prices, etc.. then u can skip the macroeconomics presentation.
web.syr.edu/~bjdempse/Introduction%20to%20Macroeconomics.pdf

Create > New > Playlist

It has been long since I have learnt any new songs on my guitar..
I need to learn new songs to play on the guitar..

Here's the list of the songs that I would be learning:
These are the the songs that are

1. Kya Mujhe Pyar Hai - Woh Lamhe


2. Woh Lamhe - Woh Lamhe


3. Show (Hey Oh) - Californication


4. Allah Ke Bande - Kailas Kher


5. Dil Kya Kare Jab kisiko.. kisise pyar ho jaye


6. Neele neele ambar pe

7. Listen to your heart - Avril Lavigne


8. One Tamil Song


9. One Telugu song


The Songs that I already know are:

I need to improve upon retention of lyrics,
Areas of Improvement
1. Knocking on heavens door - Bob Dylan - Lyrics
2. Californication - RHCP - Lyrics
3. Dum Maro Dum
4. Papa Kehte Hain - Lyrics
5. Hotel California - Lyrics, Lead
6. Yahan Kyun jee rahen hain [my composition]
7. over the mountains of the seas - Lyrics
8. Open the eyes of my heart - Lyrics
9. This one for the people - Lyrics

Will try to buy the Sony Ericsson Protable speakers. So that I can have the percussion and background music.. the portable ones (These run on the phone battery only)
or the ones that need the power supply.. I need to see how heavy they would be on my wallet [:)]

TRIZ - Become an Edison!

"Make significant contributions to IP" was one of my long term goals that I put in my ems [ an internal resume where we list out our contributions to the business, strengths, development needs and our future plans]..

No the question is.. How do I make a "significant" contribution to IP [Intellectual property].. I am a bit creative.. and creativity coupled with science and technology leads to new ideas, new inventions and new technology breakthroughs. One way to generate a new idea to improve something (say coming up with a disruptive technology) is to learn more about the technology, and keep on brainstorming (with yourself) until u get an idea. And what do I do about a technology that I am not expert at.. I would have to become an expert in that field first.. and then think about the "creative" idea..

I dont have the luxury of that time.. Though I have the luxury of resources to become an expert in the technology I want to genetate intellectual property [Steam Turbines.. I dont want to be more specific]

I searched for something on innovation in our library .. and came across TRIZ.. it sounded cool :)
just googled for TRIZ (note that google is a word in the english dictionary. GOOGLE has become analogous to search)
TRIZ I learnt... was a method for inventors to come up with new ideas to solve their problems.

Genrich S. Altshuller, the father if TRIZ, used to work in the patent team of the Russian Navy.

He
Today I had a chance to look into the details of TRIZ.
Basic philosophy is to convert your problem into an abstract one.
find the abstract solution for the abstract problem [from a similar problem which has already been solved ]
convert the abstract solution to the solution of your problem..

This document gives a good idea of triz [Along with a good example of a beverage can desin optimisation]
http://www.mazur.net/triz/

An algorithm to solve your problem [i.e. move your system towards ideality] would be.
1. Identify the technical conflicts in your problem [Abstract]
2. Look at the TRIZ matrix and find the possible solutions [Abstract]

Convert the abstract solutions of step 2 into the solutions specific to your problem..

More when I file my first patent disclosure :)

Friends now : Friends hereafter ..

Just wanted to record where the people whom I know are right now and how do they choose the road on the crossroads.. and where would those Roads take them.. just a small study..

Name: Education :
Current state : Possible next state..
Changes of state

1. Durgaprasad: BE Mech/ MSc Infosys [BITS Pilani] 2005
Microsoft Hyderabad, development[Mobile operating systems]

2. Srinivas : BE Mech/ MSc Infosys [BITS Pilani] 2005
MS Mech, Stanford. [1st sem CFD work. switching field to design. As CFD jobs require only PhD's]
MS->job->MBA

3. Gautam. BE Mech, BITS Pilani 2004
MS Materials Science. Among Class toppers. Applied for a Ph.D. (more inclined towards biology/ humanities).. Likes to influence people around him

4. Bharath BE Mech, BITS Pilani 2004
MS Mech. Looking for a job rite now

5. Chandana BE Mech, BITS Pilani 2004
MS Mech, Purdue

6. Divya (violinist) BE Chemical, BITS Pilani 2004
Did internship at JFWTC in summer hols. Completed MS in 3 sems [no final yr project]
currently doing a job in an Environmental Science company?

7. Dinakar BE Mech, BITS Pilani 2004
MS - No contact

8. Narayana Mech 2004
MS - No contact

9. Adi..

Address book is a better way to maintain this info I guess..

GRE Resources

I this post I would be adding resources that would aid in the preparation of GRE..

http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~sdixit/gre.htm

The coming year

There are three segments which I would be targetting
1. MS
2. EEDP
3. GE

Main focus would be:

1st half:
GRE, EEDP, POM, DREAMS

2nd half:
Knowledge acquisition, career shift (maybe)->depends on 1st half

The action items would be:

Jan -
1. Read about GA, ANN, and how it has been applied to optimisation problems. [//]
2. Apply GA to the design optimisation problem [FW 4]
3. Talk to IISc prof about the problem - Possibility of a paper. [FW 3]
4. GRE - wl [1 to30]

Feb -
1. Look at how you can improve the optimisation algo. Apply various optimisation algos to your design problem and benchmark performances. [ FW 7]
2. GRE - wl [ upto 60]
3. DMAIC ss [FW 8]

Mar -
1. GRE - wl [ pass 1 finish]]
2. Present in DREAMS

Apr -
1. GRE/EEDP - start trying for paper publication
2. GRE - pass 2, analytical writing, essays, etc

May-
1. EEDP [Revise CDC's]
2. GRE final pass

Jun-
1. GRE
2. EEDP

Second half:
DP's, Datamining

Research topic for Data Mining+Collaborative Filtering+NLP

I am thinking of MS as a safety boat in case the ship that I am sailing in sinks :)
Moreover the pattern of MS is also gonna change.. So I feel that it is always better to have the score in hand.

I am planning to do an MS in computer science

I havent done any major projects in computer science..
To get into the top colleges [with aid] I feel that they would be looking at my inclination towards research..
I am planning of doing some project this year [and publish a paper.. maybe]

I am thinking of doing a project in collaborative filtering (involving NLP, Datamining)

Looking for some research topics..
Literature survey documented below

Searching in
ACM library, Google, Google Scholar, and a collection of search tools by Todd Veldhuizen.

Need an ACM account.. will finish the topic selection by sunday
[update - 5th Jan]
hmm.. friends say that I am becoming unstable day by day.. some even coined a noun for me - lahari baba.. the fickle one.. and here is another case of this behaviour..
I am thinking of a topic that involves [Artificial Intelligence - > [ANN or Genetic Algorithms] and design optimisation]..
One topic that I thought of is "Multi objective design optimisation of Steam turbine bucket and wheel using genetic algorithms" (This topic is research oriented, aligned with my work at office and also requires less effort)..
Now I need to look up what genetic algorithms are in detail.. I have a fair idea about them.. They operate on the principle of natural selection.. picking up the best qualities of the previous generation, generating new offspring with these qualities and then replacing the least fittest of the current population with the newly generated offspring...
I need to look at how I need to plug in the GA into the already existing program structure..

Books to read this year..

I am looking forward for a great year ahead..
A year that would catapult me to great heights..
I am in the process of making a roadmap [both personal and professional] for the coming year.

Reading books (I am targeting 6-8 books this year) is a major item in the list.
The topics I am lookin at are
1] Innovation
2] *[Data Mining/Knowledge discovery/Collobarative filtering] **NLP& Aboutness
I feel that * and ** would be a good combination so that the text information can be represented in a structure understandable by the * algorithms

text --NLP*--> [ structured and representation] --User Data, CF,DM algos**----> good recommendations


3] Program Design : Algorithms , Design Patterns
4] Entrepreneurship [web based]


Here are some of the books that I came across in our library:
I am looking at amazon.com for the book reviews. I would writing my notes after each book.
Hope I come up with the final list by saturday..

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

INNOVATION:

Innovation on Demand: new product development using TRIZ Fey, Victor.
Rivin, Eugene I. [I feel that this book would be better. as it is written by mech engg profs maybe I can relate to the concepts better]
658.57522 FEY P05
2005

40 Principles : triz keys to technical innovation Altshuller, Genrich [This is book by the formulator of TRIZ]
620.0028
2001

Notes: TRIZ looks like a good concept.
>> TRIZ (some russian word):
TRIZ also evolved by transferring strong principles from one field to another.
TRIZ is also used in DFSS (for solving new problems using 6 sigma methodology)

This image compares TRIZ with other problem solving techniques

Biomimicry : innovation inspired by nature Benyus, Janine M.
600 BEN N97 [Looks like some stuff that they show in natgeo/discovery]
1997

--------------------------------
DATA MINING

The elements of statistical learning : data mining, inference, and prediction Hastie, T.
Tibshirani, Robert.
Friedman, Jerome.
006.31 Hastie, 2001
2001


Data mining : practical machine learning tools and techniques with Java implementations Witten, I. H.
Frank, Eibe. [This is a must for any one planning to learn/apply data mining. Associated with WEKA]
http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~ml/weka/book.html
006.3 Witten, 2000
2000


Advances in knowledge discovery and data mining Fayyad, Usama M.
006.33 Advanc, 1996
1996 [This one looks like a good book]

Came across this nice pdf by usma fayyad and co
http://www.idi.ntnu.no/emner/it3704/lectures/papers/aimag-kdd-overview-1996-Fayyad.pdf

------------------------------------
ALGORITHMS

Learning to classify text using support vector machines: methods, theory and algorithms Joachims, Thorsten
005
2002
Algorithms in c,part1-4 : fundamentals data structures sorting searching Robert Sedgewick
005.133
2001
Multi-objective optimization using evolutionary algorithms Deb, Kalyanmoy.
519.3 Deb, 2001
2001

Machine learning Mitchell, Tom M.
006.31
1997
---------------------------------
NATURAL LAnguage processing

Foundation of Statistical Natural Language Processing Christopher D. Manning and Hinrich Schutze
410.285
2002 [This one looks like a good one]
The companion site for this book : http://nlp.stanford.edu/fsnlp/

Moreover this book is being used in the following Universities:

UPenn CIS530, UPenn CIS639, Berkeley SIMS 296a-4, Johns Hopkins: current (Eisner) and previous [lots of great slides by Jan Hajic!], Brown CS241, CMU 11-682, CMU 11-761, Stanford CS224N, Oregon Graduate Institute CSE580, Ohio State, U Chicago, Purdue [lots of slides], Tufts, Minnesota 1, Minnesota 2, SUNY Albany, San Diego SU, Mississippi State, UCLA.

Speech and Language Processing: An Introduction to Natural Language Processing,Computational linguistics, and Speech Recognition Daniel Jurafsky and James H. Martin
410.28 DAN
2000
-------------------------------------------

Books That I zeroed in on:
First Half:
4. Artificial Intelligence [Genetic Algorithms, ANN and optimisation methods]

Second Half:
1. Innovation on Demand: new product development using TRIZ Fey, Victor.Rivin, Eugene I.
2. Data mining : practical machine learning tools and techniques with Java implementations Witten, I. H.Frank, Eibe.
3. Foundation of Statistical Natural Language Processing Christopher D. Manning and Hinrich Schutze
5. [Design Patterns]
6. [Web entrepreneurship]

[update Jan 7]
I would be quite busy for the first half of this year.. GRE/EEDP.. hence, I would be stressing more on knowledge acquisition in the second half.