[Is this really the end of the first year? Any catches?]
Officially, the last days of my classes were last Tuesday and Wednesday. But I am still writing a test report for Psychological Assessment and a paper for Qualitative Research class. Both papers are in a good shape compared to last semester; I did not have any idea when I was going to finish writing papers in last semester, but I can estimate approximate time of submitting papers in this semester.

Thanks to my profs and TAs who tried so hard to address my messy organization skills, I am picking up some structure in report writing.

Cross-Culture Network, The
" This is a volunteer group consisted mainly of housewives living in Hiroshima. We organize Club activities to support foreign people staying in Japan!"
http://www.geocities.com/multiculturalhouse/

Dear Soul, if you were not friends
with the vast nothing inside,
why would you always be casting your net
into it, and waiting so patiently?

"Craftsmanship and emptiness"
By: Jelaluddin Rumi

Fundamentally understand the components of the most basic living cell

"The more immediate plan is to try to puzzle out, and eventually model in a computer, every conceivable aspect of the biology of one organism, a feat science has never come close to accomplishing. Because all living cells are based on the same chemistry and bear striking resemblances to one another, that could shed light on all of biology. "We are wondering if we can come up with a molecular definition of life," Venter said. "The goal is to fundamentally understand the components of the most basic living cell." "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A17496-2002Nov20¬Found=true

Today's Jay
Time Crunch= 8 out of 10 (default is 6 or 7)
Efficiency=7 out of 10 (Normal, functioning level. It will go up in the afternoon.)
Crankiness= 9 out of 10 (I am not murdering any cats or dogs on the street.)

Online papers on consciousness
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~chalmers/online.html

Compiled by: David Chalmers
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~chalmers/


Part I: Philosophy of Consciousness [457 papers]
Part II: Other Philosophy of Mind [467 papers]
Part III: Science of Consciousness [360 papers]

It's so cool...That is the only thing I can say...(This entry could not be edited...lemme fix it...it's hard to read.)

Declarative Memory http://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/meg/halgren/declarative_mem.html
Looks important, and I have no idea...

MIT BSC http://web.mit.edu/bcs/research.html

"molecular and cellular neuroscience focuses on the development of neural connectivity, the molecular basis of behavior in simple neural circuits, synaptic plasticity, and neurochemistry."

"systems neuroscience the main concerns are with vision, movement, and endocrine regulation, with the scientific goals of understanding the transduction and encoding of sensory stimuli; the organization, development, and plasticity of sensorimotor systems; the neural basis of cognition; and the effects of circulating compounds on brain composition and behavior."

"cognitive science interdisciplinary methods that include experimental studies, linguistic theory, and computational modeling are recruited to characterize the origin, acquisition, and processing of knowledge. Research focuses on psycholinguistics, visual perception and cognition, concepts and reasoning, and their development in children. Research on neurologically impaired patients is another important area of investigation."

"computation, emphasis is on the interdisciplinary study of the brain as an information processor and computing device. Research fields include robotics and the control of movement, vision, learning by neural networks, and knowledge-based perception and reasoning."

"cognitive neuroscience, students combine the tools of cognitive science and neuroscience to study cognitive processes. Research contains elements of investigation from two of the three fields of systems neuroscience, computation, and cognitive science."

:: Neurotechnology blog :: Another Neat Blog, by a USC student.
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~arjunban/blogger.html

Guessing Game- Psychological Assessment

Guessing Game

Administering psychological tests ("intelligent" tests like WISC, "projective", "personality" tests like Rorschach inkblot test, etc.) means that doing a bunch of inferences on inferences. First, the test data and interpretations are inferences of the state of the minds, cognitive functions, and 'personality types."

Second, psychopathologists (if there is any) are not sure about the physiological and/or 'maps' of psycho-pathology. Psychologists and psychiatrists diagnose clients based on meeting with clients and adminstering paper-and-pencil (or derivatives). not physiological data.
(I've heard that some Japanese psychiatrists/neurologists use fMRI or something as a part of assessment in rare occasions, but I have not seen any consensus in the field. added on 6/21/07)

Are we professionally guessing� Yes, we are.

edited on 6/21/07

"World's first brain prosthes"

 
New Scientist Print Edition
 
"The world's first brain prosthesis - an artificial hippocampus - is about to be tested in California. Unlike devices like cochlear implants, which merely stimulate brain activity, this silicon chip implant will perform the same processes as the damaged part of the brain it is replacing."

I have not confirmed this news with another source.
But this article quotes from a USC researcher, and it is unlikely to be completely wrong. I will wait
to discuss the implication of this news until we have further information
on this issue.

USC Neuroscience
http://www.usc.edu/dept/nbio/ngp/research/res-behav.shtml

Wow! This neuroscience department is interesting...

Neurosceience blogs...

WangBlog
http://synapse.princeton.edu/lab/blog/blogindex.html
A good source to keep in touch with the edge...

Big Dudes of Neurotech@
neurotechnology.org

"Computational Modeling of the Spinal Cord neural circuitry and links at the bottom to pages with information on more Computational Models of various aspects of brain function."
http://scf.usc.edu/~arjunban/archives/2002_12_08_archive.html

Let me jot-down what I did today...
1st class: Developmental Psychology: Stimulating contents. Motivation stuff.

2nd class: Qualitative Research: Today's lecture finished 30 minutes early. A special bonus, taking time off to chat with classmates!

3rd class: Assessment II. Covered Fruit Distraction, Stroop, and VADS. At the end of the lecture, I did not understand anything not because of the contents but fatigue. My brain was not functioning.

Just want to tell you about intelligence...

What I strongly believe, right now is that the half of factors of your intelligence is not fixed.
Don't be faked by the voices saying you can't improve your performance. Yes, intelligence we see in our everyday life is performance, NOT necessarily shows your potential. These people will benefit (or they think they will be) from putting you down.
It is really up to you how to polish your mental weapons up.

Myriad Genetics Discovers Major Depression Gene - Discovery Triggers $1 Million Milestone Payment From Abbott -
http://www.pharmalive.com/news/show_article.asp?articleID=75887&catid=16

Rethinking Innateness
A Connectionist Perspective on Development Jeffrey L. Elman, Elizabeth A. Bates, Mark H. Johnson, Annette Karmiloff-Smith, Domenico Parisi and Kim Plunkett
"Rethinking Innateness asks the question, "What does it really mean to say that a behavior is innate?" The authors describe a new framework in which interactions, occurring at all levels, give rise to emergent forms and behaviors. These outcomes often may be highly constrained and universal, yet are not themselves directly contained in the genes in any domain-specific way.
One of the key contributions of Rethinking Innateness is a taxonomy of ways in which a behavior can be innate. These include constraints at the level of representation, architecture, and timing; typically, behaviors arise through the interaction of constraints at several of these levels.
The ideas are explored through dynamic models inspired by a new kind of "developmental connectionism," a marriage of connectionist models and developmental neurobiology, forming a new theoretical framework for the study of behavioral development. While relying heavily on the conceptual and computational tools provided by connectionism, Rethinking Innateness also identifies ways in which these tools need to be enriched by closer attention to biology. "
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=8238

Just curious...

FDA approved a SSRI for ADHD treatment for children. But what is the difference among this new one and existing SSRIs? I will do a literature search...
http://www.strattera.com/index.html

"Differentiating AD/HD from Bipolar Disorder In Children"
http://www.childspirit.com/BDADD2001.PDF
It looks so useful and I wanted to update my website. But the server is down right now...
If you don't read PDF, find it on Google and click [View as HTML]

neurotransmitter.net
http://www.neurotransmitter.net/index.html
Another great link. It was massive amount of information on bipolar and schizophrenia. Mechanism of action and etiologies
.

"FDA recently approved a new medication for treating ADHD in children, adolescents, and adults. The new medication is called Strattera, and it is expected to be available in pharmacies early next year. I thus thought it would be useful to review a recently published study of this new drug, and discuss some issues that may be relevant when considering it as a possible treatment option. "

ATTENTION RESEARCH UPDATE http://www.helpforadd.com/2002/december.htm

Altropane™: A radio-imaging agent for the objective diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
http://www.bostonlifesciences.com/new2.htm

Study Raises Hopes for Adhd Medical Test, more about PET Scans
http://www.adders.org/research14.htm
It does not mean that the etiology of ADHD was presented completely.I will read this stuff a bit more carefully.

"So you see the pieces of the puzzle are all beginning to fit together, which is why I think this is absolutely fascinating," R Barkley.