The yearly JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) test is getting closer. During the last couple years I have been trying to improve my language level as much as possible. Unfortunately in Finland all Japanese lectures are in FINNISH language. For that reason I have learned everything on my own. I believe that at this stage I could even pop in the highest Japanese language test given at my University (level and pass it without problems.

The JLPT is very similar to the TOEFL test used for English. However the JLPT is different from the easy exams at language courses.  It really tests your kanji memory to the hardest. Plus it has a lot of tricky grammar questions in which you have to choose which one is appropriate.  The rest which is the easier part (at least in my opinion) is the listening and reading comprehension part. At this stage I know roughly 80% of the kanjis needed. The last 20% are very complex figures that are not so easy to remember.

In any case, there are 3 weeks left for this dreaded exam. This is my first  time to take it and hopefully I will pass it. I wish the best of good luck to other Japanese language aficionados! =)

My motto during my Dissertation Excile is:

???????????????????????(Sonna amachoroi mon janendayo, oira ni wa)

Which, in simple terms means, “It ain’t gonna be easy”

Last week I participated in the IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference in Singapore. A very nice event and obviously an amazing host city. Surprisingly there were a much larger amount of Finnish/Swedish peers than I expected considering the location. No wonder why flights were almost completely booked even 3 months in advance!

And best of all, in the evenings you can enjoy this fantastic city as well as the night safari =)

Singapore by night

Singapore Skyline

Night Safari

This week I am attending a IEEE AINA’08 in Okinawa and later on doing some research visits in Tokyo. It should be very nice, it is still winter in Finland, thus a short spring break with cherry blossoms will be fantastic.

In certain times people have asked me “Why are you studying Bioinformatics? Isn’t that completely out of your field?”. Personally, I think that that assumption is wrong and narrow minded. Thus, would like to quote Peter Chen, which invented the database relational model:

“ Getting Fresh Ideas from Unconventional Places. After working on a particular area for a while, you may run out of “big” ideas. You may still have some “good” ideas to get you going, but those ideas are not “earth-breaking.” At that time, you need to look for ideas in different subject areas and to talk to new people. For example, most of us are immersed in Western culture, and learning another culture may trigger new ways of thinking. Similarly, you may look into some fields outside of information technology such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, or Architecture to find fresh ideas. By looking at the theories, techniques, and approaches used in other fields, you may get very innovative ideas to make a breakthrough in the IT field.” [P. Chen, "Entity Relational Modeling: Historical Events, Future Trends, and Lessons Learned"]

I find that the Bioinformatics research area is not only extremely innovative, but it also comprises a large variety of fields.  Such areas include computer science, chemistry, genetics, biology and mathematics among many others. Therefore, it gives a wide range of opportunities for research and fresh and unconventional ideas from different fields. Moreover, I feel that the required mindset and skills used in Bioinformatics can be easily applied in other research fields. In particular the engineering knowledge of putting science into practice and evaluate it with mathematical models. I can imagine plenty of scenarios in which biodatabases, grid computing, stochastic modeling, game theory, neural networks and biological concepts (and plenty of others) can be put in practice in other fields. In fact, currently it is sort of popular to use the term “biologically inspired”. As for what it brings to me both as a researcher and someone with a thirst for learning new and totally different things is: personal satisfaction, cool dinner topics (lol) and fresh ideas to use in our Internet life. At this moment, bio-inspired networking and self configuration are my favorite topics. However, the complexity of life and genomics themselves are very inspirational, so perhaps at some point they will give me a better insight.