texts: How to write summaries for literature survey?

texts:
My professor wanted me to write a short summary (one or two paragraphs max) on each paper. Focus on the salient of the method.
could I use the abstract sentences exactly or should I change the words and write with my own words?
I was wondering if you could tell me whether it is necessary to read whole the papers or it is enough to read abstract and conclusion part?


texts: Reviewer asking to include an analysis that has been submitted as another paper

texts:
I am about to submit a manuscript for publication that is useful for solving a certain class of problems in my field. The technique is clearly applicable to a certain longstanding problem in the field, which is why I started developing the method in the first place.

My initial intent was to publish the technique and present it as a solution to the problem all in the same paper. However, after writing it up, I have noticed that it is more general than I expected and that it can be useful to tackle other problems in the field. I have then decided to write the paper entirely on it and how it can be extrapolated to solve other issues. The manuscript is quite long and I and my advisor think that the manuscript would become overly complicated if the solution to the major problem was included (some modification of this methodology would be needed, plus additional discussion).

Therefore, I am currently preparing a second manuscript which adapts the methodology to the major problem and demonstrates that it can effectively solve it. I expect this second manuscript to have a much larger impact than the first one.

However, I am concerned that the reviewers of the first manuscript will detect that the methodology can be used to solve the major issue (it is really obvious that it was designed for that, plus I suggest that it can in the conclusion) and suggest that it be included in the manuscript. While I could write a rebuttal disclosing that we are submitting their suggestion elsewhere, I am concerned that they won't accept that for an answer.

While we have considered submitting the papers as Part I and Part II, we wanted to submit the second paper to a more prestigious venue, given that we believe the second one has a much greater chance of being accepted.

What are my options? Should I submit the papers to the same venue (i.e., Part I and Part II) and/or cram everything into a single paper? Am I overthinking this issue?


texts: How to describe a situation in which you "throw things at the wall and see what sticks" in a master thesis

texts:
For context, i'll describe the problem. I'm working in chromatography, and the first part of the work was to do TLC experiments to narrow mobile phase compositions for separation of valuable components of plant extracts through column chromatography. In these experiments, we found that there were impurities that could not be moved by ANY type of mobile phase. We tried several procedures, but none were effective, we just abandoned this problem because something else became evident.

I'm now writing the description of the events in my thesis, and I have a whole subsection with a structure of "we tried this, here is a picture, you can see it did not work", repeated something like 5 or 6 times. Those SHOULD have worked, but they didn't. Imagine having a car in which the engine chugs and does not start, you replace the whole engine, and then the car continues to not start.

I am therefore stuck in a situation in which I can only describe an additional two procedures as "throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks". I am however pretty sure you can't actually write that on a thesis. How should I express this?


texts: Is it appropriate to assign Mechanical Turk-type tasks as extra credit?

texts:
By the end of the term, I always end up with quite a number of D and F students who want to improve their grades. Meanwhile, I usually have lots of menial tasks on hand during the summer, e.g. data entry, translations, proofreading, photo tagging, etc.

None of these tasks is work I am assigned or paid to do.
All of the tasks relate to my courses in some way and the resulting efforts would benefit the next group of students who attend my courses in the subsequent terms.
My school has no official "dead week", but naturally these tasks would occupy time that presumably the students would otherwise use for final exam preparations.

Is there any ethical or professional reason deeming it inappropriate to assign such tasks as optional extra credit, allowing students to move their 50 to a 60 or 60 to a 70 after ~10-15 hours of repetitive work?


texts: Authorship for papers not completed before leaving, where I am major contributor?

texts:
I am a senior freelance software engineer, with about 10 years' experience. I've been working in a university setting for the past year, as a contractor. Usually I work in a commercial environment.

During the year, I've done 15-20 days' work on each of 2 different projects that should have turned into papers, but didn't due to lack of time from the PI. These projects are more or less complete from a coding point of view: they just haven't been written up by the PI. I believe the time required to write up should be 2-4 days each.

I've now decided to move on from the team (partly due to frustration at projects like these being blocked, which means I don't have much visible output) and am documenting and handing over my projects.

My question is this. On these projects, is it reasonable to ask for authorship on any paper that is written based on my work after I leave? And - assuming that my estimate of 2-4 days' work remaining above is correct - is it reasonable to ask for first authorship? (Our field is epidemiology / life sciences, so I believe that authorship order reflects overall contribution.)

We weren't doing traditional scientific experiments - these are data-driven research projects. So the hierarchy is probably more like the wider digital world, in which execution is generally acknowledged to be more important than ideas. Specifically, my code would have collected the data; my coding decisions would have driven 95% of the design; and I would have written an iPython notebook forming the basis of the methods and results sections of the paper. The PI would write the intro and conclusions and pull together the paper. For example, one project was to do comparison of datasets in the scientific literature, and the PI's idea was pretty much "hey, let's look at dataset A, see if we could match it with dataset B, and draw some conclusions". My contribution was to see if that was possible, learn about datasets C and D and E and F, decide F was the best match, do the actual matching of A and F, and draw the conclusions. The PI will literally just write up the conclusions.

In both cases the original idea was the PI's, and they have provided guidance as I worked, but probably not more than 0.5-1 day in total.

I'm not sure how authorship works after I've left. The ICMJE's author definition says that authors should be involved in drafting and approving the paper, but I won't be involved in that (well, unless I work for free).

However, it's very important for my commercial reputation that I can point to visible work done during the year, so I would like to be named as an author, rather than all the work just vanishing under the PI's name.

One other point: the PI previously put me down as second author on a project where I'd done 99% of the work, and when I queried this, claimed there was no convention on authorship order in our field. Fortunately, I was able to resolve this amicably. But given that experience, I'm now keen to clarify the position about authorship before I leave, and I'd welcome advice on convention and etiquette in this situation.


texts: Is peer review process by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science anonymous?

texts: The title says it all, could not find anywhere this information clearly written. Would appreciate a short feedback.


texts: Do you know any country like Denmark returning an assessment for the job application?

texts:
I applied for a faculty position at a Danish university. My application was unsuccessful but they sent me a detailed assessment of my application clarifying why I was not selected.

I was impressed. Then, checked several job avertiments in the Danish universities (not my field), and it was stated that they will return an assessment of the application.

I wonder if you know any other country/university doing the same or is it just the Danish way?


texts: Which region should I apply for with a BSc in my case? US, Europe or Canada?

texts:
I am an undergraduate student looking forward to applying for a Master or preferably a direct Ph.D. program for Fall 2019. My undergraduate degree is in physics and I want to study data science or applied mathematics or a master in statistical physics (In order to change to data science for a Ph.D.).

I will be recognized as an international student in North America and Europe and I have scored 7.0 in the IELTS exam and my GPA is 3.6 out of 4 and I have publications.

I most certainly need a fully funded scholarship/fellowship to cover my tuition fee and living expenses and that's the top priority for me.

(I found the answer here helpful)

A) My first question is which region is, in general, better for my application request?

Given the fact, I should also take the GRE test (Which is very expensive for me in my country) for the US and Canada but they offer direct Ph.D. programs.

B) My second question is what I have noticed while emailing the professors.

US professors which have replied to my email positively have stated that they take new direct Ph.D. students in research groups but I must first be admitted to the university. Is there a way I make sure if I am admitted I will receive this funding?

Can US professors affect the results of the admission process in any way? Like by directly accepting a student? if so how can I ask for it without being rude?
What about EU or Canada?


texts: Instructor listening in secretly in simulated intake assignment -- allowed? Ethical?

texts:
I am in an online, accredited, public, post-baccalaureate degree program.  I think it's the first time my instructor is teaching a university course -- at least at this institution.

The instructor said he had found someone to play the part of a potential client.  We were supposed to have a simulated phone intake call with this person.  She would give us her basic demographic information and the reason she was seeking legal and advocacy services, and we were supposed to probe for more information about the problem she was seeking help with, because the pretend client had been instructed not to volunteer all the important information on her own.  We were to fill out an Excel template and then write a letter to the client.

The instructor provided feedback for my homework. When I read his response, I eventually came to understand that he had listened in secretly to the phone intake call.  He had not made clear in the instructions that he would be listening in.

This made me uncomfortable.  But I don't know if my reaction is reasonable.  Are there any typical institutional guidelines, or ethical considerations, that would help me figure this out?  I'm not sure whether this is something to let the program chair know about, or whether I need to adjust my own expectations.

I did let the instructor know a polite version of how I felt: "I hope that for future semesters you'll make clear that you'll be listening in on the call.  I, for one, would be more comfortable knowing this ahead of time."  The response: "I don't find this necessary.  It should be presumed I am listening in on the assignment I provided so I can accurately grade."  Note, I don't know why he didn't just play the part of the potential client himself....

Further clarification:

The school is in New York State (part of the SUNY system).  From the exchange we had, I'm confident he only listened, and didn't record.
I thought we would be evaluated and graded on the written submission (spreadsheet plus letter) only.
I am asking about what's generally allowed or considered ethical by university policy or relevant professional organizations. Less interested in quasi-legal advice.
I checked with a classmate.  He didn't realize the instructor would be listening in either.  He himself wasn't bothered but understood why I was.


texts: Journal rejection after 9 months without proper review: why do journal editors allow this sort of rejection?

texts:
I came to know from a senior in my lab that he once submitted a paper in Applied Mathematics in one of SIAM journals and the review came after 9 months and the review was like the following:

Reviewer 1: The problem is well-motivated and the paper contains original results which deserve to be published.
Reviewer 2: The contribution of the paper does not satisfy the journal standards and should be rejected.

He showed me the reviews from his email.
Overall the paper got rejected saying that it is not good enough (quality wise, the paper is in the scope of SIAM) for SIAM. My question is that why to keep somebody waiting for 9 months for such rejection. Is the message that "Unless you are completely sure that it is a path-breaking work don't send to SIAM, otherwise you will not get any comment if the paper is rejected and hence it will be time waste ".

I am a PhD student, not aware of much about journals. Sorry if the question is inappropriate.


texts: Developing both Applied and Theoretical Interests

texts:
I've seen profiles of researchers who, over time, come to work in both theoretical and applied areas, although I suspect (having seen profiles of other researchers who recently finished their PhD) that these researchers had one forte to begin with.

As an undergraduate hoping to become a researcher, I'd like to develop both interests one day.

Is that possible in both directions? Can I go to school to become a theoretician and later develop applied interests; or go to school to become an applied researcher but later learn and pursue more theoretical interests?

As an example, I'd like to one day both deeply understand statistical theory and yet have the skillset to work with data. Is it better to start off in one area?


texts: Can I publish a paper which 1) proposes an idea and 2) proves that the idea doesn't work?

texts:
I wonder if is it okay for a researcher to suggest a new technique in a field of research and prove that this new suggested technique is a bad suggestion and gives no or negative gain and publish his work as a research on bad idea? (I'm in computer science but my question is a general question about every other field.)

Of course if there is some believe and doubt in the field about the idea, the researcher can prove it is correct or not in a research and it would be totally a productive result. However, if the idea is totally new and he just wants to prove incorrectness for future researchers, is this type of research acceptable in academia?

If not, why?
What is wrong with proving some never-existing idea is not a good idea?

I read this and I want to know what the current academical approach about such a research result is and the reasons for it.


texts: Must meta-analyses or systematic reviews have more than one author?

texts:
My colleagues argue that a meta-analysis / systematic review needs at least two data collectors (or authors according to them) as a "must". I have not found any reference in the PRISMA (or any other sources about meta-analyses/systematic reviews) that confirms this claim.

Do you know any such protocol or consensus?


texts: Citing a research article coming from a journal you suspect to be predatory

texts: I'm working on a review of literature for a research proposal.  What's one good way of vetting journal articles given that there are predatory journals about?  Is the existence of a DOI enough to rule out the possibility a research article was published in a predatory journal?


texts: Is it typical to not list class instructors during undergraduate enrollment?

texts:
Enrollment for undergraduate students has just started at my university. Perusing the classes for my department though, only a couple of the dozens of classes being offered have an instructor specified. I recall hearing discussion in the past about this, so this isn't new this term.

I want to know if this is a typical thing that universities or individual academic departments do. And if so is there a usual explanation for it?


texts:
Suppose one is giving a talk about one's work (in pure mathematics), and another researcher(s) in one's field has published a paper claiming to be an improvement or generalisation of one's result, but one either believe this other paper is wrong, or that it is a trivial consequence of one's own result. Should one:

state this other result in one's talk with no comment
mention the other result with mild doubts (e.g. say 'so-and-so claims this, but I haven't had time to look at the paper properly')
mention the other result and state clearly that one thinks it's wrong/trivial
don't mention it at all / ignore it.

One doesn't know whether the author(s) of the other paper will be at this conference.

Edit: Assume a list of speakers is available but not of participants, so one knows the other researcher is not speaking, but doesn't know if they will be in the audience of one's talk.


texts:
I was asked to turn a set of references into the following citation format:

[Qin2014] Z. Qin, G. Denker, C. Giannelli, P. Bellavista and N.
Venkatasubramanian, “A software defined networking architecture for
the internet-of-things,” 2014 IEEE network operations and management
symposium (NOMS), 2014, pp. 1-9, doi: 10.1109/NOMS.2014.6838365

However, no information was given as to what the name of this style is.
Already tried looking in this website: https://editor.citationstyles.org/searchByExample/, but with no success.
Does anyone know if this style has a specific name?
Thanks in advance!


texts:
I am submitting my first paper ever to AAAI and I really would like it to be accepted, but I feel like it is not good enough.

Can anyone tell me the criteria they use so I can tweak my paper to better fit them?

Thank you.


texts: How to make my application stronger for a master's degree in mathematics in Europe?

texts:
I want to apply for the ICTP diploma in mathematics and other master's programmes in Europe.  I have a BSc degree in math/physics with a cgpa of 2.74/4. I did a master's degree in mathematics; I got 3.791/4.000 as a cgpa. My master courses were in analysis, pde, ode, numerical analysis and optimization. My master thesis is in numerical optimization. My BSc thesis is well-written, it was in a topic in Analysis. It earned me an A and I went to a summer school taught by very creditable mathematicians. I wrote a report with a colleague on a topic which is between combinatorics and analysis.
Both of these degrees I earned from a university which has not a very great ranking. It is a bit humbling.
How can I make my CV stronger?
In the ICTP program, they ask for documentations that prove the ability of the student to follow, write and understand advanced maths.
I will send my report, BSc thesis and Msc thesis. My BSc grades in abstract algebra and complex analysis are bad.
I am now self-studying abstract algebra and complex analysis, and I'm doing well. I solve the problem sets that were given in the course taught in Harvard by Benedict Gross. How can I use this in my application? Can I send them the the exercises I solved too? I usually use websites like these as peer-reviewing sources for my proofs and there are lots of creditable professors here. Is it a good idea to make use of this advantage?
Do you have ideas that would help?
Also they typically want 2 recommendation letters only so I will ask my supervisors to write them. Both supervisors didn't taught me abstract algebra or complex analysis.


texts: Would recommendation letters from the chemists in the industry lab I work in be helpful?

texts:
A little background info,

I'm currently working as a lab technician in a drug lab which focuses on clinical chemistry and toxicology. I wish to eventually, within a few years tops, go back for my upper level degrees. I didn't have any close relationships with professors of mine as an undergrad, and as a result, I'm currently lacking possible grad school recommendations.

Would anyone recommend using recommendations from chemists, with PhD's, who work in the industry as beneficial grad school recommendations? They both serve as my employers/ bosses, and I'm 99.99% they would give high recommendations if asked. However, would these even help me on my applications?

Also, if anyone has any possible actions I could take that would help me strengthen a grad school application, that are possible with the time window mentioned above, 2-3 years, that would be very much appreciated.


texts:
Ibid on different pages of an essay

Context:

I think if you've read Part 1 and 2, you probably have a good idea of the context, but here goes:
In my efforts to use footnotes for the first time in my essay, I've come across a few problems. Now, I've made some progress, but I noted that one of my sources which I referenced in my essay was the last on one page, and subsequently the first on the next!
I attempted to look up whether I use ibid or put the reference again, but usually the question is misinterpreted as different pages within the source, not different pages within my essay referencing the source, for example in the question at the bottom of this WikiHow.

Question:

So, if I reference the same source twice, but on different pages of my essay (not different pages of the source, different pages in my essay), do I use ibid referring to the previous page or repeat the full footnote once again?


texts: How to respond/reply to a reviewer who doesn't seem to "get" the paper

texts:
I've receiced double-blind reviews of a paper I submitted a while ago. However, it seems that only one reviewer actually seemed to "get" the point of the paper: They showed flaws in my work but also appreciated some parts and the review was in general very helpful to me.

The others, however, complained about many things which seem nonsensical to me. For example, they complain that paper is "difficult to read" but simultaneously complain about me corroborating my empirical results with seminal studies from 20 years ago: They seem to either be  ignorant of these works and their significance or just don't understand this kind of analysis even though it's in a big section with lots of graphs (i.e. a lot of time was devoted to it)... or they just don't care enough to try to understand.

From their tone and the fact that these reviewers missed main contributions even though they were enumerated in the submission metadata, I fear that the last possibility is probably the main factor: not caring or not taking interest in the paper.

How do I address these reviews which are negative of my work but are in fact not very "good" reviews in themselves due to a lack of expertise and/or caring? The paper has not yet been either officially accepted or rejected but has very poor evaluations from all but one reviewer; There is a very short response period in which I can address the reviewers' points in writing to the reviewers themselves (I think it's to them, at least), but I'm unsure of what exactly to write to them.


texts: How should English reference be cited in a non-English work?

texts:
According to the Chicago Manual Style 16 edition, section 14.194 Translated Article Titles, non-English article cited in an English work follows this formula:

Authors, "Original title," [English-translated title] Journal Date

However, how should English article be handled in a non-English work, considering that English is the language of science? I see no guidance in the style book. I think how it is formulated might be different, depending on the readership:
Academians
Typically, articles are cited as how they are cited in English work, with or without translation. Based on my observation, trivial words (date, and, issue, et al., etc) will be in English. This is to withstand the academic consistency, and let the software chooses how to process for simplicity.

Authors, "Original title," [Translated title] Journal Date

Popular audience
Since their main interest is to understand what it says and become accustomed to academic norms, I think the references should be treated as if they are regular text. Trivial words will be translated. Translated titles will be put first, original ones will be in brackets.

Authors, "Translated title," [Original title] Journal Date

Is this thinking reasonable? How should the journal names be treated? Would this break any consistency that a reference should follow? I haven't seen any precedent on this, especially with books for kid.


texts: How to condense a full journal paper to a two-page conference abstract?

texts:
I am in the field of biomedical engineering and have some results for a full paper, trying to submit as a two-page abstract. I figured I could reuse the text I prepared from the full paper, but not sure how to organize the two pager. Would the following plan work?

Abstract - A very brief summary of the question, the methods and main results.
Introduction - Not a full literature review, but only enough to point out the gap for the question I am trying to answer.
Results - I try to briefly summarize the methods in the results section, and highlight the qualitative findings.
Conclusions - I would skip the Discussion section, and put the take-home message here.

I'd probably put one figure to help the readers, if there is a good one.

What do you think of this plan?

PS: I was intending to present a "finding" paper, not a "methods" paper that developed a new technique. In that case, I cannot skip the methods section for sure.


texts: Given 0s on Assignments with suspected and dismissed cheating?

texts:
Basically, I coded several assignments and a friend turned in code which looks almost identical. I didn't give him my code, and, as far as I know, he didn't even have any way to access it - but it happened somehow. Anyway, the professor said that he can't prove that I let him have the code, so he won't/can't fail me for the class. However, he'll still give me 0s on the assignments he suspects cheating on.

Is there anything I can do? I already went over the code with the professor one on one, and proved with little doubt that I coded it myself. If the suspected cheating can't be proved, does he have the authority to give 0s on those assignments? Would an ombudsman be able to change the situation? I don't want to push this too hard and end up digging myself into a hole where an authority may decide to fail me (if that's possible), but I also proved that I coded those assignments and deserve a grade.

The professor said that if he figures out how he got my code (supposedly if he sees that I didn't willingly hand it over to him), then he'd give me the points back. But since the case is already going to be dismissed, is that a decision that he can make or something I can fight back?

I'm sure this all varies based on different universities and their policies, but any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

EDIT: I was mistaken to say that the case is going to be dismissed - Its most likely going to be though.

EDIT2: Between advice here and what I've found out on my end, I think I know what my options are and what I can do.


texts: Is it ethical to withdraw a paper after acceptance in order to resubmit to a better journal?

texts:
I think the title asks the question, but once again in more words:

Suppose you submit a paper to a journal and it is accepted by the journal.  By this I mean that the journal tells you that they have decided to publish your paper but you have not submitted or examined final proofs and -- especially -- not signed any paperwork allowing the journal to publish the paper.

I wonder how people feel about the ethics of deciding not to go through with the publication because you now feel that the paper could be published in a better journal?  This could happen either because of outside feedback you received in the meantime or because of feedback from the referees/editors of the journal itself.  (Added: In case this was not clear, I am assuming that upon submission one was seeking to publish in that journal conditional on not learning that one has "shot way too low".)

As far as I can see, it is absolutely legal to do this, so I am not interested in the legality of it, but rather its ethics and ramifications as an academic practice.  I also think I will get better answers if I do not telegraph my own feelings about this; I will be happy to document them later on.  Let me just say (i) this is a hypothetical question, but (ii) based on my own experience it is not ridiculous that it might be in the interest of the author to engage in this practice, if it happened to be kosher to all parties involved.

Note: I had previously asked a related question, at the time wondering whether it would be better asked separately.  Based on the way things have gone thus far, I now think it is better to post this followup question separately (not necessarily right away).


texts: How to calculate/decide impact factor of a new journal

texts:
I have published my paper in a new journal in our field. The reason for submitting for this journal was the editorial board which consists of some of the top professors from best global universities (including University of Cambridge, University College London, Technical University of Munich, etc.).

Now I am applying for a job which requires me to list the impact factor for all my publications. Since the journal has only two issues yet there is no impact factor. How should I deal with this issue?


texts: Can I publish a critique of an experiment in a field in which I am not an expert?

texts:
I found a major flaw in reasoning in a psychological experiment, but I am not even related to psychology, I just attended to that course at my university in my spare time. The flaw I found is strictly logical, and also quite tricky, so I think it is feasible that no one noticed it yet.

This mistake (if it turns out to be an actual flaw) has huge consequences since a few studies validated the results (by repeatedly committing this mistake) and many psychological sub-fields referenced the study.

I want someone to validate my concerns about that study, and then if possible I want to discover the consequences of that error, and make humble suggestion on how to deal with the situation. If my notice would be published anywhere, I want to make sure my name will be seen in that article. (It would be awesome)

What would be the way to go in my situation if such things can be published at all?

Little Edit:
The error is highly controversial but my point of view should be true. It is similar to the Monty Hall problem.


texts: Asking a complete stranger for a subreview for a conference?

texts:
This question is about Computer Science firstly, I don't know if it applies to other domains

I am a PC member of some international conference in my field. I got a large number of papers to review, so I need to find subreviewers for many of them. Most of the time I would give the paper to a colleague that I know would be interested in reading it ... but I know only so many people interested in so many different topics, and there remains some papers for which I have no idea of whom could review it.

So I'm doing the following: search the web for any researcher in this domain who is active, has publications matching the keywords of the paper, does not seem to have any conflict of interest with the authors, and, preferably, published to this conference before.... and ask this person to act as subreviewer.

Is this common practice? I have received conference papers from complete strangers before, but this was only rare occasions (say a few percent), but I feel I'm doing this for almost 1/4th of my assigned papers. Is there any way to address this person, other than the standard EasyChair message?


texts: How to interpret Italian grades for a grad school application

texts:
I am trying to help assess grad school applications this year but have little experience.  In most cases I can work out a rough ranking but I find Italian university grades very hard to understand. For example, we have one candidate with

Master degree in Information Technology (Date) University of Catania
Grade: 1st (Italian grade: 110/110 cum laude)
Bachelor degree in Information Technology (Date) University of
Catania Grade: 2.1 (Italian grade: 110/110)

Does this rank the student as being the top of their year or do many people get 100% in an Italian university?


texts: Can industry experience make up for undergrad courses?

texts:
I am an undergraduate applied math and statistics major and plan on applying to PhD programs after graduation. My research interests are in machine learning, cv, etc.. And do research in the stats and CS department in ML/DL. I am thinking of applying to PhD CS programs, but have only taken 4 CS classes in undergrad, but I have had two internships with Amazon as a software engineer.  Can my experience in industry make up for the lack of CS classes as an undergrad?
I obviously want to get into the best program possible, but worried that my lack of CS classes might hinder my chances of getting accepted.

edit: Not a duplicate. Not worried about weak grades, gre, research, etc.. I am just wondering from a graduate admissions perspective will they look negatively on less CS classes even though I have research and industry experience in CS.


texts: How long does it take for an article to get accepted to the arXiv?

texts:
I am a math student. I have submitted a draft to the arXiv. But it has been put on hold. How long does it usually take to get accepted ?

Can I do something to accelerate it or do I just sit and wait ?


texts: Is it acceptable for a professor to tell male students to not think that they are smarter than female students?

texts:
The situation occurred  in the first lecture of an undergraduate course in a STEM field at an university.

The professor said that there are less than 20% female students in the class, while the usual ratio is 40% (across fields and different academic degrees). The topic was brought up to "discuss microaggressions", such as letting female students do the easier tasks in group work. It should be noted that there is no selection of students for the field of study at the university (apart from a high school diploma) and AFAIK there also is none for the course.

Then the male students were told to "not think they are smarter than their female neighbor", that "your female neighbour not asking questions does not mean that she is not following, maybe she is a lot smarter than you think" and that the professor is much better at the field than all of the male students (the last part was told with a smirk, not sure if it was a joke or a sign of satisfaction) and it was finished with a "GO GIRLS".

These main reasons why I find  this offensive/disrespectful:

The students were viewed and addressed primarily through the lense of
group membership, and not as individuals.
Replacing "male" with any other group makes the statements offensive or absurd.
While the instructions to not look down on/patronize female students
are correct, they are (in my view) indirect accusations of sexism.
The contents of the talk, which took 5-10 minutes, were not related to the lecture and thus
were a waste of time for students. The issue might be important, but I was there to learn different contents.

Is my view justified? Is such behavior acceptable for a professor? Should I let the professor know the way I feel?


texts: Is it necessary to write "United States of America" in bibliographies when describing the place of publication?

texts:
I'm from the UK, and currently writing my dissertation. I'm citing several sources from publishers in the USA, and am unsure what the best practice is for writing the place of publication. The publisher is based in Hoboken, New Jersey. I could write it in any number of ways:

Duanmu, S. (2011) ‘Chinese Syllable Structure’, In: van Oostendorp, M. and others (eds.) The Blackwell Companion to Phonology. Hoboken, New Jersey, United States of America: 1-24
Duanmu, S. (2011) ‘Chinese Syllable Structure’, In: van Oostendorp, M. and others (eds.) The Blackwell Companion to Phonology. Hoboken, New Jersey, United States: 1-24
Duanmu, S. (2011) ‘Chinese Syllable Structure’, In: van Oostendorp, M. and others (eds.) The Blackwell Companion to Phonology. Hoboken, New Jersey: 1-24
Duanmu, S. (2011) ‘Chinese Syllable Structure’, In: van Oostendorp, M. and others (eds.) The Blackwell Companion to Phonology. Hoboken, NJ, USA: 1-24

I don't think I can simply write New Jersey or NJ, as I've cited another publisher from Norwood NJ. I'm not sure whether it's necessary to write "United States of America" in any form, as to me, New Jersey is unambiguously a US state (just as I wouldn't need to clarify that London or Oxford was in England). But given that I'm not in the US, is it better to do so? And if so, which form is it best to write it in?
I can't refer to my reference guide for help, as we use the unhelpfully inconsistent MHRA Author-Date system, which varies between just about every resource.


texts: Am I being overambitious with PhD applications

texts:
I recently applied to a fairly prestigious PhD programme in the UK and a very short time after receiving a confirmation email I was rejected. The requirements were listed as a 2.1 in an undergraduate degree, which I do not have (I got a 2.2) however I am currently studying for a relevant postgraduate masters and expect to get a good grade. I also have a large amount of research experience through internships and work experience.

I know programmes of this sort are very competitive and there could simply have been more qualified applicants but the length of time between my application being received and rejected makes me think that they didn't really look at it, just made a decision based on my undergraduate grade.

My question is, am I being far too ambitious with PhD applications and will my masters degree and relevant experience be overshadowed by my poor undergraduate grade?


texts: Taking a math teaching job at a local 4-year college,

texts:
I have had some discussions with a director of mathematics at a local 4-year college, and he has verbally offered me a teaching role.  We've gotten closer, and he has sold it pretty aggressively to me.

My guess is that, without my having a PhD, I would probably help teach anything from pre-calculus up to linear algebra, and probably even real analysis - I've seen some PhD students at this college teach analysis, which is perhaps a warning sign that the infrastructure of this department is perhaps not so good.  A quick check at the faculty directory lists a great deal of adjunct faculty.  I would likely be added to this list.

So, my question is:  is it unheard of to get "tenured" without a PhD?  To be specific, I wouldn't mind teaching at this college for the rest of my life; I love math, I get along with this professor, and I get to live in a big city that I plan to grow old in.  Do I have any real shot at getting a salary, plus benefits?

Note that I will likely have at most my Master's degree in math -- from a top-ranked school.  I know that I will eventually ask these serious questions to him directly, but I would love some general knowledge from this community in advance.

Thanks,


texts: Will a dishonesty incident destroy the chances of getting into a good PhD program?

texts:
This is going to be a long post but I believe is the only way to understand my situation.

I studied B.Sc in Information Systems Engineering in a small private university in Latin America, it's not a research oriented institution and thus does not have a high reputation, especially outside my country. My GPA is very high (here grades range from 0 to 100; I have a 84.5 GPA which is top 12~15% of the class).

After having completed my first degree I wanted to study M.Sc in Computer Science, in a different university, much larger and public-founded, that has a relatively good reputation worldwide(ranks consistently among top 300 universities in the world).

To get into the program I was asked to complete some supplementary courses and get a certain minimum grade average. On my first semester I got good grades BUT I ran into some serious trouble in one final exam.

In this final exam, I fell asleep and arrived a few minutes after the exam had started, with all the hurry and all I forgot to take my phone out of my pocket (It's forbidden to have a phone on you during test). One of the exam supervisors noticed it and I was found guilty of academic dishonesty (which meant I had no chances of continuing towards this degree). I was pissed off but instead of quitting, i pursued another degree, in the same university but in a different faculty. I pursued M.Sc in Information Systems Engineering.

To be able to get into this new program, I was asked again to complete some supplementary courses, this time I got excellent grades and didn't run into any problems. Now I'm about to start my first semester in the M.Sc, and I started to think about PhD.

So finally I can ask the question: will this incident affect my chances of getting into a good PhD program? I mean if I wanted to go abroad say to study in the US, will this incident hurt my chances beyond repair?

Edit: Possibly a new issue has arised. I started to worry about being rejected from this M.Sc., even if I completed all the sumplementary courses with grades higher than requested?

After this incident had ocurred and after the discipline hearing in which I got "disqualified" instead of the actual grade as punishment, I applied to this different M.Sc program at the same University.

I did send an email to one professor that is in the acceptance comitte of this different Masters program, asking about my chances of getting into the Masters(I didn't mention this incident, I just asked if I stood a chance).

He replied with the list of supplementary courses but now that I think about it, he probably didn't even look at the current transcript of the university, He probably just look over the transcripts of the B.Sc.

I mean I have with me a letter (which I received after the hearing) that says: You have to complete all these courses with minimum GPA of X, which I did, and every grade has to be no less than Y, which I also did.

Should I be worried?


texts: Why does academia still use scientific journals and not peer-reviewed government funded alternatives?

texts:
------ NOTICE ------
The above put box "This question already has answers here:  Why are journals used in modern scientific academic research?" is wrong and void: it has a title that sounds similar to my question but the question goes into Arxiv and the answers are in regard to Arxiv ("Arxiv is not peer reviewed") which is not the issue discussed here. The question here is why "peer-reviewed government funded alternatives" are not used.

The field of science is under-funded but we follow a publication system that has two major (expensive) options for publishing:

Paywall journals: Scientists do the science and write the papers
(using mainly tax money). Scientists act as editors and reviewers
check the quality (while paid with more tax money). Once years of
work have gone into a paper the journal takes it without paying the
authors, academic editors and/or reviewers a single cent and puts
the paper behind a paywall. Now universities have to pay the journal
huge amounts of money (exact numbers are usually not available due to NDAs) to access the paper to which the journal did
not contribute anything (apart from minor formatting issues and
putting a pdf on a webpage maybe).
Open access journals: Same as above (scientists do all the work) but
authors even pay the journal a substantial amount of money which can
easily go up to 6000 USD in "respected" journals (I am not talking
about predatory open-access journals here – the 6k is for example
for the journals of the American Chemical Society which publishes a
few of the leading journals in our field). For this amount of money
the journals do the minor formatting issues mentioned above and
upload a pdf on their webpage. There is just no relation between
their fees and what they do for it. Here 60-100 USD would be more appropriate than 6000 USD.

Is this not fundamentally wrong that scientists do the work and journals skim off the profit? Why do scientists (and tax payers!) still put up with this?
I do understand that historically :

Journals made sense as someone needed to print the
articles into books to make them accessible to everybody and
layouting might have been something non-trivial but nowadays this is
not the case any-more.
Scientists have brought themselves into a dead-lock due to a
publish (in high impact and "respected" journals)    or perish in
which you have to publish in certain journals in order    to be seen
as a good scientist.

But would it not make much more sense to have tax-money funded    web-portals that use editors and reviewers to assess quality of    articles and make them available for download as journals do it currently? That would cost a fraction of    the paywall and open access fees that journals make money from at the    moment.
Why does science still stick with journals? My feeling is that the field of science does not need the journals at all anymore - what am I missing here? I have never really gotten a satisfactory answer from other scientists (mostly things like "this is how things are and we can not change them") therefore I am asking here  ...


texts: Would a professor write a bad letter of recommendation?

texts:
I asked a professor from my online graduate degree to write a letter of recommendation. It was when I first started looking at graduate school, so was not prepared with what you would usually want to give a professor, especially one you had never met in person. The exchange went like this

Me: "Dr. XXXXX,

I was a student of yours at XXXX from 2011-2014. I will be separating from the military in the fall and am looking to pursue another Master's degree in Food Science. I hope to fuse this with my work at XXXX and my previous biochemical engineering degree in order to work as an R&D chef focused on Nutrition. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind endorsing a letter of recommendation for me. It would be a great help in my application process. Thanks so much for your time."

Professor:
"Yes, I will be happy to provide a letter of recommendation to you. Please, let me know specific details and whom it should be sent to."

Me:
"Thanks so much for the quick response. I'm actually looking at colleges right now, but as soon as I get them narrowed down I will send you the contact information. As far as specific details, is there anything you are particularly looking for? Or should I just include the classes I attended that you taught? GPA? The focus of my studies? Once again, thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate it."

Professor:
"I do not need any additional information. Let me know when you need letter to be sent."

Is this basically, you didn't come to me prepared. Now you're getting a bad letter? Or maybe my record was looked up and showed something bad? I got all A's in the classes and was the supervisor of my capstone project which was also an A. Since then I've sent  my resume and some facts to work off of as well. Communication had been normal since then, usually a quick response with short replies. I feel like I may just be being paranoid, but I figured I'd get some unsolicited opinions on whether it's worth the risk (if there is a risk) to use his letters.

The professor is a Dean at the college and has been exposed to my work the most. I've contemplated possibly asking politely what happened during that exchange, but I can't for the life of me figure out how I would even approach that. One letter has already been written and submitted to a school.


texts: Does it make sense to apply for research positions requiring a bachelor's degree with graduation still 4 months away?

texts: Basically, the position Research Associate I at The Institution (United States) carries the requirement of a bachelor's degree. The application description also provides an email address to lab faculty for those interested in the position. I'm due to graduate in December of this year, so I'm still an undergraduate. Would I be realistic in applying for this position with graduation 4 mo. away, or would it hurt to email the lab faculty and see what they're looking for in the position?


texts: Bioinformatics jobs: is experience or education more desirable

texts:
I'm a biology postdoc currently working in Data curation for a Bioinformatics institution. I am interested in becoming a Bioinformatician however I have absolutely zero experience both in terms of my education and research experience.

Due to many responsibilities I can't just leave work and start an MSc, as much as I'd like to, plus even if I found a part-time course I could attend it's a lot of money to spend. So my question is this, what is more important for employers hiring Bioinformaticians experience or education?

I was thinking that I could complete some of the online courses in programming, stats, bioinformatics etc. and then ask one of the researchers at my institute if I could be part of some bioinformatics projects which I could work on outside of work - my company is big on education and career development so I'm sure they would approve.

Alternatively I have noticed that I could do the online postgrad certificate in Bioinformatics or I could do an MSc by evening class in a University about 3hrs away. I'm not sure which course is more preferable for an employer, they both cost about the same amount of money though the online course would be easier to fit around work.

Any help you guys could give me would be fantastic and it'd be great to hear from bioinformaticians or employers who have hired bioinformaticians.

Thanks in advance,
Kate


texts: Reference for image drawn by yourself, but originated from others?

texts: I am using some images (among others: Laser niveaus) in my thesis. I am drawing them myself with tikz, but as a guidance I use images and data from papers and books. Should I reference them, and if yes, how?


texts: From blog posts to research papers; successful cases?

texts: I am subscribed to many interesting blogs. Some of them are related to my research field, while others not. Sometimes I am really impressed that some of the posts are in fact real pieces of scientific work (or sociological work, depending on the field), that although they do not follow strictly the scheme of a scientific paper, could be easily converted to a research paper. Therefore I am intrigued why these people do not convert sometime their most relevant and accessed blog post to research paper, do you know why? Besides, do you know successful cases where people have converted them to papers?


texts: What to do if undergraduate research has stalled for a long time?

texts:
So I'm pretty much working on my own project with guidance from two supervisors. Since it's my own project (and it's exploratory research), the two supervisors don't need to pressure me to get results. So - I got into a lot of dead ends in my current undergrad research project, and while I've definitely learned a lot in my current research, I highly doubt it can lead to a publication by now, especially since my supervisors are unfamiliar with the technical details of my model, and the objective of the research is such that there aren't many people in the nation I can contact who are familiar with what my supervisors want to do. I've already contacted a number of people who might be familiar with it, but most of my emails have gone without reply.

At this point, I only have a month left before I leave for graduate school, and I'm not sure how I should conclude my research with my supervisors. I've already written up a report (which could perhaps be analogized to a senior thesis, and which could be helpful for the future) - I've shown the report to one of my supervisors. At this point, what should I do? Should I show them what I've done? Should I feel guilty? I've actually been out of contact with one of my supervisors for several months.


texts: Is there a celebrity culture in academia and should we discourage it?

texts:
I work in STEM, and in recent years I have been troubled by this trend in academia where certain individuals are elevated to the status of celebrities. Their appearances alone draw crowds in the hundreds and their "latest" interviews are almost taken as edicts directly from God and are debated endlessly. They are sometimes literally referred to as "Heroes" or "God (fathers)".

Sure, there has always been certain academicians (especially authors or professors) who are popular, and I think we should acknowledge them. But I don't understand the point of celebrating certain individual just because of what he or she is doing, or what this person has done or achieved in the past. The whole point of academia is cross-examination, and no person has absolute say in anything. I think people have lost sight of that. Plus, I don't believe in the "self-made" researcher.

What really prompted me to write this is when I discovered a serious error in a widely cited paper by a very prominent scientist (who has published books, been on TED talks, etc.). How can the paper be so widely cited given such a glaring and serious error? I am also troubled by some recent "non-sense" work from the same author. But this is just one example out of many (countless). I have seen people citing the work of a famous person despite the content or quality of the work, and then doubling it down by defending the indefensible. This also connects to the well-known debate over the meaningfulness of citation count.

But am I just imagining all of this? Perhaps the power in academia is more diffused as compared to what I have been exposed to and these so-called "Gods" of academia are more frequently challenged than what I know of. And ultimately, if this celebrity culture exists, then should we discourage it?


texts: My advisor obligate me to put her name first author name in my publication. What are the possible pros and cons of this order? What should I do if my advisor insists on being first author, in violation of my field's conventions? My field is IT.


texts: Is it ethical to omit the PhD credential from my resume?

texts:
I am applying for a Statistical Programmer position at a commercial research organization (CRO), and I am wondering if it is unethical to omit my PhD in Statistics from my resume?

All of my degrees (Bachelor's, Master's, PhD) are in Statistics, and I am just wondering if it would be ethical to just list my Bachelor's and Master's degree on my resume, and indicate my experience as a RA while I was a PhD student as my "work experience"? (Since this Statistical Programmer position only requires Master's degree plus some years of experience)

I am asking this question because I do not want to do anything unethical/cause me troubles later on.


texts:
In my PhD, i have 2 chapters published in book chapters published by springer and elsavir. To what extent do you think the importantance of book chapters regarding in the PhD student CV? Does these chapters have a good impact when applying for faculty positions ?
Hint: i have other journal and conference papers.


texts: how to evaluate the quality of scientific journal?

texts:
Hope that the question is not a duplicate, I could not find anything similar.

I am doing a PhD in mathematical economics but I usually look at math journals and I am trying to adapt some technical methods from there to economics when it is necessary.

What I am always curious about, as I am not familiar at all with mathematics journals, I don't know which journal is a good quality journal in mathematics (as there exists a huge bunch of journal in mathematics, if I am not wrong)  I don't know if the paper published in the journal is a really credible reference.

Besides Google Scholar citations, what are the best ways to understand if a journal (in the field of mathematics or other) is a well ranked journal ?


texts: Doing a master's degree after PhD. Is it advisable?

texts:
I have a Master's degree in Materials science and am soon to finish my PhD in computational materials science. I am fairly well versed in programming (python, MATLAB, FORTRAN), linear algebra, calculus.  While pursuing my PhD, I got exposed to machine learning and got fascinated by the possibilities of utilizing it properly in my field of study. I have done courses on Coursera (Andrew Ng course), Bayesian statistics, another ML course in Udemy and have gained a good insight into the process. But, I have not yet solved any big problem or developed the knowledge or confidence required to properly implement ML into my work.

I was thinking if I could pursue a master's degree after completing my PhD as that would give me proper structured know how and would provide me with tools to actually be able to include it in my field of study.

I realize that, I  should have taken some actual courses while staying in university. But, I did not get the time to go for these. Now that I am about to complete my degree, I was thinking whether a master's degree a possibility for me or not? Also, my aim is to be in academia, so will this help me?

Also, if there's another alternative way to achieve my goals, I will delighted to know about them.


texts: How to responsibly apply for more than one PhD position?

texts:
My Master thesis is under review, may be it will finish in a week. I had a discussion with my thesis supervisor about a potential PhD position. He applied for a 1 year grant, with my name as student beneficiary. Together we decided to apply for some more grants once I graduate.

In the mean time, I got an interview for PhD in another much better university. If I clear the interview, this employer would contact my supervisor for reference and my supervisor might think that I am playing a double game. Did I do something unethical? How to handle this situation?

I will inform my supervisor about the interview sooner anyway. I am extremely worried about this scenario that I could not focus on preparing for the interview at all.


texts: Are you supposed to disclose all stimuli that your participants have been exposed to?

texts:
I am a master student in psychology in the US.
I performed a study in which the participants had to read a story and should recall it afterwards.

Now I am writing a manuscript where I only analyze parts of the participants’ responses to answer my research questions.
This puts me in a dilemma: Should I explain the whole story stimulus in my paper or just focus on the parts that I analyzed?

My supervisor suggested that I should not mention the unanalyzed parts of the story at all because that will distract readers and take away the focus of the paper. However, I'm thinking what if this paper is published and someone ask for the stimuli to replicate the study, and then find out that the stimuli is different from the way I presented in the paper. It’s like I’m hiding something from them. I worry this may lead to a retraction of the my publication. I’m very new to academia and my supervisor sometimes is not very on top of things, I don't think he cares much about what I do. So I want to make sure I do the right thing and ask for your advice.


texts: Motivating students to push their limits

texts:
I think I must be stranger than usual sometimes, I always seem to take on topics that are somewhat more difficult than the mainstream, in very trying conditions - but the outcomes are very much worth it (not for me per se, but the benefits for everyone, potentially).

I try to instill this in my students, by 'gently' mentoring them and encouraging them to push their own limits a little further each time.  Also, I teach them that 'failure' is just another step to success.  For the most part, my students take on the challenges and the work, ideas and enthusiasm from them, frankly humbles me.

However, I am always wishing to learn new techniques to encourage my students to push, and even exceed their limits.

What strategies are most effective for encouraging students (and colleagues for that matter) to take on the difficult topics?


texts: How to ask for an extension on a manuscript review?

texts:
I accepted a request to peer review a manuscript from a journal, but was not able to view the attached files correctly and reached out to the journal three times about this problem. They finally responded and addressed the issue, but now I am less than 3 days away from their original deadline for submitting the review and I know I need at least 1-2 weeks to do an adequate job. How should I ask or state my request for more time? Is it necessary to provide the reason or justify my request for the extension in my email?
For added context, this is a journal that I'm likely to submit to in the future, so I would like to maintain an amicable relationship with the current editor.


texts: Protections for writers of recommend letters

texts:
I was reading online some of the legal troubles in the US that can occur to recommend letter writers.  I imagine that many of us are familiar with (at least some of the) FERPA regulations.  We must obtain (in writing) a signed permission to use grades, and (at least according to one place I found) we are also required to inform the letter receiver not to convey that information to a third party without written consent.
At many receiving institutions, during the submission process there is a (sometimes large) legal disclaimer.  At some institutions, this includes something to the effect of "Law prevents us from keeping your letter confidential.  We will protect your identity, unless a court says we cannot.  etc..."
Some employers keep a permanent file containing the recommend letters.  As we all know, details over time become fuzzy, and so this seems to leave a letter writer open to litigation if details in the letter are disputed (by either a disgruntled employer or the one we write the letter for).
What protections exist for those who write recommend letters?  In particular, can letter writers give a time limit to how long an employer may keep a letter?  Apparently, in countries outside the US, letters of recommend are very short, to avoid legal issues.


texts: How to mention colleagues from work in my thesis

texts: Right now I am writing a thesis in a Russian university on data mining to obtain bachelor degree. The thesis is related to my job field and I use an inner implementation of an algorithm to process some data. My supervisor is ok with using his code. I will cite the original paper that describes the algorithm, but how do I mention the supervisor in my thesis. Can I just say mention them during presentation as people who helped me?


texts: Should I ask my co-author before I upload an article (that he already told me is okay to publish) to arXiv?

texts:
At our institute it is not common to upload a pre-print of your submission to arXiv. I got told by a friend that it is basically a no-brainer and there are virtually no downsides in doing so. I checked with the journal I want to publish in, they even allow submitting arXiv links, so I am safe from there.

Since nobody at my institute seems to upload their pre-prints, should I ask my advisor before doing so? He is also co-author of the paper.

My field of research is materials science (and to some extent more general physics).


texts: How do I respond to a review report provided as an annotated PDF?

texts:
Often, one gets a notification email with, typically 2 to 5, review reports compiled together and one would respond to each of these reviews with a list of "quote/response" items (if needed, referring to the revised manuscript) in form of a response letter. Now, facing the case of both an email with review reports and a commented PDF basically replacing/extending one of the reports, how would I pragmatically write the response letter? Should I respond to the PDF-based review ...

by copying each of the PDF comments into the main response letter, add a reference to the commented PDF, and add my response item?
with another commented PDF (i.e. my comments would be next to the reviewer's comments and, if needed, refer to the revised manuscript) and refer to this PDF in the corresponding section of the main response letter?

The first solution sounds more coherent to me while the second solution may be more easily usable by editors or reviewers. Apart from that more general guidance, I haven't found anything. This might be a bit of a trivial question but I appreciate any suggestions about best practices.


texts: Ask how to pronounce advisor's last name?

texts:
I am an undergraduate working with an advisor, but I do not know how to pronounce his/her last name. I have talked with several different people who work in the department, and have heard the name pronounced several different ways.

Is there a polite way of asking an advisor how to pronounce his/her last name?


texts: I have no publications or professional experience, will my short CV look bad for US graduate admissions?

texts:
Generally, it is a requirement to add CV in the graduate application, where they suggest to add professional experiences, journal articles info and research works details.

The problem is that, I don't have any journal papers and also I didn't do job. I did a project in masters and I have experience to do thesis works. Therefore, all the  information is contained within one page in the CV.  Will it be considered as a bad CV as it doesn't have a lot of info as they expect?

NOTE: I didn't add any test score on the CV because I wrote these info on the application.


texts: The IT department bottlenecks progress. How should I handle this?

texts:
I'm currently working as a PhD student.

I am not working on a tech-oriented PhD. However, my project requires a lot of programming. This involves both working on a computation cluster, servers, and working with a variety of software. These are provided and maintained by our faculty IT support.

Now on the reason why I post: the first problems started when working on our server, maintained by our IT staff. I required some software essential to do my work, but because I have no administrator rights, I cannot install what I need. I asked IT very politely (I'm the new one after all), and they let me know that they would handle it as soon as possible.

Two weeks later, I still did not have access to the software I desperately needed to do my work. I had to ask my promotor (luckily a huge help in this matter) to ask IT, and finally the software was installed.

The following cycle continued until now:

I notice that software is missing / outdated / not working properly
I ask IT to fix the issue, because no other options are available
IT ignores my requests, leading to me having difficulties to meet deadlines
Someone with better credentials has to pressure IT into fixing the issue

Like I mentioned earlier, I absolutely love programming and computers in general, so I can fix almost all issues myself. However, my hands are tied because I have no administrator rights, and IT goes to great lengths to avoid that a non-IT person does something / installs something on one of the computers...

Does some here have similar experiences, and do you know how to smoothen this out? I obviously don't want to cause a ruckus in our department, but I also believe it to be unfair that we are blocked from doing our job. I'm not the only employee who was bottlenecked by IT, so I guess all suggestions are welcome!


texts: What does an empty auto-reply email from a potential supervisor mean?

texts:
I emailed a professor asking about a graduate student position. Immediately, I received an empty email titled auto-reply.
What does that mean? Can it be an indication that I won't be able to reach her via this email address?


texts: What are the best practices for teaching second-language students in classes that have moved online mid-semester due to COVID-19?

texts:
I'm working on a research project for one of my university's departments that supports professional development and teaching development for our faculty and grad students. We are expanding our resources focusing on online teaching, and I have found a lot of resources dealing with best practices of online teaching.

However, I haven't found much on supporting students for whom English is a second language in an online context.

I'd be very surprised if this research doesn't exist, but I haven't been able to find it so far through EBSCO, Google, etc. Most of the results I'm finding have to do specifically for teaching developmental English classes for students learning the language, but what I'm looking for is resources on how professors in other subjects across the humanities and STEM fields can support their second-language students in this new all-online context for this semester (and potentially next year).

I'm interested in, for example, how can history or biology professors teach their online classes in a way that is easily accessible for students whose first language is not English?

Note that the same issue probably exists for languages other than English.


texts: Is Mozilla Developer Network a valid source to cite?

texts: I'd like to cite MDN for my thesis, but since it's a wiki I'm a little afraid to cite it, although it's peer reviewed as well.


texts: how to apply The Feynman technique efficiently to effectively improve my learning in math and physics?

texts:
I have known the Feynman technique two years ago, I tried to use it in my studies. I usually read a text about some topic(usually math, physics) and wrote in some paper what I understood. But I had a bad experience with that, I spend a lot of time, I didn't learn and it caused frustration what makes me leave this technique.
I'm doing electrical engineer graduation so all of my studying is about math and physics, I wanna learn more effectively and efficiently, in other words, well and as little time as possible, just spend the necessary time and no more no less.
Recently I watched a video about this technique and I'm thinking in apply it somehow, but I wanna know to do it in a way that works, and then I wanna ask about your experiences and for advice on how to implement the Feynman technique to get improvements in my learning.


texts: How to nail a Ph.D. interview when the professors work is not a good fit with your background?

texts:
I saw an offer for Ph.D. positions (USA) where 4 professors were on the list. I chose one (Prof X) and wrote my SOP according to his research and applied.

Now another professor (Prof Y) from the list asked me for a skype interview. Now I am wondering how to nail this interview as I really want to get a position.

Prof Y's work doesn't fit well with my background and my publications (so I was wondering if he just takes the interviews and selects students?)

If he asks me if I have any questions regarding his research, I am afraid I can't ask a smart question.

The email was kind of super positive where he wrote he is very impressed with my CV. I don't want to miss this chance at any cost. Is it ok if I tell him that I have a little knowledge about his work during the interview?


texts: What are the implications of the whole class failing an exam?

texts:
I am an MSc student and in my class are 10 people.
The module has been taught exceptionally poorly and as a result none of us can see ourselves passing the module. The exam is in two days time.
By failing the exam we will have to retake it in the summer because we will not met the threshold to pass the module.

The lecturer mentioned that the department was thinking of scrapping this module so this may be the last time it is run. Also throughout the module we got the impression the lecturer was really concerned about us and we got the impression people have done really badly in this module in previous years to cause him concern. Talking to other lecturers in private, have supported the fact that this professor is very bad and has not taught the module well enough to prepare us for the exam.

In the open book homework assignments, the class average has been high, around the 60%-70% region. But these assignments in total only account for 20% of the final module grade.
The final exam accounts for 80% of the final grade.

What are the implications, if any, for the lecturer or the university if everyone in the class fails the final exam?

I am in the UK.


texts: Is it okay to ask a professor if he is going to attend a certain conference

texts:
I am planning to attend a prestigious conference in the near future, and I was wondering if a certain professor who I wish to meet and I would love to do my phd degree and research under his supervision will be attending this conference. So is it appropriate to ask him (by email) if he plans to attend or participate in this specific conference? Or are there other ways to know this information?

P.S. My research interests are an exact match to his research interests.


texts: Professor used the same exam as last year. Is it considered an unfair advantage?

texts:
I took an exam which was very difficult. I am a senior in college and this is the first time I failed an exam. I was surprised to find out most of my classmates, which usually don't do as well, got an A on the exam.

Apparently, I found out after the exam that they got their hands on the solutions from last years exam, which happened to be exactly the same. Nothing was changed. It seemed that a little more than half the class had the solutions to the exam since everyone was talking about how it was exactly the same as the review. The review was never online or posted by the professor, he only gave us a review which was very different than the exam and didn't include solutions.

Is it fine for me to feel upset, I feel like I put in so much effort studying for nothing. I was planning on talking to the professor, bring it up slowly and tell him how I feel. I know my university has an honor code but, I'm not sure if professors can do this since I have never seen it done before. Is it okay for me to talk to him, or am I exaggerating? I feel like he is going to go against me.


texts: How long does it usually take for published articles to show up on Google Scholar?

texts:
The title pretty much says it all - what's the typical delay with which Google Scholar indexes newly published articles? (Note I'm not talking about citations, but about the article showing up at all.)

Edit: the article in question went for over six months after being published (in a well-regarded Springer journal with its own Wikipedia page) without appearing on Google Scholar, until it received a citation, at which point it was added to Google Scholar almost immediately. One more motivation to write papers that get cited. :)

Edit 2: Another article in an even more mainstream journal took a little over seven weeks.


texts: One publication has two Google Scholar records; how to merge the citations?

texts:
For one publication, Google Scholar has created two separate records; how to merge the citations to the same unique publication? If it is too complicated I agree to abandon in order to not waste my time: the two citations I refer here collect about 120 citations and 13 for the other reference.

To be more explicit ... it looks to be a very simple problem implying a very very simple correction from Google ! Apparently it don't seem to be a simple case !
For instance reference n°1 is
A pseudo-spectral solution of vorticity-stream function equations using the influence matrix technique
Auteurs
Jean Marc Vanel, Roger Peyret, Patrick Bontoux
Date de publication
1986
Description
A method for computing unsteady two dimensional incompressible flows, using the vorticity and the stream function as dependent variables approximated by Chebyshev polynomial expansions is presented. Boundary conditions for the vorticity are derived by the influence matrix technique. The theoretical and numerical difficulties associated with the two-dimensional formulation of the method are discussed. Numerical results illustrate the properties of the method.
Nombre total de citations
Cité 122 fois
1988198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018
Articles Google Scholar
A pseudo-spectral solution of vorticity-stream function equations using the influence matrix technique
JM Vanel, R Peyret, P Bontoux - 1986
Cité 122 fois Autres articles Les 3 versions
Reference n°2 is the same but counted differently !

Numerical methods for fluid dynamics II
Auteurs
JM Vanel, R Peyret, P Bontoux
Date de publication
1986
Pages
463-475
Éditeur
Clarendon
Description
In this paper we present a fast and accurate method for computing unsteady two-dimensional incompressible flows. The method makes use of the vorticity and the stream function as dependent variables approximated by means of Chebyshev polynomial expansions. When using these variables the delicate question is the derivation of proper boundary conditions for the vorticity. The treatment of these conditions must preserve accuracy, stability and should avoid the use of an iterative solution procedure. The method developed here makes use of the influence matrix technique. This technique which has been found successful for the velocity-pressure equations (Kleiser and Schumann, 1980; Le Quéré and Alziary de Roquefort, 1982) has been applied until now to vorticity-stream function equations only in cases which reduce to one-dimensional problems (Tuckerman, 1983; Dennis and Quartapelle, l983). Our …
Nombre total de citations
Cité 13 fois
19891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017
Articles Google Scholar
Numerical methods for fluid dynamics II
JM Vanel, R Peyret, P Bontoux - 1986
Cité 13 fois Autres articles Les 5 versions

They are exactly the same paper counted in 2 different place ! Accurately the 2 counting must merge !


texts: Is it more common to refer to subplots as a "frame" or a "panel"?

texts: In scientific publications, when referring to a figure with multiple plots, often labeled using (a), (b), etc., is it more common to refer to each subplot as a "frame" or a "panel"?  Are both correct terms? Is one more correct or commonly used than the other?


texts: Will declining a research award be problematic for me, or other people?

texts:
I recently received an offer for a research award for early-stage scholars producing outstanding research in my field. I have verified the award and the association are genuine and I have colleagues who have won the prize previously.

The problem is two-fold.

The first problem is that I don't think I deserve the award. Not wishing to blow things out of proportion, the award is good to have but won't make you famous. Yet, having looked at past winners, some of them are professors and all of them had a higher h-index than me when they were awarded. Comparing our research, I simply think there is no comparison, my research is not as good as past winner's - although I have an upcoming paper that may have some impact (colleagues seem to think so). Some of the past winners are my colleagues and co-authors.

The second problem is that the award seems to be won by nomination, typically by colleagues, who would have forwarded the nominee's website and CV. I don't want my colleagues to look stupid by declining the award, which would, of course, be a strange thing for most people to do.

I feel that I have been misjudged (too positively) and it just would not sit right to accept the award. On the other hand, I do not want to ask colleagues what to do since they have already been quite kind in accommodating my anxiety (I think), in general, and recently they have been quite generous in other regards.

Although the award is not a big deal my question is: will rejecting it harm my colleagues or me in some way?

Minor point: I would also have the option of giving a talk, I'd rather not, but I do have some work to talk about. Wondering if declining the offer to give a talk is a problem too.

Update: Thank you for those replies that answered the question. Kimball's ("awards are not about deserving"), xleitix's, and Dan Romik's (right to decline) answers were the most illuminating. It seems like I should accept. I think perhaps I was unclear since some are replying as if I come from a position of arrogance, my main motivation is to not embarrass myself or others.


texts: Should a dismissal from PhD in graduate application be listed as academic misconduct?

texts:
I'm wondering whether dismissal / withdrawal from a PhD program should be listed as disciplinary action on subsequent applications. A Master's program application usually asks questions like:

  Have you ever been found responsible for a disciplinary violation at any post-secondary institution you have attended, whether related to academic misconduct or behavioral misconduct, that resulted in a disciplinary action?

I was academically dismissed from a PhD program after four semesters for not being able to maintain the minimum GPA. I plan to fully include this information in my application (e.g. through transcripts from the institution from which I was dismissed), and address why I was dismissed (and what steps I have taken to address academic concerns) in my Statement of Purpose.

Q: However, I am not sure if my dismissal counts as one that is due to "disciplinary violation" related to "academic misconduct or behavioral misconduct". I was simply dismissed due to not being able to maintain the required grades. Should I answer the above question in the negative?


texts: How to cite an expert's opinion which doesn't have any title? And should I?

texts:
The opinion is literally a post on his social network account. The post is quite long, so it's able for him to evoke his opinion in detail. It also has good long discussion below. At first, I think just see it as a lecture note, but there is a problem: it doesn't have a title.

What should I do? And should I even do this?

I've read these questions, but all of them have the titles:

How to cite lecture notes? (and should I even do this?)
How would I cite multiple authors from an online forum?


texts: Important qualities for Research Assistanship applicants

texts:
1.What qualities do professors (assume STEM if necessary) look for in students (in their MS) when recruiting them for an RA (Research Assistantship)?

2.Consider the follow scenario:

Person 1 : Has excellent fundamentals, thirst for knowledge and good grasping power but no exposure to the academic research per se.
Person 2 : Above average fundamentals (few random holes here and there. Not too minor, not too major either) and prior exposure to academic research.

Who would a professor rather pick?

The motivation of the question is to find out how a potential grad student can prepare himself to increase the likelihood of getting an RA with a professor he/she likes.


texts: Can I publish without affiliation ? Now I am not associated with any university and i want to publish one publication . Is there solution of this problem ?


texts: Cover letter for mid-career application in mathematics

texts: I am in my seventh year after my PhD, and am applying from a tenure-track position in Mathematics.  I am working with a job coach, who is suggesting a 2.5 page cover letter for tenure-track mathematics positions.  This seems long to me, I always thought that in math 1 page was max, but are the rules different when applying mid-career?


texts: How to mail the editor asking to withdraw my submission?

texts:
How do I say to the editor that I want to withdraw my paper from his journal?

I had submitted a paper to a journal 10 days back. When I checked recently, the status was showing "Under Review".

But just today, one of my friends found a serious flaw in one of my results!  Now I need to withdraw my paper from the journal so that we both can review it and then send it again.

I also want to include my friend's name as a co-author because he helped me a lot.

Can I mail the journal editor saying I want to withdraw?  It has been only a 3-4 days the status is showing "Under Review".


texts: Can I request references from people in the program I'm applying to?

texts: Sorry if this is an obvious question. I earned a MS in psych, went and worked a few years, and I'm thinking I want to go back and finish out the degree, earn a PhD. More than one of my professors at the time I was in school recommended I go on, but for personal reasons it wasn't the right time. I know they'd happily write a letter now, but is that appropriate given they're also program faculty? My current employers are willing to write letters as well (I work in MH) but I know there's usually at least one academic reference, and if I can't use the graduate school ones that's going to be a challenge.


texts:
How and when do departments decide who is teaching which course?

I am a graduate student at a state school in the U.S. The process has never seemed clear to me, as it seems that when none of the faculty particularly want to teach a course, sometimes graduate students are asked if they want to teach them.

I ask because I really like to teach courses, and want to ask if I can teach a 300-level undergraduate course, but I want to know the best time to do it.


texts: Is copyright transferred to IEEE upon submission?

texts:
In the IEEE policy on Electronic Information Dissemination (Section 8.1.9 of the PSPB Operations Manual), it says:

A.2.a. An author-submitted article is the version originally submitted by the author to an IEEE publication. An author includes a completed IEEE Copyright Form during submission of the article to an IEEE publication and thereby transfers the copyright of the article to IEEE.

and then later,

D. E-PRINTS
Before submitting an article to an IEEE publication, authors frequently post preprints of their articles to their own Web site, their employer’s site, or to another server that invites constructive comment from colleagues and provides a publication time stamp. Upon submission of an article to IEEE, an author is required to transfer copyright in the article to IEEE, and the author must update any previously posted version of the article with a prominently displayed IEEE copyright notice (as shown in 8.1.9.B). [...]

This seems to have changed with respect to previous policy. In the past, copyright was only transferred upon acceptance, not upon submission. Transferring copyright upon submission seems to have implications that are negative for the author and for the scientific community: it means that IEEE owns the article even if it is rejected, and that the author cannot submit it to another journal if it is rejected.
However, in my last submission to IEEE, the submission process did not include any IEEE Copyright Form. I was not required to explicitly transfer copyright, nor did I receive any document that states that this has been done.
My questions are then:

if the submission process did not include any copyright transfer, does the copyright anyway belong to IEEE now?

if the copyright belongs to IEEE, am I right that this disallows me from submitting to another non-IEEE journal if the article is rejected in this journal?


texts: Scientific writing: When conducting a simulation on a personal computer, what specifications should you report?

texts:
(Note: Personal Computer  = Laptop)

When reading papers that involves some sort of numerical simulation of a software or custom code, many authors would remark on the specifications of the laptop for which the simulation is conducted. For instance.

Can someone enlighten me as to

What are some of the common specifications should you report? There seems to be no comprehensive list of specs that one must report. For example, the # of cores of your laptop, the brand/series, and RAM as shown above and ... what else, clock speed, frequency of your processor...

Can someone provide additional insights on how these specifications come into play when you are trying to reproduce or compare results? For example, if I simulated some algorithm on a dual core AMDdual opteron processor 275 with 32 GB RAM and try to compare it with the same algorithm quadcore Intel Core i7-2600 with 16 GB RAM, how do I go about commenting on how the simulation platforms affect the simulation results? i.e. does Bigger RAM necessarily means shorter simulation time? Does quadcore laptop necessary implies that the algorithm performs better compared to dual core laptops?


texts:
I’m doing my PhD in Europe but I’m researching my opportunities for doing a postdoc in the US. There is a reasonable amount of job postings in my field, so I hope I’d have a decent chance of obtaining one. My concern, however, is purely financial. I have a wife and two children and am wondering whether such an endeavor is realistic or if it would put us on the brink of economic collapse.

I am for this reason interested in the experiences of others who pursued postdoc positions by relocating with a family.

Despite the position being temporary, is it more common that partners find jobs, too? I imagine that because of hiring processes, it wouldn’t be strange if the partner started working mid-way through, at which point one may already know that another relocation is coming up in 1-2 years. For what it’s worth, my wife has a MSc in the same field as I’m in and there’s typically a large demand for people like us, so securing a job shouldn’t be too hard (barring the paperwork, which would probably be a major issue in itself).
How do people do this, like really? At times I feel this is insurmountable, because AFAIK the typical postdoc salary is not enough to support an entire family. Yet, I’m far from the first PhD student with a family.


texts: Journal submission cover letter: length and references

texts:
I wrote a cover letter that takes 2 pages: 1 for the main text explaining the purpose of the research and why it is important, and 1 consisting of my name and institutional details plus references.

1) Should a cover letter be of 1 page maximum in general?
It is not mentioned the journal's website. If this is the case, I guess I should play with the font size and line spacing.

2) Is it ok to include two citations to emphasize my writing?
I included the two references right after mentioning my institutional details.


texts: I wanted to know what the best next step is given my situation.  I have been interested in doing research with a professor, however after the initial response from him about setting up a time to meet he has not responded.  Given it was summer I assumed he was busy with travel and grant proposals.  Upon sending two more emails he did not respond about setting up a specific time.  As such, I went to his office.  He send he would send an email setting up a time.  How long should I wait to hear back with a response?  I understand professors are very busy, however there is a deadline to enroll in research credit.  I am hesitant in sending a "reminder" as I don't wish to annoy him.


texts: How to decide if a paper should be accepted?

texts:
Different conferences have different standards of accepting papers. A paper rejected at a conference A might be best paper at a conference B (in a lower rank).

I'm reviewing a paper for a conference, that is not really related to my narrow field, that I don't know its ranking, that I haven't read any paper from previous series.

The paper is so so, not too strong, not too weak. It would be a straight reject in some top-tier conferences, but might be accepted/weak accepted at some other lower rank conferences. How do I make a decision about this paper for this particular conference?

An obvious solutions is to read a couple of papers from previous series to have a sense, but given it is not very related to my narrow field, it will take me a lot of time, and I'm having several other deadlines.

UPDATE: to answer Pete L. Clark's comments.

  So I think your first task must be to decide whether to referee the
  paper at all

I have never submitted to a journal before, but I think one of the main difference between journals and conferences is that: in a conference, the chairs can't always select the right reviewers for a paper.

In a conference, there is a fixed set of PC members. After the deadline for abstractions, the PC members start bidding for the papers they want/don't want to review. The PC chairs then have a painful task: assigns papers to PC members (there are tool supported, but mostly useless). Obviously, there is never the case that everybody is satisfied, it's very rare that you get the papers that you want to review, and it's not uncommon that you get the papers that you don't want to review. When you are a PC member, you can't refuse to review the papers assigned to you.

If the conference adopts double-blinded review, you are not allowed to assign external reviewers either. In the case you can ask external reviewers to do reviewing for you, since those external reviewers do the reviewing without any credit (at least PC members have their names in the conference's web site), in most of the cases you can only assign to your postdocs/PhD students. So now you understand why I have to review this paper, and that refusing to review papers is not an option (my boss is the unlucky PC member).


texts: How to accept admission to graduate school

texts:
I have made my decision on where I want to attend grad school (for a Master's program) and I am ready to accept. My admission letter was attached in an email, and there were no instructions on how to accept (there is no online portal as far as I can tell). I am wondering what the standard protocol is since I am unable to find specific instructions on my school's website.

Do I accept with a simple email reply back on the original thread?
Do I need to write up a document and attach it to an email?
What information is necessary to include in my reply?


texts: Overcoming nerves from anticipating conference questions

texts:
My field is atmospheric physics.

The irony is that I have been a school teacher for over a decade, but soon, I'll be giving a presentation of some of my findings at a conference.  I think that the nerves stem from speaking about my own research in front of my peers - something that I have not done to a large audience.

The questions that will no doubt be ask fill me with anticipation in both positive and negative ways.

Asides from being prepared, making sure the presentation is seamless and that I have a good night's sleep beforehand and 'knowing my stuff' inside and out.  What are some strategies to anticipate the type of questions that would likely arise from a conference presentation?


texts: Literature Review Tables: Plagiarism or Fair Use

texts:
I am in a debate regarding tables developed for a literature review which include Author, Year, Type of Study, Methods, and Results. I believe all components of the table should be paraphrased, but a colleague directly copied methods and results which has resulted in a debate. Is this direct copying of these materials plagiarism or considered fair use as it applies to a literature review?

Note: The copied material is anywhere from one to seven sentences total for each reference for methods and results.

Note 2: I should also note this was in a table we previously stated we created and there is no indication the material is directly copied.


texts: Letter of Rec. for future University application

texts:
I'm getting my Software Engineer degree in one year here in my country, and I want to continue my studies with a Master degree in the US.
Since here in my country is not a common practice to ask or write such letters, I'm not sure about some details.
I have two main concerns about them:

1) How important is the written date of the letter? (It's OK to get one now, dated accordingly, if I will be submitting it in say, 2 years?)

2) Must the letter be always addressed? (It's OK to be generic, not addressed at anyone in particular? -At this moment I don't know what University I would like to apply-)

I'm asking those two questions because currently I'm developing an important software for the local Police (the 911 emergency line) and I think this could be a nice vouch for my technical skills, however since I'm changing jobs in a few weeks it's possible I won't stay in touch anymore with the Chief, or maybe this Chief won't be around in the future to ask him. This also because now I can ask for it and get it in paper, with the official letterhead and seal/stamp, so that will be a proof of authenticity.

Let's say my idea is to get this letter now and save it for later. Of course this would be a field expertise type of letter.
Thanks!


texts: If I see a research paper published in multiple places, how can I tell whether or not it is unethical dual publication?

texts:
I have come across a publication by a set of well recognized professors that has been published in both IEEE and ACM in two different years.

I know that IEEE punishes scientists who publish material which uses more than 25% of the content from another publication. Accordingly, I cannot think of a reason how the later publication, which is just a copy of the first, could be ethical. What am I missing here?

Could someone please tell me if this type of academic publication is doable? If so, how do I get permission to do something like this?

The paper was first published in 2014 in the ACM SIGMETRICS conference, and in the journal that automatically publishes those conference proceedings. The second version of the paper was published in 2015 in the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications. The list of authors is identical on both. The changes (which I think are minute) are:

The second (journal) paper has some additional results (a few figures and explanation) that were not in the conference paper.
The second paper also has a short appendix with proofs that were omitted from the conference paper, which refers the reader to an online technical report for the proofs.
The second paper lists the conference paper first in its list of references.