texts:
Say I watch some YouTube videos to learn merge sort, and during the lesson the code for merge sort is shown and explained, if after this I write my own program and use the merge-sort algorithm I learned from the video, am I plagiarizing?

Say if I need to hand in an project for university and it requires a mergesort on an array of integers in a part of the program like the example in the lesson was, can I get wrecked for plagiarism if I used the mergesort method from the lesson to use in my project?

edit: assuming that I completely understand the algorithm and can explain every part


texts: Is it beneficial for a student to publish their research code and data?

texts:
There are at least four benefits of releasing the code and data produced during a thesis or research project (citing textually this laboratory):

Allows to reproduce figures in the revisions of a paper
Other people who want to do research in the field can start from the current state of the art, instead of spending months trying to figure out what was exactly done in a certain paper
Makes easier to compare the method to existing ones
Increases the impact of the research

This is really cool for someone trying to develop its own study as he/she can have access to world-quality material for free. However, I have observed that this is a practice followed by well-known universities, with federal financial support, and that usually host international students. Is this practice also recommended for universities with little or no federal financial support and no grants for students?

I am curious if a student from a university like the latter would improve his/her chances to work in academia by releasing his/her material in this reproducible research modality.


texts: Is it possible to do PhD in Computational Social Science without CS background?

texts:
As the title states, I don't have Computer Science background (B.A. in Business Administration and Master of Social Work) but would like to do PhD in Computational Social Science (Data analysis or Information sci).

There are master programs, mostly professional programs, admit students from whole range of areas, such as Computational Analytics and Public Policy from U of Chicago or QMSS from Columbia.

But PhD programs don't. Although PhD programs state on their website that they accept students regardless of their backgrounds, it means that they accept students from mathematics, statistics, or linguistics, but not from Social Work.

My interest is solving social issues by using computational approach. I have taken MOOC courses, such as Linear Algebra and Statistics with R, and I learned R and Python(both intermediate). I also have been working as RA in ICT in Bangladesh project.

To me, it becomes clearer that what PhD programs want is those who have solid CS knowledge and the idea of doing PhD seems to be so unrealistic.

Is it really impossible to do PhD in Data Sci or Info Sci without direct/indirect CS knowledge? If it is possible what should I do?


texts: How to make my papers accessible to other researchers?

texts:
I have published some papers in some conferences, but the problem is that the people in charge put them in bibliographic repositories, such as DBLP, and they take too much time to do that.

I would like to know how I can allow more people access to my publications, so they would be able to review them, use them if they want, maybe bring more ideas or even suggest that I correct something.

Initially, I was putting them in a personal webpage that I have created, but I took them off because I also got some papers accepted by ACM and IEEE and they require a payment to see them. In this last case, if I upload them for free (on my personal webpage) could I be charged with something by these institutions?


texts: In research paradigm's post-positivism can I prove the hypothesis instead of falsifying it?

texts:
In research paradigm's post-positivism can I prove (verify) the hypothesis instead of falsifying it?

Guba, E.G. and Lincoln, Y.S., 1994. Competing paradigms in qualitative research. Handbook of qualitative research, 2(163-194), p.105. says, that in the methodology

positivism's experimental/manipulative methodology
that focuses on verification of hypotheses;

postpositivism' s modified experimental/
manipulative methodology invested in critical
multiplism focusing on falsification of hypotheses;

But, can I just prove (verify) the hypothesis instead of falsifying it? I don't want to fully be on pure objectivism and don't want to be in pure subjectivism so I'm considering the nature of knowledge to be in post-positivism ..

Mainly, I want to gather data and do both qualitative and quantitative analysis and then triangulate the data to come up with a conclusion and prove (verify) the hypothesis. If I do that does it comes under positivism instead of post-positivism?


texts: Is there a template for academic paper changes report?

texts: After updating the academic paper as per reviewers comments, one needs to submit the updated paper in parallel to a report of what did he change or why didn't he change. Is there any template for such report? if not, what sections should it contain?


texts: What are the options for fellowships for international grad students in USA?

texts:
I'm looking for fellowships that an international grad student can apply for, to support him/her while working towards a Ph.D. (additional to whatever funding that may be available as TA). So far, I've been able to identify the following:

Fulbright Scholarships for International Students (applications have to be done more than a year before, and they've suspended 2013-14 grants, so not really an option for me)
Aga Khan Foundation International Scholarship Programme, which has the following selection criteria:

  The main criteria for selecting award winners are: l) excellent academic records, 2) genuine financial need, 3) admission to a reputable institution of higher learning and 4) thoughtful and coherent educational and career plans. Candidates are also evaluated on their extra-curricular interests and achievements, potential to achieve their goals and likelihood to succeed in a foreign academic environment. Applicants are expected to have some years of work experience in their field of interest.

It would be great if I could get to know of similar fellowships that an incoming student can apply to, before starting grad school.


texts: Okay to state very specific research interest in statement of purpose?

texts:
*I am applying to Psychology PhD

For graduate (PhD) applications, most universities ask for a statement of purpose and instructions simply state to discuss your research interests. This type of open-ended prompt suggests to me that they may also be anticipating a rather wide range of research interests from the student. However, for my case, I actually have 2-3 research questions I intend to look at. I have also contacted a professor at the university, to which the professor responded that the questions were interesting and exciting to research. However, since the questions are very specific in nature, they do not correlate very well with many of the other professors' interests in that department. Only the professor with whom I have been in contact with has those topics listed as their areas of interest.

From a PhD admissions committee perspective, would a student who has clear ideas of what research questions they want to research be viewed positively (i.e. sees the student as being prepared) or negatively (e.g. student's lack of interests in other professors' labs), assuming GPA, GRE, etc. are adequate.

I thought about writing my specific questions but also state that I'm open to new ideas, but I was not sure whether that will come off as being snobby or, conversely, desperate.

Any advice from people who have read or written a statement of purpose would be greatly appreciated!


texts:
Following ArXiv rules I contacted with an well-known expert in thermodynamics (he is author of a known monograph) we discussed my work during several days and finally he endorsed me. When my work was ready to appear a moderator removed it, alluding to technical problems with my submission (a embedded font problem), although more latter moderators asked me personal and even economic questions! I never answer such questions and forgot the whole issue

The paper is accessible in my page at academia.edu

I have participated in an Essay Contest with another work, and it has been selected as one of the finalists. It is cited here together other three finalist essays.

I submitted this new work to ArXiV, it has been removed and I received the next response:

  Your submission has been removed upon a notice from our moderators, who
  determined it to be inappropriate for arXiv. Please find another forum.

  For more information on our moderation policies see:

  http: //arxiv. org/help/moderation

  --
  arXiv moderation

ArXiv already archives several essays submitted to the same Essay contest, such as 1209.0023, 1209.1257, 1211.1917, 1210.3575

Therefore it is not a problem with the Contest or with the format. Notice that only one of above four has been selected as finalist.

According to the moderation policy I cannot ask to moderators about the details on their decision. The excuse is that "moderators are not referees", but this looks a bit childish, because it seems that they are accepting that moderators cannot sustain logically the decisions that they take about others' work.

Would I write to the advisory committee chair? Would I take some other action?

EDIT: Finally the first work rejected by Arxiv mods was published in the International Journal of Thermodynamics. I no longer care about ArXiv.


texts: How to restore trust in a toxic lab environment?

texts:
A friend of mine started working in a biology research lab where several research groups share space and lab equipment.

Recently the environment has become quite toxic as the people started to mistrust each other.

It started with people not talking to each other and instead preferring to email everyone about "How to use Equipment X". Then later "To the person who used Equipment Y before me, please ask your supervisors how to use it properly". Now everyone watches each other to guard the equipment. In spite of this chemicals and samples started to disappear from the stock and tools get contaminated over night.

As my friend is "the new guy" he is often the target of accusations.
His colleagues from his research group are trying to protect him but still something needs to be done.

Now what to do? How to get back the trust? Should the institute heads get involved?


texts: Must my ex-advisor be a co-author in new research after the defense?

texts: When writing papers about new research made from my doctoral research results, after my defense, must my doctoral advisor be included as co-author?


texts: Combining 2 sections according to the reviewer’s comment

texts: I get review comments for my manuscript. Reviewer suggested combine G section with B section as one section. So I combined as he/she suggested. Now I am preparing REPLY to reviewer’s comments. My question is that should I put my whole combined section to REPLY file and highlight the combined G section’s texts? Or Is this okay if I reply like this “According to your suggestion, we combined G section with B section as one section”?


texts: Does TA application usually have training and interview?

texts:
First I thought every university would interview and train their TAs somehow. But I just get to know that my university doesn't have that, at least for marker and lab tutor. Is it the way the most universities do? How could they know the applicants are qualified enough?
I am in Canada and my field is electrical engineering.


texts: Finishing undergraduate degree later than mentioned on graduate school applications

texts:
I submitted all my applications for graduate school (in math) this month. I listed the date I'm expected to get my degree as May of this year. However, it has come to my attention that one of the general education requirements I'm taking this semester requires another prerequisite class. Luckily, the class I need is offered during the summer, so I can take the prerequisite class this semester and still receive my degree in August.
Would most programs be okay with me finishing up my degree in the summer, or would I have to contact them individually (either before or after acceptances come out) to make sure there won't be any issues?


texts: Why should we give the number of pages on arXiv?

texts:
In https://arxiv.org/help/prep I found

  Indicate number of pages and number of figures. If desired, include Tex flavor or related comments. Do not bother to put "uuencoded" or "gzipped tar file" even if you submitted it this way.

I wonder why this is considered to be helpful. And what are pages anyway? The number of PDF pages? The number of "content" pages (= PDF pages - title page (if any) - blank pages - reference pages - appendix)?


texts: Writing a recommendation letter for a student I reported for academic dishonesty

texts:
A few years ago, I reported a student for academic dishonesty (in a graduate-level mathematics course, they were copying solutions off the internet, nearly verbatim). After acknowledging their wrong-doing with the Academic Integrity office on campus, they were allowed to drop the course.

The next year, the student re-enrolled in my course, and did reasonably well. I had no qualms about the originality of their work this time.

They recently asked me whether I would be willing to write them a recommendation letter for PhD programs in mathematics.

If I write a letter, am I obligated to write about the academic dishonesty incident? It appears to me that the student has already faced the consequences of their actions (they had to drop the course); however, this was a significant part of my interactions with the student and it seems dishonest to not mention it.

(I am aware that I could simply tell the student that I am not comfortable writing a letter, but I am curious to know what one should do in this situation if one did write a letter.)

Some facts: when the incident occured, the student was in their first semester of our masters program. They are also an international student, and this was their first semester in the US.

ETA: Look, I framed the question to be as general as possible so that it can be useful to the community as a whole. Since some commentors are choosing to attack my teaching practices, below are some more specifics, where once again I am trying to not reveal the identity of this student, myself, the course, the university, etc. I am actively trying to do what's best for the student here (note that I clearly state that I think the student has faced consequences for their actions; I am also not using my usual ac.se account to post this), and I don't understand where comments about "shutting down a student's career" are coming from.

I clearly state in my syllabus and on the first day of class that copying solutions off the internet (or any written source) is not allowed. I do this because I encountered this situation as a TA in graduate school. In particular, students are allowed to talk to anyone they like about problems, but I believe that when they just copy a solution, they are not learning. You are welcome to disagree with my policy, but it is my policy and my class, and it was clearly stated in two separate venues.

The copied solutions were virtually indistinguishable from the solutions online. This was not a matter of simply "being inspired". This was not isolated - three out of six solutions were copied, and those were just the ones I spotted. When I noticed this, I asked the student to come talk to me. I told them that I had noticed similarities between their work and solutions I had found online. I told them that I was not accusing them of anything, and they did not have to tell me anything; I reiterated that copying solutions from the internet was not permitted; I invited them to come to my office hours to talk about future problem sets; but that if I noticed such similarities again I would report them to Academic Integrity. They did it again on the next problem set (four out of six solutions).

Although they denied everything once via email, after talking with Academic Integrity (where they owned up to everything), they did find me and apologize. I was cordial to them throughout this event, and continued to be so afterward. We remain on good terms now. I consciously try to ensure that I do not let this incident color my interactions and behavior with them. They made a mistake once but people make mistakes and I am trying hard not to take it personally.

In summary, the incident itself was pretty blatant, the policy was clearly stated, and they had an opportunity to stop such that I would not have reported them if they had. I did not take reporting the student lightly. Nonetheless, I think academic dishonesty is a serious matter and it is our responsibility as faculty members to not turn a blind eye to it.


texts: Is it possible take take part in a research project if I'm not a part of a university?

texts:
I graduated with a Masters of Engineering, concentrating in digital signal processing, in particular medical and audio, almost two years ago. I've always been interested in research, but due to personal circumstances I could never commit a lot of time to working on a research project with a professor, and obviously didn't get a chance to publish anything. Now that I'm more settled and have much more time on my hands, I started getting involved in some open source projects and reading some technical literature (engineering, mathematics) that I couldn't get to before. However, I'd still like to find someone to to collaborate with on a research project who is already established in the field and publishes papers. Part of the reason I want to do that is to be able to eventually apply for a Ph.D. program in a good school, and having publications would be a great thing on my resume.

What I'm trying to find out is how I can work on a research project similar to those graduate students work on as a part of their studies if I'm not a student anymore? Should I contact my old professors from the university? Is it possible to find some "open research" team that accepts collaborators from outside? Do I have to do it on my own (quite frankly I'm not sure I can give myself a good enough quick-start)? In short, I'm willing to volunteer my time in exchange for a possibility of publication in the future. Can I do it, and if yes then how?


texts: Continuing a PhD in a different institution

texts:
I started my PhD two years ago in the UK. Now, because of the funding assigned to my project, I will be moving to Singapore for two more years. Also, instead of being placed in a University, I will continue my work in a research agency. I am concerned about the fact of being so far away from my advisors. We will hold Skype meetings regularly (I really hope so), but still it feels like all those deep discussions we have in person will not be the same (or as productive). So, my main questions are:

What are the best practices in terms of communication with the advisors when a PhD student is researching in a different institution than his/her advisors'?
What differences should a researcher expect when moving from a University to a research agency (company) in terms of daily work and office atmosphere?

I will also have an advisor in the research agency, but he has not been very interested in the project so far.

EDIT: By research agency I mean a nationally funded research institute.

Thanks.


texts: Is it possible to ask offers of admission to extend the deadline?

texts:
I was offered an admission of offer (math) today and I found out that I have till Feb 15th to accept the offer. Most schools in my country (Canada) actually send out offers during Feb, and there is a low probability that I will get an offer then, is it okay to ask schools to extend the offer date?

Note I am Canadian. Schools in Canada don't generally give out scholarships until NSERC hands out theirs. My school gives entrance scholarships after you get NSERC, in which case, they announce it in March, wayyy past the deadline.


texts: How common is it for academics to write fiction?

texts: I have submitted a few papers to academic journals. I love writing non-fiction articles and long form "literary" non-fiction. I also would love to write at least one novel. None of my fiction is anything that I would not want a relative to read. None of my fiction is embarrassing. My question is how common is it for academics to write fiction? I use a pen name when I write anything that is not meant for more formal situations like academic journals. Is it common? Is it frowned upon?


texts:
If the student status of a conference participant expires between the registration for the conference and the conference itself, is it typical that the person still pays the student fee (rather than a higher regular participation fee)?

EDIT: I reject "individual factors", "personal values" and "a certain person's preferences" as reasons why the question has been put on-hold: there is nothing preferential, nothing that would concern an individual here. The question couldn't care less about your personal values, my dear reader. The question is about how past conferences handled it typically, i.e., simple facts.


texts: Publishers' request on linking their copy of a paper

texts:
Continuing How to satisfy the publisher when making an article available on a personal web page? :

Copyright agreements of certain publishers such as Springer and IEEE request that if an author archives a published paper on his/her web page, then a link to the publisher's site must be provided, e.g., "The final publication is available at [Web site of the publisher]". Is this request a legally valid one according to German / US legislation? Why / why not?

An aside: this is probably a very standard question, and someone in the community is very likely to have already seeked legal advice on that. I would expect that at least the legal departments of huge universities know the answer.


texts:
I am about to defend my MS thesis in Physics. How much detail of the methods should I add in the presentation? In my thesis, I have compared the results of my method to an other method's results. Should I give a brief introduction of that method too?

One of the members of the defense committee is from the other field of research. Should I make my presentation very detailed so that he can understand it? But it will make the presentation very long. Probably, more than 40 minutes long.


texts: How do I go about negotiating an academic job offer?

texts:
There are many questions on this site that deal with what can be negotiated once one has received an academic job offer. However, I cannot find anything addressing the mechanics of when and how to conduct the negotiations.

The typical timeline from the university side is:

Advertise a job
Interview candidates
Informal offer by phone/email
Formal offer in writing
Acceptance

At what point in this process does one typically start negotiating? Do you do it at the informal offer stage ("Gee, I'm flattered that you like me but there's no way I'll be coming at that salary...") or do you wait for the formal offer in writing? Do you submit a laundry list of all conceivable requests and see which ones they accept? Or do you simply tell them that you don't regard their current offer as sufficient, and see what they can do? I'm particularly interested in hearing first-hand accounts, from either side of the table.


texts: Is a PhD right for you if you hate doing research in your free time but love doing it as a job?

texts:
Say for example you are a new PhD student and realize that you hate doing research in your free time but you are more than willing to spend several hours in the morning to do research. Was your decision to become a PhD student right for you or not?

I'm asking because people are suggesting that "you have to be really passionate and curious about everything all the time"

what if you want to be curious during your work and just relax and have fun doing unrelated things when you have some free time in your hands?

I guess this indicates that you aren't really passionate, but what's the threshold for "being passionate enough for a PhD"?

These thoughts have really made me somewhat confused over my decision of going for a PhD. It's been a few weeks that I'm into this program and after reading a lot of stuff online addressing the question whether the PhD is right for you or not, I'm already starting to question my decision.


texts: What happens if a paper with same topic gets published while writing undergraduate thesis?

texts:
What happens when a topic for a Bachelor's thesis is submitted and while the student writes their thesis, a paper discussing the exact same topic is published by researchers of a different university?

This is merely a scenario. I'm not in this situation. But I feel like it concerns me a lot as I would be, had I written my theses 3 years earlier, as I received an email today informing me that the topic I proposed to a chair would be a good topic but has already been looked into by 5 researchers at a French university and the French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation somewhat short of 3 years ago. The topic of their paper exactly matches what I planned to write about, so I think this happening is plausible. However, I can't seem to find information online about how it would be handled.

In such a scenario, is the student allowed to finish their thesis? How would the publication of the paper impact the requirements concerning the thesis?

Had this happened to me (with the topic I proposed), I would've suddenly have access to everything I wanted to find.

Should the field or location matter: I'm a computer science student in Germany.


texts: Degree in Philosophy at Mathematics department?

texts:
I saw some tesis that, for me, look as paper of Mathematics and, indeed, are from mathematics' department. However, the name of the course is "degree in Philosophy".
There is any explanation about it?
I would imagine degree in Philosophy something about thinkers sociologics, human theory, etc.
Many thanks.


texts: What should I read or know before I prepare my bachelor's thesis?

texts:
I am about to start planning my bachelor's thesis in computational linguistics, and I'm looking into how I can make the process as smooth as possible. So far, I've found that using some sort of version control system for keeping track of one's changes seems like a good idea. I've also started collecting papers using Zotero for easily exporting to BibLaTeX and keeping notes.

But those are only tools. What I'm most uncertain about is the actual writing process, especially since my native language isn't English. Is there a collection of common mistakes I could benefit from reading, or other every day tips and tricks? Anything, really!


texts: What are the elements of an effective elevator pitch?

texts: When I go to conferences and try to network, I want to be able to explain my research in a clear and concise manner while still effectively communicating what I do.  What are the most effective ways of doing this?


texts: Why does a mathematics department want student evaluations of a famous professor?

texts:
If a professor is very famous for his research and belongs to the most prestigious academies of science for his lifetime work, I find it unusual that the math department would ask us to evaluate him.  We did so anyway and submitted the evaluations to the director of academic affairs.

Is this typically done at most American universities, irrespective of a professor's age, status or fame?  I would think that after a certain point in a professor's career, student evaluations aren't necessary.

Is it sort of a sanity check?  He was 85 years old.  Is it done to try and find reasons to force retirement of professors?


texts:
I'm a Masters student and graduating in two weeks. I need to admit that I procrastinated A LOT while working on my thesis. If I do my Ph.D. I expect myself to procrastinate a lot there too. However, I'm wondering if this habit vanishes as the individual gets more senior in academia. So maybe as the person gets more senior in academia, they learn to handle this habit better.

My questions:

Is true that the more senior you become, the more you are able to handle this bad habit?
Do professors procrastinate too?


texts: How does one become a multi-disciplinary researcher?

texts:
How can someone become a multi-disciplinary researcher?

For example, can one study a multi-disciplinary domain that combines signal processing, artificial intelligence (neural net, machine learning), robotics, instrumentation and control engineering, and embedded systems? Is there a path that could make a candidate a marketable researcher across all these domains?


texts: Hiring an academic researcher to implement an algorithm in a paper they wrote

texts:
I recently joined a technology startup company where a key business value-proposition depends on solving certain various problems that no current business competitor solves. There is one particular sub-problem we're looking to offer a commercial solution to - and it has been already solved by an academic team who published a paper describing an algorithmic solution about 15 years ago. To our knowledge, no commercial operation employs their approach. We would like to capitalize on this.

The team-members are still working at the original university and fully contactable.

The problem is the solution as described in the paper is beyond the current academic-ability of the startup's employees - and given time constraints I'm considering the possibility of contacting the team to ask them to implement it for us - as paid professionals, of course.

Is this appropriate? Is there a good way to frame this? Would paying them for their work introduce any kind of conflict-of-interest or other consequences?


texts: Is it possible for a conference not to be published?

texts:
I was quoting a paper from the ICLR 13 and noticed that I could not find any information about the publishing of the conference. So far I have only seen proceedings which published the papers of the conference in a book entitled 'proceedings of the xth international conference ...'

Q: Is it possible for a conference not to be published, i.e. the papers can only be found online (or via a database, e.g. arXiv). Is this a common thing? Why?


texts: Should I be concerned that my (successful) application to grad school only barely survived the first cut?

texts:
I am starting my PhD in a few days. One of the faculty told one of his students that me and another incoming PhD student just made it in terms of the initial admission ranking, i.e. we were in the bottom of the pile among those who made the cut. The reason that we got in was because the top candidates they sent offers to didn't come and there were professors asking for us specifically.
I know I could report this professor for his behavior but I'm not gonna do that. However, I am wondering if initial admission ranking means anything in terms of actual PhD performances. My field is statistics.


texts: Does your Alma Mater and U.S. News Rankings Really Affect Future Job Opportunities?

texts:
I'm in the process of trying to decide on which graduate program to attend.  I am pursuing a Master's level degree in Computer Science in hopes of furthering my web development career.  I would love to be able to teach web development/programming at a community college someday after getting a few more years of industry experience (teaching requires at least a Master's degree).  Previously I taught secondary science before transitioning into web development.

I've been accepted to the following programs:

Boston University - Master's in Computer Information Systems / Web Application Development  (U.S. News ranked #51 nationally)

Brandeis University - Master's of Software Engineering (U.S. News ranked #31 nationally)

University of Bridgeport - Master's of Computer Science (not ranked nationally)

I keep going back and forth in regards to which program I should choose.  University of Bridgeport seems to have a good curriculum and it looks like it will be cheaper (I may get a scholarship), but I'm concerned that it's not viewed as a "top" school.  I would be happy to pay for a more expensive school if it helped provide greater opportunities in the future.

Do you find that going to a "better" school has affected your resume to the point that you may have more teaching opportunities after school?  I realize that a certain school won't earn me the actual position, but having a highly regarded school on my resume MAY lead me to getting more interviews.  Any insights are greatly appreciated.

Thanks and have a good day.


texts: If I change my research group, can my former supervisor restrict my access to my codes that are written by myself?

texts: Recently, I quitted my current research group and I will start to work with someone else. I was in my former research group for almost three years and during these three years I wrote more 200,000 lines of codes by myself alone. These codes rest in my former advisor group repository in Github, but I have copies of them locally in my computer. I know and I understand totally that I'm not allowed to use those codes without my former adviser agreement and also he is not allowed to do so without my agreement. Recently, he removed and revoked my access to the codes that are written by myself during these three years. As I said, I don't want to use them without his agreement, but I'm wondering why he restricted my access to something that completely is written by me and from scratch. I have the local backups but it just makes me upset and I'm wondering if he is allowed to remove my access or not?


texts: How competitive are faculty jobs in the UK, as compared with the U.S.?

texts:
I wonder when a faculty position at a top UK university is advertised, how many applications will be submitted. I am just asking about an estimate of the average. For example, consider a Reader position in an engineering field.

I wish to know how competitive are the faculty jobs in the UK in comparison with the US.


texts: How does one choose the panel to present at a conference?

texts: I am looking to present my work at a conference. The goal being to get comments and get a paper publication. I have a choice to go on the last day with the chair being an authority in the field. Or on the first day with upcoming chair. Which would be better to help me both get good comments and still scout for post doc positions.


texts: How to include experiments vs state-of-the-art papers with no code

texts:
I am working a paper which offers an algorithmic improvement, which is measured in both the quality of the results, and the time it took to achieve them.

There are 3 recent (relatively) papers which deal with the exact same problem. One of them i am building upon, and my improvement (while can be used in other fields as well) is geared for it. The improvement is significant, and I have all the required tools in order to reproduce its exact results and prove it.

However, the 2 other Papers, which both (claim) to be better than the first, lack the required code in order to reproduce the results.
I have tried contacting the authors, in more then one way, but no reply.

Also, according to paper #3 (which is the most recent one), paper #1 actually performs better than paper #2, A thing which contradicts paper #2.

I have an implementation of paper #2 (Not my own, or the original) which exhibits very poor results.

I am not sure how I can move on from here - Doing my own implementations for #2 and #3 is both very time consuming, and I could easily have a bug or two. And a reviewer can claim it was biased against them.

And obviously, If I wont benchmark against them, I could not claim to be The state-of-the-art solution for the problem (even if the improvement I show vs #paper 1 is bigger than they does).

Any advise would be great!


texts: Differences Between Academic Research Positions in US and Canada?

texts: I am considering the possibility of applying for a faculty or possibly other research positions at a Canadian university. I am curious to know what are the differences in terms of work experience, quality of life, research funding, and so on? I have also heard that government funding structure in Canada is vastly different than the US. Anyone care to share any experiences or first hand knowledge of differences between Canada and the USA for newly PhDs looking for research positions up north?


texts: How much of humor in a formal academic writing is considered as disrespect?

texts:
In a formal academic writing (in the everyday sense), is it appropriate to use phrases such as "step out on" to titillate the reader?

Since I am not a native English speaker, and since I have not yet accurately catched the general range of humor in the US, I wonder if using such phrases would be instead considered as a disrespect?


texts: How does Google Scholar's "Sort by Date" work?

texts:
Why does Google Scholar's "Sort by Date" feature give you a completely different number of papers? I'm not speaking about approximation, like here, I'm speaking of real numbers being 1000 times different.
If I search "genome sequence homomorphic encryption" (any time, sort by relevance, all the words,) I obtain about 5,030 papers. If I change to sort by date I obtain... 3 papers. Literally 3. Google Scholar changes my query to "genome sequence "homomorphic encryption" " (I mean, it puts "" before and after homomorphic encryption, searching for the whole expression instead of separate words). I can manually change the query to be the same as before, by either changing it directly or crafting the URL, but the number of papers remains 3.
I can change to "Everything" instead of "Only abstract" (I don't get why this option appears only when I set "sort by date", but whatever) and I get 724 results (or 596 if I use the modified query it automatically does).
I mean, it is not an approximation, it is simply a different set. Completely. As far as I can tell it simply takes the papers from the last 364 days, but I don't know for sure.
Moreover, the results aren't accurate. With sort by relevance, by adding the constraint "Since 2021", I get 281 results. Among the 724 results I obtain using the "sort by date" search, around 215 (and surely less than 220) are from less than 112 days ago, meaning that I have lost about 60 results in this way (it is more than 25%, it is huge).
Why? Like, it is completely idiotic. It should be very simple, the normal research contains the date, it is a very easy sorting to do. It is not like it does not know the date or it is unable to find it. And, more importantly is there a way to change it/use a workaround?


texts: Alternatives to rushing to start with a bachelor thesis before my favourite advisor leaves the university?

texts:
I wish to write my bachelor thesis with a particular professor, who is looking for a new job. He will be there for another semester, but might leave afterwards (depending on the outcome of his job search). Due to other courses and constraints, I would prefer to do my bachelor’s thesis not in the next semester but the one afterwards, when my favorite professor may already be gone.

According to my university’s rules, the primary supervisor of my bachelor thesis needs to be at my university, so even if my favorite professor agrees to supervise me, I would have to find a primary supervisor from my university, who will be responsible for my final grade. Unfortunately, the only other professor doing my favorite topic has a very bad reputation.

As far as I see it, I have two options with three possible outcomes:

I do my thesis in the next semester, having to cope with a tight schedule due to other courses.
I do coursework in the next semester and my thesis in the semester after that. This bears the risk that my favorite professor is gone.

Do you see any other ways to solve this dilemma?


texts: Advisor wants me to break our group out into a different area

texts:
This is my first year in graduate school. I am studying computer science. Our group has 2 faculty advisors and ~8 students (faculty are married). The group is established in a niche part of the subdiscipline of computer science that I study.

My advisor really wants our group to break out into a second niche. I was chosen to lead the effort to do this. It wasn't clear why I was chosen, but I am older and have work experience and I am unique because I also recently finished my undergraduate and have a very strong background in mathematics. Our group are mostly 1st and 2nd years, there are 1 or 2 4th/5th year students.

I love the area they want to break into, it is interesting to me, but we have no one in our university that specializes in this area. My advisor wants me to figure out a solution to a problem and publish my ideas, but has not set any expectations beyond "you need to submit a paper."

Is this something other people have experienced? Is it normal for a first year graduate student to be asked to single handedly publish work that will establish a new area of research for a group? Are these standard expectations? In the industry usually there were step-by-step expectations that culminated in selling a product.

Road blocks I am facing:

1) Advisor doesn't set expectations beyond "submit a paper"

2) Advisors have all the other students working on different projects, people don't have time to help me.

3) Only 4 of the 8 speak fluent English (as well as both advisors).

4) I am also teaching ~40 students, 2 labs, work heavy engineering course

Is this just how graduate school is? Am I doing something wrong? Did I just land in a difficult group? I am so worried I am too stretched thin to accomplish anything. I want to communicate this to my advisor, but I am worried I will become a burden in my first year which will be a bad thing for me.


texts: As a prospective PhD student, is it bad that I have interests in multiple areas of my field?

texts:
I'm planning on applying to PhD programs in November of this year. I originally was purely looking for Cog-Neuro labs studying PTSD, as it became my main interest during some of my graduate-level courses in undergrad.

During my research into different programs however, I've come across several labs (with different focuses) in very good programs that also interest me.

Generally, these other labs that interest me study things such as language and perception. My undergraduate thesis work focused on similar topics.

I've been feeling "guilty" that I don't have this laser-focus on a specific topic that other prospective PhD students seem to have.

Is this more common than it  seems?


texts: Are academics more tolerant of biological and philosophical differences?

texts: My internal model of academia is that (1) as a group we are one of the most tolerant of biological and philosophical differences (e.g., gender, sexual orientation, and religion) and (2) that we are likely to take extreme views on issues related to our research. I have no evidence for either of these and they seem potentially at odds in that it seems strange that people would be so passionate about their research and be blase about their religion (or any other philosophy). Is there any work that characterizes the level of tolerance of academics on various issues?


texts: What do admissions like to see in online profiles?

texts:
I have a website for my academic profile. The content include academic CV, a little bit about the research I have done, a technical computing related hobby of mine etc.

I intend to state the URL for this website on my academic CV for PhD applications.

Questions

Would the admission committee view the online profile of an applicant when considering his/her application?
If so, what kind of information would the admission committee like to see on it?

(Edit) Additional Information

I am applying to applied mathematics departments in the USA.


texts: Why are some research groups not so ethnically diverse?

texts:
Some research groups, especially the ones at lower tier schools in the United States, contains an excessive amount of students who have the same nationality as the professor. Some Chinese professors' groups solely consists of Chinese students.

Does this go against diversity, considering the fact that Ph.D admissions are not centralized and is not done by adcom members? Is there a constraint on this implied by school to faculty?


texts:
I recently submitted a manuscript, and the referee's response is that I did not discuss one aspect of the theory I am interested in. This is true, because I am new to this topic, so I missed that aspect.

I am wondering if I can ask the referee for help point out some references or even discuss with him/her. Is it OK?


texts: Will a journal reject my paper just because a grad student is the sole author?

texts:
I have been working on a topic(numerical analysis) for several years, and I discovered something new which can be verified by numerical experiments. But my supervisor doesn't allow me to publish it, though he does admit that my research is worth publishing.

So is it possible to publish my research without my supervisor? I have done the research all by myself, the idea, the numerical experiment is original and without any help from my supervisor, but I am still a student. Will the journal reject my paper just because I submit the paper while I am still a student and without any co-author?

As many people are wondering why my supervisor will not allow me to publish, I give my own explanation below:

He has a strong desire to control all the research in my lab, I am afraid he is the only person who is doing research in my lab, all the students who have published just wrote the articles, all the ideas are from my supervisor. All the ideas by the students usually will be abandoned.
I am an international student here, although I don't think that the relation with my supervisor is totally broken, I'm afraid he wants to postpone my graduation, so that he still have a PHD student in the next year. (Here is East-Asia, he can do like this without any opposition, it is not abnormal here as far as I know)

As someone suggested, my real problem may far beyond the simple question of the title. However, I do want to know if it is possible to publish a paper by a student solely. Of course any advice on whether I should or not publish my research is also appreciated.


texts: some questions before applying for postdoc

texts:
I appreciate your guidance on the following questions:

Should I inform my adviser before applying for each an every postdoc position?
Should I send my research statement to my Ph.D adviser before sending it for postdoc applications?


texts: Is it possible to withdraw a conference paper after the rebuttal period?

texts:
Maybe it sounds like an odd question, but it's really important to me!
Recently I received the reviewers' feedback as the rebuttal phase of the conference, and I sent them an answer letter regarding their comments.

As a matter of fact, two of the reviewers pointed out a theoretical problem regarding my proposed methodology which somehow disproves my claim. To be honest, I'm fine with that part as they helped me to understand what I was missing in my work.
And, based on the reviewer's comments, I expect the paper to be rejected in the end with 80-90% likelihood.

The problem is that they will send the notifications to authors 1.5 months from now, But we already figured out the solution to fix the missing theoretical part and I also gathered the results supporting that. So now I have the modified version of that paper almost ready to submit, but I have to wait 1.5 months until I receive the official notification from this conference to be able to send the paper somewhere else otherwise it'd be against the regulations.

My question is: is it proper to ask the conference chairs to revoke the paper now, and then submit the paper somewhere else? Or would it cause bad impression or might damage our reputations?


texts: Copyright in academic software in the UK

texts:
I work on statistical data analysis in neuroscience at a university, and to that end regularly develop small pieces of software. Most of that software I also publish on GitHub under the GNU General Public License. This implies that I claim and retain copyright.

I used to work in Germany, where in my (possibly mistaken?) understanding of "Wissenschaftsfreiheit" (academic freedom) this was a correct procedure. I now started to work at a UK university and stumbled across a passage in their Intellectual Property Policy:

  Scholarly Works

  a) The University waives its rights in the copyright
  in scholarly works produced solely in the furtherance of an academic
  career. This includes books, articles in journals, papers for
  conferences, study notes, original literary, dramatic, musical or
  artistic works, sound recordings, films, broadcasts, and typographical
  arrangements, multimedia works, photographs, and drawings, provided
  the material does not form part of a course or teaching materials for
  the University, and has not been commissioned by the University.

  b) The University does not waive its rights in the intellectual property
  in any underlying materials on which the scholarly work is based,
  including software, data, databases, designs and patentable
  inventions.

(emphasis mine)

If I understand paragraph (b) correctly, I cannot continue to publish code under the GPL, because the copyright of the software isn't mine to begin with. The same holds for data from neuroscience experiments, and one might argue that it holds for experimental designs. This does not just seem to prohibit my personal practice, but also to stand in the way of current efforts towards Open Science (open source, open data).

My questions:

1) Is this policy (b) correct under UK intellectual property law as it pertains to academia?

2) Is such a policy usual at UK universities? If yes, how do academics publishing software usually deal with it?

3) Are there organisations in the UK which could help to convince the university to change the policy? (Open Science advocacy groups)


texts: Should I start working as a teacher at a different uni while I'm still finishing my PhD?

texts:
I am currently doing a PhD in maths, in the UK. UK PhD scholarship are typically only 3 years, and mine can't be extended. I do need every day of these three years to finish my thesis. For a small fee, I can hand in my thesis up to 1 year after the money has run out.

I now received an offer from a german university for a half-time teaching position in theoretical computer science. The position would start 3 months before my PhD scholarship ends.

Should I accept this offer? A similar question has been asked before, but there are a few circumstances that make the decision harder:

The university where I could teach is in germany. It typically takes a day to go from one place to the other, and it isn't too cheap. (There might be some financial support from the german uni.) So I would be meeting my supervisor significantly less often, but possibly this is not so much a problem towards the end of the PhD?
I would have to switch fields. While there is enough overlap between the particular topics so that I can learn the teaching material without too much effort, I'm unsure how risky this is for my career. In the worst case, I will not be able to establish myself in computer science because I would "only" have a maths PhD, and could neither return to maths because I left the field for too long a time. But again I'm not sure, how realistic these apprehensions are.


texts: NSF Proposals: numerical citations or author-year?

texts:
I'm preparing an NSF proposal.  I ordinarily like author-year citations because they seem more scholarly and give the reviewer instant information about who(m) I am citing.  However, multiple people have advised me that it makes the text hard to read, and I've heard that the most important thing for NSF proposals is that they are easy to read.

But still- I hate flipping back and forth between text and citations- it seems like that causes a readability problem of a different kind.  At the same time, numerical citations are much more concise and help me make my page limit.

So I am in a bind.  What do you people think?


texts: What can I do about undergraduate students cheating?

texts:
So I lecture at a university on the department of mathematics and statistics, and this year I am teaching calculus for future mathematicians. One good thing about the mathematics course is that very seldom I have seen students cheating, since people who choose the academic path are more bound to be interested in learning the subject rather than just trying to obtain a diploma.

Well... At least until now.

There is this small group of students who sometimes whisper during the tests. The other times their class had tests I thought they were asking for an eraser or something like that. But this time they were whispering more than usual and they started stopping after I glared at them. I thought it was suspicious so I waited until the end of the test and went to check their sheets and ditto. They all wrote the exact same thing. (For those familiar with maths they didn't copy a thing or two, but two actual entire theorem proofs.)

Now next time we have tests I could try separating those guys, asking them to sit on other chairs, staying behind the class in order to make it difficult for the students to cheat and stuff like that, but in all seriousness... Those measures make it look like I'm dealing with kids. I'm not a teacher. I'm a professor. I shouldn't be dealing with kids.

Basically I want to do something about this but I don't want to start making the class look like a high school. Those guys are future math teachers/professors and I'll be damned if I have to organize the class preventing future professors from cheating like this was a normal occurrence.

So what should a professor do in this situation? Are there any things you fellow professors have done and worked? Thanks in advance.


texts:
So, I'm starting up a small business (a software shop) and as far as I'm concerned, that puts me in the 'giving back' phase in my life. One thing that I'd like to do is help my alma mater improve its CS program. Now, I don't have much money (see: starting a business), but they don't  really need stuff, they need curricular assistance.

The program is great, as long as you're trying to move to a grad program. If you're trying to turn 'knowing things' into money, it's...less good. Not much in the way of an internship program (no internship program), source control only recently introduced, no experience turning requirements into software, etcetera. Like I said, it's a problem.

I want to actively participate, if they'll have me, including offering internships (paid internships!) and guest lecture about working in enterprise-level software development environments.

My question is this: how do I make contact with my former professors and bring about the topic of altering the curriculum and/or helping out?


texts: Any ethical problems with dating a former student?

texts:
Assume the student

recently graduated but works nearby;
has not been my student for over 1 year;
has never expressed any interest in dating until very recently;
has a father who is a coworker at my institution (different department).


texts: Is an MS in computer science helpful in improving programming skills?

texts:
I attained my bachelors degree in computer engineering in January 2014.  I was not a prolific programmer as an undergrad, instead focusing on my other coursework and in general completing my degree.  I am now paying the price for that.  I got a job after graduating that involved writing code, however I had a hard time understanding the programming tasks required.  Luckily I had senior coworkers who were very helpful.  Despite this I was fired after five months because I was unable to complete my tasks in a timely manner.

Since then I have begun working on my own (basic) projects such as library management and a chat engine.

After a few months I was able to get another programming job.  This time I was able to understand the tasks I was assigned, however I still struggled to complete them in a timely manner and my boss was growing quite frustrated with me.  I decided to leave the position after two weeks because of this.

I have continued to improve my programming skills since graduation, but I am still very slow at developing my programs and I rely heavily on Google.  I suspect that this is because I did very little programming as an undergraduate.  I do enjoy programming, and I regret not pursuing it more passionately then.

I have since considered applying to a masters program in computer science in order to improve my programming knowledge.  I'm not sure that this is the best route because I believe that most masters programs in computer science are more research oriented.  I believe that if I continue my studies and complete all my programming assignments I will be able to do well in industry.  I would appreciate any advice on deciding between a MS and an MBA so I can remedy the errors I made in the first two.


texts: Is it easy to find a job in industry in a different area?

texts:
I am doing a PhD in the field of atmospheric chemistry at a good university in Canada. I feel I do not like my research very much and I am not very interested in teaching or doing research in my area.

But I will fulfill my PhD study and get a degree as an international student. In the meanwhile, I am learning or plan to learn a lot of online courses on coursera, especially in machine learning and data science.

I also think about quitting from PhD program and apply for a master/PhD in data science, CS, machine learning or something. But the investment would be huge and it may be not a good choice. I think maybe it is easier to get some courses online and certificates in a certain area like data science, and then I can convert to another area that I am more interested in in terms of future career building up. Also it is bad for my adviser if I quit from his group and I do not want to hurt anyone even if I am trying to seek for alternatives of my future.

My question is that is it easy to find a job in industry after I complete my PhD? Of course I will not find a job in my area but in data science.


texts: Can call numbers differ between libraries?

texts:
Suppose you have two libraries that use the same classification system and have not merged their respective databases. Could it be possible that the exact same book could be assigned different call numbers if taken from one library and added to the other?

I am asking this question because I am drawing up a home-library database application, and the client would like the ability to assign call numbers (even multiple ones). I have not been able to find an answer online, and I hope that I do not have to travel to the next state over to find a library not connected to the ones around I live.

I imagine the book would most likely be assigned to the same top-tier category and most likely the same second subcategory in the respective system, but, for example, the Library of Congress system incorporates the author's name and a quasi-decimal number which fine-tunes the book's location. And it seems without any external reference the assignment of this part of the call number is made on the fly for any particular library.

So, I have a couple questions. First, the title's sake. Second, is the way I'm thinking about this correct? And if I'm wrong, why?


texts: Asking my supervisor to be frank and give feedback

texts:
I am doing my PhD in the Britain and I've got a lovely supervisor which is like a friend for me. I want to ask her to give me direct feedback and tell me directly if I am doing bullshit or about any other thing that she thinks I am not good and need to improve (forexample if the way I send email is not very natural in the sense of language and ...). I want to say:

I would like to ask you to give me direct feedback on anything that you think I may need to improve. I won't be offended because I know your intention and I know you want me to be the best. I would be very happy to receive comment because I know that's what makes me improve.

Is it good or not? Is there as better way of saying that?


texts: Possibility of acceptance when the editor clearly states that another revision will likely lead to a rejection

texts:
I received reviewers' feedback after the first round of major revision. One reviewer recommended acceptance, but the other is still not satisfied. The unsatisfied reviewer discounted what I have revised and pointed out specific questions that were not asked in the 1st round.

I feel his/her comments are quite biased and subjective. Unfortunately, the editor agrees with him/her and invited a major revision. However, the editor clearly stated that the chance of getting accepted after a 2nd revision is very low. I am not sure whether I should proceed with a revision or a just withdraw. I personally think my work might have been misjudged.


texts: Postdoc to transition from theoretical field (Statistics) to applied field

texts:
I am a third year Statistics PhD student. As I have become more involved in the field, I have realized it is not as good a fit for me as I originally thought. I excel in applied, collaborative work but fall behind my peers in theoretical work. It is not that I am incapable of understanding theory, in fact I can understand and digest fairly technical literature, I just do not find it interesting enough to devote the time and attention to be really good. This is unfortunate for me because the field of statistics prefers novel theory to interesting applications. That is not a slight on the field; I should have had the self awareness to know my own interests and limitations before committing to graduate school.

Despite this, I am quite happy in my program. I have a wonderful, supportive advisor, and I am in one of those rare departments where the faculty seem to genuinely care about the students. I have mentioned to my advisor that I prefer applied work and he has generally given me collaborative projects with epidemiologists. I do this work very well (I have an upcoming publication in a leading epidemiology journal) and enjoy it tremendously, but it is not viewed as prestigious by scholars in my field.

I am interested in an academic career. The way I see it, I can be a mediocre statistician or I can be an excellent statistically inclined epidemiologist. I prefer the later. I do not want to switch fields during my PhD primarily for two reasons: (1) I am pretty far into my PhD and do not want to start over. (2) The academic job market is horrible and a statistics PhD translates better to industry and government jobs than an epidemiology degree if I am unable to secure an academic position.

Is it possible to transition from (bio)statistics to epidemiology during a post doc and then be competitive for an academic job afterwards?

EDIT: Anecdotal experience of people switching fields is also appreciated.


texts: Is there a way to save my career from absolute disaster?

texts:
I am in my fifth year and I am about to submit my Applied Mechanics PhD thesis in. However, I always felt absolutely incompetent in the field. I tried improving my weak areas by self study, taking up challenging projects, but always ended up with either abandoning the idea or settling with a less rigorous work.

When I used to talk to my advisor, he used to say that I am doing fine and I shouldn't worry about impact factors and rigour of a work at PhD level as I will eventually learn more and get more opportunities as I advance in my career.

However, I feel that I wasted my PhD. I am searching for postdoc positions, but I feel incompetent for the openings. I feel that even if I do get response back, I will get rejected due to my poor knowledge.

I also feel that I should have worked harder and not have wasted time in my past. I also tried making connections during my conferences, but that did not anywhere.

I screwed up big time. I am 30 years old. No work experience. And a mediocre PhD. I messed up really badly.

Is there a way to redeem my career?


texts: Does Mathematics research in proven problems have any importance?

texts:
This is my first post in this community, please excuse me if this kind of post is inappropriate.

I completed my second year of my Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics (where I study, all Bachelor's Degrees are a 3 year course, unlike in USA).
I have asked one of my Professors to organize a Mathematics Research Internship for which I wouldn't get paid, as I just wanted to get into the world of research and improve my level of math, and hopefully get some experience in research.

As I am working towards the end of it, I am starting to wonder if this Internship will have any credibility or a positive effect on my CV once I apply to a Master's Degree program (I don't think anyone will look at what I am doing now when I apply to a PhD program). What provokes such doubts in me is the fact that I am doing "pseudo-research", basically I am trying to prove some properties that have been proved long ago. Most of the stuff that I proved can be most likely found in graduate Mathematics text books. I think that whoever will be studying my CV will have doubts about my credibility.

So my question, how will my internship's "scientific report" look (basically a presentation of what I have done, all the proofs and all the application I have done)?


texts: What matters most : published papers or GPA? (for scholarship and future career)

texts:
I studied BSc chemistry and because I didn't like it, my BSc GPA is 2.46. Alongside with BSc duration, I studied mathematics at home as a self-learner. Since my BSc-GPA was too low, so I got admission to a very low ranking university in MSc-Maths. However, in my first year of MSc I got GPA 3.78 p. I am discouraged to apply for a PhD for a nice university because:

1- My current university's world ranking is >>4000 and I doubt that it would be a 'university' from the viewpoint of universities that I am trying to get my PhD admission.

2- I don't have BSc in math and very low BSc-GPA in completely different field.

My questions are:

1- Is it possible to get admission for PhD (with full scholarship) to a high-ranking universities in mathematics with such a conditions that I have?

2- If I have to study my PhD in the same university or a little better one, do my university reputation and and low GPA-in-BSc threat my future career after PhD (even if I show strong research ability and good recommendation letters)?

My target for PhD admission is countries: Canada (first priority), Europe and Australia. And I am not targeting USA.

Thank you for your helps. And, sorry for my terrible English.

Please feel free to edit the question to improve it.


texts: How much later can GRE scores come in after a Jan. 15 masters application deadline?

texts: I am taking the GRE next week, but the universities I am applying to have their deadlines coming up Jan 15th (I graduated early so that's why I wasn't prepared with having already taken the GRE). I am wondering how long it will take before they start examining the applications fully and will no longer wait? My score will into the university 20 days after jan 15 so around feb. 5. Is this too late? I called one of these universities and they said it is o.k.


texts: Using images with CC-BY-SA license in slides or a thesis

texts:
If I am using images with a copyleft license (e.g. CC-BY-SA), each of them as a separate, properly attributed piece, does it mean that the whole work (be it slides, a thesis or a book) need to be licensed in the same way?

Reasoning 1

This work uses images, so it's a derivative work and it needs to bear the same license.

Reasoning 2

This work is a collection. So, as long as I keep the images separate, and properly attributed/licensed, they do not affect the collection license.

Practical implications

Using Wikipedia images in a presentation - does it mean that it need to be released as CC-BY-SA?
Is it possible to use images from two non-compatible copyleft licenses (e.g. CC-BY-SA and GPL) in a single book?

Comment: My question is on what is legal according to these licenses, not what "won't put me in jail" or what can be waived by the law of a particular country.


texts:
I submitted an article to a journal that is now under consideration after revisions.
Some potential authors I didn't mention in this article censure the submission. To stay on good terms with them I would like to cancel the submission. The article is not already accepted but I think it will be in few days.
What can I do?


texts: Sending official transcript with mistakes

texts:
I have been admitted to a Ph.D. program in the US recently. I have to send my official academic transcript. The university issued me a transcript that has a number of courses with no grades written next to them. These were added by mistake. They were not included in the unofficial scanned copy that I used in my graduate application. Would it harm my application if I sent this transcript?

Also, I have received a transcript from my university (signed and sealed envelope) in February. Can I send it as an official transcript if I have it since February? My school does not have a mechanism in place for sending transcripts directly.


texts: Publishing as sole author on politically charged topic

texts:
I have been working on a manuscript on a politically charged topic, I will be able to complete this work mostly on my own so I should be able to submit as the sole author.

However I am concerned to submit as the only author because of the nature of the topic and because I do not have any previous publishing record so my submission might be overlooked. Should I try to get someone else more known on board, or try to publish this on my own since I have done all the work?


texts: Is writing recommendation letter job for a faculty required?

texts:
Do professors who are in a position to write a recommendation letter for me "have to" write a recommendation letter? For example, my PhD advisor, can he suddenly (without any reason) say that he won't write a letter? I mean does it depend on their will?
More specifically, if some professor has promised me a recommendation letter earlier, can he suddenly change his opinion without any reason?


texts: Republishing an article on a second journal (with permission)

texts:
I have recently published an article (written in English) in a Finnish scientific magazine (for outreach mostly). This magazine reaches only a few thousand people in Finland. Most of the articles are not made available online and, those that are, are so behind a subscription paywall. It is thus extremely unlikely that the wider potential audience in my field will be able to access it.

Because of this, I have asked the publisher for permission to post the article on a repository (likely to be the arXiv), to which they have agreed after a 6 month embargo.

I am now wondering if it would make sense to publish this in an international scientific journal as an outreach piece.

Assume that the original publisher in Finland grants me permission to do this (with attribution, linking back to the original source, etc). What about the international publisher? Are there journals, specifically in physics and chemistry, that would consider republishing an article whose copyright belongs to a different publisher and that does not represent an original contribution?


texts:
I am currently applying for two universities for graduate studies at the US, assuming both universities accept me (Hopefully) should I choose the university that fits me better or the university which is more selective (like ivy league universities).

My concern is that smarter students will overrun me in the top university, is this a valid concern or there is no academic competition between students since the admissions office and the designated department would not have accepted me in the first place if I had a non competitive enough profile?


texts: Is it a good idea to stay an extra year at my masters institution while re-applying to PhD programs elsewhere?

texts:
Im getting rejections from my PhD applications and it is rather difficult - emotionally. So, I am doing a 2+3 programme in a non-US country at the moment and I will finish my masters in 4 months or so.

I have consulted my situation with my current advisor and other professors and they said since I have secured 5 year funding here I can just stay for another year or two if I want to. I am tempted but I don't know how it is going to look to admission committees when I apply again to the States for Fall 2015 entry. Should I just leave after my master's? Or should I stay another year? (I think I will learn a lot by just staying another year, I love my supervisor, and I really like the university but it has always been my dream to study in the States and I am definitely re-applying)


texts: How to indicate shifting research interests on a CV or a website?

texts:
My research interests are shifting, due to papers I read and talks or conferences I attend (and also due to change of tastes).

However, I don't know how to communicate it on my CV or my website.

One the one hand, I am eager to move into new fields, and I am eager to learn more (and they are my first preference, when it comes to the further research).

On the other, neither I offer "expertise" in them nor I have a collection of relevant publications (at best 1-2 somehow related papers).

So, should the new interests be listed in "Research interests" as:

the first ones,
the last ones,
other (don't list them, or do sth else)?

Of course in longer research statements it is easier to explicitly state what one is doing and where the interest are going.

If it is relevant, I am a PhD student.


texts: Should I send an email back after getting rejected for a Master Project?

texts: Planning to do a Master degree in Canada but my professor is not planning to take in any students for the upcoming year. Should I send an email back or just leave it as it is? If I should send one back, what is the proper way of writing one?


texts: My classmate (now a lecturer at Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria) published my entire masters thesis’ work in an internal journal (IOSR Journal of Computer Engineering (IOSR-JCE)) without my knowledge and didn’t reference me in any way. How do I go about reporting this for the work to be retracted?


texts: Reviewing papers after leaving research for teaching?

texts:
I had been an active researcher until two years ago and published several papers and reviewed several papers as expected. Two years ago I took a teaching position. I teach 3 classes/semester but most classes meet 4 or 5 times a week, so it actually feels like 4 classes. I also do extensive work with undergraduates. I do some research, but it is very minimal (corresponding to the high teaching load).

Due to my previous research past I am constantly getting requests to review papers (3/month). Due to my change in work duties, I have to decline many of them (but I do review some papers).

My question is:
Should I explain that I am declining due to my change in work duties? What about if it is the same editor or journal that keeps sending me papers to review? How do I best/ethically proceed without hurting my chances to publish the few papers I plan to submit?

Additional information to clarify: I am not too worried about my chances to publish (my current position requires very minimal research). I am mostly worried that I will get known as a bad professional. By the way, my current institution is officially a top tier research university (and they advertise themselves as such), but my department is not (we barely have a masters program). It is very easy for colleagues to think that I am active in research unless I explicitly tell them about my current duties. It gets even more confusing since some papers take a long time to get published (after acceptance).


texts: On Copyright permissions for references in an article

texts:
I have written a paper in mathematics and the journal which I sent my paper has accepted to publish it. I have two references in my article, and they are like:

1- "The proof of Akranov can be found with some additional information in the book of Mikhail Kirkhov [1]."

2- "We can prove this using the Prime Number Theorem (see [2] pp.138 for the conclusion from the PNT)..."

My question: Do I have to obtain written permissions from the authors of the books [1] and [2]? Is this a copyright issue?


texts: How to publish new results for a paper under review?

texts:
I recently sent a paper for review to a conference whose results will be out in 4-5 months. In last few days to the deadline, I've been tuning one subsystem, which didn't work out by the deadline. I simplified that part and sent the papers explaining the older method for that subsystem which I had done few months ago, though I had lot of expectations from the new method.

Few days after the deadline, I got good preliminary results from the removed subsystem and I see good amount of possible improvement in next few weeks. There's a conference coming up in a month where I'm planning to send the results.

Now, this subsystem isn't great by itself but significantly improves the system. If I write a paper explaining it, I'll have to put in details that I've already sent for review last week. Now I'm confused about what all to write about.

The results for the paper I've sent will come in 4-5 months. I can't self-cite
If both of them are accepted, it might be called as self plagiarism (acc to rules of one of the conferences).
Just new subsystem isn't enough to be explained in a paper.

Now I'm confused about how and when to send my current results. Should I explain the whole system in the new paper again, though newer contribution is 1/4th of the whole system?


texts: What is the advantage of the two-column journal format?

texts:
I am a mathematician whose work often connects with physics, so I often have to read papers in physics journals. I find that the two-column format popular with physics journals annoying, and based on the following questions on this stackexchange I am not the only one that feels that way:

Difficulty reading scientific papers in two columns

How best to present long equations in two-column papers?

Do two-column format journals publish one column for special cases?

I contend that the two-column format is impractical for long mathematical equations and is harder to read, since your eyes have to move in a pattern different from most other printed texts. But I suppose that there must be some advantage to the two-column format, given it is so standard in some branches of academia. But I can't think of a single reason why it would be better than a single column printed page! Enlighten me, please.


texts: Is gift authorship for PhD advisors rampant in academia?

texts:
I have had an issue with my PhD advisor where they were essentially attempting to coerce me into inappropriately adding them as a co-author on a paper that they had no part in. They agreed that they should not be an author according to ethical standards, but essentially threatened me that there would be "problems with my graduation" if I did not add their name to the paper. They have refused to collaborate with me on this paper as well as any future paper because they "are too busy" and "no professors really do research".

This appeared to be a very serious ethical breach to me, so I immediately went to the department chair to describe the situation, and started looking for a new PhD advisor. However, some of the reactions I got to the situation disturbed me. The chair of my department openly stated that all of my research is "owned" by my advisor (whatever that means) and implied that I was a bad student for not adding my advisor to the paper. He even went so far to suggest that I add my new advisor's name to the (finished) paper in order to start off on good terms! Another professor trivialized the problem, stating that compared to what many PhD students have to deal with gift authorship is "not that bad". A third professor stated that it was clearly unethical, but that it was unfortunately the norm.

It seems to me based on this small sample size (as well as hearing other PhD student's experiences) that gifting authorship to uninvolved PhD advisors is rampant. This is obviously a terrible practice. Is this behavior really rampant in academia? And if so, what happens to PhD students who refuse to participate in this practice?

A further point about my situation: I am in a theoretical scientific field where there is no lab, etc., so there is no complications arising from that sort of thing. Although even if I were working on a grant and using lab equipment gift authorship would be unethical.


texts: Professor being mistaken for a grad student

texts:
This question is the flip side of Mistook new faculty member to be a student, how big a faux pas is it?

I'm an associate professor, and apparently I look young for my age. When I meet new people at conferences, they often start the conversation with something like  "So, are you a grad student or a postdoc?"  It doesn't particularly bother me in itself, but when I politely say something like "Actually, I'm faculty", they get embarrassed and it kind of puts a damper on the conversation.  I think this sort of thing has probably spoiled a few potential networking opportunities for me.

Are there more tactful ways I can respond to this kind of mistake?
Are there things I could do to "look" more like a professor?  I already dress reasonably neatly (e.g. no T-shirts) and faculty in my field don't normally dress up much more than that.  Should I carry a briefcase instead of a backpack, or something like that?

(I happen to be cis male, work in mathematics, and live in the US, but it would be good to have more generally applicable answers if possible.)


texts: Write 'According to Wikipedia' in a PhD thesis

texts:
I am writing a PhD thesis in robotics and I was wondering if it sounds good to start a phrase with: 'According to Wikipedia ...'

Do you think I can do that or not?


texts: Author affiliation for co-authors not currently affiliated with an academic institute

texts:
Similar questions have been asked here a number of times. I am raising it again to stress some specific issues that the previous threads have not resolved in my opinion.
The question is simply, what should the stated affiliation of a co-author who is employed in the industry be, considering that research was undertaken as an unpaid side-project in a field unrelated to that of their place of employment at the time (i.e. no conflict of interests).
Possible solutions are:

No affiliation.

I am concerned that this will stand out, given that all other authors have affiliations.

Previous academic affiliation.

Some users (in previous answers) seem to think that adding a previous academic institute as the affiliation for such an author is ethically wrong.
Moreover, I am concerned about crediting an institute that did not support the work, when this co-author's contribution was not supported by any institute.

Affiliation of otherwise unknown non-profit research organisation, specifically created for the purpose of providing an affiliation.

This would be ideal, as there is no misattribution or blank affiliation field; however, I am concerned that this will also look anomalous in the list of affiliations.


texts: How to symbolize that figure is cropped?

texts:
I need to add a photo with some additional data drawn over it to my thesis in computer science. But the photo is large and I want to crop bottom half of it. But then it could be misleading, that there is a part of the image missing.

I will write it to the image description, but I want it to be obvious at first sight without reading the description. Is there some standard way to display that part of the figure is cropped?


texts: How should I approach job materials for a lateral move entirely for two-body reasons?

texts:
I am a tenure track assistant professor at a liberal arts college. I Iike my job quite a bit, but it is located in an impoverished, rural area. My partner works in the nearest large city, 2.5 hours away. I live there as well; the commute and the 2 nights a week I spend away from home are wearing on me.

This year there is a job at a very similar (on paper) instituion less than an hour from my house and accessible by public transportation. It is the same size, in the same region, serves a similar student population, and the departments are of similar size and composition. Adding a small amount of complication is the fact that my current institution is (slightly) higher ranked. I don't put much stock in such lists, but I could see it rasing eyebrows. If it matters, both institutions are top 30. At the very least, my current administration cares a lot about such things.

To be clear, I am unconcerned about my tenure case; I am an outlier in terms of grant funding and publications, I have solid teaching reviews, and my school has an 80% tenure rate. I also work in a field where transitioning to industry would nearly certainly lead to higher salaries; my field has abundant job opportunities in my city. I don't think getting denied tenure is likely, and if it happened, I would be ok with that.

My question is simply how do I pitch my application, particularly the cover letter? It is hard to come up with a compelling narrative for why I would leave my current job for this one aside from the simple fact that I would love to be closer to home and continue my work in a similar institution. I am not certain if addressing 2 body issues directly is a good idea. My partner is happily employed; they are not looking for work from this school.

Edited to add: I worry that by mentioning my personal issues, the committee will be disfavorably inclined, as @strongbad has indicated below. That is, they get hundreds of applications from qualified people, they do not care about my personal life. However, excluding that detail might make them think there is some difficulty that doesn't appear in my materials.


texts: Google finds thesis, but not indexed google scholar

texts:
I have recently finished my thesis, and it has been uploaded to my university's e-thesis server roughly 4 weeks ago.

The thesis can be found via google, after I manually submitted the link to google.
Unfortunatly, the thesis is not found via google scholar. Many of my colleage's thesis (with very similar, standard format), which are at the same e-thesis server, are found via google scholar (and the google scholar link then points to that e-thesis server).

Is there any way I can make google scholar index my thesis?


texts: How to analyse the following reviewer comments?

texts:
How can I improve a paper which has the following comments from the reviewer:

There are missing references to recent literature, which are closely related to this submitted work. A proper comparison of results and the methodologies among these efforts, as well as clear motivation for the incremental progress is typically required.
In addition, the submitted paper has several typographical and organizational errors.

Is the reviewer asking me to cite more references?
What does it mean for a paper to have  "typographical and organizational errors"?
Can someone tell me what is the reviewer asking me to improve?
The decision is "reject".
Should I resubmit to the same journal after making corrections or to a different one?


texts: Help - drowning in non-thesis related work from supervisors during PhD

texts:
I’m not quite sure how to handle this situation and hoping you may be able to help!

I am over a year into my PhD and have supervisors who, although we don’t have a bad relationship from their point of view (they would likely say it is good), in my opinion I have a very formal, structured and slightly cold relationship (comparing to previous managers in other jobs).

At the beginning of my PhD they were keen to get me involved in projects they have going on in their department that would help them analyse data and produce papers, I was told this was my way of saying thank you to the team (I assumed saying thank you for supervising me) and this would not gain me a name on their paper. Admit-ably at the start I was very keen to impress them and additionally thought getting stuck into some work for them could also help me get in the flow of what I might do for my own thesis. Over a year later and these projects continue and are only getting bigger each meeting we have. The tasks (and timeframe expected) mean I would need to spend on average 10-15 hours a week on these projects to get them anywhere near completion. I have noted to them in my last meeting this is a lot of work and I think I am unable to meet their desired deadline but this is not really taken on board. As our relationship is extremely formal I feel like I can’t really explain how overwhelmed I feel or how unfair I feel like this is. Its never been an option as to whether I want to or can take these projects on, they are expected to be done ASAP and I feel like I am being treated how you may a member of staff whose sole role it is to complete this additional work.

Having talked to friends and other PhD students they would call this unfair, toxic and flat out refuse to do it. However I am really mindful I want to keep in good faith with my supervisors, they are experts in the field I want to work in and there is no option of another supervisor to switch to without completely hindering my thesis and remainder of my PhD. I’d be better off quitting.

My idea would be to give it my best shot with finishing the majority of the project (even if it will be tough to do) , ensuring I am keeping minutes from our meetings which highlight that this is their project. Hoping that in future, if I've done a good chunk for them, they will let me away with not finishing acknowledging I have bigger priorities (my thesis). If this doesn’t work I would consider getting my university involved however I’d really rather not resort to this.

I know I’m being a wuss with this approach but I want to be diplomatic.
Any advice? Do you think it is normal for (some, I am aware not all) supervisors to do this?

p.s I don't care too much about not being mentioned in authorship for their papers, I'd much rather get on with my own project and have my thesis run smoothly. I just want to try and finish and be unscathed!


texts:
Some conference organizers recently emailed authors who submitted a paper to the conference the following rebuttal policy change:

You are not allowed to include new links (e.g. to datasets or repositories) in the text of the rebuttal

Why would the conference organizers ban the inclusion of new links (e.g. to datasets or repositories) in the text of the rebuttal?


texts: When was the Bachelor degree of Occupational Therapy introduced in Australia?

texts:
Sounds like a simple question, but despite a few hours of searching, I couldn't find the answer.

I would also like to know what qualification was required beforehand in order to work in that profession?


texts: Academic occupation options for foreign visitors to the USA?

texts:
My wife is a student in the US. I am visiting her after I got a PhD degree several months ago in mechanical engineering in China.

My visit is about one or two years long. I plan to go back China to work after that. My question is: What can I do during my visit in the USA?

Maybe a post-doc is the best choice for me, but my research background seems not competitive enough. Moreover, I am a F2 visa holder, which means I cannot get a paid job.


texts: What type of lawyer (criminal, civil, family, etc.) would I need to help me deal with issues of academic misconduct?

texts:
What can stop a university from doing whatever they want and screwing students over in terms of accusing them unfairly of cheating, plagiarism, or a misunderstanding of professor authorization of essay re-submission in a second class? Also trying to take a student's degree or credit away after the course is completed/graduated with little evidence and no proof of circumstantial evidence that truly happened at the time of the incident? I ask this since they are private and go by their own rules and apparently there is no standard policy for how all universities are supposed to deal with issues. There are a lot of cases where businesses "screw people over".

This is in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

Thanks.


texts: Which countries have funding opportunities like ERC Advanced Grant?

texts:
The eligibility of ERC Advanced Grant is very interesting, everyone from anywhere can submit a proposal, and upon approval he should work in a host institution within European Union. This gives an excellent opportunities for independent researchers, as they do not need to be employed in Europe when applying.

Are other countries (mostly I mean, US, Canada and Australia) have such call for proposals, as anyone (regardless of location) can apply? Then, upon success, he should conduct the research in the funding country.

If yes, please name (or link) the specific call for proposal.


texts: When choosing a recommender for a graduate fellowship application, do people generally request a reference letter from the professor in whose class they received A's? I am considering asking one of two professors for a reference letter for a fellowship application. I took a 1-credit professional skills course in which I received an A in, and in the other more academic 3-credit course, I received a B. However, I have had a few conversations with the professor who teaches this 3-credit course. Generally, in any circumstance regarding a fellowship application, which recommender would people generally choose, the professor in whose course they received an A in or the professor whose office hours they have visited?


texts: Can I recover after a really bad first year?

texts:
Going into college I had a great record, 3.65 GPA and a 30 on the ACT and about 18 AP and concurrent credits in statistics, calculus, literature, and Spanish. However, trying to balance religious callings and duties during my first year of college left me very unbalanced academically, and as such I failed two major classes, one of which being college, a class that I had already passed in high school and was simply taking to help acclimate myself to the college environment.

The following semester was about the same. I ended up deferring for two years to serve full time under a religious calling, I was able to do this because the university is owned and operated by my church. Going back I am resolved to do better this time, but I am wondering if there is any possible way to wipe away my record of my first year and start fresh again, maybe by applying to a new college instead of transferring, is that possible? Or could I petition on part of my ADHD and Aspergers syndrome for the first year to be overlooked?


texts: How to motivate a student to attempt solving tough questions?

texts: In any tutorial class some students seem to get frustrated with little tougher questions. While tackling them is important to learn the subject. How to motivate the students to attempt tougher questions without getting discouraged ?


texts: Contributions of indirect research toward getting a post-doc

texts:
I am an engineering student, however, my graduate research is more inter-disciplinary (computational science).  Which is good for me in some ways, because one of my better skills is programming, since I've been doing it avidly as a hobby for a very long time.  Because of this, it would be much easier for me to create a widely used computational science software tool rather than a highly-cited journal article.

With the specific aim of getting a post-doc at a top-ranked university, how does creating a useful piece of software (like an original, optimized quantum monte carlo implementation for example) compare to a widely-cited journal article?  In other words, if done well, both would be highly-cited, but do frequent citations of software carry the same weight as top-tier research articles?


texts: How does Google Scholar rank search results?

texts:
I am attempting to identify how Google Scholar chooses which publications to rank highly in search results.

I'm aware that Google Scholar uses metadata from academic websites, but therein my understanding of the process ends.

My query: What parts of Google Scholar's process for indexing and ranking search results is public, and where can that information be found?


texts: How do hiring committees for research positions view getting "scooped"?

texts: Suppose that an applicant got scooped on a research paper and is applying for jobs. This is reflected in a lack of publications. Is that taken into consideration? Or will it be a huge blow to an applicant's chances to highly competitive jobs?


texts: Sending a follow up email for a research assistant position

texts:
I have submitted an application for a research assistant position in field of psychology and neuroscience  in the USA. The person to whom I submitted my application seems to be the lab manager (not quite sure though). Let's call this person A. But I also find the job posted under another lab member (let's call this person B). It has been 20 days since I submitted my application.

Should I send a follow up to person A?

What if I still do not hear back from person A after sending a follow up?

Or

Should I send an email to person B referencing that I have submitted my application on … to person A?

What is an appropriate amount of time to wait before send email to the PI of the lab inquiring about any opening her/his lab?

Note, my qualification does fit the job requirements. Also the job posting dated at the beginning of this year so there is a possibility that the job has been filled. In this case, can still express my interest in this job and ask to be considered for future opening?
Edit: please assume that the job has not been filled. Also there is no deadline for this job. They have something along these lines "Job will be closed when the right candidate is selected."


texts: How to make my CV attractive for a faculty position application?

texts:
When reviewing hundreds of applications, search committees quickly look for publications and groups the applicant has worked in to make the short-list.

I had a successful but unusual career, working in industry, successful startup, and even extraordinary educational programs.

How can I make my CV attract to persuade the committee to stop by and find the significant of my uncommon works?