texts: I'm currently working on a Spanish paper in MLA for an undergraduate course and have stumbled on some confusion for my Works Cited for which I can find no definitive answer. MLA says that I should use the header "Works Cited" before my citations, but does this still apply for other languages? Should I put "La bibliografía" or "Las referencias bibliográficas" instead? Thank you!


texts: How to filter data obtained with practical measurements and simulations to be concisely put into a paper?

texts:
I'm a PhD candidate in Computer Science and I'm working on my first paper that should be published in a peer-reviewed journal (until now, I published only papers in conferences).
My project is a FPGA memory module, which uses a specific approach (the main idea) to obtain better performance in terms of access philosophy and capacity.

Now, the mentioned idea is naturally the bulk of the paper, with the math, proofs, algorithms, etc. behind it. But, since the module was synthesized and tested, I feel obliged to address its obtained "measures".

The process generated quite a lot data which become even more after the simulations were done. So, I'm not sure what charts/tables are appropriate to analyze and publish in a paper? (e.g. input->output delay for a range of inputs; parameters like max clock, number of logic elements; perhaps even (parts) of the schema; etc.)

As this seems a bit specific, I would like to broaden the scope of the question. Namely, the general issue here is how to filter data which does not directly contribute to the understanding of the main idea, but is the result of a finished project and can be used to reinforce the researched concept with practical measurements and simulations. This obtained data is large, so I'm asking for guidelines what could be considered concise enough to put into a paper.


texts: I have been invited to review a manuscript for a peer-reviewed journal. Actually, this is my first invitation and I am a bit confused whether I should accept or decline. The subject is in the field of experimental physics which is quite different from my research field which is computational physics. In addition, the subject is also different from my background. I really appreciate any advice on this matter and if anyone can guide me whether I should accept or not and why. Thanks a lot for your help and for your prompt reply.


texts: What is the standard/recommended font to use in papers?

texts: I looked around but did not find that anyone has asked this before, but what are the fonts that are standard/recommended while writing academic reports/papers?


texts: Does the order of citation ([Kir10, HZK09] or vice versa) matter?

texts:
I am currently writing my bachelor's thesis in Computer Science. When I have a sentence

It was shown in [Kir10, HZK09] that ...

does it make a difference if I write

It was shown in [HZK09, Kir10] that ...

instead?


texts: Keeping marking unbiased when work is not submitted anonymously

texts:
I'm used to a system in which all important exams or pieces of coursework are marked anonymously. (That is, papers are identified by candidate number, not by name, and the examiner does not know which number corresponds to which student, at least until the marks have been submitted.) This has obvious advantages in terms of reducing bias by making sure marks are awarded based only on the quality of the work and not influenced by the name of the student.

I was surprised when I joined my current department to find that no attempt is made to keep work anonymous -- students hand in their final exams with their names at the top and their lecturer marks them.

Are there any advantages to knowing which student's paper you are marking?

In a system where students' names are on their papers, what do people do to prevent bias while marking?


texts: Contact potential thesis advisor with no topic in mind

texts: Is it okay to contact potential advisor if you have no specific topic in mind about your dissertation? I wanted to pursue graphics for masters, its a bit difficult narrowing it down. Is it okay to ask them for a specific topic?


texts: Affiliation in the transition period between studies at different universities

texts:
I am in a "transition period" shortly after having finished my MSc, and shortly before beginning my PhD. In the summer period the academic life doesn't cease, though, and sometimes an affiliation is asked for at scientific events. I am going to a conference soon, and indeed the organisers need an affiliation.

Is there some rule saying what affiliation I should mention in a situation like that: the past one, the future one, both, or neither?


texts: Answering the "why do you want to do a PhD?" question

texts:
This question is ubiquitous when applying for PhD studies, and it's one I don't understand. On the surface it's a simple question, but I found it to be frustratingly complex.

I tend to think in economic terms. My calculations indicated that PhD studies are not worth it, especially in a world of exponential growth. The details aren't that important, but briefly, I calculated that if I stay in industry and invest most of my salary into the stock market, I can expect to greatly outperform someone who spends 4+ years in a PhD program unless he or she commands a very high starting salary, which is usually not the case. This doesn't take into account the fact that 49% of PhD students are depressed
 and half of them don't complete.

So since the economic argument is a failure, when I wrote my PhD applications, I put in all the other reasons I had to do it, such as:

I felt I'm in a dead-end job where my skills aren't appreciated. A much less-trained person can do what I'm doing, and while I believe I do a better job, I do so in ways that management does not track.
I wanted to swap careers. To do that I needed a new set of skills, and further study would not only let me pick that up, it would let me back up my skills with a paper qualification. Since I already had a Masters degree a PhD is the next obvious thing to do.
I choose this field because it provides transferable skills to the careers I want to move to, and because I'm sufficiently interested in it to want to keep up to date with its most recent developments (even though I probably won't stay in it as a researcher, per the fact that the odds of finding an academic job are very low).
I did well in my Masters (which was in the same field), including the research component, so I believe I can also do well in a PhD.
I can afford it. I hadn't been in the workforce for long, but I'm extremely conservative with money and we've been in a bull market for the past several years. Of course I would rather not self-fund, but if I have to, I can.

When I showed these reasons to my professors, they responded with "you are telling them why they shouldn't admit you!" Following their advice I rewrote my statement of purpose to what I'll call half-truths, which got me admitted.

I don't understand why my original reasons to do PhD studies weren't valid. I'm happy doing what I'm doing right now, and my supervisor has said I'm progressing well. That seems to be indicating that my original reasons aren't inappropriate. I further don't understand why PhD programs care about the reasons why the student is doing a PhD. It seems much more natural to worry about whether the student is capable of doing it. Certainly the latter question was the focus of all my non-academic job interviews. Finally it seems admission committees like candidates who are passionate about the field and want to become researchers themselves. However I also see plenty of complaints by academics about academic life (e.g. the funding lottery, the nomadic lifestyle). If academics are trying to convince students that they shouldn't try to be researchers, why are they turning around and looking for people who want to be researchers? It feels like they prefer the ignorant and starry-eyed over those who're aware what they're going into.

Can someone explain?


texts: Does publishing gives you an edge when applying for jobs in industry?

texts: I’m in the verge of finishing my PhD next year. I already know I don’t want to follow an academic career; still, I’ve come this far and will see it through (well... I have have a salary too...). I’m starting to look for positions in industry and would like to know how much having publications is appreciated by recruiters. Point in case, some data and drafts have been pilling up in my hard-drive during the last couple of years. Being honest, none of them make for a memorable publication or a significant contribution to science, but there is enough material for two or three submissions to specialized journals. Is it worth putting time and effort in finishing these papers if I’m going into industry? Will my CV look better if I add some publications on it? PS: This is in the context of the US and Europe and I’m getting a PhD in a STEM field.


texts: How does "salary savings" typically work?

texts:
For each grant I write, I ask for summer salary. This is usually about a month of pay. Since I'm on a 9 month contract, this means that I can fill in three months of salary from grants. In the unlikely circumstance that I will be awarded more than three grants (and hence, more than three months of salary), what happens to the remaining salary?

I have heard of "salary savings" programs at American universities, how does that work? Is this just a separate fund that I can pull from in the future for summer salary? Is there a university "tax" on this money, where they keep a portion of it?


texts: Is it appropriate for me to get a recommendation letter from a teacher whom I TA for, but whose class I have not taken in 3 years?

texts:
I am a teaching assistant for a biology teacher. When I took biology 3 years ago, she was my teacher. There is another teacher who she works EXTREMELY closely with, and there is essentially no differentiation between the two teachers regarding what I help out with, and I am close with both of them.

Is it appropriate for me to get a letter of recommendation from one of them even though I took the class as a freshman and am now a junior teaching assistant? For any other freshman teachers, I would not consider getting a letter of recommendation; however, I have gone far above and beyond the normal duties of a teaching assistant -- namely designing and implementing labs, grading, and even teaching the class as a substitute (there was an official proxy but I did the teaching). Humbly, I am quite appreciated, trusted and I have no doubt that I would receive quite a stunning recommendation letter. I would love to have a recommendation from one of the two marvellous teachers that I TA for, but I cannot decide which one -- the one whom the position is designated to? I feel there is potential for the other to be offended, and I would much prefer that that didn't happen. A selfish part of me wants the 'better' writer to write my letter, although I don't know who that is and I would prefer not to think of it that way (though a part of me suspects that is it the teacher to whom my position is not officially designated).

Just to clarify, I am in high school, and the recommendation letter is for undergrad/combined university programs.

Is it appropriate for me to get a letter of recommendation from one of these teachers? If so, how should I choose?

Edit: one of the teachers is also the advisor for a club that I am president of.


texts: what exactly does a research supervisor pay for PhD student funding?

texts:
Why do supervisors normally tell potential PhD students that they don't have funding, hence they can't accept students? does that mean the stipend? I thought stipend is paid through the department?

could someone clarify for me.


texts: Formulate an answer on PhD defense about mistakes you've made

texts:
Imagine, you did data evaluation, published. When preparing your data for the thesis, you've realized that your approach was wrong. It does not change the main course of the paper and do not damage main conclusions, although it does affect the quantitative part of research. It is more than 1 year back published, so instead of erratum you decided that you put your updated data in your thesis and will do your best to address your mistakes in the next publication.

Question is how to formulate decent answers during the PhD defense if the committee asks why didn't you publish erratum/correction if you've made a mistake in your data evaluation?

Could I answer in a way "I've realized I've made a mistake and it will not happen again. The correction will not change main conclusions of the publication. I will make sure to address these points in the next publication concerning this topic to avoid any misunderstanding"

Maybe some other ideas?

Thanks in advance!


texts: Teaching Online at US Universities without a proof of authorization to work in the United States

texts:
Good morning,
My name is Gretel Echazú, I am an Argentinian anthropologist who researched in Brazil, Argentina and Peru. I got my PhD in anthropology with an investigation linked to health, race and gender issues in the Peruvian Amazon. I have a Post-Doctoral scholarship at a Federal University here in Natal, Northeastern Brazil. I´ve thought online once, for a plataform linked to ethnobotany. To make my work experience wider, I would love to start teaching online as an adjunct professor. I see that the majority of job offers come from US institutions that ask for "proof of authorization" to work in the US. I wander if it is possible for me to teach online from Brazil to create materials for institutions that are in the US.
Same question would go for European academic settings.
Thank you very much.
Gretel


texts: Obligation to tell journal of flaws in paper previously reviewed?

texts:
The blog Retraction Watch posted an interesting question the other day about reviewing the same paper twice, rejecting it both times, and then later finding out it was published in a different journal. The reason for rejection was that the author(s) failed to mention previous work using the same dataset; seemingly a case of very similar publications (or piecemeal publication, or borderline plagiarism, however you want to describe it).

So what is an appropriate course of action for the reviewer in this circumstance?


texts: Does it matter how long ago you took a course for graduate school admissions

texts: This might be a strange question, but I was curious how much weight goes into when you took a course.  I took some math courses 4-5 years ago and did well in them.  Will the fact that I took courses from that long ago carry less weight when applying to grad school?


texts: Research paper about an enhancement to algorithm

texts:
A question that has been bothering me for so long about research work is, what level of work can be called research and is worthy of publishing in a research paper?

Let's say I am working with JPEG compression, if I make some may be a little enhancement in the algorithm for the compression, can it be given the title of research.

So my question is:

If I make a little enhancement or added a little new stuff to an already existing work, can it be called a research and can I write a research paper for it?


texts: How to read Eigen factor and AI for a journal in specific field?

texts: I am trying to understand the reputation of a journal in specific field of science. I am looking at this journal CHI Paper. How do I read the information from the graphs and figure out how this journal compares to other journals?


texts: Is there an issue with splitting up papers already posted on ArXiV?

texts:
A co-author and I completed a paper and posted it on ArXiV. Since then, the paper has been rejected many times. The paper has a few good ideas in it, but they were not put in context nor executed well. We have decided it is not worth submitting in its current form, and my co-author has repeatedly made clear they do not want to work on the paper any longer.
However, I would like to re-do the paper nearly from scratch and take it in a totally different direction that I believe is much more interesting. The parts of the paper I am interesting in bringing to the new paper are parts I did alone in the original paper, and my co-author agrees they did not contribute to these parts. But if the old paper remains on ArXiV as a separate paper, the new paper will have too many similarities.
So my question is: In this situation, could I replace the old arxiv paper with the new one and remove my co-author as an author (they are fine with this)? Is this something that people would find strange? It will be clear that the papers are very different.


texts: Evidence regarding the effect of soft-skills for academic success?

texts:
I was planning on giving a talk for undergrads regarding the effect of soft skills on success in both academia and the industry. It seems well-established that soft skills (along with hard skills) are beneficial to one's future success. I was looking for some hard evidence or references (perhaps from influential figures or studies) regarding the effect of soft skills on academic success (both as a student and after graduation).
Reference to studies or even quotes from influential people regarding this issue would be appreciated.


texts: Feeling like I wasted 6 months on a side project that won't benefit me

texts:
I'm doing an MSc in Electrical Engineering. In about August of 2014 my supervisor approached me, asking if I would be able to finish off a project someone else has started since I was the only one proficient in the programming language. I agreed because it didn't seem like too much work at the time, and he said there would be room for publications.

That project quickly escalated - the requirements changed, the design changed, the design became more elaborate. As a result I spent a total of probably 6 months working on this. I had to conform to my supervisor's ideas even though I probably would not have done it that way. I did work on my thesis during this time as well, but it was quite hard to get anything good done.

I kept setting deadlines after which I would stop the project at whatever state it was in, and go on to my own work. My supervisor was very aware of these dates, but he would always ask me to fix this or that.

Now I finished it, it's been tested, but I'm not seeing why I did this in the first place. There is only one paper being written related to this and what I did is being used as an example - meaning I could have done a much simpler design and it would have worked anyways because noone cares about its functionality. I'm also 2nd author on this paper, even though I did all of the programming. Multiple authors are being added to this paper  via tiny contributions (or through good will...), so it's going to end up being one of "those" papers.

I brought this up, said I feel like I wasted all this time to gain nothing. To this my supervisor replied that he plans to some day use my design for another grad student's work. But that isn't part of my work? And what if it doesn't get used? It's just wasted time...

What can I do? Anything? I was thinking of taking the code I wrote, changing the functionality slightly and publishing it on my website so that I at least gain some recognition for the work I did. Not sure if that's the most professional approach.


texts: Should I mention my goal of expanding my family business in my MS statement of purpose?

texts: I am applying for MS in Industrial Engineering. Do you think it is safe to mention that I have a family business which I would like to expand with the aid of IE? Or will it be useless for their purposes since they may perceive me as a rich kid with back up who does not genuinely have the want and need to study?


texts: My assignment answers show similarities to my friends', though they differ in content. Can I be accused of plagiarism?

texts:
So for an assignment one question has been causing me great worry. After we all submitted, some of us sent each other our work so we can compare, and some of my friends' answers have some similarities to mine. Here is one:
There are very minor and sometimes subtle similarities in our word choice with some similar phrases. Our actual answers themselves were completely different though, different logic, flow and different points. We did chat about the questions which was allowed so maybe I might have subconsciously remembered them saying something like that. There are a few more kind of like that, mainly only single words though, nothing in terms of our actual content.
In another question our points are similar, but we made them in a different order and different wording, and my friend has more to say after the question is answered. We did also discuss this one as well.
So should I be worried of a case or am I blowing this out of proportion?


texts: Applying for Physics PhD program with strong application but weak test scores

texts:
I am a fourth-year physics B.S. student at the University of Virginia graduating this year. I'm planning to pursue a PhD program. I would like to get into the US top 50 schools. I don't really like to get into Harvard, for example, but Berkeley, MIT, Hopkins, etc.

I need to take the General and Physics GRE. English is not my first language, and so I'm pretty terrible when it comes to English-oriented standardized tests. As a result, I'm sure I'll do very poorly on the general GRE. As for the physics GRE, I will probably not do so well either---this one is because I am terrible under super stressful/timed situations. I cannot think right and I make stupid mistakes. I have taken a practice test and I did 50%. This part of my application is dark. On the bright side, I have a 4.0 GPA within my physics major, along with 3 years of research experience and 1 published conference paper. I also believe my professors will write me very strong letters. Because of the GRE portion, I have lost my confidence in being competitive and think I will not get into good schools. Is my fear justified? Is my application weak due to the GRE? In simple terms, am I hopeless when it comes to schools like Hopkins, MIT, and Berkeley?


texts: How should I deal with my groupmate's unprofessional behavior as a TA?

texts:
I have a colleague in my group who became TA for a course which we took together, which is taught by our mutual advisor. It is almost a policy that a student can't become TA unless he scores an A in the course, but he was chosen because he asked "first" and the professor is "nice", even though I was the highest scoring student, which usually gets the teaching assistantship. He also knew that I wanted to TA that course, yet he still asked.

Many students come to him for questions or help. He usually tells them to copy the homework (!) or to ask me or a colleague of mine for help because "he doesn't know and [me and my colleague] know the material much better!"

How do I deal with such a person? I mean, my colleague and I try to answer all the questions the students have, but the annoying thing is that we can't be doing half the job while he gets all the money. We spend our time trying to help others where he should do that. We are very busy people and we don't have time for this when we don't have to officially do it.

Should I talk to my advisor about this? I don't want to sound as if I'm envious.


texts: How to submit a talk to a conference – Starting with replying to a Call for Presentations

texts:
I have received a Call for Presentations for a conference and I have a topic that could be interesting to present.

The Call for Presentations describe the various forms of presentations that one can submit, and then links to a form asking for a title, presenter name(s) and an abstract. This has a deadline around two months before the conference.

Now, to my questions: As I mentioned, I have a topic in mind, but unless my presentation is accepted, I would prefer not spending a lot of time preparing a good presentation of this (technical) subject. Will the decision about whether to accept the presentation be done solely on the grounds of the submitted abstract or will they be in touch before accepting the presentation?

(This is a computer science conference, in case that's germane.)


texts: How "edited" should a paper be before submission

texts:
I am preparing to submit my first paper to an applied math journal and I am wondering how important it is to find all the typos in a paper before submission? Of course I would always strive for there not to be typos; however, I am wondering if the journal will help with editing once accepted?
I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to these sorts of things so it would be helpful for me to know if the paper should be 100% typo free before submission or if that is not necessary.
I found a post here talking about this topic a little bit and I was wondering if most people agree it is not worth over editing for an initial submission since there may be reviewer comments, etc. that must be addressed.
Thank you for your help and ideas.


texts: Correct name for experiment aimed at confirming an alternative Hypothesis?

texts:
I am running a series of surveys with single variant A/B tests aimed at gathering information about how different groups of users perceive a series of website designs with different distortions applied. Each participant will be able to rate the various design/distortion combinations using a single metric using a slider rating system (-100 to +100). The aim being to identify which elements/features of a design, when removed or distorted, have a greater or lesser effect on the different groups of users and what is the comparable level of effect on them.

The Null Hypothesis is that there is no perceived difference. The alternative is therefore that there is a perceived difference.

The second stage of my research will involve creating different designs based on this information which I will test using the same apparatus. The aim being to see if I can evoke a specific response among particular user groups to particular designs based on the information gleaned from the first series of experiments. My problem is that I don't know the correct terminology to describe this second stage.

What is the correct name for this type of 'confirmation' experiment?

I have been using variances of "alternative Hypothesis confirmation experiment" but that really does not seem right.

Any help is much appreciated.


texts: If I saw a research result similar to mine from my PC/editing duties, should and how should I contact the authors?

texts:
It happened many times that I saw a paper submitted to a conference where I am on the PC, or a journal where I am editing, and such paper had something similar to what I am working on. The situation is worse when I already have something better.

Of course I should declare a conflict of interest and should let others handle the paper. But I always wonder whether I should contact the authors.

If I don't contact the authors, they might doubt the independence of my paper from theirs when I publish my paper (since my name is shown in the conference/journal they submitted their paper to). This will be worse if their paper was not published at that point (perhaps it got rejected several times).
If I do contact the them, they may feel that I push them to do something they don't want to, such as making their paper public or collaborating with me.

There are more pros and cons, but I will stop here to keep the question short.


texts: How to Ask a Professor to be thesis referee

texts:
I finished my thesis writing and my supervisor ask me to send it to another professor who he want to referee my thesis, I don't know this professor either he don't know me, The problem my supervisor refuse to talk with him first, just to tell him that he want him as a thesis referee.

I don't know what to say to him in the email when I send him my thesis.
Could you help me, please?


texts: After completing a Mathematics degree and an Electrical Engineering degree, is it possible to pursue a master in Physics?

texts: I am currently studying Electrical Engineering and a Bachelor in Mathematics. I'm interested in theoretical physics, and I wonder if it is possible to pursue a Master degree in theoretical physics after completing my current studies. Or may be if I could later apply for a Master (or Phd) in Mathematics and be able to contribute to theoretical physics in some way, or if you know any other possible way I could get into theoretical physics. Sorry if this was a stupid question, and for any grammatical mistake (if there is any, english is not my mother tongue, so feel free to correct this).


texts: Defending A Thesis and Expecting The Worst

texts:
For over a year I have been developing my thesis and there have been many issues in the process as neither me or my supervisor are experts in the field I am working in. My supervisor has been aware of my model and has, routinely, told me that they think my model is okay. So, I carried on under that assumption.
It is one and a half months away from when I was supposed to defend and I was told that I need to make a big change in my model because the results are too 'intuitive'. So I am feeling like I have to scramble to try and adjust the model so that I can give better looking results.
I am not sure what to do. I have no results I can write about and I am a month and a half away from trying to graduate, and over the 2 year expectation, and at this pace, it seems like a possibility that could continue into the new year and approach the 2.5 year mark. I'm not sure whether I should try to just defend the results that I had originally, even knowing that they are intuitive, or keep trying to find a way to change how my results come out to be less intuitive.
My supervisor told me that if I don't change my model, I run the risk of getting 'major revisions' and in my defense, if surely probed about the problem, I can't respond with 'well, my supervisor and I agreed this formulation was okay, and then one month ago she asked me to change it, but I did not feel I was able to make the desired changes'.
So I am feeling like I am in a very difficult position and I am wondering if it is common for people to defend their work knowing that they might get sent back for major revisions, and how to deal with those revisions when you are not feeling supported? It's unfortunate, because had I been told that my supervisor disagreed with the model several months ago, I could spend the mental energy to make these changes, but now I just feel like i'm scrambling to put something out i'm not proud of.


texts: How do I ask a professor at a different department whether I can attend his classes?

texts:
There is a professor in Department X. I will be applying to Department Y & Department Z for a MA that really fits my interests. Now, I am wondering whether the professor in Department X will also hold classes in Department Y & Z, or whether these classes are shared and accessible over multiple departments anyways (how does this usually work in the UK? I don't really know). How do I ask him this question, how do I best phrase it? I am a bit unsure about this. Right now I have

I am currently thinking of applying for X at Uni X, and am wondering whether I could then attend your courses too?

but it sounds a bit strange to me? (English is not my native language)


texts: What do you call a “practice” class that accompanies a lecture?

texts:
In my country it is very common for courses to consist of two types of classes: lectures primarily focus on theoretical aspects of a topic and then after each lecture comes a corresponding “practice” class which covers practical aspects of the material from the preceding lecture, such as how to use it to solve exercises. These latter classes can be taught by the same professor or, quite often, by graduate students.

Is there a term for this kind of classes? If you are from another country, how can I concisely explain to you what these classes are for? How do I indicate in my CV that I was a teacher of such a “practical” part of a course?

As a person responsible for “practice” classes you have to plan them on your own (it is generally assumed that the topic of each class will be the same as that of the preceding lecture, but it is not a hard requirement and sometimes you might need to deviate); explain techniques and practical considerations; prove theorems (yourself or engaging the students) which didn’t fit into lectures because they were not required for the theoretical narration but rather have practical implications; solve exercises or have students solve them with your hints; etc. You are also responsible for designing and grading homework assignments, projects, tests.

In essence, professor “outsources” part of the course to you and then in the end gets your input about each student’s performance in it. The primary purpose is to divide students into smaller groups (of around 15 or less), each assigned to a separate teacher, so that each student gets more personal attention.


texts: Why are "Graphical abstracts" advantageous?

texts:
Although it is optional, many publishers recommend creating a graphical abstract. According to some, this can provide greater exposure of your article:

its use is encouraged as it draws more attention to the online article

Why?

Example of an abstract including graphical abstract, from a recent issue of ACS Synthetic Biology:

Memory and Combinatorial Logic Based on DNA Inversions: Dynamics and Evolutionary Stability
Jesus Fernandez-Rodriguez†, Lei Yang†, Thomas E. Gorochowski†, D. Benjamin Gordon†‡, and Christopher A. Voigt*†‡

Genetic memory can be implemented using enzymes that catalyze DNA inversions, where each orientation corresponds to a “bit”. Here, we use two DNA invertases (FimE and HbiF) that reorient DNA irreversibly between two states with opposite directionality. First, we construct memory that is set by FimE and reset by HbiF. Next, we build a NOT gate where the input promoter drives FimE and in the absence of signal the reverse state is maintained by the constitutive expression of HbiF. The gate requires ∼3 h to turn on and off. The evolutionary stabilities of these circuits are measured by passaging cells while cycling function. The memory switch is stable over 400 h (17 days, 14 state changes); however, the gate breaks after 54 h (>2 days) due to continuous invertase expression. Genome sequencing reveals that the circuit remains intact, but the host strain evolves to reduce invertase expression. This work highlights the need to evaluate the evolutionary robustness and failure modes of circuit designs, especially as more complex multigate circuits are implemented.


texts: Sensible measures to ethically use freely available, but personal web-based comments in research?

texts:
In a range of fields (I have in mind gender and sexuality) users make Internet comments revealing personal details about themselves.  Some sites even automatically link to their personal Facebook page.  While this data may be useful for research, there are ethical issues as to how to use this data.

On one hand, they have voluntarily published this material online, and made it accessible to the world.

On the other hand, presumably the audience they had in mind for their post is likely to be limited a handful of users.  It is personal information that could potentially be used against the user.

  Question: What are sensible measures to ethically use freely available, but personal web-based comments in research?


texts: Student coming to office shirtless and unclean

texts:
I am a junior lecturer in first-year maths at a tropical university. At the end of the semester, many students come to my office to ask questions about the subject's materials.

There is one young man in particular who jogs to uni, and arrives at my office shirtless and reeking of sweat. This is somewhat unpleasant for me. I've even taken to leaving a towel over the back of the seat that he uses so that I can replace it after he leaves.

Is there anything I can say to dissuade him from this practice? He appears to be quite oblivious of the discomfort that he causes in others. However, he does not appear to be breaching the student code of conduct.

(for what it's worth, I'm a 28-year-old unmarried female)


texts: I have to write a response paper for one of my MPhil courses in International relations. I have been given eight articles/papers on four different themes. As per the requirement, I need to write one response paper on all four themes. Since I am new to this, I need guidance on how to write the response paper that includes and relates themes to each other.


texts: My dissertation is linked to arXiv but its citations are not found in Google Scholar!

texts: My dissertation has been cited in a few good journals, which Google Scholar indexes. I have added my dissertation to Google Scholar and Google Scholar has even linked it to the arXiv version of my dissertation, which I have recently updated. The issue is that none of the citations of my dissertation have shown up in Google Scholar. What could be the cause?


texts: How to indicate that a drawing has been re-adapted and expanded or integrated from another published illustration?

texts: I've got this illustration of a block diagram published in a book. It's quite a basic concept of surface metrology but I've been inspired by it, I've redrawn the diagram using LaTeX with another layout and add other steps that for me are missing in the original. How would you define such drawing? I was thinking to use the sentence "modified after" but actually I completely redrew it and add new features to the drawing, so I've not modified an existing drawing but re-drew it, even though I've not simply re-drew it but also add content. Should I use "re-adapted after" or "inspired by"? Is there any guideline regarding drawing attribution?


texts: What is understood under the term "application"? (Europe, Switzerland)

texts:
I want to apply for a PhD directly to a professor in a swiss university. In the homepage of his group, under the tab "Open Positions" says "Interested students should send an applicatiobn to ProfessorX".

What is exactly meant with "application" at this point?

An application as I have understood it so far comprises a CV, letter of motivation, note transcript, summary of previous work, references, etc. And most openings I have seen at other universities include a list of such documents to include. However in this university it is quite common to just mention an "application" with no further clarifications or indications.

I am pretty sure if I just send that amount of information in the first e-mail I will just saturate the busy professor.

Another possibility I have thought is that it means a short letter of "introduction/inquiry" where I will shortly explain where, about what and under whom I did my bachelor's and master's thesis. I would also explain my research interests, and maybe include some reference to him/his work/his group. And finally, ask if there is an opening in his group.


texts: Could it be possible to answer a new research question with the help of literature review? Could this be published at a symposium?

texts:
I am a master student and my university didn't teach us econometrics, but I am doing self study. So, right now I am not adept at and could handle large time series data. But I sent an abstract to a conference, and they have accepted it.
I am unable to handle large data and technicalities of macroeconomy. But since I am doing this all by myself, I am finding it difficult to apply techniques. My research question is unique, and no one has answered it, so is it possible if I do but with the help of past literature?


texts: Present model calibration results in methods section or results section?

texts:
I am putting together a paper regarding a fish habitat study. Habitat was modeled based on river hydraulics using a program called River2D for a wide set of environmental conditions. The models were calibrated using one set of actual observations of the study site hydraulics.

Essentially, we adjusted the model until the results we got when we ran it using the conditions under which the actual observations were made closely matched the actual observations.

In the paper my coauthors and I are putting together, we want to present the fact that we calibrated our models to within +/- 1% of a known set of conditions. We cannot reach consensus on whether this should be presented in the Methods sections as a comment on the robustness of our calibrations, or in the Results section as it is the result of something.

I am interested to know what other researchers have done when presenting the results of model calibrations in publications.

Thanks in advance for any input.


texts: Are there any pre-print servers that let you export/redistribute the article (not as PDF)?

texts:
For example, if I were able to get an article from arXiv in a format that isn't PDF, such as LaTeX, docx, html, markdown (really anything covered by pandoc, since that's what I'm using).

From what I can tell, arXiv lets you do this if the article is under CC BY or CC BY-SA license. Does anyone know approx what % of articles on arXiv fall under those?

Also, are there any other pre-print servers which would allow this? They can cover any field and don't have to be in English.


texts: Is it possible to find out how one was nominated for Sigma Xi and is this organization worth joining?

texts:
I recently received an email from Sigma Xi saying the following:
"In recognition of your contributions to the advancement of science, it is our pleasure to nominate you for Associate Membership in Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society."

From what I can tell, it probably isn't worth joining unless I am planning on applying to their grants. However, I'm a graduate student and would appreciate other people's opinions on the benefits of joining this organization. For example, is it likely I would be allowed to join later if I wish or is this something one is typically only nominated for once?

I am also a bit confused and curious about how they got this information/ what "contributions" they are referring to. No one in my lab or my program cohort got this email and I started graduate school fairly recently so anyone from my alma mater probably would have supplied them with a different email address not my email address at my new university. I did an oral presentation this year and am on a paper that has been accepted (not a primary author though). I guess I'm just very curious since no one I know got this email?


texts: Syllabi of all my courses taken up to this point?

texts:
I want to get all the syllabi for all courses I have taken yet at my school.
Normally, I can see the syllabus on Blackboard (our school's e-learning platform), but after the course ends, then it is taken down.
Should I send my schools registrar's office (or another relevant office for such matters) an email requesting all the syllabi? Is that feasible? Or are the syllabi gone once the course is taken down from Blackboard?


texts: Who determines data manipulation, fraud or honest mistake?

texts:
I did a study using a company's private data in the mining sector, but I forgot to include some data in the analysis.

If someone tries to do my experiment again and find different results. Would that make me look as if I manipulated the data?


texts: Should previous supervisors be mentioned in a personal statement for a PhD application?

texts: I'm applying for a physics PhD programme in the UK which requires a personal statement to be submitted. Since I have done several research internships in the field, I would like to mention the supervisors I worked with in my personal statement. Is it a good idea to do so?


texts: Preventing leaking exam papers/cheating using phone cameras?

texts:
I work at an educational institution where exam papers are considered protected. Leaking the exam question sheet and taking photocopies or camera shots is considered illegal and is strictly prohibited. I am not here to argue about this policy but to ask about the best ways to enforce it. Students have been taking pictures of exam papers during exam time, leaking them to subsequent sessions or posting them with solutions and often selling them to students of subsequent semesters. Though we don't use the same questions between semesters, they do exhibit some similarities at times for some courses.

Even with strict invigilation and requests not to bring cell phones to the exam room, there have been some incidents. Lockers are out of the question, as is collecting all cell phones before exam time. I would welcome any suggestions.


texts: Do German universities consider high school grades?

texts: Do German universities consider the high school grades for post-graduate admissions since they ask for it?


texts:
My professor who I thought would write me a stellar recommendation recently ceded that he feels he must be up front in my recommendation letter and say that I am disorganized.

I have confronted him and asked him to overlook my pitfalls, which he cited as: disorganized, asked for web assign extension, and failure to follow his strategies.

I received a 100% on the final and an A in his class and he also told me during the semester I was his favorite student in my class.

I applied to twenty+ programs and can still alter a lot of my recommenders listed. Of those that I cannot, what excuse should I do to switch recommenders?

I have three other professors who are willing to write the recommendation.


texts: How to describe teaching experience on an Industry Resume

texts:
Does anyone have any advice for how to describe teaching experience on an industry resume?
Based on this question we all think it is valuable, but how would you frame it if you were applying to a job with a consulting firm, or as a writer/editor for a think tank? (Or anything else)


texts: How to react when encountering students who have previously failed my course?

texts:
Context: I am an assistant professor of mathematics at a small liberal-arts college in the US.

I did my graduate work at a large public university, and there I rarely encountered students who had previously taken a class from me, let alone ones who had failed one of my courses.  Now that I'm at a much smaller institution it happens somewhat frequently, and I've only finished one semester here!

At this time I have no idea how I should react to these encounters.  Generally former students and I exchange a pleasant greeting, but I find myself instinctively trying to avoid students who've failed because I'm afraid that they are still angry at me, I don't want them to feel bad, etc.

The title of my question says it all: How should I react when encountering students who have failed one of my courses?  I could simply treat them like any other student, but I'm concerned about reinforcing the stereotype of "the tone-deaf mathematician with poor social skills."

Perhaps this question is a better fit for the interpersonal stack exchange, but I figured I'd start here.


texts: Can a PhD thesis in computer science have two major parts? Lets assume the research goals are closely related, yet for the sake of better understanding and clarity, the thesis is divided into two parts e.g. parts A & B?


texts: How much does it matter the mentioned intended major at grad school in GRE registration?

texts:
So far as I heard, it is required to mention intended major in graduate school during GRE registration. I am curious to know, what would someone do if he wants to apply to different grad schools for different (but somehow related) programs? For instance, he wants to apply to the grad schools A, B, C, D for the grad programs P, Q, R, S respectively. My questions are:

When registering for GRE, which one would he select as his intended major at grad school? P, Q or, R?
Would selecting the program P as his intended major at grad school, lower his opportunity to get into programs Q or, R?
If he mentions "Other fields" as his intended major at grad school (that is, he mentions that his intended grad major is undecided) then would it lower his chance of getting into grad programs P, Q and, R?
If S is an interdisciplinary grad program and it is possible to apply to the program S with background in P, would mentioning P as his intended major at grad school lower his chance to get into the program S?


texts: Why do faculty use the software "Blackboard"?

texts:
It is becoming apparent to me that, outside my field, use of Blackboard and other LMS software is becoming extremely common. Indeed, a rash of technical problems here is making it apparent students and administrators alike seem to assume that Blackboard is the exclusive (locked) gateway to the course's content. I have had to explain that, actually, my syllabus and homework assignments are posted on the web, freely available to anyone, anywhere.

I have used Blackboard a little bit (to mass e-mail my students and to post grades) and I find it to be slow, kludgy, and buggy. I would find it painful to heavily use this software, and I find it vastly simpler to create a course website.

My question is -- what is it that drives Blackboard's popularity? Is it that most faculty do not want to learn HTML? That faculty prefer to keep their course materials private rather than public? Are there other useful features which I have overlooked? Or other factors?


texts: Does the symbol "&" in author list mean anything?

texts:
Is writing Author A & Author B the same as writing Author A, Author B in the author list?

To make it clear, this question asks about formulating the author list in the author section when publishing a paper.

The field is computer science. Is there a way to signify that Author A is the first author?


texts: Reference letter on mathjobs - more than one

texts:
X is writing a reference letter for me, to be uploaded to mathjobs.org. He wants two generic reference letters - say one for tenure-track positions and one for postdocs. X did upload two letters, but the only differentiation between them is a different time stamp. I never uploaded reference letters, so don't know the interface, hence my question - is it possible to put some names to the reference letters, so that I can easily see which one is which?

Thank you


texts: Applying for a 2nd MS degree - Should I mention my previous MS in the statement of purpose?

texts:
Graduate application season is about to start and I would like to apply for MS programs within the US. Ideally, I should apply for a PhD since I already have a MS degree in Inorganic Chemistry. However, I've applied to three different PhD programs in the US and Canada this year and have been rejected to all three, I guess the main reason is that I don't have any publications and I am also a foreign student (from Brazil); hence I decided to try a 2nd MS degree to strengthen my CV and increase the chance of being accepted to a PhD program later.

The question is: should I mention in my application this previous MS in Inorganic Chemistry or should I proceed as if it was going to be my first graduate experience?
There are four different scenarios I can think of:

-I mention the MS in my application and it will be considered a plus, increasing my chance of receiving an assistantship.

-I mention the MS in my application and it will be considered a plus by the admission committee, but they won't be able grant me funding (as teaching or research assistantship) since this will not be my 1st MS degree.

-I mention the MS, but the admission committee thinks it is inappropriate to accept me as a master's student since I already have a degree and I would be rejected.

-I don't mention, I won't have the extra experience on my application but my chances of receiving funding are bigger in case I get accepted into the program.

Do my reasoning seems logical? Apparently there are no restrictions about a 2nd degree anywhere I've searched within the departamental websites of which programs I intend to apply, but I'm still not sure how they would ponder this situation.


texts: Project is going nowhere, can I nix it and try a new approach without my co-author?

texts:
I work in an environment that's somewhere between academia and the professional world. I'm an analyst within this environment, in addition to my professional responsibilities dictated by the workplace's main mission, I assist the PhD's with their research.  (I have an masters in Statistics)

I've been working on a project with one of the PhD's for over a year (it goes slow, professional responsibilities get in the way of research).  The project is going nowhere for a variety of reasons (the first is that the methodology he wants to use is demonstrably flawed--from a statistical standpoint).

Several times over this time period he has dangled the carrot of co-authorship on the paper (at times saying "you will be a co-author", and a few weeks later saying "if you contribute maybe you will be a co-author".  This is doubly frustrating when it seems to me that I'm the only one contributing...).  He also has mentioned several times bringing his friend in as co-author as well (his friend has contributed nothing thus far.  I met him, he didn't even seem enthusiastic about the project).

Thus far the main methodology we used is one he suggested, but actually bringing that through to completion has been entirely me.  It yields no fruit, though, and I feel this whole enterprise has been an exercise in frustration.

I have another idea, approaching the problem in a different direction.  I haven't yet done the modeling, but I believe the idea to be ideologically consistent with the original goal of the project, and should be statistically sound.  The trouble is, I'm not sure I want to co-author with this person.

Am I wrong to consider nixing their project and doing my own thing on my own?


texts: People who have run an online conference, how much does it cost?

texts:
I am looking at moving a small online conference for around 200 ppl digital, and quotes from suppliers are all over the place. I'm sure this is because no one knows what good looks like or costs....  So, if you have run one, what are your recommendations for estimating cost?
Clarifications:

A satellite solution is not necessary, though I imagine some participants may lack the internet connections to participate effectively. It might be necessary to send hotspots to such individuals.


texts: How important is to include an acknowledgment in the poster presentation?

texts:
The organization where I work provided me funding for a poster presentation. My opinion is to acknowledge the funding organization due to the research team of an organization is the authors of the paper.

  How important is to acknowledge the funding agency?

I am using Logo of organization in the poster.

  Using the Only logo will be good without acknowledgement in the
  poster in Acknowledgement heading?


texts: Tips to organize LaTeX presentations for a semester

texts:
I am giving my first course this fall and, as a LaTeX enthusiast, plan to prepare my slides in LaTeX for all the usual reasons.

For those of you who also do this, I wonder what resources you use to manage your slides for a semester. For ex., do you have one "master presentation" with different "chapters" for different classes or some other strategy?

What's your best practice?


texts: Is auditing graduate physics courses (officially or unoffically) a viable way to eventually get into a PhD program?

texts: I am considering a possibly risky route into graduate school. Namely, auditing classes at the university I would like to attend and then reapplying after a semester or two. This way I can demonstrate my abilities directly.


texts: Accepted paper at conference but not presented

texts:
I have wrote a paper almost a year ago which it was accepted by a peer review in a conference. However, I never got to present it there due to excessive fees of the event. I want to cite this paper now, so my question is, can I treat this paper as unpublished work or is there a formal way to say accepted in the conference, or any other appropriate way? If it makes any difference i am using Harvard citation format. Side note, is it ok to upload it to my academia webpage and make a citation to there?

K.


texts: Does your supervisor have to be able to understand your thesis?

texts:
I am currently writing my master thesis in mathematics and for those who are more familiar with the subject, I am more into analysis whereas my supervisor is more into computational sciences. My project is on an application of analysis and there is also a numerical component.

I will soon submit my first draft to my supervisor but I am slightly anxious about how he will react.

To describe it quite generally: my background is very much in the theory of mathematics and I am a relative novice in the computational sciences, thus I am treating that component as an end-goal of my thesis while building up to it rigorously with the theory that I have become acquainted with over the years. Incidentally, in our meetings, my supervisor focuses most of his attention on the "results" of my thesis rather than the technicalities in between.

You could argue that there is a "mismatch" in some sense. However, I am very much interested in this application which my supervisor does, but I would like to do it in my own style. This brings me to my question: do I have to write my thesis in such a way that he is able to read it, or is it quite common for them to seek the assistance of other professors who are better acquainted with the theory?


texts: When addressing academic departmental assistants via email, should I use their first name or just Mr./Ms. X?

texts: It seems very common for them to normally prefer being addressed by their first names (since Mr./Ms. seems to be very rarely used in Academia).


texts: How do I write a white paper for a research plan?

texts:
I will be starting my second semester of my master's program in a couple of weeks. I've been going back and forth with a professor I want to do my thesis under and he has asked to me to write a white paper outlining my research plan.
While what he's asking seems pretty straight forward on the surface, I'm not sure how to even get started on writing one. I've read through other questions on this site as well as articles on google, but I'm rather lost as this is a bit new to me. Any advice on how/where to start is appreciated.


texts: Redefining variables used in many equations in a publication

texts:
When using the same variables in many equations, should I redefine each time the variables and their meanings or is there other ways to avoid redundancy?

E.g.

c = a + b
where a is...

z = a / b
where a is...

It will maybe depend on the journal, but thanks for any general idea or opinion.


texts: Is it okay to take a day off as an undergraduate?

texts:
I am an undergraduate Computer Science student. I take the bus to college everyday at 7 am and come back at 4 pm. And take 3 lectures everyday, except on one day, I take 4, which are 1:30 hours long. Due to this I get very tired, especially towards the end of the week. Anybody would.

I have Saturday and Sunday free. I was thinking whether I should take the Saturday off, or should I study that day too just because I feel like there is a lot to learn. Also sometimes I have my own projects to work on and I have to take a break from the Course's material on weekends. Is it acceptable/expected? Assume I can complete all my assignments in weekdays and on Sunday.


texts: Good book on English for academic writing and speaking for non-native speakers

texts: I'm not native speaker so I always have some problems with academic writing and speaking. Any good book for English in the academic context generally or for Computer Science in particular (writing or speaking)?


texts: At what point do you remove undergrad / graduate awards and honors from your CV?

texts:
Like most academics, my CV gradually gets longer, as each year I add new information.  Rarely do I go through and remove information that seems no longer relevant.
I realized today that my CV still contains lists of academic awards that I earned as an undergraduate and graduate student.  It seems unlikely to me that anybody still cares about those awards at this point, and frankly it feels silly to still be listing awards I won 20 years ago (or more).  Is it time to delete those?  Or should I preserve them, since they are, after all, part of my record?

tl;dr: Does anybody care, in 2021, that I was a Marshall Scholar in 1994?  At what point in one's career is it appropriate to remove undergraduate and graduate awards and honors from one's CV?


texts: Healthcare in the U.S for foreign graduate students

texts:
I will be moving to the U.S next year to start my MS in Chemistry, and one of the things that are still not clear to me is how healthcare works in America. I know that you have to purchase an insurance before enrolling to classes, but what I don't know is about the coverage, frequency of usage etc.
Let me give an example, I am from Brazil and the healthcare plans here gives you a wide coverage in which you have access to specialists in basically any medical area, exams (from blood test to tomography and MRI) and other benefits. You can also use it as long as you need to, for example: if a doctor demands you to take a blood test 2x a week than the healthcare provider will allow you to do so (some very specific procedures are limited unless proven really necessary, but they are rare).
I've heard from a American student once that the health insurances available in the US don't cover much, only a generalist physician (I don't know if this is correct term for it, but I mean those doctors who are in first contact with you and send you to a specialist) and simple exams. Even with the limited coverage, you still have to pay for the procedures to some extent.
I would like to know more about this since health is a very important topic and when you're abroad you want to be sure that you will have coverage if something goes wrong. Of course, even here in my country there are some extreme situations that are unlikely to be covered by a healthcare private plan (for example if you have a rare tumor or a rare disease). I'm talking about common stuff that have a significant chance of happening while I'm in the US.


texts: How to publish review of commercial software

texts:
I really like software product X and been using it for >6 years. I am unaffiliated and never have been linked to company or anyone involved with X.

I would like to publish a paper that explains why and how X can be useful to other people. How can I do that? Are there example of this?

"Application Note" seems like a possible format, but I am not part of the developers. To some degree, "how to use X to do Y" seems like a novel application of an existing technology and can be written as original research paper.

Software is Basecamp and really helps me with research and project management. I think it merits discussion, as we are barely starting to recognize the issue of project management in academic research labs.


texts: How can I cite interviews for radio and TV on CV?

texts: I have many contributions related to interviews in radio, TV, web magazines and print magazines, and would like to know the different ways it might be "cited" in a scientific CV. I was thinking about adding them at the end of my CV is some section called "dissemination of research results" or something like that.


texts: Has there ever been a strike of peer reviewers?

texts: I know peer reviewing is done freely and voluntarily, at least I think for the most part, so I am not sure strike is the best way of calling it, but it gives the idea. With all the recent discussion about open access and overworked researchers that relate to the publishing cycle, I was wondering if there has been any protest, or strike, or talks for a strike by peer reviewers.


texts: How should I handle disinterested/unorganized adviser?

texts: I've been working with Dr.X since the summer of last year. Things were going well until this past fall. He mislabeled some research files and asked me to do some analysis to help me determine if they were "A" or "B". I've done this type of research before in UG and never came across this level of disorganization. In any case, everyone makes mistakes so I tried to make the best out of it. After spending 2 months analyzing dozens of files, I told him many were too similar to separate confidently. Worse, the files that were supposedly labeled correctly (IE. "the same") were dissimilar. At this point, I was starting to get very frustrated (I didn't share that), because I wasn't doing actual "research". I told him I was supposed to state our research progress to the department and he decided we shouldn't (obviously) because nothing was done. I thought this reflected poorly on me, but I agreed. I was then out for the rest of the semester on maternity leave. I wrote him some code to process the files once he figured out which files were which. He may have just guessed. I really don't know what happened. Fast forward to this spring, he was away fixing equipment but stated we simply had to make great use of the time we had available. I agreed to meet him one morning and he completely flaked. He didn't email me. He showed up hours later and tells me he has to "go" and just rants about equipment breaking. Then he tells me to just read some paper, which I do. He also said he doesn't remember where we left off last semester. I reminded him and he said he wasn't sure if he ran my code yet. I told him we need to present research this spring, and he hasn't emailed me back (this was weeks ago). I emailed him this week asking him if we could do work remotely and have heard nothing...yet. I am losing respect for him and don't even want to work with him anymore. Is this a typical scenario? Oh, and there are rodents living in his office because he is so messy. I'm not joking. He was actually written up by the school. Our department is so tiny I don't know how to handle this situation. I did tons of research in UG and have published work, but have nothing started research-wise in my program. I'm a second-year student at a competitive school. Am I overreacting? TIA


texts: Publishing papers in pure vs applied machine learning research

texts:
As far as I understand, in pure Artificial Intelligence (AI) research one is required to come up with a new/improved  algorithm and show that the  algorithm has competitive performance across a set of toy or real data. Thus, I find this  a well specified target for pure AI research. Such research would be usually published in journals such as: Journal of Artificial Intelligence Reseach, Journal of Machine Learning Research.
I wonder how the target differs in applied AI research, such as machine learning (ML) applications in some domain, for instance,  Health or Finance. Some example of such journals include: Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture, Journal of Machine Learning in Finance, Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, Expert Systems with Applications.

Do you have to come up with new/modified learning algorithms in order to publish in applied AI/ML journals?
If the answer to the above is no, then what is the nature of the contribution? Would it suffice to apply existing ML methods to new domain data?
Suppose some existing methods are applied to new domain data. Considering  the fact (model = algorithm + data).. would it be acceptable to state "this paper proposes a new model" instead of "a new learning algorithm"?
What is the effective learning path that enables people to  publish to some hypothetical journal "Artificial Intelligence in X" (where X is some other domain e.g. Finance or Medicine)? Are the same people supposed to hold BSc/MSc in both AI and X? Finally, are they supposed to already have published papers in either pure AI journals or X journals, before starting interdisciplinary research?


texts: How to contact professors for a Ph.D position in France, when I don't have a research question?

texts:
I completed Master's in Netherlands in Aerodynamics and I am looking for Ph.D in the field of aerospace in France. In Netherlands & Germany, I can see the available Ph.D offers in University website but I don't know how to search in France? I really want to stay there!

I see some people in this forum answered to contact professor directly (for example, in What is the process for PhD applications and contacting professors in France?) but I don't have an Ph.D research question. So, don't know how to contact them. Can someone tell me how to contact a professor and whom to contact for funding?


texts: Replying to a reviewer - should use (Anonymous) if citing paper by co-author?

texts:
I am writing the response to reviewers of a paper I submitted to a journal. This journal's policy is to cite papers by any author as "Anonymous, year". In one of the responses to the reviewer I want to mention that the only research that, to my knowledge, has been conducted on a point he brings up (he asks for me to cite any research on it) has been this paper by one of my co-authors. Should I cite it as "Anonymous" too?

Thanks a lot in advance.


texts: How are scientific research projects planned? In particular computer science, but possibly there exists processes for all research?

texts:
Possibly some context:
Take any research endeavor. Finding a vaccine. Going to the moon. Clean energy. I don't have a background in these scientific areas so picking one closer to home (Comp Sci) might be better. But the idea is how to battle the Unknowns? How to do it economically? How to make progress while not getting analysis paralysis?

Some might suggest a scrum, or an agile process try to solve these questions.  I'm not certain that they address the same level or kinds of Unknowns.

Are there previous experiences that work, and those that don't work?  And why?  The questions grows on the way forward through unknowns, and by definition the Unknown doesn't exactly have a road map, and new context is developed regularly.

This maybe simply the question of the 'meta' variety: Is there research on comp sci research?  If so does Comp Sci research have approaches or techniques that they rely on?


texts: How does one change to engineering for graduate school after undergrad in a science field?

texts:
I've always had an interest in electrical engineering (actually all engineering in general) and I've decided that I'd like to pursue a graduate degree.  I guess I'm wondering if I should really try to do this or just keep it as a fun hobby I spend all my free time doing.

So, the question is,  how does one change fields between undergrad and grad school?  A specific example follows, but please provide answers that address a more general case, so that your answers will be helpful to other people with the same general question.

I already have a BS and MS in chemistry with a minor in applied math.I published three papers during my MS, one first author in the top journal in my specialty and two as coauthor in an average and a so-so journal.  I hope those will count for something.  I finished my BS with around 3.1 and my MS with a 3.9 gpa.  I'm sure that my MS advisor would write me a great letter.  My GRE scores are too old to count so I'd have to retake it or try and get a pass on it since I already have a graduate degree.  Since finishing school I've been working for 4 years as a chemist.  I can get great recommendations from my supervisor who is a PhD chemist.

I've been working for a while to cover some of the things I would have learned in a BSEE to try and make up for my lack of one.  I worked through some texts on analog/digital design, lots and lots of programming, built a balancing robot that got a bit of internet attention, and I'm currently working on an autonomous robotics project that's looking really good so far.  After that I have more project ideas than I have time or money for.

I want to apply for PhD programs (specifically in controls/robotics) but I'm worried that my application will get tossed right away because I don't have a BSEE.  Maybe I should just apply to MS programs?


texts: Publication bias in evaluations of assessments

texts:
It is widely considered that there exists a publication bias whereby it is more difficult to get null results published than it is to get positive results published in peer-reviewed journals. As a result, we might expect it to be more difficult to publish the results of a study which failed to find evidence in support of a hypothesis than one which did.

In many of the health and social sciences, an important area of work involves evaluating assessments (e.g., of mental abilities/traits, physical ability, properties of a social context, etc.) to establish that they are reliable and valid measures of whatever we intend to assess. In at least quantitative studies, this typically involves evaluating the assessment against a bar (say, that a correlation coefficient measuring inter-rater reliability should be >.7), and if it passes this bar then we take this as evidence of the reliability or validity of the assessment.

What I'm wondering is whether there is a publication bias here as well? If I evaluate an assessment and fail to find evidence that it's reliable or valid (say, the correlation was .2), am I likely to find it harder to get it published, much in the same way as I might expect to if I was to fail to find evidence of some hypothesised effect?

In particular, I would be interested to know whether anyone has had experiences of such a publication bias, or knows of any writing on the topic.

It seems very rare to find studies which report on how poor an assessment is, but obviously I can't rule out the possibility of another publication bias being at play here (such as the file-drawer effect).


texts: Is it okay to leave a conference paper as a pre-print?

texts:
Background: I just got an acceptance for a conference paper. While the conference isn't half bad (Nothing top of the domain. It's a top 80 conference in my domain as per guide2research), they are asking a hefty fee for registration and I won't be sponsored for it by my university.
Question: Is it okay to just keep the paper as a pre-print? I am extending that paper with another concept and a few more tests to submit it to a journal anyways.
In the eyes of a CS PhD (US) admit panel, does it make a difference whether I publish this paper or keep it as a pre-print?
P.S. If it makes any difference, I am an undergrad.


texts: Do my publications help my department/university?

texts: I am currently a mathematics lecturer at a state university in the US. I still do research and put a lot of effort into publications, although it is not required for my position. My question is: Will my publications (in good journals) be seen as a positive by the math department and/or university overall? Do they gain any benefits from my research? Is there some baseline for number of publications that they need to meet for funding, etc?


texts: Is Characterizing an Algorithm's Behavior worth Publication?

texts:
I am planning on characterizing the performance of an algorithm (specifically the DIRECT algorithm) with respect to a particular parameter mentioned in the original paper but for which I have found no usable characterization of the performance impacts of. This algorithm isn't the most popular in its field (nonlinear numerical optimization), but there have been several papers associated with it and it does have applications in other fields.

To be more specific, I am planning on characterizing the performance of the algorithm with respect to its number of iterations in a more specific way than "increasing the number of iterations increases the quality of the results," including a description of how exactly the performance impact scales.

Is this sort of characterization novel enough to be worth publication?


texts: What is the most cited paper of all time?

texts: There was recently a talk at my university of someone who wrote the most cited paper in the top journal of my field. Something like that is usually easy to look up for a single journal, but it made me wonder which would be the most cited paper published in any scientific journal (conference proceedings also count) until now?


texts: Can I hand in an essay which I have written last year, but not as part of a course?

texts:
I have written an essay last year, as a personal exercise. I now have a course at uni on the topic and could basically just hand in this essay now, the topic fits perfectly. I have also never submitted this essay to any other course or so.

Could I just hand in this essay, or would I violate some rules with that? Is this maybe already self-plagiarism?


texts: Should I list campaign consulting on my CV? (the campaign I consulted for was Republican)

texts:
I am going on the job market this fall and I am updating my CV before I send it out to search committees.

One area of my work and experience has me somewhat worried. I am a postdoc statistician, I am interested in policy, and currently advise a US congressional campaign on using their data. This work is primarily predicative modeling, descriptive statistics, and geographic information systems modeling.

Now my questions are two-fold:

Is it worth listing this experience on my CV?
Should I omit the fact that it is for the Republican party?

My concern is that a search committee member might view my consulting work as a statement on my personal ideology.


texts: Would uploading preliminary research results on Arxiv certify new discovery as mine?

texts: I have some preliminary results in my research, but due to my current situation I won’t have time to send these to a relevant journal. Yet I would like to claim these as my discoveries, in case someone else have similar results.  Would I be able to claim these as my discoveries if I upload them to Arxiv?


texts: Is it legal / ethical for a professor to monetize course content videos?

texts: I am a college student who is currently enrolled in a class where the professor posts lecture videos online with ads enabled. I was wondering if this is legal; the professor is being paid by the university to lecture, but is also making money from ads on his lecture videos.


texts: Commercial publication of your PhD thesis

texts:
I'm wondering what it is like to publish a PhD thesis commercially?
Has anyone done that before? What would the contract be with the publisher regarding sales profits?


texts: What does it meant " assignment of paper with decision in prosess " in the same time?

texts: I have submitted the paper to JFA journal after the stage "submitted to the journal" (14 days ) ,I have received the message that paper is assigned with current stage " Decision in process " in the same time , Is this can say anything about acceptenece or reject of my paper ?


texts: What license to choose for preprint on OSF (Open Science Framework) when the preprint has been published in a journal?

texts:
I'd like to put two preprints on OSF to make them available for everyone. One paper is already published, the other is in press. I've checked on SHERPA/RoMEO if the publisher allows preprint to be put on another server and everything seems to be ok. For example for the Journal "Nursing Ethics" it says "author can archive pre-print" and "author can archive post-print".
I then tried to upload the preprint to OSF, but I don't understand the option for licensing. I can either choose
- CCO 1.0 Universal
- No License
- CC-By Attribution 4.0 International

I've read the FAQs on licensing but I don't understand these options well enough and I'm wondering if the right choice depends on the publisher's copyright policy. So which one shall I choose?


texts:
I have submitted an article for a journal in which it was stated that the review time was from 80 to 120 days, that is approximately 4 months at most. The submission of my article was approximately 13 months ago and I did not get any answer in the allotted time they mentioned. I sent an email to the editor after 8 months and I was told that the review process has suffered a delay, but that they soon will fix that issue.

I waited until September and sent another email and again I got another reply of an apology and nothing more. I believe that it has passed too much time, until now it is almost like one year, so I do not what to do.

Would there be any problem if I submit my article to another journal or should I send another email to the editor of this journal? Or rather just wait until I get a response?


texts: If I know how many questions I attempted/got wrong on GRE Math Subject test, can I estimate my score?

texts:
I gave my Mathematics GRE Subject test yesterday ( 170 minutes). I attempted 42 out of 66 questions and feel I could do more if I had some more time. I lost time solving some questions.

Of the questions I attempted, I took my time and at most only 3-4 might have been attempted wrong.

Do I have chances of receiving a really low score? How can I estimate my score?


texts: Can authors/acknowledgements be edited once paper is published?

texts:
Following on from my previous question, can the authors/acknowledgements section of a (review) paper be edited once the paper is submitted? Specially adding on people to the authors/acknowledgements.

If yes, how should this be done? I'm assuming it requires the permission of the people already listed as authors on the paper?


texts: Is it normal for professors to not have families or not spend time with their families over the holidays, due to pressure of work?

texts:
My sister is a professor.  I was visiting her over Thanksgiving break and my father (who is also a professor) told me not to hang out with her because she had a grant proposal due.  Is this normal for professors or is it just my family?

This happens almost every time we have a family reunion, and my father never wants me to talk to my sister because she always has some sort of deadline.  It gives me serious doubts about going into academia.


texts: Is it acceptable as referee to contact an author on a paper you review?

texts:
I am reviewing the second revision of a paper and am getting tired of this incredibly slow process of me pointing something out that requires clarification just to hear back from those authors two or three months from now (at the earliest).

Do you think I would insult gravely the academic spirit and / or authors of that manuscript if I just e-mailed the corresponding author saying "Look I still don't understand X because of Y can you please explain?"?

Personally, I think that doing so would just be what science is about: a bunch of people interested in similar scientific topics talking to each other.


texts: Difference between publishing textbooks and publishing research for acquiring tenure

texts: I've noticed that a few of my professors have written their own textbooks, but they only did so after they had already published many research articles and presumably become tenured at my university. For this reason, I'm wondering (in general), does writing textbooks contribute to acquiring tenure at a university, or are textbooks just considered the "icing on the cake" of the professor's published research?


texts: Can a postdoctoral fellow serve as a PhD committee advisor?

texts: Can a postdoctoral fellow, who holds a PhD in the relevant field, serve on a PhD student's dissertation committee? This might vary by field, but I'm curious whether there is any general trend on whether being a committee member depends on holding a PhD or holding a faculty position.


texts: Difference between a research paper and technical note

texts:
What is the difference between "Research Article" and "Technical Note"?

What purpose do they serve?


texts: Should tenured researchers be "encouraged" (forced) to retire at a certain age?

texts:
While thinking about this recent question, I was reminded of an issue at two different institutions I've taught at, as well as a third institution I am aware of via my father.

One complication I have seen at each of these universities is a number of professors who are well into their 70s (or even 80s), yet who refuse to retire. Obviously retirement is a personal decision that has no one-size-fits-all answer. However, I saw several instances of these professors causing "log-jams" in terms of resources and departmental turnover. For example, a professor who oversaw a lab next to my father's had "owned" his lab for something like 50 years. He did his research in there, brought in subsistence level funding, and "taught" a class every other semester (meaning his PhD students taught the course). He took up an entire lab and resisted anyone "encroaching" on his space. University administration placed pressure on him over some of these issues and he would usually (with much gnashing of teeth) comply in the minimally sufficient way. He never gave them enough cause to actually fire him. Because he had been with the university so long and was tenured, they could not fire him outright on account of his age alone.

In another instance, this time at one of my own universities, we had three professors who were about 85 years-old. They fulfilled their minimal teaching responsibilities (chosen in order of seniority in the department), but had each last published a paper about 5 years prior (with ~5 papers combined between them in the last decade). They sought next to no funding. They just squatted in their positions. The department could not hire any new professors until a position was vacated. By the time these professors finally retired (or died, in the case of one), there was a seven year gap between recent hires. This meant that there were exactly two professors who were not yet tenured, with one of them currently being evaluated for final tenure decisions. The department is struggling with stagnation now due to almost no turnover in their faculty. In the next five years or so, a number of professors in the department will reach age 65-70 ('retirement age'), meaning that within the next 5-7 years, the department will be comprised of ~65% untenured, assistant professors. As such, the department has been forced to attempt to recruit some established professors away from their current tenured positions at other universities (or have professors stick around well past retirement age, which caused the whole issue in the first place).

I also observed this phenomenon when I was applying to post-docs. Some universities wanted to hire tenure-track faculty, but instead had to hire post-docs in order to cover departmental teaching loads. In many instances, this leads to significant departmental instability in terms of continuity. Departments usually can't make a post-doc the graduate coordinator or even have them sit on committees (thesis/dissertation, curriculum, scheduling). This in turn places a larger burden on the existing faculty.

To be clear, these departments have policies in place that enforce certain productivity levels. These professors adhere to these policies, albeit barely. Yes, the standards could be raised, however, we also are trying to strike a balance between encouraging good research/teaching and enforcing a long list of rules and commandments.

My question is thus as follows: Should universities start including a clause in professors' contracts that mandates a certain retirement age?  Or at the very least, what are some practices a department can adopt that will mitigate issues of professors who work well past standard retirement age?


texts: What qualifies as a first generation college student?

texts:
I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this so I'm sorry if this is not.

I'm in a bit of a unique situation in that I am turning 17 this year and will soon be adopted. The person adopting me has a college education but from what I understand, the first generation college student is someone who's legal guardians have not gone to college but also exists to help those who enter college with a limited understanding of the jargon, traditions, and patterns of expected behavior.    My birth father left my mom and me when I was 3 and my mom never got a high school education in order to provide for her family and later me.  My question is then, do I qualify as a first generation college student because I believe I am everything it is except I will have a step father who has a college education.


texts: Are the Hardy-Littlewood “rules” unethical?

texts:
For the second time recently, someone mentioned to me the Hardy-Littlewood rules for collaboration (and on that very site). From what I read about it, they include the following rule:

  And, finally, the fourth, and perhaps most important axiom, stated that it was quite indifferent if one of them had not contributed the least bit to the contents of a paper under their common name

How is it ethical to be a co-author of a paper you have “not contributed the least bit to”?

I was flummoxed when I read that, it would be considered a serious breach of ethics in the communities I know. Is that a practice (those “rules”) specific to mathematics? Or are they just not used any more?


texts: Can I be admitted into graduate school in the US without undergrad degree (if I have master degree)

texts:
I am considering getting a PhD or an MBA in the United States. I do not have a bachelor's degree, but I'm working on finishing a MSc in Computer Science from a UK university. By the time I'll be done with the degree, I will have more than ten years of experience in the IT sector in various positions and in various corporate environments (startups, corporate, government).

Do most universities in the US waive the undergraduate degree requirement if applicants have a UK master degree (without any undergraduate degree) from an accredited UK university?


texts: How much does it cost the publisher to publish a book?

texts:
I wonder how much it costs a publisher to publish a book (textbook or research book).

I'm looking for referenced numbers, not guesses. I am mostly interested in the fields of computer science and maths, and English-speaking venues, but I am curious about other fields and languages as well.


texts:
I study in India and in here we have 10 pointer system. I wanted to convert my CGPA to american based GPA system of 4. I googled and got this website.

So does that mean I need only >8.5 to get a 4.

This may be a stupid question to some but please consider that I know nothing of american CGPA system.


texts: Is there a way to do serious social justice-related work or research while working on scientific research?

texts:
I am currently working in the sciences (broadly speaking, the STEM field) in the United States as a researcher.

I have been following quite closely to the social-political trend of the US for the past few years, and I am quite troubled at the direction that the administration, as well as a (seemingly) majority of the society, is taking us. I am troubled at the US administration's policy of travel ban, which has affected dozens of my actual colleagues. I am resentful of the lack of empathy of many Americans when it comes to police abuse and political corruption. Overall, I am not optimistic about the increasingly intolerant atmosphere against many racial minorities in the country. They are my colleagues, mentors, friends, family, and peers.

At the same time, I am also troubled by the use of technology to limit people's privacy and to influence people's opinion for the worse. A recent presentation at my University was on the topic of accelerating content ranking algorithms that can be used to influence social networks. I have read about how this automated algorithms can be used to isolate people into an echo chamber and cause extremist views. The presenter had no qualm about the ethical implications of these engineering decisions.

While there is a strong tendency in the STEM fields to ignore the social and the political, perhaps out of fear that it will distract from our work, I know that these things will not be ignoring us. I have read about the consequence of the rise of fascism in Germany, and its steep cost to academic research. I have read many stories of famed researchers becoming refugees, or being sent to concentration camps, or even committing suicide. I fear that this future may seem as far off from us now as it was to the researchers in the early 20th century.

How can I practically contribute to social justice (and human rights in general) while working in the sciences? Scientific research is very meaningful, but it requires a lot of focus and concentration. I understand that a scientific training has potentially stripped me of being educated on many social issues, and I can make up for it by reading about them. However, it there anything more I can do beyond this? Can I use my skills as a scientist to meaningfully contribute to research that can have a meaningful impact on social justice? Has anyone else found a coping mechanism?


texts:
i'm currently using several construction drawings to extract a note on how a certain design is usually done in the industry. I'm neither allowed to name the specific product nor the company. I guess I can't assume that the extracted information are common knowledge, so a source or a footnote would be required.

How do you typically handle this?


texts: How can I not forget university mathematics?

texts:
I am a first year undergraduate student of mathematics. Nevertheless, I have (self-)studied a total of 19 (UG and PG) books, cover to cover already, at home not in classes. The method of studying was to study a book (i.e. for first time) without doing the exercises with understanding at least 80% of it; in other words, "reading" or not involving in all technicalities. Afterwards, for second time I analysed every line of the book with doing all exercises.

However, even with twice study I have forgotten almost all of the 19 books. To be precise, if I take a test one week after I am finishing a book (the second cycle of studying) I would get a perfect score; on the other hand, if I take a test about 6 months after that initial test I would get 5%-10% score!

Quite the opposite, I do remember every mathematics that I have learned in high school and I will probably remember after 20 years!

I thought about that quite a lot and I cannot figure that out why is there such a big difference. Or more practically, what can I do to learn university mathematics as 'mind-sticky' as high-school mathematics?


texts: How does an Erratum on one's own paper affect one's career as a researcher?

texts:
I'm still early in my scientific career, with only a few papers published. However, I've discovered a typo in a non-critical equation of my paper, and one of the graphs in the same paper should have smaller values (but exactly the same trend). It's important to say that it does not change any of the conclusions drawn in the paper. I've requested to issue an erratum to fix these errors.

At the moment, I am feeling extremely stressed and saddened thinking about how bad this erratum would reflect on my CV and in my integrity as a researcher... I would like to hear some opinions of people who have been through this process... Did you notice editors becoming more harsh on accepting other works from you because of a past mistake? Was it possible to still get grants and partnerships in projects even if you have a 'flawed' record?


texts:
I'm a student at State University of New York. My math professor gives scantron exams which consist of true/false questions for calculus and graph theory courses. Each question presents a problem and a solution, and all I have to do is just mark it right or wrong (by doing calculations on a separate sheet that won't be collected). I'm a transfer student, so I've seen how real math exams are written. The first time I saw it I was quite surprised.

Is this kind of testing typical for math courses?

UPDATE: after taking 2 exams this week, one in graph theory and one in calculus 3, I can say with certainty that scantron exams are useless. Why?

In calculus 3 I got 11 correct answers out of 12, and I was guessing 5 questions. Together with the curving that my professor did, I got 95. I didn't know the answers for almost half of the exam, and yet I got an A!
In graph theory I got 19 correct answers out of 25, and I was guessing about third of the questions. After curving, I got 86.

End of proof.


texts: How big is the difference between the sustained PhD thesis and a version publishable as a book?

texts: In other words, how much improvement of the submitted thesis (and presented in front of the evaluation board) is allowed, if you want to later publish the thesis at a normal publisher of dissertations (with ISBN and sell on Amazon)? Is there a conflict here? Should it be exactly the same thesis, or if mistakes are found, or recommendations given, they can be implemented, no matter how much different from the submitted and approved thesis? I'm interested in at least a general view on this, at european level. I imagine there are country differences...


texts: Is a Research paper possible for proposing of a Methodology?

texts:
So I have been carrying out this research project related to Machine Learning and computer networks and have been writing research paper along side my work.
Now that I have reached Results and conclusion part of the paper, I come to realize that my results are not really based on numbers and values but rather it is an emphasis on a Methodology.
The Methodology is, "how data generated from any tool can be used to add functionality  in the tool given if a person is able to drive an outcome from that data".

So is a journal publication possible for a proposing of a methodology?


texts: How should a postdoc address senior research staff and faculty members in the USA?

texts:
What is the etiquette for addressing senior research staff and faculty members in an academic setting in the USA? A postdoc is no longer a student but at the same time he or she is (in general) not at the level of senior research engineers/scientists and professors. How should he or she address them ("FirstName" or "Dr. LastName") so that proper respect as well as confidence in one's "above-the-students" position is maintained?

Does it depend on the University, Lab group or the level of experience one has acquired before joining the present postdoc position?