text:
How much data should be shared in the collaboration?
Well, I am interested to know how much data, code, results, etc needs to be shared in a successful collaboration. For example: when engineers collaborate with AI researchers to optimize an engineering problem using specific algorithms, should engineers have access to the whole optimization dataset? Even optimization code should be shared among different parts of a research team?

All of it.  If I don't trust you with my data, why would I collaborate with you?
Note: I'm in favor of sharing all the code and data with the whole world, not just my collaborators.  Once you make intellectual property public, it cannot be stolen.

“Once you make intellectual property public, it cannot be stolen” — for some definition of stolen: published material can still be misappropriated, plagiarized or used in various unethical ways

@F'x I agree, but my point is that the more public something is, the harder it is to plagiarize.  If you start a book with "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." and claim it's your original work, nobody will believe you.  Similarly, if a referee plagiarizes your work or data after seeing it in blind review, you have no way to prove he stole it -- unless, that is, you already published the work/data, for instance on arXiv.org or figshare.

I also am of the opinion that all code and data (or at least manners to reproduce said data) are necessary for openness in the sciences.

The more you limit the information exchange between the two teams, the more you also limit the best possible outcome of the project: without the information about the other group's work, you won't be able to achieve more than rather blindly applying some optimization algorithm to some kind of problem.
But successful collaborations are not something that pops up at full strength: the different groups have to learn the others' language, get to know each other etc., and the trust that enables sharing the data is something that will grow over time (carefull: destroying the built up trust takes no time at all).
As for the intellectual property: that should be clear already before you start the collaboration.
All in all, I think the normal human behaviour is that the collaboration partners adjust the level of cooperation to each other. I'm usually very open to sharing data and code. But if I find that other people want me to send them my data without even allowing me to read their code, neither will I give them my data. Neither will I help people understanding my code* who would not give me their code or data (but sometimes I tell them that I run a freelancing side-job, so they can buy consulting time - and then we can specify non-disclosure conditions and it's completely their problem if my advise is not optimal because I didn't have the details. However, this doesn't work for scientific publications, as I have to take care that my name is not pubicly on a bad paper).
* I have published code that is e.g. GPLed, so there is no question about not sharing the code.

when engineers collaborate with AI researchers to optimize an engineering problem using specific algorithms,
should engineers have access to the whole optimization dataset?

Yes: they will be the ones who can check the optimization process with "common engineering sense", which the AI team usually won't have.

Even optimization code should be shared among different parts of a research team?

Yes: and the AI should explain the heuristics of the optimization to the engineers. Not only the AI researchers, but also the engineers need to judge whether these heuristics are appropriate for the application. I guess the AI people are better at checking the "formal" part (e.g. numeric properties), whereas the engineers can say whether a certain strategy makes sense from an engineering point of view.
IMHO the AI team should also have early access/particupate in the setting up of the DoE of the engineering team, as optimization approach must be appropriate for the DoE (and vice versa).

If by withholding data one part of the collaboration has made the other part draw false conclusions, then you have broken the trust in the process, and if you're going to publish based on this collaboration, spoilt that as well.
On the other hand, you don't want to bog them down in stuff which is irrelevant - so some material should be made available (perhaps on request) rather than pushed to them.  You wouldn't want to see all their preliminary work, and your code may be meaningless to them.
I assume you have properly defined your optimisation and other datasets, so there's no need to hold anything back for testing.
Some industrial collaborations are affected by issues of commercially sensitive material being kept back, usually this can be sorted out, and if the collaboration is purely academic, this issue doesn't arise.


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What to do when your research interest changes to a new topic half way into your PHD?
I had started my PHD last year on a topic that has several interesting problem to solve in the area, however I don't find the problem interesting enough to spend 4 to 5 years. As time went by and I came across a new problem through my course work and interactions with various professors. I have started liking a different topic that is not very related to the original.
What would be a wise thing to do in such situation? Is it a common situation (changing topics midway)?

I did some editing so your question will be useful to other people in different areas.

And I modified the last part so that it be a little less “share your experience”…

Are you sure you're not just procrastinating? At one point in my PhD I found cleaning my apartment more interesting, because it was a form of procrastination. ;-)

If you are in the US, then midway (time-wise) is still only the beginning, because of coursework. How much time have you spent on research? How much time is left?

First, I've yet to meet a single PhD candidate that actually did what he proposed in his research plan in the first place. Unless he entered for some particular project (and still)
Is not uncommon to look for different topics and think that it may suit you better, and in all fairness, you should be doing something you like, not some topic other person imposed on you.
Now, switching topics, specially if they are unrelated, will have the consequence of delaying your PhD graduation considerably. I switched topics on my PhD 2 year, but I mostly changed the application, while the most fundamental part (in my case, it was the math) was pretty much the same, so I got to use most of the foundations I learned over the first couple of years.
I hope it helps.

My advice is to talk about it with your advisor (naturally).
When I was narrowing down subjects I, too, was struggling with how much interest I had in various topics. I got some advice from someone who was working at ABB and had recently finished a PhD. It went something like this:

A PhD is as much a long process as it is becoming an expert and contributing in a field. If you pick a topic you're enthusiastic about at the beginning, chances
  are, you'll become tired of it before you finish. If you pick a
  topic that seems less interesting, after working on it for a long
  time, you probably will come to love some things about it you didn't see at the start.

In my case, the latter was true. I was more interested in finishing on time than having the topic of my dreams. But I finally enjoyed my topic a lot, even though at first it seemed boring and not up my alley.

To me, the only wrong answer to this question would be, "throw everything away and start over", and there may even be some (rare) situations where that approach is justified.
Everything else is basically varying shades of "right", depending on your specific situation.

Talk to your advisor about pursuing your alternate interest as a side project, with the ultimate goal of a few publications on that topic.
Work with your advisor to identify other labs doing similar work, do a collaborative project with another lab with the goal of publishing.
On a similar vein, if your program allows it, do a x-month (x < 1 year) rotation in a different lab that focuses on your new-found interest, with the goal of familiarizing yourself more with the intricacies of that field, readying you for a postdoc or professorship role in that subfield.
Write down your ideas as possible ideas for grant applications for the future (postdoctoral tenure, professorship positions).

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Why lab sessions are handled by TAs?
Consider a course (say machine learning). Professors attend to deal with a theoretical part and then does not involve in the coding part.
The task of handling the coding part is left to the TAs of the course.
What is the reason behind this?
I am asking this question because I personally feel that dealing with a theoretical part does not need any expertise in the coding part. But coding part expects expertise in both the areas.  (Why difficult part is assigned to TAs?). Am I wrong anywhere?

You appear to be assuming that the professors have expertise in the coding part. I don't know about machine learning, but I'd hazard that many biology profs haven't picked up a pipette in years.

I think your question extends beyond programming-related courses and also applies to virtually any course with a significant hands-on laboratory component (think chemistry labs, biology labs, physics labs, etc).
The main reason that TAs or lab instructors are used in these subjects is because hands-on instruction does not scale as well as lecture-style instruction. A professor can easily lecture about an algorithm to hundreds of students at the same time. But can the professor also help hundreds of students implement and debug the algorithm on their computers? Not very efficiently.
This is why TAs and lab instructors are hired. They can provide more individualized guidance and instruction with hands-on learning than a single professor probably ever could, and they are much cheaper.

To put some numbers: when I was TAing (chemistry) some of the lab practica had 1 TA per group of 3 - 4 students. The largest student : TA ratio I've ever had were about 25 students per TA. OTOH, I once had a lecture where 1 professor taught the course for 3 students.

First, I would challenge your assumptions that professors are not involved in the coding part. Even if they are not directly involved in delivering the labs, many professors are in fact involved in designing the lab classes, including problems that are offered to students. Sometimes professors also include suggestions on how to deal with most common learning obstacles, how to respond to most common questions, and which hints to give at which situations. Professors also design assessment problems and the marking scheme, i.e. instruct TAs onhow to evaluate the codes submitted by students. To summarise, there is a lot of work behind the scenes, which is Professor's responsibility.
Designing the course requires a lot of high-level expertise and understanding of the subject. It takes certain mastery to structure the material  and arrange it in a way which keeps students involved, interested,  and appropriately challenged along the course. To design a course which runs smoothly, professors have to create a sequence of effective teaching events which spans several weeks / months and involves tens / hundreds of students. TAs usually are given precise instructions for each class and plan how to effectively discuss the given problem in a small(er) tutorial group, or how to answer questions of a single student. Although this work also requires some creativity, it's more scoped and therefore easier to plan and prepare to.

TAs exist because they are cheaper than professors.
Superbee wrote

The main reason that TAs or lab instructors are used in these subjects is because hands-on instruction does not scale as well as lecture-style instruction.

This is a euphemistic way of saying TAs are cheaper.
Sometimes it is claimed that TAs exist so that the TAs can learn to teach.  This is not true.  They exist because they are cheaper.  Sometimes they do learn something about teaching, and this may be part of their compensation.

As suggested by Dmitry Savostyanov designing and teaching a course requires expertise. Therefore, TAs do not take lectures since they are not very experienced in teaching. This leaves us with the remaining work that must be distributed to decrease the workload on an instructor. Therefore, the TAs are assigned the coding and grading part. Generally, these assignments are focused on a specific concept so a TA do not need to know everything about the course.

Note: Sometimes professors also ask TAs to take a tutorial or a small lecture so that they can acquire some teaching experience and skills. I am lucky that professors in my department do so.

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How to choose romanization for non-Latin script in an otherwise Latin script text?
While combing through English journal articles and semi-scientific articles, I noticed how problematic it is that in some cases those papers use a romanized, Latin script display of originally Non-Latin script words and expressions. The issue: In my case (Korean), there were several revisions of the romanization system and some of the texts I work with are either (a) older or (b) the authors simply don't comply to the correct romanization standards. Thus it is very hard (at least for me) to derive the original non-latin script (which is my goal) from an incorrect romanization.
Additionally, in many cases it is beneficial or even crucial to have access to not only the Hangeul, but also the Hanja, i.e. Chinese characters. At least that is my opinion.
Because I assert that only if I mention the Non-Latin script (in this case Hangeul/Hanja) "as is", can my academic work be precise, exact and unambiguous.
What do you think about that? Are there any standard rules for such a situation, that are widely used (i.e. expected from students and academics), e.g. in the USA?
Finally: Would there be cases in which you would not use the romanized, Latin Script text version at all? (Assuming that we only talk about a few (5-10) words per page.)
Note: The academic results I produce won't be published in any (international) journal anytime soon, but I still would like to follow the highest standard possible, without sacrificing common sense and preciseness.

Just noticed that sadly sometimes outdated romanization standards are even expected / required! cf.: "The SJEAS uses the following systems of Romanization. Korean: the McCune-Reischauer system" Source: http://sjeas.skku.edu/submissions/howto.jsp

Sample article from SKKU (includes Hanja, but no Hangeul): sjeas.skku.edu/submissions/sample.pdf –

For citations, I remember the recommendation of the librarian at university was to list the names (the author and the work) in the original language followed by either the transliteration or in some cases a commonly accepted translation of the title. I don't recall any guidance for inline text (which judging by the second to last paragraph is what your question is about).

That is an interesting point, at which university was that? As you can see from article above (or I can link one), even Koreans don't use Hangeul in their scientific articles, so that's why I am highly confused. (Ok one of my most recent reference points was the worst paper I ever read anyways...) By the way, Willie you should have written this as a reply, it sure would'v gotten some upvotes. :)

For things that you won't publish, you can adhere to a standard you choose, for example writing in the Korean script using LaTeX.
It's difficult to talk more specifically than that because journals have their own requirements, which can have more to do with their typesetting systems than academic rigor.
If a journal publishes your work with ambiguous transliteration, you may be able to keep an alternate copy on ArXiV. (N.B. I'm not sure it's kosher to do this but I suspect it's fine as long as the alternate version is designated carefully.)

Not all journals have a copyright policy compatible with arxiv publishing!

mac389, I didn't know I could set Korean script with LATeX, thanks for the hint! I'll look into it!

mac389, this sounds silly maybe, but my initial problem was not so much my own publication, but the ones I found. Actually my "semi"-academic sources, which are IMHO extremely credible nonetheless - such as publications of museums and their experts - are lacking such a stringent standard of "dual-rendering". So actually I think it is a question of (academic) rigor, as the same "journal" also publishes the original Hanja! I basically want to make it better than they did and with this question also animate others to do so, if they should publish somewhere where they have this formatting freedom.

FIY, found this TeX.SE question via Google: How do I get Korean Hangeul to typeset in LATeX?

I think it's not as hard as it used to be to publish non-Latin characters in journals, especially with the advent of electronic publishing, which reduces the need for "physical" stock required to produce those characters.
In fact, I am now starting to see in some journals that people whose names are normally rendered in non-Latin alphabets (such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean), now have both the Romanization as well as the "original" versions in the authors' credits.
That said, there is the question of why you want to use those non-Latin alphabets. For something that is already in "common" use and is widely accepted in the language in which you are writing, the use of the original will be unnecessary. It's also optional to cite the name of an author whose work you're citing, if it was published using a Romanization. (Otherwise, it will make it very difficult to find the citation using search engines.) If, however, you are citing something original, and the use of the Romanization will cause confusion, then use of the original language text is fully appropriate.
As mac389 indicates, you should probably talk to the individual journal you're interested in submitting to. They will likely have guidelines for what is or is not permitted, as you've alluded to in your original question.

aeismail, yes I agree, I don't worry about it being "hard", but about what the expectation of publishers and academic (citation) style standard setters is! There are at least a few fonts available, the question is if Korean and esp. foreign academic think about this question though... " If, however, you are citing something original, and the use of the romanization will cause confusion..." - Yes I think that nails it. Yet I say so, not knowing a natives mind. I am confused by romanized Hangeul, while a Korean might not be confused at all.

Further, romanized Hanja/Chinese is even worse, in terms of its length etc. Of course we are not talking about the title of a paper and it's author, but about "specialist", expert and historic terms. And about the references, do you really think that all sources an Asian scholar might cite will be findable through a (improperly!) romanized title? Depending on the work in question not every cited source will be a "fully cite-able", academic journal contribution. But just a piece of evidence that will be physically inaccessible, and even digitally tough to access without using the proper script.

"It's also unnecessary to cite the name of an author whose work you're citing, if it was published using a Romanization." - I somewhat disagree with this. The romanization might be sufficient, but providing the original way of writing the author's name would be a reasonable way to further enhance the ease of unambiguously identifying the person, by distinguishing them from others with the same romanization, but a different original writing. That, and the feeling that when creating academic writing, one should always try to adhere to the highest accuracy standards one's skillset allows for.

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text:
Transcript of records is full of grammatical/spelling/formatting mistakes and the issuer gets angry when I inform them

Institution in a non-English-speaking country.
I do not speak the native language of that country.
I studied entirely in English language and all of my educational documents are originally issued/generated in English, therefore there is no possibility of receiving the document of interest in a language other than English (Patricia Shanahan's answer is thus absolutely irrelevant [this answer]).

Types of errors in the transcript of records

Grammatical
Incorrect course titles
Initial letters of some of the course names are capitalized, some are not
Margins, line spacing, and the overall format/style of the document (pure chaos, ...)
Incorrect usage of the in course titles (e.g. Introduction to the Mathematics)

I have been dealing this issue for more than a year. My BA degree's transcript of records is full of mistakes, not one or two, but dozens of them.
Last year, when I received the transcript for the first six completed semesters, there were so many errors in the document that I simply could not believe some other student might not have noticed it throughout the years. Thus, I went to discuss this with the person issuing the transcript. I delineated all of the mistakes one by one. However, they were absolutely reluctant to modify any part of the transcript at first, and they even went on to tell me that I am wrong. I then decided to provide examples of transcripts issued in the US and use online resources and dictionaries to prove my point, which all in turn made the said person annoyed and yet more reluctant! More surprisingly for me was their reaction when I explained the margins/line-spacing/style/format issues, their simple reply was whether I have ever been diagnosed with OCD.
Nonetheless, I was able to fix quite many of the mistakes. Now, a year later, I have received my final bachelor's degree with the complete transcript of records encompassing eight semesters. And, there are still a lot of mistakes: grammatical, spelling, and incorrect course names. The format of the document looks terribly unprofessional, with different margin sizes on different pages, inconsistent line spacing, and unnecessary white spaces/blank areas. It looks like a cheap document issued by a 'nobody'. If it was not for the huge seal of the university and the Ministry of Education on each page, anyone would have considered this document to be fake.
The person in charge is so selfish they do not want to admit that their English is insufficient. Their lexicon is extremely limited. Once they were so enraged when I mentioned a simple mistake  that they actually had to call the English Language Center of my university. However, the center affirmed that indeed the version I have provided is correct and the one written on the transcript is wrong. However, even after that incident the person in charge of issuing the transcript were still reluctant to follow many of my corrections.
How should I deal with the incompetence and reluctance of this person?
Should I create the document neatly myself in LaTeX/Word, clearly highlighting all the changes I have made, and then ask him to consider issuing the document that way?

Wow, this one is really horrible. Noone else can give you this paper ?

It's far past the point where this could have been avoided, but maybe you came down a bit too hard on him. Even if (perhaps especially if) he is as incompetent as you say, criticising too much is very likely to make a person go full on defensive, at which point it is hard to convince him to do anything.

@tomasz Agree, the main problem is is maybe to try to calm him down, which will be really complicated.

@Gautier C: There really is absolutely no one else who is able to issue this document. This is the only person in charge of issuing the English version of the educational documents.

I was not really hard on him at all, I was being extremely nice to him and asked him very kindly and politely and after few remarks he got extremely offended and angry! I have not seen him for about a year now as I do not live in that particular country anymore, but I am planning to go there just to receive a new "corrected" and absolutely flawless version of my transcript/graduation document for one last time, so I want to deal with it in some way to have it as neat as possible.

Did you pay for your degree?

@CGCampbell There is nothing about the question that could not also happen to a graduate student. Also, a properly written bachelor's degree transcript is important material for graduate school applications.

Would it be ironic to note that the OP contains grammatical and punctuation errors?

Are these things not automatically generated by computer?

@200_success definitely not a first world problem, you see...

@200_success But even if they were, so what? In my case, these documents were generated by a computer, and then later required hand-editing. Why? Because the people going the computer program didn't do it properly in the first place.  :D

@AndrejaKo At competent institutions, there is no need for human intervention, other than to accept the order for a transcript, press the "Print" button, and to seal it in an official envelope. Mistakes are about as likely as a bank error in your favour. It seems like the only "benefit" to human-generated transcripts would be that they could be "enhanced" through bribery.

@200_success That's the point, competent institutions, that's actually in some areas pretty big assumption.

Which country is the university located in?

Just to be clear, is this a transcript in English being issued by an English-speaking university? If not, then please specify the precise situation (early on) in the question.

This is so Turkish. I am pretty sure it is in Turkey.

During my phd, I had courses in English, but my diploma was still in French. Official documents usually follow the countries rules. Indeed, in Brazil, we have entire courses in english, but you'd rarely get an official document from the university in english. I had to have them officially translated. My main point is that you expecting the transcript to be in english might be unreasonable

I had the same problem as @FábioDias, and solved it in the same way (translation by an official entity, see reply below). I did not see it as a problem at all until I started applying for universities abroad.

@l.. If you want new answers you need to explain why the existing ones are “irrelevant.” You may also want to assign a bounty.

I suggest requesting a copy of the transcript in whatever language the issuer writes best.
For some purposes, such as graduate admission to a foreign university, you may need to pay for a certified translation by a professional translator.

Unless it's a verbose transcript (the ones that eschew grades for paragraph+ descriptions of performance), a standard transcript will cost very little to be translated. Also, many universities are willing to handle the translation internally. I've done a few for mine and see emails once in a while asking if anyone knows X language to help out with transcript translation.

@guifa I don't think that's actually generalizable. What if the university asks for a written description of taken classes in addition to the grades themselves? When I was applying for my masters at several German universities, they all asked for a complete description (bonus points: Germany=>you need secondary school transcript as well!), which all ended up costing about 1.5 average monthly salaries in my country.

Well, as I said, a standard transcript (course name: grade). If there are supplemental materials obviously those would incur additional costs. I would hope in such a situation when applying for admission, for instance, the receiving university would accept an unofficial translation done by the applicant and give approval conditioned on receipt of officially translated documentation. Many programs in the US allow unofficial transcripts during the application process because they know it can cost a student $10-20 per transcript per recipient.

This is a great idea. He could probably even translate it himself and take it to a translator to certify it.

@Hadi in my experience they usually don't like that, yet they are open to corrections, specially when dealing with technical terminology. In any case, great answer.

Unfortunately, this is absolutely impossible, because the original language of the document is English, i.e. the document is not at all issued/generated in any language other than English. However, this makes me think whether it would be possible to take the document

@Bert A non-English country refuses to print the transcript in a non-English language?

@guifa in Spain, my friends that had to translate a transcript ended up paying minimum 100 €, plus 10-20€ extra per copy, and the document is not very verbose.

@Davidmh that's rather pricey. I had my transcripts (both bachelor's and master's) translated in Spain for about 45-50 if I recall (one didn't hit the 20€ minimum and the other went slightly over). 10-20 per copy is a rip off, though, as you can get a notarized copy of the translation for much less, and it would retain full legal value.

It sounds like you're in a non-English speaking country, and I assume that the reason you need an English-language transcript is for use in job or college applications to an English-speaking country. In that case, one reasonable option would be to do nothing and simply use the current transcript. My reasoning is that in an English-speaking country, seeing an official document with grammatical errors coming from a non-English speaking country (especially if it's a country whose people are well-known to not speak very good English) is not likely to surprise or trouble anyone. I personally read many documents written by people from such countries and don't recall ever thinking that the writer of the letter is incompetent or unprofessional because of grammatical errors (though I might think this because of the content of what they write, even when they express themselves in flawless English ;-)...) And, of course, you are not even the author of the transcript! So, if I were you, the only errors I would seriously worry about are either factual errors or grammatical errors that are so bad that they create a risk that some facts will be misunderstood (or not understood) by the reader of your transcript.
With that said, if you are still concerned about the errors posing a danger to you, some additional options I can think of are:

Getting a transcript in the language of your country and having a certified translation made (great suggestion by Patricia Shanahan!).
Creating a correct English transcript yourself in Word/LaTeX as you were suggesting and attaching it (together with the original transcript) to your applications with a note saying that you have corrected the grammatical errors in your original transcript and include it for the reader's convenience. I would only recommend this if your unofficial corrected transcript doesn't seem to suspiciously "correct" (in a way that may appear dishonest) certain facts that are ambiguous in the original ungrammatical version.
Attaching a note to any application you submit that includes your ungrammatical transcript, in which you apologize for the grammatical errors in the transcript and explain that you made a good-faith effort to get the errors corrected and was unsuccessful due to an incompetent service provider at your university. Possibly include a list of clarifications to correct ambiguities or small misstatements arising out of the grammatical errors in the transcript.
Finally, there's always the option of continuing to pursue the quixotic quest to get an error-free English transcript from the unprofessional clerk by complaining to their supervisor or to a more senior administrator. It sounds like you've wasted enough time and effort doing that, so I wouldn't recommend it (in particular since I've suggested several other courses of action that seem adequate to address the problem), but only you can decide how important this is to you.

Good luck!

"don't recall ever thinking that the writer of the letter is incompetent or unprofessional" - unless I am misunderstanding the relationship between a student and their transcript, in this case you do not even have any business with the writer.

@O.R.Mapper indeed, good point! I edited the answer to mention this.

On the other hand, formatting errors (margins, line spacing etc.) do look unprofessional, whatever the language.

Honestly, you need to pick battles that are worth fighting. Inconsistent capitalization of course titles, poor margins and poor line-spacing are not at all significant. Concentrate your energy where it might actually benefit you, such as errors in course names.

I would recommend going to his immediate supervisor. Whether that is the head of student affairs, the department chair or the dean, whoever signs his paycheck should be able to do something about this. In the end, it is the universities reputation and by association theirs. If this is unacceptable to a student who got a degree from there, it should be unacceptable to the people running it.

He IS the head of student affairs, there is no one higher than him in rank able to talk English. I actually assume that he signs his own paycheck, seriously, he is the head of many many things. And you have a very good point in the last sentence, and unfortunately that is exactly what I am  concerned about.. I mean it is ridiculous that in the document it is mentioned that the language of tuition during the entire 4-year period of my bachelor's studies was English, but then there are all these mistakes in the transcript..How would someone looking at the transcript conclude such a huge paradox?

I would say your only option is to take this who would be sympathetic with you. Somebody who deals with foreign universities often. Maybe the head of your department or the dean?

@Bert Why would you not be able to talk to his supervisor in his native language?

@Myles The latest edit to the question says "I do not speak the native language of that country."

My university (non-English speaking country) doesn't issue any document in English. The option is simply not available, and universities in non-English speaking countries do NOT have a duty to issue documents in English.
You can have the original document in its original language translated by a professional translator. In my case, the Embassy of the country where I was applying to recommended a registered translator to me. In the end, I submitted a copy of the original document with its official translation. This kind of translator provides you translated documents with a stamp and a tracking number.
It may cost a little, but especially it would avoid you the hassle of having to deal with administration completely. Just ask them for the transcript in their native language. Accompanied by an official-looking translation, it will look more professional than the kind of document you have got, and this kind of arrangement is widely accepted.
Educated people are aware that English is not the main language at all universities in the world.

I don't understand why this was downvoted. It is the most generic/helpful answer in this situation. Note that,in some countries, foreign diplomas have to be "certified" at the other country's embassy in the country you got the diploma. Ex: us diplomas have to be certified in the Brazilian embassy in the us before you try to do anything with it in Brazil.

At first, I guess I posted it with too many details (specific countries involved, and the option of having the university check and stamp a personal translation), maybe someone thought of it as too specific and/or did not like the idea of a personal translation? Just guessing. I edited my post after the downvote to make it more generic.

The "original" language of my documents are English, they are originally written in English, because my programme was completely taught in English, and all the courses have only English names.

Depending on the country, you may be able to take it to court. With your tuition you paid for a certificate, and an English grad course obviously needs an English certificate, not a Pidgin English one. But I wouldn't recommend that approach, it takes time and outcome is unknown.
To get the bureaucrats working, you can take it to the local media. Media usually likes stories such as "administration is incompetent". Some tabloids even have a whole section that assists their readers against the monsters of bureaucracy (and of course reports on these fights). Furthermore, silly season is approaching, I guess they take any story they get.
Then there may be school media. My university has an own student radio broadcast and a student newspaper, and both would be interested in such stories. But then, my English certificate seems to be flawless.

Print it out, take it to your school administration office and show them what needs to be fixed. I've used this myself as I was in a  similar situation. As long as you do no alter the grades/gpa, there should be no issues for them to stamp their insignia on a fixed transcript due to typo errors.
I edited this from my previous statement since Ben was right, my original method can be seen as a bit unethical

@Ben you're absolutely right. No reputable school/uni would endorse this idea. But when your back is against the wall, you have to do what you have to do. As long as OP doesnt yell and cause a scene, I dont see why OP cant bring in her version and have them cross reference it with the one with errors so that administration can see where OP's frustration is coming from.

@BenCrowell - it is obvious that this is not a reputable school.

Thumbs up for a pragmatic approach.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Live Lecture Technology
I am trying to come up with a method to live broadcast my lectures to parties connected to the internet.  Up to now, I have been using FaceTime to transmit my work on a whiteboard.  This method works, but the quality is lacking.
The crux is I do not want to record "my person," but rather what I write on some surface.  This previously asked question (Device for writing a lecture with a stylus for video lecture recording) solves the problem for non-live transmission.  That is, for the previously answered question, the individual records and subsequently uploads the lecture.  I would like to do something similar, but live-transmit the lecture.  Does anyone have a reasonable method by which they do this?
My ideal solution would be something like an interactive pen display (e.g., http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=113&cp_id=11314&cs_id=1131401&p_id=12076) which could somehow be transmitted in real-time.  The software side of this is where I get iffy.  (Also, I am running a mac.)
Another solution could surely come from a document camera, but again the software leaves me dry.
To summarize:  I am looking for a hardware/mac-based software solution to live transmit document-based lectures over the internet.

Could you share screen? How about a painting software + a pen tablet?

I could certainly screen-share.  That might be an efficient solution.

You want a lightboard.

Ok, so this question was just closed. - Just a quick comment for clarification on a point... in the accepted answer for the meta post on shopping questions it seems that it is ok to ask about software solutions.(https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/q/3657) - is that correct - I realise that the question is broader than just software solutions as it stands, but I wonder if it could be edited so it only asks about software and if then it would be possible to reopen? - Just thinking this is quite a relevant question in the current pandemic with so much online teaching.

This is a really really late answer (5 years late) but a natural solution seems to me to be to use OBS, open broadcast software. I believe it was developed for people who wanted to stream themselves playing video games. So it will certainly grab content from your computer and broadcast it. Personally I have only used it to record in the past.
Note that I have no connection to OBS and it is free!

Actually, late answers to important questions are valued here. And the topic is timely.

@Buffy, thanks for the kind comment :-)  yes I was thinking that it might be a timely thing to put up... and OBS is free so interesting perhaps

You could try using a Bamboo tablet (or really any tablet - I mention Bamboo only because I've heard good things) with this service: AWW - A Web Whiteboard.  The $10/month version allows you to invite view-only guests, as well as save a limited number of boards (they've got several levels of plans).
The advantage of the web-based solution is that it doesn't matter what OS your viewers have - they just need an internet connection.

If you have the time to prepare the lecture beforehand, subjecting your audience to your scribbling and correcting on-line isn't the best use of your (or their) time. Using electronic means allows viewers to jump back and forth, view when they have time, look it over several times. I believe using that freedom effectively is more important.
In my experience, on-line interaction is invaluable in one-on-one contact (or at most a small, as in at most five people or so) group. In larger groups it isn't really effective. Over the 'net the interaction loses much (can't see the body language of "I didn't get that" or "I'm bored"), so I doubt this will be very effective.


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Feedback for a student showing improvement
One of the students whose work I'm grading has just handed in a piece of work which is much better than what I've come to expect of them after several classes. I was just about to write some rather positive comment on their work, along the lines of "Good job! You're doing much better than you used to.", when it struck me that perhaps this is not such a great idea after all.
The problem is that, even after the jump in performance, the student is by far not the brightest in the group (not that they're not bright; the group is simply very strong overall). This leaves me with a couple of possible concerns. Maybe that would be somewhat unfair to the other students, who usually perform at a consistent level. More importantly, this might come across as a backhanded compliment. Something along the lines of "Well done, you are now about average, which is very high, judging by your abilities." (which of course is very far from what I mean to convey). Are these legitimate concerns?
On the other hand, it feels slightly wrong not to acknowledge improvement. And I usually try to leave some kind word next to a particularly good solutions of people at the top of the group.
So, is it a good idea to comment on the fact that student is doing better? If so, how do I make sure I will not be misunderstood?

"You are now about average", that line there made me shoot coffee out of my mouth all over my keyboard .

"Good job! You're doing much better than you used to." — I think this is perfectly fine.  You are honestly praising their improvement, but you are not promising a good grade.

I'm disappointed in myself - It's more likely they just found a better way to approach your material but you say there is a sudden jump in performance for a particular student and my mind goes to, "Did they cheat?"

Just personal opinion + some experience.
First, if it's graded and the grade shows a large jump, then I'd just leave it as is.
Second, perhaps the first homework was not a true reflection of the student's ability (sickness, etc.) Just be mindful but I trust that you have gotten a clear impression of the class by now.
I feel that it's okay to remark on the improvement if the last homework was apparently bad (say, like a fail or near-fail.) Otherwise the student may not even realize it was bad all along, and this "better" comment can be a harsh blow of reality.
My desire to remark will grow stronger if I have written some suggested improvements in the last assignment or highlighted the common errors in class and the students actually followed my advices. My rule is to pair each good remark with a reason, and each bad remark with a suggestion. So, rather than "good job!" I'd suggest "good job on [whatever done right]" in order to reinforce such positive behaviors.
And lastly, just my thought and I expect not everyone would agree with me: I don't think giving customized remark or suggestion is a sign of being unfair. If someone struggles and wants to put in the effort to perform better, I wouldn't mind giving more detailed guidance in my feedback. The important thing I always remind myself is while past records are important, we should be prepared to evaluate our students with fresh eyes as well whenever possible. Don't give the impression that we had already given the final grades in our head after the first couple classes.

+1 for giving a reason or suggestion and not just good/bad. If you just write "well done" the student might associate it with the wrong attribute of his homework (happened to me in creative writing).

Try something along the lines of: Keep up the good work!

There's a fundamental philosophical issue in education about how much "talent" or "ability" matters compared with "effort" and how this interacts with grading specific pieces of student work.
Students are easily demoralized if they believe (or if they're convinced that their teachers believe) that all that matters is native ability.  If you reinforce the idea that students can learn and be successful if they make a sustained effort, then this can help to motivate students.  However, saying "you worked hard, Good job!" when the resulting work is really not good enough is dishonest and students are likely to see through the lie.
Thus,

You should honestly praise students' effort, particularly when they really are putting in a lot of effort.  You should also connect this effort to their successes.  e.g. "I see you've been visiting the tutoring sessions three or four times a week.  I think that this has helped to improve your homework grades."
You should discuss the students' work objectively and honestly, focus on what could be done to improve it, and do this in a way that makes the student feel that they have a path to follow to be more successful. It's important to offer specific actionable suggestions on how to improve.

It sounds in this case as though you feel that this particular student's work has improved dramatically but that the student still has much further to improve.
Don't just say "Good job", because that reinforces the notion that good work is the result of talent or luck and doesn't offer the student any suggestion of how to do better.
Rather, say something like "This is a substantial improvement on your earlier homework.  In particular, I think you've improved a lot in your use of quantifiers in your proofs.  However, you're still having trouble constructing proofs by contradiction as in problem 5 of the latest homework.  Please review the discussion of this in section 3.3 and then stop by my office some time so that we can discuss this further."

Don't just say "Good job", because that reinforces the notion that good work is the result of talent — Huh?  I don't understand this at all.  Isn't "job" a synonym for "work"?

By leaving it at "Good job" you've done nothing to dispel the false belief that the good work was the result of "talent."

While I too find "Good job" pretty unobjectionable, the suggested alternative is clearly a quantum leap from it.  I think the key idea in this answer -- namely, spend your time describing contentfully what has improved and where room for further improvement lies rather than making it about "good or bad" performance in either an absolute or relative sense -- is really an excellent one.

I think it is generally good life advice to be generous with compliments. In cases like yours I would usually say something like "Well done, I very much like the direction of your grades". This would seem uncontroversial to the good students in the group, and not explicitly reference the worse grades he's had in the past.


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academic affiliation for a congress
I have recently appointed to be a reviewer for a congress in my specialization field. The problem that I got is which affiliation should I put? Actually I am working as a lecturer in two universities, part time, but also I am making my first year of Doctoral studies in a third one. I was thinking to put the last one, should that be correct? or should I talk with my supervisor first?

I would give all three.

Can you explain what the job description "Lecturer" means in your system, and if, as a lecturer, you are paid to conduct research?

Who pays your travel costs? (Or all three).

If you only adjunct at the other two institutions (my assumption based on saying you do it part time), I would list your affiliation with your doctoral program. Of course your CV should include these adjunct roles as well, they just aren't your main affiliation.
If you have developed a more intimate relationship with either the two institutions you teach part time at (like say you've been an adjunct for many years) you might consider listing them as an affiliation. Those part time adjunct gigs though don't typically support research activities that would result in outside roles such as a reviewer (for anything) or even being considered a specialist in the field.


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The nightmare of being an independent researcher
My current situation is that I am stuck teaching in a couple of universities that do not support the research at all in my country of origin. I am 38 years old and I have finished a MSc degree in Europe (one year ago), but I find it pretty hard to get a funded PhD position until now.
Sometimes I really feel discouraged and depressed because I really like to do research, but is pretty hard to do it without economical support; and more difficult to share ideas if my current place of work has that null approach to research.
My question is, how I can get feedback from other professors around the world and expose my ideas? Maybe with the hope that they will like to guide me in their field of specialty or maybe doing a paper together. I know that a lot of good professors in their own field are pretty busy, so I think it would be not polite to approach to them, by email, tell them about my ideas and ask for academical support (not monetary, but about guiding and feedback).
The field that I like to do research is Computer Science. I have only 5 publications in different areas, but I would really like to do more.
Any suggestion?

Set up a webpage where you put your CV, papers, projects, everything about yourself as a professional. The people should be able to access this information at a click of a button, not through long search or e-mail exchange.
Go to conferences and other events where you can meet people and get acquainted with them. Try to give a talk there or, at least, to present a poster. Hang on the CS Stack exchange and other professional sites. About 10% of my knowledge of who is who comes from MO interactions and I suspect that many people there would never hear of me otherwise either.
Use the grapevine. Tell your friends about the situation, they'll let their friends know, etc.
Direct E-mail is also possible but you'll have to put something on the table at the opening move. Ideally, it should start with "Dear Prof. ... You asked on/in .... whether .... is true. The answer is .... (see my attached paper)." Then you may confidently end with "By the way, I am currently looking for ... " (just do not request too much) and nobody will be able to resist. You can put a few lower cards on the table as well but  starting with "I have this wonderful idea, I just don't know where to apply it" will, most likely, earn your mail a guaranteed permanent position in the trash box with possible honorable mention in the spam filter blacklist.
Get into the habit of spending some time every day looking at what's going on in the field you are interested in and reading.
Read the job advertisements regularly. With math. all you need is to go to mathjobs.org I don't know if there is a CS analog of it but you can find that out. You never know what and when may come your way, so be always ready to move quickly when an opportunity presents itself.

In short, get noticed and get your past achievements exposed plus look for every opportunity to engage into a communication and joint ventures with everyone whose work looks decent to you. Remember, however, that, at least in your position, you will need to think of what other people like and are doing, not try to seduce them to think of your own ideas and projects! (By the way, I find this modus operandi very beneficial regardless of one's status). People will go out of their way for you only if you demonstrate that you can go out of your way for them first.
I would advise against applying for grants, etc. until you get known at least a little bit. Rejections won't help you in any way and the free money is so scarce nowadays that even people with established reputation don't always get their awards.

MO? Not sure what that abbreviation means. Please expand!

MathOverflow: http://mathoverflow.net/ It is funny that you are here now and haven't ever heard of it :).

A clarification: http://mathjobs.org is a great site, but it is mostly focused on academic jobs for Ph.D. mathematicians (and some in industry), and primarily in North America.  It's not so useful for those without Ph.D.'s looking for funded opportunities for further study, which is the asker's situation.  Saying it's "all you need" is an exaggeration.

Agreed. It is just totally unclear for me what the OP is really looking for. I assumed that he wants either to enroll into a PhD program, or to get a research related position without formal PhD (masters is OK for some), or just to do freelance research at high level, or... Have you been able to figure it out, Nate?

I think it's clear that OP is looking for a funded position as a PhD student.

This is what he formally states as his objective, but the rest of the post contradicts it quite a lot. "How can I get feedback and expose my ideas?" is not a question you ask a graduate admission committee or a potential adviser, for example. Anyway 1-4 apply even if we restrict ourselves to this interpretation (especially 1-3), and, unfortunately, the last paragraph still stands.

not a question you ask ... a potential adviser — What? Of course it is!

Not really. Most advisers would be wary of graduate students who propose their own research agenda at the first meeting (for reasons ranging from their own incompetence in the particular subject to the ideas being too raw to make any sense of to the question why a person who is already set up on what he'll be doing needs an adviser at all). As everyone mentioned here, if you want to enter into a collaboration and you are not the boss from the onset, you'd better pick up what the other person is doing rather than telling him what you want to do...

I think the situation described applies increasingly in most countries.  My university doesn't fund me for research (in fact some years back our government said - you do 30% research do you? and took 30% from the university budgets and made it grant funding).  My standard working week goes quite easily on teaching, supervision and administration.  You have to make time for research, you have to do research in your own time as well, and often the writing (papers and grant applications) will mostly be done in your own time.
The short answer is, just do it.  Read in the areas of your interest.  When you see a problem or an opportunity, jump on it.  There are many areas of research where you can work totally on paper/computer (it seems you have access to both paper and a computer).  Start with what you can manage yourself, then propose projects that students can work on, then leverage these to get small grants (or just buy small bits of equipment yourself - I do). Then publish, starting at workshops and conferences (where you can meet people and get feedback) and working up to transactions (short papers) and major journals (long paper). These runs on the board will allow you to get increasingly better publications, increasingly bigger grants, better support fro your university, and more chance of getting a job elsewhere.


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What strategy to follow for getting a funded PhD position?
I am having problems after ending my master´s in Computer Science. The main problem is that I had to return to my country because I had to take care of my parents. In any case, I managed to get a number of publications in the field, only 4.
I have been trying to get a funded PhD position in some European and United States universities, but with no luck at all. By the way, my master´s degree was completed in Europe (in Sweden to be specific).
I have the feeling that I will not get any paid position, and I cannot afford to pay the whole 4 years of career by myself; also I think that because I am not near any of those research groups from those universities my situation gets further complicated.
What should I do? Should I sent my CV to the persons in charge of some more research groups, even though they do not have open positions? should I ask that they give me a task so I can prove that I am worthy for their research?

I managed to get a number of publications in the field, only 4. 4 seems to be a quite decent amount and should not be the reason for rejection. Are they of decent quality? Are there any other possible problems with your application? How were the universities ranked that you had no luck with?

it can be that the topics are diverse, maybe I should have only focus on one specific area

Hi Layla -- thanks for accepting my answer.  I normally suggest waiting a couple of days to accept answers in case someone writes an answer that turns out to be better.

Here are some general guidelines when applying for U.S. positions:

The key thing that PhD programs look for is evidence of research potential.  In your particular case, if you have four peer-reviewed papers, this is a very good start.  The benefits due to the publications decreases (a) if the papers are not peer-reviewed, (b) if they are in conferences or journals no one has ever heard of, (c) if they are not in English [if only because it is harder to read them and see what they are about], (d) if they are not particularly well-written in general (e.g., grammatical mistakes, poor structure, weak results).
Your recommendation letters are extremely important, and should speak directly to your research potential and experience.  If possible, these should be from tenured professors at your university, and even better if they are known in their field.  Plan on giving your letter-writers "talking points" that they might want to include in their letters.  Don't write the letters for them, but provide them with enough information so they can write specifically about what you want to study, and why.
If your letter-writers know someone at the schools where you are applying, consider asking them to reach out to say directly that you are great and that they should keep you in mind.  Even if the contacts aren't on the admissions committee, they will certainly know someone on the committee and can pass along your name.
Your grades matter, but less than you might think, especially if you're applying after you already have your Master's degree (again, research potential is the key item).
Do not apply strictly to "Top-X" schools (5, 10, 20, etc.).  Competition is extremely stiff at the top schools, and no one can expect to be let into a particular program.  Find other schools that have decent programs but don't limit yourself too much.
Write an amazing personal statement, and have multiple people proof-read it and give you suggestions.  Strive to make it clear what you want to research, why it is an important topic, and why you'll be good at solving the outstanding problems in that topic.
Obviously, make sure you submit all the correct forms.  You don't want a rejection simply because of an administrative issue.

If you believe that your personal situation (going back to take care of your parents) has bearing on why your record looks poor, say so in a cover letter, or briefly mention it in your personal statement.  Don't linger on it, but comment on the pertinent points and move on.
As to the funding part -- if you get accepted into a C.S. position, you will most likely be offered funding, either through a teaching assistant position, and/or through a research associate position.  This should be included in the letter of acceptance.
Good luck!


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Do refreshments attract audience to seminars?
In academia, is there evidence that including phrases such as "refreshments provided" in a seminar announcement increases the average attendance (even slightly)?

What kind of seminar? What is the intended audience?

From my experience: No, not per se. It's the habit of having something every time that attracts people.

Plenty of anecdotal evidence here if it's lunch. People rarely turn down pizza. I would suggest holding pizza till middle/end if you want people to listen rather than grab and go, though.

If you are specifically looking for hard data (as I think you do), use the reference-request tag.

I'm confident things like pizza are helpful, especially if you want undergraduate students and the like - not because they want free pizza alone, but many times I've been invited to something after 4pm and if I have to choose between being tired and hungry and going home, or going to a talk - it sure is easy to reconsider if at least I won't have to go hungry to attend. If it's just "refreshments", on the other hand, I'd be skeptical that it has as strong of an effect. Now provide an open bar/drink tickets, on the other hand...

If you say 'free beer' everybody will come.

@Compass Depends on where and whom for. Here in France, pizza is not that much a thingy, for many people on the same level as a kebab.

Quite relevant: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1012

Why do you ask? If you're holding a seminar and wondering whether to provide refreshments, ask yourself this: do you really want people in your seminar who are only there for the food? Sure, you might get a bigger audience, but don't you want a better audience?

Yes.
I would love to be able to say how content matters the most (I still believe it does), but in my experience in several academic institutions, providing refreshments is welcomed by grad students and faculty alike. If there are two events with equal content quality, one of which offers food, it will most likely get increased attendance.

I have the same impression, but it could be confirmation bias.

Same experiences here, but as I see it, refreshments do not matter until you do not have them...

If refreshments are provided, then even if the seminar is terrible, you've at least gotten so free food and drink.  It also usually means the presenter has prepared.

I think you should approach the question slightly differently - don't ask whether more people will come to your presentation because there are refreshments. Instead, ask whether refreshments will enhance the overall experience. In my experience, refreshments help to keep the group together after the event is over, which in turn allows for people to mingle, share ideas, and get to know one another better. When refreshments aren't provided, people tend to bolt out the door immediately following the end of the lecture. In this sense, refreshments give you the chance to build community, and give undergrads, graduate students, and junior scholars the chance to bend the ear of a senior scholar.

yep this is why it is great to have refreshments after the talk rather than before!

@WetLabStudent, before is good if people have to travel, as they can plan to get there for the refurbishments, but if they are late, the still get the start of the talk.

This answer is really excellent (+1), but I think, as it states, it answers a (slightly) different question: The impact of refreshments on the audience and the presenter but not The impact of including refreshments in the announcement on the number of attending people.

My own experience is that it depends mainly on the level you are dealing with.

With graduate students, postdocs, and faculty/staff, it is not so much that refreshments attract people, but that when refreshments are customary in a community that a lack of refreshments will disappoint attendees.  I have known highly attended seminar series that never have refreshments.
With undergraduates, refreshments make a big difference, especially cookies or pizza.

It works for best 'newcomer' group among researchers.
When I was a new grad student, I was enthusiastic about the 'refreshment' part. Often attended programs for it.
Gradually, we grow out of it. Now, free pizza does not appeal as much as it used to do 3 years ago. Drinking sugary drink was much more fun without guilty feelings (I was slightly younger,  and cared less about my body that carries the head that contains the grey matters)

Ummm... there are also many senior professors, far from being newcomers, that go to PhD thesis defense only for the cocktail that follows. Some actually skip the defense.

I don't see any reason that offering food could repel people.
But, if the seminar is not attractive by himself, offering food may be of no help. I remember that, few years ago, my university decided to have a (very unformal, simple) cocktail after our general colloquium. It had almost no effect on the attendance to the seminar: most absentees didn't come to the seminar because it was at 5PM and they wanted to be home early. Offering crackers, cheese and good wine (that was in France) and orange juice didn't change anything for them.

If you are doing a seminar where you expect folk to travel to hear it, then I have found (for professional engineering (UK) seminars) that a nominal charge will help folk actually turn up (things for free aren't worth anything are they; Are they?).
A small fee also allows folks to 'justify' their attendance and ancillary expenses that would not be allowed for a free seminar (a flight, a hotel, etc). It's a case of knowing your target audience and their issues and concerns, even contradictory ones!


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PhD defense in Germany: How do they decide for the final grade?
I am a PhD student in Germany (physics) and I will have my PhD defense in some months. I am not German.
My thesis is mainly based on two Physical Review Letters and a paper not yet published (submitted to Physical Review B). The reviews (Gutachten) on my thesis are positive: I've got 1.3 and 1.7 (1 is very good, 4 is sufficient).
The defense will consist of an oral presentation of my thesis and of an oral exam (Rigorosum) in the presence of two professors (two main topics, one of which is completely unrelated to my thesis).
My question is, how important are the presentation, the rigorosum, and the reviews, respectively, for the decision of the final grade? Is it possible to fail the PhD defense, having good reviews? Actually, I am mainly concerned about nasty questions after the thesis presentation and during the Rigorosum...

What does your advisor say?

my advisor is one of the reviewer.

So? You can still ask them what the standards are. They must be able to point you to the requirements and tell you about the standards or rubric for scoring. This is precisely their job.

As already hinted at in the comments, a lot of this depends on your faculty’s PhD regulations (Promotionsordnung), which vary a lot between universities. Anything that is not regulated there falls into the discretion of the referees (who may have some unwritten rules amongst them). Thus the only thing, we can give any useful answer to here is your last question, which was mainly addressed in this question. For everything else, look into the regulations or ask your supervisor.

Have you had a look at the Prüfungsordnung/Promotionsordnung? It should all be nicely explained in those documents.

To me it seems that your defense will decide whether you will get the grade 1.3 or 1.7. You will certainly not fail.
During my PhD it was roughly 2/3 the written thesis and 1/3 the defense, which is divided equally in your presentation and the rigorosum. However, for you I think this is not relevant since your Gutachten gave different grades and your performance will decide whether Gutachten 1 or 2 is "right".
If I were you I would take the defense seriously and be prepared for the topic the professors are going to ask you. Often professors give some hint on the topic or might even tell you in advance.
You should know that 1.7 will be rounded to 2, so I think it will be a "cum laude" vs. "magna cum laude". So it makes a difference.
To my knowledge virtually all grades are summa cum laude (1+) (approx 20%-30%), magna cum laude (1) and cum laude (2). So cum laude is practically the lowest grade, although it is a 2.
BTW: For the summa cum laude (the distinction) you need 1.0 in both Gutachten and also make an excellent presentation, where professors test you for your limits. Professors often use it to indicate that they think you are ready for the academic career. Also during selection of some programs of the DFG it is expected to have such a grade.
I hope this does answer your question.

does it make a difference if I tell you that the reviewer who gave me 1.7 is my supervisor?

Hmm, I don't think so.I would have assumed that it is other way round. It is certainly not a disadvantage (perhaps a small advantage since some external person rated your work higher than the person who knows you better).

BTW: who told you about the grades? Usually it is a semi-secret and my prof took it very seriously (but, the other reviewer told me...) .

as you said, it is semi-secret

The exact requirements for a summa cum laude vary between universities (although they are pretty similar), so the BTW may or may not be correct. Consult your local Promotionsordnung.

@AndreasH. But actually, what will be the difference between 1 and 2 grade? I mean, how it is important to have 1 instead of 2 in order to get, e.g., a postdoc position? Actually I think that the grade is secret, and I don't have to write it on my CV, if I don't want...

@sintetico: That depends whether the postdoc is in Germany or elsewhere, the U.S. for example. In the US nobody will care since PhD theses are usually not graded and people typically do not understand the German system. In Germany this is most likely different. Also you cannot completely hide the grade, e.g. if you have to supply the PhD certificate or also people might just ask.

@StephanKolassa: this is very true. However the numbers I quoted for the summa cum laude are the German average. But it is true that some Universities are very strict with summa cum laude that and some others not really.

I hope anyway that a couple of good publications are more important than the grade itself.

I would say so. However, since there is a grade in Germany it is never a disadvantage to have a good one. For the US is totally does not matter. But maybe in Germany things are also changing. In my home university there are no longer the grades written on the PhD certificate, it is either summa cum laude ("with distinction") or nothing, i.e. just pass.

I would see if I can find some recent graduates who had one or more of the committee members in their committee and ask them what type of questions were asked. I would also study the CV of each member and read their last 2-3 papers in order to know what they are working on. At my defense one of the committee members asked if my system had ever found an error in a published proof. I had to say that it had - in one of his proofs. I still passed :) Don't worry about the grade. "rite" is perhaps not the best way to a professorship, but in many STEM fields the grade itself is irrelevant.


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How can I select the best platform for organizing a book?
I'm on a team of 10 people contributing to a book organized by the department. As the only contributor under 30, I'm in charge of technical stuff.
The team is comprised of members who are not computer savvy.
Management of citations and changes in a large text are critical to the project.
What features would benefit such a team and how could one convince collaborators to learn & use them?

Will the book contain a lot of figures, tables, and math formulas, or almost only text? Do you need a lot of cross-referencing?

Consider arranging a 1-hour workshop, provide the co-authors with Google accounts (if they don't have), share a Google document with them, and train them: demonstrate how collaboration would be easier and much more productive and exciting (live co-editing, comments, track changes and revisions, chat, notifications by email, no backup needed, editing while in the train and from smartphone, etc) than exchanging a WordPad file in an email thread.

@Orion mainly text but with x-referencing , indeed

Are the authors responsible for different part of the book (e.g., one chapter each on different topics), or do you have to work together on the same text?

@FedericoPoloni a bit of both, that's why it's so complicated

Personally, the first alternative that I would eliminate is Dropbox. With such a large number of collaborators, editing conflicts will drive you mad pretty quickly.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is about coding tools and not academia.

I think http://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/ would be a better fit for this question.

For this site, I think the question should focus on the selecting of the tools more than the tools themselves. That is, a question about how to herd cats and so pick tools that everyone can and is willing to use together does fit academia. As worded, this doesn't really fit, but the bones are sound.

Hence, I'm not voting to close, but do recommend editing the question along those lines.

If you're the only technically-literate person on a team of academics, I would eliminate the options with a learning curve.  Especially since academics tend to be quite resistant to change (well, most people are, but academics even more so) and you mentioned someone uses WordPad (yikes).
Yes, Git or Subversion or the many other collaboration tools out there would work great, but unless you're going to oversee the training of everyone AND they are motivated to change the way they work, it's destined to fail.  It takes practice to be good at these things.
I would recommend two steps:

Use Dropbox with extended version history that everyone can treat just like a drive on their computer
Split the various parts of the book up into many different files.  This way someone can open the file for chapter 1 and work on it while someone else works in chapter 13.

This way, if there ARE any mistakes, or someone edits someone else's work out of existence, Dropbox will handle version control in the background that allows for recovery.  And most importantly, your collaborators won't really need to change many habits for it to work.  Work in a format everyone knows, like Word, and deal with formatting like LaTeX later when the text is completed.

TLDR summary:
Start with your team and figure out what editing tools they are willing to use. Each choice will restrict the next selection: users, writing, editing & reference management, and version control & sharing.
In more detail:
You need a suite of tools covering a range of needs.
(Google Docs represents multiple of these at once, but nowhere near best of breed for any of them.)
I'd focus on the writing and editing. (two very related activities)
The file format matters. TeX-based file formats make a lot of sense, as do SGML formats or XML, but learning and teaching those to everyone may be beyond you.
("DocBook" is a good place to start. IIRC, DocBook is now an XML std..)
If you pick a file format that makes combining constituent files and formatting consistently simple, then you just need to handle version conflicts. If the format is text based, (as all the forms I've mentioned so far are) then you can use pretty much any of the version control software options to show your edits and conflicts betwixt.
For your version control needs, I'd recommend Mercurial. Hg uses a distributed model, so each of you is king of your own castle: you can edit to your heart's desire and synchronize when two of you huddle. If you want a central spot to act as a canon, you simply define one and use it that way.
(It can thus act as a CVCS, while retaining the advantages of decentralization.)
Git and SVG are other popular options. Turning on a document's versioning can also work in some word processors. (WordPerfect and Word among them.)
Speaking of which, if you go with an SGML or XML form, you can still edit it in certain word processors. Word is notoriously bad at this, as well as picky about formats. WordPerfect is surprisingly good at it, and allows a wide array of formats, including user-defined formats. OpenOffice derivatives are very selective in what they do, but, with appropriate extension, can work like this or even LaTeX.
If you want documents that require complex formatting and a word processor for writing and formatting, WordPerfect is best. It creates the fewest hurdles when used as intended. Note, though, it does require a very different way of setting up a document than the others, especially if you are using a non native format like DocBook.
References:
There are multiple options for just the approach to managing references and numbering. One approach is a common storehouse of all the works to be cited. (usually stashed distinctly)
It's possible to simplify, allowing redundancy and just using end or foot notes.
Most word processors have really bad tools built-in. There are multiple competing options, hiwever, for separate reference management utilities.
For my thesis, I used EndNote, which was surprisingly good. It found all of my references and bibliography in my document written and imported them correctly into my archive. Later, when I changed my mind on citation format, it took seconds to update the entire document from parenthetical by name to classical footnotes. Saved at least an hour right there. I don't know if it supports DocBook or any of those sorts of things.
(LaTeX folks use BibTeX among other things)
One nice feature of many version control software packages is smooth integration with web service. Mercurial, for instance, can refer to repositories via uri effectively as any other path. GitHub is an example of a website providing a central stash for various projects, if you don't want to set up your own.
The level of technical ability required for some of these choices is higher, though, and the least common denominator is going to set your options. You really need to get feedback from each member to find out what they are comfortable with.
As noted, DropBox can lead to edit conflicts, but of that's the best you can get everyone to use, well, reality wins. (DB could work as a common share with Hg pretty well)
Choice of format sets editor/noted processor which determines which other tools are available. Hence, your first step is talking with the team.

This is not a bad answer, but unfortunately the question is not really a good fit for this site.

Most of these suggestions have large learning curves.  It's hard to imagine getting 10 technically-inept academics to use them all together effectively.

I agree with both of you, of course.

Maybe I should promote the part about selecting tools based on the team to the top.


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Role of small talk in academia
Small talk in the title refer to the small questions or words that are culturally used in preserving and maintaining relations among people.
The normal small talk are as follows

How are you?

How is your health?

Happy married life.

I am deeply saddened by the news of your brother passing.... etc.,

Actually, all these are more relevant in case of relatives, extended family and personal relations. But, I observed that lots of people in academia network also does the same.
Is there any purpose in small talk? Is not engaging in small talk an improper etiquette?

Consider the situation in which a lab mate underwent a life event and everyone in the lab is wishing or showing condolence for the same. Is it improper to not care about it as it is an personal level or non-academic achievement?

In my experience, the examples you give are all called "small talk" and a "courtesy call" is something that does not happen at universities.

What region of the world are you asking about?

@AnonymousPhysicist Edited.  India........

To paraphrase a popular Academia SE saying: lab mates are people too. Condoling with someone after their relative dies is not a question of etiquette -- it's just being nice.

These seem to be two different questions.

People who work together find it natural to also interact in small (or large) ways not connected to the work itself. We aren't robots programmed to do a job and the job only.
Over time, a certain level of caring might naturally develop among colleagues, even when their primary communication is about work.
And, I'll guess (and predict) that this level of  human contact actually makes the work easier and more efficient when not taken to extremes (three hour poker or D&D sessions, say). I think many of us have the experience that it is harder to work with someone who refuses to do this and sets up a wall of isolation. Integrating a new person into a work environment often takes a fair amount of this sort of interaction.
Life is life. Work is only a part of that. You don't put your human nature in a box when you go to work, I hope.


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Going to a different University for part of my PhD
SHORT: Is it normal -or perhaps "is there likely to be any kind of existing framework"- for me to go and do part of my PhD at another institution? For, say, a summer - although I might prefer something like 5 months or even a year?
DETAILS: I'll now try to explain why I'm thinking about this - while keeping details anonymous!
I am working on "X". I'm very happy to be doing so, but X is not quite a large enough thing to be the entire focus of a PhD - this is something I and my supervisor both believe. I am ~1.3 years into my 4 years of funding.
A few days ago I met "Dr Y" at a conference. With Dr Y, I conceived an idea/project "Z", that is very closely related to X. In my next supervisory meeting I will be talking to my supervisor about Z, and I believe it will excite him, because it fits so nicely into my PhD. So I am going to start working on Z soon; and if Z turns out really well, I might very well want to invest a year or maybe more out of my PhD into Z.
Thing is: Z is deeply integrated into Dr Y's work, but not that of my supervisor. My supervisor's work isn't even very related to X! Which I know is kinda bad, but we've been getting by ok.
However, if Z starts to turn into something cool, maybe you can see why I'd like to go off and work for Dr Y for a bit! He is in the same country but a different institution. Skype conversations and email can do the job but it's nice to be alongside the person whose work you are contributing to.
I believe Dr Y would be willing to make room for me if Z started to look promising. Not sure what my supervisor would think; but of course all of this is contingent on it all being an administrative possibility at all. So what's the verdict?
Further information related to the comments
I feel like this is very different from "transfer for unhappy", because I'm not unhappy and I don't want to permanently transfer. I want to come back to work on project X. If nothing else, there's more paperwork with that, right?
"Ultimately your dissertation needs to be on something that matches the expertise of your supervisor, and that doesn't seem to be the case for Z": Well, it is not particularly the case for X either.
I'd hope to continue using the funds given to me by my current funding source.
I'm based in the UK, but I can't be more specific.

Where in the world are you located? In some places this is not just common but actually a requirement for the PhD.

There is often a provision for "visiting students", and it would almost certainly be possible to arrange the visit if everyone concerned is agreeable.  The question I'd have is, how is working on Z going to help your progress toward your degree at your current university?  Ultimately your dissertation needs to be on something that matches the expertise of your supervisor, and that doesn't seem to be the case for Z.

I believe there could be a few options, from looking at being a "visiting student" or "visiting scholar", just doing summer research (in the US summer is kind of a free-for-all in how people handle it, but that may not be universal), joint PhD programs, and probably others. For future answers, it might help if you tagged at least with a general area/country (like Europe, US, Southeast Asia, etc), and also will you be in need of funding separate from your funding at your home institute?

Possible duplicate of Is transferring to another university an option for an unhappy PhD student?

^Not a duplicate, but related.

I've edited your non-answer in the question, but with a few changes.

As Tobias Kildetoft pointed out in a comment, in some places it is quite common -- and sometimes mandatory -- for a PhD student to spend a period in another group, possibly abroad, frequently paid by the home university (e.g., "study abroad" at my university). The visit period is usually from few months to one year, six months being probably quite common.
I personally consider such an experience an important part in the formation of a researcher.
There's usually no need for a framework. On the part of your home university, what counts are the regulation of your PhD programme, the opinion of your advisor and, sometimes, that of the PhD programme committee. The opinions of advisor and PhD programme committee usually depend on how much the activity in the other group is related to your current one or, more generally, to the topic of your PhD. On the part of the other university, the opinion of the group leader is usually the only thing that matters, especially if funding comes from the home university.
From your description, I think that you can certainly propose the visit to your advisor with chances for a positive outcome. You didn't provide enough details for us to tell you whether your university regulations allow this activity or not, but it's easy to check this with the university administration. Do this check before making the proposal.