text:
I could see what part of the exam paper another student seemed to be focusing on, now I'm worried I was cheating
I suffer from OCD and intrusive thoughts.
I was once in a test and we were given this extract on a page. I had been analysing the top part of the extract, only. Then, I may have seen the other candidate analysing the bottom part of the extract - I saw nothing of their answer, just their pen moving around that area. The area was quite cramped, in terms of the paragraph space, so I'm not sure what exactly happened, but there definitely wasn't any words or answer/notes she was making on that area. The question was on nostalgia and the quotes that were at the bottom actually referred to remembering and ditching memories. This may have prompted me in referring to the quotes in that certain area. Is this cheating and I feel that this helped me, but I didn't see her notes on it.
My biggest anxiety is cheating. There was a weird compulsion to look around to assure myself that I'm not cheating, if you see what I mean? Yes, I saw the other person analysing that part of the extract, but not her notes or answers on that part/quotes. The question was on nostalgia, and the part that the other candidiate was analysing was right at the end. So, I thought, how about I read the ending, since I was only using quotes from the top. When I read the quotes at the end, they were perfect but I thought that I didn't deserve to use them. Then, I thought, it's on one page, why can't I use it? What if I read this part and summarise it so I can use it. It is really frustrating, because I'm not sure I looked with intent towards her direction; it was a hard extract. I feel like killing myself. This is not the true me!

First, take a deep breath. Now, notice you have essentially written the same thing twice, I can almost see you shaking nervously from here. Whatever happened, is done now. Try to clear your head and it'll help you see things more clearly and in perspective.

Honestly, I think this question is not really about academic ethics - it's about your personal emotional state, and that's something that we here are not qualified to help you with, especially as you say you have a diagnosis.  I think this is something to take to your health care provider(s) instead, and (if you are as upset as you sound) urgently.  But good luck!

John, you did not cheat. But with OCD, your mind makes you cycle on the thought "but what if I did?" until you've thought about it enough that you can't remember quite what happened and you think it must be a big deal, because you've been thinking about it. It's just when someone with OCD is driving home and goes over a pothole and the thinks "maybe I hit a person". She goes back and checks, no person of course, but that doesn't provide relief for more than a brief moment. Etc, etc, etc. (1/2)

The good news is that you have a diagnosis, and OCD usually responds well to treatment by CBT or medication. I agree that if cheating is your biggest obsession / worry, you should ask disability services for an empty room as a testing accommodation. This is a completely fair request and you'll be able to perform much better when the OCD is not there stressing you out about other things. Finally, hang in there. Things can feel really dark and scary at times, but you can beat this. Many people have. (2/2)

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because any further advice that is offered is likely to be about mental illness, not about academia. While this advice is well-meaning, this site is not an appropriate place for it; see this meta question for details.

OCD or similar, if formally diagnosed, could be legally considered a disability. Your school would then be obligated to accommodate your needs in an instructional setting.
Taking examinations in a separate room is a very common form of accommodation for students with mental disabilities. Whoever it is in your institution that deals with students with disabilities will be very familiar with this measure. Schools like it because it's easy and cheap to accomplish.
Given how upsetting this experience seems to be for you, and that it sounds like it wasn't a one-off thing, I'd really advise you to get together with your Office of Disability Services or whatever it's called and figure out a way that you can take exams without having to struggle with these challenges.

Oh, and not stress about this thing that's already happened. Because from what you've said it does not sound like academic dishonesty.

I don't think this incident is anything to worry about. Ordinary looking around shouldn't be so easily conducive to seeing another person's test that students start second-guessing what they were intending to do.
However, I recognize this sort of internal response to it (I also have OCD) and would like to encourage you to seek further assistance. OCD easily starts making you wonder whether you meant to sabotage yourself or whether thoughts of bad things might have helped make them happen. Then it leans in and starts taunting you about whether you might be at risk of doing so to a greater degree.
I recommend cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which helped me immensely. Over three months several years ago, I went from being almost unable to concentrate due to my fears of...everything, basically...to having minimal intrusive thoughts (and lots of coping strategies to deal with the ones that showed up). It's hard to believe the difference.
Hang in there! You deserve to find peace-of-mind.

totally agree.  don't make a mountain out of a molehill.

It sounds like you observed something – perhaps even accidentally – that helped you on the exam. If your eyes wandered over there on purpose, actively in search of some help from another unwitting student, then I guess we could call that a form of cheating, albeit a relatively minor one.
On the other hand, if you weren't actively trying to figure out what that other student was doing, but simply noticed something as you glanced in that direction as you gathered your thoughts, then that seems more like the fault of the testing environment, where too many students were clustered too close together.
Sometimes we might notice something that gives us an advantage, even if when we don't want to. (I'm reminded of times where I've seen the solution to a crossword puzzle I was working on, and noticed a word even though I wasn't looking for it. After that's happened, there's no way to purge it from my mind! Incidentally, I've always thought it was a bad idea to print a puzzle's solution on the same page as the puzzle itself – even if it is printed upside-down.)
Anyhow, only you know for sure if your discovery was inadvertent or not. If it was inadvertent, then I wouldn't worry about it all. If it was intentional, then be glad you stopped at getting the hint (i.e., "Read further down the passage") rather than going further and trying to figure out what that other student was writing. In the end, you still had to compose your own answer, even if you did get a gentle, helpful nudge in the right direction.
I wouldn't fret about it; however, if your conscience refuses to let it go, you could always tell your professor what happened, being truthful about whether your observation was intentional, accidental, or some hard-to-explain mixture of the two.

While very well-meaning, I don't think this post shows a nuanced understanding of OCD. Someone with OCD and a biggest anxiety of cheating would never look intentionally. And I don't think that going to the professor is a good idea, especially if you don't also mention the OCD diagnosis. It could be misinterpreted and cause considerable additional anxiety. Nor would going to the professor actually clear your conscience -- the OCD would find a way to worry even when the professor said that it was not a problem.

I'm voting up this answer because of the comparison with the crossword puzzle answer shown on the same page.  This shows good intuition for the OP's problem.

It is hard for you to do your best work when you are expending energy
looking around to assure yourself that you're not cheating, when you find yourself thinking that you don't deserve to use the quotes provided, when you feel like giving up or harming yourself, when you are pulling petals off a mental daisy over and over again, wondering Is this cheating or not, would it be considered cheating or not, etc.
Jane is absolutely right that you can document your OCD and get a plan in place that gives you some accommodations in a streamlined way.  However, in the short term, you can let each of your professors know that you suffer from OCD and need to take your exam in a separate room.  If the professor is reluctant to do that before you've finished documenting your disability, he or she should at least be willing to seat you in the front with no neighbors nearby.
My son also suffers from OCD and intrusive thoughts.  Your description is vivid and quite effective.
I hope you are in, or will soon be in, treatment for your OCD.  The two approaches that have shown good results in studies are

SSRI (= anti-depressant): you have to work your way up, gradually, to a much higher dose than is given for depression.  A general practitioner can start you on this, but a psychiatrist would be needed for the ramping up.  Note: as one is doing the ramping up, sometimes the quality of sleep suffers; and with OCD, sleep difficulties are quite common.  Therefore many people with OCD find it helpful to take a separate medication to prevent or treat insomnia, such as Zaleplon or Trazodone.  A general practitioner can prescribe either of these.
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP): it can be difficult to find someone trained in this.  The International OCD Foundation may be able to help you find someone in your area.  Note, some insurance companies do allow one to work remotely (over Skype).  Fred Penzel's group in Long Island is one group that has experience doing this.

Frequently, the two approaches (SSRI and ERP), are combined.
Forgive me if you already knew about the treatment options.

I want to be very clear that I did not in any way want to suggest any kind of treatment options. My own opinion is that there are significant dangers witn psychiatric medications, and that it's quite risky to offer this kind of counsel.
And, I would recommend that you go directly to your student disability office. They are totally experienced with dealing with instructors, and it takes the burden off of your shoulders of doing it yourself. It also clearly puts the legal burden on the school. This can be a big help when instructors are resistant to accommodation, which unfortunately some are.

@JaneWhittington - No worries.  Your answer spoke specifically about accommodating the disability.  Mine is the one that encourages the OP to seek treatment, provides information about treatments that have fared well in controlled studies, and outlines what sorts of doctors one would work with if interested in finding out more about medications for OCD.

@JaneWhittington - There are some hoops to go through when you go to the student disability office.  It's not as simple as just walking in and saying, Hi, my name is John, and I have OCD.


text:
Can you be a postdoc with funding from a private organization (vs. government funding)?
Can you be a post-doc if you secured funding from a private organization to do research at a university in the social sciences/humanities, or do you have to have governmental funding to do a postdoc?

You could even be self-funded if you have enough money to pay your living expenses and the other costs of your research are covered in some way.

thank you for this, but I specifically asked this question and I was told a clear NO. very strange to hear that you say you can... I am starting to think, would there be a difference from one institution to another?

As @Fomite writes, this might be a (strange) institution-specific rule. They might have a reason for it. I'd suggest you simply ask them why this rule exists.

It is absolutely possible to have a postdoc funded by a private organization - there's nothing about a postdoc inherently tied to a particular type of funding. A couple ways this might happen:

As @Dexter mentions, there are private trusts and charitable organizations that fund research. This can occur either by funding a fellowship directly, or allowing funds from a grant to be used to hire a postdoc.
There are also commercial companies that have research grant programs in a number of fields. It's entirely possible to use the funding from one of these to pay for a postdoc.
A private university could directly pay for a postdoc - for example, as part of a professor's startup package.

Great! This makes sense, but I was told that you can only be a post doc if you get funded from a federal funding or like a Fullbright... No private company can fund you for a post doc, but you can be a visiting scholar in terms of international researchers... I am starting to dought this advice I received!

@Ree If that advice is true, it's institution-specific.

i am going to check this now!

Short answer: Yes, you can apply for post doc position in university if you have private funding. (Example of such funding is wellcome trust funding for Humanities and social science)
Warnings: You should always check norms with your funding agencies and universities because some times it is possible to have conflict of interest between both.

sounds convincing. I thought the only restriction to apply for a postdoc is that it has to be within 5 years of earning your phd. I was shocked to hear that private companies can not fund for a post doc. Again, I am seriously doubting this piece of info I was given.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


text:
Is it better to do undergraduate research in the summer, or during the school year?
Also, if an undergrad does research during the school year, are they expected to be as productive as someone working during the summer?  Do professors calibrate their opinions of students to account for how many hours a week they've said they could commit?

I think the main question is a false dichotomy. Most students don't have a choice between either doing research over the summer or doing it during the year. As long as it doesn't interfere with your grades or other activities, more research is always a good thing, no matter when it happens.
That said, in my experience you should simply have a conversation with your professor (or direct supervisor, who will often be a grad student or post-doc) about time commitment and expectations. No one expects you to do the same amount of work in 10-15 hrs/week that you might do in 30 hrs/week, and no one expects you to work full-time while taking a full course load. As with many things in life, just make sure to communicate about expectations.

"no one expects you to work full-time while taking a full course load" - I don't know... have you been to the United States?

"Yes"
The somewhat flippant answer is that, if possible and blessed with the choice, you should do both. Gaining more experience is, generally speaking, a good thing. Now more specifically, there are some good sides and bad sides to both:

Summer: Lots of time not dedicated to doing other things means, well, lots of time you can spend doing research. For many fields, experiments require large chunks of time, and it can be easier to find those in the summer, when you don't have to worry about making it to your next French class or whatnot. Additionally, there are lots of summer-specific research opportunities, ranging from field work experience to REUs, which may mean more funding, and which often mean people are "used" to having undergrad researchers around in the summer months.
School Year: In some disciplines, summer is also very busy. For example, one of my field's major conferences is in the summer, meaning I'll be both gone, and distracted before and after. For some fields, it's also prime field-work season, which means if you're in a lab or a theoretician, things might get a bit lonely. Similarly, people do like taking vacations in the summer. It's also often easier to work in "Research for Class Credit" during the school year.

Also, if an undergrad does research during the school year, are they
  expected to be as productive as someone working during the summer?

Not if their supervisor is being reasonable. Generally speaking, summers are fairly unencumbered for undergraduates, in a way the school year isn't. If someone is balancing classes, exams, etc. it's fairly unrealistic to expect them to be as productive as they would be in the summer, unless their summer hours are extremely limited (due to say...funding).

Do professors calibrate their opinions of students to account for how
  many hours a week they've said they could commit?

Again, assuming they're being reasonable, yes.

Are you planning on doing research for a professor or independent research?
If the former, it's best to do what's most convenient for the professor. I've found that it can be difficult to do supervised research over summer because everyone really feels like it should be break. On the other hand, professors usually have a lot of other commitments that they've planned to cram into the summer, and they might end up not giving you as much feedback as you'd like. You should really talk to the professor to work it out.
I've noticed that professors will admit to being incredibly busy but often won't cut students slack unless something out of the ordinary has happened. But this is because (often times) they've hired a student to help precisely because they're too busy to do it. If they cut you slack, then their work won't get done.
If it's independent research - even if you're doing it for course credit - then I only recommend doing it during the school year if you're otherwise taking a relatively easy semester. Also make sure to plan to give yourself a break around midterms and final. If you want to write a final paper, get it done at least two weeks before finals. I've found that it's really best to do independent research during the summer, but that's only true if you're incredibly self-motivated and self-disciplined (though really you need those traits to do research at all).

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
How can I narrow down my CS research interests when my undergrad institution doesn't have a large CS department?
I am currently a 4th year CS senior from a smaller liberal arts school with a small CS department.  So far, I've pursued a few semesters of opportunities to do one-on-one research with my head of department, but these research opportunities have been limited to his Post-Doctoral field of work (classifier algorithms and biometric analysis).
I was hoping to get a better idea of other graduate programs that schools offer before attempting to apply to graduate school in a month or so.  Is there a good way to go about this given that my school's departmental resources are so small?

Could you clarify your question? Are you asking what the best way is to find out about what fields of research are available in computer science, or are you asking what other fields are available in general?

I have a general idea of each research field (I've seen the graduate school websites in the application process.  Fields offered include graphics, Artificial Intelligence, Computational Science, ect). but am looking more for the best way to physically research more on these specific topics.  Since I only have a month left, I'm realistically looking at a "quick and dirty" sort of exposure so that I can steer my applications towards those graduate programs.  Something less than a undergrad research project, but something more than a summary of that field online.

Why do you want to narrow your research interests at this point?

I'm in an analogous situation. I'm one year out post-undergrad, and am applying to programs this month as well. I also came from a relatively small program, and didn't have a great idea of what direction I wanted to go in.
What I did (and this is perhaps not the most efficient), is I went to the webpages of some schools I was considering, and looked through all of the CS faculty's personal pages. Be forewarned, many of them are badly designed, but a lot of them also have a short description of what the professor's research is about, in their own words. From these descriptions, I started to get a better idea of what did and did not interest me, and it gave me specific people to mention in my applications.
Of course, this approach relies on you having a relatively small list of schools that you're considering. If your list is more than 20 or 30, I could see this becoming too much, or if you have no idea where to start, it might also not be great.

authors: 超美颜暴走第三部水性杨花_濑亚美莉vs雨宫琴音有凤来仪


text:
Question regarding papers under review
After submitting a paper to a journal, the paper will be sent to a reviewer by editor in such a way the name of authors will be hidden for referee.
In some cases in the list of references, sometimes there exists papers belong to authors which cite them by authors in the paper. In other words, it is not difficult to extract the name of authors from the reference list, isn't it? How can this issue be managed (in the case of importance of not-knowing the name of authors for referee)?

This is the sort of thing the author (not the editor) needs to fix before submitting to a journal using double blind review. The journal will have a policy on how this is to be done.

I marked one possible duplicate, but what you are interested in general is "double blind review" as the answer you got points out; if you search on this stack for those terms you will find several previous questions similar to this one.

Many review processes are single-blind rather than double-blind (that is often the reviewer knows the identity of the authors but the authors don't know the identity of the reviewer).
One of the arguments in favor of single-blind review is precisely the one you outline: its almost impossible to hide the identity of authors, particularly if the field isn't so large, even if the names in the author list are blanked out (and how can you review a paper properly if you can see the references).
Single vs Double blind review is a topic of some controversy, with much written about the pros and cons of each. But I think its fairly clear that there is no good solution to the problem you outline.

To expand, the most logical response really is to just do it by field. Smaller fields or fields where style of approach is very easy to identify should do single-blind, and fields where that's easier to hide should do double blind. As far as I can tell, that's roughly the norm now.

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


text:
MLA: in-text citations from one work - do I need to restate the author every paragraph?
MLA formatting question:
I'm writing a paper on Ernest J. Gaine's A Gathering of Old Men. This is the only work I am citing. When using in-text citations, do I need to restate the author in every paragraph, or is a page number sufficient? For example:

Tucker said, "Hey, Mapes" (Gaines 1). This is my interpretation of this quote.
Later in the novel, Tucker said, "Howdy, Mapes" ((Gaines) 2). Here is my interpretation of this quote.

Is the second "Gaines" necessary?

You do not need to include the author's name in every citation, as long as you make it clear that you're only using one source.  I say this based on the MLA guidelines found here.
Specifically, you should look under the section "In-text citations: Author-page style", which states that the author's name doesn't need to be cited in the parentheses as long as he/she is mentioned in the text.

As long as the author or the text (if there is only one author) is made clear, you're good.  I tend to go ahead and add the fuller reference if it's been more than a page or so or a paragraph or two just to be extra clear (it's never wrong to give the full citation).

The golden rule for citing, imho, is:

The provenance of each idea/concept should be clear to the reader.

When I'm doing section of methodology, in which I explain one particular mathematical theory, for instance, I say that all definitions in this section came from this book, at the start, then I don't cite it again in that section. If I use it again, in other section, then I'll cite again.
In your case, as long as you don't give the impression that it is your original content, it should be clear which is the corresponding citation. This can be a bit tricky, but it is very important, because otherwise it would be plagiarism and that's a whole can of worms...
Of course, this might be different for your field!

It is common to use 'ibid' to refer back to the previous citation, and you can include also the new page number.
ibid

ibid is not used in MLA.


text:
Should the marker be responsible for explaining assignments and exams or the instructor?
Some instructors tell their students to ask the markers about the questions on assignments and exam papers after they are marked. But many markers are not quite familiar with textbook or other teaching material. Who do you think should take the most responsibility in answering students questions on assignments and exam papers, markers or the instructors?

How can the "markers" competently do their jobs if unfamiliar with textbook or teaching material? Strange premiss to the question.

Is a "marker" dramatically different than a "teaching assistant"?

I know about about, I wonder should the markers be familiar with what they are marking before they do the job. Like the tutorial TA.

@tonysdg Some universities seperate TA and marker, and some don't.

Both, of course.

That depends very much on the type of questions.
Normally a marker who is not the course supervisor / instructor should be given a sufficiently detailed marking schedule. However, even for a very detailed  schedule there often is still room for a marker to make judgement calls, and the marker should clearly apply these as consistently as possible. When students simply want to understand why they got the marks they got, then that question should be answered by the marker, in particular when such judgement calls are involved. When a student does not agree, this should be escalated to the instructor.
Other questions, for example whether the marking schedule itself is correct, or whether an alternative answer got the right number of marks, should in my view be answered by the supervisor / instructor -- any dispute over such a matter will in the end involve him/her anyway.
And as a student, If I have reason to believe that the marker is not too familiar with the material, I would go straight to the instructor.

I was a marker before. Some students did come to meet me but I just found out they just didn't know why they are wrong or being self-righteous. I was not experienced then so I didn't know how to deal with. For these students I will suggest them to talk to the instructor directly.

In the end, the instructor of the course is responsible for all the grading. However, they can and do delegate parts of the grading to other people, e.g. t the people they hire to mark exams. These markers do their best, but if they are in doubt they have to inform the instructor, so the can decide.
What if a student complains about the grade? Of course, the instructor has the final word, but it still makes sense that the marker can be the first person of contact, since the marker has done the work, they should be capable of explaining the reason behind. If this does not solve the problem, the problem have to be passed on to the instructor who has the full responsibility for the final outcome.
So, some important considerations are

The instructor has to ensure good quality of the grading (by hiring good people, giving assistance and support,…).
The markers should know about their responsibilities, e.g. if the instructor expects them to explain their grading to the students. If you are hired as a marker you can ask the instructor in advance how this matter will be handled.

When I handle grading of larger classes, I usually tell the team of markers, that I will handle all complaints directly, but that's just how I handle it.

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


text:
No jobs near me, no means to move. What can I do?
I studied chemistry at the University of Belgrade and finished with a masters degree. Unfortunately there aren't many job openings near me and my family and me lack the funds for me to move out from them.
I tried applying for teaching positions to start saving money, but I was unable to find someone who would employ me, since I lack the expertise, they say.
With no job in sight and no money to move I find myself trapped in Belgrade, not able to follow my passion and profession.
I tried applying at different universities for a PhD position, but again, no luck.
What I want to ask is, what options do I have left? Ideas or experiences are much appreciated.
Update
I tried applying for all sorts of public teaching positions, but was turned down every time.
With family I mean my parents, with whom I still live.
Unfortunately, there isn't a career services office in Belgrade (as far as I know).
I guess I will continue to try and apply for PhD positions and try my hand at landing a private teaching job, although those are hard to find as well.
Is there any advice on where my question might be better placed, if not here?

The only thing I can share with you is my plan Z, for when everything else fails: flip burgers, clean toilets, whatever you can to get a roof over your head and food on the table. Sad, yes, but sometimes not even a phd and experience will save you :(

Does the University of Belgrade not have a "career services" department? Universities in the US normally always have people whose job it is to help students find a job. Or talk to your professors?

You can apply for scholarships and/or paid internships internationally.

Apply for all kinds of phd scholarships you can find..  all over the world. there are lots of these. If you don't want one, fabio dias plan Z might be your choice

Not sure what your current financial situation is....  If you think it could be helpful to build up some teaching credentials, you might want to consider teaching young people.  In the U.S. it is often possible to get work as a substitute high school teacher; there is a high demand for STEM.  I think substitute teachers might be called "supply teachers" in the UK.

Similar to @aparente001's suggestion, have you considered private tutoring? You can set the hours you want to work (to fit in around a Plan Z job perhaps) and probably earn more per hour than a teacher employed in a school would. Once you have more experience, try again with the applications.

Government work. Industry. Teaching non-universities (primary and secondary school).

What does family mean? Parents or wife and child?

Keep healthy and happy and be faithful.


text:
Are all permanent positions "tenure-track"?
I was offered a permanent position as a "senior researcher" in Europe without teaching responsibilities. As some of you may know, the term "tenure" is getting more and more popular in Europe.
"Can this position be called "tenure-track" since, to my best knowledge, tenure is connected with professorships?"
After reading the comments below of why "are you asking that?"
Here is why:

What can I write in my CV to say that I'm proud of my permanent position?
Feeling honoured of that, and before leaving my current work, you know in academia, your colleagues might ask what is your next position safety-level? Is it professional to say "a tenure position"?

Leaving aside the language problem ("tenure-track" doesn't necessarily exist as a concept in whichever country this is, and "professorship" might mean something closer to "head of department" than "lecturer"), this looks like an XY question. "Can be called" in what context? Are you worrying about what you'll write on your CV in the future? About how to explain it to a friend/colleague/whatever who only knows the US system? About what your chances are of promotion to a teaching position? Something else?

There are institutions where non-faculty researchers can be tenured (including my current institution) and there are many institutions around the world where there is no such thing as "tenure."  Thus the premises of the question are false and the question should be closed.

Researcher titles are generally given to people who do not have regular lecturer/ professor position - so in that context I don’t know if tenure-track has any meaning.

Your CV isn't where you write how proud you are of your new position. Try your blog ;) The CV should just list the job title that you were given. As for your colleagues, I'm sure you can make them plenty jealous just by saying "a permanent research position with no teaching duties"...

@nengel lol, and is that something they can be jealous of?

Well, some people genuinely love teaching, but for many others, yes they will be jealous. Research output counts a lot more for hiring decisions at research universities than teaching experience, so it's often felt to be taking away valuable research time...

Tenure track is, at least in my experience, typically associated with a position leading to a full professorship. In many countries, tenured professors have employment rights that go beyond the laws for regular permanent positions, conferring them independence to do their job with (almost) complete academic freedom.
A permanent position is just that - a permanent position, subject to the typical labor laws in most countries. I would not call it tenure or tenure track.

Nobody really uses the word 'tenure' where I'm working (France, maybe it's different elsewhere in Europe). A permanent job can (or can not) lead to a professor track - it would really depend on OP's title. You can have permanent 'academic' jobs (Assistant Prof) which do, or permanent (e.g. Research Engineer) jobs which don't lead to a permanent professor job. What is your title OP?

The OP specifically referred to Europe, where these things vary between countries and compared to the US and elsewhere. This answer seems like roughly the correct answer for a US-based context, though there are exceptions where "tenure" exists for non-'professor' job titles (and professorships that are not part of tenure-track). Certainly I agree though that "permanent" and "tenure-track" are not at all synonymous.


text:
Ending a Collaboration?
Here's the scenario. I am an expert in a subject X and I would like to combine it with method Y to do something new. I have a distant connection to someone who co-authored a book on Y and I approached him suggesting a collaboration. He responded positively as X is interesting to him.
My collaborator then pulled in a PhD student to look at the problem but he was not good and nothing happened. He has now pulled in another PhD student but his work is equally disappointing. I think he must have spent a week putting together some really buggy code that does not do even the simplest version of X. In the meantime (about 2 months) I think I have learned enough about Y to be able to do the whole thing myself. So I am not longer sure if there is any value to me in the collaboration, especially as getting the students to do the work right may take longer than me doing it.
Would it be reasonable to ask to end the collaboration ?

Would it be reasonable to ask to end the collaboration ?

Short Answer
Yes and no. Collaborations established as you outline are mutual investments in future promise, not official (legal, written) contracts in shared workload or in shared distributions to any returns in investment. However collaborations entered in the way you that have outlined are not just street-corner banter about hopes for shared adventures at some future point. In short, what is reasonable to do for a lack of contractual obligations may be unreasonable (and disrespectful) to do preemptively if not unilaterally in respect to (written and time-honored) codes for professional conduct.
Longer Answer
Perhaps. Consider these questions.

You hedge about the level in investment you will need to make to do the work versus the investment for your collaborator to train a student do the work "right". Presumably you mean no insult because of course you will also have to do the work "right" (whatever that means). Are you certain that you have gauged well enough the distinction between what you will have to invest versus to do the work "right" versus what a properly prepared student under structured mentorship might be able to do "right" (and perhaps even better than you) given the same time + resources?

Have you considered the alternative that, with your supposedly new-found insights, you could propose to take charge to provide a student who will meet the criteria that are needed (because you presume to know as much now as your collaborator)? Have you weighed this option as a way to allow you to continue the shared collaboration?

You are at liberty to make a preemptive, unilateral decision to end the collaboration. However, in the same line as the approach you took to ask for help, have you considered whether all that you need to do is ask for a hard discussion to air your frustrations and re-align the collaboration more closely to your growing awareness?

You did not state whether you made verbal agreements upfront on the eventual distribution for products from the collaboration such as intellectual property, publications, or patents. If so, what considerations do you have and do you believe that your collaborator has regarding how a breakup in the collaboration should change those agreements?

In summary, whatever your decision, approach making it with the same respect that you took when you approached the colleague to initiate the collaboration. What were your interests when you started the collaboration and how well informed is your collaborator now about your growing frustrations because your interests are no longer being met?

It's certainly reasonable to ask to end a collaboration that is unfruitful, but the request should come with a discussion about what credit (e.g., acknowledgments, authorship, etc.) are already owed in relation to the inchoate collaboration.
In this situation, I'd recommend an opening communication with your distant expert connection letting him know that you're not happy with the progression of the project, you think the collaboration is not working, and you'd like to have a discussion about how to dissolve the collaboration in a manner that gives all parties proper credit for their work.  You should acknowledge that you were the one who initiated the collaboration and you should avoid making any criticisms of any errors made on their end for the moment.  (It might be fruitful to have some kind of a debrief later where you both do a quick audit of why the collaboration didn't work, and what you can learn from that failure, but that would come later.)  Bear in mind that your collaborator might prefer to continue the collaboration, but be open to making changes to his practices to improve things for you (e.g., do more of the work himself instead of giving it to his PhD students).  Decide in advance whether you are open to a reform of the collaboration as opposed to ending it, and if you are, what you would require for things to work.  In any case, the first step would just be to start a respectful discussion where you can chat with each other to see if the collaboration can be salvaged, and if not, what a fair dissolution of the collaboration might look like.

To add to what Jeffrey already wrote:
It is like (to a certain extent) asking how to end a friendship because one becomes able to enjoy watching a movie (or doing anything) alone.
These kinds of issues in voluntary/non-binding collaboration are very common and justifiable. It is maybe very important for you to incorporate Y in X but for the other party, it might be just a nice idea that is worth realise. I presume your collaborator is a professor or a team lead who has a lot of duties and projects to complete. The same thing for his/her PhD students whose theses might be on a different topic. They can also be new in research and, normally, they do not accomplish anything.
Now back to what to do:
Preferable solution
Since you mentioned that you master Y now, did you consider co-supervising the PhD students (in this specific project I mean)? With this, you strengthen the collaboration, support your collaborator and help junior researchers do research.
Acceptable solution
You realize the idea yourself but you still consider the other party collaborator who can co-author your findings. --although your collaborators do not realize the idea with you, they spent time trying to realize it and they gave you consultancy in Y--
Not recommended but possible
You ask for a meeting and inform your collaborators that you need to speed up the realization (I am pretty sure you have valid reasons) and you will try to do it yourself and that you can further collaborate in improving work or you suggest another idea that you can realize together without being pressured with time.
In summary, when the collaboration is established, it never ends even if the project is over. Instead, it is suspended until a new idea/project comes up and then you contact your former collaborator directly and you know what he/she is capable of.

I do not see why calling them up is not recommended - the arrangement as-is is not working out. Communication in these issues seems to be better than, well, silently doing your own thing.

The PhD student is a student of the collaborator and is 5000 miles away. I could supervise them but I have no formal role to do that and to be honest, it's not my job.


text:
Tanked the GRE Writing section, should I retake before applying to CS Ph.D.?
I am looking into applying to a computer science ph.D program. I have 94% and up in the Quantitative and Verbal section but have tanked the writing section with a 17% (score of 3).
I am currently a master student (3.85 GPA) the program is ranked at around 55 in the US, should have great letters of recommendation, but I will not publish my research until after application deadlines. So I would have only one publication at a great conference but as a second author.
Should I retake the GRE?
Thank you very much

Seeking advice on retaking the GRE I believe can be on-topic here, but schools to aim for is close-worthy (no shopping), and your chance at specific universities isn't generally answerable. If you edit down your question to the 1-question per post guidelines I think this has a better chance of being answerable.

Difficult question.  Some universities impose minimum scores to keep their selectivity rankings high. However, some advisors won't care, especially given the discipline.  If you're courting an advisor, let him or her know and ask for advice. If you're applying blindly to programs, the score will probably hurt.
At the same time, as an advisor I would see such a score disparity as a fluke, and probably interview you anyway.
In the end, it's a competitive environment. If you think you can do much better, then definitely retake it. Study first :)

authors: Акылбек Тохметов


text:
Should I accept this invitation to conference PC?
I have received an e-mail inviting me to join the program committee (PC) of a well-established and renowned conference in computer science.
The e-mail looks genuine, based on the sender address and the links provided to accept the invitation.
However, I do not directly know the guy writing to me (though he seems to be a respectable researcher, after I googled his name), and the e-mail is not tailored at all on my profile: it looks automatically generated, and does not specify at all why they chose me.
Is that normal, or should that ring some bells?
Thanks in advance.

They may have heard your name at a conference, saw you presenting, read one of your paper, know your co-author… This seems pretty normal to me (they just entered your email in the conference management system), but you can always write back to ask for clarifications. I don't think the invitations ever say why you are being picked (not to my knowledge, in any case).

@Clément: thank you for your useful comment. Which looks more like an answer, btw :)

Sounds perfectly normal to me, assuming the conference is something related to your own area of expertise (something in which you have published or you might reasonably want to publish).

That's really normal. Regarding the question why they selected you, also check if there's any other program (co-)chair involved, or if you know someone on the steering committee personally.

Another possibility: Your advisor or another mentor declined their invitation and recommended to invite you instead.

@anon As you can see, some people developed some other aspects that are important, so it was really more of a comment! Congrats on having being selected to become a PC member ;-)

If your alarm bells are ringing, but the offered position is attractive, then there are ways to check it out without causing problems.
Example: The person who's name is on this invite will have contact information outside this particular email. A phone number or email that you don't get from this email, for example, but from their institution or some such. That way, if the email is not legit you are not going through the channel it has provided. Contact that person using that independent contact info. The approach could be something like so:

Hello well-known-person-running-a-conference. I have received this email inviting me to join the PC for well-known-conference. What would be involved? How much time and effort is expected to be required? What other requirements are there?

Then if the person responds with ready information you can simply decide if the amount of work is acceptable. If they respond with "who are you and how did you get my name?" then possibly the original email is not so legit.

I'd replace What would be involved? How much time and effort is expected to be required? What other requirements are there? with How many papers would I be expected to review?, perhaps keeping What other requirements are there? (The OP should know the first answer and no one can answer the second, so I wouldn't ask them.)

I take the comment as friendly and gave it thumbs-up. But, it's not necessarily the case that somebody on the PC reviews papers. They might do. But there are lots of things that people on the PC might be doing.  The PC for such a convention have a wide range of tasks they must accomplish. As to time expectations, there better be some basic estimates of this, or joining up is a blank check.

I've never encountered a PC that didn't require reviewing. The non-reviewing roles I've encountered are given a different title. I'm surprised to learn disciplines vary in this way! Thanks for your comment.

Is that normal, or should that ring some bells?

It is normal to have
received an e-mail inviting me to join the program committee

even better that it is for
a well-established and renowned conference

and that it
looks genuine

Personally, I would have already accepted the invitation.

However, I do not directly know the guy writing to me

That's normal, you can't know everyone directly. Given that the conference is well-established and renowned, you should expect to find he seems to be a respectable researcher, after I googled his name.

[T]he e-mail is not tailored at all on my profile [and] does not specify at all why they chose me

I'm not surprised, it most likely was automatically generated. Hand-crafting individual PC invitations is time-consuming and not really necessary, IMO.

This is no good advice nowadays. The looks and content of an email can be misleading. I get so many invitations to conferences and offers to join program committees or similar, so yes, it is very common. But I am very sure that most of it is fake or phishing. Some emails look very good though, and a successful phishing attempt can cause a lot of trouble. I therefore would follow @puppetsock's more distrustful advice and check by some way independent of the invitation email that the message is genuine. It does not even cause more work.

@Alexander I've never fallen for a fake or phishing, they are largely obvious. puppetsock's approach is time-consuming, for multiple parties, and seems unnecessary. The OP mentions links were provided to accept - these are typically easily verifiable

Agreed: if the URL of the link is actually on either the conference domain or a well-known provider (CMT, EasyChair, ...), you should be fine, and there's not enough risk that it's phishing to waste people's time by verifying out of band imo.


text:
How to justify an application for research funding if the only cost is my own academic or intellectual labour (without any equipments) etc?
I am applying for a small research grant.
However, I would not need to spend the funds for anything project-related (e.g. equipments, access to databases, travel costs etc). I only need to spend time reading related works, code a bit, and write a paper.
In other words, I would take take the fund as a salary for my academic labour.
Now, the application form asks me to explain how I plan to use the funding. What would be the best way to respond to this question when I only incur the personal costs covering the time for my intellectual work?

Who usually pays your salary? Are you currently employed by a university or similar to do research?

Why is stuff in quotes, you are asking for a salary, and it is intellectual?

It may be as simple as "Salary for the PI, N months at $XXXX per month", together with a justification as to why N months is an appropriate amount of time.  Though keep in mind that some small grant programs may not be interested in funding salaries.

You should speak with your university's sponsored research office.  They will know.

It would help to know more context- what country?  what funding organization?  Are you already employed by a university or other organization?  Are you on a 9-month or 12-month contract?

Now, the application form asks me to explain how I plan to use the funding. What would be the best way to respond to this question when I only incur the personal costs covering the time for my intellectual work?

Funding will cover x% of monthly salary costs for the PI, over the duration of the project. (The remaining y% will be funded by the PI's university to perform duties beyond the project scope.)

I only need to spend time reading related works, code a bit, and write a paper.

Those activities will require office space, IT equipment, etc. Those expenses can typically be included.

But then the university employer would actually see the benefit and the OP see nothing additional, either in money or in equipment or travel or ...

"Those activities will require office space, IT equipment, etc. Those expenses can typically be included."  In the US context, for federal research grants, these costs are not charged directly to the grant but are considered "indirect costs" These are lumped together at a negotiated %-age rate as "overhead".  Your university will tell you what overhead rate to use on grant proposals.

@Buffy Yes.....

@BrianBorchers Exactly: It's a painful procedure


text:
# as abbreviation of "Number of"/"Count of"
I'm writing a scientific paper, and I seen a lot of times the abbreviation # for 'number of' or similar, for example if we are counting events, I seen expressed the results as,
# type1 = 100,    # type2 = 140 ...
Is a formal way to express it? or is colloquial, I could not find this information explicitly nowhere.

In math, some people use #A, others |A| to denote the cardinality of the set A. I would assume that a vast majority of people in related fields would understand this symbol in that way.

Why not assign a proper variable name $N_i$ to type $i$? I have no doubt people will understand the style you propose, but it wouldn't be my choice and the syntax is not as well defined as a formal mathematical statement. I realize LaTeX is not supported in the comments here, what I mean with $$ is to use mathematical typesetting like the one available in LaTeX.

As you say, it's quite common to see # used for e.g. detector counts in papers. It's a rather self-descriptive notation in that it's not necessary to formally introduce a variable. However, it can become a bit messy if it's a quantity included in formulas or repeated several times, in which case rhermans' suggestion would be the preferred approach.

What are you asking? If it's OK to do? (Personally, I'd write ": " not "=", but that's not what you asked)

Possibly related to https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/90816/


text:
Citing programming packages
I wanted to ask how to cite python packages into a scientific article.
I used a code package for my project and I can not find a scientific publication of the package I used. Exist a standard to cite this type of informatic tools, or a standard way to cite a github page?
In my case I'm using python and in the python packages page (for example)  they don't say how this should be cited.
Thanks a lot!

Are you sure the package you are citing will still exist in 10 years?

@markvs Not OP, but I don't see why not. The v1 release was 10 years ago after all. Whether it'll be maintained in 10 years time is a different question.

That is what I had in mind. If the software is not maintained, the reference does not make much sense. It is easier to just acknowledge: "This project was conducted using  made by <...>"


text:
Meaning of "graduate"
I am currently a student in a European university in the fourth year (first year of which is called "master").
On the Internet, it is said undergraduate students to refer to students in a bachelor.
But, what is the exact terminology?
Do we say that a student involved in a master is a graduate student? Then how do we call someone who does have a master's degree (and involved or not in a Ph.D)?
My question may seem unclear but I try to understand the correct use of undergraduate, graduate,... in order to be able to introduce myself correctly and to understand at which level are my interlocutors.


text:
University does not explicitly request either a motivational letter or recommendation letters
I am applying to University of Helsinki for Master degree, just filed the application. But the weird thing about it - they do not explicitly ask neither for letter of motivation nor recommendation letters. They only mention motivational letter very briefly on just one page, but after I filed online application their system said that I just need to provide my transcript of records and degree certificate, that's it.
The other thing that confused me - in the online application they asked me to write brief message why I am applying to their university (under 2000 symbols). They didn't call it "motivational letter", but can it be that they take this short 2000 symbols online input form for motivational letter? I highly doubt it, but then I don't see the point of writing it, when they will have the same thing(even more detailed) provided to them in separate letter.
As for recommendation letters - I think they don't mention it at all, at least on the main pages concerning applications for Master degree.
This is not common for Finnish university, many other universities explicitly demand recommendation and motivational letters.
My question is - can I be sure that the admission board will read my motivational and recommendation letters? I always thought that the main thing admission board looks at are these two type of documents, am I wrong?

Each place is different. Make sure you provide what they ask, in the manner they asked, that's it. Then let the committee do its job.

Finnish students are typically granted a permission to study the Bachelor's and Master's degrees both with a single application after completing upper secondary school. Therefore, there is practically no culture of writing recommendation letters before the PhD level, and even then it is kind of a rare thing.
The situation is only slightly different for foreign students, since the universities want to make sure they are recruiting good students, given that there are no tuition or other fees except the compulsory 100€ per year for almost all-inclusive dental and other health care.
In the specific page you link to, it is stated that

Admission will be based on the grade, applicability of the previous degree, the motivation letter, and the possible preliminary assignment which is used to assess the applicability of the applicant’s previous competence.
The applicant must enclose with his or her application a copy of the diploma, an official transcript of completed studies and a motivation letter describing the applicant’s personal goals and reasons for applying.

Therefore, it would appear on a first look that no recommendation letters are sought, which is what I would expect.
The comments asked for additional clarification. For example, the Faculty of Social Sciences of University Helsinki writes

Please, submit only documents required. Any additional documents like articles written by an applicant, recommendation letters etc. will not be included for evaluation of an application. If a research plan (including references) is longer than 5 pages, the extra pages will be cut out.

in their PhD application guidelines. In most cases, the system here is just very different.
Anyway: better safe than sorry. Ask them what to do.

I see a certain discrepancy between your statement "there is practically no culture of writing recommendation letters before the PhD level, and even then it is kind of a rare thing" and the OP's statement "[no mention of recommendation letters] is not common for Finnish university, many other universities explicitly demand recommendation and motivational letters" that might require being addressed ... somehow.

@O.R.Mapper I added one more example from University of Helsinki.

I was talking about for example Aalto university, that asks for recommendations and motivation letter in required documents section e.g. here
Thanks for the answer. I wrote them email about this issue and waiting for the answer(couldn't call, because admission services are closed on Mondays)


text:
Getting a recommendation letter when applying for a job before finishing graduate program
I am midway through the third year of a five year graduate program. Grad school has been fine and I am not struggling academically but there is a full-time job offering in my city (in a field related to my program) that is very interesting to me. If I take this job, I will leave my graduate program. I am not considering leaving my program for any other jobs.
What is the best way to go about applying for this job? The application requires two references and I will have a challenging time finding references that are not professors in my program. I would prefer that these professors not know that I am considering leaving the program, as I would like to stay in school if I am not offered the job or if I decide that it is not for me after all.

The question is not very clear, you said "I am not considering leaving my program for any other jobs." but then "What is the best way to go about applying for this job?" If this job works out are you leaving the program?

Yes, I will leave my program if I take this job. Question slightly edited for clarity.

Sorry, but your problem is overconstrained. If you need two references, and all your potential references are professors, well, obviously at least two of your professors will know about your application. You could ask them not to tell others, but that's about it. In case you don't get the job you'd have to rely on them being professional about it. I'd generally expect them to be, but you know your professors better than we do.
Basically, you'll have to decide what you want the most - the job or no one to know that you're interested in the job. Alternatively, see if one or two constraints can be relaxed, including the constraints you haven't mentioned explicitly. For example, would the company be interested in waiting to hire you after graduation? Can you graduate earlier than planned? The latter is done every now and then when people are leaving for postdocs, so it's not out of the question.

I'll assume that you have a great relationship with your professor. Otherwise this would be riskier. Just tell him that an "interesting offer" came up that you think would be worth exploring, though it might require dropping out of the program. I assume that he will have advice for you, which would be good to follow in general. But if you  present it in such a way, he and others may be happy to help you with your "exploration".
If you have obligations (family, etc) that make employment rather than continuing more desirable, you could mention that, of course.
But it would be a mistake to telegraph that you are tentative about the degree. People have the right to explore their options. Other people generally recognize that right.
But if your relationship with your advisor or other professors is, in any way, tenuous, you should probably seek recommendations elsewhere.


text:
Will already having a masters degree make it harder to get funding for a second masters in Europe?
If a person who already has M.Sc degree (from the university outside of Europe) wants to enter European university for another M.Sc degree, would having M.Sc degree be a hindrance for getting a scholarship or other kind of funding?

No.Most of the programs do not care.rather its a plus point for you.

Is your previous masters in the same field of study or a different field?

I think scholarships for a Masters are rather rare in continental Europe, could you clarify in which country you plan to apply for scholarships?

@ff524 previous M.Sc degree is "Information Systems and Technology". Later, I would like to study Computer Science. Is  it a different field?

Based on my experience, asking this question about a "European university" is too broad. Some countries require tuition, some don't. Some universities have available seats, some don't. Some places a second degree will probably help, others hurt. I would suggest finding the exact university you wish to apply for and then contact e.g. their student councilling service.

It really depends on the exact degree you already hold and when and where you earned it, and what you want to study at this European school, and why. For admissions purposes you should explain in your SOP why you need another degree in the same field.


text:
Asking professors’ help on proposal
I am applying to a master program. The application requires a pre-proposal for a project that is relevant to scholarships. Although I have a specific topic to write my pre-proposal about, I am not totally aware of the latest research in this very special sub-field. Is it acceptable for both the university I am applying to, and a professor working on this field, to ask for help and clarity on my chosen topic? First, should the pre-proposal be originally my own idea? Second, do professors think it is okay to give me hints on writing my pre-proposal? Of course, in the end, I will write the pre-proposal by my own.

I have some basic answers and responses to your post:

Talk to potential advisors or other faculty about the application AND your research idea(s). Chatting with potential advisors or other faculty in relevant fields is a great way to approach this application. You're an undergraduate (I assume), so no one on the application committee will expect you to be "up to date" on the readings. However, researchers (like potential advisors) might be able to guide to people or papers that could help you learn the basics/necessities.
Do #1 immediately! The sooner the better. As @Buffy suggests, collaboration, especially in the outlining/planning stages is key to developing successful proposals. You can't (well, you probably can but shouldn't) do science alone.
You have nothing to lose (by doing #1)!
It is likely that you will not be bound to your pre-proposal (but this is program-specific). If accepted, this project may devolve, evolve, or you may scrap it entirely and move in a different direction. Don't be afraid to play around with multiple ideas. Doing #2 will expedite this process.
If you don't want to do #1, at a minimum, ask someone in your field to review your pre-proposal for content.

Thank you for your answer! Can you add more details on how should I do part one?

Email/visit someone whose research keywords interest you. At this point in your academic career, this doesn't need to be specific. E.g., you like birds, prof A studies birds, you contact them. Most profs will be happy to point you in the right direction if they aren't accepting students. Cold-calling will be necessary. you don't have much to lose here. Feel free to email me if you're having trouble with this step, or any others. We are prob. not in the same fields but the fundamentals are the same. jburnett8@Unl.edu

What you propose seems fine to me. Make sure, however, that the professor understands why you are asking and that his/her help doesn't become authorship. Academics work together, especially at the idea stage.
Some departments provide a coffee room with a table and whiteboard just to encourage this sort of collaboration.
Note that the answer might be different if you had no ideas at all about where to start. But the prof can, as a minimum point you to places to help you develop the proposal. I think that most professors would consider this to be fine, or would tell you (gently) if they didn't. Ask.


text:
Is it correct to get a scholarship to do your final degree work?
I applied for a public call for applications in which scholarships are awarded for the final year of my studies. The purpose of the fellowship is to promote the health sciences in other university studies.
Specifically, my studies are computer science and the project is to develop a web application to visualize medical images.
I have also discovered that the process of researching and learning new concepts motivates me. However, the aspect of having the responsibility of programming the application frustrates me, fills me with anxiety and causes discomfort, since I am actually a student who is finishing my degree studies, and it is the first time that I am doing an application for real use.
In short, I like the subject of using medical images, I hate programming the application because I get frustrated quickly, because I encounter difficulties with mathematical concepts, graphics or web programming that I have not been taught during my studies. Still, I do love the purpose for which the application is intended: to help the students and the veterinary teacher.
Considering I've already been paid my scholarship, is it correct that I've been given it?
EDIT:
There is a condition which states that tha maximum development time is a year since the scholarship's resolution which was on 10th november 2017.
Is it correct that they pay it before the app has been developed?

Hi, please edit your questions and clarify your circumstances. What do you mean by 'paid by scholarship, is it correct that I've been given it?'

You like the concept of research, but not doing the actual work? Hm. ;-)

If this is a final year project then the required output is as a learning exercise, which may not need the App to be completed and working.  But if this is a project for an external company then completion is probably the final objective.
If the scholarship was awarded to support the final year then yes, it is correct.
If the scholarship was awarded against the completion of the App, then you need to complete the App...
Does very much depend on the conditions of the scholarship though - which you need to check as necessary.


text:
Can a blind person do a post-doc in the humanities?
I’m about to finish my PhD in Sociology. I’m from Pakistan, and I’m totally blind. My PhD research was quite interdisciplinary. I studied factors influencing environmental concern about environmental problems in Pakistan, as well as factors influencing environmental behavior at home. Now I want to do a post doctorate from anywhere in Europe, North America, Australia or New Zealand.
Can my blindness be a factor in acceptance / rejection of my application?
If not, what should be my first step for finding a post doctoral opportunity? My research interest is in the domains of environmental sociology and environmental psychology.

Welcome to Academia.SE. I edited your question to remove the "shopping" question and clean up a bit. Feel free to make edits if I ruined anything. Also, note that we encourage one question per post -- you may want to move the last paragraph in particular to a separate question.

Following @cag51's edit I also removed the last paragraph; as cag51 mentioned, we encourage one question per post and your second question was not in any way connected to the rest of the question or the title. (normally I don't like to make edits that remove content that has already been answered, but only cag51's answer touched on this part and they already raised it as a problem with the question, so I feel it was appropriate)

Lot of respect for you Faiz! Will you like to share your full name or any of publication as I am really interested in reading your work.

Anecdotally, I went to graduate school for English literature in the United States. There were two other graduate students in the department who were legally blind.

Thank you for the interest in my publications. The two recent are:

Rasool,  F., & Ogunbode, C. (2015). Socio- demographic differences in environmental concern and willingness to address global climate change in Pakistan.  Asian journal of Social Science, 273-298.
Rasool, F. (2013). The environmental behavior research in Pakistan: Why it is needed? And what questions it should address? Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 4(6), pp. 285-293.

In the United States there's what is known as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
which prohibits discrimination based on disabilities and mandates reasonable accomodations. Full or partial blindness will definitely fall under that category, and so they are legally prohibited from discriminating against you and if hired will work with you to help out. Many other locations have similar laws. In Canada the laws vary from province to province, but most of Canada has similar laws. Many (although not all) European countries have similar laws or regulations as well.

Are you certain that the ADA grants disabled people without the US citizenship the same rights as far as US universities and companies are concerned? If so, could you please expand your answer to reflect that?

@undercat Yes - "All employees who work in the U.S. or its territories -- American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands -- for covered employers are protected by EEO laws, regardless of their citizenship or work authorization status".

@undercat The OP is seeking employment as a postdoc. The ADA applies to  all aspects of the employment relationship, including recruitment and hiring.

@ff524 I've re-read the link and you are actually correct. It is unfortunate I've seen too many loopholes with those laws, at least as far as foreign nationals with disabilities are concerned.

@undercat It's a consequence of the 14th Amendment in the US: "...nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

@JoeMcMahon, I don't think that is  the case. The ADA is about what corporations can do. The 14th Amendment is about states denying basic rights. For that matter, it would be an non-standard reading of the 14th Amendment to even assert that it  mandated making accomodations for disabled people. And if you mean that a law which would apply to citizens would have to apply to others as well, that's not true either; note the "within its jurisdiction" clause and note that many laws apply just to citizens or to US residents.

@JoshuaZ the ADA regulates the state as well (just not as an employer), but you are right re: the 14th ammendment. The equal protection clause has been used to challenge ADA arguments, rather than support them.

Can my blindness be a factor in acceptance / rejection of my application?

As others have said, most Western countries have laws preventing discriminating against you due to blindness. However, the standard is that they you must be able to do the work given a "reasonable accommodation" -- i.e., they could reasonably prevent you from flying a plane or being a sharpshooter, as there is no reasonable way they could enable you to do the job. Since you did your PhD research already, it seems likely that you can do the work despite your handicap.
Note, however, that most post-docs are filled (at least in my experience) by interviewing with a professor or small group of professors. Most professors want to do the right thing; however, it is difficult to do an apples-to-apples comparison between two candidates at the best of times.
At any rate, all you can do is apply and hope for the best.

Are there any helpful websites that I can frequently check for available post doctoral opportunities?

I don't know (and "shopping questions" are actually not allowed here).

Is it necessary that my research should be on a population of a country where I’m studying for my post doc? i.e., if I’m studying in New Zealand, and I want to collect data from people in Pakistan, is this discouraged?

I don't know your field, but I seriously doubt this would be a problem. Here in the US, at least, there is plenty of research into different regions of the world.

What should be my first step for finding a post doctoral opportunity?

I would start by talking to your advisor, trusted old professors, or friends to find out where such jobs are typically announced. They may also be willing to introduce you to their network.
If the goal is a faculty position, I would consider reading Karen Kelsky's book -- plenty of advice there about best practices for preparing for and interviewing for a faculty position; though the book is widely written, she is an anthropologist and has lots of advice that seems like it would apply well to your situation.

The discussion about blind pilots and sharpshooters has been moved to chat.


text:
Identical projects by students at two different colleges: still plagiarism?
Me and my friend attend different colleges, both of which are part of the same university. My friend has done the project and as well as me too. Our projects are exactly the same - not a single word is different.  Is this considered plagiarism?

Did either of you copy from the other?  If you did the project independently of each other, and by coincidence they happen to be the same, that is not plagiarism, but depending on the circumstances you might find it hard to prove that it is not.

This question is being discussed on meta: https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4436/what-to-do-with-is-plagiarism-plagiarism-questions?cb=1

Speculations about the actual situation, answers in comments, and discussions about infinite monkeys, Shakespeare, and Don Quichote have been moved to chat. Please read this FAQ before posting another comment.

The fact of being at different/same colleges or different/same universities has zero bearing on whether it is considered plagiarism or not.
If you submit a project that includes someone else's work, without making it clear what is your own work and what is not (and crediting the other contributor/s properly), this is plagiarism. This is true whether the other contributor is at the same college, same university, someone not in college at all, etc...

Even if it is the same person, but from another project.  You have to cite that you are the author of this other section you quoted.  You can't just randomly cut and paste your own stuff together if the sources are already published in another channel.

What @Nelson said is generally true, but this is something of a quirk of the academic notion of plagiarism with regards to acadamic honesty about novelty, as opposed to plagiarism in a broader context. Outside of academia, nobody would consider it plagiarism to reuse your own words.

@R.. I think in non-academia, it becomes trademark/license/patent/copyright and are more legally defined.  Plagiarism sort of mimics that in a way but also has institution specifications.

@Nelson IP law is very different from plagiarism. The only sort of similar IP law are moral rights, if you're from a country with those.

@Nelson: specifically, the reason they're different is that IP law is about property, and when it comes to property the permission of the owner excuses almost anything. Whereas academic plagiarism as you say is about the truthfulness of the implied claims you make by submitting. If you submit work for grading you are implicitly (or explicitly if you count the fact that you were given and probably signed the rules when you enrolled) saying it's your own sole work. And possibly that it's novel, depending on the details of the assignment.

... so the reason that hardly anyone recognises self-plagiarism outside academia, is that outside academia either there's no implied claim that something is new, or else the claim is weak/vague/non-binding. So, somebody might grumble that an author is writing the same book over and over again, but even if they do literally mean that it's so bad that it constitutes self-plagiarism, they don't have any real complaint other than that the author isn't very good. The author's publisher, OTOH, has a contract where they probably could object to old work being passed off as new.

@SteveJessop: even within academia, I'd say self-plagiarism is bound to specific claims/declarations of novelty and/or I-did-it-myself. No problem with a lecturer reusing their slides without declaration or citing last year's course. Even showing the same slides at conferences would not be a critical violation (unless novelty is explicitly claimed) though maybe considered boring and treated similarly to your bad author*. But theses and manuscripts are submitted with explicit declarations of novelty and "I did this myself". Homework/exams also have explicit DIY (+ sometimes novelty) policies.

* OTOH, some speakers are regularly invited to talk about "their" subject...

@Nelson's claim seems a little strong to me. People certainly reuse figures and chunks of text (either verbatim or paraphrased) across multiple talks and grant proposals, usually without citing. Parts of papers (e.g., methods too), though there a citation is often expected, but not obligatory.

I'll assume that you worked together on the project, rather than just completely independently coming to the same place. That seems to be what you mean.
If you work on the project together and acknowledge the joint work then it probably isn't technically plagiarism. But it will almost certainly be considered as academic misconduct if you submit the same work to two different courses unless you make the faculty aware and get permission.
Note that you (a) have to list both authors on it and (b) get specific permission.
Whether it is permitted by the faculty or not is up to them. If the work is significant enough (more than one person is expected to do) then you have a better chance of getting accepted.
But if you submit two papers, identical, but each listing only one author, then it would be plagiarism. And also, separately, academic misconduct, but of a higher order.

Just to add why one would need permission: Likely, the rules of the course for which one submits the project say that the work has to be done by the student. And even if the rules do not explicitly say so, I find it to be the most reasonable assumption.

@Andrei -- even if the work is done by one student, permission is usually required to submit the same work to two courses.  The behavior is usually referred to as "multiple submission" - https://spcollege.libguides.com/c.php?g=254383&p=1695452#duplicatesubmission.  I don't believe it is considered plagiarism (not sure on that), but it is double-dipping in terms of credit.  When approached for permission, I specify that I need to see BOTH assignments, and I work out what the different focuses are in advance.

Working together on a project is one thing, submitting a document that is word-for-word identical is troublesome. The same research could still be used to produce two different papers.

@Andrei Exactly. There's a good chance they wrote a good answer to the wrong question and/since their work can't be considered for the course.

Yes, it's still plagiarism.
If Assignment 2 for your class ABC321 at your college is the same as Assignment 5 of class DEF234 at a different one, submitting a copy of the solutions manual for DEF234 to your professor at your college as being your own work is considered cheating even if it came from another college.
If your friend and you receive the same assignment for different classes and you decide to split the work and copy off each other it's not different than the scenario stated above: it's plagiarism.
It doesn't matter who you copied from (solutions manual from a previous year or directly from your friend) or what the thing you copied was originally (submission for ABC321 or DEF234). Plagiarism is plagiarism.

Plagiarism depends on copying, not similarity or location.
If one of you copied the other's work, then it's plagiarism.  Doesn't matter where or when or how.
I suspect what you're actually asking is not whether it's considered to be plagiarism when you copy someone's work (because of course it is), but whether that plagiarism will be noticed by your respective colleges.  If you're on separate campuses then the probability of this is likely quite low.  Work submitted on paper will most likely be assessed by the teachers at each college, so the fact that there are two identical papers at different colleges is unlikely to be spotted.  If the results are submitted electronically though, the fact of the two colleges being part of the same university may get you caught if there's a university-wide check on duplicate work being handed in.  Or for bonus irony points, if the work is particularly good then it's possible that one teacher may show it to the other as a golden example, at which point of course the other teacher will remember they've just seen something remarkably similar.

I was a teaching assistant for computer science at the University of Kentucky (UK). I can almost guarantee you that at UK any kind of paper is always run through a plagiarism checker that is linked to many other universities and colleges that checks for (among other things) percent of difference, if another assignment has been found to have too low a percent of difference then it will flag the assignment as plagiarism and will give a report to the professor so that they can see the one that was already in the system and the one that you just submitted and compare for themselves.

If you mean, you and this other person both created these project independently and by sheer coincidence they just happen to be word-for-word identical, that's not plagiarism, that's a miracle.
If you mean that you copied your friend's work and intend to submit it as your own, that's pretty much the definition of plagiarism. The fact that you're at a different school does not in any way make it not plagiarism. If you copy somebody else's work and say or imply that it is your own, that's plagiarism, and whether the work was created on a different continent by someone you never met, or by your room mate, is irrelevant.
If the two of you worked on this project together, and now you are each planning to hand it in at your own school, then if you acknowledge the other person's contribution it is not plagiarism. It may or may not satisfy the requirements of the assignment. If you were supposed to do the work yourself, then getting a friend to do part of the work does not meet the requirements of the assignment.

And the trouble with miraculous coincidences, is that even if they actually happen and you didn't cheat, it is by definition of miracle beyond reasonable doubt that you did cheat. A reasonable person would think you cheated, and only the truly faithful would believe in the miracle. Bad luck :-)

Plagiarism is misrepresenting something as your own original work when it is not. If you are doing this, it is plagiarism. If you are not doing this, it is not plagiarism.
If two people miraculously independently writ precisely the same paper, even word for word, that is not plagiarism. Each person has the absolute right to represent the paper as their own original work because it is. However, if two people collaborate on a work and each submits it independently as their own work, that is plagiarism. Neither person can honestly represent that the paper is their own original work.

Publish the work first in both your names. Both of you would have co-copyright and original ownership of the text.
You may be breaking another rule in the class, but it's not plagiarism if you own the copyright - which you do already, but would solidify with publication.

It's not plagiarism if you own the copyright is false. Plagiarism and copyright are orthogonal concerns; the former is an ethical concern about proper attribution, the latter is a legal concern about the right to reproduce a work, and you can violate either one without the other. (For example: if I hire someone to write a paper for me and sell me the copyright, and I then pass off the paper as my own work, I've committed plagiarism without any copyright violation.)

And if you copy a book someone else wrote word for word, and then on the last page put a footnote that gives them full credit, it is not plagiarism, but it is copyright violation.

They happen to interact frequently in actual civil copyright cases, because plagiarism (including accidental) is one of the common things that leads someone to make a copyright claim that isn't legally supportable on grounds of them not being the (only) author. Possibly the most common, in cases that actually make it to court, I'm not sure.

Another way they interact: Most licenses for free software and free cultural works require an appropriate copyright notice, including a credit to the original author. For permissive licenses such as MIT/Expat, failure to credit (i.e. plagiarism) is in effect the only way to infringe.

@ff524 It sounds like you have never heard of a ghostwriter, because that is exactly what you just defined and happens all the time with no one calling it plagiarism.

@MichaelMcQuade Using a ghostwriter in a situation where there is an expectation of originality - like there is with coursework - is considered plagiarism. It's only considered ethically OK when there is no expectation that the work was actually written by the person whose name is attached to it (for example, a politician's speeches).


text:
How to email a co-author in nice way that I will submit the paper if he doesn't finish his part in time?
I request readers to revisit my old question. The problem is not solved yet even if another 4 months passed.
Let me briefly mention the situation again. I am a PhD student in mathematics and two years ago I discussed with an established mathematician about collaboration on a research project and he agreed. Then I worked on myself without his help and wrote the paper and sent to him. He raised some errors in two of the results and then I myself corrected those errors. After correcting the paper I sent back to him for final checking in language part, paper style etc. Since then it has been 10 months but he is not cooperating rightly. When I asked the old question 4 months ago, he didn't respond my email for 2 months. Two months ago he replied and again promised that he will finish it within next 2 weeks and he is very with the work but already more than 1 month passed, I got no reply on emailing him. This drama has been continuing since last 10 months, sometimes he replies and promise but ultimately he does nothing. As mentioned in my old question that we have no contact in person possible as we live in different countries but we have met several times in online meeting. I have given him all possible options as well. For example, I proposed him that since he is very busy then we might join online and he can advice me which parts of the paper needs further language change or which part require proper orientation. By the way, I told him that I am very confident that no mathematical error is there so that we don't need much time to discuss. But he is not even replying on this even if he did the promise 1 month ago.
I am very exhausted now, very worse experience, I am a PhD student and soon want to apply for Post doctoral position and I want to add the paper at least the preprint in my CV. I mentioned him about it but he is not caring it. Besides that the work is already 2 years old, others might work on similar problems, so it better we submit the paper atleast in arxiv. On the other side, he is not even leaving the deal, when he replies he says he will do it next week but in vain. He is a established mathematician, so he might have urgency in paper publishing but I need some good publication. In my opinion, he doesn't deserve a authorship in the paper as he didn't do anything besides picking some errors. But still I offered him authorship thinking of several aspects (e g., I will have new collaboration, may be a good journal will care the paper in proper way since he is a established mathematician etc).
But I now feel I should not wait anymore time. So I would like to inform him that if he doesn't finish his part in a month or so I will suppose he is not interested in this paper, in that case I will submit the paper without his name, instead I can acknowledge him only.
How to tell him the above words in nice way so that he can understand me or doesn't offend him ?

I think this depends A LOT on the ambient culture(s)... Can you clarify?

You've been communicating with your co-author "in a nice way" for months without any result, so I would recommend rethinking your idea that you need to communicate "in a nice way". Given that you are a Ph.D. student in Asia and he is an established mathematician in Europe, it may well be that due to a cultural mismatch you've been too deferential and polite in your communications with him so far and it's time to be more direct.

@paulgarrett, by nice way I meant to say some sort of request as well as a time bound to him. But if he doesn't respond within the bound i would proceed without him. Maybe I am not accurate in the definition of "nice way"

Some people are down voting the question. Kindly mention reason so that I can delete the question.

I doubt there is a "nice" way and it sounds very aggressive. If you once considered him a co-author it is hard to retract that without raising resentment, possibly retaliation. I suggest you drop that part of the proposal.
But, if you have finished the paper on your own, then it would, IMO, propose a date for submission a month or so from now and suggest that you want to submit then unless there are serious objections.
It would be hard for him to raise objections without putting in some effort.
The original offer of co-authorship was probably a mistake, but that is hard to back out of gracefully.

Thanks. I also think so about the final para of your answer. But I am still hoping, he will respond soon.