In a graduate student's life (or any person's, for that matter), going through a mental health crisis is very common nowadays. Things have been worsened due to this pandemic (but, that is not the point of discussion here).
Instead of focusing on "why" part of your question (i.e. why are you feeling this or that?), I would suggest a few things:

Do regular exercise: Exercise is something that always brings back the mood. Start with small sit-ups, jogging some miles, pushups and you will see that you sweat. When you sweat heavily, your mood tries to come back.

Go somewhere and cry if you have to This is a bizarre suggestion but this one always removes so many things from our conscious mind. So many things start to matter that wasn't.

Eat good food Eating is most important. I am sure, you must be feeling like there is a knot in your stomach, but, force yourself to eat at least 4 times. Avoid coffee or tea or any drinks that affect mood.

Create a study environment You must create an ambient environment that you love to stay in. You like sitting there like there is peace.

Just sit and relax Just "sitting" is a problem for many. Sitting without doing anything has been big stuff now given the emergence of AI and technologies. We are always with something in our hand. But, try to sit "yourself". Let all thoughts come, that's ok. It will vanish, or find its route to go away.

Writing helps Writing stuff or even drawing, scribbling do help the mood. Nothing needs to be meaningful. Just random also helps e.g. An ant talked to me today and said my stomach is full. I was delighted to listen to him. He was indeed full with sugary paste.

Remember this is not the end of the world Nothing is the end. You may feel like not good enough, but, that is okay. Nobody is perfect or good at anything. People become good at things eventually. Takes time. Perserverence and focus is the key. Just remember that no matter what, this is not the end that can end things.

You mean something in this world You are here for something. May be just to "live". Just live as you wish. If you have to read a paper for that, why not?

Read slow and small Read slow and small amount every time you sit to read. Not to think anything other than that small amount. Try to bath that, sleep with that, eat that, and run that. Then you will see things are getting back to normal.

Remember to call friends for a meetup Just try catching up with friends and families for small random talks. Not necessarily stuff related to yourself, but, sometimes nonsense also helps.

Last but not least:

Piling up research papers creates guilt If you are not reading at all and just piling up papers starts adding extra burden on the head and you start feeling guilty about it. That you are not doing anything for this, you can't do it. So, when you pick a paper, make it a commitment to finish it up. At least read the abstract and conclusion of any paper that you pick. That is enough.


Can software based project be considered for the award of PhD?

Producing software, on its own, is generally not sufficient for a Ph.D.

The purpose of a Ph.D is to create new knowledge.  If you want to connect this to the underlying 'Doctor of Philosophy' concept, philosophy is literally the love of knowledge. No matter your field, to get a Ph.D you need to convince a committee of faculty that you have created or discovered new knowledge by the standards of your field.

If the software work advances the state of the art by creating new knowledge, then it can drive a Ph.D, but the degree is awarded on the basis of the new knowledge (and communicating that knowledge), not the software.  There are at least two ways this can arise in a software project:

New knowledge (new computational techniques, new mathematical results, new user interaction techniques, etc.) are needed in order to make the software possible.
The software can be used for experiments that produce new knowledge.

Either of these is fine, but the degree and dissertation rest on the knowledge.

As far as how much knowledge - my rough rule of thumb, which was taught in the Intro to Research class when I started my Ph.D, is that a dissertation in computer science should contain sufficient new research to carry 3 good papers (full papers in high-level conferences), along with the supporting material that didn't fit in the published papers.

Personal Story

My own Ph.D was heavily software-driven - it was largely the result of building and applying new software tools for recommender systems. However, this process resulted in the creation of new knowledge:

Building reconfigurable, web-capable machine learning software with dependency injection
New techniques for dependency injection to enable that software
A re-evaluation of commonly-accepted configurations for common algorithms, finding that several of them are sub-optimal
New research showing that different algorithms make different erroneous recommendations
A user study, powered by the software's interchangable algorithmic capabilities, finding differences in how users perceive the output of different recommendation techniques

Those are the things that formed the basis of earning my Ph.D. The software was an important part, but I didn't get the degree for building the software.


Are free publishing services, such as Globe Edit, worthwhile?

These types of publishers are often called vanity presses and as discussed in this question they have limited value. The press you are referring to, and why I think your question is unique, is:

  They want me to transfer exclusive rights to publishing my thesis, as a book.

That is a terrifying thought. That likely means you would be unable to (re)publish any aspect of your thesis as an article and may not even be able to use images in presentations. Your university and/or funder may also impose restrictions on giving away exclusive rights.


What if a student cannot pay the APC of a journal

No, they won't/can't take legal action. The worst that could occur is that they won't accept the paper. Nothing to worry about beyond that.

But if you are a student, explore with your university whether they have funds to pay the fees. Some will be able to do this and others not. If you are working with a professor perhaps s/he has grant money that will pay such fees also. It is worth asking.

Not all journals will have liberal forgiveness policies, but some do. Just ask and be prepared to state your case.


Results or Methods - What comes first in discussion section?

In short: the assumption that the discussion of results always comes before the discussion of methods is wrong. There are no rules.

The purpose of a separate results and discussion section is to keep facts clearly separated from opinions/interpretation. What happens inside the discussion section depends on your writing style and the content/goal of the paper.

For example

if your paper presents new methods there is no difference between the discussion of results and the discussion of methods
if the uncertainty in the measurement methods may have affected the results, methods and results are discussed at the same time

A possible reason to discuss results first might be that readers are most interested in the results. Unless your paper is about the method itself an expert in the field probably knows the methods already. But as said, there are no rules.


Who owns things bought with research funding after project ends?

In the US, at least, there is a generally clear distinction between two classes of things bought with funding:

"Capital expenditure" items are individually identified in a project budget, e.g., "36-node computing cluster" or "Materials for building prototype robot".
'Overhead' or 'Material and Supplies' items are more routine items that are not individually identified, but are considered part of the routine cost of business, e.g., office supplies, laptops, laboratory reagents.

Capital expenditure items are typically owned by the funder, and their disposition at the end of the project is at the discretion of the funder.  When this is the US government, it is called GFE - Government Furnished Equipment.  In most cases, the funder lets it stay at the institution (effectively giving it to them), but not always.  An institution might even be required to give the equipment to another researcher.

Overhead items are generally owned by the institution that is executing the project, and are often owned by the institution in general, rather than being associated with the particular project. These typically further break down into two sub-categories: tracked, and untracked.  Tracked is things like laptops, that many institutions still consider expensive enough to keep track of who they give them to and (at least theoretically) ask for them back eventually.  Untracked is things like paper and staplers, which are below the threshold where the institution cares.  Again, typically all of it technically belongs to the institution, but in practice many institutions will let somebody keep a low-value 'personalized' item such as an old laptop.

The exact definitions of which things go in which categories depend on the institution, the funder, and the particular contract, but this covers most of the typical cases.  Make sure you check particular regulations and customs with any particular institution before taking anything, though!


Does one need a bachelor's in Math, if not a master's, before taking a PhD in Math in the US?

I am a mathematician. One of my academic siblings has an undergrad degree in mathematical finance. As Andreas Blass comments, grad school admissions committees are most concerned with sufficient background, as opposed to the particular credential.


Does doing an undergraduate semester exchange abroad improve chances of getting into top universities?

As JeffE says: It does not really matter whether you went somewhere and where did you go; it matters much more what have you done there. In general, having an Erasmus (or similar) semester abroad is not seen much as an advantage. Having a semester abroad accompanied by a publication with a professor there -- that's a different story, because it shows that you went there and really got some experience there.

However, if you spend the semester at a university at which you later apply for studies (which seems to be your case), you can get something from solely being there: the contacts and the knowledge of the environment. For instance: There are many PhD positions funded by various projects rather than by some general scholarships. It's mostly the project leaders who decide who gets the funding, and knowing them in person etc. can help. Still, you need to do more than just sit there at the lectures for 15 weeks.


What incentives do researchers have for applying for NSF grants?

From a purely monetary standpoint, Principal Investigators benefit from grants in multiple ways: grants can be used to pay the PI's summer paychecks (faculty contracts usually mention that the salary is for 9 or rarely 10 months), grants can be used to travel to conferences, grants can be used to pay for hardware, including laptops, and so on.

Without grants, a faculty would have to pay for those things out of their own pocket (which, in the case of the summer paychecks, just means "do not get paid").

About the part of your question about the NSF "pitching in", here is a quote from the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (Part I, Chapter 1, E) :"Unaffiliated individuals in the US and US citizens rarely receive direct funding support from NSF".


Need some pointers for starting an application essay

In general you should start writing "in any way that works". There is no connection between how you start writing and what is at the beginning of a completed written piece. As an example, many writers have written entire books, been dissatisfied with the beginning, and simply removed the first chapter entirely. Start with the part you feel comfortable talking about, the conclusion, whatever.

"Throat clearing" is a common term for the need to start with rather uninspiring junk. But if you try not to write it in the first place, you're likely to feel blocked and have trouble writing anything at all. Go ahead and start with trite, non-suggested phrases like "It's been my dream to..." or "I've always wanted to...". The process of writing is not just about putting words in print, but a process of developing and clarifying ideas. What you want to say, and how you say it, should change naturally through stages of revision - you don't have to figure out the best way to say something before you write anything at all! Get something out, and then review and revise as needed.

There is also a huge problem with word limits, in that the natural impulse for nearly everyone is to try to figure out how to express themselves in so few words before they've written anything at all. Some people are just naturally pithy, but for the rest of us this is just does not work. Do not write to a word limit - in fact, you should naturally expect to write 2X-10X+ as much as is the strict limit for something short like this.

Nailing the word limit is then process of revision: drop parts that don't really add to your application, remove parts that are just bad and you shouldn't mention (too much self-disclosure, complaints, etc). Then, if the word limit is really small, you begin squeezing out little bits of space: trim, remove unnecessary words, find more compact and expressive way to word things. If you still have too many words, start looking for weaker statements to yank out, and pair down to the best points you make out of everything you say - even if you end up only being able to make 2-3 good points, that's better than 10 items in unsupported list format.

I am told that the more you go through this process, the more automatic it becomes, but I am skeptical that this is true. In 10+ years of writing I still can't say things in the a succinct, concise, pithy way on the first (or second or third) try. Even in this answer I've gone back and erased more than I've written out here!

Once you get out what you want to say, even if it isn't very good and is way too long, there are lots of resources you can use to refine your work, including examples, tips and tricks, asking for people to read your work and give feedback, reading your writing out loud to someone, etc. But none of that works if you don't have raw written material to start with - so start where it's the easiest for you to start writing, and everything else will flow from there.


What are some of the smart ways of finding related literature online

I prefer using advanced searches in digital library sites like ACM-DL, IEEE Xplore, and Elsevier ScienceDirect.

For instance when you search for a particular keyword (e.g., image retrieval) in general search, you would be bombarded with many papers related to the keyword. While most of which is not even directly connected to he matter. In advanced search, you are given the feature to add constraints such as searching for "image retrieval" only within the title. Although this might remove some of the actually related papers, you could be assured that nearly all of the papers resulted from this search is directly connected to your keyword.


First author researcher on a manuscript left job without publishing

If the slightly outdated paper comes back from review with a decent amount of edits to be made, potentially new portions of analysis, while the first author states that they do not have time to work on the old manuscript, can one of the co-authors potentially take over as first author?

Potentially, yes. Far from a guarantee. Probably the old first author would become second or co-first, depending on norms in your field.

Does the original first author have to give consent?

Yes. In fact, everyone has to agree to the new order, even if their relative position is unchanged.


Harvard VS APA: the differences? How about mixing styles for a better clarity?

Even if your current university and situation do not call for using a specific publication style, I would strongly recommend against mixing two or more styles, even if they are not much different. The reason is pretty clear: consistency. For the sake of readers of your publications as well as for the sake of your own sanity. Following a single style will make your life easier - if you can choose, just pick the one you feel more comfortable with or the one popular, or, perhaps, a standard de facto, in your field (the latter is IMHO much more important - again, that "for the sake of readers" argument).


What are good database/grade book software?

I'm guessing this question will get closed, but there are many options (as earthling highlighted in the comment). When I taught high school, I invested in Easy Grade Pro and was happy with it. It is not free.

Lately, I've been using a home-made Excel spreadsheet, which has been pretty easy to do, although I have a fair amount of experience with Excel. As F'x said, OpenOffice has a spreadsheet and it is free, and Google Docs also provide a free spreadsheet solution. You can also find pre-made Excel spreadsheets for grading, which you can tweak for your own use.

Another option is to see if your school has a gradebook built-in to it's student-database system. This is a nice solution because you don't have to transfer grades from one system to another, and the students have easy access to grades along the way so they can explicitly track their own progress.


How to cite a book that has appeared in multiple versions/editions over the years?

You cite precisely the version that you use and add something like "5th edition" (that is what the "edition"-entry is there for in BibTeX). Be careful to use the correct year!


PhD Research under guide/advisor of a different department

Yes.

At least in the US, it is quite common for PhD students enrolled in department X to be advised by faculty in department Y, either alone or with a co-advisor in department X.  Off the top of my head, I can think of PhD students in my (computer science) department who are advised or co-advised by faculty in electrical engineering, mathematics, and industrial engineering.  Similarly, faculty in my department who advise PhD students in mathematics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and biology.

That said, if you enroll in the PhD program in department X, you will have to satisfy the degree requirements (courses, comprehensive/qualifying exams, etc.) for department X, even if your advisor and your eventual research interests are in department Y.


PhD Journey 2nd Year: Looking for perspective/focus

Would pursuit of this new track in any way compromise your chances of getting the PhD in a reasonable time? If no, then it must surely to be better to research something that excites you rather than plod on with something that does not.

If, however, your PhD is the key to your future career, then why risk it for the sake of pursuing an idea that you can safely pursue after you win your PhD.

I too am in the second year of a PhD but my future career does not depend on it. I feel free to pursue interesting ideas, and if that delays my PhD I am happy with that.

So it all depends on your appetite for risk>


Will sitting for the IELTS Academic module void the validity of my previous General Training module score?

For the best information you could Contact IELTS

That said, from reading the information booklet (pages 3-5) on their website the two tests have some sections that apply to the both GT and Academic tests which are speaking and listening. They then have 2 modules that are different for each test, which are reading and writing.

They are also used for two different purposes

  IELTS Academic is for test takers wishing to study at undergraduate or postgraduate levels, and for those seeking professional registration.

  IELTS General Training is for test takers wishing to migrate to an English-speaking country (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK), and for those wishing to train or study at below degree level

From this it would seem unusual that the results from one test would void the other when they are both different tests.

Edit based on OP comment:
After the OP contacted IELTS thay said that 'they are both separate results and it will be your choice entirely which one you wish to present when applying to institution's.' which confirms that one test would not void the other.


How does a suspended student deal with an unprofessional university counselor?

I suggest getting another counselor, not to help you cope with the first one, but to help you with the issues that got you suspended in the first place.

The combination of counselor and gatekeeper for your return to the university seems to me to be an inherent problem. It would be difficult to be really frank with the gatekeeper.


Completed a review article based on supervisor's request but then it cannot be published due to lack of funding

The supervisor of your friend is mistaken. Judging the quality of a journal by how much it charges authors* shows a blatant ignorance of how academia works in general. It makes me suspect he only publishes in expensive lower-tier OA journals.

I would recommend that your friend finds a reputable, subscription-based journal in the field and tries to bring her/his supervisor to reason.

Yet it might be that the supervisor is making an excuse I would then ask for the real reason why he doesn't want to publish the paper.

*I'm baffled that we have come to that. The author-pay open access scheme is hurting academic publishing more than I thought.


Do I mention that I was an adjunct on my CV

Use the job title assigned to you by your institution.  You don't really have any choice about this.

If the nature or duties of your job were significantly different from what is usually understood by that title (in the culture of the university where you are applying), you can add a note of clarification.

Adjunct Professor is usually understood (in the US at least) to mean a non-tenure-track part-time teaching position in which you are instructor of record for your courses, and have minimal research or service requirements.  If that accurately describes your job, then you don't need to list anything more than the title.

The job title Professor, without any other adjectives, is understood to mean "full professor," a senior tenured position whose duties may include research and service as well as teaching.  Listing this as your position would be severely misleading and might be considered fraudulent.

It's true that the generic noun professor can be used to describe anyone who teaches at a university.  But a CV is expected to contain your specific job title, not a generic term describing your job.


There are two parts to this question: citation and copyright issues.

Regarding citation: cite the source of the data/graphics/charts/schemes.
For the copyright part, if the presentation of the data is really identical, most journals liberally give permission for reüse (you have to ask for it), but require an acknowledgement of the form “Reprinted with permission from …”. That should cover modifications in format (bitmap to vectorial, or bitmap downsampling, etc.), but I have already seen people actually note the difference by using “Redrawn with permission from …”. Now, if the figure is based on the first one, but with substantial modifications, you can be happy with only citing the source, or possibly adding “Figure based on X with permission from …”.


Should a full manuscript be available for a book proposal?

The reason there is so much conflicting advice going around about book publishing and book proposals is that in this area there are no clear rules, only different approaches, each with their own pros and cons, risks and rewards. Some authors do it one way, others do it another way; some publishers will only consider a largely complete manuscript, others are fine with a short proposal and a chapter or other sample. How you would want to go about it would depend on virtually everything about you, your goals and career situation, your book idea, and the publisher you are thinking of publishing with.

Here are some of the pros of submitting a book proposal at an early stage in your project:

You will be able to get feedback on your writing and on your idea at an early stage. Especially if you are uncertain about whether your writing is good enough or whether your idea is attractive enough, such feedback can be crucial and enable you to either back out of the idea at an early stage without a high sunk cost if it turns out to be a really bad one, or recalibrate and redefine the scope of the project if the idea is good but can be improved even more using the feedback you get. The end result can be a much better book than you would write by yourself without any feedback.
If your proposal is accepted, you will then sign a contract, which is a psychological reward that can motivate you to keep working.
The contract will come with a deadline for delivery of the completed manuscript. Again, psychologically this is very helpful for many authors who may find it hard to make consistent progress with a project that spans several years without concrete goals, someone they are officially accountable to, and a timeline they can reference to measure their progress.
Although (as far as I know) a book contract for a book in progress usually does not count officially towards tenure and promotion decisions, in many places it can count unofficially, in the sense that you can tell your colleagues about it, they will be impressed, and will be inclined to weigh your case a bit more favorably and to cut you a bit more slack for the reduced number of ordinary papers you will likely be publishing during the book writing period.

Here are some of the cons of submitting a book proposal at an early stage, or equivalently, the pros of waiting until your project is more mature:

If your writing and the book idea are good already without any feedback (or if you have some other very knowledgeable person who can give you feedback so you don't need the publisher's input for that), then your proposal will have a higher chance of being accepted if you submit a more mature proposal later on when you already have several chapters completed, since the publisher will see that you are serious, committed to your project, and will have more completed material by which to judge the proposal. (In an extreme case, when you have a finished manuscript, obviously that can be quite reassuring to a publisher and eliminate a large source of risk to them, again assuming the book is actually good.)
This one is a bit speculative, but I believe that for similar reasons, submitting a proposal in a more mature stage of the project puts you in a better negotiating position. As a result, you might for example aim to publish with a more prestigious publisher than you would otherwise. Or, depending on how much you care about the terms of your contract and what precisely you are hoping to achieve, you may be able to negotiate higher royalties, or other things about the book that may be important to you (e.g.: color figures; keeping ownership of the copyright, translation rights, rights to use another publisher for a future edition; permission to make the book available to download on your personal web page; etc.). Money-wise you almost certainly won't be making much money anyway so it's probably a non-issue, but the other things could be important and are worth putting some thought into.

To summarize, this decision is a delicate balancing act. Much depends on factors like where you are in your career; your personality; how many years you can afford to wait before you get the satisfaction and professional prestige of a signed book contract; how much you trust yourself to deliver on a very substantial commitment made early on in the life of the project when you are still full of passion and energy (trust me, by the time it's over you'll want to never look at the damn thing again...); how confident you are in the quality of your work; how much you value and need feedback from others; and many other things. Good luck!

[Source: personal opinion, informed by my own experience publishing a book.]


Can I turn down a postdoc offer after I have received the official offer letter but haven't sign it

The appropriate time is after you get the other (better) offer in writing.  You don't want to turn something known down for something else that hasn't come yet, formally.

Yes, it is unfortunate to have said you will take the position and turn it down, but these things happen.  Certainly in business, there are lots of times when agreed to deals still fail when the time comes to put pen to paper.  It is not the end of the world. Just be matter of fact (not penitent, not rebellious) and move forward with whatever is the best fit for you.

P.s.  This is why I emphasize to interview widely and job search arduously, all the way up to having gotten a written offer and accepted it.  You're not off the market until then.  The same thing applies in reverse as verbal offers may not always materialize (check out lots of questions/complaints about this on this site).  I'm not advocating being deceptive or fickle.  But you certainly want to look for your best situation and control the options as much and as long as you can.  Employers do the same in reverse.  It is a bit of a mating dance.


Springer’s book-chapter sharing policies

This is the answer I got from Springer for a smiliar question:

"Thank you for getting in touch. Springer doesn’t have a green OA policy at this time. Chapter authors would need to choose the gold OA route. We are able to offer gold OA for chapters already published (retrospective OA) in cases where the authors need to fulfill a funder OA mandate.

Our policies regarding OA books can be found here: https://www.springernature.com/gp/open-research/policies/book-policies

Please feel free to be in touch if you have further questions—I’m happy to help."


What can happen to a paper submitted without co-author knowledge

Usually, nothing happens, except damage to the submitting author's reputation.

Anything could happen.  It depends on the coauthor's feeling and the content of the paper.  If the content of the paper is objectionable, then this might lead to retraction.  Potentially the submitting author could be fired.  But most likely, if a coauthor complains, the submitting author just promises not to do it again and nothing else happens.

Don't do it.  Just because unethical conduct has no direct consequences doesn't mean it's okay.  Don't even do it if your coauthors tell you to do it.  Note that the coauthor's permission is needed in addition to their knowledge.


Referring to the work of other academics in interview with potential supervisor?

There's no ideal answer here—it really all depends on the ego of the potential supervisor. A good potential advisor not only teaches her students, but is willing to learn from them as well. If you know something that touches on the topic you're talking with a potential supervisor about, I see no reason not to mention it. You're demonstrating familiarity with research in the field, and that shows you're willing to put in the work to learn, which is an important part of becoming a good researcher. I'd prefer that a candidate tell me what she knows, rather than hide it for fear I'll be mad about the fact that she mentioned someone else's work.


How to deal with a difficult team supervisor?

Being mean and humiliating anyone, let alone subordinates, in the workplace (academia or otherwise) is inappropriate and should not be tolerated. I would suggest you informally talk to whomever is in charge of harassment claims at your university to let them know what is up. Depending on how bad the situation is, you could either file a formal complaint or go talk to the person directly. By having the informal talk with HR you will be protected if your one-on-one discussion blows up.

  She told me herself that she has chosen to be mean to people and has been humiliating others and me in various occasions.

It seems you have talked to her, but did you tell her that her attitude and behavior is making it difficult to do your job? Maybe you can work something out where she is less abusive to you or that your work environment is more structured to prevent the harassment. Hopefully that will resolve the issues, if not, file the complaint.

University's do not kid around with complaints about harassment. These types of formal complaints make promotion much more difficult and will often be reported in any reference written by the department head. They often will require the individual to receive training and monitoring. Once the possibility of a formal complain is on the table it is in the best interested for the colleague to do everything possible to prevent the complaint. Once a formal complaint is raised any escalation by the colleague will likely be dealt with swiftly and harshly by the University.


What does define the quality of the master thesis?

Any such definition is necessarily broad and somewhat vague. Here's my attempt at offering a categorisation:

An instance of an outstanding master's thesis is one that significantly advances state-of-the-art research, such results are rare.
An instance of an excellent master's thesis is one that contributes to state-of-the-art research, such results are infrequent.
An instance of a good master's thesis is one that satisfies the institution's criterion for the highest grade, such results are common amongst PhD students.

(This categorisation is highly subjective.)


How do I cite a screenshot from a paper?

You don't cite the screenshot, you cite the paper. If your readers want to look up the source, they don't care how you technically copied the image into your word processor. They want to know where they can find the paper you copied the image from.


Limitations of paper size when presenting comprehensive visualisations of results

What do you want your readers to take from your 66 plots? You did alot of work? Great so has everyone else.
You say your plots could be used to "be really useful in drawing out lots of conclusions and further questions". Well that is your job as the author to do in the first place. As a reader if i see that in a paper, then that tells me you haven't analyzed your data and are leaving it to me to understand what your data shows.
Instead i'd either pick a couple of the most interesting/relevant plots to show, or work out how to combine all the plots in to one bigger plot.
I expect a lot of the trends could be presented more concisely simply as text. Are all 66 plots/parameters equally interesting to a reader? Probably not, they might be interesting to someone who is looking to repeat your work in which case i'd just put that data in a table (and put that in the supplementary material).


Is it ethical to put a surveillance camera inside a lab

This largely depends on disclosure --- in cases where you record employees at work there are ethical and legal obligations relating to notification and disclosure.  The legal rules depend on your jurisdiction, but in most jurisdictions this situation is regulated by some kind of legislation on surveillance.  (E.g., in NSW in Australia this would be regulated by the Workplace Surveillance Act 2005.)  To check on the legality of this practice you should consult relevant surveillance legislation in your jurisdiction.  Regardless, your lab leader should certainly contact the university legal counsel before installing a surveillance camera.

As to the broader ethical question of surveillance (as opposed to its legality), there is a reasonable literature on this question in the business ethics journals (see e.g., Ottensmeyer and Heroux 1991, Fairweather 1999, Halpern, Reville and Grunewald 2008, and Hadjimatheou 2014).  I will not attempt to paraphrase this issue here since it is a large issue which is best understood by reference to the literature.


possibility of changing the corresponding author in IEEE transaction

It's possible, but explain why you're making the change to the editor(s). Changing the authors of a paper is suspicious, but if you have a good reason to do it (e.g. original corresponding author moved/died/graduated, new corresponding author took over the project, etc) then the journal/publisher usually won't object.
Odds are you can make changes all the way up till you get the proofs, if you have good reasons.


If an image covers the entire slide, where should I credit the author/licensor in a presentation?

Bottom right corner (maybe unobtrusive in gray, as not to interfere with the white background) seems right to me - you see this often in paper magazines, too. This way nobody can easily or accidentally strip the attribution. A [number] (even maybe just the slide number) and picture credits on the last slide would be the second-best choice.

And it's nice (for a change) to have someone respecting the license terms. Thank you :)


Can a Letter of Recommendation be effective without much coursework

I think that a recommendation letter will be impactful even if the professor/lecturer writing it has taught the course or interacted with the student a decent time ago.
There are more important things pertaining to the strength or value of a recommendation letter (which is not praise from the person (since that must already be present anyway)) but things like:

The relevancy of the professor’s field to the field of your future work for which the recommendation letter is written for.
The amount of interaction with the person.
The current state of interaction with the person.
Any achievements that are recognized highly by this person and are mentioned in the letter (relevant to your area of study/work).

In general, the reason why it is not recommended to get letters from the faculty in your first or second year of undergraduate study is because they may be professors teaching general classes, which might not be relevant anymore or not specific enough to your current interests.
If however you believe that the work you did with a professor 2-3 years ago is still highly relevant to your application, then don’t hesitate to get a recommendation letter from them.


I've finished my master's program. How can I improve my credentials so I can do a PhD?

I had a student who was, if not exactly in your shoes, certainly "disadvantaged" in being able to make it into grad school. Normally, I would just not respond and file away a cold call like that, but reading his email, which was asking for a chance to do research (not even paid—just work doing something related to research), and had a strong vision of what he wanted to do in the future, that it resonated with me. It also just happened that around the same time, I had some ideas I wanted to try out, and a small bit of funding available. So I offered him an internship that would be able to pay his living expenses, and gave him a shot. Today, he's thriving as a  PhD student in an aerospace engineering program in Europe.

So there's always a chance. The best thing to do is to get research experience. Once you can get some people who can comment "don't worry so much about user92705's grades, because user92705 has done really well working in my lab, and I know will become a good researcher," it will go a long way in getting you into a graduate program.


What images published in arXiv papers can I include in my education material?

Contrary to the other answer, arXiv does not require that papers are posted under CC licences. The minimal (and normal) licence required is given here, and merely grants arXiv perpetual right to distribute the article. IANAL but I very much doubt this gives you any right to use individual figures.

You can find a (small) link to the licence for a particular preprint on the right-hand side of the abstract page in arXiv. You should see something like

If there is a CC licence you can use the image but probably need to attribute. Otherwise, I would contact the authors to ask for permission.


How do I get out of my problem of not achieving results, feelings of worthlessness, guilt and rejection?

Should I change project?
  Should I change to dry lab?

A PhD can be extremely frustrating and discouraging.  Whatever you do, don't make a major decision while you are stressed and upset. Take a deep breath (and maybe a day off) and decide what you need to focus on.

Since you will be qualing soon, you likely need to spend a significant amount of time studying for that.  Passing your quals are important, and will likely give you a confidence boost.

Secondly, consider finding a social outlet.  Many grad departments have a weekly social meet-up at a bar.  Apart from meeting people that work in different labs, it is also quite likely you will meet other people who have gone through this issue, and will help you.


This is one of the most singular situations I have ever encountered on this site.  In general, having multiple relationships with the same person can makes things complicated unless the parties are on especially good terms and/or are especially good at setting and respecting boundaries.  Academically collaborating with someone with whom you're romantically involved is not (inherently) a conflict of interest, but it is a source of potential complication for both relationships.  (I say this as someone who has never had both kinds of relationships with the same person, but who has found successfully navigating one or the other type of relationship separately to be complicated enough!)

I am simply bowled over by the fact that you are in a situation where the above two relationships are joined by yet a third: that of a participant in a psychological study.

My academic field (mathematics) is pretty far removed from psychology, so please discount accordingly, but my strong suspicion is that being romantically involved with someone in your psychological research study is already a potentially fatal (to the academic project, I mean!) conflict of interest.  My understanding is that this is the sort of thing that should be cleared with IRB in advance, and in the absence of compelling reason to experiment on you and not someone else the practice looks iffy.  When you compound that with the fact one of the subjects has a personal relationship with the psychologist and that personal contact led to a discussion of the study while the study is ongoing....holy moley.  I think the professor should either submit the entire case to a body who is competent to authoritatively advise on the ethics of the situation or -- and I think this is better -- drop you from the study, remove all data which pertain to you, and consider whether it is worthwhile to try to replicate "your data" on a new and unrelated party.  Continuing on to try to publish in this situation seems like such a bad idea, in which full disclosure and resulting failure to publish in a reputable journal is one of the better-case scenarios.

Having accomplished this, you will have reduced to the only ordinarily complicated double relationship that I mentioned at the beginning: being in a romantic relationship and a possible academic collaboration.  I think you and your psychology professor friend are well overdue for a general talk about the boundaries between your personal and professional relationship.  You don't list your own professional identity, and somehow I gather that you are not a psychology professor.  Nevertheless you have a master's degree in psychology, which is more than enough for conversations about your friend's work to have a potential professional component.  Your interactions with your friend about his work go way beyond the norm for "off-the-job" conversations with friends and significant others.  Namely you:

analyzed his data (from the inside!) in a way that he regarded as making the transition to publishability
gave critical feedback on a subject in which (from the sound of it) you have more expertise than he does
read his writing in detail and gave critical feedback, both on the content and the presentation
rewrote a section of the work, changing the content to what you thought was superior

As it sounds like you know, any one of these contributions could be held up (and has been, at least once on this site) as being sufficient for coauthorship.  In the confluence of all of them -- or let's say the last three, since the first pertains to something which may be to problematic to see the light of day -- I think it would be unethical not to have a conversation in which the coauthorship is carefully discussed and analyzed.  Some may view your contributions as being essential to the point that it could be ethically problematic even for the two of you to agree not to list you as a coauthor: academics are not supposed to get substantial, expert help in their academic work "under the table".

  He said "No, because I don't want to give you a co-authorship." I was stunned. It's one thing not to give me credit but he is going to a great deal of trouble to avoid crediting me.

Unfortunately I agree completely.  It's unfortunate because this is really a tough situation: even from a professional ethics standpoint there is nothing to do other than to have the coauthorship conversation with someone who doesn't want to have it.  If I were you I would plan this very carefully in advance.  It may be that you will not be able to salvage both the personal relationship and the academic work you've both done, so it could be helpful for you to go into the situation knowing clearly which one is your priority.  Good luck.


publishing a conference paper in a journal

In my field this would be not only acceptable, but expected, as the review process for conferences is less stringent and the submitted abstracts are substantially less detailed than a full manuscript. A conference presentation is viewed almost as a necessary step to publication: present the first interpretation of the results, get feedback from colleagues, and incorporate changes into the full-length manuscript.

My only concern would be if the conference paper was closer to a full manuscript, both in length and in the rigorousness of the review process.


Should I look for research internships or stay at my university for the summer?

Stay where you are.

Normally, I would say, sure, do the summer trip.  But you've got a lot of balls in the air, considering the masters.

Plus, you've already checked the summer trip box twice.  Checking it a third time won't change the application.


Reading FERPA, this clause states that it is appropriate given certain circumstances.

  However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31):

School officials with legitimate educational interest;
Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;
Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student;
Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school;

These would be closest to those that matched what you asked.

So if, for example, your HS faculty wanted to average everyone's GPA individually, he could potentially do that, as long as he doesn't post all the names in public.


What is the work load of a journal reviewing editor?

You are correct in that the total time will first of all vary between journals and fields but also slightly over time. I am chief editor of an international journal in the environmental sciences. The time each reviewing editor spends on a paper with our journal can be broken down as follows:

Must scan the paper upon receiving it for assigning reviewers (probably takes an hour, maybe less)
Assign reviewers (does not take much time but can be drawn out over time when reviewers decline to review)
Read reviews carefully and provide authors with guidelines on what to focus on (probably takes a few hours)
Carefully check the revisions and decide on the faith of the paper (takes a couple of hours at least depending on extent of revisions)
If the paper goes to major revisions you need to go through steps 2-4 again
If the paper is accepted then spend maybe 15 minutes to half an hour formulating a suggestion for final decision (depends on what might need to be written)

This can be summed up for one paper as probably more than half a day. Then the question is how many papers you are requested to handle per month/year etc. You can then easily multiply by the number of papers to get a reasonable idea of the total time you will need to spend.

To add to this, you will need to act whenever a paper arrives, so you are expected to be more or less on call all year. Most journals have systems for indicating when editors are away but that only works for assigning new papers; if you have started the process you will have to see it through ... and keep chasing late reviews and delayed revisions.

So although I cannot give you an idea of workload, you have some tools to figure out what will be involved. Knowing the number of papers you are expected to handle is the most important statistic to figure out. Then depending on your field, you may have a sense of whether my estimates for scanning and reading materials are reasonable. I am sure they will vary depending on discipline.


Is it possible to save a (science) PhD in 10 months?

To be honest, from your description I would be less concerned with finishing your PhD and more concerned about your mental health.

You should probably talk to a mental health professional or GP, and then worry about this. The chances that the road to a PhD would be forever closed for you is reasonably small, but if you don't take care of yourself the impacts can be significant.


Many of your questions (about edX) will be answered by Wikipedia. Whether you can get transferrable credit for any course is up to the individual institution who might accept such a course or not. I don't know, but doubt, whether and institution would tell you before you take such a course whether it would "count".

However, it is a potentially viable resource for learning. But that depends on what  you actually do in the course, not just what you see or sign up for. If the course provides you sufficient practice and feedback on your efforts then you could learn something, even if you have no  visible "credit" for it.

Audits, even in face to face instruction can be valuable provided that the student does the work and gets appropriate feedback.

And even if you "purchase" an entire course there is no guarantee that a university will accept what you have done. It is pretty risky for certification, even if they issue "certificates". However, the sponsoring institutions (MIT and Harvard) are reputable, so there is likely less risk than if it were run by "Dr. Buffy's Online Diploma Mill". I'm pretty sure that one is disreputable.


I am applying to many universities, how should I ask my professors to re-write recommendation letters?

Asking for more than one recommendation is perfectly normal. Unless you've given them specific details about a particular position, once a reference is written it isn't too hard to send it out again. However, it is polite to keep the effort required from your referees to a minimum. It is quicker for them to send out 5 references at once, than to do one a week for 5 weeks.

Exactly what you ask for from your referees will depend on how references are requested - are they actively sent with the application, or will the place applied to write to referees? Even with the latter, one of my referees said they needed explicit instructions to respond to each.


How do I set goals as a graduate student?

Becoming an independent researcher is hard, and is nearly impossible to do on one's own, which is why one has a Ph.D. advisor, to give structure, guidance, and advice (hence the name!). Plus, in the physical sciences, one typically is part of a research group that also serves as an intellectual home. Even if you're a beginning student, taking classes and not yet part of a group, it's very good idea to start to associate with faculty and more senior students; it's (probably) enjoyable as well as useful.


whether necessary to continue to work on unfinished academic work

No, you don't need to agree to do it at that point, unless you already have agreed or committed previously. However, for your future career it would be good to give it some consideration, at least, and to work in in if possible.

I'm assuming that "the boss" is a professor, actually, who can aid you in the future.

But "unpaid" is a big issue. If you can get something back for your efforts either hard currency or academic currency it would be a good thing also.


What should conference organizers understand about childcare?

I believe thinking about, and preferrably getting data on, the ages of children who would be likely to accompany their parents, would help you answering the question. An older child (say, 7 and older) has vastly different needs from a toddler.

Speaking from experience, a short-term daycare solution for children under 3-4 is likely to cause more frustration for both kids and parents than it solves. I would strongly recommend against offering this.

Another question you might like to consider is whether people travelling with children are likely to also bring their partner. I would guess "yes". If so, perhaps you could use the childcare money to somehow compensate the partner for (presumably) taking unpaid leave from work? This would be a perfect solution for infants/toddlers, and especially if a mother who is still breastfeeding (or has a small child with very strong maternal attachment) wants to attend.

I guess you could offer these as complimentary solutions: centralised daycare/playgroup system for children above (e.g) 4, compensating partner for travelling along for children under 4 (or with special needs).


Expiration of accreditation of the program

For you, who hold the degree: nothing. Your degree does not have an expiration date. It will remain valid for all uses after Jan 10, 2016.
For the department: if they want to continue enrolling students in this program and handing out this degree, they will have to renew their accreditation. This means justifying to a local or national regulating body (depending on the country and local law) the value of the degree, the seriousness of the degree-granting process, and many other such assurances.


Conference submission while article under review for journal

In economics it is entirely normal to submit a paper to a conference while it is under review at a journal. I write as an experienced academic economist who has done this (and seen it done) many times over the past 15 years. So it is fine for you to submit to the conference. No disclaimer/declaration is necessary.

The economics discipline has developed very permissive norms about this kind of thing out of necessity because acceptance rates at even mediocre journals are low (typically not much greater than 10%) and review times long. It's not unusual for a delay of 3 years to elapse between first submission to a journal and eventual acceptance at a (likely different) journal. Moreover, economics papers often take a long time to write and, as you correctly intuit, the most common practice is for economists to submit a paper to a conference only once a somewhat complete working paper is ready. If we were to insist on a strict sequencing of tasks then then result would be a decade-long cycle for a paper, whereas allowing overlap between writing, conference presentation, and submission allows work to be developed, circulated, and published somewhat more quickly.

All that said, you might like to consider why it is that you are submitting your work to the conference. An important reason, of course, is to disseminate your ideas. But another key purpose of conferences is that they provide an opportunity to obtain feedback that can improve your work. This is especially valuable the first few times you present, when you will quickly get an idea of what the controversial assumptions in your paper are, and what people perceive as the main weaknesses. It is often helpful to delay journal submission until at least after you have presented the paper a couple of times so you can figure out what issues the referees are most likely to raise and address these in advance. Given that you probably have to wait 4-6 months to get a set of referee reports back from a journal, it is often much more efficient to first get feedback on the conference circuit.


Can re-take exams be changed after submission?

As stated in the comments this varies widely based on where you are.  I'm going to assume that in your institution professor's exams are NOT subject to a significant review process.  "Significant" in this context means that the instructor is free to ignore the review, not that reviews don't happen.  As an example, I recently taught in a university where I was required to submit my exam for a check by a faculty member with similar skillset, to make sure that the exam is appropriate for the course.  In that institution I'd say that a "significant" review took place, since I was not really free to ignore the review.
In a case where such reviews are either optional or don't happen at all, the instructor will write the exam, give it, and grade it without much interference from anyone else, if there is any at all.  An exam with a 97% failure rate is exceptional in many programs, but perhaps not all.  I can speak only to engineering in Canada, and such a failure rate would absolutely raise questions.
The process depends on your school but usually there is a formal process of review.  This typically involves speaking to the person in charge of the program that offered the course you were taking.  If this was a course in your own faculty, then usually you'd have a chair of undergraduate education, or an "academic administrator" or something like that.  They would be the first person I'd talk to.
However, you will need to be sure that your evidence and requests are reasonable.  The best way to do this would be to state clearly and with solid evidence why this exam was not fairly written, and why a 97% failure rate does not reflect student learning.  The onus is on you here.  As an example, I hear students say "XYZ was never taught, why is it on the exam" so frequently but it is rarely true.  It may be the case that you missed it, or that you didn't understand the implications of something that was said, but that's different.
For each of the perceived issues you have with the exam, you will need to clearly find evidence that it is in fact an issue with the exam and not your understanding.  You will also probably need to drop some things because they aren't valid.  For instance, "the exam wasn't like the homework" is not valid.  "We were examined on topic X, but the syllabus explicitly states that X is not part of the course" is valid.


During copyediting, journal disagrees about spelling of paper's main topic

Putting style above content and reducing the ability to find the paper does not help anybody. My experience with copy editors is that they make and introduce far more errors and problems than they solve.

Anyway, I would discuss this with the editor that accepted your paper and give him/her the scientific reasons. This might help more than discussing the issue with the copy editor.


Does ORCID matter for a person who would like to work in academia?

While I largely agree with Ian's answer (ORCID might matter in the future, but doesn't right now), I see one place where it may already matter and a reason why it should come to matter more in the future.

Right now, there is a strong implicit presumption of the uniqueness of a scientist's name, and all of the literature searches and citation databases, etc, of the world get rather confused when you have a person who either a) shares the same name as other practicing scientists or b) has a name that changes over time (e.g., marriage, gender identity change) or is represented differently (e.g., transliterated) in different papers.

On this site, we have a number of good, difficult questions dealing with the problems that name change and transliteration cause, which is particularly acute for academics in countries that don't use the Latin alphabet (e.g. this excellent question).  These problems will grow in importance as the number of practicing scientists grows and becomes more diverse, and as the duration of the readily searchable literature grows as well.

In short: there is a rapidly growing need for something like ORCID that makes it easy to distinguish scientists without context-sensitive text mining.  Whether ORCID is that thing, and how long it will take for it to be widely adopted and effective, are both open questions.


APA follows the basic format of Who-When-What-Where. In your case, it will be:
ACT. (2018, October 18). Condition of College and Career Readiness 2018. http://www.act.org/content/act/en/research/reports/act-publications/condition-of-college-and-career-readiness-2018.html
Some details:

Who? There is no individual author named; we shall thus take the authoring organization, ACT.
When? The report is from 18 October 2018; use the format YYYY, Month Day for the publication type 'report'.
What? The title of the report (Condition of College and Career Readiness 2018).
Where? The URL where the report can be retrieved from. (Note: The additional words "Retrieved from [URL]" used to be mandatory in earlier versions of the APA Style Guide, but not in the current version anymore - see, for example, here.)


Is a scholar whose work contributes substantially to my proposed project a suitable arm's length referee?

From what you describe there doesn't seem to be a problem, but who can say how others would evaluate the situation. But, consider:
You have no personal relationship to this person. They haven't contributed directly to your work other than through publishing their own work.
In fact, I would consider such a person to be an excellent judge with the necessary skepticism in making any evaluation. They know their own work (hopefully) and are in a good position to evaluate extensions of it.
But, it might be useful if that person also attests to their independence in any communication with the sponsor.


Information technology requirements and issues for academic research

A lot of the things you bring up are serious issues even for the industry, and I don't see why it would be any different for academia. You should have a dedicated IT team just as if you were a generic industry organization, even if the information is open source and non-proprietary.

  Installing third-party and open-source software without waiting for administrator intervention

This is fine on a personal machine, but on a network machine, you could potentially take down everything.

  Storing and backing up unusually large amounts of data

Typically, you'd need to have backup servers, as all the research stored on-site is a great backup until, say, the sprinklers go off and wipe your data. I'd wager an acceptable plan for academia would be the same as industry. Every week or so, send a tape off to an off-site safe area to store and recovery in case of a serious IT disaster. Losing a week of work is usually more salvageable than losing everything, as happened above with those hospitals and ransomware.

  Transferring large amounts of data between institutions, through firewalls

Depending on the data, you will likely need to encrypt and password protect stuff. Especially PCI medical data. Sometimes, out of simplicity and for records-keeping, you could send a physical media like a DVD or flash drive (also encrypted) instead.

  Access to a variety of communication and conferencing tools that might not match the organization's "standard" conferencing solution

IT typically provides this as a service, i.e. e-courses. Not sure what you're expecting out of this, but "buyer beware" is typically sufficient for those that don't follow your recommendations or provided wares.

  Remote login access to work computers

We have two-factor authentication for remote log-in. If information is sensitive, that's typically how we'd store things.


BSc: double thesis or thesis with multiple topics?

If you can make one good story about the combination of the two, that's what could make your thesis outstanding. But it's also going to be a lot more work, and if it doesn't work out, you just wasted a lot of time.

If you're not convinced you can and really want to pull this, go and ditch one of the two subjects. It's a lot less hassle for both you and your prof, you'll get a good grade, and that's it.

As was mentioned in the comments, it's already published, so there is no need to publish it again, and in a thesis, which so few people will read ever again.


Applying and interviewing for a faculty position without intent of accepting position

Please don't do this- you'll only be wasting the time of the search committee members.  Furthermore, you'll be doing something that is dishonest, and you do should not get into the habit of lying to people.

If it becomes apparent early in the search process that you aren't truly interested in the position then the committee will probably not invite you for an on-campus interview.  If you actually are invited for an on-campus interview, then there's a good chance that it will become apparent during the interview that you really aren't interested in the position.  If you feign interest and do get an on-campus interview and then get an offer but reject that offer, then you'll have left a bad impression with the faculty in that department which will effect your relations with them in the future.

The ways in which this can hurt the candidate are fairly limited, so the reality is that people can get away with this if they want to.  However, that doesn't make it right.


Changing from 100% research to 20% teaching and 80% research: Seems like a raw deal, would you do it?

As I understand it, after you've been hired, the person who hired you wants to change your contract in a way that would be more advantageous for them.  Well, they can ask, but...the whole point of a contract is so that you (and your employer) can be held to the parameters you agreed upon.

I must say that although I've been in academia for my entire adult life, I still find myself baffled by some people's academic cultural expectations.  You are considering taking on what you view as 140 hours of additional work in the remainder of the calendar year.  That's almost a month of full-time work.  It is absolutely absurd to me to do that amount (or anywhere near that amount) of work "as a favour."  Are you not a highly trained professional?  Don't highly trained professionals (in particular!) get paid for their work?  Again, even as a lifelong academic, I've always thought so.

On the other hand, most academics I know are at a lot less than 100% research.  It sounds like you currently have a temporary, "soft money" academic job.  Do you want a permanent academic job?  If so, that will probably involve some teaching.  (Right?  This is probably field dependent.)  In that case, getting teaching experience is not just a CV-stuffer: it is actually valuable for your future.  Getting used to a balance of research and teaching is of some value, at least in my neck of the academic woods, where most tenure track faculty eventually teach at least 1-2 courses per semester while maintaining their research activities.

But back on the first hand: if you are currently at 100% research and are happy with that, then I understand how you are viewing this as time away from your research and are not thrilled.  If that's how you feel, then that's how you feel, and I think you should just say no, explaining that you are really excited about doing what you are doing and would like to continue with it.  You gave your PI some chances to come up with something in exchange, so it's not as though you will come off as completely unwilling to help.  Being unwilling to take over someone else's work in exchange for nothing is really not a character flaw.

Finally, I don't quite understand the financial aspects of the situation.  Why would you teaching the class generate funds that are not generated by the PI teaching the class?  Maybe I'm missing something here.


Changing MSc supervisor late in the game

Switching now seems like a poor choice. You can finish in a bit, you say. And then you can change areas. Your old professor is happy with you. You have a success under your belt. The world is open to you.

Anyone can change at any time. There is no real reason to waste your past work.

You can then take up, somehow, in the new area, perhaps with the other professor. Or, maybe even apply for a doctoral program that will support you in the new area.

Being in an area with only a few people is fairly common in some fields (mathematics, say). It is a tradeoff. There is less competition, for example, though you have to look harder for collaborators.

Don't think that finishing in the current track will lock you in to that forever. You have valuable experience that you can exploit in a lot of ways.

And even if you do switch, abandoning old work, don't make a habit of it. Throughout your career other opportunities will sometimes seem pretty bright. If you chase every one you won't ever accomplish much. Finish what you start unless the situation is so bad as to have negative impacts on your life. That doesn't seem to be what you say here.


Etiquette of amending others' published work

Etiquette is neither here nor there in this matter, as pretty much all of academia is based on taking what has gone before, and augmenting / amending / modifying / building on it.

What matters is whether what you are doing is rigorous. Referencing, attribution, and identifying your own contribution, makes the writing rigorous. As to the crucial question of whether or not your amendment to the framework is scientifically rigorous, is only something that someone close to the subject can know.


I put off taking some important classes until my senior year, should I still apply to grad school during my fall semester?

There are lots of programs where important classes are not taken by students until their senior year, largely because of the design of the major. Also, in most cases, if there is a "capstone" course, it's not taken until the final year, and grades would not be ready until after applications are due. However, this has not proven to be an obstacle for students applying to grad school, because the people making the decisions are cognizant of such organizations, and take this into account when making their decisions.

So don't worry too much about applying with your senior year courses missing—most of your peers will be in a similar situation!


What should be the order of the authors in a paper?

Ask a hundred academics and get one hundred differing answers. Disciplines do differ.

Some base in on who did the most work.
Some base it on who developed the idea.
Some base it on a hierarchy  (my lab me first).
Some do alphabetical.
Some do "equal author contributions."
Some horse-trade, I get first on this as you got first on last. Many types of horse-trade exist and some move outside the domain of the research.
Some do it based on need. I need to be first to keep my job but you do not. I need it for tenure and you are tenured.
Some do it based on who wrote most of the paper.
Some do it on random numbers or similar.
Some decide in advance before the process starts.
Some give it to the person who made the big breakthrough.
Some give it to the organizer who pushed everyone and harassed everyone to get it done.
Some people just do not care so give it to the person who asks first.
Some give it to the person who got the funding.

My process is that you essentially know by the end of a research process and writing of a paper who should be the lead author and then the horse-trading begins. I have fun with it and I really dislike teams who spend more time on discussing this than the research.


"Due to many requests, the submission deadline has been extended" is this real?

Warning: personal opinion.

I view conferences that regularly shift submission deadlines as a little suspect. You're right that this happens in CS conferences, and it soon becomes pointless because everyone expects the extension ("Nobody expects the extension!!"). But your estimate of 80% is rather off. Almost none of the (many) conferences I submit to have deadline extensions for submission of the full paper.

And don't underestimate the level of pleading that goes on. People will always ask for an extension if they have even a smidgen of hope that the pleading will work. It's only when a conference takes a firm stand for many years that people stop asking.


Evaluating an opportunity for undergrad thesis in computer science

Master's

Someone doing his PhD in Germany typically has a Master's. So, it's not a sign of a failed PhD or something. And you genuinely don't need a PhD to do world-class research, even if it would be a sign you have more experience with a degree.

So, din't worry about the research assistant not having a PhD, rather think if he/she is good in his/her research area. From your question I infer that this particular PhD student is good.

Funding

As for funding, there are two possibilities: the student assistant rates (which are typically around 8/10 Euro/hour for up to 80 hours/month) or a research/teaching assistant position. They are stacked after having/not having a Master's, the typical rates are E12 and E13. You can google the the rate in corresponding federal county ("Bundesland").

An easier way is to look for third-party projects at the website of the professor / his group.

Update:

Rankings

There are multiple university rankings out there. Something like CHE focuses on German universities and splits up based on the major. You might want to look that school up.

Costs of living

A German university imposes a rather small (bureaucratic) fee. It's not the tuition typical for US universities, but rather like 200-250 Euros in a semester, i.e. half a year. It brings a cheaper food in mensa and a bus ticket with it. This would not put a huge dent into your finances, but you'd need to consider it.

However, the costs of renting a flat / a room in a shared flat and medical insurance can be rather high and range from 150 to 500 Euros for living and 80-250 Euro for insurance. You would find rental costs in your typical website for renting (I am actively avoiding ads here). The insurance is probably stated in university's checklist for foreign students.


How to present a model which is based on the result not yet discussed?

You have data S, and a model M={H, f(H), g(H)}, where H are the set of assumptions of the model, and {f(H), g(H)} are components of the model that of course depend on the assumptions in some way.

Using the data, you estimate a functional form for f(H), for lack of mathjax denote it empf(S,H)

Then you apply your model to the data and obtain a measure of fit, expressed here in abstract as a distance measure between model and data

{M,S}->d(M,S)*   or **{[H, empf(S,H), g(H)], S}->d([H, empf(S,H), g(H)],S)

One (not all) components of your model had a chance to "fit with the data"  prior to applying the whole model, and so it has increased the chances of your model as a whole to fit the data.

So the "distance" is not purely between model and data -it is a distance between a model that has already come "closer to the data", through empf(S,H), and the data.

In a rather known dialect, "you trained (partly) your model, using the same data set on which you are going to test it". I would not consider this as scientifically acceptable.

The way out of course, is to estimate f by using a different data set, a data set that should, according to your theory, be able also to be represented by the same model. And this also guides you as to how you could go about writing your paper.


When you cite a paper, is it a good idea to email the cited author(s)?

I think emailing authors when you find their work particularly interesting or useful is nice, and I'm sure everyone loves to recieve such emails. However, I don't think citation has anything to do with it. That said, I don't think I would ever find it "unprofessional" or suspcicious to recieve such an email.


How can I cite the same reference in successive sentences?

In general terms, the reference should be made where the cited information occurs. If you cite in the second it is not clear from where the information in the first originates. A similar problem occurs if you cite an entire paragraph by adding a reference at the end of a paragraph ass "(Xxxx, 2013)" (I am fully aware that this is the norm in some fields).

Citing the same reference in two sentences is clearly wrong. The solution as I see it is to write the sentences so that it is clear they belong together. There are several ways to do this. One way is to avoid the passive, parenthetical, reference and use the active reference where only the year is in parenthesis. As an example, you can start the first sentence by stating "Xxx (2013) states ..." and then in the second say "They furthermore  ...". In this example we provide a bridge between the two sentences so that it is very clear it is the same reference that applies. Instead of "They" you can also use "Xxxx".

There are clearly numerous ways to bridge sentences so the form depends on what you need to say. As a result I would recommend putting the reference in the first sentence, not the second.


What is the justification for the typical punishment of a student who did not cheat but helped others cheat?

Probably the main issue that makes this policy logical is that when two students are caught communicating during an exam, there is no foolproof way for the instructor to tell who copied from whom. The communication may have been one-sided, or it may have been two-sided, or it may have been one-sided but in the opposite direction than what the instructor suspects. Thus, by the mere act of exchanging information with another student, in any direction, the student undermines trust in the value of their own exam as an indication of their knowledge. Giving them a failing grade is the only policy that guarantees that they will not get away with getting illicitly-earned points. Since as you yourself said, some form of punishment is definitely logical, giving that specific punishment becomes logical both as a deterrent and as a defense against a student getting away with copying.

In other words, the policy makes perfect sense, and is pretty much the only rational way for universities to address cheating on exams.


Does working while you are studying affect your GPA?

This study suggests that employment outside the university (especially in excess of 25 hours per week) does have a negligible adverse effect on GPA, and a signigicant adverse effect on the probability of a student's continues enrollment. A second paper (here)  suggests that hours worked do have a significant negative effect on student grades.

  ...results show that an additional weekly work hour reduces current year GPA
  by about 0.011 points...

A personal anecdote: When I attended the mandatory freshman orientation seminar during my first semester as an undergrad, they recommended no more than fifteen hours per week, suggesting that anything more than that would tend to have a negative impact on our grades. I do not now recall whether they also provided references to back up their claims...

Of course, this is a general guideline, and an individual student may well be able to handle more. I know some students who were somehow able to juggle a full course load, a full-time job, AND major family responsibility, but those paragons are very rare!


"Competing interests" not disclosed? retraction?

Assuming that their company can potentially gain from their research results, this is a clear violation of the signed competing interest declaration. The fact that the authors' affiliation is a company does in no way remove their obligation to declare a potential competing interest. In fact, Springer Nature specifically includes present employment as an example of a competing interest that must be declared:

Recent (while engaged in the research project), present or anticipated
employment by any organization that may gain or lose financially
through this publication.

Whether or not you should contact the editor is up to you and depends on how sure you are that their company does in fact have a competing interest. If so, then the violation is pretty obvious (although bear in mind that just because the authors work for a company in the field does not automatically mean they have a competing interest). If Nature Communications doesn't think this is relevant you can then follow up with a question here, how inappropriate the academic community thinks their lack of action is and how strong your case is that the company has a financial interest in these results. But I would expect their editor to act on this information and issue a correction or a retraction.
Springer-Nature is one of the world's most important and biggest publisher of scientific results. Their policy is not a weird aberration but represents the norm of a large scientific community. This requirement to explicitly declare any competing interests is standard in many scientific fields (such as biomedical research). For example, Elsevier also requires authors to explicitly declare their competing interests, and authors can only declare  that they have no competing interest if they certify the following:

The authors certify that they have NO affiliations with or involvement
in any organization or entity with any financial interest, or
non-financial interest  in the subject matter or materials discussed
in this manuscript.

In the example here, the authors would not be able to sign such a statement because they do have an affiliation with an entity with an interest in the subject matter.


How long does it take for PhD scholarship from DAAD

Recently I attended the “Research in Germany” events at the Fall Meeting 2015 of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. All of them were organised under the auspices of the German Research Foundation (DFG). You can have a look in the following webpage for more details: http://www.research-in-germany.org/en

Here is the link for research funding: http://www.research-in-germany.org/en/research-funding.html

Here is the link for financing and funding a PhD: http://www.research-in-germany.org/en/jobs-and-careers/info-for-phd-students/financing-funding-phd.html

Since you have already been selected in a PhD program, you can make application to many organizations for funding. Please have a look here: http://www.research-in-germany.org/en/jobs-and-careers/info-for-phd-students/financing-funding-phd/funding-for-phd-students.html


How do I keep the high efficiency in non exam week?

You probably can't.

Exam periods are high intensity last minute sprints, exhausting and taking a toll on the other aspects of your life. Personally, I barely spent time cooking or meeting friends. My time was spent on life support activities (eat and sleep), studying, and regretting not having managed my time better. I also remember being exhausted and not being able to do much intellectual work right after the exams were over.

You can pull this off for a short period of time, but you cannot keep this for long without being burned out. Plan ahead, spread your workload, and make sure you get enough rest and leisure to keep your brain rested and at peak efficiency.


Why am I getting rejection in PhD admission after interview?

In late 2019, I had funding to employ a single PhD student at my European university. So I opened up a vacancy, and I received about 140 applications. By sheer necessity, I had to reject 139 candidates, and that included several very good ones indeed.
The main difference you're experiencing is that European Master programmes can accept scores* of students every year, but many European PhD positions are job vacancies that can only be awarded to a single person. So you're suddenly dealing with significantly more serious competition for the available positions. Rejection merely means that at least one candidate was even stronger than you.
*exact numbers depend on country, university, programme, but it's typically much much more than one student per programme.


Why do many universities require strict format on theses,

Actually, sometimes the requirement is not as strict as you would think, and they do accept some variety. Also, if they provide a template for you to use, that's not the same as not accepting anything that diverges from it.

  when the most important thing in them is the content?

That's the most important thing to you, or to academics interested in the content. It's not the most important thing for, say, the librarians, or the secretaries who have to process the theses.

  A beautiful design will make a good thesis better, and a bad one worse. As long as the content is guaranteed by the writer, why restrict their desire to make their work, at the very least, clearer?

Your question comes off as being rather self-centered. The university is (or may be) trying to make a collection of theses beautiful, not a single one. Don't publishers have series of books or journals with uniform design? Don't streets have rows of buildings with uniform or uniformly-changing design? ... and those streets in which every person built their own house, according to their own means, with different architects who have no sense of context and are wrapped up in their own ego (or with no architect and just some construction company just putting up whatever is currently cheap and fashionable) - are these the beautiful streets? Rarely.

  If academia is a place for creativity and logicality

Logicality? Ok, my friend, you are clearly not ready to graduate if that's your view of academia. You need to "bake" in there for a while longer and lose some of this naivete of yours...

  where are the creativity and logicality in strict designs?

I think I've suggested a reasonable argument as to why a university might want a uniform design. Well, it's either that or some administrator deciding on that arbitrarily, the same way the government has a bunch of standard forms. Which is it? Who knows.


Does arXiv do peer review and can a high school student submit to arXiv?

A high school student (with an endorsement as twestley laid out nicely) can publish on the arxiv, but very likely a high school student should not do this.
In my field, the arxiv is read daily by everyone in the field. There is no peer-review process, but we do self censor quite a bit. We usually circulate our research through our networks and get feedback before posting. Putting something on the arxiv that is low quality has serious impacts on your career. Your name is attached to that forever, and afaik you can't take it down and erase its history. Plus you can't undo anything to the wide audience that will see it the first day it gets posted.
In some sense, posting on the arxiv is more dangerous than going through peer-reviewed channels. If you submit something embarrassing to a journal, they won't publish it. The arxiv has no such safeguard.
Unless you know someone who you think can serve the purpose of a peer reviewer, and who can give an informed approval that your work won't be rejected by the community and reflect poorly on you, I strongly suggest you do NOT post to the arxiv. It could hurt you professionally if you end up in an arxiv-popular field. If you end up in an arxiv-unpopular field, then posting wouldn't really benefit you much either (as it's not a real journal). It's just not a good gamble.


How to present projects that will soon be published on CV?

It should be immediately obvious to the reader of a CV which papers have been published, which ones are accepted, and which ones are under review.

For published papers, use the default citation style in your field (if there is such a thing).
For papers under review, I used "Submitted to Journal" when I was a more junior scientist. I have enough of a citation record that this is no longer very helpful.
For papers that have been accepted but are not yet published, I use "In press" to indicate its status. I have also seen "To appear" and "To be published" used for this purpose.


How to change PHD sponsored by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship

Since you consider changing supervisors, subject and the place where PhD is carried out, it looks to me that you in fact consider quitting your current PhD and start a new one. You need to check your offer and contract which you signed when you accepted the PhD, but it is very unlikely that you can take this funding with you.

Seeing that you're having difficulties locating the ERC website, it is clear that you were not yourself applying for the funding. I suspect that the University where you are studying applied for ITN and you have got a place in this network. This is technically not your funding, hence you most likely can not take it with you.


During a PhD, what should I do that is not research?

As the comments say, do what you want.

It is your free time. There is no meed to sacrifice it to your PhD. Otherwise you might later end up feeling that you have "wasted" time, as in this question. Your research work seems to be going well, so there is also no pressure to put in more hours.

There is no need to optimize every aspect of your life. Try out those things you have mentioned, see what works out for you/what you enjoy more. We cannot make that choice for you.


Why do publishers still print a 'Half title' page?

Why not?
It purely a stylistic choice.

Why bother having a title page at all when all the info is also on the cover/spine?

I think it is a nice stylistic choice since it gives an uncluttered first impression of the book


How to allocate my time for two subjects?

You just have 6 months for this current job. Your personal interest can stay with you forever, and you can invest more on that when you have joined the grad school.

For now, I would recommend giving your 100% to the current research and get more productive outcomes on this, with good papers and collaborations. If you feel like you have too much time, energy, and enthusiasm, give 200% of it to your current work!


I missed an application deadline, but it wasn't entirely my fault. How can I still be considered?

I would try and personally contact someone at the school, like @gerrit commented, call them. Try and explain your situation, and say that you hope you will still be considered for the program. Do mention that it was not that you simply forgot the deadline, but that an official document stated the wrong date and include this piece of evidence. Stress that you are very enthusiastic about the program, and that you would be disappointed if this communication error would prevent you from having a chance to enter the program.


Should I talk to my supervisor about including a new field in my PhD?

First, this makes perfect sense. What you are describing is a project in the digital humanities, and there are others in music using computational methods to analyze music and its social context. The place I would suggest starting is to look at the Music Encoding Initiative, which has developed an xml mark-up language for music. The community there can lead you to many other possibilities for integrating music and computation at various levels of computational complexity. The focus remains on the music as the object of study but applies new research methods to it.


Transferring PhD programs because of location

In virtually every case, trying to transfer out of PhD program A to join PhD program B because you were unhappy in A is a bad idea, and unlikely to be easy. The linked, old question discusses several scenarios in its answers.

There are legitimate reasons, some of them obvious. While I understand why one would want to, changing for location, as per your title, is not one. Changing to improve a serious health condition, on the other hand, is one.

So I don't see how you can reasonably hope to transfer without disclosing your health condition. Add the compounding factor that you were declined in the past by program B. Given that you are very early in your career at A, I cannot see how, minus health conditions that could qualify you for spots set aside specifically to aid in like cases, their decision would be different so soon after.

If transferring really matters that much, you should consider opening up about whatever issue(s) you are dealing with - to your current faculty first, but also to the receiving faculty. Your current faculty will appreciate to hear a non-academic reason for your desire to leave, and if you're lucky, one or some of them will fully support you as they buy into your explanation. Given the earlier refusal,  you'll need strong letters from A, and even then this still strikes me as a long shot. But you can always try if your life at A is making you that miserable as your health is failing.


What to do if I can't find references about a listed project of my potential supervisor

It is completely reasonable and polite to send an email to the professor, saying that you are planning to apply to his department, you were interested by the discussion of Project A on his web page, and asking if he can tell you more about it and/or suggest further reading.


Why do predatory journals invite people to editorial boards?

Well, if you agreed they would not need to fear that you demand them to remove your photo and name and that you could sue them. Also, you could write "on the editorial board of…" in your CV and at some places in the world this would enable you to reduce teaching or get a raise. I think that's basically it. If this would be true, there would be some people that accept such an invitation. Not sure if this is the case, but does not seem impossible.


Is it ethical to have manditory questions in an online CrowdSourced survey with paid particpants?

Mandatory is a difficult concept. I think it is ethically questionable to not allow a participant to withdraw from a study at any time. There may be edge cases, for example drug studies, where further follow up treatment is required, but even here I think that treatment would not be considered part of the study. When a participant withdraws from a study we still need to provide them with whatever inconvenience allowance was agreed. We are not even allowed to prorate the inconvenience allowance, however, we break our longer studies into hour long segments and pay an hourly inconvenience allowance. It is perfectly reasonable to use a "forced choice" response system where participants are required to give a response in order to continue with the study. Using the Mechanical Turk, I think ethically you should provide an easy means of dropping out that is constantly available that will not penalize the participants. When it is so easy to withdraw, forcing them to answer a question which is not inherently necessary, seems silly. If they do not want to answer it and they have no other option, they will just withdraw.

Consider two experiments that consist of two questions. In the first experiment you either show either a circle or a square that is either red or blue. If for whatever reason the participant does not want to tell you what shape they saw, you can still get meaningful information about the color and therefore it would make no sense to force them to answer the first question. In the second experiment you show them a face and ask if it is a man or a women and based on that response you ask them if it was either Alice or Carol or Bob or Dave. For this experiment they need to answer the first question.


Should I pay for a certificate showing the quality of my manuscript before I submit it to a journal?

No (reputable) journal is going to give any weight to such a certificate when assessing a paper. If the editor/reviewers aren't satisfied with the quality of the English, they will reject the paper.

Thus, paying for a certificate for its own sake is a waste of money. Of course, if the certificate is issued in conjunction with editing services, there may (or may not!) be value in the overall package.


Publishing expanded supplementary information as separate paper

Plagiarism is using something without attribution, presenting it as your own. Self-plagiarism is related but a bit different. If you use your own past published work but don't cite the original it is self plagiarism but because it breaks a chain of citations that a future reader might need for context. The older work provides some context, including its own citations that are needed by future scholars.

But you can also refer to the older work (of your own) and cite it just as you would the work of another author. In quoting, you can also be a bit more expansive, since you won't be breaking copyright rules, assuming that you still hold rights. But you need to quote, not just copy, so that the origin is clear.

The other question is about publish-ability. That is up to the journal of course, and the new paper will be evaluated as usual based on novelty and relevance. You seem to indicate that you won't have a problem with that, so it is worth a submission.


What is normal pay in U.S. for RAship in STEM field?

I only have two US experiences to offer for comparison, one from a public university and another from a private.

The public university pays it's TA/RA's ~$8000 for a 9 month stipend.  The private university pays TA/RA's $19,000 before taxes for a 9 month stipend.  Both have stipulated that the expected workload is 20 hours a week.  While the public university pays significantly less than the private university, the hours for a pure math graduate student rarely exceeded 20 hours per week (new teachers sometimes spend more prepping, but any hourly help session positions were strictly 20 hours).  Paywise, I think the rate you're being offered for a 20 hour work week is not unheard of, especially for a public university.  However, being told you actually have to work 40 hour weeks means you're working for a rate less than the legal limit.  That certainly counts as getting screwed in my book.

Personally, I would say run like hell.  I know that academia has a history of overworking/underpaying graduate students, but I would find an alternative arrangement even if it means finding another school to attend or delaying a year.  Another consideration is that working 40 hours a week makes it difficult to actually do well in your studies and it wouldn't be ridiculous to consider picking up a side job just to make ends meet (meaning you're potentially working 60+ hours a week).  If you enter this arrangement, I suspect you'll be back here asking how to deal with burn out or how to recover from a mental breakdown from stress.  If you seriously want to be successful in your program, you need to find something better.