qid int64 1 2.78M | question stringlengths 2 66.6k | answers list | date stringlengths 10 10 | metadata list |
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30 | I've just finished my Erasmus period in the Netherlands. I'm still waiting for one result from my guest academy, then the Transcript of Record will reach my home university and, somehow, the results will be translated from Netherlands marks to Italian marks.
Is there an Erasmus standard on how to predictably translate... | [
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"text": "As far as I know, the translation is up to the universities who do the conversion. I think that it is unlikely that ... | 2012/02/14 | [
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38 | In the European Union we have a ["Common European Framework of Reference for Languages"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages). In practice all language certification programmes have one of those levels associated to them (ranging from A1, the most basic, to C2, the most adv... | [
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"text": "From what I've heard, the [TOEFL](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOEFL) is well recognised. \n\nThat being said, once you ... | 2012/02/14 | [
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39 | I'm a graduate student in the Earth Sciences. The breadth of my departments runs the gamut from geobiology to geophysics and everything in between. As a result, a large number of the department seminars that get hosted are on topics that I have little or no background in and do not relate to my research field in any wa... | [
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"text": "Well, there is no universal advice. In general, you should adopt the local policy. If it is really the expectation, then yo... | 2012/02/14 | [
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42 | I am aware of [h-index](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5/what-is-the-h-index-exactly-and-how-does-it-work). I was wondering what other types of scores are both widely and rarely used to measure the impact of a scientist? | [
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"text": "Beyond the h-index, I don't think there's any definitive parameters used in practice. However, some other common factors us... | 2012/02/14 | [
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47 | I am considering joining the recent boycott of Elsevier, however I work with biologists on theoretical/mathematical biology (in particular, evolutionary game theory and population biology). However, It seems like [Journal of Theoretical Biology](http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-theoretical-biology/) is the p... | [
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"author": "Anthony Labarre",
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"text": "There are quite a few journals where you can publish theoretical work in this area. Here are a few suggestions (the... | 2012/02/14 | [
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50 | Ever since starting graduate school I've tried to make scientific reading a part of my daily ritual; I track pages read using [Beeminder](https://www.beeminder.com/), and the graph doesn't lie. It keeps me honest.
I aim to closely read and summarize 5 pages per day and skim a few other abstracts besides that. I spend ... | [
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"text": "*This post refers to research in the [STEM fields](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEM_fields), and may not be applicable to ... | 2012/02/14 | [
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51 | I'm aware that it's a violation of terms for most publishers to submit the same article to more than one journal, but I frequently see authors whose papers seem very similar, particularly papers released in a single year. In my field, neuroscience, this is particularly true about conference papers; one researcher will ... | [
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"text": "1. According to the [Committee on Publication Ethics Guidelines on Good Publication Practice](http://publicationethics.org/stati... | 2012/02/15 | [
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52 | I am curious to know the kinds of obstacles a US citizen would come across when trying to find work in academia outside the US and/or those that a non-US-citizen faces when trying to get an academic job inside the US.
It would seem that, logistically, it would be easier on the department to hire a citizen over a non-... | [
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"text": "> \n> Do you have to be extraordinary for a department to hire you over an equally qualified citizen?\n> \n> \n> \n\nThat ... | 2012/02/15 | [
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53 | I've received conflicting advice as to whether I should choose my coursework based on my research topic or not. The main pro usually is that I'll quickly be able to get up to speed on my research. The con is usually that there are so many other courses that I could take, in which I could learn topics I may not ever hav... | [
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"text": "I don't think a \"definitive\" answer is possible, but the following is based on personal experience and observation... | 2012/02/15 | [
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58 | I'm working as a TA now, and I've found that I'm spending an inordinate amount of time on my TA-ship. Is this normal? Furthermore, is this expected? I'm worried that my research career will suffer because of my lack of research productivity. | [
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"text": "I suppose it depends on the factors that are causing you to spend more time teaching than you think you should. You should talk ... | 2012/02/15 | [
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69 | All graduate programs have committees such as the "social committee" and "speaker series committees", as well as Graduate Student Organizations and other organizations to work on behalf of these programs. Is there any concrete career benefit to being an officer on one of these committees/organizations? | [
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"text": "Those volunteer positions may help boost your chances of getting a major award. For example, one of the most prestigious graduat... | 2012/02/15 | [
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70 | I'm considering going back to graduate school, but I've heard from a number of friends that graduate students are all required to teach. Is that the case? I have no teaching experience at all. Will that negatively affect my chances of getting in? | [
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"text": "In general, no, it won't. Having teaching experience might weigh in your favor in exceptional circumstances (a graduate dep... | 2012/02/15 | [
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83 | As a PhD student I generate a lot of pages with calculations, ideas and lecture notes.
Most of them are useful only for a short amount of time, but some may be important for much longer (when writing a paper, or when having new ideas to continue a once abandoned project). Typically I work on a few project simultaneous... | [
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"text": "If you have Microsoft Windows Office 2010, I would recommend [OneNote](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_OneNote) as a... | 2012/02/15 | [
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84 | While [arXiv](http://arxiv.org/) is great, it covers only topics in physics, mathematics and computer science.
Are there any good preprint storage places for other scientific disciplines? | [
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"author": "Willie Wong",
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"text": "**It seems that neither option presented below are taking new submissions. I keep the answer here for historical intere... | 2012/02/15 | [
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90 | What I'm trying to understand is, to what degree does the status/rank of the University (where one completes his/her Ph.D) matter while shaping his/her career after graduation? I would like to know the weight given to one's school in both the following cases:
* While applying for post-docs/faculty positions in academi... | [
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"text": "The short answer is that it can matter fairly significantly in where you get your post-doctoral fellowship and eventual pro... | 2012/02/15 | [
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96 | I'm curious to know what kind of choices does someone with a recent Ph.D in theoretical CS have, in the industrial research labs, and how to find out about existing opportunities. In particular, I'm looking for:
* Links to sites where such opportunities are listed, if something like that exists.
* Information regardin... | [
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"text": "I'm not sure what is the \"frontier\" of theoretical computer science, but some companies, such as IBM Research or Micro... | 2012/02/15 | [
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101 | A colleague and I recently submitted a paper to a journal with an impressive-sounding name, the "International Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Computational Research". According to their website,
>
> IJAICR is a referred [sic] journal in the field of computer science, artificial intelligence and soft computing... | [
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"text": "The best way is by word-of-mouth: ask around the department, ask your PhD advisor, ask people you've worked with. \n\n... | 2012/02/15 | [
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103 | I have some experience with hosting reading groups/journals clubs in an off-line setting. Usually we meet every week in a room and discuss the paper for that week. However, recently some colleagues and I (~7 people) are trying to catch up on a specific topic quickly, and we want to hold a short reading group/journal cl... | [
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"text": "You can find many softwares or online services for that purpose : blackboard IM, tinychat, etc."
},
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109 | I'd be interested in tools helping to organize thoughts and ideas, especially in a non-linear way (i.e. not as most existing note taking tools, working with lists and bullets, but rather as a post-it application). Ideally, something like the tool they use in Minority Reports would be cool (without the fancy-touch thing... | [
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"text": "For non-linear note-taking and also collaboration I use [TiddlyWiki](http://www.tiddlywiki.com/). It is one file... | 2012/02/15 | [
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117 | In many countries an application for a PhD position includes a written research proposal, so my questions is **what are some advises/strategies to come up with a good topic/idea for a PhD research proposal and how can one assess the quality/fruitfulness of an idea**? As an undergraduate student one just doesn't have th... | [
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"text": "1. Jot down your interests.\n2. Future goals (long term and short term). Doesn't have to be accurate but just to give you th... | 2012/02/15 | [
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120 | What impact does prior industry experience (2+ years in a non-trivial functional role in any established organization) lend to the profile of someone who is entering grad school for a Ph.D.? In my case, it's Computer Science, but I expect the question to be applicable to other areas as well.
* Do admission committees ... | [
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124 | Assuming that an applicant does his research and applies to a bunch of schools for a PhD. He gets accepted by a few of them with full aid.
Assuming that the research and faculty at all places is more or less of the same quality, what factors come into play when deciding where to go?
(Also assume that the student is an... | [
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"text": "A strong factor for most people will be the financial impact, i.e. how much is it going to cost and are there schola... | 2012/02/15 | [
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128 | As a postdoc, I'm considering to apply to research-only positions (for instance in a research institute, and not a university), and I know that one of the responsibilities of being a researcher is to recruit PhD students.
I personally only know people (including me) who have been "recruited" for a PhD by one of their... | [
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"text": "PhD studentships are quite often advertised like \"normal\" jobs, i.e. on general job boards/recruting websites. If y... | 2012/02/15 | [
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143 | I'm a first-year graduate student, and I just joined a computational chemistry laboratory. I have three tasks now: pass all my courses, fulfill my TA duties, and start research. I'm finding that I'm spending all my time doing the first two, and very little doing actual research. I'm worried that my advisor will be upse... | [
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"text": "I think the answer lies in what your PI thinks you should be doing and how well you can, at least, appear to be doing it whi... | 2012/02/16 | [
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148 | I have been looking into PhD programs in the Engineering field, and I have found different types of programs, such as some with coursework, and others without any coursework.
What is the practical difference between them? (Besides the obvious coursework) What kind of student is expected for each of them?
EDIT: To be ... | [
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"text": "It seems to me that there are several advantages; none of these are suitable for every student. It's up to you whether eno... | 2012/02/16 | [
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149 | On the Internet, I have found that some people have graduated with a PhD by means of a “sandwich thesis”. Could anyone explain what it is? | [
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158 | While accepting an offer to grad school, one is basically entering into a lasting relationship with one's adviser - most likely, someone whom the applicant has never met before, and the only exposure has been through the potential adviser's website/publications. It is in the interest of both parties to ensure (to the g... | [
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"text": "If you can get any information, don't underestimate the importance of simple personality factors---do you expect to be able to... | 2012/02/16 | [
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159 | Following on from [What is a "Sandwich thesis"?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/149/96) , is there an easy way to find out which departments at which universities will allow a sandwich thesis (aka a *stapler thesis*, *portfolio thesis*, *three-paper thesis*, *thesis by portfolio of publications*, *thesis by publi... | [
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"text": "I know it's a \"personal\" answer, but I don't think it depends only on the university, but also on the department. For ... | 2012/02/16 | [
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164 | I finished my undergrad last year and have since been working in the private sector. I'm about to submit a paper with my senior thesis results. Two questions about corresponding author information:
1. I'm listing my current affiliation in the private sector for various reasons. We are moving offices, and our address w... | [
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"text": "1. As you mentioned, the postal address does not matter - but in any case, I'd lean towards the newer address!\n2. Its def... | 2012/02/16 | [
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165 | What is the distinction between the following scientific events:
* conference,
* congress,
* symposium,
* meeting?
While I have some idea about differences (e.g. congress - large and serious, meeting - by a certain organization, ...) I have an impression that sometimes the terms are used interchangeably.
Is it safe ... | [
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"text": "There are certain (informal) nuances I believe:\n\n1. **Symposium** - Prestigious conferences, generally leading venues in ... | 2012/02/16 | [
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173 | Speaking to the faculty in my program, I've noticed that they seem to evaluate themselves and others using two criterion: (1) publication quality and quantity, and (2) ability to obtain grant money. No one discusses grades or performance in graduate school classes. Even when potential faculty candidates come around, th... | [
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"text": "As far as your research stature is concerned, grades would matter *least* of all, below other non-academic stuff as your so... | 2012/02/16 | [
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174 | I'm having the problem that my advisor isn't providing me with any real guidance. To avoid making this a rant post, I'll just state the facts: my advisor is an MD/PhD, working almost full-time as an MD. He comes to the lab once a week for lab meetings, and often doesn't have time to meet. He seems to have lost interest... | [
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"text": "My answer depends on how far along you are in your research and whether you are in PhD or MD?PhD program. \n\nIf you are in ... | 2012/02/16 | [
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177 | I'm a student currently pursuing my masters in computer science.
My present area of research is computational algrebraic geometry (theory of grobner bases and tropical geometry).
Afterwards, I'm interested in pursuing my PhD in pure mathematics.
I would like know if I'll be elligible for applying to pure math PhD pr... | [
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183 | I have been told that there is a correlation between being a good teacher and being a good researcher (like [this](http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~harchol/gradschooltalk.pdf) paper, in page 15, point 3.6), but i have not found any references or studies about it.
Does any know if there is really such correlation, or have studie... | [
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"text": "I don't think there can be any studies to confirm or deny something like that, simply because neither \"good teacher\" nor ... | 2012/02/16 | [
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185 | Coming from France, where any official academic position (i.e. associate professor or full professor, or equivalent positions at public research institutes) is a civil-servant one, and therefore automatically for life, I've been always intrigued by the "tenure" system in the US.
While reading the [Wikipedia article](... | [
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"text": "I haven't seen any statistics on how many tenure professors have been fired, but most articles on the topic treat tenure as... | 2012/02/16 | [
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187 | Generally speaking, are there good "milestones" to suggest that a graduate student should initiate their job search? Roughly a year from completion? More? Less? Is there a particular time of year a job search should be kicked off?
Basically: The job search, how do I time it? | [
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"text": "The following is condensed from advice for academic job hunts that I've read [here](http://www.cs.umd.edu/users/oleary/grad... | 2012/02/16 | [
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199 | I'm looking for an online resources that lists all summer schools of the actual year in a specific domain. Are there any sites? I just found one: [Summer Schools in Europe](http://www.summerschoolsineurope.eu/), but this site seems to be a little bit outdated and doesn't have a lot of summer schools.
In my case, I'm f... | [
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"text": "For software engineering maybe you can find sth [here](http://lanyrd.com/search/?q=summer+school)."
},
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"ans... | 2012/02/16 | [
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206 | I am a Canadian undergraduate student intending to get a master's degree, but not intending to get a Ph.D.
A Canadian graduate student told me that master's degree in the US are really only designed for people desiring to get a Ph.D.
Is there any truth to this statement? Do masters degrees in the US put significantly... | [
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"text": "This is a partial representation of the truth. On the one hand, departments are always looking to retain masters students a... | 2012/02/17 | [
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213 | *Note: I'm primarily interested in answers relevant to Computer Science (Theory), but answers in different areas in CS / totally other disciplines are equally welcome.*
In most (if not all) PhD programs, incoming grad students are supposed to take relevant courses and fulfill their TA-ship duties (I'm assuming not eve... | [
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"text": "For questions 1 and 2: it **depends**: you have to find out from your individual advisor/department/university. Furthe... | 2012/02/17 | [
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217 | I have heard that it would be a bad idea to take up a post-doctoral position, if your ultimate goal is to work in industry. The basis of this maybe that it is harder to be hired for an opening at a company, maybe because you would seem unsure of your direction, or would be over qualified for a junior role.
If there ar... | [
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"text": "Well, clearly, it depends on many factors (my answer is probably strongly influenced by the Computer Science field). \n\n... | 2012/02/17 | [
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223 | I recently attended a very large conference in my field ([SfN](http://www.sfn.org/am2011/), ~30,000 attendees), and after I got back I was thinking about what I had gained from the trip, and I realized not that much. I listened to a few different talks, and I saw a whole bunch of relevant posters, but on reflection I d... | [
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"text": "Read [this](http://sidsavara.com/personal-productivity/how-to-to-network-at-conferences) and [this](http://www.wikihow.co... | 2012/02/17 | [
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224 | I've been told by numerous people that (1) my undergraduate university will be disinclined to bring me on as a graduate student, and that (2) it's a bad idea to attend grad school where you completed your undergraduate degree, anyway. Is that true? If so, why? | [
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"text": "I will address the two points separately:\n\n1. If you have a strong application, then your undergrad university... | 2012/02/17 | [
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241 | What is exactly the difference between a reference letter and a recommendation letter in Academia? According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recommendation_letter):
>
> Letters of recommendation are very specific in nature and normally requested/required and are always addressed to an individual, whereas... | [
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"text": "With due deference to Wikipedia, colloquially, the two terms are used interchangeably."
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... | 2012/02/17 | [
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248 | As examples, the lab executive assistant at <http://www.klab.caltech.edu/people.shtml> or the lab administrative assistant over at <http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~tapio/people.html#admins> | [
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"text": "Funding for non-research positions comes from either direct or indirect sources. \n\nDirect sources means writing a propos... | 2012/02/18 | [
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252 | I'm applying for graduate school (PhD in computer science), and I'm considering writing to faculty whose research areas match with what I intend to pursue, to understand:
1. Whether they'd be looking for new students at all in the coming year?
2. If they did, would they be potentially interested in my profile (I know ... | [
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"text": "My personal experience relies more on postdoc application rather than PhD application, but here my answers to your quest... | 2012/02/19 | [
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257 | I mean, I really *should* be glad when they ask me this question. But inevitably, different people will ask me the same question many different times (over many different interviews), understandably so, and response fatigue does start to set in. I just wonder how other people can manage to be so patient when I ask them... | [
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"text": "You **should** have an *[elevator pitch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_pitch)* version of your research i.e. a des... | 2012/02/19 | [
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260 | I have a rather difficult quandary. I'm a first-year student, and I joined my lab group to work on a clinical psychiatry/neuroscience grant. I've been making slow progress towards familiarizing myself with the grant. However, my advisor (actually, one of my two-advisors... they both run the lab together) has been havin... | [
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"text": "I think it's true that the time-sharing between grants is quite normal within the research world, at least, I've observed... | 2012/02/19 | [
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262 | I just finished an undergraduate degree in psychology, with a focus in biological sciences and pre-medicine courses. In looking at my options for graduate school, I've taken an interest in biomedical engineering; tissue engineering, medical devices, medical imaging, etc. My biology is pretty solid, but I'm not much of ... | [
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"text": "I had asked the same question related to CS in TCS.SE (found [here](https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/q/8339/4119)) - fro... | 2012/02/19 | [
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263 | Will people look down on me if I say that I plan on doing research that I end up not doing due to various reasons, especially if I'm a PhD student?
I guess it's somewhat expected, and that experienced professors don't always believe that I'll end up doing what I say (because unexpected bugs and events happen all the t... | [
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"text": "There is a huge difference between saying that you will do a given research effort, and saying that you will obt... | 2012/02/19 | [
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264 | An incoming graduate student is typically required to help out as a TA, take courses both related to their research and required by the program, as well as to start reading up on the research topics in his field. Unless he has worked in the same research area prior to joining grad school, it is unlikely he would get an... | [
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"text": "This wil vary significantly according to advisor, but I'd say a typical plan is:\n\n* Years 1-2: coursework, begin research... | 2012/02/19 | [
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271 | Quite often, at conferences or while attending seminars, I will start an interesting discussion with the speaker, first on-site, then later by email, and even though at some point there seems to be some mutual interest, it almost never gives an actual collaboration (i.e. working on an actual paper).
I have no particu... | [
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"text": "In my experience, starting a collaboration is incredibly easy: you use your network of contacts to identify someone who'd ... | 2012/02/19 | [
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278 | I've been attending my lab's journal club for a while, and I'm wondering whether there are better ways out there of conducting a journal club. To make the question more generic, our club seems to have two purposes:
1. Ensure that the students in the lab are reading papers in the field
2. Discuss the latest research fi... | [
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"text": "This is based on my experience being in some highly unsuccessful journals clubs, and some very successful ones - at least ... | 2012/02/20 | [
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285 | There is a divide between the scientific community about involvement in popular science. I would define it as involvement in NatGeo/Discovery type documentaries, writing columns for newspapers/magazines, blogging about articles of popular nature (Like End of the World, Tsunami or whatever).
Does involvement in such i... | [
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"text": "If certain fields of academia do in fact frown upon \"popularizing\" science, then they are shooting themselves in the foo... | 2012/02/20 | [
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288 | I use the online tool [citeulike](http://www.citeulike.org/user/apwheele) to manage my bibliography. The main tool to organize the library is tags (functionally equivalent to tags here on this site). One problem I seem to be having is I do a very poor job of initially choosing tags, so I need to continually re-tag my l... | [
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"text": "I don't use citeulike myself, but I think it's important to make a difference between tags and keywords. Indeed, keyword... | 2012/02/20 | [
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290 | I have been recently introduced to the idea of teaching portfolios, that is a collection of teaching experiences and references made by peer educators. Their supposed purpose is to go along a researcher CV when applying for a position in academia, i.e. assistant/associate professor.
Any first hand experience? | [
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300 | Graduate school has a reputation for being a tremendous time-sink. I'm currently married with kids, and I have a fairly busy extracurricular schedule. Is it common for married people - or anyone, actually, with significant external time constraints - to not finish their graduate work, specifically due to conflicting ob... | [
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"text": "I've seen it work both ways: some people realize that they have a limited amount of time to work as a result of their exte... | 2012/02/21 | [
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301 | For many years, I've used Latex to create my presentations, because I need to include mathematical formulae and symbols. However, it's sometimes quite cumbersome to use, and it's much harder to do "visual" effects (I'm not talking about animations, but for instance about arrows emphasizing a particular word, or connect... | [
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"text": "If you're on OS X, then a great solution is to use the [LaTeXiT](http://www.chachatelier.fr/latexit/) package, which allo... | 2012/02/21 | [
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306 | I graduated with a Masters of Engineering, concentrating in digital signal processing, in particular medical and audio, almost two years ago. I've always been interested in research, but due to personal circumstances I could never commit a lot of time to working on a research project with a professor, and obviously did... | [
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"text": "The short answer is yes, you can.\n\nThere is no need to be in a university, a research lab to work on a researc... | 2012/02/21 | [
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317 | I keep hearing different things from different people and it seems there is no clear policy laid out at my institution regarding the definition of graduate student vacation days; I'm curious how PIs and students handle this issue at other places.
**At your institution, do University-wide holidays (such as "Spring Bre... | [
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324 | I have a master's degree in International Studies, and a double major with Computer Science from undergrad. My transcripts suck. There's no other way to dress it up. I have pretty good teaching experience, and my GRE scores are awesome, and I suspect my recommendations are as bland as everyone else's. Basically, to an ... | [
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"text": "It depends on where your weaknesses are. If they're in both the master's and the bachelor's degrees, you're in a lot of h... | 2012/02/22 | [
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331 | My graduate training is in an interdisciplinary field (bioinformatics). I am affiliated both with a genetics department and an interdepartmental program that encompasses everything from genetics to computer science to evolution to statistics to engineering. The life-science-oriented fields seem to place a lot of value ... | [
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"text": "I'll give you my own opinion, as something of an interdisciplinary scientist in a nearby field (I work in mathematical epi... | 2012/02/22 | [
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332 | I'm in the U.S. and have always written in American English. I will be submitting a paper to a U.K. journal for the first time. To conform to British spelling, I've changed the Microsoft Word dictionary to U.K. English, which has caught most of the obvious differences . Even so, I'm worried that it will miss some of th... | [
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"text": "A lot of US spellings have come to become accepted internationally - at best, some of the reviewers might point out the wo... | 2012/02/22 | [
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351 | For the record, I'd like something to replace notebooks. I'm accumulating more and more notebooks, and they're a pain to tug around everywhere. Plus, notebooks are easy to get lost (I've lost notebooks by accidentally leaving them in restrooms), not easily-backup-able, and non-searchable.
So I'd like a tablet that all... | [
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"text": "I believe the limitation is more on the software that you are using, rather than the tablet itself. So, if you are using a... | 2012/02/22 | [
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353 | For the record, I'm visiting the University of Chicago as an accepted PhD student (in the geophysical sciences) next week.
In particular, I'd especially appreciate creative questions that few other visiting students ask. | [
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"text": "* Talk to current graduate students in your lab (even better, working with your potential adviser!)\n\n\t+ Ask about their... | 2012/02/22 | [
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354 | In many cases, they (understandably) don't reply (or they are uncomfortable with sharing them, as they often contain unpublished material). Also, I do this often, and don't want to be known as "the person who asks people for their powerpoint slides".
At the same time though, it's simply far easier to remember the con... | [
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363 | I have a background in Psychology and Fine Arts. My passion lies with doing scientific research and making art. So ideally I would be able to do both, or use one to support the other. However, I've found that finding a job in the social sciences is pretty difficult, if not impossible without work experience (pretty muc... | [
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365 | What are the advantages of Mendeley over Bibsonomy?
Is it easy to migrate from Bibsonomy to Mendeley?
Does Mendeley offer equally powerful bibliography exportation?
---
In detail, the following disadvantages of Bibsonomy are crucial for me:
* you can not modify all your bibliographies at once, e.g. exchange in ev... | [
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"text": "I haven't got the chance to use Bibsonomy, since I use Mendeley since the beginning. \n\nConcerning your questions:\n\n* Yo... | 2012/02/22 | [
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368 | E.g. as shown in the example [here](http://www.princeton.edu/aos/people/graduate_students/persad/G_PersadCV2011.pdf).
>
> * 2011—Centennial Fellowship, Princeton University Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (accepted)
> * 2011—Top Student Award, University of Washington (declined)
> * 2011—Program in Cli... | [
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375 | As part of my MSc I have to produce a Thesis/Dissertation which forms an integral part of the program and classification (roughly 1/4 - I imagine the subject can make a difference, so I should say that my MSc is in Mathematics in the UK).
I am wondering to what extend I should expect to be completely on my own in this... | [
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385 | Assuming that there are no ethical or legal concerns involved, in general, how would academic journals handle research submitted from the general public (e.g., if a carpenter were to perform a study on memory)? Would it be published if it held to the same standard as other research, or is it rejected without review?
*... | [
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389 | I believe in Mathematics and Computer Science journals usually accept LaTeX documents. In fact, the AMS has a number of packages and document classes for just this purpose.
What about other disciplines? I'm not particularly familiar with the humanities. Would a Microsoft Word document be unacceptable?
Does it vary fr... | [
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394 | I'm coming from a biomedical engineering background, and I'm noticing that almost all job postings ask for either an MS or a PhD, and from speaking with my friends with masters it seems that masters are often favored, because they demand less pay. In fact, the only positions that specifically seek out PhDs seem to be r... | [
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397 | As a converse to [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/353/what-are-some-good-questions-to-ask-current-graduate-students-when-visiting-scho), as a professor, I find it difficult to conduct a useful interview. **What types of questions should I ask which would give me a good idea as to how (1) pro... | [
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398 | The purpose of this question is to attempt to generate a concise but comprehensive answer to the question, **what happens to the researcher after fraud is discovered?** I'm familiar with some consequences:
* Listing on the [NIH Office of Research Integrity](http://www.ori.dhhs.gov/case_summary) website
* Retraction of... | [
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399 | Is it feasible for an engineering student from Germany to get into a Ph.D. program in the UK/Ireland? Specifically, what should one keep in mind/try to accomplish in the last two years before finishing the "Diplom"? How would one apply?
Maybe this question can be extended to other combinations of countries, but I didn... | [
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409 | I am looking for a good source to get my hands on some pre PhD level maths papers/dissertations, because I want to get a better feeling what is expected. (i.e. BSc and MSc Dissertations)
My department is unfortunately not at liberty to make MSc Dissertations available for copyright reasons, so I am stuck with asking i... | [
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412 | A couple of years back I did some research at a company in a field (Computational chemistry) that I am no longer interested in pursuing (To be blunt: I discovered that I dislike computational chemistry, and lack a certain numerical intuition needed to interpret the results). As I have this and a number of computer scie... | [
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417 | The question is hypothetical, but it came up in a conversation and I'd like to see if we can come up with a logical analysis and conclusion. For various reasons, *graduate students* might not be inclined to apply for funding.
By *funding* I mean grants or scholarships intended to support graduate students directly in... | [
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422 | More than once, I have had (graduate school admissions) orientation sessions where the faculty of the institute introduce their fields, their research and what they expect from potential students (Among other things).
At places I am interested in, this is a useful exercise. However, there are often places which I don... | [
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428 | Looking at the [list of academic ranks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_academic_ranks) on Wikipedia shows that the same academic rank/title can mean quite different things in different countries. For instant, a "research assistant" in the US can stand for an undergrad student doing an internship, while in the UK ... | [
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435 | I've been using git for a while and now [GitHub](https://github.com/). I'm starting to write a master's thesis. Would it be a good idea to upload all the files to online public repositories? Does anyone have any experience with this?
EDIT: Thanks for all the answers. I consulted with my adviser about this, and he said... | [
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443 | I was planning to use mdpi.com to submit a paper to "Entropy" journal. The journal perfectly matches the area that my paper covers. However, they require a cover letter to five reviewers selected by myself:
<http://www.mdpi.com/journal/entropy/instructions>
>
> Coverletter: Check in your cover letter whether you sup... | [
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449 | What is the best way to go about to find a certain research group that do work in a specific field (e.g research groups doing empirical brain investigations but working from a dualistic perspective, or research groups doing eyetracker work on infants)? | [
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458 | Is there any publicly accessible information regarding the success rate of grant/project applications for science/technology and other research grant programs (e.g. NSF grants) and its variation over time?
I'm not interested in an exhaustive list but some illustrative examples would be much appreciated. | [
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461 | I often fantasize that when I will get my work to successful end, then I will have new possibilities open – and that maybe I will even receive scientific job offers. The work is obtaining new important results in computational sciences.
But then I get to the ground, think that giving someone job is rather a necessity ... | [
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464 | I've been considering applying to graduate school of some form or another in Mathematics. During my undergraduate years, I did decently on my undergraduate coursework (mostly A-s, some As, a B) but not stellar, and it wasn't until I started taking graduate courses as a senior that I started buckling down and getting so... | [
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468 | My department is looking for a CRM tool to manage its relationship with graduated students (either on BSc, MSc or PhD level). What we want to achieve:
* Show our candidates that you can get a well paid work after graduating Physics in Poland (they don't believe such positions exist)
* Allow our department to track ca... | [
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"text": "[LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/) is a fine resource for this sort of thing, especially for keeping track of alums' career... | 2012/02/28 | [
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474 | Here are the details for one of my schools so far:
At UChicago, my prospective adviser said that I should expect to have around a month off per year (probably 2 weeks in winter and 2 weeks in summer).
It's probably fairly reasonabl, though it came as a bit of a shock at first but that was because I was used to being ... | [
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481 | I have a bachelor's degree in computer science. I am looking for an appropriate master program. I am interested in algorithms.
My question is not about where I should continue my education. My question is about how exactly should I search for the place to study for my master's degree. I simply don't know where should... | [
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485 | The thing with PhDs is that it often takes someone who knows the politics and people of the field in order to really understand (or help) a PhD student's troubles (if any arise). At the same time, there are many similarities.
If they don't, who are the other best people to talk to in case issues arise? | [
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488 | There are many disciplines where collaborative learning is the norm; group projects in engineering, working in pairs in bio & chem laboratories, writing papers in a variety of fields, and Team-Based Learning in medical schools (among other areas). **Are there any software tools available that are specifically intended ... | [
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492 | Tonight I was scrolling through my RSS aggregator (which includes subscriptions for several journals I follow) and the abstract for [All Your Base: a fast and accurate probabilistic approach to base calling](https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/gb-2012-13-2-r13) caught my attention. The article's ti... | [
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"text": "The brief answer is that, yes, humor has its place, but\n\n1. it should never be used at the expense of the integrity of t... | 2012/03/01 | [
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498 | As a young scholar I frequently struggle with knowing the extent to which I should be critical of particular components of papers I am reviewing. I can formulate a rough hierarchy between major concerns (things that need to be changed or this shouldn't be published) and relatively minor concerns (things I think would i... | [
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503 | I'm a first year PhD student. I'm just reading background papers trying to find a topic for my thesis: my subject is turning around tree different elements (XML (as a tool), complex data, and the cloud computing (as an environment)). So I find that is a large subject with many materials that treat this subject, whether... | [
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508 | If a person studies and/or does experiments at his/her own home or laboratory because of some reasons, is he/she still allowed to compete with others to get a prize like Nobel Prize, Field Medal, etc?
More precisely, from the beginning he/she never gets educations from formal institutions (schools, colleges, universit... | [
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512 | For a similar thing, [see this thread](http://www.quora.com/Is-Jay-Wackers-real-first-name-Jacob-or-Jay), where Jay Wacker managed to get people to call him by the name Jay even though he didn't need to get a legal name change. I'm not sure how to go about this though.
The main problem with me is that I have such a fr... | [
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517 | With Asperger's, the trick is always when to explain it (in a non-awkward situation). I'd like to avoid mentioning it if possible, but it has gotten to the point that I only mention it after committing a major social faux pas, in which case it might be seen as an excuse.
With ADD, this is an issue that happens when pe... | [
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520 | What's the best way to make corrections to a published paper? Should I amend the original paper and mention in a footnote (or similar) what was changed and why or prepare a completely separate document and put that on my website/append it to the original paper?
I'm not so much worried about how to get it to the publis... | [
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530 | Most of the questions about teaching assistantship portray TA'ing as a waste of time that only damages research. Although I am not TA'ing this year I consider applying for a TA position next year, because I feel I kind of missing it and it actually helps me to focus on my research.
Are there any clear benefits of TA'i... | [
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531 | I love learning and solving problems (I'm in math/ computer science) and I'm also very motivated. However, I don't have fantastic grades and so I don't expect to get into any top graduate program. This may seem like a discrepancy, but I think it is partly a personal issue (which I'm working on).
Is it possible to cond... | [
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