Tag Archives: March2017

articles, Community, Events for Students, GSC, GSC career events, March 2017

GSC COMMITTEE & CLUB UPDATES: MARCH 2016

GSC Career Paths Committee

On February 13, 2017, the GSC Career Path’s Committee kicked off the year with a workshop learning the basics of the Prism Graphpad software. In the past, students had expressed interest in analysis of data using statistical software as well as graphing the data in a presentable fashion. Therefore, the GSC thought a workshop on PRISM would not only be very useful but also have a significant impact on the students’ research careers. The workshop was kindly guided by Dr. Dan Cox, a professor in the Neuroscience department, and it took place in the computer room in the Sackler library. The workshop was well-received, according to GSC representatives Vaughn Youngblood and Roaya Alqurashi. “(The workshop) was a successful one. The attendees loved how Dr. Cox explained each application you will need to use in Prism with an active learning experience” Roaya said. Vaughn mentioned “the Prism workshop was helpful!  It taught the fundamentals of using Prism along with how to represent different types of data.  Hopefully, we can bring Dr. Cox in for another session with another statistical program like R.” If time permits this year, the GSC Career Path’s Committee hopes to hold several more workshops like this with different analysis softwares (R, SAS, etc.).

arts & culture, Library, March 2017, On the Shelf

On the Shelf…

For Work

Effective Data Visualization

Effective Data Visualization: The Right Chart for the Right Data, by Stephanie D.H. Evergreen

Location: HHSL Book Stacks, Sackler 5, P 93.5 E937 2017

This book shows you how to select the best type of chart for your data, design an easily readable chart, and create effective charts and graphs in Excel.

For Leisure

The Undoing Project

The Undoing Project, Michael Lewis

Location: HHSL Book Stacks, Sackler 5, WL 103.4 L675 2017

Michael Lewis, the author of The Blind Side and The Big Short, describes the working relationship between two psychologists, Daniel Kahneman (author of Thinking Fast and Slow) and Amos Tversky, whose work changed how we think about decision making, and catalyzed the creation of the field of behavioral economics.

Library, March 2017, PubMed Tip of the Month

PubMed Tip of the Month…Topic-Specific Queries

Topic-specific queries in PubMed are carefully constructed search strategies that can either be applied to a set of results as a filter or added to a search using ‘AND’.  Each of these searches has been created by an expert, tested to optimize sensitivity and specificity, and is periodically updated.  To view a complete list of the available searches, click the ‘Topic-Specific Queries’ link under PubMed Tools on the PubMed homepage.  This will bring you to the Directory of Topic-Specific PubMed Queries, where you can view the available subject searches, which include: AIDS, bioethics, cancer, health disparities, toxicology and veterinary medicine.  Clicking the link for a subject either limits your PubMed search to that subject area (i.e. applies a filter) or brings you to a page with the search strategy and additional resources.

Topic-Specific Queries
Topic-Specific Queries link on PubMed homepage.

Some of the searches can also be applied as filters from a search results page.  To do so, click the ‘Show additional filters’ link in the left-hand column of a PubMed search results page.  Check the box next to Subjects and click the Show button.  Select a link under Subjects to narrow your results.  If you do not see a particular filter, then click the ‘Customize’ link under Subjects to choose additional filters.  I don’t use topic-specific queries too often, but they can save you a lot of work if an appropriate search filter has been constructed for your topic.

Library, March 2017, Notes from the library

Notes from the Library…Copyright

As both creators and users of copyrighted works, it is good to know a little about this topic.  Below, you will find a brief copyright primer.  For answers to copyright questions pertaining to your thesis, see FAQs for Dissertation & Thesis Writers from the Tufts University Libraries Scholarly Communications Team, where you will find answers to questions such as: Can I delay the release of my thesis?  What if I have already published part of my thesis as an article?  What if I want to reuse a graph created by someone else in my thesis?  What is open access?

What is copyright?

Copyright is a set of rights, which give the owner the exclusive right to do or authorize any of the following: reproduce the copyrighted work; prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted work; sell, transfer ownership of, rent, lease or lend copies of the work; publicly display or perform the work (17 U.S. Code § 106).

The authorization for copyright legislation goes back to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution.  The Copyright Act of 1976 provides the framework for today’s copyright law, which can be found in Title 17 of the U.S. Code.

What does copyright apply to?

Copyright applies to “original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression” (17 U.S. Code § 102).  This includes literary, pictorial, graphic, and audiovisual works.  Copyright does not extend to ideas, procedures, processes, methods of operation, concepts, principles or discoveries.  Patent, trademark or trade secret policy may apply to these forms of intellectual property.  For more information on these types of IP protection, see What Are Patents, Trademarks, Servicemarks, and Copyrights? and Trade Secret Policy on the U.S Patent and Trademark Office website.

How long does copyright last?

In general, for works created on or after January 1, 1978, copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years (17 U.S. Code § 302).

Who owns the copyright to my thesis?

You do!  According to the Tufts Policy on Rights and Responsibilities with Respect to Intellectual Property: “Students generally own the copyright to the academic work they produce.  Academic work can include class papers, theses, dissertations…”.