Better Zotero file management with Zotfile

In this post I'm detailing my Zotero setup. It took me a while to figure out all the bits and pieces and I figure describing my configuration might be helpful to someone else.

 

A reproducible research environment with Sumatra and Docker

Docker is a promising candidate for a computational research environment that allows for easy replication of computations and results. Sumatra is an automated laboratory notebook for computational research projects. Do Sumatra and Docker work well together?

 

A LaTeX Beamer two-column frame template with proper vertical spacing

I made a LaTex Beamer template for creating presentations in a two-column format. I use this style to have figures on the right and text on the left. Here's the presentation the template produces:

 

Introduction to Sumatra - Automated tracking of scientific computations

I gave a seminar on how I use Sumatra as an "automated lab-notebook" for my computational research. These slides present a tutorial to Sumatra and detail how to get started:

 

Matplotlib figures with Helvetica labels - helvet vs. tgheros

I recently spent a frustrating amount of time figuring out a good way to have labels and text in the Helvetica font in Matplotlib. Here's what I found:

 

Python: File operations & Data parsing lecture

In the latest edition of the Introduction to Scientific Programming in Python lecture at my institution, I held a tutorial on "File operations & Data parsing". Below the lecture slides:

 

Setting up Emacs with Compiz and wmctrl

I recently spent some time to set up GNU Emacs 24.3.1 properly in my Ubuntu 12.04/14.04 environments with the Compiz windows manager. I wanted to

  1. start Emacs in a specified position and size, and
  2. set focus (activate) Emacs in the current workspace

 

Arrowheads for axis in Matplotlib

This is a short demo showing how to make abstract plots in matplotlib that have arrows pointing in the x and y direction as axis.