Citation Rates for Ohio State Graduate Theses & Dissertations: Trends, Surprises, and Inaccuracies

The Ohio State University’s holdings of graduate theses and dissertations were examined to determine if highly-downloaded titles tended to be highly-cited. The study found that citation rates were highly variable and did not necessarily correspond to download rates. This included very highly downloaded titles with low citation rates, and lesser-downloaded titles with high citation rates. The study found that Google Scholar, which was used to identify citation rates, too often counts theses and dissertations as a version of a different work with the same title, even if it is another format and sometimes with additional authors. This article will share these findings

Overhauling of a Science Library Web Area

This article covers the revamp of a science library’s web area. The library’s web area contained outdated web pages, unused files, and an architecture that made it hard to maintain. All of these issues with the web area resulted in an examination and revamping of several aspects of all the files on the web area. Server statistics were used to determine the usage of the files in the library’s web area. Files containing textual information were categorized according to their topic and the usage of each topic area was examined to determine the distribution of usage amongst the topic areas. Files were also categorized according to file type in order to determine the distribution of various file types. The architecture of the web area was improved in order to make the files categorized into proper topic folders and thus easier to maintain. Files were moved as needed in order to fit into the new architecture. Unused web pages were integrated into other web pages or deleted entirely. Redirects were created for users that have used bookmarks or links to the old location. Web pages were all examined and appropriately revised in order to provide concise, up to date, and accurate information and links to information. The article ends with the future plans for the web area, including a regular schedule of maintenance

Trusts

Covers cases on the claims of children and the divorced wife of beneficiary to support trusts

Google Scholar Versions: Errors and Implications

Google Scholar combines versions of what should be the same item into a single record with multiple versions listed and a common citation rate for all versions. However, these versions are not always the same document. A study on the citations of theses and dissertations found unusually high citation rates for some titles. On closer examination, these titles had versions that were other formats, sometimes with additional authors. A close examination of highly cited theses and dissertations revealed that nearly half of the titles were considered versions of other different formats, often much shorter and sometimes multi-authored journal articles

Material selection for the actuator design for a biomimetic rolling robot conducive to miniaturization

The purpose of this thesis was to research, select, and test an actuator mechanism for ultimate use on a centimeter scale biomimetic rolling robot. The design of the actuator will allow a rolling motion that closely mimics cellular locomotion in addition to providing a novel motion for other applications. The basis of the design has been completed through previous mechanical design research. The existing robotic mechanism consists of a larger scale spherical body with legs which controllably extend and contract, yielding a trajectory which results in a rolling motion of the body. The previous research also derived a mathematical model of the kinematics of the motion. The current work seeks to improve on the previous work by selecting an actuation mechanism that preserves the biomimetic motion and that allows this device to eventually be utilized at the microscale. Material selection is of critical importance in developing actuation mechanisms at the microscale. Smart materials were extensively researched because of their actuation properties. Based on the strain percentage, power requirement, and force output, it was determined that the preferable actuation material was an electroactive polymer (EAP). Samples of Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite (IPMC), a type of EAP, were then fabricated, purchased, and tested. Test results from this work will enable future actuator designs and configurations to be fabricated with predicted results. This research also provided a basis for further mechanical design of the rolling robot with the incorporation of EAP actuators. Lastly, future work of combining sensors with the design, therefore compounding capabilities, of the rolling robot is discussed

Voice control of the space shuttle video system

A pilot voice control system developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to test and evaluate the feasibility of controlling the shuttle TV cameras and monitors by voice commands utilizes a commercially available discrete word speech recognizer which can be trained to the individual utterances of each operator. Successful ground tests were conducted using a simulated full-scale space shuttle manipulator. The test configuration involved the berthing, maneuvering and deploying a simulated science payload in the shuttle bay. The handling task typically required 15 to 20 minutes and 60 to 80 commands to 4 TV cameras and 2 TV monitors. The best test runs show 96 to 100 percent voice recognition accuracy