Scripts to get Mercurial up and running on OSU CSE machines (SunOS and Linux)

UPDATE: A day after I posted this, Mercurial and Python (and Git) were added as optional subscriptions for users of these machines. So login to your desired machine and execute subscribe, then select MERCURIAL and whatever PYTHON is available (version 2.4.x or higher). Quit subscribe to save your changes, and re-login (of course, you can also do the same thing with GIT).

If you are a student, staff member, or faculty member in the Computer Science and Engineering department at The Ohio State University, you may have found yourself wanting to use a DVCS like Mercurial (hg) for SCM. Unfortunately, the version of Python that comes bundled on these enterprise systems prevents installing Mercurial, and some other issues on the SunOS system (like the lack of round() in the math library) prevent building a recent version of Python 2 that is needed for installing Mercurial. There are ways around this mess, and I have done my best to automate them within a script.

So give it a shot:

• install_hg_osu_cse_linux.sh – Linux install script (i.e., for faclogin.cse.ohio-state.edu and stdlogin.cse.ohio-state.edu)
• install_hg_osu_cse_sun.sh – SunOS install script (i.e., for facsun.cse.ohio-state.edu and stdsun.cse.ohio-state.edu)

Download the appropriate script to your desired target machine. Next, edit the script (e.g., using pico, nano, vi, or emacs) to verify that the INSTALLDIR location at the top of the script is what is desired – if you are going to run the script on both types of machines, your INSTALLDIR must be different in the two scripts. Then run the script on the machine (e.g., ./install_hg_osu_cse_sun.sh) and follow the instructions. The script is interactive, and so you will be able to manage its behavior as it runs. Be sure to follow its instructions at the end about setting your PATH and PYTHONPATH; if you ran the script on both types of machines, you will have to be clever in your script RC/profile file to set these differently based on the machine you are on – I recommend using uname to detect the different machine type.

After that, you should have a working Mercurial. In the Linux script, you may adjust the Mercurial and Python 2 versions downloaded, but in the SunOS script, you need to leave the Python 2 version alone as later versions of Python will not build on the SunOS machines (due to the problems with the old math library). On either machine, if you are adventurous, you can use the installed Mercurial to clone the stable Mercurial repository (hg-stable) and keep your installed Mercurial up-to-date with the very latest stable version.

Updated LaTeX document class for Ohio State University (OSU) graduate school dissertation and thesis documents

Back in 1996, The Ohio State University Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department made available LaTeX2e support files including a document class that complied with the graduate school's format for dissertations (see samples pages, guidelines, templates, and other resources from the graduate school). The resulting osudissert96.cls and osudissert96-mods.sty from the ECE department was kept up to date through 1998, but it was left to lapse out of compliance after several format updates from the graduate school (including a recent one in 2009). Additionally, the graduate school only officially supports helping students with documents "typeset" in Microsoft Word (and even their Word templates may require a more recent version than they claim on the website).

So back when I put together my dissertation (which has source code available to review) in 2010, I updated those old ECE templates for the 2010 format. I tried to make them backward compatible with the old osudissert96 to make them nice drop-in replacements for anyone using the outdated versions. You can find them at:

• http://links.tedpavlic.com/zip/osudissert10.zip
• http://links.tedpavlic.com/zip/sample-osudissert10.zip

For the most part, the old osudissert96 documentation still applies. However, it might be better just browsing through the sample and/or using the sample as a template for your own document. To get the sample up and running,

1. Unzip sample-osudissert10.zip.
2. Unzip osudissert10.zip.
3. Put the CLS and STY files from osudissert10.zip into the same directory as the files from sample-osudissert10.zip
4. Build the sample dissertation with:
   1. pdflatex Thesis.tex
   2. bibtex Thesis.aux
   3. pdflatex Thesis.tex
   4. pdflatex Thesis.tex
5. Review the resulting Thesis.pdf file, which also includes documentation on how to get your own dissertation up and running.

There is also a README file in sample-osudissert10.zip that basically says the same as above. Experts may just need the files in osudissert10.zip, but it will still be useful to see the quick reference in Appendix B of the sample dissertation. Note that the documentclass is still called osudissert96.cls even though the zip file is called osudissert10.zip; this choice was made for compatibility with old dissertations using the old files.

I hope that helps someone out there. I probably won't be monitoring the graduate school format policies now that I am not in graduate school anymore, but I am usually happy to help with "how-to-modify" questions over e-mail (if I have time). Good luck!

Bookmarklets for OSU Library proxy

FYI, as of an e-mail sent to me on the morning of January 27, the OSU library system is happy with these bookmarklets and may plan to offer their own version of them in the near future. Thanks, again, for your support.

This message goes out to OSU faculty, staff, and students. Doesn't it make you mad when you're off campus and you want to read a paper and the research database that holds the paper doesn't let you view it because you're not a subscriber? I hate that.

Luckily, the OSU library system provides an "off-campus sign in" that can be used to make your off-campus connection look like an on-campus one so research databases will grant you OSU caliber access. Unfortunately, sometimes it's hard to figure out how to get from the off-campus sign-in to the paper you want. So I've come up with a shortcut, and I implemented it two ways.

Drag either one of the two following bookmarklets to your "bookmarks toolbar" (that strip of bookmarks that rides just below the "location bar" in your browser).

• OSU LOCSI ("LOCSI" = "Library Off-Campus Sign-In")
• OSU LOCSI

When you're on a page you'd like special access to (e.g., the official site of an academic paper of interest to you), click on the bookmarklet and you'll be transported to that site via OSU's "off-campus sign in." You may have to use your OSU username and password to login the first time you click on the bookmarklet, but after that you should be granted OSU-level access quickly.

(feel free to rename those bookmarklets as you wish; the name "OSU LOCSI" isn't important to their function)

I hope that helps.

Letter to Prospective Graduate Student

Now that all of my adviser's older graduate students have graduated, I have somehow become an international ambassador (completely against my will) for the university. I've been getting e-mails from students interested in getting their PhD in the area of control here at OSU. Here's a sample response, which may or may not be helpful to some random Googler out there.

> I am interested in Fuzzy controllers in Control Systems
> and have done some paper presentation on that in under
> Grad school. I plan to take the same for my PhD studies.

    It's good to hear that you're considering advanced
studies in control systems.  Keep in mind that state of the
art control research is not in fuzzy control. Modern control
uses a more rigorous mathematical approach. Recent interest
in nonlinear systems has made the mathematics of real
analysis an important tool for the control researcher. 

    That being said, Professors Passino and Yurkovich are
experts in fuzzy control (you can see their book on the
subject). Professor Passino's current research investigates
biological and psychological systems (in particular, how to
integrate engineering ideas into those fields and use
insights from those fields to inspire engineering
solutions). Professor Yurkovich is highly active in
automobile control system research (spanning everything from
the automobile itself to the manufacturing systems that make
it). Because Professor Yurkovich's research is a little more
conventional, it tends to be more easily funded. 

    Additionally, there are several other strong control
faculty members here at OSU.  Professor Ozguner, for
example, is a leader in coordinated control (e.g.,
integration of multiple vehicles or systems with independent
controllers). Professor Serrani is an expert in nonlinear
dynamics (e.g., control of fluid flow through an
airbreathing supersonic jet). Check out OSU's ECE webpage
for more information on the other control faculty.
 
> 1. How do you find the course you are pursuing. That is
> about the quality of teaching, course material and other
> facilities at the university?

    I think that the courses at OSU are very strong,
especially in control and *mathematics*. Keep in mind that
OSU's math department has a strong theoretical bias, which
actually makes it ideal for engineering disciplines
surrounding communication systems, signal processing, and
control systems (a focus on algebra for the first two and
real analysis for the latter). All of these courses are
taught by experienced faculty, and I have been very happy
with the level of instruction here at OSU.

    That being said, some of our facilities are older.
Additionally, primarily due to lower undergraduate
enrollment in the ECE department, *internal* funding
opportunities for graduate students have been on the
decline. 

> 2. Do I need to get in touch with any Professors before
> applying for admission?

    *YES*, it would be a good idea to see
what space will be available. However, many will probably
tell you to get back in touch with them after you have been
admitted to the program. Still, you should contact them to
see if they'll be available to take on new students. It is 
usually best to make first contact by e-mail (though, 
depending on the professor, your mileage may vary). Make your 
intentions clear in your e-mail's subject (e.g., "Considering 
PhD Study in Control Systems Area at OSU").

    Keep in mind that many professors will favor PhD
students over MS students (which shouldn't be an issue in
your case). Additionally, the OSU ECE department has
recently "modernized" its advanced degree program. Now there
is a 4 year (nominally) "direct to PhD" program that may (or
may not) be attractive to you. You might want to consult the
"ECE Graduate Handbook" (available on the ECE webpage in the
section for graduate students) to get more details about
those programs.

    In the meantime, you should definitely be pursuing
outside funding options. Having outside funding will make
you more attractive to any university and will give you more
flexibility when doing your own research.

    I hope that helps. Best wishes --
    Ted

I'm leaving out many details that I bitch about frequently among friends. Maybe that's because I'm optimistic that the university (and the ECE department) will "change" for the "better," or maybe that's because I don't want to be the lone miserable schmuck.

Beware of Aronoff?

I walk by this "Caution: Floor Wet" sign every day. I think it's funny because it's in Dreese Labs, which is very far away from Aronoff Laboratory.

It's as if the ECE's are being warned about the EEOB people.