Digital Commons Network^™

Constitutional Inferences On Emerging Technologies: Analyzing Government Overreach, The Fourth Amendment, And Democratic Process In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Alan To

McNair Research Journal SJSU

The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)

technologies by federal agencies presents novel constitutional questions that

existing legal doctrine has not yet adequately addressed. This paper

examines the emerging constitutional dimensions of the 2026 conflict

between Anthropic and the Department of Defense (DOD), in which the

Pentagon demanded unrestricted use of Anthropic's AI model Claude for

domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weapons systems, ultimately

designating Anthropic a supply chain risk when the company refused.

Drawing on three salient constitutional frameworks, specifically the Fourth

Amendment doctrine established in Kyllo v. United States (2001) and

Carpenter v. United …

Oriented Electrospun Fibers Of Poly(Pro-Curcumin/Peg) Sequester Reactive Oxygen Species And Promote The Growth Of Schwann Cells, Jack W. Devlin, Payton R. O'Connor, Conrad H. Cheung, John T. Leman, Martin Oudega, Edmund F. Palermo, Ryan J. Gilbert

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In the biological injury microenvironment, pathologically elevated oxidative stress hinders healthy cell migration. Aligned electrospun fibers are used as tissue engineering scaffolds to support and guide the directionality of cell migration. The ability of cells in the central nervous system to sequester and quench reactive oxygen species is limited, and most electrospun fibers do not exert any antioxidant activity on contact. Thus, the challenge remains in designing a scaffold that can both guide cells to the injury site as well as sequester and quench excess free radicals, allowing cells to thrive and potentially regenerate. Curcumin is a well-known, potent antioxidant, …

Assessing Planetiq Gnss-Ro Ionospheric Electron Density And Tecusing Ground-Based Ionosondes And Cosmic-2, Mohammed Alheyf, Mohamed S. Yamany, Ibrahim F. Ahmed

Faculty Publications

Radio occultation (RO) has become a key technique for monitoring the ionosphere by deriving electron density (Ne) profiles and total electron content (TEC) from GNSS signals. This study assesses the newly deployed PlanetiQ GNOMES constellation by validating its ionospheric Ne profiles and profile-based TEC against collocated measurements from ionosondes and the COSMIC-2 mission under both quiet and disturbed geomagnetic conditions. Data matching for the statistical validation uses conservative spatial thresholds of less than 1◦ in latitude and longitude and temporal limits of 30 min for ionosondes and 1 hfor COSMIC-2, supported by a dedicated sensitivity analysis, whereas storm-time case studies …

Customer Adoption And Trust In Indonesian Islamic Banking: A System Dynamics Perspective, Imam Wahyudi Mr., Komarudin Komarudin, Prof. Rifki Ismal

ASEAN Marketing Journal

Research Aims: This study reframes the growth challenge of Indonesia’s Islamic banking as a financial-service marketing problem: strengthening customer adoption, trust, and perceived value to expand market penetration in a dual-banking environment while maintaining resilience.

Design/Methodology/Approach: Using a system dynamics perspective, the study develops a causal loop diagram (CLD) grounded in a review of policy-document and prior empirical marketing/Islamic banking literature. A multi-actor lens is applied to map how regulators, government, customers, conventional banks, fintech, and ESG investors shape adoption and competitive dynamics.

Research Findings: The CLD identifies seven reinforcing loops that can accelerate adoption and market share (capability reinvestment, …

Interactive Social Game Design For Sustainability Learning, Kayla Mattson, Kayla Huffman, Megha Thottam, Shreeya Koritala

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

Our Roots is a community-centered, web-based social game designed to improve sustainability education by turning everyday environmental actions into shared, visible progress. While many existing tools provide information about sustainability, they often focus on individual tracking and short-term motivation, which can lead to disengagement over time. This project addresses that gap by reframing sustainability as a social practice: users log real-world sustainable behaviors, earn points, and see those actions represented as growth in both personal and community digital gardens. By combining friendly competition, peer visibility, and collective outcomes, the platform encourages users to view sustainability not as an isolated task, …

Chatbot-Based Feedback + Revision And Reflection For Lab Reports, Janie Brennan

Generative AI Teaching Activities

Students will upload draft versions of laboratory reports to a specially designed chatbot trained on course guidelines and instructor preferences. The chatbot gives structured feedback on the submission, and then students update their work and write a reflection about the experience.

Scalable Flat In-Plane-Motion Mechanical Springs (Sfims) Force Vs Displacement Data, Jared Hunter, Larry L. Howell

ScholarsArchive Data

Force versus displacement data is captured in CSV files for five configurations of Scalable, Flat, In-Plane Motion Mechanical Springs (SFIMS). The five configurations are the Folded Beam Suspension, the Chevron, the Interlaced Chevron, the Canted Triple Folded Beam Suspension, and a Variable Stiffness SFIMS.

A Computational Micropatterning Approach To Study Caveolae And Protein Localization In Vascular Biology, Andrew B. Grespin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Caveolae are specialized, flask-shaped membrane invaginations highly expressed in endothelium and dysregulated in atherosclerosis. Caveolae play a central role in buffering membrane tension, yet the principles governing their spatial organization remain elusive. Thus, we sought to generate the most comprehensive and systematic analysis of blood vessel caveolar spatial organization. However, cell culturing, the backbone of human-focused biological research, does not standardly do well to model physiologically relevant cell behaviors such as migration or polarity-based tissue formation, particularly for punctate proteins and structures like caveolae. Micropatterns are cell-adhesive shapes that biophysically confine cell(s) to a user defined geometry which stereotype organelle …

Sustainable Surface Treatments Using Dry-Process Rubber-Modified Asphalt In Cold Regions: A Laboratory, Field, And Lca Study, Sepehr Mohammadi, Dongzhao Jin, Meng Wu, Zhongda Liu, Zhanping You

Michigan Tech Publications

The incorporation of crumb rubber derived from waste tires in asphalt pavements has gained increasing attention as a strategy to enhance performance while reducing environmental impacts, particularly in cold regions such as the Midwestern United States, where pavements are subjected to severe thermal stresses and freeze–thaw cycles. Despite the numerous performance benefits observed in previous laboratory-scale studies, field demonstrations can play a critical role in validating the use of recycled waste tires as asphalt additives. This study examines the performance benefits and environmental impacts of incorporating recycled tire rubber into asphalt mixtures via a dry modification process for cold-climate applications. …

Metal Oxide Nanoparticle‑Integrated Phema Hydrogels: Morphology, Chemical Properties, And Biological Interaction, Venkateswar Rao, Collin Cox, Brandon Clark, Arushi Rai, Erick S. Vasquez-Guardado, Madhuri Kango-Singh, Soubantika Palchoudhury

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Hydrogels offer attractive matrices for incorporating inorganic metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) to generate multifunctional hybrid materials, but challenges remain in scalable synthesis and correlating their properties to bio-interaction. Therefore, we report the synthesis and characterization of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA) hydrogels, and pHEMA hydrogels encapsulating iron oxide or zinc oxide NPs, using a modified free-radical polymerization. Dose-dependent survivorship studies on Drosophila melanogaster revealed that both NP-embedded hydrogels are tolerated over a wide dose range (e.g., 50–200 mg), although ZnO NP-gels exhibit lower survivorship at some concentrations due to their inherent composition and a wider size distribution of iron oxide NPs.

Mixed-Signal Intergrated Circuit Design And Fabrication, Jack Demeulemeester, Aris Ozark, Alan Rieger

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Integrated circuit design is a key aspect of the quickly-growing semiconductor industry. Familiarity with high-level design, layout, and validation is critical for students seeking an industrial or academic career in the field. Learning full-stack design at an academic institution is made difficult by the amount of resources required and limited timeframe. In this project, we develop a thermometer-coded digital-to-analog converter from concept to fabrication as a means to create a new integrated circuit design and fabrication course at Santa Clara University. We also develop a design flow using software from Cadence Design Systems and the 250 nm CMOS process node …

A Novel Design-For-Test Flow Using Librelane, Mohamed E. Gaber

Theses and Dissertations

Design-for-testing is a crucial element of application-specific integrated circuit design, yet, in the nascent open-source electronic design automation scene, the solutions for it are sorely limited. Design-for-test-enabled chips allow defects to be caught early on in the manufacturing process, avoiding incurring huge costs if hardware with defective chips is shipped to equipment manufacturers or, worse, end-users. Yet, the current open-source solutions rely on a brute-force utility that does not scale and negatively impacts the design by holding design-for-testing features as co-equal with the design’s regular operation, and a nominally layout-aware solution that does not holistically integrate into a larger flow. …

Enhancing The Performance Of Brain-Computer Interfaces Via A Spatially-Aware Framework, Ahmed Ayman Eloraby

Theses and Dissertations

Electroencephalography (EEG)-based brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) provide a non-invasive pathway for communication, with the P300 speller being one of the most established paradigms. Despite its practicality, EEG signals present inherent challenges, including low signal-to-noise ratio, high dimensionality, and limited spatial resolution. These characteristics complicate the extraction of discriminative spatial patterns, which are critical for accurate P300 detection and character-level decoding.

This thesis addresses these challenges through the development of AttenPCA-Net, a deep learning framework that integrates spatially-aware processing with dimensionality reduction. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is employed to reduce redundancy and noise while preserving the most informative components of the EEG …

An Integrated Sensor-Fusion Framework For Performance-Based Compensation In Construction, Aly Ayman El-Ashry

Theses and Dissertations

Construction productivity has historically stagnated due to a reliance on subjective labor monitoring and “lagging” performance indicators. This research proposes a novel compensation model with the use of Total Energy Management System (TEMS) to translate labor effort and efficiency into payment incentives with the integration of Internet of Things (IoT) wearables and Statistical Process Control (SPC) charts.

This research addresses the systemic problem of declining construction productivity caused by industry’s inability to objectively quantify human effort. While traditional models rely on post-facto production tallies, a significant research gap exists in real-time physiological labor monitoring. To bridge this, the proposed TEMS …

Bouillean - Ai Recipe Model, George Mouratoff, Hanol Yang, Helen Wang, Sebastian Verbinski

Computer Science and Engineering Senior Theses

AI generated food recipes are the second most desired AI innovation, however relatively few commercial systems exist to fill this niche. This is because while the solution is highly desired, cooking shouldn’t be approached with the same method by most LLMs and standard AIs. The leading models struggle to solve the issue of generating a semantically clear recipe while maintaining memory of the recipe status between steps. This is before we can even attempt to solve the flavor problem.

Cooking represents a unique challenge for AI, since it requires minimal loss in memory alongside already high quality text generation making …

A Parallelized Multi-Component Radiation Testing Methodology For Systems-On-Chip, Weston M. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

As the space industry expands, there is an increased reliance on system on chip (SoC) devices in high radiation environments. The reliability of these devices becomes crucial, especially in space applications. The industry's rapid growth has led to a massive expansion in the use of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components. Electronic systems are vulnerable to single event upsets (SEUs) and the failure modes caused by SEUs are not fully understood, especially for COTS SoCs. Standard radiation testing techniques of SEUs use a single core of a multi-core processor to monitor bit flips. In this work, we present a parallelized radiation testing …

Moisture-Induced Degradation And Mechanical Durability Of Mineral-Filled Polylactide (Pla) Composites, Barbara Szaraniec, Aleksandra Ptaszkowska, Alicja Rapacz-Kmita

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

This study investigates the influence of mineral fillers on the hydrolytic stability and mechanical durability of polylactide (PLA) composites under accelerated aqueous ageing conditions. Composites containing halloysite nanotubes (HNT) and bentonite-based fillers (BM, BS, BSP) at 2 wt.% were prepared using a powder-coating and injection moulding approach. Accelerated hydrolytic degradation was conducted at 50 °C for up to six weeks. The degradation behaviour was evaluated through mass variation, water absorption, incubation medium analysis (pH and electrical conductivity), mechanical testing, surface observations, and contact angle measurements. The results revealed a clear filler-dependent response. Bentonite-filled composites exhibited increased water absorption and accelerated …

Developing Custom High Resolution 3d Printers For Microfluidic Device Fabrication, Dallin Scott Miner

Theses and Dissertations

The advancement of microfluidics in biomedical diagnostics and lab-on-a-chip systems is increasingly dependent on the ability to fabricate complex, three-dimensional architectures with high-resolution negative features. While Digital Light Processing Stereolithography (DLP-SLA) has emerged as a leading fabrication method, it remains constrained by a fundamental trade-off between feature resolution and build volume, as well as challenges regarding fabrication consistency and design accessibility. This dissertation presents an integrated ecosystem of hardware, materials, and software designed to overcome these barriers and enable scalable, high-resolution microfluidic fabrication. We first introduce a novel multi-resolution 3D printing technique utilizing a dual-optical engine architecture, comprising a Very …

Evaluating C-Band Scatterometer Images For Estimating Deforestation In The Amazon Rainforest, Alex Mcbride

Theses and Dissertations

Satellite-based active microwave sensors have been successfully employed for a wide range of vegetation and soil studies. Spaceborne microwave instruments have proven particularly useful for wide-scale monitoring of the vegetation, especially under conditions that limit the effectiveness of high-resolution optical sensors. Satellite scatterometry can be used to detect and model deforestation in the Amazon rainforest by correlating changes in the C-band backscatter data to observed changes in vegetation coverage. The exploratory methodology developed in this paper applies the longest continuous microwave satellite record to the problem of deforestation. The backscatter measurements taken by the ERS and ASCAT missions provide more …

Ai In Precision Medicine: Redefining Blindness Treatment Via Retinal Stem Cell Differentiation, Calissa Leong, Tiffany Nguyen

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Age Macular Degeneration (AMD) is currently the leading cause of blindness, driven by the degradation of Retinal Pigment Epithelial (RPE) cells. Stem-cell based therapies, particularly those involving induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), typically consists of differentiating stem cells into RPE cells in vitro and transplanting them into the subretinal space. Our goal is to improve the accuracy of differentiation into RPE cells to better promote retinal regeneration. Traditional methods to alleviate symptoms of AMD is through therapeutic medications to slow disease progression, though stem cell therapy has emerged as a promising alternative. However, despite its potential, stem cell therapy presents …

Investigation Of Electrochemical Transport, Gate Leakage, And Transconductance Behavior In Pedot:Pss Organic Electrochemical Transistors, Vinay Bhudhraja, Bilal Khan, Abijeet Mehta

Health & Biomedical Sciences Faculty Publications

Organic Electrochemical Transistors (OECTs) are promising candidates for low-voltage bioelectronic systems due to their high transconductance, mixed ionic–electronic transport, and compatibility with flexible substrates. In this work, we investigate the electrochemical transport, gate leakage, and transconductance behavior of screen-printed PEDOT:PSS OECTs, with emphasis on the relationship between ionic coupling and output characteristics. Key electrical and electrochemical parameters—including drain current modulation, transconductance evolution, gate current behavior, and capacitance–voltage response—were systematically analyzed to elucidate the mechanisms governing device operation. The results reveal clear trade-offs between parasitic resistance, volumetric electrochemical capacitance, and effective gate control, which in turn influence signal integrity and amplification …

Methylglyoxal And Glyoxal In High-Puff Disposable Electronic Cigarette Liquids: Unexpected Accumulation And Enhanced Cytotoxicity, Esther E. Omaiye, Wentai Luo, Kevin J. Mcwhirter, Man Wong, Prue Talbot

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite concerns regarding the potential health risks associated with EC use, their design, puff count, and e-liquid formulations have continued to evolve. Aldehydes are a key class of thermal degradation byproducts generated during the vaporization of EC fluids. This study tested the hypothesis that aldehyde concentrations would be elevated in used ECs with high puff numbers. Devices from multiple brands were analyzed to assess the impact of extended use on aldehyde formation. E-fluids were extracted from field-collected and user-donated devices and analyzed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to quantify 178 flavor chemicals, two synthetic coolants, nicotine, solvents, and aldehydes (methylglyoxal (MGO), …

Enhanced Uav Surveillance With Rf-Based Drone Identification Using Transfer Learning, Prajoy Podder, Maciej Jan Zawodniok, Sanjay Madria

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

With the development of technology and the decrease in costs, drones are now becoming easily accessible to the public. As the accessibility of this technology continues to grow, the concerns of security and surveillance increase, and to ensure a sense of security, the need to have reliable drone detection and identification systems is more urgent than ever. Besides, many civilian applications have been found for drones, which play a huge role in modern security and warfare. Unauthorized drones can be very dangerous regarding security issues, as they can be used for spying, smuggling, or even attacks against critical infrastructure. We …

Comparative Analysis Of Leaflet Materials, Stent Materials, And Stent Cell Density For Bileaflet Transcatheter Mitral Valve Design, Joseph Chibuike Nwokeafor, Joshua D. Hofmeister, Breandan B. Yeats, Lakshmi Prasad Dasi, Charanjit S. Rihal, Juan A. Crestanello, Leigh Griffiths, Mohamad A. Alkhouli, Hoda Hatoum

Michigan Tech Publications

Background: The biomechanical performance of bileaflet transcatheter mitral valves (TMVs) depends on complex interactions between leaflet material behavior and stent design. However, the contributions of leaflet materials and constitutive models, stent materials, and stent geometry to valve function and durability remain poorly understood. Methods: A parametric finite element study was conducted using a CAD model of a bileaflet TMV subjected to physiological pressure loading. Five leaflet material models were evaluated: 3 glutaraldehyde-fixed tissues—bovine pericardium (BP; FBP1, FBP2) and porcine pericardium (PP; FPP)—and 2 unfixed tissues—bovine (UBP) and porcine pericardium (UPP). BP was modeled as a linear elastic (FBP1) and Ogden …

Practical Engineering Design: Hands-On Learning In An Undergraduate Embedded Systems Design Course, Nadieh Moghadam

School of Engineering: Faculty Scholarship

Hands-on engineering design can help bridge the gap between theoretical coursework and real-world engineering practice, particularly during the middle years of undergraduate programs. This paper presents the implementation and outcomes of an open-ended final project in ELEC 310: Embedded Systems Design at the University of San Diego. Student teams designed and prototyped smart environmental monitoring systems using STM32 microcontrollers, selecting sensors and defining system objectives under realistic constraints. Project outcomes were evaluated using prototype demonstrations, team technical reports, and post-project student reflections analyzed through inductive thematic analysis. Reflections and project artifacts suggest that debugging and hardware–software integration functioned as key …

The Impact Of Using Microencapsulated Phase Change Materials In Asphalt Binder And Mixtures, Ayyaz Fareed

Theses and Dissertations

Asphalt concrete is a widely used paving material for roadway construction; however, pavement distresses such as thermal cracking (non-load associated), fatigue cracking (load-associated), and rutting (permanent deformation) continue to challenge the performance and longevity of flexible pavements. These issues diminish ride quality, reduce service life, and contribute to increased maintenance needs. Several modifiers, including polymers and fibers, have been used to mitigate pavement deterioration, yet improving the thermal response of asphalt mixtures remains a significant concern, particularly in climates with substantial temperature fluctuations. Microencapsulated Phase Change Materials (MPCMs) have recently emerged as a promising solution due to their ability to …

Educational Smart Ai Multi-Functional Robot, Chengxu Tang, Jiayan Wen, Bill Zhang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Over the past decade, advances in embedded computing, robotics frameworks, and AI have significantly lowered the barrier to developing intelligent robotic systems. Some single board computers such as the Raspberry Pi are now capable of running operating systems like Ubuntu and frameworks such as ROS2, allowing us to build robots that can perform tasks including autonomous navigation, computer vision, sensor fusion, and speech interaction. As a result, technologies that were once limited to large research labs are becoming increasingly accessible in educational and lower level research environments.

At the same time, recent developments in AI have changed expectations for how …

Ora (Oneball Robotic Arm), Isabella Murillo, Juan Pablo Fernandez Garza, Gabriel Kotab, Catherine Epstein

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Confined spaces are dangerous and awkward to navigate environments, often putting those who work in them at risk. To reduce effort and human exposure to these hazards, robotic systems can be used to navigate and inspect these areas to limit, or even eliminate the need for human presence in confined spaces. This project proposes an autonomous robot that can navigate confined spaces while sending data back to the user. The robot features a spherical body that is capable of a zero rotational axis, with an external, magnetically attached head. This head contains scanners or tools that the user can remotely …

A Peer Evaluation Of Safety At Signalized Intersections, Auzton Mitchell Stutts

Theses and Dissertations

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has made significant efforts to reduce crashes at signalized intersections and is constantly seeking to improve safety across the state. The purpose of this research is to quantify and evaluate the safety rates and frequencies at signalized intersections in Utah compared to other states. Once the crashes have been quantified, the secondary purpose is to determine why there may or may not be differences. A survey was developed to understand how states analyze, prioritize, and implement safety at signalized intersections, including different policies, procedures, and countermeasures. Crash data from eight states were analyzed and …

Integrating Production And Repair Operations Through Data Driven Defect Flow Analytics For Yield And Resource Optimization In Pcba Manufacturing, Ali Tahmasebi, Yingge Zhou, Daryl Santos, Sai Srikanth Reddy Kolli, Edward Wong

Systems Science and Industrial Engineering Student Scholarship

In Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) manufacturing, maintaining a closed loop connection between production and repair operations is critical to improving product quality and operational efficiency. However, in the manufacturing environment that motivated this work, production and repair data are often managed separately, and repair findings are not systematically fed back to production teams, limiting visibility into defect routing patterns and repair workload drivers. This study developed a data-driven framework that integrates production and repair data streams to analyze defect flow and support repair resource planning. The framework applies descriptive statistics, cross tabulations of repair inflow by product/project and repair …