Digital Commons Network^™

Agentic Hallucination Risk Scoring For Medical Llms Via Uncertainty Quantification And Clinical Knowledge Injection, Mayank Kapadia, Mohammad Masum

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Large Language Models (LLMs) have witnessed significant adoption across numerous domains since 2020, but their proclivity to hallucinate creates unacceptable dangers in high-risk environments like healthcare, where wrong outputs can directly jeopardize human safety. While present systems focus on pre-generation mitigation strategies, they cannot ensure the safety of individual outputs during inference. We provide a post hoc Hallucination Risk Scoring (HRS) methodology that intercepts questionable outputs before they reach patients via an agentic pipeline. Given a medical question, a domain-specific LLM generates an initial response from which five complimentary uncertainty signals are computed, which are then separated into a decision …

Spartan Daily, April 16, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 34

Preparation And Characterization Of Double-Network Composite Hydrogels With Carboxymethyl Pachymaran In Promoting Wound Healing, Haodong Wu, Xi Feng, Zhinan Mei, Wen Huang, Ying Liu

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Utilizing food-derived bioactive polysaccharides in advanced biomedical applications offers significant potential. To effectively harness the inherent bioactivity of Poria cocos, a renowned edible and medicinal fungus, we developed a multifunctional double-network composite hydrogel (CPS) via a feasible one-pot strategy. This was achieved by incorporating functional carboxymethyl pachymaran (CMP) into a matrix of food-grade sodium alginate (SA) and polyacrylamide (PAM). This formulation endows the hydrogel with excellent extensibility, rapid self-healing capabilities, and strong tissue adhesion, all while preserving the biological activity of the natural macromolecules. In a mouse full-thickness skin defect model, the CPS significantly accelerated wound recovery, achieving a healing …

Spartan Daily, April 8, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 30

Oceanographic Drivers Of Interannual Habitat Use In Breeding Rhinoceros Auklets (Cerorhinca Monocerata), Cole H. Wan Jower, Bradley P. Wilkinson, Pete Warzybok, Mike Johns, Russell W. Bradley, Jaime Jahncke, Scott A. Shaffer

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Seabirds exhibit flexibility in foraging distributions in response to changes in the marine environment and prey availability. From 2015 to 2019, we studied foraging distributions and behaviors of chick-rearing rhinoceros auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata, n = 42; 6–12 bird per year) on Southeast Farallon Island using GPS loggers and time depth recorders (2018 and 2019 only). We hypothesized that auklets would adjust their foraging behavior in response to interannual oceanographic variability, predicting that auklets would exploit shelf break habitats under stable conditions but shift their foraging distributions and increase foraging effort in years with anomalous conditions. Surface water conditions varied significantly …

Academic Libraries As A Platform For Indigenous And Agricultural Knowledge Sharing In Rural Communities: A Conceptual And Review-Based Approach, Jenifer Yesmin Laskar, Pradip Kumar Singha

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Agriculture and traditional knowledge are the roots of rural economy, particularly in biologically sensitive areas with diverse cultures. Preserving traditional knowledge in terms of local farming practices is an activity that is generally associated with cultural practices in these areas. The potentiality of academic libraries in terms of bridging roles for dissemination, curation, and sharing of Indigenous knowledge as well as Agriculture knowledge in the respective areas remains largely overlooked. It is an attempt to explore, indicate, and address through the theoretical approaches based upon an understanding of library science concepts, Indigenous studies, community development, sustainability studies, the roles of …

Stacks, Pamela C. (1950-2026), San Jose State University

Emeritus and Retired Faculty Biographies

University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry Ph.D. 1979

University of California, San Diego, Revelle College, Biology A.B. 1972

Knowledge Creation And Information Sharing Through Open Education Resources, Dr. Sankar P

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Open Educational Resources (OER) are materials that anyone can use for studying, teaching, and learning because they are free to use and share. Textbooks, courses, multimedia, software, and tests are all examples of these resources. This way, everyone can get a good education, no matter where they live or how much money they have. Open Educational Resources (OER) make it easier for people all over the world to share and work on educational materials. This makes information available to more people and lowers the cost of materials. Programs like MIT OpenCourseWare make it possible for people to get free textbooks …

State Of Deep-Sea Science And Conservation In The Northeast Pacific: Implications For Policy And Management, Fanny Girard, Joan M. Alfaro-Lucas, Amy R. Baco, James P. Barry, Katharine T. Bigham, Lara M. Beckmann, Angelika Brandt, Lindsay Clark, Megan A. Davies, Jeffrey C. Drazen, Anya Dunham, Cherisse Du Preez, Elva Escobar Briones, Heidi Gartner, Moronke K. Harris, Kristen N. Johannes, Amanda Kahn, Stefanie Kaiser, Brian R.C. Kennedy

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Spanning from the North American continent to the Hawaiian Ridge and from the Aleutian Ridge to the tip of the Baja California Peninsula, the deep Northeast Pacific (>200 m depth) hosts a high diversity of species and habitats. While relatively well studied in comparison to other regions, deep-sea ecosystems of the Northeast Pacific still hold many unknowns. This review provides an overview of the current state of knowledge of deep pelagic and benthic ecosystems in the Northeast Pacific in the context of climate change and increasing anthropogenic pressures. Regional trends in biodiversity, area-based management measures and research effort are …

Evidence Of Emperor Penguins’ Sensitivity To Sea Ice Fluctuations, Rose T.N. Foster-Dyer, David Iles, Leo Salas, David G. Ainley, Birgitte Mcdonald, Sharon Stammerjohn, Lise Viollat, David Ortega, Annie E. Schmidt, Grant Ballard, Carolynne Hultquist, Jonathan D. Tonkin, Michelle Larue

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Using satellite-derived abundance indices over 20 years, we investigated population change among the seven Ross Sea emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) colonies. We found a 90% probability that the Ross Sea metapopulation had lower springtime attendance between 2005 and 2024 (mean change = -23%; 95% CI: -46 to +20%). We identified two distinct phases of change: slightly increasing 2005 to 2019/2020, followed by a steep decline 2020-2024, resulting in a decrease of approximately 23 000 birds in 5 years or approximately 32% of the regional population. Over the 20 years, the two southernmost colonies, Cape Crozier and Cape Colbeck, increased in …

Spartan Daily, March 17, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 23

Consumer Resilience Suppresses The Recovery Of Overgrazed Ecosystems, Nathan B. Spindel, Aaron W.E. Galloway, Julie B. Schram, Gwiisihlgaa Daniel Mcneill, Sg̱Iids Ḵung Vanessa Bellis, Niisii Guujaaw, Jaasaljuus Yakgujanaas, Ondine Pontier, Markus Thompson, Lynn C. Lee, Daniel K. Okamoto

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Many heterotroph species perish when faced with severe food limitation; others can persist, adapt, and thrive. Sea urchins are emblematic of this paradox: they can overgraze kelp forests to form barren habitats, but can then survive for decades in these nutritionally depauperate seascapes. Understanding the mechanisms enabling persistence under starvation and rapid recovery when food returns provides insights into how consumer resilience shapes ecosystem dynamics. We quantified how food abundance, quality, deprivation, and reintroduction influence bioenergetic performance in the red sea urchin (Mesocentrotus franciscanus), integrating field observations of kelp forest and barren populations with a controlled feeding experiment. We measured …

Spartan Daily, March 11, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 21

Radiv2: An Adaptable And Versatile Diagenetic Model For Coastal And Open-Ocean Sediments, Hinne F. Van Der Zant, Olivier Sulpis, Jack J. Middelburg, Matthew P. Humphreys, Raphaël Savelli, Dustin Carroll, Dimitris Menemenlis, Kay Sušelj, Vincent Le Fouest

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Ocean biogeochemistry is being altered by anthropogenic processes such as warming, acidification, eutrophication, and deoxygenation. Global-ocean biogeochemistry models are essential for investigating present and projecting future conditions, yet they often lack detailed representations of seafloor processes, despite the seafloor’s important role in material exchange between the biosphere and geosphere. To improve the representation of exchange across the sediment-water interface, we present RADIv2, a flexible and computationally efficient diagenetic model designed to simulate benthic biogeochemical processes across a range of marine environments, from coastal zones to abyssal plains. RADIv2 incorporates key features such as benthic methane cycling, a hydrodynamically controlled diffusive …

High-Throughput Phenomics Of Global Ant Biodiversity, Julian Katzke, Francisco Hita Garcia, Philipp D. Lösel, Fumika Azuma, Tomáš Faragó, Lazzat Aibekova, Alexandre Casadei-Ferreira, Shubham Gautam, Adrian Richter, Evropi Toulkeridou, Sabine Bremer, Elias Hamann, Jenny Hein, Janes Odar, Chandan Sarkar, Marcus Zuber, Jacobus J. Boomsma, Rodrigo M. Feitosa, Fredrick Larabee, For Full Author List, See Comments Below

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The big data era in biology is underway, but the study of organismal form has been slow to capitalize on advances in imaging and computation. Imaging approaches can digitize whole organisms, but low throughput has limited the effort to document morphological diversity. Here, within the open science initiative ‘Antscan’, we applied high-throughput synchrotron X-ray microtomography to capture phenotypes across a diverse and ecologically dominant insect group: ants. At https://www.antscan.info, we provide 2,193 whole-body three-dimensional ant datasets from 212 genera and 792 species to broadly cover the ant phylogeny with a global scope, also pairing phenomic data with genome sequencing projects. …

Sex Differences In The Association Between Childhood Cyberbullying Victimization And College Sexual Assault: Moderating Roles Of Parental Monitoring And Relationship With Deviant Peers, Jungup Lee, Debra Patterson, Na Youn Lee, Jinyung Kim, Stephen J. Tripodi, Hyunkag Cho

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

This study explores sex differences in the relationship between childhood cyberbullying victimization (CCBV) and young adult sexual assault experiences and the potential moderating roles of childhood parent monitoring and deviant peer association on the relationship. A total of 356 college students aged 19–25 in the US participated in the online survey. The results indicated that CCBV was associated with an increased risk of college sexual assault victimization for both males and females. A significant moderating effect of childhood parental monitoring and deviant peer association was found between the association between CCBV and college sexual assault victimization for female students only.

Spartan Daily, March 3, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 17

Colocalization And Functional Analyses Identify Gbe1 As A Gene Linking Muscle Strength And Cardiometabolic Fitness, Theresia M. Schnurr, Miranda L. Johnson, Christopher Jin, Kimmie V. Sørensen, Lindsey Kim, James W. Jahng, Amanda Ramste, Ewa Bielczyk-Maczynska, Michael J. Gloudemans, Peter Saliba-Gustafsson, Elena Vinton, Patrick L. Jurney, Ivan Carcamo-Orive, Euan A. Ashley, Torben Hansen, Joshua W. Knowles, Brian T. Palmisano

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Handgrip strength is a proxy for muscular fitness, an indicator for general health status, and is associated with cardiometabolic health. The mechanisms connecting handgrip strength to skeletal muscle function are incompletely understood. We applied integrated linkage-disequilibrium-adjusted colocalization analysis of genome-wide association study summary statistics for handgrip strength, combined with expression and splicing quantitative trait loci from skeletal muscle, and identified glycogen branching enzyme 1 (GBE1) as a candidate gene for handgrip strength. CRISPR-interference knockdown of GBE1 in immortalized human skeletal muscle cells (HMCL-7304) demonstrated decreased glycogen content and accumulation of polyglucosan bodies. Knockdown of GBE1 led to increased oxygen consumption …

Kras4a And Kras4b Show Distinct Lipid-Dependent Regulation Of Ras-Raf Membrane Dynamics, Konstantia Georgouli, Jeremy O.B. Tempkin, Liam G. Stanton, Tomas Oppelstrup, Rebika Shrestha, Timothy S. Carpenter, Fikret Aydin, Xiaohua Zhang, Harsh Bhatia, Yue Yang, Que N. Van, Pedro Andrade Bonilla, Gulcin Gulten, Debanjan Goswami, Francesco Di Natale, Joseph R. Chavez, Joseph Y. Moon, Gautham Dharuman, Nicolas W. Hengartner, For Full Author List, See Comments Below

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

KRAS4a and KRAS4b are important regulators of signaling, and their interactions with the plasma membrane are dynamic and influenced by lipid composition. KRAS 4a and 4b have nearly identical globular domains but differ in their membrane-associated hyper variable region (HVR). The functional distinctions between these isoforms remain unclear, particularly with regards to their dependence on specific lipids and the membrane environment. Previous work showed that the membrane orientation of KRAS4b affects its ability to bind to RAF kinase RBDCRD and that the KRAS–RBDCRD complex adopts different poses on the membrane as well as influences the size and composition of the …

Development Of A Framework For Identifying Asphalt Pavement Cracking Distresses Using Machine Learning, Dingxin Cheng

Mineta Transportation Institute

Asphalt pavement cracking is one of the most critical distresses affecting pavement performance and service life. When pavement deteriorates, it can lead to safety hazards, higher vehicle maintenance costs, and expensive repairs for cities and states—making early detection essential for everyone who relies on the roadway system. To address this challenge, the research team developed a prototype cracking identification system that integrates a customized machine learning model with computer vision algorithms. High-resolution images collected from drones or ground-based cameras are processed within the system to automatically detect and classify major cracking types. The core of the framework utilizes the You …

Spartan Daily, February 26, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 16

Synthesis Of Data Products For Ocean Carbonate Chemistry, Li Qing Jiang, Amanda Fay, Jens Daniel Müller, Luke Gregor, Alizée Roobaert, Lydia Keppler, Dustin Carroll, Siv K. Lauvset, Tim Devries, Judith Hauck, Christian Rödenbeck, Nicolas Metzl, Andrea J. Fassbender, Jean Pierre Gattuso, Peter Landschützer, Rik Wanninkhof, Christopher Sabine, Simone R. Alin, Mario Hoppema

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

As the largest active carbon reservoir on Earth, the ocean is a cornerstone of the global carbon cycle, playing a pivotal role in modulating ocean health and the Earth’s climate system. Understanding these crucial roles requires access to a broad array of data products documenting the changing chemistry of the global ocean as a vast and interconnected system. This review article provides an overview of 68 existing ocean carbonate chemistry data products and data product sets, encompassing compilations of cruise datasets, derived gap-filled data products, model simulations, and compilations thereof. It is intended to help researchers identify and access data …

The Drosophila Him Gene Is Essential For Adult Muscle Function And Muscle Stem Cell Maintenance, Robert Mitchell-Gee, Robert Hoff, Kumar Vishal, Daniel Hancock, Sam Mckitrick, Cristina V. Newnes-Querejeta, Antonio Aguayo, David Liotta, Jennifer A. Waters, Ty Anna L. Lovato, Richard M. Cripps, Michael V. Taylor

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Muscle stem cells (MuSCs), or “satellite cells,” are vital for vertebrate muscle growth, homeostasis, and repair. The discovery of analogous cells in Drosophila opens experimental opportunities in this genetically tractable model. Here, we show that the myogenic inhibitor gene Him, as well as being expressed in the myoblasts that form the flight and jump muscles, is expressed in flight muscle MuSCs. This makes Him only the second marker of these insect adult MuSCs. Furthermore, Him mutants exhibit disrupted jump muscle organization, impaired jumping ability, and a reduced pool of flight muscle myoblasts. In the flight muscles themselves, Him mutants show …

Spartan Daily, February 19, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 13

Insights Into The Influence Of The Greenland Ice Sheet On Oceanic Macronutrient Dynamics From Decades Of Historical Data, Xin Huang, Yuanyuan Gu, Hilde Oliver, Dustin Carroll, Thomas Juul-Pedersen, Lorenz Meire, Mark J. Hopwood

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Increasing freshwater discharge from the cryosphere has the potential to affect mechanisms that regulate the supply of macronutrients to primary producers in the ocean. Although numerous studies have characterized the biogeochemical effects of freshwater discharge from the Greenland Ice Sheet within fjords, it is unclear to what extent these effects propagate offshore and whether or not seasonal macronutrient availability in Greenland's shelf seas has changed since annual freshwater discharge increased in the mid-1990s. Here, we collate and scrutinize extensive work undertaken over the past century to constrain macronutrient distributions in Greenland's coastal seas. From 1929 to 2022, over 38,000 publicly …

Spartan Daily, February 12, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 10

Spartan Daily, February 10, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 8

Motivating Passion And Purpose In Grade Six Students Through Game-Based Learning, Violet H. Harada, Patricia Louis

Learning Hub

This article examines how a sixth-grade pathways course at Kamehameha Schools in Hawai‘i leveraged Game-Based Learning (GBL) and Indigenous knowledge to foster student agency, creativity, and environmental stewardship. Designed and taught by school librarian Patricia Louis with support from a multidisciplinary instructional team, the Nā Lawai‘a Hawai‘i (Fishing, Hawaiian Style) elective engaged students in researching the ‘Ama‘ama (Hawaiian striped mullet) and the ecological challenges it faces, then translating their learning into the design of a board game, ‘Ama‘ama Escape. Grounded in constructivist, learning-by-making principles, the course guided students through an iterative design process that included inquiry, collaboration, prototyping, and playtesting. …

Ntdscope: A Multi-Contrast Portable Microscope For Disease Diagnosis, María Díaz De León Derby, Zaina L. Moussa, Carlos F. Ng, Abdul M. Bhuiya, Joana P. Cabrera, Dipayan Banik, Charles B. Delahunt, Matthew D. Keller, Anne Laure M. Le Ny, Jaime Garcia-Villena, Elena Dacal, David Bermejo-Peláez, Daniel Cuadrado, Miguel Luengo-Oroz, Hugues C. Nana Djeunga, Joseph Kamgno, Linda Djune Yemeli, Victor Pahl, Neil A. Switz, For Full Author List, See Comments Below

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Accurate diagnostics are essential for disease control and elimination efforts. However, access to diagnostics for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) is hindered by limited healthcare infrastructure in many NTD-endemic regions, as well as by reliance on time- and labor-intensive diagnostic methods, such as smear microscopy. New diagnostic tools that are portable, rapid, low-cost, and meet World Health Organization (WHO) sensitivity and specificity targets are urgently needed to accelerate NTD control and elimination programs. Here, we introduce the NTDscope, a portable microscopy platform that enables point-of-care imaging and automated detection of parasites and other pathogens in patient samples. The NTDscope builds on …

Vulnerability Of Marine Megafauna To Global At-Sea Anthropogenic Threats, Michelle Vancompernolle, Juliet Morris, Hannah J. Calich, Jorge P. Rodríguez, Sarah A. Marley, Jessica R. Pearce, Briana Abrahms, Katya Abrantes, André S. Afonso, Alex Aguilar, Andrews Agyekumhene, Tomonari Akamatsu, Susanne Åkesson, Nyimale G. Alawa, Joanna Alfaro-Shigueto, R. C. Anderson, Tycho Anker-Nilssen, Javier A. Arata, Scott A. Shaffer, For Full Author List, See Comments Below

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Marine megafauna species are affected by a wide range of anthropogenic threats. To evaluate the risk of such threats, species’ vulnerability to each threat must first be determined. We build on the existing threats classification scheme and ranking system of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species by assessing the vulnerability of 256 marine megafauna species to 23 at-sea threats. The threats we considered included individual fishing gear types, climate-change-related subthreats not previously assessed, and threats associated with coastal impacts and maritime disturbances. Our ratings resulted in 70 species having high vulnerability (v > 0.778 …