Digital Commons Network^™

Vol 17 No 1 Information Page

Comparative Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Vol 17 No 1 Cover Page

Comparative Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Enhancing The Mechanical Properties Of Epoxy With Graphene Quantum Dots: A Molecular Dynamics Study, Swapnil S. Bamane, Prathamesh P. Deshpande, Folarin Erogbogbo, Ozgur Keles

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Polymers are the key to the next generation of high-performance materials for their applications in aerospace, defense, and energy. Thermoset polymers like epoxy are widely used as a matrix material in composites due to their ease of processability and compatibility with reinforcement materials. There have been significant efforts in the development of polymer materials properties using nanofillers such as graphene, carbon nanotubes, rubber, and metal oxides. However, graphene quantum dots (GQD), a zero-dimensional nano-scale filler material, have not been extensively explored towards improvement of the mechanical properties of polymers. The objective of this study is to understand the effects of …

Scaling Pedestrian Crossing Analysis To 100 U.S. Cities Via Ai-Based Segmentation Of Satellite Imagery, Marcel E. Moran, Arunav Gupta, Jiali Qian, Debra Laefer

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Accurately measuring street dimensions is essential to evaluating how their design influences both travel behavior and safety. However, gathering street-level information at city-scale with precision is difficult given the quantity and complexity of urban intersections. To address this challenge in the context of pedestrian crossings — a crucial component of walkability — we introduce a scalable and accurate method for automatically measuring crossing distance at both marked and unmarked crosswalks, applied to America’s 100 largest cities. First, OpenStreetMap coordinates were used to retrieve satellite imagery of intersections throughout each city — totaling roughly three million images. Next, Meta’s Segment Anything …

Spartan Daily, January 22, 2026, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2026

Volume 166, Issue 1

The Effect Of Fluorides In The Tio2(B) Anode On The Hydrogen Evolution Reaction In Aqueous Electrolytes, Khoi-Nguyen Nguyen, Lam Hoang Nguyen, Jozel John Salvacion, Nam Huu Nhat Nguyen, Samuel Ming Tuk Yeung, Seung Woo Lee, Liat Rosenfeld, Chengyu Song, Dahyun Oh

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

For aqueous lithium-ion batteries (A-LIBs), the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) poses a significant challenge, as it competes with the primary electrochemical processes of the anode, resulting in capacity loss and reduced cycling stability. In this study, we investigate the use of fluorine-based additives in anodes to mitigate HER in LIBs with aqueous electrolytes including low or high amounts of salt (water-in-salt electrolytes (WiSE)). We synthesized and incorporated three distinct materials into TiO2(B) anodes: aluminum fluoride (AlF3), lithium fluoride (LiF), and 1H,1H,2H, 2H-perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane (FAS) using a solution-based method. Among these fluorides containing composite anodes, FAS containing anodes delayed HER onset potentials …

Flip This Library Again! A Metaphorphosis: Evolving The School Library Into An Innovation Lab & Library Learning Commons (Illc), David Vickers Loertscher, Fran Kompar

Learning Hub

Drawing on significant reform education voices, the authors propose that credentialed school librarians add to their various library or learning commons services an innovation laboratory. Like a true laboratory, this includes physical and virtual space tests of major ideas, learning strategies and initiatives by administrators, teachers, and students as a major collaborative effort of the credentialed librarian. Such real world experiments happen in the spirit of a try before you buy strategy where some ideas will succeed, fail, or need modification before going viral in the school. It also places the library at the center of teaching and learning in …

Marine Cold-Spells In The California Current System: Modeling Changes In Frequency And Impacts On Endangered Species Habitat, Kaila J. Frazer, Heather M. Welch, Michael G. Jacox, Nerea Lezama-Ochoa, Briana Abrahms, Mercedes Pozo Buil, Scott R. Benson, Daniel M. Palacios, L. David Smith, Thomas A. Clay, Steven J. Bograd, Elliott L. Hazen

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Marine cold-spells are an understudied phenomena which can both negatively impact marine wildlife and provide thermal refugia for species displaced by climate change. To develop forward-looking and climate-ready management schemes, it is critical to examine how marine species respond to cold-spells, how long-term warming will affect marine cold-spells over the next century, and how these future cold-spells will in turn affect species of conservation concern, particularly in marine protected areas. To this end, we detect marine cold-spells across the California Current System, a productive Eastern Boundary Upwelling System, relative to a fixed baseline (1980–2009) and to a detrended time series …

Archeota, Fall/Winter 2025, Audie Robinson, Vanessa Sztym, Emily Stockton, Heather Arnold, Niamh Tangney, Gianna Elena Brassil

Archeota

Archeota is a platform for SJSU iSchool students to contribute to the archival conversation. It is written BY students, FOR students. It provides substantive content on archival concerns and issues and promotes professional development in the field of archival studies. Archeota upholds the core values of the archival profession. Contents: Unrecorded Legacies: Why Masonic Archives Matter by Audie Robinson, Book Review: Decolonial Archival Futures by Vanessa Sztym, Passports to the Past: Following the Trail of Sacramento’s Archives Crawl by Emily Stockton, Volunteering at the Jack Mason Museum of West Marin History: Beginnings and Belonging by Heather Arnold, Images From The …

Adult Advisor Efficacy To Support Lgbtq+ Youth As A Predictor Of Lgbtq+ Youth's Experiences In Gender-Sexuality Alliances (Gsas) And At School, V. Paul Poteat, Arthur Lipkin, Cayley C. Bliss, Jonquil Rumberger, Zhengyang Zhong, Robert A. Marx

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Introduction: Many LGBTQ+ youth seek support from adults at school, which can include advisors of Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs; clubs affirming LGBTQ+ youth). Little research has considered how efficacious advisors feel to support LGBTQ+ GSA members, or how advisors' efficacy contributes to LGBTQ+ youth's school experiences. Methods: We examined advisors' self-efficacy to support and advocate for LGBTQ+ youth (n = 30 advisors in 30 schools/GSAs; Mage = 44.74 years, SD = 10.55; 63% LGBQ+; 90% cisgender; 77% White). Utilizing three waves of data from 310 LGBTQ+ youth in these GSAs (Mage = 15.11 years, SD = 1.60; 98% LGBQ+; 55% trans/nonbinary; …

Codegen-3d: A Benchmark For Evaluating Llms In Zero-Shot And Iterative 3d Modeling In Blender, Hao Ji, Kotha Aditya, Sebastian Escalante, Yunjian Qiu

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Large Language Models (LLMs) that generate executable code are opening a new path to text-to-3D by converting natural language prompts into scripts for modeling software like Blender. However, there is a lack of evaluation for such methods currently. Existing benchmarks focus on direct mesh synthesis and overlook critical factors like code execution reliability and human-aligned quality. To address this gap, we introduce CodeGen-3D, a comprehensive benchmark and protocol for assessing 3D modeling via code generation. The benchmark consists of 100 diverse prompts derived from Objaverse with rich captions (Cap3D, DiffuRank, and Llama-based), a standardized Blender execution and six-view rendering pipeline, …

Only One Percent Of Important Shark And Ray Areas In The Western Indian Ocean Are Fully Protected From Fishing Pressure, Jesse E.M. Cochran, Ryan Charles, Andrew J. Temple, Peter M. Kyne, Emiliano García-Rodríguez, Adriana Gonzalez-Pestana, Amanda Batlle-Morera, Théophile L. Mouton, Asia O. Armstrong, Christoph A. Rohner, Darren J. Coker, Royale S. Hardenstine, Alexander Kattan, Ashlie J. Mcivor, Viktor Nunes Peinemann, Kaitlyn A. O'Toole, Lea Palm, Eloise B. Richardson, David A. Ebert, For Full Author List, See Comments Below

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) is known for its high diversity of chondrichthyans (sharks, rays, and chimaeras). However, intense fishing pressure has led to severe population declines and local extinctions of several species. The Important Shark and Ray Area (ISRA) process is a collaborative, evidence-based approach used to identify critical habitat for chondrichthyans. We analysed ISRAs across the WIO to quantify the diversity of research methods used to identify them, evaluate spatial overlap with designated marine protected areas (MPAs), model the influence of several species- and jurisdiction-specific variables on ISRA delineation, and explore the importance of incorporating unpublished data into …

Evaluating Impact Of Occupational Exoskeletons On Physical Fatigue Using Wearable Sensors And Deep Learning, Hardik Vora, Fatemeh Davoudi Kakhki, Armin Moghadam

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Musculoskeletal disorders remain a leading source of occupational injury in manufacturing and logistics industries, often resulting from repetitive lifting and load transfer tasks. While back-support exoskeletons have shown promise in alleviating physical strain, their biomechanical impact under realistic task conditions and their integration with intelligent monitoring systems require further exploration. This study investigates the efficacy of a passive lumbar-support exoskeleton in reducing muscle fatigue during manual material handling tasks by combining high-resolution surface electromyography (sEMG) data with a deep learning-based classification framework. Ten participants performed lifting and rotational (twisting) tasks with and without exoskeleton assistance, while EMG signals were collected …

21st-Century Mangrove Expansion Along The Southeastern United States, Lucia I.A. Enes Gramoso, Dustin Carroll, Kyle C. Cavanaugh, Remi Bardou, Michael J. Osland, Tom Van Der Stocken

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Warming winter temperatures are driving range expansion of tropical, cold-sensitive mangroves into temperate ecosystems. Along the Atlantic coast of North America, the mangrove range limit is particularly sensitive to climate variability and historical data demonstrate that the mangrove-salt marsh ecotone on this coast has shifted recurrently during recent centuries. However, a comprehensive understanding of how this mangrove-salt marsh ecotone may shift in the future remains lacking. Here, we combine ensemble forecasting of mangrove distribution for the next century with high-resolution oceanographic dispersal simulations, phenological observations, and historical hurricane data to project future mangrove-salt marsh dynamics at the rapidly changing range …

Development And Characterization Of Compression-Molded Chitosan Composite Films Reinforced With Silica And Titania Fillers, Bhuvaneswari Koti, Vuong Do, Yanika Schneider, Vimal Viswanathan

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

This study investigates the development of biodegradable chitosan-based films as a sustainable alternative to conventional non-biodegradable food packaging materials. Chitosan, a naturally occurring polymer, possesses inherent film-forming ability and biodegradability; however, its limited mechanical and thermal properties constrain its practical applications. In this work, chitosan films were fabricated via compression molding, and their thermo-mechanical performance was systematically evaluated. The incorporation of fillers, such as titanium dioxide and silica, resulted in a 50% enhancement in tensile strength and an 86% improvement in flexibility. Further optimization of dual-filler compositions led to an additional 45% increase in elasticity, demonstrating the potential of synergistic …

Ga2o3 Tcad Mobility Parameter Calibration Using Simulation Augmented Machine Learning With Physics-Informed Neural Network, Edric Khai Jieh Ong, Le Minh Long Nguyen, Matthew Eng, Yuhao Zhang, Hiu Yung Wong

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

In this article, we demonstrate the feasibility of performing automatic technology computer-aideddesign (TCAD) parameter calibration and extraction using machine learning (ML), with the machine trained solely by TCAD-simulation data. The methodology is validated using experimental data. Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) with different effective anode workfunctions (WF) are fabricated with emerging ultrawide bandgap material, Gallium Oxide (Ga2O3), and are measured at various temperatures (T). Their current-voltage (I–V) curves are used for automatic Ga2O3 Philips unified mobility (PhuMob) model parameters calibration. Five critical PhuMob parameters (µmax, µmin, Nref, α, and θ) were calibrated. The machine consists of an autoencoder (AE) and a …

Henze, Rosemary C., San Jose State University

Emeritus and Retired Faculty Biographies

Stanford University, Education (Language, Literacy & Culture), Ph.D. 1988

San Francisco State University, English (TESL), M.A. 1980

University of California, Santa Cruz, Art, B.A. 1974

Searching For Cause Of Unexplained Protein Interaction With Multiple Assembly Methods, Gavin Anderson

Master's Projects

Research into colistin adjuvants has identified interactions between a host of proteins and proteins found within certain strains of bacteria. BLAST, a widely adopted local sequence alignment tool, was used to create a database containing the genomes of relevant bacterial strains, which would then be used to query against the previously identified proteins. Many of these strains do not have publicly available assemblies, which makes database construction difficult. CATwalk, a new naïve fragment extender, is first described in this paper and used to extend fragments of interest. BLAST results first identified short fragments with sufficient similarity, which can then be …

Cost-Aware Predictive Routing For Vision-Language Models, Sahil Sait Naveed

Master's Projects

Vision-language models (VLMs) are increasingly used for multimodal tasks, but their inference costs vary widely across model tiers. This work presents a predictive routing framework that assigns each query to the most cost-effective VLM by using multimodal embeddings, clustering, and per-cluster model error estimates. Evaluated on six commercial VLMs, the selected router reduces average cost by about 49 percent relative to the quality-first setting on both validation and test. This comes with accuracy losses of 0.4 percentage points on validation and 0.9 on held-out test data. It also outperforms K-NN and ZeroRouter routing baselines while providing lowercost operating points than …

Stepwise Sudoku Reasoning Training Using Transformers, Lok Man Chu

Master's Projects

Sudoku is a constraint satisfaction problem that serves as a testbed for studying reasoning and stepwise deduction. While many solvers can produce correct solutions, they often fail to generate human interpretable sequences of logically consistent steps. This study investigates whether a transformer trained on stepwise deduction traces can learn to solve Sudoku puzzles through sequential, logically deducible moves. Results show that solve accuracy improves significantly with more training data, reaching approximately 78% at 1500k samples. Stepwise analysis indicates that the model effectively learns simple strategies, achieving near-perfect performance. However, performance on more complex strategies remains limited. Overall, while the model …

Exploring Parents’ Perspective Of Outdoor Occupational Therapy Sessions, Harold Ho, Michelle Huynh, Christina Le, Amy Morrison

Master's Projects

Introduction: Outdoor play is recognized as critical for supporting children’s development across physical, cognitive, and social-emotional domains (Firby & Raine, 2022; Walker & Ray, 2024; Zhu et al., 2024). The current literature suggests that outdoor play strengthens executive functioning, early learning skills, and enhances social-emotional competency (Dinkel et al., 2019; Walker & Ray, 2024; Zhu et al., 2024). Furthermore, accessibility to outdoor play is shaped by contextual factors, including parental perceptions of safety, environmental barriers, and broader societal influences (Cox et al., 2025; Faulkner et al., 2025; Jelleyman et al., 2019). The research suggests that common parental concerns have emerged …

Investigating Ui Based And Ai Based Interactions In Vr Environments For Human Anatomy Education, Siddharth Sondhi

Master's Projects

Traditional approaches to learning and simulation often struggle to convey the complexity of three dimensional structures. In anatomy education, methods such as textbooks, lectures, and cadaver based learning are used, but can make it difficult to understand the complex structure of organs within the human body. Virtual Reality (VR) offers a promising alternative by providing immersive and interactive 3D environments that allow users to explore and manipulate anatomical structures more intuitively. These environments can be further enhanced by integrating large language models (LLMs) as intelligent agents capable of guiding users through natural language interaction. This project presents a Unity-based VR …

Javatutor: An Integrated Llm Framework For Structured Programming Tutoring And Problem-Solving In Java, Amey Makarand Dhongade

Master's Projects

Large Language Models (LLMs) are being adopted more actively to assist in pro- gramming tasks, but much of the available AI code assistants devices are encouraging the rapid generation of solutions, as opposed to assisting students in developing an understanding. As a result, they can give the students correct code without teaching on how to judge a problem and how to build solutions or how to debug their programs themselves. This study describes JavaTutor, an LLM-based tutoring system that is used to assist learners in the learning process in a three-step process of understand- ing, generating a solution, and refining …

Measuring The Scholarly Impact Of A Bibliography Of Canadian Inuit Periodicals, Sharon Rankin

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study examines how the scholarly impact of specialized bibliographies can be measured over time. Using A Bibliography of Canadian Inuit Periodicals as a case study, it applies Maleki's (2021) framework of fourteen impact metrics to assess the influence of a bibliography documenting periodicals by, for, and about Inuit communities in Canada. Evidence was found for nine impact indicators, including citation, discoverability, and online engagement measures. The findings demonstrate sustained scholarly use and highlight the value of both print and web-based bibliographic resources. In an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and automated information retrieval, the study argues that curated …

Sjsu Erfa News, Winter 2026, San Jose State University, Emeritus And Retired Faculty Association

Emeritus and Retired Faculty Association (ERFA) Newsletter

Volume 39, No 2

Availability And Utilization Of School Library Resources And Its Impacts On The Academic Excellence Of Secondary School Students In Edo State., Iyobosa Ewere Mrs., Ben Asuquo, Glory Mbah Mrs.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study examines availability, and utilization of school library resources and its impacts on the academic excellence in secondary school libraries in Edo state. The descriptive survey research was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 2162 senior secondary school students from Idia Girls’ College, Boiling Point Academy and UNIBEN Demonstration Secondary School. The sampling techniques used for the study was Random Sampling Technique, a total of 216 respondents was used as the sample size representing 10% of the total population. A well structured questionnaire was designed and distributed to respondents .A total of 216 copies of …

Supporting Latine Older Adults’ Nutrition And Physical Health Goals In Counseling, Zachary P. Mcniece, Jacqueline J. Bergman

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Latine older adults face disproportionate risk of chronic nutrition-related conditions and food insecurity, which can exacerbate or contribute to the development of mental health-related concerns. Cultural stigma toward mental illness can result in Latine clients, especially older adults, somatizing symptoms and focusing on physical health goals in counseling. Despite these intersecting needs, counselors often overlook clients’ physical health goals due to limited training and the assumption that medical providers alone should address them. This article advocates integrating basic, culturally responsive nutrition information into counseling practice to support client well-being while staying within the scope of practice. We offer practical recommendations …

Application Of Heron's Formula, Hidefumi Katsuura

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

We apply Heron's formula to obtain a generalized Ptolemy's theorem, to prove Euler's formula for the volume of a tetrahedron, and to prove Klain's theorem on reversible tetrahedra. After that, we prove triangle inequalities derived from a tetrahedron, find an inequality on the circumradius of a tetrahedron, find a volume expression of an isosceles tetrahedron, and give a condition for four points in the space to be co-planar.

Empowering Students To Engage With Climate Change Action: A Project-Based Module For Artificial Intelligence Literacy And Sustainability Thinking, Gabriel Granco, Yu Chen, Heather Macias, Yunfei Hou, Frank A. Gomez

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

There is a growing need to prepare students to address complex environmental challenges, particularly climate change and the expanding role of artificial intelligence (AI). This article examines the adaptation of the Artificial Intelligence for Social Good (AI4SG) Ideation module, a pitch- and project-based teaching framework designed to integrate AI literacy and sustainability education. Implemented in an upper division climate change course, the module combines project-based learning, culturally responsive pedagogy, and geographic thinking to guide students in developing community-oriented AI proposals aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Students were encouraged to approach their communities not through deficit lenses, …

Federal Protections For Farmworker Health In The United States: A Scoping Review Of Three Decades Of Research, Kaitlyn Alvarez Noli, Stephane Labossiere, Becca Berkey, Joseph G. Grzywacz

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Objectives: This scoping review characterizes the scope, methods, and framing of empirical research evaluating the Field Sanitation Standard (FSS) and Worker Protection Standard (WPS) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Labor respectively. Methods: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we identified empirical studies (1990–2024) assessing elements of either the FSS or WPS. Two reviewers screened and extracted study characteristics, designs, populations, and regulatory elements. Framing analysis of 1226 segments, identified using a large language model, from the studies' abstracts and introductions examined how authors conceptualized farmworkers' need for protection. …