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Crow's Nest, April 14, 2025, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

The April 14, 2025, issue of Crow's Nest.

Biology Department Publications: 2024, Sam Lindgren

Biology Department Bibliographies

This document is a non-comprehensive list of publications made by graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and faculty members in the Biology Department in 2024. It indexes those publications available through PubMed, and serves as an archival record of the Department's robust scholarly contributions.

A Love Song For Teachers: A Guide To Enhance Teacher Wellbeing And Self-Efficacy Through Strategies For Stress Reduction Within School Systems, David Eugene Lyons

Masters Projects

Over the last decade, more and more teachers are leaving the profession, even mid-career [National Education Association (2022), National Center for Education Statistics (2022), Schools that Lead (2024)]. They attribute this to demoralization and emotional exhaustion. Across the nation, as more and more school systems add more top-down regulations, teachers feel they have lost their autonomy and their creativity. While research has focused individually on the effects of emotional labor, on social-emotional intelligence and relationship management of teachers, and on teacher wellbeing and self-efficacy, there is a gap in the research of how these three elements interrelate. The confluence …

Iconicity As An Organizing Principle Of The Lexicon, Erin E. Campbell, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Elana Pontecorvo, Ariel Cohen-Goldberg, Karen Emmorey, Naomi Caselli

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

The view that words are arbitrary is a foundational assumption about language, used to set human languages apart from nonhuman communication. We present here a study of the alignment between the semantic and phonological structure (systematicity) of American Sign Language (ASL), and for comparison, two spoken languages—English and Spanish. Across all three languages, words that are semantically related are more likely to be phonologically related, highlighting systematic alignment between word form and word meaning. Critically, there is a significant effect of iconicity (a perceived physical resemblance between word form and word meaning) on this alignment: words are most likely to …

Displaced Decarbonization: Climate Necropolitics And The Contested Spatialities Of Green Hydrogen In Namibia, Meredith J. Deboom

Faculty Publications

Green hydrogen is often presented as a transformative solution to the dual challenges of decarbonization and economic development. This article applies the framework of climate necropolitics to interrogate the contested spatialities underlying such “win-win” narratives. It does so through an extended case study of Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, a $10 billion green hydrogen project planned for Lüderitz, Namibia. A remote town of 20,000 in a country with a $12 billion annual GDP, Lüderitz initially appears to be an unlikely host site for the “industrial fuel of the future.” To explain this outcome, I first illustrate how discordant socio-spatial projects—including European energy …

Explaining Youth Driver Licensing Determinants Using Xgboost And Shap, Kailai Wang, Jonas De Vos, Michael Smart, Sicheng Wang

Faculty Publications

This study explores the factors influencing driver's license acquisition among young individuals and examines its broader implications for mobility, safety, and sustainability. Leveraging nationally representative survey data on Millennials and Generation Z, we apply eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) and SHapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) to identify key socioeconomic determinants of teenage driver's license attainment. Our findings reveal consistent predictors across both generations, including the percentage of licensed family members, household income per capita, educational attainment, and public transit ridership. We identify meaningful dose-response relationships, such as the increasing influence of licensed household members beyond a 0.75 threshold and the …

Two-Layer Formulation For Long-Runout Turbidity Currents: Theory And Bypass Flow Case, Hongbo Ma, Gary Parker, Matthieu Cartigny, Enrica Viparelli, S. Balachandar, Xudong Fu, Rossella Luchi

Faculty Publications

Turbidity currents, which are stratified, sediment-laden bottom flows in the ocean or lakes, can run out for hundreds or thousands of kilometres in submarine channels without losing their stratified structure. Here, we derive a layer-averaged, two-layer model for turbidity currents, specifically designed to capture long-runout. A number of previous models have captured runout of only tens of kilometres, beyond which thickening of the flows becomes excessive, and the models without a lateral overspill mechanism fail. In our framework, a lower layer containing nearly all the sediment is a faster, gravity-driven flow that propels an upper layer, where sediment concentration is …

Board Of Directors Meeting Minutes (April 14, 2025), Dmacc

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

This file contains the minutes from the Des Moines Area Community College Board meeting held on April 14, 2025.

An Analysis Of The Encryption Algorithms Proposed For The Mqtt Protocol On Resource Constrained Iot Devices, John Joseph Keenan

Theses and Dissertations

As more IoT devices are used to gather data and automate devices throughout the world, more security solutions are needed to keep these devices and the data they transmit secure. Many of these devices use the MQTT protocol, which does not encrypt the transferred data by default. The TLS/SSL protocols are the standard proposed solution for encrypting this traffic, but many resource constrained IoT devices do not have enough resources to run these protocols efficiently. Because of this, many other encryption algorithms have been proposed or designed for resource constrained IoT devices running the MQTT protocol, but very limited research …

Virtual Reality Respiratory Biofeedback In An Outpatient Pediatric Pain Rehabilitation Program: Mixed Methods Pilot Study, Kristin Recker, Julia Silliman, Karolina Gifford, Parth Patel, Lisgelia Santana, Aimee K. Hildenbrand, Shreela Palit, Rachel Wasserman

Department of Pediatrics Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Chronic pain in adolescents is a significant and growing concern, as it can have negative implications on physical and psychosocial development. Management can be complicated by the increasing risks associated with opioid misuse, highlighting the need for effective nonpharmacological interventions. Biofeedback is an empirically supported behavioral intervention for chronic pain that targets the self-regulation of physiological responses. Virtual reality (VR) is a novel delivery method for biofeedback that could serve as an engaging and effective platform for adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of integrating a VR-delivered respiratory biofeedback …

Geography Of Non-Daytime Work And Employer-Centered Transit Accessibility, Julia Mai Plotts

Dissertations and Theses

Non-daytime shift workers--including those on evening, night, rotating, and split shifts--face unique transportation challenges. Those who rely on public transit often contend with complicated commutes and longer wait times on public transit systems that have traditionally catered to the 9-to-5 workforce. Meanwhile, the non-daytime workforce is disproportionately composed of marginalized groups, including low-income workers, racial and ethnic minorities, and individuals with fewer education credentials. For many lower-income workers, car ownership does not present a viable alternative, as cost-of-ownership consumes a significant portion of their income. This makes access to nighttime public transit a critical equity concern. However, most transit accessibility …

Hexasodium Fytate (Snf472 Or Csl525) Inhibits Ectopic Calcification In Various Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum And Calcinosis Cutis Animal Models, Miguel Ferrer, Maria Pérez-Ferrer, Marc Blasco, Ida Jacobs, Qiaoli Li, Olivier Vanakker, Lisa Dangreau, Andrea López, Gianluca Malagraba, Firas Bassissi, Joan Perelló, Carolina Salcedo

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

Background/Objectives: Ectopic calcification is a pathological condition characterized by the mineralization of soft tissues due to the deposition of calcium phosphate crystals. Hexasodium fytate (CSL525, previously known as SNF472) is a crystallization inhibitor being developed for the treatment of ectopic calcification-related disorders. Our aim was to investigate CSL525 for the treatment of soft-tissue calcification disorders in animal models of pseudoxanthoma elasticum and calcinosis cutis. Methods: In a first study, abcc6^-/- zebrafish larvae were exposed to 1 mM CSL525 for 7 days or kept under the same conditions without CSL525, and spinal mineralization was quantified. In a second study, abcc6 …

Some Perspectives On The Regulation Of Stablecoins, Carlos Cantú, Jon Frost, Thomas M. Noone

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.

Proprietary Rights And Digital Assets: A "Modest Proposal" From A Transnational Law Perspective, Louise Gullifer, Ignacio Tirado

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.

Vacuum Erectile Devices For Erectile Dysfunction: Recommendations From The 5th International Consultation On Sexual Medicine, Run Wang, Francisco E Martins, David Ralph, Georgios Hatzichristodoulou, Daniar Osmonov, Justin Parker, Sung Hun Sean Park, Ignacio Moncada, Carlo Bettocchi, Ricardo Munarriz, Tobias Köhler

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Vacuum erectile device (VED) is 1 of the main approved therapies for erectile dysfunction (ED). The introduction of phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor (PDE5i) for ED significantly changed the roles of VED in contemporary sexual medicine.

Objective: To provide updated clinical evidence to inform health care providers on best practices with VED.

Methods: A consensus panel was held with leading sexual medicine experts during the 5th International Consultation on Sexual Medicine (ICSM). Relevant peer-reviewed literature was reviewed with focus on research from the last 10 years, but not limited to the last 10 years. The expert panel generated consensus statements …

Determinants Of Neuronal Viability Following Spreading Depolarization, Michael C. Bennett

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Spreading depolarizations (SDs) are massive, slowly propagating waves that cause near-complete neuroglial depolarization and are energetically demanding for the brain. Past studies have established SDs as key contributors to secondary injury in tissue that lacks the metabolic supply to meet the energetic burden of repolarization after SD. Efforts to identify the mechanisms that cause deleterious consequences following SD have been ongoing, with significant results showing that blocking excitotoxic levels of Ca²⁺ from entering neurons through NMDA receptors prevents detrimental outcomes. While these studies have advanced the field, other mechanisms may also contribute to the metabolic burden of SD. This …

Long-Read Single-Cell Rna Sequencing Enables The Study Of Cancer Subclone-Specific Genotypes And Phenotypes In Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Gage S Black, Xiaomeng Huang, Yi Qiao, Philip Moos, Deepa Sampath, Deborah M Stephens, Jennifer A Woyach, Gabor T Marth

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors are effective for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) due to BTK's role in B cell survival and proliferation. Treatment resistance is most commonly caused by the emergence of the hallmark BTKC481S mutation that inhibits drug binding. In this study, we aimed to investigate cancer subclones harboring a BTKC481S mutation and identify cells with co-occurring CLL driver mutations. In addition, we sought to determine whether BTK-mutated subclones exhibit distinct transcriptomic behavior when compared to other cancer subclones. To achieve these goals, we use scBayes, which integrates bulk DNA sequencing and single-cell …

The Hill We Climb: A Mixed Methods Exploration Of Stress And Depression In A Community Sample, Akilah Collins-Anderson

Brown School Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

While research on Black mental health has increased over the past decade, there remain strides to make with regard to the investigation of the relationship between stress and depression among Black Americans. For decades, stress process scholars have documented that negative, adverse experiences have consequences for mental health conditions, such as depression. Stress process theory predicts that greater exposure to stressors and limited access to coping resources increase the risk of poor mental health. Therefore, socially disadvantaged groups such as Black Americans would be expected to be at great risk of mental health conditions due to previous exposure to stressors. …

The Development Of Electroanalytical Methods For Molten Salt Mixtures Under Static And Flowing Conditions, Ranon Fuller

Theses and Dissertations

Electroanalytical methods have the potential to characterize molten salt systems in situ, determine physical properties such as diffusion coefficients and standard potentials, and measure kinetic and corrosion rates. Due to experimental difficulties of working with molten salts including high temperatures and high natural convection, transport, kinetic, and corrosion rates, many precise, consistent methods have yet to be established. In this work, we describe methods to precisely calculate standard reduction potentials, characterize molten salt solutions containing multiple lanthanides by reduction potentials and metal deposition mechanisms, calculate the number of electrons exchanged in metal deposition using SWV, calculate diffusion coefficients using CV, …

Leveraging Pretrained Language Models For Seizure Frequency Extraction From Epilepsy Evaluation Reports, Rashmie Abeysinghe, Shiqiang Tao, Samden D Lhatoo, Guo-Qiang Zhang, Licong Cui

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Seizure frequency is essential for evaluating epilepsy treatment, ensuring patient safety, and reducing risk for Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy. As this information is often described in clinical narratives, this study presents an approach to extracting structured seizure frequency details from such unstructured text. We investigated two tasks: (1) extracting phrases describing seizure frequency, and (2) extracting seizure frequency attributes. For both tasks, we fine-tuned three BERT-based models (bert-large-cased, biobert-large-cased, and Bio_ClinicalBERT), as well as three generative large language models (GPT-4, GPT-3.5 Turbo, and Llama-2-70b-hf). The final structured output integrated the results from both tasks. GPT-4 attained the best performance …

Ultrahigh Electric Charge Density Harvested From Pre-Compressed Ferroelectric Ceramics, Sergey I. Shkuratov, Jason Baird, Alexander S. Shkuratov, Christopher S. Lynch

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Ferroelectric elements of high-power electrical generators, utilizing the ability of ferroelectric materials to produce electric charge under mechanical stress, are subjected to either high-pressure shock or moderate-pressure impact loading. The results are reported herein on experimental investigations of a different mode for the generation of a high electric charge density, one that utilizes pre-compressed ferroelectric ceramics. Hard PZT 52/48 (Navy Type I/PZT-4) ferroelectric ceramic specimens were subjected to static uniaxial compressive stress parallel to polarization. At the moment of operation, the output terminals of the specimens were connected to an external circuit, and the applied stress was quickly removed, resulting …

Integrating Short-Read And Long-Read Single-Cell Rna Sequencing For Comprehensive Transcriptome Profiling In Mouse Retina, Meng Wang, Yumei Li, Jun Wang, Soo Hwan Oh, Yexuan Cao, Rui Chen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The vast majority of protein-coding genes in the human genome produce multiple mRNA isoforms through alternative splicing, significantly enhancing the complexity of the transcriptome and proteome. To establish an efficient method for characterizing transcript isoforms within tissue samples, we conducted a systematic comparison between single-cell long-read and conventional short-read RNA sequencing techniques. The transcriptome of approximately 30,000 mouse retina cells was profiled using 1.54 billion Illumina short reads and 1.40 billion Oxford Nanopore Technologies long reads. Consequently, we identify 44,325 transcript isoforms, with a notable 38% previously uncharacterized and 17% expressed exclusively in distinct cellular subclasses. We observe that long-read …

Surgical Mitral Valve Repair Vs Replacement After Failed Mitral Transcatheter Edge-To-Edge Repair: The Cutting-Edge Registry., Mateo Marin-Cuartas, Jagdip Kang, Thilo Noack, Manuela De La Cuesta, Markus Krane, Volkmar Falk, Lenard Conradi, Christian Hagl, Maurizio Taramasso, Tom C Nguyen, D Scott Lim, Gorav Ailawadi, Michael J Mack, Robert L Smith, Anita W Asgar, Kendra J Grubb, Luigi Pirelli, Paolo Denti, Thomas Modine, Michael J Reardon, Tamim M Nazif, Vinayak N Bapat, Tsuyoshi Kaneko, Philipp Kiefer, Michael A Borger, Gilbert H L Tang, Syed Zaid

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: The impact of mitral valve (MV) surgery type after failed mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (M-TEER) has not been well studied.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of MV repair vs replacement after failed M-TEER.

Methods: From 2009 to 2020, a total of 332 patients across 34 centers from the CUTTING-EDGE registry underwent MV surgery after M-TEER. Outcomes were compared between MV repair and replacement. Primary outcomes included 30-day mortality and 1-year survival after MV surgery.

Results: Among enrolled patients (mean age 73.8 ± 10.1 years, median Society of Thoracic Surgeons Predicted Risk of Mortality …

Closing The Gaps, And Improving Somatic Structural Variant Analysis And Benchmarking Using Chm13-T2t, Luis F Paulin, Jeremy Fan, Kieran O'Neill, Erin Pleasance, Vanessa L Porter, Steven J M Jones, Fritz J Sedlazeck

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The complexities of cancer genomes are becoming more easily interpreted due to advancements in sequencing technologies and improved bioinformatic analysis. Structural variants (SVs) represent an important subset of somatic events in tumors. While the detection of SVs has been markedly improved by the development of long-read sequencing, somatic variant identification and annotation remain challenging. We hypothesized that the use of a completed human reference genome (CHM13-T2T) would improve somatic SV calling. Our findings in a tumor-normal matched benchmark sample and three patient samples show that the CHM13-T2T improves SV detection accuracy compared to GRCh38 with a notable reduction in false-positive …

A Hitchhiker’S Guide To Long-Read Genomic Analysis, Medhat Mahmoud, Daniel P Agustinho, Fritz J Sedlazeck

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Over the past decade, long-read sequencing has evolved into a pivotal technology for uncovering the hidden and complex regions of the genome. Significant cost efficiency, scalability, and accuracy advancements have driven this evolution. Concurrently, novel analytical methods have emerged to harness the full potential of long reads. These advancements have enabled milestones such as the first fully completed human genome, enhanced identification and understanding of complex genomic variants, and deeper insights into the interplay between epigenetics and genomic variation. This mini-review provides a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in long-read DNA sequencing analysis, encompassing reference-based and de novo assembly …

Unraveling The Hidden Complexity Of Cancer Through Long-Read Sequencing, Qiuhui Li, Ayse G Keskus, Justin Wagner, Michal B Izydorczyk, Winston Timp, Fritz J Sedlazeck, Alison P Klein, Justin M Zook, Mikhail Kolmogorov, Michael C Schatz

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Cancer is fundamentally a disease of the genome, characterized by extensive genomic, transcriptomic, and epigenomic alterations. Most current studies predominantly use short-read sequencing, gene panels, or microarrays to explore these alterations; however, these technologies can systematically miss or misrepresent certain types of alterations, especially structural variants, complex rearrangements, and alterations within repetitive regions. Long-read sequencing is rapidly emerging as a transformative technology for cancer research by providing a comprehensive view across the genome, transcriptome, and epigenome, including the ability to detect alterations that previous technologies have overlooked. In this Perspective, we explore the current applications of long-read sequencing for both …

Update On Cancer And Central Nervous System Tumor Surveillance In Pediatric Nf2-, Smarcb1-, And Lztr1-Related Schwannomatosis, Melissa R Perrino, Marjolijn C J Jongmans, Gail E Tomlinson, Mary-Louise C Greer, Sarah R Scollon, Sarah G Mitchell, Jordan R Hansford, Kris Ann P Schultz, Wendy K Kohlmann, Jennifer M Kalish, Suzanne P Macfarland, Anirban Das, Kara N Maxwell, Stefan M Pfister, Rosanna Weksberg, Orli Michaeli, Uri Tabori, Gina M Ney, Philip J Lupo, Jack J Brzezinski, Douglas R Stewart, Emma R Woodward, Christian P Kratz

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Schwannomatosis (SWN) is a distinct cancer predisposition syndrome caused by germline pathogenic variants in the genes NF2, SMARCB1, or LZTR1. There is a significant clinical overlap between these syndromes with the hallmark of increased risk for cranial, spinal, and peripheral schwannomas. Neurofibromatosis type 2 was recently renamed as NF2-related SWN and is the most common SWN syndrome, with increased risk for bilateral vestibular schwannomas, intradermal schwannomas, meningiomas, and less commonly, ependymoma. SMARCB1-related SWN is a familial SWN syndrome associated with peripheral and spinal schwannomas and an increased risk for meningiomas and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors, even in the absence …

Somatodendritic Orientation Determines Tdcs-Induced Neuromodulation Of Purkinje Cell Activity In Awake Mice, Carlos A Sánchez-León, Guillermo Sánchez-Garrido Campos, Marta Fernández, Álvaro Sánchez-López, Javier F Medina, Javier Márquez-Ruiz

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) of the cerebellum is a promising non-invasive neuromodulatory technique being proposed for the treatment of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how externally applied currents affect neuronal spiking activity in cerebellar circuits in vivo. We investigated how Cb-tDCS affects the firing rate of Purkinje cells (PC) and non-PC in the mouse cerebellar cortex to understand the underlying mechanisms behind the polarity-dependent modulation of neuronal activity induced by tDCS. Mice (n=9) were prepared for the chronic recording of local field potentials (LFPs) to assess the actual electric field gradient imposed by …

Diagnosis And Management Of Esophageal Perforation With Necrotizing Fasciitis In Traumatic Cervical Spine Injuries: Illustrative Case, Arman Kavoussi, Ashley Ricciardelli, Alex Flores, Alexander Brenner, Nelson Eddie Liou, Alexander E Ropper, Cyrus King

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Esophageal perforation is a rare but deadly complication of cervical spine fractures. Early identification can be difficult but is imperative for proper treatment and prevention of life-threatening infection. Once diagnosed, surgical drainage and broad-spectrum antibiotics can yield positive outcomes. The authors present a successfully managed case of cervical spine fracture with associated esophageal perforation and necrotizing fasciitis as well as an extensive literature review.

Observations: An 87-year-old male with a previous cervical laminectomy presented to the emergency department with shortness of breath after a ground-level fall. Initial CT imaging of the cervical spine was noted to have no abnormalities …

Rice Tolerance To Fluridone At Different Application Timings And In Mixtures With Commonly Used Herbicides, Maria Carolina Souza, Jason K. Norsworthy, Thomas R. Butts, Robert Scott

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introducing new herbicides requires a comprehensive understanding of how crops respond to various herbicide-related factors. Fluridone was registered for use in rice production in 2023, but research on rice tolerance to this herbicide is lacking. Hence, field research aimed to 1) evaluate the effect of fluridone application timing on rice tolerance and 2) assess rice response to fluridone in a mixture with standard rice herbicides applied to 3-leaf rice. Both experiments were conducted in a delay-flooded dry-seeded system using a randomized complete block design, with four replications. Treatments in the first experiment included a nontreated control and 10 application timings, …