bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Findings From 16 Years of Auditing Pipeline Integrity Management Systems
Authors: Hodgson Oliver J. , Keen Dennis W. J. , Toft Malcolm
Published: January 2019

A Pipeline Integrity Management System (PIMS) is a comprehensive, systematic, and integrated set of arrangements implemented by an operator to assess, mitigate, and manage pipeline risk. Over the past 16 years, Penspen have performed over 30 PIMS audits of pipeline operators internationally. This paper presents the collated findings from these audits, and examines the common areas in which operators have fallen short of best practice. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations based on the findings, which can be adopted by operators to improve their PIMS arrangements and practices.

Penspen’s standardized 17 -element PIMS Model takes a holistic view of pipeline integrity. The audits, which are based on the Model, assess the adequacy and effectiveness of operators’ management systems and arrangements in keeping risks to people, the environment, and to the business to acceptable levels, given the anticipated pipeline operating conditions and taking into account the pipeline’s history and current status.

Starting at the ‘top level’ of a PIMS, the audits consider the adequacy of operators’ pipeline policies, objectives, and performance metrics, and how these are subject to monitoring, review, and audit. The audits look at the organization responsible for managing the integrity of pipelines, and examine how all those with a role to play in the wider PIMS work together to this end. The numerous activities that take place during a pipeline’s lifecycle are investigated, to assess how the risk assessment results are used to determine the control and mitigation measures to be implemented during the pipeline’s design, construction, handover, commissioning, operation, inspection and maintenance, and how the operator ensures the effectiveness of these measures. The audits also study those ‘supporting’ processes and systems which play an important part in pipeline integrity management, including procurement, emergency response and recovery, incident investigation, change control, document and data management, and legal and code compliance.

The collated results from the 30+ audits reveal that while operators typically have good control systems in place for the project stages of the pipeline lifecycle, controls for the operational stages have been found to be less robust. In terms of management and organization, operators can fail to recognize how many different individuals and teams have a role to play in the management of pipeline integrity. Furthermore, while operators often have good corporate systems in place for change control, emergency response, and risk assessment, such systems may not take into account pipeline-specific risks or requirements. Operators can tend to focus on pipeline safety and/or environmental-related risks, when through holistic assessment it can be shown that risks associated with production interruptions will tend to drive actions in practice.
Effect of Soil Variability on Strain Demand Associated With Moving Slopes
Authors: Fraser Alex M. , Koduru Smitha D.
Published: January 2019

Assessment of strain demand is a critical component in strain-based design. The strain demand associated with moving slopes is influenced by a number of factors related to the properties of the pipeline, the surrounding soil, and the general slope characteristics. Available empirical models for assessing strain demand are limited to special cases of slope movements, and detailed finite element analyses are often performed in order to accurately assess the strain demand for specific slopes. Soil properties and slope movements are acknowledged to be highly uncertain, with the uncertainty stemming in part from the lack of site-specific data and in part from the inherent variability in soils. The sensitivity of strain demand to the effect of soil variability is an important consideration when establishing the safety margin that must be employed when using the strain-based method for pipeline design or assessment. In this paper, a finite element analysis of pipe-soil interaction is employed to assess the influence of soil variability on strain demand. Strain demand is shown to be highly influenced by variability in slope movement parameters and soil properties. Strategies to reduce the variability in the strain demand either through increased data collection or through pipeline design are discussed.
How Many Pipelines in North America Have Failed by Fatigue and Why?
Authors: Cosham Andrew , Hopkins Phil
Published: January 2019

Pipelines are aging: more than half of all pipelines in Europe and the United States are over 40 years old. Historically, only a small number of pipeline failures have been attributed to fatigue; however, as pipelines age, this might change. Indeed, two of the most serious pipelines failures in recent years in the United States were partly attributed to fatigue.

The issue with fatigue is not so much how it should be addressed, but if or when, and where, it will become more of a problem. Historical failure data provides a valuable insight into the number and cause of failures that have been attributed to fatigue, and an indication of what might happen in the future.

Historical failure data for onshore gas and liquid pipelines in the United States of America and Canada has been reviewed in order to estimate the number and cause of failures that can be attributed to fatigue; specifically, the OPS 30-day Incident Reports, the listing of pipeline rupture events compiled by the National Energy Board, and the findings of failure investigations conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB).

Failures that can (at least partly) be attributed to fatigue are not readily identifiable in the historical data, because fatigue is not listed as a secondary cause (as it is, strictly, only a growth mechanism). The narrative descriptions in historical data sets, as in the OPS 30-day Incident Reports, and the detail in the Pipeline Investigation Reports or Accident Briefs published by the NTSB, and the Pipeline Investigation Reports published by the TSB are essential for identifying the relevant failures and their causes.

Failures in pipelines that can be attributed to fatigue are relatively rare, but fatigue failures have been reported in both onshore gas and liquid pipelines in both the United States and Canada, mostly originating from pre-existing mechanical damage or manufacturing defects. Corrosion-fatigue has been identified as a contributing factor in a minority of the failures. The number of failures in liquid pipelines is (as would be expected) higher than that in gas pipelines.

The number of failures in onshore liquid pipelines in the United States that can be attributed to fatigue has increased, with over half of such failures having occurred in the last ten years. The increase is statistically significant. There has also been an increase, albeit smaller and not statistically significant, in the number in onshore gas pipelines. The increase in the number of failures is consistent with an ageing system.
An Assessment of State Regulatory Oversight of Pipeline Systems in Alaska
Authors: Norton Dave , Owens Jennifer L. , Annis Gregory
Published: January 2019

Following pipeline leaks on the Alaskan North Slope in 2006, the state of Alaska, by executive order of the governor, responded by establishing the Petroleum Systems Integrity Office (PSIO) as the lead state agency responsible for oversight of the maintenance of facilities, equipment, and infrastructure for oil and natural gas resources in Alaska. The executive order identified three major activities for PSIO:

• An assessment of Alaska’s oil and gas infrastructure integrity;

• An assessment of current regulatory oversight in Alaska; and

• A review of industry oversight efforts.

The PSIO assessments identified infrastructure with indeterminate regulatory oversight. In addition, PSIO recommended improvements to facilitate efficient and effective regulatory oversight, including establishment of minimum requirements for operators’ integrity management systems and the coordination of data collection among agencies.

The initial activity set of PSIO was completed and the oversight function closed in 2015. Future efforts to improve policies, systems, and methods of oversight will depend on executive direction, legislative support, and management emphasis within state agencies.
Improving Safety Through Engineering Assessments for Change in Location Class
Authors: Kariyawasam Shahani , Al-Amin Mohammad , Wang Hong
Published: January 2019

In Canada, when location class changes on a gas pipeline CSA Z662-15 requires operators to comply with design requirements of the new location class or perform an Engineering Assessment (EA). The compliance option is often perceived by regulators and the public as the better option compared to the EA option. This paper demonstrates that a well-executed EA that accounts for relevant threats and consequences, and provides explicit levels of reliability, can deliver improved pipeline safety.

To comply with design requirements with respect to location factor, the two compliance options are to de-rate or replace the pipeline to achieve the lower operating stress level dictated by the new location factor. However, lower operating stress levels do not always address the higher risk levels or safety concerns caused by the change in class and ensuing potential increase in mechanical damage.

For gas pipelines, where class location is applicable, ensuring human safety is the primary objective of pipeline integrity management. In this context, safety is defined as the control of recognized hazards to achieve an acceptable level of risk. To provide site-specific safety, an acceptable level of risk needs to be achieved by ensuring sufficiently low enough probabilities of failure for given site-specific consequence levels.

Increased wall thickness via pipe replacement, can lead to lower probability of failure for a pipeline. However, as pipelines are subjected to many different combinations of threats, which depend on site specific conditions, the pipelines that are designed with thicker walled pipes for higher location classes do not always provide lower probabilities of failure. As the general design considerations do not account for the site specific threats and mitigation actions, complying with design requirements alone do not consistently provide lower probabilities of failure, especially in areas of potentially higher third-party activities.

In TransCanada’s site-specific EAs, quantitative risk or reliability assessments consider verified population estimates, actual lethality zones and site-specific threats. Appropriate and site-specific mitigation actions address the actual risk. This enables providing an appropriate site specific reliability level. Case studies and comparison between methodologies are used to illustrate the importance of performing site-specific EAs using site-specific information to achieve safety levels that are greater than those achieved by strictly complying with the standard design requirements. Accounting for actual-site specific threats and the actual consequences ensures accurate assessment of risk and consequent appropriate mitigation and efficient risk reduction.
Optimizing Preventative and Mitigative Measure Selection
Authors: Lachey Jeffrey , Vanderlee Keith , Jewell Robert , Alfano Tony
Published: January 2019

As risk assessment methodologies, tools, and processes continue to evolve in the industry, utilizing risk outputs to not only identify high risk locations, but to also understand the driver(s) behind the elevated risks for those locations is paramount. The ideal scenario for reducing pipeline risk is utilizing a risk-driven mitigation plan as this ensures the optimal use of company dollars, but also inherently means that a company has a firm understanding of their data and pipeline system. When the company understands their data and the implications for its inaccuracies, whether it be improper data alignment or incorrect application of data, they can effectively employ a campaign for preventative and mitigative measures (P&MM). However, if suspect data is used during a risk assessment, P&MM cannot accurately target risk drivers and high risk locations, making it challenging for the company to maximize their resources.

For well over a year, an on-going partnership between AGL Resources Inc. (AGL) and Det Norske Veritas (U.S.A.), Inc. (DNV GL) has ensued to tailor a GIS-based risk management software solution for AGL. Through this collaboration among Integrity Management, Risk Management, IT, GIS, and Operations & Maintenance subject matter experts (SMEs) on both sides, one central hub of cross-functional pipeline knowledge was created. As a result, countless opportunities were exploited to identify supplementary data sources to employ new data manipulation techniques and processes, providing AGL with the foundation for such a risk-based Preventative & Mitigative Measure program.

With the foundation laid and the proper risk elements present, AGL can now execute optimized risk-informed responses to identified high risk locations, pipeline segments, or pipeline systems. These optimized responses require an understanding of the types of P&MM available to reduce the threats and consequences, the costs involved for each P&MM implemented, and the utilization of a tool to allow various ‘what-if’ risk analyses to be conducted. Adopting and integrating this process as part of AGL’s risk management program allows them to capitalize on the maintenance dollars they spend while also reducing the potential hazards to the surrounding people, places and environment.
Luminescence properties and cathodoluminescence degradation of Bi doped SrO powder
Authors: Abdelrehman Mogahid H. M. , Kroon Robin E. , Yousif Abdelrhman , Seed Ahmed Hassan A. A. , Swart Hendrik C.
Published: January 2019

Bi3+ doped strontium oxide (SrO:Bi) phosphor powders were synthesized by the solgel combustion method using metal nitrates as precursors and citric acid as fuel. The optimum Bi3+ doping concentration was found to be 0.2 mol. %, and the optimum annealing temperature was found to be 1100 °C (2 h). The x-ray diffraction patterns corresponded with the known face-centered-cubic structure of SrO. Williamson–Hall plots showed that the crystallite size was in the range of ∼180 nm. Diffuse reflectance measurements of the pure host material showed that it was strongly reflecting (∼100%) down to a wavelength of about 230 nm, but when doped with Bi, an absorption band at 275 nm was observed that increased with Bi concentration. Scanning electron microscopy revealed a cubic morphology, and the grain size increased with annealing temperature. Photoluminescence measurements indicated that the phosphor exhibited efficient blue emission around 445 nm under UV excitation, which also occurred for electron irradiation, but slightly shifted about 5 nm to a longer wavelength. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) was employed to analyze the surface chemical composition of the powder after pumping to a vacuum pressure of 2.6 × 10−8 Torr and back-filling the vacuum system with O2 to a pressure of 1.0 × 10−7 Torr. By simultaneous monitoring of the cathodoluminescence (CL) and AES peak-to-peak heights over time for 22 h, the CL degradation of the phosphor was investigated. SrO was found to be stable under electron irradiation. The phosphor may have potential applications in the fields of lighting and displays due to its broad blue emission.
Molecular and Functional Analysis of the Type IV Pilus Gene Cluster in Streptococcus sanguinis SK36
Authors: Chen Yi-Ywan M. , Chiang Yi-Chien , Tseng Tzu-Ying , Wu Hui-Yu , Chen Yueh-Ying , Wu Chia-Hua , Chiu Cheng-Hsun
Published: January 2019

The proteins and assembly machinery of the type IV pili (Tfp) are conserved throughout bacteria and archaea, and yet the function of this surface structure differs from species to species and even from strain to strain. As seen in
Streptococcus sanguinis
SK36, the expression of the Tfp gene cluster results in a hairlike surface structure that is much shorter than the typical Tfp. This pilus is essential for the adherence of SK36 but is not involved in motility. Being a member of the highly diverse dental biofilm, perhaps
S. sanguinis
could more effectively utilize this structure to adhere to host cells and to interact with other microbes within the same niche.
Tuning the
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Alternative Sigma Factor SigF through the Multidomain Regulator Rv1364c and Osmosensory Kinase Protein Kinase D
Authors: Misra Richa , Menon Dilip , Arora Gunjan , Virmani Richa , Gaur Mohita , Naz Saba , Jaisinghani Neetika , Bhaduri Asani , Bothra Ankur , Maji Abhijit , Singhal Anshika , Karwal Preeti , Hentschker Christian , Becher Dörte , Rao Vivek , Nandicoori Vinay K. , Gandotra Sheetal , Singh Yogendra
Published: January 2019

Mycobacterium tuberculosis
, capable of latently infecting the host and causing aggressive tissue damage during active tuberculosis, is endowed with a complex regulatory capacity built of several sigma factors, protein kinases, and phosphatases. These proteins regulate expression of genes that allow the bacteria to adapt to various host-derived stresses, like nutrient starvation, acidic pH, and hypoxia. The cross talk between these systems is not well understood. SigF is one such regulator of gene expression that helps
M. tuberculosis
to adapt to stresses and imparts virulence. This work provides evidence for its inhibition by the multidomain regulator Rv1364c and activation by the kinase PknD. The coexistence of negative and positive regulators of SigF in pathogenic bacteria reveals an underlying requirement for tight control of virulence factor expression.
Capacity To Utilize Raffinose Dictates Pneumococcal Disease Phenotype
Authors: Minhas Vikrant , Harvey Richard M. , McAllister Lauren J. , Seemann Torsten , Syme Anna E. , Baines Sarah L. , Paton James C. , Trappetti Claudia
Published: January 2019

S. pneumoniae
is a component of the commensal nasopharyngeal microflora of humans, but from this reservoir, it can progress to localized or invasive disease with a frequency that translates into massive global morbidity and mortality. However, the factors that govern the switch from commensal to pathogen, as well as those that determine disease tropism, are poorly understood. Here we show that capacity to utilize raffinose can determine the nature of the disease caused by a given pneumococcal strain. Moreover, our findings provide an interesting example of convergent evolution, whereby pneumococci belonging to two unrelated serotypes/lineages exhibit SNPs in separate genes affecting raffinose uptake and utilization that correlate with distinct pathogenic profiles
in vivo
. This further underscores the critical role of differential carbohydrate metabolism in the pathogenesis of localized versus invasive pneumococcal disease.
Evaluation of Acquired Antibiotic Resistance in
Escherichia coli
Exposed to Long-Term Low-Shear Modeled Microgravity and Background Antibiotic Exposure
Authors: Tirumalai Madhan R. , Karouia Fathi , Tran Quyen , Stepanov Victor G. , Bruce Rebekah J. , Ott C. Mark , Pierson Duane L. , Fox George E.
Published: January 2019

Stress factors experienced during space include microgravity, sleep deprivation, radiation, isolation, and microbial contamination, all of which can promote immune suppression (1, 2). Under these conditions, the risk of infection from opportunistic pathogens increases significantly, particularly during long-term missions (3). If infection occurs, it is important that the infectious agent should not be antibiotic resistant. Minimizing the occurrence of antibiotic resistance is, therefore, highly desirable. To facilitate this, it is important to better understand the long-term response of bacteria to the microgravity environment. This study demonstrated that the use of antibiotics as a preventive measure could be counterproductive and would likely result in persistent resistance to that antibiotic. In addition, unintended resistance to other antimicrobials might also occur as well as permanent genome changes that might have other unanticipated and undesirable consequences.
Genome and Functional Characterization of Colonization Factor Antigen I- and CS6-Encoding Heat-Stable Enterotoxin-Only Enterotoxigenic
Escherichia coli
Reveals Lineage and Geographic Variation
Authors: Hazen Tracy H. , Nagaraj Sushma , Sen Sunil , Permala-Booth Jasnehta , Del Canto Felipe , Vidal Roberto , Barry Eileen M. , Bitoun Jacob P. , Chen Wilbur H. , Tennant Sharon M. , Rasko David A.
Published: January 2019

Comparative genomics and functional characterization were used to analyze a global collection of CFA/I and CS6 ST-only ETEC isolates associated with human diarrhea, demonstrating differences in the genomic content of CFA/I and CS6 isolates related to CF type, lineage, and geographic location of isolation and also lineage-related differences in ST production. Complete genome sequencing of selected CFA/I and CS6 isolates enabled descriptions of a highly conserved ST-positive (ST
+
) CFA/I plasmid and of at least five diverse ST and/or CS6 plasmids among the CS6 ETEC isolates. There is currently no approved vaccine for ST-only ETEC, or for any ETEC for that matter, and as such, the current report provides functional verification of ST and CF production and antimicrobial susceptibility testing and an in-depth genomic characterization of a collection of isolates that could serve as representatives of CFA/I- or CS6-encoding ST-only ETEC strains for future studies of ETEC pathogenesis, vaccine studies, and/or clinical trials.
Myeloid sarcoma presenting as an unusual limbal mass
Authors: Meel Rachna , Desai Arjun , Gaur Nripen , Bakhshi Sameer
Published: January 2019

A 19-year-old woman presented to the outpatient department with occasional ocular pain and redness and a perilimbal mass, which she noticed 5 months ago in her left eye. She had no systemic complaints. Ultrasound biomicroscopy of the mass showed a hypoechoic lesion with uniform reflectivity. The patient underwent an excision biopsy and a histopathological analysis revealed features suggestive of a granulocytic sarcoma/myeloid sarcoma. Further haematopathological evaluation confirmed concurrent acute myeloid (myelomonocytic) leukaemia French American British classification M4. There was complete remission of the ocular surface lesion and leukaemia with systemic chemotherapy. At the last follow-up of 18 months post-treatment the patient is free of disease.
Transoral (transvestibular-paramandibular) endoscopic approach for benign tumours in the infratemporal fossa
Authors: Torres-Gaya Jorge , Puche-Torres Miguel , Marqués-Mateo Mariano , García Callejo Francisco Javier
Published: January 2019

We describe a minimally invasive transoral approach to the infratemporal fossa, by means of endoscopy, which facilitates examination and resection of lesions in this area. Furthermore, we outline the technique employed and a case treated with this approach, which permits a rapid access with very low patient morbidity, due to the use of endoscopy and of transoral access, instead of traditional transfacial approaches.
Spread of dye injectate in the distal femoral triangle versus the distal adductor canal: a cadaveric study
Authors: Johnston David F , Black Nicholas D , Cowden Rebecca , Turbitt Lloyd , Taylor Samantha
Published: January 2019

Background and objectives

The nerve to vastus medialis (NVM) supplies sensation to important structures relevant to total knee arthroplasty via a medial parapatellar approach. There are opposing findings in the literature about the presence of the NVM within the adductor canal (AC). The objective of this cadaveric study is to compare the effect of injection site (distal femoral triangle (FT) vs distal AC) on injectate spread to the saphenous nerve (SN) and the NVM.

Methods

Four unembalmed fresh-frozen cadavers acted as their own control with one thigh receiving 20 mL of dye injected via an ultrasound-guided injection in the distal FT while the other thigh received an ultrasound-guided injection in the distal AC. A standardized dissection took place 1 hour later to observe the extent of staining to the NVM and SN in all cadaver thigh specimens.

Results

In all specimens where the injectate was introduced into the distal FT, both the SN and NVM were stained. In contrast, when the dye was administered in the distal AC only the SN was stained.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that an injection in the distal AC may be suboptimal for knee analgesia as it may spare the NVM, while an injection in the distal FT could provide greater analgesia to the knee but may result in undesirable motor blockade from spread to the nerve to vastus intermedius.
Interfascial block at the serratus muscle plane versus conventional analgesia in breast surgery: a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Mazzinari Guido , Rovira Lucas , Casasempere Alma , Ortega Juan , Cort Luis , Esparza-Miñana José-Miguel , Belaouchi Moncef
Published: January 2019

Background and objectives

In the context of opioid-sparing perioperative management, there is still little evidence from randomized controlled trials regarding the effectiveness of interfascial thoracic blocks. This study hypothesizes that receiving a serratus plane block reduces opioid requirements, pain scores, and rescue medication needs.

Methods

This double-blind, randomized controlled study was conducted on 60 adult females undergoing oncologic breast surgery. After general anesthesia, patients were randomly allocated to either conventional analgesia (control group, n=30) or single-injection serratus block with L-bupivacaine 0.25% 30mL (study group, n=30). First 24-hour total morphine consumption (primary outcome), pain scores at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 hours, time-to-first opioid rescue analgesia, and adverse effects were recorded.

Results

Median 24 hours’ opioid dose was greater in the control group (median difference 9 mg (95% CI 4 to 14.5 mg); p<0.001). Proportional odds model showed that the study group has a lower probability of receiving opioid drugs (OR=0.26 (95% CI 0.10 to 0.68); p<0.001), while mastectomies have a higher probability of receiving them (OR=4.11 (95% CI 1.25 to 13.58); p=0.002). Pain scores in the study group were significantly lower throughout the follow-up period (p<0.001). Control group subjects needed earlier morphine rescue and had a higher risk of rescue dose requirement (p=0.002).

Conclusions

Interfascial serratus plane block reduces opioid requirements and is associated with better pain scores and lower and later rescue analgesia needs in the first 24 hours, compared with conventional intravenous analgesia, in breast surgery.

Trial registration number

NCT02905149.
“Pseudo-suprascapular notch”: is it a sonographic trap in suprascapular nerve block?
Authors: Podgórski Michał , Rusinek Marcelina , Cichosz Maciej , Olewnik Łukasz , Polguj Michał , Grzelak Piotr
Published: January 2019

Background and objectives

The aim of the study was to describe the radiological anatomy of the pseudo-suprascapular notch—a structure localized at the floor of the supraspinatus fossa, just below the true suprascapular notch. In sonographic examination, it may imitate the suprascapular notch leading to misidentification of these structures.

Methods

Ultrasound assessment of the suprascapular notch region was performed in 100 patients who underwent chest CT due to other indications. The presence of the suprascapular notch and the pseudo-suprascapular notch was evaluated together with their maximal width and depth using both techniques. The correlation between the dimensions of these two notches was assessed.

Results

The pseudo-suprascapular notch was recognized in 82 patients. In four of them the suprascapular notch could not be visualized in ultrasound due to obscuring clavicle. In all cases the pseudo-suprascapular notch contained a small artery. In comparison to the suprascapular notch, the pseudo-suprascapular notch was significantly narrower and shallower, except for 10 cases with vestigial suprascapular notch where the pseudo-suprascapular notch was the only hollow in this region. The dimensions of both structures did not correlate with each other. Finally, the pseudo-suprascapular notch did not present any significant asymmetry (p=0.1185) or sexual dimorphism (43 women vs 38 men, p=0.2025).

Conclusions

The pseudo-suprascapular notch is a hollow for nutrient vessels that can be mistaken for the regular suprascapular notch in cases of difficult sonographic navigation.
Patients with a history of hypersensitivity reaction to iodinated contrast medium and given iodinated contrast during an interventional pain procedure
Authors: Benzon Honorio T , Schechtman Jeffrey , Zheng Sophy C , Katz Jeffery A , Patel Arpan , Nagpal Geeta , Liu Benjamin P
Published: January 2019

In patients with a history of a hypersensitivity reaction to iodinated contrast medium, iodinated contrast medium is avoided, antihistamine and steroid premedication are given, or a gadolinium-based contrast agent is employed. Six patients with a history of a hypersensitivity reaction to iodinated contrast medium and who were not premedicated had an unintentional injection of iodinated contrast. None of the patients developed a moderate or severe reaction. All patients had gadopentetate dimeglumine in one of their injections; three had repeated injections of the gadopentetate. The lack of a significant reaction may be due to any or all of the following: questionable history of iodinated contrast reaction, low dose of iodinated contrast given, concomitant injection of (epidural) steroid, and slower absorption from epidural compared with intravenous injection. While it is reassuring to know that there is a low possibility of a moderate to severe reaction in these patients, every effort should be made to avoid this scenario, appropriate drugs and resuscitation equipment should be immediately available, and the patients should be observed adequately and followed for the possibility of late reactions. Recent publications have called for caution in the use of gadolinium-based contrast agents.
Implementation of an enhanced recovery program in pediatric laparoscopic colorectal patients does not worsen analgesia despite reduced perioperative opioids: a retrospective, matched, non-inferiority study
Authors: Edney John C , Lam Humphrey , Raval Mehul V , Heiss Kurt F , Austin Thomas M
Published: January 2019

Background and objectives

Enhanced recovery protocols (ERPs) decrease length of stay and postoperative morbidity, but it is important that these benefits do not come at a cost of sacrificing proper perioperative analgesia. In this retrospective, matched cohort study, we evaluated postoperative pain intensity in pediatric patients who underwent laparoscopic colorectal surgeries before and after ERP implementation.

Methods

Patients in each cohort were randomly matched based on age, diagnosis, American Society of Anesthesiologists classification, and surgical procedure. The primary outcome was average daily postoperative pain score, while the secondary outcomes included postoperative hospital length of stay, complication rate, and 30-day readmissions. Since our hypothesis was non-inferior analgesia in the postprotocol cohort, a non-inferiority study design was used.

Results

After matching, 36 pairs of preprotocol and postprotocol patients were evaluated. ERP patients had non-inferior recovery room pain scores (difference 0 (−1.19, 0) points, 95% CI −0.22 to 0.26 points, p valuenon-inferiority<0.001) and 4-day postoperative pain scores (difference −0.3±1.9 points, 95% CI −0.82 to 0.48 points, p valuenon-inferiority<0.001) while receiving less postoperative opioids (difference −0.15 [−0.21, –0.05] intravenous morphine equivalents/kg/day, p<0.001). ERP patients also had reduced postoperative hospital stays (difference −1.5 [−4.5, 0] days, p<0.001) and 30-day readmissions (2.8% vs 27.8%, p=0.008).

Conclusions

Implementation of our ERP for pediatric laparoscopic colorectal patients was associated with less perioperative opioids without worsening postoperative pain scores. In addition, patients who received the protocol had faster return of bowel function, shorter postoperative hospital stays, and a lower rate of 30-day hospital readmissions. In pediatric laparoscopic colorectal patients, the incorporation of an ERP was associated with a pronounced decrease in perioperative morbidity without sacrificing postoperative analgesia.
Gadolinium use for interventional pain procedures: where we are and where we are heading
Authors: Durbhakula Shravani , Cohen Steven P
Published: January 2019

In recent years as the use of interventional pain procedures has soared, so too has outside and internal scrutiny. This scrutiny includes agreater emphasis on weighing the risks and benefits of procedures, increased surveillance for adverse events, and cost containment strategies. In 2016, the first reports of gadolinium deposition in the central nervous system began to surface, though retention in other organ systems has been appreciated for over a decade. In this issue of Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine, Benzon et al. report a series of patients with document edhypersensitivity reactions to iodinated contrast medium who were inadvertently administered iodine-based contrast without adverse consequences. In this article, we discuss the epidemiology of contrast-mediated adverse effects, the mechanistic basis for hypersensitivity reactions, the risks and benefits of various approaches in the patient with a documented contrast hypersensitivity reaction, and risk mitigation strategies.
On the Connection between Planets, Dark Matter and Cancer: Comment on “Planetary Dependence of Melanoma”
Authors: Socas-Navarro Hector
Published: January 2019

In a recent paper, Zioutas and Valachovic (2018) claim that dark matter is responsible for a significant fraction of the melanoma skin cancer. This conclusion is drawn from their observation of a significant correlation between skin melanoma incidence in the US and the inner planets positions (especially those of Mercury and Earth). Here, I present a number of objections to their interpretation. Some (but not all) of the counterarguments are based on the analysis of a larger dataset from the same source, considering more cancer types and separating by patient attributes, such as race. One of the counterarguments is that if the melanoma fluctuations with periods similar to planetary orbits were produced by dark matter density enhancements on Earth, then we would have to conclude that the black population is somehow immune to dark matter, a conclusion that seems incompatible with the current Weakly-Interacting Massive Particles (WIMP) paradigm. Interestingly, some periodicities are present in the data, including the ones reported by Zioutas and Valachovic, but I argue that they must have a societal rather than astronomical origin.
Analysis of corrosion mechanisms of carbon steel in contact with FEBEX bentonite
Authors: Uyama Masao , Hitomi Takashi , Hayagane Sayaka , Kadota Naoe , Saito Hiroyuki , Okamoto Sho , Aoshima Kazuki , Osawa Motoaki
Published: January 2019

Geological disposal is the most realistic option for high-level radioactive waste in Japan. In considering long-term stability for geological disposal, several types of materials have been studied as engineered barriers with a host rock. We focused our study on metal and bentonite as engineered barrier materials and investigated the long-term corrosion tendency of the metal exposed to bentonite. An electrochemical method for inducing accelerated corrosion was studied in a laboratory, and we analysed some field samples from a FEBEX dismantling project (FEBEX-DP) in Switzerland for comparison with our experimental results.
Fault-Tolerant Network-on-Chip Design with Flexible Spare Core Placement
Authors: Bhanu P. Veda , Kulkarni Pranav Venkatesh , J Soumya
Published: January 2019

Network-on-Chip (NoC) has been proposed as a promising solution to overcome the communication challenges of System-on-Chip (SoC) design in nanoscale technologies. With the advancement in the nanoscale technology, the integration density of Intellectual Property (IP) cores in a single chip have increased, leading to heat dissipation, which in turn makes the system unreliable. Therefore, efficient fault-tolerant methods are necessary at different levels to improve overall system performance and make the system to operate normally. This article presents a flexible spare core placement technique for mesh-based NoC by taking several benchmark applications into consideration. An Integer Linear Programming (ILP)-based solution has been proposed for the spare core placement problem. Also, Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO)-based meta-heuristic has been proposed for the same. Experiments have been performed by taking several application benchmarks reported in the literature and the applications generated using the TGFF tool. Comparisons have been carried out using our approach and the approach followed in the literature (i) by varying the network size with fixed fault percentage in the network, and (ii) by fixing the network size while varying the percentage of faults in the network. We have also compared the overall communication cost and CPU runtime between ILP and PSO approaches. The results show significant reductions in the overall communication cost, average network latency, and network power consumption across all the cases using our approach over the approaches reported in the literature.
Reconstruction of Hidden Representation for Robust Feature Extraction
Authors: Yu Zeng , Li Tianrui , Yu Ning , Pan Yi , Chen Hongmei , Liu Bing
Published: January 2019

This article aims to develop a new and robust approach to feature representation. Motivated by the success of Auto-Encoders, we first theoretically analyze and summarize the general properties of all algorithms that are based on traditional Auto-Encoders: (1) The reconstruction error of the input cannot be lower than a lower bound, which can be viewed as a guiding principle for reconstructing the input. Additionally, when the input is corrupted with noises, the reconstruction error of the corrupted input also cannot be lower than a lower bound. (2) The reconstruction of a hidden representation achieving its ideal situation is the necessary condition for the reconstruction of the input to reach the ideal state. (3) Minimizing the Frobenius norm of the Jacobian matrix of the hidden representation has a deficiency and may result in a much worse local optimum value. We believe that minimizing the reconstruction error of the hidden representation is more robust than minimizing the Frobenius norm of the Jacobian matrix of the hidden representation. Based on the above analysis, we propose a new model termedDouble Denoising Auto-Encoders(DDAEs), which uses corruption and reconstruction on both the input and the hidden representation. We demonstrate that the proposed model is highly flexible and extensible and has a potentially better capability to learn invariant and robust feature representations. We also show that our model is more robust than Denoising Auto-Encoders (DAEs) for dealing with noises or inessential features. Furthermore, we detail how to train DDAEs with two different pretraining methods by optimizing the objective function in a combined and separate manner, respectively. Comparative experiments illustrate that the proposed model is significantly better for representation learning than the state-of-the-art models.
A Simple Baseline for Travel Time Estimation using Large-scale Trip Data
Authors: Wang Hongjian , Tang Xianfeng , Kuo Yu-Hsuan , Kifer Daniel , Li Zhenhui
Published: January 2019

The increased availability of large-scale trajectory data provides rich information for the study of urban dynamics. For example, New York City Taxi 8 Limousine Commission regularly releases source/destination information of taxi trips, where 173 million taxi trips released for Year 2013 [29]. Such a big dataset provides us potential new perspectives to address the traditional traffic problems. In this article, we study the travel time estimation problem. Instead of following the traditional route-based travel time estimation, we propose to simply use a large amount of taxi trips without using the intermediate trajectory points to estimate the travel time between source and destination. Our experiments show very promising results. The proposed big-data-driven approach significantly outperforms both state-of-the-art route-based method and online map services. Our study indicates that novel simple approaches could be empowered by big data and these approaches could serve as new baselines for some traditional computational problems.
AI profiles
Authors: Neumann Marion
Published: January 2019

This column is the seventh in our series profiling senior AI researchers. This month we are happy to interview Iolanda Leite, Assistant Professor at the School of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. This is a great opportunity to get to know Iolanda, the new AI Matters co-editor in chief. Welcome on board!
Artificial intelligence and jobs of the future
Authors: Sreeram Sudarshan
Published: January 2019

Humans, the most intelligent species on planet Earth, have always found a way to adapt to their dynamic environment and survive in a consistent manner. We have made tremendous progress in evolving from primitive men and women in small, dreary caves to modern men and women in large, bustling cities. Our passionate strive to survive and affinity to adapt is similar to that shown by mosquitoes; regardless of the continuous development and massive deployment of insect repellent products, these undeniably irking insects, which cause a plethora of life-threatening diseases, always make a striking comeback (Stanczyk, Brookfield, Field, & Logan, 2013).
Crime Victims’ Decisions to Call the Police: Past Research and New Directions
Authors: Xie Min , Baumer Eric P.
Published: January 2019

Over the past 50 years, researchers in the United States and abroad have debated the inherent inequities within justice systems that contribute to the underreporting of crime to the police. Our review summarizes existing knowledge about victim reporting and outlines new directions in theory and empirical research that situate this work within a broader perspective on victim help-seeking. We begin with a short review of the historical development of research on victim reporting and its implications for research and social policy. We then review and critique major explanations of victims’ reporting behavior and outline a new integrated multilevel framework. This model draws on the broader help-seeking literature to study police notification and other forms of victim help-seeking as interrelated systems that respond to social-contextual factors and feedback effects. We conclude by outlining the core empirical implications of this multilevel theoretical framework and illuminating the most significant data and research needs.
Criminal Justice in Indian Country: A Theoretical and Empirical Agenda
Authors: Ulmer Jeffery T. , Bradley Mindy S.
Published: January 2019

Examinations of the Native American experience in the US criminal justice system are still relatively sparse, despite earlier calls for increased attention to Native American crime and justice issues. This is unfortunate, as Native Americans are unique among all groups in US society and face distinctive criminal justice jurisdictional complexities. We argue that this uniqueness renders extant racial/ethnic theoretical framings incomplete for understanding the Native American experience with criminal justice in the United States. First, we describe the complexities of criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country, discuss how internal colonialism shapes the Native American experience, and outline a set of directions for research to illuminate such jurisdictional complexities. Second, we discuss general theoretical frameworks and their strengths and limitations in explaining the Native American experience. We argue for a focus on the interlocking institutional power that shapes tribal, state, and federal justice coupling. We present an agenda for research on the consequences of contemporary criminal justice arrangements for individual Native Americans and for Native American communities collectively.
Projected Effects of Climate Change on Future Hydrological Regimes in the Upper Yangtze River Basin, China
Authors: Wang Yuqian , Yang Xiaoli , Zhang Mengru , Zhang Linqi , Yu Xiaohan , Ren Liliang , Liu Yi , Jiang Shanhu , Yuan Fei
Published: January 2019

Climate change directly impacts the hydrological cycle via increasing temperatures and seasonal precipitation shifts, which are variable at local scales. The water resources of the Upper Yangtze River Basin (UYRB) account for almost 40% and 15% of all water resources used in the Yangtze Basin and China, respectively. Future climate change and the possible responses of surface runoff in this region are urgent issues for China’s water security and sustainable socioeconomic development. This study evaluated the potential impacts of future climate change on the hydrological regimes (high flow (Q5), low flow (Q95), and mean annual runoff (MAR)) of the UYRB using global climate models (GCMs) and a variable infiltration capacity (VIC) model. We used the eight bias-corrected GCM outputs from Phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) to examine the effects of climate change under two future representative concentration pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). The direct variance method was adopted to analyze the contributions of precipitation and temperature to future Q5, Q95, and MAR. The results showed that the equidistant cumulative distribution function (EDCDF) can considerably reduce biases in the temperature and precipitation fields of CMIP5 models and that the EDCDF captured the extreme values and spatial pattern of the climate fields. Relative to the baseline period (1961–1990), precipitation is projected to slightly increase in the future, while temperature is projected to considerably increase. Furthermore, Q5, Q95, and MAR are projected to decrease. The projected decreases in the median value of Q95 were 21.08% to 24.88% and 16.05% to 26.70% under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively; these decreases were larger than those of MAR and Q5. Temperature increases accounted for more than 99% of the projected changes, whereas precipitation had limited projected effects on Q95 and MAR. These results indicate the drought risk over the UYRB will increase considerably in the future.