Operational Code Research Articles

High temporal resolution estimates of columnar aerosol microphysical parameters from spectrum of aerosol optical depth by linear estimation: application to long-term AERONET and star-photometry measurements

Abstract. This work deals with the applicability of the linear estimation technique (LE) to invert spectral measurements of aerosol optical depth (AOD) provided by AERONET CIMEL sun photometers. The inversion of particle properties using only direct-sun AODs allows the evaluation of parameters such as effective radius (reff) and columnar volume aerosol content (V) with significantly better temporal resolution than the operational AERONET algorithm which requires both direct sun and sky radiance measurements. Sensitivity studies performed demonstrate that the constraints on the range of the inversion are very important to minimize the uncertainties, and therefore estimates of reff can be obtained with uncertainties less than 30 % and of V with uncertainties below 40 %. The LE technique is applied to data acquired at five AERONET sites influenced by different aerosol types and the retrievals are compared with the results of the operational AERONET code. Good agreement between the two techniques is obtained when the fine mode predominates, while for coarse mode cases the LE results systematically underestimate both reff and V. The highest differences are found for cases where no mode predominates. To minimize these biases, correction functions are developed using the multi-year database of observations at selected sites, where the AERONET retrieval is used as the reference. The derived corrections are tested using data from 18 other AERONET stations offering a range of aerosol types. After correction, the LE retrievals provide better agreement with AERONET for all the sites considered. Finally, the LE approach developed here is applied to AERONET and star-photometry measurements in the city of Granada (Spain) to obtain day-to-night time evolution of columnar aerosol microphysical properties.

Android Antivirus Scanner by Analyzing Operation Codes

This research presents a model for malware detection on mobile operating system based on analyzing the operation codes. The research processes are as follows: (1) achieving of both malicious and benign codes on android operating system, (2) extracting features based on the distribution of n-grams frequency where the parameter n = 3 is used, and (3) constructing a model for classification the malicious codes using the extracted features for both malicious and benign codes. In the experiment, 304 malicious codes and 553 benign codes were using to construct the model. The experiment shows that the model achieved more than 85.52% accuracy. For the sensitivity and specificity, the model achieved 71.26% and 90.52%, respectively.

Philosophy for Managers and Philosophy of Managers: Turf, Reputation, Coalition

This article distinguishes between philosophy for managers and philosophy of managers. Philosophy for managers is prescriptive advice concerning the content of wisdom in practical judgment and action. Managers in action rely on a self-constructed operational code – a concept borrowed here from earlier literature – that unavoidably emphasizes turf, reputation, and coalition in career advancement. The organization is a political arena for decisions, resources, and career opportunities. While elements of operational philosophy are addressed in formal management education, treatment is haphazard and fragmented in a way that leaves managers to develop a personal operational philosophy. How managers address these elements depends on whether they are idealists, realists, or social darwinists in personal philosophy. The author develops these three options as illustrative categories of operational codes for managers.

Performance Evaluation of Index-less Indexed Flash Codes for Non-uniform Write Operations

Performance Evaluation of Index-less Indexed Flash Codes for Non-uniform Write Operations

Performance Evaluation of Index-less Indexed Flash Codes for Non-uniform Write Operations

Performance Evaluation of Index-less Indexed Flash Codes for Non-uniform Write Operations

Incidence of deep vein thrombosis after major lower limb orthopedic surgery: analysis of a nationwide claim registry.

PurposeWe aimed to evaluate the nationwide incidence and risk factors for symptomatic deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after major lower limb orthopedic surgeries.Materials and MethodsThe Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database was used to retrospectively identify International Classification of Disease-10 codes for DVT and operation codes representing hip arthroplasty, knee arthroplasty, and hip fracture surgeries. The age- and gender-adjusted annual incidence of DVT, rates of major lower limb orthopedic surgeries, and the postoperative incidence of DVT according to the surgical procedure were assessed.ResultsThe age- and gender-adjusted annual incidence of DVT was 70.67 per 100000 persons/year. Compared to patients aged <49 years, the relative risk of DVT was five times higher in patients aged 50-69 and 10 times higher in patients aged >70 years (p<0.001). Females showed a greater relative risk for DVT than males (1.08; p<0.001). The incidence of postoperative DVT, according to the type of surgery, was significantly greater for knee replacement arthroplasty than for other forms of surgery (p<0.002). The relative risk of postoperative DVT was higher in females in knee replacement arthroplasty (1.47) and hip fracture surgery (2.25) groups, although relatively lower in those who underwent hip replacement arthroplasty (0.97).ConclusionAmong major lower limb surgeries, advanced age, female gender, and undergoing a knee replacement arthroplasty were found to be risk factors for developing postoperative DVT. These findings further emphasize the need for orthopedic surgeons to consider the development of DVT after surgery in high-risk patients.

Correction of ozone influence on TOA radiance

An accurate atmospheric correction (AC) of Earth remote-sensing data in the spectral region 450–800 nm has to account for the ozone gas absorption influence. Usual operational AC codes employ a fixed ozone concentration corresponding to a climatologic average for a certain region and season, e.g. the mid-latitude summer atmosphere of the Moderate Resolution Atmospheric Transmission (MODTRAN) code. The reasons for a fixed ozone column are that ozone does not vary rapidly on a spatial and temporal scale, and additionally, the look-up table (LUT) size for AC is already big. This means that another degree of freedom for the ozone parameter would dramatically increase the size of the LUT database and the time required for LUT interpolation. In order to account for this effect, we use already existing LUTs that were calculated for a certain ozone reference level, e.g. an ozone column of g = 330 Dobson Units (DU) for MODTRAN’s mid-latitude summer atmosphere. Then the deviation of the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance ΔL(g) from the reference level L(g = 330) is calculated as a function of solar and view geometries. The calculation is performed for a set of 36 wavelengths in the ozone-sensitive spectrum (450–800 nm) and five ozone columns. The last step computes the linear regression coefficients for each wavelength and geometry. The results are stored in a small table (11 kB). It is shown that the ozone influence is accurately accounted for by multiplying the modelled radiance L(g = 330) with a factor depending on g and wavelength yielding TOA radiance relative errors smaller than 0.5% for a wide range of ozone concentrations between 180 and 500 DU. Selected examples of a sensitivity study of the ozone effect on the retrieval of water constituents demonstrate the need to account for ozone in the AC step.

Transcending rationalism and constructivism: Chinese leaders’ operational codes, socialization processes, and multilateralism after the Cold War

This paper challenges both rationalist and constructivist approaches in explaining China’s foreign policy behavior toward multilateral institutions after the Cold War. Borrowing insights from socialization theory and operational code analysis, this paper suggests a ‘superficial socialization’ argument to explain China’s pro-multilateralist diplomacy after the Cold War. Using operational code analysis to examine belief changes across three generations of Chinese leadership and on different occasions, we argue that China’s pro-multilateralist behavior is a product of ‘superficial socialization’, in which Chinese foreign policy elites change their beliefs about the outside world and regarding the future realization of their political goals in multilateral institutions. However, Chinese policy makers have not changed their instrumental beliefs regarding strategies even in multilateral institutions. China is indeed socialized through multilateral institutions, but its scope is still far from the ‘fundamental socialization’ stage when states’ interests, preferences, and even identities change.

Evolving trends in surgically managed patients with proximal humerus fracture: are we different after ten years?

New knowledge, and improved surgical hardware and fixation techniques have changed surgical management. We review the evolving trends of surgically managed proximal humerus fractures. Patients who underwent surgery for proximal humerus fractures from 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2010 were identified from the hospital's electronic diagnosis and operative coding database. Data extracted from the database included patient demographics, comorbidities, clinical and radiological findings, operative techniques, and complications. In total, 95 patients with 97 surgically managed proximal humerus fractures were identified. The median age of the patients was 50 (range 12-85) years, and the male to female ratio was 1.2:1.0. Male patients tended to present at a younger age than female patients (peak age 30-39 years vs. 70-79 years, p < 0.001). Two-part surgical neck fracture was the most common type of fracture (n = 33, 34.0%). Plate osteosynthesis was predominantly used for two- and three-part surgical neck fractures involving the greater tuberosity (p = 0.03, p = 0.0002, respectively). Hemiarthroplasty was commonly performed for four-part fractures (p < 0.001). Wound infections, implant failure, avascular necrosis of the humeral head and nonunion were seen in 8 (8.3%) cases. Minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis (MIPO) had been in use since 2007 (p < 0.001). Surgically managed proximal humerus fractures predominantly involved young men following high velocity injury and elderly women following osteoporotic fractures. Open plating was most commonly used for two- and three-part fractures, and hemiarthroplasty for four-part fractures. MIPO techniques have been practised in our institution since 2007.

Adaptation in human somatosensory cortex as a model of sensory memory construction: a study using high-density EEG.

Adaptation in sensory cortices has been seen as a mechanism allowing the creation of transient memory representations. Here we tested the adapting properties of early responses in human somatosensory areas SI and SII by analysing somatosensory-evoked potentials over the very first repetitions of a stimulus. SI and SII generators were identified by well-defined scalp potentials and source localisation from high-density 128-channel EEG. Earliest responses (~20 ms) from area 3b in the depth of the post-central gyrus did not show significant adaptation to stimuli repeated at 300 ms intervals. In contrast, responses around 45 ms from the crown of the gyrus (areas 1 and 2) rapidly lessened to a plateau and abated at the 20th stimulation, and activities from SII in the parietal operculum at ~100 ms displayed strong adaptation with a steady amplitude decrease from the first repetition. Although responses in both SI (1-2) and SII areas showed adapting properties and hence sensory memory capacities, evidence of sensory mismatch detection has been demonstrated only for responses reflecting SII activation. This may index the passage from an early form of sensory storage in SI to more operational memory codes in SII, allowing the prediction of forthcoming input and the triggering of a specific signal when such input differs from the previous sequence. This is consistent with a model whereby the length of temporal receptive windows increases with progression in the cortical hierarchy, in parallel with the complexity and abstraction of neural representations.

Achieving minimum caseload requirements--an analysis of hospital discharge data from 2005-2011.

The German Federal Joint Committee (the highest decision-making body of physicians and health insurance funds in Germany) has established minimum caseload requirements with the goal of improving patient care. Such requirements have been in place for five types of surgical procedure since 2004 and were introduced for total knee endoprosthesis surgery in 2006 and for the care of low-birth-weight neonates (weighing less than 1250 g) in 2010. We analyzed data from German nationwide DRG statistics (DRG = diagnosis-related groups) for the years 2005-2011. The procedures that were performed were identified on the basis of their operation and procedure codes, and the low-birth-weight neonates on the basis of their birth weight and age. The treating facilities were distinguished from one another by their institutional identifying numbers, which were contained in the DRG database. In 2011, there were 172 838 hospitalizations to which minimum caseload requirements were applicable. 4.5% of these took place in institutions that did not meet the minimum requirement for the procedure in question. The percentage of institutions that did not meet the minimum caseload requirement for complex pancreatic surgery fell significantly from 64.6% in 2006 to 48.7% in 2011, and the percentage of pancreatic surgery cases treated in such institutions fell over the same period from 19.0% to 11.4%. A significant reduction in the number of institutions treating low-birth-weight neonates was already evident before minimum caseload requirements were introduced. For all other types of procedure subject to minimum caseload requirements, there has been no significant change either in the percentage of institutions meeting the requirements or in the percentage of cases treated in such institutions. After taking account of the potential bias due to the identification of institutions by their institutional identifying numbers, we found no discernible effect of minimum caseload requirements on care structures over the seven-year period of observation, with the possible exception of a mild effect on pancreatic procedures.

The Impact of Differential Case Ascertainment in Clinical Registry Versus Administrative Data on Assessment of Resource Utilization in Pediatric Heart Surgery.

Resource utilization in congenital heart surgery is typically assessed using administrative data sets. Recent analyses have called into question the accuracy of coding of cases in administrative data; however, it is unclear whether miscoding impacts assessment of associated resource use. We merged data coded within both an administrative data set and clinical registry on children undergoing heart surgery (2004-2010) at 33 hospitals. The impact of differences in coding of operations between data sets on reporting of postoperative length of stay (PLOS) and total hospital costs associated with these operations was assessed. For each of the eight operations of varying complexity evaluated (total n = 57,797), there were differences in coding between data sets, which translated into differences in the reporting of associated resource utilization for the cases coded in either data set. There were statistically significant differences in PLOS and cost for seven of the eight operations, although most PLOS differences were relatively small with the exception of the Norwood operation and truncus repair (differences of two days, P < .001). For cost, there was a >5% difference for three of the eight operations and >10% difference for truncus repair (US$10,570; P < .01). Grouping of operations into categories of similar risk appeared to mitigate many of these differences. Differences in coding of cases in administrative versus clinical registry data can translate into differences in assessment of associated PLOS and cost for certain operations. This may be minimized through evaluating larger groups of operations when using administrative data or using clinical registry data to accurately identify operations of interest.

The Rodin-Ohno hypothesis that two enzyme superfamilies descended from one ancestral gene: an unlikely scenario for the origins of translation that will not be dismissed.

BackgroundBecause amino acid activation is rate-limiting for uncatalyzed protein synthesis, it is a key puzzle in understanding the origin of the genetic code. Two unrelated classes (I and II) of contemporary aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRS) now translate the code. Observing that codons for the most highly conserved, Class I catalytic peptides, when read in the reverse direction, are very nearly anticodons for Class II defining catalytic peptides, Rodin and Ohno proposed that the two superfamilies descended from opposite strands of the same ancestral gene. This unusual hypothesis languished for a decade, perhaps because it appeared to be unfalsifiable.ResultsThe proposed sense/antisense alignment makes important predictions. Fragments that align in antiparallel orientations, and contain the respective active sites, should catalyze the same two reactions catalyzed by contemporary synthetases. Recent experiments confirmed that prediction. Invariant cores from both classes, called Urzymes after Ur = primitive, authentic, plus enzyme and representing ~20% of the contemporary structures, can be expressed and exhibit high, proportionate rate accelerations for both amino-acid activation and tRNA acylation. A major fraction (60%) of the catalytic rate acceleration by contemporary synthetases resides in segments that align sense/antisense. Bioinformatic evidence for sense/antisense ancestry extends to codons specifying the invariant secondary and tertiary structures outside the active sites of the two synthetase classes. Peptides from a designed, 46-residue gene constrained by Rosetta to encode Class I and II ATP binding sites with fully complementary sequences both accelerate amino acid activation by ATP ~400 fold.ConclusionsBiochemical and bioinformatic results substantially enhance the posterior probability that ancestors of the two synthetase classes arose from opposite strands of the same ancestral gene. The remarkable acceleration by short peptides of the rate-limiting step in uncatalyzed protein synthesis, together with the synergy of synthetase Urzymes and their cognate tRNAs, introduce a new paradigm for the origin of protein catalysts, emphasize the potential relevance of an operational RNA code embedded in the tRNA acceptor stems, and challenge the RNA-World hypothesis.ReviewersThis article was reviewed by Dr. Paul Schimmel (nominated by Laura Landweber), Dr. Eugene Koonin and Professor David Ardell.

The evolution of the ribosome and the genetic code.

The evolution of the genetic code is mapped out starting with the aminoacyl tRNA-synthetases and their interaction with the operational code in the tRNA acceptor arm. Combining this operational code with a metric based on the biosynthesis of amino acids from the Citric acid, we come to the conclusion that the earliest genetic code was a Guanine Cytosine (GC) code. This has implications for the likely earliest positively charged amino acids. The progression from this pure GC code to the extant one is traced out in the evolution of the Large Ribosomal Subunit, LSU, and its proteins; in particular those associated with the Peptidyl Transfer Center (PTC) and the nascent peptide exit tunnel. This progression has implications for the earliest encoded peptides and their evolutionary progression into full complex proteins.

LP-VIcode : A program to compute a suite of variational chaos indicators

An important point in analysing the dynamics of a given stellar or planetary system is the reliable identification of the chaotic or regular behaviour of its orbits. We introduce here the program LP-VIcode, a fully operational code which efficiently computes a suite of ten variational chaos indicators for dynamical systems in any number of dimensions. The user may choose to simultaneously compute any number of chaos indicators among the following: the Lyapunov Exponents, the Mean Exponential Growth factor of Nearby Orbits, the Slope Estimation of the largest Lyapunov Characteristic Exponent, the Smaller ALignment Index, the Generalized ALignment Index, the Fast Lyapunov Indicator, the Othogonal Fast Lyapunov Indicator, the dynamical Spectra of Stretching Numbers, the Spectral Distance, and the Relative Lyapunov Indicator. They are combined in an efficient way, allowing the sharing of differential equations whenever this is possible, and the individual stopping of their computation when any of them saturates.

A novel architecture of non-volatile magnetic arithmetic logic unit using magnetic tunnel junctions

Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology is facing increasingly difficult obstacles such as power consumption and interconnection delay. Novel hybrid technologies and architectures are being investigated with the aim to circumvent some of these limits. In particular, hybrid CMOS/magnetic technology based on magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) is considered as a very promising approach thanks to the full compatibility of MTJs with CMOS technology. By tightly merging the conventional electronics with magnetism, both logic and memory functions can be implemented in the same device. As a result, non-volatility is directly brought into logic circuits, yielding significant improvement of device performances and new functionalities as well. We have conceived an innovative methodology to construct non-volatile magnetic arithmetic logic units (MALUs) combining spin-transfer torque MTJs with MOS transistors. The present 4-bit MALU utilizes 4 MTJ pairs to store its operation code (opcode). Its operations and performances have been confirmed and evaluated through electrical simulations.

Improving clinical coding in otorhinolaryngology

In the English NHS Payment by Results system, clinical coding of a surgical operation results in one of a range of healthcare resource groups (HRG), each of which has a specific payment national tariff that the hospital receives for each spell of care. Our aim was to audit the clinical coding of our adult otolaryngology operations with a view to prospectively improve coding accuracy and ensure appropriate reimbursement via national tariffs. We reviewed the clinical coding of operations at the end of each month, before national submission of data, over a 9-month period. Using a system that groups operation codes according to anatomical site/type we analysed cases to see if the OPCS codes recorded for the procedure reflected the actual procedure performed or whether accuracy could be improved. Over the 9-month period there were 1087 operations; 1057 (97.2%) were coded accurately and 30 (2.8%) were suboptimally coded, but when corrected for accuracy resulted in a total increase in national tariff income of £33 364. A system that groups related operation codes according to anatomical regions and types of procedure, aids the accuracy of clinical coding. It may be used before coding submission national deadlines to ensure that the appropriate remuneration is received via national tariff, for the care delivered.

Osteochondromas After Radiation for Pediatric Malignancies

A relationship has been reported between total body irradiation (TBI) and later development of osteochondromas in children who receive radiation therapy as conditioning before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The goal of this study was to better characterize osteochondromas occurring in these children. We identified all children (0 to 18 y) who received an allogeneic HSCT and TBI from 2000 to 2012 from a blood and marrow transplant (BMT) database. Thereafter, we identified those who developed osteochondromas through a chart review. In addition, we searched for diagnosis and operative codes from 1996 to 2012 in our pediatric orthopaedic clinical records, isolating osteochondroma patients with a history of radiation exposure. Four patients who underwent allogeneic HSCT and were later diagnosed with osteochondromas were identified from the BMT database (N=233 children); all 4 were among a group of 72 patients who received TBI. Three patients were identified from orthopaedic records. The cohort included 5 boys and 2 girls with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (N=5) or neuroblastoma (N=2), diagnosed at a median age of 2.0 years. Therapy for all patients included chemotherapy, radiation therapy (TBI, N=5; abdominal, N=2), and HSCT. A diagnosis of osteochondroma was made at a median age of 11.7 years (range, 5 to 16 y), on average 8.6 years after radiation therapy. Diagnosis was incidental in 2 patients and secondary to symptoms (pain or genu valgum) in 5. Locations of osteochondromas were the proximal tibia (N=3), distal tibia, distal femur, distal ulna, and the distal phalanx (N=1 each). Three patients underwent surgical resection. Children may be more likely to develop osteochondromas after early exposure to radiation therapy, which may cause pain and require surgical resection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of a radiation-induced osteochondroma causing lower extremity malalignment. Patients typically present to the pediatric orthopaedist's attention when symptomatic, but there may be an expanded role for counseling for potential for long-term skeletal effects in this group. Level IV, case series.

Urzymology: experimental access to the origins of catalytic activity and translation (967.8)

Urzymology is the enzymological characterization of invariant cores, containing ~100 ± 40 amino acids, identified in enzyme superfamilies (1,2). Urzymes prepared from Class I and Class II aminoacyl‐tRNA synthetases (aaRS) accelerate cognate amino acid activation and tRNA acylation more than 105 times faster than necessary to support ribosome‐independent assembly of polypeptides and are therefore themselves highly evolved (3). Their high catalytic activities afford an experimental basis for combinatorial analysis of the effects of modular enhancements thought to have been involved in generating modern enzymes (4).Among the central questions now accessible via the study of Urzymes are the likely origin of Class I and II aaRS on opposite strands of the same ancestral gene (5); the origin of intramolecular communication (6,7); the modular construction of the Urzymes themselves, and hence their descent from even more primitive catalysts; and the suggestion that an operational RNA code preceded development of the canonical genetic code.Grant Funding Source: NIGMS 78227 and 40906

A Comparison of Nonlocking Semitubular Plates and Precontoured Locking Plates for First Metatarsophalangeal Joint Arthrodesis

First metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint arthrodesis is a successful, commonly performed procedure for many conditions affecting this joint. The purpose of this retrospective study was to compare the clinical and radiographic outcomes between patients who had primary first MTP joint fusions with either noncontoured stainless steel semitubular plates or precontoured plates. Our hypothesis was that there would be no difference in clinical or radiographic outcomes between these groups. A search based on operative report coding was performed to detect all patients who had undergone primary first MTP joint arthrodesis with a dorsal plating construct at our institution from 2005 to 2010. A retrospective review of electronic medical records and postoperative radiographs was performed to determine time to clinical and radiographic union, pain scores, complications, MTP angle, and proximal phalanx to floor angle. A Kruskal-Wallis test was used for continuous variables, and a chi-square or Fisher exact test was used for categorical variables to determine statistical significance between the 2 groups. We identified 128 patients who met our inclusion criteria. One hundred and two feet in 97 patients underwent arthrodesis with a noncontoured, stainless steel 1/3 tubular plate (group 1) and 26 feet in 21 patients with a precontoured, locking plate (group 2). The patients presented with a variety of inflammatory and noninflammatory preoperative diagnoses. The overall union rate, complication rate, time to radiographic healing, MTP angle, and patient-reported visual analog scale (VAS) score were similar between the 2 groups. Clinical time to healing was more rapid in the noncontoured group (3.7 months vs 4.8 degrees in precontoured) (P = .02). The radiographically measured proximal phalanx to floor angle was significantly decreased in noncontoured patients (2.6 degrees vs 4.6 degrees in precontoured, P = .04). In patients who had a diagnosis of an inflammatory arthropathy, the union rate fell to 84.3% (27/32) in the noncontoured group and 87.5% (7/8) in the precontoured group, and time to radiographic as well as clinical union increased in both groups. When patients with inflammatory arthropathies were compared with noninflammatory patients within groups, it was found that the time to both clinical and radiographic union was significantly longer in the noncontoured group for those with an inflammatory arthropathy (P = .0052, P = .022). For the precontoured group, these values were not statistically significant (P = .089, P = .43). Additionally, the cost of the noncontoured implants was significantly less than that of the precontoured implants. In this study, clinical time to healing of primary first MTP fusion with dorsal plate and screw constructs was improved with the use of noncontoured plates. However, other clinical indicators such as pain, complication rate, MTP angle, and VAS score did not differ between groups. Noncontoured plates are less expensive, and thus the decision to use precontoured plates routinely should be made cautiously. However, in the presence of inflammatory arthropathy, the use of precontoured plates may be justified given that the use of these plates in the inflammatory group resulted in improved radiographic and clinical union. Level III, comparative series.