Treasuries Variance Decomposition and the Impact of Monetary Policy

This paper investigates the effect of monetary policy shifts on Treasuries over the last three decades. Using Campbell and Ammer’s (1993) framework, we decompose unexpected excess returns on 2-, 5- and 10-year Treasuries in three components related to revisions in expectations (news) about future excess returns, inflation and real interest rates. We evaluate the impact of conventional and unconventional monetary policy shocks on returns and their components. Our results indicate that expansionary monetary policy shocks are associated with declining inflation expectations and higher Treasuries’ returns

Direct observation of homogeneous cavitation in nanopores

We report on the evaporation of hexane from porous alumina and silicon membranes. These membranes contain billions of independent nanopores tailored to an ink-bottle shape, where a cavity several tens of nanometers in diameter is separated from the bulk vapor by a constriction. For alumina membranes with narrow enough constrictions, we demonstrate that cavity evaporation proceeds by cavitation. Measurements of the pressure dependence of the cavitation rate follow the predictions of the bulk, homogeneous, classical nucleation theory, definitively establishing the relevance of homogeneous cavitation as an evaporation mechanism in mesoporous materials. Our results imply that porous alumina membranes are a promising new system to study liquids in a deeply metastable state.Comment: 14 pages , 4 figures. Source files also contain Supplemental Material (Doebele_HomogeneousCavitationMembranes_SM.pdf

Roughening Transition in a Moving Contact Line

The dynamics of the deformations of a moving contact line on a disordered substrate is formulated, taking into account both local and hydrodynamic dissipation mechanisms. It is shown that both the coating transition in contact lines receding at relatively high velocities, and the pinning transition for slowly moving contact lines, can be understood in a unified framework as roughening transitions in the contact line. We propose a phase diagram for the system in which the phase boundaries corresponding to the coating transition and the pinning transition meet at a junction point, and suggest that for sufficiently strong disorder a receding contact line will leave a Landau--Levich film immediately after depinning. This effect may be relevant to a recent experimental observation in a liquid Helium contact line on a Cesium substrate [C. Guthmann, R. Gombrowicz, V. Repain, and E. Rolley, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 80}, 2865 (1998)].Comment: 16 pages, 6 encapsulated figure

Are Vicinal Metal Surfaces Stable?

Quantum Matter and Optic

Epidemiology of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests that occur secondary to chemical asphyxiants: A retrospective series

Aim: To determine the epidemiological characteristics, temporal trends and survival outcomes of OHCAs precipitated by chemical asphyxiation. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of OHCAs attended by paramedics in Queensland, Australia between 2011 and 2020. Patients were classified into two groups depending on the asphyxiating agent involved; simple (argon, carbon dioxide, helium, liquified petroleum gas, nitrogen) and systemic (carbon monoxide, cyanides, hydrogen sulfide, methemoglobin-inducing substances, smoke inhalation). Incidence rates, characteristics and outcomes were described for the entire cohort and independently for each group, with the groups then compared. Temporal trends of asphyxiant utilisation were also described. Results: During the study period, 50,669 OHCAs were attended, with 551 (1.1%) attributable to chemical asphyxiation. The incidence rate was 1.1 per 100,000 population with no significant temporal changes. Suspected suicide was the primary cause of exposure (-95.8%), with systemic asphyixants the dominant agent reported in comparison to simple agents (66.4% vs 33.6%). Over the 10-year period, events precipitated by carbon monoxide decreased by 26.2% (p for trend < 0.001), helium remained unchanged (p for trend = 0.302) and incidents involving nitrogen increased by 28.7% (p for trend < 0.001). Overall, 14.2% (78/551) of the study cohort received a resuscitation attempt by paramedics with 6.4% of these incidents witnessed and 2.6% involving patients presenting in a shockable rhythm. Survival rates were low, with 6.4% surviving the index event, and 1.3% surviving to hospital discharge with a normal neurocognitive function. Conclusion: OHCA precipitated by chemical asphyxiation is relatively infrequent and associated with poor survival outcomes.</p

Epidemiology and survival outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest following volatile substance use in Queensland, Australia

Introduction: The deliberate inhalation of volatile substances for their psychotropic properties is a recognised public health issue that can precipitate sudden death. This study aimed to describe the epidemiological characteristics and survival outcomes of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrests following volatile substance use.Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of all out-of-hospital cardiac arrest attended by the Queensland Ambulance Service over a ten-year period (2012-2021). Incidents were extracted from the Queensland Ambulance Service cardiac arrest registry, which collects clinical information using the Utstein-style guidelines and linked hospital data.Results: During the study period, 52,102 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests were attended, with 22 (0.04%) occurring following volatile substance use. The incidence rate was 0.04 per 100,000 population, with no temporal trends identified. The most commonly used product was deodorant cans (19/22), followed by butane canisters (2/22), and nitrous oxide canisters (1/22). The median age of patients was 15 years (interquartile range 13–23), with 14/22 male and 8/22 Indigenous Australians. Overall, 16/22 patients received a resuscitation attempt by paramedics. Of these, 12/16 were bystander witnessed, 10/16 presented in an initial shockable rhythm, and 9/16 received bystander chest compressions. The rates of event survival, survival to hospital discharge, and survival with good neurological outcome (Cerebral Performance Category 1–2) were 69% (11/16, 95% CI 41–89%), 38% (6/16, 95% CI 15–65%) and 31% (5/16, 11–59%), respectively. Eight patients in the paramedic-treated cohort that used hydrocarbon-based products were administered epinephrine during resuscitation. Of these, none subsequently survived to hospital discharge. In contrast, all six patients that did not receive epinephrine survived to hospital discharge, with 5/6 having a good neurological outcome.Conclusion: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest following volatile substance use is rare and associated with relatively favourable survival rates. Patients were predominately aged in their adolescence with Indigenous Australians disproportionately represented