I found the paper, and the got CO as a gaseous by product.
Hah! Thank you. I was sitting here trying to figure out how you got the double bond, and had just decided that you would either get stuck at the carboxylic acid (classic Favorsky ring contraction) or decarboxylate to the cyclopentanone (no double bond). I was like, "If only you could extrude CO, instead of going Favorsky, it would be the product right away!"
I guess that's what the xylene's for, to enable heating to gaseous-byproduct temps.