Quartz ball valve

A ball valve particularly suited for use in the handling of highly corrosive fluids is described. It is characterized by a valve housing formed of communicating segments of quartz tubing, a pair of communicating sockets disposed in coaxial alignment with selected segments of tubing for establishing a pair of inlet ports communicating with a common outlet port, a ball formed of quartz material supported for displacement between the sockets and configured to be received alternately thereby, and a valve actuator including a rod attached to the ball for selectively displacing the ball relative to each of the sockets for controlling fluid flow through the inlet ports

Improving Listening in a Financial Aid Office

As part of a major effort to improve its negative image among students and to raise staff morale, the Financial Aid Office at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) undertook a series of projects to upgrade its services. In addition, the office set out to become a warmer, friendlier place for student applicants. This article reports on one of the projects to improve the communication climate-a training program in listening which included personal videotaping of staff members, followed by feedback for the staff and a handout for students to help facilitate a more successful interview. While the overall effort continues, initial response to the changes has been highly positive

Cleaving-temperature dependence of layered-oxide surfaces

The surfaces generated by cleaving non-polar, two-dimensional oxides are often considered to be perfect or ideal. However, single particle spectroscopies on Sr2RuO4, an archetypal non-polar two dimensional oxide, show significant cleavage temperature dependence. We demonstrate that this is not a consequence of the intrinsic characteristics of the surface: lattice parameters and symmetries, step heights, atom positions, or density of states. Instead, we find a marked increase in the density of defects at the mesoscopic scale with increased cleave temperature. The potential generality of these defects to oxide surfaces may have broad consequences to interfacial control and the interpretation of surface sensitive measurements

Exercise dose and all-cause mortality within extended cardiac rehabilitation: a cohort study.

AIMS: To investigate the relationship between exercise participation, exercise 'dose' expressed as metabolic equivalent (MET) hours (h) per week, and prognosis in individuals attending an extended, community-based exercise rehabilitation programme. METHODS: Cohort study of 435 participants undertaking exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK between 1994 and 2006, followed up to 1 November 2013. MET intensity of supervised exercise was estimated utilising serial submaximal exercise test results and corresponding exercise prescriptions. Programme participation was routinely monitored. Cox regression analysis including time-varying and propensity score adjustment was applied to identify predictors of long-term, all-cause mortality across exercise dose and programme duration groups. RESULTS: There were 133 events (31%) during a median follow-up of 14 years (range, 1.2 to 18.9 years). The significant univariate association between exercise dose and all-cause mortality was attenuated following multivariable adjustment for other predictors, including duration in the programme. Longer-term adherence to supervised exercise training (>36 months) was associated with a 33% lower mortality risk (multivariate-adjusted HR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.47 to 0.97; p=0.033) compared with all lesser durations of CR (3, 12, 36 months), even after adjustment for baseline fitness, comorbidities and survivor bias. CONCLUSION: Exercise dose (MET-h per week) appears less important than long-term adherence to supervised exercise for the reduction of long-term mortality risk. Extended, supervised CR programmes within the community may play a key role in promoting long-term exercise maintenance and other secondary prevention therapies for survival benefit

A Memorial for William V. Sliter

William V. (Bill) Sliter, an internationally known micropaleontologist and research geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, passed away suddenly, October, 1997, while talking to a colleague in his office. In his honor, B. Huber, T. Bralower, and M. Leckie organized a keynote symposium ‘‘Paleoecological and Geochemical Signatures of Cretaceous Anoxic Events’’ at the 1998 annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Toronto, Canada. This theme issue of the Journal of Foraminiferal Research contains the published papers from the symposium and is dedicated to his memory

A Memorial for William V. Sliter

William V. (Bill) Sliter, an internationally known micropaleontologist and research geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, passed away suddenly, October, 1997, while talking to a colleague in his office. In his honor, B. Huber, T. Bralower, and M. Leckie organized a keynote symposium ‘‘Paleoecological and Geochemical Signatures of Cretaceous Anoxic Events’’ at the 1998 annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Toronto, Canada. This theme issue of the Journal of Foraminiferal Research contains the published papers from the symposium and is dedicated to his memory

Submaximal fitness and mortality risk reduction in coronary heart disease: a retrospective cohort study of community-based exercise rehabilitation.

To examine the association between submaximal cardiorespiratory fitness (sCRF) and all-cause mortality in a cardiac rehabilitation (CR) cohort.Retrospective cohort study of participants entering CR between 26 May 1993 and 16 October 2006, followed up to 1 November 2013 (median 14 years, range 1.2-19.4 years).A community-based CR exercise programme in Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK.A cohort of 534 men (76%) and 136 women with a clinical diagnosis of coronary heart disease (CHD), aged 22-82 years, attending CR were evaluated for the association between baseline sCRF and all-cause mortality. 416 participants with an exercise test following CR (median 14 weeks) were examined for changes in sCRF and all-cause mortality.All-cause mortality and change in sCRF expressed in estimated metabolic equivalents (METs).Baseline sCRF was a strong predictor of all-cause mortality; compared to the lowest sCRF group (<5 METs for women and <6 METs for men), mortality risk was 41% lower in those with moderate sCRF (HR 0.59; 95% CI 0.42 to 0.83) and 60% lower (HR 0.40; 95% CI 0.25 to 0.64) in those with higher sCRF levels (≥7 METs women and ≥8 METs for men). Although improvement in sCRF at 14 weeks was not associated with a significant mortality risk reduction (HR 0.91; 95% CI 0.79 to 1.06) for the whole cohort, in those with the lowest sCRF (and highest all-cause mortality) at baseline, each 1-MET improvement was associated with a 27% age-adjusted reduction in mortality risk (HR 0.73; 95% CI 0.57 to 0.94).Higher baseline sCRF is associated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality over 14 years in adults with CHD. Improving fitness through exercise-based CR is associated with significant risk reduction for the least fit