Geochemistry And Sedimentology Of Two Cretaceous Coal Deposits In Canada

The sedimentology and mineralogy of coals and sediments in a coal-bearing sequence have an important influence on the geochemistry and trace element siting and distribution. The objective of this study is to make an analysis of each of these aspects and to examine how they are interrelated.;The two Lower Cretaceous coal-bearing sequences studied are in the Moose River Basin in northern Ontario and the Monkman region in eastern British Columbia.;The sequences were deposited in fluvial and upper delta plain/fluvial environments respectively. The mineralogy of the Moose River Basin sediments consists of quartz, kaolinite, minor illite/muscovite, pyrite, calcite, siderite and rare gibbsite. The lignites contain dominantly quartz and kaolinite. The Monkman sediments in addition to the assemblage mentioned above contain ankerite, higher proportions of illite and mixed layer clays and no gibbsite. The Monkman coals have a higher proportion of mineral-rich bands and contain a greater variety of minerals than the Moose River Basin lignites.;Major and trace elements were analysed by XRF, AA, NAA, DNC, DCP, EMS, and ESCA. Pearson correlation coefficients coupled with SEM-EDX were used to examine the modes of occurrence of trace elements. Trace element concentrations and associations were found to be extremely variable.;The most common mode of trace element occurrence (e.g. for Cu, Rb, Cr, Au, U, Ti, V, Ni, Zn and in part P, Co, As, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Pb and Th) is in association with the clay minerals. Cl, Zn, Mo and Pb are associated entirely with the organics in the Moose River Basin lignites. This is also true for Ga in the Monkman coals. Zirconium, Ti, Th and in some cases Cr and U occur associated with detrital heavy minerals. Cobalt, As and W in some sample sets are associated with the sulphides. Phosphorous and Sr are predominantly associated with carbonates.;Several factors which influence the trace element characteristics of the coal and sediments are proposed. These include mineralogy, depositional environment, original vegetation type, hydrology, nature of the surrounding rocks, diagenetic factors, coal rank and postdepositional effects

Geoscience Outreach: Raising Awareness of Earth Science through the BC Year of Science 2010–2011

The British Columbia Year of Science (YoS), held in 2010–11, was a provincial government–science community collaboration aimed at engaging youth in science. The YoS provided a timely opportunity to expand our Earth science outreach efforts in British Columbia. Key components of the three initiatives reported on below include university student engagement, collaboration with partners (both within the university and in government and community sectors), funding from a variety of sources, and a target audience of primarily youth, their teachers and parents. The first project, Earth Science and Society, involved K–12 classroom presentations (127 to 2615 students), teacher and educator workshops (8 to ~138 participants) and community events (15, audience of ~ 1238). Of the K–12 students surveyed, 89.8% indicated that because of the presentations they wanted to learn more about science. In the second project, Earth science was an important part of one of the four YoS signature Expos, ‘Science and the World Around Us’ held in Prince George with over 3000 youth and community participants. The third project, ‘Science in our Lives’, involved development of nine societally relevant hands-on activities (4 involving aspects of Earth science) that were posted on [http://uvic.ca/sciweb/], together with 21 scientist-career profiles. The latter, featured as ‘5 Minutes with a Scientist’, highlighted exciting relevant careers in science, and portrayed scientists as real, approachable people doing interesting things that they are passionate about. Key successes of these outreach efforts include: i) funding from multiple sources enabling us to recruit and support four undergraduate students to participate in a broad-ranging outreach program; ii) partnerships and collaborations developed with government, the community and within the university; and iii) legacy resources, including activities, career profiles, teacher workshop manuals, and a new school program in non-renewable resources developed with Capital Region District Victoria to supplement their 3R sustainability school program offerings.La British Columbian Year of Science (YoS) [Année de la science de Colombie-Britannique] tenue durant l’année scolaire 2010-2011 était un programme du gouvernement provincial en collaboration avec la communauté scientifique qui visait à intéresser les jeunes à la science. La YoS a été une occasion opportune d’ajouter aux efforts de sensibilisation de la population de Colombie-Britannique aux sciences de la Terre. La participation d’étudiants de l’université, la collaboration de partenaires (tant du l’université, du gouvernement et de certains milieux de la communauté), le financement de multiple sources, et une population cible constituée principalement de jeunes, de leurs enseignants et de leurs parents sont les composantes clés des trois projets décrits ci-dessous. Le premier projet, « Sciences de la Terre et société », à consisté à faire des présentations à des classes d’étudiants du pré-collégial (127, pour 2 615 étudiants), à tenir des ateliers avec des enseignants et des éducateurs (8, pour 138 participants), et à faire des activités dans la communauté (15, pour 1 238 personnes). Des étudiants du pré-collégial rejoints, 89,8 % ont déclaré qu’à la suite des présentations, ils voulaient en savoir plus sur la science. Dans le deuxième projet, les sciences de la Terre ont constituées une part importante des quatre expositions de marque de la YoS, « Science and the World Around Us » tenu à Prince George lesquelles ont attiré plus de 3 000 jeunes et autres participants de la communauté. Le troisième projet « La science dans la vie de tous les jours » comportait la mise en œuvre de neuf activités pratiques à visées sociétales (dont 4 comportaient des aspects géoscientifiques) affichées sur [http://uvic.ca/sciweb/], ainsi que le profil de carrière de 21 scientifiques. Le dernier projet intitulé « Cinq minutes avec un scientifique », a mis l’accent sur le côté excitant de carrières scientifiques et a démontré que les scientifiques étaient des personnes facile d’abord, comme vous et moi, et qui faisaient des choses intéressantes et qui les passionnaient. Les éléments clés du succès de ces initiatives de sensibilisation sont : i) un financement de sources multiples qui nous a permis de recruter quatre étudiants de premier cycle et de soutenir leur travail dans un programme de sensibilisation à large portée; ii) des partenariats et des collaborations avec le gouvernement, la communauté et le monde universitaire; et iii) des contenus de grande qualité, incluant des activités, des profils de carrière, des manuels pour les enseignants, ainsi qu’un nouveau programme scolaire sur les ressources non-renouvelables créé par le district de Victoria de la région de la Capitale en appui au contenu de leur programme scolaire 3R

Construct validity of multi-source performance ratings: An examination of the relationship of self-, supervisor-, and peer-ratings with cognitive and personality measures

Although more and more organizations prefer using multi-source performance ratings or 3601 feedback over traditional performance appraisals, researchers have been rather skeptical regarding the reliability and validity of such ratings. The present study examined the validity of self-, supervisor-, and peer-ratings of 195 employees in a Dutch public organization, using scores on an In-Basket exercise, an intelligence test, and a personality questionnaire as external criterion measures. Interrater agreement ranged from .28 to .38. Variance in the ratings was explained by both method and content factors. Support for the external construct validity was rather weak. Supervisor-ratings were not found to be superior to self- and peer-ratings in predicting the scores on the external measures

A Triadic Approach to the Construct Validity of the Assessment Center: The Effect of Categorizing Dimensions into a Feeling, Thinking, and Power Taxonomy

This study examined the influence on construct validity of implementing the triad Feeling, Thinking, and Power as a taxonomy for behavioral dimensions in assessment center (AC) exercises. A sample of 1567 job applicants participated in an AC specifically developed according to this taxonomy. Each exercise tapped three dimensions, one dimension from each cluster of the taxonomy. Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the multitrait-multimethod matrix showed evidence for construct validity. Thus, the ratings matched the a priori triadic grouping to a good extent. Practical implications are discussed