First announcement
5th Canadian Continuous-Flow-Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry Workshop- 1998
Date: August 16-19, 1998
University of Ottawa / G.G. Hatch Isotope Labs

Attention all users

Due to technical difficulties the 5th Canadian CF-IRMS workshop will not take place in Alaska as announced in Waterloo Ontario at the last workshop.  A second attempt to have it in the west was also unsuccessful.  Lack of time has forced us to have the workshop a year ahead of schedule at the University of Ottawa.  Therefore the following is a first announcement and information about the workshop.

Raison d'être:   The workshop was recognised, at its beginning, to be a way for the Canadian isotope community to keep up with the latest in IRMS developments.  It has since grown into an international meeting applied to CF-IRMS.  The workshop is meant to gather users and manufacturers in a single group to share information on various techniques using continuous flow technology.  It is a forum for manufacturers to present their latest technologies and for customers to discuss their present and future needs with them.  It also gives users a professional group of research oriented people with which to discuss analytical techniques and problems.  The talks vary and pertain to various fields such as Earth and Environmental Sciences, Medicine, Biology, Soils? etc
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Sunday August 16
Pre-Workshop course (Gilles St-Jean)
The Waterloo workshop included, for the first time, a pre-workshop introduction for new users needing some basic knowledge in the field of CF-IRMS.  This proved to be more popular than anyone expected.  We are taking this a step further in having an actual short-course in two parts.  The first part is for real beginners needing introduction to stable isotopes.  The second part is for those knowledgeable in stable isotopes but unfamiliar with the add-ons such as Elemental Analysers and Gas Chromatographs. This course will give new users or potential users basic understanding of the field in order to discuss equipment needs with manufacturers and to get more out of the talks following the course.

Morning:
        1) Introduction to stable isotopes
a) Introduction
b) History
c) Definitions (e.g. isotopic abundance, delta notation, fractionation etc.)
d) International Reference scales and materials (V-PDB, V-SMOW, AIR, V-CDT)
e) Theoretical considerations (temperature, kinetics, etc.)
 f) Natural variations of the stable isotopes of interest (2H, 13C, 18O, 34S)

Afternoon:
        2) Instrumentation
a) Elemental Analysers (TBA)
b) Gas Chromatographs (TBA)
c) Basic understanding of interfaces to the IRMS (TBA)

Evening: 
        Wine and Cheese ice breaker: Hosted by the IRMS manufacturers

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Monday August 17
        Morning
Welcome and introduction
Keynote speaker
Manufacturers products overview

        Afternoon 
Talks 

        Evening
Cocktails and group Banquet
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Tuesday August 18
Talks and poster presentations
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Wednesday August 19
Instrument demos and lab tours +

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Accommodations: Student residences and local hotels (All within 5 to 10 min. walking distance) 
Detailed accommodation info, calls for papers and other information to follow in the second announcement

Workshop cost: $100.00 CDN (Includes banquet, lunches)


Gilles


Gilles St-Jean
Technologue de Recherche
U d'Ottawa/ Géologie/ Laboratoire d'Isotope G.G. Hatch
140 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1N 6N5
Bureau/Office: 1-(613) 562-5800 ext. 6839
Lab:                                               ext. 6836
Fax:                (613) 562-5192
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