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medicine > Admissions > How to Apply
The Admissions Process
Saint Louis University School of Medicine encourages application from students who have achieved a high level of academic performance and who manifest in their personal lives those human qualities compatible with a career of service to society. The University's mission statement affirms the value of a diverse educational environment to prepare students for life and work in a global society. To foster this mission, the School of Medicine strives to recruit, admit, retain, and graduate a diverse student body. Besides ethnicity, this diversity encompasses differences based on gender, culture, and economic circumstances.
Academic Requirements
Specific academic requirements include a minimum of 90 semester hours (135 quarter hours) in undergraduate arts and science courses. Virtually all accepted applicants complete a baccalaureate degree of at least 120 semester hours (180 quarter hours) from an accredited college or university. In all cases the Committee on Admissions is more concerned with the quality of the applicant's education than with the number of hours or years of pre-medical training. Students who have received their education in a foreign school must complete at least one academic year of science course work in an accredited North American college or university prior to making application.
Course Requirements for Admission
Subject Semester Hours
General Biology or Zoology 8*
Inorganic Chemistry 8*
Organic Chemistry 8*
Physics 8*
English 6
Other Humanities
and Behavioral Sciences 12
*A laboratory course is required in these sciences.
The Committee usually recognizes undergraduate credit given for courses on the basis of advanced placement when this is indicated on the college transcript. However, for the specific minimum requirements given above, advanced placement credits are not generally acceptable. Since contemporary medical studies include the study of health and disease at the sub-cellular and molecular level, the study of Biochemistry or Cellular Biology is highly recommended, though not required. Biochemistry may be taken in place of one semester of Organic Chemistry.
Applicants are expected to have pursued one area of knowledge or discipline in depth. The Committee on Admissions does not favor any specific major in its decisions. Suitable major areas include the Behavioral Sciences and Humanities as well as the Natural Sciences. Those majoring in the Behavioral Sciences and Humanities must demonstrate good performance in the Natural Sciences; those majoring in the Natural Sciences must, in turn, demonstrate a broad exposure to the Humanities. Courses intended to satisfy basic requirements and completed online will not be considered.
Admission is possible only at the beginning of the academic year. There are no regional preferences, and applications from well-qualified students are seriously considered regardless of their state of origin or citizenship. The qualifications of applicants are evaluated without discrimination in regard to financial status, age, race, color, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status. Persons who have previously earned a medical degree whether in this country or abroad are not eligible to apply. Some additional consideration is given to qualified students from Saint Louis University and to the qualified sons and daughters of this School of Medicine's alumni.
All completed applications are evaluated by the Committee on Admissions. It is not possible to provide places for all qualified applicants, but failure to be accepted is not necessarily an indication that a student is unsuited for a medical career. The candidates accepted for entry in August 2017 had the following average academic credentials:
Grade Point Average (4.0 = A)
Overall GPA 3.86
Science - Math GPA 3.83
Total Mean Score: 512.36
Medical College Admission Test (MCAT)
Verbal Reasoning 10.35
Physical Sciences 11.80
Biological Sciences 11.45
Total Mean Score 33.60
Apart from these academic characteristics, the Committee recognizes a responsibility to consider applicants as individuals, particularly in the evaluation of the breadth of their educational experience, their personality traits, maturity level, and appropriate motivation and commitment to a career in medicine.
The Committee will seriously consider applicants enrolled in graduate programs granting the Master or Doctoral degree only if degree requirements are scheduled to be completed during the year of application and prior to enrollment in medical school, or if recommended by their graduate faculty mentor. Other graduate students must withdraw from their graduate program prior to making application.
Applicants applying more than three times are not encouraged to apply unless significant changes have been made to your application that would merit Committee review. Students who have failed or have been terminated for any reason at another medical school are not eligible to apply.


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A MAN who created 'a substantial cannabis farm' in his attic has been jailed for 36 weeks.
During a police raid on September 9, 2011, officers found 34 mature plants in Nigel Sullivan's home, in Chapel Street, Oswaldtwistle.
Burnley Crown Court heard that lights, transformers, and fans, were found, and that the attic space had been lined.
Sullivan was also charged with abstracting electricity worth around £250 as he had bypassed his meter to provide power.
The prosecution said the plants were "flourishing", and they had a potential yield of 1.7 kilograms of "skunk"-type cannabis.
Sullivan made a full admission when arrested. He told officers it was his first crop, that he had cultivated the plants from cuttings, and that he was not expecting them to do as well as they did.
He said at the time he was a cannabis user, and intended to use the drugs for personal use, and to distribute to a wide circle of friends.
The court was told Sullivan, step-father to an eight-year-old boy, was in full-time skilled employment, earning more than £1,500 a month and travelling the country as a net-work engineer.
Testimonials were presented to the court stating he was of positive good character, with no previous convictions.
Imposing a prison term of 36 weeks, His Honour Judge Graham Knowles QC said the plants represented 'a very, very substantial quantity indeed'.
He said: "The smoking, or growing, of cannabis is seen by some as barely criminal at all. But that is not the view of the courts."

subset: commoncrawl


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What is the weight rating in pounds
Question Asked By: Kevin , May 23, 2016
What is the weight capacity of this shelf? What is the shipping weight?
Question Asked By: CHUCK , Boise, ID , April 11, 2016
+ View 3 Answers
Question Answered By: Product Expert , April 11, 2016
This item is imported. Our best estimation of shipping weight is approximately 387 Lbs. Shipping dimensions are 40W x 75L x 40H.
Question Answered By: Product Expert , April 11, 2016
The shelf only measures 72"L with a depth of 15".
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The shelf weight is 34 lbs.
Is the footrest bar necessary? I'd like to assemble the bench without it.
Question Asked By: STEPHEN , March 30, 2016
what is the thread size for the levelers. taking out the levelers to put in casters. Thanks
Question Asked By: David , Fayetteville, arkansas , September 29, 2014
Are there casters that can be purchased for this workbench? If so, what is the sku?
Question Asked By: anonymous
If I order this along with a 60-24 Maple Square Edge Production Bench .. is the maple top 'pre-drilled' for the 48" Upright Kit ? I think I know the answer ('no') but I thought I'd ask anyway. tx
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What is the bulb size? I need to buy shatter shield coated bulbs for this unit that I bought? But I don't want to buy a whole case of 40.
Question Asked By: Dave , California , December 16, 2011
How much does this product weigh in its packaging?
Question Asked By: anonymous
Are ballasts available for this model and at what price? Ballast model is ST232120
Question Asked By: martin mcfee , Liverpool NY , August 30, 2011
Is this frame able to be purchased without any top? If so what would be the price? We are going to use the existing top.
Question Asked By: Mark , Sinclair Systems , July 14, 2011
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Poll: 2DayFM prank phone call
Has your opinion of the 2DayFM prank phone call changed since Jacintha Saldanha's death?
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GPU-Accelerated libraries provide highly-optimized algorithms and functions you can incorporate into your applications, with minimal changes to your existing code. Many support drop-in compatibilty to replace industry standard CPU-only libraries such as MKL, IPP, FFTW and widely-used libraries. Some also feature automatic multi-GPU performance scaling.
A simple path to accelerated core solvers, providing up to 10x acceleration in the computationally intense linear solver portion of simulations, and is very well suited for implicit unstructured methods.
NVIDIA cuDNN is a GPU-accelerated library of primitives for deep neural networks, it is designed to be integrated into higher-level machine learning frameworks.
NVIDIA CUDA Fast Fourier Transform Library (cuFFT) provides a simple interface for computing FFTs up to 10x faster, without having to develop your own custom GPU FFT implementation.
NVIDIA IndeX Framework is a real-time scalable visualization plug-in for ParaView.
nvGRAPH Analytics Library is a GPU-accelerated graph analytics library.
NVIDIA TensorRT is a high performance neural network inference library for deep learning applications
NVIDIA Performance Primitives is a GPU accelerated library with a very large collection of 1000's of image processing primitives and signal processing primitives.
FFmpeg is a popular open-source multi-media framework with a library of plugins that can be applied to various parts of the audio and video processing pipelines.
GPU-accelerated CHOLMOD is part of the SuiteSparse linear algebra package by Prof. Tim Davis. SuiteSparse is used extensively throughout industry and academia.
GPU-accelerated linear algebra library by EM Photonics, that utilizes CUDA to dramatically improve the computation speed of sophisticated mathematics.
A collection of next gen linear algebra routines. Designed for heterogeneous GPU-based architectures. Supports current LAPACK and BLAS standards.
Developed by RogueWave, a comprehensive set of mathematical and statistical functions that offloads work to GPUs.
A collection of dense and sparse direct solvers which deliver significant acceleration for Computer Vision, CFD, Computational Chemistry, and Linear Optimization applications
NVIDIA CUDA Sparse (cuSPARSE) Matrix library provides a collection of basic linear algebra subroutines used for sparse matrices that delivers over 8x performance boost.
NVIDIA CUDA BLAS Library (cuBLAS) is a GPU-accelerated version of the complete standard BLAS library that delivers 6x to 17x faster performance than the latest MKL BLAS.
Comprehensive, open source GPU function library. Includes functions for math, signal and image processing, statistics, and many more. Interfaces for C, C++, Java, R and Fortran.
The CUDA Random Number Generation library performs high quality GPU-accelerated random number generation (RNG) over 8x faster than typical CPU only code.
An industry proven, highly accurate collection of standard mathematical functions, providing high performance on NVIDIA GPUs.
A powerful, open source library of parallel algorithms and data structures. Perform GPU-accelerated sort, scan, transform, and reductions with just a few lines of code.
A GPU-accelerated C++ framework for High-Throughput Sequence Analysis for both short and long read alignment.
Gunrock is a GPU library for graph analytics that couples an expressive, powerful programming model with a high-performance implementation.
Accelerate video compression with the NVIDIA Video Codec SDK. This SDK includes documentation and code samples that illustrate how to use NVIDIA's NVENC and NVDEC hardware in GPUs to accelerate encode, decode, and transcode of H.264 and HEVC video formats.
HiPLAR (High Performance Linear Algebra in R) delivers high performance linear algebra (LA) routines for the R platform for statistical computing using the latest software libraries for heterogeneous architectures.
OpenCV is the leading open source library for computer vision, image processing and machine learning, and now features GPU acceleration for real-time operation.
GPP is a computational geometry engine that is optimized for GPU acceleration, and can be used in advanced Graphical Information Systems (GIS), Electronic Design Automation (EDA), computer vision, and motion planning solutions.
A library for sparse iterative methods with special focus on multi-core and accelerator technology such as GPUs.
Triton provides real-time visual simulation of the ocean and bodies of water for games, simulation, and training applications.


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Micromax Bolt A69 smartphone was launched in May 2014. The phone comes with a 4.50-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 480 pixels by 854 pixels.
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I bought the basket mentioned in a different thread from lowes for my new CG. My question is should it sit on the "cooking" rack in the SFB or the lower Charcoal rack?
If I put in on the higher rack, it is right next to the opening...I don't know if this affects the heat getting into the main chamber. If I put it on the lower rack, emptying the ashes is a chore.
Probably an pretty obvious choice but I don't know that I chose the right one.


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Who donated the human skulls?
Three human skulls that were donated to a local thrift store are prompting the King County Medical Examiner's Office to turn to the public for assistance.
There is no information regarding who donated the three skulls to the Bellevue Goodwill, or how they came to be in his/her possession.
Two of the skulls are adult specimens that were clearly used in a medical clinic or instruction.
The third skull is very old and appears to be the fragile remains of a Native American child.
The Native American skull must be repatriated to its tribe of origin, by state law. However, additional details are needed, to properly identify the correct tribe or tribes.
The Medical Examiner is requesting that the private citizen who donated the skulls provide information, without penalty, about the origin of the child's skull.
The skulls were donated in June to the Bellevue Goodwill, at 14515 NE 20th St, Bellevue. Employees there realized the skulls were authentic human remains and followed proper procedure by contacting the Medical Examiner's Office and law enforcement.
If you find a skull or bones
The skulls provide a reminder that skeletal remains – even those used for teaching purposes – should always be handled with respect. If you are given or inherit
clinical or archaeological remains, you can turn them in without penalty to the Medical Examiner's Office. If you inadvertently discover human remains, such as buried or in a public place, you must notify law enforcement.
Anyone with information about the three donated skulls, or who has other human skeletal remains, should contact the King County Medical Examiner's Office at 206-731-3232, ext.1.


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>General Running>track intervals vs tempo:choose one
so if you were to do 1 mid week hard effort w/o which would you choose?
background: (try to make this short). experienced, very consistent non-elite type looking to lower PR's & move up in the over 50 AG. After training for marathon last year & developing PF ran 1st "race" in several months Sunday just off 5k pr pace. New plan this year avging 30-35 mpw with 1 hard effort during week, 1 w/o that is 60 mns with last 5-10 mns tempo pace & LR on Sundays (slow build up to 9-10 miles now). 3 upcoming 5 k's (mostly flat & pavement/trail combo) & then begin HM (9/28) training after 1st week in July
I feel confident after Sunday that a 5k PR will fall this year & soon as ran conservative & already pretty much recovered. I'm considering working with local club on Wed night track w/os. have done some track interval work in past but has been quite some time & not very consistently. I like to mix things/change things to keep running fresh & fun. my favorite & most common mid week "hard effort" runs usually in the form of progressive or tempo type runs between 3-5 miles (5-8 total with wu/cd).
Track club has a chart to determine the pace range based on your normal or average race times. . actual wo's are usually around 3 miles + wu/cd. I know that I could handle these sessions if I start 1-2 levels down.With a short amt of time left for my upcoming races I realize that these track wo's will not be of benefit now but possibility later on in summer if I stick with them. another factor is that my Wed's will be 13+ hour days with work/drivetime/wo.
could always alternate the track sessions & tempo runs each week. or
track intervals vs tempo runs:which would you choose??
I'd train with the group on the track, for a variety of reasons, primary of which is the group atmosphere. The second best reason is that this will be something new in training. Third, you could always add a little tempo running (run to the barn) in a different run. Fourth, you will learn some new workouts.
So, yeah, go for it.
The Logic of Long Distance
I think I'd alternate them because of the whole "fresh and fun" thing. You could always add some tempoish work to your long run on the week that you do intervals if you are switching week to week.
Or, you could do the intervals for now since the 5Ks are upcoming and the HM training doesn't begin until July. Then reduce the interval workouts and increase the tempo workouts.
If I had to choose 1, though, I'd choose the tempos because I think it's more likely to help you advance towards both the 5K and the HM goals.
Wishy washy enough of an answer?
mta: or, Jeff just responded with a better answer because I took at least 6 minutes to write a bunch of mumbo-jumbo.
Track for the 5K PR. Hard tempos for the longer distances.
Feeling the growl again
Focus on the tempos further away from goal races...track work won't build aerobic ability that isn't there and it will only get you gains for a couple months before it really starts tapering off. Then for the 6-8 weeks leading into a goal 5K, focus on the track work to sharpen your speed and lactate tolerance.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
It's a false dichotomy because the bottom line is you don't have to choose one or the other. But in terms of long term development, you make me choose between a weekly tempo and a weekly track interval session for the rest of my life, I choose tempo every time. It's not even close.
I also agree with Jeff that the camaraderie and changing things up can be very important.
So it's good to have a group to workout with weekly, but it's also good to be wiling to do your own workout if what the group is doing that week doesn't match your goals.
Runners run.
Good stuff by all.
I'll just add that there are lots of good ways to get solid aerobic "tempo" stimulus on the track, too. Intervals are not always (or even often) primarily about anaerobic sharpening. So, in part the answer depends on who is designing the workouts.
Longer intervals with shorter rests can be just as good as (sometimes better than) tempo running for working on that good deep aerobic stimulus.
Good stuff by all.
I'll just add that there are lots of good ways to get solid aerobic "tempo" stimulus on the track, too. Intervals are not always (or even often) primarily about anaerobic sharpening. So, in part the answer depends on who is designing the workouts.
Longer intervals with shorter rests can be just as good as (sometimes better than) tempo running for working on that good deep aerobic stimulus.
Partly depends how much control you have over what the group is doing too. However IMHO, not all tempo running should be broken up into intervals and doing 4-6 miles @ tempo on the track is a challenging thing to do. They serve somewhat different purposes and I don't think you should be choosing one at the exclusion of the other, but giving thought to how you put the pieces together in order to maximize your results.
Wishy washy enough of an answer?
not any less wishy washy than I'm being. I am looking at this in the long term as plan to run until 100 & setting over 60, 70,80,90, 100 AG pr's. As pointed out the intervals have a less beneficial life but if I go that route will be serious about consistency at least on a 2x/mth basis (or weekly). One factor leaning towards the track w/o is that I know that I am capable of harder efforts than when going about this alone. They post the planned wo's on Monday & include separate wo's as well for those in marathon training mode. all levels or wo's are encouraged, can even jog/walk around track if wanted to. Another thought is that I could do these wo's on own at local ms track on Tuesday & some sort of tempo/progressive on Thurs or Friday with sunday LR. gives some recovery break. see how wishy washy I am on this.
after July, HM plan is to start ramping up the duration/distance on Sunday LR up to 2 hrs/12-15 miles. At that point plan on mixing in more tempo work during LR. keeping rest of week pretty much intact (whatever it turns out to be). Maybe throw in 2-3 more races (8k-15k) in there as well
Been running/low level competing for awhile now & getting tired of being near but just out of the top of AG locally. Whatever I do I know that I need to ramp up my harder efforts while keeping balance in training recovery/life stuff.
great stuff everyone, thanks, appreciate it, keep the responses coming!!
after July, HM plan is to start ramping up the duration/distance on Sunday LR up to 2 hrs/12-15 miles. At that point plan on mixing in more tempo work during LR. keeping rest of week pretty much intact (whatever it turns out to be).
after July, HM plan is to start ramping up the duration/distance on Sunday LR up to 2 hrs/12-15 miles. At that point plan on mixing in more tempo work during LR. keeping rest of week pretty much intact (whatever it turns out to be).
FWIW I think 1:40-2:00 is the sweet spot for a standard non-marathoning long run...even for 5K training. Though I'd shorten it during the last 4-6 weeks before goal race.
my HM plan was to not go over 2 hrs duration, so will stay in that "sweet spot" as you suggested. have a few weeks between July & the HM but really not a lot of time. would it be better to continue to lengthen duration up to 1:40-2 hrs & then start adding some tempo within that or to both slowly build the duration while adding abit more tempo on my Sundays LR? another thought was to alternate weeks such as: week 1 95-100 mns easy pace week 2 85-90 mns with 10 mn tempo at end of run. week 3 100-110 mns easy week 4 85-90 mns with 15 mn tempo at end. & so on. For the most part have been on a schedule where have been increasing LR 5 or so mns each week for 3 weeks & then 4th week cut back to close to week 1 & then begin another cycle.
I'm leaning towards the Wed track w/o this week but at a moderately hard effort to begin. then alternate my "fun" tempo/progressive wo's on Friday (depending on recovery from Wed) with LR on sunday. very slowly increase effort on all these. To improve much from this point need to work on getting adapted to running faster to build speed & also need that extra push from the group. Also need to build speed endurance/stamina. May find out that my regular hard effort wo's on next 2 Fridays will suffer abit from Wed track, ???
This sounds like quite a bit of speed work thrown in at once but not really as will be very conservative. Do have a good base & have been doing some good effort stuff (for me) 1-2wk for awhile. will not be building much in the way of overall mileage staying within 35-40/wk & then after July 40-45 wk.
IMHO I would alternate the long runs, easy one week and incorporating some effort the next.
You may be asking a lot of yourself, running solid track work on Wed then tempo on Fri and LR on Sun (half the time with quality ending), given your mileage level. I don't know your training but there are two possibilities:
1) Your current mileage level is low compared to what you could handle, so your overall fatigue level is consistently low; you can handle extra quality as a result.
2) You're running to your current fitness level mileage-wise...in which case 3 workouts with 1 rest day in between will be quite a challenge.
When I was running 70-100mpw consistently and was in my 20s I could ro Tue-Thur workouts with Sun long run, and sometimes some moderate stuff on Sat to boot. Now in my mid-30s running 50-70mpw consistently I almost always need 2 recovery days in between workouts.
YMMV but I think you're asking a lot of yourself.
An alternative if you like the weekly track workout is to keep it....and do the tempo work during your long run, and more of it than what is currently in your plan (4-6 miles in there, vs 10-15min as you wrote). The most effective HM training I ever used was a Tues track workout and Sun long run with a Thurs "med-long run workout" of 12-14 miles with really solid quality in it...3X15min tempo with 5min recovery, 8-10mile tempo effort, progression last 10 miles of it, etc. That medium-long run was pure gold. You'd be doing a variation on that by using it as your long run. You may have to shorten the run a bit to integrate that much effort, but given your weekly mileage level, doing that every other week at least may not be a bad thing? The HM requries stamina for a long, sustained effort and that's what this does for you.
Good answers above. With your miles I like for you to have two quality sessions mixing in that tempo work within your long run as mentioned above. It could mean last few miles or several miles at marathon pace, some miles in the middle or even the whole run at a more steady pace. On the mid week work you could alternate the following work outs below giving you a variety of speeds without tearing you up so you can race more often. On race weeks, you knock down the volume with these work outs. These are some options for you to mix in for variety. I personally like option 1 a lot as it helps build your threshold and max v02 simultaneously http://www.championshipproductions.com/files/xc-02010/Stiles-Critical-Velocity-Article.pdf and doesn't or shouldn't beat you up like very very fast work outs. Think long term vs short term. Good luck.
Midweek sample work outs with a warm up and cooldown miles around them.
5-6 X 1K at 10K effort 90 sec jog 4-5 X 200m fast (800m-1 mile pace)
4 X 1 mile at half marathon effort 90-120 sec jog then 8-10 X 100m fast (400-800m pace)
6 X 800m at 3K effort 2 min jog followed by 4-5 X 200m fast
12 X 1 min at mile pace 1 min jog 8 X 100m (400m pace)
Those who try, fail! Those who do what it takes to succeed, succeed!!
Consistently Slow
3 x 1 @ 5k pace 3:00R
I am old and slow
Run until the trail runs out.
The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff
3 x 1 @ 5k pace 3:00R
I am old and slow
old and slow...maybe, but I personally think 3x1mile at 5K pace difficult. I know how much I normally hurt at the 1 mile pt of a 5K, and I wouldn't look forward to that workout. A 3 minute rest isn't very much for that work bout duration/pace.


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Getting a better handle on the forums: As part of the 20+ site prep, we've been doing some way overdue improvements and maintenance to the forums. Today, the dev team put in some new anti-spambot measures, added strikethrough and spoiler code to posts, and created a support thread for bug reporting. Most importantly, we removed the "when were you born" question from the forums sign-up process. Anybody who was not able to log in (because you could not prove you were at least 13) should now be able to re-send their confirmation email and activate their account at Sluggy.net. This will be the only username and login you need for the new website, and the forums will stay essentially the same as they are.
And the link to the support thread is http://www.sluggy.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=95899
Comic for Monday 07/15/13
Comic for Tuesday 07/16/13
Ref: Wyntiti and Elder Soco.


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>Cross Training>Taken out by a car, lessons learned
Glad you survived.
First your running went to shit, now your biking went to hell AND no swimming from the stitches. They say bad things come in threes, so hopefully for you and your family, the three are taken care of with the swim/bike/run combo.
The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff
2014 Goals:
Stay healthy
Enjoy life
Princess Cancer Pants
Glad you survived.
First your running went to shit, now your biking went to hell AND no swimming from the stitches. They say bad things come in threes, so hopefully for you and your family, the three are taken care of with the swim/bike/run combo.
Hmmm...X, time to take up rowing?
• Chemo
• Chemo-Radiation
• Surgery
• Return to kicking my own ass by 2018
She was not strong. She was valiant. Radiant. Brave and broken. The beauty she discovered in the aftermath was unparalleled to anything she had known before, because it had come at such a cost.
~ Unknown
My dogs are fast, not me
Sounds wicked scary! So glad you seem to be OK.
That's Ms Squeak to you!
+1, many times, to so many of the above posts!
I got scary-chills running down my back when I read the bit about your helmet and your head hitting the ground. I always wear a helmet even though I'm a bit of a girly-girl and don't like them much. Recently got around this by purchasing a Yakkay which has a hat over the top, they're pretty cute and you can change the hat covers or if you're creative you can make your own. But wouldn't be without one, and stories like yours make me feel so glad that I do take the precaution every single time.
I think you've made so many good points that I linked the top of this post to facebook to share with my several hundred friends, especially the helmet thing!
Incidentally, Australia has a requirement to be cleared by a medical doctor annually to drive after the age of 75, and annual driving tests after 85. Not a bad idea, personally I'd like to see the driving tests brought forward so it starts at a younger age, but I suppose the cost and administration issues would make it difficult. I really liked the idea of the anonymous reporting, a mostly-conflict-free way of addressing the issue with someone who just wont surrender the keys.
So glad to hear you're ok, and will be hoping you don't have any permanently busted bits on your bod.
Petco Run/Walk/Wag 5k
been offline and just getting caught up.
Glad you made it with minimal damage X. I have to agree with the need for periodic testing, even as I approach senior senior citizen stage (am only at senior stage,,, LOL). So far I am paying attention to my night driving skills and think they are declining already. just a bit, especially in bad weather. Getting harder to make out road marking at night when it is raining. So I have been minimizing that situation as much as possible. Have been thru having an elderly father (at senior senior stage...) who we learned should have been off the road, but not until he was hospitalized recovering from bypass surgery and finding out he he was in stage 4 of Alzheimer's. Mom was in bad denial and brother who lived close enough and worked nights wasn't in a position to observe the decline. Mom told us he would forget how to get from point a to point b if there was a detour. She used that fact that he was still winning at poker as evidence that he could still drive... wonder what goes thru our heads. If he was tested his license would have been pulled. We never had to pull his license because he didn't make it out of the convalescent home before passing. I moved close to my youngest and retired and hope I am thoughful enough in 10-20 years to give up my license when necessary.
As to helmets - have to ditto the need for those - I put a bike down (Honda 90) on base back in 1966 - missed a turn, slammed into a telephone poll, went over the handle bars, parted company with bike which went one way while I skidded on head and back until I hit another telephone pole! I was in a tuck thanks to having played judo and doing gymnastics as a teenager. But helmet still had 1/2 dollar sized skid mark, back pockets were torn off my pants, and jacket had linear rips in it. Taught me two lessons - always where the dang helmet and don't drink and drive! I had gotten drunk at the club with a buddy who had just returned from Vietnam while I was getting ready to go back in a week or so.
bob e v 2014 goals: keep on running! Is there anything more than that?
Complete the last 3 races in the Austin Distance Challenge, Rogue 30k, 3M Half, Austin Full
Break the 1000 mi barrier!
History: blessed heart attack 3/15/2008; c25k july 2008 first 5k 10/26/2008 on 62nd birthday.
You'll ruin your knees!
Hmmm...X, time to take up rowing?
... with your current... experience... maybe not...
Glad you are OK.
""...the truth that someday, you will go for your last run. But not today—today you got to run." - Matt Crownover (after Western States)
... with your current... experience... maybe not...
Glad you are OK.
As long as he doesn't row where there are sharks he should be OK...I think.
Don't take up hang gliding or parasailing, either...
Or paddleboarding...but mostly because the thought of it has my heart in my throat.
Wow, Chris, that sux. Glad to hear you're doing at least okay - that could have been so much worse.
Wow, Chris, that sux. Glad to hear you're doing at least okay - that could have been so much worse.
Thanks, Jeff. I thought about your friend this week. I'm very fortunate.
On my end the pain is trending away very slowly and I'm very fatigued. Yesterday I had a bit of a surreal day. I called my dr for a followup and found he was gone for the week. They recommended that I go to the walk in clinic if I wanted to be seen. Figuring it would be nice to talk it over with a doctor and get some reassurance that what I was experiencing was normal (and to get more meds so I can sleep!) off I went. Right after triage the sent me straight to the ER! CT scan, chest x-rays, EKG, IV, bloodwork, chest CT, and more exams are what followed! I didn't expect to be gone the whole day. In short, I'm ok. I've just got head to toe (literally) muscle and bone trauma and bruising on top of the visible stuff. The doctor told me I have very strong bones. I'll be ok. It's just going to take time. My pain management regime needed to be upped. I'm on day 7 of an unending headache but can sleep better knowing nothing serious has been overlooked.
Wow...I'm surprised all of those tests weren't run from the get-go. Glad to hear that everything checked-out OK. Could the headache be a mild concussion? Hope the pain keeps decreasing.
Feeling the growl again
The doctor told me I have very strong bones.
The doctor told me I have very strong bones.
Starting with the one on top, fortunately.
Yes, it does seem a little odd that they wouldn't have at least run a head CT or something right after the crash.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
Starting with the one on top, fortunately.
Yes, it does seem a little odd that they wouldn't have at least run a head CT or something right after the crash.
...particularly with the helmet damage!!! Glad to hear you passed all your tests!
Wow...I'm surprised all of those tests weren't run from the get-go.
Wow...I'm surprised all of those tests weren't run from the get-go.
I did get a CT scan the night of the accident, x-ray on my hand too. They wouldn't un-immobilize me until they did the scan. The board they strapped me to was uncomfortable, especially in the ambulance. Someone who used to be a PT told me that a CT immediately after and a couple days after can yield different results. I'm not sure if this is true or not but I didn't mind the second check on my head and neck.
The crazy thing is that people keep asking me about my hand because it's visible and obvious. Relative to the rest of me, despite some 10 cuts and two fingers stitched closed, it doesn't really hurt.


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4 = P on M RLetter Equations are well known phrases or facts where the key words have been replaced with the first letter of that word. These are often in the form of an equation, which contain a number, an = sign and the rest of the obscured phrase or fact.
4 = P on M R
Hint4 = P on Mt. R
Answer4 = Presidents on Mount Rushmore
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text:
Yesterday I posted I was grilling for the first time. This is what happened.
I put the Match light charcoals into the grill and light them. After 20 minutes they were ashed over and I moved them around. I put the steaks on and in 30 minutes they were ready.
Now I found out I did a few things wrong.
1 I used match light which are ok, but not great. I bought on-line a Weber Chimney Starter and when it arrives I will buy Kingsford Regular Charcoals.
2 I didn't use enough charcoals. I put a single layer of charcoals and then built a pyramid. The Steaks should have taken only 20 minutes. In 30 minutes they were finally done.
3 When finish grilling I should have left open the damper lid and one touch ash remover open. When I went out this morning the charcoals were still in one piece but cold.
This was a good learning experience and next time I will grill better.
Happy grilling


text:
Joanna Krupa's Bachelorette Party Seems Fun
In theory, Joanna Krupa's bachelorette party should be depressing because it means I'll never have a chance to con her into thinking I'm a wealthy flan magnate (Or does it?), but at least I can take comfort in knowing that if I'm not having sex with her, neither is anybody else. In fact, if I were her fiancee, the next couple of days would be a good time to start going, "So, listen, about this pre-nup…" before he finds himself alone in a basement writing dick jokes on the Internet as hours become days and days become years and before you know it, the same dick you've been joking about to total strangers is now just a grey pile of mush that not even you want to touch and then you're dead. — I mean, congratulations!
Photos: ELMO JAYO/AKM-GSI, Fame/Flynet, Pacific Coast News, Splash News, WENN


text:
Results 21 to 40 of 102
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
- Location
- London
- Posts
- 1,499
I used to be a bit of a piracy magpie, wanting to have every game that came out because... reasons.
Nowadays my taste in games has shrunk and my wallet has grown so there's little need to. I'll usually pirate games now because I suspect they'll disappoint; sometimes it's the next instalment in a series that I think might have jumped the shark, sometimes it's a game that makes big promises but will probably turn out to be a six hour corridor that ends before I realise it's begun. I'm a bit biased against the big publishers though, I'm generally hesitant to pirate indie games at all but won't bat an eyelid at pirating something from a huge company (though I suppose that's also partly because the big companies are the ones that generally herald shitty games with big promises).
- Join Date
- Aug 2012
- Posts
- 111
The only games that I have, ahum, "acquired" were games that were unavailable to buy in my area (we're talking about the dark times before Steam and GoG). It's still possible to want to play a game that isn't on Steam, or GoG, or on Amazon, or in a physical store. In that case, I don't have a problem with "acquiring" it - if I absolutely want to buy it, but I can't, well...Want to add me on Steam? Steam name: Mr. G3rt
Guild Wars 2 characters: Norgothus (Norn Necromancer), Maggrivo (Charr Warrior)
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
- Posts
- 4,090
For people living in the reality of limited resources, piracy could be a problem.
Luckily, nobody does.- Tom De Roeck.
verse publications & The Shopkeeper, an interactive short.
"Quantacat's name is still recognised even if he watches on with detached eyes like Peter Molyneux over a cube in 3D space, staring at it with tears in his eyes, softly whispering... Someday they'll get it." - The Conclave
In the 90s, the sneakernet was more or less the only way I ever got software, and casual piracy was rife. We barely bought anything, because a lot of it was ridiculously expensive (for those times, though the price of software has actually remained fairly stagnant in Australia) and some things just weren't readily available, particularly in the early to mid 90s.
Since the rise of Steam though I pretty much don't pirate games or software - it's just more convenient to get the Steam copy and it's usually reasonably priced (or I can import if it isn't). The only games I've pirated in recent times were old games that aren't available on GoG and are long since out of print, so it's an access issue.Nalano's Law - As an online gaming discussion regarding restrictions grows longer, the probability of a post likening the topic to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea approaches one.
Soldant's Law - A person will happily suspend their moral values if they can express moral outrage by doing so.
eh used to pirate exclusively, in the 90s just because there was no other way to get games, later just because i could- shit was free, no complex moral qualms or reasoning about it. nowadays i still pirate to see if im interested in a game, if i am, i buy it. if not, move on. got less time to play games, which means pretty much everything im interested in playing, i buy. although its not because i can afford it or feel good about owning it, its simply because (with steam etc.) you usually get tangible benefits of legal copy: multiplayer, regular updates, steam workshop integration, even steam achievements etc.
last games i pirated was spintires and divine divinity, both after hour of playing later bought on steam.
- Join Date
- Feb 2014
- Location
- Nepal
- Posts
- 12
I have been pirating games ever since I learnt how. Before that, I bought pirated dvds from local shops and i've never felt guilty about it because those are the only options I have. There's no digital payment system in my country and even if there was, I wouldn't be able to afford most games (not at full price anyways). Someone who has recently finished an undergraduate degree and has no work experience can expect to earn about $150-200 per month under normal circumstances here and spending $60 on a game is just ridiculous.
But lately i've realized that I love acquiring games legally. There's no logic to it but I feel good while playing games that are not pirated and am always on the lookout for giveaways and stuff. Hunting for free stuff has become a game in itself for me and its just weird when i think about it.
About the whole biased thing, I think people are more inclined to pirate games when doing so will have no effect on the level of enjoyment they get out of it, which is mostly true in case of a completely singleplayer focused game. But when pirating a game locks you out of certain features or aspects of the game, people might be more inclined to buy them. For example, I pirated dark souls and loved it but the whole pvp aspect was off-limits to me. If online payment was possible around here, I would buy the game in a heartbeat. Same thing for most multiplayer focused game as well.
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
- Posts
- 617
Know which game never got pirated? Diablo 3, that's who. The question there is whether that allowed them to maximise their sales. I suspect it did, but in an exception that proves the rule kind of way.
In general I agree that there's a direct correlation between amount of piracy and how well the game sells in general - NB I don't mean percentage of pirated versions vs legit versions, I mean that niche games will have low numbers of pirated copies and massive AAA games will have millions of pirated copies.
I don't think anything a developer does will impact meaningfully on the number of pirated copies, but it may meaningfully increase the number of legitimate sales. (please read carefully before putting words into my mouth).
Even online games with server operations strictly controlled by publishers or designated operators, have cracked pirate servers which have dedicated followers, then the issue would really inflict some serious damages on publishers. To my surprise, even World of Warcrafts have cracked servers run by pirates, and have a very large player base over here.
- Join Date
- Dec 2012
- Posts
- 104
Are games with multiplayer features slightly less likely to be pirated, even if it is only for psychological reasons?
By accepting piracy as a something that just happens, are we inadvertently encouraging games to have multiplayer features when they wouldn't have any otherwise?
Multiplayer definitely doesn't stop the piracy of a game as multiplayer games are pirated all the time, but even the minor possibility or inconvenience of losing a feature might make a significance difference just because of the sheer rate at which some games are pirated.
What I find worrying is that it seems possible that there are certain features or patterns in games that are being encouraged not so much because people genuinely like them, but because they cause people to pirate the game less for obscure psychological reasons.
Developers wouldn't have to be doing it on purpose. A developer or publisher might just know that this feature or set of features makes a game a bit more successful on average, even if they don't know why. Part of that might be players genuinely enjoying said feature, and part of that might be 1 out of 50 potential pirates buying the game instead for whatever reason psychological or otherwise.
23-07-2014, 03:45 PM #32To my surprise, even World of Warcrafts have cracked servers run by pirates, and have a very large player base over here.
I see them almost like preservation, I've seen those Private Servers and a lot of them want to go back to WoW pre expansions or only have a few or whatever. There are many defunct MMOs that have a new life because pirates have made private servers for them and many people are enjoying them because of that.
There does seem to be a function of preservation definitely, especially for older titles.
There are very large private trackers almost dedicated to sharing games that are released before a certain year. Some don't want those versions to disappear, others just want to play those games again too.
I think Star Wars Galaxies is already running, or they are trying to run a pre-expansion pack version or something privately. Is that preservation "right" though, I'm not sure. The product was sold on a subscription service and maybe was meant to be only for a limited time.
That people want to continue playing it after that (most) legal distribution ends, does that supercede the rights of the license holders? More grey area.
There's the question of when this is valid and for which titles, if it is ever valid at all, and I don't think there is a universal answer for every product. Or maybe there is, and most of us might not like that answer. But maybe most likely it's probably a lot more grey area. Preservation may start as soon as a game is released, but that is probably not the primary intent of piracy at the very beginning.
Last edited by rockman29; 23-07-2014 at 03:53 PM.
24-07-2014, 08:16 AM #34Want to add me on Steam? Steam name: Mr. G3rt
Guild Wars 2 characters: Norgothus (Norn Necromancer), Maggrivo (Charr Warrior)
First of all let's get something straight. Piracy is NEVER theft. theft means person A takes something from person B, thus depriving person B from access to said thing. when you pirate software no one else loses that software.
I pirate stuff that looks interesting, and buy it if I like it. Try before you buy. I can't even count how many games I would have never bought if not for piracy. so the reverse is true too.
- Join Date
- Jul 2014
- Posts
- 1
If you, for example, run a newspaper and someone takes a copy of your newspaper each day and reprints it for mass distribution, you and your business have been harmed.
You can throw around unproven and/or anecdotal examples of piracy improving sales, but there has not yet been a solid study published on the matter. In the mean time, piracy is bad. It is a negative mindset to be in, and everyone I know who plays computer games, including myself, has had that mindset at one time or another. Time to snap out of it is preferably when you get your first job, if not sooner...
BadManiac didn't suggest that copyright infringement doesn't equate to a loss for the developer, he simply said that piracy isn't theft. And it isn't. Your views on the definition is irrelevant because the crime of theft is pretty clearly defined in each jurisdiction.Nalano's Law - As an online gaming discussion regarding restrictions grows longer, the probability of a post likening the topic to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea approaches one.
Soldant's Law - A person will happily suspend their moral values if they can express moral outrage by doing so.
24-07-2014, 10:38 AM #38There's the question of when this is valid and for which titles, if it is ever valid at all, and I don't think there is a universal answer for every product. Or maybe there is, and most of us might not like that answer. But maybe most likely it's probably a lot more grey area.
My feelings are that yes you signed up for the service that completely changes the game but I don't think there is much damage creating private servers so you can play the game that you want to play. Besides ive been on a few of them and there to quiet for an MMO so you still have to really play the real game if you want to get the full experience.
I don't think I had any real preferences back in the days other than personal interest in a genre or word of mouth. I used to have a huge collection of pirated Amiga games thanks to a combination of little pocket money (though I did buy a copy of Rise Of The Robots of all games - why?!?) and limited supply from local shops which embraced DOS/Windows gaming when Commodore was already in decline, but I dumped all of those copied 3.5" disks in the trash after feeling bad about it one day.
- If the sound of Samuel Barber's "Adagio For Strings" makes you think of Kharak burning instead of the Vietnamese jungle, most of your youth happened during the 90s. -
GOG's success is much more than piracy and DRM issue. It updates all the old games to make them running on modern Windows (actually I don't know if it's CDP or the publishers doing the updating world, but CDP is the one putting them altogether under one umbrella for us to shop with ease. CDP, you are great babe, give me a kiss!!)


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Members of the Committee who participated actively in writing and editing this report include: A.B. Brill, Comm. Chairman, with significant contributions by Committee members, D. V. Becker, D.R. Brill, K. Donohue, B. Greenspan, S. Goldsmith, H. Royal, E. Silverstein, and E. Webster. K. Kase, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center provided valuable advice and assistance in the preparationIt of the document.
The potential hazard of radiation exposures to radon gas and its daughter products from natural background has been highlighted in the press and has become a matter of concern and a source of confusion to the public. Home owners are besieged with devices to measure radon levels, and may not know what to do about the results they get. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued guidelines (1-7), as has the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement (NCRP), the International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP) and other groups concerned with radiation protection matters. The guidelines and recommended actions are in general agreement, although they differ in detail. A matter of concern is that the media have chosen the lowest level of the guideline, which the public translates into the upper limit of "safe dose". It is not surprising that there is widespread confusion regarding the nature and severity of the problem, the risk magnitude, the steps that should be taken to cope with different circumstances, and the costs associated with different actions. The material distributed in the Radon Update is intended to provide information needed to help understand these issues and to provide a compilation of the relevant facts for those individuals interested in the potential health effects of environmental radon.
Many articles have been published in the scientific literature dealing with the issue of human risk from radon exposures, and many of these appear in publications by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), NCRP, EPA , Department of Energy (DOE) (8-15), as well as in the radiation related journals, primarily the Health Physics Journal, and its Newsletter, and Radiation Research. Several general references are given at the end of the reference section to complement the information presented herein. There are different perspectives on the significance of environmental radon, and the referenced documents illustrate the range of opinion regarding this issue.
Several key points are underscored in this report:
Radon, Rn-222 (T 1/2= 3.82 days), is a daughter product of radium, Ra-226, which in turn is derived from the longer-lived antecedent, U-238. Thoron, Rn-220 (T 1/2 = 56 seconds) is a daughter of thorium, Th-232, which is present in larger amount in the earth's crust than radon. Because of thoron's short half-life, it is essentially all gone before it leaves the ground, and is of no significant radiobiologic consequence. These radionuclide series are present in slowly decreasing amounts in the environment (geologic time scale), due to radioactive decay of their parents, which has been known and understood since the end of the last century.
Widely varying radon levels exist in different regions related to geological circumstances. New concern regarding radon exposures is traceable to the discovery that there are more houses with high radon levels than previously realized and to the use of a new method of expressing and summing doses from partial body exposures, such as the lung dose from radon daughters (7-16). This method of expressing dose was promulgated by the ICRP and the NCRP based on defined weighting factors which make it possible to sum partial body doses and thereby estimate a total body dose which would have a quantifiable risk. This quantity is defined as the Effective Dose (ED) (16). Thus, the previously estimated partial body environmental radon dose to the tracheobronchial epithelium (TBE) (2500 mrem/year.) was not included in whole body dose calculations because that exposure was limited to a small fraction of the body.
The new method of calculation multiplies the 2500 mrem/year. dose to the TBE by a weighting factor (WF) which allows the dose to the TBE to be included in the ED from environmental radiation exposure Different WFs have been proposed, including 0.12 (EPA), 0.08 ( NCRP) and (NAS-NRC BEIR V), and 0.06 (ICRP). These WFs raise the radon contribution to the whole body from 0 mrem to 300, 200, and 150 mrem respectively. NCRP quotes an uncertainty of +/- 50% in these numbers. Based on these estimates, radon in equilibrium with its daughters delivers 2 times more dose than previously accepted as the total dose received from all sources of natural background exposure (approx. 100 mrem/year on the average in the United States). Thus, it is not surprising that adoption of the effective dose notion by many radiation protection groups (including the NCRP and the EPA in the United States), has led to increased concern regarding the potential health effects of radon. It should be noted that lung cancer risk coefficients from radon are not increased. There are no new cases of lung cancer that led to the increased dose estimate. In fact, the new estimates of radiation dose, imply a lower risk coefficient. That is, when the same number of lung cancer cases that occur are attributed to the higher doses (ED), the risk per unit exposure is decreased. The effective dose concept is discussed at greater length in NCRP Reports #93 (17) and #100 (18) , and ICRP #60 (7).
|Average Annual Radiation Dose Rate (mrem/year) in the U.S.A.
| Dose Equivalent*
| Effective Dose
|% of total
|Radon **
|Total Natural
|Medical - X-ray Dx
|Medical - Nuc Med
|Consumer Products
|Total Artificial
|Total (Natural + Artificial)
Almost all measurements of radon levels in the home or outdoors are expressed as the concentration of radon in units of picocuries per liter of air (pCi/liter), or in SI units as Becquerels per cubic meter (Bq/m3), or radon daughters are expressed in working levels (WL) . A working level month (WLM) is defined as 170 hrs (2l.25 working days/month x 8 hrs/day) in a work place at one WL. Thus, a 12 hour a day exposure in the home at one WL, corresponds to approx. 26 working level months per year i.e. 2.1 X the occupational exposure, assuming equal radon levels at home and in the work place. Exposure rate is typically given in working level months per year (WLM/year).
The WL unit was developed for use in radon occupational exposure assessment since often there was incomplete information on the degree of equilibrium with daughter products. It is the dose delivered in one liter of air that results in the emission of 1.3 x 105 MeV of potential alpha energy. (19). The amount of time spent in the mine or in the home determines the number of WLM associated with a particular exposure level, but because most people spend more time at home than at work, the WLM could be higher than from a comparable mine radon daughter concentration. Typical outdoor levels in the U.S.A. are given by NCRP # 78 as 0.2 pCi/liter (11).
The correspondence between WLs and radon concentration in air in pCi/liter depends on the extent to which radon daughters (which impart dose to the tracheobronchial epithelium dose, "TBE") are in equilibrium with the parent radon. At complete equilibrium, one pCi/liter results in an exposure equal to 0.01 working levels. The assumption is generally made that inside buildings the radon decay product/radon equilibrium is 50%. Thus, inside buildings, 1 pCi/liter = 0.005 WL, or 1 WL= 200 pCi/liter. (Note: Consideration must also be given to radionuclide attachment and distribution. See dosimetry section)
Radon 222 is a decay product from the U-238 decay chain, illustrated in Fig. 1. The external dose from Rn-222 and its airborne progeny is a very small fraction of the natural external radiation dose received by individuals. However, inhalation of radon and its daughters may be followed by deposition of potentially large amounts of energy, i.e. absorbed dose in the tracheobronchial epithelium from the short-lived a- and b- particle emitting decay products, primarily from Po-218, Pb-214, Bi-214, and Po-214.
Fig. 1. The radon decay chain.[8.7k]
The radiation dose to the bronchial mucosa from these high LET radiations depends on radionuclide deposition and residence time. Particle deposition depends on three mechanisms: impaction, sedimentation and diffusion. Deposition and residence time depend on whether the radioactivity is attached to air borne dust particles, or is unattached (following inhalation unattached daughters are able to deposit deeper in the lung than dust particle-attached radon daughters). Respiratory factors (breathing rate and depth, mucociliary clearance, and site of impaction in the bronchial tree) influence depth of penetration into the lung with deeper particles having a longer residence time. Dose to the TBE from radon per se is negligible since its intrapulmonary residence time is short with respect to its half-life. The high absorbed dose is from the decay of radon daughters attached to the TBE.
Although the location of the critical target for lung cancer induction is not known it is assumed to be the basal cell at the 4th generation of the tracheobronchial tree and beyond , and dose delivered to the mucous covered cell is calculated to the basal cell nucleus at this location. The depth of mucous covering the critical target strongly influences the dose received from the short-range energetic alpha emissions as does the integrity and activity of the muco-ciliary escalator that carries particles in a retrograde fashion out of the lung. Alpha particles contribute more than 85% of the TBE dose, and this dose will be deposited within 30 um of the decay site.
Dose calculations depend on the airborne radiation levels and concentration of radon and its progeny and on the modeling assumptions noted above (20). The radiation levels can now be measured with reasonable accuracy and precision. Present calculations for an average indoor and outdoor exposure (0.75 pCi/liter) to a cell 22 um deep, in a 4th generation airway, range from 140-340 mrad/year, with the highest doses to 10 year old children. (Note: a continuous exposure to radon at a concentration of 1 pCi/liter would result in an annual exposure to radon progeny of 0.25 WLM/year, which corresponds to 188 mrad/year, or 3750 mrem/year for an adult, assuming a quality factor of 20 for alpha particles.) (1).
There are 3 classes of measurement techniques that are used: 1) grab sampling, 2) continuous active sampling, and 3) integrative sampling.(21) Grab sampling provides instantaneous measures of radon or radon progeny in air. Since values fluctuate widely depending on various factors, grab sampling techniques are used in industrial monitoring. Continuous active sampling involves multiple measurements at closely spaced time intervals over a long period. These are costly and only recommended when other measures indicate a problem and the source of radon entry needs to be pinpointed precisely. Integrative sampling devices are passive, and collect data on radon levels over a fixed period of time.
Typical integrative devices are charcoal cannisters, or alpha track film dosimeters. The charcoal devices (Fig. 2) come in a cannister, which is opened and placed in selected locations. Radon in air diffuses into the cannister and is adsorbed onto charcoal. Following exposure for 2-7 days, depending on the particular device and the instructions for its use, it is sent back to the supplier who assays it by counting the gamma rays from the daughter nuclide (e.g. Pb-214). Since Rn-222 has a half-life of 3.8 days, if the cannisters are exposed for several weeks or longer, the results will be indicative primarily of the activity sampled toward the end of the exposure interval. Some of the cannisters have an additional filter that affects the integration period, and make the cannister insensitive to thoron (Rn-220).
Fig. 2. Charcoal cannisters can be manufactured simply using a small can covered by a screen. The charcoal is contained in the space below the screen, which is held in place by a ring. A top is fitted over this arrangement until exposure, at which time it is removed. The top is replaced and sealed at the end of exposure, and the entire can placed on a NaI gamma counting system for analysis. (22). [81k]
A second type of integrative sampling detector is the alpha particle track etch detector (Fig. 3). This device can be used to average data over longer periods of time, as the track etch evidence of exposure does not decay. However, dust and electrostatics make them less reliable and they are only sensitive to radon gas activity.
Ordinarily, charcoal cannisters are used to measure activity in the area where occupants spend the most time. Indoor radon levels are normally highest in winter. If levels are not elevated at that time, additional measurements should not be necessary. If high activity levels are found, then additional measurements should be made in other parts of the house, including the basement which usually is the highest area, and at other times of year. Should more intensive programs be warranted to pin point and remedy high levels, resources recommended by State, or local health or environmental protection agencies are available. These also advise on testing resources and can provide lists of radon testing laboratories that performed successfully in the EPA proficiency testing program.
Fig. 3 Alpha track devices consist of a material, such as film, which sustains damage along the track of an alpha particle. The material is then placed into etching fluid, which enlarges the track by extending the region of damage. Once the tracks have been sufficiently enlarged to become visible, their density at the surface of the material is determined and related to dose. (Photo courtesy of Terradex). [21k]
A new method of estimating the long-term integrated radon exposures was developed recently in Sweden measures the amount of Po-210 in vitreous glass found in the home (23-25). Short-lived radon daughters plate out on the glass and undergo alpha decay leading to the formation of Pb-214 which decays to Pb-210 (22 year T 1/2). The activity of Pb-210 or its daughter product Po-210 can be used to estimate cumulative exposures to residents from radon daughter concentration in the home. The activity of the glass is measured in the home using large surface area ionization chambers or surface barrier detectors which assay the amount of the 5.3 MeV alpha energy emitted. (Fig. 4) The phenomenon is based on the fact that when the alpha particle is emitted the daughter nucleus (Pb-210) recoils in the opposite direction and gets embedded in the glass close to the surface. One would presume that 50% of the recoils would result in deposited activity in the glass, but the ratio is closer to 30%. Factors such as heat circulation patterns in the room, and the frequency with which surface grime is washed from the window does not appear to seriously affect the estimated dose. (26)
Fig. 4. Surface plate out followed by alpha recoils embeds long-lived daughter activity in a surface. Range of recoiling nuclei in glass is about 50 nm. (26) [18k]
Another new technique promises to be useful for estimating cumulative in vivo absorbed dose from radon. The technique measures the Pb-210 content in the skull. Pb-210 emits a 47 keV gamma ray (4% abundance), which can easily penetrate the soft tissue that intervenes between the skull and the 5 large area thin crystal NaI scintillator detectors placed about the subject's head. Assuming 14% of the bone mass is contained in the skull (27), and the effective half-life of Pb-210 in the body (12-18 years), one can estimate the cumulative dose from radon in measured subjects (28).
The alpha recoil method makes it possible to estimate the dose from radon daughters accumulated over the lifetime of window or picture frame glass in a particular residence, or in a miner's lamp, if one can be located. Residential measurements should make it possible to rank houses on an exposure index, and miner's lamp readings could be important in ranking mines. The measurement of Pb-210 levels in vivo is also likely to be useful for ranking individuals into dose groups. However, Pb-210 levels are complicated by other factors including radium in the diet (food, water sources) and one can not differentiate recent from old exposures which will make it difficult to estimate person-years at risk for individual subjects. Nonetheless, all these new methods should be useful in epidemiology studies, but it is likely that it will still be difficult to estimate TBE dose accurately.
The use of average values of dose from natural background radon suggests that dose is rather uniform, whereas in fact radon levels vary markedly in different regions of the country, based on geologic factors, relations to mines and mine tailings, as well as levels of radium and radon in water supplies (29). In general, high levels of radon are associated with granite igneous rocks, shale and dirty quartz sedimentary rocks, phosphate deposits and some beach sands, which may contain high levels of radon progenitors, i.e. uranium, or thorium. Basalt has relatively little uranium, i.e. half of the average value found in rocks of all kinds, whereas the granite strata contain upwards of twofold increases above average values (0.7 pCi/gram). Figure 5 shows a map of United States locations with potentially high radon levels based on geologic formations. Rock types identified as giving rise to potentially high radon levels are listed below (29):
Typically the maximum Ra-226 concentration in phosphate ores is about 40 pCi/gram (about 50 times greater than average concentration in soil). Thus, ore that is close to the surface, or residues from mining that are left on the surface, can give rise to very high local concentrations. In the U.S.A. this problem is mostly localized to Polk County, Florida, and although not a great contributor to global levels, there is concern within those communities, and local abatement efforts are underway. In some mining communities in Colorado, local releases from uranium mining residues, and mine tailings, can be significant sources of atmospheric radon. Typical emanation rates may exceed 300 pCi/m2 s. (30). In 1983 EPA established regulations that average releases from tailing sites may not exceed 20 pCi/m2 s (which is 40 times greater than the average from soil). Releases from coal residues and the burning of natural gas and coal complete the list of major contributors to atmospheric radon.
Fig. 5 Map of the United States showing areas with potentially high radon levels in soil gas, based primarily on geological reports and modification of national uranium resource evaluation data. (22) [31k]
It should be noted that indoor levels of radon are not related simply to geologic factors. The relation depends on many factors, including degree of fracturing of the bedrock, and on the intervening pathway. Radon mobility through soil may vary by up to l06 fold depending on soil porosity (30). Rock permeability is now recognized as a key factor influencing radon availability at the surface, even in low uranium containing rock types, such as limestone. (31)
Fig. 6. Map of the United States showing the distribution of radon in ground water supplies in the U.S.A. by County. [59k]
Another potentially important source of radon exposures is from radon outgassing from high levels in water. Radon concentrations in surface waters are usually very low. Since municipal water supplies are typically aerated, this results in diminished radon levels. Rural household wells are a potentially bigger problem. Deep aquifers have highly variable radon evels. Levels depend on uranium content of the rock and distribution of the aquifer relative to the rock, and on groundwater flow patterns. Thus, areas with granite-based aquifers may have highly variable levels, as noted in Table 3.
The major source of radon-222 in the atmosphere (at least 80%) is from emanations from soil from rock formations close to the ground surface (11) , from the decay of U-238 through Ra-226 to Rn-222(Table 4).
Radon dissolved in ground water is the second most important potential source of atmospheric radon. Nonetheless, in most locations it is a minor source of human exposure in view of the small absorbed dose following oral ingestion. In some locations where water from highly radioactive deep wells is used, it can be a significant contributor. Thus, in Maine, New Hampshire, some regions of the Appalachian mountains, and Florida, concentrations found in some private wells exceed 10,000 pCi/liter. When water use is high in the home, air levels are found to be elevated due to outgassing from the water. (32).
Turbulent or heated water (flowing in wash basins, showers, washing machines, flush toilets, etc.) is a source of elevated radon levels in the home, as these activities liberate dissolved radon into the home atmosphere. The amount so released depends on the radon content of the water (which varies widely between regions) and the amount used (70 to 250 gallons in a typical household per day). On the average 70% of radon contained in household water is released into indoor air (35).
The effect of human inhabitance on home radon levels is illustrated graphically in Fig. 7 which is a record of radon levels in a Houston apartment during a two day period. Radon concentrations in air increased three to five fold during times the apartment was occupied.
FIG. 7 Continuous radon monitor record from Houston apartment indicating influence of occupancy on radon concentration. [18k]
NCRP Commentary No. 6 discusses the main sources of indoor radon and gives specific geographic areas in the US where high levels exist (5) . The EPA stratified survey was conducted in 125 counties in all 50 states. An average level of 1.25 pCi/liter (46 Bq/m3.) was found, with 6% of the housing units exceeding the EPA action limit of 150 Bq/m3. or 4 pCi/liter (13).
Since radon is constantly escaping from the ground, it is always present in the air, but under certain circumstances the concentration of radon in a building can be increased significantly over its normal outdoor level. Most buildings have a confined air space with limited air movement and only a slow exchange with outside air. Consequently the concentration of any particulates or gases released into the building atmosphere will tend to increase above the concentration normally found in outside air. Radon can enter a building in a number of ways and once inside, the concentration of its particulate progeny will increase as the radon decays. Thus, high concentrations of radon in soil gas in soils with high transport efficiency (i.e. loose, porous, dry soil) can lead to elevated radon concentrations in buildings.
Soil is the major source of radon. Studies underway by the US Geologic Survey show that soil-gas radon levels vary widely in small areas (within a housing lot) and are not well correlated with the radium content of the soil. Pressure-driven flow is the major means of transport from soil into buildings because the pressure inside buildings is usually lower than that in the soil, especially in the winter. Houses with no barrier between the soil and the interior, e.g. with a dirt floor in the basement or crawl space, are especially vulnerable. Houses with porous foundations, e.g. concrete block or fieldstone, present only a minimal barrier to flow. Even houses with poured concrete basement floors and foundations usually have routes of entry for soil gas through joints, penetrations, cracks, sumps, and drains. Radon can enter a house from soil gas through ground level drainage systems, through flaws in a concrete floor slab, and through concrete block walls (33).
The water supply can be a route of entry if there is a significant amount of radon in the ground water, and if the home water supply is derived directly from deep wells (34). Differences in water use patterns, ventilation and air flow can cause significant temporal variations in radon levels indoors. However, soil gas radon content may be the greatest determinant of home levels. Table 5 shows the variations in contributions to radon in the home (35).
Radon concentrations indoors will generally be highest in the basement or on the ground level since the major source is influx from the soil under and around the house. First floor concentrations will be lower by about a factor of two. Indoor radon concentrations are typically a factor of 2 to 3 higher than outdoor levels. The radon concentration in the upper levels and in apartments above the first floor are usually of no concern.
In addition to soil and water sources of indoor radon, home construction materials can be a significant contributor. Table 6 indicates the emission rate measured from various building materials. Clearly, the concrete used in building depending on its origin can be a major contributor, and in all cases, concrete is a more significant radon source than other building materials.
The number of homes with elevated radon levels varies in different regions of the country. The shape of the measured distribution is log normal. The distribution is highly skewed with most homes in the low dose region. Based on measurements in 552 homes from 19 studies conducted in regions without unusually high radon concentrations, average levels measured in single-family homes by Nero (36) were found to be 0.96-1.66 pCi/liter based on geometric and arithmetic mean calculations. In Nero's data, 2.5% of the houses were above 8 pCi/liter, which is the action level recommended by NCRP.
An EPA survey of 11,000 homes from 125 counties nationwide found the average annual radon concentration in US housing units is 1.25 +/- 0.06 pCi/liter, with a median value of 0.67 pCi/liter. They estimate that 6.01 +/- 0.58% of housing units (6 million homes) exceed the EPA action level of 4 pCi/liter. (37)
Fig. 8 Percent of single-family homes with different values of radon-222 concentration. (19) [30k]
The percent of population exposed to different radon levels in the Reading Prong region vs. the U.S.A. average is tabulated below .
The distribution of population dose to residents in the Reading Prong region is given in Table 7. The levels in Pennsylvania are higher than in New Jersey which is significantly higher than in the USA per se. The difference is most notable in the portion of the population exposed at levels above 8 and 20 pCi/liter. It is in the high dose regions of the country that greatest attention to measurement and remediation needs to be focused.
On rare occasions radon levels have been found in houses which exceed those measured in uranium mines. This situation has occurred where the house is above a deep fissure in a granite shelf containing higher than normal levels of radium. The radon outgasses from the fissure through the soil under and around the home and enters the home. The high pressure under ground, relative to the pressure in the home forces radon into the building. This is especially true in the winter, when hot, low density air is vented from chimneys and other openings and is replaced by cold radon-containing air from the environment. When the ground adjacent to the house is frozen, its soil permeability is diminished. A high access channel for radon entry into the home is found under the house, where the ground is warmer.
When a house is located on a shelf of granite with a deep fault, the surface area from which Rn-222 escapes includes the depth of the fault with granite on both sides, as well as the ground surface. A similar situation was noted where a granite shelf lay below an empty large salt dome, through which the Rn migrated rapidly, and reached the surface with less time for radioactive decay. Clearly, such rare, very local circumstances justify quick remedial action. Public concern about radon has been raised and remedial action has been recommended at levels below which increased risk has been documented. It is not surprising that little in the way of remedial action has been taken at levels in the 4-8 pCi/liter interval. EPA is concerned, however, that testing even in high radon areas has not been widely carried out.
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