Overview of ENVE 651 after the first third of the course.
Since the course is about one-third complete, this may be a good time to review where we are and where we are going. The overall plan was to spend the first third of the course learning some generalities about risk assessment, and then spend the bulk of that time on the fundamentals of toxicology and exposure assessment. The middle third of the course will encompass risk characterization, use of a computer risk assessment model, and some "fine points." The last third will continue refinement, work on special topics, and the student papers. We are still working on that plan, but the completing the fundamentals of toxicology and exposure assessment will last through Module 7.
In Submodule 6A we will change gears a little. You will have to do some digging. After some general information on the webpages, you will have to review some EPA documents and dig around a Department of Energy site to get some information. The DoE, which was formed in the late 1970's, inherited many extremely contaminated sites from the U.S. Atomic weapons program. Much of the contamination is "conventional" contamination, not radiological, although they have enough of that too. Partly to help their public involvement programs, DoE has put lots of useful things about risk assessment on the web. Some may apply directly to what you are working on, and some may need some "massaging" to fit your needs. In this process you will find out that there are several different "right" ways to approach some risk assessment problems. In 6B we will start with some basic information about how we determine the dose-response data for the toxicity assessment portion of the risk assessment.
The Closure Module from the last class has some especially relevant questions. The "Newer Closure" has the "answers."
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Closes 25 February |
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Exposure Assessment: Intake Assessment and Exposure Factors |
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Newer Closure .Old Closure |
Homework.
There are 25 points for this module's homework. a.) 5 points for the quiz you
access through Blackboard, b.) 5 points for the discussion, c.) 15 points for
Excel assignment. All are explained more below.
a.) The quiz is on Blackboard. The quiz has two short answer-type questions. You can review a copy of the quiz before you go to the electronic quiz, Quiz.
b.) The discussion question is in your group discussion board.
c.) The hand-in homework is located in page 11 of Sub-module 6A. It requires sending in an Excel spreadsheet. Just attach the spreadsheet file to an email. You may add "comments" the Excel cells or write text in cells if you want to explain something about the spreadsheet.
d.) No special requirement for a message to the instructor this week, but you are welcome to send one.