General Test Protocol

A candidate device is evaluated according to the following minimum criteria. 

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Table 11-2 Conditions of Use and General Testing Protocols for Food Packaging.

After the first RCM, the participants formulated individual test plans specific to their spent fuel storage basins. A general test protocol for conducting the programme was provided by the IAEA. This protocol included instructions for preassembly, assembly and immersion of the corrosion racks in the storage basin, exposure intervals, and removal and examination. 

There have been numerous communications on the subject of biodegradation test methods, including aerobic compost (30), anaerobic bioreactor (31), general methodology and future directions (32—34), and a fine review article (24). ASTM (22) and MITI (35) have also set forth standard testing protocols for plastics, as shown in Table 2, whereas OECD test methods (29) are more suited to water-soluble polymers. 

Note that this index only produces a relative number. Two products with widely different values of the index might be equally safe if, in fact, neither impedes escape. Conversely, two products with apparently similar values may produce different hazard levels if both products are close to the margin of safety. Thus, the scale for any index must be "calibrated", and it may well be different for each building or type of occupant. Generally, this will require a more complete hazard analysis and/or full-scale fire tests. Protocols for doing this are currently under consideration. 

This overview is an attempt to briefly cover the history and recent developments In environmentally degradable commodity and specialty polymers and plastics. Degradation pathways are mentioned, polymer types, including blends, are reported and the limitations of current testing protocols raised. The chapter concludes with generalizations on structural requirements for degradable polymers. 

The medical records of the volunteers who received cholinesterase-reactivating chemicals consisted of the test protocol, physicians orders, nursing notes (Including clinical observations), a checklist of symptoms, and laboratory and performance test results. The reports of physicians examinations and physical findings were generally not Included. Volunteers were identified by number. The Committee on Toxicology s assessment was based on records and summaries provided by the Department of the Army and NRC staff. The procedures were described fully in Volume 1. In most cases, the analysis was based on summaries of drug administrations prepared by a consultant to the Panel. 

The test protocol typically has a general description of the system, the configurations, and the intended use. The test scripts in the test protocol provide detailed information of the testing procedures. In each test script, the following information should be provided ... 

Basic tests, such as hardness, alkalinity, chloride, silica, and phosphate, can generally be undertaken with low-priced simple equipment. The individual methods normally incorporate suitable protocols to minimize interferences. Thus, almost any equipment and any test method can be selected that meets the rule of fitness-for-purpose. (Typically this is a mix of portability, ease of testing, and speed of handling multiple water samples, combined with accuracy, suitable detection limits, price of equipment and replacement reagents, and service company testing protocol uniformity.)... 

The general objective, principle, and scope of application of the pT-method are succinctly described in Section 1 and also reported elsewhere in this book (see Chapter 3 of this volume, Section 5.1), where readers will appreciate that this hazard assessment scheme is adaptable to both liquid and solid media. Briefly recalled here in the context of solid-media samples such as dredged material, the pT-value, which relates to a single bioassay, and the pT-index, derived from the most sensitive organism in a test battery, permit a numerical classification of environmental samples on the basis of ecotoxicological principles. Sediment from any aquatic ecosystem (freshwater, brackish, marine) and from any of its phases (whole sediment, porewaters, elutriates or organic extracts) can be appraised provided that the proper standardized toxicity tests are available. There are whole-sediment test protocols standardized for many agencies (e.g., Environment Canada, ASTM). 

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