Government Performance and Results

The United States Environmental Protection agency (F.PA) is required by several Congressional and other mandates to assess the effectiveness of air pollution control efforts. These mandates include Title IX of the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA), the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP). the Government Performance and Results... 

Finally, in 1998, the OMB established the requirements for capital asset planning and budgeting to implement the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA)... 

Government Performance and Results Act Generally Recognized as Safe Generally Recognized as Safe and Effective Good Review Practice... 

Under this system, it is essential that data recorded by employers be uniform and accurate to assure the consistency and validity of the statistical data which are used by OSHA for many purposes, including inspection targeting, performance measurement under the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), standards development, resource allocation. Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) eligibility, and low-hazard industry exemptions. The data also aid employers, employees, and compliance officers in analyzing the safety and health environment at the employer s establishment and is the source of information for the OSHA Data Initiative (ODI) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Annual Survey. 

Membrane Characterization Membranes are always rated for flux and rejection. NaCl is always used as one measure of rejection, and for a veiy good RO membrane, it will be 99.7 percent or more. Nanofiltration membranes are also tested on a larger solute, commonly MgS04. Test results are veiy much a function of how the test is run, and membrane suppliers are usually specific on the test conditions. Salt concentration will be specified as some average of feed and exit concentration, but both are bulk values. Salt concentration at the membrane governs performance. Flux, pressure, membrane geome-tiy, and cross-flow velocity all influence polarization and the other variables shown in Fig. 22-63. 

Numerical models are used to predict the performance and assist in the design of final cover systems. The availability of models used to conduct water balance analyses of ET cover systems is currently limited, and the results can be inconsistent. For example, models such as Hydrologic Evaluation of Landfill Performance (HELP) and Unsaturated Soil Water and Heat Flow (UNSAT-H) do not address all of the factors related to ET cover system performance. These models, for instance, do not consider percolation through preferential pathways may underestimate or overestimate percolation and have different levels of detail regarding weather, soil, and vegetation. In addition, HELP does not account for physical processes, such as matric potential, that generally govern unsaturated flow in ET covers.39 42 47... 

The ability of a system to meet its requirements and specifications must be demonstrated and documented before it can be accepted and fielded as a military system. Performance tests of a military detector system typically are performed by the contractor (Contractor Tests) and by the government (Government Tests). The former often are witnessed by government personnel who independently report on the methodology and results. Contractor testing is conducted at contractor facilities and at government facilities (but... 

In addition to the need for scientific improvements to allow probabilistic risk assessments to be properly performed and interpreted, there also exists a need to educate stakeholders about what the US system for tolerance establishment and monitoring does and does not do. In simplest terms, the US system can be described as a food quality system but not necessarily a food safety system. This results from the fact that the pesticide tolerances are not safety standards but rather exist as enforcement tools that allow an assessment of how well pesticide application regulations are adhered to. Violative residues demonstrate the likelihood of pesticide misuse but should not be considered, in the vast majority of cases, to represent unsafe residues. Safety considerations govern whether or not the use of pesticides on specified commodities will be permitted tolerances, when granted, serve as indicators of good agricultural practices rather than as toxicological benchmarks. 

The perspective from which an economic evaluation is performed affects the design, conduct, and results of the evaluation. The perspective may, for example, be that of a patient, a payer (government health agency or health insurance company), or society. The perspective may be long term or short term. The perspective is a practical consideration when attempting to assess the benefit of a particular test or device as part of a more complex clinical protocol. Perspective is also important in relation to many of the routine decisions made about a diagnostic test. The questions below illustrate the importance of perspective ... 

Schneider and Oliver s controller network takes three types of inputs, a coded representation of the task to be carried out, a coded representation of the results of the data networks, and a copy of the activation values of the hidden units from the previous cycle. The model generates two types of output, the control operation that is to be performed and the arguments required for the operation. These operations govern the model s responses to the data networks and allow the data networks to be modified on command. 

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