National Performance Review

Vice-President Gore s National Performance Review of Government proposed that employers either hire inspectors from private inspection firms or have employees trained and certified to conduct inspections (Salwin 1993). OSH A would set private inspection standards and conduct random reviews of the private inspections. The suggestion for self inspection is in response to the Gore committee s conclusion that OSHA is unable to inspect and enforce standards adequately without impossibly high increases in funding (Occupational Hazards 1993a). 

Bill Clinton AI Gore, The New OSHA Reinventing Worker Safety and Health 2 (National Performance Review May, 1995) (Clinton quote) OSHA to Gutjz Percent of CFR Pages Another 39 Percent to be Modified, DOL Says, 25 BNA OSHR 549... 

A specification agreed with a supplier is not a guarantee that all deliveries will fully comply with it and arrive in full and on time. A Certificate of Analysis adds confidence and if the supplier is accredited to the ISO 9000 series or a national equivalent it shows that the quality systems have been independently audited and found to be acceptable. However, there is no substitute for regular performance reviews, backed up as appropriate by audits of the manufacturing facilities and quality systems (including incoming raw materials). This is a very onerous and time-consuming exercise, well beyond the resources of most soft drink manufacturers. 

The fifth paper, "A Separative Bioreactor Direct Product Capture and pH Control," presented by Seth Snyder of the Argonne National Laboratory, reviewed development and performance of a novel bioreactor incorporating electrodeionization to simultaneously produce and separate products from both enzymatic and microbially mediated reactions. The sixth paper, " Optimization of Xylose Fermentation in Spent Sulfite Liquor by Saccharomyces cerevisiae 259ST," presented by Steven Helle of the University of British Columbia, provided an overview of an approach to fermentation optimization utilized to identify key process variables limiting use of the SSL for commercial ethanol production. 

Environmental Performance Review of Udiekistan, United Nations Economic Commissionfor Europe (2001) http //www.unece.org/env/epr/studies/Uzbekistan... 

A serious problem in Republic of Moldova constitutes the drinking water supply, as the water sources are not uniformly distributed on the territory, and the quality of the water, mostly, does not correspond to the existing national standards. The expectation concerning the national economy development as well as the people s health in our country, in a large measure depends on the aquatic resource deficiency which permanently increases (Environment performances review, 1998). 

I have attempted to identify a set of performance macro-indicators from a literature review, either in how they illustrate road safety level and development in a country or how they offer a significant affect on accident rates. The quantitative relationship between the indicators and risk was discussed in the previous section. The indicators should be selected on the basis of the discussed criteria for selecting macro-performance indicators. Special attention has to be paid to indicators covered by data, which is already available. The chosen categories and indicators will not provide a complete picture of road safety issues in a country, rather they will give summary information on the national performance in the country, which can help in comparing its progress and experience with other countries. 

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review is performed concurreruly by the staff. After completion, a Draft Environmental Statement (DES) is issued and eirculated lor review and comments by the appropriate Federal, State and local agencies, individuals and public. After receipt of comments and their resolution, the Final Environmental Statement (FES) is issued... 

The regulations also address the need to ensure that drug information provided by pharmaceutical firms is truthful, balanced, and accurately communicated. As such, it must be consistent with the indications for use and the established performance and limitations. In Europe, the directives do not impose a specific requirement to review advertising or promotional material before it is released. Acceptable standards may be achieved via voluntary codes of practice and self-regulation. However, national authorities must monitor such material and should have the power to act where the need arises. In the U S, the F DA must vet advertising and promotional material before it is released. 

The BASIC toxicity database contains information on the aquatic toxicity of a number of hazardous substances. In many cases, the information is given as some sort of safe level such as UK Environmental Quality Standards (EQSs) or the national/international equivalent. For substances for which no such levels have been set, a brief literature review was performed in order to produce an environmental hazard/risk assessment. 

As part of maintenance, some equipment may need to be calibrated. SOPs must include calibration methods, and a report format needs to be available at the time of calibration. Calibration SOPs must include pass/fail specifications as well as corrective actions to be taken in the event of calibration failure. For quality calibration standards use National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) traceable standards or other intrinsic standards of known purity, quality, and stability. These standards should have certificates attesting to their performance properties. After calibration, the metrologist or other responsible person should review the calibration reports to identify any issues with the equipment that may need further attention. 

Detailed accounts of fibers and carbon-carbon composites can be found in several recently published books [1-5]. Here, details of novel carbon fibers and their composites are reported. The manufacture and applications of adsorbent carbon fibers are discussed in Chapter 3. Active carbon fibers are an attractive adsorbent because their small diameters (typically 6-20 pm) offer a kinetic advantage over granular activated carbons whose dimensions are typically 1-5 mm. Moreover, active carbon fibers contain a large volume of mesopores and micropores. Current and emerging applications of active carbon fibers are discussed. The manufacture, structure and properties of high performance fibers are reviewed in Chapter 4, whereas the manufacture and properties of vapor grown fibers and their composites are reported in Chapter 5. Low density (porous) carbon fiber composites have novel properties that make them uniquely suited for certain applications. The properties and applications of novel low density composites developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are reported in Chapter 6. 

The author is grateful for the contributions of many collaborators to the work reviewed here. Nir Goldman and M. Riad Manaa played a central role in the atomistic simulations. W. Michael Howard, Kurt R. Glaesemann, P. Clark Souers, Peter Vitello, and Sorin Bastea developed many of the thermochemical simulation techniques discussed here. This work was performed under the auspices of the U. S. Department of Energy by the University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract W-7405-Eng-48. 

The primary sources of information for this study are documented research results published in the countries investigated, accompanied by investigations to clarify the country specific policy background and including expert assessment. The methodology of an expert survey has been chosen for data collection. The expert survey conducted in 18 European countries (all EU-member states, plus Norway, Switzerland and the Czech Republic) uses a questiormaire that consists of two types of questions questions that are to be answered on the basis of literature reviews and expert knowledge, and those based on additional surveys that are to be performed by national experts. 

Most of the work reviewed in this article was performed at the U. S. Environmental Research Laboratory in Athens, GA. Support for Donald Macalady s work at this laboratory was provided by a Senior Associateship award from the National Rsearch Council. NOTE Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

Lewis (1993, as cited in Dourson et al. 1996) performed an analysis of subchronic-to-chronic NOAEL ratios based on peer-reviewed hterature or information from NTP (U.S. National Toxicology Program). Criteria for inclusion in their analysis were rigorous and of 54 chemicals considered,... 

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