Qualitative factors, weighing

The decision maker must weigh the qualitative and quantitative PSA insights and other information. There is no cookbook answer to this question, because it will depend heavily on the nature of the issue, the results of the PSA, the nature of other information, and other factors affecting overall ludgmcnt. The PSA should provide for the following needs ... 

Specific numbers are not available for the final comparison in which all cost factors are weighed. First of all, a possibly higher raw material cost for graphite-epoxy is made up for, at least in a qualitative sense, by the fact that not as much machining is required for the graphite-epoxy spar. Essentially only as much graphite-epoxy as is needed is bought, whereas many times the amount of titanium that is needed in the final... 

The overall assessment factor is the product of a number of assessment factors accounting for uncertainties related to various extrapolation steps (inter- and intraspecies, route-to-route, subchro-nic-to-chronic, LOAEL-to-NOAEL, namre and severity of effect, and database-deficiency). However, the higher the number of extrapolation steps, the higher the level of conservatism. Since the different assessment factors are not always independent of each other, straightforward multiplication may lead to unreasonably high factors, and discussion are and weighing of individual factors are essential to establish a reliable and justifiable overall assessment factor. Some aspects to consider in the final qualitative discussion are ... 

Other Chemical Equations Studied. — Experiment 12 was a qualitative experiment, but if the factors and products had been weighed, the final result might have been expressed thus —... 

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