The need to create integrated management systems (IMS) in order to handle the proliferation of management system standards is undeniable. There is also evidence in literature and practice that organizations are slowly starting to tackle the IMS issue, mainly by putting an integrated quality and environmental management system in place. Due to the existence of internationally accepted standards covering these two fields, namely ISO 9000 and 14000 series, such a scope of integration comes as no surprise. However, can and should other systems, for example, the ones for occupational health and safety, dependability, social accountability or complaints handling, be included? What would such an integration mean for the existing organizational structures and how could be it be accomplished? When we attempt to address IMS issues, do we really talk about the integration of standards, systems, both or neither? These and other important questions regarding IMS are addressed here. By means of an example from the nuclear industry, this paper focuses in particular on the integration of a safety management system within an IMS framework. Since safety is of such a paramount importance in nuclear plants, it makes sense to integrate safety requirements within a quality management system, as a possible first step in the integration efforts. Subsequently, other function-specific requirements may be included to form a "real" IMS.

An “effective audit” cannot be taken for granted, even though it is performed by trained professionals using proven techniques and in accordance with internationally accepted standards. Recent highly publicized cases in both financial and quality auditing point to the need to further examine the meaning of audit effectiveness, as well as the methods to improve it. Specifically, audit reliability and risk as two related components of audit effectiveness are focused on. The term and concept of QMS audit effectiveness are analyzed first, followed by a list of the relevant principles and criteria for measuring and improving this effectiveness. Finally, two cases from the nuclear industry are used to illustrate the importance of measuring and improving QMS audit effectiveness.

Absolute cross sections for single and double ionization of helium have been measured for highly charged (24

Double ionization of helium is investigated for 60-, 120-, and 420-MeV/u (v/c =0.34-0.72)U +-ion impact. The measured double-to-single ionization ratios indicate that, even for these very high velocities, double ionization of the He target results predominantly from independent interactions of the projectile with both target electrons. It is concluded that the asymptotic high-velocity regime for one-step double ionization (i.e. , "shakeoff") has not yet been reached even for U projectiles at 420 MeV/u, and, in fact, cannot be reached for projectiles with q 7, thereby verifying that the ionic charge is fully as important as the velocity in determining the importance of a given ionization mechanism.PACS number(s): 34.50.Fa

The ratio R of helium double-to-single ionization cross sections was measured for Ne ,0+ and Ni 28+ projectiles at velocities of 0.39 < vp/c < 0.93 intending to explore the high-velocity limit of R for highly charged ion impact. For Ne ,0+ projectiles R was observed to become independent of vp for vp/ciZ0J3 and an asymptotic experimental value R = (2.57 ±0.10)x 10 -3 has been established. This is in good agreement with experimental results for proton, antiproton, electron, and positron impact and in excellent accordance with the theoretical prediction of (2.59 ±0.03) x 10 ~3.PACS numbers: 34.50.FaThe most simple and therefore fundamental dynamical many-electron problem in atomic collision physics is the simultaneous transfer of two helium electrons into excited or continuum states by energetic charged particle or photon impact. The central potential of the helium nucleus is comparably weak and the correlated motion of the two electrons before, during, and after the collision plays an essential role in such a situation. Thus, static and dynamic correlation between the electrons both have considerable influence on the magnitude of even total cross sections for helium double ionization (), one finds experimentally [1,2] a constant value at large r/>, which is independent of the velocity.In this so-called high-velocity limit, the perturbation by the projectile is so small that the probability for its simultaneous and independent interaction with both target electrons (so-called "two-step" mechanism), which is the reason for double ionization in an independent electron model, can be completely neglected. Double ionization is induced by only one single interaction of the projectile with one target electron (single ionization). It solely occurs due to the electron-electron interaction and the ratio 7?=cr 2+ /<7 1+ therefore is extremely sensitive to the details of the time-dependent electronic motion. This is underlined by the fact that R is about a factor of 5 larger for energetic photon [3] than for charged particle impact. As a further consequence, the high-velocity limit of R is predicted to be independent of the sign of the projectile charge q and velocity vp. Systematic experiments with singly charged projectiles for electron [4,5], proton [6], antiproton [7,8], and positron [9] impact indeed yielded identical ratios within the experimental errors between 0.24% and 0.28%. This value is in good agreement with theoretical results of ab initio calculations by Ford and Reading [10] for charged particle impact of R =0.259%.For highly charged ion impact it is expected that R should settle at the same asymptotic value. Since in first order the perturbation is proportional to ...

Integration of function‐specific management systems in organizations is rapidly becoming a topic of interest for managers and auditors alike. This is mainly due to the proliferation of management system standards that foster compliance with the stated criteria for quality, environmental, occupational health and safety, social responsibility and other different aspects of performance. While most of the available literature on this topic focuses on the integration of standards, there is comparatively little information on how to actually build an integrated system internally. This paper hypothesizes that audits can provide an excellent basis for these integration efforts, discussing the prerequisites, strategies and resources necessary for an effective audit in support of integrated management systems. The paper also describes how audits are used to improve a combined quality and safety management system in a German nuclear facility.

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