| Global Notebook | ||
| Seismic Design Guidelines
New Head of Brazilian Standards Organization Dr. Francisco F. Sanz Esteban has been elected the new president of the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT). He succeeds the former president, Jayme Ferreira Brandão Jr., who passed away in late June 2001. In addition to his duties at ABNT, Sanz Esteban is the director of FIESP (Federation of Industries of the State of Sao Paulo); he is a former president of various businesses, an ex-member of ABNT’s board of directors, and a consultant on several modernization projects within ABNT. China Inaugurates New Commission on Standardization
NACLA Spring Workshop
BEES Is Coming The newest (3.0) version of BEES (Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability) software program will be available from the National Institute of Standards and Technology this spring. The program helps the construction industry select cost-effective green building products. BEES measures life-cycle environmental and economic performance for 65 generic building products; the newest version will add performance measures for specific brands. // Copyright 2002, ASTM |
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A steering committee is being established by the Applied Technology
Council to oversee and guide a recently initiated effort funded
by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop performance-based
seismic design guidelines. The ATC-58 project will consider and
build on the FEMA-349 report, Action Plan for Performance-Based
Seismic Design, which was developed by the Earthquake Engineering
Research Institute in 2000 and proposes a 10-year, multi-million
dollar research and development plan to create and implement comprehensive
performance-based seismic design guidelines for both new and existing
construction. It is anticipated that the project products will
include structural performance products, nonstructural performance
products, risk management products, performance-based seismic
design guidelines, and a stakeholders guide. Contact: 
A new State Commission for Administration of Standardization (also
known as the State Standardization Administration) has been launched
in Beijing, China. State Councilor Wu Yi, on behalf of the State
Council, reports that the new Commission will “provide unified
leadership over standardization work in the country.” The new
organization is authorized to excise administrative functions
and take charge of the country’s administration of standardization
work. It will also be responsible for drafting and revising national
standards for products. Chinese standardization was previously
administered by the former state quality and technical supervision
bureau. (SOURCE: USITO Heads-Up, an ad-hoc, e-mail based notice
of developments in China’s IT sector. For more information contact
The National Cooperation for Laboratory Accreditation (NACLA)
will present a forum on Laboratory Accreditation on April 8-9
in Arlington, Va. The forum, to be held in conjunction with the
NACLA Annual Meeting, will address the latest development in all
areas of lab accreditation both nationally and internationally,
as well as the direction in which accreditation is headed. The
preliminary list of program subjects includes such topics as interpretations
and implementation of ISO/IEC 17025, preparing for 17025 assessment,
the impact of dual U. S. accreditation systems, the role of regional
cooperations, the use of key performance indicators in assessment,
and the challenge of measurement uncertainty. Complete program
details and official registration forms are available on the