Photometry and spectroscopy are among the most important and fundamental types of astronomical observations. By the middle of the twentieth century most spectral classification was defined in terms of MKK type standards (Morgan, Keenan & Kellerman 1943). However, for a variety of reasons (Weaver 1947), the establishment of photometric standards remained problematic. Commission 25 (Photometry) o...

T he Joint Commission (Oakbrook Terrace, IL) announced on December 20 changes to its standards for accredited hospitals, critical access hospitals, and ambulatory health care organizations that provide diagnostic imaging services, including ambulatory organizations that have achieved Advanced Diagnostic Imaging certification. The changes will be effective July 1, 2014, with additional requireme...

The Joint Commission regularly aggregates standards compliance data to pinpoint areas that present the greatest challenges to accredited organizations and certified programs. These data help The Joint Commission recognize trends and tailor education around challenging standards; National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs); the Universal Protocol for Preventing Wrong Site, Wrong Procedure, and Wrong P...

The Department of Health & Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved the continuation of deeming authority for The Joint Commission’s hospital accreditation program through July 15, 2014. The CMS designation means that hospitals accredited by The Joint Commission may choose to be “deemed” as meeting Medicare and Medicaid certification requirements. CMS found ...

Sintered samples of modifying porcelains of various colors and manufacturers were analyzed using reflectance spectrophotometry. Color designations are reported according to practices of the Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (International Commission for Illumination), and color names were assigned based on a method developed through a joint effort of the Inter-Society Color Council and t...

The International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) has established a Paternity Testing Commission (PTC) with the purpose of formulating international recommendations concerning genetic investigations in paternity testing. The PTC recommends that paternity testing be performed in accordance with the ISO 17025 standards. The ISO 17025 standards are general standards for testing laboratories a...

One way to improve the quality of hospital services is accreditation and, as a strategy for improving services, many countries have launched their national accreditation system (1, 2). Accreditation, as an independent voluntary program, was established in 1917 in the United States by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) for evaluating hospitals. In 1998, its...

When, in 2008, the Joint Commission released its Sentinel Event Alert #38 regarding MRI safety, it joined the ACR's Guidance Document on MR Safe Practices as one of two radiology best-practice documents establishing MR safety protections. However, particularly for MR providers who held both modality-level accreditation from the ACR, and enterprise-level accreditation from the Joint Commission, ...