However, regarding longer term use, the evidence base necessary to allow firm judgments to be made has not yet been accumulated.

Too little is known about the total radiation emitted, or the exposures in particular locales, to allow definitive judgments about the health damage caused by the explosion and fire at the Chernobyl plant on April 26, 1986.

He examines how common understanding within a culture allows remarkably accurate judgments about specific reactions of other members of the culture.

Readers, however, should not allow questionable judgments of culpability to detract from the value of this book.

The recent furor over record labeling is enough to give anyone doubts about the wisdom of allowing implicit artistic judgments to be made in the guise of providing data.

"When you deal with millions of accounts, the computer allows consistent judgments that are just not possible if each account was analyzed by a person," said Thomas C. Lynch, head of the credit card business at the Chase Manhattan Bank.

A commission due to report to President Bush this month will describe American intelligence on Iran as inadequate to allow firm judgments about Iran's weapons programs, according to people who have been briefed on the panel's work.

So does the way the film's writer-producer-director, James L. Brooks, makes these characters too complex and appealing to allow easy judgments.

Objectives-based approaches relate outcomes to prespecified objectives, allowing judgments to be made about their level of attainment.

The medical association and insurance groups have called for measures that would cap awards, tighten standards for expert witnesses, allow judgments to be paid out over extended periods, partially shield emergency room doctors from liability and limit lawyers' fees.