When both tallies reach a trip value, a trip signal is generated.

The command pair may include the trigger value.

The point in time (T(ftrigger)) at which the trigger value (f'trigger) will be reached is determined, and an additional time (Tadd) linked to said point in time is determined at the point in time at which the trigger value (f'trigger) is reached.

The triage value also reflects the current operational status of the monitored entity that issued the alarm.

The duration of the additional time depends on the point in time at which the trigger value is reached.

The triage value reflects any dependencies that the monitored entity that issued the alarm shares with another monitored entities.

Each data record has one or more elements (1304).

Each state (1312) has one or more rules.

Each rule has a trigger element, a trigger value and a next state.

In response to receiving an alarm at a monitoring device, a triage value is determined based on both the relative importance value and the health value for the monitored entity associated with the received alarm.

The condition includes a trigger value and a corresponding input variable sensed by a respective sensor (40, 42, 50).

The release value for N-nitrosamines exceeds the established maximum quantity for N-Nitrosamine.

In a method of generating a clock signal having a desired frequency, a pulse is generated each time a stored accumulator value (tank) is found to be greater than or equal to a stored (trigger) value.