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Verification Technologies: Managing Research and Development for Cooperative Arms Control Monitoring Measures

Description: This report examines the management of the research and development process from which the new technologies are emerging. Partly as a result of the way in which the research and development process is managed, the allocation of research resources appears to be geared to meeting short-term needs and solving isolated problems, rather than to pursuing long-term goals and developing integrated verification regimes for the future. The report identifies a range of organizational options that might he… more
Date: May 1991
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Review of a Protocol for a Study of Reproductive Health Outcomes Among Women Vietnam Veterans

Description: This report discusses the study that has been proposed as a partial response to the mandate of Public Law 99-272; that law also requires approval from the Director of OTA before any such studies are undertaken, which is the reason for this review. This study is one of three that make up the full VA response to the mandate to look into the health of women Vietnam veterans.
Date: December 1991
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Seeking Solutions: High Performance Computing for Science

Description: This background paper focuses on the Federal role in supporting a national high-performance computing initiative. High-performance ‘‘supercomputers’ * are fast becoming tools of international competition and they play an important role in such areas as scientific research, weather forecasting, and popular entertainment. They may prove to be the key to maintaining America’s preeminence in science and engineering. The automotive, aerospace, electronic, and pharmaceutical industries are becoming m… more
Date: March 1991
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The FBI Fingerprint Identification Automation Program: Issues and Options

Description: This report focuses on key assumptions that will affect the sizing and procurement of the new FBI system, and on other related steps that appear necessary to ensure complete and up-to-date record systems. These include full implementation of a Federal/State/local partnership for maintaining and exchanging fingerprint and criminal history records; enactment of an interstate compact or Federal legislation setting out uniform rules for the exchange of such records; standards and funding for improv… more
Date: November 1991
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Alaskan Water for California?: The Subsea Pipeline Option

Description: This background paper focuses on one technological option for increasing the supply of fresh water to the Southwest-that of building a freshwater subsea pipeline to transport water from Alaska to California. Originally a suggestion by Governor Walter Hickel of Alaska, the proposal has recently attracted attention in southern California.
Date: January 1990
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The CDC's Case Definition of AIDS: Implications of Proposed Revisions

Description: This background paper examines the epidemiologic evidence used by the CDC in deciding to revise the AIDS case definition and the impact the proposed definition will have on surveillance. The paper also explores the logistical consequences and other implications of the revised definition, including its impact on Social Security disability determinations.
Date: June 1990
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Difficult-To-Reuse Needles for the Prevention of HIV Infection Among Injecting Drug Abusers

Description: This paper reviews various possibilities of using non-reusable injection technologies for reducing HIV transmission among injecting drug users in the United States. It does not put forth the redesign of injection equipment as a policy option for congressional consideration; it merely examines some of the implications of a proposal put forth by some health experts.
Date: October 1992
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Do Medicaid and Medicare Patients Sue More Often Than Other Patients?

Description: This background paper also responds to the request of the Congressional Sunbelt Caucus that OTA examine and judge the available evidence on whether Medicaid and Medicare patients, particularly obstetrics patients, are more litigious than other patients.
Date: September 1992
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal and Private Roles in the Development and Provision of Alglucerase Therapy for Gaucher Disease

Description: This background paper describes the development of alglucerase, illustrates the role that both the Federal Government and private sector can have in making new therapies available for orphan diseases, and lays out some of the tradeoffs that can exist between developing new medical technologies and controlling health care costs.
Date: October 1992
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications: Process, Priorities and Goals

Description: This Background Paper summarizes a one-day workshop convened to assess the effectiveness of the planning and priority-setting mechanisms used by NASA’s Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA) in carrying out its diverse scientific program.
Date: January 1992
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Police Body Armor Standards and Testing, Vol. I

Description: This report discusses the standards for body-armor. The report describes the origin of the standard, the rationale for particular provisions, and the main points of controversy, which concern acceptable risks, the validity and discrimination of the test, and the reproducibility of results.
Date: August 1992
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Retiring Old Cars: Programs To Save Gasoline and Reduce Emissions

Description: This report examines the costs and benefits of vehicle retirement programs. With regulation of new vehicles above the 90 percent control level for the major pollutants and scheduled to become even stricter in the near future, emissions from older vehicles have drawn increasing attention.
Date: July 1992
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Science and Technology Issues in Coastal Ecotourism

Description: This paper presents information on the ecotourism trends; identifies issues related to resource conservation, ecotourism development and management, and planning; and presents questions for possible further consideration.
Date: October 1992
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Accessibility and Integrity of Networked Information Collections

Description: The paper begins with a survey of recent developments in networked information resources and tools to identify, navigate, and use such resources. The paper then discusses the changing legal framework that governs use of electronic information as contract law rather than simple sale within the context of copyright law becomes the dominant model for acquiring access to electronic information.
Date: August 1993
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Civilian Satellite Remote Sensing: A Strategic Approach

Description: This report analyzes the case for developing a long-term, comprehensive strategic plan for civilian satellite remote sensing, and explores the elements of such a plan, if it were adopted. The report also enumerates many of the congressional decisions needed to ensure that future data needs will be satisfied.
Date: September 1994
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Climate Treaties and Models: Issues in the International Management of Climate Change

Description: This paper seeks to place the issue of climate change within an international context. Specifically, it addresses the feasibility of forging treaty agreements among countries to achieve significant worldwide reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases.
Date: June 1994
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Defensive Medicine and Medical Malpractice

Description: This report discusses the medical malpractice system that has frequently been cited as a contributor to increasing health care costs and has been targeted in many health care reform proposals as a potential source of savings. The report first examines the nature of defensive medicine, adopting a working definition of defensive medicine that embraces the complexity of the problem from both the physician and broader public policy perspectives. Finally, it comments on the potential impact of a var… more
Date: July 1994
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Electronic Enterprises: Looking to the Future

Description: This report takes a strategic look at the development of electronic commerce and identifies the characteristics of the infrastructure that will be required to support it. The report found that, in an electronically networked economy, the design and underlying architecture of the global information infrastructure will have a major impact on national economic growth and development.
Date: May 1994
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Making Government Work: Electronic Delivery of Federal Services

Description: This report focuses on key topics and issues that are central to the successful use of electronic deli very by government. This report provides Congress with alternative strategies for improving the performance of government by using modern information technologies.
Date: September 1993
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Who Goes There: Friend or Foe?

Description: This report discusses the problem of fratricide, or “friendly fire” casualties among combat units. The House Armed Services Committee requested that OTA assess the technology and techniques available to reduce this tragic loss of life.
Date: June 1993
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Testing and Assessment in Vocational Education

Description: The paper has six major purposes, in order to analyze the uses of tests used in vocational programs, particularly those designed to measure broad technical skills, identify trends in vocational assessment, and identify policy issues relevant to improving test development and quality.
Date: March 1994
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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