Search Results

open access

Dioxin Treatment Technologies

Description: This paper presents the status of national efforts to cleanup dioxin-contaminated sites and the technologies that have been used, proposed, and researched. It covers thermal and nonthermal treatment techniques as well as approaches such as stabilization and storage. It discusses the development of these technologies as well as advantages and disadvantages of their use.
Date: November 1991
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Disposal of Chemical Weapons: Alternative Technologies

Description: This background paper briefly describes the Army’s chemical weapons destruction program, discusses the factors that could affect a decision to develop alternatives, discusses the alternatives, and illustrates the difficulty of gaining public acceptance of complex technical systems.
Date: June 1992
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Distributed Interactive Simulation of Combat

Description: This background paper complements OTA’s background paper, Virtual Reality and Technologies of Combat Simulation, which focuses on the human-computer interface technologies used in simulations.
Date: September 1995
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Does Health Insurance Make a Difference?

Description: This background paper reviews and evaluates the available literature linking health insurance coverage with the utilization and process of health care services and with individual health outcomes.
Date: September 1992
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Effectiveness and Costs of Osteoporosis Screening and Hormone Replacement Therapy, Vol. I: Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

Description: This paper assesses the medical benefits and costs of both screening and hormone replacement therapy. It is divided into two volumes. This volume presents the results of a model that estimates the cost per year of life gained from osteoporosis screening and hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women.
Date: August 1995
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Effectiveness and Costs of Osteoporosis Screening and Hormone Replacement Therapy, Vol. II: Evidence on Benefits, Risks, and Costs

Description: This paper assesses the medical benefits and costs of both screening and hormone replacement therapy. It is divided into two volumes. This volume provides the basis for the assumptions about the costs and effects of screening and hormonal replacement therapy used in the cost-effectiveness model.
Date: August 1995
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Electronic Surveillance in a Digital Age

Description: This background paper reviews the progress of the industry and the law enforcement agencies in implementing the Act since its approval in October 1994.
Date: July 1995
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Energy Use and the U.S. Economy

Description: The background paper extends the analysis of energy use into new areas by explicitly looking at how energy use has changed with the expansion of the service sector, the explosion of international trade, and greater complexity of the U.S. economy as the structure of businesses changed in response to new technologies and competitive challenges. The increasing sophistication of the U.S. economy means that the role of energy is less likely to be directly identified and is instead more likely to be … more
Date: June 1990
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
open access

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
open access

Federal Technology Transfer and the Human Genome Project

Description: This report analyzes universities’, companies’, and researchers’ experiences and perspectives since enactment of federal laws to enhance technology transfer—especially as it pertains to research funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy, the agencies funding U.S. efforts in the Human Genome Project.
Date: September 1995
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Genetic Counseling and Cystic Fibrosis Carrier Screening: Results of a Survey

Description: This paper presents results from a 1991 OTA survey of 431 genetic counselors and nurse geneticists. It was conducted to better understand the environment in which the average genetic counselor or nurse in genetics works, to describe the infrastructure and tools available to these professionals, to assess the state of practice in the provision of cystic fibrosis (CF) carrier screening, and to evaluate their attitudes regarding CF carrier screening.
Date: October 1992
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Genetic Tests and Health Insurance: Results of a Survey

Description: This background paper describes results from a 1991 OTA survey of U.S. health insurers’ attitudes toward genetic tests and genetic information— both how they currently view information from various sources (e.g., genetic tests, other medical tests, or family histories) in underwriting decisions and how they might reimburse consumers for genetic tests. It also reports data on the role health insurers expect genetic tests and genetic information will play in their business practices over the comi… more
Date: October 1992
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Hazards Ahead: Managing Cleanup Worker Health and Safety at the Nuclear Weapons Complex

Description: This paper concludes that, thus far, Department of Energy has (DOE) and its contractors have devoted little attention to cleanup worker health and safety. They have not convinced workers and managers that a “new culture” of accountability in environment, safety, and health is truly ascendent.
Date: February 1993
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

A History of the Department of Defense Federally Funded Research and Development Centers

Description: The focus of this paper is the history of Department of Defense (DoD) Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) over the past 50 years, which forms part of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) study of defense modeling and simulation.
Date: June 1995
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Identifying and Controlling Immunotoxic Substances

Description: This background paper, which describes the state-of the- art of identifying substances that can harm the immune system, represents one response to the committee’s request. Chapter 2 provides basic information about the principal components of the immune system and the general consequences that stem from perturbations to it. Chapter 3 describes methods for evaluating chemical immunotoxicity and reports on some known or suspected immunotoxicants. Chapter 4 summarizes Federal research and regulato… more
Date: April 1991
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Identifying and Controlling Pulmonary Toxicants

Description: This Background Paper examines whether the agencies responsible for administering Federal environmental and health and safety laws have taken this concern for respiratory health to heart. This paper provides a partial response to the committees’ request for an assessment of noncancer health risks in the environment and follows OTA’s previous work on carcinogenic, neurotoxic, and immunotoxic substances.
Date: June 1992
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Impact of Legal Reforms on Medical Malpractice Costs

Description: This report discusses the indirect cost of medical malpractice, commonly referred to as “defensive medicine,” that may add to overall health care costs. The cost of defensive medicine remains unknown and is subject to much speculation because there are no sound empirical data.
Date: September 1993
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Improving the Prospects for Future International Peace Operations: Workshop Proceedings

Description: In June 1995, OTA convened a workshop that brought together some of the world’s leading practitioners, academic experts, experienced diplomats, and leading technologists in order to study and discuss this issue. This report contains a summary of the results of the workshop, along with the original papers presented.
Date: September 1995
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

International Comparisons of Administrative Costs in Health Care

Description: This paper examines what is known about administrative costs in the health care systems of the United States and several other countries. In addition to exploring the types of activities that constitute health care administration, it reviews studies that measure and compare these activities in different countries, and it explores the potential usefulness of such comparisons.
Date: September 1994
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

International Health Statistics: What the Numbers Mean for the United States

Description: This paper reviews how the United States compares with other developed countries on available health status measures, evaluates the validity of the data used to make such comparisons, and describes how international comparisons might be interpreted in the context of health care reform.
Date: September 1994
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Lessons in Restructuring Defense Industry: The French Experience

Description: This background paper first describes the structure and management of the French defense-industrial base and then reviews a variety of strategies the French Government and industry are pursuing to rationalize the base, while preserving key technological assets and strengthening the competitive position of French defense contractors in world markets.
Date: June 1992
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Back to Top of Screen