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open access

Assessing Contractor Use in Superfund: a background paper of OTA's assessment on Superfund implementation

Description: This report addresses five key questions; to what extent is superfund dependent on contractors? Why depend on contracting to such a great extent? Is the extent of superfund’s dependence on contracting appropriate? Does the extent of superfund’s dependence on contracting reduce environmental effectiveness? Is superfund’s heavy dependence on contracting cost effective?
Date: January 1989
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
open access

Big Dumb Boosters: A Low-Cost Space Transportation Option?

Description: This background paper describes and examines a launch vehicle concept commonly known as the “Big Dumb Booster,” a concept that derives from efforts first made in the 1960s to minimize costs of space launch systems. Some launch system analysts believe that the use of this concept, when applied to existing technology, could markedly reduce space transportation costs. Other analysts disagree.
Date: February 1989
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
open access

Competition in Coastal Seas: An Evaluation of Foreign Maritime Activities in the 200-Mile EEZ

Description: This background paper reviews the status of the major sectors of the maritime industry engaged in EEZ activities and notes the significant trends. Basic data on the major sectors were first prepared for OTA by the Maritime Administration. OTA then conducted a survey of industry and other interested parties and prepared the analyses in the paper.
Date: July 1989
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
open access

An Evaluation of Options for Managing Greater-Than-Class-C Low-Level Radioactive Waste

Description: This evaluation of management options for greater-than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste was undertaken at the request of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The Committee asked that OTA evaluate existing Federal and non-Federal options for GTCC waste storage and disposal. From its analysis, OTA was to develop an integrated management approach to protect public health and safety in the short- and long term.
Date: October 1988
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
open access

Hearing Impairment and Elderly People

Description: This OTA background paper discusses the prevalence of hearing impairment and its impact on elderly people; hearing devices and services that may benefit them; and problems in the service delivery system that limit access to these devices and services.
Date: May 1986
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
open access

Higher Education for Science and Engineering

Description: This background paper focuses on the end point of educational preparation for science and engineering careers — undergraduate and graduate study. It places the issue of future supply in the broad cultural context of changing demographics, labor market adjustments, and intervention policies.
Date: March 1989
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
open access

Identifying and regulating carcinogens

Description: This background paper was requested by the House Government Operations Committee and its Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations and Human Resources. In it, OTA describes policies issued by Federal agencies concerning the identification, assessment, and regulation of carcinogenic chemicals; the chemicals that have been regulated because of carcinogenic risk; the Federal Government’s carcinogenicity testing program; and the results of OTA’s analysis of the extent of agency action on chemical… more
Date: November 1987
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
open access

New Developments in Biotechnology: Public Perceptions of Biotechnology

Description: This background paper is the second in a series of OTA studies being carried out under an assessment of “New Developments in Biotechnology. ” Volume one in the series examined commercialization and ownership of human tissues and cells, and forthcoming reports will include evaluations of: U.S. investment in biotechnology; genetically engineered organisms in the environment; tests for human genetic disorders; and the impact of intellectual property law on biotechnology. The assessment was request… more
Date: May 1987
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
open access

Performance Standards for Secondary School Vocational Education

Description: This Background Paper contains the results of OTA’s analysis. Throughout the study OTA sought and received the assistance of many individuals and organizations in the business, education, and government communities. Their thoughtful contributions and criticisms were invaluable, although their participation does not necessarily reflect their endorsement of the contents of the report, for which OTA bears sole responsibility.
Date: April 1989
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
open access

Space stations and the law: selected legal issues

Description: This report suggests that Congress need not wait for the completion of the current governmental negotiations in order to begin an examination of the legal issues resulting from space station development and operation. In the near term, Congress could: 1) begin to identify those Federal and State laws which already apply to space station activities and those that Congress believes should apply; 2) begin to resolve questions of power sharing between Federal and State laws and Federal and State co… more
Date: August 1986
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
open access

State educational testing practices

Description: This report discusses state educational testing practices. Testing as an indicator of educational attainment is a characteristic of the American educational system. While there are many questions surrounding the use of tests for various purposes, when American public policy turns periodically to focus on public education, tests tend to increase.
Date: December 1984
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
open access

Supercomputers: government plans & policies

Description: This background paper was requested by the House Committee on Science and Technology. Within the past 2 years, there has been a notable expansion in the Federal supercomputer programs and this increase prompted the committee’s request for a review of issues of resource management, networking, and the role of supercomputers in basic research.
Date: March 1986
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
open access

Sustaining Tropical Forest Resources: Reforestation of Degraded Lands

Description: This background paper is designed to provide the U.S. Congress with an overview of some reforestation technologies and their possible beneficial and adverse impacts. It also discusses the constraints and opportunities for the introduction of these technologies in such activities as timber and fuel production, watershed protection, and agroforestry.
Date: May 1983
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
open access

Sustaining Tropical Forest Resources: Reforestation of Degraded Lands

Description: This background paper is designed to provide the U.S. Congress with an overview of some reforestation technologies and their possible beneficial and adverse impacts. It also discusses the constraints and opportunities for the introduction of these technologies in such activities as timber and fuel production, watershed protection, and agroforestry.
Date: May 1983
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
open access

Technologies for underwater archaeology & maritime preservation

Description: This background paper describes and assesses the role of technology in underwater archaeology and historic maritime preservation. As several underwater projects have recently demonstrated, advanced technology, often developed for other uses, plays an increasingly important role in the discovery and recovery of historic shipwrecks and their contents.
Date: September 1987
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
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