Office of Technology Assessment - 74 Matching Results
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- Adolescent Health, Volume 2: Background and the Effectiveness of Selected Prevention and Treatment Services
- The report responds to the request of numerous Members of Congress to review the physical, emotional, and behavioral health status of contemporary American adolescents, including adolescents in groups who might be more likely to be in special need of health-related interventions: adolescents living in poverty, adolescents from racial and ethnic minority groups, Native American adolescents, and adolescents in rural areas.
- American Military Power: Future Needs, Future Choices
- This background paper outlines some of the issues of importance for making choices about the future nature and role of U.S. armed forces, and suggests how these choices will affect defense base requirements. The final report of the assessment, to be delivered in the spring of 1992, will address specific policy options arising from the strategic choices and tactical decisions discussed here.
- An Analysis of the ERDA Plan and Program
- A report prepared by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) analyzing a plan put forth by the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA). This report assesses the plan and "is intended to provide the Congress with much of the background information necessary for an effective analysis of ERDA's energy R&D programs" (p. vii).
- An Assessment of Alternatives for A National Computerized Criminal History System
- A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that addresses "1) the status of criminal history record systems in the United States; 2) the alternatives for a national computerized criminal history (CCH) system; 3) the possible impacts of such a system; and 4) the relevant policy issues that warrant congressional attention to ensure that the beneficial impacts of a national CCH system are maximized and the possible adverse impacts controlled or minimized" (p. iii).
- An Assessment of Maritime Trade and Technology
- An assessment by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) of maritime trade and technology that "traces prevailing conditions and dominant trends that are important to the way the Federal Government assumes its responsibility for developing and implementing policy" (p. iii).
- Background paper on cataract surgery and physician payment under the Medicare program
- This report both describes current clinical and economic aspects of cataract surgery and analyzes how alternative methods of paying physicians might affect cataract surgery in the future.
- Benefits of Increased Use of Continuous Casting by the U.S. Steel Industry
- An assessment by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) of the United States steel industry, particularly various processes of casting currently used by the industry.
- Biotechnology in a Global Economy
- This report examines the impact of biotechnology in several industries, including pharmaceuticals, chemicals, agriculture, and hazardous waste clean-up; the efforts of 16 Nations to develop commercial uses of biotechnology; and the actions, both direct and indirect, taken by various governments that influence innovation in biotechnology.
- Cancer Testing Technology and Saccharin
- A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that, among other things, assesses "the capacity of current testing methodology to predict the carcinogenic potential of chemicals consumed by humans, with special reference to the validity of extrapolating from results of animal tests to possible human effects" (p. v). This study was done in response to the banning of the sweetener saccharin and the controversy about the testing that led to the ban.
- Coming Clean: Superfund Problems Can Be Solved...
- In this report, OTA concludes that there is ample reason to be optimistic about the potential of the Superfund program and presents a number of possible strategic initiatives and incremental program changes in some detail. As difficult as the national cleanup job is, there are many ways to build a better balance between health and environmental needs and the limitations that technology, experience, and economics will always impose.
- Competing Economies: America, Europe, and the Pacific Rim
- This report examines how the economic environment of the United States can be made more conducive to improving manufacturing performance. It considers how Federal institutions, in cooperation with industry, can develop competitiveness strategies for high-tech, fast growing industries; and how trade, financial, and technology policies could be combined into a strategic competitiveness policy.
- Computer networks in elementary and secondary education
- This report discusses the power of new tools for teaching and learning
- The Containment of Underground Nuclear Explosions
- This special report reviews the safety of the nuclear testing program and assesses the technical procedures used to test nuclear weapons and ensure that radioactive material produced by test explosions remains contained underground. An overall evaluation considers the acceptability of the remaining risk and discusses reasons for the lack of public confidence.
- Copyright and Home Copying: Technology Challenges the Law
- This report first examines home recording technologies. Then—focusing primarily on audiotaping—we examine the ambiguous legal status of home copying. Our report considers the economic effects that home audiotaping may have on the recording industry, contrasted to the effects that restricting home taping might have on consumers. Finally, we identify a range of actions that either Congress or the industry might pursue.
- Defending secrets, sharing data: new locks and keys for electronic information
- This report examines Federal policies directed at protecting information, particularly in electronic communications systems.
- Difficult-To-Reuse Needles for the Prevention of HIV Infection Among Injecting Drug Abusers
- 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.
- Displaced Homemakers: Programs and Policy: An Interim Report
- A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that focuses on the "problems of and programs for displaced homemakers" (p. iii).
- Electronic Surveillance and Civil Liberties
- A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that focuses on "technological developments in the basic communication and information infrastructure of the United States that present new or changed opportunities for and vulnerabilities to electronic surveillance, not on the details of specific surveillance devices" (Foreward).
- Emerging Food Marketing Technologies: A Preliminary Analysis
- A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) on the "identification of new or emerging food marketing technologies that will have significant long-range impacts on society and the U.S. food system" (p. 3?).
- Energy, The Economy, and Mass Transit
- A report on a study conducted by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) on current economic and energy conditions. The report "summarizes a number of findings regarding recent trends in the transit industry, the effects of current economic and energy conditions on the use of transit, and the relative merits of adopting alternative transportation strategies to increase transit use and achieve energy conservation objectives" (p. 1).
- An ethical analysis of withdrawal from life-sustaining technologies and assisted death: a report for the Office of Technology Assessment
- This report is designated to offer an ethical analysis of decisions to withhold and to withdrew life-sustaining technologies form patients in accord with their wishes and interests.
- Evaluation of ethical implications of selected alternatives for paying physicians under the Medicare program
- This report discusses the effects of changes in Medicare reimbursement methods, examines the ethical considerations, and classifies the alternative payment methods.
- An Evaluation of Options for Managing Greater-Than-Class-C Low-Level Radioactive Waste
- 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.
- Facing America's Trash: What Next for Municipal Solid Waste?
- This report discusses options for a national policy based on the dual strategies of MSW prevention and better management. It also presents options to address immediate problems such as increased interstate shipments of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and unfinished Federal guidelines for landfills and incinerators.
- Federal and Private Roles in the Development and Provision of Alglucerase Therapy for Gaucher Disease
- 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.
- Federal Scientific and Technical Information in an Electronic Age: Opportunities and Challenges
- This report addresses several questions regarding the dissemination of scientific and technical information (STI). The paper answers these questions within a framework for an overall strategy on STI dissemination, and identifies key elements that could be useful in such a strategy.
- Finding the Rx for Managing Medical Wastes
- This OTA report was requested by the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, the House Subcommittee on Transportation and Hazardous Materials, Committee on Energy and Commerce, and the House Subcommittee on Regulation, Business Opportunities and Energy, Committee on Small Business. The report evaluates medical waste issues in the broader context of a waste management policy for the Nation. Waste reduction and recycling options for medical waste management, as well as incineration and non-incineration treatment alternatives are examined.
- Genetic Counseling and Cystic Fibrosis Carrier Screening: Results of a Survey
- 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.
- Genetic Monitoring and Screening in the Workplace
- This report describes the issues associated with genetic monitoring and screening in the workplace. It examines the technologies used, analyzes the legal framework for the use of such tests, assesses the ethical issues inherent in the use of these tools in the workplace setting, describes how genetic information is conveyed by a genetic counselor, and, based on an OTA survey of 1,500 U.S. companies and the largest unions, evaluates the current and future use of genetic monitoring and screening in the workplace.
- Genetic Tests and Health Insurance: Results of a Survey
- 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 coming decade.
- The Health of the Scientific and Technical Enterprise: An Advisory Panel Report to the Office of Technology Assessment
- A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) on the science and technology fields, with the intent of developing a definition of the enterprise and giving "a framework within which policy makers can assess its health" (p. 3).
- How technology affects teaching
- This report discusses a study that provides an opportunity for teachers to speak to policy makers about their experiences with educational technology.
- The immunological aspects of neural grafting
- This report starts out with an overview of the immune system, describes the central nervous system (CNS), and future consideration.
- Implications of alternative Medicare payment methods for pneumoccal vaccination
- The purpose of this report is to: 1)update the estimated level of use of pneumococcal vaccine in the United States, 2)examine factors that influence its use, and 3) assess how, if at all, selected alternative payment methods might affect the use of this vaccine.
- The Implications of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Medical Technology: Background Paper 2: Case Studies of Medical Technologies: Case Study 17: Surgery for Breast Cancer
- A case study by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that studies the treatment of breast cancer and"examines the subject of change in medical practice by considering the personal and social factors that led some individuals to depart from the mainstream" (p. 4).
- The Implications of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Medical Technology: Background Paper 2: Case Study 15: Elective Hysterectomy: Costs, Risks, and Benefits
- A study by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that looks takes the approach that "hysterectomies that are performed for indications that could be treated by alternative therapies or by no therapy at all, with fewer resultant health risks to the woman and lower economic costs in general" (p. 3).
- The Implications of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Medical Technology: Background Paper 3: The Efficacy and Cost Effectiveness of Psychotherapy
- An background paper for an assessment by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that "emphasizes methodological issues related to the assessment of psychotherapy and the use of cost-effectiveness/cost-benefit analysis (CEA/CBA) to evaluate psychotherapy's worth" (Summary).
- The Implications of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Medical Technology: Background paper 4: The Management of Health Care Technology in Ten Countries
- An assessment by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that looks at the "general and specific public public policies that affect the development and diffusion of medical technologies" of nine industrialized countries, which are then compared to those of the U.S. (p. 5).
- Improving Automobile Fuel Economy: New Standards, New Approaches
- This OTA report responds to a request by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to examine the fuel economy potential of the U.S. fleet and to assist Congress in establishing new fuel economy standards.
- Increased Automobile Fuel Efficiency and Synthetic Fuels: Alternatives for Reducing Oil Imports: Background Paper 2: Selected Technical and Economic Comparisons of Synfuel Options
- A study by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that provides "technical and economic comparisons among selected synfuel technologies which, to the extent possible, provides a background and basis which may assist the OTA in its policy deliberations" (p. 1).
- Informing the Nation: Federal Information Dissemination in an Electronic Age
- This report addresses the opportunities to improve the dissemination of Federal information. It also highlights two major problems: maintaining equity in public access to Federal information in electronic formats, and defining the respective roles of Federal agencies and the private sector in the electronic dissemination process. The report focuses on current and future roles of the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) and Superintendent of Documents, the Depository Library Program (administered by GPO), and the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). In addition, this report examines electronic dissemination of congressional information, the Freedom of Information Act in an electronic environment, and electronic dissemination of government information to the press.
- The international dimension: new technologies and intellectual property rights
- This report considers international copyright as an instrument of adjustment of rights and interests domestically and among nations.
- Inventors' vignettes: success and failure in the development of medical devices: contractor documents
- This report report discusses the development of technician's auto analyzer, the first cardiac pacemaker, electronic retinoscope, the development of implantable drug-infusion pump and other implantable medication systems.
- Issues in capitation: risk of financial ruin for providers and ways to control this risk
- The purpose of this report is to explore issues relating to healthcare expenses. To examine the concept of risk for providers in a capitation payment environment and to estimate the effectiveness of various risk limiting techniques.
- Issues in Medical Waste Management
- The paper examines the adequacy of current medical waste disposal practices and the potential for human health impacts to occur as a result of such practices. It also addresses the need for additional research and databases, and discusses probable trends in future costs and capacity as new regulations are adopted around the country. Finally, the paper considers the possible need for further Federal involvement in regulating the handling, treatment, storage, and disposal of medical wastes.
- Japan's science and engineering pipeline: structure, policies, and trends
- This report discusses the Japanese higher education graduates in science and engineering. It discusses the work force in these fields and the major structural reforms in the education system.
- Legal and regulatory issues for neural grafts
- This report discusses the use of neural grafts from fetuses that is showing some success for the treatment of disorders such as Parkinson's disease.
- Life sustaining technologies and the elderly: prolonged mechanical ventilation
- This report aims to identify the tasks assigned by the OTA and their major sections. The issues of concern to the OTA, and those who make contributions to their discussion, are shown.
- Mechanisms for facilitating a vital and dynamic education system: fundamental roles for education science and technology
- This report aims to synthesize discussions, correspondences and readings in terms of a novel framework that characterizes advances in the field of educational science and technology.
- Medical Technology Under Proposals To Increase Competition in Health Care
- A study by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that considers the "implications for medical technology of increased competition in health care" (p. 3).