Office of Technology Assessment - 177 Matching Results
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- An analysis of the scope and quality of the current supply of educational software, and of the available sources of information on educational software
- This report presents an analysis of the scope and quality of the current supply of educational software, as well as analysis of the information sources available to educational software acquisition.
- Support for educational technology R & D: the federal role
- This report examines the history of the United States Federal Government support for education technology research and development. The report identifies funding level for several civilian and military Federal agencies over time period, nature of programs and projects supported, six case studies of illustrative R&D program, and factors policy recommendations.
- The context for exploring workplace monitoring
- This report describes the history of monitoring work and the legal framework which applies to employee privacy rights and associate4d issues of worker protection.
- The international context of labor-management relations: implications for workplace monitoring
- This report explores some of the international developments and notes contrasts with the United States, and some potential lessons with regard to managing the new technology systems of Labor relations and issues relevant to workplace monitoring.
- Psychophysiological monitoring: possibilities and prospects
- This report describes the present, near, and long term the evolving capabilities for monitoring and interpreting psychophysiological signals and in particular the Event Related Brain Potential (ERP) with particular emphasis on such ERP components as the P300.
- Images of science: factors affecting the choice of science as a career
- This report describes the dimensions of the problem this nation faces in producing enough scientists and engineers, it also attempt to describe how "images" of science may affect whether American students choose careers in science.
- A review of the status of technology training for teachers
- This report discusses the important role of the use of computers in American education. It also discusses teachers training and their role in the viability of computers in education.
- Federal tax policy and infrastructure financing: a report to the Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress
- This report starts out by discussing in details the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and its impact on local construction, it provides statistical analysis of the effects of the Tax reform Act, it discusses innovative infrastructure financing techniques, finally federal infrastructure policy options.
- Science in the steady state: the changing research university: contractor's report
- This report is divided into three main parts. The first part considers the underlying notion of interpreting science in systems terms and sketches the analytic categories necessary for that re conceptualization. Part two draws on face to face interviews with scientists to examine the possible consequences of the shift to steady state science. Part three offers a set of issues for policy and research and critically examines the idea of a steady state for science.
- Evaluation of effects of the quality of care of selected alternatives for paying physicians under the Medicare program
- This report tries to anticipate the kinds of effects on the quality of personal health care services that would result from each of several alternative ways of paying for physician's services to Medicare patients.
- Reform of Medicare physician payment policies: impact on magnetic resonance imaging technology
- This report provides a brief description of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), current research, safety and patient acceptance of the imaging technology. It discusses the current use of MRI, the medical evidence, current clinical applications and diffusion of MRI.
- Identifying potential scientists and engineers: an analysis of the high school-college transition, Report 2, Multivariate analysis of the high school class of 1982
- This report describes the second part of the project that studied the science-oriented behaviors of students as they move through high school into college.
- Persistance in higher S/E education: S/E baccalaureate to S/E doctorate productivity of U.S. baccalaureate-granting institutions
- This report describes a study which purpose is to further analyze the BA to PhD pipeline data for the 170 institutions that have either been identified as highly productive institutions or institutions of special interest to policymakers and educational planners.
- Physicians' payment and their prescription of laboratory tests: the effects on clinical laboratory services of selected alternatives for paying physicians under the Medicare program
- This report discusses laboratory testing in light of physician payment methods under Medicare. The report focuses primarily on laboratory testing in the outpatient setting, assuming the impatient laboratory testing is covered by the DRG-based Prospective Payment System rates of Medicare.
- Employee monitoring in other industrial democracies
- This report explores how other advanced industrial democracies and some multi - national or international agencies are approaching workplace monitoring,.
- Educational technology: information networks, markets, and innovation
- This report aims to provide an insight about reasons why educational markets are under-producing educational software, and what thoughtful, practical remedies can be employed to bring the production of educational software up to the socially desirable level.
- The Effectiveness of Drug Abuse Treatment: Implications for Controlling AIDS/HIV Infection
- This Background Paper examines the evidence of the effectiveness of drug abuse treatment; it also evaluates the role that such treatment might play in reducing the spread of HIV. Because most intravenous drug users are not in treatment, the paper also examines other approaches to HIV prevention among this high-risk group.
- Electric power wheeling and dealing: technological considerations for increasing competition: volume II--contractor documents, part D.
- This report discusses the assessment of survey of utilities' reactions to order to determine reactions to change the industry's competitive environment.
- Perspectives on the role of science and technology in sustainable development
- This report examines an array of sustainable development definitions and discusses their common elements.
- Study of international clearing and settlement
- This report market that have institutions, usually refered to as "clearing house", which handle both the clearing and some aspects of the settlement processes.
- Advanced Automotive Technology: Visions of a Super-Efficient Family Car
- This report presents the results of the Office of Technology Assessment’s analysis of the prospects for developing automobiles that offer significant improvements in fuel economy and reduced emissions over the longer term (out to the year 2015). The report examines the likely costs and performance of a range of technologies and vehicle types, and the U.S. and foreign research and development programs for these technologies and vehicles (to allow completion of this study before OTA closed its doors, issues such as infrastructure development and market development--- critical to the successful commercialization of advanced vehicles-were not covered).
- Advanced Vehicle/Highway Systems and Urban Traffic Problems
- A report on Advanced Vehicle/Highway Systems (AVHS),as an umbrella term for several interdependent vehicle and road technologies, that offers potential for reducing congestion and the air pollution it engenders, and for improving highway safety.
- Adverse Reactions to HIV Vaccines: Medical, Ethical, and Legal Issues
- The purpose of this background paper is to describe the current state of development of HIV vaccines, and to discuss what is known about adverse reactions that may occur. The background paper provides an overview of ethical issues that arise in the conduct of HIV vaccine trials. The report also discusses alternatives to the current product liability system to encourage the development of HIV vaccines and to fairly compensate those who are harmed as a result of adverse reactions to the vaccine.
- Aging Nuclear Power Plants: Managing Plant Life and Decommissioning
- This report examines the following: the outlook for safety management and economic life decisions for the Nation’s existing nuclear power plants as they age, the prospects for decommissioning, and current and potential Federal efforts that could contribute to more timely and better informed decisions regarding plant life and decommissioning.
- Aircraft Evacuation Testing: Research and Technology Issues
- This report describes the OTA study that examined regulatory, research, and technology issues related to passenger safety and evacuation testing.
- Anti-Satellite Weapons, Countermeasures, and Arms Control
- An assessment by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) of the "opportunities and risks involved in an accelerated program of research on new ballistic missile defense technologies, including those that might lead to deployment of weapons in space" (p. iii).
- Application of Solar Technology to Today's Energy Needs - Volume 2
- The second of two reports by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) , this volume "provides detailed information about the assumptions made in these calculations and the techniques employed" (p. iii).
- Assessing the Efficacy and Safety of Medical Technologies
- A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) examining "current Federal policies and current medical practices to determine whether a reasonable amount of justification should be provided before costly new medical technologies and procedures are put into general use" (quoted from Foreword).
- Assessing the Potential for Civil-Military Integration: Selected Case Studies
- This paper presents material from three of the case studies undertaken during the assessment: flat panel displays, polymeric composites, and shipbuilding. The three cases illustrate both the opportunities and the challenges facing those designing policies to increase the level of civil–military integration (CMI).
- Assessing the Potential for Civil-Military Integration: Technologies, Processes, and Practices
- This report responds to requests by the Senate and the House Armed Services Committees to investigate the potential for civil-military integration and the implications of such integration. It is divided into six chapters and five appendices.
- Ballistic Missile Defense Technologies
- An assessment by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) of the "opportunities and risks involved in an accelerated program of research on new ballistic missile defense technologies, including those that might lead to deployment of weapons in space" (Foreward).
- Benefit Design in Health Care Reform: Clinical Preventive Services
- This Report examines the evidence on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of selected clinical preventive services, and whether and how this information might be used to design insurance benefits.
- Benefit Design in Health Care Reform: Patient Cost-Sharing
- This paper examines the health services and economics literature to learn what is known about the effects of patient cost-sharing (that is, annual deductibles, coinsurance, copayments, and out-of-pocket maximurns) on patients’ use of health care services, on plan expenditures, and on patients’ health outcomes.
- Biological Components of Substance Abuse and Addiction
- This paper describes biological contributing factors to substance abuse and addiction. The second document being produced by this study will discuss the complex interactions of biochemical, physiological, psychological, and sociological factors leading to substance abuse and addiction.
- Biological Rhythms: Implications for the Worker
- This report discusses biological rhythms: what they are, how they are controlled by the brain, and the role they play in regulating physiological and cognitive functions. The major focus of the report is the examination of the effects of nonstandard work hours on biological rhythms and how these effects can interact with other factors to affect the health, performance, and safety of workers.
- Biologically Based Technologies for Pest Control
- This report covers technologies ranging from enhanced biological control of pests by their natural predators and parasites to commercial formulations of microbial pesticides. These technologies are grounded in an understanding of pest biology and have a relatively low probability of harmful effects on human health or the environment.
- Biology, medicine, and the Bill of Rights: special report
- This special report considers the implications of new developments in biological sciences for the freedoms and protections embedded in our Bill of Rights. It is one of a series of publications coming from OTA’s Constitutional Bicentennial Project, begun in 1987 at the request of the House Committee on the Judiciary and its Subcommittee on Courts, Civil Liberties, and the Administration of Justice.
- The Biology of Mental Disorders
- This report presents a summary of research into the biological factors associated with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and panic disorder. The report also discusses support for this research and the social context in which it moves forward.
- Biopolymers: Making Materials Nature's Way
- This report discusses a study that provides a basic introduction to biopolymer technology; profiles some of the more promising polymer materials; reviews research activities in the United States, Europe, and Japan; and describes the principal technical challenges and regulatory issues that may affect biopolymer commercialization efforts.
- Bringing Health Care Online: The Role of Information Technologies
- This report identifies key technologies and shows how they are being used to communicate clinical information, simplify administration of health care delivery, assess the quality of health care, inform the decision-making of providers and administrators, and support delivery of health care at a distance.
- Challenges for U.S. Agricultural Research Policy
- This report focuses on new ways to finance, organize, and manage agricultural research to prepare the system for the challenges of the next century.
- Children's Dental Services Under the Medicaid Program
- The report discusses the oral health of children eligible for Medicaid, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and its Subcommittee on Health and the Environment requested OTA to determine whether children eligible for Medicaid are provided at least a minimum level of dental care. This study compares the dental manuals of seven State Medicaid programs with a set of “basic’ dental services (which comprise shared components of various well-accepted dental guidelines) to see if States allow these particular services.
- Civilian Satellite Remote Sensing: A Strategic Approach
- 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.
- Cleaning Up Contaminated Wood-Treating Sites
- This report reviews technologies available for hazardous waste cleanup at wood-treating sites throughout the United States. OTA found that there are many Superfund wood-treatment sites located in this country that are very similar in terms of the contaminants present and the options selected for cleanup.
- Compilation of Abbreviations and Terms
- This paper contains glossaries of terms and abbreviations compiled from selected reports issued between 1987 and 1992 by the Health Program and the Biological and Behavioral Sciences Program of the Office of Technology Assessment.
- Computer-Based National Information Systems: Technology and Public Policy Issues
- A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that "presents the results of an overview study on the use of computer technology in national information systems and related public policy issues" (p. iii).
- Computer Technology in Medical Education and Assessment: Background Report
- A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that reviews "the state-of-the-art of the use of computer technology in medical education and assessment" and describes "the technologies and strategies for computer-based education and assessment, the current state of medical education and assessment activities, and computer applications in medicine" (p. iii).
- The Continuing Challenge of Tuberculosis
- This report synthesizes current understanding of tuberculosis (TB) in the United States, including the extent of the disease, the state of research of new preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic technologies to aid in its control, and the delivery of effective TB services. The report also provides an overview of Federal involvement in these activities.
- Contributions of DOE Weapons Labs and NIST to Semiconductor Technology
- This report examines how NIST and DOE weapons laboratories could contribute to advances in semiconductor technology aimed specifically at civilian applications. Semiconductor technology was chosen as an example of a technology focus for a civilian technology initiative, primarily because the industry had already developed a set of comprehensive technology roadmaps and the federal labs had substantial expertise in the area.
- Copper, technology & competitiveness
- This report responds to a request from the Technology Assessment Board—the congressional oversight body for the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA)–prompted by the balance-of-trade and other economic implications of these events. The report describes the conditions the domestic and world copper industry faced during the early 1980s. It documents the steps U.S. copper companies took to improve their position so dramatically in the mid-980s, and evaluates the industry’s present and possible future status, including relative costs of production and the elements of those costs.