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Adult Literacy and New Technologies: Tools for a Lifetime

Description: Adult education needs are difficult to define and difficult to meet; what constitutes adequate literacy changes continually as the demands facing individuals grow more complex. This report is an attempt to identify those capabilities, along with limitations, and outline how new information technologies can be marshaled to meet the goal of a fully literate citizenry.
Date: July 1993
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Alternative Coca Reduction Strategies in the Andean Region

Description: This report identifies opportunities for and constraints to reducing Andean coca production through: 1) improving U.S. alternative development efforts and 2) applying biological control technology (bio-control) to eradicate illegally produced coca.
Date: July 1993
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Assessment of Oil Shale Technologies—Vol. II: A History and Analysis of the Federal Prototype Oil Shale Leasing Program

Description: The report includes discussions of political, economic, environmental, and energy-related factors that affected both the 1968 leasing attempt and its successor—the current Prototype Program. The Program’s goals are identified, and its progress and status are examined to determine if those goals have been met or are likely to be met in the foreseeable future.
Date: July 1980
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Automated Record Checks for Firearm Purchasers: Issues and Options

Description: This report assesses the proposals and prospects for automated checks, ranging from the point-of-sale “instant” check now used by the State of Virginia, to the establishment of a computerized national felons file, to live scanning of fingerprints, or the issuance of ‘smart’ cards to identify firearm purchasers. It considers the benefits, costs, and risks of automated checks. The report examines the relationship between automated record checks and waiting periods, the wide variability in State c… more
Date: July 1991
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Catching Our Breath: Next Steps for Reducing Urban Ozone

Description: This report on urban ozone was requested by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and its Subcommittee on Health and the Environment in anticipation of the upcoming reauthorization of the Clean Air Act. Of the air pollutants that the Act covers, ozone has been the most difficult to bring under control; it may well be the most expensive.
Date: July 1989
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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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.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Confused Minds, Burdened Families: Finding Help for People With Alzheimer's and Other Dementias

Description: This OTA report analyzes the problem of locating and arranging services for people with dementia, presents a framework for an effective system to connect them to appropriate services, and discusses congressional policy options for establishing such a system. One of the main policy issues is whether the system should serve people with dementia exclusively or serve people with other diseases and conditions as well.
Date: July 1990
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Contractor report on mineral processing

Description: This report discusses the processing of titanium and associated heavy minerals, the general explorations of offshore deposits, and offshore titanium heavy minerals production scenarios.
Date: July 1987
Creator: Harvey, W. William
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
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Defining "Rural" Areas: Impact on Health Care Policy and Research

Description: This paper examines dichotomous designations used to define rural and urban areas and discusses how they are applied in certain Federal programs. In addition, several topologies are described that are useful in showing the diversity that exists within rural areas.
Date: July 1989
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Drug Bioequivalence

Description: Report of the findings from a panel of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) regarding drug bioequivalence therapies. According to the report, the purpose of the Drug Bioequivalence Study Panel "was to examine the relationships between the chemical and therapeutic equivalence of drug products and to assess the capability of current technology -- short of therapeutic trials in man -- to determine whether drug products with the same physical and chemical composition produce comparable therap… more
Date: July 1974
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment. Drug Bioequivalence Study Panel.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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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 From Biological Processes

Description: An assessment by the Office of Technology Assessment that examines the "energy potential of various sources of plant and animal matter (biomass)," giving an analysis of "prominent biomass issues, summaries of four biomass fuel cycles, a description of biomass' place in two plausible energy futures, and discussions of policy options for promoting energy from biomass" (p. iii).
Date: July 1980
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Energy Technology Choices: Shaping Our Future

Description: The report provides a broad overview of energy choices facing the Nation. It is not an exhaustive analysis of any one technology; rather, it draws together the main themes of OTA reports from the past 16 years, and other documents, into an outline of the main directions the country could follow.
Date: July 1991
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Environmental Technology: Analysis of Selected Federal R&D Programs

Description: This report discusses estimates of environmental technology R&D spending, interagency coordination mechanisms, and major federal programs, including programs administered by the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, and several other agencies.
Date: July 1995
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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EPA Superfund Actions and ATSDR Public Health Data

Description: This paper discusses how EPA sets Superfund cleanup priorities based on Superfund site health ranking data provided by ATSDR. It examines several parameters by which EPA site prioritization might be measured, including timeliness, cost, and use of special removal actions at the worst sites.
Date: July 1995
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Evaluating Defense Department Research

Description: This paper discusses briefly (1) the purposes of research directed toward support of the defense science and technology base and (2) criteria for judging government-supported, military oriented research portfolios. It will not cover, except tangentially, research into science and technology directed to civilian uses or the more advanced development phase of military weapons and systems.
Date: July 1990
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The evolution of distance learning: technology-mediated interactive learning: a report for the study, "Technologies for learning at a distance", Science, Education, and Transportation Program

Description: This report has two primary goals. One objective is to provide provocative ideas on how emerging forces external to education may shape the future of distance learning. The second purpose is to depict a potential new field, technology-mediated interactive learning, that may result from synthesis of distance learning, cooperative learning, and computer-supported cooperative work.
Date: July 1989
Creator: Dede, Christopher
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Exploring the Moon and Mars: Choices for the Nation

Description: This report, the result of an assessment of the potential for automation and robotics technology to assist in the exploration of the Moon and Mars, raises a number of issues related to the goals of the U.S. civilian space program. Among other things, the report discusses how greater attention to automation and robotics technologies could contribute to U.S. space exploration efforts.
Date: July 1991
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Forest Service Planning: Setting Strategic Direction Under RPA

Description: This report evaluates past RPA efforts, reviews the process used by the Forest Service in preparing the 1989 RPA Assessment and the Draft 1990 RPA Program, and identities options for improving RPA’s contribution to long-range planning and to policy and budget deliberations. The second OTA report on Forest Service planning will review national forest planning, and will examine the relationship between national planning under RPA and forest planning under NFMA.
Date: July 1990
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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