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.

This report examines the role wireless technologies will play in the emerging National Information Infrastructure (NII) and identifies the challenges that policymakers, regulators, and wireless service providers will face as they begin to more closely integrate wireless systems with existing wireline networks. The report also discusses some of the technical and social implications of the widespread use of wireless technologies— paying particular attention to the profound changes that wireless systems may cause in patterns of mobility.

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.

The analysis in this report identifies priority environmental targets across the country for water quality, wildlife, and soil quality. A tripartite set of programs designed to lower cost and achieve more enduring solutions illustrates possible approaches to the targets.

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.

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).

This paper summarizes the workshop discussion and contains the commissioned papers in their entirety. In June 1995, the contractors and a number of other prominent educators were invited to OTA for an all-day workshop to discuss these papers and the issues more broadly.

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.

This report discusses the definition of honesty and integrity tests defined by OTA. The definition does not necessarily resolve ambiguities over the universe of tests that should be considered integrity tests. Controversy surrounds the meanings of integrity and honesty in the workplace; there is disagreement over whether integrity tests differ from other personnel tests in design or in the kinds of inferences they support; and there is little relative information on how integrity and honesty tests are actually used in hiring decisions.

The background paper does not attempt to provide a comprehensive critique of national statistics and does not introduce new research designed to solve the technical problems. It is, instead, designed to show how defects in the existing statistical system can limit our understanding of key economic issues and to demonstrate the ways that better management and coordination of America’s statistical agencies can lead to concrete improvements.

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.

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).

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).

This report discusses the assessment of non-indigenous-species (NIS), and has three focal points: the status of harmful NIS in the United States; technological issues regarding decision making and species management; and institutional and policy frameworks. Each chapter elaborates on the findings summarized here and contains additional examples of problem species and their locations.

This background paper discusses the legacy of 40 years of U.S. university/AID collaboration, and examines new opportunities for U.S. university participation in development assistance.

A report on heritable mutations, permanent changes in the genetic material that can be passed on to succeeding generations, are the cause of a large but currently unquantifiable share of embryonic and fetal loss, disease, disability, and early death in the United States today. The methods now available to study heritable mutations, however, offer relatively little information about the kinds of mutations that can occur, their frequency, or their causes.

This report deals with the use of computer-based technologies to measure how fast or how accurately employees work. New computer-based office systems are giving employers new ways to supervise job performance and control employees’ use of telephones, but such systems are also controversial because they generate such detailed information about the employees they monitor.

This report describes technologies for fish passage, and those for protection against turbine entrainment and mortality, with an emphasis on FERC-licensed hydropower projects.

This report presents the primary findings of an assessment requested by the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. The Subcommittee on Public Lands is carrying out a major review of how Federal agencies implement Federal preservation policy. This assessment directly supports the Committee’s review by showing how the uses of certain methods, techniques, as well as tools and equipment can assist Federal, State, and local preservation efforts.

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that "clarifies the policy issues surrounding technology transfer to developing countries, by highlighting tradeoffs among various commercial, political, and development assistance policy goals, and by suggesting options for more consistent policies affecting technology transfer to developing countries" (p. iii).

The first in six reports by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that addresses "1) vaccine research, development, and production; 2)vaccine safety and efficacy; 3) cost-effectiveness of vaccination and implications for reimbursement; and 4) liability and compensation for vaccine-related injuries" (p. 4).

This report examines the question of how telecommunication related aid policies might be designed to support both United States trade and foreign aid goals.

This report responds to requests by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the House Committee on Government Operations to assess the role that communication and information technologies play in the securities markets. The Committee desired a benchmark for gauging progress made toward the national market system envisioned by the 1975 Act. This report assesses the current use of information technology by U.S. securities exchanges and over-the-counter dealers, by related futures and options markets, and by associated industries and regulatory agencies.

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) examining the "status of biomedical research and technologies for controlling tropical diseases" (p. iii).