Aid to developing countries: the technology/ecology fit (open access)

Aid to developing countries: the technology/ecology fit

This report focuses primarily on AID and to a lesser extent on the World Bank. AID and the World Bank have made the most observable efforts to integrate environmental and development concerns.
Date: June 1987
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Nuclear Proliferation and Safeguards: Appendix Volume II, Part Two (open access)

Nuclear Proliferation and Safeguards: Appendix Volume II, Part Two

The focus of this report is the construction of nuclear power plants abroad, especially the problem of assuring that none of the plutonium produced in these plants is diverted for use in weapons.
Date: June 1977
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Technology and Aging in America (open access)

Technology and Aging in America

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that "discusses five chronic conditions that severely affect older persons-osteoarthritis, dementia, osteoporosis, hearing impairments, and urinary incontinence" (p. iii).
Date: June 1985
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
International Cooperation and Competition in Civilian Space Activities (open access)

International Cooperation and Competition in Civilian Space Activities

The findings of an assessment by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) on "international cooperation and competition in civilian space activities" (p. iii).
Date: June 1985
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Review of Postal Automation Strategy: A Technical and Decision Analysis (open access)

Review of Postal Automation Strategy: A Technical and Decision Analysis

A memorandum by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that reviews the "United States Postal Service (USPS) decision to utilizes single-line optical character readers (OCRs) instead of multi-line OCRs" and conducts "a comparative technical and economic analysis of the two technologies in the context of the overall postal automation program" (Foreward).
Date: June 1984
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
New technology for NATO: implementing Follow-On Forces Attack (open access)

New technology for NATO: implementing Follow-On Forces Attack

The report briefly reviews what Follow-On Forces Attack (FOFA) is and how it fits into NATO strategy, but is primarily concerned with the outstanding technical issues, how our Allies view FOFA, how the Soviets might respond to it, and how the various technical developments might be brought together into “packages” of systems to support specific operational concepts.
Date: June 1987
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Physical Vulnerability of Electric Systems to Natural Disasters and Sabotage (open access)

Physical Vulnerability of Electric Systems to Natural Disasters and Sabotage

This report offers an analysis of the vulnerability of electric power system specific equipment which is included in a separate appendix that is under classification review by the Department of Energy. This appendix will be made available only under appropriate safeguards by the Department of Energy.
Date: June 1990
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Big Picture: HDTV and High-Resolution Systems (open access)

The Big Picture: HDTV and High-Resolution Systems

A report on High Definition Television (HDTV. During 1989, HDTV moved from obscurity to center stage in the ongoing debate over the role of the Federal Government in U.S. industrial competitiveness. HDTV and related High-Resolution System (HRS) technologies in the computer and communications sectors may significantly impact U.S. electronics manufacturing, accelerate fundamental restructuring of the U.S. communications infrastructure, and provide a host of valuable services.
Date: June 1990
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Paying the Bill: Manufacturing and America's Trade Deficit (open access)

Paying the Bill: Manufacturing and America's Trade Deficit

This special report analyzes the causes of the deterioration in America’s trade performance and examines the importance of U.S. manufacturing in helping the nation improve its position in international trade. The report was requested by Senator John Heinz as part of an assessment of technology, innovation and U.S. trade requested by the Senate Committee on Finance; the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; and the House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs. A final report will be published in 1989.
Date: June 1988
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Quality of Medical Care: Information for Consumers (open access)

The Quality of Medical Care: Information for Consumers

Changes in how physicians and hospitals are paid have made individual consumers, health insurers, employers, and medical providers more sensitive to the cost implications of their decisions. At the same time, these policy changes have elevated the importance of having consumers be informed about the quality of medical providers. Purchasers of medical care (individual consumers, employers, health insurers) need to know about any differences in quality so that they can weigh quality along with cost in making decisions.
Date: June 1988
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Grassroots Development: The African Development Foundation (open access)

Grassroots Development: The African Development Foundation

This is OTA’S third report on U.S. foreign aid and African agriculture and the most comprehensive look at a single program. It complements a larger, more general work in press on enhancing agriculture in Africa and its already-published companion report on the Sahel Development Program. The House Foreign Affairs Committee, its Subcommittee on Africa, and the House Select Committee on Hunger requested this study. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Subcommittee on African Affairs, endorsed their request.
Date: June 1988
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
How effective is AIDS education? (open access)

How effective is AIDS education?

This paper summarizes what is known about the effectiveness of AIDS education programs and programs in other health-related areas. Also documented are AIDS education programs currently being funded by selected Federal agencies. What is known and not known about the effectiveness of past education can guide the design of future AIDS education and the research agendas of Federal agencies.
Date: June 1988
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Plague of Locusts: Special Report (open access)

Plague of Locusts: Special Report

This is OTA’S fifth report on U.S. foreign aid and African agriculture and our most detailed look at one specific problem. The report provides a background on the unusual nature of grasshopper and locust problems, examine t e implications this has for the way problems are treated, then consider how U.S. contributions to the bilateral and multilateral control effort might be improved.
Date: June 1990
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Adolescent Health, Volume 3: Crosscutting Issues in the Delivery of Health and Related Services (open access)

Adolescent Health, Volume 3: Crosscutting Issues in the Delivery of Health and Related Services

OTA’s 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.
Date: June 1991
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Agricultural Commodities as Industrial Raw Materials (open access)

Agricultural Commodities as Industrial Raw Materials

This report examines potential new crops and traditional crops for industrial uses including replacements for petroleum and imported strategic materials; replacements for imported newsprint, wood rosins, rubbers, and oils; and degradable plastics. This report finds that, in the absence of additional and more comprehensive policies, developing industrial uses for agricultural commodities alone is unlikely to revitalize rural economies and solve the problems of American agriculture.
Date: June 1991
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Energy Use and the U.S. Economy (open access)

Energy Use and the U.S. Economy

The background paper extends the analysis of energy use into new areas by explicitly looking at how energy use has changed with the expansion of the service sector, the explosion of international trade, and greater complexity of the U.S. economy as the structure of businesses changed in response to new technologies and competitive challenges. The increasing sophistication of the U.S. economy means that the role of energy is less likely to be directly identified and is instead more likely to be an indirect factor that was added many steps before in the complex network that connects producer to consumer. This report explicitly separates direct from indirect energy use.
Date: June 1990
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Helping America Compete: The Role of Federal Scientific and Technical Information (open access)

Helping America Compete: The Role of Federal Scientific and Technical Information

This Special Report assesses how Federal scientific and technical information (STI) can contribute to a more competitive America and what actions are needed to realize this potential. The report was prepared in response to a request from the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
Date: June 1990
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Health Insurance: The Hawaii Experience (open access)

Health Insurance: The Hawaii Experience

This paper provides a detailed look at the State that is often considered a model for what States can do to help provide universal or near universal health insurance coverage for their residents. The paper discusses the history of health insurance provision in Hawaii, emphasizing two relatively recent State insurance laws: 1) the 1974 law that required employers to offer coverage to most of their employees, and 2) the 1989 law that provided a State subsidy for coverage of those individuals who fell in the gap between employment-based coverage and Medicaid coverage. The paper addresses the difficulties faced in evaluating the impact of Hawaii’s various attempts to provide coverage and access, and speaks to whether all or parts of Hawaii’s experience can be transferred to other States or to the Nation as a whole.
Date: June 1993
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The CDC's Case Definition of AIDS: Implications of Proposed Revisions (open access)

The CDC's Case Definition of AIDS: Implications of Proposed Revisions

This background paper examines the epidemiologic evidence used by the CDC in deciding to revise the AIDS case definition and the impact the proposed definition will have on surveillance. The paper also explores the logistical consequences and other implications of the revised definition, including its impact on Social Security disability determinations.
Date: June 1990
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Climate Treaties and Models: Issues in the International Management of Climate Change (open access)

Climate Treaties and Models: Issues in the International Management of Climate Change

This paper seeks to place the issue of climate change within an international context. Specifically, it addresses the feasibility of forging treaty agreements among countries to achieve significant worldwide reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases.
Date: June 1994
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Integrated renewable resource management for U.S. insular areas (open access)

Integrated renewable resource management for U.S. insular areas

The report on renewable resource development can help foster self-sufficiency, but certain approaches are not compatible with sustained development (e. g., harvesting resources until long-term productivity is lost, resources are depleted, or the environment is degraded). Similarly, policies, programs, and projects that seriously conflict with local cultures and customs are likely to be counterproductive.
Date: June 1987
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Western surface mine permitting and reclamation (open access)

Western surface mine permitting and reclamation

This report responds to a request from the House Committee on interior and Insu- Iar Affairs to assess the ability of current mining and reclamation technologies and methodologies, and of Federal programs and policies, to meet the statutory mandates for environmental protection in reclaiming the surface of Western coal mined lands.
Date: June 1986
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Who Goes There: Friend or Foe? (open access)

Who Goes There: Friend or Foe?

This report discusses the problem of fratricide, or “friendly fire” casualties among combat units. The House Armed Services Committee requested that OTA assess the technology and techniques available to reduce this tragic loss of life.
Date: June 1993
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Adolescent Health Insurance Status: Analyses of Trends in Coverage and Preliminary Estimates of the Effects of an Employer Mandate and Medicaid Expansion on the Uninsured (open access)

Adolescent Health Insurance Status: Analyses of Trends in Coverage and Preliminary Estimates of the Effects of an Employer Mandate and Medicaid Expansion on the Uninsured

This report examines the health insurance status of adolescents (10 to 18 years of age) based on census data. It considers the reasons that some adolescents are insured and others are not, changes in the number of uninsured adolescents over time, and the effects of various approaches to ensure that more adolescents have insurance.
Date: June 1989
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library