This report is the final, summarizing report in a series of products from a broad assessment of space transportation technologies undertaken by OTA for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

This 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. In addition, OTA was asked to: 1 ) identify risk and protective factors for adolescent health problems and integrate national data in order to understand the clustering of specific adolescent problems, 2) evaluate options in the organization of health services and technologies available to adolescents (including accessibility and financing), 3) assess options in the conduct of national health surveys to improve collection of adolescent health statistics, and 4) identify gaps in research on the health and behavior of adolescents.

This report discusses the assessment of disorders causing dementia with disabled veterans.

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that looks at federal policies that affect coal exports and port development and finds that "sizable increases in future U.S. coal exports are achievable if the Federal Government and the private sector complement the efforts of each in encouraging these exports and if present trends are not drastically altered by developments in other exporting and importing countries" (Preface).

An assessment by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that looks "not only at robots but also at related computer-based technologies for design, production, and management" and "the technologies of programmable automation, their uses, and future capabilities" (p. iii).

This paper presents an analysis of the cost-effectiveness of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening in average-risk adults beginning at age 50. It examines the relative cost effectiveness of competing CRC screening technologies and schedules.

This paper reviews the evidence that elevation of serum cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia) is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease in the elderly and that the detection and treatment of hypercholesterolemia in an elderly individual who does not have clinically apparent heart disease will diminish overall morbidity or mortality. It also estimates health care expenditures associated with screening and treatment of hypercholesterolemia in the elderly.

This report identifies several immediate steps the Federal Government could take. First, new environmental standards, population shifts, and industrial changes have transformed the nature of many public works problems, and Federal programs must be refocused to fit the new circumstances. Second, if we expect to maintain our economic health, the Nation must increase its investment in public works, despite budget dilemmas.

This report discusses how dementia affects the quality of life, the increasing number of demented persons, the onset of dementia conditions.

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that "examines the complete coal system, from extraction to combustion, including the key steps and institutions that policy can influence" (p. iii).

A background paper by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that "describes and assesses current concepts for directed-energy ballistic missile defense in space" (p. 3).

This report discusses economic consideration in regulating neurotoxic substances which involves balancing the economic benefits of utilizing these substances commercially against their actual or potential risks to human health and the environment.

The objective of this report is to identify and explore conditions under which office automation has been successfully and productively implemented in New York city municipal offices.

This background paper discusses the technological options available for use in an electronic system to deliver public assistance benefits, the privacy and security implications of such a system, and the programmatic effects of changing to an electronic delivery system. It was requested by the Subcommittee on the Handicapped of the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources.

The purpose of this report is to obtain empirical data about how the potential monitoring capabilities of new office systems technology are, in fact, being taken up by management and reacted to by employees.

Papers delivered at the fourth Henniker Conference on National Materials Policy.

This report describes the experiences of the Atlanta Area ADRDA Chapter over a two year period in the development, establishment, and direction of Community Services Program for persons with Alzheimer's diseases and related disorders.

A report covering a study conducted by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). The study looks at "the feasibility and value of using broadband communications to provide public services for rural areas" (p. I-1).

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that "evaluates the assumptions, methods, and results of the two current models used to forecast the number and kinds of physicians the country is likely to need and have" in order to aid Congress in creating policies of health services and health resources (p. iii).

This report examines the delivery of energy services in developing countries and how the United States can help to improve these energy services while minimizing environmental impacts, OTA examines the technologies and policies that will enable more efficient use of energy and the most promising new sources of energy supply.

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that looks at global modeling studies and examines "the present use and potential usefulness of this rapidly, developing technology, as a powerful tool for long-range strategic analysis and policy development" (p. ii).

This is the second of two OTA assessments on the subject of high-temperature superconductivity (HTS). As the title suggests, this study attempts to put HTS in perspective, both in terms of competing technologies (e.g., the more mature low-temperature superconductors), and in terms of the many technical and economic problems that must be overcome before HTS can be widely used.

This report examines the management of DoD technology base programs and laboratories. It also analyzes the process through which technology is introduced into defense systems, in order to understand why it takes so long and what might be done to speed the process up. Finally, this report examines the exploitation of civilian commercial sector technology for defense needs. It concentrates on the dual questions of expediting military access to civilian technology and keeping the necessary base of technology alive and well in the United States.

The House Committee on Government Operations, Subcommittee on Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations asked the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) to document the extent to which federally funded research on AIDS/HIV has contributed to advances in other fields including biomedical and behavior research, prevention, patient care, and health care financing. In response to this request OTA conducted a survey of distinguished biomedical and social scientists. This Staff Paper reports on the results of that survey.