This report discusses the commodity programs that have been developed over the years with the objective to raise farm outcomes.

This report starts out with definitions of child abuse and neglect, then it discusses the manifestation, effect and costs of child abuse and neglect, short term and long term.

This report discusses the benefits and challenges of distance education. It address the question how distance learning can change our approach to learning and how it can change us.

This report offers a brief review of the general characteristics of distance education, and reports the research of the 1980s on the main issues in teaching, learning, educational planning. organization and policy making with regard to use of communications technology in contemporary distance education.

This report discusses the history of distance learning technology, the number of new and complex technological devices that could be applied to distance learning.

This report examines two problems facing small communities surrounded by large-scale agriculture: 1) the emerging opposition of the social and economic interests dividing agribusiness and the rural community, and 2) the lack of articulation of social programs to rural areas.

This report considers the relationships that exist among farmers' credit use, credit policies, and various structural issues in agriculture. Different sections in this report highlight the importance of these relationships, consider the role of technology, review some of the prevailing views on credit policy and structural issues, and consider the implications for additional information.

This report discusses Chinese management, labor productivity, quality of industrial and consumer products, costumer service level, and worker motivation.

This report starts out with an overview of China's politics, the post-Mao era. The report continues with China's policy evaluation.

This report discusses the challenges in the agricultural research with that come with the recent development in genetics and molecular biology. The report discusses the breakthroughs in agricultural research in creating new knowledge in both animal and plant worlds.

This report discusses various land management technologies that are under development in response to needs to reduce soil erosion, reduce leaching of plant nutrients and chemicals, and reduce fuel costs, while maintaining or increasing crops. The paper discuses the following lines of research: conservation tillage, controlled traffic farming, costumed prescribed tillage, multi-cropping, and organic farming.

This report discusses the genetically engineering procedures, including: definitions and scopes, production of pharmaceuticals, control of infectious diseases, major breakthroughs needed, detection and treatment of genetic abnormalities, control of caner and leukemia, and institutional arrangements.

This report discusses the impact of several industries on China's economic future. The clothing and consumer electronics industry,the motor vehicle industry. The report describes the ranking Chinese, South Korean and Japanese exports to the United States.

This report discusses the railway systems in China, United States and Canada. A number of Chinese PRC railroad officers, engineers, transportation specialists, and planning experts studied in the USA.

This technical memorandum concludes that although the technology is available to create a mediasat system, the high cost and current low demand for remotely sensed data will limit media efforts to own and operate a dedicated remote sensing satellite system.

A report on analyzes the reasons behind widely divergent estimates of the costs associated with AIDS. Because of the great variation in methods used, the results are not strictly comparable across studies.

This assessment analyzes how the Nation’s power systems could accommodate various proposals for competition intended to make the electric power industry more responsive to market forces. Operation of an electric power system is extremely complex, and increased competition could have serious effects on costs and reliability if not implemented carefully. The assessment identifies the technical requirements that must be met to keep the system working well as the level of competition increases, and determines how competitive enterprises could meet these requirements.

This background paper is the second in a series of OTA studies being carried out under an assessment of “New Developments in Biotechnology. ” Volume one in the series examined commercialization and ownership of human tissues and cells, and forthcoming reports will include evaluations of: U.S. investment in biotechnology; genetically engineered organisms in the environment; tests for human genetic disorders; and the impact of intellectual property law on biotechnology. The assessment was requested by the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

This technical memorandum is about problems arising out of success. Recent advances in medical technology have permitted sick children who once would have died to survive with the assistance of sophisticated equipment and intensive nursing care. Often, the assistance is needed for just a short time, but sometimes the dependence on life-sustaining technology is permanent. As technology for helping keep children alive has improved, a new population of technology-dependent children has emerged.

This Special Report is the frost product of OTA assessment of international collaboration in defense technology. It provides an overview of the subject and analyzes the impact that changes in the environment of defense technology and reduced East-West tensions will exert on defense industrial cooperation and associated alliance relations.

This report illustrates a range of options for congressional action in nine principal areas of public policy related to infertility: collecting data on reproductive health; preventing infertility; information to inform and protect consumers; providing access to infertility services; reproductive health of veterans; transfer of human eggs, sperm, and embryos; recordkeeping; surrogate motherhood; and reproductive research.

This report focuses on the Federal Government, the Nation’s largest single energy consumer, in terms of the opportunities and constraints for the use of energy efficient technologies. Energy efficient technologies could greatly reduce energy demand growth and spending in the United States and lessen environmental impacts while increasing productivity. Yet, in today’s public and private markets, adoption rates for many of these technologies are low. This report reviews past and current efforts to improve Federal energy efficiency and discusses policy options that could accelerate the adoption of these measures by the Federal Government.

This report in the series illustrates a range of options for congressional action in three major areas of public policy related to this application of biotechnology: the criteria for review of planned introductions for potential risk, the administrative mechanisms for applying such review criteria, and the research base supporting planned introductions.

As analytical technology improves, we are discovering dioxins associated with many products commonly found in the home and workplace. This report provides an assessment of these technologies; it does not address the policy issues related to regulating dioxin in paper products and controlling environmental release.