This report discusses the rational for public access, approaches to public access, challenges and opportunities of new technology, and the potential impact on the government printing office.

This report discusses the national health insurance system in Canada. It describes the financing for health care, the costs of hospital and medical care.

This report of OTA has conducted a study of a wide range of topics, some of which have recently been receiving a great deal of scrutiny inside and outside the government. In order to derive information specific enough to guide possible congressional action and to be responsive to the requesting Committees, this examination of the issues is specifically tied to particular life-sustaining technologies and their use with patients who are elderly. At the same time, much of this information is applicable to life-sustaining technology in general and to citizens of all ages.

This report discusses the problem of decision-making for incompetent or questionably competent elderly people as one of the most serious issues facing Americans.

This report provides background information on the tasks of studying alternative physician payment methodologies including replacement of CPR system with national or regional fee schedule.

This report discusses the enteral or parenteral nutritional support as a therapy for anyone, including someone 65 or older, who is unable to meet his/her nutrition needs with meals and snack due to inadequate ingestion or impaired digestion or absorption.

This report provides statistics on financial aid debt, type of financial aid, salary and percent of financial aid for the Science/Engineering students.

This report describes a study that includes a review of the history of the losses of customer funds due to the insolvency of a future commission merchant.

This report starts out with introduction to history of intellectual property protection for plants. It discusses federal statutory protection for plans, the plant patent act, the plant variety protection act, and utility patents. The report offers a comparison of various statutes and other forms of intellectual property.

Compilation of report abstracts for publications in the Office of Technology Assessment "Health Technology Case Studies Series" which provide background information on technologies related to healthcare and medicine.

This background paper was requested by the House Government Operations Committee and its Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations and Human Resources. In it, OTA describes policies issued by Federal agencies concerning the identification, assessment, and regulation of carcinogenic chemicals; the chemicals that have been regulated because of carcinogenic risk; the Federal Government’s carcinogenicity testing program; and the results of OTA’s analysis of the extent of agency action on chemicals determined to be carcinogenic.

This report discusses the development of telecommunications technologies and the study of distance learning. OTA was asked to analyze various technological options, examine current development, and identify how Federal, State and local policies could encourage more efficient and effective use.

The report discusses contamination of the hydrogeological system (a primer), technologies to improve nutrient and pest management, farmer decision-making and technical assistance to reduce agrichemical contamination of groundwater, and public influences on agrichemical contamination of groundwater.

This paper presents the status of national efforts to cleanup dioxin-contaminated sites and the technologies that have been used, proposed, and researched. It covers thermal and nonthermal treatment techniques as well as approaches such as stabilization and storage. It discusses the development of these technologies as well as advantages and disadvantages of their use.

This report provides an overview of progress made by nine compacts and the remaining unaffiliated States in developing disposal facilities. Disposal costs have more than tripled while LLW volumes have dropped by more than half over the last decade. Since many costs associated with developing and operating a disposal facility are fixed, unit disposal costs will increase substantially as new facilities open. This may lead States to consider the economics of cooperative arrangements, which would permit them to trade waste services and construct fewer full-service disposal facilities.

This report finds that many State EMS systems are fragmented and lacking resources to remedy EMS problems in rural areas. Many rural EMS programs lack specialized EMS providers, have inadequate EMS transportation and communications equipment, and are not part of a planned regional EMS system. The report describes the availability and distribution of emergency medical service (EMS) resources (e.g., personnel, transportation, facilities) and examines how limited Federal resources can be used to improve rural EMS. In addition, the report discusses how Federal EMS resources might be targeted to States’ rural areas.

This report analyzes various technologies that may be important for future advances in miniaturization. Current research in the United States and other nations is pushing the limits of miniaturization to the point that structures only hundreds of atoms thick will be commonly manufactured. Researchers studying atomic and molecular interactions are continuing to push the frontiers, creating knowledge needed to continue progress in miniaturization. Scientists and engineers are creating microscopic mechanical structures and biological sensors that will have novel and diverse applications.

This report examines the U.S. preparations process for WARC-92, highlighting efforts to integrate the needs and concerns of various interest groups. It also reviews the forces and trends affecting the United States as it approaches WARC-92, and is intended to inform future congressional oversight of the domestic and international radio communication policy process.

This paper describes a number of suggestions to improve the value of the USGCRP to both scientists and policymakers. The report observes that the USGCRP is focused narrowly on climate change. As a result, USGCRP may not be able to provide decision makers and natural resource managers with the information they will need to respond to other aspects of global change, The background paper also explicates the continuing debate over whether the sensors and satellites planned by USGCRP: 1) will be able to acquire data in sufficient detail to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for global change; 2) are appropriate for long-term monitoring of key indices of global change.

This background paper examines evidence of the risk of HIV transmission in the health care workplace and discusses the policy implications of CDC guidelines and congressional actions in response to this risk.

This report focuses on key assumptions that will affect the sizing and procurement of the new FBI system, and on other related steps that appear necessary to ensure complete and up-to-date record systems. These include full implementation of a Federal/State/local partnership for maintaining and exchanging fingerprint and criminal history records; enactment of an interstate compact or Federal legislation setting out uniform rules for the exchange of such records; standards and funding for improving criminal history record completeness and disposition reporting; and privacy and security protections for electronic fingerprint and record information.

An assessment by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that looks at the international competitiveness of the electronics technology industry.

A technical memorandum by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that "estimates plausible levels of world oil production to the year 2000 and assesses the factors likely to determine which levels are actually reached" (p. iii).

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that is a "background to an analysis of Federal policies regarding the medical devices industry" (p. 4).