This report discusses the processing of titanium and associated heavy minerals, the general explorations of offshore deposits, and offshore titanium heavy minerals production scenarios.

This report describes a study which purpose is to address the question of whether certain types of educational institutions are more effective than others in producing baccalaureates who continue on to earn a science/engineering (S/E) Ph.D., and subsequently enter the S/E work force as well as pursue research careers.

The international competitiveness of American firms in most manufacturing industries has been in decline, in large part because of growing competence in other parts of the world. As this assessment shows, the United States remains highly competitive in many service industries, But trade in services will remain small compared to trade in goods, and many of the benefits from foreign investments by American service firms accrue to the host nations where U.S.-based banks, insurance companies, accounting firms, and other suppliers of services do business, Services cannot right the Nation’s trade balance, even granting the many ways in which a strongly competitive service sector benefits the competitiveness of American manufacturing firms.

A report on 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.

A report on exploring the EEZ for its mineral potential is in response to a joint request from the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. It examines the current knowledge about the hard mineral resources within the EEZ, explores the economic and security potential of seabed resources, assesses the technologies available to both explore for and mine those resources, identifies issues that face the Congress and the executive branch, and finally presents options to the Congress for dealing with these issues.

This background paper shows, the implementation of Federal historic preservation laws with respect to historic landscapes lags far behind the effort expended on historic buildings and archaeological sites.

This report responds to requests from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs for an assessment of the economic and strategic implications of technology transfer to the People’s Republic of China and of Congressional actions that would affect it. In addition, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence endorsed the study request.

This special report presents the results of OTA’s analyses of a group of factors we believe will strongly influence the future direction of U.S. oil production. These factors include the expected profitability of new investments in drilling, the potential of new oil exploration, development, and production technologies, the nature of the remaining oil resource base, and structural changes in the oil industry. The special report also provides a brief discussion of some policy options for Congress to consider if it decides to moderate the expected accelerated decline in U.S. oil production.