This report profiles the structures of four domestic nonferrous metals industries (copper, aluminurn, lead, and zinc) and the changes they have undergone since 1980. The study also outlines the U.S. position in the world markets.

The report discusses the oral health of children eligible for Medicaid, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and its Subcommittee on Health and the Environment requested OTA to determine whether children eligible for Medicaid are provided at least a minimum level of dental care. This study compares the dental manuals of seven State Medicaid programs with a set of “basic’ dental services (which comprise shared components of various well-accepted dental guidelines) to see if States allow these particular services.

This report is about access of people in rural America to basic health care services. This report focuses on trends in the availability of primary and acute health care in rural areas and factors affecting those trends.

This report describes the unconventional cancer treatments that are most used by U.S. cancer patients; it describes the way in which people find out about them and how much they pay for them; reviews the claims made for them and the information base in support of the claims; suggests possible ways of generating valid information about their safety and effectiveness; and presents the legal issues surrounding unconventional treatments that have brought civil and criminal litigation to bear on the subject.

This report focuses on the training given to employed workers both from the standpoint of the competitiveness of U.S. industry and from the standpoint of the individual worker who may need training to advance. Most workers who get training get it from their employer, and much of the report looks at the employer provided training system. The message of this report is that the debate about national training policies needs to be broadened to encompass not only training programs for the economically disadvantaged, the displaced worker, or people with special needs, but also those who stand on the front line of American productivity-employed workers at all levels.

This report responds to requests by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the House Committee on Government Operations to assess the role that communication and information technologies play in the securities markets. The Committee desired a benchmark for gauging progress made toward the national market system envisioned by the 1975 Act. This report assesses the current use of information technology by U.S. securities exchanges and over-the-counter dealers, by related futures and options markets, and by associated industries and regulatory agencies.

In this report OTA gives a broad overview of the qualities of the competing fuels and examines in depth some of the most contentious issues associated with the wisdom of active Federal support for introducing the fuels. Areas of uncertainty that affect the debate on Federal support include fuel cost (including costs of building new infrastructure and modifying vehicles); the air quality effects of the new fuels; effects on energy security; other environmental impacts of the fuels; and consumer acceptance of the changes in vehicle performance, refueling procedures, costs, and other facets of the transportation system that would follow a large-scale introduction of any of the fuels. The report singles out for special examination the arguments concerning the costs, energy security implications, and air quality impacts of introducing methanol fuels into the fleet.

This Background Paper examines the evidence of the effectiveness of drug abuse treatment; it also evaluates the role that such treatment might play in reducing the spread of HIV. Because most intravenous drug users are not in treatment, the paper also examines other approaches to HIV prevention among this high-risk group.

This report discusses the definition of honesty and integrity tests defined by OTA. The definition does not necessarily resolve ambiguities over the universe of tests that should be considered integrity tests. Controversy surrounds the meanings of integrity and honesty in the workplace; there is disagreement over whether integrity tests differ from other personnel tests in design or in the kinds of inferences they support; and there is little relative information on how integrity and honesty tests are actually used in hiring decisions.

In this paper OTA summarizes the evidence on the effectiveness and costs of colorectal cancer screening in the elderly and explores the implications for Medicare of offering this preventive technology as a Medicare benefit. Nowhere are the hard choices between potential medical benefits and high costs illustrated more clearly than with this cancer screening technology.

This report market that have institutions, usually refered to as "clearing house", which handle both the clearing and some aspects of the settlement processes.