use energy more efficiently, and to predict the impact of selected legislative options on energy use and efficiency within those industries. Requested by: Senate Committee on Finance. House Committee on Energy and Wood Use: U.S. Competitiveness and Technology Assessment Report and Assesses future demand and supply of wood and technologies for using wood; evalutes future production capability; explores use of wood as a substitute for nonrenewable materials; analyzes forest management policies on public lands; assesses R&D on technology for wood use and production; and reviews public policies and identifies policy options affecting forest production and the use of wood as a material. Requested by: Senate Committee on Appropriations. Technological, Innovation and Health, Safety, and Environmental Regulations House Committee on Assessment Report Discusses the impact of Federal regulatory policies for health, safety, and environmental protection on private innovation. Requested by: Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Technical Memoranda Automation and the Workplace: Selected Labor, Technical Memorandum Discusses concepts for evaluating the impacts of manufacturing automation, and describes the conduct of education, training, and retraining for persons seeking or holding jobs in manufacturing industries. Requested by: Senate Committees: Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Unispace '82: A Context for International Cooperation and Competition Technical Memorandum Discusses the development of international space policy, the roles that the United States and its agencies play in this process, and the potential effect of the process on U.S. Public and private interests. Requested by: House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Examines the role of the public sector in postharvest technology and marketing economics research. It describes the development of the public sector research effort; measures the cost, benefits, burdens, and quality of the research; presents guidelines for the public and private research participants; and evalutes the public sector management and policy programs. Requested by: House Committee on Agriculture Habitability Issues Related to Love Canal Technical Memorandum Based upon a report published by the U.S. EPA in May 1982, which was reviewed by a multidisciplinary team of consultants for several Federal agencies, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services judged the Love Canal, New York to be "as habitable as the control areas with which it was compared." OTA critically reviewed EPA's habitability decision. Examines diagnosis related groups, their potential use in the Medicare payment system, and the potential impact on medical technology use. It also describes New Jersey's experience with diagnosis related groups, a method of prospective hospital reimbursement, and the cost implications for national implementation. Requested by: House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Subcommittee on Health and Enviroment. Quality and Relevance of Research and Related Technical Memorandum Examines the Gorgas Memorial Institute of Tropical and Preventive Medicine, Inc., and its research arm, the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory (GML). It focused the quality of research and related activities at GML, and the relevance of GML's work to Panama, tropical America, the United States, and the advancement of tropical medicine knowledge. on: - 27. U.S. Natural Gas Availability: Conventional Technical Memorandum Describes and evaluates alternative estimates of the conventional natural gas resource base of the lower 48 states; describes and interprets past and current trends in discovery and production of this gas resource; and projects a credible range of potential (conventional) gas production for the next 15-20 years. Requested by: Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. House Examines specific factors that affect the research and development, evalution, diffusion and marketing, delivery, use, and financing of technologies directly related to disabled person. Requested by: Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources The Information Content Of Premanufacture Background Paper The study assesses the extent to which current premanufacturing notice submissions either fulfull or compromise efforts to perform the preventive health and environmental protection mandate of the Toxic substances Control Act. Requested by: House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Water-Related Technologies for Sustainable Background Paper May 1983 Highlights examples of water-related technologies that have been successfully applied in arid and semiarid foreign countries in a manner not being applied in the U.S.--integrated irrigation managment in Pakistan, intensive water use planning in Israel, cooperative plant breeding in Senegal, native game ranching in Kenya, and guayule production in Australia. Requested by: House Committee on Agriculture. Senate Committee on - 28 Sustaining Tropical Forest Resources: U.S. and International Institutions Background Paper Describes government, academic, and private sector institutions in the U.S. that are developing or implementing technologies to sustain tropical forest resources. Requested by: Senate Committees: Energy and Natural Resources; Environment and Public Works (endorsement). House Committees: Foreign Affairs; Interior and Insular Affairs (endorsement). Sustaining Tropical Forest Resources: Background Paper Describes the state-of-the-art in use of forestry technologies to restore the productivity of tropical lands that have been degraded because of human activity. Requested by: Senate Committees: Energy and Natural Resources; Environment and Public Works (endorsement). House Committees Foreign Affairs; Interior and Insular Affairs (endorsement). Technology, Innovation, and Regional Economic Background Paper May 1983 Identifies dedicated State government programs for high-technology firms. Requested by: House Committees: Science and Technology; Small Business. The Impact of Randomized Clinical Trials on Background Paper Provides materials about the history and conduct of randomized clinical trials (RCTs), a family of experiments designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of medical technologies. It examines the levels of funding over time and the actual and potential used of RCTs in forming health policy. The paper also reviews the ways in which RCTs have affected different areas of medical practice. Finally, it draws together suggestions from the literature and from people knowledgeable in the field for more effective use of RCTs in policy making and in improving the practice of medicine. 29 Case Studies Medical Technology and Costs of the Medicare Case Study March 1983 Examines the evidence of alcoholism treatment in a variety of settings: inpatient care, out-patient hospital care, community based treatment centers, etc., as well as the effectiveness of various methods of treatment (chemical. aversion therapy, group therapy, and Alcoholics Anonymous). Requested by: House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Senate Committees: Finance; Appropriations (endorsement). Medical Technology and Costs of the Medicare Therapeutic Apheresis Case Study July 1983 Examines the conditions for which the benefits and risks of therapeutic plasmapheresis (a costly procedure which is being used to treat an increasing number of medical conditions) have been demonstrated. Requested by: Senate Committee on Finance, Subcommittee on Health. Medical Technology and Costs of the Medicare Case Study August 1983 Examines evidence on how variations in length of hospital stay affect patient outcomes and the implications of changes in length of stay for quality of care, access, and Medicare/Medicaid program costs. Requested by: Senate Committee on Finance, Subcommittee on Health. Workshop Proceedings ..Plants: The Potentials for Extracting Protein, Workshop Proceedings OTA conducted a workshop designed to identify technological opportunities and constraints for commercially developing protein, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and other associated extracts from plants generally and tobacco specifically. OTA examined the potential impacts that such technologies might have on improving nutrition and food quality by increasing the availability of high quality protein. Issues addressed include: quality of current data |