Private returns

In spite of this permissive legislative mandate, the NASA technology utilization program is funded at less than 10 million per year. Several assessment studies have been launched in an effort to document and quantify the social and private returns to NASA s technology utilization efforts (17-lf). The results of these studies may help to determine whether the public investment in "spin-off" programs is currently adequate. Two of the completed studies are reviewed below. 

At the end of the banquet, we ascended the stairs to the Gold Room, where there was dancing till the early hours of the next day. Judy and 1 were, however, too exhausted after the long day, and after some private time with our Royal hosts we returned (or shall 1 say floated back) to our hotel. 

John Bardeen was a truly remarkable scientist, and also a very private, taciturn man. Pippard (1995) in his obituary of Bardeen, recounts how John returned home from the Bell Labs and walked into the kitchen to say We discovered something today to (his wife) Jane s regret, all she could find in reply to what proved a momentous statement was That s interesting, but I have to get dinner on the table . ... 

All rocket motor costs per unit, and therefore rocket proplnt costs, are most sensitive to the number of units being produced and to the number of different formulations mixed in a given time interval, by the same equipment, so that a direct comparson based only on processes or proplnt types are meaningless. There are also inherent difficulties in comparing NC base proplnts with composite propints. The former are made in government plants (some of which are operated by private industry) for the most part and so accounting for indirect costs (taxes, depreciation, insurance, and return on investment) cannot be compared to the situation... 

The emphasis of the program is to support projects that complement, rather than compete with the private sector. Some examples are projects related to high-risk and novel targets, orphan diseases, and areas in which the monetary return may not be immediately clear. 

Most of the 300 NG filling locations in the United States are used by private fleets, but about one-third are open to the public. This fuel is more appropriate for fleet vehicles that operate in limited geographical regions and that return to a central location every night for refueling. 

In 1995 the Clinton Administration proposed placing the federally-owned Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve on the market as part of its efforts to reduce the size of government and return inherently non-fed-eral functions to the private sector. In 1996, the Congress passed and the President signed the Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 containing authorization to proceed with the sale. In 1998 the Department of Energy sold Elk Hills to Occidental Petroleum for 3.65 Billion. 

She went to live with relatives in another state, and, indeed, her depression returned full force. Soon she landed in a state hospital after swallowing fifty-five assorted pills. In contrast to her first stay at a private hospital, Rachel discovered at the public hospital what people who don t have insurance go through when they re mentally ill. She also found doctors who weren t fooled quite as easily by her performances. This time she was put on liquid Prozac, and because nothing ever made me mad... they purposely put me in a room with someone who had anger problems. This jarring combination, she told me, generated almost surreal feelings. 

A survey on the use of antidepressive agents by an entire country s child and adolescent psychiatric services was recently conducted in Denmark (5 million inhabitants) by sending a questionnaire to all child and adolescent psychiatric departments and specialists with private practices. The response rate from all in- and outpatient clinics as well as from specialists with their own practice was 93.5%. Thirty-two departments and specialists received the survey and 30 were returned. Practitioners were asked to go through their files and report the number of children on medication and the indications for the treatment. Altogether, approximately 5000 children and adolescents were in psychiatric care (out of approximately 1 million children and adolescents in the age group 0-19 years). Of these, 400 (8%) were treated with an antidepressant on the date of the survey (February 8). 

---