How to Decrease the Amortization Bias: Experience vs. Rules

We conduct an experimental study that tests the effectiveness of de-biasing a certain form of exponential growth bias found in household finance debt decisions, called the amortization bias. We provide 251 bachelor students at a German university with a short tutorial based on one of three learning methods: experiential learning, learning a simple “I Owe More” debt rule-of-thumb, as well as learning an extended, but more accurate version of the “I Owe More” debt rule. Immediately after completing these tutorials, we retest for the amortization bias and find a significant bias improvement in all three treatments. More importantly, after confronting the same participants with similar debt scenarios approximately three weeks later, we find that those who had previously received a debt tutorial maintain a significantly larger bias improvement over the control group. However, during this short period, most of the individuals who learned the simple and complex rules-of-thumb could no longer apply the rule and reverted back to their biased answers, while the experiential learning group best retained their improvement in bias. We find evidence in this experiment that experience-based learning may be better suited to produce long-lasting improvements for attenuating the amortization bias

Use of Laboratory Drag Measurements in Evaluating Hot-Gas Filtration of Char from the Transport Gasifier at the Power Systems Development Facility

The initial objective of this study was to better understand the reasons for the substantial increase in filter DP that was observed after the gasifier recycle loop modifications. Beyond this specific objective, a secondary goal was to develop a meaningful method of evaluating the effect of particle size and other particle properties on dustcake drag and filter DP. As mentioned earlier, the effect of particle size on dustcake drag and filter DP can be a very important consideration in the selection and specification of a precleaner cyclone for use upstream of the hot-gas filter. Installing a cyclone ahead of a hot-gas filter will reduce the transient areal loading of dust to the filter, but the beneficial effect of the reduced areal loading may be offset by an increase in drag associated with a finer particle-size distribution. The overall goal of this study was to better understand these tradeoffs and to ultimately develop a procedure that would be useful in analyzing the performance of hot-gas filters and in sizing new hot-gas filters. In addition to the obvious effects of a cyclone on dust loading and particle size, other indirect effects on particulate properties and flow resistance may occur when the cyclone is incorporated into the gasifier recycle loop as was the case at the PSDF. To better understand the importance of these other effects, this study sought to separate the particle-size effect from these other effects by measuring the drag of size-fractionated char samples collected before and after the recycle loop modifications

THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS 111 1 11 1 WPM POWER SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT FACILITY: HIGH TEMPERATURE, HIGH PRESSURE FILTER SYSTEM OPERATIONS IN A COMBUSTION GAS'

ABSTRACT The Power Systems Development Facility (PSDF) is a Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored engineering scale demonstration of two advanced coal-fired power systems. Particulate cleanup is achieved by several High Temperature, High Pressure (HTHP) gas filtration systems: The PSDF was designed at sufficient scale so that advanced power systems and components could be tested in an integrated fashion to provide confidence and data for commercial scale-up. This paper provides an operations summary of a Siemens-Westinghouse Particulate Control Device (PCD) filtering combustion gas from a Kellogg Brown & Root (ICBR) transport reactor located at the PSDF. The transport reactor is an advanced circulating fluidized bed reactor designed to operate as either a combustor or a gasifier. Particulate cleanup is achieved by using one of two PCDs, located downstream of the transport reactor. As of the end of 1998, the transport reactor has operated on coal as a combustor for over 3500 hours. To date, filter elements from 'The PSDF is supported by th

Forest Health Research and Education Center: Leveraging forest tree genomics and genetics resources to mark and identify genes for resistance to important forest tree pathogens and pests

National audienc