Human performance control monitoring systems Interim report no. 2

Computer program to simulate second order servo system dynamics under automatic and manual contro

The Forward Testing Effect on Self-Regulated Study Time Allocation and Metamemory Monitoring

The forward testing effect describes the finding that testing of previously studied information potentiates learning and retention of new information. Here we asked whether interim testing boosts self-regulated study time allocation when learning new information and explored its effect on metamemory monitoring. Participants had unlimited time to study five lists of Euskara-English word pairs (Experiment 1) or four lists of face-name pairs (Experiment 2). In a no interim test group, which was only tested on the final list, study time decreased across successive lists. In contrast, in an interim test group, which completed a recall test after each list, no such decrease was observed. Experiments 3 and 4 were designed to investigate the forward testing effect on metamemory monitoring and found that this effect is associated with metacognitive insight. Overall, the current study reveals that interim tests prevent the reduction of study time across lists and that people's metamemory monitoring is sensitive to the forward benefit of interim testing. Moreover, across all 4 experiments, the interim test group was less affected by proactive interference in the final list interim test than the no interim test group. The results suggest that variations in both encoding and retrieval processes contribute to the forward benefit of interim testing. (PsycINFO Database Recor

The Evaluation Matrix

Evaluation is one of the most confusing topics in philanthropy -- in part because it embraces multiple definitions that are often jumbled together. Evaluation often refers to at least three different kinds of measures: monitoring measures that typically focus on whether grant money is being expended for its intended purpose; process measures that offer data on interim measures of grantor and grantee processes believed to be indicative of future success; and impact measures that assess whether giving is achieving the desired level of social progress. Each of these measures can in turn be assessed at three different levels: the individual grant, the program, and the grantor as a whole. Combining these measures and levels produces a nine-part matrix that begins to tease out some of evaluation's varied meanings

Liquidity, moral hazard and bank crises

Bank crises, by interrupting liquidity provision, have been viewed as resulting in welfare losses. In a model of banking with moral hazard, we show that second best bank contracts that improve on autarky ex ante require costly crises to occur with positive probability at the interim stage. When bank payo§s are partially appropriable, either directly via imposition of Önes or indirectly by the use of bank equity as a collateral, we argue that an appropriately designed ex-ante regime of policy intervention involving conditional monitoring can prevent bank crises

New Zealand Guidelines for cyanobacteria in recreational fresh waters: Interim Guidelines

This document is divided into four main sections, plus 14 appendices. Section 1. Introduction provides an overview of the purpose and status of the document as well as advice on who should use it. Section 2. Framework provides a background to the overall guidelines approach, recommendations on agency roles and responsibilities, and information on the condition of use of this document. Section 3. Guidelines describes the recommended three-tier monitoring and action sequence for planktonic and benthic cyanobacteria. Section 4. Sampling provides advice on sampling planktonic and benthic cyanobacteria. The appendices give further background information and include templates for data collection and reporting, including: • background information on known cyanotoxins and their distribution in New Zealand • information on the derivation of guideline values • photographs of typical bloom events • a list of biovolumes for common New Zealand cyanobacteria • templates for field assessments • suggested media releases and warning sign templates. A glossary provides definitions for abbreviations and terms used in these guidelines

Liquidity, moral hazard and bank crises

Bank crises, by interrupting liquidity provision, have been viewed as resulting in welfare losses. In a model of banking with moral hazard, we show that second best bank contracts that improve on autarky ex-ante require costly crises to occur with positive probability at the interim stage. When bank payo¤s are partially appropriable, either directly via imposition of …nes or indirectly by the use of bank equity as a collateral, we argue that an appropriately designed ex-ante regime of policy intervention involving conditional monitoring can prevent bank crises.bank runs, contagion, moral hazard, liquidity, random, contracts, monitoring.

Statistics, ethics, and probiotica

A randomized clinical trial comparing an experimental new treatment to a standard therapy for a life-threatening medical condition should be stopped early on ethical grounds, in either of the following scenarios: (1) it has become overwhelmingly clear that the new treatment is better than the standard; (2) it has become overwhelmingly clear that the trial is not going to show that the new treatment is any better than the standard. The trial is continued in the third scenario: (3) there is a reasonable chance that the new treatment will finally turn out to be better than the standard, but we aren't sure yet. However, the (blinded) data monitoring committee in the "PROPATRIA" trial of an experimental probiotica treatment for patients with acute pancreatitis allowed the trial to continue at the half way interim analysis, in effect because there was still a good chance of proving that the probiotica treatment was very harmful to their patients. The committee did not know whether treatment A was the probiotica treatment or the placebo. In itself this should not have caused a problem, since it could easily have determined the appropriate decision under both scenarios. Were the decisions in the two scenarios different, then the data would have to be de-blinded, in order to determine the appropriate decision. The committee mis-read the output of SPSS, which reports the smaller of two one-sided p-values, without informing the user what it is doing. It seems that about 5 lives were sacrificed to the chance of getting a significant result that the probiotica treatment was bad for the patients in the trial

Final evaluation of the growth investment network East Midlands

A summative evaluation of the delivery of the Growth Investment Network from October 2004 to March 2010, a network of specialists established by emda to co-ordinate investment activity, collaborate on business deals and provide advice and support to entrepreneurs. The report includes both an overview of Strategic Added Value (SAV) and overall economic impact