Reducing the blunders in forecasting
Abstract Forecasting is going through a crisis, partly attributable to its failure to anticipate so many developments (including the present recession). Specific problems that need tackling by the research community include the tendency to exclude the less quantifiable factors; the difficulties of identifying, relating and foreseeing explanatory variables; assessing degrees of uncertainty; and making the best use of consultants. Prospective analysis, in which forecasts are generated in the light of scenarios, can assist those concerned with actions and the future.
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF FORECASTING WITH STATISTICAL METHODS
Judgment is implicated in many ways with a variety of forecasting methods. This paper briefly outlines the major methods (pure judgment, extrapolation and econometric modelling) and focuses on the role of judgment in forecasting with statistical models by considering anecdotal reports of the use of these models. We then evaluate studies of the quality of human judgment, most of which have been considered by psychologists using paper¬and-pencil tasks with undergraduate students as experimental subjects. Finally we evaluate studies of expert judgment and discuss the implications of these for the quality of judgmental “adjustments” to statistical models in work-a-day situations.
Investigating the Optical properties of cd1-xznxs thin films deposited by the Dip Technique
A Thesis submitted to the Department of Physics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of 
Master of Science (Solid State Physics)