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published_or_final_version / Statistics and Actuarial Science / Master / Master of Philosophy

The case-control studies are primary tools for the study of risk factors (exposures) related to the disease interested. The case-control studies using longitudinal data are cost and time efficient when the disease is rare and assessing the exposure level of risk factors is difficult. Instead of GEE method, the method of using a prospective logistic model for analyzing case-control longitudinal data was proposed and the semiparametric inference procedure was explored by Park and Kim (2004). In this thesis, we apply an empirical likelihood ratio method to derive limiting distribution of the empirical likelihood ratio and find one likelihood-ratio based confidence region for the unknown regression parameters. Our approach does not require estimating the covariance matrices of the parameters. Moreover, the proposed confidence region is adapted to the data set and not necessarily symmetric. Thus, it reflects the nature of the underlying data and hence gives a more representative way to make inferences about the parameter of interest. We compare empirical likelihood method with normal approximation based method, simulation results show that the proposed empirical likelihood ratio method performs well in terms of coverage probability.

SUMMARY Interplay compatibility and trust of players is very important in a team game. Self-confidence of basketball players is analyzed in this work. It is very important for a player and for a coach. The main aim is to display peculiarities of teams’ self-confidence using survey. Tasks are to determine the level of basketball players’ self-confidence, to evaluate components of their self-confidence and to explore self-confidence in contest. For investigation these basketball clubs were surveyed: “Žalgiris” from Kaunas, “Žalgiris – Sabonio mokykla (Dubleriai)”, “LKKA – Atletas I” and “LKKA – Atletas II”. Three survey methods were used: evaluation scale of self-confidence level according J.J. Kiseliov, evaluation of self-confidence in contest according R.Martens, evaluation of components of sportive self-confidence according P.Kelly. Exploratory part consisted of 50 basketball players. We can’t exclude teams in which prevail more or less self-confidence, but team “LKKA –Atletas I” is more self-confident than other surveyed teams. So, hypothesis based on made statistical calculations wasn’t prove out that basketball players self-confidence depend on their mastery.

The purpose of this study was to exam the possible differences in the experienced self-confidence and motivation among the elite players in bandy and amateur players in bandy. In addition, any differences between boys and girls within the same area to be studied. A total of 112 athletes participated of whom 52 of them classified as elite players and 60 amateur players, with 62 boys and 50 girls. The athletes filled at one point in the questionnaires The Sport Motivation Scale, Harter’s (1980) “competence scale” and The Sport Confidence Inventory. The results demonstrated differences between elite players and amateur players in the variables perceived motivation and perceived self-confidence. The results showed that the amateur players had a higher perceived amotivation than elite players experienced in this study. Furthermore, results showed that elite players feel they have a higher sport-confidence than amateur players had. Furthermore, it shows also the result of a significant difference between boys and girls perceived motivation and sport-confidence in this study. The boys show a higher result in motivation and sport-confidence.

SURVEY OF THE KNOWLEDGE AND CONFIDENCE OF RESPIRATORY THERAPY STUDENTS REGARDING TOBACCO SMOKING AND RESPIRATORY DISEASES by Delano S. DuCasse INTRODUCTION: Tobacco abuse is the main cause of illness and avoidable death in the world (World Health Organization, 2010). Smoking-related diseases claim an estimated 443,000 American lives each year, including those affected indirectly, such as babies born prematurely due to prenatal maternal smoking and victims of "secondhand" exposure to tobacco’s carcinogens (American Lung Association, 2011). Of all healthcare providers, respiratory therapists are most often in contact with patients that are diagnosed with smoking related diseases. Therefore, students entering into the field should be well equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitude to educate patients about the importance of smoking prevention and cessation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate students’ knowledge and confidence regarding tobacco addiction and cessation following enrollment in a pulmonary disease course. METHODS: Students enrolled in a bachelor’s degree respiratory therapy program at a southeastern university were surveyed prior to and following a required pulmonary disease course. Participation was completely voluntary and no incentives to participate were offered. A total of 31 students participated in the pre-tobacco education survey on January 24, 2013 and 24 students participated in the post-tobacco survey on April 29, 2013. DATA ANALYSIS: The data was analyzed using SPSS 19.0. Descriptive statistics to include frequencies and percentages were used to evaluate the RT student’s responses to survey questions. RESULTS: Majority of the students only had 1 to 2 hours of lecture that focused on tobacco smoking. The actual tobacco education they received was not a clear cut topic within the pulmonary disease course itself; the topic tobacco smoking was only mentioned under diseases processes such as, COPD and Lung Cancer. The RT students’ confidence levels slightly improved after being enrolled in the pulmonary disease course. The pre surveyed RT students’ average was 55.5%, and the post surveyed average was 69.8%. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results, the content of tobacco education within the school’s curriculum is inadequate. With respiratory therapists mostly coming in contact with patients suffering from smoking related diseases, topics that include tobacco smoking and cessation should be included more in respiratory therapy school’s curriculum.

Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Spreadsheet programs are widely used in business and government. Unfortunately, there is strong evidence that many spreadsheets contain errors. In spite of the importance of spreadsheets in decision-making, studies have shown consistently that end-user spreadsheet developers rarely test their models thoroughly after development in the manner that professional programmers test software. One contributing factor to both error rates and the lack of post development testing may be that spreadsheet developers are overconfident in the correctness of their spreadsheets. Overconfidence is a widespread human tendency, and it has been demonstrated among spreadsheet developers. When people are overconfident, their "stopping rules" for error detection during and after development may be premature, causing them to stop checking before they should. This may contribute to the number of errors. At the same time, a research construct that appears to be closely related is self-efficacy, which has been shown that high self-efficacy is positively related to computer task performance, including spreadsheet performance (although not specifically to error reduction performance). The findings from this research concluded that people with high self-efficacy and high confidence make fewer errors than those with low self-efficacy and high confidence. Also, a "think-aloud" protocol analysis of a subset of subjects observed a lack of system design and analysis effort and a minimal amount of testing during the development of spreadsheet tasks. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-103). / Electronic reproduction. / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / ix, 135 leaves, bound .ill 29 cm

Thesis (M.S.)--Georgia State University, 2008. / Title from file title page. Gengsheng Qin, committee chair; Yu-Sheng Hsu, Yixin Fang, Yuanhui Xiao, committee members. Description based on contents viewed July 22, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 29-30).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Memphis, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-43). Also available online (PDF file) by a subscription to the set or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis (M.S. in Applied Science)--Naval Postgraduate School, Dec. 2004. / Thesis Advisor(s): David H. Olwell. Includes bibliographical references (p. 57). Also available online.