Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Associations Of Smoking Status And Serious Psychological Distress With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Ke-Sheng Wang, Liang Wang, Shimin Zheng, Long-Yang Wu

ETSU Faculty Works

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been a major public health problem due to its high prevalence, morbidity, and mortality. Smoking is a major risk factor for COPD, while serious psychological distress (SPD) is prevalent among COPD patients. However, no study focusing on the effect of SPD on COPD has been so far conducted, while few studies have focused on the associations of SPD and behavioral factors with COPD by smoking status.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the associations of SPD and behavioral factors (such as smoking and physical activity) with COPD.

Materials and Methods: Weighted logistic regression …

Level Crossing Times In Mathematical Finance, Ofosuhene Osei

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Level crossing times and their applications in finance are of importance, given certain threshold levels that represent the "desirable" or "sell" values of a stock. In this thesis, we make use of Wald's lemmas and various deep results from renewal theory, in the context of finance, in modelling the growth of a portfolio of stocks. Several models are employed .

Moments Of Matrix Variate Skew Elliptically Contoured Distributions, Shimin Zheng, Jeff Knisley, Chunming Zhang

ETSU Faculty Works

Matrix variate skew elliptically contoured distributions generalize several classes of important distributions. This paper defines and explores matrix variate skew elliptically contoured distributions. In particular, we discuss the first two moments of the matrix variate skew elliptically contoured distributions.

Stochastic Representations Of The Matrix Variate Skew Elliptically Contoured Distributions, Shimin Zheng, Chunming Zhang, Jeff Knisley

ETSU Faculty Works

Matrix variate skew elliptically contoured distributions generalize several classes of important distributions. This paper defines and explores matrix variate skew elliptically contoured distributions. In particular, we discuss two stochastic representations of the matrix variate skew elliptically contoured distributions.

Predictors Of Treatments Acceptable To Patients For Late-Life Depression, Gerald J. Jogerst, Shimin Zheng, Erik Vanderlip

ETSU Faculty Works

Objectives. Describe older patients’ perceptions about depression and characteristics associated with acceptance of treatments. Design. Cross-sectional study. Setting. Three primary care clinics in Iowa. Participants. Consecutive sample of 529 primary care patients. Measurements. Depression screening tool (a 9-item patient health questionnaire [PHQ-9]) and questionnaire including sociodemographic data, patient attitudes about depression, and acceptability of different treatments. Results. Mean age was 71.9 years (range 60–93 years), 314 (59%) female. Among the 529 participants, 93 (17.5%) had history of depression and 60 (11.3%) had PHQ-9 scores of 10 or greater. Participants believed depression is a disease for which they would use medication …

Screening For Elder Mistreatment Among Older Adults Seeking Legal Assistance Services, Sheryl M. Strasser, Megan Smith, Scott Weaver, Shimin Zheng, Yan Cao

ETSU Faculty Works

Introduction: The aging population is a rapidly growing demographic in the United States. Isolation, limited autonomy, and declining physical and mental health render many older adults vulnerable to elder mistreatment (EM). The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and correlates of EM among a sample of older adults using legal assistance services in Atlanta, Georgia.

Methods: Researchers administered surveys to consenting older adults (aged 60þ) in 5 metro Atlanta community centers that hosted legal assistance information sessions as part of the Elderly Legal Assistance Program. The surveys screened for risk factors and prevalence of EM risk using …