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This thesis investigates the use of newly-developed survival analysis tools for credit scoring. Credit scoring techniques are currently used by financial institutions to estimate the probability of a customer defaulting on a loan by a predetermined time in the future. While a number of classification techniques are currently used, banks are now becoming more concerned with estimating the lifetime of the loan rather than just the probability of default. Difficulties arise when using standard statistical techniques due to the presence of censoring in the data. Survival analysis, originating from medical and engineering fields, is an area of statistics that typically deals with censored lifetime data. The theoretical developments in this thesis revolve around linear regression for censored data, in particular the Buckley-James method. The Buckley-James method is analogous to linear regression and gives estimates of the mean expected lifetime given a set of explanato ry variables. The first development is a measure of fit for censored regression, similar to the classical r-squared of linear regression. Next, the variable-reduction technique of stepwise selection is extended to the Buckley-James method. For the last development, the Buckley-James algorithm is altered to incorporate non-linear regression methods such as neural networks and Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS). MARS shows promise in terms of predictive power and interpretability in both simulation and empirical studies. The practical section of the thesis involves using the new techniques to predict the time to default and time to repayment of unsecured personal loans from a database obtained from a major Australian bank. The analyses are unique, being the first published work on applying Buckley-James and related methods to a large-scale financial database.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 1989. / Title from title screen (viewed Apr. 15, 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of English, Faculty of Arts. Degree awarded 1989; thesis submitted 1988. Includes bibliography. Also available in print form.

While considering the work of James McAuley, Francis Webb and Vincent Buckley, this thesis concentrates on the religious character of their poetry. Since it assumes that religious language is primarily metaphorical (as distinct from dogmatic), the thesis describes the poetry by way of its religio-imaginative relationships and structures. James McAuley's poetry is religious, not so much because it is Catholic, as because it voyages between despair and hope, believing always in the reasoned will. Francis Webb's poetry, continually discovering glory in dereliction, dramatises the revelatory and redeeming power of the rejected ones - and so works within the 'Suffering Servant' model of 'Isaiah'. While Vincent Buckley's poetry gradually abandons Catholic language in favour of its own 'idiom of sensation', the religious quality of that sensation is discovered more in liminal than in paradisal possibilities - in the way 'holy spaces' are always in some sense expatriate ones. Since each of these poets belongs in the period of Vatican II Catholicism, the thesis next relates their work to that context. Here, however, it searches for imaginative connections and disconnections by setting up its comparison on the basis, not of dogmas, but of models. Finally, the thesis interprets Webb's 'Eyre All Alone' as a search for renewed religious language, returning to its opening assumption that religious language is primarily metaphorical.

<p>In this essay the main aim is to consider Philip Pullman’s trilogy <em>His Dark Materials</em> with its female protagonist as a Bildungsroman. The principal source of the study is Jerome Buckley’s <em>Season of Youth – The Bildungsroman from Dickens to Golding. </em>Buckely’s presentation of the significant characteristics of the Bildungsroman will be applied to Philip Pullman’s <em>His Dark Materials </em>in order to explore if these characteristics are present, modified or not, in the trilogy.<em> </em></p><p><em> </em></p><p>The second aim is to investigate how <em>His Dark Materials </em>relates to the patterns of the hero’s journey. In order to approach this question, Joseph Campbell’s work <em>The Hero with a Thousand Faces </em>is applied as a main source. </p><p> </p><p>Since most material concerning both the Bildungsroman and the hero’s journey are from a male point of view and concern males, the female perspective will be represented by Susan Fraiman and Linda Wagner who both write about females and the bildung narrative.</p><p> </p><p>In the section called <em>The Story of Lyra</em>, the trilogy is summarized briefly in order to give the reader a chance to understand what the trilogy is about. In the conclusion, Lyra’s development and (hero)-journey are discussed.  </p><p> </p><p>The final claim of the study is that <em>His Dark Materials</em> can be considered a Bildungsroman and the patterns of the hero journey are found in the story about Lyra, but with some differences from her male counterparts.</p>

While considering the work of James McAuley, Francis Webb and Vincent Buckley, this thesis concentrates on the religious character of their poetry. Since it assumes that religious language is primarily metaphorical (as distinct from dogmatic), the thesis describes the poetry by way of its religio-imaginative relationships and structures. James McAuley's poetry is religious, not so much because it is Catholic, as because it voyages between despair and hope, believing always in the reasoned will. Francis Webb's poetry, continually discovering glory in dereliction, dramatises the revelatory and redeeming power of the rejected ones - and so works within the 'Suffering Servant' model of 'Isaiah'. While Vincent Buckley's poetry gradually abandons Catholic language in favour of its own 'idiom of sensation', the religious quality of that sensation is discovered more in liminal than in paradisal possibilities - in the way 'holy spaces' are always in some sense expatriate ones. Since each of these poets belongs in the period of Vatican II Catholicism, the thesis next relates their work to that context. Here, however, it searches for imaginative connections and disconnections by setting up its comparison on the basis, not of dogmas, but of models. Finally, the thesis interprets Webb's 'Eyre All Alone' as a search for renewed religious language, returning to its opening assumption that religious language is primarily metaphorical.

In this essay the main aim is to consider Philip Pullman’s trilogy His Dark Materials with its female protagonist as a Bildungsroman. The principal source of the study is Jerome Buckley’s Season of Youth – The Bildungsroman from Dickens to Golding. Buckely’s presentation of the significant characteristics of the Bildungsroman will be applied to Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials in order to explore if these characteristics are present, modified or not, in the trilogy.   The second aim is to investigate how His Dark Materials relates to the patterns of the hero’s journey. In order to approach this question, Joseph Campbell’s work The Hero with a Thousand Faces is applied as a main source.    Since most material concerning both the Bildungsroman and the hero’s journey are from a male point of view and concern males, the female perspective will be represented by Susan Fraiman and Linda Wagner who both write about females and the bildung narrative.   In the section called The Story of Lyra, the trilogy is summarized briefly in order to give the reader a chance to understand what the trilogy is about. In the conclusion, Lyra’s development and (hero)-journey are discussed.     The final claim of the study is that His Dark Materials can be considered a Bildungsroman and the patterns of the hero journey are found in the story about Lyra, but with some differences from her male counterparts.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-142). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-142). Also available on the Internet.

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