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Robert Mertons anomiteori har historiskt fått skarp kritik på grund av sitt svaga empiriska stöd och sina teoretiska antaganden. Vissa har dock menat att det svaga empiriska stödet beror på felaktiga operationaliseringar av Mertons teori. Den här studien syftar således till att studera operationaliseringar i tidigare forskning av Robert Mertons ursprungliga anomiteori som den presenterades år 1938 i Social Structure and Anomie. Först genomförs en noggrann genomgång och analys av artikeln Social Structure and Anomie och den teori som där presenteras. Genom en systematisk litteraturöversikt har sedan 13 artiklar som operationaliserat Mertons teori valts ut och sedan analyserats utifrån de centrala delarna av Robert Mertons paradigm. Resultaten visar att kulturellt definierade intressen nästan enbart har operationaliserats som akademiska och/eller ekonomiska mål och att de accepterade medlen operationaliserats i enlighet med de kulturellt definierade intressena. Vidare konstateras att varken anpassningsformer eller kulturperspektivet har någon framträdande plats i operationaliseringarna. / Historically, Robert Merton’s theory of anomie has suffered from harsh criticism on the basis of its weak empirical support and theoretical assumptions. Although, some have made the claim that the failing support is because of inadequate operationalization of Merton’s theory. The purpose of this study is therefore to analyze the operationalization in previous research of Robert Merton’s original theory of anomie, as it was presented in 1938 in Social Structure and Anomie. Firstly, a thorough examination and analysis is conducted on the article Social Structure and Anomie and the theory therein. Secondly, through a systematic review 13 articles that operationalize Merton’s theory were selected and then analyzed based on the core parts of Robert Merton’s paradigm. Results indicate that the culturally defined goals almost exclusively are operationalized as academic and/or economic goals and that the institutionalized means are operationalized in accord with the culturally defined goals. Furthermore, it is found that neither adaptations nor the cultural perspective have any significant place within operationalization.

My interest in Thomas Merton began two years ago in my last year of an M.A. program in Church History at the Wheaton Graduate school outside of Chicago. In particular, I was impressed with Merton's ability to carry on a dialogue with D.T. Suzuki, communicator of Rinzai Zen to the west, while retaining his commitment to Christianity. Hence I chose to work on an aspect of the Merton/Suzuki dialogue recorded in Zen and the Birds of Appetite. The impulse for such a study arose from my own questions regarding Christianity. Did Christianity alone contain the formula for truth or did Christianity contain one of many formulas to find ultimate reality or God? It became evident as I progressed in my research that the kingpin in Merton's dilemma between the Kerygma of Christianity and Zen consciousness was the epistemological question. The epistemological road of Zen Buddhism is that of experience. The epistemological road of Christianity equally emphasizes experience and rationality. Inasmuch as the experience of the reality of the Kerygma is a vital component of Christianity, and inasmuch as this sphere is often downplayed in a society which puts the scientific method on a pedastle, Merton correctly assimilates Zen Buddhist themes in order to inform that neglected aspect of Christianity. However, the irreconcilable difference between Zen Buddhism and Christianity is apparent. Christianity is not just an experiential, romantic feeling of unity with 'the one'. Conversely, Zen Buddhism refuses the imposition of content on its central thrust. I conclude that we are faced with a 'Mexican standoff’ between Christianity and Zen Buddhism inasmuch as in the quest for satori the Zen Buddhist will not include the Kerygma, nor will the Christian eliminate the Kerygma in his quest for the experience of ultimate reality or God. Thus a merger is impossible unless severe compromise is made on both sides. I maintain that while there is a wealth of gold to be discovered in Christianity and Zen Buddhism, it is impossible to equate them. Merton’s theory of the non-religious character of Zen which can shine through any system, enabled him to espouse the Zen-way to a Christian audience. I refute the claim that Zen is non-religious and rather maintain that allegiance to non-thought represents a definite epistemological stance. Also, the authoritative edge in Zen inspired by satori contains the same degree of dogmatism as the Christian allegiance to the deity of Christ. I understand Merton’s assimilation of Zen themes with his evolved Christian thought in the following manner: 1. Disgust with a technological society whose values carried over into the religious sphere. 2. His own poetic, paradoxical nature and obsession with ultimate reality. 3. His desire that Zen Buddhists learn about Christianity in a non-threatening way, and 4. His intuition that Christianity must be more than intellectual assent to dogma which does not: change one’s lifestyle, and his discovery in Zen of a preparatory mode for the breakthrough of truth. He wanted to integrate the heart with the head. I begin with a biographical report of Merton’s life and evolved religious thought. The second chapter focusses on representative thinkers in Merton’s thought beginning with Bernard of Clairvauxs Meister Eckhart and D.T. Suzuki. Finally the third chapter focusses on the dialogue between Suzuki and Merton. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

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Submitted by isabela.moljf@hotmail.com (isabela.moljf@hotmail.com) on 2017-05-15T12:25:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 normaribeironassersalomao.pdf: 2554843 bytes, checksum: 8eb85afd198857663b5d583aefa1dc6f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-05-17T15:53:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 normaribeironassersalomao.pdf: 2554843 bytes, checksum: 8eb85afd198857663b5d583aefa1dc6f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-17T15:53:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 normaribeironassersalomao.pdf: 2554843 bytes, checksum: 8eb85afd198857663b5d583aefa1dc6f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-12-17 / Este trabalho propõe-se a lançar um olhar sobre o ver em Thomas Merton ao deixar-se tocar pela espiritualidade Zen budista na sua trajetória cristã. O eixo central desta tese será, portanto, o foco na sua via mística em comunhão com a natureza. A rigorosa tradição monástica Zen e o monasticismo trapista da Ordem Cisterciense assemelham-se na rígida disciplina de sua vida cotidiana. A criação para Merton está associada à visão de sacralidade, sendo que este amor é compartilhado pela perspectiva do Zen Budismo, no qual Natureza/Despertar são inseparáveis. A sede de Deus e de aprendizado levou o monge a uma peregrinação pelo continente asiático. Na sua busca da grande compaixão, ele encontrou o outro lado da montanha e viveu experiências místicas definitivas em sítios sagrados da Ásia. / This study proposes one sharp “looking” at Thomas Merton’s “seeing” considering how he let himself to be touched by the Zen Buddhist spirituality on his Christian journey. The axis of this thesis will be, therefore, to promote a focus on his mystic life lived in a great communion with the nature. The strict Zen monastic tradition and the trapist monasticism of the Cisters are really alike on their rigid disciplines taken seriously for the everyday living by the monks. The Creation in accordance with Merton’s thoughts is extremely associated with the vision of sacrality, furthermore the divine love is shared through a Zen perspective where nature/ to awake are inseparable. Thirsty of God and learning he has done a pilgrimage around the eastern continent and on his search for the great compassion he finally found the “other side of the mountain”, or in another words: he has lived many remarkable mystic experiences indeed while visiting some Asian sacred places.

Payment service providers have unique credit portfolios with different characteristics than many other credit providers. It is therefore important to study if common credit risk estimation methods are applicable to their setting. By comparing simulation based methods for credit risk estimation it was found that combining Monte Carlo simulation with importance sampling and the asymptotic single risk factor model is the most suitable model amongst those analyzed. It allows for a combination of variance reduction, scenario analysis and correlation checks, which all are important for estimating credit risk in a payment service provider portfolio. / Betaltjänstleverantörer har unika kreditportföljer med andra egenskaper än många andra kreditgivare. Det är därför viktigt att undersöka om vanliga metoder för uppskattning av kreditrisk går att tillämpa på betaltjänstleverantörer. Genom att jämföra olika simulationsbaserade metoder för uppskattning av kreditrisk fann man att att kombinationen av Monte Carlo-simulering med Importance Sampling och en ASRF-modell är den mest lämpliga bland de analyserade metoderna. Det möjliggör en kombination av variansminskning, scenarioanalys och korrelationskontroller som alla är viktiga för att uppskatta kreditrisk i en betaltjänstleverantörsportfölj.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:44:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jose Renato de Paula Lamberti.pdf: 1340923 bytes, checksum: 9600626bdbb142fe874e7ba242bc30b1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Evaluating the risk of default by a company became an indispensable object when making the decision to grant to the financial credit institutions. Taking in account the current record of credit growth, the strategic role of risk management for financial institutions, the constant innovations in the process of detection risk and the large volume of academic researches related to management models for credit risk, because of this, it was considered the appropriate occasion for the development of this dissertation. The present work aims to confront the traditional analysis of risk based on accounting ratios and the results of KMV model to determine the probability of default of publicly traded companies. The dissertation will address the theoretical review of the traditional analysis of credit risk and the model of KWN (based on the theory of Black and Scholes 1973 and Merton, 1974). The next step will apply the accounting ratios and the KMV model, calculating the probability of default of the building sample. Therefore, we will discuss the limitations of the KMV model and some recommendations in order to improve management of credit / Avaliar o risco de inadimplência de uma empresa tornou-se objeto indispensável para a tomada de decisão de concessão de crédito para as instituições financeiras. O atual histórico de crescimento do crédito, o papel estratégico do gerenciamento do risco para as instituições financeiras, as constantes inovações nos procedimentos de detecção de risco e o grande volume de pesquisas acadêmicas abordando modelos de gestão dos riscos de crédito, considerou-se oportuna a ocasião para o desenvolvimento desta dissertação. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo confrontar a análise tradicional de risco baseada em índices contábeis e o resultado do modelo KMV para determinar a probabilidade de default das empresas de capital aberto. A dissertação abordará a revisão teórica da análise tradicional do risco de crédito e em seguida, a modelagem do KMV ( baseada na teoria de Black e Scholes, 1973 e Merton, 1974). O próximo passo aplicará os índices contábeis e a modelagem do KMV, calculando a probabilidade de default das empresas da amostra. Por conseguinte, serão discutidas as limitações do modelo KMV e algumas recomendações com o intuito de aprimorar o gerenciamento do crédito

The Niles-Merton Songs is a two-opus collection of twenty-two songs by John Jacob Niles setting the poetry of Thomas Merton. The songs are beautiful but contrast from his more popular works in poetry and composition. This project explores reasons why these songs are rarely performed, and gives an overview and analysis of ten selected pieces. The document includes a brief introduction, biographies of Niles and Merton, information detailing Niles’s compositional process, and the technical and artistic requirements for performing the songs, including appropriate age and voice type.

The purpose of this thesis is to compare option pricing models. We have investigated the constant volatility models Black-Scholes-Merton (BSM) and Merton’s Jump Diffusion (MJD) as well as the stochastic volatility models Heston and Bates. The data used were option prices from Microsoft, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Walt Disney Company, and the S&P 500 index. The data was then divided into training and testing sets, where the training data was used for parameter calibration for each model, and the testing data was used for testing the model prices against prices observed on the market. Calibration of the parameters for each model were carried out using the nonlinear least-squares method. By using the calibrated parameters the price was calculated using the method of Carr and Madan. Generally it was found that the stochastic volatility models, Heston and Bates, replicated the market option prices better than both the constant volatility models, MJD and BSM for most data sets. The mean average relative percentage error for Heston and Bates was found to be 2.26% and 2.17%, respectively. Merton and BSM had a mean average relative percentage error of 6.90% and 5.45%, respectively. We therefore suggest that a stochastic volatility model is to be preferred over a constant volatility model for pricing options. / Syftet med denna tes är att jämföra prissättningsmodeller för optioner. Vi har undersökt de konstanta volatilitetsmodellerna Black-Scholes-Merton (BSM) och Merton’s Jump Diffusion (MJD) samt de stokastiska volatilitetsmodellerna Heston och Bates. Datat vi använt är optionspriser från Microsoft, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Walt Disney Company och S&P 500 indexet. Datat delades upp i en träningsmängd och en test- mängd. Träningsdatat användes för parameterkalibrering med hänsyn till varje modell. Testdatat användes för att jämföra modellpriser med priser som observerats på mark- naden. Parameterkalibreringen för varje modell utfördes genom att använda den icke- linjära minsta-kvadratmetoden. Med hjälp av de kalibrerade parametrarna kunde priset räknas ut genom att använda Carr och Madan-metoden. Vi kunde se att de stokastiska volatilitetsmodellerna, Heston och Bates, replikerade marknadens optionspriser bättre än båda de konstanta volatilitetsmodellerna, MJD och BSM för de flesta dataseten. Medelvärdet av det relativa medelvärdesfelet i procent för Heston och Bates beräknades till 2.26% respektive 2.17%. För Merton och BSM beräknades medelvärdet av det relativa medelvärdesfelet i procent till 6.90% respektive 5.45%. Vi anser därför att en stokastisk volatilitetsmodell är att föredra framför en konstant volatilitetsmodell för att prissätta optioner.

The aim for this paper is to study how mystics can be seen as religious psychologists. It does so by describing and comparing Thomas Merton (1915–1968) and Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950), two mystics from the western-Christian respectively the eastern-Hindu faith. The essay focuses on the mystics understanding about three notions. These are (1) the self, (2) self-realization and (3) the ultimate reality. It does so through the eyes of another 20th century soul searcher: Carl G Jung. The theory that's used is Jungian psychology and is meant to facilitate a tool for describing the mystics' understanding about the notions. It brings the purpose to explain the mystics teachings about the soul, which is the literate meaning of the word ‘psychology’. As such, a discussion is being made about how the mystics can be seen as religious psychologists, because of their use of religious terms and teachings based on mystical experiences. A closer look at the similarities between Jung and the mystics, as well as the impact their teachings have on human well-being, show how they can in fact be seen as religious psychologists. An argument against it is that mystical experiences cannot be proven with a materialistic worldview based on science. However, I discuss that just as some psychological theories and hypotheses cannot be proven by empirical means but are rather judged on the effect it has, so can mysticism also be seen as a religious psychology.