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This dissertation presents pricing models for stop-loss reinsurance contracts for catastrophic events and for catastrophe insurance derivatives. We use doubly stochastic Poisson process or the Cox process for the claim arrival process for catastrophic events. The shot noise process is able to measure the frequency, magnitude and time period needed to determine the effect of the catastrophe. This process is used for the claim intensity function within the Cox process. The Cox process with shot noise intensity is examined by piecewise deterministic Markov process theory. We apply the Cox process incorporating the shot noise process as its intensity to price stop-loss catastrophe reinsurance contracts and catastrophe insurance derivatives. In order to calculate fair prices for reinsurance contracts and catastrophe insurance derivatives we need to assume that there is an absence of arbitrage opportunities in the market. This can be achieved by using an equivalent martingale probability measure in our pricing models. The Esscher transform is used to change probability measure. The dissertation also shows how to estimate the parameters of claim intensity using the likelihood function. In order to estimate the distribution of claim intensity, state estimation is employed as well. Since the claim intensity is not observable we filter it out on the basis of the number of claims, i.e. we employ the Kalman-Bucy filter. We also derive pricing formulae for stop-loss reinsurance contracts for catastrophic events using the distribution of claim intensity that is obtained by the Kalman-Bucy filter. Both estimations are essential in pricing stop-loss reinsurance contracts and catastrophe insurance derivatives.

The universal phenomenon of internationalization as a mainstream element of higher education is often based on the assumption that there is value added to the quality of higher education systems when enhancing the international dimension of teaching, research and service (Knight, 1997). Questioning the validity of the assumption, this study examined the relationship between internationalization and quality of higher education. Using the pre-existing data collected originally by Horn et al (2007), Lombardi et al (2003), and U.S. News World and Report (2003), the study conducted the simple correlation analysis and the multiple regression analysis. The research variables included six internationalization variables such as international students, U.S. study abroad, internationalized faculty and scholars, international research activities, internationalized curriculum, and organizational support; and seven quality variables such as research competitiveness, faculty competitiveness, undergraduate competitiveness, advanced training competitiveness, financial stability, constituents’ satisfaction, and institutional reputation. The results showed that there was a positive relationship between internationalization and quality of higher education. Particularly, the presence of international students was found to have statistically significant and positive effects on all the quality variables except for the research competitiveness. Internationalized faculty and scholars had statistically significant effects on advanced training competitiveness and financial stability. Also, the organizational support for internationalization played a significant role in institutional quality enhancement. However, internationalized curriculum was found to have no effect on any quality variables. Based on the results, the study suggests that various internationalization strategies be conducted and measured properly as part of the institutional quality improvement process.

Empowered by technologies, more sophisticated and dynamic consumers has become the major force influencing communications. Accordingly, the Internet has been accepted as an innovative, new - although perhaps alternative -- media for over a decade now. Therefore, this paper focuses on weblog advertising, one of Internet advertising forms, as a marketing and communications tool to leverage the power of social networks to create innovative brand experiences. The case of Brand Minihompy, a new marketing medium on Cyworld, South Koreans' social networking website will be scrutinized to look at how marketers can create these experiences for their customers.

This dissertation seeks to explain the moderation of the Turkish Islamic party since the end of 1990s. It is hypothesized that in a relatively open and pluralist political system, like Turkey, Islamic entrepreneurs may rely on the power of capital to motivate political Islamists to adopt more liberal and marketoriented programs favorable to business interests. Political Islamists enjoying financial support, in turn, may strengthen Islamic business interests in politics, and further moderate their radical and anti-system behavior. In Turkey, the Islamic financial and business groups have been more liberal and less repressed by the secularist state than their Islamist counterpart in politics. The Islamic capitalists also have been more independent of the state and less fearful of vi extending political rights to the Islamist movements than their secularist, statesponsored competitors. I argue that growing Islamic business interests in Turkey since the mid-1990s have had taming effects on the political Islamists. The Islamic capitalists have steadily grown in strength and influence in the globalization process. Their drive for markets, profits, political stability, and rule of law played a role in transforming the earlier, fundamentalist stance of the political Islamists into a more liberal posture at the end of 1990s.