Saturday, October 12, 2019

Richard Feynman :: biographies biography bio

Richard P. Feynman was born May 11, 1918 to Melville and Lucille Feynman. His father, Melville, never had a chance to endulge his interests in science, so he engulfed Richard in science from a young age. Even at a young age Richard's interest in science and mathematics was extraordinary. He taught himself basic mathematics before entering school. He would also read the Encyclopedia Britannica and he gained much insight into science form that. He even experimented with electronics building his own burglar alarm. At school Richard excelled at math and science. On his own he taught himself trigonometry and calculus. He even won the New York University Math Championship. While his grades in math and science were exceptional, Feynman had poor grades in art, social sciences, and literature. This fact made him less likely to get into the college of his choice. He was rejected from Columbia University, so he went to MIT. While at MIT he changed majors from mathematics to physics after finding the mathematical courses too easy and rigid. He took Theoretical Physics (a graduate class) his second year. Since there was no quantum mechanics courses offered at MIT (a subject that Feynman was extremely interested about) he and a friend taught themselves what they could from the available texts. Feynman received his B.Sc. in 1939 and then moved to Princeton for his doctorate. At Princeton he went on to develop a new approach to quantum mechanics. He made new models of electromagnetics using particle interactions in space-time. He also worked on the Manhattan project while at Princeton. This was a great distraction and slowed the progress of his thesis greatly. In 1942 Feynman received his doctorate. In 1945 Feynman became the professor of theoretical physics at Cornell University. There he devoted himself to teaching and did not do any research. In 1950 he received a job as a professor at CIT (Cal Tech) There he did more work that contributed to the field of quantum mechanics. In 1959 talk at the meeting of the American Physical Society at Cal tech. In this speech he basically sparked the new science of nanotechnology. In 1965 he jointly won the Nobel Prize for physics. His research also led to the theory of 'partons' which later led to the current theory of quarks which are a fundamental part of particle physics. Feynman continued to teach at caltech until his death in 1988. His research and innovation have pushed physics forward over the last century.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Internship in an Investment Bank Essay

Internship is a system of on-the-job training for white-collar jobs. It is a work related learning experience for individuals who wish to develop hands on work experience in a certain occupational field. Most internship is temporary assignments. As such my intern too was temporary for a period of one month. My association with Goldman Sachs was during my semester vacation. To me internship is to combine theory with practical work experience. As such my intern period was of great help in that sense. Generally the objectives of internships are: * Develop skills in the application of theory to practical work situation. * Aptitude test for a particular career. * Develop and pursue business ethics. * Increase on the sense of responsibility. * Opportunity to understand informal organizational interrelationships. * Enhance employment opportunities * Develop skills and techniques directly applicable to their careers. * Provides inside exposure to the structure, operations and decision process within the organization without a commitment to a permanent employer. Some of the obvious advantages an internship offers include strengthening written and oral skills, helping to make contacts to gain future employment, to enhance and strengthen the intern’s resume. Gain an increased awareness of skills, attributes, personal qualities and values. Guides a student to find out what it is to like to work in a business environment. However duties which aren’t structured either not enough to do or random office work or nothing to do with the supposed internship may result in just a waste of time and valuable resources. Sometimes the intern may not have enough time to learn the nuances of the industry and no proper guide or a mentor to guide the individual through the process. It may also result as a burden financially and mentally. About Goldman Sachs History 1869–1930 Goldman Sachs was founded in New York in 1869 by the German-born Marcus Goldman. The company made a name for itself pioneering the use of commercial paper for entrepreneurs and was invited to join the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1896. In the early 20th century, On December 4, 1928, it launched the Goldman Sachs Trading Corp. a closed-end fund. 1930–1980 In 1930, Sidney Weinberg assumed the role of senior partner and shifted Goldman’s focus away from trading and towards investment banking. It was Weinberg’s actions that helped to restore some of Goldman’s tarnished reputation. On the back of Weinberg, Goldman was lead advisor on the Ford Motor Company’s IPO in 1956, which at the time was a major coup on Wall Street. Under Weinberg’s reign the firm also started an investment research division and a municipal bond department. It also was at this time that the firm became an early innovator in risk arbitrage. 1980–1999 On November 16, 1981, the firm made a move by acquiring J. Aron & Company, a commodities trading firm which merged with the Fixed Income division to become known as Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities. J. Aron was a player in the coffee and gold markets, and the current CEO of Goldman, Lloyd Blankfein, joined the firm as a result of this merger. In 1986, the firm formed Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which manages the majority of its mutual funds and hedge funds today. Since 1999 One of the largest events in the firm’s history was its own IPO in 1999. The decision to go public was one that the partners debated for decades. In the end, Goldman decided to offer a small portion of the company to the public, with some 48% still held by the partnership pool 22% of the company was held by non-partner employees, and 18% was held by retired Goldman partners. Goldman Sachs Overview The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients. Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869 and is headquartered at 200 West Street in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City, with additional offices in international financial centers. The firm provides mergers and acquisitions advice, underwriting services, asset management, and prime brokerage to its clients, which include corporations, governments and individuals. The firm also engages in market making and private equity deals, and is a primary dealer in the United States Treasury security market. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious investment banks in the world. As of 2009, Goldman Sachs employed 31,701 people worldwide.Goldman Sachs is divided into three businesses units: * Investment Banking * Trading and Principal Investments * Asset Management and Securities Services Investment banking Investment banking is divided into two divisions and includes Financial Advisory (mergers and acquisitions, investitures, corporate defense activities, restructuring and spin-offs) and Underwriting (public offerings and private placements of equity, equity-related and debt instruments). Goldman Sachs is one of the leading M&A advisory firms, often topping the league tables in terms of transaction size. The firm gained a reputation as a white knight in the mergers and acquisitions sector by advising clients on how to avoid hostile takeovers, moves generally viewed as unfriendly to shareholders of targeted companies. Goldman Sachs, for a long time during the 1980s, was the only major investment bank with a strict policy against helping to initiate a hostile takeover, which increased the firm’s reputation immensely among sitting management teams at the time. The investment banking segment accounts for around 17 percent of Goldman Sachs’ revenues. The firm has been involved in brokering deals to privatize major highways by selling them to foreign investors, in addition to advising state and local governments – including Indiana, Texas, and Chicago – on privatization projects. Trading and principal investments Trading and Principal Investments is the largest of the three segments, and is the company’s profit center. The segment is divided into four divisions and includes: * Fixed Income – The trading of interest rate and credit products, mortgage-backed securities, insurance-linked securities and structured and derivative products * Currency and Commodities – The trading of currencies and commodities * Equities – The trading of equities, equity derivatives, structured products, options, and futures contracts * Principal Investments – merchant banking investments and funds This segment consists of the revenues and profit gained from the Bank’s trading activities, both on behalf of its clients known as flow trading and for its own account known as proprietary trading. Most trading done by Goldman is not speculative, but rather an attempt to profit from bid-ask spreads in the process of acting as a market maker. On average, around 68 percent of Goldma n’s revenues and profits are derived from trading. Asset Management and Securities Services As the name suggests, the firm’s Asset Management and Securities Services segment is divided into two components: Asset Management and Securities Services. The Asset Management division provides investment advisory and financial planning services and offers investment products (primarily through separately managed accounts and commingled vehicles) across all major asset classes to a diverse group of institutions and individuals worldwide. The unit primarily generates revenues in the form of management and incentive fees. The Securities Services division provides clearing, financing, custody, securities lending, and reporting services to institutional clients, including hedge funds, mutual funds, and pension funds. The division generates revenues primarily in the form of interest rate spreads or fees. About Operations Division Operations is at the core of Goldman Sachs. For every trade agreed, every new product launched or market entered, every transaction completed, it is Operations that enables business to flow. Operations is a dynamic, multi-faceted division that partners with all areas of the firm to deliver banking, sales and trading and asset management capabilities to clients around the world. In addition, Operations provides essential risk management and control, preserving and enhancing the firm’s assets and its reputation. The Operations division represents approximately 14% of the firm, with more than 4,500 employees across the globe. Operations spans across all product lines and markets where business is conducted. Each area of business offers diverse opportunities that leverage a common core skill set. While there may be a group that interests you, it is not necessary to identify the group you would like to join when applying. †¢Clearing Operations provides clearing, execution and custody services for all major trading products across 75 exchanges. Our goal is to deliver superior client service, broad product offering and scalable technology to our global client base and franchise trading businesses, while minimizing operational risk. Our clients include hedge funds, asset managers, governments, corporates, broker dealers, Goldman Sachs franchise traders, other professional investors and market markers. †¢Derivatives Operations is responsible for ensuring efficient and accurate transaction processing across a broad range of products. Generally, the products supported are complex instruments that require close alignment with the business. A key focus for the organization is establishing strong risk management procedures and controls to ensure the firm and our clients are properly protected. Derivatives Operations is at the forefront of shaping and driving change in the industry with the ultimate aim of delivering greater accuracy, control and efficiency for our clients and our business. †¢Investment Management Operations delivers asset management and wealth management capabilities to clients around the world. We are a multi-faceted group that partners with all areas of the Investment Management Division to support evolving markets and business requirements. Alongside that vital service delivery role, Investment Management Operations provides essential risk management and control. †¢Liquidity & Collateral Operations (LCO) manages the operational elements for daily funding and liquidity of the firm, oversees the firm’s payment strategy and overall cash flows and positions, and also performs key functions related to counterparty risk management, client transparency, and product and pricing data. In addition to the traditional line functions, LCO is home to Operations Technology Strategy and Reference Data Strategy, both of which focus on strategic process and technology solutions for the division and often the broader firm. †¢Regulatory & Tax Operations is responsible for over 500 non-financial reporting and monitoring functions to over 400 regulators and exchanges. The group enhances the firm’s regulatory and tax transaction and position data and operational controls and develops best practices and standards for processing, infrastructure, and change management. The group aims to leverage expertise consistently across regions and entities in order to demonstrate supervision to regulators and provide efficiency, data accuracy, and transparency around controls. †¢Risk & Control Operations supports the firm by ensuring the integrity of books and records, assessing regulatory requirements, and interfacing with regulators frequently. In addition, the group provides the firm with critical control indicators that assess economic, regulatory, and operational risks, while providing oversight of the Operations Division Risk Framework. †¢Securities Operations supports the Securities, Investment Management and Investment Banking Divisions of the firm. This group manages key relationships for the bank and infrastructure providers, on boarding of institutional and prime brokerage clients, and assists in the coordination of issuance of new financial product. Work Done and Experience I did my summer internship in the Operations Division of Goldman Sachs. My project was primarily based on corporate card reconciliation process. Being an intern to the office, there was a lot to be learnt and a lot more to be implemented, but the people at GS were really accommodating and willing to give the interns the required space and time. Goldman Sachs has, a completely flat organizational structure and everyone is very helpful and you can reach out to almost anyone and he/she will be more than willing to help. The Program is very efficiently carried out and there’s a lot to learn. The firm has its own In-House University where there are innumerable courses on Financial Markets, Corporate Finance, Investment Banking that we needed to learn from. Everything you do and suggest mostly goes into Production i.e. LIVE so obviously you will be having a hands-on experience on things which are actually going to be implemented. All things said, there is deadline within which the work needs to be done. Goldman Sachs was a good shot to achieve out of this internship – improved Problem Solving, Industrial Exposure, Understanding of Financial Markets. At Goldman Sachs, everyone is encouraged to take on more responsibility and stretch themselves. People are very professional and are always there to help when needed. This makes it a fun place to work even though the nature of work is very challenging.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Leadership Styles and Their Effect on CEOs Essay

Abstract The purpose of this essay is to analyze, compare, and contrast the leadership styles of two influential CEOs. I have collected information from many internet sources that elaborate on the life, achievements, and misfortunes of Jack Welch and Steve Jobs, and how they overcame their obstacles to become the best CEOs of all time. Leadership Styles and Their Effect on CEOs Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive. Jack Welch and Steve Jobs exemplify the true meaning of what a leader is. Their personality traits of being conscientious open to experiences, extroversion, persistent, and passionate has led them to be the most phenomenal visionary leaders of their time. Jack Welch was the chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001. During his duration at GE, he managed to introduce a fresh and innovative leadership style. Welch developed a ranking system that put employees in one of three categories. The top 20 percent were â€Å"stars†, the middle 70 percent were the crucial majority, and the bottom 10 percent were weeded out (Bloomberg, 1998). I admire and strongly agree with Welch’s management approach of making employee’s accountable. If you are hired to perform a job, then expecting results of a certain quality is justified. In addition, I believe that Welch’s passion for productivity and results allowed him to achieve effective performance management within his company. Results create success, and I believe most people tend not to raise their standards high enough if there are not serious repercussions that follow, such as being dismissed for not providing results. Welch most notable achievement was increasing the market value of the General Electric firm. As CEO he increased it from approximately $12 billion when he took over, to a colossal $505 at the time of his retirement (Management, 2012). He managed to make GE the world’s second largest company with a market capitalization that was only exceeded by Microsoft. Through hard work and perseverance Welch managed to attain legendary status of being one of the greatest CEOs of all time. Leadership Styles and Their Effect on CEOs Steve Jobs was an entrepreneur, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc. As the CEO of the company, Jobs covered the development of the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, and on the services side the company’s Apple Retail Stores, iTunes store, and the App store. The success of these products under Jobs provided stable years of financial return, and propelled Apple to become the world’s most valuable publically traded company. The reinvigoration of the company is regarded by commentators as one of the greatest turnarounds in business history (Gallo, 2011). Jobs was a â€Å"one-in-a-billion† innovator with a bulldog mentality. He created a vision and relentlessly drove it into completion. Jobs was a demanding perfectionist who always aspired to position his business and products at the forefront of the technology industry by understanding and setting trends with innovation and style. His reputation was built on being a brutal force and often destroyed staff for their â€Å"bozo† ideas and typically shrugged off his associates suggestions in favor of his own gut instinct. Moreover, he only wanted what he called â€Å"A-players†. Meaning that they had to be brilliant and he insisted that under the threat of being fired, that they would never reveal any of Apple’s secrets inside or outside of the organization (Juarez, 2011). In summary, both Welch and Jobs are extraordinary leaders who demonstrate charismatic and transformational leadership styles. They both have very similar qualities in wanting to produce results. However, they differ because Welch’s management style was cut throat in the sense of firing employees who did not perform. Yet, he was still open to the ideas of managers and employees, and empowered them. On the other hand, Jobs leadership style is regarded as unconventional and being a dictator, who only listens to his own intuition. References Bloomberg, L,P. (6/28/2012). How Jack Welch Runs GE. Business Week. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://www.businessweek.com/1998/23/b3581001.htm Gallo, F. (3/17/2012). What Kind of Leader Was Steve Jobs? Calypso Consulting. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://www.chinacalypso.com/content/what-kind-leader-was-steve-jobs Juarez, A. (10/5/2011). A Different Kind of Leader. Studying Systems for a Humane and Sustainable World. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://saybrook.typepad.com/complexity/2011/10/a-different-kind-of-leader-steve-jobs-1955-2011.html Management Strategies From A Top CEO. (4/16/2010). Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://www.investopedia.com/articles/financial-theory/10/manage-business-like-jack-welch.asp#axzz2CpmsLsRK

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Bottled Water

When the children have lunch at school or buy a drink, the kids choose bottled water to make the right choice. Imagine a case where you can not access bottled water because all children are forbidden. Children go to sugar and unhealthy drinks. This makes the children obese and the health care of the children will go up. Then the US obesity rate will rise and our economy will be destroyed. So do not ban the bottled water, it plays an important role for us. Water is one of the most useful resources in history. You have two different types of mineral water: mineral water for city water supply and mineral water from natural hot spring. Bottled drinking water from municipal water sources will be supplied by local municipal supplies of the city. It is cleaned and bottled by the manufacturer. Because this type of mineral water is often surface water, it certainly contains several contaminants. In other words, urban water may come from open canals, reservoirs, snow melting water, or any wate r coming from the ground. The basic elements of our own brand mineral water are of course water, there are many differences in the quality of mineral water. Ultra pure water produced by the distillation / filtration / ozone combination process does not contain minerals, pollutants, bacteria, so many people think that it is of the highest quality. A tag is an element indicating a message, and the message must be transmitted in the strongest and clear way. Labels should be developed by graphic designers or technologies so that consumers can develop high quality images themselves. Printing is particularly important, and the printing process should ensure that the label has the same quality as any top brand of your grocery store or luxury grocery store.

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Globaltech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Globaltech - Essay Example Gained knowledge in the change simulation in relation to leading or managing organizational change My greatest learning in the simulation is the concept of diversity and its management towards a successful change implementation. The simulation model developed my insight on the fact that organizational set ups have diversified people, in personality and orientation, a factor that is critical to a change process and can undermine successful implementation of a proposed change. The concept of diversity emanates from the model’s different factors such as working with groups, interacting with people in a discursive forum, appointment of a core team to the desired change, stakeholder mapping and rewarding of the organization’s members for achievements in a change process. These factors’, however, require a psychological consideration that in turn recognizes the concept of diversity and its management for a successful change process. Diversity in an organization is majo rly attributed to cultural orientations that form the core basis of differences between people. Such differences then manifest in a group’s strengths, weaknesses, and conflicts (Aswathappa 231-233). The simulation helped me to understand possible barrier to communication in a change process because diversified personnel in a change process are likely to have different approaches to communication. A good example is cross-cultural communication difference between people from western culture and people from other cultures. While people with western cultural orientation prefer a direct approach to communication that is shallow and precise, other cultures apply indirect communication that is explorative and ensures detailed explanation of points in communication. This difference is significant to change management because of possible conflict among members of different cultures. Members of the western culture may perceive time wastage in other cultures’ explorative approach to communication while people from the other cultures may fail to understand concepts from the western culture’s precise approach to communication. Another essential to the concept of diversity in communication is people’s accent that is greatly affected by culture and people’s environments. Differences in accent have direct impacts on meaning of words and phrases across cultures and may lead to misunderstanding of motives, objectives, and visions in a change process. Two reasons accounts for this. A recipient in a communication process may confuse words and end up with a different meaning or the recipient may completely fail to understand conveyed meaning for necessary action or reaction. Elements of the change simulation therefore helped me to understand the role of communication in a change process and possible consequences of communication barriers (Brett, Behfar and Kern 85- 88). My developed knowledge in diversity and its management also include conflict and conflict management among people who are involved in change processes. Conflicts emerge at different level, from different perspective and are a common element of a diversified population such as members of an organization that

Monday, October 7, 2019

Society 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Society 2 - Assignment Example It has made some unexpected communication processes possible and quicker at the same time. The purpose of this essay is to discuss and analyze NFC and mobile payment technology. Moreover, this paper will also discuss the societal and cultural impacts of NFC and Mobile payment technology. Figure 1: Life with NFC technology (Rackley, 2011) Understanding the New Trends; NFC and Mobile Payments: Saving time and labor, these new shifts in communication technology have helped the mankind in every possible way. However, it has set new trends in this world as well. Processes, which used to take weeks and months, are now just a click and touch away. Near Field Communication generally known as NFC is a kind of application or a standardized setting in the smart phones and all other similar devices such as tablets, iPads etc. The basic purpose of NFC is to set up a radio communication between smart phones or others devices by bringing them in touch with each other or at least in close immediacy depending on the requirements of the device. Once the connection has been established, a lot of tasks can be performed through it, such as contactless transactions, exchange of data / information, or a set up of multifaceted communications e.g. Wi-Fi. The communication can also be established between a NFC device and a powered off NFC chip (tag) (Coskun, Ok, & Ozdenizci, 2011). Figure 2: Image showing the working of NFC (Coskun, Ok, & Ozdenizci, 2011). With the growing technology, the payment methods are also made easy and simplified. All kinds of payments from utility to the bank and other financial payments are now on your fingertips. Mobile payment is a term which is used for the payments of different things through the smart phones. It is also known as mobile money, mobile money transfer or mobile wallet. It was a long time back when people used to carry bundles of cash and brief cases with them in order to make payments. With this technology this technique has almost diminished . At present a majority of people prefer paying through their mobiles for a variety of services. Instead of paying cash or cheque, they use their phones (Saylor, 2013). Trends: These new technologies have captured almost every country and have set new trends for the payments and transfer methods. According to the financial survey, the combined amount of mobile payments which were made by 2013 has reached $600 Billion globally. This amount is almost the double of what it was in the February of 2011 stating that the adoption toward the technology is increasing enormously. With the rise in smart electronic devices and the smart and catchy internet deals and the revival of Internet IPO it is believed that 2011 was the most transformative year in terms of technology (Schwartz, 2011). Impacts on Society and Culture: Talking about the societal trends regarding NFC and mobile marketing then according to an article published by CNN 2012 has been claimed as the year of NFC and mobile marketin g (Cashmore, 2011). It was also claimed that the mobile payments and NFC will expand and blossom more in 2013. This defines that the adoption of the trend is growing largely in the world and people are becoming more inclined towards the technology. New methods and techniques are continuously evolving by the technology makers this year following the boom and success of NFC and mobile payments. People in developed countries are more likely to be influenced of the technology while it is

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Work Place Module II Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Work Place Module II - Essay Example Some people may argue that accountability is a myth that can not be elucidated due to the complexity of procedures involved and evaluation criteria. However, compliance evaluation may involve formal and informal procedures. In general, accountability is crucial to governance because it ensures public organisations perform in a professional manner in order to offer value for money in the line of public service provision (Dowdle 2006). With regard to accountability in the health care sector, this paper will focus on NHS. In essence, NHS has the role of improving health of the local population in the UK. However, NHS has to be accountable for its service delivery to the people (Cooper 1995). NHS Board is accountable to the department of health. The government is required to provide a statement of NHS accountability clearly describing its responsibility and accountability. NHS provides a range of services, which some of them are accrued from different organisations, not forgetting the de partment of health under which NHS is accountable to (Cooper 1995). ... It is apparent that not a single entity can be argued to comprehensively exercise accountability. Therefore, it will be essential to assess some of the barriers that hinder employment of accountability in NHS. In the long-term, this project benefit both the NHS, the public, and also to me as a student. Through the findings and recommendations of this project, NHS will be able to utilize the information contained in it in order to evaluate its performance in terms of accountability, and various ways through which it can improve as it will be stipulated in the recommendations. Other public organisations can also benefit from the findings of this paper. There is no difference in accountability exercised or required in NHS and accountability exercised or required in other public organisations. Therefore, the government may find it crucial to implement recommendations of this project, in advising other public institutions on how to institute and maintain accountability. On the same note, the public will also benefit from this project in that the project will elucidate on matters concerning how the public can ensure that the government and its institutions are accountable for their actions. For example, the public will be enlightened about consumer/customer accountability. Most people lack the idea of how the government can be made accountable for their service deliveries especially on matters pertaining health service delivery. It is argued that public organisations should ensure that the public gets the value for money in health provision. It is also my strong believe that this project will be of importance to me especially in my studies. I will have not only acquired report writing skills, but I will also have gained a grasp of