Pursuing a Doctoral Degree in Finance :: Graduate Admissions Essays

Pursuing a Doctoral Degree in Finance    I have an excellent job with tremendous advancement opportunities. At my well-paid job at a prestigious investment bank on Wall Street, my computer science and analytical skills are recognized and lauded. Moreover, I enjoy intellectual interactions with my Ph.D. colleagues, have many friends, and am appreciated by my managers. Still, I feel a void in my life. While my friends and colleagues do not understand my decision to leave my rewarding career, I know that I have no choice if I am to pursue my long-term goal and my childhood dream: to teach and publish research. While my friends think I am sacrificing certain career advancement for unnecessary training, I do not act impulsively, and I am certain that I have made the correct decision. What they do not understand is that I will derive even greater satisfaction by pursuing a doctoral degree than by earning a higher salary and advancing in my present career. By pursuing a doctorate, I will have the priceless opportunity to realize m y dream.    Learning gives me a world of satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. The more I learn, the more fulfilled I feel. I do not learn solely to apply my knowledge in a practical setting; instead, it is the quest for knowledge and the challenge of learning that motivates me. Originally, I took my current job since I saw it as an invaluable opportunity to further my learning experience. Over the past two years, I have accumulated a good knowledge of Finance. I was introduced to Bayesian Statistics, GARCH processes, and other topics of time series analysis. I also learned how to price volatility swaps and categorize different optimization tasks.    While I never intended to focus solely on the practical side of finance, nearly all of my work revolves around it. For example, I have done research that forecasted assets' expected returns as well as research on a better way to execute a trade. These research opportunities were all results-oriented. I rarely have had the opportunity to look at the theoretical aspect of finance, like deriving closed-form solutions to evaluate financial instruments, which I sometimes find interesting. Although I try hard to broaden my knowledge of theoretical finance by reading finance and econometrics books on my leisure time, I am not able to test those theories empirically.

Psychosocial Impact of Television on Children Essay

Television was once considered a luxury item, however, today is just a commodity. Even low income households have one television set, not only for entertainment but to keep in touch with the happenings around the world. Television, like any other technological advancement, bought with it negatives and positives to the society. It was once only used as a medium of news and light entertainment, mostly by the elders of a household. Now though it has expanded its purpose and is now commonly used for various purposes by all age groups. As mentioned in earlier conclusions, television itself is not a harmful device; previous studies have shown that its own effects are neither positive nor negative. However, it is the programmes that are aired that effect the society; especially on the physical and psychological well-being of the younger generations. Research papers, different forms of studies and articles have found the effects of television both, harmful and useful, on the development of a child. Even the primary research done through qualitative method of interviewing proved that television has no connection between the style and attention of parents. Instead the parents remained intact with the activities of their children regardless of their television watching habits. This discussion highlights various positives and negatives of television usage by the children. Krosnick, Anand and Hartl (2003) have identified three psychosocial â€Å"predictors† of viewing television. The first one they say is the â€Å"need satisfaction,† which occurs due to lack in the ability to socially interacting with peers, over intelligence, and to avoid parental punishment. â€Å"Parental influence† was nominated as the second one where absence of parental guidance and rules lead to increase in watching television. The last one was â€Å"resource availability† where it was found that it has no link with the overall income of the household. Gupta, Saini, Acharya and Miglani (1994) have identified almost all positives and negatives within two paragraphs of their research paper. They define the most positive effects of television watching as an aid to the development of â€Å"cognitive† ability, a source of â€Å"information†, â€Å"knowledge† and â€Å"skill† development. They mention that it also generates the desire of â€Å"learning† and ‘imparts general awareness. † It can also have a positive effect on the â€Å"attitudes and behavior† of the child while advancing â€Å"conceptual and concrete thinking. † They then highlight the negatives as the excuse to let go of â€Å"reading, playing, exercising, and studying†; thus giving rise to a â€Å"passive† behavior. When children continue watching television their â€Å"social interaction† may decline and their eating habits can also be harmed. A pre-TV introduction (age 3-4) and post-TV introduction (age 7-8) study was conducted by Gunter, Charlton, Coles and Panting (2000). Their study results show that the effects (positives and negatives) are usually according to the gender of the child. A more â€Å"antisocial behavior† was witnessed in the boys after the introduction of the TV; whereas the girls’ social behavior was unaffected. Both of the genders however did not display any â€Å"inter-gender difference. † The researchers saw that â€Å"cartoon viewing† was highly linked to â€Å"pre-TV antisocial behavior† and â€Å"post-TV neuroticism levels. † This did not change even when the viewing of â€Å"violent acts† was â€Å"controlled†; thus proving that the presence of any â€Å"nonviolent ingredient† had an effect on the â€Å"unruly children. † Watching cartoons was also related to decrease in the level of anxiety among children. The minds, values, thinking styles, and even social behavior are continuously developing at early age. Due to this it can be greatly affected by the elements present in the life of the child. They are â€Å"vulnerable† to the information â€Å"conveyed through television†, and it may cause a long-term effect. As their views and perceptions are not developed yet they cannot distinguish between the reality and the made-up stuff (Team headed by Baron, 2001). The paper also mentions that almost â€Å"two-third† of the programmes that are aired contain violent acts of some sort, out of which most â€Å"shows† are for children. It would have been a learning experience if the bad guys are punished severely, but at times they are set free without punishment and â€Å"violence† is shown as part of a â€Å"glamorized† world. According to APA (2004) by viewing violent behavior repeatedly children can become immune towards the â€Å"pain and suffering of others,† at the same time they can also become â€Å"fearful of the world around them. † This proves that it is not necessary that the depiction of the violent acts can cause harm in more than one ways. Children can also become stressed, depressed, or pessimistic due to the negativity being imposed. They might start judging people and world as a bad place which has nothing to offer but pain and misery to the innocent people. Hussain (2007) says that the â€Å"exposure to violence† and the glory of bad guy makes children start to portray aggressive and violent behavior assuming that it is socially accepted and â€Å"normal. † Viewing of television has also been known to cause â€Å"Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD),† which is described as â€Å"inattentiveness, lack of impulse control, and hyperactivity. † ADHD has been known to cause problems in learning and educational field. Television watching can also have a negative impact on the health of a child (Team headed by Baron, 2001). It can lead to a belief that looking like actors and models is beauty; thus taking away the innocence of a child. This has really negative effects on females who start developing â€Å"body concept and self-image† and start â€Å"dieting† at a very early age. Another social disadvantage is the division that this body image will cause amongst the children. At a very early age they will start distinguishing their peers as fat, skinny, chubby, beautiful and ugly and this trait will strengthen as they grow older. Another problem related to health and social issues is that of sexuality as mentioned by CPS (2003). Children hear the word sex on television for the first time rather than from their health care provider or parents. It has taken the role of the sex educator. Movies, shows, and even kids cartoon characters are shown as involved in sexual acts. Children are led to believe that it is â€Å"normal and risk-free,† and â€Å"everybody does it. † This has lead to increasing number of sexually active individuals than ever. Strasburger (1995) has selected the sexuality related data in a table which shows the influence of television on the sexual acts at early age.

North Country

The North Country deals with the problem of sexual harassment faced by women workers in steel mine in northern Minnesota. The sexual harassment is not just by their male co-workers, but by the whole community that consists of the mine workers and their families. In doing so, it emphasizes a key fact such acts of gender-prejudice is not perpetrated by men alone, but are perpetrated by the society as a whole. Centuries of marginalization of women are viciously rationalized by one simple sentence by Sissy Spacek's character, â€Å"kids are your purpose, and the father brings home the money†. Josey Aimes, played by Charlize Theron, flees an abusive relationship, with two kids in tow, to move in with her parents. She tries out odd-jobs before somebody mentions that she could make six times as much by working in the steel mine. Her father, who has worked in the mine for the majority of his life, is not pleased with Josey's decision for him women just don't do such things. To start off, she is subjected to a far more intrusive medical exam than one would expect. Then, the torture begins; few outrageous acts passed off as fun, some explicit comments, actions, and some implicit gestures. All aimed at sending one message, women have no business doing a man's job. The women respond to these circumstances with whatever means accessible to them. But most of the recourses are fruitless, and taking a tremendous step might put their jobs at risk. The movie deals with the different facets of this problem in the most convincing of ways. The filmmakers are very ambitious in diving into the depths of this problem. This ambition almost derails the movie in the final act. While any woman in the present day could tell her own story of how sexual discrimination still exists, the world into which Josie entered was so abusive that one could only imagine it happening in a prison (Denny Wayman and Hal Conklin). For the women of this Minnesota mine, every day turned out to be an emotional and physical lockdown: feces smeared on the women’s lockers, direct rape attempts on the job, and continual jeers from the male miners made daily life a death sentence. The part of women in the workplace was a world of difference only 30 years ago. The TV images of Lucile Ball as the ditzy housewife who always deferred to her husband’s proficient ability to be the â€Å"bread winner† have given way to CSI Miami images of woman prosecutors extremely solving mystery cases week after week. What is most significant is that we never take for granted the sacrifice that was made. Unless we teach each new generation regarding the freedoms we have gained, we are always in danger of caving into our most sinful nature of greed, avarice, fear, and pride. REFERENCE Denny Wayman and Hal Conklin. North Country Stars – Profound.   

Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything Essays

Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything Essays Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything Essay Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything Essay Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything Name: Institution: Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly EverythingOutlineI. How to build a universeA. What is the size of the proton?1. The size of the proton is unimaginably small, which makes it too microscopic2. The small dot of an ‘i’ could contain hundreds of billions of protonsB. What was the size of singularity that is known to begin the universe and what existed outside the singularityC. How long did it take from when there was nothing existing in the universe to there being stuff and how did it all start?D. How long has the universe been in existence or how old is it since it formed?E. How is the Big Bang related to the static on a blank television station?F. What makes the universe seem unlikely considering space is part of the universe, is not infinityG. Is there anything that exists outside the universe?II. The measure of thingsA. What is the size or how big is the earth?B. What made a group of scientists from France choose to go to Peru in a quest to measure the ear th?C. Triangulation1. Measuring size of earth using triangulation2. Measuring the distance of the earth from the sun using triangulationD. The use of trigonometry in measuring the earth as well as its distance from the sunE. How a betting led to the writing of the greatest mathematical book ever writtenF. Is the earth perfectly spherical and does have any significance?G. The transit of VenusH. Measuring the distance between the earth and the sunI. Weighing the earth and weighing other planetsJ. What made Newton, Cavendish and Gibbs secretive about their discoveries and a comparison to Watson who was not secretiveIII. The stone breakersA. The age of the earthB. How the ancient fossil clamshells are found in mountaintopsC. How 18th century geology explained the clamshells in the mountaintopsD. Theories of plutonism and neptunismE. Theories of catastrophism and uniformitarianismF. Lyell1. Who was he2. Why was he named father of geometryG. Geologic time division and classificationH. Att empts aimed at determining the age of the earthI. Undermining of geology by Lord KelvinJ. Why measuring of earth’s age was more difficult compared to measuring its mass and sizeIV. Elemental mattersA. The periodic table of elements and why it is known as the most elegant organization table to be devisedB. What elements are there and how their discoveries occurredC. How a Swedish pharmacist that is unheard of discovered eight elementsD. AlchemyE. Elan vital and what it wasF. How a French noble founded chemistry and later got beheadedG. Drug of choice in the early 19th century1. What was it2. How it led to the death of a famous chemistH. The size of the Avogadro’s numberI. How a Russian card player chemist turn order into chaosJ. Breaking of chemistry into organic and inorganicK. Radioactivity1. Its relation to age of earth2. How radioactivity undermined lord Kelvin’s age of the earth3. The current age of earth estimatesV. The mighty atomA. The size of the atomB. All things are made of atomsC. Why Rutherford was awarded for something different from what he was looking forD. The quantum leap and why it is considered strangeE. Why our brains are not able to understand the smallest thingsF. Why rules concerning the smallest things are different from the things we can seeVI. BangA. How the dinosaurs went extinctB. Relationship between the impact of comet on Jupiter and mass extinction here on earthC. What the meteor crater in Iowa does tell about dinosaur extinctionD. What could be the result if a meteor hit the earth1. Would it be dangerous?2. Is there anything that could be done?E. The number of species that went extinct after the Cretaceous Tertiary boundaryF. The resistance of connection between impacts and the extinctionVII. The rise of lifeA. Miller’s experiments and what it has to do with the origin of lifeB. The problem of making proteins1. What is protein2. Strangeness in protein synthesisC. What turns something into lifeD. Livin g things as collections of moleculesE. The beginning of life on earth and what makes it miraculousF. Theory of panspermia and its issuesG. Why Ridley states that all life is oneH. StromatoliteI. Early life1. How was it like2. Does evidence exists to show that it still exists3. How scientists study the early life4. How long did life begin and how long did the current complex life begin5. How was the world about 3.5 billion years agoJ. Mitochondria1. What it is2. Where they come from3. The strangeness in mitochondriaVIII. CellsA. What a cell isB. What cells doC. The size of the cell and how they multiplyD. What are the constituents of a cellE. How the nitric oxide that is poisonous help our cellsF. Hooke and Leeuwenhoek1. Who were they2. How did they contribute to our understanding of the cellIX. Darwin’s singular notionA. How Darwin spent his lifeB. Darwin’s best idea that anyone has ever had and why it was given the name it hasC. The results of Darwin’s voyage o n the BeagleD. Why Darwin did not produce his ideas concerning evolution immediately after discoveringE. Alfred Russell Wallace1. Who he was2. His contribution to the evolutionary theoryF. Problems of Darwin’s ideas about the origin of speciesG. Mendel1. Who he was2. His contribution to biologyH. Passing of genetic traitsI. Benefits that could have been realized if Mendel and Darwin knew about each other’s workJ. How ideas of Mendel and Darwin explain evolutionX. The stuff of lifeA. Why DNA is a molecule without life in itself and mostly does nothing in the bodyB. The human genome and what it isC. The odds of being alive,1. How one might probably not be alive if their parents had not bonded at the time they did even with a difference of a second.2. The number of ancestors it would require for a person to be in existence3. Incest and how it has contributed to existence of many people and how it makes almost all of us relativesD. The DNA1. Why is considered one of the mo st non-reactive2. Chemically an inert molecule within the living world3. Why scientist though it was too simple to have any importance in life4. How DNA is similar to Morse codeE. Genes1. What is gene2. The discovery of the DNA structure3. Similarity of your genes to other organisms4. How the gene worksF. The human proteomeG. Why ‘All life is one’ as Bryson puts it and why this is the most profound statementPersonal Opinion Upon reading this book, one realizes that there are many questions that one cannot answer, which science seeks to answer. So many scientists have tried to understand the nature of life as well as how it came into being and what shapes it. What resulted were many theories that explain some of the greatest phenomenon of life. However, no one can claim to be certain about life considering most of these theories and ideas are criticized while new ones continue to emerge to discredit older ones. However, majority of these ideas and theories explain a lot of things that are unanswerable and why it is hard to understand them. The information provided in this book explains quite well what science is all about. The information talks about principles that exist to explain life or the natural laws that govern life and matter or how the universe and earth come into existence. Therefore, science is not about technology as one would think. Rather, it is some of these principles that were discovered by some of the greatest scientists that drive technology. For instance, the discovery of the elements is quite crucial today in making some of the things we enjoy. This was a result of the science discovered many years ago. However, the main issue in this book is how almost everything in the whole universe came into existence including the stars, other planets and the earth in which we exist. Science in this book is presented as a series of questions that scientists in the past had thought they had fully answered while the truth is that some of their ideas continue to be discredited with new discoveries and studies. One of the major themes in this book is the resistance of new scientific ideas although there is evidence for some of the ideas including the Big Bang, evolution, plate tectonics, a likely connection between meteor impact and extinction and atoms amongst others. Bryson not only seeks to answer some of these questions by referring to the works of the great scientist, but also talks about how they came to know what they know such as how they discovered some of the most important principles of life today. In an interesting way, he is able to present a sphere of science in each part of the book while every chapter has addressed interesting questions that any person reading would be interested in knowing. It makes understanding of science easier and a lot more interesting. It further makes it look like a study of some logical thoughts such as the odd of our existence, where he shows that almost everybody is related. Holistically, Bryson presents science in a way that anybody can study and even seek to discover things on their own through asking several simple questions about the things that we see daily or most of the natural phenomenon that surrounds us such as why we do not fall off the earth as it rotates no its axis.

Free Essays on Music History Between 1600-1820

Music began to change form the style of the Renaissance to a more complicated form around 1750. The period following the Renaissance is called the Baroque. "Music of any period reflects, in its own way, some of the same influences, tendencies, and generative impulses, that are found in the other arts of that time. Thus the word "baroque," usually used despairingly by eighteenth-century art critics to describe the art and architecture of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, came to be applied also to the music of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries." "The term has in the past, and to some extent in the present, carried implications of absurdity, grotesqueness, or abnormality. But as applied to the music of the period of 1600-1750 the term "baroque" has no such pejorative connotations, for much of the music of this time is of the finest quality." The Baroque style is easiest seen in the Baroque churches in Europe. It is obvious in the ceiling and altar paintings, the ornate carvings and metal work, and in the highly expressive sculpture. In music, aspects of the Baroque can are flamboyance, spectacle, and emotionalism in Italian Operas. Also, the use of dramatic in religious music and the massing together of large groups of voices and instruments. Some baroque was seen before 1600 and was seen after 1750 and the early baroque was first seen in the works of Montebverdi and in the Venetian School. The major-minor tonality actually emerged from this period and composers began to note the key within the titles of their music. Also pertinent to Baroque style of music, â€Å"a regular persistent rhythmic pattern was frequently used throughout a movement of an instrumental piece in order to constantly maintain a single basic mood.† The main texture of the Baroque was a similar rhythm in all of the parts with the horizontal motion mostly existing in the bass and soprano. There was also an emphasis on... Free Essays on Music History Between 1600-1820 Free Essays on Music History Between 1600-1820 Music began to change form the style of the Renaissance to a more complicated form around 1750. The period following the Renaissance is called the Baroque. "Music of any period reflects, in its own way, some of the same influences, tendencies, and generative impulses, that are found in the other arts of that time. Thus the word "baroque," usually used despairingly by eighteenth-century art critics to describe the art and architecture of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, came to be applied also to the music of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries." "The term has in the past, and to some extent in the present, carried implications of absurdity, grotesqueness, or abnormality. But as applied to the music of the period of 1600-1750 the term "baroque" has no such pejorative connotations, for much of the music of this time is of the finest quality." The Baroque style is easiest seen in the Baroque churches in Europe. It is obvious in the ceiling and altar paintings, the ornate carvings and metal work, and in the highly expressive sculpture. In music, aspects of the Baroque can are flamboyance, spectacle, and emotionalism in Italian Operas. Also, the use of dramatic in religious music and the massing together of large groups of voices and instruments. Some baroque was seen before 1600 and was seen after 1750 and the early baroque was first seen in the works of Montebverdi and in the Venetian School. The major-minor tonality actually emerged from this period and composers began to note the key within the titles of their music. Also pertinent to Baroque style of music, â€Å"a regular persistent rhythmic pattern was frequently used throughout a movement of an instrumental piece in order to constantly maintain a single basic mood.† The main texture of the Baroque was a similar rhythm in all of the parts with the horizontal motion mostly existing in the bass and soprano. There was also an emphasis on...

Strong Electrolyte Definition and Examples

Strong Electrolyte Definition and Examples A strong electrolyte is a solute or solution that is an electrolyte that completely dissociates in solution. The solution will contain only ions and no molecules of the electrolyte. Strong electrolytes are good conductors of electricity, but only in aqueous solutions or in molten form. The comparative strength of an electrolyte may be gauged using a galvanic cell. The stronger the electrolyte, the greater the voltage produced. Strong Electrolyte Chemical Equation The dissociation of a strong electrolyte is apparent by its reaction arrow, which only points toward products. In contrast, the reaction arrow of a weak electrolyte points in both directions. The general form of the strong electrolyte equation is: strong electrolyte (aq)  Ã¢â€ â€™ cation (aq) anion- (aq) Strong Electrolyte Examples Strong acids, strong bases, and ionic salts that are not weak acids or bases are strong electrolytes. Salts much have high solubility in the solvent to act as strong electrolytes. HCl (hydrochloric acid), H2SO4 (sulfuric acid), NaOH (sodium hydroxide) and KOH (potassium hydroxide) are all strong electrolytes.

Article Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Article - Assignment Example The first article â€Å"Aligning Supply Chain Strategies with Product Uncertainties† by Lee discusses theoretically the process involved in supply chain management and the factors, which necessitates the same. The article elaborately discusses the risks in production entailed by demand and supply sides. The center point is supply uncertainties that thereby leads to reinforce the necessity of supply chain management. The second article ‘Avon gets its Makeover’ by Cohen and Roussel point out how Avon, a global cosmetics firm has reformed the infrastructure in its manufacturing and transportation base using an end-to-end approach and the benefits which resulted form this step. The third article ‘Making Supply Meet Demand’ by Fischer, Hammond, Obermeyer and Raman focuses on the errors in forecasting and other means of uncertainties affecting demand supply interaction. The fourth article ‘Mass Customization at’ by Feitzinger and Lee explains t he strategies employed for mass customization. All four articles also incorporate the role played by information in supply chain management. Demand-Supply interaction and supply chain management Managing supply chains is closely associated with demand related uncertainties. Supply Chain Management is an integrated set of complex operations needed for a business to succeed in a competitive atmosphere. Efficient supply chain management functions practiced by a company help it in achieving several business objectives. It helps in reducing the cost of operations, improving the quality of the products and services rendered and in maintaining efficient delivery system. Moreover effective supply chain management practice promotes the system of spontaneous innovation taken by a concern. Effective supply chain management helps in the augmentation of the value and quality of products through proper forecasting of market demand and thereby making necessary replenishment (Fischer, Hammond, Ober meyer and Raman). The challenges and benefits of supply chains should be closely studied before any practical strategies are framed and Lee successfully explore that focusing on the uncertainties on both demand and supply sides. Management of supply chains have been more complicated owing to the shortening of life cycles of a product, expansion of business worldwide and persistent up gradation of information technology. The main indicators of the health of supply chain are its market position, inventory, customer service, cost and returns on assets. One important thing must be noted here. Every product or segment cannot have the same kind of supply chain management and a market with unstable demand or uncertain supply source cannot be managed in the same way as that with a stable demand and supply dynamics. For instance products, which are functional, might have lesser uncertainties in demand structure than those that are innovative in nature (Lee). The distinction on grounds of pre dictability can also be made on grounds of accurate response. Fischer, Hammond, Obermeyer and Raman discuss different models for forecasting demand and consequently supply. The products, which are functional in nature, can be forecast without much risk of deviation (Lee). An instance of a successful supply chain management might be found in case of Avon. The company undertook an end-to-end supply chain structure where it could see the entire chain as