Managing in the service environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Managing in the service environment - Essay Example The customers ought to be satisfied with what the service providers have. The service providers should be able to keep customers coming back through the services provided (Martin et al 4). Customer service dimensions are crucial in ensuring that there is satisfactory customer service from the service provider to the customers. One major dimension is known as desired service. Desired service entails a blend of what the customer believes can be done and should be done. This draws the hope and expectation of the customers from the service providers. The procedural dimension comprises of systems and procedures that are important in the delivery of products and services. Conversely, personal dimension explains how service providers use their attitudes; behaviors and verbal skills interact with customers. This indicates that there is proficiency in the procedural service, but the personal dimension is weak. Basically, the approach tells the customer that he /she is a ‘number’ in which the service provider is there to process (Martin et al 11). This indicates a service that is extremely personal, but does not have procedural constituency. The approach communicates to the customer that the service provider is trying hard although they are not sure of what they are doing. It is the best approach as it represents quality customer service at both personal and procedural dimensions. It communicates to the customer as having the knowledge to handle its issues through care, and delivery (Martin et al 11). Employee empowerment is important in ensuring that they are in a position to make decision on behalf of the employee in terms of service provision. Moreover, it makes the employee have a sense of ownership, responsibility and to serve customer as per the standards of a given service provider (Martin et al 12). Anticipation entails being able to predict the behavior of

Tata Indica Essay Example for Free

Tata Indica Essay Inception Tata Motors Limited is Indias largest automobile company, with revenues of Rs. 24,000 crores (USD 5. 5 billion) in 2005-06. By far it is the leader in commercial vehicles in each segment. It is also the second largest in the passenger vehicles market with winning products in the compact, midsize car and utility vehicle segments. The company is the worlds fifth largest medium and heavy commercial vehicle manufacturer. Established in 1945, Tata Motors presence indeed cuts across the length and breadth of India. . The companys manufacturing base is spread across Jamshedpur, Pune and Lucknow, supported by a nation-wide dealership, sales, services and spare parts network comprising over 2,000 touch points. Close to 4 million Tata vehicles ply on Indian roads, since the first rolled out in 1954. The foundation of the companys growth over the last 50 years has been a deep understanding of economic stimuli and customer needs, and the ability to translate them into customer-desired offerings through R;D. Established in 1966, the companys Engineering Research Centre, with 1,400 engineers and scientists, has developed pioneering technologies and products. Today the company has RD centers in Pune, Jamshedpur, Lucknow, in India. And not only this, it also has RD centers in South Korea, Spain, and the UK. The pace of new product development in Tata Motors has quickened. In 2005, the company created a new segment by launching the Tata Ace, Indias first indigenously developed mini-truck. The years to come will see the introduction of several other innovative vehicles, all rooted in emerging customer needs. Besides product development, the R;D centers of the company are also focusing on environment-friendly technologies in emissions and alternative fuels. GLOBAL PRESENCE Today, Tata branded vehicles can be seen in several countries like Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, South East Asia and South Asia. So, Tata Motors is not only at the forefront of the Indian automobile industry, it is also one of Indias best known brands in international markets. Tata Motors is the first company from Indias engineering sector to be listed in the New York Stock Exchange (September 2004). It has also emerged as a global automotive company. In 2004, it acquired the Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company, Koreas second largest truck maker. The rechristened Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company has already begun to launch new products. In 2005, Tata Motors acquired a 21% stake in Hispano Carrocera, a reputed Spanish bus and coach manufacturer, with an option to acquire the remaining stake as well. Hispanos presence is being expanded in other markets. In 2006, the company formed a joint venture with the Brazil-based Marcopolo, a global leader in body-building for buses and coaches, to manufacture and assemble fully-built buses and coaches. Tata Motors already distributes and markets Fiat branded cars in India. To establish an industrial joint venture in India to manufacture passenger vehicles, engines and transmissions for the Indian and overseas markets; Tata Motors and the Fiat Group have recently signed a memorandum of understanding. The companys commercial and passenger vehicles are already being marketed in several countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, South East Asia and South Asia. It has assembly operations in Malaysia, Kenya, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Russia and Senegal. These acquisitions will further extend Tata Motors global footprint, established through exports since 1961. Product: TATA INDICA V2 The Brand value Indica, the first truly Indian car heralds India’s arrival on the global automobile arena. The company strives to make the Indica accessible to the value-seeking Indian, without compromises. It is a trustworthy, reliable car that appeals to the head as well as the heart. The brand is recognized as one of the strongest and most enduring of the past decade and has consistently figured amongst the most trusted brands in industry surveys. The Tata Indica catapulted the Indian automobile industry into the big league of the global arena. It has been created in an industry rife with global competition, requiring huge financial investment and scale as well as high technological competence. Facts about Indica  · Tata Motors is the youngest passenger car company in the world.  · The car came into being – concept freeze to launch – in just 31 months.  · The name, Indica, was derived from two words – India’s Car.  · The Indica sold its second 100,000th car in a record period of less than 18 months. Indica’s investment of Rs. 19. 20 billion for a capacity of 150,000 cars achieved cash profits in its third year and net profits in its fourth.  · Indica catapulted Tata Motors as the second largest player in the Indian passenger vehicle market.  · In the Indian car industry, Indica Club is the largest brand loyalty program.  · Indica is instrumental in creating a Rs. 46 billion pas senger car business for Tata Motors within five years of its launch.  · Indica investment became EVA positive in its fifth year – a rare distinction in the automobile world. As compared to others who manufacture lower B segment cars; Tata Motors (Telco) has drawn up a clear cut strategy that highlights the fact that their only competitor is Palio in the B segment. This is their USP in a market dominated by luxury and super premium cars. They expect demand from Spain, Malta, Italy and Portugal and are striving for markets in UK, Iran and China. Their Goal is the international market in the long term. They aim for 20 per cent of business from the international market. Realizing the potential of Indica, Telco modified the model and launched Indiva – a MPV concept – at the Geneva Auto Fair in Switzerland. The Tata Indica v2 sedan is likely to be launched in the second half of the next fiscal year. The Sedan has been styled by IDEA – the Italian design house that penned Indica. The result is a well-proportioned but conservative-looking midsize car. The invitation to the motoring media to â€Å"Go on, try them yourself† at the WesBank raceway in December 2005 contributed to the high level of media attention. This open and honest approach to communicating the value of their products served well for the ongoing building of the Tata brand in South Africa. Given the progress the Tata Group has made in the past 10 years and the scope for involvement and growth in numerous sectors in South Africa and rest of Africa, Tata can be expected to shift gears upwards soon. Ratan Tata has emphasized his group’s commitment to the South African market, commenting that â€Å"the arrival of our cars in South Africa is the fulfillment of a desire I have held since I first came here†¦ our countries can do much together and we are focusing seriously on our presence here – we will not take away but will add to South Africa. † Product Though a late entrant, the Indica quickly established itself as the benchmark for the segment. By offering exciting features, the car changed the rules of the category in Space, Power, Style, Safety and Economy for international market. The Indica ensured a pleasant ride and handling experience as it had features like wide large tyres, generous leg room and independent front and rear suspension. It developed a new segment of diesel small cars along with its petrol offering. The luggage space was also the best in its class. The rigid 980 kgs steel body of the car was rigorously tested at Indias first and only crash test facility. A collapsible steering wheel, impact absorbing bumpers, anti-submarine seats, crumple zones and side impact beams are just a few of the features that make the Indica one of the safest cars on the roads today. Savings are ensured with the fuel-efficient 1. 4L diesel engine, while the 1. 4L petrol engine is optimized for performance. The foray into the export markets with the Indica would commence only after meeting the initial requirements of the domestic market. However, the company will commence development of the export model, work on homologation and ensure that the car meets all the norms of the markets abroad. Indica features for international market:  · Collapsible steering column  · Side-impact beam  · Energy-absorbing crumple zones in the front  · Anti-submarine seats  · Child-safety locks on rear doors  · Laminated front and rear windshield glass Promotion ‘More car per car’ is the famous tagline of this product. The Indica’s positioning has remained consistent with the brands offering in an increasingly competitive market. The Indica is now synonymous with the word ‘More, by encapsulating the inherent product strengths and marrying them with the customer trait of desiring ‘More’. A promotion strategy for Indica v2 in international market is more or less same as that of the Indian market. Media innovations have been a key to the success of the Indica. The positioning was strengthened with the successful launch of the Indica V2, which assumed the leadership position in the year of its launch. The Indica v2 was launched in the international market only through the press medium, with three diesel versions and a petrol version, and this campaign shattered many automobile advertising myths. The car was launched without any television advertising, but through high-impact newspaper ads, dominating the medium and delivering the desired impact. The campaign redefined the competition by keeping away from the ‘small car’ nomenclature. Headlines such as ‘You’ll never have to suffer a small car again’ assisted customers in distinguishing between their old choices and the Indica. This, in effect, placed the Indica on the pedestal of leadership, set to change the rules of the game. A recent campaign for the Indica V2 has helped in building the product on the rational platform and adds an emotional layer. Anchored on the insight ‘It’s only human to want more’, the campaign revolves around interesting candid moments in the daily lives of normal everyday people who desire more; be it a boy wanting the other boy’s bigger lollipop, or a baby crying when her parents stop driving her around in the Indica V2. The latest campaign moves to the ‘Even more car per car’ positioning. Place Tata automobile group have a very large distribution network all over the world. Tata Indica v2 is exported and assembled in many countries. South Africa has an assembling unit for consumer vehicles. Other places where the company’s products (Tata Indica) are exported and in some assembled also are mentioned below:  · Africa :- Algeria , Angola , Ethiopia , Ghana , Kenya , Mauritius , Sudan , Uganda , South Africa , Senegal etc.  · Europe: Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, UK and Ireland.  · CIS : Belarus, Russia, Ukraine.  · Asia: Bangladesh, Malaysia, Sri-Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan.  · Australia continent Price: Tata Motors adopted a competitive pricing strategy for Indica in the global market. Prices were fixed on the basis of the norms prevailing in the international market. Also the prices offered by their competitors like Toyota, Ford, Fiat, were kept in mind while deciding the prices. Brand Image Indica, the first truly Indian car heralds India’s arrival on the global automobile arena. It strives to make the Indica accessible to the value-seeking Indian, without compromises. A trustworthy, reliable car that appeals to the head as well as the heart. Truly ‘More car per car’ the brand has consistently figured amongst the most trusted brands in industry surveys and is recognized as one of the strongest and most enduring of the past decade. Created in an industry rife with global competition, requiring huge financial investment and scale as well as high technological competence, the Tata Indica catapulted the Indian as well as automobile industry into the big league of the global arena. For Indica V2 brand building, Tata Engineering roll out media blitz Tata Engineering is all set to launch an aggressive multi-media ad campaign, in a bid to boost sales and build the brand image of its new launch, Tata Indica V2. While launching the Indica V2 in international market, the company had released only announcement ads to create awareness for the new launch. And now to promote Indica V2, the company plans to roll out a media blitz. The main objective of the multi-media campaign is to further build perfect global brand image for Indica V2 in highly competitive international market or global automobile market. And the new media blitz will include a print campaign, comprising a series of press advertisements, outdoor-media campaign, television commercials and ground promotions.

5G New Waveform Signal Analysis

5G New Waveform Signal Analysis UF-OFDM, FBMC and GFDM are under investigation worldwide as promising candidates of the New Waveform for 5G mobile communication systems. This paper describes features of their signal processing technologies and issues. New Waveform analysis environment is also introduced. Impact of each waveform to existing system can be estimated quickly by the environment. 1 Introduction Preparations for the migration from LTE/LTE-Advanced to next-generation mobile communications systems (5G) are progressing in various regions worldwide. In particular, the European METIS) and 5GNOW projects have advanced the research of new waveforms meeting 5G requirements. LTE/ LTE-Advanced currently uses Cyclic Prefix Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (CP-OFDM) as the wireless signal multiplexing method, because it has high spectrum efficiency as well as high tolerance against multipath propagation and fading. On the other hand, CP-ODFM signal requires high linearity to output power amplifiers according to its high peak to average power ratio (PAPR). As a result, the power amplifier efficiency is low, increasing the User Equipment (UE) battery power consumption. Consequently, there are problems with shortened hours to receive wireless services. Moreover, the CP-OFDM spectrum has high out-of-band (OOB) sidelobes, causing problem with lowered spectrum efficiency when many UEs are operating at one location. Improving CP-OFDM is under way to solve these problems that constitute barriers to 5G system deployment. Currently, use of the Filtered Multi-carrier technology is examined to reduce the OOB sidelobes and is recognized as New Waveform. Various different methods have been proposed for implementing the Filtered Multi-carrier technology. These methods offer to improve CP-OFDM using sub-carrier filtering but each filtering method is different. Since these new waveforms are different from the CP-OFDM waveform used in LTE/LTE-Advanced, PAPR and spectrum shape are also different. As a result, devices with designs optimized for CP-OFDM are no longer optimum for the new waveforms. Therefore, RF devices, UEs and Base Stations for 5G systems will require new test instruments to generate and receive new waveforms for their various performance evaluations. 2 Example of New Waveforms This chapter explains proposed main methods of the Filtered Multi-carrier technology, in particular UF-OFDM (Universal Filtered Orthogonal Frequency Multiplex), FBMC (Filter Bank Multi-Carrier), and GFDM (Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing). 2.1 UF-OFDM UF-OFDM is a method for improving OOB characteristics by filtering each block. UF-OFDM allows a mapped signal to be allocated to a predetermined number of blocks and number of sub-carriers for each block. The data for each block are calculated using Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (iDFT) and converted to time sequence data equal to the total number of sub-carriers. As a consequence, the UF-OFDM signal becomes a time series with a length extended by (the filter tap number. The length can be set equal to the length of cyclic prefix (CP) of CP-OFDM signal. Therefore UF-OFDM has higher compatibility with the CP-OFDM. The time series signal from modulation side is pre-processed for filtering interference and S/P converted, demodulation is performed by FFT of twice the number of total sub-carriers. The demodulated signal is demapped to each symbol group after radio channel correction for each sub-carrier. Other demodulation methods such as ZF (Zero-Forcing), MF (Matched Filter), and MMSE (Minimum Mean Square Error) have also been discussed. Transmission distortion, receiver performance in the mobile environment and circuit scale, etc. will be key factors for their adoption. The OOB sidelobes have been significantly improved, being better by about 40 dB than those of CP-OFDM. Although UF-OFDM improves the OOB by filtering each block, its performance is affected by the inserted filter which causes the amplitude and phase distortion. Their results show the constellation without correction of the filter distortion. The constellation is scattered in each block in the direction of amplitude and phase due to the filter characteristics. A UF-OFDM signal (time series length of N + L à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1) using a filter with L taps is longer than the OFDM signal with the same number of sub-carriers (N). However, demodulation of the UF-OFDM signal could be desired to be performed by N point-FFT instead of 2N point-FFT, as well as that of the OFDM signal. 2.2 FBMC Unlike UF-OFDM, since FBMC is a method for improving OOB characteristics by filtering each subcarrier, it is also expected to improve the Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) characteristics. The FBMC multicarrier modulation techniques allow the orthogonality between the Offset-QAM (OQAM) sub-carriers to be fully assured. Since narrowband filters are used for the FBMC sub-carriers, the number of digital filter taps can be larger than the total sub-carrier number. This filter method can be implemented in two ways-in the frequency domain, or in the time domain. To fix the iFFT length to the same total sub-carrier number, time domain processing method is suitable and Poly Phase Network (PPN) is used. FBMC using this narrowband filtering has greatly improved OOB characteristics. On the other hand, the number of filter taps required to improve the characteristics is about four times the total sub-carrier number, creating a four times processing latency in a PPN configuration. Accordingly, although FBMC is problem-free for bitpipe communications such as video streaming, it has lower transmission efficiency for short packets. In the actual application, besides these blocks, there is additional processing such as equalization for each sub-carrier and filtering to remove interference caused by transmission distortion. 2.3 GFDM GFDM is a new concept method in which conventional OFDM is generalized, and it is based on the block oriented Filtered Multi-carrier method following the Gabor principle. Symbol configuration of GFDM is composed of time frequency blocks made up of a number of sub-carriers K and a number of subsymbols M with high flexibility. The modulation filter processing uses pulse-shaping filter g[n] for each sub-carrier and is implemented using cyclic convolution processing. The demodulation filter processing is performed using the same filter as modulation processing and reduces the Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI). This filtering for each sub-carrier improves the GFDM OOB characteristics but generates ISI and ICI and insertion of an interference canceler is being investigated to reduce ISI and ICI caused by this filtering. The constellation for all sub-carriers show that the symbol constellation is not converged at one point due to the effect of ICI. These results are one example of using a root raised cosine filter (RRCF). The OOB characteristics and degree of ICI and ISI generation change according to the selected pulse-shaping filter. Since the GFDM waveform has the same cyclic prefix (CP) as the OFDM waveform, the OOB characteristics are worse than the new waveform which does not have CP as explained previously. Consequently, to improve the OOB characteristics, guard symbol GFDM (GS-GFDM) method, which inserts a guard symbol between subsymbols, and windowed GFDM (W-GFDM), which performs window processing in the time domain, are being investigated. On the other hand, as the same synchronization technology is used as in OFDM, GFDM can realize synchronization more easily than other new waveforms without CP. Although GFDM is considered more complex to implement, its usefulness is attracting attention n ow. It is expected to offer flexible frame design in both time and frequency domains to applications such as IoT requiring low latency. 3 New Waveform Analysis Environment The previous sections describe the investigation results of the new waveforms that are studied as 5G PHY-layer candidates. RD activity for the new technologies requires versatile engineering tool that can provide seamless use of communication system simulation and verification by actual equipments. This chapter introduces evaluation environment configured and its testing examples. Figure 14 shows the configured new waveform analysis environment including MG3710A Signal Generator with AWG (Arbitrary Waveform Generator), MS2692A Signal Analyzer for waveform capture and MATLAB ® program for generation and analysis of transmitted and received waveforms. By using MATLAB ®, which is commercially available and widely used, building user-friendly GUI and testing various wireless systems become easy, quick and flexible. 3.1 New Waveform Interference Evaluations In the study of 5G waveform candidates, it is a key to identify waveforms to realize good spectrum efficiency of unused frequency bands. This section explains how to evaluate the impact from 5G waveform candidate to existing system waveform by using the new waveform analysis environment. In this evaluation, CP-OFDM waveform with band gap is defined as an existing system waveform and UF-OFDM waveform is defined as a candidate 5G waveform. And the impact of interference is evaluated when the defined waveforms are located side by side in the frequency domain. MG3710A can easily output desired and undesired signals by using add baseband function to synthesize and output two modulated signals from one RF signal (Figure. 15). This evaluation uses the capability to generate and synthesize CP-OFDM and UF-OFDM waveforms, and analyze the signal by MS2692A Signal Analyzer. Thus giving and receiving interference evaluation is realized. We show that the spectrum of the CP-OFDM waveform having band gap and the UF-OFDM waveform. The purple trace and the blue trace correspond to the CP-OFDM and the UF-OFDM respectively. OOB sidelobe of CP-OFDM and excellent UF-OFDM OOB characteristics are addressed. Interference evaluations based on the adding waveform at baseband of MG3710A have been described. By using this analysis environment with preparation of multiple 5G waveform candidates, OOB characteristics of each waveform, interference caused by them and spectrum allocation adequacy can be evaluated easily. 4 Conclusion Regarding the 5G waveform candidates, we have presented performance evaluations by simulation and fore-casted problems in the actual operation. It is presumed that these waveforms will be integrated into a flexible multi-carrier system supporting various use cases, frequency bands and radio wave environments. We will continue to research to provide optimum solutions for the complex multi-carrier waveform measurements.

sigmund freud :: essays research papers

SIGMUND FREUD 1856 - 1939 Freud's story, like most people's stories, begins with others. In his case those others were his mentor and friend, Dr. Joseph Breuer, and Breuer's patient, called Anna O. Anna O. was Joseph Breuer's patient from 1880 through 1882. Twenty one years old, Anna spent most of her time nursing her ailing father. She developed a bad cough that proved to have no physical basis. She developed some speech difficulties, then became mute, and then began speaking only in English, rather than her usual German. When her father died she began to refuse food, and developed an unusual set of problems. She lost the feeling in her hands and feet, developed some paralysis, and began to have involuntary spasms. She also had visual hallucinations and tunnel vision. But when specialists were consulted, no physical causes for these problems could be found. If all this weren't enough, she had fairy-tale fantasies, dramatic mood swings, and made several suicide attempts. Breuer's diagnosis was that she was suffering from what was then called hysteria (now called conversion disorder), which meant she had symptoms that appeared to be physical, but were not. In the evenings, Anna would sink into states of what Breuer called "spontaneous hypnosis," or what Anna herself called "clouds." Breuer found that, during these trance-like states, she could explain her day-time fantasies and other experiences, and she felt better afterwards. Anna called these episodes "chimney sweeping" and "the talking cure." Sometimes during "chimney sweeping," some emotional event was recalled that gave meaning to some particular symptom. The first example came soon after she had refused to drink for a while: She recalled seeing a woman drink from a glass that a dog had just drunk from. While recalling this, she experienced strong feelings of disgust...and then had a drink of water! In other words, her symptom -- an avoidance of water -- disappeared as soon as she remembered its root event, and experienced the strong emotion that would be appropriate to that event. Breuer called this catharsis, from the Greek word for cleansing. It was eleven years later that Breuer and his assistant, Sigmund Freud, wrote a book on hysteria. In it they explained their theory: Every hysteria is the result of a traumatic experience, one that cannot be integrated into the person's understanding of the world. The emotions appropriate to the trauma are not expressed in any direct fashion, but do not simply evaporate: They express themselves in behaviors that in a weak, vague way offer a response to the trauma.

Doris Lessing’s ‘To Room Nineteen’ and ‘Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ by Robert Louis Stevenson Essay

The concept of Simone de Beauvoir’s myth of women discussed in ‘The Second Sex’ was still very much prevalent in the 1960s when ‘To Room nineteen’ was set and certainly at the time of ‘Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’. In the 1960s, in accordance with the second wave of feminism, women were thought to be more conscious and aware of their rights as a woman because of the media (Hanisch)1 and this is what we, as a reader could easily deduce from the beginning of Doris Lessing’s ‘To room nineteen’. This new- found consciousness however some would argue was not the case during the 1960s and is certainly not the case in the text. ‘The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ is a male dominated thriller where female instabilities are never exposed as females are hardly ever mentioned (Shuo and Dan, 2012)2. This Victorian marginalization of women was very common at the time and also links to woman being classified, according to Simone de Beauvoir in ‘The Second Sex’ as the ‘Other’ (de Beauvoir, 1949 p. 16)3 and not worthy of being the subject of the novella. Both texts involve the notion of a demon taking over the main character, whether this demon is a result of their own creation or a result of society. The following essay will attempt to draw similarities and differences between the two texts in relation to Simone de Beauvoir’s ‘The Second Sex’. ‘The Second Sex’ is arguably one of the earliest attempts to tackle human history from a feminist perspective4 and expresses the idea that men fundamentally oppress women by characterizing them as the ‘Other’. It states, ‘the moment when man asserts himself as subject and a free being, the idea of ‘Other’ arises (de Beauvoir, 1949 p. 19). Although in ‘To Room Nineteen’ it would appear that both Susan and Matthew are making a joint, educated decision by Susan quitting her job to raise the children and tend to her house, it appears to be more of a decision according to social expectations instead of what Susan really wants. Without a second thought ‘Susan became pregnant [†¦] gave up her job, and they bought a house in Richmond’. This sentence structurally is placed in the middle of a  paragraph, not at the end or in a paragraph of it’s own. This would suggest that it is not a big decision that involves careful thought and planning but more something that was decided because it was the obvious decision. Susan made a ‘concession to popular decision’ or a decision that was implied by society to quit her job and a decision implied by society for Matthew to stay at work and earn an income to support the family. According to de Beauvoir, by Susan accepting her role as ‘Other’ this denies a great deal of her humanity thus culminating in her depression, hallucinations and eventual suicide. In ‘Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ as there is a distinct lack of female characters, this would imply that the males have taken the role of the ‘subject’ (de Beauvoir, 1949 p. 19) and free being as the Victorian culture would dictate. This would naturally then make the very few female characters mentioned in the novella assume the role of the object; constrained by the dominant male characters and being a type of humble, counterpart to males 5. The first mention of a female in the novella is the little girl that gets trampled. Enfield describes this encounter as â€Å"natural† (Stevenson, 1886 p. 9), which we as an audience know would clearly not be the case. The way in which Enfield blindly denies that this encounter was no accident highlights the solidarity of men 6and accentuates their power over helpless female characters. The little girl doesn’t come to great harm however does depend on others to help her this is because she is the ‘other’ (de Beauvoir, 1949); she is essentially seen as feeble and evil because men are unable to visualize themselves as such. The character of Susan, in ‘To room nineteen’ although seemingly independent and equal at the beginning of the text, becomes completely dependent towards the end. She relies on Matthew for comfort when she isn’t feeling herself and she eventually relies on him to give her the money so that she can rent out a room in a hotel; room nineteen. ‘She only had to run across and fling herself into them, onto his hard, warm chest, and melt into herself, into Susan’. This shows how Susan relies on Matthew to feel herself, without him she feels like a stranger: soulless, nothing. ‘She cannot think of herself without man† (de Beauvoir, 1949 p.16). At this point however she feels too  distant from him that that place in his arms isn’t hers any longer and she eventually feels like ‘[†¦] an imposter’. In addition, although being dependant on Matthew, Susan is given the freedom to essentially do what she wants. Matthew gives her the money for the room, allows them to have an au pair girl and is even accepting of Susan’s fabricated lover. This would, at the surface go against de Beauvoir’s view of the ‘Other’ being a person who is not free. On closer examination however this statement seems to be fundamentally flawed. To Susan, even when alone in the house with Mrs. Parkes, she still feels a certain restraint and unavoidable attachment to her life and worries. When she first rents room nineteen, the texts quotes ‘She was alone. She was alone. She was alone.’ The repetition of this highlights how unhappy she is around the distractions and obligations of real, family life. It also points out how women, without the input of men can be completely happy without them, by themselves. In this text however Susan obviously cannot find complete happiness as she is tied to her family and tied to the cultural expectations of the time. When she talks to Miss. Townsend she conveys genuine jealousy and want for a life in solitude, ‘I wish I was absolutely alone in the world, like you’. This draws on the traditional objective in life to marry and have children not actually being the ideal for some women. In fact, being alone for Susan is the ideal and what we can note from this is even today, this can be the ideal for other women too. Matthew would be seen to have freedom and is definitely not concerned with conforming to social expectations when he so openly discusses his affairs. This may be because his role as a man dictates that he can behave how he likes and other woman, as they are the ‘Other’ (de Beauvoir, 1949), will not question him. When Susan questions as to why Matthew does not feel the same depression as her it states, ‘The good marriage, the house, the children, depended just as much on his voluntary bondage as it did on hers. But why did he not feel bound?’ This could arguably be because there is an unspoken pressure on Susan, as a  woman from society, which is unknown to the couple. This makes all choices, seemingly decided by them both, actually decided by society. This unknown pressure on Susan is why Matthew doesn’t feel bound. The idea of freedom is also prevalent in ‘Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’. If the women detailed in the novella are of low social status, thus assuming the role of the object and other which is limited and oppressed then arguably Dr. Jekyll should be completely free and not restrained by these classifications. The monster that is Mr. Hyde however slowly takes over Dr. Jekyll until he is no more and nothing but the monster that remains. ‘This brief condescension to my evil finally destroyed the balance of my soul’, marks the point where Dr. Jekyll knows that the monster will soon completely take over and thus Dr. Jekyll will no longer have any control or freedom over his body and over his actions. The novella describes the duality of man and not the duality of women. The Victorian era in which it was written would suggest that this is because women are just pleasing objects to be viewed and do not have a complex nature about them; they are submissive creatures that will adhere to the role that men give them and are essentially unsophisticated. De Beauvoir states a woman’s function is, ‘simply what man decrees; thus she is called the sex’ (de Beauvoir, 1949 p. 16) by which we can deduce that in terms of the novella, the female characters are only there to serve the men, not having a brain of their own and to be complacent in all aspects of their lives. This quotation also has sexual connotations. If women are called ‘the sex’ then this could mean that women appear to men, chiefly as sexual beings. De Beauvoir states that there ‘is an absolute human type, the masculine. Woman has ovaries, a uterus; these peculiarities imprison her in subjectivity, circumscribe her within the limits of her own nature’, (de Beauvoir, 1949, p.15) meaning that women are discriminated against because of their sexual organs which, through physical and hormonal differentiation paves the way for female oppression. The character of Susan in ‘To room nineteen’ towards the end of the text doesn’t feel like a woman any longer. On thinking about  when all of her children are ‘off her hands’ during school term it states, ‘She would turn herself back into being a woman with a life of her own’. Her having children and her using her reproductive organs to produce children makes her feel like t hat is all she is; a mother, a womb but not a woman (de Beauvoir, 1949 p. 13). If having children then for Susan means that you are not a woman then this does pose the reader with the question, ‘what makes a woman?’ De Beauvoir states, ‘One is not born but rather becomes a woman’ (de Beauvoir, 1949). For Susan, this could mean that the qualities of a woman are not innate but rather learned either from society or from oneself. De Beauvoir believes that all beings have the right to define themselves however for Susan this seems to already have been done for her by society even though she appears seemingly free. Her decisions are always in accordance to society’s expectations. She wants desperately to become the woman that she was before she quit her job and had children however this is impossible for her, resulting in the loss of her voice as a character and the physical loss in voice from her suicide. This idea of voice is important, as although Susan is the main character of the text and her feelings and attitudes are foregrounded, this is not the case in her communication with others. She feels like she needs to lie to almost every other character in the text, most probably because she feels like her thoughts are too different than the social norm to be voiced. When Matthew knows that Susan is hiding something, Susan ‘[†¦] Understood that he hoped she did have a lover, he was begging her to say so, because otherwise it would be too terrifying’. This highlights how isolated she is feeling. Like the demon that eventually takes over Dr. Jekyll, a devil takes over Susan and she feels like her once loving, equal partner who she so carefully waiting longer than her friends to marry is now someone who she fears will ridicule her and be unaccepting of the devil voice that slowly takes over her. Lessing describes Susan’s devil as being ‘perhaps a middle-aged man pretending to be young’. The  characterization of the devil being a man, could be seen as a metaphor for the males and men in society, although not voicing their opinions out loud any more, their views have become rooted in women’s minds thus again highlighting this unspoken pressure. The comparison to the devil being a ‘middle-aged man pretending to be young’ could suggest how even though women’s suffrage is moving forward and men are becoming more accepting of woman’s rights, they are always going to have the slightly discriminative view of the older generation as they have been raised on these views. It could be suggested that it is the lack of a significant female voice in ‘Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ that drives men to become their dark side. Thus, Stevenson deliberately decided to foreground the voice of men and leave out any major details about the female characters. The novella ultimately illuminates the instabilities of men, which, in turn, highlights the stabilities of women. It was not a woman that led to the eventual downfall of Dr. Jekyll it was the monster that the man created or the monster that was always a part of the man. On the surface, ‘To Room Nineteen’ tells the story of an unfulfilled woman in 1960s suburbia and ‘Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ deals with issues about the duality of man, without mention of women however as previously stated there are deeper issues entailed in both. Both texts deal with the problems surrounding female identity and voice and the consequences when this voice isn’t expressed. ‘To Room Nineteen’, being written by a woman, questions the voice of women by letting the reader know her inner thoughts but not letting other characters know them. ‘Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ being written by a man cleverly underlines the questions around the position of women in society by hardly including them in the novella at all which was very common for literature in the Victorian culture. Both use different techniques however it could be argued that the main idea that can be taken from a feminist reading of these texts is that in order for equality of genders to progress and for females to be content, they must not allow their feelings to be suppressed by individuals or society as a  whole. The characters in both texts choose to ignore the suppression of women and Simone de Beauvoir in ‘The Second Sex’ chooses to bring them to our attention. In order to maintain a healthy and balanced existence, men and woman need to be equal and not be classed as the ‘other’ or the ‘object’. Without this, men and women are destined to fail.

Baroque and Renaissance comparison

Art of the middle ages (which lasted from the 5th to the 13th century) was very religious in tone and content, especially in Europe. Art was overwhelmingly funded by the church, as the catholic church was the dominating force in European politics and had a greater influence than the political state. Portraits of the Madonna were very common. Paintings were very often produced by members of religious orders such as monasteries. It is interesting to note that most of the art produced was in the form of paintings often done in illustrated manuscripts. The figures in paintings reduced in this era were very flat.The colors were very muted most of the time, with the exception of using real gold leaf as an accent. The figures in paintings of the era rarely had shadows and possessed narrow faces with solemn expressions. There was no perspective in art of the middle ages; all of the paintings were flat and one- dimensional. Artists of the era made little to no attempt at realism. There was a fair amount of artistic evolution towards the end of the era. Paintings became brighter in color and tended towards more realistic imagery. Perception Egan to develop, causing images to look less flat.Paintings began to use different lighting and incorporate shadows. Art in the Medieval era evolved into more realistic imagery. (â€Å"Middle Ages Art. † Middle Ages Art. N. P. , n. D. Web. 15 DCE. 2013. ) The evolution in art of the later middle ages culminated with the Renaissance era (the 14th to 16th centuries). It refers to a cultural rebirth. The influence of the church began to wane, allowing for the political states to regain power. The move towards secularism bled into the art of this era. Art was patronized less by the church and ore by wealthy, independent investors who were usually royalty of some sort.Renaissance artists began to study perspective. They used figures with more emotions. Oil paints in brighter colors became more commonly used. Paintings incorporated b righter sources of light. Thus the paintings of the Renaissance era became far more realistic. As it is a rebirth, the art of the Renaissance era was heavily influenced by classic Greek and Roman art. Classical mythology became a subject for many works. Artists of the era portrayed gods such as Mars, the Roman do of war, in ways similar to how he was portrayed by the ancient Romans.The influence of the Greeks and Romans also gave more believable proportions to human figures. The images of clothing looked more realistic, giving them the illusion of movement and fluidity. (â€Å"Characteristics Of Renaissance Art. † Characteristics Of Renaissance Art. N. P. , 9 May 2011. Web. 15 DCE. 2013. ) Art of the era had a greater focus on naturalism. Paintings of realistic landscapes became increasingly common. They were made realistic by an increased understanding of believable space and perspective. The sense of depth became more realistic.The study of perspective allowed for spaces to look more realistic as backgrounds, which was not something that was focused on during the middle ages. The Renaissance was the culmination of all the social, political, and religious changes of the middle ages. It was reflected in the religious tones of art in the middle ages. And while art of the Renaissance became more secular and broader in subject matter, there was still a great deal of religious art. Catholics of the middle ages became interested in Greek and Roman mythology, which became a common theme n Renaissance art.The Catholic church began to look more at Greek philosophy. The middle ages began to consider the human condition, which ended up as a common theme during the Renaissance. The middle ages were entirely ruled by the church. But during the Renaissance, there was a bit of a backlash due to heavy corruption. The art of the Renaissance was far less religious in tone. It explored more themes, such as philosophy, the human condition, and the mythology of the Greeks as Romans. The church commissioned nearly all of the art produced during the middle ages, which is the reason for the overwhelming theme of religion.The Madonna and many Catholic saints are portrayed in the art of that era, and it was often produced by members of the church, clergy, or monasteries. With the shift away from the church during the Renaissance, the art of the era became more secular. The greatest difference between the styles of the middle ages and the Renaissance is realism. While art of the middle ages predominantly lacked a realistic look, it became the focus of most Renaissance art. Perspective was also introduced near the beginning of the Renaissance era, lending greater depth to paintings reduced in this era.While the paintings of the middle ages looked flat with slightly dull colors, the paintings of the Renaissance era had depth and became more vibrant in color due to the increased use of oil paints. (â€Å"The Relationship between the Middle Ages and Renaissan ce. † Web log post. Pious Fabrications. N. P. , 30 Cot. 2011. Web. 15 DCE. 2013. ) Madonna and Child was painted by Paolo did Giovanni Fee during the sass's. The colors are muted, but the background and the frame are leafed in gold. The figures, especially the hands of both and the feet on the baby, are unrealistic.

The literature about the determinants of dividend policy discussed in the previous section is collected from various empirical researches based on different conditions. The WritePass Journal

The literature about the determinants of dividend policy discussed in the previous section is collected from various empirical researches based on different conditions. Introduction The literature about the determinants of dividend policy discussed in the previous section is collected from various empirical researches based on different conditions. IntroductionConclusionRelated Introduction The literature about the determinants of dividend policy discussed in the previous section is collected from various empirical researches based on different conditions. Some of the results are gleaned from surveys by directly asking the managers‘ view towards dividend policy; some are gleaned from statistical analysis by observing the companies‘ financial data; others are just a theoretically deductive process conducted by academicians. Therefore, it is necessary to find out that whether those determinants gained from the empirical literature can work properly in Financial Service industry in UK market. Thus, 9 hypotheses with respect to each of the determinants have been raised. H1: All else equal, dividend policy relies upon firm’s earnings power. This paper expects that more profitable firms should pay more dividends in UK stock market. Firms with high profitability have the capacity to provide large cash flow. Therefore, there is no need to worry whether the fi rms have enough cash flow to payout dividends even if a lot of cash flow is used to finance new investments. Thus, it can be hypothesized that profitability has a positive relationship with dividend payouts. As a proxy, the level of firms‘ profitability can be measured by the return on assets (ROA). H2: All else equal, dividends signals future earnings growth. This paper expects that low dividend payments will predict a high earning growth in UK market. Dividends act as a signaling mechanism under the imperfect market situation, where information asymmetry exists between managers and investors. Managers often process and trade on information about firm‘s future earning fluctuation through dividend payments. Therefore, any change in dividend policy will be interpreted as a change in management‘s expectation of future earnings. Under the circumstance oflimited cash flow, more investment opportunities actually mean high future earnings growth, but in the same time, will reduce the free internal cash flow available for dividend payments. Therefore, it can be hypothesized a negative relationship between dividend payouts and future earnings growth. Annual rate of growth of earnings per share (GROWTH) is commonly used as a proxy for firms‘ earning growth. H3: All else equal, dividend and debt are direct substitutes. This paper expects that the level of risk will be negatively related to dividend payments in UK market. Fir ms with high debt ratios are more likely to pay a lower level of dividends, because they have already pre-committed their cash flows to make debt payments and to avoid borrowing more capital. Thus, high leveraged firms do not have sufficient cash flow to afford high dividend payment, and reflect a negative relationship. Firms‘ leverage ratio (LEV) is used to represent risk in statistical analysis. H4: All else equal, past dividend have influence on current dividend policy. This paper expects a positive relationship between past dividend and dividend payouts in UK market. The signaling function of dividend payments suggests that any change in dividend policy reflects changes in the managers‘ prediction of firms‘ prospects. In addition, both the market and the firms prefer certain degree of continuity in dividend payments. Therefore, past dividend payments is essential in the decision making of future dividends. Lintner‘s partial adjustment model and target pay out ratio present a positive relationship between the two variables. As a proxy for continuity of dividends, past dividend (PD) can be used and a positive relationship can be expected from the result. H5: All else equal, liquidity/ cash flow is the fundamental element in dividend paying. This paper expect dividend payments positively correlated with firms’ cash flow in UKmarket. Sometimes, the concepts of cash flow and profit is two different things. The former is the free cash flow in the companies available for companies operating and investing activities, the later means the current earnings of the firm. The empirical experience tell us that even companies with negative earnings pay dividend to shareholders to maintain a stable dividend payments, and transfer the information of temporary losses to the public. In that case, only the free cash flow of the companies matters when dividends are distributed to shareholders. A poor liquidity position means less generous dividends due to shortage of cash. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that firms with high cash flows have the tendency to allocate more to paying dividends. The variable used is the cash flow per share (CFPS) an d it should have a positive impact on dividend payout ratios. H6: All else equal, larger firms distribute larger dividends. This paper expects that dividend payments will be positively associated with size of the firm in UK market. In the imperfect capital market, where the investors and firms cannot borrow at the same cost, larger firms should have easier access to external funds and can borrow at a cheaper rate than small firms can. In addition, being more competitive than smaller firms are, larger firms should have more investment opportunities, and therefore high future earnings growth can be expected. In that case, managers of large firms are more likely to distribute high dividend payments, and convey their positive expectations of the firms‘ prospect. As a common surrogate for size is logarithm of the firms‘ total market value (MV) and it is expected to be positively correlated to dividend payouts. H7: All else equal, dividend payments operates as an information s ignal. This paper expects that firms with greater investment opportunities will pay lesser dividend in UK market. Asymmetry information provides a new insight into the explanation of dividend puzzle. The unequal information barrier of the insiders and outsiders inevitably highlight the importance of dividend payments acting as a medium to convey information for the two parties. Meanwhile, because of the general tendency for stable dividend payouts, any change in dividend policy is recognized as an information exposure of firms‘ prospects. Therefore, rather than distributing more to shareholders, managers are likely to retain more to satisfy the financial needs required by future investment opportunities. Thus, a common proxy for investment opportunities is the market-to-book ratio (MBV) and it is expected to be negatively associated with dividend payouts. H8: Financial crisis has jeopardized the economy on a worldwide basis. This paper expects that financial distress will infl uence dividend policy in service industry in UK market. Happened in the middle of 2007, financial crisis lasted for almost two years, and has brought great damage to global economy. The major victim of financial crisis is global banks and financial institutions. Other industries will be more or less affected by the influence of financial pressure. In the three years of financial crisis, almost all the industries are confronting the increasing requirements of free cash flow. However, during this period, both banks and financial institutions are extremely lack of funds, and therefore, cannot satisfy the financial requirements of the market. As a response to this serious situation, tougher capital constrains resulted in high costs for borrowing from external sources. Therefore, for companies, financial crisis raised the pre-determined cost of debt, and in turn reduce the amount of cash flow for dividend payments. H9: Different industries have different regulations and laws. This paper expects that different industrial classification will result in different dividend policies in UK market. It is generally accepted that firms adjust their dividend policies to suit the particular circumstances facing the industry in which they operate. Like for instance, firms in high growth industries will enjoy many financing discounts from the regulations, therefore, facing more advantages in investing and financing activities. Thus, it is necessary for them to modify their dividend-based strategies in an attempt to maintain more retained earnings for more new investment opportunities. Nevertheless, firms in mature and saturated industries ought to maintain stable dividend payouts rather than to reserve more retained earnings when investment opportunities are limited in their industrial sector. The expectations of this paper and the previous researchers’ attitudes towards the relationship between divid end policy and its determinants can be summarized in the table 1. Conclusion Proxies Variables Expected Literature indicated relationship PR dividend payout policy ROA profitability Positive Positive GROWTH earnings growth Negative Positive or Negative LEV level of risk Negative Negative PD past dividens Positive Positive CFPS liquidity Positive Positive MV firms size Positive Positive MTBV investment opportunities Negative Negative or no relationship.