Practical Demonkeeping Chapter 3-4

3 TRAVIS Travis O'Hearn was driving a fifteen-year-old Chevy Impala he had bought in L.A. with money the demon had taken from a pimp. The demon was standing on the passenger seat with his head out the window, panting into the rushing coastal wind with the slobbering exuberance of an Irish setter. From time to time he pulled his head inside the car, looked at Travis, and sang, â€Å"Your mother sucks cocks in he-ell, Your mother sucks cocks in he-ell,† in a teasing, childlike way. Then he would spin his head around several times for effect. They had spent the night in a cheap motel north of San Junipero, and the demon had tuned the television to a cable channel that played an uncut version of The Exorcist. It was the demon's favorite movie. At least, Travis thought, it was better than the last time, when the demon had seen The Wizard of Oz and had spent an entire day pretending to be a flying monkey, or screaming, â€Å"And that goes for your little dog, too.† â€Å"Sit still, Catch,† Travis said. â€Å"I'm trying to drive.† The demon had been wired since he had eaten the hitchhiker the night before. The guy must have been on cocaine or speed. Why did drugs affect the demon when poisons did not phase him? It was a mystery. The demon tapped Travis on the shoulder with a long reptilian claw. â€Å"I want to ride on the hood,† he said. His voice was like rusty nails rattling in a can. â€Å"Enjoy,† Travis said, waving across the dashboard. The demon climbed out the window and across the front, where he perched like a hood ornament from hell, his forked tongue flying in the wind like a storm-swept pennon, spattering the windshield with saliva. Travis turned on the wipers and was grateful to find that the Chevy was equipped with an interval delay feature. It had taken him a full day in Los Angeles to find a pimp who looked as if he were carrying enough cash to get them a car, and another day for the demon to catch the guy in a place isolated enough to eat him. Travis insisted that the demon eat in private. When he was eating he became visible to other people. He also tripled in size. Travis had a recurring nightmare about being asked to explain the eating habits of his traveling companion. In the dream Travis is walking down the street when a policeman taps him on the shoulder. â€Å"Excuse me, sir,† the policeman says. Travis does a slow-mo Sam Peckenpah turn. â€Å"Yes,† he says. The policeman says, â€Å"I don't mean to bother you – but that large, scaly fellow over there munching on the mayor – do you know him?† The policeman points toward the demon, who is biting off the head of a man in a pinstriped polyester suit. â€Å"Why, yes, I do,† Travis says. â€Å"That's Catch, he's a demon. He has to eat someone every couple of days or he gets cranky. I've known him for seventy years. I'll vouch for his lack of character.† The policeman, who has heard it all before, says, â€Å"There's a city ordinance against eating an elected official without a permit. May I see your permit, please?† â€Å"I'm sorry,† Travis says, â€Å"I don't have a permit, but I'll be glad to get one if you'll tell me where to go.† The cop sighs and begins writing on a ticket pad. â€Å"You can only get a permit from the mayor, and your friend seems to be finishing him off now. We don't like strangers eating our mayor around here. I'm afraid I'll have to cite you.† Travis protests, â€Å"But if I get another ticket, they'll cancel my insurance.† He always wondered about this part of the dream; he'd never carried insurance. The cop ignores him and continues to write out the ticket. Even in a dream, he is only doing his job. Travis thought it terribly unfair that Catch even invaded his dreams. Sleep, at least, should provide some escape from the demon, who had been with him for seventy years, and would be with him forever unless he could find a way to send him back to hell. For a man of ninety, Travis was remarkably well preserved. In fact, he did not appear to be much over twenty, his age when he had called up the demon. Dark with dark eyes and lean, Travis had sharp features that would have seemed evil if not for the constant look of confusion he wore, as if there were one answer that would make everything in life clear to him if he could only remember the question. He had never bargained for the endless days on the road with the demon, trying to figure out how to stop the killing. Sometimes the demon ate daily, sometimes he would go for weeks without killing. Travis had never found a reason, a connection, or a pattern to it. Sometimes he could dissuade the demon from killing, sometimes he could only steer him toward certain victims. When he could, he had the demon eat pimps or pushers, those that humanity could do without. But other times he had to choose vagrants and vagabonds, those that would not be missed. There was a time when he had cried while sending Catch after a hobo or a bag-lady. He'd made friends among the homeless when he was riding the rails with the demon, back before there were so many automobiles. Often a bum who didn't know where his next roof or drink was coming from had shared a boxcar and a bottle with Travis. And Travis had learned that there was no evil in being poor; poverty merely opened one up to evil. But over the years he had learned to push aside the remorse, and time and again Catch dined on bums. He wondered what went through the minds of Catch's victims just before they died. He had seen them wave their hands before their eyes as if the monster looming before them was an illusion, a trick of the light. He wondered what would happen now, if oncoming drivers could see Catch perched on the front of the Chevy waving like a parade queen from the Black Lagoon. They would panic, swerve off the narrow road and over the ocean-side bank. Windshields would shatter, and gasoline would explode, and people would die. Death and the demon were never separated for long. Coming soon to a town near you, Travis thought. But perhaps this is the last one. As a seagull cry dopplered off to Travis's left, he turned to look out the window over the ocean. The morning sun was reflecting off the face of the waves, illuminating a sparkling halo of spray. For a moment he forgot about Catch and drank in the beauty of the scene, but when he turned to look at the road again, there was the demon, standing on the bumper, reminding him of his responsibility. Travis pushed the accelerator to the floor and the Impala's engine hesitated, then roared as the automatic transmission dropped into passing gear. When the speedometer hit sixty he locked up the brakes. Catch hit the roadway face first and skidded headlong, throwing up sparks where his scales scraped the asphalt. He bounced off a signpost and into a ditch, where he lay for a moment trying to gather his thoughts. The Impala fishtailed and came to a stop sideways in the road. Travis slammed the Chevy into reverse, righted the car, then threw it into drive and screeched toward the demon, keeping the wheels out of the ditch until the moment of impact. The Impala's headlights shattered against Catch's chest. The corner of the bumper caught him in the waist and drove him deep into the mud of the ditch. The engine sputtered to a stop and the damaged radiator hissed a rusty cloud of steam into Catch's face. The driver's side door was jammed against the ditch, so Travis crawled out the window and ran around the car to see what damage he had done. Catch was lying in the ditch with the bumper against his chest. â€Å"Nice driving, A.J.,† Catch said. â€Å"You going to try for Indy next year?† Travis was disappointed. He hadn't really expected to hurt Catch, he knew from experience that the demon was virtually indestructible, but he had hoped at least to piss him off. â€Å"Just trying to keep you on your toes,† he said. â€Å"A little test to see how you hold up under stress.† Catch lifted the car, crawled out, and stood next to Travis in the ditch. â€Å"What's the verdict? Did I pass?† â€Å"Are you dead?† â€Å"Nope, I feel great.† â€Å"Then you have failed miserably. I'm sorry but I'll have to run you over again.† â€Å"Not with this car,† the demon said, shaking his head. Travis surveyed the steam rising from the radiator and wondered whether he might not have been a little hasty in giving way to his anger. â€Å"Can you get it out of the ditch?† â€Å"Piece of cake.† The demon hoisted the front of the car and began to walk it up onto the berm. â€Å"But you're not going to get far without a new radiator.† â€Å"Oh, you're all of a sudden an expert mechanic. Mr. help-me-I-can't-change-the-channel-while-the-magic-fingers-is-on all of a sudden has a degree in automotive diagnostics?† â€Å"Well, what do you think?† â€Å"I think there's a town just ahead where we can get it fixed. Didn't you read that sign you bounced off of?† It was a dig. Travis knew the demon couldn't read; in fact, he often watched subtitled movies with the sound off just to irritate Catch. â€Å"What's it say?† â€Å"It says, ‘Pine Cove, five miles.' That's where we're going. I think we can limp the car five miles with a bad radiator. If not, you can push.† â€Å"You run over me and wreck the car and I get to push?† â€Å"Correct,† Travis said, crawling back through the car window. â€Å"At your command, master,† Catch said sarcastically. Travis tried the ignition. The car whined and died. â€Å"It won't start. Get behind and push.† â€Å"Okay,† Catch said. He went around to the back of the car, put his shoulder to the bumper, and began pushing it the rest of the way out of the ditch. â€Å"But pushing cars is very hungry work.† 4 ROBERT Robert Masterson had drunk a gallon of red wine, most of a five-liter Coors minikeg, and a half-pint of tequila, and still the dream came. A desert. A big, bright, sandy bastard. The Sahara. He is naked, tied to a chair with barbed wire. Before him is a great canopied bed covered in black satin. Under the cool shade of the canopy his wife, Jennifer, is making love to a stranger – a young, muscular, dark-haired man. Tears run down Robert's cheeks and crystallize into salt. He cannot close his eyes or turn away. He tries to scream, but every time he opens his mouth a squat, lizardlike monster, the size of a chimpanzee, shoves a saltine cracker into his mouth. The heat and the pain in his chest are agonizing. The lovers are oblivious to his pain. The little reptile man tightens the barbed wire around his chest by twisting a stick. Every time he sobs, the wire cuts deeper. The lovers turn to him in slow motion, maintaining their embrace. They wave to him, a big home-movie wave, postcard smiles. Greetings from the heart of anguish. Awake, the dream-pain in his chest replaced by a real pain in his head. Light is the enemy. It's out there waiting for you to open your eyes. No. No way. Thirst – brave the light to slake the thirst – it must be done. He opened his eyes to a dim, forgiving light. Must be cloudy out. He looked around. Pillows, full ashtrays, empty wine bottles, a chair, a calendar from the wrong year with a picture of a surfer riding a huge swell, pizza boxes. This wasn't home. He didn't live like this. Humans don't live like this. He was on someone's couch. Where? He sat up and waited in vertigo until his brain snapped back into his head, which it did with a vengeful impact. Ah, yes, he knew where he was. This was Hangover – Hangover, California. Pine Cove, where he was thrown out of the house by his wife. Heartbreak, California. Jenny, call Jenny. Tell her that humans don't live this way. No one lives this way. Except The Breeze. He was in The Breeze's trailer. He looked around for water. There was the kitchen, fourteen miles away, over there at the end of the couch. Water was in the kitchen. He crawled naked off the couch, across the floor of the kitchen to the sink, and pulled himself up. The faucet was gone, or at least buried under a stack of dirty dishes. He reached into an opening, cautiously searching for the faucet like a diver reaching into an underwater crevice for a moray eel. Plates skidded down the pile and crashed on the floor. He looked at the china shards scattered around his knees and spotted the mirage of a Coors minikeg. He managed a controlled fall toward the mirage and his hand struck the nozzle. It was real. Salvation: hair of the dog in a handy, five-liter disposable package. He started to drink from the nozzle and instantly filled his mouth, throat, sinuses, aural cavity, and chest hair with foam. â€Å"Use a glass,† Jenny would say. â€Å"What are you, an animal?† He must call Jenny and apologize as soon as the thirst was gone. First, a glass. Dirty dishes were strewn across every horizontal surface in the kitchen: the counter, stove, table, breakfast bar, and the top of the refrigerator. The oven was filled with dirty dishes. Nobody lives like this. He spotted a glass among the miasma. The Holy Grail. He grabbed it and filled it with beer. Mold floated on the settling foam. He threw the glass into the oven and slammed the door before an avalanche could gain momentum. A clean glass, perhaps. He checked the cupboard where the dishes had once been kept. A single cereal bowl stared out at him. From the bottom of the bowl Fred Flintstone congratulated him, â€Å"Good kid! You're a clean-plater!† Robert filled the bowl and sat cross-legged on the floor amid the broken dishes while he drank. Fred Flintstone congratulated him three times before his thirst abated. Good old Fred. The man's a saint. Saint Fred of Bedrock. â€Å"Fred, how could she do this to me? Nobody can live like this.† â€Å"Good kid! You're a clean-plater!† Fred said. â€Å"Call Jenny,† Robert said, reminding himself. He stood and staggered through the offal toward the phone. Nausea swept over him and he bounced back through the trailer's narrow hallway and fell into the bathroom, where he retched into the toilet until he passed out. The Breeze called it â€Å"talking to Ralph on the Big White Phone.† This one was a toll call. Five minutes later he came to and found the phone. It seemed a superhuman effort to hit the right buttons. Why did they have to keep moving? At last he connected and someone answered on the first ring. â€Å"Jenny, honey, I'm sorry. Can I-â€Å" â€Å"Thank you for calling Pizza on Wheels. We will open at eleven A.M. and deliveries begin at four P.M. Why cook when-â€Å" Robert hung up. He'd dialed the number written on the phone's emergency numbers sticker instead of his home. Again he chased down the buttons and pegged them one by one. It was like shooting skeet, you had to lead them a little. â€Å"Hello.† Jenny sounded sleepy. â€Å"Honey, I'm sorry. I'll never do it again. Can I come home?† â€Å"Robert? What time is it?† He thought for a moment then guessed, â€Å"Noon?† â€Å"It's five in the morning, Robert. I've been asleep about an hour, Robert. There were dogs barking in the neighborhood all night long, Robert. I'm not ready for this. Good-bye, Robert.† â€Å"But Jenny, how could you do it? You don't even like the desert. And you know how I hate saltines.† â€Å"You're drunk, Robert.† â€Å"Who is this guy, Jenny? What does he have that I don't have?† â€Å"There is no other guy. I told you yesterday, I just can't live with you anymore. I don't think I love you anymore.† â€Å"Who do you love? Who is he?† â€Å"Myself, Robert. I'm doing it for myself. Now I'm hanging up for myself. Say good-bye so I don't feel like I'm hanging up on you.† â€Å"But, Jenny-â€Å" â€Å"It's over. Get on with your life, Robert. I'm hanging up now. Good-bye.† â€Å"But-† She hung up. â€Å"Nobody lives like this,† Robert said to the dial tone. Get on with your life. Okay, that's a plan. He would clean up this place and clean up his life. Never drink again. Things were going to change. Soon she would remember what a great guy he was. But first he had to go to the bathroom to answer an emergency call from Ralph. The smoke alarm was screaming like a tortured lamb. Robert, now back on the couch, pulled a cushion over his head and wondered why the Breeze didn't have a sleeper button on his smoke alarm. Then the pounding started. It was a door buzzer, not the smoke alarm. â€Å"Breeze, answer the door!† Robert shouted into the cushion. The pounding continued. He crawled off the couch and waded through the litter to the door. â€Å"Hold on a minute, man. I'm coming.† He threw the door open and caught the man outside with his fist poised for another pounding. He was a sharp-faced Hispanic in a raw silk suit. His hair was slicked back and tied in a ponytail with a black silk ribbon. Robert could see a flagship model BMW parked in the driveway. â€Å"Shit. Jehovah's Witnesses must make a lot of money,† Robert said. The Hispanic was not amused. â€Å"I need to talk to The Breeze.† At that point Robert realized that he was naked and picked an empty, gallon wine bottle from the floor to cover his privates. â€Å"Come in,† Robert said, backing away from the door. â€Å"I'll see if he's awake.† The Hispanic stepped in. Robert stumbled down the narrow hall to The Breeze's room. He knocked on the door. â€Å"Breeze, there's some big money here to see you.† No answer. He opened the door and went in and searched through the piles of blankets, sheets, pillows, beer cans, and wine bottles, but found no Breeze. On the way back to the living room Robert grabbed a mildewed towel from the bathroom and wrapped it around his hips. The Hispanic was standing in the middle of a small clearing, peering around the trailer with concentrated disgust. It looked to Robert as if he were trying to levitate to avoid having his Italian shoes contact the filth on the floor. â€Å"He's not here,† Robert said. â€Å"How do you live like this?† the Hispanic said. He had no discernible accent. â€Å"This is subhuman, man.† â€Å"Did my mother send you?† The Hispanic ignored the question. â€Å"Where is The Breeze? We had a meeting this morning.† He put an extra emphasis on the word meeting. Robert got the message. The Breeze had been hinting that he had some big deal going down. The guy must be the buyer. Silk suits and BMWs were not the usual accouterments of The Breeze's clientele. â€Å"He left last night. I don't know where he went. You could check down at the Slug.† â€Å"The Slug?† â€Å"Head of the Slug Saloon, on Cypress. He hangs out there sometimes.† The Hispanic tiptoed through the garbage to the door, then paused on the step. â€Å"Tell him I'm looking for him. He should call me. Tell him I do not do business this way.† Robert didn't like the commanding tone in the Hispanic's voice. He affected the obsequious tone of an English butler, â€Å"And whom shall I say has called, sir?† â€Å"Don't fuck with me, cabron. This is business.† Robert took a deep breath, then sighed. â€Å"Look, Pancho. I'm hung over, my wife just threw me out, and my life is not worth shit. So if you want me to take messages, you can damn well tell me who the fuck you are. Or should I tell The Breeze to look for a Mexican with a Gucci loafer shoved up his ass? Comprende, Pachuco?† The Hispanic turned on the step and started to reach into his suit coat. Robert felt adrenaline shoot through his body, and he tightened his grip on the towel. Oh, yeah, he thought, pull a gun and I'll snap your eyes out with this towel. He suddenly felt extremely helpless. The Hispanic kept his hand in his coat. â€Å"Who are you?† â€Å"I'm The Breeze's decorator. We're redoing the whole place in an abstract expressionist motif.† Robert wondered if he wasn't really trying to get shot. â€Å"Well, smart ass, when The Breeze shows up, you tell him to call Rivera. And you tell him that when the business is done, his decorator is mine. You understand?† Robert nodded weakly. â€Å"Adios, dogmeat.† Rivera turned and walked toward the BMW. Robert closed the door and leaned against it, trying to catch his breath. The Breeze was going to be pissed when he heard about this. Robert's fear was replaced by self-loathing. Maybe Jenny was right. Maybe he had no idea how to maintain a relationship with anybody. He was worthless and weak – and dehydrated. He looked around for something to drink and vaguely remembered having done this before. Dj vu? â€Å"Nobody lives like this.† It was going to change, goddammit. As soon as he found his clothes, he was going to change it. RIVERA Detective Sergeant Alphonso Rivera of the San Junipero County Sheriff's Department sat in the rented BMW and cursed. â€Å"Fuck, fuck, and double fuck.† Then he remembered the transmitter taped to his chest. â€Å"Okay, cowboys, he's not here. I should have known. The van's been gone for a week. Call it off.† In the distance he could hear cars starting. Two beige Plymouths drove by a few seconds later, the drivers conspicuously not looking at the BMW as they passed. What could have gone wrong? Three months setting it all up. He'd gone out on a limb with the captain to convince him that Charles L. Belew, a.k.a. The Breeze, was their ticket into the Big Sur growers' business. â€Å"He's gone down twice for cocaine. If we pop him for dealing, he'll give us everything but his favorite recipe to stay out of Soledad.† â€Å"He's small time,† the captain had said. â€Å"Yeah, but he knows everybody, and he's hungry. Best of all, he knows he's small time, so he thinks we wouldn't bother with him.† Finally the captain had relented and it had been set up. Rivera could hear him now. â€Å"Rivera, if you got made by a drugged-out loser like Belew, maybe we should put you back in uniform, where your high visibility will be an asset. Maybe we can put you in P.R. or recruitment.† Rivera's ass was hanging out worse than that drunken jerk in the trailer. Who was he, anyway? As far as anyone knew, The Breeze lived alone. But this guy seemed to know something. Why else would he give Rivera such a hard time? Maybe he could pull this off with the drunk. Desperate thinking. A long shot. Rivera memorized the license number of the old Ford truck parked outside The Breeze's trailer. He would run it through the computer when he got back to the station. Maybe he could convince the captain that he still had something. Maybe he did. And then again, maybe he could just climb a stream of angel piss to heaven. Rivera sat in the file room of the sheriff's office drinking coffee and watching a videotape. After running the license number through the computer, Rivera found that the pickup belonged to a Robert Masterson, age twenty-nine. Born in Ohio, married to Jennifer Masterson, also twenty-nine. His only prior was a drunk-driving conviction two years ago. The video was a record of Masterson's breathalyzer test. Several years ago the department had begun taping all breathalyzer tests to avoid legal-defense strategies based on procedural mistakes made by arresting officers during testing. On the television screen a very drunk Robert W. Masterson (6 ft., 180 lbs., eyes green, hair brown) was spouting nonsense to two uniformed deputies. â€Å"We work for a common purpose. You serve the state with your minds and bodies. I serve the state by opposing it. Drinking is an act of civil disobedience. I drink to end world hunger. I drink to protest the United States' involvement in Central America. I drink to protest nuclear power. I drink†¦Ã¢â‚¬  A sense of doom descended on Rivera as he watched. Unless The Breeze reappeared, his career was in the hands of this tightly wound, loosely wrapped, drunken idiot. He wondered what life might be like as a bank security guard. On the screen the two officers looked away from their prisoner to the door of the testing room. The camera was mounted in the corner and fitted with a wide-angle lens to cover anything that happened without having to be adjusted. A little Arab man in a red stocking cap had come through the door, and the deputies were telling him that he had the wrong room and to please leave. â€Å"Could I trouble you for a small quantity of salt?† the little man asked. Then he blinked off the screen as if the tape had been stopped and he had been edited out. Rivera rewound the tape and ran it again. The second time, Masterson performed the test without interruption. The door did not open and there was no little man. Rivera ran it back again: no little man. He must have dozed off while the tape was running. His subconscious had continued the tape while he slept, inserting the little man's entrance. That was the only viable explanation. â€Å"I don't need this shit,† he said. Then he ejected the tape and drained his coffee, his tenth cup of the day.

Stolen Valor Act

Why can't we try to deter willful misrepresentations of fact by a modest fine, at least, if they create direct harm to others? Lies to those evaluating your credentials may do direct harm to others. If one lies to gain a job, something which seems to happen with increasing frequency, isn’t it a direct harm to others? Or, how about false representing as having received any credentials for something? The Stolen Valor Act of 2005, signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 20, 2006,[1] was a U. S. law that broadened the provisions of previous U. S. aw addressing the unauthorized wear, manufacture, or sale of any military decorations and medals. The law made it a federal misdemeanor to falsely represent oneself as having received any U. S. military decoration or medal. If convicted, defendants might have been imprisoned for up to six months, unless the decoration lied about is the Medal of Honor, in which case imprisonment could have been up to one year (Wikipedia). I personally don’t have any family members in the military, but I know friends who are in the military and I know they would be highly offended if someone falsely represented themselves to be a member of the military.Those men and women who serve our country risk their lives and have put work into whatever credentials they have earned and it is a great disrespect for anyone to falsely give oneself credit for something they have not earned. The purpose of the Act was to strengthen the provisions of federal law by broadening its scope and strengthening penalties. Specific new provisions in the Act included: †¢granting more authority to federal law enforcement officers; †¢broadening the law to cover false claims whereas previously an overt act had to be committed; †¢covering the mailing and shipping of medals; and protecting the reputation and meaning of military heroism medals. The Act made it illegal for unauthorized persons to wear, buy, sell, barter, trade, or manufacture â€Å"any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the armed forces of the United States, or any of the service medals or badges awarded to the members of such forces. † In the 18 months after the act was enacted, the Chicago Tribune estimated there were twenty prosecutions. The number increased as awareness of the law spread (Wikipedia).The number of prosecutions continued to increase. Therefore, it was very clear that this was a tremendous issue and that the Stolen Valor Act was serving its purpose. Unfortunately, the majority disagreed saying that there is no proof that lying about medals degrades the value and honor of those who have actually earned those medals. Who could possibly agree to this? Well, government lawyers argued that lies about military medals are false statements that have no value and hence no first Amendment protection.On Thursday September 13, 2012, the U. S. House of Representatives passed a new version of the Stolen Valor Act. The f irst version of the Stolen Valor Act was struck down by the Supreme Court as a violation of the First Amendment. The bill focuses not on people who lie about having medals they didn't earn, but on any profits they make from lying about the medals, which is essentially criminal fraud. Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nevada) sponsored the new bill. His office issued a release saying the bill passed by a vote of 410-3.Heck said in a floor speech that the bill would survive judicial review because it resolves the â€Å"constitutional issues by clearly defining that the objective of the law is to target and punish those who misrepresent the alleged service with the intent of profiting personally or financially. † The bill targets those who falsely claim to have earned certain major military decorations, including the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, Air Force Cross, Silver Star, Purple Heart or a medal signifying you served in combat (CNNPolitics).In 2007, there was a cas e against a man named Xavier Alvarez who was an elected member of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District Board in Pomona, California. Alvarez said at a public water district board meeting that he was a retired Marine, had been â€Å"wounded many times,† and had been â€Å"awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor† in 1987(NBCNews). However, he never served in the United States armed forces. Alvarez argued that his false statements were protected by the first Amendment right of free speech.Regardless, of his freedom of speech or anyone’s, no one should be giving the right to lie about something so serious especially, if it dishonors the men and women who serve for us and our country. I believe that there should be a law protecting military members against people like Alvarez. Unfortunately, the majority opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy said, â€Å"The remedy for speech that is false is speech that is true. This is the ordinary course in a free society. He a lso quoted from the famous dissent by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in the 1919 Abrams decision: â€Å"The best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market. Some false statements are inevitable if there is to be an open and vigorous expression of views in public and private conversation, expression the First Amendment seeks to guarantee† (NBCNews). Kennedy might have a point, but I strongly disagree and believe it is unethical period.Moreover, the government shouldn’t allow anyone to make false statements of any kind if it disrespects their country and their people. This act has definitely been a long debate for some of us with reasoned arguments on both sides. In my view it’s unethical and it should have not been struck down by the Supreme Court. Yes, we live in a country with freedom of speech, but this has abused such privilege. So why not punish someone when they’ve abused such privilege?

Marx and Carnegie Essay

For centuries, many philosophers have discussed the issue of class struggle. Karl Marx and Andrew Carnegie both developed theories of the unequal distribution of wealth a long time ago; however the only Carnegie’s ideology could apply to American society today. In â€Å"The Communist Manifesto†, Marx first introduces the two main social classes: bourgeois (the upper class) and proletarians (the lower class or working class). He points out the revolution of industrialism has made changes of Capitalism to Communism. He suggests that the rich should redistribute property evenly because the proletarians have put a lot effort contributing in the revolution. In contrast, Carnegie analyzes in â€Å"The Gospel of Wealth†, the unequal distribution of wealth is a natural consequence of civilization. Both Marx and Carnegie present the problem within society because they want to contribute their own experiences from various views to resolve the tension between the rich and p oor efficiently. By eliminating the gap between rich and poor, Marx believes Communism should replace the economic system of Capitalism. In his perspective, he claims, â€Å"They have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working men of all countries, unite† (Marx 476). Because he sees the Capitalist system exploits workers who are unfairly treated, he asserts that the proletarians should become the ruling class. The principle of Communism is the ideology of collectivism. Marx states, â€Å"Communism deprives no man of the power to appropriate the products of society: all that it does is to deprive him of the power to subjugate the labor of others by means of such appropriation† (470). This means that no private property should be allowed, and no one has even a less or more power in a Communist society. Because Marx illustrates the property ownership would enhance greed, and ambition to win in the competition despite of any consequences, he concludes the more competitions are eliminated, the better people would satisfy into their work. The goal of it is to bring up an  economic more and more efficient as well as its equality. Despite the fact both Marx and Carnegie agree that people who work hard deserve to live a successful life, Carnegie insists the great solution to the issue between rich and poor is depend on the wealthy class in society. He expresses, â€Å"The best minds will thus have reached a state in the development of the race in which it is clearly thoughtful and earnest men into whose bands it flows save by using it year by year for the general good† (495). Instead of conforming to Marx’ ideology of letting the proletarians rule the society, Carnegie thought that the rich provide an important responsibilities which means to improve the better standard of living in society. Since the poor will always be among us, he has mentioned the word â€Å"best minds† to identify the rich who represent the most educated and successful group within the population. Carnegie offered the solution of having the wealthy provided institutions and education programs, so the poverty could learn how to build their own wealth and have the great social benefits. In â€Å"The Gospel of Wealth†, Carnegie also mentions in the theory of Social Darwinism, society can’t be better because the wealthy have such a great deal amount of money, but they are not thinking carefully in what and how to spend their money properly. He said it is only useful when they find a good way to use that money to help the poor’s problems. He doesnâ€℠¢t support everyone who give generously to charity because the poor are not educated enough to use the money wisely, perhaps spend it on useless frivolities. He condemns, â€Å"It were better for mankind that the millions of the rich were thrown into the sea than so spent as to encourage the slothful, the drunken, the unworthy† (494). Thus, instead of spending money on useless things, he suggests that the rich should leave their wealth for public good. He used the Cooper Institute to expand his point that the public had used this institution to have themselves better rather than using the money Cooper had donated to them. He illustrates, â€Å"Of every thousand dollars spent in so-called charity to-day, it is probable that $950 is unwisely spent; so spent, indeed, as to produce the very evils which it proposes to mitigate or cure† (494). In the Communism and Individualism, Marx and Carnegie passionately contrast against each other’s ideologies. In Marx’s perspective, the wealthy doesn’t seem to consider the effort of laborers so there is an inequality gap between two social classes. However, Carnegie strongly refuses Communism because he  believes Communism only work on theory but not in reality. He asserts that through Communism, people expect to be treated the same, so it maybe lead them to do nothing better for their lives and society. On the other hand, Carnegie explains the concept of Individualism can promote independence and enhance good communication between two separate social groups. He adds, â€Å"Not evil, but good, has come to the race from the accumulation of wealth by those who have the ability and energy that produce it† (488). It means people work hard individually can achieve good education and as well to have a better chance to develop their standard lives. Nevertheles s, Marx is also against Carnegie’s perspective. Marx proved that Communism promoted equality among individuals, creating a mutual agreement in regards to moral standards. Moreover, all different classes have the rights to trade and sell any products of manufacture to create a best standard living. Even though, Marx and Carnegie both represent the unequal distribution of wealth in capitalist societies, they discuss the tension between two social classes in different perspectives. In Marx’s ideology of Communism, he wants the proletarians ruling society while Carnegie believes the bourgeois are qualified to improve the standard of living. Carnegie also mentions that the rich must spend their wealth in appropriate way such as contribute their money wisely to public uses. Each of their ideologies propose the advantages and disadvantages in the Communism and Individualism; however, the purpose of presenting the different perspectives of Marx and Carnegie is to reducing the gap between rich and poor as well as bringing the economic equally to develop a better standard life for all social classes. Works Cited Carnegie, Andrew. â€Å"The Gospel of Wealth.† A World of Ideas: Essential Reading for College Writers. Ninth Ed. Eds. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2013. 485-495. Print. Marx, Karl. â€Å"The Communist Manifesto.† A World of Ideas: Essential Reading for College Writers. Ninth Ed. Eds. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2013. 456-476. Print.

TRIBOROUGH BRIDGE PROJECT (NY) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

TRIBOROUGH BRIDGE PROJECT (NY) - Essay Example Construction of the bridges commenced in 1929. The total cost of constructing the bridge was announced to be more than $60 million, exceeding that of the Hoover Dam. The bridge was officially opened on July 11, 1936. Triborough Bridge Project is officially referred to as Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. The bridge carries 8 lanes of 278 I-278 and 6 lanes of NY 900G. The bridge is designed as a suspension, lift and truss bridge. The total length of the bridge comprises of three spans: 2,780 feet, 770 feet and 1,600 feet through Queens, Manhattan, and Bronx respectively. Constructors used both hand tools and specialised tools and equipment for constructing the complex bridge. Similarly, both specialised engineers and unskilled manpower was critical for the project completion. Among the methods that were used for constructing the bridge include balanced cantilever, incremental launching, advanced shoring, and heavy lifting. If the bridge was to be built, the constructors would consider building the roofing for protecting pedestrians and cyclists from hot sunshine and

The Microsoft Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

The Microsoft Case - Essay Example Additionally, it will be convincingly argued that Microsoft was indeed not a monopoly at the time of the investigation. Some key points that characterize a pure monopoly are the following: 1) only one firm in the market 2) significant barriers to entry exist 3) lack of substitute goods 4) firm is a price-maker. When one examines Microsoft of the late 1990’s, it becomes clear that although the company had a large share of the operating systems market captured, they were still far from being what could be literally considered a monopoly (Khan, 2004). Based on the previous metrics listed, Microsoft falls short on every single determinant. Additionally, although Microsoft offered a host of products that could tangentially be seen as working to squeeze out competition, they still did not maintain any measurable means of creating barriers to entry for firms wishing to take market share from their products. In fact, the major concern among many regulators was the fact that Microsoft improperly bundled many services that were also offered by competitors. As such, these suggestions were not against anti-trust laws but merely an aggressive form of business outreach and marketing to get consumers accosted to the products of the firm before they would become accustomed to the products of anothe r firm. Furthermore, the market demand for operating systems would have been marked by a downward sloping demand curve if indeed Microsoft had a monopoly power in the market. However, the opposite of this has indeed been proven to be the case. Doubtless, Microsoft as a firm was making massive amounts of profit during these and proceeding years. However, Microsoft could be viewed as enriching itself primarily from the correct application of economies of scale as opposed to having a death’s clasp on the market in a monopolistic way. Furthermore, operating systems are an exceedingly

Influence of Laugier's Treatise on Ledoux Essay - 1

Influence of Laugier's Treatise on Ledoux - Essay Example The architecture surrounding this time frame, as well as the other concepts which were associated with this creates an overall understanding of the perspective and philosophies which reflect in Ledoux’s works. Background of Ledoux Ledoux was born in France in 1736 and died in 1806. He was one of the earliest architects that focused on Neoclassical architecture and which associated specific ideologies in society with the way in which his pieces were built. Ledoux was known to have a specific relationship to the French Revolution as well as to the desire to build Utopia within the region. The beliefs of Ledoux all related to the understanding that France needed to go through a revolution, specifically to be reminded of morality and perspectives of justice within the main system. Through this revolution, there would be the ability to build Utopian ideologies with the political and social structure, while changing the way in which most associated with the country of France. The de signs which Ledoux incorporated throughout his life were known to combine this with the combinations of styles from past architects, including classical and rococo styles that were incorporated into the revolutionary and radical thoughts of Ledoux (Kaufmann, 1952: p. 5). The beliefs of Ledoux were followed by other architects that influenced the ideas of revolution and the components of Ledoux’s work. One was Laugier, also who was associated with Neoclassicism and the French Enlightenment. The main philosophy of Laugier was based on bringing classical thought forms back. He found that the problem with most of the buildings which were a part of France at the time that were built without practicality or purpose. This included the column shapes and sizes as well as the extra decor and use of space that he found to be impractical. Laugier focused instead on the Greek form and shape as one which used more space with better practicality and which was associated with the understandi ng that the use of open space and symmetry of all buildings could create better alternatives for the buildings. These main theories were known to relate not only to classical thought and the use of practicality. The underlying philosophies of Laugier were based on using the symbolism of open space and symmetry as a way of inviting in the idea of Utopia. The symbolic meaning of the open space was related to opening a space for all and having a sense of equality that was within the environment (Braham, 1980: p 80). Architectural Changes of the 18th Century The influences which were associated with Laugier and the impact on Ledoux furthered with the changes which were in architecture and the associations which individuals had according to these alterations. During this time, France was exposed to the ideal of writing about philosophies and expectations with buildings. This was different from past architecture, specifically with a growing belief that different forms of buildings were su perior in quality and make than other forms of architecture. This ideology led to redefining innovations to make the architectural buildings artifacts that were associated with the social and political changes while influencing the public reflections that were associated with this. The idea of building an architectural culture that was

Scope for market Eclectic Institutes herbal medicine and supplements Essay

Scope for market Eclectic Institutes herbal medicine and supplements lines - Essay Example The researcher will utilize the emerging marketing journals and newsletters to collect the relevant information for the development of a successful marketing plan. The research will also rely on global and local specialists to get an insight into the current global market situation. The organization management will play a decisive role in facilitating the researcher with a broad evaluation of the institution’s marketing situation. To generate a quality plan, the study intends to use experienced research assistants and marketing thinkers. The magnitude of study will be based on the available financial support and human resources. The central objective of the research is to develop a practical and a realistic marketing plan that can stand historical challenges (Elle 1). The research also aims at increasing the institution’s sales and profitability by over 12% in the current profit. The research also intends to offer a workable mechanism that can ensure quality training to all stakeholders on the most effective ways of executing the proposed recommendation. Elle Blake. How to prepare a scope statement for a research paper, research method journals, 23, and 12, 1-7 retrieved on 28th august 2012. From:

Article analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Article analysis - Essay Example The assumption of the author in this case is that the failure to attend morning shows by the candidates is due to their preference for late night shows. This illustrates that the assumptions of the author are not effective because there is no due consideration of other factors which would cause the politicians to attend the late night shows as compared to the morning shows. The author would have made his argument effective by considering the fact that the candidates could be having a tight schedule in the morning hours which would not allow them to afford time for the morning shows. It is notable that the evidence that Scott provides to argue his point is effective as revealed by the examples that he uses of Ricky Perry’s famous memory lapse in Letterman’s late night show. This style of writing illustrates the author’s ability to involve emotional components into the article so that the memory of the audience is triggered and make them notice that the candidates are in favor of late night shows. The description of the issue by the author uses comparative analysis of the current political talk shows with the situation four years ago when the morning talk shows were mandatory for political candidates. The use of metaphors by the author emphasizes his point effectively as shown by the description of the 2007 morning talk shows when each candidate had to face the â€Å"gantlet† (Collins 1). The organization of the article is interesting because the author first gives his argument at the beginning of the article with examples to support his point but the explanation of the late night talk show preference is given later in the article. The language of the author in describing the late night shows as compared to the morning shows is full of emotion. This is illustrated by the description of the late night shows as more welcoming with its questions branded

Balanced Scorecard Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Balanced Scorecard - Essay Example Although organizations measured their performance even before emergence of the balanced scorecard, they did not know how to implement new strategies. The balanced scorecard has evolved in its functionality to embrace translation of company strategies into action. The balance scorecard seeks to operationalize organizational strategy towards achieve desired outcomes. In this case, the balance scorecard ensures that the organization realizes its vision and mission through mobilization of resources and utilizing them in line with corporate objectives and goals, both short term and long term. Through the balanced scorecard, an organization can assess the current performance situation, as well as any feedback available from previous performance, and updating corporate strategies in such a manner that it effectively eliminates any bottlenecks available. This paper will discuss the adoption of Balanced Scorecard by contemporary organizations, and more specifically, the role of Balanced Scorecard in translating strategies to action as well as its role as a strategic management accounting technique. Translating Strategy into Action The Balanced Scorecard helps translate an organizations strategy and vision into a comprehensive set of measures and metrics to performance. This functionality puts into practice four perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard that include customer knowledge, financial measures, learning and growth, and internal organizational processes. This functionality particularly offers a balance between the company’s desired outcomes and their performance drivers, long term and short-term objectives, alongside objective outcomes. In addition, the balance scorecard has been used by managers as a revolutionary tool that enables them to mobilize their resources and strongholds to achieve the mission of the organization. The Balanced Scorecard appears as a management system that is applicable in channeling abilities, energies, advanced knowledge among its employees towards company objectives and long-term goals. The balanced score card is basically applicable in translating strategies put in pl ace by companies into performance measures that are comprehensive to the targets and achievement needs of the organization as a whole with respects to the complex environments in which they operate (Kaplan &Norton, 1996, p.2). Use of Balanced Scorecard for Strategy translation application to action has been evident among senior executives in banking, insurance, retailing, and oil industries to streamline current performance and target their future performance needs. Strategy translation focuses on effective and efficient use of a company’s intangible assets to spearhead the long-term financial success and value creation of the company through financial and non-financial perspectives. Growth and learning regards individual employees and the entire organizational human resource alongside cross-departmental initiatives to identify efficient new processes that would enable the organizations to meet customer needs and objectives of shareholders (Holl & Bohm, 2005, p.15). The Balan ced Scorecard is applicable as a learning system that is robust for testing the current situation, accessing situational feedback and updating ideal strategies fit for shortcomings of previous organizations functionality. However, strategy translation to action using the Balanced Scorecard is not completely ignorant of the steps that organizational managers use to build a tailored balanced scorecard.

Causes of corruption & its remedies Essay Example for Free

Causes of corruption its remedies Essay An act done with intent to give some advantage inconsistent with official duty and the rights of others. It includes bribery, but is more comprehensive; because an act may be corruptly done, though the advantage to be derived from it be not offered by another. Sometimes corruption is understood as something against law; such as, a contract by which the borrower agreed to pay the lender usurious interest. It is said, in such case, that it was corruptly agreed, etc. CAUSES OF CORRUPTION: The causes of corruption are many and complex. Following are some of the causes of corruption.  µ Emergence of political elite who believe in interest-oriented rather than nation-oriented programmes and policies.  µ Artificial scarcity created by the people with malevolent intentions wrecks the fabric of the economy.  µ Corruption is caused as well as increased because of the change in the value system and ethical qualities of men who administer. The old ideals of morality, service and honesty are regarded as an achronistic.  µ Tolerance of people towards corruption, complete lack of intense public outcry against corruption and the absence of strong public forum to oppose corruption allow corruption to reign over people.  µ Vast size of population coupled with widespread illiteracy and the poor economic infrastructure lead to endemic corruption in public life.  µ In a highly inflationary economy, low salaries of government officials compel them to resort to the road of corruption. Graduates from IIMs with no experience draw a far handsome salary than what government secretaries draw.  µ Complex laws and procedures alienate common people to ask for any help from government.  µ Election time is a time when corruption is at its peak level. Big industrialist fund politicians to meet high cost of election and ultimately to seek personal favour. Bribery to politicians buys influence, and bribery by politicians buys votes. In order to get elected, politicians bribe poor illiterate people, who are slogging for two times’ meal. REMEDIES OF CORRUPTION Is it possible to contain corruption in our society? Corruption is a cancer, which every Indian must strive to cure. Many new leaders when come into power declare their determination to eradicate corruption but soon they themselves become corrupt and start amassing huge wealth. Many People become materialistic and money oriented, there is no important of ethics and morals in business dealings. Many people thinking that money which coming to their pocket is good, same way many thinking that money which going out from their pocket is bad, but they don’t consider the way money traveling. This is because these kinds of people have no moral accountability to anybody; and these kind have people have full trust on money, they strongly believing that money can hold big role in their life, they believing that money can solve their current and future problems, they believing that money can give them life without problems. Some of the remedies are given below:  µ What can be remedy of corruption? It can be only possible if people can understand and start to believe the values of ethics and morality in their life. People will start to believe that their life is accountable if they really start to believe in GOD, in oneness of GOD and if they really start to live life on the way which GOD has chosen for mankind. GOD has given the wisdom to each and every human being, heart of everyone telling him/her that the way he/she following to get money is good/bad. The most important thing is person should listen and follow the good part of his heart.  µ Foolproof laws should be made so that there is no room for discretion for politicians and bureaucrats. The role of the politician should be minimized. Application of the evolved policies should be left in the hands of independent commission or authority in each area of public interest. Decision of the commission or authority should be challengeable only in the courts.  µ Cooperation of the people has to be obtained for successfully containing corruption. People should have a right to recall the elected representatives if they see them becoming indifferent to the electorate.  µ Funding of elections is at the core of political corruption. Electoral reforms are crucial in this regard. Several reforms like: State funding of election expenses for candidates; strict enforcement of statutory requirements like holding in-party elections, making political parties get their accounts audited regularly and filing income-tax returns; denying persons with criminal records a chance to contest elections, should be brought in.  µ Responsiveness, accountability and transparency are a must for a clean system. Bureaucracy, the backbone of good governance, should be made more citizen friendly, accountable, ethical and transparent.  µ More and more courts should be opened for speedy inexpensive justice so that cases don’t linger in courts for years and justice is delivered on time.  µ Local bodies, Independent of the government, like Lokpals, Lokadalats, CVCs and Vigilance Commissions should be formed to provide speedy justice with low expenses.  µ A new Fundamental Right viz. Right to Information should be introduced, which will empower the citizens to ask for the information they want. Barring some confidential information, which concerns national and international security, other information should be made available to general public as and when required. Stringent actions against corrupt officials will certainly have a deterrent impact. CONCLUSION Corruption is an intractable problem. It is like diabetes, can only be controlled, but not totally eliminated. It may not be possible to root out corruption completely at all levels but it is possible to contain it within tolerable limits. Honest and dedicated persons in public life, control over electoral expenses could be the most important prescriptions to combat corruption. Corruption has a corrosive impact on our economy. It worsens our image in international market and leads to loss of overseas opportunities. Corruption is a global problem that all countries of the world have to confront, solutions, however, can only be home grown. I used the sentence â€Å"we the common man are the solution† because we are the only reason why corruption is so popular in INDIA. We are the persons who are motivating corruption to be successful. We support corruption that is why it exits. Since we are the only person who elects ministers that are supporting corruption in INDIA. Common citizen of INDIA let us start working from now onwards with common goal of removing corruption from INDIA. Think the day when we will achieve our goal and whole world will say â€Å"INDIA IS AN DEVELOPED COUNTRY.

Unconditioned Response And Conditioned Response Physical Education Essay

Unconditioned Response And Conditioned Response Physical Education Essay According to Pavlov, specific terms begin to be used to describe conditioning such as unconditioned response and conditioned response. Based on Ivan Pavlovs experiment, the natural response to food for a dog is to salivate. This is called unconditioned response (UCR) to the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), which in this case is the food. Then, a neutral stimulus (NS; bell) accompanies the process. By repeating this process, there will be a conditioned response (CR) of salivating with the mere sound of the bell. This way the clicking stimulus now has become conditioned stimulus (CS), which is able to draw a conditioned response. According to Martin and Pear (2005), there are several features that increase the effectiveness of classical conditioning. One of it is that there has to be multiple pairings only between the CS and the UCS in order to increase the effectives of the CS to provoke response from the CR (highest potency). Moreover, the CS and UCS have to be stimuli that are presente d in its maximum power so that the conditioning will be stronger. Morsella (2010) explains that classical conditioning can be found around us from the time we were born. She describes that the liking we have for food that looks artificial and does not have any odour such as lollipops and certain types of candies are due to the effects of classical conditioning. Another application of classical conditioning is to treat toddlers and adults with Enuresis, and managing phobia using systemic desensitization in psychotherapy. Apart from that, classical conditioning is also applicable in the advertising sector. The application of the principles of classical conditioning in the three sectors will be further discussed in this paper. One of the most pioneer contributions of classical conditioning in the medical setting is to treat children and adults who are suffering from enuresis. According to Gross and Dornbush (1983) one form of enuresis that is common among children who are between 5 and 14 years of age is nocturnal enuresis, affecting mostly boys than girls. They explained that nocturnal enuresis is the act of constant bed-wetting at night during sleep despite being potty trained. This behaviour is considered an enuresis if it occurs at least a few times in a month without identifiable physiological cause. It has been discussed that nocturnal enuresis causes many communal and psychological dilemmas as the children will not want to spend the night away from home due to fear of embarrassment. Lemelin and Lemelin (1989) describes the results of using many forms of treatment in dealing with nocturnal enuresis and have identified that enuresis alarm is the best treatment available. According to Schmitts explanation (as cited in Lemelin Lemelin, 1989) explained how enuresis alarm works and its association with the principles of classical conditioning. An enuresis alarm is attached to the front portion of the childs underwear making it convenient to be carried along even during travelling. When a few urine droplets fall on the device, the two electrodes get connected triggering the alarm. The sound created awakens the child, which automatically prompts the child to control the bladder and stop the process of urinating. Then, the child can go to the toilet to complete the urination process. The effectiveness of this treatment will only be seen with multiple trials similar to the case of Ivan Pavlovs dogs. Initial stages (several weeks), the child would only be awake once he or she has completely urinated. Several weeks after that, the child would wake up half way through the process of urinating due to the alarm, thus enabling the child to contract the bladder muscles to stop urination, and continue in the toilet. As a result of repeating this process, in the long run the child will wake up by the mere feeling of wanting to urinate rather than the sound produced by the alarm after urination. The condition improves in one month and complete cure is achieved within three to four months. However the child will have to put on the underwear with the enuresis alarm until dry nights are achieved consecutively for three weeks. 1st Step Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) Alarm (sound) Unconditioned Stimulus (UCR) Waking up 2nd Step UCS (multiple times) paired with Alarm (sound) Neutral Stimulus to Conditioned Stimulus (CS) Full bladder (need to urinate) Conditioned Response (CR) Waking up Many studies have found that the use of enuresis alarm has helped children suffering from any form of enuresis such as nocturnal enuresis and monosymtomatic nocturnal enuresis. Ozgur, Ozgur, Dogan and Orun (2009) has conducted a study on the effectiveness of enuresis alarm in helping 40 children ages 6 to 16 years old with monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis to the extent of bed-wetting at least three times in a week. All the participants were told to use the alarm for 12 weeks. The parents and children were shown how the alarm reacts to urine. They only considered a persons treatment as being successful if they managed to keep their bed dry for 14 days continously. Meanwhile, a person is said to have relapsed if they wet their bed one night or more in a week. The results after the initial 12 weeks of using the alarm showed that 27 out of 40 patients kept their beds dry successfully. During the three-month follow-up of still using the alarm at bed-time, it was found that only 9 of the initial achievers stayed dry, while 18 of them relapsed. In the subsequent three- month follow-up, 7 of the 18 relapsed participants showed successful results. Finally after another three months, out of the 7 successful participants, 4 of them achieved dry nights. In total, 13 of them stayed dry and managed to get their enuresis treated. This system works in the same way as explained by Schmitts explanation (as cited in Lemelin Lemelin, 1989). The results of this study are considered to be good by Rocha, Costa and Silvares (2008). They explained that during a long-period of treatment using alarm, the familys level of motivation, socio-economic status and circumstances at home play a huge role in keeping things consistent given that the alarm has to be used daily without fail. Enuresis can be better managed without the reliance of medication as urinating is a normal bodily function that needs to be controlled everyday during sleep and as such the use of enuresis alarm is a better l ong term solution as it is carried out for long period of time. Eventually the child will learn to wake up from sleep the very moment the feeling of voiding appears, which is the normal response expected from the human physiological system. In addition to the study above, Berg, Forsythe and McGuire (1982) conducted a study on 54 children (35 boys and 9 girls) on how they responded with the pad and bell system for initially 4 weeks before extending their treatment for another five months. The pad and bell system works in the same way as the enuresis alarm where the alarm, which is the unconditioned stimulus provokes a response of waking up (unconditioned response). Over time, when full bladder (neutral stimulus) is paired with the bell sound produced by the pad and bell system, the full bladder becomes the conditioned stimulus for the conditioned response of waking up. They were also interested to study the effects of Maximum Functional Bladder Capacity (MBC) and the childs affective issues using the Rutter A (parent) Scale to determine the outcome of the treatment for enuresis. Before the pad and bell system was introduced to the children, they were wetting their beds at nights at an average of 20 times in 28 days. Howe ver, after the pad and bell approach, on average the children were found to only wet their beds approximately 11 times in four weeks. Their treatment approach in dealing with the childrens enuresis worked for 34 out of the 54 children, which could be considered as a 63% success rate. They also found that those children who had failed in responding to the treatment had higher scores on the Rutter A Scale indicating the level of the childrens emotional instability. Therefore it could be understood that the remaining 20 children who did not respond to the treatment may be affected emotionally, thus preventing them to respond like the other children who are suffering from nocturnal enuresis. Although it has been proven that enuresis alarm has been effective for many children, the fact that every child is undergoing difference circumstances must be taken into consideration, and therefore expecting a generalised response may not be accurate. Given the right approach and environment, every child will be able to respond positively towards the treatment for enuresis using the alarm system. The parenting style is also equally important, given the role of parents in waking up the child when the alarm starts in the beginning stages. In families that practise neglectful parenting, it is unlikely for the parents to take the initiative to wake up and alert the child. As such, these factors should also be considered to assess the effectiveness of the treatment of enuresis using the alarm system. The next area that widely uses the principles of classical conditioning is the advertising sector. Gorn (1982) conducted a study on 244 college students to understand the effects of external factors such as background music and setting to influence the marketability of a product. He explains that people tend to respond positively towards a product that is being advertised if the advertisement catches their attention and creates a pleasant feeling by way of eye-catching colours, lovely music and hilarity. Therefore, the features of the advertisement act as unconditioned stimulus, while, the product acts as a conditioned stimulus after observing them together multiple times to produce a good feeling (unconditioned and conditioned response). In his study he made sure that the information of the product is minimally exposed to the participants to ensure that the unconditioned features were the ones that captured the participants attention and not the information. In the experiment, there were four conditions created. The first condition involved the pairing of a piece of favoured music with a pen of light blue colour. The next condition was to match a piece of favoured music with a pen of beige colour. The third condition was to match a piece of unfavoured music with a pen of light blue colour and the forth condition was to match a piece of unfavoured music with a pen of beige colour. It was found that a majority of the participants (74%) chose the pen that was presented with their favoured music. He explained that the participants with the favoured piece of music selected the pen based on the good feeling it created. To further support the positive outcome of classical conditioning, Tsai (2012) conducted a study on 172 undergraduates to understand the effects of classical conditioning in using movie stars to promote a product. He also mentioned that using celebrities as part of an advertisement is a popular practice in the United States and Britain. Tsai used an actor named Ethan Ruan as the celebrity to leverage on his popularity to promote an orange juice brand called GARRA. No additional information was added to the advertisement. The celebrity acts as the unconditioned stimulus that naturally draws a positive response from people (unconditioned response). The celebrity is paired five times with the conditioned stimulus, which is the virtual brand to produce a positive response to the brand (conditioned response). When respondents opinion on GARRA was compared between those who were put through conditioning and without conditioning, the results showed that the conditioned group (Ethan Ruan) ha d higher or more positive attitude towards GARRA. The attraction that people have for the actor was able to be transferred to the product or brand that the actor was promoting. Hence, after repeated exposure to the same unconditioned stimulus, GARRA (conditioned stimulus) automatically drew a positive response from consumers. Tsai also found that the appearance of celebrities in advertisements leads to a higher value in promoting a particular brand regardless whether the celebrities have done other advertisements before. While, the research involving celebrity such as Ethan Ruan was successful in this Taiwan study, the same approach might not be workable in a multi racial country like Malaysia where a celebrity who is well known to the Indian community may be completely unknown to the other races in the country. Thus, celebrity endorsement may not have a generalised outcome across the Malaysian population. Another point to note is that celebrity endorsement without a good quality pr oduct will not result in repeated purchases. If people are not satisfied with the quality of a product, they will not buy it the second time even if Brad Pitt or Jonny Depp advertised it. The next big sector that uses the principles of classical conditioning is psychotherapy in the management of phobia. Wolpe (1958) developed a method of dealing with phobia using a behavioural approach. He explains that a person has to be conditioned to develop unnecessary fear on a particular stimulus such as cockroach, snake, heights or even social engagement. The classic experiment conducted by Watson and Rayner (1920) on a small boy known as Little Albert is a good example to explain the development of phobia. They found that loud noise produces fearful feelings. Thus, the loud noise acts as an unconditioned stimulus to provoke an unconditioned response of fear. They tested their finding by pairing a white rat (conditioned stimulus) with a loud noise that was created using a steel bar and a hammer behind Little Alberts head multiple times, which produced fear (conditioned response; making Albert cry and move away). After multiple times of doing the same thing to Albert, he eventua lly developed fear (phobia) at the mere sight of a white rat. Based on this principle, Wolpe derived the idea of counteracting the phobia with a contradicting stimulus such as relaxation, which is called counterconditioning. Counterconditioning can be explained using a classic study by Jones (1924) on a child named Peter. He was afraid of rabbits (conditioned stimulus). She placed a rabbit in the same room but at the distance from Peter during the time that Peter was eating some cookies (unconditioned stimulus) which made him feel good (unconditioned response). This process was conducted multiple times resulting in Peter overcoming his phobia for rabbits. At the end of the counterconditioning period, Peter was able to have a rabbit on his lap happily (conditioned response). Wolpe (1958) explained that the process of counterconditioning should be carried out in several stages and conducted at a slow pace and this process is known as systematic desensitization. He explained that a person is usually asked to make a list from the lowest to the highest fear causing stimuli. The process of desensitization starts from the lowest first before moving slowly to the higher level of fear. The stimulus that causes fear is put forward to the person together with relaxation to produce a good feeling either through imagination or in vivo. To provide research evidence on the effectiveness of systematic desensitization, McCroskey, Ralph and Barrick (1970) conducted a study on 24 university students taking the public speaking class who were found to have an elevated level of anxiety to give speeches. The participants were randomly assigned to 3 groups with five members each, an hour of systematic desensitization session, for twice in a week almost three and half weeks. In the first session, the underlying principles of systematic desensitization were explained and the participants were also taught deep muscular relaxation. In the next sessions, beginning from the lower level of anxiety present in the hierarchy, the participants watched a video recorded session of public speech presentations. At any point of time when the participants displayed anxiety, they were told to raise their right index finger as that will cue the trainer to instruct all the participants within that group to stop the imagination of giving speech a nd focus on the deep muscular relaxation before resuming the session. The deep muscular relaxation was the unconditioned stimulus, which was paired with the speech presentation (conditioned stimulus) to eventually produce a relaxed state (unconditioned to conditioned response). For successfully completely each stage of the speech anxiety hierarchy, the participants were required to complete the first presentation of 15 seconds and second presentation of 30 seconds free from any signs of anxiety before proceeding to the next one. At the end of each session, the trainers presented the previous completed level of the speech anxiety hierarchy so that the participants level of anxiety is kept at a minimum level. This is done until all the stages within the hierarchy are completed. The last session ends with the repetition of the highest speech anxiety stimuli for one minute. At the end of the complete session, the participants level of speech anxiety was measured using Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker (PRCS; Paul, 1966). According to the results, the groups that received systematic desensitization had a decreased level of anxiety by 54% while the control group only had a decreased level of 18%. Therefore, it can be concluded that the anxiety level for speech giving or any other phobia can be significantly reduced using the systematic desensitization method. This study is reliable given that the sessions were conducted continuously every week to ensure the effectiveness of the counterconditioning. However, the fact that it was done in a group could disrupt the flow of desensitizing an individual as each participant would have different level of phobia in terms of speech anxiety throughout each session. To further support the effectiveness of systematic desensitization in treating phobia or high level of anxiety, Johnson and Sechrest (1968) conducted a study on 41 psychology students. They used the Alpert-Haber Achievement Anxiety Test to measure the level of test anxiety at pre and post systematic desensitization. Those who had high test anxiety and scored low ( This paper discussed the use of classical conditioning in three different sectors, which are treating enuresis, advertising products and managing phobia in psychotherapy sessions. In treating enuresis, the use of classical conditioning is an ideal method as it is non-invasive and the results have been found to have a high reliability and validity value. In the advertisement sector, classical conditioning has been proven to increase the marketability of the product. It is a common practice for businesses to use celebrities to advertise their products to increase the amount of sales. Meanwhile in the psychotherapy sector, systematic desensitization is one of the most prominent methods of dealing with phobia, as it helps to deal with difficult irrational fear which has affected people for a long period of time. In a nut shell, classical conditioning is effectively used in many other sectors apart from those discussed in this paper.

Socio Cultural Impacts on Ethical Advertisement

Socio Cultural Impacts on Ethical Advertisement Advertising ethics affects the practice of our lives, and also the practice of business, in prominent ways. Advertising ethics concerns us all-academicians, ad agency personnel, advertisers, consumers, media personnel, and regulators-in one way or another. Moreover, advertising has become a race for creating a unique, cutting-edge, and enticing way of passing on relevant information to customers to facilitate and positively influence their buying decisions. Specifically, TV advertising has long focused on ethical choices faced by news practitioners as they deal with conflicting pressures and goals. Recent scholarly attention to media ethics has focused mainly on case studies of TV advertisers actions regarding such issues as invasion of privacy, ef ­fect of profit motive on advertisement content, and advertisers relationships to their sources Research Objectives Find the determinants that lead to unethical advertising Identify various impacts of unethical advertising on the organization Identify the social and cultural impacts of unethical advertising in particular To understand the importance of ethical advertising for business How ethical advertising is affected by the social and cultural values? Impacts of unethical advertising on the children Impacts of unethical advertising on the society and culture Reasons why firms get involve in unethical advertising To analyze the need of ethical advertising for business Literature review George M. Zinkhan (Sep1994) stated that buying behavior of consumers which is influenced by cultural and social factors include social class, family, demographics and geography. Culture is a combination of tangible factors and intangible values that articulate the lifestyle of a person. Social class is defined as the income group the individual belongs too which depends on the income earned, which determines buying behavior of a person. Reference group would usually include celebrities who endorse brands, members of the family and close friends etc. Family is totally different from the former ones because of the preferences, norms and values of a family in which the individual resides. Moreover the individuals buying decision is influenced by the ambience of his family and also values are grasped unconsciously in a particular family setting. Thus, the individuals buying decision is collectively and unconsciously is influenced by the family. Demographics are specific details about a p erson which include gender, income, age etc. this also include the geographical location of a person which influences the buying behavior of a person. Factors which can affect a persons decision making include climate, weather etc. These tangible and intangible factors affect the marketers in making ethical decisions about marketing. Bowie (2002) stated in his article that marketing ethics is subset of business ethics and deals with the application of moral standards marketing decisions, behaviors and also the institutions at large. Marketing ethics examine the moral issues that marketers faces in organizations. Important topics include advertising honesty and truthfulness, fairness in pricing, safety and liability and forthrightness in selling. During recent years positive developments in marketing ethics include recognition of the difference between normative, descriptive and analytical work in the field. Normative ethics deal with articulating and defending basic moral norms. Descriptive ethics deals with the scientific study of ethics conducted by social scientists while analytical marketing ethics include works that examine basic ethical marketing concepts and norms. Moreover there are five core virtues listed; integrity, fairness, trust, respect and empathy. These are relevant for marketing in a multi-cultu ral and multinational context. There are many different theories which were tested. Amongst them which received substantial attention is Kohlbergs theory of cognitive moral development (CMD).this study found out that marketing practitioners are similar to professional groups on the CMD scale and secondly highly educated female workers score highest on CMD and thirdly those marketers most advanced in moral reasoning also exhibit socially responsible attitudes and behavior. Marketers must accept moral responsibility for their strategies as well as for marketing efforts aimed at that segment. Cecilia (April 1999) stated in his article that in western countries conflicts between ethical/moral and social/economic values are observed. Many professionals see themselves disoriented concerning the correct attitude to take when facing dynamic and diversified possibilities for their marketing strategies. The explanatory study was conducted titled The Moral Themes in Advertising was conducted to know what actually the marketers think or what is their perception about the concept of ethics in their ethical performance, social responsibility in marketing and the standards and guidelines. This study was conducted through mailing questionnaires to 78 foreign countries. This questionnaire had 170 questions, most of them had to be rated 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest .The results were gathered and variance was analyzed. There were a lot of variations in the results of different countries. Some countries had more moral values and therefore were more ethical in their marketing strategies. The social uses do influence the human behavior, since they reflect and condition the values system of a society. The morality of these uses and means correspond to the dignity of the social and human nature. It justifies that advertisers and other marketing practitioners or professors throughout the world study a way of becoming more sensitive to the grave responsibility they assume, concerning their apparent alienation about ethical duties and obligations toward the citizens. Fritzsche (November 1995) stated in his article that personal values significantly influence the decision making process of a person. The article studies the relationship that exists between personal values and ethical dimensions of decisions. There are numerous studies that show that that personal value plays an important role in influencing the behavior of marketing managers. Studies also suggest that managers should be screened out on the basis of their values while hiring. The basic definition of values is defined as A value is a conception, explicit or implicit of the desirable that influences the selection from available modes, means and ends of action. Another definition states that a value is an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conducts or end state of existence. Studies by numerous scholars suggest that behavior is a result of values and attitudes and that value p rovide a basis for the development of individual attitudes which lead to specific decision making. A personal value questionnaire was developed in England in which managers were asked to evaluate the performance of 66 values. This was measured on a success scale, a right scale and a pleasant scale, which showed a high variation in values of different people. Becker(November 1990) states in this article that ethical behavior of marketing managers can be examined by their reactions and responses to a varied sequence of ethical dilemmas presented to them. These include coercion and control, conflict of interest, physical environment paternalism and personal integrity. To conduct this study the respondents were selected from a random sample of 593 marketing practitioners from American Marketing Association.Memebers who were listed were either consultants or academics were not included in the sample. Total of 124 questionnaires were received and processed. The results were evaluated on three broad categories which were the individual, the individuals peer and the individuals top management. However there were some limitations to this study because the response rate was very low. Secondly the data was based on statements of what the respondents. The managers responded to coercion and control dilemmas differently than they responded to conflict of interest problems. This response in turn differed from their response to personal integrity dilemmas. The paternalism response did not differ significantly from either the conflict of interest or the personal integrity response. Therefore care should be taken when interpreting past and future empirical studies of ethical behavior to avoid generalizing across categories of ethical problems. Desmond (2004) stated in his article that regardless of argumentative concerns of marketing ethicists, a societal based morality continues to suffer because of marketing practices. This article in the light of ethicist and egoist elements of moral theory discovers the outcomes of marketing actions relative to the normative elements. Ethicists are the scholars arguing that better moral outcomes can be reached via the embodiment of the maxims of moral philosophy within management theory. Whereas egoists those who profess Adam Smiths view that the pursuit of different forms of self-interest will eventually lean towards the best, or least worst, of moral consequences in economic situations. Ahmed (May 1996) in this paper examines the features, similarities and differences in advertising expressions and strategies. The study is on a cross cultural analysis which compared USA a high context culture with India a low context culture. A random sample of advertisements were chosen for this research, consumer products were selected which were from nationally circulated newspaper and magazines of each country. The study found out that there are substantial differences in the advertisements produced by the two countries and reflections of their cultural values could be seen in their advertising expressions. Moreover it was revealed that US advertisements were direct, distinctive in which sexual portrayals of women were used whereas in Indian ads indirect style was used with combined visuals and stereotypical portrayals of women were more frequently used compared to US ads. Furthermore it has been said that most of the cross cultural empirical studies that have been conducted to date compared either two or more Western industrialized countries or Western and Eastern industrialized countries. Other cross cultural analysis were also conducted which compared US with UK. Every analysis showed a different and varied result. Hayman (September 1994) stated in his article that the practice of our lives and businesses is affected by advertising ethics in prominent ways. Advertising ethics concerns too many people which include consumers, academicians, ad agency personnel, advertisers, and media personnel somehow. Recent articles have scrutinized the ethicality of ads with exploitive appeals, persuasive appeals and stereotyped actors. Other articles studied the ethicality of ads for professional services, politicians or political causes and questionable products like cigarettes. Different tests were carried out which showed different results. Respondents said that they value funding constraints and concomitant reliance on convenience significantly more than other impediments. Moreover the use of dishonesty, advertisement for children, tobacco ads, use of stereotypes should also be avoided according to the respondent. Buijzen (2003) in his article introduced a model on the unintended effects of advertising and conducted tests to test the validity of three hypothesis about the impact of advertising on materialism, parent child conflict and unhappiness. It was observed that there was a moderate relationship between advertising and materialism and advertising and parent-child conflict however no significant relationship was found between unhappiness and advertising. Moreover it is stated that television advertisements aimed at children were a subject of concern in US and Europe in early 1970s. Furthermore it is discussed that effects of advertising directed toward children are based on two paradigms; paradigm of empowered child and paradigm of vulnerable child. In paradigm of empowered child, children are viewed as skilled consumers critically processing commercial messages whereas in paradigm of vulnerable child assumes that children lack cognitive skills to protect themselves against advertising m essages. It was also examined that children are more susceptible than adults to the seductive influence of commercials. Robert Bartels (1997) stated in his article that he contributed the first comprehensive model for ethics in marketing. This conceptualization of the variables that influence marketing ethics decision making determine the logical basis for marketers to determine what is right or wrong. In this article a schematic plan for analyzing the variables inherent in the ethics of decision making; and provided a framework for social and personal ethics in marketing decisions. This model was successful in outlining variables that influence ethical decision making, including participants, cultural influencers, role expectations, and the complexity of ethical decision making. Chapter 3: Methodology This section outlines and elaborates on the research and how it was conducted. It covers the details of the research design, methodology for collecting the data, population, questionnaire development and data analysis. 3.1 Research Design The aim of the paper is to figure out how Socio cultural factors affect ethical advertising. The basic idea is to equip ourselves with additional research on the phenomenon of consumer response with respect to unethical advertisements; this makes the research a basic research. Since the objective is to find socio cultural factors affect ethical advertisements, this research was termed as descriptive and casual in nature. 3.2 Data Collection Method Data can be collected from primary or secondary sources. A primary data refers to information collected firsthand by the researcher based on the variables of interest for the specific purpose of study. Whereas a secondary data refers to information collected from sources already existing. This research was based on primary data collection approach. Questionnaires were used for collecting data. Personally administered questionnaires were used. They were distributed to a total of 29 people of different ages, occupation and income. Once the questionnaires was filled they were collected from the respondent, the researcher was accompanying the respondent so that queries from respondent can be answered. The anonymity and confidentiality of the researcher and their responses was ensured and were analyzed at the aggregate level only. Close ended questions were used in the questionnaire which helped the respondents to make quick decisions to choose among the several alternative before them (Sekaran, 2000). Such type of questionnaires also helps the researcher to code the information easily for subsequent analysis. Likert-style rating scale was used; it consists of subsequent options: strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree. Different statements were made in the questions and respondents were asked the degree as to what they agree or disagree upon. 3.3 Questionnaire Development The layout of the questionnaire is very important to reduce the biases in the research (Sekaran, 2000); due to this the layout is kept simple and limited to 4 pages only. Questionnaire starts with an introduction of research. The design of the questionnaire is attached in Appendix 2. Theoretical framework Operational Definitions 1) Industry Standards: Industry standards are orderly and systematic formulation, adoption, or application of standards used in the industry. An industrial standard is a generally accepted requirement to be met for the attainment of a recurrent industrial objective. These standards would be evaluated through secondary data obtained from Internet. 2) Personal Conscience: It explains the concomitant moral judgment that determines the morality of actions; it can be right, correct, doubtful or scrupulous. Data would be gauged by asking indirect questions from the respondents and their answers would reflect their conscience. 3) Company Policy: Company policies are guidelines-statements (guide to plans decision making) to facilitate predetermined objective on the mode and manner in the structural functional aspects to achieve the objective formulated as plans at all levels of management in the business organization. Data related to company policy would be gathered by visiting Telecom companies like Telenor and Warid. 4) Moral values: Moral values explain the standards of good and evil, which govern an individuals behavior and choices. Every person has different morals and it is difficult to judge a persons moral values therefore data for moral values would be gauged by asking indirect questions from the respondents and their answers would reflect their moral values. 5) Government laws and regulations: Government is a system of social control which grants a particular group of society the right to make laws, and the right to enforce them. Laws and regulations are rules that order human activities and relations through systematic application of the force of politically organized society. Data would be gathered through Internet and Government publications. 6) Regulatory agencies: Regulatory agencies are independent government bodies formed or mandated under the terms of a legislative act to ensure compliance with the provisions of the act, and in carrying out its purpose. Data related to regulatory agencies would be gathered from secondary data available on internet and government publications. 7) Religion: Religion is defined as a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects. Religion is an important factor that affects advertisements. Data would be gathered through Questionnaires and focus groups. 8) Cultural values: Cultural values are Commonly held standards of what is acceptable or unacceptable, important or unimportant, right or wrong, workable or unworkable, etc., in a community or society. Data related to Cultural values would be gauged through Questionnaires and focus groups. Hypotheses 1 Socio-Cultural factors have a significant/insignificant impact on ethical advertisement Ho: Socio-Cultural factors have a significant impact on ethical advertisement H1: Socio-Cultural factors have an insignificant impact on ethical advertisement Multiple Regressions Q6 Dependent variable: Q6 Independent variables: Q12 Q13 Q15 Q19 Standard T Parameter Estimate Error Statistic P-Value CONSTANT 0.00863931 0.355308 0.024315 0.9808 Q12 0.391237 0.171878 2.27624 0.0320 Q13 0.321197 0.12931 2.48393 0.0204 Q15 0.0993521 0.179206 0.554402 0.5844 Q19 0.19747 0.0812598 2.43011 0.0229 Analysis of Variance Source Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F-Ratio P-Value Model 7.96444 4 1.99111 44.66 0.0000 Residual 1.07004 24 0.044585 Total (Corr.) 9.03448 28 R-squared = 88.156 percent R-squared (adjusted for d.f.) = 86.1821 percent Standard Error of Est. = 0.211152 Mean absolute error = 0.127206 Durbin-Watson statistic = 2.18452 (P=0.6825) Lag 1 residual autocorrelation = -0.0946458 The StatAdvisor The output shows the results of fitting a multiple linear regression model to describe the relationship between Q6 and 4 independent variables. The equation of the fitted model is Q6 = 0.00863931 + 0.391237*Q12 + 0.321197*Q13 + 0.0993521*Q15 + 0.19747*Q19 Since the P-value in the ANOVA table is less than 0.05, there is a statistically significant relationship between the variables at the 95.0% confidence level. The R-Squared statistic indicates that the model as fitted explains 88.156% of the variability in Q6. The adjusted R-squared statistic, which is more suitable for comparing models with different numbers of independent variables, is 86.1821%. The standard error of the estimate shows the standard deviation of the residuals to be 0.211152. This value can be used to construct prediction limits for new observations by selecting the Reports option from the text menu. The mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.127206 is the average value of the residuals. The Durbin-Watson (DW) statistic tests the residuals to determine if there is any significant correlation based on the order in which they occur in your data file. Since the P-value is greater than 0.05, there is no indication of serial autocorrelation in the residuals at the 95.0% confidence level. In determining whether the model can be simplified, notice that the highest P-value on the independent variables is 0.5844, belonging to Q15. Since the P-value is greater or equal to 0.05, that term is not statistically significant at the 95.0% or higher confidence level. Consequently, you should consider removing Q15 from the model. Multiple Regression Q6 Dependent variable: Q6 Independent variables: Q12 Q13 Q19 Standard T Parameter Estimate Error Statistic P-Value CONSTANT 0 0.350015 0 1.0000 Q12 0.453202 0.128754 3.5199 0.0017 Q13 0.369458 0.0942868 3.91845 0.0006 Q19 0.187192 0.0780131 2.39949 0.0242 Analysis of Variance Source Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F-Ratio P-Value Model 7.95074 3 2.65025 61.14 0.0000 Residual 1.08374 25 0.0433498 Total (Corr.) 9.03448 28 R-squared = 88.0044 percent R-squared (adjusted for d.f.) = 86.5649 percent Standard Error of Est. = 0.208206 Mean absolute error = 0.123662 Durbin-Watson statistic = 2.1867 (P=0.6811) Lag 1 residual autocorrelation = -0.0951858 The StatAdvisor The output shows the results of fitting a multiple linear regression model to describe the relationship between Q6 and 3 independent variables. The equation of the fitted model is Q6 = -6.99441E-15 + 0.453202*Q12 + 0.369458*Q13 + 0.187192*Q19 Since the P-value in the ANOVA table is less than 0.05, there is a statistically significant relationship between the variables at the 95.0% confidence level. The R-Squared statistic indicates that the model as fitted explains 88.0044% of the variability in Q6. The adjusted R-squared statistic, which is more suitable for comparing models with different numbers of independent variables, is 86.5649%. The standard error of the estimate shows the standard deviation of the residuals to be 0.208206. This value can be used to construct prediction limits for new observations by selecting the Reports option from the text menu. The mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.123662 is the average value of the residuals. The Durbin-Watson (DW) statistic tests the residuals to determine if there is any significant correlation based on the order in which they occur in your data file. Since the P-value is greater than 0.05, there is no indication of serial autocorrelation in the residuals at the 95.0% confidence level. In determining whether the model can be simplified, notice that the highest P-value on the independent variables is 0.0242, belonging to Q19. Since the P-value is less than 0.05, that term is statistically significant at the 95.0% confidence level. Consequently, you probably dont want to remove any variables from the model.