Influences On Air Asia And Its Evolutio

Influences On Air Asia And Its Evolutio Air Asia, the market leader of low cost carriers in Asia, shown on the good record of bringing about innovative idea into the industry. The industry itself, especially in the Asian region, is observing a higher growth rate of passenger and profitability. The report examines the organizations key business structure and operation, products and provides summary analysis of its key revenue lines and strategy. The analysis looks at the impact of external and internal factors on the organization, and evaluate it responses. Essentially SWOT and PESTLE analysis provide a simple framework through which strategic options can be identified in which Air Asia operate. The SWOT process will start by examining the strengths of the Air Asia of today. One of the most dominant strengths possessed by Air Asia is the adding of new Airbus A320 aircraft to its fleet. Airbus A320 gives Air Asia the largest, youngest and most modern fleet in the region. Another strength of Air Asia is the upgrading of the o nline booking system, in which will offer the ability to passenger to check in online and printing out boarding passes. An opportunity available to Air Asia is fastest growing market in China and India. Both countries give a huge opportunity for Air Asia to expand its business in the region. In the threat part of the analysis is concerned with identifying parts of the Air Asia that might affect its business performance. In recent years a whole class of low cost carriers such as Singapores Tiger Airways and other airline carrier coming into the market. PESTLE analysis is to conduct an environment analysis in the context of Air Asia international business operations, describing the major variables involved and the impact of the specific threats and opportunities confronted by Air Asia. The second part of the report is trying to analyze the policies and decision making will be influenced by those human capital and information technology involved. Air Asia has locked a partnership with CAE for mutual benefit where CAE will provide pilot training for all of Air Asia current and future pilot in the region. Air Asia also has locked a partnership with its IT vendor which can constantly improve the system and offer a wide range of distribution channels to make booking and traveling easier for its guests. iv Air Asia has built the Air Asia Academy to develop high quality manpower in ensuring seamless business growth. It operating results underscore two major highlights. The first is how effectively the employee worked to meet customer needs and the second is how well the team manages the robust capacity growth. A number of positions are normally improved to increase its competitive advantages and proficiency, which enables Air Asia to achieve and maintain the business growth. The area of improvement included service, strategic alliance and product improvement. v INTRODUCTION Air Asia is most popular and profitability organization since Air Asia introduced its low fare, no frills concept in December 2001. Dato Tony Fernandes, who introduced the first budget no frills airline, Air Asia, to Malaysian with tagline Now everyone can fly, Air Asias philosophy of low fares is aimed to make flying affordable for everyone (AirAsia.com 2008). It is also aims at making travel easy, convenient and fun for its guests. The airline now flies to over 48 destinations in Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Macau, China and Philippines (AirAsia.com 2008). Air Asia formed two successful joint ventures in Thailand through Thai Air Asia, and Indonesia through Indonesia Air Asia in 2004. Where Air Asia holds 49% stake in both companies. Now, Air Asia expanded its fleet from the original two to twenty eight, and revolutionized air travel in this country by offering incredibly low airfares through its innovative sales channel (AirAsia.com 2008). To date the Air Asia group, has carried over million passengers per year. In the history of Air Asia, we can identified how diligent and smart of Dato Tony Fernandes to operate to be ultimately constructed by external and internal factors on strategic planning to ensuring alignment during implementation of organization success. We all know Air Asia, the heavily indebted subsidiary of the Malaysia government owned conglomerate, DRB-Hicom, was losing money big time. Instead of starting from scratch, Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad advised Fernandes to buy an existing airline instead (Wikipedia 2008). Fernandes mortgaged his own house and sank his savings to acquire the company, comprising two ageing Boeing 737-300 jets. Air Asia was acquired at RM 1.00 with liability of over RM 40 million worth of debts, and transformed it into an industry player (Wikipedia 2008). For what happened on this date in history, coming just after the September 2001, undoubtedly the worst day in the history of commercial aviation when nobody wanted to fly, everyone scoffed at his idea, predicting that the company would fail miserably. 1 Yet, just one year after his takeover, Air Asia had broken even and the debt was paid off. For the year to June 2002, a RM 30 million net profit was recorded on revenue of RM 310 million (Wikipedia 2008). Why it happened? What is well made decision to enables Air Asia to achieve and sustain a competitive advantage? The world has changed. Organization has had, and is having significant effects on the way how to make better decisions in organization. Policies and decision making are inherently concerned with the future. Because of this the organization is often concerned with assessing in the future as an input to developing organization strategic plans. This is particularly true in the area of environmental analysis in organization planning. The development of strategies inevitably involves choice between alternatives strategies and hence the need for analysis and decision making. 2 A. Task 1 INTERNAL INFLUENCES ON AIR ASIA 2.1 Organization Vision and Mission Organization vision commonly provides a clear indication of the overall purpose of the organization. It will describe the main activities of the organization and the position or standing that it wishes to achieve in the future. Organization vision of the Air Asia is to continue to be the lower cost short haul airline in every market its serve, delivering strong organic growth through offering the lowest airfares at a profit (AirAsia.com 2008). It is important that the vision stretches the organization but it must be realistic. 2.2 Organizational Structure The structure of an organization refers to the patterns of relationships among positions in the organization and between individual members of the organization. Its will help to define the tasks that people do, the allocation of the responsibility and authority, the roles that people play and the relationships between them. The organization structure and principal operating of Air Asia include three executive vice presidents, for operations, commercials and people, serve under the CEO and the deputy CEO. The senior manager of the network operations, who contributed most of the information in this article, reports to the executive vice president of operations (Idris, 2007). In general, the organization structure of Air Asia also included flight crews, which people responsible for the operation of the aircraft, such as pilot and flight attendants. Ground crew, people will responsible for operations at airports. They are include gate agents, ticket agents, flight dispatchers, baggage ha ndlers, electric system technicians, passengers service agents and airframe and power plant technicians. 3 2.3 Organization Policy The main organization policy of Air Asia is its will provide reliable airlines services to its customers through its various divisions, according to the requirement of customers and in compliance with statutory regulations and industry norms. Therefore, its emphasized in leanest cost structure; maximize shareholders value; safety; passion for guests satisfaction; transparency and human capital development (AirAsia.com 2008). The various divisions will formulate quality objectives for achievement of his policy and strive to continually improve the quality of service by periodically upgrading the knowledge and skills of its personnel. 2.4 Business Strengths One of the best known frameworks done by Air Asia is offering the low airfares in the region. This concept is main focus to lower cost perpetually. As business environments become more competitive and in some cases more volatile, business organization have become more concerned about the price. No matter how clearly history we know, there will be time again when we have to engage in a price war. Therefore, if the airlines get the passenger to their destination on time at low airfares, people will fly the airlines. That was why Air Asia introduced the first budget no frills airline, to Malaysians with the tagline Now everyone can fly (Wikipedia 2008). And that is why it is main focus to lower cost perpetually, so that it can evade and fend off any sort of irrational competition. 4 2.5 SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis can play a valuable part in any strategic planning, it provide a simple framework and common language through which strategic options can be identified. Strength Pioneer in no frills airline services in South East Asia. Cheap rate of flight. Convenience of passenger to purchase air ticket online. Recently purchased Airbus A320s making it largest customer of the type. World class airport facilitate travel. E.g. Kuala Lumpur International Airport Weaknesses Reliance so much on computer for booking and for the storing of information could be risky due to failures and viruses. Marketing primarily focused on ASEAN market. Underdeveloped distribution system. Ineffective use of horizontal distribution alliances. High fuel prices. Opportunities Able to penetrate many ASEAN market and Western market. Airbus A320s enable Air Asia to carry more passengers. The coming Beijing Olympic game 2008 Proximity to large and growing Asian markets, such as India and China. International campaign launch to promoting Malaysia. For example Visit Malaysia 2007. Threats Competition from Singapores Tiger Airways and other airlines carrier in South East Asia. Changing patterns of buying behavior. Deteriorating of Air Asia service base on many complaints. Terrorism threat. Legislation could impact. 5 The strong market share in South East Asia is one of the strategic advantages as it will be the springboard for Air Asia future expansion, growth and profitability. One of the most dominant strengths possessed by Air Asia is its ability to follow the changes in a market that is continually changing. For example, Air Asia seeks to purchase new Airbus A320 aircraft to its fleet. As the number of Airbus A320 aircraft increases, it will be able to cater the largest customer and providing bigger seating capacity, wider aisles, greater comfort and a quieter ride. An opportunity available to Air Asia is fastest growing market in China and India, and the coming Beijing Olympic game 2008. By having a large market it gives a huge opportunity for Air Asia to expand. However, even with the best strategies in place threats can occur from unexpected directions. For example, 9/11/2001 attack on the World Trade Center. Many people are still reluctant to fly and market swings away from airplanes. Ano ther threat to Air Asia is new competitor emergence in the airline market, such as Singapores Tiger Airways and other airlines carrier in South East Asia. This might affect the business outcome of Air Asia. Therefore, how the business is performing and copes with the issues is important to the organization move forward. 6 EXTERNAL INFLUENCES ON AIR ASIA 3.1 PESTLE Analysis 3.1.1 Political PESTLE analysis assumes that the success of an organization is dependent on the way in which the organization manages its interaction with its external environment (University of Sunderland, 2005). The environment presents the organization with series of challenges, risks and opportunities. Such a business would clearly be affected by changes in the political environment. One of the most obvious aspects is some governments attempt to control the industry sector and may impose conditions to protect the local industry for barriers to new entrants. Therefore, in order to ensure smooth growing, Air Asia must analysis and aware the local political stability and governmental function. 3.1.2 Economic Economic trends such as changes in net disposable income levels could also influence the business performance. If disposable income declines the clearly the effective demand is likely to go down. Since the economic crisis in ASEAN on 1997, an individual cannot afford to pay a higher rate had ever traveled in a plane. However, Fernandes believe Malaysian travelers would embrace a low rate air service that will save them time and money, especially in a tight economy. That was why he copied one of the worlds most successful no frills carriers concepts, Ryan air out of Ireland (Wikipedia 2008). Finally his has to be recognized that one of these strategies will be success in the business as a whole. 7 3.1.3 Socio-Cultural Socio-Cultural changes are often long term in the impact but should be monitored all the same. Shift in values may for example affect general attitudes towards traveled in a plane, and changes in business environment with which people can find the best choose of employment in other countries. Attitude changes and demographic changes will change the market as well. Therefore, low airfares promote by Air Asia will delivering strong growth in airline market share. 3.1.4 Technological Technological change may affect the business outcomes in many ways. Simple issues such as the development of internet online booking system launch by Air Asia in recent year. This made Air Asia offer the ability to check in online and print out boarding passes online (Wikipedia 2008). There may influence the size of the potential market and the number of people able to travel to other countries. Increasing access to the internet may change the way in which the customers can booking the air ticket immediately, neither to wait long queue in the counter. Potential customers may also have changed expectations as a result of experiencing new technology. As a result, improved channel distribution has meant that, increasingly, customers are exposed to, and aware of the products in other parts of the world. 3.1.5 Legal The legal framework of a country influences organization strategy through its laws regarding such areas as industry regulation, employment conditions and so forth. However, in today business world, Air Asia needs to take into the consideration in an environment of complex law and regulation. Similarly any general legislation that affected taxation or employment would affect the business outcomes and could affect profitability. Moreover, government bailouts for competitors may lead to unfair competition. 8 3.1.6 Environment Changes in the physical environment, roughly viewed as comprising the natural and man- made environment, affect our daily lives and the functioning of the organizations. In western countries, pollution has become an important political issue and legislators are elected as member of green parties (Media 2008). Indeed, in many countries, the strength of the environmental movement has led to strong legislation affecting organizational production system and products (Media 2008). Air Asia needs to consider the environmental impacts of its strategies and take into account a broader range of interest group. For Example, reduce fuel consumption and energy. In addition, high utilization of resources is enforced to minimize wastages (AirAsia.com 2008). 9 B. Task 2 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND THE LEARNING ORGANIZATION 4.1 Training and Development Training and development will concerned with the provision of learning, development and training opportunities which ensure that the employee has the skilled, motivated and committed it needs now and in the future. Air Asia stresses the training and development of the staff to keep abreast with changes. The normal one week on the job training is given to new employees. Training is ongoing for three months within the period of probation. Employee skills and knowledge will be upgraded with ongoing course using Air Asias academy (Idris, 2007). It ensures that the employee has the skilled to handle multiple jobs in the organization. For example, the cabin crews are not only serving passengers on board but do multiple tasks such as ensuring passengers safety, helping passengers, and ensuring cleanliness of aircraft interior. The training will help the employee to facilitate change in the external and internal environments, in which they are trained to learn new skills and develop new abil ities, to respond to these changes in the organization. 4.1.1 Decision Making Developing Human Capital Air Asia will partners with Canadian Aviation Electronic to build an aviation training centre of excellence and selected Kuala Lumpur as the location for its Southeast Asian training hub. Air Asia has locked a partnership with CAE for mutual benefits where CAE will provide pilot training for all of Air Asia current and future pilot in the region (Mywire.com 2008). These will demonstration of excellence in improving the training quality and human capital development within Air Asia. Partners with CAE will help the organization to develop high quality manpower in ensuring seamless business growth. 10 4.2 Human Resource Management In order to remain high quality manpower in ensure seamless business growth. Air Asia needs to revamp and rethink conventional recruitment strategies to achieve and sustain a competitive advantage. Attracting the right people has never been harder. Indeed recruiting and retaining talent is organizations biggest challenge. Its all well and good operating in a dynamic economic climate but with high attrition rates, inevitable in such competitive times, many are struggling to find the right people to keep up, let alone get ahead. People management is a strategic priority for Air Asia, especially at a time when the organization is rapidly evolving and expanding horizons. Air Asia needs to have the right people for the role, and then to build those into a strength and knowledge, in which to lead the organization becomes a major market player. 4.2.1 Decision Making Recruitment Air Asia believes that investing in people ultimately brings the greatest return. It continued to recruit the overwhelming majority of its talent internally. With over 5,000 employees across eleven countries, Air Asia is blessed with a multi-pool talent and dedicated to hiring and maintaining a workforce of well trained, reliable and safety focused employees at all level of the organization (AirAsia.com 2008). In addition to corporate programs for existing employees, an active recruitment program is in place to attract and retain qualified individuals from all trades and professions. The primary goal is to increase the number of young potentials in the organization and to develop the Air Asia employer brand (AirAsia.com 2008). 11 4.3 Information System The information system has had a greater impact to display the products that can be seen worldwide especially useful for linking Air Asia with customers or business partners. It provides a worldwide distribution channel for information and ability to link market demand to production planning, and helps the management to communicate quickly with those at lower level. Air Asia have became the first in the world to introduce SMS booking where customers could book their seats, checked flight schedules, and obtain the latest promotional announcements through their mobile phones (Idris, 2007). 4.3.1 Decision Making Technology Air Asia keeps introducing innovative ways for online booking and ticket sales. It has locked a partnership with its IT vendors for mutual benefits where Air Asia can constantly improve the system while IT vendor learns to create innovative products according to customer requirements. It offers a wide and innovative range of distribution channels to make booking and traveling easier for its guests. 4.4 Management Policies Policies are fundamentally statements of an organizations intentions relative to their strategic aims. Air Asia mission is to continue to be the lowest cost short-haul airline in every market its serve, delivering strong organic growth through offering the lowest airfares at a profit (AirAsia.com 2008). In order to strive to achievement of the mission and values, the following core value have been a guide for their action, extracted from (AirAsia.com 2008): i) Leanest Cost Structure à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Efficient and simple point to point operations à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Attracting and retaining hardworking and smart people à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Passion for continuous cost reduction 12 ii) Maximize Shareholders Value à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Resilient profit growth through our lower cost base à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Expansion of the Air Asia network in a prudent and disciplined manner à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Invest and enhance the Air Asia brand to increase investors returns iii) Safety à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Comply with the highest International Aviation Safety Standards and practices à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Keep operations simple and transparent à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Ensure the security of our People and Guests iv) Passion for Guests Satisfaction à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Maintain simplicity in every application à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Practice the unique and friendly Air Asia experience at every opportunity à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Recognize the linkage between guests satisfaction and long-term success v) Transparency à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Transparency in decision-making and information sharing à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Optimum disclosure higher than industry norms à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Timeliness in disclosing information vi) Human Capital Development à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Invest in both hard and soft skills à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Recognize all our People as contributors to our success à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Reward excellence and individual contributions à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Maintaining one brand across the Group 13 4.5 Effectiveness of Chosen Strategy According to Air Asia Annual Report (2007), Air Asia today has indeed highlighted by robust growth, record profits, industry leading performance and award winning standards. It humble beginning took flight six years ago, and after 24 consecutive profitable quarters later, Air Asia are now the highest profit margin airline in the world. This can be seen in Figure 4.1. In recent times, the sales of Air Asia excess of RM 1.6 billion, a presence in eleven countries and more than 5,000 employees. Earnings continued to improve thanks to robust passenger growth and improved margins in all business areas. Figure 4.1: The Most Profitable Airline in the World Air Asia Source: Air Asia Financial Report 2007 14 As shown in Figure 4.2, Air Asia recorded revenue of RM 633 million for the quarter ended 31 December 2007. These indicate that 43% higher than the revenue of RM 443 million recoded in the quarter ended 31 December 2006. Its net income improved by 73% to RM 246 million as compared to the net income of RM 142 million achieved in the previous quarter. Figure 4.2: The Superior Growth with Expanding Profits Source: Air Asia Financial Report 2007 15 In the past five year, Air Asia has maintained unwavering focus and discipline in the low cost model. In the process, it have invested significantly to build a solid foundation and to create a platform for sustainable growth. Air Asia has built the Air Asia Academy to develop high quality manpower in ensuring seamless business growth (AirAsia.com 2008). It operating results over the past year underscore two major highlights. The first is how effectively the employee worked to meet customer needs during the highest demand for air travel it has ever experienced. The second highlight was how well the team managed the robust capacity growth. Air Asia corporate strategy and strategic investments have yielded positive results. In year 2007, it unit cost is the lowest reported in the world and it profit margins are among the best (AirAsia.com 2008). Just imagine what Air Asia can achieve in the future. 16 4.6 Area of Improvement Policies and strategies effectiveness is a source of competitive advantage for Air Asia turn into their strength across a range of different product markets. A number of positions are normally can be improved to increase its competitive advantages and proficiency, in which enables Air Asia to achieve and maintain the business growth. 4.6.1 Service Organizations depend on their customers and therefore should understand current and future customer needs, should meet customer requirements and strive to exceed customer expectations. How customer expectations are the standard against which service is judge. Thats the mission. Therefore should understanding customer needs and expectations. In recent years, one of the most obvious aspects of Air Asia done is upgrade their online booking system and payment system to improve efficiency. This will enhance customer satisfaction, and achieve continual improvement of its performance in pursuit of organization objectives. But unfortunately, baggage does not always arrive at its intended destination. Or, if it does, it might turn up damaged or with something missing still always happened. So, how to trace the missing baggage in short period and minimize a similar case happened again. It can help Air Asia to improving the quality of products and services provided to the customer. 17 4.6.2 Strategic Alliance Air Asia introduced a first direct B2B engine to its agents in Asia, through one of its strategic partners, Citibank. The agents make immediate payment via a virtual Air Asia credit card through the internet based real inventory booking engine (AirAsia.com 2008). The question is why; its formed up the strategic alliance between the parties? The popularity is business growth and get in on opportunities. The strategies adopted in a specific market. A gap emerges between what organization goals would like to achieve and what it can do with available resources and capabilities when comparing the threats and opportunities in the environment with an organizations strengths and weaknesses. The gap can be bridged by the alliance. For example, in order to compete on a global scale and at the same time maintain its independence, Air Asia must make alliances in partnership together with others countries to use facilities, produce components and distribution channels to meet a critical business need. In year 2004, Air Asia formed two joint ventures in Thailand through Thai Air Asia, and Indonesia through Indonesia Air Asia (AirAsia.com 2008). Why? Because Air Asia able to extend its marketing reach and build credibility with a particular target market. Its also giving the opportunities to access needed information and greater resources including specialized staff and technology, increase sales in an existing market and enhance technological capabilities through research and development underwritten by more than one party. Another approach is once business is established it has provided the Air Asia with the opportunity to gain new capacity and expertise. 18 4.6.3 Product Improvement Product improvement is the result of consistent, deliberate effort to move the developing organization to a higher level of capability. Product improvement entails developing and launching new products for sale in existing markets (Condensed GSAM Handbook, 2003). It also requires a planned and guided path to excellence, reaching various levels of improvement as intermediate goals along the way such as products with additional features, different packaging, different quality levels etc. For example, Air Asia Go Holiday and Air Asia Tune Hotels which offer travelers a comprehensive package. Many budget travelers prefer to book their airline tickets and hotels together and Air Asia will offer its customers the facility of making room reservations online as they book their flights. In other words, the product will be improved as a natural consequence. So, eventually have hotels in all Air Asia destinations are part of the areas for improvement. This means understanding and responding to customer needs is the key to success in the increasingly competitive advantages. Making our customers happy is important because it translates to an ongoing relationship, whether travel is business or pleasure, which in turn is loyalty. 19 5.0 Conclusion Since Air Asia entry the market, it is rapidly becoming the most popular airline and profitability organization. Why? Because it focuses the strategic analysis on ways of promoting and developing the product ranges. But no business can consider always sustain a competitive advantage without carefully analyze the primary internal and external influences to which the business environment is subject. However, Air Asia will need to understand what is currently happening in the operating environment. What strategies are being adopted by competitors? Are new entrants coming into the sector? How are the markets moving? Therefore, PESTLE and SWOT analysis have been the most usefully tools for looking consideration of the business environment. Likewise Air Asia will need forecasts of what is expected to happen in the future and the business strengths that could be exploited. This will bring its the competitive advantage to the business environment. Therefore how the business is performing and copes with the issues is important to its move forward. 20

Study On Serial Position Curve Phenomena

Study On Serial Position Curve Phenomena The Serial Position Curve is a psychological phenomena founded by Murdock (1962) in an experiment where the participants were tested for recall on a list of words previously learnt. This experiment has in turn become an accepted measure of memory testing. The theory for the serial position curve is that people recall a list of pre-learnt words best at the beginning and at the end of the given list. Typically, when a sequence of visual or verbal material is presented, the initial and later items in the sequence are remembered better than those from the middle of the sequence (Baddeley, Papagno Andrado 1993; Glanzer Cunitz 1966; Neath 1993). These effects are termed primacy and recency effects, respectively. Well-known primacy effects occur when people are forming a summary impression of a single entity such as a person, product or event. When information about a single entity is presented sequentially, there is usually a primacy or first impression effect, whereby the earliest information has a larger impact on the unitary impression that later information does (Anderson 1973; Asch 1946). In addition, sensory scientists report a primacy bias in hedonic assessment of food; the first food sampled is experienced most strongly, so it is likely to be the most memorable (MacFie, Bratchell, Greehoff Vallis 1989). One reason putforward for the primacy effect is that the initial items presented are most effectively stored in  long-term memory  because of the greater amount of processing devoted to them. Several studies have investigated the effects of location in a sequence on end-of-sequence choices, there is still no clear answer to the question of which location in a sequence is most advantageous. Several researchers have conducted that there are primacy effects in choice (Carney Banaji 2008; Miller Krosnick 1998), and many descriptive studies of consumer choice have found such effects (Becker 1954; Berg, Filipello, Hinreiner Sawyer 1955; Coney 1977; Dean 1980). One suggested reason for the recency effect is that these items are still present in  working memory  when recall is solicited. One suggested reason for the primacy effect is that the initial items presented are most effectively stored in  long-term memory  because of the greater amount of processing devoted to them. There is some support backing up these ideas. Firstly, the primacy effect but not the recency effect is reduced when the items are presented faster. In addition, the primacy effect is enhanced when items are presented slowly, this suggests such factors can reduce and enhance processing of each item, therefore showing evidence of permanent storage. Secondly, the recency effect but not the primacy effect is reduced when a distracter task is given such as a maths continuous subtraction prior to recalling list items. This task in turn, requires working memory, and therefore interferes with the list items trying to be rehearsed and learned. The question of primacy versus recency dominance is not clear cut and continues to be investigated and debated. Marketing researchers generally have heeded the psychologists caution to vary presentation order in consumer product testing. However, there have been no recorded attempts to determine whether first or last position bias does influence consumer choice. Glanzer Cunitiz (1966) study investigating memory recognition and primacy-recency effects found that if a distracter task was introduced immediately after participants had learnt a list of words, that the recency effect was wiped out, but the primacy effect remained. However, Bjork and Whitten (1974) found that there was still a recency effect in free recall when the participants counted backwards for twelve seconds after each item in the list was presented. According to Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) this should have eliminated the recency effect. The vast majority of research into the serial position effect and memory has been conducted using verbal stimuli. These have found familiar bow-shaped serial position functions using a variety of theory including probed recall (Avons, Wright Pammer 1994, Nairne, Whiteman Woessner 1995) and serial reconstruction (Nairne, Reigler Serra 1991). Similar results arise if the stimulus materials are familiar pictures that can be verbally encoded (Manning Schreier 1988). Recent research has shown that serial reconstruction tasks using random matrices (Avons, 1998) and unfamiliar faces accompanied by verbal suppression (Smyth, Hay, Hitch Horton 2005) yield similarly shaped bow-shaped curves. In contrast, when memory for visual stimuli is examined using probed recognition the typical finding is not of a bow-shaped serial position curve but one with no primacy and only last item recency. Phillips Christie (1977) first demonstrated this non-standard serial position curve using a range of paradigms, with this finding being replicated using a variety of materials and methods (Avons, 1980; Avons, 1998; Broadbent and Broadbent, 1981; Hanna Loftus, 1993; Kerr, Avons Ward, 1999; Kornes, Maggnussen Reinvang, 1996; Walker, Hitch Duroe, 1993). Miles and Hodder (2005) looked at the effects of serial position on recognition memory for odours. The seven studies presented in their report looked at the contradiction in the present literature concerning the effect of serial presentation of odours on immediate recognition of test items. Usually, recognition tasks give the participant a sequence of items followed by two test items; one of which is familiar. The participant is then asked to identify the familiar item. Such a task is known as a two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) task. Using such a type of testing usually creates recency effects in the absence of primacy effects (Miles 2005). Moreover, whilst considerable primacy-recency research has been conducted by using visual and auditory stimuli (Aldridge, J.W. Farrell, M.T. 1977; Broadbent, D. Dines, R. Broadbent, M. 1978; Engle, R.W. Durban, E.D. 1977) and to a lesser extent, motor stimuli (Magill, R.A Dowell, M.N. 1977), little study has been devoted in this area to the sense of taste. However, Ward, Avons Melling (2005) reported qualitatively equivalent serial position functions for both unfamiliar faces and nonwords when applied to a two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) recognition task and a serial order reconstruction task. The recognition task demonstrated single-item recency whilst the construction task demonstrated both primacy and recency. On the basis of these analogous functions, Ward et al (2005) proposed that the serial position effect differs due to task, rather than stimulus or modality dependent. For example, a 2AFC recognition task produced recency effects only, and serial order reconstruction tasks produces primacy and recency effects. Although, research conducted on olfactory memory and recognition has suggested memory for olfactory stimuli is different from memory for other stimuli (Baddeley 1976; Herz Engen 1996) as it has been found that immediate recognition of odours is considerably worse than that noted in visual or auditory tasks (Lawless 1978). Research into taste memory has previously investigated the presentation order effects (Dean 1980). This study measured the effects of position order in consumer taste testing on overall product preference and product rating scores. It was found that consumer product evaluations appeared to have been influenced strongly by presentation order, as first position products were preferred over later ones. This was based on both food and beverages. However, it could be argued that the results were found due to underlying reasons such as attention decrement, which is an idea emerged from serial order effects research that suggests that attention decreases over the course of stimulus exposure. In addition, it is suggested another underlying reason is a possible palate desensitisation effect, which is where participants become progressively less able to discriminate as a result of an initial taste or sensory masking effect. This effect is thought to have been visible even though Dean (1980) us ed water and crackers between products, as the participants taste discrimination may have become temporarily impaired. A second study into taste preference by Mantonakis, Rodero, Lesschaeve Hastie (2009). This study found that their measure of preference revealed a primacy advantage for the 2-wine, 3-wine, 4-wine and 5-wine sequences and a recency effect for the 4-wine and 5-wine sequence only. Mantonakis et al (2009) suggested bias reasons for this, the first was a first-is-best bias which is to account for the consistent primacy effect. In addition, the second bias was the bias in favour of each new wine accounts for the recency effect, it was found that the participants with higher expertise in wine were more persistent in looking for a better wine later in the sequence. Furthermore, Melcher Schooler (1996) had investigated the verbal overshadowing of taste memory regarding a situation where domain-specific perceptual expertise exceeds verbal expertise. Three groups of participants were used, non-wine drinkers who have virtually no experience with the stimulus and have low perceptual expertise and low verbal expertise, wine drinkers who have developed a palate for wine, therefore they have moderate perceptual expertise yet low verbal expertise, and the third group was wine experts who have high perceptual expertise and high verbal expertise. It was found that verbal overshadowing did infact occur in the wine drinkers group whereby their perceptual expertise exceeded their verbal expertise. A possible explanation for this given by Lewis, Seeley Miles (2009) is that the novice wine drinkers may not have the ability to provide verbal descriptions that were sufficiently analytic in order to establish a change in style that could carry over to the wine- recognition stage. The experts on the other hand, may have been analytic in their approach to the initial wine tasting and so, even if the verbal description task did produce a carry-over of a controlled analytic style, then this style would not have been deleterious to their wine recognition skills. Another area of taste memory that has been explored is the processing of Navon letters and wine recognition in a series of tests (Lewis, Seeley Miles 2009). It was found that wine recognition was more accurate after the reading of the global letters rather than after the reading of the local letters of the Navon stimuli. The present study investigated the effects of position order in a sequence of wines and taste recognition of a trial wine in a series of trials. The experimental hypothesis for the present study was that there would be a significant difference in correct scores between the first and third position and the second position, therefore, that primacy and regency effects would be present in taste memory.

Science and Religion: A Christians Response to Biology Essay -- Bible

Science and Religion: A Christian's Response to Biology Introduction In the beginning, God created...the earth and the heavens, or an evolving mass of matter, later to become the heavens and the earth? The conflict between science and religion is a hot topic in many intellectual circles today. One of the more controversial topics is creation versus evolution. How did the world get to where it is right now? How was creation initiated? Is there a Creator or was life created spontaneously? These are some of the questions that boggle minds and set people searching for answers. There is even a conflict within the church: Did God create the heavens and the earth as they are, or did God allow the universe to develop according to natural laws? This conflict between science and religion continues to hold up in our supposed intellectual society. In order to tame this conflict and be true to their faith and science, Christian biologists have an obligation to reflect their Christianity in the realm of biology as well as their biological intellect in the realm of Christianity. History of Science and Religion The history of opposition between science and religion has been steady for about half of a century. As early as the 1500's, science and religion have been antagonistic forces working against each other. Science was originally founded by Christians to prove that humans lived in a orderly universe (Helweg, 1997). This would help to prove that the universe was created by a orderly God who could be known. Once this was done, science was considered by the church to be useless. When people began to further investigate the realm of science, the church considered them to be heretics; working for the devil. According to Easterbrook (1... ...Science). Science and God: A Warming Trend? Science, 277, 890-893. Helweg, O. J. (1997, March). Scientific Facts: Comparatible with Christian Faith? USA Today, 125, 84. Hughes, I. (1996, March). We are only Human... New Scientist, 60. Jones, T. (1996, August). God and Scientists Reconciled. New Scientist, 46. Ross, H. (1997a). Genesis One, Dinosaurs, and Cavemen. [Online]. Available: http://www.reasons.org/resources/papers/dinocavemen.html. [Oct. 1997]. Ross, H. (1997b). Neandertal Takes a One-Eighty. [Online]. Available: http://www.reasons.org/resources/FAF/97q3faf/neandertal.html. [Oct. 1997]. Ross, H. (1997c). The Shell Game of Evolution and Creation. [Online]. Available: http://www.reasons.org/resources/papers/shellgame.html. [Oct. 1997]. Wright, R. T. (1989). Biology Through the Eyes of Faith. San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishers.

TIME :: essays research papers

T I M E â€Å"Time, what time is it? Is it time for class already? No, we still have some time.† It is time that we have totally forgotten about, and have taken it for granted for so long. But does time really exist? Does the 24 Hours of the day mean anything? Or does 12 months? Time means different things to different people. According to â€Å"COLLINS COBUILD Learner’s Dictionary† ( ©HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.1996) time is defined as ‘the measurement we measure in minutes, hours, days, and years.’ Seems rediculously simple, but does it have more to it? ‘Time’ actually have a more scientific meaning, which will later be explained. The basic definition of time comes down to â€Å"1. What we measure in minutes, hours, days and years. 2. Time is what we use to specify a certain point in the day or refer to the period which something has been happenining.† (Stephen Bullon – TIME – Collins Cobuild Learner’s Dictionary – 1999 – Pg 1155) From that definition, how long is a day? It is the amount of time taken for the earth to rotate its axis once, containing two 12hour periods. Telling the difference between the two periods, the notations AM and PM are used (Ante and Post Meridiem). We cannot literally see or tuch time, but time seems to be all around us, from waking up with an alarm clock to watching your dinner eaten away. However, reversing this process can be another concept that raises many questions. As we all are living, we are also time travellers, since time goes by as we live our lives day by day. But since this topic seems to capture our vivid imaginations, it has also become the origin of many science fiction books, movies and even cartoons. The idea of time has been thought of for so long yet, but he first evidence of the existence of time appeared in Homer’s Iliad. In this historical Greek epic, Homer stated â€Å"Now Dawn the saffron-robed was spreading over the face of all the earth.† Homer mentioned the start of a new day allowing us to know that the idea of time has been around even before 700BC. In early years, people used to record the beginnings and ends of seasons and noticing that they do come in cycles. With the advancement of astronomy, Ancient Greek started to utilize heavens and stars for designing calendars.

Essay --

Told by a charming priest and kindly man, The Nun’s Priest’s Tale is a beast fable in Chaucer’s genius framed narrative, The Canterbury Tales. Written in the late 14th century, The Nun’s Priest’s Tale is a fable about an all too egotistic rooster named Chanticleer who dreams of his impending doom which takes the form of a beast. Deeply troubled, he seeks the consolation of other wise barn animals and his favorite wife, Pertelote. Being a beast fable, the Nun’s Priest mocks the Court World by lowering nobles to the level of animals to be mocked. As this fable displays that animals act like humans is to also imply that humans, namely people of the court, act like animals. Using the technique of a mock-heroic tale, the Nun’s Priest takes a trivial event and elevates it to a climatic story in an almost comic way. When the fox runs off with Chanticleer clenched in his jaws, the entire scene is narrated with elevated and sophisticated language used in many epics to enhance the climatic tones and spectacular actions taking place. By using intricate language to describe a fox snatching a rooster in a barnyard, the tale is given a very comical and ironic tone. The chase is described as, â€Å"O Geoffrey, thou my dear and sovereign master Who, when they brought King Richard to disaster And shot him dead, lamented so his death, Would that I had thy skill, thy gracious breath, To chide a Friday half so well as you! (For he was killed upon a Friday too.) Then I could fashion you a rhapsody For Chanticleer in dread and agony† (Chaucer, 228). By comparing this chase to King Richard the III and his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field suggests the Nun’s Priest’s mocking and comic absurdity of the situation. In doing so, the Nun’s Priest and possibl... ...ght. The phrases such as â€Å"redder than fine coral† or â€Å"battlemented like a castle wall† and â€Å"burnished gold† evoke the image of a knight in shining armor. The color azure is â€Å"one of the five standard colors in coats of arms† (asur, Middle English Dictionary Entry). This establishes his appearance as a person from the court. Thus, the prideful and charming Chanticleer is representative of the egocentric values of the court world that the Nun’s Priest is ridiculing. The irony of this tale is blatant. The highly philosophical intellect of the roosters and hens represents the ideals of the court world that is derided by having the setting as a barnyard. The Nun’s Priest is using this beast fable as a moral story of warning. The court world is insulted by the pointing out of its flaw: treachery through flattery. Chaucer himself could be criticizing the court of its fault.

Objectives of environmental education

Objectives of Environmental Education To define the Five (5) Objectives of Environmental Education. To conserve, preserve and utilize the used of our Environment. To have a deep understanding of the Environment and its problems. Introduction We, people are live in an Environment where we can able get our basic necessity so, It means that we are connected and dependent on our environment but as the year passed by we can able to noticed that there are some changes that Is happening to our environment specifically the shortage of food, climate change and etc. ND It was totally alarming. We all know that the world facing a lot of problems that sooner may leads to destruction and it will totally effects on the people's life. So, it is very important to develop the awareness, knowledge, attitude, skill and participation to be able to prevent the destruction to happen. And that's the role of environmental education. The E will give people a new perspective about the benefits of taking care of our environment and it will generate a big change not only on the people's life but for the future generation to come.And yes, it is our responsibility as people that we might find solution to those existing and to the future problems. We, people must be equipped with all those possible solution for the benefit of every living creature. Application Role play will be entitled â€Å"Change for the Future† that is inspired by the Objective of E. The class will group into two (2) groups.Each group must prepare a role playing here they can able to share the awareness, knowledge, attitude, skills and participation on the importance of the environment on us and how to prevent those problems that we may experience in connection Into our environment. Pointers It must apply the objectives of Environmental Education It must contain musical scene onto the play. It must be within 45 minutes. Everyone must have the role to play. Make sure that It Is Interactive and the audience can able to participate. Objectives of environmental education By Clark-Vida t means that we are connected and dependent on our environment but as the year passed by we can able to noticed that there are some changes that is happening to our environment specifically the shortage of food, climate change and etc. And it was problems that we may experience in connection into our environment. Pointers It must apply the objectives of Environmental Education It must be within 45 minutes. Everyone must have the role to play. Make sure that it is interactive and the audience can able to participate.

Individual Report on Econometric Models

Context This report pertains to the selection of an academic paper (Caporale et al., 2009) which is examined based on its aims and results, citing new insights offered by its analysis. It also involves another paper (Oshio et al., 2011) that cited that of Caporale et al. (2009), explaining the kind of data being used for the analysis. The report also includes a description of the economic model adopted by the authors to analyse the issues, as well as a critical reflection of the issues that are likely to arise with the use of these specific econometric models. a.Summary of the selected paper The selected paper in this report is that of Caporale et al. (2009), which was centred on income and happiness across Western and Eastern Europe. The authors utilised data from the European Social Survey (ESS) for 19 European countries, whereby they examined the association between income and subjective well-being. The aim of their study was to find out whether income can buy happiness. Happiness and life satisfaction served as the dependent variables in the study, which were likewise contained in the ESS data. These variables were tested for whether social comparisons and reference groups wielded a relevant influence on the subjective well-being of individuals in the countries involved, which likewise served as the sample. The findings revealed that for all these countries – despite the positive correlation between income on one hand and happiness and life satisfaction on the other – a negative effect was being exerted by reference income on individual well-being, a result that harmonised with the relative utility hypothesis. A separate analysis was conducted by the authors for some countries in Eastern Europe in which they were able to discover some evidence that supported a so-called ‘tunnel effect’, which was suggestive of a positive impact caused by reference income on subjective well-being. The findings maintained that situations characterising stable income and employment have income serving as the basis for social comparisons. In social comparisons, the authors posited that reference income served as the informant for future status expectations. Further, empirical findings revealed a tendency for males to report lower satisfaction than their female counterparts. The authors also cited that the literature holds robust pattern that mirrors the life-cycle areas of people’s social, economic, and family situations. The findings also suggested that happiness perception was positively related to being married, whilst a negative relationship was suggested for divorce. Moreover, the presence of children had a negative effect on happiness perception whilst good health fostered a significant positive association. There was shaky evidence on the likelihood of university qualifications to cause a negative impact on happiness. In addition, a positive effect was indicated by previous employment occurrence on the perception of happiness, which was more deep-seated for more recent unemployment occurrence. The distress accompanying a recent unemployment occurrence may diminish the aspiration value of the presently employed individua l. As the study’s sample was dominated by countries with liberal social welfarism, the influence of the welfare systems on individual’s happiness may also be indicated by the positive impact of unemployment on life satisfaction during the time of joblessness. The new insights offered by the analysis include an apparent wedge between countries in Western Europe and Eastern Europe, which clearly showed that the pursuit of life satisfaction has become embodied in countries’ political framework, serving as a source of valuable insights in policy development concerning welfare reforms. b. A paper citing the selected paper A paper that cites the selected paper here is that of Oshio et al. (2011) whose aim was to examine the effects of relative income on well-being in China, Japan, and Korea based on nationwide surveys in these countries and comparing them with that of the United States. The various factors for which control was undertaken at the individual level were age, gender, and marital status, to name a few. The results were parallel to past researches the same topic involving Western countries. The study exhibited a significant relationship between a person’s income and that of the reference group on one hand, and perceived life satisfaction on the other. In China, individual income showed stronger relationships between relative income and life satisfaction compared to family income, whilst the opposite was demonstrated for Japan and Korea. The comparisons of income within the reference group were necessary for evaluating life satisfaction, particularly when family income was used. Additi onally, Yitzhaki index was used to determine the relative deficiency within the reference group, which was found to have a negative relationship with life satisfaction. Oshio et al. (2011) used Caporale et al. (2009) as a cited paper in their study in that the former utilised it in its claim that apart from the absolute income levels, the happiness of a person is reliant to comparisons with those of others, particularly those with similar socio-economic distinctiveness. Oshio and colleagues also used Caporale and colleagues’ findings on relative income proposition, whereby both found a positive effect fostered by absolute income on both happiness and life satisfaction. Further, both Caporale et al. (2009) and Oshio et al. (2011) used regression analysis to analyse the findings on income and perceived happiness. The apparent difference that could be cited in their studies was the nature of the countries on which their studies were emphasised – Western and Eastern European countries for Caporale et al. (2009), and Asian countries and the United States for Oshio et al. (2011). The former was also more extensive as it used 19 countries f or a generalisation of income-happiness hypothesis, whilst the latter involved only four. The comparison in Caporale and colleagues’ study was between Western European and Eastern European countries, whilst that of Oshio and colleagues was between three Asian countries and the United States. If the cross-country findings in Caporale and colleagues demonstrated a political agenda (i.e. social welfarism), those of Oshio and colleagues were focused on the level of the individual, such as people’s precautious outlook on individual income than family income in China and the United States, leading to the influence of culture for income perception (e.g. individual-orientedness vs. family-orientedness).Whilst Caporale et al. (2009) asserted a positive relationship between income and happiness, Oshio et al. (2011) declared stronger correlations between individual income (rather than family income) and life satisfaction in China, which was not true in Japan and Korea. c.Data used, structure of the data set, and manner of data collection The ESS data in Caporale and colleagues’ (2009) study contained information about a set of demographic and employment characteristics, which the authors utilised as controls in their regressions. Some of these controls were education, income, and position in the labour force, to name a few. The data set also involved information on previous unemployment encounter, which was used in assessing whether a person’s perception of present economic situation was influenced by previous income shocks, commonly due to unemployment. The structure of the data set included all individuals possessing similar levels of education, age brackets, and current countries of residence. The sample was also limited to employees earning full-time salaries. Alternatively, in Oshio and colleagues’ (2011) study, the data were collected from the countries’ (Japan, China, Korea) General Social Survey (GSS), from which data were downloaded. The GSS of these countries were originally gathered by a research office at the University of Chicago. The basis of their empirical analysis was the GSS of these countries which were recorded in 2006, with widely similar survey questionnaires. The results were compared with those of the United States. All income data were converted into logarithms to enable comparing the results across models and countries. In addition, the authors used sampling weights from GSS and made a computation of standard errors to provide correction for any possibility of heteroscedasticity. It may be inferred that even though both studies aimed at determining happiness and life satisfaction vis-a-vis income, their methodologies and approaches were however different but were appropriate to the nature of their hypoth eses. d. Econometric models used by the authors In this section, the econometric models used by the authors are described to analyse the issue. Caporale et al. (2009) used ordered probit model, which they deemed appropriate for their study, given the ordinal nature of the happiness variables. This model enabled a close correlation between happiness and life satisfaction, in which the authors were able to indicate a high level of happiness or satisfaction amongst the research participants. A clear skewness towards the high end was exhibited by the distribution on happiness. Some variations began emerging with the investigation of the level of happiness across the countries involved, with Denmark achieving the highest score, and Portugal, amongst others, recording the lowest scores. Reference income was used as an explanatory variable in the regressions. The estimated coefficients also showed a general consistency with those of previous studies. On the other hand, Oshio et al. (2011) used the ordered logit model to explain perceived happiness across the three countries involved in their study. The model contained an assumption of care amongst individuals in relation to their individual (or family) income when making a comparison of their income with those of others. Family income was included in both specifications, with an assumption that it represents material living standards. It was expected that the coefficient ? was significantly positive in each specification, given the relative income hypothesis. e. Critical reflection of the issues relating to the econometric models The econometric models used in each of the study of Caporale et al. (2009) and Oshio et al. (2011) were appropriately justified and carried out to suit the aim and expected results of each. The use of the ordered probit model in Caporale and colleagues’ study was suitable as this model was able to deal with the variables in ordered categories, which were present in the dataset. According to Jones (2007) and Gailmard (2014), ordered probit model is utilised in the modelling of a discrete dependent variable with ordered multinomial results. Similarly, Caporale and colleagues also noted fixing some of the threshold values, which Jones also pointed out as a characteristic of the model. The study was able to generate the specific results with the utilisation of this model, which is likewise used in a range of the social and behavioural sciences, as emphasised by Aldrich et al. (2007) and Gill (2008). Using other econometric model for the study of Caporale et al. (2009) might not ge nerate similar results, since the study involved an analysis of more than two outcomes of an ordinal dependent variable (i.e. happiness and life satisfaction). In the same manner, Oshio and colleagues’ (2011) use of the ordered logit model was suitable as the study involved a survey that aimed to find out how well responses to questions can predict a response to one question, to which the model was appropriate. In the study, the model was used for dichotomous dependent variables (happiness and life satisfaction), in which more than two response categories were enabled.Apparently, the study adopted proportional odds assumption, to which the model was applicable, as Sadler (2008) and Allegrezza and Dubrocard (2012) also pointed out. Moreover, the model clearly pursued an estimate for multiple equations in the study, whereby the number of these equations were tantamount to the number of categories minus 1. The study also showed that each equation modelled the odds of being in a category, which is consistent with the ordered logit model (Sadler, 2008; Allegrezza and Dubrocard, 2012). It is important to note that the use of the aforementioned models for the two studies was consistent with their intention to quantify or measure variables in order to come up with objective and systematic results for the relationship between income and happiness. Both studies opted to use data from established data sets (ESS and GSS) to apparently facilitate generalisation of findings, with which they were successful. It may be pointed out that Oshio and colleagues’ (2011) results were congruent with Caporale and colleagues’ (2009), reflecting the validity of the latter’s findings. References Aldrich, J. H.m Alt, J. E., and Lupia, A. (2007) Positive Changes in Political Science: The Legacy of Richard D. McKelvey’s Most Influential Writings. Michigan: University of Michigan. Allegrezza and Dubrocard (2012) Internet Econometrics. Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan. Caporale, G. M., Georgellis, Y., Tsitsianis, N., & Yin, Y. P. (2009) Income and happiness across Europe: Do reference values matterJournal of Economic Psychology, 30(1), 42-51. Gailmard, S. (2014) Statistical Modeling and Inference for Social Science. NY: Cambridge University Press. Gill (2008) Bayesian Methods: A Social and Behavioral Sciences Approach, Second Edition. NW: Chapman & Hall/CRC. Jones, A. (2007) Applied Econometrics for Health Economists: A Practical Guide. Second Edition. Oxon: Radcliffe Publishing Ltd. Oshio, T., Nozak, K., and Kobayashi, M. (2011) Relative income and happiness in Asia: Evidence from nationwide surveys in China, Japan, and Korea. Social Indicators Research, 104 (3), 351-367. Sadler, A. M. (2008) Determinants of Entrepreneurial Behavior among Immigrant and Non-Immigrant University Scientists in the US: The Impact of Cultural Predispositions and Learning. MI: ProQuest LLC.