Religious Tradition Interview

Interview Summary While discussing the interviewee’s background information, the participant replied that he had been in the position of Catholic Church leader for eighteen years. The interview also remarked that being a religious leader required patience because so many people strived to attend the church service to search for reconciliation and forgiveness.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Religious Tradition: Interview specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The participant gave account on his early experience of taking this position and explained that this had been his decision to become the minister of religion. Since the childhood, the religious leader was concerned with the possibility to prove his commitment to public life, as well as his love to God. While reflecting on the purpose of church in his community, Mr. Brown told that his desire to become a Catholic leader was not influenced by his parents. Rat her, it had been his own conscious decision. At the of this discussion, the leader admitted that it had taken him 2 years to develop enough confidence in his leadership power to head the church. While deliberating on leader’s essential message that he reveals in Catholic tradition, Mr. Brown asserted that religion had a potent impact on formation of people’s moral, spiritual, and ethical values. Regardless of religious tradition, the interview believed that Catholicism fulfilled the role of spiritual foundation for people searching for reconciliation and peace. In addition, the participant looked very concerned while discussing the significance of celebrating the Eucharist and the role of church in the life of the community. In particular, the Catholic leader claimed that the church and divine rule represent the authority under which the public community could integrate. Possessing the uniform rules and principles would allow people to become spiritually closer to God. Due to the fact that Mr. Brown had lived in the region since his birth, he did not feel any pressure on the part of his parents and community. His attitude to people irrespective of their origin and beliefs is also equal, which is the main principle of Catholic tradition. In particular, the interviewee emphasized that his task as a leader was confined to constant support of parishioners who suffered from problems in a secular life. His position requires him to be the messenger between the real world and the divine world. While talking about the main challenges during the service, Mr. Brown noted that the most difficult in accomplishing his duty was to convince people of the necessity to observe virtues and values, notwithstanding the difficulties, which are often sent by God as a trial of human patience.Advertising Looking for essay on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The religious leader also confessed tha t the most difficult thing about his profession lied in persuading young population about the necessity to attend churches and enriching their values and spiritual beliefs. While analyzing future plans of the church community, the leader expressed his enthusiasm concerning the possibility of developing strong networks, in which religious tradition was presented in a broader sense. In particular, it should not be regarded as a religious commitment to God only, but as a philosophical framework that should form the underpinning of public life in the district. The fact that most people attend church and search for spirituality encourages the interviewee most of all. At the end of the interview, Mr. Brown added that this profession had become for him a tool for improving the life in the community and developing a strong ethical and moral system. Reflection While deliberating on the conservation with the religious leader of the Catholic Church Sebastian Brown, specific attention requires the interviewee’s commitment to and understanding of the divine rule and its influence on public life. In particular, unlike many other leaders, Mr. Brown is more concerned with the practical significance of Catholic tradition. Convincing people of the influence of religion on their ethical and spiritual beliefs should be a priority for the church. Therefore, the role of religious mentors should consist in supporting and encouraging the parishioners to search for improving their life and shaping such virtues as love, compassion, and respect of other people. Forgiveness, therefore, is the first step toward reconciliation, although this is the most difficult one because individuals often fail to realize the actual value of this action. In fact, Mr. Brown’s vision is well thought because people often resort to God’s help whose actions are under the divine control. In this context, they do not have the right to decide who is to blame. Loving and respecting people ca n make the world better and this philosophy of forgiveness and compassion will definitely provide a strong foundation for the entire community. Therefore, while discussing this issue, Mr. Brown focused predominantly on leadership and its importance for sustaining public life.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Religious Tradition: Interview specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More He was less concerned with the future plans because most of his contributions were directed at improving the current state of affaires. At the same time, the discussion of Catholic tradition referred to its practical value for people who are in need of reconciliation and assistance to overcome the hardships. Such a philosophic and religious outlook on Catholic tradition presents the divine rule that acts according to reason. In particular, the religious leaders agreed with the idea that Catholicism always defined men, regardless of their social p osition. Humans, therefore, are creatures of God whose dignity is proclaimed. Indeed, modern understanding of religion identifies its philosophical strength, which enhances the importance of sustaining faith in God and divine rule by experiencing His love and contemplation. Although Catholic traditions differs greatly from other religious outlooks, including Islam, or Buddhism, its essence still lies in worshiping such universal virtues as kindness, love, respect, support, and justice. Religious teachings should not rely on elaborating theoretical frameworks, but also on developing the sense of identity and belonging to a specific Church communion. While reflecting on the role of leadership in the community, specific emphasis should be placed on the way religion influences methods of managing and controlling church service. Hence, the role of church should not be confined to religious commitment. Rather, people should attend churches to fulfill themselves in secular life. The believ ers, therefore, should be able to adhere to the utmost principles dictated by the church leader because they can contribute significantly to the welfare of the community. The focus on interviewee’s strong faith in the initial good of individuals allowed him to develop church memberships, as well as main ethical and moral values. The concept of membership entity premises on the individuals’ freedom to attend church to establish unlimited relationships. At this point, Mr. Brown approach to leading people is efficient because it focuses on people’s shift in their attributions and in their aspiration to enrich their spirituality.Advertising Looking for essay on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This essay on Religious Tradition: Interview was written and submitted by user TheEnforcers to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Descartes as an Individualist essays

Descartes as an Individualist essays As a philosopher, Rene Descartes strayed from the structured ways of thinking in the 17th century. His ideas are all based on rationalism, which was a rising way of thinking during this time. In Descartes Discourse on Method and Meditations of First Philosophy he expresses his traveling through different ways of thought with meditation. From this reading it is determinable that he is a philosopher of individualism. Individualism is the idea that the nature of things depends solely on what they are made up of. It is the belief that the individual is the primary unit of reality and the ultimate standard of value. According to individualism, society is a collection of individuals, rather than a larger whole to which they belong. The Cartesian conception of mind is based on the beliefs of Descartes. As Descartes was a very big realist and a philosopher of individualism, this form of beliefs is based very much on the individual. After many years of school, Descartes discarded the structured teachings of his professors: For it seemed to me that I could find much more truth in the reasonings that each person makes concerning matters that are important to him, and whose outcome ought to cost him dearly later on if he has judged badly, than in those reasonings engaged in by a man of letters in his study (6). He devoted his thoughts and ideas entirely to the introspection of the mind. Descartes believed that the power of the individual is from the mind and soul. the soul through which I am what I am is entirely distinct from the body and is even easier to know than the body, and even if there were no body at all, it would not cease to be all that it is (19). His belief was that minds do not depend on the external world to be what they are. As an individualist Descartes believed that individuals are driven to act through their own thoughts and will. He explains that the will consists so...

Sports Nutrition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sports Nutrition - Essay Example It can best be described as a combination of swimming, soccer, rugby, wrestling and basketball. It is regarded as the oldest team sport in the world which is continuously contested at the Olympic Games. The game is normally played in seven- minute quarters; however, the regular fouls can extend the match time to approximately one hour of nearly non-stop action. In comparison to other team sports, water polo is a relatively shorter game. Upon the years, water polo has gradually been increasing in popularity especially among schools. Despite its popularity, the performance among Grace Lutheran water polo players has not been up to standards. Energy requirements for any kind of physical performance are critical. The energy stores in the liver are the main fuel for energy in the body. When the stores are inadequate, sport performance, timing and focus begin to suffer. Water polo players require a daily high carbohydrate diet to boost stamina and refill lost muscle and liver glycogen stores mainly during competition and training (Phillips, 2004). Allan (2004), states that the human body is normally designed to move by a sequence of coordinated muscle contractions. When the brain tells the body to move, the nerve signals trigger a massive release of muscular energy through a special molecule known as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). There are three systems in the body which create the ATP energy required for most of the physical activities, all the three systems are used for water polo in varying degrees (Cooper, 2003). To start with, the ATP-CP system plays a major role in the provision of energy for a five to seven second swim sprint in water polo (Panel, 1999). This is facilitated by a high energy molecule (creatine phosphate) which quickly delivers energy to manufacture ATP. Creatine phosphate is largely stored and readily available in the muscle fibers. This makes it the main supplier of energy during the commencement of water polo game. However, other suppliers of energy come in after a short duration of time (30 seconds). Due to the fast depletion of CP, the short period of water polo should be followed by a rest period to ensure that the CP that was depleted in the muscles is restored. Usually, no oxygen is required hence referred to as anaerobic exercise. Another energy producing system known as anaerobic glycolysis comes in after the depletion of energy using the ATP-CP system. It produces the ATP needed to continue the muscular contraction during execution of water polo skills. The break down of glycogen takes place with little requirement of oxygen. The glycogen utilized for this process is found in the liver and in the muscles (storage form of sugars in the diet). Normally, if a water polo player swims at a fast pace after the first 8-10 seconds, there is usually a delay in time when ATP formed from creatine phosphate runs out. Brian (2003), states that anaerobic glycolysis manufactures adequate ATP for a prolonged period of time (40 seconds up to 2 minutes) unlike ATP-CP system and is usually dependent upon the training levels of the athlete. The process quickly delivers adequate ATP to allow the water polo player to keep up with the fast pace despite the low levels of CP. However, production of lactic acid

How can managers and leaders use problems they face as source of Essay

How can managers and leaders use problems they face as source of learning - Essay Example The report analyse the possibility of using daily organisational issues encountered by managers as a means of learning to facilitate continuous development. In the face of growing business environmental pressures stemming from process of globalization and the advent of the knowledge economy, the demands placed upon managers and leaders to be effective in their relevant functions and roles has increased. Therefore, management and leadership development on a continuous basis has become a prerequisite for staying in business. While management designations may be limited, organisational success would largely upon its ability to develop the managerial and leadership skills at every level of the employee participation. As such skills development is based on a continuous learning process, managers and leaders need to use problems they encounter in everyday operations as a source of learning. In UK alone, the demand for high caliber managers with professional qualifications is in the rise and over 100,000 new management positions are being created as per estimates. But survey statistics points to poor management and leadership skills at all levels and relating `2to many areas such as delegation, choosing appropriate style of management and inability to involve the subordinates in to the decision making process (Managers & Leaders 2002). The report aims to analyse the need for managerial and leadership development and propose a conceptual model for the same. To understand the importance of Management & Leadership development, one should see the distinction between concepts such as management/leadership education or training which is in-effect associated subsidiary aspects of the overall effort of Management & Leadership development. While Management and Leadership education will take more of academic stance, the training will be more related to specific informal and formal delivery

Leadership and Sustainability in Business Essay

Leadership and Sustainability in Business - Essay Example On the other hand, leadership is the process by which an individual influences another individual or a group of individuals to support and collectively reach the objective. Apart from the aforementioned definition, leadership can also be defined as the process of systematizing and categorizing a group of individuals in order to achieve the objective. Therefore, from the above statements, sustainability and leadership are two terms of different context. However, when collated, they provide a different meaning altogether. Sustainable leadership is referred to as a type of leadership which benefits the organizations in the long run by influencing the people positively, exhibiting the values of the society, and initiating change. An effective sustainable leadership consists of 3 components, namely moral values, creativity, and influence. Moral values are the level at which an individual identifies and supports the values of civilization. The value that portrays the mutual care of mankind depicts the moral values. Influence is the capability to modify one’s behavior. Creativity is the ability to portray innovative ideas and the enthusiasm to undertake risk. In the context of this project, Oman Air will be chosen as the organization by the example of which the aforementioned terms of leadership and sustainability will be portrayed. The report will also shed light on ‘women as leaders’. This will emphasize on the acceptance of female leaders in the society. The report will highlight the leadership theories as well as the changing leadership styles. Apart from that, leadership in youth and characteristics of a good leader will be illustrated. However, the topics that will be covered will relate to Oman Air. Therefore, to continue with the project, a brief overview of Oman Air is presented below. A Brief Overview of Oman Air Oman Air is an airline company presently headquartered at Muscat, Oman. The company was established in the year 1993 (Oman Air, n.d.). It is also the national air carrier of Oman. It was founded by the sultanate of Oman’s Civil Aviation. The company provides services for domestic as well as international customers. Regional Taxi and Charter Flights services are also offered by the company. Oman Air operates with around 300 flights a week. It has a network of 36 destinations spread over 19 countries of the world. Apart from this, the company offers a lot of valuable services to its customers (Flightpedia, n.d.). Recently the company became the sole air carrier to offer Wi-Fi services as well as mobile services. During the date of its incorporation, Oman Air remained thoroughly professional. It has added many feathers to the cap; the company has recently won Airline of the Year award at France’s Laurier d’Or du Voyage d’Affaires. In the early 2011, the company was promoted to a 4 stars air carrier while its business class was acknowledged as 5 stars and went on to win the Best Airl ine Seat award from Skytrax. With the modernization of technology, air transport is becoming a complex venture; however, in the past, the Oman Air has successfully identified its areas of strength and accordingly transformed itself. A team of dedicated workforce, skilled pilots, and niche operating routes has highly contributed to achieving competency. However, in context of leadership and

How Hiv Aids Affect The Mining Industry Commerce Essay

How Hiv Aids Affect The Mining Industry Commerce Essay The purpose of this paper is to examine the affects that HIV/AIDS can have on the mining industry in South Africa. I aim to look at how does HIV/AIDS affects to the mining industry. My goal is to show that HIV/AIDS has its direct and indirect impact on the business and that it plays a major role in the business environment today. I looked at individual mine companies, one that I focussed on throughout the paper was Anglo American, I also looked at the bigger picture and researched on how it would affect the country and the mining industry. The first phase of this project was to look at how HIV/AIDS affects the labour supply, and how it affects your profitability, than I moved onto more indirect affect which were what other impacts it has and then finally its impact on the economy. I found out that most of South Africas mine workers are HIV positive and this has a negative effect on the industry as they experience high expenditure due to providing health care, benefits and training and that the mining industry is experiencing a decline in revenue as efficiency and productivity is reduced due to workers being ill and weak. This paper shows that the education and support of the workers is vital to prevent the HIV/AIDS rate from increasing and threatening their workforce. If companies have strong policies in place they could lessen the impact HIV/AIDS has on their company. Word count: 244 Contents Page Introduction For a company to be successful they must demonstrate a competitive advantage, for African companies, most of them already have a competitive advantage as there is a profuse supply of inexpensive, and productive labour. Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome most commonly know to us as HIV and AIDS are one of the main causes of deaths in Africa. The percentage of infected people has steadily increased throughout the years and this infection rate does not seem to be stopping. The infection rate of South Africans is approximately 28% of the people that go into the clinics  [1]  . This statistic is not including the whole population so the total percentage of South Africans is unknown to us. I decided to focus on the Mining Industry in South Africa has it has recently had a spotlight shone upon it from having a high HIV workforce, to unemployed workers going into abandoned mines in the hope of generating an income for their family. There is an abundance of mining companies in South Africa, it holds nearly 90% of the platinum metals of the Earth, 80% of the Manganese 73% of the Chrome, 45% of the Vanadium, and 41% of the Earths Gold.  [2]  Miners are usually migrant workers who are away from their family. They are housed in same-sex hostels. These miners are often visit prostitutes to escape from their tough jobs. These visits to prostitutes make the mine workers vulnerable to HIV. I shall be concentrating for the purpose of this essay mainly the effect of the financial, economical and motivational effect HIV has on the workplace. By only focusing on one industry it helps me narrow done the research area and therefore I can focus much more deeply into each of the factors I shall be exploring in this essay. I will respond to my research question How does HIV/AIDS Affect the Mining Industry? by looking at the specific components that may be affected and see how these components are affected or how some components are not affected at all. Why I choose this topic I choose this topic as it is something that is relevant to me. I am living in South Africa and am confronted every day with new articles, new figures about HIV/AIDS. This interested me and I began to think about what impact this has to a business, I was interested to know more, know the deeper consequences and benefits that this HIV epidemic has on and business, on an industry. I then decided that choosing the mining industry would be great, there is this highlight on the mining industry and it is also an industry that requires you to have a strong workforce that can take the severe conditions. With these two very prominent things in South Africa, I can up with my research question. How is the Labour Supply Affected For a business to be successful they would need a constant supply of trained workers that are capable to do the job to the best of their ability. Companies that require a workforce that is fully trained, they seem HIV as a problem. It requires a huge amount of time to train a new employee and the costs to the company are great to so this. The highest prevalence of HIV is for the age group of 30-34 years of age, with the age groups 25-29 and 35-39 not too far behind  [3]  . These age groups are the groups that are entering the workforce or are already working. This is not a good thing for a business as this suggests that their workforce and their future supply of workforce are most likely going to be affected by HIV. The mining sector is very labour intensive, mechanisation is difficult in mining which results in mining having to have a big labour force. Most mine workers tend to be young males, which is the main age category that has been affected by HIV. These young males have to engage in physically demanding and dangerous work for up to 12 hours a day in hot, dusty conditions and are breaks are not very frequent, theses workers need to be physically capable and up to full health to cope with this. Workers living with HIV may find these working conditions straining and they physically do not have the strength to cope in these difficult conditions. Mines require a work force of semi-skilled workers and also require highly-skilled workers such as geologists and engineers, of one of these highly skilled workers were to be affected or be lost to the illness, their departure could disrupt operations greatly until a replacement is found for them. HIV also has an impact on the labour force of mining by having an increase in mortality, for example around 60% of the mining workforce is aged between 30 and 44 years; in 15 years this is predicted to fall to 10%  [4]  . This shows that the labour force for mining is being affected due to deaths related to AIDS. How Profitability is Affected HIV can affect a company is possibly to ways; to either increase its expenditures or it can decrease revenues. In the early stages of the HIV a company may experience the worker having an unexplained increase in absenteeism and the said worker and his or her family may have and increase in their health care costs. Some companies may choose to reimburse the worker for these costs or pay for a percentage of them. The productivity of the worker may decrease especially when infections that are well known to effect HIV positive people start to attack the body such as tuberculosis. With that said, the companies may observe an increase in diseases within their workforce as the contagious diseases are spread between the workforce. This would lead to workers having to take off more sick days and an increase in health care costs. Employees that have been identified as HIV positive may be kept on working in the same position, moved to a less demanding position or might even be fired, this all depends on the companys policy to HIV positive workers. A loss of revenue is due to workers having to take leave due to illness or having to take leave due to family members being HIV positive or needing to attend a funeral. For example in north central Namibia it has been estimated that extension staff spend at least 10 percent of their time attending funerals.  [5]  Productivity is also affected as workers in poor health are no longer able to produce at the same levels to when they were good health. Approximately 45% of South Africas mineworkers are HIV positive; this has already decreased productivity in mines by 15%.  [6]  This means that in the years to come mines would have to employ more workers, to keep up with the productivity level that they usually operate at to keep up their output levels. The extent to employees living with HIV being kept on at a company depends on the type of work they do and the companies policy that are in place regarding this. For some companies the government or trade unions require that they supply benefit to HIV positive workers but some companies are able to not do this, and therefore the government of the workers family are made to provide the benefits. There are a number of ways in which a companys expenditures may increase due to having employees suffering from HIV. They could experience an increase in health care costs, which indicates that the company is being affected by HIV epidemic. Companies that have invested in private health insurance policies could have an increase in their premiums. Companies that have in-house health services such as clinics may have an increase in the need for their services. According to the Chairman of Gold Fields, Christopher Thompson the HIV epidemic will cause the production of gold to increase by R100 per ounce in the next six years.  [7]  Anglo American has made anti-retroviral therapy available to all of their employees that are HIV positive at the companys expense. This decision could greatly increase costs to the company and affect the profitability of the company. As more workers die of AIDS, businesses can have an increase in costs in terms of death benefits. Larger companies often offer death benefits to the family of the deceased worker. With the increase in HIV related deaths companies have increased a big increase in costs and have had to find ways lessen the impact of these benefit costs. Some companies have lessened their financial contribution to the funeral, and some have required that funerals are only to take place on the weekend, to minimize the amount of time taken off of work. With such a high infection rate in mine workers together with the related incidence of illness and death means that mines loose between 5% and 10% of their workforce each year.  [8]   The cost of recruiting and training new employees may be high. The cost of replacing an unskilled worker is usually very same, and these types of workers can usually be replaced within a week and the cost of replacing them is very small, especially when the area the company is located experiences a very high unemployment rate. But many companies require skilled experienced employees, these are much harder to recruit. Most of Africa has a shortage of skilled labour which makes recruiting a suitable an appropriate candidate very difficult and positions can be left unfilled for weeks or even months. The training of the unskilled workers often doesnt cost the company much, can be done in-house and only takes a couple of days. However training of the skilled workers such as director of financing, marketing is of a much higher cost to the company, they usually get trained outside of the company, and many go overseas for the training. One company says they face costs of $100  000 to recru it and train a replacement for the managing director role.  [9]  It is estimated that in South Africa that every 100 natural deaths that occur in a year 88 are highly skilled workers and 176 skilled workers will die of AIDS in the same year, it is also estimated that in the same year 308 semi-skilled and unskilled workers will die of AIDS.  [10]   What Other Impacts Occur Another impact that HIV/AIDS has on a company is that is can lower the morale of its employees, employees may feel de-motivated and not willing to work as efficiently. They see their colleagues and friends at work die before their eyes and they soon start to have a negative, defeatist attitude towards their work as they see themselves in the same position as the deceased one. One indirect effect of all the leave that has been taken by employees is that the healthy workers have to work harder than usual to make up for the people on sick leave. In many companies workers are said to be working extra hours to make up for the time lost by the sick colleagues, however these healthy employees usually do not get paid over time and often feel overworked and exhausted. This could then reduce the quantity and quality of the final product as employees are stressed and de-motivated. The spread of HIV could lead to poor work relationships, they may not feel they are being supported by their company and their colleagues, that there are not enough care and prevention methods in place. Some workers may demand that employees that have been infected should be dismissed when they learn about their status. There often a negative attitude and behavioural responses towards an HIV positive person when other workers learn the status of that person. A way for managers to address the indirect effects HIV has on their company is to generate a workplace policy that addresses the needs of an HIV positive person; this policy promotes healthy relationships between all workers and levels of the hierarchy. Anglo American is one of the mining companies that is leading in the fight against HIV/AIDS, they have community outreach and strong policies to go on, Cynthia Carroll, Chief Executive of Anglo American said: Anglo Americans aim, as the Employer and Partner of Choice, is to effectively manage the impact of HIV/AIDS on our employees and to make a positive contribution towards minimising the social, economic and developmental consequences of this epidemic. Anglo Americans response reaches beyond its workforce, through community outreach HIV/AIDS programmes, to spread the application of good practice in a way which helps to strengthen community health systems.  [11]  By having strong aims like this the company is able to address some of the indirect effects that HIV has on their company and helps strengthen the moral of the workers as they feel like they are being taken care of and that they are an assets to the company. The Anglo American policy towards HIV/AIDS focuses on the some main things such as: Confidentiality- the employee who has HIV has the right to confidentiality and privacy. They are under no obligation to tell management about their HIV status. Non- Discrimination- Anglo American does not tolerate unfair discrimination towards a person with HIV and take all the steps to respects their dignity and ensure human rights. All employees that are part of the company, who know (or think they know) a workers HIV status are told of the requirements and responsibilities of disclosing this information to a third party, and the consequences that could happen if they were to do this. Gender equality- Anglo American aims towards having equal gender relations. They recognise that the empowerment of women is vital to successfully prevent the spread of HIV infection and enable women to cope with HIV/AIDS. Social Dialogue- Anglo American aims to build partnerships and alliances with their stakeholders so that they can develop a common vision and shared strategy with them. This policy they have is constantly updated with the ever changing environment that we live in. This strong policy as said before strengthens the employee relations as the company is seen to care for their employees and cares about their well being. Another effect HIV/AIDS can have on a business is that it can cause a decline in some products. Products known as luxury products could no longer be bought as much as previously, this is because with the employee getting sicker with HIV they no longer bring in that much income as previously, they are also experiencing an increase in their medical costs. This leaves them with no having enough money to buy those nonessential goods. This could not necessarily affect the mining industry, but it does affect their workers and their families. It means that they can no longer buy as many good as they previously could have. It also affects the businesses where the mine workers buy their goods from as they are no longer getting as much business from them as they would have before the worker had been infected. How HIV/AIDS is Affecting South African Economies HIV/AIDS can not only affect a company, but it can also affect the economy. This could lead to people not wanting to invest in the country as they are seen to have a declining economy. The decline in the economy impacts two things: investment and trade. The investment is impacted by the uncertainty over the impact of HIV/AIDS causes reluctance from the investor. Investors are not sure how the ever growing HIV epidemic is going to affect the business and they start to become reluctant to invest as they are not sure if the company will succeed or not. Another thing is there had been a decrease in the amount and variety of entrepreneurs; people are not going out as much and starting their own company, this means that there is not as many projects to be invested in as there is not the variety and range that investors want in that country, so they then move to the next country looking for the next best thing to invest in. Also the general economic picture is impacting on investment; some countries do not seem to be doing well and seem unstable this therefore would not be a wise country to invest in as the country could fall at any moment, think Zimbabwe, all people who invested in Zimbabwe mustve lost tonnes of money due to the country falling economically. This could affect the mining industry greatly, if no one is willing to invest in them then they lose vital financing. Mines are the ones being hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic; investors are able to see this and predict the high labour turnover rate and the overall costs and losses the company experiences due to this. Investors would then be discouraged to invest in the company as the percentage of staff with HIV would only increase. They would also see the general economic picture of South Africa, and with the recession they could see that overall investing in mines in South Africa as an unwise decision due to all the factors. The trade in South Africa is impacted by the reduced production due to increased costs. With HIV epidemic growing companies are having greater costs than they have had in the past, they have to deal with factors like death benefits, providing health care and anti retroviral therapy and the recruitment and training of staff, this means that there is not as money available to buy the raw materials or employ as many staff as they have before, which leads to there being a decrease in the production levels. Another thing that impacts the trade is the decrease in workers with experience in the export markets. Skilled labour is much harder to recruit than unskilled labour positions can be left empty for ages. This means that it is difficult to find labour that has experience in export markets due to there being a lack of qualified labour. For the mining industry this means that its trade is being impacted by HIV, they are experiencing an increase in their costs due to all the factors above and because the work is demanding, they are also experiencing a decrease in efficiency which leads to the company not producing as much. They also loose lots of workers due to the demanding work and often have positions left unfilled as they cannot find someone with the right experience. There has been much debate on whether or not the HIV/AIDS epidemic would affect the economy. A Kenyan analysis indicated that the HIV/AIDS epidemic would cause a significant impact, which predictions that HIV/AIDS would leave the Kenyan economy one sixth smaller than it would have been in the absence of HIV/AIDS.  [12]  A South African study suggest that by the 2010, the level of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) could be lower than 17 percent due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic while the level of per capita GDP could be lower than 7 percent. About half the decline is due to an increase in the amount government is spending on health care to do with HIV/AIDS and one third is due to the lower productivity levels.  [13]   Conclusion South African mining companies have the potential to have a great competitive advantage against all the other companies around the world. Businesses need to protect the workers that have not been infected by HIV and educate their workforce to ensure the number of HIV positive people does not increase much more. For the ones that have been infected the mining companies need to use the services they have on them and that they support the workers through this difficult time. The companies need to ensure that the impact of this is as less as possible. As we have seen HIV mainly affects those that are at the prime working age, this means that the companies are greatly affected by this especially when skilled workers are needed or workers undergo an intensive training process. Therefore the loss of one of the workers can cause a business to lose some of its competitive edge. The increase in the HIV epidemic has lead companies to experience a loss in their profitability. This is due to an increase in their expenditures, such as sick leave, health care, funeral benefits, recruiting and training new employee and even providing anti retroviral therapy. Also their revenues have declined due to a decrease in efficiency and productivity as workers become ill and weak. Due to mining being such a demanding job, this has been one of the main problems they have experienced. There have also been more indirect ways in which the mining industry has been affected, such as de-motivation, poor work relationships. This great HIV epidemic may be slowly down investors wanting to invest new money into the mining industry. Also HIV/AIDS is said to be slowly down economic growth with is also turning investors away and limiting the number of people willing to invest in South Africa. Overall, with still more than half the population not being affected by HIV, there is still a chance that we can turn this situation around and lessen the impact of this epidemic to the mining industry and to our country. With continuing education, handing out condoms mining companies can hopefully limit the spread of HIV or even reduce it. If they keep addressing the issue and commit to the cause, we can limit the affects of HIV/AIDS to the mining industry.

Negotiating Reality: Studying Neurons In Denial :: Biology Essays Research Papers

In comparing the articles I read to research this paper, I noticed a distinct dichotomy between the ways in which the phenomena known as anosognosia was approached, a kind of binary: psychological versus neurological. The former seem to me, though not quite magic, to have that same hint of abstraction, whereas the latter are much more functional and conceptually conceivable...that is, they are hypotheses which are solidly rooted in the neurobiology of the brain, hypotheses which are falsifiable and, therefore, more salient than those which make obscure references to unknown and unobservable psychological processes. The implications which neurobiological hypotheses, if shown to be accurate, would have are many; before exploring them, however, I shall first discuss this "denial of illness," (3) which is in itself fascinating. Anosognosia is a disorder occurring in about 5% of patients who have had a stroke affecting the right side of their brain (6), in particular the right parietal cortex, causing left hemiplegia (paralysis of the side of the body opposite to the affected side of the brain). Its characteristic feature is the inability, or, some would say, unwillingness of patients to perceive their own paralysis, and in extreme cases, that of others. It is important to note that anosognosia occurs only when the right side of the brain is involved; the effects of damage to the left hemisphere are, as shall be explained later, quite different (1). Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran of UC San Diego has made anosognosia one of his primary foci of research and has proposed intriguing, neurological hypotheses as to what might be going on in anosognosiacs' brains. In his research, he has found that anosognosiacs do not deny paralysis merely because their brain damage causes them to be inattentive to the left side of their body; when attention is drawn to a paralyzed limb, by asking patients to perform simple motor tasks, for example, anosognosiacs will either assert that they are indeed carrying it out (when they obviously are not) (1,2,4,5,6) or make up stories to explain it away, claiming, for example, that their arthritis is acting up and that they therefore don't feel like doing it (1,2). In many cases, patients refuse to recognize the paralyzed limb as their own, accepting the bizarre and irrational implications such a statement brings with it (e.g., the limb belonging to a relative, their doctor having three arms) as quite normal (1) .