Atkins and South Beach Diets According to Dr. Michael Greger

Everybody (or almost everyone that is) believed in the fad technically referred to as â€Å"Atkins Diet† and â€Å"South Beach Diet† (Atkins Nutritionals Inc n. p. ). People say that it works because it can successfully modify an individual’s eating habits (Atkins Nutritionals Inc. n. p. ). It has the capability of limiting the ingestion of any carbohydrate-rich food to be able to change the metabolism of the body from smoldering â€Å"glucose to burning fat whether it is stored or not† (Atkins Nutritionals Inc n. p. ).In addition to that, it is said that â€Å"Atkins Diet† persuades one to exercise; thus, it may be claimed to be a part of a healthy lifestyle – – it can sustain extreme work out â€Å"because protein-, vitamin- and mineral-enriched food are highly suggested† (Atkins Nutritionals Inc n. p. ). Even then, however, some researchers conclude that the â€Å"Atkins diet† will not work because â€Å"one cannot en gage in Atkins for long because carbohydrate (which is lacking in this diet) is needed for the purposes of energy for the body† (Atkins Nutritionals Inc n. p. ).This has been made clear by Dr. Michael Greger later when he said the following: â€Å"Atkins Diets† is said to be the â€Å"most dangerous† kind of diet that has been introduced to people in the past fifty years (Atkins Nightmare Diet n. p. ). Dr. Michael Greger says that the application of the aforementioned diet will threaten the body of the individual (Atkins Nightmare Diet n. p. ). Furthermore, he says that it may be effective and can decrease an individual’s weight; however, one may get sick or even die as an ultimate effect (Atkins Nightmare Diet n.p. ).Moreover, Dr. Michael Greger claims that anybody who steps forward and advocate that â€Å"unrestricted amounts of meat, butter, and eggs is dangerous† is actually blameworthy of unprofessional conduct (Atkins Nightmare Diet n. p. ). I nterestingly, such claim is backed up by evidence as there has been â€Å"a careful scientific appraisal was carried out by several council and staff members, aided by outside consultants†, which actually made clear that the â€Å"Atkins Diet† causes severe danger to an individual’s physical condition (Atkins Nightmare Diet n.p. ).What’s very good about this is that medical experts maintain their claim on the detrimental and perilous effects of the â€Å"Atkins Diet† (Atkins Nightmare Diet n. p. ). Moreover, the â€Å"American Dietetic Association† states that â€Å"the Atkins Diet is a nightmare of a diet† because it encourages eating much of â€Å"bacon, cream, and butter while turning away from apples† (Atkins Nightmare Diet n. p. ).This has been advocated by the aforementioned organization for approximately thirty years now (Atkins Nightmare Diet n. p. ). The â€Å"American Medical Association†, â€Å"American Cance r Society†, â€Å"American Heart Association†, â€Å"Cleveland Clinic†, â€Å"Johns Hopkinsâ€Å", â€Å"American Kidney Fund†, â€Å"American College of Sport’s Medicine† as well as, â€Å"the National Institutes of Health† unite and uphold the official statement of the â€Å"American Dietetic Association† (Atkins Nightmare Diet n. p. ).In addition to the aforementioned, there are no organizations that backs up the claim that â€Å"Atkins Diet† works; in fact all peer-reviewed journals and other references like the â€Å"Journal of the American College of Nutrition† states that â€Å"the Atkins Diet runs counter to all the current evidence-based dietary recommendations† (Atkins Nightmare Diet n. p. ). Finally, the same is true with the â€Å"South Beach Diet† which causes â€Å"constipation, gastrointestinal problems† and â€Å"can stress the kidneys and increase the risk of liver disorders , gout, coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke and several types of cancer† (Squires n. p. ).

Native Americans vs. African Americans Essay

In today’s society there are many people living in poverty. All across America there are different projects and reservations where the less fortunate reside. Statistics show that mostly minorities live in these different locations. Native Americans and African Americans are two of the more popular races living in these places. The group suffering the most in these situations is the youth. Although both Native American and African American children living on a reservation or in the projects experience a terrible community, have little to no faith, and a broken family structure, African American youth living in the projects have it worse than Native American children living on a reservation. First, one of the most common living situations for less fortunate African Americans is in the projects. A project is a public living environment that is government owned. Although these buildings are government owned they are far from nice looking. Most of the buildings have no windows, are run down, dirty, and old. The government’s main goal is to maintain affordable housing not to make them the best looking homes in town. The projects aren’t a good environment for a child to be raised. Throughout these neighborhoods different gangs can be found. These gangs are built to defend the different areas in the projects. The gangs bring major violence to the area and are one of the main causes of death. At a young age children join these gangs and are raised to be violent. Many of them decorate the buildings they are living in with graffiti expressing their gang colors, symbols, or motto. In contrast, while Native American youth also live in poor housing, the environment is safer than the projects. A reservation is an area set aside for a specific type of land use or activity, or for use by a particular group of people, mostly Native Americans. Similar to the projects, houses on a reservation are old, beat down, and dirty. The houses on a reservation are government owned as well. Although these two locations are very similar they also differ. The reservation is a safer place then the projects. On the reservation there is a couple cases of mild violence but they aren’t as severe as the violence in the projects. Therefore, the reservations environment is a better environment than the projects. Secondly, many of the young people have no faith growing up in the projects. A lot of them believe their only way out of the projects is to become a basketball or football player or to become a top selling rap artist. At as young as sixteen years of age most African American males end up in jail, deceased, or selling drugs. A lot of them are also lead to believe that if they don’t do what every other man on the streets is doing, then they won’t make it anywhere in life. On the reservation the kids believe their only way out is to become NBA players or â€Å"powwowers†. Powwower’s are traditional Native American cheerleaders or dancers. Much like the African Americans growing up in the projects, the life expectancy rate for those living on a reservation is in the mid forties. Considering that both of these locations are in the United States mid forties is very young of age. Many of these people don’t live very long because they don’t have enough money to take care of themselves as well as their families. They also aren’t able to live a healthy lifestyle which shortens their days. Death is common in the two locations which leaves these two young groups wondering what’s beyond the age forty. Lastly, family structure is very important in a household. In the projects many of the homes lack a very strong family structure. Children growing up in the projects nine times out of ten don’t have both parents in the home. Most of them are drug dealers, alcoholics, prostitutes, or doing any and everything to try and provide for the child. Although these parents are trying to provide for their children a lot of the time they are also on welfare. Moreover, these children’s parents aren’t ever around, they sometimes go days without having anything to eat. Many of the young men follow after the footsteps of their father, older brother, or uncles which is why this cycle has continued for so long. Native Americans typically stick together as a unit. According to Sherman Alexie, an award winning author who grew up on a reservation, â€Å"Native American children are taught to be suspicious of Caucasian people. † Native Americans teach this to their children because there are many people in America that are against minorities and believe that just because they are the majority they’re better. A lot of the parents on a reservation go from job to job not being able to keep one job for a long period of time. Many of these parents are also alcoholics. On the other hand, some of these families on these reservations are very family oriented unlike the African American families in the projects. These Native American families have up to seventeen family members living in one house. They keep their families very close and are very supportive of one another rather then being against each other like African Americans. The parents watch over their children to make sure they don’t go down the wrong path in life. Although these families are experiencing hard times they cheer each other up and manage to smile every once in a while. Therefore, the Native Americans family structure is stronger then African Americans. In conclusion, Native American youth living on a reservation have it better then African American youth living in the projects. Both of these minorities are going through some hardships. From alcoholic parents to not having anything to eat they both are suffering as young children. Native American families provide a safer living environment, work harder, and look after one another, where as African Americans are against one another, on the streets all day, and are strongly associated with violence. As the years go on these families are hoping that the government will separate people in the projects and those living on reservations and provide them both with a better living situation. If these environments are separated the United States will be one step closer to eliminating violence in America.

Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Proposal - Essay Example These retention strategies make them be retained in the firm and perform their jobs at optimum levels. Retention of employees is a complex and a multi-faceted challenge, which can negatively impact on an organization’s profit margins and productivity if it is not addressed effectively. An improved incentive system raises the performance orientation and retention of an employee. Retention is used by many firms so as to reduce the turnover costs. Employee retention is also very crucial since it prevents talented staff from being poached. Therefore, for the long-term success of a company it is a must that the firm develops and retains talented, satisfied and performance-oriented. Employee retention is very crucial to any organization, and it is very demanding for the employees. In the current world, attracting and retaining young and skilled employees is often difficult but equally important. Many employers are faced with the problem of searching for a younger workforce that has different attitudes concerning work, coupled with an increasing population of older workers who are heading towards retirement. Majority of organizations have resolved to retain their good managers and employees. In that perspective, retention of employees needs to be examined in the most comprehensive manner since it impacts both negatively and positively on the business. That is the research paper will examine the impact of retention strategies on employee motivation. Sandya and Kumar (2011:1778) defined employee retention as a process by which workers are encouraged to stay with their current employers for the maximum possible time. Although it is a difficult job, it is beneficial to both the employer and employee. On the other hand, Sandya and Kumar (2011) added that employee retention is the process by which employee are encouraged to remain with the organization they are working with currently for a long time. Employees

International relations major Personal Statement

International relations major - Personal Statement Example Saudi Arabia ranks among the fastest developing countries, which experience high rates of migration to different parts of the world. In addition, the country’s relationship with other nations is at its peak due to various factors such as the terror war, oil trade, politics, and sports. The issue of Islam and terrorism, as well as the position of women in the Saudi Arabian public, is essential motivators to study International Relations. These aspects of the society have motivated me to study the subjects in order to understand the influence of reaction, interactions and actions of governments’ policies on humanity. I firmly accept that an influential and so far-reaching subject warrants a critical understanding and analysis at higher levels. My elementary and high school education prepares me adequately to study International Relations. I received broad education in various subjects such as mathematics, literature, and history as well as politics. The extensive knowledge in many subjects enables me to communicate effectively with individuals from different parts worldwide during the course of the degree. Additionally, my singing ability enables me to disseminate information regarding various political and economic issues in Arab. The motivation to sing triggers me to explore current political, economic and social events across the world. My main educational goal is to attain a doctorate in International Relations in order to establish a stable career in the field. The motivation to enroll for the International Relations courses results from the knowledge I have acquired through extensive reading of different political materials since childhood. In addition, my dad bought political books, and historical books play a significant role in my interests in the subject. I also engaged my father in extensive discussion of the current issues in various countries such as international politics and crisis in gulf and Palestine. I anticipate

Leadership Self-Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Leadership Self-Assessment - Essay Example Of importance to me has been to find time after reading for reflection. This way, I am able to gain insights and understanding to what I have read. However, I still face limitations in certain crucial areas. I seem to be more focused on developing relationships; seeking to please my followers at the expense of exuding the legitimate power and authority of being a leader. My leadership style would best fit the style approach of the 1940s as documented by Buchbinder and Shanks (2012). Therefore, I would have to work on the use of leadership legitimate power to influence action on my followers. This would be crucial for leading followers to delivering organisational goals without being compromised. Different situations would call for different strategies. This, perhaps, follows the situational theory documented by Rubino et al. (2014) which postulates that leaders adopt different styles for different situations. I do not evade from responsibility and would accept the consequences of my action. Where I lack knowledge, I always consult other sources, accepting ideas from others. In case of undesirable situations, my guide would be to seek the necessary change to realize the desired outcomes. However, there are crucial circumstances when I seek to hide behind vocabularies. Such are the times when I am faced with a need to immediately respond to certain concerns whereas I do not have ready response. By using complex vocabularies, I leave my audience perplexed and get away with the issue. Just as in other organisations, conflicts are also bound to occur in healthcare. As a leader, it would be important to appreciate the argument by Rigolosi (2013) that conflict resolution has no single static approach. Even so, I appreciate that as a leader, I am compromising, accommodating and avoiding, key aspects of conflict resolution cited by the scholar. I take responsibility for my actions and would always be open to ideas from other people.

Essay to Howard University Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Essay to Howard University - Personal Statement Example In my opinion, medical laboratory science provides this opportunity to strike the best balance thus validating my eagerness to be a medical laboratory practitioner. I have served as a laboratory assistant where setting up the experiments is a core duty. The skills obtained have led to a vast knowledge in microscopic practices and experiments. Out of school, I engage in activities like drawing and hospital-based voluntary services. These activities motivate my interests and allow me to think in a broader perspective. They also expand my thoughts needed in a medical field leading for diversity in ideas. The community service helps me to interact with people thus improving my communication skills, which assists in modeling a trustworthy and reliable person. Both my school and out of school activities have had a gradual impact in the improvement of time management skills, which I believe is a fundamental requirement for medical laboratory science study. The personal desire to interact with other people to understand their ideas and experiences has originality from medical setup. My exposure to medical laboratory environment gives a fascinating advantage for career enhancement. Having spent some good time in a medical setting, I have had a chance to interact with various professionals in the medical laboratory. I am also an independent individual with precise, observant and good problem-solving skills, which serve as a booster for a successful career in the rapidly growing medical laboratory field of profession. I am informed of the excellent Howard University reputation through research and personal conversation with some of the alumni. This has concisely served in deepening my interest in the choice of your prestigious University for my career advancement. In addition to excellent university setup, the presence of the medical laboratory tools in Howard University will equip me with the best experimental practice to

The Controversial Stem Cell Issue Personal Statement

The Controversial Stem Cell Issue - Personal Statement Example There are four kinds of stem cell research that doctors have been focusing their study on. These are stem cells, embryonic stem cells, therapeutic, and non-therapeutic cloning. Embryonic stem cells are the ones that come from a group of cells which are called the inner cell mass and are part of the early embryo called the blastocyst. Once this is removed from the blastocyst, the cells of the inner cell mass are cultured into embryonic stem cells. Thus, it is safe to say that these cells develop a culture that is different from that in the developing embryo (NIH Stem Cell Information Home Page, n.d). On the other hand, therapeutic stem cells are those that can serve as vehicles for effective treatment of certain diseases such as tumors and cancers while non-therapeutic cloning is the duplication of cells that are not done for therapeutic reasons (National Center for Biotechnology Information, n.d). During stem cell research it is definitely not a matter of whether it can do any good, focus should be more on how many pros it has over the cons. Based on the speech that President Bush has given on calling senate to back human cloning ban, there was the stand on taking much benefit of modern medicine without having to crush ethical principles. Speaking of stem cell research which would involve cracking human genetic code for important advances in science to fight diseases such as Cancer, AIDS, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease, there arises a big issue where human dignity is always abused. This is because of the fact that stem cell research would require human cloning which is the production of individuals who are genetically identical to another human being, wherein the process would slowly crush ethical principles in protecting human dignity. How? Well, cloning is achieved by putting the genetic material from a donor into a woman’s egg which had its nucleus removed. The result of that is the cloned embryo who is an identic al copy of the donor only. Though some scientists perform this experiment on animals, others have announced to produce cloned children despite the fact that this can lead to terrible abortions and abnormalities (President Bush Calls on Senate to Back Human Cloning Ban, 2002). Though we cannot harbor the fact that stem cell research have great possibilities of being able to cure the longest and most costly treatment of sicknesses, we could say that this probability is still of speculation today. Also, if research and the use of stem cell research gets a lot better and actually gives great results in curing those who are sick, one thing is for sure, which is the fact that in doing so, one would always sacrifice the human dignity of people. This is because of the fact that if more and more people get cured through stem cell cloning, there would definitely be more demand on eggs and egg donors, thus, the exploitation of women’s bodies which is a clear form of damage to human dign ity would thrive. Aside from that, women now would be treated as a commodity while children would be born fitting into certain specifications with no room for imperfections. Thinking about this based on logos, ethos, and pathos point of views, one would clearly see that stem cell research should be banned as it is even clearly stated in medical ethics that no human life should be exploited for

Critically assess the use of environmental principles in environmental Assignment

Critically assess the use of environmental principles in environmental law - Assignment Example At present, the guidelines of the international environmental law play an imperative part that imposes considerable impact upon the notion of sustainable development. Environmental evaluation is quite essential for upholding the sustainable development of society as well as useful for establishing necessary laws related to environment. Apart from the factor of global warming, the aspect of climate change also contributes largely upon affecting the natural environment by a greater extent. Since the year 1960, several environmentalists took significant initiatives for reducing pollution, cleaning up the wastes, implementing strict laws for every individual of different nation, minimizing wastage products and introducing recyclable materials for the manufacturing of new products. In the year 1969, United States National Environmental policy Act referred that every societal member must follow the environmental laws in order to mitigate the impact of global warming. The major reason for e stablishing the international environmental regulation is for addressing social as well as environmental factors that have been considered as the root cause of global warming. By taking into concern the present environmental situation, it has been apparently observed that there has been drastic increase of pollution due to huge augmentation of carrier vehicles and industrial wastes. In order to make control of all these environmental aspects, lawyers and various environmentalists implement certain effectual environmental principles in order to create awareness about preserving the nature within the community people (University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, 2012). This paper intends to critically assess the execution of environmental principles in environmental law concerning different significant aspects. These aspects include the different principles relating to environmental law, environmental regulation and protection along with international and European Environmental La w. Principles of Environmental Law Polluter Pays Principle The ‘Polluter Pays Principle (PPP)’ is considered as an effectual guideline concerning the environmental policy. This policy implies that community people must take deliberate initiatives towards preventing the increased level of pollution. The major objective of the ‘PPP’ is to internalizing the external activities of environment so that every community people can become quite conscious towards maintaining the cleanliness of nature. The principle of international environmental law was initiated in the year 1972 and it is recommended by ‘Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’. OECD is recognized as a council that established the guidelines concerning international environmental law. The council stated that these guidelines should be executed for assigning the costs that are incurred for the prevention of pollution. Moreover, the council also introduced as well as implemented certain crucial initiatives with the intention of properly utilising the limited environmental resources (Lucia, 2010). The core meaning of the PPP is that any polluter should incur the costs in relation to the safeguard and the control

Why organisations should be concerned with high levels of labour Essay

Why organisations should be concerned with high levels of labour turnover and what can organisations do in an attempt to reduce it - Essay Example These people thereby tend to drift away from the main organisational objective and in a bid of frustration turn out from the organisation. Similarly a concern rendering enhanced emphasis on the training activities but working less on helping to enhance the productivity of the workforce also face similar problems. The organisation with less focus on enhancing the compensation aspects and also in rendering of other benefits happens to disturb the interest and productivity of the workers. Workers would thus endeavour to shift from such no gains concern to high gain jobs where they would be able to gain high increments both in the compensation package and other benefits. Thus absence of proper supervision and training mechanism coupled with a poor pay package with no proper increments happens to provoke the employees to take to new jobs. Hence the event of labour turnover significantly emerges onto the business scenario (Mudor and Tooksoon, 2011, pp.41-45; Aswathappa, 2007, p.615). The f actors that contribute to the growth of labour turnover problems in the organisation can be broadly grouped into two main types-internal and external. In the internal scenario the employees can get frustrated owing to the internal job policies of the concern for which they tend to quit the concern. The policies of the concern can largely change in relation to the technological and structural framework of the concern making the employees feel uncertain about their job and employee security. This tantamount to the employees seeking jobs in other stable concerns. Moreover a change in the management structure of the concern also happens to change the outlook of the supervisory tem... The paper tells that employees are concerned as the life blood of the organisations. The organisational managers are concerned in effectively managing this large pool of human resources through proper training and motivational functions. Training helps in enhancing the productivity mechanisms of the workers and also develops the relationship between the employer and the employees. Similarly different motivational activities both financial and non-financial are also taken to retain the employee base in the concern. Organisations in such approaches tend to render large amount of investment and thereby would endeavour to gain effective returns out of such. Therefore it is highly needed by a business concern to minimize the amount of employee turnover as it happens to impact the profitability parameter of the concern. Employee turnovers in a firm can occur both in a voluntary and in an involuntary manner. Voluntarily the employees can leave the firm owing to rising job pressures or being unable to fit into the required job role. Again a sudden accident or fatal event can lead the concern lose an employee. The employee turnover activity adds to the cost of the concern in that the concern would need to hire another employee to fill the post thus enhancing the recruitment cost. Again losing a skilled an experienced employee leads to considerable productivity loss for the concern. Labour turnover as an incident results in the organisation losing a large pool of effective human resources that would help in enhancing the productivity potential of the concern.

How fast-food has a significant impact in Childhood obesity Research Paper

How fast-food has a significant impact in Childhood obesity - Research Paper Example How fast-food has a significant impact in Childhood obesity? Childhood obesity is a serious/major public health concern and it currently getting a great amount of attention because of its wider economic impacts, as well as the long term consequences on children’s overall health, quality of life, academic achievements and productivity as they turn into adults. Fortunately, latest findings point out that the growth in the proportion of children categorized as obese or overweight has finally leveled off. Nevertheless, rates of obesity and overweight still remain high. â€Å"Almost 35% of children aged 6 to 19 years are overweight and roughly 19% are obese†. Taking health into consideration, the effects of obesity among children include coronary heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, orthopedic abnormalities and respiratory problems. One of the fields of the food industry, which is being held responsible for the prevalence of childhood obesity, is the FAFH – food-away-from-home – sector, in essence, the fast food industry. From the late 70’s till the mid 90’s, the volume of foods consumed away from home went up considerably from 16% to 29%. The eating patterns of children, particularly those in school, have echoed the fast growth of the FAFH industry. In the late 70’s, children obtained roughly 20% of their caloric intake from food FAFH sources. The data obesity surveys conducted from 2003 to 2006 show that food-away-from-home was liable for 35% of children’s caloric intake. A number of surveys have argued that children who take more fast-food have much lower dietary quality are also expected to be obese or overweight. This paper will discuss how fast-food has a significant impact in Childhood obesity. Background Whereas the main motivation of centering on children is the accessibility of geographically explicit information on weight measures for an extremely big sample, children are a significant group to research in their own right. â€Å"Among school aged chi ldren, 6-19 rates of overweight have soared from about 5% in the early 1970s to 16%, in 1999-2002† (Currie et al. 5). These rates are of significant concern provided that children who are obese are most expected to be obese or overweight as grownups and are gradually suffering from illnesses related to overweight when still young. Critics of the fast food sector point to a number of features, which might make fast food less healthy compared to other types of FAFH. These comprise of low time and monetary costs, high calorie levels of signature menu items and large portions. For sure, energy densities for personal food items are normally too high that it would be hard for people consuming them not to go past their normally recommended dietary intakes (Currie et al. 6). A number of consumers might be specifically defenseless. In two randomized practical trials concerning 26 overweight and 28 normal-weight children, Sinclair et al. (2833) contrasted caloric intakes on â€Å"unres tricted fast-food days,† as well as â€Å"no fast-food days.† The researchers found out that overweight children had much higher caloric intakes on â€Å"fast-food days† compared to â€Å"none fast-food days. The main fast food chains are also concerned in aggressive advertising to children. One particular experimental study of children aged three to five years provided them identical pairs of beverages and foods, the only distinction being that some foods were packaged by McDonalds (Robinson et al. 792). Data Sources and Summary Statistics Data for this paper came from three sources: school data and restaurant data. School Data The data on children from this study came from Californian schools from the late 90 and early 2000s up to 2007. The study of mostly 9th graders, which the paper centers on, represents 3.6 million student-year observations. In California, during spring, 9th graders are normally given fitness assessment test,

Prejudice is a learnt trait Essay Example for Free

Prejudice is a learnt trait Essay Prejudice is the quality or condition of judging someone or a group of people before you meet them, usually by using stereotypes. People are not born to be prejudice; they are taught and influenced by their parents, friends and surroundings. Furthermore, prejudicial attitudes stem from ignorance and this leads to an unbreakable chain. People are not born with the mentality of hating someone because of their race, culture or sex. â€Å"If your lens are prejudice, you are wearing the wrong prescription. † It is against nature to hate your own species. So how do people develop prejudice? It can be assumed that children are not as prejudice as their parents since they are generally happy to get along with anybody that’s nice to them because they have not been exposed to the stereotypes in society. As they grow up and become exposed to more ethnic groups and people, they are taught to stay away from certain individuals to protect them. Parents and teachers constantly remind children of â€Å"stranger danger† and this creates a template of who is dangerous which then carries onto their views later on in their lives. The template created by adults teaches children to have prejudicial attitudes towards certain types of people. If your parents taught you to trust women rather than men, as a child, wouldn’t you believe them? Children choose to believe their parents’ points of views because they haven’t had the opportunity to create their own opinions. As adults, parents would already have multiple experiences with different people and cultures, which they pass onto their children. As well as passing on their own knowledge, parents also hand down their prejudicial attitudes to their children. Consequently, children who develop these prejudicial attitudes pass them onto their own children as well. E. B. White once said, â€Å"Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts. † People choose to believe stereotypes because they’re easier to understand but also because they’re afraid of challenging them. Additionally, these fears of challenging stereotypes are associated with ignorance (lack of knowledge or information). When people lack the knowledge or information about a person or group of people, it results in prejudice. In the film, Gran Torino, the main protagonist, Walk Kowalski has limited experiences and also lacked knowledge of the Hmong, which ensued his prejudicial attitudes towards them. As his neighbor, Sue, teaches Walt more about the Hmong culture, he discovers that they have the same values as him and ultimately becomes close friends with them and even stands as a fatherly figure for Sue’s younger brother, Thao. It can be said that many people choose not to go through the effort of learning more about different people merely because it’s easier and less time consuming than building relationships with more people. Although, even if a person were to try and learn more about a different culture, they’d already have their own opinions based from stereotypes, which holds them back and hinders their ability to look past their prejudicial thoughts and feelings. Prejudice is the chain forged by ignorance to keep men apart, which is exactly why it is so unnatural. It goes against human nature to want to be apart from other people yet society is convinced that prejudice is normal and therefore acceptable to pass onto future generations. This belief is what causes the chain of prejudice to be unbreakable. People are prisoners of their own experiences. â€Å"No one can escape prejudice- only recognise them. † People recognise prejudicial attitudes and even berate others for being prejudiced when in reality, they’re doing the same thing. The reason why prejudice cannot be overcome is because society chooses not to. It’s never to late to give up our prejudices but instead of overcoming these preconceived ideas, people make the choice to continue to pass on their prejudicial attitudes to their children or even their friends and family. We pick up new prejudices as we go through life at school, work and also at home. You may hear people saying things about someone and because you don’t know anything about that person you instantly choose the side of the person talking because they are the source of the information you use to base your prejudice from. All it takes is one person to start the chain of prejudice. Children are not born with prejudice. No one is. The people surrounding you as well as your own experiences and surroundings teach you prejudice. It’s like talking or walking. Babies cannot talk or walk but are taught by their parents. Prejudice is the same.

Entrepreneurial Competencies And Business Performance Commerce Essay

Entrepreneurial Competencies And Business Performance Commerce Essay Entrepreneurship is an independent activity carried out at ones own risk, aimed at gaining regular profit from the use of property, sale of goods, performing works or services by persons registered in the manner prescribed by law (Peters, 2006). Entrepreneurship is an essential attribute of a market economy, penetrating all its institutions. Establishment (starting) of a business entity a legal entity, as well as corporate rights ownership are not business activities, except cases provided by law. An English professor Alan Hosking states that an individual entrepreneur is a person, who runs a business at his own expense, personally manages the business, is personally responsible for providing the necessary means, and makes decisions independently. His reward is a profit received as a result of business activity, and satisfaction he feels from running a free business (Rowley, 2010). But along with this, he also has to take the risk of losses in case of bankruptcy of his company. There is no generally accepted economic theory of entrepreneurship, although the need for such a theory has long been very urgent. The development of scientific understanding of the practice of entrepreneurship could be roughly called the three waves of development of the theory of business function. The first wave, which dates back to the 18th century, was associated with concentrating on the risks of an entrepreneur. The second wave in the scientific understanding of the entrepreneurship is associated with determination of innovation as its main feature. The third wave is specific for the focus on the particular personal qualities of the entrepreneur (the ability to react to changes in economic and social situation, independence in choosing and decision-making, management skills) and the role of entrepreneurship as a regulating principle in the balancing of eco system (Peters, 2006). The current stage of development of the theory of business function can be attributed to the fourth wave, the emergence of which is associated with the focus on the management aspect in the analysis of actions of the entrepreneur, and therefore on the interdisciplinary level of analysis of business problems. Currently, theoretical studies pay attention not only to entrepreneurship as a way of running business on the independent basis, but also to internal entrepreneurship, or intrapreneurship (Pinchot, 2000). The emergence of intrapreneurship is associated with the factor that many large industrial structures overtake the entrepreneurial form of organization of production. Since entrepreneurship implies the compulsory right for creative freedom, the units of integrated production structures get the right for the freedom of action, which implies the existence of intracapital the capital necessary for the implementation of the ideas lying in the base of the intra-company entrepreneurship (Pinchot, 2000; Teece, 2009). Entrepreneurship is a specific kind of economic activity (by which we mean a purposeful activity aimed at profit-making), which is based on self-initiative, responsibility and innovative entrepreneurial idea. Entrepreneurship is characterized by the presence of innovative moment whether it be manufacturing of a new product, change of the profile of activity or establishment of a new enterprise. The new system of production and quality management, introducing new methods of organizing production or new technologies are also innovative moments (Jones, 2003). Entrepreneurship represents a specific type of economic activity, since its initial stage is connected, as a rule, only with the idea the result of intellectual activity consequently gaining the materialized form. 1.2. Small and Medium Sized Enterprise The classification of small and medium-sized enterprises is usually based on the recommendations of the EU Commission of 3 April 1996, which suggests the following parameters (Jeppesen, 2005): Small and medium enterprises are the enterprises having less than 250 employees; or having an annual turnover of no more than ECU 40 million; or have a total annual balance sheet not exceeding ECU 27 million; satisfy the criterion of independence. A small business is defined as an enterprise which has less than 50 employees; or has an annual turnover not exceeding ECU 7 million; or has a total annual balance sheet not exceeding ECU 5 million; satisfies the criterion of independence. If a company initially operating as a small (medium) business within two years exceeds the criterion for the number of employees or capital structure, it loses its status as a small (medium) enterprise (Jeppesen, 2005). Modern socio-economic situation in the world is characterized by (Jones, 2003): Globalization of production and markets, high rates of technological development and modernization, increasing share of high-tech products in the market; Short life cycles, high degree of diversification of products and services, sharp fluctuations of demand for different types of products; Increasing value of intangible production, creative capital and knowledge economy in the global economy; Limited material resources and increasing requirements for environmental friendliness and safety of products; Increased demands for quality of goods and services, introduction of unified international quality standards. In these circumstances, SMEs are more flexible in responding to constantly changing market conditions, providing high efficiency of investment. As the engine of innovation, small firms provide a rapid generation of new jobs and self-employment of population when employment in traditional fields falls, thus weakening the social tension in depressed regions. Increase of the number of economically active citizens helps establish civic awareness of the population, increases creativity and willingness of society to social partnership, reduces the budget social loading, increasing opportunities to invest in development (Bhat, 2004; Jeppesen, 2005; Jones, 2003, Pinchot, 2000). Small Medium Entrepreneurship is the basis of a stable civil society. SMEs not only play a huge social role in supporting the economic activity of most of the population, but also provide significant tax revenue. In the current difficult situation, it is the SMEs that can act as a stabilizer, and therefore are worth the appropriate attention of society and government (Peters, 2006). World experience shows that if the state wants to develop dynamically and steadily, its socio-economic programs should always include measures to encourage small and medium businesses. Today, in developed countries, SMEs provide 40% to 90% of the gross domestic product (GDP) (Jeppesen, 2005). And so, it is natural that the governments of these states give priority to support the sector, providing high guarantees of private property preservation, broad economic independence and freedom of action, support of fair competition and anti-monopolistic activities, preferential loans and financing, substantial assistance in investment. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are recognized as an important part of the world economy and its economic structure, increasing flexibility, adaptability, enhancing stability at the expense of attracting new workers. The growing importance of small and medium-sized enterprises in industrial development, exports and employment is proved by the data of the labor force participation rates of non-agricultural SMEs (China 84.3%, Hong Kong 63.0% Indonesia 79.2%, Republic of Korea -78.5% Mexico 58.5%, Philippines 32,0%, Taiwan 68,6%, Thailand 73.8%) (Jeppesen, 2005). In the 90s, it was typical for TNCs to use the form of small business to expand their production and marketing networks. Such involvement of small enterprises is determined, above all, by the extent of their distribution. Small business is a kind of an antipode to orientation on a standardized large-scale production, which certainly played a role in the 50s and 70s creating in developed countries the basis for their welfare (Peters, 2006). The decisive role in the reassessment of SMEs was played by shifts in the socio-economic structure of developed countries, the change of orientation in consumer attitudes, motivation of labor. A differentiated point demand started to form. Individualization of consumption has changed the paradigms of service provision, stipulated the emergence of small flexible units able to rapidly respond to consumer demand (Bhat, 2004). Partial modernization that helped SMEs to fix in the world economic structure, and most importantly, rapidly changing consumer demand have created a new principle of production and sales, named customization. Its meaning is the orientation of manufacturer to the universal satisfaction of buyers requests, constant appeasing of consumer, and his binding to manufacturer. So the increase in the number of SMEs and their forms are directly dependent on industrial policy in general: small businesses are closely related to large ones, which updates the SMEs. Governments of the newly industrialized countries have managed to create competitive conditions in the economy, despite the strong position of major national conglomerates. Achieving a critical mass of SMEs in the national economy may be a factor of self-sustaining growth. 2. Entrepreneurial Competencies and SME Performance In the study The competitiveness of small and medium enterprises. A conceptualization with focus on entrepreneurial competencies, Man, Lau and Chan (2002) developed and analyzed a conceptual model describing the relationship between the specific characteristics of SMEs owners and their companies effectiveness. The presented pattern is built out of four concepts competitive scope, organizational capabilities, entrepreneurial competencies and firm performance, which will be analyzed in further subsections. Fig.4. A multi-dimensional construct of SME competitiveness Source: Model of (Man et al, 2002), The competitiveness of small and medium enterprises: A conceptualization with focus on entrepreneurial competences. 2.1. Competitive scope The competitiveness of the enterprise is a relative feature that expresses the difference between the development of the company from the development of competitive firms in the degree of satisfaction of peoples needs and in the efficiency of production. The competitiveness describes the capabilities and dynamics of the companys adaptation to the conditions of market competition. The competitiveness of the enterprise depends on several factors: the competitiveness of goods in a domestic and foreign markets, type of goods produced, market capacity (number of annual sales), simplicity of market access, homogeneity of market, competitive position of companies already operating in the market, competitiveness of the industry, ability of technological innovation in the industry, competitiveness of the region and country (Man 2002; Jeppesen, 2005; Jones 2003). As the world practice of market relations shows, the general principles that provide a competitive advantage to producers are (Jeppesen, 2005; Jones 2003): -Aim of each employee to act, to continue the job once it started. -Closeness to the customer. -Establishment of autonomy and creative atmosphere at the company. -Increased productivity through the use of peoples abilities and their desire to work. -Demonstrating the importance of common values. -Ability to hold ones ground. -Simple organization, minimum of management levels and personnel. -Ability to be both soft and hard. Keep the most important issues tightly controlled and pass less important ones to subordinates. The competitiveness of product and competitiveness of manufacturer relate to each other as part and whole. Companys ability to compete on a certain commodity market is directly dependent on the competitiveness of goods and the range of economic methods of the enterprise, impacting the results of competition. In the entrepreneur-consumer relations, the consumer acts as an indicator of the business process. The entrepreneur, in planning and organizing his activities cannot ignore consumers interests, expectations, and estimates. However, this situation does not mean that the entrepreneur is obliged to act only in strict accordance with the identified interests of consumers. He himself can form consumer demand and create new shopping needs. Thus, the entrepreneurs aim is the necessity to win consumers, to create his own range of consumers. The main means of entrepreneurs influence on consumer are the following factors (Jones, 2003): à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ novelty of the product and its compliance with consumer interests; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ quality; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ price, availability of goods; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ degree of universality of goods; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ presentation and packaging; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ positive characteristics differing the goods from other producers; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ access to after-sales services; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ conformity with generally accepted or government standards; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ prestige and attractiveness of advertisement, etc. Competition is an adversary activity between producers for the most profitable markets. The competition serves as a motivational force that compels manufacturers to improve product quality, reduce production costs, and increase productivity. Market competition and competition of countries they are located in have a mutual influence. At the heart of these main aspects of competitiveness is something that can be called soft components of competition, which cannot be evaluated in monetary terms and are difficult to quantify. In the industrialized countries, these components are usually more important than in developing countries. At the same time, soft components cannot be politically manipulated, and changing them requires more time than, for example, increasing productivity or building infrastructure. Despite the lack of developed methods of study, this group of factors of competition cannot be ignored. They include the following (Pinchot, 2000; Man 2002; Steenkamp 2010): work ethics, flexibility and willingness to self-improvement, willingness to work in the service sector, level of claims, openness to the outside world, labour mobility, spirit of competition. 2.2. Organizational capabilities Obviously, the stock market is ready to appreciate the value of some businesses higher, while the value of these estimates exceed than the indicators that reflect the real results of their activities. The gap between market and balance value of equity can be explained by the influence of those resources that are not included in the balance. These resources can justify the high market valuation only in the future when they start to work effectively, providing the company a substantial increase in profits. Such expectations are largely associated with intangible organizational capabilities (Man, 2002). Considering organizational capabilities as dynamic units, D. Teece (2009) defines them as the possibility of firms to integrate, build and reconfigure internal and external competencies in response to rapid environmental change. In fact, we are talking about controlling processes, which occur at all organizational levels of the enterprise. These processes in turn can be regarded as taking place in the time sequence of actions to meet the challenges. Each process can be controlled good or bad. Quality of control depends on the organizational capabilities of the enterprise. Dynamic capabilities of an enterprise can be narrowed to controlling three types of processes integration, reconfiguration, and training (Teece, 2009). The purpose of the integration process is to ensure efficient and effective coordination of resources. Moreover, these processes are the re-treatment of the already known tasks. Therefore, organizational capabilities, associated with the control over the integration processes, can be characterized as the replication capacity. Numerous case studies indicate the presence of a positive relationship between replication capability of the enterprise and the growth of business. The ability to control reconfiguration processes can be described as the ability to recognize the need of reconfiguring the structure of corporate assets and carry out the necessary internal and external transformation. This requires continuous monitoring of markets and technologies and the willingness to use the best practical experience. Reconfiguration processes lead to broad changes in the resource equipment of the enterprise (Bhat, 2004). The organizational capability to control the learning process includes the processes which through repetition and experimentation are helping to solve problems better and faster. It also allows the entrepreneur to identify new industrial opportunities. These organizational capabilities are seen as an important part of the replication and reconfiguration ability of the enterprise and are effectively expressed in them (Pinchot, 2000; Teece, 2009). D. Teece (2009) also distinguishes two types of training analytic (learning before doing) and experimental (doing before learning). Consolidation of organizational capabilities in the enterprise is the important factor in the calculations on the extended growth of the company, which requires the right balance between exploitation of existing and new capabilities. The essence of exploitation is to improve and expand existing skills and experiment with new alternatives (Steenkamp, 2010). Thus, the excess of market value of the enterprise over the balance value is due to the influence of its intangible resources, particularly organizational skills. Following the approach described by Man and Lau (2002), the potential organizational capabilities include innovative ability, ability to maintain or achieve high quality; cost effectiveness; and organicity as the ability to create organic organizational structures. The better the company codifies and transfers the knowledge of the staff, the higher is its efficiency, and thus the market value of the company. Generally, the market value of the enterprise grows, if it is well controlled processes of abstraction and absorption of knowledge and skills. 2.3. Entrepreneurial competencies The main economic goals of the SMEs in the market conditions are improving production efficiency, profit maximization, conquest of new markets and meeting the needs of the team. However, with the growing of influence of economic risk factors, there appear the advantages of free pricing, the possibilities of self-selection of suppliers and consumers. Entrepreneurship as a process is a complex chain of targeted actions of entrepreneurs, possessing certain entrepreneurial competencies (Table 1), since the inception of entrepreneurial ideas and ending with their embodiment in specific business projects. Table 1 showing Entrepreneurial competencies, their behavioral focus and preliminary elements. Adapted from (Thi, 2009) This process requires large expenditures of all factors of production, it is often doomed to a temporary setback, but eventually the entrepreneur is satisfied with the income. Consequently, entrepreneurship as a process involves the search for new creative ideas, their analysis and evaluation from the perspective of market needs and economic benefits, the formation of goals to implement the ideas, turning ideas into a new enterprise, the development of new products, improvement of the production organization, i.e. in implementing and translating ideas into concrete results (product, technology, services, etc.), bringing the entrepreneur the profit (Rowley, 2010; Steenkamp, 2010). Development and implementation of enterprise strategy consists in managing the economy at the micro level (Steenkamp, 2010), which requires the construction of an appropriate system that performs the following functions: directing (justification of goals and choice of ways of achieve them); coordinating (balancing of the major resource constraints and coordination of conflicting interests of all participants of production process); stimulating (activation of the driving forces of development). Experience shows that with the complexity of implementation of all tasks, one of the most difficult to implement is the last of these functions. It aims to motivate the employee to the success of the common business and the realization of his abilities and opportunities. Typically, traditional methods help to solve such a problem in practice only partially. According to experts (Jones, 2003; Bhat, 2004; Man, 2002; Rowley, 2010), most national economies now use less than a half of the creative potential of its employees (and this is obviously one of the root causes of the current crisis situation). Therefore, the way out of the deadlock should be sought in the motivation of people, in the first place, that is, in the sphere of interaction of their interests and benefits. But this requires a clear understanding of the composition and structure of economic interests in a managed team, it requires knowing and taking into account the interests not only common to the whole enterprise, but also the specific ones those of teams units (primary, ancillary, administrative, etc.), as well as of different categories of workers (by gender, age, skill level, etc.). The internal mechanism of economic management, the mechanism of stimulation and motivation cannot operate without such knowledge (Bhat, 2004). However, the external outline is equally important the mechanism of interaction between enterprises with different agents and contractors, partners and competitors in the region, country and abroad. This mechanism is even more complicated because of its novelty and the set of largely unfamiliar requirements introduced today by the market. The development of the models of behavior of enterprises with entities of external outline of relationship requires continuous analysis monitoring tracking the status of the external outline and timely identifying the emerging problems. First and foremost, it is the problem of marketing. Thus, the tasks mentioned above can be divided into two levels: macroeconomic (development of rules of the game by public authorities) and microeconomic (direct adaptation of concrete businesses to the new conditions of production and consumption of goods). According to the conceptualized model of the authors (Man, 2002), Strategic and commitment competencies, competitive scope, and organizational capabilities will positively influence the performance of an SME through their interactive effect. 2.4. Firm performance Firm performance or efficiency is the most important qualitative characteristics of management at all levels. It is a measure of production activity on the distribution and processing of various resources (tangible and intangible) (Man, 2002; Peters, 2006; Phusavat, 2007). Performance can be measured through the coefficient the ratio of results at the output of the resources and at their entrance. The problem of performance is in general is not new; it exists in varying interpretation from the period of appearance of material production and reflects the relationship of production relations of a particular type of production. Under the conditions of market relations, when the results of one market actors depend on the clarity and coherence of other actors, the problem of efficiency is a decisive one. The system of performance indicators should provide a comprehensive assessment of the usage of all enterprise resources and contain all the general economic indicators. General indicators primarily reflect the final results of production and implementation of strategic tasks. Functional indicators are used to analyze and identify the effectiveness of reserves, eliminate bottlenecks in production. As a multidimensional phenomenon, performance can be measured by the following 4 groups of indicators (Phusavat, 2007): 1. General indicators of economic efficiency (the rate of output growth, overall profitability and its growth, etc.); 2. Labor efficiency indicators (growth rate of labor productivity, share of growth in output as a result of productivity growth, etc.); 3. Indicators of fixed assets, operating assets and capital investments (capital productivity ratio, growth of operating assets to the growth of commodity output, the relative savings of production capital funds, working capital turnover, payback period of capital investment, etc.); 4. Performance indicators of material resources (relative savings of material costs, decrease of specific consumption of materials, etc.). Table 2 showing mostly used financial performance measures Source: taken from the research of (Thi, 2009) Table 3 showing financial and nonfinancial measures The provided indicators reflect the combined result of entrepreneurial activity. They are aggregated by many factors and may, in fact, be called generalizing. However, entrepreneurship includes a number of relatively independent activities: industrial, financial, commercial, communication, each of which has a direct impact on the results and thus, largely determines the performance of the entire business system. Each activity creates its own results, calculated in the indicators, reflecting the performance of individual business subsystems. If for evaluating the performance of the financial subsystem it is possible to use a set of indicators and parameters such as income from operations, cost of sales, net income excluding share of profit of associated companies, net tax before taxation and others, for a subsystem like the manufacturing one it is appropriate to suggest the following additional indicators (Peters, 2006; Phusavat, 2007): à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ production efficiency calculated by the type of resource output; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ labor productivity; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ profitability; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ measure of the effectiveness of industrial relations; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ system of indicators reflecting the efficiency of production management; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ indicator of the efficiency of HR management; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ system of indicators characterizing the efficiency of use of production and marketing information and others. The effectiveness of commercial subsystems can be assessed using ratios that make up the volume of product sales and expenses for the organization of its marketing and promotion, as well as indicators expressing coherence, interdependence and complementarity of the various elements of supply chain: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ indicator of the effectiveness of various sales channels, marketing systems, and intermediaries; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ system of indicators reflecting the effectiveness of sales network; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ index of reliability of intermediaries selection; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ system of indicators reflecting the effectiveness of sales and marketing information; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ indicators of the extent to which supply chain goals comply with objectives of marketing; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ duration of the implementation period (in relation to the cost of the marketing); à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ indicator of the relative value of the profit in the total turnover. Speaking separately on the effectiveness of communication subsystem, it must be emphasized that it is, in this case, not the whole system of market communication (effectiveness of various communication links is evaluated in different subsystems), but the communication between producer and consumer. This subsystem can use the following additional performance indicators (Steenkamp, 2010): à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ effectiveness of advertising (economic and socio-psychological); à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ effectiveness of sales promotion; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ system of indicators of exhibitions; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ effectiveness of use of various means of advertising influence à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ effectiveness of motivation study; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ system of indicators that reflect the information components; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ effective use of tools for creating public opinion about the company and its products. The index image of the enterprise deserves special attention. It can be used as an indicator of the result not only in the communicative subsystems, but in some cases and in relation to the entire system of entrepreneurship. For example, if a business entity is guided by the concept of socio-economic marketing and suggests operating in the long run, it can build target settings based on the need to strengthen consumers trust, to acquire the necessary social status and public recognition. In this case, the assessment of its performance can be performed through the characteristics that reflect its image (Steenkamp, 2010; Bhat, 2004; Man, 2002). The disadvantage of such assessment is unavoidable conventionality of the resulting indicators obtained with the help of the expert method. It can be reduced by the full use of norms and rules pertaining to expert modeling. In general, business performance can be evaluated not only by the size of the profit, but also by changes of the market value of the enterprise. The economic efficiency of production refers to the degree of utilization of productive capacities, which is indicated by the relation of the results and costs of social production. The higher result at the same cost, the faster it grows in the calculation per unit of socially necessary labor cost, or the less the cost per unit of useful effect, the higher is the production efficiency. The generalized criterion of economic efficiency of social production is the level of labor productivity.

Prostate Cancer and Nutrition

Prostate Cancer and Nutrition Anand Somasundaram Contents (Jump to) Plant Based Diets: Fish Oil Vitamins and Minerals Dangers of Meats, high fat diets and Nitrites Conclusion Works Cited Introduction: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer of men and the third most common cause of death from cancer. Prostate cancer usually occurs in men above the age of 50. Many men who have prostate cancer, do not show any symptoms. Screening for this cancer is usually done by a Digital rectum exam (DRE) and/or Prostate specific antigen test (PSA). Digital rectum exam is the palpation of the prostate through the anus to check the size of the prostate. Prostate specific antigen test is a blood test to check if the prostate is releasing this specific antigen in the blood stream which can be a strong indication of prostate cancer. Research has been done on preventing and reducing the risk of obtaining this cancer. In these studies, nutrition can play a vital role in reducing the chances of getting this cancer. Diets that high in fruits and vegetables, low in fat especially fat from meats are shown to decrease the risk and development of prostate cancer. Plant Based Diets: Specific food groups have shown in several studies to be a crucial tool in preventing and slowing the progression of this disease. One group of foods that have shown a significant reduction in avoiding prostate cancer is plant based foods. Plant- based foods are shown to contain high amounts of vitamins and elements known to reduce cancer cell. For example, plant- based food contains vitamins and phytochemicals such as carotenoids, flavonoids, phytoestrogens and isothiocyanates (Ma Chapman, 2009). These phytochemicals have shown to regress cancer cell development and stop tumor promotion. Furthermore plant based diets are high in antioxidant. Antioxidants are molecules that prevent the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is the reason behind the production of free radicals. In addition, antioxidants reduce the damage to DNA by binding to these free radicals and eliminating them from the body. Free radicals damage the structure of DNA which can lead to tumor growth. An important carotenoid and phytochemical is lycopene. Lycopene is found in fruits such as tomatoes. Lycopene is known to reduce insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) signing. IGF-1 is protein that has found to promote prostatic cancer cells and allow the prostate to be susceptible to cancer. Cruciferous vegetables such cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and bok choy all contain a compound call glucosinolate. Glucosinolate have shown in studies to reduce DNA damage, induce apoptosis and inhibit prostate cancer cell (Ma Chapman, 2009).They also possess phenethyl isothiocyanate, sulfophorane and indole-3-carbinol, which are compounds that have potential anti-cancer properties. Their mechanism of action involves the inhibition of  cytochrome P450  enzymes, which oxidize compounds such as  benzo[a]pyrene  and  polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons  (PAHs) into more polar  epoxy-diols. Cytochrome P450 enzyme is a known agent to cause mutation and cancer growth Another vegetable that constitutes an impact on tumor cells is soy bean. Soy beans contain isoflavones*. Isoflavones are organic 3-phenylchromen-4-one structure substances that natural occur in different types of foods. They inhibit enzymes associated with transmission of signals for tumor cell growth. `Tea especially green has been found to have similar effects to consuming vegetables and fruits. Polyphenol compounds in green tea have also been found to have the same effects as the cruciferous vegetables. They prevent metastases of the cancer, induce apoptosis and inhibit cell growth. Studies have shown that green tea inhibits tumor growth, therefore, leading to lower prostate-specific antigen levels and lower IGF-1 levels (Ma Chapman, 2009). One of these polyphenolic compounds is epigallocathechin-3 gallate (EGCG). EGCG is known to attach to urokinase, Urokinase is an enzyme that helps tumor cells grow. In the current market, there is a drug called amiloride and is used Amiloride can only have a maximum dose of 20 mg EGCG while normal cup of green can have upwards of 150mg EGCG. Another benefit is that green tea can be consumed at much higher rate than amiloride and not have physiological effect on the body (Jankun ,1997, p561) . Fish Oil The next groups of food that have shown to inhibit tumor cell growth are fish oils. Fish oil contains n3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. n3 polyunsaturated fatty acids are known to reduce serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) protein expression (Ma Chapman, 2009). PSA is produced by the prostate gland and is used by the body to liquefy semen. The body uses excretes PSA in semen but sometimes in the presence of cancer, the PSA escapes to the blood stream. There two main groups of fatty acids, omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. , Omega 3 fatty acids protect from cancer, while omega 6 fatty acids have been found to promote cancer when consumed in excessive amounts. One reason why omega 6 promotes cancer is because of its ability to promotion inflammation. (Tandon et al., 2008). Vitamins and Minerals Another antioxidant that has shown significant effect on prostate cancer cell growth is vitamin E. Vitamin E is considered as an intracellular antioxidant and an antiprostaglandin. * Antiprostaglandins are a group of molecules that reduce the production of mediators of the inflammatory process. As with any fat soluble vitamins, too much can have harmful effect. Intake of over 400 IU can be harmful to the body (Ma Chapman, 2009). In addition another vitamin that is important in inhibiting tumor cell growth is vitamin D. In studies, vitamin d has shown in both regular cells and cancerous to convert vitamin d into an active hormonal state. In this state, vitamin D has shown to inhibit tumor grow especially prostatic epithelial cells. (Tandon et al., 2008). Another substance besides vitamins that can help in the fight against is minerals. Minerals differ from vitamins in that vitamins are organic and contain carbon while minerals do not and are consider inorganic. A particular mineral, selenium, has been proven to be a protective agent. It reduces cellular proliferation, causes apoptosis and inhibits angiogenesis. (Ma Chapman, 2009). Angiogenesis is the growth of new capillary blood vessels in the body. In preventing blood vessel formation; the tumor cannot grow or spread (Li, Smith Li, 2011). Dangers of Meats, high fat diets and Nitrites All the foods discussed above have shown to decrease the instance of prostatic cancer cells. On the other hand, there are groups of food that are now known to promote prostate cancer cells. For example, meats especially cooked at high temperatures contribute to the production of cancer cells. When a meat is cook at high temperature, it releases carcinogens. Carcinogens are known to alter DNA which can lead to two results, apoptosis or promotes uninhibited cell growth. The two carcinogens that are produced during this process are Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). (â€Å"Why Carcinogens Cause Cancer†, n.d.). A way to reduce HCA and PAH formation in cooked meats is to reduce the amount of time the meat is cooked on an open flame. This can be done by continuously flipping the meat or using a microwave to shorten the cooking time on the stove. Another carcinogen that is found in meat is N-nitrosocompound. This carcinogen is found in bacon, hot dogs and anything containing sodium nitrate. Sodium nitrate is preservative added to food to not only preserve but also to add flavor to. N-nitroso is formed when the sodium nitrate combines with the amines in the meat to form this carcinogen. These N-nitroso compound attacks cells and can cause mutation to the molecule’s DNA (Mehdad, 2010). In another study, there was evidence that a high fat diet contribute to prostate cancer. In this study, men consumer high types of monosaturated and polyunsaturated fats significantly increase their chances of getting prostate cancer (Crowe et al., 2008). Men who were consuming 45 grams of total fat in a day have 10-20 percent increased risk of getting cancer (Park, Murphy, Wilkens, Henderson, Kolonel, 2007). In another study, there was a strong correlation between obesity and prostate cancer. In a study of eighty-seven men with prostate cancer, 89 percent of these men were overweight or obese. Ninety- seven percent of them had a body fat of twenty five percent or higher (Mehdad, McBride, Grillo, Camilo, Ravasco, 2010). Obesity increases the body’s production of IGF-1 which discussed early leads to cancer cell proliferation. Conclusion As with anything, specific groups of foods need to be taken in moderation. Daily activity and a balanced meal can contribute greatly to not only prevent cancer growth but living a healthy happy life. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer for men and the second leading cause of cancer death in men. Eating foods high in antioxidants, phytochemicals such as vegetables and fruits can lead to the reduction of prostatic cancer cell forming. In addition, avoiding diets high in preserved meats, diary and cooking at high temperature all can additionally reduce men’s chances of getting prostate cancer. Works Cited Crowe, F.L., Key, T.J., Appleby, P.N., Travis, R.C., Overvad, K., Jakobsen, M.U., Riboli, E. (2008). Dietary fat intake and risk of prostate cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 87: 1405-1413. Jankun, J. (1997, June 5). Why drinking green tea could prevent cancer. Nature, 381, 561. Li, W., Hutnik, M., Smith, R., Li, V. (2011). Understanding Angiogenesis. Retrieved from http://www.angio.org/ua.php. April 4, 2014. Ma, R.W.-L. Chapman, K. (2009). A systematic review of the effect of diet in prostate cancer prevention and treatment. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 22:187-199. Mehdad, A., McBride, E., Grillo, I.M., Camilo, M., Ravasco, P. (2010).Nutritional status and eating pattern in prostate cancer patients. Nutricion Hospitalaria,2 (3): 422-427. Park, S., Murphy, S.P., Wilkens, L.R., Henderson, B.E., Kolonel, L.N. (2007). Fat and meat intake and prostate cancer risk: the multiethnic cohort study. International Journal of Cancer, 121: 1339-1345. â€Å"Prostate Specific Antigen†. Retrieved from http://www.medicinenet.com/ prostate_specific_antigen/article.htm . April 4, 2014. Tandon, M., Siddique, R.A., Avrind, R., Singh, N.K., Ambwani, T., Rai, S.N. (2008). Anti-cancer diet: reviewing the role of nutrition in cancer prevention. Current Topics in Nutraceutical Research, 6(2): 67-82. â€Å"Why Carcinogens Cause Cancer†. Retrieved from http:// www.edinformatics.com/interactive_molecules/dna.htm. July 10, 2010. World Cancer Research Fund / American Institute for Cancer Research. Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective. Washington, DC: AICR, 2007 Jankun, J. (1997, June 5). Why drinking green tea could prevent cancer. Nature, 381, 561.

Cosmology and the Bible Essays -- cosmology, universe

As one grows older, he begins to question life and how the universe was made. Therefore, it is vital that he has a solid worldview. This worldview has its foundation in cosmology. Cosmology is defined as the branch of science concerned with origin, structure, changes, and the final destiny of the universe. Therefore, the importance of origins/cosmology in a worldview is that it shapes how one sees the universe. Without studying cosmology, one would not have a firm foundation for his worldview because he would not understand how or why the universe was formed. Through the study of cosmology, one is able to better understand how the universe was formed and how it will one day become. Therefore, cosmology affects a worldview because it sets a foundation for the perspective of the person because it explains how the world and living things came about. Thus, once someone determines the origin of the universe, he is able to build the rest of his worldview around th at one idea. In order for cosmology affect one’s worldview, he must first study it so that he is able to better understand it. This theory can be demonstrated in Spurgeon’s article, â€Å"Astronomy As a Source of Illustration†. Spurgeon opens his article with the statement, â€Å"every student for the Christian ministry ought to know at least something of every science, he should intermeddle with every form of knowledge that may be useful in his life’s work. God has made all things that are in the world to be our teachers† (Spurgeon 404). This statement could not be more true. Through studying cosmology, students are able to understand more about the universe that God has created. Thus, learning more about God and building the foundation for their world... ...on event. However, it is important to keep in mind that the theory must be aligned with the Bible. Works Cited Moffett, Rick. "Reliability of the Bible." Kenosha Christian Life School, Kenosha. 2011. Lecture. Moffett, Rick. "Worldviews-Biology/Geology." Kenosha Christian Life School, Kenosha. 2012. Lecture. The Privileged Planet. Dir. Lad Allen. Perf. John Rhys-Davies. Illustra Media, 2005. Black Board. BlackBoard. Blackboard Inc, 2014. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. Ross, Hugh. Why the Universe Is the Way It Is. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2008. Print. Schroeder, Gerald. "Chapter 4: The Six Days of Genesis." The Science of God: The Convergence of Scientific and Biblical Wisdom. New York: Free, 2009. 60-61. Print. Spurgeon, C. H. "Astronomy As a Source of Illustration." Lectures to My Students. Fearn, Ross-shire: Christian Heritage, 1998. 404-409. Print.

The Effect of Employee Assistance Programs At the Workplace Essay

The Effect of Employee Assistance Programs At the Workplace Throughout the business world, one of the largest problems individual businesses face is the use of illegal drugs and alcohol. These substances greatly affect the business and workplace environments for many individuals. Employee assistance programs were created to help deal with augmenting substance abuse problems. Employee assistance programs enable a companies and its workers to detect if a co-worker is having problems and aids in helping them to overcome their problems by giving them advice or suggesting counseling. Critics have noticed some problems with this program. One problem is the lack of confidentiality and the fact that co-workers and bosses are afraid to confront their workers. In order for companies to minimize their loss of money, and for employees to stop ruining their lives and the lives around them, the employee assistance program is a necessity. Appropriate prevention and intervention efforts with employee assistance programs will save companies from losing experienced employees, and save employees from failure and even death. The most tremendous problems that companies are facing in the Nineties are the abuse of drugs and alcohol. Alcoholism is defined as a chronic, progressive, and fatal disease. The American Medical Association has recognized alcoholism as a disease since 1956 (Scanlon 9). An alcoholic is identified as having a severe dependency, or addiction, and a cumulative pattern of behaviors associated with drinking. Alcoholism is apparent when someone is frequently drunk, having marriage problems, driving while intoxicated, getting fired, or being arrested (Drug Abuse). A significant difference between being an alcoholic and a drug addict is that drugs, no matter what the age of the user, are illegal. Drug abuse is defined as the use of a drug for a purpose other than for its possible intended medical purpose, which causes a person to be impaired physically, emotionally, and socially. In both cases people use these substances as a way to escape from their problems, and as a way of postponing upcoming problems in their lives (Scanlon 10). Substance abuse is the misuse of any substance leading to a loss of control over mind and body. Employee assistance programs were founded in 1971, and they: â€Å"Have been working to develop and main... ...Tyrone. â€Å"The Quick Fix.† The Seattle Times 22 Dec. 1997: C1. Cooper, Lynn M. â€Å"Work Stress and Alcohol Effects.† Journal of Health and Social Behavior Sept. 1990, 260-263. Dickman, Fred ed. Employee Assistance Programs. Springfield Illinois: Charles Thomas, 1988. â€Å"Drug Abuse Self Assessment Survey.† 23 April 1999. Gerhart, Clifford. â€Å"Fighting Substance Abuse on the Job.† Alaska Business Monthly Aug. 1996:46-50. Goldberg, Carol. â€Å"High Price of Addiction.† LI Business News April 1998:1. Hartwell, Tyler D. â€Å"Workplace Alcohol-Testing Programs.† Monthly Labor Review June 1998:27-28. King, Phyllis A. â€Å"Alcohol in the Workplace.† Supervision 59 (1998): 16-18. Maynard, Roberta. â€Å"Handling Drug Problem on the Front Line.† Nation’s Business Aug. 1997: 11. Miller, Andy. â€Å"Employee Assistance Programs.† The Atlanta Journal and Constitution 30 Aug. 1998: 7. Scanlon, Walter F. Alcoholism and Drug Abuse in the Workplace. New York: Praeger, 1986. â€Å"Substance Abuse in the Workplace.† 23 April 1998. â€Å"Substances in the Workplace.† HR Focus Feb. 1997:1-3. â€Å"The Economic Costs of Alcohol and Drug Abuse in the United States.† National Institute on Drug and Alcohol Abuse. 23 April 1999.

Female Struggles Essay -- Journalism Journalistic Papers

Patriarchal cultures are the universal reality of modern society. People who believe in equal rights for women try to expose the pitfalls of patriarchy. A role of the feminists is to fight patriarchy. In Salt Lake City, Utah where there are a number of people who belong to the Church of Latter Day Saints, also known as Mormons, patriarchy also exists. Terry Tempest Williams discusses patriarchy and women’s connection to the land in Refuge. Over time women’s status in society has become better, however in Mormon culture women’s rights have decreased. In Refuge, Terry Tempest Williams as an ecofeminist defies the traditional Mormon woman’s role. In Refuge the gender roles are not as clear as in society. Williams chooses to display the gender roles more subtly. We learn that women are very close to other women. We see men doing manual labor. You see the mother as the nurturer and the father as the provider. Terry Tempest Williams gives readers insight on the culture but not explicit ideas about how gender in constructed in Mormon culture. Outside of Refuge, women have really lost rights in the last few years. In recent years women have lost the right to have priesthood and give blessings though polygamy has ceased (Stack 2003). These struggles are specific to Mormons but there are many struggles that women face all over the country. The struggles that women face internationally are extensive. The female Mormons in Utah are not exempt from this struggle, in fact their struggles compare to women in the third world. In some Islamic states, the women have to cover their bodies so men can not see their bodies at all. Though Mormonism is not exactly the same, the status of women in the church has become progressively worse, making wo... ... a family, and if finances allow, be a stay at home mom. While women are supposed to be prepared for a career – in case they don’t get married, spouse dies, etc., the first priority is supposed to be raising a family, and often career plans are â€Å"just in case† (4/13/05). With the things that women know and do not quite know they make their opinions as all do. Even with the descent of women in Mormonism, through a thoughtful process, Sheena James herself chooses to be a stay at home mom in the future. There is no problem with this choice nor is it a problem for all women to make this choice; as long as there is a choice. Williams’ choice was not to perpetuate gender roles in her life. She still loves and appreciates her cultural practices though sexism exists in the culture. Being an eco feminist defies the traditional role of the woman as Williams does in Refuge.

Elizabeth Costello in J.M Coetzee’s in relation to the theme of Kafka’s works Essay

Elizabeth Costello is a humane, ethical and uncompromising creation of Coetzee. In Coetzee’s book The Lives of Animals, Costello is used to describe her dislike and rejection of the rationality of the criteria justifying the unequal treatment of animals. Costello claims that the purpose of the book is to clarify that to differentiate beings with regard of their species is a form of discrimination, indefensible and immoral. Costello also maintains that she had chosen the path not because she was not aware of the crucial kind of thoughts and sentiments of respect regarding other creatures, but because the reason was more universal and compelling to appeal. Costello maintains though she admired those who eliminated speciesism form their lives due to their compassionate regard for other creatures she did not believe a pressure to empathy and good-heartedness only would prove to majority of the people into the wrongness of speciesism. Nevertheless, the messages Costello portrays are not from the invisible world although from the invisible of this world most cases the voiceless like animals that she can access by imagination. She is not worried with other earthly, disembodied voices, although this-worldly, embodied and embedded voices, dead or alive perpetrators fictional or historical. The human critics such as Costello are opposed to the authority of the world of other world as he is to the powers of this world. Costello proclaims that there is not any salvation to be brought into being in an afterlife in immortality. Costello is midwife not to immortal Forms, although a mortal voices and to being of the voices. The power of imagination stays not only in its potential to stir up and listen to other voices and to enter into speaking for other including for the voiceless but also use narrative to depiction literature in the particular work of narrative that rationally is divine spark that raises mankind above the rest of nature therefore in showing our continuity with animal-kind which allows us to regain our death, our humanity and imperfectness. The similarities between Costello and Socrates are outstanding, and are more striking than their differences. Similar to Socrates, Costello attempts to prompt persons to realize their humanity, to open their hearts, to the anguish of animals. Costello just like Socrates is faced by unfairness, which in her case is the discrimination of specialism, which she attempts to dispel with counter-illusions. â€Å"What does one choose the side of justice when it is not in one’s material interest to? The magistrates give the rather Platonic answer: because we are born with the idea of justice. † (Paola, et al. , 95). In The Lives of Animals the disregarded has come to take account of non-human animals. Costello is convinced that there is a crime regarding animals as stupid that is perpetrated towards animals. Costello challenge is to attempt to extend justice to animals especially to those that resemble humans. In Socrates, Plato’s mouthpiece in the Republic, spends the whole discussion arguing for justice suggesting that it is better to live rightly and show to be unjust than being unjust with all material rewards that come by and yet show to be just, Costello ends her speech by saying that proof points in the opposite direction and that individuals can do anything and get away with it that there is no reprimand. In The Poets and the Animals Costello disapproves the ecological approach to animals suggested by Plato since Plato’s perception implies that only human beings can understand the position of living things in the entire picture of natural world and as a result solely have the right to manage animal populations not including human population. Therefore (Paola, et al. , 102), might have valid point which is that a person should not enforce principled vegetarianism on a society but its misdirected as a disapproval of the position of Costello since she had gone to the great lengths to disapprove reason as decisive criterion of moral worth and as an only means to live an ethical life. Costello maintains that it is not right to construe the animal rights movement like imposing vegetarianism upon free citizens. Instead it appears as protecting the interests and the rights of nonhuman animals, guarding animals form exploitation, though this might as well lead to outlawing the eating of meat. Nevertheless, is clear that just as Coetzee distrusts commitment to moral principles he is suspicious of certain notions of justice. Coetzee and Costello’s aim is to alter the heart of individuals through feeling, friction and compassionate imagination instead of enforcing a large-scale utopian changing of society as purportedly stated by reason. Costello is perceived as arrogantly superior and as heralding a foreign set of values that of fighting for animal rights in opposition to blindly anthropocentric culture, and both individuals made numerous enemies by courageously inquiring the prejudices of the people around them. The arrogance of Costello can be demonstrated by certain members his audience anger having their discrimination and lack of knowledge exposed. In addition, Costello seems to be earnestly attempting to break through the shadows of ignorance and prejudice with the light of her imaginative sympathy and is ready to admit that she dose not understand that she could be correct â€Å"Am I fantasizing it all? I must be mad! † (Derek, 69). Costello might be ironically aware that some of her images might be imaginative for example when she gives anthropomorphic feelings to ape, Sultan: â€Å"In his deepest being Sultan is not interested in the banana problem. Only the experimenter’s single-minded regimentation compels him on it. The question that truly occupies him, as it occupies a rat and the cat and other animal trapped in hell f the laboratory or the zoo, is: where is home, and how do I get there? † (Stephen, 69). Costello was attempting to get her audience to think, feel and imagine that in new ways about something persons do not care to regard at all, specifically their use and abuse of animals: certainly she desires people to imagine how it would experience in the place of an exploited animal a state of powerlessness. Costello believes the mission will awaken individuals form their assertive sleep. Costello does not attempt to reject the reason for the infallibility and its assertion to make a distinction between animals and human beings and therefore doe not give good reason for the exploitation of animals. In The Lives of Animals, Coetzee portrays Costello as a Socrates figure. The analysis starts with â€Å"What is Realism? † since it was first in 1997, prior to its publishing in Elizabeth Costello in 2003. The Socratic and Platonic ideologies are clearly evident in this story strengthens the contention that Costello plays a role as Socratic figure in The Lives of Animals. Certainly, Coetzee refers to this story in his fist foot note of The Lives of Animals therefore further sustaining this perspective. In â€Å"What is Realism? † Platonic ideas are crucial to the story. Even though Coetzee keeps interrupting his realist mode and drawing attention to the fact that it is an undertaking therefore suggesting that realism and certainly all fiction deals with imaginations and there are times the power of fiction to attain immortality is asserted though always ironical. The depiction to the monkeys echoes Costello’s discussion of Kafka’s ape, suggesting that artistic creation is what differentiates humans from other animals. The story of Socrates might also illuminate other features of Elizabeth Costello, as described in The Lives of Animals, namely her reference to her embodiedness and her mortality. A similar relationship takes place between Costello and Coetzee, and in spite of his undeniable intellectual contributions as a public thinker, Coetzee remains retiring and an imaginary figure. On the other hand Costello is depicted as heavily embodied throughout Elizabeth Costello and The Lives of Animals. Behind every dialogue of Plato Socrates emerges and there is a consciousness of the fact that Socrates will be executed by the Athenian democracy for impiety and corruption of the youth. The same feeling of Costello’s mortality, together with a declining sense of desire, accompanies all Coetzee’s works in which he is featured. Therefore when Costello cannot be regarded as a martyr for her beliefs as did the Socrates there is nevertheless a feeing in which she is dying for her beliefs. Costello’s own mortality and feeling of her mortality heightens her compassion for animals that are being bred in numerous numbers and when still healthy and young are being exploited for experimentation, hunting testing and slaughter. â€Å"After a long flight, Costello is looking at her age. She has never taken care of her appearance; she used to be able to get away with it; now it shows. Old and tired. † (Stephen, 3). These illustrations continue in the beginning of the first paragraph of The Lives of Animals: He is waiting at the gate when her flight comes in. Two years have passed since he last saw his mother; despite himself, he is shocked at how she has aged. Her hair, which had had sneaks of gray in it, now was entirely white; her shoulders stoop; her flesh has grown flabby. In Costello’s speeches death is recurrent topic, in a sense The Lives of Animals reads like a memento mori for Coetzee himself. John (Costello’s son) guesses that his mother was about to talk about death. John dose not enjoy Costello talking about death and in addition her audience who majority consists of young people do not want any talks regarding death. Costello goes ahead in comparing the mass killing of animals in abattoirs to the mass killings of Jews in Nazi death camps. All through her speech, Costello talk about and describes the Nazi death camps and she returns to discuss death while talking about Nagel’s bat-being. â€Å"What I know is what a corpse does not know: that it is extinct, that it knows nothing and will never know anything more. For an instant, before my whole structure of knowledge collapses in panic, I am alive inside that contradiction, dead and alive at the same time. † (Derek, 32). Costello’s talk about lives of animals can be more or less lessened to her own solitude, seclusion and awareness of her own human mortality and all that she required was compassionate interaction with other human beings. In Slow man Costello is illustrated as returning rejuvenated. In The Lives of Animals, when Costello starts her conversation, she returns to her use of Kafka earlier in another speech, â€Å"What is Realism? † in which she identifies with Kafka’s ape, Red Peter. In both cases Costello points her similarity with Red Peter in that they are both salaried entertainers performing before a literate audience. Afterwards in her speech, Costello returns again to Kafka, and uses the terminologyâ€Å" amanuensis† two times with reference to the association between Kafka and his imaginative creation, the ape Red Peter (Franz, 35). The meaning of â€Å"amanuensis† is a person employed to take dictation or to copy manuscripts. The use of the phrase is not usual since it implies that Kafka the author took dictation from Red Peters in his imaginative creation. The same case applies in the relation between the writer Coetzee and Costello his imaginative creation. In the two cases, the normal causal association between the author and the character, creature and creator is interchanged. Costello and Red Peters are used by the authors as creatures that have an artistic reliability, a life of their own, which the authors have represented faithfully. The authors have respected the individual beings and voices of these creations. The two creations are required to come across as living animals and not just the ideal of animals. In â€Å"What is Realism? † Costello disputes that the greatness of Kafka is that Kafka stays awake during the gaps when people are sleeping. † WORKS CITED Derek, Attridge, J. M. Coetzee and the Ethics of Reading: Literature in the Event. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2004. Stephen, Mulhall, The Wounded Animal: J. M. Coetzee & the Difficulty of Reality in Literature and Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008. Paola, et al. , The Death of the Animal: A Dialogue, New York: Columbia University Press: 2009. Franz, Kafka, The Diaries of Franz Kafka 1910–23 . London: Vintage, 1999.