Integrity and consensus: A Christian perspective on ethical management and education in South Africa

In this article the compliance- and values-based approaches to ethical management are explained and the challenges of the contemporary business and societal contexts in South Africa noted. The need for both moral integrity and character (with respect to perception, intention and virtue) and ethical consensus is extensively discussed. The importance of ethical dialogue as a means of reaching moral consensus, and the contribution of public theology (particularly Christian theology) are assessed. Finally, vital issues relating to business ethics management and education are outlined and some practical possibilities suggested

Towards a Christian Ethic of Work in South Africa

This paper draws on the academic field of Christian ethics and focuses attention on an ethic of work within the South African context. Key terms such as ‘an ethic of work’, ‘a work ethic’ and ‘ethics at work’ are discussed in relation to varied experiences of work. The issues of why one ought to work and what constitutes ‘good’ work are discussed with reference to current ethical and economic challenges. I argue that a Christian worldview, or understanding of reality, provides a much more credible contribution to an ethic of work than either a materialist view of reality or a system of patronage

“What are we eating?” A theological-ethical analysis of the effects of food additives on human beings, especially in South Africa

This article discusses Christian theological-ethical questions related to the processing of food and especially to the widespread use of food additives. First, the aims, parameters and methodology of the article are discussed. Secondly, the theme of food in the Bible is briefly explored, along with its theological implications. Thirdly, the wider cultural context of food production and processing is noted, along with the commercialisation of food. Next, the nature of food additives of various kinds, the reasons for their use and their effects on human beings are analysed to determine the extent to which their use is injurious or harmless. Throughout, and especially in the final section, a theological-ethical analysis of the use of food additives, especially in a South African context, is provided

Cultural pathways and pitfalls in South Africa: a reflection on moral agency and leadership from a Christian perspective

The nature and importance of moral agency for the transformation of persons and society, particularly from a Christian perspective, are discussed in this article. The focus is on cultural pathways and pitfalls with respect to the formation and exercise of moral agency on the part of individuals, leaders and communities. The six dimensions of cultural values as developed by Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars (2000) are used as a framework to describe and evaluate mainly western and African cultural values in order to identify ways of developing moral responsibility and genuine social transformation

Editorial

The purpose of this special issue is to highlight the importance of Christian leadership and to stress that the context within which leadership is reflected upon and exercised is important. All of the articles discuss aspects of leadership from a Christian theological perspective. We believe that an ongoing debate on leadership is important given the vast potential for good leadership to have a positive impact on the world. The contribution of Christians to this debate is vital, since people in all countries of the world suffer because of malign and destructive forms of leadership

Being and Becoming “Fully Human” in an Hiv-Positive World: Hiv/Aids and Feminist Christian Spirituality

Feminists have researched the link between gender and HIV/AIDS and shown that women are not always morally responsible for being HIV-positive. This article contributes to the debate by presenting a systematic discussion of women’s experience of HIV/AIDS and spirituality. It offers a model of full humanity that interprets the links between HIV/AIDS, poverty, and gender and uses feminist spirituality as a resource for transformed healing. The model was developed by weaving together the interpreted experiences of black, HIV-positive women participants with the teachings of feminist Christian spirituality. This research study shows that in responding to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, it is necessary to adopt an integrative, multifaceted and holistic approach that embodies the gender perspective so that the fully human spirituality of people and women in particular, is enhanced

CSF lactate dehydrogenase activity in patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease exceeds that in other dementias

The diagnosis of Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease (CJD) is still made by exclusion of other dementias. We now evaluated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) as a possible additional diagnostic tool. CSF LDH levels of patients with CJD ( n = 26) were compared with those in other dementias ( n = 28). LDH isoenzymes were determined in a subset ( n = 9). Total LDH and isoenzyme LDH-1 were significantly higher, whereas the fractions of LDH-2 and LDH-3 were significantly lower in CJD patients. We conclude that in addition to established CSF parameters, LDH and its isoenzymes might serve as a further help to discriminate between CJD and other dementias. Copyright (C) 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel

Quality analysis of critical control points within the whole food chain and their impact on food quality, safety and health (QACCP)

The overall objective of the project was to optimise organic production and processing in order to improve food quality and increase health promoting aspects in consumer products. The approach was a chain analysis approach which addressed the link between farm and fork and backwards from fork to farm. The objectives were to test food authenticity on farm level and food quality and health in processing. The carrot was chosen as the model vegetable since it is common for the involved partners from industry and is processed for baby food; hence the results are relevant for other vegetables and organic food in general as well. - Identify and define critical and essential product quality parameters useful to optimise organic food quality - Compare products from different farming practices (conventional and within organic) - Performance of QACCP (Quality Analysis Critical Control Point, similar to HACCP methodology) - Test the impact of the food chain (focusing on processing techniques) on the product quality and safety - Test the impact of organic food on healt

Separated Oscillatory Fields for High-Precision Penning Trap Mass Spectrometry

Ramsey's method of separated oscillatory fields is applied to the excitation of the cyclotron motion of short-lived ions in a Penning trap to improve the precision of their measured mass. The theoretical description of the extracted ion-cyclotron-resonance line shape is derived out and its correctness demonstrated experimentally by measuring the mass of the short-lived $^{38}$Ca nuclide with an uncertainty of $1.6\cdot 10^{-8}$ using the ISOLTRAP Penning trap mass spectrometer at CERN. The mass value of the superallowed beta-emitter $^{38}$Ca is an important contribution for testing the conserved-vector-current hypothesis of the electroweak interaction. It is shown that the Ramsey method applied to mass measurements yields a statistical uncertainty similar to that obtained by the conventional technique ten times faster.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 0 table

Proteomic analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

So far, only the detection of 14-3-3 proteins in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has been accepted as diagnostic criterion for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). However, this assay cannot be used for screening because of the high rate of false-positive results, whereas patients with variant CJD are often negative for 14-3-3 proteins. The aim of this study was to compare the spot patterns of CSF by 2-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) to search for a CJD-specific spot pattern. We analyzed the CSF of 28 patients {[}11 CJD, 9 Alzheimer's disease ( AD), 8 nondemented controls (NDC)] employing 2D-PAGE which was optimized for minimal volumes of CSF (0.1 ml; 7-cm strips). All samples were run at least three times, gels were silver stained and analyzed by an analysis software and manually revised. We could consistently match 268 spots which were then compared between all groups. By the use of 5 spots, we were able to differentiate CJD from AD or NDC with a sensitivity of 100%. CJD could also be distinguished from both groups by using a heuristic clustering algorithm of 2 spots. We conclude that this proteomic approach can differentiate CJD from other diseases and may serve as a model for other neurodegenerative diseases. Copyright (C) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel