Hidden Agenda Research Articles

Genetically modified organisms and the age of (Un) reason? A critical examination of the rhetoric in the GMO public policy debates in Ghana

Using narrative policy analysis we examined the adversarial rhetoric of claims-makers in their bid to undermine alternative and conflicting accounts of GMOs as environmental and human health risk and to forestall any challenges to the scientific authority of the technological deterministic account of the GMO policy debates in Ghana. The study shows that the GMO discourse was built with the rhetorical frames of smallholder farmer vulnerability and entitlement used in the account it contradicts, thereby legitimating its own appeal for responsive remedies. Civil society claims attacked GMOs as discriminatory and as an environmental and human health risk. Government and scientists engaged in unsympathetic counter rhetorical strategies in hopes of debunking or neutralizing the claim made by civil society. In other words, Government and scientists were denying the claim that GMO was discriminatory and posed significant human health risk, as well as the call to action to do something about GMOs. Civil society adapted the counter rhetoric of insincerity, claiming that scientists had some kind of “hidden agenda” behind their claim, such as eagerness to just earn money from their patents on GMOs. It is imperative that communication on GMOs includes the underlying assumptions, the uncertainties and the probabilities associated with both best and worst case scenarios. This is a necessary condition to minimise misinformation on GMOs but may be insufficient to completely erase conspiracy theories from the minds of the public especially when scientists and government are perceived to be biased towards multinational corporations that are ostensibly preoccupied with making profits.

HIDDEN AGENDAS? The risks of human trafficking legislation

South Africa is a signatory to the United Nations Protocol on Trafficking in Persons, and is likely to draft legislation on the topic soon. But the extent of the problem in South Africa is unclear, and the offences involved in trafficking are punishable under current law. To avoid unintended consequences, care is needed in drafting a new law in this area.

Exploring language attitudes and ideologies in university students’ discussion of Irish in a context of increasing language diversity

ABSTRACTThe apparent gap between positive attitudes and low levels of everyday usage of the language is often cited as one of the greatest challenges facing Irish language revitalisation. In a context of increasing linguistic and cultural diversity in the Republic of Ireland, this article reports on a research project which set out to explore the attitudes of groups of Irish undergraduate students towards the languages which they come into contact with in their daily lives, in particular, the Irish language, using a focus group method. Four themes in particular emerge in the students’ discussion of Irish as they encounter it in their everyday lives: ‘functionality’, ‘a hidden agenda’, ‘exclusivity’, and ‘heightened culture’. The metapragmatic comments of the respondents indicate deep ambivalence towards use of the Irish language, as well as complex language-ideological positions. The linguistic authority [Woolard, 2008. Language and identity choice in Catalonia: The interplay of contrasting ideologies of linguistic authority. In K. Süselbeck, U. Mühlschlegel, & P. Masson (Eds.), Lengua, nación e identidad. La regulación del plurilingüismo en España y América Latina (pp. 303–323). Frankfurt am Main: Vervuert/Iberoamericana] of Irish as both an anonymous and authentic variety is contrasted negatively with that of allochthonous languages in Ireland, such as Polish. Our study suggests that a fuller understanding of this apparent paradox may be facilitated by qualitative approaches, which explore attitudes in depth.

One option, two countries, several strategies: subjacent mechanisms of assisted migration implementation in Canada and France

Climate change obliges societies to develop adaptive strategies in order to maintain sustainable management of resources and landscapes. However, the development and implementation of these strategies require dialogue between researchers and policy‐makers about what they understand for adaptation. This dialogue can be hindered by language differences, the hidden agendas, and conflicting concerns of those involved. In this research study, we explored the mechanisms that underlie the implementation process of assisted migration (AM), an adaptation strategy that aims to limit the impact of climate change. We conducted a comparative analysis of 80 semistructured interviews with actors in the forestry sectors in Canada and France. In Canada, our results show a division between the provinces strategies, causing a debate about AM because researchers are wary of the geoengineering and economic arguments that frame AM in areas where the effects of climate change remain unclear. In contrast, we found that the observation of climate impacts is a strong trigger for the application of AM despite an awareness of its associated risks. In France, we explained the absence of AM implementation by a lack of information flow between research and foresters regarding the concept of AM, a cultural attachment of French foresters to their forest landscapes and that climate change effects are not clear yet. Clarity on what implies a true ecological engineering approach in ecological restoration can help maintaining adaptive actions like AM within the general scope of ecosystem management and minimize simplistic applications of adaptation strategies because of climate change.

'Something Wicked This Way Comes': Political Correctness and the Reincarnation of Chairman Mao

'Something Wicked This Way Comes': Political Correctness and the Reincarnation of Chairman Mao

Ethnic movement in North-East India and its affect in human security of the region

India, more particularly the North-East India is a land of various ethnic and tribal groups. It has described as the cultural mosaic of diverse tribal communities, linguistics and ethnic identities. This very sensitive region has been in much debate prior to independence. It’s because of the ethnicity and extremism prevailed in this particular region. When we are talking about the increasing frequency of the ethnic movement in the region we see a gradual deepening of insurgency and identity questions on the part of the diverse ethnic groups inhabited here. The State’s response to the entire issue, in most of the times, the civil society organizations objected that, has converted a number of democratic movements into insurgency which results in political violence in the region. This eventually led a deficiency syndrome on the part of the state. The bigger question is that whether the state is really deficient or is working with a hidden agenda with resource exploitation is the top priority of the regime and people are not even the last component of the agenda. In most of the times the root of the ethnic identity movement could be traced to the colonial period, where the concept of Excluded area and partially Excluded Areas comes with the Act of 1935. The continuous wide spreading of these ethnic movements in the region raise the question of Human Security dimensions like food, education, cloth, shelter etc. This paper broadly tries to overlook the issue of ethnic movement and the eventual question of Human Security and ongoing military operations in NE India.

The Dark Forest

The third part, a rush of unchaptered narrative, takes place during the German occupation of Denmark and focuses on Kaj, now a methamphetamine-driven coordinator of samizdat news-sheets. Ib, too, has joined the Resistance but is a shadowy figure , close to cardiac collapse. The brothers both die in 1944: Ib in a hospital respirator and Kaj in Gestapo headquarters. He jumps to his death after having been tortured into submission by a German officer, the exhusband of Kaj’s one-time lover. So far, so gripping, but the fourth part is more remarkable still. It consists of short entries in Ib’s civil war diary during the months when, fascinated by the pain of others, he went AWOL in the Finnish hinterland . In part 1, that war, as seen by Kaj, makes some sense; “Ib’s war” is insane and unendurably beautiful. Arguably, the novel’s structure is further complicated—purists might call it “messed up”—by extras such as hospital case notes, a Gestapo report, philosophical asides (the spirit of Kierkegaard hovers), quotes from the Book of Revelation, fragments of letters , and alarmingly funny poetry. But the writing—intelligent, intense and sensuous —makes all these elements fuse into a compelling, readable whole. Afgrunden is an extraordinary and truly great novel. Anna Paterson Aberdeenshire, UK Cixin Liu. The Dark Forest. Trans. Joel Martinsen. New York. Tor. 2015. 512 pages. Suppose you know with certainty that in four hundred years a cosmic event will obliterate the human race. Suppose, for example, you are a brilliant strategist and former secretary of defense, or a renowned neuroscientist and quantum physicist. You have access to almost limitless resources and are accountable to no one. What would you do? This question drives The Dark Forest, the second novel in Cixin Liu’s celebrated trilogy Remembrance of Earth’s Past and sequel to his Hugo Award–winning The Three-Body Problem (see WLT, Sept. 2015, 63). That novel ended with definitive proof of the far-distant threat and with an event that brings to a permanent halt all fundamental scientific research. The Dark Forest, which plunges right into the ongoing story, tells of the first two of the four centuries before humanity’s demise. Any effort to save humanity will require technological progress, which is hamstrung by the end of science. Efforts are further crippled by familiar human foibles: hubris, vanity, hidden agendas, lust for political capital, warring factions within military and political institutions, and so on. The worsening crisis causes even the most ethical of individuals and institutions to resort to kidnapping , emotional blackmail, and murder. In response, the United Nations chooses four men to constitute “The Wallfacer Project .” Given access to unlimited resources and accountable to no one, these four are charged with devising and implementing plans that, four centuries hence, will prevent the extinction of humanity. But there’s a catch: they must not write down or speak about their true plans; rather, they must become “the world’s perfect liars.” Three of the chosen are luminaries. But the fourth, Luo Ji, is an aimless slacker: a second-rate, opportunistic scientist more reminiscent of, say, Toru Okada, the narrator of Haruki Murakami’s The WindUp Bird Chronicle (1997), than of Liu’s intense characters. Yet this most improbable of protagonists becomes the fulcrum on which the fate of humanity turns. The greatest surprise of The Dark Forest is its emphasis, amid spectacular set pieces and dollops of hard science, on ideas in conflict. Driving these conflicts is the overriding question, Given the certainty of the threat and the scales of space and time Susan Stanford Friedman Planetary Modernisms: Provocations on Modernity Across Time Columbia University Press Susan Stanford Friedman deconstructs and analyzes the idea of modernity as a recurring phenomenon across millennia. By analyzing the works of writers across many times and cultures, Friedman argues that instances of creativity and innovation have occurred throughout history. Hailed as a groundbreaking book in the field of modernist theory, this book is bound to spark intellectual discussion for years to come. Maureen Freely Angry in Piraeus Illus. Rie Iwatake Sylph Editions Maureen Freely is an American who was raised in America, Turkey, and Greece. A...

Failing Better

The publication of Beckett’s letters and the availability of the manuscript of Murphy have thrown new light on the curious chess game at the novel’s dénouement. In tracing the revisions from manuscript through publication and subsequent translations, I compare Beckett’s play with the conventions of the game and reconstruct the largely parodic hidden agenda of chess references in Beckett’s early work, their roots and ambivalences, as well as their place in the larger context of Beckett’s writing.

Here There Be Dragons: Exploring the Uncharted Waters of Hidden Curricula in Legal Adult Education

Legal education in Ontario is intended to transform the student from a naive individual to one equipped to embark on a career as a lawyer or paralegal. This agenda disclosed by the educational institution and supported by the Law Society of Upper Canada, matches at least the initial aim of most students; this is the immediate transformation students seek. Other aims are not so openly disclosed: law societies may impose a duty on educators to inculcate civility and professionalism (the attitudes and manners of upper middle-class Victorian gentlemen), without acknowledging that such attitudes exclude racialized or immigrant students, working class students, and women. For law-school students, encounters with the hidden agenda may leave them depressed, furious, alienated from their community, and lacking recourse. Paralegal education has a similar, but not as deeply entrenched, hidden agenda.

Ecological Universities: An Armada of Adaptation

In support of Robert Barnett's thesis, this essay addresses challenges that confront post-modern institutions of Higher Education as functions of corporate policies and hidden agendas that have reshaped post-Modern universities via the sedulous negation of classical instruction in lieu of mass conditioning. Fabian Socialists are indicted along with elitist foundations for the denigration of higher learning in favor of social constructions that endorse global fascism. The paper addresses typical problems in Malaysia and proposes a return to genuine meritocracy vs. the business model that embraces politically correct quotas, bias and unqualified candidates. The author suggests an expansion of facilities (e-learning) and concepts that more properly embrace and nurture the community's commonwealth by adopting and modifying traditional strategies that usher the 'Public Ecological University' to the adaptation rostrum of Higher Learning.

Where do they stand? Spatial arrangement of patient companions in geriatric out-patient interaction in Taiwan

Using 69 medical encounters collected in southern Taiwan, this research examined two issues related to spatial configurations in geriatric triads: the entering sequence of elderly patients and their companions and the spatial arrangement for companions in the consultation room. The main findings include the following. The prevalent entering sequence of patients entering the room followed by their companions (78.3%) reflects the elderly patient’s role as the legitimate party for medical service, a dependent on the companion, and a superior/senior family member to their adult child. Exceptions to this sequence also suggest a potentially marked relationship, e.g., companions with a hidden agenda, of doctor’s acquaintance, or without close rapport with the patient. As most companions’ physical locations are not arranged by doctors (87%), they tend to stand near the door (47.8%) or between doctors and patients (20.3%). These two configurations reflect a fast opening pattern observed in Taiwanese context, in which neither companions’ identities are introduced nor are their physical positions arranged. This research sheds light on cross-cultural studies by showing how socio-economic variants shape verbal and nonverbal interaction in medical encounters.

Check-up examination: recommendations in adults.

Check-up examinations, or periodic health examinations (PHEs), have gained in importance during the last decades and are nowadays among the most common reasons for consultations in primary care settings. The aim of PHEs is to identify risk factors and early signs of disease, but also to prevent future illness by early intervention. Therefore, each PHE should include counselling, immunisation and physical examination according to the patient's age and gender. However, deciding whether to screen a patient and choosing the most appropriate screening method can be challenging for general practitioners. The U.S. Preventive Service Task Force (USPSTF) provides updated recommendations on different existing preventive care measures based on relevant literature review. The aim of this review is to provide an updated statement of recommendations regarding preventive care measures based mostly on the guidelines derived from the USPSTF and the Swiss Medical Board. Among the major updates, there is no recommendation anymore to routinely screen for breast cancer and prostate cancer in asymptomatic adults. Since 2013, however, the USPSTF recommends annual screening for lung cancer with low-dose CT in patients aged 55 to 80 years with a smoking history of ≥30 pack years. During PHEs, the physician should be alert to the patients' hidden agendas, which are the reason for one third of all consultations in primary care.

Little White Lies by Katie Dale (review)

Reviewed by: Little White Lies by Katie Dale Alaine Martaus Dale, Katie Little White Lies. Delacorte, 2014 369p Library ed. ISBN 978-0-375-98960-5 $20.99 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-385-74067-8 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-375-89973-7 $10.99 R Gr. 10 up Nineteen-year-old Lou Shepard has changed her last name for her first year at college in order to escape the notoriety of a crime that left her beloved cousin in a coma and her uncle in prison for killing her suspected assailant. Lou’s alias also facilitates her real agenda: to track down and destroy the attacker’s alleged accomplice. With the help of one old friend, hacker Kenny, and one new one, aspiring journalist [End Page 305] Vix, Lou infiltrates the life of Christian Webb, aka Leo Niles, the guy she thinks got away with murder. Pretending to be Christian’s friend turns out to be easy, but as the two spend more time together, fighting the desire to be more than friends seems impossible. Soon Lou realizes that Christian might just be innocent, but violent vigilantes are still on his trail looking for justice. This powerful suspense story succeeds largely on the strength of its plotting. The slow, deliberate reveal of clues, both to what Lou thinks happened and what really happened, will draw readers in, while a series of unexpected plot twists will keep them guessing right up until the end. Christian/Leo is a little too earnest and forthright, undermining the believability that he ever seemed guilty, but Lou is intriguingly, authentically erratic, torn between grief, guilt, rage, and her unwanted affection for the guy she wants to hate. The rest of the cast is equally enigmatic in the best way, each with their secrets, lies, and hidden agendas. A worthy addition to the growing field of New Adult, post–high school fiction, this well-crafted mystery-romance is sure to please the sophisticated young adult crowd as well. Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

AAIB & CSR in Egypt: A 10 year Review!

Though the CSR concept had started to attract scholars’ attention from Bowen’s writings in the 1950s, it remained an under researched topic in developing countries. Emphasis on CSR had begun when the international standards & protocols (i.e. SA 8000 & Global Responsibility Initiative), indexes (i.e. FTSE4Good & Dow Jones Sustainability Index) & conventions (i.e. UN Global Compact) had started to gain increased endorsement from varying organizations & communities operating across different countries. Moreover, as the stakeholder theory had gained major literature support within the CSR area, it serves well to identify this concept within a developing country’s context, like Egypt giving a banking organizational experience; Arab African International Bank (AAIB); that was turned into a successful value-creation operation to all involved stakeholders. In-depth interviewing was conducted with the CSR Head within AAIB, along with siding to different organizational publications to deduce & analyze the information acquired & presented within the case. Further to that, AAIB’s experience postulates a remarkable one as it reflects the CSR operations in Egypt pre the turning point of 2011, which would serve in setting a benchmark of comparisons later on due to the fact that CSR activities are now under high scrutiny & public questioning in relevance to their hidden agendas & objective

Food safety: Who′s who

Healthy lifestyle has fashionably accommodated so-called high-quality eating practice among the great majority of masses. It has been believed by the practitioners of medicine since civilization time immemorial, usually than not, that healthy intake of foods is key elements of disease prevention and health promotion. In the epoch of millions of innovations and protocol supported clinical practice guidelines, transparent steps and ethical approaches have been initiated as the mainstay of health care delivery. As a natural expectation, every patient and their caregivers expect the advice on diet as a hidden agenda from their health care providers. Holistic dietary practice guideline and training module on diet and food safety are needed for all levels of health care providers for the optimum care in health and disease to the last man on the road.

KAJIAN DINAMIKA KELOMPOK PEMBUDIDAYA IKAN “ANUNTO” DALAM PENERAPAN MODEL TEKNOLOGI INTEGRATED MULTITROPHIC AQUACULTURE (IMTA) DI KOTA SAMARINDA

The purposes of study were to describe : the characteristics of Anunto’s fish farmer members, the perceptions toward IMTA’s models, the role of extension officer, group dynamics and analyze the correlation of all variables.The sampling method applied was census method taken 28 respondents. The data process was based on Spearman rank correlation test and presented descriptively. The results showed that members of Anunto group of fish farmers were dominated by productive ages, middle level on formal education, low level on non formal education, low level on experiences about aquaculture business, primary income sources were not related to fisheries. Group member perceptions toward IMTA characteristics were in the medium level consisting indicators of compatibility, complexity, triability and observability, while the indicator of relative advantage was high.The influence of extension officer in developing the group dynamics were high as facilitators and educators, while the influence as advocator was in medium level. Statistical analysis showed that group dynamic characteristic variables on indicators : aquaculture’s experience, joining group’s experience and primary income source were correlated toward the group dynamic variables on indicator : group’s purpose, group’s structure, group’s cohesiveness, groups’s task function and hidden agenda. The variable of member perception of technology on indicators: complexity and trialibility were correlated toward the group dynamic’s variable on indicator: group’s purpose and groups’s task function. The variable of extension officer’s influence on indicator:: advocator was correlated toward the group dynamic’s variable on indicator : group’s atmosphere.

Maritus v Mulier: The double picture in adultery laws from Romulus to Augustus

This article investigates the double set of standards applicable to Roman spouses' adultery. It argues that adultery occurred from Romulus to Augustus and was always considered to be the extramarital relationship by or with married women. It examines the position of both the unfaithful husband and the unfaithful wife with regard to conduct which resulted in adultery, its consequences and the measures or remedies available to the injured spouse. Furthermore, the article argues that the social role of the Roman materfamilias and matrona, the Roman male-dominant society and the hidden agendas of Roman authors could be seen as possible reasons for the different moral principles. The article concludes by pointing out that the unfaithful husband was in a much more favourable position than the unfaithful wife and that the social role of the Roman materfamilias and matrona in a male-dominant society appears to have justified these double standards.

Trends of psychology-related research on euthanasia: a qualitative software-based thematic analysis of journal abstracts

Euthanasia has received increasing attention in both academic and public debates as one of the most controversial issues. However, the contribution of psychology-related themes to the topic has had little role on these ongoing debates. The aim of the present study is twofold: (1) to explore the main themes relating to euthanasia as provided by psychology-related research; (2) to analyze the temporal trends of psychology-related research on euthanasia over the last decades. A comprehensive search of academic literature was conducted on PsychINFO database. A qualitative software-based thematic analysis was carried out on 602 journal abstracts published from 1935 to 2014. This study highlighted four different thematic areas which characterized the scientific discourse on euthanasia: (1) moral values, in terms of religious, philosophical, and social implications concerning the individual’s decision to die; (2) professional ethics, in terms of health and social workers’ legal responsibility in death assistance; (3) end-of-life care, with regard to medical options provided to support individuals nearing death; and (4) patient’s right to healthcare, in terms of access to palliative care and better quality of dying. Euthanasia discourse over the last decades seems to be overall characterized by two main dimensions: (1) the increasing trend of social legitimacy and acceptability of euthanasia over time, which moved from ethical to healthcare issues; and (2) the curvilinear temporal trend about the request/provision process in euthanasia, which moved from patient’s decision for ending life (mainly characterizing the most past and recent research) to the role of health professionals (with a peak in the 1990s). The results suggest palliative care as a potential future research area which can provide healthcare providers with skills to ‘connect’ with patients, understand patients’ hidden agendas, and grant a good quality of life and dying process.

The Trans-Saharan Railway and the Politics of Imperial Expansion, 1890–1900

The trans-Saharan railway scheme was the dominant, if intermittent, theme of French African expansion in the last 20 years of the nineteenth century. Behind political and economic arguments for the scheme lay a hidden agenda—the promotion of Algerian railway interests. Its revival in 1890, after a ten-year interval, was driven by a need to safeguard returns on railway investments, threatened by the growing political influence of the Radicals. Success in a campaign on its behalf was dependent on reinvigorating empire-building in tropical Africa, a function performed by the Chad plan, which also provided the required territorial configuration for a trans-Saharan railway. Subsequently, interest shifted from West Africa to the Sahara where efforts to promote railway construction through exploitation of the Tuat question stood greater chances of success. Saharan expansion was delayed for almost a decade by the obstinacy of the Algerian generals and the timidity of governments in France, before finally being resolved by a fait accompli. However, political circumstances at home, and the emergence of new railway competition in the Sahara, prevented the railway companies from reaping the full reward for their efforts. On the map, if not in any practical sense, a territorially unified French African empire had been completed by 1900, whose origins can be traced directly to the activities of the railway lobby.

Forging harmony in the social organism: industry and the power of psychometric techniques

This article analyses the initiating role of the steel industry in educational selection by means of psychometric techniques used in the psycho-physiological laboratory associated with a vocational school in Luxembourg founded in 1914. It first considers the origins of, and initial meanings bestowed upon, this first (and perhaps also last) Luxembourg Laboratory of Psychophysiology. Second, it investigates whether and, if so, to what extent psychometric techniques developed in this laboratory for vocational orientation were used strategically to foster an ethic of individual harmony by means of objectified observation and categorisation of the aptitude. What hidden agendas underpinned the industry’s rhetoric regarding the rebirth of the individual and the empowerment of personal vocation through science-oriented processes like quantification, measurement and rational assessment? Did such rhetoric legitimise the industry’s self-image as a privileged force in structuring the social fabric as well as individual lives?