Transnational border surveillance and social sorting systems in the EU: a changing approach to Europe's borders?

In recent years, the European Union (EU) has widened its competences considerably in the field of transnational surveillance. The main databases for border movements, Schengen Information System (SIS), Visa Information System (VIS), and Eurodac, are planned to merge increasingly to ensure maximum efficiency in surveillance. These databases are keeping track of movement within the EU and across its borders, mainly for the purpose of controlling migration . This process of harmonising migration surveillance systems is controversial. All three databases entail large-scale surveillance of migrants and travellers thereby turning every recorded individual into a potential suspect. As the European Data Protection Supervisor stated, "all travellers are put under surveillance and are considered a priori as potential law breakers".David Lyon (2003), the founder of surveillance studies, assesses that transnational surveillance systems classify individuals according to certain criteria that allow for discriminatory treatment. Thereby, social differences are created and stored, which he labels social sorting. Social sorting, in other words, refers to surveillance systems obtaining data for the purpose of classifying people according to specific criteria. Classification occurs according to risk categories such as citizens, migrants or potential criminals. This may lead to establishing or strengthening social differences. Starting out from Lyon's assumption that every form of surveillance entails social sorting, this paper assesses in how far and with what consequences such classification is found in present-day EU surveillance systems. If they display social sorting characteristics to a high degree, this indicates that the traditional function of borders of exclusion and inclusion of migrants is to some extent taken over by the new surveillance systems. The question then arises how this form of social sorting affects the concept of the border in the EU. The intended merger of transnational databases will create an increasingly sophisticated information infrastructure that may alter the function of territorial boundaries. If border surveillance is no longer confined to checking documents "on the ground" but is carried out "in the cloud", what does this entail for the concept of the territorial border

The relationship between cognitive ability and personality scores in selection situations: A meta‐analysis

Several faking theories have identified applicants’ cognitive ability (CA) as a determinant of faking—the intentional distortion of answers by candidates—but the corresponding empirical findings in the area of personality tests are often ambiguous. Following the assumption that CA is important for faking, we expected applicants with high CA to show higher personality scores in selection situations, leading in this case to significant correlations between CA and personality scores, but not in nonselection situations. This meta‐analysis (66 studies, k = 115 individual samples, N = 46,265) showed this pattern of results as well as moderation effects for the study design (laboratory vs. field), the response format of the personality test, and the type of CA test

Social anxiety in adolescents and young adults from the general population: an epidemiological characterization of fear and avoidance in different social situations

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and, more generally, social fears are common in young people. Although avoidance behaviors are known to be an important maintaining factor of social anxiety, little is known about the severity and occurrence of avoidance behaviors in young people from the general population, hampering approaches for early identification and intervention. Symptoms, syndromes, and diagnoses of DSM-5 mental disorders including SAD were assessed in a random population-based sample of 14-21-year-olds (n = 1,180) from Dresden, Germany, in 2015/2016 using a standardized diagnostic interview (DIA-X-5/D-CIDI). An adapted version of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale was used to ascertain the extent of social fears and avoidance. Diagnostic criteria for lifetime SAD were met by n = 82 participants, resulting in a weighted lifetime prevalence of 6.6%. Social anxiety was predominantly reported for test situations and when speaking or performing in front of others. Avoidance was most prevalent in the latter situations. On average, anxiety and avoidance first occurred at ages 11 and 12, respectively, with avoidance occurring in most cases either at about the same age as anxiety or slightly later. In the total sample, lifetime prevalence for most DSM-5 disorders increased with the severity of social anxiety and avoidance. Results underline the need for preventive or early intervention efforts especially regarding test anxiety and fear and avoidance of speaking in front of others. These situations are particularly relevant in youth. Avoidance behaviors may also be discussed as diagnostic marker for early case identification

Increased Cholinergic Response in α-Synuclein Transgenic Mice (h-α-synL62)

Peer reviewedPostprin

Acknowledgments

From January to June 2015, eleven students from the Bachelor Programmes Arts and Culture and European Studies participated in the course Transparency in Perspective at Maastricht University. This course was organised in the context of the Maastricht University Research Based Learning Project (MaRBLe), and was supervised by Dr. Nico Randeraad. This book includes shortened versions of the original papers of the students who have participated in the course. We would like to thank the organisers of the MaRBLe project, our external advisers, and in particular Dr. Nico Randeraad, for their support throughout the entire research process

Conclusion

Based on the Baconian imperative that "knowledge is power", the drive for transparency gathers up ever-more speed. Especially in politics and economics, transparency has become a widely used catchphrase. Transparency is supposed to alter information asymmetries, improve market efficiency and establish a more inclusive and fair political praxis. While transparency is hoped to alter power relations, and thus to be a revolutionary or at least a reformative tool, surveillance is the privilege of those already in power, and thus regarded as a reactionary tool.        The studies in this joint volume have investigated this dichotomy by looking at various actors in regard to their possibility to change or cement existing power relations, symmetries, improve market efficiency, and establish a more inclusive and fair political praxis. While transparency is hoped to alter power relations, and thus to be a revolutionary or at least a reformative tool, surveillance is the privilege of those already in power. Each contribution, in its unique way, took a skeptical stance towards potential power shifts induced through societal or behavioral changes. This book examined a multitude of societal actors and the power relations between them. Although all contributions highlighted very different subject matters, some common themes emerged. These common themes ought to be highlighted in this final section. Moreover, this final chapter allows us to briefly summarise the central themes and most important finding of each article.        The first contribution treats surveillance and transparency as two sides of the same coin in the sense that both are attempts at changing behaviour by increasing the visibility of actors. Zeijl examines several attempts at transparency from a wide variety of actors. He argues that transparency, as it is currently put in practice by governments and companies, is more lip service than real concern with accountability and openness. Zeijl claims that these attempts at transparency are influenced by the logic of surveillance and therefore consolidate already existing power relations. While there are alternative ways of constructing transparency, they all have possible adverse effects that cannot and should not be easily cast aside. Therefore, one needs to critically assess what the exact benefits of transparency are in order to reach a balanced judgement on whether these possible adverse effects are worth the risk. Since transparency is more often invoked than defined, it is absolutely crucial to pay attention to the structure that transparency is supposed to assume, its organisation, its agents, and its potential impacts. Otherwise, transparency becomes a metaphysical catchphrase to graze (political) support rather than a real concern for accountability and openness

Introduction

"Scientia potentia est" – knowledge is power. Many people seem to read this phrase, attributed to Francis Bacon, as a mission statement. If knowledge is power, then it is easy to understand why people demand more transparency and why at the same time surveillance increases. Transparency and surveillance are means to acquire knowledge and information. For centuries, governments have been surveilling their people to ensure that they behave according to their wishes

Stability of Attention Performance of Adults with ADHD over Time:Evidence from Repeated Neuropsychological Assessments in One-Month Intervals

Neuropsychological assessments of attention are valuable sources of information in the clinical evaluation of adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, it is unclear whether the attention performance of adults with ADHD is stable or fluctuates over time, which is of great importance in the interpretation of clinical assessments. This study aimed to explore the stability of attention performance of adults with ADHD in repeated assessments at one-month intervals. Twenty-one adults diagnosed with ADHD took part in this study by completing selective attention and vigilance tests three times, each one month apart. Test scores of participants were compared with and interpreted based on test norms. A considerable proportion of 'below average' performance scores were observed in most of the variables of selective attention and vigilance in all three assessments. Further, selective attention and vigilance performance scores did not differ significantly between the three repeated assessments. Finally, the majority of participants received consistent test score interpretations across the three repeated assessments. This study confirms previous research and highlights abnormal selective attention and vigilance performance in adults with ADHD. Further, this study preliminarily demonstrates relatively stable attention performance across repeated assessments, which has the potential to support clinical assessment, treatment planning, and evaluation

Health outcomes in offspring born to survivors of childhood cancers following assisted reproductive technologies

Purpose: An increasing number of childhood cancer survivors are using assisted reproductive technologies (ART) to overcome treatment-related fertility impairment. We report perinatal and health outcomes of offspring born to survivors following ART. Methods: The FeCt Multicenter Offspring Study surveyed the health of offspring of childhood cancer survivors. Health outcomes in offspring born to survivors following ART (n = 57, 4.6%) or after spontaneous conception (n = 1182) were assessed in the German cohort (n = 1239) using bivariate analysis. Findings were put into the context of the general German population by health outcome assessment in 1:1 matched-pair analysis (n = 2478). Results: Nearly twice the survivors used ART compared with numbers reported for the German general population (4.6% vs. 2.6%). Successful pregnancies were achieved after a median of two cycles, mainly using non-cryopreserved oocytes/sperm. Multiple sibling births (p < 0.001, 28.1% vs. 3.0%) and low birth weight (p = 0.008; OR = 2.659, 95% CI = 1.258-5.621) occurred significantly more often in offspring born to survivors who utilized ART than spontaneously conceived children, whereas similar percentages were born preterm or too small for their gestational age. ART did not increase the prevalence of childhood cancer or congenital malformations in offspring born to survivors. Conclusion: ART use by childhood cancer survivors was successful with both fresh and cryopreserved oocytes/sperm, and did not influence perinatal health or health outcomes when known confounders were taken into account. Implications for cancer survivors: Oncofertility is an important component of patient care. Our study implicates that the utilization of ART by adult survivors of childhood cancer does not put offspring at additional risk for adverse perinatal or health outcomes

The Arabidopsis class II sirtuin is a lysine deacetylase and interacts with mitochondrial energy metabolism

The posttranslational regulation of proteins by lysine (Lys) acetylation has recently emerged to occur not only on histones, but also on organellar proteins in plants and animals. In particular, the catalytic activities of metabolic enzymes have been shown to be regulated by Lys acetylation. The Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) genome encodes two predicted sirtuin-type Lys deacetylases, of which only Silent Information Regulator2 homolog (SRT2) contains a predicted presequence for mitochondrial targeting. Here, we have investigated the function of SRT2 in Arabidopsis. We demonstrate that SRT2 functions as a Lys deacetylase in vitro and in vivo. We show that SRT2 resides predominantly at the inner mitochondrial membrane and interacts with a small number of protein complexes mainly involved in energy metabolism and metabolite transport. Several of these protein complexes, such as the ATP synthase and the ATP/ADP carriers, show an increase in Lys acetylation in srt2 loss-of-function mutants. The srt2 plants display no growth phenotype but rather a metabolic phenotype with altered levels in sugars, amino acids, and ADP contents. Furthermore, coupling of respiration to ATP synthesis is decreased in these lines, while the ADP uptake into mitochondria is significantly increased. Our results indicate that SRT2 is important in fine-tuning mitochondrial energy metabolism