Claims by Dual Nationals under Investment Treaties: Are Investors Entitled to Sue Their Own States?

in Journal of International Dispute Settlement (2017)

Nationality plays a vital role in the field of investor-state arbitration. Most investment treaties require that, to benefit from treaty protection, an investor must be a national of the home state. Yet ... [more ▼]

Nationality plays a vital role in the field of investor-state arbitration. Most investment treaties require that, to benefit from treaty protection, an investor must be a national of the home state. Yet, the determination of nationality for investment treaty purposes can be particularly complex, raising a number of unresolved questions of considerable practical importance. One of these questions is whether investors who hold the nationality of both state parties to an investment treaty (i.e. dual nationals) are entitled to sue their own home state where the treaty is silent on the issue of dual nationality. This contribution contends that, when faced with a claim of this nature, arbitral tribunals should apply the well-established customary rule of dominant and effective nationality, and uphold jurisdiction only if the investor maintains a stronger connection with its home state. [less ▲]

Early Onset Epileptic Encephalopathy: Genetic Analysis and Further Delineation of Genotype-phenotype Correlation

in Annals of Neurology (2017, October), 82(SI), 295-296

Objective: Early onset epileptic encephalopathy (EOEE)remains an important diagnostic and therapeutic challenge.The objective was to perform genetic analysis in patientswith EOEE and to further delineate ... [more ▼]

Objective: Early onset epileptic encephalopathy (EOEE)remains an important diagnostic and therapeutic challenge.The objective was to perform genetic analysis in patientswith EOEE and to further delineate the genotype-phenotype correlation in patients with EOEE. Methods: We recruited 15 refractory epileptic patientswith epileptic onset before age 12 months. All patients had metabolic screening, electroencephalogram, magnetic reso-nance imaging and molecular analysis (comparative genomic hybridization, gene sequencing, next generation sequencing and or whole exome sequencing. Results: Dravet syndrome (DS) with SCN1A mutations was found in six patients with refractory epilepsy (RE) andmoderate to severe developmental delay (DD). Two patients diagnosed (KCNT1, SCN) with malignant migrating partialseizure (MMPS) had RE, severe DD, autistic behavior. The latter had movement disorders (video) (choreoathetosis, ballis-mus) with a worse outcome than the patients with DS phe-notype with SCN1A mutations. Severe DD and RE wasfound in patients with SCN8A, SLC13A5, SMC1A, orHCFC1 and ATRX mutations. Patient with SCN2A mutation had severe DD. A better outcome was observed in the patient with CDKL5 mutations in the catalytic domain in compari-son with the patient with a deletion in Xp22.13 including CDKL5. The patient with SMC1A mutations disclosed the Cornelia de Lange syndrome phenotype (Table 1). TRXmutations and deletions in 2q24.3 and Xp22.13. In SLC13A5 and SCN2A mutations, epileptic onset occurred atthe earliest age. [less ▲]

Neues zur Dämmerung des Geistes: Kann es sein, dass die Geisteswissenschaften boomen, und niemand merkt es?

Article for general public (2017)

La Révolution digitale dans la musique : Une philosophie de la musique

Book published by Allia (2017)

Philosophy of music, like philosophy of art in general, is not a firmly established academic discipline. It appears sporadically when there are drastic changes in musical practice, and it becomes ... [more ▼]

Philosophy of music, like philosophy of art in general, is not a firmly established academic discipline. It appears sporadically when there are drastic changes in musical practice, and it becomes necessary to redefine the term music. This was the case when the symphony established itself as a formative musical genre just over two hundred years ago, and it happened when tonality was abandoned just over one hundred years ago. The event that directs philosophical interest in music today is the digital revolution. It calls into question the idea of New Music and its genuine claim to art. [less ▲]

Analysis of the Performance of a Non-Coherent Large Scale SIMO System Based on M-DPSK Under Rician Fading

in 25th European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO) (2017, September)

Collaborative teaching and inclusion: Benefits and challenges [symposium discussant]

Scientific Conference (2017, August 29)

Cylinder size affects cat performance in the motor self-regulation task

in Applied ethology 2017 (2017, August)

We tested domestic cats in the so-called cylinder task, and found that they perform better if the cylinder is larger. We also found that their highest performance parallels that of great apes and corvids ... [more ▼]

We tested domestic cats in the so-called cylinder task, and found that they perform better if the cylinder is larger. We also found that their highest performance parallels that of great apes and corvids, which are known as the best performing animals on this task. The cylinder task is used to test animals’ motor self-regulation: the inhibition of unproductive, but prepotent, movements in favour of productive movements that require a slight detour. Recently a large- scale study tested 36 species on this task and found that absolute brain size correlate with the performance; with great apes as top performers. Another study showed that corvids perform as good as great apes despite having smaller absolute brain size. We questioned whether average brained animals has as poor motor self-regulation as suggested, as it appears highly maladaptive; instead the results could be a reflection of the sensorimotor set-up of different species in relation to the materials used. No cats has yet been tested on the task. As ambush and sneak hunters, cats would arguably have high levels of motor self-regulation, but on the other hand their brain size and neuronal numbers are not above average in mammals. Eight adult domestic cats were tested in four versions of the task. We manipulated the size and materials to test whether that influenced performance: two large cylinders (16 cm diameter) out of glass and plastic respectively, and two small cylinders (9 cm diameter) of the same two materials. Each of the four conditions had two phases with a 24-hour delay in between. Each phase consisted of 10 consecutive trials. On the first day, a subject learned to retrieve a reward from an opaque cylinder. Next day, the cat was tested on a transparent cylinder. A retrieval of the reward without touching the cylinder’s front counted as a successful trial. The success rate differed between conditions, and reached 98.75% in the ‘big glass’ condition, and 97.5% in the ‘big plastic’ condition, and 83.75% in the ‘small glass’, and finally 73.75% in the ‘small plastic’ condition. Two-Factor ANOVA for two within variables revealed a significant main effect of the cylinder size on the success rate [F(1,7)=64.06, P<0.001]. Neither a main effect of the material nor an interaction effect of size and material was statistically significant. The size effect was seen in all subjects. Failure rates did not decrease over time in any condition, so no learning curve was detected. Our results show that cats parallel great apes and corvids in the cylinder task as long as it is 16 cm in diameter and made of glass, despite their average mammalian neural characteristics. There are several possible explanations such as that a bigger size allows for more options of retrieval (e.g. mouth or paw), and/or requires less precise retrieval; it could also be that the distance to the reward is perceived as different. This calls into question whether the large-scale study took into account the sensorimotor architecture of each species, and more importantly, whether the task always measures motor self-regulation. [less ▲]

Thermal Light as a Mixture of Sets of Pulses: the Quasi-1D Example

in Journal of the Optical Society of America. B, Optical Physics (2017)

Panel Discussant: Introduction to Digital History (Jane Winters) and From primary sources to data (Frédéric Clavert)

Presentation (2017, June 20)

Sodium butyrate rescues dopaminergic cells from alpha-synuclein-induced transcriptional deregulation and DNA damage

in Human Molecular Genetics (2017), 26(12), 2231-2246

Alpha-synuclein (aSyn) is considered a major culprit in Parkinson’s disease (PD) pathophysiology. However, the precise molecular function of the protein remains elusive. Recent evidence suggests that aSyn ... [more ▼]

Alpha-synuclein (aSyn) is considered a major culprit in Parkinson’s disease (PD) pathophysiology. However, the precise molecular function of the protein remains elusive. Recent evidence suggests that aSyn may play a role on transcription regulation, possibly by modulating the acetylation status of histones. Our study aimed at evaluating the impact of wild-type (WT) and mutant A30P aSyn on gene expression, in a dopaminergic neuronal cell model, and decipher potential mechanisms underlying aSyn-mediated transcriptional deregulation. We performed gene expression analysis using RNA-sequencing in Lund Human Mesencephalic (LUHMES) cells expressing endogenous (control) or increased levels of WT or A30P aSyn. Compared to control cells, cells expressing both aSyn variants exhibited robust changes in the expression of several genes, including downregulation of major genes involved in DNA repair. WT aSyn, unlike A30P aSyn, promoted DNA damage and increased levels of phosphorylated p53. In dopaminergic neuronal cells, increased aSyn expression led to reduced levels of acetylated histone 3. Importantly, treatment with sodium butyrate, a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi), rescued WT aSyn-induced DNA damage, possibly via upregulation of genes involved in DNA repair. Overall, our findings provide novel and compelling insight into the mechanisms associated with aSyn neurotoxicity in dopaminergic cells, which could be ameliorated with an HDACi. Future studies will be crucial to further validate these findings and to define novel possible targets for intervention in PD. [less ▲]