Another Wild West Web for Critical Information Systems Research: A Sceptical-Empirical Approach to the Ethereum Mainnet

Doctoral thesis (2023)

The early twenty-first century is marked by the 2007 Global Financial Crisis and the 2013 Snowden revelations about online surveillance. This period cursed many, yet it smiled upon developers of financial ... [more ▼]

The early twenty-first century is marked by the 2007 Global Financial Crisis and the 2013 Snowden revelations about online surveillance. This period cursed many, yet it smiled upon developers of financial technologies and blockchain networks. Led by Bitcoin in 2009 and Ethereum in 2015, blockchain networks are treated as potential panaceas for a range of societal ills. For the problem of crisis-riven financial institutions, blockchain developers propose Decentralised Finance. For the problem of online surveillance, they propose Self-Sovereign Identity. In response to Big Tech companies’ exploitation of content creators, they propose NFTs. In response to everyday mundanity and the limits of the physical world, they propose avatar-based role-play and simulated environments – the metaverse. Meanwhile, critics deride blockchain solutions as potentially worse than the status quo – a passage from the World Wide Web, dominated by Big Tech companies, to a new Wild West Web of pseudonymity, hyper-volatility, and “degens” (degenerates). Critical Information Systems researchers are spoilt for choice. This cumulative thesis consists of a dissertation plus six publications. The dissertation conceives the Ethereum Mainnet as an actor-network rather than a cause of empowerment and emancipation. The six publications use sceptical-empirical methods to investigate Ethereum’s close ties with Decentralised Finance, Self-Sovereign Identity, the OpenSea NFT marketplace, and the metaverse. A prescriptive or normative dimension – a moral Cause – is absent from the six publications. The dissertation defends this absence, and it encourages critical Information Systems researchers to set aside ideologies that posit Ethereum as a Cause of individual empowerment or world improvement. Critical researchers should instead follow the network’s transactions and powerful actors. [less ▲]

Gateway Station Geographical Planning for Emerging Non-Geostationary Satellites Constellations

in IEEE Network (2023)

Invisible Crimes: Accountability for Crimes against Migrants in Libya

in European Journal of Migration and Law (2023), 25

The systematic lack of accountability for migrant rights violations occurring in the context of migration control and other deterrence measures has been contested in theory and practice. While the ... [more ▼]

The systematic lack of accountability for migrant rights violations occurring in the context of migration control and other deterrence measures has been contested in theory and practice. While the scholarship has explored various accountability ven- ues above and beyond international refugee law and within specialised regimes, new litigation strategies have accountability across multiple judicial and quasi-judicial fora at national and international levels. Against the background of this multilevel litiga- tion strategy, international criminal law has emerged as a new site for accountabil- ity for violence against migrants at the borders of Europe. Starting from the Libyan case study, this article will examine the potential of international criminal law in the struggle for accountability for migrant rights violations. It will discuss whether and how qualifying migrant rights violations as crimes against humanity can illuminate certain aspects of violence against migrants at the borders of Europe while concretely challenging and addressing contemporary contactless forms of migration deterrence. [less ▲]

Collective Screening

Presentation (2023, July 20)

We study a dynamic principal-agent model in which the principal is a group whose members hold heterogeneous and evolving values from an agreement with the agent. The principals collectively choose the ... [more ▼]

We study a dynamic principal-agent model in which the principal is a group whose members hold heterogeneous and evolving values from an agreement with the agent. The principals collectively choose the agent’s offer, which binds all principals if the agent accepts. Learning about the agent’s private information reduces the principals’ conflicts over their joint offer, mitigating a principal’s subsequent losses if she is not decisive. As a consequence, a principal in a group prefers to screen the agent more aggressively than a single principal. We study the dynamics of the principals’ collective choice, and obtain conditions under which decisive members of the group successively trade away their decision-making authority, leading inexorably to the concentration of negotiation power in the hands of a single principal. [less ▲]

Transitional states in NRAS-mutated melanoma preceding drug resistance

Doctoral thesis (2023)

Patients diagnosed with advanced-stage melanoma carrying NRAS-activating mutations face a dismal prognosis, as reflected by their short progression-free survival. While targeted therapy involving MEK1/2 ... [more ▼]

Patients diagnosed with advanced-stage melanoma carrying NRAS-activating mutations face a dismal prognosis, as reflected by their short progression-free survival. While targeted therapy involving MEK1/2 and CDK4/6 co-inhibition has shown partial effectiveness in NRAS-mutant melanoma patients and has advanced to clinical trials, the molecular processes underlying acquired resistance to these drugs remain largely unknown. A triple therapeutic regimen involving inhibition of MAPK, CDK4/6, and PI3K-Akt-mTOR signalling pathways has shown promising results in impairing NRASmut melanoma progression. However, this treatment is accompanied by toxicity, highlighting the importance of identifying alternative strategies to improve efficacy and overcome the resistance of MEK and CDK4/6 inhibitors. Thus, the work performed in the framework of this doctoral thesis aimed to depict cell state transitions that propel NRASmut melanoma cells to become drug-resistant and reconstruct the cell state transcriptional trajectories associated with this phenomenon. First, we monitored cell growth and proliferation to determine the sensitivity of NRAS-mutant melanoma cell lines to MEK1/2 and CDK4/6 co-inhibition. Two main cellular responses have been observed, depending on the dynamics of the cells under drug exposure, namely fast and slow drug adaptation, and progression along the trajectory of resistance development. Next, we performed time-series single-cell RNA sequencing of distinct NRASmut melanoma cell lines over prolonged MEK/CDK4/6 co-targeting. The development of single-cell technologies has facilitated a deeper understanding of the heterogeneous transcriptional background and cell state plasticity observed in BRAFmut melanoma and to a lesser extent in NRASmut melanoma. To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first endeavour to address the response and resistance to MEK/CDK4/6 co-inhibition at the level of single NRASmut melanoma cells. This approach enabled us to characterise cell populations that were sensitive to targeted therapy, as well as those that were intrinsically resistant or developed resistance over time. Upon early drug exposure, we detected slow-proliferating melanoma cells enriched in genes related to transmembrane transport, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and adhesion, among others. Once melanoma cells resist inhibitory stress and resume proliferation, they transit towards a state, which is highly enriched in an interferon response gene signature. We then focused on supporting the inhibitory potential of drugs in transitional states. Activation of the transmembrane transport marker purinergic receptor P2RX7 improved the tumouricidal effects of dual MEK/CDK4/6 inhibition. Overall, this study gives a snapshot of melanoma transitional mechanisms towards resistance to targeted drugs and contributes to the establishment of novel treatment approaches for NRAS-mutant tumours. [less ▲]

European Public Schools in Luxembourg: History, Overview, Attendance Rates, and Composition of the Student Population

in LUCET, SCRIPT (Ed.) European Public School Report 2023: Preliminary Results on Student Population, Educational Trajectories, Mathematics Achievement, and Stakeholder Perceptions (2023)

Can openness to diversity be taught in the family?

Scientific Conference (2023, July 04)

We live an increasingly globalized world. Whilst culture contact is perceived as a threat by some, others welcome the opportunity to learn about different perspectives and to broaden their horizon. Can ... [more ▼]

We live an increasingly globalized world. Whilst culture contact is perceived as a threat by some, others welcome the opportunity to learn about different perspectives and to broaden their horizon. Can this openness towards diversity be taught? Research into the benefits of intercultural exchanges for students exists, yet these studies usually focus only on the student perspective. In our qualitative study we investigate if and how parental values regarding openness can be passed on to children. We analyze both, the perspective of the parents who value intercultural exchanges and that of their children. We carried out an in-depth case study with a family with four children (two sons and two daughters, now aged between 17 and 23) who each participated in long-term exchanges aged between 7 and 10 in France, and a second exchange as teenagers (aged 13 and 16) to an English-speaking country. The family also hosted several guest children. We developed an interview guide, with adapted versions for parents and children, to obtain an in-depth understanding for the parental values, their parenting style, and the motivation of the children to go on these exchanges and their (lasting) experiences thereafter. Each family member was interviewed separately after obtaining informed consent. Whilst all children appreciated the opportunity and agreed that the experience fostered independence and self-efficacy, they also differed regarding how these exchanges affected them – both, whist being away and on return. The parents emphasized the importance of trust in the process – both in trusting their children as well as in the host families. They also observed that only families with a larger number of children participated in the exchanges at a young age, – noting that the notion of sharing is already established. These findings will be discussed – also against the background of the emerging phenomenon of helicopter parenting. [less ▲]

Education as risk factor of Mild Cognitive Impairment - the role of the gut microbiome

Poster (2023, July)

Wéineg Diversitéit an de Schoulbicher

Speeches/Talks (2023)

Les manuels scolaires de nos ados sont-ils d'un autre âge ?

Article for general public (2023)