DECIPHERING THE ROLES OF ΔNP63 IN REGULATING EPITHELIAL TO MESENCHYMAL TRANSITION, CANCER PROGRESSION AND METASTASIS

p63 is a member of the p53 family, a well-known tumor suppressor which is considered the guardian of the genome. The TP63 gene encodes multiple isoforms that can be categorized into two main isoforms, TAp63 and ΔNp63, which are expressed in different cellular compartments and have distinct functions in many biological processes. While the Flores laboratory identified TAp63 as a tumor and metastasis suppressor, the precise roles of ΔNp63 isoforms in tumorigenesis and metastasis remain elusive. ΔNp63 is the predominant p63 isoform expressed in the epidermis and plays essential roles in regulating epidermal development and homeostasis. Utilizing a ΔNp63-conditional knockout mouse model generated in the Flores lab, I demonstrated that the loss of ∆Np63 in basal epidermal cells elicits an “irreversible” epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) via activation of EMT-associated transcription factors, leading to a delay in wound healing process in vivo. Moreover, my work revealed pleiotropic roles of ΔNp63 as either a tumor suppressor or an oncogene in tumor development and progression. Further, I showed that ΔNp63 activates its oncogenic program through transcriptional regulation of Lef1 in breast cancer and lung squamous cell carcinoma. Finally, by generating an in vivo ΔNp63-inducible knockdown system, I demonstrated that a dynamic regulation of ΔNp63 enhances metastatic dissemination in breast cancer. Taken together, my work clarified complex context-dependent roles of ΔNp63 in modulating EMT, cancer progression and metastasis. These findings revealed novel regulatory networks of ΔNp63 in normal wound repair and cancers, which are particularly beneficial for the development of diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic interventions for chronic wounds and metastatic cancers

Relative efficiency and price discovery in the two-tier Brussels stock exchange.

Until the mid-90s, the more active among the Brussels-listed stocks were traded in parallel segments: "spot" (that is, with t + 3 settlement) and "forward" (with periodic settlement at the end of a two- or three-week period). The forward market was cheaper, deeper, unhampered by price limits, convenient also for shortsales, and played by the pros; so it looks likely to be the more efficient tier. Yet a simple variance comparison, after correcting for settlement effects,finds no such effect; in fact, the forward market may actually have been the more noisy one. Going on to the issue of price discovery, which is a more formal way of testing whether the forward market is less noisy, we extend the Margrabe-Silber price-discovery model to take into account the asynchronism in the opening forward and spot prices. Although the presence of the latent true morning return in our extended model precludes us from estimating explicitly the price adjustment coefficients, we can still identify the sign of the estimated difference of these coefficients and the lower and upper bounds of its t-statistic. This information enables us to conclude on the significance of the test. Also, our results reject the potential price discoverer status of the forward market: spot prices seem more informative than forward prices. This result raises the issue of how far the financial markets perform their central function of price discovery and how far the conventional wisdom can be trusted (e.g. the more trading volume the less noise the observed price contains).

The dynamics of price discovery in the two-tier Brussels stock exchange.

In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of price discovery in the Brussels Stock Exchange for the spot and forward stock markets. Specifically, we quantitatively analyze each market's process in impounding new fundamental information about a stock's value into its market price. Similar to the permanent-transitory decomposition procedure put forward by Gonzalo and Ng (2001), we use a vecm (Vector Error Correction Model) and decompose the vecm residuals into the permanent and transitory innovations. However, we adjust their procedure to accommodate for the asynchronism problem in the Brussels forward and spot stock exchange. From the impulse response functions of the derived structural cointegration model after the decomposition, we apply the price discovery measure proposed by Yan and Zivot (2007), which is the absolute magnitude of cumulative price errors in the process of reflecting a one-unit change in the permanent innovation. In particular, we investigate which market makes less errors while incorporating the full one-unit increase in the permanent innovation into its price. Our finding is that the spot market outperforms the forwards one in the price discovery process. This result contradicts the price discovery role conventionally ascribed to the forward market.price discovery; brussels stock exchange;

A sociocultural investigation into the introduction of formative assessment practices at a Vietnamese university

The integration of formative assessment in teaching and learning practices aims to improve both teachers’ teaching and students’ learning. To promote these outcomes, formative assessment was introduced into the Vietnamese higher education system in 2007. The uptake of formative assessment practices has been slow however. Several factors have contributed to this. They include the lack of professional training or practical guidelines to support lecturers’ understandings and practices; the influence of the university culture; and more widely, the impacts of Vietnam’s Confucian heritage which prioritises a regime of testing, or summative learning. These practical and sociocultural barriers to implementing formative assessment processes are strongly reinforced by university policies and the expectations the university places on staff members. Limited research has been carried out on formative assessment practices in Vietnamese tertiary education. The qualitative research reported here contributes to this gap by investigating the assessment practices of four lecturers at a private university in Vietnam. Using a constructivist paradigm and collaborative action research this thesis first explores the lecturers’ current assessment practices. Data from classroom observations, semi-structured interviews with lecturers, group discussions with students, and university documents were thematically analysed to identify institutional and sociocultural factors that influence the lecturers’ assessment approaches. Based on this analysis, the thesis reports on the development and implementation of a formative assessment intervention to help inform and shift lecturers’ attitudes and help them transition from relying on summative assessment practices to using a formative assessment approach. The findings suggest that the lack of training provided to lecturers can limit their understandings of the multiple benefits of applying formative assessment strategies. These include enhancing teaching, learning and assessment processes for lecturers and learners; and outcomes for the university. The findings further suggest that Vietnam’s Confucian heritage, which positions lecturers as authorities of knowledge and promotes passive learning, is a further barrier to the successful adoption of formative assessment practices within Vietnamese higher education. This finding indicates that any programs to promote new assessment practices in Vietnamese higher education settings need to acknowledge and address the influence of sociocultural factors to optimise their effective implementation. This research details this process at one private university in Vietnam and thereby contributes to the wider research on formative assessment at tertiary level within the Vietnamese and similar sociocultural contexts

A note on time value in spot and forward prices on the Brussels stock exchange.

Until the mid-90s, the more active among the Brussels-listed stocks were traded in parallel segments: "spot" (that is, with t + 3 settlement) and "forward" (periodic settlement at the end of a two- or three-week period). The forward market was cheaper, deeper, unhampered by price limits, convenient also for shortsales, and played by the pros; so it looks likely to be the more efficient tier. In the forward markets, where the signal is stronger, we do find that time value affects prices. In spot markets there is very little evidence in favor or against a settlement effect, perhaps because the time value item has a very small variability. As expected, the time value signals are somewhat stronger in forward prices and noticeably so in forward premiums,but the estimates remain below our theoretical priors. We also find that price discrepancies are autocorrelated, probably indicating market inefficiency. A closer look reveals that positive forward premiums are persistent whereas negative ones vanish overnight. This is consistent with a market-imperfection explanation, where problems with raising cash (shorting money)are more important than problems with shorting stocks, thus creating preferred habitats for purchases (forward) and for sales (spot).dual markets; price discovery; settlement effect; microstructure;

International Human Rights in Asian Constitutions

International law is integrated into national constitutions across the world. Particularly, the convergence of national constitutions with international human rights (IHR) law has been a global trend. Asia has been underexplored in the global scholarship on constitutional convergence. This Article seeks to make both theoretical and empirical contributions by exploring three models of convergence with IHR law in seven Asian constitutions: convergence impelled by international inducement in post-war and post-conflict states (Japan and Cambodia), convergence propelled by the domestic precommitment of new democracies (South Korea and Indonesia), and convergence compelled by the international socialization of the socialist states (China, Laos, and Vietnam). Formal convergence creates the condition for several Asian constitutional courts to engage with IHR law. Convergence is not merely a top-down project. This Article additionally proposes a bottom-up theory of discursive convergence, which holds that citizens\u27 public discourse can influence the incorporation of IHR into constitutions

Discursive Constitutionalism

“Constitutionalism” has been contentiously debated at national and international levels. This Article develops the concept of discursive constitutionalism, defined as the construction of constitutionalism through public discourse. It theorizes about four elements (ideas, actors, actions, and spaces) and the constructive logic of discursive constitutionalism. Public constitutionalist discourse can be shaped by the existing relations of political power. At the same time, it can constrain the political monopoly of constitutional thinking, shape the design of institutions to limit political power, and prevent the arbitrary use of political power in practice. This study provides an explanatory account of three models of discursive constitutionalism in East Asia. The protectionist model in Japan refers to the discursive defense of national constitutional commitments to international peace and renouncing war. The reformist model in China denotes the discursive promotion of institutional reforms in line with normative values of constitutionalism. The diffusionist model in Vietnam features the discursive spread of constitutionalist ideas from external international and comparative sources into internal intellectual communities. Discursive constitutionalism can be a useful conceptual tool to understand the quest for constitutionalism through public discourse

Russia's big-bang constitutional amendments

On July 1, 2020, Russians approved the amendments to Russia’s 1993 Constitution in a national vote. Drawing from comparative scholarship on constitutional change and insights from comparative political studies, this article argues that Russia’s 2020 constitutional amendments can be understood as “big-bang constitutional amendments”— amendments that rapidly introduce large-scale change to the existing constitution all at once. The political elites’ uncertainty regarding their continued influence and the centralization of power combined to create a window for the passage of these amendments. The amendments were all enacted together, in a short time-frame, thanks to legislative supremacy and political conditions. The amendments are also substantial: they changed nearly one-third of the original Constitution and deal with a wide-range of international and domestic issues. They annul presidential term limits; significantly increase presidential power over the legislative, executive, and judicial bodies; prioritize national law over international law; constitutionalize Russian as the “state-forming” language, faith in one God, and marriage as between a man and woman; and provide for a minimum wage of not less than the subsistence minimum, compulsory social insurance, and indexation of pensions. These political, economic, social, religious, and moral changes are not merely institutional: they signify the ideational constitutional turn to centralism, nationalism, and welfarism. The big-bang constitutional amendments will entail massive effort in implementation and promise a long-term effect on Russian constitutional identity generally