Case study report The perception of the EU cultural and science diplomacy in Turkey. EL-CSID Working Paper Issue 2018/14 • April 2018

The study is undertaken in the framework of the European Leadership in Cultural, Science and Innovation Diplomacy (EL-CSID) project. This project has the ambition to codify and articulate the relevance of cultural, science and innovation diplomacy for EU external relations as part of a systematic and strategic approach. It aims to identify how the Union and its member states might collectively and individually develop a good institutional and strategic policy environment for extraregional culture and science diplomacy. The overarching objectives of this project are threefold: 1. To detail and analyse the manner in which the EU operates in the domains of cultural and science diplomacy in the current era; comparing its bilateral and multilateral cultural and science ties with other states, regions, and public and private international organisations. 2. To examine the degree to which cultural, science and innovation diplomacy can enhance the interests of the EU in the contemporary world order and specifically, to identify: a) How cultural and science diplomacy can contribute to Europe’s standing as an international actor; b) Opportunities offered by enhanced coordination and collaboration amongst the EU, its members and their extra-European partners; c) Constraints, both existing and evolving, posed by economic and socio-political factors affecting the operating environments of both science and cultural diplomacy. 3. To identify a series of mechanisms/platforms to raise awareness among relevant stakeholders of the importance of science and culture as vehicles for enhancing the EU's external relations. The research generates both scholarly work and policy-oriented output, which is disseminated through an extensive and targeted dissemination programme

Application of a Bayesian Inference Method to Reconstruct Short-Range Atmospheric Dispersion Events

In the event of an accidental or intentional release of chemical or biological (CB) agents into the atmosphere, first responders and decision makers need to rapidly locate and characterize the source of dispersion events using limited information from sensor networks. In this study the stochastic event reconstruction tool (SERT) is applied to a subset of the Fusing Sensor Information from Observing Networks (FUSION) Field Trial 2007 (FFT 07) database. The inference in SERT is based on Bayesian inference with Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling. SERT adopts a probability model that takes into account both positive and zero-reading sensors. In addition to the location and strength of the dispersion event, empirical parameters in the forward model are also estimated to establish a data-driven plume model. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the Bayesian inference approach to characterize the source of a short range atmospheric release with uncertainty quantification

Evaluation of sweep efficiency of a mature CO2 flood in Little Creek Field, Mississippi

CO2 displacement is the most widely used EOR process, but poor sweep efficiency and large CO2 utilization rates are limitations to the economic and technical success of CO2 floods. Developing a methodology to maximize the sweep efficiency and minimize the CO2 utilization rate would greatly improve the economics of these fields. This thesis evaluates the sweep efficiency of a successful, late-in-life, continuous injection CO2 flood at the Little Creek Field, Mississippi. In this work, we evaluate several heterogeneity measures in terms of recovery efficiency and utilization rate. Core studies available from 41% of the wells in the field were used to compute various heterogeneity measures, and the resulting values were correlated with pattern-by-pattern recoveries and CO2 utilization rates. Weak correlation trends were found for most of the measures in terms of R2 values. However, there was still a trend confirming the idea that more heterogeneity corresponds to higher utilization rates and lower recoveries. Mapping of the well-by-well heterogeneity measures appear to show geological trends better than traditional maps of the basic parameters that make up the measures. These geological trends were then successfully used to adjust rock-types during reservoir modeling. Reservoir simulation was performed to understand the reservoir response to CO2 flooding and develop alternatives for sweep improvement. Continuous CO2 injection under certain alternate operations would help. The WAG process was effective in increasing the sweep efficiency of the reservoir for most of the cases studied by providing favorable mobility ratios and contacting more of the oil in the reservoir. The Gas-Assisted Gravity Drainage (GAGD) process was also evaluated. Solvent saturation profiles show that results are essentially consistent with the proposed GAGD theory. However, oil recovery was less than the best WAG cases, which is not surprising due to the high connate water saturation (0.56), relatively low thickness and lack of dip to the reservoir. Moreover, an increase in recovery could be realized more in the future for both the WAG and GAGD processes because CO2 contacted larger amounts of unswept oil in the reservoir compared to continuous CO2 flooding

Prospective Primary School Teachers’ Perceptions on Boiling and Freezing

The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions of prospective primary school teachers on the physical state of water during the processes of boiling and freezing. There were three stages in the investigation: First, open-ended questions concerning the boiling and freezing of water were given to two groups of prospective primary school teachers (Group-A had science background; Group-B had non-science background). Second, the participants’ answers were examined and analyzed. Finally, those participants who had misunderstandings were given semi-structured interviews to have a deeper insight into their perceptions. The results showed that the participants in Group-B held more misunderstandings about boiling and freezing than Group-A. A further examination of the participants’ perceptions showed that the misunderstandings were based on participants’ daily life experiences related to an inadequate knowledge of science. This paper discusses the answers received to the questions and interviews and makes, implications for equipping primary school teachers with scientific knowledge

The Axiology of EU Cultural Diplomacy in Muslim Majority Countries. The Paradox of Turkey. EL-CSID Working Paper Issue 2017/3 • June 2017

The principal purpose of this theoretical analysis is to identify the different assumptions between Europe and Turkey regarding the axiological perspective which distinguishes the value judgments used as an instrument of persuasion by each culture. For decades, Turkey’s accession process within the EU is a highly controversial issue which has been an intensive process, brimmed with ups and downs. Due to its geopolitical position and cultural identity, as a Muslim secular state, Turkey is a cultural bridge between the West and Muslim countries, making it particularly important in cultural diplomacy for EU foreign policy. Nevertheless, the cultural misunderstanding, the misinterpreted perceptions, the axiological nihilism between Turkey and the EU seems to be the sources of tension for Turkey’s accession. The recent official declaration by both sides, which is dialectic rather than a consensus, has also deteriorated the diplomatic ties established between them, while also underlining the weaknesses of cultural diplomac

New Prospects in Turkey-EU Relations: How to Fix a Weakened Relationship through Cultural Diplomacy, Policy Brief No. 11, September 2018

Turkey’s accession process within the European Union (EU) is a highly controversial issue. Throughout the last 50 years, Turkey’s engagement with the European integration project has faced various barriers and problems, despite the significant reform undergone by Turkey in line with EU policies and Copenhagen criteria. Since the failed coup attempt of July 2016, EU-Turkey relations have confronted additional challenges and conflicts of interests. In June 2016, the European Commission presented the ‘Strategy for International Cultural Relations’ with the aim of encouraging cultural cooperation between the EU and its partner countries to promote a global order based on peace, the rule of law, freedom of expression, mutual understanding and respect for fundamental values1. Turkey has distinct importance in EU external policies; nevertheless, cultural misunderstanding, misinterpreted perceptions, ethnocentrism and axiological nihilism between Turkey and the EU remain strong sources of tension for Turkey’s putative accession to the EU

Cultural Integration of Muslims in Europe: Prevention of Cultural Misunderstanding and Radicalism. EL-CSID Working Paper Issue 2017/5 • July 2017

In recent years, the European Union (EU) has been promoting cultural diplomacy, framed in terms of dialogue between civilisations/cultures, and has aimed to exploit its role in the conduct of foreign policy. A recent declaration from the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, has urged caution, emphasising the importance of cultural diplomacy: “Investing in cultural diplomacy could help strengthening the economy of your region, but especially creating bridges, letting others know us and knowing others reciprocally, establishing bonds among people especially during these hard times, to prevent fears and radicalisation both in Europe and abroad. This is why we have worked so hard to the first European strategy for cultural diplomacy.”

Stochastic Reconstruction of Multiple Source Atmospheric Contaminant Dispersion Events

Reconstruction of intentional or accidental release of contaminants into the atmosphere using concentration measurements from a sensor network constitutes an inverse problem. An added complexity arises when the contaminant is released from multiple sources. Determining the correct number of sources is critical because an incorrect estimation could mislead and delay response efforts. We present a Bayesian inference method coupled with a composite ranking system to reconstruct multiple source contaminant release events. Our approach uses a multi-source data-driven Gaussian plume model as the forward model to predict the concentrations at sensor locations. Bayesian inference with Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling is then used to infer model parameters within minutes on a conventional processor. The composite ranking system enables the estimation of the number of sources involved in a release event. The ranking formula allows plume model results to be evaluated based on a combination of error (scatter), bias, and correlation components. We use the 2007 FUSION Field Trial concentration data resulting from near-ground-level sources to test the multi-source event reconstruction tool (MERT). We demonstrate successful reconstructions of source parameters, as well as the number of sources involved in a release event with as many as three sources