Council of the Baltic Sea States: The Role of a Sustainable and Prosperous Region in Bringing Science Diplomacy Forward. EL-CSID Working Paper Issue 2018/19 • July 2018

2017 has been a year full of promising major milestones for the future EU Science Diplomacy Strategy. At the beginning of 2017, the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) of the European Commission released a thought-provoking report Tools for an EU science diplomacy (Van Langenhove, 2017). This publication was accompanied with a recognition among some parts of the academic circles and practitioners that the "Union is in process of reinforcing its diplomacy for science (the classical international S&T cooperation), while developing a genuine science for diplomacy" (López de San Román & Schunz, 2018, p. 262). Later on others have called the subsequent developments a worldwide "jump on the “science diplomacy” bandwagon" (Penca, 2018, p. 1). In the Baltic Sea Region setting, on 20 June 2017, the Reykjavík Ministerial of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) took place and resulted in a Declaration on the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the CBSS (CBSS, 2017), as well as the endorsement of Realizing the Vision: Baltic 2030 Action Plan (CBSS Secretariat, 2017), which serves as "a solid basis for concrete CBSS action to meet the Sustainable Development Goals at regional level" (CBSS, 2017, p. 2). The report Tools for an EU science diplomacy outlines promising recommendations for further assembly of cases, which might serve as reference points or potential sources of inspiration once crafting the main structures and guidance enshrined in the upcoming 'EU Science Diplomacy Strategy'. As it will be outlined in subsequent paragraphs, the CBSS-endorsed multilateral cooperation initiatives have spurred various macro-regional dynamics of implicit science diplomacy,1 which might serve as a source of inspiration in the crafting of certain elements for the forthcoming strategy

Characterizing the removal of antibiotics in algal wastewater treatment ponds : a case study on tetracycline in HRAPs: a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Engineering at Massey University, Turitea Campus, Palmerston, New Zealand

Antibiotics are ubiquitous pollutants in wastewater, owing to their usefulness in both animal and human treatment. Antibiotic pollution is a growing concern because of the risk of encouraging antibiotic resistance in wastewater treatment (WWT) systems and downstream of effluent discharge. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the fate of antibiotics in algal WWT ponds, which have unique ecological and environmental characteristics (e.g. presence of algae; diurnal variation in pH, dissolved oxygen, and temperature) compared with conventional biological WWT. The research in this thesis focused on a case study of the fate of tetracycline (TET, an antibiotic) in high rate algal ponds (HRAP). Indoor lab scale HRAP studies were used to investigate the fate of TET under several operating conditions. Outdoor pilot scale studies (900 L and 180 L HRAPs) under Oceanic and Mediterranean climates were used to validate the lab scale findings. Results showed that high removal (85% to >98%) of TET was possible in the lab and pilot scale HRAPs with HRTs of 4 and 7 days. Sorption was consistently a low contributor (3-10% removal by sorption) during continuous HRAP studies, based on the amount of TET extracted from biomass. Batch experimentation was used to further distinguish mechanisms of TET removal. The majority of TET removal was caused by photodegradation. Indirect photodegradation of TET was dominant over direct photolysis, with 3-7 times higher photodegradation observed in wastewater effluent than for photodegradation in purified water during batch tests incubated in sunlight. Under dark conditions sorption was the dominant removal mechanism, and biodegradation was negligible in batch tests since aqueous TET removed was recovered (± 10%) by extraction of sorbed TET from the biomass. Irreversible abiotic hydrolysis was not observed during TET removal batch tests in purified (MQ) water. A kinetic model was developed and used to predict TET removal in the pilot HRAPs, based on parameters derived from batch experiments. The model predictions for aqueous TET concentrations were successfully validated against initial TET pulse tests in the 180 L pilot scale HRAP. However TET removal decreased in subsequent pulse tests in the pilot HRAP, resulting in over-prediction of TET removal by the kinetic model. This decrease in TET removal was associated with decrease in pH, dissolved oxygen concentrations, and biomass settleability, but causal relationships between TET removal and these variables could not be quantified. Until the predictive kinetic model is developed further, this model may serve as a preliminary estimate of TET fate in algal WWT ponds of different design and operation. Future research should also investigate the potential formation and toxicity (including antibiotic efficiency) of TET degradation products, but this was outside the scope of this thesis. Predictions from the model were sensitive to the daily light intensity, suggesting that TET removal would be reduced in the winter months

UNDERSTANDING SHIFTING LANGUAGES ON INDONESIAN TELEVISION: UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL VALUE IN LATE CAPITALISM

The work of Bourdieu (1991), Hobsbawm (1990), Wallerstein (2004), and Bahktin (1981), among others, have become a cornerstone for understanding valuation processes attached to language as well as their relationships with political economy and processes of globalization in a period referred to as “late capitalism” (e.g. Blommaert, 2010; Goebel, 2010, In press; Heller, 2011; Heller & Duchene, 2012b). In this paper, I draw upon this work to offer an interpretation of the ongoing revaluation of languages in Indonesia, including the ideology of Indonesian as the language for doing unity in diversity. My empirical focus will primarily be material I have gathered from television in 2009. Central to my argument will be that as the Indonesian state has moved between centralized and decentralized regimes (often pushed by market forces) these processes have helped regiment multiple centres of normativity around language in Indonesia. With changing political and economic conditions in the early 1990’s local content became increasingly valued in the media. Some languages (and the ethnic groups associated with them) were increasingly commodified, as in the case of Si Doel (e.g. Loven, 2008; Sen & Hill, 2000). As it became clear that local content sinetron was a “sell well” genre, this genre was copied by many other producers of television content (Rachmah, 2006). At the same time, these market forces – and the decreasing influence of the state in determining how language was modelled on television – helped increase the social value of local languages and mixed languages (Goebel, In press). These processes effectively drove language change in the social domain of television

Statistics: A Cautionary Tale

Many of the numbers used to assess students are statistical in nature. The theoretical context underlying the production of a typical number or statistic used in student assessment is presented. The author urges readers to recognize objective data as subjective information and to carefully consider the numbers that often determine admission, retention, and scholarship distribution in honors

Of Covenants: How Biblical Frameworks Informed American Constitutional Design

Undergraduate CVP

Stimulation of innovations: case of the Latvian IT cluster

This paper is based on assumption that innovation and competitiveness can be facilitated by clusters. The cluster approach has certain advantages which could be explored by firms looking for increased growth, competitiveness and innovation. The analysis of the Latvian Information Technology cluster shows that it has developed a platform for increasing competitiveness and innovation capacity for IT firms, and it helps to draw conclusions for further improvement of cluster and individual company performance.Innovation, competitiveness, clusters, cluster initiative, information technology, International Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, M15, O32,