Title Participants Abstract "Technology and Neutrality" "Sybren Heyndels" "This paper clarifies and answers the following question: is technology morally neutral? It is argued that the debate between proponents and opponents of the Neutrality Thesis depends on different underlying assumptions about the nature of technological artifacts. My central argument centres around the claim that a mere physicalistic vocabulary does not suffice in characterizing technological artifacts as artifacts, and that the concepts of function and intention are necessary to describe technological artifacts at the right level of description. Once this has been established, I demystify talk about the possible value-ladenness of technological artifacts by showing how these values can be empirically identified. I draw from examples in biology and the social sciences to show that there is a non-mysterious sense in which functions and values can be empirically identified. I conclude from this that technology can be value-laden and that its value-ladenness can both derive from the intended functions as well as the harmful non-intended functions of technological artifacts." "”Are we at war? “ State support to parties in armed conflict: consequences under jus in bello, jus ad bellum and neutrality law" "Nele Verlinden" "Cooperation between military powers during wars is not a new phenomenon. However, due to the increased globalization and the newly available technologies, supportive acts take more complex forms and concern a wider variety of actors - both States and non-State actors. This study scrutinizes the position of supportive acts under international law. The central research question is formulated as follows: what are the possible consequences under jus in bello, jus ad bellum and neutrality law of State support to a party to an armed conflict? In order to streamline the analysis, four categories of support were identified: (i) allowing territory to be used; (ii) providing logistical support; (iii) training and (iv) crucial intelligence sharing. For each of these categories, this study investigates whether or not they would trigger the specific consequences attached to the respective thresholds under jus in bello, jus ad bellum and neutrality law. After two introductory chapters (one focusing on the general rules on State responsibility and one explaining the distinction between jus in bello and jus ad bellum), three core chapters deal with the following sub-questions:a. When does a State supporting a party to an armed conflict become party to that conflict itself?b. What are the consequences of becoming a party to an armed conflict?c. When does a State supporting an armed attack, a use of force or a violation of the principle of non-intervention commit either of these acts itself?d. What are the consequences of crossing jus ad bellum thresholds?e. When does a neutral State breaching neutrality law become party to an armed conflict?f. What are the consequences of violating the law of neutrality?The study shows that a State can become party to an armed conflict by doing less than providing kinetic assistance to parties to an armed conflict. It also reveals that assisting another State in the commission of an armed attack or a use of force may have the same consequences as carrying out those acts as a main actor. Lastly, overall, it can be concluded that each form of supporting parties to an armed conflict has its specific international legal consequences." "Coastal blue carbon in China as a nature-based solution toward carbon neutrality" "Faming Wang" "To achieve the Paris Agreement, China pledged to become ""Carbon Neutral"" by the 2060s. In addition to massive decarbonization, this would require significant changes in ecosystems toward negative CO2 emissions. The ability of coastal blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs), including mangrove, salt marsh, and seagrass meadows, to sequester large amounts of CO2 makes their conservation and restoration an important ""nature-based solution (NbS)"" for climate adaptation and mitigation. In this review, we examine how BCEs in China can contribute to climate mitigation. On the national scale, the BCEs in China store up to 118 Tg C across a total area of 1,440,377 ha, including over 75% as unvegetated tidal flats. The annual sedimental C burial of these BCEs reaches up to 2.06 Tg C year-1, of which most occurs in salt marshes and tidal flats. The lateral C flux of mangroves and salt marshes contributes to 1.17 Tg C year-1 along the Chinese coastline. Conservation and restoration of BCEs benefit climate change mitigation and provide other ecological services with a value of $32,000 ha-1 year-1. The potential practices and technologies that can be implemented in China to improve BCE C sequestration, including their constraints and feasibility, are also outlined. Future directions are suggested to improve blue carbon estimates on aerial extent, carbon stocks, sequestration, and mitigation potential. Restoring and preserving BCEs would be a cost-effective step to achieve Carbon Neutral by 2060 in China despite various barriers that should be removed." "Three decades of EU climate policy: Racing toward climate neutrality?" "Claire Dupont, Brendan Moore, Elin Lerum Boasson, Viviane Gravey, Andrew Jordan, Paula Kivimaa, Kati Kulovesi, Caroline Kuzemko, Sebastian Oberthur, Dmytro Panchuk, Jeffrey Rosamond, Diarmuid Torney, Jale Tosun, Ingmar Von Homeyer" "The European Union (EU) began developing climate policy in the 1990s. Since then, it has built up a broad portfolio of mitigation policy measures and governance tools, including legally binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and policy measures addressing emissions trading, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and more. In 2019, the European Commission—the EU's executive arm—published the European Green Deal (EGD), an overarching policy framework to achieve the goal of climate neutrality by 2050. The EGD aims to push EU climate policy and governance far beyond incremental policy development. In this article, we ask: does the EGD represent a break from past patterns of EU climate governance? We argue that it maintains several past patterns, but nevertheless breaks from other established policy and governance trends. We review insights from politicization and new institutionalist theoretical lenses to help us understand these findings. We reveal certain tensions and challenges inherent in the EU's climate governance approach—around speed and coherence, effectiveness and just transition—that highlight future research needs, and raise questions about the EU's ability to implement its climate policy goals." "AIDRES : 'advancing industrial decarbonization by assessing the future use of renewable energies in industrial processes' : assessment and geo-mapping of renewable energy demand for technological paths towards carbon neutrality of EU energy-intensive indu" "Luc Girardin, Juan Correa Laguna, Joris Valee, François Maréchal, Shivom Sharma, Daniel Florez-Orrego, Meire Ribeiro-Domingos, Rafael Castro-Amoedo, Yi Zhao, Julia Granacher, Ivan Kantor, Wim Clymans, Frank Meinke-Hubeny, Francisco Mendez Alva, Greet Van Eetvelde" "2019, Network Neutrality in the EU - between Zero-Rating and the Emerging of 5G Technologies" "Elisabetta Biasin, Alessandro Bruni" "Evaluation of the impact of net neutrality on the profitability of telecom operators: a game-theoretic approach" "Marlies Van der Wee, Niels Vandevelde, Sofie Verbrugge, Mario Pickavet" "Data Protection by Design and Technology Neutral Law" "Laura Tielemans" "This article argues that to achieve a technology neutral law, technology specific law is sometimes required. To explain this we discriminate between three objectives, often implied in the literature on technological neutrality of law. The first we call the compensation objective, which refers to the need to have technology specific law in place whenever specific technological designs threated the substance of human rights. The second we call the innovation objective, referring to the need to prevent legal rules from privileging or discriminating specific technological designs in ways that would stifle innovation. The third we call the sustainability objective, which refers to the need to enact legislation at the right level of abstraction, to prevent the law from becoming out of date all too soon. The argument that technology neutral law requires compensation in the form of technology specific law is built on a relational conception of technology, and we explain that though technology in itself is neither good nor bad, it is never neutral. We illustrate the relevance of the three objectives with a discussion of the EU cookie Directive of 2009. Finally we explain the salience of the legal obligation of Data Protection by Design in the proposed General Data Protection Regulation and test this against the compensation, innovation and sustainability objectives." "Utilizing Nanobody Technology to Target Non- Immunodominant Domains of VAR2CSA" "Sisse Ditlev, Raluca Florea, Morten Nielsen, Thor Theander, Philippe Boeuf, Ali Salanti" "Placental malaria is a major health problem for both pregnant women and their fetuses in malaria endemic regions. It is triggered by the accumulation of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes (IE) in the intervillous spaces of the placenta and is associated with foetal growth restriction and maternal anemia. IE accumulation is supported by the binding of the parasite-expressed protein VAR2CSA to placental chondroitin sulfate A (CSA). Defining specific CSA-binding epitopes of VAR2CSA, against which to target the immune response, is essential for the development of a vaccine aimed at blocking IE adhesion. However, the development of a VAR2CSA adhesion-blocking vaccine remains challenging due to (i) the large size of VAR2CSA and (ii) the extensive immune selection for polymorphisms and thereby non-neutralizing B-cell epitopes. Camelid heavy-chain-only antibodies (HcAbs) are known to target epitopes that are less immunogenic to classical IgG and, due to their small size and protruding antigen-binding loop, able to reach and recognize cryptic, conformational epitopes which are inaccessible to conventional antibodies. The variable heavy chain (VHH) domain is the antigen-binding site of camelid HcAbs, the so called Nanobody, which represents the smallest known (15 kDa) intact, native antigen-binding fragment. In this study, we have used the Nanobody technology, an approach new to malaria research, to generate small and functional antibody fragments recognizing unique epitopes broadly distributed on VAR2CSA." "Soldiering the equipment or equipping the soldier? Emergent Forms of Belgian Military Life: Innovation, Corporality and Technology. A Comparative Ethnographic Study of the NATO Frigate Helicopter and the Pathfinder Detachment." "Frik Vanderstraeten" "This PhD, embedded in the blossoming field of military anthropology, studies how Belgian soldiers deal with (new) military technology, and how technological innovations redefine and reshape social socio-professional structures and relationships in low- and high-tech military settings. The latter were represented by two ethnographic case studies: the NATO Frigate Helicopter (NFH) and the Pathfinder Detachment. Each military technology is embedded in some sort of network. Therefore in the PhD, reflections will made about the structure of old and new networks supporting and reinforcing Belgian military technology. Discussing them implies critically confronting the idea that networks are the result of intentionality, ideology and processes of innovation (Nowotny 2006). Following the introduction of the NFH, the old Sea King-network was confronted by a new one that influenced, transgressed or partially dismantled it. This PhD will look at how this confrontation happened and to what it finally led. In this PhD, it is argued that the NFH- technology changed the old ways of working and modified in a profound manner the old accepted power and social structures of the pre-NFH-era. In the low-tech setting of the Pathfinders, where technology progressively changes, a shift or alteration in socio-professional structure did not occur. In both case studies, the technology users engage in some kind of negotiation/dialogue with technology, directed at defining its functionality or (partially) resisting it in a certain manner. The presence of negotiation illustrates a part of the dualism inherent to the human-technology interaction in military settings. On the one hand, technology creates, because of its life-saving and risk-reducing properties, a close or intimate relationship with its users which is often deprived of opportunistic personal interests. On the other hand, technology users engage in processes to (re)define the functional value of technology, which is often expressed in an utilitarian manner, such as 'How can technology give me an edge in survival (understanding technology)?' - first condition of understanding military technology; or 'How can technology make me advance in the hierarchy in functional importance and rank?' - second condition of understanding military technology. In the NFH-network, the human agent is bombarded with technological novelties that he has to absorb in a strict manner and execute dogmatically. He is forced to assume or create a certain identity, reflecting the idea of techno-normativity. Little leeway exists to negotiate with technology because the strength, speed and importance of it imposes structural and operational processes that needs to be followed. If the technology user does not, he will then undermine and/or lose his/her function within the technological tissue. However, in no case can it be assumed that within high-tech settings the human actor is completely dominated by technology, whilst in low-tech setting he exerts a full control over it. Within the low-tech setting of the Pathfinders, technology is not defined in terms of innovation, but rather as a tool to support or reinforce their corporality. The human actor first optimizes himself. The Pathfinders express this by emphasizing the development of physical prowess and sharpness, human wits and mental resilience. Afterwards, technology was infused in this low-tech niche. This was always preceded by a dialogue to determine the function of technology in the operational use, followed by the construction of intuitive processes of sense-making regarding new military technology. The narratives of disconcordance and regret, intertwined with the end of the prosperous Sea King-era and marking the beginning of a competitive professionalism, did not exist within the Pathfinder Detachment. To obtain a complete answer to the research intention, the change in socio-professional structure must be combined with an analysis of the myriad ways in which Belgian soldiers give meaning to new military technologies and their networks. A better understanding is proposed of social, corporeal and sensorial process(es) through which technology users funnel their expectations, anxieties, frustrations and dependence on (new) military technologies in the two distinct settings, thus attempting to alleviate their 'technological dependency'. An important overarching anthropological element is the use of specific cultural imaginaries. The ones that my NFH-participants used were linked to the Sea King. Examples hereof are the masculine, highly skilled, omniscient technician who could even predict malfunctions in the quagmire of bolts, nuts and wires, or the agile pilot who flew relying on the exquisite application of basic flying techniques rather than using technological gadgets. In low tech-environments, such as the Pathfinders, where technology is not complex or where its complexity evolves not a lot, the cultural imaginaries are less explicitly present. The cultural imaginary of the Pathfinders reverted to their animated relationship with the Belgian Special Forces Group. Pathfinders used the image of tough, virile, intelligent warriors going all the way. The ethnographic analysis centred around six concepts: locality, materiality, sensoriality, normativity, knowledge and trust. Locality implies two distinct things: an operational mindset and a mode to reflect about space and place. New military technology often brings with it new functionalities and even more a reorganization of dimensionalities. The new functionalities of the NFH caused a rupture in the general accepted composition of space and place. Locality and scaling became important modes of thinking, extending the debate regarding Search and Rescue (SAR) and Maritime Operations (MAR). SAR and MAR illustrate how the discussions regarding the functionality of a technology are always high stake-plays, wherein people and materiel try to find an equilibrium between the imposed functionality and their way of standing amidst (new) military technology. The NFH introduced a weapon system with an advanced materiality, marked by digitalization or 'avionicsation', a 'glass cockpit' and plasma screens. Microelectronics, such as avionics, recall the domination of modern technologies, and the search for a symbiosis with their use. A complete other situation presents itself when looking at the Pathfinder-technology. The technology used by the Pathfinders is rarely representative of the latest technology (as any inspection of individual equipment makes clear), except for the communication means and observation technologies. The simplicity of their equipment makes them not ""state of the art technologically, but state of the art operationally"" (Danielsen 2015: 278). New technology engenders new forms of sensoriality or reorder old ones. The digital technology of the NFH created a partial lack of proximity with respect due to its users, resulting in a state of 'bodylessness'. My research has also revealed that the feeling of being disconnected from technology was at the same time counteracted by a feeling of imposed symbiosis and an new scope of intimacy. The human actor became an integrated correcting element in a nervous system where engine technology, navigation technology, and radar technology neatly interacted with each other, thus arriving to a 'more advanced technologized Self', changing the socio-professional pecking order. In low-tech settings, such as the Pathfinders, the human actor feels more connected to technology. Bodily enhancement always precedes technological enhancement. The Pathfinders affirm this connection by physically enhancing the body. The human element remains important and directs use of technology. For the Pathfinder, the human body is also technology, acting as a preventive tool against the faltering of man-made technology. Far from being the epicentre of existence, the technological artefacts used by the Pathfinder are reduced to somewhat peripheral status. E.g. if a technological solution is embraced in the Pathfinder Detachment, the negotiation process boils down to finding the right balance between the primacy of bodily smartness and the functionalities of technology. The NFH-technology introduced a new techno-normativity. Techno-normativity is an ideology that regulates socio-professionalism of 'acting' Selves in a technology. Within the NFH-network, the techno-normativity was characterized by a mechanistic execution of the complicated new rules and processes. For the pilots and flying crews, flying has become a business of pushing buttons and system managing ('guardians of the autopilot' combined with Cockpit and Crew Resource Management); for the technical crews, maintenance was reduced to primarily changing modules after having downloaded and interpreted fault codes. The NFH-normativity was never wholeheartedly acknowledged by my participants, especially by the technical side. Participants challenged it by retrograding to the ways of the Sea King. More in particular, they made the choice to partially 'modernize' the old processes of working, thus guarding a kind of 'indigenous knowledge' (Sea King), whilst at the same time intertwining them with the new ones. In so doing, the digitalized outlook of the NFH coevally mediated between process of modernity and traditional values indebted to the Sea King-era. The new techno-normativity also geared toward a dismissal of certain professional classes that were pillars of the past, having no business or functionality in the future, such as the Search-and-Rescue Sensor Operator who was replaced by the Sensor Operator (maritime function); or creation/modification of new ones, such as the Team Chief and Cabin Operator. Within the NFH- and Pathfinder-culture, knowledge is the bargaining chip for survival, e.g. to fathom the new flying and maintenance processes. Through knowledge, the material culture of a technology was discovered. In the reflections of my participants, the new NFH-technology was regularly confronted with older bodies of Sea King-knowledge. The NFH-technology tried to create a hive mind centred around microelectronics. Both NFH and Pathfinders settings thrive on trust - a notion that is technology neutral. Both described their ecology as a high-reliability organizations constituted out of circles of trust. Trust is created and maintained by comradeship and professional competencies, linked to the idea of 'being worthy'. The manifestation of trust is different, but with two common elements: (1) following the formal rules and procedures to the letter, and the ability to smoothly interpret or adapt them when necessary; and (2) a parallel use of informal rules of conduct and traditions. Both the Pathfinders and the NFH-personnel abide by an ethos of meritocracy. Esteem within can only be secured through demonstrated competence. Because the members of these settings know each other well - they coevolved through time, they smoothly execute the operational procedures as a common body. Within the NFH, everything is centred around the flying crew and maintenance team; within the Pathfinders, the team fosters and canalizes trust."