Detecting invasive woody increment in agricultural areas with Earth Observation technology

In the continental climate regions of the EU, one of the largest environmental and conversational problems is caused by the spread of invasive plant species, especially in agriculturally abandoned regions. Several species of the rapidly spreading and to the native vegetation supplanter plant can be a cause of ecologic and health risk. Some species change the physical structure and chemical composition of the soil, affect the microclimate, thereby contributing to climate change processes. Summing up, invasive species affect agricultural landscapes significantly. The common feature of the belonging species is that they spread rapidly and develop a significant amount of biomass in a short time. In the course of our research we worked out a remote sensing and GIS method, which localize efficiently the infected areas, and we utilized this method in the Northern Transdanubia, to extract the information of woody increment in agricultural regions</jats:p

Cigány és nem cigány kultúrák interetnikus kapcsolatai a Kárpát-Medencében = Interethnic Relations of Gypsy and Non-Gypsy Cultures in the Carpathian Basin

A kitűzött kutatási cél az volt, hogy a résztvevők a kulturális antropológia módszereivel elkezdjék feltárni a magyarországi és a határontúli magyar anyanyelvű régiók cigány kultúráinak empirikusan megközelíthető valóságtartalmait az egyes cigány csoportok környezetében élő magyar és más röbbségi etnikumok szociokulturális környezetében. Kiemelt cél volt továbbá a témával kapcsolatos hazai és európai társadalomtudományi diskurzusban való részvétel az újfajta perspektívák, a szintetizálható és továbbgondolható eredmények vitára bocsátásával és ezen keresztül új kutatások serkentésével, elősegítésével. A kutatók 5 ország cigány közösségeiben végeztek résztvevő megfigyelést: Bakó Boglárka és Pálos Dóra Romániában, Hajnal Virág és Papp Richárd Szerbiában, Puskás Balázs és Prónai Csaba Magyarországon, Árendás Zsuzsa és Prónai Csaba Szlovákiában, Domokos Vera Ukrajnában. Megjelent tanulmányok száma: 8. Megjelenés alatt: 6. | The aim of the research was that the participants would explore, with the methods of cultural anthropology, the empirically accessible reality of the Gypsy cultures among certain Gypsy groups living in the sociocultural milieu of the Hungarian and other major ethnic groups in Hungary and in the Hungarian speaking territories beyond the frontier. An important goal was the participation in the Hungarian and European social science discourse in connection with the issue through discussing new perspectives, synthesizible and rethinkable results, and promoting further researches. The researchers carried out participant observation in the Gypsy communities of 5 countries: Boglárka Bakó and Dóra Pálos in Rumania, Virág Hajnal and Richárd Papp in Serbia, Balázs Puskás and Csaba Prónai in Hungary, Zsuzsa Árendás and Csaba Prónai in Slovakia, and Vera Domokos in Ukraine. Number of published studies: 8. Under publishing: 6

The bathing of the “dirty”: A forgotten forced bathing in Hungary

In 1977, there was a one-time forced bathing of Roma people in the Pest county village, the subject of this article. Seemingly, no memory of the event has survived within the Romungro community: the villagers do not remember if Roma people were ever forced to submit to bathing. There is more than one reason for this: first, after the first occasion the authorities abandoned the idea, therefore its one-time memory has faded away over time. Second, because of its shameful connotation the participants were unwilling to talk about it. They did not talk about it since it could have evoked the memory of the “dirty Roma” in a community where purity and dirtiness are basic mental categories. Through concepts used by the community concerning purity and order this article explores what local Roma think about the forced bathing of the past. It examines how they conceive those events which seem to have no memory in the community

Wetland habitats of the Kis-Sárrét 1860–2008 (Körös-Maros National Park, Hungary)

<p>The manuscript presents maps of internationally important wetlands located in the Kis-Sárrét (Hungary) from 1860 to 2008. The study area is located in south-east Hungary, in the Körös-Maros National Park and covers 8048 ha. For the historic map review, we used digitized data of topographic maps from the period of two military surveys and the Second World War. We also made habitat maps of the area in 2007 and 2008. Data processing, and the establishment of a database of the mapped area, was made using QuantumGIS 1.7.0 and Esri ArcView GIS 3.2. Maps were produced using Esri ArcGIS 10.0 and show where and in what ratio the once extensive wetlands occurred, how they changed and in which part of the area they survived in different mapping periods. They provide a point of reference for the monitoring of wetlands, contributing to the long-term conservation of these valuable habitats. Maps and diagrams show that between 1860 and 1944 wetland extent decreased by half. The ratio of natural, ‘purely’ wet habitats reaches only 4.67% now. Wetlands typically occur in habitat complexes, therefore not ‘purely’ wet habitats (20.77%) also have to be taken into account. Considering this, and a recent habitat reconstruction, the extent of wetlands is more favourable today than it was in 1944. However, to sustain them requires care and well-planned management to which the maps presented here provide an important basis.</p

The passport as means of identity management: making and unmaking ethnic boundaries through citizenship

This paper explores how the non-resident citizenship made available for Hungarians living beyond Hungary’s borders impacted the national identification of newly naturalised non-resident Hungarians. Through the analysis of 51 semi-structured in-depth interviews with recently naturalised Hungarians in Romania, Serbia, the U.S. and Israel, the paper compares how citizenship as a legal institution is perceived, practiced and consumed by Hungarians living in Hungary’s neighbouring countries and overseas diasporas. Not denying the instrumental implications of the Hungarian passport, the paper argues that it is also an important means of constructing national identities. My empirical research shows that the passport strengthens the holder’s sense of belonging to the national group. In addition, citizenship is also considered as a valuable symbolic asset which can be instrumentalised as means of social closure. Non-resident Hungarians use their Hungarian passports to prove their European ancestry and/or belonging to the Hungarian nation. At the same time, the passport also enables its holder to distance herself from the populations in their home-states in order to elevate the holder’s social status.Published versio