Regional effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and policy responses in Hungary

Relevance. The new coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has brought major changes to everyday life and economy in 2020. The impacts of the pandemic are still difficult to measure and interpret. This paper analyses the key socio-economic factors that shaped the course of the pandemic and its regional effects in Hungary.Research objective. The aim of this paper is to provide a secondary data-based analysis of regional disparities in Hungary as well as the implications of the coronavirus pandemic and the related policy responses.Data and methodology. The analysis consisted of the three stages: first, we processed the official epidemiologic data related to the coronavirus pandemic and the territorial patterns of infections as well as the data on the socio-economic impacts of the lockdown (on retail trade, employment, tourism, local governments’ revenues, etc). Second, we collected the data related to the socio-economic effects of the pandemic and revealed the territorial impacts of the crisis. Finally, we evaluated the government’s measures and interventions introduced in the first wave of the pandemic in terms of their efficiency.Results. Our results demonstrate that while the epicentre of the pandemic was the capital city and its surrounding area, the socio-economic impacts of containment measures implemented by the Hungarian government were felt across the whole country. In some areas, the lockdown measures could have been unreasonably tight as no reasonable justification for these restrictions was provided. Therefore, territorial monitoring and development of regionally differentiated policies are the main tasks in preparation for further waves of the pandemic. In our opinion, it is necessary to devise an action plan that would regulate the protocols of prevention and protection in connection with the regional focal points (hospitals, nursing homes, schools, etc.) and their immediate surroundings.Conclusions. Although territorial aspects have been taken into account by the government in their efforts to contain the pandemic in Hungary, they have been given significantly less attention in terms of socio-economic support. Thus, as the article makes clear, it is important to devise and implement regionally differentiated policies of containment as well as socio-economic protection measures

Maternal Genetic Composition of Early Medieval Populations Lived in the Cis- and Trans-Ural and Volga-Kama Regions

Many scientific theories exist about the origin of Hungarians and their migration from Northern Central Asia to Europe in the 8th–9th centuries AD. Ethnic heterogeneity of the Hungarian Conquerors is attested by a number of historical and archaeological evidence due to their associated migration with other populations from the Ural region through the Middle-Volga region (and the Khazar Khaganate) until their arrival in the Carpathian Basin in 895 AD. The source region, direction, and chronology of the migration is still unclear and intensively studied by historians, archaeologists and linguists. In our studies, we approach these issues using archaeogenetic methodology. We investigate early medieval (6th–10th AD) populations from the regions of the Ural Mountains, the presumed migration route and the Carpathian Basin. The sites can be associated with each other and the Hungarian Conquerors as well. Remains of the first cultures (Kushnarenkovo and Karayakupovo) associated with Hungarian prehistory are from the Middle and Southern Urals. Investigating whole mitochondrial genomes, our first series came from the eastern (Uyelgi) and western (Bayanovo, Sukhoy Log, Bartim) side of the Middle-Southern Urals. As a continuation we included samples from the Volga-Kama region, with special attention to Bolshie Tigani site. We might get a better picture of the migration route and can map its stages and stopovers in a genetic context by extending our database with mitochondrial data from the presented series

A megismerési folyamatok pszichofiziológiája: agyi elektromos tevékenység = Psychophysiology of cognitive processes: brain electric activity

A pályázat fő feladataként összefoglaló monográfiák készültek a figyelem pszichológiája (Czigler István) és a fejlődés-neuropszichológia (Csépe Valéria) területén. A tudományos iskola alapjában az agyi elektromos változások elemzése állt (eseményhez kötött potenciál módszerek, frekvencia-elemzések, nem-lineáris módszerek), melyet a klasszikus kognitív pszichológia teljesítmény-elemző módszereivel együtt, és esetenként a vegetatív idegrendszeri aktivitás elemzésével kiegészítve végeztünk. Kutatásaink fő eredményei az automatikus és figyelmi információfeldolgozási folyamatokhoz (változás-detekció, orientáció, reorientáció), fejlődés-pszichofiziológiai kutatásokban az olvasás és számolás jellemzőihez és ezek zavaraihoz, agyi érbetegségek agyi elektromos jellemzőihez, epilepsziás agyi működések mikro-szerkezetének elemzéséhez, valamint állatkísérletes információfeldolgozási modellek kutatásához kapcsolódtak. A tudományos iskola pályázat lehetővé tette fiatal munkatársak bevonását e kutatásokba, melyek tematikus támogatását OTKA, NKFP, FIRCA, Informatikai - és Egészséügyi Minisztériumi pályázatok tették lehetővé. | As the main task, comprehensive books were written on psychology of attention (I. Czigler) and developmental neuropsychology (V. Csépe) respectively. In the research projects we concentrated on the methods of brain electric activity analyses (event-related potentials, frequency analyses, non-linear methods). Electrophysiologyical methods were conducted together with the analyses of behavioral performance (reaction time, error measures), and in some occasions with the investigations of autonomic changes. Our main results concentrated on the automatic and attentional processes of human information processing (change detection, orientation, re-orientation), within the field of developmental neuropsychology on reading and arithmetic development (and the impairment of these activities). We obtained results on stroke-related activity, and on the micro-processes of epileptic activity. In the comparative research animal models of perceptual activity were investigated. The grant supported the involvement of young scientists into our research projects. The research projects were supported by thematic OTKA grants, NKFP, FIRCA grants, and supports from Ministries of Healh and Informatic