The impact of EU-accession on farming and agricultural employment in Cluj County

This paper reveals some consequences of Romania’s accession to the EU on farming and agricultural employment in Cluj County. EU15 countries have a different farm structure and a higher agricultural labour productivity than Romania and the Common Agricultural Policy in its present form responds primarily to their needs. Based on the interviews carried out in 2005 and in 2009 with farmers and experts from Cluj County, the paper presents the expectations towards EU accession as well as its short-term effects. Results of the interviews suggest that, in Cluj County, EU-accession leads to the disappearance of semi-subsistence farms and to the decrease of the number of agricultural workers. Farmers are still not sufficiently informed about CAP and the complexity of the administrative procedures, and the lack of professionalism of agency staff and the delays of payments caused many disappointments in the first two years after EU accession.EU-accession of Romania, Common Agricultural Policy, rural employment, agricultural employment

Occupational Choices of Romanian Rural Youth

This paper tries to identify the main factors influencing the decisions related to occupational choices of rural youth from Cluj County, Romania, thus contributing to a better understanding of the problems and opportunities of Romanian rural communities. In order to achieve this, the results of two surveys are compared: the first one was carried out in 2007 and the second in 2011. The two surveys adopted the same methodology, thus allowing us to test the stability of the outcomes over a period of four years and highlight the main changes occurring in that period. In 2011 information was collected also regarding the current situation of young people belonging to the first generation, thus the cross-sectional analysis has been completed with a longitudinal analysis. Results show that the educational choices of rural youth from Cluj County were not essentially modified in the period 2007–2011, but there is a growing uncertainty regarding their future profession. Most of them want to work in the services sector, the preference for agriculture remaining low and there is a clear and persistent gender division among chosen professions. The main factors identified as having an influence on continuing education are: gender (more girls opting for continuing education than boys), school results and parents’ attitude towards education. Based on the conclusions of the analysis, some policy implications are also discussed

Factors influencing educational choices of Romanian rural youth

This paper attempts to identify the main factors influencing the decisions regarding educational choices of rural youth from Cluj county, Romania. In order to achieve this, data collected in three waves of survey, in 2007, 2011 and 2015, were combined. The three surveys used the same methodology, thus allowing us to test the stability of the outcomes over a period of eight years, to highlight the main changes occurring in this period and to test statistically the factors of influence on a larger sample. The results show that the share of those who intend to study further slightly increased in the period 2007-2015. Regression analysis lead us to five factors that have a statistically significant influence on continuing education: the parents’ attitude towards continuing education, the age, the number of siblings; the school performance and the computer skills of the respondents. Some other individual, family and locality-related variables also correlated significantly with the intention to study further. Based on the conclusions, some policy implications are discussed

The analysis of job characteristics leading to high job satisfaction in Romania

Job satisfaction is one of the most analysed job attitudes which may have significant positive consequences on the individual-level and organizational-level performances, too. This is why companies have to analyse the antecedents of job satisfaction. Work design and work characteristics have compelling impact on employees' job satisfaction. The aim of this paper is to identify the work characteristics with the highest impact on job satisfaction across various occupations and positions in Romania. The empirical research had been carried out within the Global Work Design Project initiated by the Academy of Management HR Division, based on the work design questionnaire (WDQ) developed by Morgeson and Humphrey (2006). The Romanian sample consisted of 394 employees from 69 organizations. In our paper we identify the job features and characteristics which lead to high job satisfaction. The findings may have empirical implications on companies' HR strategies not only in Romania, but also in other countries from the Central and Eastern European region

Laminar analysis of the slow wave activity in the somatosensory cortex of anesthetized rats.

Rhythmic slow waves characterize brain electrical activity during natural deep sleep and under anesthesia, reflecting the synchronous membrane potential fluctuations of neurons in the thalamocortical network. Strong evidence indicates that the neocortex plays an important role in the generation of slow wave activity (SWA), however, contributions of individual cortical layers to the SWA generation are still unclear. The anatomically correct laminar profiles of SWA were revealed under ketamine/xylazine anesthesia, with combined local field potential recordings, multiple-unit activity (MUA), current source density (CSD) and time-frequency analyses precisely co-registered with histology. The up-state related negative field potential wave showed the largest amplitude in layer IV, the CSD was largest in layers I and III, while MUA was maximal in layer V, suggesting spatially dissociated firing and synaptic/transmembrane processes in the rat somatosensory cortex. Up-state related firing could start in virtually any layers (III-VI) of the cortex, but were most frequently initiated in layer V. However, in a subset of experiments, layer IV was considerably active in initiating up-state related MUA even in the absence of somatosensory stimulation. Somatosensory stimulation further strengthened up-state initiation in layer IV. Our results confirm that cortical layer V firing may have a major contribution to the up-state generation of ketamine/xylazine-induced SWA, however, thalamic influence through the thalamorecipient layer IV can also play an initiating role, even in the absence of sensory stimulation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Előkísérletek házi méh (Apis Mellifera) genotipizálására és spermium mélyhűtésére = Preliminary experiments for the genotyping of domestic bee (Apis mellifera) and sperm freezing

A krajnai méh Kárpát-medencei állomány genetikai diverzitásának és tisztaságának felmérését kezdtük el genomikai alapon fejlesztett DNS markerek segítségével. A különböző családokban az anyák genotípusait STR markerek segítségével tudjuk meghatározni, és kiválasztani, mit érdemes hosszútávon ex-situ tárolni. A felolvasztott spermiumokkal méhanyák mesterségesen termékenyíthetők és visszaállíthatók, illetve irányított keresztezésekbe állíthatók az eltárolt vonalak. Ezért a herék spermiumainak kinyerésére és mélyhűtésére egy jól használható módszert kell kidolgoznunk. Kifejlesztettünk egy saját, sztereomikroszkópos preparálási módszert, az ivarsejteket a szeminális vezikulumból nyertük ki. A spermiumokat tartalmazó médiumot 2 percig 700g-vel centrifugáltuk, a felülúszót eltávolítottuk, és a csapadékot meghatározott mennyiségre hígítottuk, majd 3:2 arányban kevertük össze a krioprotektív anyagokkal (CPA): DMSO25%+BSS+tojássárgája; DMSO10%+BSS+tojássárgája, DMSO25%+Harbo+tojássárgája, DMSO10%+Harbo+tojássárgája. Megállapítottuk, hogy a DMSO-s keverék nem toxikus a spermiumok számára. A 10µl-nyi CPA-val kevert spermiumot 80µl hígítót, 10µl CPA-t tartalmazó 0,25µl-es műszalmákba töltöttük. Tört jégen történő inkubáció után a minták egyik felét közvetlenül a folyékony nitrogént tartalmazó tartályba helyeztük, a másik felét pedig programozható fagyasztógéppel 3oC/perc sebességgel, -40oC-ig hűtöttük. A felolvasztást 38,5oC-os vízfürdőben végeztük, majd a mintákat 38,5oC-on inkubáltuk 10 percig, majd a motilitást fázis kontraszt mikroszkóppal újból megvizsgáltuk. A 10%-os töménységű DMSO-s oldattal kevert spermiumok kivétel nélkül elpusztultak a fagyasztás során, míg a 25%-os koncentrációjú DMSO-s oldattal kevert spermiumok 80%-a (amelyeket programozott lassú hűtéssel fagyasztottunk) túlélte a kezelést, de a felolvasztást követően gyengébb motilitást mutattak

A Covid-19 válság kihívásai és HR válaszok Közép és Kelet Európa hat országában elvégzett empirikus kutatás tükrében = The challenges of the COVID-19 crisis and HR responses in six countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the light of an empirical research

A kutatás során kialakítottunk egy vizsgálati modellt, amelynek alapján empirikusan (online kérdőíves lekérdezéssel) vizsgálni tudtuk, hogy a koronavírus okozta válság milyen kihívásokat és változásokat idézett elő a vizsgált országok (Ausztria, Bosznia-Hercegovina, Bulgária, Magyarország, Románia és Szlovákia) vállalati/intézményi szférájának emberi erőforrás menedzselési gyakorlatában. Az összegyűjtött adatokat statisztikai módszerekkel vizsgálva megállapítottuk, hogy a nagyobb méretű, valamint a külföldi és az állami tulajdonú szervezetek eredményesebben kezelték a HR-rel összefüggő változásokat és válsághelyzeteket.|We developed a research model based on which we investigated empirically (with online questionnaire) the challenges and changes occured due to the coronavirus-crisis in the human resource management practice of the corporate/institutional sector from the examined countries (Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia). We analyzed the collected data using statistical methods and we found that larger, foreign and state-owned organizations were able to solve their HR-related change and crisis management activities more effectively

Combined two-photon imaging, electrophysiological, and anatomical investigation of the human neocortex in vitro

Spontaneous synchronous population activity (SPA) can be detected by electrophysiological methods in cortical slices of epileptic patients, maintained in a physiological medium in vitro. In order to gain additional spatial information about the network mechanisms involved in the SPA generation, we combined electrophysiological studies with two-photon imaging. Neocortical slices prepared from postoperative tissue of epileptic and tumor patients were maintained in a dual perfusion chamber in a physiological incubation medium. SPA was recorded with a 24-channel extracellular linear microelectrode covering all neocortical layers. After identifying the electrophysiologically active regions of the slice, bolus loading of neuronal and glial markers was applied on the tissue. SPA-related [Formula: see text] transients were detected in a large population of neighboring neurons with two-photon microscopy, simultaneous with extracellular SPA and intracellular whole-cell patch-clamp recordings. The intracellularly recorded cells were filled for subsequent anatomy. The cells were reconstructed in three dimensions and examined with light- and transmission electron microscopy. Combining high spatial resolution two-photon [Formula: see text] imaging techniques and high temporal resolution extra- and intracellular electrophysiology with cellular anatomy may permit a deeper understanding of the structural and functional properties of the human neocortex