A Sector of Strategic Importance? The Basic Dilemmas of Hungarian Agriculture in the Second Half of the 20th Century.

Agriculture in Hungary has a strategic importance as the sector generates foreign currency earnings while it increases rural employment opportunities. Foreign currency generation assumes higher inputs of labour and highly mechanised production (e.g. cereal production), which does not promote rural employment. The dramatic decrease in the labour-intensive sectors generates a decline in rural employment. This dichotomy results in irresolvable contradictions. The study examines the possibilities of resolving the contradictions in Hungarian agriculture

Az agrárlobbi tündöklése és bukása az államszocializmus időszakában

Recenzió Varga Zsuzsanna: Az agrárlobbi tündöklése és bukása az államszocializmus időszakában című könyvéről. (Budapest, Gondolat Kiadó, 2013. 296 oldal

Old institutions, new challenges: the agricultural knowledge system in Hungary

This paper explores and analyses the Hungarian institutional system for the creation and the transfer of knowledge in the fi eld of agriculture and rural development. We consider the constitution and operation of the Agricultural Knowledge System (AKS) in Hungary, focussing on the formally organised aspects, and suggest that both the structure and content of the knowledge needed in the sector have signifi cantly changed during the past decades. These changes, especially in relation to the sustainability of agriculture, pose signifi cant challenges to traditional AKS institutions, which often have failed to change in line with the new requirements. Based on a literature review, interviews and a national stakeholder workshop, we offer an analysis of Hungarian AKS institutions, their co-ordination, co-operation and communication with each other and with Hungarian rurality, and of the arising issues and problems concerning the creation and the fl ow of knowledge needed for sustainable agriculture. We also briefl y explore characteristics of emerging bottom-up structures, called LINSAS (learning and innovation networks for sustainable agriculture), and explore the signifi cance of the fi ndings in this article for the study of AKS in Europe. This article is based on preliminary results of the SOLINSA research project, supported by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme

An Attitude Strength and Self-Perception Framework Regarding the Bi-directional Relationship of Job Satisfaction with Extra-Role and In-Role Behavior: The Doubly Moderating Role of Work Centrality

Studies have identified variables either moderating the extent to which job satisfaction predicts work behavior or moderating the reverse impact of work behavior on job satisfaction. Based on an attitude strength and self-perception framework, we argue that certain variables may moderate both the predictive utility of job satisfaction for work behavior and the impact of work behavior on job satisfaction. Specifically focusing on work centrality, we hold that high work centrality renders job satisfaction a strong job attitude, whereas low work centrality renders job satisfaction a weak job attitude. Hence, the predictive utility of job satisfaction for both extra-role behavior and in-role behavior should be higher the more work is central to employees. In contrast, the influence of extra-role behavior, but not of in-role behavior, on job satisfaction should be higher the less work is central to employees. Results of a two-wave study (N = 176) were in line with these predictions. We discuss further variables that may play a similar role for the bi-directional relationship between job satisfaction and work behavior

Agriculture and Employement. The Results of the Transition in Hungarian Agriculture

The purpose of this paper is to review and analyse the Taylorist principles of labour organisation, a system that was adopted by the communist leadership and the ideologists of the soviet regime as well and that became the dominant practice in large scale farming in Hungary before the transition. The paper will focus on highlighting the factors that played a major role in determining the labour organisation of the industrialized agricultural holdings and will review the successes and failures of the development model together with the persistence of the principles in agricultural production after the transition. Following the transition in 1990, as a result of the changes in organisational structure and ownership, a highly problematical model came into existence. The past two decades have witnessed dramatic changes in agriculture since a rise in economic inactivity in rural areas and a significant decrease in labour-intensive crop production coincide. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that in Hungary food industry plays a major role in providing stable rural employment and in ensuring food safety

Stambiųjų žemės ūkių triumfas ir jų socialinis bei ekonominis poveikis

Large-scale farming that utilizes industrial methods to intensify production is becoming more significant worldwide. This study explores this phenomenon and sheds light on its consequences. Contingency factors serve as key drivers when determining the advantages and disadvantages of both large-scale and small-scale farming. Significant shifts in agro-production methods have fundamentally altered ownership and production structures in agriculture and had a disastrous impact on the livelihoods of people living in rural areas.Straipsnyje analizuojamas stambusis ūkininkavimas, kai taikomi pramoniniai metodai, kad būtų gaminama daugiau žemės ūkio produkcijos, ir jo socialiniai padariniai. Stambūs agrariniai ūkiai įgyja vis svaresnį vaidmenį pasaulinėje rinkoje. Nepaisant teorinių diskusijų apie smulkiojo ar stambiojo ūkininkavimo pranašumus ar trūkumus, tikrovėje dažniausi veikia atsitiktinio pobūdžio veiksniai, konkrečiu atveju nulemiantys, kuris iš būdų yra priimtinesnis ar atmestinas. Tačiau slinktis link stambaus ūkininkavimo iš pagrindų pakeitė nuosavybės ir gamybos santykių struktūrą žemės ūkyje ir turėjo pražūtingą poveikį žmonių pragyvenimo šaltiniams kaimo vietovėse

Food security and GMOs

This study deals with potential food security impacts of GM technology. GMOs are a debated issue in the current Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) trade negotiations, lending particular significance to our topic. Patents have been issued on gene sequences that allow biotech giants the exclusive right to profit from these varieties. To protect the specific genes, in addition to the desired properties seed infertility is also encoded. As a consequence, farmers who are no longer able to produce their own seeds become completely defenceless against multinational producers. In this way the supply of staple foods, like food grains, will be monopolized by transatlantic companies, giving them control over the markets, making self-sufficiency of nations and local producers impossible.</jats:p

Az NMDA receptor-alegységek szerepe kisagyi szemcsesejtek fejlődésében: vizsgálatok egy transzgenikus egértörzsben = The role of NMDA receptor subunits in the development of cerebellar granule cells: investigations on transgenic mice

Az NR2B alegység túltermeltetése rendellenes kisagy-fejlődéshez vezet: a kisagyi szemcsesejtek és a parallel rost szinapszisok száma lecsökken, a Purkinje sejtek dendritikus arborizációja kevésbé fejlett. In vivo BrdU jelölésekkel igazoltuk, hogy az NR2C-2B kisagyi szemcsesejtek vándorlása felgyorsul. NR2C ko. állatok felhasználásával bizonyítottuk, hogy a megfigyelt változások nem az NR2C alegység hiányának, hanem az NR2B alegység túltermeltetésének a következményei. A kisagyi szemcsesejt-tenyészeteket úgy készítettük, hogy a vad típusú és NR2C-2B szemcsesejtekben kifejeződő NMDA receptorok összetételükben és funkcionálisan különbözzenek. Az NR2C-2B alegységcsere a nyúlványok mozgására nincs hatással, ezzel szemben a sejttestek vándorlási átlagsebességét megnöveli. NR2B alegység-specifikus gátlószerekkel végzett kísérletek alapján a transzgén sejtekben nagyobb az NR1/NR2B diheteromer receptorok aránya. Adataink alapján a diheteromer NMDA receptorok arányának és/vagy működésének növekedése állhat a transzgén sejtekre jellemző, megnövekedett migrációs sebesség mögött. Nem várt eredményünk, hogy a különböző életkorú állatokból származó szemcsesejtek mozgási aktivitása azonos tenyésztési feltételek mellett is jelentősen különbözik. Habár a tenyészetek morfológiája, valamint számos molekuláris jellemzője az izolálási életkortól függetlenül rendkívül hasonló, a fiatalabb állatokból származó idegsejtek mozgása gyorsabb, mint az öregebb állatokból származó idegsejteké. | Long-term cerebellar NR2B overexpression led to aberrant Purkinje cell morphology, a decrease in granule cell number and parallel fiber input. BrdU labeling showed that in vivo migratory rate of NR2C-2B granule cells was increased. As similar histological changes were not observed in NR2C ko. mice, developmental abnormalities reported in NR2C-2B mice were due to the overexpression of NR2B and not to the lack of NR2C subunit expression. Culture conditions were developed to obtain differences in NMDA receptor subunit composition and functioning between wild-type and NR2C-2B granule cells in vitro. Computer-controlled videomicroscopy showed that NR2C-2B subunit exchange did not affect neurite motility while significantly increased average migratory speed of granule cell bodies. NR2B subunit-specific NMDA receptor antagonists altered cell motility differently in wild-type and mutant cultures, indicating that NR1/NR2B diheteromer subunits were more characteristic to NR2C-2B cultures and that increase in the amount and/or in the activity of NR1/NR2B NMDA receptors might be responsible for an increase in migratory speed. Unexpected findings were that despite similarities in culture morphology, development or gene expression patterns, granule cells isolated from younger postnatal ages showed increased migratory speed and activity compared to granule cells isolated from older animals