Hungarian International Development Cooperation: Context, Stakeholders and Performance

This paper explores the domestic and international context of Hungary's emerging international development policy. Specifically, it looks at three factors that may influence how this policy operates: membership in the European Union (EU) and potential ‘Europeanization’, Hungary's wider foreign policy strategy, and the influence of domestic stakeholders. In order to uncover how these factors affect the country's international development policy, semi-structured interviews were carried out with the main stakeholders. The main conclusions are: (1) While accession to the EU did play a crucial role in restarting Hungary's international development policy, the integration has had little effect since then; (2) international development policy seems to serve mainly Hungary's regional strategic foreign policy and economic interests, and not its global development goals; and (3) although all the domestic development stakeholders are rather weak, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) still seems to play a dominating role. Convergence with European requirements and best practices is, therefore, clearly hindered by foreign policy interests and also by the weakness of non- governmental stakeholders

Task 2: Analysis of the MS replies to the EEA request for inventorying existing LU information in the countries : D2 - Report containing an assessment of the LU inventory by MS, including an assessment on the impact of existing / missing LU parameters for the creation of CLC+ LULUCF and Legacy instances

Implementation of CLC+ based on the EAGLE concept –additional support for further development of CLC+ databases (CLC+ and CLC+ instances, namely CLC+ LULUCF instance and CLC+ Legacy instance) <br/

Dinamička simulacija mehaničkih opterećenja – pristup zasnovan na svojstvima industrijskih elektromotornih pogona

Dynamic emulation of mechanical loads presents a modern and interesting approach for testing and validating performance of electrical drives without a real mechanical load included in the test rig. The paper presents an approach to dynamic emulation of mechanical loads when the load torque and inertia mass of emulated load can be significantly greater than that of laboratory test rig. Closed-loop control of load torque and feedforward compensation of inertia and friction torques are used in a test rig. The approach is focused on the use with standard industrial converters. The described method can be used for design and validation of speed control algorithms in mechatronic applications. Experimental results with the emulation of linear loads are presented in end of the paper.Dinamička simulacija mehaničkih opterećenja predstavlja moderan i zanimljiv pristup testiranju i validaciji ponašanja elektromotornih pogona bez uključenog stvarnog mehaničkog opterećenja u eksperimentalni postav. U radu je predstavljen pristup s dinamičkom simulacijom mehaničkih opterećenja za slučaj kada moment tereta ili moment tromosti simuliranog tereta mogu biti daleko veći od onih dostupnih u eksperimentalnom postavu. U postavu se koristi upravljanje momentom tereta u zatvorenoj petlji uz unaprijednu petlju kompenzacije momenta tromosti i momenata trenja. Pristup je usmjeren na upotrebu standardnih industrijskih pretvarača. Opisana metoda može se koristiti za sintezu i validaciju algoritama za upravljanje po brzini u mehatroničkim primjenama. U radu su predstavljeni eksperimentalni rezultati za slučaj simulacije linearnih tereta

Bee products prevent VEGF-induced angiogenesis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a key regulator of pathogenic angiogenesis in diseases such as cancer and diabetic retinopathy. Bee products [royal jelly (RJ), bee pollen, and Chinese red propolis] from the honeybee, <it>Apis mellifera</it>, have been used as traditional health foods for centuries. The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-angiogenic effects of bee products using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In an <it>in vitro </it>tube formation assay, HUVECs and fibroblast cells were incubated for 14 days with VEGF and various concentrations of bee products [RJ, ethanol extract of bee pollen, ethanol extract of Chinese red propolis and its constituent, caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE)]. To clarify the mechanism of <it>in vitro </it>angiogenesis, HUVEC proliferation and migration were induced by VEGF with or without various concentrations of RJ, bee pollen, Chinese red propolis, and CAPE.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>RJ, bee pollen, Chinese red propolis, and CAPE significantly suppressed VEGF-induced <it>in vitro </it>tube formation in the descending order: CAPE > Chinese red propolis >> bee pollen > RJ. RJ and Chinese red propolis suppressed both VEGF-induced HUVEC proliferation and migration. In contrast, bee pollen and CAPE suppressed only the proliferation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Among the bee products, Chinese red propolis and CAPE in particular showed strong suppressive effects against VEGF-induced angiogenesis. These findings indicate that Chinese red propolis and CAPE may have potential as preventive and therapeutic agents against angiogenesis-related human diseases.</p

Europeanisation should meet international constructivism: the Nordic Plus group and the internalisation of political conditionality by France and the United Kingdom

This article is a plausibility probe for the significance of international constructivist ‘mediating factors’ to explain variation in Europeanisation outcomes. It applies a most similar systems design (or Mill's method of difference) to show that the UK has internalised political conditionality to a larger extent than France at least partially because it has been the object of stronger socialisation pressures within the ‘Nordic Plus’ group. The article contributes to the literature on Europeanisation and development cooperation in two important ways. First, it enlarges its scope of analysis, both geographically (beyond new European Union member states) and thematically (beyond simple measures of aid quality and/or quantity). Second, it emphasises the importance of international (versus domestic) mediating factors. The empirical analysis focusses on three cases of aid sanctions in response to human rights abuses and democratic setbacks: Zimbabwe 2002, Madagascar 2009 and Mozambique 2009

Lifespan-Extending Effects of Royal Jelly and Its Related Substances on the Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

One of the most important challenges in the study of aging is to discover compounds with longevity-promoting activities and to unravel their underlying mechanisms. Royal jelly (RJ) has been reported to possess diverse beneficial properties. Furthermore, protease-treated RJ (pRJ) has additional pharmacological activities. Exactly how RJ and pRJ exert these effects and which of their components are responsible for these effects are largely unknown. The evolutionarily conserved mechanisms that control longevity have been indicated. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether RJ and its related substances exert a lifespan-extending function in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and to gain insights into the active agents in RJ and their mechanism of action.We found that both RJ and pRJ extended the lifespan of C. elegans. The lifespan-extending activity of pRJ was enhanced by Octadecyl-silica column chromatography (pRJ-Fraction 5). pRJ-Fr.5 increased the animals' lifespan in part by acting through the FOXO transcription factor DAF-16, the activation of which is known to promote longevity in C. elegans by reducing insulin/IGF-1 signaling (IIS). pRJ-Fr.5 reduced the expression of ins-9, one of the insulin-like peptide genes. Moreover, pRJ-Fr.5 and reduced IIS shared some common features in terms of their effects on gene expression, such as the up-regulation of dod-3 and the down-regulation of dod-19, dao-4 and fkb-4. 10-Hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA), which was present at high concentrations in pRJ-Fr.5, increased lifespan independently of DAF-16 activity.These results demonstrate that RJ and its related substances extend lifespan in C. elegans, suggesting that RJ may contain longevity-promoting factors. Further analysis and characterization of the lifespan-extending agents in RJ and pRJ may broaden our understanding of the gene network involved in longevity regulation in diverse species and may lead to the development of nutraceutical interventions in the aging process