Open access to scientific publications: ideas and problems

Open access scholarly publishing did not have yet a serious impact on the slow-moving world of research. Neither could it solve the serials crisis. Nonetheless we have to see that the push of journals from paper to electronic media resulted in an infrastructure the existence of which shed light – among others - to the fact that the system of journal publishing, acceptable in the print environment, is no more sustainable. One of the most promising solutions to solve the serials crisis is open access (OA) publishing that has been initiated by researchers feeling responsibility for scholarship and which has many faces. This paper describes the main features of open access scholarly journal publishing and some of the obstacles that stand in its way.distribution of scientific results, open access, OA, scholarly publishing, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Multinational Companies and Labour Relations in Hungary: between Home Country - Host Country Effects and Global Tendencies

This paper will approach the role of multinational companies (MNCs) in shaping Hungarian labour relations in a broader context. Departing from an overview of macroeconomic developments of the last two decades, all levels and aspects of labour relations, actors, strategies, institutions and practices will be examined in order to grasp Hungarian specifics against features common to new EU members in Central and Eastern Europe. A closer look at the underlying macroeconomic framework will help to highlight how in an early transforming, small and open economy incoming FDI and MNCs affect the system of industrial relations which in turn becomes one of the coordination mechanisms differentiating economic and political regimes of old and new market economies. In evaluating the impact of MNCs on Hungarian employment relations home country and host country effects as well as global tendencies will be considered within the 'vehicle of change' and the 'outpost test department' extremes.labour relations, multinational companies, collective agreements, informal bargaining, tripartism, social dialogue, Hungary

Microfluidics: an enabling technology for the life sciences

During the last year we have investigated existing and future markets, products and technologies for microfluidics in the life sciences. Within this paper we present some of the findings and discuss a major trend identified within this project: the development of microfluidic platforms for flexible design of application specific integrated microfluidic systems. We discuss two platforms in detail which are currently under development in our lab: microfluidics on a rotating CD ("Lab-CD") as well as a platform to realized customized "nanoliter & picoliter dispensing systems"

Separating the ex post effects of mergers: an analysis of structural changes on the Hungarian retail gasoline market

This paper develops an empirical method to identify the price effects of simultaneous mergers and to separate the different effects on the prices of the buyer and seller firms and on the prices of their respective competitors. Our difference-in-differences approach exploits variation in the presence of merging firms across local markets to form different treatment-control group pairs in order to estimate separate effects for each type of firms affected by the mergers. We apply this method to provide an ex post evaluation of two almost simultaneous mergers in the Hungarian retail gasoline market. We show that both mergers resulted in a significantly positive but economically negligible price effect, but while the first merger affected only the prices of buyer firm's stations, the second had an effect on the prices of seller's stations and of its competitors. We also demonstrate that the results are not sensitive to the assumed dates when the mergers effectively change the firms' pricing policy.ex post evaluation, mergers, difference-in-differences estimation, treatment effects, retail gasoline

Web 2.0

A Web 2.0 egyre népszerűbb. Kevesen vannak azonban tisztában azokkal az üzleti célokkal, amelyek a közösségi hálózatok, a blogok, a fájlmegosztó (kép- és videómegosztó) portálok és hasonló oldalak működtetését lehetővé teszik, pedig ezeket az iskolának is ismernie kellene. A Web 2.0 hátteréről, a mögötte álló ideológia és a valóság között feszülő ellentétről szól ez az írás

Subject Cataloging in a Cooperative Cataloging Environment

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Library of Estonia organized a Conference on Union Catalogs which took place in Tallinn, in the National Library of Estonia on October 17–19, 2002. The Conference presented and discussed analytical papers dealing with various aspects of designing and implementing union catalogs and shared cataloging systems as revealed through the experiences of Eastern European, Baltic and South African research libraries. Here you can find the texts of the conference papers and the list of contributors and participants.The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Library of Estonia organized a Conference on Union Catalogs which took place in Tallinn, in the National Library of Estonia on October 17–19, 2002. The Conference presented and discussed analytical papers dealing with various aspects of designing and implementing union catalogs and shared cataloging systems as revealed through the experiences of Eastern European, Baltic and South African research libraries. Here you can find the texts of the conference papers and the list of contributors and participants