Economic and social importance of vertical and horizontal forms of agricultural cooperation in Hungary

In the development of a market economy, the ability to cooperate is a major factor determining the competitiveness of economic actors. With complex instruments intended to stimulate cooperation among the actors in farming, the agri-food chain, forestry and rural development, strengthening cooperation is a priority of the Common Agricultural Policy in the current European Union programming period. This paper evaluates the development of different forms of vertical and horizontal cooperation between actors in Hungarian agriculture in the period 2007-2013. Our definition of cooperation is based on a regular market relationship, and our analysis includes not only formal forms of horizontal and vertical cooperation but also the informal networks offering business benefits for producers. The main conclusion is that, owing to the continuing low level of horizontal cooperation in Hungary, high-level vertical integration ensures that producers can achieve a favourable negotiating position, and this in turn reduces the potential for the development of horizontal cooperation. Informal relationships, such as doing favours without charge, are not negligible ways of accessing resources, especially for small farms. A development path for agricultural cooperation in Hungary might be for actors to make collective investments in order to increase value-added and utilise economies of scale, and to organise themselves into alliances, associations, networks and clusters. Beyond the benefits originating from market concentration, these steps could stimulate the dissemination of expertise, improve efficiency and increase innovation capacities

Bracketing the age of freshwater carbonate formation by OSL dating near Lake Kolon, Hungary

Freshwater carbonates are unique depositions in the centre of the Carpathian Basin, with debated origin and age. Their formation on the sand covered area of the Danube-Tisza Interfluve is mainly related to lakes appearing in low lying interdune areas from time-totime. Carbonate deposition is governed by various processes, but in general it can be traced back to climatic and concomitant surface and subsurface hydrological variations. Therefore marl, limestone and dolomite layers can be a marker of environmental change. To identify the type of environmental change they may indicate absolute or numerical ages are needed. In previous studies this issue has been addressed by the means of radiocarbon dating. In the present study we attempted to bracket the age of freshwater carbonate formation with the help of optically stimulated luminescence dating and compared our results to radiocarbon data from the literature. In general, the luminescence properties of the investigated samples proved to be suitable for determining the age of the bedding and covering sediments. OSL dates confirmed previous interpretations that freshwater carbonate formation in the area could have a peak around 10,5 ka. However, the termination of the deposition could not be unambiguously determined at the present stage of the analysis. The compound geomorphology and sedimentology of the study area call for further investigations

Mapping Freshwater Carbonate Deposits by Using Ground-Penetrating Radar at Lake Kolon, Hungary

Freshwater carbonate deposit, as a special phenomenon in the Danube-Tisza Interfluve, located in the centre of Hungary, is a significant geological heritage in the Carpathian Basin. At present there is not any applicable method to investigate the presence of carbonate layers in an undisturbed way, as neither vegetation nor morphological characteristics indicate unambiguously these formations. Ground-penetrating radar technology is widely used in various earth science related researches, and the number of applications is steadily increasing. The aim of the study was to determine the spatial extension of freshwater limestone using geophysical methods near Lake Kolon, Hungary. The lake, which is now a protected wetland area with opened water surfaces, was formed in the paleo-channel of the River Danube. Measurements were performed with the help of ground-penetrating radar, the results were calibrated by high spatial resolution drillings. Investigations have been made since 2012, and freshwater limestone was detected at several locations determining the more exact extension of the formation. Ground-penetrating radar proved to be an appropriate method to detect the compact and fragmented freshwater limestone layers in such an environment. However, based on the results the method can be best applied under dry soil or sediment conditions while the uncertainty of the results increases significantly as a matter of higher soil moisture. Further control measurements are necessary verified by several drillings in order to give an exact method to determine freshwater limestone

Mapping the nanomechanical properties of graphene suspended on silica nanoparticles

Using nanoparticles to impart extrinsic rippling in graphene is a relatively new method to induce strain and to tailor the properties of graphene. Here we study the structure and elastic properties of graphene grown by chemical vapour deposition and transferred onto a continuous layer of SiO2 nanoparticles with diameters of around 25 nm, prepared by Langmuir-Blodgett technique on Si substrate. We show that the transferred graphene follows only roughly the morphology induced by nanoparticles. The graphene membrane parts bridging the nanoparticles are suspended and their adhesion to the AFM tip is larger compared to that of supported graphene parts. These suspended graphene regions can be deformed with forces of the order of 10 nN. The elastic modulus of graphene was determined from indentation measurements performed on suspended membrane regions with diameters in the 100 nm range.Comment: in Journal of Experimental Nanoscience (2016

Az iskolázottság térszerkezete a két világháború közötti Magyarországon = The level of education in the regions of mid-war Hungary

Az OTKA kutatás beilleszkedett egy szakmai értelemben rendkívül nehezen elemeire bontható kutatási folyamatba mely a 19-20 századi iskolázási egyenlőtlenségeket etnikai, felekezeti, nemi, foglalkozási, regionális paraméterek alapján, rendkívül sok forrást felhasználva az empirikus oktatásszociológia, történetszociológia, társadalomtörténet, oktatástörténet, elitszociológia eszköztárával vizsgálja. A kutatás 2000-es évek eleji fázisát is az OTKA finanszirozta, de más forrásokat is bekapcsoltunk. Az OTKA kutatásvezetője ugyan Nagy Péter Tibor volt, de e munkáját Karády Viktorral együtt végezte. A publikációk és az OTKA nyilvános eredményei is nagyobbrészt e két kutató közös, vagy külön megjelenő munkáiban foglaltatnak. (Az eredmények között fel fogjuk továbbá sorolni Forrai Judit könyvét, s Biró Zsuzsanna Hanna ill. Fekete Szabolcs Phd hallgatók publikációit és előadásait is.) Ma úgy látjuk, hogy az iskolázottsági egyenlőtlenségeket általános regionalitásukban leiró tanulmányok csak megerősiteni vagy pontosítani tudnák azt, amit a regionális egyenlőtlenségekről amúgy is tudunk. Úgy véljük tehát, hogy OTKA-kutatásunk fő eredménye a regionalitás aspektusára felkészitett adatbázisok sora. Ezen adatbázisok alapján az egyes oktatástörténeti, oktatásszociológiai problémákat egyenként a maguk logikus rendjében lehet megírni, s ma már minden tanulmányt regionális aspektussal is fel lehet ruházni. | Our research fit into a research process which, from the academic point of view, could be broken into elements with great difficulties only. The research is focusing on the ethnic, denominational, gender, employment and regional based investigation of educational inequalities in the 19-20th century, using the means of empirical sociology of education, historical sociology, social history, history of education and sociology of elite. The research phase conducted in the early 2000?s was financed from another HSRF, but other sources were also involved. The principal investigator of the HSRF project was P. T. NAGY, though he worked jointly with V. Karady. Both publications and public scientific findings were also published in publications of them. (Results will also include the book of J. Forrai, Zs. H. Biró and Sz. Fekete? related publications and presentations.) Today, we are convinced that studies or researches focusing merely on the description of educational inequalities through the regional aspect can either reinforce or specify what we have already know about regional inequalities. We think, the major outcome of our HSRF research project is the set of databases made ready for regional aspects-related investigations. With the exploitation of these databases certain problematic issues in educational or historical sociology can be addressed in their logical way or all studies made so far in this field can further be amended with the regional aspect

A vidéki területek hosszú távú jövőképe empirikus kutatás a magyar agrártudásmegosztási és innovációs rendszerre fókuszálva = Long-term vision for rural areas empirical research focusing on akis in Hungary

The European Commission initiated the preparation of a new long-term vision for rural areas. First step of this process was the launch of a public consultation to which also the Horizon 2020 SHERPA (Sustainable Hub to Engage into Rural Policies with Actors) project is making a contribution on behalf of 20 different Multi-Actor Platforms (MAPs). The Hungarian MAP - a group of science-society-policy actors - focuses on the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS), more precisely digitalization. The topic of Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System - is a horizontal issue and it is embedded even into the Common Agricultural Policy’s (CAP) strategic planning process. Being part of it, the development of AKIS requires close and intensive cooperation of policy makers, researchers and farmers or in broader context the society with various stakeholders. The aim of the Hungarian research was to identify the current and likely trends for the Hungarian rural areas and to point out key challenges, opportunities, enablers and hinderers in rural development in terms of the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS) up until 2040. The methodology used was the Delphi technique. In the first phase, a review of key trends, main challenges and opportunities and a summary of existing foresight regarding digital agriculture was written. Then AKIS experts were asked to talk about their experiences and opinions in the framework of interviews, a focus group meeting and a survey. In the end, results of the survey were discussed in a consensus meeting. Among the results, it is worth mentioning that digitization and digitalization will fundamentally change the way rural areas operate including economic, environmental and social dimensions. The main enablers of a promising future vision are capacity building for knowledge transfer, adaptation for job creation and offering better quality of life, stronger community building for collaborations, deeper government involvement, and last but not least, strengthening the local identity in rural areas

Bracketing the age of freshwater carbonate formation by OSL dating near Lake Kolon, Hungary

Freshwater carbonates are unique depositions in the centre of the Carpathian Basin, with debated origin and age. Their formation on the sand covered area of the Danube-Tisza Interfluve is mainly related to lakes appearing in low lying interdune areas from time-totime. Carbonate deposition is governed by various processes, but in general it can be traced back to climatic and concomitant surface and subsurface hydrological variations. Therefore marl, limestone and dolomite layers can be a marker of environmental change. To identify the type of environmental change they may indicate absolute or numerical ages are needed. In previous studies this issue has been addressed by the means of radiocarbon dating. In the present study we attempted to bracket the age of freshwater carbonate formation with the help of optically stimulated luminescence dating and compared our results to radiocarbon data from the literature. In general, the luminescence properties of the investigated samples proved to be suitable for determining the age of the bedding and covering sediments. OSL dates confirmed previous interpretations that freshwater carbonate formation in the area could have a peak around 10,5 ka. However, the termination of the deposition could not be unambiguously determined at the present stage of the analysis. The compound geomorphology and sedimentology of the study area call for further investigations

Analysis of wheat flour-insect powder mixtures based on their near infrared spectra

Insects are gaining more and more space in food and feed sectors, creating an intense scientific interest towards insects as food ingredients. Several papers deal with cereal-based products complemented by insect powder in the past few years. However, adulteration and quality control of such products present some hot topics for researchers, e.g., how can we justify the amounts and/or species of the insects used in the given products? Our paper aims to answer such questions by analysing seven edible insect powders of different species independently. The mixtures with wheat flour were analysed using near infrared spectroscopy and chemometric methods. Not only powders of different species were clearly differentiated, but also mixtures created by different amounts of wheat flour. Prediction of insect content showed 0.65% cross-validated error. The proposed methodology gives an excellent tool for quality control of insect-based cereal food products

Jogi, bölcsész és teológus diplomások Magyarországon (1867-1919). Prozopográfiai alapvetés és tanulmány a honi humánértelmiség rekrutációjáról, képzési viszonyairól, szellemi alkotókészségéről s a társadalmi elitben elfoglalt helyéről a nemzetállam m = Hungarian university graduates in Law, Theology, the Arts and the Sciences (1867-1919). Prosopographic foundations of the study of the intelligentsia with classical education as to its recruitment patterns, academic education, intellectual creativity

Alapkutatást végeztünk a modern honi "humán" értelmiség történelmi kialakulásának első fázisáról (1867-1919) az empirikus szociológia szigorúan objektivista módszereivel, kettős cél szem előtt tartása mellett. Egyrészt egy olyan prozopográfiai (standardizált személyes életrajzi elemekre épülő) adatbankokat állítottunk össze, amelyekben a ?humán? egyetemi diszciplínák minden diplomása és nagyszámú nem diplomás diákja szerepel s amelyekkel számos másodelemzés válik technikailag lehetővé. Másrészt, e közhasznú munkán túl, adatbankjaink feldolgozásaival máris megkezdtük a humán-értelmiség főbb szektorainak konkrét tanulmányozását s evvel az értelmiség kialakulásának legfontosabb regionális, társadalmi, etnikai és felekezeti egyenlőtlenségeinek tisztázását. Kutatásunk a Budapesti Tudományegyetem Katolikus Teológiai karára, a Budapesti és a Kolozsvári Tudományegyetemek bölcsészeti és jogi karainak hallgatóságára terjedt ki. Reményeink szerint új fejezet nyílt így a feudális kor utáni katolikus teológus, a tulajdonképpeni humán- és reálbölcsészek és a Magyarországon különösen fontos jogászértelmiség rekrutációjának, történelmi súlyának, társadalmi szerepköreinek és pálya-modelljeinek értelmezésében. | We have accomplished a fundamental research on the first historical phase (1867-1919) of the emergence of the Arts and Sciences cluster (in a large sense) of the modern Hungarian intelligentsia thanks to the strictly objectivist methods of empirical sociology. Two objectives have been set and achieved. Firstly, a number of prosopographical data banks (based on standardised biographical information) have been realised, comprising references to every university graduate and many students without graduation in the disciplines concerned. This will open, technically speaking, the road to several secondary analyses int he field. Second, beyond this performance of public interest, we have started via the exploitation of our databanks the study of some of the essential regional, social, ethnic and denominational inequalities observable in the development of the eduicated middle class in this country. Our work covers the clienteles of the Catholic Theology of the University of Budapest, the Law and the Arts Faculties of the Universities in Budapest and Kolozsvár. In our hope, thus, a new chapter opens up for the study of the recruitment, historical weight, social functions and career patterns typical in the first generations of the post-feudal intelligentsia.