(The) Introduction of the performance appraisal system in the hungarian central government

Thesis(Master) --KDI School:Master of Business Administration,2010masterpublishedby Krisztina Szalai

Who cares about sustainability and why?: motivations to care about ethical labels on coffee from the perspectives of consumers, industry professionals and Honduran smallholder coffee growers

Certification schemes have become widely adopted across the coffee industry and are thought to act as a mechanism for reducing poverty, conservation of environmental assets and well-being of agricultural producers and workers. These sustainability credentials also allow retailers and manufacturers to use certifications to differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace. My research focused on understanding the perceived value of voluntary certification standards in the coffee sector, with particular emphasis on the motivations of key stakeholders to care about social and environmental challenges within the coffee supply chain. By investigating the extent to which certification standards are capable of bridging the geographic and information gap between production and consumption of an agricultural commodity, this research investigates relating to moral motivations of caring-at-a-distance, and highlights limitations of voluntary certification standards to eradicate poverty and achieve large-scale conservation in smallholder-dominated coffee-production landscapes. The standard conceptual model for certification schemes is based on two underlying assumptions. Firstly, consumers are expected to prioritise the sustainability credentials of a product over other attributes such as taste and price. Secondly, certified products attain a price premium which is expected to improve living standards for producers and workers and serve as financial incentives for smallholder communities to protect valuable ecosystems on and around agricultural farmlands. In this thesis, I aimed to test both assumptions through a combination of methodological approaches including questionnaire surveys, participant observation and interviews. The findings show that both assumptions are problematic. On the one hand, in order to be able to supply particular export markets, producers are expected to comply with an increasing number of certification standards. While compliance with these standards provide some improvement in price levels and access to higher-value markets, the cost of complying with certification standards is putting pressure on producers, especially on those who would benefit from certification the most. On the other hand, uptake of certifications is expected to be driven by consumer demand. However, my results suggest that consumer demand for certified products and their interest in the wellbeing of geographically distant people and places might be more limited than previously thought. The findings are consistent with the argument that the perceived sensory quality of a food product often plays a more influential role in consumer decision-making processes than any associated ethical or sustainability claims. While the link between certification standards and product quality is understudied empirically, the industry experts interviewed felt that the quality of certified coffee is mediocre at best and this lack of connection between certification standards and coffee quality limits producers’ ability to improve their livelihoods. My research also highlighted the problematic nature of simplistic conceptions of community-based conservation and development efforts, which fail to consider socio-economic inequalities and complex power relations in resource-poor rural populations. The interviews with key stakeholders in the coffee industry revealed a shift in agenda, where formerly, attitudes to sustainable trading focused more on the social and ethical issues in production communities, to a broader ideal which brings together social responsibility and environmental sustainability into one conceptual framework. The social and environmental principles of certification schemes are increasingly being seen as an essential aspect of sustainable sourcing; however, their rigid market control mechanisms and considerable bureaucracy are gradually becoming seen as unsustainable. Although certification schemes are likely to remain as an important facet of the coffee industry, the emphasis is changing from mere standards compliance to long-term trading relationships based on transparency, traceability and communication between different stakeholders of the supply chain. The findings of this study are consistent with arguments in the literature that currently popular certification schemes (in their present form) cannot cope with all cultural, economic and structural inefficiencies within commodity sectors. While certification schemes can and certainly will continue to develop and evolve, mere reliance on voluntary standards compliance is unlikely to be able to deliver long-term sustainability within the sector. Nonetheless, certifications can be part of a larger toolbox for delivering sustainability outcomes on the ground, provided that the costs and trade-offs of supporting sustainability efforts are consistent with the benefits distributed to all key stakeholder groups along the chain

Discourses and practices of the smart city in Central Eastern Europe: insights from Hungary’s ‘big’ cities

This paper intends to fill a gap in critical smart city scholarship regarding the Central Eastern European (CEE) context. To this end, smart city understandings and practices in Hungary’s five (non-capital) major cities are examined through a discourse-analytical focus on relevant municipal planning documents, existing interventions and key actors’ interpretations. The paper concludes that although smart city building in Hungary in many ways aligns with trends in the Global North and South, there are also notable differences that need to be contextualized in the country’s historically shaped trajectory of urban (policy) development, especially its post-socialist institutional path-dependencies

""Különleges"" időben és térben periodikus kémiai rendszerek előállítása = Design of ""special"" periodic chemical systems

Pályázatunk munkatervében szereplő összes résztémában elvégeztük az eredetileg tervezett, új nemlineáris kémiai rendszerek és jelenségek előállítását célzó kísérleti munkát. Kutatómunkánk legfontosabb eredményének tekintjük olyan kísérleti módszerek kidolgozását, amelyek alkalmazásával sok újszerű nem-lineáris kémiai dinamikán alapuló jelenséget és rendszert állítottunk elő: (1) Módszert fejlesztettünk ki zárt rendszerben működő pH-oszcillátorok létrehozására. Alkalmazásával 3 CSTR pH-oszcillátort zárt rendszerűvé alakítottunk, ezekben nagy-amplitúdójú pH-oszcilláció több órán át fennmarad. A zárt-rendszerű pH-oszcillátorok jelentősen kiszélesítik az oszcilláló kémiai reakciók gyakorlati és tudományos szintű felhasználhatóságát. (2) pH-oszcillátor és pH-érzékeny?a céliont magába foglaló?kémiai egyensúlyok összekapcsolásával megvalósítottuk nem-redox tulajdonságú kationok és anionok (Ca2+, Cd2+, Zn2+, Co2+, Ni2+, F-, (COO)22-) koncentrációjának indukált oszcillációját és meghatároztuk az oszcillációs ciklus alatt a rendszerben periodikusan fellépő species eloszlásokat. (3) Módszert javasoltunk dinamikus és stacionárius kémiai struktúrák tervezés útján történő előállítására. Alkalmazása számos új periodikus mintázat (céltábla-szerű mozgó- és állóhullámok, hexagon-elrendezésű pontokból álló szerkezet, labirintus jellegű struktúra, Turing-mintázat) létrehozását eredményezte. Eredményeink a természetben előforduló önszerveződések mechanizmusának pontosabb megértését segítik. | All experiments laid down in the Workplan of our OTKA project aimed at finding and studying new nonlinear chemical systems and phenomena have fully been accomplished. The most important results of our research work were the development of experimental methods that allowed us to produce novel temporal and spatial periodic chemical systems. (1) Method was proposed and used to convert three CSTR pH-oscillators into long-lasting and large amplitude batch-like pH-oscillators. The closed versions offer greater promise to use in practical applications. (2) Periodic pulses in the concentration of many non-redox cations and anions were generated by coupling pH-oscillators to pH-sensitive precipitation and complex-formation equilibria. The species distribution that prevails in the coupled system was also determined. (3) Systematic design method was worked out for developing novel chemical patterns in a one-side-fed-reactor. Using this approach stationary hexagonal array of spots, stripe and labyrinth patterns, coexistence of spots and stripes, Turing structures, etc. were observed. The works done and the results achieved are characterised as basic research, which hopefully contribute to understanding the more complex self-organizations that occur is material systems in nature

pH-oscillations in the bromate-sulfite reaction in semibatch and in gel-fed batch reactors

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Abiotikus tényezők szerepe a felvehető nyomelem-tartalom alakításában, ártéri ökotópok esetében = Role of the abiotic factors in the influence of available trace element content (regarding riparian ecotops)

A kutatás egy később kifejlesztendő olyan ''szakértői rendszer'' megalapozását szolgálta, amely képes egy hullámtereket érő nehézfém esetén a tényleges környezeti kockázat felbecslésére és segíti az adekvát kárelhárítás megtervezését. Ennek keretében elemeztük: Az ásványos különbözőségek szerepét az elméleti elérhetőségre; A folyópartok alakjának szerepét az öntések fizikai frakcionációjára és annak hatását azz elérhetőségre; Valamint a növényzeti mintázatok direkt és indirekt hatását a nehézfémek oldékonyságára és elérhetőségére. A fenti eredmények alapján osztályoztuk a Duna és a Tisza hullámterein található ökotópokat a nehézfémek elérhetősége szempontjából. | This study aimed to support an "expert system", which can estimate the real heavy metal pollution induced hazards and helps to make adequate plans for exemption. Our activities focused on the followings: To clarify the role of distinct mineralogical properties of the Danube and Tisza floodplains on theoretical heavy metal availability; To explore the role of bank profiles on physical speciation of heavy metals and its effects on availability; And analyse the role of direct and indirect effects of vegetation anf of vegetation patterns on heavy metal solubility and bio-availability. All of studied ecotopes were classified from the viewpoint of heavy metal availability on the basis of our results

Nemlineáris dinamikai jelenségek kémiai rendszerekben = Nonlinear dynamical phenomena in chemical systems

Időben és térben periodikus kémiai rendszerek (oszcilláló kémiai reakciók és kémiai mintázatképződés) új variánsainak előállítását, mechanisztikus vizsgálatát és az alkalmazási lehetőségek kutatását jelöltük meg célkitűzésként. -Előállítottunk egy új oszcillátor családot, amelynek általános összetétele: Mn(VII/IV/III)-H2PO2- -Pt felület. Az új rendszerek (3 variáns) a nyitott áramkörű elektrokémiai oszcillátorok közé sorolhatók. -Kidolgoztuk az oszcilláló kémiai rendszerek előállításának egy új módszerét. Alkalmazásával előállítottuk a Ca2+-ion, Al3+-ion és F--ion oszcillátorokat. -Előállítottuk a Briggs-Rauscher típusú oszcillátor család egy új tagját, megadtuk a valószínű mechanizmust és szimuláltuk az oszcillációkat. -A BrO3- -CHD-katalizátor összetételű oszcilláló kémiai rendszerek működését egy 30 reakcióból álló mechanizmussal szimuláltuk. - Mechanizmust javasoltunk a bromát-aceton-hipofoszfit-Mn(II)-Ru(II) összetételű oszcilláló kémiai rendszerben észlelt dinamikai viselkedés magyarázatára. - Előállítottuk a "kettős szubsztrát-kettős katalizátor"-t tartalmazó bromát oszcillátorban a primer oszcillátort (összetétele: BrO3- -BrAc-Ru(II)). - Egy pH-oszcillátorból és egy pH-érzékeny gélből összeállított rendszerben megkíséreltük az oszcilláció kémiai energiáját mechanikai munkává alakítani. Eredményeinket 13 közleményben (Össz. i.f. 60,8) publikáltuk. | The goals of the proposed research were to design new variants of chemical systems that are periodic in time and space, to study their mechanism and to look for practical applications. -A new oscillatory family (composition: Mn(VII/IV/III)-H2PO2- -Pt surface) was designed. The new systems (3 variants) belong to the group of the open circuit electrochemical oscillators. -A systematic approach for design of chemical oscillators was developed. The new method has significantly extended the number of elements that are able of participating in oscillatory processes. So far sustained periodic pulses in the concentration of Ca2+, Al3+ and F- ions were induced by using the method. -A new member of the Briggs-Rauscher type oscillators was found. Mechanism for explaining the oscillations was proposed. -A 30-step mechanism was suggested to simulate the rich dynamical behavior observed in the BrO3- -CHD- catalyst type oscillators. -The BrO3- -BrAc-Ru(II) subsystem was found to be the core oscillator what is responsible for the long lasting temporal and spatial periodicity that appear in the 5-component BrO3- -Aceton-H2PO2- -Mn(II)-Ru(II) batch oscillatory system. -An attempt was made to convert the chemical energy of the oscillatory reaction to mechanical work by coupling a pH oscillator to a pH-sensitive gel. -The results have been published in 13 scientific papers (Sum. i.f.: 60.8)

Spatiotemporal dynamics of minimal bromate oscilla- tors in open one-side-fed reactor

Minimal bromate oscillators represent the simplest version of the oscillatory reactions based on the chemistry of oxybromine species. Here, we present numerical and experimental evidences of the existence of reaction-diffusion waves in the ferroin catalyzed minimal bromate oscillator. The wave dynamics depends not only on the characteristic chemical time scales but also on that of the diffusive matter exchange which occurs between the reaction-diffusion medium and its environment. We show that the extended reactivity of ferroin catalyst towards the oxybromine species plays an essential role in the observed phenomena. In the cerium catalyzed minimal bromate oscillator the simulations support only the formation of spatial bistability