The subject of my study is the methodological question of one of the topics of operation research as an application field of mathematics. The mathematics and operation research team of our institute aims to provide up to date knowledge to our students of both regular and distance education courses. Each topic has been allotted to a different te...acher, thus my responsibilities include Networks and their economic application, and my ambition is to achieve increasingly good results teaching this subject. The distance education course of our college provides the opportunity to try a wide range of methodological methods.

This study aims to uncover the role of the Schengen borders of the European Union in rural and settlement development. Schengen integration applies certain restrictions at the external border-crossings, so the filtering role is to be taken into consideration. In addition to the disappearance of borders in the globalising economic area, the stri...ct Schengen rules further burden the development of cross-border interactions, bringing about less frequent border crossings. Moreover, the economic integration of the affected borderlands would remain sluggish. The author points to the fact that the dynamics of a border interaction system should include a Schengen border degree between the interdependent and integrated borderland levels. Consequently, the Schengen borderlands should be in the focus of further border studies.

Our study prepared as a brief version of National Report in the frame of EUROLAN Programme. We deal with the interpretation of some definitions (marginalisation of land use, multifunctionality of land use, marginalisation of agriculture, multifunctionality of agriculture), with sorting and reviewing indicators of marginalisation and finally wit...h the analysis of functions of land use. We suggested a dynamic and a static approach of marginalisation. We can explore the dynamic process by time series and the static (regional) one by cross-section analyses.
It is very hard to explain the perspective of the future of marginalisation of land and of agriculture in Hungary. The process of marginalisation seems faster in the agriculture in the coming years, but it depends on the utilisation of new possibilities given by the EU financial resources and by the Common Market. At this moment agriculture seems one of the big losers of the accession.
In the long term we should face considerable challenges in the land use. It is necessary to take into account that there is a supply market of foods and traditional fibre production world-wide. There are limited possibilities to produce and to market for example biodiesel (fuel), bioethanol, or maybe biogas. Thus the environment and landscape preservation becomes more and more real land use alternatives.
The environmental interpretation of the multifunctionality of land use: activities (functions) of environmental preservation and nature conservation in a certain area, which aim to preserve natural resources by the existing socio-economic conditions.
Preservation of rural landscapes is the task mainly for land-users, who can be commanded by legal means and can be encouraged by economic measures to carry out the above activity. In the recent past measures of „command and control” type regulation were predominant, however nowadays, especially in the developed countries, the role of economic incentives increases.
As a conclusion of our analysis we can state that as long as the main land-dependent activities (agriculture, forestry, housing, tourism, local mining) cease to be viable under an existing socio-economic structure, then it is hardly possible to sustain the rural landscape on an appropriate level by non-commodity products (such as environment preservation, cultural heritage, nature conservation, employment etc.).
1 The study was prepared in the frame of EUROLAN (EU-5 Framework Project), QLK5-CT-2002-02346, as a compiled version of the Hungarian National Report, The national project co-ordinator: Prof. Dr. Gabor Szabo.
A part of places with high ecological values coincides with the areas with unfavourable agricultural endowments and underdeveloped micro-regions. We think so that the marginalisation preserves the non-environmental-sound activities and hinders the development of multifunctional agriculture and this process can change only by joint utilisation of endogenous and exogenous resources and methods. Thus the successful programmes for agri-environmental protection and multifunctional land use can serve the moderation of negative effects of marginalisation or maybe the marginalisation process itself.

The economic land management of unprotected floodplain areas is possible only if considered jointly with protected floodplain areas, for which facility fisheries provide a solution. One solution could be that a part of the natural fish increment of the spawning-grounds on unprotected floodplains be raised in protected side fishponds and then la...ter sold. This kind of fishery utilization is also favourable from economic, conservationist and flood protection aspects.

...5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Cattle behaviour on rangeland depends on external factors, such as grass allowance and quality, temperature, net solar radiation, distance from water-source, wind speed and direction, air pressure changes and the applied breeding technology. Our research is based on previous empirical observations and modern methods to analyze the behaviour of the Hungarian Grey Cattle. Today it is crucial to use cost-effective solutions in modern beef cattle farming therefore we introduce a cost-efficient method to study and follow cattle herds. We are studying relation between traveled daily distance and air pressure. The various weather fronts influence behavioural characteristics and traveled daily distance. According to our hypothesis, the pressure-change and the wind direction has significant effect on cattle activity on pasture. As the different air masses alter the barometric conditions and unbalance the neuroendocrine system, indirectly cause relaxed or agitated behaviour

The effectiveness the use of new nutrient complexes is studied. It is set that a combination of nutrient complexes with organic and organicmineral nutrition background promotes to good growth and development of plants during the growing season, provides the best parameters of crop yield structure and the crop yield and economic efficiency of sp...ring barley cultivation in the condition of the Eastern Steppe of Ukraine.

The Slovenian economy has been through steep ups and downs post-EU accession (2004), and is at the crossroads again. The period 2004–2008 was characterized by balanced monetary and fiscal policies resulting in the adoption of the Euro (2007), coupled with overheated economic growth and propelling corporate indebtedness, fuelled by rapid credi...t expansion from cheap and abundant foreign funding.

The global financial crisis has exposed the “home-grown” vulnerability of the Slovenian economy, bringing about the second largest GDP fall (9.4%) in the Eurozone after Greece, with a double-dip recession (2009, 2012–13). Growth rebounced in 2014 to 2.6% from its low, but the competitiveness of the Slovenian economy continued to slide in international rankings. For further recovery Slovenia, squeezed by high public debt at 82% of GDP, credit contraction despite EUR 5bn state aid injected into the 70% domestically (basically state) owned banking sector, and the continued threat of massive bankruptcy and debt overhang in the corporate sector, has 3 fundamentally different policy options.

− Profound restructuring of the banking system and the real sector, on the basis of earnest privatization and voluminous FDI inflow.

− Slow creditless recovery due to half-hearted reforms in the financial system and corporate sector.

− Substituting wide-ranging micro level restructuring with Government-stimulated credit expansion, reproducing current tensions in even higher magnitudes in the future.

In the current state of the Slovenian economy, equity-led growth, combined with far-reaching institutional reforms seems the only choice in laying the foundation for long-term sustainable economic development. This study outlines the critical further steps in re-invigorating the financial system, utilizing also the proposals elaborated by the author and his banking team for the Slovenian macro policy decision-makers.

Our aim was to work out such new maize fertilizer methods and models which can reduce the harmful effects of fertilization, can
maintain the soil fertility and can moderate the yield fluctuation (nowadays 50-60 %).
The soil of our experimental projects was meadow soil. The soil could be characterized by high clay content and pour phosphor...us and
medium potassium contents. In the last decade, out of ten years six years were dry and hot in our region. So the importance of crop-rotation
is increasing and we have to strive for using the appropriate crop rotation.
The yields of maize in monoculture crop rotation decreased by 1-3 t ha-1 in each dry year during the experiment (1983, 1990, 1992,
1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2003, and 2007). The most favourable forecrop of maize was wheat, medium was the biculture crop rotation
and the worst crop rotation was the monoculture.
There is a strong correlation between the sowing time and the yield of maize hybrids, but this interactive effect can be modified by the
amount and distribution of precipitation in the vegetation period. At the early sowing time, the grain moistures were 5-12 % lower compared
to the late sowing time and 4-5 % lower compared to the optimum sowing treatment.
There are great differences among the plant density of different maize hybrids. There are hybrids sensitive to higher plant density and
there are hybrids with wide and narrow optimum plant densities.
The agro-ecological optimum fertilizer dosage of hybrids with a longer season (FAO 400-500) was N 30-40 kg ha-1 higher in favourable
years as compared to early hybrids.
We can summarize our results by saying that we have to use hybrid-specific technologies in maize production. In the future, we have to
increase the level of inputs and have to apply the best appropriate hybrids and with respect to the agroecologial conditions, we can better
utilize the genetic yield potential.

There are significant differences in the level of economic development and social relations between the various regions of Hungary, consequently, their competitiveness is also dissimilar. The term ’competitiveness’ has recently gained a regional meaning from various aspects. The unified interpretation of ’competitiveness’ is applicable ...to all basic units of the economy in a flexible way, and is therefore applicable on regional level as well. Regional competitiveness is measured against four economic categories: regional income per capita, work efficiency, employment rate and age composition. In addition to an overview of the region, this study will analyse the above components of regional competitiveness based on data describing the region.

The energy independence very important for the European Union, while simultaneously sparing the natural environment in order to increase the use of renewable energy sources . A further development is the key issue of how renewable energy sources available can be better utilized to improve the efficiency of economic competitiveness. EU renewable... energy policy is determined by five principles : The first is the environment, including the carbon dioxide and other pollutants to reduce emissions . The second increase energy security and at the same time reducing dependence on imports. The third aspect of local and regional development. With this realignment of economic and social development levels of different areas they want to achieve. This point is closely related to rural development and create new jobs . The transformation of the agricultural structure is an important aspect , which is that they can reduce the overproduction of food by providing alternative land use options , such as the cultivation of energy crops.

Due to global climate warming, frequency of negative weather effects (rainfall amounts, distribution, sortness) are increasing. Rainfall
amounts and frequency has also great effect of sweet cherry fruit quality around fruit ripening. Determination of optimal technological
basics (such as first class fruit quality and economic value) are a...n important task in dynamically growing sweet cherry production. This can
be solved with introduction of a new intensive training system. One of the solutions can be rain protecting foil which can reduce fruit
cracking and fruit rot. Without this option sweet cherry can not be grown in many countries. In this study, fruit quality parameters were
compared from a 10 year old intensive (4 x 1m) sweet cherry orchard. The effect of rain protecting foil was tested in comparison with fruits
from not covered tree

The purpose of this study is to present economic circumstances of Hungarian broiler sector based on secondary data after brief introduction of international and home situations. Then it analyzes costs, revenues and profit relationships of producers, which has competitive efficiency indicators and high standard production based on a model create...d on the basis of primary data.
The paper confirms the Hungarian poultry sector international competitiveness falling. One important reason of this situation is the low profitability in the sector, which is typical of both farms produce under worse efficiency indicators and high standard producers. Beside lack of technological standards and efficiency, adverse trend of output and input price – mainly feed price – impact low profitability.
Realization of technological developments and improvements according to international tendency, which affect directly or indirectly the efficiency and costs of broiler fattening are determining in point of realizable profit

prearrangement, Hungary will be ready to join the EU by the 1st of January 2003. In the course of negotiations, the Government places special emphasis on agriculture, because Hungary is an agrarian country. Agricultural production is an important economic factor in Hungary: larger a factor in its economic structure than in those of the present ...EU member-states. In order to preserve competitiveness, Hungarian farmers and its
processing industry require information on the EU's CAP and other market influences.
In Hajdú-Bihar county the quality of agricultural products fall behind the standards of the European Union. There is no real solidarity among farmers, so they are left alone and are unable to meet higher, those standards, which were introduced by the structural changes of the market. Unfortunately, there is only one fruit and vegetable marketing organization (PO) in the county, although its necessity and effectiveness has been proved several times.
Within the framework of Rural Development, agricultural marketing is vital, because together with the local FVM institutes, it can help the farmers by providing consultation, information, and by marketing their products. Since fruit and vegetable growing has a considerable history in Hajdú-Bihar county, marketing activities can be effective in assisting both the farmers and the processing industry in preparation for EU integration.

The huge insolvency of the enterprise organizations is very adverse for the national economy, the first social and economic task of each country, Hungary as well, should be the maintenance
of the efficient and viable organizations. The liquidation of the agricultural organizations has much more economic and social effects. As a result of my ...researches I declared that most of the
time the causes, which led to the liquidation of agricultural organizations, are independent from the organisation and are external. The common feature of external causes are that they are
not influenced by the organisations, so they cannot be avoided. So the adaptation to the external causes has huge importance in the battle of avoidance of insolvency.

It is vital to examine the strategic plans and leadership insights of the university, the faculties, the departments and the institutions in the research of the „third mission” of the universities. Because of the undertaken social-economic role in the region it is indispensable to know the turbulently changing environment (hazards – oppor...tunities), to map the competencies available in the university (strengths – weaknesses) and to recognize the relations between the external and internal environment. It is an important factor to define the strategic directions of the departments, examining them in direction dimension (pro-active – adaptive) and in role dimension (top-down – bottom-up). The main objective of this research is to recognize the formal and informal strategic visions of the institutes and departments in the Centre for Agricultural and Applied Economic Sciences of the University of Debrecen, and to examine how these visions are related to the university's role in the regional innovation system.

There is a mutual dependence between nature conservation activity and agriculture in Hungary, as the management of the protected areas cannot be achieved without ecological farming methods. Moreover, viable economic activity can be only imagined through the harmonization of agricultural and nature conservation interests. From a nature conservat...ion point of view, grass management systems play the greatest role in domestic agricultural systems. Yet, due to the prohibition of certain management methods and the spatial and temporal restraints on grazing, nature conservation activities have priority on protected grasslands. While nature conservation activity is still of prominent importance, it is not equally suitable for the economical management of protected grasslands per se. With our examinations, we would like to emphasize the common interests of these mutually dependent activities and to promote bilateral cooperation. Our aim is to model the production of grass on the great pastureland of Hajdúbagos. Potential grass production levels are easily calculable with a computer model based on data collected through a series of test harvests, as well as by factoring in changing climatic factors and by simulating the effects of grazing animal species and stocks. This model is not only useful for determining the optimal number of the grazing animal stock and grazing method, and therefore the most suitable management strategy, but it also supports local farmers to be able to plan their activities. In this way, both nature conservation and economic aims can be easily harmonized, which would be an important factor for the sustainable development of rural areas.

The essay describes the rural system of areas as a system unit of mutually necessitating natural, social, economic and human environments. A new rural developmental model has been developed to achieve the effects that strengthen this system. The taxonomically interpreted effects are achieved through guiding projects. The author presents the con...nections of biomass – bioenergy generation to covey the message in practice.

For crop production and agricultural production, the most important natural resource is the soil that can optionally renew. Paralelly with this, soil plays a major role in the geological and biological cycle of elements. As a result of the big (geological) and small (biological) element cycles, the elements and combines neccessary for organisms... can accumulate in the soil creating suitable living conditions for plants and other organisms. Soil is a heterogenous system both horizontally and vertically, and soil constituents show great variety in all the three dimensions, in addition, most of the parameters can also change between two examination dates. When talking about the factors influencing plant production, one should take into account this variation and heterogenity in time and space. When making fertilization recommendations, these factors should all be considered. In any consultation system, most of the mistakes and errors made are due to the unsatisfying soil testing and the negligence of soil heterogenity. In the practice of fertilization the biggest mistake is the improper soil sampling, then comes the methodical mistake of soil testing, which is followed by the inaccuracy of instrumental analysis and the subjectivity of result evaluation, but the latter two are negligible compared to the others. Under normal, i.e. production conditions, the quantity and distribution of nutrients in the soil are greatly dependent upon the applied technology, the amount and form of the applied natural and artificial fertilizers and the quality of fertilization.
Fertilization recommendations are needed because in the layer which is accessible for plant roots only a part of the nutrient content is available for plants in a specific production cycle. An illustration of this is that though the upper 1 m layer of an average chernozem soil contains more than 5000 kg N, 12000 kg K2O and 1500 kg P2O5 (form of expression mostly used in Hungary), the application of fertilizer doses which are just fractions of these quantities is essential. This is due to the fact that the available amount of the total nutrient content depends from the quality of soil, the environmental factors (the physical and chemical qualities of the soil) and the specific nutrient’s qualities (solubility, adsorption). Knowledge of these processes and the examination of the factors influencing the actual nutrient content are vital for working out a fertilization practice, which does not put more strain on the environment than neccessary.

All of the above mentioned should be considered when applying inputs in the fields. In a well-functioning practice that considers the economic and environmental conditions (unfortunately the present production and economic conditions do not enable an appropriate level and degree), three nutrients are supplemented generally (and were supplemented in the last decades): nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium.
Studying the nutrient balance of the Hungarian field production’s last hundred years, we can draw some interesting conclusions.
The nutrient balance became positive for nitrogen and potassium in the second half of the 1960’s, while for phosphorus it was positive from the first half of the 1960’s and this period lasted until the end of the 1980’s.
Neither before the 1960’s, nor since the 1990’s has the amount of nutrients supplemented in a specific year reached the amount of the nutrient uptake of the same year.

The target of 3% of GDP spent on R&D by the Lisbon priorities seems to be still far away from the reality in some European countries and at EU level as well. The economic crisis determined the priorities and it makes more complicated to dedicate more budget on Research and Development. New methods, new measures are needed in the European Un...ion. Measures that supporting the demand side of the innovation and generates market-pull affects. The Europe 2020 Innovation Union Flagship Initiative dedicates a special role to precommercial procurement for the upcoming 10 years. Nowadays, there are more and more European countries running pilot projects adapting the American SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) programme.

Extreme weather conditions are becoming more and more frequent in the crop years, thus increase the risk of sunflower production.
The objective of researches into plant production is to minimize these effects as much as possible. In this sense, the optimization of
agrotechnological factors is of high importance. Within these factors, the ...appropriate crop technology (sowing time, crop density)
and optimized, rational crop protection technologies are important, especially in the highly sensitive sunflower cultures. The effect of
sowing time, crop density, and fungicide treatments on the yield of sunflower hybrids was analysed in different crop years in 2008
and 2009. In each case, the infection was highest with the early sowing time and at the highest crop density level (65000 ha-1). When
one fungicide treatment was applied, the rate of infection decreased compared to the control treatment. The further decrease of the
infection rate was less after the second fungicide treatment.
In the humid year of 2008 the crop yield was the highest at 45000 ha-1 crop density level in the control treatment and at 55000 crop
ha-1 crop density level when fungicides were applied. In the draughty year of 2009 the maximum yield was gained at 55000 ha-1 crop
density level in the control treatment and at 65000 crop ha-1 when fungicides were applied. In 2008 and 2009 as regards the crop
yield, the difference between the optimal and minimal crop density levels was higher in the fungicide treatments than in the control
treatment (in 2008: control: 517 kg ha-1; one application of fungicides: 865 kg ha-1; two applications of fungicides: 842 kg ha-1), (in
2009: control: 577 kg ha-1; one application of fungicides: 761 kg ha-1; two applications of fungicides: 905 kg ha-1).
In each and every case, the first treatment with fungicides was more effective than the second. In 2008, the highest yield was
obtained with the third, late sowing time in each fungicide treatment. The differences between the crop yields with different sowing
times was less than in 2009, when the results of the second treatment exceeded those of the first and third treatment in each case.

Sustainable development is a very popular conception since many years. In practice there could be many difficulties.
Economic, social and ecological systems are too complex to see all the consequences clearly. After all, sustainable criteria are indispensable for responsible planning.
Tourism is one of the world’s dynamically developing... economic sectors. But according to this development, we have to confront with a lot of negative effects, like air pollution, or mass. With globalization, the opportunities for tourism increase: thanks to modern transport, places which were too far to be accessible before are now able to be reached. But there are consequences to this expansion. Unfortunately, growth e.g. in air transport causes considerable environmental damage.
In today’s fast-paced world, the sanctity of nature, a soundproof environment, clean air and rural life have become increasingly important. With the growth of demand and tourism globalized, these values can damage or disappear in a short time.  So, in tourism, it is vital to project development plans with sustainable principles.
Just as other countries, in Hungary, the development of sustainable tourism is slowly becoming a priority. Fortunately, in plans for the next few years, there appear more concrete ideas on ways to make sustainable tourism grow.
In my study, I assess Hungary’s position in sustainable tourism, examining how sustainable tourism indicators fit in sustainable development indicators and how can we measure aims of sustainable tourism.

Environmental, natural, social and economic processes undergoing both in Europe and in the world predict such a 21^st century that is characterised by increasing resource-crisis from both economic and ecological aspects. Therefore, it is very important for Hungary to see what happens to its natural resources, epecially to its agricult...ural land, water reserves as well as the biodiversity of the local unique flora and fauna. One of the most significant issues of the rural areas of Hungary is whether we can preserve the natural habitats and the various biodiversity of the related species, the favourable biological background of agriculture. In addition, whether we are able to provide high quality food for the country as well as for the broader reagion, whether we are able to produce energy from the resources available as well as to provide sufficient opportunities for the population to  live and work. These can be considered as the most significant issuesof the coming decades which determine the strategy of the Hungarian rural economies in long term.

The human factor has been reassessed with regard to strategic initiatives towards obtaining and preserving competitive advantage. Knowledge, experience and special skills are a specific form of capital, forming part of the organisations’ assets and serving as an organisational strategic resource. Their development and use require major invest...ments, both on the part of the individual and the organisation. In a Europe undergoing integration, the quality of human resources enjoy priority among our really important values and specific features. The opportunities of the near future can be utilised, and agricultural economic organizations can survive and increase their organizational effectiveness, if they possess a basis of human capital which is able to make a shift in perspective and behaviour which is of primary importance from the point of view of incorporating market mechanisms and implementing them in practice. My investigations were focused on the current position of human resource management in a comprehensive manner; further, on the approach of top managers regarding the future. Analysing the business and other indicators of the companies studied, I have set the objective to describe the differences and special features of the human resource management practice of companies, which are different in size, operational form, and from the perspective of success or failure.
Human resource management is directed to attracting, retaining, motivating and utilising labour. A given work process can be successful or unsuccessful – given the same conditions – depending on who performs it. Therefore, human resource management related tasks require special attention when enterprises are planned, established and operated. On analysing the responsibilities of human resource management, I have found that the functions and responsibilities of human resource have low or medium importance in the operation of economic organisations today. Regarding the future, top managers have expressed higher expectations of human resource management responsibilities in all areas and they consider individual functions to be more important. The establishment and operation of a human resource information system has been presented as the most important need for change. Correlation analyses have proved that the higher the sales revenues of a company, the higher the development of human resources is regarded by its manager, and the same holds for training, career support and a proper establishment and continuous evaluation of job profiles.

In the interest of profitable plant production and environmental protection we have to make an effort to protect and improve the productivity of our soils while moderating production limiting factors. Due to different soil cultivation methods, the quantity of yield and required expenses also differ.
We examined the production costs in four d...ifferent production technology systems. Overall, it can be said that farming standards are good, since cost prices were low (2001: 14-15 HUF/kg, 2002: 15-21 HUF/kg, 2003: 39-49 HUF/kg) in the case of all main products per 1 kg. Cost prices were lowest in the case of direct sowing, probably due to low machinery costs.
All economic indicators have to be compared when choosing the most suitable production technology in a specific farming environment.

necessary to ensure the livelihoods of those leaving the agricultural sector and to supplement the incomes of those working in agriculture. I research rural development in four settlements in Hajdú-Bihar County, in Balmazújváros, Hortobágy, Tiszacsege and Egyek, all bordering Hortobágy National Park.
There are many alternative income so...urces in settlements in the Hortobágy area, such as organic farming, production herbs, hungaricums, small animals and arts and crafts, as well as rural tourism. Rural tourism is not for subsistence, but a supplementary income source, mainly available during the summer time. I made a survey of rural hosts in the four examined settlements, and according to my results, I constructed a model reflecting the cost-benefit relation, as well as the payment period conditions of rural tourism. I am going to show whether it is worth dealing with rural tourism, and if yes, under what conditions. Rural tourism contributes to the maintenance of rural modes of living, in this way it has significant cultural, economic, ecological and social aspects, as well. It is crucial for settlements to create the appropriate conditions needed for joining rural tourism, if it is worth joining at all, and to realise investments for all these. Rural tourism has strict requirements for the levels of environment, infrastructure and services. Studying the Western-European practices, Hungary is lagged behind in the conditions of rural tourism and rural hosts have done their activities mainly out of necessity and not to maintain traditions. Rural tourism may result in success only by co-operation and over the long-run.