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Impact of ammonium nitrate and Microbion UNC bacterial fertilizer on dry matter accumulation of ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)
35-39Views:101Pot experiment was performed to investigate the effects of increasing NH4NO3 doses with or without Microbion UNC bacterial fertilizer
application on dry matter production of ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). Experiment was set up on calcareous chernozem soil of Debrecen-Látókép and on humus sandy soil of Őrbottyán. The bi-factorial trials were arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Grass was cut three times. Dry matter production was determined and the sum of biomass of cuts was calculated as cumulated dry weights. Analysis of variance was carried out on the data in order to provide a statistical comparison between the treatment means. The least significant difference (LSD5%) test was used to detect differences between means. On the basis of our results it can be concluded, that the dry weights of ryegrass cultivated on chernozem soil were higher than on sandy soil. With increasing nitrogen supply the dry matter production of grass significantly increased in both types of soils. In case of sandy soil the increasing effect was more expressed, but dry weights of this soil never reached the appropriate values of chernozem soil. Application of Microbion UNC had positive effect on dry matter production of ryegrass grown on both two types of soils but the effect was more expressed on chernozem soil. Finally it can be concluded that the increasing effect of NH4NO3 on biomass weights was more expressed in both types of soils, the biofertilizer application also increased the dry weights of plant in a small degree. -
The effect of lead and copper heavy metal salts on soil microorganisms under laboratory circumstances
55-59Views:165he population dynamics of calcareous chernozem soils polluted with different concentrations of lead and copper heavy metal saline solutions was examined.
The experiment was carried out in the soil biological laboratory of the Institute of Agricultiral Chemistry and Soil Science at DE AGTC MÉK in 2012. For the determination of the concentration of the undiluted stock solutions we multiplied the smallest toxic concentration values of the MSZ 08-1721/1-86 Hungarian standard by forty. The intermediary concentrations of the treatments were produced with adequate dilution of the stock solutions until a dilution level equal to the values of the standard. The statistical evaluation of the data was performed with ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) including the determination of the standard deviation and significant difference. Investigating the effects of the different treatments on the soil microbes we established that both heavy metal saline solutions had a negative effect on the population dynamics of bacteria and microscopic fungi living in the soils. The negative effect of copper – as a potential toxic micro nutrient – turned out to be less strong than the negative effect of the toxic lead. According to our results the correction of the treatment levels is recommended in order to further tolerance examinations and the determination of the tolerance levels.
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Methodology adaptation and development to assess salt content dynamics and salt balance of soils under secondary salinization
199-206Views:228The effect of irrigation with saline water (above 500 mg L-1) is considered a problem of small-scale farmers growing vegetable crops with high water demand in the hobby gardens characteristic of the Hungarian Great Plain. In order to simulate the circumstances of such hobby garden, we set up an experiment including five simple drainage lysimeters irrigated with saline water in the Research Institute of Karcag IAREF UD in 2019. We regularly measured the electric conductivity (EC) of the soil referring to its salt content and the soil moisture content with mobile sensors. Before and after the irrigation season, soil samples from the upper soil layer (0-0.6 m) were taken for laboratory analysis and the soil salt balance (SB) was calculated. The actual salt balance (SBact) was calculated of the upper soil layer (0-0.6 m) based on the salt content of the obtained soil samples. The theoretical salt balance (SBth) was calculated by the total soluble salt content of the irrigation water and leachates. During the irrigation season, we experienced fluctuating EC in the topsoil in close correlation with the soil moisture content. Based on the performed in-situ EC measurements, salts were leached from the upper soil layer resulting in a negative SB. Combining SBact and SBth of the soil columns of the lysimeters, we estimated the SB of the deeper (0.6-1.0 m) soil layer. We quantified 12% increase of the initial salt mass due to accumulation. We consider this methodology to be suitable for deeper understanding secondary salinization, which can contribute to mitigating its harmful effect. By repeating our measurements, we expect similar results proving that saline irrigation waters gained from the aquifers through drilled wells in Karcag are potentially suitable for irrigation if proper irrigation and soil management are applied.
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Effect of crop residues on soil aggregate stability
23-32Views:106Soil structure may be improved by adding readily decomposable organic matter. The extent of amelioration depends on the chemical build-up and decomposability of the crop residues. Three different kinds of organic matters were investigated: (1) maize stem, (2) wheat straw, and (3) maize stem
& wheat straw. Comparing the aggregate stabilizing effects of the differently decomposable organic matters to each other, the expected maize stem & wheat straw (mw) > maize stem (m) > wheat straw (w) order was proved. -
Pathogenicity differences between group I and group II of Botrytis cinerea
81-85Views:151Botrytis cinerea has been reported as a species complex containing two cryptic species, groups I (Botrytis pseudocinerea) and II (B. cinerea sensu stricto). In order to compare the pathogenicity of group I and group II of B. cinerea, we have selected 4 strains of group I and 4 strains of group II. The results demonstrated that competitive infection of group II was more on grape, cucumber and paprika leaves, than group I. However the results on bean leaves did not correlate the applied B. cinerea group.
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Fresh fruit purchase analysis in the town’s circle in the Nothern Great Plain Region
101-106Views:140In my research I aimed to examine the previous theories about consumer habits and behaviors as well as the preference of different fruit species in the Northern Great Plain Region. Furthermore, I also wanted to know if there are any correlations between the product atributes that influence fruit consumption and different ages, genders and income categories.
The importance of my research field is reflected in the fact that issues in connection with foodstuffs, healty diet and food safety have been highly emphasized recently.
I belive in order to live longer we need to pursue healthy diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables. It seems, however, not every can follow this lifestyle in their every day diet since most people prefer junk food that contains harmful ingridients.
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Recent Graduates’ and Language Teachers’ Assessments of ESP Preparation in Hungary
182-187Views:83Like many teachers of ESP in Hungarian higher education, I have for several years been spurred to track and investigate those interrelationships that exist between the expectations of the multicultural European job market of the 21st century and the linguistic literacy competencies required of those young graduates that are searching for jobs in such an environment. What specific knowledge or rather, what specific combination of knowledge, skills and cultural competencies do they need in order to succeed? Are we, language teachers aware of the responsibilities we have in preparing our students for such challenges? This paper publishes partial results of a national survey conducted in 2000. The investigations involved 120 teachers of ESP in higher education and 71 young graduates of technical universities or colleges with different profiles. The queries covered a wide range of issues of which we will only be examining one – from two perspectives, though – here: a.) The retrospective satisfaction of recent graduates with the language preparation they received and b.) The teachers’ assessment of the importance of the components of the preparation they provided.
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The Legal Rules Pertaining to Land Protection in Hungary
324-331Views:94Buildings in industry, mining, transportation and for personal and commercial activities cover increasingly more valuable agricultural land. The increase of sub-urbanization and vehicular traffic and the spread of malls and other kinds of investments are causing serious harm for not only to human society, but to a whole national economy as well.
The law on agricultural land (1994:LV) contains legal rules for the preservation, use and classification of agricultural land. These rules define the temporary or permanent use of land for agricultural and non-agricultural purposes; the scale of the land-protection fee and the rules of the process on cases in which land is used for non-agricultural purposes without the consent of the land registry. In the field of land classification, the law prescribes the regulations which are to be followed in order to define the net income of agricultural land in Golden Crowns.
Hungarian land protection rules are unique in the European Union, because only few member-states have similar laws to ours. Community law does not regulate the member states, except in the case of land classification, because this is the basis of the tax paid on the agricultural lands, but even here, there are differences among the states. -
The European Research Area: in quest of the Lisbon goals
73-79Views:95strong educational and scientific knowledge basie is one of Europe's traditional key assets that has made it possible for our continent to become world class in several research fields. Despite these great achievements, the position of the European research and technological development (RTD) potential is currently being challenged by a rapidly changing global competition, including the two main rivals, the US and Japan. The European Union (EU) is behind these countries as regards research and innovation output. Moreover, European research is faced with the
implications of globalisation of markets and industries, digitalisation and new technologies, as well as a need to address societal issues such as an ageing population or climate change.
At the same time, the European Union (EU) is facing the uneven distribution of RTD capacities and excellence within its own borders, especially the EU12 countries are lagging behind in this
respect.
In order to meet this twofold challenge the EU has to step up its efforts for the creation of a legitimate "European Research Area" that will make the EU more competitive on the international scene, and also encourage the less developed EU member states to invest more and better into research and innovation. -
Development of seed analyses by means of various matrix solutions and the MALDI-TOF MS technique
53-57Views:338The earth's population is growing steadily, currently accounting for about 7.3 billion people. Population growth causes food demand to rise, approximately 36 million people die each year due to starvation or related diseases. One solution to this problem is the continuous examination and development of the agricultural economy. In this study, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MALDI -TOF MS) were used to analyse of sunflower, soybean and hemp. In order to analyse the protein of maize, this method has already been applied. However, for sunflower, soy and hemp, it is necessary to develop a sample preparation method. Choosing the optimal matrix solution for ionization the traget molecule is an essential part of developing the method. Our aim is to compare two different matrix solutions (α-HCCA, SA matrix), based on the properties (intensity, noise ratio, value of spectra) of the spectra.
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Analyses of a few physiological parameters of hybrid wheat in the case of different nitrogen supply levels
49-53Views:216The winter wheat is one of the most determinant crops because its role was always important in human’s life. To increase the average yield there are several possibilities, which are still not clear fields of agricultural plant production. Our main goal was to examine the responses of winter wheat genotypes to different amounts of nitrogen supplies. The sowing area of hybrid wheats are increasing, they may have different nutrient nitrogen utilization compared to varieties, and the question arose if it is possible to achieve same yield at lower nitrogen fertilizer application or not.
The present study analyzes the results of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) from tillering growing stage. Under controlled conditions three different wheat hybrids were grown (Hywin, Hystar, Hybiza) with two different amounts of nitrogen supplies (optimal and the fourth part). The dry matter accumulation, relative chlorophyll content and nitrogen content were measured in order to draw conclusions from the different supplies of nitrogen for winter wheat genotypes and their physiological plasticity.
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A new model for predicting carbon storage dynamics and emissions related to the waste management of wood products: introduction of the HWP-RIAL model
75-81Views:154The ability of wood products to store carbon allows for their significant contribution to the climate mitigation efforts and the emission reduction commitments set by the EU. In order to optimise the carbon storage capacity of wood products, it is important to take climate mitigation aspects into consideration as much as possible during their production, use and waste management. The aim of this study was to quantify the effects of product development, recycling, and waste management technologies on carbon storage and emissions. In the frame of the ForestLab project, a new model and decision support tool was developed, which is able to predict the duration of carbon storage of wood products and the evolution of emissions from them. The developed HWP-RIAL model (Harvested Wood Product Recycling, Incineration And Landfill model) uses the methodology of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to calculate emissions, which is also used in the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory report. It combines the IPCC waste model with equations describing the carbon storage and emissions of wood products, and the model is also supplemented with a self-developed recycling and waste routing module. This paper provides insight into the operation of the model by following the life cycle of 200,000 m3 particle board.
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The strengthen of the second pillar in the European Union and Hungary
88-94Views:93The Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) took shape in the early 1960s. At that time the first action was to stop food shortages. Among the objectives of the Treaties of Rome appeared the subvention of rural development had not yet.
Rural development appeared, in 1992, in connection with accompanying measures, and by end of decade, the European Agricultural Model had taken shape. Agenda 2000 pointed out the direction of rural development and introduced the first and second pillars in the CAP. The regulations of rural development were simplified by 1257/1999/EC, which stressed the importance of rural development to and it has to continue the principle of subsidiarity and has to be decentralized.
The last enlargement raised new problems, the mid-term review of Agenda 2000 occurred and resulted in a new CAP-reform in 2003. The 1783/2003/EC rural development regulation modified the previous regulation. According to the new regulation it is necessary to strengthen the new rural development policy, enlarge the circles of accompanying measures, place greater emphasis on requirements of environment, human resource, animal welfare and plant health. Digression and modulation take part in the new CAP-reform in order to increase the role of rural development in the common budget.
In the next budget from 2007-2013, the European Union wants to create a single rural development fund and simplify programming, financing, monitoring. The EU wants to enlarge the instruments of rural development with a four axis model. -
Studying the reproduction-biological effect of the GPR54 receptor gene in sheep
48-51Views:133One of the main economical problems of sheep breeding is that continual production is not possible due to the seasonality of animals. Today, genes, mutations that may develop aseasonality in sheep are extensively researched in order to make the establishment of populations capable of aseasonal estrus possible.
According to the current knowledge, the GPR54 gene participates in the GnRH release from the hypothalamus, and thus in the alteration of the reproduction state of the organism. Our research is aimed to determine whether the GPR54 gene has allele variations that influence the proneness to aseasonal estrus in sheep in a different extent. Therefore, the GPR54 gene sequence of sheep is first examined. -
Methodologies in measuring risk of financial statements
117-120Views:76Aim of financial statements’ risk analysis is to optimally allocate the audit resources. That optimum point can be reached, if we achieve maximum possibility of recovery of material risks. There are more than one procedures exist for researching of optimum point or risk assessment in other word, and they are needed to use even parallel. In order to take into consideration effects of risk we need to measure them somehow. At risk assessments risks are usually some kind of result of impact and possibility. Knowledge and measurement of impacts and possibilities are far not enough for assessment of certain risks. In this study I will present a possible usable risk assessment methodology for financial audit activities with using Multi Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT in the followings).
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Agricultural land use and food safety
55-60Views:210The world’s food production needs to be doubled in order to cover the need of the population by 2050 even if it exceeds 9 billion. The output of agriculture is expected to increase by 1.7% every year until 2020 (OECD, FAO 2011) which is a major decrease in comparison with the average 2.6% increase of the previous decade. At the same time, the meat, dairy, sugar and vegetable oil consumption is likely to increase by 2020 to a higher extent than so far. Due to the increasing food prices, the amount of starving people will increase and food consumption will decrease – especially in developing countries – as people will be able to buy less and only cheaper food products. Also, obesity may become a more severe problem and the inequality of the population’s health status could increase.
One of the most important elements of adapting to global climate change is food safety; therefore, it is especially important to breed new biological bases and to introduce production systems which contribute to adapting to changed circumstances.
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Testing laboratory parameters of compost tea
31-36Views:491During the industrial production of broiler chicken, a large amount of manure is produced, of which easily contained nitrogen content (without pre-treatment) is released into the atmosphere as an air pollutant. In our experiments, we aimed to prepare compost tea, also known as water extract of compost, from pre-treated poultry manure in order to create a product can be utilized as liquid nutrient supply. The poultry manure source was the Baromfi-Coop Ltd. located in Nyírjákó, Hungary, where it was treated by composting. As a result of this pre-treatment of the poultry manure, its nutrient parameters improve and nitrogen is present in a form that is better utilized for plants. Furthermore, this product is suitable for further utilization and also can be the base material for a brand-new product. For this reason the effects of compost/water ratio, incubation time, low oxygen level, and extraction time on the parameters of the resulted product were studied in the frame of developing new soil-life enhancing microbial product, so-called compost tea.
Chemical parameters of the compost used as base material strongly determined the properties of the resulted compost tea, especially the ratio of the various nitrogen forms, their concentration and the salt content. It was found that adding water at a higher rate that means 1/40 and 1/50 mixing ratios results in more cost-effective production. In the experiment the compost tea were held under oxygen-poor conditions, therefore pH of the extractions decreased, which influenced the quality and quantity of their nutrient content.
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Strategic Steps in the Sheep and Goat Branches
61-68Views:146The balance of the sheep and goat branches can be summarised as follows:
If the increase in stock size, specific yields, genetic improvement and modernisation are not realised, several thousand shepherds will lose their jobs and possibilities to work, and their families will lose their only source of livelihood.
Several hundred hectares of grassland will become weedy and the costs of crop protection will increase in these regions. Pollen pollution, the number of allergic ailments and medical costs will increase, mentioning only the main disadvantages. Its financial requirement is nearly equal to the one required for development without any essential compensation or production.
In order to develop a competitive branch, a subsidisation of 10-20 billion HUF is needed until the accession of Hungary to the EU, depending on the scale and progressivity of development. The subsidisation and realisation of the strategic steps would result in:
– the establishment of a registered livestock with 1.5 million ewes, which would ensure better market position for the branch in the EU (5%),
– the establishment of a competitive and marketable branch with a production value of 15-25 billion HUF, calculated using the present price level (after accession, the branch would be self-operating and profitable, with the 6-8 billion HUF/year normative subsidisation by the EU),
– the establishment of a genetic potential which would ensure our participation in profitable international breeding animal market, which provides extra profit,
– the establishment of a sheep husbandry with better genetic potential and phenotypic performance, producing a quality of international level,
– the maintenance of the workplace of more than 10.000 people (saving 3-5 billion HUF/year of the budget),
– the maintenance of the condition of growing areas of grasslands with their advantages (crop protection and public health) whose financial effect is considerable. -
Comparative Evaluation of the Temperaments of Charolais and Hungarian Grey Steers
14-19Views:137Animal breeding increasingly lays claim to the theoretical and practical knowledge of applied ethology. The authors’ aim was to evaluate and compare the temperaments of Charolais (CH, n= 10) and Hungarian Grey (HG, n= 10) steers, and also to determine the correlation between their temperament scores and flight speed scores. Temperament was evaluated by the results of the scale test (assessing of behaviour in a 1-5 score system, while the animal is standing on a scale for 30 seconds) and flight speed test (minutes it takes the animal to move a set distance of 1.7 m when leaving the scale), on three occasions (1, 2, 3). Data management was done by SPSS.10 (ANOVA, Mann-Whitney-test, Spearman-correlation). Results of the scale test differed significantly between breeds at the third measurement (CH: 2,9 scores; HG: 1,4 scores; P<0,01) and when evaluating the three measurements together (CH: 2,0 scores; HG: 1,37 scores; P<0,05). Concerning of flight speed score, there were significant differences between breeds of steers at each measurement (1. measurement CH: 2,77 s; HG: 4,09 s; P<0,05; 2. measurement CH: 2,89 s; HG: 5,01 s; P<0,01; 3. measurement CH: 2,46 s; HG: 5,33 s; P<0,01) and overall (CH: 2,71 s; HG: 4,81 s; P<0,001). In the case of both breeds, evaluated by measurements and overall, a negative correlation was calculated between temperament score and flight speed score, but this was significant only in three cases: CH1 (n=10) r= -0,75; P<0,01; CH1+2+3 (n=30) r= -0,44; P<0,05; CH+HG1+2+3 (n=60) r= -0,33; P<0,01). Results indicate that Hungarian Grey steers are calmer than individuals of Charolais. Animals behaving calmer on the scale left the scale, more slowly. The authors propose the use of these temperament tests in Hungarian breeding practice, in order to select too temperament animals.
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Relationships of the sport and the life quality in the University of Debrecen
87-96Views:175In the sport- life of the University of Debrecen there has been a demand formulated on the making of a comprehensive, long-term development plan, which obviously incorporates all
fields of sport. This document guides the way for people in the sport- life of the university how they could organise their activities connected with sport on a calculable, predictable level.
Necessarily, the preliminary collection of professional informations has been a basic requirement for the establishment of this document.
The program provides foreseeable instructions to the organisation of sport pursuits both for sport people in the university, and members of the sport spehere in a wider sense. It
offers a cohesive solution for all kinds of tasks defined with the sport life, and also gives a guidance for the various ways of realisations of these challenges. Thus it can answer such questions as for example how the university can conduce the initation of conditions for the healthy living through spare time sporting, how it can participate in the financing of contest sport with the contributing project of reinforcement training and how the university can support the sport life of handicapped people. The project also contributes to the cultivation of the sport traditions of the university by bankrolling not only the official university sport
life but also the leisure time sporting of the students.
On the basis of rethinking the situation of sport at the university with its future possibilities the program paraphrases the tasks of the university in the sport life, the long term aims of
university sport politics with its operative aims that should be performed and also the possible steps which lead to these purposes.
The target of the project is to turn the University of Debrcen in every field into a “Sporting University”. It means, that beyond the development of quality sport and outstanding contest sport a much wider range of university people should be included in sporting in order to utilize all the advantages of sport. With this the physical culture could become not only a substantial form of spending our free time, but with getting one of our natural everyday activities it can also become our lifestyle.
Sporting prominently contributes to both the university students’s and the whole society’s mental and physical wellfare, and it also helps to improve our helthstate on various fields of life:
with its special functions it is a means for establishing a healthy nation, for promoting common relationships, for nourishing the economic activity of people and also for strengthening the national values and one’s self-esteem through providing equal opportunities.
The prosperousity of contest sport at the university and the maintaining and protesing of its efficiency fortifies our selfregard, as it is able to hold appropriate sportsmen up as examples
to both present and future universtity students, and also offers exacting ways of entertainment. Besides all these the advataged purpose of the project is to find and delibaretaly include those
necessary mechanisms which are needed for the working of the sport market. -
Energy crops on less favoured (alkaline) soil
115-118Views:122The reduction in fossil energy and row material sources induces growing demand for renewable resources. The growing demand for herbal raw materials has land use impacts as well. One way to reduce the conflict between the food and energy crops can be the utilization of less favored areas by growing energy crops. Among the potentially available areas for this purpose the salt affected soils (SAS) occupy a significant territories. SAS with structural B-horizon (meadow solonetz soils) represent the most wide spread group of SAS in Hungary. About half of these soils have been reclaimed and used as arable land and the remaining 50% are used as grassland. Sweet sorghum production for manufacturing of alcohol production was investigated in a long term amelioration and fertilization experiment on a salt affected soil (meadow solonetz). By means of regression analyzes the effect of sodium content of the soil and increasing mineral fertilizer doses were studied. According to the multiple regression analysis only the effect of nitrogen fertilizer was significant. On the solonetz type salt affected soil the effect of water soluble salt content of the soil was not significant, but there was a closer correlation between the ammonium-lactate sodium content and the yield of sweet sorghum. The maximum green mass was 45–50 t ha-1, in the case of low Na content and high level of nitrogen fertilization.
In order to quantify the potential yield of natural grass vegetation the relationship between the soil forming processes and the grass vegetation
was investigated. Beyond the different forms of Na-accumulation, the spatial pattern (mosaic-like characteristic) is also an inseparable feature of salt affected soils. The difference in the water regime, caused by the micro-relief is the main cause of variability. The run-on water keeps the deeper parts of the catena position wet longer. The wet situation causes more intensive leaching. In the low-laying parts of salt affected soils species preferring wet situations (mainly Alopecurus pratensis) are in majority. On the higher parts of the micro-relief species tolerating dry situations (mainly Festuca pseudovina) are dominant. The yearly grass production of low laying areas can be 4–7 t ha-1 but because of prolonged wet conditions the grass is not grazed and mowing can only be in old state. This old grass is not proper for feeding, but it may be suitable as energy plant. -
The examination of the profit-making capacity of the wooden chip-based large-scale product path
21-26Views:139Heating with wooden chips would provide a significantly cheaper energy production alternative for the local governments in heating their facilities and in district heating as well. The raw material should be available in the appropriate quality, quantity and at the right time. This type of heating requires the well-organized and joint work of the forestry, transporting, processing and receiving plants. This activity might be realized in the form of non-profit clusters. In order not to suffer any losses, the participants of the product path should carry out a very careful planning regarding the factors appearing in heating with wood but missing from gas heating. One such critical element is the transportation distance which might make the basically cost-efficient wooden chip-based heating process significantly more expensive.
One of the main findings of my paper is that the transportation distance should be at most 23 kilometers for the wooden chips to be worth (economical) using against gas. From the viewpoint of practical use, this can be interpreted as the distance between the forestry and heatproducing units. By determining the constant and varying costs of transporting and chopping and from calculating the initial contribution, I concluded that the profit-making capacity of the product path would be sufficient for an energy-related investment. According to my calculations, by remaining within the economical transporting distance of 23 kilometers, such long-term savings might be achieved compared to gas heating which would partly cover the establishment of a biomass-based power plant or heating plant.
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Report Writing in ESP Classes for Advanced Level Students
16-18Views:92The author discusses the importance of formal training in writing, and introduces, step-by-step, the requirements and conventions of writing necessary for all university students to master. In doing so, he points to gaps, both in curricula and in student knowledge, which first need to be addressed, in order to ensure institutions meet successful educational goals.
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Selection of Sport- and Racehorses
3-10Views:119The utilisation of the horse has changed from time to time in response to human needs. For a few decades, it has been serving in several equestrian sports more intensively. It has also been proved that the standards for this kind of performance cannot be established in the way certain characteristics, such as the weight gain or milk production of other animal breeds can. Breeding horses for sporting comprises highly complex selection criteria.
Some of these (e.g. external features, temperament, manageability and intelligence) do not put the breeder in a difficult position, but finding the traits that establishes the safety of sporting achievements poses a genetic problem.
The performance of a horse for sports is a highly complex feature, which cannot easily be assessed or put down in figures. In addition, man plays a decisive role in shaping all kinds of performance of a horse at any given time by not only creating conditions for a better performance, but also by playing an active role in increasing it.
The performance of the horse is mostly defined by its general aptitude to movement, ie., the regularity, clear rhythm and springiness of basic types of strides, as well as the ability to move in a naturally balanced way. Training and riding principles are based on these traits. These two together will determine about 70% of the value of the horse and its adequacy for high performance equestrian sports. In order to avoid subjectivity in determining the above variables and to increase the degree of objectivity, competent expert teams (trainers, judges, other riders) are employed to form an opinion on an individual animal.
Assessing horse performance outside races does not seem to be efficient, as owing to the dominant effects of the environment, the indicator of inheritability is hardly above 0.1.
Free jumping is an especially appropriate means for assessing a horse’s readiness and ability to move in an environment free of disturbing factors. In free jumping, it is especially important to judge the style of the jump. The first phase of jumping – as a sequence of movements – lasts from the moment the fore-feet touch the ground until the moment the hind-feet push off, while the second phase lasts from this moment until touching the ground. The most important task in the first phase is to make the angle of the dip of the body by the supporting fore-feet that is necessary for the jump. The quality of the jump is determined by the jumping and adequately expanded hind-legs. The intensity of pushing off and jumping done by the hind-legs can be inferred, and differences between individuals can be discerned from the shaping of the curve by the hocks and the paths of the pasterns in relation to the withers. -
Open Method of Coordination in the European research policy
182-187Views:108Research, development and innovation (R+D) are of great importance nowadays as regards the competetiveness and economic growth of any given country. In the European Union the Lisbon Strategy considers R+D as a crutial means to enhance european competetiveness. The EU is substansially lagging behind its main competitors (USA, Japan) in this domain, furthermore developing countries (China, India) have recently been making
great progress, thus posing additional challanges to our continent. The EU needs to assess the present situation as soon as possible and meet the latest challenges in the most efficient way. In order to achieve this objective, the concept of the European Research Area (ERA) has been elaborated with the aim of reorganising, regrouping and integrating existing structures. The open method of coordination (OMC) is playing an important role in the implementation of this common area. It constitutes an alternative policy-making merthod to pure „intergovernmentalism” and the
„community method”. The OMC in the field of research policy is coordinated by the Scientific and Research Committe (CREST), which provides a forum for member states to share their experience and reach their common goals.