Search
Search Results
-
The status of conservation and management of indigenous sheep breeds in South Africa - A review
79-91Views:750Indigenous sheep breeds in South Africa play an important role in local food security and they are adapted to local conditions. Their genetic and cultural values have to be recognised for national importance. The conservation of these breeds is very critical as most of them are already classified as endangered. The South African government has the initiative to attempt the conservation of these animals; however, it comes with several challenges. In addition to funding, breed conservation demands farmers to understand and recognise the role of such breeds in society. This is especially crucial in the rural communal lands where breeds are kept. Farmers that raise indigenous breeds should be taught the necessity of maintaining the purity of these breeds. Indigenous sheep breeds in South Africa are not favored by the commercial farmers and thus they are more vulnerable. This review outlines the nature of sheep farming and the conservation status of four indigenous sheep breeds in South Africa. The effort and challenges that are met in current conservation arrangements are discussed. Moreover, we emphasise on the conservation techniques that are employed in South Africa.
-
The role of self regulation and market mechanisms in tertiary education
91-97Views:233The social functions of tertiary education have gone through considerable changes with the transformation of economic environment in the more than two past decades. In the decade after the political transformation the number of students in the tertiary education increased more than threefold. Personal interests, social needs and the demands of the society lay different claims to the performance of this sector. The needs for structural transformation of the tertiary education system are connected with the development of social and economic processes. The changes of legal regulations determining the operation of the sector are induced by these factors, which refer to the autonomic characters of the public participants. Tertiary education possesses a specific market environment each of whose characters – both the supply and demand sides – strive for the enforcement of self-regulatory mechanisms.
-
Honey bee mortalities caused by direct and indirect poisoning in Hungary
101-107Views:531Bee poisoning related top lant production shows an increasing tendency. The poisoning of honey bees most of the times is caused by neonikotinoids and insecticides. The bee pasture has imparied because of the too high bee-density,therefore the beekeepers had to locate their colonies near to the farmland. The pollinating insects experience dimmesurable damages because the ignorance of the agricultural society and the lack of communication. In cases of bee poisoning sometimes it can be intentional. The samples of direct bee-destruction show higher dose of chemical residues than the amount of which they can get during the pollinating activity. In our study we also demonstrate the direct bee poisoning which is caused by endosulfan and dichlorvos.
-
The situation and role of higher education in the North Hungary region
91-96Views:266Northern Hungary is one of the most disadvantageous regions of Hungary and the European Union; "keeping force" is extremely week. The regional spatial inequalities – despite the national and EU convergence program – have been increasing year by year. The social and economic situation of the region shows negative trends. Negative features of the migration processes are manifested in the candidates' choice for tertiary education has increased in the region in the past three years parallel with the proportion of those who are not on site, but primarily in the Central Hungarian region to continue their studies. An intensification of the negative trends is experienced in the economic processes both in jobs and the structure and performance of the local economy in respect of per capita income.
The transition from the nineties has decisively influenced the social and economic processes and the status of tertiary education institutions and their constantly changing role in the region. The role of education has become a key point of their activities as financing of the sector encouraged the institutions to increase the number of students and training offer, while R&D as form of cooperation in the economic sphere overshaded. Nowadays and over the past decade the increasing demand to transform their educational profile has increased in accordance with the social and economic situation of the region, adjusted to the catch-up and development opportunities of the region.
-
Impact of precision irrigation on the unit income of maize production
157-162Views:377The study of the economic/economic impact of precision farming should be a priority area in digital agriculture, as the results, profitability, and efficiency indicators can have a significant decision-support effect on the development of both the agronomic and the technical regions of individual farms both in the longer and shorter term. Individual firms, companies, farmers, and family farms quantify the effectiveness of their farming processes. The modern age offers the possibility of digitally recording all the elements of farming technology, making it possible to analyse the cost-effectiveness of a farm more effectively and, in some cases, to carry out more detailed analyses. Nevertheless, the number of farms demonstrating their profitability with such precise economic calculations is still minimal.
Our analyses were conducted on a 56,02 ha field of Balogh Farm-Tépe Ltd. The agricultural operations carried out were fully documented so that the inputs (seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, crop enhancers) were recorded in coordinates and kind, as well as the specific yields, grain moisture data, irrigation norms, and irrigation rotations. At the same time, the company's owner provided the data's monetary value. The main econometric indicators (yield, production value, cost of production, income, cost price) related to the evaluation of the enterprise management were evaluated along with the spatial data in the irrigated and non-irrigated tables. Our calculations show that a given year's climatic and market characteristics fundamentally determine the cost and income relations of a plot of land (and thus of an entire farm). In addition to additional inputs, introducing some elements of precision farming and intensification and increasing yields improves yield security and allows for excellent yield stability.
-
Addictions of youngsters living in the countryside: social and demographic background of alcohol consumption
81-84Views:220In the past 10–15 years, the consumption of illegal drugs has increased significantly both in Hungary and in our county. In parallel with the society’s getting more and more open, the fulfilment of personal freedom, and the spreading of globalisation and individual culture, the use of drugs has become more and more accessible and acceptable to the young.
Social problems are supposedly connected with the interviewees’ alcohol consumption. The EuroADAD questionnaire was used. The sample covered 190 interviewees. I have processed the data with the SPSS statistical program package.
The linear regression analysis was applied to examine the interrelations between the elements under study. Almost consume alcohol as well. Among the examined socio-demographic variables, youth alcohol consumption was most affected by the gender of the respondent, the dissatisfaction with living conditions, and the change of residence.
-
Conceptions regarding sustainable agriculture – the national sustainable development strategy
42-51Views:218The task of the national sustainable development strategy is to provide a long term conception for the economy and society, so that this might function and develop in harmony with the environment. Creating the conditions for sustainable agricultural production requires the elaboration and implementation of long-term programs spanning generations. The objective is to find a compromise between the conceptions appearing in the long-term and the short-term programs.
In Hungary, several principles, conceptions and proposals have been suggested regarding sustainable agriculture. In the present study, I intend to systematize the above mentioned principles and conceptions, and compare them to the conceptions regarding agriculture in the national strategies of the EU member states. Furthermore, I examine to what extent the agricultural policy of the European Union supports the conceptions regarding agriculture in the strategies. This topic deserves special attention, as the Hungarian national sustainable development strategy is being prepared and is supposed to be finished by the end of 2005. -
The study of attitudes, prejudices and stereotypes towards the blind and people of visually impaired
61-66Views:258Living with visual impairment is not only a state but it is also a social connection. This relationship has two directions: on one hand it means belonging to the community of the blind and visually impaired, and on the other hand it means the lack of belonging to the healthy population. To study their situation and to tackle the issue of their social and work-related integration is an essential goal for this particular disadvantaged group as well as for the society. In my research I have examined how intensive and of what scale the emloyers’ attitude, stereotypes and prejudices towards the blind and visually impaired are. The research was centred around the measure of attitude, which was carried out with the help of an Osgood semnatic difference scale.
-
E-business in Hungarian Tourism
81-86Views:204Thanks to communication tools, globalization is spreading wordwide. For this reason, it is crucial to protect and strengthen our feature. On the one hand, we are repetitive joining the uniting world of economics, on the other hand, it is our responsibility to preserve our national characteristics with conscious politics.
Responding tardy to the touristic demands of the information society without risking the loss of our competitiveness market is highly dangerous at the current situation of the touristic, as the Hungarian Economic Development Program sets down. Unless we develop a strategy that realized radical changes in the next 4-5 years, Hungary can find itself in a disadvantageous situation regarding the touristic market of the 21st century. -
New wonder of an old hormone: Hungarian sour cherry varieties as natural melatonin sources
65-72Views:443Agriculture has always been an important role in economy, food supplies, sustainability of society During our experimental work an effective extraction procedure has been developed for melatonin. Further chromatography was developed the quantitative and qualitative determination of melatonin. A compound that was equal to the standard was purified from the extract by preparative HPLC technique and the structure of the purified sample was confirmed by MALDI-TOF-MS and NMR analysis. Based on our measurements, harvested in the state of biological maturity Hungarian sour cherry cultivars contain high levels of melatonin.
Our results show that "VN4" variety has extremely high melatonin content, 9.893 ug g-1 and suggest that "VN4" which were selected from the "Bosnyák" varieties is melatonin accumulating. The average value of the melatonin content of Hungarian sour cherry cultivars is 2.319 ug g-1.
-
From Lovrin to Szécsény – remembrance to Béla Lipthay (1892-1974)
21-32Views:278Béla Lipthay lepidopterologist, entomologist, museologist, agriculturist, hussar lieutenant, life-saving Roman Catholic, descendant of the historical family Lipthay de Kisfalud et Lubelle did a long way from his home village Lovrin to Szécsény, the one-time land of his ancestors. His life coincided with the disintegration of the historical Hungary, and the most serious trials of the Hungarian society, culture and spirit. These changes affected him as a member of Hungarian aristocracy many times and in fact wanted to destroy him. The fortune of the ancestors have been swept away by the storms of the wars, confiscated by the beneficiaries of tricky ideas of the new age and decimated by practical swindlers, but the human strength of character, the consciousness, the advantage of education and the with them associated ability, diligence, inventiveness and the sanctuary of faith have remained. All these made him possible to survive, to do his everyday hard creative work, which gained him the affection, the esteem and respect of the people living around him.
Protecting his remembrance we evoke his many-sided, altruistic efforts for the Hungarian people and Hungary, and we can contribute to the creation of a better and just world. -
Impact of tillage systems on maize emergence
129-136Views:485In Europe, there has been a significant change in the way tillage is approached in recent years. This change is due to a growing awareness among farmers, politicians and society as a whole that soil is not a renewable resource in itself. From an agricultural point of view, the greatest impact on soil condition can be achieved through the use of the applied tillage systems. My research takes this approach as a basis when examining the different tillage systems and their impact on the environment. In this context, conventional and a variety of no-tillage systems are examined in this paper. As a next step, it is examined how the environmental conditions created by the different tillage systems influence the emergence of maize hybrids. The analyses are carried out in a multi-factorial, long-term tillage field experiment. The same batch of the same hybrid seed was sown in several crop years, and the effects of environmental conditions on the emergence process were examined. Environmental effects and emergence-related uptake were measured in the examined plots. Measurements of environmental effects included air temperature, precipitation, soil temperature measured at seeding depth, as well as % cover of stem residue on the surface in the treated plots. The first emergence time measurements of the sown crop in the plots of each treatment were compared and relationships between these factors were investigated.
-
Food Safety in EU Higher Education
188-197Views:205Under the aegis of the Lisbon Strategy, special attention is paid to education and areas left untouched by the European integration process. Human capital and research inputs were identified as major driving forces for long-term development. The European Union is keen on meeting its target of boosting research spending to 3% of GDP by 2010. In order to contribute towards his goal, the European Commission has set aside an amount
which is double the budget of the 7th Framework Programme. Accordingly, preferences were given to research and development projects encouraging competitiveness in the food industry and other initiatives, such as the European Technology Platforms. Major obstacles to innovation in Hungary are: lack of funds, weakness of research network, poor structural relations. Better utilization of our comparative advantages should be targeted in order to have the Hungarian food industry become a driving force sector. This is to be promoted by the newly transformed food
engineer training (as a result of the Bologna Declaration) which can adapt better to the changing requirements of the labour market. Food science and related research could become determining factors for the food economy by setting up accredited training systems and enhancing food safety education and training in Hungary. -
Problem analysis of health tourism sector
27-31Views:210On the basis of experts health tourism is one of the most dynamically developing sectors within tourism. The outstanding role of the sector is partly owing to increasing health consciousness and partly to aging society – beside numerous other factors. But health tourism in Hungary is hit by several problems in spite of the fact that recently particular attention is paid to this sector. It can be mentioned as a difficulty that supply of education system is not in conformity with market demands, thus fresh supply of experts is not appropriate. As a world trend, classic position of thermal baths based on natural curative factors is getting to be displaced by adventure baths, which is unfavourable for health tourism. Notwithstanding that Hungary is in a distinguished place on a world scale as regards tourist arrivals, yet we are only in a mid-filed position relating to industrial revenues. Suppliers of this sector do not pay enough attention to disabled persons. The established TDM Organisations have to cope with numerous challenges. Nevertheless experts agree that high support of health tourism can be suggested despite to problems, market risks and significant international competition. However, this support has to be more aimed than before and has to be rather founded on world trends.
-
On the Knowledge of University Students About the Strategies of National Sustainable Development
232-240Views:228The definition of sustainable development has a past which spans two decades. Today it is evident that the three pillars of sustainable development – environment, economy and society – have a strong correspondence and equally effect on every people. The UN’s Environment and Development Conference in 1992 declared the requirement in the document of Objectives for the XXI. century, that governments should prepare national sustainable development strategies. The World Conference of Sustainable Development in August 2002 made a stronger decision: „the states should make immediate steps forward … defining and preparing their national sustainable development, and for the purpose to start its realization until 2005”. Most of the countries fulfilled these requirements, and the Hungarian government promises to prepare its national strategy by the end of 2004.
The aim of my study is to survey the knowledge of university students about the above mentioned process and generally about the topic of sustainable development. The selection of the target group is justified by the importance of young intelligentsia in the future. In order to examine their knowledge, I prepared a questionnaire and from the emerging primary data, my conclusion and statements have been deducted by a processing-analysing course, on the bases of which I made my suggestions. -
Comparison of Pálfai’s drought index and the Normalised Precipitation Index in the North Great Plain region
59-64Views:668Agriculture has always been an important role in economy, food supplies, sustainability of society and creation of job opportunities in Hungary. Our country has resource-related strength of agriculture, because we have more than 4.5 million ha for agricultural production. Agricultural production can be influenced by several factors, including climate, hydrology, soil conditions and antropogenic impacts. Climate determines the quality and quantity of the crop yields. The climate conditions in Hungary are variable and it shows spatial and temporal extremes. As a result of this, drought have become more frequent in our country (2003, 2007, 2009, 2012), which is reflected in the decline in yields as well. In the present study, Pálfai's Drought Index (PAI) and the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) were compared 2003–2012 in Debrecen. The temperature and precipitation data were calculated from data provided by a local meteorological station to work out PAI, while the SPI-3 index values were downloaded from the database of the European Drought Observatory. This allowed to drought assessment in a local and regional scale. Our study was supplemented with SPI-3, soil moisture anomalies, PAI and yields of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and maize (Zea mays L.) to evaluating the impact of drought on agriculture.
-
Paradigm shift in the area of specialised social care in Hajdú-Bihar county
253-257Views:241This paper tries to find the answer through an already working practical example how to save money on the social supporting system maintenanced by an elderly society. With the help of basic structural and organizational rearrangement, the social institutions, run by settlements and local goverments, can be helped to ran better and gain savings at the same time.
-
The effects of curing technology on the rheological and organoleptic features of meat products
139-142Views:202Meat products are important staple foodstuffs owing to their high protein, vitamin and mineral content. Meat plants do not only use traditional production technologies but also develop methods that preserve the nutritional value of meat or improve the texture and organoleptic features of meat products. These features play an important role in the consumer society. Consumers first meet the external features of meat and this experience influences their decisions. Our analyses compared a traditional and a new curing procedure. Besides organoleptic inspections, we analysed texture with a CT3 type Texture Analyser to obtain quantified information on the condition of meat samples in the various curing phases. We used our results to compare traditional and new curing procedures.
-
Evaluation of technologies and resources from the spatial and social aspect
73-75Views:562The basic functioning of the world is mostly led by negative trends. One of the fundamental reasons for this phenomenon is that the different technologies (hardware, software, resources) do not act properly and in the proper structure by means of the produced products and services. Therefore, the examination of technologies and resources is a key question of our world and development from various aspects. Technologies convey all positive and negative impacts which can be regarded as the fundamental reasons and causes of harmonious or disharmonious development. For this reason, the role of technologies in development and harmonious functioning is of paramount importance.
As a final conclusion, we established that the different technologies (hardware, software, resources) are interpreted as impact conveyors which predominate by means of products and services in a way that their relation system is determined. By using the thermodynamic interpretation which is the basis of the functioning of the world, we built a system consisting of 14 elements to evaluate different technologies, to interpret its functioning and to develop positive interactions and trends.
-
The study of environment-conscious attitudes in the food-industry companies of the Northern-Plain Region
155-163Views:187that the world of business, profit and work is not a hermetically closed area, but is in interaction with its closer and wider surroundings, ultimately with society and the natural environment.
The affectedness of each sector and company varies. To be able to tackle these problems, first and foremost the commitment of companies towards environmentally conscious attitude is necessary, which can form as a result of inner obligation or outer pressure. Thus companies will be concerned to measure and quantify the environmental effects of all activities.
Some of the companies have already given their votes for environment-protection. Both internationally and at home it seems that the responsible leaders of more and more companies build social, human rights and environmental protection considerations in the objects and values of the company apart from profit maximization.
In my thesis I present the data gathered from a questionnaire survey carried out with food-industry companies in the Northern-Plain Region. The aim of the survey was to evaluate the commitment of companies towards environmental protection via solid data. The fact that more than half of the respondents found the positive effects of environmental protection of little importance and that environmental protection was the last among the aims of some companies reflected greatly in the following outcomes. -
The Legal Rules Pertaining to Land Protection in Hungary
324-331Views:224Buildings 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 measurement of successfully completed projects funded by the European Union
9-12Views:273Projects funded by the European Union contribute significantly to the socio-economic development of Hungary, its increasing competitiveness, thereby the local people's general level of satisfaction, their ”happiness and prosperity”. Successful spending from the Union's funds, successful project implementation directly impacts all actors in the Hungarian economy and society. Therefore, to examine the factors that support or jeopardize the implementation of the projects is a priority at EU and national levels. My research and doctoral dissertation aims to develop a methodology to assess the management efficiency of projects supported by the European Union, implemented in Hungary taking into account all measurable factors (technical and special expertise) and the "suspected" factor (EU thinking learning).
I intend to draw up guidelines for future EU funded project management teams to realize projects successfully for the benefit of Hungary.
-
Soil – Environment – Sustainability
331-337Views:356The future and life quality of human society depends primarily on the success of the sustainable use of natural resources: the geological strata–soil–water–biota–near surface atmosphere continuum. Soil is the most significant conditionally renewable natural resource in our Earth’s system, with three unique properties: multifunctionality; fertility/ productivity; resilience. In the case of rational land use and precise soil management soil does not disappear, and its desirable „quality” does not decrease considerably, irreversibly and unavoidably. Its renewal, however, requires continuous care and permanent activities.
Consequently, the prevention, elimination or moderation of soil degradation processes and extreme hydrological situations (the two main factors limiting desirable soil multifunctionality) with rational land use and soil management are the key factors and priority tasks of sustainable development on each level and in each phase of the decisionmaking process.