Hungarian Academy Of Sciences Research Articles

Nyugat-magyarországi beszélők nyelvi-nyelvjárási attitűdjei: Részeredmények

The paper deals with sociolinguistic interviews that were recorded in Western Hungary as part of the ‘New General Atlas of Hungarian’ project between 2007 and 2012. The project, funded by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and organized by the Geolinguistics Research Group of the Eötvös Loránd University, asked the participants about sociolinguistic issues at several data collection sites in the Hungarian language area, in addition to surveying dialectological phenomena. For example: Do you speak dialects here in this town? Do they speak better here than in the neighboring settlements? Do you speak in the same way in a city or official place as at home, in a family circle? Have you ever been mocked because of your dialect speech? Given that tens of thousands of hours of the recordings have not yet been processed in a systematic and comprehensive way, the first half of the study provides numerical and detailed data on how the planned program of the research group was realized in practice regarding, for the time being, the Western Hungarian data collecting sites. The second half of the study presents partial results on the language and dialect awareness, attitudes and use of the respondents by analyzing the sociolinguistic interviews recorded in this area. The study provides a more accurate description of the specifics in the archive of the ‘New General Atlas of Hungarian’ project, as well as what the recorded data reveal on the linguistic mentality of the Western Hungarian speech community in the beginning of the 21stcentury. This is just one of the numerous research topics offered by the archive.

Arterial hypertension, cognitive decline and cerebrovascular damage

Abstract Introduction Arterial hypertension has been associated with increased risk of cognitive dysfunction (CD) and dementia explained by the onset of cerebral microvascular disease. However, it is not well known which are true markers of cognitive decline and how to demonstrate them. Purpose We aimed to evaluate cognitive functions and study microvascular disease with cerebral localization in hypertensive patients. Methods Patients over 50 years with arterial hypertension were included. Cognitive status was assessed by using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) tests. We selected 50 patients in two groups: 25 patients with mild CD (MoCA <26 points, MMSE >24 points), respectively 25 patients without CD (MoCA ≥26 points, MMSE ≥24 points). In these groups, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using GE Optima MR450w 1.5 Tesla of the brain was performed. MRI images with the RadiAnt program were studied and ImageJ was used to measure the area of the thalamus with a method developed by our team, by calculating the total area and hyperintense areas (microvascular damage) in number of pixels. For statistical analysis IBM-SPSS v.26 program was used. Results 585 consecutive hypertensive patients were enrolled, mean age 67.9±9.5 years, 52.1% women, mean blood pressure 135/80±20/11 mmHg (with antihypertensive treatment). The MoCA test identified cognitive impairment in 66.1% of participants (mean scores 20.66±3.9) while the MMSE in 17.1% (mean scores 20.64±3.0). In the subgroup of 50 patients, the mean age was 70.9±5.5 years for the CD group and 69.9±3.9 years for the group without CD (p=0.4, between 59–79 years). No significant difference was detected between groups in mean blood pressure, ambulatory blood pressure, and hypertension duration (18.0±12 years vs. 17.7, p=0.9). Cerebrovascular disease was detected in 48 patients by brain MRI. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups. The most frequent changes were white matter hyperintensities in 89.6%, enlarged perivascular spaces in 77.1%, and lacunar infarcts in 52.1%. In three cases silent brain infarct was unmasked. In 45 patients, we applied the modified measurement of the thalamic area and a statistically significant difference was detected in the right thalamus area in patients with CD (p=0.009) compared to patients without CD (on the left side p=0.058). Conclusions CD and cerebral microvascular changes were frequently present in hypertensive patients with associated cardiovascular disease in the studied group. At the level of the thalamus with the method developed by our team, we demonstrated that microvascular alterations on the right side are associated with cognitive decline. The methodology developed for the quantitative measurement of the injured thalamic area proved to be objective and repeatable. The innovative method, the analysis of imaging data with pixels is a promising way to continue the research. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): Hungarian Academy of Science

The Past, Present and Future of the ELKH Cloud

This review article summarizes the history the Hungarian Scientific Cloud Infrastructure project. This research infrastructure was launched officially on 1 October 2016, funded by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. With the support of ELKH, the infrastructure’s capacity has been substantially boosted; the features and workflows that it offers to scientists were significantly expanded to celebrate the arrival of the year 2022. The article reviews the types of work Hungarian researchers implemented on the infrastructure, thereby providing an overview of the state of cloud-computing enabled science in Hungary.

A critical review of the proposed academic performance indicators for the assessment of individual researchers in Hungary

The academic performance indicators of the Doctor of Science title, the highest and most prestigious qualification awarded by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), are key in the national assessment system. The types of performance indicators, as well as their minimum values, are incorporated into the application requirements for academic promotions, scientific qualifications, and research scholarships. HAS has proposed a reform of these performance indicators, to align with the current national and global trends. The proposed modifications are generally based on arbitrary decisions and the consensus between academicians, namely, the representatives of the sections of HAS. This paper contains a bibliometric analysis of 25,000 publications produced between 2011 and 2020 by 683 researchers affiliated with HAS’s Section of Earth Sciences. The bibliometric data of the publications are processed by an integer and fractional counting, respectively. The main goal of the paper is to argue that discipline-specific co-authorship patterns should be accounted for in the assessment procedure. It is also shown that the homogenization of the performance indicators and the rigid use of the integer counting method favor hard natural science disciplines and put social science disciplines at a disadvantage. Finally, the paper describes some components of an alternative publishing strategy which would be most prudent for researchers, given the proposed assessment criteria.

Scientometric portrait of Professor Wolfgang Glänzel, an expert in the field of scientometrics

Professor Wolfgang Glänzel, an outstanding and leading professor at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium, received the international Derek John de Solla Price Award for remarkable contributions to the quantitative studies of science in 1999. During his 37yearsof scientific career, 276articles have been individually or collaboratively indexed with his name in Web of Science. Thirty five out of 276 papers were single authored by Glänzel, and the other 241 ones were collaborative works. Glänzel’s highest level of scientific productivity with 122 documents was during the years 2008 to 2017, when he was 53 to 62 years old. Scientometrics was his preferred journal. Glänzel has mainly collaborated with researchers from Hungary and Belgium, specifically some of the KU Leuven and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. For instance, outstanding researchers including Schubert, Thijs, Braun and Zhang are part his authorship teams. Professor Glänzel has done considerable work in areas such as hybrid clustering, text mining, citation analysis, bibliometric analysis, scientometric indicators, altmetrics, and others.

MO404: Autophagy and Fibrotic Response is Genetically Determined in Mouse Mesangial Cells

Abstract BACKGROUND AND AIMS C57Bl6/J (B6) mouse strain is resistant to several experimental models of renal fibrosis. Mesangial cells play an important role in the pathogenesis of glomerulosclerosis. Also, autophagy dysregulation was recently related to fibrosis. However, it is unclear whether autophagy dysregulation could be genetically determined in mice. Thus, we investigated autophagy and fibrotic response in primary mesangial cells isolated from fibrosis resistant (B6) and fibrosis prone (CBA) inbred mouse strains. METHOD Primary mesangial cells were isolated from 6-weeks old B6 and CBA male mice via magnetic bead separation technique. Glomerular outgrowths were maintained in RPMI medium for 21 days when cells were subcultured and characterized for mesangial markers. Mesangial cells with passage numbers P5 to P8 were seeded onto 24-well plates. Gene expressions were analyzed after 48-h of PBS (CTL) or TGF-β (10 ng/mL) treatment (n = 6/group). Data (mean ± SD) were analyzed using Kruskal–Wallis test. RESULTS Tgfb1 and Col1a1 expressions increased by 2.5-fold and 8-fold in TGF-β treated CBA cells as compared to B6 (P < 0.01), respectively. The expression of Egr1 (early growth response factor-1) that participates in both fibrosis and autophagy increased by 2-fold in TGF-β treated CBA cells but remained unchanged in B6 cells (P < 0.05). Similarly, the expression of core autophagy molecule Lc3b did not change in TGF-β treated B6 cells, but increased by 60% in CBA cells (P < 0.05), accompanied by 1.5-fold increase of Sqstm1/p62. On the other hand, the expression of Mtmr14 that negatively regulates autophagy decreased by 30% in TGF-β treated CBA cells but remained unchanged in B6. CONCLUSION We conclude that genetic background of mice highly influences the TGF-β induced fibrotic and autophagy response of mesangial cells. Our results corroborate previous reports on autophagy dysregulation associated to fibrosis. FUNDING: Hungarian Academy of Sciences BO/00 304/20/5, ÚNKP-21–5-SE-1, NTP-NFTÖ-21-B-0045

Riddles in the Manuscript and Print Version of a 19th-Century Collection

Abstract Scholarly publication of folk riddles in Hungary started in the mid-19th century. Among the early sources was the first classic collection of Hungarian folktales, Eredeti népmesék [Authentic Folktales], compiled by László Arany, which includes a separate chapter comprising 54 riddle tales. Manuscripts related to this publication were found in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences among other collections from the 19th century and identified in the 1960s as having been recorded by members of the Arany family. The manuscripts contain all the riddles published by László Arany, along with 25 riddle texts that remained unpublished. Comparison of the two sources reveals the editing process: the selection and arrangement of the material, along with the text modifications applied by László Arany. The first part of this article consists of a few terminological notes on tales and riddle tales in 19th-century Hungary, followed by the description of the riddle material in the manuscripts associated with the Arany family. In the second part the author presents in more detail the editing process which shows a far higher degree of conscious editorial attention than other publications of folk riddles in the period.

An open chat with… Laszlo Nagy.

Laszlo Nagy has been on the Editorial Board of FEBS Open Bio since the journal’s inception and is a passionate supporter of FEBS Press and other society journals. Currently, he is also an editor of FEBS Letters and The Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI). He studied medicine at the University Medical School of Debrecen in Hungary, where he graduated with an M.D. and later Ph.D., and then moved to the United States to conduct postdoctoral research at the University of Texas–Houston and subsequently the Salk Institute in San Diego. Laszlo is a Professor of Medicine and Biological Chemistry at John Hopkins School of Medicine, where he is Co‐Director of the Institute for Fundamental Biomedical Research and Associate Director of the Center for Metabolic Origins of Disease, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Debrecen. Formerly, he was a Professor and Founding Director of the Genomic Control of Metabolism Program at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. He is also a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), Academia Europaea, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and The Henry Kunkel Society, and recipient of several awards, including the Boehringer Ingelheim Research Award, Cheryl Whitlock/Pathology Prize, a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship in Biomedical Sciences, and three Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Research Scholar Awards. In this fascinating interview, Laszlo Nagy shares the advice that changed his career trajectory, relates his views on scientific publishing, discusses new developments at The Johns Hopkins Center for Metabolic Origins of Disease, and outlines the prospects for future development of research and technology infrastructures in eastern Europe.

A karsztoktól a környezetgazdálkodásig. Beszélgetés Fodor Istvánnal

István Fodor was born in Szeged in 1938, graduated from the University of Debrecen in 1961 with a degree in History and Geography. Since 1966 he has been a staff member of the Transdanubian Institute of Science of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS). The Institute had a decisive importance in his professional career. He became a Candidate of Geography in 1976 and a Doctor of the HAS in 2002. He was involved in higher education for most of his career. He was the Associate Professor and then Head of the Department of Environmental Geography and Meteorology at the Faculty of Sciences at Janus Pannonius University. In 1996, he was appointed a university professor. He was President of the Hungarian Karst and Cave Research Society, headed several committees of the Academic Committee of the HAS in Pécs. He was a member of the Board of the International Union of Speleology, just like the Board of the International Speleoterapic Committee. This semi-structured interview was conducted at his home in October 2021. The aim of the article is to present the most important stages of the professor’s career, his personal relationship with geography and the factors that shaped his professional development.

Az akadémia hatása az intézményesülő magyar színjátszásra az 1830-as években

From the beginning, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences considered it its task to oversee the Hungarian-speaking theatres. From the 1830’s the Academy tried to provide original dramas and translations, and the task of the “Standing Committee on Theatre” was to review the dramas and repertoire presented in permanent Hungarian-speaking theatres. Pest County also set up a permanent delegation, which exercised a supervisory role similar to that of the Academy. The directory board of the Magyar Theatre of Pest, that opened in 1837, and the body called the Acting Committee were also responsible for artistic and operational matters. These committees, looking at their model from the 18th century, hindered the institutionalization of the Hungarian-speaking theatre in various ways, albeit the Academy primarily sought to provide professional assistance to a developing social institution. This paper presents the connection between the Academy and the Hungarian-speaking theater from the point of view of institutional history.

A Magyar Nemzeti Helynévtár Programról

On the Hungarian National Toponym Registry The paper introduces the key antecedents of the Hungarian National Toponym Registry Program supported by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and presents the main motivations behind the research project and its chief objectives. The prehistory of a comprehensive Hungarian toponym registry goes back to the dictionaries presenting the corpus of common nouns. In the second half of the 19th century, at the time of the creation of the Dictionary of the Hungarian language (A magyar nyelv szótára, CzF.), it was Frigyes Pesty who first organized com¬prehensive toponym collection activities in 1864. In the middle of the 20th century, the publication of the Explanatory dictionary of the Hungarian language (A ma¬gyar nyelv értelmező szótára, ÉrtSz.) coincided with the second major toponym collection project. It was also due to their inefficacy, however, that at the time of the publication of the Comprehensive dictionary of the Hungarian language (A magyar nyelv nagy szótára, Nszt.) those aspirations also appeared that focused on the creation of digital toponym registries that culminated in the plan for the Hungarian National Toponym Registry. This work was carried out in the topo¬nymist workshops of the University of Debrecen and Eötvös Loránd University but practically all toponym scholars have joined the program both from Hungary and the trans-border regions. The fact that this program needs to be carried out now is made even clearer by two circumstances. First, the population decrease of Hungarians outside Hungary and the continuous shrinking of the Hungarian language area. Second, the pro¬cesses of social modernization that significantly modify the ways people use space and thus also affect toponym awareness. Under these circumstances, the collection of toponyms still used today may also be considered as a way of saving linguistic and cultural records and heritage. The toponym registry also containing historical toponyms provides unparalleled resources for a host of academic dis¬ciplines while also enriching Hungarian toponym culture. In line with strict professional requirements, the Hungarian National Toponym Registry is created as a digital database but the material included in it will also be published in print form. Due to the magnitude of the work, hundreds of experts participate in it. The academic basis of the program is provided by universities of the Carpathian Basin offering programs in Hungarian Studies where special activ¬ities are offered primarily for Hungarian majors, also supported by online educa¬tional materials. The Hungarian National Toponym Registry is an exceptional opportunity for Hungarian toponomastics for the creation of a comprehensive toponym registry covering the entire Hungarian language area and representing both contemporary and historical name usage.

Distant Reading of the Metadata of the Digitized Hungarian Charm Corpus

Based on Éva Pócs’ manual charm index an online database was created for Hungarian verbal charms within the East–West Research Group at the Institute of Ethnology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Budapest), between 2013 and 2018. The main goal was to create a multidimensional digital database. Digital text preparation would open the gates to new interpretations and analyses, which would bring us closer to understanding the compound and complex phenomena of charms. In the Digital Database of Hungarian Verbal Charms users can search by various metadata, like date and place of collection/recording, name of collector/scribe, informant, type of source, function of the charm, rites/gestures, language of the text, keywords etc. This paper focuses on how different new arrangements and distant reading of the corpora can reshape our knowledge about the Hungarian verbal charms.

The Collaborative Folktale Project of a Family: The Synoptic Critical Edition of a 19th-Century Hungarian Folktale and Riddle Collection

AbstractIn 1862, a volume of tales was published under the title Eredeti népmesék (‘Original Folktales’) by László Arany, the then 18-year-old son of János Arany, the national poet of the period. Eredeti népmesék has been classified by folkloristics as the first canonical folktale collection in Hungary. Besides scholarly recognition, it has also become one of the most popular folktale collections of the past one and a half century, as selected tales from this collection have been continuously republished in schoolbooks and anthologies and have become a regular element in children's literature. After the Second World War, in the basement of the main building of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, a huge pile of manuscripts had been found in very poor condition, consisting of, among others, various 19th-century folklore collections. In the 1960s, it was discovered that a part of these manuscripts was identical to the texts published in Eredeti népmesék. The vast majority of the manuscript tales had been recorded by the family members of János Arany, namely, his young daughter (Julianna Arany) and his wife (Julianna Ercsey), in the period between 1850 and 1862, presumably for family use. A comparison of the manuscript texts with their published versions revealed that in the editing process, László Arany significantly reworked the texts of the manuscript tales, implementing significant stylistic modifications. This article reports on the research project underlying the synoptic critical edition of the manuscript and published tales of the Arany family (2018). In the first part, the author presents the manuscript and published tales and their place in the history of Hungarian folkloristics, followed by an introduction of the members of the Arany family with an emphasis on their socio-cultural background, and concluding with a discussion of the roles they played in this collaborative folktale project as collectors, editors, copy editors, and theoreticians. The second part is a summary of the textological concept and techniques applied in the course of the development of the synoptic critical edition.

History of science in Hungary: Stewardship and audience in periods of institutional and political change

The paper introduces the development of history of science in Hungary, focusing on the status of the field in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, universities, and scientific societies, and the “local” output in Hungarian. The genres associated with the field became popular in the early 20th century, and the institutional framework was created in the 1970s. After 1990, constructivist methodologies for studying localizable patterns of science-related activities spread, somewhat more pronounced in histories of the human sciences. A PhD school was established, and the discipline thrived until the early 2000s. Attempts were made to develop an historically informed integrated science curriculum, and to start a Masters program in History of Science. In recent years some of the key institutions of the discipline were closed down, and the visibility and relevance of the field decreased. Although the field has a relatively stable position in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), with dwindling institutional resources "History of science" in Hungary will most likely become—yet again—an accessory of the special sciences.

‘Unfettered Freedom’ Revisited: Hungarian Historical Journals between 1989 and 2018

In his 1992 article, ‘Today, Freedom is Unfettered in Hungary,’ Columbia University history professor István Deák argued that after 1989 Hungarian historical research enjoyed ‘unfettered freedom. Deák gleefully listed the growing English literature on Hungarian history and hailed the ‘step-by step dismantling of the Marxist-Leninist edifice in historiography’ that he associated with the Institute of History at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) under the leadership of György Ránki (1930–88). In this article he argued that the dismantling of communist historiography had started well before 1989. Besides celebrating the establishment of the popular science-oriented historical journal, History (História) (founded in 1979) and new institutions such as the Európa Intézet – Europa Institute (founded in 1990) or the Central European University (CEU) (founded in 1991) as turning points in Hungarian historical research, Deák listed the emergence of the question of minorities and Transylvania; anti-Semitism and the Holocaust; as well as the 1956 revolution. It is very true that these topics were addressed by prominent members of the Hungarian democratic opposition who were publishing in samizdat publications: among them János M. Rainer, the director of the 1956 Institute after 1989, who wrote about 1956. This list of research topics implies that other topics than these listed before had been free to research and were not at all political. This logic interiorised and duplicated the logic of communist science policy and refused to acknowledge other ideological interventions, including his own, while also insisting on the ‘objectivity’ of science. Lastly, Deák concluded that ‘there exists a small possibility that the past may be rewritten again, in an ultra-conservative and xenophobic vein. This is, however, only a speculation.’ Twenty years later Ignác Romsics, the doyen of Hungarian historiography, re-stated Deák's claim, arguing that there are no more ideological barriers for historical research. However, in his 2011 article Romsics strictly separated professional historical research as such from ‘dilettantish or propaganda-oriented interpretations of the past, which leave aside professional criteria and feed susceptible readers – and there are always many – with fraudulent and self-deceiving myths’. He thereby hinted at a new threat to the historical profession posed by new and ideologically driven forces. The question of where these ‘dilettantish or propaganda-oriented’ historians are coming from has not been asked as it would pose a painful question about personal and institutional continuity. Those historians who have become the poster boys of the illiberal memory politics had not only been members of the communist party, they also received all necessary professional titles and degrees within the professional community of historians.

Soluble Dipeptidyl-Peptidase 4 (sDPP4) Serum Activity Is Associated With the Severity of COVID-19 Disease and is a Strong Prognostic Biomarker of Mortality

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obesity are risk factors of COVID-19 disease course. Retrospective observational analyses reported improvement in COVID-19 severe outcomes and mortality in T2DM patients using a DPP4 inhibitor. However, little is known about the prognostic value of circulating soluble DPP4 activity in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.Methods: We conducted an observational, retrospective cohort study with 184 Hungarian adults. Hospitalized patients with acute COVID-19 disease (n=102) and plasma donors (n=43) recovered from prior SARS-CoV-2 infection were enrolled from April to July, 2020 at two institutions in Budapest. “Non-COVID-19 controls” (n=39) were employed with serum sDPP4 activity determined from samples taken before September, 2019. Duplicate serum sDPP4 activity determinations by microplate base enzyme kinetic assay were successful in 182 individuals from different COVID-19 disease severity groups (acute COVID-19 patients were classified into 4 and plasma donors into 2 categories based on peak severity).Findings: A significant difference in sDPP4 activity was found among study groups (pInterpretation: We concluded that serum sDPP4 activity is associated with the severity and a strong biomarker of mortality in COVID-19 disease.Funding Information: Ramgen funded the sDPP4 activity measurement and related costs in the study.Declaration of Interests: Semmelweis University and Central Hospital of Southern Pest, National Institute for Infectious Diseases and Haematology has entered into a contractual partnership with Ramgen to conduct this research and they submitted a patent application (HIPO Ref: 311174000-20210226-1522-004576, inventors: GF, ZP, IVN). ÁN reports a prior fellowship at the Semmelweis University - Rácz Károly Doctoral School which ended prior to the initiation of this project for which he was contracted with Ramgen. IB reports institutional grants or contracts form Envision 2000 and EuroPN (Fresenius Kabi). BL reports payment or honoraria from GlaxoSmithKline, MSD, Fresenius-Kabi, Gilead Sciences, outside of the submitted work. MA reports an associate professor position of Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Science, Department of Probability Theory and Statistics, Institute of Mathematics and that he was separately contracted with Ramgen unconnected to his other employments. TM reports on a data safety monitoring board or advisory board participation at AbbVie, BMS, Janssen-Cilag, Novartis, Pfizer, Takeda. CG reports stocks in Ramgen and other interests as co-CEO in Ramgen. BM reports institutional payments from Medtronic, Boston Scientific; personal fees from Biotronik, Abbott, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novartis, outside of the submitted work. PF reports leadership role as President of Hungarian Society for Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology; and other interests as the founder, and CEO of PharmaHungary Group, outside of the submitted work. VNI reports grants or contracts from National Research, Development and Innovation Office, National Research, Development and Innovation Office / Ministry of Innovation and Technology, and Ministry of Human Capacities, outside of the submitted work. GF reports a paid part time employment at the Semmelweis University- Eötvös Loránd Research Network (Molecular Medicine Study group, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, where his employer did not declare employee conflict of interest for this independently conducted project); support for attending meetings and personal fees from 77 Elektronika, and Diabetes and Metabolism Foundation, outside of the submitted work; stocks in Biomerieux and Ramgen and other interests as co-CEO in Ramgen. All the other authors have nothing to declare.Ethics Approval Statement: Study participants signed the informed consent for the whole project and all the sample collections as well as the subsequent study on sDPP4 activity conducted by Ramgen possessed the ethical approval of the national ethical body of Hungary (Medical Research Council Scientific and Research Committee, reference: IV/4403-4/2020/EKU; December 30, 2020). The study was conducted according to the declaration of Helsinki.

A demokrácia lebontása Magyarországon [The dismantling of democracy in Hungary

A demokrácia lebontása Magyarországon [The dismantling of democracy in Hungary

A jogtalanság mint a büntetendő cselekmény ismérve – az önvezető járművekkel kapcsolatos büntetőjogi problémák Finkey Ferenc akadémiai székfoglaló beszédének tükrében

Ferenc Finkey gave his inauguration speech at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, entitled Injustice as a Criterion of Punishable Acts. This inauguration speech can also be paralleled with problems today such as the issue of criminal liability for self-driving vehicles. In the case of offences caused by self-driving vehicles, the issue of illegality depends on the degree of automation. For vehicles with higher automation, it is already questionable who is responsible for the accident at all (the manufacturer, the programmer, the owner/operator, the user, or the car as a digital person), and the issue of injustice may vary depending on this. According to Finkey, it is not necessary to define the concept of injustice in the Criminal Code. At the same time, it states that lawful action is not punishable, and this should be the guiding principle in determining criminal liability for self-driving vehicles.

Solution of an open reality based word-problem in two secondary schools

This survey through an open reality based word problem is intended to assess - in two secondary schools in Komárom (Hungary) and in Komarno (Slovakia, Hungarian name: Révkomárom) in grade 10 - the ability of students to realize openness of a task. The comparison is justified by the fact that the language of teaching is Hungarian in both secondary schools, but with different curricula. This survey is related to the Content Pedagogy Research Program by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. It is preceded by several surveys with a word problem (Pocket Money) of the third author and led by her between 2012 and 2015, and within that project in 2017 within a large sample test, among about 1500 students and university students in Hungary (?, ?) (?, ?). In our research we wanted first to assess how openly work students in two schools of the two cities mentioned in solving the same task. The answer to this question was similar to the large sample test results, so most of the students worked in a closed way, when solving this word problem. So we went on and tried to explore how students thought about their own solution given to this task, through mixed-type interviews.
 Subject Classification: 97D70, 97F90, 97D50, 97M10

International Law Enforcement Observer I.

The professional and scientific journal of the Ministry of the Interior fulfills its dual mission by exploiting the opportunities provided by the press: prompt, accurate and credible information on the practice of home affairs administration; and the creation of an intellectual forum offering a media platform for law enforcement in addition to political science and law. Scientificity knows no borders, and research results require international competition. Our founding predecessors knew this well. Let us recall the work of the late Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Lajos Nyerges, who has been taking care of the former Külföldi Figyelő (Foreign Observer) published as an appendix to Belügyi Szemle since the seventies, with rich content, the transmission of rule of law samples and the presentation of cutting-edge forensics. The international heading that is now emerging not only sees the preservation of old values as its vocation, but also pays attention to the challenges of our time. It opens resources for researchers of law enforcement theory, adopted by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2003, by presenting the most valuable publications of foreign press, especially the journals that have gained a reputation in the cultivation of social sciences. It also contributes to the teaching and theoretical work of the Law Enforcement Faculty of the University of Public Services, it supports the main goal of the Doctoral School of Law Enforcement, the preparation of future practitioners of Law Enforcement, and last but not least, it provides a worldwide outlook for all readers of the paper. The International Law Enforcement Observer genre requires to faithfully reflect the original content of the presented studies. There is no doubt that, on a correct interpretation, a review may contain personal impressions and critical remarks, but in the present case the emphasis is on the undistorted publication of ideas expressed in the foreign language literature. If as we hope, the implementation of the original program of the Observer succeeds, then its main mission will be to regularly inform readers about current topics in the international literature. It is reasonable to encourage the future authors of the new heading to prepare their writings with this thought-provoking, textual approach. If everyone who would undertake a presentation would endow their writing with individual tastes, exactly the point, the information would be lost. It is an advantage for those interested in scientific life to have the necessary critical skills, which the Observer can only strengthen, although it is not a discussion forum. At the same time, the colorful theme of the writings appearing here is broadening the horizons of proficiency by increasing the assessment skills of early-stage researchers, making them suitable to appear successfully in international forums at a later stage. We hope that the new heading will also attract the attention of law enforcement leader and executive professionals, who can gain experience on how it is possible to use the results of science in practice and how to find a partner in researchers to support practice. The introductory issue of the International Law Enforcement Observer publishes the work of the students of the Doctoral School of Law Enforcement. Reviews can be grouped around three topics: a modern approach to law enforcement and security; efficiency and legitimacy as the basis for law enforcement legitimacy; the tasks of the police during a pandemic.