The role of the Partnership for Peace Program and the State Partnership Program in the process of NATO enlargement : the case of the Hungarian-Ohio cooperation

The end of the Cold War created new challenges and opportunities for European Security. The power vacuum that was left by the disappearance of the Warsaw Pact needed to be addressed quickly and pragmatically to ensure the democratization of the former Eastern Block nations. Also, recent developments in World Security such as increased Terrorism and Military Operations Other Than War have forced NATO and other Transatlantic Security Institutions to adapt to a new way of thinking, operating and cooperating. This thesis identifies some of the most recent political and security procedures of NATO, other various Transatlantic Security Institutions and the National Guard State Partnership Program to aide these nascent democracies. This thesis focuses on Hungary.s successful experience of obtaining NATO membership via the Partnership for Peace Programme and State Partnership Program as a case-study.http://archive.org/details/theroleofpartner109451034Approved for public release; distribution unlimitedMajor, Ohio Air National GuardMajor, Hungarian Arm

The role of N- or C-terminal biotinylation in autoantibody recognition of citrullin containing filaggrin epitope peptides in Rheumatoid arthritis

Here, we report on the synthesis, conformational analysis and autoantibody binding properties of new sets of Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) specific biotin-peptide conjugates derived from filaggrin epitope peptides. The biotin with or without a linker was attached to the Cit or Arg containing epitope core (311TXGRS315) or epitope region (306SHQESTXGXSXGRSGRSGS324) peptide (where X = Cit), through an amide bond at the N- or C-terminal of the epitopes. Antibody binding was detected by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using sera from RA, Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients as well as healthy individuals and the secondary structure of conjugates was investigated by electronic circular dichroism (ECD). We found that autoantibodies from RA patients recognize specifically both filaggrin epitope region (306SHQESTXGXSXGRSGRSGS324) and short epitope core (311TXGRS315) peptides. Our data also indicate that the positioning of the biotin label within a peptide sequence can markedly influence the antibody binding, but the length of the linker incorporated has essentially no effect on the recognition. ECD experiments demonstrate that the Arg/Cit change does not influence the solution conformation of the peptide conjugates. However, the presence and position of the biotin moiety has a pronounced effect on the conformation of the 5-mer epitope core peptides, while it doesn’t alter the secondary structure of the 19-mer epitope region peptides

PROCESS-BASED MODELLING METHOD FOR COOPERATION OF GROUPS OF MICRO COMPANIES

The European Union is heading for an extension in the coming year. These countries can fulfil the requirements predefined by the EU, only via an entirely modernisation. Modernisation must be rapid. For this reason the whole set of informational instruments should be put in. The modernisation should come off in a co-ordinated manner, which cannot miss the methods of information technology. The content of the market in these countries - especially in Hungary - is special. According to statistics (Source: Világgazdaság), 96.81% of companies in Hungary are so called micro-companies (companies having lower yearly turnover, than 800 million Ft.). As corporate informational systems in the World were created for application at mammoth companies, their custom implementation is only possible if such quantity and quality demands are put up for them. If we want to apply them to support smaller companies, then their co-operation needs to be stepped up on a higher level through organising. This organising job means on the one hand the organisation of the participant companies into a network (into a virtual company), on the other hand the adjustment of these companies - as system-units - operating to the requirements defined by the specific network operation. This system-organising job can be carried out with considering, that the network will have a unit, a CSP (Commerce Service Provider), that on the one hand performs the requirements of e-commerce - as from content as from outlook - and acts on Internet, but at the other hand handles the network in an extranet system at the same time and organises its work fulfilling continuously the requirements of e-commerce

Can Boko Haram Constitute a Threat to European Security?

In this study, the authors seek to address the question whether Boko Haram can constitute a threat to European security. Toanswer this question, one mustanalyse recent Nigerian migration patterns to Italy, actual reports, peer-reviewed academic works, a wide variety of regional journals and media articles. By evaluating all available research sources, it can be concluded that the answer is not as clear-cut as one might thinkat first glance. On the one hand, we could argue that a terrorist group like Boko Haram cannot constitute a serious European security threat, since the majority of Nigerians arriving in Europe seems to have decided to flee their country of origin due to economic, social and security reasons, therefore, these migrants have nothing to do with terrorism. On the other hand, we could also argue that Boko Haram can pose a threat to European security, by taking advantage of migration flows and inserting its own soldiers, thus creating terrorist cells within them. We have found plenty of evidences related to the terrorist organisation’s increased use of women as soft targets and the potential re-radicalisation of traumatised children in Europe. Since its alignment with ISIL in 2015, there has been growing concern that Boko Haram could follow suit with focusing its efforts on refugees, infiltrating migration flows and thereby creating a significant security risk to Europe. However, in recent years the number of Nigerian migrants arriving in Europe has been decreasing, which could be justified by tighter links between African and European governments and by stronger European control. If this continuous cooperation and tight internal European border security andpolice procedures are to remain, there is less chance for Boko Haram to constitute a threat to European security

Sliced inverse median difference regression

In this paper we propose a suffcient dimension reduction algorithm based on the difference of inverse medians. The classic methodology based on inverse means in each slice was recently extended, by using inverse medians, to robustify existing methodology at the presence of outliers. Our effort is focused on using differences between inverse medians in pairs of slices. We demonstrate that our method outperforms existing methods at the presence of outliers. We also propose a second algorithm which is not affected by the ordering of slices when the response variable is categorical with no underlying ordering of its value

Security and Military Relevancies of Digitisation, Globalisation and Cyberspace

The goal of this study is to explore security threats and challenges of digitisation. Digitisation as one of the key technological factors has a significant impact on the development of today’s modern world. Beyond general security circumstances, this impact touches upon economic, financial, social, technological, medical, educational, defence and military issues, as well all over the world.The argument of this study is that the modernisation of defence systems is an essential key to successfully responding to new security challenges in our digital explosion era. Therefore, it is a must that government organisations, including defence and military systems fundamentally upgrade their own technical, structural and operational capabilities and accept digitisation as the driving factor of future defence and military development.In light of the above, the study first examines digitisation as a global security challenge and then presents a comparative analysis of the relationship between hybrid warfare and cybersecurity. Finally, before drawing conclusions, it takes stock of the military policy relevance of the cybersecurity challenges relevant to Hungary.Overall, it can be stated that digitisation and digital transformation are present all over the world as a result of globalisation. Developed nations, including Hungary must be connected to digitisation and by digitisation to each other’s various systems and technologies. This system has to be integrated, but independent at the same time, as well as connected but separable in order to be able to be involved in the whole cyberspace and get the benefits of it or get separated from it to defend threats or direct attacks coming from the outside. The Hungarian Defence Forces has a key role in this very important process

The paradox of the binomial Ixodes ricinus activity and the observed unimodal Lyme borreliosis season in Hungary

The change of ambient temperature plays a key role in determining the run of the annual Lyme season. Our aim was to explain the apparent contradiction between the annual unimodal Lyme borreliosis incidence and the bimodal Ixodes ricinus tick activity run – both observed in Hungary – by distinguishing the temperaturedependent seasonal human and tick activity, the temperature-independent factors, and the multiplicative effect of human outdoor activity in summer holiday, using data from Hungary in the period of 1998–2012. This separation was verified by modeling the Lyme incidence based on the separated factors, and comparing the run of the observed and modeled incidence. We demonstrated the bimodality of tick season by using the originally unimodal Lyme incidence data. To model the outdoor human activity, the amount of camping guest nights was used, which showed an irregular run from mid-June to September. The human outdoor activity showed a similar exponential correlation with ambient temperature to that what the relative incidence did. It was proved that summer holiday has great influence on Lyme incidence

Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging using a preclinical 1 T PET/MRI in healthy and tumor-bearing rats

Background: Hybrid positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) scanners are increasingly used for both clinical and preclinical imaging. Especially functional MRI sequences such as diffusionweighted imaging (DWI) are of great interest as they provide information on a molecular level, thus, can be used as surrogate biomarkers. Due to technical restrictions, MR sequences need to be adapted for each system to perform reliable imaging. There is, to our knowledge, no suitable DWI protocol for 1 Tesla PET/MRI scanners. We aimed to establish such DWI protocol with focus on the choice of b values, suitable for longitudinal monitoring of tumor characteristics in a rat liver tumor model. Material and methods: DWI was first performed in 18 healthy rat livers using the scanner-dependent maximum of 4 b values (0, 100, 200, 300 s/mm2). Apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) were calculated from different b value combinations and compared to the reference measurement with four b values. T2-weighted MRI and optimized DWI with best agreement between accuracy, scanning time, and system performance stability were used to monitor orthotopic hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) in five rats of which three underwent additional 2-deoxy-2-(18F)fluoro-D-glucose(FDG)-PET imaging. ADCs were calculated for the tumor and the surrounding liver parenchyma and verified by histopathological analysis. Results: Compared to the reference measurements, the combination b = 0, 200, 300 s/mm2 showed the highest correlation coefficient (rs = 0.92) and agreement while reducing the acquisition time. However, measurements with less than four b values yielded significantly higher ADCs (p < 0.001). When monitoring the HCC, an expected drop of the ADC was observed over time. These findings were paralleled by FDG-PET showing both an increase in tumor size and uptake heterogeneity. Interestingly, surrounding liver parenchyma also showed a change in ADC values revealing varying levels of inflammation by immunohistochemistry. Conclusion: We established a respiratory-gated DWI protocol for a preclinical 1 T PET/MRI scanner allowing to monitor growth-related changes in ADC values of orthotopic HCC liver tumors. By monitoring the changes in tumor ADCs over time, different cellular stages were described. However, each study needs to adapt the protocol further according to their question to generate best possible results