My Fulbright Experience II.

MY FULBRIGHT EXPERIENCE

The Mutual Educational Exchange Program or the Fulbright Program, named in honor of Senator J. William Fulbright, was established by the U.S. Congress on August 1, 1946. It is now administered under the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, as amended by Public Law 87256. This Act provides the legislative authority for the Program. The main objective of this Act is “to enable the government of the United States to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries ... and thus to assist in the development of friendly, sympathetic, and peaceful relations, between the United States and other countries of the world.”

The program operates in more than 140 countries. Binational commissions were established by executive agreements in 51 countries. The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (BFS) in Washington, DC, comprises 12 educational and public leaders appointed by the President of the United States. It has statutory responsibility for the selection of all academic exchange grantees, the establishment of policies and procedures, and the supervision of the Fulbright Program worldwide. Motivated by the need to change the U.S.’s traditional isolationist policy, the Fulbright Program developed into an indispensable resource for scholars and institutions all over the world. Today, international expertise is even more vital than ever as the realities of the postCold war era become far more complex and the emerging international system increases political and economic linkages throughout the world.

Since its inception, the Fulbright Program has welcomed more than 270,000 researchers, lecturers and students from the United States and the rest of the world.

Many have assumed leadership roles, including Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, heads of state and prime ministers, artists and ambassadors, governors and senators, professors and physicians, supreme court justices and CEOs. These Fulbrighters, past and present, have enabled the Fulbright Program to become the world’s largest and most prestigious scholarly exchange program.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright Program offers opportunities for recent graduates, postgraduate candidates, and developing professionals and artists to conduct career-launching study and research abroad as well as for researchers and lecturers in any fields of arts and sciences. Since the establishment of the Program, about 90,000 grantees from the United States and 180,000 grantees from other countries have benefited from the Fulbright experience.

The Program awards approximately 4,800 grants for U.S. and 4,800 for non-U.S. applicants annually and currently operates in over 150 countries worldwide.

The Fulbright Commission in Hungary was established in January 1992, after a binational agreement was signed between the governments of Hungary and the United States in December, 1990 and unterminatedly extended in March, 2007. The Hungarian government has acknowledged the importance of the Fulbright Program and also helps financially. The Ministry of Education and Culture provides the office space for the Commission and significantly contributes toward the program costs.

MY FULBRIGHT EXPERIENCE

Academic Years

2005/2006, 2006/2007 Hungarian - American Commission for Educational Exchange Budapest 2008

ISBN 963 216 798 8 Edited by: Csanád Nagypál Proofread by: Dr. Scott Campbell Designed by: Miklós Szalay Printed by: Korrekt Nyomda Published by: Dr. Huba Brückner Executive Director Hungarian - American Commission for Educational Exchange 1082 Budapest, Baross utca 62. HUNGARY Tel.: (36-1) 462-8040, Fax: (36-1) 252-0266 E-mail: info@fulbright.hu Website address: www.fulbright.hu Budapest, 2008

4

Foreword In accordance with the fundamental goal of the Fulbright Program - mutual understanding - the Executive Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Hungary has established the authority of the Commission to conduct a program of educational and cultural exchange between the two countries using funds made available by both governments. Given the overall mission of the global Fulbright Program, the Commission offers qualified Hungarian and American citizens the opportunity to exchange significant knowledge and educational experience in the sciences and arts, especially in fields relevant to the two countries. Participants thereby contribute to a deeper understanding of U.S.-Hungarian relations and broaden the means by which the two societies can further their understanding of each other’s cultures.

The Hungarian‑American Fulbright Commission supports educational and research programs which are in harmony with the spirit of the signing partner states and which receive financial support from the two governments. Besides government funding the Commission seeks donations from the business community, from foundations and from other benefactors as well.

In keeping with the spirit of the Fulbright Program, special preference is given to candidates who appear best able to share their newly acquired experience and knowledge upon their return. Preference is also given to qualified applicants who have not had extensive overseas experience prior.

5

The Fulbright Program offers the following grant possibilities for Hungarian candidates: • graduate student grants, • lecturer grants, • research grants, • co-sponsored and supplementary grants, • travel only grants, • teacher exchange opportunities, • other special grants.

The usual duration of the graduate student grants is one or two academic semesters. Grants to lecturers are for one or two semesters, to researchers for three to nine months.

Faithful to the spirit of the Fulbright Program, grants are given to candidates who are devoted to sharing their experiences and knowledge in the most effective way after returning to Hungary either in academic or in business life.

In order to secure fair screening of applications, the Commission has appointed its own Selection Committee and established its own selection procedures, which include three stages of evaluating the candidates: 1. eligibility screening conducted by the staff of the Commission;

In this book the reader will find reports by Hungarian Fulbright grantees - lecturers, researchers, students, exchange teachers. As the director of the program I’m very proud of our grantees’ achievements, and I strongly believe that their grant period can be (and has been) a life changing experience. Above the professional activities our grantees have done a great job as Hungary’s representatives in the United States, fulfilled their mission to promote mutual understanding. In most of the cases the grant period is only the beginning of a much longer and wider cooperation between the Hungarian grantee and his/her institution and the partners (persons and institutions) in the U.S. It is my pleasure to share the experience of the Hungarian Fulbright grantees with the reader(s) of these reports. The Fulbright Program is as timely, its mission is as important in our days as it was in 1946, the year of its conception.

This year we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the initiation of this global exchange program in Hungary. I wish many-many more happy anniversaries for the Fulbright program and its alumni.

November 28, 2008 Dr. Huba Brückner executive director

2. evaluation of project proposals by Hungarian and American experts; 3. interviewing of selected candidates by the Executive Director, an American Embassy representative and Board Members.

Each year the Fulbright Commission organizes a meeting for the newly returned Hungarian grantees and invites them to give a summary of their grant period. These short presentations demonstrate the manifold value set of the program and the achievements of our grantees.

Those who work hard on supporting the program and are involved in the selection of the Hungarian participants can get a first hand feedback on the success of the grant period from the participants by their short presentations.

6

7

T able O f C ontents 2 00 5/2 00 6

2006/2007

Máté Csanád

Ágnes Adroviczné Tüske

High Energy Nuclear Physics at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

161

25

Gábor Gyulai Ancient Citrullus

167

Csaba Békés Teaching Cold

43

Ágnes Juhász Teaching at

175

Gyo”zo” Jordán Geochemical

53

György Kovács Research at

69

Veronika Kusz Florida’s Youthful

79

Tibor Laczkó A Lexical-Functional

13

89 99 123

143

DNA-unlocking Domestication Events

North Valley High School Harvard Law School

Tallahassee

Oldster”: Erno´´ Dohnányi in

Approach to Inflectional and Word Order Phenomena in Hungarian and English

Lídia Márton

In Defense of the Public Interest

189

201

219 225

Edit Nádasi

Tyrosine Phosphorylation Pathways and Oncogenesis Károly Németh

Mio/Pliocene Phreatomagmatic Volcanism in Idaho in Association with a Changing Fluvio-lacustrine Environment and its Comparison with Young Basaltic Volcanic Fields in the Pannonian Basin Zita Zoltayné Paprika Decision Making

Skills in Upgrading Business Performance

237 241 247

Together We Made a Difference War History at New York University

Modeling for the Contamination Risk Assessment of Mineral Deposits and Mines

László Z. Karvalics

1961 – The Birth of the Information Society in the United States Beatrix Kotlan

Novel Findings to Establish a new Generation of Breast Cancer Diagnostic and Therapeutic Immunoconjugates Zsolt Kovács

My Fulbright Experience – the American dream Gabriella Moise Abysmal Reflections

Lighthouse

in Virginia Woolf’s To the

Szabolcs Pogonyi

Charles Taylor. Philosophy and Politics, 2007 Tünde Sóspataki

Hungarians Everywhere Katalin T. Bíró

Fulbright R/L Scholarship at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Department of Anthropology

Fulbright Grantees

2005-2006

11

High Energy Nuclear Physics at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider Máté Csanád

Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest 1117, Pázmány Péter s. 1/A http://www.elte.hu csanad@elte.hu

Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, 11973 NY http://www.bnl.gov Adviser: Prof. Sebastian White and State University of NY at Stony Brook Stony Brook, 11794 NY http://www.stonybrook.edu Adviser: Prof. Roy Lacey

I was a visiting researcher with a Fulbright Scholarship at the Brookhaven National Laboratory and the State University of New York at Stony Brook from October 2006 until June 2007 under the supervision of Professor Sebastian White and Professor Roy Lacey. I was working on the experimental data of the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.

Besides my professional results, I gained many many unforgettable experiences and memories that will last decades. The present report is a summary of the experiences and professional results I acquired during my Fulbright scholarship.

1. Introduction

The motto of the Fulbright Program is: I have thought of everything I can think of, and the one thing that gives me some hope is the ethos that underlies the educational exchange program. That ethos, in sum, is the belief that international relations can be improved, and the danger of war significantly reduced,

12

13

AY 2005-2006

High Energy Nuclear Physics at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

by producing generations of leaders, who through the experience of educational exchange, will have acquired some feeling and understanding of other peoples’ cultures why they operate as they do, why they think as they do, why they react as they do and of the differences among these cultures. It is possible not very probable, but possible that people can find in themselves, through intercultural education, the ways and means of living together in peace.

J. William Fulbright: The Price of Empire

Following this motto, one finds that even though a Fulbright Scholarship can be professionally very successful and inspiring, its cultural part is at least that important. Thus I tried to get to know my environment and surroundings in the USA, and I tried to get to know as many people outside work, as possible, and learn about different habits and customs.

My host institutions were on Long Island in New York, 60 miles east from Manhattan (see Figure 1). You will read about my professional experiences in the second part of this report, but in the first part I will write about the personal and cultural details of my scholarship.

2. Cultural part 2.1. Insurance

In the US (as well as in many other countries in the world) health care is not free, unless one has accident and sickness insurance. This is a very important issue, as the simplest medical intervention, let alone hospital treatment, costs a fortune.

Luckily, the Fulbright Scholarship includes a basic accident and sickness insurance plan. Many universities, however, require a higher level of insurance with a smaller deductible and/or larger coverage. In

my case, Stony Brook required it, so I needed to take this other policy, as well.

Again, luckily, the Fulbright Commission decided to pay this for me (many thanks to Huba Brückner and Csanád Nagypál).

SSN, so I went there and finally managed to get an SSN. The good thing is that during this process, I went around a lot on Long Island and learned much about the US social security system…

Whichever insurance plan one takes in the end, it is very important to check what it covers and how one can access it, since it is very uncomfortable to learn in the casualty department of a hospital that our insurance does not cover snowboard accidents that happened outside of the groomed area, and we have to pay $5,000 out of pocket.

2.2. Travel

The Social Security Card or Social Security Number (SSN) is an issue that belongs here, as well. As a Fulbrighter it was mandatory to have one, as the IIE (Institute of International Education) requested it. According to the Social Security Administration (SSA) Offices, however, one can get such a card only if one is working. Thus IIE gave a letter to me that was written to a Social Security Administration Officer saying that they should still give me an SSN. It turned out, however, that in the Long Island SSA office a policy was introduced of not giving an SSN to J-1 visa holders unless they are actually working. So, I went to another SSA office, but there I was told I have to go to the office that is nearest to my place of residency (that would be the office on Long Island where they did not give me the SSA despite the letter from IIE). Finally, I was told by the local IIE office, that there is a small SSA office in Manhattan where they usually give out the

When buying an airplane ticket it is very important to be careful, as the price of the ticket varies by at least a factor of two when choosing different dates for travel and/or different departure, arrival and stopover airports. After arrival and a short settling in, the first thing one notices is jetlag. One just has to get over it, everyone goes through it. For a couple of days, one is tired all the time and understands things more slowly, but after a short time, it is just gone.

If one is already in the US, domestic air travel is relatively (per mile) cheaper, than in Europe. This, one has to keep in mind and make the best of it during the Christmas season or spring break: if living in New York, for example, a holiday in California with 4-5 nights, housing and car rental might be as cheap as $400-$500, if one searches the best offer, and Florida is even cheaper, and Hawaii also not much more. If one has the time for it, it is an unrefusable possibility, since starting from home one gets to such places only for way more money.

There are long distance bus companies and a useable railroad network as well, but both of them are quite pricey. It is worth orienting oneself with local public transport possibilities, although

Figure 1. The location of my host institutions on Long Island, east of Manhattan

14

15

AY 2005-2006 it is unlikely they will provide a good alternative to buying a car (except if one finds good housing near the school or institute one is hosted at – but more about that in the next subsection).

For me the best decision turned out to be buying a car, because on Long Island there was hardly any public transportation, and I had to travel around 20 miles to and between my hosting institutions. I also tried using a bike, but that distance was too much for the everyday travel even in nice autumn weather.

About buying a car, I wrote an article for the popular Hungarian consumer blog called “Tékozló Homár”1. For the Hungarian reader it might be worth the 10 minutes reading it…

High Energy Nuclear Physics at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider In New York state buying a car is administered by the fairly (in)famous DMV2. If I would have acquired enough information about this, I would have had a much easier time with this process, but I heard from everyone that in the US, buying a car is easier (from the administrative point of view) than one could imagine. Well, in NY, for me it was not that easy… Finding a nice but cheap (see figure 2) car was easy considering the price of pre-owned vehicles, but the rest… First, I could not get a New York State issued Driver’s License, as I don’t have my current visa status for at least one year. Second, because of this, I could not get an insurance policy under my name for a reasonable price. Third, I could not transfer the ownership of the car officially due to not having a New York State issued Driver’s License – but this turned out to be just a mistake; when I tried it the

1 http://homar.blog.hu/2005/11/07/vilagpremier_a_8211_a_ naiv_ugyfel_amerik

2 http://www.metrolyrics.com/dmv-lyrics-primus.html

Figure 2: Me and my nice and cheap car, the ’91 red Honda Civic

16

second time there was no problem with it.

All together, the whole process lasted for two months, out of which I could not use the car for a full month – and that meant I could hardly go anywhere without asking someone to take me. But because of that, I got more work done and read more books than at any other time, and finally everything got fixed. Well, end is well, all is well.

2.3. Housing

If one lives on the university campus, there will be no problems with everyday travel at all, but for meeting newly acquired friends, visiting different places and events or making a larger shopping trip, one still needs to know local travel possibilities; and that’s not even mentioning the possibility of not finding housing directly on campus.

Finally, my future professor at Stony Brook helped me to find a room in the house of this nice, middle-aged lady of Jamaican origin, Margaret Morant. Even though she is most probably not reading

this, I owe a big thank you to her for all the help, kindness, and trust she showed me. Her youngest child was just moving out of the family home, thus only the two of us were living in the house from then on. It was very nice and easy to live there, and I had the opportunity to gain insight into everyday American life, even though it was through the life of a family of Jamaican origin. I got to know all the family, I attended a Thanksgiving-dinner, a Halloween-party, birthdays, and a Lutheran christening, and I learned about the everyday life of Jamaican-American people.

My conclusion from all of the above is that it is worth the search trying to rent a room or apartment in a family home or a flat share (which is similar to “WG” in German) – of course only if one is flexible and adaptable enough. One can even save money with it, as this kind of housing is mostly cheaper than on-campus dorms or renting a full flat or apartment.

Figure 3: Left: Margaret’s house; Right: Azariah’s christening

17

AY 2005-2006 It makes sense to choose a family home in the suburbs also if one studies in a big city; it might not be that expensive or complicated to commute from there, and it would be worth the price difference; not even mentioning the possible cultural surplus.

2.4. Shopping, finances

As a Fulbrighter, one receives the scholarship amount from home usually in three portions. The first amount is given out in check or cash; my experience shows that it is a good idea to ask for it in cash, as one might need it quite fast in order to buy a car or pay the deposit/security for the housing.

One eventually needs to open a bank account (the further portions of the scholarship will also arrive here); it is best to do this right at the beginning. In some states there are Credit Unions, for example in New York there is the Teacher’s Federal Credit Union, which is like a nonprofit bank (even though this sounds like an oxymoron), where almost everything is free (no account or debit card fee, as well as no ATM withdrawal fee). One does not even need a Social Security Number to open an account at such a Credit Union.

Thus, I chose this solution, but every other bank would have done it in basically the same way.

It is worthwhile to try to make a smart living out of the scholarship money. The best way to spare a little money is to find reasonable housing, or even to change housing when finding a cheaper but

18

High Energy Nuclear Physics at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider also acceptable place to live. Otherwise, the costs of basic living are quite low, especially if one knows the not-thefanciest shopping places (for which one really needs a car – or the regular shopping shuttle of the university). The usually abundant selection in most of the supermarkets fulfills every need, but if one is enthusiastic about organic food, then one needs to be careful (and ready to pay more).

the product and returns it, whether it is a shoe that one has worn and is too small, or an mp3 player that does not work like one would have wanted it to work, or even a shirt which one would like to have in a different color. And it is not just that one can buy something else for the same price, but most of the time they actually give the cash back without any further investigation.

Clothing and apparel are mostly way cheaper than in Hungary (comparing the same brand products), thus it is worthwhile visiting the big clothing stores. But girls and women, be aware, sometimes things are really amazingly cheap and one cannot (or maybe can?) buy five suitcases of clothing. The prices in an average brand’s store are half the ones in Hungary, thus one should come rather with fewer clothes and buy some here rather than buying everything needed at home in advance.

This holds for electronics, as well (iPod was The thing to buy during my stay), but one has to keep in mind the difference in the electric system (110/220 V, 50/60 Hz).

It is also important to check whether or not the guarantee is valid at home.

It is more or less important for everyone to keep in touch with friends and family at home. For me, it was a basic issue. What I found was that calling home is the cheapest over the Internet, even if one wants to call a regular phone at home. Several companies3 offer cheap or even cost-free calling and text messaging possibilities to landlines and mobile phones in most European countries. If both parties have internet, however, then calling is free, and one can even arrange video-calls4, and this really makes the distance to home way smaller. Some people use calling cards, and this is useful if there is no Internetconnected computer anywhere near, but if someone works with a broadband connection all the time, the above software provides the best alternative.

It is also important to mention that one can pay with a debit- or credit-card (even with a Hungarian one) almost everywhere, especially with an embossed one. One usually cannot rent a car or buy gas at night with cash, so having an ATM card is really very important. It is good to know, as well, that most of the time stores give the money back if one is not satisfied with

2.5. Communication

One also might want to consider having a mobile phone; in case of an emergency, it might be helpful. In the US, the network 3 For example VoipStunt (www.voipstunt.com), NeoPhone (www. neophone.hu) or Skype (www.skype.com) 4 For example the Windows Live Messenger (get.live.com/ messenger/)

(1900 MHz) is different from the one in Europe (900 and 1800 MHz) , thus only at least tri-band phones work there. Prepaid phones are not too expensive (starting from $50-$100), and the per minute charges are also acceptable (around 10-20 cents). One, however, has to be prepared for the fact that not only the caller pays, but the called party pays, as well (charges are airtime based), and sometimes one has to pay even for text messages (SMS)…

Using a Hungarian phone here is, of course, more expensive, but if it works in the US, then it is perfect for emergency purposes, and receiving text messages from home is free.

2.6. Cultural shock

Even if one is prepared for everything and knows all the tricks that make life easier in the US, there is a point when one just has to face the so-called cultural shock. At first, everything is interesting and people are all nice and one just wonders about all the funny things they are experiencing.

But then, at some point, one starts to get annoyed with the little irritating differences, that even door handles and windows are different, that they don’t understand our perfect “British Council” English, and that one just cannot get that kind of butter one is used to getting at home.

There are the bigger differences, as well, for example the relationship culture of American people. They are more open to new friendships, but sometimes also more shallow in relationships. Sometimes invitations to go to visit someone in his

19

AY 2005-2006

High Energy Nuclear Physics at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

house (“Come by sometime”) are not meant literally – the inviter would be quite surprised if one would just show up there.

What is also interesting is that sometimes, American people share private details of their relationships or family life, but don’t understand how you could ever imagine to ask how much he or she had to pay for his or her laptop or car. These things can be explained by the fact that mobility is very high in the United States, people do not often choose a university in their homestate, and even more seldom choose one in their home-city.

3. Professional part

But all these differences can be handled, and one makes the best out of it if one tries to understand and learn.

3.1. Little bangs and the Big Bang

As I wrote in the first section, my host institutions were the Brookhaven National Laboratory’s (BNL) Physics Department and the Nuclear Chemistry Department of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. At BNL I was working on the PHENIX Experiment and Collaboration with Professor Sebastian White. At Stony Brook, my leader was Professor Roy Lacey. In the next subsection I would like to shortly describe our field of investigation.

Our world is made out of atoms which are made out of electrons and nucleons (a nucleon is a proton or a neutron), as shown in Fig. 4. In high energy heavy ion (called also heavy nucleus, a heavy ion is a ‘naked’ atom of many protons and neutrons, i.e. without its electrons) colliders these nuclei are accelerated up to a speed near

to the speed of light, and then collided. In these very high energy reactions (called also little bangs) circumstances are similar to the ones present at the very beginning of the history of our Universe.

Theoretical and experimental researchers discovered many years ago that protons and neutrons are not the fundamental building blocks of our World. Later on it became clear that they are made out of quarks and gluons, but these we do not see ‘alone’, i.e. not confined or ‘frozen’ into a bigger particle. It was proposed that at the birth of the Universe, quarks and gluons would have existed in a deconfined state, referred to as Quark Gluon Plasma, and governed by the so-called Strong Interaction. Since then, huge effort was put into finding experimental evidence for the possible existence of such matter and to better understand the interaction that is keeping our ions together against the repelling force of electromagnetic interaction of the positively charged protons.

We would see a similar situation if there were researchers living in a frozen world, who proposed the possible existence of a liquid form of ice, and if mankind were not able to produce such heat that would melt

ice. People would then build accelerators where chunks of ice would be accelerated and collided. Researchers would then detect and analyze the outcoming icefragments and they would try to find out whether (even if for a very short time) this possible melted form of ice (water) was produced and then refrozen to the detected pieces.

The quest for the above mentioned Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) in high energy nuclear and heavy ion physics involves long-lasting and difficult research of a fundamental nature. Experimental searches for the QGP began more than 20 years ago at the Berkeley Bevalac, by studying collisions of heavy nuclei and analyzing the fragments created. In the ensuing years, a significant effort has been made to increase the center of mass energy per pair of colliding nucleons. At Bevalac of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 GeV was reached (1 eV is the amount of energy one electron reaches if accelerated by 1 V of electric potential; 1 GeV is 109 eV). This was raised to 5 GeV at BNL’s Alternate Gradient Synchrotron, and to 17 GeV at the SPS at CERN. These efforts culminated in the construction of a dedicated heavy ion

Figure 4: The building blocks of our World: materials are made out of molecules; molecules out of

Figure 5: Before (left) and after (right) the collision. The ions (which are flat due to their speed be-

atoms; atoms out of electrons, protons and neutrons; protons and neutrons out of quarks and gluons.

cause of the so-called Lorentz-contraction) are collided, and in their collision zone, probably a new

20

form of matter is created.

21

AY 2005-2006 accelerator, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, with center of mass energies per pair of colliding nucleons of 200 GeV. The reactions at RHIC are measured with the help of two “large” detectors, called PHENIX and STAR, and two “small” detectors, BRAHMS and PHOBOS. A vigorous experimental program with a primary focus on the creation and study of the QGP has already produced three milestone results. First is the discovery of a new form of matter that quenches even high momentum particles travelling through it5, the identification of the phase of this matter as a very high temperature (more than 2·1012 K, million times hotter than the core of the Sun) perfect (viscosity-less) liquid6. Recently, it was determined7 that quarks are the relevant degrees of freedom in this perfect liquid that is created.

After this short introduction to my field of study I would like to discuss my experiences and results.

High Energy Nuclear Physics at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider it. This is one of the things that is priceless when having the time to learn. With Professor Roy Lacey I was working on flow measurements and their theoretical analysis. I did not stop working with my supervisor at home, Professor Tamás Csörg. We continued our common research projects while I was here. To manage all these projects was not easy, but in the end I found time for everything, for even more than I thought.

Absolutely unexpectedly, I had to learn many things in web-development and informatics (e.g. programming in html, xml and php, using psql databases).

These just turned out to be necessary in order to participate in the work of our collaboration, as well as to inform our group at home about the results here, and it was helpful also for widening my communication with family and friends at home. My homepage http://csanad.web. elte.hu and our group homepage http:// phenix.elte.hu grew out of these studies.

Besides deepening my knowledge in almost all subjects of our field, I learned things I would have never imagined I would learn. For example, one of my important projects turned out to be the investigation of so-called J/Psi particles at PHENIX with Professor Sebastian White. I did not know anything before about such an analysis, but I had to master

I also managed to give lectures at several conferences, for example at the RHIC and AGS Users’ Meeting8 and at the Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics9. It is important to mention here that this was possible because it is quite cheap to travel within the United States, as described in subsection 2.2. I was also invited to give a lecture at the Ordinary Meeting of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences10, for which I still feel much honored. Here I

5 http://arxiv.org/abs/nucl-ex/0306024 and http://arxiv.org/abs/

8 http://www.bnl.gov/rhic_ags/users_meeting/Past_

nucl-ex/0306021

Meetings/2006/

6 http://arxiv.org/abs/nucl-ex/0410003 and http://arxiv.org/abs/

9 http://rhic.physics.wayne.edu/~bellwied/sandiego06/

nucl-ex/0501009

10 http://www.mta.hu/index.php?id=esemenyek&tx_calendar_

7 http://arxiv.org/abs/nucl-ex/0703024

pi1[view]=6&tx_calendar_pi1[showUid]=3351

3.2. Experiences

22

was asked to talk about our group’s work at the PHENIX experiment, as well as about the latest discoveries at RHIC. Finally, in August, i.e. when I was already at home, I was invited to the International School of Subnuclear Physics at Erice11, organized

by A. Zichichi and Nobel Laureate G. ‘t Hooft. In this school highly ranked scientists give lectures in the morning, and then short talks are presented by young “new talents”, as they call it. Here I presented my work done during my Fulbright scholarship. I won the Paul A. M. Dirac diploma and was asked to publish my results in the conference proceedings.

Among the 60 invited young scientists, 20 received diplomas, while 8 were asked to contribute to the proceedings, thus this also showed the professional success of my time as a Fulbright scholar.

3.3. Tasks, results Work done for PHENIX-Hungary • Working on data acquisition at PHENIX, as a Data Monitoring person and as Shift Leader.

• Working on the ZDC detector of PHENIX, developing and maintaining its online monitoring software (supervisor: Sebastian White).

• Involvement in processing a whole PHENIX analysis (search for so-called J/Psi particles in ultraperipheral type of collisions), starting a new Paper Preparation 11 http://www.ccsem.infn.it/issp2006

•

•

Group (PPG #81) and giving internal talks on this subject (supervisor: Sebastian White).

Involvement in the second phase work of the PPG #62 (analysis of scaling properties of flow in the created matter) and in the actual preparation of the paper (supervisor: Roy Lacey).

Involvement in the work of the PPG #52 (analysis of spatial correlations), giving internal talks (supervisor: Roy Lacey and Tamás Csörgő)

Theoretical work • Investigating properties of flow anisotropy, the existence of which is a cornerstone of the theory that the high temperature matter created at RHIC is a perfect liquid (which was also the top physics story of 2005 according to the American Institute of Physics12) using the Buda-Lund hydrodynamic model.

• Investigating new solutions of relativistic hydrodynamics, in cooperation with Márton Nagy, a physics student, and Tamás Csörgő.

• Publishing the material of previous conferences (Quark Matter 2005, Budapest, Workshop on Particle Correlations and Femtoscopy 2005, Kromeriz).

Important talks, conferences • 22nd Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, San Diego, California March 11-19, 2006 Talk: “Flow and correlations in 12 http://www.aip.org/pnu/2005/split/757-1.html

23

AY 2005-2006

•

•

•

heavy ion collisions” 2006 RHIC & AGS Annual Users’ Meeting, Brookhaven National Laboratory June 5-9, 2006 Posters: “Scaling of the elliptic flow at RHIC” and “Improving the Bjorken estimate” Ordinary Meeting of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest May 10, 2006 Talk: “Perfect fluid at the RHIC accelerator” International School of Subnuclear Physics, Erice, Italy August 29-September 7, 2006 Talk: “Behind Quark Gluon Plasma”

AIP Conf. Proc. 828, 479 (2006), http://arxiv. org/abs/nucl-th/0510027 •

M. Csanád, T. Csörgő, B. Lörstad and A. Ster,

Nucl. Phys. A 774, 535 (2006), http://arxiv. org/abs/nucl-th/0509106 •

M. Csanád for the PHENIX Collaboration Measurement and analysis of two- and threeparticle correlations Nucl. Phys. A 774, 611 (2006), http://arxiv. org/abs/nucl-ex/0509042

•

Phys.Rev.Lett.98:162301,2007, http://arxiv.

•

Evidence for a long-range component in the pion

org/abs/nucl-ex/0605032

A New Family of Simple Solutions of Perfect In review at Phyics Letters B, http://arxiv.

•

M. Csanád, T. Csörgő, R. A. Lacey and B. Lörstad Universal scaling of the elliptic flow at RHIC 22nd WWND Proceedings, http://arxiv.org/ abs/nucl-th/0605044

•

M. Csanád et al.

Universal scaling of the elliptic flow and the perfect hydro picture at RHIC In review at Nuclear Physics A, http://arxiv. org/abs/nucl-th/0512078

•

M. Csanád, T. Csörgő, B. Lörstad and A. Ster Understanding the rapidity dependence of the elliptic flow and the HBT radii at RHIC

24

3

org/abs/nucl-ex/0608033

T. Csörgő, M. I. Nagy and M. Csanád

org/abs/nucl-th/0605070

3

A. Adare et al. (PHENIX Collaboration)

Phys.Rev.Lett.98:132301,2007, http://arxiv.

Fluid Hydrodynamics

1,2,3

and Cu+Cu collisions …

S. S. Adler et al (PHENIX Collaboration)

•

Gábor Gyulai , Luther Waters , Fenny Dane

Scaling properties of azimuthal anisotropy in Au+Au

emission source in Au+Au …

Publications

Ancient Citrullus DNA-unlocking Domestication Events

Universal scaling of the rapidity dependent elliptic flow and the perfect fluid picture…

Institute of Genetics and Biotechnology St. Stephanus University, Gödöllő, H-2103; 2 The Hungarian - American Fulbright Commission, Budapest, Ajtósi Dürer sor 19-21, H-1146, Hungary gyulai.gabor@mkk.szie.hu 1

Department of Horticulture Auburn University Auburn Alabama 36849 USA fdane@acesag.auburn.edu waterlu@auburn.edu 3

4. Acknowledgements I would like to thank the HungarianAmerican Fulbright Commission and the Fulbright Family for making all the above possible. It was an enormous honor to be a Fulbright Scholar. I tried to capitalize on all the possibilities offered by this, the cultural and the professional ones, as well, and the staff of the Hungarian-American Fulbright Commission gave all the help for this. I owe special thanks to Huba Brückner, Csanád Nagypál, Krisztina Dietz and Éva Gottwald.

Seed remains of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus lanatus) from the Middle Ages were excavated from two sites, Debrecen, Hungary (the 13th-14th Century a.d.) and Budapest, Hungary (the 15th Century a.d.). Seed remains were processed by floatation followed by seed sorting and identification in the laboratory. After seed morphological analysis aDNAs were extracted and then analyzed at eleven microsatellite (SSRs) loci with a final aim of sequence recovery and phenotype reconstruction. For comparative analysis, an herbarium sample from the 19th cent. a.d.

(Pannonhalma, Hungary) and forty-four current varieties were used. Molecular dendrograms based on microsatellite analysis revealed that middle age samples are close to current varieties with red flesh colour, which indicate the preferential cultivation of red-flesh and not yellowflesh watermelon in the Middle Ages in Hungary. The 170-yr-old herbarium sample showed close molecular similarity to citron melon (Citrullus lanatus citroides), which also reflects the importance of citron melon as fodder in the Middle-Ages in Hungary. Results of seed morphology

25

AY 2005-2006 were highly correlated with molecular data.

Watermelon reached the New World after Columbus’ second voyage in 1493 and dispersed quickly among American natives. One of the most ancient forms of small, round fruit with thin, green rind, red flesh and small black seeds has survived up to the recent times.

1. Introduction The aDNA (ancient DNA) recovered from excavated remains of plants and animals supply unique materials not only for the analysis of post-mortem DNA degradation (Brown 1999; Threadgold and Brown 2003), but also for tracing vegetation history and microevolution (Gugerli et al. 2005; Shlumbaum et al.

2007). Intact aDNA sequences (Szabó et al. 2005; Lágler et al. 2005; Gyulai et al.

2006) or the complete genome (Cooper et al. 2001; Pääbo et al. 2004) of the extinct organisms can be reconstructed in the case of optimal preservation conditions.

In this study we present the analyses of seed morphology and the aDNA study of 700-, 600- and 170-year-old watermelons together with a comparison to modern cultivars.

2. Ancient-DNA (aDNA) analysis Seed samples: Seed remains of watermelon (Citrullus l. lanatus) from the 13-14th cent. were excavated in Debrecen, Hungary (Hajdu Zs. et al., Déri Museum, 2006,

26

Ancient Citrullus DNA-unlocking Domestication Events Debrecen; http://www.derimuz.hu/ hirek/2006/kutak.html). In total, 95,133 seed remains of 206 plant species were identified. Of them, 251 watermelon seeds were determined to have the same morphological characters. At the 15th cent. sites (8th well, Mansion Teleki, King’s Palace of Árpád Dynasty, Buda Hill, Budapest; Hungary) (Nyékhelyi 2003), 54,415 watermelon seeds were excavated (Gyulai et al. 2006; Tóth et al. 2007ab, 2008). Wet-sieved sediment samples were processed by floatation followed by seed sorting and identification in the laboratory (Schermann 1966; Hartyányi and Nováky 1975). The 19th cent. (ca. 1836) seeds were collected from the oldest botanical seed collection of Hungary (Pannonhalma, Hungary) (Vörös 1971), recently exhibited at the Hungarian Agricultural Museum, Budapest (Hungary). For comparative analysis, forty-four modern Citrullus species and varieties (Table 1) were included (Horváth et al. 2008).

Elimination of contamination: Seeds were incubated for seven days in an aseptic tissue culture medium to eliminate contamination before DNA extraction prior to washing with a detergent (3 min), rinsing three times with distilled water (3 min), surface sterilization with ethanol (70% v/v) for 1 min, using a bleaching agent (8% Ca(OCl)2 w/v) for 1 min., followed by three rinses with sterile distilled water according to general aseptic culture techniques (Gyulai et al.

2006). Seeds of the modern varieties were also surface sterilized. Exogenously and endogenously contaminated seeds infected

by fungi and bacteria were eliminated from further analyses.

DNA extraction: Individual seeds were ground in an aseptic mortar with liquid nitrogen in a laminar air flow cabinet in the archaeobotanical laboratory of the St. Stephanus University, Gödöllő. aDNA was extracted by the CTAB (cethyltrimethylammonium bromide) method according to Biss et al. (2003), Yang (1997) and Cooper and Poinar (2000). Seed DNA of modern cultivars (0.1 g) was also extracted in CTAB buffer, followed by an RNase-A treatment (Sigma, R-4875) for 30 min at 37°C in each case.

The quality and quantity of extracted DNA was measured (2 µl) by a NanoDrop ND-1000 UV-Vis spectrophotometer (NanoDrop Technologies, Delaware, USA – BioScience, Budapest, Hungary). DNA samples were adjusted to a concentration of 30 ng/µl with ddH2O and subjected to PCR amplification.

PCR primers: For molecular analysis eleven nSSR (nuclear microsatellite) primerpairs were used: CmTC51 (att ggg gtt tct ttg agg tga / cca tgt cta aaa act cat gtg g); CmTC168 (atc att gga tgt ggg att ctc / aca gat gga tga aac ctt agg); CmACC146 (caa cca ccg act act aag t / cga cca aac cca tcc gat aa) (Katzir et al. 1996; Danin-Poleg et al. 2001); and bngl161 (gct ttc gtc ata cac aca cat tca / atg gag cat gag ctt gca tat tt); bngl118-2 (gcc ttc cag ccg caa ccc t / cac tgc atg caa agg caa cca ac); phi118-2 (atc gga tcg gct gcc gtc aaa / aga cac gac ggt gtg tcc atc); phi121 (agg aaa atg gag ccg gtg aac ca / ttg gtc tgg acc aag cac ata cac);

bngl339 (cca acc gta tca gca tca gc / gca gag ctc tca tcg tct tct t); Cl1-06 (cac cct cct cca gtt gtc att cg / aag gtc agc aaa gcg gca tag g); Cl2-23 (gag gcg gag gag ttg aga g / aca aaa caa cga aac cca tag c) and Cl2-140 (ctt ttt ctt ctg att tga ctg g / act gtt tat ccc gac ttc act a) (Jarret et al. 1997).

PCR amplification: Hot Start PCR (Erlich et al. 1991) was combined with Touchdown PCR (Don et al. 1991) using AmpliTaq GoldTM Polymerase. Reactions were carried out in a total volume of 25 µl (containing genomic DNA of 30-50 ng, 1 x PCR buffer (2.5 mM MgCl2), dNTPs (200 µM each), 20 pmol of each primer and 1.0 U of Taq polymerase. Touchdown PCR was performed by decreasing the annealing temperature by 1.0 oC / per cycle with each of the initial 12 cycles (PE 9700, Applied Biosystems), followed by a ‘touchdown’ annealing temperature for the remaining 25 cycles at 56 oC for 30 s with a final cycle of 72 oC for 10 min (transgene detection) and held at 4 oC. A minimum of three independent DNA preparations of each sample was used. Amplifications were assayed by agarose (1.8 %, SeaKem LE, FMC) gel electrophoresis (Owl system), stained with ethidium bromide (0.5 ng/µl) after running at 80 V in 1 X TBE buffer. Each successful reaction with scorable bands was repeated at least twice.

Transilluminated gels were analyzed by the ChemilImager v 5.5 computer program (Alpha Innotech Corporation - Bio-Science Kft, Budapest, Hungary).

A negative control which contained all the necessary PCR components except

27

AY 2005-2006

Ancient Citrullus DNA-unlocking Domestication Events

template DNA was included in the PCR runs. Fragments were purified in a spin column (Sigma 5-6501) according to the manufacturer’s protocol and subjected to sequencing.

The first Cucurbit seeds were excavated from the Spirit Cave (Hoabinh, Thailand) including cucumber type Cucumis seeds at least 9,180 ± 360 as analyzed by C14 of bamboo charcoal (Gorman 1969).

DNA Sequencing: Fragments were subjected to automated fluorescent DNA sequencing (ABI PRISM 3100 Genetic Analyzer). Sequence alignments were analyzed by BioEdit Sequence Alignment Editor (NCSU, USA) software programs.

For BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) analysis a NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) computer program was used.

Radiocarbon dating is generally used to determine the age of carbonaceous materials up to about 60,000 years based on the the naturally occurring isotope carbon-14 (14C) (Plastino et al.

2001). The technique was discovered

by Libby (Arnold and Libby 1949), and awarded the Nobel Prize in 1960. The methodology of radiocarbon dating is based on the fact that carbon has two stable, nonradioactive isotopes (12C), (13C) and one unstable isotope (14C) with a halflife of 5,568±30 years (expressed in Libby half-life) or 5,730 years (in Cambridge half-life). Practically, the small amount of 14C would have vanished from Earth long ago if the cosmic rays which enter the atmosphere did not continuously generate it from nitrogene molecules (N2) of the air according to the classical nuclear reaction, as n (neutron) + 14N7 → 14 C6 + p (proton). The highest rate of 14C production takes place at altitudes of 9 to 15 km, but it spreads evenly throughout the atmosphere, producing at a constant rate, and the proportion of radioactive to non-radioactive carbon, which is constant, is ca. 1 14C / 600 billion atoms/ mole. 14C reacts with oxygen to form CO2, which enters plants by photosynthesis, and then goes from plants into animals.

When organisms (plants or animals) die the incorporation of 14C stops, and its amount gradually decreases in the cadaver

Data analysis: Cluster analysis was carried out by the SPSS-11 program package using the Average Linkage within group based on the presence versus absence of SSR alleles.

3. Ancient Cucurbits The oldest plant remains with proven human activity have revealed only cereal seeds of wild barley (H. spontaneum) and wild emmer (Triticum dicoccoides) from 19,000 b.p. at Ohalo II., river Jordan (Nadel et al. 2004, 2006; Piperno et al. 2004). The 17,310±310 b.p. site in Korea (Chungbuk National University, South Korea) revealed the first ancient rice (Oryza sativa) seed remains with an extractable amount of aDNA (Suh et al.

2000).

28

through radioactive decay by turning back the generative reaction producing 14N7 according to the reaction: n (neutron) + 14 C6 → 14N7 + e- + νe (anti neutrino). This decay is used to measure how long ago a piece of once-living material died and is expressed as years b.p. (before present), and calibrated as 1950 a.d.

4. 3,000-yr old watermelon seeds in pyramid of Pharaoh Tutankhamum (ca. 3,330 b.p.)

The monotypic genus Citrullus is comprised of only four diploid (2n = 4x = 22; 4.25 - 4.54 x 108 bp; 0.42 pg DNS) species, including the annual watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), the perennial colocynth (syn.: bitter apple) (Citrullus colocynthis), two wild species growing in the Kalahari Desert, Africa, as the Citrullus ecirrhosus with bitter-tasting fruit, and the annual Citrullus rehmii with pink and olive green spotted, mandarin sized, non-edible fruits (Robinson and Decker-Walters 1997; Dane and Liu 2006).

Unlike the genus Citrullus, the species watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) comprises diverse varieties, subspecies, mutants, and feral forms such as the cultivated watermelon (C. lanatus lanatus) (syn.: C. vulgaris) with its ancient form of citron melon (syn.: African tsamma) (Citrullus lanatus citroides), and the Mediterranean seed mutant egusi type watermelon (C. lanatus mucospermum) (Kanda 1951; Gusmini et al. 2004). Watermelon, citron

and colocynth have a history of production in Europe (Wasylikowa and Veen 2004; Creamer 2005; Tóth et al. 2008).

The primary gene centre for watermelon is not known. The excavations of five and six thousand year-old seed remains of C. lanatus in Egypt and Libya imply that domestication might have occurred in Northern Africa (Dane and Liu 2006).

The oldest watermelon (Citrullus l. lanatus) seeds (6,000 years old) were excavated in Helwan (Egypt, Africa), at a site in 4.000 B.C. (Barakat 1990). About 5,000-yr old seed remains were excavated in Uan Muhuggiag, Libya, Africa at a site from 3000 B.C. (Wasylikowa and Veen 2004). Several watermelon seeds were found in the Pharaoh’s tombs in Thebes (New Kingdom: 1,550-1,070 B.C.; stored in Agricultural Museum, Dokki, Giza, Egypt) (Warid 1995) and in the pyramid of Tutankhamum ca. 1330 B.C. (Hepper 1990; Kroll 2000; Vartavan and Amorós 1997) (Fig. 1).

The Greeks and Romans traveling to Egypt must have known of watermelon probably without discriminating it from colocynth and citron melon. Pliny II. wrote about a wild one (probably the current colocynth) and two types (one with pale green, and the other with grass green rind) of cultivated colocynth (probably the current watermelon), as it has been written: „…Another kind of wild gourd is called Colocynthis. The fruit is smaller than the cultivated one, and full of seeds. The pale variety is more useful than the grass-green one…” (Pliny 23-79) (Fig. 2).

29

AY 2005-2006

Ancient Citrullus DNA-unlocking Domestication Events

The Codex De Materia Medica (produced not too long after the time of Pliny) provides nearly 400 color paintings of different plants but no watermelon illustrations, only a precise colour painting of colocynth which looks very much like the current forms of colocynth (Citrullus colocynthis) (Dioscorides 1st cent. and the second ‘edition’ with colour paintings from 512 a.d.) (Fig. 2).

Six hundred years later, when the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by the Berbers (Moors) led by Tarik Ibn Ziyad in 711 a.d., new watermelon types might have entered Europe as recorded in the ancient Book of Agricuture (Al-Awwam 1158).

In this book, two cultivated forms were compared, a black seed type (with darkgreen rind which turns black when it ripens) and a red seed type (with green rind which turns to yellow) (Blake 1981).

Watermelon might have also been introduced to Europe through Crusaders (Fischer 1929) led by either Richard I. The Lion-Hearted (the 3rd Crusade, 1190-1199), or the Hungarian King, Endre II. of the Árpád Dynasty (the last, 6th Crusade, 1228-1229). Watermelon

spread through Europe quickly and became a very popular and commonly cultivated fruit in Renaissance Europe, with the first illustration on the frescos in the Villa Farnesina, Rome, Italy, 1517 B.C. (painted by Giovanni Martini da Udine) (Janick and Paris 2006). By 800 a.d., watermelons had been introduced to India and by 1100 a.d. to China. It reached the New World after Columbus’ second voyage in 1493 and dispersed quickly among American natives (Blake 1981). One of the most ancient forms of small, round fruit with thin, green rind, red flesh and small black seeds (Fig. 3) has survived up to recent times (Gilmore 1919).

One of the oldest watermelon herbarium samples is available from G Bauhin’s (1560-1624) collections (about a hundred years earlier than Linnaeus’s), who named it Anguira citrullus (personal communication, Mark Spencer, The Natural History Museum, London, UK). No watermelon herbarium sample remained from the C Linnaeus (1753) collections, who named watermelon Cucurbita citrullus, and colocynth Cucumis

colocynthis (personal communication, Arne Anderberg, The Linnean Herbarium, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Sockholm, S) (Fig. 2).

5. Citrullus seed remains from the Middle Ages Watermelon seeds excavated at both medieval sites analyzed in this study appeared to be extremely well preserved due to anaerobic conditions in the slime of a deep well covered by water, apparently used as dust holes in the Middle Ages (Gyulai et al. 2006). The herbarium sample seeds from the 19th cent. were stored under precise conditions in glass containers (Vörös 1971) (Fig. 4).

Eleven microsatellite probes were used in the study and presented for morphological reconstruction of the ancient watermelons.

Allelic diversity of microsatellites were also reliably detected in aDNAs of 300 – 1,100-yr old seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) (Raniello and Procaccini 2002). SSRs were also used to morphologically reconstruct 600-yr old melon (Cucumis staivus) (Szabó et al. 2005) and millet (Panicum miliaceum) (Lágler et al. 2005; Gyulai et al. 2006). SSR analysis was also applied to herbarium samples of the common reed (Phargmites australis), about 100 years old, to track plant invasion in North America (Saltonstall 2003).

Molecular dendrograms of the study, based on 737 ALF fragments identified at eleven nuclear microsatellite (nSSR) loci, revealed that middle age samples show close lineages to ancient varieties currently growing in Hungary (Fig. 5) with red flesh colour. Results of seed morphology correlated strongly with molecular results (Fig. 6). The 13th -14th cent. sample

Figure 1. The most ancient seed remains of watermelon (Citrullus l. lanatus). (1) 6,000-yr old b.p. seed from

Figure 2. References and illustration of ancient Citrullus: (1) Pliny (Plinius) II (23-79; ‘cultivated Colocynth’);

Helwan, Egypt (Barakat 1990); (2) 5,000-yr old b.p. seed from Uan Muhuggiag (Libya) (Wasylikowa and Veen

(2) Dioscorides (1st cent, and 512 a.d.; the first colour painting of C. colocynthis); (3) Ibn Al-Awwam (1158):

2004) (1mm size bar); (3) 3,550-3,070-yr old b.p. seeds Pharaoh’s tomb, Thebes (New Kingdom; stored in

‘Book of Agricuture’; (4) Fresco in the Villa Farnesina, Rome, Italy (1517) painted by Giovanni Martini

Agricultural Museum, Dokki, Giza, Egypt) (Warid 1995).

da Udine ( Janick and Paris 2006); (5a) Herbarium sample of watermelon, G. Bauhin (1560-1624) (5b); (6) Caravaggio, 1603, Still Life with Melons and Carafe of White Wine; (7) Linnaeus (1740) Sytema Naturae.

30

31

AY 2005-2006

Ancient Citrullus DNA-unlocking Domestication Events

(Debrecen) was similar to cv. ‘Kecskeméti vöröshájú’; the 15th cent. sample (Budapest) was similar to cv. ‘Belyj dlinnij’ (# 12) (Fig. 7 and 8). These results also reflect the preferential cultivation of redflesh and not yellow-flesh watermelon in the Middle Ages in Hungary. Red flesh watermelon also appeared in the painting Still Life with Melons and Carafe of White Wine (1603 B.C.) painted by Caravaggio (Fig. 2). Molecular data obtained might provide further tools for watermelon breeders. The 170-yr-old herbarium sample (Pannonhalma, Hungary) showed close molecular similarity to citron melon (Citrullus lanatus citroides) cv.‘Újszilvás’ which reflects the importance of citron melon as fodder in the Middle-Ages in Hungary.

References

Brown TA (1999) How ancient DNA may help in

medicus Graecus 1 der Österreichischen National bibliothek

understanding the origin and spread of agriculture.

(1998-1999) commentary by Otto Mazal (published in a

Al-Awwam Ibn (1158) Le Livre de l’agriculture, translated

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 354: 89-98.

reduced two-volume facsimile by Akademische Druck-und

by Clement-Mullet; 2 tomes in 3 vols., Paris (1864-1867).

Reprints (1802, 1988). Libro de agricultura / su autor el doctor excelente Abu Zacaria Iahia ; [traducido al

32

or not at all. Science 289:1139.

Verlagsanstalt).

Don RH, Cox PT, Wainwright BJ, Baker K and Mattick JS (1991) Touchdown PCR to circumvent spurious priming

castellano y anotado por Josef Antonio Banqueri ; estudio

Cooper A, Lalueza-Fox C, Anderson S, Rambaut A, Austin

preliminar y notas, J. E. Hernández Bermejo y E. García

J and Ward R (2001) Complete mitochondrial genome

Sánchez]. Madrid

sequences of two extinct moas clarify ratite evolution. Nature

Erlich HA, Gelfand D and Sninsky JJ (1991) Recent advances

409: 704-707.

in the polymerase chain reaction. Science 252: 1643-1651.

Radiocarbon Content: Checks with Samples of Known Age.

Creamer J (2005) Searching for a better melon (by G Gyulai

Fischer H (1929) Mittelalterliche Pflanzenkunde. München:

Science 110: 678–680.

and F Dane). AAES Impact, Augustus, Auburn, USA, p.2.

Verlag der Münchner Drucke.

Barakat H (1990) Appendix IV – plant remains from El-

Dane F and CJ Liu (2006) Diversity and origin of cultivated

Gilmore MR (1919) Uses of plants by the Indians of the

Omari, in: F Debono, B Mortensen (Eds.), El-Omari.

and citron type watermelon (Citrullus lanatus). Genet Resour

Missouri river region. Univ. of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.

A Neolithic Settlement and Other Sites in the Vicinity

Crop Evol 54:1255–1265.

(reprinted from the 33rd Annu. Report Bur. Amer. Rthn.,

Arnold JR and Libby WF (1949) Age Determinations by

of Wadi Hof, Helwan. Verlag Philipp von Zabern ISBN 3-8053-1119-2, Mainz am Rhein, 1990, pp. 109–114.

Biss P, Freeland J, Silvertown J, McConway K and Lutman P (2003) Successful amplification of rice chloroplast

Acknowledgements: The authors say thanks Dr. Huba Brückner and The Hungarian - American Fulbright Commission for supporting the project.

Cooper A and Poinar HN (2000) Ancient DNA: Do it right

microsatellites from century-old grass samples from the park grass experiment. Plant Mol Biol Reporter 21: 249-257.

Danin-Poleg Y, N Reis, G Tzuri and N Katzir (2001)

during gene amplification. Nucleic Acids Res 19: 4008.

Washington, 1977).

Development and characterization of microsatellite markers

Gorman CF (1969) Hoabinhian: a people-toll complex

in Cucumis. Theor Appl Genet 1002:61-72.

with early plant associations in southeast Asia. Science 163:

Dioscorides (512) (true name Pedianos Dioskurides) De Materia

671-673.

Medica (with nearly 400 color paintings) (1st century,

Gugerli F, Parducci L and Petit RJ (2005) Ancient plant DNA:

Painting from the year 512). Der Wiener Dioskurides: Codex

review and Prospects. New Phytologist 166: 409–418.

Blake LW (1981) Early Acceptance of Watermelon by Indians of the United States. Ethnobiology 1:193-199.

Figure 3. Ancient American watermelon grown from seed obtained from Penishka, an American native

Figure 4. Map of Europe showing the excavation sites from the 13th-14th cent. a.d. Debrecen (1), the

of Ponca tribe (Gilmore 1919).

15th cent. a.d. Budapest (2); and the 19th cent. herbarium sample at Pannonhalma (Hungary) (3).

33

AY 2005-2006

Ancient Citrullus DNA-unlocking Domestication Events

Gusmini G, TC Wehner and RL Jarret (2004) Inheritance

Linnaeus C (1753) Species Plantarum. 2 vols. Salvius,

Schermann Sz (1966) Magismeret (Seed morphology), I, II.

Tóth Z, G Gyulai, Z Szabó, F Gyulai, L Heszky (2008)

of Egusi Seed Type in Watermelon. J Hered 95: 268-270.

Stockholm. Facsimile edition (1957–1959), Ray Society,

Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest.

Analysis of ancient watermelon (Citrullus l. lanatus) seeds

Gyulai G, M Humphreys, R Lágler, Z Szabó, Z Tóth, A

London.

Schlumbaum A, M Tensen, V Jaenicke-Despres (2007)

Bittsánszky, F Gyulai, and L Heszky (2006) Seed remains of

Nadel D, A Danin, E Werker, T Schick, ME Kislev, K

Ancient plant DNA in archaeobotany. Veget Hist Archaeobot

common millet from the 4th (Mongolia) and 15th (Hungary)

Stewart (1994) 19,000-Year-Old Twisted Fibers From Ohalo

(in press. DOI 10.1007/s00334-007-0125-7).

centuries; AFLP, SSR, and mtDNA sequence recoveries.

II. Current Anthropology 35: 451-458.

Seed Science Res 16:179-191.

Suh HS, JH Cho, YJ Lee, MH Heu (2000) RAPD variation of

Nadel D, U Grinberg, E Boaretto, E Werker (2006) Wooden

13,010 and 17,310 year-old carbonized rice. 4th International

Hartyányi BP and Gy Nováki (1975) Samen- und

objects from Ohalo II (23,000 cal BP), Jordan Valley, Israel. J

Rice Genetics Symposium, Manilla, Philipines, Oct. 22-27.

fruchtfunde in Ungarn von der neusteeinzeit bis zum 18.

Human Evol 50: 644-662.

jahrhundert. Agrártört Szemle, Budapest 17:1-88 Hepper FN (1990) Pharaoh’s flowers. The botanical treasures of Tutankhamun. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London. 80 pp. ISBN 0 11 250040 4.

Szabó Z, G Gyulai, M Humphreys, L Horváth, A

Nyékhelyi BD (2003) Monumenta Historica Budapestinensia

Bittsánszky, R Lágler, L Heszky (2005) Genetic variation of

XII. Historical Museum of Budapest, Hungary, pp. 1-102.

melon (C. melo) compared to an extinct landrace from the

Pääbo S, Poinar H, Serre D, Jaenicke-Despres V, Hebler J, Rohland N, Kuch M, Krause J, Vigilant L and Hofreiter M

Middle Ages (Hungary) I. rDNA, SSR and SNP analysis of 47 cultivars. Euphytica 146:87-94.

Horváth L, Gyulai G, Szabó Z, Tóth Z, Heszky L (2008)

(2004) Genetic analyses from ancient DNA. Annual Rev Genet

Threadgold J and Brown TE (2003) Degradation of DNA in

Morfológiai diverzitás sárgadinnyében (Cucumis melo);

38, 645–679.

artificially charred wheat seeds. J Archaeol Sci 30, 1067-1076.

Piperno DR, E Weiss, I Holst, D Nadel (2004) Processing of

Tóth Z, G Gyulai, Z Szabó, L Horváth, L Heszky (2007a)

wild cereal grains in the Upper Palaeolithic revealed by starch

Watermelon (Citrullus l. lanatus) production in Hungary

grain analysis. Nature 430:670-673.

from the Middle Ages (13th cent.). Hung Agric Res (in press)

Plastino W, Kaihola L, Bartolomei P and F Bella (2001)

Tóth Z, Gyulai G, Horváth L, Szabó Z, Heszky L (2007b)

Cosmic background reduction in the radiocarbon

Mikroszatellita lokuszok evolúciója a görögdinnyében

Jarret RL, LC Merrick, T Holms, J Evans and MK Aradhya

measurement by scintillation spectrometry at the

(Citrullus lanatus) a középkor óta; (CT)3 deléció a (CT)26

(1997) Simple sequence repeats in watermelon (Citrullus

underground laboratory of Gran Sasso. Radiocarbon 43:

nSSR-ban. Agrártudományi Közlemények (közlésre elfogadva

lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai). Genome 43:433-441.

157–161.

2007)

Kanda T (1951) The inheritance of seed-coat colouring in

Pliny II (Plinius Gaius Secundus) (23-79) Historia Naturalis.

the watermelon. Jpn J Genet 7:30–48.

The Historie of The World. Vol. 1 -10; Book I-XXXVII. (in

egy középkori típus fajtarekonstrukciója. Agrártudományi Közlemények Debrecen (in press) Janick J and Paris HS (2006) The Cucurbit Images (1515–1518) of the Villa Farnesina, Rome. Annals of Botany 97: 165–176.

Katzir N, Y Danin-Poleg, G Tzuri, Z Karchi, U Lavi and PB Cregan (1996) Length polymorphism and homologies of microsatellites in several Cucurbitaceae species. Theor Appl Genet 93: 1282–1290.

Kroll H (2000) Literature on archaeological remains of cultivated plants (1998/1999) Veget Hist Archaeobot 9:31-68.

Lágler R, G Gyulai, M Humphreys, Z Szabó, L Horváth, A Bittsánszky, J Kiss, L Holly, L Heszky (2005) Morphological

15th centuries, Hungary) compared to an herbarium sample (19th cent.) and current varieties. Veget Hist Archaeobot 17 (Suppl.) (in press) Vartavan C de and Amorós AV (1997) Codex of ancient Egyptian plant remains. Codex des restes végétaux de l’Egypte ancienne. London, 401 pp.

Vörös L (1971) Seed collection of Pannonhalma High School from the 1830’s (in Hungarian). Bot. Közl. Budapest, Hungary 58:179-180.

Wasylikowa

K

and·M

van

der

Veen

(2004)

An

archaeobotanical contribution to the history of watermelon, Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai (syn. C. vulgaris Schrad.). Veget Hist Archaeobot 13:213–217 Warid WA (1995) Vegetable species known to the ancient Egyptians. Acta Hort 391:273-290 Yang H (1997) Ancient DNA from Pleistocene fossils: preservation, recovery, and utility of ancient genetic information for quaternary research. Quaternary Science Reviews 16, 1145–1161.

Latin, with English translation by WHS Jones, 1939-1963).

Loeb Classical Library, William Heinemann Ltd., London, UK. Raniello R, Procaccini G (2002) Ancient DNA in the seagrass Posidonia oceanica. Marine Ecology – Progress Series 227: 269–273.

Robinson RW and DS Decker-Walters (1997) Cucurbits.

CAB

International,

pp.240,

Cambridge.

ISBN-10:

0851991335

and molecular analysis of common millet (P. miliaceum)

Saltonstall K (2003) Microsatellite variation within and among

cultivars compared to an aDNA sample from the 15th

North American lineages of Phragmites australis. Molr Ecol 12:

century (Hungary). Euphytica 146:77-85.

1689–1702.

34

excavated from two sites of the Middle Ages (13th-14th and

35

Ancient Citrullus DNA-unlocking Domestication Events # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44

Cultivars

Short name

Latin name

Code (Tápiószele)

Finn 168 Belga 172 Portugál 547 Szeged 099 De Bánát 235 Újszilvás 816 Bácsbokod 917 Napsugár 257 Sándorfalva 105 Dévaványa 101 Szentesi sugárhasú 260 Belyj dlinnij 152 Ráckeve 812 Csárdaszállás 113 Tura 389 Biri 114 Klondike R7 096 Charleston gray 263 Taktaharkány 790 Túrkeve 112 Ukrainskij 545 149 Szirma 782 Marsowszky 256 Háromfa 754 Debrecen 111 Sibiriak 098 Nagyecsed 775 Nagykálló 785 Hevesi 258 Nagyvárad 767 Nyírbátor 155 Oros 862 Rákóczifalva 145 Kömörő 762 Nyíregyháza 778 Kecskeméti vöröshúsú 259 Ilk 236 Pusztadobos 146 Gyöngyös 969 Crimson sweet 262 Kibéd 172 Sugar baby /Génbanki 261 Lipót 970 Korai kincs 255

Fin. Bel. Prt. Szg. Rom. Újs.

Bác.

Nap. Snd. Dév.

Sts. Bed. Rác.

Csr. Tur. Bir. Kln. Chg. Tkt. Trk. Ukr. Szr. Mar. Hár.

Deb. Sib. Ngye.

Ngyk.

Hev. Ngyv.

Nyrb.

Oro. Rák.

Köm.

Nyre.

Kev. Ilk Pusz.

Gyn. CrS. Kib. SuB. Lip. Kok.

Citrullus colocynthis Citrullus colocynthis Citrullus colocynthis Citrullus l. citroides Citrullus l. citroides Citrullus l. citroides Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus Citrullus l. lanatus

RCAT036168 RCAT036172 RCAT035547 RCAT036099 RCAT035235 RCAT055816 RCAT035917 00257/05 RCAT036105 5101/02 00260/05 RCAT036152 RCAT055812 RCAT035113 RCAT035389 RCAT035114 RCAT036096 00263/05 RCAT034790 RCAT035112 RCAT036149 RCAT034782 00256/05 RCAT034754 RCAT035111 RCAT036098 RCAT034775 RCAT034785 00258/05 RCAT034767 RCAT035155 RCAT035862 RCAT035145 RCAT034762 RCAT034778 00259/05 RCAT035236 RCAT035146 RCAT034969 00262/05 5172./02 00261/05 RCAT034970 00255/05

Table 1. List of the current cultivars of colocynth ‘(sártök’) (Citrullus colocynthis, 1-3); citron melon (‘takarmány dinnye’) (Citrullus lanatus citroides 4-6) and watermelon (‘görögdinnye’) (Citrullus lanatus lanatus, 7-44) analyzed.

36

Figure 5.a.

Ancient Citrullus DNA-unlocking Domestication Events

Figure 5.b.

Figure

5.c.

Rind

(5.a) flash (5.b) and seed (5.c) types of current

Citrullus

species and cultivars at ripening time (see Table 1) used for comparative

analy-

ses. Ancient seeds of 13th-14th cent. a.d.

Debrecen (in a), 15th cent. a .d.

Budapest

(b); and 19th

cent.

Pannonhalma (c) are included.

38

39

Ancient Citrullus DNA-unlocking Domestication Events

Figure 6. Individual samples of ancient Citrullus seeds compared to current varieties (a – dorsal and

Figure 7.

b – ventral view). Ancient watermelon (C. l lanatus) seeds excavated at the 13th-14th

Allele diversity at eleven microsatellite loci in the current Citrullus species and cultivars (1-44), com-

Debrecen (1); the 15th

cent. a .d.

site, Budapest (2); and the 19th

cent.

cent. a .d.

site,

herbarium sample of citron

pared to medieval (13th-14th and 15th centuries) and herbarium samples (19th cent.).

melon (C. l . citroides) from Pannonhalma (3). Comparative samples of current Citrullus cultivars similar to 13th-14th

cent. a .d.

# 17. cv. ‘Klondike´); 15th

sample, Debrecen (4 and 7: # 36. cv. ‘Kecskeméti vöröshúsú’ and

cent..

sample, Budapest (5 and 8: # 12. cv. ‘Belyj dlinnij’, and # 14. cv.

‘Csárdaszállás’); and 19th cent. herbarium sample of citron melon (6 and 9: # 5. cv. ‘De Bánát’, and # 6. cv. ‘Újszilvás’) (size bar indicate 1mm).

40

41

Teaching at North Valley High School Ágnes Juhász

Bilingual Secondary School 39 Rákóczi Str. Balatonalmádi www.dlsb.hu

agnesj@freemail.hu

North Valley High School 6741 Monument Drive Grants Pass, Oregon 97526 www.threerivers.k12.or.us

I spent the 2005-2006 academic year in Grants Pass, Oregon as an exchange teacher. I was asked to teach English at a high school, mainly to freshmen and sophomores. I also took part in speech and debate competitions, and I did my best to promote the Fulbright program. I organized a Hungarian night for my colleagues, and I also gave presentations on Hungary to the students.

I am sure that teaching in the United States made me a better and more knowledgeable teacher.

The experience also affected my personal life. I made friends with many people (Americans and people from other countries), and I realized that Americans and especially Oregonians are much calmer and happier than Hungarians. I envy their lifestyle and the chances that they have.

I had the opportunity to travel and see other places in the US, so I could experience other lifestyles as well.

All in all, I think participating in this exchange program helped me appreciate other cultures and people.

Figure 8. Molecular dendrogram (Rel Genet Dist, 0 – 25) of current varieties of colocynth (’sártök’) (Citrullus colocynthis, 1 - 3), citron melon (‘takarmány dinnye’) (Citrullus lanatus citroides, 4 - 6) and watermelon (‘görögdinnye’) (Citrullus lanatus lanatus, 7 - 44) (see Table 1) compared to archaeological and herbarium samples. Colors of seed coat (a), flesh (b) and rind (c) are indicated.

42

43

AY 2005-2006

1. Why I applied for the program When I applied for the Fulbright grant, I had already heard some stories from other Fulbrighters. Some of my colleagues had been to the United States before, and they told me how fantastic it had been to be an exchange teacher. I had American teachers during high school and as a teacher I worked with American Fulbright teachers.

I thought that the Fulbright program would be beneficial for both participants.

I teach English at a bilingual secondary school, where English is taught as a second language, and we also teach American and British civilization and culture. I thought that it would be beneficial to experience life in the United States so that I could teach American culture better.

2. Teaching at North Valley High School During the 2005-2006 academic year I taught at North Valley High School.

As far as I know I was the first exchange teacher at this school, so I tried my best to promote the Fulbright program.

Although I spent a lot of time on my own in my classroom, I made friends with some of the teachers, and I have to thank the principal, Ms. Linda Hugle, for her efforts to make my year easier and happier.

44

Teaching at North Valley High School 2.1. NVHS

The school is situated in a rural area in Grants Pass, Oregon. Currently about 700 students attend it. It was built in 1978 when the voters in the county school district approved a bond to build 2 new high schools. Before 1978, the students from the rural district attended the high school in town, Grants Pass High School.

Like all public schools in the state, NVHS is funded by money that comes from the state of Oregon. The revenue to fund the school is a combination of income taxes and property taxes, with minor amounts from other sources. The school is funded based on the number of students they have enrolled at approximately $6,200 per pupil. These amounts vary somewhat based on other factors like special education, ELL students, transportation costs and more.

They typically send about 50% of the graduates to college in the September after they graduate. Some others start college within a few years after graduation.

Last year, 80% of the graduates indicated their intention to enroll in college the following fall.

The school offers many extracurricular activities. Sports are almost as important as learning. However, only those who get good grades can participate in sports.

Boys can play football, soccer, basketball, golf, baseball, and racquetball. They can also do wrestling, bowling, equestrian, track, and cross country. Girls play volleyball, soccer, basketball, golf, softball, and racquetball. They also take part in bowling, equestrian, cheerleading, dance team, track, and cross-country.

They have Academic Teams like Forensics (speech and debate), Mathletes, and Academic Challenge (like Brain Bowl).

The students are usually very successful in all of them; they win competitions or at least earn good places at tournaments.

The Band, the Choir, and the Theater have a very good reputation; they often perform at the school, which I could enjoy during my stay.

Other extracurricular activities include Virtual Enterprise, Key Club, Link Crew, Impact Crew, Student Government, Newspaper, and Yearbook. Some of these also have classes during the school day.

The parents also take part in school life.

They have about 10 ASPIRE volunteers (doing college guidance), about 50 parent members of the Booster Club, and about 10 parent members of the Athletic Facilities Committee. There are also parent groups for each grade level, with anywhere from 5 to 20 members. About 10% of the parents are active volunteers.

2.2. Differences between the Hungarian and American school system

Although I knew a lot about the American school system before I went to the United States, I faced many differences.

First of all, in Oregon a teacher is allowed to teach only if he or she has a teaching license. For this I needed to hand in my university degree, a copy of my social security card, and my passport. After I received my driver’s license, I had to show it at the district office. Then I had to go to the sheriff’s office to get my fingerprints taken and to a health center to get a drug test. First I received a temporary license,

and after that an inspector from the district visited my classes and, finally, I received a license for five years.

The substitute teacher system was also new for me. Whenever a teacher misses a school day, he or she needs to call a substitute teacher, because the classes must not be dismissed. It does not matter if the “sub” cannot teach a particular subject; in that case, his job is to supervise the students. In Hungary it is the colleagues’ task to find a substitute teacher.

The school I teach at in Hungary is a bilingual secondary school, where the students are selected, motivated, and disciplined. At an American high school there is no selection, the school is required to enroll everyone who applies. That is why I had many students who suffered from a lack of confidence due to failures at school, so they did not even try to work. I think teachers are challenged to motivate these kids in the US. (I know there are schools in Hungary, as well, where the students are unmotivated.) It was my biggest challenge, too. I hope I could raise the interest of some students, and that now they believe in themselves more.

However, students who have learning problems get a lot of help from the school. I can only adore the special education teachers who spend their time working with students who have learning difficulties. They should be even more respected than other teachers, as their job requires more patience and perseverance.

Punishment at schools is also different in the two countries. In Hungary, the students’ parents get notes from the teacher when the students do something

45

AY 2005-2006 bad, while in the United States the students get a detention or they are suspended for a number of days. For students who do not like to go to school the latter may not be punishment at all.

Another big difference between Hungarian and American schools is that sports are very important in the United States, while in Hungary being good at academic subjects is more important than succeeding in sports. The students who participated in sports activities wore their jerseys at school on the days they went to matches. Cheerleading is also important there; it is almost as important as other sports.

2.3. The classes I taught

At North Valley High School there are five English teachers, and I exchanged jobs with one of them, Robert Moeny. He mainly taught freshmen English, so I had three English 1 classes and one English Essentials class, which is for students whose reading level is below the standard.

I also taught sophomores; this was an Honors English class for more advanced students. I was also asked to take care of the Forensics (speech and debate) class, although at first I didn’t know anything about this subject.

During the English 1 classes, I taught English grammar and vocabulary each week. We also covered Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Homer’s Odyssey.

I tried to incorporate many different teaching techniques to make my students more interested in the subject. We watched the movie versions of the two literary works to get the students familiar with them before reading them. We also did a

46

Teaching at North Valley High School project on the Greek gods and goddesses.

I also tried to make the “boring” grammar exercises more exciting by giving them funny sentences and texts.

Unfortunately, very often I had discipline problems, because some students just did not care about learning at all. I asked my colleagues what they usually did when they faced the same difficulties, because I wanted to be successful. It was strange to me that they send the students to EdLab or they write a referral to the assistant principal. In Hungary I cannot send a student out of the classroom.

In the English Essentials class I always gave the students grammar exercises and short texts to read, and I asked them to answer comprehension questions. They also needed to read a book each semester, which I asked questions about at the end of the semester. I also made them read aloud, which they did not like at first.

Again, I had discipline problems, but these students were easier to deal with after a while, as they recognized their weaknesses and tried to become better and better at reading.

The Honors English class was easier to handle, because the students were motivated and they wanted to go to college, so they needed good grades.

However, this was my biggest class, and most students took part in sports activities, so they missed a lot of the classes. In the class we covered some history of British Literature and Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

They enjoyed giving speeches, and they handed in an essay at the end of the school year. I think this was my most successful class.

Finally, I had Forensics. This is a special

speech and debate class where the students practice for competitions. Fortunately, there were students in this class who had already taken this course before, so they helped me get familiar with the subjects.

I have to admit, I was not the best teacher for this class, but I learned a lot, which I’m going to write more about later.

Besides teaching at the school I tried to take part in other activities. As the Forensics teacher, I was asked to take the students to competitions. I also helped to establish a newspaper and to edit it.

I wanted to introduce Hungary to the teachers and the students, as well, so with my husband I organized a Hungarian night for the teachers, and I also gave presentations to students in social studies classes.

radio commentary (also written by the competitor), humorous or dramatic interpretations of a literary piece, oratory (presentation of a topic), poetry, prose, and so on.

We participated in six tournaments, and my students were successful in radio, duo, debate, and humorous interpretation.

One of the students qualified for the national competition with a humorous interpretation of a book. She was a veteran of the class, and one of the best students.

I was also asked to judge at these competitions. I enjoyed it very much.

Although I did not know much about the different events, that did not seem to be a problem. Many schools brought amateur judges.

All in all, participating in Forensics tournaments was one of the most enjoyable parts of my experience.

2.4.1. Forensics

2.4.2. Newspaper

2.4. Activities I took part in

When I was asked to teach this class, I was also told that I might need to take the students to competitions. To be honest, first I wasn’t keen on the idea, but the principal, Ms. Linda Hugle, came with us to the first meeting.

For the competitions, the students can decide which type of speech they would like to compete in. Most of them are individual events, but there was also a duo event (where two competitors present a story in ten minutes) and debate. Debate is one of my favorites, because two pairs compete against each other, and I enjoyed listening to their arguments on certain topics. The individual events include after dinner speeches (written by the competitor; they are usually very funny),

When I went to North Valley High School, they had not had a newspaper for some years. The principal talked to me about how the school wanted to start publishing one, and she asked me to help.

So, once a week after school we held meetings; anyone could join the team.

There were many students who wanted to write articles, so we had an easy job. We decided on the publishing dates and the topics, and then when the articles were done, we edited them. First the principal edited the whole newspaper (she was an expert on the publishing software), then the students learned to create the pages.

The district provided some money for the school to make copies, so the newspaper was free for the students.

47

AY 2005-2006 I also wrote an article about my experience, and afterwards many students and teachers asked me questions about Hungary. I was glad that they became so interested.

I was also happy to help with starting something new at the school.

2.4.3. Hungarian night

Since I applied for the Fulbright program to make Hungary more familiar to the people I would get in touch with, I decided to organize a Hungarian night, a small party for the teachers.

My husband and I designed an invitation card (it was in the shape of Hungary), and I invited all my colleagues at the school.

About half of them were interested; some of them also brought their partners or their children.

For the night we prepared some Hungarian dishes (lecsó, pancakes, and pogácsa) so that people could taste them.

We also made a presentation and created a slide show with pictures of Hungarian sights.

We started the presentation with a quiz about Hungary, promising some gifts for the people who knew the most about my country.

The presentation included some geographical data and some historical facts. I also talked about famous people, mentioning the Nobel Prize winners, some inventors, musicians, and sportspeople.

At the end of the presentation we checked the answers to the quizzes and gave out the prizes. The person who gave the most correct answers was the principal, who had been to Hungary before. Then we

48

Teaching at North Valley High School served the dishes, gave out the recipes, and answered questions about Hungary.

I think the night was very successful, because it broke the ice between me and the other teachers, and it made the people more interested in me and in my country.

Afterwards, I was often asked questions, and two of my colleagues invited me and my husband to their homes on Thanksgiving and at Christmas. I’m sure these people became more open to news from Hungary, and one day they might visit our country.

I know that the assistant principal came to Europe and visited Hungary the next year (unfortunately we did not meet), and she told me that it was my presentation that piqued her interest in our country.

Another teacher was considering applying for the exchange program and coming to Hungary, but he was a special education teacher, so sadly he could not apply.

2.4.4. Presentations to students

After the success of the Hungarian night, the principal thought that it would be a good idea to also talk to the students about Hungary. At that time, there were three exchange students at the school, too, so we decided to go together to classes and give presentations on our countries.

The principal convinced the social studies teachers to spend one day on each of these countries, so we visited their classes.

We also gave quizzes to the students, but the questions were more about facts the students are interested in (e.g. the minimum age for getting a driver’s license). After the presentations, the students asked a lot of questions and some

of them told me that they might come to Hungary one day to visit me.

3. Fulbright meetings I need to write some words about the Fulbright meetings. After arriving in the USA, we had an orientation in Washington, DC and a meeting in Seattle, WA during the fall. Both were professionally organized, and I am sure everybody enjoyed themselves.

In Washington, DC I had the chance to meet with my exchange partner, Rob Money, and his family. They were very nice and helpful; I learned a lot of information from them. I also got to know some people who were going to the same area as I was, so I knew I would not be alone as a foreigner. I also received plenty of information about Oregon, its famous sights and what life was like there.

I felt that the Fulbright Commission tried to make the stay of all the Fulbrighters enjoyable, and I knew that if I had a problem, I would have someone to turn to.

They answered our questions and talked about the problems that might arise. It was a lot of fun to see so many different people from all around the world, and I really felt like I belonged to the Fulbright family.

During the fall Fulbright meeting held in Seattle, we (the exchange teachers) were invited to talk about our own problems and our own experiences in the United States. I think the idea of this meeting is a fantastic one, as on the one hand it makes you relieved that others have

similar experiences and on the other hand it helps you get prepared for the coming problems. Fortunately, I did not have a lot of trouble, so I think I was quite lucky to be in Grants Pass.

In Seattle we had the chance to visit two schools: a middle school and a University Prep School (high school). These visits gave us a wider perspective on education in the USA. In the middle school the students were mainly of Asian origin (Korean, Vietnamese, etc.); many of their parents did not even speak English. We visited some classes, where we also talked about our countries, and we answered questions posed by the students. They were interested and already knew some facts about the countries. We were impressed.

The high school was a new one, for students who plan to go to college. There we had the opportunity to see the facilities and also to visit classes.

We were also taken on a sightseeing tour in Seattle. During this trip I enjoyed talking to other teachers from other parts of the world, and it was fun to listen to their accents. I still keep in touch with some of them.

4. Living in the USA As anyone can imagine, there are many differences between living in Hungary and living in the USA. During the orientation in Washington we were told that we might experience the so-called “culture shock”, which meant that we might not find life in a foreign country to be particularly easy. I

49

AY 2005-2006

Teaching at North Valley High School

did experience some difficulty, as when I did not know who to call when something went wrong or how to discipline the students. However, after a while I got used to living there, and it was actually a culture shock to return home.

hour. Once you have a license, it is your ID, so afterwards nobody cares about where you are from.

It was also easy to buy a car, and the insurance companies were glad to help you get the best deal on insurance.

4.1. Keep smiling

I also experienced that after becoming a member of the sports club or a customer of a store, you become a very important person there. They inform you of the novelties and the best deals.

Most people I met were willing to help me when I asked them. Once, I had toothache, and I asked the people at the school office which dentist they could recommend. They immediately called their dentist and asked for an appointment for me. Then the dentist’s assistant called me the day before the appointment to remind me.

“In the United States everybody smiles all the time.” I heard this statement several times before I went to the USA, but I did not believe it. Then, I realized that Americans do smile at each other.

Whenever I entered a shop or asked someone to help me, the first reaction was a smile. Although we Europeans know that this smile might not be “real”, it certainly makes you feel better and makes your day happier. Most people were extremely helpful. In stores the shop assistants usually asked if I had found everything I needed, and they were always polite.

4.2. Dealing with everyday problems

When you start a life in a foreign country, you definitely have a lot of things to deal with. You need to open a bank account, get insurance both for your car and for yourself, and so on. In Oregon, all these were easy to do. People at customer services (at the bank, at the TV company, etc.) were always helpful and friendly and almost everything was done instantly. I am sure it is because people in the USA move a lot, and they might not have a lot of time to deal with these things.

I needed to get an Oregon driver’s license, and all I needed to do was to take a written exam and to show my driving skills. If you are lucky, you can get a license in about an

50

4.3. Security

One of the first things that caught my attention in the United States was the high security level. I already knew that it is very important for the Americans to feel safe, and so I did not find it annoying. At the airport your fingerprint is taken and your iris is scanned. As I was a foreigner at the airport I was checked from head to toe. After getting my driver’s license, however, I was only checked like the other Americans.

I also realized that there are many police officers on the streets everywhere, but I knew they would not stop me unless I committed a driving offense. That is the reason why I did not find their presence irritating.

4.4. Taveling

If you are in a foreign country, you want to see as many sights as possible. Although my main concern in the USA was to be an exchange teacher, I tried to use my free time to travel around and see famous places.

I had an Internet connection at home, so it was quite easy to book everything online. In Hungary I had not tried online booking before, so at first I was a bit worried, but it turned out to be safe and sometimes cheaper. I found good deals on motel rooms, and I also booked my ticket to Alcatraz, to a basketball game, and to a concert, all online.

First, I traveled to many places in Oregon. I visited Portland in the summer, which is the biggest city in the state. There I met a former Fulbrighter, Joseph Pitkin, who spent the 2003-2004 academic year in Kecskemét as an exchange teacher. He invited me and my husband to stay with his family and showed us around. He told us that spending a year in a foreign country would be a fantastic experience, and he gave us some advice on living in the US. During the winter break we visited another Hungarian Fulbrighter and his family in San Francisco and saw the sights.

Then, during spring break, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon were our destinations. I enjoyed these travels, as I saw other parts of the United States.

I could see how people in big cities lived, which was nice because Grants Pass is in a rural area. It was good to see the wide highways and even the traffic jams. I often wondered what it would be like if I spent my whole life in those cities. It requires a

totally different way of thinking, as it must be tiring to sit in traffic jams for hours every day, and you might not be able to spend much time with your family. I also liked that wherever I went people obeyed the traffic regulations. They are much more orderly drivers than European people.

5. How this experience affected me As I already mentioned, I applied for the Fulbright teacher exchange program because I wanted to experience the American way of life, myself, in order to be able to teach American culture to my students better. However, this experience affected me in ways I did not expect.

First of all, seeing a more heterogeneous country than Hungary taught me to appreciate others. Although I consider myself an open-minded person, in the beginning I was sometimes aloof towards African Americans and Mexicans. So, I needed to learn to appreciate them and I made friends with some of them.

I am especially proud of having made acquaintances with people from Columbia, Mexico, Peru, and India. Without this program, I might not have met so many people from all around the world.

Secondly, I think I became a better teacher. I like the idea of projects instead of frontal teaching, because it gives students the opportunity to talk in front of a group of people. In Hungary, students are not used to standing in front of the class and giving presentations, so after returning home I decided to assign presentation tasks to my students. I think

51

AY 2005-2006 it worked, because the students became more motivated. Many of them used modern technology (a computer and a projector) to add pictures and videos to their speeches. After the presentations I evaluated their speeches and gave advice on how to improve them. I hope they are braver now and that giving speeches in front of others will not be a nightmare for them.

I hope the school year I spent in an American school improved my teaching skills. I think I am more patient now with students who have learning problems, and I am more appreciative of the diversity of the students. I now know I need to view them as individuals and respect their ideas and thoughts.

Moreover, I became more sociable and tolerant. I am thankful for my American friends, especially for Fritz Brune, a former Fulbrighter, who was my real mentor in Grants Pass. He helped me by giving advice on living and teaching there. He often invited me to his house, and he asked me how I was and tried to help whenever I had a problem. I think meeting a person who has had similar experiences can really help you to enjoy your stay in a foreign country.

All in all, I think spending a year in the United States made me a better person and a better teacher, as well. I hope that one day I will have the chance to visit the United States and my friends in the United States again.

Research at Harvard Law School György Kovács

Pázmány Péter Catholic University Faculty of Law and Political Sciences 1088 Budapest, Szentkirályi u. 28-30. http://www.jak.ppke.hu/ gyorgykovacs@hotmail.com

Boston University School of Law 765 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, MA 02215 http://www.bu.edu/

My Fulbright Experience in Boston gave me the chance to take courses in the field of international business law at Boston University and to conduct research related to my PhD dissertation at Harvard Law School in comparative constitutional law. Through the wonderful community of people in my LL.M program and the Massachusetts Fulbright Alumni Chapter I had the chance, for example, to go hiking in New Hampshire, to discover the beautiful nature of the east cost, and to visit Miami in February. I believe that this experience, along with the contacts and friendships gained during my stay in the United States, will be long lasting and very important in my life. I can see already how valuable it is to have an American LL.M diploma in the legal market and how much it will increase the quality of my teaching and my academic writing.

52

53

AY 2005-2006

1. Personal impressions Class Experience I took part in an LL.M class of 60 students with various nationalities. I was the only student from the Central East European region.

In general my first impression was that everything has been nicely prepared to warmly welcome us to the Boston University Campus and to the city of Boston.

The basic differences between Boston University and most European universities were the size of the classes and the interaction between the students and the professors. As opposed to university lectures in Hungary or in Germany (where I also had the chance to participate in an LL.M program and law classes), where 200-300 students attend the lectures, in Boston there was a maximum of 30-50 students assigned to each class.

As far as class participation is concerned, we were not only allowed but even requested to participate in the classes in various ways.

First of all, it was very common for us to receive homework assignments in each class, mostly arbitration and ordinary court cases, which we had to read by the next class. We discussed these cases in the classroom in such a way that any student could have been called upon by the professor; therefore, every student had to prepare all the cases for every class, which

54

Research at Harvard Law School I personally – as I am also a law lecturer – consider to be a very good way to make students think about the origin of existing law principles. The rules and principles of high courts and arbitration panels or of positive law itself were discussed in the classroom. But we always first read the case and then afterwards drew conclusions about the existing principles and legal rules on the basis of the rulings. This method also showed us how common law principles come into practice in the real world.

On the other hand, every student was asked to participate in the class even without being called on. The so called Socratic Method was the core element of the teaching methodology at Boston University. This method uses continuous discussion to force us, the students, to draw our own conclusions about the key points of existing legal principles. Our decisions regularly conflicted with the decisions made by various courts, which helped us to understand the advantages and disadvantages of the reasoning used by the different types of courts.

It was particularly advantageous to experience the unique national and cultural diversity of our LL.M class. To hear the opinions of students from China, India, France, Germany, Italy and various other countries, not only on important business law questions, but also on human rights questions, like abortion and the death penalty, was particularly impressive.

My personal impression was that the case studies brought us much closer to

the real life needs of people and that they helped us to prepare for the demands of a professional carrier.

1.1. Wonderful Boston!

I was in a very lucky situation in Boston, because I had the opportunity to participate in very colorful programs organized by the Massachusetts Fulbright Alumni Chapter and also by my LL.M program.

One of the most interesting programs was when the Massachusetts Fulbright Alumni Chapter organized a visit to Lowell National Historic Park. Lowell is one of the oldest industrial cities in the United States. It gets its name from a person who visited England to learn how the steam engine and other inventions from the industrial revolution work and who then brought those inventions back to the United States and implemented them into American industry.

The Massachusetts Fulbright Alumni Chapter also made it possible for us to meet with Hungarian Fulbrighters living in Boston and build up useful connections with them. This was a great opportunity.

Also, the LL.M program organized various programs, such as discovery competition in the city of Boston, a trip to Mount Monadnock, an international potluck dinner, and various international dinner events, where we always went to different restaurants to try out a new nation’s cuisine.

We participated in various programs with U.S law students, exchanging ideas with them.

Boston is really the most beautiful and

most European city in the United States, in my opinion. It is truly the best city for foreign students who would like to conduct thorough research in their own field of interest and at the same time experience America and get real first hand experience of it.

1.2. Massachusetts Fulbright Alumni Chapter

As I already mentioned, the Fulbright Alumni Chapter provided us with various opportunities to meet with other Fulbrighters in the city of Boston, from various universities and professional research fields, and to build a real and longlasting network with foreign Fulbrighters.

We attended programs such as the above mentioned visit to Lowell National Historic Park, but we also went to see an American “cabaret” at the Coolidge Corner Theater, which is located in a very typical part of Brookline, Massachusetts.

The Thanksgiving dinner we had with a Fulbright Alumna, who was also Dean of the Northeastern University, and her lovely family was also unforgettable.

Through the Massachusetts Fulbright Alumni Chapter we also had the chance to meet Hungarians living in Boston and to hear about the Hungarian network of students in Boston, who were studying at the world famous MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) or at Harvard or Northeastern University.

The Boston Hungarian network regularly met at a famous pub in Boston called “Big City” and was a very good opportunity to keep in touch with other Hungarians.

55

AY 2005-2006 1.3. Research at Harvard Law School

The opportunity to do research at the world famous Harvard Law Library while I was preparing my PhD thesis as well as to attend and present at a conference at Harvard were great experiences, and I personally profited a great deal from them.

2. Summary of research topic Impact of EU law on national constitutions – Shall constitutional courts go to Luxemburg?

Turning constitutional tolerance into cooperative constitutionalism

2.1. introduciton

The requirement that EU law has primacy over national laws, even over national constitutional laws, is not expressly stated in the founding treaties of the European Community, but it is established by the practice of the European Court of Justice.1 According to the case-law of national constitutional courts in Europe2 in the

Research at Harvard Law School last half century, it seems that certain countries are not willing to accept unconditionally the precedence of EU law over national laws, especially over national constitutional laws. In the practice of the constitutional judiciary of these countries, there is a core3 of national constitutional law, according to which the national constitutional courts are not ready to acknowledge the unconditional precedence of EU law. They claim that the development of the twentieth century shows4 that there is too much to lose by giving up those achievements in national constitutional law5 to a supranational entity, whose democratic credentials are questionable and whose acts cannot always be monitored by the member states.6 The national constitutional courts - which are meant to protect the coherence of member states’ legal systems, to guarantee the conformity of laws with the national

constitutions, and in this way to protect constitutional values and basic rights – preserve their rights in most of the member states to keep an eye always on the legislation of the EU. They want to make sure, on the one hand, that the EU does not exceed the limits of its competences, set up by the Founding Treaties and the accession agreements, and on the other hand they want to preserve an appropriate human rights protection level in the EU.7 In other words: national constitutional courts would not accept any derogation 7 According to the national sovereignty (accession) clause incorporated in the national constitutions of the member states, for example in Germany Art. 23. of the Grundgesetz, in Greece Art. 28. of the Greek Constitution, in France Art. 15 of the French Constitution, in Italy art. 11. of the Italian Constitution, national constitutional courts became entitled to keep an eye on the extent of the EU competence exercise and to interpret the national integration clause in the constitution, which confers right to the necessary extent according to the Treaty. This duty to interpret opens up the possibility of two different methodologies or approaches: the one is, or could be, that the

Stato, Italian Constitutional Court, 21 April 1989.

national constitutional court would hold the violation of EC law to be

3 In the light of the previously cited Solange and Maastricht decisions

the violation of the national constitution, as well (Italian Constitutional

of the German Constitutional Court and the Frontini judgment of

Court). That would be a “fair approach”: if constitutional courts are

the Italian constitutional court this core clearly extends to human

entitled to judge the appropriate method for EC competence exercises

rights (or with the German constitutional terminology: basic rights –

according to the integration clause, then it should also be entitled

Grundrechte) related questions.

under the same clause to ensure that the member state fulfils its

4 Further readings on this issue: Gustav Radbruch, Der mensch im

obligation to comply with EU law and the rules of EU membership.

1 Case 6/64 Costa v. ENEL (1964) ECR 585.

Recht; with a self critical perspective: Carl Schmidt as the former

The less cooperative and more restrictive approach in the sense of

2 See: Cases from the practice of the German and Italian

ideologist of the Nazi regime turns into the “living consciousness”

the self determination of the national constitutional courts and their

Constitutional Court and ECJ: Case No 2 BvR 52/71, Internationale

of the German nation

judicial role is such that they declare the enforcement of EU law to be

Handelsgesellschaft mbH v. Einfuhr-und Vorratsstelle für Getreide

5 German Grundgesetz

exclusively the responsibility of ordinary courts, and the review of the

und Futtermittel (Solange I.), German Constitutional Court, 29 May

6 Further readings on the so called democratic deficit of the European

national laws’ constitutionality as an exclusive responsibility of the

1974.; Case No 2 BvR 197/83, Wünsche Handelsgesellschaft (Solange

Community, derived earlier from the merely consultative role of the

constitutional court (Spanish and Portuguese constitutional courts).

II.), German Constitutional Court, 22 October 1986.; Case No 2 BvR

European Parliament, and nowadays also arousing the question,

What can a national court do when national law conflicts with EU law

2134/92, Maastricht Treaty 1992 Constitutionality Case, German

whether national governmental representatives are responsible

and the constitutional court denies the responsibility to resolve this

Constitutional Court, 12 October 1993.;.Case No 183/73, Frontini v.

for their national Parliaments regarding their vote in the European

conflict? The only way would be to disregard the conflicting national

Ministero delle Finanze, Italian Constitutional Court, 27 December

Council – see: recent German law passed, become effective after the

provision, which would be an unusual – and a very American way of

1973.; Case No 232/89, Fragd v. Amministrazione delle Finanze dello

ratification of the EU Constitution

exercising judicial power.

56

of the constitutional achievements of the past few decades in Europe. The list of the cases decided by the German or the Italian constitutional courts preserving their national constitutional rights and even risking direct conflict with EU law and EU institutions goes back to 1973.

There seem to be four ways (or escape paths) of possible development in this area in the next few years: 1) First, there are signs of a very promising trend, whereby national constitutional courts have a chance to refer questions about how to interpret the law to the ECJ whenever EU law is ambiguous or not clear. As the ECJ has already pointed out, the interpretation of “court” by the ECJ can be different from the interpretation provided under national law, therefore, even in unexpected situations the court might accept the referrals of national bodies, which apply EU law, but which are not considered to be “courts” according to national law. In this respect it is relevant that the ECJ has already accepted referrals from national constitutional courts several times, and that should encourage national constitutional courts to refer ambiguous cases to the ECJ. In other words, when interpreting the notion of “court” of Art. 234 of the Treaty of Rome, the findings of the ECJ are relevant to the constitutional courts’ views on the legal nature of national courts.

2) The cases of ambiguity or interpretive uncertainty regarding EU law should be distinguished from those situations where a given piece of EU law is clear, but also clearly in conflict with national constitutions. In these cases, how could the relevant provision of

57

AY 2005-2006 EU legislation be granted direct effect and direct applicability in national courts? A constitutional court would probably feel compelled not to apply the unconstitutional EU law provisions.8 The questions raised by these cases might be decided by constitutional courts along the lines of a model developed by the Hungarian Constitutional Court for international treaties: when an article in an international treaty is found to be unconstitutional9, the Court does not set it aside. Unconstitutional provisions remain applicable, so as not to violate the state’s international contractual obligations. The Court, however, orders the Parliament at the same time either to modify the constitution and bring it in line with international law, or to initiate negotiations to modify the international obligations of the state. If translated onto the field of EU law, this option would certainly provide a plausible solution.

It seems to be a different – and less confrontational - model than the one followed by the German Constitutional 8 It should be noted that regulations do not need national implementation and have a direct effect. Even if a national constitutional court would find a regulation to be unconstitutional, there is a lack of authority and it is not possible to strike down the EU regulation. The only thing to do is disregard the regulation, which would cause the breach of EU law by the member state. In the case of directives the situation is such that the implementing law might be struck down; however, that would also cause a violation of EU law by the member state. There is still the possibility of a constitutional bargaining between the national legislator and the constitutional court to find a way to implement the law nationally, which also satisfies the requirements of constitutionality.

9 Case No. 30/98, Europa Agreement 1994 Constitutionality Case,

Research at Harvard Law School Court in its recent judgment on the European Arrest Warrant.10 3) The liability of the member states for violating EU law is now, by a national court’s decision, a new field of application of the law of state liability11. The ECJ has recently applied the Francovich criteria in a case in which EU law was breached by a supreme judicial body. From this point on, state liability for constitutional court decisions does not seem implausible, even though it would certainly imply harsh confrontations between Luxembourg and the member states.12 4) The Treaty of Lisbon13 would make previously ambiguous fields of shared competence more clearly defined. The enactment of the Human Rights Charter of the EU and the accession of the EU to the ECHR would also leave less doubt in human rights fields and probably alleviate the worries of national constitutional courts. It is possible that in the future in Europe the cases of Solange I, Solange II, Maastricht and Bananenmarkt, Frontini, and Fragd will lose the importance they currently have.

Even if previously debated fields became clearer, the need for judicial cooperation in the European Union would remain highly relevant at a constitutional level. The ������������������������������������������������������������������ Case No 2 BvR 2236/04, Decision on the European Arrest Warrant

10 new member states of the European Union -- most of them in East-and Central Europe-- must now implement and apply a tremendous amount of EU legal materials. During this process, the attitude of national constitutional courts will be of fundamental importance.

2.2. the CONCEPtS of constitutional tolerance and cooperative constitutionalism

Both concepts are frequently used in the course of discussions on the future of European constitutionalism.

Constitutionalism means more than the written constitution, it involves also the values14 and the history of a nation.

The notion of constitutional tolerance in a European context is based on the essays and articles of Professor Joseph Weiler15. The notion of cooperative constitutionalism (der kooperative Verfassungsstaat16) has a German origin, and can be found primarily in the essays of Professor Peter Häberle.

The two concepts have a very similar meaning, but they approach the same problem from different angles. We shall first look at the meaning of the words in both notions. What is constitutionalism, and what is a constitutional state?

Constitutionalism refers to the values and the history of a nation’s constitutional law.

Constitutional state is sometimes used as the opposite of the nation state. The notion of constitutional state (Verfassungsstaat) opens up the way for international cooperation17 through articles in the constitution, which say for example that “the Republic of Hungary acknowledges the generally recognized principles of international law and secures the coherence of national law with international obligations.”18 It follows that both the national protection of constitutionalism and international constitutionalism together serve the goals of protecting human dignity on the international level.19 The same is true about cooperation at the European level.

The only difference is that European law is even more cogent than international law in the member states, and therefore cooperation is even more desirable.

Because individuals are, along with states and international organizations, proper subjects of public international law, the state in its relations with its citizens is fully bound by international treaty obligations.

The concept of nation state must yield to the notion of a constitutional state, which implies a necessarily cooperative attitude in international relations.

Generally, a Constitution sets up the basic structure of the state, lists the major ��������������������������������������� Peter Häberle, Rechtsvergleichung im Kraftfeld �������������� des Verfassungsstaates, Berlin, 1992. at p. 8 to compare with Peter

Act, German Constitutional Court, 18 July 2005. ����������������������������������������� Case C-224/01 Koebler v Austria [2004]

���������������������������������������������������� European Constitutionalism Beyond the State, ed. Weiler, J.H.H.

Häberle, Der kooperative Verfassungsstaat, in: ders., Verfassung als

������������������������������������������������������������������� In the American model of constitutional judiciary procedure, the

and Wind, Marlene Cambridge, 2003 at p. 3

öffentlicher Prozess, 1978, p. 407

supreme judicial body is responsible for the constitutional judiciary

��������������������������������������������������� European Constitutionalism Beyond the State, ed. Weiler, J.H.H. and

���������������������������� Art. 7.1 of the act nr. XX �������������������������������������� of 1949 on the Constitution of the

as well …[explain].

Wind, Marlene Cambridge, 2003 at pp. 15-23.

Republic Hungary; translation is my own.

���http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/index_en.htm

�� Peter Häberle, Der kooperative Verfassungsstaat, in: ders.,

��������������������������������������� Peter Häberle, Rechtsvergleichung im Kraftfeld �������������� des

Verfassungslehre als Kulturwissenschaft, 2. Auflage 1998, pp. 175-

Verfassungsstaates, Berlin, 1992. at p. 296.

Hungarian Constitutional Court, 1998.

58

59

AY 2005-2006 state organs and institutions, defines their responsibilities and mutual relationships, and includes a catalogue of basic rights which can be directly enforced and relied upon by people in the State’s territory.

Historically, constitutive elements have also been rules determining the relationship of the state with its citizens.

These elements belong to national constitutions – or to constitutional traditions, as in the case of England.

In the history of the European Community, the fear of losing control over important achievements in the field of basic rights has always been a major source of member states’ concerns.

Having the last word in matters of such constitutional importance is a symbol of moral commitment and national identity.20 Moreover, the ever increasing spheres of Community and -- later on -Union competences, formulated in vary vague terms in the TEC and in the TEU, were additional causes for member states’ concerns.

The traditional, political expression of such concerns goes as follows: national governments and European Parliament representatives have a strong obligation to represent the wishes of their constituencies. Last summer the German Parliament passed a law on the responsibility of the German government towards the German Parliament to make clear how they are going to vote in the

Research at Harvard Law School Council of the European Union and what interests they are going to represent there21. However, the European Court of Justice and the European Court of First Instance still have the “last word” when the interpretation of Community law is in question.

What consequences does this fact generate in national legal systems?

National constitutions are very stable laws in the sense that different guarantees were promulgated in different states to make them hard to change. The national judicial organs, which are responsible for reviewing the constitutionality of national law, play the main role in interpreting national constitutions. In case of a conflict between EU law and national constitutional law, national constitutional courts and judicial organs in charge of constitutional review must keep a cooperative attitude towards EU law. Most importantly – I argue - this cooperative attitude of constitutionalism in Europe between member states and the EU must be obtained in the relationship between national constitutional courts and the European Court of Justice in Luxemburg from both sides. The major option for this cooperation is the preliminary reference, which will be discussed in a separate section of this article.

Both Professor Weiler and Professor Häberle argue that the cooperative attitude is the only way for national constitutional law to operate on international and European levels.

���������������������������������������������������� European Constitutionalism Beyond the State, ed. Weiler, J.H.H. and Wind, Marlene Cambridge, 2003 at p. 15.

60

������������������� MISSING FOOTNOTE

The theory of constitutional tolerance advocates respect for the difference of that “distinct other”, and promotes the understanding of the reasons why member states are so keen on protecting national constitutional values. The theory of cooperative constitutionalism argues, as well, in favor of constitutional tolerance, but from the side of the nation states; these should understand that the common constitutional values are protected more effectively through an international level of cooperation.

The possible solution shall be somewhere in the middle: both the ECJ and the national constitutional courts shall be tolerant towards the opposite concerns. As the history of the European Integration has shown, integration can be pursued without the fear of losing national identity, and with no loss of national diversity. It shall be a main goal of national representatives in the European Parliament and Council to adopt legislation which serves as a guarantee of balance within the European legal system: when integration proceeds, and the ECJ requires member state courts and constitutional courts to comply with EU law, member states will not have to lose long established moral and constitutional values based upon the constitutions and upon the practice of the constitutional courts. The accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights, and further clarity in the allocation of Union’s and member states’ competences can be promising steps towards constitutional cooperation. At

the same time member states’ cooperation towards common constitutional and moral values will achieve not only a higher level of tolerance and mutual understanding between the member states and the central level in the EU, but a higher tolerance in Europe between the member states as well. That was the original aim of the “Founding Fathers” of the European Union, the originally intended benefit of the European Integration22. Before accusing the promoters of integration of being centralistic and intolerant towards member states’ concerns, we shall not forget, that after the collapse of the Nazi regime in Europe, a Unified Europe seemed to be the best way to avoid a new conflict between European countries and to promote mutual understanding among them. We can argue that the “Founding Fathers” did not see any threat that such integration meant losing important national constitutional values, but it seems less likely just a few years after the collapse of the centralist and intolerant Nazi regime. It seems more likely that when Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman dreamed of a common Europe, they considered the threat of losing national constitutional and moral values as an avoidable one as they attempted to serve the high aim of an “ever closer Union”.

That is what the integration history of the EU has shown us. Tolerance is never a lonely, one-sided approach; it always needs the effort of both sides to achieve some result, and in our research it shall �������������������������������������������������������������� Robert Schuman, Jean Monet had a dream on a united Europe with a higher tolerance.

61

AY 2005-2006 be a cooperative constitutionalism as discussed in this article. Supposing that member states’ representatives in the European Parliament and Council will properly represent member states’ interests in European legislation, there is a good chance of continuing further integration without losing important national constitutional and moral values.

According to the theory of cooperative constitutionalism, the age of nation states has, in a sense, expired. States are now cooperating with each other both politically and economically, because it is much easier to achieve human rights protection, peace and security, environmental protection, and prosperity through cross-border cooperation than within the borders of the nation state.

This switch from national isolationism to international cooperation requires a change in the concept of sovereignty, as well. With ever increasing international cooperation, member states confer a significant amount of their sovereignty rights to supranational institutions. It is important to emphasize that this conferral is revocable.23 As for the legislative technique, it requires an amendment to the constitution or a similar amendment like the one passed by the UK Parliament in 1976.

The formulation of the Europe Clause or �������������������������������������������������������������������� The draft EU constitution includes a paragraph on the withdrawal from the European Union. Withdrawal from EU membership used to be a subject of extended scholarly debate

62

Research at Harvard Law School Integration Clause or Sovereignty Clause in national constitutions can vary. Some member states prefer a broad formulation, others a stricter one. Some constitutions do not make explicit reference to the European Union, but rather to generic international organizations; this allows for a broader application of the clause.

Most of the Europe clauses do not mention the supremacy of EU law. This is to be expected, because – as mentioned above – even the primary law of the EU fails to proclaim the supremacy of EU law over national constitutions. Almost all the state constitutions establish boundaries and set specific goals which shall be served by the sovereignty conferral: such values can be the protection of human rights, rule of law, democratic government and social state, or the principle of subsidiarity.

A few member states’ constitutions do not mention any such requirements for sovereignty conferral.

Almost every constitution contains some provision regarding the appropriate level of sovereignty conferral. The ECJ shall judge such appropriateness on the basis of the TEC. At the same time the incorporation of the Europe Clause in the national constitution establishes for the national constitutional court the right to determine whether the applied EU law is within the conferred competences according to the Founding Treaties. This clause not only opens the door for EU law to enter national borders, and to become directly applicable in the member state territory, but it also prevents the national

legislator from legislating in areas of exclusive Community competence. The conferral of certain parts of national sovereignty to the EU, at the same time, confers the right of jurisdiction on national constitutional courts to determine whether the applied Community law is within the Community Competences.

These points of potential conflict: human rights, basic protection of rights, and the appropriateness of competence exercise, have been at the core of the docket of the constitutional courts in the last decades.

How can we argue for a higher level of cooperation between national constitutional courts and the ECJ? The most important tool for cooperation on the national level and European level in the judiciary is the preliminary ruling procedure, which allows for questions to be submitted to the ECJ regarding the interpretation of the Treaty. The sphere of participants in the preliminary ruling or, in other words, the notion of “court” according to Art. 234 TEC is interpreted by the ECJ. The ECJ has an autonomous power of interpretation in this field, and must pay no regard to the notion of court in national law. However, the determination of court of last instance is a matter of national law. The constitutional court in most of the European countries can clearly be considered to belong among courts of last instance. It could be argued that constitutional courts are not necessarily in every aspect courts of last instance; they often have the right to set aside a court’s decision or order a

new trial. In such cases the ECJ does not consider the decision making court to be a court of last instance. However, our view is that even in these cases the constitutional court’s decision as a matter of constitutional review and constitutional interpretation can not be overruled by any other judicial instance and in this respect the constitutional court needs to be considered to be a court of last instance.

To be sure, the strict judicial enforcement of the application of art. 234 by the member states, according to art. 226 TEC, might be counterproductive. It would be hard to use this tool against a member state to get the national constitutional court to be more cooperative, because the interpretation of the “Community law question” still remains in the autonomy of the member state’s court. Member states’ courts can only decide in which cases the interpretation of EC law is necessary to make a proper decision. A rigorous and relatively frequent application of art.

226 procedures against member states, like a “Sword of Damocles,” might also not be consistent with the principle of judicial autonomy, which is recognized Community-wide.

However, the application of art. 226 in the above cases is not a pure matter of theoretical discussion. With regard to constitutional courts the Commission once seriously considered initiating an art. 226 procedure against a member state because of the failure of its constitutional court to refer a preliminary question to

63

AY 2005-2006 the ECJ24. Furthermore, in another case the ECJ initiated an art. 226 process against a member state because of the failure of the national court to refer a preliminary reference.25 Recently, the ECJ also found in one case that the state could incur liability for breach of EC law due to the fact that a supreme judicial authority failed to refer a case to the ECJ.26 One possible answer to the question of why the violation of EC law procedure would rarely be used against those member states whose highest courts fail to refer a preliminary reference to the ECJ is that the Commission values highly a well-functioning cooperation between member state courts and ECJ27.

Based on the above reasons, the willingness of national courts, including constitutional courts, to cooperate with the ECJ is likely to be stronger if it comes from the confidence that it is the best way to build a common European constitutional law, and that nothing important can be lost in terms of human rights protection and national sovereignty, as well as national and moral constitutional values, by showing a more cooperative attitude towards the ECJ. Even if states could be found liable28 for the failure ��������������������������������������������������������������������� After the Solange I decision of the German Constitutional Court reported by Rudolf Streinz.

Research at Harvard Law School of their courts of last instance to refer a question to the ECJ, it would still be hard to prove that the interpretation of a given community question was on the one hand ambiguous in itself and on the other hand necessary for the decision of the given case. One decision of the Hungarian Constitutional Court has shown that if a case is unconstitutional in itself, the reference to the ECJ will not help, because the unconstitutionality is not linked to the interpretation of Community law. Even if the ECJ interpreted EC law in the case, the national implementing legislation would still remain unconstitutional for other reasons not linked to EC law.29 It is the responsibility of the national legislator to find the best possible and constitutional way of implementation or to harmonize the constitution with the international and European obligations of the country.

It can be also argued that the concerns of national constitutional courts towards EC law seem to become less immanent or threatening. As for the human rights concerns of the national constitutional courts, the accession of the EU to the ECHR is an important step to secure an EU wide human rights standard. It should also be noted that EU law has current references recognizing and respecting the ECHR and the practice of

the European Court on Human Rights30.

The explicit accession would imply also the jurisdiction of ECHR over the EU, which would make concerns, formulated by for example the German or the Italian Constitutional Court, less imminent31.

The competence areas become clearer in the Treaty of Lisbon than in the TEC; however, there still remains room for extensive interpretation by the ECJ, through the doctrine of implied powers and pre-emption.

The above described developments (on the one hand, that the ECJ has made it very clear, that if a court of last instance fails to fulfill its obligation to refer an EU law interpretation question to the ECJ according to Art. 234, their member states might face in the future an Art. 226 procedure; and, on the other hand, the adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon) will also definitely alleviate certain member states’ concerns regarding insufficient human rights protection in the EU or undue expansion of EU competences by the ECJ. Considering all these tendencies in the European Union, it becomes ��������������������� see: TEU Art. 6.2. ������������������������������������������������������������������� It should be noted that according to Art. 6.2 TEU, currently the human rights protection in the EU is still linked to the European

������������������������������������������������������������������ In the case of „Pingo – Hänchen”, BGH 11.5. 1989, I ZR 163/88,

Convention on Human Rights, because the TEU declares that the

reported by Meier, EuZW 1991, 11.

European Union „..respects fundamental rights as guaranteed

understandable why scholars are criticizing the less than cooperative attitude shown by certain constitutional court decisions32 and why they are claiming that only strong cooperation on the constitutional level can make the common building of EU law stronger. Constitutional tolerance in the sense of a mutual collaboration, not only from the ECJ, but also from the member states, would definitely promote further integration without losing important national moral and constitutional values.

The fact that there is no choice other than cooperation between modern constitution states becomes clear in light of the above described development of international and European law. The abstract requirement of constitutional tolerance, if incorporated in the practice of both the ECJ and the national constitutional courts, will result in a joint cooperative effort of member states’ courts, member states’ constitutional courts and the ECJ.

2.3. the notion of court and tribunal in the preliminary ruling procedure before the ecj

Art. 220 TEC declares the European Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance to be the authentic interpreters of Community law. Art. 234 TEC allows courts and tribunals to submit preliminary references to the ECJ, and courts and tribunals of last instance are obliged to

����������������������������������������� Case C-224/01 Koebler v Austria [2004]

��������������������������������������������������������������������� Judgement Nr. 17/2004. (V.25) ABh of the Hungarian Constitutional

by…” ECHR. This referred provision also says that the Community

������������������������������������������������������������������� see: e.g.: Commission’s response in this direction to a question

Court – the decision was criticized in the literature, for not being

also respects fundamental rights as they result from the common

������� See: Joseph H H Weiler, On the power of the word: Europe’s

cooperative and not referring the involved Community question for

constitutional traditions of the member states, and the general

Constitutional Iconography, lecture held in the Boston University

EU- und EG Vertrag (seit 2003), 248.

interpretation before the ECJ; see: András Sajó, Miért nehéz tantárgy

principles of Community law.

School of Law

��������������������������������������������������������� Even in the Köbler case the state was held not liable.

az együttműködő alkotmányosság? (in: FUNDAMENTUM, 2004/3. sz.)

in the European Parliament; cited by: Mayer (Hrsg), Kommentar zum

64

65

AY 2005-2006 submit preliminary references to the ECJ if there is a Community law question, which is not acte clair.33 The ECJ has the power of autonomous interpretation in determining which national authority is considered to be court or tribunal in the application of art. 234 TEC. National law on this issue will not be relevant.34 It is of particular importance to determine whether constitutional courts are allowed to refer preliminary questions to the ECJ. The ECJ interprets the notion of „court”, and the notion of „court of last instance” autonomously and slightly differently from national laws.35 The Italian Constitutional Law explicitly states that due to the fact that the Italian Constitutional Court is not a national court as referred to in Art. 234 (3) of the EC Treaty, it cannot refer matters for preliminary rulings.36 If consideration ����������������������������������������������������������������� see: eg.: CILFIT ���������������������������������������������������� v Ministro della Santa (1982) ECR 3415.: ECJ stated that “the correct application of Community law may be obvious”, when the preliminary reference shall not be applied. ��������������������������������������������������������������� 246/80 Broekmeulen v. Huisarts Registratie Commissie (1992)

Research at Harvard Law School of the constitutionality of an act involves a question concerning the interpretation of the EC law, the Italian Court shall refer the matter to the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling, before referring it to the Constitutional Court for a preliminary ruling.37 The ECJ considered the eligibility of arbitration courts to participate in the preliminary ruling procedure. It was held that it would conflict with the whole concept of arbitration (implying speed and privacy) to allow a preliminary reference.

However, permanent arbitration courts, which apply EU law and have a permanent and binding jurisdiction on the parties, can refer questions to the ECJ38.

According to the well established practice of the ECJ, tribunals, administrative bodies39 of last instance (eg. Unabhängige Verwaltungssenat in Austria), and even professional chambers (which in respect to the national law would be non-judicial organs) are entitled to submit preliminary

ECR 2311.

courts shall make first a preliminary reference and then it shall go

����������������������������������������������������������������� That is why the place of national constitutional courts in the

to the constitutional court. The question is still debated in Italian

judicial hierarchy, according to national constitutional law, is less

constitutional jurisprudence.

important. It can be determined if national constitutional courts are

������������������������������������������������������������������� Association of the Councils of State and Supreme Administrative

entitled to submit a preliminary reference before the ECJ.

Jurisdictions of the European Union, 18th Kolloquium regarding the

������������������������������������������������������������������������� See: the report of the Italian report in: Association of the Councils

Preliminary Ruling process in the Court of Justice of the European

of State and Supreme Administrative Jurisdictions of the European

Community, Helsinki, 20 - 21 Mai, 2002., http://193.191.217.21/

Union, 18th Kolloquium regarding the Preliminary Ruling process

colloquia/2002/gen_report_en.pdf, pp. 19-20.

before the Court Of Justice of the European Community, Helsinki, 20

�������������������������������������������������������������� 102/81 Nordsee v. Reederei Mond (1982) ECR 1095.; see also:

- 21 Mai, 2002., http://193.191.217.21/colloquia/2002/gen_report_

109/88 Handels-og Kontorfunktionaernes Forbund I Danmark v. Dansk

en.pdf; The question is debated in Italian constitutional law. The

Arbejdsgiverforening (1989) ECR 3199.

Italian constitutional court determined in its decision of 168/1991, that it reserves the right to make a preliminary reference. Ordinary

66

��������������������������������������������������������������������� 138/80 Borker (1980) ECR 1975.; see further: e.g.: C-24/92 Corbiau v. Administration des Contributions (1993) ECR I-1277.

reference to the ECJ. Advisory bodies, de facto endowed with the function to serve as the highest administrative courts, were considered to be a “court” in EC law40. Generally, the referring body can be considered to be a court if it fulfils the following criteria: the body is established by law, it is permanent, and not an ad hoc court, its jurisdiction and decisions are binding on the parties, and it applies the law. Further established requirements are independence and a territorial link within the European Union. The court also stated that policy reasons can inform the evaluation of these criteria, and that the presence of all elements is not necessary.

The interpretation of the notion of last instance by the ECJ is also slightly different from national laws; however, the state of national law must be given more weight by the ECJ in this matter. The ECJ considers the existence of remedies under national law in a very practical way, and against the decision of an administrative body not only administrative but also judicial remedies would be required.

The lack of adversarial elements in a process in the constitutional court and the high level of abstraction of the constitutional cases are relevant, when I decide whether national constitutional courts can or must submit a preliminary reference in case of doubt on the meaning of EC law. The necessity of the

interpretation of EC law in a case – as said above - remains a decision of the court of last instance and this fact reduces the practical importance of this rule.

The requirement of a common constitutional cooperation towards the building of a common constitutional order can be served in the best way through the cooperation of national constitutional courts and the European Court of Justice in the preliminary ruling process. Even though the ECJ stated that the notion of “court” in Art. 234 of the EC Treaty is to be interpreted autonomously at the EC level, it is still worthwhile to take a look at the regulation of such issues in selected member states.

The German Constitutional Court considers the possibility of referring an interpretation matter regarding the EC law in front of the ECJ as important41.

As it was said above, the „place” of constitutional courts in the judicial hierarchy, according to national law, is less important, due to the autonomous interpretation of the ECJ. However, it should be noted that under Austrian Constitutional Law42 there are three equal high courts: the High Court of Justice, ������������������������������������������������������������������ Association of the Councils of State and Supreme Administrative Jurisdictions of the European Union, 18th Kolloqium regarding the Preliminary Ruling process before the Court of Justice of the European Community, Helsinki, 20 - 21 Mai, 2002., http://193.191.217.21/ colloquia/2002/gen_report_en.pdf, pp. 19-20.

���������������������������������������������������������� 36/73 Nederlandse Spoorwegen v. Minister van Verkeer en

������������������������������������������������������������������� ���������������������������������������������������������������� Art. 82-94, 130 Austrian Constitution, especially Art. 92, 130,

Waterstaat (1973) ECR 1299.

137-148.

67

the Constitutional Court, and the High Administrative Court, which are the three highest courts in their own fields of responsibility. In the Austrian judicial system, the Constitutional Court is one of the three highest courts.

The Austrian Constitutional Court and the Belgian Cour d’Arbitrage successfully referred interpretation questions before the ECJ regarding the notion of court under Art. 234 of the EC Treaty. The possibility of the Hungarian Constitutional Court to submit preliminary references to the ECJ seems to be also clear.

The Austrian Constitutional Court has so far referred three matters to the ECJ. One was the question of energy transfer,43 the second was the entitlement of foreign workers to participate in labour union elections44 and the third one was the issue of processing personal data and the disclosure of data on the income of employees subject to control by the Rechnungshof (Central Auditing Authority.

“Florida’s Youthful Oldster”: Erno´´ Dohnányi in Tallahassee

Veronika Kusz

�������������������������������������������������������������� Nr. ������������������������������������������������������������ B 2251/97, Austrian Constitutional Court (C-143/99, ECJ) ���������������������������������������������������������������� Nr. ������������������������������������������������������������ W I-14/99, Austrian Constitutional Court (C-171/01, ECJ)

Institute for Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences 1014 Budapest, Táncsics u. 7. www.zti.hu kuszveronika@gmail.com

Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 32306 www.fsu.edu Adviser: Charles E. Brewer

As a PhD-student in musicology at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, I spent nine months in Tallahassee at Florida State University. The project of my Fulbright-grant was to study Erno´´ Dohnányi’s American period. For certain political and musical reasons, Dohnányi’s works have been long neglected by the Hungarian musical establishment. Recently, however, there has been a growing interest in his œuvre by American and Hungarian musicians and musicologists. In addition to the research connected to my PhD-dissertation, my main project was to process sources from the Dohnányi-house. This work was a cooperation of the FSU, the Dohnányi Archives of Budapest, and Dr. Seàn Ernst McGlynn, Dohnányi’s grandson and legal successor. The most important result of my stay was that as a symbol linking the American and Hungarian branches of Dohnányi-scholarship, Dr. McGlynn sent to Hungary with me 500 original Dohnányi-documents of great value and gave them on long-term loan to the Dohnányi Archives in Budapest.

68

69

AY 2005-2006

1. Introduction: Erno´´ Dohnányi and the problems of the Dohnányi-reception “Florida’s youthful oldster […], last of the great Romantic Age masters […] shows no signs of slowing down. He gestures frequently with hands like sculpted marble combining the restless energy of a college student with the quiet wisdom of 81 years devoted to composing, conducting and teaching music”1 – wrote an American music reviewer in 1958, in an absolutely admiring and appreciative tone generated by the old Dohnányi’s unlikely vigour. This remark was not unique for how the composer was received during his last period: the old maestro’s dynamism was praised with the most variegated and witty words by the American reviewers.

“Dohnanyi met all demands with confidence and composure, with a technical equipment practically equal to a 20-year-old’s”2 – wrote one critic. Someone else wrote: [Dohnányi is] “able not only to move about the stage with the fluttering vivacity of a young sparrow, but play with all the vigor and spirit of a keyboard artist beginning a career.”3 Others described the phenomenon as follows: “he threw aside his 76 years like an

Erno´´ Dohnányi in Tallahassee old cloak,”4 or: “Ernst von Dohnanyi turned a trick that few composers can do – sit down to a piece of music as an old man and finish years younger.”5 The admiration was not unjust: Dohnányi’s American period was very active in several aspects, although the composer was already 72 years old when he settled down in Tallahassee, in 1949. Until his death in 1960, he was a busy and popular Professor of Piano and Composition at the Florida State University Music School. He also visited other universities as a guest professor and lecturer (e.g. Ohio University and Kansas University). Additionally, he appeared on the concert stage more than 120 times during this decade. He gave concerts as a pianist, chamber musician, and conductor, too, mainly in smaller university towns.

He also had time to compose: nine pieces with opus number, and several minor compositions (without opus number, revisions, and unfinished works) were born in his workshop.6 Erno´´ Dohnányi (1877–1960) was one of the most important personalities in Hungarian music history in the 20th 4 William McMahon, “Enthusiastic Crowd Hails Unit’s Debut,” Atlantic City Press (April 10, 1953).

5 Seymour Raven, “Reiner Baton Masterful in Brahms 3rd Symphony,” Chicago Daily Tribune (November 6, 1954).

6 His major American works are: Concerto for Violin and

1 Clarence Jones, “Florida’s Youthful Oldsters: Last of the Romantic

Orchestra (op. 43, 1949–1950); Three Singular Pieces for Piano

Age Masters Not Slowing Down,” The Florida Times-Union

(op. 44, 1951); Concertino for Harp and Orchestra (op. 45, 1952);

(October 5, 1958).

Stabat Mater (op. 46, 1952–1953); American Rhapsody (op. 47,

2 Doris Reno, “Sevitzky, Dohnanyi Cheered: Concert Brings Ovation at

1953); Aria and Passacaglia for Flute (op. 48/1&2, 1958–1959);

Beach,” The Miami Herald (February 9, 1959).

revisions of Symphony in E major (op. 40, 1953–1956); Twelve

3 Felix Borowski, “Dohnanyi Plays With Brilliance,” Chicago Sun-

Short Studies for the Advanced Pianist (1950); Daily Finger

Times (November 10, 1954).

Excercises for the Advanced Pianist (1959–1960).

70

century. After his childhood in Pozsony (now Bratislava, Slovakia), he became a student at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, majoring in piano and composition. He was the first pupil of the institution who later became a worldfamous musician; his career as a piano virtuoso started in 1897. In his younger years, he lived in Vienna, and then moved to Berlin as professor at the Königliche Musikhochschule. During World War I, he came back to Budapest, the city that always served as a base for him, until his emigration in 1944. Beyond his career as a composer, pianist–dirigent, and professor, what made him the most prominent figure in Hungarian music was that he obtained the three leading positions in the 1930s.

He was elected musical director of the Budapest Philharmonic Society Orchestra in 1919, then he became director of the Music Division of the Hungarian Radio in 1931, and he served as director of the Academy of Music in 1934.

Holding leading musical positions not only meant power and exceptional authority for him, this later became the most problematic motif of his life. In spite of his several oppositions with the far right-wing political forces, his person and his activities became the target of accusations both in musical and political respects. In 1945, his name was published on a non-official list of war criminals.

Although he was never charged officially, the accusations spread quickly in the musical world, obstructing his post-war concert tours in Europe and creating difficulties for his success in the United States, too (mostly in the North Atlantic

cities). Similarly to other composers who emigrated, Dohnányi’s compositions were seldom played for decades in communist Hungary.

He was also criticized in musical – aesthetic and music-political – aspects.

He was accused of hindering Bartók, Kodály, and younger, modern composers.

His “conservative” compositional style and aesthetic view seemed to be also problematic for his contemporaries and for posterity, as well. Dohnányi’s style developed under the influence of late German romanticism. He was not interested in folk music, nor did he have other modern musical ambitions (dodecaphony, serialism); his works were isolated from the different musical trends of the first half of the 20th century.

As a consequence, in the first three or four decades following Dohnányi’s death, only one monograph was published (written by a slightly prejudiced Dohnányipupil)7 and – sporadically – some studies were published, as well;8 so his oeuvre was almost completely neglected by musicians and musicologists.

Nevertheless, Dohnányi-scholarship has come through an explosion-like development recently, 7 Bálint Vázsonyi, Dohnányi Erno´ (Budapest: Zenemu´´kiadó, 1971.

Budapest: Nap Kiadó, 2002).

2

8 See for example: Imre Podhradszky, “The Works of Erno´ Dohnányi,” Studia Musicologica VI (1964), 357–373; Mária Eckhardt, “Briefe aus der Nachlasse Ernst v. Dohnányis”, Studia Musicologica IX/3–4 (1967), 407–420; Sándor Kovács, “Dohnányi Erno´. Mu´´vészete és pedagógiai nézetei [Erno´ Dohnányi. His Artistry and Pedagogical Ideas],” in A Liszt Ferenc Zenemu´´vészeti Fo´ iskola 100 éve [100 Years of the F. Liszt Academy of Music] (Budapest: Zenemu´´kiadó, 1977), 184–198.

71

AY 2005-2006 due to the political changes in Hungary and the paradigm shifts in musicology.

After the 25-year-long silence following the publication of Vázsonyi’s book, the renewed scholarly interest in Dohnányi brought along with it the beginnings of systematic research into his work.9 Moreover, this research started almost at the same time in Hungary and the United States, so the two branches could inspire each other. The most important result of the international Dohnányi-scholarship was the foundation of the Dohnányi Archives in Budapest by the Institute for Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Hungarian Ministry of Education and Culture.

As a PhD-student in musicology and a Fulbright-grantee, I wanted to study Dohnányi’s American period and process its sources. Because of the circumstances detailed above, my project not only served my personal purposes, but the global purposes of the international Dohnányischolarship, too.

9 As the most important publications see: Deborah Kiszely-Papp, Erno´´ Dohnányi (Budapest: Mágus Publishing, 2001) = Melinda Berlász (ed.), Hungarian Composers no. 17 (also in Hungarian); James A. Grymes, Ernst von Dohnányi. A Bio- Bibliography (Westport, Connecticut–London: Greenwood Press, 2001) = Bio-bibliographies in Music no. 86; James A. Grymes (ed.), Perspectives on Ernst von Dohnányi (Lanham, Maryland–Toronto–Oxford: The Scarecrow Press, 2005); Márta Sz. Farkas (ed.), Dohnányi Évkönyv 2002 [Dohnányi Yearbook] (Budapest: MTA Zenetudományi Intézet, 2002); Márta Sz. Farkas, Deborah Kiszely-Papp (eds.), Dohnányi Évkönyv 2003 (Budapest: MTA Zenetudományi Intézet, 2004); Márta Sz. Farkas (eds.), Dohnányi Évkönyv 2004 (Budapest: MTA Zenetudományi Intézet, 2005); Márta Sz. Farkas, László Gombos (eds.), Dohnányi Évkönyv 2005 (Budapest: MTA Zenetudományi Intézet, 2006); Márta

Erno´´ Dohnányi in Tallahassee

2. Description of my research fields My work during the nine-month-long stay in the US was divided into three areas. The first and most obvious goal of my stay was to study the musical and non-musical sources in the Dohnányi and Kilényi­–Dohnányi Collections of the Florida State University’s Warren D. Allen Music Library for my dissertation.

The FSU Dohnányi-collection, the documents of which were originally collected from the composer’s university room and Tallahassee home (Tallahassee, Beverly Court 568), has been growing since the composer’s death. With the assistance of Dohnányi’s third wife, Ilona Zachár, as well as his step-grandson and legal successor, Dr. Seàn Ernst McGlynn, hundreds of musical sources, letters, documents, printed scores, books, scrapbooks and recordings were given to the university library.10 In 2002, sources of extraordinary value were also placed at the FSU; these were found in the home of Dohnányi’s student, friend, and colleague, Edward Kilényi.11, 12 At this time, almost 10 FSU, Warren D. Allen Music Library, Dohnányi Collection. It contains 10 original autographs, 24 scrapbooks, 20 books and studies, 40 DATrecordings, 300 printed scores and 500 letters. See: James A. Grymes, “The Ernst von Dohnányi Collection at the Florida State University,” Music Library Association Notes 55/2 (December 1998), 327–340. ���������������������������������������������������������������������� FSU, Warren D. Allen Music Library, Kilényi–Dohnányi Collection. It contains 15 original autographs, 2 scrapbooks, 10 books and studies, 120 concert programs, 500 letters and documents, photos. See: Deborah Kiszely-Papp, “A Dohnányi Erno´´ Archívum első éve [The First Year of the Dohnányi Archives],” in Dohnányi Évkönyv 2002, 5–23.

Sz. Farkas, László Gombos (eds.), Dohnányi Évkönyv 2006–2007

(Budapest: MTA Zenetudományi Intézet, 2007).

12 FSU, Dohnányi Collection: “Letters and Documents from Dr. Seàn

72

all the Tallahassee sources are accessible and can be studied at the Florida State University.

The second part of my task was to catalogue and arrange the remaining sources in the Dohnányi-house. This project was a common initiative of the Dohnányi Archives, the FSU, and Dr. McGlynn. Though a lot of documents had been taken out from the Dohnányi-house before my arrival, there were still many very important records: letters (to and from the Dohnányis), Dohnányi’s lecturesketches, hand-written dictionaries, calendars, official documents, ID documents, photos, and personal items.

Dr. McGlynn and I decided to divide the catalogued materials into three parts. A small portion of these remained in the house (personal books and objects, a few documents of little value, and photos to be restored). About 800 letters and documents, connecting closely to the American period – and mostly written in English – were deposited at the FSU. The remaining 500 documents, connecting to earlier periods and/or written in Hungarian, were sent back with me to Hungary and given to the Dohnányi Archives as a long-term loan by Dr. McGlynn.

The third area of my activity also belonged to the University. Although I was a visiting researcher at the FSU, the professors of musicology let me attend some classes, so I had the opportunity to experience American musical and musicological university training. Within Ernst McGlynn catalogued by Veronika Kusz 2005/2006.”

this context, I gave some short lectures on different topics in Hungarian music history (not only on Dohnányi’s works, but on the musical life of Hungary in the 1950s, the Bartók-reception in Hungary, and Bartók’s musical prosody). My lectures interested the FSU students and professors, and they greatly enhanced my professional discussions with them.

Since I found my American researches successful and since I had the opportunity to collect personal experiences about the circumstances of the special last scene of Dohnányi’s life, I decided to change the topic of my dissertation, and write about the composer’s American years (at the beginning of my Fulbright-year, my plan was to write about a much wider topic, Dohnányi’s variation strategies in his instrumental works). Dohnányi’s life, activity, and musical works in the period from 1949 to 1960 seem to me an area remarkably worth studying, for many reasons. First of all, its source-material was preserved in one unit, and I had the opportunity to study it thoroughly, thanks to my Fulbright-grant. Secondly, in my view, Dohnányi’s American compositions represent a very interesting and multicolored slice of his œuvre (regarding their genre, apparatus, style, and inspirational background), which makes this period very exciting for a musicologist. Thirdly, although the American period is special in many respects, I think that it can answer several questions about Dohnányi, which may remain hidden by studying only his earlier years. During these years, the composer had to get along in completely unusual surroundings and with a very

73

AY 2005-2006 different status: in an American small town, and not as a powerful leader or a world-famous and popular musician, but as a subordinate at a university and a pianist with restricted possibilities for performing concerts. His life was determined at the same time by the difficulties of his fight with the political accusations against him and by the need to adapt to his new environment, by necessity establishing a new existence. These factors contributed to a difficult situation and probably affected his compositional works, too. In my dissertation, I would like to give a thorough and objective survey of his American activities, and look for answers to such questions as: what does “American period” mean in Dohnányi’s oeuvre?; in what respect are his American compositions characterized by the compliance with his new situation, or how do they fit with his earlier style?; how did the hardships affect his creative work?; how did his financial–existential defenselessness determine his activities and how did his American years influence his posthumous reception?

3. Importance of musical sources The Dohnányi Collection at FSU has many different musical sources: autographs (sketches, drafts, and fair copies) and printed scores of Dohnányi’s and other composers’ works. These sources can answer many different questions for scholars. For example, the draft of his unfinished Requiem suggests

74

Erno´´ Dohnányi in Tallahassee that Dohnányi was deeply interested in religious genres in his last period (in contrast with his earlier years); his printed scores show us what kind of compositions were important for him in these years; the lecture-sketches reveal his formal conception of Beethoven’s piano sonatas; the revisions of his Symphony in E major tell us about his compositional method and thinking, etc.13 One of the most interesting pieces of the collection (in the “Kilényi–Dohnányi” part) is the unit of sketches, drafts and fair copies of the Passacaglia for Solo Flute, op. 48/2 (see facsimile).14 The piece, which is the ultimate opus of the oeuvre, draws attention to itself in many respects.

Firstly, it is quite unusual because of the choice of instrument, which is unprecedented in the oeuvre. (The choice had biographical reasons: Dohnányi made the acquaintance of the Ohio University President John Baker’s family in 1949, and they became good friends. One of Baker’s daughters, Ellie, was a flute-player – her playing and personality was the inspiration for Dohnányi’s last pieces for flute.) Secondly, its style is also curious: in spite of Dohnányi’s “conservative” attitude, the first half of the passacagliatheme forms a dodecaphonic row (Reihe). Though the entire piece is not dodecaphonic, the passacaglia-structure 13 About the revisions of his Symphony in E see: James A. Grymes, “Compositional Process in Dohnányi’s Symphony in E Major, op. 40,” in Grymes (ed.), Perspectives on Ernst von Dohnányi, 139–164.

14 The illustrations are published here with the kind permission of Dr. McGlynn and the FSU Warren D. Allen Music Library (photo) and the FSU Warren D. Allen Music Library (facsimile).

(repeating, closed sections) and the other twelve-tone sections of the piece have a curious, atonal, modern, not Dohnányilike sound and character to them. On the other hand, the piece is closed by a definitely tonal code section, which makes the atonal antecedents irrational and odd.

Its significant source-material is also quite exceptional (since only a few musical sources remained from Dohnányi), but its existence not only increases the mysteriousness of the piece, but helps to answer some questions, as well. First of all, it suggests a struggling compositional process. During the compositional process, the composer seemed to be dissatisfied for a long time with connecting the variations, and he had difficulties in making the piece a continuous progress. He also had problems with the creation of the largescale form: the order of the variations seems to be almost accidental, and the form is inconsistent and static. On the other hand, although the composition is built of eight-measure-long units until the recapitulation, this has nothing to do with dodecaphony, first because the passacaglia notes are even left out of some variations, so they are not of basic importance, and secondly because Dohnányi obviously found pleasure in establishing different tonal variants (it is clear from the source material that he also sketched the harmonization of the theme). Because of these and other aspects, it seems that Dohnányi was experimenting, but the test was not really successful. It is a question, however, whether the composition was really intended to be “successful” in this sense, or if Dohnányi let his musical

thoughts abandon the atonal theme for a more familiar style, suggesting that dodecaphony was not an option in his viewpoint, at least, not for him. The basic element of the composition, the obvious and conscious gag that Dohnányi ends a twelve-tone, serious passacaglia with a tonal and immoderate coda, should definitely not be contested. But it might be complemented by the observation that maybe he did not consider the more upto-date compositional techniques only with negligence, and that his worries about the reception of his œuvre after his death left their mark on his way of thinking.

So, according to the source material (and other musical characteristics) of the piece, it seems that, beyond the fact that the Passacaglia for Flute is an obvious flip against the modern music, it also shows – consciously or not – the old composer’s struggles.15

4. Importance of non-musical sources Letters can also provide additional material to answer certain questions in connection with Dohnányi’s last period.

In the following, it is demonstrated by some selected passages how our knowledge about a creative life-period can be enriched with personal and official letters.

The Dohnányis’ settlement in the US was not without difficulties in financial, 15 This is a summary of my study on the Passacaglia, see: “Pure music? Dohnányi’s Passacaglia for Flute (op. 48. nos. 2),” Studia Musicologica 48 /1–2 (2007), 79–99.

75

AY 2005-2006 political and existential respects, as well.

Ilona von Dohnányi’s touching letter to violinist Endre Zathureczky, who was considering emigrating from Hungary after the revolution in 1956, is a document expressing the personal tone of their struggles: “God is my witness, I really would like to give you good advice, but who sees the future, who knows what’s best? I can say one thing with complete certainty: don’t get excited, try to stay completely calm. Starting a new life needs a lot of moral strength [...] You will need every single bit of your nervous system to build up a new existence. Regarding the question, whether you would go back to Hungary, even the day before yesterday, I would have hesitated to advise you anything, because I don’t know how you can take root in a strange country, and how much you appreciate things you had at home. When we got away from Hungary, we didn’t have another choice [...] But the first years were horrible, the persecution here, etc.

But now, I can say, we are satisfied and happy.

We are not rich [...], but we have a home that we love, we have friends, Americans, who took us into their heart, and who are faithful to us.

We love our new homeland.16 16 “Isten látja lelkem, hogy szeretnék valami nagyon jó tanácsot adni, dehát ki láthat a jövo´´be, és ki tudhatja igazán, hogy mi jó? Legfeljebb egyetlen egyet mondhatok teljes bizonyossággal – ne izguljon, próbáljon teljesen nyugodt lenni. Mert új életet kezdeni magában véve is nagyon nagy lelkiero´´t igényel [...] Idegrendszerének minden porcikájára szükség lesz, ha valóban új életet akar felépíteni. Arra

Erno´´ Dohnányi in Tallahassee Dohnányi’s American net of relationships can also be mapped by his correspondence. It seems that he felt it important to be in touch with his family in Hungary; with Hungarian emigrants; with Americans whom he already knew in Hungary; and with his university colleagues. A significant amount of the correspondence is letters from his students, who wrote diligently to their FSU professor after leaving Tallahassee.

They discussed different musical and personal problems with Dohnányi, and they reported on their lives and on their professional problems. They often asked questions (e.g. regarding their concert programs, or literature about a paper), and they wrote about concert experiences.

The topics of the letters point to Dohnányi’s thoughts and musical ideas, as well. A student of his, for example, asked his advice for the compilation of her concert program, and her question refers – indirectly – to the consciousness of Dohnányi’s own program-concept, and to his interest in the variation form and strategies. She wrote the following: “I have been asked to serve on a panel for the East Central Division of the Music Teachers National Association convention in February. […] I am going to play three variation pieces, all built on the same variation principle – The King’s Hunt by Bull (which I did on the seminar), La Campanella, and one of Barber

vonatkozólag, hogy visszamenjen-e, talán tegnapelo´´tt még haboztam

Excursions. Of course, I expect to do a little speaking along with the playing. What do you think of that?”17 One can learn a lot about Dohnányi’s reputation and popularity from his students’ letters. Janet Sitges’ farewell letter is a good summary of their gratitude and warm feelings: “I shall enjoy my year here – but I can hardly explain my feelings about leaving you. To say the very least, it is upsetting. My two years of study have been heaven for me – but you already know that, I am sure. You couldn’t help but have felt that all this time. I can scarcely use so weak a term as »thank you«… it doesn’t nearly express my real appreciation.”18 Not only were his students were passionately fond of him, he received many letters from people unknown to him. They asked different questions about music and pianism; or they asked for his signature and photo; or they simply assured him about their appreciation.

In some exceptional cases, Dohnányi himself confessed his musical ideas in his letters, too. He did not like to speak or write about his works or his aesthetics.

His opinion about the younger generation of composers, expressed in his letter to FSU Dean Karl Kuersteiner, while discussing the conditions of his position at the university in August of 1949, is a very valuable document. Dohnányi wrote: “There are nowadays very-very few composers in the whole world who should be

allowed to compose. […] Now I don’t mind »modernity« if the composer knows his »business«, but generally he knows nothing, generally he hardly can harmonize decently a simple melody not to speak of his unability to solve the easiest task of counterpoint.

Here most probably I shall want an assistant teacher; at least my demand will be, that the student is well acquainted with the rules of harmony and the elements of counterpoint.”19 He rarely wrote about his feelings about his compositions. Because of this kind of timidity, his letter to Ellie Baker about the Passacaglia for Flute is exceptional, and affirms our interpretation, detailed above, that this short and odd piece is not only a joke, but also expresses deep feelings.

He wrote: I must confess that I love that Passacaglia very much and I would have been disappointed if you would not like or would have found it impossible to play. And that you get fond of it the more you play, it gives me still more satisfaction.20

5. McGlynn-documents to Budapest As I mentioned above, at the end of my American year, more than 500 original Dohnányi-documents from Dohnányi’s house were sent to Budapest with me

by Dohnányi’s step-grandson and legal successor, Dr. Seàn Ernst McGlynn.

The group of documents, which is now

volna valamit is tanácsolni; ugyanis nem tudhatom, hogyan tud

Nem vagyunk gazdagok [...] de van otthonunk, mit szeretünk, vannak

gyökeret verni idegenben, s mennyire értékeli mindazt, amit odahaza

barátaink, amerikaiak, kik szívökbe fogadtak, s kik hu´´ségesen állnak

17 Catherine Smith’s letter to Dohnányi, October 21, 1955 (FSU,

����������������������������������������������������������������������� Dohnányi’s letter to Karl Kuersteiner, April 8, 1949 (FSU, Dohnányi

bírt. Mikor mi eljöttünk, nem volt más választásunk [...] Viszont

az oldalunkon. Szeretjük az új hazánkat.” Ilona von Dohnányi’s letter to

Dohnányi Collection: “McGlynn–Kusz letters,” no. 652).

Collection: “McGlynn–Kusz letters,” no. 262).

irtózatosak voltak az elso´´ évek, az üldöztetés itt is, amiro´´l tud, stb.

Zathureczky, January 29, 1957 (FSU, Dohnányi Collection: “McGlynn–

18 Janet Sitges’ letter to Dohnányi, August 8, 1955 (FSU, Dohnányi

20 Dohnányi’s letter draft to Ellie Baker (FSU, Kilényi–Dohnányi

Most azonban azt mondhatom, hogy elégedettek és boldogok vagyunk.

Kusz,” no. 707).

Collection: “McGlynn–Kusz letters,” no. 460).

Collection, “Letters 1958–1960,” no. 64).

76

77

AY 2005-2006 catalogued and ready for scholarly use in the Dohnányi Archives, consists of eight parts: 1) Dohnányi’s letters (1939– 1959; 54 items); 2) Ilona von Dohnányi’s letters (1941–1948; 31 items); 3) Mátyás Dohnányi’s (composer’s son) letters (1942–1944; 17 items); 4) letters from Dohnányi’s sister (1949–1959; 175 items) and documents sent by her (1889–1959; 56 items); 5) letters from Ilona von Dohnányi’s parents (1954–1959; 81 items); 6) Dohnányi’s calendars (1938–1959; 21 items); 7) the Dohnányis’ IDs, passports (1936–1950; 11); 8) a scrapbook (1945– 1946; 31 items); 9) photos (1946–1960; 36 items). All the documents are of extreme value; their publication and a study about their importance are in progress.

What I consider the most important result of my American research is not what I accomplished, but the noble gesture by Dr. McGlynn to give these sources to the Hungarian Dohnányi Archives. This event is very significant for the Dohnányi-scholarship in at least

three respects. Firstly, the material is mostly connected to Hungary and written in Hungarian, so Hungarian scholars can use it better and more effectively.

Secondly, the collection of the Dohnányi Archives in Budapest has relatively few original documents, so the value of the collection was remarkably increased by the McGlynn-sources. Finally, Dr. McGlynn’s gesture can be regarded as a symbolic one, linking American and Hungarian Dohnányi-research. It not only strengthens Hungarian scholars’ relationship with Dohnányi’s successors in Tallahassee, but it is an assurance of the future cooperation of musicologists and librarians from the two countries. I also consider it to be the most important result of my project, because helping the mutual understanding between Hungary and the US is the final goal of a Hungarian Fulbrighter.

A Lexical-Functional Approach to Inflectional and Word Order Phenomena in Hungarian and English

Department of English Linguistics University of Debrecen Debrecen, P.O. Box73. H-4010 Hungary http://ieas.arts.unideb.hu laczkot@delfin.unideb.hu

Tibor Laczkó

Department of Linguistics Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-2150, USA http://linguistics.stanford.edu Adviser: Prof. Thomas Wasow

In this paper I give a brief account of my second Fulbright research grant to Stanford University.

After shortly introducing myself and the theoretical model I use, I explain my Stanford orientation and also the reason why I had two host institutions practically: I worked on two parallel projects. Then I discuss the most significant aspects of both the professional-academic and the social-cultural dimensions of this prestigious grant. I point out that I consider the grant very successful and rewarding in both dimensions. I accomplished my goals, and one of the projects I started there is going to be continued within the framework of international collaboration. On the basis of our experiences, I also argue that it is worth considering taking dependents with oneself. All my family members benefited greatly from accompanying me. Towards the end of the paper I show a few photos highlighting some memorable moments of the trips we had the chance to make. In the Appendix I give some practical advice to prospective grantees.

78

79

AY 2005-2006

1. Introduction I was awarded a senior research grant to Stanford University for the academic year 2005/2006. In this paper, I set out to highlight its most significant and most memorable aspects. In the first section, I briefly introduce myself, my research and explain why my target university was Stanford. In the second section, I discuss the professional side of this grant coin (my projects, my host institutions, my results and future plans). In the third section, I elaborate on the other, nonprofessional side (nonacademic activities, social and cultural experiences, trips, etc.). This is followed by some concluding remarks and acknowledgements in the fifth section.

In the Appendix I offer some tips to colleagues considering applying for a Fulbright grant.

Approach to Inflectional and Word Order Phenomena foreign languages. I do my research in the framework of Lexical-Functional Grammar (henceforth: LFG). I was one of those two Hungarian linguists who introduced LFG in Hungary and I am still one of the major practitioners of this model in this country. At the department, I teach introductory and advanced courses on generative grammar in general and LFG in particular, both at the undergraduate and at the graduate levels.

1.2. On LFG

LFG is one of the most significant alternative theories within Noam Chomsky’s generative linguistic paradigm.

It was developed in the late 1970’s. It is a non-transformational, non-derivational,

1.1. About myself

I am a linguist in the position of associate professor at the Department English Linguistics, University of Debrecen and currently (as of July 2007) dean of the Faculty of Humanities. My main research areas include Hungarian and English syntactic, morphological and morphosyntactic phenomena with especial attention to noun phrases, nominalization, possessive constructions, attributive participles and bracketing paradoxes. I am also interested in the teaching of Hungarian and English as

80

parallel representational model, with a very powerful lexical component. It has the following architecture.

In its syntactic component, LFG assigns two structures to every well‑formed sentence of a language: constituent structure and functional structure. The constituent structure is designed to capture ‘surface’ constituency relations, that is, the actual arrangement of the elements of sentences,

and it is phonologically interpreted. The functional structure represents the basic grammatical relations in the sentence, and it is semantically interpreted.

Constituent structures are designed to encode language‑particular phenomena, whereas functional structures are intended to capture grammatical generalizations across languages. LFG provides an excellent tool for explicitly and systematically capturing regular similarities and dissimilarities between typologically diverse languages, e. g., English and Hungarian. Moreover, LFG is readily and successfully implementable computationally.

Let me briefly illustrate the relationship between constituent structure and functional structure through a very simple English vs. Hungarian contrast.

Consider the following examples.

As (2a) shows, in English spatial relations are typically expressed by prepositional phrases (PrPs). By contrast, for this purpose Hungarian employs either postpositional phrases (PoPs) as in (3a) or (locative) casemarked noun phrases (NPs) as in (4a).

Therefore, the constituent structures represented in (2a), (3a) and (4a) are radically different. However, intuitively we feel uniformity characteristic of all the three construction: the very same grammatical relation is expressed in three different ways. This sameness is formally and explicitly captured at the functional level. (5) is the generalized, uniform functional structure related to all the three constructions. The essence of this treatment is that in the relationship in question it is the

81

AY 2005-2006 preposition, postposition or locative caseending that serves as the predicate of the construction taking the NP or (in the case of the locative suffix) the rest of the NP as its object argument. The simplified lexical forms of these predicative items are given in (2b), (3b) and (4b).

1.3. The Stanford connection

My first visit to Stanford was within the framework of a Soros Foundation grant to a six-week Linguistic Institute in 1987.

There I attended an LFG course taught

by Prof. Joan Bresnan, one of the two founders of the theory. This experience gave me dual motivation: on the one hand, it convinced me that I had chosen an ideal linguistic model for my research interests, and, on the other hand, it urged me to opt for Stanford as my host institution in future research grant applications.

Incidentally, the other founder of the theory, Prof. Ronald Kaplan is also partially affiliated to Stanford University, so no wonder that this university together with Palo Alto Research Center (PARC for short), where Ronald Kaplan and his colleagues launched an international, LFG-based, computational linguistic research project in 1994, has been the most significant intellectual centre for the LFG community ever since the theory was developed.

I received my first research grant to Stanford from the Soros Foundation for the academic year 1991/92. It was very useful, and the research I carried out there provided the basis for my C.Sc. (“candidate of science”) dissertation defended in 1994. Seven years later I was awarded my first Fulbright research

82

Approach to Inflectional and Word Order Phenomena grant to Stanford for the academic year 1998/99. It also proved to be extremely fruitful: it efficiently paved the way for my habilitation dissertation, which I defended in 2000. Another seven years later I was overjoyed to receive my second Fulbright research grant to Stanford (2005/06), the grant this paper is about. On the basis of these dates and facts, the following scientific generalization suggests itself: my lucky number is seven with respect to my getting a research grant to Stanford University. Of course, it remains to be seen whether this series will continue in the future or not.

position. Stanford University and PARC provided me with an outstanding combination of ideal conditions and facilities for achieving my research goals.

I had an office at each, and I had a chance to benefit from the best aspects of both of them. For instance, Stanford has a fantastic library, and PARC provided me with ideal computer and (other related) facilities for my computational linguistic research project. My hosts and colleagues were exceedingly friendly and helpful, providing a special, very pleasant atmosphere for me.

2. The professional side of the grant coin

At Stanford, I conducted a seminar discussion in December 2005, and I gave a public lecture on part of my research there in May 2006. At PARC, I participated in a one-week workshop in March 2006, and gave two presentations.

I wrote the first draft of three chapters for a book (about 140 pages) and the final versions of four papers (after the reviewing process) submitted for publication (two of these as a co-author). At PARC, with very efficient help from the colleagues there, I started a computational linguistic research project, which is part of the large scale international research program launched at PARC in 1994 and organized and developed by PARC ever since.

Within this new project, I worked on implementing my theoretical research findings.

Professionally, I benefited from this grant enormously. In addition to what I accomplished, I carried out extensive library research, and I audited four courses

2.1. Two projects and two host institutions My primary goal, specified in my research proposal, was to work on several chapters of a book at the Linguistics Department of Stanford University. In the meantime, while preparing for the grant, I received an invitation from PARC to start a new project in the framework of their international computational linguistic program called ParGram (Parallel Grammars) which is based on the computational implementation of LFG. Naturally, I was more than happy to accept this invitation. So PARC became my other (unofficial) host institution, and starting the Hungarian ParGram project became my other major research objective.

Given that practically I had two host institutions, I was in an extremely favorable

2.2. Professional activities, results and future plans

taught by my colleagues at Stanford. In this way I also learnt what the most topical issues in my field are. On these grounds, I am in the process of upgrading some of my advanced course materials, especially at the graduate level at my home university.

Furthermore, I plan to offer a new course based on what I learnt at PARC and also on a course taught at Stanford by Prof.

Kaplan and Prof. Tracy King (who was my host at PARC).

After my return to Hungary, I organized a research group for the ParGram project.

We plan to collaborate with PARC on a long-term basis. We applied for funding to OTKA (Országos Tudományos Kutatási Alapprogramok ‘Hungarian Scientific Research Fund’) and received financial support for four years, starting in July 2008.

3. The other side of the grant coin 3.1. Enrichment activities

I and my wife took part in most of the enrichment program activities (which included lectures, receptions, a baseball game in San Francisco, etc.). We greatly appreciated the variety and absolutely friendly atmosphere of these events in the international spirit of mutual interest and understanding. We had plenty of opportunities to meet fellow Fulbrighters and their families from a whole range of countries and to discuss all kinds of professional and topical issues with them or to simply chat with them about interesting every-day aspects of our lives.

83

AY 2005-2006 We were grateful to the enrichment team for carefully planning and organizing these memorable programs. We and some of the people we met on these occasions mutually invited one another to our place for a dinner. And this immediately leads us to the next section on some social aspects of my grant.

3.2. Social aspects

Given that this was my third research grant to Stanford University, we enjoyed the social benefits of the previous two. We had quite a few friends there (colleagues at Stanford and at PARC and other people we had met accidentally and made good friends with), so finding temporary accommodation, then getting excellent and reasonable accommodation in the spirit of friendship, getting a car temporarily for the initial period, getting shopping advice etc. were invaluable benefits from my previous grant periods.

We invited each other to dinners, hikes and sporting events, and this gave us several opportunities to experience and learn about each other’s cuisines, discuss similarities and differences between the two countries with respect to economic, social and political matters.

Practically all our friends who we invited to dinner admired those aspects of Hungarian cuisine that my wife, Edit, presented for them. The dishes we offered (of course, not all of them on the same occasion) included (but were not limited to) gulyásleves, töltött káposzta, töltött paprika, gombás-tejfölös csirkepörkölt, túrós csusza, pogácsa, palacsinta, and somlói galuska. Here I do not translate these names into English for the following

84

Approach to Inflectional and Word Order Phenomena reason. If a non-Hungarian knows these dishes, (s)he does not need translations. If a non-Hungarian is not familiar with them then I wish to appeal to their curiosity and to whet their appetite by withholding the translations.

We met new people as well who were also extremely open, friendly and helpful.

Let me mention just one example of this. One of my colleagues’ friends went abroad for several months (DecemberJuly). They generously let us use their car during that period (and they didn’t even mind the paperwork this meant, because officially the car had to be gifted to us for insurance purposes, not to mention their unconditional trust in us, as legally the car became our property, and of course, at the end of the period we gifted it back).

Needless to say, this was an enormous help, and we appreciated it greatly.

From December onwards we had two cars at our disposal, which is more than simply convenient for a family of four in California.

Over the years, some of these friendly relations have grown into very close friendships: whenever the occasion arises we visit each other either in the US or in Hungary, and besides this we are in touch on a regular basis via email or Skype. I hasten to add that not infrequently the Fulbright Program has the most welcome “side-effect” of bringing Hungarian scholars and their families together. In 2005, our gain in this respect was Zita Zoltay Paprika (and her family) from Corvinus University of Budapest, who had a grant to Sacramento. We met on several official enrichment occasions, and we have been on friendly terms ever since.

3.3. With 3 dependents

Just like on my previous grant, this time, too, I was accompanied by my family: my wife, Edit, and two sons: Péter (21) and Gábor (19).

It was not easy for the boys to find suitable and affordable (community) college level education. When 7 years before we went to Stanford on my first Fulbright grant, the situation was much more favorable: the boys went to middle school, which was free of charge practically, but higher education is a different matter.

Eventually the boys managed to find one year certificate programs the completion of which, we hoped, would be very useful for them after their return to Hungary and to their Hungarian university studies: Peter studied bioinformatics and Gábor majored in international business studies at Foothill College. Naturally, in the case of their tuition fees we had to rely on our own financial resources from Hungary, but we think this was a worthy investment on the one hand, and it was very important for all of us that the family should not be split up for a whole year, on the other. It is also a significant factor to consider in such a situation that if one leaves a child or two behind then their expenses for a year in Hungary are not negligible at all.

The boys were very satisfied with both the format and the content of education at the college. Their only complaint was that, this being a community college, practically there was no student social life on campus.

Our investment in the case of the boys seems to be paying off already. Péter got a summer internship to the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, so he returned to

Hungary two months later than we did, and he was invited back to Nebraska for the following summer as well, and he was pleased to return (and the invitation is still open). Gábor, whose major at Corvinus University of Budapest in Hungary is international studies, had a few courses he completed at Foothill College accepted at Corvinus, and in the States he acquired skills that he is making very good use of.

My wife’s main task was to organize our family’s every-day life, including her performing the role of our regular designated taxi-driver during the first couple of months, when we had one car and several different destinations (very often simultaneously). She also frequented the local library. In addition, the International Center on campus organized a whole variety of activities for dependents of visiting scholars (Friday morning coffees, international movies series, international cuisine, various trips and courses), and my wife really enjoyed these occasions and she benefited from them greatly. She also made her own contribution: she gave a presentation on Hungary and she also organized a Hungarian cuisine event, that is, she taught her fellow dependents how to cook two popular Hungarian dishes.

3.4. Trips

In addition to short week-end trips in the Bay Area, during the winter and the spring breaks I and my family had a chance to travel around a bit (the Monterey area, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe). All of these trips were very memorable. However, the highlight was Hawaii. We found a very reasonably priced package tour offer.

85

AY 2005-2006 This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance and experience for all of us. Exceedingly pleasant and exotic. Below are some photos we took on these trips.

4. Concluding remarks and acknowledgements On the basis of my impressions during two Fulbright grants I can safely make the following generalization. The Fulbright name is very prestigious: it is widely recognized and highly appreciated. It is an honor to belong to this community.

I consider the Fulbright Program a gold(en) coin. (A little pun: launching this program was a fully bright idea.) It has a solid academic-professional side, and it also has a massive social-cultural side. Both are exceedingly and equally important, and the merit of the program is that it ideally combines these two vitally indispensable aspects of international

86

Approach to Inflectional and Word Order Phenomena collaboration and mutual understanding.

I also had a chance to advertise the program in my modest way. At Stanford, in October 2005 I was interviewed by Hungarian Television for a three-episode program entitled Amerikába mentek (‘They Went to America’). This gave me a chance to talk about my research at Stanford and about the Fulbright Program, and to encourage Hungarian colleagues and students to apply for grants.

In sum, the research grant I received for 2005/06 was a great success for me professionally, socially and culturally.

My family members also benefited from it tremendously. For our two sons, the most important gain was their pleasant and professionally rewarding encounter with and immersion in American higher education at the college level. My wife had ample opportunity to familiarize herself with various aspects of American life (through organized programs, TV, books and newspapers).

We are ever so grateful for this

fantastic Fulbright experience! Many thanks to the Fulbright Program for the framework and the grant, to my hosts and host institutions for their remarkable hospitality, to the Hungarian-American Fulbright Commission for their extremely efficient assistance, and to the Fulbright enrichment team in San Francisco for enthusiastically organizing a variety of high quality programs.

Appendix: Some advice for prospective grantees from my perspective

Below is a list of tips based on my experiences primarily for those Hungarian colleagues who are considering applying for a Fulbright grant (in practically any category), but several of these points may be of interest to an ordinary reader as well,

given that they highlight some additional (mainly practical) aspects of my grant life that I did not discuss above.

1. It’s very useful if you can find a host institution for yourself and you can include it in your application in general and in your research proposal in particular. You may need to work on this several months prior to your application.

2. Arranging accommodation before departing from Hungary via the internet is possible, reliable and hassle-free. But it also makes a lot of sense to stay at a cheap motel for a couple of nights (or with a friend or colleague, if possible) and look around for accommodation then. I did both (on different occasions) and both worked out.

3. Unless there are other preferences

87

AY 2005-2006

In Defense of the Public Interest or considerations, it is usually convenient to open a bank account at the university’s credit union if there is one (it always has a branch on campus, it treats its members in a friendly way etc., and mine, for instance, is outstanding at e-banking). Getting a Visa card is normally faster and easier at these credit unions.

4. You can save a lot of money by renting an unfurnished apartment. You can get everything you need at garage sales (and also there is usually a lot of fluctuation on campus, and therefore, quite a few moving sales are advertised). Naturally, this only works if you have a car to carry those things home (if you haven’t bought one, you can always rent one for this purpose).

5. Unless your apartment is ideally located, you will definitely need a car.

To buy one is no big problem. Before buying it, it is advisable to have it checked in a garage (it is worth the expense). Don’t buy a very cheap car (roughly, for less than $ 2000). Many people (including us) prefer buying a used car from an owner (and not from a company/agency). Towards the end of the grant period, start advertising your

88

car for sale widely in time.

6. It is very useful to obtain an American driver’s license.

7. Shop around on the net for insurance.

There are big differences.

8. Don’t be afraid to take your family with you. If you look and shop around, economize on whatever you can, then you don’t have to add too much from your home resources. And definitely not more than the other members of the family would have spent in Hungary during that period anyhow.

This was the case with us 7 years ago.

The really big expense was the three extra plane tickets. This time the situation was different, because our two sons went to college. For their tuition we had to rely heavily and exclusively on our Hungarian resources. But the investment hopefully pays off.

9. Take some genuine Hungarian presents with you (embroidery, CDs, paprika, drinks etc.). They are greatly and gratefully appreciated.

10. If you can cook, it is usually a good idea to invite colleagues you are on friendly terms with to a Hungarian dinner at your place, preferably in the first quarter of your stay.

Lídia Márton

Magyar Televízió Zrt. Department of International Relations

1054 Budapest Szabadság tér 17. lidia.marton@mtv.hu

www.mtv.hu

Michigan State University Quello Center for Telecommunication Management and Law 406 Communication Arts and Sciences Bldg.

East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1212 Adviser: Prof. Steven S. Wildman www.msu.edu

The broadcasting scene of the United States has been dominated by large commercial networks whose powerful influence resulted in a regulatory regime that has been more marginal than substantive in impact in ensuring the public interest. The lessons to be learned are crucial for the development of European media and societies, especially in the new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe where political and commercial pressures on public service media are undermining its remit.

1. Foreword The distinctiveness of the US broadcasting experience relies on scale and the resources made available through scale. The European observer is intimidated by the breathtaking dimensions and often put off by an astonishingly huge quantity of advertising and a desperate search for quality programming on television.

One way of coming to terms with this amazing system, and in particular the motives underlying it, is to examine the understandings of the notion of the public interest.

Exploring the literature on the topic, however, is not sufficient in itself. One has to

89

AY 2005-2006 spend a considerable amount of time in the United States interviewing scholars, regulators and media managers, talking to people, participating in social activities, watching TV to comprehend the role of the media in society. I was fortunate enough to find out through my Fulbright experience…

2. Background Historically, spectrum scarcity had been evoked as a rationale for regulating the electronic media in the public interest both in the United States and in Europe, the argument being that only a certain number of broadcasters could transmit in any given region without interfering with each other’s broadcasts. The reason for regulation that went beyond the mere distribution of frequencies, however, was the pervasiveness attributed to radio and later television. Due to the different perceptions of the role of the State in society, however, three different models of broadcasting developed.

Whereas in the US it was deemed that the public good was best served by private entrepreneurs who offered what the public wanted to hear on radio and later see on television, in Europe broadcasting had been reserved as a State monopoly.

The public service model that originated in the United Kingdom is based on the idea that neither the market nor the State could meet the public interest objectives in broadcasting and therefore an arm’s length relationship is necessary between the State and the public service

90

In Defense of the Public Interest broadcaster. Under the third model, in which broadcasting was entrusted to direct government responsibility, the State was seen as the guarantor of the public interest as defined by itself.

None of the above models has been thoroughly convincing in representing the public interest. While in the market model the media tend to serve the interest of corporate profit, in the State owned models there is a continued attempt by governing authorities to exert control directly or indirectly through cutting funds.

3. Public Service Broadcasting In Western Europe, the public interest in broadcasting has been epitomized by the notion and values of public service broadcasting. The Amsterdam Protocol1 signed in October 1997 and annexed to the Treaty establishing the European Community recognizes that “the system of public broadcasting is directly related to the democratic, social and cultural needs of each society and to the need to preserve media pluralism.”

In the US public broadcasting was established when three major networks controlled all programming with popular genres and a considerable part of the airtime devoted to advertising. In 1961, FCC Chairman Newton Minow condemned commercial television as a “vast wasteland”2 and urged educational revival. In 1967 the Carnegie Commission recommended that America launch public

TV to serve as a “forum for debate and controversy” and to compensate for the limitations of advertising driven media.

The late introduction of public broadcasting as well as Congress’ reluctance to provide secure levels of funding have jeopardized the Public Broadcasting Service in playing the role that public service broadcasters have fulfilled in European countries.

Consequently, from a European perspective, the US public broadcasting service is insignificant. Its audience share is around three percent (as opposed to an average of thirty percent for European public service broadcasters) and it is not required to offer a balanced diet of informational, educational and entertainment programming, but only to deliver the sort of programming that commercial broadcasters would fail to. As a result of insufficient levels of federal financing, however, the PBS has been pushed to rely more heavily on private and corporate sponsors, thereby exposing itself to accusations of political bias3 and to an increased trend towards commercialization.4 In the United States the marginal role played by public broadcasting is just one piece of evidence of the State’s reluctance to get involved in the media.

4. Democratic Rights One of the most often cited texts in US media research is the First Amendment to the Constitution „Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or

of the press…” clearly meaning that the government will not interfere with either citizens’ right to free speech or with the press’ right to publish.

As the First Amendment could not refer to broadcasting, the situation here is far from being unequivocal. Whereas the State has maintained a hands-off attitude with the print media, some claim that it has meddled with the principle of free speech when it started to regulate the use of the public airwaves.

“In the United States the public interest standard [in the regulation of the electronic media] is an historical anomaly that is inconsistent with traditional understandings of the First Amendment.

The FCC is seeking ways to perpetuate and expand a regulatory construct that permits it to exert unique control over the content of communications…” 5 Ironically, First Amendment principles had been referred to by those who have sought to justify regulation in the public interest. In their view regulation, by preventing interference, encouraged rather than hampered free speech.

Moreover, in the early days, broadcast regulation attempted to create an informed citizenry through advancing the needs of democracy and culture beyond what market forces could make available.

91

AY 2005-2006 Indeed, the right of broadcasters and advertisers to free speech is just one aspect of democracy: the right of citizens to being informed in order to be able to exercise their democratic rights is equally important. A seminal case before the Supreme Court was Red Lion6 in 1969, in which the court ruled that it is “the right of viewers and listeners, not the right of broadcasters, which is paramount”.

The ruling in Turner7 was also a milestone as it exempted cable from rules on local programming obligations applying to broadcasters and thereby confirmed that cable would come under a different regulatory and constitutional regime than broadcasting.8 In August 2008, the major broadcast television networks filed briefs at the Supreme Court challenging Red Lion.

They claim that today it is invalid to enforce broadcast indecency law as families subscribe to cable and satellite TV services and surf the Internet.

If the court rules in their favor, traditional understandings of the public interest will be lost forever.

5. The Public Interest Standard Since 1934, the passage of the Communications Act, the Federal Communications Commission is required to regulate “in the public interest, convenience, and necessity”. Many blame the ineffectiveness of the public interest standard on the vagueness of its definition.

92

In Defense of the Public Interest The term was borrowed from another industry, transportation in the 1920s. In his book on the foundation principles of communications policy, Napoli suggests that the confusion surrounding the public interest is largely due to blurring its conceptual, operational and applicational levels.9 He concludes that while the FCC has used a stable definition at the conceptual level, very little has been done to solidify it into a set of operational principles. For this reason, it can be and has actually been utilized on behalf of any policy action taken.

As already mentioned, the First Amendment can be seen as the boundary setting foundation principle in communications policy, the other principles being restricted by the confines of the First Amendment. The following figure is reproduced from Napoli’s book: Entire studies have been devoted to how successfully the other principles emanating from the public interest have been enforced by the FCC. The standard has been elaborated through numerous FCC regulations to enhance diversity of expression, political, discourse, children’s programming, localism and other functions. Under the public interest standard the government was supposed to favor licensees who seemed most inclined towards serving the public good and least inclined towards their own selfish interests. The only exception to these criteria was commercial advertising which could be conducted for selfish reasons.

Though many stations came to ignore public interest criteria over time as they succumbed to the drive to continually increase their profits, the FCC made numerous efforts at reinforcing the rules. With the rise of cable, however, it was argued that the contemporary, commercially supported environment could provide a multiplicity of voices, eradicating the previous justification for government regulation.

As a result, in the 1980s the FCC itself reinterpreted the public interest as a function of the market and replaced the previous trusteeship model. Under the new definition, a broadcaster’s commercial success would be indicative of the public’s satisfaction with it.10 Regulation came to be viewed as necessary only when the marketplace clearly failed to protect the public interest, but not when there was only potential for failure.

The marketplace model opened an era of relaxed public interest requirements.

In 1981 broadcasters abandoned their voluntary code of conduct, which had defined programming and advertising standards through self-regulation. In the same year, the FCC introduced the “postcard renewal process”, by which broadcasters, when applying for the continuation of their licenses, are not required to submit a detailed review of how they are meeting their public interest obligations. In 1984, the FCC eliminated the ascertainment requirements whereby broadcasters had to address local community needs in their programming.

In 1987 the FCC repealed provisions of the Fairness Doctrine, which required broadcasters to provide reasonable opportunities for contrasting and dissenting views on controversial topics.

In 2003, the FCC eliminated a wide range of media concentration protections, allowing a single company to own eight radio stations, three TV stations, the only daily newspaper, the dominant cable TV provider and the largest Internet service provider in a single community.

Existing public service obligations include an unspecified amount of local programming, three hours per week of educational/informational shows for children, participation in V-chip ratings system, restrictions on indecent programming while children are likely to watch, limits on tobacco advertising and the amounts of ads during children’s programs, special access and rates for appearances by political candidates, the right of citizens and groups to defend themselves if they had been attacked on air, and accessibility for the sight- and hearing-impaired.11 Today, the only piece of content legislation is the Children’s Television Act12, but its efficiency is questionable. If we compare the shows delivered by commercial broadcasters, they are clearly inferior in quality to those offered on PBS channels.

Also, what commercial broadcasters label as children’s educational programs has been found misleading by the FCC.13

93

AY 2005-2006 In her book on media diversity, Mara Einstein14 stated that structural regulation had little impact on the diversity of programming content. She argued that diversity should even be eliminated as a goal if, with reference to First Amendment principles, the government is only allowed to regulate structure and not content.

She pointed at advertising as being at the heart of the problem as limits are placed on the type of programming that will be produced: it must fit into 22 minutes, it must be self-contained, and it must not be controversial within the current economic and social frame.

6. The Public Interest in the Digital Age In the US the final date for analog switch-off has been postponed until 17 February 2009. By this date all full power stations will stop broadcasting in analog modulation.

The public is being educated about the advantages of digital television in the US and in Europe. DTV offers better picture quality, TV stations can broadcast several signals using the same bandwidth, and interactive content or additional information can be included. The main issue, however, from the public interest aspect, is whether DTV produces a greater diversity of high-quality programs.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 amending the 1934 Communications Act gave broadcasters greater powers

94

In Defense of the Public Interest of concentration and cross-ownership, greater security in holding their licenses, and more spectrum. It made a provision for the transition from analog broadcast television to “advanced television services”.

Congress decided to effect the transition by limiting initial digital TV licenses to existing analog licenses. Broadcasters received for free an additional 6 MHz of spectrum to begin digital operation while they would phase out and then return to the government their 6 MHz of analog spectrum. This perceived giveaway, as well as the language of the Act that nothing therein should be construed as relieving broadcasters of their public service obligations, prompted a notion of increased public service obligations in the digital age.

In March 1997, an advisory committee (Gore Commission) was set up to recommend a set of obligations to be later implemented by the FCC. The main target of the work was the Administration’s desire to address the problem of skyrocketing costs of airtime for political candidates. In December 1998, the so called Gore Commission issued its final report recommending ten additional public interest obligations15 for digital broadcasters. As mandatory free airtime for political candidates created powerful controversy, it could not survive.

The last recommendation that seeks to explore alternative approaches to “allow for greater flexibility and efficiency while affirmatively serving public needs and interests” prompts the Administration,

Congress and the FCC to consider developing a new model of public service obligations. One of the promising approaches was the “pay-or-play” model under which broadcasters could choose between fulfilling certain non-statutory public interest obligations, or paying a share of their revenues to bypass those obligations and receive in return an expedited license renewal process. The so-called “pay or play” concept was perceived to be dangerous by several members of the Advisory Committee.

While some worried that it would result in broadcasters dropping all public interest obligations and leave citizens with less exposure to information on public affairs or children’s programming, others assumed that commercial broadcasters would rather play and use their own definitions to meet certain programming requirements.

In October 1999, Vice President Al Gore urged the FCC to address four specific recommendations of the Advisory Committee. In response to the request, in December 1999 the FCC adopted a Notice of Inquiry, thereby creating a forum for public debate on how broadcasters could best serve the public interest during and after the transition to digital. After receiving comment on the proceeding, the FCC has never issued a report on this NOI. In October 2000, the FCC held a hearing on the public interest obligations of TV broadcast licensees that consisted of three panels: serving children in the DTV world, protecting children from

the effects of sexually explicit or violent programming, and using DTV to better serve local communities. As a result, four years later FCC adopted a children’s programming obligations for Digital Television Broadcasters.16 Currently, public TV stations are not allowed to use any of their facilities for the broadcast of advertisements. In order to “help bring public television into the digital age”17, in 2001 the FCC decided to authorize advertising on the nonbroadcast portion of the bit-stream. “The sort of convergence we don’t want to see is convergence of our public and commercial television services until they become indistinguishable one from another” said FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps in his dissenting statement. 18 Despite repeated calls from Senators19, FCC Commissioners20 as well as public interest organizations to produce rules on public interest obligations of broadcasters in the digital age, no comprehensive action has been taken. The wording of a Report to Congress of the FCC is revelatory of FCC’s reluctance to impose further obligations on broadcasters. 21 So far only some of the old rules have been confirmed, like in 2004 when the FCC unanimously extended children’s television rules to digital TV. Another field in which the FCC acted was the amendment of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) rules to extend them to providers of digital TV broadcasts by May 2007.22 Since 1999 nine years have elapsed and switch-off date is only a few months ahead.

95

AY 2005-2006 The need to impose increased obligations on broadcasters is being challenged not only by broadcasters, but also by certain media scholars.

7. Rethinking the Public Interest The 1996 Act left no doubt that broadcasters would have continued public service obligations in the digital era, but notions of the public interest born in the era of centralized, one-to-many mass media seem to be old-fashioned in the context of the Internet and a wide array of digital appliances and competing content distribution platforms.

Why do broadcasters continue to be submitted to public interest obligations? It might be true that they benefit (financially) from the use of a public resource, the spectrum, but the vast majority of TV viewers makes no distinction between basic cable (and DBS) channels and broadcast channels. Although cable and direct broadcast satellite are subjected to access requirements, they do not have any public trustee content obligations like those imposed on broadcasting.

In the light of the shortcomings of the current regime and rapid technological changes, one is inclined to prefer an entirely new approach to the patching up of existing policy.

Winer suggested a return to first principles by abandoning public interest obligations altogether. As government regulation in the public interest is likely to produce even worse results than in the past, “we should rely on the journalistic integrity of broadcasters, appropriately

96

In Defense of the Public Interest influenced by audience and marketplace forces, just as we do for the print media”23 At a conference hosted by the Aspen Institute’s Forum on Communications and Society (FOCAS) in 200124, there was general agreement that the marketplace is not adequately serving education and training, civic dialogue, arts and culture, healthcare and community life.

“Increasing media concentration25 and the policies that ignore public interest obligations threaten to exclude and silence voices and choices critical to an informed and participatory democracy.”26 Geller recommended that Congress should not proceed on an evolutionary basis, but should adopt a radically different regulatory scheme for television broadcasting. “It is time now to acknowledge that we no longer should care whether or not the commercial broadcaster plays in the public service field -…we want the commercial broadcaster to pay for its use of the public spectrum so that public broadcasting can be enabled to make a needed maximum contribution to educating and informing children and the electorate”. 27 Similarly, the Citizens for Independent Public Broadcasting, an advocacy group have urged the creation of a public broadcasting trust that would be independently funded and publicly accountable in order to grant public broadcasting financial and editorial independence. One of the potential sources could be the money raised by the FCC in spectrum auctions.

Expanding the frontiers of the public media would also empower the public, but commercial networks obviously

oppose the creation of a strong public broadcasting network.

8. Conclusions

Another option would be to introduce quantitative limits on more genres (not just children’s programs) and on advertising in particular. In Europe the minimum requirements to be observed by television broadcasters in each Member State have been around since the adoption of the Television without Frontiers Directive in 1989, although many rules have been relaxed by the new Audiovisual Media Services Directive. 28 The current hourly limit for spot advertising and teleshopping spots is twelve minutes, but Member States are free to impose stricter rules. If introduced in the US, such measure would doubtless represent significant improvement. It is, however, not likely to be initiated by policy makers for fear of First Amendment concerns to be raised immediately.

Whichever of the above solutions one prefers, one point is evident. The current regulatory regime based on the 1996 Telecommunications Act is outdated as it perpetuates an industry structure that has in the meantime undergone enormous changes. A comprehensive legal framework that applies to all audiovisual media services irrespective of distribution platform is needed, which could be modelled on the Audiovisual Media Services Directive of the EU. The AMS Directive covers all TV-like services including internet TV and on-demand, but adopts the principle of graduated regulation with stricter rules applying to television broadcasts in the fields of advertising and the protection of minors.

Rich Media, Poor Democracy. The title of Robert McChesney’s book refers to the outcome of a trend to subject the public interest to corporate interest. “By defining the public interest as what is sufficiently popular (and profitable), the strict market model effectively dismisses the broader cultural and political significance of the media”29 Whereas in Western European societies, public service broadcasters have succeeded in playing an essential role in preserving the democratic values of society by serving the public’s informational and cultural needs, this has not been the case in the US. The freedom of speech principle enshrined in the First Amendment has too often been interpreted to over-respect commercial television’s and advertisers’ right to the detriment of the public’s interest.

At the same time, the power of this same cornerstone value of democracy, freedom of speech has enabled hosts of scholars, Congressmen, FCC commissioners, and public interest organizations to repeatedly voice their concerns about inefficient policies. Public interest groups have been around since the 1930s and although they seem to be inefficient in comparison with more influential lobbyists, their efforts have brought some returns. By their sheer presence on the scene, they have managed to keep considerations of public interest on the agenda.

In order to avoid the pitfalls of the US system and to successfully defend the vulnerable values of European public service broadcasting, we should be looking at the activities and methods of the US public interest organizations.30

97

AY 2005-2006

Notes 1

Official Journal C340/109 10.11.97

2

Newton N. Minow, 1961: Television and the Public Interest.

Delivered on 9 May 1961 Washington, DC http://www.americanrhethoric. com/speeches/newtonminow.htm 3

PBS has been perceived as liberal by the Republicans who argued

that there is a need for more conservative programmming to restore the balance.

4

As programs are increasingly sponsored by companies, PBS’s

advertises toys, drugs and junk food to children.

5

Corn-Revere, R., 2001: The Public Interest, the First Amendment

and a Horse’s Ass. http://www.law.msu.edu/lawrev/2001-1-CornRevere.htm, pp 1-2 6

Red Lion Broad. Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367 (1969)

7

Turner Broad. Sys., Inc. v. FCC, 512 U.S. 622 (1994)

8

Public interest obligations of cable and DBS: Cable providers are

required to set aside channel capacity for local public, educational, and governmental access programming, but the amount is not mandated.

In contrast, DBS providers must reserve 4% of their channel capacity exclusively for noncommercial programmig of an educational and informational nature.

9

Napoli, P.M., 2001: Foundations of Communications Policy.

Hampton Press, Inc ., Cresskill, New Jersey 10 Fowler, M., 1982: A Marketplace Approach to Broadcast Regulation, 60 Texas L. Rev., 2087 11 A Primer ont he Public Service Obligations of Television Broadcasters. 1997. Prepared by United States Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration for the Advisory Committe on the Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters (PIAC). http://www.ntia. doc.gov/pubintadvcom/octmtg/PI-COVR2.htm 12 Children’s Television Act of 1990, 47 U.S.C. 13 Politics and Rules Concerning Children’s Television Programming Revision, 8 F.C.C.R. 1841, 1842 (1993).

14 Einstein, M., 2004: Media Diversity. Economics, Ownership, and the FCC. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, Mahwah- New JerseyLondon 15 These were: disclosure of public interest activities by broadcasters, voluntary standards of conduct, minimum public interest requirements, improving education through digital broadcasting, multiplexing and the public interest, improving the quality of political discourse,

disaster warning, disability access to digital programming, diversity in broadcasting and new approaches to the public interest 16 MM Docket 00-167 17 Included in FCC Chairman Michael Powell’s statement. Report and Order in MM Docket No. 98-203 In the Matter of the Ancillary and Supplementary Use of Digital Television capacity by Noncommercial

Tyrosine Phosphorylation Pathways and Oncogenesis

Licensees 18 Report and Order in MM Docket No. 98-203 In the Matter of the Ancillary and Supplementary Use of Digital Television capacity by

Edit Andrea Nádasi

Noncommercial Licensees.

19 In May 2000 Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Roberd Byrd and Sam Brownback wrote to the FCC expressing their concern about the declining standards of broadcast television, in particular the increasing amount of sexually-oriented and violent content.

20 Commissioner Copps and Adelstein called for action in February 2005 and in February 2007.

21 The report identified eleven major principles “on how broadcasters could fulfill their statutory duty to serve the public interest”.

22 The dire state of the EAS can be best demonstrated by the fact that it hadn’t been activated during the 9/11 attacks.

23 Winer, L.H. , 1998: Public Interest Obligations and First Principles.

The Media Institute http://www.mediainstitute.org/gore/03_03_98 24 In search of the public interest in the new media environment. A

University of Pecs, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine 7624 Pecs, Szigeti út 12, Hungary www.pte.hu edit.nadasi@aok.pte.hu

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Central Arkansas Veteran HealthCare System, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology 4301 West Markham Street, Little Rock, AR 72205 USA www.uams.edu Adviser: Istvan Arany PhD, CSc

Report of the Aspen Institute Forum on Communiaction and Society.

2002, Washington DC 25 Today six companies own a controlling interest in the US media.

26 Citizen’s Guide to the Pulic Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters. Benton Foundation www.benton.org 27 Geller H., 2003: Promoting the Public Interest in the Digital Era. Federal Communications Law Journal, Vol. 55. p. 520 28 Other types of content regulation prescribed by the Directive are a quota for European works and independent production 29 Crouteau D.,Hoynes W., 2006: The Business of the Media. Corporate Media and the Public Interest. Pine Forge Press, Thousand OaksLondon-New Delhi, p.34 30 Their purpose is to represent before the FCC and other decision making bodies views that are otherwise underrepresented. These organizations are public law firms like the Media Access Project, institutions coordinating roundtable forums and projects like the Aspen Institute’s Comunications and Society Program, foundations (e.g,. the

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade is a major signaling system by which cells transduce extracellular signals into intracellular responses. A member of this family, extracellular signal-activated kinase (ERK), was shown to play a crucial role in proliferation and apoptosis. Since the development of tumors often results from the alteration of different signal transduction pathways, ERK may play an important role as a biomarker in tumor diagnosis and prognosis. ERK has been implicated in cell initiation, tumor promotion and progression, invasion, metastasis, and the regulation of apoptosis and angiogenesis, events that are essential to the development of a metastatic tumor. The possibility of using ERK as an early molecular epidemiologic biomarker of human carcinogenesis cannot be overlooked.

Our previous experiments have shown that a flavonoid-rich solution, Flavin7, was able to diminish kidney tumor growth in vivo. The effects of Flavin7 on the MAPK signaling pathway were determined in immortalized mouse proximal tubule cells by determining cell viability, flow cytometric analysis, luciferase assays and Western blots. At a nontoxic dose, Flavin7 markedly reduced phosphorylation of ERK and inhibited activity of its downstream targets such as Elk1 and CREB via inhibition of the ERK-kinase MEK1. Further in vivo investigations may determine the potential role of Flavin7 in the treatment of malignancies.

Benton Foundation), national membership organizations (Citizens for Independent Public Broadcasting) and local organizations.

98

99

AY 2005-2006

1. Tyrosine phosphorylation pathways and oncogenesis 1.1. Introduction

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade is a major signaling system by which cells transduce extracellular signals into intracellular responses. Many steps of this cascade are conserved, and homologues have been discovered in different species (reviewed in 1). MAPK family members all have the unique feature of being activated by phosphorylation on threonine and tyrosine residues by an upstream dualspecificity kinase (reviewed in 1), while MAPK phosphorylate substrates on serine or threonine adjacent to proline residues are proline-directed protein kinases.

These cascades are found in all eukaryotic organisms and consist of a three-kinase module that includes a MAPK, which is activated by a MAPK/extracellular signalregulated kinase (ERK) kinase (MEK), which in turn is activated by a MEK kinase (MEKK).

Mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases were first characterized as agents phosphorylating MAP2 and the model substrate myelin basic protein in the late 1980s (2-4). The first three mammalian MAP kinases, ERK1, ERK2 and ERK3 were cloned in the early 1990s. It has become clear that ERK1 and ERK2 are among the protein kinases most commonly activated in signal transduction pathways. They are particularly linked to cell proliferation, but have important roles in many other events (2, 3). In mammalian

100

Tyrosine Phosphorylation Pathways and Oncogenesis cells, the ERK1 and ERK2 (often referred to as p44 and p42 MAP kinases), are the archetypal members of the MAPK family.

Besides those, the family includes 4 isoforms of p38 MAP kinase (α, β, γ, and δ); 3 genes encoding 10 or more splice variants of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase/ stress-activated protein kinases (JNK/ SAPKs); and at least 3 forms of ERK3 apparently coded by 2 genes; ERK4; ERK5 and ERK7 (4).

The JNK/SAPKs group was discovered as a cycloheximide-activated pralinedirected kinase that binds to and phosphorylates the N-terminal sites of c-Jun (5, 6). cDNA cloning identified three genes encoding the 46- and 54-kDa isoforms of JNK/SAPK (7, 8). These enzymes are activated by UV, antibiotics, cytokines, other environmental stresses and, though to a lesser degree, by growth factors. JNK/SAPKs are important for cytokine biosynthesis and are involved in cell transformation, stress responses, and apoptosis. JNK1 and JNK2 are required for apoptosis in distinct regions of the brain, and JNK1 is also required for proliferation and differentiation of thymocytes (reviewed in 4).

The p38 subgroup was discovered as a lipopolysaccharide-induced tyrosine phosphoprotein. Four p38-like MAP kinases are known so far. They are often activated by cellular stresses and are also referred to as stress-activated protein kinases. Besides their roles in the cytokine biosynthesis, they have been implicated in many other events such as muscle differentiation and B cell proliferation (reviewed in 4).

Since MAP kinases represent an

important pathway for transducing external stimuli to internal signals in cells, determining their possible role as early biomarkers or prognostic factors may offer a promising method for the treatment and prognosis of different cancerous diseases. Though, in contrast to the in vitro data, there are only a few and partly contradictory reports on the expression and activity of ERK1/ERK2 in clinical tumor tissues, recent studies have investigated ERK in different human malignancies. According to these latest results, ERK activation is not unambiguously an advantage or a disadvantage for patients with cancerous diseases. ERK has been shown to trigger cell proliferation and survival in normal cells, as well as in tumor cells. Thus, the impact of ERK activation/proliferation on becoming disease-free and on overall survival depends on the tumor type.

ERK has not yet been tested in animal models as an early molecular epidemiologic biomarker of carcinogenesis, but the potential of ERK as an early biomarker of human tumor development cannot be overlooked.

1.2. ERK in carcinogenesis 1.2.1. ERK Signaling Pathways 1.2.1.1. Activation Pathways

MAP kinases are regulated by phosphorylation cascades. Two upstream protein kinases activated in series lead to activation of a MAP kinase, and additional kinases may also be required upstream of this three-kinase module. MAP kinase kinases are dual-specificity enzymes that can phosphorylate hydroxyl side chains

of serine/threonine and thyrosin residues in their MAP kinase substrates. In spite of their ability to phosphorylate proteins on both aliphatic and aromatic side chains, the substrate specificity of the known MAP kinases is very narrow (reviewed in 5).

There are several characteristics of MAP kinases that result from their activation by kinase cascades. First, the intermediates provide distinct mechanisms for detecting inputs from other signaling pathways to enhance or suppress the signal to the MAP kinase. Another is signal amplification, which can occur if each successive protein in the cascade is more abundant than its regulator, thus, the signal may be amplified at both steps within the module.

Another feature of MAP kinase cascades derives in part from the dual phosphorylation of the MAP kinase by the MEK. In the case of ERK1/ERK2, the kinases are phosphorylated on tyrosine before threonine is phosphorylated. The result is the establishment of a threshold (reviewed in 7).

1.2.1.2. Control of ERK signaling

MAPK plays an important role in transmitting the signals from receptors on the cell membrane to cytoplasmic targets and downstream kinases and nuclear targets. Thus, regulation of the subcellular localization of MAPK is important for controlling MAPK signaling.

Regulatory mechanisms of subcellular distribution of the ERK1/ERK2-type MAPK have been extensively investigated.

In quiescent cells, ERK1/ERK2 is largely cytoplasmic and translocates to the nucleus upon stimulation. ERK1/ ERK2 does not have an authentic signal

101

AY 2005-2006 sequence for nuclear import or nuclear export. As ERK1/ERK2 is small enough to enter the nuclear pore through passive diffusion, it is thought that there are anchor proteins which tether ERK1/ ERK2 in the cytoplasm. MEK1/MEK2, an upstream kinase of ERK1/ERK2, localizes to the cytoplasm because of its nuclear export sequence in its N-terminal region. The binding of ERK1/ERK2 to MEK1/MEK2, which forms an ERK/MEK heterodimer, results in the cytoplasmic retention of ERK1/ERK2, and nuclear translocation of ERK1/ ERK2 is accompanied by the dissociation of ((ERK1/ERK2)/(MEK1/MEK2)) complex. Phosphorylation of ERK1/ ERK2 by MEK1/MEK2 is necessary and sufficient for the dissociation of (ERK1/ERK2)/(MEK1/MEK2) complex (reviewed in 8).

There are three independent mechanisms for nuclear translocation of ERK1/ERK2: passive diffusion of a monomer, active transport of a dimer, and importin-independent transport.

Phosphorylated ERK2 forms a dimer with phosphorylated or unphosphorylated ERK2.

Moreover, disruption of dimerization by mutagenesis of ERK2 reduces its ability to accumulate in the nucleus, indicating that dimerization is important for its translocation to the nucleus (9). Although it is unclear whether these three mechanisms are equally important in nuclear translocation of ERK1/ERK2, active transport does not appear to be a major mechanism for nuclear import of ERK1/ERK2, as a recent study with live cell imaging has shown that the movement of ERK1/

102

Tyrosine Phosphorylation Pathways and Oncogenesis ERK2 upon stimulation can be explained for the most part by energy-independent mechanisms (10).

The nuclear accumulation of ERK1/ ERK2 is temporary and ERK1/ERK2 must relocalize to the cytoplasm to prepare for the next stimulation. Nuclear export of ERK1/ERK2 involves a MEK1/MEK2dependent, active transport mechanism: MEK1/MEK2 is shuttling between the cytoplasm and the nucleus, and carries ERK1/ERK2 out to the cytoplasm by using the nuclear export activity (8).

While ERK1/ERK2 phosphorylates and activates several nuclear targets, including transcription factors, part of the activated ERK1/ERK2 localizes to the cytoplasm and phosphorylates cytoplasmic targets.

Thus, the regulation of the spatial direction of ERK1/ERK2 signaling is essential.

According to the sequential-predictive model of carcinogenesis shown on Figure 1, the development of tumors from the first initiated cell to metastasis includes at least 5 steps: initiation, promotion, progression, invasion, and metastasis (11). Activation of MAP kinases during tumorigenesis is very frequent, and could play an important role in each of the above five steps.

1.2.2. ERK in the phases of carcinogenesis 1.2.2.1. Initiation

Mutations of the Ras family of protooncogenes are present in 30% of human tumors, contributing to the development of cancer. The most widely studied effectors for Ras signaling are the Raf serine/threonine kinases. Ras

promotes Raf association with the plasma membrane, where other events facilitate Raf activation. Raf then phosphorylates and activates the MEK1 and MEK2 dual specificity kinases. Activated MAP kinases translocate to the nucleus where they regulate gene expression by modulating transcription factors (reviewed in 12).

Mouse multistage carcinogenesis protocols include treatment of the mouse skin at the primary step of initiation with chemical carcinogens, which results in mutations of Ha-ras at specific codons that activate its transforming properties. Other changes in Ha-ras activity result from its amplification. The alterations in Ha-ras correlate with an increase in mitogenic signaling, represented by elevated ERK activities in cells cycling in serum. These signals can be reproduced partially if a human allele of Ha-ras is introduced in squamous cell carcinoma cells. Similarly, they can be inhibited by small synthetic inhibitors of the MAP kinase cascade (reviewed in 13).

1.2.2.2. Promotion

The cell proliferative stages of tumor promotion involve the removal of an initiated cell from growth suppression by neighboring cells, which would effect the reduction of gap junctional intracellular communication and the activation of mitogenic intracellular pathways. Intracellular events modify the intracellular proliferative steps of tumor promotion. The intracellular pathways typically activated by a proliferative stimulus are the extracellular response kinases/ERK (14).

Chemicals, such as polycyclic aromatic

hydrocarbons (PAH) that contribute to the promoting stages of cancer could also alter these signaling pathways.

Benzo(a)pyrene caused a rapid increase in phosphorylation of ERK in an experiment (15).

The aromatic hydrocarbon 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin was also shown to induce the immediate activation of ERK (16).

The recent study of de LĂŠdinghen et al examined transformed and nontransformed hepatocytes to determine the effects of cell transformation on the cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) expression and to shed light onto the mechanisms leading to COX2 expression in transformed cells. According to this study, the tumor promoters phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and chenodeoxycholic acid induced COX2 expression in transformed, but not in non-transformed cells. PMA-induced COX2 expression in transformed cells resulted from an induction in COX2 mRNA, and was dependent on ERK, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase. The data demonstrated that cellular transformation failed to lead to the induction of COX2 expression in hepatocytes, however, the conditions rendered hepatocytes susceptible to COX2 induction from tumor promoters by post-transcriptional mechanisms. The study has proven that COX2 is a target gene downstream of the MAPK signaling cascades in hepatocytes (17).

Arsenic is a common environmental and occupational pollutant and a well-known human carcinogen that causes cancers in many human organs. It is generally

103

AY 2005-2006 acknowledged that arsenic does not act via a classic genotoxic or mutagenic mechanism, because it is not a direct mutagen. On the other hand, evidence has shown that arsenic shares many properties with tumor promoters by inducing intracellular signal transduction, activating transcription factors and changing the expression of genes involved in promoting cell growth, proliferation, and malignant transformation. Arsenic-induced MAPK signal transduction leads to activation of transcription factors such as AP-1 and nuclear factor-kappa B. These processes are associated with the carcinogenity of arsenic (18, 19).

1.2.2.3. Progression

The basement membrane forms a cellular support for tumors, and is made up of a complex mix of extracellular matrix proteins. MAPK enzymes have been shown to be involved in regulating the proteolytic enzymes that degrade the extracellular matrix. Therefore, these enzymes have been implicated in the progression and invasion of cancer besides their involvement in normal tissue remodeling, wound healing, and angiogenesis (reviewed in 20).

Most normal cells depend on environment-specific factors to maintain their viability and to prevent them from surviving in nonphysiologic sites (20).

Defective apoptosis facilitates tumor progression, because the cells can ignore restraining signals from their neighbors, survive detachment from the extracellular matrix, and persist in a hostile environment. In the last few years, a large body of evidence has indicated the

104

Tyrosine Phosphorylation Pathways and Oncogenesis involvement of the MAPK family in the regulation of apoptosis. The activation of JNK/SAPK is generally associated with the promotion of apoptosis, while activation of ERK was shown to inhibit apoptosis (reviewed in 20). Studies have shown that ERK acting downstream of B-Raf inhibits caspase activation following cytochrome c release from the mitochondria. It is also possible that ERK phosphorylates a proapoptotic Bcl-2 family protein, Bad, which is known to influence the mitochondrial membrane integrity and release of cytochrome c, by associating with Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL and thus inhibiting their anti-apoptotic function. Phosphorylation of Bad induces its association with different proteins, thus sequestering it in the cytosol and away from mitochondria (reviewed in 20). These data suggest that ERK plays a major role in protecting the cell from undergoing apoptosis, and that this impairment of apoptosis could help cells survive during progression, invasion, and metastasis.

1.2.2.4. Invasion

Disruption of the integrity of the basement membrane is a key histological marker of a tumor’s transition to invasive carcinoma.

In metastatic cells, ERK activity was shown to be higher when compared to non-metastatic cancer cells (21, 22).

Persistent activation of ERK in malignant cells can lead to enhanced induction of proteolytic enzymes and this could lead to extracellular matrix and basement membrane degradation, allowing the cancer cells to invade into surrounding tissues and metastasize. Recent studies

have shown that significantly increased active ERK was found in primary breast tumors compared to their adjacent matched normal breast tissues and this increased ERK activity correlates with enhanced nodal metastasis (21, 22).

There is abundant evidence to show that receptor tyrosine kinases are involved in the development and progression of tumors. In addition to promoting mitogenic responses in target cells, these receptors are also capable of regulating cellular functions that are involved in the acquisition of an invasive phenotype such as the modulation of cellular attachments and the proteolysis of extracellular matrix and migration (reviewed in 20).

Many growth factors have been reported to stimulate cell migration, through activation of receptor tyrosine kinase involving Ras/ERK signal pathways (23, 24).

Previous studies indicated that ERK activates the cell’s motility machinery by enhancing myosin light-chain kinase activity leading to increased myosin light-chain kinase phosphorylation and enhanced cell migration. Different groups have shown that persistent activation or prolonged nuclear retention of activated ERK induces cell motility (25, 26). These findings may explain how growth factors, cytokines, or integrins that activate MAPK can influence cell motility on extracellular matrix during tissue remodeling as well as tumor cell invasion.

1.2.2.5. Metastasis

Metastasis consists of a series of sequential steps including the shedding of cells from a primary tumor in the

circulation, the survival of the cells in the circulation, arrest in a new organ, extravasation into the surrounding tissue, initiation and maintenance of growth and vascularization of the metastatic tumor.

This process involves the coordination of several signal-transduction pathways that allow cancer cells to proliferate, remodel their surrounding environment, invade to distant sites, and reestablish the tumor.

Recent data have shown that ERK plays a major role in inducing proteolytic enzymes that degrade the basement membrane, enhance cell migration, initiate several pro-survival genes, and maintain growth (reviewed in 20). The findings described at the mechanisms of invasion also suggest that ERK can also affect the process of metastasis by direct activation of the intracellular motility machinery.

Due to the central role that the ERK has in the connections between different signal transduction pathways, ERK seems to play a role in every step needed in the development of a metastatic cancer.

Further in vivo experiments are needed to refine the potential of ERK as an early molecular epidemiologic biomarker.

1.2.3. Prognostic role of ERK in different tumors 1.2.3.1. ERK in breast tumors

With respect to breast tumors, earlier studies suggested an involvement of activated ERK in carcinogenesis and progression. Sivaraman et al reported an increased enzymatic MAPK activity in cytosols from 12 mammary carcinomas as compared to normal tissues or benign lesions (21). Salh et al found increased ERK1 and ERK2 amounts after

105

AY 2005-2006 immunoprecipitation relative to normal tissue samples, though ERK2 staining intensity in immunohistochemistry was actually reduced in tumor cells (27).

A recent study (28) on 148 mammary carcinoma tissues of 120 cases with follow-up data used Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry to determine the expression of ERK1/ ERK2 and their phosphorylated forms in the investigated histological samples.

In this study, high phosphorylated ERK1 expression determined by immunoblots correlated significantly with a low frequency of recurrences and infrequent fatal outcome, and was an independent indicator of a long relapse-free period and overall survival in multivariate analysis. By immunohistochemistry, strong phosphorylated ERK staining in tumor cells was associated with early stages, negative nodal status, and long recurrence-free survival. According to these results, activation of ERK1 and ERK2 is associated with a better prognosis for the patient. Furthermore, in the case of breast cancer, survival and proliferation seem to be independent of each other.

1.2.3.2. ERK in colorectal carcinomas

It is known that the ERK pathway is one of the most important for cell proliferation (reviewed in 29), and several key growth factors and proto-oncogenes transduce the signals that promote growth and differentiation through this cascade.

Activation of this signaling pathway is important in intestinal epithelial differentiation. There is growing evidence that activation of the ERK pathway is

106

Tyrosine Phosphorylation Pathways and Oncogenesis involved in the pathogenesis, progression, and oncogenic behavior of human colorectal cancer (30).

A study, using the 1,2-dimethylhydrazine-induced colon carcinoma model in rats demonstrated that the activities of ERK are highly increased during colonic carcinogenesis in vivo (31). However, a more recent study conducted by the same research group on human colorectal tissue samples and their adjacent normal mucosa samples found elevated ERK activities only in a subset of human colorectal cancers (32). Namely, ERK activity in colonic carcinomas was 3.8Âą1.3-fold greater than in matching normal mucosa. This induction was still less than the 29-fold induction of ERK activity seen in 1,2- dimethylhydrazineinduced carcinomas in rats (32). The difference seen in animal model and human colorectal cancer samples may be explained by genetic and dietary factors which play an important role in human colorectal carcinonogenesis.

On the other hand, a more recent study conducted by Nemoto et al found increased expression of phosphorylated ERK1/ERK2 in colon cancer samples (33). These findings are in accordance with the result of a previous report (34), but not with others (35, 36). The reason for the inconsistency is not clear, but indicates that besides the MAPK signaling pathway, other mechanisms may also be involved in the development of human colorectal carcinomas. Thus, in colorectal cancers, ERK1/ERK2 cannot yet be used as an early biomarker.

1.2.3.3. ERK in prostate cancer

In early MAPK studies, elevated levels of MAPK have been detected in prostate carcinomas using immune-complex kinase assays on tumor tissue homogenates (37).

However, analysis of tumor homogenates may be problematic, because nonneoplastic cells are included in the assessment of protein activity. Thus, later studies have focused on phosphorylationspecific antibodies as a means to test for activation of specific signal transduction proteins at the cellular level.

Gioeli et al have examined 82 primary and metastatic prostate tumor specimens for the presence of phosphorylated ERK. High levels of activated ERK were observed in high-grade and advanced-stage tumors. These observations, combined with previous reports demonstrating increased expression of cell proliferation markers, suggest that activation of ERK is linked to cell proliferation in prostate cancer (38). Data also suggest that elevated ERK activation may also be important in the growth of androgen-independent prostate cancer. Analysis of several patients’ tumor samples showed high levels of activated ERK only after androgen ablation treatment, suggesting that ERK is activated in hormone refractory tumors (38).

Another study investigated the expression of ERK1 and mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatases (MKP-1) by immunohistochemistry in 50 cases of high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, thought to represent the precursor of prostate cancer (39). Protein overexpression of the MAP kinases was found in all cases compared to a normal prostate. These findings suggest that MAP

kinases, even in prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, may shift the balance between cell proliferation and death. When they are expressed, the pathways that lead to apoptosis may be inhibited (39).

1.2.3.4. ERK in verrucous and squamous cell carcinomas of the upper digestive tract

Lessard et al studied 17 verrucous carcinomas and 10 squamous cell carcinomas of the upper aerodigestive tract for ERK1/ERK2 expression by means of immunohistochemistry (40). In 16 of the 17 verrucous carcinomas, the most basally situated layers of epithelial cells showed minimal ERK1 and ERK2 staining. This was in contrast with the moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinomas, in which the tumor cells, even the ones most basally situated, stained with ERK1 and ERK2. It is unclear why there was such exquisite localization of the staining. Possibly, there is a block in synthesis of ERK1 and ERK2 in the proliferating cells of verrucous carcinoma (40). It is also possible that the differences of staining patterns could be used to help separate verrucous carcinoma and welldifferentiated squamous cell carcinoma on small biopsies.

In verrucous and squamous cell carcinomas of the upper digestive tract, the histologic grade was related to the percentage of ERK-positive cells, implying that ERK is a marker of proliferation in these tumors (41).

107

AY 2005-2006 1.2.3.5. ERK in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia

In the study of Branca et al (42), 302 archival samples (150 squamous cell carcinomas and 152 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia lesions) were subjected to immunohistochemical staining with ERK1 antibodies. There was no significant difference in ERK1 expression in the 3 histological grades of tumor differentiation. However, ERK1 overexpression proved to be a 100% specific marker of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, and was never found in biopsy specimens without cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. Thus, ERK expression seems to be an early marker of cervical carcinogenesis.

1.2.3.6. ERK in serous ovarian carcinoma in effusions

Givant-Horowitz et al have analyzed 64 fresh-frozen effusions from patients diagnosed with serous ovarian carcinoma using immunoblotting to determine the possible associations between proliferation markers and apoptosis markers, patient age, disease stage, tumor grade, histological grade, chemotherapy status and survival (43). Phosphorylated ERK activity was seen in post-chemotherapy specimens and correlated with better overall survival. The improved prognosis associated with the expression and phosphorylation of ERK may expand the understanding of the biology of ovarian carcinoma, possibly affecting treatment strategies for this malignancy.

108

Tyrosine Phosphorylation Pathways and Oncogenesis 1.2.3.7. ERK in human renal cell carcinomas

Oka et al examined whether constitutive activation of the MAPK cascade was associated with the carcinogenesis of human renal cell carcinomas in a series of 25 tumors and in corresponding normal kidneys (44). Constitutive activation of MAPK in tumor tissue, as determined by the appearance of phosphorylated forms, was found in 48% of the cases. The phosphorylation, monitored by SDSpolyacrilamide gel electrophoresis, which is associated with the activation of MAPK, occurred in 50% of the renal tumors.

Altogether, 14% of grade 1 tumors, 69% of grade 2 tumors, and 40% of grade 3 tumors showed MAPK activation (44).

These results suggest that constitutive activation of MAPK may be associated with the carcinogenesis of human renal cell carcinomas.

1.2.3.8. ERK in hepatocellular carcinomas

Twenty-six hepatocellular carcinomas and their adjacent normal liver tissues were analyzed by Ito et al for the activation/ phosphorylation of ERK and its associated gene expression by immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry (45). ERK was activated in 58% of the cases and its expression level was significantly higher in hepatocellular carcinomas than in adjacent non-cancerous lesions.

The involvement of ERK activation in the clinico-histopathological features of hepatocellular carcinomas was assessed in the study as well. Activated ERK was elevated along with tumor size and was

significantly higher in hepatocellular carcinomas over 20 mm in diameter than in those under 20 mm. As it is well known, hepatocellular carcinomas exhibit changes in their characteristics when they reach approximately 20 mm in size (reviewed in 45). Therefore, the observed activation of ERK may be related to those changes of characteristics in the development of hepatocellular carcinomas.

In conclusion, the study suggests that expression of activated ERK in human hepatocellular carcinomas may play a role in multi-step hepatocarcinogenesis, especially in the acceleration of hepatocellular carcinoma in vivo.

1.2.3.9. ERK in glial neoplasms

Abnormal growth factor signaling is implicated in the pathogenesis of gliomas. The ERK pathway is a likely target, linking receptor tyrosine kinase activation to downstream serine/threonine phosphorylation events regulating proliferation and differentiation. In the study of Mandell et al (46), immunohistochemical detection of phosphorylated/activated ERK on different glial neoplasms permitted visualization of spatially discrete cellular patterns of ERK activation, compared to the relatively uniform expression of total ERK protein. The astrocytic tumors, regardless of grade, had the highest overall degree of ERK activation, whereas oligodendrogliomas had the least. Anaplastic progression of oligodendrogliomas resulted in a larger number of cells with active ERK. Within glioblastomas, microvascular hyperplasia and necrosis were associated with ERK

activation in adjacent tumor cells. In addition to spatial patterns of intratumor paracrine signaling, a possible cell cycleassociated regulation was detected: mitotic and actively cycling tumor cells showed diminished activation relative to cells in G0 phase. Although ERK activation was not restricted to neoplastic glia, consistent patterns of selective activation in tumor cells suggest that sustained activation may contribute to the neoplastic glial phenotype (46).

1.2.4. ERK as prognostic factor/biomarker of cancer

When the findings described above are considered together, ERK1 as an indicator of an activated ERK signaling pathway seems to be an early marker in a wide range of epithelial tumors, including cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, breast cancer, prostate cancer, verrucous and squamous cell carcinoma of the upper aerodigestive tract, renal cellular carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and glial neoplasia. However, there might be differences between the different histologic types of human cancer, as suggested by the findings of Loda et al, who found ERK1 and ERK2 overexpression in the early phase of prostate, colon and bladder carcinogenesis, with progressive loss of expression with higher histologic grade and in metastases (47).

109

AY 2005-2006

1.3. Flavonoids and ERK activation in carcinogenesis 1.3.1. Flavonoids in carcinogenesis

Flavonoids, found in great quantity in fruit extracts, are secondary metabolites of superior plants exhibiting antitumor effects.

They are known to exert antioxidant and antiproliferative effects on tumor cells (48).

Recent studies have speculated that the classical antioxidant activity of flavonoids is unlikely to be the sole explanation for their cellular effects. This hypothesis is based on several lines of reasoning: i) flavonoids are extensively metabolized in vivo, thus, their redox potentials are significantly altered (49), and ii) the concentrations of flavonoids and their metabolites accumulated in vivo are lower than those of antioxidant nutrients (8). Investigations have indicated that flavonoids may selectively interact with the MAPK signaling pathway due to their ability to inhibit tyrosine kinase activity (49, 50).

A natural compound, Flavin7 (F7), composed of the extracts from seven different fruits, was investigated in our kidney tumor animal model (51). Ne/De tumor cells were transplanted underneath the renal capsule of 6-to 8-weekold Fisher344 rats and animals were treated with human dose-equivalent F7 solution according to the manufacturer’s instructions. After two weeks of treatment the rats were sacrificed and tumor growth was determined. F7 significantly (P<0.05) reduced tumor growth in vivo.

Accordingly, the aim of this study was to determine whether F7 influences the ERK signaling pathway in immortalized mouse renal proximal tubule cells.

110

Tyrosine Phosphorylation Pathways and Oncogenesis 1.3.2. Materials and Methods 1.3.2.1. Cell culture

TKPTS cells where TKPTS cell line was obtained from Dr Bello-Reuss and grown in 5% CO2 atmosphere at 37ºC as described by di Mari et al. (52). Parallel sets of logarithmically growing cells were treated with 50 µl, 100 µl, 200 µl, 300 µl and 500 µl F7 (total energy content 9.7 kJ, protein 0.07 g, fat 0.02 g, carbohydrates 0.16 g, total polyphenol 85 mg (flavonoid 75 mg, resveratrol 0.16 mg) 8 v/v% alcohol per 10 ml solution) (Crystal Institute Ltd, Eger, Hungary) per 2 ml cell culture medium.

(Stratagene, La Jolla, CA, USA) was transiently transfected into TKPTS cells by using the GenePorter2 reagent (GenLantis, San Diego, CA, USA) together with a β-galactosidase plasmid (Promega, Madison, WI, USA) as described elsewhere (53). Similarly, the pFR-Luc reporter plasmid together with the pFA2-Elk1 trans-activator plasmid

(Stratagene, La Jolla, CA, USA) were transiently transfected into TKPTS cells.

Twenty-four hours after transfection cells were treated with Flavin 7 for various time points (50µl, 100µl, 200 µl and 300 µl F7/2 ml culturing medium for 12 h).

Luciferase activity was determined by using a Luciferase Assay Kit (Promega, Madison, WI, USA) while β-galactosidase

1.3.2.2. Cell survival and FACS analysis

TKPTS cells were treated with various doses of Flavin 7 (50 µl, 100 µl, 200 µl, 300 µl and 500 µl F7/2 ml culturing medium).

Viable cell count was determined by trypan blue (Sigma Chemical Co, St. Louis, MO, USA) exclusion in a hemocytometer after 24 hours of treatment. In addition, TKPTS cells treated with 100 µl F7 were collected for FACS analysis 24 hours after treatment. Briefly: TKPTS cells were collected after trypsinization and fixed in 70% ethanol overnight. Afterwards, RNAse treatment cells were incubated with 5µg/ml PI and analyzed with a Becton Dickinson FACSCalibur analyzer (Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA). The cell cycle profile was analyzed using the CellQuest software (Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA).

1.3.2.3. Luciferase assay

pCRELuc plasmid containing four direct repeats of consensus CRE binding sites

Figure 1. Sequential-predictive model of carcinogenesis (reproduced with permission from the authors, 12).

111

AY 2005-2006 was determined under control conditions and 18 hours after F7 treatment. The relative luciferase activity was measured and was normalized to the amount of activity detected for the co-transfected β-galactosidase plasmid (Invitrogen, La Jolla, CA, USA).

1.3.2.4. Western blots

Sets of logarithmically growing cells were treated with 100 µl F7 per 2 ml cell culture medium. Thirty minutes, 1 h, 2 h and 6 h after F7 treatment the medium was discarded, the cells were rinsed with 1xPBS and collected in a radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIPA) buffer containing 50 µl/ml proteinase inhibitor cocktail (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO, USA), 100 mmol/ml sodium orthovanadate (Sigma Chemical

Tyrosine Phosphorylation Pathways and Oncogenesis Co.) and 100 µg/ml phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) (Sigma Chemical Co.) as described elsewhere (7). Protein content was measured using the Bio-Rad Protein Determination assay (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA) and 50 µg protein was blotted onto polyvinylidine fluoride membranes.

The membranes were then hybridized with phospho-ERK1/2 (Thr202/Tyr204), ERK1/2 (Cell Signaling Technology, Beverly, MA, USA), phospho-MEK (Ser217/221) and MEK (Cell Signaling Technology) primary antibodies overnight in 5 ml 5% milk solution according to the manufacturer’s instructions. After washing, the membranes were hybridized with a horseradish-peroxidase (HRP)conjugated secondary antibody in 2 ml 5% milk solution for 45 min. Bands were visualized by using the enhanced

chemiluminescence (ECL) method (Amersham, Piscataway, NJ, USA) and quantified by densitometry (UnScan-It 6.1; Silk Scientific, Orem, UT, USA).

1.3.2.5. Statistical analysis

Statistical differences between the treated and control samples were determined by Student’s paired t test. Differences between means were considered significant when p<0.05. Analyses were performed by using the SigmaStat 3.5 software package.

1.3.3. Results 1.3.3.1. Effects of F7 treatment on cell viability

Treatment of the TKPTS cells with 50 µl, 100 µl, 200 µl, 300 µl and 500 µl F7/well showed that 200 µl, 300 µl and 500 µl F7 significantly reduced the number of cells in the culture while the 50 µl and 100 µl treatment had no such effects (Figure 2). FACS analysis of the TKPTS cells treated with 100 µl F7 showed that F7 did not change the cell cycle distribution of the cells significantly (Figure 3). Since no cytotoxic effect or change in viability could be seen when applying 50 µl or 100 µl F7, to assure the greatest therapeutic dose possible, we selected the 100 µl F7 dose for our further studies.

Figure 3. Effect of F7 on the cell cycle progression of TKPTS cells. TKPTS cells were treated with Figure 2. Effect of F7 treatment on survival of TKPTS cells. Cell count was determined by trypan

100 µl F7 for 24 hours and FACS analysis was carried out as described in Materials and Methods.

blue exclusion (mean±S.D., n=3, *P<0.001 compared to untreated control)

The percentage of cells residing in the different stages of the cell cycle are given. Data are representative of three independent experiments.

112

113

AY 2005-2006

Tyrosine Phosphorylation Pathways and Oncogenesis

1.3.3.2. Effects of F7 treatment on ERK and MEK phosphorylation

Next, we determined whether F7 treatment affected phosphorylation of ERK. As shown in Figure 4, amounts of phospho-ERK were significantly and transiently reduced after F7 treatment in TKPTS cells (Figure 3 A and B). Since ERK is activated through its upstream

kinase MEK (54), we were interested whether F7 affects ERK phosphorylation through its kinase. As the results of Western blotting show, F7 attenuates MEK phosphorylation (Figure 5 A and B) similar to ERK. On the other hand, total amounts of ERK and MEK were unchanged.

1.3.3.3. Effects of F7 treatment on downstream function of ERK

Activated ERK activates downstream targets that induce target-specific transcription, which is part of the survival signaling (53, 55). Elk1 is one of the downstream targets of ERK, activity of which could be followed by a trans-activating system, where the Elk activator plasmid initiates activity of a

luciferase reporter plasmid. Accordingly, TKPTS cells were cotransfected with those plasmids and treated with 50 µl, 100 µl, 200 µl, 300 µl and 500 µl F7/2 ml culturing medium for 18 hours. As seen in Figure 5, Elk1 activity was significantly reduced after F7 treatment, similar to ERK phosphorylation (Figure 4). These observations suggest that ERK function is inhibited by F7 treatment.

Figure 4. Effect of F7 on ERK phosphorylation in TKPTS cells. (A) TKPTS cells were treated

Figure 5. Effect of F7 on MEK1 phosphorylation in TKPTS cells. (A) TKPTS cells were treated

with 100 µl F7 for the times indicated. Phosphorylation of ERK was determined by Western blot-

with 100 µl F7 for the times indicated. Phosphorylation of MEK1 was determined by Western blot-

ting using an antibody that recognizes only the phosphorylated form. As loading controls, total

ting using an antibody that recognizes only the phosphorylated form. As loading controls, total

ERK levels were also determined. Results shown are representative of three independent experi-

MEK1 levels were also determined. Results shown are representative of three independent experi-

ments. (B) Densitometry of the Western blots shown in (A). Ratios of pERK1/ERK1 are given

ments. (B) Densitometry of the Western blots shown in (A). Ratios of pMEK1/MEK1 are given

(mean±S.D., n=3; *P<0.001 compared to the untreated control, **P<0.001 compared to the 0.5, 1.0

(mean±S.D., n=3; *P<0.001 compared to the untreated control)

and 2.0 h treatments)

114

115

AY 2005-2006

Tyrosine Phosphorylation Pathways and Oncogenesis

The cAMP responsive element binding protein (CREB) is activated through phosphorylation by ERK/p90rsk (53, 56, 57). Activated CREB initiates a series of transcriptional events by binding to the promoters of CREB-responsive genes as part of the survival mechanism (58). To determine whether F7 also affects CREBmediated transcription, TKPTS cells were transiently transfected with the CREB responsive pCRE-Luc plasmid. As is seen in Figure 6, F7 treatment significantly inhibited CREB-mediated transcription.

1.3.4. Discussion

Flavonoids comprise a large class of naturally occurring polyphenol plant compounds. The human diet usually contains approximately 1 g or more per day of flavonoids, a quantity providing pharmacologically significant concentrations in body fluids (59).

Flavonoids were shown not only to inhibit tumor cell growth (51, 59) but also to induce cell differentiation (59). The inhibitory effects of flavonoids on the growth of malignant cells may partly be due to their suppressive effect on kinase

Figure 6. Effect of F7 on downstream function of ERK. TKPTS cells were transiently transfected with either the pFR-Luc reporter plus pFA2-Elk1 trans-activator plasmids together with a b-galactosidase plasmid (open bars) or a pCRE-Luc plus b-galactosidase plasmid (filled bars) as described in Materials and Methods. After 24 hours, cells were treated with F7 for 12 hours and luciferase activity together with b-galactosidase activity was determined. Luciferase activity was calculated as the ratio of luciferase activity normalized to b-galactosidase activity (meanÂąS.D., n=3; *P<0.001

activities involved in the regulation of cell proliferation (60, 61).

According to recent data, activation of the MAPK pathway such as ERK signaling is a frequent event in the development of cancerous diseases, though ERK phosphorylation is not unambiguously an advantage or a disadvantage for patients with cancerous diseases (62). The study of Ye et al. (63) has shown that the inhibition of the MEK/ERK pathway resulted in a significant enhancement of growth inhibition in MCF-7 breast cancer cells.

So et al. (64) have demonstrated that citrus flavonoids effectively inhibited proliferation of the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-435 in vitro, especially when paired with quercetin, which is widely distributed in other foods.

Earlier we reported that F7 treatment was able to reduce the growth of kidney tumor Ne/De transplanted into F344 rats. Furthermore, cancer-related weight loss was also reduced in tumor-bearing animals when treated with F7 (51). The mechanism of this tumor-reducing effect was not investigated, but besides other mechanisms, effects on the MEK/ERK pathway may be suspected.

Our data suggest that F7, being a flavonoid-rich solution, possesses a protein kinase inhibitor activity that might be responsible for the observed inhibition of MEK and ERK phosphorylation in TKPTS cells (Figure 3 and 4). Whether F7 directly acts on MEK or on its upstream kinase(s) needs further investigation. Our data also showed that inhibition of ERK phosphorylation resulted in inhibition of its downstream function, such as Elk1 or CREB activation (Figure 5).

ERK is involved in various cellular processes such as differentiation, proliferation, and survival (62).

Interestingly, inhibition of ERK and its function does not affect cell cycle progression as evidenced by FACS analysis (Figure 2). On the other hand, F7 also significantly inhibited CREB activity (Figure 5) probably through inhibition of ERK (53). Since CREB is an important element of survival signaling (7, 53, 57) these results suggest that F7 affects the survival pathway rather than the cell proliferation in renal tubular cells. The mechanism of these effects needs further study.

In conclusion, because of its ability to temporarily inhibit the activation of the MEK/ERK pathway in vitro and tumor growth in vivo, in case of malignancies which require MEK/ERK activation for survival (65), the natural compound F7 may have merit in the supportive therapy of cancer patients. Therefore, further in vivo and in vitro investigations are needed to determine the potential role of F7 in the treatment of malignant diseases.

2. Personal experiences It is a great opportunity in my profession to spend an academic year in the US and get professional experience in laboratory research. My supervisor, Robert L. Safirstein, MD has taken good care of me and made sure that I found my place in the laboratory ever since the first day.

My Adviser, Istvan Arany PhD, CSc has done his best to teach me new laboratory techniques like Luciferase assay and

compared to the untreated control)

116

117

AY 2005-2006 Western blotting and to include me in all the professional and leisure activities of the laboratory personnel. I have done my best to work as hard as possible and achieve some results within this relatively short period for research. I am deeply grateful to Dr. Arany, Dr. Safirstein, and all the laboratory personnel who warmly welcomed me in their everyday work and did not hesitate to help whenever I needed professional support.

I am also truly grateful to my roommate, Rebekah Craig, who did not hesitate to share her apartment with me and welcomed me into her circle of friends.

She also taught me a lot about the hospitality of the South and made sure that I felt myself at home no matter where we went together and whom we met.

Thanks to her, I met students of different nationalities and forged friendships that will hopefully last forever.

Tyrosine Phosphorylation Pathways and Oncogenesis I also need to mention the International Friendship Organization (IFO), a nonprofit organization whose primary goal is to welcome foreign students from all over the world in Little Rock, AR and to make them feel at home. They also provide free English lessons to ensure better professional and everyday communication for the foreign students, and, last but not least, they organize different activities for foreign students and Americans, giving them the opportunity to get to know each other and each other’s culture.

Finally, I thank the members of the Little Rock community who shared their homes and befriended us fellows during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter and who made us all feel welcome and part of the celebration.

Bibliography 1. Cano E, Mahadevan LC. Parallel signal processing among mammalian MAPKs. TIBS 1995; 20:117-22 2. Lewis TS, Shapiro PS, Ahn NG. Signal transduction through MAP kinase cascades. Adv Cancer Res 1998; 74:49-139 3. Cobb MH. MAP kinase pathways. Prog Biophys Mol Biol 1999; 71:479-500 4. English J, Pearson G, Wilsbacher J, Swantek J, Karandikar M, Xu S, Cobb MH. New Insights into the Control of MAP Kinase Pathways. Exp Cell Res 1999; 253:255-70 5. Pearson G, Robinson F, Beers Gibson T, Xu B-E, Karandikar M, Berman K, Cobb MH. MitogenActivated Protein (MAP) Kinase Pathways: Regulation and Physiological Functions. Endocrine Rev 2001; 22(2):153-83 6. Errede B, Cade RM, Yashar BM, Kamada Y, Levin DE, Irie K, Matsumoto K. Dynamics and organization of MAP kinase signal pathways. Mol Reprod Dev 1995; 42:477-85 7. Stevenson BJ, Rhodes N, Errede B, Sprague Jr GF. Constitutive mutants of the protein kinase STE11 activate the yeast pheromone response pathway in the absence of the G protein. Genes Dev 1992; 6:1293-304 8. Kondoh K, Torii S, Nishida E. Control of MAP kinase signaling to the nucleus. Chromosoma 2005; 114:86-91 9. Khokhlatchev AV, Canagarajah B, Wilsbacher J, Robinson M, Atkinson M, Goldsmith E, Cobb MH. Phosphorylation of the MAP kinase ERK2 promotes its homodimerization and nuclear translocation. 1998; Cell 93:605-15 10. Burack WR, Shaw AS: Live cell imaging of ERK and MEK: simple binding equilibrium explains the regulated nucleocytoplasmic distribution of ERK. J Biol Chem 2005; 280:3832-37

118

11. Németh K, Kiss I, Rodler I, Csejtei A, Faluhelyi L, Ember I: [Colon and rectum tumors]. In: Ember I, Kiss I (editors): [Molecular epidemiology of tumors and precancerous diseases]. Budapest: Medicina Rt; 2005. pp 90-101 12. Campbell PM, Der CJ. Oncogenic Ras and its role in tumor cell invasion and metastasis. Seminars Cancer Biol 2004; 14:105-14 13. Katsanakis KD, Owen C, Zoumpourlis V. JNK and ERK Signaling Pathways in Multistage Mouse Carcinogenesis: Studies in the Inhibition of Signaling Cascades as a Means to Understand their In Vivo Biological Role. Anticancer Res 2002; 22:755-60 14. Rummel AM, Trosko JE, Wilson MR, Upham BL. Polycylic Aromatic Hydrocarbons with Bay-like Regions

Inhibited

Gap

Junctional

Intercellular

Communication and Stimulated MAPK Activity.

Toxicol Sci 1999; 49:232-40 15. Yan Z, Subbaramaiah K, Camilli T, Zhang F, Tanabe T, McCaffrey TA et al. Benzo[a]pyrene Induces the Transcription of Cyclooxygenase-2 in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells. J Biol Chem 2000; 275(7):4949-55 16. Tan Z, Chang X, Puga A, Xia Y. Activation of mitogen-activated

protein

kinases

(MAPKs)

by

aromatic hydrocarbons: role in the regulation of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) function. Biochem Pharmacol 2002; 64(5-6):771-80 17. de Lédighen V, Liu H, Zhang F, Lo CR, Subbaramaiah K, Dannenberg AJ et al. Induction of cyclooxygenase-2 by tumor promoters in transformed and cytochrome P450 2E1-expressing hepatocytes. Carcinogenesis 2002; 23(1):73-9 18. Yang

C,

Frenkel

K.

Arsenic-mediated

cellular

signal transduction, transcription factor activation, and

aberrant

gene

expression:

implications

in

carcinogenesis. J Environ Pathol Toxicol Oncol 2002; 21(4):330-42 19. Qian Y, castranova V, Shi X. New perspectives in

119

AY 2005-2006 arsenic-induced cell signal transduction. J Inorg Biochem 2003; 96(2-3):271-8

Tyrosine Phosphorylation Pathways and Oncogenesis regullated kinases (ERK1/2) in breast cancer. Br J Cancer 2005; 92:2206-15

20. Reddy KB, Nabha SM, Atanaskova N. Role of MAP

29. Fang YJ, Richardson BC: The MAPK signaling

kinase in tumor progression and invasion. Cancer

pathways and colorectal cancer. Lancet Oncol 2005;

Metast Rev 2003; 22:395-403

6:322-7

38. Gioeli D, Mandell JW, Petroni GR, Frierson HE Jr,

Growth Factor Signaling - Immunohistochemical

Weber MJ. Activation of mitogen-activated protein

Localization of Activated ERK/MAP Kinase in Glial

kinase associated with prostate cancer progression.

Cancer Res 1999; 59:279-84

Neoplasms. Am J Pathol 1998; 153(5):1411-23 47. Loda M, Capodieci P, Mishra R, Yao H, Corless C,

39. Magi-Galluzzi C, Montironi R, Cangi MG, Wishnov

Grigioni W et al. Expression of mitogen-activated

K, Loda M. Mitogen-activated protein kinases and

protein kinase phosphatase-1 in the early phases of

apoptosis in PIN. Wirchows Arch 1998; 432:407-13

human epithelial carcinogenesis. Am J Pathol 1996;

21. Sivaraman VS, Wang H, Nuovo GJ, Malbon CC.

30. Wang X, Wang Q, Hu W, Evers BM. Regulation

Hyperexpression of mitogen-activated protein kinase

of phorbol ester-mediated TRAF1 induction in

in human breast cancer. J Clin Invest 1997; 99:1478-83

human colon cancer cells through a PKC/RAF/ERK/

40. Lessard JL, Robinson RA, Hoffmann HT. Differential

22. Adeyinka A, Nui Y, Cherlet T, Snell L, Watson PH,

NF-kappaB-dependent pathway. Oncogene 2004;

expression of ras signal transduction mediators in

48. Horvathova K, Vachalkova A and Novotny L:

23:1885-95

verroucous and squamous cell carcinoms of the upper

Flavonoids as chemopreventive agents in civilization

Murphy LC. Activated mitogen-activated protein kinase expression during human breast tumorigenesis

31. Licato LL, Keku TO, Wurzelmann JI, Murray SC,

and breast cancer progression. Clin Cancer Res 2002;

Woosley JT, Sandler RS et al. In vivo activation of

8:1747-53

mitogen-activated protein kinases in gastrointestinal

23. Hartmann G, Weidner KM, Schwarz H, Birchmeier

neoplasia. Gastroenterology 1997;113:1589-98

W. The motility signal of scatter factor/hepatocyte

32. Licato LL, Brenner DA. Analysis of Signaling Protein

growth factor mediated through the receptor tyrosine

Kinases in Human Colon or Colorectal Carcinomas.

kinase net requires intracellular activation of Ras. J Biol

Dig Dis Sci 1998; 43(7):1454-64

Chem 1994; 269:21936-9

aerodigestive tract. Arch Pathol Lab Med 2001; 125:1200-3

149:1553-64

diseases. Neoplasma 2001; 48: 435-41 49. Williams RJ, Spencer JPE and Rice-Evans C:

41. Mishima K, Yamada E, Masui K, Shimokawara T, Takayama K, Sugimura M et al. Overexpression of the ERK/MAP kinases in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

1998; Mod Pathol 11:886-91

Flavonoids: antioxidants or signalling molecules? Free Rad Biol Med 2004; 36: 838-49 50. Halliwell B, Zhao K and Whiteman M: The gastrointestinal tract: a major site of antioxidant action?

42. Branca M, Ciotti M, Santini D, Di Bonito L, Benedetto

Free Radic Res 33: 819-830, 2000.

33. Nemoto T, Kubota S, Ishida H, Murata N, Hashimoto

A, Giorgi C et al. Activation of the ERK/MAP KInase

51. Virag V, Varjas T, Gyongyi Z, Somlyai G, Ember I and

24. Klemke RL, Yebra M, Bayna EM, Cheresh DA.

D. Ornithine decarboxylase, mitogen-activated protein

Pathway in Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia is Related

Nadasi E: The possible role of natural products in the

Receptor tyrosine kinase signaling required for integrin

kinase and matrix metalloproteinase-2 expressions in

to Grade of the Lesion but Not to High-Risk Human

dietotherapy of cancer-related weight loss: an animal

alpha v beta 5-directed cell motility but not adhesion

human colon tumors. World J Gastroenterol 2005;

Papillomavirus, Virus Clearance, or Prognosis in

model. Acta Alim 2007; 36(2):249-56

on vitronectin. J Cell Biol 1994; 127:859-66

11(20):3065-69

Cervival Cancer. 2004; Am J Clin Pathol 122:902-11

52. di Mari JF, Davis R and Safirstein RL: MAPK

25. Krueger JS, keshamouni VG, Atanaskova N, Reddy

34. Hoshino R, Chatani Y, Yamori T, Tsuruo T, Oka

43. Givant-Horowitz V, Davidson B, Lazarovici P, Schaefer

activation determines renal epithelial cell survival

KB. Temporal and quantitative regulation of motigen-

H, Yoshida O et al. Constitutive activation of the

E, Nesland JM, Trope CG et al. Mitogen-activated

during oxidative injury. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol

activated protein kinase (MAPK) modulates cell

41-/43-kDa mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling

protein kinases (MAPK) as predictors of clinical

1999; 277: F195-203

pathway in human tumors. Oncogene 1999; 18:813-22

outcome in serous ovarian carcinoma in effusions.

motility and invasion. Oncogene 2001; 20:4209-18 26. Tanimura S, Nomura K, Ozaki K, Tsujimoto M, Kondo

35. Wang Q, Ding Q, Dong Z, Ehlers RA, Evers BM.

T, Kohno M. Prolonged nuclear retention of activated

Downregulation of mitogen-activated protein kinase in

extracellular signal-regulated kinase ½ is required for

human colon cancers, Anticancer Res 2000; 20:75-83

hepatocyte growth factor-induced cell motility. J Biol Chem 2002; 277:28256-64 27. Salh B, Marotta A, Matthewson C, Ahluwalia M,

36. Sakakura C, Hagiwara A, Shirahama T, Nakanishi M, Yasuoka R, Fujita Y et al. Infrequent activation of mitogen activated protein kinase in human colon

Flint J, Owen D et al. Investigation of the MEK-MAP

cancers. Hepatogastroenterology 1999; 46:2831-34

kinase-Rsk pathway in human breast cancer. Anticancer

37. Magi-Galluzzi C, Mishra R, Fiorentino M, Montironi

Gynecol Oncol 2003; 91(1):160-72 44. Oka H, Chatani Y, Hoshino R, Ogawa O, Kakehi Y, Terachi T et al. Constitutive activation of mitogenactivated protein (MAP) kinases in human renal cell carcinoma. Cancer Res 1995; 55(18):4182-7 45. Ito Y, Sasaki Y, Horimoto M, Wada S, Tanaka Y, Kasahara A, Ueki T et al. Activation of

ameliorates H2O2 cytotoxicity in mouse renal proximal tubule cells. Kidney Int 2004; 65: 1231-9 54. Kuhnau J: The flavonoids: a class of semi-essential food components: their role in human nutrition. World Rev Nutr Diet 1976; 24: 117-91.

55. Hipskind RA, Rao VN, Mueller CG, Reddy ES and

Kinases/Extracellular

Nordheim A: ETS-related protein Elk-1 is homologous

Signal-Regulated Kinases in Human Hepatocellular

to the c-fos regulatory factor p62TCF. Nature 1991;

28. Milde-Langosch K, Bamberger A-M, Rieck G,

kibase phosphatase I is overexpressed in prostate

Carcinoma. Hepatology 1998; 27(4):951-8

Grund D, Hemminger G, MĂźller V et al. Expression

cancers and is inversely related to apoptosis. Lab Invest

and prognostic relevance of activated extracellular-

1997; 76:37-51

120

Protein

RL: Activation of ERK or inhibition of JNK

R, Yao H, Capodieci P et al. Mitogen-activated protein

Res 1999; 19:731-40

Mitogen-Activated

53. Arany I, Megyesi J, Kaneto H, Tanaka S and Safirstein

354: 531-4

46. Mandell JW, Hussaini IM, Zecevic M, Weber MJ,

56. Deak M, Clifton AD, Lucocq LM and Alessi DR:

VandenBerg SR. In Situ Visualization of Intratumor

Mitogen- and stress-activated protein kinase-1 (MSK1)

121

is directly activated by MAPK and SAPK2/p38, and may mediate activation of CREB. EMBO J 1998; 17: 4426-41

61. Lamson DW and Brignall MS: Antioxidants and cancer III: Quercetin. Altern Med Rev 2000; 5: 196-208 62. Nadasi E, Ember I and Arany I: Extracellular signal-

57. Arany I, Megyesi JK, Rausch JEB and Safirstein RL:

regulated kinase as biomarker in the molecular

CREB mediates ERK-induced survival of mouse renal

epidemiology of human carcinogenesis I: Molecular

tubular cells after oxidant stress. Kidney Int 2005; 68: 1573-82

mechanisms. Hung Epidemiol 2005; 2: 297-304 63. Ye J, Li A, Liu Q, Wang X and Zhou J: Inhibition of

58. Josselyn SA and Nguyen PV: CREB, synapses and

mitogen activated protein kinase enhances apoptosis

memory disorders: past progress and future challenges.

induced by arsenic trioxide in human breast cancer

Curr Drug Targets CNS Neurol Disord 2005; 4: 481-

MCF-7 cells. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol 2005; 32:

97

1042-8

59. Kanadaswami C, Lee LT,. Lee PP, Hwang JJ, Ke FC,

64. So FV, Guthrie N, Chambers AF, Moussa M and

Huang YT and Lee MT: The antitumor effects of

Carroll KK: Inhibition of human breast cancer cell

flavonoids. In Vivo 2005; 19: 895-909

proliferation and delay of mammary tumorigenesis by

60. Huang YT, Hwang JJ, Lee PP, Ke FC, Huang JH, Huang CJ, Kandaswami C, Middletone E Jr and

in Association with a Changing Fluviolacustrine Environment and its Comparison with Young Basaltic Volcanic Fields in the Pannonian Basin

flavonoids and citrus juices. Nutr Cancer 1996; 26: 167-81

Lee MT: Effects of luteolin and quercetin, inhibitors

65. Nadasi E, Ember I and Arany I: Extracellular signal-

of tyrosine kinase, on cell growth and metastasis-

regulated kinase as biomarker in the molecular

associated properties in A431 cells overexpressiong

epidemiology of human carcinogenesis II: Clinical

epidermal growth factor receptor. Br J Pharmacol

implications. Hung Epidemiol 2006; 3: 53-8

1999; 128: 999-1010

Mio/Pliocene Phreatomagmatic Volcanism in Idaho

Károly Németh 1

Geological Institute of Hungary 14 Stefánia út, Budapest, H-1143 www.mafi.hu peperit@freemail.hu

Boise State University Department of Geosciences www.boise.edu Adviser: Prof. Dr. Craig White

The explosive (phreatomagmatic) volcanism caused by magma and water interaction in continental settings plays an important role in volcanic field evolution. Most of the continental volcanic fields have phreatomagmatic volcanoes, as magma encounters surface and/or ground water tables upon its route to the surface. Identification of phreatomagmatic volcanism in any volcanic fields is important since the existence of such volcanoes demonstrates the presence of water at the time of the volcanism. The resulting phreatomagmatic volcanic landforms are characteristic of the type of magma – water interaction. If magma interacts with surface water, the resulting volcanoes are steep sided and their pyroclastic deposits will be dominated by fragmented, angular, chilled magma 1 Present address: Massey University, Volcanic Risk Solutions, PO Box 11 222, Palmerston North, New Zealand, email: k.nemeth@massey.ac.nz, web: www.knemeth-volcano.fw.hu

122

123

AY 2005-2006 fragments, while in case the magma interacts with sub-surface water tables, the volcanoes will be broad, with wide craters, and their pyroclastic deposits will be rich in country rock fragments disrupted by the explosions. Young basaltic volcanic fields in Idaho and in the Pannonian Basin demonstrate a wide spectrum of phreatomagmatic volcanoes. A detailed study of these volcanoes in both fields helps to reconstruct their eruptive environments, and it draws attention to the usefulness as well as the pitfalls of studying phreatomagmatism in such continental settings. During my Fulbright research visit and through subsequent research collaboration, I have identified new details regarding how such volcanic fields could be used for paleo-environmental reconstructions and how complex a single phreatomagmatic volcano can be.

Keywords: tuff ring, maar, phreatomagmatic, basalt, sideromelane, erosion, lacustrine, base surge

1. Introduction Small-volume volcanic eruptions are commonly thought to be monogenetic form tephra cones, rings, or mounds consisting of bedded pyroclastic deposits that are created by fallout, density currents, and/or down slope remobilization of tephra [1, 2]. Monogenetic volcanic fields are commonly related to explosive eruptions (phreatomagmatism) caused by the magma-water interaction associated with magma interacting with shallow or deep groundwater and/or surface water sources [3]. Monogenetic volcanoes are

124

Mio/Pliocene Phreatomagmatic Volcanism in Idaho traditionally thought to be those volcanoes that erupt only once during their eruptive history. They are small and occur as scoria cones, tuff cones and rings, and maars. They form typically from shortlived single and brief eruptions. Their characteristic feature is that the duration of the eruption is usually shorter than the solidification time required for the feeding system to provide the melt for the eruption. This definition may be useful to classify those volcanoes that erupt mafic magmas and produce the small-volume cinder cones associated with variable long lava flows. Since phreatomagmatic volcanoes such as maars and tuff rings are considered to be the wet equivalent of scoria cones, it is generally accepted that the eruption duration of phreatomagmatic volcanoes is short. Eyewitnesses of a few historic maar volcanic eruptions such as Ukinrek (Alaska) [4, 5] and Rininahue (Chile) [6] as well as shallow subaqueous explosive (Surtseyan-style) eruptions such as Surtsey (Iceland) [7] or Ambae (Vanuatu) [8] support the working hypothesis that such eruptions usually last a short time.

In many cases, seasonal climatic changes as well as the ratio of available surface and ground water play an important role in the formation of different types of volcanic landforms [9, 10]. For these reasons a great variety of volcanic landforms tends to develop, especially in low lands where the hydrogeology of the country rocks may be very complex. The resulting volcanic landform, especially in such settings, depends in large degree on the nature of the pre-eruptive surface (e.g. the

depositional environment), the lithology and mechanical properties of its volcanic conduit wall rocks, its vent geometry, and the type and availability of external water [11]. Most volcanological studies on monogenetic volcanic landforms are based on young volcanoes and focus on their short-term morphological changes, tephra transport, and depositional processes in syn- and post-eruptive times.

Due to the erosion, the exposed inner architecture of monogenetic volcanoes reveals volcanic litho-facies that bear important information about the eruptive mechanism of the volcano. Monogenetic volcanic fields commonly consist of large numbers of volcanic clusters and/or alignments that may consist of hundreds of volcanoes in a volcanic field. Such a large number of volcanoes in a volcanic field may evolve over millions of years.

Over such long time periods (thousands to millions of years) individual volcanoes may erode significantly, and a volcanic field may consist of a group of variable eroded volcanic landforms preserved on a gradually eroding landscape. Over longer time periods, a relatively uniform landscape could be dissected, lowered, and commonly inverted, resulting in preserved clusters of formerly low-lying zones of the syn-eruptive landscapes in elevated positions [12]. According to this point of view, monogenetic volcanic fields are very useful in characterizing the course of erosion in the surrounding syn-eruptive landscape over that period of time during which the volcanic field was active and after the cessation of the last eruption. Especially in older (millions of

years) volcanic fields, erosional remnants of phreatomagmatic volcanoes bear important information about the syneruptive country rock stratigraphy. It has been demonstrated in many places so far that such phreatomagmatic volcanoes may create their â&#x20AC;&#x153;ownâ&#x20AC;? sedimentary environment within which subsequent eruptions from the same location may result, forming volcanoes that may reflect strikingly different eruption environments from the surrounding syn-volcanic environments [13].

The western Snake River Plain volcanic field in southwest Idaho is considered to be an extensive Mio/Pliocene volcanic field that formed voluminous lava shields, pahoehoe lava fields, scoria cones, and a great variety of phreatomagmatic volcanoes [14, 15]. In spite of what are, in general, poorly exposed volcanic features along the Snake River, deep canyon walls expose a thick accumulation of pyroclastic rocks, many of them indicating widespread and probably long lasting phreatomagmatic eruptive events throughout the volcanic history of the region [15, 16]. It is thought that the Western Snake River Plain volcanism demonstrates a continuum between deep subaqueous to subaerial eruptions [16], but this view may need revision based on the conclusions of this Fulbright research project. Previously, it was thought that many phreatomagmatic volcanic eruptive sites were located in deep subaqueous volcanoes, which erupted along the lake floor of a large intracontinental lake, called Lake Idaho. The identification of pyroclastic deposits suggestive of magma

125

AY 2005-2006 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; water interaction has exclusively been used to draw a paleogeographical map, which was then used to locate the former deep sub-basins within Lake Idaho, in spite of the lack of independent supporting stratigraphical data from the extension of lacustrine beds [16].

2. Geological Setting During the Fulbright research visit, fieldwork was conducted in the Western

Mio/Pliocene Phreatomagmatic Volcanism in Idaho Snake River Plain volcanic field and compared with volcanic features from the western Pannonian Basin in Hungary (Fig. 1). The western Snake River Plain volcanic field (WSRPVF) in SW-Idaho contains up to 400 basaltic vents and centers that produced lava shields, pahoehoe lava fields, scoria cones, and a great variety of phreatomagmatic volcanoes between the late Miocene and middle Pleistocene time periods [14, 15, 17]. Similarly to the WSRPVF, Mio/Pliocene volcanism in the Carpatho-Pannon region in the

Fig. 1.

126

western segment of the Pannonian Basin in Hungary (Fig. 1) occurred between 7.98 and 2.8 Ma ago [18]. Tephra deposits produced by phreatomagmatic eruptions are particularly well exposed in the walls of the Snake River canyon, where thick accumulations of pyroclastic rocks indicate widespread and probably long lasting phreatomagmatic eruptive events throughout most of the volcanic history of the region. The volcanic landforms in the western Pannonian Basin are variable eroded maars, tuff rings, scoria cones, and shield volcanoes [19]. The pyroclastic rocks in both fields that have been preserved are commonly found in buttes exposing near vent pyroclastic successions. Distal basin filling pyroclastic deposits generally have poor preservation potential. However, due to extensive lava flow cover, such deposits can be preserved, as they are in the case of Idaho. In the western Pannonian Basin, unfortunately, such distal pyroclastic deposits are poorly exposed and poorly preserved.

Previously, many of the phreatomagmatic deposits in Idaho were considered to be the products of subaqueous eruptions that took place on the floor of one or more large freshwater intra-continental lakes [16]. Recent field-based observations confirm the presence of widespread phreatomagmatic pyroclastic rocks; however, some of those that had been interpreted as being subaqueous exhibit textural features that are more consistent with subaerial depositional environments.

Intrusive and extrusive magmatic bodies with features associated with peperite formation have also been identified. Most of these peperites can be attributed to

magma-sediment mixing in intra-crater/ conduit or vent settings, and, therefore, they cannot be used as widespread paleoenvironmental indicators to demonstrate non-explosive magma and surface water (e.g. lake) interaction [13].

The bedrock hydrogeological characteristics are strongly influenced by the morphology of the resulting volcanic landforms in the Pannonian Basin, and this seems also to be the case in Idaho. During the Fulbright visit, a systematic analysis of key, preserved volcanic erosional remnants was carried out with the aim of finding systematic rules governing the relationships between the preserved pyroclastic succession, the original volcanic landform, and the potential eruptive environment.

3. Phreatomagmatic volcanoes The volcanic erosional remnants of phreatomagmatic volcanoes that have been preserved are then used to characterize their eruptive environment. In a simplistic way, volcanoes that have erupted in subaqueous environments produce characteristic pyroclastic successions that could be theoretically distinguished from pyroclastic successions formed during explosive eruptions of magma and ground water [3]. The key difference between the resulting deposits is their chilled, juvenile components of magmatic origin. In addition, the volcanoes that erupted in subaqueous conditions usually produce pyroclastic density currents that are charged in free water, and, therefore,

127

AY 2005-2006 the freshly deposited tephra will be sticky, cohesive, and ready to develop into steepsided volcanic cones [3]. This rule is theoretically true, but if the large part of the volcanic edifice is eroded, and only its central part is preserved, we cannot straightforwardly infer that what we see is the original volcanic landform geometry [13]. The reason for this is that many volcanoes originally formed in subaerial conditions due to magma â&#x20AC;&#x201C; water explosive interaction can create a broad crater zone, which will be rich in water saturated sediments. Such conditions easily could create similar depositional environments that one could expect in volcanic eruptions in purely subaqueous environments [13]. According to this line of logic, during the Fulbright research visit, systematic fieldwork was carried out to check basic textural characteristics as well as the 3D facies architecture of the preserved volcanic landform from sites that had previously been identified

Mio/Pliocene Phreatomagmatic Volcanism in Idaho as purely subaqueous or subaerial.

One of the best examples on record for subaqueous volcanic eruptions are the Walters Butte and White Butte (Fig. 2) [16]. Based on close examination of each erosion remnant, it can be stated that the preserved pyroclastic deposits of each butte are similar to those one would expect in subaerial maar-forming eruptions.

During the textural examination of the preserved volcanic rocks, it was concluded that neither of these sites has volcanic erosion remnants that are good enough to determine any details about the eruptive environment [20]. Neither of these volcanoes has preserved distal volcanic facies, and they cannot be correlated with other sedimentological markers; any determination about the eruptive environment (subaqueous vs. subaerial) would be inconclusive. In terms of their 3D architecture and their pyroclastic rock units, Walters Butte and White Butte are very similar to buttes from the Tapolca-

Fig. 2.

128

basin in western Hungary, indicating the common origin of these volcanoes [19].

Guffey Butte in Idaho (Fig. 3) is considered to be an erosional remnant of a shallow maar, which erupted in a so called soft substrate environment (e.g. sand). Because of the magma and shallow ground water (stored in the sand), phreatomagmatic explosions created a broad, shallow hole, a maar surrounded by a gently sloping tuff ring (Fig. 4) similar to those volcanoes that have been identified on the Little Hungarian Plain [19, 21]. Advanced erosion in the central zone of Guffey Butte exposed feeder dykes and some conduit filling pyroclastic successions rich in disrupted sand fragments (diatrema) similar to those preserved vent-filling pyroclastic rock units that have been exposed in and around the Kali Basin in the Bakony - Balaton Highland Volcanic Field. Next to Guffey Butte, the Con Shea Butte is a fine example with which

to identify the gradual facies changes of the pyroclastic successions, from those caused by explosive eruptions resulting from subaerial magma and ground water interaction to those caused by pure lava fountain eruption through a wet volcanic crater zone (Fig. 5). Similar gradual facies changes have been identified at many sites in western Hungary, such as the buttes in the Tapolca Basin (Fig. 1). The largest preserved phreatomagmatic volcano in the studied area in Idaho is the Sinker Butte (Fig. 6). It is a complex volcano that was originally thought to have erupted in a subaqueous environment.

The accumulating pyroclastic succession quickly filled the lacustrine basin, and gradually a tuff cone emerged above the lake level [22]. In the final stage of the eruption, scoria cones with internal lava lakes were formed, which helped to preserve the volcano against the Snake Riverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rapid incision [22]. The

Fig. 3.

129

AY 2005-2006 size of the preserved phreatomagmatic volcano of Sinker Butte is notable. The basal pyroclastic succession, which was thought to be to be deposited on the lake floor about a few tens deep, can be traced over 6 km from the centre of the volcano (Fig. 7). These basal and distal units apparently inter-bedded with other distal pyroclastic successions from nearby volcanoes. During the field visit, it was apparent that correlating these units with individual eruptive centres is crucial to understanding the evolution of the volcanism and the fluvio-lacustrine basin of Sinker Butte, and this could be a good direction for research to take in this area. Sinker Butte is larger, but comparable in size to phreatomagmatic

Mio/Pliocene Phreatomagmatic Volcanism in Idaho volcanic complexes in the central part of the Bakony-Balaton Highland Volcanic Field, such as the Fekete-hegy maar diatreme complex in Hungary (Fig. 8).

The difference between these two sites is that distal pyroclastic successions are not preserved in the Hungarian examples, and while Sinker Butte clearly demonstrates initial subaqueous eruptions, Fekete-hegy is purely a subaerial phreatomagmatic volcano [23]. During the field visit in Idaho, other large phreatomagmatic volcanic complexes nearby Sinker Butte, along the Snake River canyon (Fig. 9), were identified. In the pyroclastic successions of these large volume volcanoes, in the half sections of entire volcanic edifices, a general trend from

Fig. 4.

130

pure “wet” phreatomagmatic deposits to more ”dry” Strombolian style scoria cone building units were identified (Fig. 9). In a few places, phreatomagmatic pyroclastic units exhibited a massive, chilled juvenile pyroclast-rich and thickly bedded texture persistent over distances of hundreds of metres (Fig. 10). Such successions are thought to be the result of high particle concentration pyroclastic density currents such as pyroclastic flows triggered by phreatomagmatic explosive eruptions [24-27]. Similar pyroclastic units have also been described from the Western Hungarian volcanic fields such as the Szentbekkalla sequences [28].

4. Erosion of phreatomagmatic volcanoes The mafic small volume volcanoes from the study area in Idaho suffered significant erosion by the incision of the Snake River. In the canyon wall, entire half sections of complex phreatomagmatic volcanoes are exposed. In spite of this strong downcutting effect, in other areas, the original morphology of the volcanoes is preserved by thick and complex young lava flows. The areas covered by young lava flow are plateau-like today, and broad shield volcanoes can be identified as having very limited exposed outcrops.

Fig. 5.

131

AY 2005-2006 This generally smooth landscape may hide large and significant volcanic complexes. The very complex architecture of the large volcanoes found in the Snake River canyon wall highlights a problem.

Due to the lava cover, it is unknown if there are other volcanoes, especially phreatomagmatic ones, in other places besides those along the Snake River valley. This raises an important question: did the majority of the phreatomagmatic volcanoes erupt along a preexisting fluvial network or is the present day Snake River valley located in a line of phreatomagmatic volcanoes, which were then easy to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;down cutâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; during the last millions of years?

This question could be a major focus for research in the future. In Western Hungary, the erosion is likely to be more

Mio/Pliocene Phreatomagmatic Volcanism in Idaho advanced, as almost all of the individual eruptive sites (former phreatomagmatic volcanic complexes) have gone through a significant geomorphic inversion, and today only their core zones are preserved.

During the field visit in Idaho, few enigmatic pyroclastic rock units were visited. These successions are thickly bedded, massive, and laterally persistent tuff breccias (Fig. 11). These tuff breccias are rich with rugged, angular magma fragments, block sized country rock fragments (almost entirely intact), as well as nearly homogenized and milled debris from underlying strata (Fig. 11). The origin of these beds is unknown; however, their textural characteristics are similar to those deposits that have been caused by large scale mass wasting of former

Fig. 6.

132

phreatomagmatic volcanoes. The textural characteristics of these deposits are similar to the deposits of volcanic debris flows (e.g. lahars). The identification of these extensive tabular rock units in Idaho suggests that large scale mass wasting could also be an important mechanism of erosion for these types of volcanoes.

Perhaps for better reconstruction, future research is necessary.

5. Intravent peperite Peperite results from interaction between magma and wet sediment and exhibits a range of complex textures [29-34].

Distinguishing peperite textures from those volcaniclastic textures caused

by the explosive eruptive events that form pyroclast is important for a better understanding of the eruptive and sedimentary history of a region influenced by volcanic events. In addition, the identification of peperites is also important to refine our understanding of the environment where volcanism took place. However, the correct interpretation of peperitic textures is crucial to draw a realistic paleo-environmental picture of the volcanic environment where volcanism occurred. Peperite commonly has been described as being either blocky or globular; in some cases, it is thought to develop in response to properties of the host sediment [31]. Other controls on peperite morphology have also been reported from many different settings,

Fig. 7.

133

AY 2005-2006 including the vents of phreatomagmatic volcanoes [35]. At one of the sites studied in Idaho (“71 Gulch Volcano”), it was previously thought that the site indicated the presence of a shallow lake [16]. At this site there is clear field evidence that peperitic feeder dykes contacted muddy, sandy siliciclastic sediments forming globular peperite [36]. The peperitic feeder dykes transition to pillowed, ponded lava sections (Fig. 12). It has been suggested that the 3D architecture of the erosional remnant of “71 Gulch Volcano” does not require the presence of a lake at the time of its formation; it is equally possible that it represents a subaerial phreatomagmatic upper conduit – crater-

Mio/Pliocene Phreatomagmatic Volcanism in Idaho filling succession. This interpretation opens up many questions about the Mio/ Pliocene evolution of SW Idaho, the timing of the volcanism, and its association with the evolution of the lacustrine systems in the region. In addition, re-evaluations of the volcanic features in SW Idaho have some general implications for the usage of phreatomagmatic pyroclastic rocks for paleo-environmental reconstruction.

Distinguishing pyroclastic successions as conduit, vent, or crater filling units is not easy in eroded phreatomagmatic volcanoes. It is even harder to interpret dissected pyroclastic successions, especially when trying to identify their exact location with respect to their syn-eruptive position

Fig. 8.

134

and whether they are part of conduit, vent, or crater filling successions or part of a constructional edifice remnant (e.g. tephra ring). The problem is even more significant when peperite is identified.

Peperite is commonly used as evidence to demonstrate the existence of a wet eruptive environment, where magma interacts with wet, water saturated sediments [32, 33]. However, such interaction-textures do not necessarily prove that such magma and water interaction took place in a region that was covered by water or that it was saturated by high-level ground water. Wet eruptive environments can be equally representative of water-saturated zones of sub-surface sediments (both normal siliciclastic and volcaniclastic of any origin) where the magma intruded.

Such a scenario is expected to be common in association with phreatomagmatic volcanism, where the newly opened volcanic conduit, vent, and crater zone of the phreatomagmatic volcano are filled by loose, damp and water-saturated tephra, commonly referred to as slurry.

A similar problem in trying to give an interpretation of the peperite associated with phreatomagmatic volcanoes has been identified in Western Hungary [34].

The correct interpretation of the peperite in such crater/vent or conduit settings is crucial if one wishes to use the recognition of peperitic texture in such volcanoes for paleo-environmental reconstructions.

Fig. 9.

135

AY 2005-2006

6. Distal phreatomagmatic pyroclastic rock units During the field visit in Idaho, one of the most enigmatic pyroclastic successions that was studied are those that crop out beneath extensive lava flows and which are traceable over tens of kilometers, especially along the Snake River canyon (Fig. 13). These pyroclastic units indicate the complex evolution of volcanism there. These deposits show the textural characteristics of primary phreatomagmatic fall and pyroclastic density current origin as well as reworking processes. The extension and volume of these deposits are large, and, therefore, this research visit did not provide enough

Mio/Pliocene Phreatomagmatic Volcanism in Idaho time to explore and interpret the origin of these units. The best explanation for the origin of these pyroclastic units is that they accumulated in a flat-lying landscape, partially covered by shallow standing water masses. Distal tephra was deposited on both “wet” and “dry” lands, and at different times they went through significant reworking processes, as it is recorded in tabular packets of reworked tephra interbedded with primary pyroclastic units. In this way, these pyroclastic successions represent a significant time period for the volcanism in Idaho. Future sampling, combineing stratigraphy and textural analysis, may lead to the development of a stratigraphic framework for the volcanism in Idaho.

Fig. 10.

136

Distal pyroclastic successions similar to the Idaho examples have not been recognized yet from Western Hungary.

The reason for this is that probably most of those successions have eroded away, or they have not yet been recognized in other phreatomagmatic units, especially in preserved pyroclastic units that have accumulated in volcanic depressions.

Study of these units in the future is crucial in both fields, and will be a challenging, but rewarding aspect of future research.

7. Conclusion: phreatomagmatic volcanic fields and eruptive environments The western Snake River Plain volcanic field in Southwest Idaho is considered to be an extensive Mio–Pliocene volcanic field that formed voluminous lava shields, pahoehoe lava fields, scoria cones, and a great variety of phreatomagmatic volcanoes. In many ways the Snake River Plain volcanic field is considered to be a special type of volcanic field, where broad, large volume shield volcanoes form a complex network. In general, many of

Fig. 11.

137

AY 2005-2006 the phreatomagmatic volcanic eruptive sites in the WSRVF were considered to be the locations of deep subaqueous volcanoes that erupted along the floor of a large intra-continental lake, called Lake Idaho. The identification of pyroclastic deposits suggestive of magma â&#x20AC;&#x201C; water interaction has only been used to draw a palaeogeographical map to locate the former deep sub-basins of Lake Idaho, in spite of the lack of independent supporting stratigraphical data from lacustrine beds.

Mio/Pliocene Phreatomagmatic Volcanism in Idaho Field-based volcanological observations during the Fulbright research visit provided evidence of the widespread presence of phreatomagmatic pyroclastic rocks throughout the WSRVF; however, most of them exhibit textural features characteristic of a sub-aerial depositional environment. In addition, intrusive and extrusive magmatic bodies with peperitic margin have also been identified. Most of the peperite, however, is preserved in intra-crater/conduit or vent settings and,

Fig. 12.

138

therefore, cannot be used as widespread palaeo-environmental indicators to demonstrate non-explosive magma and surface water (e.g. lake) interaction. It seems that the presence of pillow lava and the associated hyaloclastite breccia deposits may also suggest that there were lava deltas formed in relatively shallow (a few tens of metres) lacustrine basins.

Analysis of pyroclastic facies seemingly confirms that the formation of pyroclastic deposits/rocks, thought to be deposited and formed in a deep sublacustrine environment, actually do not need such an environment for their formation. The Fulbright Fellowship opened up a lifetime of research collaboration and showed significant potential for future research in Idaho and in general in understanding the evolution of phreatomagmatic volcanic fields. The similarities between

the western Snake River Plain and the western Hungarian phreatomagmatic volcanic fields has helped to identify general aspects of the evolution of a mafic volcanic field in a fluvio-lacustrine basin.

Fluvio-lacustrine basins are commonly host volcanic fields, and, therefore, this research project has served an important function, comparing, generalizing, and sharing expertise, to advance our understanding of the evolution of such volcanic fields. It has been clearly demonstrated during this research stay that mafic volcanic fields, especially those that have experienced phreatomagmatism, can be used for eruptive environment reconstruction. However, it also has been demonstrated that before further and large-scale reconstruction is done, the eruptive mechanism of each individual eruptive center has to be established.

Fig. 13.

139

AY 2005-2006

Bibliography [1] C. B. Connor and F. M. Conway, “Basaltic volcanic fields.” In: H. Sigurdsson,Ed., Encyclopedia of Volcanoes, Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 331-343, 2000 [2] D. Vespermann and H.-U. Schmincke, “Scoria cones and tuff rings”, In: H. Sigurdsson, B. F. Houghton, S. R. McNutt, H. Rymer and J. Stix,Ed., Encyclopedia of Volcanoes, Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 683-694, 2000 [3] J. D. L. White, “The depositional record of small, monogenetic volcanoes within terrestrical basins”, In: R. V. Fisher and G. A. Smith,Ed., Sedimentation in Volcanic Settings, Society for Sedimentary Geology, Tulsa (Oklahoma), pp. 155-171, 1991 [4] J. Kienle, P. R. Kyle, S. Self, R. J. Motyka and V. Lorenz, “Ukinrek Maars, Alaska .1. April 1977 Eruption Sequence, Petrology And Tectonic Setting”, Journal Of Volcanology And Geothermal Research, vol. 7, pp. 11-37, 1980 [5] S. Self, J. Kienle and J. P. Huot, “Ukinrek Maars, Alaska 2. Deposits and formation of the 1977 craters”, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, vol. 7, pp. 39-65, 1980 [6] G. Mueller and G. Veyl, “The birth of Nilahue, a new maar type volcano at Rininahue, Chile”, Congreso Geologico Internacional, vol. Seccio I - Vulcanologia del Cenozoico, pp. 375-396, 1956 [7] S. Thorarinsson, Surtsey. The New Island in the North Atlantic, The Viking Press, New York, 1967 [8] K. Németh, S. J. Cronin, D. Charley, M. Harrison and E. Garae, “Exploding lakes in Vanuatu - “Surtseyanstyle” eruptions witnessed on Ambae Island”, Episodes, vol. 29, pp. 87-92, 2006 [9] J. J. Aranda-Gomez and J. F. Luhr, “Origin of the Joya Honda maar, San Luis Potosi, Mexico”, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, vol. 74, pp. 1-18, 1996 [10] K. Németh, U. Martin and S. Harangi, “Miocene

140

Mio/Pliocene Phreatomagmatic Volcanism in Idaho phreatomagmatic volcanism at Tihany (Pannonian Basin, Hungary)”, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal

Snake River Plain Volcanic Province. , Idaho Geological Survey, Moscow, Idaho, pp. 233-312, 2002

[24] B. G. Giaccio, et al., “Mid-distal occurrences of the Albano Maar pyroclastic deposits and their relevance

[18] J. Wijbrans, K. Németh, U. Martin and K.

for reassessing the eruptive scenarios of the most

[11] V. Lorenz, “On the growth of maars and diatremes and

Balogh, “Ar-40/Ar-39 geochronology of Neogene

recent activity at the Colli Albani Volcanic District,

its relevance to the formation of tuff rings”, Bulletin of

phreatomagmatic volcanism in the western Pannonian

Central Italy”, Quaternary International, vol. 171-72, pp.

Volcanology, vol. 48, pp. 265-274, 1986

Basin, Hungary”, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal

Research, vol. 111, pp. 111-135, 2001

[12] K. Németh and U. Martin, “Late Miocene paleo-

Research, vol. 164, pp. 193-204, 2007 Mio/Pliocene

(Roma, Italy): Stratigraphy, structure and petrology”,

Volcanic Field (Hungary) using physical volcanology

phreatomagmatic volcanism in the western Pannonian

Journal Of Volcanology And Geothermal Research, vol. 155,

data”, Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, vol. 43, pp.

Basin., Geological Institute of Hungary, Budapest,

417-438, 1999

2004

geomorphology of the Bakony-Balaton Highland

[19] U.

Martin

and

K.

160-178, 2007 [25] G. Giordano, et al., “The Colli Albani mafic caldera

Németh,

pp. 49-80, 2006 [26] S. D. Watkins, G. Giordano, R. A. F. Cas and D. De

[13] K. Németh, U. Martin and G. Csillag, “Pitfalls in

[20] K. Németh and C. White, “Víz alatti volt-e a mio-

Rita, “Emplacement processes of the mafic Villa

erosion level calculation based on remnants of maar

pliocén vulkánosság a Snake-síksági vulkánvidéken

Senni Eruption Unit (VSEU) ignimbrite succession,

and diatreme volcanoes”, Geomorphologie-Relief Processus

(Idaho,

Colli Albani volcano, Italy”, Journal of Volcanology and

Environnement, vol. pp. 225-235, 2007

az

USA)?

skörnyezeti

-

Terepi

megfigyelések,

rekonstrukció

eszközei

mint [How

Geothermal Research, vol. 118, pp. 173-203, 2002

[14] S. H. Wood and D. M. Clemens, “Tectonic and

subaqueous was the volcanism in the Mio/Pliocene

[27] G. Giordano, D. De Rita, R. Cas and S. Rodani, “Valley

magmatic evolution of the Snake River Plain volcanic

Snake River Plain (Idaho, USA) volcanic field?

pond and ignimbrite veneer deposits in the small-

province.” In: B. Bonnichsen, M. McCurry and C.

Volcanological field observations as tools to reconstruct

volume phreatomagmatic ‘Peperino Albano’ basic

White,Ed., Tectonic and magmatic evolution of the Snake

paleoenvironments]”, Magyar Allami Foeldt. Int., Evi

ignimbrite, Lago Albano maar, Colli Albani volcano,

River Plain volcanic province, Idaho Geological Survey,

Jelentese 2005, vol. 2005, pp. [in press], 2007

Italy: influence of topography”, Journal of Volcanology

Moscow, pp. 69-103, 2004

[21] U. Martin and K. Németh, “Eruptive and depositional

and Geothermal Research, vol. 118, pp. 131-144, 2002

[15] M. Godchaux and B. Bonnichsen, “Syneruptive

history of a Pliocene tuff ring that developed in a

[28] K. Németh and U. Martin, “Small-volume volcaniclastic

magma-water and posteruptive lava-water interactions

fluvio-lacustrine basin: Kissomlyó volcano (western

flow deposits related to phreatomagmatic explosive

in the Western Snake River Plain, Idaho, during the

Hungary)”, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal

eruptive centres near Szentbékkálla, Bakony- Balaton

past 12 million years.” In: B. Bonnichsen, C. M. White

Research, vol. 147, pp. 342-356, 2005

Highland Volcanic Field, Hungary: Pyroclastic flow or

and M. McCurry,Ed., Tectonic and magmatic evolution of

[22] B. D. Brand and C. M. White, “Origin and stratigraphy

the Snake River Plain Volcanic Province, Idaho Geological

of phreatomagmatic deposits at the Pleistocene Sinker

Survey, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, pp.

Butte Volcano, Western Snake River Plain, Idaho”,

[29] E. R. Brooks, M. M. Woods and P. L. Garbutt, “Orign

387-435, 2002

Journal Of Volcanology And Geothermal Research, vol. 160,

and metamorphism of peperite and associated rocks

pp. 319-339, 2007

in the Devonian Elwell Formation, northern Sierra

[16] M. M. Godchaux, B. Bonnichsen and M. D. Jenks,

hydroclastic flow?” Földtani Közlöny, Budapest, vol. 129, pp. 393-417, 1999

“Types of phreatomagmatic volcanos in the Western

[23] A. Auer, U. Martin and K. Németh, “The Fekete-hegy

Snake River Plain, Idaho, Usa”, Journal of Volcanology

(Balaton Highland Hungary) “soft-substrate” and

and Geothermal Research, vol. 52, pp. 1-25, 1992

“hard-substrate” maar volcanoes in an aligned volcanic

[30] R. E. Hanson and R. A. Schweickert, “Chilling and

[17] B. Bonnichsen and M. M. Godchaux, “Late Miocene,

complex - Implications for vent geometry, subsurface

brecciation of a Devonian rhyolite sill intruded into

Pliocene, and Pleistocene geology of southwestern

stratigraphy and the palaeoenvironmental setting”,

wet sediments, Northern Sierra Nevada, California”,

Idaho with emphasis on basalts in the Bruneau-

Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, vol. 159,

Jarbridge, Twin Falls, and Western Snake River Plain

pp. 225-245, 2007

regions.” In: B. Bonnichsen, C. M. White and M.

Nevada, California”, GSA, vol. 93, pp. 1208-1231, 1982

Journal of Geology, vol. 90, pp. 717-724, 1982 [31] C. J. Busby-Spera and J. D. L. White, “Variation in peperite textures associated with differing host-

McCurry,Ed., Tectonic and Magmatic Evolution of the

141

sediment properties”, Bulletin of Volcanology, vol. 49, pp.

765-775, 1987

[35] M. G. Doyle, “Clast shape and textural associations in peperite as a guide to hydromagmatic interactions:

[32] J. D. L. White, J. McPhie and I. Skilling, “Peperite: a

Upper Permian basaltic and basaltic andesite examples

useful genetic term”, Bulletin of Volcanology, vol. 62, pp.

from Kiama, Australia”, Australian Journal of Earth

65-66, 2000

Sciences, vol. 47, pp. 167-177, 2000

[33] I. P. Skilling, J. D. L. White and J. McPhie, “Peperite:

[36] K. Németh and C. White, “Intravent peperites in

a review of magma-sediment mingling”, Journal of

an eroded phreatomagmatic volcano of the Western

Volcanology and Geothermal Research, vol. 114, pp. 1-17,

Snake River Plain Volcanic Field Idaho (USA) and

2002

their implication for field-wide eruptive environment

[34] U. Martin and K. Németh, “Blocky versus fluidal

reconstruction”, In: K. Németh, V. Manville and K.

peperite textures developed in volcanic conduits, vents

Kano,Ed., International Association of Sedimentologists

and crater lakes of phreatomagmatic volcanoes in Mio/

Special Publications, IAS, Oxford, pp. [accepted in

Pliocene volcanic fields of Western Hungary”, Journal

December 2007], 2008

of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, vol. 159, pp. 164-

Decision Making Skills in Upgrading Business Performance

Zita Zoltayné Paprika

178, 2007

Corvinus University of Budapest Fővám tér 8.

Budapest 1093 Hungary http://www. uni-corvinus.hu zita.paprika@uni-corvinus.hu

California State University 6000 J Street Sacramento, CA 95819 United States of America http://www.csus.edu Adviser: Dr. Herbert Blake

Many management scholars believe that the process used to make strategic decisions affects the quality of those decisions (Dean & Sharfman, 1993). Several authors, however, have observed a lack of research on the strategic decision making processes. Empirical tests of factors that have been hypothesized to affect the way strategic decisions are made are notably absent (Fredrickson, 1985). This paper reports the results of a survey that attempts to assess the effects of decision making circumstances. It will focus mainly on the approaches applied and the managerial skills and decision making roles the decision makers built on during concrete strategic decision making processes. The survey was conducted in California between September 2005 and June 2006 and was sponsored by a Fulbright Research Scholarship Grant.

142

143

AY 2005-2006

1. Introduction Strategic decisions are those that affect the direction of a firm. These major decisions concern areas such as new products and markets, product or service development, acquisitions and mergers, subsidiaries and affiliates, joint ventures, strategic alliances, finding a site for a new investment, reorganisation, and other important matters. Strategic decision making is usually conducted by the firm’s top management, led by the CEO or the President of the company. This is why this research targeted twenty top level managers: twelve were CEOs, Presidents, Vice Presidents or Chief Financial Officers (from now on: Executives) while eight were founders and majority owners of their own enterprises (from now on: Entrepreneurs).

Sixteen respondents were male, four were female. The average respondent has been working for 28.7 years in general, for 13.8 years for the given company and for 8.4 years in the current position. Sixty percent of the respondents have a graduate business degree, seven have an MBA or a PhD and two out of these seven have both an MBA and a PhD. One respondent was working on his PhD when the research was carried out.

The interviews took an average of two and a half hours, varying from two hours up to five hours. The interviews followed a preliminary structured list of questions.

With each respondent we investigated the circumstances of four different strategic decision cases of their choice from their practice. Using this technique, a database of 80 strategic decisions was built up.

144

Decision Making Skills in Upgrading Business Performance 1.1. Background of the Research

In my research, I focused on the role of intuition in strategic decision making. As Ashley F. Fields stated, intuition is one of the more mysterious concepts associated with the study of human capital (Fields, 2000). Classical theoreticians from Carl Jung (Jung, 1934) through Chester Barnard (Barnard, 1938) and Abraham Maslow (Maslow, 1954) have commented on the existence and value of intuition in organisational settings. Carl Jung said: “intuition does not denote something contrary to reason, but something outside of the province of reason” (Jung, 1934).

Harold Leavitt (Leavitt, 1975) viewed intuition as a valuable weapon to be used against the heavily analytical practices, which gave rise to his derisive term “analysis paralysis”. Fascination with the subject of intuition continues to remain “alive and well”.

Intuition is usually defined as knowing or sensing something without the use of rational processes. Alternatively, it has been described as a perception of reality not known to consciousness, in which the intuition knows, but does not know how it knows. Westcott redefined intuition as a rational process, stating that it is a process in which an individual reaches a conclusion on the basis of less explicit information than is ordinarily required to reach that decision (Westcott, 1968).

Weston Agor argued that intuition is a built-in capacity that some of us have and some do not (Agor, 1997).

In my research I basically relied on the definition given by Martha Sinclair and Neal Ashkanasy. According to these authors, intuition is a non-sequential information processing mode, which comprises both cognitive and affective elements and results in direct knowing without any use of conscious reasoning (Sinclair & Ashkanasy, 2000). In effect, it is an unconscious process of making decisions on the basis of experience and accumulated judgment. Isenberg, who studied managers in Fortune 500 firms, found that they combine both rational and intuitive methods in decision making (Isenberg, 1984). Parikh studied more than 1300 managers and found that intuition is cross-national (Parikh, 1994). Catford’s study of 57 business professionals demonstrated that intuition was used commonly as a business tool (Catford, 1978). These and many other researchers have demonstrated that intuition is used regularly in the conduct of business (Fields, 2000).

Interestingly, more than half of today’s intuition books are authored by females.

Psychologists debate whether the intuition gap is truly intrinsic to gender.

Whatever the reason, Western tradition has historically viewed rational thinking as masculine and intuition as feminine.

Women’s way of thinking gives greater latitude to subjective knowledge. Some personality tests show that nearly six in ten men score as “thinkers” (claiming to make decisions objectively, using logic) while three in four women score as “feelers” (claiming to make decisions subjectively, based on what they feel right) (Meyers, 2002).

In recent years instinct appears to be ascendant. Decision makers have good reasons to prefer instinct. In a study, executives said they use their intuition as much as their analytical skills, but credited 80% of their success to instinct (Buchanan & O’Connell, 2006). Henry Mintzberg explains that strategic thinking calls for creativity and synthesis and this is better served by intuition than by analysis (Mintzberg & Westley, 2001). Buchanan and O’Connell cited some famous statements related to intuition (Buchanan & O’Connell, 2006):

“Pragmatists act on evidence, Heroes act on guts.”

“Intuition is one of the X-factors separating the men from the boys.”

One feature common to all the authors cited above is an inability to articulate a coherent, consistent, and verifiable theory of what underlies the intuitive phenomenon.

These researchers unanimously declare that “something“ really does exist, but they can not agree on just “what” exists or “why” it works as it does (Fields, 2000). Recent advances in cognitive science and artificial intelligence suggest that there is nothing mystical or magical about intuitive processes and that they are neither paranormal nor irrational.

Rather, intuitive processes evolve from long experience and learning and consist of the mass of facts, patterns, concepts, abstractions, and generally what we call formal knowledge or beliefs, which are impressed in our mind (Isenberg, 1984, Simon, 1987). Intuition is not the opposite of rationality, nor is it a random process of guessing, as we very often think. It is a

145

AY 2005-2006 sophisticated form of reasoning based on chunking that an expert hones over years of job specific experience. Consequently, intuition does not come easily, it requires years of experience in problem solving and is founded upon a solid and complete grasp of the details of the business. However, in some cases it compresses experience and learning into seconds – as was shown in some cases during my interviews.

Creativity often couples with intuition because both are unconscious, personal; both have original features providing an unusual approach to different things.

Creating is “the ability to form an image or whole of something actually nonexistent at present, such as a new product” (Adair, 1985). Creativity is the recognition of new and different combinations and looking for unusual points of view or approaches. Creativity is creating something original, valuable or surprising.

The stages in the creative process are as follows: it starts with immersion: you have to obtain information unlikely to be evaluated at this stage. The second stage is the incubus: you have to sleep on the problem while your ideas mature.

This is followed by the time for insight: the desired outcomes should be written down in order to avoid forgetting them.

Eventually, the stage of the verification is reached: experimentation for testing the solution is necessary. These stages can also be found in business decision making processes where the solution does not always offer itself and the decision-makers have to be very creative to figure out what the best direction and answer would be.

146

Decision Making Skills in Upgrading Business Performance Creativity requires brain holism: the ability to use both hemispheres of the brain. “In business your next move is not blueprinted for you” (Adair, 1985). You have to think for yourself and figure out all the possible ways of getting where you want to be. You have to be original or innovate and imaginative.

1.2. Rational/Intuitive Orientation

The lack of field studies in strategic decision making processes called for a research study to examine concrete real life cases and to analyse: 1. How top level managers really make strategic decisions; 2. How Entrepreneurs and Executives differ, if at all, in their approach to strategic decision making processes when they combine rational thinking with their intuition; 3. Similarities and differences, if any, in management skills and decision making routines between Entrepreneurs and Executives.

Rational/Intuitive Orientation is a concept which has yet to make a significant impact on mainstream decision making research.

Consequently, no well-established indicators of Rational/Intuitive Orientation exist. Based on understanding the concept, however, two optional indicators (decision making approaches and management skills) were identified in this study. Rational/Intuitive Orientation could be linked with the so-called righthanded or left-handed way of thinking.

Right-handed thinking is responsible

for the evaluative, rational, systematic and logical thinking. A person, who has typical right-handed thinking, i.e. is left brain dominant, is analytic and logical and focuses on the facts. This attitude could be a base for a creative way of thinking, because the ability for problem identification, evaluation or information openness is indispensable for a creative decision making. Not all problems can be solved, however, by a scientific (rational) way of thinking.

The right brain dominant thinking helps cope with the uncertainty, to accept risks or to synthesize as it is an imaginative, intuitive way of problem solving.

Therefore, right brain dominant thinking can provide solutions for more complex problems. The relationship between creativity and intuition is very deep: creativity comes from the unconscious as does intuition (Restak, 2001).

Some professionals rely only on the analytical way of decision making using decision making tools as data processing, algorithms and systems thinking.

Analytical thinking is a sequential thought process. Analytical thinkers select the most promising approach to a problem.

They exercise their judgment at each step, and each step must be correct. Anything irrelevant is excluded, the search ends when they find what appears to be a good solution. Using rational decision making models, the alternatives are weighed to come up with the best potential result, compared rationally and logically, with the pros and cons being ranked according to importance.

Of course, a good analytical mind is essential in managing any aspect of a business possession. Analyzing is establishing the relations of the parts to each other and to the whole, finding the cause of the problem, searching for the principles behind experience, discovering a law, identifying the issue, etc. (Adair, 1985).

Some of the decisions are relatively straightforward and the analysis of the facts shows a direction for action.

However, there are some decisions that can never fit into this rational category.

Sometimes, our knowledge for solving a problem is insufficient, or facts are not available, or are so conflicting that no clear direction can be identified. Also, at times the emotional or physical consequences are so great that the rational analysis alone cannot be trusted. In all these cases an intuitive aspect is needed. This is especially true for those big business decisions which can affect the whole organization. A conflict between the facts and intuitive judgment does suggest that respected opinions should be sought.

1.3. Hypotheses of the Research

The literature of decision theory provides several models of organisational decision making. These differ from each other in the sense that they use other prerequisites for decision makers and also refer to the organisational connections of decision makers. On the basis of the above dimensions in the research model I identified two different models and decision making mechanisms (analytical and intuitive). In addition, eleven

147

AY 2005-2006

Decision Making Skills in Upgrading Business Performance

management skills were investigated and rated as to whether they support analytical or intuitive thinking. In this chapter we will focus on the core of the above mentioned research model namely on Rational/Intuitive Orientation.

The main hypotheses of the research can be summarized as follows: H1: Intuition plays a key role in strategic decision making since strategic problems are ill-structured and hence cannot be programmed.

Decision makers at the top level combine analytical and intuitive approaches, but rely more heavily on their intuition.

H2: Intuitive decision making is more favoured by independent decision makers (Entrepreneurs) who have extended control over their firms and are more often in the final

decision maker’s position. When they put the dot on the “i” they are almost always intuitive.

H3: The level of management skills is high. The creative/intuitive skills are even more developed in the sample.

2. Strategic Decisions Herbert Simon was the first to distinguish between the two extreme types of decisions. He called recurring, routinelike or ready-made ones programmed decisions, while those being unique and unstructured with long-term impacts were called non-programmed decisions (Simon, 1982). Programmed and nonprogrammed decisions are naturally set at the two extreme poles of one continuum and the appearance of interim cases is much more probable. In the course of

company operations it is very rare that a decision situation clearly corresponds to the terminology of the programmed or non-programmed decisions. On the other hand, most managers develop some kind of practice for the handling of nonprogrammed decision situations that can be successfully applied, if a ready-made solution can be fitted to an actual situation.

Certain non-programmed decisions may become programmed in the course of time in a company’s practice. It is rather meaningful that programmed and nonprogrammed decisions are sometimes referred to as both well-structured and illstructured.

A central part of this survey consisted of the examination of 20 plus 60 real strategic decisions. At the beginning of the interview every respondent was requested to mention a “big case” which was mainly ill-structured. When I asked the respondents to quote three more decision cases, they mainly mentioned semi-structured problems which could be positioned somewhere between the wellstructured and ill-structured extremes.

These cases were not as “big” as the previous 20 decision situations, but they still had long term consequences and strategic importance. In effect, each participant could mention four cases, one “big case” and three semi-structured cases, thus building up the database of the survey based on the cases of the twenty contributors.

In the interest of comparability, the semistructured decision cases were classified

into categories that are borrowed from the „Bradford Studies” (Hickson et al, 1986).

According to this, I distinguished  investment  reorganization  acquisition  fund-raising  marketing  service or product development  production  finding a site for investment  human resource management  quality management  other decisions.

Service or product development (10), investment (9), reorganization (9), marketing (8), finding a site for investment (7) decisions were the most frequently mentioned cases, but I also found at least a single case for every other category, as well.

The respondents mixed the analytical and intuitive problem solving approaches when they made these decisions. As they argued, they found it very difficult to use only the rational approach for these semiprogrammed decisions, therefore intuitive decision making was very often valuable and also applied. At the same time, it was also typical that decision makers made their decisions and later developed rational sounding reasons for the decision after the fact. It seemed that for some reason they like to be seen as rational. Some of them, however, were very proud of relying on their instinct in solving particular cases.

Demonstrating the concept of bounded rationality the respondents recognized

Figure 1: The Research Model

148

149

AY 2005-2006 that at least in part their decisions were based on intuition, gut feeling and “seat of the pants”. This was most typical in marketing cases, where they needed more experience and judgment than sequential logic or explicit reasons to make those decisions. As they explained, these decisions were based upon what they believed to be right, rather than upon what they could document with hard data. In the other categories, however, especially in cases of service or product development, investment, acquisition and finding a site decision they did not find it appropriate to apply this kind of logic.

When the respondents were given an extra opportunity to rethink their earlier answers concerning the analytical and intuitive approaches in their cases, they changed their mind only slightly. If they could repeat the same decisions, which will, of course, never happen, they would rely more on analysis in marketing decisions, as well, but in service product development cases interestingly enough, they would give more room for intuition.

Clearly, there were major perceived differences between Entrepreneurs’ and Executives’ answers in term of how their decisions were made. One of the main differences is that Executives tend to exhibit more characteristics of analytical decision making than Entrepreneurs do. Executives rely more heavily on the analytical approach. It is interesting, however, to note that Entrepreneurs are more careful in cases of investment decisions, where they insist on preliminary analytical investigation. A

150

Decision Making Skills in Upgrading Business Performance logical explanation could be that they risk their own money when investing and are therefore more careful about it.

3. Management Skills The quality of the decision making activity and the company’s success is considerably influenced by the fact of who makes the decisions, what skills and capabilities they have, what their managerial style is, and also what techniques and methods they use in the course of decision making.

Consequently, it is not only the applied decision making approach and the managerial style that leave their mark on decision making, but it is equally important, what level of professional abilities, education and experience the managers have (Whetton & Cameron, 2005).

What characteristics or individual skills must a management have to be successful? The survey embraced the general abilities of management. What is more, in the in-depth interviews I encouraged respondents to evaluate themselves. I asked them to define their strengths and weaknesses according to the investigated characteristics and skills by evaluating themselves on a five point Likert-scale. The first task, however, was to rank the skills according to their importance. Considering the opinions of all respondents (N=20), the “image of the ideal manager” fulfilling all expectations of management appeared as shown in the decreasing order of skills and capabilities:

1. excellent communication skills 2. sense for business 3. problem solving skills 4. practice minded behaviour 5. ability to represent ideas 6. risk taking nature 7. expertise 8. organising skills 9. executive skills 10. analytical skills 11. use of PC and computers The above ranking reveals some interesting features. Naturally, the top and the bottom of the list are worthy of attention, as the skills given there outline a managerimage frequently mentioned during the interviews. The major task of a manager is to communicate inside and outside of the company (as they stated they do most of the marketing) while the use of computers at top level is not a must since they can get all the necessary IT support whenever needed. As one of the respondents stated the more important skills  which happen to be in the first half of the list  are those which you cannot buy, while those which are available through different channels i.e. consultancy like organising skills, analytical skills or IT knowledge can be found in the second half of the list.

If we compare these results to the actual self-assessments we can see an interesting evidence of cognitive dissonance. The respondents ranked their weaknesses to be less important and their strengths more important. They were far beyond the average performers (if we define this category on a five point scale with the middle position indicated by 3) on all

criteria except one, the use of computers, but as we saw earlier they did not consider this to be a disadvantage. They are very good communicators which was confirmed based on the author’s personal experiences. They rely quite heavily on their accumulated knowledge and experiences and expertise and are equipped with the necessary problem solving skills.

They named as a real strength their sense for business. We cannot forget that twofifths of them are founders and majority owners of their enterprise in the sample.

Two of them started a totally new business from scratch when they recognized a new business opportunity. They left behind their emerging and safe careers and chose an unknown, challenging new field. Both of them are very successful in their new businesses.

3.1. Analytical and Intuitive Skills

We know that some skills and capabilities support the intuitive way of problem solving more than the others. My research method also involved interviewing a dozen university professors in an effort to link the management skills involved in this research with the analytical or intuitive way of problem solving. A quick survey was designed and the professors were asked to evaluate the above mentioned skills by indicating whether these skills supported analytical or intuitive thinking strongly.

They could mark only one answer for each skill. All of the respondents had strong management background since they were teaching either in the field of Organizational Behavior or Decision Sciences.

151

AY 2005-2006 The skills were split into two groups depending on their role supporting intuitive or analytical problem solving.

According to the opinion of the university professors with a management background, intuitive thinking and problem solving are best supported by the following skills: willingness to take risks, sense for business, ability to represent ideas, practice minded behaviour and excellent communication skills. On the other hand, different skills take precedence when problems require analytical solutions. The skills that most support this approach were determined to be: analytical skills, computer skills, organising skills, professional expertise and problem solving skills. Not surprisingly, executive skills are somewhere between these two groups of skills since effective leadership requires a combination of analytical and intuitive approaches.

Subsequently I revised this distinction at two points. Most authors (Sinclair & Ashkanasy, 2005, Csikszentmihalyi, 1996, Klein, 2004) agree, that intuition is nothing else than experience put into practice. This demystified definition of intuition shows how one can become an expert in one’s profession through one’s cumulative experience or knowledge.

Klein argues that intuition is a developed sense helping to put experience into recognizable patterns for future use (Klein, 2004). As is well-known, good communication skills often go with good analytical skills, since both are the functions of the left hemisphere (Browning, 2005).

Decision Making Skills in Upgrading Business Performance Putting this split into practice the chart of the managers shows a rather balanced picture of their analytical and intuitive skills. Problem solving skills lead the rank of the analytical skills while business sense is the most important strength among the intuitive skills. Among the 80 analyzed decision cases I found much that confirms the importance of the business sense as the path towards the success. The weaknesses are compensated by the high level of strengths. Lack of computer knowledge or organising skills do not seem to be a big problem because top level managers can easily find someone to do these jobs.

The largest gap recognized is in the case of the ability to represent ideas.

Entrepreneurs do not have to “sell” their decisions, because typically they are the final decision makers, consequently, for them, this skill is not a must. Their priorities are instead: risk taking nature, problem solving skills, a sense for business and communication skills. Executives consider the ability to represent ideas far more important than Entrepreneurs.

They also rank analytical and organizing skills a little bit higher.

Differences between groups that exceed 10 percent are considered to be very significant in survey research. There were relatively large differences in this research between the two responding groups according to the capabilities and skills based on their self assessments (Figure 2).

Entrepreneurs had better business sense and were ready to take far more risks.

They evaluated their problem solving skills slightly higher than the Executives.

The Executives’ strengths were in ability to represent ideas, analytical skills and executive skills. A more balanced picture emerged when we compare practice minded behavior, communication skills and expertise.

4. Decision Roles On the basis of the investigated cases it was obvious that the respondents played more than a single decision making role in the decision making processes. The professional literature lists several decision making roles (Humphreys & Berkeley, 1986), while different breakdowns and classifications are also known. As a summary, I set forth the list of roles used during this research, as follows:  decision making role  person who raised the problem  person who took part in the preparation

 analyst  expert  operative manager (implementer).

If we examine the function and content of these individual roles, and also what licenses their fulfillment goes with, it is unquestionable that the role of decision making is the key one. Naturally, the decision maker may be just a single individual, but a group may also have a decision making authority. In the survey it became apparent that the Entrepreneurs in the sample represented mainly the individual decision maker role while Executives were more frequently members of a decision making group. Theoretically, the person raising the problem may be anyone who is sensitive enough to questions and situations to be solved. The higher the position he is in and the more competent he is, the greater the probability that the problem raised by him will be dealt with

Figure 2 Differences in Management Skills of Executives and Entrepreneurs (N = 20)

152

153

AY 2005-2006

Decision Making Skills in Upgrading Business Performance

quickly and in a serious way. Decision preparation is usually the task of functional areas, which helps to put interdisciplinary approach into practice, since a problem to be solved always has multiple aspects. For example, a new investment is not only a technical question, but it also has several financial, legal, environmental and other consequences as well. In certain phases of decision preparation the analysts and experts involved are frequently those who possess the special methodological and/ or professional skills which will be needed in the course of decision preparations, analyses and evaluations. Analysts and experts may be internal colleagues, but they may work as external consultants, as well. Decisions made might not be worth too much and they will not influence the company’s operation if they are not realized in practice, i.e.: if their implementation does not take place. Decisions are accomplished by the implementers who may represent a certain

part or function of the company, but it may also happen that the implementation of a decision is achieved with the participation of all affected individuals.

Roles, thus defined (decision maker, problem raiser, participant in the preparation, analyst, expert, operative manager (implementer)) create a decision making hierarchy in which the decision making and problem raising roles correspond to the strategic level, while the decision preparer, analyst and expert roles correspond to the expert level, and the implementer (operative) role corresponds to the operative level. I expected that the first two roles would be over-represented in the survey. One of the most interesting findings was how the respondents cumulated their roles. One explanation could be the relatively high proportion of Entrepreneurs in the sample. Figure 3, however, shows that Executives were also active in almost all the roles.

Figure 3

5. Future Trends When analyzing these findings it must be remembered that these results were based on self-assessments. Rarely are self assessments and independent (objective) assessments congruent. Unfortunately, we do not have as yet any techniques to measure the level of the different management skills and capabilities or decision making approaches objectively.

Even though we feel that it might be a lack of agreement between the self assessments and an imaginative objective assessment of these parameters. We call this gap “the coefficient of self delusion”.

This coefficient can be positive (when the objective ratings are higher than the self assessments) or it can be negative (when the objective ratings are lower than the self assessments). The positive coefficient of self delusion occurs with people who either are genuinely humble or may be trying to avoid over-inflating their self-ratings for a variety of reasons e.g. because of their cultural background.

The negative coefficient of self delusion usually occurs with people who are not conscious of the impact of their behaviors on others or who have an inflated sense of self. In either case, it is important to investigate why the assessment gap exists and reflect upon ways in which it can be narrowed, perhaps even closed. This is a big research challenge.

There is a big debate at the present whether the analytical or the intuitive way of thinking is more powerful in the business arena. Thomas Davenport argues that some companies have built

their very businesses on their ability to collect, analyze and act on data. Every company can learn from what these firms do. (Davenport, 2006) The popular “head versus formula” controversy that is based mostly on laboratory studies in the past, established the superiority of the rational-analytical approach over the soft judgmental or intuitive approach. The extension of this approach to strategic decision making is problematic, however.

This is because strategic decisions are characterized by incomplete knowledge.

Consequently, it may be impossible to identify quantitative equations among variables and find numeric values for parameters and initial states. This is why people still use their heads instead of formulas in strategic cases (Khatri & Alvin, 2000). As a conclusion of the very intensive debate by now there is an agreement that intuition is not an irrational process. It is based on a deep understanding of the situation. It is a complex phenomenon that draws from the store of knowledge in our subconscious and is rooted in past experience. It is quick, but not necessarily biased as presumed in previous research on rational decision making (Khatri & Alvin, 2000).

6. Conclusion In everyday life we tend to use the word “intuitive” with some connotation of “irrational”. This is probably due to Bergson (Bergson, 1911) who attached great importance to intuition but interpreted it as a mystic force which by

Decision Roles Played by Entrepreneurs and Executives (N = 24, N = 36)

154

155

AY 2005-2006 definition could not be subject of rational means of inquiry (Wierzbicki, 1997)., Almost a hundred years of research in various fields of science, however, now leads to a reversal of this interpretation.

Intuition is „the supra-logic that cuts out all the routine processes of thought and leaps straight from the problem to the answer” – says Robert Graves, an English poet. “Intuition comes very close to clairvoyance; it appears to be the extrasensory perception of reality” – according to Alexis Carrel, Nobel Prized French biologist.

Intuition involves additional sensors to perceive information from the outside (Klein, 1998). It can be referred to as gut feeling, instinct, spiritual guide. Like creativity, intuitive inspiration often occurs when someone virtually “fuses” in an activity, when one is exceedingly focused on the activity in a state of joy and fulfillment. In management literature it is by now widely agreed that intuition is not arbitrary or irrational, because it is based on years of practice and hands on experience, often stored in the subconscious (Gladwell, 2005). Managers have to accept this new interpretation and believe that their intuition is part of their business knowledge.

However, when managers want to make good decisions they very often try to use the so-called textbook approach that is best described by the words rational, logical and analytical. Sometimes they seem to believe that they contribute to the objectives of the organization to the extent that their decisions are rational.

156

Decision Making Skills in Upgrading Business Performance Why are managers afraid of recognizing and utilizing their own intuitive power?

They probably feel that intuition cannot be proved; consequently it is not scientific enough.

At the same time some of them start to admit that intuition is a key element in mental processes. In fact, the higher a person rises in an organization, the more intuition he/she needs for long-term planning. (In contradiction to some of the attitudes mentioned above.) If we ask top managers from leading companies, they would surely say that they needed creative approach to make the toughest decisions. Typically, creative thinking is more required at the top.

Nowadays, many new techniques are available which make decision making simple and more rational, but they are just tools like decision support systems.

Despite the availability of these tools, risk estimation and making judgments are still the tasks of the decision maker. When all available information has been considered and all possible alternatives have been evaluated, the decision is still there to be made. That is the moment when managers need their creativity.

In the survey the Entrepreneurs’ cases showed that managers make their best decisions in a very special way – for example, after a flash of intuition or by trying out several things and keeping what works. Mintzberg and Westley show that a focus on “thinking first” before choosing may interfere with a deep understanding

of the issues dividing people and prevent a good decision. The “seeing first” approach, which means literally creating a picture with others in order to see everyone’s concerns, can reveal differences better than analysis and can force a genuine consensus. “Doing first” works best when the situation is novel and confusing, but a few simple relationship rules could help managers move forward (Mintzberg & Westley, 2001). Entrepreneurs’ cases showed that they are less reluctant to apply these new approaches than the Executives who mentioned these techniques less often.

The study showed that Executives in a corporate setting tend to view decision making in a different way than Entrepreneurs. Since they are typically given a fixed amount of budgeted resources to work with, they tend to define a problem in terms of what can be done with the resources in hand.

Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, will likely pose the problem in terms of an objective. They usually state “This is what I want to get done” and then start to worry about finding the resources to accomplish that objective. As a result entrepreneurial decision makers feel less constrained by the lack of resources. They are famous for making “seat-of-the-pants” decisions, which means they make quick decisions based on a good feeling or intuition. This kind of challenge requires different skills from the Entrepreneurs than from the Executives.

There was an other interesting finding comparing the decision making practice of the Executives and the Entrepreneurs.

Both groups relied quite heavily on the analysis in the preparation phase of the decision making process, which might give big room for analitycal applications.

Executives, however, were ready to follow the recommendations of the analysis in the moment of choice while Entrepreneurs preferred to follow their intuition. As a conclusion we can state that Entrepreneurs’ analytical support must focus mainly on the preparation phase of decisions and should let them to decide based on their intuition.

Bibliography Adair, J. 1985. Effective Decison-making. London: Pan Books Ltd. Agor, W. 1997. The measurement, use, and development of intellectual capital to increase public sector productivity. Public Personnel Management, Summer:175-186.

Barnard, C. 1938. Functions of the executive. Cambridge: Harvard University Press Bergson, H. 1911. Introduction to Methaphysics. English Translation, New York Browning, G. 2005. Emergenetics: Tap into the New Science of Success. Harper Collins Buchanan, L. & O’Connell, A. 2006. A Brief History of Decision making. Harvard Business Review, January:32-42 Catford, L. 1987. Creative problem solving in business, Doctoral dissertation, Stanford University. UMI Dissertation Services Csikszentmihalyi, M. 1996. Creativity. Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. Harper Collins Publishers

157

AY 2006-2007 Csikszentmihalyi, M. 1996. The Work and Lives of 91 Eminent People. Harper Collins Publishers Davenport, T. H. 2006. Competing on analytics. Harvard Business Review, January: 99-107 Dean, J. W., & Sharfman, M. P. 1993. Procedural Rationality in the Strategic Decision Making Process. Journal of Management Studies, July Fields, A. F. 2000. Intuition engineering. Organizational Engineering Institute Frederickson, J. W. 1985. Effects of decision motive and organizational performance level on strategic decision processes. Academy of Management Journal, 4:821-843 Gladwell, M. 2005. Ösztönösen: A döntésről másképp.

(Blink. The Power of Thinking without Thinking) Budapest: HVG Kiadó Rt. (In Hungarian) Hichson, D., & Butler, R., & Cray, D., & Mallory, G., & Wilson, D. 1986. Top Decisions: Strategic Decision Making in Organizations. Basil Blackwell Humphreys, P. & Berkeley, D. 1986. Organisational Knowledge for Supporting Decisions. In A Decade in Perspective, Proceedings of the IFIP WG8.3 Working Conference, Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, 16-18 June Isenberg, D. 1984. How senior managers think. Harvard Business Review, November-December: 81-90.

Jung, C. G. 1934. Modern man in search of a soul. New York: Harcourt Brace Khatri, N. & Alvin, H. N. 2000. The role of intuition in strategic decision making. Human Relations, 53:57-86, The Travistock Institute, SAGE Publications Klein, G. 1998. Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions.

Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press Klein, G. 2004. The Power of Intuition. How to Use Your

Gut Feelings to Make Better Decisions at Work. Random House Leavitt, H. J. 1975. Beyond the analytic manager. Part II California Management Review, 17 4:11-21.

Maslow, A. 1954. Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper & Row Meyers, D. G. 2002. The powers & perils of intuition.

Psychology Today, November-December Mintzberg, H. & Westley, F. 2001. Decision Making: It’s Not What You Think. MIT Sloan Management Review, 3:89-93 Parikh, J. 1994. Intuition: the new frontier of management.

Oxford: Blackwell Business Restak, R. 2001. Mozart’s Brain and the Fighter Pilot.

Fulbright

Unleashing your brain’s potential. New York: Harmony Books Simon, H. 1987. Making management decisions. The role of intuition and emotion. Academy of Management Executive, February:57-64 Simon, H. 1982. Korlátozott racionalitás. Válogatott

Grantees

tanulmányok. Budapest :Közgazdasági és Jogi Kiadó (in Hungarian) Sinclair, M. & Ashkanasy, N. M. 2005. Intuition.

Management Learning, 3:353-370 Westcott, M. 1968. Toward a contemporary psychology of intuition. A historical and empirical inquiry. New York: Holt Rinehart & Winston, Inc. Whetton, D. A. & Cameron, K. S. 2005. Developing management skills. Sixth edition, Prentice Hall Wierzbicki, A. J. 1997. On the Role of Intuition in Decision Making and Some Ways of Multicriteria Aid of Intuition. Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, 6:65-76

2006-2007

Together We Made a Difference Ágnes Adroviczné Tüske

Zrínyi Miklós Gimnázium 8900 Zalaegerszeg, Rákóczi út 30.

http://www.zmgzeg.sulinet.hu/ tuskeagnes@hotmail.com

Gaffney Lane Elementary School 13521 S. Gaffney Lane, Oregon City, OR 97045 http://www.orecity.k12.or.us/ Adviser: Mr. Michael Hyder King Elementary School 995 South End Rd

My paper explains how the one year I spent in the United States as a Fulbright exchange teacher helped me to grow both professionally and personally and how the fears I had of living and working in a country and culture I had only known from books and movies turned into the experience of a lifetime. In this paper I also intend to encourage other teachers to take this wonderful opportunity and see what I saw: that teaching the future generation is, indeed, a special job no matter which country or part of the world you do it in. Serving as a Fulbright teacher, however, is even more special: although it requires some extra commitment and tolerance, it helps you to make a difference.

1. The title Coming up with a good title that catches the reader’s attention has always been hard for me. So it was this time, too, until I realized that the sentence I most often recall from my exchange year is: “THANKS- Together We Make a Difference”, which is the motto of King Elementary School, one of my host institutions in Oregon City, Oregon.

To tell you the truth, when I first read it in the King School’s staff room, its meaning did not completely come through to me. By the end of the year, though, I finally

160

161

AY 2006-2007 understood what “making a difference” means according to the King School’s “dictionary”. My principals and teachers at both schools bore witness to this motto and helped me to realize that teaching should always include encouraging and supporting both students and colleagues.

This has become my main objective in the work I have done since I returned from the United States.

As for the goals that I had set before going to the United States, they were to grow professionally as a teacher, to grow personally as a human being, and to represent my home country to the best of my ability. Well, it turned out that being a Fulbright exchange teacher was the best way to achieve those goals.

2. The big surprise In 2006 I applied for the Fulbright teacher exchange program to teach in an American high school for a year. As a teacher of English, I could only apply for an ESOL teaching position. When I found out that E.S.O.L. stands for English for Speakers of Other Languages, and that I would have to teach students whose first language was Spanish or Russian, I became worried about the possible lack of a common language between the students and myself. Some time later, though, it turned out that the biggest surprise was still awaiting me.

In May of 2006, I discovered that I would be placed in an elementary school! This was, indeed, a big surprise. Elementary in Oregon means

162

Together We Made a Difference kindergarten to sixth grade, which meant that I would be teaching students between 5 and 12 years of age. Well, it is a big difference if you compare that to teaching students between 14 and 18 years of age.

Anyhow, my degree entitles me to teach elementary school, and my exchange partner is entitled to teach secondary school, so we both were ready for the big adventure.

3. Professional and personal growth The first two months were the most difficult ones. That was the time when I felt lost in the “jungle” of paperwork, schedules, enrolling new students, and learning a totally different system of testing. By the end of the second month, though, I realized how useful the testing proved to be as it helped me to see what my ESOL students needed the most help with.

One of the best things about teaching in Oregon was that I had an assistant or - to put it formally- a “paraprofessional”.

Words cannot express how much they meant to me. I wrote “they” because I taught in two different elementary schools at the same time: three days in one and two days in the other. My assistants not only helped me with paperwork, testing, and translating – as one of them was from Peru, and he could translate for me with the Spanish-speaking parents – but they welcomed me as an American teacher from the very first moment. They were there for me whenever I needed them.

Their professional and personal support, encouragement, and friendship were invaluable to me.

As time passed, I realized that the exchange was also a year-long postgraduate course as we had to attend Teacher Planning and Education Reform Days on a regular basis. While the Teacher Planning Days were a great opportunity to work together with colleagues who teach at the same grade level, gaining insight into the way American teachers cooperate and prepare their lesson plans, the Education Reform Days helped me to improve my skills in teaching writing. On these days we focused on a new approach to writing based on Step Up to Writing by Maureen E. Auman. I have been using these methods and benefiting from them in my daily work since then.

During my exchange I also completed two workshops that contributed to my professional growth: an assessment workshop for assessing ELL students and a class about the use of the Smart Board (e-board) in the ELL classroom, which I believe is the future of education. Last but not least, I also completed a Spanish language class at the local community college. This class reminded me how difficult it is to learn a foreign language, which I - as a foreign language teacher should always bear in mind.

The Fulbright program gave me the opportunity to visit other schools, as well.

During the second half of the school year, I visited two other schools. I observed three classes in the Oregon City High School: an Oregon Literature class, an ESOL class, and a Reading Workshop class. I also went to Holcomb Elementary School, which is

within the Oregon City School District, where I observed three ESOL classes with various age groups. I had conferences with the teachers both before and after the observation, which turned out to be a great experience. All in all, I found the school visits really useful because I think you can always learn something new by observing your fellow teachers.

As for my personal growth, this exchange greatly increased my understanding of cultural diversity, and it helped me to start my new life as a citizen of the world rather than just as a citizen of a country.

This program made me realize that by teaching future generations you can really make a difference. My main teaching goal in the United States was to make the students understand what Senator J. William Fulbright emphasized, that without mutual understanding between the nations there is no future for us. And the best possible way to reach that goal was to be a Fulbright exchange teacher, representing the values of the Fulbright Commission.

4. Community activities I feel really lucky to be able to report on two newspaper articles and an appearance I made at a School Board Meeting. In November 2006, a local newspaper asked me for an interview, in which both my exchange partner and I were asked questions about the Fulbright Program and about the experiences we had. The title of the article was Gaffney and King Host Teacher from Hungary- Dispatch from Hungary: OC Teacher Thrives and it was

163

AY 2006-2007 published in Upfront. A couple of months later, on March 8, 2007, Portland’s major daily newspaper, The Oregonian, published an article entitled Oregon City Teacher and Hungarian in Job Swap. This article focused on the differences between the Hungarian and American educational systems.

Last but not least, in October 2006, I was asked to appear at the School Board Meeting of the Oregon City School District, where I had the chance to talk about the Fulbright Program and to answer some questions about the Hungarian school system. It was broadcast on a local TV network, as a result of which many parents could receive information about the exchange.

I am really thankful to both newspapers and to the School Board for this opportunity because they also greatly contributed to making more and more people familiar with the Fulbright program and the opportunities it provides.

5. An unofficial ambassador Being an “ambassador” of my home country, I found it really important to be involved in as many activities as possible both inside and outside the classroom.

As a Fulbright teacher, I found that sharing information about my home country and culture was a significant part of my job. Fortunately, my husband, a high school P.E. teacher, found employment as a P.E. teacher in one of the schools where I worked, which I think was just another

164

Together We Made a Difference miracle in our life that year, so he and I had the opportunity to give a presentation about Hungary to the staff at both schools.

Our presentation aimed at providing the American teachers with information about Hungary, its culture and history, the Hungarian language, the famous cuisine (we prepared some typical Hungarian foods to taste), and the Hungarian educational system. All the presentations were received with great interest and lots of questions. Our colleagues were pleased to learn more about another culture from people with first-hand experiences.

Seeing how positively the staff received our presentation, I felt the need to share more about my culture with other students and with their parents, as well.

As a result, Hungary became one of the countries at King School’s ‘Around the World Literacy Night’ event in April.

With this event students and their parents had the chance to read about Hungary, to listen to Hungarian music, to make a Hungarian flag, to find Hungary on the globe, to look at photos and pictures about Hungary, and to ask me and my husband questions about Hungary. I was pleased to see how interested our students and their parents were in learning more about a different culture.

Last but not least, at the end of the school year I suggested to my ESOL students that we should do a Learn About Hungary Project. Thus, we did research on the web, we went to libraries to find books about Hungary, we read Hungarian folktales in English, we learned a song in Hungarian, and we made posters so that they could share what they had learned.

Being a Fulbright teacher, I found it also essential to share my culture with the local community in the United States. As for the people in our neighborhood and the colleagues with whom we became closer friends, we thought the best way to affect their understanding of our country would be to invite them into our home to have a typical Hungarian meal together while having meaningful conversations with them. All our guests were pleased to have a “taste” of Hungary.

6. Final thoughts This year has enriched my life with new experiences, new friends, and a new thirst for knowledge. I am certain that I will be able to utilize this experience in all areas of my life: let it be family, work, or creating new relationships. I think I have become more tolerant and understanding towards other people, and I have also become a better teacher, having learned new methods and strategies. Finally, this year has helped me to get to know myself much better, as well.

I plan to continue my life as a “Fulbrighter” from now on. I am planning to attend Fulbright meetings and

165

conferences in my home country as often as I can and to help the commission with its mission to offer this great opportunity to teachers, scholars, and students all over the world. Also, I have been in touch with the people I got to know in the United States since my homecoming, and I will do by best to keep it this way, as TOGETHER we CAN make a difference.

Thank You again for this wonderful opportunity! I will always be proud to have once been a part of the Fulbright exchange program.

Teaching Cold War History at New York University Csaba Békés

1956 Institute Dohány u. 74 Budapest H-1074 www.rev.hu bek11339@helka.iif.hu

New York University 53 Washington Square South New York, N.Y. 10012 www.nyu.edu Adviser: Michael Gomez, Chair, Department of History

In the 2006-2007 academic year, I taught undergraduate and graduate courses as a Fulbright visiting professor on the history of the Cold War at New York University in New York, N.Y. Also, as 2006 happened to be the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, I participated actively in a great number of scholarly events connected with this anniversary both in the US and Canada.

1. Teaching

The Fulbright scholarship in 2006-2007 was my second year-long academic fellowship in the United States. In 2001-2002, I was a Center Fellow at the Project on the Cold War as Global Conflict, International Center for Advanced Studies, New York University, New York. At that time, I conducted research and participated in the regular Friday seminars where we discussed a paper of one of the fellows or some other scholar from NYU or another university. I was lucky to be selected for an international competition, without any previous connections with NYU, to be one of the five full time Center Fellows in the first year of this three-year project on the Cold War. That fellowship and the extremely intensive and very high level training process it demanded became

166

167

AY 2006-2007 a very important stage in my career as a researcher in international relations and Cold War history.

My nine-month Fulbright scholarship in 2006-2007 was a similar turning point in my life, this time in my teaching career.

Since the late 1980’s I have occasionally taught Hungarian and English language history courses as a visiting lecturer at several universities, mostly in Hungary but also in Turku, Finland. Nevertheless, working in a research institute (the 1956 Institute), I had never taught a full academic year at an English language University before. At New York University I taught undergraduate and graduate courses on the history of the Cold War: The History of East-West Relations in Post World War II Europe and East Central Europe and the Cold War, 1945-1991.

These courses gave the students an opportunity to study the history of East– West relations in the Cold War period on the basis of recently declassified archival documents and with the help of an experienced researcher in the field from the former Soviet bloc.

The seminars were based predominantly on the findings of the so-called “new Cold War history” that emerged after 1989, with a special focus on the policy of the Eastern Bloc. Besides studying readings from the most up to date literature on the topic, during the courses students used and analyzed published and unpublished archival documents from the former Soviet Bloc states. Fortunately, many of these documents are now available in

168

Teaching Cold War History at New York University English translation on the web sites of the National Security Archive, (http://www. gwu.edu/~nsarchiv), the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Cold War International History Project (www.cwihp.org), and the Parallel History Project on Cooperative Security (PHP) (formerly: Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact) (http:// www.php.isn.ethz.ch), while many other such documents are in the possession of the Cold War History Research Center in Budapest (www.coldwar.hu).

The students were very open, and they were very much interested in the topic, especially since they found my approach revealing and remarkably different from the more American centred presentation of Cold War history they had been used to. Therefore, I enjoyed teaching at NYU a great deal and fortunately, according to the anonymous student evaluations of the courses and the instructor, they found my courses great, too. It was especially good to see that the students enjoyed working with a huge amount of primary source materials – and were very effective in doing so – as this was a special feature of my courses. I even had a very knowledgeable seventy year old as a guest student, a retired businessman very much interested in modern history, who previously had taken some courses on Eastern Europe with István Deák at Columbia University and Tony Judt at NYU. The courses I developed for my Fulbright Fellowship at NYU now can be repeated at other schools both in Hungary and abroad. In fact, while still at NYU, I was invited to teach the same courses on Cold War History at Columbia University

as the István Deák Visiting Professor for East Central European History in the Fall of 2007, which I also enjoyed very much.

I am sure that this unintended, but very much welcome, consequence would not have happened without my Fulbright fellowship at NYU. During my fellowship, by special permission from CIES, I also taught one undergraduate course on the Cold War in both semesters at Empire State College in New York.

2. Other academic activities

Besides teaching, my main activity was to participate in scholarly events related to the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. I attended five international conferences organized for the anniversary (at Case Western University in Cleveland, the University of Ottawa, Harvard University, Columbia University, and Bard College) – at three of these conferences I acted as a keynote speaker.

In October 2006, I also participated in a lecture tour called the “Traveling scholars project” (The 1956 Hungarian Revolution: Fifty Years On) organized by the Hungarian Cultural Center in New York.

Three leading students of the history of the revolution participated: Charles Gati from Johns Hopkins University, and both Attila Szakolczai and myself from the 1956 Institute in Budapest.

Our team gave lectures at six universities on the East coast (the New School for Social Research in New York, New York University, the City University of New York, Princeton University in New

Jersey, George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Harvard University in Cambridge, MA) as well as at the Hungarian Cultural Center in New York.

During my fellowship, I was also invited to give lectures on 1956 and on the Cold War at several universities: the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Montclair State University in New Jersey, and Empire State College in New York. In October 2006, I participated in a very interesting roundtable discussion at the Hungarian Cultural Center in New York, entitled ‘Revolution, Ideology and Memory’. The other two participants were Ágnes Heller and Paul Berman.

I participated regularly in the seminars of the Remarque Institute at NYU. The Institute was founded by NYU professor Tony Judt to study issues of European history, and the sessions I visited were all very interesting.

In 2006, because of the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian revolution, a new and very large special government fund became available for scholarly publications on 1956, an opportunity that few could resist. Not surprisingly, during that year some 300 (!) books (or rather: individual publications) were published on the revolution in Hungary.

I can proudly report that I produced 1% of that number: I have published three books about 1956, and the manuscripts of those volumes were all finalized between September and November of 2006. The first book is the second, revised and enlarged edition of my monograph on the

169

AY 2006-2007 international context of the revolution, originally published in 1996. (Az 1956-os magyar forradalom a világpolitikában [The 1956 Hungarian Revolution and World Politics]. (Second enlarged edition) 1956-os Intézet, Budapest, 2006). The second book is a collection of essays by experts on the history of Hungarian foreign policy covering twelve bilateral relations in the era after Stalin’s death (1953–1958). Besides editing the volume, I also wrote an introductory chapter and the chapters on US–Hungarian and British–Hungarian relations.

(Evolúció és revolúció. Magyarország és a nemzetközi politika 1956-ban. [Evolution and Revolution. Hungary and International Politics in 1956] (Szerk.) Békés Csaba, Gondolat Kiadó–1956-os Intézet, 2006. The third book is a collection of documents on the Hungarian question in the United Nations (1956–1963). (Az Egyesült Nemzetek Szervezete és a magyar forradalom, 1956–1963. Tanulmányok, dokumentumok és kronológia. [The United Nations and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

Essays, Documents and Chronology.] Szerk.

Békés Csaba és Kecskés D. Gusztáv.

Magyar ENSZ Társaság, 2006.) The 1956 Hungarian Revolution and World Politics is now being published in English by the Center for Hungarian Studies and Publications, Inc. (Social Science Monographs, Boulder, Colorado.

Wayne, New Jersey). Also, Evolution and Revolution will be published in the Harvard Cold War Studies Book Series.

For several years now I have been one of the contributors on the seventy-five

170

Teaching Cold War History at New York University member team for the forthcoming (2009) 3 volume text, The Cambridge History of the Cold War. The last version of my chapter “East Central Europe in the Cold War, 1953–1960” was also finished during my Fulbright fellowship at NYU. In the spring of 2007 I acted as the historical consultant for the 90-minute US documentary “Torn from the Flag” on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, which was presented in Los Angeles in November of 2007. I also appear in the film, along with three US historians, talking about the revolution. During the same months I was the historical supervisor for Tibor Glant’s manuscript: Remember Hungary, 1956.

Essays on the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence in American Memory (Social Science Monographs, Boulder, Colorado. Center for Hungarian Studies and Publications, Inc., Wayne, New Jersey, 2007.)

3. Housing

Housing for a foreign scholar is always a major problem, but this is especially so in New York City. Michael Gomez, the head of the History Department at NYU, was very supportive, especially in finding subsidized NYU housing for us. This was a crucial issue in a terribly expensive city like New York. I was there with my family: my wife, Melinda Kalmár, who is also a historian, and our then thirteen-year-old son, Gáspár. After quite some excitement and worrying, we were lucky to be offered a two-bedroom apartment approximately one week before our departure. The apartment was on the 9th floor of one of the

three thirty-story “Silver Towers” built for NYU faculty in the middle of Greenwich Village in the late nineteen-sixties, a truly great location. This was the good news; the bad news was that it was unfurnished.

Personal connections helped us solve the problem: we received some surplus chairs and beds that were just about to be thrown away by the Hungarian Cultural Center in New York, and then we rented the rest of the furniture from a friend’s colleague.

We had lived in the same building in 2001-2002 and had made friends with a nice family living in a neighboring NYU building. Alex was a mathematician who had emigrated from the Soviet Union, while his wife Shahana, who was from India, taught in the business school of a college in New Jersey. Their daughter, Aliya, our son, Gaspar, and Keyshav, the son of another NYU professor of Indian descent who also lived in our building, formed an inseparable group, playing together after school all the time on the small plaza in front of the towers or in one of the apartments, mostly ours as we lived on the ground floor. (A tragic experience from our previous stay in New York City was that we arrived in New York a week before 9-11, and we witnessed the attack and the collapse of the World Trade Center towers while standing on the corner of 6th avenue and 11th street, just after taking our son to school. It took us several months before we could more or less recover from the shock it caused us.)

So, now we approached Alex for help, and he asked around in his department

and found Victor, who was just about to leave for Lebanon for a year. That is how we were able rent the furniture we needed, and while it was not an easy job to transport it from another NYU building into our neighborhood and then return it from a midtown location at the end of my fellowship in May of 2007, this was still a much better option than having to buy furniture and then sell it later on. Another complication on the housing front was that in mid-December we had to move to another NYU apartment, as the one we had in Silver Towers was available only for the first semester. Moving with all our stuff just before Christmas was neither easy nor inexpensive; nevertheless, we solved the problem and the new apartment even had some advantages, including having two bathrooms. Moreover, it was in Peter Cooper Village on the East side, a nice complex of apartment houses located in a green environment with playgrounds and basketball courts, etc. On top of all that, Gaspar’s school was a mere 2-minute walk from the apartment; previously, he had to take a long walk and then a bus to get to school. So, all in all, it was worth the change.

As a general comment on housing, in New York even the subsidized rent is quite expensive, as we had to pay about $1,700 dollars a month for the first apartment and $1,900 a month for the second apartment. I think I do not need to explain how difficult it was to survive from the rest of the scholarship with my wife and son for nine months. I know

171

AY 2006-2007 this is a general problem, not specifically Hungarian: in New York I heard of an American Fulbright scholar who had to return with his family from London in the middle of his fellowship because of the same financial problem. Therefore, I think the Fulbright Commission should consider more seriously the cost of living in different cities when allocating personal funds in the future. In fact, the present system favors a “minimalist approach” for the grantees: the smaller the place you live in and the less prestigious the university you choose, the better your financial situation will be during your scholarship.

You may even save some money.

And vice versa: if you are ambitious, brave, and successful enough to get a visiting position at a well known university located in an expensive city, you will have to pay a higher price for it. By adjusting the amount of the scholarship to the actual renting costs in particular cities, you could remedy this very important problem. As additional funds may not necessarily be available, cutting the number of grantees could resolve this problem.

4. Non-academic activities - social contacts

Because of the rather busy schedule I had on the “1956 front,” we could not take part in the numerous social events and excursions organized by the Fulbright management in the US. Nevertheless, we did visit the United Nations, and that was a great experience for us and especially for our son, who turned out to be the most active participant in a discussion

172

Teaching Cold War History at New York University about environmental issues at the dinner table one night as we sat together with Fulbright scholars from Norway, the Philippines and other countries. We were also briefed by a high-ranking UN official about the relief work of the UN. In late October we rented car to visit Boston, and that trip was a nice example of the combination of academic and non-academic activities. I was invited to a conference at Harvard University, and the organizers were kind enough to provide us with a larger room, so while I was attending the conference my lucky family could do some sight seeing. Since we arrived a day earlier, even I could see some of Boston, a city we really liked a lot. My son’s greatest experience, besides seeing the historical site of the “Boston tea party”, well known for him from history books, was that he was allowed to drive the “duck”, an amphibious tourist vehicle (true!) on the sea.

At the History Department at NYU I resumed my old contacts with several professors, and I made new friendships, as well. Marilyn Young, my former “boss” as head of the Project on the Cold War as Global Conflict at the International Center for Advanced Studies (ICAS) in 2001-2002, now over seventy, is a genuine mother-type mentor and is one of the most wonderful persons I have ever met.

Tom Bender, director of ICAS for many years, Alan Hunter, co-director of the Cold War Project, and his wife Linda Gordon were all most supportive, too, and we enjoyed their company many

times. My wife, Melinda, attended Linda’s outstanding lecture course on gender in American history.

Larry Wolf, an East-Central European history expert, who had just moved from Harvard to NYU at the time, as well as Jane Burbank, professor of Russian history, and her husband, Frederick Cooper, became good friends during my fellowship at NYU. Tom Gruenfeld at Empire State College, another old friend from the ICAS times, kindly arranged an invitation for me from his college to teach the same undergraduate course on the Cold War at his institution. The regular parties thrown by the History Department were also excellent opportunities to establish new personal contacts, which will surely be very useful in promoting academic cooperation in the future.

During my fellowship, I was a regular guest at the monthly meetings of the New York-based Hungarian professors’ roundtable, held in a café called Pertutti and headed by István Deák, professor emeritus at Columbia University. The events at the Hungarian Cultural Center in New York were very interesting, so we visited most of them. Jakab Orsós, director of the center, and his small but enthusiastic staff have been doing an excellent job in promoting Hungarian culture in perhaps the most difficult cultural market in the World, the Big Apple. The events not only attract a full house, but more importantly, 30-40% of the audience are not Hungarian émigrés, but “indigenous” New Yorkers.

5. Schooling

Our son went to Simon Baruch junior high school, and he was fortunate enough to be admitted to a special mathematics class, similar to the one he attends here at home. Although previously we had often heard that primary school education is not as good in the US as it is in Hungary, we found that this is not exactly the case, at least not in that school.

It seems to us that the major difference is not in the quality but in the content of the education. The American system offers much more practical knowledge, preparing children for real life much more than the Hungarian system. The teachers’ attitude towards the pupils and toward the teaching process is serious and responsible; the regulations are binding not only on the kids but on the educators, as well. The teachers know and accept this situation; therefore, it was no wonder that we had not a single conflict with a teacher during the whole year. One teacher was even dismissed on the basis of the students’ general negative evaluation, an unimaginable move in Hungary. Finally, the PTA (Parent Teacher Association) system is surely another very efficient “innovation” that should be adapted in our country.

6. Conclusion

My Fulbright scholarship in 2006-2007 was a real turning point in my career: the teaching experience I acquired at two leading American universities during one and a half academic years hopefully will help me to find opportunities for

173

teaching English language history courses at Hungarian universities as well as in other countries. I enjoyed teaching Cold War history in New York, our favorite city outside Hungary, very much, the materials developed for this purpose proved to be very useful and efficient, and the curricula can be used both in Hungary and abroad in the future. I have been an

internationally known researcher of Cold War history for quite some time, but now, thanks to my Fulbright scholarship, I have finally entered the world of international higher education. I only hope that the special East Central European approach to Cold War history that I presented to my classes was a partial compensation for all of the benefits I received in New York.

Geochemical Modeling for the Contamination Risk Assessment of Mineral Deposits and Mines Gyo”zo” Jordán

Geological Institute of Hungary (MAFI) Stefánia út 14, Budapest 1143 Hungary http://www.mafi.hu

United States Geological Survey (USGS) Denver CO 80225 USA http://www.usgs.gov

Since most of the elements used by society come from mineral extraction (76 out of 90 frequently used elements), the mining of mineral resources provides essential raw material for sustainable development. Through mineral extraction and subsequent mineral processing, huge amounts of waste are produced. Metals and metal compounds exposed by mining or discarded in mine waste tend to become chemically more available, which can result in the generation of acid mine drainage and the release of toxic metals. The objective of this three-month research project was to study geochemical reactions and analyze the transport modeling of acid mine drainage and then to try to develop a risk-assessment method for mine effluents. The project was also a follow-up to a previous collaboration between the Geological Institute of Hungary and the U.S. Geological Survey, and it opened new opportunities for further joint research activities.

1. Introduction

Mining for resources to satisfy energy and raw material requirements can seriously alter the composition of the landscape, disrupting land use and drainage patterns, contaminating soil and water resources, and removing habitats for wildlife.

Contamination by heavy metals and acid mine drainage effluents is a serious problem

174

175

AY 2006-2007

Geochemical Modeling of Mineral Deposits and Mines

because it has direct toxic effects on humans and ecosystems. Younger et al.

(2002) estimate that in the EU alone the total length of watercourses polluted by mine drainage may exceed 5,000 km.

Toxic mine effluents are a major source of environmental contamination in the USA, as well. The magnitude of the problem is also demonstrated by the fact that Hungary has 15,008 mine pits registered, while there are 1,289 mineral deposits registered in Romania and 17,260 mine sites inventoried in Slovakia, both of which are neighboring countries of Hungary with many shared miningimpacted catchments (Odor et al., 1997).

The Baia Mare accident in Romania in 2000 released over 100,000 m3 of process wastewater with cyanide compounds and heavy metals into the major Tisza River in Hungary, triggering a Europe-wide realization of the environmental problems posed by mining. A water reservoir dam failure at the Recsk-Lahóca Mines in Hungary in 1999 led to the release of sediments containing significant amounts of historic heavy metal pollution that was re-suspended by the turbulent 200,000 m3 of flood water and was then deposited downstream on the agricultural floodplain. Abandoned mines in areas with historic mining sites such as Europe, Hungary, and Colorado in the USA pose a particular environmental danger because they can be large in number and are characterized by a lack of control and a lack of data and information (Jordan and D’Alessandro, 2004).

Mining-related

176

environmental

contamination is a global problem. The extraction of non-renewable mineral resources feeds a wide range of minerals and metals into the world’s economies, and mineral resources represent about 30% of the global world trade. The associated mining waste is known to be among the largest waste streams in, for example, the European Union, where it is estimated to be 400 Mt, which amounts to about 29% of total waste generated in the EU (Jordan, 2004a). Parallel to global material and waste flows, contamination flows are also on a global scale. For example, lead mining and smelting activities by the ancient Greeks and Romans have led to measurable increases in the lead concentrations of ice cores in Greenland (Boutron et al., 1994; Hong et al., 1994).

Despite the significance of the problem, the environmental effects of mineral deposits on watersheds are poorly understood, especially with regard to local and regional geology and hydrology, deposit type, climate, and the ecosystem of the watershed. If the deposits are developed, then mining techniques, methods of ore processing and tailings disposal, and metal mobility from dumps and tailings also contribute to the complexity of the environmental impacts.

This complexity raises the important problem of understanding the natural background pollution due to the mineral deposits versus pollution due to mining.

Jordan (2004b) reviewed the main international and national efforts and geo-scientific research methodologies for environmental assessment of deposits and

mining. He concluded that the assessment must be risk-based for efficient decisionmaking, and it must be based on solid geological knowledge such as the USGS geoenvironmental models. It is also widely accepted (Puura et al., 2002) that due to the complexity of acting environmental factors, detailed assessment must be site-specific and based on detailed and specific geochemical modeling. Spatial and temporal geochemical modeling (Wanty et al., 2002) thus should be used for (1) parameterization of risk assessment procedures (such as transport parameters, element mobility factors, etc.) and for (2) the analysis of site-specific characteristics.

The objective of this report is to present some of the results of my threemonth Fulbright research project on contamination assessment and modeling in mining areas.

2. Study Area

Two test sites have been selected because there is high-density and high quality spatial and geochemical data available already for both sites, together with results from previous studies. One test site is the Redwell basin, central Colorado, with a sub-surface porphyry molybdenum and a near-surface polymetallic vein mineralization at abandoned historic mines (Verplanck et al., 2004). The other test site is the Recsk-Lahóca Mines in Hungary, where the near-surface Lahóca epithermal Au-Cu mineralization and the Recsk Deep porphyry copper deposits and associated waste dumps and tailings are the sources of the wide-spread heavy metal contamination in the catchment.

Previous studies have investigated the geochemistry of water-rock interaction in the Recsk Deep (Somody and Jordan, 2005) and geochemistry of water and sediment pollution along the surface water courses (Jordan et al., 2003). Since modeling has started for the Recsk study area, this site is presented here only.

Convergent motion between the African and European plates in the Alpine period (Late Jurassic-NeogeneQuaternary) resulted in the southerly subduction of the European plate under the Pannonian continental fragment between the two continents. This led to the formation calc-alkaline volcanic arcs (Inner-Carpathian Volcanic Belt) in the Miocene, including the Matra Mts. volcano complex of the Middle Miocene age (Badenian age, 13.7 to 16.0 Ma), consisting of diorite intrusions and an associated volcano-sedimentary series of stratovolcanic andesite pyroclastics and sediments. The earliest sequence from the Eocene age in the Matra Mts. is found in the Recsk Mining Area with a shallow seated Eocene sub-volcanic hornblende diorite porphyry body intruded into the Triassic carbonate host rock and with the overlying Eocene andesite strato-volcanic sequence composing the Lahóca and other hills (Fig. 1). Oligocene transgressive marine sediments of claystone, marl and reworked tuff form the immediate cover.

The Recsk Deep Mines’ (Fig. 1) mesothermal mineralisation associated with the N-S striking Eocene diorite porphyry intrusion comprises porphyry

177

AY 2006-2007

Geochemical Modeling of Mineral Deposits and Mines

copper deposits, Cu-Zn skarn, base metal veins and replacement mineralization hosted by Eocene intrusives, Triassic limestones and dolomite, and stratovolcanic sequences, respectively.

The 900 m deep mines were developed for the porphyry copper and skarn deposits between 1985 and 1998. Associated waste rock dumps were remediated between 2000 and 2003, so these do not act as contamination sources for waters, as confirmed by some studies (Mendikas,

1998; 2000). The genetically related Lahóca Mines (Fig. 1) near-surface highsulfidation Cu-Au epithermal deposit is characterized by ore minerals of disseminated pyrite, enargite and luzonite ore minerals, with accessories of tennantite and tetrahedrite, galena, sphalerite and chalcopyrite. The Lahóca hill was mined for copper between 1852 and 1979. The Lahóca Mines have deposited more than 2.1Mt waste as unprocessed ore rock, waste rock and as tailings, covering a

Figure 1. Location of the Recsk Mining Area. Topography: drainage lines (light lines) and the boundary of the Recsk catchment (heavy line) are shown overlaid on a shaded relief model. Arrows indicate stream flow directions. Figures show elevation above sea level (m). Landuse: cross-hatched area is agricultural lands; the rest is forest. Mines: the Lahóca, Recsk, Ilona Creek and Parádsasvár mines are indicated; solid black boxes show exploration adits at Parádsasvár. Geochemical anomalies: vertical lines and checked areas show metal anomalies identified by soil and stream water surveys, respectively. Geochemical survey samples: solid grey circles: stream water samples (Gedeon 1962); solid black circles: stream sediment samples (national survey) (Odor et al. 1997a); hatched circles: stream sediment samples (regional survey); solid white circles: torrential sedi-

total area of about 140,000m2 in eleven dumps. According to previous studies, soil and groundwater are polluted with metals below and around the waste dumps (VITUKI 1996) and the Baláta Creek has become enriched with polluted water and sediments near the dumps (Gedeon 1962; Rukezo 2003). The Ilona Creek Mines (‘old mines’) (Fig. 1) low-sulfidation epithermal deposit was mined for silver and copper between 1769-1852. Smallscale mining from narrow but high-grade veinlet zones left old adits and small waste rock dumps. Most of the old mine adits and dumps discharge highly acidic water (pH~2) with high sulphate and heavy metal content (Szebenyi 2002).

The Recsk Mining Area is located in the Parád-Recsk basin with the Lahóca Hill in the middle of the basin between the villages of Parád and Recsk in the Mátra Mts., in NE Hungary (Fig. 1).

The topography of the Mátra Mts. is determined by late Middle Miocene volcanic edifices. Elevation in the catchment ranges from 180m in the basin interior to 1000 m a.s.l. in the surrounding mountains. Like the rest of the Mátra Mts., landforms of the Recsk Mining Area include primary volcanic features and landforms shaped by erosion.

Mountain domes of mono and parasitic cones and elongated ridges reminiscent of fissure volcanic origin can be seen in the area. The highest mountain peak in Hungary, Mount Kékes (1,014m) lies in the south in this area (Fig. 1). The slope is gentle at the foot of the mountain domes, giving rise to undulating plains. Flat areas

are limited to floodplains. Most of the catchment is vegetated by mixed beech and evergreen forest. Various oak forests interspaced with bushy grassy areas cover the low-lying regions. The flat basin area upstream of the Recsk Mines is occupied by agricultural lands (pasture and arable land) (Fig. 1). In floodplain areas, there are thick reed grasses, especially in areas around the mines. The upper part of the catchment is a part of the Mátra Natural Reserves and the whole area is rich in wildlife.

Climatic conditions are typically of temperate continental character with a mean annual temperature of 9,6°C and with a mean annual precipitation of 530-580mm. The wettest part of the year is at the end of autumn and the beginning of winter. Evaporation is important: according to estimates, two-thirds of the rainfall is lost to evapotranspiration. The dominant wind direction is westerly. The catchment of the Recsk Mining Area is 87,2km2 characterised by numerous small streams originating from the mountain slopes forming a dendritic pattern (Fig. 1). On the foot of the mountain domes, where the slope is gentler and the terrain is undulating, the streams show a meandering pattern. In some areas, the streams follow tectonic lines, like faults, and tectonic lithological boundaries, resulting in elongated drainage patterns. The main stream Parádi-Tarna (0.040m3/s) collects the waters of Ilona Creek at village Parád and of the Baláta Creek (0.035m3/s) (called the Bikk Creek around the Lahóca Hill) at the Recsk

ment samples (Odor et al. 2000). Light rectangle: study area shown in subsequent figures. Inset: Location of the study area in NE Hungary.

178

179

AY 2006-2007 and Lahóca Mines. Typically, the 10% probability flood is 51.7m3/s for the Bikk Creek at the mines close to the village of Recsk. The Baláta Creek is a nonperennial water flow with dry channels in summer. The streams flood after winter snow melt and in summer rainstorms.

The Parádi-Tarna Creek, leaving the watershed outlet, discharges eventually into the Tisza River further downstream.

The Parádi-Tarna Creek is used for irrigation purposes in the farming season some 15-20km downstream of the mines.

Stream flow is recharged by groundwater from the surrounding hills. Groundwater from the Recsk Deep Mines does not recharge surface waters within the catchment.

3. Materials and Methods

79 stream water and sediment samples were collected at about 250m intervals along the stream courses in the study area. Temperature, pH, and electric conductivity (EC) were measured in the field. Element concentrations of As, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sb and Zn in filtered (45µm) and acidified water samples were determined using the ICP-AES analyser.

SO4 concentration in unacidified water samples was determined using the spectrophotometry method. Stream sediment samples sieved to 2mm were digested with hot aqua-regia and analysed for total metal contents by ICP-MS. Detailed quantitative geochemical modeling of contamination fate in mine sites for site-specific risk assessment

180

Geochemical Modeling of Mineral Deposits and Mines was carried out. Detailed geochemical modeling was performed to develop case studies for the testing and verification of contamination risk assessment procedures in mine sites. In this study, geochemical modeling included univariate exploratory data analysis (EDA) techniques followed by multivariate statistical analyses, including cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA) in order to investigate element distribution patterns and gradients in stream water and sediments. Chemical reaction modeling was then performed by the thermodynamic reaction model PHREEQ developed by USGS to describe prevailing processes controlling contamination in the mine-impacted environment. This study was limited to the porphyry, epithermal and vein deposit types because these are the occurrences in the two test sites. For these deposit types key parameters such as acid generation potential, metal mobility, fracturedness, size, average concentration, etc. were selected based on geo-environmental deposit classification, and they were input as factors into the applied models.

4. Results and Discussion

Distribution analysis showed polymodal behaviour with less than 20% outlying values in stream water samples. Outliers (forming the ‘anomalous population’) were located either at mine sites around the Lahóca Hill or at the hydrothermal alteration area in the Ilona Creek upper reach (see Figs 1 and 2). All dissolved metals apart from Fe and Zn were below

detection limits in samples from the other locations (forming the ‘background population’).

Strong Spearman correlation (r>0.7) of pH with SO4, EC and metals in the ‘anomalous population’ at the Lahóca Mines is charactersitic to AMD. Correlations in the ‘background population’ in stream water showed strong relationships (r>0.7) between SO4, EC, Mn and to a lesser extent with Fe. Lack of correlation with pH indicates that pH is determined most probably by the abundant bi-carbonates in related areas. Strong correlations (r>0.8) for sediments among As, Cu, Zn and to a lesser extent with Pb for the ‘anomalous’ samples are typical for the mineralization of the area. All sedimentary metals correlate with Fe, in particular those close to waste dumps where yellow boy sediments were observed, indicating that dissolved metals are attenuated by adsorption and co-precipitation with Fe oxy-hydroxides. CA and PCA were able to resolve the ‘background population’ into further groups corresponding to well-defined geochemical regimes in the study area. In Fig. 2a the CA dendogram makes an obvious distinction between the ‘anomalous’ (group A) and ‘background’ populations, but it also reveals the geochemical background (group B) as a strong group along the Baláta Creek draining carbonate-rich Tertiary sedimentary rocks. The group of samples in the Ilona Creek upper reach (group C) is the most distinct from the other ‘background’ samples, and it corresponds to the area of the surface hydrothermal

alteration zone (Fig. 2b). Further downstream at the Ilona Creek lower reach samples represent stream water draining Eocene strato-volcanic andesite (group D). After the confluence with the Parádi-Tarna Creek, of more alkaline character, the Ilona Creek has a mixed character (group E) that dominates even after the confluence with the Bikk Creek draining the Lahóca and Recsk Mines (Fig. 2b). Samples found in group F-G are found in areas where gas (CO2 primarily) exhalation is known, often manifested as bubbling water in the streams. Finally, stream sediment samples showed the same groups as stream water samples but with less well-defined boundaries, indicating mixing due to sediment transport.

Thermodynamic modeling could describe the prevailing process in the identified geochemical units. The geochemical background is characterized by carbonate equilibrium, and carbonate (calcite, aragonite) precipitation, together with metal carbonates, controls metal concentrations in the stream water upstream to the mine waste dumps.

Where AMD discharges into the streams iron and manganese oxy-hydroxide precipitation has a high thermodynamic probability, and measured high metal concentrations within stream sediments at these locations confirm that metals adsorb to the oxy-hydroxides and co-precipitate with them. Similar processes occur at the hydrothermal alteration zone in the Ilona Upper reach (Fig. 2) but with less pronounced intensity.

181

AY 2006-2007 This study concluded that drainage water has dynamic contact with the surroundings in the study area and thus the water chemistry reflects accurately AMD pollution locations. This is consistent with the findings of previous studies (Gedeon 1962). The analyzed stream sediments also correlate with ambient geology and pollution sources, but frequent flooding

Geochemical Modeling of Mineral Deposits and Mines events in the catchment render them a mixture of up-stream drainage area contributions. Based on univariate and multivariate analyses of stream chemistry, the main geochemical regimes of the catchment could be delineated (Fig. 2).

This study has also shown locations of elevated metal concentrations in the natural background due to a hydrothermal

alteration zone in the Ilona Upper reach.

On-going chemical reaction modeling is trying to describe the processes linking surface water and sediment chemistry, with special focus on the impact of mine closure on water chemistry. During active mining, water in the Bal谩ta and Bikk Creeks around the Lah贸ca and Recsk Mines had pH=8.2 due to saline groundwater extraction and release from the underground mines. Water samples from this period are oversaturated with respect to carbonates (calcite and dolomite), and carbonate precipitation is confirmed by field observation of associated sediments.

These carbonate-rich sediments have significant metal (primarily As, Pb and Zn) content suggesting metal co-precipitation with carbonates. Stream water samples taken from the same location after mine closure have pH=4.0 on average.

Water samples from this period are oversaturated with respect to Fe and Mn oxy-hydroxides, Al hydroxides and jarosite. Field observation of associated yellow boy sediments confirms active precipitation of these components. These secondary minerals cause significant metal concentrations in the analyzed stream sediments, suggesting that metals are efficiently scavenged from the stream water by adsorption and co-precipitation with secondary minerals.

Figure 2. A. Cluster Analysis (CA) dendogram showing association of stream water samples. B. Map of study area showing location of stream water sample groups identified by CA. Stream water and sediment sample locations are also shown. Shaded relief model shows topography in the back-

Contaminated sediment transport was also modeled in the Recsk mining catchment in order to study the fate of metals bound to soils and sediments and to assess the impact of land use scenarios that minimize

the export of contaminated waste in the catchments (van Romaey et al. 2005).

In this study the WATEM/SEDEM distributed erosion and sediment transport model was used to assess the mean annual export of sediment-bound heavy metals (Cu in this study) from a catchment, taking into account the spatial pattern of metal concentrations and the topological relations between sediment sources and sinks. The model used metal enrichment factors to take into account metal adsorption to soil and sediment particles.

Sediment deposition data in the Sediment Reservoir and Kincst谩ri-t贸 Reservoir at the outlet of the catchment were used to calibrate the model for erosion and sediment transport. The model predicted about 9,000 t sediment and about 1.3 t of particulate copper exported from the catchment per year on average.

The calculated copper export from the catchment shows good agreement with measured particulate Cu data taken from a previous study. The impact of land use on metal export was evaluated for land use scenarios taken from aerial photographs in 1987 and a field survey in 2003 (Bats 2004). Further scenarios tested a number of extreme cases: Scenario 3 assumed fallow for all agricultural lands (highest erosion and sediment transport capacity), Scenario 4 assumed 100% protection of waste dumps, and Scenario 5 applied forest cover everywhere plus protection of waste dumps (lowest erosion and sediment transport capacity, and no point sources of metals). The results show that land use configurations that minimize the total sediment export from the catchment are not necessarily the same as those that

ground, and black lines are drainage lines in the study area.

182

183

AY 2006-2007 minimize the volume of exported polluted waste (Van Romaey et al. 2005). Land cover interferes with Cu-export from (1) non-point sources because of the volume of total exported sediment and because of enrichment processes induced by sediment deposition, and (2) point sources because of buffers such as forested stream banks on the flowpath between point source and river channel. This means that sedimentary metal export from the catchment cannot be modeled without a spatially distributed approach, and for future estimations spatially explicit land cover change models are necessary.

5. Conclusions

Historic mining in the Recsk catchment has made a strong impact on the surface environment. Old mines and associated waste dumps still release AMD and hinders natural re-vegetation. Industrial mining at the Lahóca Mines produced large waste rock and tailings dumps that release AMD and contaminated sediments, impacting the water and sediment chemistry of nearby streams.

However, metal contamination in stream water is attenuated within a short distance (200-250m).

Detailed geochemical investigation of stream water and sediment has shown that naturally high background values of metals at a hydrothermal alteration zone do occur in the area. Mine activities in the Recsk Deep Mines did not cause significant surface pollution because groundwater does not recharge surface waters and groundwater chemistry is buffered by Triassic carbonate rocks.

184

Geochemical Modeling of Mineral Deposits and Mines

6. The Fulbright Project and My Personal Experience in the USA

The scientific significance of the project lies in the unique combination of geochemical models with formal risk assessment methods (the latter was not presented in this paper). The project is unique in that these are also calibrated and verified by detailed geochemical transport and reaction modeling. The social significance of the project lies in the fact that such models provide a scientifically sound and efficient inventory and ranking method for contaminated mining sites, thus supporting environmental decisions about site remediation and land development planning.

The Fulbright Project provided an opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Richard Wanty and his excellent research group at USGS. Collaboration between MAFI and USGS goes back to a US-Hungarian Joint Fund project between 1994-1998 in the field of deposit modeling and the environmental assessment of mining (Odor and McCammon, 1999). A NATO Advanced Studies Institute workshop on deposit and geoenvironmental models was held in Matrahaza, Hungary in 1998 with Richard Wanty’s USGS research group as lecturers and with myself as a student and the Secretary of the Local Organizing Committee of MAFI (Fabbri et al, 2002). During these two weeks I made personal contacts with USGS researchers.

Since that time most of the Hungarian participants of the US-Hungarian Joint

Fund project have retired from MAFI, causing a pause in research collaboration until today. The next contact was at my personal initiative during my stay at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission when I organized and chaired the ‘Mine Environment Session’ on the 4th European Congress on Regional Geoscientific Cartography and Information Systems, in 2003 in Bologna, Italy, to which I invited Richard Wanty to present his group’s results. Together with the American colleagues we carried out a joint field campaign at the Recsk study area in 2005 (Fig. 3).

The present project both renewed and improved collaboration between the world-leading USGS and MAFI as, together, a leading regional geoscientific research centre. My most interesting field-work was done together with my host USGS fellows. This was a major professional training opportunity and a lifetime experience for me (Fig. 4).

Most importantly, with the personal involvement of the project participants, this project opened the opportunity to higher-level collaboration between USGS of USA and EuroGeoSurvey of the EU in the field of mine environment

Figure 3. Field work with USGS colleagues in the Recsk mining catchment study area, Matra Mts., Hungary. Above: waste rock dumps. Below: USGS and MAFI personnel discussing steam water sampling.

185

AY 2006-2007 assessment. Results are disseminated in joint scientific papers and conference presentations, in communications on international workshops, and through expert group meetings and on the internet (Jordan 2008). Despite my international experience I had not been to the USA before, not even as a tourist. I found my trip exciting and challenging from a cultural point of view since it was my long-

Geochemical Modeling of Mineral Deposits and Mines time plan/dream to see this wonderful country, experience a different life and work style, and to meet the friendly and open American people. It is my intention to share my personal and professional experiences with my Hungarian colleagues and with my fellow European researchers in various European international expert groups and organizations.

References Bats M., 2006. Optimal land use for sediment-bound heavy

and Solutions in the Central and Eastern European Candidate Countries. Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Ispra. LB-NA-20868-EN-C

metal export in a historical mining area, Recsk, Hungary.

MSc Thesis, Katholic University of Leuven, Leuven (in Dutch).

Jordan, G., 2004a. Mining and Mining Waste: Pressures, Impacts and Responses in the Enlarged European Union.

In: G. Jordan and M. D’Alessandro (eds), Mining, Mining

Boutron, C.F., Candelone, J.P. and Hong, S., 1994. Past and recent changes in the large-scale tropospheric cycles of lead and other heavy metals as documented in Antarctic and Greenland snow and ice; a review. Geochemica et

Waste and Related Environmental Issues: Problems and Solutions in the Central and Eastern European Candidate Countries. Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Ispra. LB-NA-20868-EN-C

Cosmochimica Acta, 58, pp. 3217-3225.

Jordan, G., 2004b. Mining and mining waste: problems Fabbri, A.G., Gaal, G. and McCammon, R.B. (eds), 2002.

Deposit and Geoenvironmental Models for Resource Exploitation and Environmental Security, NATO Science Series, 2. Environmental Security, 80, pp. 3-42. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.

and solutions in the Central and Eastern European Candidate Countries In: G. Jordan and M. D’Alessandro (eds), Mining, Mining Waste and Related Environmental Issues: Problems and Solutions in the Central and Eastern European Candidate Countries. Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Ispra. LB-NA-20868-EN-C

Gedeon A. 1962. Geochemical survey in the Mátra Mts. Annual Report of the Geological Institute of Hungary. pp.

Jordan, G., 2008. http://web.t-online.hu/szucsandrea/

337-348.

Odor, L., Horvath, I. and Fugedi, U., 1997. Low-density Hong, S., Candelone, J. P., Patterson, C.C. and Boutron, C. F., 1994. Greenland ice evidence of hemispheric

geochemical mapping in Hungary. Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 60, pp. 55-66.

lead pollution two millennia ago by Greek and Roman civilizations. Science, 265, pp. 1841-1843.

Odor, L. and McCammon, R. B. (eds), 1999. Deposit Modelling and Mining-induced Environmental Risks.

Jordan, G., Rukezo, G., Fugedi, U., Carranza, E.J.M.,

Geologica Hungarica, Series Geologica, 24.

Somody, A., Vekerdy, Z., Szebenyi, G. and Lois, L., 2003.

Environmental impact of metal mining on catchment drainage in the historic mining area of Recsk-Lahóca mines, Hungary. Proceedings, 4th European Congress on Reginal Geoscientific Cartography and Information Systems, 2003,

Odor L., Fugedi U. and Horvath I., 2000. Geochemical atlas of torrential deposits in hilly areas of Hungary. Final Report on years 1988-2000. Manuscript. T. 20 046. Hungarian Geological Survey, Budapest (in Hungarian).

Bologna, Italy, 2, pp. 713-715. Regione Emilia-Romagna, Servizio Geologoco, Italy.

Puura, E., Marmo, L. and D’Alessandro, M., 2002.

Proceedings, Workshop on Mine Waste and Quarry Waste,

Jordan, G. and M. D’Alessandro (editors), 2004. Mining,

Figure 4. Field work with USGS colleagues in the Rocky Mts. old mining areas, Colorado. Above:

Mining Waste and Related Environmental Issues: Problems

the Burden from the Past. Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Ispra.

scenery in an old mining area, field guide with USGS colleagues. Below: field trip with USGS and National Park colleagues and myself standing in on old mineral exploration adit.

186

187

AY 2006-2007 Somody, A. and Jordan, G. 2005. Mining impact or neutral

In: Wanty, R. B. and Seal II, R. R. (eds), 2004. Water-Rock

environment? Proceeding, MicroCAD2005 Conference,

Interaction. pp. 1649-1653. A.A. Balkema Publishers,

2005, Miskolc, Hungary, pp. 136-140.

London.

Van Rompaey A., Notebaert B., Bats M., Jordan G., Somody

Wanty, R., Berger, B.R., Plumlee, G.S. and King, T.V.V.,

A., Van Dessel W., 2005. Optimal land use scenarios for the

2002. Geoenvironmental models: an introduction. In: A.

minimalization of polluted mining waste export: a case study

G. Fabbri, G. Gaal and R. B. McCammon (eds), Deposit

in the uplands of the Tisza River (Hungary). International

and Geoenvironmental Models for Resource Exploitation

Conference on European Union Expansion: Land Use

and Environmental Security, NATO Science Series, 2.

Change and Environmental Effects in Rural Areas, 4-7

Environmental Security, 80, pp. 3-42. Kluwer Academic

September 2005, Luxembourg, Luxembourg. Abstracts, p.

Publishers, Dordrecht.

1961 – The Birth of the Information Society in the United States László Z. Karvalics

61.

Younger, P.L. , Banwart, S.A. and Hedin, R.S., 2002.

Verplanck, P.L., Wanty, R.B., Berger, B.R., Tuittle, M.L.,

Mine Water; Hydrology, Pollution, Remediation. Kluwer

Kimball, B.A. and Farmer, G.L., 2004. Hydrogeochemistry

Academic Publishers, Dodrecht.

of an acidic, alpine watershed, Redwell basin, Colorado.

Budapest University of Technology 1111 Budapest, Műegyetem rkp.1-3

www.bme.hu zkl@itm.bme.hu

George Washington University 1957 E Street, NW Washington, DC 20052 http://www.gwu.edu/ Prof. Nicholas Vonortas, Georgetown University 3700 O St., NW Washington, D.C. 20057 Adviser: Prof. Joseph McCartin

The following is a subjective cyclorama from different episodes of this researcher’s life through personal and family details to a kind of final research report. If the Reader is interested only in the author’s results about the Birth of the Information Society in the United States, it is better to jump directly to subchapter 3.3.

1. Prologue. A personal record For anyone without a full-year Fulbright experience, it is hard to imagine what the “absolute freedom of research” means. No deadlines, no instructions, no pressure – just self-driven, loose adventures into the jungles of narratives, problems, and literatures.

Branching out from core topics is a sweet danger – you never know where and when you will run into a dumbfounding, striking, surprising, wondrous piece of data, story, record, episode, author or book, finding new “gimmicks” arising. I’d like to show you some examples.

188

189

AY 2006-2007 1.1. Serendipity

Have you ever been invited to take part in a Fulbright newcomer’s reception? There are lots of scholars sitting around the tables in a random order, producing quiet and short self-introductions in polite, gentle phrases. Is there any chance of getting important contributions to your research from a who-knows-which-kind-of-discipline he/she is in colleague? Anyway, in my first official Fulbright community event, I met an urban scientist from Australia, who suggested that I read the books of Jean Gottmann, the French urban scientist and geographer, whose ideas may be related to my own interests.

Can you imagine my feelings when – after collecting all the important books of Gottmann – I found the term “White collar revolution” as the title of chapter 11 of his Magnum Opus (Megalopolis. The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States)? This chapter is the first analytical description of the information society, first published in 1961, and this text radically re-writes the historiography of information society history. It is Jean Gottmann who has really initiated the discourse, and the future handbooks have to start with his name. And don’t forget the name Richard L. Meier (A Communications Theory of Urban Growth, MIT Press, 1962), Jane Jacobs and other urban scientists: they are the real beginners. My duty is to finish the paper I immediately started to write: “Life before Machlup: architects and urban planners as precursors of information society theory”.

1961 – The Birth of the Information Society in the United States 1.2. Haphazard

Earlier, I had found T.C. Helvey’s book (The Age of Information. An Interdisciplinary Survey of Cybernetics, Educational Technology Publications, 1971) in several lists about relevant information society literature, and when I realized that I could order it for just a few bucks, I invested in a copy. A few days later I received the book, and I was very happy to realize that this copy contains blessings from the author. Furthermore, the previous owner inserted an original newspaper clipping into the book with an article about the freshly published work of Helvey – and I had to learn from the unknown author of the article that T. Charles Helvey, the first full professor of cybernetics in the United States, was a Hungarian-born scientist. T. stands for Tibor, his original Hungarian first name. I started an investigation of the “old IT-boys,” and I realized that Helvey is absolutely unknown in Hungary, so I found myself with a new duty: pioneering research into how they are perceived in Hungary.

I could start the Hungarian reception of this wise, lovely, and dynamic artist and scientist, who, far over 80, is still very active.

Andras Angyal (Angyal András) has developed an original theory of personality. His “holistic” approach1 is very transformative and fruitful in the current environment-centric information society discourses. It is strange to see that he is identified several times as a Danish scientist. It is time for the Hungarian public to discover him.

Searching for the first usage of “control” in a social science context, I found Nicholas Doman (Domán Miklós), the author 1 Foundations for a Science of Personality (New York, The

1. 4. Pilgrimage to Eugene Garfield

Eugene Garfield, the founder of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI, 1960) became my target as one of the living members of the Information Society “Pantheon” in US. He began regular publication of the Science Citation Index in 1964 through the Institute for Scientific Information, and he is the Great Old Man of scientific information services.

Commonwealth Fund, 1941 and Neurosis and Treatment.

A Holistic Theory (John Wiley and Sons, 1965)

Eugene Garfield and the author in Philadelphia (May, 2007)

1.3. Discoveries - Hungarians everywhere

Just a short list of Hungarians I ran into during my Internet and library adventures.

Charles (Chuck) Csuri, the father of computer art (1962) and Professor at Ohio State University, was born into a Hungarian immigrant family. I am proud to confess that I was able to successfully contact him by e-mail, and Harriet Mayor Fulbright and the author in Washington DC (October, 2006)

190

of the book The Coming Age of World Control. The Transition to an Organized World Society (Harper and Brothers, 1942). Very fresh, very interesting, very forgotten book – I immediately started to cooperate with his son to find a way to help in his father’s “revival”.

Townhome basement as an alien’s scientific headquarter

191

AY 2006-2007

1961 – The Birth of the Information Society in the United States I am very happy to have had a chance to visit him in Philadelphia, and to see his inexhaustible energy for working, learning, and innovating far into his 80’s. I am planning to write about him as a gate-opener to the science of the information society and as an emblematic figure of the early information services, beyond information technology.

Enrichment programme, Chesapeake Bay

2. Family life in Virginia It was one of the best decisions of my life to bring my family (my wife and my four children) with me, and then to live in Loudoun County, VA instead of Washington, DC. The public schools are excellent here, the grass is green and life is calm, and my basement became a research headquarters within just a few weeks.

Potomac, Great Falls (20 minutes from home)

I am a proud parent of my son

Hungarohalloween

192

One year is enough for a flexible child to learn the language, the (multi)cultural society in the US, and the basics of living here, as well as to make friends, learn new sports, and feel the pros and cons of the American way of life.

The weekends and holidays provided extraordinary possibilities to discover the famous sights of the DC-area, the Potomac River, the Shenandoah Valley, the Chesapeake Bay, and other gems on the East Coast, such as the Outer Banks, the Smoky Mountains, Florida, and New York

This was the best year in our Family Chronicle, ever.

3. Research record It was necessary to change my focus.

Instead of composing one monographic book, I decided to write a few original articles. I had to realize that my plan was too ambitious and that I did not have enough time to perform all of my research and finish a book. On the other hand, my results are more interesting than I expected. They are real novelties, and I hope that I can publish these results soon.

3.1. The start-up hypotheses

According to more and more commentators, the final emancipation of the information society as an independent field of scientific inquiry is related to the publication and impact of Manuel Castells’s trilogy on the information era (Castells, 1996, 1997, 1998). While, even earlier, the examination of the information society had unquestionably been one of the most exciting fields of current social theory, the reception of Castells’s monumental work contributed to its becoming an accepted discipline (Duff, 2000) and a field of knowledge that came to be widely taught in higher education.

Since then, however, the focus of the discourse on the information society has been displaced more and more toward the future, primarily because of the entry of the topic into political and public speech (information society strategies) and

also because the discourse has become preoccupied with technology (IST – information society technologies). Oddly enough, it is exactly this orientation toward the future that has fed the demand for investigating the origin and roots of the information society. There is, however, hardly any professional literature on the latter topic; the only starting-point, Dordick and Wang’s retrospective work (Dordick 1993), is still unique. Meanwhile, three historical trends have evolved that are valuable in themselves but have diverted attention from the birth of the information society: • The hermeneutical trend is mainly focused on the history of thinking about the information society – i.e. on publications, authors and the history of notions (Webster, 1995, Crawford, 1983) • The hyper-historical trend has jumped from the end of the 19th Century back to the last third of the 18th Century in researching the prehistory of the information society but lacks a message about its actual birth (Mattelart, 2001, Headrick, 2000, Darnton, 2000) • The technology history trend reduces the history of the information society to the history of its key technologies, arriving at questionable statements, such as: “The information society was born in the spring of 1963 with the founding of MIT’s Project MAC” (Garfinkel, 1999; MAC—Machine-Aided Cognition— as the goal and the multiple-access computer as the tool).

193

AY 2006-2007 3.2. The original objectives

Although any single year or even a decade cannot be designated as the start of the information society, I saw more and more reason for 1961 to be considered as a landmark year in every respect. I am ready to argue that this was the year when the most pregnant changes in all the important sub-systems of society and in all types of information operations took place; and that most of these changes (although not every one of them) point to the United States.

By fitting together the many and only partly known historical puzzles, data, and events, I wanted to give a comprehensive, coherent, and novel picture of the beginning of the world historical change that has expanded enormously since then, focusing on the time when the tectonic shift had already taken place but was recognized and consciously focused on by only a very few and exceptional individuals. Even the experts immersed in the topic may be surprised at the number of developments that had taken place between 1960 and 1962, which, in retrospect, turn out to be clear indications of the paradigmatic change, the evolution of the information society itself.

The clarification of this observation will continue the discourse started by James Beniger in his epoch-making book, published in 1986. According to the preface of this book, young Beniger, who was about to start his university studies, was, during a summer of professional practice, involved in the comprehensive development programs launched in the

194

1961 – The Birth of the Information Society in the United States aftermath of the Sputnik-shock. Instead of asking simply: why? — he found himself faced with the question: why precisely now is it that revolution is going on in society and technology? And although the conceptual or theoretical answer is given in the pages of his book, Control Revolution, I believe that a practical answer can also be given, based on a detailed and revealing analysis of concrete historical material. Such an answer will also make more precise Naisbitt’s (1982) famous adage, referred to by many, according to which “information society was born in 1956 or 1957... [This] was the end of the industrial era...”

To illustrate my ideas, I would like to introduce some topics as elements of my research plan.

• Society and production — from the perspective of employment, the product world, and consumption This topic shows the rupture of longterm changes in society as a “real sector”, starting from Fritz Machlup’s pioneering work (Machlup, 1962) and going on to the collection and arrangement of the most important lines of data.

• (Information) technology — pioneers everywhere This is a survey of the decisive steps concerning both the application of computer science (Unimate, the first industrial robot) and the path leading to the evolution of the Internet; and also the new world of reproduction (the beginning of mass xerography, 1960).

• (Knowledge) technology — the birth of alternatives The emblematic event here is the founding by Ivan Illich of the Center for Intercultural Documentation (CIDOC) in Cuernevaca, Mexico in 1961. In just a few years, new dimensions in higher, lower, and adult education have opened up, and the approach later known as knowledge management in company organization came into being.

• Science — a leap in getting to know, a leap in topics The beginning of space activities and space applications, the silent revolution in scientific establishments, and the new phase of science all appear, in indirect reflection, in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Kuhn, 1962).

• Arts — visions and sensitivities The topic covers science fiction, fine arts, and architecture, with bewildering forecasts and fine intuitions.

• The global narrative — the birth of planetary quality According to my hypothesis, the birth of the information society can be dated to the same short period in time as the birth of global quality, in a system-science sense. This planetary entity indicates its arrival with the introduction of the unified measuring system (Systeme International d’Unité, 1960) and the explosion of space research. It is not by chance that the basic book of Cybernetics is also published at this time (Wiener, 1961).

• Social theory — the direct and indirect vanguards of reflection

While Machlup’s great work (1962) is a fundamental part of the information society discourse, it is rather strange that Marshall McLuhan (1957, 1961, 1962a, 1962b) has not yet been integrated into the tradition. The works of the Japanese writer Tadao Umesao, published in these years, are hardly known, even though he is the father of the notion of the information society and its first real theoretician. I plan to point out that political science (Schattschneider, 1960, Edelman, 1960) and sociology perceived the whiff of change at the same time, and that everyone approaching from the direction of communication (Williams, 1961, 1962) came close to the conception of the information society during this period of time.

3.3. Preliminary Results 3.3.1. Modelling the birth of Information Society

I realized that to reconstruct the birth of the Information Society in a narrative structure is not enough to find the answer for the most disconcerting questions.

Why only in the United States? Why then and not earlier or later? Which factors are behind the uniqueness, discreteness, specificity, and particularity of the United States’ social history?

My jumping-off place is the statement that (information) technology is not the agent of change, itself. We need to construct a flowchart to understand the anatomy of the major system clusters and find the crucial transformative forces. Its elements are social relations and activity patterns:

195

AY 2006-2007

• Interconnectivity • Cognition • (Knowledge) Assets • Coordination • Decision • Action (Performance) Of course, we can find revolutionary technology behind all of these “clusters”, as well as the power of consistent mutual transformations between and among them as a resolution for the questions. After establishing this structure and logic, we can start to “fill up” the categories with the well-known historical material. I am working hard to develop and to visualize this innovative model as a guide for the reconstruction process.

3.3.2. Information Society: The Rhythm of Emergence

In the United States, based on complex indicators, the capital and its environs (the Greater Washington Area) were regarded as an information society as early as the 1950’s.

Within a few years, the New York-Boston axis attained the same status, and by 1955 the entire east coast, the “Megapolis,” and California, as well as the Great Lakes region joined this group. Based on national indicators, it could be claimed that around 1960 the United States, which is the size of a continent, had become an information society.

1961 – The Birth of the Information Society in the United States

3.3.3. 1961 – what a year it was

I am more determined and resolute that if a single “emblematic” year denoting the “beginning” of the information society is to be specified for future history textbooks, it should really be 1961. This was the year when the main economic indicators in the United States “tipped over”, and when the prototype of the computer network which forms the technological “tissue” of the information society was built. This was the time when humanity entered the space age and embarked upon signal transmission via satellite, and finally, as mentioned beforehand, this is when the term “information society” was coined.

3.3.4. Mounds of evidence

Did you know that the fiber-optic revolution started in the field of gastroenterology? That the origins of optical character recognition, computer graphics, computer-generated music, computer games and the barcode are deeply rooted into the Big Decade (between 1954-1964)? That almost all the most important concepts of our age were coined also during these years?

(Nanotechnology, the fractal, the new media, bionics, the cyborg, artificial intelligence, and the information age itself). This period is the cradle of knowledge technologies, the new generation of professional information services and knowledge companies – and a lot of other things. Once we could build the skeleton of the model, it was then easy to stick these “inert materials” on to it.

4. Epilogue. Scholarship publication file2 4.1. In English, published 1. Information age education in a sustainable world (3) Practice and Theory in Systems of Education Vol. 2. No. 3-4 (2007) p.

65-78. http://www.eduscience.hu/ (with Vietorisz, Thomas) ű 2. Information society – what is it exactly?

(The meaning, history and conceptual framework of an expression) (4) Information Society. Textbook Ed: Pinter, Robert Gondolat-Uj Mandatum, 2008

4.2. In English, before publishing: 3. Knowledge producing megamachines: social innovation for the information age (3) International Journal of Knowledge and Learning

4.3. In Hungarian, published 4. Az információs társadalom gondolat európai szálláscsinálója. In memoriam Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber (19242006) (4) Információs Társadalom, 2007/1. 124136.o.

(The European pioneer of information society thinking. In memoriam Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber (19242006). ) 5. A horizontális kormányzás imperatívusza – új Hoover-bizottságok felé (2) Információs Társadalom, 2007/1. 3135.o.

(The imperative of horizontal government. Towards new Hoover commissions.)

6. A cyber-infrastruktúra mint aktuális kihívás és mint tudományszociológiai probléma (2) Magyar Tudomány, 2007/4 475-489.o.

(Cyberinfrastructure. A challenge for the sociology of science) 7. Az információs társadalom történetisége (5) Információs Társadalom, 2007/3 4769.o.

(The Historicity of the Information Society) 8. Telpak, Telstar, Carterfone. Az információs társadalom kialakulásának telekommunikációs metszete az Egyesült Államokban (1956- 1968) (5) In: Mozaikok a hazai telematika eredményeiből. Gordos Géza 70. születésnapjára Szerk: Talyigás Judit Híradástechnikai Egyesület, 2007 5771.o.

2 The numbers (1-5) after the titles are representing the relavance of the publication according to the „core topic” (the original research plan)

196

197

AY 2006-2007 (Telpak, Telstar, Carterfone. The emergence of the Information Society from telecommunication aspects (1956-1968).)

9. „Milliónyi kis tudáskazán”. Az oktatás átalakítása és a fenntartható világba való átmenet (3) Eszmélet 75. (2007 ősz) 5-36.o.

(Vietorisz Tamással) („Millions of tiny knowledgefurnaces”. Transformation of education and transition to a sustainable world) 10. Digitális kori kormányzás (3) Demos, 2008 1-81.o.

(Digital Era Government) 11. „A monitor a festővásznam”.

A számítógépes művészet magyar úttörőjéről (Chuck Csuri, 1962) (5) In: Cseppekből lesz az eső. Bakonyi Géza Emlékkötet Szerk: Simon Melinda, Hegyi Ádám Szeged, 2008 április (The screen is my canvas. On the Hungarian pioneer of computer art (Chuck Csuri, 1962).)

4.4. The final version is almost ready – going to be published

1961 – The Birth of the Information Society in the United States fogalmi előzményeihez (4) (Post-industrial society, white collar, brainwork. On the conceptual precursors of Information Society) 14. Két kontrollforradalom között: az információs társadalom közoktatásának körvonalai (3) (Between two control revolutions.

About the public education of the Information Society) 15. The Birth of the Information Society in the United States (ppt-presentation with 150 slides) (5)

Bibliography

Center,

School

of

Communications,

University

of

Washington Kumon, Shumpei (1994, 2001): Theory of Information Civilization

1. Information Society basics Bell, Daniel (1976): The Coming of Post-Industrial Society: a Venture in Social Forecasting New York, Basic Books Bell, Daniel (1980): The Social Framework of the Information Society In: Forester, T. (ed) The Microelectronics Revolution: The Complete Guide to the New Technology and Its Impact on Society. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press Beniger, James R. (1991): “Information Society and Global Science” In: Dunlop, Ch.-Kling R. (eds.): Computerization and Controversy: Value, Conflicts and Social Choices. San Diego: Academic Press

Levinson, Paul (1999): Digital McLuhan. A guide to the information millennium. Routledge Masuda, Yoneji (1980): The Information Society as PostIndustrial Society. Tokyo:IIS, Washington DC:The World Future Society.

Masuda, Yoneji (1985): Computopia. In.: T. Forester (ed.): The Information Technology Revolution. Oxford: Blackwell Masuda Yoneji (1990): Managing in the Information Society: Relesing Synergy Japanese Style. Oxford, Blackwell Marien, Michael (1996): New communication technologies: a survey of impacts and issues FUTURESCO No.6.

Beniger, James R. (1986): The Control Revolution. Technological and Economic Origins

of

the

Information

Society.

Harvard University Press Black, Alistair (1998): Information and modernity: The history of information and the eclipse of library history. Library History, May, vol.14.

Castells, Manuel (1996,1997,1998): Manuel Castells: The information age: economy, society and culture I-III. Blackwell (I. The Rise of the network society II. The power of identity III. End of Millennium) Cordell, A. J. (1985): The Uneasy Eighties: the Transition to an Information Society.

Ottawa, Science Council of Canada: Hull Quebec

12. Life before Machlup: architects and urban planners as precursors of information society theory

Dordick, Herbert S.- Wang, Georgette (1993):

13. Posztindusztrialitás, fehér gallér, agymunka. Az információs társadalom

S.M. (eds.) 1978: Information Societies:

198

The Information Society. A retrospective view SAGE Publ.

Edelstein, A.S. - Bowes, J.E. - Hassel, Comparing the Japanese and American Experiences International. Communication

199

(October) pp 6-20.

Political Science Review 1960 (54): 695-704

Martin, James – Adrian R.D. Norman (1970): The

Kemeny, John: Games of life and death. Nation, 21 (1961),

Computerized Society. Englewood Cliffs,N.J., Prentice

p. 47

Hall

Kleinrock

Martin, James (1978): The Wired Society. Englewood

Communication Nets (1961 May 31) First Paper on packet-

Cliffs,N.J., Prentice Hall

switching (PS) theory

Martin, James (1981): The Telematic Society. Englewood

Machlup, Fritz: The Production and Distribution of

Cliffs,N.J., Prentice Hall

Knowledge in the United States. Princeton University

McLuhan, Marshall (1964): Understanding Media: The

Press, 1962

Extension of Man. New York: New American Library

McClelland, David C. : The Achieving Society (Princeton,

McLuhan, Marshall (1967): The Medium is the Massage.

N.J., Van Nostrand) 1961

New York: Bantam

Schattschneider, Elmer Eric: The Semisovereign people: A

Mitchell, William J. (1995): City of Bits. Space, place and the

realist’s view of Democracy in America New York: Holt,

Infobahn. MIT Press

Rinehart&Winston 1960

Naisbitt, John (1982): Megatrends

Licklider, J.C.R. & Clark, W. : On-Line ManComuter

Roszak, Theodore (1994): The cult of information: a neo-

Communication (1962August) Galactic Network concept

luddite treatise on high-tech, artifical intelligence, and

encompassing distributed social interactions

the true art of thinking. Berkeley: University of California

McLuhan, Marshall: The Electronic Revolution in North

Press, 1994.

America. International Literary Annual 1: 1958

Schement, J.R. - Curtis, T (1997): Tendencies and tensions of

McLuhan, Marshall: “New Media and the New Education.”

the information age. New Brunswick, Kondon, Transaction

In: Christianity and Culture. 1961 181-90.

Publishers

McLuhan, Marshall: “The Electronic Age: The Age of

Shapiro, Andrew L. (1999): The Control Revolution A

Implosion.” In Mass Media in Canada, edited by John A.

Century Foundation Book, Public Affairs, New York

Irving. 1962 179-05. Toronto: The Ryerson Press.

Toffler, Alvin and Heidi (1981): The Third Wave. Pan Books

McLuhan, Marshall: The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making

Toffler, Alvin (1990): Powershift. Knowledge, wealth and

of Typographic Man. Toronto, University of Toronto Press.

violence at the edge of the 21st century Bantam Books.

1962

Touraine, Alain (1969): La societé post-industrielle. Denoël,

Szilárd Leó: The Voice of the Dolphins 1961

Paris

Weiner, Norbert: Cybernetics. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT

Webster, Frank (1995): Theories of the Information Society

Press, 1961

(The International Library of Sociology). Routledge.

Williams

2. Contemporary works 19601962

Leonard:

Raymond:

Information

The

Long

Flow

in

Revolution

Large

London,

Chatto&Windus 1961 Williams

Raymond:

Communications

New

York,

Barnes&Noble 1962 Bell, Daniel : The End of Ideology New York, The Free Press, 1960 Cooley Charles Horton: Social Organization. A Study of

3. Fiction

the Larger Mind, Shocken Books, New-York, 1962 (reedition)

William S. Burroughs: The Soft Machine, 1961

Edelman Murray: Symbols and political quiescence American

Lem, Stanislaw. Solaris. NY: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1961

200

Novel Findings To Establish A New Generation Of Breast Cancer Diagnostic And Therapeutic Immunoconjugates Beatrix Kotlán Home Institution (previous):

National Medical Center Home Institution (present): National Institute of Oncology Rath Gy street 7-9 Budapest 1122

Hungary

Host Institution: John Wayne Cancer Institute 2200 Santa Monica Blvd Santa Monica CA 90404 USA Adviser: Dr Mepur H. Ravindranath, PhD

My longterm project aims at gathering essential information about tumor infiltrating B cells (TIL-B) that accumulate in cancerous tissues. Using results from my previous research, I investigated the potential of the B cells in breast carcinomas to be a source of recombinant antibodies for tumor diagnostics and therapeutics. The definition for the related tumor associated target antigen has huge clinical importance. My previously selected tumor binder antibody fragment was successfully processed in terms of the necessary transformation and as a part of the purification and conjugation steps. Due to its unique ganglioside specificity with central functions in tumor progression, the resulting immunoconjugate is of great importance.

The study of TIL-B cell immunoglobulin variable gene usage and the antibody fragment phage display libraries answer important tumor-immunological questions. The results led to a new generation of tumor-specific immunoconjugates for early cancer diagnosis and effective targeted therapy.

201

AY 2006-2007

1. Scientific Background 1.1. “If One Door Closes, A Window Will Open“

Against assorted cultural, financial, and economic backgrounds, there are great differences between jobs and work possibilities.

Being an enthusiastic biologist in a rather poor country in Central Europe, Hungary, I was never afraid of difficulties with workinfrastructure and the hard, steadfast “fight” for grant supports. But being a female scientist, I always had to face the problem of trying to harmonize overwhelming obligations both at the institute and at home. Although I have been trying my best for years, it seemed I failed in this struggle… But on the very day of going through a divorce I never wanted, I received the envelope with my Fulbright Grant acceptance! So for me it seemed to be very true: „If one door closes, a window will open!”. This new scientific challenge and possibility gave me great strength to keep going ahead and to focus on my scientific project with a very clear mind (even if with a broken heart) (Fig. 1).

To tell the truth, I felt really honored that my tumor-immunological project, the

New Generation Of Breast Cancer Diagnostic basis of which I had been building up brick by brick through extreme infrastructural and financial difficulties, was found scientifically valuable and would now get a new boost through the Fulbright Grant and a novel host institute. In order to answer the project-related questions summarized in the “Objectives” and to go ahead with the project, a great arsenal of molecular, genetic, and biotechnological techniques and instruments were needed. The Department of Glycoimmunotherapy at the John Wayne Cancer Institute has been well known for its scientific achievements in glycobiochemistry and for its immunotherapeutic interests. It seemed that a great mutual scientific interest coupled with an effective scientific work period would result in successful achievements, leading to further cancer diagnostic and therapeutic potential. As I have already known the host Institution’s Department Head, Dr. Mepur H. Ravindranath, through previous scientific communication, as well as lectures and publications, I was really happy about this possibility.

The project was based on my novel idea and the original “proof of principle” that I could demonstrate in a special type of breast tumor. In the course of my Fulbright project, important preparatory work phases for tumor-specific antibody development and new immunoglobulin studies in other breast tumors were set down as tasks.

This research field deals with a highly exciting question in tumor immunology. Not only because it can reveal novel cell surface structures that specifically characterize the cancerous cells, but also because it

provides cancer diagnostics and targeted therapeutic drugs.

It is important to know that generally all solid tumors could be characterized with any immune cell infiltrates.

Researchers investigated only those cells that were available in large amounts. The novel methodological approach that I developed reveals and investigates those special cells that are available only in tiny amounts (Fig. 2.).

My original hypothesis was that the tumor tissue itself contains the genetic information, which has to be revealed and then processed further. Special immune cells infiltrating the cancerous tissue have to be investigated through a detailed DNA analysis and tested experimentally against the original tumor. All this serves as a new approach for novel tumor diagnostics and therapeutics (Fig. 3).

The importance of the project is the development of tumor reactive molecules, being potential candidates for tumor diagnostic and therapeutic usage.

The immune system is responsible for producing the defense molecules against the invader that attacks the body.

These molecules are called antibodies, immunoglobulines produced by B cells. My project aims to find and further develop the “anti-cancerbodyguards”, immunoglobulines that specifically recognize the inside attackers, the cancer cells, and which have the potential to eliminate them.

Techniques in molecular genetics and biotechnology made it feasible

Fig 2. B lymphocytes stained by immunohistology in cancerous tissue

Fig 3. The flowchart diagram of the main experimental workphases

Fig. 1. The Fulbright Grant opened a new window, a new possibility for my work.

202

203

AY 2006-2007

New Generation Of Breast Cancer Diagnostic

Fig 4. The„wandering circus” as I called my working background

Fig 5.

I arrived at the JWCI with all my scientific plans and preparations

Fig 6.

I was working hard to be able to start with the real experimental works

to produce and investigate different fragments of the antibodies. Antibody fragments are ideal tumor-targeting reagents, as they retain binding capacity, and they are intermediatesized multivalent molecules which provide rapid tissue penetration, high target retention, and rapid blood clearance. A further advantage is that antibody fragments can be conjugated with labeling or cytotoxic drugs, essential for diagnostic or therapeutic use, respectively.

The whole project’s working background is my „wandering circus”, as I called it in one of my lectures, referring to how I did the research work to obtain the results (Fig. 4). For years I have been writing several applications to obtain Hungarian and international scholarships and grants. As the project was interesting for institutes abroad, I could always find the necessary infrastructures and instruments I needed for the different work-phases. In the course of the Fulbright Grant, another new Host Department was opened to me.

Since I was planning a huge project, I had to prepare myself well. So, by the summer of 2006 I already had some important starter preparations made, and I had selected several necessary DNA samples and clones.

1. 2. Objectives

My main objectives were to explore further the molecular genetic and immunological characteristics of the special immune cell type, accumulated

204

in tiny amounts in breast carcinomas. I wanted to acquire a broader knowledge concerning the antibodies produced in different breast carcinomas in order to provide further support to my original “proof of principle”. Lastly, I hoped to reveal the potential for tumor diagnostics and therapeutics of the immunoglobulin variable genes in question, with defined tumor-associated antigen specificity, since this is of high importance.

2. Working Days Under My Fulbright Period 2.1. Make the most of the Fulbright Grant

I arrived at my host institution, the John Wayne Cancer Institute, with all my scientific plans, a great many documents, and starter biological preparations (Fig. 5). However, soon after a hearty welcome by the Glycoimmunotherapy Department Head, my supervisor, Dr. Mepur H. Ravindranath, I had to face a problem.

After a thorough check in the roomy laboratory, I saw that no instruments were available for the molecular genetic and biotechnological work I planned, but only for the cellular and biochemical studies. Of course, I was hoping to get to the biochemical phase of my studies, but these methods were scheduled for the very last period, after I had accomplished all the first ones. So, in the next days and weeks I went searching for the necessary instruments, consumables, and reagents that I needed. The various processes necessary for my Fulbright

project required special infrastructure of a technical nature. Because of the numerous methodological phases, it took quite a lot of time to gather all the necessary information through the Internet and through catalogues, which I used to order the equipment that I needed. I inquired in nearby laboratories about which instruments might be borrowed or used somewhere else. The list of the necessary items to order was too long! Even though my supervisor did his best and went to great efforts to make arrangements for me. However, with a lot of additional work, patience, and the support of my supervisor, I succeeded in building a laboratory environment for molecular genetic and biotechnological research. In the first part of my stay a great amount of time was needed to make all the necessary arrangements and changes in the laboratories: obtaining the equipment, setting up and calibrating the instruments, sterilizing the consumables, and ordering the chemicals. As a result of my “input”, I have now set up well functioning laboratories for all kinds of molecular work, and one for bacterial and phage display (Fig. 6).

During my Fulbright period I was really very busy, and I learned a great many different things, important both for work and for life. The institute required some courses and exams for handling biological materials, hazardous chemicals, and radioactive materials. I attended the courses and passed the online exam for the National Institute of Health (NIH), concerning goals and principles of human participant protection, as all cancer related experimental work requires these certificates.

205

AY 2006-2007

New Generation Of Breast Cancer Diagnostic

As I wrote applications and registered for US conferences related to my scientific interests, I managed to take part in several meetings, important in cancer and antibody research. I presented results from my previous work as well as new data at five conferences, and I attended a workshop organized by my host institute. My scientific work could be discussed and collaboration could be built at these conferences. I heard lectures that were highly interesting and important, which summarized the current state of scientific knowledge in cancer biology and therapy, which is vast, and I also learned about antibody engineering technology. So, my Fulbright stay gave me the opportunity to take part in the AACR Frontiers of Cancer Prevention Research conference in Boston, November 12th – 15th, 2006, where I displayed a poster presentation, entitled: “A novel approach to generate tumorspecific human immunoconjugates from breast carcinomas and melanomas”. This poster was accepted for presentation at the highly important Antibody Engineering Meeting, held in San Diego (December

5th – 8th, 2006). This provided me with a good opportunity to hear about the latest news and technical improvements in this field (Fig. 7). The “Chemistry in Cancer Research” international meeting in San Diego (February 4th – 7th, 2007) gave a detailed picture of the cancer therapy drugs and their effects.

One of the greatest experiences for me, though, was to take part in the Centenary AACR (American Association for Cancer Research) Meeting in Los Angeles (April 14th – 18th, 2007) (Fig. 8). That was a once in a lifetime event! A hundred years of efforts were celebrated and about 17,000 scientists gathered to share their ideas and to develop novel ways to reach the final goal: curing cancer. I feel a little proud that it was at this very international conference that my abstract was awarded the 2007 AACR-Avon Foundation Scholar-inTraining Grant. The title of the poster I presented was: “Novel findings obtained by single chain Fv antibody library establishment from tumor infiltrating B lymphocytes of human breast carcinomas and melanomas” and the abstract was

published in the Conference Proceedings Book (Fig. 9, Fig. 10, Fig. 11). It was a good feeling that so many researchers were really interested in my presentation, and I could also meet with and show my new data to my previous collaborators from all over the world. I was glad to meet there the Hungarian melanoma tumor progression expert, Professor Dr. Jozsef Timar, in whose department I would continue my research in Hungary.

I also attended all the ceremonial events, the AACR Centenary Concert in the Hollywood University Studios Concert Hall, a benefit to support cancer research.

Anyhow, of highest value for me was the fantastic scientific lecture program, where I could get detailed information about the landmarks in cancer research in the last 100 years and the latest achievements.

Some further important new collaboration possibilities were built for my research there also.

I was asked to give two lectures at JWCI about my research work and about the poster I presented at the AACR in April.

I gave a lecture at UCLA about the Hungarian cultural, historical, and political

characteristics of my work. It was of great interest among the students, and that was shown by their questions and the feedback I received later. I was given the chance to attend a special workshop organized by JWCI entitled “Antibodies in Melanoma”.

It was of special interest for me as its main topic was those tumor-associated molecules I am highly interested in.

Fig. 7. Travelling to international conferences

Fig. 8. Just before the great AACR meeting

Fig. 9. My poster was presented and awarded

Fig. 10. The AACR-Avon Foundation Scholar

and presenting the work

organised in LA Convention Center

206

2.2. Experimental work

As a joint possibility that arose at the San Diego meetings, through an opportunity given by previous collaborators, I could go ahead with very specific experimental work, until the necessary conditions could be arranged in the Department at my host institution. During the day I attended the scientific lectures at the meetings, and then I would work with my experiments until very late in the evening. It was only through this possibility, arranged with the collaborating foundation, that I could go ahead with most of my planned molecular work. Accordingly, immunoglobulin heavy and light chain variable region genes were successfully amplified from the rare medullary breast carcinoma and the

in Training Grant celebration event

207

AY 2006-2007

Fig.11. The AACR Avon granted abstract was published in the Centennial Meeting Proceedings Book

New Generation Of Breast Cancer Diagnostic general invasive ductal breast carcinoma tumors. I managed to make some further purified DNA preparations, which were now ready for further bacterial work (ligation into suitable cloning vectors, and E.coli TG1 bacteria transformation and cloning), DNA sequence analysis, and antibody fragment construction (Fig. 12.

A).

After the cloning process insert positive clones were defined by PCR screen and purified thereafter with a plasmid purification kit (Fig. 12.B). Samples were controlled by quantitative and qualitative analysis. As a result, I had hundreds of immunoglobulin heavy and light chain inserted clones ready for the DNA sequencing reaction and comparative DNA analysis. I went on with the DNA sequence reaction and analysis work from some selected clones, using specific programs: Chromas, BioEdit, Clustal W, and TreeView. It was hard work, far too time consuming and work-intensive, especially because I did not have some important software

to do my analyses, as this software was not available for my studies. In defining specific primer usage, chain orientation, homology levels, subgroupings, and mutation rates, etc. are only a small part of the tasks that have to be accomplished for a full immunoglobulin repertoire analysis. The comparative DNA sequence analysis with different accessible databases (IMGT, Blastn) was also strenuous (Fig. 13, Fig. 14).

Later on, thanks to the above detailed possibilities, I could also go ahead with another “working package”, that is, with my previously selected anti ganglioside antibody fragment. What this means is that this special scFv was ligated into the pCANTAB/ E.coli TG1, HB2151/ with the RPAS system (Amersham Bioscience) for specificity testing and into the pET 26b vector/ BL21, NovaBlue, BL21 (DE3), BL21 (DE3) pLysS bacterial system (Novagen) for purification (Fig. 15).

The soluble scFv antiGD3 antibody fragment in pCANTAB vector was tested with a chamber slide immunofluorescence technique against breast tumor and melanoma cells. I cultivated and processed for further binding assays several breast tumor (MDA MB-231, ZR751, MCF7, IDC TU No1, IDC TU No2) and melanoma (SK-Mel 28, Mel 24, HT199, HT168-M1) cells lines. Several tumor cell membranes were also prepared, which preserved the antigenicity and were ready for enzyme labeled immunoassays (ELISA) for antibody phage library selection. This is important, as it is essential to be able to test the previously selected, purified antibody fragment preparations and to screen any further antibody fragment libraries. As a “point ahead” result it is of great importance to see the retained specific binding capacity of the purified anti ganglioside antibody fragment on breast cancer and melanoma tissue. The immunofluorescence assay

Fig. 12 A: IDC breast tumor originated Ig VH insert positive clones obtained by PCR screening (qualitative gelelectrophoresis) Fig. 12 B: Qiagen plasmid minipreps / cloned breast carcinoma originated Ig VH inserted vector (qualitative gelelectrophoresis)

208

Fig. 13. Representative DNA sequence reaction result of new Ig VH region

209

AY 2006-2007 and the chamber slide technique gave excellent samples for the confocal laser microscopy analysis (fig. 16A.).

The final achievements in this topic were the immunofluorescence binding results with the new anti-ganglioside antibody fragment products after the first purification processes against invasive ductal breast carcinoma cells in FACS analysis (Fig.16B.) and against melanoma tissue sections analyzed by laser confocal microscopy (Fig. 17A,B).

Because of the initial technical problems, the project proceeded more slowly than planned. But with my reorganized work schedule and with the other possibilities worked out for the experiments, the project came into an important phase. By

then the laboratory for biotechnological work-phases was fully equipped and prepared. I did a lot of work sterilizing the necessary equipment and the consumables.

In February we applied for prolongation at the CIES, and I received an extension until the 13th of September, 2007, without financial support. The JWCI offered a possibility for my prolonged stay, and they wanted me to join a melanoma project, also. As they were highly interested in my technologies and know-how, I was asked to explain these methodological processes and the necessary steps. I supplied the requested protocols necessary for scFv library generation from spleen samples of patients with melanoma, and I was pleased to be involved in the first experiments.

Fig. 15. Succesful further bacterial cloning of the antibody fragment of interest

Fig. 16. The prepared antibody fragment reacts with breast carcinoma cells

Fig. 14. Comparative DNA analysis

210

Fig. 17. The prepared antibody fragment reacts with melanoma cells

AY 2006-2007 I was happy with all my investigations. I was working in the lab day by day, and very late into the nights. Also on weekends and holidays. And my bacteria were working also!

The work came finally to its most interesting phase, when scFv libraries could be constructed and tested for their tumor binding capacity. Similarly, the DNA sequencing of immunoglobulin variable region genes would provide a great deal of extremely new information with a strong impact on tumor immunology and novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

3. Cultural And Sports Events During My Fulbright Period

I will always remember the very first invitation I received for a get-together Fulbright dinner at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), on October 18th, 2006. I was accompanied by my supervisor, who had been a Fulbright scholar himself, many years ago. I enjoyed the atmosphere, the delicious dinner, and the nice people from all over the world.

New Generation Of Breast Cancer Diagnostic There were also some organized parties, although I could not take part in most of them, because of my busy schedule doing experiments. But the few I attended were fantastic and remarkable, especially the ones organized by our wonderful Cultural Referee, Mrs. Ann Kerr (Fig. 18.). These events gave always the nice feeling that we were like a family. Despite the fact that we all have different backgrounds, we have a common task: to accomplish our project and give the most of our capacities, as delegates of our home country. I liked very much the community work to help the poor in Los Angeles with food at Westside Food Bank.

I proudly wear the nice sweatshirt we received, remembering the Organizations’ Annual Hunger Walk celebrating 25 years of service to the community. The excursion to the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit institution that helps to improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis, was very interesting. We got a detailed picture about all their efforts to help people in need (homeless people, victims of catastrophe, etc.). I like their announced attitude: “Making a difference

is not our job… it is our passion, our culture and our way of life”. Another very interesting and remarkable excursion was the visit to the Los Angeles Times and Downtown Los Angeles (Fig. 19, Fig. 20). We were guided through the main building, and a great many interesting aspects and background details were explained about journalism. It is really incredible how many happenings there are worldwide, and how the novel technologies and the media help the quick spreading of the news. As the John Wayne Cancer Institute is located

in Santa Monica, I only rarely had the opportunity to go downtown. Mrs. Ann Kerr made a wonderful guide, so I got the main impressions, learned about historical and political happenings, and saw the very old and very new parts of downtown Los Angeles. The skyscrapers and the old buildings and bazaars of Oliveira street stand shoulder to shoulder. To tell the truth, my first real acquaintance with downtown LA was a very special one: my first marathon run was the famous XXII. Los Angeles Marathon Run, on March 4th, 2007,

Fig. 19.

Our visit to Los Angeles Times

Fig. 20.

The Fulbrighters on the Los Angeles Downtown excursion

Fig. 18. A wonderful Fulbright dinner in the house of our cultural referee

212

213

AY 2006-2007

New Generation Of Breast Cancer Diagnostic

starting at Universal Studios in Hollywood and ending after a 42.6 km (26,2 miles) route with a finish line in downtown LA (Flower street and 5th street) (Fig. 21).

The Los Angeles Marathon was a great experience, not only as it was my first marathon run, but also because it provided so many nice impressions about human effort, assistance, and the mutual pleasure of different people and nations. The LA Marathon is a good proof for the fact that everybody who wants it strongly enough and who makes each next step forward with true effort and patience can reach their goal. I keep some pictures in my mind: one is that of a professional runner, who suddenly turned back to a disabled runner and offered him water and chocolates, just to help him to keep on running. I made the run for my research, which is on developing a cure

for cancer, and wrote that note on the back of my shirt in red, white and green, the Hungarian national colors. There was another wonderful excursion organized for the Fulbright scholars into the Marine museum (Fig. 22), a visit to San Pedro, and a wonderful walking tour through a golf course down to the ocean (Fig. 23.). This event was on a free Sunday in the middle of May, and after so much laboratory and computer work, I was simply delighted to feel the fresh air near the ocean. We all enjoyed it very much and also the nice pick-nick before noon and a great barbecue in the home of the organizers. I attended an interesting, pleasant evening organized by the Fulbright Organization in Great LA, and listened to the American Fulbrighters’ experiences in different parts of the world. I was glad to be able

Fig. 21.

Fig. 22.

My first Marathon run

The most charming memory of

was in Los Angeles

the Marine Museum

to afford this “out of laboratory evening”, as I learned about a great many interesting cultural, political aspects and international collaboration possibilities. Although my day-today life was always the same, I enjoyed it and had the proud little feeling of going to work in the morning and coming back late at night from the institute. The bus ride was quite long from JWCI in Santa Monica to the place where I stayed in Los Angeles. I saw many interesting people, as well as many sad and cheerful situations, and I experienced a kind of humanitarian care, patience, and acceptance of the different. I was working in Santa Monica, one of the world’s famous holiday places, but I did not have too much leisure time to see all its beauty. As I never went out during the day, I saw just the morning

sun. I enjoyed the dawn only once, when coming out a bit earlier. But I roller skated along the wonderful Santa Monica Peer a few times and went jogging on Saturdays and Sundays from Beverly Hills to the Ocean, before my laboratory work. All these were great adventures.

My supervisor and the colleagues at the Department of Glycoimmunotherapy seemed to be a nice group of people, quite international and cheerful. We celebrated birthdays with a lunch together and a movie. That was my first time seeing a movie in America, and I enjoyed these few occasions (Fig. 24.). I was glad to run in the Revlon Run/ Walk for Women event together with colleagues at the JWCI, helping to fight women’s cancer this way, also (Fig. 25.).

I will always keep the red JWCI T-shirt

Fig. 24.

Nice events in the Department of Glycoimmunotherapy

Fig. 26.

The „wandering circus” flyes back home.

Fig. 25.

The Revlon Run in LA to fight against Women’s cancer Fig. 23.

The Fulbrighters arrived to the Pacific Ocean

214

215

AY 2006-2007 and the memories of a wonderful Saturday morning arriving to the LA sports arena together with all those others fighting against cancer in different ways.

4. Extension Period With Achievements And Difficulties Because of the extension process and for important scientific reasons, and due to institutional and personal obligations in Hungary, I had to make a trip to Hungary during the summer. I was invited to give a scientific lecture at the international ISIR meeting in Croatia. As I have been an active member in this immunological society and a project leader on a special related topic, I was invited to give a lecture and present a poster about my research related to novel immunological diagnostics. The congress provided high impact knowledge on tumor-immunological problems and novel

New Generation Of Breast Cancer Diagnostic immuno-therapeutic approaches. I also gave a lecture at the Institute of Oncology in Budapest. I took the chance while there to analyze by confocal laser microscopy my slides, previously stained with my purified antibody fragment. Parallel to that, I had the opportunity to make some further DNA samples to serve the melanoma interest at the JWCI group. I made quite a few immuno-histological stainings on the tissue sections obtained from the cancerous tissue samples of interest. All this took some time, but it was essentially helpful so as to continue my actual experimental works at JWCI. Meanwhile, I was informed that my previous Hungarian institute, the National Medical Center, had closed down. I thought I might continue my research work at JWCI (with the granted extension). But when I arrived back to JWCI, I realized that everything had changed quite unexpectedly. I could hardly talk to anybody, neither to my

Fig. 27. My sample preparations arrived home safely and frozen!

216

supervisor, nor to the head of the institute.

As a result of serious institutional changes, the Department of Glycoimmunotherapy was completely reorganized: there was a different department head, there was no access to the laboratories we had previously equipped with my supervisor, and I could not communicate with former colleagues or with the supervisor. There were completely different circumstances and no information or explanations about how the original project with my preparations would continue. I had to work out new plans and possibilities, to determine how the great amount of biological preparations might be shipped back in suitable deep- frozen condition, once the Fulbright period would be over. Because of these drastic institutional changes I had to ask the help of CIES and the Fulbright Commission for negotiations, to be able to obtain and pack for shipment my preparations, essentially important for all the subsequent experimental work. I had plenty of results and achievements during my Fulbright period, as I had detailed earlier. I just felt sorry, as I really liked the original Department of Glycoimmunotherapy at JWCI, I highly appreciated the knowledge of my supervisor, and I had good impressions of the institute. However, I knew that I would find my way again to continue the whole huge project and guide it to its diagnostic and therapeutic goal. My â&#x20AC;&#x153;wandering circusâ&#x20AC;? moved on, back to Budapest (Fig. 26.). I think no one else felt happier than I when, after a lot of nerve-racking arrangements and the indispensable help of my sister in Budapest, my biological preparations arrived home safely (Fig. 27.).

5. Epilogue 5.1. Summary And Conclusions Of The Work

The proposalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aim was to explore a very new area in tumor-immunology, leading to the development of tumor-specific antibodies-based immunoconjugates with potential diagnostic and therapeutic usage. A great arsenal of cellular, immunological, molecular, genetic, and biotechnological methods were necessary for the project. The John Wayne Cancer Institute focused on therapeutic antibody and vaccine development and the Department of Glycoimmunotherapy was highly relevant because it had a great background in developing the potential of gangliosides in cancer therapeutics. * The results of the methodological process provided a purified antibody fragment, specific to unique tumorassociated gangliosides. This product is suitable for the development of an in vitro and/or in vivo tumor diagnostic reagent. * There is a good chance that the special characteristics of this antibody can be used for an effective targeted tumor immunotherapy, because it has several advantages in comparison with the available conventional methods. * The successful immunoglobulin repertoire analysis of tumor infiltrating B cells in further breast carcinomas and melanomas helps to clarify highly important tumor-immunological questions, concerning tumor-specific antigens.

The powerful technique I developed and used in breast carcinomas and melanomas was progressing. The main importance of

217

AY 2006-2007 the work is that tumor-specific antibodies of human origin can be obtained this way! This is a far better solution for tumor therapy than the trials with murine monoclonal, humanized and chimeric antibodies. As gangliosides are centrally involved in the tumor progression, the anti ganglioside antibodies of human origin have a very good chance of being developed into effective diagnostic and therapeutic tools.

5.2. And The Work Goes On

Thank God, another new door has opened, through a possibility at the Institute of Oncology in Budapest, at the Department of Tumorprogression (Fig. 28.).

The work goes on! And the international Hungarian – American scientific bridge built through the Fulbright Grant possibility remains. When writing this report, I have just returned from a scientific trip to the US: I was invited to give a lecture at the NIH Clinical Center/ Bethesda, MD/ Washington, DC, and we discussed the further scientific collaboration work

with the interested department head and my Fulbright supervisor (Dr. Mepur H. Ravindranath, PhD) now at the Terasaki Foundation Laboratory/ Los Angeles. We keep the scientific communication with the former collaborative foundation (now: Integrated Medical Sciences Association Foundation) in San Diego also. As soon as I have finished the novel data evaluation, the scientific papers will be written and published.

The treasures of the Great Fulbright Experience are kept in my mind and heart. I keep all my souvenirs in a real “treasure box”.

I am thankful for the great Fulbright experience and the Fulbright research grant (Fig. 29.).

Acknowledgement

I highly appreciate the opportunities I had through the Fulbright Grant, No: 1206103 and the support of OTKA T048933. I am also grateful for the real help of Dr. Mepur H. Ravindranath.

Zsolt Kovács

KPMG Tax Services

1139 Budapest, V·ci ˙t 99.

http://www.kpmg.hu

k.kovacs06@fulbrightweb.org

DePaul University Kellstadt Graduate School of Business 1 E. Jackson, Chicago, IL 60604 www.depaul.edu k.kovacs06@fulbrightweb.org Adviser: Christopher Kinsella

Isn’t it fun? This was the most frequently asked question of my favorite professor, Paul A. Bodine, while jumping from one leg to the other. Indeed, it was a lot of fun.

Getting a driver’s license in less than an hour? Not a problem. “Drive-thru Wedding” for 45 bucks? Not a problem. Launching your business with no administrative headache? Welcome to America!

Fig. 28.

Fig. 29.

And the work goes on, through

I acknowledge the

another possibility at the

Fulbright Research Grant

National Institute of Oncology,

My Fulbright Experience – the American dream

Early after our arrival to Chicago, I and my wife Zsuzsa decided to head for the closest Driver Service Facility and apply for a driver’s license. Americans are crazy for their cars and for driving. We decided to be part of that craze. But before that, we needed the licenses. After arriving to the Driver Service Facility on a sunny Monday morning, we signed our applications in front of an officer. There were five more steps to complete.

First, pay the admin fee. Cash or card? Second, take the eye test. Approved. Third, based on what we read in the Rules of the Road, take a test. Passed. Fourth, jump in the car, start the engine, select gear D (drive) and follow the instructions of the officer.

Road test completed. And there is still 10 minutes to go. Finally, the last window was for taking the picture. Cheese. Off we go with the licenses in our pockets. All this within an hour. Driving is part of the American life.

Budapest

218

219

AY 2006-2007 Our stay in the US was a memorable one.

Among many other things we enjoyed, there are nuances that make life livable and friendly. In this paper I am collecting some of these nuances which build up my Fulbright experience. It is not that life is difficult here or easy there, it is more about the approach of people that makes a difference. And people make things work.

1. Curriculum in School

The very next day of my arrival to the US, I immediately started the Full-time Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program at DePaul University in Chicago. Besides being a full-time graduate student, I also started working for the Economics Department of the university as a graduate assistant ten hours a week. This helped to reduce the tuition bill significantly. I really thank the university for this opportunity. As a graduate assistant I was assigned to three professors, two of whom were conducting a research on Central and Eastern European market adjustment and convergence issues. My responsibilities as a graduate assistant included involvement in and contribution to the research. I was in contact also with the Hungarian Statistical Office (KSH) from Chicago.

Apart from that, I graded assignments of both graduate and undergraduate students.

Concerning my studies, I was on the fast track of finishing the program within four quarters (Summer and Fall 2006; Winter and Spring 2007). The courses I took during the first three quarters

220

formed the foundation of graduate management studies and were offered in a lock step format. I started with a mathematical and statistical course (Applied Quantitative Analysis) and a core management course (Managing Effective and Ethical Organizational Behavior).

These courses provided me with the basic skills and theory required for the effective completion of future courses.

In the Fall quarter, besides working parttime for the Economics Department, I undertook five classes. These courses heavily built on the first two and offered the knowledge required for managers of any organization, including the principles of human resources management, financial accounting and management of information systems. All these provided me with essential skills to manage and lead any business or organization in the future. In the Winter quarter the courses I enrolled in built on the previous material and elaborated on the various areas of businesses and other entities (Decision Making in Marketing, Operations Management, Management Accounting, Decision Making in Economics). Despite being on the fast track and working for the university in parallel, I completed most of the courses with highest distinction, and the professors I did research for found my contribution extremely useful.

Thanks for the help from the statistical offices. By completing the fourth quarter (Spring 2007) of the program, I became equipped with all the skills, theoretical background and practical knowledge that such a graduate program could offer; and

AY 2006-2007 thus, I become ready to contribute to the management of any organization in Hungary upon my return.

Besides the academic and work assignments, I lived an active student life.

I was a participating member of the MBA Association at the university and helped to organize a wine tasting event to bring together current students and the alumni.

I also had interest in charity events, which are very popular in the States (Junior Achievement for teaching grammar school kids). The Fulbright Program also offered a great opportunity to meet and interact with a variety of people on an individual as well as on a community basis. I was also an active contributor to the social life of the university and to the Fulbright community in our area. I spent a lot of time with my classmates working on school related projects, while I also had time for intense social life. In my opinion, one of the key elements of the Fulbright Program is that it offers opportunities to meet and work with both American and international people enabling the sharing of professional and creative insights as well as daily life experiences.

2. Experience from School

Isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it fun? This was the most frequently asked question of my favorite professor, Paul A. Bodine, while jumping from one leg to the other. Indeed, it was a lot of fun.

The classroom experience was worth the money. I would not have believed it before I did it. In part it must be attributable to my background. I am a lawyer, and I have not studied management and business related issues before. But in part it is also

222

My Fulbright Experience â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the American dream the way the experience was delivered to us. Professors were great and experienced.

Professors were excellent communicators.

Lectures were interactive. And students were part of the classroom experience. We prepared for classes in advance, read the book and articles before the class. In class we were elaborating on the subject we read, discussed some areas of the material, and shared our experience from work.

Most of the classes had a consultative nature. Not only professors had real life experience, but they also invited practitioners such as entrepreneurs, senior mangers and executives of various organizations. They all brought in their special story. Theory and experience was combined in a unique way.

Walgreens is one of the biggest and fastest growing pharmacy chains in the US. In a marketing class we worked on a project for the company and delivered our findings to board members and high ranked executives of the company. In preparation for the project, we visited different Walgreens stores, interviewed shop managers, conducted market research in form of surveys and so on. We spent several days working in our team, analyzing data and putting together ideas.

We were using theory we learnt in class and read in the books. We were working like a marketing team of the company.

And we were excited. We felt the pressure.

We knew that there will be practitioners listening to our findings at the end. And it worked.

Everyone had ideas. And everyone dared to speak about their ideas. It is especially true for the class room. Every professor started with a statement that

AY 2006-2007 there is no stupid question. Anything was up for discussion. Discussing a question can open another insight also for those, who think they know the answer to that particular question. Questions are a way of learning and better understanding how things work. Questions can show the way to results. This is something most people were aware of.

3. Some More Experience

In America, there is a rule for everything.

It is guaranteed that wherever you watch you will find a sign saying: “not allowed to…”, “not permitted to…”, “unlawful to…”. What is more surprising, people follow these rules. There are rules for parking a car. Most international students got parking tickets for not following all the parking rules. You better park within 12 inches from the curb. Park exactly parallel with the curb. Vehicles must be parked in the direction in which the traffic is moving. Otherwise expect a parking ticket. Despite all the fuming these rules have caused, one can get used to it. And really, cars are parked masterly. This was especially salient once leaving the States.

Following rules is also true for people’s mindsets. This made our stay very relaxed. As there are rules, people follow these rules, and this is to be expected.

We had trust in people. The morning paper was not stolen, credit cards were not overcharged, couriers left valuable packages in front of the door. And many other things.

The same trust-rule applies for businesses. With one single idea and hard work anybody could build up an Inc 500 company. According to a study, the

224

recipe to building a great company is the following. Have extensive experience in an industry; spend developing networks of contacts and colleagues; spot an opportunity when it comes along; develop business ideas with people who would later be your partners, customers, or suppliers; and finally, you can draw on the same network for start-up capital. Having all the rest, as long as someone is trustworthy, can have easy access to capital. Even if one idea did not go through, entrepreneurs can have second and third tries. Not a problem. If however, someone is caught on cheating, and not following the rules, everything is over for that person.

The same is true for any business to customer relation. Businesses seem to care. Not because they are nice, but because that is what customers expect. And the only way to survival in the long run is meeting the customers’ expectations.

This was a principle that was followed everywhere. Surprisingly, everyone in the front line serving customers had business acumen. America is a convenient place for customers.

4. Closing

There are many more little nuances that build up my Fulbright experience in the US, I only listed a couple. Many other scholars must have seen similar things, or some may have seen different things, or the same, but differently.

Anyway, spending a year abroad is a great adventure. I wish many other Hungarians can go through all the same. A great thank for the Fulbright Commission for all their support.

Abysmal Reflections in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse Gabriella Moise

University of Debrecen Institute of English and American Studies 4032 Debrecen Egyetem tér 1. http://tigris.unideb.hu/~aai/ moisegabriella@yahoo.com

University of Chicago 5801 South Ellis Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60637 http://www.uchicago.edu/ Adviser: Prof. W. J. T. Mitchell

Unique, an icon, strange in its measures, familiar in its heterogeneity, its facets, colours, shapes, the uncanny presence of the past, a conscious preservation of international heritage, some European eclecticism, vaguely hovering in the air—Chicago, the way we, me and my husband, a fervid devotee of architecture and modern art, saw “the Windy City” and tried to carve a little space out of it for ourselves. The campus of my host institution, the nationally renowned University of Chicago is located in Hyde Park, in the heart of Southside Chicago, an area with a majority of African-American population burdened with severe socio-political and economic problems, a place where the lack of public safety is an everyday issue; the campus being one of the most beautiful university sites, a Neo-Gothic gem of the city. You can reach downtown Chicago, known as “the Loop,” some 10 kilometers up North, by a commuter train. In its wide streets you can easily bump into a Marc Chagall mural (Four Seasons), Picasso (The Picasso) or Miró (Miró’s Chicago) sculptures among proto-skyscrapers (Burnham & Root’s Reliance Building), Louis Sullivan’s Carson Pirie Scott & Co evoking lavish ornamentation of Art Nouveau or contemporary star architect Frank O’Gehry’s open air concert hall (Jay Pritzker Pavilion). I shall apologize for presenting something unconventional in the “abstract” above, a snapshot of the place we had the chance to visit and inhabit, offering you what is necessarily missing from the rest of my report.

225

AY 2006-2007

Abysmal Reflections in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse

The six months I spent in a cultural and architectural treasure box, namely, Chicago with the help of the Fulbright scholarship provided me the opportunity to visit one of the richest capitals of visual culture studies in the US, the University of Chicago, and meet one of the “founding fathers” of the aforementioned (inter)discipline, W. J. T. Mitchell.

The university incorporates individual departments (Department of Art History, Department of Visual Arts, Department of Comparative Literature), institutes and centers (Interdisciplinary Centers and Programs) dedicated to a multiplicity of different approaches merging theories of numerous disciplines related to the analysis of literature and the arts in general. Not unlike Chicago, the city itself,

with schools and institutes (The Chicago School of Media Theory, School of the Art Institute of Chicago) devoted to the practice and theory of visual arts attracting emblematic theoreticians such as James Elkins, Nicholas Mirzoeff, Bill Brown or Joel Snyder, just to mention a precious few of them. I also had the chance to audit one of Professor Mitchell’s seminars (Space, Place, and Landscape), which proved to be fruitful not only for the sake of a weekly based personal encounter with him but the theme and assigned readings of the course to some extent overlapped with my own research project. Attending the course I could also get acquainted with a different mode of interaction of instructor and student, and I profited as a teacher how to exploit the underlying

Scenes from the murals of the 53rd street Metra station

226

potentials of visual material within the classroom or to find the perfect balance of the illustrations and the assigned reading in the course of a seminar.

The interaction of visuality and textuality has served my main field of interest for the past few years, a field leading me through more and more intricate passages of semiotics, aesthetics, art history, hermeneutics, or phenomenology—a list I willingly disregard to complete for obvious reasons—and the amalgamation of all these into one extremely heterogeneous unit which, for the sake of simplicity, I would call for my present purposes visual culture. Among others, the primary objectives of the scholarship were to complete the final phase of collecting

sources for my doctoral dissertation and to accomplish the axial chapter of the dissertation (Abysmal Reflections, a working title). This unit elaborates the centrally positioned section of Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, that is, “Time Passes” and its prevalently visual expressive mode from an essentially phenomenological perspective. “Time Passes” manifests the very essence of my broader research field, hence its central status within my exploration and the dissertation as well.

This episode of my chosen primary material serves as a forcefield of the encounter between the visual and the verbal, the spatial and the temporal domains of fine arts and literature.

Scenes from the murals of the 53rd street Metra station

227

AY 2006-2007 2005-2006

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at Hyde Park, University of Chicago

228

Abysmal Reflections in Virginia Woolfâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s To the Lighthouse

Chicago landmark in the Loop, the El (elevatedtrains for local transportation)

229

AY 2006-2007 In the course of my dissertation I employ a basically interdisciplinary approach to literature, focusing on the visual attributes of the textual, exploring the spatially/visually defined incisions in the texture of a narrative, the intersections of space and time, image and text, to put it simply, to “read” a literary piece as a painting. To the Lighthouse serves as the focal text of my exploration, embodying not only the experimentative attributes of Modernist poetics but also following the artistic and aesthetic principles of the age and its leading figures such as Roger Fry or Clive Bell. The novel thematises cultural, aesthetic, and socio-political issues of the early 20th century partly through the character of Lily Briscoe, a painter, who blends the figure of the

Abysmal Reflections in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse literary and the artistic personae, Virginia Woolf, the writer and Vanessa Bell, her painter sister. Lily’s artistic crisis and dilemmas reflect upon the difficulties of accomplishing the non-mimetic painterly techniques, modes of abstraction, or the adequate employment of “significant form” (Clive Bell’s term). Her personal conflicts, evoking gender issues of a larger scale in the British public life, originate in her refusal of fulfilling socially inscribed roles—married woman, mother, the Angel of the House—presented first and foremost in the permanent confrontation with her counterpoint Mrs. Ramsay, the other compositional pillar of both Woolf’s novel and the verbally manifested painting of Lily.

Oak Park, one of the representative Frank Lloyd Wright house

230

Aesthetically, the novel follows the Post-Impressionist technical and compositional principles bearing most conspicuously Cézannesque plasticity of forms, colour scheme, spatiality, and structure; the French master being an emphatic inspiration to English artistic movements and collectives such as the Bloomsbury Group or the Omega Workshop. The density of images, poetic means, the adoption of colour-words, the abundance of allusions concerning the figure of the artist and his/her creative struggle, however, are far not the entirety of the instrumental palette of visuality in Woolf’s novel. The narrative produces painterly spatiality through the depiction of actual spaces (the summer cottage of the Ramsays and the lighthouse itself)

and phenomenal ones (the body of Mrs. Ramsay, the artistic space opened up by Lily’s paintings), it fragments/intersects temporal linearity (the fundamental characteristics of texts) by inserting stills into the flesh of the suspended narrative flow, and provides textuality with a phenomenal substantiality and solidity of perceptible objects naturally inhabiting physical reality. Cézanne realizes and puts into practice the capacity of such painterly qualities, “he wanted to make Impressionism ‘something solid, like the art in the museums’ […] he was pursuing reality without giving up the sensuous surface” (Merleau-Ponty, Sense and Non-sense 12, emphasis added). This observation conveys two significant aspects of the interartistic analysis: on

Chicago, Loop skyline (Sears Towers at the left)

231

AY 2006-2007

Abysmal Reflections in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse

the one hand, it highlights the emerging necessity of tangibility, plasticity, threedimensionality on the primordially flat surface of paintings, on the other hand, it emphasizes the sensibility of the visual artifact, its perceptibility for the human consciousness.

Cézanne’s mode of representation apparently inspired not only the literary and artistic circles of English Modernists.

Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology rests on the primacy of visual perception, he locates the painter’s, more specifically that of Cézanne’s, eye and manner of viewing the world in the centre of his ontology. Both Cézanne and MerleauPonty searched for the invisible layer underneath the filmy conventionality

and impressionistic familiarity of reality, for something solid, phenomenal, corporeal that could be embodied in the consciousness of others. This particular phenomenological perception and cognition formulates the theoretical basis of my dissertation, more specifically the chapter I completed during the course of the scholarship. The notion of the bodily rooted consciousness bridges the palpable and the intangible realms, an interrelatedness evoking the reciprocity of the sentient and the sensible, the touching and the touched, the seer and the seen.

To the Lighthouse presents perfectly the interchangeability of such binaries within its own literary and textual context, inevitably being impregnated additionally with visual capacities. Parallel to the seen/

Frank O’Gehry’s Pritzker Pavilion (detail)

232

seer intertwining the novel performs the entanglement of the visual and the verbal, the spatial and the temporal transforming itself into a substance of excessive plasticity and fluidity.

Abysmal Reflections, the analysis of the central section of To the Lighthouse primarily approaches the narrative from two directions. One emerges from the prevalence of the light-and-shadow motif, a painterly quality in itself, and the additional presence of reflections, manifested as thematic and structural mises en abyme, whose exploration I conduct with the help of Lucien Dällenbach’s theory of internal mirroring.

The other interpretative point of entry is the textual representation of the MerleauPontyean chiasmic relationship of the

spatial and the temporal, the sentient and the sensible.

“Time Passes” is positioned as a bridge between the two peripheral chapters, supposedly conveying a primarily narrative and temporal linearity embraced by the thematically spatial anchorage of “The Window” (Part One) and “The Lighthouse” (Part Three). The juxtaposition of the spatialtemporal-spatial units reveals the strict compositional drive of the narrative, which arrangement is even more emphasized by the rich employment of mises en abyme related to: characters (Mrs. Ramsay-Lily; Julia Stephen, Woolf’s mother-Virginia Woolf-Vanessa Bell), motifs (Mrs. Ramsay’s knitting-Carmichael writing poetry), images (the erect body of Mrs.

Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate or „The Bean” called by the Chicagoans

233

AY 2006-2007 Ramsay and the vertical dominance of the lighthouse; the stroke of light-the brushstrokes of Lily), or acts (Mrs. Ramsay creating a still life out of the set table-Lily rearranging components of the painting).

The complexity of internal mirroring gains its ultimate significance through “Time Passes,” the way the second chapter functions as, to use Dällenbach’s term here, a “retro-prospective” (60) mise en abyme, condensing and engulfing precedent and prospective occurrences of the narrative. Considering the whole novel as a predominantly reflexive literary work in accordance with its Modernist poetics, “Time Passes” occupies the locus of the mirror itself. This narrative convolution evokes the strict compositionality of Post-Impressionist aesthetic principles, more particularly, Cézanne’s struggle with shapes, patches of colours, his arrangement of abstracted forms, and, parallel to this, Lily’s paintings as they appear in the novel.

Yet “Time Passes” denies its apparent temporality, and partly due to its reflective quality and its immense darkness—Virginia R. Hyman actually terms it as an “apocalyptic vision” (145)—it acts as the camera obscura of the narrative composition, a dark room that, ambivalently though, produces clarity of vision. “Every visual something, as individual as it is, functions also as a dimension, because it gives itself as the result of a dehiscence of Being. What this ultimately means is that the proper essence [le propre] of the visible is to have a layer [doublure] of invisibility in the strict

234

Abysmal Reflections in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse sense, which it makes present as a certain absence” (Merleau-Ponty, Primacy 187).

Merleau-Ponty emphasizes vision, the presence of images as an indispensable condition to get access to the world and its subsequent cognition. Visuality, being prior to language or concepts, opens up the “dimension” where the intertwining, the chiasmus of the “In Itself” and the “For Itself,” sentient and sensible, mind and matter, absence and presence could take place. Part Two lacks any, strictly speaking, description of physical reality of the characters’ life, it masterfully condenses a ten year long period of the Ramsays private life and offers a more universal historical overview of the external world including the WWI, hence its expressive modality is also the most imagistic, characteristically visual and poetic recalling a preverbal mode of existence and communication. In this sense Part Two manifests the invisible, a veiled terrain that incorporates the entirety of perceptibles, the relationship of the perceiving and perceived entities, additionally, the reversibility of these otherwise mutually exclusive contestants.

It presents the node of the chiasmic relationship of the visible and the invisible through its extreme plasticity.

the Woolf literature in general, I have not encountered this perspective of scholarly inquiry, covering the interartistic fusion of the visual and the verbal, with a conceptual framework built on French phenomenological philosophy.

Besides the accomplishment of the respective chapter introduced above I also had to map the theoretical background for the whole of my dissertation in accordance with its preliminary schema and collect the necessary secondary material. Among other objectives and most likely also inspired by such a rich academic and artistic milieu I made arrangements of a seminar course on the theory of visual culture. The course actually got its materialization under the title Through the Looking Glass—Introduction to Visual Culture in the academic year of 2007/2008 for 3rd and 4th year students. Additionally, I could enrich the range of the Literary and Cultural Theory lecture series with a lecture on the Theory of Visual Culture.

These accomplishments served me as a springboard to extend the scope of my future research exceeding the primary aim of the dissertation and to enhance the studies of visual culture in my home institute which appears to be one of my basic ambitions to realize in the near future.

References: Dällenbach, Lucien. The Mirror in the Text. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1989.

Hyman, Virginia R. To the Lighthouse and Beyond: Transformations in the Narratives of Virginia Woolf. New York: Peter Lang, 1988.

Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. “Eye and Mind.” The Primacy of Perception. Evanston: Northwester UP, 1964: 159-190.

---. “Cézanne’s Doubt.” Sense and Non-sense. Evanston: Northwester UP, 1964: 9-25.

The immensity of the novel’s subversive potential, the fluidity of the text, its essentially visual/painterly quality offers numerous interpretative approaches out of which I followed the exploration of vision and visual perception within the context of phenomenological ontology. So far in my research of either To the Lighthouse or

235

Charles Taylor.

Philosophy and Politics 2007 Szabolcs Pogonyi

Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest 1088 Budapest, M˙zeum krt. 4. http://www.elte.hu pogonyi@metazin.hu

The New School for Social Research 65 5th Ave New York, NY 10011 http://www.newschool.edu Adviser: J.M. Bernstein

The aim of my doctoral dissertation is to analyze and assess Charles Taylor’s critique of liberalism and his communitarian political theory.

The argument is divided into three sections. In the first chapter (1. Moral Phenomenology) I sum up the core ideas of Taylor’s philosophical anthropology and moral philosophy.

In the first subsection (1.1. Philosophical anthropology) I introduce and analyze the main concepts (strong evaluations, moral frameworks), the relation of moral concepts and identity, Taylor’s critique of procedural moral theories (Kantian and utilitarian ethics), and the relation of morality and community. The second subsection (1.2. Moral Ontology) recapitulates the evolution of modern moral frameworks and Taylor’s critique of modernity. My dissertation focuses on political theory, so the first section gives only a brief introduction to Taylor’s philosophical arguments.

The second section (2. Critique of Liberalism) offers an in-depth analysis of Taylor’s critique of liberalism. First I present Taylor’s arguments, and then I present their liberal refutation. Taylor’s views are systematically contrasted with John Rawls’s political philosophy. I argue that Taylor misinterprets Rawls’s much-criticized liberal political theory.

236

237

AY 2006-2007 Taylor criticizes the atomistic individualism of liberal contract theories and claims that liberal concepts of the individual are highly problematic (2.3.1.

The Individual). In addition, he tries to show that the Rawlsian theory of justice is not a value neutral conception, but tacitly draws on core liberal democratic norms (2.3.2.

Neutrality).

Third, Taylor criticizes the liberal theories for their alleged instrumentalism (2.3.3.

Instrumentalism). Lastly, he argues that the atomistic, allegedly value neutral and instrumental liberal political theories, if applied in politics, undermine the free and democratic political institutions of modern liberal democratic states (2.3.4.

Stability).

After presenting the main points of the communitarian critique of liberalism, I demonstrate that Taylor misunderstands liberalism, as outlined in the political liberalism of the late John Rawls (2.4. The Critique of the Rawls Critique). I propose that the political liberalism of the late Rawls should be interpreted as an answer to the communitarian critiques, including Taylor’s. Rawls in Political Liberalism answers all the points brought up by his communitarian critics. The communitarian charges that consider neutral states in-line with liberal political theories insensitive towards cultural belonging are unfounded.

On the contrary, the primary aim of liberal theories of justice is to provide the basic framework for political cooperation among individuals accepting incompatible comprehensive moral and religious doctrines. Communitarian critics claiming that liberal contract theories do not

238

Charles Taylor consider substantive values and cultural belonging important miss the point of the liberal argument. Liberal theories do want to leave as much room as possible for persuading people about the good life.

The third chapter (Collective Liberalism?) examines Taylor’s political theory, the politics of recognition. Taylor assumes that the proposed politics of recognition is the synthesis of enlightenment individualism and romantic communalism, and he believes that it can be squared with basic liberal norms (3.1. The Philosophy of Recognition).

I argue that Taylor’s normative political approach is not systematically worked out and that it can only be understood in view of Taylor’s political writings, which are to be considered as the application of the normative model (3.2. The Politics of Recognition in Quebec).

Taylor contrasts the politics of recognition with liberal multiculturalism. Liberal multiculturalism is based on the normative philosophical values of atomistic individualism. Liberal multiculturalists recognize cultural differences, but do not accept differentiated group rights. According to Taylor, differenceblind approaches lead to cultural homogenization, since they assume that all the citizens belong to the political state in the same way. Such an understanding of cultural differences functions as a “straightjacket”, since it does not make it possible for members of the political state to belong in different ways. Taylor proposes the politics of “deep diversity” to make it possible for members of various cultural communities to relate to and

identify with the political state in different ways.

No doubt, the possibility of living a good life is limited according to liberal contract theories. There are no safeguards for liberals to maintain cultural practices – whether religious, cultural, or national.

Both liberals and Taylor recognize the norm of individual dignity. In a liberal state coercion cannot be applied for the sake of the survival of cultural practices, not even if cultural heritages will be lost without such coercion. Liberals understand that individuals must decide whether to maintain certain cultural practices and if they decide not to maintain those practices, then customs and ways of life will die out. Homogenization and cultural extinction are possible (but not necessary) results of political liberalism.

Taylor’s politics of recognition wants to ensure that no culture will die out because of lack of interest. In practice this can only be guaranteed by constraining individual choices. But this is contrary to human dignity. The policies and institutions recommended by Taylor to guarantee the survival of cultural heritages are antithetical to liberal theories of justice and basic liberal political norms.

The Taylorian recognition of national and ethnic identity is very similar to the old concept of cuius regio, eius religio. If the ‘mother tongue’ is indeed the utmost basis of identity and cultural integrity, as Taylor claims, then the application of the politics of recognition endangers both identity and cultural integrity. If difference-blind liberalism is a „straightjacket” that ascribes certain cultural roles, Taylor’s deep diversity is a much tighter straightjacket, since it leaves no option for individuals to choose and pass on to further generations their cultural belonging if the integrity of a culture might be endangered by their opting out. Taylor criticized differenceblind, atomistic-procedural liberalism for its insensitivity towards linguistic and cultural identity, but his alternative proposals are much more likely to lead to cultural homogenization. Communitarian multiculturalism does not yield pluralism.

My conclusion is that Taylor misunderstands liberalism and that his proposed synthesis of enlightenment individualism and counter-enlightenment organicism is contradictory. It is not the Taylorian politics of recognition, but rather political liberalism that enhances deep diversity.

239

Hungarians Everywhere Tünde Sóspataki

Bolyai János Grammar School 3100 Salgótarján Kissomlyó út 1. www.bolyai-starjan.sulinet.hu ltuntem@freemail.hu

Plymouth High School 8400 N Beck Road Canton, MI 48187 http://www.pccs.k12.mi.us Adviser: Karen Pakula

In the following essay, I will write about the personal experiences I had in Canton, MI in the United States. I think I was lucky to meet a number of Hungarian people or at least people with traces of Hungarian roots. It was absolutely surprising that so many people were connected to Hungary in that small American town near Detroit. I am glad that I was able develop very personal connections with some of these people. The programs they organized especially for me made my five-month stay very exciting and interesting. These also contributed significantly to my comfort level, and I found myself very proud of being a Hungarian citizen there. It also had a meaningful impact on how I see the lives of American people today. I am sure that I will remember those great days throughout my life. More than a year after my arrival I still keep in touch with those who were very close to me from the very beginning of my stay in the States.

1. Karen Ludema

She was my exchange partner. She looks like a typical Dutch lady: fair hair, blue eyes, and a pale complexion. In her high school she teaches Pre-Calculus, but she graduated from college as an engineer. She was the first of the American people I met during my scholarship who was really connected to Hungary. In the early 1990’s she had lived and worked for two years in our country. She taught mathematics in the bilingual

240

241

AY 2006-2007 grammar school in Sárospatak. She could remember several Hungarian words, and she also had Hungarian friends in Szeged from her time there. At first, I felt very fortunate to have someone as an exchange partner who had some sort of picture about life and education in Hungary. After a while, though, I realized that she had lived in Hungary under totally different circumstances. This became a source of problems later.

2. Plymouth High School

My host school was part of the PlymouthCanton Educational Park (P-CEP), whose campus is the home to three accredited, comprehensive high schools, namely Canton, Plymouth and Salem High Schools. Plymouth is the youngest, only five years old. It has a very modern twostory building with modest equipment.

Of course, it does have a Hungarian connection. On the wall near the entrance there is a shiny board with the names of the founders. One of them is Mr. Horvath, although no one in the school knew that he had a Hungarian name and so must be of Hungarian origin.

If you visit the official website of the school or the P-CEP, you can find other Hungarian names (e.g. Konyha, Nagy, and Kormos) among the staff members. I happen to know two of them.

3. Kim Kormos

She was also a math teacher, but in Salem High School, we shared the same subject (AGS2 – the second course for Algebra, Geometry and Statistics as an Integrated Curriculum). She was very helpful with

242

Hungarians Everywhere me from the very first moment that she heard I came from Hungary. She offered me all her teaching materials, and she allowed me to observe her classes at any time. I could always turn to her for help.

She sometimes recalled Hungarian words, names of towns, food, and many other experiences from her childhood.

4. Lucy Nagy

Although her name is absolutely Hungarian, she is not Hungarian.

Originally, her husband was Hungarian.

They visited Hungarian relatives on several occasions, and she likes our country very much. She teaches English Language in Plymouth High School. I got to know her during the Parent-Teacher Conferences.

5. Students

In the very first week that I was there, the whole staff at the Educational Park was supposed to take part in a training program related to a new curriculum in one of the elementary schools. I was walking in the hallway, where I could have a look at the names of Students of Honor, and I found the name Toth on the list.

My mentor taught a student who had Gyorgy as a family name. I can just guess that he was of Hungarian origin.

I had a student named Alex Kiss, who had a Hungarian background.

When I was in Minneapolis, a group of international teachers visited one of the high schools. I met a student named Katie, whose babysitter was from Hungary, so she had learned many Hungarian words and expressions during her childhood.

6. Joe and his family

One day, before the academic year started, a mother and her daughter, Julie, who was a senior at the high school, appeared in my classroom and greeted me by saying, ‘Szia’. It was a surprise for me. They came to me because, earlier, the school had informed the parents and the students about my arrival. Also, I was to teach the mother’s son, Joe, a freshman (grade 9), in one of my classes. He was a very smart boy, and he showed a real interest in mathematics. Ava, the mother, was Hungarian and was originally called Eva. Now, she is a kindergarten teacher.

She was very kind and welcoming. We exchanged addresses and telephone numbers at once. She phoned me a couple of times and was interested about my stay and my life. She invited me to her home to have Thanksgiving dinner with her and her family. She had a large family: I met her grandparents, her brother and his family, and her husband and three children. It was pleasing that I could speak to the members of the family in Hungarian. There was a little girl, Annie, only two years of age, and she was speaking Hungarian correctly and fluently with me.

I felt that we had already been acquainted with each other for a long time. On the very last day of my stay, Ava, Julie, and Joe all said goodbye to me and surprised me again with a box of presents. We still keep in touch.

7. Zoltán Meskó

Karen’s parents invited me to an American football game at the University of Michigan. I was escorted by one of their

friend’s daughters. While we were walking towards the stadium at the university, I could see everybody in the street wearing at least one piece of clothing colored blue and yellow. In fact, the whole stadium was dressed in these two particular colors. I was not really interested in the game itself, but I paid close attention whenever they announced the name of Zoltán Meskó, the hero of that day. He played a great game, and his achievements were celebrated later that day. As I knew from my guide, he originally came from Romania (Transylvania). Nowadays, the students make a special sign ‘Z’ formed by both of their hands. Watching the marching band, the orchestra, and the cheerleaders, I enjoyed the feeling of being there as a supporter of the university team. On another day I visited the campus of the university in Ann Arbor, which was not far from my host city, and I found more Hungarian names there, as well.

8. Linda and Jóska Enyedi

Linda is a wonderful lady. Her friend is the secretary to the Assistant Principal at Canton High School, so she knew that I was coming and then kindly sent me an email introducing herself some days before my departure from Hungary. She was keen on meeting me and having me as a special guest in her home for a gathering of Hungarian friends. There were ten of us all together, and we had a picnic with typical Hungarian food just like ‘kolbász’ or ‘szalonna’. Her husband, Jóska, and their friends told me stories about their lives in Hungary and wanted to know the latest first hand news about their home

243

AY 2006-2007 country from me. Linda and I became friends, and we are still writing to each other on a regular basis.

9. The Hungarian group

Linda was a great organizer, too. She was the soul of the Hungarian-American Cultural Centre near Detroit. It is a small building on the outskirts of the city where Hungarian people from neighboring towns come together each week and learn Hungarian. These people were middleaged people who did not want to forget their mother tongue; one or two people were there to discover Hungarian just for fun. There were two groups: beginner and intermediate. When Rita, the teacher of the beginner’s group, left for Hungary for a couple of weeks, Linda asked me if I would teach them Hungarian. Of course, I said ‘yes’, even though it was voluntary work. I had only three Hungarian classes, but I taught them a lot of things. In the end, they said that that they enjoyed my classes because I could explain grammar in English and because they understood the material better than with Rita, who was not a teacher at all. They asked a lot of questions, and I gave them some useful expressions in case they visit Hungary.

They brought food and beverages every week, and they shared all kind of things connected with Hungary. During the very last week of my stay, they invited me to their Christmas Party. My group gave a performance, singing Hungarian Christmas songs. Everyone brought something to eat or drink. I made some very thin pancakes and filled them with jam. We had great fun together. There

244

Hungarians Everywhere is a nice custom in the Cultural Centre that some women make and sell typical Hungarian cakes (‘beigli’, for example) for those who cannot come.

and towns, because she also came from Hungary. I visited her two more times, and every time she gave me the haircut I really wanted.

short time we switched to English because the rest of the group could not follow our conversation.

10. The waiter

13. The physical therapist

She is the ‘odd-man-out’ on my list because she was a former English teacher of mine from grammar school. She left Hungary after I finished secondary school.

She works for the U.S. Department of State, Foreign Service Institute, in Washington, D.C. as a language training specialist. She is the author of several textbooks on teaching Hungarian as a foreign language that are in use at the Foreign Service Institute.

During the Orientation, I met with her and talked to her a lot. We had a tasty dinner in Alexandria, and she drove me around Washington, D.C. She took me to see the Pentagon and the memorials by night.

When the Orientation Week took place, in Washington, D.C., a waiter named Joseph (József) could hear that there were some Hungarians among the grantees.

That made him happy because he was Hungarian. We spoke Hungarian with him, and he made recommendations about what we should have for dinner.

11. The guard

My exchange partner’s friend, Nancy, invited me to visit the Henry Ford Museum. I could choose between looking at the collection of automobiles or an interesting exhibition demonstrating life in different perspectives (e.g. houses, art, vehicles, and inventions). The weather was sunny and warm, so the latter option sounded much more exciting to me. One small building was a very old courthouse with a female guard who was not only a guard but also a guide. Nancy was talking to her about the courts in general and mentioned that I came from Hungary.

Surprise, surprise, this guard came to the States from our country as well.

12. The hairdresser

Because of the stress, for a couple of days I felt pain in my back, and I could not really move my neck. Every movement I made was painful. So, I went to visit a physical therapist, who was originally from the Philippines. With her husband, who was also a doctor, she had attended a conference in Hungary some years ago.

They liked Budapest, and they had a very nice time there. She remembered a doll she saw in the village of Hollókö.

14. The girlfriend

The Claeys, a nice elderly couple whose condominium I lived in, are very good at playing golf. Their golf partner has a son, Tom, who has a Hungarian girlfriend, Andrea. One weekend, the Claeys took me to have dinner at the home of their golf partner, so that I could meet someone else from my home country. It was strange to meet and talk to another Hungarian citizen who is not American. When I was talking to Andrea in Hungarian, Tom could understand most of the things we said because he had been to Hungary three or four times. He liked the language and had learned how to speak it. After a

15. Éva Szabó

So, that was it. As you can see from the list above, I was able to meet and find Hungarian connections wherever I went in the United States. These connections meant a lot to me during my stay overseas.

They always assured me that I must be proud of being Hungarian outside my home country. I hope that everyone who lives and/or works abroad can have the same feeling.

One day, when I needed a haircut, my mentor, Karen Pakula, offered to drive me to her hairdresser. She introduced me to Cathy, the hairdresser, who then started a conversation with me about Hungary and her memories of Hungarian food

245

Fulbright R/L Scholarship at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Department of Anthropology Katalin T. Biró

Hungarian National Museum

H-1088 Budapest, Múzeum krt. 14-16 Hungary www.hnm.hu tbk.ace.hu

University of Michigan, Department of Anthropology 1020 LSA Building, 500 South State Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1382 http://www.umich.edu Adviser: John O’Shea

In 2006, I spent three months as a Fulbright visiting scholar at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, in the Department of Anthropology. My primary aim was to gather information and acquire knowledge on branches of the profession, which are not often practised and are not even very well known in Hungary, the anthropological aspects of archaeology and archaeological theory.

In contrast to the traditional European school of archaeology, often referred to as the German tradition, the anthropological archaeology that is practised in many places in the USA, and which is centred in Ann Arbor, concentrates more on the application of various sciences: quantitative methods as well as systematic and ethnological analogies. American prehistory is almost current: the last hunter/gatherer tribes are still fully functional in some places, and there is a long coexistence of H/G communities with early agrarian societies, with excellent documentation including original texts, natives with extended memory, and other elements of the material

246

247

AY 2006-2007 culture not depleted from unfavourable conditions of fossilisation. At the same time, the American scope of research is much wider in my country, we tend to concentrate only on material in our control and to which we have access.

My visiting scholar experiences helped in bridging communication, presenting available information and resources, and learning the methodology of ‘mainstream anthropological reasoning’. In this respect, my strategy of learning, teaching and research together proved to be most fruitful. My teachers had a good understanding of European types of research, and they had adequate knowledge on local resources and languages as well as field experience. Contact with the graduate students also helped in establishing lasting connections.

My visit to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (as well as the Flint Ridge quarries and historical quarries in the Cuyahoga National Park) also contributed to the success of my Fulbright-scholarship.

In 2006, I was able to spend three months as a Fulbright visiting scholar at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, in the Department of Anthropology. The exact timing of my visit was scheduled for September 12th to December 16th.

The Department operates as a museum at the same time, together with the Museum of Natural History, located in the same building, hence the acronym (UMMA - University of Michigan, Museum of Anthropology). My work was supervised by Professor John O’Shea, and I have received valuable professional and personal help from Professor Robert Whallon, with whom I have established strong contacts since 1990, when computer applications and quantitative

248

methods were just being introduced in the field of humanities, notably archaeology1.

1. Scientific program

The primary aim of my visit was to get fresh and first-hand information on cultural anthropology and theoretical archaeology, subjects that were not covered by regular archaeological training in Hungary and both of which have a great significance for my personal research subject, i.e. prehistoric long distance trade.

The Department of Anthropology at Ann Arbor is known to be particularly strong in this field; some of the emblematic figures of the subject used to work and teach there, such as Lesley White, Julian Steward, Marshall Sahlins and Lewis Binford. Some of their works have been translated into Hungarian or are known to the Hungarian public from comprehensive articles (BOHANNAN-GLAZER 1997; SERVICE–SAHLINS–WOLF 1973; WHITE 1973). The present generation of professors are worthy followers of this tradition, in research, teaching and publication activity, as well.

I was able to take part in the Graduate (PhD) training of the department, auditing three subjects: Analytical Methods (quantitative methods in archaeology, by R. Whallon), Archaeology I (the cultural anthropology/archaeology of huntergatherer communities, by John Speth) and Archaeological Systematics (central problems in theoretical archaeology, by J. O’Shea), 1 He delivered a lecture and was among the organisers for a special symposium arranged for the would-be informatic specialists who work in museums and other institutions of archaeological interest in the post-socialist countries. The proceedings of this meeting were published in Voorips-Ottaway eds. 1990.

Photo 1. Cuyahoga National Park, historic sandstone quarry with carved millstone

AY 2006-2007 and I delivered for the PhD students a special seminar entitled Provenancing – tracing long distance movement of goods in prehistory, which is related to aspects and methodology of my own research.

I could use all the facilities of the Department including the incredibly rich and well-equipped library. The University library works as an agglomerate of different technical libraries, with a central library building (six floors). The catalogue and a substantial amount of the contents are available in electronic format, and loans can be initiated from any library units, even from your working desk. There is a Knowledge Navigation Centre within the library where special facilities and personal help are available in all problems relating to electronic storage and the handling of documents. Fast scanners are available on a scheduled basis. I was a regular visitor to the Centre and could ‘audit’ many informal lectures delivered by, or to, the Centre staff on individual tools and equipment. There is a wide variety of periodicals, with full electronic access for UM teachers and students. I could collect fresh technical literature on the following subjects: archaeometry, prehistoric trade, theoretical archaeology, cultural anthropology and methodology.

Within the Fulbrigth grant, it is possible to apply for one visit outside the research venue as an occasional lecturer (OLP). I tried to utilise this possibility for a visit to Cleveland, but there was no feedback – by way of either acceptance or rejection - and as the lecture was announced and I was expected, I went anyway with the help of my colleagues. I was received at the Cleveland Natural History Museum, and

I visited the Museum and some places of interest like the Cuyahoga National Park close to Cleveland itself and a large flint mine at Flint Ridge, in the southern part of Ohio, as well as the neighbouring large historical Indian fortress at Newark. (See Photos 1-4).

2. Lectures to general public

Apart from the lectures delivered as part of the seminar at UMMA, I delivered three lectures for the general public within my grant time on different subjects and for different audiences.

The first one was an introductory lecture on my own field of research at the Anthropological Museum (Lithic use and distribution over long time spans: examples from Central Europe). This lecture was delivered in a series called ‘brown bag meetings’, because it is regularly scheduled for the middle of the day on Thursdays, during the lunch break. The second lecture specifically addressed the Hungarian community working in Ann Arbor on the recent achievements of Hungarian archaeology, entitled Hungarian Archaeology at the turn of the Millennium, based on the monograph published in 2003. This work is the first summary of Hungarian archaeology since the 19th century, and I was honoured to take part in the editorial work, contributing some of the chapters myself (Visy et al. eds. 2003).

The third lecture was presented in Cleveland at the Natural History Museum before an audience of museum professionals. It was entitled Interdisciplinary work in the Hungarian Museums.

Photo 2. Flint mine at Flint Ridge, southern part of Ohio

250

251

AY 2006-2007

Photo 3. Indian fortress and moulds at Newark

252

253

AY 2006-2007 3. Administration

5. Professional and personal On the day of my arrival I received a contacts university card that identified me as full right university citizen not only at my research place but in the whole city.

The university card gives access to free transport all over the city. Also I could use the university bank (UM Credit Union).

Similarly, on the day of my arrival I received a key to the main entrance of the Museum/Department and all premises I had something to do with. Later also got the key of the department library. It means, I could access all the University facilities day and night, including weekends. From the first day I was registered also as full right user of the University informatical system. This is a very important means for teaching, course syllabi, compulsory readings, homework etc. are often stored and managed through it.

I applied for and received the SSN card and communicated about administrative measures to CIES and sent them final report after arrival.

4. Fulbright community

The local Fulbrighters organised two meetings during my scholarship time (2006/10/11, 2006/12/06). They were also proposing some further social events and programs, but probably it needs a longer stay to take proper advantage of those. The second meeting was devoted to winter solstice and related festivities at the communities of different tradition.

It was very interesting to learn about holidays and tradition of various peoples and religions.

254

Before my visit to Ann Arbor I had professional contacts from UMMA with Robert Whallon and my supervisor, John O’Shea, both of them working on research projects in Eastern Europe (Romania, Serbia). They were several times in Hungary as well. Our professional contacts were strengthened and deepened by the Fulbright-grant and we can continue our collaboration in many ways in the future.

I could also establish good contacts with the staff and the PhD students of the Anthropological Department, some of them continued via email and personal meetings as well. I am especially grateful to the head of the department, Professor Carla Sinopoli and my supervisor, John O’Shea, for their personal help and kindness, and above all to Robert Whallon who helped me in many ways before and during my grant.

About one month after my arrival I could contact the Hungarian community living in Ann Arbor. I attended meetings and lectures and could deliver a lecture myself.

I received much professional and personal help, especially from Nóra Arató and Éva Darvas, both of whom we keep regular contacts.

I could also revitalise existing former professional contacts with Joe Hannibal, geologist and palaeontologist of the Cleveland Natural History Museum.

Several colleagues from Ann Arbor and Cleveland promised to turn up in the near future in Hungary. I was also invited for further visits and I hope I will be able to go back someday.

Bibliography

- Papers presented on the Vth Int. Symp. on Data Management and Mathematical Methods

BOHANNAN-GLAZER 1997: Bohannan, Paul S.-- Glazer Mark, szerk. és bev. Mérföldkövek a kulturális antropológiában. Budapest: Panem Kft. SERVICE–SAHLINS–WOLF

1973:

Service,

Sahlins, M. D. Wolf E. R. 1973

E.

R.,

Vadászok,

törzsek, parasztok. Budapest: Kossuth.

in Archaeology, U.I.S.P.P. 4th Commission, Mogilany/Krakov 1989.

WHITE 1973: White, Leslie 1973 A kultúra fejlõdése.

(Szociológiai Füzetek 5). Budapest: Mûvelõdési Minisztérium Marxizmus-Leninizmus Oktatási Fõosztálya.

VISY et al. eds. 2003: Visy Zsolt--Nagy Mihály--B. Kiss Zsuzsa, eds. Hungarian Archaeology at the turn of the Millennium MRE In: Visy Zs.ed., Magyar Régészet az ezredfordulón / Hungarian

(all photos made by Joe Hannibal, Natural History Museum, Cleveland)

Archaeology at the turn of the Millennium Budapest VOORIPS--OTTAWAY ed. 1990: Voorips, A.--Ottaway, B. S. New tools from mathematical archaeology

Photo 4. Basket company headquarters, Newark

255