In the field of municipal waste, expanding cities and growing trend of the population have increasing and problematic effects. Improperly emptied containers jeopardize the possibility of the development of cleaner and more liveable city. Directly occurring problems can be the environmental and road-safety aspects during reaching the containers. Through the application of modern technologies, there are opportunities to apply sign-in-time frequency-based communication. This leads not only to the optimization of the collection route but also to the reduction of the above mentioned problems and problematic effects.

The aim of our study is to review the new vehicle diagnostic requirements that support economical and environmentally friendly operation. Vehicle technology is undergoing continuous and significant changes. At the same time, it is not enough to develop energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies; they must be operated in proper technical conditions and with proper driving techniques. Accordingly, new, innovative procedures are constantly needed for the economical and environmentally friendly operation of vehicles, and it is important to emphasize that vehicle diagnostics must also follow these changes! The practical applications of our publication and our research focus on several areas. This research is particularly important in the case of public transport vehicles and transport fleets. An important practical aspect is that large transport companies also achieve significant cost savings and, at the same time, contribute to environmentally friendly transport. The publication represents a new direction in vehicle diagnostics and research and development; this is the ECO-Diagnostics discussed in the material. ECO-Diagnostics is a procedure that takes into account both ecological and economic factors during vehicle diagnostic tests. Vehicle diagnostics, as an independent, professional, and scientific field, began to develop in the 1970s. This field of research experiences a paradigm shift, on average, every 20 years. Today, an epochal shift is taking place, with the development and spread of alternative propulsion systems (e.g., electric, hydrogen, or gas) and autonomous vehicles being the main areas of focus. The changes in vehicle technology must be followed by vehicle diagnostics too. Some of the already-known diagnostic methods (e.g., for internal combustion engines) can be included in this category, but new methods are also needed to enable the economical and environmentally friendly operation of vehicles. These facts make it important and urgent to define and research this area. Research in this area is particularly important for public transport vehicles and transport fleets. It is not enough to develop energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies: they must be operated in the right technical condition and with the right driving techniques for the intended purpose. This will help large transport companies to achieve significant cost savings and contribute to the environmentally friendly transport of passengers and goods. A major new area in vehicle diagnostics needs to be introduced and expanded. ECO-Diagnostics is a new category that has not been used before, and it also marks a new area of research and development. The article presents the basics of categorization and supports them with its own research results and application examples. As an introduction, a systematic overview of vehicle diagnostics as a whole is also provided. This is important (and novel) as no such systematic overview is available in the technical and scientific literature. The new category should also be included in this scheme. In parallel with the development of vehicles and diagnostic procedures, the methods and their context covered by the umbrella term ECO-Diagnostics (in ecological and economic terms) should, of course, be constantly expanded. Artificial intelligence can play an important role in this process. In the future, there will be a strong demand for the development of procedures in the field of ECO-Diagnostics. For both economic and environmental reasons, it is urgent and important to research and develop procedures in this category. This fact will also influence the work of researchers in the future.

In a previous study, it was concluded that the da Vinci robotic systems installed in the Hungarian healthcare system were, with one privately funded exception, fully financed by EU funds. The present article drives a similar conclusion on a global scale. Massive public investments, or reimbursements, are needed to ensure the prevalence and financial sustainability of robotic surgical systems. The financial sustainability of RAS depends on the economic development of a country and its healthcare system, the number of medical schools, the history of robotic surgery and the funding mechanisms of the healthcare system. Even in the most advanced economies of the world, access to the benefits of RAS may be burdened by limitations in terms of financial (funding) and geographical access.

In the last few decades, agricultural drought (Ag.D) has seriously affected crop production and food security worldwide. In Hungary, little research has been carried out to assess the impacts of climate change, particularly regarding droughts and crop production, and especially on regional scales. Thus, the main aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of agricultural drought on sunflower production across Hungary. Drought data for the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) were collected from the CAR-BATCLIM database (1961–2010), whereas sunflower production was collected from the Hungarian national statistical center (KSH) on regional and national scales. To address the impact of Ag.D on sunflower production, the sequence of standardized yield residuals (SSYR) and yield losses YlossAD was applied. Additionally, sunflower resilience to Ag.D (SRAg.D) was assessed on a regional scale. The results showed that Ag.D is more severe in the western regions of Hungary, with a significantly positive trend. Interestingly, drought events were more frequent between 1990 and 2010. Moreover, the lowest SSYR values were reported as −3.20 in the Hajdu-Bihar region (2010). In this sense, during the sunflower growing cycle, the relationship between SSYR and Ag.D revealed that the highest correlations were recorded in the central and western regions of Hungary. However, 75% of the regions showed that the plantation of sunflower is not resilient to drought where SRAg.Dx < 1. To cope with climate change in Hungary, an urgent mitigation plan should be implemented.

Due to its constantly developing technological background, VR and AR technology has been gaining increasing popularity not just in industry or business but in education as well. Research in the field of Cognitive Infocommunications (CogInfoCom) shows that using existing digital technologies, online collaboration and cooperation technologies in 3D VR supports cognitive processes, including the finding, processing, memorization and recalling of information. 3D VR environments are also capable of providing users with a much higher level of comprehension when it comes to sharing and interpreting digital workflows. The paper presents a study carried out with the participation of 90 students. The aim of this study is to investigate how the application of 3D VR platforms as personalized educational environments can also increase VR learning efficiency. Besides considering participants’ test performance, metrics such as results on visual, auditory and reading-based learning tests for information acquisition, as well as responses on Kolb’s learning styles questionnaires are taken into consideration. The participants’ learning styles, information acquisition habits were also observed, allowing us to create and offer a variety of learning pathways based on a variety of content types in the 3D VR environment. The students within the study were divided into two groups: a test group receiving personalized training in the MaxWhere 3D VR classroom, and a control group that studied in a general MaxWhere 3D VR space. This research applies both quantitative and qualitative methods to report findings. The goal was to create adaptive learning environments capable of deriving models of learners and providing personalized learning experiences. We studied the correlation between effectiveness of the tasks and Kolb’s learning styles. The study shows the major importance of choosing the optimal task type regarding each Kolb learning style and personalized learning environment. The MaxWhere 3D spaces show a high potential for personalizing VR education. The non-intrusive guiding capabilities of VR environments and of the educational content integrated in the 3D VR spaces were very successful, because the students were able to score 20 percent higher on the tests after studying in VR than after using traditional educational tools. Students also performed the same tasks with 8-10 percent faster response times.

The continuous rise in global environmental challenges has led to urgency toward establishing a secure framework to achieve sustainable development goals. This study establishes a novel theoretical framework to analyze the role of energy prices, energy consumption, gold prices and economic growth on environmental degradation in newly industrialized economies. To realize sustainable development goals and foster environmental defence, this study utilizes CS-ARDL as the main econometric approach to investigate the asymmetric association between environmental degradation and relevant factors. We also use AMG, CS-DL, Driscoll-Kray and FGLS to enhance the robustness of our findings. Our econometric approach reveals that energy resource prices and renewable energy consumption reduce environmental degradation, while gold prices and fossil energy consumption elevate environmental pollutants. We also confirm the existence of the EKC hypothesis. The findings of our extensive analysis paved the way for a well-designed environmental policy for NIC economies should focus on renewable energy consumption, green investments, and structural changes.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the mergers and acquisitions activity from various perspectives. The concept of mergers and acquisitions always has a strong economic background, which will be considered even if the concept is discussed from a legal perspective. After clarification of the basic terms of mergers and acquisitions, the economic background of mergers and acquisitions will be examined. From legal point of view this paper mainly concentrates on the relevant directives of the European Union. Currently, there are four relevant company law directives related to corporate reconstruction in the law of the European Union: the Merger Directive, which regulates mergers between public companies, the Sixth Company Law Directive, which covers the division of an existing public company into entities, the directive, which concerns cross-border mergers and last but not least the Takeover Directive. From this four company law directives, this paper mainly focuses, besides the economical background and basic terms of mergers, on the Merger and Cross-Border Directive.

The aim of this present work was to study the applicability of waste marble dust (MD) in poly(lactic acid) (PLA)-based composites. Samples containing up to 20 wt% waste MD were prepared via melt blending. The attention was focused on the investigation of mechanical, morphological, thermal properties and the wear resistance of the PLA/MD composites. Regarding the mechanical properties, both the tensile and the flexural modulus improved remarkably, however, a slight loss was observed in strength and deformability. The impact toughness showed an increasing tendency up to 10 wt% MD loading, which was followed by a marginal decrease at higher concentration. With respect to the sliding wear rate, the composite with the highest MD content showed the best wear resistance. According to the DSC measurements, the MD hampered the chain mobility of PLA, thereby reducing the crystalline ratio. Overall, composites with improved properties were developed, while the reuse of waste MD is expected to reduce the production costs as well.

Research on agri-food supply chains (AFSCs) has attracted significant attention in recent years due to the challenges associated with sustainably feeding the global population. The purpose of this study is to review the potentials of big data for sustainable AFSCs. One hundred twenty-eight (128) journal articles were selected to identify how big data can contribute to the sustainable development of AFSCs. As part of our focus, a framework was developed based on the conceptualization of AFSCs in the extant literature to analyse big data research in the context of AFSCs and to provide insights into the potentials of the technology for agri-food businesses. The findings of the review indicate that there is a noticeable growth in the number of studies addressing the applications of big data for AFSCs. The potentials of big data for AFSC sustainability were synthesized in a summary framework, highlighting the primary resources and activities that are ready for improvement with big data. These include soil, water, crop and plant management, animal management, waste management and traceability management. The challenges of big data integration in AFSCs, the study’s implications, contributions, and the future research directions are highlighted in detail.