Biology & Ecology (e-books)

E-book

Vladislav Kolarčik

Flow cytometry is a diagnostic and research technique that enables rapid analysis of cells, nuclei and organelles of plants and other organisms. In plant biology, it is most often used for DNA content analysis in a wide range of applications. It is the method of first choice and its importance is even increasing compared to competing technologies. It is unrivaled in speed, accuracy, repeatability and low cost. Flow cytometry has become a standard tool in laboratories focused on biological-ecological plant research.

This textbook provides information on the historical development of flow cytometry and its establishment in the analysis of the plant genome. It describes the procedure of sample analysis to determine the nuclear DNA content and presents the basic applications, such as determination of genome size, ploidy level and reproduction modes of plants and determination of endopolyploidy level in plant tissues. These college textbooks are intended for students, teachers and anyone interested in the use of flow cytometry in scientific work with plant cells.

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E-book

Vlasta Demečková - Petra Hradická - Petra Adamková

The learning material for the course Practice in Immunology is based on several years of experience with teaching this subject, but mainly to provide students from the Biology Department at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, UPJŠ in Košice with sufficient theoretical background for practical exercises. It also serves as a scientific diary for detailed recording of all experimental data necessary for preparing laboratory protocols from individual exercises.

In studying biology, it is essential that students thoroughly understand not only the basics of each discipline but also acquire practical skills, including designing scientific experiments, selecting appropriate analytical/investigative techniques up to interpreting and presenting experimental data. The goal of this new publication is therefore to provide master's students with a practical study guide that supports and expands their knowledge about basic immunology principles.

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E-book

Daniel Jancura - Erik Sedlák

The textbook "Bioenergetics" should serve as an introduction to the study of bioenergetics. This field of science is currently highly actual, as the results of the bioenergetics research in recent years clearly show that bioenergetics processes in living systems can "serve" not only to transformation of energy, but also affect the course of processes such as apoptosis, aging, origin and development of many diseases (especially neurodegenerative).

These facts clearly indicate the need for the existence of quality teaching texts that would allow students to acquire the necessary information and knowledge in this scientific discipline in an acceptable way. For the above mentioned reasons, we decided to create these textbooks, which are in the form of ten chapters, which naturally and logically follow each other. 

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E-book

Lenka Mártonfiová

The Index Seminum 2021 of the Botanical Garden of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University contains a list of 131 seed samples offered for the international exchange among botanical gardens on the world. It includes seeds collected from the wild plants in natural localities of Slovakia with a detailed description of the localities with coordinates and date of collection (72 samples) and seeds of plants grown in the Botanical Garden (5 samples) and seeds from Exposition of the Tatra Mountain Nature of the State Forests of Tatra National Park, Tatranská Lomnica (54 samples). The index includes a desiderata table that can be used when ordering seeds.

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E-book

Katarína Cechlárová (ed.)

In 2018, the Student Scientific Conference was held on April 18, 2018, in 16 sections covering biology and ecology, chemistry, physics, geography, mathematics, computer science, and their subject didactics. There were 110 registered contributions from bachelor's and master's students. Additionally, eight high school students participated outside of the competition; these students already visit our alma mater at a young age, work in our laboratories, and prepare for further studies under the guidance of our enthusiastic teachers. The day also included a programming competition and the IHRA competition in three categories, where students from PF UPJŠ competed alongside pupils from elementary and secondary schools.

The abstracts of the Student Scientific Conference contributions convincingly demonstrate that PF UPJŠ students study their field not only theoretically but also actively engage in solving partial scientific problems that are part of the research goals at PF UPJŠ institutes. This collection provides an overview of scientific activity at the faculty, which we believe will be interesting for the broader public as well.

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E-book

Katarína Cechlárová - Eva Pitoňáková (eds.)

Proceedings of Abstracts from Contributions by Participants of the Student Scientific Conference at the Faculty of Science, UPJŠ in Košice, Held on April 26, 2017

This is the fifth edition of the proceedings from the Student Scientific Conference (ŠVK) at the Faculty of Science, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. We are pleased that ŠVK has become an integral part of faculty life and a showcase for the quality of education provided. In 2017, ŠVK took place as part of the traditional Science Days on April 26, 2017. 105 students from the Faculty of Science presented their work. Contributions were organized into 15 sections, supplemented by an open programming competition involving 17 students and the final round of the IHRA competition, which included 27 teams from across Slovakia.

The abstracts in this proceedings demonstrate that students at the Faculty of Science, UPJŠ, acquire knowledge and skills in their field not only through theoretical study of disciplines but also through active engagement in solving partial scientific problems aligned with research goals at the faculty’s institutes. These abstracts also provide an overview of the faculty’s scientific activity, which we believe will be of interest to the broader public.

doc. RNDr. Gabriel Semanišin, PhD.

Dean of the Faculty

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E-book

Martin Bačkor - Miriam Bačkorová

The proposed text focuses on the history of studying biology, medicine, and pharmacy as scientific disciplines from prehistoric times through antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the modern era. The text chronologically organizes the most significant figures in the history of biological scientific disciplines, outlines key characteristics of major historical discoveries, and reevaluates their significance from the perspective of 21st-century science.

The educational text is chronologically divided into the most significant periods of civilization development. The last two completed centuries—the 19th and 20th—are subdivided into major life science fields due to the unprecedented growth of biological disciplines and the resulting volume of acquired information.

Since it can sometimes be challenging in science to define what constitutes the past versus the present of a particular discipline, we have excluded significant biological discoveries from the early 21st century, which are typically regarded as the “present” of biology.

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E-book

Dušan Barabas - Alena Labunová

These study materials aim to provide basic information about biogeographical issues from a geographical perspective, i.e., a perspective focused primarily on the aspect of spatial differentiation of the biosphere. The basis for the division of the biosphere is its historical development, during which individual taxa and communities were formed.

The historical development of the biosphere did not occur under stable, constant conditions, but rather in ever-changing conditions caused by the position of our planet within the solar system, the position of the Earth's axis relative to the ecliptic, and also the position of the solar system within the galaxy. All changes in the Earth's position, together with the movement of continents (drift) and climate changes, created the prerequisites for the spatial expansion of the biosphere. The historical development of the biosphere, various perspectives, the hierarchical level of differentiation, and the causes of differentiation are incorporated in this study material, whose aim is to outline the basic principles of this division.

The goal is also to highlight certain differences in the understanding of terminology, as well as to point out some fundamental relationships operating within the landscape system in the broadest sense of the word. The section devoted to the ecological principles of the functioning and formation of the landscape system, according to MIČIAN and ZATKALÍK (1984), outlines the issues of understanding the terms ecosystem and geosystem. For this reason, the presented text includes chapters that attempt to explain the understanding and approach to some basic concepts.

These study materials are intended for students of single-subject, interdisciplinary, and supplementary studies as basic teaching material. By expanding the knowledge from this study material with further information, which is elaborated in more detail in the literature listed in the bibliography of this text, graduates will gain a comprehensive view of biogeographical issues.

Authors

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E-book

Božena Velebná

The following material has been created during the two years of teaching English for Chemists at the Faculty of Science of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University and is therefore designed to meet the needs of this course. The main motivation was the lack of appropriate materials, especially as the groups generally comprise students with a very diverse level of English. This diversity therefore became the main criterion determining both the form and the content of this text.

In the ten units that provide material for a one semester course, the emphasis is put on teaching the students vocabulary and terminology, which is introduced via authentic texts, depending on the topic of each unit. Students are encouraged to learn the meaning of new words in context. Grammar is included too, with the aim of demonstrating and explaining grammatical rules by means of examples taken directly from the texts. For the more advanced students, grammatical exercises in this material can serve for revision while the beginners might need more supplementary materials.

I hope that this material, the preparation of which has been a challenging as well as enjoyable experience will be useful for future teachers and the students of this course.

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