Biology & Ecology (e-books)

E-book

Ľubomír Šnajder a kol.

The publication is dedicated to teachers and future teachers of informatics, mathematics and science subjects. The publication presents activities that move students from the role of passive users of digital technologies to that of curious researchers, creative creators and critical thinkers. In the first chapter, we introduce educational strategies and practices to actively engage students in learning. In the second chapter, we briefly describe selected digital technologies that can be an aid to exploring the world around us and creating useful products. In the third chapter, we provide specific ideas for STEAM exploration and projects in which students search answers to real-world questions and solutions to real-world problems. Subject didacticians, experts from different fields and teachers worked closely together to develop ideas for the methodologies.

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E-book

Juraj Ševc - Anna Alexovič Matiašová

Among students of single-discipline and interdisciplinary biology studies at faculties with a natural science focus, there often arises a problem in defining the scope of the curriculum when studying the subject of Human Anatomy. The presented study material aims to help students of non-medical scientific fields navigate the extensive anatomical terminology and to limit the amount of required anatomical terms to an optimum, so that alongside mastering Latin nomenclature, students still have sufficient capacity to memorize additional knowledge in the areas of systemic, comparative, developmental, and functional anatomy.

Emphasis on organizing individual anatomical terms into logical units simultaneously supports a hierarchical view of the architecture of the human body. Despite its seemingly self-serving nature, anatomical terminology thus becomes the framework upon which students build knowledge from more or less related scientific disciplines studying the human body and the processes occurring within it throughout their further studies. At the same time, alongside this ambition that goes beyond the scope of the anatomy discipline, the Anatomical Terms follow a long tradition of anatomical handbooks while respecting the valid Latin and Slovak anatomical nomenclature.

This script represents a practical supplement to university textbooks of Anatomy or Neuroanatomy and especially to anatomical atlases, but it certainly does not aim to replace them. Here you will find all the necessary terms gathered in one place, which you can always have at hand on your phone, e-reader, or laptop. The emphasis on organizing individual anatomical terms into logical units supports a hierarchical view of the architecture of the human body, and the inclusion of a brief introduction to each system is intended to encourage you to seek further, more detailed information about the structure and function of the given organ system.

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E-book

Lucia Bakošová (ed.)

Proceedings from the XVII Annual Student Symposium on International and European Law held on October 27, 2023.

The presented proceedings from the student symposium are part of a long-standing tradition of student symposia organized by the Institute of International Law and European Law of the Faculty of Law at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. This seventeenth edition of the symposium, entitled "The Environmental Dimension of International Territorial Regimes," took place on October 27, 2023.

The symposium was thematically dedicated to the current and dynamically developing issue of the environmental dimension of international territorial regimes.

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E-book

Alena Gessert

Caves have always been very specific places throughout history. In some cultures, they served as sites for sacrifices or remembrance, while in others, they were seen as places where one could cross to the "other side of life." People used caves for shelter, as places to leave messages, to wait out bad weather, and in some cases, even lived in them. During wars in our region, entire families or villages would hide from enemies in caves, or they would use them to conceal weapons.

Today, in most countries, caves are destinations for tourists who want to experience something new and unknown: darkness, high humidity, and the fascinating beauty of underground formations. They are also sought after by cavers who long to explore caves, enter worlds where no human has set foot before, find evidence of previous habitation, or conduct research that continually advances our knowledge.

In the publication you are holding, we present both traditional and less conventional topics about the formation of karst and caves, selected ecological aspects, maps and their creation, significant caves of the world, and the life of people in such areas. We also offer an overview of important karst locations that are definitely worth learning more about or visiting in person. This publication is intended for readers among pupils, students, teachers, and the general public, and we believe it will draw you into this mysterious world.

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E-book

Peter Fedoročko (ed.)

From June 13 to June 16, 2023, the 9th annual Spring School for Doctoral Students at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice will take place in Stará Lesná. The scientific program of the spring school will comprise 3 plenary lectures by leading scientific experts and 1 workshop.

Doctoral students will present their research papers in two sections: 24 doctoral students of Faculty of Public Administration, Faculty of Law and Faculty of Arts, and 24 doctoral students of Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Science. The scientific programme of the spring school will also include a panel discussion with the management of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice.

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E-book

Marián Kireš  (ed.)

Proceedings of Abstracts from the Student Scientific Conference of the Faculty of Science, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice

The Student Scientific Conference (SSC) represents the culmination of long-term and intensive work on a selected topic, collaboration with a supervisor, or a broader team at the workplace. In practice, however, it often marks the beginning of scientific research, focusing on a chosen subject, field, or close cooperation with a future supervisor of a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral thesis.

This year, the Student Scientific Conference took place on April 19, 2023, featuring 14 sections, a programming competition, and the IHRA contest. Bachelor’s and master’s students presented 101 contributions. Additionally, 8 high school students participated non-competitively, presenting their SOČ projects; 14 students took part in the programming competition, and 3 students competed in the IHRA contest.

We believe that the proceedings of abstracts and related documents serve not only as an archive but also as a dignified presentation of scientific activities at our faculty for the wider public.

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E-book

Lenka Mártonfiová (ed.)

The Index Seminum 2023 of the Botanical Garden of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University contains a list of 291 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 (92 samples) and seeds of plants grown in the Botanical Garden (25 samples) and seeds from Exposition of the Tatra Mountain Nature of the State Forests of Tatra National Park, Tatranská Lomnica (69 samples) as well as 105 seed samples from Hrádocké Arboretum of the Secondary Forestry School of Jozef Dekret Matejovie in Liptovský Hrádok.

The index includes a desiderata table that can be used when ordering seeds..

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E-book

Andrej Mock

The structure of the animal body is extremely varied. Each species has its distinctive morphological features, which bears as a testimony to long-term development and belonging to the developmental lineage. At the same time, the body has been tested for a long time by natural conditions, resulting in unique adaptations to the environment and life strategy. Despite this admirable variety - which includes both recent and fossil animals and which we have far from mapped – a comparison of body parts brings knowledge we can generalize: the main building principles, and boundaries within which phenotypic diversity is realized.

Comparative animal morphology today uses the latest methodological material and knowledge from other disciplines, from genetics, molecular biology and experimental embryology, through progressive imaging methods (e.g. electron microscopy, computer micro-tomography) and the possibilities of subsequent software processing of image material (measurement, staining, etc.) to the view of physics, chemistry, statics and geometry on the structures (to nanostructures) of the living body. Detailed knowledge of historical and contemporary conditions on Earth is an important interpretative context in the study of animal morphology. Surprisingly, the knowledge accumulated after centuries of research is now rapidly supplemented by new knowledge, and often the traditional knowledge is subsequently reinterpreted. Finally, and no less important, in studying animal (and human) morphology, we learn surprising knowledge about ourselves.

The author of the presented textbook had the ambition in a simplified form to introduce the reader, especially the student of biological studies, into a dynamic and fascinating scientific discipline, as the current comparative animal morphology is.

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E-book

Gabriel Žoldák

The textbook is intended as background material for university students and for education in science, biotechnology, and medicine. During the textbook conception, the emphasis was on recent trends and development in the understanding of the physicochemical properties of immunoglobulins.

The textbook is divided into ten chapters and 294 pages dealing with the following topics: Immune system and immunoglobulins, General properties of immunoglobulins, Chemical and proteolytic cleavage of immunoglobulins, Structure of immunoglobulins I, Structure of immunoglobulins II, Detection of immunoglobulins, Post-purification and purification immunoglobulin modifications, Immunoglobulin stability and aggregation, Therapeutic immunoglobulins. In addition to the summary of the established knowledge about the properties of immunoglobulins, the textbook also contains new information collected from recent scientific publications.

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E-book

Terézia Kisková - Stanislav Matéffy - Františka Horváthová

The laboratory rat (Rattus norvegicus) is one of the most commonly used experimental animals. It serves as a model organism for analyzing numerous biological processes and pathological mechanisms, such as cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders (e.g., lipid metabolism, diabetes mellitus), neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions (e.g., stroke, epilepsy, or Alzheimer's disease), neurobehavioral research, autoimmune diseases (e.g., arthritis), cancer, and renal diseases. It offers many unique advantages for modeling human diseases, testing drugs and natural substances, and studying responses to environmental factors. The size of the laboratory rat, compared to the mouse, creates ideal conditions for physiological manipulations. Additionally, rats are used in clinical toxicology to test chemical substances (Hedrich, 2000).

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E-book

Katarína Cechlárová (ed.)

This year, the Student Scientific Conference was held on April 24, 2019, across 17 sections in disciplines such as biology and ecology, chemistry, physics, geography, mathematics, informatics, and their didactics. Bachelor’s and master’s students presented a total of 124 contributions. The most successful participants advanced to national or traditional Czech-Slovak student scientific showcases in fields like physics, chemistry, mathematics, informatics, and mathematics didactics.

In addition to faculty students, 10 high school students participated outside the competition. They were invited based on their achievements in subject-specific Olympiads or because they were already engaged with the faculty under the guidance of dedicated teachers in laboratory work as part of their preparation for future studies. The day also featured a programming competition with 23 participants, an IHRA contest involving 16 teams of high school students and 15 teams from elementary schools, and a new Puzzle section where 72 high school students from the region competed.

The abstracts from the Student Scientific Conference demonstrate that our faculty's students not only absorb theoretical knowledge delivered in lectures but also actively engage in solving partial scientific problems that align with research objectives at the institutes of PF UPJŠ. This collection serves as both a record of scientific activity at the faculty and a dignified presentation for the broader public.

Prof. RNDr. Katarína Cechlárová, DrSc.

Vice-Dean for Education

Doc. RNDr. Gabriel Semanišin, PhD.

Dean of the Faculty

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Marcel Uhrin - David Jandzik - Andrej Čerňanský - Michal Rindoš - Blanka Lehotská - Stanislav Danko - Ján Kautman - Peter Mikulíček - Peter Urban - Daniel Jablonski

Bibliographies provide basic scientific information, illustrate quality and intensity of research in a particular topic, area, or time, and thus help build a cultural-historical perspective of society’s appreciation of knowledge and education. Here we provide a bibliography of herpetological research in the region of Slovakia between the years 1791 and 2017. We collected 2,183 references authored by 1,453 different authors and covering all species of amphibians (18) and reptiles (13) occurring in Slovakia and, in addition, amphibian and reptile taxa occurring in 94 other countries.

Most of the contributions were published in popular magazines and non-indexed journals, while only about 12% of all references represent scientific articles from journals indexed in relevant scientific databases. The extensiveness of study on amphibians and reptiles has varied among different periods within the selected time frame. However, an obvious intensification in the field of herpetology can be observed, especially during the second half of the 20th century. While there have only been few professionals specialized in herpetology, an important role in promoting the research and conservation of amphibians and reptiles in Slovakia has been played by non-governmental organizations and hobbyists. The most frequent type of herpetological data in the referenced literature comes from faunistic research, followed by conservation and general information on herpetofauna, with the majority of published articles in indexed journals coming from the fields of palaeontology, phylogeography, and population genetics.

The presented bibliography is the first step towards building a solid base for future systematic herpetological research in the country and Central Europe.

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E-book

Andrej Mock

Burda - Kováčov, Slovensko, 4.-7.10.2017

Abstracts of lectures by Czech and Slovak zoologists, ecologists, and physiologists, who study soil arthropods in the taxa Myriapoda and Oniscidea as model groups, presented at the 10th seminar in Kováčová near Chľaba, Slovakia.

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E-book

Tatiana Kimáková - Vladimír Pavlík

The scientific monograph focuses on the characteristics of free radicals, reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, oxidative stress, and its impact on various diseases. A significant portion is dedicated to antioxidants, their classification based on multiple criteria, the characteristics of selected antioxidants in terms of their functions, manifestations of their deficiency and excess, and the overall antioxidant capacity of the body.

A special section is devoted to enzyme-based antioxidants, natural sources of antioxidants in the form of vitamins, trace elements, flavonoids, polyphenols, and coenzyme Q10. To provide a clearer understanding of antioxidants and their influence on population health, the monograph presents results from a research project included in the program "Research Support for Enhancing the Defense Capabilities of the Czech Republic in NATO Structures."

The research was conducted between 2010 and 2012 as part of preventive rehabilitation programs for professional soldiers with a sports component. The study involved 218 professional soldiers, including 180 men and 38 women, with an average age of 33.3 years. The current health status and dietary habits of the soldiers were assessed using questionnaires.

The study described the saturation of the observed group with antioxidant vitamins and statistically evaluated the relationship between their levels and the risk indicators for the development of cardiovascular diseases. Individual analyses were performed using the Reflotron device calibrated with Reflotron Precinorm control serum. Following blood collection, all participants underwent anthropometric examinations (body weight, height, waist circumference), blood pressure measurements, heart rate monitoring, and physical fitness assessments through simple functional tests.

This scientific monograph is suitable for the scientific community, students of medical, veterinary, and natural sciences, as well as public health students at all levels of university education. It is also intended for informed members of the public.

Authors

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Tatiana Kimáková

This scientific monograph is a comprehensive scientific work focused on the presence and effects of mercury in the environment, as well as the health risk factors associated with it.

The monograph presents a characterization of mercury in a multidisciplinary scope, discusses its use in industry and healthcare, and describes the negative impacts of mercury on the environment and public health. It also provides proposals and recommendations for at-risk groups. The monograph includes a comprehensive study of mercury concentration in samples of domestic and foreign production commodities and plant samples using the atomic absorption spectrometer AMA 254.

This scientific monograph is suitable for the scientific community, students of medical, veterinary, natural sciences, and agricultural fields, as well as public health students at all three levels of university study. It is also intended for all interested members of the informed public.

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E-book

Daniela Kladeková

This university text is intended for students of chemical and ecological sciences at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the P. J. Šafárik University in Košice and is intended to serve as a tool for experimental exercises in colloid chemistry. Colloid chemistry is an important part of the theoretical basis of the chemical sciences and belongs to the newer interdisciplinary fields of natural sciences.

It combines knowledge from physical chemistry, physics and biology, while also drawing on a solid knowledge of mathematics and other scientific disciplines. Experiments are often essential in understanding the problems of colloid chemistry, modelling ideas about the phenomena and laws involved in the discipline. This is why active participation in experimental exercises is so important and essential to mastering the material in colloid chemistry.

In selecting the tasks for these scripts, it was also necessary to respect the considerable limitations imposed by the possibilities of the laboratory instrumentation and material equipment of our department. Despite this limitation, however, they can illustrate to students the basic theoretical physicochemical principles of colloid dispersion systems and, importantly, their understanding can contribute to the understanding of some of the more important peculiarities of colloidal phenomena.

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E-book

Božena Mihalíková - Ján Ohriska

This text is intended for first-year students in 76-12-8 ‘General Education Teaching’ in combinations with mathematics. It is based on the authors' lectures and their more than ten years of experience in teaching this subject at the Faculty of Education of the University of Applied Sciences. When writing it, the authors tried to take into account the specificity of mathematics teaching studies.

The present teaching text was not written due to the lack of textbooks on mathematical analysis. The reason for writing it was the authors' findings that the students do not have sufficient experience in working with specialized literature from secondary school, the difficulties for many of them (especially in the first semesters) are caused by even a slightly different interpretation, not rarely also by a change in labeling, which makes them miss the essence of the studied problem. The authors of the text did not set out to be original. Their aim was to make such a selection of topics as is necessary for a future teacher of mathematics and to choose such a method of interpretation which, in their opinion, is suitable for first-year students.

A good mastery of the curriculum (expansion of the mathematical apparatus and the related possibilities of applying other methods of proof as well as the acquisition of the necessary numerical skills) presupposes the use of other literary sources (textbooks, collections of problems) according to the teacher's recommendation.

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E-book

Peter Paľove-Balang

The text ‘Uptake and transport of mineral substances in plants’ in Slovak language provides a general overview of the uptake and distribution of substances in an easy-to-understand form.

The individual chapters introduce students to the properties of the soil environment, which have a significant influence on the availability of substances, as well as the transport of substances across membranes and over medium and long distances. The text contains the latest findings from the English literature, supplemented by diagrams and graphs created by the author on the basis of his own research or by compiling several sources.

The text is intended primarily for students of a master's degree in biology or ecology and assumes at least a basic knowledge of plant physiology.

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Jozef Kováčik

These "Exercise Manuals" present a concise overview of commonly used methodologies as well as progressive techniques, such as the use of liquid chromatography and fluorescence microscopy. Individual tasks were selected based on the research focus of the Department of Botany at the Faculty of Science, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, particularly in the context of "stress physiology."

Some tasks can also be utilized within the subject "Plant Ecology." Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) is typically used as a model plant for individual tasks due to its long-standing history of research at the Department of Botany and its ease of cultivation under laboratory conditions. The chapters also briefly discuss the significance of monitored parameters, principles of their determination, and metabolism (formation or degradation), aiming to indicate their mutual context.

This approach highlights that determining an individual parameter cannot provide a general explanation for the overall causes and impacts of observed changes; however, it can serve as a basis for testing hypotheses at the level of other parameters.

For deeper study of specific issues, there is an abundance of high-quality international monographs and review articles available.

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E-book

Katarína Štrofeková

Cell Biophysics II is the one semester comprehensive course textbook for PhD students. It encompasses basic principles and mechanisms underlying cell physiology and biophysics with aims:

• General knowledge of the principles of cellular function, including membrane, cytoplasmic and nuclear roles in normal and abnormal conditions.
• In-depth understanding of the mechanisms underlying the cell functions at the molecular and subcellular level.
• Awareness of cell pathologies that lead to specific disease symptoms and phenotypes.
• The ability to apply learned principles to solve new problems (analysis & synthesis).

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Norbert Kopčo - Frederick Gallun - Beáta Tomoriová - Ľuboš Hládek(eds.)

Cognitive neuroscience is a fast developing scientific field which aims at uncovering the neural basis of human perception and cognition. To achieve this goal, cognitive neuroscience uses a variety of tools and approaches ranging from non-invasive brain imaging to psychophysics and neural modeling. Mastering such tools requires skills and knowledge from multiple scientific domains, including neurophysiology, cognitive psychology, and several computational fields.

Access on request via email: kogneuro (@) gmail.com

http://pcl.upjs.sk/workshopcd 

https://sites.google.com/site/kogneuro/