Essentials of Language Typology

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Dušan Šlosár - Vladimír Lichner

This university textbook aims to provide readers with knowledge of the philosophical foundations, meaning, and purpose of mediation, based on research and analysis of mediators' activities. In countries where mediation services operate, their staff often include graduates of social work departments.

An individual approach to both the perpetrator and victim of a criminal offense requires knowledge and skills from social work, psychology, sociology, communication, and related fields tied to social work. The principles of social work apply not only in social policy and social care but also in justice. A mediator’s mission is to facilitate alternative resolutions to unlawful acts while preserving the purpose of legal proceedings as defined by valid legal norms. They fulfill this mission through specific methods of individual social work applied in the justice sector. The mediator’s focus extends beyond the current conflict to uncover related issues, activate parties to resolve disputes, and prevent new conflicts.

Special attention is devoted to the philosophical foundations of mediation in Slovakia. We provide an overview of mediators’ core activities and mediation types used to uphold justice in Slovakia. We analyze mediation goals, the roles of parties involved, and procedural steps. In applying mediation, we explore its potential and implementation in both legal and social work contexts.

As indicated, mediation cannot be understood solely as a specialized activity in criminal justice, as it has broader applications in non-judicial dispute resolution, such as family or community work, which are often overlooked by the public. The mediator’s approach to diverse target groups is grounded in theoretical frameworks. From this foundation, we derive activities expected of mediators in the future. Expanded activities arise from concrete situations encountered during mediation.

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Katarína Šiňanská - Františka Petriková (eds.)

The present proceedings is devoted to different perspectives on the problems addressed by the field of social work and also the changes in the orientation of social work with respect to the current requirements of society. Proceeding is made up of a wide range of contributions from various spheres belonging to the sphere of social work. Contributions are devoted to the cyber world of social work, supervision, self-care, risk behavior, but also social work in the past.

The cyberspace in social work is elaborated in several contributions, suggesting a new dimension of social work. In the contributions about cybe world, the authors consider “cyberspace” as a new form of counseling and assistance to clients, as the present time is more online-oriented. Proceedings of international conference "What has brought social work 100 years?"

The past and present forms of social work are therefore devoted to various themes, incentives and insights into the benefits of the contribution of social work over 100 years, examining and evaluating past, present but also future forms of social work as a science.

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Soňa Šnircová

This textbook has been designed as supporting material for the postgraduate course on modern trends in European literature. It focuses on the presentation of five modern literary modes of writing: the realistic mode which was brought to its prominence by the nineteenth-century Realist movement; the stream-of-consciousness and ‘absurdist’ modes which were developed in the context of modernism; and the magical realist and metafictional modes which are associated mainly with postmodernist literary trends. Each mode is represented by a well-known text which demonstrates the formal aspects of each mode and deals with the thematic concerns typical of the literary movement that influenced its production.

The textbook adopts an interdisciplinary approach, placing the chosen literary texts into the historical, philosophical and cultural contexts that shaped their characters, and thereby providing the background knowledge necessary for a deeper understanding of their formal and thematic aspects.

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Mikuláš Jančura - Alžbeta Śnieżko   

In connection with the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, which was commemorated in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2019, an interactive exhibition titled "First Touch of Freedom" was organized under the auspices of Košice Self-Governing Region in collaboration with Ján Bocatius Public Library in Košice, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Nation's Memory Institute, and Slovak Radio and Television. The exhibition took place at Ján Bocatius Public Library and aimed to recall November's events from 1989 while emphasizing its cultural-social dimension and impact.

Conceptually, it focused on developing five dimensions of historical consciousness—a concept mainly developed in contemporary subject-specific didactics for history—namely identity, historicity, memory, spatial awareness, and temporal awareness.

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Soňa Gabzdilová

The educational system (schooling) is one of the most effective tools for shaping the young generation in any advanced society. Schools not only create the knowledge base necessary for fulfilling the demands of the economy and the social sphere, but they also shape the national and ideological identity of each member of society. The school plays a decisive role in forming positive values, but it can also become a breeding ground for xenophobia and racist attitudes. The school has an irreplaceable role in creating national consciousness, identification with one's own nation, its history, the heroic deeds of ancestors, and the meaning of its existence.

After the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, there were fundamental geopolitical changes in Central Europe. One of these was the creation of Czechoslovakia, a state founded on radically different principles than pre-war Hungary. The founders of the Czechoslovak Republic (CSR), the personalities who decisively determined the character of the political system in the newly established republic, did not belong to the privileged classes of the previous regime. Unlike Hungary, where political power was controlled almost without exception by the nobility, the elite in Czechoslovakia consisted of men who were radical critics of Austria-Hungary.

A fitting example was the most influential figure of interwar Czechoslovakia, President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. Despite his origins, Masaryk was perceived by both Czechs and Slovaks as the founder of the state, a legendary figure whose political and social influence far exceeded the powers of the presidential office.

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Patrik Furik - Michaela Ružičková - Dávid Gajdoščík - Peter Dubóczi - Barbora Linhartová - Lucia Grieger

The textbook entitled Political Systems of the BRICS States is published as an output of the KEGA 014UPJŠ-4/2020 Innovative Model of Education Leading to Active Citizenship as a Prevention of the Rise of Political Extremism among Students. The aim of the given publication is to present the basic principles of the political systems of the BRICS bloc states and to provide the reader with the nature and character of the bloc's functioning.

The textbook consists of an introduction and five further chapters. All sections are written in Slovak. The individual chapters focus primarily on characterizing the historical development of the BRICS states, the evolution of their constitutionalism, public administration, and on defining the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of power

The individual chapters describe the political systems of the states: Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China, and South Africa. The introductory chapter of the textbook contains the characteristics of the development and formation of the bloc, as well as information on the cooperation among the BRICS members.

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Peter Fedorčák

When studying the Renaissance, researchers utilize various critical and core terms and concepts which it is necessary to characterize.

However, many such points, notably the following, are problematic: The relationship between the Renaissance and the antiquity; The connection with the Middle Ages; The transformation to Mannerism and Baroque; Realism and Secularism in Renaissance art; The individualism of the Renaissance artist; The reasons for the creation of Renaissance art in Italy, its determinants and stimulators; Distinguishing between the analysis of the genesis of the Renaissance and the analysis of the creation of the period’s art generally; Regional differences in Italy and their impact on the art; Chronological limits of the Renaissance and its milestones; The terms “Medieval Ages” and “Early Modern Period”; The impact, and its extent, of the artistic influences of the Byzantine, Gothic and Romanesque arts on the Renaissance. The term “Renaissance” itself, its content and existence, are also the subject of the discussion with students, alongside learning how such terms and definitions came about and continue to evolve, how they attain their content, how this content morphs in the historical discourse, what academical pluralism and freedom of thinking look like in the discourse led by historians, what the differences are between scientists and schools of thought on the same subject and how it is possible that they are so numerous.

The students will come to recognize the leading scholars in the field, and follow their arguments and methodological approaches. They shall be invited to closely trace and scrutinize the logic which those historians use in building their argumentation. It shall be seen that the freedom to create terms, concepts and new definitions cannot stand on an ignorance of the (historical) facts, as becomes clear with expanding knowledge of those historical facts, the variability of their interpretation growing in tandem. This approach, actually used across the whole range of seminars and lectures, shall drive discussion on the topics covered, students being invited to formulate their own theses and antitheses.

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Vladimír Leško - Zlatica Plašienková (eds.)

In 2007, the philosophical world commemorated an extraordinary anniversary - two hundred years since the first publication of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's brilliant work The Phenomenology of Spirit (1807). Of course, we can have different value scales of the most important philosophical works written in the history of philosophy, but the above-mentioned work of Hegel should certainly not be absent from the top places in them. Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit decisively changed the philosophical discourse of the 19th century and greatly influenced philosophy in the 20th century. Few of the great philosophers after Hegel could afford to pass over the philosophical work of the 1807 supreme representative of German classical philosophy and not draw, either positively or critically, on his philosophical legacy.

The philosophical conference entitled Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit" and the Present, dedicated to Hegel's work Phenomenology of Spirit, was prepared by the Department of Philosophy and History of Philosophy of the Faculty of Arts of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice in cooperation with the Slovak Philosophical Association at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava on October 4, 2007 and was organized by the Slovak Philosophical Association in Košice.

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Renáta Orosová - Katarína Petríková - Lucia Diheneščíková

Based on the analysis of self-reflection competences in future teachers, opinions of the mentor teachers and their recommendations and the set of pupil-oriented and educational process-oriented competences, a protocol for using self-reflection methods has been created. More precisely, it is a self-reflection teaching diary. It is an innovative method of self-reflection competence development in teaching students in their practical specialized preparation, particularly the self-reflective observation practice and conversation.

The Self-Reflection Teaching Diary is the outcome of the VVGS “Innovation in self-reflection competence development teaching methods in the practical specialized training of future teachers” grant project solving. It is an innovative and creative text-based tool not only for teaching students but also for university teachers specializing in their practical preparation as well as mentor teachers in primary and secondary schools. Its English version can be used by teaching students on their study stays abroad. It is also a transparent and unified tool in the practical preparation of future teachers aiming at the development of their self-reflection competences.

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Ivica Hajdučeková

The anthology was created based on the study of archival volumes of Živena preserved in the Slovak National Library in Martin and the selection of material representing samples of texts that reflect the spirit of the times and contribute to the image of the contemporary modern woman.

The selection of articles from 1919 to 1928 uncovers the cultural atmosphere at the beginning of the 20th century when, thanks to emancipation efforts, doors were opening for women into public and professional life. Students from the 3rd and 4th years of the School of Applied Arts in Košice, under the guidance of teachers in photographic design and Slovak language and literature, were involved in preparing the illustrative component of the anthology, whose artistic interpretations are part of the publication. Their contribution meets the criteria for combining science and practice with a focus on popularizing research results.

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Jozef Bavoľár - Ján Ferjenčík - Pavol Kačmár

Učebnica pokročilých štatistických metód v behaviorálnych s sociálnych vedách je určená študentom týchto vied, ako aj tým, ktorí sa vo svojej výskumnej praxi stretávajú s riešením stredne náročných výskumných otázok, pre zvládnutie ktorých nie je postačujúca znalosť základných štatistických metód. Učebnica na nich stavia, jej jadro však tvoria štatistické metódy, ktoré sa sústredia najmä na zachytenie multivariačných vzťahov. V úvodnej kapitole sú uvedené základné princípy testovania nulových hypotéz ako základ uvádzaných metód, pričom sú zohľadňované najnovšie trendy zamerané na otvorenosť a replikovateľnosť výskumov. Každá z nasledujúcich kapitol je venovaná vybranej metóde, prípadne skupine metód. V úvodných kapitolách sú to lineárna a logistická regresia, na ktoré nadväzuje sledovanie mediačných a moderačných efektov. Druhý veľký celok tvoria metódy skupinového porovnávania, kde sú vysvetlené rôzne alternatívy analýzy rozptylu (jednovchodná, viacvchodná, pre nezávislé výbery, opakovaná, zmiešaná), ich neparametrické alternatívy, multivariačná analýza rozptylu a analýza kovariancie. V záverečných kapitolách sú najprv prezentované dve metódy zachytávajúce podobnosti či vzťahy medzi objektmi (zhluková analýza, faktorová analýza), následne sú uvádzané princípy modelovania štrukturálnymi rovnicami. V každej kapitole je po vysvetlení účelu metódy a jej základných princípov demonštrované jej použitie na konkrétnom príklade, ponúkané sú aj návody pre výpočet v troch štatistických programoch – SPSS, Jamovi a JASP. Snahou autorov je poskytnúť učebnicu, kde záujemcovia aj bez hlbšieho matematického základu budú schopní porozumieť prezentovaným štatistickým postupom, zvoliť si pre nich ten najvhodnejší, a následne ho aj použiť na svojich dátach.

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Katarína Duffeková - Benita Feketeová - Katarína Lörincová (eds.)

The presented work is a collection of contributions from the 9th International Online Scientific Conference of Students and Young Scientists, organized on December 4, 2020 by the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, the Faculty of Social Sciences UCM in Trnava and the OZ Res Publica.

The aim of the publication is to provide a platform to discuss important issues which could influence the course of events in next decade in Slovakia, Europe and world.

The publication consists of more than twenty articles, which are primarily in Slovak but also in English. The contributions deal with both domestic and foreign policy with focus on the third decade of the 21st century.

In addition to geopolitical issues, the contributions also cover migration, regional integration, populism and nationalism, the influence of the media and social networks in the political sphere and also the development of liberal democracy. The authors also address issues of municipal policy, the electoral system and the referendum.

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Margita Mesárošová - Miroslava Köverová - Soňa Lovašová

Intervention Program for Supporting Self-Care in Helping Professions: "How Do I Take Care of Myself?" The intervention program "How Do I Take Care of Myself?" was developed as part of the research project APVV14-0921, "Self-Care as a Factor in Coping with the Negative Consequences of Engaging in Helping Professions." Its uniqueness lies in being created based on specific research outputs from the program's authors and project.

In the first chapter, the authors offer insights into the preparation of the intervention program, justifying its theoretical foundations, methods, and specifics of the program participants. They also provide an overview of research on the effectiveness of various intervention programs aimed at reducing the negative consequences of helping and enhancing self-care and other positive effects of engaging in helping professions. Subsequent chapters focus on a detailed analysis and evaluation of the effectiveness of the intervention program "How Do I Take Care of Myself?" and its comparison with the effectiveness of other programs, which were differently focused, targeted at different populations of helping professionals, and had different theoretical and practical orientations and foundations. Most of these studies demonstrated positive changes only in isolated cases, due to various methodological shortcomings often related to practical application.

What differentiates the intervention program presented in this monograph is the participation of helping professionals actively practicing in the social field, unlike most intervention programs compiled and validated for students of these professions. The student population, being more accessible to researchers, allows for better methodology, including a larger number of participants, as well as experimental manipulation and group balancing. In the case of participants in the validation of the program "How Do I Take Care of Myself?", it involved practitioners who are engaged in the daily work process and completed training during their work breaks, which placed high demands on balancing their work and personal tasks. We believe that the effects we discovered during the validation of the effectiveness of the presented intervention program were not always clearly mathematically graspable but were evident from individual feedback.

We present the text of this monograph to the professional public with the aim of highlighting the benefits, limitations of the intervention program, as well as inspiring researchers and practitioners to further work in this area.

Authors

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Stanislav Hvozdík 

Obdobie staršej dospelosti je aj pre psychológiu príležitosť urobiť syntézu svojej prírodovednej tradície a filozofickej tradície. Psychológia sa takto môže lepšie napojiť na mentálnu prácu ľudí žijúcich toto vekové obdobie staršej dospelosti usilujúcich v rozličnej miere o  komplexicitu vo svojom živote. Psychológia môže pomôcť tomuto úsiliu, pretože celistvosť človeka je aj programom jej rozvoja. Publikácia rozpoznáva seniora  nie len ako objekt, ale aj ako subjekt usilujúci o svoju podmetovosť na jeho celoživotnej ceste. Priatie veku hľadá svoje optimálne vyjadrenie a je možné najmä v súvsťažností psychologického a spirituálneho vývinu človeka. Psychológia staršieho človeka objavuje starobu nie ako totalitu vyraďujúcu človeka  z cyklu života, ale ako obdobie výberu pre život dôležitých domén spojených s preladením do vnútra, ktoré doceňuje pokoj. V tejto optike sa selektujú veci a javy tak aby nerušili, ale harmonizovali. To nie je odmietnutie vonkajšieho, ale rozlíšenie kedy dáva zmysel. Staroba preveruje aj spoločnosť , verejnosť, ktorá by mala odrážať úroveň procesov starostlivosti o duševno. Aby svet urobilo užitočným pre človeka, ale je aj dôvodom ako to vyjadril Patočka samotnej starostlivosti o toto duševno. Pozícia starého človeka v spoločnosti je obrazom toho akú váhu spoločnosť prikladá duševnému životu ľudí. Publikácia prináša poznatky psychologickej povahy o tomto vekovom období a v špeciálnej časti informácie okolo pomáhania a poradenstva. 

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Eva Žiaková - Tomáš Šeďo (eds.)

Peer-reviewed collection of contributions from an online scientific conference (9^th year of Košické dni sociálnej práce) with international attendance held on the 26^th of November 2021.

The present peer-reviewed collection of contributions titled “Metanoia in social work theory and practice” is an output of the 9^th year of Košické dni sociálnej práce, an online conference with international attendance held on the 26^th of November 2021. As the name of the conference implies, the pivotal topic of submitted contributions is metanoia, which represents a change in life attitude. Various interesting and actual issues concerning diverse aspects of social work are discussed in the individual contributions.

The present collection comprises contributions oriented towards the issues of social pathology and its prevention, supervision, the importance of digital technologies in social work, research methods, self-care and so forth. The collection further contains several contributions devoted to the exceptionally actual issues of radicalism and extremism, which are widespread and serious occurrences in the present time. The contributions are highly original and beneficial from the point of view of theoretical conceptions and methodological procedures apart from offering quality empirical processing and interesting results.

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