A guide to the didactics of biology

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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Slávka Hamuľaková

The textbook "Structure and reactivity - solved examples and tasks, part 1" is the basis for teaching the subject "Structure and reactivity" for students of the 1st year of master's studies at the Faculty of Science, UPJŠ, department of Organic Chemistry. The textbook is divided into individual chapters, each chapter offering students examples of chemical reactions, where their course is explained on the basis of appropriate reaction mechanisms. A substantial part of the textbook consists of unresolved tasks, the main goal of which is the development of students' knowledge and skills. Due to the fact that the textbook is focused on only one semester of study, it cannot cover all reactions, rather it is only representative examples of different types of reactions, such as: addition reactions, elimination reactions, aromatic substitution, addition-elimination reactions, radical reactions and pericyclic reactions.

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E-book

Ľubomír Antoni a kol.

In university textbooks, we present the basics of the Internet of Things, its origin and technological development, concept. We classify Internet of Things applications into the areas of healthcare, intelligent environment, personal and social areas, transport and logistics, smart cities.

We present an overview of university subjects in the field of the Internet of Things, which were created and innovated at Slovak universities within the national project IT Academy - Education for the 21st Century. We present extended subject annotations, application examples and case studies using various methods in the field of the Internet of Things.

University textbooks are intended for students of bachelor's, master's, engineering and doctoral study programs in computer science, but also in non-informatics fields.

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E-book

Mária Vilková - Zuzana Kudličková - Aneta Salayová - Tomáš Ján Liška

The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Practicum – Part 1: Quantitative NMR is designed for students taking the NMR Practicals course, which focuses on the practical aspects of quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR). This publication builds on previous NMR courses and assumes basic theoretical knowledge of the method, emphasizing experimental procedures, data processing, and result interpretation. qNMR is a precise analytical technique with broad applications in analytical chemistry, pharmaceutical research, biomedicine, and quality control. The script provides a detailed guide to conducting experiments, as well as procedures for analyzing and evaluating acquired data. This publication offers students methodological guidance and support in mastering qNMR analysis and serves as a valuable resource not only during their studies but also for further research in NMR spectroscopy.

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E-book

Natália Raschmanová - Ľubomír Kováč

The text summarizes the basic knowledge about the functioning of the soil ecosystem with a focus on soil protists and dominant groups of soil animals. Characteristics of each soil animal group include basic morphology, ecology, distribution, population dynamics and their importance in the soil ecosystem. The aim of the text is to gain a basic understanding of the diversity and interactions of soil fauna with the soil environment. It deals with the ecological classification of soil fauna on the basis of body size, presence in the soil during the life cycle, food preference and by locomotion. It highlights important morphological and ecophysiological adaptations of soil fauna to physical and chemical environmental factors. The text also gives an overview of the basic methods in the field collection of soil fauna and their extraction from soil samples under laboratory conditions. It further informs on the method of taxonomic identification and ecological evaluation of soil fauna communities. Discusses the soil fauna of different types of ecosystems. It highlights the differences in soil fauna communities that inhabit grassland and forest habitats, and agricultural soils. This teaching material is intended for students in biology degree programmes.

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E-book

Vladimír Sedlák

The university textbooks entitled Global Navigation Satellite Systems: GPS, GLONAS, Galileo, Compass present four navigation systems of the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems): American NAVSTAR GPS, Russian GLONASS, European Galileo and Chinese Compass. The Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) are also briefly explained. They provide regional service in augmenting the reach and support of signals from satellites of the GNSS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Compass). Each satellite navigation system in the frame of GNSS is elucidated in terms of its principles of operation, structure, specificities, applications, and future perspectives.

The university textbook aims to improve the reader’s understanding of the principles and activities of the presented GNSS. The book emphasizes the possibilities of GNSS applications in geodesy and geography. The university textbook constitutes the basic study literature for the class Global Navigation Satellite Systems within the study program Geography and Geoinformatics at the Faculty of Science of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. For a deeper study of the GNSS issue, it is necessary to extend the study materials to include other educational scientific literature dealing with navigation satellite systems and their applications.

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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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Stela Csachová - Ján Kaňuk - Alena Gessert - Ladislav Novotný - Štefan Gábor - Jozef Šupinský

This book addressed the inquiry-based learning and teaching with the support of geospatial technologies. Today, geospatial technologies are influencing geography teaching learning, particularly in secondary education. Theoretical framework gives the reader the insight to inquiry-based learning, with special focus on inquiry in geography. The one-by-one step of inquiry is analysed in detail. The major part of the book presents the eleven models of geography lessons, representing the subject content of physical, human and regional geographies, various levels of inquiry and use of different geospatial technologies. The readers are acquainted with the use of geographic information system (particularly Google Earth and ArcGIS online), web portals, webGIS, open data, mobile applications and new forms of 3D cartographic visualisation (virtual reality, 3D print, dynamic 3D map) in teaching geography. The lesson models were tested with the students to be geography teachers in school year 2021/2022. This books serves as resource mainly for undergraduate teacher students and in-service geography teachers.

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E-book

Adriana Zeleňáková - Jozef Bednarčík

Peer-reviewed Proceedings of the Scientific Conference NANOVIR

The main objective of the scientific conference NANOVIR was the presentation of scientific results obtained during the implementation of the NANOVIR project – Nanoparticles for solving diagnostic and therapeutic problems with COVID-19, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund within the Operational Programme Integrated Infrastructure 2014 – 2020, ITMS: 313011AUW7.

The project was carried out from January 1, 2021, to June 30, 2023, and was supported with a sum of EUR 1,916,004.79. Three co-investigating organizations participated in the project: Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice as the main investigator, the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice as partner no. 1, and the Institute of Experimental Physics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences as partner no. 2.

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Jana Shepa - Ivana Šišoláková (eds.)

Abstracts of the 4th International Conference Nanomaterials: Fundamentals and Applications (NFA) 2020 is the contributions summary of the conference participants. The conference will feature three invited lectures and eight registered lectures. This conference is a tool for creating a dialogue between experts in the field of nanomaterials, their use and overall application in various fields. Papers in the proceedings are thematically divided into 6 areas. All contributions are highly professional and interesting and can contribute to further creative scientific work.

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Stanislav Lukáč - Ľubomír Šnajder - Ján Guniš - Zuzana Ješková

The publication is intended for researchers in didactics and teachers of mathematics and computer science. Our aim is to provide readers with a basic orientation in the issue of inquiry-based teaching, to explain and demonstrate several levels of student inquiry through examples, and to offer a classification of inquiry skills.

The core part of the publication consists of methodologies for inquiry-based teaching of specific topics from school mathematics and computer science. We present ideas for implementing inquiry activities, active work with information in solving various types of problems, and the application of modern digital technologies in exploring and discovering patterns.

The publication includes seven methodologies for teaching mathematics and eight methodologies for teaching computer science in the 1st and 2nd years of secondary school.

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Prílohy

E-book

Miroslav Almáši  Nikolas Király   eds.

The conference proceedings of Porous Materials for Environmental Applications 2026 represent a collection of scientific and professional contributions presented at the international scientific conference held on 15–19 March 2026 in Białka Tatrzańska (Poland). The conference focused on current trends in the research of porous materials and their applications in environmental, catalytic, energy-related, and biomedical fields. The event provided an interdisciplinary platform for the exchange of the latest scientific knowledge in the design, synthesis, characterization, and practical utilization of porous materials.

Particular attention was devoted to their application in adsorption and separation processes, heterogeneous catalysis, photocatalysis, energy storage and conversion, as well as in biological and medical applications. The published abstracts reflect current challenges related to sustainable development, green technologies, and advanced materials solutions. The proceedings offer a comprehensive overview of the current state of porous materials research at the international level and document the dynamic development of this field with significant overlap into environmental chemistry, materials science, and chemical engineering.

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E-book

Daniela Kladeková

Working with this study text requires adequate knowledge of physical chemistry, physics, and biology, as navigating the presented material becomes challenging without this foundation. A solid grasp of mathematics is essential and aids in understanding colloidal chemistry problems. The textbook, structured into individual chapters, first addresses optical and molecular-kinetic properties after classifying and characterizing disperse systems.

This university-level textbook is primarily intended for students in chemical and ecological disciplines at the Faculty of Science, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. It does not aim to exhaustively cover every detail of the subject, as comprehensive treatments are already available in specialized monographs on colloid and macromolecular chemistry, as well as in foundational physical chemistry textbooks.

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E-book

Adriana Zeleňáková - Zuzana Ješková - Adela Kravčáková - Gabriela Fabriciová - Erik Čižmár - Róbert Tarasenko - Jaroslava Szűcsová - Ľuboš Nagy (eds.)

Zborník obsahuje abstrakty príspevkov účastníkov 14. česko - slovenskej študentskej vedeckej konferencie vo fyzike, ktorá sa konala 2.-3.mája 2024 na PF UPJŠ v Košiciach.

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E-book

Vladimír Komanický

The aim of this textbook is to acquaint students in physics, chemistry and material science on both undergraduate and graduate level, with the techniques used to prepare micro-electromechanical devices, nanoobjects and nanostructures using the so called top down methodologies. The is no requirement for this course to pass any prior courses. The introduction part of the text defines the forces that affect nanoobjects and the interactions between them. Reader can understand in detail why properties of nanomaterials and nanostructures are so different when comprared to their macroscopic counterparts. Text gives also an overview of thin film preparation technologies as precursors for the preparation of nanostructures. The main emphasis in Volume I is on conventional lithographic technologies for the preparation and shaping of nanostructures, methods for characterization of thin films, nanoparticles and nanomaterials. Unconventional lithographic methods will also be discussed in the prepared upcoming Volume II. Student will also get acquainted with the applications of nanostructures in research focused on nanophysics, nanocatalysis and nanoelectronics. The textbook is used as a study material for the course ÚFV / MPN / 14 - Methods of preparation and characterization of nanostructures. Part of the course is also a laboratory exercise in which the student gets acquainted with the techiques used for the preparation and characterization of thin films and top-down technologies used for the preparation of nanostructures.

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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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