Profesori Prírodovedeckej fakulty UPJŠ v Košiciach 1963 – 2023

E-publication

Beáta Valkayed.
Ivana Slepáková-Lenka Maliničová a kol.

The EFFUSE Teacher's Guide is a practical educational material for primary and secondary school teachers who want to develop environmental awareness with their pupils through field-based learning. It is based on the concept of the EFFUSE project (‘Environment for the future by science education’), which aims to link science, research and education with environmental protection. The manual provides teachers with methodological support for planning and implementing outdoor activities aimed at observing and documenting organisms around the Laborec River and the Uh River. It contains instructions for working with real samples, basic biomonitoring procedures and offers the opportunity to participate in the creation of a virtual laboratory that mirrors the state of the local aquatic ecosystem. Through these activities, pupils will learn to understand the links between human activity and the state of the environment, while learning the basics of how scientists work in the fields of biology and ecology. The guide also motivates teachers to become agents of positive change, inspire the younger generation to be active and engage the community in conservation. It is a challenge and an opportunity to create a space for meaningful learning in line with current trends in environmental and digital education.

Download the e-book for free (pdf)

E-book

Jozef Strečka

Over the past fifteen years, the course on ’Exactly Solvable Models in Statistical Physics’ has become an indispensable ground of the study programme ’Theoretical Physics’ at Faculty of Science of Pavol Jozef Šafarik University in Košice. At first, the course based on the first edition of this textbook was intended for undergraduate students only, however, I have later prepared follow-up course taught at a postgraduate level on demand of several ambitious students who wished to continue in studying this exciting research field.

It is already more than decade when our students enrolled in the study programme ’Theoretical Physics’ graduate from ’Introduction to Exactly Solvable Models in Statistical Physics’ at a master level and ’Exactly Solvable Models in Statistical Physics’ at a postgraduate level. Of course, it was necessary somehow to rearrange topics for the courses of undergraduate and postgraduate students.

More specifically, a few more challenging topics concerned with exact solutions of 2D Ising model (chapter 3) were moved to a more advanced course intended for the postgraduate students, while an introductory course intended for the undergraduate students was contrarily supplemented with a few new topics requiring the second edition of this textbook.

The second edition of this textbook thus contains a completely new chapter 4 devoted to the exact solution of the Ising model on the Bethe lattice using the method of exact recursion relations, while the chapter 5 was supplemented by exact results for ground state of a few frustrated Heisenberg spin models using the variational method. It is my hope that the next edition of this textbook will come soon and it will involve all topics specifically taught within the postgraduate course as well. 

Download the e-book for free  (pdf)

E-book

Karel Saksl

Solving crystal structures is the royal discipline of X-ray crystallography. Its primary task, with the exception of defects, is to describe the atomic structure of the motif that, by its repetition, fills the volume of the entire crystal or crystalline phase. This task is nowadays more or less routine for single-crystal X-ray diffraction, which can locate hundreds to thousands of non-hydrogen atoms in large unit cells. However, in real practice, we often have material available only in powder form instead of single crystals. Solving the atomic structure from its X-ray diffraction data is non-trivial, mainly because the three-dimensional diffraction space of a single crystal is reduced to one dimension by measuring a large number of randomly oriented microcrystals (crystallites). Therefore, the solution itself requires, in addition to proper measurement methodology, the selection of suitable tools, procedures, and strategies that, through optimization, will lead to the solution and refinement of the given crystalline phase. The current limit of this method is approximately 100 non-hydrogen atoms in the asymmetric part of the unit cell, which, however, is sufficient for most inorganic materials.

The goal of these educational texts is to provide students in the second and third levels of university studies with specific guidance on solving crystal structures from powder X-ray diffraction data. These scripts build upon my first monograph and require practical knowledge of its content. Similar to my previous monograph, I offer solved examples without a deep theoretical introduction, demonstrating procedures and strategies leading to the correct solution of crystalline phases using the freely available GSAS-II program. The examples are arranged from simpler to more complex, and the reader will find many useful pieces of information in the literature references as well as in the comments below the line. Part of these scripts are data intended for your individual practice of the described procedures. 

Karel Sakls

Download the e-book for free  (pdf)

E-book

Vladimír Sedlák

In the presented university textbooks, so-called satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS, from the English Satellite Based Augmentation Systems, in Slovak Systémy rozširujúce základné satelitné systémy) are also discussed. These systems enhance, expand, or refine the basic satellite navigation systems. They are supportive satellite systems for GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems). Currently, the long-operational American GPS and Russian GLONASS systems, as well as the partially operational European Galileo system (since December 2016), have and will continue to have broad applications in various fields of human activity, both professional and personal.

The university textbook Globálne navigačné satelitné systémy (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) reflects the current progressive development in the technological and instrumental principles and components of such satellite navigation systems. It presents the state of these satellite technologies from their historical origins and development to the present. The rapid advancements, particularly in the instrumental base of satellite navigation systems, will require updates on their current state in future editions of these university textbooks.

Download the e-book for free (pdf)

E-book

Mária Kožurková

These university textbooks are intended for first-year master's degree students at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of UPJŠ in Košice. The scope and content of the works included in these scripts are primarily based on time and spatial constraints, taking into account the material demands of the tasks.

The aim of these scripts is to teach students basic microbiological techniques and to show them the importance of microorganisms in everyday life and their crucial role in nature. The exercises are designed to enhance students' technical skills and teach them to work according to safety principles.

The text is divided into 13 parts. Each part begins with an introduction to the theory related to the practice topic. The appendix includes a proposal for the preparation of protocols for individual exercises.

Download the e-book for free (pdf)

E-book

Mária Ganajová

The current teaching of chemistry has its specific problems. On one hand, due to the shift of the focus of chemistry curriculum towards theoretical content, the difficulty of chemistry material has increased, and in connection with this, students' interest in chemistry has decreased.

The lack of student interest in chemistry is mostly supported by the opinion that it is precisely chemistry that significantly contributes to the deterioration of environmental quality. On the other hand, we live in an era where we encounter chemical products practically everywhere. It is necessary to learn the basics of chemistry as well as possible, which makes the question of increasing interest in chemistry education and improving its effectiveness very relevant. State educational programs have been introduced into Slovak schools as a foundation for the creation of school educational programs. These emphasize not only acquiring a certain amount of knowledge but also the development and enhancement of key and specific competencies of students, preparing them for lifelong learning and their application in life.

Therefore, increasing attention is being paid to one of the fundamental didactic tools for raising student activity in teaching, and thus improving the effectiveness of chemistry education – learning tasks. From both theory and practice of chemistry teaching, we know that learning tasks, questions, examples, exercises, etc., are among the important components of every teaching lesson. Learning tasks are applied in all phases of teaching – in the motivational phase, the phase of acquiring knowledge, the phase of consolidating knowledge, and the phase of checking the acquired knowledge. It is therefore clear that every teacher will sooner or later find themselves in a situation where they will have to select learning tasks from textbooks, workbooks, collections of problems and examples, or create them themselves.

This scientific monograph is intended for educational specialists and chemistry teachers, aiming to familiarize them with examples of various types and forms of learning tasks and the basics of their creation in chemistry. It can also be helpful for them in preparing certification works focused on test creation and their statistical evaluation.

Download the e-book for free (pdf)

E-book

Renáta Oriňaková(ed.)

Trends in chemistry, research and education at Faculty of Sciences of P.J. Šafárik University Košice

November 4, 2016, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Košice, Slovakia

Organized by:
Faculty of Natural Sciences
Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice
Slovak Chemical Society

Download the e-book for free (pdf)

E-book

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.

Download the e-book for free  (pdf)

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.

Download the e-book for free (pdf)

E-book

Soňa Király (ed.) 

The Book of Abstracts of the International Conference on Advanced Materials IMAM 2026 consists of contributions from the participants of this scientific event. The proceedings contain 22 abstracts presenting current research results in the field of advanced materials and their applications across various scientific and technological disciplines. The contributions focus mainly on the development of new materials, electrochemical sensors, energy systems, and biomedical applications. All abstracts are prepared at a professional level and provide an overview of current trends in advanced materials research.

Download the e-book for free (pdf)

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

Download the e-book for free (pdf)

E-book

Ladislav Janovec

An enormous progress in computer technology, closely linked with advances in computational chemistry, has enabled the user to exploit the principles of quantum chemistry to elucidate the chemical phenomena.

Computational chemistry is the branch of science that requires, except an academic knowledge, software skills to fully exploit a potential of theoretical methods. The aim of this textbook is to help the user take the legendary first step in the field of computational chemistry to opening a new horizon of knowledge.

Download the e-book for free (pdf)

Matúš Harminc

Učebný text je určený poslucháčom medziodborového štúdia v kombinácii s matematikou, jednoodborového štúdia matematiky ako aj rozširujúceho štúdia matematiky. Je zameraný na základné poznatky o deliteľnosti celých čísel, kongruenciách a aritmetických funkciách.

Autor

E-book

Monika Balogová - Viktória Vargová - Kristián Gulyás - Natália Pipová - Dalibor Uhrovič -Marcel Uhrin

A peer-reviewed publication dealing with the biology and ecology of the European green toad, bringing new findings through scientific research on the roosting ecology, spatial activity and dispersal of this protected species in urban environments. The subject matter of this publication is highly topical, as amphibians represent the most threatened vertebrate group in the world. This work is suitable not only for university students interested in batrachology, amphibian ecology, and vertebrate zoology, but also for conservation workers, municipalities, and specialists directly involved in the reconstruction of urban areas with green toads. Last but not least, this publication is suitable for enthusiasts with an interest in nature and its conservation.

Download the e-book for free (pdf)

E-book

Mária Ganajová - Jozef Hanč - Ivana Sotáková - Petra Letošníková (eds.)

The International Conference on Research in Didactics of the Science – DidSci+ 2022, continues in the educational legacy of the successful series of the previous DidSci conferences held from 2004 in Krakow, Prague, Brno, or Trnava. The DidSci+ conferences present a platform for enduring international cooperation, focusing on the frontiers and current challenges in science education research. This special edition of DidSci conferences, celebrating its 10th anniversary, was held in Košice, at the Faculty of Science of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, from June 26 to 29, 2022. The careful double-blind review process has led to two major publications offering a comprehensive look at the latest advances in STEM and science subjects education. The first volume of selected papers is published as the IOP Conference Series proceedings, Vol. 3037 with open access at https://iopscience.iop.org/issue/1742-6596/3037/1, and is primarily devoted to STEM education, assessment, evaluation, feedback strategies, and teacher development. The second volume of selected papers, published by ŠafárikPress, focuses more on curriculum development, educational innovation, and digital technologies, primarily in chemistry and biology. Both publications are intended for a wide audience, including in-service and pre-service teachers of science subjects, university students in scientific disciplines, researchers in science education, professionals in pedagogical and methodological centers, curriculum developers, and textbook authors.

Download the e-book for free (pdf)

E-book

Jana Shepa (ed.)

The book of abstracts from 7th International Conference on Novel Materials: Fundamentals and Applications, NFA 2023 is composed of contributions from the participants of this international conference. The conference consisted of 3 invited lecture and 40 abstracts of participants. The conference is focused on novel materials and its application in various research areas. All contributions are professionally processed and inspiring.

Download the e-book for free (pdf)