Book of abstracts - New trends in chemistry

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

Michal Hnatič - Tomáš Lučivjanský

This textbook is primarily intended for first-year master's degree students at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, especially those in the nuclear physics, subnuclear physics, and theoretical physics programs. For many years, these lectures were taught by one of the authors at this university, and naturally, over time, there arose an effort to provide these lectures to students in printed form.

In this textbook, we will focus mainly on classical field theory, its quantization based on the operator approach, and the introduction of interactions. Descriptions based on functional integration, Feynman diagram techniques, and more advanced parts will be covered in a subsequent volume of the textbook. In this context, we want to emphasize that in many modern quantum field theory textbooks, the operator approach is used to a lesser extent and is replaced by the approach using (functional) path integrals.

This is probably due to time considerations, as the functional approach leads much faster to practical calculations. On the other hand, we believe that the operator approach is better from a pedagogical point of view. It is much closer to the traditional quantum mechanics course, which is often based on the Schrödinger or Heisenberg formalism. Therefore, students can much more easily follow the flow of ideas that led to the construction of quantum field theory and its fundamental concepts.

Download e-book for free (pdf)

E-book

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.

Download the e-book for free (pdf)

E-publication
Michal Goga-Marko S. Sabovljević-Martin Bačkor-Dajana Kecsey-Deepti Routray
A comprehensive guide that introduces you to the fascinating diversity and systematics of lower plants. These practical lessons are designed to provide hands-on training, allowing students to engage directly with the interesting study of Cryptogams by observation, analysis, and identification and experimentation. Beginning with the overall idea of cryptogam in a field trip near by the vicinity of Botanical garden then followed by the basics of microscopy in, will help to gain essential skills in understanding the components and proper usage of a microscope, a fundamental tool in botanical studies.
Download the e-book for free (pdf)

E-book

Ľubomír Šnajder - Ján Guniš

The publication lists interim results of qualitative educational research focused on the development and evaluation of programming tasks being carried out by authors since 2005 in the frame of programming competition PALMA junior.

The publication consists of three chapters: Computer science competitions in Slovakia, Tasks in computer science education, Selected problems of PALMA junior competition. The first chapter provides an overview of computer science competitions for a primary and secondary schools in Slovakia. The second chapter described the issue of learning tasks - their components, focus, formulation types, and development system of tasks. The third chapter contains the assignments and commented author solutions of selected problems represented focus of PALMA junior competition – programming, algorithms and mathematics.

For each problem is mentioned analysis of pupils’ solutions aimed to ways of thinking, typical misconceptions, sets of preparatory and extended problems. The publication is addressed to computer science teacher trainers, authors of programming competitions problems, and computer science teachers.  

Download the e-book for free (pdf)

E-book

Jana Špaková Raschmanová - Zuzana Kudličková - Kvetoslava Stanková

Organic chemistry plays a key role in our lives, from the pharmaceutical industry to the production of plastics and food additives. Additionally, it is essential in biochemistry, as it deals with the basic building blocks of living organisms, such as carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. One of the best ways to teach organic chemistry and increase students' interest in the subject is through conducting school experiments. This study material presents a collection of visually striking practical experiments in organic chemistry that will help students better understand the chemical processes and techniques used in the field. This electronic study material is supplemented with visual material, allowing students to verify the results of experiments and better understand the individual procedures. At the end of each section, there are questions to help assess the acquired knowledge and encourage deeper understanding of the experiments conducted.

Download the e-book for free (pdf)

E-book

Janetta Nestorová Dická

The university handbook Elementals of Population Geography and Demography - Part I, as an introduction to population studies, is primary study material for students of the geography study program, as well as for students of the Information Systems in Public Administration study program at the Pavel Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, but also for the wider public interested in about population phenomena and their spatiality. Among other things, the handbook offers the latest population reports in the world and its regions.

The aim of the handbook is to introduce young geographers to the basics of population research, which includes the most frequently used tools and methods in geographic analysis. The first part of the handbook contains an introduction to the scientific disciplines of population geography and demography with an overview of basic sources of demographic data.

The next part discusses the issue of anthropogenesis, i.e. the development of humans from our ancestors and the spatial spread of humans across our Earth. Part of this part is the recent development of the world population and changes in the size and distribution of the global population over time. The last part analyses how the population is distributed in the world and in relation to the geographical components of the space.

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

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.

Download the e-book for free  (pdf)

Valéria Skřivánková 

Predložený učebný text sa pokúša ilustrovať možné aplikácie Teórie pravdepodobnosti na príkladoch z oblastí (vo fyzike, chémii,  biológii, ekonomike, finančníctve, atď.), ktoré sú spestrené o úlohy na hľadanie optimálnej stratégie.

Text je určený predovšetkým poslucháčom Prírodovedeckej fakulty UPJŠ, budúcim učiteľom matematiky, študentom odboru matematika a informatika prípadne iným záujemcom, ktorí budú aplikovať pravdepodobnostné metódy pri riešení reálnych problémov. Obsahom pokrýva prvú časť predmetu "Pravdepodobnosť a štatistika".

Autorka

E-book

Peter Kollár

The textbook Semiconductor Elements was developed gradually over the past years as an aid for second-year master's students in condensed matter physics. It is intended to support students’ understanding of lectures, considering that important texts, mathematical relationships, and illustrations are provided in advance in the form they will be presented during the lecture.

This allows students to supplement individual pages with their own notes during the lecture, either electronically or in printed form. In this way, a study aid is created for the student, which I believe will help with the final review of knowledge gained throughout the semester in preparation for the exam. This textbook is not meant to serve as standalone literature but is designed to assist orientation in the literature, which is abundant in English but mostly written for scientists, researchers, and students for whom this topic is central and not just one of many parts of their education. Therefore, it is not allocated a larger scope in the study program.

Download e-book for free (pdf)

E-book

Michal Jaščur

This monograph is devoted to the discussion of effective field theory based on the differential operator method, originally introduced by Honmura and Kaneyoshi in 1979, which remains actively used for theoretical studies of localized spin models of magnetism—particularly variants of the Ising model. To date, this methodology has been applied by numerous authors to investigate a wide range of systems, including crystalline systems, diluted magnetic systems, systems with random exchange interactions, amorphous magnetic materials, systems under random magnetic and crystalline fields, thin magnetic layers, magnetic systems with free surfaces, binary and ternary magnetic alloys, among others.

During my scientific career, I have collaborated with several leading experts in this field—including Prof. Kaneyoshi, with whom I completed two long-term research stays—to advance the development of the differential operator method (and consequently effective field theory). Within this research area, I have published over 40 scientific papers in prominent international physics journals. These works include both methodological advancements and significant applications that predict intriguing physical phenomena, such as multicompensation phenomena in ferrimagnets.

Download the e-book for free

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 Bednarčík (ed.)

The SFEL school is continuation of the Winter Schools of Synchrotron radiation held in 2011, 2013, 2014 and SFEL 2017, 2018 and 2019. All schools of the series were held here, in Liptovský Ján, where our conference venue offers conditions for friendly and creative atmosphere.

The aim of the SFEL 2022 school is to facilitate the growth of a new Slovak research community with high expertise in the area of high-efficiency RTG laser, synchrotron and neutron sources. The SFEL school is designed for efficient transfer of the rapidly developing know-howin these areas to young generation – researchers and university students. The next aim of the SFEL2022 is strengthening of personal connections between the local Slovak research community and actually forming scientific teams of XFEL users, scientific teams of synchrotron or neutron sources users, respectively.

Slovak research community thus can take advantage of the fact that Slovakia is a shareholder of the European XFEL GmbH company in Hamburg, but also makes more efficient use of other closely related scientific facilities, including ILL and ESRF in Grenoble and DESY in Hamburg.

Download the e-book for free (pdf)

E-book

Marek Bombara

The collection of exercises summarises and supplements the exercises realised at the Pavol Jozef Šafárik in Košice within the lecture course Elementary Particle Physics. The collection is intended for the master students of the Nuclear and Subnuclear Physics subject, but it could be beneficial also for other physics subjects or even for interdisciplinary study. 

The division of chapters roughly copies the order of lectures. At the beginning, students will briefly familiarize themselves with the basics of special relativity and its practical use in particle physics.

Download the e-book for free (pdf)

E-book

Katarína Kimáková

The textbook is intended for university students who are preparing for the profession of biology teacher. The structure of the book is similar to an encyclopedia, with one page devoted to each content item, but the topics of the chapters and subchapters follow each other.

The explanatory text on the page illustrates the diagram and there are notes and links to other sources of information. For better orientation, the content of the textbook is divided into 8 sections, which cover several chapters. It follows the general didactics, which it connects with the teaching of biological content. The book provides a basic orientation in the approaches to learning this subject, and also explains the relationship between biology as a science and the didactics of biology. It deals with teaching standards and curricula, advises on how to master biological concepts and understanding, how to communicate with students in biology classes, when and why are effective visual and practical methods. It acquaints the reader with the issue of setting goals for biological education in the cognitive, psychomotor and affective areas in relation to formative and summative assessment.

Hopeful as well as experienced teachers will find in this publication not only a look into the history of teaching biology, but also a look into the future. Current trends in biology teaching, the connection of teaching with digital technologies, the virtual learning environment and interactive simulations and models belong to science lessons today.

Download the e-book for free (pdf)