New Trends in Chemistry, Research and Education at the Faculty of Science of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice 2021

E-book

Vladislav Kolarčik

Flow cytometry is a diagnostic and research technique that enables rapid analysis of cells, nuclei and organelles of plants and other organisms. In plant biology, it is most often used for DNA content analysis in a wide range of applications. It is the method of first choice and its importance is even increasing compared to competing technologies. It is unrivaled in speed, accuracy, repeatability and low cost. Flow cytometry has become a standard tool in laboratories focused on biological-ecological plant research.

This textbook provides information on the historical development of flow cytometry and its establishment in the analysis of the plant genome. It describes the procedure of sample analysis to determine the nuclear DNA content and presents the basic applications, such as determination of genome size, ploidy level and reproduction modes of plants and determination of endopolyploidy level in plant tissues. These college textbooks are intended for students, teachers and anyone interested in the use of flow cytometry in scientific work with plant cells.

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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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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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Gabriel Semanišin - Emil Hutňan - Jana Oleničová

The proceedings contain contributions from participants of the UNIFOS 2014 conference, University Information Systems in Košice, which took place from October 27 to 29, 2014.

ICT centers are important element that provide functioning and development hardware and software infrastructure at Slovak Universities. There are more differences between them in real position, management, personal sources and financing. ICT centers provide a wide range of services to large number of university users and they implement the policy of information security recently.

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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.

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E-book

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-publication

Beáta Valkay ed.
Ivana Slepáková-Lenka Maliničová a kol.

EFFUSE - A Guide for Students is an interactive educational resource for primary and secondary school students to help them better understand how their daily activities affect the environment. The handbook was developed within the EFFUSE project (‘Environment for the future by science education’) and motivates young people to take a greater interest in the nature around them. It focuses on practical field activities during which they will explore the ecosystem of the Laborec and Uh rivers, observe and document organisms and work with real samples from nature. At the same time, they will learn about the work of scientists - botanists, zoologists and microbiologists - and learn basic biomonitoring methods. The manual will also guide them through the process of creating a virtual laboratory to display the results of their investigations of an aquatic ecosystem. It will help them understand the importance of sustainable development and encourage them to behave responsibly towards nature. It is their opportunity to learn about their surroundings in a new way, to learn to think scientifically and to become active creators of positive change for their community and future generations.

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E-book

Andrea Morovská Turoňová

The discovery of radioactivity at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries stimulated the rapid development of nuclear sciences. At the interface between nuclear physics and chemistry, disciplines such as radiochemistry, radiation chemistry and nuclear chemistry were formed.

The aim of the Nuclear Chemistry course which is taught at the PF UPJŠ is to provide basic knowledge, with an emphasis on the general value of the subject. It is important to make available the basics of various methods, techniques and their specifics in the application of nuclear phenomena in chemistry and related fields. Emphasis is also placed on the use of correct terminology, knowledge of the context of relationships and basic principles, supplemented by illustrative concrete cases.

The choice of material is rather difficult, but we count on additional monographs and textbooks to fill in the gaps of these teaching texts.

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E-book

Ján Füzer

Auxiliary teaching material for the course General Physics III – Oscillations, Waves, and Optics is intended for students of single-subject and interdisciplinary studies of physics.

The content provides a basic outline of the material covered, without detailed explanations, with an emphasis on the physical method of thinking using the simplest elements of higher mathematics. The presented text does not aim to replace the recommended textbooks, but rather to help students navigate the subject matter. Recommended literature can be found at the end of the text.

The teaching material contains the basic framework of the lectures and is supplemented and revised each year, with lectures enriched by supporting demonstration experiments.

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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.

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Miroslav Repčák - Martin Bačkor - Peter Paľove-Balang - Silvia Gajdošová

The establishment of the Plant Physiology Laboratory at the Department of Botany, Faculty of Arts, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice in 1969 was associated with the name of Ing. Štefan Kocúrik, CSc. (1923–2006), who also prepared the first "Instructions for Exercises in Plant Physiology" (Košice 1972, 1976).

Since 1980, the manual by Associate Professor RNDr. Karol Erdelský, CSc., and Ing. Fridrich Frič, DrSc., titled "Practicum and Analytical Methods in Plant Physiology" (Bratislava 1980) has been used. With the increase in the number of students, it became relevant in 1991 to publish the "Instructions for Exercises in Plant Physiology" again to improve preparation and the efficient organization of practical work. Associate Professor RNDr. A. Košturiak, CSc., contributed significantly to the expansion of the introductory part of the instructions with his valuable advice, for which the authors are grateful. For the fourth edition, some tasks were updated and modernized, taking into account the possibilities of the renovated laboratory. The selection of tasks was adapted to the current scope of exercises for individual plant physiology subjects within the bachelor's and master's study programs in biology and ecology. These subjects include: Plant Physiology, Plant Metabolism, Mineral Nutrition of Plants, Plant Growth and Development, and Plant Ecology. Some tasks are also suitable for high school experiments.

The choice of topics was influenced by the research focus of our workplace on secondary metabolism, ecophysiology, and medicinal plants. The instructions generally adhere to the SI unit system, occasionally including other commonly used units.

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E-book

Renáta Oriňaková

We have prepared a publication that focuses on the personalities of professors. These personalities represent entire scientific teams, participated in the creation of new study programs, and had a significant impact on the formation of the faculty. Factually, we tried to capture the basic data in a uniform structure. We are building on a similar publication from ten years ago, which greatly helped us, especially with professors who worked at the faculty many years ago and whose memories are gradually fading. The ambition of the publication is to contribute to the preservation of basic information that is closely related to the history of the faculty.

doc. RNDr. Roman Soták, PhD. Dean of the Faculty of Science, UPJŠ in Košice

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Vladimír Zeleňák (ed.)

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

A characteristic feature of education at high-quality universities — among which the Faculty of Science at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University (UPJŠ) in Košice proudly belongs — is the close connection between education and scientific research. Students gain knowledge in their field of study not only through theoretical coursework in individual disciplines, but also through active involvement in solving specific scientific tasks as part of research teams. This can occur during the development of final theses or through participation in the Student Research Assistant Program (ŠPVS), which was revitalized at the faculty in 2015.

The Student Scientific Conference (ŠVK) is one of the faculty’s traditional events, organized during the Faculty’s Science Days as part of Sciencefest. By its very nature, it fits seamlessly into the aforementioned framework of combining education with research, and it has long enjoyed great popularity and student interest. In 2016, the conference featured presentations by 125 students of the Faculty of Science at UPJŠ in Košice, across 16 thematic sections. This collection of abstracts provides an overview of the focus and goals of the student projects. We believe it will serve as inspiration for other potential participants of future conferences and will also be of interest to the broader public, offering additional insight into the faculty's activities.

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Marcel Uhrin - Petr Benda -  Peter Kaňuch

Bats represent a unique group of mammals, characterised by different life strategies. They are the only mammals capable of active flight, which, combined with their almost exclusively nocturnal activity, has led to the evolution of specific adaptations. One of the most striking is echolocation, which enables them to orientate themselves perfectly in their surroundings in the dark. Bats are mainly native to the tropics, but have also colonised areas outside the tropics, which, has led to a complex phenological cycle with active phases and interruptions during hibernation, especially in temperate zones. In this diverse and species-rich group (almost 1,500 known species), there is a wide range of social organisation as well as feeding and roosting strategies. The textbook "Fundamentals of Chiropterology" brings the current state of knowledge about these extraordinary animals in eleven chapters and two appendices for the first time in the Slovak language.

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Milan Žukovič

The textbook Computational Physics I covers the topics taught in the course of the same name at the bachelor's level of the Physics study program, as well as in the course Application of Numerical Methods at the bachelor's level of the Applied Informatics study program.

The text builds upon the basic course in numerical methods, focusing on explaining the fundamental principles of computer-based solutions to some typical physics problems. It includes both the area of deterministic methods for solving problems modeled by ordinary and partial differential equations, as well as the area of stochastic Monte Carlo simulations. The course Computational Physics I lays the foundation for further study of more advanced computational methods taught at the master's level in the subject Computational Physics II. Nowadays, the use of computers as a tool for solving real physics problems, and for students as a tool for preparing their final bachelor's or master's theses, is almost indispensable.

This has led to the creation of numerous user-oriented software packages in various environments for solving a wide range of problems. However, without a thorough understanding of how individual computational techniques work, these programs become black boxes with many pitfalls and risks in their use. Therefore, this text emphasizes understanding both the strengths and weaknesses of individual methods and the assumptions for their successful application.

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Ondrej Krídlo

University textbooks present the basics of knowledge systems, which are divided into two parts. The first part of the publication is devoted to the basis of Formal Concept Analysis, ie the method of data analysis, knowledge representation and information processing, which is based on the formalization of the concept. In the second part we deal with the basics of logic programming, procedural semantics of logic programming, ie programs - theories, questions, SLD-derivation, SLD-tree, search strategies.

University textbooks are intended for students of master's degree programs in computer science.

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