Population of the freshwater amphipod Gammarus fossarum was investigated in a calcareous stream with almost constant temperature (7-8• C) in the Chočské Vrchy Mts (West Carpathians, Slovakia). Quantitative samples of G. fossarum taken during 2005 showed population densities varying from 100 m −2 in August to 585 m −2 in late November. The population was split into juveniles, mature males, mature females without eggs and females with eggs. The percentage of juveniles (40-64%) was always the highest of any of the categories. Ovigerous females occurred throughout the year. The mean sex ratio was 1 : 2.4 (male: female), although its values varied considerably with the time of year. Breeding was continuous, although juvenile recruitment peaked in early spring, summer and early winter. Three discrete cohorts were distinguished from the size frequency distributions. The life span was 6-7 months and the individuals matured approximately in the half of life cycle. The mean fecundity was 9.6 embryos per brood. Variation in fecundity was mostly explained by size of the incubating females. The absolute growth of this species was best described by the Gompertz growth function. Relative growth rates (% body DM day −1 ) fluctuated in a nonlinear manner with size and age. The highest values of daily growth (2-4% of dry mass per day) were noted approximately in the half of life cycle. Annual production, estimated by the size-frequency method, was 1618.9 g dry mass m −2 and P/B ratio was 5.15.

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efficiently ensuring that users' human rights and freedoms are upheld in their organization. 42 Now it is necessary to ask about the causes, which may inhere in many spheres: from the manner and content of social workers' education through the management of specific social services to the state of the civil society. 43 In order to assess how efficient the standards are in protecting the human rights of users we must distinguish between theoretical elaboration of methodology (which according to respondents is highly developed) and its actual use in practice. In our view the standards should focus more on the actual process of methodology development and in accordance with the planned innovation of SQSS on creating conditions for upholding human rights and respecting human dignity. The system of inspecting how users' rights are protected should also be made more efficient.

The study discusses the search for meaning and position of social work in postmodern social context. At present there is talk in social work of crisis and failure of social work, which consists in the blurring of its identity, the fact that social work is carried out by unqualified workers, and loss of social prestige. In the contemporary professional discourse of social work in the Czech Republic the study first identifies three areas from which the loss of meaning and threat to the identity of social work stem (definition of social work, system of social services, real conditions of carrying out social work). Based on reflecting these areas the study states that the discourse concerning the identity and meaning of social work loses sight of the client of social work. That is why it briefly summarizes the conception of social work in Silvia Staub-Bernasconi, who in defining social work emphasizes the question "Who is vulnerable". On this basis the study then concludes that further defence of the professional interests of social work in public discourse and in the context of social services providers is needed, which as its goal will pursue not a general question of the identity of social work but the good of its client.

Interpretace a přístup sociálních pracovníků ke standardům kvality sociálních služeb z hlediska lidských právAbstrakt Text pojednává o problematické implementaci SQSS v praxi sociální práce z hlediska lidských práv. Na základě výsledků sondy bylo zjištěno, že sociální pracovníci vnímají důležitost ochrany lidských práv a svobod uživatelů. V oblasti aplikace standardů, které se vztahují k tématu ochrany lidských práv a svobod uživatelů, jsou ale zjištěny nedostatky, které mohou poukazovat na nedostatečné profesní znalosti a dovednosti sociálních pracovníků a nedodržování etického kodexu. Text přináší i popis současné situace a návrhy změny.