News: Faculty of Science

Scientists from Palacký University’s CATRIN, the University of West Bohemia, and VSB-TUO have developed an innovative sensor capable of accurately measuring temperatures between 10 and 90 degrees Celsius. This cutting-edge sensor, utilizing a novel graphene derivative, stands out for its high precision, reliability, and resistance to humidity. Its applications are vast, ranging from industrial production and storage areas requiring remote temperature monitoring to integration into protective clothing.

“We developed the new material using fluorographene chemistry by removing fluorine atoms and attaching benzylamine to the available reactive sites. This proved to be a crucial step in creating the temperature sensor. This technology allowed us to significantly minimize the adverse effects of humidity, typically the most challenging issue for such devices,” explained Petr Jakubec from CATRIN, a co-author of the study published in the prestigious journal Advanced Electronic Materials.

According to the authors, the new sensor offers significant advantages over traditional sensors, primarily due to its high accuracy. “It exhibits temperature resistivity that is twice as high as that of conventional platinum thermometers. A common issue with temperature sensors is their varying responses to changes in relative humidity. As a result, they often need to be wrapped in an insulating layer, which reduces their response rate. Our material, however, is stable and insensitive to humidity, allowing it to function in direct contact with the environment. This means it can measure temperature more accurately and quickly, better meeting the needs of modern industry,” stated the team leader Michal Otyepka from CATRIN and IT4Innovations VSB-TUO.

The sensor can be produced using inexpensive and rapid printing technologies, making it cost-effective to manufacture and easily scalable. This efficiency positions it as an ideal choice for widespread use in commercial applications.

Temperature monitoring and regulation are essential in various environments, including industrial, residential, and storage settings. Consequently, the demand for affordable, efficient, and durable temperature sensors is on the rise.

Martin Procházka, Rector of Palacký University Olomouc, will lead the European university network Aurora as of the new academic year. He was elected its president by the Aurora General Council during the Aurora Spring Biannual 2024, which is currently underway in Naples, Italy. More than 170 representatives from 19 participating institutions are attending the meeting to discuss the development of international education, stakeholder engagement, and technology transfer.

The four-day meeting where members of the Aurora European university network are meeting together right now is called Aurora Spring Biannual 2024. Palacký University Olomouc joined the network as an associate member in 2020 and became a full member of the Aurora Network global university consortium in May 2022. After another term of intensive cooperation, UP Rector Martin Procházka was nominated for the position of President-Elect at the beginning of this year.

In yesterday’s election, he received full support from the members of the Aurora General Council, and thus will replace the current president, University of Iceland Rector Jón Atli Benediktsson, in September. During the ceremony, Rector Procházka presented him with a vase made of Bohemian glass to thank him for his service. “Jón Atli, this gift is not only a token of our friendship, but also a symbol of your excellent work for Aurora. Bohemian crystal, renowned for its exquisite craftsmanship, shines with the combination of tradition and innovation that we strive for at Aurora and reflects our commitment to excellence in education and research,” said Procházka.

In his acceptance speech, he emphasised that in his role as President, he wants to give the universities and all members of the community space for expression and the opportunity to shape the future of both Aurora and European higher education together. "My mission is to build bridges – between cultures, institutions, and even the whole of the world. Our commitment is to grow together within this connection, to develop Aurora, and to expand our ambitions with other global partners."

A key element of Aurora are students. One of its executive bodies is the Student Council, whose president is Hanuš Patera who studies psychology at the UP Faculty of Arts. “The students’ enthusiasm and their ideas are a great inspiration to us all. As President, I will aim to continue working to create a student-oriented and inclusive environment,” underlined Procházka.

The Aurora Spring Biannual 2024 was commenced Monday evening with a welcome reception in the historic premises of the University of Naples Federico II, which celebrates 800 years of its existence this year. In addition to the election of a new president, Tuesday’s programme included a roundtable discussion on the development of joint international study programmes, and lectures on participatory democracy and citizen science. UP Vice-Rector for Strategy and Regional Affairs Michal Malacka was a guest speaker at the Stakeholder Engagement and Social Entrepreneurship in European Alliances roundtable.

In addition to the handover of the presidency, another festive moment of yesterday’s programme was the signing of the Aurora Sustainable Development Plan, which was designed thanks to the work of the Sustainable Campus team led by Palacký University.

The programme of today and tomorrow will be dedicated to a plenary session led by students. This will be followed by breakout sessions of the vice-rectors, executive committees, and individual working groups. These will focus on education, science, and research, as well as other shared themes such as IT development, health and wellbeing, sustainability, and communication. In addition to the members of the Aurora Student Council, there are other student ambassadors at each university who will be able to get to know each other during a special workshop.

Three Czech maps developed by experts from the Departments of Geoinformatics, Geography, and Development & Environmental Studies of the UP Faculty of Science have been awarded “runner-up” status in the international competition Best Map Award 2023. The prizes are awarded annually by the prestigious Journal of Maps published by Taylor and Francis.

The highest runner-up position for Czech maps was given to the map Quality of Life Indices: How Robust Are the Results Considering Different Aggregation Techniques? by Karel Macků and Radek Barvíř from the Department of Geoinformatics.

“Despite long-term research, there are no unified opinions on which specific indicators to use in assessing quality of life and how to aggregate them into indices. In our article, we focus on the latter issue. Based on a literature review, we compiled a set of indicators that could describe how well people live in a particular place. We investigated whether we would obtain significantly different results if we simply changed the mathematical procedure to construct a synthetic quality of life index from these indicators. Individual approaches to the calculation confirm the partial similarity of the results. However, it is the remaining dissimilarity that points to the fact that by combining different methods, authors of similar papers always reveal more interesting details about the processed data that would remain hidden using one simple approach. Maps have been used to present the results, thanks to which the reader can quickly, simply, and correctly perceive the differences between the individual methods,” said Macků.

The maps Geoparticipation in the Czech Municipalities: Index Based Quantitative Approach and Astronomically Determined Localities, the Core Part of Ptolemy’s Geography were also shortlisted for the Best Map Award 2023. The first is the work of the collective of Jaroslav Burian, Radek Barvíř, Daniel Pavlačka and Vít Pászto from the Department of Geoinformatics, and Jiří Pánek and Jiří Chovaneček from the Department of Development and Environmental Studies. The second was created by Aleš Létal from the Department of Geography and Jan Martínek from the Transport Research Centre.

The Best Map Award has been awarded since 2008 and entries are judged on both academic content and cartographic quality. The winning entry for 2023 was the Geological Map of South America in Google Earth, which unified geological maps across individual countries and published them online in a freely accessible format.

A new unique method that allows scientists to monitor the behaviour of nanoparticles in an environment simulating natural conditions has been developed by scientists from the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the UP Faculty of Science. Experts have been focussing on the movement and interactions of nanoparticles in solutions that mimic natural conditions in organisms or the environment. Their approach will help shed light on the fate of nanoparticles in, for example, the human body or wastewater, about which there are still many unknowns. The results of the Olomouc scientists’ work have been published in the renowned journal of the American Chemical Society, Analytical Chemistry.

“We focused on developing a method that would allow us to monitor nanoparticles in the environment of other nanoparticles, even in solutions or complex mixtures that correspond to the situation in living organisms or the environment. Such a method may not only lead to a better understanding of the behaviour of nanoparticles, for example inside cells or in wastewater, but may also lead to a more detailed recognition of their mutual interaction and other possible effects arising between the nanoparticles themselves,” said one of the authors of the study, Jan Petr from the Department of Analytical Chemistry.

The method developed by the Olomouc scientists enables, among other things, a closer study of the circulation of nanoparticles in the environment. The nanoparticles used in the study enter wastewater and subsequently rivers, seas and oceans. “Here, they meet other nanoparticles and can interact with each other, which can ultimately multiply their negative properties, such as toxicity. Until now, it has not been possible to study these effects in detail, but thanks to our method we can now observe and describe them in detail. We believe that our method can help to prevent these undesirable effects in the future,” said Petr.

The scientists used a unique combination of capillary electrophoresis and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (CE-ICP-MS) for their work. “We developed and constructed the interface to connect the two devices at our workplace about five years ago. It represents an advanced analytical technique with enormous potential. Capillary electrophoresis is an efficient separation tool and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry serves as a highly sensitive detector for the determination of trace element concentrations, or even of organic substances containing a suitable element in their structure,” described Tomáš Pluháček, one of its authors and winner of the J.M. Marci Spectroscopic Society award.

To observe the behaviour of the nanoparticles, the scientists used Taylor dispersion analysis, a mathematical procedure for analysing experimentally obtained data, which, under certain conditions, makes it possible to accurately determine the diffusion coefficient and thus the hydrodynamic size of nanoparticles. “The use of this instrumentation technique also allows us to obtain information on the elemental or isotopic composition of nanoparticles, which can be used, for example, to monitor the fate of isotopically labelled nanoparticles,” added co-author Daniel Baron from the Department of Analytical Chemistry.

The Department of Asian Studies at the Palacký University Faculty of Arts has launched the Myanmar Studies Center. The Center was established thanks to the support of the prestigious European Union framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon Europe. The Center will offer, among other things, public lectures and academic courses on various topics related to the region.

Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (also known as Burma), one of the countries of Southeast Asia, is the main research and educational interest of the new Myanmar Studies Center (MSC@UP, Třída Svobody 26), established in order to support interdisciplinary research and education in the field, and is unique in the context of both the Czech Republic and Central Europe.

“So far, this region has not received much professional attention. We are committed to filling this gap by supporting interdisciplinary research and education focused on Myanmar. We will offer diverse perspectives and approaches to stimulate a deeper understanding of this vibrant nation. At the same time, we want to spread awareness about Myanmar’s rich cultural heritage, the dynamics of its social development, and its political environment,” said Kristina Kironská, its director.

The Myanmar Studies Center’s activities will include public lectures and academic courses in which experts and students will address topics such as human rights in Asia and politics in the Indo-Pacific region. Its website, www.msc.upol.cz, will feature blog posts by students from Myanmar who will be coming to Olomouc for a semester-long stay under the Erasmus+ programme.

“In June, there will also be a summer school for PhD students and advanced master students on Navigating Geostrategic Dynamics in the IndoPacific: Focus on Southeast Asia and Myanmar. This will be followed by the Interdisciplinary Conference on Myanmar 2024 with the theme Myanmar’s International Role: More Than a Buffer State, which is expected to bring to Olomouc distinguished experts from all over the world,” added Kironská.

The establishment of the Myanmar Studies Center was made possible thanks to the support of Horizon Europe, the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation, awarded to the EUVIP project “The EU in the Volatile Indo-Pacific Region” (HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ACCESS-03-01). More about the EUVIP project can be found here. 

Experts from five Czech universities and one private company have joined forces to develop a system for monitoring and evaluating selected risk factors of physical workload in the context of Industry 4.0. The project supported by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic in the Trend programme also involved the Palacký University Faculty of Physical Culture (UP FPC), which extended the spectrum of target groups of the new technology to athletes, and even to administrative professions.

The result of the applied research is the development of a new technology and equipment for the evaluation of local muscle load during work operations by means of electromyography, including software, which is more user-friendly than the solutions used to date. Physical load is one of the risk factors considered in the categorisation of work from the perspective of public health protection.

“We’ve managed to develop a device that is lighter in terms of weight, has a higher scanning frequency and, among other things, uses Bluetooth technology so that the employee can move around during the measurement and the data is wirelessly transmitted to a mobile phone or tablet, where the evaluator can immediately see the feedback,” explained the main investigator for the UP FPC, David Prycl from the BALUO Application Centre. He added that the proposed solutions are already protected as a utility model and a patent application has been filed.

In addition to Prycl, Amr Zaatar from the Department of Physiotherapy and Michal Vorlíček from the Institute of Active Lifestyle were also involved in the project, and devices from the digital innovation hub DIGI2Health associated with the UP Science and Technology Park were used in the testing.

With regard to the orientation of the UP Faculty of Physical Culture, the Olomouc experts also looked for the possibility of using the new technology with athletes as a potential additional target group. “The use in sports is possible for monitoring and comparing data from maximum stress tests and training. We tested the new device, the sensors of which can be placed on virtually any muscle, in cooperation with the climbing team which comes to our centre regularly,” said Prycl.

The third target group selected by Olomouc researchers was administrative staff. The conclusion of this study included in the project, however, was to recommend a longer-term intervention. “We monitored local muscle load and number of strokes while typing on a computer in three positions – uncorrected sitting, sitting corrected by a physiotherapist, and corrected standing. We also measured the tested persons for as much as five minutes, having in mind possible future commercialisation, but did not find that the load had any effect on the measured position in such a short period of time. Nevertheless, there was higher muscle activity during corrected sitting compared to uncorrected sitting, because during correction we are already concentrating and spending energy to maintain the position. However, it would be interesting to see if longer intervention and repeated measurements would confirm our initial hypotheses,” summarised Prycl.

The device for monitoring and evaluating local muscle load was developed as part of a three-year project, whose principal investigator was the Icontio company, which focuses on advanced solutions in Industry 4.0 and telemedicine. In addition to UP, the applied research and development also involved the Czech Technical University in Prague, Tomas Bata University, VSB – Technical University of Ostrava, and the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague. The project was funded by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic in the Trend programme aimed at supporting industrial research and development of new products, production technologies, and services.

Among the guests at the Palacký University Gala Evening at the Czech Embassy in Washington, D.C., were also relatives of some great figures of 20th century Czech history. During the evening, UP Rector Martin Procházka met Jana Kánská, daughter of Milada Horáková, the most famous victim of the communist show-trial murders, and Andrea Pohl, great-grandniece of the second Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš.

Olomouc’s university had a unique opportunity, together with the Olomouc Region and the City of Olomouc, to present themselves to the U.S. public. More than 200 invited guests came to the gala evening held at the end of April at the premises of the Embassy of the Czech Republic, among them were also UP alumni living in the USA, representatives of partner American universities, American scientists, businessmen, and financiers.

“We presented our university as an institution with a history of more than four hundred and fifty years, but also one that is lively, modern, successful, and active in the field of international cooperation. We are working on developing relationships with our existing partners in the USA, however it is also vital for us to look for other opportunities for support and fundraising, so that we can open the door for gaining international experience to as many of our students and faculty as possible,” noted Martin Procházka, who thanked the Czech Embassy and the American guests for their warm welcome.

Together with Vice-Rector for Internationalisation Jiří Stavovčík, he also discussed further cooperation and support with representatives of Moravian University and the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library.

During the gala event in Washington, D.C., in addition to Rector Procházka and Vice Rector Stavovčík, the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the USA Miloslav Stašek, the Director of the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids Cecilie Rokusek, and UP alumnus Adam Matěj, who is currently a post-doctoral student at Georgetown University, also spoke to the gala guests. The artistic accompaniment was provided by Katelyn Bouska, a pianist with Czech roots, who played pieces by Czech composers such as Leoš Janáček, Marek Keprt, Miloslav Ištvan, and Vítězslava Kaprálová.

Just as at home, where there are always items no longer needed but would be a shame to toss out, so too at the university. The new online UP Marketplace should help find new owners for such items, exchanging university property between workplaces and private property between students and employees. Its aim is to reduce waste, rubbish, and needless purchasing of new items by offering a safe environment in its own application connected to university accounts.

You have too many file folders in your office for your filing cabinet – or vice versa? During spring cleaning you’ve decided to get rid of a set of coffee cups, but don’t know what to do with them? These are just the sort of cases that Sustainable University, together with the UP Computing Centre and the UP Communications Office, had in mind when they developed the UP Marketplace swap.

“We often hear from workplaces when for example they are taking over a classroom or moving to a new space and the old furniture is in good order and they do not want to throw it away, asking if we might know someone who would want it. One of the goals of the UP Sustainable Development Strategy is to transition to a circular economy, which is why we decided to develop an internal application which should help us trade items internally at UP. At the same time, we decided that this application could also serve for private property, in order for people to offer things from their household which they no longer use,” said UP’s Sustainability Officer Zuzana Huňková.

The swap environment is divided into two main sections. The first is university property, available to all UP workers after log-in. Anyone can browse and request items – though only those who are authorised to transfer property can advertise items. Free property includes items which are either inventoried or not.

The second section is private property, which is accessible to UP students and employees and the public offering private property for free. Anyone with a university account can list items; the public can browse items and request them. All items in the pilot programme are offered for free; eventually people will be able contact the seller to negotiate – for example if the item is free to pick up.

The application looks like an internet portal, so its use is intuitive; at the same time further improvements are planned. “We believe that a swap operating within the UP community will be more trustworthy so people will be happier to offer and buy things here than on public internet portals. This innovation supplements the Freeshop, UP’s re-use centre, which has been operating since 2017 under the auspices of the student organisation Sustainable Palacký,” Huňková added. In September and May (at this year’s Majáles May Student Celebrations), Sustainable University is organising a physical swap meet in order to let students exchange items, so they won’t have to needlessly transport old items or purchase new ones.

“Transitioning our economy to a circular-oriented system represents a challenge for society as a whole, and is one which can be resolved holistically, in an interdisciplinary manner. To get the most use out of products makes sense for all participants, and it make sense for the environment. Thanks to extending items’ use, there is less waste. And then there is no need to manufacture so many new products, saving valuable resources. Why throw away items which are in perfectly good shape, just because they’re used? Furniture, clothing, toys, prams, and other items – there are always people who need such things, and can re-use them,” added Michal Malacka, Vice-Rector for Strategy and External Relations.

The UP Marketplace is accessible at bazar.upol.cz and also has its own “tile” at the UP Portal in the section “Add an application to the desktop”, which you can place wherever you want on your profile page.

A Master’s programme which will equip students with digital competences, legal knowledge, and related societal knowledge is being created thanks to cooperation between UP and universities from Naples, Innsbruck, and Amsterdam, as well as other institutions in the Euridice project (European Inclusive Education for Digital Society, Social Innovation and Global Citizenship). Euridice representatives met at the UP Faculty of Law, the guarantor of the new joint study programme, in order to give it a specific form and content.

“Our goal is for its graduates – who will occupy leading positions in business, politics, and society – to understand the digital society in a complex way. They should understand for example what artificial intelligence is and how it works, and at the same time, they should be able to perceive its impact on society,” explained Anna Bon of Amsterdam’s Vrije Universiteit, the project’s main co-ordinator.

The English-language version of the course will be taught in hybrid form. This will allow students to gain knowledge from top experts at several universities; other institutions and even small- and medium-sized businesses which will offer internships are also connected to the programme. “Most universities have specific orientations, so it might be difficult for them to prepare ((and be accredited for)) an interdisciplinary study programme with multi-faceted orientation. Connecting more institutions allows a single study programme to acquire top experts from areas such as information technologies, law, and philosophy at the same time,” said Hans Akkermans of AKMC, a company connected to the Euridice project. “Our university will engage for example experts in statistics and data science as well as sociology,” said Emiliano Grimaldi, Euridice project co-ordinator at the University of Naples Federico II.

One of the key themes of the three-day meeting at Palacký University was therefore to put together an interdisciplinary teaching team. “Together, we also defined the themes that we’ll be discussing, our ultimate goals, and the competences which programme graduates should have,” Bon added.

The Euridice project was officially launched on 1 January 2024 and is set to last until December 2027. To a great extent, it comes out of existing ties in the Aurora European universities network, specifically the latter’s Digital Society and Global Citizenship thematic community. “One could say that the new programme is a spin-off of the Aurora 2030 consortium and epitomises the basis of which such cooperation should bring: to transform universities and society through education,” said Thomas Baumgartner of the University of Innsbruck.

The Euridice project originally began as a joint-educational module, but gradually evolved into a complex Master’s programme, which brings increased demands on technological support and also on the accreditation processes. “We have partly made use of the European Commission’s Digital Europe plan to come up with the financing. In the future, we will try to connect all the universities in the Aurora partnership,” said Michal Malacka, UP Vice-Rector for Strategy and External Relations.

“We’re very proud that Palacký University can be a part of this project and is involved in preparing this prestigious study programme, in which such hard-working academics and experts are taking part. Our team is made up of academics from the Faculties of Law and Science, and is supported administratively by the Aurora Office at the UP Rector’s Office. International educational activities do not only benefit UP, its reputation and prestige, but especially multicultural exchange, the development of intercultural professional and personal competences and inspirations, and is a benefit which is mutual, enriching all parties,” said Markéta Šemberová, the coordinator of the Euridice project and Aurora Education Developer at UP.

Maxim Tomoszek, UP FL Vice-Rector for Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes, added, “For the Faculty of Law, this is both a synergetic activity of our accredited doctoral programme Law and Digital Technologies, and at the same time a unique opportunity to work together with top workplaces abroad. Our shared work on the structure of the programme, the aims of individual modules, and the profile of what a graduate should have has been very inspiring.”