Newsletter CET 2/2017 was published in October 2017. It is possible to view or download it here.

It is also possible to subscribe to the Newsletter.

From 12th-14th September, 2017, the 2nd Interim Meeting of the European project E-RIHS PP (European Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science Preparatory Phase) supported from the Horizon 2020 programme took place in the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics in Prague. The event was organized by ITAM. The goal of the project is the preparation of functioning of a new European large research infrastructure for heritage science. E-RIHS PP joints together 18 countries and over 80 research institutions.

From 9th to 13th September, 2017, the 10th conference of EURODYN 2017 took place in Rome, hosted by the Faculty of Civil and Industrial Engineering of Sapienza University of Rome. The conference is an annual event of European Association for Structural Dynamics (EASD). During this conference, a scientist from ITAM CAS, Ing. J. Náprstek, DrSc., was given a Special award for outstanding and sustained contributions in the field of Structural Dynamics. He received it from the president of EASD Prof. G. Müller. The award is the highest honour of EASD - it is not awarded annually, rather only in cases where a committee concludes that amongst the candidates there is at least one person worthy of the distinction. Congratulations!

V neděli 25. června 2017 se v krásných prostorách zámku a parku Průhonice uskutečnil 3. ročník A-festu - multižánrového festivalu Akademie věd. Letos se ho zúčasnilo i hudební uskupení z Ústavu teoretické a aplikované mechaniky AV ČR, v. v. i. Musici Mechanici, ve složení Barbora Přechová - zpěv a Michal Vopálenský - klavír. Na housličky hostovala Kateřina Vopálenská.

On June 1^st, 2017, the new director of ITAM CAS, v. v. i., assoc. prof. Ing. Stanislav Pospíšil, Ph.D., was appointed to his office. The previous director Prof. Ing. Miloš Drdácký, DrSc., dr. h. c. was in office for almost twenty years. In the presence of the ITAM's employees, the documents of appointment were presented to the new director by the president of the Czech Academy of Sciences Prof. Zažímalová, who also gave her heartfelt thanks to the leaving director Prof. Drdácký for the years of his selfless work for the institute and she highlighted both his personal and scientific qualities.

We cordially invite you to attend the lecture of prof. Olega Gendelman (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technion) entitled: "Energy exchange, localization and transient phenomena in essentially non-linear oscillatory systems". The lecture will be held in the ITAM CAS (Prosecká 76), Prague, on 21st June 2017, at 14:00.

On Friday, May 12th, 2017, world experts on heritage science gathered at the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of Czech Academy of Sciences to participate on a workshop "Challenges in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage". The workshop was organized in cooperation with CTU and Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research WKI. It also provided an opportunity to honour the contribution to the heritage science of the leaving director of ITAM CAS, v. v. i., Professor Drdácký.
Amongst the participants were respected experts from Europe, USA, Israel and China. The introduction speech was given by the future director of ITAM, Assoc. Professor Pospíšil, followed by the director of Fraunhofer WKI, Professor Bohumil Kasal. Doctor Slížková then read a kind letter from Ingwal Maxwel, who was unable to come. She then congratulated to Professor Drdacký and wished him on behalf of all those present many personal and professional achievements in the future.

On 5th April, 2017, the European Council together with organization Europa Nostra announced the winners of European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards 2017. One of the winners in category Education, Training and Awareness-Raising was the study programme Advanced Master in Structural Analysis of Monuments and Historical Constructions (SAHC), which ITAM helps to guarantee as an associated partner. ITAM was thus awarded for the second time – the first time was in 2009.
 

At the beginning of April, the first official Newsletter of CET was published. The Newsletter is available both in paper and printed version.

Apart from the news from laboratories of both CET and ITAM, there can be found articles about our running projects - for example the research on Jesuit's annual reports (literae annuae). Another very interesting article is about a lead amulet, on which a magical text was inscribed some 800 years ago, however, because the amulet was then folded, it is possible to decipher the text inside only with use of the hi-tech infrastructure at the Centre of Excellence in Telč.

The task to compose the articles was given to the employees of the CET and ITAM and they have done very well. Enjoy!

Long-time employee of ITAM, Eng. Jiří Náprstek, Ph.D., was recently awarded a Prize of Professor Z. P. Bažant for engineering mechanics. The prize is annually awarded by the Czech Company for Mechanics (CSM) and it was given to dr. Náprstek on 8th March, 2017 during the ceremonial meeting of the CSM's board. He received it from its chairman prof. Okrouhlík. The Prize of Prof. Z. P. Bažant is awarded for "...a paper, or a series of papers on the same topis, a book or a published disertation or other written work in the Czech or English language". Find out more at the CSM website.

In the second half of 1990s, an increased attention was paid to the safeguarding of the built heritage and its integration into the life of contemporary society. The complexity of problems of cultural heritage called for modern interdisciplinary approach and this was started in a systematic way in 1995 by founding of a new department of the Institute - the Associated Research Centre for Historic Structures and Sites (ARCHISS) - joining together researchers from two institutes of the Academy of Sciences. The process continued, because of success in grant project competitions and now there are scientists involved in the research from other institutes and universities and two operating research units - one in Prague and one in another World Heritage City of Telč.

Roman-catholic diocese of St.Pölten and the city of Brno own a great many buildings, such as churches, rectories and monasteries. These structures do not always have a purpose, which consequently has a negative impact on urban development. Not being in use causes their decay. The current problems are of the same character on both sides of the regions' borders, caused mainly by a negative demographic development and past political events in the course of the 20th century.

Utilization of nanomaterials for sustainable conservation of historical sculptures and architectonic works of litavský limestone.  More at: http://www.nanolithproject.eu/