Tallinn University of Technology

About: Tallinn University of Technology is a education organization based out in Tallinn, Estonia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: European union & Oil shale. The organization has 3688 authors who have published 10313 publications receiving 145058 citations. The organization is also known as: Tallinn Technical University & Tallinna Tehnikaülikool.

The Economics of Reindeer Herding: Saami Entrepreneurship between Cyclical Sustainability and the Powers of State and Oligopolies.

Abstract: Purpose – This paper attempts to explain the drastic fall in income experienced by Saami reindeer herders in Northern Norway between 1976 and 2000, in spite of increasing government subsidies. Saami herders maintain a legal monopoly as suppliers of reindeer meat, a traditional luxury product in Norway.Design/methodology/approach – This paper shows that a review of the literature is supported by qualitative interviews.Findings – The paper argues that main explanatory variables are to be found in the interaction of a number of factors, mainly: cyclical climatic variation in Northern Norway; a system with fixed prices, independent of the variations in supply, that magnified the effects of the natural cycles; increasingly severe sanitary regulations forcing Saami herders to abandon slaughtering and preparation; and the oligopoly market powers of the non‐Saami actors taking over slaughtering and processing. It is argued that the fall in herders' income resulted from a failure of the Norwegian Department of Agr...

Molecularly imprinted polymer-based SAW sensor for label-free detection of cerebral dopamine neurotrophic factor protein

Abstract: In this study we report on a surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor modified with a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) film that selectively recognizes the cerebral dopamine neurotrophic factor (CDNF) protein, a potential biomarker for early-stage diagnosis and/or the follow-up of neuroprotective therapies. CDNF-MIP as a synthetic recognition element was prepared by a simple electrochemical surface imprinting approach allowing its reliable interfacing with SAW sensor. The optimal thickness of the MIP layer as well as a suitable pretreatment method were adjusted to improve the recognition capacity and selectivity of the resulting CDNF-MIP sensor. The 4.7 nm thick CDNF-MIP layers treated in 0.04 mg/ml HSA solution demonstrated the highest relative rebinding towards CDNF. The selectivity of the sensor was studied by the carefully designed competitive binding experiments, which revealed that the sensor can sense CDNF confidently in a label-free manner starting from 0.1 pg/ml. We anticipate that the findings can be a premise for fabricating the desired cost-effective research or diagnostics tools in the field of neurodegenerative diseases.

Effect of agitation on the peptide fibrillization: Alzheimer's amyloid-β peptide 1-42 but not amylin and insulin fibrils can grow under quiescent conditions

Abstract: Many peptides and proteins can form fibrillar aggregates in vitro, but only a limited number of them are forming pathological amyloid structures in vivo We studied the fibrillization of four peptides – Alzheimer's amyloid-β (Aβ) 1-40 and 1-42, amylin and insulin In all cases, intensive mechanical agitation of the solution initiated fast fibrillization However, when the mixing was stopped during the fibril growth phase, the fibrillization of amylin and insulin was practically stopped, and the rate for Aβ40 substantially decreased, whereas the fibrillization of Aβ42 peptide continued to proceed with almost the same rate as in the agitated conditions The reason for the different sensitivity of the in vitro fibrillization of these peptides towards agitation in the fibril growth phase remains elusive Copyright © 2013 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd