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.

Validation of climate model-inferred regional temperature change for late-glacial Europe

Abstract: Comparisons of climate model hindcasts with independent proxy data are essential for assessing model performance in non-analogue situations. However, standardized palaeoclimate data sets for assessing the spatial pattern of past climatic change across continents are lacking for some of the most dynamic episodes of Earth's recent past. Here we present a new chironomid-based palaeotemperature dataset designed to assess climate model hindcasts of regional summer temperature change in Europe during the late-glacial and early Holocene. Latitudinal and longitudinal patterns of inferred temperature change are in excellent agreement with simulations by the ECHAM-4 model, implying that atmospheric general circulation models like ECHAM-4 can successfully predict regionally diverging temperature trends in Europe, even when conditions differ significantly from present. However, ECHAM-4 infers larger amplitudes of change and higher temperatures during warm phases than our palaeotemperature estimates, suggesting that this and similar models may overestimate past and potentially also future summer temperature changes in Europe.

Antifungal Agents in Agriculture: Friends and Foes of Public Health

Abstract: Fungal diseases have been underestimated worldwide but constitute a substantial threat to several plant and animal species as well as to public health. The increase in the global population has entailed an increase in the demand for agriculture in recent decades. Accordingly, there has been worldwide pressure to find means to improve the quality and productivity of agricultural crops. Antifungal agents have been widely used as an alternative for managing fungal diseases affecting several crops. However, the unregulated use of antifungals can jeopardize public health. Application of fungicides in agriculture should be under strict regulation to ensure the toxicological safety of commercialized foods. This review discusses the use of antifungals in agriculture worldwide, the need to develop new antifungals, and improvement of regulations regarding antifungal use.

Rogue waves in 2006–2010

Abstract: . The evidence of rogue wave existence all over the world during last five years (2006–2010) has been collected based mainly on mass media sources. Only events associated with damage and human loss are included. The waves occurred not only in deep and shallow zones of the World Ocean, but also at the coast, where they were manifested as either sudden flooding of the coast or high splashes over steep banks or sea walls. From the total number of 131 reported events, 78 were identified as evidence of rogue waves (which are expected to be at least twice larger than the significant wave height). The background significant wave height was estimated from the satellite wave data. The rogue waves at the coast, where the significant wave height is unknown or meaningless, were selected based on their unexpectedness and hazardous character. The statistics built on the selected 78 events suggests that extreme waves cause more damage in shallow waters and at the coast than in the deep sea and can be used for hazard assessment of the rogue wave phenomenon.