The research work on accurate measurement method of binding constants in supramolecular chemistry carried out by Kristjan Haav (left) in the framework of his AMS master’s thesis has gained international […]

On Friday, Aug 30, 2013, the introductory meeting for first-year AMS students was held. Sergei Jurtšenko gave overview of the AMS programme, timetable of autumn semester 2013 and some practical […]

Roland Hoxha (in the middle on the photo), an AMS student who participated in the Measurement Science in Chemistry (MSC) Summer shool 2013 in Lyon said the following about this […]

Shanshan Wu (third from left on the photo), an AMS student who participated in the Measurement Science in Chemistry (MSC) Summer shool 2013 in Lyon said the following about this […]

On Friday, Jul 12, 2013 the MSC Summer school visited the Alps and ascended from Chamonix to a nearby mountain – Aiguille du Midi – with the height of slightly […]

Two young scientists – Karin Kipper and Riin Rebane – from UT analytical chemistry research group participated in the recent HPLC2013 conference in Amsterdam. Both of them presented the most […]

On July 08, 2013 the sixth MSC Euromaster Summer School 2013 started in Lyon (France). Altogether 34 students from more than ten countries participate in the Summer school, among them […]

On Jun 17, 2013 The kick-off meeting of the EMRP project Metrology for Moisture in Materials (SIB64 METefnet) took place in MIKES (Helsinki). Around 70% of industries use drying at […]

Ten AMS master’s students successfully defended their theses today (on June 10, 2013). On picture, from left: Hedi Sinijärv, Sander Sannik, Karen Atabekjan, Yingjian Hou, Kristjan Haav, Kamarniso Vrandecic, Pippa […]

Definitions of the International vocabulary of metrology (VIM 3) are the foundation of the language spoken by measurement people. The definitions have been carefully elaborated with the involvementof a number […]

The ESTCube-1 satellite was successfully launched early in the morning of 07.05.2013! Some hours later on the same day it was officially announced that the satellite works. Three AMS students […]

Hydrogen bond (HB) is by its importance a unique chemical phenomenon in nature and has been widely studied from almost any possible viewpoint. HBs have an enormous role in the […]

An important direction in making measurement instruments is making them simpler, cheaper and accessible to many people. An interesting development in this direction has been made at SYKE (the Finland […]

During 17-22.02.2013 The first Analytical Chemistry Winter school “Novel analysis methods”, organized by the St. Petersburg’s State University, took place near St. Petersburg (Russia). Ivo Leito participated in the event […]

Amer Jamil Aref Al-Malahmeh from Jordan successfully defended his master thesis on January 15, 2013. The title of the thesis was “Methodological development and validation of Sample treatment and Source […]

On Saturday, Dec 15, 2012, the Autumn semester master’s seminar 2012 of the AMS programme was concluded with presentations from students. Most of the presentations were based on the master’s […]

Liquid chromatographic separation of basic analytes is often hampered by problems, such as insufficient retention, wide and asymmetric peaks, etc, especially if carried out at acidic pH. Many modern HPLC […]

A new software package for measurement uncertainty calculation called MUkit (shortcut from: Measurement Uncertainty kit) has been recently made available by SYKE, the Finnish Environmental Administration. This is the first […]

Electrospray ion source (ESI) is the most used ion source type for connecting liquid chromatography (LC) with mass spectrometry (MS) due to its robustness and possibility to analyze a wide […]

On August 31, 2012 Irja Helm successfully defended her PhD Thesis High accuracy gravimetric Winkler method for determination of dissolved oxygen at Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu. The essence […]

On 31.08.2012 the introductory meeting for first-year AMS students was held. Sergei Jurtšenko gave overview of the AMS programme, timetable of autumn semester 2012 and some practical aspects of living […]

Klodian Dhoska, graduated from AMS in 2010 shared his thoughts about how the programme has influenced his life during the last two years: “Experience at Applied Measurement Programme has given […]

The MSC Summer school finished on Jul 27, 2012. Kristjan Haav, one of the participants (from the AMS programme, University of Tartu) shared his impressions. Ivo: What would you single […]

As a nice counterbalance to the serious and challenging programme of the summer school last weekend there was a surfing outing at the summer school. All participants had the possibility […]

On Monday, July 16, 2012 the fifth Measurement Science in Chemistry International Summer School started in Fatima (Portugal). In this edition, 48 students from thirteen countries participate. The dense and […]

Alda Andersone from Latvia defended her master thesis on June 11, 2012. The title of the thesis was “The stereoselective synthesis of 2,2,5-trisubstituted tetrahydrofurans, oriented to the preparation of lilac […]

Hanno Evard defended his master thesis on June 11, 2012. The title of the thesis was “Study of paperspray ionization and its possible applications”. The thesis was awarded the highest […]

Seven AMS master’s candidates successfully defended their theses on June 11, 2012. Congratulations! The PDF files of all the theses are available for download from here. (See at the end […]

On May 21-22, 2012 a workshop Validation, Traceability, Measurement Uncertainty: the Challenges for the 21th Century Analysts took place in Berlin. This workshop focused on the relationship between method validation, […]

On March 23, 2012 an in situ interlaboratory comparison measurement of dissolved oxygen concentration EstDO-2012 was carried out at the Testing Centre of University of Tartu. Altogether 13 participants from […]

During Mar 13-16, 2012 Ivo Leito visited University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST) and gave a series of lectures/workshops for te students of USST. The lectures/workshops were the […]

text by: Iuliia Demchuk Portugal… You will hardly find a person who doesn’t like it! This country is charming and most probably you will fall in love with it from […]

Antonio Semakalu from Uganda defended his master thesis on February 28, 2012. The title of the thesis was “Gammmaspectrometrical Measurement of Radium Content in Water – Validation of Analysis Procedure”. […]

(text by John C Blackburn) Tartu is a different town in the summer. The days long and the streets quiet, Tartu is a student’s town, and is exciting when the […]

Measurement science influences other sciences and sometimes from quite an unexpected angle. A recent review on extinction of the dinosaurs (the “Mass Extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary”, to put it […]

On Dec 10, 2011 the master’s seminars of the Applied measurement science of the autumn semester 2011 were concluded. Most of the presentations were based on the master’s thesis topics […]

On Nov 29, 2011 a seminar was held in Tallinn, which summarized the results of the study “Metrology in Estonia, its current status, economic impact, trends and needs analysis” carried […]

This week a joint project will finish between University of Tartu and the German National Metrology Institute (PTB – Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt) on providing training in Metrology in Chemistry for Indian […]

For elimination of the disadvantages of the traditional procedure of smoking of fish and meat the so-called liquid smoke has been developed. Some steps during the production of liquid smoke […]

Today on 27.09.2011 on the Laboratory days event at Finnish Environmental Administration – SYKE (Helsinki, Finland) Ivo Leito gave a presentation “Education in Metrology in Chemistry – why and how?”. […]

The winner of the title “teacher of the year” in the Realia et Naturalia field in 2011 is Associate professor of analytical chemistry Koit Herodes. He teaches the “Practical Chemical […]

On 26.08.2011 the introductory meeting for first-year AMS students was held. Ivo Leito gave overview of the AMS programme, timetable of autumn semester 2011 and some practical aspects of living […]

Last week (on July 22, 2011) the closing ceremony of the MSC Summer School 2011 took place in Poznań (Poland). Results of the learning evaluation and student game were presented […]

On Monday, July 11, 2011 the fourth Measurement Science in Chemistry International Summer School started in a west-central city of Poland in Poznań. There are students from fourteen countries. The […]

On Jul 05, 2011 Anneli Kruve defended her PhD thesis Matrix effects in liquid-chromatography electrospray mass-spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) at the Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu. Electrospray ionization (ESI, ESI ion […]

In couple of weeks – on Sunday Jul 10 – the 2011 Summer School of the Measurement Science in Chemistry consortium will start. This is already the fourth of its […]

Two AMS students defended their master’s theses on June 8, 2011 at 10.15 a.m. (Tartu, Ravila Street, 14A, room 1021). The topics of the theses are related to testing of […]

Modern technologies allow very accurate measurements of atomic weights and isotope ratios of elements. This is of high importance in solving research problems in others fields. For example, accurate measurement […]

Unfortunately, it is not rare that during preparation of food substances with cancerogenic and/or mutagen activity are unwillingly introduced into food. A typical representatives of this group of dangerous substances […]

The light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device, which converts electric current into visible radiation, i.e. visible light. LEDs were discovered by accident in 1907, but no practical use was […]

LC-MS (Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry) with ESI (electrospray) ion source (LC-ESI-MS) enjoys ever increasing popularity as a powerful and versatile analytical tool. It has become the number one technique for […]

Smoking as a way of preparation of fish and meat has been known to the humankind since the Stone Age. Smoking represents set of the chemical, thermal, diffusive and biochemical […]

On 28.03.2011 Ivo Leito gave talk “ATR-FT-IR spectroscopy in the region of 550-230 cm-1 for identification of inorganic pigments” at the the 241th ACS National Meeting, Spring 2011 in Anaheim […]

On a seminar on measurement quality in the framework of the conference ChemBio Finland 2011 a presentation “Metrology in Chemistry – from pipette to mass spectrometry, from National Metrology Institute […]

In the process of development and perfection of measurement technologies it became clear that all standards are not ideal. At measurement standards of the basic units it is necessary to […]

Beer is the world’s most widely consumed and probably the oldest of alcoholic beverages; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. What is beer? Simply […]

Most people (especially in the northern countries) have had the extremely annoying experience that in some (usually somewhat colder than average) morning the car will not start, because there is […]

Among the central reserach topics at Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu is design and acidity measurements of superstrong acids – so-called superacids. Superacid is an acid that is more […]

More than half of the solar energy that reaches the Earth and is absorbed by land srfaces is used for evaporation of water. Evapotranspiration is a joint process of moisture […]

OECD has published the results of PISA 2009, the most recent edition of its Programme for International Student Assessment. The assessment methodology evaluates a number of abilities and skills of […]

Perfluorochemicals – most notably perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and related compounds – have numerous industrial uses. They are highly stable molecules that do not decompose easily in the environment. It has […]

On Oct 26-27, 2010 a graduation ceremony was held at the EC JRC-IRMM (Geel, Belgium) where the first Euromaster certificates of the MSC Euromaster consortium were awarded to the first […]

With the continuing globalization authenticity of food is becoming more and more important. This is especially true for highly valued types of food, such as certain olive oil, wines, honey, […]

     On 29.09.2010 Maiu Varner defended her master’s thesis “The role of coatings in maintaining stability of panel paintings” at UT Institute of Chemistry.      Panel paintings made on wood (e.g. icons) […]

Compilation containing the full set of lecture slides of the Measurement Science in Chemistry (MSC) Summer School 2010 is now available for download in the Summer school section of the […]

Mass spectrometer (MS) with electrospray ionization (ESI) coupled to a liquid chromatograph (LC) has during the recent decade become the most widespread analysis method of analysis for a vast number […]

pH value is the best known parameter for characterizing acidity of a solution. The pH of a neutral solution is around 7. In acidic solutions, such as battery acid, pH […]

Yesterday (on July 31, 2010) the closing ceremony of the MSC Summer School 2010 took place in Lepanina (Estonia). Results of the learning evaluation and student game were presented and […]

The trend of increasing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is well known. During recent years another, possibly as serious and wide-ranging, trend has caught the attention of scientists: decrease of […]

Today (23.07.2010) the summer school continued on water: canoeing on the Navesti River (Soomaa National Park), followed by bogwalking in the bogs. A very typical for Estonia form of nature. […]

On Monday, July 19, 2010 the third Measurement Science in Chemistry International Summer School started at the coast of the Baltic Sea in Lepanina (Pärnumaa, Estonia). There are students from […]

Passive House is a concept followed after the energy efficient house but it shouldn’t be confused with Zero Energy Buildings. Passive House is a building designed carefully and built with […]

In passive house design and construction we have 2 main measurements. First one is the differential pressure measurement (also called as the Blower-Door Test) (EVS-EN 13829:2001) (modified version of ISO […]

Sudan dyes (most important of them are Sudan I, II, III and IV) are a family of compounds in the class of azo dyes that are used for different industrial […]

Mycotoxins are a class of food contaminants that are synthesized by certain species of fungi. Differently from, e.g. pesticides, mycotoxins are non-anthropogenic – they are not added to food by […]

In roughly one month – on Monday Jul 19 – the 2010 Summer School of the Measurement Science in Chemistry consortium will start. This is already the third of its […]

On Tuesday Jun 8 Gert Suurkuusk defended his master thesis on a very interesting topic: Determination of Cannabinoids by Gas Chromatography. The title of the thesis is Validation of the […]

Today all seven AMS master’s candidates successfullt defended their theses. Congratulations! The PDF files of all the theses are available for download from here (See at the end of the […]

Seven AMS students will defend their master’s theses on June 8, 2010. The topics of the theses range from high-accuracy metrology (Klodian Dhoska – Systematic effects in automated mass measurements) […]

More and more measurements are made by means of different sensors. At the same time estimation of measurement uncertainty of measurement results (for characterizing their precision and bias – collectively […]

Date rape drug refers to a drug that can be used to assist in the commission of a sexual assault, such as date rape (Wikipedia). detection of traces of date […]

On May 3, 2010 Signe Vahur from chair of analytical chemistry defended her doctoral thesis “Expanding the possibilities of ATR-FT-IR spectroscopy in determination of inorganic pigments”. ATR-FT-IR has been used […]

Last Friday we finalized the submission of the proposal for obtaining the prestigious Erasmus Mundus label for our programme. The proposal was submitted as a collaborative effort (which is the […]

Every now and then measurements or chemical analyses show up in the awarded Nobel prize descriptions. I recently came across the Nobel lecture of John B. Fenn, the inventor (together […]

In one week time the Student Days in Tartu will start. Every year before the beginning of exam session in the middle of spring Student Days are held. On 26th […]

Besides the well-established LoD and LoQ as measures of detection ability of a procedure, laboratories are increasingly often required to establish also the decision threshold (CCalpha) and detection capability (CCbeta) […]

AMS Student Martynas Pelakauskas participates in the EstCube satellite project. His task is to design and check the power supply electronics. ESTCube-1, the first Estonian student satellite (www.estcube.eu), is a […]

There is a very good online database of pesticides hosted by the EU Community Reference Laboratories for Residues of Pesticides available at http://www.crl-pesticides-datapool.eu/ It is free and the data are […]

Posted by Ivo Leito Measurement science (metrology) is a lucky area in the sense that there a very good and authoritative “single-point-of-reference” terminology vocabulary available: the VIM (Vocabulaire international de métrologie, […]

On Saturday 20th March this semester’s Applied Measurement Science seminar was held in Chemicum. Almost all of the students – both first and second year – were participating and making […]

Did you know that time measurement accuracy of roughly 10 nanoseconds – that is 0.00000001 seconds (!) – is required for accurate positioning provided by GPS devices? Amazing! This time […]

Safety and quality of drinking water are among the important responsibilities of analytical chemists and measurement scientists. Toxic elements, such as lead, cadmium, selenium, etc are an important health risk […]

Measurements must be considered in the broadest sense and have very many applications: toxic metals in drinking water; cholesterol level in blood; strength of construction materials; protein content in wheat; […]