The Magnitude of Global Marine Species Diversity

Background: The question of how many marine species exist is important because it provides a metric for how much we do and do not know about life in the oceans. We have compiled the first register of the marine species of the world and used this baseline to estimate how many more species, partitioned among all major eukaryotic groups, may be discovered. Results: There are ∼226,000 eukaryotic marine species described. More species were described in the past decade (∼20,000) than in any previous one. The number of authors describing new species has been increasing at a faster rate than the number of new species described in the past six decades. We report that there are ∼170,000 synonyms, that 58,000–72,000 species are collected but not yet described, and that 482,000–741,000 more species have yet to be sampled. Molecular methods may add tens of thousands of cryptic species. Thus, there may be 0.7–1.0 million marine species. Past rates of description of new species indicate there may be 0.5 ± 0.2 million marine species. On average 37% (median 31%) of species in over 100 recent field studies around the world might be new to science. Conclusions: Currently, between one-third and two-thirds of marine species may be undescribed, and previous estimates of there being well over one million marine species appear highly unlikely. More species than ever before are being described annually by an increasing number of authors. If the current trend continues, most species will be discovered this century

The mediation of social influences on smoking cessation and awareness of the early signs of lung cancer

Background Whilst there has been no clear consensus on the potential for earlier diagnosis of lung cancer, recent research has suggested that the time between symptom onset and consultation can be long enough to plausibly affect prognosis. In this article, we present findings from a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with patients who had been diagnosed with lung cancer (n = 11), and people who were at heightened risk of developing the disease (n = 14). Methods A grounded theory methodology was drawn upon to conduct thematic and narrative based approaches to analysis. Results The paper focuses on three main themes which emerged from the study: i) fatalism and resignation in pathways to help-seeking and the process of diagnosis; ii) Awareness of smoking risk and response to cessation information and advice. iii) The role of social and other networks on help-seeking. Key findings included: poor awareness among participants of the symptoms of lung cancer; ambivalence about the dangers of smoking; the perception of lung cancer as part of a homogenisation of multiple illnesses; close social networks as a key trigger in help-seeking. Conclusions We suggest that future smoking cessation and lung cancer awareness campaigns could usefully capitalise on the influence of close social networks, and would benefit from taking a ‘softer’ approach

Toiminnanohjausjärjestelmän kehittäminen kansainvälisen myyntityön tueksi

Opinnäytetyön aiheena oli Eko-Aims Oy:n toiminnanohjausjärjestelmän kehittäminen tukemaan paremmin kansainvälistä myyntiä mikrokokoluokan yrityksessä. Tavoitteena oli löytää ratkaisuja myynnin kaipaamiin kehityskohteisiin toiminnanohjausjärjestelmän toimintoja kehittämällä. Teoriaosuudessa käsiteltiin toiminnanohjausjärjestelmiä yleisellä tasolla niiden kehityshistoriasta nykypäivän toteutustapoihin sekä perehdyttiin tarkemmin Lemonsoft-ERP-järjestelmään. Empiirisessä osiossa Lemosoft-järjestelmää kehitettiin toimintatutkimuksen keinoin. Tarvemäärityksessä käytettiin teemahaastattelua, johon haastateltiin molempia Eko-Aimsissa päivittäin Lemonsoft-järjestelmää käyttäviä henkilöitä. Tutkimuksen tuloksena Lemonsoft-järjestelmään saatiin uusia myyntiä tukevia toimintoja ja pystyttiin osoittamaan rajoittavia tekijöitä järjestelmän laajemmalle hyödyntämiselle. Suurin osa haastatteluissa esiin nousseista ongelmakohdista olisi ratkaistavissa ERP:n avulla, mutta resurssien riittävyys nousee rajoittavaksi tekijäksi. Moduulipohjaisen ERP:n moduuleitten lisenssit ovat kalliita, ja mitä tarkemmin toimintoja hyödynnetään, sitä enemmän toimintojen opetteluun ja käyttämiseen täytyy käyttää aikaa. Jatkotutkimusta kannattaisi tehdä siitä, saavutetaanko laajemmalla ERP:n käytöllä todellista tehokkuutta, vai hukkuuko työaika erilaisten kirjausten tekoon ja niissä mahdollisesti esiintyvien virheiden oikomiseen.The topic of the thesis was developing an enterprise resource planning as a system providing a better support for the international sales operations of micro-sized enterprises. The goal was to resolve problems discovered in sales work by developing the functions of an ERP system. The theoretical part describes ERP systems in general from the beginning to the current most common implementations of the systems, and introduces the Lemonsoft ERP-system. In the empirical part, the Lemonsoft system was explored using the methods of design research. Both the employees, who are daily users of Lemonsoft at Eko-Aims, were theme-interviewed to determine the needs and most important targets for development. Resulting from the research, new functions were added to the Lemonsoft ERP system, and factors limiting further implementation were pointed out. Most problems brought up in the interviews could be resolved with the ERP, but lack of resources seemed to be a limiting factor. Licenses for the module-based ERP system are expensive, and a further implementation of the ERP system brings about a demand for learning how to do it and for using time-consuming registrations to the system. Further research would need to be done to find out if the implementation of the ERP system is actually making the work more efficient, or if the working hours are consumed on increasing registrations on the system, and fixing the potential errors in them

The magnitude of global marine species diversity

Background: The question of how many marine species exist is important because it provides a metric for how much we do and do not know about life in the oceans. We have compiled the first register of the marine species of the world and used this baseline to estimate how many more species, partitioned among all major eukaryotic groups, may be discovered. Results: There are similar to 226,000 eukaryotic marine species described. More species were described in the past decade (similar to 20,000) than in any previous one. The number of authors describing new species has been increasing at a faster rate than the number of new species described in the past six decades. We report that there are similar to 170,000 synonyms, that 58,000-72,000 species are collected but not yet described, and that 482,000-741,000 more species have yet to be sampled. Molecular methods may add tens of thousands of cryptic species. Thus, there may be 0.7-1.0 million marine species. Past rates of description of new species indicate there may be 0.5 +/- 0.2 million marine species. On average 37% (median 31%) of species in over 100 recent field studies around the world might be new to science. Conclusions: Currently, between one-third and two-thirds of marine species may be undescribed, and previous estimates of there being well over one million marine species appear highly unlikely. More species than ever before are being described annually by an increasing number of authors. If the current trend continues, most species will be discovered this century