TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

Facebookin hyödyntäminen koripalloseurojen viestinnässä

Tässä opinnäytetyössä selvitetään Facebookin roolia koripalloseurojen viestinnässä. Facebook ja koripallo ovat molemmat tällä hetkellä ajankohtaisia aiheita. Työssä perehdytään myös sosiaalisen median hyötyihin yritykselle sekä asiakkaalle. Opinnäytetyö tehtiin syksyn 2011 ja kevään 2012 välisenä aikana. Työn tarkoitus on tutkia käyttävätkö seurat Facebookia ja millä tavoin ne ovat yhteydessä kuluttajiin. Lisäksi selvitetään käyttävätkö koripalloseurat koko Facebookin kapasiteettia markkinoimiseen ja mitkä ovat seurojen tavoitteet Facebookin käytöstä tulevaisuudessa. Tutkimus rajattiin suomalaisiin koripalloseuroihin. Opinnäytetyö tehtiin kvalitatiivisena tutkimuksena ja siihen sisältyy teoria osuus sekä empiirinen osuus. Teoriaosuus koostuu kolmesta eri aihealueesta: digitaalisesta markkinoinnista, sosiaalisesta mediasta sekä Facebookista. Empiirisessä osuudessa esitellään tulokset eri teemoissa sekä pohditaan tuloksia. Teemat ovat Facebookin käytön syyt, käyttötavat, käytön aktiivisuus, sivujen vastuuhenkilöt sekä Facebookin käytön tulevaisuus seuroissa. Tutkimus toteutettiin haastattelulla sekä sähköpostikyselyillä. Osallistuneet seurat ovat juniorijoukkueita ja naisten sekä miesten pääsarja- ja divisioonajoukkueita. Tutkimuksessa haastateltiin yhtä seuraa ja seitsemän seuraa vastasi sähköpostikyselyihin. Tutkimustulokset osoittivat, että koripalloseurat käyttävät Facebookia apuna viestinnässään, mutta eivät läheskään koko sen kapasiteettia. Seurojen edustajat ymmärsivät kuitenkin Facebookin tärkeän merkityksen tulevaisuudessa.The study examines Facebook’s role in public relations of basketball clubs. Facebook and basketball are both current subjects at the moment. The study also orientates with benefits of social media for the company and the consumer. The thesis was written during the autumn 2011 and the spring 2012. The aim of the thesis was to study if basketball clubs use Facebook and how they connect with consumers by using it. In addition, the aim was to find out if basketball clubs use the whole capacity of Facebook in marketing and what their plans are for using Facebook in the future. The study was restricted to the Finnish basketball clubs. The method is qualitative and it consist of a theory section and an empirical section. The theory section consist of three different areas: digital marketing, social media and Facebook. The results of the empirical section are introduced in different themes and discussions. The themes are reasons, methods and frequency of using Facebook, the people responsible for the club’s Facebook-pages and the club’s plans of using Facebook in the future. The study was carried out using interviews and e-mail inquiries. The clubs who attended to the study were junior clubs, women’s and men’s top league and division clubs. One club was interviewed and seven clubs answered to the e-mail inquiry. The results of the study showed that basketball clubs use Facebook as a help in marketing, but not even nearly the whole capacity. Representatives of the clubs, however, understood the importance of Facebook in the future

Outbreak of central-nervous-system toxoplasmosis in Western Europe and North America

Acute encephalitis caused by Toxoplasma gondii was diagnosed in ten patients in Belgium, the U.S.A. and Canada. None had underlying conditions usually associated with toxoplasmosis. Three had evidence of extraneural infection at necropsy. Nine patients died. Only two of the patients had a history of homosexuality, and one was a heroin addict. Five were Haitian, and four of them had lived in North America for 2-5 years. Eight of the patients had pronounced lymphopenia. Diagnosis of toxoplasmosis was hampered by a lack of suspicion that Toxoplasma could be the agent causing necrotising encephalitis in the non-immunocompromised host, the protean manifestations of the encephalitis, and a lack of a specific antibody response. The large number of cases appearing in western Europe and North America emphasise the necessity of including toxoplasmosis in the differential diagnosis of encephalitis of unknown aetiology.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe