BioNames ideas - automatically finding synonyms from the literature

One of the biggest pains (and self-inflicted wounds) in taxonomy is synonymy, the existence of multiple names for the same taxon. A common cause of synonymy is moving species to different genera in order to have their name reflect their classification. The consequence of this is any attempt to search the literature for basic biological data runs into the problem that observations published at different times by different researchers (e.g., taxonomists, ecologists, parasitologists) may use different names for the same taxon.

Existing taxonomic databases often have lists of synonyms, but these are incomplete, and typically don't provide any evidence why two names are synonyms.

Reading literature extracted form the Biodiversity Heritage Library I'm struck by how often I come across papers such as taxonomic revisions, museum catalogues, and checklists, that list two names as synonyms. Wouldn't it be great if we could mine these to automatically build lists of synonyms?

One quick and dirty way to do this is look for sets of names that have the same species name but different generic names, e.g.

• Atlantoxerus getulus
• Sciurus getulus
• Xerus getulus

If such names appear on the same page (i.e., in close proximity) there's a reasonable chance they are synonyms. So, one of the features I'm building in BioNames is an index of names like this. Hence, if we are displaying a page for the name Atlantoxerus getulus that page could also display Sciurus getulus and Xerus getulus as possible synonyms.

There's a lot more that could be done with this sort of approach. For example, this approach only works if the the species name remains unchanged. To improve it we'd need to do things like handle changes to the ending of a species name to agree with the gender of the genus, and cases where the taxa are demoted to subspecies (or promoted to species).

If we were even clever we'd attempt to parse synonymy lists to extract even more synonyms (for an example see Huber and Klump (PDF available here):

Huber, R., & Klump, J. (2009). Charting taxonomic knowledge through ontologies and ranking algorithms. Computers & Geosciences, 35(4), 862–868. doi:10.1016/j.cageo.2008.02.016

Then there's the broader topic of looking at co-occurrence of taxonomic names in general. As I noted a while ago there are examples of pages in BHL that lists taxonomically unrelated taxa that are ecologically closely associated (e.g., hosts and parasites). Hence we could imagine automatically building host-parasite databases by mining the literature. Initially we could simply display lists of names that co-occur frequently. Ideally we'd filter out "accidental" co-occurrences, such as indexes or tables of contents, but there seems to be a lot of potential in automating the extraction of basic information from the taxonomic literature.

Figuring Out an Accounting Career

What You Can Count On: Job Security

For the 2007 fiscal year, Microsoft reported an annual revenue of $51.2 billion. Behind any company's revenue numbers--big or small--are accountants and financial managers who balance the books. In 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act added further scrutiny to corporate procedures. Between government regulations and the thousands of companies that need to manage finances, the immediate benefit of a career in accounting is a reasonable amount of job security. Additionally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts strong growth for accountants and auditors through 2016.

What You Can Take to the Bank: Strong Earnings

Another benefit for an accountant is that the median annual salary for accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services is $57,020. Going further into the financial services industry, you could become a financial manager for a major corporation and earn in the neighborhood of $105,410 a year according to the BLS. You can also work your way up the corporate ladder to financial director, corporate controller, or even chief financial officer (CFO).

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A college degree and certification are almost essential for advancement and a long term career in accounting. A bachelor's degree in accounting or a finance related topic is a solid start, and earning a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) credential furthers your employability prospects. You can even take it a step-further by earning a specialized certification such as a Certified Management Accountant (CMA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Accredited Tax Advisor (ATA), or other credential. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants reports on a survey finding that candidates with a professional certification can earn 10% more than other accountants. A graduate degree can also help you stand out from the crowd.

Questions and Answers About Starting an Accounting Career

An accountant plays a very important role in the functioning and efficiency of a corporation. They provide a number of vital business services to clients including the management of financial matters, auditing, and handling tax issues. However, the specific duties performed in an accounting career will differ depending on what field the practitioner works in, be it public accounting, management accounting, government accounting, or internal auditing.

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There is a large demand for accountants, and as more businesses are created in the coming years, the demand is expected to increase. The rapid expansion of business is also expected to have a large effect on the types of responsibilities accountants will have. Nevertheless, these jobs can be very competitive, and many businesses are increasing their standards by which they hire and the qualifications they demand.

Accountants who have a great knowledge of computers and many different accounting software will have a better change of employment. Also, those who have more education, training, and experience will also have an edge in the job market. It is also important for accountants to demonstrate interpersonal skills as this will also help them perform their job more effectively and get along better with clients.