scholarly journals Building a collaborative Psychological Science: Lessons learned from ManyBabies 1

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista Byers-Heinlein ◽  
Christina Bergmann ◽  
Catherine Davies ◽  
Michael C. Frank ◽  
Kiley Hamlin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
Difficult Challenge ◽  
Implementation Data ◽  
Successes And Challenges ◽  
Made In

The field of infancy research faces a difficult challenge: some questions require samples that are simply too large for any one lab to recruit and test. ManyBabies aims to address this problem by forming large-scale collaborations on key theoretical questions in developmental science, while promoting the uptake of Open Science practices. Here, we look back on the first project completed under the ManyBabies umbrella – ManyBabies 1 – which tested the development of infant-directed speech preference. Our goal is to share the lessons learned over the course of the project and to articulate our vision for the role of large-scale collaborations in the field. First, we consider the decisions made in scaling up experimental research for a collaboration involving 100+ researchers and 70+ labs. Next, we discuss successes and challenges over the course of the project, including: protocol design and implementation, data analysis, organizational structures and collaborative workflows, securing funding, and encouraging broad participation in the project. Finally, we discuss the benefits we see both in ongoing ManyBabies projects and in future large-scale collaborations in general, with a particular eye towards developing best practices and increasing growth and diversity in infancy research and psychological science in general. Throughout the paper, we include first-hand narrative experiences, in order to illustrate the perspectives of researchers playing different roles within the project. While this project focused on the unique challenges of infant research, many of the insights we gained can be applied to large-scale collaborations across the broader field of psychology.

scholarly journals A Protocol for Extraction of Infective Viromes Suitable for Metagenomics Sequencing from Low Volume Fecal Samples

Viruses ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Deng ◽  
Ronalds Silins ◽  
Josué L. Castro-Mejía ◽  
Witold Kot ◽  
Leon Jessen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genome Sequencing ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Metagenomic Sequencing ◽  
High Input ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Specific Host ◽  
Substantial Progress ◽  
Low Volume ◽  
Made In

The human gut microbiome (GM) plays an important role in human health and diseases. However, while substantial progress has been made in understanding the role of bacterial inhabitants of the gut, much less is known regarding the viral component of the GM. Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses attacking specific host bacteria and likely play important roles in shaping the GM. Although metagenomic approaches have led to the discoveries of many new viruses, they remain largely uncultured as their hosts have not been identified, which hampers our understanding of their biological roles. Existing protocols for isolation of viromes generally require relatively high input volumes and are generally more focused on extracting nucleic acids of good quality and purity for down-stream analysis, and less on purifying viruses with infective capacity. In this study, we report the development of an efficient protocol requiring low sample input yielding purified viromes containing phages that are still infective, which also are of sufficient purity for genome sequencing. We validated the method through spiking known phages followed by plaque assays, qPCR, and metagenomic sequencing. The protocol should facilitate the process of culturing novel viruses from the gut as well as large scale studies on gut viromes.

scholarly journals Cosmic Inflation, Quantum Information and the Pioneering Role of John S Bell in Cosmology

Universe ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jérôme Martin
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Information ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Gravitational Instability ◽  
Cosmic Inflation ◽  
Large Scale Structures ◽  
Scale Structures ◽  
Accuracy Data ◽  
Made In

According to the theory of cosmic inflation, the large scale structures observed in our Universe (galaxies, clusters of galaxies, Cosmic Background Microwave—CMB—anisotropy...) are of quantum mechanical origin. They are nothing but vacuum fluctuations, stretched to cosmological scales by the cosmic expansion and amplified by gravitational instability. At the end of inflation, these perturbations are placed in a two-mode squeezed state with the strongest squeezing ever produced in Nature (much larger than anything that can be made in the laboratory on Earth). This article studies whether astrophysical observations could unambiguously reveal this quantum origin by borrowing ideas from quantum information theory. It is argued that some of the tools needed to carry out this task have been discussed long ago by J. Bell in a, so far, largely unrecognized contribution. A detailled study of his paper and of the criticisms that have been put forward against his work is presented. Although J. Bell could not have realized it when he wrote his letter since the quantum state of cosmological perturbations was not yet fully characterized at that time, it is also shown that Cosmology and cosmic inflation represent the most interesting frameworks to apply the concepts he investigated. This confirms that cosmic inflation is not only a successful paradigm to understand the early Universe. It is also the only situation in Physics where one crucially needs General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics to derive the predictions of a theory and, where, at the same time, we have high-accuracy data to test these predictions, making inflation a playground of utmost importance to discuss foundational issues in Quantum Mechanics.

scholarly journals Making research evaluation more transparent: Aligning research philosophy, institutional values, and reporting

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael R Dougherty ◽  
L. Robert Slevc ◽  
James Grand
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Research Evaluation ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Scholarly Activity ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
Institutional Values ◽  
Curriculum Vitae ◽  
Research Philosophy ◽  
New Procedures

There is a growing interest in changing the culture of psychology to improve the quality of our science. At the root of this interest is concern over the reproducibility of key findings. A variety of large-scale replication attempts have revealed that a number of previously published effects cannot be reproduced, while other analyses indicate that the published literature is rife with underpowered studies and publication bias. These revelations suggest that it is time to change how psychological science is carried out and increase transparency of reporting. We argue change will be slow until institutions adopt new procedures for evaluating scholarly activity. We consider three actions that individuals and departments can take to facilitate change throughout psychological science. These three actions are the development of individualized research philosophy statements, the creation of an annotated curriculum vitae to improve the transparency of scholarly reporting, and the use of a formal evaluative system that explicitly captures behaviors that support reproducibility. Our recommendations build on proposals for open science by enabling researchers to have a voice in articulating (and contextualizing) how they would like their work to be evaluated and by providing a mechanism for more detailed and transparent reporting of scholarly activities.

scholarly journals Towards wide-scale adoption of open science practices: The role of open science communities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristijan Armeni ◽  
Loek Brinkman ◽  
Rickard Carlsson ◽  
Anita Eerland ◽  
Rianne Fijten ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Learning Groups ◽  
Change Behavior ◽  
The Status ◽  
Wide Scale

Open Science (OS) increases the quality, efficiency, and impact of science. This has been widely recognised by scholars, funders, and policy makers. However, despite the increasing availability of infrastructure supporting OS and the rise in policies and incentives to change behavior, OS practices are not yet the norm. While pioneering researchers are developing and embracing OS practices, the majority sticks to the status quo. To transition from pioneering to common practice, we need to engage a critical proportion of the academic community. In this transition, Open Science Communities (OSCs) play a key role. OSCs are bottom-up learning groups of scholars that discuss OS practices, within and across disciplines. They make OS knowledge and know-how more visible and accessible, and facilitate communication among scholars and policy makers. By the same token, community members shape the transition to OS such that it is most beneficial for researchers, science, and society. Over the past two years, eleven OSCs were founded at several Dutch university cities, with approximately 700 members in total (at the time of writing). In other countries, similar OSCs are starting up. In this paper, we discuss the pivotal role OSCs play in the large-scale transition to OS and provide practical information on how to start a local OSC. We emphasize that, despite the grassroot character of OSCs, support from universities is critical for OSCs to be viable, effective, and sustainable.

scholarly journals Irrigation in the Ili River Basin of Central Asia: From Ditches to Dams and Diversion

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Pueppke ◽  
Qingling Zhang ◽  
Sabir Nurtazin
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Ili River Basin ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Made In

Central Asia’s Ili River is fed by mountain streams that flow down into an isolated and arid basin that today is shared by Kazakhstan and China. Agriculture in the basin is dependent upon irrigation, which was practiced as long ago as the Iron Age, when early pastoralists constructed ditches to channel water from streams onto nearby fields. Irrigation had become much more common by the 18th century, when the region was controlled by the Dzungarian Khanate. The khanate was toppled by the Qing Chinese in the 1750s in the first of a series of confrontations that destroyed and then rebuilt the basin’s agricultural economy. The region has since been dominated by a succession of Chinese and Russian (and later Soviet and independent Kazakh) governments, each of which recognized the essential role of irrigated agriculture in maintaining control. Thus every cycle of destruction led to reclamation of new lands, resettlement of farmers and upgrading of infrastructure to expand irrigation. This allowed an impressive diversity of fruits, vegetables and field crops to be grown, especially on loess soils of the more fertile upper basin, where tributaries could be easily tapped by gravity flow. Many of these tributaries were entirely diverted by the 19th century, so that they no longer reached the Ili. Large scale irrigation commenced in the 1960s, when the Soviets built Kapchagai dam and reservoir in the lower part of the basin and installed pumps to raise water from the Ili River onto nearby reclaimed sierozem soils, mostly for cultivation of rice. China later constructed a cluster of small- and medium-sized dams that enabled expansion of agriculture in the upper part of the basin. Many irrigated areas along the lower reaches of the Ili in Kazakhstan have been abandoned, but irrigation in the upper basin continues to expand. Declining soil fertility, salinization, pollution, insufficient inflows and adverse economic conditions currently challenge irrigation across the entire basin. Investments are being made in new technologies as a means to sustain irrigated agriculture in the basin, but it remains to be seen if these strategies will be successful.

scholarly journals The influence of gender dynamics on polio eradication efforts at the community, workplace, and organizational level

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Kalbarczyk ◽  
Aditi Rao ◽  
Adedamola Adebayo ◽  
Ellie Decker ◽  
Sue Gerber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Relations ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Program Planning ◽  
Polio Eradication ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Health Programs ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Gender Power

Abstract Background Globally, gender as a barrier or facilitator in achieving health outcomes is increasingly being documented. However, the role of gender in health programming and organization is frequently ignored. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, one of the largest globally coordinated public health programs in history, has faced and worked to address gender-based challenges as they emerge. This paper seeks to describe the role of gender power relations in the polio program across global, national, subnational, and front-line levels to offer lessons learned for global programs. Methods We conducted qualitative key-informant interviews with individuals purposively selected from the polio universe globally and within seven country partners: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, and Nigeria. The interview tool was designed to explore nuances of implementation challenges, strategies, and consequences within polio eradication. All interviews were conducted in the local or official language, audio-recorded, and transcribed. We employed a deductive coding approach and used four gender analysis domains to explore data at the household, community, workplace, and organizational levels. Results We completed 196 interviews globally and within each partner country; 74.5% of respondents were male and 25.5% were female. Male polio workers were not allowed to enter many households in conservative communities which created demand for female vaccinators. This changed the dynamics of front-line program teams and workplaces and empowered many women to enter the workplace for the first time. However, some faced challenges with safety and balancing obligations at home. Women were less likely to receive promotions to managerial or supervisory roles; this was also reflected at the global level. Some described how this lack of diverse management and leadership negatively affected the quality of program planning, delivery and limited accountability. Conclusions Gender power relations play an important role in determining the success of global health programs from global to local levels. Without consideration of gender, large-scale programs may fail to meet targets and/or reinforce gender inequities. Global disease programs should incorporate a gender lens in planning and implementation by engaging men and boys, supporting women in the workplace, and increasing diversity and representation among leadership.

scholarly journals A Protocol for Extraction of Infective Viromes Suitable for Metagenomics Sequencing from Low Volume Fecal Samples

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Deng ◽  
Ronalds Silins ◽  
Josue Leonardo Castro Mejia ◽  
Witold Kot ◽  
Leon Jessen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genome Sequencing ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Metagenomic Sequencing ◽  
High Input ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Specific Host ◽  
Substantial Progress ◽  
Low Volume ◽  
Made In

The human gut microbiome (GM) plays an important role in human health and diseases. However, while substantial progress has been made in understanding the role of bacterial inhabitants of the gut, much less is known regarding the viral component of the GM. Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses attacking specific host bacteria and likely play important roles in shaping the GM. Although metagenomic approaches have led to the discoveries of many new viruses, they largely remain uncultured as their hosts have not been identified, which hampers our understanding of their biological roles. Existing protocols for isolation of viromes generally require relatively high input volumes and are generally more focused on extracting nucleic acids of good quality and purity for down-stream analysis and less on purification of still infective viruses. Here we report the development of an efficient protocol requiring low sample input yielding purified viromes containing still infective phages which also are of sufficient purity for genome sequencing. We validated the method through spiking of known phages followed by plaque assays, qPCR and metagenomic sequencing. The protocol should facilitate the culturing of novel viruses from the gut as well as large scale studies on gut viromes.

scholarly journals Entrepreneurship through Micro Finance in North East India: A Comprehensive Review of Existing Literature

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 168-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanjay Kanti Das
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
North East India ◽  
North East ◽  
Rapid Industrialization ◽  
Unemployed Youth ◽  
Distribution Of Income ◽  
Made In

Entrepreneurship on small scale is the only solution to the problems of unemployment and proper utilization of both human and non-human resources and improving the living conditions of the poor masses. The basic rationale of developing these industries are that they provide immediate large scale employment, ensure more equitable distribution of income, encourage decentralization of industries and eradicate poverty and unemployment. During the last three decades, many countries of the world have experienced the need and importance of entrepreneurship has been accepted as a strategy to achieve the twin objectives of promotion of entrepreneurship, particularly among the educated unemployed youth and also for rapid industrialization in the economy. The main object of this paper is to study the existing literature on entrepreneurship through Micro finance-SHG linkage in India in general and NER in particular. The analysis of this study is based on secondary sources. Efforts are also made in this paper to analyze the role of micro finance through SHGs in the promotion and development of entrepreneurship. This paper examines the different approaches of entrepreneurship and also explains the different key areas of micro enterprise development. Finally, this paper highlights the problems of micro, rural and women entrepreneurs and also suggested some specific measures based on the survey of existing literature, for the promotion of these industries in the country.

scholarly journals Broadening horizons: Sample diversity and socioecological theory are essential to the future of psychological science

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (45) ◽  
pp. 11420-11427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Gurven
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Market Integration ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
Cultural Transformations ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Behavior

The present lack of sample diversity and ecological theory in psychological science fundamentally limits generalizability and obstructs scientific progress. A focus on the role of socioecology in shaping the evolution of morphology, physiology, and behavior has not yet been widely applied toward psychology. To date, evolutionary approaches to psychology have focused more on finding universals than explaining variability. However, contrasts between small-scale, kin-based rural subsistence societies and large-scale urban, market-based populations, have not been well appreciated. Nor has the variability within high-income countries, or the socioeconomic and cultural transformations affecting even the most remote tribal populations today. Elucidating the causes and effects of such broad changes on psychology and behavior is a fundamental concern of the social sciences; expanding study participants beyond students and other convenience samples is necessary to improve understanding of flexible psychological reaction norms among and within populations. Here I highlight two examples demonstrating how socioecological variability can help explain psychological trait expression: (i) the role of environmental harshness and unpredictability on shaping time preference and related traits, such as impulsivity, vigilance, and self-efficacy; and (ii) the effects of industrialization, market integration, and niche complexity on personality structure. These cases illustrate how appropriate theory can be a powerful tool to help determine choices of diverse study populations and improve the social sciences.

scholarly journals Open Science in Dinosaur Paleontology

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Tennant ◽  
Andrew Farke
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Scientific Practices ◽  
Data Standards ◽  
Digital Ecosystem ◽  
Made In

Research is in the midst of a period of global terraform, usually heralded under the banner of ‘Open Science’. Open Science is a response from communities to an increasingly digital ecosystem, enabling new practices to emerge. Three of the major pillars of Open Science include Open Access, Open Data, and Open Source. The global paleontological community is slowly adapting to each of these as part of its culture, raising new questions around scientific practices, data standards and interoperability, and the role of paleontological research in a modern society. This chapter discusses some of the progress that the paleontological community has made in shifting towards open practices, and considers some potential avenues for the future of the field.

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