Ashland University

The credibility revolution in psychology and related sciences contributed to the adoption of large-scale research initiatives known as Big Team Science (BTS). BTS has made significant advances in addressing issues of replication, statistical power, and diversity through the use of larger samples and more representative cross-cultural data. However, while these collaborations hold great potential, they also introduce unique challenges related to their scale. Drawing on experiences from successful BTS projects, we identified and outlined key strategies for overcoming diversity, volunteering, and capacity challenges. We emphasize the need for clear role definitions, structured and preregistered workflows, centralized project management, and transparent decision documenting to prevent common pitfalls. Ultimately, we call for reflection on the strengths and limitations of BTS to enhance the quality, generalizability, and impact of research across disciplines. This work complements existing BTS guides by offering experientially-grounded, discipline-specific strategies and addressing underexplored logistical, ethical, and epistemological challenges in large-scale collaborations.

Background and aims – Plants display a variety of resistance and tolerance responses to herbivory. Compensation, or changes in growth, allocation, and/or physiology, after damage is one way that plants tolerate herbivory, but geographic patterns in intraspecific plant compensatory responses are understudied. We aimed to study geographic variation in tolerance to herbivory to help explain geographic patterns in the distribution of resistance traits and the relationship between tolerance and resistance traits in common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca. Material and methods – We grew milkweed from 14 different populations in the greenhouse, mechanically applied 25% leaf damage to an experimental group, and compared the control and experimental groups to measure compensatory responses in final biomass, root:shoot ratios, stem investment, and relative growth rate. We compared compensatory responses across populations grouped by latitude and by temperature. Key results – Compared to controls, milkweed plants that were damaged lost mass and expressed reduced root:shoot ratios. However, the effect of damage on total mass, stem investment, and relative growth rate varied among genetic families. In regional contrasts, plants from colder climates grew larger and invested less in stems and roots than plants from warmer climates under control conditions, but they were less able to compensate for damage in terms of biomass. Plants from cold regions also showed a tendency to reduce growth rate and stem investment after damage; whereas, plants from warmer climates tended to increase their growth rate and stem investment in response to damage. Conclusion – While plants from high latitudes and colder climates were less able to compensate for damage than those from lower latitudes, we are not confident that these differences are caused by geographic differences in growth rate, or that they explain differences in resistance to herbivory. Instead, we suspect that differences in the phenology of development in plants from regions with different climates affect the impact of damage and the potential for compensatory growth. Milkweed plants from colder regions with short growing seasons grew larger during our measurement period, while those from regions with longer growing seasons invested more in stems and roots, traits which may have facilitated greater long-term growth, as well as the greater compensatory ability observed in our study. Future studies should explicitly manipulate the timing of damage applied to plants from different regions to test the relationship between phenology and compensation.

Host range describes the hosts that a bacteriophage can and cannot infect. Throughout the history of phage use in various applications, phages with varying host ranges have been needed and techniques to alter a phage’s host range have been developed. These include techniques that rely on spontaneous mutations and others that use genetic engineering to make designed changes. Phages with altered host ranges have been used in personalized phage therapy cases and in cocktails in clinical trials. In this review, we provide descriptions of methods for altering a phage’s host range with a focus on applications to phage therapy.

In the realm of the Internet, the development of a secure environment requires addressing many challenges, including issues of privacy, data protection, and online harassment, with cyberbullying being one of the most prevalent concerns. Thus, effective solutions must focus on prevention, intervention, and support systems in order to create a safe and respectful online experience for all users. As such, this study will serve to provide critical thinking and reasoning to the ever-growing issue of cyberbullying on social media platforms, with studious focus on the online messaging platform Discord. Additionally, the research then provides theorization of possible solutions. Foremost, the overall topic of cyberbullying is introduced, with further related information given in literature review; to provide well-rounded knowledge of the topic. Then, the data obtained from the study, as well as the methodology of the survey conducted, are discussed in accordance with the topic. Furthermore, results are detailed with an established ethical framework, to provide ethical consideration in providing a solution. In the consideration of the prior information, the advantages and disadvantages of theorized solutions are discussed as to assist and contribute to those similarly attempting to resolve the problem of cyberbullying. At the conclusion of this report, all information will be considered to craft a solution that is feasible, ethical, and, most importantly, effective against the issue of cyberbullying.