What over 1,000,000 participants tell us about online research protocols

With the ever-increasing adoption of tools for online research, for the first time we have visibility on macro-level trends in research that were previously unattainable. However, until now this data has been siloed within company databases and unavailable to researchers. Between them, the online study creation and hosting tool Gorilla Experiment Builder and the recruitment platform Prolific hold metadata gleaned from millions of participants and over half a million studies. We analyzed a subset of this data (over 1 million participants and half a million studies) to reveal critical information about the current state of the online research landscape that researchers can use to inform their own study planning and execution. We analyzed this data to discover basic benchmarking statistics about online research that all researchers conducting their work online may be interested to know. In doing so, we identified insights related to: the typical study length, average completion rates within studies, the most frequent sample sizes, the most popular participant filters, and gross participant activity levels. We present this data in the hope that it can be used to inform research choices going forward and provide a snapshot of the current state of online research

Age-related comparative study of interhemispheric communication in monolinguals and bilinguals

The corpus callosum is the largest white matter structure of the human brain, and it enables interhemispheric transfer of information. Research has shown that bilinguals have larger anterior regions of the corpus callosum when compared to monolinguals. Besides, as a potential consequence of age-related thinning of the corpus callosum, older adults seem to experience less efficient interhemispheric transfer in certain tasks. Through three different behavioural studies, the work described in this thesis analysed the impact of bilingualism and age on the communication between the hemispheres. To that aim, I recruited several groups of younger (18-25 years) and older (65-85 years) monolinguals and bilinguals to take part in one lab-based and two web-based studies which used the divided-visual field paradigm to measure interhemispheric transfer through reaction times and accuracy. Apart from one single experiment, no significant difference between monolinguals’ and bilinguals’ interhemispheric transfer was found. However, old age of participants was generally responsible for slower reaction times and had an impact on the bilateral processing advantage, a well-researched phenomenon where interhemispheric transfer is more efficient than intrahemispheric communication for more demanding tasks. These results seem to suggest that although lifelong bilingualism can increase white matter integrity, it does not have an impact on the speed of interhemispheric transfer. Ageing, on the contrary, remains an important factor to consider when studying the corpus callosum and its function

What over 1,000,000 participants tell us about online research protocols

With the ever-increasing adoption of tools for online research, for the first time we have visibility on macro-level trends in research that were previously unattainable. However, until now this data has been siloed within company databases and unavailable to researchers. Between them, the online study creation and hosting tool Gorilla Experiment Builder and the recruitment platform Prolific hold metadata gleaned from millions of participants and over half a million studies. We analyzed a subset of this data (over 1 million participants and half a million studies) to reveal critical information about the current state of the online research landscape that researchers can use to inform their own study planning and execution. We analyzed this data to discover basic benchmarking statistics about online research that all researchers conducting their work online may be interested to know. In doing so, we identified insights related to: the typical study length, average completion rates within studies, the most frequent sample sizes, the most popular participant filters, and gross participant activity levels. We present this data in the hope that it can be used to inform research choices going forward and provide a snapshot of the current state of online research

What over 1,000,000 participants tells us about online research protocols

Dataset shared from Gorilla Experiment Builder and Prolific's data warehouses which provides a snapshot of online research methods

Ecological Network Indicators of Ecosystem Status and Change in the Baltic Sea

<div><p>Several marine ecosystems under anthropogenic pressure have experienced shifts from one ecological state to another. In the central Baltic Sea, the regime shift of the 1980s has been associated with food-web reorganization and redirection of energy flow pathways. These long-term dynamics from 1974 to 2006 have been simulated here using a food-web model forced by climate and fishing. Ecological network analysis was performed to calculate indices of ecosystem change. The model replicated the regime shift. The analyses of indicators suggested that the system’s resilience was higher prior to 1988 and lower thereafter. The ecosystem topology also changed from a web-like structure to a linearized food-web.</p></div

Investigating the recent decline in gadoid stocks in the west of Scotland shelf ecosystem using a foodweb model

Abundance and biomass of cod, haddock, and whiting in thewaters off of the west coast of Scotland (wcoS) have undergone large changes in recent years, most notably a recent decline. These three species contribute a considerable part of Scottish demersal landings from this area and as such it is important to understand why these stocks are behaving theway they are. A number of explanations for the decline have been proposed, including: seal predation, pressure from Nephrops trawls, and fishing pressure more generally. We used an ecosystem model of the wcoS continental shelf (,200 m depth) to investigate whether these proposed explanations for declining gadoid stocks are feasible. Results suggest that the rise in the grey seal population over recent years has not led to the decline in gadoid stocks; there is insufficient bycatch by the Nephrops fleet to have a large impact on gadoid stocks; however, fishing, as a key driver of thewest of Scotland shelf ecosystem, has impacted stocks and by decreasing fishing levels to maximum sustainable yield cod biomass may increase slightly though not returning to previous levels. Although this means we are little further forward in understanding the cause of recent gadoid declines in the area, the development of this model has enabled us to further our knowledge and understanding of aspects of trophic structure and the impacts of fishing on the wcoS.JRC.G.3-Maritime affair

The new consumer ::a typology of consumer reactions to the COVID-19 crisis

The COVID-19 crisis is disrupting and changing the lives of consumers in dramatic ways. Research and businesses face the challenge of responding to an unprecedented situation. Drawing on a three-step empirical study design, this study identifies how consumers in Germany and Switzerland reacted to financial and non-financial constraints imposed by the COVID-19 crisis. Building on these findings, we typologize consumer reactions to the COVID-19 crisis. Based on this in-depth analysis of consumer reactions, this study provides guidance to researchers and businesses during volatile times of the COVID-19 crisis

Schweizer Konsumenten-verhalten und Marken-kommunikation in Zeiten der Covid-19-Pandemie

Wie verändert sich das Konsumentenverhalten in der Covid-19-Pandemie? Dieser Beitrag analysiert Veränderungen im Schweizer Konsumentenverhalten und identifiziert vier typische Verhaltensänderungen. Basierend auf der Konsumentenperspektive werden Best-Practice-Beispiele für die Marketing-kommunikation in der Krise präsentiert

Ecological indicators and ENA indices anomalies (note different scale) from 1974–2006.

<p>Ecological indicators and ENA indices anomalies (note different scale) from 1974–2006.</p