Variation cascades: resource pulses and top‐down effects across time scales

The Permian-Triassic mass extinction was the worst crisis faced by life; it killed >90% of marine species in less than 0.1 million years (Ma). However, knowledge of its macroecological impact over prolonged time scales is limited. We show that marine ecosystems dominated by non-motile animals shifted to ones dominated by nektonic groups after the extinction. In Triassic oceans, animals at high trophic levels recovered faster than those at lower levels. The top-down rebuilding of marine ecosystems was still underway in the latest Triassic, ~50 Ma after the extinction, and contrasts with the ~5-Ma recovery required for taxonomic diversity. The decoupling between taxonomic and ecological recoveries suggests that a process of vacant niche filling before reaching the maximum environmental carrying capacity is independent of ecosystem structure building.

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Deep Reinforcement Learning with Hierarchical Structures

Proceedings of the Thirtieth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence ◽

10.24963/ijcai.2021/681 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Siyuan Li

Keyword(s):

Reinforcement Learning ◽

Time Scales ◽

Hierarchical Structures ◽

Multiple Time Scales ◽

Multiple Time ◽

Top Down ◽

Bottom Up ◽

Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning ◽

Future Work

Hierarchical reinforcement learning (HRL), which enables control at multiple time scales, is a promising paradigm to solve challenging and long-horizon tasks. In this paper, we briefly introduce our work in bottom-up and top-down HRL and outline the directions for future work.

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LVSEM: Past Present and Future

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100180574 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (1) ◽

pp. 364-365

Author(s):

James B. Pawley

Keyword(s):

Field Emission ◽

Line Width ◽

Time Scales ◽

Silicon Oxide ◽

Beam Current ◽

High Brightness ◽

High Beam ◽

Fixed Charges ◽

Beam Voltage ◽

Deposited Metal

Past: In 1960 Thornley published the first description of SEM studies carried out at low beam voltage (LVSEM, 1-5 kV). The aim was to reduce charging on insulators but increased contrast and difficulties with low beam current and frozen biological specimens were also noted. These disadvantages prevented widespread use of LVSEM except by a few enthusiasts such as Boyde. An exception was its use in connection with studies in which biological specimens were dissected in the SEM as this process destroyed the conducting films and produced charging unless LVSEM was used.In the 1980’s field emission (FE) SEM’s came into more common use. The high brightness and smaller energy spread characteristic of the FE-SEM’s greatly reduced the practical resolution penalty associated with LVSEM and the number of investigators taking advantage of the technique rapidly expanded; led by those studying semiconductors. In semiconductor research, the SEM is used to measure the line-width of the deposited metal conductors and of the features of the photo-resist used to form them. In addition, the SEM is used to measure the surface potentials of operating circuits with sub-micrometer resolution and on pico-second time scales. Because high beam voltages destroy semiconductors by injecting fixed charges into silicon oxide insulators, these studies must be performed using LVSEM where the beam does not penetrate so far.

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Top-Down Processing and Visual Reorientation Illusions in a Virtual Reality Environment

Swiss Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1024/1421-0185.63.3.143 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 63 (3) ◽

pp. 143-149 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Fred W. Mast ◽

Charles M. Oman

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Visual Processing ◽

Line Length ◽

Perceptual Cues ◽

Virtual Reality Environment ◽

Top Down ◽

Test Conditions ◽

The Subject ◽

Processing Mechanisms

The role of top-down processing on the horizontal-vertical line length illusion was examined by means of an ambiguous room with dual visual verticals. In one of the test conditions, the subjects were cued to one of the two verticals and were instructed to cognitively reassign the apparent vertical to the cued orientation. When they have mentally adjusted their perception, two lines in a plus sign configuration appeared and the subjects had to evaluate which line was longer. The results showed that the line length appeared longer when it was aligned with the direction of the vertical currently perceived by the subject. This study provides a demonstration that top-down processing influences lower level visual processing mechanisms. In another test condition, the subjects had all perceptual cues available and the influence was even stronger.

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Functional Anatomy of Intensity Aspects of Attention

Zeitschrift für Neuropsychologie ◽

10.1024/1016-264x.14.3.181 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 181-190 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Walter Sturm

Keyword(s):

Right Hemisphere ◽

Functional Anatomy ◽

Fmri Data ◽

Functional Networks ◽

Top Down ◽

Stimulus Modality ◽

Spatial Orienting ◽

Phasic Alertness ◽

Co Activation ◽

Attention System

Abstract: Behavioral and PET/fMRI-data are presented to delineate the functional networks subserving alertness, sustained attention, and vigilance as different aspects of attention intensity. The data suggest that a mostly right-hemisphere frontal, parietal, thalamic, and brainstem network plays an important role in the regulation of attention intensity, irrespective of stimulus modality. Under conditions of phasic alertness there is less right frontal activation reflecting a diminished need for top-down regulation with phasic extrinsic stimulation. Furthermore, a high overlap between the functional networks for alerting and spatial orienting of attention is demonstrated. These findings support the hypothesis of a co-activation of the posterior attention system involved in spatial orienting by the anterior alerting network. Possible implications of these findings for the therapy of neglect are proposed.

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Auswirkungen eines Aufmerksamkeitstrainings auf die aphasische Symptomatik bei Schlaganfallpatienten

Zeitschrift für Neuropsychologie ◽

10.1024/1016-264x/a000027 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 21-32 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Julia Graf ◽

Hartwig Kulke ◽

Christa Sous-Kulke ◽

Wilfried Schupp ◽

Stefan Lautenbacher

Keyword(s):

Top Down

Aufmerksamkeit kann als Kontrollsystem neuronaler Aktivität verstanden werden, welches Neuroplastizität top-down modulieren hilft. Bisher wurde selten versucht, durch deren gezielte Förderung Funktionswiederherstellungen nach Hirnschädigung zu begünstigen. In vorliegender Studie wurde dies am Beispiel der Aphasie erprobt. 15 Schlaganfallpatienten erhielten ein dreiwöchiges Training der selektiven Aufmerksamkeit mit den PC-Programmen CogniPlus und „Konzentration“ bei fünf Sitzungen pro Woche zusätzlich zur Standardtherapie, 13 weitere bildeten eine Kontrollgruppe ohne Aufmerksamkeitstraining. Zur Effektivitätskontrolle dienten zwei Versionen des Untertests Go/Nogo (Testbatterie zur Aufmerksamkeitsprüfung) und die Kurze Aphasieprüfung. Nach dem Training manifestierte sich zwischen den Untersuchungsgruppen kein Unterschied in Aufmerksamkeits- und Sprachfunktionen; das zusätzliche Aufmerksamkeitstraining war also wirkungslos. Allerdings zeigten Patienten mit deutlichen Aufmerksamkeitsverbesserungen tendenziell weniger Aphasie-Symptome, was die Hypothese aufmerksamkeitsvermittelter Plastizitätsmodulation nach Hirnschädigung partiell stützt.

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Aufmerksamkeitswechsel und Konzentration: Von den Funktionen zum Mechanismus

Zeitschrift für Psychologie / Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1026//0044-3409.209.1.34 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 209 (1) ◽

pp. 34-53 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rainer Bösel

Keyword(s):

Top Down ◽

Eeg Alpha

Zusammenfassung. Aufmerksamkeit wird sowohl als Selektivität in der bewußter Verarbeitung oder auch als selektive neuronale Aktivierung verstanden. Die neuronalen Strukturen, die Objektdiskrimination ermöglichen, erlauben eine Interaktion von datengetriebenen und endogenen top-down Prozessen, die zu einer selektiven Bereitstellung von Verarbeitungs-Ressourcen führen. Zielgerichtetes Verhalten erfordert manchmal einen Wechsel in der Ressourcen-Bereitstellung und eine Konzentration von mentaler Aktivität. Aufmerksamkeitswechsel kann als ein zweiphasiger Prozeß verstanden werden, der aus einer breiten Mobilisierung von Gedächtnis-Ressourcen besteht (angezeigt durch EEG-Theta), gefolgt von einer re-organisierenden Einengung neuronaler Aktivität (angezeigt durch langsames EEG-Alpha). Dieser Beitrag unterstützt die Annahme, daß die Analyse des gekoppelten Wechselspiels aus Mobilisierung und Konzentration in bestimmten Teilen der posterioren und anterioren Rindenregionen ein Schlüssel für das Verständnis von Aufmerksamkeitswechsel sein könnte.

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