scholarly journals The impact of extreme weather events on community risk planning and management: the case of San Juan, Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Santiago ◽  
David Flores ◽  
Chang-Yu Hong
Keyword(s):  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Flood Control ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
San Juan ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Top-down technical or engineered solutions to deal with flood control such as channelization are increasingly unaffordable. We explored how community leaders’ frame the concept of risk, particularly due to flooding, and documented bottom-up rather than top-down solutions within the context of Hurricane Maria and the current financial crisis. This research aimed to interview environmental conservation organizational leaders to assess the broader question of what makes San Juan livable, and the role that flooding risk management plays in defining livability. Their perception of bottom-up approaches for flood control, including the role of green infrastructure, is of particular interest given the infeasibility of current engineered measures and their history of short term local coping strategies. Our research team frames the research using structural versus non-structural solutions to explore to what extent community leaders draw upon green visions of the city or emphasize transitioning towards strategies more closely aligned with ecological processes and functions. The research results help to inform current efforts of local community engagement about alternative solutions to channelization and other urban flood management measures.

scholarly journals The effects of hip- and ankle-focused exercise intervention on dynamic knee valgus: a systematic review

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11731
Author(s):  
Farhah Nadhirah Aiman Sahabuddin ◽  
Nazatul Izzati Jamaludin ◽  
Nurul Hidayah Amir ◽  
Shazlin Shaharudin
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Knee Joint ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Exercise Intervention ◽  
Free Text ◽  
Knee Valgus ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Limb Injuries ◽  
The Impact

Background A range of non-contact injuries such as anterior cruciate ligament tear, and patellofemoral pain syndrome are caused by disordered knee joint loading from excessive dynamic knee valgus (DKV). Previous systematic reviews showed that DKV could be modified through the influence of hip strength and ankle range of motion. Therefore, the purpose of this systematic review was to examine the effects of exercise intervention which involved either top-down or bottom-up kinetic chains on minimizing DKV in male and female adults and adolescents, with and without existing knee pain. Methodology Electronic searches were conducted in SAGE, Science Direct, SCOPUS, and Pubmed. The search strategy consisted of medical subject headings and free-text search keywords, synonyms and variations of ‘exercise intervention,’ ‘knee alignment,’ ‘dynamic knee valgus’, ‘knee abduction’ that were merged via the Boolean operator ‘AND’ and ‘OR’. The search was conducted on full-text journals that documented the impact of the exercise intervention program involving either the bottom-up or top-down DKV mechanism on the knee kinematics. Furthermore, exercise intervention in this review should last at least one week which included two or three sessions per week. This review also considered both men and women of all ages with a healthy or symptomatic knee problem. The risk of bias of the included studies was assessed by Cochrane risk assessment tool. The protocol of this review was registered at PROSPERO (registration number: CRD42021219121). Results Ten studies with a total of 423 participants (male = 22.7%, female = 77.3%; adults = 249, adolescents = 123; pre-adolescent = 51) met the inclusion criteria of this review. Seven studies showed the significant effects of the exercise intervention program (range from two weeks to ten weeks) on reducing DKV. The exercise training in these seven studies focused on muscle groups directly attached to the knee joint such as hamstrings and gastrocnemius. The remaining three studies did not show significant improvement in DKV after the exercise intervention (range between eight weeks to twelve weeks) probably because they focused on trunk and back muscles instead of muscles crossing the knee joint. Conclusion Exercises targeting specific knee-joint muscles, either from top-down or bottom-up kinetic chain, are likely to reduce DKV formation. These results may assist athletes and coaches to develop effective exercise program that could minimize DKV and ultimately prevent lower limb injuries.

Climate change impact chains in the water sector: observations from projects on the East India coast

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-232
Author(s):  
Sibylle Kabisch ◽  
Ronjon Chakrabarti ◽  
Till Wolf ◽  
Wilhelm Kiewitt ◽  
Ty Gorman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
Climate Change Impact ◽  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
Causal Chain ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Change Impact ◽  
The Impact

With regional variations, climate change has a significant impact on water quality deterioration and scarcity, which are serious challenges in developing countries and emerging economies. Often, effective projects to improve water management in the light of climate change are difficult to develop because of the complex interrelations between direct and indirect climate impacts and local perceptions of vulnerabilities and needs. Adaptation projects can be developed through a combination of participatory, bottom-up needs assessments and top-down analyses. Climate change impact chains can help to display the causal chain of climate signals and resulting impacts and thereby establish a system map as a basis for stakeholder discussions. This article aims to develop specific climate change impact chains for the water management sector in rural coastal India that combine bottom-up and top-down perspectives. Case studies from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, India, provide a basis for the impact chains developed. Bottom-up data were gathered through a vulnerability and needs assessment in 18 villages complemented with top-down research data. The article is divided into four steps: (1) system of interest; (2) data on climate change signals; (3) climate change impacts based on top-down as well as bottom-up information; (4) specific impact chains complemented by initial climate change adaptation options.

Urban Solidarity: Perspectives of Migration and Refugee Accommodation and Inclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 089692052093633
Author(s):  
Harald Bauder
Keyword(s):  
Community Leaders ◽  
Expert Interviews ◽  
Political Strategies ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Urban Citizenship ◽  
Global North ◽  
Urban Migrant ◽  
Municipal Administrators ◽  
Political Spectrum

The concept of solidarity and related policies and practices are central to many urban initiatives throughout the global north that support vulnerable migrants and refugees. In this paper, I unpack various meanings of the concept of solidarity within urban migrant- and refugee-supporting initiatives and campaigns. Drawing on expert interviews with activists, community leaders, and municipal administrators and politicians in Berlin and Freiburg, Germany, and Zurich, Switzerland, I show the complexity and contradictory manner in which urban solidarity is understood and practiced. While urban solidarity may appeal to a wide political spectrum and incorporate top–down policies and bottom–up practices and approaches, urban actors also embrace various terminologies, such as Solidarity City and urban citizenship, in response to local circumstances and political strategies.

scholarly journals On observational and modelling strategies targeted at regional carbon exchange over continents

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1317-1343 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Gerbig ◽  
A. J. Dolman ◽  
M. Heimann
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Carbon Exchange ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Modelling Strategies ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Up Scaling

Abstract. Estimating carbon exchange at regional scales is paramount to understanding feedbacks between climate and the carbon cycle, but also to verifying climate change mitigation such as emission reductions and strategies compensating for emissions such as carbon sequestration. This paper discusses evidence for a number of important shortcomings of current generation modelling frameworks designed to provide regional scale budgets. Current top-down and bottom-up approaches targeted at deriving consistent regional scale carbon exchange estimates for biospheric and anthropogenic sources and sinks are hampered by a number of issues: We show that top-down constraints using point measurements made from tall towers, although sensitive to larger spatial scales, are however influenced by local areas much stronger than previously thought. On the other hand, classical bottom-up approaches using process information collected at the local scale, such as from eddy covariance data, need up-scaling and validation on larger scales. We therefore argue for a combination of both approaches, implicitly providing the important local scale information for the top-down constraint, and providing the atmospheric constraint for up-scaling of flux measurements. Combining these data streams necessitates quantifying their respective representation errors, which are discussed. The impact of these findings on future network design is highlighted, and some recommendations are given.

scholarly journals Warming shifts top-down and bottom-up control of pond food web structure and function

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1605) ◽  
pp. 3008-3017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan B. Shurin ◽  
Jessica L. Clasen ◽  
Hamish S. Greig ◽  
Pavel Kratina ◽  
Patrick L. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Food Webs ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Lytic Cycle ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Freshwater Pond ◽  
Aquatic Food ◽  
The Impact

The effects of global and local environmental changes are transmitted through networks of interacting organisms to shape the structure of communities and the dynamics of ecosystems. We tested the impact of elevated temperature on the top-down and bottom-up forces structuring experimental freshwater pond food webs in western Canada over 16 months. Experimental warming was crossed with treatments manipulating the presence of planktivorous fish and eutrophication through enhanced nutrient supply. We found that higher temperatures produced top-heavy food webs with lower biomass of benthic and pelagic producers, equivalent biomass of zooplankton, zoobenthos and pelagic bacteria, and more pelagic viruses. Eutrophication increased the biomass of all organisms studied, while fish had cascading positive effects on periphyton, phytoplankton and bacteria, and reduced biomass of invertebrates. Surprisingly, virus biomass was reduced in the presence of fish, suggesting the possibility for complex mechanisms of top-down control of the lytic cycle. Warming reduced the effects of eutrophication on periphyton, and magnified the already strong effects of fish on phytoplankton and bacteria. Warming, fish and nutrients all increased whole-system rates of net production despite their distinct impacts on the distribution of biomass between producers and consumers, plankton and benthos, and microbes and macrobes. Our results indicate that warming exerts a host of indirect effects on aquatic food webs mediated through shifts in the magnitudes of top-down and bottom-up forcing.

scholarly journals Top-down estimate of black carbon emissions for city cluster using ground observations: A case study in southern Jiangsu, China

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuefen Zhao ◽  
Yu Zhao ◽  
Dong Chen ◽  
Chunyan Li ◽  
Jie Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Regression Model ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Multiple Regression ◽  
Wet Deposition ◽  
Multiple Regression Model ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Southern Jiangsu ◽  
City Cluster ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. We combined a chemistry transport model (CTM), a multiple regression model and available ground observations, to derive top-down estimate of black carbon (BC) emissions and to reduce deviations between simulations and observations for southern Jiangsu city cluster, a typical developed region of eastern China. Scaled from a high-resolution inventory for 2012 based on changes in activity levels, the BC emissions in southern Jiangsu were calculated at 27.0 Gg/yr for 2015 (JS-prior). The annual mean concentration of BC at Xianlin Campus of Nanjing University (NJU, a suburban site) was simulated at 3.4 μg/m3, 11 % lower than the observed 3.8 μg/m3. In contrast, it was simulated at 3.4 μg/m3 at Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Environmental Science (PAES, an urban site), 36 % higher than the observed 2.5 μg/m3. The discrepancies at the two sites implied the uncertainty of the bottom-up inventory of BC emissions. Assuming a near-linear response of BC concentrations to emission changes, we applied a multiple regression model to fit the hourly surface concentrations of BC at the two sites, based on the detailed source contributions to ambient BC levels from brute-force simulation. Constrained with this top-down method, BC emissions were estimated at 13.4 Gg/yr (JS-posterior), 50 % smaller than the bottom-up estimate, and stronger seasonal variations were found. Biases between simulations and observations were reduced for most months at the two sites when JS-posterior was applied. At PAES, in particular, the simulated annual mean was elevated to 2.6 μg/m3 and the annual normalized mean error (NME) decreased from 72.0 % to 57.6 %. However, application of JS-posterior slightly enhanced NMEs in July and October at NJU where simulated concentrations with JS-prior were lower than observations, implying that reduction in total emissions could not correct CTM underestimation. The effects of numbers and spatial representativeness of observation sites on top-down estimate were further quantified. The best CTM performance was obtained when observations of both sites were used with their difference in spatial functions considered in emission constraining. Given the limited BC observation data in the area, therefore, more measurements with better spatiotemporal coverage were recommended for constraining BC emissions effectively. Top-down estimates derived from JS-prior and the Multi-resolution Emission Inventory for China (MEIC) were compared to test the sensitivity of the method to initial emission input. The differences in emission levels, spatial distributions and CTM performances were largely reduced after constraining, implying that the impact of initial inventory was limited on top-down estimate. Sensitivity analysis proved the rationality of near linearity assumption between emissions and concentrations, and the impact of wet deposition on the multiple regression model was demonstrated moderate through data screening based on simulated wet deposition and satellite-derived precipitation.

scholarly journals A review of bottom-up vs. top-down control of sponges on Caribbean fore-reefs: what’s old, what’s new, and future directions

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph R. Pawlik ◽  
Tse-Lynn Loh ◽  
Steven E. McMurray
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Fish Predation ◽  
Sponge Species ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Fore Reef ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Hawksbill Turtles

Interest in the ecology of sponges on coral reefs has grown in recent years with mounting evidence that sponges are becoming dominant members of reef communities, particularly in the Caribbean. New estimates of water column processing by sponge pumping activities combined with discoveries related to carbon and nutrient cycling have led to novel hypotheses about the role of sponges in reef ecosystem function. Among these developments, a debate has emerged about the relative effects of bottom-up (food availability) and top-down (predation) control on the community of sponges on Caribbean fore-reefs. In this review, we evaluate the impact of the latest findings on the debate, as well as provide new insights based on older citations. Recent studies that employed different research methods have demonstrated that dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and detritus are the principal sources of food for a growing list of sponge species, challenging the idea that the relative availability of living picoplankton is the sole proxy for sponge growth or abundance. New reports have confirmed earlier findings that reef macroalgae release labile DOC available for sponge nutrition. Evidence for top-down control of sponge community structure by fish predation is further supported by gut content studies and historical population estimates of hawksbill turtles, which likely had a much greater impact on relative sponge abundances on Caribbean reefs of the past. Implicit to investigations designed to address the bottom-up vs. top-down debate are appropriate studies of Caribbean fore-reef environments, where benthic communities are relatively homogeneous and terrestrial influences and abiotic effects are minimized. One recent study designed to test both aspects of the debate did so using experiments conducted entirely in shallow lagoonal habitats dominated by mangroves and seagrass beds. The top-down results from this study are reinterpreted as supporting past research demonstrating predator preferences for sponge species that are abundant in these lagoonal habitats, but grazed away in fore-reef habitats. We conclude that sponge communities on Caribbean fore-reefs of the past and present are largely structured by predation, and offer new directions for research, such as determining the environmental conditions under which sponges may be food-limited (e.g., deep sea, lagoonal habitats) and monitoring changes in sponge community structure as populations of hawksbill turtles rebound.

scholarly journals The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on China's Banking Sector

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-30
Author(s):  
Michiel Haasbroek ◽  
Jörn-Carsten Gottwald
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Financial Sector ◽  
Chinese Economy ◽  
Initial Reaction ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
The Impact

The banking sector had long been left at the fringes of China's reform policies. Major initiatives of the 1990 and early 2000s helped to balance the need for modernization and internationalization with the objective of preserving political control. When the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) erupted in 2007, it hit the Chinese economy but predominantly in its export sector and much less in its financial sector. Yet when exports collapsed and factories closed in the winter of 2008/2009, the Chinese leadership implemented an ambitious stimulus program and used its leverage over the financial sector to re-start economic growth. These factors – GFC and domestic stimulus – created a series of intended and unintended outcomes. Financial reform in China entered a new stage signalling a profound change in China's banking sector. These changes follow two sometimes contradictive, sometimes mutually reinforcing reform dynamics of top-down policies and bottom-up innovation. In this article we follow an institutional approach and discuss the intensified participation of China's big banks in the Go Out strategy, followed by a shift in the pattern of lending. One factor in this change is the rise of shadow banking and particularly an explosive growth in internet-based financial services. Thus, while the initial reaction to the GFC re-emphasized direct, top-down state involvement in the banking sector, the outcomes of the GFC, China's policies and business innovations have facilitated profound bottom-up changes.

scholarly journals Isoprene emissions over Asia 1979–2012: impact of climate and land use changes

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 29551-29592 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Stavrakou ◽  
J.-F. Müller ◽  
M. Bauwens ◽  
I. De Smedt ◽  
M. Van Roozendael ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Tropical Forests ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Isoprene Emission ◽  
Oil Palms ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Due to the scarcity of observational constraints and the rapidly changing environment in East and Southeast Asia, isoprene emissions predicted by models are expected to bear substantial uncertainties. The aim of this study is to improve upon the existing bottom-up estimates, and investigate the temporal evolution of the fluxes in Asia over 1979–2012. To this purpose, we calculate the hourly emissions at 0.5° × 0.5° resolution using the MEGAN-MOHYCAN model driven by ECMWF ERA-Interim climatology. This study incorporates (i) changes in land use, including the rapid expansion of oil palms, (ii) meteorological variability according to ERA-Interim, (iii) long-term changes in solar radiation (dimming/brightening) constrained by surface network radiation measurements, and (iv) recent experimental evidence that South Asian tropical forests are much weaker isoprene emitters than previously assumed, and on the other hand, that oil palms hold a strong isoprene emission capacity. These effects lead to a significant lowering (factor of two) in the total isoprene fluxes over the studied domain, and to emission reductions reaching a~factor of 3.5 in Southeast Asia. The bottom-up annual isoprene emissions for 2005 are estimated at 7.0, 4.8, 8.3, 2.9 Tg in China, India, Indonesia and Malaysia, respectively. Changes in temperature and solar radiation are the major drivers of the interannual variability and trend in the emissions. An annual positive flux trend of 0.2% and 0.52% is found in Asia and China, respectively, through the entire period, related to positive trend in temperature and solar radiation. The impact of oil palm expansion in Indonesia and Malaysia is to enhance the trends over that region, e.g. from 1.17% to 1.5% in 1979–2005 in Malaysia. A negative emission trend is derived in India (−0.4%), owing to the negative trend in solar radiation data associated to the strong dimming effect likely due to increasing aerosol loadings. The bottom-up emissions are evaluated using top-down isoprene emission estimates derived from inverse modelling constrained by GOME-2/MetOp-A formaldehyde columns through 2007–2012. The satellite-based estimates appear to support our assumptions, and confirm the lower emission rate in tropical forests of Indonesia and Malaysia. Additional flux measurements are clearly needed to better characterize the spatial variability of emission factors. Finally, a decreasing trend in the top-down Chinese emissions inferred after 2007, is in line with the cooling episode recorded in China after that year, thus suggesting that the satellite HCHO columns are able to capture climate-induced changes in emissions.

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