Bottom-Up or Top-Down Evaluation: Is One Better Than the Other?

2004 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 594-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Weinstock-Zlotnick ◽  
J. Hinojosa
Keyword(s):  
Top Down ◽  
Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 1682
Author(s):  
Yoonja Kang ◽  
Yeongji Oh

The interactive roles of zooplankton grazing (top-down) and nutrient (bottom-up) processes on phytoplankton distribution in a temperate estuary were investigated via dilution and nutrient addition experiments. The responses of size-fractionated phytoplankton and major phytoplankton groups, as determined by flow cytometry, were examined in association with zooplankton grazing and nutrient availability. The summer bloom was attributed to nanoplankton, and microplankton was largely responsible for the winter bloom, whereas the picoplankton biomass was relatively consistent throughout the sampling periods, except for the fall. The nutrient addition experiments illustrated that nanoplankton responded more quickly to phosphate than the other groups in the summer, whereas microplankton had a faster response to most nutrients in the winter. The dilution experiments ascribed that the grazing mortality rates of eukaryotes were low compared to those of the other groups, whereas autotrophic cyanobacteria were more palatable to zooplankton than cryptophytes and eukaryotes. Our experimental results indicate that efficient escape from zooplankton grazing and fast response to nutrient availability synergistically caused the microplankton to bloom in the winter, whereas the bottom-up process (i.e., the phosphate effect) largely governed the nanoplankton bloom in the summer.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 4425-4447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Antonetti ◽  
Massimiliano Zappa

Abstract. Both modellers and experimentalists agree that using expert knowledge can improve the realism of conceptual hydrological models. However, their use of expert knowledge differs for each step in the modelling procedure, which involves hydrologically mapping the dominant runoff processes (DRPs) occurring on a given catchment, parameterising these processes within a model, and allocating its parameters. Modellers generally use very simplified mapping approaches, applying their knowledge in constraining the model by defining parameter and process relational rules. In contrast, experimentalists usually prefer to invest all their detailed and qualitative knowledge about processes in obtaining as realistic spatial distribution of DRPs as possible, and in defining narrow value ranges for each model parameter.Runoff simulations are affected by equifinality and numerous other uncertainty sources, which challenge the assumption that the more expert knowledge is used, the better will be the results obtained. To test for the extent to which expert knowledge can improve simulation results under uncertainty, we therefore applied a total of 60 modelling chain combinations forced by five rainfall datasets of increasing accuracy to four nested catchments in the Swiss Pre-Alps. These datasets include hourly precipitation data from automatic stations interpolated with Thiessen polygons and with the inverse distance weighting (IDW) method, as well as different spatial aggregations of Combiprecip, a combination between ground measurements and radar quantitative estimations of precipitation. To map the spatial distribution of the DRPs, three mapping approaches with different levels of involvement of expert knowledge were used to derive so-called process maps. Finally, both a typical modellers' top-down set-up relying on parameter and process constraints and an experimentalists' set-up based on bottom-up thinking and on field expertise were implemented using a newly developed process-based runoff generation module (RGM-PRO). To quantify the uncertainty originating from forcing data, process maps, model parameterisation, and parameter allocation strategy, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed.The simulation results showed that (i) the modelling chains based on the most complex process maps performed slightly better than those based on less expert knowledge; (ii) the bottom-up set-up performed better than the top-down one when simulating short-duration events, but similarly to the top-down set-up when simulating long-duration events; (iii) the differences in performance arising from the different forcing data were due to compensation effects; and (iv) the bottom-up set-up can help identify uncertainty sources, but is prone to overconfidence problems, whereas the top-down set-up seems to accommodate uncertainties in the input data best. Overall, modellers' and experimentalists' concept of model realism differ. This means that the level of detail a model should have to accurately reproduce the DRPs expected must be agreed in advance.


Author(s):  
Alan E. Singer

An aspect of the relationship between philosophy and computer engineering is considered, with particular emphasis upon the design of artificial moral agents. Top-down vs. bottom-up approaches to ethical behavior are discussed, followed by an overview of some of the ways in which traditional ethics has informed robotics. Two macro-trends are then identified, one involving the evolution of moral consciousness in man and machine, the other involving the fading away of the boundary between the real and the virtual.


AJIL Unbound ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 237-243
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Alschner

There are two ways of thinking about institutional choice in the context of multilateral investment law reform. One starts from abstract principles, asking what policy goal investment law is supposed to achieve and what institutional choice most effectively advances that goal. The other draws on practical experimentation, asking what institutional choices states are making and how these choices perform in real life. Sergio Puig and Gregory Shaffer present a compelling analytical framework for the former, top-down approach to investment law reform. In this essay, I will scrutinize their analysis and argue that the latter, bottom-up approach is more promising.


2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 2822-2837 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elia Valentini ◽  
Diana M. E. Torta ◽  
André Mouraux ◽  
Gian Domenico Iannetti

The repetition of nociceptive stimuli of identical modality, intensity, and location at short and constant interstimulus intervals (ISIs) determines a strong habituation of the corresponding EEG responses, without affecting the subjective perception of pain. To understand what determines this response habituation, we (i) examined the effect of introducing a change in the modality of the repeated stimulus, and (ii) dissected the relative contribution of bottom–up, stimulus-driven changes in modality and top–down, cognitive expectations of such a change, on both laser-evoked and auditory-evoked EEG responses. Multichannel EEG was recorded while participants received trains of three stimuli (S1–S2–S3, a triplet) delivered to the hand dorsum at 1-sec ISI. S3 belonged either to the same modality as S1 and S2 or to the other modality. In addition, participants were either explicitly informed or not informed of the modality of S3. We found that introducing a change in stimulus modality produced a significant dishabituation of the laser-evoked N1, N2, and P2 waves; the auditory N1 and P2 waves; and the laser- and auditory-induced event-related synchronization and desynchronization. In contrast, the lack of explicit knowledge of a possible change in the sensory modality of the stimulus (i.e., uncertainty) only increased the ascending portion of the laser-evoked and auditory-evoked P2 wave. Altogether, these results indicate that bottom–up novelty resulting from the change of stimulus modality, and not top–down cognitive expectations, plays a major role in determining the habituation of these brain responses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier D. Quintana ◽  
Maria Antón-Pardo ◽  
Maria Bas-Silvestre ◽  
Dani Boix ◽  
Xavier Casamitjana ◽  
...  

AbstractZooplankton assemblages in the confined coastal lagoons of La Pletera salt marshes (Baix Ter wetlands, Girona, Spain) are dominated by two species: one calanoid copepod (Eurytemora velox) and the other rotifer (Brachionus gr. plicatilis). They alternate as the dominant species (more than 80% of total zooplankton biomass), with the former being dominant in winter and the latter in summer. Shifts between these taxa are sudden, and intermediate situations usually do not last more than 1 month. Although seasonal shifts between zooplankton dominant species appear to be related with temperature, other factors such as trophic state or oxygen concentration may also play an important role. Shifts between species dominances may be driven by thresholds in these environmental variables. However, according to the alternative stable states theory, under conditions of stable dominance a certain resistance to change may exist, causing that gradual changes might have little effect until a tipping point is reached, at which the reverse change becomes much more difficult. We investigated which are the possible factors causing seasonal zooplankton shifts. We used high-frequency temperature and oxygen data provided by sensors installed in situ to analyse if shifts in zooplankton composition are determined by a threshold in these variables or, on the other hand, some gradual change between stable states occur. Moreover, following the postulates of the alternative stable states theory, we looked at possible hysteresis to analyse if these seasonal zooplankton shifts behave as critical transitions between two different equilibriums. We also examined if top-down or bottom-up trophic interactions affect these zooplankton shifts. Our results show that shifts between dominant zooplankton species in La Pletera salt marshes are asymmetric. The shift to a Eurytemora situation is mainly driven by a decrease in temperature, with a threshold close to 19 °C of daily average temperature, while the shift to Brachionus does not. Usually, the decrease in water temperature is accompanied by a decrease in oxygen oscillation with values always close to 100% oxygen saturation. Moreover, oxygen and temperature values before the shift to calanoids are different from those before the reverse shift to Brachionus, suggesting hysteresis and some resistance to change when a critical transition is approaching. Top-down and bottom-up forces appear to have no significant effect on shifts, since zooplankton biomass was not negatively correlated with fish biomass and was not positively related with chlorophyll, in overall data or within shifts.


Subject Salafism impact on Muslim societies. Significance Salafism (‘ancestralism’) is an ultra-conservative ideology adopted by a variety of Muslim individuals and organisations. It claims to reveal the authentic Islam of the first three generations of ‘pious forefathers’ (Arabic: al-salaf al-salih) from the time of the Prophet Mohammed. Salafis seek to 'purify' and thereby change other Muslims’ behaviour. These aims can be pursued by ‘top-down’ methods of engaging the state via activist struggle (jihad), or by ‘bottom-up’ strategies of engaging society via quietist proselytisation (da‘wa): that is, with or without violence. Impacts The core salafi doctrine of (‘loyalty [to Muslims] and disavowal [of non-Muslims]’) encourages its followers’ isolation from wider society. Competition for authenticity will further divide Muslim communities by ‘condemning the other’. Salafi-inspired organisations will seek to dominate public discourse and definitions of Islam.


2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 1215-1237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgio Tommasi ◽  
Mirta Fiorio ◽  
Jérôme Yelnik ◽  
Paul Krack ◽  
Francesca Sala ◽  
...  

It is solidly established that top–down (goal-driven) and bottom–up (stimulus-driven) attention mechanisms depend on distributed cortical networks, including prefrontal and frontoparietal regions. On the other hand, it is less clear whether the BG also contribute to one or the other of these mechanisms, or to both. The current study was principally undertaken to clarify this issue. Parkinson disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disorder primarily affecting the BG, has proven to be an effective model for investigating the contribution of the BG to different brain functions; therefore, we set out to investigate deficits of top–down and bottom–up attention in a selected cohort of PD patients. With this objective in mind, we compared the performance on three computerized tasks of two groups of 12 parkinsonian patients (assessed without any treatment), one otherwise pharmacologically treated and the other also surgically treated, with that of a group of controls. The main behavioral tool for our study was an attentional capture task, which enabled us to tap the competition between top–down and bottom–up mechanisms of visual attention. This task was suitably combined with a choice RT and a simple RT task to isolate any specific deficit of attention from deficits in motor response selection and initiation. In the two groups of patients, we found an equivalent increase of attentional capture but also comparable delays in target selection in the absence of any salient distractor (reflecting impaired top–down mechanisms) and movement initiation compared with controls. In contrast, motor response selection processes appeared to be prolonged only in the operated patients. Our results confirm that the BG are involved in both motor and cognitive domains. Specifically, damage to the BG, as it occurs in PD, leads to a distinct deficit of top–down control of visual attention, and this can account, albeit indirectly, for the enhancement of attentional capture, reflecting weakened ability of top–down mechanisms to antagonize bottom–up control.


Author(s):  
Karina Cecilia Arredondo ◽  
Arturo Realyvásquez ◽  
Guadalupe Hernández-Escobedo

Macroergonomics is the subdiscipline of ergonomics that is concerned with the analysis, design, and evaluation of work systems. It means, macroergonomics focuses on harmonizing the organizational structure of a company and not only one workstation or one task, as microergonomics does. Macroergonomics is a top-down, middle-out, and bottom-up approach. In the top-down approach, the overall general work system structure may be prescribed to match the organization's sociotechnical characteristics. On the other hand, the middle-out approach focuses on the analysis of subsystems and work processes, which can be assessed both up and down the organizational hierarchy from intermediate levels, and also, up and down some changes may be done to ensure the work system design is harmonized. Finally, the bottom-up approach comprises an extensive participation of employees in the identification of problems. Currently, macroergonomics is considered an emergent subdiscipline, and there is the need to promote current theories and methods and propose new ones.


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