scholarly journals Towards an Asian Model of Clusters and Cluster Policy: The Super Cluster Strategy

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 74-90
Author(s):  
Arkadiusz Michał Kowalski
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Foreign Direct Investments ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Cluster Policy ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Cluster Strategy ◽  
Support Mechanisms ◽  
Economic Zones ◽  
Selection Of

Clusters are recognized as important drivers of competitiveness and economic development. There are various models of clusters development all over the world, some of which may be initiated bottom-up by private firms, as in most European countries, or top-down by public administrations. In the case of Asian clusters, many are driven by foreign direct investments (FDI), with the most notable example being China. The objective of this study is to examine the Super Cluster strategy introduced in Thailand in 2015, especially in terms of the rationale and mechanism for selecting assisted clusters as well as the instruments used to support them. The goal is to contribute to a more in-depth formulation of the Asian model of clusters and cluster policy. The conducted analysis shows that Thai strategy deviates from traditional bottom-up approaches to cluster policy, veering towards the top-down approach in which government designates targeted regions and industries for the development of clusters. Another finding is that the Super Cluster strategy shares more common characteristics with Special Economic Zones (SEZ) than it does with the traditional approach to cluster policy in terms of its main objective of attracting foreign direct investments (FDI), securing support mechanisms as well as in the selection of target areas and the type of instruments to be implemented. The experience of Thailand is discussed along with that of other Asian countries, most notably China, in order to identify and verify the characteristics of the Asian model of clusters and cluster policy.

scholarly journals Commonalities and Differences of Cluster Policy of Asian Countries; Discussion on Cluster Open Innovation

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Arkadiusz Michał Kowalski ◽  
Marta Mackiewicz
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Innovation Policy ◽  
Cluster Formation ◽  
Cluster Structure ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Foreign Direct Investments ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Cluster Policy ◽  
Cluster Development

The article aims at investigating the commonalities and differences between cluster policies in selected East Asian and Southeast Asian countries: Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, and China, to outline the Asian model of a cluster policy. Clusters play a significant role in the economic development of these countries, and some practical experiences from Asia may be used to shape the cluster policy in the recovery process after the COVID-19 pandemic. The conducted research contributes to a better understanding of the cluster formation process, cluster development, and policy aims in the analyzed countries. In Singapore and South Korea, which are among the most innovative countries in the global economy, cluster policy is to a great extent part of innovation policy, focusing on facilitating the networking and cooperation between science and business, the flow of knowledge, transfer of technology, and developing innovative technologies of key economic importance. In China and Thailand, which are developing countries, there is a much stronger role of foreign direct investments, which take the central place in the cluster structure. However, one common characteristic of cluster development patterns in all the analyzed countries is a top-down approach, where clusters are emerging and developing mostly as a result of governmental decisions and public programs.

scholarly journals Top-down or bottom-up? The selection of shadow rapporteurs in the European Parliament

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 706-727
Author(s):  
Frank M Häge ◽  
Nils Ringe
Keyword(s):  
European Parliament ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Principal Agent Theory ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Competing Demands ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Selection Of

Shadow rapporteurs play an important role in developing the European Parliament’s collective policy positions and in defending them in inter-institutional negotiations. This study sheds light on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of shadow rapporteur selection. Qualitative insights from practitioner interviews and a quantitative analysis of shadow rapporteur data from the 7th European Parliament (2009–2014) indicate that the appointment process is primarily one of bottom-up self-selection by group members based on their policy interests. The party group leadership, in the form of group coordinators, plays an important coordinating role when there is competition for a shadow rapporteurship. However, the role of group coordinators is more akin to a third-party arbiter of competing demands than a mechanism of top-down control by the leadership, as suggested by principal-agent theory.

scholarly journals Prioritizing selection of new elements: Bottom-up versus top-down control

2003 ◽  
Vol 65 (8) ◽  
pp. 1231-1242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mieke Donk ◽  
Jan Theeuwes
Keyword(s):  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Selection Of

First Steps Toward Curricular Integration of Computational Tools

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Hinds ◽  
J. Sticklen ◽  
M. Urban-Lurain ◽  
M. Amey ◽  
T. Eskil
Keyword(s):  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Student Attitudes ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Curricular Reform ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Curricular Integration ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Introductory Computing

Calls for new paradigms for engineering education are widespread [1-3]. Yet, major curricular change is difficult to accomplish for many reasons, including having the necessary faculty buy-in [4]. Generally, efforts can be classified as either top-down/structural, in which faculty assess an entire program of study and address needs in each component before implementation begins; or bottom-up/individual, a more traditional approach that implements change in one course at a time. Faculty buy-in, consensus, and resources (unit and institutional) needed for the top-down approach make it difficult to accomplish. On the other hand, the bottom-up model is slow; the assumption that curricular reform can be affected by an accumulation of individual course adaptations is unproven, and the change goals need to have a more systemic focus. Unless the curriculum helps students integrate material across their courses, they have difficulty seeing how the material they learn in one course will connect to the next. We have performed a pair of initial studies using an evolutionary approach to curricular reform that capitalized on the strengths of both the top-down and bottom-up models, which was built on the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) reform literature. This approach developed a pairwise linkage among strategic courses in the engineering curricula to promote curricular integration and helped students see connections between their first-year courses and subsequent courses. Vertically integrated problem-based learning scenarios that link across courses are crucial to this model. Pre-reform data collected in the first study showed that students taking an introductory computing course did not see the importance of learning a particular software tool (MATLAB), because they did not see connections to their future courses. This had negative impacts on student motivation, learning, and retention. In our recent work, which was our first vertical effort, we focused on MATLAB with integration of the learning of this engineering tool in an introductory computing course with the solution of statics problems in an introductory mechanical engineering course. Our recent study set out to determine if joint team efforts would enhance student perceptions of the set learning goal for the introductory computing students while enhancing learning outcomes for both the introductory computing and introductory mechanical engineering students. The paper outlines this pairwise linkage model, the goals of this project, the framework for evaluating the linkage, and the types of data we collected as part of the evaluation effort. Results from the initial study confirmed that problem-based teamwork enhanced student attitudes towards MATLAB. We also describe how results here will enable us to reach our long-term goal of curricular integration.

Attention

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin V. Butz ◽  
Esther F. Kutter
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Control ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Control Process ◽  
Focus Of Attention ◽  
Generative Models ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Current Task ◽  
Task Oriented ◽  
Selection Of

Cognition does not work without attention. Attention enables us to focus on particular tasks and particular aspects in the environment. Psychological insights show that attention exhibits bottom-up and top-down components. Attention is attracted from the bottom-up towards unusual, exceptional, and unexpected sensory information. Top-down attention, on the other hand, filters information dependent on the current task-oriented expectations, which depend on the available generative models. This computational interpretation enables the explanation of conjunctive and disjunctive search. Different models of attention emphasize the importance of the unfolding interaction processes and a processing bottleneck can be detected. As a result, attention can be viewed as a dynamic control process that unfolds in redundant, neural fields, in which the selection of one interpretation and thus the processing bottleneck is strongest at the current focus of attention. The actual focus of attention itself is determined by the current behavioral and cognitive goals.

scholarly journals Frontal and parietal alpha oscillations reflect attentional modulation of cross-modal matching

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Misselhorn ◽  
Uwe Friese ◽  
Andreas K. Engel
Keyword(s):  
Gamma Activity ◽  
Multisensory Perception ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Alpha Oscillations ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Gamma Power ◽  
Sensory Cortices ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Selection Of

Multisensory perception is shaped by both attentional selection of relevant sensory inputs and exploitation of stimulus-driven factors that promote cross-modal binding. Underlying mechanisms of both top-down and bottom-up modulations have been linked to changes in alpha/gamma dynamics in primary sensory cortices and temporoparietal cortex. Accordingly, it has been proposed that alpha oscillations provide pulsed inhibition for gamma activity and thereby dynamically route cortical information flow. In this study, we employed a recently introduced multisensory paradigm incorporating both bottom-up and top-down aspects of cross-modal attention in an EEG study. The same trimodal stimuli were presented in two distinct attentional conditions, focused on visual-tactile or audio-visual components, for which cross-modal congruence of amplitude changes had to be evaluated. Neither top-down nor bottom-up cross-modal attention modulated alpha or gamma power in primary sensory cortices. Instead, we found alpha band effects in bilateral frontal and right parietal cortex. We propose that frontal alpha oscillations reflect the origin of top-down control regulating perceptual gains and that modulations of parietal alpha oscillations relates to intersensory re-orienting. Taken together, we suggest that the idea of selective cortical routing via alpha oscillations can be extended from sensory cortices to the frontoparietal attention network.

scholarly journals Selection Method of Dendritic River Networks Based on Hybrid Coding for Topographic Map Generalization

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 316
Author(s):  
Chengming Li ◽  
Wei Wu ◽  
Pengda Wu ◽  
Yong Yin ◽  
Zhaoxin Dai
Keyword(s):  
River System ◽  
River Network ◽  
River Networks ◽  
Map Generalization ◽  
Topographic Map ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Hybrid Coding ◽  
Coding Systems ◽  
Selection Of

As the coding of a dendritic river system can be used to represent the stream order and spatial-structure of a river network, it is always used in river selection, which is a key step in topographic map generalization. There are two categories of conventional hydrological coding systems, one is the top-down approach, and the other is the bottom-up approach. However, the former does not accurately reflect the hierarchies of a dendritic river network, which is produced by catchment relationships, and it is not appropriate for the stream selection of river networks with uniform distributions of tributaries. The latter cannot directly indicate the subtree depth of a stream, and it is not favorable to stream selection of river systems that have topologically deep structures. Therefore, a selection method for dendritic river networks based on hybrid coding is proposed in this paper. First, the dendritic river network is coded through classical top-down Horton coding. Second, directed topology trees are constructed to organize the river network data, and stroke connections are calculated to code the river network in the bottom-up approach. Third, the river network is marked through hybrid usage of the top-down approach and bottom-up approach, and based on the spatial characteristics of the river network, the river network is classified into three kinds of subtrees: deep branch, shallow branch and modest branch. Then, appropriate coding is assigned automatically to different subtrees to achieve river selection. Finally, actual topographic map data of a river system in a region of Hubei Province are used to comparatively validate the hybrid coding system against two existing isolated coding systems. The experimental results demonstrate that the hybrid coding method is very effective for river network selection, not only in highlighting hierarchies formed by catchment relationships but also in the uniform distribution of tributaries.

scholarly journals Probing Bottom-up Processing with Multistable Images

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ozgur E. Akman ◽  
Richard A. Clement ◽  
David S. Broomhead ◽  
Sabira Mannan ◽  
Ian Moorhead ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Free Viewing ◽  
Pattern Comparison ◽  
Selection Of

The selection of fixation targets involves a combination of top-down and bottom-up processing. The role of bottom-up processing can be enhanced by using multistable stimuli because their constantly changing appearance seems to depend predominantly on stimulusdriven factors. We used this approach to investigate whether visual processing models based on V1 need to be extended to incorporate specific computations attributed to V4. Eye movements of 8 subjects were recorded during free viewing of the Marroquin pattern in which illusory circles appear and disappear. Fixations were concentrated on features arranged in concentric rings within the pattern. Comparison with simulated fixation data demonstrated that the saliency of these features can be predicted with appropriate weighting of lateral connections in existing V1 models.

The Tail Wagging the Dog? Top-down and Bottom-up Explanations for Bureaucratic Appointments in Authoritarian Regimes

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Burkhardt ◽  
Alexander Libman
Keyword(s):  
Central Government ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Political Regimes ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Self Selection ◽  
Democratic Country ◽  
Selection Of

The paper investigates the link between the sub-national variation of political regimes in a (at the federal level) non-democratic country and the appointments of federal officials in the sub-national provinces. In particular, we look at the appointment of the chief federal inspectors to the regions in Putin’s Russia in 2000–2012. Our main research question is whether appointment patterns can be explained by top-down concerns of the central government willing to keep control over the most unruly regions or by bottom-up self-selection of bureaucrats belonging to influential groups into more attractive positions more suitable for rent-seeking. The advantage of our case is that data we have at hand allow us to distinguish these two logics. Our results indicate that for the Russian chief federal inspectors in 2000–2012 bottom-up self-selection appears to be the more plausible explanation of the link between sub-national political regimes and appointment patterns.

Psychology and Culture: Top Down Versus Bottom Up?

PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 50 (19) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Cole
Keyword(s):  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up
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