Neuroimaging and Responsibility Assessments

Could neuroimaging evidence help us to assess the degree of a person’s responsibility for a crime which we know that they committed? This essay defends an affirmative answer to this question. A range of standard objections to this high-tech approach to assessing people’s responsibility is considered and then set aside, but I also bring to light and then reject a novel objection—an objection which is only encountered when functional (rather than structural) neuroimaging is used to assess people’s responsibility

Simulation of fluxes of greenhouse gases from European grasslands using the DNDC model

Agricultural management of grasslands results in sequestration and emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs, particularly CO2, N2O and CH4). Here, we used a process-based model (DNDC) to estimate the fluxes of the major GHGs from grasslands at 0.5° resolution across Europe, and combined these to produce a spatially explicit estimate of the total global warming potential (GWP, expressed in CO2 equivalents). The DNDC model [Li, C., Frolking, S., Crocker, G.J., Grace, P.R., Klir, J., Korchens, M., Poulton, P.R., 1997. Simulating trends in soil organic carbon in long-term experiments using the DNDC model. Geoderma 81, 45–60] simulates carbon and nitrogen cycling in agro-ecosystems at a sub-daily time step and consists of four interacting submodels: soil and climate (including water flow and leaching), plant growth, decomposition, and denitrification. Input data sets for grassland area, climate, nitrogen deposition, and soil properties were collated. The typical current grassland management regime was established for ten biogeographical regions on the basis of questionnaires sent to national experts, and used to derive model input data. A 20-year simulation was carried out using DNDC for each site. Simple estimates of methane emissions from grazing livestock were made according to the IPCC Tier 1 method. Most grassland areas are net sources for GHGs in terms of total global warming potential—the beneficial effect of sequestering carbon in soil is outweighed by the emissions of N2O from soil and (predominantly) CH4 emissions from livestock. The net effect of European grasslands on GWP (emission of 23 Tg C year−1) corresponds to a 2.5% increase on the EU-15 fossil fuel CO2 emissions (907 Tg C year−1)

The tree-crop interface: representation by coupling of forest and crop process-models.

Abstract in full: Three process-based approaches to agroforestry modelling are described. These are (a) coupling a continuous-canopy forest model (Hybrid) and tropical crop model (PARCH); (b) coupling an individual-tree model (MAESTRO) with a crop model (PARCH); and (c) incorporating a combined model of evaporation and radiation interception by neighbouring species (ERIN). The coupled Hybrid/PARCH was parameterised for maize and eucalyptus, and run in five contrasting weather-types, As expected, shade is the most important factor limiting yield in wet sites; water in dry sites. Year-to-year variability in crop yield is increased by light and water competition, MAESTRO/PARCH was run with similar assumptions, and gave comparable yield predictions, except at the driest site where it allows small areas distant from the tree sufficient water to produce a modest yield. Hybrid/PARCH predicted total crop failure in the same climate. Yields on drier sites were higher in the shade, but water competition was severe close to the tree. ERIN is simpler than the above models, but is unique in including the transfer of heat and water vapour between the two canopies. Transpiration from a moist understorey can humidify air in the overstorey, and reduce its transpiration; whilst a dry understorey will give off sensible heat, which increases the vapour pressure deficit in the overstorey and causes its transpiration to increase. Changes in overstorey transpiration due to fluxes from the understorey may approach 15-20%

Inventory and projections of UK emissions by sources and removals by sinks due to land use, land use change and forestry. Annual report July 2009

The overall aim of the project id to produce inventories and projections of UK greenhouse gas emissions by sources and removals by sinks due to land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF). The project report contains the methods and numbers for these inventories and progress reports on the science undertaken to support and develop the inventory