Alcohol responses, cognitive impairment, and alcohol-related negative consequences

textUnder frameworks such as Alcohol Myopia Theory, a body of literature has developed demonstrating how alcohol intoxication can increase behavioral risk-taking, potentially via impaired inhibition of prepotent behavioral responses. A separate area of research has shown that responses to alcohol intoxication are not homogenous across the population. Whereas most previous research has considered alcohol responses in relation to risk for alcohol use disorders, the present investigation tested whether they may additionally contribute to the acute effects of alcohol on drinking-episode-specific cognitive and behavioral consequences. We recruited 82 moderate-to-heavy drinking emerging adults to each complete 2 research protocols: a placebo-controlled, within-subject, counterbalanced alcohol challenge in a simulated bar laboratory and a 21-day, event-level self-monitoring follow-up. Replicating previous research, the alcohol challenge increased heart rate and subjective stimulant-like and sedative-like responses and impaired psychomotor performance and response inhibition. Individual differences in subjective stimulation but not sedation were significantly associated with inhibitory impairment. In the event-level follow-up, we found little evidence that alcohol responses elevated risk for adverse behavioral outcomes, although evidence was stronger that alcohol responses were associated with alcohol-induced memory blackout. Whether and how alcohol responses relate to the physiological, cognitive, and behavioral consequences of alcohol intoxication may depend on a) the quality of the response (e.g., stimulation vs. sedation), b) the type of outcome (e.g., response inhibition vs. blackout vs. behavioral risk-taking), and c) whether perceptions of alcohol-induced effects may contribute to emerging adults' evaluations of risk (e.g., driving after drinking and riding with a drinking driver).Psycholog

Tracing Legacy Mercury Sources in Aquatic Ecosystems Using Mercury Stable Isotopes.

Mercury (Hg) is a neurotoxic pollutant that exists in both inorganic (Hg0, Hg2+) and organo-metallic (monomethyl mercury: MMHg) chemical forms. Inorganic Hg (IHg) has been released to aquatic environments during its historical use in mining and industry. In these environments IHg can be converted to MMHg, a potent developmental neurotoxin that bioaccumulates in the food web and can pose a risk to humans and wildlife. Therefore, identifying the distribution of legacy IHg sources, and understanding their transformation to MMHg is of great interest. In this dissertation, we report Hg stable isotope ratios in sediment and food webs from North American streams contaminated by legacy Hg sources. In Chapter 2 and 3, we use Hg isotopes in stream and estuarine sediment to fingerprint multiple Hg sources and trace their transport and deposition. In Chapters 4 and 5, we measure Hg isotopes in both sediment and aquatic food webs to identify MMHg formation, degradation and exposure pathways in streams and wetlands contaminated by historical gold and mercury mining. This work demonstrates that Hg stable isotope measurements can be used to trace the spatial and temporal distribution of legacy Hg sources and identify relevant biogeochemical processes and exposure pathways leading to MMHg bioaccumulation in aquatic environments.PHDEarth and Environmental SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113515/1/pmdon_1.pd

U.S. political intelligence and American policy on Iran, 1950-1979

This Ph.D. thesis examines United States political intelligence in regard to the regime of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, the accuracy of this intelligence, and it's influence on American policy from 1950-1979. Based on archival material, declassified documents, and interviews with relevant personalities, this thesis seeks to chronicle nearly three decades of intelligence analysis on the factors governing political stability in Iran, and establish the veracity of this analysis vis-a-vis the historical record. In the early 1950s, American intelligence operatives contributed to the overthrow of the nationalist government in Iran headed by Dr. Muhammad Musaddiq, and the restoration to a position of authority of the Shah. In its exploration of the motives behind the 1953 covert political intervention to unseat Musaddiq, the thesis finds that the Eisenhower administration acted out of a set of Cold War priorities that included the need to maintain cohesion in the Anglo-American special relationship and fears of Iranian neutrality.The United States gained a pliant ally, but one whose power base was tenuous. By the end of the Eisenhower administration, intelligence analysts concluded that, in the absence of significant economic and political reform, the Shah's regime had become so unstable as to virtually guarantee revolutionary change. Acting on a broad consensus among the intelligence community about the regime's weakness, the Kennedy administration sought to bolster the government with limited financial and political support while encouraging reform. American pressure on this front led the Shah, in 1963, to announce the "White Revolution," a six point program for reform designed to shift the monarch's base of support from the traditional ruling elite to the lower classes. The announcement of the "White Revolution" marks a rough watershed in the intelligence-policy relationship in Washington as it pertained to Iran. While American policy makers viewed the program as a progressive step forward, intelligence analysts were inclined to view the Shah's reforms as ill-conceived and, given the lack of meaningful political reform, designed largely to consolidate power in the hands of the Shah. Thus began a period during the Johnson administration where intelligence analysts emphasized the need for the diffusion of power and the inclusion of the middle classes in the decision-making process, while American policy makers placed their hopes for stability in economic determinism.an policy makers placed their hopes for stability in economic determinism. The thesis explores the reasons behind the end ofthe intelligence-policy consensus on Iran and the failure ofthe intelligence community to communicate their position in an effective way. The reasons included the decreasing standing of the intelligence community in the US domestic context, the appearance of enhanced stability in Iran, the multiplicity of opinions within the diplomatic and intelligence reporting system, and most importantly, the changing international strategic environment.The Shah's value as an ally and proxy for American interests increased substantially after the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict and the announcement, in 1968, that the British would end their presence in the Persian Gulf. The thesis concludes that sensitive analysts within the intelligence community continued to report that the regime in Tehran had failed to institutionalize itself and that the increasing economic prosperity brought about by the oil boom would eventually foster demands for democratization. By contrast, American policy became predicated on the highly personalized and prowestern policies of the Shah, and thus, the continuation of one-man rule in Iran. Consequently, policy makers in the Nixon administration sought to bolster the Shah's regime through unprecedented levels of military and diplomatic support. These policies helped to exacerbate the grievances of the Shah's domestic critics.Meanwhile, intelligence on the viability of the Shah's regime was downgraded as a priority by policy makers. Nevertheless, implicit concerns about the long-term consequences of the Shah's policies and ambitions can be found in much of the intelligence analyses of this period. Additionally, while failing to predict any imminent conflagration in Iran, this reporting did identify many of the factors that would play a decisive role in the 1978 revolution. In exploring these varying degrees of skepticism about the long-term viability of the Shah's regime, the thesis demonstrates that the intelligence community was not entirely surprised by the revolutionary forces that would bring about the downfall of the Pahlavi system, even if the exact identity of these forces were unknown. The work concludes that the intelligence community's tacit understanding of the weaknesses of the Pahlavi system enabled analysts to react more quickly to the Iranian revolution than has been previously supposed

The Irish Banking Crisis: Regulatory and Financial Stability Policy

This report to the Irish Minister for Finance by the Governor of the Central Bank describes the the performance of the respective functions of the Central Bank and Financial Regulator in the period 2003-8 in order to arrive at a fuller understanding of the root causes of the systemic failures that led to the need for extraordinary support from the State to the Irish banking system.Ireland banking crisis; financial crises; financial stability policy

Evaluating the Relationship Between Meander-Bend Curvature, Sediment Supply, and Migration Rates

River meander migration plays a key role in the unsteady “conveyor belt” of sediment redistribution from source to sink areas. The ubiquity of river meandering is evident from remotely sensed imagery, which has allowed for long-term, high-resolution studies of river channel change and form-process relationships. Empirical, experimental, and theoretical research approaches have described two distinct relationships between channel curvature and river channel migration rates. In this study, we employ a novel application of time-series algorithms to calculate migration rates and channel curvature at sub-meander bend length scales using 6 decades of aerial imagery spanning 205 km of the Minnesota River and Root River, Minnesota, USA. Results from the Minnesota River provide the first empirical evidence demonstrating how migration-curvature relations break down for rivers with low sediment supply, which is supported by the Root River data set. This not only highlights the importance of sediment supply as a driver of river migration, but also supports a simple means to detect river reaches lacking sediment supply. Furthermore, results from both rivers demonstrate that sub-meander bend measurement scales are most appropriate for studying channel migration rates and further indicate that a quasi-linear relationship—rather than the more commonly inferred peaked relationship—exists between channel curvature and migration rates. The highest migration rates are associated with the highest measured channel curvatures in our data set, after accounting for a spatial lag of channel widths. These findings are consistent with flume experiments and empirical data across diverse geologic and climatic environments

Does the Decriminalization and the Legalization of Recreational and Medical Marijuana Affect Crime Rates? A Panel Data Analysis of the New England States

Marijuana laws and their impact is always a topic of controversy. The major marijuana laws are the legalization of recreational marijuana, the legalization of medical marijuana, and the decriminalization of marijuana. This paper looked at specifically their impacts on three types of crime rates: non-marijuana drug sale crime rates, non-marijuana drug possession crime rates, and non-drug crimes. This study used panel data for the six New England state from 2000-2019 and ran panel data regressions to determine the change of each type of crime rate from before to after each policy implemented. A total of nine regressions pairing each policy to each type of crime were run. The results were relatively consistent with the current expectations. The legalization recreationally resulted in a decrease in non-drug crimes, medical legalization did not have a significant effect on any crime and the decriminalization resulted in an increase of non-marijuana drug sale crime rates. The legalization of medical marijuana was shown to be insignificant to crime. The results provide insight into this issue but as it was only one region, this paper can provide another reference to the affects and aide policy makers when looking to implement these policies

Sediment Dynamics in the Bear River-Mud Lake-Bear Lake System

The overarching goal of this project was to compile and analyze a variety of existing datasets, and generate several new datasets, to advance our understanding of how the Bear River Mud Lake-Bear Lake system functions, how it has, or is expected to change, identify which components are degraded or vulnerable to degradation, and determine if/where critical data and/or knowledge gaps exist. We conducted a series of analyses to evaluate changes in hydrology and suspended sediment, collected sediment cores from nine locations in Mud Lake to evaluate how sedimentation rates, sediment sources and water quality have changed over time, and utilized historical air photos and satellite imagery to document changes in Bear Lake’s shoreline. Hydrologic analyses indicate that low, median and high flows have not changed systematically at the Inlet Canal in terms of their long-term averages, since the 1940s. However, all three flow metrics have increased in terms of variability and have experienced longer duration wet and dry periods over the past three decades. We note a paucity of long-term hydrologic datasets for the Bear River-Dingle Marsh-Bear Lake system and additional monitoring would greatly help ensure that we are able to monitor trends throughout the system more carefully. We compiled suspended sediment data from all available sources and concluded, similar to previous studies, that Mud Lake appears to serve as a sediment sink for sediment, but the sediment trapping efficiency appears to vary considerably within and among years. Similar to the flow data, we note an unfortunate paucity of suspended sediment data and strongly recommend more rigorous and continuous monitoring of sediment in all parts of the Bear River-Mud Lake-Bear Lake system. Existing data and monitoring programs are insufficient to identify trends over time. The nine sediment cores extracted from Mud Lake provide a longer-term perspective on sediment dynamics. Results demonstrate that Mud Lake has historically and continues to serve as a net sediment sink. Two of the six dated cores document continuous deposition over the past 120 years, while the other four cores show truncated profiles in the 1950s. Visual inspection of the cores, as well as analysis of organic, calcium carbonate and mineral fractions occurring in the cores demonstrate highly variable history of sediment sources and water quality conditions in Mud Lake. Analysis of diatom algae species provides more detailed information regarding water quality conditions, indicating that Mud Lake has changed from a planktonic glacial lake, to a cold water, low nutrient environment and has existed as a mesotrophic environment with moderate water quality over the past century. Given the detailed information that diatoms can provide regarding historical water quality, we suggest that a similar diatom study examining the past 150 years in Bear Lake’s history could be worthwhile. Elemental analysis of Mud Lake sediments indicate two significant shifts in sediment sources, one coincident with diversion of Bear River into Mud Lake approximately 100 years ago, and a recent shift, within the past 10 years as silver, mercury and rare earth elements have increased considerably. Analysis of Bear Lake’s shoreline from historical imagery shows considerable amount of deposition has occurred in most areas around the lake in the past several decades. The shoreline at low water levels has moved lakeward by 30 to 50 meters (100 to 160 feet) in several locations and as much as 500 m (1600 feet) in the northwest corner of the lake, near St. Charles Creek. Notably, the only location where we document shoreline erosion (i.e., the shoreline moving landward for a given water elevation) is along the eastern edge of the lake, near Porcupine Hollow, Peterson Hollow and Bear Lake State Park. Further, we document that approximately 10% of the beach area in the northwest corner of the lake near St. Charles Creek has transitioned to vegetation cover between 2003 and 2016