Risky single occasion drinking frequency and alcohol-related consequences: can abstinence during early adulthood lead to alcohol problems?

QUESTIONS UNDER STUDY: the main purpose of this longitudinal study was to determine the impact of risky single occasion drinking (RSOD) frequency on alcohol dependence and drinking consequences reported 15 months later. METHODS: As a baseline sample, 5,990 young men were assessed on their drinking habits including the frequency of RSOD. Of them, 5,196 were reassessed at follow-up 15 months later on RSOD frequency, alcohol dependence and alcohol related consequences in thze interceding year. Drop out biases were investigated. RESULTS: Around 45% of the baseline participants reported regular RSOD (every month or more frequently). Despite the fact that RSOD distribution was generally stable during the initial sample, 47.4% reported a variation of their RSOD frequency 15 months later. Around 25% of the sample reported reduced RSOD frequency. Nonetheless, occasional RS drinkers were more likely to become regular (monthly) RSO drinkers at follow up. Daily and weekly RSOD were associated with high proportions of alcohol dependence and detrimental consequences of drinking. Surprisingly, abstainers at baseline were more likely to be at risk of alcohol dependence and consequences at follow up than non-RSO drinkers. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the fact that alcohol abstinence is logically the best way to avoid the detrimental consequences of alcohol drinking, abstainers at baseline reported as many problems due to alcohol use at follow up as occasional or monthly RSO drinkers. The few participants who had become RSO drinkers during the follow up period were indeed likely to engage in detrimental behaviour. Non-RSO drinkers had the fewest problems due to alcohol use. This substantiates the early occurrence of drinking consequences among inexperienced RSO drinkers

A contextual framework for the development of a building sustainability assessment method for Iran

As one of the fastest growing countries in the Middle East, and the one most vulnerable to climate change, the main challenge now facing Iran today is how to house its growing population in a socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable way. However, in the absence of a national framework to guide the sustainable development of the built environment, responding to this challenge is problematic. The articulation of a comprehensive assessment method that would enable issues of sustainability to be addressed and incorporated within building construction projects is urgently required. The research that underpins this paper takes account of current tools in aiming to support the development of a national building sustainability assessment method (BSAM) for use in Iran that involves the identification of sources of impact, specific benchmarks, and priorities for a weighting system for assessment criteria. This paper profiles the basis of a contextual framework that will inform the development of such a regional-based tool, taking account of Iran’s current climate change adaptation policies and priorities, its environmental conditions and socio-economic challenges, building typologies, standards and benchmarks

The Maastricht Convergence Criteria and Optimal Monetary Policy for the EMU Accession Countries.

The EMU accession countries are obliged to fulfill the Maastricht convergence criteria prior to entering the EMU. This paper uses a DSGE model of a two-sector small open economy, to address the following question: How do the Maastricht convergence criteria modify optimal monetary policy in an economy facing domestic and external shocks? First, we derive the micro founded loss function that represents the objective function of the optimal monetary policy not constrained to satisfy the criteria. We find that the optimal monetary policy should not only target inflation rates in the domestic sectors and aggregate output fluctuations but also domestic and international terms of trade. Second, we show how the loss function changes when the monetary policy is constrained to satisfy the Maastricht criteria. The loss function of such a constrained policy is characterized by additional elements penalizing fluctuations of the CPI inflation rate, the nominal interest rate and the nominal exchange rate around the new targets which are potentially different from the steady state of the unconstrained optimal monetary policy. Under the chosen parameterization, the unconstrained optimal monetary policy violates two criteria: concerning the CPI inflation rate and the nominal interest rate. The constrained optimal policy results in targeting the CPI inflation rate and the nominal interest rate that are 0.7% lower (in annual terms) than the CPI inflation rate and the nominal interest rate in the countries taken as a reference. The welfare costs associated with these constraints need to be offset against credibility gains and other benefits related to the compliance with the Maastricht criteria that are not modelled. JEL Classification: F41, E52, E58, E61EMU accession countries, Maastricht convergence criteria, optimal monetary policy

The Independent Existence: A Look at Florida\u27s Wrongful Death Statute in the Wake of Dobbs and Changing State Abortion Laws.

Following the Supreme Court’s overturning of the federally mandated fundamental right to abortion founded in Roe1 and Casey,2 the decision of whether a woman may terminate a pregnancy has returned to the states with the current Court’s implementation of Dobbs v. Jackson Woman’s Health.3 In Florida, the state government decided to reduce the gestational age for termination to fifteen weeks in July 2022, and further reduced the gestational age to six weeks in April 2023 provided that the Florida Supreme Court upholds the fifteen week ban.4 This note operates under the fifteen week standard as the six week ban is not yet effective. While the executive and legislative branches have decided to reduce the gestational age of termination to fifteen weeks, the state still refuses to allow for a parent’s recovery for the wrongful death of a fetus, holding that a fetus is not a person within the scope of the wrongful death act.5 This creates a congruity issue in the law surrounding fetuses and fetal rights in the states. This note argues that Florida should resolve the issue of legal inconsistency created through the fetal laws of abortion, feticide, and fetal wrongful death by abrogating the Born Alive Rule where a parent could not recover for the death of a fetus unless the fetus was born alive.6 Now that states can once again determine the issue of abortion, Florida should allow for the recovery for the tortious death of a fetus. If Florida allows for the wrongful death of a fetus, this will not give legal personhood rights to the fetus, but rather would allow for a greater understanding of parental rights for their fetus under the theory of subjective fetal personhood. The state has shown that it wishes to protect the interests of the potential future life and allowing for the recovery for the wrongful death of a fetus would further promote this interest

Sticky wages: evidence from quarterly microeconomic data

This paper documents nominal wage stickiness using an original quarterly firm-level dataset. We use the ACEMO survey, which reports the base wage for up to 12 employee categories in French firms over the period 1998 to 2005, and obtain the following main results. First, the quarterly frequency of wage change is around 35 percent. Second, there is some downward rigidity in the base wage. Third, wage changes are mainly synchronized within firms but to a large extent staggered across firms. Fourth, standard Calvo or Taylor schemes fail to match micro wage adjustment patterns, but fixed duration "Taylor-like" wage contracts are observed for a minority of firms. Based on a two-thresholds sample selection model, we perform an econometric analysis of wage changes. Our results suggest that the timing of wage adjustments is not state-dependent, and are consistent with existence of predetermined of wage changes. They also suggest that both backward- and forward-looking behavior is relevant in wage setting. JEL Classification: E24, J3wage predetermination, Wage stickiness

Distributional Patterns of Pseudacteon Associated with the Solenopsis saevissima Complex in South America

Classical biological control efforts against imported fire ants have largely involved the use of Pseudacteon parasitoids. To facilitate further exploration for species and population biotypes a database of collection records for Pseudacteon species was organized, including those from the literature and other sources. These data were then used to map the geographical ranges of species associated with the imported fire ants in their native range in South America. In addition, we found geographical range metrics for all species in the genus and related these metrics to latitude and host use. Approximately equal numbers of Pseudacteon species were found in temperate and tropical regions, though the majority of taxa found only in temperate areas were found in the Northern Hemisphere. No significant differences in sizes of geographical ranges were found between Pseudacteon associated with the different host complexes of fire ants despite the much larger and systemic collection effort associated with the S. saevissima host group. The geographical range of the flies was loosely associated with both the number of hosts and the geographical range of their hosts. Pseudacteon with the most extensive ranges had either multiple hosts or hosts with broad distributions. Mean species richnesses of Pseudacteon in locality species assemblages associated with S. saevissima complex ants was 2.8 species, but intensively sampled locations were usually much higher. Possible factors are discussed related to variation in the size of geographical range, and areas in southern South America are outlined that are likely to have been under-explored for Pseudacteon associated with imported fire ants

Distributional Patterns of Pseudacteon Associated with the Solenopsis saevissima Complex in South America

Classical biological control efforts against imported fire ants have largely involved the use of Pseudacteon parasitoids. To facilitate further exploration for species and population biotypes a database of collection records for Pseudacteon species was organized, including those from the literature and other sources. These data were then used to map the geographical ranges of species associated with the imported fire ants in their native range in South America. In addition, we found geographical range metrics for all species in the genus and related these metrics to latitude and host use. Approximately equal numbers of Pseudacteon species were found in temperate and tropical regions, though the majority of taxa found only in temperate areas were found in the Northern Hemisphere. No significant differences in sizes of geographical ranges were found between Pseudacteon associated with the different host complexes of fire ants despite the much larger and systemic collection effort associated with the S. saevissima host group. The geographical range of the flies was loosely associated with both the number of hosts and the geographical range of their hosts. Pseudacteon with the most extensive ranges had either multiple hosts or hosts with broad distributions. Mean species richnesses of Pseudacteon in locality species assemblages associated with S. saevissima complex ants was 2.8 species, but intensively sampled locations were usually much higher. Possible factors are discussed related to variation in the size of geographical range, and areas in southern South America are outlined that are likely to have been under-explored for Pseudacteon associated with imported fire ants

The Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences on the Future of Our Youth

22.3 percent.1 This is the percentage of the population of the United States under the age of 18. These three words should come to mind: growth, family, and safety. Unfortunately, just because these words come to mind, does not mean these are a reality for our youth. The Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs) study explores our youth’s mental, emotional, and social well-being across a wide sample with some disturbing results. As we de-code what exactly ACEs entails, we can learn to predict, diagnose, and ultimately prevent negative environments our youth are involved in. Prioritizing these prevention efforts can eventually lead to the avoidance altogether of these adverse experiences resulting in a residual rise in positive change for this 22.3 percent. This effort does not stand alone but does begin somewhere, and somewhere is you, YOU being the parents

EASY VICTIMS OF THE LAW: Protecting the Constitutional Rights of Juvenile Suspects to Prevent False Confessions

The inherently coercive nature of custodial interrogation is the very reason the Supreme Court handed down the famous Miranda v. Arizona decision; the court recognized the increased vulnerability that suspects under questioning are subjected to when placed in a situation designed to elicit incriminating information.1 Legal scholars and judiciaries alike agree that the likelihood of police questioning resulting in a false admission of guilt or self-incriminating statements is disproportionately more probable if the subject of the questioning is a minor.2 The constitutional protections that are afforded to juvenile suspects subjected to custodial interrogations are those set out in Miranda, and as evidenced by the rampant incidence of juvenile false confessions, clearly these protections are either facially insufficient or improperly carried out by investigators.3 As the law currently stands, there are few protections afforded above and beyond the standard protections for adult defendants as it relates to the voluntariness of confessions.4 The most common suggestions to reduce the chances that a juvenile suspect will falsely confess are to reform police procedure during the questioning itself or to suppress any statement resulting from involuntary, coerced, or un-Mirandized statements at subsequent proceedings.5 Adding a requirement that counsel be present during the custodial interrogation of juvenile suspects seems to be the most effective and efficient means of preventing false confessions. The most steadfast and all-encompassing protection is to propose a Constitutional Amendment. As the most difficult legislation to enact, it will ensure that the individual requirements are tempered to both proponents’ and opposers’ predilections and will most likely stand the test of time provided it is well-rounded and comprehensive enough.6 Regardless of what the first step is that the law takes to protect the especially vulnerable members of our society in the criminal justice system, it cannot come soon enough to extend a helping hand towards anyone that has the misfortune of being “an easy victim of the law.”

Originalism and the Inseparability of Decision Procedures from Interpretive Standards

In his article, Originalism: Standard and Procedure, Professor Stephen E. Sachs describes a never-ending debate between originalism\u27s advocates and critics. Originalists argue that certain historical facts determine the Constitution\u27s meaning. But determining these facts is difficult, if not impossible for judges, attorneys, and the public. Sachs seeks to rise above this debate, arguing that the legal community should not expect originalism to offer a procedure for interpreting the Constitution. Instead, the legal community should treat originalism as a standard to judge interpretations. This Article takes issue with this approach. Originalism is not like other instances in law where statutes or opinions refer to other opinions, statutes, or third-party publications. Instead, originalism requires rigorous and complex analysis of historical facts to determine the Constitution\u27s original public meaning-an undertaking that most judges, attorneys, the public, and even legal academics may find challenging. Treating originalism as a standard does not avoid this concern, and originalism therefore remains unappealing when compared with alternate approaches to interpretation that do offer procedures for their implementation. Regardless, the legal community should confront these issues, rather than evade them