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Background and Aims: Prior cross-sectional research finds that electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use clusters with higher rates of harmful alcohol consumption in the United States adult population. The current study examined prospectively the association between e-cigarette use, cigarette use and the combined use of e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes and alcohol use outcomes. Design: A nationally representative multi-wave cohort survey (wave 1: September 2013–December 2014, wave 2: October 2014–October 2015). Setting: United States. Participants: A representative sample of civilian, non-institutionalized adults who completed waves 1 and 2 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health survey (n = 26 427). Measurements: Participants were categorized into exposure groups according to their e-cigarette and cigarette use during wave 1. Past 30-day alcohol use outcomes were (1) National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)-defined hazardous alcohol use, (2) total alcohol drinks consumed and (3) alcohol-related consequences. Findings: After controlling for socio-demographic risk factors and alcohol use at wave 1, all exposure groups showed higher odds of hazardous alcohol use [adjusted odds ratios (aORs) = 2.05–2.12, all P < 0.001] and reported higher past-month total drinks (B = 0.46–0.70, all P < 0.001) and more alcohol consequences (B = 0.63–0.89, all P ≤ 0.10) at wave 2 compared with non-users. Cigarette users (B = 0.24, P = 0.038) and dual e-cigarette/cigarette users (B = 0.32, P = 0.038) reported higher past-month total drinks compared with e-cigarette users. There was no conclusive evidence that non-daily use of e-cigarettes or cigarettes predicted poorer alcohol use outcomes compared with daily use. Conclusions: In the United States between 2013 and 2015, after adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics, cigarette and e-cigarette use were associated with alcohol use 1 year later.

Since the 1960s the literature on demography of rural northern Sweden has focussed on 'decline' - noting loss of population, population ageing, yourth outmigration and other 'negative' demographic developments (Friedlander, 1969; Hjort, 2009; Stone 1971); recent studies suggest that such generalizations may overlook the diversity of experiences of rural areas (D. Carson and Koch, 2013; Cernic-Maly, Koch and Koch, 2014; Hedlund, 2014; Hoggart and Paniagua, 2001; Koch and Carson, 2012). The purpose of this thesis is to explore aspets of the diversity of experiences of demographic change in one part of rural northern Sweden, focusing on differences between villages and towns within a single municipality. Theoretically, the large body of scientific studies of 'rural' tend to be at macro-scale and from the 'urban' perspective, which might provide generalized and biased assumptions of 'rural'; this study may contribute to the understanding of 'rural' by describing it 'how it really is' and by looking into demographic diversity and change at the micro-scale. Practically, the thesis might assist local planners to take 'place-based' decisions when planning for the future of rural areas when deciding where to place schools, health centres, youth activities centres, playgrounds, or invest in economic opportunities, etc. Moreover, this thesis should answer the following research questions:  Q1: Is there diversity in demographic characteristics when comparing proximate locations in the Swedish rural setting? Q2: If there is, is it something that has recently emerged, or sothing that has been present for a long period of history? The thesis studied the case of Vilhelmina municipality, in this case defined by local government boundaries, in three stages: first, looked at how settlement patterns within the area have changed over time - where has there been population growth? Decline? Both? Neither? - using data from 1890, 1970 and 2015. Second, selected five individual locations (defined by village' borders) within the area that have featured at those points in time, and compared them in terms of age, sex, age dependency ratios, and child-woman rates. Third, accessed secondary historical data and interviewed key informants with knowledge of these places to check which events could have influenced shaping them over the time. The findings of the thesis were: 'fragmentedä development over time, differences between individual places at different time; differences between different places at the same time; local, regional, national and international events and trends are likely to have played a role in these results. According to the findings, I can conclude that even since the 1960s, not all locations in rural northern Sweden have had the same experience of 'decline'. Furthermore, not all places share the presumed characteristics of rural areas - i.e. some are younger and some are older, etc. Hence, even the same events influence proximate places in different ways depending on their specific location (e.g. near geographical feature that become more or less valued), their connections with other places (through economic activities, communications, family ties, etc), rules and regulations especially regarding land use, and availability of infrastructure. This thesis describes the demographics of a case in rural northern Sweden in the micro perspective related to temporal and spatial scales. This study provides empirical evidence and might support arguments about the importance of scale and diversity of rural conditions. Moreover, it emphasises, as Koch and Carson (2012) did, the need to understand the spatial scale at which assessments of rural demographic change are being made. Lastly, more academics should perform this genre of research, so that we move past incomplete messages and concepts about rural development that have dominated in northern Sweden since the 1960s.

Ce travail de thèse s'insère dans une démarche globale d'acquisition des connaissances sur la tortue verte (Chelonia mydas) dans l'océan Indien occidental et ce afin de disposer d'éléments scientifiques essentiels à la mise en place d'une gestion cohérente et efficace de cette espèce menacée. Dans un premier temps, appliquant différentes modèles statistiques, ce travail a visé à établir des données de référence sur l'abondance des tortues vertes femelles en reproduction et les tendances sur le long terme des principales populations. Dans un second temps, il a consisté à déterminer la structure génétique et les relations qui existent entre les différentes populations de cette espèce. Enfin, la conservation des tortues marines étant étroitement liée aux pressions extérieures, ce travail a tenté dans un troisième temps de caractériser les pressions anthropiques qu'elles subissent, et notamment celles liées à la pêche. L'ensemble de ces résultats a permis de réaliser des avancées majeures dans la connaissance de la biologie et de l'écologie de la tortue verte et de disposer d'une vision régionale fiable de l'état de conservation de cette espèce dans l'océan Indien occidental. Leur compilation a ainsi permis d'identifier des zones régionales prioritaires de protection mais aussi des sites de vigilance plus spécifiques comme celui d'Europa. Enfin cette synthèse met en lumière les priorités de recherche et les approches scientifiques à favoriser à l'avenir pour améliorer les connaissances et affiner les priorités de conservation non seulement des tortues marines, mais aussi de la mégafaune marine en général. / This thesis is a comprehensive work aiming to improve scientific knowledge on the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) in order to provide key scientific evidences needed for the implementation of coherent and effective management measures to protect at the Western Indian Ocean scale this threatened species. In a first step, this work aimed to established baseline data on the abundance of green turtles nesting females and long term trends of some key nesting populations of the region by applying different modelling methods. In a second step, this work determined the regional genetic structure of this species and the relationships that exists between the different populations. Finally, the conservation of marine turtles being closely dependant to external pressures, this work tried to characterize theanthropogenic pressures they face, more specifically those related to fishing activities. All these results allowed unraveling some key gaps on the biology and ecology of the green turtle in the region and led to a global vision of the conservation status of this species in the Western Indian Ocean. The compilation of the results enabled the identification of regional priority areas for protection, but also some more specific threatened sites such as Europa. Finally, this synthesis shedslight on research priorities and scientific approaches to be promote in the future to unlock other keyscientific issues and refine conservation priorities, not only of marine turtles, but also of marine megafauna as a whole.