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The percentage of US youths experiencing mental health and substance use problems has risen rapidly in recent years. Schools are important settings for prevention, but whether preventive programming meets student needs is unknown. This study examined trends in school programming related to mental health and substance use and teacher professional development across US middle and high schools from 2008-2020.

The Gona Paleoanthropological Research Project area in the Afar Region of Ethiopia arguably contains one of the most complete records of archaeological sites anywhere in the world, from the earliest Oldowan dated to 2.6 Ma, to the Later Stone Age (LSA) dated to ca. 12-7 Ka. This makes Gona an ideal place to examine long-term trends in hominin-environment interaction. We revisited archaeological and hominin fossil sites at Gona and characterized the fossil soils using paleopedology and found evidence of paleo-Fluvisols, -Cambisols and -Vertisols. Greater than 70% of those archaeological sites spanning Oldowan to the Later Stone Age are found in buried paleosols with A-C and A-Bk-C paleosol profiles resembling modern-day Fluvisols or Fluvic Cambisols. Fluvisol morphology shows presence of bedding, incipient soil structure development and overprinting after burial. Stratigraphy and lithofacies show that these paleo-Fluvisols were proximal to the ancestral Awash River (Type I depositional system) or a distal fan channel (Type II depositional system). These data suggest that soil burial rates were rapid due to proximal flooding, where this would be a primary factor inhibiting soil development. This style of sedimentation and weathering resembles a narrow (5–10 m width) strip of land in a modern-day channel shelf and bar setting, separating the river from the adjacent gallery forest. A review of the literature shows that the frequent association of artifacts with paleo-Fluvisols may be prevalent throughout eastern Africa and indicates a long history of hominin reliance on a riverine ecosystem edge, proximal stream water and gallery forest resources within broader river valleys. The few older archaeological sites (e.g., Oldowan and Acheulian) found in/on more well-developed paleosols at Gona are an exception to this rule. These latter sites may hint at different land-use patterns and thus differing trajectories of hominin-environmental interactions. Because most paleosol studies at Gona and elsewhere in eastern Africa use paleo-Vertisols or other more well-developed calcareous soils to reconstruct paleoenvironment, there is a potential spatial and temporal decoupling between those well-studied paleosols and the more weakly-developed ones where archaeology is found.

Fieldwork is often cited as one of the most important and effective parts of geography education, despite increasing scrutiny over its environmental and financial cost. As a result, it is imperative that any overseas fieldwork is as impactful as possible, enabling deep experiential learning. Here, we investigate the success of a joint field trip (Liverpool John Moores University, UK and Southern Connecticut State University, USA) to East Iceland. Such field trips are rare but have the potential to be extremely impactful on both cohorts of students. We outline the origins of the field trip, the considerations taken into account during planning, and the student skills we embedded into teaching. Surveys and interviews demonstrated that the field trip was highly successful, with students reporting excellent development of environmental and global awareness as well as research and leadership skills. Students also developed strong, lasting social networks, including those in the alternate university, and in Iceland. Cohorts responded similarly, suggesting that the trip presents similar opportunities to all students. We demonstrate that undertaking a joint field trip can deliver huge benefits to students, becoming a “perspective changing, and a once in a lifetime opportunity” affecting future study and career choices.

In heavy-ion collision experiments, the global collectivity of final-state particles can be quantified by anisotropic flow coefficients (𝑣𝑛). The first-order flow coefficient, also referred to as the directed flow (𝑣1), describes the collective sideward motion of produced particles and nuclear fragments in heavy-ion collisions. It carries information on the very early stage of the collision, especially at large pseudorapidity (𝜂), where it is believed to be generated during the nuclear passage time. Directed flow therefore probes the onset of bulk collective dynamics during thermalization, providing valuable experimental guidance to models of the pre-equilibrium stage. In 2018, the Event Plane Detector (EPD) was installed in STAR and used for the Beam Energy Scan phase-II (BES-II) data taking. The combination of EPD (2.1<|𝜂|<5.1) and high-statistics BES-II data enables us to extend the 𝑣1 measurement to the forward and backward 𝜂 regions. In this paper, we present the measurement of 𝑣1 over a wide 𝜂 range in Au+Au collisions at √𝑠𝑁⁢𝑁= 19.6 and 27 GeV using the STAR EPD. The results of the analysis at √𝑠𝑁⁢𝑁= 19.6 GeV exhibit excellent consistency with the previous PHOBOS measurement, while elevating the precision of the overall measurement. The increased precision of the measurement also revealed finer structures in heavy-ion collisions, including a potential observation of the first-order event-plane decorrelation. Multiple physics models were compared to the experimental results. Only a transport model and a three-fluid hybrid model can reproduce a sizable 𝑣1 at large 𝜂 as was observed experimentally. The model comparison also indicates 𝑣1 at large 𝜂 might be sensitive to the QGP phase transition.

Universities and colleges are organizations that significantly impact students, their communities, and society. This forum explores how organizational communication scholars who are university leaders have applied their scholarly backgrounds to inform their roles. The forum participants engage in the work of being reflective practitioners to shed light on how organizational communication theory can help in negotiating the everyday lived experience of academic leadership. Three key issues are explored: (1) in what ways are organizational communication scholars uniquely positioned to assume a university leadership role? (2) how do communication concepts inform the communication practices of administrators? and (3) how do communication practices contribute to universities as multi-faceted institutions? The participants conclude by reflecting on current challenges in higher education and the potential of organizational communication scholars to play a vital role in navigating those challenges.

Using firms’ receipt of SEC comment letters, this study investigates their selection of mandatory filing types when producing deficient disclosures in response to the product market competition. Empirical evidence reveals a positive association between two firm-level measures of product market competition and a firm's likelihood of receiving comment letters for non-10-K filings. These patterns are particularly pronounced when firms face a higher likelihood of new market entrants or operate as industry followers. Additionally, firms receiving comment letters for non-10-K filings experience increased sales and market share in the subsequent year. Overall, these findings suggest that firms strategically make deficient disclosures in non-10-K filings to minimize regulatory costs. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.