Seafood traceability program design: Examination of the United States' Seafood Import Monitoring Program.

The United States' current Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) and a potential extension are undergoing review, yet quantitative evaluation of the current program is lacking. The SIMP is a traceability program aimed at reducing imports of seafood products that are of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) origin or associated with seafood fraud. We conducted a quantitative examination of the SIMP's current scope and design by synthesizing publicly available trade data along with measures of IUU fishing and seafood mislabeling.

The influence of language on the formation of number concepts: Evidence from preschool children who are bilingual in English and Arabic.

We asked whether grammatical number marking has specific influence on the formation of early number concepts. In particular, does comprehension of dual case marking support young children's understanding of cardinality? We assessed number knowledge in 77 3-year-old Arabic-English bilingual children using the Give-a-Number task in both languages. Given recent concerns around the administration and scoring of the Give-a-Number task, we used two complementary approaches: one based on conceptual levels and the other based on overall test scores.

An impact evaluation of conservation investments targeting long-distance migratory species.

We evaluated the impact of a philanthropic program investing in the conservation of sites along the Pacific Americas Flyway, which spans >16,000 km of coastline and is used by millions of shorebirds. Using a quasi-experimental, mixed methods approach, we estimated what would have happened to shorebird populations at 17 wintering sites without the sustained and additional investment they received. We modeled shorebird populations across the entire flyway and at sites with and without investment.

Consequences of seafood mislabeling for marine populations and fisheries management.

Over the past decade, seafood mislabeling has been increasingly documented, raising public concern over the identity, safety, and sustainability of seafood. Negative outcomes from seafood mislabeling are suspected to be substantial and pervasive as seafood is the world's most highly traded food commodity. Here we provide empirical systems-level evidence that enabling conditions exist for seafood mislabeling in the United States (US) to lead to negative impacts on marine populations and support consumption of products from poorly managed fisheries.

Estimating illegal fishing from enforcement officers.

While illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a premier issue facing ocean sustainability, characterizing it is challenging due to its clandestine nature. Current approaches can be resource intensive and sometimes controversial. Using Chile as an example, we present a structured process leveraging existing capacity, fisheries officers, that provides a monitoring tool to produce transparent and stand-alone estimates on the level, structure, and characteristics of illegal fishing.

The critical role of Arabic numeral knowledge as a longitudinal predictor of arithmetic development.

Understanding the cognitive underpinnings of children's arithmetic development has great theoretical and educational importance. Recent research suggests symbolic and nonsymbolic representations of number influence arithmetic development before and after school entry. We assessed nonverbal ability and general language skills as well as nonsymbolic (numerosity) and symbolic (numeral) comparison skills, counting, and Arabic numeral knowledge (numeral reading, writing, and identification) in preschool children (4 years of age).

Computerized Speechreading Training for Deaf Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Purpose We developed and evaluated in a randomized controlled trial a computerized speechreading training program to determine (a) whether it is possible to train speechreading in deaf children and (b) whether speechreading training results in improvements in phonological and reading skills. Previous studies indicate a relationship between speechreading and reading skill and further suggest this relationship may be mediated by improved phonological representations. This is important since many deaf children find learning to read to be very challenging.

Improving number abilities in low achieving preschoolers: Symbolic versus non-symbolic training programs.

Background: Although previous correlational studies have shown that both symbolic and non-symbolic abilities relate to mathematical abilities, correlational studies cannot show the cause and effect of these abilities for mathematical success.

Aims: The current study examined the effect of a non-symbolic training program, called PLUS and a symbolic training program, called DIGIT, to provide further insight into the causal nature of domain specific factors that contribute to mathematical abilities.

Methods: and Procedures: Forty-nine preschool children who had low mathematical abilities were recruited and randomly allocated to the DIGIT and PLUS training programs.

Scaling participation in payments for ecosystem services programs.

Payments for ecosystem services programs have become common tools but most have failed to achieve wide-ranging conservation outcomes. The capacity for scale and impact increases when PES programs are designed through the lens of the potential participants, yet this has received little attention in research or practice. Our work with small-scale marine fisheries integrates the social science of PES programs and provides a framework for designing programs that focus a priori on scaling.

Low performance on mathematical tasks in preschoolers: the importance of domain-general and domain-specific abilities.

Background: Different domain-specific and domain-general cognitive precursors play a key role in the development of mathematical abilities. The contribution of these domains to mathematical ability changes during development. Primary school-aged children who show mathematical difficulties form a heterogeneous group, but it is not clear whether this also holds for preschool low achievers (LAs) and how domain-specific and domain-general abilities contribute to mathematical difficulties at a young age.

Achieving biodiversity benefits with offsets: Research gaps, challenges, and needs.

Biodiversity offsets are becoming increasingly common across a portfolio of settings: national policy, voluntary programs, international lending, and corporate business structures. Given the diversity of ecological, political, and socio-economic systems where offsets may be applied, place-based information is likely to be most useful in designing and implementing offset programs, along with guiding principles that assure best practice. We reviewed the research on biodiversity offsets to explore gaps and needs.

Clinical and economic benefit of general practitioner integration to a symptomatic breast service.

Background: Integration of general practitioners (GPs) into a tertiary care team is a model used internationally to assist with provision of patient care. Symptomatic breast clinics have seen significant increases in attendances and consequential staffing issues. We wished to analyze the integration of GPs into a tertiary breast care team and establish whether their inclusion is a cost-effective approach.

Science for a wilder Anthropocene: Synthesis and future directions for trophic rewilding research.

Trophic rewilding is an ecological restoration strategy that uses species introductions to restore top-down trophic interactions and associated trophic cascades to promote self-regulating biodiverse ecosystems. Given the importance of large animals in trophic cascades and their widespread losses and resulting trophic downgrading, it often focuses on restoring functional megafaunas. Trophic rewilding is increasingly being implemented for conservation, but remains controversial.

A human-centered framework for innovation in conservation incentive programs.

The promise of environmental conservation incentive programs that provide direct payments in exchange for conservation outcomes is that they enhance the value of engaging in stewardship behaviors. An insidious but important concern is that a narrow focus on optimizing payment levels can ultimately suppress program participation and subvert participants' internal motivation to engage in long-term conservation behaviors. Increasing participation and engendering stewardship can be achieved by recognizing that participation is not simply a function of the payment; it is a function of the overall structure and administration of the program.

Incentivizing biodiversity conservation in artisanal fishing communities through territorial user rights and business model innovation.

Territorial user rights for fisheries are being promoted to enhance the sustainability of small-scale fisheries. Using Chile as a case study, we designed a market-based program aimed at improving fishers' livelihoods while incentivizing the establishment and enforcement of no-take areas within areas managed with territorial user right regimes. Building on explicit enabling conditions (i.

Grammatical morphology as a source of early number word meanings.

How does cross-linguistic variation in linguistic structure affect children's acquisition of early number word meanings? We tested this question by investigating number word learning in two unrelated languages that feature a tripartite singular-dual-plural distinction: Slovenian and Saudi Arabic. We found that learning dual morphology affects children's acquisition of the number word two in both languages, relative to English. Children who knew the meaning of two were surprisingly frequent in the dual languages, relative to English.

Increasing participation in incentive programs for biodiversity conservation.

Engaging private landowners in conservation activities for imperiled species is critical to maintaining and enhancing biodiversity. Market-based approaches can incentivize conservation behaviors on private lands by shifting the benefit-cost ratio of engaging in activities that result in net conservation benefits for target species. In the United States and elsewhere, voluntary conservation agreements with financial incentives are becoming an increasingly common strategy.

Stuttering severity, psychosocial impact and lexical diversity as predictors of outcome for treatment of stuttering.

Objective: This study assessed factors that predicted therapy outcome for children and adolescents who stuttered after attendance at an intensive therapy course. The factors examined were stuttering severity, lexical diversity measured by Type Token Ratio, and psychosocial impact of stuttering on the child's life.

Design: Fifty-four children who stuttered (CWS) participated in the study.

Developmental communication impairments in adults: outcomes and life experiences of adults and their parents.

Purpose: This study identifies the outcomes and documents the longitudinal life experiences of adults who attended a specialist residential school for children with pervasive and complex developmental communication impairments.

Method: Semistructured interviews were carried out with 26 adult ex-pupils who had attended the school and the parents of 15 of the ex-pupils.

Results: Seven key themes were identified from the data, including (a) lack of appropriate support and the impact of this in early childhood, (b) advantages and disadvantages of specialist educational provision compared to mainstream and other provision, (c) changing impact of developmental communication impairments over time, (d) challenging transition away from specialist educational provision, (e) absence of appropriate support for adults with developmental communication impairments, (f) persisting impact of developmental communication impairments on social and emotional functioning in adult life, and (g) differences in perspective between the adult ex-pupils and their parents.

Biodiversity offsets: a cost-effective interim solution to seabird bycatch in fisheries?

The concept of biodiversity offsets is well established as an approach to environmental management. The concept has been suggested for environmental management in fisheries, particularly in relation to the substantial numbers of non-target species--seabirds in particular--caught and killed as incidental bycatch during fishing activities. Substantial areas of fisheries are being closed to protect these species at great cost to the fishing industry.

Archipelago-wide island restoration in the Galápagos Islands: reducing costs of invasive mammal eradication programs and reinvasion risk.

Invasive alien mammals are the major driver of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation on islands. Over the past three decades, invasive mammal eradication from islands has become one of society's most powerful tools for preventing extinction of insular endemics and restoring insular ecosystems. As practitioners tackle larger islands for restoration, three factors will heavily influence success and outcomes: the degree of local support, the ability to mitigate for non-target impacts, and the ability to eradicate non-native species more cost-effectively.