Six priorities to advance the science and practice of coral reef restoration worldwide

Coral reef restoration is a rapidly growing movement galvanized by the accelerating degradation of the world's tropical coral reefs. The need for concerted and collaborative action focused on the recovery of coral reef ecosystems coalesced in the creation of the Coral Restoration Consortium (CRC) in 2017. In March 2020, the CRC leadership team met for a biennial review of international coral reef restoration efforts and a discussion of perceived knowledge and implementation bottlenecks that may impair scalability and efficacy. Herein we present six priorities wherein the CRC will foster scientific advancement and collaboration to: (1) increase restoration efficiency, focusing on scale and cost-effectiveness of deployment; (2) scale up larval-based coral restoration efforts, emphasizing recruit health, growth, and survival; (3) ensure restoration of threatened coral species proceeds within a population-genetics management context; (4) support a holistic approach to coral reef ecosystem restoration; (5) develop and promote the use of standardized terms and metrics for coral reef restoration; and (6) support coral reef restoration practitioners working in diverse geographic locations. These priorities are not exhaustive nor do we imply that accomplishing these tasks alone will be sufficient to restore coral reefs globally; rather these are topics where we feel the CRC community of practice can make timely and significant contributions to facilitate the growth of coral reef restoration as a practical conservation strategy. The goal for these collective actions is to provide tangible, local-scale advancements in reef condition that offset declines resulting from local and global stressors including climate change

Population- and individual-specific regulatory variation in Sardinia

Genetic studies of complex traits have mainly identified associations with noncoding variants. To further determine the contribution of regulatory variation, we combined whole-genome and transcriptome data for 624 individuals from Sardinia to identify common and rare variants that influence gene expression and splicing. We identified 21,183 expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) and 6,768 splicing quantitative trait loci (sQTLs), including 619 new QTLs. We identified high-frequency QTLs and found evidence of selection near genes involved in malarial resistance and increased multiple sclerosis risk, reflecting the epidemiological history of Sardinia. Using family relationships, we identified 809 segregating expression outliers (median z score of 2.97), averaging 13.3 genes per individual. Outlier genes were enriched for proximal rare variants, providing a new approach to study large-effect regulatory variants and their relevance to traits. Our results provide insight into the effects of regulatory variants and their relationship to population history and individual genetic risk.M.P. is supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement 633964 (ImmunoAgeing). Z.Z. is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) GRFP (DGE- 114747) and by the Stanford Center for Computational, Evolutionary, and Human Genomics (CEHG). Z.Z., J.R.D., and G.T.H. also acknowledge support from the Stanford Genome Training Program (SGTP; NIH/NHGRI T32HG000044). J.R.D. is supported by the Stanford Graduate Fellowship. K.R.K. is supported by Department of Defense, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEQ) Fellowship 32 CFR 168a. S.J.S. is supported by the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. The SardiNIA project is supported in part by the intramural program of the National Institute on Aging through contract HHSN271201100005C to the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche of Italy. The RNA sequencing was supported by the PB05 InterOmics MIUR Flagship grant; by the FaReBio2011 “Farmaci e Reti Biotecnologiche di Qualità” grant; and by Sardinian Autonomous Region (L.R. no. 7/2009) grant cRP3-154 to F. Cucca, who is also supported by the Italian Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis (FISM 2015/R/09) and by the Fondazione di Sardegna (ex Fondazione Banco di Sardegna, Prot. U1301.2015/AI.1157.BE Prat. 2015-1651). S.B.M. is supported by the US National Institutes of Health through R01HG008150, R01MH101814, U01HG007436, and U01HG009080. All of the authors would like to thank the CRS4 and the SCGPM for the computational infrastructure supporting this project

Biological function in the twilight zone of sequence conservation

Abstract Strong DNA conservation among divergent species is an indicator of enduring functionality. With weaker sequence conservation we enter a vast ‘twilight zone’ in which sequence subject to transient or lower constraint cannot be distinguished easily from neutrally evolving, non-functional sequence. Twilight zone functional sequence is illuminated instead by principles of selective constraint and positive selection using genomic data acquired from within a species’ population. Application of these principles reveals that despite being biochemically active, most twilight zone sequence is not functional

Teaching Excellence Awards in Higher Education

In universities around the world, academics are encouraged to facilitate excellent education. The concept of teaching excellence in higher education offers different definitions and interpretations. Teaching excellence contributes to business students' optimal development to become professional and trusted value creators for business and society. Universities acknowledge teachers' efforts towards students' development and learning through teaching excellence awards. The recognition of an excellent teacher poses questions such as who the appropriate candidate is and why, the characteristics of the nominated candidates, and the selection committee or evaluation criteria for awarding an excellent teacher this title. Different stakeholders have distinct perceptions of evaluating the quality of teaching. Extant literature has scarce evidence to answer these questions. Our empirical data advances the understanding of teaching excellence awards from the perspective of accounting and business students. We also evaluate the process and criteria used by higher education institutions from eleven countries across five continents. This research contributes to the literature by examining whether perceptions of such awards vary between academic institutions in different countries. Therefore, the emphasis is on exploring differences and similarities across multiple countries

Rethinking teaching excellence based on the viewpoint of business students as generators and value creators for business and society

The dynamics of higher education institutions are changing with increased expectations of students for their educational learning experiences. In universities around the world, academics are encouraged to facilitate excellent education. Teaching excellence contributes to business students' optimal development to become professional and trusted value creators for business and society. However, there is an ongoing debate around the definition of excellence. Recognising an excellent teacher poses questions such as the characteristics and competencies of such candidates. Several studies have investigated different dimensions of teachers’ effectiveness, but there is hardly a consensus on "what makes an excellent teacher?". Moreover, different stakeholders have distinct perceptions of evaluating teaching excellence and the quality of teaching. This research contributes to the literature by examining how accounting and business students define teaching excellence, whether teaching excellence perceptions vary based on student demographics and between academic institutions in different countries, whether teaching excellence perceptions vary between accounting and non-accounting students. The quantitative and qualitative empirical data is collected in eleven countries across five continents to advance our understanding of teaching excellence from the perspective of business students. The emphasis is on exploring differences and similarities across multiple countries. Understanding what teaching excellence means for students would allow for enhancing teaching practices and, as a result, improve student engagement, enhance students learning experience, and develop employability skills. Our preliminary results demonstrate what individual personal qualities, competencies, and classroom characteristics add to the definition of an excellent teacher. We find statistically significant differences between countries