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Simple Summary: Hornets are a group of 22 species of highly social wasps in the genus Vespa. These conspicuous insects construct large nests that are maintained by one or more queens and their offspring. Unlike other insects, many species of social wasps have glands on the underside of their abdomen called the van der Vecht and Richards glands. Documented uses for these glands by workers of some hornet species include producing pheromones for nestmate recruitment during group attacks on prey and chemical defense of nests against ants. We confirmed that these glands were present in nine hornet species. To examine differences among species in gland morphology, we used scanning electron microscopy to image the external surface of worker bodies around the glands. Accounting for differences in body size, we found that giant hornets and their close relatives had comparatively larger glands than the other species, some of which had glands that were approximately half as large. Differences among species are best explained by how hornets hunt and not by the likelihood that their nesting habitat increases exposure to ant predation. However, more information about how hornet workers use their sternal glands is necessary to permit further interpretation of their comparative gland morphology. Many social wasps in the speciose subfamilies Polistinae and Vespinae have two sternal glands—the van der Vecht gland and the Richards gland—that are not found in other insects. The presence of these glands has been confirmed in only 6 of 22 hornet species (genus Vespa) and images of their fine structure have not been produced. Here; we characterize the external morphology associated with both glands for workers of nine Vespa species using scanning electron microscopy. All hornets had similar gland configurations; although gland-associated external features differed among species. Scaled for size, glands were equivalently sized for the giant hornets (V. mandarinia and V. soror) and their closest phylogenetic relatives (V. tropica and V. ducalis). Relative size of gland-associated structures was reduced by half for V. simillima; V. velutina; and V. affinis workers. The remaining species (V. crabro and V. analis) had intermediately sized features. Differences among species in external gland structure were best explained by selective pressures related to predatory behavior, rather than defense of nests against ants. However, a lack of information about how Vespa workers use their van der Vecht and Richards glands limits a comparative interpretation of the function of their external gland morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a business-school collaborative learning partnership in the Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Greater Sendai. This partnership is further linked to a broader context of multi-stakeholder public participation in the RCE that was set up to advance the ESD agenda in the region. The authors propose a conceptual framework for multi-stakeholder, ESD-based social learning within the RCE with the aim of enabling the creation of a sustainability-literate society. This proposal is based on the results of students' prior experience in ESD activities, optimal age for ESD learning and future job choices presented in this paper, together with a reported article that the levels of sustainability of the two sectoral organizations were mixed and hence need improvement. The paper argues that it will be good to focus on bridging the business and education sectors by building ESD capacity of the children and youth in the formal education sector. It contends this could be done through collaborative learning using the government-mandated "Period of Integrated Studies" (PIS) in the Japanese primary and secondary school curriculum. Additionally, it will be appropriate for the RCE Greater Sendai Steering Committee to facilitate and coordinate the learning processes and also promote networking and cooperative interactions among the actors and stakeholders in the region. Recommendations for improvement of the learning partnerships in RCE Greater Sendai are made for consideration at the local and national policy levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]