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Phenotypic plasticity, the ability to produce multiple phenotypes from a single genotype, represents an excellent model with which to examine the relationship between gene expression and phenotypes. Analyses of the molecular foundations of phenotypic plasticity are challenging, however, especially in the case of complex social phenotypes. Here we apply a machine learning approach to tackle this challenge by analyzing individual-level gene expression profiles of Polistes dominula paper wasps following the loss of a queen. We find that caste-associated gene expression profiles respond strongly to queen loss, and that this change is partly explained by attributes such as age but occurs even in individuals that appear phenotypically unaffected. These results demonstrate that large changes in gene expression may occur in the absence of outwardly detectable phenotypic changes, resulting here in a socially mediated de-differentiation of individuals at the transcriptomic level but not at the levels of ovarian development or behavior., Connecting genotypes to complex social behaviour is challenging. Taylor et al. use machine learning to show a strong response of caste-associated gene expression to queen loss, wherein individual wasp’s expression profiles become intermediate between queen and worker states, even in the absence of behavioural changes.

The European paper wasp, Polistes dominulus Christ, is an abundant wasp species in South and Central Europe which dispersed to the north in recent times. Polistes dominulus exhibits an energy-extensive mode of life, spending much time resting at the nest, which should be reflected in adaptations regarding gas exchange and standard metabolism. We analysed the resting metabolism (CO2 emission) of Polistes dominulus workers in the ambient temperature range an individual may be exposed to during a breeding season (Ta = 2.4–40.6 °C) via flow through respirometry. Behaviour and endothermic activity were assessed by infrared thermography. With rising Ta, CO2 release followed an exponential increase from 27 to 149 and 802 nl g−1 min−1 at Ta = 3, 20 and 35 °C, respectively. Measurements of the thermal regime at the nest showed that resting P. dominulus are most of the time in the lower range of their standard metabolic curve. A comparison with a “highly energetic” wasp like Vespula sp. revealed that Polistes dominulus not only optimises behaviour but also reduces metabolism to save energy. The CO2 emission patterns changed with ambient temperature, from discontinuous (≤25 °C) to cyclic (25–36 °C) and continuous gas exchange at higher temperatures. A pronounced break appeared in the data progression regarding cycle frequency and CO2 emission per gas exchange cycle between 15 and 10 °C. This striking change in gas exchange features indicates a physiological adaptation to special respiratory requirements at low temperatures. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00360-015-0915-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorised users.

This paper studies the evermore widespread phenomenon of the adaptation of novels for the stage, focusing on prizewinning contemporary Chinese novels. The first part provides the theoretical approach that is adopted in the second part, where two cases studies are discussed, i.e the stage adaptation of the novel Song of Everlasting Sorrow by Wang Anyi and of the novel To Live by Yu Hua. Starting from the perspective of “horizontal relations” among texts (Hutcheon 2013), the analysis of the adaptation process takes its distance from the fidelity/infidelity discourse, in order to investigate the network of echoing versions (trans-media, trans-language, etc) it is able to produce. This network is much more interesting to explore than supposed vertical hierarchies. Nevertheless, not every version is a text able to live independently from its source: the analysis shows that today's phenomenon of trans-media adaptation is fostered by a cultural industry that aims at exploiting all profits from a best-selling prizewinning novel. The role played by this industry in the adaptation process needs to be fully considered., Kervan. International Journal of Afro-Asiatic Studies, Scritti e pensieri per Pinuccia Caracchi

Understanding intraspecific geographic variation in animal signals poses a challenging evolutionary problem. Studies addressing geographic variation typically focus on signals used in mate-choice, however, geographic variation in intrasexual signals involved in competition is also known to occur. In Polistes dominulus paper wasps, females have black facial spots that signal dominance: individuals wasps with more complex 'broken' facial patterns are better fighters and are avoided by rivals. Recent work suggests there is dramatic geographic variation in these visual signals of quality, though this variation has not been explicitly described or quantified. Here, we analyze variation in P. dominulus signals across six populations and explore how environmental conditions may account for this variation. Overall, we found substantial variation in facial pattern brokenness across populations and castes. Workers have less broken facial patterns than gynes and queens, which have similar facial patterns. Strepsipteran parasitism, body size and temperature are all correlated with the facial pattern variation, suggesting that developmental plasticity likely plays a key role in this variation. First, the extent of parasitism varies across populations and parasitized individuals have lower facial pattern brokenness than unparasitized individuals. Second, there is substantial variation in body size across populations and a weak but significant relationship between facial pattern brokenness and body size. Wasps from populations with smaller body size (e.g. Italy) tend to have less broken facial patterns than wasps from populations with larger body size (e.g. New York, USA). Third, there is an apparent association between facial patterns and climate, with wasp from cooler locations tending to have higher facial pattern brokenness than wasps from warmer locations. Additional experimental work testing the causes and consequences of facial pattern variation will be important, as geographic variation in signals has important consequences for the evolution of communication systems and social behavior.

The objective of this paper is to recommend, at the request of the Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States - along with the European Union (EU) (G-20), how knowledge sharing (KS), through North-South, South-South, and triangular cooperation, can be scaled up in support of growth and development processes. The working group collaborates closely with the steering committee for pillar nine, which, besides the working group members, also includes Korea and Mexico as co-facilitators for pillar nine, France as this year’s G-20 Chair, and Colombia and Indonesia as co-chairs of the task team on South-South cooperation. The paper is organized into four sections: section one presents a description of how KS is increasingly viewed as a complementary third leg to financial and technical cooperation in the changing global development landscape; section two presents a set of emerging, evidence-based lessons for KS as a development tool; section three recommendations from the G-20 to scale up KS; and section four presents next steps on the short and medium term.

EcoAdapt (www.ecoadapt.eu) is an ambitious, complex and demanding action-research project about water security in a context of climate change. The issues the project deals with are also complex and demanding. A central challenge is how to get the investigators, the project partner Model Forest local teams and the relevant local actors in the territorieson the same page. That is why joint knowledge development and shared learning from different sources and ways of knowing is of such strategic importance in EcoAdapt. Moreover, a viable and sustainable community based response to environmental and climaticchallenges requires a critical mass of motivated, informed and concerted local actors. To make good headway in this direction, an arduous but dynamic process has been set into motion resulting in a growing commitment and capacity building among the local actors in the three EcoAdapt territories. The project’s mini and synthesis workshops were building- and stepping-stones in a continuous path of joint learning and capacity development. In the former events the information captured in the base line study was discussed with the locals actors ,while in the second ones, the interest aroused was capitalized upon to form the change agents groups (an essential aspect of the EcoAdapt strategy) and to respond to the demand of more precise and accessible information, by means of a series of field learning activities. This had some promising outcomes such as contributing to a common interest and growing understanding of water as a central watershed ecosystem; widening of the horizon and view towards watershed and landscape management; strengthening of community drinking water systems with regards to its hardware and software (physical infrastructure, local management and governance); growing cooperation among urban and rural groups or between civil society and policy makers around water issues; creating a link between the legal framework and policy making and the processes on the ground. A spiral of learning took place. As people satisfy their curiosity and initial interest they want to know more and understand better, and they become even more investigative as the activity gets geared towards action and towards helping them achieve their needs and aspirations. Learning does not stop and is clearly evolving in the project with regards to aims, content and methods. This proves to be entirely in line with one of the working hypothesis of the project and also with constructivist theories such as meaningful learning. It has been fundamental and very instrumental to induce the formation of multi actor platforms of change agents in the three territories, through which the field learning activities are organized. These new instances are pivotal in the EcoAdapt learning and organization process by the local project partners: due to a broad representation of local groups and institutions, these platforms get grounded and obtain a growing legitimacy in the territory; they fill a real demand by tackling felt needs for local development around water issues and capitalizing human, institutional and financial opportunities and resources; information is spread and debated; trust and chemistry is built and a common language and vision developed; by lowering barriers between groups and institutions transaction costs are lowered and opportunities are taken advantage of to decrease operational costs and achieve higher effectiveness in ongoing or initial action around water issues and management. Hence it is also very cost effective in economic terms. Climate change adaptation is a variant of risk management to secure water, food and other means of living. Management of climate risks is a millenarian old need and practice, but recent climate change tendencies give it a whole new dimension. Traditional knowledge and practice is a good springboard to climate change adaptation, but new science based information and views must be inserted in what people already know, do and want to change (or conserve) to widen their horizon and action alternatives, and create in this way, a solid 5 base for a viable and shared climate change adaptation plan. In that perspective it is essential that the complex issue of climate change is made transparent, understandable and meaningful. This still remains a great challenge in tactical and didactical terms. The systematized experience so far teaches us that it may be necessary to deviate a bit from the project proposal (“description of work”, or DoW) in order to advance towards the project vision. So, in Climate Change Adaptation for Local Development (the project slogan) the relation between both aims is inter-active.Local development can be a starting point for advancing to climate change adaptation and ecological and social resilience. Close observation shows that the prime mover of action by the local actors has not been so much climate change adaptation but securing clean water in sufficient quality and quantity or satisfying other felt local needs and aspirations. And this is not just a matter of climate- but also of legal stress, and a lack of equity and legitimacy. Hence, the internal learning and systematization has fed also the adaptive project management. Looking backwards and reflecting on it, one gets more clarity on how to go forwards to reach the vision. But therefore it is also important to look out of the EcoAdapt box and combine internal reflection with relevant literature and other cases, in order to get more out of the empirical data and process.Hence, much emphasis was put in this working paper on a relevant literature review, whose results merged in a conceptual flow chart, with the philosophy and strategy of EcoAdapt. In chapter VI Analysis and Synthesis the link is made between this flowchart with the process and outcomes of the field learning activities described in much detail in chapter V. Many promising results were found as well as pending challenges which both are inputs for action and strategy in the next two years: momentum must be maintained, advances consolidated and a qualitative jump forward made. One of the lessons learned is the importance of combining tangibles and intangibles in water management to motivate participation of the local actors and enable their learning, organization and governance towards the desired change. It also shows the added value of EcoAdapt and how it gets the most out of its limited financial means. Learning outcomes must be converted into input for strategic development, scaling out and up, policy debate and policy incidence. There is clear evidence that this process has already begun. Distances between actors diminish; policy makers get more involved; people become more knowledgeable on legal and policy matters and want to influence them or make better use of them; joint practice and understanding of water issues go hand in hand; scales of intervention are combined. Scaling up is of strategic importance because community based environment management has a limited effect and does not make much sense if policy makers do not respond correspondingly. So, in order for intervention to be effective it must occur at different scales and be articulated. Both literature and the project practice confirm this need and possibility. It is also clearly foreseen in the project strategy expressed in the theory of change of the DoW. A next central priority will be to incorporate, intelligently and tactically, the planned scenarios and measures of climate change adaptation within the activities and processes already in march in the three sites and organized around perceived local needs and opportunities, while at the same time doing the inverse - insert the ongoing activities in a broader framework. A related central challenge in this perspective will be to stimulate in the coming years, a fruitful debate and clarity on water governance and conflict management in a context of growing water scarcity due to the effects of climate change and other stressors. A debate on ‘’hotter issues’’ is quite feasible as more trust, chemistry and cooperation is built around non conflictive issues during start up activities, like what is going on at the moment. 6 As the literature shows, in the history of humankind, water scarcity does not necessarily lead to conflict and often has been a base for cooperation, social organization and synergy, depending on the rules of the game and the governance institutions in place and functioning. This will become an increasingly important issue in light of viable and robust adaptation plans to be made in the three sites in the course of 2014-2015.

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentado ao Instituto de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Tradução e Interpretação Especializadas, sob orientação da doutora Clara Sarmento Esta versão não contém as críticas e sugestões dos elementos do júri Submitted by Iolanda Valente (ivalente@iscap.ipp.pt) on 2015-05-12T10:09:27Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Jorge_Sequeira_MTIE_20132014.pdf: 767896 bytes, checksum: 73638355f966d65a0a6ea75e00441cfb (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-12T10:09:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jorge_Sequeira_MTIE_20132014.pdf: 767896 bytes, checksum: 73638355f966d65a0a6ea75e00441cfb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics The aim of this study is to research how can an international marketing strategy be simultaneously standardized and adapted to export markets. Moreover, it reveals that this strategy is more appropriate than the contingency approach, considering the case of a firm with very little expression in the global marketplace. A single case-study based on the export venture of Renova Black toilet paper was developed. In addition to the analysis of secondary data, interviews were conducted with 3 Renova managers, 3 trade customers and 10 consumers. Findings suggest that an international marketing strategy simultaneously standardized and adapted to new export markets forms a good fit with the existence of limited resources, light structure and centralized decision making possible due to firms’ reduced size. This study presents important insights for managers of small players in the global marketplace attempting to boost the internationalization process. It also broadens our understanding on the standardization versus adaptation debate using a fresh perspective.