Thèses sur le sujet « Evolutionary innovation »

Actualment, degut a la disponibilitat d’un gran nombre de genomes seqüenciats, el camp de la genòmica comparativa està experimentant grans avenços. Ara són possibles una àmplia gama d’estudis que fins fa poc eren inimaginables. En aquesta tesi hem volgut estudiar les innovacions evolutives en els genomes de mamífers. Hem escollit centrar l’estudi en mamífers degut a que els seus genomes tenen bona qualitat i hi ha més informació disponible, a més el fet d’incloure l’espècie humana afegeix interès. Ens hem centrat en tres qüestions interessants en el camp de l’evolució. Primer hem volgut determinar quina és la fracció de gens ortòlegs de mamífers que presenten desviacions específiques de llinatge en les tasses evolutives. Hem obtingut que al voltant del 25% dels gens tenen evidencies d’haver estat sotmesos a acceleracions i deceleracions específiques de branca. Hem trobat que sorprenentment, els gens accelerats normalment no solapen amb els gens amb evidencia de selecció positiva, demostrant que els tests emprats per detectar selecció positiva són massa conservadors. En segon lloc, hem aprofundit en quins són els determinants de l’evolució proteica, centrant-nos en l’edat d’origen i en les característiques estructurals. Per estudiar-ho hem utilitzat tant dominis com estructures proteiques i principalment hem trobat que l’edat d’origen és un dels determinants més importants. Finalment, hem investigat les característiques i els mecanismes d’origen d’un grup de gens molt joves: els gens específics de primats. Hem trobat que els gens específics de primats evolucionen ràpid, són curts i específics de teixit. Pel que fa al seu mecanisme d’origen, al voltant d’un 53% dels gens presenten evidencies d’haver-se originat a través de l’exaptació de transposons, 24% a partir de duplicacions parcials o totals i sorprenentment, 5.5% de novo a partir de regions no codificants de mamífers.
With the availability of a high number of sequenced genomes the comparative genomics field has experienced a great advance. A wide range of studies that some years ago were unconceivable are now possible. In this thesis we aimed to study evolutionary innovations in mammalian genomes. We chose to centre our studies in mammalian species because at that moment were the genomes with higher quality and also more additional information was available for them, and of course, the inclusion of human species added a point of interest. We wished to give insights into three exciting questions in the field of evolution. First we wanted to assess which is the fraction of mammalian orthologous genes that present lineage-specific deviations in the rate of evolution. We obtained that around 25% of the genes had evidence of accelerations and decelerations specific of a branch and, surprisingly, accelerated cases did not usually overlap with cases of genes experiencing positive selection, showing that tests to detect positive selection are excessively conservative. Secondly, we wanted to deepen into the determinants driving protein evolution, centering on age of origin and structural characteristics. We used protein domains and structures to study them and we mainly found that age of origin seems to be one of the most important determinants. And finally, we investigated the characteristics and mechanisms of origin of a group of very young genes: primate-specific genes. We report that primate-specific genes evolve fast, are short and highly tissue specific. Regarding their mechanism of origin, about 53% of them showed evidence of transposable elements exaptation, 24% of partial or total duplication and surprisingly 5.5% of de novo origination from mammalian noncoding regions.

La innovació, que ha estat durant molt de temps el resultat, a vegades heroic, de la tasca d'un emprenedor solitari, està esdevenint progressivament una tasca col·lectiva que troba una descripció més acurada quan es presenta com el resultat d'un procés complex amb múltiples actors.
Aquesta tesi vol explorar aquest aspecte col·lectiu de la innovació, tot aprofundint en dues línies de recerca. Una, que utilitza el modelatge basat en agents per a la creació de model teòrics. L'altre, que es basa en l'ús de l'anàlisi qualitatiu per a esbrinar algunes de les claus d'unes organitzacions ‐els Living Labs ‐ que cerquen involucrar els usuaris en el procés d'innovació.
Ara bé, malgrat presentem la innovació com un procés obert, aquesta entesa com un procés tancat sembla també tenir èxit. De fet, tant els telèfons mòbils molt simples o molt complexos, semblen seguir aquest enfocament. En quines condicions el procés d'innovació es beneficia de ser un procés obert i quan és possible obtenir millors resultats retenint el control de la totalitat del procés, és la nostra primera pregunta de recerca.
D'altra banda, aquest procés de col·laboració, característic d'un enfocament obert, és considerat normalment a un nivell micro com el resultat de la interacció diàdica entre agents. Existeix però, un altre nivell, un nivell macro que ve caracteritzat per la funció d'institucions com les Escoles de Negocis, que juguen un paper important en destil·lar les millors pràctiques i crear hipòtesis a partir d'elles que si es revelen exitoses seran adoptades per la totalitat dels agents.
La comprensió del funcionament d'aquest procés, del nombre de casos que cal considerar i de quan extensius han de ser, entendre fins a quin punt les empreses poden confiar en l'assessorament de les Escoles de Negoci i quan es necessari aventurar‐se en l'exploració de noves possibilitats, és també quelcom necessari per a caracteritzar la innovació com un procés col·lectiu.
Malauradament, la nostra comprensió dels mecanismes col·laboratius és encara escassa. Sabem però, que la innovació ja no és quelcom exclusiu dels laboratoris d'I+D o d'organitzacions capdavanteres, sinó que els usuaris juguen no solament un paper rellevant sinó que són percebuts com a actors amb un gran potencial. Els Living Labs és una de les tentatives per proporcionar estructura i governança a la involucració dels usuaris en el procés d'innovació. En aquest aspecte, examinarem quina és la contribució d'aquests usuaris i com els Living Labs busquen capturar‐ne el seu coneixement i aplicar‐lo i quant tenen èxit en aquest procés.
La innovación, que se ha presentado muchas veces como el resultado de un proceso, muchas veces heroico, de emprendedores excepcionales, se está convirtiendo de una forma progresiva en un proceso colectivo que se describe con más acierto cuando se presenta como el resultado de un proceso complejo con multitud de actores.
Esta tesis, pretende explorar este aspecto colectivo del proceso de innovación, profundizando en dos líneas de investigación. Una que utiliza el modelado basado en agentes para la construcción de modelos teóricos. Otra que se basa en el análisis cualitativo para profundizar en las claves de unas organizaciones ¬los Living Labs ‐ que buscan involucrar a los usuarios en los procesos de innovación.
Ahora bien, a pesar de que la innovación se presente como un proceso abierto, ésta entendida como un proceso cerrado, parece también tener éxito. De hecho, los teléfonos móviles muy simples o muy complejos, parecen seguir este enfoque. En qué condiciones el proceso de innovación se beneficia de ser un proceso abierto y cuando es posible obtener mejores resultados reteniendo el control de la totalidad del proceso, es nuestra primera pregunta de investigación.
Por otro lado, este proceso de colaboración, característico de un enfoque abierto, es considerado normalmente a un nivel micro, como el resultado de la interacción diádica entre agentes. Existe pero, otro nivel, un nivel macro, caracterizado por la función de instituciones como las Escuelas de Negocios, que juegan un papel importante destilando las mejores prácticas y creando hipótesis a partir de ellas que si se revelan exitosas serán masivamente adoptadas.
La comprensión del funcionamiento de este proceso, del número de casos a considerar y de su extensión, comprender hasta qué punto las empresas pueden confiar en el asesoramiento de las Escuelas de Negocios y cuando es necesario aventurarse en un proceso de exploración de nuevas posibilidades, es también algo imprescindible para caracterizar la innovación como un proceso colectivo.
Desgraciadamente nuestra comprensión de los mecanismos colaborativos en la innovación es aún escasa. Sin embargo sabemos que la innovación ya no es algo exclusivo de los laboratorios de I+D o de grandes empresas, los usuarios juegan no sólo un papel relevante sino que son percibidos como actores con un alto potencial. Los Living Labs es una de las tentativas que buscan proporcionar estructura y gobierno a la involucración de los usuarios en el proceso de innovación. En este aspecto, examinaremos cuál es la contribución de los usuarios, cómo los Living Labs buscan capturar su conocimiento y aplicarlo y cuando tienen éxito en su intento.
Innovation, which used to be the result of a single, sometimes heroic, entrepreneur, is progressively turning into a collaborative endeavor, better described as the result of a complex process with multiple actors.
This thesis aims to explore this collaborative aspect of innovation by digging into two strands of research. One uses Agent‐Based Modeling to create theoretical models, where the other one uses qualitative analysis to devise some insights from organizations ‐Living Labs ‐that aim to involve users in innovation.
In addition to understanding innovation as an open process, a closed one seems sometimes to be equally successful. In fact, very simple and very complex mobile phones seem to follow this later approach. Under what conditions innovation benefits from being open and when better results can be obtained from retaining control of the whole process is our first research question.
This process of collaboration, characteristic of the open approach, is normally considered at a micro level, as a result of a dyadic interaction between agents. Nevertheless, there is a macro level characterized by institutions, such as Business Schools, that play an important role in uncovering Best Practices and building hypothesis that, if successful, will be adopted by the agents.
Understanding how this process works; how many cases should be collected and how comprehensive they should be; how much companies can rely on the insights of Business Schools; and when it is necessary to engage in exploration, is also necessary when characterizing innovation as a collective process.
The mechanisms of collaboration are, however, not all well‐understood. Innovation is no longer in the solely hands of R&D laboratories or even organizations, users play an increasingly significant role and are being perceived as holding vast potential. Living Labs is one attempt to provide structure and governance to user involvement in innovation. Here, we will examine what is the contribution of users, how Living Labs aim to capture relevant knowledge and apply it, and when and how this proves successful.

This thesis explores the unintended consequences of sectoral regulation for the innovation process by combining insights from innovation studies, economics and political science. Regulation is viewed as an enabling institution with a momentum of its own that evolves in accordance to other socially embedded processes among which we focus on innovation. The relationship between the two processes is not considered as unidirectional; rather, we view regulation and innovation as two processes that co-evolve.

The Heat Shock Protein 90 (Hsp90) is an essential and highly conserved chaperone that facilitates the maturation of a wide array of client proteins, including many kinases. These clients in turn regulate a wide array of cellular processes, such as signal transduction, and transcriptional reprogramming. As a result, the activity of Hsp90 has the potential to influence physiology, which in turn may influence the ability to adapt to new environments. Previous studies using a deep mutational scanning approach, (EMPIRIC) identified multiple substitutions within a 9 amino acid substrate-binding loop of yeast Hsp90 that provides a growth advantage for yeast under elevated salinity conditions and costs of adaptation under alternate environments. These results demonstrate that genetic alterations to a small region of Hsp90 can contribute to evolutionary change and promote adaptation to specific environments. However, because Hsp90 is a large, highly dynamic and multi-functional protein the adaptive potential and evolutionary constraints of Hsp90 across diverse environments requires further investigation. In this dissertation I used a modified version of EMPIRIC to examine the impact of environmental stress on the adaptive potential, costs and evolutionary constraints for a 118 amino acid functional region of the middle domain of yeast Hsp90 under endogenous expression levels and the entire Hsp90 protein sequence under low expression levels. Endogenous Hsp90 expression levels were used to observe how environment may affect Hsp90 mutant fitness effects in nature, while low expression levels were used as a sensitive readout of Hsp90 function and fitness. In general, I found that mutations within the middle domain of Hsp90 have similar fitness effects across many environments, whereas, under low Hsp90 expression I found that the fitness effects of Hsp90 mutants differed between environments. Under individual conditions multiple variants provided a growth advantage, however these variants exhibited growth defects in other environments, indicating costs of adaptation. When comparing experimental results to 261 extant eukaryotic sequences I find that natural variants of Hsp90 support growth in all environments. I identified protein regions that are enriched in beneficial, deleterious and costly mutations that coincides with residues involved in co-chaperone-client-binding interactions, stabilization of Hsp90 client-binding interfaces, stabilization of Hsp90 interdomains and ATPase chaperone activity. In summary, this thesis uncovers the adaptive potential, costs of adaptation and evolutionary constraints of Hsp90 mutations across several environments. These results complement and extend known structural and functional information, highlighting potential adaptive mechanisms. Furthermore, this work elucidates the impact environment can have on shaping Hsp90 evolution and suggests that fluctuating environments may have played a role in the long-term evolution of Hsp90.

The concept of National Innovation Systems (NIS) has been widely adopted in developing countries, particularly in Latin American countries, for the last two decades. The concept is used mainly as an ex-ante framework to organize and increase the dynamics of those institutions linked to science, technology and innovation, for catching-up processes of development. In the particular case of Bolivia, and after several decades of social and economic crisis, the promise of a national innovation system reconciles a framework for collaboration between the university, the government and the socio-productive sectors. Dynamics of collaboration generated within NIS can be a useful tool for the pursuit of inclusive development ambitions.   This thesis is focused on inclusive innovation processes and the generation of co-evolutionary processes between university, government and socio-productive sectors. This is the result of 8 years of participatory action research influenced by Mode 2 knowledge-production and Technoscientific approaches.   The study explores the policy paths the Bolivian government has followed in the last three decades in order to organize science, technology and innovation. It reveals that Bolivia has an emerging national innovation system, where its demand-pulled innovation model presents an inclusive approach. Innovation policy efforts in Bolivia are led by the Vice-Ministry of Science and Technology (VCyT). Moreover, NIS involves relational and collaborative approaches between institutions, which imply structural and organizational challenges, particularly for public universities, as they concentrate most of the research capabilities in the country. These universities are challenged to participate in NIS within contexts of weak demanding sectors.    This research focuses on the early empirical approaches and transformations at Universidad Mayor de San Simón (UMSS) in Cochabamba. The aim to strengthen internal innovation capabilities of the university and enhance the relevance of research activities in society by supporting socio-economic development in the framework of innovation systems is led by the Technology Transfer Unit (UTT) at UMSS. UTT has become a recognized innovation facilitator unit, inside and outside the university, by proposing pro-active initiatives to support emerging innovation systems. Because of its complexity, the study focuses particularly on cluster development promoted by UTT. Open clusters are based on linking mechanisms between the university research capabilities, the socio-productive actors and government. Cluster development has shown to be a practical mechanism for the university to meet the demanding sector (government and socio-productive actors) and to develop trust-based inclusive innovation processes. The experiences from cluster activities have inspired the development of new research policies at UMSS, with a strong orientation to foster research activities towards an increased focus on socio-economic development. The experiences gained at UMSS are discussed and presented as a “developmental university” approach.   Inclusive innovation processes with co-evolutionary approaches seem to constitute an alternative path supporting achievement of inclusive development ambitions in Bolivia.

This thesis investigates the evolutionary foundation of the Innovation System concept and the quantitative techniques that could be used for a systemic evaluation of innovation policies. This topic has been covered through 6 chapters:
Chapter I: The innovation system concept, which is the central concept of this thesis, finds its foundations in the evolutionary theory of economics and the Schumpeterian point of view on the co-evolution of innovation, organizations and institutions. Developed by Nelson and Winter in 1982, this theory is based on the idea that the surviving firms on the markets are not necessarily the ones that maximize their profits. Indeed, their ability to survive is reinforced by the development of internal organizational routines allowing for a fast adaptation to their changing environment. Thus, when assessing performances in terms of innovation in general, the single firm should not by the only centre of attention anymore. The entire environment surrounding its innovation activities should by analysed to understand the conditions underlying its failure or success. The definition of the innovation system (IS) concept finds its roots in this theory: the environment in which innovation activities take place is as important as the decision of the single innovation actor. Defined as all the institutions and organizations involved in the creation and diffusion of new knowledge and technology, the IS includes not only stakeholders of the innovation process, but also all the transversal sectors affecting innovation near or far: labour market, finance, and education… In such a context, the main justification for public intervention shifted from the market failures described by the neo-classical theory, to systemic failures, i.e. the dysfunctions of the IS, on which governments may take actions. And this shift in the policy rationale also leads to specific evaluation techniques of public initiatives.
Chapter II: The IS concept is defined as all the institutions and organizations involved in the creation, diffusion and absorption of new knowledge and technology. An important question is raised by such a point of view: what is a system? What are its components? How does it foster innovation? This theoretical step is necessary to understand all the aspect of the innovation environment that are concerned by innovation policy design. How could a policy-maker integrate the systemic framework of the IS when initiating public action with the aim to improve performances in terms of science, technology and innovation? A large part of the economic literature is dedicated to the description of innovation systems. So the aim of this chapter consists of synthetizing the aspects referenced in the economic theory as the components of the IS in a normative exercise. First, the term “system” involves the articulation of several components and the relationships existing between them. Departing from this definition, three broad aspect of the IS are considered: the actors of the innovation process, the functions of the system and the resulting objectives that should be pursued by the stakeholders, and the instruments used by public authorities to intervene in such a systemic context. The actors involved in the innovation process are not only the recipient of a public policy, they are also policy makers, implementation agents and targets of the policy measures. The functions of the IS mainly concerns the creation, diffusion and absorption of new knowledge and technology. As the role of the State is to improve the performances of such a system, those functions should be considered as the objectives of public action. Finally, the instruments used by the State to reach these goals can also be detailed: innovation policies can be implemented through direct support measures (financial or fiscal tools), the improvement of the infrastructure allowing for the diffusion of innovation, or the general framework conditions affecting performances. The normative exercise ended up with an exhaustive taxonomy that may be used for further analysis
Chapter III: As the aim of this thesis is to develop analytical tools to integrate the IS point of view in public policy evaluation, the most important aspect of the work consisted in building an exhaustive database on innovation policies implemented in the EU28 Member States and its main non-EU competitors (Australia, China, Japan, the US, India, the Russian Federation, Brazil, South Korea and Canada). This database was constructed in the context of the ENIRI study conducted by the European Commission, between 2013 and 2015. This long-lasting work involved the collection of information concerning the innovation policy measures implemented in all the considered countries, both at the national and regional levels. This information was related to the IS dimensions highlighted in previous chapter. The main sources for data collection were the RIO (former Erawatch) and OECD STIP databases, the RIM Plus Monitor and national sources (Ministry websites), as well as national experts. The budgets was also included or estimated for the 2007-2013 period. Once the data were collected, the policy measures were classified according to the theoretical canvas developed through the taxonomy of chapter II. Functional matrices combining different aspects of the IS allowed for detailed information on the distribution of policy measures among the different dimensions of the system. For example, it is possible to estimate the percentage of policy measures implemented in one country that are dedicated to the fundamental research activities in SMEs. This distribution has been computed both in absolute and budget terms. This difference provided information on the contrast existing between governmental claims and intentions in terms of innovation policies and the effective use of money dedicated to the announced target. Indeed, it is not because a substantial number of policies are dedicated to a specific sector of beneficiary that the allocated budget will be more important. Thus, this policy database should shed a light on the way innovation policies are articulated at a national level, and how they are effectively implemented through their budgets
Chapter IV: The evolutionary foundations of the IS concept imply that there is no general equilibrium describing an ideal situation to which a specific case can be compared. In other words, there is no optimal innovation system, and no ideal configuration that should be imitated by the others. This absence of equilibrium and the systemic point of view adopted in this context lead to the use of alternative techniques to evaluate performances and policies. As suggested by Edquist (2006), this has to be done through a diagnosis of the IS, consisting in the identification of the systemic failures, and the elaboration of strategy to fix the problem. This demarche will be investigated in this chapter of the thesis and the following. In this section, a diagnosis of the IS of 37 countries (28 EU and their 9 non-EU competitors) will be realized through a typology based on innovation performances indicators. The aim of such an analysis is to see whether the different IS can be gathered in groups sharing the same characteristics, relative strengths and weaknesses. The expected results should reveal groups of countries sharing the same configurations in terms of innovation process, and facing the same type of weaknesses, dysfunctions or systemic failures. By doing so, one should be able to identify the needs of each IS, i.e. the components that may need improvement and eventually public intervention. To do so, a principal component analysis and a hierarchical ascendant clustering technique have been implemented on the 37 IS, revealing 4 clusters of countries, depending on their NIS characteristics and advancement: 1) The Asian economies, 2) The lagging-behind and catching-up NIS, 3) The small opened systems, 4) The technological leaders. This analysis has been realized for the 2003-2005 and 2013-2015 periods, revealing that, if the general features of the clusters do not tend to change over time, some countries faced a change a modification of their status: Korea left the Asian group to join the leaders, Cyprus and Ireland opened their boarders to a larger extent in a decade.
Chapter V: Innovation policy typologyThis chapter is focused on the construction of an innovation policy typology based on the distributions of policies obtained in the database presented in chapter III. The results of this typology will be compared with the diagnosis realized in previous section to see if the weaknesses and needs of the NIS are effectively targeted by public action in innovation. Also, the aspects that could enhance or weaken such action, and their combination with other component of the NIS could be better understood. To this purpose, a multiple factor analysis has been implemented on the distributions of policy measures in terms of NIS components, followed by a hierarchical ascendant clustering, revealing groups of countries sharing the same characteristics in terms of policy design and implementation. 34 NIS have been examined (India, Brazil and Russia have been removed from the sample due to the bad quality of the information), using both the budget-weighted and non-budget-weighted distributions of measures on the 2007-2013 period. However, the results of this typology cannot be interpreted separately from the general innovation framework in which the public action is implemented. Indeed, countries having the same features in terms of beneficiaries and/or objectives in terms of policy do not necessarily share the same kind of IS. These implementation characteristics should rather be interpreted in light of the results obtained in the NIS diagnosis typology, in order to examiner if the public money effectively go where it is needed. In general, the different examined countries seem to effectively tackle their weaknesses, but countries facing the same types of problems do not implement the same type of policy mix, reinforcing the hypothesis that the innovation process is embedded in a large institutional framework that my orient public action in a direction rather than another. Two specific cases hold the attention in those results: South Korea, whose leader status came along with an improvement of the in force regulatory framework and a focus on private research, and Japan, dealing with research in the pharmaceutical research and ageing-population issues.
Chapter VI: The impact of macroeconomic and IS factors on the efficiency of public R&DAnother point of view can be adopted in an attempt to integrate the IS representations in policy evaluation techniques: the analysis of their impact on the efficiency of public R&D in leveraging private investments. In this chapter, a combination of two types of analysis is used to examine the problematic: the study of the efficiency of public R&D expenditure and its determinants on one hand, and the investigation of a possible crowding out effect of public R&D on the private one on another hand. The crowding out effect is translated into efficiency analysis, considering the BERD funded by government as an input, and the BERD funded by business as an output. And if an increase in the output leads to a decrease in the output, public intervention is considered to crowd out private initiative, as the firm may decide to replace its own investment with public money, instead of using it as an extra resource to increase its R&D activities. In this context, the IS as environment of R&D activities can be seen as a determinant of this efficiency, as it can strengthen or weaken this crowding out effect. The question asked in this section is the following: how to quantify and model the interdependencies existing between the different components of a NIS in order to integrate them in a quantitative analysis. This has been done in this study by implementing factorial analysis (Buesa, 2010) on a set of indicators collected in the Global Competitiveness Index database, and considered as descriptors of the different aspects of the innovation system. Those IS factors are: 1) the general STI environment, 2) the accessibility of the financial markets, 3) the internationalization of the system, 4) barriers to entrepreneurship and 5) the flexibility of labour regulation. Afterwards, these variables have been added as efficiency determinants in a stochastic frontier model assessing a possible crowding out effect between public and private initiatives. The main results showed that there is an additional effect of public R&d expenditure on private R&D investments (no crowding out). Moreover, the general STI environment and accessibility of financial markets have a positive impact on this efficiency, contrary to the presence of foreign stakeholders in the system. The two last factors remain insignificant. Those results suggest that, if public intervention should have an effect on the performances of the NIS, this relationship is also reciprocal: a well-functioning NIS may have a positive effect on the results of a policy measure.
Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

In this thesis we aimed to study evolutionary implications of low-complexity regions, protein sequences of very simple amino acid composition. Its uncontrolled expansion causes several human diseases, including Huntington’s disease and other neurodegenerative and developmental diseases. However, they are surprisingly abundant in proteins, which seem paradoxical given their high pathogenic potential. Moreover, experimental data has shown that the formation of novel LCRs, or the modification of existing ones, can have functional consequences. First we wanted to perform a descriptive analysis of low-complexity regions in chordates focusing on lineage and age related features of LCR evolution. Second, we want to assess why low-complexity regions are so common in eukaryotic proteins. Two hypotheses have been proposed: on one hand, they may be an important source of genetic variability and might be involved in adaptive processes. To investigate whether LCRs are important players in the acquisition of novel functions, we examined transcription factor gene duplicates. On the other hand, low-complexity regions may also contribute to the formation of novel coding sequences, facilitating the generation of novel protein functions. We have tested this hypothesis by examining the content of low-complexity sequences in proteins of different age. Both analysis let us to conclude that low-complexity regions may be involved in protein diversification, either providing new functional sequences that will modify existing proteins or being involved in the formation of novel protein coding sequences.
L'objectiu d'aquesta tesi és estudiar les implicacions evolutives de les regions de baixa complexitat (LCRs, en anglès), seqüències de proteïnes amb una composició d'aminoàcids molt simple. La seva expansió incontrolada causa diverses malalties humanes, incloent la malaltia de Huntington i altres malalties neurodegeneratives i del desenvolupament. No obstant això, són sorprenentment abundants en les proteïnes, cosa que pot semblar paradoxal, donat el seu potencial patogènic. A més, estudis experimentals han demostrat que la formació de noves LCRs, o la modificació de les ja existents, pot tenir conseqüències funcionals. En primer lloc hem volgut fer una anàlisi descriptiva de les regions de baixa complexitat en cordats, incidint en les característiques relacionades amb el llinatge i l'edat de les LCRs des d'un punt de vista evolutiu. En segon lloc, hem volgut avaluar per què les LCRs són tan freqüents en les proteïnes d'eucariotes. S'han proposat dues hipòtesis: d'una banda, poden ser una important font de variabilitat genètica i podrien estar implicades en processos d'adaptació. Per tal d'investigar si les LCRs juguen un paper important en L'adquisició de noves funcions, hem examinat factors de transcripció que han patit una duplicació o. D'altra banda, les regions de baixa complexitat també poden contribuir a la formació de noves seqüències codificants, facilitant la generació de funcions noves de les proteïnes. Per comprovar aquesta hipòtesi, hem examinat el contingut de les seqüències de baixa complexitat en proteïnes d'edats diferents. Les dues anàlisis permeten concloure que les regions de baixa complexitat poden estar involucrades en la diversificació de les proteïnes, ja sigui proporcionant noves seqüències funcionals que modifiquen les proteïnes existents o participant en la formació de noves seqüències codificants de proteïnes.

Long run economic growth potential depends on the increase in the efficiency of resource utilization in the economy through improvements in the underlying technological capabilities. Recent economic growth slow-down, and in particularly the substantial decline in long-run productivity growth rates in the US, raises a question regarding the possible slowdown in the underlying technological growth. I set out to evaluate this question by examining the change in the potential social benefits from technology over the period of 1944-2000 in the US. I use knowledge spillovers generated by cohorts of patented innovations as proxy to the social benefits generated by those cohorts. These can be estimated using the distribution parameters for the number of citations received by patents in a cohort. The data for the work is a newly constructed patent citations database of all US patent data from 1920-2006 with full citations from 1947 on.

The first chapter introduces the new data and provides an in-depth analysis of the time-trend of its various statistical characteristics. The exposed non-stationary distribution parameter for the citation data impedes its use in the time-series analysis for extracting the innovative quality trend. A de-trending treatment to correct for this non-stationary behavior is proposed and applied.

The second chapter pursues the innovative quality analysis over the period. My attempts to use the Jaffe-Trajtenberg model for knowledge spillovers with the expanded data period strained some of the model's underlying assumptions to a breaking point. Instead, I introduce a new model for estimating the intensity of such spillovers (the innovative quality) based on the Log-Normal distribution of patent values as measured from their spillover effects (received citations). I compute the innovative output quality for annual cohorts of patents in narrowly defined technological fields over the period of 1937-1994. The results show a decline in the traditional mechanical and chemical technologies quality starting in the early 1960s. The modern technologies associated with electronics, ICT and medicine flourished until the early to mid 1980s,after which their quality declined as well.

The last chapter examines the evolutionary path of a transformative technology using the ICT over the period of 1944 to 1994. The analysis uses the full citation network for US patents over the period of 1947-2006 and applies network analysis techniques to identify main technological trajectories for the key technological fields comprising the ICT. The pattern of technological inflows and outflows for each cohort on the trajectory provides the evolutionary timeline and technology inter-dependencies. These demonstrate the underlying process of building the essential skills and complementary devices and techniques which took place in the first 25 years of the ICT evolutionary path. The fast pace of that evolutionary path and lack of significant gaps in the time-line suggest that even under optimal conditions of existing market demand for new technologies (e.g. defense and space), it takes a new, transformative technology close to half a century to deliver its productivity gains.

The thesis is submitted under the alternative format, comprising three papers. The key theoretical contribution of the thesis can be found in each of these papers. First, the thesis explores the relationship between national and sectoral systems of innovation, and emphasises the need for governmental policies at each level to be both coordinated and complementary. Second, it offers an examination of the emerging role of universities in innovation systems, which far exceeds the traditional perspective of universities as ‘knowledge suppliers’ and the more recent notion of the ‘entrepreneurial university’. Finally, it offers insight into the strategies of foreign MNEs under the context of industry clusters. The thesis discusses the development of the Brazilian petroleum innovation system following one of the largest oil and gas discoveries in the Americas for decades. The pre-salt oil reserves were discovered in 2007 and are estimated to amount to at least the 60 billion barrels of oil in the North Sea. They are located off the south-eastern coast of Brazil in ultra-deep water (i.e. depths greater than 1500m) and are named as such because they reside under a thick layer of salt (up to two kilometres in depth). The location of the reserves adds great complexity to the challenge of their extraction. It also offers opportunities for competitive advantage to those actors within the innovation system who successfully innovate in addressing this challenge. The study draws upon an empirical investigation that included forty-two in-depth interviews, conducted in 2014 and 2015, and is supplemented by documentary analysis. These interviews were largely held with governmental agencies, public universities and petroleum-focussed enterprises (both domestic SMEs and global MNEs). Each group of actors are discussed in a different empirical paper: the efforts of governmental regulatory agencies in creating innovation in Brazil’s national petroleum industry; the evolving role of public universities in pursuit of technology transfer and academic entrepreneurship; and the R&D strategies of several global oil and gas MNEs that have taken residence in the recently-established industry cluster in Rio de Janeiro. The thesis also offers much to practitioners: guidance for the enactors of innovation policy following a large natural resource discovery; a model for universities wishing to develop a portfolio of entrepreneurial support, which has been shown to greatly support a university’s own technology transfer objectives; and direction for foreign MNEs in how to adapt to changes in industry clusters. The need for and challenge of achieving cooperation between diverse actors in an innovation system are apparent throughout the thesis. This cooperation is even more important in emerging economies such of Brazil, which often suffer from a lack of coordination between actors.

Innovation has long been considered crucial for companies to gain a competitive edge in the global marketplace. Unfortunately, a solid understanding of the system of innovation does not exist. The literature lacks formal definitions and methodologies for the system of innovation. Many surrogates for innovation metrics have been posited in past research but none have solidified the overall concept of an innovation system or science. It has been speculated that innovation as a system is complex. Additionally, some researchers have suggested that this innovation system is adaptive. In these instances, of the literature, surrogates were again utilized in place of solid modeling and hypothesis that is benchmarked against real world case studies. Surrogates, such as patent citation, do serve a useful purpose to assist in the understanding of the historic nature of the innovation system but they fall short of defining the system completely. This paper seeks to aid in the solidification of a hypothesis of the system of innovation as a complex adaptive system. Initial consideration is directed towards the historic interactions that have taken place in the system of innovation. These interactions are viewed through the surrogate of patent citation as there is little other record of innovation. The novelty of this paper is that patent citations form not the core but rather a starting point for the definition of innovation as a complex adaptive system. Various models are built using techniques of cellular automata as well as agent-based modeling to assist in the understanding of the principles at work in the innovation system. These models present startling evidence that there exists an upper bound on the number of interactions any one invention should utilize in its course towards being deemed an innovation. Additionally, the models describe the benefits of partnership between innovating entities in a rapidly changing marketplace such as the current technological markets. This paper asserts specific conclusions, from the models, that assist in understanding that the system of innovation is truly a complex adaptive system. The models are further supported through real world examples.

The concept of behavioural additionality, which was originally associated with the question of 'what difference does policy make in the behaviour of the firms it supports?', has increasingly been used by scholars, evaluators and policy-makers not only in the field of evaluation of innovation policies but also within the context of fundamental discussions of policy rationales. A survey of the evaluation literature concludes that the concept lacks a clear definition and theoretical background as it does not have a unit of analysis. An empirical analysis of the current practice of innovation policy evaluation endorses this finding and outlines the uniqueness of behavioural additionality in terms of its evaluation. A survey of policy discussions around the concept reveals that behavioural additionality has been argued as the hallmark of an evolutionary view in respect of innovation policy. However, the thesis suggests that the concept also lacks an appropriate framework of analysis to accomplish this.The thesis argues that behavioural additionality should be redefined by using the concept of organisational routines as the unit of analysis and the evolutionary approach as the framework of analysis. To this end, a theoretical and generic approach that conceives behavioural additionality as the government-influenced evolution of organisational routines at the micro, meso and macro levels is devised. The thesis unfolds how behavioural additionality is created by reinforcing ostensive, performative and artefact aspects of routines within firms. The possibility, rationale and evaluation of behavioural additionality are also discussed. Empirically, the thesis applies a plausibility probe that employs two case studies of Turkish TIDEB and British Collaborative R&D programmes to illustrate the micro level of the approach developed.It is concluded that the proposed approach provides a better theoretical understanding for behavioural additionality, which would increase its impact on policy-making. This new approach also represents a concrete attempt to utilise the framework and unit of analysis of the evolutionary approach in the field of evaluation for the first time.

Les Angiospermes forment un clade connu pour sa grande diversité d’espèces et une répartition inégale de cette diversité en son sein. Ce travail se concentre sur la reconstruction d’états ancestraux de caractères floraux sur les phylogénies dans le but d’étudier leur impact sur la diversification. En premier lieu, nous nous sommes focalisés sur deux innovations-clés potentielles chez les Proteaceae, la symétrie bilatérale du périanthe et la présence dans les hotspots à climat méditerranéen. L’utilisation sur une phylogénie de modèles de diversification dépendants des états de caractère a permis de montrer que le premier état caractère n’a pas d’impact significatif sur la diversification des espèces dans ce groupe, contrairement au second. Ensuite, nous avons reconstruit les états ancestraux de la symétrie du périanthe à l’échelle de toutes les Angiospermes, avec une stratégie d’échantillonnage permettant de refléter toutes les transitions de ce caractère. Nous avons mis en évidence un minimum de 130 origines de la symétrie bilatérale, suivies de 69 réversions vers la symétrie radiaire. Enfin, la même méthode a été étendue à l’étude de quatre autres caractères du périanthe. Différents modèles de reconstruction d’états ancestraux ont été utilisés sur une phylogénie de 1232 espèces pour examiner l’influence des changements de modèle sur les états ancestraux reconstruits. Nos résultats montrent que les changements de modèles de reconstruction ont une influence sur l’état de certains nœuds seulement, jamais sur l’ensemble. Les différents résultats trouvés pour la symétrie, caractère commun aux trois chapitres, révèlent que notre méthode d’échantillonnage présente l’inconvénient d’estimer des taux de transition trop élevés pour donner des résultats concluants avec la méthode du maximum de vraisemblance. Les résultats sont en revanche beaucoup moins biaisés lorsque l’on examine plusieurs caractères simultanément
Angiosperms are a clade known for its great species diversity and the uneven distribution of this diversity among its lineages. This work focuses on the ancestral state reconstruction of floral characters on phylogenies in the purpose of studying their impact on diversification. We first focused on two potential key innovations in Proteaceae, bilateral perianth symmetry and presence in Mediterranean-climate hotspots. Using character state dependent diversification models, we found that the first character state did not have any significant impact on species diversification in this group, contrary to the second one. We then reconstructed ancestral states for perianth symmetry in angiosperms as a whole, using a sampling strategy aimed at capturing all of the transitions in this character. We found a minimum of 130 origins of bilateral symmetry, followed by 69 subsequent reversals to radial symmetry. Lastly, the same approach was extended to the study of four other perianth characters. Different ancestral state reconstruction models were used on a phylogenetic tree of 1232 species to test the influence of model changes on reconstructed ancestral states. Our results show that changes in reconstruction models have an impact on the inferred ancestral state of some nodes, but not all of them. The various results obtained for symmetry, a character shared among the three chapters, indicate that our sampling method has the drawback of estimating transition rates too high to give conclusive results with maximum likelihood. On the other hand, results are much less biased when several characters are examined simultaneously

Evolutionary novelty, the origin of new characters such as the turtle shell or the flower, is a fundamental problem for an evolutionary view of life. Accordingly, it is a central research topic in contemporary biology involving input from several biological disciplines and explanations at several levels of organization. As such it raises questions relative to scientific collaboration and multi-level explanations. Novelty is also involved in theoretical debates in evolutionary biology. It has been appropriated by evo-devo, a scientific synthesis linking research on evolution and development. Thanks to its focus on development, evo-devo claims to explain the mechanistic origin of novelties as new forms, while the Modern Synthesis can only provide statistical explanation of evolutionary change. The origin of an evolutionary novelty is a historical emergence of a new character involving form and function. I focus on three neglected dimensions of the problem of novelty, the functional-historical approach to the problem, research on novelty in the Modern Synthesis era and novelty in plants. I compare the evo-devo approach to novelty to a functional-historical approach of novelty. I focus on its origin in Darwin and its presence in the Modern Synthesis. The comparison of the two approaches reveals distance between conceptual frameworks and proximity in explanatory practices. This is partly related to unwarranted conceptual opposition. In particular, I list several ways of distinguishing novelty and adaptation, some of which are not conceptually sound. I then focus on the relation between novelty and adaptation in the Modern Synthesis era, and on the relation of novelty to other fundamental biological problems (speciation, origin of higher taxa, complexity). Pushing this approach further, I challenge the view that the Modern Synthesis excluded development and reached a hardened consensus. Finally, I analyse how Günter Wagner's developmental theory of novelty applies to novelties in plant.

Recent studies suggest that horizontal gene transfer (HGT) plays an important role in niche adaptation in some eukaryotes and may be a major evolutionary force in unicellular lineages. One subcategory of HGT is endosymbiotic gene transfer (EGT), which is characterized by a large influx of genes from endosymbiont to host nuclear genome and is a critical step in the establishment of permanent organelles, such as plastids. The dinoflagellates are a diverse group of mostly marine eukaryotes that have a propensity for both HGT and plastid endosymbiosis. Many dinoflagellates are predators and can acquire both genes and plastids from prey, blurring the distinction between HGT and EGT. Here, I measure genome mosaicism in dinoflagellates to investigate how HGT has impacted gene innovation and plastid endosymbiosis in this group. Because analysis of HGT depends on accurate phylogenetic trees, I first assessed the sensitivity of automated phylogenomic methods to variation in taxon sampling due to homolog selection parameters. Using methods based on this analysis, I showed that a large amount of HGT has occurred in dinoflagellates, particularly from bacterial donors. Further, I demonstrated that the dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense has the largest number of genes gained relative to related eukaryotes using ancestral gene content reconstruction. Additionally, dinoflagellates have lost several ubiquitous eukaryotic metabolic genes, but missing genes have been functionally replaced by xenologs from many evolutionarysources. Other transferred genes are involved in diverse functions. These results suggest that dinoflagellate genomes are heavily impacted by HGT. Also, I investigated the timing and consequences of HGT in plastid endosymbiosis. Using the dinflagellate Dinophysis acuminata, a mixotrophic species that sequesters and maintains prey plastids, I identified plastid-targeted proteins that function in photosystem stabilization and metabolite transport. Dinophysis acuminate may be able to extend the useful life of the stolen plastid by protecting the photosystem and replacing damaged transporters. Phylogenetic analyses showed that genes are derived from multiple sources indicating a complex evolutionary history involving HGT. Dinophysis acuminate can acquire both genes and plastids from prey, which suggests that HGT could play an important role in plastid acquisition during the earliest stages of this transition.

Climate policy has been mainly studied with economic models that assume representative, rational agents. However, it aims at changing behavior associated with carbon-intensive goods that are often subject to bounded rationality and social preferences, such as status and imitation. Here we use a macroeconomic multi-agent model with such features to test the effect of various policies on both environmental and economic performance. The model is particularly suitable to address distributional impacts of climate policies, not only because populations of many agents are included, but also as these are composed of different classes of households driven by specific motivations. We simulate various policy scenarios, combining in different ways a carbon tax, a reduction of labor taxes, subsidies for green innovation, a price subsidy to consumers for less carbon-intensive products, and green government procurement. The results show pronounced differences with those obtained by rational-agent model studies. It turns out that demand-oriented subsidies lead to lower unemployment and higher output, but perform less well in terms of carbon emissions. The supply-oriented subsidy for green innovation results in a significant reduction of carbon emissions with a slight reduction of unemployment.
Series: WWWforEurope

O ponto de partida da investigação é tentar perceber melhor o que se entende por “processos históricos” e, nesta perspectiva, ver como evoluem, num largo prazo de tempo, as estruturas produtivas. Trata-se de um contributo para a história económica combinando métodos tradicionais do historiador com conceitos e teorias económicas relativas à inovação, a transformação tecnológica e a evolução institucional. Adoptando a hipótese que só uma perspectiva temporal larga permite perceber os aspectos fundamentais da transformação de uma actividade económica, estuda-se o caso do sector do vinho do Porto, entre finais do século XVII até os anos 1970, investigando três elementos do sistema produtivo: (1) a estrutura institucional e a actividade de regulação (centrada no papel do estado) do sector, (2) a transformação tecnológica da produção de vinho, e, finalmente, (3) a evolução da população de empresas exportadoras ou firmas do vinho do Porto. Identificou-se as relações entre estes três elementos estudaram-se os factores das rupturas e continuidades. Fundamentalmente, o caso estudado ilustra uma dependência do caminho (path dependence) da estrutura de regulação, da tecnologia utilizada e da estrutura de mercado. Além da dependência do caminho há simultaneamente evidência de criação de novas alternativas e caminhos novos.
FCT

Whether it is the accumulation of capital or capabilities that accounts for rapid development of Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs) has been a focus of debate. The former, which informs approaches to development often adopted by international agencies, reflects neoclassical perspectives. The later, by contrast, reflects evolutionary approaches with deliberate learning and innovation as dominant factors. The purpose of this thesis is to understand development by exploring how it is influenced by learning and innovation focusing on the factors, mechanisms and institutional conditions that foster learning and innovation in Malawi. This thesis has adopted quantitative and qualitative methods informed extensively by theoretical perspectives on the knowledge, learning, innovation and development nexus. Using primary survey and secondary data, a conceptual framework that emerged from contrasting perspectives on theories of the firm has situated a quantitative understanding of how firms in Malawi learn and innovate and the impact of institutional conditions. A qualitative approach, however, has enabled identification of underlying mechanisms that foster learning and innovation thus, providing bases for articulating how evolutionary perspectives can enhance Malawi's development prospects. The thesis finds that successful development is conditioned on understanding it as an interactive process of learning and innovation hinged on addressing systemic failure regarding acquisition and utilization of knowledge by producers, firms especially. We find that failures related to institutional conditions on market and social capabilities, governance and communication and knowledge infrastructure have created a business environment in Malawi that does not foster firm learning and innovation. Thus, firms are more inclined to exploiting existing capabilities leading to static rather than dynamic efficiency. This behaviour reflects dominance of neoclassical perspective of development by stakeholders. We find, therefore, that Malawi's development prospects are predicated on innovation in the delivery of knowledge-related services to producers thus, innovation in public goods. At firm-level, action that: promotes firms' investment in on-the-job training, engenders dialogue, fosters collaboration; and builds knowledge stock positively influences learning and innovation capability. We find that high learning firms, under entrepreneurial leadership, exemplify an evolutionary understanding of the role of knowledge in production. They deliberately foster these behavioural and cognitive factors for which they are rewarded with superior performance. At national level, we find that contrary to neoclassical perspectives, Malawi's development is conditioned on purposive action by all stakeholders, government in particular, to mitigate constraints on learning and innovation arising from idiosyncratic aspects of the business environment. This evolutionary perspective entails entrepreneurial leadership in government and adoption of a national learning and innovation system approach to development. We argue that building coalitions focused on fostering knowledge flows to firms, especially those in the manufacturing sector which we find to be the basis for structural change of the economy, is a necessary though not sufficient pre-condition for Malawi's development.

Das impedanzwandelnde Hören ist eine wichtige Verfeinerung des Gehörsystems der Tetrapoden indem es einen Energieverlust während der Schallübertragung vermeidet. Anatomisch ist es durch eine Unterteilung des Foramen Metoticum in eine vordere Fenestra Pseudorotunda und ein hinteres Vagus Foramen charakterisiert. Dieses System trat mehrmals unabhängig in Amniota auf, und obwohl schon vorher vermutet wurde, dass es eine Homoplasie für Archosauria darstellt, wurde diese Hypothese bisher noch nicht geprüft. Demnach wurden 17 Hirnschädel Merkmale für 111 Taxa kodiert und auf einem informellen Supertrees optimiert. Die Analyse ergab, dass die Fenestra Pseudorotunda unbhängig acht Mal in Archosauria auftrat, mit fünf Umkehrungen. Während dieses Merkmal plastisch für Dinosauria ist, es trat nur einmal in Pseudosuchia auf. Eine Tree Shape-Analyse ergab, dass sechs Verschiebungen in den Diversifizierungsraten in Pseudosuchia und sieben in Dinosauria zu finden sind, von denen nur die der Ornithischia mit der Fenestra Pseudorotunda in Beziehung stehen. Viele Zustandsveränderungen erfolgen an der Basis der Dinosauria aber bei Pseudosuchia sind diese vor der Entstehung der Crocodyliformes und an der Basis der Notosuchia und Thalattosuchia konzentriert. Die Korrelationen zwischen Zustandsveränderungen und Verschiebungen sind höher in Dinosauria, während bei Pseudosuchia nur Mesoeucrocodylia eine ähnliche Anzahl aufweist. Daraus folgt, dass das impedanzwandelnde Hören nicht homolog in Archosauria ist, und dass es nicht als Schlüsselinnovation zur Erklärung der Vielfalt betrachtet werden kann, obwohl es eine Rolle in der Diversifizierung der Ornithischia spielte. Insgesamt ist die Anatomie des Hirnschädels der Dinosauria plastischer als die der Pseudosuchia. Die Positionierung des Pterygoid-Quadratum-Komplexes an die Seitenwand des Hirnschädels in Crocodyliformes stellt eine anatomische Beschränkung dar, welche nur von Notosuchia und Thalattosuchia durchbrochen wurde.
Impedance-matching hearing is considered an important refinement of the auditory system of tetrapods because it reduces energy loss during sound transmission. Anatomically, it is characterized by the sub-division of the metotic foramen into a posterior vagus foramen and an anterior fenestra pseudorotunda. Impedance-matching hearing has evolved independently in several tetrapod groups including archosaurs and although it has been suggested that it represents a homoplasy, this hypothesis has never been tested. Therefore, 17 braincase characters were coded for 111 taxa and mapped on an informal supertree. Optimization of the characters revealed that the fenestra pseudorotunda appeared eight times independently in Archosauria, with five reversals. While this character is plastic in dinosaurs, it appeared only once in pseudosuchians. A tree-shape analysis revealed that pseudosuchians had six shifts in diversification rates, while dinosaurs had seven. Of these, only ornithischian ones are correlated to the appearance of impedance-matching hearing. Many of the overall state changes occur at the origin of major dinosaurian clades, but for pseudosuchians they are concentrated prior to the origin of Crocodyliformes and at the origin of Notosuchia and Thalattosuchia. The overall number of correspondences between character state changes and shifts in diversification rates is higher for dinosaurs, whereas in Pseudosuchia only Mesoeucrocodylia has a similar amount. It is thus possible to conclude that impedance-matching hearing is not homologous for archosaurs, and that it cannot be considered a key innovation triggering diversification. However, it may have played some role in ornithischian diversification. In general, the braincase anatomy of dinosaurs is more plastic than that of pseudosuchians. The abutting of the pterygo-quadrate complex against the lateral braincase wall was a strong anatomical constraint for crocodyliforms broken only by notosuchians and thalatosuchians.

O ponto de partida da investigação é tentar perceber melhor o que se entende por “processos históricos” e, nesta perspectiva, ver como evoluem, num largo prazo de tempo, as estruturas produtivas. Trata-se de um contributo para a história económica combinando métodos tradicionais do historiador com conceitos e teorias económicas relativas à inovação, a transformação tecnológica e a evolução institucional. Adoptando a hipótese que só uma perspectiva temporal larga permite perceber os aspectos fundamentais da transformação de uma actividade económica, estuda-se o caso do sector do vinho do Porto, entre finais do século XVII até os anos 1970, investigando três elementos do sistema produtivo: (1) a estrutura institucional e a actividade de regulação (centrada no papel do estado) do sector, (2) a transformação tecnológica da produção de vinho, e, finalmente, (3) a evolução da população de empresas exportadoras ou firmas do vinho do Porto. Identificou-se as relações entre estes três elementos estudaram-se os factores das rupturas e continuidades. Fundamentalmente, o caso estudado ilustra uma dependência do caminho (path dependence) da estrutura de regulação, da tecnologia utilizada e da estrutura de mercado. Além da dependência do caminho há simultaneamente evidência de criação de novas alternativas e caminhos novos.
FCT

As a purposive sustainability transition requires environmental innovation and innovation policy, we discuss potentials and limitations of three dominant strands of literature in this field, namely the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions (MLP), the innovation systems approach (IS), and the long-wave theory of techno-economic paradigm shifts (LWT). All three are epistemologically rooted in an evolutionary understanding of socio-technical change. While these approaches are appropriate to understand market-driven processes of change, they may be deficient as analytical tools for exploring and designing processes of purposive societal transformation. In particular, we argue that the evolutionary mechanism of selection is the key to introducing the strong directionality required for purposive transformative change. In all three innovation theories, we find that the prime selection environment is constituted by the market and, thus, normative societal goals like sustainability are sidelined. Consequently, selection is depoliticised and neither strong directionality nor incumbent regime destabilisation are societally steered. Finally, we offer an analytical framework that builds upon a more political conception of selection and retention and calls for new political institutions to make normatively guided selections. Institutions for transformative innovation need to improve the capacities of complex societies to make binding decisions in politically contested fields.

In the lead up to the Year 2000 dot.com crash of publicly traded high-technology equities, Information Communication Technology (ICT) Companies proudly displayed inter-firm allegiances on their newly created websites. These collaborative relationships were in reality licensing agreements to develop or market new products internationally. Phenomena associated with ICT product development - collaboration, innovation, and internationalisation - are the core tenets of the accompanying dissertation. Leading scholars have suggested these phenomena challenge conventional economic theories of the firm. This study commences with tracing the evolution of trade and production theories from absolute advantage through to competitive advantage and introduces the concepts of non-adversarial collaborative advantage. Within the framework of the technology cycle, this dissertation then seeks to answer why firms engage in international collaborative innovation. The cycle of technological innovation is investigated and this leads to postulating a period of technological overlap and its implications for collaboration. One of the shortcomings acknowledged in the literature is the generic application of the term collaboration to cover a wide scope of inter-firm agreements. Within the literature this is referred to as a problem of multidimensionality. A model is developed in this dissertation that identifies the choices available to the firm and addresses the problem of defining collaboration. The choices provided in the developed model are more complex than simply choosing between external and internal intermediate markets. As a separable form of industry organisation, the success rates of alliance collaboration are compared to Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) to validate issues of sustainability before examining the impact of location on innovation and collaboration. Again, theory is tested by recent events that require explanation. These events include the relocation of early stage foreign R&D to both developed and lesser-developed nations. The final chapter assesses the findings throughout this study and identifies separate and distinct roles for large and small firms in the international and collaborative commercialisation of new innovations. This central conclusion requires empirical validation and suggests the need investigate how firms shape the cycle of innovation from a reflected vantage point to the evolutionary perspective taken in this study. Further research is warranted because the literature on international innovation and collaboration is at an early stage and gaps in understanding remain.

Feature selection is one of the most important decisions made by product managers. This three article study investigates the concepts, tools and techniques for making trade-off decisions of introducing new features in evolving Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software products. The first article investigates the efficacy of various feature selection techniques when the trade-off is between comprehensiveness and time-to-market. The second article investigates the impact of current level of product performance when the trade-off is between providing different types of innovative features to the users. The third article investigates the impact on the ability of the COTS product to attract new users and retain existing users when the trade-off is between providing utilitarian and hedonic value through new product features.

To meet these research goals an extensive multidisciplinary study of Information Systems (IS) and Product Development literatures was conducted followed by experimental research. The experiments were conducted among youth between 19-24 years who were users of Gmail software and produced some key findings.

In the first study the Kano survey method was found to be effective in identifying those features which added value to the product and those that did not. This finding will facilitate product managers in using appropriate techniques for identifying the critical product features to be built into the COTS product thereby reducing time-to-market without sacrificing product quality. In the second study, current COTS product performance was found to significantly impact the type of innovation to be introduced into the COTS product. Basic or Core product innovations were found to have value for the users when performance is low but not when the performance is high. On the other hand, Expected or product Performance innovations and Augmented or user Excitement innovations were found to have value when the performance is high but not when the performance is low. In the third study, Hedonic value and Utilitarian value of product features were found to have distinctive impact on users. While Hedonic value impacted Word-of-Mouth, a measure of the products' capacity to attract new customers, Utilitarian value impacted User Loyalty, a measure of the products' capacity to retain existing customers.

Thesis (Ph. D.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2008.
Thesis research directed by: Robert H. Smith School of Business. Dept. of Logistics, Business, and Public Policy. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

Les atteintes à l’environnement causées par un usage important de pesticides remettent en cause lemodèle productif actuel en viticulture d’appellation. Un cadre d’analyse évolutionniste est mobilisépour comprendre le manque de changement de pratiques phytosanitaires dans ce secteur malgrél’augmentation des pressions réglementaire et sociétale ces dernières années. Après avoir analysé lelock-in des viticulteurs vis-à-vis de l’utilisation des pesticides, nous appréhendons les nouvellespratiques grâce au concept d’innovation environnementale. En nous basant sur une enquête et unmodèle évolutionniste, nous montrons que l’IPM, en tant qu’innovation de processus, permet deréduire de manière significative les quantités de pesticides employées le long de trajectoiresgagnant-gagnant, mais que l’absence de compétences spécifiques dans les exploitations entrave sonadoption. Nous mettons ainsi en évidence l’importance des processus d’apprentissage pour laréduction des pesticides en viticulture. En l’absence de R & D formalisée, les viticulteurs ont besoind’un accompagnement spécifique et d’organismes de conseil agricole structurés localement pourrelever le défi de produire des vins rentables et respectueux de l’environnement. Les politiquespubliques en construction peuvent donc s’appuyer sur ces résultats pour impulser le changementattendu dans un délai raisonnable
The environmental damage caused by the intensive use of pesticides challenges the current production model in appellation wine growing. We mobilize here an evolutionary framework to understand the lack of change in vineyard phytosanitary protection despite increasing regulatory and social pressure in recent years. After analyzing grape growers’ pesticide lock-in, we consider new protection practices via the concept of environmental innovation. Our case analysis and evolutionary model allow us to show that IPM could significantly reduce pesticide use along win-win trajectories, but also that the lack of specific implementation know-how in farms hampers its adoption. We therefore highlight the importance of learning processes for pesticide reduction in grape growing. In the absence of formal R & D, growers need specialized advice and structured extension services to meet the challenge they face: producing profitable and environmentally friendly wines. Public policies can therefore be based on this result to drive the expected change in a reasonable time

This dissertation investigates the role of information technology (IT) in organizational strategy. Specifically, it examines how organizations can persist in turbulent competitive landscapes characterized by IT innovations. Underlying premises for this dissertation are that: (1) ubiquitous IT implies constant disruptions from digital innovation, (2) IT and practice are becoming fused, and (3) organizational strategies are dynamically linked with practice, i.e. they are reciprocally related through what organizations do rather than have. To investigate such IT strategizing processes, I outline a conceptual framework for analyzing how organizations can generate digital capability, i.e. a collection of routines for strategizing by leveraging digital assets to create differential value. Digital assets here refer to the complement of available resources and competencies for IT design and implementation. Based on the notion of dynamic capability and evolutionary theory, this framework emphasizes the importance of sensing, seizing and transforming abilities for generating digital capability. As organizational practices are becoming fused with IT scholars have argued that attempting to disentangle them analytically is futile. In a similar vein, organizational strategy is increasingly reliant on available IT resources for both formulation and execution. In the IS field it is widely acknowledged that IT has both enabling and inhibiting consequences for organizations. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm and theory on organizational capabilities, the notion of IT capability has been widely used as a conceptual tool for analyzing these dual strategic effects of IT. Considering the explosive advances in computing, network and interaction that have resulted in IT being ubiquitous and deeply embedded in contemporary practices, recent research argues for the need to move beyond the functional view of technology implicit in the IT capability notion. A key aspect to address for such broadening of the perspective is the coevolution of IT and business practices, i.e. who (or what) leads, who or what follows, and whether such a causal distinction is meaningful. Grounded in the outlined conceptual framework, this dissertation examines how organizations can build digital capability to both enable large variation and complexity of feasible competitive actions, and reduce inhibiting effects of IT. The empirical investigation is situated in three distinct domains: boundary spanning IT innovation, transformation of existing IT resources, and hybridization of technology through digitalization of production equipment. These investigations are presented in five research papers. The dissertation contribute to knowledge of IT strategy by: (1) explicating the construct of digital capability, (2) providing a framework for coevolutionary strategizing processes, (3) presenting an empirical illustration of the coevolution of IT and business strategies, and (4) offer specific insights on design and orchestration of processes for digital capability generation.

L'industrie automobile tient une place à part dans l'histoire du capitalisme, dont elle détermine jusqu'à l'appellation de sa dernière grande période : le " fordisme ". Depuis la fin du 20ème siècle, elle se trouve confrontée à une double contrainte environnementale : l'épuisement annoncée des carburants fossiles et la lutte contre les pollutions, atmosphériques notamment. Le transport routier représente en effet 20% des émissions de GES. L'objectif de ce travail est d'analyser la réaction de cette industrie pour internaliser cette double contrainte, en se centrant sur la dimension " innovation ". La grille théorique proposée par Schumpeter et prolongée par les auteurs évolutionnistes est mobilisée pour tester l'hypothèse suivante : l'industrie automobile est en train d'amorcer un nouveau sentier de dépendance pour s'émanciper de cette double contrainte. Dès lors, le passage au moteur hybride, lu comme une éco-innovation de rupture, marque la fin du " lock in " sur le sentier précédant caractérisé par la dépendance au moteur à combustion interne.

La diversité du monde vivant repose pour une large part sur la diversité des protéines codées dans les génomes. Comment une telle diversité a-t-elle été générée ? La théorie classique postule que cette diversité résulte à la fois de la divergence de séquence et de la combinatoire des arrangements de protéines en domaines à partir de quelques milliers de domaines anciens, mais elle n’explique pas les nombreuses protéines orphelines.Dans cette thèse, nous avons étudié l’évolution des protéines du point de vue de leur décomposition en domaines en utilisant trois bases de données : HOGENOM (familles de protéines homologues), Pfam (familles de domaines expertisées) et ProDom (familles de modules protéiques construites automatiquement). Chaque famille d’HOGENOM a ainsi été décomposée en domaines de Pfam ou modules de ProDom. Nous avons modélisé l’évolution de ces familles par un réseau Bayésien basé sur l’arbre phylogénétique des espèces. Dans le cadre de ce modèle, on peut reconstituer rigoureusement les scénarios d’évolution les plus probables qui reflètent la présence ou l’absence de chaque protéine, domaine ou module dans les espèces ancestrales. La mise en relation de ces scénarios permet d’analyser l’émergence de nouvelles protéines en fonctions de domaines ou modules ancestraux. L’analyse avec Pfam suggère que la majorité de ces événements résulte de réarrangements de domaines anciens, en accord avec la théorie classique. Cependant une part très significative de la diversité des protéines est alors négligée. L’analyse avec ProDom, au contraire, suggère que la majorité des nouvelles protéines ont recruté de nouveaux modules protéiques. Nous discutons les biais de Pfam et de ProDom qui permettent d’expliquer ces points de vue différents. Nous proposons que l’émergence de nouveaux modules protéiques peut résulter d’un turn-over rapide de séquences codantes, et que cette innovation au niveau des modules est essentielle à l’apparition de nombreuses protéines nouvelles tout au long de l’évolution
The diversity of life derives mostly from the variety of proteins coded in genomes. How did evolution produce such a tremendous diversity ? The classical theory postulates that this diversity results both from sequence divergence and from the combinatorial arrangements of a few thousand primary protein domain types. However this does not account for the increasing number of entirely unique proteins as found in most genomes.In this thesis, we study the evolution of proteins from the point of view of their domain decomposition and rely on three databases : HOGENOM (homologous protein families), Pfam (manually curated protein domain families) and ProDom (automatically built protein module families). Each protein family from HOGENOM has thus been decomposed into Pfam domains or ProDom modules. We have modelled the evolution of these families using a Bayesian network based on the phylogenetic species tree. In the framework of this model, we can rigorously reconstitute the most likely evolutionary scenarios reflecting the presence or absence of each protein, domain or module in ancestral species. The comparison of these scenarios allows us to analyse the emergence of new proteins in terms of ancestral domains or modules. Pfam analysis suggests that the majority of protein innovations results from rearrangements of ancient domains, in agreement with the classical paradigm of modular protein evolution. However a very significant part of protein diversity is then neglected. On the other hand ProDom analysis suggests that the majority of new proteins have recruited novel protein modules. We discuss the respective biases of Pfam and ProDom underlying these contrasting views. We propose that the emergence of new protein modules may result from a fast turnover of coding sequences and that this module innovation is essential to the emergence of numerous novel proteins throughout evolution

From the mid-1970s and on, the contribution to air pollution of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides from gasoline passenger cars in the developed world has been reduced through co-evolution of regulation and commercial introduction of catalytic emission control technology, now part of hundreds of millions of cars, trucks and buses worldwide. This dissertation is a disaggregated study of the global introduction of catalytic emission control technology as a measure to reduce local air pollution. The introduction of the “three-way” catalyst for gasoline passenger cars is studied for four countries. Present innovation in diesel engine emission control is studied. Technological change is analyzed regarding the process of innovation, the innovation system and its stakeholders. Results are evaluated for implications for innovation and regulatory policy for coming environmental challenges. Automotive catalysis is an example of environmentally motivated innovation, including problem definition, public regulation, corporate market and non-market strategies, invention, variety, selection, technology transfer, mass diffusion and the ongoing coevolution of emission-abating policies and technical development. Common denominators for successful technological or market innovations is a participatory dialogue around structured and tiered regulatory roadmaps, international competition, support by international networks and conducive local public opinion. The near-global introduction of the three-way catalyst was complex and highly dependent on local context and conditions, suggesting that any general “global” innovation and regulation strategy to address present and future local or global problems must be reviewed with an understanding of local barriers and drivers for environmentally motivated innovation. Given the stakeholders and technical challenges of different technological regimes to mitigate climate change, it is concluded that increased fuel efficiency and the introduction of plug-in hybrids are possible trajectories for sustainable mobility.
Sedan mitten av 1970-talet har utsläppen av kolmonoxid, kolväten och kväveoxider från bensindrivna personbilar reducerats genom samordnad utveckling av lagstiftning och kommersiell introduktion av katalytisk avgasrening, som nu är en del av hundratals miljoner bilar, lastbilar och bussar över hela jorden. Denna avhandling är en disaggregerad studie av den i det närmaste globala introduktionen av katalytisk avgasrening för fordon, som åtgärd för att minska lokala luftföroreningar. Introduktionen av ”trevägskatalysatorn” för bensinbilar studeras i fyra länder. Pågående innovation för dieselavgasrening studeras. Teknisk förändring analyseras med avseende på innovationsprocessen, innovationssystemet och dess respektive intressenter. Resultaten används för att analysera konsekvenser för styrmedel för att åtgärda miljöproblem i vardande. Fordonskatalys är ett exempel på en miljömotiverad innovation, inklusive problemdefinition, lagkrav, företagens marknadsstrategier och marknadspåverkan, innovation, utbud och urval, tekniköverföring, storskalig spridning samt den fortlöpande ömsesidiga utvecklingen av teknik och policy för att reducera emissioner. Gemensamma nämnare för exempel på lyckosamma introduktionsprocesser är en inkluderande dialog kring etappvisa lagkrav, internationell konkurrens, stöd och samarbete i internationella nätverk samt en tydlig opinion för förändring. Introduktionen av trevägskatalysatorn var och är komplex och beroende av lokal kontext och regionala villkor. Kommande ”globala” teknikförändringar måste utvecklas med en förståelse för varje enskild nation eller marknad och dess specifika barriärer och drivkrafter för miljömotiverad innovation. Givet intressenter och tekniska utmaningar i olika teknologiska regimer med potential att reducera klimatförändringar är ökad bränsleeffektivisering och introduktion av s.k. plug-in-hybrider möjliga utvecklingsvägar för hållbar mobilitet.
Desde los años 70 y adelante, la contribución a la polución atmosférica de emisiones de monóxido de carbono, hidrocarburos y óxidos de nitrógeno proveniente de la combustión de los autos a gasolina, ha sido mitigado, por co-evolución entre regulación e introducción comercial de sistemas catalíticos de control de emisiones. Esos sistemas ahora forman parte de cientos de millones de autos, camiones y buses en todo el mundo. La presente tesis es un estudio desagregado de la introducción cerca de global de sistemas de control de emisiones catalíticos, como medida para reducir la contaminación atmosférica local. Se examina el proceso de introducción del convertidor catalítico “de tres vías” para autos a gasolina en cuatro países. Se estudia la innovación presente en el área de sistemas de control de emisiones de motores diesel. El cambio tecnológico es analizado viendo el proceso y el sistema de innovación y los distintos grupos de interés. Los resultados se usan para analizar las implicaciones en cuanto a innovación y política de regulación para enfrentar los desafíos medioambientales actuales. Catálisis automotriz es un ejemplo de innovación motivado ambientalmente, incluyendo definición del problema, regulación pública, estratégicas corporativas dentro y fuera de mercado, variedad, selección, transferencia de tecnología, difusión masiva y la coevolución continuo entre política de reducción de emisiones y desarrollo tecnológico. Denominaciones comunes para innovaciones exitosas, tecnológicas o de mercado, son un diálogo dinámico sobre planes de regulación estructurados en etapas, competición internacional, apoyo y coordinación de redes internacionales, y opinión local beneficiario. La introducción global del catalizador de tres vías fue compleja y altamente relacionada con el contexto local y condiciones locales, sugiriendo que estrategias “globales” de innovación y regulación para tratar los desafíos de hoy y mañana deben ser diseñados con entendimiento de factores locales a favor y en contra para innovación ambientalmente motivado. Dado los grupos de interés, los desafíos tecnológicos y las trayectorias presentes en el área de mitigación del cambio climático, se concluye que el aumento de uso eficiente de combustible y la introducción de vehículos híbridos enchufables (plug- in) son alternativas viables para el transporte sustentable.
(japanese) 1970年代の中頃から今日に至るまで，先進国においては，自動車触媒技術の導入と規制との相互作用によって、ガソリン乗用車から排出される一酸化炭素CO，炭化水素HC，窒素酸化物NOxによる大気汚染への寄与率は減少している。現在では、この自動車触媒はディーゼル乗用車、トラックやバスなどを含めて何億台もの自動車で使われている。 この論文は，各地域での大気汚染を解決する手段としての触媒の地球規模での導入に関する調査研究である。ガソリン乗用車への三元触媒導入の過程を４か国比較で行うと共に，現在取り組まれているディーゼル機関の排出ガス制御についても研究した。これらの例の技術革新について、その内容を、技術革新に係る利害関係者（ステークスホルダー）の観点から技術の変革について分析した。これらの結果から，将来の環境問題に対応するためのイノベーションと規制に関する政策への示唆を行なった。 自動車用触媒は，問題定義，規制，市場原理に基づくないしは市場原理に基づかない戦略，開発，多様性，選択，技術移転，技術普及，そして今もなお進化する排出ガス削減に関する規制（政策）と技術開発との相乗効果，等々を含んだ「環境保護に起因する技術革新」の良い例である。 技術革新、および普及の成功例に共通していることは， 1. 構造的かつ段階的な「目標へのロードマップ」を巡る相方向の会話， 2. 国際競争力， 3. 国際的ネットワークによるサポート， 4. 地域社会に支持された意見, 等が挙げられる。 三元触媒の導入はほぼ全世界に及ぶが，その過程は複雑で、地域（国）の事情に強く依存する。つまり、現在または未来の、各国（地域的）または地球規模の問題に焦点を当てた「世界的」技術革新や規制戦略は、地域よって異なる障害の存在や、環境保護の視点に立った技術革新を推進する潜在力への理解なしには成り立たないことを意味するのである。 気候変動を緩和するための様々な技術体系からの技術的挑戦および関係者（ステークスホルダー）の意見を考慮すると，燃費向上とプラグイン・ハイブリッドの導入が，交通部門における持続可能な発展への道のりであると言える。
QC 20100517

Les plantes produisent une remarquable diversité de métabolites pour faire face aux contraintes d’un environnement en constante fluctuation. Cependant la manière dont les plantes ont atteint un tel degré de complexité métabolique et les forces responsables de cette diversité chimique reste largement incomprise. On considère généralement que le mécanisme de duplication des gènes contribue pour une grande part à l’évolution naturelle. En absence de transfert horizontal, les gènes d’évolution récente se cantonnent généralement chez quelques espèces et sont soumis à une évolution rapide, alors que les gènes conservés et plus anciens ont une distribution beaucoup plus large et sont porteurs de fonctions essentielles. Il est donc intéressant d’étudier l’adaptation des plantes en analysant parallèlement les gènes qui présentent soit une large distribution taxonomique, soit une distribution plus restreinte, de type lignée-spécifique. Les cytochromes P450 (CYP) constituent l’une des plus vastes familles de protéines chez les plantes, présentant des phylogénies très conservées ou très branchées qui illustrent la plasticité métabolique et la diversité chimique. Pour illustrer l’évolution des fonctions des cytochromes P450 dans le métabolisme végétal, nous avons sélectionné trois gènes, l’un très conservé au cours de l’évolution, CYP715A1 et les deux autres, CYP98A8 et CYP98A9, très récemment spécialisés de manière lignée spécifique chez les Brassicaceae. Les gènes appartenant à la famille CYP715 ont évolué avant la divergence entre gymnospermes et angiospermes, et sont le plus souvent présent en copie unique dans les génomes végétaux. Ceci suggère que leur fonction est essentielle et très conservée chez les plantes à graines (spermaphytes). Sur la base d’une analyse transcriptionnelle et de l’expression du gène GUS sous le contrôle du promoteur de CYP715A1, il est apparu que ce gène est spécifiquement exprimé au cours du développement floral, dans les cellules tapétales des jeunes boutons floraux ainsi que dans les filaments lors de l’anthèse. CYP715A1 est également fortement induit dans les cellules du péricycle de la zone d’élongation racinaire en réponse au stress salin. L’induction par le sel nécessite une région promotrice située entre 2 et 3 kb en amont de la région codante (i.e ; codon START), ce qui suggère la présence d’un facteur cis à cet endroit. Afin de déterminer la fonction de CYP715A1 chez Arabidopsis thaliana, j’ai identifié deux mutants d’insertion de T-DNA par génotypage et complémenté ces mutants avec le gène natif. La perte de fonction de CYP715A1 n’a pas d’impact sur la croissance et la fertilité de la plante en conditions de laboratoire. Cependant, une analyse par microscopie électronique en transmission montre un phénotype d’intine ondulée. La perte de fonction du gène CYP715A1 a également entraîné une réduction de la taille des pétales et un défaut d’anthèse. [...]
Plants produce a remarkable diversity of secondary metabolites to face continually challenging and fluctuating environmental constraints. However, how plants have reached such a high degree of metabolic complexity and what are the evolutionary forces responsible for this chemodiversity still remain largely unclarified. Gene evolution based on gene birth and extinction has been reported to nicely reflect the natural evolution. Without horizontal gene transfer, young genes are often restricted to a few species and have undergone rapid evolution, whereas old genes can be broadly distributed and are always indicative of essential housekeeping functions. It is thus of interest to study plant adaptation with parallel focus on both taxonomically widespread and lineage-specific genes. P450s are one of the largest protein families in plants, featuring both conserved and branched phylogenies. Examples of P450 properties reflecting metabolic versatility, chemodiversity and thus plant adaptation have been reported. To illustrate evolution of P450 functions in plant metabolism, we selected two P450 genes, one evolutionary conserved CYP715A1 and the second a recently specialized lineage-specific gene CYP98A9 in Arabidopsis thaliana.CYP715s evolved before the divergence between gymnosperms and angiosperms and are present in single copy in most sequenced plant genomes, suggesting an essential housekeeping function highly conserved across seed plants. Based on transcriptome analysis and promoter-driven GUS expression, CYP715A1 is selectively expressed in tapetal cells of young buds and filaments of open flowers during flower development. In addition, CYP715A1 is highly induced in the pericycle cells of the root elongation zone upon salt stress. The salt induction relies on the 2-3kb region of CYP715A1 promoter, suggesting some salt-response elements may exist in this area. To characterize the function of CYP715A1 in Arabidopsis, I identified two T-DNA insertion mutants by genotyping and confirmed by complementation with native CYP715A1 gene. Loss of function of CYP715A1 has no impact on plant growth and fertility in laboratory conditions. However, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis has shown constant undulated intine phenotype in two knockout mutants and also the petal growth is significantly inhibited. These two phenotypes nicely match the native expression pattern of CYP715A1. Gene co-expression analysis suggests involvement of CYP715A1 in gibberellin (GA) metabolism under salt treatment. GAs profiling on mutant flowers also indicates reduced accumulation specific GAs. Unfortunately, no significant phenotype either related to root growth or root architecture under salt treatment can be observed. Recombinant expression of the CYP715A1 enzyme in yeast so far does not allow confirming GAmetabolism. However, metabolic profiling of inflorescences in mutants and over-expression lines, together with transcriptome analysis of the loss of function cyp715a1 mutants strongly support a CYP715A1 role in signaling, hormone homeostasis and volatile emission in agreement with the purifying selection leading to gene conservation observed in spermatophytes.[...]

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
The aim of this thesis is to understand what drives the evolution of industrial networks and how such understanding can be used to stimulate sustainable development. A complex adaptive systems perspective has been adopted to analyse the complex interaction between organisational behaviour and industrial network evolution. This analysis has formed the basis for the development of a modelling approach that allows for quantitative exploration of how different organisational perceptions about current and future uncertainty affect their behaviour and therefore the network evolution. This analysis results in a set of potential evolutionary pathways for an industrial network and their associated performance in terms of sustainable development. Subsequently, this modelling approach has been used to explore the consequences of interventions in the network evolution and to identify robust interventions for stimulating sustainable development of industrial networks. The analysis, modelling approach and development of interventions has been developed in the context of a bioenergy network in the region of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Industrial networks are an important aspect of today’s life and provide many goods and services to households and individuals all over the world. They consist of a large number of autonomous organisations, where some organisations contribute by transforming or transacting natural resources, such as oil, agricultural products or water, while other organisations contribute to networks by providing information or setting regulation or subsidies (local or national governments) or by influencing decision making processes of other organisations in networks (advocacy groups). Throughout the process from natural resource to product or service, industrial networks have important economic, environmental and social impacts on the socio-economic and biophysical systems in which they operate. The sum of complex interactions between organisations affects the rate in which natural resources are used, environmental impacts associated with transformation and transaction of resources and social impacts on local communities, regions or countries as a whole. The aim of this thesis is to understand how industrial networks evolve and how they can be stimulated towards sustainable development. The first question that has been addressed in this thesis is how to understand the complex interaction between organisational behaviour and industrial network evolution. Organisational behaviour is affected by many functional and implicit characteristics within the environment in which the organisation operates, while simultaneously the environment is a function of non-linear relationships between individual organisational actions and their consequences for both the function and structure of the network. This thesis has identified four different characteristics of industrial networks that affect organisational behaviour: 1) Functional characteristics 2) Implicit behavioural characteristics 3) Implicit relational characteristics 4) Implicit network characteristics. Functional characteristics are those characteristics that are formally recognised by all organisations within an industrial network and which affect their position within the network. Examples of functional characteristics are the price and quantity of resources available, the location and distance of organisations within a network, infrastructure availability or regulation. Implicit characteristics, on the other hand, are those characteristics that impact the decision making process of organisations, but which are not formally part of the network. From an organisational perspective, implicit characteristics are the rules, heuristics, norms and values that an organisation uses to determine its objectives, position and potential actions. Implicit relational characteristics, most importantly trust and loyalty, affect an organisations choice between potential partners and implicit network characteristics are those social norms and values that emerge through social embeddedness. Collectively, these functional and implicit characteristics and their interactions determine the outcome of organisational decisions and therefore the direction of the industrial network evolution. The complex interaction between these large numbers of characteristics requires quantitative models to explore how different network characteristics and different interactions result in different network evolutions. This thesis has developed an agent-based simulation model to explore industrial network evolutions. To represent the multi-scale complexity of industrial networks, the model consists of four scales. Each scale represents different processes that connect the functional and implicit characteristics of an industrial network to each other. The two basic scales represent the strategic actions of the organisations on the one hand and the industrial network function and structure on the other. The third scale represents the processes that take place within the mental models of organisations describing how they make sense of their environment and inform their strategic decision making process. The fourth scale represents the social embeddedness of organisations and how social processes create and destroy social institutions. The model has been developed such that it allows for exploring how changes in different network characteristics or processes affect the evolution of the network as a whole. The second question that has been addressed in this thesis is how to evaluate sustainable development of different evolutionary pathways of industrial networks. First of all, a systems approach has been adopted to explore the consequences of an industrial network to the larger socio-economic and biophysical system in which the network operates. Subsequently, a set of structural indicators has been proposed to evaluate the dynamic performance of industrial networks. These four structural indicators reflect the efficiency, effectiveness, resilience and adaptiveness of industrial networks. Efficiency and effectiveness relate to the operational features by which industrial networks provides a particular contribution to society. Resilience and adaptiveness relate to the system’s capacity to maintain or adapt its contribution to society while under stress of temporary shocks or permanent shifts, respectively. Finally, different multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) tools have been applied to provide a holistic evaluation of sustainable development of industrial networks. The third important question that is addressed in this thesis is how to systematically explore the potential evolutionary pathways of an industrial network, which has led to the development of agent-based scenario analysis. Agent-based scenario analysis systematically explores how industrial network evolutions might evolve depending on the perceptions of organisations towards the inherent uncertainty associated with strategic decision making in networks. The agent-based scenario analysis consists of two steps. Firstly, analysts develop a set of coherent context scenarios, which represents their view on the context in which an industrial network will operate within the future. For a bioenergy network, for example, this step results in a set of scenarios that each represent a coherent future of the socio-economic system in which the network might evolve. The second step is the development of a set of ‘agent scenarios’. Each agent-based scenario is based on a different ‘mental model’ employed by organisations within the network about how to deal with the inherent ambiguity of the future. The organisational perspective towards uncertainty is of major importance for the evolution of industrial networks, because it determines the innovative behaviour of organisations, the structure of the network and the direction in which the network evolves. One the one hand, organisations can ignore future ambiguity and base their actions on the environment that they can observe in their present state. On the other extreme, organisations can adopt a view that the future is inherently uncertain and in which they view social norms and values more important than functional characteristics to make sense of their environment. The mental models are differentiated according to two dimensions: 1) different mental representation of the world and 2) different cognitive processes that can be employed to inform strategic actions. Along these dimensions, different processes can be employed to make sense of the environment and to inform decision making. The thesis has shown that by systematically exploring the different perceptions possible, an adequate understanding of the different evolutionary pathways can be gained to inform the evaluation and development of interventions to stimulate sustainable development. The final part of this thesis has applied the analysis and methodology developed throughout this thesis to a bioenergy network in the province of Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa. The bioenergy network consists of a set of existing sugar mills with large quantities of bagasse, a biomass waste product, available. Bagasse is currently burned inefficiently to produce steam for the sugar mills, but can potentially be used for the production of green electricity, biodiesel, bioethanol or gelfuel. All of these products have important consequences for the region in terms of associated reductions in CO2 emissions, electrification of and/or energy provision for rural households and local economic development of the region. This thesis has modelled strategic decisions of the sugar mills, the existing electricity generator, potential independent energy producers, local and national governments and how their actions and interactions can lead to different evolutionary pathways of the bioenergy network. The agent-based scenario analysis has been used to explore how different perceptions of organisations can lead to different network evolutions. Finally, the model has been used to explore the consequences of two categories of interventions on stimulating sustainable development. The conclusions are that both categories of interventions, financial interventions by national government and the introduction of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) tools to aid strategic decision making, can have both positive and negative effects on the network evolutions, depending on what ‘mental models’ are employed by organisations. Furthermore, there is no single intervention that outperforms the others in terms of stimulating both functional and structural features of sustainable development. The final conclusion is that instead of focusing on individual or collective targets, emphasis should be placed on the development of interventions that focus on evolutionary aspects of industrial networks rather than functional performance criteria. This thesis has also highlighted interesting research questions for future investigation. The methodology developed in this thesis is applied to a single case study, but there are still many questions concerning how different industrial networks might benefit from different organisational perceptions towards uncertainty. Furthermore, the role between the mental models and sustainable development requires further investigation, especially in the light of globalisation and the interconnectiveness of industrial networks in different countries and continents. Finally, this methodology has provided a platform for investigating how new technologies might be developed that anticipate needs of future generations. This thesis has provided a first and important step in developing a methodology that addresses the complex issues associated with sustainable development, benefiting both academics and practitioners that aim to stimulate sustainable development.

Les interactions plantes-pollinisateurs constituent une composante clé de la dynamique de la plupart des écosystèmes terrestres. Les interactions entre espèces jouant un rôle central dans de nombreux évènements de spéciation, l'étude de l'histoire évolutive des caractères étroitement liés à ce type d'interaction contribue à améliorer notre connaissance des mécanismes impliqués. Les insectes représentent le groupe majeur des espèces animales visitant les fleurs pour collecter généralement pollen et/ou nectar, mais certains d'entre eux recherchent d'autres ressources polliniques. Les relations entre les fleurs produisant des lipides et les abeilles spécialisées collectant cette ressource constituent un exemple d'interaction étroite et inhabituelle. Ce type de fleur ne s'observe qu'au sein de 11 familles non apparentées d'angiospermes. L'apparition des structures florales productrices de lipides (élaiophores) résulte d'un seul évènement évolutif dans la plupart de ces familles, à l'exception des Orchidaceae et des Iridaceae où des transitions multiples se sont produites. De plus, même si le nombre de transitions et la manière dont ces structures florales ont évolué à l'intérieur des Iridaceae sont encore inconnus, le nombre et la distribution géographique des espèces sécrétrices de lipides floraux suggèrent que les transitions vers la production de ce type de ressource pourraient avoir joué un rôle clef dans la diversification de la sous-famille des Iridoideae sur le continent américain.L'objectif de cette thèse était d'améliorer la connaissance de l'histoire évolutive de ce système de pollinisation particulier au sein des Iridaceae et d'évaluer son importance en tant que facteur de diversification. Un large échantillonnage de terrain a été réalisé au sein des genres américains de la sous-famille des Iridoideae afin de disposer de phylogénies moléculaires robustes à deux échelles taxonomiques différentes. Le rôle joué par l'évolution des stratégies de pollinisation en relation avec la sécrétion de lipides floraux a été évalué dans le contexte global de la sous-famille mais aussi à une échelle plus réduite. Le genre Sisyrinchium, comprenant à la fois de nombreuses espèces produisant des lipides floraux mais aussi des espèces dont la seule ressource fournie aux pollinisateurs semble être le pollen, et dont la diversification est de loin la plus importante sur le continent américain, a été choisi pour ce deuxième volet de l'étude. Une double démarche a été mise en œuvre, couplant une approche phylogénétique avec la caractérisation micro-morphologique et fonctionnelle des structures susceptibles d'être impliquées dans la relation plante-pollinisateur au sein du genre.Les résultats ont permis de montrer l'apparition répétée des élaiophores aux deux échelles taxonomiques de l'étude et de mettre en évidence le rôle majeur joué par l'apparition de ce caractère homoplasique dans la diversification de la famille sur le continent américain. La poursuite de ce travail nécessitera d'étudier de manière approfondie non seulement la biologie de la reproduction mais aussi la biologie de la pollinisation afin de mieux cerner l'impact de ces interactions sur la dynamique des écosystèmes où elles existent.

Following a wildfire, land management agencies act quickly to protect ecosystem services. We don't currently understand how post-wildfire managers make trade-off decisions in these tight timelines, or if these decisions reflect current science. Using Brunson’s (2014) social-ecological systems multi-scalar model, surveys assessed manager opinions about post-wildfire projects, perceptions of stakeholder opinions, and ability or willingness to consider new science results. Public surveys asked local citizens their opinions about post-wildfire projects. Manager perceptions were measured through semi-structured phone interviews (n = 8) and a structured online survey (n = 256). Public surveys were mailed to 1,000 (971 deliverable, n = 152 usable) residents in rural and urban Great Basin and Mojave Desert ZIP codes. We found coarse- and fine-scale social and political opinions were associated with all post-wildfire management decisions, often creating perceived barriers to project implementation. Conversely, local citizens were more supportive of projects than managers perceived them to be. While the majority of managers and citizens supported the concept of incorporating experimental research, managers were less able to consider more specific research incorporation into actual projects. Ecologically, biological soil crusts (BSC) are emerging as an important fine-scale component of semi-arid restorations. However, even when BSCs are assessed prior to a restoration plan, it is unclear how or if this knowledge has any impact. BSCs were evaluated both socially and ecologically: all manager surveys contained questions specifically related to BSC, and a pilot greenhouse study assessed a) if seed drilling simulations on different stages of BSC may affect restoration plant establishment and b) if BSC excluded the invasive species Bromus tectorum. Similar to other new science results, managers were unlikely to be able/willing to consider BSC status in post-wildfire projects. However, our results suggest the possibility that, even when lightly burned, seeding strategy may influence native plant establishment. In ideal greenhouse conditions, B. tectorum was able to establish readily on both burned and unburned BSC.

This thesis was motivated by the importance of technological capability for economic growth process in developing countries. The main objective of this study is to analyze the creation of technological capability in the Turkish manufacturing industry
and to set out opportunities and impediments for technological development by ascribing special emphasis to MNCs in this process within the framework of national innovation system. The technology policy advice relying on attracting foreign firms is also questioned. In order to shed light on how technological capability is accumulated in the Turkish manufacturing industry
and to understand the role that MNCs play in this process, the thesis investigates static and dynamic spillover effects of MNCs in the Turkish manufacturing industry. The study also focuses on the factors that determine innovativeness of, and the technology transfer by the firms in Turkey, and the role of MNCs in this context. The probable effects of firm and technology specific characteristics such as size and technology level are taken into consideration in the analyses. Our results suggest that foreign firms are superior to domestic firms in many respects. There are no horizontal or vertical spillovers from MNCs in Turkey for the 1983-2000 period. We found lagged positive horizontal spillovers, though. However, these spillovers are far beyond to register a net dynamic benefit for the whole Turkish manufacturing industry to be felt in the current period. This lagged spillover is found for large firms
and one can mention net dynamic positive spillovers for the large firms. We also found positive spillovers from labor transfer from MNCs to domestic firms for the 1995 and 2000 period. We conclude that technological capability is limited in domestic firms
and it can be improved by on-the-job training and general education policies as well as increasing domestic R&
D. The technology policies relying attracting more FDI should be reviewed given the insights provided by the analysis conducted in this thesis.

L’objet de cette thèse est l’analyse du comportement d’innovation des entreprises en Tunisie. L’analyse portesur les conditions économiques qui motivent les entreprises à innover, celles qui orientent leurs activités d’innovationet celles qui rendent difficile leur succès. La thèse est organisée en deux parties. La première partieprésente une relecture des théories modernes de l’innovation, les caractéristiques de l’économie tunisienneet celles de l’enquête sur l’innovation en Tunisie, utilisée dans l’analyse. La seconde partie de la thèse présenteles résultats des analyses statistiques et économétriques des déterminants de l’innovation en Tunisie.L’analyse est affinée autour des questions plus spécifiques, particulièrement pertinentes dans le cadre d’unpays en développement comme la Tunisie et en rapport avec les politiques mises en oeuvre et la stratégiede spécialisation internationale retenue dans ce pays. L’analyse conduit à un premier tableau des activitésd’innovations en Tunisie, qui nous amène à nous interroger sur la relation entre les stratégies d’exportationet les activités d’innovation des firmes. Une autre dimension internationale des stratégies de développementmodernes concerne le rôle des investissements directs étrangers dans l’innovation. La thèse s’interroge, endernier lieu, sur les dimensions de l’économie tunisienne qui sont perçues par les firmes comme affaiblissantleurs capacités à innover
The purpose of this thesis is the analysis of the innovation behaviour of firms in Tunisia. The analysis focuseson the economic conditions that motivate firms to innovate, those which direct their innovation activitiesand those that make difficult their success. The thesis is organized into two parts. The first one presents apresentation of modern theories of innovation, the characteristics of the Tunisian economy and those of thesurvey on innovation in Tunisia, used in the analysis. The second part of the thesis presents the econometricand statistical results of the analysis of determinants of innovation in Tunisia. The analysis is refined on morespecific questions, particularly relevant in the context of a developing country like Tunisia and related withthe implemented policies and the strategy of international specialization chosen in this country. The analysisleads to a first picture of innovation activities in Tunisia, which leads us to wonder about the relationshipbetween export strategies and innovation activities of firms. Another international dimension of the modernstrategies of development concerns the role of the foreign direct investments in the innovation. The thesisexamines, finally, the dimensions of the Tunisian economy which are perceived by firms as weakening theirability to innovate

No contexto da engenharia de produção a pesquisa analisa a coordenação do processo de produção. As principais frentes de gerentes de planejamento e de controladoria são o atendimento à demanda do mercado e os custos de produção divergentes em relação ao plano inicial. Verifica-se que há uma lacuna processual entre dois processos organizacionais, a análise de controladoria direcionada a custos realizados e a análise de planejamento e controle da produção voltada ao atendimento da demanda. A assimetria do uso do mesmo conjunto de dados com visões críticas distintas, contudo com intenções finais similares, motivam o trabalho. Levanta-se a hipótese da análise dos dados com fundamentação conceitual estruturada para abranger a rede de colaboração produtiva. O objetivo é, então, estabelecer um método de análise para a coordenação do processo de produção, elaborado sob a ótica de redes de inovação colaborativas apoiado por agente inteligente evolutivo. A fundamentação conceitual da coordenação do processo de produção, da inovação e da função de produção compõem a estrutura da revisão literária. Pelo método de pesquisa, sob o recorte analítico de vertentes teóricas de redes, uma inovação promovida pela pesquisa foi o mapeamento e a associação de variáveis processuais internas ao nó principal da rede aos nós processuais externos. Uma aplicação tecnológica comercial não é suficiente para interpretar esse ambiente dinâmico e orientado à mudança. O algoritmo DAMICORE, sob a égide evolutiva da biologia, encontra nós homólogos e interpreta o rótulo dos nós processuais validados em campo. O novo método de análise para a coordenação do processo de produção é aferido em rede por um projeto piloto e replicado, então, em vinte e uma redes com resultados melhores comparativamente ao método tradicional. Assim, a pesquisa cria um novo paradigma de análise para processos em rede e demonstra a representatividade de variáveis associadas a nós processuais, desde que eleitas conceitualmente e validadas por especialistas da área.
In the industrial engineering context this research examines the coordination of production process. The main concerns of planning managers and controllers are the demand oscillation and deviation of budget production costs. There is a lack between two processes, the controlling analysis aimed at real costs and planning analysis aimed at demand. The motivation of this work is the asymmetry of the use of the same data set from different perspectives but with similar goals. It is possible to elaborate the hypothesis to analyse of structured data with the conceptual basis to study the cooperative network. The goal is to establish a method of analysis for the coordination of production process systematized from the perspective of innovation collaborative networks where this method is compiled by evolutionary concepts with an intelligent agent application. The literature review comprises the coordination of production process, the innovation concepts and the production function concepts. The method of research applies variables belonging to internal process to external process from principal network node, this approach it is done under the analytical of theoretical networks basis. The method of research is designed to find variables belonging to internal process to relate to external process variables from principal network node, this approach it is done under the analytical of theoretical networks basis. This way has promoted a innovation for the work. A commercial technological application is not enough to mining data set from this dynamic and change oriented environment. The DAMICORE algorithm under the evolutionary concepts from biology area can find correlated nodes validated with the field data. The new method of analysis for the coordination of production process is adjusted by a pilot project then it is replicated in twenty-one networks with amazing results when compared to the current method. The research creates a new paradigm for process analysis and demonstrates the variables power representation and association from network processes if they are under conceptual basis to validate by experts.

Notre étude porte sur l’analyse de la dynamisation de l’innovation au Liban, un pays caractérisé par un état d’instabilité constant, tant du point de vue politique que du point de vue économique. Elle s’appuie sur les théories de deux grandes écoles de pensée économique : la néoclassique et l’évolutionniste, et examine la similarité et l’hétérogénéité de ces deux courants. Nous appuyant sur ces approches respectives, nous tentons de déterminer le rôle des structures et des moteurs du mécanisme macroéconomique de l’innovation dans son accélération ou son ralentissement. L’approche néoclassique orthodoxe nous a permis une revue des principaux indicateurs macroéconomiques du pays, à savoir, les politiques économiques, les intrants et les extrants. Toutefois, sachant que ces indicateurs ne sont pas suffisants pour l’interprétation du processus d’innovation démontré par la littérature évolutionniste, nous recourons à l’approche évolutionniste qui met en lumière les dimensions de la dynamique de l’innovation, en tant que phénomène économique connu par le Système National d’Innovation (SNI) et activé par l’interaction des acteurs économiques. À l’issue de ces deux démarches, nous recensons les données descriptives sur les initiatives d’innovation prises par les divers acteurs économiques impliqués dans le SNI libanais : le gouvernement, les universités, les entreprises et les collaborateurs-intermédiaires. Une analyse qualitative des documents et des entrevues d’étude de cas montre l’étendue du fonctionnement du SNI soutenu par ses divers acteurs. Les résultats obtenus révèlent que le pays dispose d’un capital humain hautement qualifié, mais des problèmes majeurs tels que les coûts des conflits politiques, l’insécurité et la corruption endémique, freinent l’avancement de l’innovation. Également et à partir de l’analyse qualitative des données, nous dégageons des thèmes qui nous permettent de suggérer un modèle théorique indiquant le continuum de l’évolution du SNI dont nous classons les huit fonctions théoriques en trois étapes successives : la mobilisation des ressources, le développement et la pérennisation. Cette étude pose donc des jalons qui servent à évaluer les soutiens d’innovation au niveau national. Elle permet de conclure que la mise en pratique des théories de renforcement d’innovation dans les pays en voie de développement nécessite une réflexion plus approfondie sur la structure interne du SNI et de son fonctionnement, tout en tenant compte des effets des conditions contextuelles de l’économie locale
This thesis project aims to study the innovation dynamics, from both the economic and political standpoints, on the factors targeting the promotion of innovation in Lebanon, a country characterized by an ever-changing and unstable environment. The study is largely based on the Neoclassical and the Evolutionary economic reasoning regarding innovation. It explores similarities and heterogeneities of these two economic mainstreams. Relying on these respective approaches, we will try to identify the role of structures and driving forces in either accelerating or slowing the macroeconomic innovation mechanism. According to the neoclassical orthodox approach, the major macroeconomic indicators were reviewed, namely economic policies, inputs and outputs. Nonetheless, knowing that these indicators are not sufficient to explain the innovation process as adopted by the evolutionary literature, we use the evolutionary approach focusing on the dimensions of innovation dynamics, an economic phenomenon entitled National Innovation System (NIS) enabled by the interaction of economic actors. As a result of these two approaches, we detail descriptive census data collected on innovation endeavors undertaken by various economic players involved in the Lebanese NIS such as: the Government, universities, enterprises and intermediaries-collaborators. The qualitative analysis of information from documents, interviews and case studies, shows the extent of the functioning progress of the NIS, carried out by local actors. The results obtained show that the country is well endowed with highly skilled human capital, but reflect the burden of political conflicts, insecurity and endemic corruption, as major problems likely to stifle, hamper or limit the innovation progress. Also and from analytical assessment, we provide the principal themes in this corpus that allow us to suggest a theoretical model indicating the NIS evolution continuum that ranks the eight NIS theoretical functions through three successive stages: resources mobilization, development and sustainability. This study sets key landmarks for determining progress in innovation support at the national level. As such, applying theories of innovation strengthening in developing countries would require further reflection on the NIS internal structure and functioning, in order to better take into account the impact of environmental conditions of the local economy

Studi condotti sulla crisi finanziaria del 2007-09 e la recessione economica hanno evidenziato l’inadeguatezza delle teorie predominanti e la loro inefficacia nel proporre adeguate soluzioni di policy. La presenza di moneta bancaria nell’economia e di un sistema finanziario caratterizzato da innovazione finanziaria e speculazione modificano profondamente la natura stessa del processo di credit creation. Una nuova prospettiva sulla relazione tra finanza e crescita economica necessita essere sviluppata cercando di colmare le lacune esistenti tra New Growth Theory e Evolutionary Theory, come J.A. Schumpeter (1934) e altri studiosi hanno evidenziato. I fattori strutturali sono alla base della persistente instabilita` finanziaria nell’economia. Questo studio tenta di spiegare l’ipotesi che sta alla base dell’intera analisi circa il passaggio avutosi nell'impianto strutturale dell'economia da un virtuous cycle ad un bad cycle, e dimostrare l’esistenza di cio` che definiamo wealth trap, la quale e` ipotizzata essere conseguenza di un sistema finanziario tecnologicamente avanzato, ma non socialmente avanzato. Un modello non lineare ad Agenti (AMB) chiamato BFSE (Based-line Financial System Economy) mostra , tramite la sperimentazione sul modello ICEACE(Erlingsson et al., 2011), evidenze sulla centralita` del sistema finanziario e dell’esistenza del bad cycle. Una discussione sulle macroprudential policies e le politiche strutturali e` introdotta.
Studies of the 2007-09 credit crisis and the resulting recession have revealed the inadequacy of the predominant theoretical frameworks and their failure to propose adequate policy solutions. The presence in the economy of bank money and a financial system characterized by financial innovation and speculation changes the nature of credit creation. As J.A. Schumpeter (1934) and others scholars have recognized, a new perspective on the financial-growth relationship needs to be developed by filling the gaps in New Growth Theory and Evolutionary Theory - two Sons of Schumpeter - and in some way combining them. Structural factors are at the bottom of the persistence of the financial instability in the economy. The goal of this research is to explain the main hypothesis of the historical passage of the economy from a virtuous to a bad cycle and to show the existence of the wealth trap, which is a consequence of a high-technologically advanced financial system within the economic system. A non-linear ABM (Agent Based Model) called BFSE provides, through experimentation using ICEACE model (Erlingsson et al., 2011), interesting evidences of the centrality of the financial system and the bad cycle. Macroprudential and structural policies are introduced.

The purpose of this study consisted of a descriptive and econometric analysis of the relationship between exports and innovation, based on evolutionary design widely accepted that the technological factor affects the trading behavior. Therefore, data from the OECD examined the influence of innovation (through the window of patents) on exports in the electronics sector, highlighting the Brazilian case. The descriptive and econometric analyzes corroborated for determining relationships among variables, though with reservations. We used the methodology of analysis of panel data in which the lagged model did not show expected result, with the corresponding lagged variable innovation (patent) showing up insignificant. On the other hand, the random effects model proved to be appropriate modeling results and significant. These results indicate that countries that export a lot in electronics are also holding more patents. Those unimportant patenting also show no significant export flow, suggesting that the export performance of the sector are sensitive to the ability of countries to innovate. Brazil's position reveals that the absence of experience associated with innovative business results in large imbalances commercial sector, export performance and patenting irrelevant, technological dependence, the process of learning disabilities, training and accumulation of technological competence, fundamental sources for creative development and national levels.
A proposta deste trabalho consistiu numa análise descritiva e econométrica da relação entre exportação e inovação, com base na concepção evolucionária amplamente aceita de que o fator tecnológico afeta o comportamento comercial. Para tanto, a partir de dados da OECD examinou-se a influência da inovação (através do indicador de patentes) sobre as exportações do setor eletrônico, destacando o caso brasileiro. As análises descritivas e econométricas corroboraram para relações determinantes entre as variáveis, embora com ressalvas. Utilizou-se a metodologia de análise de dados em painel em que o modelo defasado não mostrou resultado esperado, com a variável defasada correspondente à inovação (patente) mostrando-se insignificante. Por outro lado, o modelo de efeito aleatório apresentou-se adequado e os resultados da modelagem significantes. Esses resultados indicam que os países que exportam muito em eletrônicos são também os que detêm mais patentes. Aqueles sem importância de patenteamento também não apresentam fluxo de exportação significativa, sugerindo que o desempenho das exportações do setor são sensíveis à capacidade de inovar dos países. A posição do Brasil revela que a ausência de experiência inovativa associada à comercial resulta em grandes desequilíbrios comerciais do setor, desempenho exportador e de patenteamento irrelevante, dependência tecnológica, deficiência do processo de aprendizado, de capacitação e de acúmulo de competência tecnológicas, fontes fundamentais para o desenvolvimento criativo e nacional.

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In this paper, the learning intentions and outcomes for corporate venture capital are questioned. Through qualitative research in the oil and gas sector, we identified a desire to control the direction and pace of innovation as the main driver for this type of investments. A new model and framework for CVC are presented. Contrary to the traditional model of CVC, which features a dyadic relation between corporate investor and venture entrepreneur, our model shows that CVC investments create a more complex conjoint of relations between multiple stakeholders. These relations challenge the neo-Schumpeterian model of competition. Using the grounded theory approach, we created a theoretical framework explaining and predicting outcomes of corporate venture capital other than learning. At firm level, our framework conceptualizes CVC programs as dynamic capabilities, and suggests a competitive advantage for the corporate investor through its ability to faster and better integrate the new technology. At market level, we proposed that CVC investments positively affect the pace of innovation in the market through an increased speed of acceptance of technologies supported by corporate investors.

Temperature is a fundamental environmental force shaping species abundance and distributions through its effects on biochemical reaction rates, metabolism, activity, and reproduction. In light of future climate shifts, mainly driven by temperature increases, how will organisms persist in warmer environments? One molecular mechanism that may play an important role in coping with heat stress is the heat shock response (HSR), which protects against molecular damage. To prevent and repair protein damage specifically, Hsps activate and become up-regulated. However, the functional diversity and relevance of heat shock proteins (Hsps) in extending upper thermal limits in taxonomic groups outside marine and model systems is poorly understood. Ants are a good system to understand the physiological mechanisms for coping with heat stress because they have successfully diversified into thermally stressful environments. To identify and characterize the functional diversity of Hsps in ants, I surveyed Hsp orthologues from published ant genomes to test for signatures of positive selection and to reconstruct their evolutionary history. Within Hymenoptera, ants utilize unique sets of Hsps for the HSR. Stabilizing selection was the prevailing force among Hsp orthologues, suggesting that protein activity is conserved. At the same time, regulatory regions (promoters) governing transcriptional up-regulation diversified: species differ in the number and location of heat shock elements (HSEs). Therefore, Hsp expression patterns may be a target for selection in warm environments. I tested whether Hsp expression corresponded with variation in upper thermal limits in forest ant species within the genus Aphaenogaster. Whole colonies were collected throughout the eastern United States and were lab acclimated. There was a positive relationship between upper thermal limits (Critical Thermal maxima, CTmax) and local temperature extremes. Upper thermal limits were also higher in ant species that lived in open habitats (shrub-oak and long-leaf pine savannah) than species occupying closed habitats (deciduous forest). Ant species with higher CTmax expressed Hsps more slowly, at higher temperatures, and at higher maximum levels than those with low CTmax. Because Hsps sense and repair molecular damage, these results suggest the proteomes of open relative to closed canopy forests are more stable. Although deciduous forest ant species may be buffered from temperature stress, it is likely that temperature interacts with other environmental stressors such as water and nutrient availability that may impact upper thermal limits. I measured the influence of dehydration and nutrition stress on upper thermal limits of forest ants from a single population. Ants that were initially starved were much less thermally tolerant than controls and ants that were initially desiccated. Because ants are likely to experience similar combination of stressors in the wild, upper thermal limits may be severely overestimated in single factor experiments. Therefore, realistic forecasting models need to consider multiple environmental stressors. Overall, adaptive tuning of Hsp expression that reflects better protection and tolerance of protein unfolding may have facilitated ant diversification into warm environments. However, additional stressors and mechanisms may constrain the evolution of upper thermal limits.

O objetivo principal desta dissertação é analisar as tecnologias de aplicativos da Web 2.0, desde uma perspectivas evolucionária, e dos seus impactos nas empresas em nível global. Desta forma, para poder entender o seu nascimento, essência e importância econômica para as empresas, se tomou como base teórica o conceito evolucionário de revoluções tecnológicas e paradigmas tecno-econômicos, o qual serviu como modelo para interpretar a atual revolução das tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TIC) e seu conseqüente paradigma tecnoeconômico, e na qual se constatou que este grupo de tecnologias surgiu no período de tempo atual de dito paradigma conhecido como “intervalo de reacomodação” (turning point). Por outro lado, se ressaltou que uma das principais características no processo de difusão de cada paradigma tecno-econômico é o seu impacto na organização das empresas. Desta forma, a teoria evolucionária se apresentou como a abordagem adequada para entender tanto o caráter da empresa atual, entendida esta em termos do conjunto de suas rotinas (conhecimentos e habilidades), quanto as suas principais inovações organizacionais como respostas aos desafios apresentados pela própria difusão do paradigma tecno-econômico atual das TIC, na qual o acumulo permanente de novos conhecimentos e informações, isto é, de rotinas dinâmicas se tornam variáveis chaves para o próprio processo permanente de inovação, vital para as empresas. Diante da crescente utilização das tecnologias de aplicativos da Web 2.0 entre as empresas a nível mundial como meios potenciais para atingir esses objetivos, o presente trabalho analisou o seu potencial para gerar de forma mais fluida novos conhecimentos e informações, isto é rotinas dinâmicas, tanto dentro da organização das empresas como na interação com os seus consumidores, refletindo-se, assim, no aumento de inovações permanentes de novos produtos e serviços.
The main objective of this dissertation is to analyze the technologies of Web 2.0 applications, from an evolutionary perspective, and its impacts on businesses globally. Thus, in order to understand its birth, nature and economic importance for companies, it was taken as theoretical basis the evolutionary concept of technological revolutions and technoeconomic paradigms, which served as a model to interpret the current revolution in information and communication technologies (ICT) and its consequent techno-economic paradigm, in which it was found that this group of technologies originated in the current time of said paradigm known as turning point. On the other hand, it was emphasized that a key feature in the process of diffusion of each techno-economic paradigm is its impact on business organization. Thus, evolutionary theory appeared as the appropriate approach to understand both the character of the current company, which is understood in terms of its set of routines (knowledge and skills), as its main organizational innovations as answers to the challenges presented by the own diffusion of the current ICT techno-economic paradigm, in which the continuous accumulation of new knowledge and information, that is, dynamic routines, become key variables to the self process of continuous innovation, vital for companies. With the increasing use of Web 2.0 application technologies among the companies in the world as a potential means to achieve these goals, this study examined its potential to generate more fluidly new knowledge and information, that is dynamic routines, both within the business organizations and in their interaction with their consumers, which was reflected in the increase of permanent innovations of new products and services.

The gene regulatory network (GRN) controls the expression of genes providing phenotypic traits in living organisms. In particular, transcriptional regulation is essential to life, as it governs all levels of gene products that enable cell survival and numerous cellular functions. However, there is still poor understanding of how shifts in gene regulation alter the underlying evolutionary dynamics and consequently generate evolutionary innovations. By employing Wagner's GRN model, this dissertation investigates how the interplay of simple evolutionary forces (mutation and recombination) with natural selection acting on gene regulatory dynamics can generate major evolutionary innovations. In this dissertation, firstly, I review all currently available research papers using Wagner's GRN model, which is also employed as the computational model used extensively in the remaining chapters. I then describe how Wagner's GRN model and its variants are implemented. Finally, network properties such as stability, robustness and path length in initial populations are investigated. In the first study, I explore the characteristics of compensatory mutation in the context of genetic networks. Specifically, I find that 1) compensatory mutations are relatively insensitive to the size and connectivity of the network, 2) compensatory mutations are more likely to occur in genes at or adjacent to the site of a previous deleterious mutation and 3) compensatory mutations are more likely to be driven by mutations with a relatively large regulatory impact. In the second study, I further investigate the evolutionary consequences of the properties of compensatory mutation discovered previously. Specifically, I find that 1) compensatory mutations can occur regardless of patterns of selection, 2) networks with compensatory mutations exhibit proportionately higher robustness when compensatory mutations interact closely with deleterious mutations or have large effects on gene regulation, and 3) regulatory complexity can arise as a consequence of the propensity for co-localised and large-effect compensatory mutations. In the third study, I provide a mechanistic understanding of how recombination benefits sexual lineages. Specifically, I find that 1) recombination together with selection for developmental stability can drive populations towards the optimum, 2) recombination does not frequently disrupt well-adapted lineages as conventionally expected, and 3) recombination facilitates finding good genetic combinations which are robust to disruption, although it also rapidly purges weaker configurations. In the final study, I show that the selection pressure acting on rewiring gene regulation is critical to increasing benefits for sexual lineages whilst mitigating costs of sex and recombination. Specifically, I find that 1) strong selection strength can greatly benefit low-fitness sexual lineages, especially at the early stage, 2) recombination is initially costly, but it can rapidly evolve to compensate for costs of sex and recombination, and 3) sexual lineages with low levels of sex and recombination can outcompete strictly asexual populations under higher selection pressure and lower mutation rates. The results presented for all of the studies are important for mechanistically understanding evolutionary innovations through altering transcriptional regulatory dynamics. These innovations include 1) facilitating alternative pathway evolution, 2) driving regulatory complexity, 3) benefiting sexual reproduction, and 4) resisting invasion against asexual lineages.