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The purpose of microcredit is to offer small loans to people who are not covered by traditional financial channels. It can facilitate entrepreneurship, boosting local socio-economic development and improving environmental and political factors.

This paper aims to analyse microcredit in Italy, focusing on a project based in Rione Sanità, Naples. Rione Sanità is one of the poorest areas of Southern Italy, displaying high rates of criminality and unemployment, especially among youth, women, migrants and the vulnerable. The district is renowned for its fine and ancient handicrafts, food, trade and historical heritage – potential drivers for boosting tourism in the area. Qualitative methodologies were used to collect primary data through field visits and interviews with project bankers, local businesses, artisans, associations and religious representatives, project volunteers, as well as participation at local meetings. These data were corroborated by budget analysis based on the project's accounting.

The study shows encouraging results for the project and policy prospects. Despite the tiny starting numbers, there emerges a significant potential for microcredit to spread in the district, as in Southern Italy, providing an effective strategy to combat unemployment, usury and criminality, yielding community development and favoring broad societal challenges.

With this evidence, the paper attempts to shed some light and verify the potential of microfinance projects as a driver of sustainable development and ethical finance in poor areas of developed countries.

The purpose of this paper is to optimize the mechanical performances of parts produced by the ZCast Direct Metal Casting process varying the thermal treatment parameters. Adopting the optimized settings, a specific dimensional evaluation is planned to calculate the international tolerance (IT) grade ensured by the process.

Cylindrical ZCast samples are manufactured and heat treated varying time and temperature. The baked parts underwent compression tests and the rupture surfaces are observed using the scanning electron microscopy. A regression analysis is performed on the results to optimize the baking process. For the dimensional assessment, a specific benchmark is designed, built and treated. It is measured before and after baking using a coordinate measuring machine and the results are processed to obtain the IT grade.

The results proved that in the heat treatment of ZCast parts time has a negligible effect on the compressive strength, whereas temperature can be optimized for best mechanical response. The IT grade is calculated for green and baked parts; separately in all three directions in space. Tolerance is proved to be fundamentally the same in every direction and independent on the heat treatment. The considered rapid casting process can be classified in IT15 grade.

The paper suggests an original approach to improve knowledge of the ZCast process. The study of the building phenomena is combined with macroscopic measurements to develop a solid understanding of the expected performances, which is fundamental in order to support the industrial application of the technology.

The purpose of the paper is to test and compare a framework of firms' business sustainability endeavours with internal and external stakeholders in an oriental business context and to verify the validity and reliability of a stakeholder framework through time and across oriental and occidental business contexts.

Quantitative approach based on a questionnaire survey in corporate Taiwan with a response rate of 68.5%. Multivariate analysis is undertaken to uncover the measurement properties of a stakeholder framework.

A framework of firms' business sustainability endeavours with internal and external stakeholders appears valid and reliable through time and across occidental and oriental business contexts.

This study verifies and fortifies a stakeholder framework through time and across business contexts consisting of five stakeholder groups: upstream, the focal firm, downstream, market and societal.

The framework of firms' business sustainability endeavours provides guidance to firms in their endeavours of business sustainability with internal and external stakeholders.

This study contributes to existing theory and previous studies by validating a stakeholder framework of business sustainability with internal and external stakeholders beyond occidental business context to be also valid and reliable in oriental ones.

This paper aims to develop a deep characterization of PA‐Al₂O₃ composite for selective laser sintering (SLS). Tension test is used to determine main mechanical characteristics of the material, both at room temperature and at 100°C. An accurate knowledge of the parts' performances as a function of the building orientation, is fundamental to understand the manufacturing anisotropy. Particular attention is dedicated to the joining and failure micromechanisms ruling the macroscopic characteristics, on the basis of the knowledge developed by the authors on SLS of both metal and polymeric powders.

Specimens have been built with different orientations in regard to powder deposition plane and laser path. Tension test is used to determine main mechanical characteristics of the material, both at room temperature and at 100°C. A particular attention is dedicated to the joining and failure micromechanisms ruling the macroscopic characteristics of the composite material by means of optical and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations.

The sintered material shows an evident anisotropy in the growth direction (z‐axis), as well as it seems to be not sensitive to the sintering direction at room temperature (x, y, xy). At 100°C the effect of sintering direction becomes more evident and a different behaviour results considering x‐ and y‐direction, respectively. Accurate SEM characterization has been carried out to understand the effect of the manufacturing anisotropy on the mechanical performances, both in terms of additive construction and laser sintering strategy. The observation of the rupture surfaces showed that cracks originate from the external surface and propagate initially by the ductile failure of the polymeric matrix, up to the sudden fracture of the whole section.

Previous studies concerning polyamide charged parts confirm the importance of fabrication parameters and geometry on the final performances, due to anisotropic heat supply and transfer phenomena. The originality of the paper is in the investigation on both at room temperature and at 100°C. Moreover, a model is proposed where it is hypothesized that the layer‐by‐layer construction is only marginally responsible of the anisotropic behaviour of the material.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how the direct access to additive manufacturing (AM) systems impacts on education of future mechanical engineers, within a Master’s program at a top Italian University.

A survey is specifically designed to assess the relevance of entry-level AM within the learning environment, as a tool for project development. The survey is distributed anonymously to three consecutive cohorts of students who attended the course of “computer-aided production (CAP)”, within the Master of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering at Politecnico di Torino. The course includes a practical project, consisting in the design of a polymeric product with multiple components and ending with the production of an assembled prototype. The working assembly is fabricated by the students themselves, who operate a fused deposition modelling (FDM) machine, finish the parts and evaluate assemblability and functionality. The post-course survey covers diverse aspects of the learning process, such as: motivation, knowledge acquisition, new abilities and team-working skills. Responses are analyzed to evaluate students’ perception of the usefulness of additive technologies in learning product design and development. Among the projects, one representative case study is selected and discussed.

Results of the research affirm a positive relationship of access to AM devices to perceived interest, motivation and ease of learning of mechanical engineering. Entry-level additive technologies offer a hands-on experience within academia, fostering the acquisition of technical knowledge.

The survey is distributed to more than 200 students to cover the full population of the CAP course over three academic years. The year the students participated in the CAP course is not tracked because the instructor was the same and there were no administrative differences. For this reason, the survey administration might be a limitation of the current study. In addition to this, no gender distinction is made because historically, the percentage of female students in Mechanical Engineering courses is about 10 per cent or lower. Although the answers to the survey are anonymous, only 37 per cent of the students gave a feedback. Thus, on the one hand, impact assessment is limited to a sample of about one-third of the complete population, but, on the other hand, the anonymity ensures randomization in the sample selection.

Early exposure of forthcoming designers to AM tools can turn into a “think-additive” approach to product design, that is a groundbreaking conception of geometries and product functionalities, leading to the full exploitation of the possibilities offered by additive technologies.

Shared knowledge can act as a springboard for mass adoption of AM processes.

The advantages of adopting AM technologies at different levels of education, for diverse educational purposes and disciplines, are well assessed in the literature. The innovative aspect of this paper is that the impact of AM is evaluated through a feedback coming directly from mechanical engineering students.

This study aims to provide a thorough bibliometric analysis to illuminate the complex entrepreneurial environment in renewable energy.

The Biblioshiny package of the R programming language was considered for in-depth analysis of the papers. To determine the future course of research, the authors use SciVal data and prominence percentiles related to particular study areas.

The findings show a growing interest in renewable energy entrepreneurship, as seen by rising annual production and citation rates. By revealing the interconnection of themes throughout the subject, keyword co-occurrence patterns illustrate its interdisciplinary nature. Sustainable development goal alignment highlights the field’s critical role in tackling global sustainability issues. This analysis gives researchers, decision-makers and practitioners a framework for navigating the terrain of renewable energy entrepreneurship.

Practical advice for promoting innovation and sustainability in the renewable energy sector is provided through insights into interdisciplinary intersections and sustainability alignment.

This paper adds to the body of literature by providing a comprehensive analysis of renewable energy entrepreneurship and highlighting how it affects sustainability. Including SciVal data with prominence percentiles suggests future research avenues and highlights the field’s originality and importance.

Emerging clusters, formed by small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) of slow growth and embryonic management systems present a different competitive advantage scheme. The purpose of this paper is to analyze relationships among components of intellectual capital within a model of competitive advantages in emerging clusters in a region of Latin America.

An intellectual capital model in a competitive advantage scheme is defined. A sequential method based in PLS technique is suggested to select the model and estimate the parameters. A sample of 113 wood manufacturing SMEs in a region of Argentina was selected.

The competitive advantage scheme in emerging clusters of SMEs proposes that resources affect organizational capabilities; territory and organizational capabilities affect strategic factors which improve performance. In this scheme, human capital affects structural capital and structural capital generates relational capital. SMEs organize tangible resources and relational capital to build organizational capabilities.

The sample is a cross‐section. The performance is subjectively measured by the satisfaction of the entrepreneurs with different items.

The paper establishes suggestions to strategies of the SMEs in emerging clusters and politics of developing countries. This paper enables practitioners and scholars to comprehend and make legitimate decisions and conclusions that can foster business growth.

The authors tested the impact of dimensions of intellectual capital on performance in emerging clusters of developing countries within a competitive advantage scheme, showing relationships among intellectual capital dimensions and competitive advantages. The analysis differentiates between intellectual capital dimension and organizational capabilities.

This paper aims to analyse the location as root of the specificity of the sources of competitiveness in subsistence small businesses (SSBs) of wood industry to improve the situation of poverty and the different behaviour of subsistence entrepreneurs.

The research uses an exploratory analysis based on principal components in two phases and confirmatory analysis based on partial least square techniques applied to a sample of 113 small and medium enterprises of wood industry in Oberá, a region of Argentina.

The analysis evidences the use of competitiveness sources of SSBs and a double behaviour in SSBs according to subsistence threshold. Satisfactory SSBs use competitiveness sources to improve organizational and economic performance. Unsatisfactory SSBs find economic performance without relation to organizational performance.

Data are cross-sectional, and in a conjuncture of economy expansion, future research should monitor the sample of firms using panel data to assess the development of relations. Sample is in a particular region and sector, and generalizations should be done carefully.

SSBs should raise the strategy integrating short and long term, which requires a strengthening of intellectual capital, especially in cooperation, professionalism and training. They could integrate and share a business community to develop competitive advantages of collective systemic.

The research shows the importance of the location for the competitiveness of SSBs and provides a classification of SSBs according to their performance.

The purpose of this paper is the design and experimental investigation of compact hybrid sound-absorbing materials presenting low-frequency and broadband sound absorption.

The hybrid materials combine microchannels and helical tubes. Microchannels provide broadband sound absorption in the middle frequency range. Helical tubes provide low-frequency absorption. Optimal configurations of microchannels are used and analytical equations are developed to guide the design of the helical tubes. Nine hybrid materials with 30 mm thickness are produced via additive manufacturing. They are combinations of one-, two- and four-layer microchannels and helical tubes with 110, 151 and 250 mm length. The sound absorption coefficient of the hybrid materials is measured using an impedance tube.

The type of microchannels (i.e. one, two or four layers), the number of rotations and the number of tubes are key parameters affecting the acoustic performance. For instance, in the 500 Hz octave band (α₅₀₀), sound absorption of a 30 mm thick hybrid material can reach 0.52 which is 5.7 times higher than the α₅₀₀ of a typical periodic porous material with the same thickness. Moreover, the broadband sound absorption for mid-frequencies is reasonably high with and α₁₀₀₀ > 0.7. The ratio of first absorption peak wavelength to structure thickness λ/T can reach 17, which is characteristic of deep-subwavelength behaviour.

The concept and experimental validation of a compact hybrid material combining a periodic porous structure such as microchannels and long helical tubes are original. The ability to increase low-frequency sound absorption at constant depth is an asset for applications where volume and weight are constraints.

Direct ink writing (DIW) is a robust additive manufacturing technology for the fabrication of fiber-reinforced thermoset composites. However, this technique is currently limited to low design complexity and minimal heights. This study aims to investigate the feasibility of UV-assisted DIW of composites to enhance the green-part strength of the printed inks and resolve the complexity and the height limitations of DIW technology.

The experimental approach involved the preparation of the thermoset inks that are composed of nanoclay, epoxy, photopolymer and glass fiber reinforcement. Composite specimens were fabricated in complex geometries from these ink feedstocks using UV-assisted, hybrid 3D-printing technology. Fabricated specimens were characterized using optical microscopy, three-point bending mechanical tests and numerical simulations.

The introduced hybrid, UV-assisted 3D-printing technology allowed the fabrication of tall and overhanging thermoset composite structures up to 30% glass fiber reinforcement without sagging during or after printing. Glass fiber reinforcement tremendously enhanced the mechanical performance of the composites. UV-curable resin addition led to a reduction in strength (approximately 15%) compared to composites fabricated without UV resin. However, this reduction can be eliminated by increasing the glass fiber content within the hybrid thermoset composite. Numerical simulations indicate that the fiber orientation significantly affects the mechanical performance of the printed composites.

This study showed that the fabrication of high-performing thermoset composites in complex geometries was possible via hybrid DIW technology. This new technology will tremendously expand the application envelope of the additively manufactured thermoset composites and the fabrication of large composite structures with high mechanical performance and dimensional freedom will benefit various engineering fields including the fields of aerospace, automotive and marine engineering.