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This paper aims to present the methodology and results of the experimental characterization of three-dimensional (3D) printed acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polycarbonate (PC) parts utilizing digital image correlation (DIC).

Tensile and shear characterizations of ABS and PC 3D-printed parts were performed to determine the extent of anisotropy present in 3D-printed materials. Specimens were printed with varying raster ([+45/−45], [+30/−60], [+15/−75] and [0/90]) and build orientations (flat, on-edge and up-right) to determine the directional properties of the materials. Tensile and Iosipescu shear specimens were printed and loaded in a universal testing machine utilizing two-dimensional (2D) DIC to measure strain. The Poisson’s ratio, Young’s modulus, offset yield strength, tensile strength at yield, elongation at break, tensile stress at break and strain energy density were gathered for each tensile orientation combination. Shear modulus, offset yield strength and shear strength at yield values were collected for each shear combination.

Results indicated that raster and build orientations had negligible effects on the Young’s modulus or Poisson’s ratio in ABS tensile specimens. Shear modulus and shear offset yield strength varied by up to 33 per cent in ABS specimens, signifying that tensile properties are not indicative of shear properties. Raster orientation in the flat build samples reveals anisotropic behavior in PC specimens as the moduli and strengths varied by up to 20 per cent. Similar variations were observed in shear for PC. Changing the build orientation of PC specimens appeared to reveal a similar magnitude of variation in material properties.

This article tests tensile and shear specimens utilizing DIC, which has not been employed previously with 3D-printed specimens. The extensive shear testing conducted in this paper has not been previously attempted, and the results indicate the need for shear testing to understand the 3D-printed material behavior fully.

With the drastically changed pattern of the retail food trade in recent years in which the retailer's role has become little more than that of a provider of shelves for commodities, processed, prepared, packed and weighed by manufacturers, the defence afforded by the provisions of Section 113, Food and Drugs Act, 1955 has really come into its own. Nowadays it is undoubtedly the most commonly pleaded statutory defence. Because this pattern of trade would seem to offer scope for the use of the warranty defence (Sect. 115) in food prosecutions it is a little strange that this defence is not used more often.

Trust-commitment theory has been fundamental in understanding interorganizational relationships in sustainable supply chain management. Trust-commitment dynamics can provide insights into sustainable sourcing outcomes. Despite recent extensions to trust-commitment theory, trust and commitment correlation and the mediation role of trust between antecedents (i.e. opportunism) and commitment remains fundamental. We revisit trust-commitment theoretical relationships within the context of blockchain technology—and specifically blockchain smart contracts.

We conducted the scenario-based experiment with 100 business professionals from operations, supply chain and related fields to test the proposed hypotheses on how different governance mechanisms impact various managerial perceptions in a buyer–seller setting.

Findings reveal that compared with the formal written contract, blockchain smart contract enhances affect-based trust—as the only significant trust dimension, secures buyer commitment and interestingly, encourages opportunistic behavior. The impact of blockchain smart contract on cognition-based and institution-based trust is not significant. The findings advance trust-commitment theory with valuable managerial insights within the blockchain and sustainable sourcing context.

This study serves as a foundation for future studies to further clarify blockchain technology on sustainable buyer–seller relationships using fundamental relationships of trust-commitment and other social exchange theories.

This paper aims to investigate a double puzzle, empirical and theoretical. Empirically, can the authors document the influence of groups on financial decisions in investments and trading? Theoretically, if decisions in a group context can be documented, how can we account for them, against the background of the normative models, according to which financial decisions are individualized and atomized? Based on interviews and ethnographic observations with fund managers, analysts and traders, the authors document here decision-making in finance. Theoretically, the authors argue that financial decisions can be explained if, in addition to cognitive processes, the authors take into account the impact of social interactions on the decision-making process. Social interactions are not restricted to imitation processes, and can be seen here as the efforts deployed by decision-makers at maintaining and managing the context of their decisions. The authors present and discuss empirical evidence and argue that the study of social interactions can productively contribute to understanding how decisions are made in finance.

The data analyzed here have been gathered between 2001 and 2011, and include: interviews with investment professionals (fund managers and analysts) from the UK and Turkey; interviews with individual investors from the UK and the USA; and observations with individual investors from the UK and the USA. This captures decision activities conducted in different regulatory frameworks of those countries. The authors focussed in the interviews on general decision-making practices.

Conclusion the authors have sought to answer a double puzzle, empirical and theoretical. Empirically, the puzzle is how investors and traders resort to groups in their decision-making. Theoretically, the puzzle consists not only in providing an explanation for such processes but also in taking into account that they do not fit the normative models of decisions in mainstream finance. The argument has been that in addition to the cognitive processes identified and discussed in behavioural finance, the authors need to take into account the impact of social processes as well. Social processes include the efforts deployed by financial decision-makers at maintaining and managing the contexts within which decisions are made. The work of context maintenance is intrinsic to the logic of decision-making. The authors have identified, documented and discussed here the social dynamics in financial decisions with respect to performance, managing group relationships and possible conflicts.

Managing relationships within groups is not without consequences with regard to trading decisions. Oftentimes, avoiding group conflicts – or being confronted with them – leads to decisional adjustments, which have less to do with returns on trades than with the necessity of accommodating social relationships. As several of the interviewees emphasized, making decisions implies consensus and reaching consensus requires accommodating relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyse the role of entrepreneurial artisan products in regional tourism competitiveness.

This study applies secondary data from different sources (Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira, the Madeira Institute of Wine, Embroideries and Handicrafts) covering a temporal period spanning the last 15 years (2001-2015). This deployed quantitative data analysis through an econometric approach with recourse to regression models and the Pearson’s correlation technique.

According to the results, it is suggested that in terms of external support and funding, there should be a greater role and a boost in the number of projects carried out not only under the auspices of the European Union but also under the Autonomous Region of Madeira. Thus, participant companies may invest in greater business efficiency and entrepreneurship, in innovation, promotion and the internationalisation of their products, and thereby obtain greater overall regional competitiveness.

The generalisation of results remains to a certain extent limited, given the findings stem from only one particular region. The exclusive utilisation of secondary data may also undermine the robustness of the results obtained.

The study provides empirical evidence that helps in identifying the role of artisan products within the capacity for regional tourism sector entrepreneurship and competitiveness. Furthermore, this also contributes to the knowledge of the scientific community particularly interested in artisan and cultural entrepreneurship and regional competitiveness in the tourism sector.