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The purpose of this paper is to describe an innovative Parametric and Adaptive Slicing (PAS) technique to be used for generating material addition paths along three-dimensional surfaces.

The method is grounded on the possibility to generate layers starting from multiple reference surfaces (already available in the model or created on purpose). These are used for mathematically deriving a family of parametric surfaces whose shape and spacing (the layer thickness) can be tuned to get the desired aesthetic, technical and functional characteristics. The adhesion among layers is obtained guaranteeing a smooth transition among these surfaces.

The examples described in the paper demonstrate that the PAS technique enables the addition of the material along non-planar paths and, hence, the elimination of the staircase effect. In addition, objects printed using this technique show improved mechanical properties with respect to those printed using standard planar layers.

As the method allows a local control of the material addition/deposition, it can be used to design the mechanical behavior of the objects to be printed.

The technique proposed in this paper overcomes the limitations of currently available adaptive and curved layer slicing strategies, by introducing the possibility to generate layers with a non-constant thickness whose shape morphs smoothly from one layer to another.

How individuals allocate their time between work and leisure has important implications regarding worker well-being. For example, more time at work means a greater return to human capital and a greater proclivity to seek more training opportunities. At the same time, hours spent at work decrease leisure and depend on one's home environment (including parental background), health, past migration, and government policies. In short, worker well-being depends on trade-offs and is influenced by public policy. These decisions entail time allocation, effort, human capital investment, health, and migration, among other choices. This volume considers worker well-being from the vantage of each of these alternatives. It contains ten chapters. The first three are on time allocation and work behavior, the next three on aspects of risk in the earnings process, the next two on aspects of migration, the next one on the impact of tax policies on poverty, and finally the last chapter on the role of labor market institutions on sectoral shifts in employment.

Contemporary society is characterized by extreme acceleration (Rosa, 2010). Time has become a scarce resource and individuals are forced to adhere to the demands of speediness. This condition is connected to the increased performance now required in many areas of daily life, an increase so profound that some authors refer to ours as a “doping society.”

This chapter argues that the practice of quantification exponentially increases the “managerializing” of the user. In this sense, the quantified-self (QS) can be thought of as something that helps people to organize their activities in the manner of the market. Individuals thus become self-entrepreneurs who, in keeping with the standard aims of neoliberalism, make use of their collected data in a fashion analogous to the way results are determined in a corporation’s Research & Development department. The self becomes an assortment of analyses by which measures of behaviors and habits are made, all in the name of producing an “objective report” on the user’s characteristics. The ultimate aim of all this is to improve certain parts of life so as to increase and optimize our productivity.

In this chapter, the authors discuss the results of research carried out on a sample of students at an elite university in the northeastern United States. The focus of the research was the interpretations that the students gave to a period of digital meditation. Meditation, yoga, and mindfulness have boomed in popularity over the past few years. Several factors are responsible of our “age of anxiety.” The de-standardization of life trajectories makes people freer (at least apparently) but requires more choices and, thus, reduces the sense of security. According to Rosa (2010), anxiety has intensified due to social acceleration. Therefore, it is not surprising that we sleep less than before. However, sleep loss is not just due to stress. According to Crary (2013), capitalism produces a consumer who should be able to buy “7/24.” Consequently, the chances of consumption should not have temporal boundaries. In sum, it is not surprising that there are numerous apps to cope with anxiety. Going back to the research, one result should be mentioned: several students have used biomedical jargon to describe the effects of meditation. Someone spoke of “digital therapy” referring to meditation. Moreover, some affirmed that the perception that they had of their own body had changed; thus, they were more keen on the quantifiable aspects of bodily health. In general, students found meditation as a very useful “therapy” for a quick fix for the many stresses of college. This is why we called it a “positive” medicalization.

This paper aims to capture the effective behaviour of nonlinear coupled advection-diffusion-reaction systems and develop a new computational scheme based on differential quadrature method.

The developed scheme converts the coupled system into a system of ordinary differential equations. Finally, the obtained system is solved by a four-stage RK4 scheme.

The developed scheme helped to capture the different types of patterns of nonlinear time-dependent coupled advection-diffusion-reaction systems such as Brusselator model, Chemo-taxis model and linear model which are similar to the existing patterns of the models.

The originality lies in the fact that the developed scheme is new for coupled advection-diffusion-reaction systems such as Brusselator model, Chemo-taxis model and linear models. Second, the captured pattern is similar to the existing patterns of the models.

This study aims to model scale effects in nano-beams under torsion.

The elastostatic problem of a nano-beam is formulated by a novel stress-driven nonlocal approach.

Unlike the standard strain-driven nonlocal methodology, the proposed stress-driven nonlocal model is mathematically and mechanically consistent. The contributed results are useful for the design of modern devices at nanoscale.

The innovative stress-driven integral nonlocal model, recently proposed in literature for inflected nano-beams, is formulated in the present submission to study size-dependent torsional behavior of nano-beams.

Sustainable development involves companies on an individual, organizational and social level requiring the adoption of business models or innovations capable of privileging the co-creation of mutual value with a view to sustainability. From an organizational perspective, this paper aims to show that knowledge brokers, by making explicit their roles as mediators of interactions and acting on dynamic capabilities (DCs), can generate a proactive approach to the three dimensions of sustainability and specifically allows capabilities to positively impact the propensity toward sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices.

This study offers an empirical analysis of 200 companies in the agro-food sector participating in a knowledge brokerage system activated by protection consortia. It uses a multiple regression technique that allows for observing relationships between DCs and SSCM.

Absorptive, adaptive and innovative capabilities, when understood and brokered, have a positive and direct impact on the SSCM.

As there have rarely been frameworks developed that correlate knowledge brokerage, DCs and sustainability, this paper suggests that DCs, when adequately valued by the knowledge broker, allow for identifying the requirements of the various stakeholders regarding sustainability and changes in market scenarios to generate sustainability practices along the supply chain.

The founders of modern economic thought in Italy are Francesco Ferrara (1810–1900), Luigi Cossa (1831–1896) and Angelo Messedaglia (1820–1901).