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In this work, the production of ceramic moulds for aluminium casting using a stereolithographic apparatus (SLA) is presented.

Suspensions of silica powders in a photoreactive resin were used in a standard SLA equipment in order to build green parts. SLA, SLA‐250 (3D System, Valencia, CA) was modified in order to fabricate a ceramic green parts.

A characterization of mechanical properties of the material samples was performed. Finally, moulds for aluminium casting were obtained either using the stereolithographic part as a green mould, either by pyrolisis of the organic binder and subsequent sintering at high temperature.

Future investigations will be devoted to optimise the process and the mechanical performances of the sintered parts, improving the rheological properties of suspensions and reducing the building time.

This is a novel work on the production of ceramic moulds for aluminium casting using a SLA.

In some settings, sharecropping is associated with large extended families, high fertility, and early age of marriage. These demographic practices are often considered to be labor strategies for working extensive share‐tenancies. Where agricultural production is primarily labor intensive, landlords can increase their income, within certain limits, by maximizing the number of adult workers. If landlords hold considerable power over their tenants, they may have a large influence on demographic practices. Although this relationship between sharecropping and some of these demographic practices is found throughout much of history in northern Italy, the evidence is less clear for fifteenth‐century Tuscany. Herlihy and Klapisch‐ Zuber's study of the Catasto of 1427, a set of tax declarations, found no relation between household structure and land tenure. Some of their work suggested that fertility was higher among sharecroppers, but this relationship was not specified in detail. They did not consider the relationship between land tenure and age of marriage. This paper reconsiders the relationship between land tenure, household structure, fertility, and age of marriage. To try to correct for problems with Herlihy and Klapisch‐Zuber's land tenure variable, their data were aggregated to the administrative unit of analysis. The aggregated data show that sharecropping in rural Tuscany in 1427 was associated with household extension, high fertility, and early age of marriage, although the magnitude of this relationship was not large. Possible reasons for this weak relationship are discussed.

This paper aims to present the design of a particular non-reactive test rig for combustion swirlers and first stage turbine nozzles. The test rig is required for important experimental activities aimed at the optimization of a specific class of gas turbines.

A multi-disciplinary team performed the design process by following a tailored design approach, which has been developed for the specific case. The design outcomes allowed to build a fully functional test rig to be introduced in a test cell and then to perform preliminary experiments about the fluid dynamic behaviour of the turbine elements.

The followed design approach allowed to efficiently perform the task, by supporting the information exchange among the different subjects involved in both the conceptual and the embodiment design of the test rig. Additionally, the performed experiments allowed to achieve a final configuration that makes the test rig a valuable test case for combustor-turbine interaction studies.

The study described in this paper is focused on the design of a specific test rig, used for first validation tests. However, the achieved results (both in terms of design and test) constitutes the underpinning of the in-depth investigations to be performed in the next steps of the experimental campaign.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present paper is the first one that comprehensively describes the design activity of an experimental test rig for turbine application, also providing indications about the specific methodological procedure used to manage the process.

This paper aims to approach the issue of premium offers in Italy by discussing the case study of Fabbri, a firm operating since 1905 in the business of liqueurs, syrups and semi-manufactured products for ice cream.

The research takes into analysis three marketing schemes, all related to direct premium promotions, adopted by Fabbri at various times during the twentieth century. The evolution of the company’s marketing strategy is outlined drawing on several types of sources: archive documents, posters and labels and audiovisual material. It is analysed in the socio-economic and legal context of twentieth century Italy, and in comparison with premium offers in the USA and Europe.

The study argues that direct premium may represent a long-lasting and efficient marketing strategy when a firm is able to adapt it to a context that changes over time. Fabbri not only used premium offers to launch its products but also to consolidate its brand image.

By showing that innovative promotions are not necessarily connected to large firms, Fabbri’s case suggests that further research should be carried out to outline marketing policies carried out by small to medium enterprises.

Much has been written on premium offers in the USA and in Europe, but very little on such types of promotions in Italy, especially with reference to direct premiums. This study fills this gap and documents that a small family-owned firm was able to carry out innovative marketing policies as far as in the 1920s.

The purpose of this paper is to verify whether, besides the traditional organisational models mainly implemented by wine-making cooperatives, more modern and hybrid organisational forms can be profitably applied within an increasingly competitive wine market.

The study outlined in this paper deployed a mixed method. Specifically, an archived analysis, a survey and a descriptive case study (including visits, interviews and documentary analysis) were the methodological techniques used in this study, which were “in series but integrated” between themselves. In this paper, the landscape of Sicilian wine cooperatives is described by collating and processing different types of statistical sources, which have been integrated by direct surveys undertaken in 2017. Thereafter, the study focussed on a wine cooperative with a specific business model and a strategic edge by analysing its strategic choices and main structural and governance characteristics. Within this case study, a financial ratio analysis, which was based on 2011-2017 financial statements, was conducted to analyse the profitability, financial balance, capital structure and debt relationships of the wine cooperative.

The Sicilian wine cooperative system is still predominantly characterised by partial and vertical integration, implemented by cooperatives which elect to sell mainly bulk wine to wine merchants. In such a context, there is scope for other degrees of integration and strategic inter-firm alliances; the latter includes “vertical quasi-integration”. The study demonstrated how the wine cooperative under investigation is overcoming the structural problems of the regional wine sector and why it is retaining such a strategic alliance with one of the most important Italian wine conglomerates. Indeed, it has acquired greater strength and reliability since its collaboration with the aforementioned wine company. Thus, total revenue and the company’s market share of packaged wine have increased. However, there are still margins for improving sales’ profitability.

This study has territorial limitations but Sicilian wine cooperatives generally play an important role in the regional, Italian and European wine industries. As such, this research should be considered as an exploratory study, deserving further investigation into different strategic choices within the wine cooperative system by performing cross-case comparisons. Results may also be useful in orienting cooperative strategies in Sicily (or further afield) to small-to-medium wine cooperatives, often lacking specific abilities relating to the distribution, marketing and selling of their wine. Public agricultural policies may also be enlightened by these research pathways.

The authors contend that their study provides hitherto missing information relating to inter-firm strategic alliances, which wine cooperatives might implement to enhance their competitiveness and survive in the long-run.