Runoff generation dynamics within a humid river basin

The present paper introduces an analytical approach for the description of the soil water balance and runoff production within a schematic river basin. The model is based on a stochastic differential equation where the rainfall is interpreted as an additive noise in the soil water balance and is assumed uniform over the basin, the basin heterogeneity is characterized by a parabolic distribution of the soil water storage capacity and the runoff production occurs for saturation excess. The model allowed to derive the probability density function of the produced surface runoff highlighting the role played by climate and physical characteristics of a basin on runoff dynamics. Finally, the model have been tested over a humid basin of Southern Italy proposing also a strategy for the parameters estimation

NEW BUSINESS MODELS – FROM BUSINESS PROCESS REDESIGN TO THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Companies are today faced with challenges that are driven by the new technologies, innovations or the advent of new companies that are completely adapted to the digital era. Modern technological trends, such as social networks, mobile devices, cloud computing and data analytics together with the complexity of coordinating all these aspects are bringing several new issues and unanswered questions. One of the main challenges of the existing companies is transforming their business models into the digital ones. Easily said; however hardly done. Existing companies are heavily relying on the tradition and their past success making that transformation even harder. However, digital transformation cannot be done without rethinking existing business processes. Companies that want to remain competitive should have well-regulated and optimized business processes that are enabling them to efficiently perform their business. Moreover, changing business models is highly related with business process redesign, which requires additional endeavour particular in companies with a long tradition. The paper will thus focus on the challenges based on the new digital models and examine some practical examples of innovative digital products. Furthermore, the paper will also focus on the business process management as an important prerequisite for successful digital transformation. The paper thus analyses the possibilities to implement business process redesign and key challenges during business process redesign. Lastly, the paper will focus on the trends that should be researched in the future

NEW BUSINESS MODELS – FROM BUSINESS PROCESS REDESIGN TO THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Companies are today faced with challenges that are driven by the new technologies, innovations or the advent of new companies that are completely adapted to the digital era. Modern technological trends, such as social networks, mobile devices, cloud computing and data analytics together with the complexity of coordinating all these aspects are bringing several new issues and unanswered questions. One of the main challenges of the existing companies is transforming their business models into the digital ones. Easily said; however hardly done. Existing companies are heavily relying on the tradition and their past success making that transformation even harder. However, digital transformation cannot be done without rethinking existing business processes. Companies that want to remain competitive should have well-regulated and optimized business processes that are enabling them to efficiently perform their business. Moreover, changing business models is highly related with business process redesign, which requires additional endeavour particular in companies with a long tradition. The paper will thus focus on the challenges based on the new digital models and examine some practical examples of innovative digital products. Furthermore, the paper will also focus on the business process management as an important prerequisite for successful digital transformation. The paper thus analyses the possibilities to implement business process redesign and key challenges during business process redesign. Lastly, the paper will focus on the trends that should be researched in the future

e-Government in a connected society: a friend or a foe (32)

Organisations in the last decade are faced with the challenges posed by modern technology, changes in consumer behaviour and the emergence of new enterprises, whose operations are entirely based on innovative business models and the digital business. Digitization itself is the concept, which often occurs during the strategic plans of the organizations. Although public administration does generally not fall within the areas of high competition, the external environment is also forcing it into changes. These changes may be seen through the renewed portal of public administration, an increasing emphasis on digitization of the services, connecting e-Government towards the people etc. However, it is often forgotten that digitization is not based merely on technology itself, but it should include also organizational aspect and business process management as well. The purpose of this research in progress is to present the concepts behind e-Government and to demonstrate the extent to which digitization of public services is following objectives such as reducing costs, shortening business cycles and improving the quality of service. The paper will through the eyes of the end user highlight the shortcomings of the public administration digitalization and indicate possibilities for future development

Examining the True Impact of IS Research

The IS field is growing rapidly and new technological developments are providing new possibilities for business improvement. Therefore, there is a great opportunity for academic IS research due to the new business models, new procedures or even new, unprecedented problems. However, the research does not always hold out the prospect of developing or upgrading the IS field since many papers are merely published for the sake of publishing itself. They neither develop the theory, nor help the business. The aim of this research is thus to examine the impact and relevance of IS research by different stakeholders, namely academics, IS managers, top managers and students. The research will outline problems related to IS research dissemination among various stakeholders and present practical directions for future research

EXAMINING THE BUSINESS-IS RELATIONSHIP: A LITERATURE OVERVIEW AND ITS IMPACT (34)

The relationship between the top management and IS has been the subject of several research studies for over 50 years since this relationship is often inefficient and prevents the effective use of IS in many organisations. This inefficient relationship is often denoted as a gap between both sides. Despite significant efforts to bridge this gap, it is still present in many organisations and several of them are not sufficiently aware of its consequences. The aim of this paper is thus to present an overview of this important research topic and to examine the research impact and its relevance. The business-IS relationship was selected since this topic has been one of the core IS research areas in the last decades; and therefore, it is reasonably to expect that the research had an important impact among wider audience. Unfortunately, it is not the case. The paper thus presents a literature overview of the business-IS gap, a preliminary impact analysis, its possible implications and the future research possibilities

Numerical Analysis of Coupled Thermal-Electromagnetic Problems in Superconducting Cables

Superconducting materials, being characterized by a negligible electrical resistance under peculiar working conditions, provide extraordinary electromagnetic performances. The research field on electromagnets has taken a lot of advantages from this technology, since the huge electrical current densities that these materials sustain enable to produce very strong magnetic fields, up to more than 10 T, with negligible losses compared to the normal-conducting coils. The development of superconductors technology during the last years has enabled projects that only some decades ago were considered not feasible, both technically and economically. Among them, the most notable are fusion reactors like ITER, presently under construction in Cadarache (France), and particle accelerators for high energy physics such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) operating at CERN in Geneva (Switzerland). The present work regards the THELMA code, a coupled thermal-electromagnetic numerical model for the description of superconducting cables and magnets. This software was initially intended for the simulation of the electromagnetic behavior in the so-called Cable-In-Conduit-Conductors (CICC), largely used in fusion machines like ITER. During the PhD activity, a brand-new thermal model has been developed and added to the pre-existing code to describe problems in which the system thermal evolution cannot be assessed a priori. Moreover, the code has been extended to deal also with the Rutherford cables, a type of superconducting cable widely used in accelerator magnets like those of LHC. Finally, the code has been applied to several case studies, both in the field of accelerator and fusion magnets. This thesis is structured in the following way. The first two chapters are a general introduction to superconductivity: the first is a presentation of this phenomenon and its applications, intended for readers that are not familiar with this technology, whereas the second is a more detailed description of the superconducting wires and cables studied during this PhD activity. In the second part of the thesis, the THELMA numerical code is widely described. In chapter 3, the geometrical, electromagnetic and thermal models are presented, with a particular focus on the brand-new parts developed during this PhD activity, such as the Rutherford cable geometrical model, the thermal model and the coupling among electromagnetic and thermal routines. The THELMA model for electrical and thermal contact resistances is instead widely explained in chapter 4, together with the numerical analysis of several experimental measurements on both Rutherford and CICC cables. The third part of the work is instead focused on some examples of the application of the THELMA coupled code, performed during the PhD activity. In chapter 5 the analysis of the voltage-temperature characteristic on a CICC sample is presented, as a validation and an example of the code capability of reproducing non-trivial experimental findings. In chapter 6, the problem of the longitudinal propagation of a thermal-electromagnetic instability (quench) in impregnated Rutherford coils is analyzed with experimental, analytical and numerical tools. In chapter 7, the predictive analyses in terms of current distribution and losses in the CICC magnet NAFASSY are reported. Further details regarding useful material properties and some analytical and numerical models can be found in the appendices.I materiali superconduttori, essendo caratterizzati in particolari condizioni da una resistenza elettrica trascurabile, offrono straordinarie prestazioni elettromagnetiche. La ricerca sugli elettromagneti ha ottenuto notevoli vantaggi da questa tecnologia, in quanto le enormi densit\ue0 di corrente elettrica che questi materiali sopportano possono essere usate per generare campi magnetici estremamente intensi, anche maggiori di 10 T, con delle perdite trascurabili in confronto agli avvolgimenti normoconduttivi. Lo sviluppo della tecnologia dei superconduttori avvenuto negli ultimi anni ha permesso progetti che solo pochi decenni fa erano considerati irrealizzabili, sia dal punto di vista tecnico che economico. Tra questi, i pi\uf9 importanti sono senz\u2019altro i reattori per fusione nucleare come ITER, attualmnente in costruzione a Cadarache (Francia), e acceleratori di particelle per la fisica delle alte energie come il Large Hadron Collider (LHC) del CERN a Ginevra (Svizzera). In questa tesi viene presentato il codice THELMA, un modello numerico per la descrizione accoppiata del comportamento termo-elettromagnetico di cavi e magneti superconduttori. Questo codice era stato inizialmente creato per la simulazione del comportamento elettromagnetico dei cosiddetti Cable-In-Conduit-Conductors (CICC), ampiamente usati in macchine per la fusione nucleare come ITER. Durante l\u2019attivit\ue0 di dottorato, \ue8 stato implementato un nuovo modello termico in aggiunta al codice preestitente, in grado di descrivere problemi nei quali l\u2019evoluzione termica del sistema non pu\uf2 essere prevista a priori. Inoltre, il codice \ue8 stato esteso per descrivere i cavi di tipo Rutherford, usati comunemente nei magneti per acceleratori di particelle come quelli di LHC. Infine, il codice \ue8 stato applicato per l\u2019analisi di diversi casi di studio, sia nell\u2019ambito dei magneti per acceleratori di particelle che per fusione nucleare. La tesi \ue8 strutturata nella seguente maniera. I primi due capitoli sono un\u2019ampia introduzione alla superconduttivit\ue0: il primo \ue8 una presentazione generale di questo fenomeno e sulle sue applicazioni, pensata per chi non dovesse avere familiarit\ue0 con questa tecnologia, mentre il secondo contiene una descrizione pi\uf9 dettagliata dei fili e cavi superconduttori presi in considerazione durante questo dottorato di ricerca. Una descrizione dettagliata del codice numerico THELMA \ue8 invece riportata nella seconda parte della tesi. Nel capitolo 3 vengono presentati i modelli geometrici, elettromagnetici e termici, con particolare dettaglio relativamente alle parti sviluppate durante l\u2019attivit\ue0 di dottorato, quali il modello geometrico del cavo Rutherford, il modello termico e l\u2019accoppiamento tra il modello termico e quello elettromagnetico. Il modello di THELMA per le resistenze di contatto elettriche e termiche \ue8 invece descritto nel capitolo 4, insieme all\u2019analisi numerica di alcuni misure sperimentali sia su cavi Rutherford che CICC. La terza parte della tesi \ue8 invece focalizzata su alcuni esempi di applicazione del codice accoppiato THELMA, svolti durante l\u2019attivit\ue0 di dottorato. Nel capitolo 5 viene analizzata la caratteristica tensione-temperatura di un campione di cavo CICC, quale esempio di validazione sperimentale nella quale il codice \ue8 in grado di riprodurre fenomeni di difficile comprensione. Il capitolo 6 presenta il problema della propagazione longitudinale di un\u2019instabilit\ue0 termo-elettromagnetica in avvolgimenti impregnati di cavi Rutherford, analizzato con strumenti sperimentali, analitici e numerici. Nel capitolo 7 sono invece descritte le analisi predittive in termini di perdite e distribuzione di corrente riguardo il magnete CICC NAFASSY. Ulteriori dettagli riguardanti le propriet\ue0 dei materiali e alcuni modelli analitici e numerici sono infine riportati nelle appendici

Space-time modeling of soil moisture: Stochastic rainfall forcing with heterogeneous vegetation

The present paper complements that of Isham et al. (2005), who introduced a space-time soil moisture model driven by stochastic space-time rainfall forcing with homogeneous vegetation and in the absence of topographical landscape effects. However, the spatial variability of vegetation may significantly modify the soil moisture dynamics with important implications for hydrological modeling. In the present paper, vegetation heterogeneity is incorporated through a two dimensional Poisson process representing the coexistence of two functionally different types of plants (e.g., trees and grasses). The space-time statistical structure of relative soil moisture is characterized through its covariance function which depends on soil, vegetation, and rainfall patterns. The statistical properties of the soil moisture process averaged in space and time are also investigated. These properties are especially important for any modeling that aggregates soil moisture characteristics over a range of spatial and temporal scales. It is found that particularly at small scales, vegetation heterogeneity has a significant impact on the averaged process as compared with the uniform vegetation case. Also, averaging in space considerably smoothes the soil moisture process, but in contrast, averaging in time up to 1 week leads to little change in the variance of the averaged process