The business model: Theoretical roots, recent developments, and future research

The paper provides a broad and multifaceted review of the received literature on business models, in which we attempt to explore the origin of the construct and to examine the business model concept through multiple disciplinary and subject-matter lenses. The review reveals that scholars do not agree on what a business model is, and that the literature is developing largely in silos, according to the phenomena of interest to the respective researchers. However, we also found some emerging common ground among students of business models. Specifically, i) the business model is emerging as a new unit of analysis; ii) business models emphasize a system-level, holistic approach towards explaining how firms do business; iii) organizational activities play an important role in the various conceptualizations of business models that have been proposed, and iv) business models seek not only to explain the ways in which value is captured but also how it is created. These emerging themes could serve as important catalysts towards a more unified study of business models.Business model; strategy; technology management; innovation; literature review;

Learned Global Optimization for Inverse Scattering Problems -- Matching Global Search with Computational Efficiency

The computationally-efficient solution of fully non-linear microwave inverse scattering problems (ISPs) is addressed. An innovative System-by-Design (SbD) based method is proposed to enable, for the first time to the best of the authors knowledge, an effective, robust, and time-efficient exploitation of an evolutionary algorithm (EA) to perform the global minimization of the data-mismatch cost function. According to the SbD paradigm as suitably applied to ISPs, the proposed approach founds on (i) a smart re-formulation of the ISP based on the definition of a minimum-dimensionality and representative set of degrees-of-freedom (DoFs) and on (ii) the artificial-intelligence (AI)-driven integration of a customized global search technique with a digital twin (DT) predictor based on the Gaussian Process (GP) theory. Representative numerical and experimental results are provided to assess the effectiveness and the efficiency of the proposed approach also in comparison with competitive state-of-the-art inversion techniques

Design of Clustered Phased Arrays by Means of an Innovative Power Pattern Matching-Driven Method -- The Linear Array Case

The design of sub-arrayed phased arrays (PAs) with sub-array-only amplitude and phase controls that afford arbitrary-shaped power patterns matching reference ones is addressed. Such a synthesis problem is formulated in the power pattern domain and an innovative complex-excitations clustering method, which is based on the decomposition of the reference power pattern in a number of elementary patterns equal to the array elements, is presented. A set of representative results is reported to illustrate the features of the proposed approach as well as to assess its effectiveness in comparison with benchmark results from the state-of-the-art (SoA) excitation matching-based clustering methods

Measurement of the t-tbar differential cross section at large top quark transverse momentum in sqrt(8) TeV pp collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC

The top quark is the heaviest particle in Standard Model. When it is produced with a large Lorentz boost, its decay products tend to overlap, making the standard reconstruction techniques inefficient; large R jet substructure analysis techniques allow to increase the detection efficiency for these events. Various differential cross section measurements of boosted t-tbar from pp collisions with sqrt(s)=8 TeV are presented: with respect to the mass, to the transverse momentum and the pseudorapidity of the t-tbar system. The results here have been obtained using a sample of 20 fb^-1, recorded by ATLAS during 2012. The events are selected with a cut-based approach in the single lepton plus jets decay channel, where the lepton can be either an electron or a muon. The final background-subtracted distributions are corrected for the distortion introduced by the detector and selection effects using unfolding methods. The measurements are dominated by the systematic uncertainties, and are in agreement with the Standard Model, even if it can be seen a general tendency of the theoretical predictions to overestimate the measured cross section for increasing transverse momentum and mass of the t-tbar system

Dynamical moments reveal a topological quantum transition in a photonic quantum walk

Many phenomena in solid-state physics can be understood in terms of their topological properties. Recently, controlled protocols of quantum walks are proving to be effective simulators of such phenomena. Here we report the realization of a photonic quantum walk showing both the trivial and the non-trivial topologies associated with chiral symmetry in one-dimensional periodic systems, as in the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model of polyacetylene. We find that the probability distribution moments of the walker position after many steps behave differently in the two topological phases and can be used as direct indicators of the quantum transition: while varying a control parameter, these moments exhibit a slope discontinuity at the transition point, and remain constant in the non-trivial phase. Extending this approach to higher dimensions, different topological classes, and other typologies of quantum phases may offer new general instruments for investigating quantum transitions in such complex systems

Business Model Innovation

The chapter offers a broad review of the literature at the nexus between Business Models and innovation studies, and examines the notion of Business Model Innovation in three different situations: Business Model Design in newly formed organizations, Business Model Reconfiguration in incumbent firms, and Business Model Innovation in the broad context of sustainability. Tools and perspectives to make sense of Business Models and support managers and entrepreneurs in dealing with Business Model Innovation are reviewed and organized around a synthesizing meta-framework. The framework elucidates the nature of the complementarities across various perspectives. Finally, the use of business model-related ideas in practice is discussed, and critical managerial challenges as they relate to Business Model Innovation and managing business models are identified and examined

Real Time acquisition and processing of strong motion data in Northern Italy: the RAIS network.

This work summarizes the characteristics of a strong motion network (RAIS, in Italian: “Rete Accelerometrica in Italia Settentrionale”, Strong Motion Network in Northern Italy) installed in northern Italy since 2006. The main goal of the RAIS is both to collect data with a wide range of magnitude, allowing us to increase the knowledge of the covered area, and to assure real time high quality data in case of strong events. For each recorded earthquake data are automatically processed in order to fast disseminate the most important ground motion parameters (peak ground acceleration and velocity, 5% damped acceleration, pseudo-velocity and relative response spectra, Arias and Housner intensities). Moreover, for each event, at each recording site, the Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio are calculated. The analysis and metadata related to each event are collected in a web site (http://rais.mi.ingv.it) while the waveforms are distributed at different data center

Modeling Business Models: A cross-disciplinary Analysis of Business Model Modeling Languages and Directions for Future Research

Modeling languages for business models are a powerful and flexible means of representing and communicating knowledge related to business models. More than fifteen years after Osterwalder et al. (2005) clarified the ontology for the business model concept in this journal, we offer a systematic and cross-disciplinary assessment of the literature on business model modeling languages (BMMLs) that facilitate the visualization of this concept. In so doing, we synthesize and organize the knowledge dispersed across different disciplines in which BMMLs have originated and highlight the potential weaknesses in this literature to offer solid insights for future research. Our analysis reveals the existence of 17 BMMLs that have originated in traditional domains such as strategy and information systems, but also emerging domains such as sustainability. We contrast and compare these BMMLs along three dimensions: semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. We also analyze research that has made use of these BMMLs, differentiating between research that is conducted with a given BMML and research that is conducted about a given BMML. We conclude by offering a research agenda in which we illustrate the main challenges associated with the lack of well-accepted semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic foundations of BMMLs and outline opportunities for future research