Towards increased understanding of organizational learning

Purpose Current approaches to organizational learning are limited in the insight they provide. Greater understanding is attainable through more engagement in fieldwork and an emphasis on key priorities to increase the amount and quality of context-specific learning. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Current approaches to organizational learning are limited in the insight they provide. Greater understanding is attainable through more engagement in fieldwork and an emphasis on key priorities to increase the amount and quality of context-specific learning. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Landscape Sustainability of Architecture in Fernando Menis’s Work: A Sensitive Design Rooted in Volcanic Nature

The many declinations of the idea of sustainability in architecture concern different disciplinary areas as well as all phases of the construction process. Alongside the more established categories of the sustainability of materials used and the technical construction processes and economic investments mobilized, there are now new facets of the idea of sustainability. They affect the impact that architecture can have on communities in terms of social relations and quality of context of life. This work explores the idea of landscape sustainability of architecture, understood as the ability of man-made interventions to belong to the context and the inhabitants, while promoting forms of alliance with the ecosystems at multiple spatial and temporal scale. Starting from the analysis of some trends in contemporary architecture that deals with these problems, the research identifies the volcanic environment as a terrain for exploration, with particular interest in its natural characteristics and dynamic interactions with anthropic contexts. After choosing the region of Macaronesia as a case study, the research focuses on the work of Fernando Menis. As an architect from the Canary Islands, he has developed his own modus operandi which, while rooted in its original context, is inspired by principles of social, cultural, and landscape sustainability of architecture that are valid today everywhere. The objective of this work is therefore to draw a reflection from his architectural poetics, with the intention of outlining the features of a possible contemporary design posture based on principles of landscape sustainability.

Study of a Context Quality Model for UbiPri Middleware

With the growth of ubiquitous computing, context-aware computing-based applications are increasingly emerging, and these applications demonstrate the impact that context has on the adaptation process. From the context, it will be possible to adapt the application according to the requirements and needs of its users. Therefore, the quality of the context information must be guaranteed so that the application does not have an incorrect or unexpected adaptation process. But like any given data, there is the possibility of inaccuracy and/or uncertainty and so Quality of Context (QoC) plays a key role in ensuring the quality of context information and optimizing the adaptation process. To guarantee the Quality of Context it is necessary to study a quality model to be created, which will have the important function of evaluating the context information. Thus, it is necessary to ensure that the parameters and quality indicators to be used and evaluated are the most appropriate for a given type of application. This paper aims to study a context quality model for the UbiPri middleware, defining its quality indicators to ensure its proper functioning in the process of adaptation in granting access to ubiquitous environments. Keywords: QoC, Model, Context-Aware, Data, Privacy

A multi-layer framework for quality of context in ubiquitous context-aware systems

PurposeThis paper aims to introduce a comprehensive framework for quality of context in pervasive context-aware systems. The framework includes the context quality characteristics, the quality policy, the quality calculation methods and the quality control algorithm.Design/methodology/approachThis study used the constructive research method to introduce the framework. The data of a context-aware flooding prediction system to evaluate the approach were used.FindingsThe framework improves the quality of captured context by resolving the missing, error context and the context conflicts using the quality characteristics and quality control process that are introduced in the framework.Originality/valueThis work is original. It is based on the author’s PhD work in De Montfort University.

The Rhadamanthys Quality of Context Architecture

With the rising number of Internet of Things devices and context providers, the need for sorting and selecting them according to user requirements and to the quality of sensed information becomes prevalent. Thus, this paper presents the Rhadamanthys architecture, designed to fulfill this requirement using Quality of Context information for both ranking and selection. Individual Quality of Context criteria as defined in the literature are evaluated for each available provider and used in formulae to obtain a single score that enables ranking and allows selection.