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Evaluation of the extent of transformability of an existing system into an industry 4.0 (I4.0) compatible system is indispensable for both the technical and economic planning for implementing I4.0. This paper aims to propose a procedure to evaluate the transformability of an existing manufacturing system into an I4.0 system.

Six significant components of a manufacturing system and their five levels of modifications essential for the decision of transformation are identified. Based on expert opinion on facilitation and the impact of the transformation of one component on the transformation of others, a graph theory-based procedure for estimation of transformability index (TI) along with its relative and threshold values is proposed.

The paper introduced the concept of transformability into manufacturing systems. It proposed a simple procedure for calculating the ideal, relative and threshold value for TI to assess the suitability of the up-gradation of any manufacturing system into the I4.0 system.

Though the proposed procedure is based on six system components and their five levels of facilitation, it is quite versatile and able to integrate new components and different facilitation levels according to system requirements for their impact analysis in the transformation process. It can be extended to other domains like services and health care. Further, it can be used to estimate and establish the transformability criteria of a factory/service unit/industry from its current state to any regime.

The proposed method for deducing the TI, relative transformability index (RTI) and their threshold values would be a handy tool for decision-makers to assess the upgrading suitability of the entire manufacturing system and its component for use in the new regime or scrapping. It would provide mathematical and scientific support to the transformability decisions by assessing the influence of transforming one component to others and the system. This study would pave the way for further explorations in the domain of transformability.

In the light of available literature and best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first of its kind that has applied the concept of transformability of existing manufacturing systems toward I4.0 compatible systems and proposed a procedure to estimate TI, RTI and their threshold values.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the relationship between three concepts: organisations, transformability and the dynamics of strategy. These three concepts together with their interrelationships are central in explaining the life cycle of organisations, their survival and renewal.

The development of this explanation has been based on bringing together a diversity of perspectives. Each perspective provides a horizon of understanding by directing attention in a particular way. The benefits of this approach are that it avoids the pitfalls of one‐dimensionalism. This approach more accurately reflects the multi‐faceted reality within which organisations operate.

Discusses, compares and contextualises the findings and approaches of the papers in this special issue.

The perspectives considered represent a small sample of the diversity that exists. However, this sample as serves a starting‐point in developing a wider, more holistic debate that aims to bring theory and practice together.

Human actions on natural ecosystems have not only jeopardized human well-being but also threatened the existence of other species. On the other hand, the benefits resulting from a greater integration between the logic of nature and human occupations have been seen as motivating factors for the prevention and mitigation of environmental impacts in landscape planning, since it provides human well-being through the grant of resources, regulation of the environment and socio-cultural services called ecosystem services. This article highlights the relevance of using ecosystem integrity indicators related to the functioning of ecological support processes for landscape planning.

The research used the photosynthetic performance of vegetation through carbon fluxes in the landscape, defining areas where different approaches to green infrastructure can be applied, gaining over the majority of work in this area, in which low degrees of objectivity on measurement and consequent ecological recovery still prevail. Thus, using the conceptual support of restoration ecology and remote sensing, the work identified different vegetation performances in relation to the supporting ecological processes using the multispectral CO₂flux index, linked to the carbon flux to identify the photosynthetic effectiveness of the vegetation and the Topographic Wetness Index (TWI).

With a study in the Distrito Federal (DF), the results of the different performances of vegetation for ecological support, through electromagnetic signatures and associated vegetation formations, allowed for the identification of hotspots of greater integrity that indicate multifunctional areas to be preserved and critical areas that deserve planning actions using green infrastructure techniques for their restoration and integration into the landscape.

This approach could be the initial step towards establishing clear and assertive criteria for selecting areas with greater potential for the development of supporting ecological processes in the territorial mosaic.

Inspired by a task-based approach, this study aims to investigate the transformability of digital nomadic workers’ information practices by capturing the related social and technical perspectives. It concentrates on conducting an exploration of the characteristics of nomadic work from two standpoints: mobile social practices adopted by nomadic workers in their unsteady work activities and the used technical approaches.

The paper provides a clear understanding and basic insights about nomadic working trends by interviewing 21 Omani digital nomads working in large organisations or small- and medium-sized enterprises, corporation workers, creative freelancers and workers who have a multi-functional set of competencies.

Although nomadic work is still in the early stages in Oman, the study results indicate that digital nomads are able to create transient work strategies that allow them to establish their own efficient workplaces. They also have the essential abilities to take advantage of technology to support their work achievement. The findings from such research could be used to develop general thinking among workers and organisations about the role of mobile work in improving work performance and investing in modern computing and information technology applications to facilitate successful remote working.

The study finding can help decision makers to address socio-technical matters by ensuring that cafes, airport lounges, public places and co-working spaces can meet the particular requirements of digital nomadic workers. Additionally, the study provides programmers with useful context on workers’ behaviour in relation to distance work, which could encourage them to develop new and local applications and potentially boost nomadic work.

There have been no empirical studies exist that cover key issues related to nomadic workers in the region. This study is the first attempt to provide primary indications that describe and define the nature of nomadic work in Oman by exploring the workers’ information practices in the nomadic environment. The study determines the information context of nomadic work, mainly focussing on how these dynamic contexts frame their information practices.

It has recently come to light that there is an increasing demand for a new type of small house design, which vary in area from 20 square metres to 100 square metres and even more. Being remarkably different from traditional types of spatial organizations, the new house types present an open plan concept with a highly flexible and adaptable spatial arrangement that exhibit diverse functional spaces within one open, integrated space.

In light of this, the main aim of this study is to reveal the new dynamics of spatial organization found in today's small house types and identify the significant changes in the contemporary design approaches to small house layouts which have evolved from a need for minimized space usage and a requirement for diverse living spatiality.

Subsequently, thirty houses have been chosen to be analysed for the purpose of this study to reveal the differences between integrated and segregated spatial organizations in regard to flexibility, adaptability, transformability and permeability within the spaces. In addition to this, the new spatial relations will be overviewed considering spatial depth, interpenetration and density to define more implicit organizations which are able to expand constantly and accommodate different functional spaces in one open space with the help of spatial identifiers.

The main focus of this research study concentrates on the above mentioned dynamic forms of spatiality that change from being weak to strong, implicit to explicit and indistinct to clearly defined spaces. These forms are measured, analysed and basically compare by means of a space syntax application on the values of the space and convex maps of the thirty selected houses.

In summary, the analysis and measurement of the spatial characteristics of contemporary small houses in this sphere include both theoretical and empirical components. Firstly, the study discusses the basic definitions of spatial relations and organizations. Secondly, the space syntax method was used to test and compare new spatial design approaches by means of the Mean Depth, Mean Integration, Basic Difference Factor and Space Link Ratio values mainly to clarify how the spatiality changes according to the size although the plan type stays the same as 1+1.

The dry construction techniques, widely used in past centuries have seen a renewed interest in the last few years. This is due to different reasons such as the new user’s needs for high quality at low cost, the shortage of traditional skilled labor, the need to reduce delivery times and the rising costs of initiating a fabrication plant.

Dry construction methods regard the building site as the place of assembly. The quality of the finish products, are guaranteed by a factory controlled production process and reduction to a minimum of on-site work. The building, designed by “unconnected boxes” becomes an “active machine”, capable of ensuring maximum performance for the user. Finally the design of an “open building system” also consists of a set of rules to allow creation of various solutions.

The complexity of this modus operandi increases progressively if the intervention is carried out in small historic centres. Therefore, this research aims at presenting a method of work that uses dry construction systems and that has been developed to intervene in the historic contexts damaged by the earthquake that struck the Abruzzo region on April 6, 2009.

This method develops a process that aimes at the rehabilitation of the buildings but also at improving their energy behavior while respecting, at the same time, the vernacular values. It is based on a “case by case” approach that starts from an analysis of the context and its local construction techniques, taking into account the peculiarities of each location. The results of this method have been applied to a small village located in the province of L'Aquila called Santa Maria del Ponte.

The historic assets are heterogeneous and different to each other, and for this reason, consolidated valuation methodologies do not exist in practice or in the literature. It is, therefore, necessary to dwell on the study of a particular historic building type or category. The assessment process of the valuers of Venetian Villas was explored, focusing on the study of the valuation function construction. The paper investigated if a possible value function, based on the partition of the characteristics, which significantly influence the value, exists and it is generalizable to the whole set of Venetian Villas. The purpose of this paper is to contribute knowledge on the economic valuation of Venetian Villas.

An application of Hedonic Pricing study to a database of 71 Venetian Villas has been tested. This statistical procedure allowed the authors to discover which results in a percentage of property values can be attributed to the historical characteristics of a building. Using a multiple linear regression and its variables an analysis of residuals and data relating to the variance has been performed.

This research identifies and proposes, therefore, a valuation approach that can be generalizable to the whole set of Venetian Villas (over 4,000 properties). The models show that the most important variables which influence the value of the villas are: age, internal and external area, maintenance conditions, and author. This model could be used for future valuations of the same type of asset.

The model enables valuers to address better to the property valuation of the Venetian Villas through the valuation functions, which suggest which are the main features which focus in the case of a Venetian Villa valuation and what impact they have on the value asset. The model can be specifically used for valuation reports in the enhancement project of such properties.

The purpose of this article is to propose a theoretical model explaining information technology outsourcing performance in the public sector as well as a set of empirically testable propositions to improve the understanding of key determinants of success.

Based on Fountain ' s technology enactment framework, the authors integrated inter-organizational factors, such as trust, knowledge sharing, and quality of outsourcing interfaces, in the model and added organizational culture alignment between service providers and public administration to enhance Fountain ' s original framework.

The authors proposed 17 empirically testable propositions to establish the relationships between key variables in IT outsourcing projects in the public sector.

The proposed model provides guidance for future research aimed at advancing knowledge of IT outsourcing.

The contribution lies in the development of specific variables, such as trust, knowledge, and organizational culture, which are related to building an outsourcing relationship and are used as determinants of the quality of organizational interfaces between public bureaucracies and IT outsourcing providers.

The majority of studies in General System Theory do not consider any specific configuration of relations between elements. One such configuration is hierarchy which exists in many aspects of reality. A quantitative approach to the representation of hierarchies, as opposed to a qualitative approach, is described. Some properties of the mathematical model of various hierarchies are examined and real‐life examples are presented.

This paper aims to delve into the complexities of terminology mapping and annotation, particularly within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It underscores the criticality of harmonizing clinical knowledge organization systems (KOS) through a cohesive clinical knowledge representation approach. Central to the study is the pursuit of a novel method for integrating emerging COVID-19-specific vocabularies with existing systems, focusing on simplicity, adaptability and minimal human intervention.

A design science research (DSR) methodology is used to guide the development of a terminology mapping and annotation workflow. The KNIME data analytics platform is used to implement and test the mapping and annotation techniques, leveraging its powerful data processing and analytics capabilities. The study incorporates specific ontologies relevant to COVID-19, evaluates mapping accuracy and tests performance against a gold standard.

The study demonstrates the potential of the developed solution to map and annotate specific KOS efficiently. This method effectively addresses the limitations of previous approaches by providing a user-friendly interface and streamlined process that minimizes the need for human intervention. Additionally, the paper proposes a reusable workflow tool that can streamline the mapping process. It offers insights into semantic interoperability issues in health care as well as recommendations for work in this space.

The originality of this study lies in its use of the KNIME data analytics platform to address the unique challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in terminology mapping and annotation. The novel workflow developed in this study addresses known challenges by combining mapping and annotation processes specifically for COVID-19-related vocabularies. The use of DSR methodology and relevant ontologies with the KNIME tool further contribute to the study’s originality, setting it apart from previous research in the terminology mapping and annotation field.