A model for the complex assessment of sustainable housing affordability

This study investigates the concept and assessment of housing affordability. Housing affordability is a multi-dimensional issue, yet it is typically assessed quite simply in terms of the financial burden of housing costs. The study frames the housing affordability problem as encompassing more than financial costs of housing and household ability to meet these costs, and extends to larger issues of social wellbeing and community sustainability. This thesis provides an original contribution to new knowledge by developing and applying a complex model for the assessment of sustainable housing affordability. The model is holistic and is capable of considering a broad spectrum of criteria determining housing affordability and the wellbeing of households, including economic, environmental and social aspects. Multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques are innovatively applied for the analysis of sustainable housing affordability. The chosen methodology of MCDM allows a multidimensional analysis of both quantitative and qualitative criteria Influencing the affordability of housing and household wellbeing. The thesis presents the results of a case study assessment of 10 areas in Liverpool, UK as a practical example of the sustainable housing affordability assessment model. This allows the given areas to be ranked in respect of their sustainable housing affordability. The model can assist stakeholders, such as central governments, local authorities, developers and consumers, on both a national and international scale, in making comprehensive and informed decisions concerning affordability. The model provides a complex analysis of the criteria that influence the affordability of housing, beyond the financial implications experienced by households and better reflecting household wellbeing and sustain ability concerns. The tool could be utilised as a potential planning indicator for shaping local housing markets. The rankings derived from the model may be used as a locational decision aid and to support new housing development that will meet the needs of low and moderate income residents in ways that go beyond traditional notions of financial burden

Impersonation-as-a-Service: Characterizing the Emerging Criminal Infrastructure for User Impersonation at Scale

In this paper we provide evidence of an emerging criminal infrastructure enabling impersonation attacks at scale. Impersonation-as-a-Service (ImpaaS) allows attackers to systematically collect and enforce user profiles (consisting of user credentials, cookies, device and behavioural fingerprints, and other metadata) to circumvent risk-based authentication system and effectively bypass multi-factor authentication mechanisms. We present the ImpaaS model and evaluate its implementation by analysing the operation of a large, invite-only, Russian ImpaaS platform providing user profiles for more than $260'000$ Internet users worldwide. Our findings suggest that the ImpaaS model is growing, and provides the mechanisms needed to systematically evade authentication controls across multiple platforms, while providing attackers with a reliable, up-to-date, and semi-automated environment enabling target selection and user impersonation against Internet users as scale.Comment: Presented at ACM CCS 2020. Appendix on "Deriving a Threat Model from Observation" available at https://michelecampobasso.github.io/publication/2020-11-10-impaa

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING: EVIDENCE FROM LOWER-MIDDLE INCOME AND HIGH INCOME ECONOMIES

The provision of affordable housing is a pressing challenge that exists around the globe. Successful completion of affordable housing projects is, therefore, of great significance in both developed and developing countries. The primary objective of this paper is to identify the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for affordable housing projects. To achieve this a comprehensive review of international literature is conducted to identify relevant factors. Nine groups of CSFs were formed, namely: Policy and government support; Land and planning process; Role of Financial Institutions and funding aspects; Sustainability; Designing and materials selection; Approvals, procedures, and clearances; Project management and value engineering; Infrastructure development of Project; and Facility Management. Subsequently, a survey is conducted with experts in India in order to validate and rank the criticality of the identified success factors in the Indian context. Expert rankings are provided for a range of affordable housing products. The results indicate that ‘policy and government support’, ‘land and planning process’, ‘role of financial institutions and funding aspects’ and ‘approvals, procedures and clearances’ are generally the top four CSFs for affordable housing projects. However, the results also indicate that importance of the CSFs was found to vary across different housing products (social, public, and private housing and rental and ownership models). A secondary objective of this paper is to identify differences in approaches to the implementation of the established CSFs in practice. The paper presents a case study comparison between India (a lower-middle income country) and the UK (a high income developed country). Pune in India and London in the UK are compared to determine how well countries of different income levels are achieving the established CSFs. Results suggests a variation in the local contexts in the delivery of successful affordable housing and it is found that developed countries are better at government support and policies, land planning, and incentives to developers for affordable housing delivery

The Impact Of Intangible Capital On Countries’ Sustainability During The Economical Recession

Intangible capital is an important and a form of capital recently much discussed in scientific literature. Even though the concept of intangible capital is not strictly set yet and vague enough, many authors agree that intangible capital is composed of intellectual capital, human capital and social capital. The creation of value in modern society is based on human skills, health, knowledge, intellectual property, enrolment in social units, networks, expressed social trust, etc. All these components are changing the economic structure influencing sustainable development of countries. However, the research suggests that intangible capital creation implies favorable conditions only during economic growth cycle. Intangible capital has poor resilience to economic recessions at macro-economic level

What Counts as Quality Feedback? Disciplinary Differences in Students’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Feedback

As the literature has shown, students and teachers in different higher education settings often perceive the quality of feedback in varying ways. Recognising that the discipline is important for the way students and teachers perceive teaching and learning in higher education, we assume that the perceived quality of feedback is related to the specific teaching-learning environment in which it is embedded. To that end, we explore in this chapter what students and teachers perceive to be quality feedback in their courses and how these perceptions are related to those of their own teaching-learning environments. We draw on interviews with students and teachers from three different courses that vary in their disciplines and pedagogical approaches. The findings show that the criteria for what counts as quality feedback vary across course contexts and between students and teachers. The differences are related to the importance attributed to certain structural, epistemic, and relational-affective characteristics of the course environment. Based on these findings, we suggest that it is important to develop more context-sensitive ways of evaluating and developing the quality of feedback in higher education