bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Urban vulnerability to the risk of flooding in the Annaba metropolitan region
Authors: Salah Sid , Soufiane Sid Ahmed
Published: July 2024

Water can be a boon as well as be scarce or cause floods. Indeed, floods account for more than 80 per cent of natural disasters recorded in the world between 1996 and 2006, causing damage (human, economic, etc.) on the one hand and changing the image of the city on the other hand. In a developing country such as Algeria, which has been confronted with a ‘crisis of the past, a crisis of the present and a crisis of the future’, it is difficult to see how this situation can be resolved. The aim of this study is therefore to warn of potential future risks, particularly floods, through an in-depth analysis of the vulnerability of natural risks in urban areas in Algeria — in particular the Annaba metropolitan region. The rate of urbanisation of flood-prone areas remains high in the greater Annaba area. The State’s new orthodoxy is largely based on reducing the vulnerability of goods and people to flood risk, which should not be systematically synonymous with the unbuildability or freezing of territories subject to risk. The challenge is to control the urbanisation of the most exposed areas, while allowing the urban and economic renewal of already urbanised or least exposed areas.
The valuation of high-risk residential buildings and the role of EWS1
Authors: Phillips Steve
Published: July 2024

In response to the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in June 2017, the UK Government proposed regulatory reform with the purpose of ensuring residents feel safe and are safe in their own homes. This paper examines the advice that has been given by the government and traces how this advice has had disastrous consequences for the mortgage lending market for flats located in high-risk residential buildings. This has been compounded by the unfortunate effect that the EWS1 form has had on the same market. The paper opens with a review of the independent expert advisory panel set up to provide advice and make recommendations to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on urgent building safety measures that should be carried out to high-risk residential buildings with aluminium composite material (ACM) external wall cladding. The panel formulated the much-criticised advice note 14 which provided guidance to building owners to take general fire precautions with non-aluminium composite Material (non-ACM) cladding in their external wall systems to ensure that the systems are safe. Although advice note 14 was superseded in January 2020 by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s consolidated advice document, the binary approach to defining safe external wall systems is still adopted. This has caused unintended consequences for the valuation of flats in high-risk residential buildings as many valuation surveyors take the position that if compliance with the consolidated advice document cannot be demonstrated, then the flats within that building will have a valuation of £nil. The industry’s response has been to produce the EWS1 form which was intended to unblock the market. This aim has not been achieved, however, and the paper details why the EWS1 form has, to date, failed and suggests ways of restoring confidence within the market.
The social transformation of the historical city centre of Karbala , Iraq
Authors: Lafta Farhan Sabeeh , Nasar Zuhair A.
Published: July 2024

Traditional holy cities, such as Karbala in Iraq, suffer from various challenges, namely socio-demographic transformations. This paper studies three important aspects. First, it investigates land use in the holy city of Karbala for religious, commercial and residential purposes. Secondly, it explores the different methods and materials that can be used to study this. Thirdly, it focuses on the symbolic aspect of the holy city of Karbala, the development of its historic city sectors and its demographic transformation. The paper concludes that the demographic changes are clearly related to political fluctuations in Iraq and the Middle East in general. Relocation and immigration to the city are the outcome of the recent events of violence in the country. This increase in population is directly affecting the standard of services in this city.
Business continuity beyond COVID-19: Lessons learned and the ‘illusion of preparedness’
Authors: Hall Tracy
Published: July 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced organisations to react swiftly to an evolving crisis and find creative solutions in real time. In a relatively short period, remote access, employee hardware requirements and flexible work schedules have significantly raised people’s expectations regarding what constitutes a ‘normal’ level of preparedness. However, have organisations capitalised on the lessons learned from the event to improve operational practices and business opportunities, or has the situation merely created an illusion of preparedness? This paper describes the incredible strides made over the last two years before exploring the key lessons that have been overlooked and discussing the potentially misleading sense of readiness that threatens to prevail.
The experience economy: Post COVID-19, brands need to refocus on customer experience
Authors: Perino Chelsea
Published: July 2024

To survive in a post COVID-19 era, organisations are going to have to change the way they operate, communicate, develop and deliver products. This article examines the importance of developing meaningful and transparent relationships between consumers and brands, the strategy shifts necessary to do business in a very different economic environment, and what the organisation of the future could look like.
The secret to automating multi-party asset workflows
Authors: Kroon Richard W.
Published: July 2024

Siloed archives are easy to build and inexpensive to maintain, but their commercial value and long-term viability are limited by their isolated nature. Very few end-to-end media workflows stay within a single domain. The vast majority involve multiple parties with data and process hand-offs at each interface point, some of which are automated, but far too many of which require some level of manual intervention. Increased automation and correspondingly decreased manual labour are the keys to long-term profitability, so manual touch-points must be eliminated where possible and relegated to exception handling where not. The key to all of this for media archives and the workflows they support is shared identification. There are many possible identifiers, each of which have their place, but the ideal solution for multi-party, commercial workflows is curated identification such as is provided by the Entertainment Identifier Registry (EIDR). Use of EIDR IDs by media archives and their partners enables process automation, cost reduction and transaction speed improvements across such diverse applications as acquisition of off-air recordings, intellectual property rights management, search and discovery and bulk digitisation. Curated identification does not provide these services, but it does make them easier to implement, more economical to run and more reliable to operate. To paraphrase the BASF slogan: ‘Curated identification does not provide the services you need. Curated identification makes those services better’.
Enhancing collective happiness in the city: Felicitas publica and the availability of relational goods
Authors: Águeda Marujo Helena , Miguel Neto Luís , Casais Mafalda
Published: July 2024

Informed by positive psychology and the fields of urban studies, design, economics, political philosophy and sociology, this paper presents an exploration of different conceptual models of happiness and well-being and considers their potential to be applied in an urban context. It introduces the ideas of ‘public happiness’ (felicitas publica), ‘relational goods’ and ‘third places’ and makes a case for their foregrounding in urban policy and practice. A case study, focusing upon a project implemented in the city of Lisbon, Portugal is used to demonstrate the ways in which policy makers might actively intervene to enhance collective happiness in the city.
Strengthening alumni volunteer relations at colleges and universities
Authors: Schanz Jeffrey M.
Published: July 2024

Volunteer relations programmes are critical at universities and colleges. Alumni volunteers can serve as important ambassadors and roaring advocates for their alma maters. Most agree that there was a retraction in advancement engagement and giving programmes during and immediately after The Great Recession. It is suggested that this was a mistake that should not be repeated. This paper gives emphasis to the concept of broadening and strengthening volunteer-engagement efforts and the importance of building a mutually beneficial programme for alumni and the institution during the current coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic. The paper addresses the origins of volunteer relations and its theoretical underpinnings, and the connection with fundraising, and lays out a roadmap, or guide, for the practitioner.
Risk management and team-managed mutual funds
Authors: Bär Michaela , Ciccotello Conrad S. , Ruenzi Stefan
Published: July 2024

This paper relies on mutual fund industry data to examine the consequences of a specific risk-management policy. The focus is on the decision by a mutual fund sponsor to employ a fund management team instead of a solo manager. The analysis shows that team-managed funds tend to have (1) more reliable investment styles; (2) less tournament behaviour; and (3) more stable performance over time than solo-managed funds. While risk-adjusted net returns of team-managed funds are slightly lower than those of their solo-managed counterparts, team-managed funds attract significantly more new cash flows from investors. Thus, the paper provides empirical evidence that there is not necessarily a conflict between the objectives of risk management and value maximisation in financial institutions.
The enterprise risk management function in financial institutions
Authors: Hopper Greg
Published: July 2024

Risks faced by financial institutions that cut across the traditional risk categories are increasingly being managed in a new risk department: enterprise risk management (ERM). Functions that are pan-risk in nature depend upon each other, and complement each other and are candidates to be placed in an ERM function, as these functions would benefit from common management and strategic direction. Risk functions that are a natural fit for an ERM department are proposed and considered. The functions discussed include firmwide risk identification, firmwide capital and risk management stress testing, firmwide risk appetite and limits, firmwide risk reporting, and firmwide governance, with particular emphasis on how they complement and depend on each other as well as on what features should be incorporated so that each function will be more effective within an ERM department than it would have been as a separate, distinct risk function. Because an ERM department focuses on new and emerging risks that have no traditional home in risk management departments, ERM analysts must be flexible and willing to develop expertise in areas that are not commonly studied by risk specialists. To illustrate ERM analysis, two case studies are presented: cryptocurrency and climate change risk.
How direct response television (DRTV) builds brand equity and sells products and services
Authors: Brechner Irv
Published: July 2024

Brands are constantly looking for fresh ways to generate new customers. While many have used television advertising for branding, many have not yet used direct response, even when it makes complete sense. An overwhelming majority of brands have not used DRTV because of the general perception that it is a carnival-style product-hawking medium. Yet many major brands that have used DRTV have been successful, and have found that, when executed correctly, DRTV advertising can build their brands and pay its own way.
The future supply chain: Creating a supply chain culture
Authors: Aafedt Darcy
Published: July 2024

Healthcare continues to be complex. Healthcare supply chain is one subset of the healthcare organisation that has its own complexities. Under current status quo operations, the United States healthcare system is not sustainable. To move to a sustainable future, changes within the healthcare supply chain are necessary; and the future supply chain, as a key driver in the overall operations of healthcare, must move from a department within the healthcare organisation to a strategy that engages everyone within healthcare to address supplies’ impact on cost, quality and outcomes. Banner Health supply chain set out to change the culture and engage everyone across the healthcare system to consider supplies’ impact on cost, quality and outcomes. This paper shares how Banner Health maintains a unified approach and engages everyone across the organisation to consider supply chain as a strategy. It outlines processes and tools developed to successfully implement supply savings ideas and shares lessons learnt to transform a system's culture into one where supply chain is strategy.
Legal and regulatory update
Authors: Beresford Amanda
Published: July 2024

This paper reviews the recently published Planning Bill and considers its proposals for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, a National Planning Statement, a new Infrastructure Planning Commission, a new Community Infrastructure Levy and other amendments to the planning system.
Behaviour and costs in dilapidations and valuation claims: Why the clever children play nicely
Authors: Webber Richard
Published: July 2024

This paper explains what sort of behaviour is expected of the parties and their advisers in dilapidations claims by the courts, by reference to the provisions of the Civil Procedure Rules and four recent cases.
How should airports be regulated?
Authors: Hanks Kyran P.
Published: July 2024

This paper will answer the question of how to regulate airports by commenting on the main features of the Q5 price control. In BAA's response to the Civil Aviation Authority December 2005 policy document, upon which this paper is based, it was argued that price controls for BAA's London airports should:
• be set by reference to CAA's statutory objectives and government policy for the development of runway capacity in the South East;
• be set after a full analysis of the nature of the London market;
• reflect the fact that extra capacity at Stansted is good not only for passengers at Stansted, but also at the other London airports, as competition drives down prices and increases innovation across the London system;
• reflect the general move towards deregulation across other regulated sectors; and
• deliver incentives for BAA's shareholders to choose to continue to invest in the transformation of Heathrow, the renovation of Gatwick and the development of Stansted.

This paper is based upon BAA's submission to the December 2005 consultation document issued by the CAA. As such, it includes material from a variety of authors, in particular, Mike Toms and Jonathan Pacey, both of BAA.
Ensuring consistency in the ever dynamic analytics landscape
Authors: Kingsnorth Simon
Published: July 2024

Within marketing, analytics is a broad and complex area. It is a discipline that is difficult to understand fully, not least because the landscape has changed significantly in recent years and continues to change weekly. Marketers must contend with new channels, platforms and metrics, both in terms of visibility of data and the interpretation of said data. This paper reviews the key techniques and models that the modern marketer must understand in order to round out their knowledge and have the best chance of ensuring consistency in their strategy and that their key performance indicators are aligned with their strategy, both now and into the future. By using established models and new techniques to manage analytics and assess opportunities, marketers can be assured that their data will be robust, complete and actionable.
Retrofitting traditional buildings for improved energy performance in the context of BSI PAS 2035
Authors: Edwards John
Published: July 2024

The key document directing the way in which homes of all types and ages in the UK are retrofitted is PAS 2035. This document provides a major step forward in the way the retrofit of homes is conducted and while many great efforts have been made to ensure that traditional buildings are properly understood and retrofitted, there are some improvements in the way in which this could be approached. By comparing PAS 2035 with other guidance and standards which have been specifically developed for traditional and historic buildings, we can see where improvements in the next version of PAS 2035 can be made. PAS 2035 covers a broad range of areas with the process and risk analysis being a key part as well as roles with specific responsibilities and stipulated competency, qualification and membership requirements.
Total loss-absorbing capacity and minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities: Impact of bail-in rules on balance sheet management and funding
Authors: Hasenclever Christian
Published: July 2024

This paper looks at the impact of the new resolution regime, especially the bail-in tools, on balance sheet management and the implications for internal liquidity risk management as well as funding. Minimum Requirement for own funds and Eligible Liabilities (MREL) and total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) should be key indicators for total bank management. Due to costintensity, the paper advises optimising the balance sheet structure and the resolution strategy. A prudent funding strategy has to find a balance between the firm-specific funding capacity, continuous market access and limiting costs. The paper also looks at an efficient way to allocate the specific costs within the bank.
Negotiating a negative past in the reuse of historic prisons
Authors: Gibbeson Carolyn , Gill Sarah
Published: July 2024

This paper investigates the reuse of historic former prisons and the effect of their past connotations on that redevelopment and adaptation. It examines, through stakeholder interviews at two former UK prison sites, Northallerton and Oxford, how their history is incorporated into the redevelopment. It explores how the different stakeholders of each site perceived the sites and the effect these perceptions had on their redevelopment. The research explored what happens when a historic site being redeveloped is one with a negative past and how this affects its adaptation and reuse. The paper examines how the history of these two prison sites was employed, treated and dealt with by the different stakeholders working in the redevelopment and successor uses. This approach considers the role of practitioners involved in negatively perceived heritage sites and what this means for heritage redevelopment more widely.
In a data-rich world, which metrics should digital marketers focus on?
Authors: Kingsnorth Simon
Published: July 2024

The modern marketer has a wealth of data at their fingertips. However, being able to access vast quantities of data is not the same as knowing how to analyse and interpret said data. Indeed, the challenge is to review only the metrics that matter, or risk drowning in a sea of data. This paper discusses the landscape of modern marketing, to include the channels and core factors that every marketer must consider when deciding which key performance indicators to focus on. It also shows that by keeping an eye on their core strategy and understanding how to prioritise their data, every marketer can optimise their campaigns effectively.
Optimising the role of the public health community in planning and implementing large-scale evacuations
Authors: Lucky Christian M. , Foltin George L. , Portelli Ian , Goldfrank Lewis R. , Drukteinis Dainius A. , Dreyer Benard P.
Published: July 2024

The public health community must advocate for the design and administration of plans and regulations that protect public health, promote effective medical response in evacuations, and require active participation by public health officials in evacuation planning. The public health response during recent natural disasters has highlighted the inadequacies of meeting the needs of complex populations of vulnerable individuals. Critical issues in the emergency management and public health systems with regard to the evaluation of a population are delineated, and potential solutions are suggested.
Traditional or experiential places? Exploring research needs and practitioner challenges in the management of town centres beyond the economic crisis
Authors: Coca-Stefaniak Andres , Carroll Shanaaz
Published: July 2024

This paper outlines some of the key issues affecting town and city centres today, and provides glimpses of new challenges and opportunities for researchers and practitioners in this field. These include the strategic positioning of town centres, managing the evening and night-time economies effectively, the growing role of the experience economy to town centre attractiveness beyond mere retail-led approaches, the potential dichotomy between physical town centres and digital high streets, more human smart cities, as well as the growing role of emerging concepts such as the sharing economy and the circular economy. It is argued that place management practitioners will need to address these trends proactively (rather than reactively) and that further research is required in order to understand the complex interactions of the various parameters managed by place managers to keep town centres vibrant, viable, innovative and resilient to further global economic downturns.
Improving campaign performance using purpose marketing: Case study of Run For The Oceans
Authors: Kullnig Christoph , Obermüller Anja , Aichhorn Katherine
Published: July 2024

The importance of purpose-driven marketing has risen to new heights in the last few years. At Runtastic we did not simply want to follow a trend, but rather to play a pivotal role in shaping what such marketing looked like and what level of impact it could have. Building on our past effort into our annual Run For The Oceans campaign, we aimed to give this campaign and its essential cause — raising awareness of the marine plastic pollution crisis — an unprecedented level of importance in terms of our purpose marketing efforts, striving to create an impact far greater than we ever imagined possible. This paper outlines where we began, what measures we took to increase our scale and reach and how the outcome exceeded our wildest expectations. It is a study of the degree to which purpose marketing and corporate social responsibility matter to consumers in this day and age and how user engagement can be greatly improved by recognising the value consumers/users place on such topics.
Recognising and thwarting transaction and payment laundering
Authors: Frechtling Dan
Published: July 2024

The internet has facilitated economic growth, new mass retail models and financial inclusion for the under-banked and micro-businesses. At the same time, however, it also enables new avenues of crime. The ease with which goods can be sourced and distributed online has enabled cyber criminals to thrive. Their endeavours are severely compromised, however, when credit card networks and acquirers deny access to payment systems. Criminals have adapted by utilising transaction laundering — the use of online ‘front’ businesses, and payment laundering — the use of alternative payment methods (APMs) with less mature risk policies. While credit card systems have strict rules and processes, APMs like peer-to-peer, e-wallet and money transfer have less robust due diligence and monitoring practices. Perpetrators dubbed ‘payment hustlers’ rotate between different front businesses and different payment methods through trial-and-error until they gain safe passage into the payment system. Banks and payment service providers can secure their operations through both organisational and technological best practices. Furthermore, rigorous due diligence can coexist with a smooth business customer onboarding experience.
UK MiFIR transaction reporting: Fundamental, crucial, a common good — but typically wrong
Authors: Longman Charlotte
Published: July 2024

The FCA repeatedly states that complete and accurate data is crucial to transaction reporting. Errors across multiple reports could not only lead to undetected market abuse, but pose significant financial, reputational and compliance risk for firms. Research and analysis conducted by ACA Group has identified persistent and significant problems in submitted transaction reports, including more than six million transaction reporting errors, and that 97 per cent of reports under MiFIR/EMIR contain inaccuracies. Furthermore, analysis suggests that many investment firms are not performing adequate reviews of the quality of submissions. Findings indicate that firms' processes here remain underdeveloped or are otherwise hindered by a misplaced confidence. Such errors and inaccuracies undermine the FCA's ability to identify market abuse and, thereby, erodes the regulator's ability to meet its statutory objective to protect and enhance the integrity of the UK financial system. It is clear that significant errors are still being made four years after implementation. The FCA has hinted it will be combating persistent reporting failings, so it is becoming a question of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ we start hearing about firms being fined or censured. This paper seeks to highlight some of the root causes for those errors and suggests best practices for firms to adopt to begin to prevent and/or remedy mistakes.
`Lessons for the Big Society: Planning, Regeneration and the Politics of Community Participation` by Denis Dillon and Bryan Fannin
Authors: Bailey Nick , Couch Chris
Published: July 2024

Lessons for the Big Society: Planning, Regeneration and the Politics of Community Participation; By Denis Dillon and Bryan Fanning; Reviewed by: Nick Bailey. Staging the New Berlin: Place marketing and the politics of urban reinvention post-1989; by Claire Colomb; Reviewed by: Chris Couch.
Standardisation in payments for digital commerce: Where are we, and where are we going?
Authors: Geerling Max
Published: July 2024

In the field of payments, standardisation is indispensable to establish successful products and services. There are good reasons to have the actual standards set by market players, driven by their business needs and foreseen opportunities. The current author believes this is to be preferred above setting a standard through the intervention of a governmental body. The latter would contain the risk of hampering future technological innovation. Nevertheless, there is an obvious push from regulatory and supervisory bodies to further harmonise standards and business rules for payment methods and processes in the European Union as part of a policy to reinforce the (digital) single market. This very policy comprises activities in the area of digital commerce on improving parcel delivery, simplifying value added tax (VAT) rules and strengthening the trust in online services—all in a cross-border context. This paper comments on the current market and regulatory forces that drive harmonisation in payments for digital commerce.
The benefits of using artificial intelligence in payment fraud detection: A case study
Authors: Soviany Cristina
Published: July 2024

This paper presents a case study on the use of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) for the detection of payments fraud. The process applies AI within a typical online payment environment to detect fraudulent transactions in real time. The design focuses on an effective supervised learning engine with a data analytics component to support high-performance fraud detection, improving the predictive value of the original data. The design exploits the discriminant properties of customer data by finding hidden patterns. This feature significantly improves fraud detection rate and performance stability compared with a rule-based solution. The developed solution, based on an advanced AI-based technology and platform increased fraud detection rate from 85 per cent to 90 per cent (in terms of number of transaction records) and to 95 per cent in related amount volume (in terms of transaction value), while the alert rate (the percentage of daily transactions investigated manually) was reduced from 40 per cent to 10 per cent. The solution falls under the category of explainable AI because it can explain the rationale behind the decisions.
Building community resilience: The City of Victoria’s approach to climate change adaptation and extreme heat response
Authors: Signer Kristie , Formosa Summer , Seal-Jones Tanya
Published: July 2024

The Pacific Northwest heat dome of 2021 exposed the need for increased planning and response measures by local governments, and the value of collaboration in preparedness, planning and response to extreme heat events. Recognising that extreme heat is becoming an increasingly significant threat, the City of Victoria has taken steps to improve its response to future events with a focus on developing strategies that provide resources and support to those most vulnerable in the community. The Province of British Columbia and regional health authorities have since provided crucial direction, resources and expertise to municipalities to support response effort for extreme heat events. In recognition of the vital role of community involvement in adaptation planning, the City of Victoria is taking proactive measures to engage its residents in the development of adaptation strategies and disaster risk reduction measures. Building on the lessons learned from the 2021 heat dome and climate change projections for the region, the City is fostering close collaboration with local businesses, nonprofit organisations and community groups to strengthen efforts and ensure that those most at risk are well prepared. The experience in Victoria offers valuable insights and strategies for other municipalities seeking to develop effective disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation strategies based on best practice for planning and responding to extreme heat events. This paper provides a case study of how the City of Victoria responded to the 2021 heat dome, the lessons learned, the practices that were adopted for future heat seasons and how working alongside the community will strengthen Victoria’s resilience to the changing climate conditions.
Communication of error and uncertainty in airport environmental models
Authors: Pearce Daniel P. , Wrobel Luiz C. , Fuller Ian C.
Published: July 2024

Where changes are proposed to airport capacity, operational procedures or infrastructure, it is commonplace to rely to some extent on the findings of computer models to evaluate potential environmental impact. While simulated data provide useful foresight, this information is subject to an inherent degree of uncertainty that stems from input data and model approximations. However, conventional methods of scientific reporting (eg journal publications and technical documents) are frequently incomprehensible to all but experts. The result is that many stakeholder groups question the integrity of such reporting and/or make subjective interpretations of findings that deviate from scientifically rigorous investigation. Using an example of the proposed expansion of London Heathrow, this paper seeks to evaluate the barriers that frequently prevent the successful conversion of simulated local environmental data into information that is of best use in a contemporary decision-making environment increasingly dominated by non-experts. It concludes by making suggestions on how the reporting of simulated environmental data can be improved to increase accessibility, reduce ambiguity and better meet the information needs of an extended stakeholder community.
Personalisation, data and trust: The role of brand in a data-driven, personalised, experience economy
Authors: Morey Timothy , Krajecki Kristin
Published: July 2024

Smart connected products and services, powered by consumer data, are changing the relationship that brands have with their consumers. If delivered well, experiences are on-brand and enhance the overall trust that consumers have for a brand. Chief marketing officers (CMOs) and marketers need to work alongside product development, IT and legal teams to ensure that the firm is giving consumers a compelling value proposition in exchange for their personal data, and that the experience reinforces the brand promise. An effective way to do this is to build important trust-building moments into the customer journey so that ‘moments of truth’ are augmented by ‘moments of trust’. Marketers need to ensure that their brands’ actions around privacy align with their brand values, and they need to be very deliberate about which brands they partner with, so as not to lose the trust of consumers. Success in the experience economy depends on a brand’s ability to offer relevant, personalised experiences, which in turn depends on consumers being willing to share their personal data with a brand to power that experience. The mission of marketers in the experience economy is to enhance consumer trust in all aspects of a brand experience, taking them well beyond creative communications into service and product design.
Prospective role of affordable housing delivery mechanisms in Egypt
Authors: Soliman Sally Mahmoud , Saad Mekawi Hala , Mahmoud Yousry Ahmed
Published: July 2024

As recognised by the United Nations (UN), the opportunity to access adequate affordable housing is one of the most vital needs of people throughout the world. In Egypt, there is a wide gap between this goal and the competence of the applied planning, financial, and management and control mechanisms related to affordable housing delivery. This paper aims at enhancing the affordable housing delivery process in Egypt, by addressing the shortcomings in currently implemented mechanisms. It investigates affordable housing mechanisms in five selected developed and developing countries (Austria, UK, USA, India, China) and compares them to currently applied mechanisms and programmes in Egypt, in an attempt to highlight their shortcomings and potential amendments. From the results of this analysis, and the outcome of a structured interview with Egyptian stakeholders comprising housing academia, the paper finally presents a proposed list of planning, financial, and management and control mechanisms for affordable housing delivery in Egypt that could play a more effective role and enhance the affordable housing market.
Open API banking: A powerful trigger for the value chain revolution in Japan
Authors: Yanagawa Eiichiro
Published: July 2024

This paper explores the concept of open application programming interfaces (APIs), which are drawing attention as innovative means of corporate collaboration and partnerships, and the possibilities of open banking enabled by the modularisation of systems and businesses using open APIs. APIs were once merely a manner of system development for highly competent software engineers. Today, the open API has become a business policy of outstanding business managers. In May 2017 the Japanese financial industry shifted to a new framework. The Amended Banking Act introduced a registration system for electronic settlement agency service providers and so-called third-party providers (TPPs) and announced policies of collaboration between banks and TPPs. Measures concerning the promotion of open innovation at banks eventually emerged as new regulations. This turned out to be a major shift in Japan’s financial regulations. API is a new communication path of information systems, but it could be misused. The outcome of discussions was a shift from the legacy screen scraping method to open APIs and token authentication. The open API will be a powerful trigger for the value chain revolution set to take place in the Japanese banking and financial services industry.
Supply chain redesign: From building resiliency to positioning for growth
Authors: Jorge Jeff , Wendt Cory
Published: July 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed gaps in supply chains and the fragility of lean manufacturing approaches; no company or industry was spared its disruptive effects. Companies have figured out how to become resilient. Now comes the hard part: pivoting to growing and expanding their business. This paper examines the competitive advantages of supply chain management, the role of dynamic costing in determining real costs, strategic investments in procurement and purchasing solutions, and alternative capacity or nearshoring.
Outsourcing insurance in the time of COVID-19: The cyber risk dilemma
Authors: Naseeb Hala , Metwally Abdelmoneim
Published: July 2024

With the shift towards teleworking/working from home in recent years and accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, insurers are finding themselves relying on outsourcing as a way to cope with changes in business models and requirements. This has augmented the risk of cyberattacks and is ultimately considered a high risk for insurers of any size, not only because it subjects insurers to litigation concerning data breaches, but also because of the harm to the insurer’s reputation when an attack happens, which is further magnified by resultant loss of system use. Clients already have the perception that insurers are too invasive when it comes to personal data (especially in the medical and life insurance fields), so they are blamed for not handling cyber risk meticulously regardless of whether it is the outsourcing provider’s fault. Risk managers in insurance companies need to apply enterprise risk management (ERM) principles and identify cyber risks across the entire process to manage these risks. The paper proposes some potential policy solutions that would help insurers mitigate outsourcing cyber risks. Further research is required in this field, specifically into what strategies insurers are implementing to deal with the risks posed by the outsourcing provider’s cyber risk and which of those strategies have fared better than others thus far.
Best practices for producing stories on Instagram
Authors: Nardello Erica
Published: July 2024

Seven years and 700 million users after launching, Instagram’s latest product offering poses unique opportunities and challenges for brands. From creative and content strategies to live-streaming options to new advertising opportunities, Instagram Stories provides brands with unique ways to innovate and make an impact on both their businesses and their audiences.
Enable the metaverse and smart society with trustworthy and sustainable ‘things’
Authors: Chaudhuri Abhik , Anand Ambuj
Published: July 2024

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a promising technological advancement that offers several benefits to society and may be effective in addressing sustainability challenges. New digital business models are using the power of information to replace traditional products with innovative solutions and services leveraging IoT technology. The benefits of metaverse applications, smart services in cities with IoT and digital twins are apparent. To realise the true potential of this technology, security and privacy concerns need to be effectively addressed. Ethically aligned design of autonomous and intelligent systems with IoT components is a necessity for human well-being and to develop trust in these applications and services. In addition to self-regulation, a structured and well-defined policy for technology governance of IoT deployments is necessary to establish trustworthy smart services. This paper discusses the potential of IoT applications in digital twins, the futuristic metaverse and smart cities. It highlights how IoT implementations are addressing the UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs), the emerging security and privacy concerns with IoT, and how emerging global standards and policies are useful in addressing IoT's trustworthiness related challenges for creating sustainable, trusted metaverse and smart society.
Beyond asynchrony: Evaluating hybrid and live online teaching
Authors: Tobin Thomas J.
Published: July 2024

The research and advice in Evaluating Online Teaching (2015) covered the range of then-possible online instructional scenarios — what we might nowadays call ‘traditional’ online spaces such as learning management system (LMS) shells that afforded a highly mediated and structured range of possible interactions among instructors, learners and the tool sets within those spaces. Largely asynchronous, online teaching left a clear trail of observable phenomena. Announcement posts, discussion threads and comments on student work were all captured in the LMS space. At the time of publication, we worried that such a cornucopia of observable data points would lead to ‘analysis paralysis’, and we advised observers of online teaching to limit their observations to one unit or online session, much as an on-ground observer might observe only one or two class periods of live class time. We now find ourselves in an instructional world where the bounded environment of the LMS seems almost simple. Especially as a result of the emergency remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, the possible permutations and definitions of ‘online teaching’ have exploded. For those of us tasked with observing, evaluating, crediting and critiquing the teaching that happens at our institutions, we can no longer assume that looking in one ‘place’ — whether that is a classroom, an LMS shell or a Zoom recording of a live remote session — will afford us a representative sample of the teaching practices and behaviours that instructors exhibit. This best-practice paper outlines what has changed in technology-supported and technology-mediated teaching and offers ways to observe and assess online teaching that are consistent, equitable and fair.
National mass care strategy: A national integrated approach
Authors: Mintz Amy , Gonzalez Waddy
Published: July 2024

Mass care refers to a wide range of humanitarian activities that collectively provide life- sustaining services, such as emergency sheltering, feeding, reunification, distribution of emergency supplies and recovery information, before or in the aftermath of an emergency or disaster. Most services are coordinated and provided by non-governmental organisations and/or local government. Based on the lessons learned in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, the American Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters joined efforts to expand national mass care capabilities in order to support survivors in the wake of catastrophic events, as well as to enhance the integration of volunteers and non-governmental organisations into the broader national effort. These efforts resulted in the creation of the National Mass Care Council in 2010, with representatives of Federal and State agencies, voluntary organisations and the private sector working together to develop a unified approach to mass care and to ensure the provision of consistent and uniform services across the USA, regardless of the magnitude of the event.
Blockchain technology as a potential risk source and a risk mitigator: US reflections and outlook
Authors: Cianci Mark , Strohbehn Xochitl , King John
Published: July 2024

Cryptocurrency, its risks, its volatility, and recent collapses of crypto-related firms have been splashed across the news for years. It is therefore unsurprising that recent developments surrounding disruption in the US banking system have thrust cryptocurrency into the spotlight again, with conventional financial analysts debating the degree to which blockchain-related institutions and products may have contributed to recent bank runs and instability. In the meantime, many US regulators have tended to focus on the potential downsides and risks of blockchain technology, and have recently increased the intensity of their enforcement activities against crypto market participants, often premised on decades-old legislation and case law. In the context of these broad trends, an underexplored idea is that greater integration of blockchain technology into the mainstream financial system could actually reduce bank run risk. If that is right, certain US regulators should modulate their approach and devote further resources to fostering a healthy adoption of blockchain technology within the financial system. Against that backdrop, this paper explores the potential capacity of blockchain technology to curtail widespread risk in the financial system, suggests that blockchain technology indeed has significant power to act as a risk mitigant, offers some practical observations as to how blockchain adoption could improve the risk profile of financial systems, and concludes that the promise of blockchain technology in this regard should spur US regulators to foster and promote the growth of blockchain.
An arbitrage-based risk diagnostic of the cross-currency basis swap
Authors: Wise Richard
Published: July 2024

The cross-currency basis measures the yield differential between the single currency and cross-currency swap markets. The construction of discount curves for the purposes of pricing and risk-managing cross-currency cash flows necessarily incorporates this basis, resulting in a sensitivity to fluctuations in its value. The basis has proved prone to significant volatility twice in the last ten years. More recently, the credit crisis provoked a wave of fixed-income hedge fund de-leveraging which drove the basis to unprecedented levels. This paper derives a quasi-arbitrage pricing diagnostic with respect to the basis. This diagnostic is used to explain some of the empirical drivers of the US dollar–yen spread.
Strategic reactions of regional airports facing competition from the high-speed train: Lessons from France
Authors: Chiambaretto Paul
Published: July 2024

The development of a high-speed train network in Europe has been one of the major threats to regional airports. While intermodal airports have benefited from such an evolution, regional airports have seen a considerable reduction in traffic, mainly due to the diminution of feeding flights to the national hub. When facing such a challenge, regional airports can implement several strategies to maintain their growth. The first strategy relies on developing a transverse network which would allow airlines to avoid any frontal competition with the train; the second involves developing feeding flights with other hubs in order to reduce dependence on the national airline. Some final remarks are given to help airport managers to apply such strategies soundly.
Best practices in combating fraud in financial institutions
Authors: Mahony John
Published: July 2024

This paper intends to provide the reader with practical steps to take when establishing a framework for combating fraud.
AI-powered surveillance for financial markets and transactions
Authors: Soviany Cristina
Published: July 2024

The paper presents an overview of financial markets surveillance solutions for the detection of various abusive behaviours. Technological advances support high-performance artificial intelligence (AI)-based solutions that help to avoid the drawbacks of legacy solutions. Many AI-based technologies are applied to detect sophisticated fraudulent actions on financial markets. A good approach is outlier or anomaly detection looking for observations that are inconsistent with remainder of the available data. Among the new technologies available are eyeDES, a cutting-edge AI-based technology and platform whose functional components provide market intelligence and unbiased detection of market abuse. It allows the detection of both previously known and completely new abusive behaviours in real time, effectively combining the use of advanced data analytics to enrich the original data space with new Features and anomaly detection to find inconsistent cases. Each case is provided with a score that measures how different that market participant’s activity is from the others, and a number of possible explanations for this. eyeDES is based on a solid and robust reasoning process, and it is an explainable AI technology, because it provides explanations of the rationale behind the decisions.