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This research has been conducted to determine the design quality indicators and parameters for affordable housing in Karachi Pakistan. The absence of quality in Karachi housing resulted from various factors ranging from policy failure, violation of bylaws, population, housing scarcity and non availability of quality parameters etc. The amalgamation of these factors eventually lowers the quality of housing and ultimately results deficient housing design and construction. Because of this trend the end users experience the nuisance of unplanned maintenance and bear the tax of heavy repair and reworks. Significance of research has been accomplished through developing design quality models for both professional and users. This research has eventually evaluated forty eight (48) quality indicators for housing design (QIHD) from listed 65 design quality variables farmed in seven sections. This research concludes that existing design quality of affordable housing in Karachi could be enhanced through improving the design, construction, services, site development and neighborhood and sustainability. The QIHD model will provide the opportunity for design and construction professionals of city to rethink their housing design intellect in context of the housing quality.

This paper aims to optimize the smart elderly housing planning with IoT (internet of things) technologies for an aging society in Dubai. To reflect the IoT technologies in the elderly housing, the characteristics of the IoT home network devices, applied to Ajman University (AU) testbed and smart services model with the IoT technologies are thoroughly analyzed.

To extract the optimal smart elderly housing model in Dubai, the Korean smart home model from smart cities in Korea was used to implement the testbed at AU. In total, 100 users survey had been performed to adjust the Korean model to local culture/context.

It was analyzed that convenience and functionality are factors that must be provided. The security system was pointed out as a common denominator for future enhancements. When IoT technologies are applied to elderly housing, it should focus on the safety and health management of the elderly.

Dubai had announced a strategy to transform into a Smart City in 2014 and the strategy had included 100 initiatives. The base unit of smart homes, however, was not covered and furthermore as society grows older, the priority for IoT technologies application in the smart home should be focused on smart elderly housing, as the elderly is equivalent to the handicapped due to deteriorated physical abilities.

The characteristics of the IoT home network devices applied to the AU testbed and smart services model with the IoT technologies are thoroughly analyzed.

These are Working, Learning and Living. The first and last of Working and Living have been addressed in some of the previous issues of the journal. ‘Working’ has been supported and developed by books, journals and projects. User decision making processes lie central to these concepts.

The focus is on how agencies can mitigate client opportunism in an agency-client relationship (ACR), particularly during the agency selection stage involving a pitch. This paper aims to empirically investigate the moderating effects of organizational mechanisms (particularly informational cues) and the agency’s past behavior on client opportunism. In a moderated moderation, this paper tests the effects of calculative commitment, informational cue and agency’s past behavior on the main effect.

The research is in the context of ACR involving a pitch at the agency selection stage. A mixed-method approach is used. In depth interviews with senior level executives were used to design the experimental vignettes. The main study uses experimental vignettes in a survey.

The study finds the prevalence of client opportunism during the pitch. The study reveals a significant relationship between information asymmetry and client opportunism. The findings of the study support the effectiveness of organizational mechanisms in mitigating client opportunism. The findings indicate that a proactive approach such as using informational cues mitigates client opportunism as it signals to the client that the agency cares for its intellectual property. Clients also take a cue from agencies past behavior. Third-party complaints and voice complaint deters client opportunism. Moderated moderation reveals that the client’s calculative commitment impacts client opportunism.

The study is novel in empirically examining client opportunism during the agency selection stage involving a pitch. The study re-emphasizes that information asymmetry is the primary reason for client opportunism in ACR at the agency selection stage. The role of organizational mechanism and agency response in mitigating client opportunism is a welcome addition. Moderated moderation effects involving calculative commitment is a novel addition.