2026-07-072026-07-07http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/127739M. Kontsevich constructed universal characteristic classes of smooth bundles with fiber a framed odd-dimensional integral homology sphere. In dimension 3, they are known to give a universal finite type invariants of homology 3-spheres. However, they have not been well understood for higher fiber dimensions. The purpose of the present paper is twofold. First, we obtain a bordism invariant of smooth unframed bundles with fiber a 5-dimensional homology sphere, which is defined as a sum of the simplest Kontsevich class and the second signature defect. It may be in some sense a higher dimensional analogue of the Casson invariant. Second, we construct a family of M-bundles. By evaluating on those M-bundles, we show that Kontsevich's universal characteristic classes are highly non-trivial in the case of fiber dimension 7. As a corollary, new estimates for unstable rational homotopy groups of Diff(D^7,\partial D^7) are obtained.31 pages, 9 figures, Corollary 4.4, 4.5 and detailed proof for Proposition 4.15 are added. Many typos are corrected. Proof of the IHX relation is removed because of an errorGeometric Topology57M27, 55R35, 57R20On Kontsevich's characteristic classes for smooth 5- and 7-dimensional homology sphere bundlestext