A Population Game Model for the Expansion of Airbnb in the City of Venice

The emergence of Airbnb along with an increase in urban tourism has intensified the pressure on urban areas while adding a new dimension to the dynamics of housing distribution, especially in historic cities. These dynamics affect local economies and significantly alter the characteristics of urban spaces, hence the necessity to not only create policies that foster sustainable tourism development but also to advance urban models that explore the relation between Airbnb and the traditional rental and accommodation sector. Through the case of Venice, the present study sheds light on the potential evolution of Airbnb housing in comparison to the traditional rental and homeowner market. In particular, we sought to understand whether a potential equilibrium between these uses exists and if so, at which point in regard to this equilibrium the historic center of Venice is. To tackle this question, methods derived from the field of game theory and specifically evolutionary game theory were used. With the agents (players) being the housing units, the designed theoretical model explored the population dynamics of the housing units in Venice given the three options of homeownership or long-term renting (residential); short term renting or Airbnb (airbnb); and no use (vacant). The findings of our theoretical population game model were validated and discussed with a dataset describing the usage patterns in the city of Venice during the past 20 years. A verification of the outcome through further case studies could eventually provide insights into the future behavior of tourism’s pressure in historic urban areas.

A Population Game Model for the Expansion of Airbnb in the City of Venice

The emergence of Airbnb along with an increase in urban tourism has intensified the pressure on urban areas while adding a new dimension in the dynamics of the housing distribution especially in historic cities. These dynamics affect both local economies and alter significantly the characteristics of urban space arising the necessity to create not only policies that foster sustainable tourism development but also to advance urban models that explore the relation between Airbnb and the traditional rental and accommodation sector. Through the case of Venice, the present study sheds light on the potential evolution of Airbnb housing in comparison to the traditional rental and homeowner market. In particular, it seeks to understand whether a potential equilibrium between these uses exists and if so, at which point in regards to this equilibrium the historic center of Venice is now. To tackle this question, methods deriving from the field of game theory and specifically evolutionary game theory are used. With the agents (players) being the housing units, the designed theoretical model explores the population dynamics of the housing units in Venice given the three options of homeownership or long-term rental (residential), short term rental over Airbnb (airbnb) or no use (vacant). The findings of our theoretical population game model are validated and discussed against a dataset describing the use patterns in the city of Venice during the past 20 years. A verification of the outcome through further case studies could eventually provide insights on future behavior of tourism pressure in historic urban areas.

DETERMINATION OF GAS GENERATION CAPACITY OF THE UKRAINIAN CARPATHIANS BITUMINOUS ARGILLITES BY JAYNES’ FORMALISM

The analysis of literature was carried out and the main criteria for determining the gas generating potential of rocks were determined. These criteria are divided into two groups: the first one is geochemical, which includes the content of organic carbon and the thermal maturity of the rocks. The second group combines the geological and economic criteria that determine the suitability of rocks for the removal of hydrocarbon gases from them. In our opinion, the most important group of criteria should be considered a geochemical group. Traditionally, to determine the ability of organic matter to form hydrocarbons, the Rock-Eval analysis was used. As a result, determined are the total organic carbon (TOC) and other parameters, such as hydrogen index (HI) or production index (PI). In this paper, we are trying to expand the range of parameters that can be used to determine the gas generation potential of the rocks. The elemental composition of the organic matter dissipated in the rocks, in general terms, should affect on the composition and amount of hydrocarbons that they synthesize. To determine the influence of elemental composition on the gas-generating potential, equilibrium thermodynamics is used in conjunction with the Jaynes’ formalism. Samples for investigation – bituminous argillites from Menilite suite of Oligocene, were taken from two fields of the Ukrainian Carpathians. For samples, the elemental composition of the organic matter and the mineral composition of the inorganic part (by X-ray crystallography) are determined. The data on the elemental composition came into the calculation, the result of which is the distribution of the additive components in the organic matter and the composition of gases. The results of the calculations were compared with the results obtained by the Rock-Eval method. It was found that the calculation by the thermodynamic method gives understated results. On the other hand, it allows the establishment of a change in the chemical structure of organic matter of rocks. We are outlined ways to further improvement of the method.

A Computational Study of AlF3 and ACF Surfaces

By applying first principles density functional theory (DFT) methods, different metal fluorides and their surfaces have been characterized. One of the most investigated metal fluorides is AlF3 in different polymorphs. Its chloride-doped analogon AlClxF3−x (ACF) has recently attracted much attention due to its application in catalysis. After presenting a summary of different first-principle studies on the bulk and surface properties of different main group fluorides, we will revisit the problem of the stability of different α -AlF3 surfaces and extend the investigation to chloride-doped counterparts to simulate the surface properties of amorphous ACF. For each material, we have considered ten different surface cuts with their respective terminations. We found that terminations of ( 01 1 ¯ 0 ) and ( 11 2 ¯ 0 ) yield the most stable surfaces for α -AlF3 and for the chlorine substituted surfaces. A potential equilibrium shape of the crystal for both α -AlF3 and ACF is visualized by a Wulff construction.

Matching Patterns When Group Size Exceeds Two

We study one-sided matching when groups with n > 2 members are being formed. Type-complementarity rules out all but the rank-ordered grouping. Type-substitutability (for example, matching to share risk) rules out much less. It requires that every two groups must be “intertwined,” in that each dominates the other at some rank. Intertwined matching is necessary and, in one context, sufficient for any grouping to be a potential equilibrium. But there are many intertwined matching patterns when n > 2. Thus, substitutability can be observationally similar to complementarity; we demonstrate this by showing that dyadic regressions can register intertwined (negative assortative) matching as homogeneous matching. (JEL C78)