Asymptotic Behavior of Strategies in the Repeated Prisoner's Dilemma Game in the Presence of Errors

We examine the asymptotic behavior of a finite, but error-prone population, whose agents can choose one of ALLD (always defect), ALLC (always cooperate), or Pavlov (repeats the previous action if the opponent cooperated and changes action otherwise) to play the repeated Prisoner's Dilemma. A novelty of the study is that it allows for three types of errors that affect agents' strategies in distinct ways: (a) implementation errors, (b) perception errors of one's own action, and (c) perception errors of the opponent's action. We also derive numerical results based on the payoff matrix used in the tournaments of Axelrod (1984). Strategies' payoffs are monitored as the likelihood of committing errors increases from zero to one, which enables us to provide a taxonomy of best response strategies. We find that for some range of error levels, a unique best response (i.e. a dominant strategy) exists. In all other, the population composition can vary based on the proportion of each strategist's type and/or the payoffs of the matrix. Overall, our results indicate that the emergence of cooperation is considerably weak at most error levels

Tourist development impacts on the spatial transformation of the Greek islands. The case study of Kos insular area

The paper context is dealing with the changes in the spatial structure, within small island areas of Greece, caused by the rabbit tourist development of the last thirty years. In the early seventies, tourism was a new direction for the island rural communities and economies, having a complicated and multileveled spatial organization, knowing that it involves effectively: 'international', 'national', 'territorial' and 'local' level, over the island space, which was mostly believed as a 'closed' system ('closed' local society, local economy etc). In these terms tourism has become today the main factor of regional and local growth, affecting to: the evolution and agglomeration of the population, the function of the local labour market and the distribution of labour, land uses and the location of services and central activities, the role of small towns and settlements and their 'connectivity' level with 'autonomous' (how much?) tourist areas. We examine -as a case study- the above matters in a 'fully' tourist developed area of the greek islands space: Kos and Nisyros spatial unity, located in South Aegean (totally about 30,000 resident population and 32,000 hotel beds in 2000). Our research was based in empirical/ qualitative information but also in secondary/ quantitative data, comparatively presented. At the beginning we attempt to build a 'scenario' describing the process of the development. We detect the development phases by checking the spread sequence of the tourist units (and activities) compared with the existing spatial structure of the island/ rural case study area ('how'). At the same time we try to explain and connect this process with the changes within the local economy, the local community and the basic 'rules' of the land market ('why'). This 'scenario' is used as a framework for (the) following specific investigations referring to: -the differentiated evolution of the population in each island town/ settlement, due to a number of reasons related directly to the agglomeration of the tourist activities, -the changes in the location and the categories of labour and its increasing mobility, as a result of the special characteristics of tourism, -the role of the transportations and the spatial forms of the retail sector in a tourist environment, -the functional relations and the networking between a tourist area and a small town/ rural settlement, investigating whether the tourist areas are functionally embodied with the surrounding settlements. Finally the paper comes to some schematic types of spatial relations according to the size of each settlement and the spatial relations it develops in general. These spatial types contain the main conclusions of the above analysis and they describe how the area is transformed and reshaped under the changing developing procedures.

Using Combined Lane Change and Variable Speed Limit Control Techniques Can Ease Congestion and Reduce Fuel Use and Emissions

Traffic during peak hours is getting worse over time and the duration of the peak is increasing in most metropolitan areas as more drivers try to use limited roadway capacity. Bottlenecks caused by traffic incidents or road construction limit roadway capacity even further and can cause traffic “shock waves.” When an incident causes a highway lane to close unexpectedly, vehicles are forced to change lanes close to the incident and at low speeds. These forced lane changes interfere with traffic flow in open lanes and decrease the overall flow of the roadway. Heavy-duty trucks can exacerbate congestion because they are larger and slower than passenger vehicles. Advanced technologies may help to improve traffic flow in these situations. Variable speed limits can change based on road, traffic, and weather conditions. Speed limits can be reduced in real time when congestion is imminent to smooth traffic flow and handle more traffic volume at a slower, but not stop-and-go, speed. Lane change control systems provide lane change recommendations well upstream of blocked lanes, spreading lane changes over a greater distance and minimizing bottlenecks that disrupt traffic flow.This policy brief summarizes findings from researchers at the University of Southern California who simulated traffic patterns along a section of Interstate 710 near the Ports of Long Beach/Los Angeles, a congested area that gets substantial truck traffic. They simulated the use of variable speed limit and lane change control systems to evaluate the potential traffic impacts of these systems.This brief is based on research from two NCST projects: Eco-Friendly Intelligent Transportation System Technology for Freight Vehicles, and Reducing Truck Emissions and Improving Truck Fuel Economy via ITS Technologies

The Consequences of Mandatory Corporate Sustainability Reporting

We examine the effect of mandatory corporate sustainability reporting (MCSR) on several measures of social responsibility using both country and firm-level data. Using data for 58 countries, we show that after the adoption of MCSR laws and regulations, the social responsibility of business leaders increases and both sustainable development and employee training become a higher priority for companies. Moreover, for companies in countries with MCSR, corporate governance improves and on average, companies implement more ethical practices, bribery and corruption decrease, and managerial credibility increases. These effects are larger for countries with stronger law enforcement and more widespread assurance of sustainability reports. We complement the country-level analysis using environmental, social and governance metrics at the firm-level in conjunction with a differences-in-differences research design and we find that for the treatment group, energy as well as waste and water consumption significantly decline, while investments in employee training significantly increase after the adoption of MCSR laws and regulations.sustainability reporting, mandatory reporting, corporate sustainability, corporate social responsibility