Rethinking Host and Guest Relations in the Advent of Airbnb and the Sharing Economy

Airbnb is one example of the “Sharing Economy” whereby owners and consumers connect to share “space, skill, and stuff” for monetary and non-monetary benefits. Although this concept is not a new one, it has garnered much attention recently due to the proliferation of internet start-ups, which, like Airbnb, connect owners and consumers both easily and efficiently. The increasing relevance of the Sharing Economy, and likely continued success of Airbnb, provides an opportunity to consider how Airbnb fits into traditional legal frameworks and evaluate whether states and municipalities should enact laws regulating Airbnb. Part II of this Article introduces the concept of the Sharing Economy, outlines different systems within it, and suggests reasons for its success as well as future implications. Part II further considers the inception of Airbnb and potential for its continued success before briefly discussing how Airbnb fits into the Sharing Economy, overall. Part III focuses on the legal relationship that is created when, using the platform Airbnb provides, individuals rent space in their homes to travelers seeking short-term accommodations. Specifically, this relationship will be considered in the context of two distinct and long-standing areas of law: landlord and tenant law and the law of innkeepers. Part III traces the historical roots and evolution of both these areas of law with particular attention paid to the different rights and obligations of the parties within each body of law. This Section provides the general framework for Part IV in which the Author argues that the relationship between Airbnb “hosts” and “guests” is not so easily defined under current law. That is, in individual cases a landlord-tenant relationship may be created, whereas in other circumstances the relationship may bear a closer resemblance to that of an innkeeper and his guest. Part IV then considers policy arguments in support of regulating Airbnb before concluding the Airbnb host and guest relationship is best understood in terms of the law of innkeepers and should be regulated accordingly

Option Introduction and Liquidity Changes in the OTC/NASDAQ Equity Market

This paper examines the impact of option listing in the NASDAQ equity market on the bid-ask spread of the underlying stock. We find that both the market adjusted percentage and dollar spreads decrease with option listing, which is consistent with a value enhancing impact of derivative security introduction

Aproximación bibliométrica a la producción científica reumatológica española durante el período 1997–2006A (Bibliometric approach to the Spanish scientific production on rheumatology during the 1997-2006 period)

BACKGROUND: Bibliometric studies have shown their usefulness in the evaluation of science. This methodology was adopted for the analysis of Spanish rheumatologic scientific production during 1997-2006. METHODS: Search phrases were constructed for databases (PubMed, Science Citation Index (SCI), Índice Médico Español (IME)). The analysis was based on the results of SCI with bibliometric indicators for scientific production, collaboration, type of document, times cited and the measure of impact factor (FI). RESULTS: The scientific production in Spanish rheumatology recovered 602 documents in PubMed, 1073 in ISI, 627 in IME. The mapping of scientific productivity is similar to other studies (Madrid, Cataluña, Galicia). The "items citables" (citable items, articles and reviews) raised 54 to 98 and the international collaboration raised 3 to 33 documents (1997-2006). The FI for all documents in 1997-2001 was=6,79±0,54 and during 2002-2006=9,60±1,24. CONCLUSIONS: This confirms an upward trend in Spanish scientific production in rheumatology with regard to previous studies

Training for life science experiments in space at the NASA Ames Research Center

As this country prepares for exploration to other planets, the need to understand the affects of long duration exposure to microgravity is evident. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center's Space Life Sciences Payloads Office is responsible for a number of non-human life sciences payloads on NASA's Space Shuttle's Spacelab. Included in this responsibility is the training of those individuals who will be conducting the experiments during flight, the astronauts. Preparing a crew to conduct such experiments requires training protocols that build on simple tasks. Once a defined degree of performance proficiency is met for each task, these tasks are combined to increase the complexity of the activities. As tasks are combined into in-flight operations, they are subjected to time constraints and the crew enhances their skills through repetition. The science objectives must be completely understood by the crew and are critical to the overall training program. Completion of the in-flight activities is proof of success. Because the crew is exposed to the background of early research and plans for post-flight analyses, they have a vested interest in the flight activities. The salient features of this training approach is that it allows for flexibility in implementation, consideration of individual differences, and a greater ability to retain experiment information. This training approach offers another effective alternative training tool to existing methodologies

Engineering the optical properties of silicon using sub-wavelength structures

In most integrated optics platforms, including silicon-on-insulator, only minor modifications in refractive index are possible. The geometry of the waveguiding structure is thus the only degree of freedom for the design of devices. The use of sub-wavelength gratings (SWGs), i.e. structures that are small enough to suppress diffraction effects, enables local engineering of both refractive index and dispersion, thereby opening new possibilities for device design. Here we present some of the recent advances in refractive index and dispersion engineering using silicon SWGs, focussing on ultra-broadband and compact multimode interference couplers and directional couplersThis work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia (project TEC2009-10152), the European Mirthe project (FP7-2010-257980), and the Universidad de Málaga - Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucìa Tech

Estudio de la calidad de los noticieros de la televisión local en Nuevo León, México: el caso de Multimedios Televisión, Televisión Azteca Noreste y Televisiva Monterrey

La problemática que nos ocupa en este estudio es, en sentido amplio, la calidad de los noticieros televisados que se transmiten con señal abierta desde Monterrey, México, pues se percibió un alto manejo de temas de crimen y violencia en los contenidos de sus noticieros que, aparentemente, no correspondía a la realidad. La perspectiva teórica de la cual partimos para este proyecto señala (1) que el contenido de los medios masivos es un producto socialmente creado y no un reflejo de la realidad objetiva. La premisa fue considerar que cada medio masivo comercial opera para un mercado, y que la naturaleza de dicho mercado puede afectar el contenido de sus emisiones. Esto significaría que temas como el de la violencia son utilizados para captar audiencias y que se privilegia su difusión independientemente de que haya un impacto real de esa violencia sobre ellas y de que la emisión sea producida con calidad. La unidad de análisis fue la emisión -noticiero televisado- transmitida por las cadenas privadas locales que difunden su señal abierta desde la ciudad de Monterrey, Nuevo León, México: Televisión Azteca Noreste (Canal 7), Multimedios Televisión (Canal 12) y Televisa Monterrey (Canal 34). Para el análisis de la estructura de la programación difundida se cuantificó la relación entre el tiempo dedicado a la información y el destinado a la difusión de publicidad (tomando las emisiones del 16 al 20 de julio de 2007); además, se hizo un análisis de contenido (cronometrado) de la primera hora de los noticieros matutinos del 16 de julio del 2007 de cada una de las cadenas seleccionadas.Facultad de Periodismo y Comunicación Socia