Constant-Competitive Prior-Free Auction with Ordered Bidders

A central problem in Microeconomics is to design auctions with good revenue properties. In this setting, the bidders' valuations for the items are private knowledge, but they are drawn from publicly known prior distributions. The goal is to find a truthful auction (no bidder can gain in utility by misreporting her valuation) that maximizes the expected revenue. Naturally, the optimal-auction is sensitive to the prior distributions. An intriguing question is to design a truthful auction that is oblivious to these priors, and yet manages to get a constant factor of the optimal revenue. Such auctions are called prior-free. Goldberg et al. presented a constant-approximate prior-free auction when there are identical copies of an item available in unlimited supply, bidders are unit-demand, and their valuations are drawn from i.i.d. distributions. The recent work of Leonardi et al. [STOC 2012] generalized this problem to non i.i.d. bidders, assuming that the auctioneer knows the ordering of their reserve prices. Leonardi et al. proposed a prior-free auction that achieves a $O(\log^* n)$ approximation. We improve upon this result, by giving the first prior-free auction with constant approximation guarantee.Comment: The same result has been obtained independently by E. Koutsoupias, S. Leonardi and T. Roughgarde

Environmental Survey and Photographic Documentation of a Forest Edge Hamlet Situated in Buxa Tiger Reserve, India

Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR) is situated in Alipurduar district of West Bengal, India and is considered as one of the significant tiger reserves of India. The Reserve lies between Latitudes 23 o 30′ N to 23o 50′ N and Longitudes 89o 25′ E to 89 o 55′ E. It has 37 forest villages and 4 fixed demand holdings, 46 revenue villages and 34 tea gardens in and around it. The survey work was done in May, 2015 by visiting a forest edge village (Bhutia Basti) on the banks of Jayanti River in Buxa Tiger Reserve. It is the only village that has ever been relocated from the core area of Buxa Tiger Reserve. The position of the village is ecologically crucial as it is situated near the elephant corridors of Buxa. Primary data were gathered through field survey and direct contact with common people and authorized centres of the region. Structured and semi-structured questionnaire was administered in the village area. Surveys on the demography, agriculture, livestock management, water management, education, culture, health, waste management, disaster management, transport, biodiversity, joint forest management activities, Non-timber forest product usage and human animal conflict were done in this area. Human animal conflicts were studied in Bhutia Basti, as the village is periodically disturbed by the encroachment of elephant, rhinoceros and leopard. Biodiversity of the forest was documented by visiting the adjacent forest areas. Photographs were taken, analysed and interpreted in light of the survey data collected from the study area. There is an urgent need for implementing an integrated sustainable development system for the conservation of forest ecosystems and traditional human settlements in BTR

Socio-Environmental Survey and Sustainable Management Planning of a Forest Hamlet Proximate to Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary in the Eastern Himalayas, India

The Himalayas have significant impact on the climate and biodiversity of the Indian Subcontinent. Many hamlets are situated in the Eastern Himalayas and some of them are proximate to the forest areas. Latpanchar (26.7083 N, 88.4268 E) is one of the emerging tourist destinations of the Eastern Himalayas, situated at an altitude of 4200 feet, nestled on the highest part of Mahananda wildlife sanctuary. Latpanchar being home to over 200 diverse varieties of bird species including Rufous Necked Hornbill is a very attractive destination for bird watchers. As a result, the hamlet has developed as an attractive ecotourism destination. Most of the inhabitants of the village are associated with Latpanchar Cinchona Plantation, which was established in 1943. The present study focuses on the physical and cultural environment of the forest and mountain areas in Latpanchar. The survey work integrates the perspectives of social ecology, ecosystem services and sustainable development. Primary data were collected using a mixed-methods approach, collecting background baseline information, scheduling interviews with members of the local villages and field observations. Focus was given on demography, agriculture, livestock management, water management, education, health, waste management, disaster management, biodiversity, ecosystem services, conservation initiatives and human animal conflict. Photographic documentation accompanied every phase of the survey. Policy proposals for sustainable development of the hamlet were discussed for conserving the biodiversity and socio-environmental condition of the village. Extensive study is needed in other mountain areas of the Eastern Himalayas to explore the socio-ecological conditions in the context of climate change

Environmental Crisis in the Eastern Himalayan Landscapes in India

The Eastern Himalayas in India demonstrate vast ecological diversity in its varied range of flora and fauna. The local communities also form an integral part of the ecological landscape, deriving various services from the forest and mountain ecosystems. Recently, however, due to severe anthropogenic pressure and unplanned developmental activities, the Eastern Himalayans have displayed signs of rapid habitat destruction. This photo essay aims to discuss the nature of the challenges in the Eastern Himalayas which pose a palpable threat to the local ecology and environment, and to establish how a more sustainable approach is necessary to salvage this ecologically unique region