Earth Day: Using game theory and AI to beat the poachers

This article discusses briefly problems that arise when wildlife preservers and forestry are being poached by poachers. It can be difficult for park rangers because often the scale of the reserve is usually large for the rangers to cover. this problem affecting the effectiveness of the ranger causes game theory to come into play. the game according to researchers is called “green security games” “they are being created to use mathematical and computer models of conflict and cooperation between rational decision makers”. “By this, predictions of the behavior of adversaries can be generated, giving rangers better clues as to where to patrol”. the purpose is to increase the slim chance that rangers will catch poachers. two companies PAWS (Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security) and SORT (Simultaneous Optimization of Resource Teams) aimed at protecting wildlife and forestry respectively, have been the main benefits of this data analysis process using game theory read article for more.

Earth Day: Using game theory and AI to beat the poachers

 

GSA Launches Reverse Auction Platform for Use by Government Agencies

A reverse auction is a type of auction in which the roles of buyer and seller are reversed. In an ordinary auction also known as a forward auction, buyers compete to obtain a good or service by offering increasingly higher prices. In a reverse auction, the sellers compete to obtain business from the buyer and prices will typically decrease as the sellers underbid each other. A reverse auction is similar to a unique bid auction as the basic principle remains the same; however, a unique bid auction follows the traditional auction format more closely as each bid is kept confidential and one clear winner is defined after the auction finishes. This article from 2013 discusses the benefits that a reverse auction procedure will bring to government procurement processes. GSA believes that such procedures will have saved as much as 17 percent through use of reverse auctions.  “With GSA offering front loaded discounted pricing as a starting point through its BPAs, the reverse auction approach will provide additional savings to the government”.

http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/174799

Can game theory explain the Greek debt crisis?

This article discusses the perspective of applying game theory analysis to the Greek debt crisis for the EU members negotiations. The Greek financial crisis is a debt issue that is plaguing the Greek nation, finance minister Yanis Varoufakis is an expert on game theory. “Game theory is designed to address situations in which the outcome of a person’s decision depends not just on how they choose among several options, but also on the choices made by the people they are interacting with”.  The crisis in Greece is a difficult one for the country and for its debtors, the reasoning for this is that if the EU is in a pickle because their payoffs are unclear if Greece was to default. In the article it discusses the potential payoffs of each entity. If the case was that Greece defaults, there is a randomness to the payoff each entity will get depending on other external variables.

The article discusses two possible outcomes to the strategy of Greece defaulting on their debt and the Euro zone rejecting the 3 point plan deal, if this was the case it would lead to a technical default on the part of Greece and a lot of possible outcomes can be on hand. The payoff is that Greece will get 0 payoffs and EU get 0 another possible outcome is that Greece get 0 and EU gets a payoff of 1. If both entities accept the 3 point plan deal Greece will come out with better payoff than the EU, this should be the Nash equilibrium in this case.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33254857

What Kind of Man Spends Millions to Elect Ted Cruz?

The article, “What Kind of Man Spends Millions to Elect Ted Cruz?” Written by Zachary Mider of the Bloomberg’s politics, talks about one of the country’s most influential republicans, Robert Mercer and his vast network of assets and how he maintains links with those asset in question. The article also goes on to discuss various influence that made the link to Robert Mercer possible for that particular asset and partnership. This political network, Mr. Mercer has attained is mostly through hard work and with the influence of having deep pockets. Robert Mercer, is a computer programmer and hedge fund manager in New York, he is one of the republicans with enormous money and wealth to influence voter’s decision, through the media. He is a man that is affiliated with various organizations, such as Cambridge Analytica, a data company that builds psychological profiles of voters, He is also affiliated with other media outlets such as breitbart.com. In the article Mercer sees a similarity in ideas between himself and republican political candidates, such as Sen Ted Cruz which is in a favor of making the dollar backed by gold. The Homophily theory is depicted in this article, with this relationship between Mr. Mercer and Sen Ted Cruz to fund Senator Ted Cruz with an approximated donation of about 11million dollars. In class we have discussed some terminology and the structural nature of networks and the type of social influence. Mr. Mercer’s network is a large and powerful one featuring, powerful individuals in his Network, he is an advocate for ideas such as the dollar being backed by the gold standard and also a strong advocate for less government interventions in the financial system. These causes and ideas has brought him to endorse various political candidates that have similar viewpoints as he does. Although I must mention that the case Citizen vs FEC, which allowed independent political funding, was held in Jan 2010, the final ruling said that this is a right of the citizen as part of the first amendment. Critics of this ruling suggest that this will favor those individuals with large network and influence, which can lead to more social dilemma and divide also causing political candidates to have Super-pac . Super-pacs are a group of individuals that have similar objective, their relationship is based on the link they share with each other. Just as the Homophily theory states that people with similarities tend to select each other this could lead to selection bias.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/features/2016-01-20/what-kind-of-man-spends-millions-to-elect-ted-cruz-