This book provides a self-contained review of all the relevant topics in probability theory. A software package called MAXIM, which runs on MATLAB, is made available for downloading. Vidyadhar G. Kulkarni is Professor of Operations Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Coherent introduction to techniques also offers a guide to the mathematical, numerical, and simulation tools of systems analysis. Includes formulation of models, analysis, and interpretation of results. 1995 edition.

The subject of modelling and application of stochastic processes is too vast to be exhausted in a single volume. In this book, attention is focused on a small subset of this vast subject. The primary emphasis is on realization and approximation of stochastic systems. Recently there has been considerable interest in the stochastic realization problem, and hence, an attempt has been made here to collect in one place some of the more recent approaches and algorithms for solving the stochastic realiza tion problem. Various different approaches for realizing linear minimum-phase systems, linear nonminimum-phase systems, and bilinear systems are presented. These approaches range from time-domain methods to spectral-domain methods. An overview of the chapter contents briefly describes these approaches. Also, in most of these chapters special attention is given to the problem of developing numerically ef ficient algorithms for obtaining reduced-order (approximate) stochastic realizations. On the application side, chapters on use of Markov random fields for modelling and analyzing image signals, use of complementary models for the smoothing problem with missing data, and nonlinear estimation are included. Chapter 1 by Klein and Dickinson develops the nested orthogonal state space realization for ARMA processes. As suggested by the name, nested orthogonal realizations possess two key properties; (i) the state variables are orthogonal, and (ii) the system matrices for the (n + l)st order realization contain as their "upper" n-th order blocks the system matrices from the n-th order realization (nesting property).

Pt. I. Stochastic analysis and systems. 1. Multidimensional Wick-Ito formula for Gaussian processes / D. Nualart and S. Ortiz-Latorre. 2. Fractional white noise multiplication / A.H. Tsoi. 3. Invariance principle of regime-switching diffusions / C. Zhu and G. Yin -- pt. II. Finance and stochastics. 4. Real options and competition / A. Bensoussan, J.D. Diltz and S.R. Hoe. 5. Finding expectations of monotone functions of binary random variables by simulation, with applications to reliability, finance, and round robin tournaments / M. Brown, E.A. Pekoz and S.M. Ross. 6. Filtering with counting process observations and other factors : applications to bond price tick data / X. Hu, D.R. Kuipers and Y. Zeng. 7. Jump bond markets some steps towards general models in applications to hedging and utility problems / M. Kohlmann and D. Xiong. 8. Recombining tree for regime-switching model : algorithm and weak convergence / R.H. Liu. 9. Optimal reinsurance under a jump diffusion model / S. Luo. 10. Applications of counting processes and martingales in survival analysis / J. Sun. 11. Stochastic algorithms and numerics for mean-reverting asset trading / Q. Zhang, C. Zhuang and G. Yin

An Introduction to Stochastic Modeling provides information pertinent to the standard concepts and methods of stochastic modeling. This book presents the rich diversity of applications of stochastic processes in the sciences. Organized into nine chapters, this book begins with an overview of diverse types of stochastic models, which predicts a set of possible outcomes weighed by their likelihoods or probabilities. This text then provides exercises in the applications of simple stochastic analysis to appropriate problems. Other chapters consider the study of general functions of independent, identically distributed, nonnegative random variables representing the successive intervals between renewals. This book discusses as well the numerous examples of Markov branching processes that arise naturally in various scientific disciplines. The final chapter deals with queueing models, which aid the design process by predicting system performance. This book is a valuable resource for students of engineering and management science. Engineers will also find this book useful.

This book presents a treatise on the theory and modeling of second-order stationary processes, including an exposition on selected application areas that are important in the engineering and applied sciences. The foundational issues regarding stationary processes dealt with in the beginning of the book have a long history, starting in the 1940s with the work of Kolmogorov, Wiener, Cramér and his students, in particular Wold, and have since been refined and complemented by many others. Problems concerning the filtering and modeling of stationary random signals and systems have also been addressed and studied, fostered by the advent of modern digital computers, since the fundamental work of R.E. Kalman in the early 1960s. The book offers a unified and logically consistent view of the subject based on simple ideas from Hilbert space geometry and coordinate-free thinking. In this framework, the concepts of stochastic state space and state space modeling, based on the notion of the conditional independence of past and future flows of the relevant signals, are revealed to be fundamentally unifying ideas. The book, based on over 30 years of original research, represents a valuable contribution that will inform the fields of stochastic modeling, estimation, system identification, and time series analysis for decades to come. It also provides the mathematical tools needed to grasp and analyze the structures of algorithms in stochastic systems theory.

An introductory level text on stochastic modelling, suited for undergraduates or graduates in actuarial science, business management, computer science, engineering, operations research, public policy, statistics, and mathematics. It employs a large number of examples to show how to build stochastic models of physical systems, analyse these models to predict their performance, and use the analysis to design and control them. The book provides a self-contained review of the relevant topics in probability theory: In discrete and continuous time Markov models it covers the transient and long term behaviour, cost models, and first passage times; under generalised Markov models, it covers renewal processes, cumulative processes and semi-Markov processes. All the material is illustrated with many examples, and the book emphasises numerical answers to the problems. A software package called MAXIM, which runs on MATLAB, is available for downloading.