Reliability and survival analysis are important applications of stochastic mathematics (probability, statistics and stochastic processes) that are usually covered separately in spite of the similarity of the involved mathematical theory. This title aims to redress this situation: it includes 21 chapters divided into four parts: Survival analysis, Reliability, Quality of life, and Related topics. Many of these chapters were presented at the European Seminar on Mathematical Methods for Survival Analysis, Reliability and Quality of Life in 2006.

Matrix-analytic methods (MAM) were introduced by Professor Marcel Neuts and have been applied to a variety of stochastic models since. In order to provide a clear and deep understanding of MAM while showing their power, this book presents MAM concepts and explains the results using a number of worked-out examples. This book’s approach will inform and kindle the interest of researchers attracted to this fertile field. To allow readers to practice and gain experience in the algorithmic and computational procedures of MAM, Introduction to Matrix Analytic Methods in Queues 1 provides a number of computational exercises. It also incorporates simulation as another tool for studying complex stochastic models, especially when the state space of the underlying stochastic models under analytic study grows exponentially. The book’s detailed approach will make it more accessible for readers interested in learning about MAM in stochastic models.

Earthquake occurrence modeling is a rapidly developing research area. This book deals with its critical issues, ranging from theoretical advances to practical applications. The introductory chapter outlines state-of-the-art earthquake modeling approaches based on stochastic models. Chapter 2 presents seismogenesis in association with the evolving stress field. Chapters 3 to 5 present earthquake occurrence modeling by means of hidden (semi-)Markov models and discuss associated characteristic measures and relative estimation aspects. Further comparisons, the most important results and our concluding remarks are provided in Chapters 6 and 7.

The author investigates the Cramer –Lundberg model, collecting the most interesting theorems and methods, which estimate probability of default for a company of insurance business. These offer different kinds of approximate values for probability of default on the base of normal and diffusion approach and some special asymptotic.

This book analyzes stochastic evolutionary models under the impulse of diffusion, as well as Markov and semi-Markov switches. Models are investigated under the conditions of classical and non-classical (Levy and Poisson) approximations in addition to jumping stochastic approximations and continuous optimization procedures. Among other asymptotic properties, particular attention is given to weak convergence, dissipativity, stability and the control of processes and their generators. Weak convergence of stochastic processes is usually proved by verifying two conditions: the tightness of the distributions of the converging processes, which ensures the existence of a converging subsequence, and the uniqueness of the weak limit. Achieving the limit can be done on the semigroups that correspond to the converging process as well as on appropriate generators. While this provides the convergence of generators, a natural question arises concerning the uniqueness of a limit semigroup.

This monograph studies the relationships between fractional Brownian motion (fBm) and other processes of more simple form. In particular, this book solves the problem of the projection of fBm onto the space of Gaussian martingales that can be represented as Wiener integrals with respect to a Wiener process. It is proved that there exists a unique martingale closest to fBm in the uniform integral norm. Numerical results concerning the approximation problem are given. The upper bounds of distances from fBm to the different subspaces of Gaussian martingales are evaluated and the numerical calculations are involved. The approximations of fBm by a uniformly convergent series of Lebesgue integrals, semimartingales and absolutely continuous processes are presented. As auxiliary but interesting results, the bounds from below and from above for the coefficient appearing in the representation of fBm via the Wiener process are established and some new inequalities for Gamma functions, and even for trigonometric functions, are obtained.

Estimation of Stochastic Processes is intended for researchers in the field of econometrics, financial mathematics, statistics or signal processing. This book gives a deep understanding of spectral theory and estimation techniques for stochastic processes with stationary increments. It focuses on the estimation of functionals of unobserved values for stochastic processes with stationary increments, including ARIMA processes, seasonal time series and a class of cointegrated sequences. Furthermore, this book presents solutions to extrapolation (forecast), interpolation (missed values estimation) and filtering (smoothing) problems based on observations with and without noise, in discrete and continuous time domains. Extending the classical approach applied when the spectral densities of the processes are known, the minimax method of estimation is developed for a case where the spectral information is incomplete and the relations that determine the least favorable spectral densities for the optimal estimations are found.

Within the field of modeling complex objects in natural sciences, which considers systems that consist of a large number of interacting parts, a good tool for analyzing and fitting models is the theory of random evolutionary systems, considering their asymptotic properties and large deviations. In Random Evolutionary Systems we consider these systems in terms of the operators that appear in the schemes of their diffusion and the Poisson approximation. Such an approach allows us to obtain a number of limit theorems and asymptotic expansions of processes that model complex stochastic systems, both those that are autonomous and those dependent on an external random environment. In this case, various possibilities of scaling processes and their time parameters are used to obtain different limit results.

Branching processes are stochastic processes which represent the reproduction of particles, such as individuals within a population, and thereby model demographic stochasticity. In branching processes in random environment (BPREs), additional environmental stochasticity is incorporated, meaning that the conditions of reproduction may vary in a random fashion from one generation to the next. This book offers an introduction to the basics of BPREs and then presents the cases of critical and subcritical processes in detail, the latter dividing into weakly, intermediate, and strongly subcritical regimes.

Drawing on the authors' extensive research in the analysis of categorical longitudinal data, this book focuses on the formulation of latent Markov models and the practical use of these models. It demonstrates how to use the models in three types of analysis, with numerous examples illustrating how latent Markov models are used in economics, education, sociology, and other fields. The R and MATLAB routines used for the examples are available on the authors' website.