The validity of the saddlepoint expansion evaluated at the point y is considered in the limit y tending to ∞. This is done for the expansions of the density and of the tail probability of the mean of n i.i.d. random variables and also for the expansion of the tail probability of a compound Poisson sum , where N is a Poisson random variable. We consider both general conditions that ensure the validity of the expansions and study the four classes of densities for X1 introduced in Daniels (1954).

A transition probability kernel P(·,·) is said to be stochastically monotone if P(x, (–∞, y]) is non-increasing in x for every fixed y. A Markov chain is said to be stochastically monotone (SMMC) if its transition probability kernels are stochastically monotone. A new method for tackling the asymptotics of SMMC is given in terms of some limit variables {Wq}. In the temporally homogeneous case a cyclic pattern for {Wq} will describe the limit behaviour of suitably normed and centred processes. As a consequence, geometrically growing constants turn out to pertain to almost sure convergence. Some convergence criteria are given and applications to branching processes and diffusions are outlined.

This paper introduces the use of symbolic computation (also known as computer algebra) in stochastic analysis and particularly in the Itô calculus. Two related examples are considered: the Clifford-Green theorem on random Gaussian triangles, and a generalization of the D. G. Kendall theorem on the kinematics of shape.

The Clifford–Green theorem gives a remarkable characterization of the joint distribution of the squared-side-lengths of n independent Gaussian points in n-space, namely that this distribution is that of n independent exponential random variables conditioned to satisfy all the inequalities requisite if they are to arise as squared-side-lengths from a point-set in n-space. The D. G. Kendall theorem on the diffusion of shape identifies the statistics of the diffusion arising (under a time-change) as the shape of a triangle whose vertices diffuse by Brownian motion in 2-space or 3-space.

Symbolic Itô calculus is used to give a new proof of the Clifford-Green theorem, and to generalize the D. G. Kendall theorem to the case of triangles in higher-dimensional space whose vertices diffuse either according to Brownian motion or according to an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process.

A player starts at x in (-G, G) and attempts to leave the interval in a limited playing time. In the discrete-time problem, G is a positive integer and the position is described by a random walk starting at integer x, with mean increments zero, and variance increment chosen by the player from [0, 1] at each integer playing time. In the continuous-time problem, the player's position is described by an Ito diffusion process with infinitesimal mean parameter zero and infinitesimal diffusion parameter chosen by the player from [0, 1] at each time instant of play. To maximize the probability of leaving the interval (–G, G) in a limited playing time, the player should play boldly by always choosing largest possible variance increment in the discrete-time setting and largest possible diffusion parameter in the continuous-time setting, until the player leaves the interval. In the discrete-time setting, this result affirms a conjecture of Spencer. In the continuous-time setting, the value function of play is identified.

We present autoregressive (AR) and autoregressive moving average (ARMA) processes with bivariate exponential (BE) and bivariate geometric (BG) distributions. The theory of positive dependence is used to show that in various cases, the BEAR, BGAR, BEARMA, and BGARMA models consist of associated random variables. We discuss special cases of the BEAR and BGAR processes in which the bivariate processes are stationary and have well-known bivariate exponential and geometric distributions. Finally, we fit a BEAR model to a real data set.

The process of choosing a random triangle inside a compact convex region, K, may be iterated when K itself is a triangle. In this way successive generations of random triangles are created. Properties of scale, location and orientation are filtered out, leaving only the shapes of the triangles as the objects of study. Various simulation investigations indicate quite clearly that, as n increases, the nth-generation triangle shape converges to collinearity. In this paper we attempt to establish such convergence; our results fall slightly short of a complete proof.

Recent work by Athreya and Ney and by Nummelin on the limit theory for Markov chains shows that the close connection with regeneration theory holds also for chains on a general state space. Here this is used to study extremal behaviour of stationary (or asymptotically stationary) Markov chains. Many of the results center on the ‘clustering’ of extremes of adjacent values of the chains. In addition one criterion for convergence of extremes of general stationary sequences is derived. The results are applied to waiting times in the GI/G/1 queue and to autoregressive processes.

This paper analyzes, derives efficient computational procedures and numerically investigates the following fluid model which is of interest in manufacturing and communications: m producing machines supply a buffer, n consuming machines feed off it. Each machine independently alternates between exponentially distributed random periods in the ‘in service' and ‘failed' states. Producers/consumers have their own failure/repair rates and working capacities. When the buffer is either full or empty some of the machines in service are not utilized to capacity; otherwise they are fully utilized. Our main result is for the state distribution of the Markovian system in equilibrium which is the solution of a system of differential equations. The spectral expansion for its solution is obtained. Two important decompositions are obtained: the eigenvectors have the Kronecker-product form in lower-dimensional vectors; the characteristic polynomial is factored with each factor an explicitly given polynomial of degree at most 4. All eigenvalues are real. For each of various cases of the model, a system of linear equations is derived from the boundary conditions; their solution complete the spectral expansion. The count in operations of the entire procedure is O(m3n3): independence from buffer size exemplifies an important attraction of fluid models. Computations have revealed several interesting features, such as the benefit of small machines and the inelasticity of production rate to inventory. We also give results on the eigenvalues of a more general fluid model, reversible Markov drift processes.

A family of models for discrete-time processes with Poisson marginal distributions is developed and investigated. They have the same correlation structure as the linear ARMA processes. The joint distribution of n consecutive observations in such a process is derived and its properties discussed. In particular, time-reversibility and asymptotic behaviour are considered in detail. A vector autoregressive process is constructed and the behaviour of its components, which are Poisson ARMA processes, is considered. In particular, the two-dimensional case is discussed in detail.

Let (X0, Y0), (X1, Y1), · ·· be a sequence of independent two-dimensional random vectors such that (X1, Y1), (X2, Y2), · ·· are i.i.d. Let {(Sn, Un)}n≧0 be the associated sum process, and define for t ≧ 0 Under suitable conditions on (X0, Y0) and (X1, Y1) we derive expansions up to vanishing terms, as t→∞, for EUT(t), Var UT(t) and Cov (UT(t), T(t)). Corresponding results will be obtained for EUN(t), Var UN(t) and Cov (UN(t), N(t)) when X0, Χ1 are both almost surely non-negative and

Whittle enunciated an important reduction principle in dynamic programming when he showed that under certain conditions optimal strategies for Markov decision processes (MDPs) placed in parallel to one another take actions in a way which is consistent with the optimal strategies for the individual MDPs. However, the necessary and sufficient conditions given by Whittle are by no means always satisfied. We explore the status of this computationally attractive reduction principle when these conditions fail.

Markov trials are a sequence of dependent trials with two outcomes, success and failure, which are the states of a Markov chain. The distribution of the number of successes in n Markov trials and the first-passage time for a specified number of successes are obtained using an augmented Markov chain model.

We consider a non-preemptive priority head of the line queueing system with multiple servers and two classes of customers. The arrival process for each class is Poisson, and the service times are exponentially distributed with different means. A Markovian state description consists of the number of customers of each class in service and in the queue. We solve a matrix equation to obtain the generating function of the equilibrium probability distribution by analyzing singularities of the equation coefficients, which are meromorphic matrices of two complex variables. We then obtain the mean waiting times for each class.

Let t → h(t) be a smooth function on ℝ+, and B = {Bs; s ≥ 0} a standard Brownian motion. In this paper we derive expressions for the distributions of the variables Th: = inf {S; Bs = h(s)} and λth: = sup {s ≦ t; Bs = h(s)}, where t> 0 is given. Our formulas contain an expected value of a Brownian functional. It is seen that this can be computed, principally, using Feynman–Kac&s formula. Further, we discuss in our framework the familiar examples with linear and square root boundaries. Moreover our approach provides in some extent explicit solutions for the second-order boundaries.

The concept of an extremal index, which is a measure of local dependence amongst the exceedances over a high threshold by a stationary sequence, has a natural interpretation as the reciprocal of mean cluster size. We exhibit a counterexample which shows that this interpretation is not necessarily correct.