In this note we point out an inherent difficulty in numerical identification of bacteria. The problem is that of uniqueness of the taxonomic structure or, in mathematical terms, the lack of statistical identifiability of finite mixtures of multivariate Bernoulli probability distributions shown here.

We provide the explicit expression for the mean coverage function of a generalized voter model on a regular lattice and establish a characterization of the class of the above processes. As a result, we derive the exact rate of convergence of the considered processes to the steady state. We also prove the existence of different processes with the same mean coverage function on a given lattice.

In the paper, we discuss the properties of Cowan and Mecke's Markov chain P in general form. We give some criteria for determining whether the chain P is transient, recurrent null or recurrent non-null, and for the chain P to have invariant measures.

We give a sample path proof of the well-known Wiener–Hopf identity F = G– + G+ – G– ∗G+ which relates the ladder-height distributions G– and G+ of a simple random walk to the step distribution F. Unlike previous approaches this direct proof is both simple and intuitive.

A one-dimensional packing approach is used to obtain limiting results for inter-crack distances after multiple fracture of a long brittle-matrix composite with continuous aligned fibres. The results may also be appropriate for applications of the Rényi car-parking model in which there is a reduced probability of cars parking bumper to bumper.

The transition probabilities of the move-to-front scheme are obtained by exploiting the connection between it and the coupon-collector's problem.

The continuous autoregressive and minification stationary non-negative time series models discussed by Chernick et al. (1988) are generalized to model marginal distributions which have atoms of mass at zero. The reversibility theorem relating these processes with exponential marginal distributions is extended to the case where the marginal distribution has exponential tail.

The behaviour of the size of the largest complete subgraph contained in an overlap graph of a random acyclic digraph is presented.

This paper examines the availability of a maintained system where the rate of deterioration is governed by an exogenous random environment. We provide a qualitative result that exposes the relationship between remaining lifetime, environment, and repairs. This result leads to simple bounds that can be used to choose inspection rates that guarantee a specified level of availability. The principal result requires no specific distributional assumptions, is intuitively appealing and can be directly applied by practitioners. Our development employs techniques from stochastic calculus.