Let Yn denote the largest of n independent N(0, 1) variables. It is shown that if the constants an and bn are chosen in an optimal way then the rate of convergence of (Yn – bn)/an to the extreme value distribution exp(–e–x), as measured by the supremum metric or the Lévy metric, is proportional to 1/log n.

A detailed study of the asymptotic behavior of the first-passage-time p.d.f. and its moments is carried out for an unrestricted conditional Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process and for a constant boundary. Explicit expressions are determined which include those earlier discussed by Sato [15] and by Nobile et al. [9]. In particular, it is shown that the first-passage-time p.d.f. can be expressed as the sum of exponential functions with negative exponents and that the latter reduces to a single exponential density as time increases, irrespective of the chosen boundary. The explicit expressions obtained for the first-passage-time moments of any order appear to be particularly suitable for computation purposes.

The processes of the title have frequently been used to represent situations involving numbers of individuals in different categories or colonies. In such processes the state at any time is represented by the vector n = (n1, n2, …, nk), where nt is the number of individuals in the ith colony, and the random evolution of n is supposed to be that of a continuous-time Markov chain. The jumps of the chain may be of three types, corresponding to the arrival of a new individual, the departure of an existing one, or the transfer of an individual from one colony to another.

The behaviour in equilibrium of networks of queues in which customers may be of different types is studied. The type of a customer is allowed to influence his choice of path through the network and, under certain conditions, his service time distribution at each queue. The model assumed will usually cause each service time distribution to be of a form related to the negative exponential distribution.

Theorems 1 and 2 establish the equilibrium distribution for the basic model in the closed and open cases; in the open case the individual queues are independent in equilibrium. In Section 4 similar results are obtained for other models, models which include processes better described as networks of colonies or as networks of stacks. In Section 5 the effect of time reversal upon certain processes is used to obtain further information about the equilibrium behaviour of those processes.

In this paper we study random variables related to a shock reliability model. Our models can be used to study systems that fail when k consecutive shocks with critical magnitude (e.g. above or below a certain critical level) occur. We obtain properties of the distribution function of the random variables involved and we obtain their limit behaviour when k tends to infinity or when the probability of entering a critical set tends to zero. This model generalises the Poisson shock model.

A Hawkes process is also known under the name of a self-exciting point process and has numerous applications throughout science and engineering. We derive the statistical estimation (maximum likelihood estimation) and goodness-of-fit (mainly graphical) for multivariate Hawkes processes with possibly dependent marks. As an application, we analyze two data sets from finance.

Distributions appropriate to the description of long-term behaviour within an irreducible class of discrete-time denumerably infinite Markov chains are considered. The first four sections are concerned with general reslts, extending recent work on this subject. In Section 5 these are applied to the branching process, and give refinements of several well-known results. The last section deals with the semi-infinite random walk with an absorbing barrier at the origin.

Consider a network of nodes (switches) and connecting links. Each link consists of a group of channels (trunks). A call instantaneously seizes channels along a route between the originating and terminating node, holds them for a randomly distributed length of time and frees them instantaneously at the end of the call. If no channels are available, the call is blocked. For special networks with exponential call holding times, Erlang has shown that the steady-state probabilities are in product form. In this paper, we extend this work to general networks and show that if for each pair of nodes there is a unique route, then the blocking probabilities are in product form and are insensitive to the call holding-time distribution, which means that they depend on the call duration only through its mean.

In a previous paper (Marshall and Olkin (1966)) the authors have derived a multivariate exponential distribution from points of view designed to indicate the applicability of the distribution. Two of these derivations are based on “shock models” and one is based on the requirement that residual life is independent of age.

The practical importance of the univariate exponential distribution is partially due to the fact that it governs waiting times in a Poisson process. In this paper, the distribution of joint waiting times in a bivariate Poisson process is investigated. There are several ways to define “joint waiting time”. Some of these lead to the bivariate exponential distribution previously obtained by the authors, but others lead to a generalization of it. This generalized bivariate exponential distribution is also derived from shock models. The moment generating function and other properties of the distribution are investigated.

Collective risk theory is concerned with the random fluctations of the total assets, the risk reserve, of an insurance company. Consider a company which only writes ordinary insurance policies such as accident, disability, fire, health, and whole life. The policyholders pay premiums regularly and at certain random times make claims to the company. A policyholder's premium, the gross risk premium, is a positive amount composed of two components. The net risk premium is the component calculated to cover the payments of claims on the average, while the security risk premium, or safety loading, is the component which protects the company from large deviations of claims from the average and also allows an accumulation of capital. When a claim occurs the company pays the policyholder a positive amount called the positive risk sum.

In this paper we define and analyze a general shock model associated with a correlated pair (Xn, Yn) of renewal sequences, where the system fails when the magnitude of a shock exceeds (or falls below) a prespecified threshold level. Two models, depending on whether the nth shock Xn is correlated to the length Yn of the interval since the last shock, or to the length Yn of the subsequent interval until the next shock, are considered. The transform results, an exponential limit theorem, and properties of the associated renewal process of the failure times are obtained. An application in a stochastic clearing system with numerical results is also given.

The concept of positive ageing describes the adverse effects of age on the lifetime of units. Various aspects of this concept are described in terms of conditional probability distributions of residual lifetimes, failure rates, equilibrium distributions, etc. In this paper we further analyse this concept and relate it to stochastic dominance of first and higher orders. In the process we gain many insights and are able to define several new kinds of ageing criteria which supplement those existing in the literature.

Necessary and sufficient conditions for the so-called Hurst effect are given in the case of a weakly dependent stationary sequence of random variables perturbed by a trend. As a consequence of this general result it is shown that the Hurst effect is present in the case of weakly dependent random variables with a small monotonic trend of the form f(n) = c(m + n)ß, where m is an arbitrary non-negative parameter and c is not 0. For – ½ < ß < 0 the Hurst exponent is shown to be precisely given by 1 + ß. For ß ≦ – ½ and for ß = 0 the Hurst exponent is 0.5, while for ß > 0 it is 1. This simple mathematical model, motivated by empirical evidence in various geophysical records, demonstrates the presence of the Hurst effect in a direction not explored before.

As a model for an ATM switch we consider the overflow frequency of a queue that is served at a constant rate and in which the arrival process is the superposition of N traffic streams. We consider an asymptotic as N → ∞ in which the service rate Nc and buffer size Nb also increase linearly in N. In this regime, the frequency of buffer overflow is approximately exp(–NI(c, b)), where I(c, b) is given by the solution to an optimization problem posed in terms of time-dependent logarithmic moment generating functions. Experimental results for Gaussian and Markov modulated fluid source models show that this asymptotic provides a better estimate of the frequency of buffer overflow than ones based on large buffer asymptotics.

This paper considers periodic and sequential preventive maintenance (PM) policies for the system with minimal repair at failure: the PM is done (i) at periodic times kx and (ii) at constant intervals xk (k = 1, 2, ···, N). The system has a different failure distribution between PM'S and is replaced at the Nth PM. The optimal policies which minimize the expected cost rates are discussed. The optimal x and N of periodic PM and {xk} of sequential PM are easily computed in a Weibull distribution case.

In extreme shock models, only the impact of the current, possibly fatal shock is usually taken into account, whereas in cumulative shock models, the impact of the preceding shocks is accumulated as well. A shock model which combines these two types is called a ‘combined shock model’. In this paper we study new classes of extreme shock models and, based on the obtained results and model interpretations, we extend these results to several specific combined shock models. For systems subject to nonhomogeneous Poisson processes of shocks, we derive the corresponding survival probabilities and discuss some meaningful interpretations and examples.

We consider an insurance portfolio situation in which there is possible dependence between the waiting time for a claim and its actual size. By employing the underlying random walk structure we obtain explicit exponential estimates for infinite- and finite-time ruin probabilities in the case of light-tailed claim sizes. The results are illustrated in several examples, worked out for specific dependence structures.

We provide a method of constructing a sequence of general stochastic epidemics, indexed by the initial number of susceptibles N, from a time-homogeneous birth-and-death process. The construction is used to show strong convergence of the general stochastic epidemic to a birth-and-death process, over any finite time interval [0, t], and almost sure convergence of the total size of the general stochastic epidemic to that of a birth-and-death process. The latter result furnishes us with a new proof of the threshold theorem of Williams (1971). These methods are quite general and in the remainder of the paper we develop similar results for a wide variety of epidemics, including chain-binomial, host-vector and geographical spread models.

Given two random k-ary sequences of length n, what is f(n,k), the expected length of their longest common subsequence? This problem arises in the study of molecular evolution. We calculate f(n,k) for all k, where n ≦ 5, and f(n,2) where n ≦ 10. We study the limiting behaviour of n–1f(n,k) and derive upper and lower bounds on these limits for all k. Finally we estimate by Monte-Carlo methods f(100,k), f(1000,2) and f(5000,2).

For a model of a rumour, first given a non-rigorous treatment by Maki and Thompson, it is shown that the proportion of the population never hearing the rumour converges in probability to 0.203 as the population size tends to∞.