A useful introduction to this topic for both students and researchers, with an emphasis on applications and practicalities rather than on a formal development. It is based on the popular software package for graphical modelling, MIM, freely available for downloading from the Internet. Following a description of some of the basic ideas of graphical modelling, subsequent chapters describe particular families of models, including log-linear models, Gaussian models, and models for mixed discrete and continuous variables. Further chapters cover hypothesis testing and model selection. Chapters 7 and 8 are new to this second edition and describe the use of directed, chain, and other graphs, complete with a summary of recent work on causal inference.

This is the first book where mathematics and computer science are directly confronted and joined to tackle intricate problems in computer science with deep mathematical approaches. It contains a collection of refereed papers presented at the Colloquium on Mathematics and Computer Science held at the University of Versailles-St-Quentin on September 18-20, 2000. The colloquium was a meeting place for researchers in mathematics and computer science and thus an important opportunity to exchange ideas and points of view, and to present new approaches and new results in the common areas such as algorithms analysis, trees, combinatorics, optimization, performance evaluation and probabilities. The book is intended for a large public in applied mathematics, discrete mathematics and computer science, including researchers, teachers, graduate students and engineers. It provides an overview of the current questions in computer science and related modern mathematical methods. The range of applications is very wide and reaches beyond computer science.

On various examples ranging from geosciences to environmental sciences, this book explains how to generate an adequate description of uncertainty, how to justify semiheuristic algorithms for processing uncertainty, and how to make these algorithms more computationally efficient. It explains in what sense the existing approach to uncertainty as a combination of random and systematic components is only an approximation, presents a more adequate three-component model with an additional periodic error component, and explains how uncertainty propagation techniques can be extended to this model. The book provides a justification for a practically efficient heuristic technique (based on fuzzy decision-making). It explains how the computational complexity of uncertainty processing can be reduced. The book also shows how to take into account that in real life, the information about uncertainty is often only partially known, and, on several practical examples, explains how to extract the missing information about uncertainty from the available data.

This volume contains the text of the twenty-five papers presented at two workshops entitled Maximum-Entropy and Bayesian Methods in Applied Statistics, which were held at the University of Wyoming from June 8 to 10, 1981, and from August 9 to 11, 1982. The workshops were organized to bring together researchers from different fields to critically examine maxi mum-entropy and Bayesian methods in science, engineering, medicine, oceanography, economics, and other disciplines. An effort was made to maintain an informal environment where ideas could be easily ~xchanged. That the workshops were at least partially successful is borne out by the fact that there have been two succeeding workshops, and the upcoming Fifth Workshop promises to be the largest of all. These workshops and their proceedings could not have been brought to their final form without the substantial help of a number of people. The support of David Hofmann, the past chairman, and Glen Rebka, Jr. , the present chairman of the Physics Department of the University of Wyoming, has been strong and essential. Glen has taken a special interest in seeing that the proceedings have received the support required for their comple tion. The financial support of the Office of University Research Funds, University of Wyoming, is gratefully acknowledged. The secretarial staff, in particular Evelyn Haskell, Janice Gasaway, and Marce Mitchum, of the University of Wyoming Physics Department has contributed a great number of hours in helping C. Ray Smith organize and direct the workshops.

01/07 This title is now available from Walter de Gruyter. Please see www.degruyter.com for more information. This book is devoted to stochastic operators in Hilbert space. A number of models in modern probability theory apply the notion of a stochastic operator in explicit or latent form. In this book, objects from the Gaussian case are considered. Therefore, it is useful to consider all random variables and elements as functionals from the Wiener process or its formal derivative, i.e. white noise. The book consists of five chapters. The first chapter is devoted to stochastic calculus and its main goal is to prepare the tools for solving stochastic equations. In the second chapter the structure of stochastic equations, mainly the structure of Gaussian strong linear operators, is studied. In chapter 3 the definition of the action of the stochastic operator on random elements in considered. Chapter 4 deals with the mathematical models in which the notions of stochastic calculus arise and in the final chapter the equation with random operators is considered.

The author has attempted to present a book that provides a non-technical introduction into the area of non-parametric density and regression function estimation. The application of these methods is discussed in terms of the S computing environment. Smoothing in high dimensions faces the problem of data sparseness. A principal feature of smoothing, the averaging of data points in a prescribed neighborhood, is not really practicable in dimensions greater than three if we have just one hundred data points. Additive models provide a way out of this dilemma; but, for their interactiveness and recursiveness, they require highly effective algorithms. For this purpose, the method of WARPing (Weighted Averaging using Rounded Points) is described in great detail.

Since I started working in the area of nonlinear programming and, later on, variational inequality problems, I have frequently been surprised to find that many algorithms, however scattered in numerous journals, monographs and books, and described rather differently, are closely related to each other. This book is meant to help the reader understand and relate algorithms to each other in some intuitive fashion, and represents, in this respect, a consolidation of the field. The framework of algorithms presented in this book is called Cost Approxi mation. (The preface of the Ph.D. thesis Pat93d] explains the background to the work that lead to the thesis, and ultimately to this book.) It describes, for a given formulation of a variational inequality or nonlinear programming problem, an algorithm by means of approximating mappings and problems, a principle for the update of the iteration points, and a merit function which guides and monitors the convergence of the algorithm. One purpose of this book is to offer this framework as an intuitively appeal ing tool for describing an algorithm. One of the advantages of the framework, or any reasonable framework for that matter, is that two algorithms may be easily related and compared through its use. This framework is particular in that it covers a vast number of methods, while still being fairly detailed; the level of abstraction is in fact the same as that of the original problem statement."

This book provides a first introduction to mathematical statistics. The text arose from a series of lectures given at the University of Nijmegen (Holland) and is intended for students who already have some basic mathematical background. The text covers compulsory fundamental topics like estimation theory, sufficiency, hypothesis testing, analysis of variance, and non-parametric methods. Moreover, there are also introductory sections about the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, von Mises differentiation, influence functions, robustness, metrics on sets of distribution functions, smoothing techniques, bootstrap methods, and density estimation. The final chapters of the book contains a first course in vectorial statistics and multiple regression analysis. As a rule, theorems are proved in a mathematically rigorous way. Many examples and exercises are included. There is an accompanying volume, in which completely worked through solutions to all exercises can be found. Both books are very suitable for self-study.

Stochastic processes are mathematical models of random phenomena that evolve according to prescribed dynamics. Processes commonly used in applications are Markov chains in discrete and continuous time, renewal and regenerative processes, Poisson processes, and Brownian motion. This volume gives an in-depth description of the structure and basic properties of these stochastic processes. A main focus is on equilibrium distributions, strong laws of large numbers, and ordinary and functional central limit theorems for cost and performance parameters. Although these results differ for various processes, they have a common trait of being limit theorems for processes with regenerative increments. Extensive examples and exercises show how to formulate stochastic models of systems as functions of a system s data and dynamics, and how to represent and analyze cost and performance measures. Topics include stochastic networks, spatial and space-time Poisson processes, queueing, reversible processes, simulation, Brownian approximations, and varied Markovian models.

The technical level of the volume is between that of introductory texts that focus on highlights of applied stochastic processes, and advanced texts that focus on theoretical aspects of processes."

This volume presents the results of biological and medical research with the statistical methods used to obtain them. Nowadays the fields of biology and experimental medicine rely on techniques for processing of experimental data and for the evaluation of hypotheses. It is increasingly necessary to stimulate awareness of the importance of statistical techniques (and of the possible traps that they can hide) by using real data in concrete situations drawn from research activity.

Lazar Mayants is a recent Russian emigre noted for his work in theoretical physics. He was previously a professor at several universities of the Soviet Union and a distinguished member of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R, where he worked for about 30 years. In this book he presents a unique, extremely detailed, and embracive version of a subject that has suffered for a long time from numerous internal imperfections. His approach is new and original, the material covered features not only the foundations of the science of probability but also most of its applications, including statistical and quantum mechanics. The key methodolOgical principle underlying the book is of extraordinary significance and deserves special attention. The treatment excels in thoroughness of presentation, in its fulness of mathe matical detail and the abundance of physical examples. The book is intended for a wide range of people interested in probability and its connection with modern science. It is written as a text for advanced students, and I predict that a reader who masters all its contents will become an expert in the subject of both prob ability and its physical implications, while enjoying its understanding and use. HENRY MARGENAU Veritas nihil veretur nisi abscondi (truth 'What tremendously easy riddles you ask ' Humpty Dumpty growled out. fears nothing except being hidden). Latin proverb Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass, Chap. 6. Preface The history of producing this book is rather complicated and not quite usual."

This essential textbook presents the basics of dental statistics in an accessible way, combining explanation in non-technical language with key messages, practical examples, suggestions for further reading and exercises complete with detailed solutions. There is an emphasis on the principles and application of statistics without the use of algebra. The statistical material is strongly rooted in practical examples drawn from a wide range of journal articles representing both dental health care delivery and clinical dentistry. The perspective is international, with papers drawn from a variety of settings around the world. Many articles are recent and report contemporary developments in dental care. The intended audience includes dental students and practitioners, those engaged in dental research and other health care professionals. For students and tutors, it covers the undergraduate curriculum, and the exercises and solutions make it ideal for course use. For practitioners and researchers it provides the first principles of study design, accessing the dental literature, and the preparation and publication of original dental research.

This book covers two major classes of mixed effects models, linear mixed models and generalized linear mixed models. It presents an up-to-date account of theory and methods in analysis of these models as well as their applications in various fields. The book offers a systematic approach to inference about non-Gaussian linear mixed models. Furthermore, it includes recently developed methods, such as mixed model diagnostics, mixed model selection, and jackknife method in the context of mixed models. The book is aimed at students, researchers and other practitioners who are interested in using mixed models for statistical data analysis.

Introduction to the basic concepts of probability theory: independence, expectation, convergence in law and almost-sure convergence. Short expositions of more advanced topics such as Markov Chains, Stochastic Processes, Bayesian Decision Theory and Information Theory.

This book presents contributions and review articles on the theory of copulas and their applications. The authoritative and refereed contributions review the latest findings in the area with emphasis on "classical" topics like distributions with fixed marginals, measures of association, construction of copulas with given additional information, etc. The book celebrates the 75th birthday of Professor Roger B. Nelsen and his outstanding contribution to the development of copula theory. Most of the book's contributions were presented at the conference "Copulas and Their Applications" held in his honor in Almeria, Spain, July 3-5, 2017. The chapter 'When Gumbel met Galambos' is published open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.

VII Preface In many fields of mathematics, geometry has established itself as a fruitful method and common language for describing basic phenomena and problems as well as suggesting ways of solutions. Especially in pure mathematics this is ob vious and well-known (examples are the much discussed interplay between lin ear algebra and analytical geometry and several problems in multidimensional analysis). On the other hand, many specialists from applied mathematics seem to prefer more formal analytical and numerical methods and representations. Nevertheless, very often the internal development of disciplines from applied mathematics led to geometric models, and occasionally breakthroughs were b ed on geometric insights. An excellent example is the Klee-Minty cube, solving a problem of linear programming by transforming it into a geomet ric problem. Also the development of convex programming in recent decades demonstrated the power of methods that evolved within the field of convex geometry. The present book focuses on three applied disciplines: control theory, location science and computational geometry. It is our aim to demonstrate how methods and topics from convex geometry in a wider sense (separation theory of convex cones, Minkowski geometry, convex partitionings, etc.) can help to solve various problems from these disciplines."

The process of developing predictive models includes many stages. Most resources focus on the modeling algorithms but neglect other critical aspects of the modeling process. This book describes techniques for finding the best representations of predictors for modeling and for nding the best subset of predictors for improving model performance. A variety of example data sets are used to illustrate the techniques along with R programs for reproducing the results.

If you know a little bit about financial mathematics but don't yet know a lot about programming, then C++ for Financial Mathematics is for you. C++ is an essential skill for many jobs in quantitative finance, but learning it can be a daunting prospect. This book gathers together everything you need to know to price derivatives in C++ without unnecessary complexities or technicalities. It leads the reader step-by-step from programming novice to writing a sophisticated and flexible financial mathematics library. At every step, each new idea is motivated and illustrated with concrete financial examples. As employers understand, there is more to programming than knowing a computer language. As well as covering the core language features of C++, this book teaches the skills needed to write truly high quality software. These include topics such as unit tests, debugging, design patterns and data structures. The book teaches everything you need to know to solve realistic financial problems in C++. It can be used for self-study or as a textbook for an advanced undergraduate or master's level course.

This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to probability and stochastic processes, and shows how these subjects may be applied in computer performance modeling. The author's aim is to derive probability theory in a way that highlights the complementary nature of its formal, intuitive, and applicative aspects while illustrating how the theory is applied in a variety of settings. Readers are assumed to be familiar with elementary linear algebra and calculus, including being conversant with limits, but otherwise, this book provides a self-contained approach suitable for graduate or advanced undergraduate students. The first half of the book covers the basic concepts of probability, including combinatorics, expectation, random variables, and fundamental theorems. In the second half of the book, the reader is introduced to stochastic processes. Subjects covered include renewal processes, queueing theory, Markov processes, matrix geometric techniques, reversibility, and networks of queues. Examples and applications are drawn from problems in computer performance modeling. Throughout, large numbers of exercises of varying degrees of difficulty will help to secure a reader's understanding of these important and fascinating subjects.

The scope of this book is limited to heuristics, metaheuristics, and approximate methods and algorithms as applied to planning and scheduling problems. While it is not possible to give a comprehensive treatment of this topic in one book, the aim of this work is to provide the reader with a diverse set of planning and scheduling problems and different heuristic approaches to solve them. The problems range from traditional single stage and parallel machine problems to more modern settings such as robotic cells and flexible job shop networks. Furthermore, some chapters deal with deterministic problems while some others treat stochastic versions of the problems. Unlike most of the literature that deals with planning and scheduling problems in the manufacturing and production environments, in this book the environments were extended to nontraditional applications such as spatial scheduling (optimizing space over time), runway scheduling, and surgical scheduling. The solution methods used in the different chapters of the book also spread from well-established heuristics and metaheuristics such as Genetic Algorithms and Ant Colony Optimization to more recent ones such as Meta-RaPS.

This book introduces the reader to the use of Monte Carlo methods for solving practical problems in radiation transport, and will also serve as a reference work for practitioners in the field. It assumes the reader has a general knowledge of calculus and radiation physics, and a knowledge of Fortran programming, but assumes no prior knowledge of stochastic methods or statistical physics. The subject is presented by a combination of theoretical development and practical calculations. Because Monte Carlo methods are closely linked to the use of computers, from the beginning the reader is taught to convert the theoretical constructs developed in the text into functional software for use on a personal computer. Example problems provide the reader with an in-depth understanding of the concepts presented and lead to the production of a unique learning tool, a probabilistic framework code that models in a simple manner the features of production of Monte Carlo transport codes. This framework code is developed in stages such that every function is understood, tested, and demonstrated - random sampling, generating random numbers, implementing geometric models, using variance reduction, tracking particles in a random walk, testing the thoroughness with which the problem phase space is sampled, scoring detectors, and obtaining estimates of uncertainty in results. Advanced topics covered include criticality, correlated sampling, adjoint transport, and neutron thermalization. Monte Carlo codes can produce highly precise wrong answers. The probability of this occurring is increased if production codes are run as opaque, black boxes' of software. This text attempts to make Monte Carlo into acomprehensible, usable tool for solving practical transport problems. It is suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students and researchers who wish to expand their knowledge of the Monte Carlo technique.

This book provides an account for the non-specialist of the circle of ideas, results and techniques, which grew out in the study of Brownian motion and random obstacles. It also includes an overview of known results and connections with other areas of random media, taking a highly original and personal approach throughout.

Main concepts of quasi-stationary distributions (QSDs) for killed processes are the focus of the present volume. For diffusions, the killing is at the boundary and for dynamical systems there is a trap. The authors present the QSDs as the ones that allow describing the long-term behavior conditioned to not being killed. Studies in this research area started with Kolmogorov and Yaglom and in the last few decades have received a great deal of attention. The authors provide the exponential distribution property of the killing time for QSDs, present the more general result on their existence and study the process of trajectories that survive forever. For birth-and-death chains and diffusions, the existence of a single or a continuum of QSDs is described. They study the convergence to the extremal QSD and give the classification of the survival process. In this monograph, the authors discuss Gibbs QSDs for symbolic systems and absolutely continuous QSDs for repellers. The findings described are relevant to researchers in the fields of Markov chains, diffusions, potential theory, dynamical systems, and in areas where extinction is a central concept. The theory is illustrated with numerous examples. The volume uniquely presents the distribution behavior of individuals who survive in a decaying population for a very long time. It also provides the background for applications in mathematical ecology, statistical physics, computer sciences, and economics.