This book begins with a gentle introduction to the analytical aspects of the theory of finite Markov chain mixing times and quickly ramps up to explain the latest developments in the topic. Several theorems are revisited and often derived in simpler, transparent ways, and illustrated with examples. The highlights include spectral, logarithmic Sobolev techniques, the evolving set methodology, and issues of nonreversibility. This is a comprehensive, well-written review of the subject that will be of interest to researchers and students in computer and mathematical sciences.

This book develops the theory of continuous and discrete stochastic processes within the context of cell biology. In the second edition the material has been significantly expanded, particularly within the context of nonequilibrium and self-organizing systems. Given the amount of additional material, the book has been divided into two volumes, with volume I mainly covering molecular processes and volume II focusing on cellular processes. A wide range of biological topics are covered in the new edition, including stochastic ion channels and excitable systems, molecular motors, stochastic gene networks, genetic switches and oscillators, epigenetics, normal and anomalous diffusion in complex cellular environments, stochastically-gated diffusion, active intracellular transport, signal transduction, cell sensing, bacterial chemotaxis, intracellular pattern formation, cell polarization, cell mechanics, biological polymers and membranes, nuclear structure and dynamics, biological condensates, molecular aggregation and nucleation, cellular length control, cell mitosis, cell motility, cell adhesion, cytoneme-based morphogenesis, bacterial growth, and quorum sensing. The book also provides a pedagogical introduction to the theory of stochastic and nonequilibrium processes - Fokker Planck equations, stochastic differential equations, stochastic calculus, master equations and jump Markov processes, birth-death processes, Poisson processes, first passage time problems, stochastic hybrid systems, queuing and renewal theory, narrow capture and escape, extreme statistics, search processes and stochastic resetting, exclusion processes, WKB methods, large deviation theory, path integrals, martingales and branching processes, numerical methods, linear response theory, phase separation, fluctuation-dissipation theorems, age-structured models, and statistical field theory. This text is primarily aimed at graduate students and researchers working in mathematical biology, statistical and biological physicists, and applied mathematicians interested in stochastic modeling. Applied probabilists should also find it of interest. It provides significant background material in applied mathematics and statistical physics, and introduces concepts in stochastic and nonequilibrium processes via motivating biological applications. The book is highly illustrated and contains a large number of examples and exercises that further develop the models and ideas in the body of the text. It is based on a course that the author has taught at the University of Utah for many years.

Fluctuating parameters appear in a variety of physical systems and phenomena. They typically come either as random forces/sources, or advecting velocities, or media (material) parameters, like refraction index, conductivity, diffusivity, etc. The well known example of Brownian particle suspended in fluid and subjected to random molecular bombardment laid the foundation for modern stochastic calculus and statistical physics. Other important examples include turbulent transport and diffusion of particle-tracers (pollutants), or continuous densities (''oil slicks''), wave propagation and scattering in randomly inhomogeneous media, for instance light or sound propagating in the turbulent atmosphere.
Such models naturally render to statistical description, where the input parameters and solutions are expressed by random processes and fields.
The fundamental problem of stochastic dynamics is to identify the essential characteristics of system (its state and evolution), and relate those to the input parameters of the system and initial data.
This raises a host of challenging mathematical issues. One could rarely solve such systems exactly (or approximately) in a closed analytic form, and their solutions depend in a complicated implicit manner on the initial-boundary data, forcing and system's (media) parameters . In mathematical terms such solution becomes a complicated "nonlinear functional" of random fields and processes.
Part I gives mathematical formulation for the basic physical models of transport, diffusion, propagation and develops some analytic tools.
Part II sets up and applies the techniques of variational calculus and stochastic analysis, like Fokker-Plank equation to those models, to produce exact or approximate solutions, or in worst case numeric procedures. The exposition is motivated and demonstrated with numerous examples.
Part III takes up issues for the coherent phenomena in stochastic dynamical systems, described by ordinary and partial differential equations, like wave propagation in randomly layered media (localization), turbulent advection of passive tracers (clustering).
Each chapter is appended with problems the reader to solve by himself (herself), which will be a good training for independent investigations.
.This book is translation from Russian and is completed with new principal results of recent research.
.The book develops mathematical tools of stochastic analysis, and applies them to a wide range of physical models of particles, fluids, and waves.
.Accessible to a broad audience with general background in mathematical physics, but no special expertise in stochastic analysis, wave propagation or turbulence"

This monograph addresses the problem of "real-time" curve fitting in the presence of noise, from the computational and statistical viewpoints. It examines the problem of nonlinear regression, where observations are made on a time series whose mean-value function is known except for a vector parameter. In contrast to the traditional formulation, data are imagined to arrive in temporal succession. The estimation is carried out in real time so that, at each instant, the parameter estimate fully reflects all available data.Specifically, the monograph focuses on estimator sequences of the so-called differential correction type. The term "differential correction" refers to the fact that the difference between the components of the updated and previous estimators is proportional to the difference between the current observation and the value that would be predicted by the regression function if the previous estimate were in fact the true value of the unknown vector parameter. The vector of proportionality factors (which is generally time varying and can depend upon previous estimates) is called the "gain" or "smoothing" vector.The main purpose of this research is to relate the large-sample statistical behavior of such estimates (consistency, rate of convergence, large-sample distribution theory, asymptotic efficiency) to the properties of the regression function and the choice of smoothing vectors. Furthermore, consideration is given to the tradeoff that can be effected between computational simplicity and statistical efficiency through the choice of gains.Part I deals with the special cases of an unknown scalar parameter-discussing probability-one and mean-square convergence, rates of mean-square convergence, and asymptotic distribution theory of the estimators for various choices of the smoothing sequence. Part II examines the probability-one and mean-square convergence of the estimators in the vector case for various choices of smoothing vectors. Examples are liberally sprinkled throughout the book. Indeed, the last chapter is devoted entirely to the discussion of examples at varying levels of generality.If one views the stochastic approximation literature as a study in the asymptotic behavior of solutions to a certain class of nonlinear first-order difference equations with stochastic driving terms, then the results of this monograph also serve to extend and complement many of the results in that literature, which accounts for the authors' choice of title.The book is written at the first-year graduate level, although this level of maturity is not required uniformly. Certainly the reader should understand the concept of a limit both in the deterministic and probabilistic senses (i.e., almost sure and quadratic mean convergence). This much will assure a comfortable journey through the first fourth of the book. Chapters 4 and 5 require an acquaintance with a few selected central limit theorems. A familiarity with the standard techniques of large-sample theory will also prove useful but is not essential. Part II, Chapters 6 through 9, is couched in the language of matrix algebra, but none of the "classical" results used are deep. The reader who appreciates the elementary properties of eigenvalues, eigenvectors, and matrix norms will feel at home.MIT Press Research Monograph No. 42

Although rangelands are one of the most important ecological-economic systems on our planet, researchers thus far have paid scant attention to the study of range management from a theoretical perspective. As such, this book provides a systematic approach to the theoretical study of range management under uncertainty. In particular, the book demonstrates how the theory of stochastic processes and the techniques of stochastic modelling can be used to construct and analyse theoretical models of jointly determined rangelands and thereby shed light on the task of range management. Because specialised grazing systems involving the rotation of animals between pastures have been a major focus of range managers since the 1950s, this book pays considerable attention to questions that arise when specialised grazing systems such as short duration grazing are used to manage rangelands. Specific issues that are analysed in this book include the optimal number of paddocks in short duration grazing, the steady state distribution of animals in short duration grazing. Also, the effect of potential irreversibilities, the choice between the stocking rate and time, herding in ranch operations, and the role of time in range management, is discussed.

Key Features of the Fourth Edition
* Chapter 4, Probability, is now optional
* Ten new smaller data sets, in addition to the hallmark Framingham Heart Study Data
* Streamlined! - Organizing Data and Describing Data are now combined into a single chapter
* Examples and Exercises include a stronger emphasis on statistical thinking and exploratory data analysis
* Additional computer output from Minitab, Data Desk, JMP, SPSS, Resampling Stats, Maple V, and Mathematica

This volume contains 15 articles based on invited talks given at an AMS Special Session on 'Stochastic Inequalities and Their Applications' held at Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta). The session drew international experts who exchanged ideas and presented state-of-the-art results and techniques in the field. Together, the articles in the book give a comprehensive picture of this area of mathematical probability and statistics.The book includes new results on the following: convexity inequalities for ranges of vector measures; inequalities for tails of Gaussian chaos and for independent symmetric random variables; Bonferroni-type inequalities for sums of stationary sequences; Rosenthal-type second moment inequalities; variance inequalities for functions of multivariate random variables; correlation inequalities for stable random vectors; maximal inequalities for VC classes; deviation inequalities for martingale polynomials; and, expectation equalities for bounded mean-zero Gaussian processes. Various articles in the book emphasize applications of stochastic inequalities to hypothesis testing, mathematical finance, statistics, and mathematical physics.

Stochastic Processes and Random Vibrations Theory and Practice JAlA-us SA3lnes University of Iceland, ReykjavA-k, Iceland This book covers the fundamental theory of stochastic processes for analysing mechanical and structural systems subject to random excitation, and also for treating random signals of a general nature with special emphasis on earthquakes and turbulent winds. Starting with basic probability calculus and the fundamental theory of stochastic processes, the author progresses onto engineering applications: systems analysis and treatment of random signals. The random excitation and response of simple mechanical systems and complex structural systems is discussed in some detail. Extreme conditions such as distribution of large vibration peaks, random excursions above certain limits and mechanical failure due to fatigue are then addressed. The text also offers a discussion of some well-known stochastic models and an introduction to signal processing and digital filters. Numerous worked examples are included: distribution of extreme wind speeds, analysis of structural reliability, earthquake response of a tall multi-storey structure, wind loading of tall towers, generation of random earthquake signals and earthquake risk analysis.

The book addresses the system performance with a focus on the network-enhanced complexities and developing the engineering-oriented design framework of controllers and filters with potential applications in system sciences, control engineering and signal processing areas. Therefore, it provides a unified treatment on the analysis and synthesis for discrete-time stochastic systems with guarantee of certain performances against network-enhanced complexities with applications in sensor networks and mobile robotics. Such a result will be of great importance in the development of novel control and filtering theories including industrial impact. Key Features Provides original methodologies and emerging concepts to deal with latest issues in the control and filtering with an emphasis on a variety of network-enhanced complexities Gives results of stochastic control and filtering distributed control and filtering, and security control of complex networked systems Captures the essence of performance analysis and synthesis for stochastic control and filtering Concepts and performance indexes proposed reflect the requirements of engineering practice Methodologies developed in this book include backward recursive Riccati difference equation approach and the discrete-time version of input-to-state stability in probability

Based on a well-established and popular course taught by the authors over many years, Stochastic Processes: An Introduction, Third Edition, discusses the modelling and analysis of random experiments, where processes evolve over time. The text begins with a review of relevant fundamental probability. It then covers gambling problems, random walks, and Markov chains. The authors go on to discuss random processes continuous in time, including Poisson, birth and death processes, and general population models, and present an extended discussion on the analysis of associated stationary processes in queues. The book also explores reliability and other random processes, such as branching, martingales, and simple epidemics. A new chapter describing Brownian motion, where the outcomes are continuously observed over continuous time, is included. Further applications, worked examples and problems, and biographical details have been added to this edition. Much of the text has been reworked. The appendix contains key results in probability for reference. This concise, updated book makes the material accessible, highlighting simple applications and examples. A solutions manual with fully worked answers of all end-of-chapter problems, and Mathematica (R) and R programs illustrating many processes discussed in the book, can be downloaded from crcpress.com.

This text develops an introductory and relatively simple account of the theory and application of the evolutionary type of stochastic process. Professor Bailey adopts the heuristic approach of applied mathematics and develops both theoretical principles and applied techniques simultaneously.

The Wiley Classics Library consists of selected books originally published by John Wiley & Sons that have become recognized classics in their respective fields. With these new unabridged and inexpensive editions, Wiley hopes to extend the life of these important works by making them available to future generations of mathematicians and scientists. Currently available in the Series: Emil Artin Geometric Algebra Norman T. J. Bailey The Elements of Stochastic Processes With Applications to the Natural Sciences R. W. Carter Simple Groups of Lie Type Richard Courant Differential and Integral Calculus. Volume I Richard Courant Differential and Integral Calculus, Volume II Richard Courant & D. Hilbert Methods of Mathematical Physics, Volume I Richard Courant & D. Hilbert Methods of Mathematical Physics, Volume II Harold S.M. Coxeter Introduction to Modern Geometry, Second Edition Charles W. Curtis & Irving Reiner Representation Theory of Finite Groups and Associative Algebras Charles W. Curtis & Irving Reiner Methods of Representation Theory With Applications to Finite Groups and Orders, Volume 1 W. Edwards Darning Sample Design in Business Research Amos deShalit & Herman Feshbach Theoretical Nuclear Physics, Volume I-Nuclear Structure J. L. Doob Stochastic Processes Nelson Dunford, Jacob T. Schwartz Linear Operators, Part One, General Theory Nelson Dunford, Jacob T. Schwartz Linear Operators, Part Two, Spectral Theory - Self Adjoint Operators in Hilbert Space Nelson Dunford, Jacob T. Schwartz Linear Operators, Part Three, Spectral Operators Peter Henrici Applied and Computational Complex Analysis, Volume I - Power Series-Integration-Conformal Mapping-Location of Zeros Peter Hilton, Yel-Chiang Wu A Course in Modern Algebra Harry Hochstadt Integral Equations Erwin Kreyszig Introductory Functional Analysis with Applications William H. Louisell Quantum Statistical Properties of Radiation P. M. Prenter Splines and Variational Methods Walter Rudin Fourier Analysis on Groups C. L. Siegel Topics in Complex Function Theory Volume I - Elliptic Functions and Uniformization Theory C. L. Siegel Topics in Complex Function Theory Volume II - Automorphic and Abelian Integrals C. L. Siegel Topics in Complex Function Theory, Volume III - Abelian Functions & Modular Functions of Several Variables J. J. Stoker Differential Geometry

This is the first book to promote the use of stochastic, or random, processes to understand, model and predict our climate system. One of the most important applications of this technique is in the representation of comprehensive climate models of processes which, although crucial, are too small or fast to be explicitly modelled. The book shows how stochastic methods can lead to improvements in climate simulation and prediction, compared with more conventional bulk-formula parameterization procedures. Beginning with expositions of the relevant mathematical theory, the book moves on to describe numerous practical applications. It covers the complete range of time scales of climate variability, from seasonal to decadal, centennial, and millennial. With contributions from leading experts in climate physics, this book is invaluable to anyone working on climate models, including graduate students and researchers in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences, numerical weather forecasting, climate prediction, climate modelling, and climate change.

Dieses Buch ist eine Einfuhrung in die Variationsrechnung, die das Ziel hat, reellwertige Funktionale zu minimieren oder zu maximieren. Die Funktionale sind Integrale uber einem Intervall, weshalb die dafur zulassigen Funktionen von nur einer unabhangigen Variablen abhangen. Motiviert werden die Fragestellungen durch viele und zum Teil auch historisch bedeutsame Beispiele.
Die Theorie fuhrt in den Euler-Lagrange-Kalkul und in die Direkten Methoden der Variationsrechnung ein. Die Ausfuhrungen werden von Abbildungen begleitet, die das Verstandnis erleichtern. Zu jedem Abschnitt werden Ubungsaufgaben gestellt, deren Losungen am Ende des Buches zu finden sind.
Das Buch ist fur Vorlesungen ab dem 3. Semester geeignet. Die Hilfsmittel, welche uber die der Grundvorlesungen hinausgehen, werden im Text oder im Anhang bereitgestellt.
"

This book covers the classical theory of Markov chains on general state-spaces as well as many recent developments. The theoretical results are illustrated by simple examples, many of which are taken from Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods. The book is self-contained, while all the results are carefully and concisely proven. Bibliographical notes are added at the end of each chapter to provide an overview of the literature. Part I lays the foundations of the theory of Markov chain on general states-space. Part II covers the basic theory of irreducible Markov chains on general states-space, relying heavily on regeneration techniques. These two parts can serve as a text on general state-space applied Markov chain theory. Although the choice of topics is quite different from what is usually covered, where most of the emphasis is put on countable state space, a graduate student should be able to read almost all these developments without any mathematical background deeper than that needed to study countable state space (very little measure theory is required). Part III covers advanced topics on the theory of irreducible Markov chains. The emphasis is on geometric and subgeometric convergence rates and also on computable bounds. Some results appeared for a first time in a book and others are original. Part IV are selected topics on Markov chains, covering mostly hot recent developments.

From the ancients' first readings of the innards of birds to your neighbor's last bout with the state lottery, humankind has put itself into the hands of chance. Today life itself may be at stake when probability comes into play--in the chance of a false negative in a medical test, in the reliability of DNA findings as legal evidence, or in the likelihood of passing on a deadly congenital disease--yet as few people as ever understand the odds. This book is aimed at the trouble with trying to learn about probability. A story of the misconceptions and difficulties civilization overcame in progressing toward probabilistic thinking, Randomness is also a skillful account of what makes the science of probability so daunting in our own day. To acquire a (correct) intuition of chance is not easy to begin with, and moving from an intuitive sense to a formal notion of probability presents further problems. Author Deborah Bennett traces the path this process takes in an individual trying to come to grips with concepts of uncertainty and fairness, and also charts the parallel path by which societies have developed ideas about chance. Why, from ancient to modern times, have people resorted to chance in making decisions? Is a decision made by random choice "fair"? What role has gambling played in our understanding of chance? Why do some individuals and societies refuse to accept randomness at all? If understanding randomness is so important to probabilistic thinking, why do the experts disagree about what it really is? And why are our intuitions about chance almost always dead wrong? Anyone who has puzzled over a probability conundrum is struck by the paradoxes and counterintuitive results that occur at a relatively simple level. Why this should be, and how it has been the case through the ages, for bumblers and brilliant mathematicians alike, is the entertaining and enlightening lesson of Randomness.

This book provides the mathematical foundations for the analysis of a class of degenerate elliptic operators defined on manifolds with corners, which arise in a variety of applications such as population genetics, mathematical finance, and economics. The results discussed in this book prove the uniqueness of the solution to the Martingale problem and therefore the existence of the associated Markov process.

Charles Epstein and Rafe Mazzeo use an "integral kernel method" to develop mathematical foundations for the study of such degenerate elliptic operators and the stochastic processes they define. The precise nature of the degeneracies of the principal symbol for these operators leads to solutions of the parabolic and elliptic problems that display novel regularity properties. Dually, the adjoint operator allows for rather dramatic singularities, such as measures supported on high codimensional strata of the boundary. Epstein and Mazzeo establish the uniqueness, existence, and sharp regularity properties for solutions to the homogeneous and inhomogeneous heat equations, as well as a complete analysis of the resolvent operator acting on Holder spaces. They show that the semigroups defined by these operators have holomorphic extensions to the right half-plane. Epstein and Mazzeo also demonstrate precise asymptotic results for the long-time behavior of solutions to both the forward and backward Kolmogorov equations."

The classical theory of stochastic processes has important applications arising from the need to describe irreversible evolutions in classical mechanics; analogously quantum stochastic processes can be used to model the dynamics of irreversible quantum systems. Noncommutative, i.e. quantum, geometry provides a framework in which quantum stochastic structures can be explored. This book is the first to describe how these two mathematical constructions are related. In particular, key ideas of semigroups and complete positivity are combined to yield quantum dynamical semigroups (QDS). Sinha and Goswami also develop a general theory of Evans-Hudson dilation for both bounded and unbounded coefficients. The unique features of the book, including the interaction of QDS and quantum stochastic calculus with noncommutative geometry and a thorough discussion of this calculus with unbounded coefficients, will make it of interest to graduate students and researchers in functional analysis, probability and mathematical physics.

An important problem in computational biology is identifying short DNA sequences (mathematically, 'words') associated to a biological function. One approach consists in determining whether a particular word is simply random or is of statistical significance, for example, because of its frequency or location. This book introduces the mathematical and statistical ideas used in solving this so-called exceptional word problem. It begins with a detailed description of the principal models used in sequence analysis: Markovian models are central here and capture compositional information on the sequence being analysed. There follows an introduction to several statistical methods that are used for finding exceptional words with respect to the model used. The second half of the book is illustrated with numerous examples provided from the analysis of bacterial genomes, making this a practical guide for users facing a real situation and needing to make an adequate procedure choice.

This book presents both the fundamentals and the major research topics in statistical physics of systems out of equilibrium. It summarizes different approaches to describe such systems on the thermodynamic and stochastic levels, and discusses a variety of areas including reactions, anomalous kinetics, and the behavior of self-propelling particles.

The papers collected here focus on probabilistic causality, addressing topics such as the search for causal mechanisms, epistemic and metaphysical views of causality, Bayesian nets and causal dependence, and causation in the special sciences. Some papers stress the statistical analysis of probabilistic data; others address causal issues in physics, with an emphasis on physical processes that are also probabilistic--i.e., stochastic processes.

Stochastic Cauchy Problems in Infinite Dimensions: Generalized and Regularized Solutions presents stochastic differential equations for random processes with values in Hilbert spaces. Accessible to non-specialists, the book explores how modern semi-group and distribution methods relate to the methods of infinite-dimensional stochastic analysis. It also shows how the idea of regularization in a broad sense pervades all these methods and is useful for numerical realization and applications of the theory. The book presents generalized solutions to the Cauchy problem in its initial form with white noise processes in spaces of distributions. It also covers the "classical" approach to stochastic problems involving the solution of corresponding integral equations. The first part of the text gives a self-contained introduction to modern semi-group and abstract distribution methods for solving the homogeneous (deterministic) Cauchy problem. In the second part, the author solves stochastic problems using semi-group and distribution methods as well as the methods of infinite-dimensional stochastic analysis.

Providing a novel approach to sparse stochastic processes, this comprehensive book presents the theory of stochastic processes that are ruled by stochastic differential equations, and that admit a parsimonious representation in a matched wavelet-like basis. Two key themes are the statistical property of infinite divisibility, which leads to two distinct types of behaviour - Gaussian and sparse - and the structural link between linear stochastic processes and spline functions, which is exploited to simplify the mathematical analysis. The core of the book is devoted to investigating sparse processes, including a complete description of their transform-domain statistics. The final part develops practical signal-processing algorithms that are based on these models, with special emphasis on biomedical image reconstruction. This is an ideal reference for graduate students and researchers with an interest in signal/image processing, compressed sensing, approximation theory, machine learning, or statistics.

This book covers the development of methods for detection and estimation of changes in complex systems. These systems are generally described by nonstationary stochastic models, which comprise both static and dynamic regimes, linear and nonlinear dynamics, and constant and time-variant structures of such systems. It covers both retrospective and sequential problems, particularly theoretical methods of optimal detection. Such methods are constructed and their characteristics are analyzed both theoretically and experimentally. Suitable for researchers working in change-point analysis and stochastic modelling, the book includes theoretical details combined with computer simulations and practical applications. Its rigorous approach will be appreciated by those looking to delve into the details of the methods, as well as those looking to apply them.