Preservation properties of stochastic orders by transformation to the transmuted-G model

Abstract

The transmuted-G model is a useful technique to construct some new distributions by adding a parameter. This paper considers stochastic comparisons in the transmuted-G family with different parameters and different baseline distributions in the sense of the usual stochastic, shifted stochastic, proportional stochastic and shifted proportional stochastic orders. Also, we present a necessary and sufficient condition for existence of the moments of the transmuted-G model and then we obtain some bounds for the survival and aging intensity functions of the transmuted-G model conditioned on its parameter and its baseline distribution.     

Valuation of contingent claims with stochastic interest rate and mortality driven by Lévy processes

Abstract

In this paper, we consider a model with stochastic interest rate and stochastic mortality, which is driven by a Lévy process. Under the assumption that the stochastic mortality and interest rate are dependent, we discuss the valuation of life insurance contracts. Employing the method of change of measure together with the Bayes’ rule, we present the pricing formulas in closed form for the survival and death benefit models. Finally, numerical experiments illustrate the effects of some parameters.     

Quadratic reflected BSDEs and related obstacle problems for PDEs

Abstract

In this paper, we study a kind of reflected backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs) whose generators are of quadratic growth in z and linear growth in y. We first give an estimate of solutions to such reflected BSDEs. Then under the condition that the generators are convex with respect to z, we can obtain a comparison theorem, which implies the uniqueness of solutions for this kind of reflected BSDEs. Besides, the assumption of convexity also leads to a stability property in the spirit of above estimate. We further establish the nonlinear Feynman-Kac formula of the related obstacle problems for partial differential equations (PDEs) in our framework. At last, a numerical example is given to illustrate the applications of our theoretical results, as well as its connection with an optimal stopping time problem.     

A detection algorithm for the first jump time in sample trajectories of jump-diffusions driven by α-stable white noise

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to develop a detection algorithm for the first jump point in sampling trajectories of jump-diffusions which are described as solutions of stochastic differential equations driven by α-stable white noise. This is done by a multivariate Lagrange interpolation approach. To this end, we utilize computer simulation algorithm in MATLAB to visualize the sampling trajectories of the jump-diffusions for various combinations of parameters arising in the modeling structure of stochastic differential equations.     

Stochastic metafrontiers

ABSTRACT

We consider the case of production units arranged into a number of groups. All units within a group choose output–input combinations from the same production possibilities set that is represented by a stochastic frontier model. The metafrontier is the envelope of the group-specific frontiers. We are interested in the metafrontier distance, which is the amount by which the group-specific frontier lies below the metafrontier.

Previous work has measured the metafrontier distance using the deterministic portion of the frontier. In a stochastic frontier model, this is not appropriate. We show how to evaluate the metafrontier distance, and we demonstrate the empirical relevance of this issue.     

Likelihood-Based comparison of stable paretian and competing models: Evidence from daily exchange rates

Considering alternative models for exchange rates has always been a central issue in applied research. Despite this fact, formal likelihood-based comparisons of competing models are extremely rare. In this paper, we apply the Bayesian marginal likelihood concept to compare GARCH, stable, stable GARCH, stochastic volatility, and a new stable Paretian stochastic volatility model for seven major currencies. Inference is based on combining Monte Carlo methods with Laplace integration. The empirical results show that neither GARCH nor stable models are clear winners, and a GARCH model with stable innovations is the model best supported by the data.     

A kind of stochastic recursive Zero-Sum differential game problem with double obstacles constraint

Abstract

This paper concerns a class of stochastic recursive zero-sum differential game problem with recursive utility related to a backward stochastic differential equation (BSDE) with double obstacles. A sufficient condition is provided to obtain the saddle-point strategy under some assumptions. In virtue of the corresponding relationship of doubly reflected BSDE and mixed game problem, a stochastic linear recursive mixed differential game problem is studied to apply our theoretical result, and here the explicit saddle-point strategy as well as the saddle-point stopping time for the mixed game problem are obtained. Besides, a numeral example is also given to demonstrate the result by virtue of partial differential equations (PDEs) computation method.     

THE DISTRIBUTION OF STOCHASTIC SHRINKAGE PARAMETERS IN RIDGE REGRESSION

ABSTRACT

In this article we derive the density and distribution functions of the stochastic shrinkage parameters of three well known operational Ridge Regression (RR) estimators by assuming normality. The stochastic behavior of these parameters is likely to affect the properties of the resulting RR estimator, therefore such knowledge can be useful in the selection of the shrinkage rule. Some numerical calculations are carried out to illustrate the behavior of these distributions, throwing light on the performance of the different RR estimators.     

On proportional mean past lifetimes model

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we first investigate some reliability properties in the proportional mean past lifetimes model. Specifically, some implications of stochastic orders and aging notions between random variables which have proportional mean past lifetimes are discussed. Then, as an extension, mixture model arising from the proportional mean past lifetimes model is introduced and preservation properties of some stochastic orders and aging notions concerning this mixture model are studied. We also study some negative dependence properties in the proposed mixture model.     

Stochastic comparisons of series and parallel systems with independent heterogeneous lower-truncated Weibull components

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss stochastic comparisons of series and parallel systems with independent heterogeneous lower-truncated Weibull components. When a system with possibly different shape and scale parameters and its matrix of parameters changes to another matrix in a certain mathematical sense, we study the hazard rate order of lifetimes of series systems and the usual stochastic order of lifetimes of parallel systems.     

Stochastic monotonicity and comparability of Markov chains with block-monotone transition matrices and their applications to queueing systems

ABSTRACT

Motivated by various applications in queueing theory, this article is devoted to the stochastic monotonicity and comparability of Markov chains with block-monotone transition matrices. First, we introduce the notion of block-increasing convex order for probability vectors, and characterize the block-monotone matrices in the sense of the block-increasing order and block-increasing convex order. Second, we characterize the Markov chain with general transition matrix by martingale and provide a stochastic comparison of two block-monotone Markov chains under the two block-monotone orders. Third, the stochastic comparison results for the Markov chains corresponding to the discrete-time GI/G/1 queue with different service distributions under the two block-monotone orders are given, and the lower bound and upper bound of the Markov chain corresponding to the discrete-time GI/G/1 queue in the sense of the block-increasing convex order are found.     

Semiparametric Smooth Coefficient Stochastic Frontier Model With Panel Data

ABSTRACT

We investigate the semiparametric smooth coefficient stochastic frontier model for panel data in which the distribution of the composite error term is assumed to be of known form but depends on some environmental variables. We propose multi-step estimators for the smooth coefficient functions as well as the parameters of the distribution of the composite error term and obtain their asymptotic properties. The Monte Carlo study demonstrates that the proposed estimators perform well in finite samples. We also consider an application and perform model specification test, construct confidence intervals, and estimate efficiency scores that depend on some environmental variables. The application uses a panel data on 451 large U.S. firms to explore the effects of computerization on productivity. Results show that two popular parametric models used in the stochastic frontier literature are likely to be misspecified. Compared with the parametric estimates, our semiparametric model shows a positive and larger overall effect of computer capital on the productivity. The efficiency levels, however, were not much different among the models. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

Ordering properties of largest order statistics from independent and heterogeneous Dagum populations

Abstract

The Dagum distribution has been extensively used to model income data, and its features have been appreciated in economics and financial studies. In this article, we discuss ordering properties of largest order statistics from independent and heterogeneous Dagum populations. We present some sufficient conditions for stochastic comparisons between largest order statistics in terms of the reversed hazard rate order, the usual stochastic order, the convex order, the likelihood ratio order and the dispersive order. Several numerical examples are presented to illustrate the results established here.     

Adaptive stochastic gradient boosting tree with composite criterion

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we propose an adaptive stochastic gradient boosting tree for classification studies with imbalanced data. The adjustment of cost-sensitivity and the predictive threshold are integrated together with a composite criterion into the original stochastic gradient boosting tree to deal with the issues of the imbalanced data structure. Numerical study shows that the proposed method can significantly enhance the classification accuracy for the minority class with only a small loss in the true negative rate for the majority class. We discuss the relation of the cost-sensitivity to the threshold manipulation using simulations. An illustrative example of the analysis of suboptimal health-state data in traditional Chinese medicine is discussed.     

Best Quadratic Unbiased Prediction in a General Linear Model with Stochastic Regression Coefficients

In this article, we discuss on how to predict a combined quadratic parametric function of the form β′ H β + hσ² in a general linear model with stochastic regression coefficients denoted by y  =  X β +  e . Firstly, the quadratic predictability of β′ H β + hσ² is investigated to obtain a quadratic unbiased predictor (QUP) via a general method of structuring an unbiased estimator. This QUP is also optimal in some situations and therefore we hope it will be a fine predictor. To show this idea, we apply the Lagrange multipliers method to this problem and finally reach the expected conclusion through permutation matrix techniques.     

Model Order Estimation of a Multivariable Stochastic Process

ABSTRACT

This article presents a procedure allowing us to estimate the minimal order of a state-space representation, for a multivariable stochastic process, from a sequence of observations. The method proposes a statistical rule for testing the rank of a block Hankel matrix of data, since this rank is related to the order of the process. A new information criterion is then developed and used to decide upon the order of the model. In this article we generalize the Aoki C-test. Using two representative data sets as the basis for a Monte Carlo experiment and real data based on Danish economy, we estimate the order of multivariable stochastic processes.     

Generalized preliminary test stochastic restricted estimator in the linear regression model

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we propose three generalized estimators, namely, generalized unrestricted estimator (GURE), generalized stochastic restricted estimator (GSRE), and generalized preliminary test stochastic restricted estimator (GPTSRE). The GURE can be used to represent the ridge estimator, almost unbiased ridge estimator (AURE), Liu estimator, and almost unbiased Liu estimator. When stochastic restrictions are available in addition to the sample information, the GSRE can be used to represent stochastic mixed ridge estimator, stochastic restricted Liu estimator, stochastic restricted almost unbiased ridge estimator, and stochastic restricted almost unbiased Liu estimator. The GPTSRE can be used to represent the preliminary test estimators based on mixed estimator. Using the GPTSRE, the properties of three other preliminary test estimators, namely preliminary test stochastic mixed ridge estimator, preliminary test stochastic restricted almost unbiased Liu estimator, and preliminary test stochastic restricted almost unbiased ridge estimator can also be discussed. The mean square error matrix criterion is used to obtain the superiority conditions to compare the estimators based on GPTSRE with some biased estimators for the two cases for which the stochastic restrictions are correct, and are not correct. Finally, a numerical example and a Monte Carlo simulation study are done to illustrate the theoretical findings of the proposed estimators.     

Exponential stability of stochastic cellular neural networks with mixed delays

In this paper, almost sure exponential stability and pth moment exponential stability of stochastic cellular neural networks with mixed delays are investigated. Employing the methods of stochastic analysis, the Lyapunov’s method, and useful inequality techniques, a sufficient condition ensuring the almost sure exponential stability and pth moment exponential stability is obtained. Two examples are given to illustrate this sufficient condition.     

On stochastic behaviors of load-sharing parallel systems

Abstract

This paper mainly investigates a general load-sharing parallel system having two units. First, we construct some comparisons among a load standby system, a warm standby system, a hot standby system and a cold standby system. Moreover, some stochastic comparisons between the load-sharing parallel system and one of its two components are obtained in the sense of the usual stochastic order. Finally, the residual life of this system and its properties are examined.     

Lp (1 < p ⩽ 2) solutions of one-dimensional BSDEs whose generator is weakly monotonic in y and non-Lipschitz in z

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we start with establishing the existence of a minimal (maximal) L^p (1 < p ? 2) solution to a one-dimensional backward stochastic differential equation (BSDE), where the generator g satisfies a p-order weak monotonicity condition together with a general growth condition in y and a linear growth condition in z. Then, we propose and prove a comparison theorem of L^p (1 < p ? 2) solutions to one-dimensional BSDEs with q-order (1 ? q < p) weak monotonicity and uniform continuity generators. As a consequence, an existence and uniqueness result of L^p (1 < p ? 2) solutions is also given for BSDEs whose generator g is q-order (1 ? q < p) weakly monotonic with a general growth in y and uniformly continuous in z.