A birth and death model of neuron firing

1974 ◽  
Vol 11 (02) ◽  
pp. 369-373
Author(s):  
B. F. Logan ◽  
L. A. Shepp

A simple birth-death model of particle fluctuations is studied where at each discrete time a birth and/or death may occur. We show that if the probability of a birth does not depend on the number of particles present and if births and deaths are independent, then the times between successive deaths are independent geometrically distributed random variables, which is false in the general case. Since the above properties of the times between successive neuron firings have been observed in nerve cells, the model proposed in [2] obtains added credence.

1974 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. F. Logan ◽  
L. A. Shepp

A simple birth-death model of particle fluctuations is studied where at each discrete time a birth and/or death may occur. We show that if the probability of a birth does not depend on the number of particles present and if births and deaths are independent, then the times between successive deaths are independent geometrically distributed random variables, which is false in the general case. Since the above properties of the times between successive neuron firings have been observed in nerve cells, the model proposed in [2] obtains added credence.


1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (04) ◽  
pp. 1013-1018
Author(s):  
B. G. Quinn ◽  
H. L. MacGillivray

Sufficient conditions are presented for the limiting normality of sequences of discrete random variables possessing unimodal distributions. The conditions are applied to obtain normal approximations directly for the hypergeometric distribution and the stationary distribution of a special birth-death process.


Mathematics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 534
Author(s):  
F. Thomas Bruss

This paper presents two-person games involving optimal stopping. As far as we are aware, the type of problems we study are new. We confine our interest to such games in discrete time. Two players are to chose, with randomised choice-priority, between two games G1 and G2. Each game consists of two parts with well-defined targets. Each part consists of a sequence of random variables which determines when the decisive part of the game will begin. In each game, the horizon is bounded, and if the two parts are not finished within the horizon, the game is lost by definition. Otherwise the decisive part begins, on which each player is entitled to apply their or her strategy to reach the second target. If only one player achieves the two targets, this player is the winner. If both win or both lose, the outcome is seen as “deuce”. We motivate the interest of such problems in the context of real-world problems. A few representative problems are solved in detail. The main objective of this article is to serve as a preliminary manual to guide through possible approaches and to discuss under which circumstances we can obtain solutions, or approximate solutions.


1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (02) ◽  
pp. 347-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy Fayolle ◽  
Rudolph Iasnogorodski

In this paper, we present some simple new criteria for the non-ergodicity of a stochastic process (Yn ), n ≧ 0 in discrete time, when either the upward or downward jumps are majorized by i.i.d. random variables. This situation is encountered in many practical situations, where the (Yn ) are functionals of some Markov chain with countable state space. An application to the exponential back-off protocol is described.


1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (04) ◽  
pp. 1013-1018 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. G. Quinn ◽  
H. L. MacGillivray

Sufficient conditions are presented for the limiting normality of sequences of discrete random variables possessing unimodal distributions. The conditions are applied to obtain normal approximations directly for the hypergeometric distribution and the stationary distribution of a special birth-death process.


1985 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ushio Sumita ◽  
J. George Shanthikumar

In this paper we define and analyze a class of cumulative shock models associated with a bivariate sequence {Xn, Yn}∞n=0 of correlated random variables. The {Xn} denote the sizes of the shocks and the {Yn} denote the times between successive shocks. The system fails when the cumulative magnitude of the shocks exceeds a prespecified level z. Two models, depending on whether the size of the nth shock is correlated with the length of the interval since the last shock or with the length of the succeeding interval until the next shock, are considered. Various transform results and asymptotic properties of the system failure time are obtained. Further, sufficient conditions are established under which system failure time is new better than used, new better than used in expectation, and harmonic new better than used in expectation.


1976 ◽  
Vol 13 (02) ◽  
pp. 219-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Gani ◽  
I. W. Saunders

This paper is concerned with the parity of a population of yeast cells, each of which may bud, not bud or die. Two multitype models are considered: a Galton-Watson process in discrete time, and its analogous birth-death process in continuous time. The mean number of cells with parity 0, 1, 2, … is obtained in both cases; some simple results are also derived for the second moments of the two processes.


2004 ◽  
Vol 218 (9) ◽  
pp. 1033-1040 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Šolc ◽  
J. Hostomský

AbstractWe present a numerical study of equilibrium composition fluctuations in a system where the reaction X1 ⇔ X2 having the equilibrium constant equal to 1 takes place. The total number of reacting particles is N. On a discrete time scale, the amplitude of a fluctuation having the lifetime 2r reaction events is defined as the difference between the number of particles X1 in the microstate most distant from the microstate N/2 visited at least once during the fluctuation lifetime, and the equilibrium number of particles X1, N/2. On the discrete time scale, the mean value of this amplitude, m̅(r̅), is calculated in the random walk approximation. On a continuous time scale, the average amplitude of fluctuations chosen randomly and regardless of their lifetime from an ensemble of fluctuations occurring within the time interval (0,z), z → ∞, tends with increasing N to ~1.243 N0.25. Introducing a fraction of fluctuation lifetime during which the composition of the system spends below the mean amplitude m̅(r̅), we obtain a value of the mean amplitude of equilibrium fluctuations on the continuous time scale equal to ~1.19√N. The results suggest that using the random walk value m̅(r̅) and taking into account a) the exponential density of fluctuations lifetimes and b) the fact that the time sequence of reaction events represents the Poisson process, we obtain values of fluctuations amplitudes which differ only slightly from those derived for the Ehrenfest model.


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