Stochastic convexity and its applications

1988 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 427-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moshe Shaked ◽  
J. George Shanthikumar

Several notions of stochastic convexity and concavity and their properties are studied in this paper. Efficient sample path approaches are developed in order to verify the occurrence of these notions in various applications. Numerous examples are given. The use of these notions in several areas of probability and statistics is demonstrated. In queueing theory, the convexity (as a function of c) of the steady-state waiting time in a GI/D/c queue, and (as a function of the arrival or service rates) in a GI/G/1 queue, is established. Also the convexity of the queue length in the M/M/c case (as a function of the arrival rate) is shown, thus strengthening previous results while simplifying their derivation. In reliability theory, the convexity of the payoff in the success rate of an imperfect repair is obtained and used to find an optimal repair probability. Also the convexity of the damage as a function of time in a cumulative damage shock model is shown. In branching processes, the convexity of the population size as a function of a parameter of the offspring distribution is proved. In non-parametric statistics, the stochastic concavity (or convexity) of the empirical distribution function is established. And, for applications in the theory of probability inequalities, we identify several families of distributions which are convexly parametrized.

1988 ◽  
Vol 20 (02) ◽  
pp. 427-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moshe Shaked ◽  
J. George Shanthikumar

Several notions of stochastic convexity and concavity and their properties are studied in this paper. Efficient sample path approaches are developed in order to verify the occurrence of these notions in various applications. Numerous examples are given. The use of these notions in several areas of probability and statistics is demonstrated. In queueing theory, the convexity (as a function of c) of the steady-state waiting time in a GI/D/c queue, and (as a function of the arrival or service rates) in a GI/G/1 queue, is established. Also the convexity of the queue length in the M/M/c case (as a function of the arrival rate) is shown, thus strengthening previous results while simplifying their derivation. In reliability theory, the convexity of the payoff in the success rate of an imperfect repair is obtained and used to find an optimal repair probability. Also the convexity of the damage as a function of time in a cumulative damage shock model is shown. In branching processes, the convexity of the population size as a function of a parameter of the offspring distribution is proved. In non-parametric statistics, the stochastic concavity (or convexity) of the empirical distribution function is established. And, for applications in the theory of probability inequalities, we identify several families of distributions which are convexly parametrized.


1993 ◽  
Vol 25 (04) ◽  
pp. 895-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haijun Li ◽  
Moshe Shaked

Stochastic majorization is a tool that has been used in many areas of probability and statistics (such as multivariate statistical analysis, queueing theory and reliability theory) in order to obtain useful bounds and inequalities. In this paper we study the relations among several notions of stochastic majorization and stochastic convexity and obtain sufficient (and sometimes necessary) conditions which imply some of these notions. Extensions and generalizations of several results in the literature are obtained. Some examples and applications regarding stochastic comparisons of order statistics are also presented in order to illustrate the results of the paper.


1993 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 895-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haijun Li ◽  
Moshe Shaked

Stochastic majorization is a tool that has been used in many areas of probability and statistics (such as multivariate statistical analysis, queueing theory and reliability theory) in order to obtain useful bounds and inequalities. In this paper we study the relations among several notions of stochastic majorization and stochastic convexity and obtain sufficient (and sometimes necessary) conditions which imply some of these notions. Extensions and generalizations of several results in the literature are obtained. Some examples and applications regarding stochastic comparisons of order statistics are also presented in order to illustrate the results of the paper.


1963 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Wragg

AbstractThe time-dependent solutions of an infinite set of differential-difference equations arising from queueing theory and models of ‘living’ polymer are expressed in terms of modified Bessel functions. Explicit solutions are available for constant values of a parameter describing the arrival rate or monomer concentration; for time-dependent parameter a formal solution is obtained in terms of a function which satisfies a Volterra type integral equation of the second kind. These results are used as the basis of a numerical method of solving the infinite set of differential equations when the time-dependent parameter itself satisfies a differential equation.


Author(s):  
Rami Atar ◽  
Amarjit Budhiraja ◽  
Paul Dupuis ◽  
Ruoyu Wu

For the M/M/1+M model at the law-of-large-numbers scale, the long-run reneging count per unit time does not depend on the individual (i.e., per customer) reneging rate. This paradoxical statement has a simple proof. Less obvious is a large deviations analogue of this fact, stated as follows: the decay rate of the probability that the long-run reneging count per unit time is atypically large or atypically small does not depend on the individual reneging rate. In this paper, the sample path large deviations principle for the model is proved and the rate function is computed. Next, large time asymptotics for the reneging rate are studied for the case when the arrival rate exceeds the service rate. The key ingredient is a calculus of variations analysis of the variational problem associated with atypical reneging. A characterization of the aforementioned decay rate, given explicitly in terms of the arrival and service rate parameters of the model, is provided yielding a precise mathematical description of this paradoxical behavior.


1983 ◽  
Vol 15 (04) ◽  
pp. 713-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. W. Steutel ◽  
W. Vervaat ◽  
S. J. Wolfe

The notion of self-decomposability for -valued random variables as introduced by Steutel and van Harn [10] and its generalization by van Harn, Steutel and Vervaat [5], are used to study the limiting behaviour of continuous-time Markov branching processes with immigration. This behaviour provides analogues to the behaviour of sequences of random variables obeying a certain difference equation as studied by Vervaat [12] and their continuous-time counterpart considered by Wolfe [13]. An application in queueing theory is indicated. Furthermore, discrete-state analogues are given for results on stability in the processes studied by Wolfe, and for results on self-decomposability in supercritical branching processes by Yamazato [14].


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-521
Author(s):  
Urtzi Ayesta ◽  
Balakrishna Prabhu ◽  
Rhonda Righter

We consider single-server scheduling to minimize holding costs where the capacity, or rate of service, depends on the number of jobs in the system, and job sizes become known upon arrival. In general, this is a hard problem, and counter-intuitive behavior can occur. For example, even with linear holding costs the optimal policy may be something other than SRPT or LRPT, it may idle, and it may depend on the arrival rate. We first establish an equivalence between our problem of deciding which jobs to serve when completed jobs immediately leave, and a problem in which we have the option to hold on to completed jobs and can choose when to release them, and in which we always serve jobs according to SRPT. We thus reduce the problem to determining the release times of completed jobs. For the clearing, or transient system, where all jobs are present at time 0, we give a complete characterization of the optimal policy and show that it is fully determined by the cost-to-capacity ratio. With arrivals, the problem is much more complicated, and we can obtain only partial results.


1987 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 202-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard R. Weber ◽  
Shaler Stidham

We prove a monotonicity result for the problem of optimal service rate control in certain queueing networks. Consider, as an illustrative example, a number of ·/M/1 queues which are arranged in a cycle with some number of customers moving around the cycle. A holding cost hi(xi) is charged for each unit of time that queue i contains xi customers, with hi being convex. As a function of the queue lengths the service rate at each queue i is to be chosen in the interval , where cost ci(μ) is charged for each unit of time that the service rate μis in effect at queue i. It is shown that the policy which minimizes the expected total discounted cost has a monotone structure: namely, that by moving one customer from queue i to the following queue, the optimal service rate in queue i is not increased and the optimal service rates elsewhere are not decreased. We prove a similar result for problems of optimal arrival rate and service rate control in general queueing networks. The results are extended to an average-cost measure, and an example is included to show that in general the assumption of convex holding costs may not be relaxed. A further example shows that the optimal policy may not be monotone unless the choice of possible service rates at each queue includes 0.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-68
Author(s):  
Sushil Ghimire ◽  
Gyan Bahadur Thapa ◽  
Ram Prasad Ghimire

 Providing service immediately after the arrival is rarely been used in practice. But there are some situations for which servers are more than the arrivals and no one has to wait to get served. In this model, arrival rate is


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