J. George Shanthikumar – författare

And the value of the other notions of stochastic orderings still needs to be explored further.This book is an ideal reference for anyone interested in decision making under uncertainty and interested in the analysis of complex stochastic systems.

This collection is an edited work written in honour of Julien Keilson. It covers a variety of applied probability topics, including, but not limited to: perturbation method, time reversible Markov chains, Poisson processes, Brownian techniques, Bayesian probability, optimal quality control, Markov decision processes, random matrices, queueing theory and a variety of applications of stochastic processes. The book has a mixture of theoretical, algorithmic, and application chapters providing examples of the work that Professor Keilson has done or influenced over the course of his career in applied probability and stochastic processes. The book will be of interest to academic researchers, students, and industrial practitioners who seek to use the mathematics of applied probability in solving problems in modern society.

The editors have taken the occasion of Professor John A. Buzacott's retirement as a motivating event to develop this volume. The objective of this text is to both honour John Buzacott's achievements and to publish a set of chapters on cutting-edge topics in the field of manufacturing and supply chain management. The book is organized into two parts. The first part focuses on aspects of manufacturing systems modelling. This part includes chapters on the evolution of manufacturing systems modelling, queuing network models and related software technologies, two-moment approximation for fork/join queues, and asymptotic optimality of a scheduling policy. The second part focuses on production-inventory systems and supply chains.This second section includes chapters on a multi-echelon logistics system, optimal control of a substitutable inventory system, structured assemble-to-order systems, the impact of advance demand information on various production-inventory control mechanisms, the quality of demand information as it impacts flexible contracts, the supply of information goods using spot and forward pricing strategies, modelling frameworks that connect material flows with financial information flows.

Stochastic ordering is a fundamental guide for decision making under uncertainty. It is also an essential tool in the study of structural properties of complex stochastic systems. This reference text presents a comprehensive coverage of the various notions of stochastic orderings, their closure properties, and their applications. Some of these orderings are routinely used in many applications in economics, finance, insurance, management science, operations research, statistics, and various other fields of study. And the value of the other notions of stochastic orderings still needs to be explored further.This book is an ideal reference for anyone interested in decision making under uncertainty and interested in the analysis of complex stochastic systems. It is suitable as a text for advanced graduate course on stochastic ordering and applications.

This volume originates from two workshops, both focusing on themes that are reflected in the title of the volume. The first workshop took place at Eindhoven University of Technology, April 24-26, 2001, on the occasion of the University granting a doctorate honoris causa to Profes­ sor John A. Buzacott. The second workshop was held on June 15, 2002 at Cornell University (preceding the annual INFORMSjMSOM Confer­ ence), honoring John's retirement and his lifetime contributions. Each of the two workshops consisted of about a dozen technical presentations. The objective of the volume, however, is not to simply publish the proceedings of the two workshops. Rather, our objective is to put to­ gether a select set of articles, each organized into a well-written chapter, focusing on a timely topic. Collected into a single volume, these chapters aim to serve as a useful reference for researchers and practitioners alike, and also as reading materials for graduate courses or seminars.