Jacques Janssen - Böcker

This book is the result of the International Symposium on Semi­ Markov Processes and their Applications held on June 4-7, 1984 at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles with the help of the FNRS (Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique, Belgium), the Ministere de l'Education Nationale (Belgium) and the Bernoulli Society for Mathe­ matical Statistics and Probability. This international meeting was planned to make a state of the art for the area of semi-Markov theory and its applications, to bring together researchers in this field and to create a platform for open and thorough discussion. Main themes of the Symposium are the first ten sections of this book. The last section presented here gives an exhaustive biblio­ graphy on semi-Markov processes for the last ten years. Papers selected for this book are all invited papers and in addition some contributed papers retained after strong refereeing. Sections are I. Markov additive processes and regenerative systems II. Semi-Markov decision processes III. Algorithmic and computer-oriented approach IV. Semi-Markov models in economy and insurance V. Semi-Markov processes and reliability theory VI. Simulation and statistics for semi-Markov processes VII. Semi-Markov processes and queueing theory VIII. Branching IX. Applications in medicine X. Applications in other fields v PREFACE XI. A second bibliography on semi-Markov processes It is interesting to quote that sections IV to X represent a good sample of the main applications of semi-Markov processes i. e.

Aims to give to the reader the tools necessary to apply semi-Markov processes in real-life problems.The book is self-contained and, starting from a low level of probability concepts, gradually brings the reader to a deep knowledge of semi-Markov processes.Presents homogeneous and non-homogeneous semi-Markov processes, as well as Markov and semi-Markov rewards processes.The concepts are fundamental for many applications, but they are not as thoroughly presented in other books on the subject as they are here.

This book aims to give a complete and self-contained presentation of semi- Markov models with finitely many states, in view of solving real life problems of risk management in three main fields: Finance, Insurance and Reliability providing a useful complement to our first book (Janssen and Manca (2006)) which gives a theoretical presentation of semi-Markov theory. However, to help assure the book is self-contained, the first three chapters provide a summary of the basic tools on semi-Markov theory that the reader will need to understand our presentation. For more details, we refer the reader to our first book (Janssen and Manca (2006)) whose notations, definitions and results have been used in these four first chapters. Nowadays, the potential for theoretical models to be used on real-life problems is severely limited if there are no good computer programs to process the relevant data. We therefore systematically propose the basic algorithms so that effective numerical results can be obtained. Another important feature of this book is its presentation of both homogeneous and non-homogeneous models. It is well known that the fundamental structure of many real-life problems is n- homogeneous in time, and the application of homogeneous models to such problems gives, in the best case, only approximated results or, in the worst case, nonsense results.

Advances in Stochastic Modelling and Data Analysis presents the most recent developments in the field, together with their applications, mainly in the areas of insurance, finance, forecasting and marketing. In addition, the possible interactions between data analysis, artificial intelligence, decision support systems and multicriteria analysis are examined by top researchers. Audience: A wide readership drawn from theoretical and applied mathematicians, such as operations researchers, management scientists, statisticians, computer scientists, bankers, marketing managers, forecasters, and scientific societies such as EURO and TIMS.

It is now clear that semi-Markov processes play an increasingly crucial role in business and industry; this is partially due to the fact that, with the powerful mathematical software now existing, the numerical treatment of basic integral equations is easier and so leads to more concrete applications; moreover the development of topics such as non-homogeneous models and statistical estimation make it possible to construct more adequate models of real-life problems and to calibrate the basic parameters of the models more accurately from real data. This book presents many models that are or could be useful for applications in real-life problems. The editor hopes that it will contribute to the stimulation of new interactions between the theoretical development and the applications of semi-Markov models.

Aims to give to the reader the tools necessary to apply semi-Markov processes in real-life problems.The book is self-contained and, starting from a low level of probability concepts, gradually brings the reader to a deep knowledge of semi-Markov processes.Presents homogeneous and non-homogeneous semi-Markov processes, as well as Markov and semi-Markov rewards processes.The concepts are fundamental for many applications, but they are not as thoroughly presented in other books on the subject as they are here.

This book aims to give a complete and self-contained presentation of semi- Markov models with finitely many states, in view of solving real life problems of risk management in three main fields: Finance, Insurance and Reliability providing a useful complement to our first book (Janssen and Manca (2006)) which gives a theoretical presentation of semi-Markov theory. However, to help assure the book is self-contained, the first three chapters provide a summary of the basic tools on semi-Markov theory that the reader will need to understand our presentation. For more details, we refer the reader to our first book (Janssen and Manca (2006)) whose notations, definitions and results have been used in these four first chapters. Nowadays, the potential for theoretical models to be used on real-life problems is severely limited if there are no good computer programs to process the relevant data. We therefore systematically propose the basic algorithms so that effective numerical results can be obtained. Another important feature of this book is its presentation of both homogeneous and non-homogeneous models. It is well known that the fundamental structure of many real-life problems is n- homogeneous in time, and the application of homogeneous models to such problems gives, in the best case, only approximated results or, in the worst case, nonsense results.

This book presents a selection of papers presented to the Second Inter­ national Symposium on Semi-Markov Models: Theory and Applications held in Compiegne (France) in December 1998. This international meeting had the same aim as the first one held in Brussels in 1984 : to make, fourteen years later, the state of the art in the field of semi-Markov processes and their applications, bring together researchers in this field and also to stimulate fruitful discussions. The set of the subjects of the papers presented in Compiegne has a lot of similarities with the preceding Symposium; this shows that the main fields of semi-Markov processes are now well established particularly for basic applications in Reliability and Maintenance, Biomedicine, Queue­ ing, Control processes and production. A growing field is the one of insurance and finance but this is not really a surprising fact as the problem of pricing derivative products represents now a crucial problem in economics and finance. For example, stochastic models can be applied to financial and insur­ ance models as we have to evaluate the uncertainty of the future market behavior in order, firstly, to propose different measures for important risks such as the interest risk, the risk of default or the risk of catas­ trophe and secondly, to describe how to act in order to optimize the situation in time. Recently, the concept of VaR (Value at Risk) was "discovered" in portfolio theory enlarging so the fundamental model of Markowitz.

This book is the result of the fourth International Symposium on Data Analysis held on June 1985 at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles with the help'of the European Institute for Advanced Management. As the preceding ones, the organization of the Symposium started with a call for real life problems from which an International Com­ mittee selected six topics and asked for several solutions. These topics are : I) Multivariate and longitudinal data on growing children 2) Prehistoric assemblages and lithic artifacts from a small We- european area 3) A comparison of results of European elections 4) Classification of heterogeneous data related to microcomputers 5) Group technology in production management 6) Juvenile gelinquency They are covered by the S1X chapters of this book in the following systematic way : a) firstly, a presentation of the problem is given in the original context of the relevant discipline (Medicine, archaelogy, politics, marketing, production and education); b) Secondly, we present the solution found by people who presents the problem; c) thirdly, we find the other retained solutions among the most significative ones; v vi PREFACE d) finally, a short conclusion compares the different approaches. The diversity of the six selected problems clearly shows that Data Analysis can be used for solving a wide variety of problems. Moreover, the fact that each problem is approached by several dif­ ferent way - at least two - also shows that, in general, a "univer­ sal" statistical method does not exist.

This book is the result of the International Symposium on Semi­ Markov Processes and their Applications held on June 4-7, 1984 at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles with the help of the FNRS (Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique, Belgium), the Ministere de l'Education Nationale (Belgium) and the Bernoulli Society for Mathe­ matical Statistics and Probability. This international meeting was planned to make a state of the art for the area of semi-Markov theory and its applications, to bring together researchers in this field and to create a platform for open and thorough discussion. Main themes of the Symposium are the first ten sections of this book. The last section presented here gives an exhaustive biblio­ graphy on semi-Markov processes for the last ten years. Papers selected for this book are all invited papers and in addition some contributed papers retained after strong refereeing. Sections are I. Markov additive processes and regenerative systems II. Semi-Markov decision processes III. Algorithmic and computer-oriented approach IV. Semi-Markov models in economy and insurance V. Semi-Markov processes and reliability theory VI. Simulation and statistics for semi-Markov processes VII. Semi-Markov processes and queueing theory VIII. Branching IX. Applications in medicine X. Applications in other fields v PREFACE XI. A second bibliography on semi-Markov processes It is interesting to quote that sections IV to X represent a good sample of the main applications of semi-Markov processes i. e.

This book will be a "must" for people who want good knowledge of big data concepts and their applications in the real world, particularly in the field of insurance. It will be useful to people working in finance and to masters students using big data tools. The authors present the bases of big data: data analysis methods, learning processes, application to insurance and position within the insurance market. Individual chapters a will be written by well-known authors in this field.

This book provides a detailed study of Financial Mathematics. In addition to the extraordinary depth the book provides, it offers a study of the axiomatic approach that is ideally suited for analyzing financial problems. This book is addressed to MBA's, Financial Engineers, Applied Mathematicians, Banks, Insurance Companies, and Students of Business School, of Economics, of Applied Mathematics, of Financial Engineering, Banks, and more.

Quantitative finance has become these last years a extraordinary field of research and interest as well from an academic point of view as for practical applications. At the same time, pension issue is clearly a major economical and financial topic for the next decades in the context of the well-known longevity risk. Surprisingly few books are devoted to application of modern stochastic calculus to pension analysis.The aim of this book is to fill this gap and to show how recent methods of stochastic finance can be useful for to the risk management of pension funds. Methods of optimal control will be especially developed and applied to fundamental problems such as the optimal asset allocation of the fund or the cost spreading of a pension scheme.  In these various problems, financial as well as demographic risks will be addressed and modelled.

The aim of this book is to promote interaction between engineering, finance and insurance, as these three domains have many models and methods of solution in common for solving real-life problems. The authors point out the strict inter-relations that exist among the diffusion models used in engineering, finance and insurance. In each of the three fields, the basic diffusion models are presented and their strong similarities are discussed. Analytical, numerical and Monte Carlo simulation methods are explained with a view to applying them to obtain the solutions to the different problems presented in the book. Advanced topics such as nonlinear problems, Lévy processes and semi-Markov models in interactions with the diffusion models are discussed, as well as possible future interactions among engineering, finance and insurance.

With the impact of the recent financial crises, more attention must be given to new models in finance rejecting “Black-Scholes-Samuelson” assumptions leading to what is called non-Gaussian finance. With the growing importance of Solvency II, Basel II and III regulatory rules for insurance companies and banks, value at risk (VaR) – one of the most popular risk indicator techniques plays a fundamental role in defining appropriate levels of equities. The aim of this book is to show how new VaR techniques can be built more appropriately for a crisis situation.VaR methodology for non-Gaussian finance looks at the importance of VaR in standard international rules for banks and insurance companies; gives the first non-Gaussian extensions of VaR and applies several basic statistical theories to extend classical results of VaR techniques such as the NP approximation, the Cornish-Fisher approximation, extreme and a Pareto distribution. Several non-Gaussian models using Copula methodology, Lévy processes along with particular attention to models with jumps such as the Merton model are presented; as are the consideration of time homogeneous and non-homogeneous Markov and semi-Markov processes and for each of these models.

This book presents basic stochastic processes, stochastic calculus including Lévy processes on one hand, and Markov and Semi Markov models on the other. From the financial point of view, essential concepts such as the Black and Scholes model, VaR indicators, actuarial evaluation, market values, fair pricing play a central role and will be presented.The authors also present basic concepts so that this series is relatively self-contained for the main audience formed by actuaries and particularly with ERM (enterprise risk management) certificates, insurance risk managers, students in Master in mathematics or economics and people involved in Solvency II for insurance companies and in Basel II and III for banks.

This book introduces ALM in the context of banks and insurance companies. Although this strategy has a core of fundamental frameworks, models may vary between banks and insurance companies because of the different risks and goals involved. The authors compare and contrast these methodologies to draw parallels between the commonalities and divergences of these two services and thereby provide a deeper understanding of ALM in general.

Credit risk is one of the most important contemporary problems for banks and insurance companies.  Indeed, for banks, more than forty percent of the equities are necessary to cover this risk. Though this problem is studied by large rating agencies with substantial economic, social and financial tools, building stochastic models is nevertheless necessary to complete this descriptive orientation.This book presents a complete presentation of such a category of models using homogeneous and non-homogeneous semi-Markov processes developed by the authors in several recent papers. This approach provides a good method of evaluating the default risk and the classical VaR indicators used for Solvency II and Basel III governance rules.This book is the first to present a complete semi-Markov treatment of credit risk while also insisting on the practical use of the models presented here, including numerical aspects, so that this book is not only useful for scientific research but also to managers working in this field for banks, insurance companies, pension funds and other financial institutions.