Recommending Books for Purchase (Bulletin 36 - June 2019): Decision Science

Price: £ 66.95/-

Applications of Management Science is a blind refereed series that is published on an annual basis. Its objective is to present current studies in the application of management science to the solution of significant managerial decision-making problems. It significantly aids in the dissemination of the solution of managerial decision-making problems with management science methodologies.  Volume 19 focuses on the application of management science methodologies, data envelopment analysis and multi-criteria decision making. The first section is focused on data envelopment analysis. The second section focuses on multi-criteria decision making. The third section focuses on decision making.  This volume will be of significant interested to those involved in the applications of multi-criteria decision making, data envelopment analysis and decision making, in a realistic managerial problem solving environment through the use of state-of-the-art management science modelling.

Price: € 69.99/-

This textbook addresses postgraduate students in applied mathematics, probability, and statistics, as well as computer scientists, biologists, physicists and economists, who are seeking a rigorous introduction to applied stochastic processes. Pursuing a pedagogic approach, the content follows a path of increasing complexity, from the simplest random sequences to the advanced stochastic processes. Illustrations are provided from many applied fields, together with connections to ergodic theory, information theory, reliability and insurance. The main content is also complemented by a wealth of examples and exercises with solutions.

Price: € 129.99/-

This book provides essential insights into a range of newly developed numerical optimization techniques with a view to solving real-world problems. Many of these problems can be modeled as nonlinear optimization problems, but due to their complex nature, it is not always possible to solve them using conventional optimization theory. Accordingly, the book discusses the design and applications of non-conventional numerical optimization techniques, including the design of benchmark functions and the implementation of these techniques to solve real-world optimization problems.  The book's twenty chapters examine various interesting research topics in this area, including: Pi fraction-based optimization of the Pantoja-Bretones-Martin (PBM) antenna benchmarks; benchmark function generators for single-objective robust optimization algorithms; convergence of gravitational search algorithms on linear and quadratic functions; and an algorithm for the multi-variant evolutionary synthesis of nonlinear models with real-valued chromosomes. Delivering on its promise to explore real-world scenarios, the book also addresses the seismic analysis of a multi-story building with optimized damper properties; the application of constrained spider monkey optimization to solve portfolio optimization problems; the effect of upper body motion on a bipedal robot's stability; an ant colony algorithm for routing alternate-fuel vehicles in multi-depot vehicle routing problems; enhanced fractal dimension-based feature extraction for thermal face recognition; and an artificial bee colony-based hyper-heuristic for the single machine order acceptance and scheduling problem. The book will benefit not only researchers, but also organizations active in such varied fields as Aerospace, Automotive, Biotechnology, Consumer Packaged Goods, Electronics, Finance, Business & Banking, Oil, Gas & Geosciences, and Pharma, to name a few. 

Price: € 84.99/-

This book undertakes a detailed construction of Dynamic Markov Bridges using a combination of theory and real-world applications to drive home important concepts and methodologies. In Part I, theory is developed using tools from stochastic filtering, partial differential equations, Markov processes, and their interplay. Part II is devoted to the applications of the theory developed in Part I to asymmetric information models among financial agents, which include a strategic risk-neutral insider who possesses a private signal concerning the future value of the traded asset, non-strategic noise traders, and competitive risk-neutral market makers. A thorough analysis of optimality conditions for risk-neutral insiders  is provided and the implications on equilibrium of non-Gaussian extensions are discussed. A Markov bridge, first considered by Paul Lévy in the context of Brownian motion, is a mathematical system that undergoes changes in value from one state to another when the initial and final states are fixed. Markov bridges have many applications as stochastic models of real-world processes, especially within the areas of Economics and Finance. The construction of a Dynamic Markov Bridge, a useful extension of Markov bridge theory, addresses several important questions concerning how financial markets function, among them: how the presence of an insider trader impacts market efficiency; how insider trading on financial markets can be detected; how information assimilates in market prices; and the optimal pricing policy of a particular market maker. Principles in this book will appeal to probabilists, statisticians, economists, researchers, and graduate students interested in Markov bridges and market microstructure theory.

Price: € 69.99/-

This book offers a comprehensive and readable introduction to modern business and data analytics. It is based on the use of Excel, a tool that virtually all students and professionals have access to. The explanations are focused on understanding the techniques and their proper application, and are supplemented by a wealth of in-chapter and end-of-chapter exercises. In addition to the general statistical methods, the book also includes Monte Carlo simulation and optimization. The second edition has been thoroughly revised: new topics, exercises and examples have been added, and the readability has been further improved. The book is primarily intended for students in business, economics and government, as well as professionals, who need a more rigorous introduction to business and data analytics - yet also need to learn the topic quickly and without overly academic explanations. 

Price: € 84.99/-

This book discusses recent developments in mathematical programming and game theory, and the application of several mathematical models to problems in finance, games, economics and graph theory. All contributing authors are eminent researchers in their respective fields, from across the world. This book contains a collection of selected papers presented at the 2017 Symposium on Mathematical Programming and Game Theory at New Delhi during 9-11 January 2017. Researchers, professionals and graduate students will find the book an essential resource for current work in mathematical programming, game theory and their applications in finance, economics and graph theory. The symposium provides a forum for new developments and applications of mathematical programming and game theory as well as an excellent opportunity to disseminate the latest major achievements and to explore new directions and perspectives.

Price: € 69.99/-

This monograph presents a novel numerical approach to solving partial integro-differential equations arising in asset pricing models with jumps, which greatly exceeds the efficiency of existing approaches. The method, based on pseudo-differential operators and several original contributions to the theory of finite-difference schemes, is new as applied to the Lévy processes in finance, and is herein presented for the first time in a single volume. The results within, developed in a series of research papers, are collected and arranged together with the necessary background material from Lévy processes, the modern theory of finite-difference schemes, the theory of M-matrices and EM-matrices, etc., thus forming a self-contained work that gives the reader a smooth introduction to the subject. For readers with no knowledge of finance, a short explanation of the main financial terms and notions used in the book is given in the glossary. The latter part of the book demonstrates the efficacy of the method by solving some typical problems encountered in computational finance, including structural default models with jumps, and local stochastic volatility models with stochastic interest rates and jumps. The author also adds extra complexity to the traditional statements of these problems by taking into account jumps in each stochastic component while all jumps are fully correlated, and shows how this setting can be efficiently addressed within the framework of the new method. Written for non-mathematicians, this book will appeal to financial engineers and analysts, econophysicists, and researchers in applied numerical analysis. It can also be used as an advance course on modern finite-difference methods or computational finance.

Price: € 109.99/-

This book provides an overview of the latest developments in the field of risk analysis (RA). Statistical methodologies have long-since been employed as crucial decision support tools in RA. Thus, in the context of this new century, characterized by a variety of daily risks - from security to health risks - the importance of exploring theoretical and applied issues connecting RA and statistical modeling (SM) is self-evident. In addition to discussing the latest methodological advances in these areas, the book explores applications in a broad range of settings, such as medicine, biology, insurance, pharmacology and agriculture, while also fostering applications in newly emerging areas. This book is intended for graduate students as well as quantitative researchers in the area of RA.

Price: $ 39.95/-

This book provides a comprehensive yet accessible guide to running randomized impact evaluations of social programs. Drawing on the experience of researchers at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, which has run hundreds of such evaluations in dozens of countries throughout the world, it offers practical insights on how to use this powerful technique, especially in resource-poor environments. This step-by-step guide explains why and when randomized evaluations are useful, in what situations they should be used, and how to prioritize different evaluation opportunities. It shows how to design and analyze studies that answer important questions while respecting the constraints of those working on and benefiting from the program being evaluated. The book gives concrete tips on issues such as improving the quality of a study despite tight budget constraints, and demonstrates how the results of randomized impact evaluations can inform policy. With its self-contained modules, this one-of-a-kind guide is easy to navigate. It also includes invaluable references and a checklist of the common pitfalls to avoid. Provides the most up-to-date guide to running randomized evaluations of social programs, especially in developing countries Offers practical tips on how to complete high-quality studies in even the most challenging environments Self-contained modules allow for easy reference and flexible teaching and learning Comprehensive yet nontechnical

Price: $ 114.95/-

The author investigates the Cramer -Lundberg model, collecting the most interesting theorems and methods, which estimate probability of default for a company of insurance business. These offer different kinds of approximate values for probability of default on the base of normal and diffusion approach and some special asymptotic.

Price: € 94.99/-

This book focuses on quantitative survey methodology, data collection and cleaning methods. Providing starting tools for using and analyzing a file once a survey has been conducted, it addresses fields as diverse as advanced weighting, editing, and imputation, which are not well-covered in corresponding survey books. Moreover, it presents numerous empirical examples from the author's extensive research experience, particularly real data sets from multinational surveys. 

Price: € 79.99/-

This book is a practical guide to the uncertainty analysis of computer model applications. Used in many areas, such as engineering, ecology and economics, computer models are subject to various uncertainties at the level of model formulations, parameter values and input data. Naturally, it would be advantageous to know the combined effect of these uncertainties on the model results as well as whether the state of knowledge should be improved in order to reduce the uncertainty of the results most effectively. The book supports decision-makers, model developers and users in their argumentation for an uncertainty analysis and assists them in the interpretation of the analysis results.