Modern Stochastics: Theory and Applications

Probabilistic properties of vantage point trees are studied. A vp-tree built from a sequence of independent identically distributed points in ${[-1,\hspace{0.1667em}1]^{d}}$ with the ${\ell _{\infty }}$-distance function is considered. The length of the leftmost path in the tree, as well as partitions over the space it produces are analyzed. The results include several convergence theorems regarding these characteristics, as the number of nodes in the tree tends to infinity.

The main subject of the study in this paper is the simultaneous renewal time for two time-inhomogeneous Markov chains which start with arbitrary initial distributions. By a simultaneous renewal we mean the first time of joint hitting the specific set C by both processes. Under the condition of existence a dominating sequence for both renewal sequences generated by the chains and non-lattice condition for renewal probabilities an upper bound for the expectation of the simultaneous renewal time is obtained.

The paper deals with bonus–malus systems with different claim types and varying deductibles. The premium relativities are softened for the policyholders who are in the malus zone and these policyholders are subject to per claim deductibles depending on their levels in the bonus–malus scale and the types of the reported claims. We introduce such bonus–malus systems and study their basic properties. In particular, we investigate when it is possible to introduce varying deductibles, what restrictions we have and how we can do this. Moreover, we deal with the special case where varying deductibles are applied to the claims reported by policyholders occupying the highest level in the bonus–malus scale and consider two allocation principles for the deductibles. Finally, numerical illustrations are presented.

In this paper, we consider two time-inhomogeneous Markov chains ${X_{t}^{(l)}}$, $l\in \{1,2\}$, with discrete time on a general state space. We assume the existence of some renewal set C and investigate the time of simultaneous renewal, that is, the first positive time when the chains hit the set C simultaneously. The initial distributions for both chains may be arbitrary. Under the condition of stochastic domination and nonlattice condition for both renewal processes, we derive an upper bound for the expectation of the simultaneous renewal time. Such a bound was calculated for two time-inhomogeneous birth–death Markov chains.