Markowitz’s celebrated mean-variance portfolio optimization theory assumes that the means and covariances of the underlying asset returns are known. In practice, they are unknown and have to be estimated from historical data. Plugging the estimates into the efficient frontier that assumes...

The problem of option hedging in the presence of proportional transaction costs can be formulated as a singular stochastic control problem. Hodges and Neuberger [1989. Optimal replication of contingent claims under transactions costs. Review of Futures Markets 8, 222-239] introduced an approach...

In a sequential clinical trial whose stopping rule depends on the primary endpoint, inference on secondary endpoints is an important long-standing problem. Ignoring the possibility of early stopping based on the primary endpoint may result in substantial bias. To address this problem, a commonly...

A hybrid method that combines Laplace's approximation and Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate integrals in the likelihood function is proposed for estimation of the parameters in nonlinear mixed effects models that assume a normal parametric family for the random effects. Simulations show that...