Package 'glmbayesCore'

Title: Core C++ Sampling Engine for glmbayes
Description: Core C++ engine for glmbayes: envelope-based iid samplers, Gibbs building blocks, and optional OpenCL. Developer backend for glmbayes, lmebayes, and extensions. End users should use glmbayes for lm/glm modelling.
Authors: Kjell Nygren [aut, cre], The R Core Team [ctb, cph] (R Mathlib sources, R stats modeling code, and derived/adapted routines), The R Foundation [cph] (Portions of R Mathlib and R source code), Ross Ihaka [ctb, cph] (R Mathlib and original R modeling infrastructure), Robert Gentleman [ctb, cph] (Portions of R Mathlib), Simon Davies [ctb] (Original R glm implementation), Morten Welinder [ctb, cph] (Portions of R Mathlib), Martin Maechler [ctb] (Portions of R Mathlib)
Maintainer: Kjell Nygren <[email protected]>
License: GPL-2
Version: 0.1.0
Built: 2026-06-12 05:48:36 UTC
Source: https://github.com/knygren/glmbayesCore

Help Index


glmbayesCore: Core C++ Sampling Engine for glmbayes

Description

Core C++ engine for envelope-based iid samplers, Gibbs building blocks, and optional OpenCL acceleration. Developer backend for glmbayes, lmebayes, and related extensions. End users should install glmbayes for formula-based modelling and S3 methods.

Details

Low-level entry points include envelope construction (EnvelopeBuild, EnvelopeOrchestrator), registered simulation pipelines (rNormalGLM_std, rIndepNormalGammaReg_std), matrix-input samplers (rglmb, rlmb), and OpenCL kernel loaders. Formula interfaces glmb and lmb live in glmbayes; glmbayesCore supplies the sampling engine.

OpenCL startup checks

In interactive sessions, attaching the package with library(glmbayesCore) may emit a short packageStartupMessage when glmbayesCore_has_opencl() is FALSE but a GPU or OpenCL stack appears available on the host. Set options(glmbayes.quiet_opencl_startup = TRUE) to suppress attach notes (recommended for CI and R CMD check).

Author(s)

Maintainer: Kjell Nygren [email protected]

Other contributors:

  • The R Core Team (R Mathlib sources, R stats modeling code, and derived/adapted routines) [contributor, copyright holder]

  • The R Foundation (Portions of R Mathlib and R source code) [copyright holder]

  • Ross Ihaka (R Mathlib and original R modeling infrastructure) [contributor, copyright holder]

  • Robert Gentleman (Portions of R Mathlib) [contributor, copyright holder]

  • Simon Davies (Original R glm implementation) [contributor]

  • Morten Welinder (Portions of R Mathlib) [contributor, copyright holder]

  • Martin Maechler (Portions of R Mathlib) [contributor]

References

There are no references for Rd macro ⁠\insertAllCites⁠ on this help page.

See Also

glmbayes for the end-user modelling package.


Amitriptyline overdose data

Description

Data with information on 17 overdoses of the drug amitriptyline

Usage

data(AMI)

Format

This data frame contains the following columns:

TOT

total TCAD plasma level

AMI

amount of amitriptyline present in the TCAD plasma level

GEN

gender (male = 0, female = 1)

AMT

amount of drug taken at time of overdose

PR

PR wave measurement

DIAP

diastolic blood pressure

QRS

QRS wave measurement

Details

Each row is one overdose episode. Variables include total tricyclic antidepressant level, amitriptyline component, gender, reported amount ingested, and ECG-related measures (PR interval, QRS duration, diastolic blood pressure). The dataset is used in package examples for binomial and related regression; see (Dobson 1990) for analogous generalized linear modelling of clinical outcomes.

References

Dobson A~J (1990). An Introduction to Generalized Linear Models. Chapman and Hall, London.

Examples

############################### Start of AMI dataset example ####################

data(AMI)
summary(AMI)

###############################################################################
## End of AMI dataset example
###############################################################################

Bike Sharing Dataset (Processed)

Description

A processed version of the UCI Bike Sharing Dataset (hourly data). The data include derived variables for part of day, quarter, and Fourier terms for cyclic effects of hour and month.

Usage

BikeSharing

Format

A data frame with 17,379 observations and 25 variables (original plus derived):

instant

Record index.

dteday

Date.

season

Season (1: spring, 2: summer, 3: fall, 4: winter).

yr

Year (0: 2011, 1: 2012).

mnth

Month (1–12).

hr

Hour (0–23).

holiday

Whether the day is a holiday (0/1).

weekday

Day of week (0–6).

workingday

Working day (0/1).

weathersit

Weather situation (1–4).

temp

Normalized temperature.

atemp

Normalized feeling temperature.

hum

Normalized humidity.

windspeed

Normalized wind speed.

casual

Count of casual users.

registered

Count of registered users.

cnt

Total count (casual + registered).

hr_num

Hour as numeric (same as hr).

month_num

Month as integer.

part_of_day

Factor: Night (0–5h), Morning (6–11h), Afternoon (12–17h), Evening (18–23h).

quarter

Factor: Q1–Q4.

hr_sin

Sine term for 24-hour cycle.

hr_cos

Cosine term for 24-hour cycle.

mon_sin

Sine term for 12-month cycle.

mon_cos

Cosine term for 12-month cycle.

Source

UCI Machine Learning Repository: Bike Sharing Dataset. https://archive.ics.uci.edu/dataset/275/bike+sharing+dataset

Examples

############################### Start of BikeSharing dataset example ####################

data("BikeSharing")
head(BikeSharing)
dim(BikeSharing)

###############################################################################
## End of BikeSharing dataset example
###############################################################################

One Gibbs block update via block_rNormalGLM

Description

Draw a single blockwise GLM posterior sample (n = 1) and return latent-level draws (e.g. updated theta) for two-block Gibbs samplers where each observation or group is its own block with scalar (or vector) coefficients per block.

Draw a single blockwise Gaussian posterior sample (n = 1) and return coefficient draws for two-block Gibbs samplers where each group is its own block (e.g. school-level random effects bjb_j).

Draw from blockwise full conditionals when the posterior factorizes across observation blocks. block_rNormalReg uses .block_rNormalReg_cpp() (Gaussian; each block calls rNormalReg). block_rNormalGLM uses .block_rNormalGLM_cpp() (GLM envelope; C++ partition and prior payload; each block calls rNormalGLM). Typical use is block Gibbs (n = 1 per outer step); n > 1 gives iid draws from the product conditional.

Usage

block_rNormalGLM_update(
  mu_all,
  sigma_theta_sq = NULL,
  y,
  x,
  block,
  family = poisson(),
  prior_list = NULL,
  prior_lists = NULL,
  offset = NULL,
  weights = 1,
  Gridtype = 2L,
  n_envopt = 1L,
  use_parallel = TRUE,
  use_opencl = FALSE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  progbar = FALSE,
  seed = NULL,
  theta_coef_col = 1L
)

block_rNormalReg_update(
  mu_all,
  P = NULL,
  dispersion = NULL,
  y,
  x,
  block,
  prior_list = NULL,
  prior_lists = NULL,
  offset = NULL,
  weights = 1,
  Gridtype = 2L,
  seed = NULL,
  coef_cols = NULL
)

block_rNormalGLM(
  n,
  y,
  x,
  block,
  prior_list = NULL,
  prior_lists = NULL,
  offset = NULL,
  weights = 1,
  family = gaussian(),
  Gridtype = 2L,
  n_envopt = NULL,
  use_parallel = TRUE,
  use_opencl = FALSE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  progbar = FALSE
)

block_rNormalReg(
  n,
  y,
  x,
  block,
  prior_list = NULL,
  prior_lists = NULL,
  offset = NULL,
  weights = 1,
  Gridtype = 2L
)

Arguments

mu_all

Numeric matrix l1 x k or vector of length l1 (recycled to all blocks): prior means per block (e.g. XhyperγX_\text{hyper} \gamma). Required unless prior_lists or prior_list is supplied.

sigma_theta_sq

Shared prior variance for scalar blocks when building prior_lists from mu_all.

y

Response vector of length nrow(x).

x

Design matrix nrow(x) by ncol(x); same ncol in every block.

block

Block partition: factor/integer length l2, l2_blocks counts summing to l2, or list of row index vectors.

family

GLM family (not gaussian()).

prior_list

Single prior specification recycled to all blocks, or with mu as l1 by k matrix or blocks sublist.

prior_lists

Optional list of length k (or 1) of per-block prior_list objects.

offset

Optional numeric vector (length 1 or length(y)); partitioned across blocks like y.

weights

Optional weights; same recycling and blocking as offset.

Gridtype

Passed to each block's sampler (Armadillo Gridtype).

n_envopt

Passed to each block; defaults to 1 when NULL.

use_parallel, use_opencl, verbose, progbar

Passed to each block's GLM sampler.

seed

Optional; passed to set.seed before sampling.

theta_coef_col

Column index of coefficients to return as theta (default 1 for scalar intercept blocks).

P

Prior precision matrix l1 x l1 (inverse of Σranef\Sigma_{\text{ranef}}). Shared across all blocks when building per-block priors from mu_all.

dispersion

Residual variance σ2\sigma^2. Shared across all blocks when building per-block priors from mu_all.

coef_cols

Column indices of coefficients to return as b_draws (default NULL returns all columns).

n

Number of iid draws per block (n = 1 typical for Gibbs).

Details

This is a thin wrapper around block_rNormalGLM that always uses n = 1. When prior_lists and prior_list are both omitted, per-block dNormal priors are built from mu_all and sigma_theta_sq (scalar intercept per block).

This is a thin wrapper around block_rNormalReg that always uses n = 1. When prior_lists and prior_list are both omitted, per-block dNormal priors are built from mu_all, P, and dispersion.

Output layout: coefficients and coef.mode are matrices with rows = blocks and columns = predictors.

See inst/DESIGN_RGLM_BLOCKS.md.

Per-block prior mean: pass prior_list$mu as an l1 x k matrix (one column per block). Standard for Block~1 of the lmebayes Gibbs sampler, where μj=Xhyperγ\mu_j = X_{\text{hyper}} \gamma depends on the current fixed-effects draw.

Dispersion: must be supplied via prior_list$dispersion (residual variance σ2\sigma^2).

Value

A list with:

theta

Vector of length nrow(x) (one draw per row/block).

coefficients,coef.mode

Matrices from block_rNormalGLM.

block_rNormalGLM

Full block sampler output.

A list with:

b_draws

Matrix k x length(coef_cols) of coefficient draws.

coefficients,coef.mode

Matrices from block_rNormalReg.

block_rNormalReg

Full block sampler output.

A list with class "block_rNormalGLM" including:

coefficients

Matrix k * p; row b is the draw for block b.

coef.mode

Matrix k * p; posterior mode per block.

block_info

Block partition metadata.

block_results

List of length k with each block's sampler output.

A list with class "block_rNormalReg" including coefficients, coef.mode, dispersion, and block_info.

Functions

  • block_rNormalReg(): Gaussian blockwise full conditionals via .block_rNormalReg_cpp() (C++ partition, prior payload, and rNormalReg() per block). This is the Gaussian counterpart of block_rNormalGLM.

See Also

block_rNormalGLM, normalize_block

block_rNormalReg, normalize_block

rNormal_reg, simfunction, normalize_block, inst/DESIGN_RGLM_BLOCKS.md

Examples

## One Gibbs block update: scalar intercept per observation (Poisson)

set.seed(42)

n <- 5L
y <- rpois(n, 2)
x <- matrix(1, n, 1)
mu <- rep(0, n)

upd <- block_rNormalGLM_update(
  mu_all = mu,
  sigma_theta_sq = 1,
  y = y,
  x = x,
  block = seq_len(n),
  family = poisson(),
  use_parallel = FALSE
)

upd$theta
upd$coefficients
## One block_rNormalReg_update step: draw b_j given current fixed effects

set.seed(7)

## Simulate data: 3 schools, 10 students each
n_schools <- 3L
n_per     <- 10L
school    <- rep(seq_len(n_schools), each = n_per)
Z         <- cbind(1, rnorm(n_schools * n_per))  # within-school design
b_true    <- matrix(c(5, 0.5, 3, -0.2, 7, 0.3), nrow = n_schools, byrow = TRUE)
sigma2    <- 1.5

y <- rowSums(Z * b_true[school, ]) + rnorm(nrow(Z), sd = sqrt(sigma2))

## Precision matrix for the random-effect prior (shared across schools)
l1  <- ncol(Z)
P_b <- diag(0.01, l1)   # vague prior

## Current "fixed-effects" prior mean (one vector recycled to all blocks)
mu_current <- rep(0, l1)

out <- block_rNormalReg_update(
  mu_all     = mu_current,   ## recycled to all k blocks (prior_list path)
  P          = P_b,
  dispersion = sigma2,
  y          = y,
  x          = Z,
  block      = school
)

out$b_draws         ## k x l1 matrix of updated random effects
out$coefficients    ## same content (all columns)
## Conditionally independent block GLM draw (Poisson, 3 outcome groups)

set.seed(42)

## Dobson (1990) p. 93 RCT
counts <- c(18, 17, 15, 20, 10, 20, 25, 13, 12)
outcome <- gl(3, 1, 9)
treatment <- gl(3, 3)
d.AD <- data.frame(outcome, treatment, counts)

ps <- glmbayesCore::Prior_Setup(counts ~ treatment, family = poisson(), data = d.AD)
y <- ps$y
x <- ps$x
block <- outcome

out <- block_rNormalGLM(
  n = 1L,
  y = y,
  x = x,
  block = block,
  prior_list = list(mu = ps$mu, Sigma = ps$Sigma),
  family = poisson(),
  use_parallel = FALSE
)

out$coefficients
out$coef.mode
## Conditionally independent block Gaussian draw (3 school groups)

set.seed(42)

## Simulate a simple two-level data set: 3 schools, ~10 students each
n_schools <- 3L
n_per     <- 10L
school    <- rep(seq_len(n_schools), each = n_per)
x         <- cbind(1, rnorm(n_schools * n_per))  # intercept + covariate
b_true    <- matrix(c(5, 0.5, 3, -0.2, 7, 0.3), nrow = n_schools, byrow = TRUE)
sigma2    <- 1.5    # residual variance

y <- rowSums(x * b_true[school, ]) + rnorm(nrow(x), sd = sqrt(sigma2))

## Flat prior (large Sigma) shared across all schools; dispersion = sigma2
l1         <- ncol(x)
prior_list <- list(
  mu         = rep(0, l1),
  Sigma      = diag(100, l1),
  dispersion = sigma2,
  ddef       = FALSE
)

out <- block_rNormalReg(
  n          = 1L,
  y          = y,
  x          = x,
  block      = school,
  prior_list = prior_list
)

out$coefficients   ## k x l1 matrix: one row of b_j draws per school
out$coef.mode

Boston housing data with mean-centered predictors

Description

A copy of Boston where all predictors (every column except medv) have been mean-centered (subtract column means, no scaling).

Usage

data("Boston_centered")

Format

A data frame with 506 observations and 14 variables (same names as Boston). See ?MASS::Boston for variable descriptions.

Source

Derived from MASS::Boston. Original data described in Harrison and Rubinfeld (1978); see ?Boston in MASS.


Build per-group random-effect prior means for Block 1 sampling

Description

Forms the mu_all matrix passed to block_rNormalReg_update: for each grouping level jj and each random-effect column kk of the level-1 design Z,

μ_all[k,j]=Xhyper,k[j,]γk,\mu\_\text{all}[k, j] = X_{\text{hyper},k}[j,]^\top \gamma_k,

where γk\gamma_k is the current hyper-parameter vector for RE kk (Block 2 state).

Usage

build_mu_all(design, fixef, group_levels = NULL)

Arguments

design

List with components X_hyper, re_coef_names, and groups (typically supplied by a downstream mixed-effects model setup step).

fixef

Named list of hyper-parameter vectors, one entry per RE column of Z. Names must match design$re_coef_names. Each fixef[[k]] is a numeric vector of length ncol(X_hyper[[k]]) with names matching colnames(X_hyper[[k]]).

group_levels

Character vector of grouping levels defining the column order of mu_all. Defaults to levels(design$groups), which is the canonical ordering used in two-block mixed models and consistent with lmer and block_rNormalReg (which preserves the input factor's level order).

Value

A list with:

mu_all

Numeric matrix p_re x J (p_re = number of RE columns, J = number of groups). Row names are design$re_coef_names; column names are group_levels in the order supplied.

re_coef_names

Copy of design$re_coef_names.

group_levels

Grouping levels used for columns.

See Also

lmerb_posterior_mean, two_block_rNormal_reg, block_rNormalReg_update


Canadian Automobile Insurance Claims for 1957-1958

Description

The data give the Canadian automobile insurance experience for policy years 1956 and 1957 as of June 30, 1959. The data includes virtually every insurance company operating in Canada and was collated by the Statistical Agency (Canadian Underwriters' Association - Statistical Department) acting under instructions from the Superintendent of Insurance. The data given here is for private passenger automobile liability for non-farmers for all of Canada excluding Saskatchewan.

Usage

data(carinsca)

Format

A data frame with 20 observations on the following 6 variables:

Merit

Merit Rating:
3 - licensed and accident free 3 or more years
2 - licensed and accident free 2 years
1 - licensed and accident free 1 year
0 - all others

Class

1 - pleasure, no male operator under 25
2 - pleasure, non-principal male operator under 25
3 - business use
4 - unmarried owner or principal operator under 25
5 - married owner or principal operator under 25

Insured

Earned car years

Premium

Earned premium in 1000's
(adjusted to what the premium would have been had all cars been written at 01 rates)

Claims

Number of claims

Cost

Total cost of the claim in 1000's of dollars

Details

One could apply Poisson regression to the number of claims and gamma regression to the cost per claim.

Source

Bailey, R. A., and Simon, LeRoy J. (1960). Two studies in automobile insurance ratemaking. ASTIN Bulletin, 192-217.

References

Data downloaded from http://www.statsci.org/data/general/carinsca.html. That site also contains classical Poisson and Gamma regression examples.

Examples

############################### Start of carinsca dataset example ####################

data(carinsca)
str(carinsca)
head(carinsca)

###############################################################################
## End of carinsca dataset example
###############################################################################

Cleveland Heart Disease Dataset

Description

A cleaned version of the Cleveland heart disease dataset from the UCI Machine Learning Repository. This version contains only complete cases and includes a derived binary outcome variable hd indicating the presence ("Yes") or absence ("No") of heart disease.

Usage

data("Cleveland")

Format

A data frame with 297 observations and 15 variables:

age

Age in years (numeric).

sex

Sex (0 = female, 1 = male).

cp

Chest pain type (numeric code 1–4).

trestbps

Resting blood pressure (mm Hg).

chol

Serum cholesterol (mg/dl).

fbs

Fasting blood sugar > 120 mg/dl (1 = true, 0 = false).

restecg

Resting electrocardiographic results (numeric code).

thalach

Maximum heart rate achieved.

exang

Exercise-induced angina (1 = yes, 0 = no).

oldpeak

ST depression induced by exercise relative to rest.

slope

Slope of the peak exercise ST segment.

ca

Number of major vessels colored by fluoroscopy (0–3).

thal

Thalassemia status (numeric code).

num

Original UCI disease score (0–4).

hd

Binary heart disease indicator: "No" (num = 0) or "Yes" (num > 0).

Source

UCI Machine Learning Repository: Heart Disease Data Set. https://archive.ics.uci.edu/dataset/45/heart+disease


Compute Calibrated Gaussian Normal–Gamma Prior Components

Description

Internal Gaussian calibration routine used by Prior_Setup. Given weighted Gaussian regression inputs and a dispersion–independent coefficient–scale prior covariance Σ0\Sigma_0, this function computes all Normal–Gamma quantities required by the Gaussian prior families: dispersion, shape, shape_ING, rate, rate_gamma, and the calibrated coefficient–scale covariance Sigma. The input Sigma_0 is returned unchanged.

Usage

compute_gaussian_prior(
  X,
  Y,
  weights,
  offset,
  dispersion = NULL,
  n_effective,
  bhat,
  mu,
  Sigma_0,
  Sigma = NULL,
  n_prior,
  k = 1
)

Arguments

X

Numeric model matrix with nrow(X) == length(Y).

Y

Numeric response vector.

weights

Numeric vector of case weights.

offset

Numeric offset vector.

dispersion

Optional scalar dispersion. If supplied, overrides the calibrated value.

n_effective

Effective sample size (typically sum(weights)).

bhat

Numeric coefficient vector, usually the weighted least–squares estimate.

mu

Numeric prior mean vector.

Sigma_0

Dispersion–independent prior covariance matrix [p×p][p \times p].

Sigma

Optional coefficient–scale covariance matrix. If supplied, overrides the calibrated Sigma.

n_prior

Effective prior sample size.

k

Non–negative scalar with k+p2k + p \ge 2. Controls tail behavior of the variance prior; does not affect posterior means.

Details

The computation follows a structured pipeline:

  1. Validate dimensions and numeric inputs.

  2. Compute the weighted residual sum of squares at bhat.

  3. Form the weighted Gram matrix XWXX^\top W X, invert it, and construct the marginal quadratic term SmargS_{marg}.

  4. Map n_prior and k to the Normal–Gamma shape and rate.

  5. Calibrate the implied dispersion and coefficient covariance.

  6. Return all calibrated prior components.

The function assumes the Chapter 11 convention that Σ0\Sigma_0 is dispersion–free: it encodes prior structure on the precision–weighted coefficient scale. The returned Sigma is the corresponding coefficient–scale covariance after calibration.

A common choice is the Zellner–type form

Σ0=1pwtpwt(XWX)1,\Sigma_0 = \frac{1 - \mathrm{pwt}}{\mathrm{pwt}} (X^\top W X)^{-1},

where pwt\mathrm{pwt} is a scalar prior weight. More generally, Sigma_0 may be any positive–definite matrix.

The function computes:

  • The marginal quadratic term

    Smarg=RSSw+(β^μ)(Σ0+(XWX)1)1(β^μ).S_{marg} = RSS_w + (\hat\beta - \mu)^\top \left(\Sigma_0 + (X^\top W X)^{-1}\right)^{-1} (\hat\beta - \mu).

  • Prior Gamma shape: a0=(nprior+k)/2a_0 = (n_{\mathrm{prior}} + k)/2.

  • Posterior Gamma shape: an=(nprior+nw+k)/2a_n = (n_{\mathrm{prior}} + n_w + k)/2, where nw=neffectiven_w = n_{\mathrm{effective}}.

  • Calibrated dispersion:

    E[σ2y]=Smargnwp,E[\sigma^2 \mid y] = \frac{S_{marg}}{n_w - p},

    the usual weighted residual–df estimator.

  • Prior Gamma rate:

    b0=12Smargnprior+k+p2nwp,b_0 = \frac{1}{2} S_{marg} \frac{n_{\mathrm{prior}} + k + p - 2}{n_w - p},

    ensuring E[σ2y]=Smarg/(nwp)E[\sigma^2 \mid y] = S_{marg}/(n_w - p).

  • Calibrated coefficient covariance:

    Σ=nwnpriorE[σ2y](XWX)1.\Sigma = \frac{n_w}{n_{\mathrm{prior}}} E[\sigma^2 \mid y] (X^\top W X)^{-1}.

Limiting behavior.

  • As npriorn_{\mathrm{prior}} \to \infty, the prior becomes increasingly concentrated and dominates the likelihood.

  • As nprior0+n_{\mathrm{prior}} \to 0^+ with nw>pn_w > p, SmargRSSwS_{marg} \to RSS_w and E[σ2y]RSSw/(nwp)E[\sigma^2 \mid y] \to RSS_w/(n_w - p), matching the classical weighted Gaussian estimator.

  • Strict positivity of the prior rate requires nprior+k+p>2n_{\mathrm{prior}} + k + p > 2.

  • The prior mean μ\mu is never altered; this function calibrates only scale parameters.

Value

A list with components:

  • dispersion — calibrated Gaussian dispersion.

  • shape — Gamma shape for residual precision.

  • shape_ING — shape for the independent Normal–Gamma prior.

  • rate — Gamma rate for residual precision.

  • rate_gamma — Gamma rate for the fixed–β\beta path (dGamma).

  • Sigma — calibrated coefficient–scale covariance.

  • Sigma_0 — the input dispersion–free covariance.

References

There are no references for Rd macro ⁠\insertAllCites⁠ on this help page.


GPU and OpenCL diagnostics for glmbayes

Description

Compile-time OpenCL probing for glmbayes, plus diagnose_glmbayes() — a readable report that combines opencltools host/runtime checks with this package's OpenCL build status (glmbayesCore_has_opencl).

Workstation probes (GPU vendor detection, drivers, ICD/PATH, and related helpers) live in opencltools; call opencltools::… or see ?opencltools.

Usage

diagnose_glmbayes()

glmbayesCore_has_opencl()

Details

GPU acceleration speeds up envelope construction and grid evaluation when you pass use_opencl = TRUE in rglmb, rlmb, and related functions. CPU-only builds remain fully usable for standard modelling.

Start with diagnose_glmbayes() for a single readable report; use glmbayesCore_has_opencl() for a quick boolean when scripting. Full install notes: vignette("Chapter-16", package = "glmbayes") ((Nygren 2025)).

Diagnostics exported from glmbayes

  • diagnose_glmbayes() — full report including compile-time OpenCL status for this package.

  • glmbayesCore_has_opencl()TRUE if this build was compiled with OpenCL support.

  • opencltools::has_opencl() — compile-time flag for opencltools (distinct).

Host / runtime checks (opencltools)

References

Nygren K (2025). “Chapter 16: Large models — GPU acceleration using OpenCL.” Vignette in the glmbayes R package. R vignette name: Chapter-16.

See Also

diagnose_glmbayes, glmbayesCore_has_opencl, opencltools, rglmb, rlmb.


GPU-Accelerated Envelope Construction for Posterior Simulation

Description

GPU-Accelerated Envelope Construction for Posterior Simulation

Usage

EnvelopeBuild(bStar,A,y,x,mu,P,alpha,wt,family = "binomial",link = "logit", 
Gridtype = 2L,n = 1L,n_envopt=NULL,sortgrid = FALSE,use_opencl = FALSE,verbose = FALSE)

EnvelopeSetGrid(GridIndex, cbars, Lint)

EnvelopeSetLogP(logP, NegLL, cbars, G3)

Arguments

bStar

Point at which envelope should be centered (typically posterior mode).

A

Diagonal precision matrix for the log-likelihood in standard form.

y

A vector of observations of length m.

x

A design matrix of dimension m * p.

mu

A vector giving the prior means of the variables.

P

Prior precision matrix of the variables (positive-definite).

alpha

Offset vector.

wt

A vector of weights.

family

Family for the envelope: binomial, quasibinomial, poisson, quasipoisson, or Gamma.

link

Link function ("logit", "probit", "cloglog" for binomial; "log" for Poisson/Gamma).

Gridtype

Method to determine the number of subgradient densities in the grid.

n

Number of draws from the posterior (used for grid sizing).

n_envopt

Effective sample size passed to EnvelopeOpt for grid construction. Defaults to match n. Larger values encourage tighter envelopes.

sortgrid

Logical; if TRUE, sort the envelope descending by component probability.

use_opencl

Logical; if TRUE, use OpenCL for gradient evaluations.

verbose

Logical; if TRUE, print progress messages.

GridIndex

A matrix indicating, for each grid component, whether the component lies in the left tail, center, or right tail of the density. Rows correspond to grid components; columns correspond to standardized variables.

cbars

A matrix containing the subgradient of the (adjusted) negative log-likelihood at each grid component.

Lint

A matrix storing the lower and upper bounds for each grid component, depending on whether sampling is from the left, center, or right.

logP

A matrix (typically two columns) with information for each grid component. The first column usually holds the output from EnvelopeSetGrid(), corresponding to the restricted normal density.

NegLL

A vector of negative log-likelihood evaluations at each grid component.

G3

A matrix of tangency points used in the grid.

Details

Constructs an enveloping function for posterior simulation using a grid of tangency points. The envelope is used in accept-reject sampling to guarantee iid draws from the posterior distribution. The implementation follows (Nygren and Nygren 2006), with extensions for GPU acceleration (via OpenCL), dynamic grid optimization, and parallelized evaluation.

The envelope is typically built around the posterior mode θ\theta^\star for a model in standard form (which in this context means a model with a diagonal posterior precision matrix and prior identity precision matrix - glmb_Standardize_Model). It uses dimension-specific width parameters ωi\omega_i derived from the precision matrix. Tangency points are selected per dimension, and the full grid is formed via Cartesian expansion. Negative log-likelihood and gradient values are computed at each grid point, either on CPU or GPU depending on the use_opencl flag. These values are used to construct a piecewise envelope function that dominates the posterior density.

Value

EnvelopeBuild()

A list of envelope components used for accept-reject sampling:

GridIndex

Integer matrix encoding sampling type (tail, center, line) per dimension and region.

thetabars

Matrix of tangency points θˉj\bar{\theta}_j for each grid region.

cbars

Matrix of subgradients c(θˉj)c(\bar{\theta}_j) of the negative log-likelihood at tangency.

loglt

Matrix of log left-tail probabilities per dimension and region.

logrt

Matrix of log right-tail probabilities per dimension and region.

logU

Matrix of selected per-dimension log-density contributions (tail/center) for each region.

logP

Matrix of total log-probabilities per region (first column); used to derive mixture weights.

PLSD

Vector of normalized mixture weights over grid regions used to draw region indices.

LLconst

Vector of acceptance-test constants per region used in the inequality for rejection sampling.

EnvelopeSetGrid()

A list of matrices computed for grid-based log-density evaluation:

Down

Lower bounds for truncated-normal evaluation per dimension and region.

Up

Upper bounds for truncated-normal evaluation per dimension and region.

lglt

Log left-tail probabilities (from (,Up](-\infty, \mathrm{Up}]) per dimension and region.

lgrt

Log right-tail probabilities (from [Down,)[\mathrm{Down}, \infty)) per dimension and region.

lgct

Log central-interval probabilities (from [Down,Up][\mathrm{Down}, \mathrm{Up}]) per dimension and region.

logU

Selected log-probability per grid cell based on GridIndex (tail or center).

logP

Matrix with row-wise sums of logU (first column) used to form mixture weights.

EnvelopeSetLogP()

A list with updated mixture-weight and acceptance constants:

logP

Input logP with its second column populated by the log of unnormalized visit probabilities per region (mixture denominators).

LLconst

Vector of acceptance constants logf(yθˉj)c(θˉj)Tθˉj-\log f(y \mid \bar{\theta}_j) - c(\bar{\theta}_j)^{T}\bar{\theta}_j used in the accept-reject test.

Models in standard form

The standard-form restriction and its closed-form truncated-normal integrals follow (Nygren and Nygren 2006). See (Nygren 2025) for the full theoretical details (standard form restriction, closed-form truncated-normal integrals, and the resulting log-scale tractability).

In the implementation, these standard-form quantities determine the grid-based tangency shifts and the precomputed region constants (e.g., the log-CDF pieces) that drive the mixture weights used by the envelope sampler.

Construction of restricted subgradient densities

For the full restricted density construction and the resulting envelope constants, see (Nygren 2025).

In the implementation, these theory objects become the precomputed region log-constants (via closed-form CDF pieces) that are used to normalize the envelope mixture weights for the accept-reject sampler.

Mixture construction and tractable probabilities

The mixture construction and its tractable region probabilities are derived in (Nygren 2025). In the implementation, these theory objects become the precomputed region log-constants and the mixture weights (PLSD) used by the envelope-based accept-reject sampler.

Log-scale properties of the envelope function

The log-scale form of the envelope factor and the subgradient inequality that imply envelope dominance are given in (Nygren 2025). In the implementation, these properties allow pointwise evaluation in the log-domain and provide the theoretical basis for the rejection test inside the sampler.

Use of the envelope during sampling

The standardized sampler called through .rNormalGLM_std_cpp() uses the envelope to generate posterior samples via rejection sampling. Although not exported, this routine is called internally by .rNormalGLM_cpp(), which in turn is invoked by the user-facing function rNormal_reg(). Together, these routines implement envelope-based sampling for generalized linear models with log-concave likelihood functions and multivariate normal priors.

The envelope provides a mixture of restricted likelihood-subgradient densities, each defined over a region AiA_i, with associated mixture weights p~i\tilde{p}_i stored in PLSD. The sampling proceeds as follows:

  1. A region index J(i)J(i) is drawn from the discrete distribution defined by PLSD.

  2. A candidate θi\theta_i is drawn from the restricted density qAJ(i)θˉJ(i)q^{\bar{\theta}_{J(i)}}_{A_{J(i)}}, using the normal CDF bounds loglt and logrt, and subgradient vector cbars. Simulation for each dimension uses the internal C++ function ctrnorm_cpp(), which explicitly uses these inputs.

  3. The log-likelihood logf(yθi)\log f(y \mid \theta_i) is computed and stored in testll[0] using the appropriate likelihood function f2.

The acceptance test is performed using the inequality

log(U2)LLconst[J(i)]+cbars[J(i),]Tθi+logf(yθi),\log(U_2) \le \mathrm{LLconst}[J(i)] + \mathrm{cbars}[J(i), ]^{T} \theta_i + \log f(y \mid \theta_i),

which is equivalent to

log(U2)logf(yθi)(logf(yθˉJ(i))c(θˉJ(i))T(θiθˉJ(i))),\log(U_2) \le \log f(y \mid \theta_i) - \left( \log f(y \mid \bar{\theta}_{J(i)}) - c(\bar{\theta}_{J(i)})^{T}(\theta_i - \bar{\theta}_{J(i)}) \right),

where:

  • LLconst[J(i)] stores the precomputed quantity logf(yθˉJ(i))c(θˉJ(i))TθˉJ(i)-\log f(y \mid \bar{\theta}_{J(i)}) - c(\bar{\theta}_{J(i)})^{T} \bar{\theta}_{J(i)}, computed during envelope construction via EnvelopeSet_LogP_C2().

  • cbars[J(i), ] is the precomputed subgradient vector c(θˉJ(i))c(\bar{\theta}_{J(i)}), extracted via cbars(J(i), _). It defines the exponential tilt direction used to evaluate the envelope.

  • testll[0] is the log-likelihood at the candidate draw θi\theta_i, evaluated using the model specified by family and link.

  • log(U2)-\log(U_2) is the threshold from a uniform draw U2Unif(0,1)U_2 \sim \mathrm{Unif}(0,1).

The right-hand side of this inequality is always non-positive, and equals zero when θi=θˉJ(i)\theta_i = \bar{\theta}_{J(i)}. This reflects the fact that the envelope is tangent to the log-likelihood at each θˉj\bar{\theta}_j, and lies above it elsewhere.

This procedure guarantees that accepted samples are drawn from the posterior π(θy)\pi(\theta \mid y). The envelope ensures bounded rejection probability, and the mixture structure allows efficient sampling across regions. The output out contains accepted draws, and draws records the number of attempts per sample.

The components returned by EnvelopeBuild() are used in specific steps of the sampling procedure as follows:

  • PLSD is used to randomly select a region index J(i)J(i) from the envelope mixture.

  • loglt and logrt define the truncated normal bounds for each dimension, used together with cbars to generate candidate values θi\theta_i.

  • cbars provides the subgradient vectors c(θˉj)c(\bar{\theta}_j) used both for candidate generation and for computing the acceptance test.

  • LLconst stores precomputed constants used in the acceptance inequality, avoiding recomputation of posterior terms at tangency points.

  • logU stores the per-dimension log-density contributions for each region, computed during envelope setup. These values are summed to produce logP, which determines the mixture weights PLSD.

  • logP contains the total log-probabilities for each grid component, which are normalized to form the mixture weights PLSD.

  • thetabars stores the tangency points θˉj\bar{\theta}_j used to define subgradients and region-specific densities.

  • GridIndex encodes the sampling type (tail, center, line) used for each dimension and region, guiding how each coordinate is simulated.

Algorithmic steps (linked to theory)

The implementation of EnvelopeBuild follows the envelope construction in (Nygren and Nygren 2006) for models in standard form (see Section 3–3.3 there). Each computational step corresponds to a theoretical guarantee:

  1. Compute width parameters ωi\omega_i from the diagonal precision matrix. In particular, let θ\theta^{\ast} denote the unique posterior mode. For each dimension ii, define

    ωi:=2exp ⁣(1.204910.73210.52logf(θy)/θi2)12logf(θy)/θi2.\omega_{i} := \frac{\sqrt{2} - \exp\!\big(-1.20491 - 0.7321\,\sqrt{0.5 - \partial^{2}\log f(\theta^{\ast}\mid y)/\partial\theta_{i}^{2}}\big)} {\sqrt{1 - \partial^{2}\log f(\theta^{\ast}\mid y)/\partial\theta_{i}^{2}}}.

    As seen from the above, the widths ωi\omega_i are derived from the local curvature of the log-likelihood at the posterior mode. This ensures that the three-interval construction per dimension below yields an envelope whose efficiency does not deteriorate with sample size.

  2. Use the width parameters to construct intervals around the posterior mode θ\theta^\star. Specifically, we set

    i,1=θi0.5ωi,i,2=θi+0.5ωi,\ell_{i,1} = \theta^{\ast}_{i} - 0.5\,\omega_{i}, \quad \ell_{i,2} = \theta^{\ast}_{i} + 0.5\,\omega_{i},

    and construct three intervals per dimension:

    Ai,1=(,i,1),Ai,2=[i,1,i,2],Ai,3=(i,2,).A_{i,1} = (-\infty,\ell_{i,1}), \quad A_{i,2} = [\ell_{i,1},\ell_{i,2}], \quad A_{i,3} = (\ell_{i,2},\infty).

For each dimension ii, let Ji={1,2,3}J_{i} = \{1,2,3\} and define J=i=1pJiJ = \prod_{i=1}^{p} J_{i}, which has 3p3^{p} elements. Each jJj \in J is a vector (j1,,jp)(j_{1},\ldots,j_{p}), and we define

Aj=i=1pAi,ji.A^{\ast}_{j} = \prod_{i=1}^{p} A_{i,j_{i}}.

The collection A={Aj:jJ}A^{\ast} = \{A^{\ast}_{j} : j \in J\} forms a partition of Θ\Theta.

  1. For each member of the partition, select tangency points θ±ωi\theta^\star \pm \omega_i.

For each jJj \in J, define index sets

Cj1={i:ji=1},Cj2={i:ji=2},Cj3={i:ji=3}.C_{j1} = \{i : j_{i} = 1\}, \quad C_{j2} = \{i : j_{i} = 2\}, \quad C_{j3} = \{i : j_{i} = 3\}.

The tangency points θˉj\bar{\theta}_{j} are then defined componentwise by

θˉj,i={θiωi,iCj1,θi,iCj2,θi+ωi,iCj3.\bar{\theta}_{j,i} = \begin{cases} \theta^{\ast}_{i} - \omega_{i}, & i \in C_{j1}, \\ \theta^{\ast}_{i}, & i \in C_{j2}, \\ \theta^{\ast}_{i} + \omega_{i}, & i \in C_{j3}. \end{cases}

The tangency points are hence chosen so that the envelope touches the log-likelihood at representative points in each interval, guaranteeing dominance and tightness.

  1. Build the full grid of tangency points (Cartesian product across dimensions).

    The Cartesian product of per-dimension partitions yields the 3p3^p restricted densities described in the paper, ensuring coverage of the full parameter space.

  2. Evaluate negative log-likelihood and gradients at each grid point to construct the likelihood subgradient densities and to facilitate accept rejection sampling

    The subgradients c(θˉ)c(\bar{\theta}) enter the likelihood-subgradient density construction ((Nygren and Nygren 2006); see also (Nygren 2025)), and both subgradients and negative log-likelihoods (through hθˉ()h_{\bar{\theta}}(\cdot)) are used in the accept-reject procedure. CPU and GPU routines compute these values efficiently.

    • On CPU: via f2_f3_non_opencl.

    • On GPU: via f2_f3_opencl, which computes these in parallel across faces

  3. Call EnvelopeSet_Grid_C2_pointwise to evaluate restricted multivariate normal log-densities. Each restricted density corresponds to a subset of the partition, normalized as in Remark 5 of (Nygren and Nygren 2006).

  4. Call EnvelopeSet_LogP_C2 to compute component log-probabilities and constants. The constants a~\tilde{a} and mixture weights p~i\tilde{p}_i are computed explicitly as in Remark 6 of the paper, ensuring that the mixture envelope is properly normalized.

  5. Normalize probabilities (PLSD) and optionally sort grid components. Normalization implements Claim 2 of the paper so the mixture forms a valid dominating density for the posterior. Sorting is an implementation detail to improve sampling efficiency.

Theory reference (JASA paper and vignette)

Definitions, claims, theorems, remarks, and examples through Remark 16 (including standard form, the 3p3^p partition, and sampling remarks) are in (Nygren and Nygren 2006). An expanded narrative is in vignette("Chapter-A08", package = "glmbayes").

Subgradient density formulation

Each grid component corresponds to a tilted multivariate normal density, normalized using the moment-generating function (MGF). In the single-point case, centered at the posterior mode θ\theta^\star, the density is:

f(θ)=1(2π)p/2A1/2MGFA(c)exp(12(θμ)TA(θμ)+cT(θθ))f(\theta) = \frac{1}{(2\pi)^{p/2} |A|^{-1/2} \cdot \text{MGF}_A(c)} \exp\left( -\frac{1}{2} (\theta - \mu)^T A (\theta - \mu) + c^T (\theta - \theta^\star) \right)

where:

  • AA is the precision matrix,

  • μ\mu is the prior mean vector,

  • cc is the gradient of the log-likelihood at θ\theta^\star,

  • MGFA(c)\text{MGF}_A(c) is the moment-generating function:

    MGFA(c)=exp(12cTA1c)\text{MGF}_A(c) = \exp\left( \frac{1}{2} c^T A^{-1} c \right)

This closed-form density dominates the posterior locally and is used when Gridtype = 1. For richer envelopes, multiple such components are constructed at tangency points θj\theta_j, each with its own gradient cjc_j, and combined into a mixture:

fenv(θ)=j=1Kpjfj(θ)f_{\text{env}}(\theta) = \sum_{j=1}^{K} p_j f_j(\theta)

where the weights pjp_j are computed using log-CDF differences and constants:

logpj=logΦ(Uj)logΦ(Lj)NegLLj+LLconstj\log p_j = \log \Phi(U_j) - \log \Phi(L_j) - \text{NegLL}_j + \text{LLconst}_j

Gridtype logic

The Gridtype argument controls how many tangency points are used per dimension:

  • 1: Threshold rule. If 1+ai2/π1 + a_i \le 2/\sqrt{\pi}, use a single-point envelope at the mode; otherwise use three points.

  • 2: Dynamic optimization via EnvelopeOpt, which balances grid build cost and expected acceptance rate. Grid size is scaled by n and the number of OpenCL cores when GPU is enabled.

  • 3: Always use three points per dimension.

  • 4: Always use a single point (mode only).

Supported families and links

The following families and link functions are supported:

  • Binomial: logit, probit, cloglog

  • Quasibinomial: logit, probit

  • Poisson: log

  • Quasipoisson: log

  • Gamma: log

  • Gaussian: identity

GPU acceleration (use_opencl = TRUE) is available for all of the above except Gaussian, which is always evaluated on CPU.

GPU acceleration

When use_opencl = TRUE, likelihood and gradient evaluations are offloaded to the GPU using OpenCL. This can substantially reduce runtime for high-dimensional models or large grids. Results are mathematically equivalent to the CPU version, but small numerical differences may occur due to floating-point arithmetic. If reproducibility across hardware is critical, prefer the CPU path.

If OpenCL support was not detected at compile time, the flag is ignored and the CPU implementation is used. Diagnostic messages are printed when verbose = TRUE.

Verbose output

When verbose = TRUE, the function prints:

  • Grid type, number of draws, OpenCL usage, and detected core count.

  • Grid size after expansion.

  • Time-stamped messages when entering the grid loop, starting likelihood evaluations, starting gradient evaluations, and invoking GPU kernels.

  • Messages when setting grid values, computing log-probabilities, and sorting.

Any constants needed by the sampling are added to a list and returned.

References

Nygren K (2025). “Chapter A08: Overview of Envelope Related Functions.” Vignette in the glmbayes R package. R vignette name: Chapter-A08.

Nygren K~N, Nygren L~M (2006). “Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 1144–1156. doi:10.1198/016214506000000357.

See Also

EnvelopeSize, EnvelopeEval, EnvelopeSort, glmb_Standardize_Model; rNormal_reg, rglmb, rlmb. Theory and vignettes: (Nygren and Nygren 2006); (Nygren 2025, 2025).

Examples

data(menarche,package="MASS")
Age2=menarche$Age-13

summary(menarche)
plot(Menarche/Total ~ Age, data=menarche)


x<-matrix(as.numeric(1.0),nrow=length(Age2),ncol=2)
x[,2]=Age2

y=menarche$Menarche/menarche$Total
wt=menarche$Total

mu<-matrix(as.numeric(0.0),nrow=2,ncol=1)
mu[2,1]=(log(0.9/0.1)-log(0.5/0.5))/3

V1<-1*diag(as.numeric(2.0))

# 2 standard deviations for prior estimate at age 13 between 0.1 and 0.9
## Specifies uncertainty around the point estimates

V1[1,1]<-((log(0.9/0.1)-log(0.5/0.5))/2)^2 
V1[2,2]=(3*mu[2,1]/2)^2  # Allows slope to be up to 1 times as large as point estimate 

famfunc<-glmbfamfunc(binomial(logit))

f1<-famfunc$f1
f2<-famfunc$f2
f3<-famfunc$f3
f5<-famfunc$f5
f6<-famfunc$f6

dispersion2<-as.numeric(1.0)
start <- mu
offset2=rep(as.numeric(0.0),length(y))
P=solve(V1)
n=1000


###### Adjust weight for dispersion

wt2=wt/dispersion2

######################### Shift mean vector to offset so that adjusted model has 0 mean

alpha=x%*%as.vector(mu)+offset2
mu2=0*as.vector(mu)
P2=P
x2=x


#####  Optimization step to find posterior mode and associated Precision

parin=start-mu

opt_out=optim(parin,f2,f3,y=as.vector(y),x=as.matrix(x),mu=as.vector(mu2),
              P=as.matrix(P),alpha=as.vector(alpha),wt=as.vector(wt2),
              method="BFGS",hessian=TRUE
)

bstar=opt_out$par  ## Posterior mode for adjusted model
bstar
bstar+as.vector(mu)  # mode for actual model
A1=opt_out$hessian # Approximate Precision at mode

## Standardize Model

Standard_Mod=glmb_Standardize_Model(y=as.vector(y), x=as.matrix(x),P=as.matrix(P),
                                    bstar=as.matrix(bstar,ncol=1), A1=as.matrix(A1))

bstar2=Standard_Mod$bstar2  
A=Standard_Mod$A
x2=Standard_Mod$x2
mu2=Standard_Mod$mu2
P2=Standard_Mod$P2
L2Inv=Standard_Mod$L2Inv
L3Inv=Standard_Mod$L3Inv

Env2=EnvelopeBuild(as.vector(bstar2), as.matrix(A),y, as.matrix(x2),
as.matrix(mu2,ncol=1),as.matrix(P2),as.vector(alpha),as.vector(wt2),
family="binomial",link="logit",Gridtype=as.integer(3), n=as.integer(n),
sortgrid=TRUE)

## These now seem to match

Env2

Envelope Centering for Bayesian Gaussian Regression

Description

EnvelopeCentering() computes an initial dispersion and the expected posterior weighted RSS (closed form under the Normal posterior for coefficients) for use in envelope construction when the dispersion is unknown. The dispersion-anchoring loop updates dispersion from the Gamma posterior using that expected RSS each iteration. This step is typically called inside rIndepNormalGammaReg() before EnvelopeOrchestrator, but may be used directly for diagnostics or custom workflows.

Usage

EnvelopeCentering(
  y,
  x,
  mu,
  P,
  offset,
  wt,
  shape,
  rate,
  Gridtype = 2L,
  verbose = FALSE
)

Arguments

y

Numeric response vector of length m.

x

Numeric design matrix of dimension m * p.

mu

Numeric vector of prior means (length p).

P

Numeric matrix of prior precision (p * p).

offset

Numeric vector of length m. Use rep(0, m) for none.

wt

Numeric vector of prior weights.

shape

Numeric. Shape parameter of the Gamma prior for the dispersion.

rate

Numeric. Rate parameter of the Gamma prior for the dispersion.

Gridtype

Integer. Grid construction method (default 2).

verbose

Logical. Reserved for API compatibility; currently unused in C++.

Details

The function first obtains an initial dispersion via lm.wfit residual variance, then iteratively: (1) computes the expected weighted RSS under the Normal posterior (closed form), (2) updates the dispersion via the Gamma posterior using the expected RSS. The result is used as dispersion2 and RSS_Post2 in downstream envelope construction (e.g., EnvelopeOrchestrator).

This anchors the joint Normal–Gamma accept–reject construction in (Nygren and Nygren 2006); see vignettes Chapter-A07, Chapter-A11, and (Nygren 2025, 2025).

Value

A list with components:

dispersion

Numeric. Anchored dispersion value.

RSS_post

Numeric. Expected posterior weighted RSS (closed form; last iteration).

References

Nygren K (2025). “Chapter A08: Overview of Envelope Related Functions.” Vignette in the glmbayes R package. R vignette name: Chapter-A08.

Nygren K (2025). “Independent Normal–Gamma Regression Sampler.” Vignette in the glmbayes R package. R vignette name: independent-norm-gamma.

Nygren K~N, Nygren L~M (2006). “Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 1144–1156. doi:10.1198/016214506000000357.

See Also

EnvelopeOrchestrator for envelope construction; EnvelopeBuild, EnvelopeDispersionBuild; rindepNormalGamma_reg for the full simulation routine; rlmb for the user-facing linear-model interface.

Examples

############################### Start of EnvelopeCentering example ####################

# This example demonstrates EnvelopeCentering in isolation. It computes an
# initial dispersion and posterior RSS for use in envelope construction when
# the dispersion is unknown (Gaussian regression with Normal-Gamma prior).
# This is Step A of the full pipeline in Ex_EnvelopeDispersionBuild and
# Ex_rIndepNormalGammaReg_std.

ctl <- c(4.17, 5.58, 5.18, 6.11, 4.50, 4.61, 5.17, 4.53, 5.33, 5.14)
trt <- c(4.81, 4.17, 4.41, 3.59, 5.87, 3.83, 6.03, 4.89, 4.32, 4.69)
group <- gl(2, 10, 20, labels = c("Ctl", "Trt"))
weight <- c(ctl, trt)

ps <- Prior_Setup(weight ~ group, gaussian())

x <- as.matrix(ps$x)
y <- as.vector(ps$y)
mu <- ps$mu
Sigma <- ps$Sigma
shape <- ps$shape
rate <- ps$rate

n_obs <- length(y)
wt <- rep(1, n_obs)
offset2 <- rep(0, n_obs)

# Reconstruct coefficient precision P (matches rindepNormalGamma_reg)
Rchol <- chol(Sigma)
Pinv <- chol2inv(Rchol)
P <- 0.5 * (Pinv + t(Pinv))

Gridtype_core <- as.integer(2)

###############################################################################
# EnvelopeCentering: initial dispersion + dispersion anchoring loop
###############################################################################
centering <- EnvelopeCentering(
  y = y,
  x = x,
  mu = as.vector(mu),
  P = P,
  offset = offset2,
  wt = wt,
  shape = shape,
  rate = rate,
  Gridtype = Gridtype_core,
  verbose = FALSE
)

centering$dispersion
centering$RSS_post

###############################################################################
# End of EnvelopeCentering example
###############################################################################

Builds Dispersion-Aware Envelope for Simulation

Description

Constructs a dispersion-aware envelope for simulation in Gaussian models with uncertain variance. This function extrapolates the coefficient envelope across a high-probability interval for the dispersion parameter sigma^2, and builds a global upper bound for the log-posterior remainder. It also computes mixture weights for envelope faces and adjusts the Gamma proposal for precision.

The envelope is constructed using the slopes of the face constants with respect to dispersion, evaluated at an anchor point. The resulting structure supports exact i.i.d. sampling via accept-reject correction.

The procedure follows these steps:

  1. Posterior precision (Gamma) parameters. Using the prior and posterior-predictive RSS, set

    shape2=Shape+nobs/2,rate3=Rate+RSSpost/2\mathrm{shape2} = \mathrm{Shape} + n_{\mathrm{obs}}/2, \quad \mathrm{rate3} = \mathrm{Rate} + \mathrm{RSS}_{\mathrm{post}}/2

    These parameterize the posterior precision v=1/σ2Gamma(shape2,rate3)v = 1/\sigma^2 \sim \mathrm{Gamma}(\mathrm{shape2}, \mathrm{rate3}).

  2. Central credible interval for dispersion (low, upp). Choose a central mass level max_disp_perc (e.g., 0.99) for precision, then invert the corresponding Gamma quantiles to dispersion:

    low=1/QΓ(max_disp_perc;shape2,rate3),upp=1/QΓ(1max_disp_perc;shape2,rate3)\mathrm{low} = 1 / Q_{\Gamma}(\mathrm{max\_disp\_perc}; \mathrm{shape2}, \mathrm{rate3}), \quad \mathrm{upp} = 1 / Q_{\Gamma}(1 - \mathrm{max\_disp\_perc}; \mathrm{shape2}, \mathrm{rate3})

    The interval [low,upp][\mathrm{low}, \mathrm{upp}] is the domain over which all envelopes must dominate.

  3. Face slopes at an anchor (dispstar).

    dispstar=rate3/(shape21)\mathrm{dispstar} = \mathrm{rate3} / (\mathrm{shape2} - 1)

    (posterior mean of σ2\sigma^2). Compute New_LL_Slopej\mathrm{New\_LL\_Slope}_j for each face jj.

  4. Linear extrapolation of face constants.

    θjˉlow=θjˉbase+(lowdispstar)New_LL_Slopej\theta^{\mathrm{low}}_{\bar{j}} = \theta^{\mathrm{base}}_{\bar{j}} + (\mathrm{low} - \mathrm{dispstar}) \cdot \mathrm{New\_LL\_Slope}_j

    θjˉupp=θjˉbase+(uppdispstar)New_LL_Slopej\theta^{\mathrm{upp}}_{\bar{j}} = \theta^{\mathrm{base}}_{\bar{j}} + (\mathrm{upp} - \mathrm{dispstar}) \cdot \mathrm{New\_LL\_Slope}_j

  5. Global upper line and endpoint maxima.

    max_low=maxjθjˉlow,max_upp=maxjθjˉupp\mathrm{max\_low} = \max_j \theta^{\mathrm{low}}_{\bar{j}}, \quad \mathrm{max\_upp} = \max_j \theta^{\mathrm{upp}}_{\bar{j}}

    new_slope=(max_uppmax_low)/(upplow),new_int=max_lownew_slopelow\mathrm{new\_slope} = (\mathrm{max\_upp} - \mathrm{max\_low}) / (\mathrm{upp} - \mathrm{low}), \quad \mathrm{new\_int} = \mathrm{max\_low} - \mathrm{new\_slope} \cdot \mathrm{low}

  6. Face slack and mixture weights.

    lg_prob_factorj=max(θjˉuppmax_upp,  θjˉlowmax_low)\mathrm{lg\_prob\_factor}_j = \max\big(\theta^{\mathrm{upp}}_{\bar{j}} - \mathrm{max\_upp},\; \theta^{\mathrm{low}}_{\bar{j}} - \mathrm{max\_low}\big)

    Combine with New_logP2j=logPj+12cˉj2\mathrm{New\_logP2}_j = \mathrm{logP}_j + \tfrac{1}{2}\|\bar{c}_j\|^2 to form mixture weights PLSDjexp ⁣(New_logP2j+lg_prob_factorj)\mathrm{PLSD}_j \propto \exp\!\bigl(\mathrm{New\_logP2}_j + \mathrm{lg\_prob\_factor}_j\bigr).

  7. Gamma tilt and dispersion-axis envelope.

    dispstar=(upplow)/log(upp/low)\mathrm{dispstar} = (\mathrm{upp} - \mathrm{low}) / \log(\mathrm{upp}/\mathrm{low})

    lm_log2=new_slopedispstar,lm_log1=new_int+new_slopedispstarnew_slopelog(dispstar)\mathrm{lm\_log2} = \mathrm{new\_slope} \cdot \mathrm{dispstar}, \quad \mathrm{lm\_log1} = \mathrm{new\_int} + \mathrm{new\_slope} \cdot \mathrm{dispstar} - \mathrm{new\_slope} \cdot \log(\mathrm{dispstar})

    Tilt the Gamma proposal via shape3=shape2lm_log2\mathrm{shape3} = \mathrm{shape2} - \mathrm{lm\_log2}.

Usage

EnvelopeDispersionBuild(
  Env, Shape, Rate, P, y, x, alpha, n_obs, RSS_post, RSS_ML,
  mu, wt, max_disp_perc = 0.99,
  disp_lower = NULL, disp_upper = NULL,
  verbose = FALSE, use_parallel = TRUE
)

Arguments

Env

Envelope object from EnvelopeBuild, containing tangency points and gradients

Shape

Prior shape parameter for precision v = 1 / sigma^2

Rate

Prior rate parameter for precision

P

Prior precision matrix for coefficients

y

Numeric response vector of length m

x

a design matrix of dimension m * p

alpha

Numeric offset vector of length m

n_obs

Number of observations

RSS_post

Expected posterior weighted residual sum of squares (i.e., E[RSS(β)y,ϕ]\mathbb{E}[\mathrm{RSS}(\beta)\mid y,\phi] under the Normal posterior for β\beta at fixed dispersion ϕ=d\phi = d). This value is used for dispersion anchoring / Gamma updates.

RSS_ML

Residual sum of squares associated with MLE estimate

mu

Prior mean parameter

wt

weight vector

max_disp_perc

Truncation level for dispersion (default 0.99)

disp_lower

lower bound truncation for dispersion

disp_upper

upper bound truncation for dispersion

verbose

Option to have verbose output

use_parallel

Logical. Whether to use parallel processing.

Details

This function is designed to complement EnvelopeBuild for Gaussian models with Normal-Gamma priors. It enables exact sampling of both coefficients and dispersion by constructing a joint envelope that respects posterior curvature in both dimensions.

The dispersion anchor point is chosen as the log-scale center of the credible interval, and the Gamma proposal is tilted to match the envelope slope at this point. Theory and narrative: (Nygren and Nygren 2006); vignettes Chapter-A07, Chapter-A11; (Nygren 2025, 2025).

Value

EnvelopeDispersionBuild()

A list containing:

Env_out

Envelope object with updated mixture weights (PLSD)

gamma_list

Posterior Gamma tilt parameters

shape3

Adjusted shape parameter after slope correction

rate2

Posterior rate parameter, defined as Rate + rss_min_global/2

disp_upper

Upper bound of the dispersion interval σ2\sigma^2

disp_lower

Lower bound of the dispersion interval σ2\sigma^2

UB_list

Upper-bound diagnostics

RSS_ML

Residual sum of squares at the maximum-likelihood estimate

RSS_Min

Minimum residual sum of squares across envelope faces

max_New_LL_UB

Maximum extrapolated face constant at the upper dispersion bound

max_LL_log_disp

Log-posterior upper bound evaluated at disp_upper

lm_log1

Intercept term of the global upper line approximation

lm_log2

Slope term of the global upper line approximation

lg_prob_factor

Per-face slack factors used in mixture weighting

lmc1

Linear extrapolation constant (intercept)

lmc2

Linear extrapolation constant (slope)

UB2min

Minimum UB2 value across faces, used for diagnostics

diagnostics

Internal diagnostic values

dispstar

Anchor dispersion value (posterior mean or geometric mean)

New_LL_Slope

Vector of slopes of face constants at dispstar

shape2

Posterior shape parameter before tilt correction

rate3

Posterior rate parameter before tilt correction

shape3

Adjusted shape parameter (same as in gamma_list)

max_low

Maximum extrapolated face constant at the lower dispersion bound

max_upp

Maximum extrapolated face constant at the upper dispersion bound

new_slope

Slope of the global upper line across dispersion bounds

new_int

Intercept of the global upper line across dispersion bounds

prob_factor

Normalized mixture weights across faces

UB2min

Minimum UB2 diagnostic value (duplicated for consistency)

EnvBuildLinBound()

Numeric vector of slopes of face constants with respect to dispersion, evaluated at the anchor dispstar

thetabar_const()

Numeric vector of base face constants computed from tangency points and gradient vectors under prior precision P

Inv_f3_with_disp()

Numeric matrix of inverse function evaluations at a given dispersion and face subset, returned by the C++ routine _glmbayes_Inv_f3_with_disp

UB2()

Numeric scalar representing the UB2 upper-bound criterion for a given dispersion and face, defined as (1/dispersion)(RSSrss_min_global)(1/dispersion) * (RSS - rss\_min\_global)

rss_face_at_disp()

Numeric scalar giving the residual sum of squares for a specified face at a given dispersion, computed from cached matrices and the inverse function evaluation

Use in accept/reject procedure

The accept/reject sampler relies on a decomposition of the log-posterior into a test statistic and several bounding terms. Each component is constructed so that its sign is controlled, ensuring the validity of the accept/reject step.

test1 (log-likelihood bound)

Placeholder: explain how test1 is formed and why it is non-positive.

UB1 (if applicable)

Placeholder: describe UB1's role and why it is non-negative.

UB2 (residual sum of squares bound)

Placeholder: explain how UB2 is constructed from RSS differences and why it is non-negative.

UB3A (face-wise quadratic/linear envelope surplus)

Placeholder: explain how lg_prob_factor, lmc1, and lmc2 are derived and why UB3A >= 0.

UB3B (dispersion-axis envelope surplus)

Placeholder: explain how lm_log1, lm_log2, and max_New_LL_UB are used and why UB3B >= 0.

Together, these components define

test=test1UB2UB3AUB3B,test = test1 - UB2 - UB3A - UB3B,

with test10test1 \le 0 and each UB term 0\ge 0, ensuring the accept/reject procedure is valid and unbiased.

References

Nygren K (2025). “Chapter A08: Overview of Envelope Related Functions.” Vignette in the glmbayes R package. R vignette name: Chapter-A08.

Nygren K (2025). “Independent Normal–Gamma Regression Sampler.” Vignette in the glmbayes R package. R vignette name: independent-norm-gamma.

Nygren K~N, Nygren L~M (2006). “Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 1144–1156. doi:10.1198/016214506000000357.

See Also

EnvelopeBuild, EnvelopeOrchestrator, EnvelopeCentering (for obtaining RSS_post and anchored dispersion), rindepNormalGamma_reg, rlmb; rglmb, glmbfamfunc.

Examples

############################### Start of EnvelopeDispersionBuild example ####################

# This example mirrors the current C++ algorithm path for Gaussian regression
# with an independent Normal-Gamma prior:
#   rIndepNormalGammaReg:
#     - Step A: EnvelopeCentering (initial dispersion + dispersion anchoring loop)
#     - Step B: optimize posterior mode for coefficients (optim + f2/f3)
#     - Step C: standardize the model (glmb_Standardize_Model)
#     - Step D: build coefficient envelope (EnvelopeBuild)
#     - Step E: build dispersion-aware envelope (EnvelopeDispersionBuild)
#     - Step F: sort envelope components (EnvelopeSort)
# It stops after envelope construction (no standardized-envelope sampling).

ctl <- c(4.17, 5.58, 5.18, 6.11, 4.50, 4.61, 5.17, 4.53, 5.33, 5.14)
trt <- c(4.81, 4.17, 4.41, 3.59, 5.87, 3.83, 6.03, 4.89, 4.32, 4.69)
group <- gl(2, 10, 20, labels = c("Ctl", "Trt"))
weight <- c(ctl, trt)

ps <- Prior_Setup(weight ~ group, gaussian())

x <- as.matrix(ps$x)
y <- as.vector(ps$y)
mu <- ps$mu
Sigma <- ps$Sigma
shape <- ps$shape
rate <- ps$rate

n_obs <- length(y)
wt <- rep(1, n_obs)
offset2 <- rep(0, n_obs)

# Reconstruct coefficient precision P (matches rindepNormalGamma_reg)
Rchol <- chol(Sigma)
Pinv <- chol2inv(Rchol)
P <- 0.5 * (Pinv + t(Pinv))

famfunc <- glmbfamfunc(gaussian())
f2 <- famfunc$f2
f3 <- famfunc$f3

Gridtype_core <- as.integer(2)

###############################################################################
# Step A: EnvelopeCentering (initial dispersion + dispersion anchoring loop)
###############################################################################
centering <- EnvelopeCentering(
  y = y,
  x = x,
  mu = as.vector(mu),
  P = P,
  offset = offset2,
  wt = wt,
  shape = shape,
  rate = rate,
  Gridtype = Gridtype_core,
  verbose = FALSE
)


dispersion2 <- centering$dispersion
RSS_Post2 <- centering$RSS_post

n_w <- sum(wt)

###############################################################################
# Step B: Coefficient posterior mode optimization (optim + f2/f3)
###############################################################################
dispstar <- dispersion2

wt2_opt <- wt / dispstar
alpha <- as.vector(x %*% as.vector(mu) + offset2)

mu2 <- rep(0, length(as.vector(mu)))   # mu2 = 0 * mu (as in C++)
parin <- rep(0, length(as.vector(mu))) # parin = 0 vector (mu - mu)

opt_out <- optim(
  par = parin,
  fn = f2,
  gr = f3,
  y = as.vector(y),
  x = as.matrix(x),
  mu = as.vector(mu2),
  P = as.matrix(P),
  alpha = as.vector(alpha),
  wt = as.vector(wt2_opt),
  method = "BFGS",
  hessian = TRUE
)

bstar <- opt_out$par
A1 <- opt_out$hessian

###############################################################################
# Step C: Standardize model (glmb_Standardize_Model)
###############################################################################
Standard_Mod <- glmb_Standardize_Model(
  y = as.vector(y),
  x = as.matrix(x),
  P = as.matrix(P),
  bstar = as.matrix(bstar, ncol = 1),
  A1 = as.matrix(A1)
)

bstar2 <- Standard_Mod$bstar2
A <- Standard_Mod$A
x2_std <- Standard_Mod$x2
mu2_std <- Standard_Mod$mu2
P2_std <- Standard_Mod$P2

###############################################################################
# Step D: EnvelopeBuild (coefficient envelope at Gridtype = 3)
###############################################################################
max_disp_perc <- 0.99
n_env <- as.integer(200) # used by EnvelopeBuild for diagnostics/overhead
Gridtype_env <- as.integer(3) # EnvelopeOrchestrator overrides to 3

shape2_env <- shape + n_w / 2.0
rate3_env <- rate + RSS_Post2 / 2.0
d1_star <- rate3_env / (shape2_env - 1.0)

wt2_env <- wt / d1_star

Env2 <- EnvelopeBuild(
  bStar = as.vector(bstar2),
  A = as.matrix(A),
  y = as.vector(y),
  x = as.matrix(x2_std),
  mu = as.matrix(mu2_std, ncol = 1),
  P = as.matrix(P2_std),
  alpha = as.vector(alpha),
  wt = as.vector(wt2_env),
  family = "gaussian",
  link = "identity",
  Gridtype = Gridtype_env,
  n = n_env,
  n_envopt = as.integer(1),
  sortgrid = FALSE,
  use_opencl = FALSE,
  verbose = FALSE
)

###############################################################################
# Step E: EnvelopeDispersionBuild (dispersion-aware envelope)
###############################################################################
disp_env_out <- EnvelopeDispersionBuild(
  Env = Env2,
  Shape = shape,
  Rate = rate,
  P = as.matrix(P2_std),
  y = as.vector(y),
  x = as.matrix(x2_std),
  alpha = as.vector(alpha),
  n_obs = as.integer(n_obs),
  RSS_post = RSS_Post2,
  RSS_ML = NA_real_,
  mu = as.matrix(mu2_std, ncol = 1),
  wt = as.vector(wt),
  max_disp_perc = max_disp_perc,
  disp_lower = NULL,
  disp_upper = NULL,
  verbose = FALSE,
  use_parallel = TRUE
)

###############################################################################
# Step F: EnvelopeSort (mirror EnvelopeOrchestrator: disp_grid_type = 2)
###############################################################################
Env3_raw <- disp_env_out$Env_out
UB_list_new <- disp_env_out$UB_list
gamma_list_new <- disp_env_out$gamma_list

cbars <- Env3_raw$cbars
l1 <- ncol(cbars)
l2 <- nrow(cbars)

logP_vec <- Env3_raw$logP
logP_mat <- matrix(logP_vec, nrow = length(logP_vec), ncol = 1)

Env3 <- EnvelopeSort(
  l1 = l1,
  l2 = l2,
  GIndex = Env3_raw$GridIndex,
  G3 = Env3_raw$thetabars,
  cbars = cbars,
  logU = Env3_raw$logU,
  logrt = Env3_raw$logrt,
  loglt = Env3_raw$loglt,
  logP = logP_mat,
  LLconst = Env3_raw$LLconst,
  PLSD = Env3_raw$PLSD,
  a1 = Env3_raw$a1,
  E_draws = Env3_raw$E_draws,
  lg_prob_factor = UB_list_new$lg_prob_factor,
  UB2min = UB_list_new$UB2min
)

UB_list_final <- UB_list_new
UB_list_final$lg_prob_factor <- Env3$lg_prob_factor
UB_list_final$UB2min <- Env3$UB2min

env_final <- list(
  Env = Env3,
  gamma_list = gamma_list_new,
  UB_list = UB_list_final,
  diagnostics = disp_env_out$diagnostics,
  low = gamma_list_new$disp_lower,
  upp = gamma_list_new$disp_upper
)

print(env_final$low)
print(env_final$upp)
print(env_final$gamma_list[c("shape3", "rate2")])

env_final

###############################################################################
# End: envelope construction only
###############################################################################

Evaluate Negative Log-Likelihood and Gradients

Description

EnvelopeEval() evaluates the negative log-likelihood and gradients at a grid of parameter values, optionally using OpenCL acceleration.

Usage

EnvelopeEval(G4, y, x, mu, P, alpha, wt,
                    family, link,
                    use_opencl = FALSE, verbose = FALSE)

Arguments

G4

Numeric matrix of parameter values (parameters * grid points).

y

Numeric response vector.

x

Numeric design matrix.

mu

Numeric matrix of offsets or prior means.

P

Numeric matrix representing the portion of the prior precision shifted into the likelihood.

alpha

Numeric offset vector of length m

wt

Numeric vector of weights.

family

Character string; model family (e.g. "gaussian").

link

Character string; link function (e.g. "identity").

use_opencl

Logical; if TRUE, attempt OpenCL acceleration.

verbose

Logical; if TRUE, print diagnostic output.

Details

The lower-level helpers f2_f3_non_opencl and f2_f3_opencl are internal C++ kernels used by the CPU and OpenCL backends. The internal routine run_opencl_pilot benchmarks OpenCL performance on a pilot subset of the grid to estimate runtime before full evaluation.

These functions implement the grid evaluation logic used in envelope construction for rejection sampling. They make use of the theory described in (Nygren and Nygren 2006) and the general implementation outlined in (Nygren 2025).

The evaluation workflow has several layers: 1. High-level dispatch (EnvelopeEval)

  • EnvelopeEval() is the user-facing entry point. It accepts a grid of parameter values (G4) and the data (y, x, mu, P, alpha, wt).

  • If the grid is large (>= 14 columns), it first calls run_opencl_pilot to benchmark OpenCL performance and optionally report estimated runtime.

  • It then dispatches to either the CPU or GPU backend:

    • If use_opencl = TRUE and the family is not "gaussian", it calls f2_f3_opencl (an internal C++ kernel).

    • Otherwise, it calls f2_f3_non_opencl (the CPU kernel).

2. CPU backend (f2_f3_non_opencl)

  • This function evaluates the negative log-likelihood and gradients using standard CPU routines.

  • It inspects the family and link arguments and routes to the correct pair of kernels (⁠f2_*⁠ for the likelihood, ⁠f3_*⁠ for the gradient).

  • For example:

    • "binomial" with "logit" calls f2_binomial_logit() and f3_binomial_logit().

    • "poisson" calls f2_poisson() and f3_poisson().

    • "gaussian" calls f2_gaussian() and f3_gaussian().

  • These kernels ultimately rely on the same C math routines that R itself uses (from the nmath/rmath libraries), ensuring numerical consistency with base R functions like dnorm, dpois, etc.

3. GPU backend (f2_f3_opencl)

  • This function mirrors the CPU backend but executes the likelihood and gradient calculations on an OpenCL device (GPU or CPU).

  • It flattens the input matrices/vectors and allocates output buffers.

  • It then constructs a full OpenCL program by concatenating:

    • a generic OpenCL support header (OPENCL.CL),

    • OpenCL ports of R's rmath, nmath, and dpq libraries,

    • and the family/link-specific kernel source (e.g. f2_f3_binomial_logit.cl).

  • The resulting program is compiled and passed to a kernel runner (f2_f3_kernel_runner) which executes the likelihood and gradient calculations in parallel on the device.

  • This ensures that the GPU backend produces results consistent with the CPU backend, but can scale to much larger grids efficiently.

4. Pilot timing (run_opencl_pilot)

  • This helper runs a small subset of the grid through the OpenCL backend to estimate runtime.

  • It is used by EnvelopeEval() to inform users (when verbose = TRUE) whether OpenCL acceleration is likely to be beneficial.

5. Returned values

  • All backends return a list with:

    • NegLL: numeric vector of negative log-likelihood values.

    • cbars: numeric matrix of gradients (parameters * grid points).

6. Role of likelihood and gradients in sampling

  • The outputs of EnvelopeEval() - the negative log-likelihood values (NegLL) and the gradient matrix (cbars) - are not endpoints in themselves. They form the envelope used in the rejection sampler implemented by internal functions such as .rNormalGLM_std_cpp().

  • This routine is called by .rNormalGLM_cpp(), which underlies the user-facing function rNormal_reg(). Together they implement envelope-based posterior sampling for GLMs with log-concave likelihoods and multivariate normal priors.

7. Simulation execution (accept/reject procedure)

The acceptance test is performed using

log(U2)logf(yθi)(logf(yθˉJ(i))c(θˉJ(i))T(θiθˉJ(i)))0\log(U_2) \leq \log f(y \mid \theta_i) - \Big(\log f(y \mid \bar{\theta}_{J(i)}) - c(\bar{\theta}_{J(i)})^T(\theta_i - \bar{\theta}_{J(i)})\Big) \leq 0

Connections between code and notation:

  • The arguments G4 (in EnvelopeEval) and b (in ⁠f2_f3_*⁠) both represent the grid of tangency points θˉj\bar{\theta}_j.

  • The output NegLL corresponds to logf(yθˉJ(i))-\log f(y \mid \bar{\theta}_{J(i)}), i.e. the negative log-likelihood evaluated at each tangency point.

  • The output cbars corresponds to the subgradient vectors c(θˉJ(i))c(\bar{\theta}_{J(i)}), which define the tangent hyperplanes used in the envelope construction.

Precomputation for efficiency:

  • Both NegLL and cbars are computed once during envelope construction, prior to the simulation stage.

  • This means the sampler does not need to recompute likelihoods or gradients at every candidate draw - it simply reuses the stored values (NegLL, cbars, and LLconst) in the acceptance inequality.

This design ensures that the envelope is tangent to the log-likelihood at each θˉj\bar{\theta}_j, lies above it elsewhere, and that the accept-reject procedure can run efficiently while still producing samples from the true posterior π(θy)\pi(\theta \mid y).

Value

EnvelopeEval

List with components NegLL (numeric vector of negative log-likelihood values) and cbars (numeric matrix of gradients).

f2_f3_non_opencl

List with components qf (negative log-likelihood) and grad (gradients) from the CPU kernel.

f2_f3_opencl

List with components qf and grad from the OpenCL kernel.

run_opencl_pilot

Numeric scalar giving estimated runtime (seconds) for OpenCL evaluation on a pilot subset of the grid.

References

Nygren K (2025). “Chapter A05: Simulation Methods – Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Vignette in the glmbayes R package. R vignette name: Chapter-A05.

Nygren K~N, Nygren L~M (2006). “Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 1144–1156. doi:10.1198/016214506000000357.

See Also

EnvelopeBuild, EnvelopeSize, EnvelopeSort; rNormal_reg, rglmb. Vignettes: (Nygren 2025, 2025).

Examples

############################### Start of EnvelopeEval example ####################

# This example demonstrates EnvelopeEval in isolation. EnvelopeEval evaluates
# the negative log-likelihood and gradients at a grid of parameter values.
# It is called internally by EnvelopeBuild. Here we build the same inputs
# (grid G4, standardized model) using EnvelopeSize and expand.grid, then
# call EnvelopeEval directly. The setup mirrors Ex_EnvelopeBuild through
# the standardization step.

data(menarche, package = "MASS")
Age2 <- menarche$Age - 13

x <- matrix(as.numeric(1.0), nrow = length(Age2), ncol = 2)
x[, 2] <- Age2

y <- menarche$Menarche / menarche$Total
wt <- menarche$Total

mu <- matrix(as.numeric(0.0), nrow = 2, ncol = 1)
mu[2, 1] <- (log(0.9 / 0.1) - log(0.5 / 0.5)) / 3

V1 <- 1 * diag(as.numeric(2.0))
V1[1, 1] <- ((log(0.9 / 0.1) - log(0.5 / 0.5)) / 2)^2
V1[2, 2] <- (3 * mu[2, 1] / 2)^2

famfunc <- glmbfamfunc(binomial(logit))
f2 <- famfunc$f2
f3 <- famfunc$f3

dispersion2 <- as.numeric(1.0)
start <- mu
offset2 <- rep(as.numeric(0.0), length(y))
P <- solve(V1)
n <- 1000

wt2 <- wt / dispersion2
alpha <- x %*% as.vector(mu) + offset2
mu2 <- 0 * as.vector(mu)
P2 <- P
x2 <- x

parin <- start - mu
opt_out <- optim(parin, f2, f3,
  y = as.vector(y), x = as.matrix(x), mu = as.vector(mu2),
  P = as.matrix(P), alpha = as.vector(alpha), wt = as.vector(wt2),
  method = "BFGS", hessian = TRUE
)

bstar <- opt_out$par
A1 <- opt_out$hessian

Standard_Mod <- glmb_Standardize_Model(
  y = as.vector(y), x = as.matrix(x), P = as.matrix(P),
  bstar = as.matrix(bstar, ncol = 1), A1 = as.matrix(A1)
)

bstar2 <- Standard_Mod$bstar2
A <- Standard_Mod$A
x2 <- Standard_Mod$x2
mu2 <- Standard_Mod$mu2
P2 <- Standard_Mod$P2

###############################################################################
# Build grid G4 via EnvelopeSize and expand.grid (as EnvelopeBuild does)
###############################################################################
a <- diag(A)
omega <- (sqrt(2) - exp(-1.20491 - 0.7321 * sqrt(0.5 + a))) / sqrt(1 + a)
b2 <- as.vector(bstar2)
G1 <- rbind(b2 - omega, b2, b2 + omega)

size_info <- EnvelopeSize(a, G1, Gridtype = 3L, n = n)
G2 <- size_info$G2

G3 <- as.matrix(do.call(expand.grid, G2))
G4 <- t(G3)

###############################################################################
# EnvelopeEval: negative log-likelihood and gradients at grid points
###############################################################################
eval_out <- EnvelopeEval(
  G4 = G4,
  y = y,
  x = as.matrix(x2),
  mu = as.matrix(mu2, ncol = 1),
  P = as.matrix(P2),
  alpha = as.vector(alpha),
  wt = as.vector(wt2),
  family = "binomial",
  link = "logit",
  use_opencl = FALSE,
  verbose = FALSE
)

eval_out$NegLL
eval_out$cbars

###############################################################################
# End of EnvelopeEval example
###############################################################################

Envelope Construction Orchestrator for Bayesian Gaussian Regression

Description

EnvelopeOrchestrator() provides a unified interface for constructing the fixed‑dispersion and dispersion‑aware envelopes used in likelihood‑subgradient simulation for Bayesian Gaussian regression with Normal–Gamma priors.

This function coordinates:

  • fixed‑dispersion envelope construction via EnvelopeBuild,

  • dispersion‑refined envelope construction via EnvelopeDispersionBuild,

  • envelope sorting and reindexing via EnvelopeSort, and

  • UB‑list alignment (reordered lg_prob_factor and UB2min).

It is typically used inside *.cpp routines such as rIndepNormalGammaReg(), but may also be called directly for diagnostics, envelope visualization, or custom simulation workflows.

Usage

EnvelopeOrchestrator(
  bstar2,
  A,
  y,
  x2,
  mu2,
  P2,
  alpha,
  wt,
  n,
  Gridtype,
  n_envopt,
  shape,
  rate,
  RSS_Post2,
  RSS_ML,
  max_disp_perc,
  disp_lower,
  disp_upper,
  use_parallel = TRUE,
  use_opencl = FALSE,
  verbose = FALSE
)

Arguments

bstar2

Numeric vector. Posterior mode of the standardized regression coefficients (from the standardized model).

A

Numeric matrix. Posterior precision matrix (Hessian) at the mode.

y

Numeric response vector of length m.

x2

Numeric matrix of standardized predictors (m × p).

mu2

Numeric vector. Standardized prior mean (typically a zero vector).

P2

Numeric matrix. Standardized prior precision component moved into the log‑likelihood.

alpha

Numeric vector. Offset‑adjusted mean component.

wt

Numeric vector of prior weights.

n

Integer. Number of envelope grid points or simulation draws.

Gridtype

Integer specifying the envelope grid construction method for API compatibility. The C++ orchestrator overrides this to 3L (full 3p3^{p} grid): unknown dispersion does not use smaller grids.

n_envopt

Optional integer. Effective sample size passed to EnvelopeOpt during grid construction. Larger values encourage tighter envelopes.

shape

Numeric. Shape parameter of the Gamma prior for the dispersion.

rate

Numeric. Rate parameter of the Gamma prior for the dispersion.

RSS_Post2

Numeric. Expected posterior weighted RSS used to anchor the dispersion axis (typically centering_out$RSS_post from EnvelopeCentering inside rindepNormalGamma_reg; see vignette Chapter-A11).

RSS_ML

Numeric. Maximum‑likelihood residual sum of squares.

max_disp_perc

Numeric in (0,1). Tail probability used to determine dispersion bounds when not explicitly supplied.

disp_lower

Optional numeric. Lower bound for the dispersion (σ2\sigma^2). If supplied, overrides quantile‑based bounds.

disp_upper

Optional numeric. Upper bound for the dispersion (σ2\sigma^2). Must be strictly greater than disp_lower.

use_parallel

Logical. Whether to allow parallel computation inside EnvelopeDispersionBuild.

use_opencl

Logical. Whether to allow OpenCL acceleration inside EnvelopeBuild.

verbose

Logical. Whether to print detailed progress and timing messages.

Details

EnvelopeOrchestrator() is the envelope-construction stage for Bayesian Gaussian regression with an independent Normal–Gamma prior on (β,ϕ)(\beta, \phi) (dispersion ϕ\phi; precision τ=1/ϕ\tau = 1/\phi in much of the theory). It is implemented in ‘src/EnvelopeOrchestrator.cpp’ and composes direct C++ calls to EnvelopeBuild and EnvelopeDispersionBuild with an R call to EnvelopeSort.

What this function does not do. It does not run the iterative dispersion centering loop (EnvelopeCentering), not optimize the posterior mode or Hessian, not standardize the model (glmb_Standardize_Model), and not draw posterior samples. Those steps are performed by rindepNormalGamma_reg (see vignette Chapter-A11) before and after the orchestrator. Inputs such as bstar2, A, x2, mu2, and P2 must therefore already be in standard form for the coefficient subproblem, exactly as passed from that workflow.

What the return value is for. The returned Env, gamma_list, and UB_list are consumed by the internal standardized samplers rIndepNormalGammaReg_std and rIndepNormalGammaReg_std_parallel in ‘src/rIndepNormalGammaReg.cpp’, which implement the joint accept–reject procedure over (β,ϕ)(\beta, \phi). Theory for the dispersion envelope and bounding arguments is in vignette Chapter-A07; the end-to-end implementation map is in Chapter-A11. The coefficient-only likelihood-subgradient envelope ((Nygren and Nygren 2006)) is documented under EnvelopeBuild and vignette Chapter-A08.

The function does not perform simulation. Simulation is carried out afterward via .rIndepNormalGammaReg_std_cpp() or .rIndepNormalGammaReg_std_parallel_cpp(), depending on use_parallel.

Value

A list with components:

Env

The fully constructed and sorted envelope, including the PLSD component inserted by the dispersion‑aware refinement step.

gamma_list

Updated Gamma‑prior parameters for the dispersion (shape, rate, and dispersion bounds).

UB_list

Updated UB‑list including reordered lg_prob_factor and UB2min.

diagnostics

Diagnostic quantities returned by EnvelopeDispersionBuild, useful for debugging or envelope visualization.

low

Lower dispersion bound used.

upp

Upper dispersion bound used.

Use of the envelope during sampling

After EnvelopeOrchestrator() returns, rindepNormalGamma_reg delegates iid simulation to rIndepNormalGammaReg_std (serial) or rIndepNormalGammaReg_std_parallel (parallel). These routines are not exported; they are the direct analogues of the fixed-dispersion path .rNormalGLM_std_cpp() for GLMs, but for the joint posterior π(β,ϕy)\pi(\beta, \phi \mid y) under the independent Normal–Gamma prior.

Dominating proposal (conceptual). The envelope list Env still describes a mixture of restricted multivariate Normal proposal pieces for the standardized regression coefficients, with mixture weights p~j\tilde{p}_j stored in PLSD. After EnvelopeDispersionBuild, those weights and the per-face constants are adjusted so that, together with a truncated inverse-Gamma (dispersion) proposal derived from gamma_list, the joint proposal dominates the target posterior on the truncated dispersion interval [low, upp]. vignette("Chapter-A07", package = "glmbayes") derives the dispersion-related bounds; vignette("Chapter-A11", package = "glmbayes") records how UB_list entries enter the code.

One accept–reject iteration (standardized coordinates) proceeds as follows:

  1. Draw a mixture component (face) JJ. An index JJ is drawn from the discrete distribution with probabilities PLSD.

  2. Propose coefficients β\beta^\star. Conditional on JJ, each coordinate is drawn from the restricted Normal used in the fixed-dispersion construction: cumulative-normal tail probabilities loglt[J, ], logrt[J, ], and subgradient shift -cbars[J, ] (internal rnorm_ct truncated Normal sampling, same structural role as ctrnorm_cpp() in the GLM path).

  3. Propose dispersion ϕ\phi. A draw is taken from the truncated inverse-Gamma / Gamma piece defined by shape3, rate2, disp_lower, and disp_upper in gamma_list (rinvgamma_ct_safe).

  4. Re-weight the likelihood for ϕ\phi. Observation weights in the Gaussian log-likelihood are scaled by 1/ϕ1/\phi (wt2 = wt / dispersion in the C++ sources).

  5. Dispersion-adjusted tangency. Because the tangency point for the linear upper bound depends on dispersion, the code recomputes a face-specific θˉJ(ϕ)\bar{\theta}_J(\phi) via Inv_f3_with_disp (using a one-time cache from Inv_f3_precompute_disp built from cbars and the data). The negative log-likelihood at that point feeds the UB1 tangent term.

  6. Log-likelihood at the proposal. Compute logf(yβ,ϕ)-\log f(y \mid \beta^\star, \phi) with the same ϕ\phi and scaled weights (output LL_Test in the serial implementation).

Acceptance inequality (structure). Write (β,ϕ)\ell(\beta,\phi) for the Gaussian log-likelihood (weighted, with offset). The serial sampler forms UB1\mathrm{UB1} from the tangent to -\ell at θˉJ(ϕ)\bar{\theta}_J(\phi) along subgradient cJ=c_J =cbars[J, ]:

UB1= ⁣(θˉJ(ϕ),ϕ)cJ(βθˉJ(ϕ)).\mathrm{UB1} = -\ell\!\big(\bar{\theta}_J(\phi), \phi\big) - c_J^\top \big(\beta^\star - \bar{\theta}_J(\phi)\big).

Additional terms bound RSS variation along ϕ\phi (UB2, using RSS_Min and UB2min from UB_list) and dispersion-axis majorization (UB3A, UB3B) built from lg_prob_factor, lmc1, lmc2, lm_log1, lm_log2, max_New_LL_UB, and max_LL_log_disp. With Ltest=(β,ϕ)L_{\mathrm{test}} = -\ell(\beta^\star,\phi), define T1=LtestUB1T_1 = L_{\mathrm{test}} - \mathrm{UB1} and T=T1(UB2+UB3A+UB3B)T = T_1 - (\mathrm{UB2} + \mathrm{UB3A} + \mathrm{UB3B}). The code draws U2Unif(0,1)U_2 \sim \mathrm{Unif}(0,1) and accepts (β,ϕ)(\beta^\star, \phi) when

Tlog(U2)0.T - \log(U_2) \ge 0.

Serial and parallel workers use the same logical decomposition up to implementation detail. Under the construction in EnvelopeDispersionBuild, the terms are arranged so that T10T_1 \le 0 and UB2\mathrm{UB2}, UB3A\mathrm{UB3A}, UB3B\mathrm{UB3B} are nonnegative up to controlled numerical slack. Iteration counts are stored in iters_out.

Mapping orchestrator outputs to the sampler.

  • Env$PLSD: mixture probabilities over envelope faces for Step 1.

  • Env$loglt, Env$logrt, Env$cbars: restricted Normal proposal for β\beta^\star in Step 2.

  • Env$GridIndex, Env$thetabars, Env$logU, Env$logP: same role as in EnvelopeBuild for the coefficient mixture; dispersion refinement may update PLSD before sorting.

  • gamma_list: truncated dispersion proposal parameters (shape3, rate2, bounds) for Step 3.

  • UB_list: global and per-face constants (RSS_Min, UB2min, lg_prob_factor, linear lmc/lm_log pieces) for UB2\mathrm{UB2}, UB3A\mathrm{UB3A}, UB3B\mathrm{UB3B}.

  • low, upp: dispersion interval endpoints (duplicated from gamma_list for convenience).

Unlike the fixed-dispersion GLM sampler, this path does not apply the stored LLconst vector directly in the acceptance test; the tangent piece is recomputed as UB1\mathrm{UB1} once ϕ\phi and θˉJ(ϕ)\bar{\theta}_J(\phi) are known.

Algorithmic steps

The orchestrator implements the independent Normal–Gamma envelope pipeline: first a coefficient envelope at a dispersion anchor ((Nygren and Nygren 2006); vignette Chapter-A08), then dispersion-aware refinement (Chapter-A07), then sorting. Steps 3–8 repeat the internal logic of EnvelopeBuild (same formulas on that help page); here the likelihood is Gaussian with identity link, weights are wi/dw_i / d_\star with dd_\star from the anchor below, and the first pass uses sortgrid = FALSE so sorting runs after dispersion refinement.

  1. Force full grid for unknown dispersion. The argument Gridtype is overridden to 3L so the coefficient grid always uses the full 3p3^{p} partition (implementation policy in ‘src/EnvelopeOrchestrator.cpp’).

  2. Anchor dispersion and rescale weights for EnvelopeBuild. Let nw=iwin_w = \sum_i w_i. With prior hyperparameters shape (a0a_0) and rate (b0b_0) and centered RSS RSS_Post2, define s=a0+nw/2s = a_0 + n_w/2 and r=b0+RSSpost/2r = b_0 + \mathrm{RSS}_{\mathrm{post}}/2 where RSSpost\mathrm{RSS}_{\mathrm{post}} denotes RSS_Post2 (the C++ code names the scalars shape2 and rate3). The dispersion anchor is d=r/(s1)d_\star = r/(s - 1), and observation weights wiw_i passed into the embedded EnvelopeBuild call are scaled by 1/d1/d_\star. This ties the coefficient envelope to the Gamma posterior for the precision conditional on the centered RSS (Chapters A07, A11).

  3. Compute width parameters ωi\omega_i from the diagonal precision matrix. Let θ\theta^{\ast} be the standardized posterior mode. For each dimension ii,

    ωi:=2exp ⁣(1.204910.73210.52logf(θy)/θi2)12logf(θy)/θi2.\omega_{i} := \frac{\sqrt{2} - \exp\!\big(-1.20491 - 0.7321\,\sqrt{0.5 - \partial^{2}\log f(\theta^{\ast}\mid y)/\partial\theta_{i}^{2}}\big)} {\sqrt{1 - \partial^{2}\log f(\theta^{\ast}\mid y)/\partial\theta_{i}^{2}}}.

    Here ff is the weighted Gaussian log-posterior for β\beta at the anchored dispersion.

  4. Construct intervals and the 3p3^{p} partition around θ\theta^\star. Set

    i,1=θi0.5ωi,i,2=θi+0.5ωi,\ell_{i,1} = \theta^{\ast}_{i} - 0.5\,\omega_{i}, \quad \ell_{i,2} = \theta^{\ast}_{i} + 0.5\,\omega_{i},

    and

    Ai,1=(,i,1),Ai,2=[i,1,i,2],Ai,3=(i,2,).A_{i,1} = (-\infty,\ell_{i,1}), \quad A_{i,2} = [\ell_{i,1},\ell_{i,2}], \quad A_{i,3} = (\ell_{i,2},\infty).

    With J=i=1p{1,2,3}J = \prod_{i=1}^{p} \{1,2,3\} and j=(j1,,jp)j = (j_1,\ldots,j_p), Aj=i=1pAi,jiA^{\ast}_{j} = \prod_{i=1}^{p} A_{i,j_i} partitions standardized coefficient space.

  5. Select tangency points θˉj\bar{\theta}_j per cell (left / mode / right of each interval). For index sets Cj1,Cj2,Cj3C_{j1},C_{j2},C_{j3} by coordinate,

    θˉj,i={θiωi,iCj1,θi,iCj2,θi+ωi,iCj3.\bar{\theta}_{j,i} = \begin{cases} \theta^{\ast}_{i} - \omega_{i}, & i \in C_{j1}, \\ \theta^{\ast}_{i}, & i \in C_{j2}, \\ \theta^{\ast}_{i} + \omega_{i}, & i \in C_{j3}. \end{cases}

  6. Evaluate negative log-likelihood and gradient at each grid point. Subgradients c(θˉj)c(\bar{\theta}_j) and negative log-likelihoods define the likelihood-subgradient envelope pieces ((Nygren and Nygren 2006); Chapter-A08). CPU: f2_f3_non_opencl; GPU (optional): f2_f3_opencl.

  7. Call EnvelopeSet_Grid_C2_pointwise and EnvelopeSet_LogP_C2 (C++ pipeline) to obtain restricted Normal log-densities, mixture log-probabilities, and constants as in Remarks 5–6 of the JASA paper (same as EnvelopeBuild).

  8. Normalize to PLSD without sorting. The embedded EnvelopeBuild call sets sortgrid = FALSE so an intermediate sort is not wasted before EnvelopeDispersionBuild revises mixture weights for the joint (β,ϕ)(\beta,\phi) target and EnvelopeSort runs once at the end.

  9. Call EnvelopeDispersionBuild (C++). Pass the coefficient envelope list, prior shape, rate, standardized P2, data y, x2, alpha, mu2, wt, RSS_Post2, RSS_ML, dispersion controls (max_disp_perc, optional bounds), and use_parallel. This constructs the dispersion truncation interval, updates Gamma proposal parameters (gamma_list), computes UB_list, and returns Env_out with adjusted PLSD. See Chapter-A07 and Chapter-A11, Section 3.3.

  10. Call EnvelopeSort (R). Reorder envelope components and align lg_prob_factor and UB2min with the sorted indexing. If sorting cannot allocate safely, the implementation falls back to unsorted Env_out with UB fields patched (‘src/EnvelopeOrchestrator.cpp’).

  11. Return Env, gamma_list, UB_list, diagnostics, low, and upp for the standardized samplers.

References

Nygren K~N, Nygren L~M (2006). “Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 1144–1156. doi:10.1198/016214506000000357.

See Also

Examples

############################### Start of EnvelopeOrchestrator example ####################

# This example demonstrates calling EnvelopeOrchestrator directly for Gaussian
# regression with an independent Normal-Gamma prior. It mirrors the algorithm
# path used inside rIndepNormalGammaReg:
#   - Step A: Initial dispersion via weighted lm.wfit residual variance
#   - Step B: EnvelopeCentering loop (closed-form expected RSS, update
#             dispersion2 via Gamma posterior) to anchor the envelope
#   - Step C: Coefficient posterior mode optimization (optim + f2/f3)
#   - Step D: Standardize the model (glmb_Standardize_Model)
#   - Step E: EnvelopeOrchestrator (EnvelopeBuild + EnvelopeDispersionBuild
#             + EnvelopeSort in one call)
# It stops after envelope construction (no sampling).

ctl <- c(4.17, 5.58, 5.18, 6.11, 4.50, 4.61, 5.17, 4.53, 5.33, 5.14)
trt <- c(4.81, 4.17, 4.41, 3.59, 5.87, 3.83, 6.03, 4.89, 4.32, 4.69)
group <- gl(2, 10, 20, labels = c("Ctl", "Trt"))
weight <- c(ctl, trt)

ps <- Prior_Setup(weight ~ group, gaussian())

x <- as.matrix(ps$x)
y <- as.vector(ps$y)
mu <- ps$mu
Sigma <- ps$Sigma
shape <- ps$shape
rate <- ps$rate

n_obs <- length(y)
wt <- rep(1, n_obs)
offset2 <- rep(0, n_obs)

# Reconstruct coefficient precision P (matches rindepNormalGamma_reg)
Rchol <- chol(Sigma)
Pinv <- chol2inv(Rchol)
P <- 0.5 * (Pinv + t(Pinv))

famfunc <- glmbfamfunc(gaussian())
f2 <- famfunc$f2
f3 <- famfunc$f3

Gridtype_core <- as.integer(2)

###############################################################################
# Step A/B: EnvelopeCentering (starting at weighted lm.wfit dispersion and
# iteratively refining it via closed-form expected RSS)
###############################################################################
centering <- EnvelopeCentering(
  y = as.vector(y),
  x = as.matrix(x),
  mu = as.vector(mu),
  P = as.matrix(P),
  offset = as.vector(offset2),
  wt = as.vector(wt),
  shape = shape,
  rate = rate,
  Gridtype = Gridtype_core,
  verbose = FALSE
)

dispersion2 <- centering$dispersion
RSS_Post2   <- centering$RSS_post

###############################################################################
# Step C: Coefficient posterior mode optimization (optim + f2/f3)
###############################################################################
dispstar <- dispersion2
wt2_opt <- wt / dispstar
alpha <- as.vector(x %*% as.vector(mu) + offset2)

mu2_opt <- rep(0, length(as.vector(mu)))
parin <- rep(0, length(as.vector(mu)))

opt_out <- optim(
  par = parin,
  fn = f2,
  gr = f3,
  y = as.vector(y),
  x = as.matrix(x),
  mu = as.vector(mu2_opt),
  P = as.matrix(P),
  alpha = as.vector(alpha),
  wt = as.vector(wt2_opt),
  method = "BFGS",
  hessian = TRUE
)

bstar <- opt_out$par
A1 <- opt_out$hessian

###############################################################################
# Step D: Standardize model (glmb_Standardize_Model)
###############################################################################
Standard_Mod <- glmb_Standardize_Model(
  y = as.vector(y),
  x = as.matrix(x),
  P = as.matrix(P),
  bstar = as.matrix(bstar, ncol = 1),
  A1 = as.matrix(A1)
)

bstar2 <- Standard_Mod$bstar2
A <- Standard_Mod$A
x2_std <- Standard_Mod$x2
mu2_std <- Standard_Mod$mu2
P2_std <- Standard_Mod$P2

###############################################################################
# Step E: EnvelopeOrchestrator (EnvelopeBuild + EnvelopeDispersionBuild
#         + EnvelopeSort in one call)
###############################################################################
max_disp_perc <- 0.99
n_env <- as.integer(200)
Gridtype_env <- as.integer(3)  # EnvelopeOrchestrator overrides to 3 for unknown dispersion

env_out <- EnvelopeOrchestrator(
  bstar2 = as.vector(bstar2),
  A = as.matrix(A),
  y = as.vector(y),
  x2 = as.matrix(x2_std),
  mu2 = as.matrix(mu2_std, ncol = 1),
  P2 = as.matrix(P2_std),
  alpha = as.vector(alpha),
  wt = as.vector(wt),
  n = n_env,
  Gridtype = Gridtype_env,
  n_envopt = as.integer(1),
  shape = shape,
  rate = rate,
  RSS_Post2 = RSS_Post2,
  RSS_ML = NA_real_,
  max_disp_perc = max_disp_perc,
  disp_lower = NULL,
  disp_upper = NULL,
  use_parallel = TRUE,
  use_opencl = FALSE,
  verbose = FALSE
)

# Output structure matches that from the step-by-step Ex_EnvelopeDispersionBuild
print(env_out$low)
print(env_out$upp)
print(env_out$gamma_list[c("shape3", "rate2")])

env_out

###############################################################################
# End: envelope construction only
###############################################################################

Envelope Sizing and Optimization

Description

EnvelopeSize() is the high-level entry point that constructs per-dimension grids and expected draw counts, while EnvelopeOpt() performs the adaptive optimization used when Gridtype = 2.

Usage

EnvelopeSize(a, G1, Gridtype = 2L, n = 1000L, n_envopt = -1,
                    use_opencl = FALSE, verbose = FALSE)

EnvelopeOpt(a1,n,core_cnt=1L)

Arguments

a

Numeric vector of diagonal precisions for the log-likelihood (posterior precision is 1+ai1 + a_i).

G1

Numeric matrix of candidate grid points (3 * l1).

Gridtype

Integer code controlling grid sizing logic:

  • 1 = static threshold test

  • 2 = adaptive optimization via EnvelopeOpt()

  • 3 = always three-point grid

  • 4 = always single-point grid

n

Integer; number of posterior draws to generate (used for grid sizing).

n_envopt

Integer; effective sample size passed to EnvelopeOpt. Defaults to -1, which means "use n".

use_opencl

Logical; if TRUE, attempt GPU acceleration.

verbose

Logical; if TRUE, print progress messages.

a1

Numeric vector of diagonal elements of the data precision matrix (used by EnvelopeOpt).

core_cnt

Integer; number of OpenCL cores or parallel workers available (default 1). When >1, envelope build cost is scaled down to reflect parallel construction.

Details

These functions implement the grid sizing logic used in envelope construction for rejection sampling. They make use of the theory described in (Nygren and Nygren 2006) and the general implementation outlined in (Nygren 2025).

EnvelopeSize() returns the constructed grid (G2), index vectors (GIndex1), expected draw count (E_draws), and the per-dimension grid index.

EnvelopeOpt() implements the adaptive optimization used in Gridtype = 2, ranking dimensions by posterior variance and promoting them to three-point tangents when the tradeoff is favorable.

Value

EnvelopeSize()

A list with components G2, GIndex1, E_draws, and gridindex.

EnvelopeOpt()

An integer vector of length l1l1 with entries 1 (single-point) or 3 (three-point).

Gridtype Logic and Candidates per Draw

The envelope sizing logic follows the analysis of (Nygren and Nygren 2006).

Gridtype 1: Static Threshold

For each dimension ii, if 1+ai2/π1.128379\sqrt{1 + a_i} \leq 2/\sqrt{\pi} \approx 1.128379, then a single tangent at the posterior mode suffices. Expected candidates per draw in that dimension: 1+ai\sqrt{1 + a_i}. Otherwise, a symmetric three-point envelope is used at (θiωi,θi,θi+ωi)(\theta^\star_i - \omega_i, \theta^\star_i, \theta^\star_i + \omega_i), with expected candidates per draw bounded above by 2/π2/\sqrt{\pi}.

Gridtype 2: Adaptive Optimization

Each dimension is assigned either a single-point or three-point envelope by minimizing

Ttotal(gi)=Tbuild(gi)+Tsample(n,acci(gi)).T_\mathrm{total}(g_i) = T_\mathrm{build}(g_i) + T_\mathrm{sample}(n, acc_i(g_i)).

The optimizer balances build cost (grows with number of tangents) against sampling cost (decreases as acceptance improves). Expected candidates per draw: jscaleesti,j\prod_j \mathrm{scaleest}_{i,j}, where each factor is either 1+aj\sqrt{1+a_j} (single-point) or 2/π2/\sqrt{\pi} (three-point), depending on the optimization outcome.

Gridtype 3: Always Three-Point

Every dimension uses a symmetric three-point envelope. Expected candidates per draw:

(2π)k\left(\tfrac{2}{\sqrt{\pi}}\right)^k

for kk dimensions, as shown in Theorem 3 of (Nygren and Nygren 2006).

Gridtype 4: Always Single-Point

Every dimension uses a single tangent at the posterior mode. Expected candidates per draw:

i=1k1+ai\prod_{i=1}^k \sqrt{1 + a_i}

(Example 1 in (Nygren and Nygren 2006)).

References

Nygren K (2025). “Chapter A05: Simulation Methods – Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Vignette in the glmbayes R package. R vignette name: Chapter-A05.

Nygren K~N, Nygren L~M (2006). “Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 1144–1156. doi:10.1198/016214506000000357.

See Also

EnvelopeBuild, EnvelopeEval, EnvelopeSort; rNormal_reg, rglmb for user-facing sampling that uses these grids. Vignettes: (Nygren 2025, 2025).

Examples

data(menarche,package="MASS")

summary(menarche)
plot(Menarche/Total ~ Age, data=menarche)

Age2=menarche$Age-13

x<-matrix(as.numeric(1.0),nrow=length(Age2),ncol=2)
x[,2]=Age2

y=menarche$Menarche/menarche$Total
wt=menarche$Total

mu<-matrix(as.numeric(0.0),nrow=2,ncol=1)
mu[2,1]=(log(0.9/0.1)-log(0.5/0.5))/3

V1<-1*diag(as.numeric(2.0))

# 2 standard deviations for prior estimate at age 13 between 0.1 and 0.9
## Specifies uncertainty around the point estimates

V1[1,1]<-((log(0.9/0.1)-log(0.5/0.5))/2)^2 
V1[2,2]=(3*mu[2,1]/2)^2  # Allows slope to be up to 1 times as large as point estimate 

famfunc<-glmbfamfunc(binomial(logit))

f1<-famfunc$f1
f2<-famfunc$f2
f3<-famfunc$f3
f5<-famfunc$f5
f6<-famfunc$f6

dispersion2<-as.numeric(1.0)
start <- mu
offset2=rep(as.numeric(0.0),length(y))
P=solve(V1)
n=1000



###### Adjust weight for dispersion

wt2=wt/dispersion2

######################### Shift mean vector to offset so that adjusted model has 0 mean

alpha=x%*%as.vector(mu)+offset2
mu2=0*as.vector(mu)
P2=P
x2=x


#####  Optimization step to find posterior mode and associated Precision

parin=start-mu

opt_out=optim(parin,f2,f3,y=as.vector(y),x=as.matrix(x),mu=as.vector(mu2),
              P=as.matrix(P),alpha=as.vector(alpha),wt=as.vector(wt2),
              method="BFGS",hessian=TRUE
)

bstar=opt_out$par  ## Posterior mode for adjusted model
bstar
bstar+as.vector(mu)  # mode for actual model
A1=opt_out$hessian # Approximate Precision at mode

## Standardize Model

Standard_Mod=glmb_Standardize_Model(y=as.vector(y), x=as.matrix(x),
P=as.matrix(P),bstar=as.matrix(bstar,ncol=1), A1=as.matrix(A1))

bstar2=Standard_Mod$bstar2
A=Standard_Mod$A
x2=Standard_Mod$x2
mu2=Standard_Mod$mu2
P2=Standard_Mod$P2
L2Inv=Standard_Mod$L2Inv
L3Inv=Standard_Mod$L3Inv

## Derive a and G1 (as EnvelopeBuild does internally)
a <- diag(A)
omega <- (sqrt(2) - exp(-1.20491 - 0.7321*sqrt(0.5 + a))) / sqrt(1 + a)
b2 <- as.vector(bstar2)
G1 <- rbind(b2 - omega, b2, b2 + omega)

## EnvelopeOpt: standalone call (used by EnvelopeSize when Gridtype=2)
grid_opt <- EnvelopeOpt(a, n)
grid_opt

## EnvelopeSize for each Gridtype
size_1 <- EnvelopeSize(a, G1, Gridtype=1L, n=n)   # static threshold
size_2 <- EnvelopeSize(a, G1, Gridtype=2L, n=n)   # uses EnvelopeOpt
size_3 <- EnvelopeSize(a, G1, Gridtype=3L, n=n)   # always 3-point
size_4 <- EnvelopeSize(a, G1, Gridtype=4L, n=n)   # always single-point

## EnvelopeBuild for each Gridtype
Env_1 <- EnvelopeBuild(as.vector(bstar2), as.matrix(A), y, as.matrix(x2),
  as.matrix(mu2,ncol=1), as.matrix(P2), as.vector(alpha), as.vector(wt2),
  family="binomial", link="logit", Gridtype=1L, n=as.integer(n), sortgrid=FALSE)
Env_2 <- EnvelopeBuild(as.vector(bstar2), as.matrix(A), y, as.matrix(x2),
  as.matrix(mu2,ncol=1), as.matrix(P2), as.vector(alpha), as.vector(wt2),
  family="binomial", link="logit", Gridtype=2L, n=as.integer(n), sortgrid=FALSE)
Env_3 <- EnvelopeBuild(as.vector(bstar2), as.matrix(A), y, as.matrix(x2),
  as.matrix(mu2,ncol=1), as.matrix(P2), as.vector(alpha), as.vector(wt2),
  family="binomial", link="logit", Gridtype=3L, n=as.integer(n), sortgrid=FALSE)
Env_4 <- EnvelopeBuild(as.vector(bstar2), as.matrix(A), y, as.matrix(x2),
  as.matrix(mu2,ncol=1), as.matrix(P2), as.vector(alpha), as.vector(wt2),
  family="binomial", link="logit", Gridtype=4L, n=as.integer(n), sortgrid=FALSE)

Env_3

Sorts Envelope function for simulation

Description

Sorts Enveloping function for simulation. how frequently each component of the resulting grid should be sampled during simulation.

Usage

EnvelopeSort(
  l1,
  l2,
  GIndex,
  G3,
  cbars,
  logU,
  logrt,
  loglt,
  logP,
  LLconst,
  PLSD,
  a1,
  E_draws,
  lg_prob_factor = NULL,
  UB2min = NULL
)

Arguments

l1

dimension for model (number of independent variables in X matrix)

l2

dimension for Envelope (number of components)

GIndex

matrix containing information on how each dimension should be sampled (1 means left tail of a restricted normal, 2 center, 3 right tail, and 4 the entire line)

G3

A matrix containing the points of tangencies associated with each component of the grid

cbars

A matrix containing the gradients for the negative log-likelihood at each tangency

logU

A matrix containing the log of the cummulative probability associated with each dimension

logrt

A matrix containing the log of the probability associated with the right tail (i.e. that to the right of the lower bound)

loglt

A matrix containing the log of the probability associated with the left tail (i.e., that to the left of the upper bound)

logP

A matrix containing log-probabilities related to the components of the grid

LLconst

A vector containing constant for each component of the grid used during the accept-reject procedure

PLSD

A vector containing the probability of each component in the Grid

a1

A vector containing the diagonal of the standardized precision matrix

E_draws

Bound on Expected number of candidates per accepted draw

lg_prob_factor

vector of lg_prob_factors used for the Envelope connected to the independent normal gamma prior

UB2min

Vector containing min for UB2 for each component (relevant for EnvelopeDispersionBuild)

Details

This function sorts the envelope in descending order based on the probability associated with each component in the Grid. Sorting helps speed up simulation once the envelope is constructed. If memory allocation fails (e.g. for very large grids), the function returns the unsorted envelope with sort_ok = FALSE; the sampler remains valid but may have poorer acceptance.

Used after EnvelopeBuild and (for Normal–Gamma models) EnvelopeDispersionBuild; see (Nygren and Nygren 2006; Nygren 2025).

Value

The function returns a list consisting of the following components (the first six of which are matrics with number of rows equal to the number of components in the Grid and columns equal to the number of parameters):

GridIndex

A matrix containing information on how each dimension should be sampled (1 means left tail of a restricted normal, 2 center, 3 right tail, and 4 the entire line)

thetabars

A matrix containing the points of tangencies associated with each component of the grid

cbars

A matrix containing the gradients for the negative log-likelihood at each tangency

logU

A matrix containing the log of the cummulative probability associated with each dimension

logrt

A matrix containing the log of the probability associated with the right tail (i.e. that to the right of the lower bound)

loglt

A matrix containing the log of the probability associated with the left tail (i.e., that to the left of the upper bound)

LLconst

A vector containing constant for each component of the grid used during the accept-reject procedure

logP

A matrix containing log-probabilities related to the components of the grid

PLSD

A vector containing the probability of each component in the Grid

E_draws

A containing a computed theoretical bound on the expected number of draws

sort_ok

Logical; TRUE if sort succeeded, FALSE if memory allocation failed and unsorted envelope was returned (sampler remains valid)

References

Nygren K (2025). “Chapter A08: Overview of Envelope Related Functions.” Vignette in the glmbayes R package. R vignette name: Chapter-A08.

Nygren K~N, Nygren L~M (2006). “Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 1144–1156. doi:10.1198/016214506000000357.

See Also

EnvelopeBuild, EnvelopeOrchestrator, EnvelopeDispersionBuild, rNormal_reg, rglmb.

Examples

data(menarche,package="MASS")
Age2=menarche$Age-13

summary(menarche)
plot(Menarche/Total ~ Age, data=menarche)


x<-matrix(as.numeric(1.0),nrow=length(Age2),ncol=2)
x[,2]=Age2

y=menarche$Menarche/menarche$Total
wt=menarche$Total

mu<-matrix(as.numeric(0.0),nrow=2,ncol=1)
mu[2,1]=(log(0.9/0.1)-log(0.5/0.5))/3

V1<-1*diag(as.numeric(2.0))

# 2 standard deviations for prior estimate at age 13 between 0.1 and 0.9
## Specifies uncertainty around the point estimates

V1[1,1]<-((log(0.9/0.1)-log(0.5/0.5))/2)^2 
V1[2,2]=(3*mu[2,1]/2)^2  # Allows slope to be up to 1 times as large as point estimate 

famfunc<-glmbfamfunc(binomial(logit))

f1<-famfunc$f1
f2<-famfunc$f2
f3<-famfunc$f3
f5<-famfunc$f5
f6<-famfunc$f6

dispersion2<-as.numeric(1.0)
start <- mu
offset2=rep(as.numeric(0.0),length(y))
P=solve(V1)
n=1000

## Appears that the type for some of these arguments are important/problematic

### This example constructs and sorts an envelope without calling the
### lower-level sampler directly.


###### Adjust weight for dispersion

wt2=wt/dispersion2

######################### Shift mean vector to offset so that adjusted model has 0 mean

alpha=x%*%as.vector(mu)+offset2
mu2=0*as.vector(mu)
P2=P
x2=x


#####  Optimization step to find posterior mode and associated Precision

parin=start-mu

opt_out=optim(parin,f2,f3,y=as.vector(y),x=as.matrix(x),mu=as.vector(mu2),
              P=as.matrix(P),alpha=as.vector(alpha),wt=as.vector(wt2),
              method="BFGS",hessian=TRUE
)

bstar=opt_out$par  ## Posterior mode for adjusted model
bstar
bstar+as.vector(mu)  # mode for actual model
A1=opt_out$hessian # Approximate Precision at mode

## Standardize Model

Standard_Mod=glmb_Standardize_Model(y=as.vector(y), x=as.matrix(x),
P=as.matrix(P),bstar=as.matrix(bstar,ncol=1), A1=as.matrix(A1))

bstar2=Standard_Mod$bstar2  
A=Standard_Mod$A
x2=Standard_Mod$x2
mu2=Standard_Mod$mu2
P2=Standard_Mod$P2
L2Inv=Standard_Mod$L2Inv
L3Inv=Standard_Mod$L3Inv

Env2=EnvelopeBuild(as.vector(bstar2), as.matrix(A),y, as.matrix(x2),
as.matrix(mu2,ncol=1),as.matrix(P2),as.vector(alpha),as.vector(wt2),
family="binomial",link="logit",Gridtype=as.integer(3), 
n=as.integer(n),sortgrid=FALSE)

## Extract l1, l2 from envelope (as done in C++) and call EnvelopeSort
l1 <- ncol(Env2$cbars)
l2 <- nrow(Env2$cbars)
logP_mat <- matrix(Env2$logP, ncol = 1)

Env_sorted <- EnvelopeSort(l1, l2,
  GIndex  = Env2$GridIndex,
  G3      = Env2$thetabars,
  cbars   = Env2$cbars,
  logU    = Env2$logU,
  logrt   = Env2$logrt,
  loglt   = Env2$loglt,
  logP    = logP_mat,
  LLconst = Env2$LLconst,
  PLSD    = Env2$PLSD,
  a1      = Env2$a1,
  E_draws = Env2$E_draws
)

Env_sorted

Model Formulae for summary.rglmb Objects

Description

Extract a formula for a summary.rglmb object by refitting a reference glm with the stored response and design matrix.

Usage

## S3 method for class 'summary.rglmb'
formula(x, ...)

Arguments

x

an object of class summary.rglmb, typically from summary.rglmb.

...

further arguments passed to or from other methods.

Value

A model formula.

See Also

rglmb, summary.rglmb, rlmb, formula.


The Central Gamma Distribution

Description

Distribution function and random generation for the center (between a lower and an upper bound) of the Gamma distribution with shape and rate parameters. These functions provide numerically stable evaluation and sampling when the truncation interval is narrow or when the Gamma density is highly skewed.

Usage

rgamma_ct(n, shape, rate, lower_prec = NULL, upper_prec = NULL)

Arguments

n

Number of draws to generate. If length(n) > 1, the length is taken to be the number required.

shape

Shape parameter of the Gamma distribution.

rate

Rate parameter of the Gamma distribution.

lower_prec

Lower truncation point on the precision scale. If NULL, no lower truncation is applied.

upper_prec

Upper truncation point on the precision scale. If NULL, no upper truncation is applied.

Details

The function pgamma_ct computes the probability mass between a lower bound a and an upper bound b under a Gamma density with the specified shape and rate parameters. This is particularly useful when the interval b - a is small, where the naive computation pgamma(b) - pgamma(a) may underflow to zero even when the true probability is positive.

The function ctrgamma provides a numerically robust sampler for the Gamma distribution under one-sided or two-sided truncation. It handles:

  • no truncation (reducing to rgamma)

  • lower truncation only

  • upper truncation only

  • two-sided truncation with lower_prec < upper_prec

  • exact degeneracy when the truncation interval collapses

  • numerical degeneracy when the Gamma CDF collapses in floating point

All computations are performed on the log scale using stable log–CDF and log–sum–exp transformations. This avoids the catastrophic cancellation that occurs when the Gamma CDF values at the truncation points are extremely close.

These functions are primarily intended for use in hierarchical Bayesian models where precision parameters are updated under tight truncation constraints, and where numerical stability is essential for reliable sampling performance. They are used in envelope-based dispersion sampling (Nygren and Nygren 2006).

Value

For pgamma_ct, a vector of probabilities corresponding to the mass of the Gamma distribution between a and b. For rgamma_ct or ctrgamma, a vector of length nn containing random draws from the Gamma distribution restricted to the interval [a, b] (or [lower_prec, upper_prec] on the precision scale).

References

Nygren K~N, Nygren L~M (2006). “Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 1144–1156. doi:10.1198/016214506000000357.

See Also

Normal_ct, InvGamma_ct, EnvelopeDispersionBuild

Examples

############################### Start of Gamma_ct example ####################

## Basic usage: rgamma_ct samples from Gamma truncated to [lower_prec, upper_prec]
shape <- 2
rate  <- 1
lower <- 0.999
upper <- 1.001

## Naive pgamma(b) - pgamma(a) can underflow when a and b are very close
pgamma(upper, shape, rate) - pgamma(lower, shape, rate)

## rgamma_ct samples correctly from the narrow interval
set.seed(42)
x <- rgamma_ct(100, shape, rate, lower_prec = lower, upper_prec = upper)
range(x)
mean(x)

## Example where difference between two pgamma calls fails (catastrophic cancellation)
## but rgamma_ct still samples correctly from the narrow interval
a <- 1.0
b <- 1.0 + 1e-14
pgamma(b, 2, 1) - pgamma(a, 2, 1)

## Stable computation via log-space (as used inside rgamma_ct)
log_F_a <- pgamma(a, 2, 1, log.p = TRUE)
log_F_b <- pgamma(b, 2, 1, log.p = TRUE)
exp(log_F_b + log(-expm1(log_F_a - log_F_b)))

## rgamma_ct samples from [a, b] even when the interval is extremely narrow
set.seed(123)
rgamma_ct(5, 2, 1, lower_prec = a, upper_prec = b)

###############################################################################
## End of Gamma_ct example
###############################################################################

Standardize A Non-Gaussian Model

Description

Standardizes a Non-Gaussian Model prior to Envelope Creation

Usage

glmb_Standardize_Model(y, x, P, bstar, A1)

Arguments

y

a vector of observations of length m

x

a design matrix of dimension m*p

P

a positive-definite symmetric matrix specifying the prior precision matrix of the variables.

bstar

a matrix containing the posterior mode from an optimization step

A1

a matrix containing the posterior precision matrix at the posterior mode

Details

This functions starts with basic information about the model in the argument list and then uses the following steps to further standardize the model (the model is already assumed to have a 0 prior mean vector when this step is applied).

  1. An eigenvalue composition is applied to the posterior precision matrix, and the model is (as an interim step) standardized to have a posterior precision matrix equal to the identity matrix. Please note that this means that the prior precision matrix after this step is "smaller" than the identity matrix.

  2. A diagonal matrix epsilon is pulled out from the standardized prior precision matrix so that the remaining part of the prior precision matrix still is positive definite. That part is then treated as part of the likelihood for the rest of the standardization and simulation and only the part connected to epsilon is treated as part of the prior. Note that the exact epsilon chosen seems not to matter. Hence there are many possible ways of doing this standardization and future versions of this package may tweak the current approach if it helps improve numerical accuracy or acceptance rates.

  3. The model is next standardized (using a second eigenvalue decomposition) so that the prior (i.e., the portion connected to epsilon) is the identity matrix. The standardized model then simutaneously has the feature that the prior precision matrix is the identity matrix and that the data precision A (at the posterior mode) is a diagonal matrix. Hence the variables in the standardized model are approximately independent at the posterior mode.

The steps here are based on the procedure described in (Nygren and Nygren 2006).

Value

A list with the following components

bstar2

Standardized Posterior Mode

A

Standardized Data Precision Matrix

x2

Standardized Design Matrix

mu2

Standardized Prior Mean vector

P2

Standardized Precision Matrix Added to log-likelihood

L2Inv

A matrix used when undoing the first step in standardization described below

L3Inv

A matrix used when undoing the second step in standardization described below

References

Nygren K~N, Nygren L~M (2006). “Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 1144–1156. doi:10.1198/016214506000000357.

Examples

data(menarche,package="MASS")
Age2=menarche$Age-13

summary(menarche)
plot(Menarche/Total ~ Age, data=menarche)


x<-matrix(as.numeric(1.0),nrow=length(Age2),ncol=2)
x[,2]=Age2

y=menarche$Menarche/menarche$Total
wt=menarche$Total

mu<-matrix(as.numeric(0.0),nrow=2,ncol=1)
mu[2,1]=(log(0.9/0.1)-log(0.5/0.5))/3

V1<-1*diag(as.numeric(2.0))

# 2 standard deviations for prior estimate at age 13 between 0.1 and 0.9
## Specifies uncertainty around the point estimates

V1[1,1]<-((log(0.9/0.1)-log(0.5/0.5))/2)^2 
V1[2,2]=(3*mu[2,1]/2)^2  # Allows slope to be up to 1 times as large as point estimate 

famfunc<-glmbfamfunc(binomial(logit))

f1<-famfunc$f1
f2<-famfunc$f2
f3<-famfunc$f3
f5<-famfunc$f5
f6<-famfunc$f6

dispersion2<-as.numeric(1.0)
start <- mu
offset2=rep(as.numeric(0.0),length(y))
P=solve(V1)
n=1000

## Appears that the type for some of these arguments are important/problematic



###### Adjust weight for dispersion

wt2=wt/dispersion2

######################### Shift mean vector to offset so that adjusted model has 0 mean

alpha=x%*%as.vector(mu)+offset2
mu2=0*as.vector(mu)
P2=P
x2=x


#####  Optimization step to find posterior mode and associated Precision

parin=start-mu

opt_out=optim(parin,f2,f3,y=as.vector(y),x=as.matrix(x),mu=as.vector(mu2),
              P=as.matrix(P),alpha=as.vector(alpha),wt=as.vector(wt2),
              method="BFGS",hessian=TRUE
)

bstar=opt_out$par  ## Posterior mode for adjusted model
bstar
bstar+as.vector(mu)  # mode for actual model
A1=opt_out$hessian # Approximate Precision at mode

## Standardize Model

Standard_Mod=glmb_Standardize_Model(y=as.vector(y), x=as.matrix(x),P=as.matrix(P),
                                    bstar=as.matrix(bstar,ncol=1), A1=as.matrix(A1))

bstar2=Standard_Mod$bstar2  
A=Standard_Mod$A
x2=Standard_Mod$x2
mu2=Standard_Mod$mu2
P2=Standard_Mod$P2
L2Inv=Standard_Mod$L2Inv
L3Inv=Standard_Mod$L3Inv

Return family functions used during simulation and post processing

Description

This function takes as input a family object and returns a set of functions that are used during simulation and summarization of models using the rglmb and rlmb functions.

Usage

glmbfamfunc(family, lik_shape = 1)

## S3 method for class 'glmbfamfunc'
print(x, ...)

Arguments

family

an object of class family

lik_shape

Known shape parameter of the Gamma likelihood; used only for the Gamma(link = "identity") branch where the regression coefficient is the Gamma rate. Ignored for all other family/link combinations. Defaults to 1 (i.e.\ exponential likelihood).

x

an object of class "glmbfamfunc" for which a printed output is desired.

...

additional optional arguments

Details

glmbfamfunc is the canonical R closure bundle for likelihood, posterior, gradient, and deviance quantities across all supported family/link combinations.

Registration requirement. A branch must exist inside glmbfamfunc for every family/link combination that is used in the package. If a combination is missing, the closures f1f4 will never be assigned and any downstream code that accesses them will fail with "object 'f1' not found". New family/link combinations must therefore be explicitly added here before they can produce valid DIC or log-likelihood output.

Currently implemented family/link combinations:

Family Link
gaussian identity
poisson, quasipoisson log
poisson, quasipoisson identity
binomial, quasibinomial logit
binomial, quasibinomial probit
binomial, quasibinomial cloglog
binomial, quasibinomial identity
Gamma log
Gamma identity

Any family/link not in this table will fall through all branches silently and produce the error above at the point of first use. For Gamma(link = "identity"), pass the known Gamma likelihood shape lik_shape (default 1) so that f1f4 and f7 use the correct parameterization (coefficient = Gamma rate β\beta).

Relationship to C++ simulation paths. Many simulation procedures in the package have been fully or partially migrated to *.cpp routines, which receive their own objective functions directly. For those paths glmbfamfunc may not be called at all during sampling. However, R-side post-processing (e.g.\ summary.rglmb) may still use famfunc\$f1 and famfunc\$f4, so a registered branch is still required for those outputs even when the sampler itself has moved to C++.

Value

A list (class "glmbfamfunc") whose first four components are always present for every supported family and link. The names f1f4 are stable: they mean the same roles across families (only the internal formulas change).

f1

Negative log-likelihood as a function of coefficients b (arguments typically b, y, x, optional alpha, wt).

f2

Negative log-posterior (likelihood plus Normal prior quadratic form in b with precision P and mean mu).

f3

Gradient of f2 with respect to b (same argument pattern as f2).

f4

Deviance-related quantity (twice negative log-likelihood contrast vs.\ saturated model, with a dispersion argument for quasi-families); used in DIC-style summaries.

f7

Family-specific matrix: weighted sum of outer products of predictor rows, i.e.\ a curvature / expected negative Hessian of the log-likelihood w.r.t.\ b at the supplied b (used e.g.\ for multivariate prior–posterior diagnostics in glmbayes).

Slots f5 and f6 are not returned: they were reserved for alternate or C++-aligned likelihood/posterior routines and remain commented out in the implementation (only f1, f2, f3, f4, and f7 are assigned in the returned list).

Examples

famfunc <- glmbfamfunc(binomial(logit))

print(famfunc)

## f1--f4 and f7 are always present for supported families; f5 and f6 are not returned.
f1 <- famfunc$f1
f2 <- famfunc$f2
f3 <- famfunc$f3
f4 <- famfunc$f4
f7 <- famfunc$f7
stopifnot(is.function(f1), is.function(f2), is.function(f3),
          is.function(f4), is.function(f7))

Joint posterior mode of the two-block GLMM (Gaussian case)

Description

Finds the joint posterior mode of the two-block model using an iterated conditional modes (ICM) algorithm. When the response model is Gaussian and variance components are fixed, the joint posterior is multivariate normal so the posterior mode equals the posterior mean; in that case glmerb_posterior_mode() returns the same result as lmerb_posterior_mean.

Usage

glmerb_posterior_mode(
  design,
  family = gaussian(),
  measurement_prior_list,
  tol = 1e-10,
  maxit = 200L
)

Arguments

design

Design list with y, Z, groups, X_hyper, and re_coef_names.

family

A family object. Defaults to gaussian(). Reserved for future non-Gaussian response models.

measurement_prior_list

List with Sigma_ranef and prior_list. dispersion_ranef (σ2\sigma^2) is required for family = gaussian() and omitted otherwise. Each prior_list[[k]] must contain mu_fixef, Sigma_fixef, and dispersion_fixef.

tol

Convergence tolerance on the \ell_\infty change in fixef between successive iterations. Default 1e-10.

maxit

Maximum number of ICM iterations. Default 200L.

Details

Algorithm. For any jointly Gaussian distribution the conditional mean of each block is an affine function of the other block's value. ICM alternates between the two closed-form conditional mean updates:

Block 1 mode

For each group jj, the conditional posterior mode of bjb_j given γ\gamma is obtained via rglmb with n = 1L and a dNormal prior with mean μj\mu_j and covariance Σb\Sigma_b. The mode is read from coef.mode. When family = gaussian(), this matches the closed-form normal update used in lmerb_posterior_mean.

Block 2 mean

For each RE component kk:

E[γkbk]=(XkXk/τk2+Pγk)1(Xkbk/τk2+Pγkμγk)E[\gamma_k \mid b_k] = \bigl(X_k^\top X_k / \tau^2_k + P_{\gamma_k}\bigr)^{-1} \bigl(X_k^\top b_k / \tau^2_k + P_{\gamma_k} \mu_{\gamma_k}\bigr)

where bkb_k is the kk-th column of the current Block 1 mean matrix, Xk=X_k = design$X_hyper[[k]], τk2=\tau^2_k = dispersion_fixef, and Pγk=Σγk1P_{\gamma_k} = \Sigma_{\gamma_k}^{-1} from prior_list.

Value

A list with components fixef, b_mean, converged, iterations, and delta.

See Also

lmerb_posterior_mean, rglmb, two_block_rNormal_reg, build_mu_all


The Central Inverse-Gamma Distribution

Description

Distribution function, quantile function, and random generation for the inverse-Gamma distribution on the dispersion scale. These functions provide numerically stable evaluation and sampling when the dispersion parameter is restricted to lie between a lower and an upper bound.

Usage

pinvgamma_ct(dispersion, shape, rate)

qinvgamma_ct(p, shape, rate, disp_upper, disp_lower)

rinvgamma_ct(n, shape, rate, disp_upper, disp_lower)

Arguments

dispersion

Value(s) at which the inverse-Gamma distribution function is evaluated.

shape

Shape parameter of the inverse-Gamma distribution.

rate

Rate parameter of the inverse-Gamma distribution.

p

Probability value(s) for the quantile function.

disp_upper

Upper bound of the dispersion parameter.

disp_lower

Lower bound of the dispersion parameter.

n

Number of random draws to generate. If length(n) > 1, the length is taken to be the number required.

Details

The inverse-Gamma distribution is defined by the transformation D=1/XD = 1 / X, where XX follows a Gamma distribution with the same shape and rate parameters. The functions pinvgamma_ct and qinvgamma_ct therefore compute probabilities and quantiles by mapping the dispersion value D to the corresponding Gamma scale and applying the Gamma CDF or quantile function.

The function rinvgamma_ct generates random draws from a truncated inverse-Gamma distribution by sampling a uniform probability and inverting the truncated CDF on the Gamma scale. This approach avoids numerical instability when the truncation interval is narrow or when the dispersion parameter is close to zero.

These functions are primarily intended for hierarchical Bayesian models in which dispersion parameters are updated under tight truncation constraints. They provide a stable alternative to direct manipulation of the Gamma distribution when working on the dispersion scale is more natural or more numerically robust. They are used in envelope-based dispersion sampling (Nygren and Nygren 2006).

Value

For pinvgamma_ct, a vector of distribution function values evaluated at dispersion. For qinvgamma_ct, a vector of quantiles corresponding to the probabilities p. For rinvgamma_ct, a vector of length n containing random draws from the inverse-Gamma distribution restricted to the interval [disp_lower, disp_upper].

References

Nygren K~N, Nygren L~M (2006). “Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 1144–1156. doi:10.1198/016214506000000357.

See Also

Gamma_ct, Normal_ct, EnvelopeDispersionBuild

Examples

############################### Start of InvGamma_ct example ####################

## pinvgamma_ct: CDF on the dispersion scale
shape <- 2
rate  <- 1
pinvgamma_ct(1.5, shape, rate)

## Equivalent via pgamma on the precision scale
1 - pgamma(1 / 1.5, shape, rate)

## Example where interval mass pinvgamma_ct(disp_upper) - pinvgamma_ct(disp_lower)
## fails due to catastrophic cancellation when bounds are very close
disp_lower <- 0.999
disp_upper <- 0.999 + 1e-14
pinvgamma_ct(disp_upper, shape, rate) - pinvgamma_ct(disp_lower, shape, rate)

## On the precision scale this is pgamma(1/disp_lower) - pgamma(1/disp_upper);
## the same cancellation affects the Gamma CDF when precision bounds are close

## rinvgamma_ct samples from truncated inverse-Gamma on the dispersion scale
disp_lower <- 0.99
disp_upper <- 1.01
set.seed(42)
y <- rinvgamma_ct(100, shape = 2, rate = 1,
                  disp_upper = disp_upper, disp_lower = disp_lower)
range(y)
mean(y)

###############################################################################
## End of InvGamma_ct example
###############################################################################

Joint posterior mean of the two-block Gaussian model

Description

Finds the joint posterior mean (= joint mode, since the posterior is exactly multivariate normal when variance components are fixed) of the two-block model sampled by two_block_rNormal_reg, using an iterated conditional means (ICM) algorithm.

Usage

lmerb_posterior_mean(design, measurement_prior_list, tol = 1e-10, maxit = 200L)

Arguments

design

Design list with y, Z, groups, X_hyper, and re_coef_names.

measurement_prior_list

List with dispersion_ranef (Gaussian only), Sigma_ranef, and prior_list. Each prior_list[[k]] must contain mu_fixef, Sigma_fixef, and dispersion_fixef.

tol

Convergence tolerance on the \ell_\infty change in fixef between successive iterations. Default 1e-10.

maxit

Maximum number of ICM iterations. Default 200L.

Details

Algorithm. For any jointly Gaussian distribution the conditional mean of each block is an affine function of the other block's value. ICM alternates between the two closed-form conditional mean updates:

Block 1 mean

For each group jj:

E[bjγ]=(ZjZj/σ2+Pb)1(Zjyj/σ2+Pbμj(γ))E[b_j \mid \gamma] = \bigl(Z_j^\top Z_j / \sigma^2 + P_b\bigr)^{-1} \bigl(Z_j^\top y_j / \sigma^2 + P_b \,\mu_j(\gamma)\bigr)

where Pb=Σb1P_b = \Sigma_b^{-1} and μj(γ)\mu_j(\gamma) is the Block 2 prior mean from build_mu_all.

Block 2 mean

For each RE component kk:

E[γkbk]=(XkXk/τk2+Pγk)1(Xkbk/τk2+Pγkμγk)E[\gamma_k \mid b_k] = \bigl(X_k^\top X_k / \tau^2_k + P_{\gamma_k}\bigr)^{-1} \bigl(X_k^\top b_k / \tau^2_k + P_{\gamma_k} \mu_{\gamma_k}\bigr)

where bkb_k is the kk-th column of the current Block 1 mean matrix, Xk=X_k = design$X_hyper[[k]], τk2=\tau^2_k = dispersion_fixef, and Pγk=Σγk1P_{\gamma_k} = \Sigma_{\gamma_k}^{-1} from prior_list.

Value

A list with components fixef, b_mean, converged, iterations, and delta.

See Also

two_block_rNormal_reg, build_mu_all


Prior setup for multiple Gaussian responses

Description

Prior setup for multiple Gaussian responses

Usage

multi_prior_setup(
  formula,
  family = gaussian(),
  data = NULL,
  weights = NULL,
  subset = NULL,
  na.action = na.fail,
  offset = NULL,
  contrasts = NULL,
  pwt = NULL,
  pwt_default_low = 0.01,
  pwt_default_high = 0.05,
  n_prior = NULL,
  sd = NULL,
  dispersion = NULL,
  intercept_source = c("null_model", "full_model"),
  effects_source = c("null_effects", "full_model"),
  mu = NULL,
  k = 1,
  ...
)

Arguments

formula

an object of class "formula" (or one that can be coerced to that class): a symbolic description of the model to be fitted. The details of model specification are given under ‘Details’.

family

a description of the error distribution and link function to be used in the model.

data

an optional data frame, list or environment (or object coercible by as.data.frame to a data frame) containing the variables in the model. If not found in data, the variables are taken from environment(formula), typically the environment from which glm is called.

weights

an optional vector of ‘prior weights’ to be used in the fitting process. Should be NULL or a numeric vector.

subset

an optional vector specifying a subset of observations to be used in the fitting process. (See additional details about how this argument interacts with data-dependent bases in the ‘Details’ below.)

na.action

how NAs are treated. The default is first, any na.action attribute of data, second a na.action setting of options, and third na.fail if that is unset. The factory-fresh default is na.omit. Another possible value is NULL.

offset

this can be used to specify an a priori known component to be included in the linear predictor during fitting. This should be NULL or a numeric vector of length equal to the number of cases. One or more offset terms can be included in the formula instead or as well, and if more than one is specified their sum is used. See model.offset.

contrasts

an optional list. See the contrasts.arg of model.matrix.default.

pwt

Weight on the prior relative to the likelihood function at the maximum likelihood estimate. If supplied, this value is used directly (scalar or one value per coefficient). If n_prior is provided and pwt is still a scalar and sd was not supplied, pwt is set to n_prior / (n_prior + n_effective). If length(pwt) > 1 (including from sd) or sd was supplied, n_prior does not overwrite pwt; it is used only as a scalar for Gamma / S_marg steps. If sd is provided, pwt is computed from the prior standard deviations. If none of these are supplied, pwt defaults to pwt_default_low for models with fewer than 14 coefficients, and pwt_default_high otherwise.

pwt_default_low

Default prior weight used when pwt is not supplied and the model dimension is below 14. Defaults to 0.01.

pwt_default_high

Default prior weight used when pwt is not supplied and the model dimension is 14 or greater. Defaults to 0.05.

n_prior

Optional scalar effective prior sample size (on the n_effective scale). If provided with scalar pwt and without sd, pwt is recomputed from n_prior. With vector pwt or with sd, pwt is left unchanged and n_prior is used for the Gamma prior on precision and related Gaussian calibration only. If missing and pwt is scalar, n_prior = (pwt/(1-pwt))*n_effective.

sd

Optional vector argument with the prior standard deviations for the coefficients

dispersion

Optional scalar dispersion override (default NULL). For now, this is documented as an optional argument used to scale the Sigma (variance-covariance) matrix; see Details for additional context.

intercept_source

Specifies the method through which the prior mean for the intercept term is set. Options are based on the null intercept only model (null_model) or full_models. The default is the null model which is safer if variables are not centered.

effects_source

Specifies the method through which the prior means for the effects terms are set. Options are null_effects (prior means set to zero) or full_model (effect means set to match maximum likelihood estimates).

mu

Optional vector argument with the prior means for the coefficients

k

Scalar (default 1), non-negative (k0k \geq 0), with k+p2k + p \geq 2 where pp is the number of coefficients (columns of the model matrix). k controls the tail behavior and effective degrees of freedom of the variance prior. It does not change the posterior mean of σ2\sigma^2 or the covariance of β\beta, but larger k makes the prior and posterior for σ2\sigma^2 more concentrated and less heavy-tailed. Not yet used in calibration; passed through to compute_gaussian_prior for future use.

...

For glm: arguments to be used to form the default control argument if it is not supplied directly.

For weights: further arguments passed to or from other methods.

Value

A named list of class "multi_PriorSetup". Each element is a Prior_Setup result for one column of the response (names from colnames(y) or Y1, Y2, ...).

See Also

Other prior: Prior_Check(), Prior_Setup()


Multi-response Normal regression simulation

Description

Runs rNormal_reg once per column of y. Argument x may be a single shared design matrix or a list of matrices with one entry per response column. The list path allows each column of y to have a different number of predictors, which is required for Block 2 of two_block_rNormal_reg.

Usage

multi_rNormal_reg(
  n,
  y,
  x,
  prior_list,
  offset = NULL,
  weights = 1,
  family = gaussian(),
  Gridtype = 2,
  n_envopt = NULL,
  use_parallel = TRUE,
  use_opencl = FALSE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  progbar = TRUE
)

Arguments

n

Number of draws per column of y.

y

Numeric matrix with one column per random-effect component.

x

Shared design matrix, or list of per-column design matrices.

prior_list

List of per-column prior lists (mu, Sigma or P, optional dispersion).

offset

Optional numeric vector of length m specifying known components of the linear predictor.

weights

Optional numeric vector of prior weights.

family

A description of the error distribution and link function (see family).

Gridtype

Optional integer specifying the method used to construct the envelope function.

n_envopt

Effective sample size passed to EnvelopeOpt for grid construction. Defaults to match n. Larger values encourage tighter envelopes.

use_parallel

Logical. Whether to use parallel processing.

use_opencl

Logical. Whether to use OpenCL acceleration.

verbose

Logical. Whether to print progress messages.

progbar

Logical. Whether to display a progress base during simulation.

Value

For shared x, an object of class "mrglmb". For list x, a plain named list of rNormal_reg results.

See Also

rNormal_reg, two_block_rNormal_reg

glmbayes Simulation Functions simfuncs, two_block_l_for_tv(), two_block_mode_weights(), two_block_rNormal_reg(), two_block_rNormal_reg_v2(), two_block_rate(), two_block_rate_v2(), two_block_tv_bound()


The Central Normal Distribution

Description

Distribution function and random generation for the center (between a lower and an upper bound) of the normal distribution with mean equal to mu and standard deviation equal to sigma.

Usage

pnorm_ct(a = -Inf, b = Inf, mu = 0, sigma = 1, log.p = TRUE, Diff = FALSE)

rnorm_ct(n, lgrt, lglt, mu = 0, sigma = 1)

Arguments

a

Lower bound for the interval. Numeric vector; must be finite when used in rnorm_ct.

b

Upper bound for the interval. Numeric vector; must be finite when used in rnorm_ct.

mu

mean parameter of the underlying normal distribution.

sigma

standard deviation of the underlying normal distribution.

log.p

Logical argument. If TRUE, the log probability is provided

Diff

Logical argument. If TRUE the second parameter is the difference between the lower and upper bound

n

number of draws to generate. If length(n) > 1, the length is taken to be the number required

lgrt

log of the distribution function between the lower bound and infinity. Numeric vectors of length n; used internally to avoid cancellation when b - a is small.

lglt

log of the distribution function between negative infinity and the upper bound. Numeric vectors of length n; used internally to avoid cancellation when b - a is small.

Details

The distribution function pnorm_ct finds the probability of the center of a normal density (the probability of the area between a lower bound a and an upper bound b) while the random number generator rnorm_ct samples from a restricted normal density where lgrt is the log of the distribution between the lower bound and infinity and lglt is the log of the distribution function between negative infinity and the upper bound. The sum of the exponentiated values for the two (exp(lgrt)+exp(lglt)) must sum to more than 1.

These functions are mainly used to handle cases where the differences between the upper and lower bounds b-a are small. In such cases, using pnorm(b)-pnorm(a) may result in 0 being returned even when the difference is supposed to be positive. They are used in envelope-based accept-reject sampling for Bayesian GLMs (Nygren and Nygren 2006).

Value

For pnorm_ct, vector of length equal to length of a and for rnorm_ct, a vector with length determined by n containing draws from the center of the normal distribution.

References

Nygren K~N, Nygren L~M (2006). “Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 1144–1156. doi:10.1198/016214506000000357.

See Also

Gamma_ct, EnvelopeBuild

Examples

pnorm_ct(0.2,0.4)
exp(pnorm_ct(0.2,0.4))
pnorm_ct(0.2,0.4,log.p=FALSE)
log(pnorm_ct(0.2,0.4,log.p=FALSE))
## Example where difference between two pnorm calls fail
## but call to pnorm_ct works
pnorm(0.5)-pnorm(0.4999999999999999)
pnorm_ct(0.4999999999999999,0.5,log.p=FALSE)

Normalize a row-block partition for BY-style fits

Description

Normalize a row-block partition for BY-style fits

Usage

normalize_block(block, l2)

Arguments

block

Block partition: factor or integer vector of length l2, l2_blocks counts summing to l2, or a list of disjoint row-index vectors covering 1:l2.

l2

Number of observations (rows) after model.frame.

Value

List with k, ids, l2_blocks, starts, and rows (per-block row indices).

Examples

## Block partition helpers (factor, l2_blocks counts, or row-index list)

l2 <- 10L

## One level per row (length l2)
normalize_block(factor(rep(c("A", "B"), each = 5L)), l2)

## Contiguous counts summing to l2
normalize_block(c(4L, 6L), l2)

## Explicit row-index list
normalize_block(list(A = 1:4, B = 5:10), l2)

Prior Family Objects for Bayesian Models

Description

Prior family objects provide a convenient way to specify the details of the priors used by matrix-input samplers such as rglmb and rlmb. See the documentation for rglmb and rlmb for the details of how such model fitting takes place.

Under a Beta(shape1, shape2) prior on the binomial probability θ\theta and a Binomial(nin_i, θ\theta) likelihood with identity link (θ=β\theta = \beta directly), the posterior is:

θyBeta(shape1+niyi,  shape2+ni(1yi)).\theta \mid y \sim \mathrm{Beta}(\texttt{shape1} + \sum n_i y_i,\; \texttt{shape2} + \sum n_i (1 - y_i)).

Usage

pfamily(object, ...)

dNormal(mu, Sigma, dispersion = NULL)

dGamma(
  shape,
  rate,
  beta,
  Inv_Dispersion = TRUE,
  lik_shape = 1,
  max_disp_perc = 0.99,
  disp_lower = NULL,
  disp_upper = NULL
)

dBeta(shape1, shape2, beta)

## S3 method for class 'pfamily'
print(x, ...)

dNormal_Gamma(mu, Sigma_0, shape, rate)

dIndependent_Normal_Gamma(
  mu,
  Sigma,
  shape,
  rate,
  max_disp_perc = 0.99,
  disp_lower = NULL,
  disp_upper = NULL
)

Arguments

object

the function pfamily accesses the pfamily objects which are stored within objects created by modelling functions (e.g., rglmb).

mu

a prior mean vector for the the modeling coefficients used in several pfamilies

Sigma

a prior variance-covariance matrix for dNormal() and dIndependent_Normal_Gamma().

dispersion

the dispersion to be assumed when it is not given a prior. Should be provided when the Normal prior is for the gaussian(), Gamma(), quasibinomial, or quasipoisson families. The binomial() and poisson() families do not have dispersion coefficients. Omitted or NULL uses the internal default 1 and sets ddef in prior_list (see Details).

shape

The prior shape parameter for the gamma piece (inverse dispersion / precision). When taking defaults from Prior_Setup, use ps$shape with dNormal_Gamma() and dGamma(), and ps$shape_ING with dIndependent_Normal_Gamma() on the Gaussian calibrated path (see Details).

rate

The prior rate parameter paired with shape. With Gaussian Prior_Setup, dNormal_Gamma() and dIndependent_Normal_Gamma() use ps$rate; for dGamma() with fixed beta, prefer ps$rate_gamma when that field is non-NULL (see Details).

beta

Initial coefficient matrix (1 ×\times 1); typically set to the prior mean shape1/(shape1+shape2).

Inv_Dispersion

Logical (default TRUE). Controls which of the two Gamma prior roles dGamma() plays:

  • TRUE (default) — prior on the inverse dispersion (precision / shape parameter k=1/ϕk = 1/\phi). This is the classical path used for dispersion estimation in Gaussian and Gamma(log) regression (simfun = rGamma_reg).

  • FALSE — conjugate prior on the Gamma or Poisson rate β\beta directly (intercept-only, identity link). The posterior is a closed-form Gamma draw (simfun = rGamma_Conjugate_reg).

lik_shape

Known shape parameter k>0k > 0 of the Gamma likelihood. Only used when Inv_Dispersion = FALSE and family = Gamma(link = "identity"). The intercept coefficient is then the Gamma rate β\beta, and the conjugate posterior is βyGamma(α0+nk,  β0+yi)\beta \mid y \sim \mathrm{Gamma}(\alpha_0 + n k,\; \beta_0 + \sum y_i). Defaults to 1 (exponential distribution). Ignored for Poisson families and whenever Inv_Dispersion = TRUE.

max_disp_perc

Specifies the percentile used to truncate the posterior dispersion distribution when constructing the envelope for accept-reject sampling. This determines the lower and upper bounds for the dispersion (σ2\sigma^2) used in the simulation. A value of 0.99 corresponds to using the central 98 percent of the posterior dispersion mass (i.e., excluding the outer 1 percent in each tail). Smaller values yield tighter bounds and may improve acceptance rates, while larger values allow broader dispersion support but may increase envelope complexity.

disp_lower

lower bound truncation for dispersion

disp_upper

upper bound truncation for dispersion

shape1

First shape parameter α>0\alpha > 0 of the Beta prior (prior successes + 1).

shape2

Second shape parameter β>0\beta > 0 of the Beta prior (prior failures + 1).

x

an object, a pfamily function that is to be printed

Sigma_0

prior variance-covariance on the precision-weighted coefficient scale for dNormal_Gamma() only (Gaussian). Stored in prior_list$Sigma for compatibility with downstream samplers.

...

additional argument(s) for methods.

Details

pfamily is a generic with methods for fitted objects such as rglmb and rlmb. The dNormal() prior is supported for all response families. The gaussian() family additionally supports dNormal_Gamma(), dIndependent_Normal_Gamma(), and dGamma() (precision prior). Intercept-only models with an identity link support two closed-form conjugate priors: dBeta() for binomial(link = "identity") and dGamma(Inv_Dispersion = FALSE) for poisson(link = "identity") and Gamma(link = "identity").

A pfamily object represents a structured prior specification for use in Bayesian generalized linear modeling. Each constructor function (e.g., dNormal(), dGamma(), dNormal_Gamma(), dBeta()) returns an object of class "pfamily" containing the prior parameters, supported likelihood families, compatible link functions, and a simulation function for posterior sampling.

These priors are designed to integrate seamlessly with modeling functions such as rglmb() and rlmb() in the glmbayes package, which consume the pfamily object to define the prior distribution over model parameters. The pfamily() generic retrieves the embedded prior from a fitted model object, while print.pfamily() displays its structure.

prior_list and simfun. The named list prior_list holds the hyperparameters for the chosen prior family. When a model function draws from the posterior, it passes prior_list into the element simfun (e.g., rNormal_reg, rGamma_reg) so the low-level sampler receives one consistent list structure regardless of which constructor built the pfamily.

Prior_Setup and default hyperparameters. Prior_Setup() fits an auxiliary GLM and returns default mu, Sigma / Sigma_0, dispersion, Gamma shape and rate, and related fields aligned with the data and prior-weight (pwt) choices. Those values can be supplied as arguments to the pfamily constructors when you want package-default priors on the same scale as the model matrix. Recommended use of shape and rate is not identical across constructors: for dIndependent_Normal_Gamma(), pass shape = ps$shape_ING from Prior_Setup (not the scalar ps$shape used by dNormal_Gamma()). For dGamma() with fixed coefficients (beta), pass rate = ps$rate_gamma when that field is present (otherwise ps$rate); see Prior_Setup and compute_gaussian_prior.

Prior Families

  • dNormal(): Specifies a multivariate normal prior over regression coefficients. It is conjugate for Gaussian likelihoods with an identity link function, and serves as the primary implemented prior for all other supported likelihood families in the current framework. This structure facilitates efficient posterior sampling and analytical tractability. The returned prior_list includes ddef: TRUE when dispersion was omitted or NULL (so the default 1 was used), FALSE when dispersion was supplied explicitly (including 1).

    For models with log-concave likelihood functions-such as Poisson, Binomial, and Gamma families- posterior sampling under a dNormal prior is performed using a (Nygren and Nygren 2006) likelihood subgradient approach. This method constructs tight enveloping functions around the posterior using subgradients of the log-likelihood, enabling efficient accept-reject sampling even in high dimensions.

    When the posterior distribution is approximately normal (typically the case for large sample sizes), the area under the enveloping function is bounded above by a constant factor-approximately 2/π1.1282 / \sqrt{\pi} \approx 1.128 in the univariate case, and (2/π)k(2 / \sqrt{\pi})^k in kk-dimensional models. These bounds ensure that the rejection rate remains manageable and that the sampler remains computationally efficient.

    The concept of conjugate priors was first formalized by (Raiffa and Schlaifer 1961), and further developed for regression models using g-prior structures by (Zellner 1986).

  • dGamma(): A Gamma prior with two distinct roles controlled by Inv_Dispersion:

    • Inv_Dispersion = TRUE (default): prior on the inverse dispersion (precision 1/ϕ1/\phi or shape kk). Used for dispersion estimation in Gaussian and Gamma(log) models, typically in a Gibbs step with beta held fixed (Gelman et al. 2013; Dobson 1990; McCullagh and Nelder 1989). With Gaussian Prior_Setup output, prefer rate_gamma for rate (see Details above).

    • Inv_Dispersion = FALSE: conjugate Gamma prior on the rate parameter β\beta directly. Supports intercept-only models with an identity link: Poisson (Gamma–Poisson conjugacy) and Gamma (Gamma–Gamma conjugacy). Posterior draws are closed-form IID samples via rGamma_Conjugate_reg. The lik_shape argument specifies the known Gamma likelihood shape (default 1, i.e.\ exponential). Prior_Setup returns calibrated conj_poisson hyperparameters for this path.

  • dBeta(): A Beta prior on the binomial probability θ\theta for intercept-only binomial(link = "identity") models. The posterior is a closed-form Beta draw (Beta–Binomial conjugacy) produced by rBeta_reg. Arguments shape1 and shape2 are the prior pseudo-success and pseudo-failure counts. Prior_Setup returns calibrated conj_beta hyperparameters for this path.

  • dNormal_Gamma(): Combines a multivariate normal prior on coefficients with a gamma prior on precision, forming a conjugate structure for Gaussian models with unknown variance. The second argument is Sigma_0 (precision-weighted scale); it is aliased internally to Sigma in prior_list. This formulation parallels classical Normal-Gamma models and is compatible with hierarchical extensions (Gelman et al. 2013; Raiffa and Schlaifer 1961).

  • dIndependent_Normal_Gamma(): Similar to dNormal_Gamma(), but assumes independence between the coefficient and precision priors. This structure is useful for models where prior independence is desired or analytically convenient. With Prior_Setup on a Gaussian model, pass shape_ING as the shape argument (see Details above).

Each pfamily object includes:

  • pfamily, prior_list, okfamilies, plinks, and simfun (see Value).

mu / Sigma: the surrogate Normal mean is shape1/(shape1+shape2) and the surrogate variance is the Beta variance shape1*shape2/((shape1+shape2)^2*(shape1+shape2+1)).

Value

An object of class "pfamily" (with a concise print method). A list with elements:

pfamily

Character string: the constructor name ("dNormal", "dGamma", "dNormal_Gamma", "dIndependent_Normal_Gamma", or "dBeta").

prior_list

Named list of prior hyperparameters. It is passed into simfun when sampling so the relevant low-level routine receives the prior in a fixed list form. Contents depend on the constructor:

dNormal:

mu, Sigma, dispersion, and logical ddef (TRUE if dispersion was omitted or NULL, so the default 1 was used; FALSE if set explicitly).

dGamma:

shape, rate, beta, Inv_Dispersion, max_disp_perc, disp_lower, disp_upper. When Inv_Dispersion = FALSE, also includes surrogate mu and Sigma (computed from the Gamma prior moments) and lik_shape.

dNormal_Gamma:

mu, Sigma (the Sigma_0 precision-weighted input), shape, rate.

dIndependent_Normal_Gamma:

mu, Sigma (coefficient-scale covariance), shape, rate, max_disp_perc, disp_lower, disp_upper.

dBeta:

shape1, shape2, beta, and surrogate mu and Sigma computed from the Beta prior moments (mu = shape1/(shape1+shape2), Sigma = shape1*shape2/((shape1+shape2)^2*(shape1+shape2+1))).

okfamilies

Character vector of implemented family names for which this pfamily may be used.

plinks

Function of one family argument returning allowed link names for that family.

simfun

Function used to generate posterior draws (e.g., rNormal_reg, rGamma_reg, rGamma_Conjugate_reg, rNormalGamma_reg, rindepNormalGamma_reg); for standard use these produce i.i.d.\ posterior samples for the implemented settings.

Author(s)

The design of the pfamily set of functions was developed by Kjell Nygren and was inspired by the family used by rglmb to specify the likelihood function. That design in turn was inspired by S functions of the same names from the statistical modeling literature.

References

Dobson A~J (1990). An Introduction to Generalized Linear Models. Chapman and Hall, London.

Gelman A, Carlin JB, Stern HS, Dunson DB, Vehtari A, Rubin DB (2013). Bayesian Data Analysis, 3rd edition. CRC Press.

McCullagh P, Nelder J~A (1989). Generalized Linear Models. Chapman and Hall, London.

Nygren K~N, Nygren L~M (2006). “Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 1144–1156. doi:10.1198/016214506000000357.

Raiffa H, Schlaifer R (1961). Applied Statistical Decision Theory. Clinton Press, Inc., Boston.

Zellner A (1986). “On Assessing Prior Distributions and Bayesian Regression Analysis with g‐Prior Distributions.” In Goel P~K, Zellner A (eds.), Bayesian Inference and Decision Techniques: Essays in Honor of Bruno de Finetti, volume 6 of Studies in Bayesian Econometrics and Statistics, 233–243. Elsevier.

See Also

rglmb, rlmb for modeling functions that consume pfamily objects.

rNormal_reg, rNormalGamma_reg, rGamma_reg, rGamma_Conjugate_reg, rindepNormalGamma_reg for lower-level sampling functions used by pfamily constructors.

Prior_Setup, Prior_Check for initializing and validating prior specifications.

EnvelopeBuild for envelope construction methods used in likelihood subgradient sampling (Nygren and Nygren 2006).

See also (Hastie and Pregibon 1992) for the original S modeling framework that inspired the design of pfamily.

Examples

## Dobson (1990) Page 93: Randomized Controlled Trial :
counts    <- c(18, 17, 15, 20, 10, 20, 25, 13, 12)
outcome   <- gl(3, 1, 9)
treatment <- gl(3, 3)
print(d.AD <- data.frame(treatment, outcome, counts))

## Set up Prior for Poisson Model
ps <- Prior_Setup(counts ~ outcome + treatment, family = poisson())
ps

## Normal prior for rglmb
rglmb.D93 <- rglmb(
  n = 1000,
  y = ps$y,
  x = as.matrix(ps$x),
  pfamily = dNormal(mu = ps$mu, Sigma = ps$Sigma),
  family = poisson(),
  weights = rep(1, nrow(ps$x))
)

pfamily(rglmb.D93)

## Annette Dobson (1990) "An Introduction to Generalized Linear Models".
## Page 9: Plant Weight Data.
ctl <- c(4.17, 5.58, 5.18, 6.11, 4.50, 4.61, 5.17, 4.53, 5.33, 5.14)
trt <- c(4.81, 4.17, 4.41, 3.59, 5.87, 3.83, 6.03, 4.89, 4.32, 4.69)
group  <- gl(2, 10, 20, labels = c("Ctl", "Trt"))
weight <- c(ctl, trt)

## Set up prior for gaussian model
ps2 <- Prior_Setup(weight ~ group, family = gaussian())
ps2

y <- ps2$y
x <- as.matrix(ps2$x)
wt <- rep(1, length(y))

## Conjugate Normal Prior (fixed dispersion)
rlmb.D9 <- rlmb(
  n = 1000,
  y = y,
  x = x,
  pfamily = dNormal(mu = ps2$mu, ps2$Sigma, dispersion = ps2$dispersion),
  weights = wt
)
pfamily(rlmb.D9)

## Conjugate Normal_Gamma Prior
rlmb.D9_v2 <- rlmb(
  n = 1000,
  y = y,
  x = x,
  pfamily = dNormal_Gamma(
    ps2$mu,
    Sigma_0 = ps2$Sigma_0,
    shape = ps2$shape,
    rate = ps2$rate
  ),
  weights = wt
)
pfamily(rlmb.D9_v2)

## Independent_Normal_Gamma_Prior
rlmb.D9_v3 <- rlmb(
  n = 1000,
  y = y,
  x = x,
  pfamily = dIndependent_Normal_Gamma(
    ps2$mu,
    ps2$Sigma,
    shape = ps2$shape_ING,
    rate = ps2$rate
  ),
  weights = wt
)
pfamily(rlmb.D9_v3)

Build a named list of pfamily objects

Description

Generic for constructing a named list of pfamily prior objects from a prior-specification object. Packages that define prior setup containers (e.g. Prior_Setup_lmebayes() in lmebayes) provide methods that map each component of the container to a pfamily constructor such as dNormal or dIndependent_Normal_Gamma.

Usage

pfamily_list(object, ...)

Arguments

object

A prior-specification object.

...

Additional arguments passed to methods (e.g. ptypes).

Value

A named list whose elements are objects of class "pfamily".

See Also

pfamily, dNormal, dIndependent_Normal_Gamma


Print method for two_block_mode_weights objects

Description

Print method for two_block_mode_weights objects

Usage

## S3 method for class 'two_block_mode_weights'
print(x, ...)

Arguments

x

Object of class "two_block_mode_weights".

...

Ignored.

Value

x invisibly.


Print method for two_block_rate objects

Description

Print method for two_block_rate objects

Usage

## S3 method for class 'two_block_rate'
print(x, tols = c(0.01, 0.001, 1e-06), ...)

Arguments

x

Object of class "two_block_rate".

tols

Numeric vector of TV tolerances for the implied m_convergence table.

...

Ignored.

Value

x invisibly.


Checks for Prior-data conflicts

Description

Checks if the credible intervals for the prior overlap with the implied confidence intervals from the classical model (obtained via glm). The approach relates to prior-data conflict checks (Evans and Moshonov 2006).

Usage

Prior_Check(
  formula,
  family,
  pfamily,
  level = 0.95,
  data = NULL,
  weights,
  subset,
  na.action,
  start = NULL,
  etastart,
  mustart,
  offset,
  control = list(...),
  model = TRUE,
  method = "glm.fit",
  x = FALSE,
  y = TRUE,
  contrasts = NULL,
  ...
)

Arguments

formula

an object of class "formula" (or one that can be coerced to that class): a symbolic description of the model to be fitted. The details of model specification are given under ‘Details’.

family

a description of the error distribution and link function to be used in the model. For glm this can be a character string naming a family function, a family function or the result of a call to a family function. For glm.fit only the third option is supported. (See family for details of family functions.)

pfamily

a pfamily object specifying the prior distribution to check against the data.

level

the confidence level at which the Prior-data conflict should be checked.

data

an optional data frame, list or environment (or object coercible by as.data.frame to a data frame) containing the variables in the model. If not found in data, the variables are taken from environment(formula), typically the environment from which glm is called.

weights

an optional vector of ‘prior weights’ to be used in the fitting process. Should be NULL or a numeric vector.

subset

an optional vector specifying a subset of observations to be used in the fitting process. (See additional details about how this argument interacts with data-dependent bases in the ‘Details’ below.)

na.action

a function which indicates what should happen when the data contain NAs. The default is set by the na.action setting of options, and is na.fail if that is unset. The ‘factory-fresh’ default is na.omit. Another possible value is NULL, no action. Value na.exclude can be useful.

start

starting values for the parameters in the linear predictor.

etastart

starting values for the linear predictor.

mustart

starting values for the vector of means.

offset

this can be used to specify an a priori known component to be included in the linear predictor during fitting. This should be NULL or a numeric vector of length equal to the number of cases. One or more offset terms can be included in the formula instead or as well, and if more than one is specified their sum is used. See model.offset.

control

a list of parameters for controlling the fitting process. For glm.fit this is passed to glm.control.

model

a logical value indicating whether model frame should be included as a component of the returned value.

method

the method to be used in fitting the model. The default method "glm.fit" uses iteratively reweighted least squares (IWLS): the alternative "model.frame" returns the model frame and does no fitting.

User-supplied fitting functions can be supplied either as a function or a character string naming a function, with a function which takes the same arguments as glm.fit. If specified as a character string it is looked up from within the stats namespace.

x, y

For glm: logical values indicating whether the response vector and model matrix used in the fitting process should be returned as components of the returned value.

For glm.fit: x is a design matrix of dimension n * p, and y is a vector of observations of length n.

contrasts

an optional list. See the contrasts.arg of model.matrix.default.

...

For glm: arguments to be used to form the default control argument if it is not supplied directly.

For weights: further arguments passed to or from other methods.

Value

A vector where each item provided the ratio of the absolue value for the difference between the prior and maximum likelihood estimate divided by the length of the sum of half of the two intervals (where normality is assumed)

References

Evans M, Moshonov H (2006). “Checking for prior-data conflict.” Bayesian Analysis, 1(4), 893–914. doi:10.1214/06-BA129.

See Also

Prior_Setup, rglmb; see (Nygren 2025) for prior tailoring; (Nygren 2025) for full derivations.

Other prior: Prior_Setup(), multi_prior_setup()

Examples

## Dobson (1990) Page 93: Randomized Controlled Trial :
counts <- c(18,17,15,20,10,20,25,13,12)
outcome <- gl(3,1,9)
treatment <- gl(3,3)
print(d.AD <- data.frame(treatment, outcome, counts))
## Step 1: Set up Prior
ps=Prior_Setup(counts ~ outcome + treatment)
mu=ps$mu
V=ps$Sigma
# Step2A: Check the Prior
Prior_Check(counts ~ outcome + treatment,family = poisson(),
            pfamily=dNormal(mu=mu,Sigma=V))
# Step2B: Update and Re-Check the Prior
mu[1,1]=log(mean(counts))
Prior_Check(counts ~ outcome + treatment,family = poisson(),
            pfamily=dNormal(mu=mu,Sigma=V))

Setup Prior Objects

Description

Helper function to facilitate the Setup of Prior Distributions for glm models.

Usage

Prior_Setup(
  formula,
  family = gaussian(),
  data = NULL,
  weights = NULL,
  subset = NULL,
  na.action = na.fail,
  offset = NULL,
  contrasts = NULL,
  pwt = NULL,
  pwt_default_low = 0.01,
  pwt_default_high = 0.05,
  n_prior = NULL,
  sd = NULL,
  dispersion = NULL,
  intercept_source = c("null_model", "full_model"),
  effects_source = c("null_effects", "full_model"),
  mu = NULL,
  k = 1,
  ...
)

## S3 method for class 'PriorSetup'
print(x, ...)

Arguments

formula

an object of class "formula" (or one that can be coerced to that class): a symbolic description of the model to be fitted. The details of model specification are given under ‘Details’.

family

a description of the error distribution and link function to be used in the model.

data

an optional data frame, list or environment (or object coercible by as.data.frame to a data frame) containing the variables in the model. If not found in data, the variables are taken from environment(formula), typically the environment from which glm is called.

weights

an optional vector of ‘prior weights’ to be used in the fitting process. Should be NULL or a numeric vector.

subset

an optional vector specifying a subset of observations to be used in the fitting process. (See additional details about how this argument interacts with data-dependent bases in the ‘Details’ below.)

na.action

how NAs are treated. The default is first, any na.action attribute of data, second a na.action setting of options, and third na.fail if that is unset. The factory-fresh default is na.omit. Another possible value is NULL.

offset

this can be used to specify an a priori known component to be included in the linear predictor during fitting. This should be NULL or a numeric vector of length equal to the number of cases. One or more offset terms can be included in the formula instead or as well, and if more than one is specified their sum is used. See model.offset.

contrasts

an optional list. See the contrasts.arg of model.matrix.default.

pwt

Weight on the prior relative to the likelihood function at the maximum likelihood estimate. If supplied, this value is used directly (scalar or one value per coefficient). If n_prior is provided and pwt is still a scalar and sd was not supplied, pwt is set to n_prior / (n_prior + n_effective). If length(pwt) > 1 (including from sd) or sd was supplied, n_prior does not overwrite pwt; it is used only as a scalar for Gamma / S_marg steps. If sd is provided, pwt is computed from the prior standard deviations. If none of these are supplied, pwt defaults to pwt_default_low for models with fewer than 14 coefficients, and pwt_default_high otherwise.

pwt_default_low

Default prior weight used when pwt is not supplied and the model dimension is below 14. Defaults to 0.01.

pwt_default_high

Default prior weight used when pwt is not supplied and the model dimension is 14 or greater. Defaults to 0.05.

n_prior

Optional scalar effective prior sample size (on the n_effective scale). If provided with scalar pwt and without sd, pwt is recomputed from n_prior. With vector pwt or with sd, pwt is left unchanged and n_prior is used for the Gamma prior on precision and related Gaussian calibration only. If missing and pwt is scalar, n_prior = (pwt/(1-pwt))*n_effective.

sd

Optional vector argument with the prior standard deviations for the coefficients

dispersion

Optional scalar dispersion override (default NULL). For now, this is documented as an optional argument used to scale the Sigma (variance-covariance) matrix; see Details for additional context.

intercept_source

Specifies the method through which the prior mean for the intercept term is set. Options are based on the null intercept only model (null_model) or full_models. The default is the null model which is safer if variables are not centered.

effects_source

Specifies the method through which the prior means for the effects terms are set. Options are null_effects (prior means set to zero) or full_model (effect means set to match maximum likelihood estimates).

mu

Optional vector argument with the prior means for the coefficients

k

Scalar (default 1), non-negative (k0k \geq 0), with k+p2k + p \geq 2 where pp is the number of coefficients (columns of the model matrix). k controls the tail behavior and effective degrees of freedom of the variance prior. It does not change the posterior mean of σ2\sigma^2 or the covariance of β\beta, but larger k makes the prior and posterior for σ2\sigma^2 more concentrated and less heavy-tailed. Not yet used in calibration; passed through to compute_gaussian_prior for future use.

...

For glm: arguments to be used to form the default control argument if it is not supplied directly.

For weights: further arguments passed to or from other methods.

x

An object of class "PriorSetup"

Details

Inputs to the function

The inputs to Prior_Setup() fall into three conceptual categories:

1. Model specification

  • formula: structure of the GLM (response and predictors).

  • family: error distribution and link.

  • data, weights, subset, na.action, offset, contrasts, control, ...: as in glm.

2. Prior variance–covariance specification

  • pwt: prior weight relative to the likelihood. If scalar, used to construct a Zellner-type g-prior. If vector, applied elementwise.

  • n_prior: optional scalar effective prior sample size. Replaces scalar pwt only when pwt is scalar and sd is not used; otherwise supplies precision-prior / calibration only.

  • sd: optional vector of prior standard deviations. If provided, used to compute pwt from the diagonal of vcov(glm_full).

  • pwt_default_low, pwt_default_high: defaults for pwt when not supplied.

3. Prior mean specification

  • intercept_source: method for setting the prior mean of the intercept ("null_model" or "full_model").

  • effects_source: method for setting the prior mean of the effects ("null_effects" or "full_model").

  • mu: optional user-specified prior mean vector; overrides other centering logic if provided.

Prior covariance and Zellner scaling

Let V0=vcov(β^)V_0 = \mathrm{vcov}(\hat\beta) be the covariance matrix of the full-model GLM coefficients. For non-Gaussian families, the prior covariance is:

Σ={1pwtpwtV0,scalar pwt,V0[1pwtipwti1pwtjpwtj],vector pwt,\Sigma = \begin{cases} \dfrac{1 - \mathrm{pwt}}{\mathrm{pwt}} V_0, & \text{scalar pwt},\\[4pt] V_0 \circ \left[\sqrt{\dfrac{1 - \mathrm{pwt}_i}{\mathrm{pwt}_i}} \sqrt{\dfrac{1 - \mathrm{pwt}_j}{\mathrm{pwt}_j}}\right], & \text{vector pwt}, \end{cases}

where \circ denotes elementwise multiplication.

Intercept-only Poisson(link = "identity") conjugate prior on the rate

When the design is a single column (intercept only), family = poisson(), link = "identity", scalar pwt, and offsets are zero, the effective conjugate prior observation count npriorn_{\mathrm{prior}} already satisfies nprior/(nprior+neffective)=pwtn_{\mathrm{prior}} / (n_{\mathrm{prior}} + n_{\mathrm{effective}}) = \mathrm{pwt} (otherwise conj_poisson remains NULL with a warning). Writing the weighted mean yˉw=iwiyi/iwi\bar{y}_w = \sum_i w_i y_i / \sum_i w_i, the output list component conj_poisson stores shape=nprioryˉw\texttt{shape} = n_{\mathrm{prior}} \bar{y}_w and rate=nprior\texttt{rate} = n_{\mathrm{prior}}, so the prior mean for the rate matches yˉw\bar{y}_w. Omitting optional mu resets the surrogate Normal summaries mu and the sole diagonal element of Sigma to these Gamma moments (Sigma_{11} = yˉw/nprior\bar{y}_w / n_{\mathrm{prior}}).

For Gaussian families, Prior_Setup() also constructs the dispersion-free covariance

Σ0=Σ/dispersion,\Sigma_0 = \Sigma / \texttt{dispersion},

which under scalar pwt and the default calibration reduces to

Σ0=1pwtpwt(XWX)1.\Sigma_0 = \frac{1 - \mathrm{pwt}}{\mathrm{pwt}} (X^\top W X)^{-1}.

Gaussian Normal–Gamma calibration and SmargS_{\mathrm{marg}}

For family = gaussian(), the function performs the Normal–Gamma calibration described in (Nygren 2025). Let:

  • p=ncol(x)p = \texttt{ncol}(x),

  • neffective=iwin_{\mathrm{effective}} = \sum_i w_i,

  • β^\hat\beta the weighted least-squares estimator,

  • Σ0\Sigma_0 the dispersion-free prior covariance.

The marginal quadratic term is

Smarg=RSSw+(β^μ)(Σ0+(XWX)1)1(β^μ),S_{\mathrm{marg}} = \mathrm{RSS}_w + (\hat\beta - \mu)^\top \left(\Sigma_0 + (X^\top W X)^{-1}\right)^{-1} (\hat\beta - \mu),

where RSSw\mathrm{RSS}_w is the weighted residual sum of squares at β^\hat\beta. Under the default scalar-pwt Zellner mapping Σ0=1pwtpwt(XWX)1\Sigma_0 = \frac{1 - \mathrm{pwt}}{\mathrm{pwt}}(X^\top W X)^{-1}, this simplifies to

Smarg=RSSw+pwt(β^μ)(XWX)(β^μ),S_{\mathrm{marg}} = \mathrm{RSS}_w + \mathrm{pwt}\, (\hat\beta - \mu)^\top (X^\top W X)(\hat\beta - \mu),

which makes the limiting behavior as pwt0\mathrm{pwt} \to 0 transparent.

The calibrated dispersion is

dispersion=Smargneffectivep,\texttt{dispersion} = \frac{S_{\mathrm{marg}}}{n_{\mathrm{effective}} - p},

and the Normal–Gamma hyperparameters are

shape=nprior+k2,rate=12Smargnprior+k+p2neffectivep.\text{shape} = \frac{n_{\mathrm{prior}} + k}{2},\qquad \text{rate} = \frac{1}{2} S_{\mathrm{marg}} \frac{n_{\mathrm{prior}} + k + p - 2}{n_{\mathrm{effective}} - p}.

The independent Normal–Gamma shape is

shapeING=shape+p2.\text{shape}_{ING} = \text{shape} + \frac{p}{2}.

Posterior summaries for the conjugate Normal–Gamma prior

Under the conjugate Normal–Gamma prior (used by dNormal_Gamma()), the posterior has:

  • Posterior mean

    E[βy]=(1pwt)β^+pwtμ.E[\beta \mid y] = (1 - \mathrm{pwt})\,\hat\beta + \mathrm{pwt}\,\mu.

  • Posterior expectation of σ2\sigma^2

    E[σ2y]=Smargneffectivep.E[\sigma^2 \mid y] = \frac{S_{\mathrm{marg}}}{n_{\mathrm{effective}} - p}.

  • Posterior covariance

    Cov(βy)=E[σ2y](Σ01+XWX)1.\mathrm{Cov}(\beta \mid y) = E[\sigma^2 \mid y]\, \left(\Sigma_0^{-1} + X^\top W X\right)^{-1}.

Weak-prior limits (Theorems 2 and 3)

As nprior0+n_{\mathrm{prior}} \to 0^+ (equivalently pwt0\mathrm{pwt} \to 0), SmargRSSwS_{\mathrm{marg}} \to \mathrm{RSS}_w, and the conjugate Normal–Gamma posterior converges to the classical weighted least-squares limit:

E[βy]β^,E[σ2y]RSSwneffectivep,Cov(βy)RSSwneffectivep(XWX)1.E[\beta \mid y] \to \hat\beta,\qquad E[\sigma^2 \mid y] \to \frac{\mathrm{RSS}_w}{n_{\mathrm{effective}} - p},\qquad \mathrm{Cov}(\beta \mid y) \to \frac{\mathrm{RSS}_w}{n_{\mathrm{effective}} - p} (X^\top W X)^{-1}.

For the independent Normal–Gamma prior used by dIndependent_Normal_Gamma(), neither the posterior mean nor the posterior covariance is available in closed form; the posterior must be obtained by numerical integration or sampling (e.g., rindepNormalGamma_reg()). Theorem 3 in (Nygren 2025) shows that the ING posterior has the same weak-prior limit as the conjugate Normal–Gamma posterior:

E[βy]β^,Cov(βy)RSSwneffectivep(XWX)1.E[\beta \mid y] \to \hat\beta,\qquad \mathrm{Cov}(\beta \mid y) \to \frac{\mathrm{RSS}_w}{n_{\mathrm{effective}} - p} (X^\top W X)^{-1}.

Value

A list of class "PriorSetup" with components:

mu

Prior mean vector (length equal to the number of coefficients).

Sigma

Coefficient-scale prior variance–covariance matrix.

Sigma_0

For family = gaussian() only: dispersion-independent prior covariance on the precision-weighted coefficient scale (the Sigma_0 passed to compute_gaussian_prior). Under scalar pwt, Σ01=pwt1pwtXWX\Sigma_0^{-1} = \frac{\mathrm{pwt}}{1-\mathrm{pwt}} X^\top W X.

dispersion

Calibrated dispersion (Gaussian models only), equal to Smarg/(neffectivep)S_{\mathrm{marg}}/(n_{\mathrm{effective}} - p) under the default calibration.

shape

Derived prior Gamma shape parameter for the Normal–Gamma prior on precision (Gaussian only), (nprior+k)/2(n_{\mathrm{prior}} + k)/2.

shape_ING

For gaussian() only when shape is available: dedicated shape parameter for dIndependent_Normal_Gamma(), shape+p/2\texttt{shape} + p/2.

rate

Derived prior Gamma rate parameter (Gaussian only), using the calibrated SmargS_{\mathrm{marg}}.

rate_gamma

For gaussian() only, when Gaussian calibration runs: prior Gamma rate for dGamma() / fixed-β\beta use, based on RSSw(β)\mathrm{RSS}_w(\beta_\star) at the Zellner blend.

coefficients

Named numeric vector of returned coefficient values. For gaussian() with scalar or vector pwt, this is the closed-form posterior-mean blend (1pwt)β^+pwtμ(1-\mathrm{pwt})\hat\beta + \mathrm{pwt}\mu when inputs are valid; otherwise it falls back to the full-model GLM coefficients.

model

The model frame used to construct the design matrix (if model = TRUE).

x

The model matrix used (if x = TRUE).

y

The response vector used (if y = TRUE).

call

The matched call to Prior_Setup().

PriorSettings

A list containing prior configuration details, including pwt, n_prior, n_effective, n_likelihood, intercept_source, and effects_source.

conj_poisson

NULL unless family = poisson(link = "identity") with a single-column design (intercept-only), scalar pwt, finite positive scalar n_prior, and negligible offset. Then a named list with conjugate Gamma(shape, rate) hyperparameters on the Poisson rate, with shape=nprioryˉw\texttt{shape} = n_{\mathrm{prior}}\,\bar{y}_w, rate=nprior\texttt{rate} = n_{\mathrm{prior}}, and beta centered at the weighted sample mean yˉw\bar{y}_w; pass to dGamma with Inv_Dispersion = FALSE. See Details.

References

Nygren K (2025). “Chapter A12: Technical Derivations for Priors Returned by Prior_ Setup.” Vignette in the glmbayes R package. R vignette name: Chapter-A12.

See Also

pfamily for prior-family objects and the constructors dNormal, dNormal_Gamma, dGamma, and dIndependent_Normal_Gamma.

rglmb, rlmb for matrix-input fits with a pfamily built from Prior_Setup() output; rglmb, rlmb for matrix-based sampling that consumes the same prior structure; simfuncs for functions that take a prior_list assembled from those components (including rindepNormalGamma_reg for dIndependent_Normal_Gamma()). multi_prior_setup for a matrix/cbind response with Gaussian; use with rlmb Prior_Setup per column.

(Zellner 1986); (Raiffa and Schlaifer 1961); (Gelman et al. 2013); (McCullagh and Nelder 1989); (Nygren 2025); (Nygren 2025).

Other prior: Prior_Check(), multi_prior_setup()

Examples

## Dobson (1990) Page 93: Randomized Controlled Trial :
counts <- c(18, 17, 15, 20, 10, 20, 25, 13, 12)
outcome <- gl(3, 1, 9)
treatment <- gl(3, 3)
print(d.AD <- data.frame(treatment, outcome, counts))

## Set up Prior for Poisson Model
ps <- Prior_Setup(counts ~ outcome + treatment, family = poisson())
ps

## Annette Dobson (1990) "An Introduction to Generalized Linear Models".
## Page 9: Plant Weight Data.
ctl <- c(4.17, 5.58, 5.18, 6.11, 4.50, 4.61, 5.17, 4.53, 5.33, 5.14)
trt <- c(4.81, 4.17, 4.41, 3.59, 5.87, 3.83, 6.03, 4.89, 4.32, 4.69)
group <- gl(2, 10, 20, labels = c("Ctl", "Trt"))
weight <- c(ctl, trt)

## Set up prior for gaussian model
ps2 <- Prior_Setup(weight ~ group, family = gaussian())
ps2

## -------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Matrix-input bridge: use Prior_Setup outputs with rglmb() and rlmb()
## -------------------------------------------------------------------------
y <- ps2$y
x <- as.matrix(ps2$x)
wt <- rep(1, length(y))

rglmb.D9 <- rglmb(
  n = 1000,
  y = y,
  x = x,
  pfamily = dIndependent_Normal_Gamma(
    ps2$mu,
    ps2$Sigma,
    shape = ps2$shape_ING,
    rate = ps2$rate
  ),
  weights = wt,
  family = gaussian()
)

rlmb.D9 <- rlmb(
  n = 1000,
  y = y,
  x = x,
  pfamily = dIndependent_Normal_Gamma(
    ps2$mu,
    ps2$Sigma,
    shape = ps2$shape_ING,
    rate = ps2$rate
  ),
  weights = wt
)

## -------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Prior-list templates for lower-level samplers
## -------------------------------------------------------------------------
prior_list_rNormalGamma <- list(
  mu = ps2$mu,
  Sigma = ps2$Sigma_0,
  shape = ps2$shape,
  rate = ps2$rate
)

prior_list_rindepNormalGamma <- list(
  mu = ps2$mu,
  Sigma = ps2$Sigma,
  dispersion = ps2$dispersion,
  shape = ps2$shape_ING,
  rate = ps2$rate,
  Precision = solve(ps2$Sigma),
  max_disp_perc = 0.99
)

rate_dg <- if (!is.null(ps2$rate_gamma)) ps2$rate_gamma else ps2$rate
prior_list_rGamma <- list(
  beta = ps2$coefficients,
  shape = ps2$shape,
  rate = rate_dg
)

## Note: for a full dGamma run across rGamma_reg/rglmb/rlmb, see:
## example("summary.rGamma_reg")

## -------------------------------------------------------------------------
## dGamma prior illustration: Prior_Setup(shape, rate_gamma or rate) + fixed beta
## -------------------------------------------------------------------------
out.rGamma_reg <- rGamma_reg(
  n = 1000,
  y = y,
  x = x,
  prior_list = prior_list_rGamma,
  offset = rep(0, length(y)),
  weights = wt,
  family = gaussian()
)

## -------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Poisson(link = "identity"), intercept-only: `conj_poisson` + dGamma(Inv_Dispersion=FALSE)
## -------------------------------------------------------------------------
y_p <- c(rep(1L, 3L), rep(0L, 6L))
df_p <- data.frame(y = y_p)
ps_p <- Prior_Setup(
  y ~ 1,
  family = poisson(link = "identity"),
  data = df_p,
  pwt = 0.4
)
if (!is.null(ps_p$conj_poisson)) {
  cp <- ps_p$conj_poisson
  pf_conj <- dGamma(shape = cp$shape, rate = cp$rate, beta = cp$beta, Inv_Dispersion = FALSE)
  ## rglmb(n = 500, y = ps_p$y, x = as.matrix(ps_p$x),
  ##       pfamily = pf_conj, family = poisson(link = "identity"), weights = rep(1, length(ps_p$y)))
}

Deviance Residuals for rglmb and summary.rglmb Objects

Description

Returns a matrix of deviance residuals across posterior draws, using the fitted object's family$dev.resids function as in residuals.glm.

Usage

## S3 method for class 'rglmb'
residuals(object, ysim = NULL, ...)

## S3 method for class 'summary.rglmb'
residuals(object, ysim = NULL, ...)

## S3 method for class 'rlmb'
residuals(object, ysim = NULL, ...)

Arguments

object

an object of class rglmb, rlmb, or summary.rglmb.

ysim

optional simulated responses (matrix with one row per draw).

...

further arguments (currently unused).

Value

A numeric matrix of deviance residuals with one row per draw.

See Also

rglmb, summary.rglmb, residuals.glm.


The Bayesian Generalized Linear Model Distribution

Description

rglmb is used to generate iid samples for Bayesian Generalized Linear Models. The model is specified by providing a data vector, a design matrix, the family (determining the likelihood function) and the pfamily (determining the prior distribution).

Usage

rglmb(
  n = 1,
  y,
  x,
  family = gaussian(),
  pfamily,
  offset = NULL,
  weights = 1,
  Gridtype = 2,
  n_envopt = NULL,
  use_parallel = TRUE,
  use_opencl = FALSE,
  verbose = FALSE
)

## S3 method for class 'rglmb'
print(x, digits = max(3, getOption("digits") - 3), ...)

Arguments

n

number of draws to generate. If length(n) > 1, the length is taken to be the number required.

y

a vector of observations of length m.

x

for rglmb a design matrix of dimension m * p and for print.rglmb the object to be printed.

family

a description of the error distribution and link function to be used in the model.

pfamily

a description of the prior distribution (see pfamily).

offset

this can be used to specify an a priori known component to be included in the linear predictor.

weights

an optional vector of prior weights to be used in the fitting process.

Gridtype

an optional argument specifying the method used to determine tangent points for the envelope.

n_envopt

Effective sample size passed to EnvelopeOpt for grid construction. Defaults to match n. Larger values encourage tighter envelopes.

use_parallel

Logical. Whether to use parallel processing during simulation.

use_opencl

Logical. Whether to use OpenCL acceleration during Envelope construction.

verbose

Logical. Whether to print progress messages.

digits

the number of significant digits to use when printing.

...

further arguments passed to or from other methods.

Details

The function rglmb is a minimalistic engine for Bayesian generalized linear model simulation. It is designed to generate independent draws from the posterior distribution of a GLM, given a design matrix, Unlike formula-based interfaces in glmbayes, rglmb operates directly on numeric inputs and is optimized for speed, transparency, and integration into simulation workflows.

The original R implementation of glm was written by Simon Davies (under Ross Ihaka at the University of Auckland) and has since been extensively rewritten by members of the R Core Team; its design was inspired by the S function described in (Hastie and Pregibon 1992), which in turn relies on the formula framework described in (Wilkinson and Rogers 1973).

The design of the pfamily family of functions was created by Kjell Nygren and is modeled on how glm uses family to specify the likelihood. For any implemented combination of family, link, and pfamily, rglmb generates independent draws from the posterior density-no MCMC chains are required.

A helper, Prior_Setup, assists users in choosing prior parameters. It ships with sensible defaults but also allows full customization. In particular, the default for dNormal is a reparameterization of Zellner's g-prior (Zellner 1986).

Currently supported response families are gaussian (identity link), poisson and quasipoisson (log link), gamma (log link), and binomial and quasibinomial (logit, probit, cloglog). All families support a dNormal prior; the Gaussian family also offers dNormalGamma and dIndependent_Normal_Gamma.

For the Gaussian family, draws under dNormal and dNormalGamma come from posterior distributions resulting from conjugate prior distributions (Raiffa and Schlaifer 1961). For all other priors or response families, we use an accept-reject sampler built on the likelihood-subgradient envelope method (Nygren and Nygren 2006). The Gridtype argument controls how many tangent points are used in the envelope-trading off envelope tightness against construction cost-and iters reports candidate counts before acceptance.

By default, rglmb draws n = 1 sample, uses parallel CPU simulation, and-if use_opencl = TRUE- GPU-accelerated envelope building. The function returns a list containing posterior samples, prior specifications, dispersion estimates, and the envelope used during sampling. It does not return a full model object, and does not support formula-based modeling or method dispatch. It is intended for Gibbs sampling implementations or other workflows where full model reconstruction is unnecessary.

Value

rglmb returns a object of class "rglmb". The generic accessor functions coefficients and fitted.values can be used to extract useful features of the value returned by rglmb. An object of class "rglmb" is a list containing at least the following components:

coefficients

a matrix of dimension n by length(mu) with one sample in each row

coef.mode

a vector of length(mu) with the estimated posterior mode coefficients

dispersion

Either a constant provided as part of the call, or a vector of length n with one sample in each row.

Prior

A list with the priors specified for the model in question. Items in the list may vary based on the type of prior

prior.weights

a vector of weights specified or implied by the model

y

a vector with the dependent variable

x

a matrix with the implied design matrix for the model

famfunc

Family functions used during estimation process

iters

an n by 1 matrix giving the number of candidates generated before acceptance for each sample.

Envelope

the envelope that was used during sampling

Objects of class "rglmb" are normally of class c("rglmb","glmb","glm","lm"), meaning they inherit from glmb, glm, and lm. This allows methods defined for these upstream classes to be applied to "rglmb" objects when appropriate, while supporting extensions for regularized Bayesian GLMs with structured priors.

Author(s)

The R implementation of rglmb has been written by Kjell Nygren and was built to be a Bayesian version of the glm function but with a more minimalistic interface than a formula wrapper. It also borrows some of its structure from other random generating function like rnorm and hence the r prefix.

References

Hastie T~J, Pregibon D (1992). “Generalized Linear Models.” In Chambers J~M, Hastie T~J (eds.), Statistical Models in S, chapter 6. Wadsworth & Brooks/Cole, Belmont, CA.

Nygren K~N, Nygren L~M (2006). “Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 1144–1156. doi:10.1198/016214506000000357.

Raiffa H, Schlaifer R (1961). Applied Statistical Decision Theory. Clinton Press, Inc., Boston.

Wilkinson GN, Rogers CE (1973). “Symbolic Descriptions of Factorial Models for Analysis of Variance.” Applied Statistics, 22(3), 392–399. doi:10.2307/2346786.

Zellner A (1986). “On Assessing Prior Distributions and Bayesian Regression Analysis with g‐Prior Distributions.” In Goel P~K, Zellner A (eds.), Bayesian Inference and Decision Techniques: Essays in Honor of Bruno de Finetti, volume 6 of Studies in Bayesian Econometrics and Statistics, 233–243. Elsevier.

See Also

rlmb for the Gaussian specialization; lm and glm for classical modeling functions.

EnvelopeBuild, EnvelopeSize, EnvelopeEval for envelope construction and grid evaluation used in non-conjugate sampling.

family for documentation of family functions used to specify priors. pfamily for documentation of pfamily functions used to specify priors.

Prior_Setup, Prior_Check for functions used to initialize and to check priors,

Further reading: (Nygren and Nygren 2006); (Nygren 2025, 2025); OpenCL/GPU: (Nygren 2025, 2025). summary.rglmb and residuals.rglmb provide posterior summaries for matrix-input fits; additional formula-based methods are in glmbayes.

glmbayes Modeling Functions rlmb()

Examples

set.seed(333)
## Dobson (1990) Page 93: Randomized Controlled Trial :
counts <- c(18, 17, 15, 20, 10, 20, 25, 13, 12)
outcome <- gl(3, 1, 9)
treatment <- gl(3, 3)
print(d.AD <- data.frame(treatment, outcome, counts))

## Classical Model
glm.D93 <- glm(counts ~ outcome + treatment, family = poisson(link = log))
summary(glm.D93)

## Poisson prior and rglmb (Prior_Setup supplies default g-prior hyperparameters)
ps <- Prior_Setup(counts ~ outcome + treatment, family = poisson(), data = d.AD)
rglmb.D93 <- rglmb(
  n = 1000,
  y = ps$y,
  x = as.matrix(ps$x),
  pfamily = dNormal(mu = ps$mu, Sigma = ps$Sigma),
  family = poisson(),
  weights = rep(1, nrow(ps$x))
)
print(rglmb.D93)


## Menarche model with informative prior. See \code{\link{Prior_Setup}}
## for default g-priors; fitted curves for the menarche data are shown below.
## See \code{vignette("Chapter-05", package = "glmbayes")}
## and \code{vignette("Chapter-06", package = "glmbayes")}.
data(menarche, package = "MASS")

summary(menarche)
design_df <- data.frame(
  Age = menarche$Age,
  Age2 = menarche$Age - 13,
  Proportion = menarche$Menarche / menarche$Total,
  Total = menarche$Total
)
x <- model.matrix(~ Age2, data = design_df)
y <- design_df$Proportion
wt <- design_df$Total

# Extract coefficient names from design matrix
coef_names <- colnames(x)

# Set up prior mean with names
mu <- matrix(0, nrow = length(coef_names), ncol = 1)
mu[2, 1] <- (log(0.9 / 0.1) - log(0.5 / 0.5)) / 3
rownames(mu) <- coef_names

# Set up prior covariance matrix with named rows and columns
V1 <- 1 * diag(as.numeric(2.0))

# 2 standard deviations for prior estimate at age 13 between 0.1 and 0.9
## Specifies uncertainty around the point estimates
V1[1, 1] <- ((log(0.9 / 0.1) - log(0.5 / 0.5)) / 2)^2
V1[2, 2] <- (3 * mu[2, 1] / 2)^2 # Allows slope to be up to 3 times as large as point estimate
rownames(V1) <- coef_names
colnames(V1) <- coef_names

out <- rglmb(
  n = 1000, y = y, x = x, pfamily = dNormal(mu = mu, Sigma = V1), weights = wt,
  family = binomial(logit)
)
print(out)

## rglmb with dGamma prior (dispersion-only; coefficients fixed)
ctl <- c(4.17, 5.58, 5.18, 6.11, 4.50, 4.61, 5.17, 4.53, 5.33, 5.14)
trt <- c(4.81, 4.17, 4.41, 3.59, 5.87, 3.83, 6.03, 4.89, 4.32, 4.69)
group <- gl(2, 10, 20, labels = c("Ctl", "Trt"))
weight <- c(ctl, trt)
ps_dg <- Prior_Setup(weight ~ group, family = gaussian())
rate_dg <- if (!is.null(ps_dg$rate_gamma)) ps_dg$rate_gamma else ps_dg$rate
out_dGamma <- rglmb(
  n = 100, y = ps_dg$y, x = as.matrix(ps_dg$x),
  pfamily = dGamma(shape = ps_dg$shape, rate = rate_dg, beta = ps_dg$coefficients),
  weights = rep(1, length(ps_dg$y)), family = gaussian()
)
print(out_dGamma)

The Bayesian Gaussian Regression with Independent Normal-Gamma Prior in Standard Form

Description

rIndepNormalGammaReg_std generates iid samples from a Bayesian Gaussian regression model with an independent Normal-Gamma prior, in standard form. The function should only be called after standardization and envelope construction (e.g., via EnvelopeOrchestrator).

Usage

rIndepNormalGammaReg_std(
  n,
  y,
  x,
  mu,
  P,
  alpha,
  wt,
  f2,
  Envelope,
  gamma_list,
  UB_list,
  family,
  link,
  progbar = TRUE,
  verbose = FALSE
)

Arguments

n

Number of draws to generate. If length(n) > 1, the length is taken to be the number required.

y

A vector of observations of length m.

x

A design matrix of dimension m * p.

mu

A matrix of prior means (typically standardized to zero) of dimension p * 1.

P

A positive-definite matrix of dimension p * p specifying the prior precision component shifted into the log-likelihood.

alpha

A numeric vector of length m for the offset-adjusted mean component. See model.offset.

wt

An optional vector of prior weights. Should be NULL or a numeric vector.

f2

Function used to calculate the negative of the log-posterior (kept for signature parity with rNormalGLM_std).

Envelope

An envelope object containing PLSD, loglt, logrt, cbars, and related components from EnvelopeOrchestrator.

gamma_list

A list with shape3, rate2, disp_lower, and disp_upper from the Gamma posterior for the dispersion.

UB_list

A list with lg_prob_factor, UB2min, RSS_Min, and other bounds from EnvelopeOrchestrator.

family

Character vector specifying the family (e.g., "gaussian").

link

Character vector specifying the link (e.g., "identity").

progbar

Logical. Whether to display a progress bar during simulation.

verbose

Logical. Whether to print diagnostic messages.

Details

This function uses the envelope and dispersion bounds from EnvelopeOrchestrator to sample from the joint posterior of coefficients and dispersion via rejection sampling. It is typically called internally by rindepNormalGamma_reg(), but may be used directly for custom split workflows (e.g., after constructing the envelope separately).

Value

A list with components:

beta_out

A matrix of simulated regression coefficients in standardized space. Each row is one draw.

disp_out

A vector of dispersion draws for each sample.

iters_out

A vector of iteration counts (candidates per acceptance) for each draw.

weight_out

A vector of weights (typically all ones).

See Also

EnvelopeOrchestrator for envelope construction, rNormalGLM_std for the non-Gaussian standardized sampler, rindepNormalGamma_reg for the full simulation routine.

Examples

############################### Start of rIndepNormalGammaReg_std example ####################

# This example demonstrates calling rIndepNormalGammaReg_std directly for Gaussian
# regression with an independent Normal-Gamma prior. It uses Ex_EnvelopeDispersionBuild
# as a starting point (Steps A through F: EnvelopeCentering, mode optimization,
# standardization, EnvelopeBuild, EnvelopeDispersionBuild, EnvelopeSort), then
# adds sampling and back-transformation to unstandardized form (like the C++ code
# and rNormalGLM_std).

ctl <- c(4.17, 5.58, 5.18, 6.11, 4.50, 4.61, 5.17, 4.53, 5.33, 5.14)
trt <- c(4.81, 4.17, 4.41, 3.59, 5.87, 3.83, 6.03, 4.89, 4.32, 4.69)
group <- gl(2, 10, 20, labels = c("Ctl", "Trt"))
weight <- c(ctl, trt)

ps <- Prior_Setup(weight ~ group, gaussian())

x <- as.matrix(ps$x)
y <- as.vector(ps$y)
mu <- ps$mu
Sigma <- ps$Sigma
shape <- ps$shape
rate <- ps$rate

n_obs <- length(y)
wt <- rep(1, n_obs)
offset2 <- rep(0, n_obs)

# Reconstruct coefficient precision P (matches rindepNormalGamma_reg)
Rchol <- chol(Sigma)
Pinv <- chol2inv(Rchol)
P <- 0.5 * (Pinv + t(Pinv))

famfunc <- glmbfamfunc(gaussian())
f2 <- famfunc$f2
f3 <- famfunc$f3

Gridtype_core <- as.integer(2)

###############################################################################
# Step A: EnvelopeCentering (initial dispersion + dispersion anchoring loop)
###############################################################################
centering <- EnvelopeCentering(
  y = y,
  x = x,
  mu = as.vector(mu),
  P = P,
  offset = offset2,
  wt = wt,
  shape = shape,
  rate = rate,
  Gridtype = Gridtype_core,
  verbose = FALSE
)

dispersion2 <- centering$dispersion
RSS_Post2 <- centering$RSS_post

n_w <- sum(wt)

###############################################################################
# Step B: Coefficient posterior mode optimization (optim + f2/f3)
###############################################################################
dispstar <- dispersion2

wt2_opt <- wt / dispstar
alpha <- as.vector(x %*% as.vector(mu) + offset2)

mu2 <- rep(0, length(as.vector(mu)))   # mu2 = 0 * mu (as in C++)
parin <- rep(0, length(as.vector(mu))) # parin = 0 vector (mu - mu)

opt_out <- optim(
  par = parin,
  fn = f2,
  gr = f3,
  y = as.vector(y),
  x = as.matrix(x),
  mu = as.vector(mu2),
  P = as.matrix(P),
  alpha = as.vector(alpha),
  wt = as.vector(wt2_opt),
  method = "BFGS",
  hessian = TRUE
)

bstar <- opt_out$par
A1 <- opt_out$hessian

###############################################################################
# Step C: Standardize model (glmb_Standardize_Model)
###############################################################################
Standard_Mod <- glmb_Standardize_Model(
  y = as.vector(y),
  x = as.matrix(x),
  P = as.matrix(P),
  bstar = as.matrix(bstar, ncol = 1),
  A1 = as.matrix(A1)
)

bstar2 <- Standard_Mod$bstar2
A <- Standard_Mod$A
x2_std <- Standard_Mod$x2
mu2_std <- Standard_Mod$mu2
P2_std <- Standard_Mod$P2
L2Inv <- Standard_Mod$L2Inv
L3Inv <- Standard_Mod$L3Inv

###############################################################################
# Step D: EnvelopeBuild (coefficient envelope at Gridtype = 3)
###############################################################################
max_disp_perc <- 0.99
n_env <- as.integer(200) # used by EnvelopeBuild for diagnostics/overhead
Gridtype_env <- as.integer(3) # EnvelopeOrchestrator overrides to 3

shape2_env <- shape + n_w / 2.0
rate3_env <- rate + RSS_Post2 / 2.0
d1_star <- rate3_env / (shape2_env - 1.0)

wt2_env <- wt / d1_star

Env2 <- EnvelopeBuild(
  bStar = as.vector(bstar2),
  A = as.matrix(A),
  y = as.vector(y),
  x = as.matrix(x2_std),
  mu = as.matrix(mu2_std, ncol = 1),
  P = as.matrix(P2_std),
  alpha = as.vector(alpha),
  wt = as.vector(wt2_env),
  family = "gaussian",
  link = "identity",
  Gridtype = Gridtype_env,
  n = n_env,
  n_envopt = as.integer(1),
  sortgrid = FALSE,
  use_opencl = FALSE,
  verbose = FALSE
)

###############################################################################
# Step E: EnvelopeDispersionBuild (dispersion-aware envelope)
###############################################################################
disp_env_out <- EnvelopeDispersionBuild(
  Env = Env2,
  Shape = shape,
  Rate = rate,
  P = as.matrix(P2_std),
  y = as.vector(y),
  x = as.matrix(x2_std),
  alpha = as.vector(alpha),
  n_obs = as.integer(n_obs),
  RSS_post = RSS_Post2,
  RSS_ML = NA_real_,
  mu = as.matrix(mu2_std, ncol = 1),
  wt = as.vector(wt),
  max_disp_perc = max_disp_perc,
  disp_lower = NULL,
  disp_upper = NULL,
  verbose = FALSE,
  use_parallel = TRUE
)

###############################################################################
# Step F: EnvelopeSort (mirror EnvelopeOrchestrator: disp_grid_type = 2)
###############################################################################
Env3_raw <- disp_env_out$Env_out
UB_list_new <- disp_env_out$UB_list
gamma_list_new <- disp_env_out$gamma_list

cbars <- Env3_raw$cbars
l1 <- ncol(cbars)
l2 <- nrow(cbars)

logP_vec <- Env3_raw$logP
logP_mat <- matrix(logP_vec, nrow = length(logP_vec), ncol = 1)

Env3 <- EnvelopeSort(
  l1 = l1,
  l2 = l2,
  GIndex = Env3_raw$GridIndex,
  G3 = Env3_raw$thetabars,
  cbars = cbars,
  logU = Env3_raw$logU,
  logrt = Env3_raw$logrt,
  loglt = Env3_raw$loglt,
  logP = logP_mat,
  LLconst = Env3_raw$LLconst,
  PLSD = Env3_raw$PLSD,
  a1 = Env3_raw$a1,
  E_draws = Env3_raw$E_draws,
  lg_prob_factor = UB_list_new$lg_prob_factor,
  UB2min = UB_list_new$UB2min
)

UB_list_final <- UB_list_new
UB_list_final$lg_prob_factor <- Env3$lg_prob_factor
UB_list_final$UB2min <- Env3$UB2min

env_final <- list(
  Env = Env3,
  gamma_list = gamma_list_new,
  UB_list = UB_list_final,
  diagnostics = disp_env_out$diagnostics,
  low = gamma_list_new$disp_lower,
  upp = gamma_list_new$disp_upper
)

###############################################################################
# Step G: Sample via rIndepNormalGammaReg_std (standardized space)
###############################################################################
n <- as.integer(100)
sim <- rIndepNormalGammaReg_std(
  n = n,
  y = as.vector(y),
  x = as.matrix(x2_std),
  mu = as.matrix(mu2_std, ncol = 1),
  P = as.matrix(P2_std),
  alpha = as.vector(alpha),
  wt = as.vector(wt),
  f2 = f2,
  Envelope = env_final$Env,
  gamma_list = env_final$gamma_list,
  UB_list = env_final$UB_list,
  family = "gaussian",
  link = "identity",
  progbar = FALSE,
  verbose = FALSE
)

###############################################################################
# Step H: Back-transform to unstandardized form (mirror C++ and rNormalGLM_std)
###############################################################################
# beta_out is n x p (one draw per row); t(beta_out) is p x n
coef_unstd <- L2Inv %*% L3Inv %*% t(sim$beta_out)
for (i in seq_len(n)) {
  coef_unstd[, i] <- coef_unstd[, i] + as.vector(mu)
}
coefficients <- t(coef_unstd)  # n x p, one draw per row
colnames(coefficients) <- colnames(x)

###############################################################################
# Summary output
###############################################################################
summary(coefficients)
mean(sim$iters_out)
sim$disp_out[1:5]

###############################################################################
# End of rIndepNormalGammaReg_std example
###############################################################################

The Bayesian Linear Model Distribution

Description

rlmb is used to generate iid samples from Bayesian Linear Models with multivariate normal priors. The model is specified by providing a data vector, a design matrix, and a pfamily (determining the prior distribution).

Usage

rlmb(
  n = 1,
  y,
  x,
  pfamily,
  offset = rep(0, nobs),
  weights = NULL,
  Gridtype = 2,
  n_envopt = NULL,
  use_parallel = TRUE,
  use_opencl = FALSE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  progbar = FALSE
)

## S3 method for class 'rlmb'
print(x, digits = max(3, getOption("digits") - 3), ...)

Arguments

n

number of draws to generate. If length(n) > 1, the length is taken to be the number required.

y

a vector of observations of length m.

x

for rlmb a design matrix of dimension m * p and for print.rlmb the object to be printed.

pfamily

a description of the prior distribution and associated constants to be used in the model. This should be a pfamily function (see pfamily for details of pfamily functions.)

offset

an optional numeric vector of known offset to be included in the linear predictor.

weights

an optional numeric vector of prior weights for the observations.

Gridtype

an optional argument specifying tangent points for envelope construction.

n_envopt

Effective sample size passed to EnvelopeOpt for grid construction.

use_parallel

Logical. Whether to use parallel processing during simulation.

use_opencl

Logical. Whether to use OpenCL acceleration during Envelope construction.

verbose

Logical. Whether to print progress messages.

progbar

Logical. Whether to display a progress base during simulation.

digits

the number of significant digits to use when printing.

...

further arguments passed to or from other methods.

Details

The function rlmb is a minimalistic Bayesian simulation engine for Gaussian linear models. It bypasses classical model fitting and formula parsing, operating directly on numeric inputs such as the design matrix, response vector, and prior specification via the pfamily argument. Internally, rlmb generates independent draws from the posterior distribution using multivariate normal simulation when conjugate priors are specified.

The modeling framework follows (Wilkinson and Rogers 1973), and the prior structure builds on the S system (Chambers 1992), Zellner's g-prior (Zellner 1986), and the conjugate prior formulation of Raiffa and Schlaifer (Raiffa and Schlaifer 1961).

Prior specification is handled via the pfamily argument, which defines the prior mean, covariance, and dispersion. The design of the pfamily family of functions was created by Kjell Nygren and is modeled on how glm uses family to specify the likelihood. A helper function, Prior_Setup, assists users in choosing prior parameters. It ships with sensible defaults but also allows full customization. Available priors include the dNormal, dNormalGamma and dIndependent_Normal_Gamma priors. The last of these allows for more flexible prior structures including independent priors on variance components.

Posterior draws are generated using standard simulation procedures for conjugate priors (Raiffa and Schlaifer 1961). For non-conjugate setups, the function uses envelope-based accept-reject sampling via the likelihood-subgradient method (Nygren and Nygren 2006). The Gridtype parameter controls how many tangent points are used to construct the envelope-trading off tightness against computational cost- and the iters component reports the number of candidate samples generated before acceptance.

The output includes posterior samples, prior specifications, dispersion estimates, and envelope diagnostics. Use summary.rlmb (same implementation as summary.rglmb) for posterior summaries and DIC-style output. Formula-based predict methods are provided by glmbayes when that package is installed.

Value

rlmb returns a object of class "rlmb". The generic accessor functions coefficients and fitted.values can be used to extract useful features of the value returned by rlmb. An object of class "rlmb" is a list containing at least the following components:

coefficients

a matrix of dimension n by length(mu) with one sample in each row

coef.mode

a vector of length(mu) with the estimated posterior mode coefficients

dispersion

Either a constant provided as part of the call, or a vector of length n with one sample in each row.

Prior

A list with the priors specified for the model in question. Items in the list may vary based on the type of prior

prior.weights

a vector of weights specified or implied by the model

y

a vector with the dependent variable

x

a matrix with the implied design matrix for the model

famfunc

Family functions used during estimation process

iters

an n by 1 matrix giving the number of candidates generated before acceptance for each sample.

Envelope

the envelope that was used during sampling

Objects of class "rlmb" are normally of class c("rlmb","rglmb","glmb","glm","lm"), meaning they inherit from rglmb, glmb, glm, and lm. Well-designed methods for these classes will be applied when appropriate, allowing "rlmb" objects to benefit from existing infrastructure while supporting specialized behavior for restricted linear model priors.

References

Chambers JM (1992). “Linear Models.” In Chambers JM, Hastie TJ (eds.), Statistical Models in S, chapter 4, 85–124. Wadsworth & Brooks/Cole, Pacific Grove, CA.

Nygren K~N, Nygren L~M (2006). “Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 1144–1156. doi:10.1198/016214506000000357.

Raiffa H, Schlaifer R (1961). Applied Statistical Decision Theory. Clinton Press, Inc., Boston.

Wilkinson GN, Rogers CE (1973). “Symbolic Descriptions of Factorial Models for Analysis of Variance.” Applied Statistics, 22(3), 392–399. doi:10.2307/2346786.

Zellner A (1986). “On Assessing Prior Distributions and Bayesian Regression Analysis with g‐Prior Distributions.” In Goel P~K, Zellner A (eds.), Bayesian Inference and Decision Techniques: Essays in Honor of Bruno de Finetti, volume 6 of Studies in Bayesian Econometrics and Statistics, 233–243. Elsevier.

See Also

The classical modeling functions lm and glm.

rglmb for the GLM sampler; EnvelopeBuild, EnvelopeOrchestrator for envelope stages used in non-conjugate Gaussian sampling.

pfamily for documentation of pfamily functions used to specify priors.

Prior_Setup, Prior_Check for functions used to initialize and to check priors,

Further reading: (Nygren and Nygren 2006); (Nygren 2025, 2025). User-facing S3 methods for fitted models are provided by glmbayes.

glmbayes Modeling Functions rglmb()

Examples

## Main Example based on Dobson Plant Weight Data 
## Use demo(Ex_07_Schools) for a longer/more complex model

## Annette Dobson (1990) "An Introduction to Generalized Linear Models".
## Page 9: Plant Weight Data.

ctl <- c(4.17, 5.58, 5.18, 6.11, 4.50, 4.61, 5.17, 4.53, 5.33, 5.14)
trt <- c(4.81, 4.17, 4.41, 3.59, 5.87, 3.83, 6.03, 4.89, 4.32, 4.69)
group  <- gl(2, 10, 20, labels = c("Ctl", "Trt"))
weight <- c(ctl, trt)

ps <- Prior_Setup(weight ~ group)
x  <- ps$x
mu <- ps$mu
V  <- ps$Sigma
y <- ps$y
shape    <- ps$shape
rate     <- ps$rate
rate_dg  <- if (!is.null(ps$rate_gamma)) ps$rate_gamma else rate


## Two-Block Gibbs sampler for Plant Weight regression model
set.seed(180)

## Note: iteration counts reduced for CRAN checks; increase for production use
n_burnin  <- 200
n_samples <- 200

## Initilize dispersion to ML estimate
dispersion2 <- ps$dispersion

## Run  burn-in iterations
for (i in 1:n_burnin) {
  ## Update block for regression coefficients
  out1 <- rlmb( n = 1, y = y, x = x,
    pfamily = dNormal(mu = mu, Sigma = V, dispersion = dispersion2) )
  
  ## Update block for dispersion
  out2 <- rlmb(n = 1, y = y, x = x,
    pfamily = dGamma(shape = shape, rate = rate_dg, beta = out1$coefficients[1, ]))
  dispersion2 <- out2$dispersion
}

## Create Objects to store outputs
beta_out <- matrix(0, nrow = n_samples, ncol = 2)
disp_out <- rep(0, n_samples)

for (i in 1:n_samples) {
  ## Update block for regression coefficients
  out1 <- rlmb( n = 1, y = y, x = x,
                pfamily = dNormal(mu = mu, Sigma = V, dispersion = dispersion2) )

  ## Update block for dispersion
  out2 <- rlmb(n = 1, y = y, x = x,
               pfamily = dGamma(shape = shape, rate = rate_dg, beta = out1$coefficients[1, ]))
  dispersion2 <- out2$dispersion
  
  ## Store output
  
  beta_out[i, 1:2] <- out1$coefficients[1, 1:2]
  disp_out[i]      <- out2$dispersion
}

mcmc_two_block <- coda::mcmc(cbind(    beta1 = beta_out[, 1],beta2 = beta_out[, 2],
                                       dispersion = disp_out  ))
  
## Review output
cat("\nCODA summary (Two-block Gibbs):\n")
print(summary(mcmc_two_block))
cat("\nEffective sample size (dispersion):\n")
print(coda::effectiveSize(mcmc_two_block)["dispersion"])

## rlmb with dGamma prior (dispersion-only; coefficients fixed)
out_rlmb_dGamma <- rlmb(n = 100, y = y, x = x,
  pfamily = dGamma(shape = shape, rate = rate_dg, beta = ps$coefficients),
  weights = rep(1, length(y)))
print(out_rlmb_dGamma)

Bayesian Weighted Fitting Engines

Description

These functions provide the Bayesian analogue of lm.wfit. They implement the core weighted least squares step used inside Bayesian linear linear models, incorporating prior precision and posterior mode information.

Usage

rNormal_reg.wfit(
  x,
  y,
  P,
  mu,
  w,
  offset = NULL,
  method = "qr",
  tol = 1e-07,
  singular.ok = TRUE,
  ...
)

glmb.wfit(
  x,
  y,
  weights = rep.int(1, nobs),
  offset = rep.int(0, nobs),
  family = gaussian(),
  Bbar,
  P,
  betastar,
  method = "qr",
  tol = 1e-07,
  singular.ok = TRUE,
  ...
)

Arguments

x

design matrix of dimension n * p.

y

vector of observations of length n, or a matrix with n rows.

P

Prior precision matrix of dimension p * p.

mu

Prior mean vector of length p.

w

vector of weights (length n) to be used in the fitting process for the wfit functions. Weighted least squares is used with weights w, i.e., sum(w * e^2) is minimized.

offset

(numeric of length n). This can be used to specify an a priori known component to be included in the linear predictor during fitting.

method

currently, only method = "qr" is supported.

tol

tolerance for the qr decomposition. Default is 1e-7.

singular.ok

logical. If FALSE, a singular model is an error.

...

currently disregarded.

weights

an optional vector of prior weights to be used in the fitting process. Should be NULL or a numeric vector.

family

a description of the error distribution and link function to be used in the model. Should be a family function. (see family for details of family functions.)

Bbar

Prior mean vector of length p.

betastar

Posterior mode vector of length p which has already been estimated.

Details

rNormal_reg.wfit performs the Bayesian weighted least squares update for linear models under a Normal prior.

glmb.wfit performs the corresponding update for generalized linear models, reconstructing the weighted least squares step using the posterior mode and the GLM family functions.

Value

a list with components:

a list wih components:

Examples

set.seed(333)
## Dobson (1990) Page 93: Randomized Controlled Trial :
counts <- c(18, 17, 15, 20, 10, 20, 25, 13, 12)
outcome <- gl(3, 1, 9)
treatment <- gl(3, 3)

ps <- Prior_Setup(counts ~ outcome + treatment, family = poisson())
mu <- ps$mu
V0 <- ps$Sigma
out <- rglmb(
  n = 1000,
  y = ps$y,
  x = as.matrix(ps$x),
  pfamily = dNormal(mu = mu, Sigma = V0),
  family = poisson(),
  weights = rep(1, nrow(ps$x))
)

betastar <- out$coef.mode
x <- out$x
y <- out$y
offset2 <- 0 * y
weights2 <- out$prior.weights

fit <- glmb.wfit(x, y, weights2, offset2, family = poisson(), Bbar = mu, P = solve(V0), betastar)
influence.measures(fit)

print(fit)
print(out$coef.mode)

mu1 <- 0 * mu
V1 <- 0.1 * V0
out2 <- rglmb(
  n = 1000,
  y = ps$y,
  x = as.matrix(ps$x),
  pfamily = dNormal(mu = mu1, Sigma = V1),
  family = poisson(),
  weights = rep(1, nrow(ps$x))
)

Bbar2 <- mu1
betastar2 <- out2$coef.mode
fit2 <- glmb.wfit(x, y, weights2, offset2, family = poisson(), Bbar2, P = solve(V1), betastar2)

influence.measures(fit2)

print(fit2)
print(out2$coef.mode)

The Bayesian Generalized Linear Model Distribution in Standard Form

Description

rNormalGLM_std is used to generate iid samplers from Non-Gaussian Generalized Linear Models in standard form. The function should only be called after standardization of a Generalized Linear Model.

Usage

rNormalGLM_std(
  n,
  y,
  x,
  mu,
  P,
  alpha,
  wt,
  f2,
  Envelope,
  family,
  link,
  progbar = 1L
)

Arguments

n

number of draws to generate. If length(n) > 1, the length is taken to be the number required.

y

a vector of observations of length m.

x

a design matrix of dimension m * p.

mu

a vector of length p giving the prior means of the variables in the design matrix.

P

a positive-definite symmetric matrix of dimension p * p specifying the prior precision matrix of the variable.

alpha

this can be used to specify an a priori known component to be included in the linear predictor during fitting. This should be NULL or a numeric vector of length equal to the number of cases. One or more offset terms can be included in the formula instead or as well, and if more than one is specified their sum is used. See model.offset.

wt

an optional vector of ‘prior weights’ to be used in the fitting process. Should be NULL or a numeric vector.

f2

function used to calculate the negative of the log-posterior function

Envelope

an object of type glmbenvelope.

family

family used for simulation. Used that this is different from the family used in other functions.

link

link function used for simulation.

progbar

dummy for flagging if a progressbar should be produced during the call

Details

This function uses the information contained in the constructed envelope list in order to sample from a model in standard form. The simulation proceeds as follows in order to generate each draw in the required number of samples.

  1. A random number between 0 and 1 is generated and is used together with the information in the PLSD vector (from the envelope) in order to identify the part of the grid from which a candidate is to be generated.

  2. For the part of the grid selected, the dimensions are looped through and a candidate component for each dimension is generated from a restricted normal using information from the Envelope (in particular, the values for logrt, loglt, and cbars corresponding to that the part of the grid selected and the dimension sampled)

  3. The log-likelihood for the standardized model is evaluated for the generated candidate (note that the log-likelihood here includes the portion of the prior that was shifted to the log-likelihood)

  4. An additional random number is generated and the log of this random number is compared to a log-acceptance rate that is calculated based on the candidate and the LLconst component from the Envelope component selected in order to determine if the candidate should be accepted or rejected

  5. If the candidate was not accepted, the process above is repeated from step 1 until a candidate is accepted

Value

A list consisting of the following:

out

A matrix with simulated draws from a model in standard form. Each row represents one draw from the density

draws

A vector with the number of candidates required before acceptance for each draw

Examples

############################### Start of rNormalGLM_std examples ####################
data(menarche,package="MASS")

summary(menarche)
plot(Menarche/Total ~ Age, data=menarche)

Age2=menarche$Age-13

x<-matrix(as.numeric(1.0),nrow=length(Age2),ncol=2)
x[,2]=Age2

y=menarche$Menarche/menarche$Total
wt=menarche$Total

mu<-matrix(as.numeric(0.0),nrow=2,ncol=1)
mu[2,1]=(log(0.9/0.1)-log(0.5/0.5))/3

V1<-1*diag(as.numeric(2.0))

# 2 standard deviations for prior estimate at age 13 between 0.1 and 0.9
## Specifies uncertainty around the point estimates

V1[1,1]<-((log(0.9/0.1)-log(0.5/0.5))/2)^2 
V1[2,2]=(3*mu[2,1]/2)^2  # Allows slope to be up to 1 times as large as point estimate 

famfunc<-glmbfamfunc(binomial(logit))

f1<-famfunc$f1
f2<-famfunc$f2  # Used in optim and glmbsim_cpp
f3<-famfunc$f3  # Used in optim
f5<-famfunc$f5
f6<-famfunc$f6

dispersion2<-as.numeric(1.0)
start <- mu
offset2=rep(as.numeric(0.0),length(y))
P=solve(V1)
n=1000


###### Adjust weight for dispersion

wt2=wt/dispersion2

######################### Shift mean vector to offset so that adjusted model has 0 mean

alpha=x%*%as.vector(mu)+offset2
mu2=0*as.vector(mu)
P2=P
x2=x


#####  Optimization step to find posterior mode and associated Precision

parin=start-mu

opt_out=optim(parin,f2,f3,y=as.vector(y),x=as.matrix(x),mu=as.vector(mu2),
              P=as.matrix(P),alpha=as.vector(alpha),wt=as.vector(wt2),
              method="BFGS",hessian=TRUE
)

bstar=opt_out$par  ## Posterior mode for adjusted model
bstar
bstar+as.vector(mu)  # mode for actual model
A1=opt_out$hessian # Approximate Precision at mode

## Standardize Model

Standard_Mod=glmb_Standardize_Model(y=as.vector(y), x=as.matrix(x),P=as.matrix(P),
                                    bstar=as.matrix(bstar,ncol=1), A1=as.matrix(A1))

bstar2=Standard_Mod$bstar2  
A=Standard_Mod$A
x2=Standard_Mod$x2
mu2=Standard_Mod$mu2
P2=Standard_Mod$P2
L2Inv=Standard_Mod$L2Inv
L3Inv=Standard_Mod$L3Inv

Env2=EnvelopeBuild(as.vector(bstar2), as.matrix(A),y, as.matrix(x2),
                   as.matrix(mu2,ncol=1),as.matrix(P2),as.vector(alpha),as.vector(wt2),
                   family="binomial",link="logit",Gridtype=as.integer(3), 
                   n=as.integer(n),sortgrid=TRUE)

## These now seem to match

Env2

# The low-level sampler is called below with explicit type coercions.

### Note: getting the types correct here is important but potentially difficult for users
### May be better to call an R function wrapper that checks (and converts when possible) 
##  to correct types

sim=rNormalGLM_std(n=as.integer(n),y=as.vector(y),x=as.matrix(x2),mu=as.matrix(mu2,ncol=1),
                   P=as.matrix(P2),alpha=as.vector(alpha),wt=as.vector(wt2),
                   f2=f2,Envelope=Env2,family="binomial",link="logit",as.integer(0))

out=L2Inv%*%L3Inv%*%t(sim$out)

for(i in 1:n){
  out[,i]=out[,i]+mu
}

summary(t(out))
mean(sim$draws)

Simulation Functions for Bayesian Generalized Linear Models

Description

Simulation functions provide a unified interface for generating posterior samples from Bayesian GLMs. These functions are typically used within model fitting routines such as rglmb and rlmb, and are also suitable for use in Block Gibbs sampling and other simulation-based inference techniques.

Usage

simfunction(object, ...)

rNormal_reg(n, y, x, prior_list, offset = NULL, weights = 1,
            family = gaussian(), Gridtype = 2, n_envopt = NULL,
            use_parallel = TRUE, use_opencl = FALSE, verbose = FALSE,progbar=FALSE)

rNormalGamma_reg(n, y, x, prior_list, offset = NULL, weights = 1, family = gaussian(),
                  Gridtype = 2,n_envopt = NULL, 
                  use_parallel = TRUE, use_opencl = FALSE, verbose = FALSE,progbar=FALSE)

rindepNormalGamma_reg(n, y, x, prior_list, offset = NULL, weights = 1,
                             family = gaussian(), Gridtype = 2,n_envopt = NULL,
                              use_parallel = TRUE, use_opencl = FALSE, verbose = FALSE, 
                             progbar = TRUE)

rGamma_reg(n, y, x, prior_list, offset = NULL, weights = 1, family = gaussian(),
           Gridtype = 2,n_envopt = NULL,
            use_parallel = TRUE, use_opencl = FALSE, verbose = FALSE,progbar=FALSE)

## S3 method for class 'rGamma_reg'
print(x, digits = max(3, getOption("digits") - 3), ...)

## S3 method for class 'simfunction'
print(x, ...)

rGamma_Conjugate_reg(n, y, x, prior_list, offset = NULL, weights = 1, family = gaussian(),
           Gridtype = 2,n_envopt = NULL,
            use_parallel = TRUE, use_opencl = FALSE, verbose = FALSE,progbar=FALSE)

rBeta_reg(n, y, x, prior_list, offset = NULL, weights = 1,
                family = gaussian(), Gridtype = 2, n_envopt = NULL,
                use_parallel = TRUE, use_opencl = FALSE,
                verbose = FALSE, progbar = FALSE)

Arguments

object

A fitted model object containing a pfamily component. The generic function simfunction() accesses the simulation metadata stored within such objects.

n

Number of draws to generate. If length(n) > 1, the length is taken to be the number required.

y

A vector of observations of length m.

x

for the simulation functions a design matrix of dimension m * p and for the print functions the object to be printed.

prior_list

A list with prior parameters (e.g., shape, rate, beta) used in the simulation.

offset

Optional numeric vector of length m specifying known components of the linear predictor.

weights

Optional numeric vector of prior weights.

family

A description of the error distribution and link function (see family).

Gridtype

Optional integer specifying the method used to construct the envelope function.

n_envopt

Effective sample size passed to EnvelopeOpt for grid construction. Defaults to match n. Larger values encourage tighter envelopes.

use_parallel

Logical. Whether to use parallel processing.

use_opencl

Logical. Whether to use OpenCL acceleration.

verbose

Logical. Whether to print progress messages.

progbar

Logical. Whether to display a progress base during simulation.

digits

Number of significant digits to use for printed output.

...

Additional arguments passed to or from other methods.

Details

The low-level simulation functions rNormal_reg(), rNormalGamma_reg(), rindepNormalGamma_reg(), and rGamma_reg() generate iid samples from posterior distributions for specific model components. These model functions are used internally by the functions rglmb() and rlmb() to generate samples.

The simfunction() generic extracts metadata from simulation objects, including the function name, call, and arguments used. This is useful for introspection, reproducibility, and diagnostics.

The lower-level simulation functions generate iid samples from posterior distributions for specific model components. These functions are used internally by pfamily constructors and model fitting routines.

Simulation Functions

  • rNormal_reg(): Produces iid draws for regression coefficients in models with multivariate normal priors and log-concave likelihood functions. For Gaussian likelihoods, these are conjugate priors and standard simulation procedures for multivariate normal distributions are utilized (Lindley and Smith 1972; Diaconis and Ylvisaker 1979). For all other families/link functions, the likelihood subgradient approach of (Nygren and Nygren 2006) is used to generate iid samples.

  • rNormalGamma_reg(): Produces iid draws for regression coefficients and the dispersion parameter in models with Normal-Gamma priors and Gaussian likelihoods, where this is a conjugate prior distribution. Standard simulation procedures for gamma and multivariate normal distributions are utilized (Raiffa and Schlaifer 1961; Lindley and Smith 1972).

  • rindepNormalGamma_reg(): Produces iid draws for regression coefficients and the dispersion parameter in models with independent Normal and truncated Gamma priors. This is a non-conjugate specification but can still be sampled using accept-reject procedures based on an enveloping approach (see vignette (Nygren 2025)).

  • rGamma_reg(): Simulates dispersion parameters for Gaussian and Gamma families using either standard gamma sampling or accept-reject methods based on likelihood subgradients (Chen 1979; Nygren 2025).

Value

simfunction()

An object of class "simfunction" containing:

name

Character string with the name of the simulation function.

call

The matched call used to generate the simulation.

args

A named list of arguments passed to the simulation function.

rNormal_reg()

A list object with classes "rglmb", "glmb", "glm", and "lm". Elements include:

coefficients

Matrix (n * p) of simulated regression coefficients, with column names from x.

coef.mode

Posterior mode of the coefficients. Gaussian: from lm.fit; non-Gaussian: BFGS mode shifted by prior mean.

dispersion

Scalar dispersion used. Poisson/Binomial: 1; otherwise the supplied value. Quasi families: mean residual-based dispersion computed in the wrapper.

Prior

List with mean (prior mean vector) and Precision (prior precision matrix P).

prior.weights

Vector of prior weights used in the simulation (unscaled).

offset

Offset vector passed to the C++ sampler.

offset2

Offset used internally by the wrapper (copy of input or a zero vector).

y

Response vector.

x

Design matrix.

fit

Fitted/diagnostic object. Gaussian: result of lm.fit (class "lm"). Non-Gaussian: result of glmb.wfit(...).

iters

Vector of iteration counts per sample. Gaussian: vector of ones; non-Gaussian: counts from the sampler.

Envelope

Envelope list used for accept-reject sampling (non-Gaussian); NULL for Gaussian.

family

Family object describing distribution and link.

famfunc

Processed family functions used internally (e.g., f2, f3).

call

Matched call to rNormal_reg().

formula

Formula reconstructed from y and x.

model

Model frame corresponding to formula.

data

Data frame combining y and x.

rNormalGamma_reg()

A list with class "rglmb" containing:

coefficients

Matrix (n * p) of simulated regression coefficients; row i equals Btilde + IR %*% rnorm(p) * sqrt(dispersion[i]). Column names are set to colnames(x).

coef.mode

Posterior mean/mode vector Btilde from rNormal_reg.wfit().

dispersion

Numeric vector of length n with draws from the inverse-gamma posterior 1/rgamma(shape = shape + nobs/2, rate = rate + 0.5*S).

Prior

List with mean (as numeric vector mu) and Precision (matrix P).

offset

Offset vector as supplied.

prior.weights

Vector of prior weights wt.

y

Response vector.

x

Design matrix.

fit

Result from rNormal_reg.wfit(), including fields such as Btilde, IR, S, and k.

famfunc

Processed family functions for Gaussian models (from glmbfamfunc(gaussian())).

iters

Numeric vector (length n) of ones indicating per-draw iteration counts.

Envelope

NULL; no envelope is constructed in this conjugate setup.

call

Matched call to rNormalGamma_reg().

rindepNormalGamma_reg()

A list with class "rglmb" containing:

coefficients

Matrix (n * p) of simulated regression coefficients, back-transformed to the original scale; column names set to colnames(x).

coef.mode

Vector with the conditional posterior mode used for envelope anchoring (from the Gaussian fit).

dispersion

Numeric vector of length n with simulated dispersion draws.

Prior

List with prior components: mean (prior mean mu), Sigma (prior covariance), shape and rate (Gamma prior for dispersion), Precision (solve(Sigma)).

family

The gaussian() family object.

prior.weights

Vector of prior weights used in the simulation.

y

Response vector.

x

Design matrix.

call

Matched call to rindepNormalGamma_reg().

famfunc

Processed family functions for Gaussian models (from glmbfamfunc).

iters

Vector with per-draw iteration counts returned by the joint sampler.

Envelope

NULL; envelope diagnostics are not returned by this function.

loglike

NULL; placeholder for log-likelihood values.

weight_out

Numeric vector of per-draw weights returned by the C++ routine.

sim_bounds

List with low and upp, the dispersion bounds used by the shared envelope.

offset2

Offset vector used internally (copy of input or a zero vector).

rGamma_reg()

An object of class "rGamma_reg" containing:

coefficients

A 1 * p matrix of assumed regression coefficients.

coef.mode

Currently NULL; reserved for future use.

dispersion

A vector of simulated dispersion values.

Prior

A list with prior parameters: shape and rate.

prior.weights

Vector of prior weights used in the simulation.

y

The response vector.

Author(s)

The simulation framework was developed by Kjell Nygren as part of the glmbayes package. It builds on the likelihood subgradient approach described in (Nygren and Nygren 2006), and extends classical Bayesian GLM sampling techniques.

References

Chen C (1979). “Bayesian Inference for a Normal Dispersion Matrix and Its Application to Stochastic Multiple Regression Analysis.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series B (Methodological), 41(2), 235–248. doi:10.1111/j.2517-6161.1979.tb01078.x.

Diaconis P, Ylvisaker D (1979). “Conjugate Priors for Exponential Families.” Annals of Statistics, 7(2), 269–281. doi:10.1214/aos/1176344069.

Lindley DV, Smith AFM (1972). “Bayes Estimates for the Linear Model.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series B (Methodological), 34(1), 1–41. doi:10.1111/j.2517-6161.1972.tb00899.x.

Nygren K (2025). “Independent Normal–Gamma Regression Sampler.” Vignette in the glmbayes R package. R vignette name: independent-norm-gamma.

Nygren K (2025). “Gamma Dispersion Sampling in glmbayes.” Vignette in the glmbayes R package. R vignette name: gamma-dispersion.

Nygren K~N, Nygren L~M (2006). “Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 1144–1156. doi:10.1198/016214506000000357.

Raiffa H, Schlaifer R (1961). Applied Statistical Decision Theory. Clinton Press, Inc., Boston.

See Also

pfamily, rglmb, rlmb for modeling functions that consume simulation functions.

rNormal_reg, rNormalGamma_reg, rGamma_reg for individual simulation functions.

EnvelopeBuild, EnvelopeEval, EnvelopeSize for envelope construction and grid evaluation used in likelihood-subgradient sampling.

Theory and implementation narrative: (Nygren and Nygren 2006); (Nygren 2025, 2025).

glmbayes Simulation Functions multi_rNormal_reg(), two_block_l_for_tv(), two_block_mode_weights(), two_block_rNormal_reg(), two_block_rNormal_reg_v2(), two_block_rate(), two_block_rate_v2(), two_block_tv_bound()

glmbayes Simulation Functions multi_rNormal_reg(), two_block_l_for_tv(), two_block_mode_weights(), two_block_rNormal_reg(), two_block_rNormal_reg_v2(), two_block_rate(), two_block_rate_v2(), two_block_tv_bound()

glmbayes Simulation Functions multi_rNormal_reg(), two_block_l_for_tv(), two_block_mode_weights(), two_block_rNormal_reg(), two_block_rNormal_reg_v2(), two_block_rate(), two_block_rate_v2(), two_block_tv_bound()

glmbayes Simulation Functions multi_rNormal_reg(), two_block_l_for_tv(), two_block_mode_weights(), two_block_rNormal_reg(), two_block_rNormal_reg_v2(), two_block_rate(), two_block_rate_v2(), two_block_tv_bound()

glmbayes Simulation Functions multi_rNormal_reg(), two_block_l_for_tv(), two_block_mode_weights(), two_block_rNormal_reg(), two_block_rNormal_reg_v2(), two_block_rate(), two_block_rate_v2(), two_block_tv_bound()

glmbayes Simulation Functions multi_rNormal_reg(), two_block_l_for_tv(), two_block_mode_weights(), two_block_rNormal_reg(), two_block_rNormal_reg_v2(), two_block_rate(), two_block_rate_v2(), two_block_tv_bound()

Examples

############################### Start of rNormal_reg examples ####################
set.seed(333)

## Dobson (1990) Page 93: Randomized Controlled Trial :
counts <- c(18, 17, 15, 20, 10, 20, 25, 13, 12)
outcome <- gl(3, 1, 9)
treatment <- gl(3, 3)
print(d.AD <- data.frame(treatment, outcome, counts))

## Poisson Prior and rNormal_reg call (using Prior_Setup for x, y, and prior values)
ps <- Prior_Setup(counts ~ outcome + treatment, family = poisson(), data = d.AD)

out_pois <- rNormal_reg(
  n = 1000,
  y = ps$y,
  x = ps$x,
  prior_list = list(mu = ps$mu, Sigma = ps$Sigma),
  family = poisson(link = "log"),
  weights = rep(1, nrow(ps$x))
)
print(out_pois)


## Menarche Binomial Data Example
data(menarche, package = "MASS")
menarche$Age2 <- menarche$Age - 13

## Logit Prior and rNormal_reg call (use proportion + trial weights)
ps1 <- Prior_Setup(
  Menarche / Total ~ Age2,
  family = binomial(logit),
  data = menarche,
  weights = menarche$Total
)

out_logit <- rNormal_reg(
  n = 1000,
  y = ps1$y,
  x = ps1$x,
  prior_list = list(mu = ps1$mu, Sigma = ps1$Sigma),
  family = binomial(logit),
  weights = menarche$Total
)
print(out_logit)

## Probit Prior and rNormal_reg call
ps2 <- Prior_Setup(
  Menarche / Total ~ Age2,
  family = binomial(probit),
  data = menarche,
  weights = menarche$Total
)

out_probit <- rNormal_reg(
  n = 1000,
  y = ps2$y,
  x = ps2$x,
  prior_list = list(mu = ps2$mu, Sigma = ps2$Sigma),
  family = binomial(probit),
  weights = menarche$Total
)
print(out_probit)

## clog-log Prior and rNormal_reg call
ps3 <- Prior_Setup(
  Menarche / Total ~ Age2,
  family = binomial(cloglog),
  data = menarche,
  weights = menarche$Total
)

out_cloglog <- rNormal_reg(
  n = 1000,
  y = ps3$y,
  x = ps3$x,
  prior_list = list(mu = ps3$mu, Sigma = ps3$Sigma),
  family = binomial(cloglog),
  weights = menarche$Total
)
print(out_cloglog)


## Gamma regression
data(carinsca)
carinsca$Merit <- ordered(carinsca$Merit)
carinsca$Class <- factor(carinsca$Class)
oldopt <- options(contrasts = c("contr.treatment", "contr.treatment"))

psg <- Prior_Setup(
  Cost / Claims ~ Merit + Class,
  family = Gamma(link = "log"),
  data = carinsca,
  weights = carinsca$Claims
)

out_gamma <- rNormal_reg(
  n = 1000,
  y = psg$y,
  x = psg$x,
  prior_list = list(mu = psg$mu, Sigma = psg$Sigma, dispersion = psg$dispersion),
  family = Gamma(link = "log"),
  weights = carinsca$Claims
)
print(out_gamma)
options(oldopt)
############################### Start of rNormalGamma_reg examples ####################
## Annette Dobson (1990) "An Introduction to Generalized Linear Models".
## Page 9: Plant Weight Data.
ctl <- c(4.17,5.58,5.18,6.11,4.50,4.61,5.17,4.53,5.33,5.14)
trt <- c(4.81,4.17,4.41,3.59,5.87,3.83,6.03,4.89,4.32,4.69)
group <- gl(2, 10, 20, labels = c("Ctl","Trt"))
weight <- c(ctl, trt)

ps=Prior_Setup(weight ~ group)
mu <- ps$mu
shape <- ps$shape
rate <- ps$rate

y <- ps$y
x <- as.matrix(ps$x)
prior_list <- list(mu = mu, Sigma = ps$Sigma_0, shape = shape, rate = rate)
ngamma.D9 <- rNormalGamma_reg(n = 1000, y = y, x = x,
  prior_list = prior_list)

print(ngamma.D9)
############################### Start of rindepNormalGamma_reg examples ####################
## Annette Dobson (1990) "An Introduction to Generalized Linear Models".
## Page 9: Plant Weight Data.
ctl <- c(4.17,5.58,5.18,6.11,4.50,4.61,5.17,4.53,5.33,5.14)
trt <- c(4.81,4.17,4.41,3.59,5.87,3.83,6.03,4.89,4.32,4.69)
group <- gl(2, 10, 20, labels = c("Ctl","Trt"))
weight <- c(ctl, trt)
p_setup <- Prior_Setup(weight ~ group, family = gaussian())

mu <- p_setup$mu
Sigma_prior <- p_setup$Sigma
dispersion <- p_setup$dispersion
shape <- p_setup$shape
rate <- p_setup$rate
y <- p_setup$y
x <- p_setup$x

prior_list <- list(
  mu = mu,
  Sigma = Sigma_prior,
  dispersion = dispersion,
  shape = shape,
  rate = rate,
  Precision = solve(Sigma_prior),
  max_disp_perc = 0.99
)


set.seed(360)

sim2 <- rindepNormalGamma_reg(n = 1000, y, x, prior_list = prior_list)
print(sim2)
 
 
 
 
 
############################### Start of rGamma_reg examples ####################
## Annette Dobson (1990) "An Introduction to Generalized Linear Models".
## Page 9: Plant Weight Data.
ctl <- c(4.17, 5.58, 5.18, 6.11, 4.50, 4.61, 5.17, 4.53, 5.33, 5.14)
trt <- c(4.81, 4.17, 4.41, 3.59, 5.87, 3.83, 6.03, 4.89, 4.32, 4.69)
group <- gl(2, 10, 20, labels = c("Ctl", "Trt"))
weight <- c(ctl, trt)

## Set up prior hyperparameters (shape/rate) and model matrix via Prior_Setup
ps <- Prior_Setup(weight ~ group, family = gaussian())
y <- ps$y
x <- as.matrix(ps$x)

## rGamma_reg uses a dGamma-style prior on dispersion with fixed beta.
## Use coefficients from Prior_Setup (full-model GLM MLE by default).
prior_list <- list(beta = ps$coefficients, shape = ps$shape, rate = ps$rate)

out <- rGamma_reg(n = 1000, y = y, x = x, prior_list = prior_list, family = gaussian())
summary(out)

Low-Level Simulation Pipeline for Bayesian GLMs

Description

A detailed overview of the low-level simulation pipeline used by rglmb() and related functions. These routines implement the optimization -> standardization -> envelope sizing -> envelope construction -> sampling -> back-transformation workflow described in (Nygren and Nygren 2006).

Details

(summaries of each step)

References

Nygren K~N, Nygren L~M (2006). “Likelihood Subgradient Densities.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101(475), 1144–1156. doi:10.1198/016214506000000357.

Examples

############################### Start of rNormalGLM_std examples ####################
data(menarche,package="MASS")

summary(menarche)
plot(Menarche/Total ~ Age, data=menarche)

Age2=menarche$Age-13

x<-matrix(as.numeric(1.0),nrow=length(Age2),ncol=2)
x[,2]=Age2

y=menarche$Menarche/menarche$Total
wt=menarche$Total

mu<-matrix(as.numeric(0.0),nrow=2,ncol=1)
mu[2,1]=(log(0.9/0.1)-log(0.5/0.5))/3

V1<-1*diag(as.numeric(2.0))

# 2 standard deviations for prior estimate at age 13 between 0.1 and 0.9
## Specifies uncertainty around the point estimates

V1[1,1]<-((log(0.9/0.1)-log(0.5/0.5))/2)^2 
V1[2,2]=(3*mu[2,1]/2)^2  # Allows slope to be up to 1 times as large as point estimate 

famfunc<-glmbfamfunc(binomial(logit))

f1<-famfunc$f1
f2<-famfunc$f2  # Used in optim and glmbsim_cpp
f3<-famfunc$f3  # Used in optim
f5<-famfunc$f5
f6<-famfunc$f6

dispersion2<-as.numeric(1.0)
start <- mu
offset2=rep(as.numeric(0.0),length(y))
P=solve(V1)
n=1000


###### Adjust weight for dispersion

wt2=wt/dispersion2

######################### Shift mean vector to offset so that adjusted model has 0 mean

alpha=x%*%as.vector(mu)+offset2
mu2=0*as.vector(mu)
P2=P
x2=x


#####  Optimization step to find posterior mode and associated Precision

parin=start-mu

opt_out=optim(parin,f2,f3,y=as.vector(y),x=as.matrix(x),mu=as.vector(mu2),
              P=as.matrix(P),alpha=as.vector(alpha),wt=as.vector(wt2),
              method="BFGS",hessian=TRUE
)

bstar=opt_out$par  ## Posterior mode for adjusted model
bstar
bstar+as.vector(mu)  # mode for actual model
A1=opt_out$hessian # Approximate Precision at mode

## Standardize Model

Standard_Mod=glmb_Standardize_Model(y=as.vector(y), x=as.matrix(x),P=as.matrix(P),
                                    bstar=as.matrix(bstar,ncol=1), A1=as.matrix(A1))

bstar2=Standard_Mod$bstar2  
A=Standard_Mod$A
x2=Standard_Mod$x2
mu2=Standard_Mod$mu2
P2=Standard_Mod$P2
L2Inv=Standard_Mod$L2Inv
L3Inv=Standard_Mod$L3Inv

Env2=EnvelopeBuild(as.vector(bstar2), as.matrix(A),y, as.matrix(x2),
                   as.matrix(mu2,ncol=1),as.matrix(P2),as.vector(alpha),as.vector(wt2),
                   family="binomial",link="logit",Gridtype=as.integer(3), 
                   n=as.integer(n),sortgrid=TRUE)

## These now seem to match

Env2

# The low-level sampler is called below with explicit type coercions.

### Note: getting the types correct here is important but potentially difficult for users
### May be better to call an R function wrapper that checks (and converts when possible) 
##  to correct types

sim=rNormalGLM_std(n=as.integer(n),y=as.vector(y),x=as.matrix(x2),mu=as.matrix(mu2,ncol=1),
                   P=as.matrix(P2),alpha=as.vector(alpha),wt=as.vector(wt2),
                   f2=f2,Envelope=Env2,family="binomial",link="logit",as.integer(0))

out=L2Inv%*%L3Inv%*%t(sim$out)

for(i in 1:n){
  out[,i]=out[,i]+mu
}

summary(t(out))
mean(sim$draws)

Summarizing Bayesian gamma_reg Distribution Functions

Description

These functions are all methods for class rGamma_reg or summary.rGamma_reg objects.

Usage

## S3 method for class 'rGamma_reg'
summary(object, ...)

## S3 method for class 'summary.rGamma_reg'
print(x, digits = max(3, getOption("digits") - 3), ...)

Arguments

object

an object of class "rGamma_reg" for which a summary is desired.

x

an object of class "summary.rGamma_reg" for which a printed output is desired.

digits

the number of significant digits to use when printing.

...

Additional optional arguments

Value

summary.rGamma_reg() returns an object of class "summary.rGamma_reg", a list containing summaries of posterior draws for the dispersion and precision parameters. Components include:

call

the matched call from the fitted object.

n

number of posterior draws.

coefficients1

matrix of prior means and standard deviations for precision and dispersion.

coefficients

matrix of posterior means, posterior standard deviations, Monte Carlo errors, and empirical tail probabilities.

Percentiles

matrix of posterior percentiles for dispersion draws.

implied_disp_point

dispersion point estimate implied by the Gamma prior on precision, computed as rate / shape.

print.summary.rGamma_reg() prints the summary object and returns x invisibly.

Examples

## summary.rGamma_reg: dGamma prior (dispersion-only; coefficients fixed)
## All three functions (rGamma_reg, rglmb, rlmb) use summary.rGamma_reg when
## prior is dGamma.
##
## This example uses the Boston data: Prior_Setup() for hyperparameters and
## ps$coefficients as fixed beta for dGamma / rGamma_reg-style runs.
data("Boston", package = "MASS")

predictors <- setdiff(names(Boston), "medv")
Boston_centered <- Boston
Boston_centered[predictors] <- scale(Boston[predictors], center = TRUE, scale = FALSE)

form <- medv ~
  crim + zn +
  indus + chas + nox + age + dis + rad + tax + ptratio + black + lstat + rm

ps.boston <- Prior_Setup(form, gaussian(), data = Boston_centered)
rate_dg <- if (!is.null(ps.boston$rate_gamma)) ps.boston$rate_gamma else ps.boston$rate

y <- ps.boston$y
x <- as.matrix(ps.boston$x)
wt <- rep(1, length(y))

## 1. rGamma_reg
out1 <- rGamma_reg(
  n = 1000,
  y = y,
  x = x,
  prior_list = list(beta = ps.boston$coefficients, shape = ps.boston$shape, rate = rate_dg),
  offset = rep(0, length(y)),
  weights = wt,
  family = gaussian()
)
summary(out1)

## 2. rglmb
out2 <- rglmb(n = 1000, y = y, x = x,
  pfamily = dGamma(shape = ps.boston$shape, rate = rate_dg, beta = ps.boston$coefficients),
  weights = wt, family = gaussian())
summary(out2)

## 3. rlmb
out3 <- rlmb(n = 1000, y = y, x = x,
  pfamily = dGamma(shape = ps.boston$shape, rate = rate_dg, beta = ps.boston$coefficients),
  weights = wt)
summary(out3)

Summarizing Bayesian Generalized Linear Model Distribution Functions

Description

These functions are all methods for class rglmb, rlmb, or summary.rglmb objects.

Usage

## S3 method for class 'rglmb'
summary(object, ...)

## S3 method for class 'rlmb'
summary(object, ...)

## S3 method for class 'summary.rglmb'
print(x, digits = max(3, getOption("digits") - 3), ...)

Arguments

object

an object of class "rglmb" or "rlmb" for which a summary is desired.

x

an object of class "summary.rglmb" for which a printed output is desired.

digits

the number of significant digits to use when printing.

...

Additional optional arguments

Details

summary.rglmb summarizes output from rglmb or rlmb. For dGamma rate-prior Poisson fits, it delegates to summary.rGamma_reg.

Value

summary.rglmb returns an object of class "summary.rglmb", a list with posterior summaries, DIC-related quantities, and tables suitable for print.summary.rglmb.

See Also

rglmb, rlmb, summary.rGamma_reg, summary.glm, summary.lm.

Examples

data(menarche, package = "MASS")

summary(menarche)

Age2 <- menarche$Age - 13

x <- matrix(as.numeric(1.0), nrow = length(Age2), ncol = 2)
x[, 2] <- Age2

y <- menarche$Menarche / menarche$Total
wt <- menarche$Total

mu <- matrix(as.numeric(0.0), nrow = 2, ncol = 1)
mu[2, 1] <- (log(0.9 / 0.1) - log(0.5 / 0.5)) / 3

V1 <- 1 * diag(as.numeric(2.0))

V1[1, 1] <- ((log(0.9 / 0.1) - log(0.5 / 0.5)) / 2)^2
V1[2, 2] <- (3 * mu[2, 1] / 2)^2

out <- rglmb(
  n = 1000, y = y, x = x, pfamily = dNormal(mu = mu, Sigma = V1),
  weights = wt, family = binomial(logit)
)
summary(out)

Sweeps required to reach a TV tolerance

Description

Smallest l such that two_block_tv_bound(rate, l, method, D0) <= tol. The bound is decreasing in l, so a doubling search followed by bisection is exact.

Usage

two_block_l_for_tv(
  rate,
  tol,
  method = c("theorem3", "corollary1"),
  D0 = 0,
  l_max = 1000000L
)

Arguments

rate

Object from two_block_rate.

tol

Target total-variation tolerance in (0, 1).

method

"theorem3" (exact terms) or "corollary1" (geometric envelope).

D0

Optional squared standardized distance of the starting point from the posterior mean, (x(0)μ)Σ111(x(0)μ)(x^{(0)}-\mu)^\top \Sigma_{11}^{-1} (x^{(0)}-\mu). Default 0 (start at the posterior mean).

l_max

Search cap (error if the bound stays above tol).

Value

Integer: the required number of sweeps.

See Also

two_block_tv_bound

glmbayes Simulation Functions multi_rNormal_reg(), simfuncs, two_block_mode_weights(), two_block_rNormal_reg(), two_block_rNormal_reg_v2(), two_block_rate(), two_block_rate_v2(), two_block_tv_bound()


Likelihood precision weights at the posterior mode

Description

Evaluates the per-observation likelihood precisions (IRLS/Fisher weights) of a GLMM Block 1 model at a supplied random-effects value – typically the joint posterior mode from glmerb_posterior_mode – and assembles the corresponding per-group likelihood precision blocks ZjWjZjZ_j^\top W_j Z_j.

Usage

two_block_mode_weights(
  x,
  block,
  b_mode,
  family = gaussian(),
  wt = 1,
  offset = 0,
  dispersion = NULL,
  group_levels = levels(block)
)

Arguments

x

Level-1 RE design matrix Z (l2 x p_re), as passed to two_block_rNormal_reg.

block

Grouping factor or block partition of length l2.

b_mode

J x p_re matrix of random-effect values at which to evaluate the curvature (rows aligned to group_levels), e.g. glmerb_posterior_mode(...)$b_mean.

family

Response family object (default gaussian()).

wt

Prior weights (length 1 or l2; e.g. binomial trial counts). Default 1.

offset

Linear-predictor offset (length 1 or l2). Default 0.

dispersion

Dispersion ϕ\phi. Required for gaussian() and Gamma families; defaults to 1 for poisson and binomial.

group_levels

Character vector defining group order (default levels(block)); must match the rows of b_mode.

Details

The weight for observation ii is

wi=wtiμ(ηi)2V(μi)ϕ,ηi=offseti+zibj(i),w_i = \frac{wt_i \, \mu'(\eta_i)^2}{V(\mu_i)\,\phi}, \qquad \eta_i = \mathrm{offset}_i + z_i^\top b_{j(i)},

the (expected) negative curvature of its log-likelihood with respect to its own linear predictor. For canonical links (gaussian-identity, poisson-log, binomial-logit) this equals the exact observed Hessian at b_mode; for other links it is the expected (Fisher) information. Examples: gaussian wi=wti/ϕw_i = wt_i/\phi; poisson-log wi=wtiλiw_i = wt_i\,\lambda_i; binomial-logit wi=wtipi(1pi)w_i = wt_i\,p_i(1-p_i); binomial-probit wi=wtiϕ(ηi)2/[pi(1pi)]w_i = wt_i\,\phi(\eta_i)^2/[p_i(1-p_i)].

The returned weights vector is designed to be passed directly to two_block_rate(weights = ) to obtain the local-Gaussian heuristic convergence rate for non-Gaussian families. Note that for non-Gaussian responses the joint posterior is not normal, so rates and TV bounds derived from these weights are a heuristic approximation, not a theorem.

Value

Object of class "two_block_mode_weights": a list with

weights

Length-l2 per-observation precisions wiw_i; pass as two_block_rate(weights = ).

eta, mu

Linear predictor and fitted means at b_mode.

B_lik

Named list (per group) of p_re x p_re likelihood precision blocks ZjWjZjZ_j^\top W_j Z_j (the likelihood part of BjB_j before adding the Block 1 prior precision).

info_total

p_re x p_re total ZWZZ^\top W Z.

family, link, dispersion, group_levels, b_mode, call

Inputs echoed for reference.

See Also

two_block_rate, glmerb_posterior_mode, glmbfamfunc

glmbayes Simulation Functions multi_rNormal_reg(), simfuncs, two_block_l_for_tv(), two_block_rNormal_reg(), two_block_rNormal_reg_v2(), two_block_rate(), two_block_rate_v2(), two_block_tv_bound()


Two-block Gibbs sampler convergence rate (Remark 8 eigenvalues)

Description

Computes the eigenvalues of A=P111/2P12P221P21P111/2A = P_{11}^{-1/2} P_{12} P_{22}^{-1} P_{21} P_{11}^{-1/2} for the joint Gaussian posterior targeted by two_block_rNormal_reg with family = gaussian() and fixed variance components. The maximal eigenvalue λ\lambda^* is the geometric contraction rate of the two-block Gibbs sampler (Nygren 2020, Claim 2 / Remark 8 / Corollary 1): the total variation distance between the ll-step kernel and the target decays like (λ)l(\lambda^*)^l.

Usage

two_block_rate(
  x,
  block,
  x_hyper,
  prior_list_block1,
  prior_list_block2,
  weights = NULL,
  family = gaussian(),
  group_levels = levels(block)
)

Arguments

x

Level-1 RE design matrix Z (l2 x p_re), as passed to two_block_rNormal_reg.

block

Grouping factor or block partition of length l2.

x_hyper

Named list of group-level design matrices X_k (J x q_k), one per column of x.

prior_list_block1

Block 1 prior: P or Sigma (p_re x p_re); dispersion required for gaussian() when weights is NULL.

prior_list_block2

Named list of Block 2 prior lists (each with P or Sigma, q_k x q_k).

weights

Optional per-observation working weights (length 1 or l2). Default for gaussian(): 1 / prior_list_block1$dispersion. Required for non-Gaussian families.

family

Response family (default gaussian()).

group_levels

Character vector defining group order (default levels(block)); must match the row order of x_hyper when rownames are absent.

Details

Block convention: the paper's x1x_1 (the block updated second in each sweep) is the Block 2 hyper vector γ\gamma of dimension q=kqkq = \sum_k q_k; the paper's x2x_2 is the Block 1 random-effect stack. AA is therefore q×qq \times q and is computed without ever forming the Jpre×JpreJp_{re} \times Jp_{re} Block 1 precision: per group only pre×prep_{re} \times p_{re} solves are needed, followed by a single q×qq \times q symmetric eigendecomposition.

For non-Gaussian families the joint posterior is not normal; supplying IRLS-style weights evaluated at the posterior mode yields a local-Gaussian heuristic rate (no theorem applies).

Value

Object of class "two_block_rate": a list with lambda_star (the Remark 8 rate), eigenvalues (full spectrum a1aqa_1 \ge \dots \ge a_q in [0,1)[0,1)), m_for_tol (function: iterations needed so that (λ)m(\lambda^*)^m \le tol), S (P12P221P21P_{12}P_{22}^{-1}P_{21}), P11, dims, re_names, gamma_names, group_levels, family, weights_source, and call.

References

Nygren, K. (2020). On the total variation distance between multivariate normal densities with applications to two-block Gibbs samplers. Unpublished manuscript.

See Also

two_block_rNormal_reg

glmbayes Simulation Functions multi_rNormal_reg(), simfuncs, two_block_l_for_tv(), two_block_mode_weights(), two_block_rNormal_reg(), two_block_rNormal_reg_v2(), two_block_rate_v2(), two_block_tv_bound()


Convergence rate for the v2 (pfamily) two-block sampler

Description

Thin wrapper around two_block_rate that accepts the Block~2 priors as pfamily objects. For dNormal components the fixed dispersion is used; for dIndependent_Normal_Gamma components the conservative disp_lower plug-in is used (the rate is then an upper bound over the truncated tau^2 range).

Usage

two_block_rate_v2(
  x,
  block,
  x_hyper,
  prior_list_block1,
  pfamily_list,
  weights = NULL,
  family = gaussian(),
  group_levels = levels(block)
)

Arguments

x, block, x_hyper, prior_list_block1, weights, family, group_levels

As in two_block_rate.

pfamily_list

Named list of pfamily objects (one per RE component), as in two_block_rNormal_reg_v2.

Value

Object of class "two_block_rate".

See Also

two_block_rate, two_block_rNormal_reg_v2

glmbayes Simulation Functions multi_rNormal_reg(), simfuncs, two_block_l_for_tv(), two_block_mode_weights(), two_block_rNormal_reg(), two_block_rNormal_reg_v2(), two_block_rate(), two_block_tv_bound()


Two-block Gibbs sampler for hierarchical regression

Description

Runs the coupled Block~1 / Block~2 Gibbs sampler for two-block mixed models. Block~1 draws group-level random effects bjb_j; Block~2 updates hyper means γk\gamma_k via multi_rNormal_reg (always Gaussian).

Usage

two_block_rNormal_reg(
  n,
  y,
  x,
  block,
  x_hyper,
  prior_list_block1,
  prior_list_block2,
  fixef_start,
  re_coef_names = colnames(x),
  group_levels = levels(block),
  group_name = NULL,
  m_convergence = 10L,
  sampling = c("replicate", "chain"),
  family = gaussian(),
  offset = NULL,
  weights = 1,
  Gridtype = 2L,
  n_envopt = NULL,
  use_parallel = TRUE,
  use_opencl = FALSE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  seed = NULL,
  progbar = TRUE
)

Arguments

n

Number of stored draws.

y

Response vector of length nrow(x).

x

Level-1 design matrix Z (l2 x p_re).

block

Grouping factor or block partition of length l2.

x_hyper

Named list of group-level design matrices X_k (J x q_k), one per column of x.

prior_list_block1

Prior for Block~1: P or Sigma, dispersion (required for gaussian()), optional ddef. mu is updated internally.

prior_list_block2

Named list of Block~2 prior lists passed to multi_rNormal_reg.

fixef_start

Named list of hyper-parameter vectors at which each inner chain is initialised.

re_coef_names

Character vector naming columns of x.

group_levels

Character vector defining row order of Block~1 draws.

group_name

Name for the grouping column in coefficients.

m_convergence

Number of inner Gibbs steps per stored draw.

sampling

Sampling scheme; only "replicate" is implemented.

family

Response family for Block~1 (default gaussian()). Block~2 always uses gaussian().

offset, weights

Passed to Block~1 (length l2 or recycled).

Gridtype, n_envopt, use_parallel, use_opencl, verbose

Passed to Block~1 when family is not Gaussian.

seed

Optional RNG seed.

progbar

Logical; show a text progress bar.

Details

Block~1 follows the same path as rNormal_reg: block_rNormalReg when family = gaussian(), otherwise block_rNormalGLM for the GLM envelope path.

Value

Object of class "two_block_rNormal_reg".

See Also

build_mu_all, block_rNormalReg, block_rNormalGLM, multi_rNormal_reg, rNormal_reg

glmbayes Simulation Functions multi_rNormal_reg(), simfuncs, two_block_l_for_tv(), two_block_mode_weights(), two_block_rNormal_reg_v2(), two_block_rate(), two_block_rate_v2(), two_block_tv_bound()


Two-block Gibbs sampler with pfamily Block 2 priors (development v2)

Description

Development version of two_block_rNormal_reg where the Block~2 priors are supplied as pfamily objects instead of bare prior lists. Each component of pfamily_list may be a dNormal prior (conjugate gamma_k draw at fixed dispersion, identical to v1) or a dIndependent_Normal_Gamma prior, in which case Block~2 makes a joint (gamma_k, tau^2_k) draw via the likelihood-subgradient envelope sampler (the same path as rglmb with an ING pfamily) and the sampled tau^2_k is fed back into the Block~1 prior precision on the next inner step.

Usage

two_block_rNormal_reg_v2(
  n,
  y,
  x,
  block,
  x_hyper,
  prior_list_block1,
  pfamily_list,
  fixef_start,
  re_coef_names = colnames(x),
  group_levels = levels(block),
  group_name = NULL,
  m_convergence = 10L,
  sampling = c("replicate", "chain"),
  family = gaussian(),
  offset = NULL,
  weights = 1,
  Gridtype = 2L,
  n_envopt = NULL,
  use_parallel = TRUE,
  use_opencl = FALSE,
  verbose = FALSE,
  seed = NULL,
  progbar = TRUE
)

Arguments

n

Number of stored draws.

y

Response vector of length nrow(x).

x

Level-1 design matrix Z (l2 x p_re).

block

Grouping factor or block partition of length l2.

x_hyper

Named list of group-level design matrices X_k (J x q_k), one per column of x.

prior_list_block1

Prior for Block~1: P or Sigma, dispersion (required for gaussian()), optional ddef. mu is updated internally.

pfamily_list

Named list of pfamily objects, one per column of x: dNormal or dIndependent_Normal_Gamma.

fixef_start

Named list of hyper-parameter vectors at which each inner chain is initialised.

re_coef_names

Character vector naming columns of x.

group_levels

Character vector defining row order of Block~1 draws.

group_name

Name for the grouping column in coefficients.

m_convergence

Number of inner Gibbs steps per stored draw.

sampling

Sampling scheme; only "replicate" is implemented.

family

Response family for Block~1 (default gaussian()). Block~2 always uses gaussian().

offset, weights

Passed to Block~1 (length l2 or recycled).

Gridtype, n_envopt, use_parallel, use_opencl, verbose

Passed to Block~1 when family is not Gaussian.

seed

Optional RNG seed.

progbar

Logical; show a text progress bar.

Details

With dNormal priors throughout, this function produces draws that are identical to two_block_rNormal_reg under the same seed; that equivalence is the regression gate for the v2 development track.

Value

Object of class c("two_block_rNormal_reg_v2", "two_block_rNormal_reg"). Same fields as two_block_rNormal_reg, plus dispersion_fixef_draws: an n x p_re matrix of the Block~2 dispersion (tau^2_k) at each stored draw (constant columns for dNormal components).

See Also

two_block_rNormal_reg, dNormal, dIndependent_Normal_Gamma

glmbayes Simulation Functions multi_rNormal_reg(), simfuncs, two_block_l_for_tv(), two_block_mode_weights(), two_block_rNormal_reg(), two_block_rate(), two_block_rate_v2(), two_block_tv_bound()


Total-variation bound for the two-block Gibbs sampler

Description

Evaluates the bound on the total variation distance between the ll-step kernel of the two-block Gibbs sampler and its target (Nygren 2020), from the eigenvalue spectrum computed by two_block_rate.

Usage

two_block_tv_bound(rate, l, method = c("theorem3", "corollary1"), D0 = 0)

Arguments

rate

Object from two_block_rate.

l

Integer vector of sweep counts (each >= 1).

method

"theorem3" (exact terms) or "corollary1" (geometric envelope).

D0

Optional squared standardized distance of the starting point from the posterior mean, (x(0)μ)Σ111(x(0)μ)(x^{(0)}-\mu)^\top \Sigma_{11}^{-1} (x^{(0)}-\mu). Default 0 (start at the posterior mean).

Details

method = "theorem3" evaluates the exact Theorem 3 terms di(l)d_i^{(l)} using the closed form erfn(x)=P(χn22x2)\mathrm{erf}_n(x) = P(\chi^2_n \le 2x^2) with ri(l)=(1ai12l)/(1ai2l)r_i^{(l)} = (1 - a_{i-1}^{2l})/(1 - a_i^{2l}). method = "corollary1" evaluates the looser geometric envelope of Corollary 1 (via Remarks 5 and 17), which decays like ai2la_i^{2l} with explicit constants.

When the chain is started at the exact posterior mean (as lmerb does), D0 = 0 and the mean term of both bounds vanishes identically; only the variance-convergence sum remains. The returned bound is capped at 1.

Note the bound applies to the block updated second in each sweep (the Block 2 hyper vector γ\gamma); the stored Block 1 draw lags by a half-step, so evaluate at l - 1 when calibrating m_convergence for the random-effect draws.

Value

Numeric vector of TV bounds, one per element of l, capped at 1.

References

Nygren, K. (2020). On the total variation distance between multivariate normal densities with applications to two-block Gibbs samplers. Unpublished manuscript.

See Also

two_block_rate, two_block_l_for_tv

glmbayes Simulation Functions multi_rNormal_reg(), simfuncs, two_block_l_for_tv(), two_block_mode_weights(), two_block_rNormal_reg(), two_block_rNormal_reg_v2(), two_block_rate(), two_block_rate_v2()