The gRbase package is intended to set the framework for computer packages for data analysis using graphical models. The gRbase package is developed for the open source language, R, and is available for several platforms. The package is intended to be widely extendible and flexible so that package developers may implement further types of graphical models using the available methods.

The gRbase package consists of a set of S version 3 classes and associated methods for representing data and models. The package is linked to the dynamicGraph package (Badsberg 2005), an interactive graphical user interface for manipulating graphs.

In this paper, we show how these building blocks can be combined and integrated with inference engines in the special cases of hierarchical loglinear models. We also illustrate how to extend the package to deal with other types of graphical models, in this case the graphical Gaussian models.

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A primary issue in industrial hygiene is the estimation of a worker's exposure to chemical, physical and biological agents. Mathematical modeling is increasingly being used as a method for assessing occupational exposures. However, predicting exposure in real settings is constrained by lack of quantitative knowledge of exposure determinants. Recently, Zhang, Banerjee, Yang, Lungu, and Ramachandran (2009) proposed Bayesian hierarchical models for estimating parameters and exposure concentrations for the two-zone differential equation models and for predicting concentrations in a zone near and far away from the source of contamination.

Bayesian estimation, however, can often require substantial amounts of user-defined code and tuning. In this paper, we introduce a statistical software package, B2Z, built upon the R statistical computing platform that implements a Bayesian model for estimating model parameters and exposure concentrations in two-zone models. We discuss the algorithms behind our package and illustrate its use with simulated and real data examples.

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The software package BAMP provides a method of analyzing incidence or mortality data on the Lexis diagram, using a Bayesian version of an age-period-cohort model. A hierarchical model is assumed with a binomial model in the first-stage. As smoothing priors for the age, period and cohort parameters random walks of first and second order, with and without an additional unstructured component are available. Unstructured heterogeneity can also be included in the model. In order to evaluate the model fit, posterior deviance, DIC and predictive deviances are computed. By projecting the random walk prior into the future, future death rates can be predicted.

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Traditional Rasch estimation of the item and student parameters via marginal maximum likelihood, joint maximum likelihood or conditional maximum likelihood, assume individuals in clustered settings are uncorrelated and items within a test that share a grouping structure are also uncorrelated. These assumptions are often violated, particularly in educational testing situations, in which students are grouped into classrooms and many test items share a common grouping structure, such as a content strand or a reading passage. Consequently, one possible approach is to explicitly recognize the clustered nature of the data and directly incorporate random effects to account for the various dependencies. This article demonstrates how the multilevel Rasch model can be estimated using the functions in R for mixed-effects models with crossed or partially crossed random effects. We demonstrate how to model the following hierarchical data structures: a) individuals clustered in similar settings (e.g., classrooms, schools), b) items nested within a particular group (such as a content strand or a reading passage), and c) how to estimate a teacher x content strand interaction.

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