-#' This function implements an R0 estimation due to White and Pagano (Statistics in Medicine, 2008).
-#' The method is based on maximum likelihood estimation in a Poisson transmission model.
-#' See details for important implementation notes.
-#'
-#' This method is based on a Poisson transmission model, and hence may be most most valid at the beginning
-#' of an epidemic. In their model, the serial distribution is assumed to be discrete with a finite number
-#' of posible values. In this implementation, if the serial distribution is assumed known, it is taken to
-#' be a discretized version of a gamma distribution with mean \code{mu}, shape parameter one, and largest
-#' possible value based on parameter \code{tol}. When the serial distribution is unknown, the function
-#' implements a grid search algorithm to find the maximum likelihood estimator over all possible gamma
-#' distributions with unknown mean and variance, restricting these to a prespecified grid (see
-#' \code{search} parameter).
-#'
-#' When the serial distribution is taken to be \code{known}, sensitivity testing of the parameter \code{mu}
-#' is strongly recommended. If the serial distribution is \code{unknown}, the likelihood function can be
-#' flat near the maximum, resulting in numerical instability of the optimizer. When the serial distribution
-#' is \code{unkown} the implementation takes considerably longer to run. Users should be careful about units
-#' of time (e.g. are counts observed daily or weekly?) when implementing.
-#'
-#' The model developed in White and Pagano (2008) is discrete, and hence the serial distribution is finite
-#' discrete. In our implementation, the input value \code{mu} is that of a continuous distribution. The
-#' algorithm when \code{method="known"} disretizes this input, and hence the mean of the serial distribution
-#' returned in the list \code{SD} will differ from \code{mu} somewhat. That is to say, if the user notices that
-#' the input \code{mu} and out put mean of \code{SD} are different, this is to be expected, and is caused by
-#' the discretization.
-#'
-#' @param NT Vector of case counts
-#' @param mu Mean of the serial distribution (needs to match case counts in time units; for example, if case
-#' counts are weekly and the serial distribution has a mean of seven days, then \code{mu} should be
-#' set to one). The default value of \code{mu} is set to \code{NA}.
-#' @param method Variable taking one of two possible values: \code{known} or \code{unknown}. If "known", the
-#' serial distribution is assumed to be gamma with rate 1/\code{mu} and shape equal to one, if
-#' "unknown" then the serial distribution is gamma with unknown parameters. Defaults to "unknown"
-#' @param search List of default values for the grid search algorithm; the list includes three elements: the
-#' first is \code{B} which is the length of the grid in one dimension, the second is
-#' \code{scale.max} which is the largest possible value of the scale parameter, and the third is
-#' \code{shape.max} which is the largest possible value of the shape parameter; defaults to
-#' \code{B=100, scale.max=10, shape.max=10}. For both shape and scale, the smallest possible
-#' value is 1/\code{B}.
-#' @param tol Cutoff value for cumulative distribution function of the pre-discretization gamma serial
-#' distribution, defaults to 0.999 (i.e. in the discretization, the maximum is chosen such that the
-#' original gamma distribution has cumulative probability of no more than 0.999 at this maximum).
-#'
-#' @return WP returns a list containing the following components: \code{Rhat} is the estimate of R0, \code{SD}
-#' is either the discretized serial distribution (if \code{method="known"}) or the estimated
-#' discretized serial distribution (if \code{method="unknown"}), and \code{inputs} is a list of the
-#' original input variables \code{NT, mu, method, search, tol}. The list also returns the variable
-#' \code{check}, which is equal to the number of non-unique maximum likelihood estimators. The serial
-#' distribution \code{SD} is returned as a list made up of \code{supp} the support of the distribution
-#' and \code{pmf} the probability mass function.
+#' This function implements an R0 estimation due to White and Pagano (Statistics
+#' in Medicine, 2008). The method is based on maximum likelihood estimation in a
+#' Poisson transmission model. See details for important implementation notes.
+#'
+#' This method is based on a Poisson transmission model, and hence may be most
+#' most valid at the beginning of an epidemic. In their model, the serial
+#' distribution is assumed to be discrete with a finite number of posible
+#' values. In this implementation, if \code{mu} is not {NA}, the serial
+#' distribution is taken to be a discretized version of a gamma distribution
+#' with mean \code{mu}, shape parameter one, and largest possible value based on
+#' parameter \code{tol}. When \code{mu} is \code{NA}, the function implements a
+#' grid search algorithm to find the maximum likelihood estimator over all
+#' possible gamma distributions with unknown mean and variance, restricting
+#' these to a prespecified grid (see \code{search} parameter).
+#'
+#' When the serial distribution is known (i.e., \code{mu} is not \code{NA}),
+#' sensitivity testing of \code{mu} is strongly recommended. If the serial
+#' distribution is unknown (i.e., \code{mu} is \code{NA}), the likelihood
+#' function can be flat near the maximum, resulting in numerical instability of
+#' the optimizer. When \code{mu} is \code{NA}, the implementation takes
+#' considerably longer to run. Users should be careful about units of time
+#' (e.g., are counts observed daily or weekly?) when implementing.
+#'
+#' The model developed in White and Pagano (2008) is discrete, and hence the
+#' serial distribution is finite discrete. In our implementation, the input
+#' value \code{mu} is that of a continuous distribution. The algorithm
+#' discretizes this input when \code{mu} is not \code{NA}, and hence the mean of
+#' the serial distribution returned in the list \code{SD} will differ from
+#' \code{mu} somewhat. That is to say, if the user notices that the input
+#' \code{mu} and output mean of \code{SD} are different, this is to be expected,
+#' and is caused by the discretization.
+#'
+#' @param NT Vector of case counts.
+#' @param mu Mean of the serial distribution (needs to match case counts in time
+#' units; for example, if case counts are weekly and the serial
+#' distribution has a mean of seven days, then \code{mu} should be set
+#' to one). The default value of \code{mu} is set to \code{NA}.
+#' @param search List of default values for the grid search algorithm. The list
+#' includes three elements: the first is \code{B}, which is the
+#' length of the grid in one dimension; the second is
+#' \code{scale.max}, which is the largest possible value of the
+#' scale parameter; and the third is \code{shape.max}, which is
+#' the largest possible value of the shape parameter. Defaults to
+#' \code{B = 100, scale.max = 10, shape.max = 10}. For both shape
+#' and scale, the smallest possible value is 1/\code{B}.
+#' @param tol Cutoff value for cumulative distribution function of the
+#' pre-discretization gamma serial distribution. Defaults to 0.999
+#' (i.e. in the discretization, the maximum is chosen such that the
+#' original gamma distribution has cumulative probability of no more
+#' than 0.999 at this maximum).
+#'
+#' @return \code{WP} returns a list containing the following components:
+#' \code{Rhat} is the estimate of R0, and \code{SD} is either the
+#' discretized serial distribution (if \code{mu} is not \code{NA}), or
+#' the estimated discretized serial distribution (if \code{mu} is
+#' \code{NA}). The list also returns the variable \code{check}, which is
+#' equal to the number of non-unique maximum likelihood estimators. The
+#' serial distribution \code{SD} is returned as a list made up of
+#' \code{supp} (the support of the distribution) and \code{pmf} (the
+#' probability mass function).
git.nmode.ca / Rnaught / blobdiff
