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This function computes the delta method sampling variance-covariance matrix for the elements of the matrix of lagged coefficients \(\boldsymbol{\beta}\) over a specific time interval \(\Delta t\) or a range of time intervals using the first-order stochastic differential equation model's drift matrix \(\boldsymbol{\Phi}\).

Usage

DeltaBeta(phi, vcov_phi_vec, delta_t, ncores = NULL)

Arguments

phi

Numeric matrix. The drift matrix (\(\boldsymbol{\Phi}\)). phi should have row and column names pertaining to the variables in the system.

vcov_phi_vec

Numeric matrix. The sampling variance-covariance matrix of \(\mathrm{vec} \left( \boldsymbol{\Phi} \right)\).

delta_t

Vector of positive numbers. Time interval (\(\Delta t\)).

ncores

Positive integer. Number of cores to use. If ncores = NULL, use a single core. Consider using multiple cores when the length of delta_t is long.

Value

Returns an object of class ctmeddelta which is a list with the following elements:

call

Function call.

args

Function arguments.

fun

Function used ("DeltaBeta").

output

A list the length of which is equal to the length of delta_t.

Each element in the output list has the following elements:

delta_t

Time interval.

jacobian

Jacobian matrix.

est

Estimated elements of the matrix of lagged coefficients.

vcov

Sampling variance-covariance matrix of estimated elements of the matrix of lagged coefficients.

Details

See Total().

Delta Method

Let \(\boldsymbol{\theta}\) be \(\mathrm{vec} \left( \boldsymbol{\Phi} \right)\), that is, the elements of the \(\boldsymbol{\Phi}\) matrix in vector form sorted column-wise. Let \(\hat{\boldsymbol{\theta}}\) be \(\mathrm{vec} \left( \hat{\boldsymbol{\Phi}} \right)\). By the multivariate central limit theory, the function \(\mathbf{g}\) using \(\hat{\boldsymbol{\theta}}\) as input can be expressed as:

$$ \sqrt{n} \left( \mathbf{g} \left( \hat{\boldsymbol{\theta}} \right) - \mathbf{g} \left( \boldsymbol{\theta} \right) \right) \xrightarrow[]{ \mathrm{D} } \mathcal{N} \left( 0, \mathbf{J} \boldsymbol{\Gamma} \mathbf{J}^{\prime} \right) $$

where \(\mathbf{J}\) is the matrix of first-order derivatives of the function \(\mathbf{g}\) with respect to the elements of \(\boldsymbol{\theta}\) and \(\boldsymbol{\Gamma}\) is the asymptotic variance-covariance matrix of \(\hat{\boldsymbol{\theta}}\).

From the former, we can derive the distribution of \(\mathbf{g} \left( \hat{\boldsymbol{\theta}} \right)\) as follows:

$$ \mathbf{g} \left( \hat{\boldsymbol{\theta}} \right) \approx \mathcal{N} \left( \mathbf{g} \left( \boldsymbol{\theta} \right) , n^{-1} \mathbf{J} \boldsymbol{\Gamma} \mathbf{J}^{\prime} \right) $$

The uncertainty associated with the estimator \(\mathbf{g} \left( \hat{\boldsymbol{\theta}} \right)\) is, therefore, given by \(n^{-1} \mathbf{J} \boldsymbol{\Gamma} \mathbf{J}^{\prime}\) . When \(\boldsymbol{\Gamma}\) is unknown, by substitution, we can use the estimated sampling variance-covariance matrix of \(\hat{\boldsymbol{\theta}}\), that is, \(\hat{\mathbb{V}} \left( \hat{\boldsymbol{\theta}} \right)\) for \(n^{-1} \boldsymbol{\Gamma}\). Therefore, the sampling variance-covariance matrix of \(\mathbf{g} \left( \hat{\boldsymbol{\theta}} \right)\) is given by

$$ \mathbf{g} \left( \hat{\boldsymbol{\theta}} \right) \approx \mathcal{N} \left( \mathbf{g} \left( \boldsymbol{\theta} \right) , \mathbf{J} \hat{\mathbb{V}} \left( \hat{\boldsymbol{\theta}} \right) \mathbf{J}^{\prime} \right) . $$

References

Bollen, K. A. (1987). Total, direct, and indirect effects in structural equation models. Sociological Methodology, 17, 37. doi:10.2307/271028

Deboeck, P. R., & Preacher, K. J. (2015). No need to be discrete: A method for continuous time mediation analysis. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 23 (1), 61–75. doi:10.1080/10705511.2014.973960

Ryan, O., & Hamaker, E. L. (2021). Time to intervene: A continuous-time approach to network analysis and centrality. Psychometrika, 87 (1), 214–252. doi:10.1007/s11336-021-09767-0

Author

Ivan Jacob Agaloos Pesigan

Examples

phi <- matrix(
  data = c(
    -0.357, 0.771, -0.450,
    0.0, -0.511, 0.729,
    0, 0, -0.693
  ),
  nrow = 3
)
colnames(phi) <- rownames(phi) <- c("x", "m", "y")
vcov_phi_vec <- matrix(
  data = c(
    0.002704274, -0.001475275, 0.000949122,
    -0.001619422, 0.000885122, -0.000569404,
    0.00085493, -0.000465824, 0.000297815,
    -0.001475275, 0.004428442, -0.002642303,
    0.000980573, -0.00271817, 0.001618805,
    -0.000586921, 0.001478421, -0.000871547,
    0.000949122, -0.002642303, 0.006402668,
    -0.000697798, 0.001813471, -0.004043138,
    0.000463086, -0.001120949, 0.002271711,
    -0.001619422, 0.000980573, -0.000697798,
    0.002079286, -0.001152501, 0.000753,
    -0.001528701, 0.000820587, -0.000517524,
    0.000885122, -0.00271817, 0.001813471,
    -0.001152501, 0.00342605, -0.002075005,
    0.000899165, -0.002532849, 0.001475579,
    -0.000569404, 0.001618805, -0.004043138,
    0.000753, -0.002075005, 0.004984032,
    -0.000622255, 0.001634917, -0.003705661,
    0.00085493, -0.000586921, 0.000463086,
    -0.001528701, 0.000899165, -0.000622255,
    0.002060076, -0.001096684, 0.000686386,
    -0.000465824, 0.001478421, -0.001120949,
    0.000820587, -0.002532849, 0.001634917,
    -0.001096684, 0.003328692, -0.001926088,
    0.000297815, -0.000871547, 0.002271711,
    -0.000517524, 0.001475579, -0.003705661,
    0.000686386, -0.001926088, 0.004726235
  ),
  nrow = 9
)

# Specific time interval ----------------------------------------------------
DeltaBeta(
  phi = phi,
  vcov_phi_vec = vcov_phi_vec,
  delta_t = 1
)
#> 
#> Elements of the matrix of lagged coefficients
#> 
#> $`1`
#>             interval     est     se       z      p    2.5%   97.5%
#> from x to x        1  0.6998 0.0293 23.8660 0.0000  0.6423  0.7572
#> from x to m        1  0.5000 0.0313 15.9563 0.0000  0.4386  0.5615
#> from x to y        1 -0.1000 0.0329 -3.0424 0.0023 -0.1645 -0.0356
#> from m to x        1  0.0000 0.0233  0.0000 1.0000 -0.0456  0.0456
#> from m to m        1  0.5999 0.0248 24.1514 0.0000  0.5512  0.6486
#> from m to y        1  0.3998 0.0262 15.2762 0.0000  0.3485  0.4511
#> from y to x        1  0.0000 0.0270  0.0000 1.0000 -0.0529  0.0529
#> from y to m        1  0.0000 0.0289  0.0000 1.0000 -0.0566  0.0566
#> from y to y        1  0.5001 0.0304 16.4383 0.0000  0.4404  0.5597
#> 

# Range of time intervals ---------------------------------------------------
delta <- DeltaBeta(
  phi = phi,
  vcov_phi_vec = vcov_phi_vec,
  delta_t = 1:5
)
plot(delta)










# Methods -------------------------------------------------------------------
# DeltaBeta has a number of methods including
# print, summary, confint, and plot
print(delta)
#> 
#> Elements of the matrix of lagged coefficients
#> 
#> $`1`
#>             interval     est     se       z      p    2.5%   97.5%
#> from x to x        1  0.6998 0.0293 23.8660 0.0000  0.6423  0.7572
#> from x to m        1  0.5000 0.0313 15.9563 0.0000  0.4386  0.5615
#> from x to y        1 -0.1000 0.0329 -3.0424 0.0023 -0.1645 -0.0356
#> from m to x        1  0.0000 0.0233  0.0000 1.0000 -0.0456  0.0456
#> from m to m        1  0.5999 0.0248 24.1514 0.0000  0.5512  0.6486
#> from m to y        1  0.3998 0.0262 15.2762 0.0000  0.3485  0.4511
#> from y to x        1  0.0000 0.0270  0.0000 1.0000 -0.0529  0.0529
#> from y to m        1  0.0000 0.0289  0.0000 1.0000 -0.0566  0.0566
#> from y to y        1  0.5001 0.0304 16.4383 0.0000  0.4404  0.5597
#> 
#> $`2`
#>             interval    est     se       z      p    2.5%  97.5%
#> from x to x        2 0.4897 0.0379 12.9296 0.0000  0.4155 0.5639
#> from x to m        2 0.6499 0.0392 16.5919 0.0000  0.5731 0.7266
#> from x to y        2 0.0799 0.0370  2.1603 0.0307  0.0074 0.1524
#> from m to x        2 0.0000 0.0264  0.0000 1.0000 -0.0516 0.0516
#> from m to m        2 0.3599 0.0275 13.1088 0.0000  0.3061 0.4137
#> from m to y        2 0.4398 0.0256 17.1867 0.0000  0.3897 0.4900
#> from y to x        2 0.0000 0.0324  0.0000 1.0000 -0.0634 0.0634
#> from y to m        2 0.0000 0.0333  0.0000 1.0000 -0.0652 0.0652
#> from y to y        2 0.2501 0.0311  8.0429 0.0000  0.1891 0.3110
#> 
#> $`3`
#>             interval    est     se       z p    2.5%  97.5%
#> from x to x        3 0.3427 0.0389  8.8130 0  0.2665 0.4189
#> from x to m        3 0.6347 0.0436 14.5697 0  0.5493 0.7201
#> from x to y        3 0.2508 0.0366  6.8606 0  0.1792 0.3225
#> from m to x        3 0.0000 0.0257  0.0000 1 -0.0503 0.0503
#> from m to m        3 0.2159 0.0298  7.2403 0  0.1574 0.2743
#> from m to y        3 0.3638 0.0248 14.6987 0  0.3153 0.4123
#> from y to x        3 0.0000 0.0294  0.0000 1 -0.0576 0.0576
#> from y to m        3 0.0000 0.0340  0.0000 1 -0.0666 0.0666
#> from y to y        3 0.1251 0.0270  4.6294 0  0.0721 0.1780
#> 
#> $`4`
#>             interval    est     se       z      p    2.5%  97.5%
#> from x to x        4 0.2398 0.0364  6.5874 0.0000  0.1684 0.3111
#> from x to m        4 0.5521 0.0458 12.0555 0.0000  0.4623 0.6419
#> from x to y        4 0.3449 0.0350  9.8570 0.0000  0.2763 0.4135
#> from m to x        4 0.0000 0.0242  0.0000 1.0000 -0.0475 0.0475
#> from m to m        4 0.1295 0.0312  4.1542 0.0000  0.0684 0.1906
#> from m to y        4 0.2683 0.0241 11.1113 0.0000  0.2209 0.3156
#> from y to x        4 0.0000 0.0239  0.0000 1.0000 -0.0469 0.0469
#> from y to m        4 0.0000 0.0335  0.0000 1.0000 -0.0656 0.0656
#> from y to y        4 0.0625 0.0234  2.6676 0.0076  0.0166 0.1085
#> 
#> $`5`
#>             interval    est     se       z      p    2.5%  97.5%
#> from x to x        5 0.1678 0.0330  5.0896 0.0000  0.1032 0.2324
#> from x to m        5 0.4511 0.0460  9.8011 0.0000  0.3609 0.5413
#> from x to y        5 0.3693 0.0342 10.8008 0.0000  0.3022 0.4363
#> from m to x        5 0.0000 0.0221  0.0000 1.0000 -0.0433 0.0433
#> from m to m        5 0.0777 0.0308  2.5220 0.0117  0.0173 0.1381
#> from m to y        5 0.1859 0.0233  7.9748 0.0000  0.1402 0.2316
#> from y to x        5 0.0000 0.0184  0.0000 1.0000 -0.0361 0.0361
#> from y to m        5 0.0000 0.0312  0.0000 1.0000 -0.0612 0.0612
#> from y to y        5 0.0313 0.0216  1.4462 0.1481 -0.0111 0.0737
#> 
summary(delta)
#>         effect interval         est         se         z             p
#> 1  from x to x        1  0.69977250 0.02932095 23.865954 6.916112e-126
#> 2  from x to m        1  0.50003412 0.03133764 15.956341  2.573862e-57
#> 3  from x to y        1 -0.10003837 0.03288098 -3.042439  2.346691e-03
#> 4  from m to x        1  0.00000000 0.02326280  0.000000  1.000000e+00
#> 5  from m to m        1  0.59989538 0.02483899 24.151356 7.225712e-129
#> 6  from m to y        1  0.39983562 0.02617378 15.276188  1.102009e-52
#> 7  from y to x        1  0.00000000 0.02697603  0.000000  1.000000e+00
#> 8  from y to m        1  0.00000000 0.02887417  0.000000  1.000000e+00
#> 9  from y to y        1  0.50007360 0.03042133 16.438255  1.018079e-60
#> 10 from x to x        2  0.48968155 0.03787288 12.929610  3.063702e-38
#> 11 from x to m        2  0.64987829 0.03916829 16.591949  7.969198e-62
#> 12 from x to y        2  0.07990080 0.03698524  2.160343  3.074615e-02
#> 13 from m to x        2  0.00000000 0.02635003  0.000000  1.000000e+00
#> 14 from m to m        2  0.35987447 0.02745299 13.108752  2.933880e-39
#> 15 from m to y        2  0.43980678 0.02558996 17.186694  3.340452e-66
#> 16 from y to x        2  0.00000000 0.03236708  0.000000  1.000000e+00
#> 17 from y to m        2  0.00000000 0.03326775  0.000000  1.000000e+00
#> 18 from y to y        2  0.25007360 0.03109233  8.042934  8.771243e-16
#> 19 from x to x        3  0.34266568 0.03888194  8.812977  1.218654e-18
#> 20 from x to m        3  0.63471647 0.04356400 14.569747  4.375085e-48
#> 21 from x to y        3  0.25081383 0.03655859  6.860599  6.857257e-12
#> 22 from m to x        3  0.00000000 0.02565100  0.000000  1.000000e+00
#> 23 from m to m        3  0.21588703 0.02981760  7.240256  4.478385e-13
#> 24 from m to y        3  0.36382639 0.02475232 14.698681  6.572757e-49
#> 25 from y to x        3  0.00000000 0.02939559  0.000000  1.000000e+00
#> 26 from y to m        3  0.00000000 0.03398055  0.000000  1.000000e+00
#> 27 from y to y        3  0.12505520 0.02701350  4.629360  3.667973e-06
#> 28 from x to x        4  0.23978802 0.03640121  6.587364  4.477039e-11
#> 29 from x to m        4  0.55210801 0.04579726 12.055481  1.814692e-33
#> 30 from x to y        4  0.34492791 0.03499303  9.857046  6.390162e-23
#> 31 from m to x        4  0.00000000 0.02424459  0.000000  1.000000e+00
#> 32 from m to m        4  0.12950963 0.03117525  4.154245  3.263634e-05
#> 33 from m to y        4  0.26825930 0.02414284 11.111340  1.104887e-28
#> 34 from y to x        4  0.00000000 0.02394372  0.000000  1.000000e+00
#> 35 from y to m        4  0.00000000 0.03347365  0.000000  1.000000e+00
#> 36 from y to y        4  0.06253681 0.02344338  2.667568  7.640252e-03
#> 37 from x to x        5  0.16779706 0.03296857  5.089607  3.588063e-07
#> 38 from x to m        5  0.45110924 0.04602662  9.801051  1.114205e-22
#> 39 from x to y        5  0.36925379 0.03418778 10.800755  3.413856e-27
#> 40 from m to x        5  0.00000000 0.02207234  0.000000  1.000000e+00
#> 41 from m to m        5  0.07769223 0.03080579  2.522001  1.166895e-02
#> 42 from m to y        5  0.18593196 0.02331499  7.974782  1.526503e-15
#> 43 from y to x        5  0.00000000 0.01844215  0.000000  1.000000e+00
#> 44 from y to m        5  0.00000000 0.03121602  0.000000  1.000000e+00
#> 45 from y to y        5  0.03127301 0.02162373  1.446235  1.481112e-01
#>            2.5%       97.5%
#> 1   0.642304487  0.75724051
#> 2   0.438613471  0.56145478
#> 3  -0.164483903 -0.03559285
#> 4  -0.045594252  0.04559425
#> 5   0.551211849  0.64857892
#> 6   0.348535952  0.45113529
#> 7  -0.052872045  0.05287205
#> 8  -0.056592324  0.05659232
#> 9   0.440448884  0.55969831
#> 10  0.415452069  0.56391103
#> 11  0.573109850  0.72664673
#> 12  0.007411056  0.15239055
#> 13 -0.051645106  0.05164511
#> 14  0.306067593  0.41368135
#> 15  0.389651385  0.48996218
#> 16 -0.063438317  0.06343832
#> 17 -0.065203598  0.06520360
#> 18  0.189133745  0.31101346
#> 19  0.266458471  0.41887289
#> 20  0.549332598  0.72010034
#> 21  0.179160303  0.32246735
#> 22 -0.050275040  0.05027504
#> 23  0.157445618  0.27432845
#> 24  0.315312744  0.41234004
#> 25 -0.057614292  0.05761429
#> 26 -0.066600663  0.06660066
#> 27  0.072109725  0.17800069
#> 28  0.168442958  0.31113308
#> 29  0.462347034  0.64186899
#> 30  0.276342831  0.41351299
#> 31 -0.047518518  0.04751852
#> 32  0.068407263  0.19061201
#> 33  0.220940203  0.31557839
#> 34 -0.046928822  0.04692882
#> 35 -0.065607146  0.06560715
#> 36  0.016588622  0.10848499
#> 37  0.103179853  0.23241427
#> 38  0.360898723  0.54131976
#> 39  0.302246977  0.43626060
#> 40 -0.043260992  0.04326099
#> 41  0.017313986  0.13807048
#> 42  0.140235417  0.23162850
#> 43 -0.036145948  0.03614595
#> 44 -0.061182278  0.06118228
#> 45 -0.011108734  0.07365475
confint(delta, level = 0.95)
#>         effect interval        2.5 %      97.5 %
#> 1  from x to x        1  0.642304487  0.75724051
#> 2  from x to m        1  0.438613471  0.56145478
#> 3  from x to y        1 -0.164483903 -0.03559285
#> 4  from m to x        1 -0.045594252  0.04559425
#> 5  from m to m        1  0.551211849  0.64857892
#> 6  from m to y        1  0.348535952  0.45113529
#> 7  from y to x        1 -0.052872045  0.05287205
#> 8  from y to m        1 -0.056592324  0.05659232
#> 9  from y to y        1  0.440448884  0.55969831
#> 10 from x to x        2  0.415452069  0.56391103
#> 11 from x to m        2  0.573109850  0.72664673
#> 12 from x to y        2  0.007411056  0.15239055
#> 13 from m to x        2 -0.051645106  0.05164511
#> 14 from m to m        2  0.306067593  0.41368135
#> 15 from m to y        2  0.389651385  0.48996218
#> 16 from y to x        2 -0.063438317  0.06343832
#> 17 from y to m        2 -0.065203598  0.06520360
#> 18 from y to y        2  0.189133745  0.31101346
#> 19 from x to x        3  0.266458471  0.41887289
#> 20 from x to m        3  0.549332598  0.72010034
#> 21 from x to y        3  0.179160303  0.32246735
#> 22 from m to x        3 -0.050275040  0.05027504
#> 23 from m to m        3  0.157445618  0.27432845
#> 24 from m to y        3  0.315312744  0.41234004
#> 25 from y to x        3 -0.057614292  0.05761429
#> 26 from y to m        3 -0.066600663  0.06660066
#> 27 from y to y        3  0.072109725  0.17800069
#> 28 from x to x        4  0.168442958  0.31113308
#> 29 from x to m        4  0.462347034  0.64186899
#> 30 from x to y        4  0.276342831  0.41351299
#> 31 from m to x        4 -0.047518518  0.04751852
#> 32 from m to m        4  0.068407263  0.19061201
#> 33 from m to y        4  0.220940203  0.31557839
#> 34 from y to x        4 -0.046928822  0.04692882
#> 35 from y to m        4 -0.065607146  0.06560715
#> 36 from y to y        4  0.016588622  0.10848499
#> 37 from x to x        5  0.103179853  0.23241427
#> 38 from x to m        5  0.360898723  0.54131976
#> 39 from x to y        5  0.302246977  0.43626060
#> 40 from m to x        5 -0.043260992  0.04326099
#> 41 from m to m        5  0.017313986  0.13807048
#> 42 from m to y        5  0.140235417  0.23162850
#> 43 from y to x        5 -0.036145948  0.03614595
#> 44 from y to m        5 -0.061182278  0.06118228
#> 45 from y to y        5 -0.011108734  0.07365475
plot(delta)