R help - Nov 2007 - Using lme (nlme) to find the conditional variance of the random effects

Using lmer in the lme4 package, you can compute the conditional
variance-covariance matrix of the random effects using the bVar slot:

bVar: A list of the diagonal inner blocks (upper triangles only) of the
positive-definite matrices on the diagonal of the inverse of ZtZ+Omega.
With the appropriate scale factor (and conversion to a symmetric matrix)
these are the conditional variance-covariance matrices of the random
effects.

Is there anything similar in the nlme package using the lme function?

Rick B.

No, don't reach into the bVar slot. Use the proper extractor function
ranef() with postVar=T. There is no similar function for lme() 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org 
> [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On Behalf Of Rick Bilonick
> Sent: Monday, November 12, 2007 4:40 PM
> To: R Help
> Subject: [R] Using lme (nlme) to find the conditional 
> variance of therandom effects
> 
> Using lmer in the lme4 package, you can compute the 
> conditional variance-covariance matrix of the random effects 
> using the bVar slot:
> 
> bVar: A list of the diagonal inner blocks (upper triangles 
> only) of the positive-definite matrices on the diagonal of 
> the inverse of ZtZ+Omega.
> With the appropriate scale factor (and conversion to a 
> symmetric matrix) these are the conditional 
> variance-covariance matrices of the random effects.
> 
> Is there anything similar in the nlme package using the lme function?
> 
> Rick B.
> 
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