********************************************************
****     CHANGES IN STARTS PACKAGE VERSIONS         ****
********************************************************


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Functions for the STARTS model (STARTS)
A. Robitzsch & O. Luedtke


mailto:
-------
Alexander Robitzsch
robitzsch@ipn.uni-kiel.de

For reporting a bug, please always provide a reproducible R script 
and (if necessary) a corresponding dataset.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++






------------------------------------------------------------------------
VERSIONS STARTS 1.3  |  2022-05-19  |  Last: STARTS 1.3-8
------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE  * new release on CRAN because STARTS was removed due to
        the removal of the dependent CDM package from CRAN

DATA  * included/modified datasets: ---
EXAMP * included/modified examples: ---

------------------------------------------------------------------------
VERSIONS STARTS 1.2  |  2019-11-04  |  Last: STARTS 1.2-35
------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE  * included datasets of Wagner, Luedtke and Trautwein (2016, JOP)

DATA  * included/modified datasets: data.starts03
EXAMP * included/modified examples: ---

------------------------------------------------------------------------
VERSIONS STARTS 1.1  |  2018-12-13  |  Last: STARTS 1.1-6
------------------------------------------------------------------------

FIXED * fixed a recently introduced bug in STARTS 1.0 in computing
        standard errors for proportions of variance in starts_uni_estimate()

DATA  * included/modified datasets: ---
EXAMP * included/modified examples: ---

------------------------------------------------------------------------
VERSIONS STARTS 1.0  |  2018-12-12  |  Last: STARTS 1.0-6
------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE  * internal function changes in SE computation of variance 
        proportions in starts_uni_estimate()

DATA  * included/modified datasets: ---
EXAMP * included/modified examples: ---

------------------------------------------------------------------------
VERSIONS STARTS 0.5  |  2018-11-12  |  Last: STARTS 0.5-28
------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE  * fixed a warning message if a vector of measurement errors was
        used in argument 'var_meas_error' in starts_uni_estimate()
        (thanks to Malte Jansen)
NOTE  * removed redundant calculations when time_index is submitted
NOTE  * exported computation of model implied covariance to Rcpp

DATA  * included/modified datasets: ---
EXAMP * included/modified examples: ---

------------------------------------------------------------------------
VERSIONS STARTS 0.4  |  2018-06-08  |  Last: STARTS 0.4-24
------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE  * included 'library(sirt)' in ?starts_uni_estimate. The STARTS
        estimation function needs the dinvgamma2() functions which has
        to be imported from the 'sirt' package.
NOTE  * fixed a bug when using 'time_index' as an argument in
        starts_uni_estimate()
NOTE  * recent 'STARTS' version depends on LAM (>= 0.3-27)
NOTE  * included argument 'optim_fct' in starts_uni_estimate()
        which allows users to choose among optimization methods
        stats::optim() and stats::nlminb()
NOTE  * included argument 'use_rcpp' in starts_uni_estimate() which
        indicates whether Rcpp code should be use in optimization.
        In some models with many missing data patterns, considerable
        gains in computation time can be obtained.

DATA  * included/modified datasets: ---
EXAMP * included/modified examples: ---

------------------------------------------------------------------------
VERSIONS STARTS 0.3  |  2018-03-21  |  Last: STARTS 0.3-24
------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE  * corrected information criteria in starts_uni_estimate().
        The estimate means were ignored in the previous release.
FIXED * fixed a bug in starts_uni_estimate() because sirt::dimproper()
        was not imported in the 'LAM' package
ADDED * included univariate estimation of the STARTS model with
        missing data
ADDED * added statistical inference for variance proportions in 
        starts_uni_estimate() function
FIXED * fixed a bug in case of missing data in data processing
NOTE  * added argument 'print_call' in summary.start_uni_estimate()
NOTE  * changed handling of input of measurement error variances which
        is now included in the model implied covariance matrix

DATA  * included/modified datasets: ---
EXAMP * included/modified examples: ---

------------------------------------------------------------------------
VERSIONS STARTS 0.2  |  2017-11-24  |  Last: STARTS 0.2-10
------------------------------------------------------------------------

ADDED * included option for MCMC estimation in starts_uni_estimate()
ADDED * added S3 methods plot(), logLik(), coef() and vcov() for
        starts_uni_estimate()
NOTE  * moved previous Example 1 from starts_uni() into LAM package

DATA  * included/modified datasets: ---
EXAMP * included/modified examples: starts_uni_estimate (1)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
VERSIONS STARTS 0.1  |  2017-08-27  |  Last: STARTS 0.1-51
------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE  * included synthetic datasets adapted to the one used 
        in Luedtke et al. (in press)
FIXED * fixed a bug in the STARTS example which prevented the syntax 
        from running correctly (thanks to Judith Biesen)
NOTE  * extended example in 'starts_cov' which now contains parts of
        the results and penalized maximum likelihood estimation of the
        STARTS model
NOTE  * renamed 'starts_cov' to 'starts_uni_cov'. 'starts_cov' is now
        deprecated and should be replaced.
ADDED * added function 'starts_uni_estimate' for convenient estimation 
        of the univariate STARTS model

DATA  * included/modified datasets: data.starts01a, data.starts01b
EXAMP * included/modified examples: starts_uni (1,2)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
VERSIONS STARTS 0.0  |  2017-05-12  |  Last: STARTS 0.0-9
------------------------------------------------------------------------

ADDED * moved 'starts_cov' and 'starts_sim1dim' from sirt package to 
        STARTS package

DATA  * included/modified datasets: ---
EXAMP * included/modified examples: starts_cov (1)