[R-sig-ME] random effects coefficients

[Cornelia Oedekoven]

Hi,

I am using the glmer function from the lme4 library to fit mixed-effect 
models to my data. When using the ranef function I can extract the 
random effect coefficients from the model. What I would like to know is 
how these are estimated. What is the algebra involved in getting these 
estimates?

Thank you very much. Cheers, Cornelia