New alpha version of lme4 code on R-forge
We have had a bit of grid lock on versions of the Matrix and lme4 packages for the last week or so. I believe the problem is now resolved and the development version (0.999375-10) of the lme4 package on R-forge should be available as a binary package tomorrow. The objects produced by mcmcsamp in this version have several kinds of plots (xyplot, densityplot, qqmath) available for them. The mcmcsamp function itself still has the problem of getting stuck at near-zero variances. I have been corresponding with Andrew Gelman about methods that he and co-authors recently described in J. of Computational and Graphical Statistics to avoid this problem. These will be implemented "in the fullness of time", as Bill Venables would say.