Validate the Structure of a Durational Event List

This function checks the validity of a dyadic interaction matrix by ensuring that each interaction start event has a corresponding end event, that no interactions overlap within a dyad, and that no missing values are present.

Usage

check_matrix(df, return_matrix = FALSE, start_time = NULL)

Arguments

df

A data frame with at least four columns, representing events, where:

Column 1: Event timing or ID (e.g., timestamp).
Column 2: "From" node ID for the dyadic interaction.
Column 3: "To" node ID for the dyadic interaction.
Column 4: Event type (1 for start, 0 for end of interaction).

return_matrix

Logical; if TRUE, returns the (potentially repaired) event matrix. Defaults to FALSE, in which case the function returns TRUE if the matrix is valid.

start_time

Numeric; optional reference time for adding missing start events. Defaults to NULL, in which case the earliest time in the data is used.

Value

Logical; TRUE if all interactions are valid, FALSE otherwise. If the data contains missing values, the function issues a warning and returns FALSE.

Details

The function performs the following checks:

Missing values: If any are found, a warning is issued and FALSE is returned.
Interaction pairing: Each start event (1) must have a corresponding end event (0) without overlap.
Non-overlapping intervals: Ensures that no start event occurs while another interaction is active.

Examples

# Create a valid event matrix with durational events (start=1, end=0)
df <- matrix(c(
  1.0, 1, 2, 1,
  2.0, 1, 2, 0,
  1.5, 3, 4, 1,
  3.0, 3, 4, 0
), ncol = 4, byrow = TRUE)
colnames(df) <- c("time", "from", "to", "type")

# Check if the event matrix is valid
check_matrix(df)
#> [1] TRUE