Mainly data sets to accompany the VGAM package and
	the book "Vector Generalized Linear and
	Additive Models: With an Implementation in R" (Yee, 2015)
	<DOI:10.1007/978-1-4939-2818-7>.
	These are used to illustrate vector generalized
	linear and additive models (VGLMs/VGAMs), and associated models
	(Reduced-Rank VGLMs, Quadratic RR-VGLMs, Row-Column
	Interaction Models, and constrained and unconstrained ordination
	models in ecology). This package now contains some
	old VGAM family functions which have been replaced by newer
	ones (often because they are now special cases).

Extending the functionalities of the 'VGAM' package with
         additional functions and datasets. At present, 'VGAMextra'
         comprises new family functions (ffs) to estimate several time
         series models by maximum likelihood using Fisher scoring, 
         unlike popular packages in CRAN relying on optim(), including
         ARMA-GARCH-like models, the Order-(p, d, q) ARIMAX model (non-
         seasonal), the Order-(p) VAR model, error correction models
         for cointegrated time series, and ARMA-structures with Student-t 
         errors. For independent data, new ffs to estimate the inverse-
         Weibull, the inverse-gamma, the generalized beta of the second
         kind and the general multivariate normal distributions are
         available. In addition, 'VGAMextra' incorporates new VGLM-links
         for the mean-function, and the quantile-function (as an alternative
         to ordinary quantile modelling) of several 1-parameter distributions,
         that are compatible with the class of VGLM/VGAM family functions.
         Currently, only fixed-effects models are implemented. All functions
         are subject to change; see the NEWS for further details on the
         latest changes.

Estimates hierarchical models using mean-field variational Bayes. 
    At present, it can estimate logistic, linear, and negative binomial models. 
    It can accommodate models with an arbitrary number of random effects and 
    requires no integration to estimate. It also provides the ability to improve 
    the quality of the approximation using marginal augmentation. 
    Goplerud (2022) <doi:10.1214/21-BA1266> provides details on the variational
    algorithms.