REGIR 1.0.5
An algorithm for non-Markovian stochastic simulation
Keywords: Gillespie,modeling,stochastic,simulation

# REGIR: A Scalable Gillespie Algorithm for non-Markovian Stochastic Simulations

Refer to the github folder for a full description (https://github.com/Aurelien-Pelissier/REGIR). Discrete stochastic processes are widespread in both nature and human-made systems, with applications across physics, biochemistry, epidemiology, social patterns and finance, just to name a few. In the majority of these systems, the dynamics cannot be properly described with memoryless (or Markovian) interactions, and thus require the use of numerical tools for analyzing these non-Markovian dynamics. This repository contains an implementattion of a general and scalable framework to simulate non-Markovian stochastic systems with arbitrary inter-event time distribution and accuracy. The algorithm is referred to as the Rejection Gillespie algorithm for non-Markovian Reactions (REGIR) [1].

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### Simulating a non-Markovian system

First, you need to install REGIR, or you can use the `REGIR.py` file provided in the repository:

	- pip install REGIR


Then, you can directly run a non-Markovian simulation with this toy example (other examples, including the three biochemical systems described in the paper: Cell division, differentiation and RNA transcription, are provided in the `/REGIR/Examples` folder.):

	import REGIR as gil

	#Set the simulation parameters:
	class param:
		Tend = 10		#Length of the simulation
		N_simulations = 20	#The simulation results should be averaged over many trials
		unit = 'h'		#Unit of time (used for plotting only)
		timepoints = 100	#Number of timepoints to record (used for plotting only)

	r1 = 1
	r2 = 4
	r3 = 0.03
	alpha1 = 20
	alpha2 = 5
      
	#Define the reaction chanels:
	reaction1 = gil.Reaction_channel(param,rate=r1, shape_param=alpha1, distribution = 'Gamma')
	reaction1.reactants = ['A']
	reaction1.products = ['B']	
	reaction2 = gil.Reaction_channel(param,rate=r2, shape_param=alpha2, distribution = 'Weibull')
	reaction2.reactants = ['B']
	reaction2.products = ['C','A']	
	reaction3 = gil.Reaction_channel(param,rate=r3)
	reaction3.reactants = ['A','B']
	reaction3.products = []
		
	
	#Define the initial population of reactants:
	N_init = dict()
	N_init['A'] = 300
	N_init['B'] = 0
	N_init['C'] = 0

	#Initialize and run the Gillepsie simulation:
	reaction_channel_list = [reaction1, reaction2, reaction3]
	G_simul = gil.Gillespie_simulation(N_init,param)
	G_simul.reaction_channel_list = reaction_channel_list
	G_simul.run_simulations(param.Tend, verbose = True)
	G_simul.plot_inter_event_time_distribution()
	G_simul.plot_populations()

The algorithm runs for a few seconds and output the following figures (note that you can disables all printing and plotting by passing the argument `verbose = False` when running the simulation)
      
### Implemented distributions
With the current implementation, each available distribution are characterised by their rate and a shape parameter as follow:

      Exponential:
          - rate: 1/mean
          - shape parameter: None
      
      Normal:
          - rate: 1/mean
          - shape: std/mean
      
      LogNormal:
          - rate: 1/mean
          - shape: std/mean
          
      Gamma:
          - rate: 1/mean
          - shape: Î± >= 1 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_distribution)
          
      Weibull:
          - rate: 1/mean
          - shape: k >= 1 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weibull_distribution)
          
      Cauchy:
          - rate: 1/median
          - shape: Î³ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauchy_distribution)
      

Keep in mind that non-Markovian simulations are only available for reaction channels with a single reactant, as the definition of inter-event time distribution is ambigious for channels with multiple reactants. If a channel is defined without or with more than one reactant, it will be considered as a Poisson process. Also, note that monotolically decreasing distributions, such as Weibull (k < 1), gamma (Î± < 1) or power laws, are not available in the current implementation of this repository, as these can be more elegantly and efficiently simulated with the Laplace Gillespie algorithm [2]. 

*Feel free to drop me an email if you have interest in me adding the Laplace Gillespie or any other relevant distributions to this implementation.* 



## References

[1] Pelissier, A, Phan, M, et al. "Practical and scalable simulations of non-Markovian stochastic processes". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022)

[2] Masuda, Naoki, and Luis EC Rocha. "A Gillespie algorithm for non-Markovian stochastic processes." Siam Review 60.1 (2018): 95-115.