# Get best parameters for ODE modeling in Julia

Hello,
I have been modeling some data of bacterial growth. I have first run a regression model to obtain the growth rates of the two species of the consortium. I then need to run some ODEs using logistic growth; these are biologically matched to the context. While the regression works, the ODE does not. I was expecting that the regression would have given me the best parameters for the ODE, as evident in this figure:

However, the regression and the ODE model do not use exactly the same formulae. Is it possible to modify the regression formula to match the ODE model? Or is it a trick to find the best parametrs for an ODE modeling?
This is the code I have written.

``````vin_x = [0.0,  6.465599999999999, 12.544800000000002, 24.0, 29.107200000000002, 45.772800000000004, 53.392799999999994, 68.0616]
vin_y = [1.434628836798e8, 1.318375623746e8, 1.108524843855e8, 6.91176196241e7, 4.19137382458e7, 1.48676444645e7, 1.00659726053e7, 7.8734512643e6]
col_x = [0.0,  5.5296, 11.827200000000001, 24.0, 28.627200000000002, 32.916, 40.4928, 48.0, 52.4952, 67.0968]
col_y = [8.02511788606e7, 9.98481296252e7, 2.328332483329e8, 6.148181496526e8, 9.453171952624e8, 1.2331292887706e9, 1.4394296796998e9, 1.460066157955e9, 1.3570403824485e9, 1.4269447174002e9]
model = true_logistic(x, p) = p ./ (1 .+ exp.(-p.*(x.-p)))  ## logistic equation for REGRESSION
# regression
# Sp. A
x = col_x
y = col_y
par = [col_y, 0.0, 1.0]
fit = curve_fit(model, x, y, par)
P_col = fit.param
Vtl_col = true_logistic(x, P_col)
mu = P_col                           # growth rate Sp. A
# Sp. B
x = vin_x
y = vin_y
par = [vin_y, 0.0, 1.0]
fit = curve_fit(model, x, y, par)
P_vin = fit.param
Vtl_vin = true_logistic(x, P_vin)
nu = P_vin       # growth rate Sp. B
# ODEs
function F_logistic!(du, u, p, t)    # LOGISTIC model
μ, ν, λ, δ, β, η, κ, ω = p
#=
p = max growth rate A & B, outflow, adsorption rate,
burst size, lysis rate, carrying capacity, outflow
du = species A sensible
du = species A infected
du = species B
du = phages
=#
N = u + u + u # total bacteria
ρ = 1 - N/κ            # logistic term
du = (μ*u*ρ) - (δ*u*u)            - (ω*u)
du = (μ*u*ρ) + (δ*u*u) - (η*u) - (ω*u)
du = (ν*u*ρ)                            - (ω*u)
du = (η*β*u) - (δ*u*u) - (λ*u) - (ω*u)
end
omega = 0.2
kappa = 1.5*10^9
delta = 5*10^-10
tau   = 23
eta   = 1/(tau/60)
lambda = 0.068
beta  = 150.0
v0    = 0
u0 = [col_y, 0, vin_y, v0]  # S, I, R, V
parms = [mu, nu, lambda, delta, beta, eta, kappa, omega]
tspan = (0.0, maximum(df.X)*24)
prob = ODEProblem(F_logistic!, u0, tspan, parms)
soln = solve( prob, AutoVern7(Rodas5()) )
``````

Essentially, I tried to change `true_logistic` into `F_logistic` adding the logistic term to the former, but then even the regression does not work.
How can I get the best parameters for `F_logistic`?
Thank you

1 Like

Thank you. You are right, I can dispense the regression altogether and get the best parameters for ODE directly. But on the page you suggest, the example does not even use `DiffEqFlux.jl`. On the associated page, if I understand properly, one passes a series of values for each parameter, and DiffEqFlux run the model for each of them:

``````using Flux, DiffEqFlux
p = [2.2, 1.0, 2.0, 0.4] # Initial Parameter Vector
params = Flux.params(p)
function predict_rd() # Our 1-layer "neural network"
solve(prob,Tsit5(),p=p,saveat=0.1)[1,:] # override with new parameters
end
loss_rd() = sum(abs2,x-1 for x in predict_rd()) # loss function
data = Iterators.repeated((), 100)
cb = function () #callback function to observe training
display(loss_rd())
# using `remake` to re-create our `prob` with current parameters `p`
display(plot(solve(remake(prob,p=p),Tsit5(),saveat=0.1),ylim=(0,6)))
end
cb()
Flux.train!(loss_rd, params, data, opt, cb = cb)
``````

But this example is for neural networks. For `ODEProblem` I could not see any equivalent for `Flux.params(p)` or `Flux.train`

I have seen there is also DifferentialEquations.jl, which should be more specific for ODEProblem…

The neural network case is literally just fitting the parameters of an ODEProblem to match data.

https://diffeqflux.sciml.ai/dev/examples/neural_ode_sciml/

1 Like

KO, based on the post I mentioned, which looks simple enough, I understand I need to create a cost function with parameters:

1. the problem generated with `solve`
2. the solver (in my case: AutoVern7(Rodas5()))
3. a L2Loss function containing the x series (time) and a matrix of the y data

But I ran immediately into a problem because L2Loss is not recognized; I thought it was part of Optim:

``````using Optim, LossFunctions

julia> [col_y, vin_y[1:8]]
2-element Vector{Vector{Float64}}:
[8.02511788606e7, 9.98481296252e7, 2.328332483329e8, 6.148181496526e8, 9.453171952624e8, 1.2331292887706e9, 1.4394296796998e9, 1.460066157955e9, 1.3570403824485e9, 1.4269447174002e9]
[1.434628836798e8, 1.318375623746e8, 1.108524843855e8, 6.91176196241e7, 4.19137382458e7, 1.48676444645e7, 1.00659726053e7, 7.8734512643e6]

julia> cost_function = build_loss_objective(prob, AutoVern7(Rodas5()),
L2Loss(tspan, [col_y, vin_y[1:8]]))
ERROR: UndefVarError: L2Loss not defined
Stacktrace:
 top-level scope
@ none:1
julia> cost_function = build_loss_objective(prob, Tsit5(),
L2Loss(tspan, [col_y, vin_y[1:8]]))
ERROR: UndefVarError: L2Loss not defined
Stacktrace:
 top-level scope
@ none:1
julia> cost_function = build_loss_objective(prob, AutoVern7(Rodas5()),
L2DistLoss(tspan, [col_y, vin_y[1:8]]), maxiters=10000, verbose=false)
ERROR: MethodError: no method matching L2DistLoss(::Tuple{Float64, Float64}, ::Vector{Vector{Float64}})
Stacktrace:
 top-level scope
@ none:1
``````

What is the correct syntax?
Should I pass a matrix or a vector of vectors is enough?
If a matrix is needed, how do I build it from vectors? I tried with:

``````ulia> reshape([col_y, vin_y[1:8]], 8, 2)
ERROR: DimensionMismatch("new dimensions (8, 2) must be consistent with array size 2")
Stacktrace:
 (::Base.var"#throw_dmrsa#234")(dims::Tuple{Int64, Int64}, len::Int64)
@ Base ./reshapedarray.jl:41
 reshape
@ ./reshapedarray.jl:45 [inlined]
 reshape(::Vector{Vector{Float64}}, ::Int64, ::Int64)
@ Base ./reshapedarray.jl:116
 top-level scope
@ none:1

julia> reshape([col_y, vin_y[1:8]], 2, 8)
ERROR: DimensionMismatch("new dimensions (2, 8) must be consistent with array size 2")
Stacktrace:
 (::Base.var"#throw_dmrsa#234")(dims::Tuple{Int64, Int64}, len::Int64)
@ Base ./reshapedarray.jl:41
 reshape
@ ./reshapedarray.jl:45 [inlined]
 reshape(::Vector{Vector{Float64}}, ::Int64, ::Int64)
@ Base ./reshapedarray.jl:116
 top-level scope
@ none:1
``````

This is all pretty basic Julia syntax now, might be worth starting a separate thread on these things which aren’t really about ODE modelling at all.

I’m not sure why you’re trying to use `col_y` as is, while doing `vin_y[1:8]`? Your post suggests that `col_y` has length 10, while `vin_y` has lenght 8. Therefore `vin_y[1:8]` doesn’t do anything, while `col_y` is still two elements longer than `vin_y` and therefore can’t be brought together with it in the same matrix?

You might be looking for:

``````julia> [col_y[1:8] vin_y]
8×2 Matrix{Float64}:
8.02512e7  1.43463e8
9.98481e7  1.31838e8
2.32833e8  1.10852e8
6.14818e8  6.91176e7
9.45317e8  4.19137e7
1.23313e9  1.48676e7
1.43943e9  1.0066e7
1.46007e9  7.87345e6
``````

I would encourage you to read through the Julia documentation to learn the basic syntax. For this issue, the most relevant section is probably that on multi-dimensional arrays, which has a subsection on concatenation here:

https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/manual/arrays/#man-array-concatenation

sorry, I typoed the two vectors…
but apart from the definition of the matrix, the problem is that neither ‘L2Loss’ nor ‘L2DistLoss’ is defined in Optim or LossFunctions.

It looks like it’s defined in `DiffEqParamEstim`, which is the package for which you’ve linked to the docs?

1 Like

I understood the p[ackage was `Optim` but thank you for pointing it out. It was indeed `DiffEqParamEstim`. But now, is the subsequent step that does not work:

``````julia> cost_function = build_loss_objective(prob, AutoVern7(Rodas5()),
L2Loss(tspan, [[col_y[1:8]] [vin_y]]), maxiters=10000, verbose=false)
julia> result = optimize(cost_function, parms, BFGS())
ERROR: MethodError: no method matching -(::Vector{Float64}, ::Float64)
For element-wise subtraction, use broadcasting with dot syntax: array .- scalar
Closest candidates are:
-(::MultivariatePolynomials.RationalPoly, ::Any)
-(::Array, ::SparseArrays.AbstractSparseMatrixCSC)
-(::Array{T, N}, ::FillArrays.Zeros{V, N, Axes} where Axes) where {T, V, N}
...
julia> parms
8-element Vector{Float64}:
0.32
0.07
0.068
5.000000000000002e-10
150.0
2.608695652173913
1.5e9
0.2
``````

I have no knowledge of `DiffEqParamEstim`, but the error is clearly telling you that a subtraction of a scalar from a vector is being performed, which probably means you passed a vector when a scalar should have been passed. The likely culprit is here:

``````[[col_y[1:8]] [vin_y]]
``````

which looks similar to what I posted above (`[col_y[1:8] vin_y]`), but isn’t actually the same. As a hint:

``````julia> typeof([[col_y[1:8]] [vin_y]])
Matrix{Vector{Float64}} (alias for Array{Array{Float64, 1}, 2})

julia> typeof([col_y[1:8] vin_y])
Matrix{Float64} (alias for Array{Float64, 2})
``````

I again encourage you to work through the documentation so that you gain an understanding of how arrays work, as debugging these types of basic syntax issues line-by-line on Discourse isn’t a very productive way of writing code.
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