blackBoxDS.RdThe first key serverside function that sets up the V2BR for ranking in the client.
blackBoxDS(input.var.name = NULL, shared.seedval, synth.real.ratio, NA.manage)a character string specifying the name of V2BR. This argument is set by the argument with the same name in the clientside function ds.ranksSecure
a pseudorandom number seed that ensures that the processes generating the order and parameterisation of the encryption algorithms are the same in each study. This argument is set by the argument <shared.seed.value> in the clientside function ds.ranksSecure. For more details, including future plans to share this starting seed in a more secure way, please see the associated document entitled "secure.global.ranking.docx" and the header file for ds.ranksSecure.
an integer value representing the ratio of synthetic (pseudo-data) values to the real number of values in V2BR. This argument is set by the argument with the same name in the clientside function ds.ranksSecure. For more details, please see the associated document entitled "secure.global.ranking.docx" and the header file for ds.ranksSecure.
character string indicating how missing values (NAs) in V2BR should be managed. It takes three possible values: "NA.delete", "NA.low","NA.hi". This argument is set by the argument with the same name in the clientside function ds.ranksSecure. For more details, please see the associated document entitled "secure.global.ranking.docx" and the header file for ds.ranksSecure.
writes a data frame object entitled blackbox.output.df to the serverside. In each study this contains the encrypted "combined real+pseudo data vector" and a range of other key components from the first stage of the ranking procedure. For more details see the associated document entitled "secure.global.ranking.docx"
Severside assign function called by ds.ranksSecure. Creates pseudo-data by using the real distribution of values in V2BR to create a large number of synthetic data with a similar distribution to the values in V2BR but with a slightly broader distribution at both ends to ensure that any extreme values in the "combined real+pseudo data vector" are all pseudo-data. Also ensures that the number of decimal places of the values in the V2BR is reflected by the number of decimal places in the pseudodata. Finally, takes the "combined real+pseudo data vector" through seven rounds of rank consistent encryption that involves algorithms themselves generated by a pseudorandom process that selects which transformation to apply and with what parameters. The encryption algorithms are the same in each study ensuring that ranks also remain consistent between studies. After encryption the encrypted "combined real+pseudo data vector" is written to the serverside as a dataframe also including other key component vectors from the first stage of the ranking procedure. For more details about the cluster of functions that collectively enable secure global ranking and estimation of global quantiles see the associated document entitled "secure.global.ranking.docx". Also see the header file for ds.ranksSecure