The theoretical covariance between pairs of markers is calculated
    from either paternal haplotypes and maternal linkage disequilibrium (LD) or 
    vise versa. A genetic map is required. Grouping of markers is based on the 
    correlation matrix and a representative marker is suggested for each group.
    Employing the correlation matrix, optimal sample size can be derived for 
    association studies based on a SNP-BLUP approach.
    The implementation relies on paternal half-sib families and biallelic 
    markers. If maternal half-sib families are used, the roles of sire/dam are 
    swapped. Multiple families can be considered.
    Wittenburg, Bonk, Doschoris, Reyer (2020) "Design of Experiments for 
    Fine-Mapping Quantitative Trait Loci in Livestock Populations" 
    <doi:10.1186/s12863-020-00871-1>.
    Carlson, Eberle, Rieder, Yi, Kruglyak, Nickerson (2004) "Selecting a 
    maximally informative set of single-nucleotide polymorphisms for association
    analyses using linkage disequilibrium" <doi:10.1086/381000>.

We explore sparsity and homogeneity of regression coefficients incorporating prior constraint information. A general pairwise fusion approach is proposed to deal with the sparsity and homogeneity detection when combining prior convex constraints. We develop an modified alternating direction method of multipliers algorithm (ADMM) to obtain the estimators.

User-friendly and fast set of functions for estimating parameters of hierarchical Bayesian species distribution models (Latimer and others 2006 <doi:10.1890/04-0609>). Such models allow interpreting the observations (occurrence and abundance of a species) as a result of several hierarchical processes including ecological processes (habitat suitability, spatial dependence and anthropogenic disturbance) and observation processes (species detectability). Hierarchical species distribution models are essential for accurately characterizing the environmental response of species, predicting their probability of occurrence, and assessing uncertainty in the model results.