selectiongain (version 2.0.1)
A tool for efficient calculation and optimization of the
expected gain from multi-stage
Description
Multi-stage selection is practised in numerous fields of
the life and social sciences and particularly in breeding. A
special characteristic of multi-stage selection is that
candidates are evaluated in successive stages with increasing
intensity and efforts, and only a fraction of the superior
candidates is selected and promoted to the next stage. For the
optimum design of such selection programs, the selection gain
plays a crucial role. It can be calculated by integration of a
truncated multivariate normal (MVN) distribution. While
mathematical formulas for calculating the selection gain and
the variance among selected candidates, were developed long
time ago, solutions for numerical calculation were not
available. This package can also be used for optimizing
multi-stage selection programs for a given total budget and
different costs of evaluating the candidates in each stage.