In this study, we use a proprietary data set from an online marketplace to study the conversion rate dynamics in online retail. We examine how seller-level covariates, such as online sellers’ pricing and product strategies, marketing efforts, service responsiveness, reputation scores, product quality ratings, and other attributes, affect conversion rates. Specifically, we address the following ...

We read Franko et al’s paper (Franko J, O’Connel BG, Mehall JR, Harper SG, Nejman JH, Zelbey M, Fassler SA. The influence of prior abdominal operations on conversion and complication rates in laparoscopic colorectal surgery. JSLS. 2006;10:169–175) with interest and believe it represents an important body of work. However, we have a couple of comments regarding their analysis and findings. The a...

MOTIVATION Two known types of meiotic recombination are crossovers and gene conversions. Although they leave behind different footprints in the genome, it is a challenging task to tease apart their relative contributions to the observed genetic variation. In particular, for a given population SNP dataset, the joint estimation of the crossover rate, the gene conversion rate and the mean conversi...

This modeling study evaluates the influence of biofilm geometrical characteristics on substrate mass transfer and conversion rates. A spatially two-dimensional model was used to compute laminar fluid flow, substrate mass transport, and conversion in irregularly shaped biofilms. The flow velocity above the biofilm surface was varied over 3 orders of magnitude. Numerical results show that increas...

A cohort of 123 adult contacts was followed for 18-24 months (86 completed the follow-up) to compare conversion and reversion rates based on two serial measures of QuantiFERON (QFT) and tuberculin skin test (TST) (PPD from TUBERSOL, Aventis Pasteur, Canada) for diagnosing latent tuberculosis (TB) in household contacts of TB patients using conventional (C) and borderline zone (BZ) definitions. Q...

The assessment of harsh working conditions requires a correct evaluation of the metabolic rate. This paper revises the basis described in the ISO 8996 standard for the evaluation of the metabolic rate at a work station from the recording of the heart rate of a worker during a representative period of time. From a review of the literature, formulas different from those given in the standard are ...

The rate of land-use conversion from forest to nonforest or natural forest to forest plantation is of interest for forest certification purposes and also as part of the process of assessing forest sustainability. Conversion rates can be estimated from remeasured inventory plots in general, but the emphasis here is on annual inventory data. A new estimator is proposed based on analysis of plot-l...

Gene conversion plays an important part in shaping genetic diversity in populations, yet estimating the rate at which it occurs is difficult because of the short lengths of DNA involved. We have developed a new statistical approach to estimating gene conversion rates from genetic variation, by extending an existing model for haplotype data in the presence of crossover events. We show, by simula...

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are the most abundant form of genetic variation and are highly adaptable to large-scale automated genotyping and population genetics studies. For nonmodel organisms, many SNP discovery projects are based on sequencing and assembly of a transcriptome and the calling of sequence variation in contigs. This paper develops a new method for avoiding intron/exon ...

We report concentrations of cosmogenic l°Be ( t l / 2 = 1.5 x 10 6 y r s ) in soil excavated from a soil-mantled hillslope in Black Diamond Mines Regional Park, Contra Costa County, California. The most striking features of the data are: (1) the similarity in the downward decreasing trends of 1°Be concentrations in two soil profiles collected 75 m apart, (2) the coincidence in each soil profile...