Practical Guide (practical + guide)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A WETLAND ASSESSMENT METHOD: THE CALIFORNIA EXPERIENCE,

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 1 2006
Martha A. Sutula
ABSTRACT: Wetland rapid assessment methods (RAMs) can provide a cost effective, scientifically defensible estimate of wetland and riparian condition for use in ambient and project monitoring in resource management and regulatory programs. Those who have chosen to develop a RAM to assess wetland and riparian condition are faced with a range of issues and important choices that they must make throughout the development process. This paper is intended as a practical guide to RAM development. Six basic stages in the RAM development process are discussed: (1) organize RAM development by identifying the intended applications, assessment endpoints, and geographic scope of the RAM and forming appropriate teams to advise and review the development process and its products; (2) build a scientific foundation for method development by conducting a literature review, choosing a wetland classification system, building conceptual models, and identifying the major assumptions underlying the model; (3) assemble the method as a system of attributes and metrics that describe a full range of conditions; (4) verify the ability of the method to distinguish between wetlands along a continuum of conditions; (5) calibrate and validate the method against sets of quantitative data representing more intensive measures of wetland condition; and (6) implement the method through outreach and training of the intended users. Important considerations within each of these stages lead to choices in accuracy, precision, robustness, ease of use, and cost. These are identified and the tradeoffs of the various options discussed. Experience with the ongoing development and implementation of the California Rapid Assessment Method (CRAM) is used to illustrate these stages and associated choices in RAM development. [source]


PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO LIFESTYLE MANAGEMENT

AUSTRALIAN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY JOURNAL, Issue 4 2002
Judy Miles
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Integrating Poverty and Environmental Concerns into Value-Chain Analysis: A Strategic Framework and Practical Guide

DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 2 2010
Lone Riisgaard
This article aims to guide the design and implementation of action-research projects in value-chain analysis by presenting a strategic framework focused on small producers and trading and processing firms in developing countries. Its stepwise approach , building on the conceptual framework set out in a companion article , covers in detail what to do, questions to be asked and issues to be considered, and integrates poverty, gender, labour and environmental concerns.,Upgrading' strategies potentially available for improving value-chain participation for small producers are identified, with the ultimate purpose of increasing the rewards and/or reducing the risks. [source]


Practical Guide for Clinical Neurophysiologic Testing: EEG

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 5 2010
K. A. Jellinger
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Practical Guide to Neurogenetics

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 2 2009
K. A. Jellinger
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Currents: Books in Brief

GLOBAL BUSINESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE, Issue 3 2001
LaRoi Lawton
The Roots and Future of Management Theory Profit From the Core: Growth Strategy in an Era of Turbulence 90 Days to Launch: Internet Projects on Time and on Budget The Six Sigma Revolution: How General Electric and Others Turned Process into Profits In Good Company Evolve! Succeeding in the Digital Culture of Tomorrow Lessons from the Heart of American Business: A Roadmap for Managers in the 21st Century The Passion Plan at Work: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Passion-Driven Organization The Inner Work of Leaders: Leadership as a Habit of Mind Corporate Sin: Leaderless Leadership and Dissonant Workers The HR Scorecard Place to Space: Migrating to Ebusiness Models Building the Integrated Company Protecting Your Company's Intellectual Property: A Practical Guide to Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents, & Trade Secrets Gaming the System: Stop Playing the Organizational Game [source]


Blood Cells: A Practical Guide, 3rd edn

INTERNAL MEDICINE JOURNAL, Issue 1-2 2003
D. Joshua
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Pharmaceutical Statistics Using SAS®: A Practical Guide by Alex Dmitrienko, Christy Chuang-Stein, Ralph D'Agostino

INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL REVIEW, Issue 3 2007
Susan Starkings
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Linear Mixed Models: a Practical Guide using Statistical Software

JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY: SERIES A (STATISTICS IN SOCIETY), Issue 1 2008
R. Allan Reese
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Modern Medical Statistics: a Practical Guide

JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY: SERIES A (STATISTICS IN SOCIETY), Issue 1 2004
P. Sprent
First page of article [source]


A Practical Guide to Paediatric Burns

PEDIATRIC ANESTHESIA, Issue 1 2008
John P. Keneally
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


100 Questions and Answers for Women Living with Cancer: A Practical Guide for Survivorship.

PSYCHO-ONCOLOGY, Issue 6 2008
Written by Michael L. Krychman.
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Book review: Measuring Stress in Humans: A Practical Guide for the Field

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2009
Douglas E. Crews
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


A Practical Guide to the Management of HCV Infection Following Liver Transplantation

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 8 2009
K. Watt
Hepatitis C-associated liver failure is the most common indication for liver transplantation, with virological recurrence near ubiquitous. Approximately 30% of HCV-infected recipients will die or lose their allograft or develop cirrhosis secondary to hepatitis C recurrence by the fifth postoperative year, with the proportion increasing with duration of follow-up. Strategies for minimizing the frequency of severe HCV recurrence include avoidance of older donors, early diagnosis/treatment of CMV and minimization of immunosuppression, particularly T-cell depleting therapies and pulsed corticosteroid treatment of acute cellular rejection. Patients should be offered treatment with peginterferon and ribavirin before LT if MELD , 17 or as soon as histological evidence of recurrence of HCV is apparent post-LT. Because of the high frequency of hemotoxicity and renal insufficiency, ribavirin should be dosed according to renal function. [source]


Risk Stratification: A Practical Guide for Clinicians

ANZ JOURNAL OF SURGERY, Issue 3 2002
Margaret McCredie
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Linear Mixed Models , A Practical Guide Using Statistical Software.

BIOMETRICAL JOURNAL, Issue 2 2009

No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Perinatal Patient Education: A Practical Guide with Education Handouts for Patients

BIRTH, Issue 4 2003
Barbara A. Hotelling BSN, CD(DONA)
First page of article [source]


Researching the Psychotherapy Process: A Practical Guide to Transcript-Based Methods , Georgia Lepper and Nick Riding

BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHOTHERAPY, Issue 2 2007
Pamela GriffithsArticle first published online: 21 DEC 200
First page of article [source]


U.S. Federal Regulations for Emergency Research: A Practical Guide and Commentary

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 1 2008
Andrew McRae MD
Abstract Emergency medicine research requires the enrollment of subjects with varying decision-making capacities, including capable adults, adults incapacitated by illness or injury, and children. These different categories of subjects are protected by multiple federal regulations. These include the federal Common Rule, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) regulations for pediatric research, and the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Final Rule for the Exception from the Requirements of Informed Consent in Emergency Situations. Investigators should be familiar with the relevant federal research regulations to optimally protect vulnerable research subjects, and to facilitate the institutional review board (IRB) review process. IRB members face particular challenges in reviewing emergency research. No regulations exist for research enrolling incapacitated subjects using proxy consent. The wording of the Final Rule may not optimally protect vulnerable subjects. It is also difficult to apply conflicting regulations to a single study that enrolls subjects with differing decision-making capacities. This article is intended as a guide for emergency researchers and IRB members who review emergency research. It reviews the elements of Federal Regulations that apply to consent, subject selection, privacy protection, and the analysis of risks and benefits in all emergency research. It explores the challenges for IRB review listed above, and offers potential solutions to these problems. [source]


MALDI MS: A Practical Guide to Instrumentation, Methods, and Applications.

CHEMMEDCHEM, Issue 3 2008
Edited by Franz Hillenkamp, Jasna Peter-Katalini
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


A Practical Guide to Family Proceedings (4th Edition)

CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 3 2010
Kim Holt
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Practical guide to medical student assessment

BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY EDUCATION, Issue 1 2007
E. J. Wood
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


The Art of Repair in Surgical Hair Restoration,Part II: The Tactics of Repair

DERMATOLOGIC SURGERY, Issue 10 2002
Robert M. Bernstein MD
background. As patient awareness of new hair transplantation techniques grows, the repair of improperly planned or poorly executed procedures becomes an increasingly important part of surgical hair restoration. objective. Part II of this series is written to serve as a practical guide for surgeons who perform repairs in their daily practices. It focuses on specific repair techniques. methods. The repairs are performed by excision with reimplantation and/or by camouflage. Follicular unit transplantation is used for the restorative aspects of the procedure. results. Using punch or linear excision techniques allows the surgeon to relocate poorly planted grafts to areas that are more appropriate. The key elements of camouflage include creating a deep zone of follicular units, angling grafts in their natural direction, and using forward and side weighting of grafts to increase the appearance of fullness. In special situations, removal of grafts without reimplantation can be accomplished using lasers or electrolysis. conclusion. Meticulous surgical techniques and optimal utilization of a limited hair supply will enable the surgeon to achieve the best possible cosmetic results for patients requiring repairs. [source]


College of American pathologists practical guide to gynecologic cytopathology: Morphology, management, and molecular methods

DIAGNOSTIC CYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 9 2010
Martha Bishop Pitman M.D.
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Morphologic predictors of papillary carcinoma on fine-needle aspiration of thyroid with ThinPrep® preparations

DIAGNOSTIC CYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 6 2001
Yilin Zhang M.D.
Abstract Although the cytologic features of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid are well-known, none is entirely specific. We conducted this study to determine the minimal criteria necessary to achieve 100% specificity for the diagnosis of papillary carcinoma on fine-needle aspiration (FNA). Forty patients with histologically confirmed papillary carcinoma and 17 patients with other thyroid lesions who underwent preoperative FNA at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center during a 4-yr period were included in the study. All cytology slides were prepared with the ThinPrep® processing technique. Various architectural and nuclear features were evaluated, with a score assigned to each feature, and correlated with the histologic diagnosis of papillary carcinoma. Intranuclear inclusions, papillary and/or sheet arrangements, nuclear grooves, powdery chromatin, nuclear molding, high cellularity, and small nucleoli were significantly associated with papillary carcinoma (P < 0.05). The requirement of any intranuclear inclusions and many nuclear grooves, or a minimum of sum of scores (of the above eight features) of 10, yields 100% specificity and approximately 70% sensitivity. Cases with fewer features can be reported as suspicious or indeterminate for papillary carcinoma. A quantitative/probabilistic approach in the reporting of thyroid FNA provides a practical guide for management of patients with thyroid nodules. Diagn. Cytopathol. 24:378,383, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Teaching and Learning Guide for: Memoryscape: How Audio Walks Can Deepen Our Sense of Place by Integrating Art, Oral History and Cultural Geography

GEOGRAPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 5 2008
Toby Butler
Author's Introduction This article is concerned with the history and practice of creating sound walks or ,memoryscapes': outdoor trails that use recorded sound and spoken memory played on a personal stereo or mobile media to experience places in new ways. It is now possible to cheaply and easily create this and other kinds of located media experience. The development of multi-sensory-located media (,locedia') presents some exciting opportunities for those concerned with place, local history, cultural geography and oral history. This article uses work from several different disciplines (music, sound art, oral history and cultural geography) as a starting point to exploring some early and recent examples of locedia practice. It also suggests how it might give us a more sophisticated, real, embodied and nuanced experience of places that the written word just can not deliver. Yet, there are considerable challenges in producing and experiencing such work. Academics used to writing must learn to work in sound and view or image; they must navigate difficult issues of privacy, consider the power relations of the outsider's ,gaze' and make decisions about the representation of places in work that local people may try and have strong feelings about. Creating such work is an active, multi-sensory and profoundly challenging experience that can offer students the chance to master multi-media skills as well as apply theoretical understandings of the histories and geographies of place. Author Recommends 1.,Perks, R., and Thomson, A. (2006). The oral history reader, 2nd ed. London: Routledge. This is a wonderful collection of significant writing concerned with oral history. Part IV, Making Histories features much of interest, including a thought-provoking paper on the challenges of authoring in sound rather than print by Charles Hardy III, and a moving interview with Graeme Miller, the artist who created the Linked walk mentioned in the memoryscape article. These only feature in the second edition. 2.,Cresswell, T. (2004). Place: a short introduction. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. A refreshingly clear and well-written guide to the different theoretical takes on what makes places , a good starting point for further reading. 3.,Carlyle, A. (ed.). (2008). Autumn leaves: sound and the environment in artistic practice. Paris, France: Double Entendre. This is a collection of short essays and examples of located sonic media art; it includes interviews with practitioners and includes Hildegard Westekamp's Soundwalking, a practical guide to leading students on a mute walk. Lots of thought provoking, applied reading material for students here. 4.,Blunt, A., et al. (eds) (2003). Cultural geography in practice. London: Arnold. A great book for undergraduate and postgraduate students , concepts explained and lots of examples of actually doing cultural geography. The chapter on mapping worlds by David Pinder is particularly useful in this context. 5.,Pinder, D. (2001). Ghostly footsteps: voices, memories and walks in the city. Ecumene 8 (1), pp. 1,19. This article is a thoughtful analysis of a Janet Cardiff sound walk in Whitechapel, East London. Online Materials http://www.memoryscape.org.uk This is my project website, which features two online trails, Dockers which explores Greenwich and the memories of the London Docks that are archived in the Museum of London, and Drifting which is a rather strange experiment-combining physical geography and oral history along the Thames at Hampton Court, but still makes for an interesting trail. Audio, maps and trails can be downloaded for free, so students with phones or iPods can try the trails if you are within reach of Surrey or London. The site features an online version, with sound-accompanying photographs of the location. http://www.portsofcall.org.uk This website has three more trails here, this time of the communities surrounding the Royal Docks in East London. The scenery here is very dramatic and anyone interested in the regeneration of East London and its impact on local communities will find these trails interesting. Like Dockers, the walks feature a lot of rare archive interviews. This project involved a great deal of community interaction and participation as I experimented with trying to get people involved with the trail-making process. The site uses Google maps for online delivery. http://www.soundwalk.com This New York-based firm creates exceptionally high-quality soundwalks, and they are well worth the money. They started by producing trails for different districts of New York (I recommend the Bronx Graffiti trail) and have recently made trails for other cities, like Paris and Varanassi in India. http://www.mscapers.com This website is run by Hewlett Packard, which has a long history of research and development in located media applications. They currently give free licence to use their mscape software which is a relatively easy to learn way of creating global positioning system-triggered content. The big problem is that you have to have a pricey phone or personal digital assistant to run the software, which makes group work prohibitively expensive. But equipment prices are coming down and with the new generations of mobile phones developers believe that the time when the player technology is ubiquitous might be near. And if you ask nicely HP will lend out sets of equipment for teaching or events , fantastic if you are working within reach of Bristol. See also http://www.createascape.org.uk/ which has advice and examples of how mscape software has been used for teaching children. Sample Syllabus public geography: making memoryscapes This course unit could be adapted to different disciplines, or offered as a multidisciplinary unit to students from different disciplines. It gives students a grounding in several multi-media techniques and may require support/tuition from technical staff. 1.,Introduction What is a located mediascape, now and in the future? Use examples from resources above. 2.,Cultural geographies of site-specific art and sound Theories of place; experiments in mapping and site-specific performance. 3.,Walk activity: Westergard Hildekamp , sound walk, or one of the trails mentioned above The best way , and perhaps the only way , to really appreciate located media is to try one in the location they have been designed to be experienced. I would strongly advise any teaching in this field to include outdoor, on-site experiences. Even if you are out of reach of a mediascape experience, taking students on a sound walk can happen anywhere. See Autumn Leaves reference above. 4.,Researching local history An introduction to discovering historical information about places could be held at a local archive and a talk given by the archivist. 5.,Creating located multimedia using Google maps/Google earth A practical exercise-based session going through the basics of navigating Google maps, creating points and routes, and how to link pictures and sound files. 6.,Recording sound and oral history interviews A practical introduction to the techniques of qualitative interviewing and sound recording. There are lots of useful online guides to oral history recording, for example, an online oral history primer http://www.nebraskahistory.org/lib-arch/research/audiovis/oral_history/index.htm; a more in depth guide to various aspects of oral history http://www.baylor.edu/oral%5fhistory/index.php?id=23566 or this simple oral history toolkit, with useful links to project in the North of England http://www.oralhistorynortheast.info/toolkit/chapter1.htm 7.,Sound editing skills Practical editing techniques including working with clips, editing sound and creating multi-track recordings. The freeware software Audacity is simple to use and there are a lot of online tutorials that cover the basics, for example, http://www.wikieducator.org/user:brentsimpson/collections/audacity_workshop 8.,Web page design and Google maps How to create a basic web page (placing pictures, text, hyperlinks, buttons) using design software (e.g. Dreamweaver). How to embed a Google map and add information points and routes. There is a great deal of online tutorials for web design, specific to the software you wish to use and Google maps can be used and embedded on websites free for non-profit use. http://maps.google.com/ 9,and 10. Individual or group project work (staff available for technical support) 11.,Presentations/reflection on practice Focus Questions 1What can sound tell us about the geographies of places? 2When you walk through a landscape, what traces of the past can be sensed? Now think about which elements of the past have been obliterated? Whose past has been silenced? Why? How could it be put back? 3Think of a personal or family story that is significant to you. In your imagination, locate the memory at a specific place. Tell a fellow student that story, and describe that place. Does it matter where it happened? How has thinking about that place made you feel? 4What happens when you present a memory of the past or a located vision of the future in a present landscape? How is this different to, say, writing about it in a book? 5Consider the area of this campus, or the streets immediately surrounding this building. Imagine this place in one of the following periods (each group picks one): ,,10,000 years ago ,,500 years ago ,,100 years ago ,,40 years ago ,,last Thursday ,,50 years time What sounds, voices, stories or images could help convey your interpretation of this place at that time? What would the visitor hear or see today at different points on a trail? Sketch out an outline map of a located media trail, and annotate with what you hear/see/sense at different places. Project Idea small group project: creating a located mediascape Each small group must create a located media experience, reflecting an aspect of the history/geography/culture of an area of their choosing, using the knowledge that they have acquired over the course of the semester. The experience may be as creative and imaginative as you wish, and may explore the past, present or future , or elements of each. Each group must: ,,identify an area of interest ,,research an aspect of the area of the groups choosing; this may involve visiting local archives, libraries, discussing the idea with local people, physically exploring the area ,,take photographs, video or decide on imagery (if necessary) ,,record sound, conduct interviews or script and record narration ,,design a route or matrix of media points The final project must be presented on a website, may embed Google maps, and a presentation created to allow the class to experience the mediascape (either in the classroom or on location, if convenient). The website should include a brief theoretical and methodological explanation of the basis of their interpretation. If the group cannot be supported with tuition and support in basic website design or using Google mapping with sound and imagery, a paper map with locations and a CD containing sound files/images might be submitted instead. For examples of web projects created by masters degree students of cultural geography at Royal Holloway (not all sound based) see http://www.gg.rhul.ac.uk/MA/web-projects.html [source]


Use of pharmacokinetics in the coagulation factor treatment of patients with haemophilia

HAEMOPHILIA, Issue 6 2005
A. D. Shapiro
Summary., Dosing decisions for replacement coagulation factors in patients with haemophilia should be made on an individual patient basis, with the required dose dependent on factors including the clinical situation, the severity of the factor deficiency, and the location and extent of bleeding. Moreover, there is considerable variability in the pharmacokinetics of coagulation products that needs to be considered; in particular, with both factor (F) IX and FVIII products, there is considerable inter-patient variability in in vivo recovery and terminal half-life values. In the present report, we provide a practical guide to calculating and applying pharmacokinetic parameters relevant to the optimal dosing of coagulation products. We discuss the conduct of a pharmacokinetic study in an individual patient, how to calculate pharmacokinetic values from raw data and clinical situations where an individual pharmacokinetic study is helpful. We highlight the importance of considering an individual pharmacokinetic study in all patients starting a new coagulation product. [source]


A Communication Researchers' Guide to Null Hypothesis Significance Testing and Alternatives

HUMAN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH, Issue 2 2008
Timothy R. Levine
This paper offers a practical guide to use null hypotheses significance testing and its alternatives. The focus is on improving the quality of statistical inference in quantitative communication research. More consistent reporting of descriptive statistics, estimates of effect size, confidence intervals around effect sizes, and increasing the statistical power of tests would lead to needed improvements over current practices. Alternatives including confidence intervals, effect tests, equivalence tests, and meta-analysis are discussed. Résumé Le guide du test de signification basé sur l,hypothèse nulle et de ses alternatives, à l'usage des chercheurs en communication Cet article offre un guide pratique pour l,utilisation du test de signification basé sur l'hypothèse nulle (NHST) et de ses alternatives. Il se concentre sur la manière d,améliorer la qualité de l'inférence statistique dans la recherche quantitative en communication. Une divulgation plus cohérente de la statistique descriptive, une évaluation de l,ampleur de l'effet, des intervalles de confiance autour de l,ampleur de l'effet et une augmentation de l,efficacité statistique des tests mèneraient à de nécessaires améliorations des pratiques actuelles. Des alternatives sont commentées, dont les intervalles de confiance, les tests d'effet, les tests d'équivalence et la méta-analyse. Abstract Anleitung und Alternativen zum Nullhypothesen-Signifikanztesten für Kommunikationsforscher Dieser Artikel bietet eine praktische Anleitung zum Gebrauch von Nullhypothesen-Signifikanztests und zu möglichen Alternativen. Der Fokus des Artikels liegt dabei auf der Qualitätsverbesserung von statistischen Inferenzschlüssen in der quantitativen Kommunikationsforschung. Eine konsistentere Dokumentation und Offenlegung von deskriptiver Statistik, Effektgrößen, Konfidenzintervallen der Effektgrößen und die Verbesserung der statistischen Power von Tests würden zu einer Optimierung der bislang üblichen Praxis führen. Alternativen wie Konfidenzintervalle, Effekttests, Äquivalenztests und Meta-Analysen werden diskutiert. Resumen Una Guía para los Investigadores de Comunicación sobre la Puesta a Prueba de la Significancia de la Hipótesis Nula y sus Alternativas Este artículo ofrece una guía práctica para el uso de la puesta a prueba de la significancia (NHST) de las hipótesis nulas y sus alternativas. El enfoque se centra en mejorar la calidad de la inferencia estadística de la investigación de comunicación cuantitativa. Reportes estadísticos descriptivos más consistentes, estimaciones del efecto de tamaño, intervalos de confianza alrededor del efecto de tamaño, y el incremento del poder estadístico de las pruebas podrían conducir hacia mejoras necesarias de las prácticas corrientes. Las alternativas, incluyendo intervalos de confianza, pruebas de efecto, pruebas de equivalencia, y meta-análisis, son discutidas. ZhaiYao Yo yak [source]


A practical guide to the evaluation and treatment of male lower urinary tract symptoms in the primary care setting

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 9 2007
M. T. Rosenberg
Summary Aims:, Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are common in both men and women, and are among the most prevalent patient complaints heard by primary care physicians (PCPs). This article aims to provide PCPs with a logical algorithm for the assessment and initiation of treatment for LUTS in the male patient. Results:, Management of LUTS involves a focused history and physical, as well as the assessment of bother. In patients for whom treatment is warranted, a series of decisions regarding therapy should be considered. Male patients commonly suffer from storage and/or voiding symptoms. Treatment of male LUTS is commonly begun with agents that are aimed at remedying the outlet symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). When this intervention is ineffective or when refractory symptoms persist, consideration should be given to treating the storage symptoms characteristic of overactive bladder (OAB). Discussion:, This article is intended to provide the PCP with a logical guide to the treatment of male LUTS. Benign prostatic hyperplasia and OAB predominate among the causes of these symptoms, and the PCP should be comfortable treating each. Recent data detailing the safety of the use of these treatments in the male patient are reviewed and incorporated into the algorithm. Conclusion:, Primary care physicians are in a unique position to successfully identify and treat male patients with LUTS. With this paper, they now have a tool to approach treatment logically and practically. [source]


The distribution of file transmission duration in the web

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, Issue 5 2004
R. Nossenson
Abstract It is well known that the distribution of files transmission duration in the Web is heavy-tailed (A practical guide to Heavy Tails: Statistical Techniques and Application. Birkhauser: Boston, 1998; 3,26). This paper attempts to understand the reasons for this phenomenon by isolating the three major factors influencing the transmission duration: file size, network conditions and server load. We present evidence that the transmission-duration distribution (TDD) of the same file from the same server to the same client in the Web is Pareto and therefore heavy tailed. Furthermore, text files transmission delay for a specific client/server pair is not significantly affected by the file sizes: all files transmitted from the same server to the same client have very similar transmission duration distributions, regardless of their size. We use simulations to estimate the impact of network conditions and server load on the TDD. When the server and the client are on the same local network, the TDD of each file is usually Pareto as well (for server files and client requests that are distributed in a realistic way). By examining a wide-area network situation, we conclude that the network conditions do not have a major influence on the heavy-tailed behaviour of TDD. In contrast, the server load is shown to have a significant impact on the high variability of this distribution. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]