9 research outputs found
[Topical use of glyceryl-trinitrate in the treatment of anal fissure]
Anal fissure is associated with hypertonia of the internal anal sphincter and pain. Lateral internal sphincterotomy, the most common treatment, may cause permanent injury to the anal sphincter, which can lead to fecal incontinence. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of topical glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) ointment in the treatment of anal fissure
[Treatment of functional diseases after rectum anal surgery: effectiveness of rehabilitation of the pelvic pavement]
Anorectal dysfunction is routinely treated at the Center for Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation, San Giovanni University Hospital, Turin, Italy. Of a total of 147 patients treated between April 2007 and May 2008, 44 (30%) received pelvic floor rehabilitation following anorectal surgery. With this study we wanted to evaluate the response of patients with constipation and/or fecal incontinence to postsurgical pelvic floor rehabilitation designed to regain full or partial anorectal function and so improve their quality of life
POSTER: Fast, Automatic iPhone Shoulder Surfing
Touchscreen devices increase the risk of shoulder surfing to such an extent that attackers could steal
sensitive information by simply following the victim
and observe his or her portable device. We underline
this concern by proposing an automatic shoulder
surfing attack against modern touchscreen keyboards
that display magnified keys in predictable
positions. We demonstrate this attack against the
Apple iPhone—although it can work with other
layouts and different devices—and show that it
recognizes up to 97.07% (91.03% on average) of the
keystrokes, with only 1.15% of errors, at 37 to 51
keystrokes per minute: About eight times faster than
a human analyzing a recorded video. Our attack
accurately recovers the sequence of keystrokes input
by the user. A previous attack, which targeted
desktop scenarios and thus worked with very
restrictive settings, is similar in spirit to
ours. However, as it assumes that camera and target
keyboard are both in fixed, perpendicular position,
it cannot suite mobile settings, characterized by
moving target and skewed, rotated viewpoints. Our
attack, instead, requires no particular settings and
even allows for natural movements of both target
device and shoulder surfer's camera. In addition,
our attack yields accurate output without any
grammar or syntax checks, so that it can detect
large context-free text or non-dictionary words
The Smart City and the Creation of Local Public Value
none1The distinctive feature of local authorities is the creation of public value in a financially sustainable way. In other words, they are expected to meet effectively the public needs of citizens, generating a positive spread between social benefits and costs and thus contributing to the prosperity of their community of reference (i.e. their constituency). At the same time, they are expected to pursue financial stability by efficiently using the increasingly scarce and therefore precious public resources.
The fulfillment of this function is very complex, due to both the growing proliferation of public needs and the progressive lack of available resources, but also because it is significantly affected by the roles played by many other actors, including citizens, businesses, other public authorities and not-for-profit organizations.
To address this difficulty, many local authorities state, in their strategic plans, that they wish to become smart. A smart city, in fact, identifies an urban environment actively engaged in improving the quality of life of its citizens and in pursuing sustainable socio-economic development, thanks to the wide and innovative use of information and communication technology.
However, so far the concept of smart city, although widely used, does not have a consistent meaning and therefore needs to be deepened and better defined. More precisely, this paper seeks to identify fields of action in which the city can be smart, analyzing the potential benefits to quality of life, environmental protection and economic development, but also looking into the possible obstacles and potential solutions in the relationship between the local authority and other actors in the social system.
Moreover, even the application of the smart city model is quite varied. In this regard, the paper aims to describe the state of the art of Italian regional capitals, seen as a significant sample of large and medium-size cities in the country, analyze their common and different features, strengths and weaknesses, and suggest some solutions to overcome weaknesses and exploit strengths.
Therefore, the aim of this paper is two-fold. On a theoretical level, it aims to contribute to the smart city definition and critically analyze the relationship between this concept and the creation of local public value. On a practical level, it intends to verify the adoption of the smart city model by a significant sample of large and medium-size Italian cities, in order to draw useful indications of perspective. In essence, the paper aims to provide a critical and empirically informed analysis of the potential success, but also possible failure of the smart city projects.Federico FontanaFontana, Federic