Improvement in the Sediment Management of a Lagoon Harbor: The Case of Marano Lagunare, Italy

Port silting is a common and natural process which often causes serious inconveniences for safe navigation and requires expensive dredging operations to keep the port operative. Sediment deposition is closely related to the exchange water between the basin and the surrounding environment; one way to limit deposits is by reducing the flow entering the port. However, this may be in contrast with the need for adequate sediment quality, which in turn is closely related to an appropriate water current. This seems to be particularly important in lagoon environments, where sediments are often polluted, making its disposal more complicated and costly. The present paper investigates the situation of the port of Marano Lagunare (Italy) by means of a bidimensional morphological-hydrodynamic and spectral coupled model. To reduce the sediment input into the port, the closure of a secondary port entrance is usually suggested. However, this work demonstrates that a complete dredging of the secondary port inlet allows for an increase in water circulation or efficiency renewal, which ensures a better oxygenation at the bottom of the canals.

Rethinking Authoritarian Power: The Logistics Space and Authoritarian Practices in and between Secondary Port Cities of the Global South

How to rethink authoritarian power in ways that better account for authoritarian connections beyond nation-state boundaries? By reconceptualizing the context in which to analyze authoritarian power, we bring to light transregional authoritarian connections between the secondary port cities Aqaba/Jordan and Buenaventura/Colombia. We demonstrate that processes of privatization and a continuum of pre-emptive, technocratizing, and repressive authoritarian practices with the overall purpose of enabling capital accumulation occur in a remarkably entangled manner in both locales, even if located at seemingly unconnected geographical sites. By thinking of Aqaba and Buenaventura as occupying the same “transregional authoritarian logistics space” (TALS), we understand Buenaventura through Aqaba, and vice versa. This crisscrossing of established notions of context has important implications for our understanding of authoritarianism and future transregional research designs. As a unit of analysis, the TALS allows us to highlight the role of global logistics players and “developmental aid” agencies—actors rarely discussed in literature on authoritarianism—in rearticulating boundaries within and beyond the nation-state based on class and race. Our contribution calls for an understanding of authoritarian power as transregionally entangled, rather than separate and limited to the nation-state and builds on literatures on authoritarian practices, authoritarian neoliberalism, critical logistics, and transregional connections.

Identifikasi struktur dan perubahan lanskap Kota Banjarmasin di masa kesultanan (1526-1860)

Identifying the structure and transformation of Banjarmasin townscape during the Sultanate period(1526-1860): Banjarmasin city in the past was widely known as one of the main pepper producers in theArchipelago that turned the town to becoming one of the port cities in the Southeast Asia maritime tradenetwork. As a port city, Banjarmasin showed a typical landscape character similar to other port cities inSoutheast Asia. The physical landscape feature of this city inevitably was influenced by the economic factoron which trade was the primary income of the sultanate and its people. During the Sultanate period (15261860),the landscape of Banjarmasin was transformed as an impact of the political influence that related to the pepper trade, which involved foreign traders. The main objective of this study is to analyse the landscape changing of Banjarmasin during the Sultanate period by applying the historical method and spatial approach. In the spatial analysis, the landscape component of processes, space, material, and form was used to identifythe landscape structure and its transformation. The result of the study shows that the landscape of Banjarmasinevolved in the following stages: (1) port-polity of Banjar sultanate (1526-1612); (2) secondary port-city of thesultanate (1612-1663); (3) primary port of the sultanate (1663-1787); (4) primary port of the Dutch in SoutheastKalimantan (1787-1860). With regard to the research process, the spatial dimension was not only obtainedfrom the historical maps but also from written sources that indicated the location of activities or events.

Intraoperative safety of low pressure pneumoperitoneum cholecystectomy: a comparative study

Background: With the establishment of laparoscopic cholecystectomy as gold standard for management of cholelithiasis, the current stress is on increasing patient safety. Hence, this study was undertaken to compare the effect of low pressure pneumoperitoneum (LPP <10mm Hg) versus high pressure pneumoperitoneum (HPP >14mm Hg) in a prospective randomized manner on intraoperative safety, assessing the working space and safety by seeing contact of parietal peritoneum to underlying viscera during secondary port insertion.Methods: 120 patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy were randomized into the LPP (<10mm Hg) group (n=60) and the HPP (>14mm Hg) group (n=60) prospectively. Available working space assessed directly, safety by contact of parietal peritoneum to underlying viscera during secondary port insertion and operative difficulty assessed by visualization, dissection and grasping, total duration of surgery; intra-operative gas consumption, and bile spillage were assessed.Results: There was no significant difference in terms of available working space, operative duration, consumption of carbon dioxide, surgeon’s operative difficulty and intraoperative bile spillage. Out of 180 secondary ports inserted, there was evident contact of 20 (11.1%) secondary ports in high pressure groups and 14 (7.7%) secondary ports in low pressure group, which is suggestive of adequate exposure and working space available for surgery at both pressures.Conclusions: Low-pressure cholecystectomy did not compromise intraoperative safety and should be the standard of care in day care surgery.

Normal laparoscopic anatomy of the caprine pelvic cavity

Due to the several advantages over conventional procedures, the laparoscopic disease diagnosis and surgery has now started receiving attention in small ruminants. The normal laparoscopic anatomy needs to be described for comparison with the findings in animals with various diseases. The objective of the present study was therefore to describe the laparoscopic anatomy of the caprine pelvic cavity. Adult Bakerwal and Pashmina goats (n=25) of both the sexes were included in this laparoscopy study. All the animals were restrained in dorsal recumbency and Trendelenburg position under lumbosacral epidural anesthesia and sedation. After creating the pneumoperitoneum, the primary port for 5 mm laparoscope was placed at linea alba (3.0 cm cranial to mammary glands in does), and at right paramedian (3.0 cm cranial to the rudimentary teat in the bucks) site. Secondary port was placed under direct laparoscopic observation 5-6 cm away from the primary port in horizontal plane, to allow insertion of the grasping forceps. Scan was performed first at the primary port and subsequently through the secondary port for orientation and exploration of the pelvic cavity. The ventral laparoscopic approach provided satisfactory exposure of the pelvic cavity in goats. Comprehensive description of the pelvic organs could be obtained. However, dorsal aspect of the urinary bladder neck and accessory genital organs of male animals could not be visualized. Major complications were not encountered during or after laparoscopy. Laparoscopy a minimally invasive procedure has several advantages over alternate methods of understanding anatomy, physiology and pathology of most of the intraperitoneal pelvic structures in goats. The technique has high pedagogic value. The procedure is safe in experienced hands.