Building men's health shoulder to shoulder : an exploration into the influence of men's sheds on men's health

Men in Western society have poorer health outcomes on a range of measures and are shown to have poor health knowledge and lower engagement in preventive health than women. Numerous social determinants of health increase men's health risks. Feminist theories of masculinity describe the influence of culture, environment and social interaction on perceptions of being a man. Hegemonic masculinity in today's culture constructs the ideal man as tough, self-reliant, independent and dominant to females and subordinate or invisible masculinities. Although not attainable to all men, this hegemonic masculinity is positioned as the ideal, and men either seek to attain it, or actively reject it through their masculine acts. Significantly, how a man views and acts out his masculine role can influence his health. Notwithstanding global and local culture, the culture of a specific place in which the man is embedded has a strong influence on portrayal of masculinity, including through health behaviours. Men's sheds emerged in rural South Australia in the 1990s as a community initiative with a common purpose of providing men with a "backyard shed" environment in which to undertake meaningful work and socially engage with other men in a safe and familiar space. Men's sheds are promoted as providing social support, education and psychological benefits for Australian men. Although the men's shed movement has attained recognition within the Australian National Male Health Policy, there is limited research on the impact of men's sheds on men's health and the way men engage with their health. This qualitative research aimed to fill this gap by providing an in-depth investigation into the influence of men's sheds on men's health. Set in four Australian men's sheds in rural and urban locations, this research explored how men's social networks are utilised to make sense of and manage health, and how the man's 'doing' of gender mediates both his social interaction and his health behaviour. Using a mixed methodology, qualitative thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and social network analysis undertaken with 32 men attending men's sheds, the thesis unravels their experiences of masculinity, of engaging in the men's shed space and the influence of these experiences on health behaviour. The findings suggest that men attending workshops actively rejected the hegemonic notion that older men embody a subordinate masculinity. These men actively take on meaningful roles as helpers in the community. In older age, some men reconstruct the ideal masculinity to incorporate more attainable characteristics and control of and responsibility for their health. Storytelling is often used to portray masculine characteristics of physical toughness and risky behaviour that are no longer directly attainable. Engagement in one's health was found to be normalised through attending a men's shed. As a space, the men's shed promoted health through providing tangible support in the way of education and health screening, as well as social networks through which health responsibility was modelled

Raman Optical Activity: A Reliable Chiroptical Technique

Vibrational optical activity (VOA) is a research field in full expansion. The two main areas where VOA is used are the determination of absolute configurations and the investigation of the secondary and tertiary solution structures of biopolymers. Commercial instrumentation is available since some time for vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) and, more recently, also Raman optical activity (ROA). Here, we describe a recent instrumental implementation of forward scattering, advances in the computational interpretation of ROA, and the determination of the mechanistically important absolute configuration of (4E)-3,3-dimethyl-5-[(2R,3R)-3-methyloxiran-2-yl]pent-4-en-2-one (1)

The Medial Turn in Knowledge Society

Many discourses tend to consider change in techniques as the main trigger for social change and economic development. This paper proposes the original hypothesis that the development of new techniques occurs at the end of a long lasting societal process, not as its cause. The rising of the knowledge society since the 17th century is engaged today in what we called the medial turn – defined as a cultural shift through the generalized digital communication. This process is the conclusive stage in the modernization process of societies conceived as positive-sum-game networks. Based on MacLuhan’s famous idea that the “medium is the message”, we address a few questions specialists and engineers are to be confronted to in the medial age

Portraits of people with dementia : three case studies of creating portraits

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Comparison of Alternative Meat Inspection Regimes for Pigs From Non-Controlled Housing – Considering the Cost of Error

Denmark has not had cases of bovine tuberculosis (bovTB) for more than 30 years but is obliged by trade agreements to undertake traditional meat inspection (TMI) of finisher pigs from non-controlled housing to detect bovTB. TMI is associated with higher probability of detecting bovTB but is also more costly than visual-only inspection (VOI). To identify whether VOI should replace TMI of finisher pigs from non-controlled housing, the cost of error – defined here as probability of overlooking infection and associated economic costs - should be assessed and compared with surveillance costs. First, a scenario tree model was set up to assess the ability of detecting bovTB in an infected herd (HSe) calculated for three within-herd prevalences, WHP (1, 5 and 10%), for four different surveillance scenarios (TMI and VOI with or without serological test, respectively). HSe was calculated for six consecutive 4-week surveillance periods until predicted bovTB detection (considered high-risk periods HRP). 1-HSe was probability of missing all positives by each HRP. Next, probability of spread of infection, Pspread, and number of infected animals moved were calculated for each HRP. Costs caused by overlooking bovTB were calculated taking into account Pspread, 1-HSe, eradication costs, and trade impact. Finally, the average annual costs were calculated by adding surveillance costs and assuming one incursion of bovTB in either 1, 10 or 30 years. Input parameters were based on slaughterhouse statistics, literature and expert opinion. Herd sensitivity increased by high-risk period and within-herd prevalence. Assuming WHP=5%, HSe reached median 90% by 2nd HRP for TMI, whereas for VOI this would happen after 6th HRP. Serology had limited impact on HSe. The higher the probability of infection, the higher the probability of detection and spread. TMI resulted in lowest average annual costs, if one incursion of bovTB was expected every year. However, when assuming one introduction in 10 or 30 years, VOI resulted in lowest average costs. It may be more cost-effective to focus on imported high-risk animals coming into contact with Danish livestock, instead of using TMI as surveillance on all pigs from non-controlled housing

Predators, reproductive parasites, and the persistence of poor males on leks

Lekking males are thought to face strong directional selection on secondary sexual traits. How variation in male traits can persist under these conditions remains problematic (the lek paradox). Here, we present several game-theoretic models that show that avoidance of costly and mobile predators, sneakers, or brood parasites (enemies) leads to variation in female choice. This can result in maintenance of variation in male quality. "Enemies” will congregate around higher quality males. Females must then trade-off the benefits of mating with high-quality males against the increased risk of enemies. At equilibrium, the models predict a positive correlation between the quality of a male and the proportions of both enemies and females visiting him. In the first model, we use this framework to predict the lowest quality male on the lek that will receive any matings. In the second model, we examine the influence of this female-enemy game on the maintenance of variation in male quality. Low-quality males are likely to persist when enemies are costly to females or occur at high density, and when there is some spatial structure on the lek, so that neighboring males are typically of similar quality. If enemies are more costly to males than to females, high-quality males may benefit from receiving fewer female visits. In the third model, we consider the special case when enemies are male reproductive parasites. These models illustrate the importance of considering the simultaneous decisions of multiple players in mate choice game