Negotiating the edge:The rationalisation of sexual risk-taking amongst Western male sex tourists to Thailand

Every year thousands of Western men travel to Thailand as sex tourists to participate in paid-for sex. Although many of these men will use condoms to protect themselves against sexually transmitted infections (STIs), others will not, despite the risks. By applying Steven Lyng's (1990) concept of edgework to data collected from 14 face-to-face interviews with male sex tourists in Pattaya, Thailand, and 1,237 online discussion board posts, this article explores the ways in which these men understood and sought to rationalize the sexual risks they took. We argue that notions of likelihood of infection and significance of consequence underpin these behaviors, and we identify the existence of understandings of sexual risk that reject mainstream safer-sex messages and frame condomless sex as a broadly safe activity for heterosexual men. The article concludes by summarizing the difficulties inherent in driving behavior change among this group of men, for whom sexual risks appear to be easily rationalized away as either inconsequential or irrelevant

Performance, power and condom use:reconceptualised masculinities amongst Western male sex tourists to Thailand

Each year large numbers of Western men travel to Thailand for sex tourism. Although many will use condoms during their sexual encounters, others will not, potentially exposing themselves to the risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Although sex tourism in Thailand has been well documented, the social drivers underpinning voluntary sexual risk-taking through the avoidance of condoms remain poorly understood. Engaging with R.W. Connell's concept of hegemonic masculinity and drawing on data collected from 1237 online discussion board posts and 14 face-to-face interviews, this study considers the ways in which understandings and performances of masculinities may inform the sexual risk-taking behaviours of Western male sex tourists. It argues that for some of these men, unprotected sex is viewed not as a reckless behaviour but, instead, as a safe and appropriate masculine practice, supported by relationships that are often framed as romantic and within a setting where HIV is still largely considered a homosexual disease. With sex workers often disempowered to request safer sexual practices, and some men's attitudes towards unprotected sex resistant to external health promotion advice, the paper concludes by considering what this might mean for policy and practice

From boundary object to boundary subject; the role of the patient in coordination across complex systems of care during hospital discharge

From boundary object to boundary subject; the role of 1 the patient in coordination across complex systems of 2 care during hospital discharge 3 4 Abstract 5 Advocates for patient involvement argue that seeking the active contribution of 6 patients and families in the coordination of care can help mitigate system 7 complexity, and lead to improvements in quality. However, sociological and 8 organisational research has identified barriers to involving patients in care 9 planning, not least the power of, and boundaries between, multiple professional 10 groups. This study draws on literature from Science and Technology Studies (STS) 11 to explore the patients' role in coordinating care across professional-practice 12 boundaries in complex care systems. Findings are drawn from a two-year 13 ethnographic study (including 69 qualitative interviews) of hospital discharge 14 following hip-fracture care, and describe the changing role of the patient as they 15 move out of hospital into community settings. Findings describe how 'the patient' 16 plays a relatively passive role as boundary object while recovering from surgery 17 within hospital, where inter-professional coordination was prescribed by 18 evidence-based guidelines, leaving little space for patient voice. As discharge 19 planning begins, patient involvement is both encouraged and contested by 20 different professional groups, with varying commitment to include patient 21 subjectivities in care. As patients move into home and community settings, they, 2

Polaron Coherence as Origin of the Pseudogap Phase in High Temperature Superconducting Cuprates

Within a two component approach to high Tc copper oxides including polaronic couplings, we identify the pseudogap phase as the onset of polaron ordering. This ordering persists in the superconducting phase. A huge isotope effect on the pseudogap onset temperature is predicted and in agreement with experimental data. The anomalous temperature dependence of the mean square copper oxygen ion displacement observed above, at and below Tc stems from an s-wave superconducting component of the order parameter, whereas a pure d-wave order parameter alone can be excluded.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Using large-scale additive manufacturing (LSAM) as a bridge manufacturing process in response to shortages in PPE during the COVID-19 outbreak

The global COVID-19 pandemic has led to an international shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), with traditional supply chains unable to cope with the significant demand leading to critical shortfalls. A number of open and crowd sourced initiatives have sought to address this shortfall by producing equipment such as protective face shields using additive manufacturing techniques such as Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). This paper reports the process of designing and manufacturing protective face shields using Large-scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) to produce the major thermoplastic components of the face shield. LSAM offers significant advantages over other Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies in bridge manufacturing scenarios as a true transition between prototypes and mass production techniques such as injection moulding. In the context of production of COVID-19 face shields, the ability to produce the optimised components in under five minutes compared to what would typically take one to two hours using another AM technologies meant that significant production volume could be achieved rapidly with minimal staffing