The Worker's Life as a Biographical Learning Process: Suggestions for a Reorientation of the Concept of Learning in Industrial Society

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L'érosion biographique comme conséquence des bouleversements technologiques, exemple de l'introduction des techniques nouvelles dans l'imprimerie en R.F.A.

Ditmar Brock and Hans-Rolf Vetter The biographical erosion process as a consequence of technological upheavals. The introduction of a new technology does not only transform, the job, the work conditions and the operating modes but also, more fundamentally, the relation between professional identity and personal identity. The authors set out to analyze the economy/biography relation following the introduction of a new technology in the printing business. In order to do so, they combine two dimensions : the level of participation in the new organization and the level of mobilization in the defense of collective interests, which they relate to the nature of jobs held. They are led to identify three types of workers : those who are professionally active, those who are socially active and professionally resigned and those who detach themselves from their professional universe.L'introduction d'une nouvelle technologie ne transforme pas seulement le métier, les conditions de travail et les modes opératoires mais plus fondamentalement encore le rapport entre identité professionnelle et identité personnelle. Les auteurs se proposent donc d'analyser ce qu'ils nomment le rapport économie/biographie suite à l'irruption d'une nouvelle technologie dans l'imprimerie. Pour ce faire, ils combinent deux dimensions : le niveau de participation à la nouvelle organisation et le niveau de mobilisation dans la défense des intérêts collectifs, qu'ils mettent en relation avec la nature des emplois occupés. Ils sont conduits à distinguer trois types de travailleurs : ceux qui sont professionnellement actifs, ceux qui sont socialement actifs et professionnellement résignés, et ceux qui se détachent de l'univers professionnel.Brock Ditmar, Vetter Hans-Rolf, Passelaigue Martine. L'érosion biographique comme conséquence des bouleversements technologiques, exemple de l'introduction des techniques nouvelles dans l'imprimerie en R.F.A.. In: Sociologie du travail, 28ᵉ année n°2, Avril-juin 1986. pp. 125-143

Precursors of cognitive impairments in psychotic disorders: a population-based study

Cognitive deficits have been found to be more prevalent in psychotic than in other disorders. Longitudinal research has shown that these deficits were generally already existent before onset of illness and are therefore not necessarily attributable to neurodegenerative processes. This study investigated whether both low IQ and markers of premorbid cognitive dysfunction independently contribute to an increased risk for psychoses. In a cross-sectional study about 50,000 young Swiss males completed a survey of intellectual problems in childhood/adolescence and other vulnerability factors during military call-up in 2005/2006. Subsequently, military IQ assessments were carried out on the entire sample. Diagnostic assessments were conducted according to International Classification of Diseases-10th edition (ICD-10). Low, especially performance, IQ was highly associated with an increased risk for psychotic disorders after adjusting for preexisting cognitive deficits and covariates, while in other disorders this association was less marked. Furthermore, preexisting intellectual problems emerged as important risk factors for psychoses. Our results confirm the importance of low IQ as characteristic of psychoses. Although premorbid intellectual deficits are common in people who go on to develop psychosis, neurodegenerative disease processes may also precipitate further declines in fluid cognitive functions. Assessment of cognitive functioning should be taken into account in early detection of psychoses

SwissFEL: The Swiss X-ray Free Electron Laser

The SwissFEL X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) facility started construction at the Paul Scherrer Institute (Villigen, Switzerland) in 2013 and will be ready to accept its first users in 2018 on the Aramis hard X-ray branch. In the following sections we will summarize the various aspects of the project, including the design of the soft and hard X-ray branches of the accelerator, the results of SwissFEL performance simulations, details of the photon beamlines and experimental stations, and our first commissioning results