MORM--a Petri net based model for assessing OH&S risks in industrial processes: modeling qualitative aspects.

Because of the increase in workplace automation and the diversification of industrial processes, workplaces have become more and more complex. The classical approaches used to address workplace hazard concerns, such as checklists or sequence models, are, therefore, of limited use in such complex systems. Moreover, because of the multifaceted nature of workplaces, the use of single-oriented methods, such as AEA (man oriented), FMEA (system oriented), or HAZOP (process oriented), is not satisfactory. The use of a dynamic modeling approach in order to allow multiple-oriented analyses may constitute an alternative to overcome this limitation. The qualitative modeling aspects of the MORM (man-machine occupational risk modeling) model are discussed in this article. The model, realized on an object-oriented Petri net tool (CO-OPN), has been developed to simulate and analyze industrial processes in an OH&S perspective. The industrial process is modeled as a set of interconnected subnets (state spaces), which describe its constitutive machines. Process-related factors are introduced, in an explicit way, through machine interconnections and flow properties. While man-machine interactions are modeled as triggering events for the state spaces of the machines, the CREAM cognitive behavior model is used in order to establish the relevant triggering events. In the CO-OPN formalism, the model is expressed as a set of interconnected CO-OPN objects defined over data types expressing the measure attached to the flow of entities transiting through the machines. Constraints on the measures assigned to these entities are used to determine the state changes in each machine. Interconnecting machines implies the composition of such flow and consequently the interconnection of the measure constraints. This is reflected by the construction of constraint enrichment hierarchies, which can be used for simulation and analysis optimization in a clear mathematical framework. The use of Petri nets to perform multiple-oriented analysis opens perspectives in the field of industrial risk management. It may significantly reduce the duration of the assessment process. But, most of all, it opens perspectives in the field of risk comparisons and integrated risk management. Moreover, because of the generic nature of the model and tool used, the same concepts and patterns may be used to model a wide range of systems and application fields.

The role of actions in auditory object discrimination.

Action representations can interact with object recognition processes. For example, so-called mirror neurons respond both when performing an action and when seeing or hearing such actions. Investigations of auditory object processing have largely focused on categorical discrimination, which begins within the initial 100 ms post-stimulus onset and subsequently engages distinct cortical networks. Whether action representations themselves contribute to auditory object recognition and the precise kinds of actions recruiting the auditory-visual mirror neuron system remain poorly understood. We applied electrical neuroimaging analyses to auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) in response to sounds of man-made objects that were further subdivided between sounds conveying a socio-functional context and typically cuing a responsive action by the listener (e.g. a ringing telephone) and those that are not linked to such a context and do not typically elicit responsive actions (e.g. notes on a piano). This distinction was validated psychophysically by a separate cohort of listeners. Beginning approximately 300 ms, responses to such context-related sounds significantly differed from context-free sounds both in the strength and topography of the electric field. This latency is >200 ms subsequent to general categorical discrimination. Additionally, such topographic differences indicate that sounds of different action sub-types engage distinct configurations of intracranial generators. Statistical analysis of source estimations identified differential activity within premotor and inferior (pre)frontal regions (Brodmann's areas (BA) 6, BA8, and BA45/46/47) in response to sounds of actions typically cuing a responsive action. We discuss our results in terms of a spatio-temporal model of auditory object processing and the interplay between semantic and action representations.

Psychometrics of the Dyadic Coping Inventory in three language groups

This article introduces the Dyadic Coping Inventory (DCI; Bodenmann, 2008) and aims (1) to investigate the reliability and aspects of the validity of the Italian and French versions of the DCI, and (2) to replicate its factor structure and reliabilities using a new Swiss German sample. Based on 216 German-, 378 Italian-, and 198 French-speaking participants, the factor structure of the original German inventory was able to be replicated by using principal components analysis in all three groups after excluding two items in the Italian and French versions. The latter were shown to be as reliable as the German version with the exception of the low reliabilities of negative dyadic coping in the French group. Confirmatory factor analyses provided additional support for delegated dyadic coping and evaluation of dyadic coping. Intercorrelations among scales were similar across all three languages groups with a few exceptions. Previous findings could be replicated in all three groups, showing that aspects of dyadic coping were more strongly related to marital quality than to dyadic communication. The use of the dyadic coping scales in the actor-partner interdependence model, the common fate model, and the mutual influence model is discussed.

Well, you have hepatic metastases: Use of technical language by medical students in simulated patient interviews.

OBJECTIVE: This research explored medical students' use and perception of technical language in a practical training setting to enhance skills in breaking bad news in oncology. METHODS: Terms potentially confusing to laypeople were selected from 108 videotaped interviews conducted in an undergraduate Communication Skills Training. A subset of these terms was included in a questionnaire completed by students (N=111) with the aim of gaining insight into their perceptions of different speech registers and of patient understanding. Excerpts of interviews were analyzed qualitatively to investigate students' communication strategies with respect to these technical terms. RESULTS: Fewer than half of the terms were clarified. Students checked for simulated patients' understanding of the terms palliative and metastasis/to metastasize in 22-23% of the interviews. The term ambulatory was spontaneously explained in 75% of the interviews, hepatic and metastasis/to metastasize in 22-24%. Most provided explanations were in plain language; metastasis/to metastasize and ganglion/ganglionic were among terms most frequently explained in technical language. CONCLUSION: A significant number of terms potentially unfamiliar and confusing to patients remained unclarified in training interviews conducted by senior medical students, even when they perceived the terms as technical. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: This exploration may offer important insights for improving future physicians' skills.

Sign language in Landau-Kleffner syndrome.

This article reviews the history of sign language (SL) and the rationale for its use in children with profound auditory agnosia due to Landau-Kleffner syndrome (LKS), illustrated by studies of children and adults followed for many years and rare cases from the literature. The reasons that SL was successful and brought some children out of isolation while it could not be implemented in others are discussed. The nowadays earlier recognition and treatment of LKS and better awareness of the crucial need to maintain communication have certainly improved the outcome of affected children. Alternatives to oral language, even for less severe cases, are increasingly accepted. SL can be learned at different ages with a clear benefit, but the ambivalence of the patients and their families with the world and culture of the deaf may sometimes explain its refusal or limited acceptance. There are no data to support the fear that SL learning may delay or prevent oral language recovery in children with LKS. On the contrary, SL may even facilitate this recovery by stimulating functionally connected core language networks and by helping speech therapy and auditory training.

Impact of relative size and language on the attitudes between nations and linguistic groups : The case of Switzerland

This study explores the impact of relative size on the intra- and intergroup attitudes of groups who either share a language or have a different language. For that purpose, we examined international attitudes, comparing a small nation, Switzerland, and two larger nations, Germany and France. We found support for the assumption that large neighbouring nations pose a threat to the smaller nation's identity, especially when they are linguistically similar. Consequently, in line with Tajfel's Social Identity Theory (1978), the smaller nation's inhabitants evaluate those of the larger nation less positively, liking them less and perceiving them to be more arrogant than vice versa. By investigating the special case of the French-speaking and the German-speaking Swiss as linguistic groups within their own nation we were able to demonstrate that these groups seek support with the larger-linguistically-similar nation to defend themselves against the more direct in-country threat to their identity. They acknowledge the similarity with the larger nation, yet keep defending their social identity by expressing a dislike for this perceived similarity.

The role of epilepsy in early language development in a child with a congenital lesion in the right hemisphere

Early epilepsy is known to worsen the developmental prognosis of young children with a congenital focal brain lesion, but its direct role is often very difficult to delineate from the other variables. This requires prolonged periods of follow-up with simultaneous serial electrophysiological and developmental assessments which are rarely obtained. We studied a male infant with a right prenatal infarct in the territory of the right middle cerebral artery resulting in a left spastic hemiparesis, and an epileptic disorder (infantile spasms with transient right hemihypsarrhythmia and focal seizures) from the age of 7 months until the age of 4 years. Pregnancy and delivery were normal. A dissociated delay of early language acquisition affecting mainly comprehension without any autistic features was documented. This delay was much more severe than usually expected in children with early focal lesions, and its evolution, with catch-up to normal, was correlated with the active phase of the epilepsy. We postulate that the epilepsy specifically amplified a pattern of delayed language emergence, mainly affecting lexical comprehension, reported in children with early right hemisphere damage.

Isolated disturbance of written language-acquisition as an initial symptom of epileptic aphasia in a 7-year-old child - a 3-year follow-up-study

A 7-year-old right-handed girl developed partial complex seizures with a left-sided onset. A brief period of post-ictal aphasia of the conduction type was documented before seizure control and complete normalization of oral language were obtained. We also found that she had a history of previous unexplained difficulty with written language acquisition that had occurred prior to the clinically recognized epilepsy and a subsequent loss of this ability. This rapidly improved with control of the epilepsy. The evolution of written language were been followed for 3 years, and continued improvement has occurred with fluctuations related to her epilepsy. This observation adds support to the growing body of data indicating that specific cognitive disturbances can be due to epilepsy in young children. It shows the vulnerability of skills which are in a period of active development, and the possibility that oral/written language can be differentially involved by cerebral dysfunction in the young child.