The perception of likeness is practically very much bound up with that of difference.That is to say, the only differences we note as differences, and estimate quantitatively,and arrange along a scale, are those comparativelylimited differences which we find between members of a common genus. (James, 1890, Vol. 1, p. 528) How are differences generated and why are certain differences noticed and others are not? The answer may depend on whether or not differences bear any relationship to commonalities. According to mental distance models of similarity (Nosofsky, 1987;Shepard, 1974;Shoben, 1983), the degree of difference is the inverse of the degree of similarity on any given dimension. In independent feature models (e.g., Tversky, 1977), differences are independent of commonalities; the differences between a pair of objects are simply any elements of the objects' feature sets that do not match. Although commonalities and differences may be differentially weighted according to the task or context, there is no necessary relationship between the common features and the psychologically salient differences.In contrast to the above accounts, the structural alignment approach (Gentner, 1983;A. B. Markman & Gentner, 1993a, 1993bMedin, Goldstone, & Gentner, 1993) posits representations composed of interconnected structures, rather than independent features or dimensional spaces. According to this view, as discussed below, differences are noticed relative to commonalities-that is, one first notices commonalities and then the differences that are related to those commonalities (e.g., whales and fish are both swimming creatures, but one has lungs, the other has gills).In the present series of experiments, we demonstrate four findings that link the structural alignment process with the generation of differences. First, differences are easier to generate for word pairs that have been recently aligned than for those that have not, demonstrating that structural alignment facilitates noticing differences. Second, this facilitation is specifically related to structural alignment and not merely the result of joint activation of the word pairs. Third, the degree of difference facilitation reflects the quality and extent of the pairs' common system. Fourth, pairs with deep and rich alignments elicit not only more differences, but more differences specifically related to the commonalities than do pairs with more sparse alignments.Structural alignment theory is a generalization of the structure-mapping theory of analogical reasoning (Falkenhainer, Forbus, & Gentner, 1989;Gentner, 1983), according to which comparison is accomplished by a process of alignment of structured representations of the entities or scenes being compared and the subsequent projection of inferences (Gentner & Markman, 1994Goldstone, Medin, & Gentner, 1991 High-similarity concept pairs that elicit many commonalities also elicit many related differences (Gentner & Markman, 1994;A. B. Markman & Gentner, 1993a, 1993b, 1996A. B. Markman & Wisniewski, 1997). This findi...

The world of work is facing an ongoing pandemic and an economic downturn with severe effects worldwide. Workers trapped in precarious employment (PE), both formal and informal, are among those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we call attention to at least 5 critical ways that the consequences of the crisis among workers in PE will be felt globally: ( a) PE will increase, ( b) workers in PE will become more precarious, ( c) workers in PE will face unemployment without being officially laid off, ( d) workers in PE will be exposed to serious stressors and dramatic life changes that may lead to a rise in diseases of despair, and ( e) PE might be a factor in deterring the control of or in generating new COVID-19 outbreaks. We conclude that what we really need is a new social contract, where the work of all workers is recognized and protected with adequate job contracts, employment security, and social protection in a new economy, both during and after the COVID-19 crisis.

Low-quality employment trajectories and risk of common mental disorders, substance use disorders and suicide attempt: a longitudinal study of the Swedish workforce

Nursing professionalization is both ongoing and global, being significant not only for the nursing workforce but also for patients and healthcare systems. For this reason, it is important to have an in-depth understanding of this process and the factors that could affect it. This literature review utilizes a welfare state approach to examine macrolevel structural determinants of nursing professionalization, addressing a previously identified gap in this literature, and synthesizes research on the relevance of studying nursing professionalization. The use of a welfare state framework facilitates the understanding that the wider social, economic, and political system exercises significant power over the distribution of resources in a society, providing a glimpse into the complex politics of health and health care. The findings shed light on structural factors outside of nursing, such as country-level education, health, labor market, and gender policies that could impact the process of professionalization and thus could be utilized to strengthen nursing through facilitating increased professionalization levels. Addressing gender inequalities and other structural determinants of nursing professionalization could contribute to achieving health equity and could benefit health systems through enhanced availability, skill-level, and sustainability of nursing human resources, improved and efficient access to care, improved patient outcomes, and cost savings.

No abstract

No abstract

Background Precarious employment is a significant determinant of population health and health inequities and has complex public health consequences both for a given nation and internationally. Precarious employment is conceptualized as a multi-dimensional construct including but not limited to employment insecurity, income inadequacy, and lack of rights and protection in the employment relation, which could affect both informal and formal workers. The purpose of this review is to identify, appraise, and synthesize existing research on the effectiveness of initiatives aiming to or having the potential to eliminate, reduce, or mitigate workers’ exposure to precarious employment conditions and its effects on the health and well-being of workers and their families. Methods The electronic databases searched (from January 2000 onwards) are Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, and PubMed, along with three institutional databases as sources of grey literature. We will include any study (e.g. quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods design) evaluating the effects of initiatives that aim to or have the potential to address workers’ exposure to precarious employment or its effects on the health and well-being of workers and their families, whether or not such initiatives were designed specifically to address precarious employment. The primary outcomes will be changes in (i) the prevalence of precarious employment and workers’ exposure to precarious employment and (ii) the health and well-being of precariously employed workers and their families. No secondary outcomes will be included. Given the large body of evidence screened, the initial screening of each study will be done by one reviewer, after implementing several strategies to ensure decision-making consistency across reviewers. The screening of full-text articles, data extraction, and critical appraisal will be done independently by two reviewers. Potential conflicts will be resolved through discussion. Established checklists will be used to assess a study’s methodological quality or bias. A narrative synthesis will be employed to describe and summarize the included studies’ characteristics and findings and to explore relationships both within and between the included studies. Discussion We expect that this review’s findings will provide stakeholders interested in tackling precarious employment and its harmful health effects with evidence on effectiveness of solutions that have been implemented to inform considerations for adaptation of these to their unique contexts. In addition, the review will increase our understanding of existing research gaps and enable us to make recommendations to address them. Our work aligns with the sustainable development agenda to protect workers, promote decent work and economic growth, eliminate poverty, and reduce inequalities. Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42020187544.

Està subjecte a una llicència de Reconeixement-NoComercial-SenseObraDerivada 4.0 de Creative Commons