Even Cycles and Perfect Matching Problems with Side Constraints

We study two different types of graphs that contain even cycles and, possibly, some chords. The objective is to analyze some properties of these types of graphs that can be used to solve perfect matching optimization problems with side constraints. In particular, we obtain the maximum number of edges of certain classes that can occur in the solutions to the considered problems. Finally, we apply the obtained results to derive a class of valid inequalities and a possible enumerative scheme.     

An empirical analysis of the time allocation of Italian couples: are they responsive?

The literature suggests that in Italy husbands contribute less to unpaid household work than in any other European country, while women have the lowest market employment rates. Here we examine the time allocation of Italian couples on which there are surprisingly few studies to date. We analyze simultaneously the time allocated by husband and wife to market work, childcare and housework, allowing for various interactions. We use data drawn from the Italian national Time Use Survey 2002–2003 for the analysis. We find that spousal time allocation is sensitive to personal and household characteristics, such as, in particular, education and children’s age. Evidence shows that men married to more highly educated women spend more time with their children. The husband’s own characteristics have less of an effect on women’s time allocation. We also find that patterns differ substantially between weekends and weekdays. The estimated correlations between the unobservable factors affecting the couple’s time allocation suggest that the time devoted by parents to childcare is complementary and that the time they devote to housework is substitutable across weekends and other weekdays.     

Russian labour culture: how it looks in comparison

Assuming that national culture should not be disregarded especially at a time of massive economic restructuring as having serious influence on labour relations and type of management, we make an attempt to reveal its features empirically and compare them with those of other national cultures, identifying whose cultural characteristics are closest to the Russian one. The article examines Russian labour culture by measuring it with the help of Hofstede's universal indices in an empirical study of employees of four industrial enterprises in different parts of Russia. The measuring tool allows a comparative perspective; we also offer interpretations of the obtained indices, enriching them by illustrations from informal interviews with the employees of those enterprises. The results brought Russia close to a number of European countries that had welfare-state orientation and strong institutional and historical connections with Russia, such as Finland, Germany, Austria and Israel. The article argues that experience in the field of labour relations and organizational models of these countries should not be discounted, although reformers often place their hopes mainly on the Anglo-Saxon or American models.     

“The chug is coming through!” “There's two chuggas!”: A longitudinal study of the social function of imitation in children's play with siblings and friends

Imitation is argued to have an important affiliative function in social relationships. However, children's tendency to imitate different play partners during naturalistic play and associations with social understanding have been overlooked. We investigated the frequency and context of imitation in a longitudinal study of 65 focal children (T1: M age = 56.4 months, SD = 5.71) during play with their older or younger sibling and a friend in two separate play sessions. Children were observed again approximately 3 years later (T2: n = 46, M age = 94.6 months; SD = 6.6). We coded focal children's verbal and nonverbal imitation of their play partner, their partner's response to being imitated, the context in which imitation occurred (e.g., pretense), and the focal child's social understanding (i.e., mental state references). Verbal imitation occurred more often than nonverbal imitation and was used most often during the contexts of play negotiations and pretense. Although focal children's imitation of both their siblings and friends increased significantly over time, children imitated friends more than siblings at T1. All play partners responded positively (i.e., smiling, laughing) most often to being imitated. Associations between focal child imitation and mental state talk with friends at T2 approached significance. Our findings provide a deeper understanding of the nature of imitation during children's play interactions and support assertions that imitation is a process whereby children build affiliation, mutuality, and shared meanings in their relationships.     

Governmental anti-pandemic policies,vaccination, population mobility,Twitter narratives,and the spread of COVID-19: Evidence from the European Union countries

We provide large-scale empirical evidence on the effects of multiple governmental regulatory and health policies, vaccination, population mobility, and COVID-19-related Twitter narratives on the spread of a new coronavirus infection. Using multiple-level fixed effects panel data model with weekly data for 27 European Union countries in the period of March 2020–June 2021, we show that governmental response policies were effective both in reducing the number of COVID-19 infection cases and deaths from it, particularly, in the countries with higher level of rule of law. Vaccination expectedly helped to decrease the number of virus cases. Reductions in population mobility in public places and workplaces were also powerful in fighting the pandemic. Next, we identify four core pandemic-related Twitter narratives: governmental response policies, people's sad feelings during the pandemic, vaccination, and pandemic-related international politics. We find that sad feelings’ narrative helped to combat the virus spread in EU countries. Our findings also reveal that while in countries with high rule of law international politics’ narrative helped to reduce the virus spread, in countries with low rule of law the effect was strictly the opposite. The latter finding suggests that trust in politicians played an important role in confronting the pandemic.     

Religion, suffering, and health among older Mexican Americans

Pain and suffering are deeply embedded in the ethos of Mexican American culture. Consequently, it is not surprising to find that many Mexican Americans turn to their faith in an effort to deal with the pain and suffering that arise in their lives. The purpose of the current study is to explore the interface between pain, suffering, religion, and health among older Mexican Americans. Three major themes emerged from in-depth qualitative interviews with 52 older Mexican Americans. The first is concerned with whether pain and suffering are a necessary part of religious life, the second has to do with the potential benefits that pain and suffering may provide, and the third involves whether it is necessary to bear pain and suffering in silence. In the process of reviewing these themes, an effort is made to show how they may be linked with the physical and mental health of older Mexican Americans.     

A top-down movement with grass-roots effects? Alexei Navalny’s electoral campaign

Today’s Russia is a hostile environment for genuine political activity, and especially for movements that aim at changing the current power structure. This is due to the factually limited manoeuvre space of oppositional actors who face obstacles in the form of repression, surveillance and restricted access to the public sphere. Moreover, society is largely apolitical, with political activity often considered futile, immoral, or dangerous. In this profile, we portray the electoral campaign of the opposition politician and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, who built a popular movement around his bid to participate in the 2018 presidential elections. Although the campaign failed to build up sufficient pressure for Navalny to be granted access to the elections, and despite the strong hierarchy inside his campaign, we argue that it contributed to the politicization of parts of the younger generation in the country’s provinces – which may have greater long-term effects than any concrete projects envisioned or controlled by the campaign’s strategists.