Master of Science / Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Todd W. Easton / Integer programming is a field of mathematical optimization that has applications across a wide variety of industries and fields including business, government, health care and military. A commonly studied integer program is the knapsack problem, which has applications including project and portfolio selection, production planning, inventory problems, profit maximization applications and machine scheduling. Integer programs are computationally difficult and currently require exponential effort to solve. Adding cutting planes is a way of reducing the solving time of integer programs. These cutting planes eliminate linear relaxation space. The theoretically strongest cutting planes are facet defining inequalities. This thesis introduces a new class of cutting planes called multiple variable merging cover inequalities (MVMCI). The thesis presents the multiple variable merging cover algorithm (MVMCA), which runs in linear time and produces a valid MVMCI. Under certain conditions, an MVMCI can be shown to be a facet defining inequality. An example demonstrates these advancements and is used to prove that MVMCIs could not be identified by any existing techniques. A small computational study compares the computational impact of including MVMCIs. The study shows that finding an MVMCI is extremely fast, less than .01 seconds. Furthermore, including an MVMCI improved the solution time required by CPLEX, a commercial integer programming solver, by 6.3% on average.

Master of Arts / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / W. Richard Goe / ABSTRACT This qualitative research study explores the cultural dissonance promoted in Indian tribal students by participation in the mainstream Indian educational system and the changes this has brought to their lives. Previous studies have tried to analyze the problem from four theoretical perspectives: biological interpretation, the socio-economic perspective, inter-colonization theory, and the cultural reproduction perspective. This study examines the applicability of these perspectives in analyzing the participation of Indian tribal students in the Indian education system. It attempts to identify elements that are incompatible with tribal culture, examine the difference in educational achievement between the tribal elites and their downtrodden counterparts, assess the social standing of the tribal graduates, and examine teachers’ conception of tribal students. The study used a non-experimental, cross-sectional research design with the main tools of data collection being observation and personal interviews. The study was conducted on the Santal, Birhor, Kharia and Lodha tribes located in Bankura, Birbhum, Puruliya, and Paschim Medinipur districts of the state of West Bengal in India. Personal interviews were conducted with tribal students, graduates, parents, teachers, and principals of tribal schools. The research revealed that the modern education system makes little attempt to address cultural specificities in designing education policies for tribal students which results in the development of a negative self-image. Moreover, although claimed to be free by the Indian government, achieving success in the education system involves subsidiary costs like private tution which represents an obstacle for poverty stricken tribal families. The problem is further complicated due to the unempathetic attitudes and beliefs of teachers and the ill-conceived developmental policies designed by educational planners that fail to incorporate curricular elements compatible with tribal culture.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Economics / William F. Blankenau / This dissertation consists of three essays focusing on wage inequality and education policy. Essay 1 considers growth in the variance of wages. Prior work has documented that the college premium plays a major role in explaining wage variance growth. This essay examines the extent to which this role can be attributed to an increase in the dispersion of occupation-specific returns to post-secondary education. Using the variance components approach and CPS data between 1979-1981 and 2003-2005, the essay shows that the variation in the college premium across occupations has increased over time, and this variation expansion explains about five percent of the growth in wage variance across the two periods. By dividing the sample workforce into professional and nonprofessional groups, the results suggest that the increased variation in the return to post-secondary education particularly caused the wage gap between the professional and non-professional workers to increase. Essay 2 applies quantile regression methodology to the study of the determinants of the wage distribution among natives and immigrants in the U.S., using PUMS from 1990 and 2000, and ACS from 2006. Among other findings, the immigrant/native wage gap is concentrated at the lower end to the median of the wage distribution, and the primary source of the wage gap is the relative lack of labor market skills among immigrants. A cross-time comparison shows that the recent immigrant/native wage gap after controlling for skill variables first decreased from 1990 to 2000 and then expanded from 2000 to 2006. The growth is concentrated at the two ends of the wage distribution, and the reason for growth is that the recent immigrants in 2006 are younger and thus have less market experience than their counterparts of 1990. Essay 3 is coauthored with Dr. Blankenau. We analyze the impact of changes in college admission standards on the skilled labor distribution, skilled firm distribution, and the match of skilled labor with skilled firms. We propose a model of schooling with heterogeneous labor and firms, in which firms’ decisions in creating skilled jobs are conditioned on the supply of skilled labor. The model shows that lowering standards without providing incentives to acquire skills does not necessarily motivate accumulation of human capital or expansion of skilled industry. Lower standards tend to create a mismatch of educated labor with unskilled positions. In some specifications, lower standards can lower firms’ willingness to create skilled positions, leaving more skilled workers underemployed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Chardie L. Baird / Despite the predictions that the influence of women into male-dominated fields would eventually eliminate women’s disadvantaged positions in paid work, most research finds that feminization results in the reconfiguration of gender inequality. These studies tended to investigate the material consequences and conditions of feminization and how the “gendering” of the occupation develops to justify the reconfiguration of inequality. Scholarship has begun to examine how individuals in occupations negotiate the existing occupational gender-type and how this shapes gender inequality in feminizing occupations. My dissertation takes up this call by looking at the relationship between gender-typing (i.e., how occupations or jobs come to be understood as appropriate for men or women) and feminization (i.e., women in a formerly male-dominated occupation) in the funeral industry. The funeral industry has traditionally been a male-dominated and gender-typed masculine occupation; however, since the 1970s funeral directing has been experiencing feminization. In recent history, women were not seen as appropriate for funeral directing. They were considered too physically and emotionally “unfit;” however, the movement of women into the occupation complicates how funeral directing was traditionally gender-typed. Using text excerpts about gender (n=101) from 35 funerary trade journal articles ranging from 1995-2013, my dissertation explores competing cultural beliefs about gender at the occupational-level (“old boy,” gender essential, gender blind, and gender-progressive) accompanying women’s movement into funeral directing. Through semi-structured interviews with twenty (11 women, 9 men) mortuary science students who are studying to become funeral directors and twenty-two (13 women, 9 men) licensed funeral directors, I explore how these occupational scripts about gender affect workplaces in terms of the workplace experiences (practices and hiring, the division of labor, relations between employees and supervisors) and educational experiences (occupational entry, structure and training); and how current and future funeral directors negotiate cultural gender beliefs about funeral directing to challenge existing explanations and create new explanations about women’s suitability for funeral directing. My findings indicate that occupational cultural beliefs about gender are both reproduced and challenged in workplace and educational settings and in how students and funeral directors negotiate cultural gender beliefs.

Poster exhibited at GPSC Student Showcase, November 7th, 2014, University of Arizona. This research has been presented at the 2014 Annual Student Showcase, where first prize recognition in the College of Humanities was received. An earlier version was presented at the 24th Annual Graduate and Professional Symposium on Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literature, Language and Culture. Recognition as the first undergraduate poster presented at the graduate symposium was received, as well as an award for Best Paper. Special recognition is due primarily to Dr. Katia Bezerra, head of the Department of Spanish & Portugese, for extending an offer for me to present, to Edgard Ore-Giron for private mentorship of my work, and to Akeem Flavors in the Department of Art History for willingly assisting me practice my presentation skills. / No amount research need be referenced to justify the consensus that a power differential exists among women and men. The outcome that this power differential has created, however, varies from one society to another. The role of women in male-dominated societies is deconstructed through two films, each situated in the drug trafficking industry—one set in Latin America and the other in the United States-Mexico border. While substantial literature explores the gender power differential in the United States and developing countries, little attention is given to the impact of gender participation in the developing world. Each of these countries has diverse expectations with gender politics; that is, some countries have women as leaders in suffrage reforms and corporations, while women in other countries are not even granted the right to divorce. This paper examines the relationship between gender participation of women and their defiance of the power differential as depicted in the Brazilian film City of God and the American film Traffic. While no evidence is independently presented that economic development provides a basis for equal participation, the most important factors such as gender violence and civil liberties provide a means of understanding the gender gap from a sociopolitical perspective.

Solar Wireless Networked Control Systems (SWNCS) are a style of distributed control systems where sensors, actuators, and controllers are interconnected via a wireless communication network. This system setup has the benefit of low cost, flexibility, low weight, no wiring and simplicity of system diagnoses and maintenance. However, it also unavoidably calls some wireless network time delays and packet dropout into the design procedure. Solar lighting system offers a clean environment, therefore able to continue for a long period. SWNCS also offers multi Service infrastructure solution for both developed and undeveloped countries. The system provides wireless controller lighting, wireless communications network (WI-FI/WIMAX), CCTV surveillance, and wireless sensor for weather measurement which are all powered by solar energy.

Rising inequalities between and within income categories (especially labour and capital) haveemerged as an increasing concern particularly in the last two decades. One of the main reasons for this has been a sharp decline in the wage share in many countries. A declining wage share refers to a decrease in the size of the total wage bill relative to either national income or net value addition (NVA). India is an important example of this situation. Trends at the level of aggregate statistics show that the wage bill has not kept up with productivity increases. This has led to a sharp decline in the wage share, leaving researchers the task of explaining the causes (and consequences) of this decline. The research contributes towards this task by critically examining one of the main avenues ofresearch that has been used in order to explain the causes of a declining wage share in India. This refers to the hypothesis according to which this trend is the outcome of increased capital intensity of employment, or more generally labour-saving investments. The study examines the relevance of this hypothesis for dynamics taking place at a disaggregated level of analysis in Indian industrial manufacturing. In order to do this, three main questions are addressed. The first is whether a declining wage share is a necessary outcome of labour-saving investments in production, or whether other factors are also important in mediating this relationship. The second is the conditions affecting the degree to which a declining wage share also involves increased income inequalities within the labour income category, and in some cases, declining real incomes for workers. The third is the relevance of drawing upon a demand and supply framework for the treatment of the question of causality in the analysis. The study answers the questions by drawing on two very different case studies. The first is thePimpri Chinchwad Industrial Township (PCIT), located in the outskirts of Pune (State ofMaharashtra, western India). The production processes characterising many of the factoriesoperating in this area are capital intensive. The second is the art metalware industry in Moradabad (State of Uttar Pradesh, northern India). The production processes taking place in the majority of units in this area are labour-intensive. The findings suggest that the factors contributing to a declining wage share cannot be analysed without at the same time examining the distributional set-ups within which technological changes take place, and how these arrangements are changing. Firstly, many of the factors contributing towards a declining wage share are not directly caused by changes in technology, and hence skill requirements, in production. This includes the weakness (and further weakening) of the mechanisms linking wages to productivity at the firm and sectoral level. Secondly, a declining wage share also involves changing income inequalities within the labour income category. The sources of these inequalities are not only linked to differentials in skills. Thirdly, this is happening in the context of speedy changes in the economy, including changing needs. This makes the links between wages and productivity an important requirement for the labour income category to be able to benefit from increased productivity, not only as workers through the wage system, but also as consumers. Lastly, many of the variables that emerge as important in the analysis cannot be subsumed under a demand and supply framework. One of the implications for the treatment of the issue of causality is the need to move away from seeking causal links in the traditional ‘cause and effect’ framework, to questions about how certain trends come about. This also has consequences for the normative side of the debate.

The Swedish Curriculum for the upper secondary school states that teachers should “ensure that teaching in terms of content and its organisation is typified by a gender perspective” (Skolverket 2011, p. 9). Considering that there is no further information regarding what a “gender perspective” means in reality, this sentence could be interpreted in many different ways. This study aims to explore how EFL teachers deal with linguistic gender equality, and which strategies they use to maintain a gender inclusive language in their classroom. Six interviews were conducted with EFL teachers at upper secondary schools in Stockholm, Sweden. The results indicated that the teachers thought this was an important issue to consider in teaching, andthat they had well-reasoned strategies for maintaining a gender perspective. The most prominently discussed strategies were encouraging reflection and discussion on these matters, and choosing appropriate literature that either would show a variety of different perspectives, or else would question the social norm. However, concerning their own language production, some of the teachers lacked explicit strategies for maintaining a gender inclusive language, which could derive from a lack in knowledge. Thus, this essay proposes that gender inequality in language needs to be more explicitly explored, both in teacher education and in further education for employed teachers. The teachers displayed an ambition to maintain a gender equal language teaching; and would benefit from more explicit tools to realize that.

Background: To accelerate the coverage of skilled birth attendance, in 2005, the Indian government initiated a conditional cash transfer (CCT) programme, Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) that provides cash to women upon delivering in health facilities. The attempt to increase the utilization of facilities through the JSY, given the health system’s fragile state, has raised concerns about the programme’s success at achieving its intended goal of reducing maternal mortality ratio (MMR). Aim: To understand the implementation of the CCT policy to promote institutional births in India, with a special focus on nine of India’s poorer states. Methods: Thesis uses both quantitative and qualitative methods. The changes in coverage and inequalities in institutional births in the nine states following the initiation of JSY were analysed by comparing levels before and during the programme using state and district level data. The association between the coverage of institutional births and MMR was assessed using regression analysis (I). The change in socioeconomic inequalities in institutional births was estimated using the concentration index and concentration curve, and contributions of different factors to inequalities was computed by decomposition analysis (II). The quality of referral services was studied by conducting a survey of health facilities (n=96) and post-partum women (n=1182) in three districts of Madhya Pradesh. Conditional logistic regression was used to study the association between maternal referrals and adverse birth outcomes, while spatial data for referrals were analysed using Geographical Information Systems (III). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with government and non-government stakeholders (n=11) to explore their perceptions of the JSY, and the data were analysed using a thematic framework approach (IV). Results: In five years, institutional births increased significantly from a pre-programme average of 20% to 49%. However, no significant association between district-level institutional birth proportions and MMR was found (I). The inequality in access to institutional delivery care, although reduced since the introduction of JSY, still persists. Differences in male literacy, availability of emergency obstetric care (EmOC) in public facilities and poverty explained 69% of the observed inequality. While MMR has decreased in all areas since the introduction of JSY, it has declined four times faster in the richest areas than in the poorest (II). Adjusted odds for adverse birth outcomes among those referred were twice than in those who were not referred (AOR 2.6, 95% CI 1.1-6.6). A spatial analysis of the inter-facility transfer time indicated that maternal deaths occurred despite good geographic access to EmOC facilities (III). While most health officials considered stimulus in the form of JSY money to be essential to promote institutional births, non-government stakeholders criticised JSY as an easy way of addressing basic developmental issues and emphasised the need for improvements to health services, instead. Supply-side constraints and poor care quality were cited as key challenges to programme success, also several implementation challenges were cited (IV). Conclusions: Although there was a sharp increase in coverage and a decline in institutional delivery care inequalities following the introduction of JSY, the availability of critical care is still poor. CCT programmes to increase service utilization need to be essentially supported by the provision of quality health care services, in order to achieve their intended impacts on health outcomes.

The Western beauty standard revolves around three main attributes: thinness, youth, and whiteness. Combined, this ideal corresponds with privilege. Past studies have explored how racism and ageism are embedded in the beauty standard, but little work has explored how classism is included in the Western beauty standard. Utilizing the classical theoretical work of Bourdieu and Simmel, I explore the ways in which the Western beauty standard is dependent upon privilege and cultural capital. Using the methodology of a content analysis, the current study examines four women’s fashion and beauty magazines. I find that the both the language and the imagery used in the magazines allows for classism to be explicitly and implicitly displayed. I also explore the intersectionality of classism, racism, and ageism to develop a clearer understanding of how the three types of privilege are sustained within the beauty standard.