Consider a binary matroid M given by its matrix representation. We show that if M is a lift of a graphic or a cographic matroid, then in polynomial time we can either solve the single commodity flow problem for M or find an obstruction for which the Max-Flow Min-Cut relation does not hold. The key tool is an algorithmic version of Lehman's Theorem for the set covering polyhedron.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 1999. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-135). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users. Address: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p9948026.

Thesis (M. S.)--Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Tannenbaum, Allen; Committee Member: Barnes, Christopher F.; Committee Member: Niethammer, Marc; Committee Member: Shamma, Jeff; Committee Member: Vela, Patricio.

Thesis--Amsterdam. / In Periodical Room.

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Lund. / Description based on print version record.

I examine the motivations of mutual fund families when deciding what mutual funds to launch, when to launch them, and how they are going to be launched. I begin by analyzing the influence of investor preferences on the flow to open-end mutual funds by associating flow to a fund with the degree to which the fund has an in-favor or trendy name. Results show that funds which conform to market-wide trends generate significantly higher inflows compared to less trendy funds. In my third chapter I examine the decision to launch a fund and show that investment companies have motivation, in the absence of any investment ability, to launch a trendy fund. Launching a trendy fund is beneficial to the fund family, generating additional revenue through fee collection, but is potentially harmful to investors with trendy fund startups underperforming non-trendy fund startups by over 1% per year. My fourth chapter examines the process of mutual fund incubation and shows that funds generate greater inflows post-incubation as a result of investors' positive response to incubation period performance. However, incubation appears to be used for reasons beyond generating a track record of performance. Specifically, fund families are more likely to release underperforming incubated funds if they are struggling to attract inflows to a large objective class.