Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item A Theory of Leadership and Its Applications(2023) Schwab, Leisa Elizabeth; Horty, John F; Philosophy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)No system of laws and political institutions is without gaps, and leaders are required—often in the face of uncertainty and under a heavy burden of risk—to fill them. This project adopts a view of individual leadership that finds its roots in the ancient world with Plato, but which speaks to modern problems like the role of appointed administrative officials in a complex democracy and the problems of autonomous weapons. It is composed of a series of papers exploring this gap-filling leadership activity in a modern democratic state from both normative and descriptive perspectives. The first paper, “Making Ourselves Accountable: An Ethics for the Administrative State” addresses the discretionary decision making by un-elected officials through which many of our society’s important leadership decisions are made. It argues for the necessity of these leaders and recommends criteria to guide their decision making in conformity with contemporary democratic ideals. The second paper, “Seeking Standards for Leadership Reasoning in the Executive Branch by Analogy to Representation and Judicial Reasoning,” looks deeper into the work of such leaders to better understand the place of their role in shaping the law alongside legislative representation and judicial discretion. The third paper, “A Different Kind of Responsibility Gap: Trust and the Burden of Risk as a Limit on Military Automation” considers the problem of autonomous weapons in the context of this theory of the individual leader as a necessary component within the legal and institutional system. Inspired by ancient notions of the activity of governing as an activity fundamentally about leaders before it is about laws, it argues that even fallible human leaders who fall short of the ideal remain necessary no matter how sophisticated or accurate an automated system we may devise.Item Considering the Role of Physiological Rewards in the Relationship Between Impulsivity and Decision Making(2021) Jaw, Hsin; McGloin, Jean M; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Individual levels of impulsivity and anticipated physiological rewards (i.e., thrill) associated with offending have both been recognized as important aspects of the criminal decision-making calculus. However, the extant literature does not have a clear understanding of the dynamics between the two constructs and crime, specifically how physiological rewards matter in the impulsivity-offending relationship. Using the dual-process framework of decision making, this thesis explores first whether impulsivity influence offending indirectly through perceived physiological rewards, and second whether individuals are differentially susceptible to physiological rewards according to their levels of impulsivity (i.e. moderation). These hypotheses are tested using two waves of the Pathways to Desistance study. The results provide support that physiological rewards partially mediate the relationship between impulsivity and offending, yet there is no statistically significant moderating relationship.Item Conflict and Competition between Model-based and Model-free Control(2020) Lei, Yuqing; Solway, Alec; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)There are two learning systems behind human decision-making: the model-based (MB) system and the model-free (MF) system. While they both contribute to decision-making behaviors, it is not clear how the two systems interact to formulate a single decision, especially when they are in conflict. This present thesis defines decision conflict between the systems in two popular binary-choice tasks: Daw’s Two-step task and Kool’s Rocket Task. We used hierarchical modeling to identify conflict-related changes during decision process using the Drift-Diffusion Model (DDM). Evidence showed that the MB system compromises when there is a conflict with the MF system, whether the conflict is on the valuational level or action level. We also looked at how a key component of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), the cognitive self-consciousness (CSC), affects the two learning systems during decision.Item DATA-DRIVEN OPTIMIZATION AND STATISTICAL MODELING TO IMPROVE DECISION MAKING IN LOGISTICS(2019) Sinha Roy, Debdatta; Golden, Bruce; Business and Management: Decision & Information Technologies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In this dissertation, we develop data-driven optimization and statistical modeling techniques to produce practically applicable and implementable solutions to real-world logistics problems. First, we address a significant and practical problem encountered by utility companies. These companies collect usage data from meters on a regular basis. Each meter has a signal transmitter that is automatically read by a receiver within a specified distance using radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology. The RFID signals are discontinuous, and each meter differs with respect to the specified distance. These factors could lead to missed reads. We use data analytics, optimization, and Bayesian statistics to address the uncertainty. Second, we focus on an important problem experienced by delivery and service companies. These companies send out vehicles to deliver customer products and provide services. For the capacitated vehicle routing problem, we show that reducing route-length variability while generating the routes is an important consideration to minimize the total operating and delivery costs for a company when met with random traffic. Third, we address a real-time decision-making problem experienced in practice. In one application, routing companies participating in competitive bidding might need to respond to a large number of requests regarding route costs in a very short amount of time. In another application, during post-disaster aerial surveillance planning or using drones to deliver emergency medical supplies, route-length estimation would quickly need to assess whether the duration to cover a region of interest would exceed the drone battery life. For the close enough traveling salesman problem, we estimate the route length using information about the instances. Fourth, we address a practical problem encountered by local governments. These organizations carry out road inspections to decide which street segments to repair by recording videos using a camera mounted on a vehicle. The vehicle taking the videos needs to proceed straight or take a left turn to cover an intersection fully. Right turns and U-turns do not capture an intersection fully. We introduce the intersection inspection rural postman problem, a new variant of the rural postman problem involving turns. We develop two integer programming formulations and three heuristics to generate least-cost vehicle routes.Item Identifying and Comparing Subproblems in Factory Design Processes(2018) Kanagat, Pranay; Herrmann, Jeffrey W; Systems Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)When a design team faces a problem of designing a complex system, they are required to make several decisions. Because such design problems are difficult to solve all at once, teams often decompose the design problem into several smaller subproblems. This thesis discusses the results of a study designed to understand how design teams decompose a factory redesign problem into sets of related subproblems and compare the subproblems obtained for each design team. This exploratory study analyzed the design activities of six teams of professionals and used clustering to group the variables that the design teams considered. It was found that the design teams used different decomposition strategies and different subproblems, but they more often considered subproblems with design variables of the same type, and some teams followed a top-down design process.Item Explainable Recommendation for Event Sequences: A Visual Analytics Approach(2018) Du, Fan; Shneiderman, Ben; Plaisant, Catherine; Computer Science; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)People use recommender systems to improve their decisions, for example, item recommender systems help them find films to watch or books to buy. Despite the ubiquity of item recommender systems, they can be improved by giving users greater transparency and control. This dissertation develops and assesses interactive strategies for transparency and control, as applied to event sequence recommender systems, which provide guidance in critical life choices such as medical treatments, careers decisions, and educational course selections. Event sequence recommender systems use archives of similar event sequences, such as patient histories or student academic records, to give users insight into the order and timing of choices, which are more likely to lead to their desired outcomes. This dissertation's main contribution is the use of both record attributes and temporal event information as features to identify similar records and provide appropriate recommendations. While traditional item recommendations are generated based on choices by people with similar attributes, such as those who looked at this product or watched this movie, the event sequence recommendation approach allows users to select records that share similar attribute values and start with a similar event sequence, and then see how different choices of actions and the orders and times between them might lead to users' desired outcomes. This dissertation applies a visual analytics approach to present and explain recommendations of event sequences. It presents a workflow for event sequence recommendation that is implemented in EventAction. Results from empirical studies show that these prototypes can assist users in making action plans and raise users' confidence in following their plans. It presents case studies in three domains to demonstrate the effectiveness and safety of generating event sequence recommendations based on personal histories. It also offers design guidelines for the construction of user interfaces for event sequence recommendation and discusses ethical issues in dealing with personal histories. This dissertation contributes an analytical workflow, an interactive system, and design guidelines identified in empirical studies and case studies, opening new avenues of research in explainable event sequence recommendations based on personal histories. It enables people to make better decisions for critical life choices with higher confidence.Item The relationship between health literacy and indicators of informed decision making for colorectal cancer screening among African Americans(2016) Tagai, Erin Kelly; Holt, Cheryl L; Garza, Mary A; Public and Community Health; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)African Americans are disproportionately affected by colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality. CRC early detection leads to better treatment outcomes and, depending on the screening test, can prevent the development of CRC. African Americans, however, are screened less often than Whites. Aspects of decision making (e.g., decisional conflict, decision self-efficacy) can impact decision making outcomes and may be influenced by social determinants of health, including health literacy. However the relationship between social determinants of health and indicators of decision making in this population is not fully understood. Additionally, individuals have a choice between different CRC screening tests and an individual’s desire to use a particular screening test may be associated with social determinants of health such as health literacy. This study aimed to examine the relationship between social determinants of health and indicators of decision making for CRC screening among African Americans. A total of 111 participants completed a baseline and 14-month follow-up survey assessing decisional conflict, decision self-efficacy, decisional preference (shared versus informed decision making), and CRC test preference. Health literacy was negatively associated with decisional conflict and positively associated with decision self-efficacy (ps < .05). Individuals who were unemployed or working part-time had significantly greater decisional conflict than individuals working full-time (ps < .05). Individuals with a first-degree family history of CRC had significantly lower decision self-efficacy than individuals without a family history (p < .05). Women were significantly more likely to prefer making a shared decision rather than an informed decision compared to men (p < .05). Lastly, previous CRC screening behavior was significantly associated with CRC test preference (e.g., individuals previously screened using colonoscopy were significantly more likely to prefer colonoscopy for their next screening test; ps < .05). These findings begin to identify social determinants of health (e.g., health literacy, employment) that are related to indicators of decision making for CRC among African Americans. Furthermore, these findings suggest further research is needed to better understand these relationships to help with the future development and improvement of interventions targeting decision making outcomes for CRC screening in this population.Item The Valuation of Social Reinforcement in Schizophrenia(2015) Catalano, Lauren Theresa; Blanchard, Jack J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Facial affect perception impairments impede social functioning in schizophrenia. What remains unknown is how individuals with schizophrenia assign value to pleasant facial expressions that typically motivate social affiliation. The current study adapted a matching pennies game (Shore & Heerey, 2011) to assess the subjective value of social feedback in terms of money. Individuals with schizophrenia and controls were instructed to choose the same side of a coin as six computerized partners, each of whom provided different rates of monetary feedback and types of social feedback. In a later test phase, participants chose which partner to play from amongst pairs of partners. Among participants who appropriately learned task contingencies, individuals with schizophrenia failed to use genuine smiles to motivate choices to the same extent as controls; however, money was equally valued. These findings suggest that there is a reduced sensitivity to social rewards in schizophrenia.Item AN EMERGING GROUNDED THEORY OF FACULTY HIRING PROCESSES IN UNIONIZED COMPREHENSIVE UNIVERSITIES(2015) Lounder, Andrew; O'Meara, KerryAnn; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Title of dissertation: AN EMERGING GROUNDED THEORY OF FACULTY HIRING PROCESSES IN UNIONIZED COMPREHENSIVE UNIVERSITIES Andrew D. Lounder, Doctor of Philosophy, 2015 Dissertation directed by: Professor KerryAnn O'Meara Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education Growth in part-time faculty workforces in U.S. higher education since 1970 has been remarkable. Part-time faculty growth as a percentage of the whole has occurred most rapidly in comprehensive universities in recent years and carries with it important implications for student instruction. Comprehensive universities are of critical importance to the realization of higher levels of educational attainment by underserved and nontraditional college populations. The purpose of this study is to understand instructional faculty hiring processes in comprehensive universities. The study is derived from an application of grounded theory research methods within and across three university settings. Analysis shows administrators at all levels of the organizational chart (i.e., department chair, dean, and provost) follow a cycle of activities that results in both direct and indirect (or systemic), outcomes in faculty hiring. First, they scan the environments in which they are situated for possible risks to their work including faculty hiring. Second, they perceive risks, including risks of opportunity, from their own viewpoints. Third, and of central importance, they assert decision role changes in response to the risks they perceive. That is, they take action. Finally, they establish ownership of new decision responsibility. A visual model depicting the grounded theory is shared. Findings position faculty hiring as an outcome of rule following decisions and risk response rather than rational choice. Part-time faculty hiring is found to function as an organizational release valve, which circumvents role tension of the sort experienced among department, college, and university administrators in full-time faculty hiring. Implications for university-level faculty hiring policy and practice, as well as for future research, are discussed. One conclusion is that university decision makers should be more strategic about faculty hiring by aligning the process with desired outcomes.Item DYNAMIC DECISION MAKING FOR LESS-THAN-TRUCKLOAD TRUCKING OPERATIONS(2009) Hejazi, Behrang; Haghani, Ali; Civil Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)On a typical day, more than 53 million tons of goods valued at about $36 million are moved on the US multimodal transportation network. An efficient freight transportation industry is the key in facilitating the required movement of raw materials and finished products. Among different modes of transportation, trucking remains the shipping choice for many businesses and is increasing its market share. Less-than-truckload (LTL) trucking companies provide a transportation service in which several customers are served simultaneously by using the same truck and shipments need to be consolidated at some terminals to build economical loads. Intelligent transportation system (ITS) technologies increase the flow of available data, and offer opportunities to control the transportation operations in real-time. Some research efforts have considered real-time acceptance/rejection of shipping requests, but they are mostly focused on truckload trucking operations. This study tries to use real-time information in decision making for LTL carriers in a dynamically changing environment. The dissertation begins with an introduction of LTL trucking operations and different levels of planning for this type of motor carriers, followed by the review of literature that are related to tactical and operational planning. Following a brief discussion on multi commodity network flow problems and their solution algorithm, a mathematical model is proposed to deal with the combined shipment and routing problem. Furthermore, a decision making procedure as well as a decision support application are developed and are presented in this dissertation. The main step in the decision making procedure is to solve the proposed mathematical problem. Three heuristic solution algorithms are proposed and the quality of the solutions is evaluated using a set of benchmark solutions. Three levels of numerical experiments are conducted considering an auto carrier that operates on a hub-and-spoke network. The accuracy of the mathematical model and the behavior of the system under different demand/supply situations are examined. Also, the performance of the solutions provided by the proposed heuristic algorithms is compared and the best solution method is selected. The study suggests that significant reductions in operational costs are expected as the result of using the proposed decision making procedure.