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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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    From Dichotomy to Continuum: Linking the Recruitment and Retention of Science Teachers
    (2022) Coon, Ashley Nicole; Jass Ketelhut, Diane; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    High schools throughout the United States, especially those serving high poverty and high minority communities, struggle to find qualified science teachers to fill vacancies, a situation that has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This science teacher shortage is caused by a combination of low levels of recruitment into the profession and high levels of attrition from the profession, which has led those hoping to ameliorate the shortage to focus on either increasing the recruitment of pre-service teachers into science teacher preparation programs or improving the retention of in-service science teachers in the field. Instead of viewing these two ends of the so-called science teacher pipeline as distinct and dichotomous, the primary goal of this two-paper dissertation is to explore and characterize the connection between the recruitment and retention of science teachers. In the first paper, a content analysis approach is used to identify the factors that motivated six science undergraduates to apply to a secondary science teacher preparation program and compare their motivations to those described in the literature. In the second paper, a multi-case study is conducted to determine how the science teaching commitments of six pre-service science teachers changed over the course of their science teacher preparation program and to identify the elements of their science teacher preparation program that contributed to changing commitments to science teaching. By drawing upon the findings of both papers, this dissertation argues that there is a link between science teacher recruitment and retention, and it lies in the conversion of interest in science teaching into commitment to science teaching. This connection positions science teacher preparation programs not only as instruments of science teacher recruitment, but also as a first line of defense against science teacher attrition.
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    PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP COMMITMENT, POSITIVE AND ANXIOUS EMOTIONAL AROUSAL, AND COMMUNICATION IN CLINIC COUPLES
    (2009) Mena, Leidy Magdalena; Esptein, Norman B.; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This study examined relationships among partners' relationship commitment, positive and anxious forms of emotional arousal prior to engaging in a discussion of a conflictual relationship issue, and subsequent communication behavior, in a sample of clinical couples who had experienced psychologically and mild to moderate physically abusive interactions. A secondary analysis was conducted with data from 68 couples who had sought therapy for relationship problems. Results indicated that men and women with higher commitment experienced less anxious arousal and more positive emotional arousal prior to engaging in problem-solving. Greater commitment in men was associated with more constructive communication behaviors, and women with higher levels of anxiety engaged in more negative communication. Men's positive emotional arousal was associated with more positive communication behavior and less negative communication behavior. Men's positive emotional arousal mediated between commitment and constructive communication behaviors; however, anxious emotional arousal did not. Implications for couple therapy are discussed.
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    Expressiveness of Definitions and Efficiency of Constructions in Computational Cryptography
    (2007-08-05) Horvitz, David Omer; Gligor, Virgil D; Katz, Jonathan; Computer Science; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The computational treatment of cryptography, and indeed any scientific treatment of a problem, is marked by its definitional side and by it constructive side. Results in this thesis better our understanding of both: on one side, they characterize the extent to which computational definitions capture the security of the basic task of symmetric encryption; on the other, they provide explicit bounds on the efficiency of commitment and secure two-party computation constructions. Specifically: - We relate the formal and computational treatments of symmetric encryption, obtaining a precise characterization of computational schemes whose computational semantics imply their formal semantics. We prove that this characterization is strictly weaker than previously-identified notions, and show how it may be realized in a simpler, more efficient manner. - We provide lower-bounds on the number of times a one-way permutation needs to be invoked (as a "black-box") in order to construct statistically-binding commitments. Our bounds are tight for the case of perfectly-binding schemes. - We show that the secure computation of any two-party functionality can be performed in an optimal two rounds of communication even in a setting that accounts for concurrent execution with other protocols (i.e., the Universal Composability framework). Here, we rely on the assumption that parties have access to a common reference string; some sort of setup is known to be necessary.
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    The Influence of National Culture on Buyer-Supplier trust and Commitment
    (2005-12-02) Morris, Matthew; Corsi, Thomas M.; Logistics, Business and Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Morgan and Hunt's (1994) Key Mediating Variable (KMV) Model has been demonstrated to be a useful means of exploring relationships between organizations. The model includes such key relational constructs as trust, commitment, cooperation, communication, shared values, and uncertainty, which have been studied extensively in the extant supply chain and marketing literatures. However, at present no comprehensive test of buyer-supplier relationships has used the KMV Model as the basis for analysis. In addition, no multi-industry study has applied the KMV Model to investigate its usefulness in other industries. Finally, the applications of the KMV Model thus far have not included testing for its usefulness across national boundaries. The present study addresses all three of the gaps above. Using responses from U.S.-based purchasing professionals, the current study replicates the KMV Model within a new population and addresses the three gaps: First, by investigating the buyer-supplier relationship; second, by sampling respondents from three industries (fabricated metal products; industrial machinery and equipment; and electronic and other electric equipment); and third, by collecting a sample with an internationally diverse supply base. The findings suggest that the KMV Model remains valid for predicting levels of trust and commitment in buyer-supplier relationships across the three industries. In addition, the analyses suggest that the KMV Model is a reliable predictor for trust and commitment, as well as for their respective sources and outcomes, in differing cultures at the national level.
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    Partners' Attributions and Level of Commitment as Predictors of Constructive and Destructive Behavior in Discussions of Relationship Conflicts
    (2004-05-06) Larsen, Ashley Nicole; Epstein, Norman B; Family Studies
    This study investigated whether clinical couples' levels of commitment to their relationship and their tendencies to make negative attributions about their partner are related to their use of constructive and destructive behavior during couple conflict. Secondary analyses were conducted on assessment data from 52 couples who sought couple therapy at a university-based clinic. Based on self-report data and coded observations from a 10-minute communication sample completed by the couple, the results support the hypotheses that greater use of negative attributions is correlated with greater use of destructive behaviors, and increased levels of commitment are related to greater use of constructive behaviors. Contrary to expectations, commitment was not a significant moderator of the relationship between negative attributions and destructive behavior during conflict. The results, including specific gender differences, have important implications for effective couple therapy and future research on couple conflict.