Increased salinization of inland freshwater resources is present on a global scale, but is pro- gressing rapidly in the densely populated Mid-Atlantic United States. This phenomenon threatens aquatic health, ecosystem services and functionality, and can alter the percep- tion of potable drinking water. The Occoquan watershed, located in Northern Virginia has experienced rapid urbanization across recent decades and is now confronted with rising salinization. Various stakeholders in the area have focused efforts to quantify the drivers of salinization in order to take corrective action to preserve this resource. To aid these efforts, urbanization's relationship with in-stream salinity was analyzed, where its exerted influence was found to be dependent upon overland hydrologic flowpaths which connect urban areas to stream networks. The analysis was then broadened to Multiple Linear Regression models of urban and climatological drivers to statistically quantify each driver's relative influence on in-stream salinity. The models demonstrated that urbanization is the primary driver, where rainfall and roadway deicer application were also found to be significant. The model was then used to predict the magnitude of salinization in the Occoquan watershed to a time horizon of 2040 based on expected population growth as well as two anticipated climate scenarios. Finally, the analytical framework produced in this research was generated with scalability in mind, such that it can potentially be utilized as a watershed-scale screening tool accross the Mid-Atlantic, to inform proactive, regionally appropriate management decisions. / Master of Science / Increased salinization of inland freshwater resources is present on a global scale, but is progressing rapidly in the densely populated Mid-Atlantic United States. Driven by the engineered systems that define our modern world, this phenomenon threatens aquatic health, ecosystem services and functionality, and can alter the perception of potable drinking water. The Occoquan watershed, located in Northern Virginia has experienced rapid urbanization across recent decades and is now confronted with rising salinization. Various stakeholders in the area have focused efforts to quantify the drivers of salinization in order to take corrective action to preserve this resource. The analyses completed in this body of work act to model and statistically analyze the drivers which foster salinization in the Occoquan. The analyses demonstrated that while climatological factors drive salinity in the Occoquan, urbanization is the primary driver, where its exerted influence is dependent upon overland hydrologic flowpaths which connect urban areas to stream networks. Further analyses were completed to project salinization to a time horizon of 2040 based on expected population growth as well as two anticipated climate scenarios to predict the magnitude of salinization in the Occoquan watershed in decades to come. These results indicated that anticipated levels of in-stream salinity will increase across most sampling stations in coming years. Finally, the analytical framework produced in this research was generated with scalability in mind, such that it can potentially be utilized as a watershed-scale screening tool accross the Mid-Atlantic, to inform proactive, regionally appropriate management decisions.

Circular mobility to settlement; casual laborer to national worker; citizen back to migrant. This dissertation examines the history of Singapore’s port and the everyday life of its migrant workers as the city moved from British imperial port integrated into the region of Malaya to inexplicable city-nation-state. Port workers’ everyday lives were structured by the flows of migration and capital around the Indian Ocean that underpinned the British empire, defined the relationship between port worker and labor contractor, and produced ethnicized urban and social life. As an imperial port, Singapore developed thick historical connections with other British colonial ports. Chinese and Indian capital knitted together Singapore, Hong Kong, and Bombay and made them the hubs of their respective regions reliant on a constant supply of migrant labor. Previously connected and functionally similar, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Bombay began to diverge in the 1950s as the post-war trends of decolonization, the Cold War, and containerization changed their importance as models of Asian urbanism. These trends reshaped working practices, composition of worker gangs, and the urban fabric of the Singapore port to co-opt the transnational lives of port workers into the new nation. Drawing on port authority reports, police reports, kinship association records, and oral history collections, this dissertation intervenes in the historiography of Singapore by showing how the economic miracle of Singapore was built on forgetting the port’s place in the Malay and Indian Ocean worlds and port workers’ visions and experiences of a Singapore that was deeply connected to its region and the liberation movements of the Global South.

Urbanization is among the greatest threats to biodiversity on the planet, and is projected to increase in magnitude in coming years. This growing threat makes it important to better understand how urbanization may impact vital ecosystem services, such as pollination. Studies on the impact of urbanization on pollination vary wildly in their findings. This study analyzed multiple aspects of pollination success in common milkweed populations varying in urbanization level, including insect community composition, pollen removal/deposition, and fruit/seed production. By analyzing multiple pollination aspects we can determine the overall mechanism in which urbanization instills on the entire pollination process. Overall, urbanization increased insect visitation rate, and altered insect composition, with small bees and bugs/beetles having a larger presence in urbanized areas. Pollen removal also increased with urbanization, while other factors of pollination success were unaltered. These results suggest that increased urbanization can differentially impact components of the pollination process.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore how surface engagement through touch affects perception of stimuli and mood. Researchers have found psychological, physiological and cognitive benefits associated with exposure to and interaction with nature. Stress Reduction Theory with Psychoevolutionary framework, and Attention Restoration Theory are often used to explain and interpret results. However, studies that focus on individuals with negative perspectives of nature find a positive affective response to nature is not universal. Rather, individuals respond differently based on their own experience with nature. Childhood exposure and culture have been found to influence attitudes towards nature. Theories of embodied cognition emphasize the importance of previously learned associations and embodied states have been found to influence judgment, experience of emotions, and physiological states. To assess whether an individual's attitude towards nature influences the embodiment of a positive or negative state, participants were randomly assigned to come into physical contact with one of four surfaces with their feet: grass, fake grass, dirt and cement. Individuals affective, cognitive and physical relationship with nature was measured with the Nature Relatedness Scale. Change in perception of neutral stimuli and mood before and after surface exposure were measured. Results suggested surfaces influenced mood in different ways, however the effects on perception were unclear. A participant's perspective of nature did not seem to influence mood change depending on surface type. Future research is needed to assess whether the shift in mood was based on metaphors of language, priming from surface texture, or a result of complex interaction between bodily sensations and cognition.

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