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The magnitude and scale of current threats to ecosystems requires interdisciplinary approaches to both science and training. For example, urbanization has resulted in increased runoff from communities into coastal habitats, necessitating work across the marine-terrestrial interface. This runoff holds myriad pollutants which can impact vulnerable ecosystems, such as coastal rocky reefs. I evaluated two pollutants in domestic runoff, nitrogen-based nutrients and glyphosate-based herbicides, and their effects on rocky intertidal biodiversity and ecosystem health. Biweekly measurements were taken from runoff-affected tidepools, runoff-unaffected tidepools, drain sources, and the ocean to assess levels of both nutrients and glyphosate at our Southern California field site. Further, I experimentally added nutrients to tidepools and dosed the green seaweed "Ulva" sp. with glyphosate to determine the extent of effect these pollutants would exert on the ecosystem. In chapter 1, I showed that nitrate + nitrite concentrations varied over time, with runoff-affected tidepools exhibiting significantly higher concentrations than control tidepools. Internal nitrogen concentrations in "Ulva" correlated positively with nitrate + nitrite concentrations, and total grazer biomass increased with higher internal nitrogen in "Ulva." Experimental nitrogen additions enhanced "Ulva" cover compared to control pools. In chapter 2, I showed elevated glyphosate concentrations exceeding EPA safe drinking-water limits in the field, with substantial pH reductions observed at low glyphosate concentrations. These findings indicate that increased nutrients lead to bottom-up effects on nutrient cycling, and that reduction in pH associated with glyphosate has the potential for appreciable reduction in local pH. My findings underscore the need for regulatory consideration of these pollutants in coastal management, especially in protected areas, to mitigate risks to marine ecosystems and human health. However, environmental challenges, such as polluted freshwater runoff, are global in both scope and scale. Interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to research can be used to better address these complex issues, and in chapter 3, I describe a graduate training program that centers these approaches. The Ridge 2 Reef National Science Foundation Research Traineeship Program was developed to provide transferable and cross-disciplinary training to graduate students of various academic backgrounds. The program was successful in improving the communication skills, career knowledge, and understanding of global perspectives in research of the trainees. The interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to training were also successful in increasing trainee confidence and preparedness for environmental career paths. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This dissertation is primarily concerned with nature-human relations -- how human people relate with and see themselves in relation to the rest of nature. Nature-human relations are part of how we make sense of the world around us, and these relationships therefore affect our broader reasoning and decision-making. The magnitude of environmental problems like climate change and polluted lands and waters make it critical for educators to find new ways to work with children and families to cultivate nature-human relationships that build healthier socio-ecological futures. To achieve this, I argue that educators should look to Indigenous peoples, who continue to draw on Indigenous knowledge systems to maintain ecologically sustainable relationships with lands and waters despite the ongoing threat of settler colonialism across the globe. Rooted in Indigenous knowledge systems and socio-cultural theories of teaching and learning, this dissertation aims to: 1) understand connections between nature-human relations and pro-environmental decisions and behaviors, and 2) explore how an Indigenous STEAM summer program was carefully co-designed toward transformative and sustainable nature-human relationships. The dissertation contains three academic papers. Paper 1 explores the design of an Indigenous STEAM summer program and how it supported a kinship relationship between an Indigenous youth and the plant Stinging Nettle. Paper 2 examines human perceptions of their relationships with place and nature from a cognitive psychology perspective. Paper 3 addresses how cultural stories embedded in an Indigenous STEAM program's learning activities cultivated relationships between Indigenous youth and Stinging Nettle. Together the papers highlight how close nature-human relations have the potential to move us toward socio-ecological thriving. The dissertation finds that recognizing plant personhood, supporting human peoples' connections to the places they live and work, and learning from Indigenous stories may all be effective ways to transform nature-human relationships. Importantly, these can be taught -- the Indigenous STEAM (ISTEAM) program is a powerful example of;this. For ISTEAM participants, learning from Indigenous stories as well as recognizing plant personhood helped to cultivate connections to place and nature-human kin relations. Given this, an implication of this dissertation is that educational curricula and pedagogies can be designed with Indigenous stories in ways that support the recognition of more-than-human personhood toward closer nature-human relations. If this were a norm across classrooms and non-school-based learning environments alike, we may see a shift in human decision making and behaviors resulting in more sustainable lifeways. This is critical if we are to address climate change and other environmental problems. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Contributions to conservation biology research are traditionally approached from an ecology and evolutionary biology perspective, but education research can be equally valuable. Population genetics research can inform management decision-making while education research can improve how we teach conservation. My dissertation tackles conservation biology from an interdisciplinary framework. This involves studying the population genetics of the endangered tidewater goby and investigating drawing as an active learning tool in a Restoration Ecology course. For chapter 1, I assessed how the genetic structures between tidewater goby (Genus: "Eucyclogobius") populations relate to high rainfall events by analyzing rainfall data and 14 microsatellite loci from 526 samples collected in 1990 and 2008 from the central coast of California. There is evidence that supports tidewater goby dispersal is dependent on heavy rainfall that subsequently breaches lagoons. Results also show that two adjacent management subunits are genetically similar in the 2008 samples compared to 1990, which suggests the subunits should be combined. For chapter 2, I investigated how landscape variables inform genetic structures between tidewater goby populations by analyzing satellite imagery data and 14 microsatellite loci from 1346 individuals covering four management units over an 18-year timespan. Results suggest heterogeneous landscapes that include softer substrates may facilitate movement between sites. There is also evidence that harder substrates, headlands, and kelp vegetation may limit dispersal. For chapter 3, I explored how drawing activities in an ecological restoration course affect learning outcomes and whether students continue to use drawing as a study tool after the intervention. Results suggest students use their notes and lecture slides more frequently than drawing activities to study for the midterm. Students who were instructed to draw (drawers) as part of their response for a midterm scored significantly higher than students who did not (non-drawers). Drawers also had a more complex correlation network of paired works in their midterm responses compared to non-drawers. Collectively, this dissertation expands on how we traditionally address conservation biology by offering insights from population genetics biology combined with innovative applications of pedagogy in higher education. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This exploratory study analyzed disconnects that contribute to preventing water management organizations from offering vocational courses to southeast Texas school district students. Opportunities offered through legislative support and community services give school districts access to resources and training to prepare students for careers in the water treatment industry. The investigation assessed education impediments preventing workforce training organizations from providing tacit and explicit knowledge to students attending southeast school districts. Semi-structured interviews captured water industry leader viewpoints associated with the Water Environment Association of Texas (WEAT) regarding unavailable water industry service support. Research results revealed that the lack of support comes from an inability to make the public cognizant of resources and opportunities provided by the water industry. Low brand recognition was also a reason people remain unaware of the opportunities water management leaders offer throughout southeast Texas. Community involvement can make citizens aware of the benefits associated with water treatment, while brand awareness can improve trust and name recognition. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Active learning is widely recognized as superior to traditional passive, lecture-based techniques for fostering learning in STEM courses. Interactive, hands-on learning where students interact with their peers and physical systems is an effective type of active learning. As the need for scientists and engineers continues to grow, understanding and incorporation of interactive learning pedagogies into STEM classrooms is critical. This dissertation is focused on the development, characterization, and assessment of very low-cost, visual hands-on learning tools which can be used to demonstrate and foster understanding of complex heat transfer phenomena in undergraduate engineering courses. First, the performance of a miniaturized double pipe heat exchanger is presented. Behavior can be predicted highly accurately with industrial correlations and results from conceptual and motivational assessments show the heat exchanger helps improve understanding and is well-received by students. Next, the effectiveness of the double pipe heat exchanger is compared to the effectiveness of a simpler module for demonstration of basic fluid mechanics principles. Two module implementation modes are compared: in-person and virtual demonstration. Hands-on and virtual implementations are shown to promote similar improvements in student understanding, highlighting the usefulness of the learning modules and other hands-on learning pedagogies in resource-limited or distance-based education settings. The double pipe heat exchanger module is shown to be significantly less effective for promoting conceptual understanding gains compared to the simpler fluid mechanics module and reasons for this are discussed. Finally, the development and characterization of a new module to demonstrate evaporative cooling, which is a complex heat and mass transfer process used in several industrial and residential processes, is detailed. The behavior of the device is evaluated with a fractional factorial design, compared to performance trends observed with larger-scale systems, and a new numerical model for prediction of water and air temperatures and performance is presented. Overall, the miniaturized evaporative cooler is shown to behave similarly to large-scale systems, highlighting its usefulness as a classroom teaching tool. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This research study describes a quantitative examination of Arkansas school counselors' perceptions of their knowledge about the McKinney-Vento homeless Assistance Act and how involved they are with partnership practices in meeting the needs of homeless children and families. The study also examined what type of training school counselors have received to work with homeless children, youth and families. The study's purpose was to examine school counselors' experiences while working with homeless students. The study explored school counselors' perceptions of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act for homeless children, youth and families in their schools. This study supports the social justice framework where school counselors are in a key position to promote equal opportunities for all homeless children and youth. The study also is supported by Maslow's Theory (1954) in its emphasis on the importance of meeting the student's basic physiological needs of food, water and shelter before a student can progress towards self-actualization and achieve academic success. The findings of the research study indicated Arkansas school counselors were knowledgeable of McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act requirements. Findings highlighted the importance for school counselors to actively engage in partnership practices with community stakeholders to address the needs of homeless students as well as how participating in training to support addressing the needs of homeless students is vital. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The body is often ignored, in elementary science education, as a site of knowledge, meaning, and feeling. This study explored how embodied performances, defined as drama- and movement-based representations of science ideas, spontaneous or rehearsed, shaped construction and communication of science knowledge and identities among Latinx fifth graders in an urban school. The perspective central in this study is informed by embodied cognition, social semiotics, multimodality, aesthetic learning, and drama pedagogy, coupled with embracing sociocultural approaches to meaning making, identity theory, and justice-centered science education. In this instrumental case study, within the context of a year-long water curriculum that addressed issues of sustainability, contamination, and justice, embodied performances and other multimodal artifacts were analyzed in order to shed light on children's construction of science knowledge, including sociopolitical understandings, and science identities. Multimodal discourse analysis and movement analysis (focusing on Body, Effort, Shape, Space) of videotaped classroom lessons and conversations with students led to four findings. Children transduced meanings across modes and translated meanings within modes, extending each other's thinking and building ideas in collective ways. The dialogic reflections that occurred during and after planned performances provided critical spaces and places where children constructed science knowledge and identities. Multiple embodied performances of the same science concept offered a heightened level of engagement as many interpretations and comparisons became possible. Finally, perspective-taking engaged children in not only considering science ideas about lead contamination of drinking water but also developing critical consciousness of policies that impact health, and agentic identities that embrace caring, advocacy, and peoples' rights to healthy lives. These findings suggest that interrogating how embodying science extends opportunities to construct science knowledge and agentic identities is a productive area of exploration. Furthermore, the findings compel researchers and practitioners at the crossroads of science, performing arts, and justice-centered pedagogies to develop curricula and pedagogical practices that nurture and probe more deeply the various affordances that embodied performances offer for strengthening science learning. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Density is a difficult concept for students to understand because it cannot be directly observed. If students are to gain a deeper understanding of the concept of density, they need to learn about density at both the microscopic and macroscopic levels. Virtual reality provides an opportunity for learners to experience phenomena at microscopic scales, so a density exploration simulation was created for use in a Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE). The research question for this study was: How does the 3D Density CAVE experience impact preservice elementary school teachers' understanding of the density concept at the microscopic level? Three preservice teachers were interviewed before and after their Density CAVE experience. The data collected consisted of participants' recorded audio responses, written texts, and drawings made during the interviews. Thematic analysis was used to explore the raw data. Five major conclusions can be drawn based on the evidence that emerged on participants' conceptualizations of density pre/post the Density CAVE experience: The Density CAVE experience helped participants to (a) visualize water and oil molecules and recognize there are differences in molecular structures, (b) see that molecules of water can have different spacing arrangements, (c) recognize the role of intermolecular forces in the determination of the density of water, (d) recognize that at the microscopic scale, air is not a factor in determining the density of ice. Finally, the Density CAVE experience had no impact on the participants' conceptualization of the role of molecular mass in determining density. Based on this study, students can benefit from having virtual reality experiences such as those in the CAVE to explore density at the microscopic scale. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This dissertation examines the thesis that implicit learning plays a role in learning about scientific phenomena, and subsequently, in conceptual change. Decades of research in learning science demonstrate that a primary challenge of science education is overcoming prior, naive knowledge of natural phenomena in order to gain scientific understanding. Until recently, a key assumption of this research has been that to develop scientific understanding, learners must abandon their prior scientific intuitions and replace them with scientific concepts. However, a growing body of research shows that scientific intuitions persist, even among science experts. This suggests that naive intuitions are suppressed, not supplanted, as learners gain scientific understanding. The current study examines two potential roles of implicit learning processes in the development of scientific knowledge. First, implicit learning is a source of cognitive structures that impede science learning. Second, tasks that engage implicit learning processes can be employed to activate and suppress prior intuitions, enhancing the likelihood that scientific concepts are adopted and applied. This second proposal is tested in two experiments that measure training-induced changes in intuitive and conceptual knowledge related to sinking and floating objects in water. In Experiment 1, an implicit learning task was developed to examine whether implicit learning can induce changes in performance on near and far transfer tasks. The results of this experiment provide evidence that implicit learning tasks activate and suppress scientific intuitions. Experiment 2 examined the effects of combining implicit learning with traditional, direct instruction to enhance explicit learning of science concepts. This experiment demonstrates that sequencing implicit learning task before and after direct instruction has different effects on intuitive and conceptual knowledge. Together, these results suggest a novel approach for enhancing learning for conceptual change in science education. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Limited research has been done on the implementation of experiential learning to align with science and engineering practices. This research project developed an instrumental case study to examine the efficacy of an experiential education framework for teaching and learning water science and engineering practices in the elementary science classroom. This study investigates the process of a practicing scientist mentoring a 6th grade elementary science teacher and their participation in professional development activities, strategies used for preparation and practice, classroom implementation, and the consequences of student learning with two sections of science students. Data collection and analysis of teacher background surveys, unit plans provided by the teacher, classroom and field observations, and a semi-structured interview were data sources for the study. Student evidence was collected from pre/post drawing assessments, pre/posttests, reflections, and student artifacts. The findings indicated that personal, intensive long term professional development sessions had an impact on the teacher's practice, where she was able to use the experiential framework as a guiding principle to create an outdoor and classroom-based unit on water in Earth systems. In her practice, she was able to use the framework to create analogies to make connections between natural water filtration and classroom models, and she used an integrated approach to discuss engineering and filter design. The scientist-teacher mentorship resulted in an increase in the teacher's confidence and ability to teach elementary science topics on water science. Students' conceptual understanding of water cycle components and processes progressed over the course of the unit from atmospheric level to subsurface level interactions. Students achieved an understanding of physical properties of matter and hydrogeological concepts of permeability and porosity. Students were able to understand systems thinking and developed dynamic thinking. Implications of this study indicate that the experiential learning framework is an effective pedagogical tool for teachers to introduce science and engineering practices as specified in the K-12 Framework. Using this framework, the classroom teacher was able to complete practices for planning and carrying out investigations, developing and using models, analyzing and interpreting data, and constructing and designing solutions. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Research shows that compared to other groups, African Americans have historically had less access to swimming skills and thereby have a higher rate of drowning while swimming. Knowing how to swim is an important drowning prevention strategy, yet many African Americans residing in a county in South Carolina do not know how to swim, despite living in the immediate vicinity of water. This places African Americans at a discrete and hazardous disadvantage that is amplified by elevated levels of aquatic fear within the community. The purpose of this study was to explore aquatic fear reduction among adult African Americans randomly assigned to two leading swimming education programs. Utilizing a mixed methods approach for data collection, 37 participants completed a Beliefs about Water Questionnaire at pretest and posttest junctures; the participants also completed semistructured interviews. The findings suggested that global fear levels decreased dramatically using swimming education programs; however, the level and type of fear of water is relative to the individual and difficult to predict within the context of the ability to acquire basic swimming skills. The findings provide valuable information to public health officials for identifying the impacts of fear levels and fear types on the ability to acquire basic swimming competency skills. Further research that addresses fear as a barrier to learning how to swim is noteworthy and essential to the health and wellbeing of the local African American and the global communities. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

In the critical infrastructure world, many critical infrastructure sectors use a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. The sectors that use SCADA systems are the electric power, nuclear power and water. These systems are used to control, monitor and extract data from the systems that give us all the ability to light our homes and keep the world moving. However, the SCADA systems were developed in the 1960's and the developers of the network never imagined the world would be connected the way it is. Everything is connected through ones and zeros. SCADA systems are also connected by ones and zeros. This makes SCADA systems a vulnerable target to hackers, nation states and hack-tivists from around the world. Since the early 1980's there have been multiple breaches of power plants, water treatment facilities and transportation on a cyber-security level. The hackers gained access to sensitive systems, which in many cases caused physical damage to the systems people rely on for their daily lives. The question this project will attempt to answer what is being done to help protect SCADA systems from cyber-attacks. There is a need to protect these systems from a cyber-security perspective, and it is the aim of this paper to help get the conversation about SCADA system cyber-security initiated. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

How can researchers and practitioners meaningfully engage the public in matters of environmental stewardship and landscape conservation? Traditional approaches to answering this question have erroneously relied upon the assumption that the simple combination of knowledge and awareness of environmental challenges will motivate desirable behavior changes. Alternatively, my work builds on a growing body of research that suggests that people's place-based values, beliefs, and identities constitute components of how people interact with and treat their surrounding landscapes. In this dissertation, I present results from an empirical study in northeastern Wisconsin that respectively examines (1) how individuals' sense of place informs their water- and landscape-conservation activities; and (2) how participatory mapping can engage the public in learning about and encountering bioregional landscapes. I close by suggesting how these research approaches and findings could inform outreach and education efforts associated with ongoing environmental initiatives in the upper Midwest and beyond. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Environmental stewardship is an underlying theme in outdoor education (OE) and environmental education (EE), but maintaining natural areas in a sustainable balance between conservation and preservation requires knowledge about how natural areas respond to anthropogenic disturbance. My five-part study investigated the effects of disturbance on aquatic macroinvertebrates caused by frequent in-stream activity by students during OE stream classes. I conducted an observational study of stream classes at Heartland Outdoor School (henceforth, Heartland) in Morrow County, Ohio during April to June and September to October, 2012 to determine the methods by which students explore the stream. Subsequently, I conducted a year-long disturbance study from February 2013 to January 2014 at two sites (one site impacted by student activity and one site unimpacted by student activity) in upper Alum Creek on the Heartland property following a modified BACI design. The year-long study enabled analysis of trends in the macroinvertebrate community in three distinct channel units (i.e., riffles, runs, and pools) throughout the year including two disturbance periods (mid-April to early June and mid-September to mid-November) when stream classes are regularly active at the impacted site. Results showed evidence of student-induced disturbance for taxa richness in riffles and taxa richness and "Chironomidae" abundance in runs. No direct evidence of student-induced disturbance was found in pools. During April and May, 2014 I conducted a six-week substrate movement and rock colonization study in upper Alum Creek to investigate the extent to which students cause rock movement and the extent to which rocks are colonized by macroinvertebrates at the impacted site compared to the unimpacted site. Results showed that in base flow conditions students caused rocks to move upstream, laterally, and vertically at the impacted site to a greater extent than hydrologic activity caused at the unimpacted site. Macroinvertebrate abundance and richness were significantly greater (p<0.05) at the unimpacted site than at the impacted site at the end of the study. Also in May, 2014 I conducted a one-week disturbance study to examine within-riffle and among-riffle effects of student activity on the macroinvertebrate community. Results showed no significant effect (p>0.05) of student activity for the within-riffle study, but did reveal greater percent clingers at the unimpacted riffle than at the impacted riffle in the among-riffles study. During June, 2015 I conducted a randomized block design experimental disturbance study in three tributaries of upper Alum Creek to investigate the effects of experimentally manipulating the stream substrate. Results showed no negative effect of the experimental substrate disruption on the macroinvertebrate community and actually revealed an increase in macroinvertebrate abundance and percent Leuctridae following the experimental disruption. Finally, I combined information gleaned from the field studies and observational study to develop the first phase of an index of student-induced disturbance (ISID) to serve as a predictive model for the effects of human in-stream activity on aquatic macroinvertebrates. In this first phase, the ISID takes into account student activity, time, and area of the disturbed site to determine a single numerical value representing the level of human impact. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This dissertation describes the design, implementation and evaluation of a gender-inclusive information system linking rural women in Agni Hiya, Morocco and water project managers from the Association Dar Si-Hmad. This research was motivated by an interest in exploring the linkages between information and communication technologies (ICT), climate change, natural resource management and women's participation in community development in the drought-ridden Ait Baamrane region of southwest Morocco. The research investigates the potential for mobile phones to help address communication constraints that rural Berber women face, including culture, religion, and lack of digital literacy. These issues are relevant to the study and design of a gender-inclusive information system (the "Fog Phone") intended to help manage a fogwater distribution system that will deliver water from the Anti-Atlas Mountains to Berber villages. The research investigates two similar groups of low-literate, marginalized rural Berber women from the same geographic community who have mobile phones. Technology-focused ethnographic research methods were used to first investigate the social, cultural and technical factors involved in mobile phone use by women employed in an Argan oil Cooperative. Findings from the Argan oil Cooperative study were then applied and expanded in a study of Berber women involved in the operation of the fogwater system. By virtue of their responsibilities as principal water gatherers and water users in the community, Berber women are key stakeholders in the fogwater system. Their continued involvement in water management was extended to the participatory design and development of the prototype Fog Phone. Cultural conditions restricting communication between unrelated men and women led to an information system design that supported cultural, social, economic and technical constraints. The Fog Phone enabled women to report on the water system using a series of symbols that communicate water system status without violating cultural norms. In addition to an exploration of the relationship between gender and technology, this research explores related themes of climate change and environmental vulnerability as they pertain to women's lives and livelihoods, as well as the ability of rural Berber women to manage the environmental assets on which their livelihoods depend. The contributions of this research include a prototype information system for the fogwater project; a better understanding of the mobile phone utility gap and its impact on the use of ICT by marginalized women in polyglot and oral-language dependent communities; and advances in the emerging practice of ICTs, Climate Change and Development (ICCD) by providing a case study of the linkages between mobile phones, water resources that are affected by climate change and women in rural communities involved in an environmentally sustainable development project in the Middle East and North Africa--a region that is largely missing from ICCD and overall ICT for Development research. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Scope and Method of Study: The researcher's evaluation of the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance's (WAWA) programs highlighted that few if any of the offered educational programs included a program evaluation, especially the most promising, the Enviroscape® Watershed learning module. The education programs that were customized and developed by the education staff did not offer evaluations either. Additionally, these programs did not offer a pre or posttest. Students would visit the center, experience the "learning" and then leave. The problem was that no system was in place to assess the transfer of content or whether learning occurred. The purpose of this education study was to determine if the Enviroscape® Watershed learning module increases content knowledge, by collecting data from urban-suburban schools from third, fourth and fifth grade students. The sample population consisted of 62 elementary students in grades three, four and five from urban and suburban school districts. These participants were involved in the Watershed Alliance Outdoor Activity at the Bush Mountain Outdoor Activity Center from the years of 2011 to 2012. Findings and Conclusions: The researcher, in partnership with the designer of the Enviroscape® Module, and the OAC Education director, was able to collect data from trained education facilitators at school sites from suburban and the Urban Atlanta Areas. Educators were recruited to participate in the study based on their prior experience with environmental activities at the center, and were teaching third, fourth and fifth graders. A slight increase was found between the pretest and posttest of participants' scores on the science content knowledge. After conducting a T-Test analysis of the data however, it was concluded that no significant difference existed between the scores. The results also showed no significant increase in the mean scores between urban and suburban participants' content knowledge science scores. Furthermore, the results of an ANOVA analysis of the data showed that there was not a significant difference between the groups in the science content knowledge for participants in the third, fourth and fifth grades. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The Paso del Norte segment of the Rio Grande experiences two seasons per year; the (wet) irrigation season and the (dry) non-irrigation season. The goal of this study was to improve the understanding of occurrence and contribution of dissolved metals in this region during the non-irrigation season. The objectives of this study were to (1) evaluate the impact of anthropogenic sources of metals on the Rio Grande water quality during the non-irrigation season, and (2) estimate the metal loads carried by the flow to the downstream region of El Paso. In order to evaluate the surface water quality of the Paso del Norte region, the sampling points investigated several major water discharges including agricultural drainage, stormwater runoff, and municipal wastewater treatment plants. For two sequential dry seasons of the period from 2011 to 2013, water samples were collected weekly and analyzed by IC and ICP-OES. The detection limits for ICP-OES were less than the EPA drinking water maximum contaminant limits (MCLs), except for Hg, Pb and Se. The mean pH ranged from 7.1 in treated wastewater to 8.4 for the Rio Grande water, and variation between the two sampling dry seasons was insignificant. The stormwater runoff provided the Rio Grande with the lowest mean electrical conductivity (161 microS/cm) and mean alkalinity (44.7 mg/L as CaCO[subscript 3]), and diluted the higher concentrations of major ions within the river system. The agricultural water in Montoya Drain discharged the maximum mean EC (4175 microS/cm) and mean concentrations of Na[superscript +] (758 mg/L), Ca[superscript 2+] (156 mg/L), and Cl - (719 mg/L). The maximum concentrations of Mg[superscript 2+] (78 mg/L) and SO42[superscript -] (724 mg/L) were observed in the Rio Grande at the international boundary. The maximum mean concentrations of K[superscript +] (17 mg/L) and NO[subscript 3][superscript -] (19 mg/L) were observed in treated wastewater effluent. The mean F- concentrations in all samples were all less than 1.35 mg/L. The highest mean concentrations of Cd, Ni, Pb, and W, were 1.1, 11.3, 10.9 and 18.6 microg/L, respectively in the Rio Grande, observed downstream of Sunland Park and upstream of the Montoya Drain. The maximum mean concentration of Li (508microg/L) was observed in the Montoya Drain. The greatest mean concentrations of As, Ba, Mn, Sn and Sr were 47, 62, 229, 209, and 3217 microg/L, respectively observed in the Rio Grande at the international boundary near the ASARCO smelter site. The stormwater runoff was observed with the greatest mean concentrations of Al, Cu, V, and Zn at 48.8, 40.2, 5.9, 48.7 microg/L, respectively. The concentrations of Be, Hg, Sb and Se were mostly less than detection limits. The mass balance approach was applied in order to estimate the mass loads of metals in the Paso del Norte region during the non-irrigation season. The mean daily mass loads in the American Canal downstream of the Robert Bustamante wastewater treatment plant were estimated to be Al (3.54), As (2.4), Ba (10.3), Cd (0.05), Cr (0.2), Cu (2.21), Fe (6.7), Li (35), Mn (4.9), Ni (1.0), Pb (0.43), Sn (20.4), Sr (311), U (7.2), V (1.2), W (1.3), and Zn (10.8), all in kg/day. Through this study, the water quality analysis and the mass balance analysis revealed elevated concentrations of Cd, Ni, Pb, V and W in the stream segment between the Sunland Park and the Montoya Drain, which may be a result of underground discharge or buried waste. With respect to the hypotheses of this research (during the non-irrigation season), the Montoya Drain provides a significant load of salinity to the river, but the wastewater treatment plant effluents and stormwater runoff dilute the salinity. However, stormwater runoff was observed to contain relatively high concentrations of metals. High metals concentrations were also observed at the international boundary near ASARCO, but the flow though this segment during non-irrigation is negligible. It is recommended that point-source control measures be evaluated, such as engineered wetlands, for mitigating metals discharge to the river. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

There is the need to answer very crucial questions of "what happens to pollutants in surface waters?" This question must be answered to determine the factors controlling fate and transport of chemicals and their evolutionary state in surface waters. Monitoring and experimental methods are used in establishing the environmental states. These measurements are used with the known scientific principles to identify processes and to estimate the future environmental conditions. Conceptual and computational models are needed to analyze environmental processes by applying the knowledge gained from experimentation and theory. Usually, a computational framework includes the mathematics and the physics of the phenomenon, and the measured characteristics to model pollutants interactions and transport in surface water. However, under certain conditions, the complexity of the situation in the actual environment precludes the utilization of these techniques. Pollutants in several forms: Nitrogen (Nitrate, Nitrite, Kjeldhal Nitrogen and Ammonia), Phosphorus (orthophosphate and total phosphorus), bacteria (E-coli and Fecal coliform), Salts (Chloride and Sulfate) are chosen to follow for this research. The objective of this research is to model the fate and transport of these pollutants in non-ideal conditions of surface water measurements and to develop computational methods to forecast their fate and transport. In an environment of extreme drought such as in the Brazos River basin, where small streams flow intermittently, there is added complexity due to the absence of regularly sampled data. The usual modeling techniques are no longer applicable because of sparse measurements in space and time. Still, there is a need to estimate the conditions of the environment from the information that is present. Alternative methods for this estimation must be devised and applied to this situation, which is the task of this dissertation. This research devices a forecasting technique that is based upon sparse data. The method uses the equations of functions that fit the time series data for pollutants at each water quality monitoring stations to interpolate and extrapolate the data and to make estimates of present and future pollution levels. This method was applied to data obtained from the Leon River watershed (Indian creek) and Navasota River. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a plastic monomer and plasticizer and is a chemical that has one of the highest volume production worldwide, with more than six billion pounds each year. Its primary use is the production of polycarbonate plastics, epoxy resins used to line metal cans in a host of plastic consumer products such as toys, water pipes, drinking containers, eyeglass lenses, sports safety equipment as well as consumer electronics. Studies have shown that BPA is leached from lacquer coated cans and baby feeding bottles due to hydrolysis of the Polymer during thermal treatment. Studies have also shown that even under normal use BPA may leach from food and beverage containers. For many years Bisphenol A was treated as neutral to human health. The detection of BPA in drinking water and food products has raised the interest of many researches since 1990. Thousands of studies have examined the impact of BPA to determine its effects in laboratory animals. Numerous toxicological and biochemical studies have supported that BPA has estrogenic properties. The effects of exposure to BPA can be harmful to fetus, infants and young children. BPA is used in products where traces of it can be found in every human at higher levels of concentration than that which causes problems in animals. The National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has defined "low dose" of endocrine disrupting chemicals as doses below no observable adverse effect (NOAE) for specific chemicals. In BPA, this dose is 50 mg/kg of body weight per day. Today there are more than 150 published results describing how low doses of BPA effects animals. A recent study reported that adult female mice, monkeys, and humans metabolized BPA at almost identical rates. Since the level of BPA and other endocrine chemicals appears to be increasing throughout the World, especially where plastics are prevalent, it is extremely important to study the effects of this chemical on man and wildlife. This research effort addresses reported traces of BPA detected using different analytical techniques. In this study, the presence of BPA in different baby feeding bottles was determined. In general, the concentration of BPA released increased with increasing time of heating and longer use. The experimental results also showed that BPA is present in those plastic containers, even though labeled "BPA free". Research and studies done by scientists and other health organizations have agreed to measure BPA levels in human tissue, and determine its negative effects to human health. At this time the source and level of exposure to BPA is unknown. For this reason, much more research is needed to uncover more evidence of this toxic chemical. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The main goal of this research study was to develop and validate a three-tier diagnostic test to determine pre-service teachers' (PSTs) conceptual knowledge of the water cycle. For a three-tier diagnostic test, the first tier assesses content knowledge; in the second tier, a reason is selected for the content answer; and the third tier allows test-takers to select how confident they are in their answers for the first two tiers. The second goal of this study was to diagnose any alternative conceptions PSTs might have about the water cycle. The Water Cycle Diagnostic Test (WCDT) was developed using the theoretical framework by Treagust (1986, 1988, and 1995), and in similar studies that developed diagnostic tests (e.g., Calean & Subramaniam, 2010a; Odom & Barrow, 2007; Pesman & Eryilmaz, 2010). The final instrument consisted of 15 items along with a demographic survey that examined PSTs' weather-related experiences that may or may not have affected the PSTs' understanding of the water cycle. The WCDT was administered to 77 PSTs enrolled in science methods courses during the fall of 2012. Among the 77 participants, 37 of the PSTs were enrolled in elementary education (EPST) and 40 in secondary science (SPST). Using exploratory factor analysis, five categories were factored out for the WCDT: Phase Change of Water; Condensation and Storage; Clouds; Global Climate Change; and Movement through the Water Cycle. Analysis of the PSTs' responses demonstrated acceptable reliability (a = 0.62) for the instrument, and acceptable difficulty indices and discrimination indices for 12 of the items. Analysis indicated that the majority of the PSTs had a limited understanding of the water cycle. Of the PSTs sampled, SPSTs were significantly more confident in their answers' on the WCDT than the EPSTs. Completion of an undergraduate atmospheric science and/or meteorology course, as well as a higher interest in listening and/or viewing weather-related programs, resulted in PSTs having greater understanding and confidence in their answers on the WCDT. The analysis of the PSTs' responses revealed 49 potential alternative conceptions and areas where PSTs' lack of knowledge was revealed from the WCDT. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

In 2005, turfgrass was estimated to cover approximately 20 million ha of urbanized land. That area is increasing with rapid urbanization, stressing the importance of water conservation in the lawn and landscape industry. Turfgrasses have been identified for replacement by presumably more water-efficient ornamental plant species to conserve water. However, research comparing drought resistance and evapotranspiration (ET) of turfgrasses with ornamental landscape plants is limited. Two studies were conducted to evaluate water use and performance under drought stress of several ornamental and turfgrass species. An online course was developed to educate students about critical water issues related to irrigation in urbanizing watersheds. In a field study, ET was measured using lysimeters and plant water status was evaluated under deficit irrigation (100%, 60%, and 20% ET) in "Festuca arundinacea" Schreb., "Buchloe dactyloides" (Nutt.) Engelm. "Sharps Improved", and "Ajuga reptans" L. "Bronze Beauty". Evapotranspiration was similar between "A. reptans" and "F. arundinacea," and was 32 and 35% greater than ET of "B. dactyloides." In a greenhouse study, the performance of one turfgrass ("Poa pratensis" L. "Apollo") and eight landscape species ("Achillea millifolium" L., "Ajuga reptans" L. "Bronze Beauty", "Liriope muscari" Decne., "Pachysandra terminalis" Siebold and Zucc., "Sedum album" L., "Thymus serpyllum" L., "Vinca major" L., and "Vinca minor" L.) was evaluated during a severe dry down and subsequent recovery. "S. album," "L. muscari," and "P. terminalis" performed the best, requiring 86 to 254 d to decline to a quality rating of one (1-9 scale: 1 = dead/dormant, 9 = best quality). The remaining species required 52 to 63 d. The only species to recover were "P. pratensis" [46% pot cover (PC) after 60 days], "S. album" (38% PC), and "V. major" (35% PC). A survey was developed to measure student learning as it relates to the level of sense and meaning present in the content of a new online course entitled "Water Issues in the Lawn and Landscape." Survey results were compared with student learning as measured through a post-test. Post-test scores declined as the difference between sense and meaning increased (r =-0.82; P=0.03), indicating student learning is higher when both sense and meaning are present. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The scope of this study involved an investigation into the education of the adult residents of Oklahoma regarding private water wells. The groundwater supply for the private resident is directly connected to a shared water source. This source of water can become contaminated by simple lack of education and proper maintenance of the well. Without knowing the possibility of how a water source may be contaminated, there is a possible health threat to that private resident and those residents downstream who use the same water (USEPA, 2010a). The methods used examined the comparison of groups after presentation of Programs 1 or 2. The control group received Program 1 which included Oklahoma DEQ fact sheets on private water wells currently offered. The experimental groups received Program 2 which included the booklet written and illustrated by the researcher. Validity of the instrument used in this research was provided through use of an expert jury: members of the expert jury were employed in DEQ and work with education program related to private water wells for a pretest and posttest experiment. Data from this instrument were collected, examined, and analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Tukey HSD post hoc test, and Cronbach's alpha. This investigation revealed that a field study was difficult to gather the numbers of participants needed to reach the statistical power required to reject the null hypothesis. The results did indicate that the participants benefitted from the Power Point presentation created by the researcher regardless of the programs added to the presentation. The experimental groups that received the Program 2 did score higher on the post testing mean score than the control group that received Program 1. The basic goal of this researcher was to reach private well owners and those who have access to private wells. Water is vital to all life. Education was a tool used in this study to provide the information to adult participants needed to protect groundwater and to provide safe water for their own home. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Through a non-experimental descriptive and comparative mixed-methods approach, this study investigated the experiences of sixth grade earth science students with groundwater physical models through an extended SE learning cycle format. The data collection was based on a series of quantitative and qualitative research tools intended to investigate students' ideas and changes in ideas rather than measure their achievement. The measures included a groundwater survey, classroom observations, and one-on-one follow-up student interviews for triangulation of data sources. The research was carried out at a K-12 independent school in eastern Virginia using two classes of sixth grade earth science students (n = 30). The findings suggest that physical models help students identify the components porosity and permeability with respect to water flow in groundwater systems. Higher levels of system thinking were best demonstrated in model components that allowed students to experience groundwater pollution activities and pumping groundwater wells. However, the results also indicated that due to model constraints, students can develop misconceptions during the use of physical models, specifically more complex physical models as in the "Groundwater Exploration Activity Model." A pure discovery learning format while using physical models without guidance or formative assessment probes can lead to misconceptions about groundwater processes as well as confusion between model attributes and real world groundwater systems. The implications of this study relate directly to the inclusion of groundwater in the new national science standards released in 2011; "A Framework for K-12 Science Standard; Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas" (NRC, 2011). The new national standards, as in other educational reform efforts, will have the ability to affect curricular and instructional strategies in science education. From the results of this study, it was concluded that best practices for using groundwater physical models in groundwater instruction should be through an inquiry based approach such as a 5E learning cycle, that includes both teacher guidance and feedback during model activities and incorporates an Express phase with extensive formative assessment probes for student reflection of their learning process. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This dissertation is a combination of two research areas, experimental physical chemistry, Chapters I to V, and chemical education, Chapters VI to VII. Chapters I to V describe research on the water-mediated chemistry of oxidized atmospheric molecules and the impact that water has on the spectra of these environmental systems. The role of water in the Earth's atmosphere has been of considerable interest due to its ability to impact chemistry and climate. Oxidized atmospheric molecules in the presence of water have the ability to form hydrogen bonded water complexes. The spectroscopic investigation of nitric acid-water complexes, outlined in Chapter III, was undertaken to characterize intermolecular hydrogen bonds in a water-restricted environment at ambient temperatures. Additionally, this characterization of nitric acid-water complexes allowed for the comparison of calculated overtone OH-stretching vibrational band frequencies, intensities, and anharmonicities of intermolecular hydrogen-bonded water complexes with experimental observations. Oxidized organic molecules, such as aldehydes and ketones, in addition to forming hydrogen-bonded water complexes can undergo a hydration reaction of the carbonyl group and form germinal diols in the presence of water. This chemistry has been studied extensively in bulk aqueous media, however little is known about this process in the gas-phase at low water concentrations. The focus of the studies outlined in Chapters IV and V is motivated by the ability of pyruvic acid and formaldehyde to form germinal diols and water complexes in water-restricted environment. This water-mediated chemistry changes the physical and chemical properties of these organic molecules, therefore, impacting the partitioning between gas and particle phase, as well as the chemistry and photochemistry of oxidized organic molecules in the Earth's atmosphere. The results presented in this dissertation may help resolve the significant discrepancy between atmospherically measured oxidized organic molecules and predictions of atmospheric models at different relative humidities. The chemical education portion of this manuscript presented in Chapters VI and VII includes the development of a survey to determine how effective a laboratory experiment is in contributing to students' understanding of fundamental chemistry. The specific example used is an electrochemical cell. Our initial results showed that while most of our students could answer quantitative questions about the operation of the cell, their conceptual understanding of the microscopic processes that occur within the cell was inconsistent with the material presented in class. In particular, we noticed that while many students were able to correctly describe the events that take place at the surface of the anode and cathode, their understanding of the events that take place at the salt bridge was lacking. In this investigation, we were able to confirm the misconceptions reported in previous studies. Our results suggest that a relatively modest, incremental revision of the experiment reduces these misconceptions and helped the students to develop a molecular-scale picture of the processes that occur within an electrochemical cell. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Most of challenges facing today's government cannot be resolved without collaborative efforts from multiple non-state stakeholders, organizations, and active participation from citizens. Collaborative governance has become an important form of management practice. Yet the success of this inclusive management approach depends on whether government agencies and all other involved parties can collectively deliberate and work toward the shared goals. This dissertation examines whether information technology (IT) tools and prior cooperative interactions can be used to facilitate the collaboration process, and how IT tools and prior cooperative interactions can, if at all, get citizens and communities more engaged in collaborative governance. It focuses on the individual and small groups engaged in deliberating on a local community problem, which is water sustainability in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Experiments were conducted to compare how people deliberate and interact with each other under different IT-facilitated deliberation environments and with different prehistory of interactions. The unique experimental site for this research is a designed deliberation space that can seat up to 25 participants surrounded by the immersive 260-degree seven-screen communal display. In total, 126 students from Arizona State University participated in the experiment. The experiment results show that the deliberation spaces can influence participants' engagement in the collaborative efforts toward collective goals. This dissertation demonstrates the great potential of well-designed IT-facilitated deliberation spaces for supporting policy deliberation and advancing collaborative governance. This dissertation provides practical suggestions for public managers and community leaders on how to design and develop the desired features of IT-facilitated interaction environments for face-to-face and computer-mediated online public deliberation activities. This dissertation also discusses lessons and strategies on how to build a stronger sense of community for promoting community-based efforts to achieve collective goals. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Great strife has plagued the Middle East for decades. Israel and the Occupied Territories of the West Bank of Palestine' have been battling over the land they both claim as holy. Regional threats of war loom and increasingly violent rhetoric has been exchanged regarding the claims to holy sites, land, olives, water, and other natural resources in Israel and the West Bank. This conflict is reflected in the grassroots communication in the form of political graffiti, much of it covering the West Bank Wall. Street art traditionally provided insights into grassroots politics, but has been rarely addressed in this region of the world. The objective of this study was to document and analyze the political graffiti and explore its meanings to Palestinian and Israeli university students living in the area of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, respectively. The West Bank Wall is an architectural structure still under construction in Israel and the West Bank. This study sought to discover "support for" and "resistance to" the Wall and the broader conflict. Additionally, the research questions explored the nature (the visual qualities and messages) of the graffiti on this structure and how they "affected" the opinions of university students living in the region. The significance of this study was discovered in the documentation of current political graffiti renderings and the subsequent university student multimedia interviews. This study began its investigation by asking the central question, "What does the political graffiti on the West Bank Wall mean to you?". The definitions and boundaries of "Israel" and the "Occupied Territories of the West Bank of Palestine" are referred to by the land separated by the United Nations 1948 cease-fire partition. The "Green Line," is the 1948 cease-fire boundary that the United Nations plan led to after the war stopped. This line incorporates an additional 25% of the territory in question into Israel. For simplicity, these areas will be referred to as just "Israel" and the "West Bank" or sometimes "Palestine." Many people will argue over these questions, "Where is Israel?" or "What is Palestine?" as both the citizens of Israel and the people of Palestine do not officially recognize each other, so this distinction is important to clarify at the beginning of this document. There is no clear boundary line that could be agreed upon by all people in this conflict, so this distinction is imperfect, but necessary in order to be able to discuss the different "sides" of this conflict [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Increased energy costs and a move toward environmental stewardship are driving many organizations, including universities, to engage in awareness efforts to reduce both energy consumption and their carbon footprint. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether organizational programs aimed at energy and environmental awareness have a significant impact on reducing utility consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the organization. Universities and organizations all across America are investing resources--time and money, into awareness programs, marketing campaigns, and administrative policies with hopes of reducing energy consumption thereby decreasing operations costs and emissions; very little has been published on the actual effect of such programs. Not has much been published to determine if a significant reduction in energy and GHG emissions comes from downstream behavior modifications of daily routines. Documentation is often lacking to support that an increase in energy and/or environmental awareness will reduce the consumption or the associated carbon emissions. Businesses and industries are looking to change policies and implement procedures to reduce waste, and energy consumption hoping in turn to decrease green house gas emissions. This study tries to measure the effectiveness of an energy and environmental initiative aimed at students living on campus at a large university located in the northeastern United States. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The number of project failures and those projects completed over cost and over schedule has been a significant issue for software project managers. Among the many reasons for failure, inaccuracy in software estimation--the basis for project bidding, budgeting, planning, and probability estimates--has been identified as a root cause of a high percentage of failures. Poor estimates have not only led projects to exceed budget and go over schedule but also, in many cases, to be terminated entirely. The ability to accurately estimate software development projects changes as newer methodologies replace old ones. Research in this area has been sporadic and there has been little research into the root cause of estimation inaccuracy. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference in software effort-estimation accuracy between the development methodologies of waterfall and incremental methodologies, and the newer agile development methodology. Specifically, the impact of using source line of code (SLOC), function point (FP), or story-point sizing methods were explored across three common development methodologies of waterfall, incremental, and agile. The International Software Benchmarking Standards Group (ISBSG) database was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 15.0 software and examined the relationship between the independent variables (IVs) (estimation parameters) and the dependent variable (DV) estimate accuracy of software projects. Though the hypotheses were not able to be tested, the research question was explored by testing the independent variables through one-way ANOVAs. This resulted in no difference in effort accuracy for the two sizing methods SLOC and FP while there were not enough statistical samples of story-point to determine effect. Similarly, there was no difference in effort accuracy for the two development methods waterfall and agile while there were not enough statistical samples of incremental to determine effect. While limitations existed using the ISBSG database, it is recommended that the database becomes a common tool for future research. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This dissertation has two areas of focus: learning and developmental disorders (LDDs) and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs). Epidemiological and exposure assessment methods are applied to each. The first paper used geographic location as a surrogate for exposure and broadly assesses the effect of the environment, both physical and social, on LDD risk in a cohort of individuals born on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Using generalized additive models and geographic information systems, maps of the risk of LDD in the study area were produced. Results suggested that children living in certain parts of upper Cape Cod may have been more likely to have an LDD. Observed variation, although not statistically significant, may be due to local differences in the social or physical environment. The second paper evaluated the associations between exposures to four PFCs and a specific LDD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AMID) using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2000 and 2003-2004 for children aged 12-15 years. Results were consistent with increased odds of ADHD in children with higher serum levels of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, C8), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS). As the sources of exposure to PFCs are not well characterized, the third paper included in this dissertation assessed the contribution of contaminated drinking water to the overall body burden of PFOA in Ohio and West Virginia communities contaminated by a fluoropolymer production facility. Standard regression approaches as well as pharmacokinetic models were used. In this population, PFOA contaminated drinking water was a significant contributor to serum levels. Regression methods and pharmacokinetic modeling produced similar estimates of the relationship. Together, these three papers make a significant contribution to the current literature on LDDs and PFCs. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This study was prompted by the growing amount of research that is in support of science reform and from this researcher's personal experience and concern that science instructions is no longer a top priority in elementary schools nor are young scientists given the opportunities to act as scientists in a real world setting. This study uses experiential education strategies in a workshop format to try and affect change in the attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions of elementary science teachers. Experiential education is not new, but the methods of teaching can span a wide range of topics. The main focus of the workshop featured in this study was a combination of outdoor education and inquiry. The format was Project WET, a program focused on the teaching and learning of water education. The workshop was given to pre-service teachers enrolled in a science methods course at a local university. The workshop was held both in and out of doors and featured six lessons from the Project WET Activity Guide. Data gathered offered insight into pre-service elementary teachers' attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions of science instruction, through the use of the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument. A z test for the difference in proportions for two sample means was used to analyze each statement on the STEBI, individually. A follow-up questionnaire, via an online survey instrument, provided feedback regarding the Project WET workshop. Final analysis indicated no significant difference in the responses to 12 of the 13 individual questions, but follow-up survey questions indicate that there are definite advantages to further research. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This study is designed to find out how people in rural communities residing in the middle Himalayas use indigenous knowledge to support environmental decisions while addressing water and land use related concerns. The study not only serves to enrich our understanding of community decision-making, especially as connected to land use and ecological issues, but also helps us understand how youth in village communities in the Himalayan bioregion negotiate a balance between indigenous and exogenous knowledge. Using qualitative methods including interviews, field observations, and focus groups, the research examines discussions and activities leading to decision-making about environmental issues in the communities residing in the Kumaon region of the middle Himalayas of India. The study helps answer the following questions: (1) In the Kumaon region, what is the relevant indigenous knowledge used to make decisions about specific environmental issues such as land management and water management? (2) How much of this indigenous knowledge is used by adult community members while making decisions about the environment? (3) How much of this indigenous knowledge is passed on to the future generation (process of intergenerational knowledge transfer)? (4) How will youth make use of indigenous knowledge in relation to exogenous knowledge while trying to negotiate issues related to their environment? In answering these questions, this study serves to deepen our understanding of how communities in the Himalayas balance the influx of modernization/globalization and engage in decision-making toward environmental sustainability. It supports a better understanding of how to design curriculum and environmental education programs for learning in communities of the Himalayan bioregion, and perhaps also offers some valuable direction for designing environmental conservation and education programs for the developing world. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

International community development is a fertile area of research for environmental education scholars and practitioners. Although the community development field is well established, there is relatively little focus on education and learning in community development literature, especially in developing country settings. Particularly, environmental education scholars' growing focus on adult learning in nonformal programs can help address challenges to learning in community development contexts. In this three-paper format dissertation, I examine Jordan's water conservation programs from three perspectives relevant to the environmental education and community development literature. The first paper, "Professional assumptions and community experiences: Rural conservation education in Jordan," examines Jordanian water conservation programs. Both environmental education and community development scholars argue that for programs to be effective, their design needs to reflect an accurate understanding of the rural contexts in which they are implemented. Thus this paper explores professionals' assumptions when framing programs and the implications for programs when the assumptions do not match reality. I argue that program planners must understand participants' assumptions and experiences to craft relevant nonformal conservation education programs. The second paper, "Social networks framing resource distribution: Inequitable water conservation education in rural Jordan," applies a community development lens to the water conservation programs. Researchers and practitioners of community development recognize that social structures frame how resources in a community are distributed. For community development programs, social structure influences who participates in and benefits from it. This paper explores the social structures framing participation in Jordan's water conservation programs, using social networks to explain how participants' relations impact their participation in and benefit from programs. I find that women primarily relate in kinship networks which shape water resource access and contend that program planners must understand how resources flow through social networks to assist those most affected by water scarcity. The third paper, "Critical learning processes in rural water conservation in Jordan," investigates the process of learning that takes place in the two study villages. Learning is an integral component of community development activities, so practitioners and scholars can benefit from applying environmental education approaches to their work. In this paper, I examine how learning approaches in rural water conservation programs impact participants' attitude and behavior change. I introduce Bawden's Critical Learning Cycle model to frame the learning process in two case study programs. I find that because programs do not include complete and repeated experiential learning cycles, participants lack attitude and behavior change in both programs. In all three papers, I bring community development and environmental education scholarship together to suggest ways to improve the implementation of community-based initiatives. In these water conservation programs, I find implications which apply to other community programs and educational efforts: (1) that assumptions by planners impact program success and thus planners must take care in adapting to local contexts; (2) that planners must understand how rural community organization impacts program participation and design programs accordingly; and (3) that learning processes must be understood, and programs carefully designed and fully supported in order to create meaningful attitude and behavior changes. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This study uses case study and qualitative content analysis methodologies to answer the question: What is the relationship between Washington State's k-12 science education standards and the environmental sustainability needs of the Palouse River Watershed? After defining the Palouse Watershed's attributes, the author presents a land use history of the Palouse from prehistory to the present. Investigation of Palouse land, air, and water issues revealed that the Palouse Watershed is one of the most damaged ecosystems in the United States. Current efforts at restoring environmental quality in the Palouse were considered along with unaddressed environmental needs. Twenty-seven restorative and educative strategies were elucidated and later employed in a qualitative content analysis of Washington State's 58 k-12 science education standards. Content analysis revealed that only two of 58 science standards have content that is connected with preparing students to address the actual environmental sustainability needs of the Palouse Watershed. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Obtaining an accurate microscopic description of water structure and dynamics is of great interest to molecular biology researchers and in the physics and quantum chemistry simulation communities. This dissertation describes efforts to apply quantum Monte Carlo methods to this problem with the goal of making progress toward a fully "ab initio" quantum mechanical description of water that is accurate, efficient, and free of uncontrolled approximations. The projects described in this work are largely concerned with addressing three major challenges, described here. We use Path Integral Monte Carlo to study proton zero point motion. We report on several technical aspects of implementing path integrals in Monte Carlo simulations of water: careful studies of convergence with respect to the number of discrete imaginary time slices; if pair product actions can improve convergence over the primitive approximation; handling the non-trivial geometry of the water molecule, including numerical evaluation of the exact density matrix for rotations of a rigid asymmetric rotor. Questions remain about the ability of self consistent DFT-GGA calculations to accurately describe the electronic structure of water. Because Diffusion Monte Carlo (and other projector methods) accept wave functions that explicitly include correlations and improve on a trial wave function by projecting the overlap with the exact ground state, we are motivated to ask if QMC results are more accurate than DFT. We present a set of benchmark data from Diffusion Monte Carlo calculations on configurations of 32 water molecules at various temperatures, believed to be the first systematic investigation of bulk water using DMC. Finally, and most generally, autocorrelation times for energies and structural properties are very long, on the order of thousands of Monte Carlo cycles or picoseconds of Molecular Dynamics integration. Thus a great deal of computational effort is required to generate statistically independent, well-converged data. This problem affects all water simulations, but the implications are most severe for "ab initio" methods, where the cost for a single simulation step is very high to begin with. We describe a number of approaches to address this challenge and their utility and outlook. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Reverse osmosis/nanofiltration (RO/NF) membranes are capable to provide an effective barrier for a wide range of contaminants (including disinfection by-products precursors) in a single treatment step. However, solute rejection mechanisms by RO/NF membranes are not well understood. The lack of mechanistic information arises from experimental difficulties faced when evaluating water/solute transport phenomena within the ultrathin membrane active layers (less than 150 nm) of RO/NF membranes. The main objective of this study was to apply Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) to determine the partition coefficients of arsenious acid (H[subscript 3]AsO[subscript 3]) and other solutes, and the concentration of charged chemical groups in the active layers of RO/NF membranes with the goal of elucidating the mechanisms underlying the difference in H[subscript 3]AsO[subscript 3] rejection between commercial polyamide RO/NF membranes. Then, the role of water permeability, the H[subscript 3]AsO[subscript 3] partition coefficient, and the H[subscript 3]AsO[subscript 3] diffusion coefficient in H[subscript 3]AsO[subscript 3] removal efficiency was assessed to find key water/H[subscript 3]AsO[subscript 3] transport phenomena controlling H[subscript 3]AsO[subscript 3] removal efficiency. Experimental observations were then used to provide recommendations for physico-chemical properties of polyamide active layers that would result in high H[subscript 3]AsO[subscript 3] removal efficiency. Another main objective of this study was to investigate the influence of active layer hydrophilicity on solute removal efficiency. This objective has been achieved by characterizing Rhodamine-WT and H[subscript 3]AsO[subscript 3] removal efficiency by newly developed RO/NF membranes having rigid star amphiphiles (RSAs) as an active layer material. The knowledge obtained from this study will also be useful to guide the development of more effective RO/NF membranes. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Communication underwater is challenging because of the inherent characteristics of the media. First, common radio frequency (RF) signals utilized in wireless communications cannot be used under water. RF signals are attenuated in such as way that RF communication underwater is restricted to very few meters. As a result, acoustic-based communication is utilized for underwater communications; however, acoustic communication has its own limitations. For example, the speed of sound is five orders of magnitude lower than the speed of light, meaning that communications under water experience long propagation delays, even in short distances. Long propagation delays impose strong challenges in the design of Data Link Layer (DLL) protocols. The underwater communication channel is noisy, too. The bit error rate (BER) can also change depending on depth and other factors, and the errors are correlated, like in wireless communications. As in wireless communications, transducers for acoustic communication are half duplex, limiting the application of well-known detection mechanisms in Medium Access Control (MAC) layer protocols. Further, known problems like the hidden and exposed terminal problem also occur here. All these aspects together make the underwater communication channel to have the worst characteristics of all other known channels. Because of these reasons, underwater scenarios are complicated to implement, especially when they have underwater autonomous vehicles exchanging information among them. This dissertation proposes data link layer protocols in support of swarming of underwater autonomous vehicles that deal with the problems mentioned before. At the MAC sublayer, a MAC protocol called 2MAC is introduced. 2MAC improves the throughput of the network using the multichannel capabilities of OFDM at the physical layer. At the logical link control sublayer, a protocol named SW-MER is proposed. SW-MER improves the throughput and the reliability combining the well-known stop and wait protocol with the sliding window strategy, and using an exponential retransmission strategy to deal with errors. 2MAC and SW-MER are evaluated and compared with other protocols using analytical means and simulations. The results show that by using 2MAC, packet collisions are considerably reduced and the throughput improved. In addition, the use of SW-MER improves the packet delivery ratio over existing mechanisms. In general, the evaluations indicate that the proposed data link layer protocols offer a better communication alternative for underwater autonomous vehicles (UAV) than traditional protocols. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Excessive production of pro-inflammatory mediators by activated brain microglia plays an important role in abnormal neuronal function and cognitive deficits. Studies have shown that the intake of flavonoids is inversely related to cognitive decline and dementia in people 65 years of age or older. Luteolin, a flavonoid found in high concentrations in celery, green pepper, and perilla leaf and seeds, has been shown to reduce pro-inflammatory molecules produced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated macrophages, fibroblasts, and intestinal epithelial cells. However, the anti-inflammatory effects of luteolin on neuroinflammation have not been studied. Therefore, we investigated whether luteolin may attenuate neuroinflammation mediated by activated microglia and subsequently modulate age-associated cognitive decline. Initially, we observed the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects of luteolin "in vitro". Luteolin inhibited LPS-stimulated production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-[alpha] and interleukin (IL)-1[beta] at both the gene and protein levels in BV-2 microglial cells. Luteolin also suppressed LPS-induced nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin (PG) E [subscript 2] by regulating mRNA expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxigenase (COX)-2, respectively. Treatment of Neuro.2a neuronal cells with conditioned media from LPS-stimulated microglia resulted in neuronal cell death. More importantly, treating microglia with luteolin prior to LPS reduced neuronal cell death in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, we sought to determine whether luteolin also regulates IL-6 production and the mechanism by which luteolin exerts this anti-inflammatory effect. Pretreatment of primary murine microglia and BV-2 cells with luteolin inhibited LPS-stimulated IL-6 production at both the mRNA and protein levels. Moreover, we found that this anti-inflammatory effect of luteolin works through c-Jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK) and transcription factor, activator protein-1 (AP-1). Luteolin also had similar anti-inflammatory effects "in vivo". In adult mice, drinking water supplemented with luteolin for three weeks reduced LPS-induced IL-6 in plasma and hippocampus 4 h after peripheral injection of LPS. Finally, given these potent anti-inflammatory properties of luteolin, as well as the inverse relationship between flavonoid intake and cognitive decline in older persons and aged animals reported by others, we explored whether dietary supplementation of luteolin can ameliorate age-related deficits in spatial working memory and reduce inflammatory molecules in aged brain. Adult and aged mice were provided control or luteolin supplemented diet for four weeks. Dietary supplementation of luteolin attenuated the age-related spatial working memory deficits along with alleviating hippocampal IL-1[beta] and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II mRNA expression in aged mice. Collectively, these studies showed that luteolin might be a promising agent for preventing neuroinflammation and neuronal cell death mediated by activated microglia and consequently, attenuating age-associated cognitive decline. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Closing the gap between theoretical reservoir operation and the real-world implementation remains a challenge in contemporary reservoir operations. Past research has focused on optimization algorithms and establishing optimal policies for reservoir operations. In this research, we attempt to understand operators' release decisions by investigating historical release data from 79 reservoirs in California and the Great Plains, using a data-mining approach. We use information theory--specifically, mutual information--to measure the quality of inference between a set of classic indicators and observed releases at the monthly and weekly timescales. Then we investigate the results obtained from the data mining step to discover knowledge about the behavior of reservoir operators under the various conditions. The central aim of this step is to understand the human behavior of reservoir operators in the face of many factors with particular attention to the value of hydrologic information and uncertainty. We also expand the state of art technique to determine the most relevant suite of hydrologic inputs to release datasets by introducing an input selection algorithm to measure the information relevance between a suite of inputs and a single output. We apply the proposed algorithm to 22 reservoirs in California to predict daily release based on a set from a 121 potential input variables. Results indicate that the proposed algorithm is a reliable measure of the competence of model inputs as reflected in enhanced model performance. Finally we couple the data mining procedure with conventional reservoir optimization techniques to build an enhanced stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) model. The enhanced SDP model is applied to the Shelbyville Reservoir, IL, and then compared to two classic SDP formulations. From a data mining procedure, past month's inflow, current month's inflow, past month's release, and past month's Palmer drought severity index are found to be important state variables in the enhanced SDP model formulations for Shelbyville Reservoir. The study indicates that the enhanced SDP model resembles historical records more closely yet provides lower expected average annual costs than either of the two classic formulations (25.4% and 4.5% reductions). [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This thesis outlines how meV-resolution inelastic x-ray scattering and causality-enforcing mathematics can be used to measure the dynamical density-density linear response function for liquid water with Angstrom spatial resolution and 50fs temporal resolution. The results are compared to high-resolution spectroscopic and scattering experiments and simulations on liquid water to relate observed density fluctuations to the underlying molecular motions. The response function is used to image the dynamical hydration structure around dynamical point charge distributions. It is shown that the direct application of linear response theory to extended sources is unable to reconstruct known hydration structures due to the lack of a description of excluded volume. Finally, a simple implementation for excluded volume is proposed that treats excluded volume as an epsilon = 1 cavity. The complete linear response and excluded volume (designated Green's Function Imaging of Dynamics, or GFID for short) approach is applied to simple static and dynamical cases like the hydrated electron and ions. Relevant reviews of water and inelastic x-ray scattering are also included. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Context: Globally around four billion people experience severe physical water scarcity for at least one month per year. In addition, there are vast water access inequalities, categorised as regional, spatial, income-based, wealth quintile-based, and social-based. A physical water shortage, the poor performance of water management utilities, and a lack of adequate water infrastructure have been blamed for the global water crisis (United Nations, 2018). Lack of access increases the incidence of four preventable water-related diseases: Water-borne diseases; Water-washed infections; Water-based diseases; and Water-related vector-borne diseases (WHO, 1988). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) aim to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water BY 2030 (Satterthwaite, 2016). Challenges in water supply management are a particular issue in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) of South-East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria, the area of study for this thesis, experiences a range of water poverty issues. State Water Agencies (SWAs) oversee public water service delivery in thirty-six states. These SWAs operate public water supply facilities and service delivery to urban areas and, in some cases, small towns and rural areas. However, a World Bank Group Report from 2017 reported that none of the country's thirty-six SWAs operates sustainably or provides reliable water service to consumers. Concluding that 'Nigeria lacks an example of a well-performing urban State Water Agency (SWA) by regional or international standards' (World Bank Group 2017, p.137). Water reforms for improving public water utilities' operational efficiencies have become a global focus. Around thirty water reform programmes, financed by external development agencies and multilateral financing institutions, were implemented in Nigeria between 1979 and 2022. However, evaluation studies on twenty-six of these programmes revealed they produced 'limited' (Olesen et al., 2010) and 'unsatisfactory' results (Rex and Sahle, 2007; World Bank, 2018; World Bank, 2021). A World Bank report stated that starting from the late 1970s, the World Bank had funded urban water projects in Nigeria with more than 'US$ 700 million with unsatisfactory results' (World Bank, 2018, p56). An example of such a programme is the 2nd National Urban Water Reform Programme (2NUWSRP) in Lagos Water Corporation (LWC), which ran between 2005 and 2017 and was financed with a $170.3m loan from the World Bank and French Development Agency. The 2NUWSRP, like many water reform programmes in Nigeria, was not implemented as designed, leading to continuous poor water service delivery by the LWC. This thesis investigated why the 2NUWSRP in LWC was not implemented as originally designed through two studies: 1) A systematic literature review on global barriers and facilitators to implementing urban water reform programmes; and 2) A single case study on the 2NUWSRP itself. These studies were used to answer the overall research question 'Why was the 2nd National Urban Water Sector Reform Programme (2NUWSRP) in Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) not implemented as originally designed?' Study 1: Systematic Literature Review of water reform barriers and facilitators. A systematic review of existing literature was undertaken using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) , as a reporting tool to answer its research question: What were the reported barriers and facilitators to implementing urban water reform programmes globally? The review protocol was submitted to PROSPERO on May 5, 2021, with ID Number 253277. The Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, and Research (SPIDER) tool (Cooke, Smith, & Booth, 2012) defined the study characteristics. The systematic search produced 894 relevant results from three databases: Web of Science, International Bibliography of Social Sciences (IBSS), and Scopus. After a practical, methodological, and thematic screening, barriers and facilitators to water reform implementation were identified in 36 articles. The Critical Appraisal CASP Skills Programme (CASP, 2018) checklist was used to assess the risk of bias in these articles. The data were analysed using NVivo computer software. Five facilitators of successful implementation of urban water sector reform programmes were identified from these 36 studies. These are: 1) Strong political will and good leadership, 2) Charismatic and skilled technical leadership, 3) Strong regulatory mechanism, 4) Strong accountability mechanisms, and 5) Water affordability. Six barriers to the successful implementation of urban water sector reform programmes were also identified: 1) Poor stakeholders' engagement, 2) Weak regulatory mechanism, 3) Poor accountability and transparency, 4) High water tariffs, 5) Defective reform design, and 6) Governance and Institutional constraints. In addition, the review found methodological shortcomings within the identified studies, revealing a limited focus on evaluating the implementation of water reform programmes, with no study examining the perceptions of implementation from the stakeholders involved and no study occurring within the Nigerian context. The literature review findings, therefore, established the need for further investigation of the implementation challenges of water reform programmes in Nigeria. Study 2: The 2NUWSRP Case study. An evaluative case study design was selected with two qualitative data collection methods (document analysis and interviews) used to conduct two studies that provided secondary and primary data for the case study. The Document Analysis qualitative study. The document analysis study investigated documented barriers that hindered the successful implementation of the 2NUWSRP in LWC. Its research question was: What documented barriers hindered the successful implementation of the World Bank/French Development Agency-financed urban water reform programme in Lagos Water Corporation (2005-2017)? Using the purposeful sampling technique, a type of non-probability sampling (Huberman and Matthew, 2002), One hundred and sixty (160) documents were retrieved, out of which one hundred and forty-one (141) documents were analysed through Braun and Clarke's (2006)'s six phases of thematic analysis and synthesis approach. Data retrieved from the 141 documents were coded based on their properties using the NVivo computer software. NVivo's axial selective coding system generated 41 open codes categorised into four themes: 1) Project management challenges, 2) Stakeholder engagement challenges, 3) Corrupt practices, and 4) Miscellaneous. The Interview qualitative study. A second qualitative study was conducted using the interview method to gather primary data for the case study. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) developed by Tong et al. (2007) was used as a reporting guide to present the interview study. Its research question was: What were the perceptions of key players on barriers to the successful implementation of the World Bank/French Development Agency financed urban water reform programme in Lagos Water Corporation (2005-2017)? The expert sampling technique (Huberman and Matthew, 2002), a non-probability purposeful sampling, was used to recruit participants from stakeholder groups identified through the document analysis described above. Thirty participants were interviewed. Data were coded using NVivo computer software and analysed with Braun and Clarke's (2006) six-phase thematic analysis and synthesis approach. Forty-four open codes were generated and categorized into four themes through an axial selective coding system (Strauss and Corbin, 1990): 1) Political interference, 2) Corrupt practices and procurement lapses, 3) Project management challenges, and 4) Stakeholders' management challenges. Results from the document review and interviews were triangulated to present overall findings from the case study. Triangulated results from the 2NUWSRP case study. The findings of the interview study confirmed earlier findings of the document analysis study with three similar barriers in both studies: 1) Corrupt practices, 2) Project management challenges, and 3) Stakeholders' management challenges (Nos 1-3 in Table 1). The fourth barrier, Political interference (No 4 in Table 1), was the one additional barrier identified in the interview study. Table 1: Synthesis and Triangulation of barriers identified through qualitative studies S/N Document analysis barriers Interviews barriers. 1 Corrupt practices Corrupt practices and procurement lapses. 2 Project management challenges of the Project Implementation Unit Project management challenges. 3 Stakeholder engagement challenges Stakeholders' management challenges. 4 Political interference. The four barriers identified are mutually inclusive, symbiotic, interdependent, and reinforcing. Political interference bred corrupt practices, leading to project management challenges and poor stakeholder management. These findings also agree with the existing knowledge identified from the systematic literature review that political interference, project management challenges, and stakeholders' management challenges are barriers to successfully implementing water reform programmes worldwide, including in Nigeria.

This thesis is an exploration of soft security crises in Egyptian foreign policy. The time frame for this dissertation is between 2011 until 2018. The argument through this dissertation is that soft security issues, such as water and migrants' problems, can indirectly lead to overthrowing leaders and to regime change. Thus, in order to establish their rule during transitional times, leaders frame crises in soft security domains that they then resolve to further consolidate their power. The two cases used illustrate how rational leaders take on such a risk (generating a soft security crisis) to gain further support for their rule. These two cases have been under-researched in Egypt post the Arab Spring. Therefore, the main research question is: How does Egypt manage and resolve its soft security crises? In addition, sub-questions include: how soft security crises are constructed/interpreted? Which actors are involved in addressing soft security crises? What are the intersections between domestic and foreign policies in addressing soft security crises? What impact does soft security have? In order to answer these questions, I use the Securitisation Theory (ST) alongside the Foreign Policy Decision-Making (FPDM) approach centred on the presidential leadership style. I argue that, as Securitisation Theory helps us understand the process, it does not always explain leader's underlying motivations behind the process or the behaviour of different administrations facing the same situations. On the other hand, FPDM, when centred on leaders, can explain the decision-making processes and actions. However, FPDM does not explain how issues become constructed as threats in the first place nor why they were accepted as such. Hence, I parallel the application of both ST with FDPM to give an answer to the thesis question as two distinct theories. The methodology used in this dissertation is document analysis extracted from both local and international newspapers to analyse officials' speeches. Reference and analysis are also made with reports published by international organisations. This is in addition to investigating the Egyptian presidents' and key officials' speeches and interviews available on YouTube. Besides conducting interviews with Syrian refugees and migrants in Egypt, in addition to MPs and lawyers. The thesis is divided into six chapters and a conclusion. In the conclusion, the argument is made that soft security threats can be abused by policymakers in transitional times to frame crises while these policymakers act as the same key players in resolving the same crises in order to establish and solidify their rule. The findings show that decision-makers use both soft and hard measures to manage and resolve these crises and show that the FPDM explains the leadership style in Egypt.

The work presented in this thesis has been performed to increase the understanding of the interactions of zeolites with water, under a range of reaction conditions. The systems studied have been selected on the basis of their known hydrolytic instability or as model systems for which new avenues for hydrolytic instability can more easily be followed. The focus of research detailed in this thesis is split into three main sections. The mechanism of the ADOR (Assembly, Disassembly, Organisation, Reassembly) process for the synthesis of new zeolites from germanosilicate UTL is probed to deepen the understanding of the intermediate species formed and how the local structure and long-range order of the products are affected by reaction variables. Subsequently, the CHA framework has been selected as a model system for the study of a newly-identified bond lability exhibited by some non-'ADORable' aluminosilicate zeolite materials. To further aid characterisation and understanding of this lability, a series of inter-zeolite transformations from the FAU to CHA framework have been adapted to allow ¹⁷O enrichment and ¹⁷O NMR spectroscopic investigation, to characterise and identify key intermediate and framework species. The complexity and high structural disorder of the materials studied in this work mean that a multivariate approach to characterisation and analysis is required. Pri- marily, solid-state NMR spectroscopy and powder X-ray diffraction have been used to characterise the materials, elucidating differences between their local structure and long-range order. In addition, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and density functional theory calculations have also been used to further aid characterisation and understanding of these complex systems. Results presented demonstrate that both zeolites and water interact strongly with one another when combined. Zeolites and water are found to be reactive even under mild conditions, e.g. room temperatures, where ¹⁷O NMR spectroscopy has shown the rapid exchange of H₂¹⁷O oxygen into the frameworks of UTL, CHA and FAU zeolites, by resolving signals attributed to framework zeolite linkages. Whilst favourable under ambient conditions, these bond lability processes are also found to be selective, with observed enrichment found to differ between frameworks with different topologies, com- positions and extraframework cations. In some cases, observed exchange of framework oxygen species has been attributed in part to the defective nature of zeolite frameworks. A further mechanistic explanation for the enrichment of zeolites for which the structure is not thought to be defective has also been predicted by collaborators using molecular dynamics. Whilst this mechanism may explain the facile bond lability seen for CHA frameworks, its widespread applicability to other zeolite frameworks that show rapid exchange of framework oxygen with that in water is not known. Water is also found to interact strongly with zeolite frameworks undergoing structural transformations, such as during the ADOR process or during post-synthetic transformations. Here, under the elevated temperatures of reaction conditions, ¹⁷O supplied from H₂¹⁷O reagent has been shown to be incorporated into the structure of zeolite frameworks, especially in regions considered non-reactive within the reaction. These results demonstrate that both zeolites and water interact and react when combined and provide further evidence to the contrary that zeolites are perceived as static, inert scaffolds. The findings have potential implications for the commercial uses of zeolites, where a balance between framework stability and flexibility is important.

Intensifying climate change is becoming increasingly apparent in Southern Africa with modified precipitation patterns and increases in temperature affecting growing seasons, agricultural production, and food security for small-scale farmers. While there is a strong commitment from agricultural extension services to plan the management of climate change impacts in the region, these endeavors are hampered by a lack of knowledge on how climate scenarios will develop at a scale relevant to local communities. This is especially the case in the province of Huambo in Angola, which is particularly sensitive to climate change with a rainy and dry season, and with over 85% subsistence farming is typical of many areas of the southern African region. Developing local climate date sets from 1960 to the present day, trend detection, climatic variability, and temperature and precipitation projections were determined by statistical reduction methods using regression, correlation, and time series analysis; statistical prediction methods included integrated autoregression models and moving average (ARIMA). The outcomes indicate the emerging irregular distribution of rainfall and water scarcity issues that will be a challenge for subsistence agriculture producers. This will be further exacerbated by soils with structure and textures that have limited water holding capacity. Furthermore, evidence of soil erosion and depletion of soil nutrients associated with climate change may be additional factors contributing to a significant reduction in productivity and yield of many crops. Work on the social aspects of subsistence farming community adaptation highlights that environmental changes threaten the livelihoods of local subsistence families even when adopting different strategies and techniques of agricultural production practices to the new climate scenarios. However, rural communities that depend on subsistence XIV agriculture can adapt to changing conditions using practices that conserve agro-ecosystem resilience, e.g. by changing soil cultivation by systems using intercropping of two or more crops, maintaining soil moisture. Integration of crop and plant residues into the soil is another fundamental tool for mitigation and resilience in the conservation of soil physical characteristics that can provide organic matter to the soil and offer a variety of mechanisms for recycling nutrients. These best practices may maintain agro-biodiversity and provide smallholders with an ecosystem that supports livelihoods' well-being. Further resilience may be built through extension services interventions that include making available agro-meteorological information and to encourage many micro-irrigation systems. In summary, these findings give a locally nuanced assessment of climate change, suggesting a continuing increase in temperature, decline in rainfall, increase in the length of the dry season, and reduction in the number of rainy days. The impact of these changes will vary with soil water holding capacity and agricultural land management mitigation measures.

Mining has serious environmental impacts including effects on water quality. Slate quarrying is neglected as with regards environmental impacts in the literature. Specifically, the geochemical effect of slate quarrying on water is an under-researched field. The effects of climate change may have future impacts with regards mining perhaps worsening any effects. Two metals which are of prime importance in this dynamic are Aluminium (Al) and Copper (Cu), which are found to be the most enriched in the river Barlwyd, they are also the most toxic to aquatic life. This thesis explores the geochemistry, hydrology, sediment effects and remediation in the Ffestiniog area, an area synonymous with historical and current slate mining. The first aim was to quantify the temporal and spatial pollution of Al/Cu from slate quarrying on the rivers Barlwyd and Bowydd in line with the European Water Framework (EWFD) guidelines. This involved a yearlong study which was completed to establish a baseline. Samples were taken at 20 different sites throughout the year during different weather conditions. On the Bowydd concentrations of Al were 0.0015-0.8698 mg/L. Sample concentrations ranged for the Barlwyd ranged between 0.020 mg/L at B1 and 21.2656 mg/L at B12 and were spatially dependent. pH ranged between 3.4 at B12 and 7.62 at B1. Turbidity was negligible. Geochemical parameters were correlated to metal concentrations. This demonstrated that slate quarrying influences river water quality. This effect is most pronounced in the summer months when metal sample water concentrations are at their peak, as the water is more concentrated due to water availability. Geographically, Al and Cu were found to be enriched in the river Barlwyd and in the river Bowydd near sources of slate pollution/slate tips. Al/Cu also showed a temporal pattern of expression in this riverine environment, with higher concentrations in summer months when there was less rainfall. Al and Cu concentrations found by this research place the river in this area are poor status as with regards to the EWFD and are outside guidelines. Geochemical parameters also showed extreme tendencies, with low pH and high electroconductivities, outside recommended guidelines. Flux illustrated heavy loads on the river, explaining the poverty of aquatic life found in the river. It is concluded that slate mining has a significant impact on the river water quality. Chapter 4 in this study aimed to establish the influence of storm-driven hydrological change on Al/Cu concentrations and associated aqueous geochemistry of the of the Afon Barlwyd. Samples collected from 20 sites during storm events, showed an initial increase in Al and Cu concentrations (Site B4 0.319 mg/L and Cu 20.2 μg/L, Site B12 8.563 mg/L and 216.64, Site B14 0.0265- 0.0544 mg/L, 1.7523-2.72) and increase in pH to circa neutral levels over the course of the storm. This is evidence of a flushing effect, and as the storm progresses there is a physical dilution. Concentration: time relationships during the storm events demonstrated a clockwise hysteresis relationship, indicating that it could be as Doty and Carter (1965) claim that that the material decreases because of hydrological processes, or as Novotny (1980) suggests that the decrease in rainfall levels in the storm retreat means there is less polluted material carried into the water channel. Eh/pH relationships indicate that the speciation of Cu and Al are found in free ion states, suggesting it is more toxic to aquatic life. The key overall conclusion is that storms have a negative effect on aquatic life in the river as a flush of material causes toxicity from quarrying activity. The aim of Chapter 5 was to estimate the sorption/desorption of the metals Al/Cu from sediment into the dissolved water fraction. The end goal was to work towards establishing better guidelines for the EWFD, by estimating the relative contribution of slate quarrying sediment to the Al/Cu load in the river. To examine the effect of sediment on the river water in the Barlwyd, sediment - aquatic phase exchange experiments modelling natural conditions were conducted. The study showed ambiguous results between sites and temperature and there was no overall clear pattern as there could sometimes be absorption and sometimes be desorption. This study indicated that sediment was not enough to explain the levels of metals in the water. Sediment analysis using TxRF revealed that the rock was rich in Al, and Cu, and laser ablation showed and that it was enriched in clay particles. To explain the results, it is concluded that a pH dependent mechanism is responsible for the dissolution of minerals, and this could be due to clay presence in the rock. The final aim was to evaluate two methods of remediation, biochar and zerovalent iron on removal of Al/Cu from samples of slate quarrying affected river water. Modelled lab trials with microcosms revealed that biochar was effective at removal of Cu but not as effective at removal of Al. Percentage removal of Al ranged from 44-97% biochar and 34-86.9% with FeO. The removal of Cu with biochar was not as efficient as with biochar with 44-76.9% removal. Percentage removal of Cu with FeO was 63-97 %. It is concluded that again the pH of the river water may play a crucial part in the mechanism of removal. It is demonstrated that viable remediation options could include the use of Biochar and FeO in the future.

Within China, rapid resource consumption and significant negative environmental consequences are the result of industrialisation and economic development predicated upon, and prioritised over the protection of, environmental resources. Recognising this, the CCP have developed ecological civilisation as the ideological framework for the 21st century. This draws upon ancient Confucian and Taoist philosophy of people and nature living in harmony. Within ecological civilisation, the household is identified as an important space within which to deploy policies and green technologies to reduce consumption by promoting efficiency. Such interventions, however, commonly fail to reduce domestic resource consumption and have unintended consequences including consumption rebound and exacerbating pre-existing inequalities related to domestic labour. Recognising this, this thesis aims to develop critical insights into domestic water and energy consumption in urban China, moving beyond household into home and producing complex accounts of consumption dynamics, thereby contributing to an agenda of distributing responsibilities in environmental governance. To support this, the theoretical development of this thesis utilises feminist geography and sustainable consumption studies, alongside China scholarship on the family, home, and housing, to situate domestic resource consumption within the material and social realities of urban China. The home is understood as both materially and socially permeable, connecting everyday life within the home to ideologies of population governance and care beyond home. Reflecting the challenges of undertaking research in urban homes in China - recognising both research histories and the politicization of home - the research methodology is adaptive and innovative, utilising the concept of permeability to undertake home audits, water and energy consumption diaries, and qualitative interviews in 47 participant homes that represent the diversity of urban experience in Shanghai. Overall, this thesis makes several contributions. Empirically it extends understandings of water and energy consumption in homes in urban China, demonstrating how qualitative research can be used to provide critical insights into practices and extend space for intervention beyond techno-efficient approaches. Theoretically, it contributes to sustainable consumption scholarship, demonstrating how work in feminist geography and China scholarship on the home and family can better position consumption within the permeable home as entangled with care and connected with wider ideological and conceptual regimes - namely ecological civilisation. It draws out the implications of this dynamic on women's labour, considering market deregulation is predicated upon women undertaking labours in the home that were previously socialised. Through this work, this thesis contributes to an agenda of distributing responsibility in environmental governance and extending space for sustainability interventions to reduce the environmental impact of everyday life.

This study focused on a little known traditional water management system, known as suranga, historically used by marginalised agricultural communities in the remote foothills of the Western Ghats in India to evaluate the resilience and sustainability of the suranga system. A hill irrigation analytical framework was used to provide a pragmatic epistemology. The research methodology was interdisciplinary, incorporating mixed methods taken from both the physical and social sciences to answer five research questions about suranga linked to their history, distribution, design principles, operational characteristics, governance, and organisation. Results suggest that suranga originate from the early 20th century. A field survey, supported by in-depth interviews of suranga users (n=173), found 700 suranga mainly distributed in fourteen villages in the Dakshin Kannada and Kasaragod districts. Data from previous studies, including this study, suggest there are a minimum of ~3000 suranga in the region as a whole. Suranga were defined as a groundwater collection gallery filtration tunnel system sourced from perched aquifers. Key strengths of the system were found to be the basic design principles, flexible excavation approaches, adaptability, clear use boundaries, relatively low construction and maintenance costs, self-regulated discharge, private ownership and management, and ease of access. Weaknesses of the system were a laborious and risky excavation process, limited water yield, non-collaboration, the absence of governance, and low earnings for suranga workers. Suranga were also found to be vulnerable to pollution, forest cover loss, and the impacts of climate change. However, suranga have contributed to a resilient and sustainable community in the past when the population, water demands, and the size of the irrigated area were low, and farm choices were limited. Currently, the suranga system may soon be unable to meet increased water demands because of population increase, intensification and reorientation of agriculture, alternative borewell technology and improved socioeconomic conditions. However, Suranga do retain some humanitarian relevance to farmers in the study area having improved the quality of life for many low-income families, but new emerging endogenous and exogenous pressures may make them vulnerable to changes in the future that cause the collapse of the system unless further adaptation occurs.

This thesis employs three neutron scattering techniques; neutron diffraction, inelastic neutron scattering, and quasielastic neutron scattering; to probe the properties of hydrogenous systems. These results are complemented by other techniques in order to provide useful information on the three systems to be studied. These systems are chosen for their relevance to industrial situations and the key influence of hydrogen bonding upon their properties. Neutron scattering has a key advantage over X-ray scattering, in that the cross-section of hydrogen is much larger for neutron scattering, allowing for hydrogenous systems and hydrogen bonding phenomena to be directly probed. Neutrons are also better suited to inelastic scattering measurements, as their lower energy allows for energy transfer between the probe and the sample to be measured with higher resolution. The first family of systems studied in this thesis are the methylammonium lead halide (MAPbX3) compounds, where X = Cl or Br. This family of compounds is of interest due to their high performance as solar panel materials, and relative ease of manufacture. The studies carried out use inelastic neutron scattering, quasielastic neutron scattering, and Raman spectroscopy to probe the molecular excitations in these compounds as a function of temperature. It is found that there is a step change in the molecular dynamics in these compounds as they transition out of the orthorhombic phase, with the short-lived tetragonal phase acting as a region of transitional dynamics. In the case of MAPbBr3 this change in molecular dynamics is corroborated with a change in photovoltaic properties at these temperatures. Secondly, the phase diagram with pressure of NH4F is studied using neutron diffraction and computational studies. NH4F is analogous to ice in structure at ambient pressure, and the known phases of NH4F are all analogous to those observed in ice. As gas inclusion compounds are easily formed with ice, this makes NH4F a candidate gas storage material. An apparent tetragonal distortion is observed in the cubic phase of NH4F commencing at approximately 6GPa and increasing with pressure. However, as this distortion is not reproduced in computational studies, further experiments are carried out to establish that this effect is instead due to deviatoric stress. The tetragonal distortions reported in the literature at high pressures and low temperatures are therefore inferred to also be due to strain effects. Finally, the mixing behaviour of CH4 in H2O with pressure is investigated using quasielastic neutron scattering. This system is relevant to natural gas extraction processes. Selective deuteration is used to isolate the dynamics of the H2O molecules. It is found, at pressures below mixing, the diffusion coefficient of the water is reduced, whereas above the mixing pressure it is in agreement with that of pure water. This disparity is explained through the increase in viscosity of the water due to the presence of bubbles before mixing, and the reduced proportion of bubbles as the mixing pressure is approached.

Subsurface water constitutes a major resource regulating water availability and supporting humans and ecosystems. Knowledge on the distribution and age of subsurface water storage and flow in a landscape is key for effectively modelling the hydrological system's behaviour and understanding of storage- discharge relationships. This is especially true in agricultural catchments with spatially variable soil and land use (SLU) properties, where the impact of anthropogenic modifications on water storage and flow needs to be additionally understood. However, obtaining scale-relevant knowledge on sub-surface water is a longstanding challenge in hydrology, as direct measurements have been difficult to obtain. Characterising catchment subsurface storage is usually limited to a single point or storage compartment (e.g. soil moisture, groundwater), thus not reflecting its inherently high spatiotemporal heterogeneity. Nevertheless, at the catchment scale, scale-relevant observations of water storage and flow are needed to inform modelling efforts and management decisions. This thesis developed a novel integrated approach, which combines traditional hydrometric and water isotope techniques with novel static and portable cosmic ray neutron sensors (CRNS) and rainfall runoff modelling, to improve understanding of near-surface storage (SNS) and its relationship with discharge in the context of a small (10km2) humid mixed-agricultural catchment in NE Scotland, UK. While stable water isotope analyses were able to provide insights into the relative sources and timescales of water storage and flow, the CRNS technology allowed for integrated data on near-surface soil water storage at unprecedented field to catchment scales. For the study catchment, both the isotope and portable CRNS data analyses revealed that soil heterogeneity and land use complexity do not necessarily translate into spatially variable catchment behaviour. By short-circuiting water to the streams during wet and intermediate conditions, artificial drainage was linked to an overall homogeneous storage and runoff response and generally short water travel times (< 1 years). Spatially variable soil properties and other land use management practices related to more subtle differences between different SLU units during intermediate and dry conditions. Overall, the isotope analyses evidenced the importance of SNS dynamics and flow path activation and their link to spatiotemporal variations in streamflow generation in humid agricultural environments. Especially when SNS dynamics exert dominant controls on runoff generation, this work demonstrated for the first time that CRNS data are useful in conceptual (HBV-Light) rainfall-runoff modelling. New timeseries of landscape-representative SNS were developed from CRNS and then utilised together with traditional hydrometric data the modelling application. Adding CRNS information in model calibration helped inform and improve runoff simulations during intermediate and wet conditions and overall, the model internal structure, more so than traditional point scale measurements. It was also demonstrated that the combination of permanently installed CRNS with targeted portable CRNS surveys has the potential to produce catchment scale-relevant SNS estimates with adequate spatial and temporal resolution, valuable for modelling applications. Such an approach was developed here, tailored to account for the humid climate and presence of organic-rich soils, and applied to key soil-land use units in the catchment. The small relative differences in SNS dynamics between SLU units detected with the combined CRNS approach agreed with the relative differences in water ages and travel times between predominantly agricultural sub-catchments and the mostly undisturbed sub-catchment. In this mixed agricultural catchment, the combined approach helped confirm that CRNS data from a landscape-representative location could suffice to inform rainfall-runoff modelling at the catchment scale, although this may depend on model structure and the degree to which storage dynamics vary within the landscape. The combined knowledge gained through the above investigations helped improve the understanding subsurface storage and flow dynamics in this humid mixed-agricultural landscape. Such an integrated approach has not been applied before but could have a wide range of applications in flood and agricultural management and other monitoring programmes.

From proteins to plant leaves, hydrophobicity is ubiquitous. Despite this, the underlying physical mechanism relating hydrophobicity on the microscopic and macroscopic length scales remains undetermined. In part, this is due to the wealth of disciplines involved, from solvation to surface science, which provide unique views on hydrophobicity but whose relation to one another has rarely been considered. Studies of hydrophobicity on both microscopic and macroscopic length scales have reported an enhancement of local density fluctuations. Within recent studies of a Lennard- Jones fluid on macroscopic length scales, similar density fluctuations have been attributed to the existence of a surface critical point called drying. Within this thesis, it is postulated that this drying critical point is also responsible for hydrophobic density fluctuations on both microscopic and macroscopic length scales, and provides the relation of hydrophobicity across length scales. As this drying critical point influences Lennard-Jones fluids, it is also postulated that hydrophobicity is no more than a specific case of solvophobicity. To explore these postulates, a mesoscopic thermodynamic analysis is performed to anticipate how hydrophobic and solvophobic systems, subject to a drying critical point, on all length scales should be expected to behave. These predictions are then tested for a Lennard- Jones fluid numerically using classical density functional theory, and for a simple water model using Grand Canonical Monte Carlo. Combined, these results provide clear evidence that the mechanism underlying hydrophobicity and solvophobicity across microscopic and macroscopic length scales is a drying surface critical point.

We examine the role of nuclear quantum statistical effects in the vibrational spectroscopy of molecular systems at finite temperatures. Our starting point is Matsubara dynamics, which rigorously combines quantum Boltzmann statistics with classical real-time trajectories, by filtering out the high-frequency components of the imaginary-time Feynman paths that are responsible for quantum coherence. Using a simple model of perturbed harmonic oscillators, it is shown that most of the intensity differences between quantum and classical non-fundamental (overtone, combination, and difference) bands can be accounted for by the anharmonic coupling between the imaginary-time path centroid and the fluctuations around it. This coupling causes the amplitudes of the relevant centroid vibrations to be 'Matsubara heated' to an effective temperature that is consistent with the underlying quantum distribution. Quantum coherence thus appears to play no major role in describing such features, contrary to what has sometimes been assumed in the literature. Practical path-integral methods for calculating vibrational spectra, such as centroid and thermostatted ring-polymer molecular dynamics, faithfully capture the harmonic behaviour of the centroid but make drastic approximations to the fluctuation dynamics. We explain how these approximations render such methods incapable of predicting non-fundamental bands with significantly more accuracy than classical mechanics. This is borne out by illustrative simulations of water in its gas, liquid, and ice phases; the linearised semiclassical initial value representation is shown to be the only established trajectory-based approach that reproduces most non-fundamental bands with qualitative accuracy, even though it suffers severe zero-point energy leakage on a sub-picosecond timescale. However, a simple quantum-classical correction formula (derived from first-order perturbation theory) is shown to bring the predictions of path-integral methods into much closer agreement with exact quantum results. Finally, a simple model of the carbon dioxide molecule is studied numerically to establish that 'Matsubara heating' accounts for the quantum (temperature quasi-independent) behaviour of the Fermi resonance splitting, which is underestimated by path-integral methods analogously to overtone band intensities.