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This goal of this project is to assist liberals and progressives who are reluctant to speak out publicly on religious questions so that they can advance their moral values and protect their religious liberties by encouraging and educating them to use legal protections under the First Amendment. Rights to religious freedom in the American legal system are reviewed on the federal, state, and local levels. The denominational history of and theological evolution within Unitarian Universalism, the target group being studied, are examined. This examination has a particular focus on shifting historically strict intradenominational attitudes on the separation between church and state and using legal protections to advance progressive moral values and social justice objectives. Through a nonprofit legal foundation, the author seeks to educate and to support religious groups seeking to pursue religious projects and ministries that may face legal challenges and government opposition. The project also reviews metrics for assessing attitude change in response to educational workshops presented to Unitarian Universalist audiences.

Casamance is a region in southern Senegal that traditionally produces rainfed rice, but Senegal produces only 1/3 of its rice consumption. Lowland areas, where rice is primarily produced, have acid sulfate soils with low pH and potential aluminum and iron toxicity. The goal of this work was to determine if soil amendments can alleviate soil acidity, counteract the negative biogeochemical effects that occur in flooded conditions, and increase rice yield. A two-year experiment was conducted to test the following soil treatments – agricultural lime, pulverized oyster shell, biochar, and control (no amendment) – in flat and raised beds. Plots amended with lime and shell materials had increased soil pH, base saturation, Ca, and cation exchange capacity. Meanwhile, biochar elevated particulate organic matter and C:N ratios. Exchangeable Fe and Al were negatively correlated with soil pH, while Geobacteraceae populations (Fe reducing bacteria) increased with pH. A greater proportion of the total Fe was strongly bound in fractions that were less bioavailable in plots amended with shell or lime, and overall rice yields were significantly higher following amendment with shell or lime. During the second growing year these effects diminished, suggesting that liming effects did not persist as expected. These results demonstrate the benefits of soil amendments that raise soil pH and suggest that this effect operates by influencing overall soil nutrient availability to rice plants, but further research is needed regarding the timing and sustainability of the beneficial liming effect. / Master of Science

As climate change exacerbates heat stress during the summer season, it becomes increasingly critical to develop effective strategies to safeguard the productivity of tomato plants (Solanum Lycopersicon L.). This research delves into the tools and techniques aimed at enhancing the cultivation of summer tomatoes in the coastal region of Virginia. The study explores the optimization of transplant dates, the implementation of reflective mulches, and the application of kaolin clay particle films. Field trials spanning two seasons were carried out, comparing different planting dates in May, June, and July, as well as the use of reflective, black, and white plastic mulches, both with and without foliar kaolin sprays. The findings of this study underscore the impact of transplanting tomatoes in May, demonstrating a substantial increase in yields when compared to transplanting in June and July. Reflective mulches enhanced plant height and fruit production relative to the conventional black plastic mulch. The combination of kaolin clay sprays with standard black mulch, resulting in yield increases of over 35%, rivaling the outcomes achieved with reflective and white mulch treatments. The application of kaolin did not significantly affect leaf-level physiological processes. These results highlight the significant potential of strategic early planting and the adoption of emerging heat mitigation technologies, such as kaolin clay films, in sustaining and enhancing the productivity of summer tomatoes. This becomes particularly relevant as growing conditions continue to evolve due to rising temperatures and the increasing extremity of weather events resulting from climate change. / Master of Science in Life Sciences / With the challenge of hotter summers due to climate change, finding effective ways to grow tomatoes is more crucial than ever. In our two-season study in Virginia's coastal region, we experimented with various methods to improve tomato growth in these warmer conditions. What we discovered was quite promising. Planting tomatoes in early May resulted in significantly better yields than later planting times. Using reflective mulch was beneficial too; it helped the plants grow taller and produce more fruit compared to traditional black mulch. However, the most impressive result came from combining kaolin clay spray with black mulch. This approach led to a matching of the performance of black plastic plus the combination of kaolin clay against reflective and white mulches. It's interesting to note that the kaolin spray didn't alter the basic functioning of the plants at the leaf level. These findings are encouraging. They suggest that early planting and innovative approaches like kaolin clay sprays can effectively boost tomato production, even as we contend with rising temperatures and evolving climate patterns. Embracing these strategies could be key to successful tomato farming in an era of climate change

The United States Constitution had been in existence for almost two hundred years before the Supreme Court decided that some violations of constitutional rights may be too insignificant to warrant remedial action. Known as "harmless error," this statutory doctrine allows a court to affirm a conviction when a mere technicality or minor defect did not affect the defendant's substantial rights. The doctrine aims to promote judicial efficiency and judgment finality. The Court first applied harmless error to constitutional violations by shifting the statutory test away from the error's effect on substantial rights to its impact on the jury's verdict. Over time, the test evolved even further, now allowing a court to disregard the constitutional error when a majority of justices believe that the untainted record evidence shows that the defendant is, in fact, guilty. This sacrifice of individual and institutional constitutional protections at the altar of judicial efficiency and judgment finality subverts the harmless error doctrine's purposes and strikes at the core of America's founding ideals. In particular, it allows appellate courts to invade the jury's role as the finder of fact and guilt, to sidestep their constitutional role to review and correct errors and protect the Constitution, and to incentivize government actors to commit constitutional violations with little-to-no ramifications. After conducting a comprehensive review of the harmless error doctrine and its development, this thesis traces through many substantive, theoretical, and practical problems with the doctrine's current application. It then proposes that the Constitution and the values that it protects should once again be elevated above the harmless error doctrine's pragmatic concerns of judicial efficiency and judgment finality.

Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this study is to understand the meaning of global responsibility and toxicwaste control. The Basel Convention is the UN's international regulations on the import, export andtransport of hazardous waste. According to the Basel Convention, the export of electronic waste todeveloping countries is fully legal if the recipient country has given approval in writing. Is there a linkbetween toxic colonialism, global responsibility, justice and human rights?Material/Method: A qualitative case study of what delegates from three African countries think abouttoxic colonialism and global responsibility.Main results: The essay gives an explanation of the concept of toxic colonialism in relation to the BaselConvention and the Ban Amendment, from three African UN delegates, furthermore an analysis of theimportance it can have on global responsibility, justice and views on human rights.The essay results show that the Ban Amendment of the Basel Convention is in line with Rawl'sdifference principle and the principle of freedom and would contribute to increased justice on electronicwaste coding if the amendment goes through and is used in symbiosis with human rights: UDHRArticle 25 and ICESCR Article 12.1-2.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of History / Sue Zschoche / Despite an impressive history of woman-friendly legislation, Kansans tend to be socially conservative. The Equal Rights Amendment, first proposed in 1923, was the culmination of over a century's worth of women's activism attempting to remove the strictures of coverture and to recognize women as citizens in their own right, not as wives or as mothers of male citizens. After largely ignoring the amendment for fifty years, Congress finally passed the ERA in 1972 and submitted it to the states for ratification. Almost immediately, the real and imagined consequences of the legislation provoked a passionate debate among mostly middle-class white women about the meaning of American womanhood. Liberals hoped that the ERA would remove existing barriers to women's educational and professional life; conservatives feared that the ERA would cause women to focus on selfish interests outside of their households, rotting the foundations of family life and American strength. In Kansas, women from both camps converged to discuss the future of the ERA at the feminist-organized Kansas Women's Weekend of July 15-17, 1977, resulting in Kansas sending a conservative faction to the federally funded National Women's Conference later that year. Conservatives failed to derail the convention's feminist agenda, nor were they able to enact a rescission of Kansas' ratification, but in the long run they succeeded in creating widespread uneasiness about the social consequences of the ERA. The vitriolic anti-ERA campaign demonstrated the extent to which female dependency still defined both male and female conservatives' views on the interrelatedness of family, religion, manliness, and national strength. This dissertation explores a volume of letters to Kansas legislators expressing anti-ERA sentiment. The letters provide a unique lens through which to examine the passions aroused by the ERA among grassroots conservatives. Contextualizing this issue are other conservative reactions to feminist activity from the Revolution onward that consistently demonstrate how conservatives valorize female dependency. Although the liberal position regarding women's rights has changed significantly over two hundred years, conservative reaction has invariably embraced and elevated the patriarchal family as proper and necessary to the smooth functioning of a Christian republic.

Master of Arts / Department of Communication Studies, Theatre, and Dance / Charles J. Griffin / This rhetorical history study attempts to refocus the narrow debate on the concept of the “Separation of Church and State.” Most scholars and popular organizations primarily focus their determination of the original intent of the Establishment Clause on the views of James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Virginia. However, according to the United States Constitution it takes three-fourths of the states and two-thirds of Congress to ratify an amendment. As a result, most arguments on this topic center on an extremely small minority of evidence: one of fourteen states, and only one of eighty-one members of Congress to determine the Founders’ original intent. This study reverses this trend and consults evidence from all the states involved as well as the records of Congress. Since comparable documents are vital to understanding history, all the state constitutions, state bills of rights, and state proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution are consulted as evidence at the beginning of this study. Additionally, every reference of religion in the above documents are individually presented in order to alleviate concerns of potential evidence manipulation. Further, the debates in Congress and the multiple drafts of the Establishment Clause are evaluated in the process of determining the Founders’ original intent. Throughout the study, several useful tables have been constructed in order to facilitate the processing and evaluation of such a large base of evidence. The results of this study indicate a lack of evidence for the contemporary view that the Founders’ intent was to create a total separation between church and state. From the specific religious concerns voiced in the state ratification debates of the Constitution, what religious limits were written into state constitutions/bills of rights, and the amendments that states proposed concerning religion; it becomes evident that the Founders’ intention was only to prevent a particular Christian denomination from becoming the established "National American Church.”

This master thesis was performed in order to investigate arsenic stabilization in step-wise amended soil. Object of the work - soil which taken from the former wood impregnation industrial site in Forsmo, Sweden. It is contaminated with chromate-zinc-arsenate (CZA). Method of the work - three different amendments were used: zerovalent iron (Fe), fly-ash (FA) and peat (P). The test was performed in three weeks. During the first week, four mixtures (with each single additive and with all together) and blank soil was observed. During the second and third weeks test was performed step-wise adding amendments to soil+Fe mixture. Moisture was kept constant all the time. After each week extractions were made and later investigated by doing electrical conductivity, redox potential and pH tests. For elemental composition ICP-OES analysis was performed. The results of the work - the best result to stabilize arsenic were achieved by adding single iron. Stabilisation using iron, fly-ashes and peat elevated As leaching compared to non-amended soil. Step-wise amendment did not have a significant difference from single amelioration neither to arsenic, nor to other heavy metals investigated. / Darbo tikslas - įvertinti pakopinės stabilizacijos poveikį arseno bei kitų sunkiųjų metalų (SM) judrumui užterštame dirvožemyje. Darbo objektas - chromuotu cinko arsenatu užterštas dirvožemis, paimtas iš buvusios medienos apdirbimo aikštelės Forsmo vietovėje, Švedijoje. Darbo metodika - tyrimui buvo naudoti trejopi priedai: geležis (0), lakieji pelenai ir durpės. Tyrimas atliktas per tris savaites. Pirmosios savaitės metu buvo stebimi keturi dirvožemio ir jo priedų mišiniai bei kontrolinis dirvožemio mėginys. Vėliau dirvožemio ir geležies mišinys buvo pakopiniu būdu papildomas lakiaisiais pelenaisi ir durpėmis. Iš visų mišinių padarytos ištraukos ir jose matuojamas elektrinis laidumas, oksidacijos-redukcijos potencialas, pH; atlikta elementinė analizė. Darbo rezultatai - efektyviausiai arseną stabilizuoja geležis. Stabilizacija, naudojant lakiuosius pelenus ir durpes, padidino arseno išsiplovimą iš dirvožemio, lyginant su kontroliniu dirvožemio mėginiu. Pakopinė stabilizacija nebuvo efektyvesnė už vienkartinę stabilizaciją nei arseno, nei kitų tirtų sunkiųjų metalų atžvilgiu.