A Case Study in Practical Politics: The 1962 Contest in the 7th Congressional District of Minnesota

The objective of this paper is to make available a personal account of my experiences in a political campaign. It is presented in the hope that it will be a useful addition to the materials available to students of the political process-or of the Great Game of Politics. Let me briefly state the facts of this case study. I am professor of political science at Concordia College in Moorhead, but I have ventured outside the ivory towers to play a small role in party politics. In the course of this activity I became, in 1962, the DemocraticFarmer- Labor Party\u27s candidate for Congress in Minnesota\u27s 7th Congressional District. It took two district conventions to make me the party\u27s endorsed candidate and a battle with two opponents in the primary campaign to make me the official nominee. I was defeated by the Republican incumbent in November by a vote of 70,546 to 65,161

Low temperature solution synthesis of ZnSb, MnSb, and Sr-Ru-O compounds

2011 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.Increasing energy demands are fueling research in the area of renewable energy and energy storage. In particular, Li-ion batteries and superconducting wires are attractive choices for energy storage. Improving safety, simplifying manufacturing processes, and advancing technology to increase energy storage capacity is necessary to compete with current marketed energy storage devices. These advancements are accomplished through the study of new materials and new morphologies. Increasing dependence on and rising demand for portable electronic devices has continued to drive research in the area of Li-ion batteries. In order to compete with existing batteries and be applicable to future energy needs such as powering hybrid vehicles, the drawbacks of Li-ion batteries must be addressed including (i) low power density, (ii) safety, and (iii) high manufacturing costs. These drawbacks can be addressed through new materials and morphologies for the anode, cathode, and electrolyte. New intermetallic anode materials such as ZnSb, MnSb, and Mn2Sb are attractive candidates to replace graphite, the current industry standard anode material, because they are safer while maintaining comparable theoretical capacity. Electrodeposition is an inexpensive method that could be used for the synthesis of these electrode materials. Direct electrodeposition allows for excellent electrical contact to the current collector without the use of a binder. To successfully electrodeposit zinc and manganese antimonides, metal precursors with excellent solubility in water were needed. To promote solubility, particularly for the antimony precursor, coordinating ligands were added to the deposition bath solutions. This work shows that the choice of coordinating ligand and metal-ligand speciation can alter both the electrochemistry and the film composition. This work focuses on the search for appropriate coordinating ligands, solution pH, and bath temperatures so that high quality films of ZnSb, MnSb, and Mn2Sb may be electrochemically deposited on a conducting substrate. Increasing use of natural resources for energy generation has driven research in the area of energy storage using superconducting materials. To meet energy storage needs the materials must have the following features: (i) safety, (ii) superconductivity at or above liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K), (iii) low cost manufacturing processes, and (iv) robustness. The search for materials that meet all of these criteria is on-going, specifically in the area of high temperature superconductivity. The precise mechanism of superconductivity is not known. A few theories explain some of the phenomenological aspects, but not all. In order to logically select and synthesize high temperature superconductors for industrial applications, the precise mechanism must first be elucidated. Additionally, a synthetic method that yields pure, high quality crystals is required because transition temperatures have been shown to vary depending on the preparation method due to impurities. Before measuring properties of superconductors, the development of a synthesis method that yields pure, high quality crystals is required. Most superconductors are synthesized using traditional solid state methods. This synthesis route precludes formation of kinetically stable phases. Low temperature synthesis is useful for probing thermodynamic verses kinetic stability of compounds as well as producing high quality single crystals. A novel low temperature hydrothermal synthesis of Sr-Ru-O compounds has been developed. These materials are important because of their interesting properties including superconductivity and ferromagnetism. Sr2RuO4 is particularly interesting as it is superconducting and isostructural to La2CuO4, which is only superconducting when doped. Therefore, Sr2RuO4 is a good choice for study of the mechanism of superconductivity. Additionally, new kinetically stable phases of the Sr-Ru-O family may be formed which may also be superconducting. Sr-Ru-O compounds were previously synthesized via the float zone method. There is one report of using hydrothermal synthesis, but the temperatures used were 480-630 °C. In general, hydrothermal methods are advantageous because of the potential for moderate temperatures and pressures to be used. Additionally, the reaction temperature, precursor choice, and reaction time can all be used to tune the composition and morphology of the product. Hydrothermal methods are inexpensive and a one-step synthesis which is very convenient to scale up for industrial application. This work shows how a hydrothermal method at temperatures between 140 °C and 210 °C was developed for the synthesis of the Sr-Ru-O family of compounds

Development of a microchip electrophoresis system for online monitoring of atmospheric aerosol composition

2011 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.Atmospheric aerosols are solid or liquid particles that remain suspended in the environment for an extended time because of their size. Due to their high number concentration, low mass concentration, unique size range, and high temporal and spatial variability, atmospheric aerosols represent a significant unknown in both environmental impact and human health. Despite the importance of aerosols, current instrumentation for monitoring their chemical composition is often limited by poor temporal resolution, inadequate detection limits, lack of chemical speciation, and/or high cost. To help address these shortcomings, microchip electrophoresis (MCE) has been introduced for the semi-continuous monitoring of water-soluble aerosol composition. The MCE instrument was coupled to a water condensation particle collector (growth tube), and the integrated system is termed Aerosol Chip Electrophoresis (ACE). ACE is capable of measuring particle composition with temporal resolution of 1 min and detection limits of ~100 ng m-3. This dissertation covers the development process of the prototype ACE instrument, including the novel separation chemistry, necessary modifications to traditional microfluidic devices, and the interface between the growth tube and the microchip

Paul\u27s Dilemma: Is This a Polyhedron?

Teachers play the believing game when they honor students’ mathematical thinking, even when it means they must suspend their own mathematical thinking momentarily. The study reported here tells the story of what happened in a university mathematics classroom when one student did not think that a particular figure satisfied the definition of a polyhedron and the instructor chose to play the believing game. The result was a very rich discussion, where both students and the authors grappled with their own mathematical understanding. One author served as the instructor of the course and the other author was an observer, taking field notes and video recordings that provided evidence

College Mathematics Students\u27 Peceptions of Believing Teacher Actions

Believing and doubting – two methodological processes – deserve equal attention according to Elbow (1986; 2006). When a teacher plays the doubting game in a mathematics classroom her own mathematical thinking dominates and she attempts to find flaws and errors and misconceptions in students’ mathematical thinking. When a teacher plays the believing game in a mathematics classroom she surrenders her own mathematical thinking and she attempts to find virtues and strengths and merits in students’ mathematical thinking. Paradoxically and succinctly, a teacher must believe her own mathematical thinking in order to doubt and a teacher must doubt her own mathematical thinking in order to believe. For this qualitative case study, the fifth in a series focused on playing the believing game in mathematics classrooms, students in a college Proofs course were interviewed after the course ended. Throughout the semester, the professor purposefully played the believing game, using a list of a priori teacher actions she created prior to the beginning of the course. Students described some aspects of her a priori teacher actions. Although the original focus of the research was on the a priori teacher actions, it became evident that the students perceived the teacher’s stance. This implies that to move towards playing the believing game the teacher stance is a critical component that impacts teacher actions