IMPROVED VERTICAL COUPLING BETWEEN PRINTED PLANAR TRANSMISSION LINES

In microwave devices, an aperture is often used as a radiating antenna element or to direct energy vertically from a feed line on one layer of a circuit to another. Researchers have employed many methods to describe the power transfer between a microstrip feed and a finite slot with little agreement between models. Many of these models are backed with rigorous theory that approach the computational complexity of a full wave solver like the High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) which relies on the computationally intensive finite element method. This thesis proposes a novel approach to analytically model the coupling between a microstrip line feeding a finite slot in a ground plane. It attempts to alleviate the computational intensity of some previous methods of describing coupling between a microstrip and a slot while employing a more rigorous analysis than other simple closed-form analysis approaches. This research analyzes the concept of field reciprocity which has been a common theoretical backing for many existing theories as well as stored energy coupling relations. Beyond this, an equivalent circuit model is developed to describe the coupling at the transition region existing primarily inside the dielectric between a slot aperture in a ground plane and a microstrip feed line. Ultimately, this research provides a fundamental theoretical framework for models of vertical coupling between microstrip lines and finite apertures as well as other types of printed planar feed lines such as strip lines and slot lines

Cuotas en Materia Electoral: Frecuencia y Eficacia

El presente artículo se aparta del nivel relativamente detallado de países y regiones individuales para generalizar acerca de las cuotas de género a nivel global. Quise usar lecciones de trabajos anteriores y presentar información estadística que cubre a las aproximadamente 200 naciones independientes del mundo. Asimismo, el artículo considera qué factores condujeron a la adopción de las cuotas de género, para lo cual llevo a cabo pruebas para ver si los procesos que hicieron posible tal adopción varían sistemáticamente entre los tipos de cuotas. En el análisis estadístico presentado observo dos clases diferentes de cuotas: primero, las cuotas establecidas a nivel nacional, ya sea a través de la legislación o de cambios constitucionales. En estos casos, existe una disposición legal que deben cumplir todos los partidos en el país. En segundo lugar, considero las cuotas a nivel de partido mediante la observación de los países donde al menos uno de los partidos con representación parlamentaria las ha establecido

Who stands in the way of women? Open vs. closed lists and candidate gender in Estonia

The literature on women's descriptive representation has looked at the debate on open and closed lists as a choice between electoral systems. This article instead focuses on whether voters or the parties are biased against female candidates. Using data from six Estonian elections, the article finds that voters are not consistently biased against female candidates and open lists do not necessarily decrease women's representation. However, unknown and non-incumbent female candidates fare significantly worse than similar men. The analysis also shows that parties do not place women in electable positions on closed lists, and closed lists do not improve women's representation

Delivering reform in English healthcare: an ideational perspective

A variety of perspectives has been put forward to understand reform across healthcare systems. Recently, some have called for these perspectives to give greater recognition to the role of ideational processes. The purpose of this article is to present an ideational approach to understanding the delivery of healthcare reform. It draws on a case of English healthcare reform – the Next Stage Review led by Lord Darzi – to show how the delivery of its reform proposals was associated with four ideational frames. These frames built on the idea of “progress” in responding to existing problems; the idea of “prevailing policy” in forming part of a bricolage of ideas within institutional contexts; the idea of “prescription” as top-down structural change at odds with local contexts; and the idea of “professional disputes” in challenging the notion of clinical engagement across professional groups. The article discusses the implications of these ideas in furthering our understanding of policy change, conflict and continuity across healthcare settings

Women candidates and councillors in Scottish local government, 1974-2012

While significant attention has been paid to the levels of representation of women in both the Westminster Parliament and the Scottish Parliament, much less considered has been given to the position within local government. This article addresses that deficit for Scotland. It shows that for twenty-five years following the reorganisation of local government in Scotland in 1974 there was a slow but relatively steady increase in the numbers of female candidates and councillors, although more recently this appears to have since plateaued somewhat, together with a similar increase in the number of women councillors taking up more senior roles in Scotland’s councils. The article analyses the representation of women in Scottish local government over the period from 1974 to 2012 against the backdrop of significant change in Scotland, including a further restructuring of local government and the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote for council elections, the creation of the Scottish Parliament, the rise of the SNP and the decline of the Conservative Party