States, demographics and competitiveness of America's best universities
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the US News and World Report's competitive ratings of US universities with various state level demographic variables using cross‐sectional data.Design/methodology/approach – Secondary data for the study were collected from the US News and World Report, Demographics USA, other US statistical sources. Regression and correlation analysis determined the relationships.Findings – Findings indicate that the competitive rating of the US News and World Report universities can be explained by the Buying Power Index (BPI) of the state in which the university is located, per capita federal transfer payments in education, and proportion of out‐of‐state students. International students and ethnic enrollment also show some relationship with competitive rating. Diversity adds to competitiveness. The ratings of the universities are related to the BPI of the state and per capita federal transfer, both of which are uncontrollable variables for th...
A multivariate approach to the assessment of quality
Most quality assessment studies utilize a univariate approach to the assessment of quality. While the univariate approach has some merit, this study presents an alternative—the multivariate approach. Factor analysis identified three clusters of variables potentially linked to quality. These clusters, labeled “faculty research,” “input,” and “student,” were later used as bases for measuring departmental excellence. Seven indicators based on these clusters were developed. The indicators that combined the first and second clusters and the indicators that combined all three clusters appeared to have produced the best estimates of departmental excellence.
Ceramic microwave antennas for mobile applications
Due to their medium to high permittivity values, ceramic microwave materials are attractive as building blocks for miniaturised antenna solutions. Further advantages are low dielectric losses and an excellent temperature stability of standard ceramic materials. Yet, the permittivity of the ceramic material also has a strong influence on the radiation efficiency and bandwidth of the antenna. This implies that in the design process a suitable compromise has to be found between the degree of miniaturisation on the one hand and the antenna efficiency and bandwidth on the other. We describe two approaches towards efficient miniaturised ceramic microwave antennas: the dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) with partial metallisation and the shorting post patch antenna. We focus on design steps taken to ensure both a high degree of miniaturisation and high values of the radiation efficiency, the choice of the ceramic material and the experimental performance of the antennas.