Power of Social Media in Political Marketing – An India Based Empirical Study

This study aims to understand the importance of different factors of social media, along with relevant demographic variables of voters to predict a voter’s preferred political brand, in the context of the Indian Lok Sabha elections. To identify the relevant demographic variables, we have gone through previous literature. However, due to the lack of substantial India-based academic literature that could help us to identify the important factors of social media campaign, we referred to US-based academic literature and attempted to obtain the superset of social media impact variables. Thereafter, we conducted focussed group discussions to identify the most important attributes, which we’ve used in our survey study. We have chosen greater Kolkata to conduct the survey. We have used multinomial logistic regression model with voters’ preferred political brand as a dependent variable with four choices. We observed that there is no significant difference between the intercept and final (including all predictors) model and also found that no individual demographic and social media impact variables are significant predictors of voters’ preferred political brand. We also measured comparative effect on different political parties for each independent variable. That would help political marketers to target specific segments with effective communication and campaign plan

Photoselective excited state dynamics in ZnO–Au nanocomposites and their implications in photocatalysis and dye-sensitized solar cells

Improving the performance of photoactive solid-state devices begins with systematic studies of the metal–semiconductor nanocomposites (NCs) upon which such devices are based. Here, we report the photo-dependent excitonic mechanism and the charge migration kinetics in a colloidal ZnO–Au NC system. By using a picosecond-resolved Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) technique, we have demonstrated that excited ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) resonantly transfer visible optical radiation to the Au NPs, and the quenching of defect-mediated visible emission depends solely on the excitation level of the semiconductor. The role of the gold layer in promoting photolytic charge transfer, the activity of which is dependent upon the degree of excitation, was probed using methylene blue (MB) reduction at the semiconductor interface. Incident photon-to-current efficiency measurements show improved charge injection from a sensitizing dye to a semiconductor electrode in the presence of gold in the visible region. Furthermore, the short-circuit current density and the energy conversion efficiency of the ZnO–Au NP based dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) are much higher than those of a DSSC comprised of only ZnO NP. Our results represent a new paradigm for understanding the mechanism of defect-state passivation and photolytic activity of the metal component in metal–semiconductor nanocomposite systems

A systematic literature review to understand the difference between critical factors affecting the national election and state elections in India

IntroductionThis study aims to understand the dominant factors of political marketing strategies to influence voters in the national and state elections in India. To identify them, we have reviewed literature of different nations (both developed and developing) across the world and India.MethodsWe have defined specific criteria and search terms to first identify the relevant studies that have focused on the influencing factors in the global and Indian political marketing landscape. After identifying these factors, we gleaned the key takeaways in terms of the influencing factors from all those studies and discussed the different emerging trends of shifting power from party brand to leadership brand in the national elections. We have also analyzed the impact of different factors such as party leader or candidate's personality, party policy and ideology, use of social media as a campaigning tool, and campaign messaging and platform on the national and state elections over the yearsResults and discussionsWe found that for the national elections, partly leadership and use of social media are critical factors, while for the state elections, party policy and ideology with on-ground campaigns have a significant influence on voters

Comparative Investigation of Structure and Operating Parameters on the Performance and Reaction Dynamic of CO Conversion on Silica Aerogel and Fumed-Silica-Supported Pd Catalysts

The catalyst morphology, metal-support interaction, and reaction conditions greatly influence the catalytic performance and reaction dynamics. Similarly, the dispersion of the metal within the support plays a crucial role in the thermal stability and sintering of the catalyst. Furthermore, temperature-dependent conversion hysteresis is well-known to occur during ignition and extinction of exothermic CO oxidation over supported Pd catalysts due to the variation of CO adsorption on the surface or bulk oxidation of Pd and the ability of the catalyst to regenerate the active sites. Herein, the catalytic performance and the hysteresis behavior of mesoporous silica aerogel supported Pd (Pd/a-SiO2), and commercial fumed silica-supported Pd (Pd/f-SiO2) were investigated and compared using CO oxidation as a probe reaction under different reaction conditions and operating parameters (i.e., catalyst weight, ramp rate, and flow rate). Surface and morphologic examination using XPS, FTIR, and TEM of Pd/a-SiO2 and Pd/f-SiO2 reveal a strong correlation between the catalyst surface and structure and its catalytic performance and stability under different reaction parameters. Moreover, this study presents the effect of surface area, particle size, and size distribution on diffusion and mass transport of reactants (CO, O2) and products (CO2) and active sites accessibility. This study showed that Pd/f-SiO2 had better efficiency under high (turbulence) flow. Moreover, intrinsic apparent activation energy (Ea) and the number of active sites were calculated from the Kinetics of CO oxidation fitted using Arrhenius plots indicate that the ramp rate has less effect on Pd/f-SiO2 catalytic behavior. Even though, Pd/f-SiO2 had higher relative active sites than Pd/a-SiO2, (Ea) was lower. Cyclic stability and long-term stabilities showed that both catalysts are stable and can regenerate the active sites. The current study contributes to understanding the catalysts\u27 surface, structural and morphological properties on the catalysts\u27 performance toward CO oxidation and other reactions under dynamic conditions