Election Studies in India

The election system is the pillar of Indian democracy. The system consists of various levels of elections to the Lok Sabha (the House of Representatives of the Union), State Legislative Assemblies, and Panchayati Raj Institutions (local self-governing bodies under State Governments). This article includes a review of studies related to the elections of Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies conducted up to the present time. Studies are divided into those based on aggregate data and those based on survey data of the individual electorate. This division has the advantage of providing data that may be used in different analytical areas. Voter turnout and votes polled by party are the two main variables to be explained. This review article thus shows what has been explained in voting behaviour in India up to the present time

Cellulose nanofiber aerogel production and applications

Aerogels are highly porous solids formed by replacing the liquid in a gel by air, without changing the original structure. The present cellulose aerogels are made by sublimating the water from a colloidal suspension of cellulose nanofibers. The nanofibers form three-dimensional networks, crosslinked by hydrogen bonds bridging the surface hydroxyl groups and also by mechanical entanglements between nanofibers. Although the studies on aerogels from cellulose nanofiber hydrogels by freeze drying reported so far had produced small samples, improved cooling techniques that produces larger samples were attempted and the obtained cellulose nanofiber aerogels were impregnated with epoxy resin to fabricate composites. The highly porous structure allowed complete impregnation of resin and translucent composites were produced. The modulus of composites was increased in relation to neat epoxy, but due to high brittleness the ultimate strength was decreased. This is likely caused by nanofiber agglomerations of uneven pore sizes acting as stress concentrators. The evaluation of the mechanical properties of composites serves as an indirect way to assess the quality of the aerogels produced