A transferable machine-learning framework linking interstice distribution and plastic heterogeneity in metallic glasses

When metallic glasses (MGs) are subjected to mechanical loads, the plastic response of atoms is non-uniform. However, the extent and manner in which atomic environment signatures present in the undeformed structure determine this plastic heterogeneity remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate that novel site environment features that characterize interstice distributions around atoms combined with machine learning (ML) can reliably identify plastic sites in several Cu-Zr compositions. Using only quenched structural information as input, the ML-based plastic probability estimates ("quench-in softness" metric) can identify plastic sites that could activate at high strains, losing predictive power only upon the formation of shear bands. Moreover, we reveal that a quench-in softness model trained on a single composition and quenching rate substantially improves upon previous models in generalizing to different compositions and completely different MG systems (Ni62Nb38, Al90Sm10 and Fe80P20). Our work presents a general, data-centric framework that could potentially be used to address the structural origin of any site-specific property in MGs

CONSUMER DECISION-MAKING STYLES AND YOUNG-ADULT CONSUMERS: AN INDIAN EXPLORATION

The economy of India is on a growth spree since the last two decades. This growth has increased the shopping options available to the consumers. The present study has tried to ascertain the decision-making styles of young-adult consumers so as to provide information to marketers interested in the decision-making profile of Indian consumers and thus enabling them to build their marketing efforts accordingly. The research has made use of Sproles and Kendall’s (1986) consumer styles inventory (CSI) on a sample of 425 young-adult Indian consumers and has attempted to examine the generalisability of the scale. Factor analysis has been employed to summarise the 38 variables identified into smaller sets of linear composites that preserved most of the information in the original data. The study has confirmed the applicability of the original US characteristics as well as two new traits specific to the Indian context. Furthermore, similarities and differences between different cultures have been discussed and implications have been proffered.Consumer decision-making, Consumer Style Inventory (CSI), Young-adult consumers, Factor analysis, India

Aiding the Visually Impaired: Developing an efficient Braille Printer

With the large number of partially or completely visually impaired persons in society, their integration as productive, educated and capable members of society is hampered heavily by a pervasively high level of braille illiteracy. This problem is further compounded by the fact that braille printers are prohibitively expensive - generally starting from two thousand US dollars, beyond the reach of the common man. Over the period of a year, the authors have tried to develop a Braille printer which attempts to overcome the problems inherent in commercial printers. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to introduce two prototypes - the first with an emphasis of cost-effectiveness, and the second prototype, which is more experimental and aims to eliminate several demerits of Braille printing. The first prototype has been constructed at a cost significantly less than the existing commercial braille printers. Both the prototypes of the device have been constructed, which will be shown.Comment: 6 pages. IEEE accepted paper (not published yet) International Conference on Advances in Computing, Communications and Informatics (ICACCI-2017