Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance Evaluation of Unsupervised Learning Techniques for Enterprise Toll Fraud Detection

In recent years, the impact of telecom frauds is increasing and their behavior is changing through time which makes them to remain the main challenge for telecom service providers in terms of revenue loss and degradation of quality of service. Toll fraud occurs whenever a criminal uses cheating or dishonest means with the intention to use telephony services free of charge, reduced rate or to make money. This study focuses on detection of toll fraud committed through enterprise PBX hacking by analyzing Call Detail Record (CDR) data. Unfortunately, this data is mostly unlabeled, meaning no indications on which calls are fraudulent or nonfraudulent exist. A clustering model was developed and tested with CDR collected from ethio telecom. In order to test the model with big dataset additional synthetic CDR was also used in the research. Two user profile are constructed by summarizing the data on daily basis. WEKA machine learning tool has been used to come up with a model for predicting fraudulent activities. The experimentation result showed that, the model from the K-means algorithm exhibited higher accuracy level, and can be applied in toll fraud detection. Since it was able to detect unusual changes in calling patterns which are highly likely as a consequence of fraud. The implementation of the model will enable telecom operators in general and ethio telecom in particular to detect such fraud at minimum cost of operation. Moreover, it can also be used to support enterprise customers by showing security vulnerability of their Private Branch eXchange (PBX).
Factors affecting nutritional status and eating behaviours of adolescent girls in Saudi Arabia

The objective of this study is to find out whether a reduction in body weight will reduce health risk factors. To fulfil this objective an intervention study has been conducted among Saudi obese females in the childbearing age (18-45). Interview questionnaires were completed in the intervention and non-intervention group to collect baseline data; the intervention group has undergone a specific diet regimen, physical exercise and nutrition programme. Vital signs including heart rate (PS) and blood pressure (BP) for both groups were recorded at the beginning of the study and after the intervention. Blood biochemical investigations were conducted between both groups at the beginning of the study and after the intervention. Data was analysed using SPSS (version 10). Results showed that baseline data of both intervention and non-intervention group were similar in relation to anthropometrics measurements and BMI. A significant difference was found at day 60 between the intervention and non-intervention group in weight and BMI. Analysis of biochemical variables showed insignificant statistical differences at day -60 in total cholesterol, LDL, and FBS. A statistical difference was found between the intervention and non-intervention group at day-60 in relation to the studied vital signs, systolic and diastolic BP A remarkable change in participants’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices was observed among the intervention group between day-1 and day-60. For example being a yo-yo dieter was reported by 85.2% of the group in day-1 and by 14.81% in day-60 and eating outside was reported by 81.5% in day-1 and by 18.5% in day-60. In conclusions, the use of a combined intervention programme of diet, physical exercise and health education is effective in weight reduction. Regular assessment of vital signs (PS and BP), biochemical laboratory investigations (CHOL, HDL, LDL, TG and FBS) are feasible tools for follow up and early detection of obesity complications. A sustained reduction in body weight is one of the preventive measures to avoid obesity complications. Despite the efforts done during this study, some limitations such as the small sample size and the short duration of intervention can be considered.
Blockchain-enhanced Roots-of-Trust

Establishing a root-of-trust is a key early step in establishing trust throughout the lifecycle of a device, notably by attesting the running software. A key technique is to use hardware security in the form of specialised modules or hardware functions such as TPMs. However, even if a device supports such features, other steps exist that can compromise the overall trust model between devices being manufactured until decommissioning. In this paper, we discuss how blockchains, and smart contracts in particular, can be used to harden the overall security management both in the case of existing hardware-enhanced security or when only software attestation is possible.
Efecto del alcohol en la organización eléctrica cerebral durante una tarea de memoria de trabajo visuoespacial y su relación con el ciclo menstrual

Introduccion. El metabolismo del alcohol y el desempeno de muchas funciones cognitivas pueden variar a lo largo del ciclo menstrual. Tanto la ingestion de alcohol como las variaciones hormonales durante el ciclo menstrual se asocian con cambios caracteristicos en la actividad electroencefalografica. Objetivo. Determinar si la actividad electroencefalografica durante una tarea de memoria de trabajo es afectada por el consumo agudo de alcohol, y si dicha actividad varia en funcion del ciclo menstrual. Sujetos y metodos. Muestra de 24 mujeres que ingirieron alcohol o placebo durante las fases folicular y lutea temprana. Se registro el electroencefalograma durante la ejecucion de una tarea de memoria de trabajo visuoespacial. Resultados. Aunque el alcohol no deterioro el rendimiento de la tarea de memoria de trabajo, si produjo en el electroencefalograma una disminucion de la potencia relativa de theta y una menor correlacion frontoparietal derecha en las bandas theta y alfa2. Unicamente las mujeres alcoholizadas en la fase folicular presentaron una mayor potencia relativa de alfa1, que podria indicar menor nivel de alertamiento y atencion. Conclusiones. Estos resultados contribuyen a una mejor comprension de los mecanismos cerebrales que subyacen a los cambios cognitivos con el alcohol y su relacion con el ciclo menstrual.
IB-DFE with interference alignment precoding scheme for MC-CDMA systems

To achieve high bit rates, needed to meet the quality of service requirements of future multimedia applications, multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) has been considered as a candidate air-interface. Interference alignment (IA) is a promising technique that allows high capacity gains in interfering channels. On the other hand, iterative block decision feedback equalization (IB-DFE) based receivers can efficiently exploit the inherent space-frequency diversity of the MIMO MC-CDMA systems. In this thesis we proposed an IA precoding at the transmitter with IB-DFE based processing at the receiver for MC-CDMA systems. The IA precoding is applied at chip level instead of the data symbols level, as in the conventional IA based systems. The receiver is designed in two steps: first the equalizers based on zero forcing (ZF) or minimum mean square error (MMSE) are used to remove the aligned users ́ interference. Then and after a whitening noise process, an IB-DFE based equalizer is designed to remove both the residual inter-user aligned and inter-carrier interferences. The results have shown that the obtained performance is very close to the one obtained by the optimal matched filter, with few iterations at the receiver side.
The View From Above: Satellites Inform Decision-Making for Food Security

Despite notable progress in reducing global poverty and hunger in recent decades, about one out of nine people in the world suffers from hunger and malnutrition. Stakeholders charged with making decisions pertaining to agricultural production, development priorities, and policies at a region-to-country scale require quantitative and up-to-date information on the types of crops being cultivated, the acreage under cultivation, and crop yields. However, many low- and middle-income countries lack the infrastructure and resources for frequent and extensive agricultural field surveys to obtain this information. Technology supports a change of paradigm. Traditional methods of obtaining agricultural information through field surveys are increasingly being augmented by images of the Earth acquired through sensors placed on satellites. The continued improvement in the resolution of satellite images, the establishment of open-access infrastructure for processing of the images, and the recent revolutionary progress in artificial intelligence make it feasible to obtain the information at low cost and in near-to-real time. In this brief, we discuss the use of satellite images to provide information about agricultural production in low-income countries, and we comment on research challenges and opportunities. We highlight the near-term potential of the methodology in the context of Rwanda, a country in sub-Saharan Africa whose government has recognized early the value of information technology in its strategic planning for food security and sustainability.
Assessment of integrated workforce development and sexual and reproductive health interventions with recommendations for the future.

USAID’s YouthPower Action project carried out research to explore programs that seek to address both sexual and reproductive and workforce development to better understand the nature and impact of such integrated programs. This report helps development practitioners understand how projects have integrated activities in these two sectors and which features and combinations of features of those integrated programs have the most positive impact on youth.
Service innovation from the frontlines in customer-centric organizations

Meta-analyses of the literature on service innovation, defined as the introduction of new or enhanced offerings that increase customer value (Ordanini & Parasuraman 2011; Dotzel, Shankar, & Berry 2013), show two consistent themes despite the significant heterogeneity of findings across studies (Saeed et al. 2015; Storey et al. 2016). First, there is compelling evidence that service innovation, just like product innovation, contributes to firm performance (Saeed et al. 2015; Calantone, Harmancioglu, & Droge 2010; Rubera & Kirca 2012). Second, unlike for product innovation, frontline involvement is among the “top-10” antecedents of commercial success from service innovation and customer involvement is critical for gaining competitive advantage from service innovation (Storey et al. 2016). In a meta-analysis of 232 studies, Saeed et al. (2015) distinguished between two meta-orientations that differentially influence a firm’s capabilities for innovation—an inside-out orientation that engages strategic firm-specific resources, and outside-in orientation that engages external marketand customers-specific resources. Referring to these alternate orientations, Storey et al. (2016, p. 541) concluded that “product firms succeed by creating knowledge internally (inside-out), whereas service firms succeed more often by utilizing external knowledge and capabilities (outside-in). ” The preceding findings suggest that competitive advantage through service innovation in customer-centric organizations is likely to rest on its frontlines including customer contact employees, often referred to as frontline employees (FLEs), who act as boundary spanners to connect the organization to its customers. Frontlines contribute to a firm’s outside-in capability and generate novel service ideas from customer interactions. Although the boundary-spanning role of frontline employees is well recognized, much previous research has theorized frontline activities using a demands-control or conservation of resources framework. Specifically, prior research has focused on a distinctive feature of frontline positions as “caught in the middle” of organizational imperatives that direct frontline activities toward increasing revenue and profitability, and customer
The Role of Cost Allocation in Mitigating Resource Over-Consumption and Performance Impact of Distorted Cost Allocation

This study first investigates whether cost allocation is essential, in the sense that it creates incentives for managers to control costs. I document that the absence of allocation negatively affects firm‘s cost management, which could be interpreted as the result of over-usage of common resources. Next, among firms that allocate costs, I assume that some firms ―distort‖ cost, so that the allocated cost is deviated from the optimal level, which a division expects that they are accountable for. I investigate the impact of cost distortion on segmentand firm-level performance by using a comprehensive sample compiled from a Compustat-Segment database from 2000 to 2015. I find (partial) evidence that over-allocation (under-allocation) discourages divisional managers to improve their subsequent performance and that cost distortion, in general, negatively affects the segment-level and overall firm-level performance. My findings suggest that in order to motivate managers and facilitate their decisions, overhead costs should be allocated at an anticipated level, which reflects the actual divisional consumption of common resources.
Exploration of the Windfall and Market Entrepreneurship During the Great Recession

Market innovative entrepreneurs have the desire of exploring declining economic markets to seek for windfall. They seek to profit heavily from adverse market conditions. The Great Recession may have presented some economic disasters, rage, and hardship to many people in the housing market in the 2000s but to the innovative market entrepreneurs, it presented some economic opportunities for experiencing a market windfall. Mostly, the objective of this exploratory study is to highlight the impact of the opportunistic events created by the housing foreclosure fillings, completed foreclosures, and home repossessions on the indexed price of housing that harbors the related opportunity cost. The increased indexed price of the housing driven by the fluctuation of both the quantity demanded and produced of housing seems to have led to the entrepreneurial windfall profit during the recession.
Pengaruh Pengungkapan Good Corporate Governance Terhadap Nilai Perusahaan Pada Badan Usaha Milik Negara Yang Terdaftar Di Bursa Efek Indonesia Perioda 2013-2017

This study aims to prove the impact of Good Corporate Governance on Firm Value in Badan Usaha Milik Negara that listed in Indonesian Stock Exchange. This study used 4 varibles that represented Good Corporate Governance which is Managerial Ownership, Institusional Ownership, Board of Independent Commissioner, and Audit Committee. Meanwhile Tobin’s Q ratio used to counted Firm Value. Population of this research are all Badan Usaha Milik Negara that listed in Indonesian Stock Exchange on 2013 until 2017. There are 20 firm are listed. The total samples are 16 firms selected by using purposive sampling method. Data anlysis and hypothesis testing using multiple regression. From 4 variable that used in this research only 2 that had an effect on firm value. There were Institusional Ownership and Audit Committee. This research prove that Institusional Ownership has a positive and significant effect on firm value. Audit Committee had a negative and insignificant effect on firm value. Other 2 variable like Managerial Ownership, Board of Independent Commissioner has not effect on firm value, while Audit Committee has negative effect on firm value.
Expansion strategies of multinational corporations in African emerging economies

(iii) Abstract (Northern Sotho). (iv)Northern Sotho). (iv) Abstract (isiXhosa). (vi)isiXhosa). (vi) Acknowledgements. (vii) List of tables. (xii) List of figures. (xiv) List of acronyms. (xvi)
Does An IPO Create Better Corporate Governance? (Empirical Evidence from an Indonesian Islamic Bank)

This research is aimed to serve as an exploratory research on the impact of IPO on corporate governance practices. Drawn from a content analysis using the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard of an Indonesia Islamic Bank as a case study, the findings show significant changes in the governance score of the bank. The changes mainly come from the aspect of the responsibilities of the board and disclosure and transparency. The increasing voluntary disclosure can be explained by the agency theory that the bank is now facing higher agency problem after going public, thus more information is disclosed to reduce the information asymmetry. Even though generalizability is not the main objective of this study, the findings can provide evidence on how a company responds to a greater pressure from stakeholders, especially the shareholders and investors, after an IPO decision. Keywords—IPO, corporate governance, disclosure, Islamic bank
ONLINE TICKETING AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ANALYSIS: AN EXPLORATORY RESEARCH CONCERNING CUSTOMERS IN THE CONTEXT OF BURKINA FASO.

Most studies on revenue or yield management have focused on its benefits to airline companies (Anderson & Wilson, 2003; Jerath, Netessine & Veeraraghavan, 2010). Then, the buying behavior of airline passengers has been studied by Diggines (2010), Gupta, Su and Walter (2004) and Yu (2008). General customer search theory has explored the strategies that customers use to make a purchase decision (Stigler, 1961; Koch & Cebula, 2002; Öörni, 2003; Armstrong, Vickers & Zhou 2009). The airline industry has known some difficulties as the overall world economy. Therefore, the challenge of each airline company is to cut costs while increasing profitability and achieving a satisfactory customer service. For this research, the approach is a quantitative one; a stratified random sampling is used and 131 completed questionnaires are collected for the subsequent analysis. The statistical software sphinx IQ is used to analyze the data. Four (4) dimensions of e-service quality are identified, i.e. website ease of use, website design, website reliability and responsiveness. The results show that these four (4) dimensions have an effect on customer satisfaction.
Assessment of Succession Planning: A Case Study of National Cement Share Company, Dire Dawa City, Ethiopia

We the researchers of this consultancy services project paper have studied various aspects of Succession Planning at National Cement SC, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia. The HR Manager's role is very crucial in conducting a 'succession planning' as per the standard eligibility criteria, including experience, qualifications, length of service, time of retirement etc are to be considered. The succession planning is an ongoing process as there are time to time the requirement of various employees in various positions are needed for the smooth functioning of any organization. There are various contingencies due to employee turnover and some employees are not performing as per the standards and some are seeking promotions as per their eligibility criteria etc are most important while implementing the succession planning. It is pivotal for any company who wishes to secure long range profitability it must focus on proper succession planning to understand that employees are human beings and they are having various aspirations in terms of their growth prospects in a company where they are working. Therefore the researchers have made an earnest attempt to investigate various aspects of succession planning and finally prepared a 'Log Matrix' of succession planning which is highly helpful as it is a ready reference to the HR Manger on how to promote, whom to promote, why to promote and when to promote has been submitted in this paper so that he could make effective decision making without any difficulty at National Cement Share Company (NCSC). This paper has relevancy to any country across the globe.
Relationship between Violence Response, Coping, and Burnout among Emergency Department Nurses

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify relationships between violence response, coping, and burnout among emergency department nurses. Method: This descriptive study using self report questionnaires was conducted from October 1 to October 20, 2008. Participants were 147 general nurses working in emergency departments in hospitals having over 500 beds and located in Busan. ANOVA and Pearson's correlation coefficients with SPSS PC+ WIN 14.0. were used to analyze the data. Results: Scores for violence response, coping, and burnout were 3.08 (1-5 scale), 2.57 (1-4 scale), and 3.22 (1-5 scale) respectively. There were significant differences in violence response and burnout by education, clinical careers, clinical careers in ED, and plans to work in the future, and no significant differences in coping by general characteristics. There was a significant and highly positive relationship between violence response and burnout. Conclusion: The degree of violence response and burnout was comparatively high, while that of coping was average. Therefore, it is necessary to develop effective programs related to prevention and coping with violence for nurses in emergency departments. Institutional measures by hospital authorities are also needed to improve the nursing quality by providing a safe workplace.
Financial Stability of Islamic Banks of Bangladesh: An Empirical Study

This paper examines the financial stability of eight (8) full fledge Islamic banks in Bangladesh for the period of 2010 to 2017 using the technique of Z-score along with different financial ratios such as NPF Ratio, IDR Ratio and Liquidity Ratio that are widely accepted to assess the financial stability of Islamic banks. The relevant data are collected from the published annual reports of these Islamic banks. The finding of the paper reveals that most of the Islamic banks have lower Z-score in recent years and thus suggests that Islamic banks at present aren’t on the whole financially stable. The results of the study suggest that Islamic banks in Bangladesh are now experiencing higher IDR ratio which indicates these banks are making excessive financing. Although the NPF ratios for some Islamic banks are decreasing but the pace of this decrease is very low.
Approach for the Selection of the Shortest Navigation Path for Small Robots in Indoor Environments using Ant Colony Algorithm and Decomposition into Regions

— Path planning is a fundamental task for any robot, even more when it has to be deployed in dynamic environments, for example, with human interaction, as is the case of service robots. This activity that turns out to be simple for a person or pet in their daily activity, turns out to be a computational NP-complete problem quite difficult to solve. This kind of problems are nondeterministic and with a time of computational solution of polynomial type. Many strategies have been formulated to solve this problem, but as such it is still an open engineering problem. We propose to use an Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm to define in a short time a pseudo-optimal path considering the shortest possible distance. To simplify the scheme and make it a real application, we decompose the navigation environment into regions in order to move the robot along them. The proposed scheme is evaluated for a real environment and robot with different obstacle configurations. In all cases the scheme was able to find adequate solutions without high computational costs.
Spimes Not Things:A Design Manifesto For A Sustainable Internet Of Things

The manifesto focuses on strategies for incorporating sustainability into the design of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. We hope it helps to galvanise product designers, interaction designers, creative technologists and makers into action - the people who have the skills and know how to use materials and technologies to design future sustainable connected products. The IoT is rapidly expanding and it is beginning to have both advantages and disadvantages for our society and our planet. The manifesto might therefore also be of interest to environmentalists, connected product manufacturers, tech firms, politicians and legislators - those who campaign for sustainable change and those who have the power to deliver it.