Detecting Fraud Patterns in Telecommunications Using Case Based Reasoning

All round the world, fraud situations are significantly causing huge revenue leakage in the telecommunication companies every year. The reuse of previous cases is an important issue in dealing with fraud pattern in a data with string features. Case Based Reasoning (CBR) systems have a set of cases inform of library used to facilitate the process of validation of new cases without the direct involvement of a domain expert. The proposed detection technique in this paper is based on Case Based Reasoning used to detect the occurrence of fraud with a meaningful confidence in telecommunication data. Experimental result on the fraud data indicates that the weight for all attribute used in this study needs to be set as 0.1 in order to get 98% similarity performance

Determining an Appropriate Weight attribute in Fraud Call Rate Data Using Case Based Reasoning

Fraud cases are significantly causing huge revenue losses in telecommunication companies around the world. Although previous cases are very important data in dealing with fraud patterns, there are variations in the dataset of different fraud case scenarios which in turns need specific detection system without necessarily involving the domain expert directly. This paper investigates the appropriate weight values for attributes using fraud Call Rate Data that is based on Artificial Intelligence technique (Case Based Reasoning) with a meaningful confidence in telecommunication data. The experimental result on the fraud data reports that the weight for all attribute used in this study needs to be set at 0.9 in order to get the best performance of 98.33%

Appraisal of the Performance of Contingency Cost Provision for Building Projects in Nigeria

The paper appraised performance of contingency allowance in addressing projects’ cost risk. To achieve this aim, impact of contingency provision in some selected building projects were evaluated. Data for the study was collected by means of checklist from 40 completed projects’ files. Furthermore, 100 questionnaires on project cost contingency were randomly distributed to quantity Surveyors out of whom 67 completed responses were returned. The results showed that there is significant difference between projects with and without contingency with respect to the accuracy of cost estimates. The study revealed that although the inclusion of contingency allowance reduces the incidence of project cost overrun, majority of the projects under study (55%) had cost overrun. It was also found that the projects exceeded their initial estimate by an average value of 5.07% where contingency was included and by an average value of 9.52% where contingency was not included. The study showed that there is a lack of application of quantitative risks analysis in the determination of contingency fund. Therefore, to improve the accuracy of cost contingency allowance, application of quantitative risks analysis in its determination has been recommended.Keywords: Contingency, Risks, performance, Building

Histochemical Evaluation of Prostate Diseases: Integrating Bacterial Infections and Cancer Subtyping

Background: Prostate diseases, including bacterial infections and prostate cancer, pose significant health concerns worldwide. However, limitedresearch has focused on the comprehensive characterization of bacterial infections in prostate diseases. This study aimed to address these knowledge gaps by investigating the prevalence of bacterial infections in prostate diseases as well as prostate cancer subtypes. Methods: A retrospective study using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) prostate biopsy tissue samples from patients diagnosed with prostatediseases. Relevant clinical information was collected, and Gram staining was performed to detect the presence of Gram-negative bacteria. Southgate's mucicarmine staining was utilized to categorize prostate cancer subtypes. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Results: Among the 50 patients included in the study, the majority (48.0%) fell within the age range of 60-69 years. Prostatic hyperplasia was the mostprevalent prostate disease (70.0%), followed by prostate cancer (28.0%). Gram-negative bacteria were identified in 56% of the FFPE. Categorization of prostate cancer subtypes using mucicarmine staining revealed that 71.4% of FFPE exhibited a positive reaction, indicating the presence of mucin. Conclusion: This study has identified bacterial infections in prostate diseases, focusing on Gram-negative bacteria, mucin positive prostate cancer subtype using mucicarmine staining were as well identified

Effects of Electricity Supply on Economic Growth in Nigeria (1980-2012): Vector Autoregressive Approach

This research work is on the effect of electricity supply on economic growth in Nigeria between 1980 and 2012, a period of thirty two (32) years. Nigeria is seen as one of the greatest developing nations in Africa with highly endowed natural resources including potential electricity resources. However, increasing access to electricity in Nigeria has proved to be not only a continuous challenge but also a pressing issue with the international community. The study therefore analysed the effect of electricity supply on economic growth in Nigeria utilising secondary data with real gross domestic product (RGDP) as the dependent variable; and electricity supply, electricity generation, capital and labour as independent variables. Analytical techniques of Vector autoregressive (VAR) method, lag length selection criteria, variance decomposition and impulse response function were employed. The main or target VAR equation was transformed to system of equations and estimated through the Newey- Heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation (HAC) consistent covariance OLS estimator to enable objective determination of the effect of electricity supply on economic growth in Nigeria. Results indicate that the influence of electricity supply on economic growth is statistically significant; electricity generation has a positive relationship and also significant impact on the economy, while electricity supply negatively impacts economic growth. Despite the huge money which government claimed she is spending on the power sector, this study found that it has not been yielding desired positive effect on economic growth. Efforts should be directed at increasing electricity generation, ensuring effective monitoring of the activities of the newly established/private sector driven electricity generation companies (GENCOS) and distribution companies (DISCOS), curbing mismanagement to achieve efficient utilisation of energy resources and the training and retraining of staff in the power sector with a view to enhancing electricity supply for sustainable economic growth and development of Nigeria. Keywords: electricity supply, vector autoregressive (VAR) method, variance decomposition, impulse response, lag length selection criteria

Gender differences in Achievement Goals and Performances in English Language and Mathematics of Senior Secondary Schools students in Borno State, Nigeria

The paper investigated gender difference in achievement goals and performance in English Language and Mathematics of senior secondary schools students in Borno State, Nigeria.  The study specifically sought to determine gender differences in students’ academic performances in English Language, Mathematics and overall academic performance as well as the effects of gender on these differences in performance if any.  The study was based on the ‘A Hierarchical Model of Approach and Avoidance Achievement Goals Motivation’ propounded by Elliot and Church (1997).   The study used Correlational design with a sample of 827 (414 boys and 413) students selected via stratified random sampling form 18 schools across the state.  “A Hierarchical Model of Approach and Avoidance Achievement Goals Motivation” Scale was used to measure achievement goals, tests in English and  Mathematics were used to measure achievement measures in the two subjects domains while  the aggregate of average scores in the two  tests  was used to measure overall academic performance.  The instruments were administered to the participants in a classroom seating position and collected on the sport and the data was analyzed using MANAVA. The results revealed that males performed significantly better than females in English Language and overall academic performance but there is no gender difference in Mathematics performance; and there is significant effect of gender on students’ learning goal orientation in faviour of males, whereas there are no gender effects on performance –approach and performance-avoidance goals orientation of students. The implications of the study for education and research were highlighted. Keywords: Gender, differences, achievement goals, performance, English language, Mathematics, senior secondary schools students.  Nigeri

Moderating Role of Affective Destination Image on the Relationship between Tourists Satisfaction and Behavioural Intention: Evidence from Obudu Mountain Resort

The aim of this study is to ascertain the moderating effect that affective destination image has on the relationship between tourist satisfaction and behavioural intention in a mountain tourism destination: Obudu Mountain Resort. Using a sample of 217 tourists who were very much first-time visitors, structural equation modelling (SEM) and hierarchical multiple regression were used to perform the analysis. Our findings provide support for the entire hypothesis developed except for the direct relationship between cognitive image and behavioural intention. The result of the hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that affective destination image has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between tourist satisfaction and behavioural intention. Keywords: Cognitive image, Affective image, Tourists satisfaction, Behavioural intention, Mountain touris

An Investigative Study on Impact of Frequency Dynamics in Load Modeling

Load modeling plays a significant impact in assessing power system stability margin, control, and protection. Frequency in the power system is desired to be kept constant, but in a real sense, it is not constant as loads continually change with time. In much literature, frequency dynamics are ignored in the formulation of load models for the basic assumption that it does not affect the models.  In this paper, the composite load model was formulated with Voltage-Frequency Dependency (V-FD) on real and reactive powers and applied to estimate the load model. 2- Area network 4- machines Kundur test network was used for testing the developed model.  The model was trained with measurements from a low voltage distribution network supplying the Electrical Engineering department at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Both training and testing data were captured under normal system operation (dynamics). To evaluate the V-FD model performance, Voltage-Dependent (VD) model was examined on the same measured data. The work makes use of the Feed Forward Neural Network (FFNN) as a nonlinear estimator. Results obtained indicate that including frequency dynamics in modeling active power reduces the accuracy of the model. While in modeling reactive power the model performance improves. Hence, it can be said that including frequency dynamics in load modeling depends on the intended application of the model