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Telecommunication has a decisive role in the development of technology in the current era. The number of mobile users with multiple SIM cards is increasing every second. Hence, telecommunication is a significant area in which big data technologies are needed. Competition among the telecommunication companies is high due to customer churn. Customer retention in telecom companies is one of the major problems. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The authors recommend an Intersection-Randomized Algorithm (IRA) using MapReduce functions to avoid data duplication in the mobile user call data of telecommunication service providers. The authors use the agent-based model (ABM) to predict the complex mobile user behaviour to prevent customer churn with a particular telecommunication service provider.

The agent-based model increases the prediction accuracy due to the dynamic nature of agents. ABM suggests rules based on mobile user variable features using multiple agents.

The authors have not considered the microscopic behaviour of the customer churn based on complex user behaviour.

This paper shows the effectiveness of the IRA along with the agent-based model to predict the mobile user churn behaviour. The advantage of this proposed model is as follows: the user churn prediction system is straightforward, cost-effective, flexible and distributed with good business profit.

This paper shows the customer churn prediction of complex human behaviour in an effective and flexible manner in a distributed environment using Intersection-Randomized MapReduce Algorithm using agent-based model.

This essay charts an intellectual journey. Geoffrey M. Hodgson became an institutional economist in the 1980s. He explains how he discovered institutional economics and what strains of institutional thought were attractive for him. Another issue raised in this essay is how institutional researchers organize and move forward. Hodgson argues for an interdisciplinary approach, but this is not without its problems.

These are the days of falling standards and sagging morale, nowhere more apparent than in the one‐time efficient public service. The division between management and workers in the field in the large public enterprises has grown wider and wider and we tend to blame the lower strata of the structure for most of the ills which beset us, mainly because its failures are more obvious; here, the falling standards of work and care speak for themselves. The massive reorganization of the National Health Service and local authorities has made evident, especially in the first, that the upper strata of the colossi which dominate our everyday lives have their ills too. Local authorities have been told “The party is over!” and the National Health Service has been told of the urgent need for the strictest economy in administration; that the taking over of personal health services from local authorities was wrongly attributed to “managerial growth” instead of a mere “transfer of functions”, but, nonetheless, new authorities were created, each with fast‐growing administrative organs operating services—doctors, nurses and patients—which had remained unchanged. Very large local authorities, with many functions lost to others, one would have expected to have resulted in economy of administration, has all‐too‐often been the opposite. Hardly surprising that those who pay for it all, distinct from those who receive of its largesse, are being stirred to rebellion, when they have been overtaxed, ill‐used and what is more important, ignored for so long.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the sintering temperature on the microstructural, mechanical and physical properties of Cu-SiC composites.

The powder metallurgy route was used to fabricate the samples. Cold compaction of powders was conducted at 250 MPa which was followed by sintering at 850°C–950°C at the interval of 50 °C in the open atmospheric furnace. SiC was used as a reinforcement and the volumetric fraction of the SiC was varied as 10%, 15% and 20%. The processed samples were metallurgically characterized by the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Mechanical characterization was done using tensile and Vickers’ micro-hardness testing to check the hardness and strength of the samples. Archimedes principle and Four-point collinear probe method were used to measure the density and electrical resistivity of the samples.

SEM micrograph reveals the uniform dispersion of the SiC particles in the Cu matrix element. The results revealed that the Hardness and tensile strength were improved due to the addition of SiC and were maximum for the samples sintered at 950 °C. The addition of SiC has also increased the electrical resistivity of the Cu-SiC composite and was lowest for Cu 100% while the relative density has shown the reverse trend. Further, it was found that the maximum hardness of 91.67 Hv and ultimate tensile strength of 312.93 MPa were found for Cu-20% SiC composite and the lowest electrical resistivity of 2.017 µ- Ω-cm was found for pure Cu sample sintered at 950 °C, and this temperature was concluded as the optimum sintering temperature.

The powder metallurgy route for the fabrication of the composites is a challenging task as the trapping of oxygen cannot be controlled during the compaction process as well as during the sintering process. So, a more intensive study is required to overcome these kinds of limitations.

As of the author’s best knowledge, no work has been reported on the effect of sintering temperature on the properties of the Cu-SiC composites which has huge potential in the industries.

A real potential exists for library use of voice technologies: as aids to the disabled or illiterate library user, as front‐ends for general library help systems, in online systems for commands or control words, and in many of the hands‐busy‐eyes‐busy activities that are common in libraries. Initially, these applications would be small, limited processes that would not require the more fluent human‐machine communication that we might hope for in the future. Voice technologies will depend on and benefit from new computer systems, advances in artificial intelligence and expert systems to facilitate their use and enable them to better circumvent present input and output problems. These voice systems will gradually assume more importance, improving access to information and complementing existing systems, but they will not likely revolutionize or dominate human‐machine communications or library services in the near future.

The forecast that average wages would rise by at least 10% by mid‐'77 and inflation would continue at 14% were two of the more depressing “prospects” put forward at a recent retailing seminar organised by stockbrokers, Philips and Drew. Speakers at the conference discussed share prospects in the retail sector for the benefit of an audience of potential investors—in the main representatives of insurance companies and pension funds. Financial analyst, Alun Jones, examined the outlook for the whole sector, while Kenneth Bishop, Finance Director, Debenhams; John Samuel, Director and Joint Secretary, Marks and Spencer; and Ian MacLaurin, Managing Director, Tesco Stores each looked at the prospects for their own companies. Below we summarise some of their conclusions.

The social and environmental challenges facing our society, coupled with financial scandals and crises, have led to increased focus on and expectations for corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Ditlev-Simonsen, 2009; Knox, Maklan, & French, 2005; Midttun, 2007; Samuel & Ioanna, 2007). However, in order to meet this expectation, business students need education in the CSR field. The amount of attention to CSR in business education varies widely (Evans, Treviño, & Weaver, 2006) and the lack of a CSR curriculum in some countries has been severely criticised, with calls for more focus on the subject (Aronsen & Bue Olsen, 2009). In Norway, for example, propositions to the Parliament about CSR urge The Research Council for Norway to pursue and strengthen their programme for financing research in this field (Utenriksdepartementet, 2009). CSR addresses normative and ethical issues, and students’ self-awareness, attitudes and understandings of others are key elements (Banaji, Bazerman, & Chugh, 2003). CSR-related situations comprise a set of dilemmas with no absolute ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. In this sense CSR education is different from most of business school education format, and therefore requires different educational tools.