Engineering and Technology Management

Abstract-This paper reviews some key structural and design dimensions of organizations and how they apply to electronic business and the virtual organization. The paper reviews the relevant literature on design of electronic commerce organizations. Although few studies have ...

Energy consumers in Nigeria have long complained about Distribution Companies' unfair billing practices, exorbitant monthly electricity bills resulting from meter estimation rather than accurate meter reading. The study's objectives were to establish the relationship between the prepaid metering system and customer satisfaction; and evaluate the level of satisfaction concerning the usage of the prepaid metering system in Niger State, Nigeria. In carrying out the study, the structured questionnaire was administered to 393 randomly chosen respondents drawn from prepaid meter users, out of which 344 responded, generating a response rate of 87.5%. The data derived were subjected to spearman correlation and multiple regression models. The major findings from the study showed a significant, moderate, and positive relationship between the prepaid metering system and customer satisfaction. Additionally, three significant predictors, Affordability, Availability, and Flexibility with p < .01 are statistically significant. Further findings from descriptive statistics revealed that users had the highest level of satisfaction with their privacy as a result of no meter readers and no accumulated. The study concluded a positive and beneficial link between the prepaid metering system and customer satisfaction. Therefore, the study recommends good customer care units and a marketing campaign for better knowledge of the prepaid metering system.

Lean management and innovation are two driving forces of today's business success. However, with fundamentally different concepts, some aspects of lean management may negatively affect a company's capability to be successful with certain types of innovations. This paper develops a framework to analyze such impacts. With comparisons between the lean culture, lean design, lean supply chain management and lean human resource management with the characteristics and contributing factors of different types of innovations, five propositions are presented. Each proposition can be tested through several hypothesis tests in future work. In addition, different strategies for a company to achieve the balance and maintain lean and innovation at the same time are also discussed. Advantages, disadvantages, and suitable situations for each strategy are analyzed.

Most sectors of the Nigerian economy, including the energy sector, have been infiltrated by digital technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), where they have been extensively investigated. The research aims primarily to assess the perception of AI in facility management and identify the prospects and challenges of the adoption of AI in the energy sector. The study adopted the quantitative methodology approach, using a structured questionnaire to a sample size of 384 respondents. The questionnaire was administered to professionals such as mechanical, civil, electrical, computer, and mechatronics engineers and project managers within the North-central geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Data gathered was analyzed using descriptive analysis (mean value, weighted total, and relative importance index). The study based on findings concludes that there is a high awareness level about AI in the energy sector. Also, awareness about some selected AI technologies, machine & deep learning, robotics, and speech recognition had a high awareness level. The study also concludes that improved energy management, efficiency and transparency, remote reading of energy meters, and improved planning, operation & control of power systems were prevalent prospects of AI adoption. The major challenging factors to adopting AI in the Nigerian energy sector are outdated power system infrastructure, cellular technologies, a scarcity of qualified experts and data scientists, and a growing threat from cyber-attacks. The study recommends improved awareness and technical know-how of energy sector personnel and adequate power system infrastructure to provide a stable power supply.

Although legal personality has slowly begun to be granted to non-human entities that have a direct impact on the natural functioning of human societies (given their cultural significance), the same cannot be said for computer-based intelligence systems. While this notion has not had a significantly negative impact on humanity to this point in time, that only remains the case because advanced computerised intelligence systems (ACIS) have not been acknowledged as reaching human-like levels. With the integration of ACIS in medical assistive technologies such as companion robots and bionics, our legal treatment of ACIS must also adapt-least society faces legal challenges that may potentially lead to legally sanctioned discriminatory treatment. For this reason, this article exposes the complexity of normalizing definitions of "natural" human subjects, clarifies how current bioethical discourse has been unable to effectively guide ACIS integration into implanted and external artefacts, and argues for the establishment of legal delineations between various ACIS-human mergers in reference to legal protections and obligations internationally.

A growing body of research suggests that the fuzzy front-end of product development should not be managed with a one-size-fits-all standard process. Instead, projects with different market and technical uncertainties should be managed with one of five different processes (linear, recursive, evolving, selectionism, trial-and-error). Based on a review of the literature, the paper develops a theoretical framework for frontend management which provides the foundation for ongoing empirical research.

The design of innovative products is an important topic in both the design and management fields. Firms are faced with the challenge of designing innovative products that have high quality and short product life cycle in the same time, while also addressing the needs of end users and create value for them in the context of functionality, economics, ergonomics, aesthetics, among other factors. Researchers developed many creative approaches to design innovative products with these requirements. Such methods start with demand and well-organized problem definition [1–4].

Using remote sensing and GIS technique, we analyse the change detection of different land use/land cover (LULC) types that has taken place in Puthimari river basin during a two-decade period from 1999 to 2019. Supervised classification method with maximum likelihood algorithm have been applied to prepare the LULC maps. The LULC change detection has been performed employing a post-classification detection method. Puthimari is a north bank sub-catchment of River Brahmaputra, the northern part of which falls in Bhutan and the rest falls in the Assam state of India. The primary LULC types of the basin are, dense vegetation which is predominant in the upper catchment, crop land and rural settlement. Thus, five different classes have been considered for the analysis, viz., dense vegetation, water bodies, silted water, cropland and rural settlement. The results showed that the rural settlement and water bodies in the basin increased by 42.70% and 30.31% from 1999 to 2019. However, dense vegetation, silted water and cropland decreased by 9.24%, 27.47% and 28.10% during these two decades.

The rapid advancement of artificial (computer) intelligence systems (CIS) has generated a means whereby assistive bionic prosthetics can become both more effective and practical for the patients who rely upon the use of such machines in their daily lives. However, de lege lata remains relatively unspoken as to the legal status of patients whose devices contain self-learning CIS that can interface directly with the peripheral nervous system. As a means to reconcile for this lack of legal foresight, this article approaches the topic of CIS-nervous system interaction and the impacts it may have on the legal definition of "persons" under the law. While other literature of this nature centres upon notions of transhumanism or self-enhancement, the approach herein approached is designed to focus solely upon the legal nature of independent CIS actions when operating alongside human subjects. To this end, it is hoped that further discussion on the topic can be garnered outside of transhumanist discourse to expedite legal consideration for how these emerging relationships ought to be received by law-generating bodies internationally.

Metering in the Nigerian Electricity Industry is in desperate need of an emergency response to close the large gap in satisfaction. Energy consumers in Nigeria have long complained about Distribution Companies’ unfair billing practices. The objectives of the study were to find out the benefits and challenges of the prepaid metering system among users in Minna, Niger State. The study adopted a descriptive survey with a structured questionnaire as part of the research design. The questionnaire sought responses from 100 randomly selected residential (domestic) users of prepaid meter in Minna, Niger State. The findings of the study revealed that the most prevalent benets of the meter are no accumulated debt; no struggle with bill payment; careful with electricity usage and no disconnection fee. The findings also show that, while customers have been satisfied (benefited) in many ways, the prepaid metering system has also caused them challenges, the highest level of dissatisfaction expressed by users is the delay in receiving and installation of prepaid meters; increase in electricity tariff and limited use of electrical appliances. The findings enabled this study to reach far-reaching recommendations that are thought to be ideal to improve customer satisfaction and reduce dissatisfaction among users and those planning to switch to prepaid meters. These include receiving and installation of prepaid meters on time, decrease in electricity tari, increase vending points (stations), good customer care service (units)

The rapid advancement of artificial (computer) intelligence systems (CIS) has generated a means whereby assistive bionic prosthetics can become both more effective and practical for the patients who rely upon the use of such machines in their daily lives. However, de lege lata remains relatively unspoken as to the legal status of patients whose devices contain self-learning CIS that can interface directly with the peripheral nervous system. As a means to reconcile for this lack of legal foresight, this article approaches the topic of CIS-nervous system interaction and the impacts it may have on the legal definition of “persons” under the law. While other literature of this nature centres upon notions of transhumanism or self-enhancement, the approach herein approached is designed to focus solely upon the legal nature of independent CIS actions when operating alongside human subjects. To this end, it is hoped that further discussion on the topic can be garnered outside of transhumanist discourse to expedite legal consideration for how these emerging relationships ought to be received by law-generating bodies internationally.

The aim of this paper is to identify the key software review inputs that significantly affect review performance in practice. Five in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with different I.T. organizations. From the interviews? results, the typical issues for conducting software review include (1) selecting right reviewers to perform a defect detection task, (2) the limitation of time and resources for organizing and conducting software renew (3) no standard and specific guideline to measure an effective review for different types of software artefacts (i.e. requirement, design, code and test cases). Thus the result shows that the experience (i.e. knowledge and skills) of reviewers is the most significant input inflnenciug software review performance.

Metering in the Nigerian Electricity Industry is in desperate need of an emergency response to close the large gap in satisfaction. Energy consumers in Nigeria have long complained about Distribution Companies’ unfair billing practices. The objectives of the study were to find out the benefits and challenges of the prepaid metering system among users in Minna, Niger State. The study adopted a descriptive survey with a structured questionnaire as part of the research design. The questionnaire sought responses from 100 randomly selected residential (domestic) users of prepaid meter in Minna, Niger State. The findings of the study revealed that the most prevalent benets of the meter are no accumulated debt; no struggle with bill payment; careful with electricity usage and no disconnection fee. The findings also show that, while customers have been satisfied (benefited) in many ways, the prepaid metering system has also caused them challenges, the highest level of dissatisfaction expressed by users is the delay in receiving and installation of prepaid meters; increase in electricity tariff and limited use of electrical appliances. The findings enabled this study to reach far-reaching recommendations that are thought to be ideal to improve customer satisfaction and reduce dissatisfaction among users and those planning to switch to prepaid meters. These include receiving and installation of prepaid meters on time, decrease in electricity tari, increase vending points (stations), good customer care service (units)

The design of innovative products is an important topic in both the design and management fields. Firms are faced with the challenge of designing innovative products that have high quality and short product life cycle in the same time, while also addressing the needs of end users and create value for them in the context of functionality, economics, ergonomics, aesthetics, among other factors. Researchers developed many creative approaches to design innovative products with these requirements. Such methods start with demand and well-organized problem definition [1–4].

The design of innovative products is an important topic in both the design and management fields. Firms are faced with the challenge of designing innovative products that have high quality and short product life cycle in the same time, while also addressing the needs of end users and create value for them in the context of functionality, economics, ergonomics, aesthetics, among other factors. Researchers developed many creative approaches to design innovative products with these requirements. Such methods start with demand and well-organized problem definition [1–4].

Lean management and innovation are two driving forces of today's business success. However, with fundamentally different concepts, some aspects of lean management may negatively affect a company's capability to be successful with certain types of innovations. This paper develops a framework to analyze such impacts. With comparisons between the lean culture, lean design, lean supply chain management and lean human resource management with the characteristics and contributing factors of different types of innovations, five propositions are presented. Each proposition can be tested through several hypothesis tests in future work. In addition, different strategies for a company to achieve the balance and maintain lean and innovation at the same time are also discussed. Advantages, disadvantages, and suitable situations for each strategy are analyzed.

Abstract The increasing role of project management methodologies in managing large or small projects remains a key challenge for many organisations. In the UK, PRINCE2 is the most used methodology. Its use is prolific in the private and public sectors; while the ...

The braking system is an important part of an automobile. During the braking, the brake pads pressed against the rotating disc. it retards the motion of the rotor. During this action lot of heat energy is generated. If the generated heat is more than the expected limit then it will cause a serious problem. At high temperature, the brake fade will cause. Brake pad material should have enough coefficient of friction they will retard the motion of the rotor and also may block the rotor. Previously Asbestos is used as a brake pad material but the Asbestos harms environmental health as well as human health. So, the use of Asbestos is prohibited. Currently, a lot of research is going on to find out the brake pad material which will replace the Asbestos. In this paper, some of the suitable brake pad materials are suggested. These materials are as follows: Carbon Fibre, S 2 Glass Fibre, 60% Al6061 +40% Al 2 O 3 , ZrO 2 , SiC. To select the best material based on their properties the MACBETH method is used. the main output of the MACBETH method is the overall MACBETH score. Carbon fibre shows the highest overall MACBETH score. The best material selected is Carbon fibre. By using Carbon fibre as a brake pad material, static structural and thermomechanical analysis is performed on the brake disc. This analysis is performed in ANSYS Workbench. In this analysis, the deformation and Von misses' stresses are found out. It is found that the results obtained in the thermomechanical analysis are within the expected limit. So, the design is safe. We can use Carbon fibre as a brake pad material.

Although legal personality has slowly begun to be granted to non-human entities that have a direct impact on the natural functioning of human societies (given their cultural significance), the same cannot be said for computer-based intelligence systems. While this notion has not had a significantly negative impact on humanity to this point in time that only remains the case because advanced computerised intelligence systems (ACIS) have not been acknowledged as reaching human-like levels. With the integration of ACIS in medical assistive technologies such as companion robots and bionics, our legal treatment of ACIS must also adapt-least society faces legal challenges that may potentially lead to legally sanctioned discriminatory treatment. For this reason, this article exposes the complexity of normalizing definitions of "natural" human subjects, clarifies how current bioethical discourse has been unable to effectively guide ACIS integration into implanted and external artefacts, and argues for the establishment of legal delineations between various ACIS-human mergers in reference to legal protections and obligations internationally.