Effect of Technological Innovation on Personnel Skill of Selected Manufacturing Firms in Nigeria

Technology in any organization that has a significant influence on the quality and quantity of production of its goods or services. But despite this, technology is prone to constant change which organizations have to monitor, manage and cope with. Manufacturing firm that will like to be competitive and profitable should ensure that employees are trained and involved in the management of technological innovation for organizational survival. But most organization tends to undermine the contribution of employee in managing technological innovation, the outcome of which are low profitability and performance. This study examines how technological innovation influence personnel skill of manufacturing firms in Nigeria It also seeks to determine effective method of using technological innovation for improved performance in the Nigerian manufacturing firm. Two hypotheses were formulated to determine the relationship between technological innovation and personnel skill; and between technological innovation and performance. Question based on the hypotheses were formulated and 300 questionnaires were distributed to select 10 manufacturing firms in foods and beverages firms in Nigeria. Findings reveal that personnel skill do not have significant relationship with technological innovation. The study recommends that personnel skill should be considered in the management technological innovation for profitability, competitiveness and survival of the Nigerian Manufacturing firm

LEOPARD lightweight encryption operation permutation addition rotation and diffusion

Tactical unmanned vehicles are commonly used to conduct tasks (e.g. monitor and surveillance) in various civilian applications from a remote location. The characteristics of the wireless communication link allows attackers to monitor and manipulate the operation of the unmanned vehicle through passive and active attacks. Cryptography is selected as a countermeasure to mitigate these threats; however, a drawback of using cryptography is the impact on the energy consumed by the unmanned vehicle as energy is often constrained and limits the duration of the mission time. This paper introduces the Lightweight Encryption Operation Permutation Addition Rotation and Diffusion (LEOPARD) cryptographic primitive with a benchmark performance analysis against the standardised Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Results indicate that LEOPARD is a feasible encryption approach in comparison to the AES encryption algorithm for unmanned vehicles with an average performance increase of 8%

The affect of two cryptographic constructs on QoS and QoE for unmanned control vehicles

Unmanned control vehicles are used for a variety of scenarios where the user can conduct a task from a remote location; scenarios include surveillance, disaster recovery and agricultural farming. The operation of unmanned vehicles is generally conducted over a wireless communication medium. The nature of the wireless broadcast allows attackers to exploit security vulnerabilities through passive and active attacks; consequently, cryptography is often selected as a countermeasure to the aforementioned attacks. This paper analyses simulation undertaken to identify the affect of cryptographic constructs on the Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) of controlling an unmanned vehicle. Results indicate that standardised AEAD cryptographic approaches can increase the additional distance travelled by a unmanned vehicle over multiple hops communications up to 110 meters per second

A novel block cipher design paradigm for secured communication

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are commonly used to conduct tasks (e.g. monitor and surveillance) in various civilian applications from a remote location. Wireless communications (i.e. radio frequency) are often used to remotely pilot the UAV and stream data back to the operator. The characteristics of the wireless communication channel allows attackers to monitor and manipulate the operation of the UAV through passive and active attacks. Cryptography is selected as a countermeasure to mitigate these threats; however, a drawback of using cryptography is the impact on the real-time operation and performance of the UAV. This paper proposes the Permutation Substitution Network (PSN) design paradigm with an instance presented which isthe Alternative Advanced Encryption Standard (AAES) and analysis of its performance against the standardised Substitution Permutation Network (SPN) design paradigm the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Results indicate that using the PSN paradigm is a feasible approach in comparison to the SPN design paradigm

CORRELATION BETWEEN OPEN REPORTING SYSTEM OF PERFORMANCE EVALUATION AND TEACHERS PERCEIVED PRODUCTIVITY IN LAGOS STATE

The study examined the relationship between open reporting system of performance evaluation and teachers’ perceived productivity in Lagos State. The descriptive survey design was used for the study. The sample comprises of three hundred teachers randomly selected from five secondary schools in each of the six Education Districts of Lagos State. A modified Likert type questionnaire was prepared and used to collect data for the study. Pearson product moment correlation co-efficient was used for data analysis. The result of the analysis shows that there existed a significant relationship (P =0.05) between the open reporting system of performance appraisal, on the one hand, perceived teachers’ productivity and teachers’ potential for advancement on the other. Consequently, it was suggested among other things, that teachers performance appraisal system should be based on objectivity and be devoid of prejudices and biases

Protective Roles of Adansonia digitata (African Baobab), Cucumeropsis mannii (Melon), and Abelmoschus esculentus (Okro) Supplemented Diets against Cadmium-Induced Lipotoxicity, Bone Demineralization, and Cytotoxicity in Rabbits

The present study was undertaken to investigate the protective roles of Adansonia digitata (African baobab) Cucumeropsis mannii (Melon), Abelmoschus esculentus (Okro),  on lipid profile, bone health, and selected organs (liver, kidney, brain, and testis) against cadmium-induced toxicity in rabbits. Twenty male rabbits were grouped into five with four rabbits in each group. Group 1 served as positive control and received standard feed and 1.5 mg/kg body weight normal saline, group 2 served as negative control and were exposed to 1.5 mg/kg body weight cadmium chloride, group 3 received 1.5 mg/kg body weight cadmium Adansonia digitata supplemented feed, group 4 received 1.5 mg/kg body weight cadmium chloride and Citrullus lanatus supplemented feed, while group 5 were given 1.5 mg/kg body weight cadmium chloride and Abelmoschus esculentus supplemented feed. All administrations were orally and lasted for 28 days. At the end of the administration, blood, liver, kidney, brain, and testes were harvested from the rabbits for biochemical and histological analysis. One-way analysis of variance followed by Turkey’s test was used to analyze the results with p < 0.05 considered significant. The results revealed that cadmium exposure caused a significant increase in serum total cholesterol, triacylglycerol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration, and atherogenic index in rabbits exposed to cadmium. Cadmium exposure also reduced bone calcium concentration. Adansonia digitata maintained the atherogenic index of plasma at 2.67 compared with the positive control group (2.66). The three vegetables reversed the cadmium-induced up-regulation of total cholesterol and triacylglycerol in the liver, kidney, and brain but not in the testis. All the vegetables also restored bone calcium. Citrullus lanatus and Abelmoschus esculentus prevented organ damage induced by cadmium exposure. These vegetables however play different protective roles against cadmium exposed rabbits

‘Communicating development’–a cultural shift: emerging discourses on entrepreneurial development and poverty reduction by Nigeria’s banking and microfinance sectors

This article departs from the dominant orthodoxies in discourses on communication and development by introducing, as a major cultural shift, theoryguided strategic communication themes in two complementary sectors of Nigeria’s financial industry: banking and microfinance. In both sectors, the personal influence model and relationship marketing provide the overarching theoretical framework for investigating the immanence (or lack thereof) of three key variables in the relationships of those sectors with their primary stakeholders, for the primary purpose of entrepreneurial development and poverty reduction. Those variables – trust, commitment and satisfaction – are subsumed under ‘relationship quality’, an embodiment of culture as an integral part of the impact of microfinance on Nigeria’s economy. This article adopts a development strategy that focuses exclusively on relationships established and sustained in exchanges between nonpublic organisations (i.e., the banking and microfinance industries) and key stakeholders for the primary purpose of entrepreneurial development fueled by a cultural economy that ensures the production and wide distribution of finished products, not necessarily commodities. Thematic discourses that use theories to guide institutional policies and actions are proffered in an attempt to create stronger institutional bonds between banking and microfinance institutions and their disparate stakeholders

Simulating and modelling the impact of secure communication latency for closed loop control

Closed loop control systems have been implemented to conduct a variety of tasks (e.g. manufacturing and automation). Industrial Control System (ICS) have been used to regulate a closed loop process; however, ICS are exposed to the same security vulnerabilities associated with enterprise networks. Cryptography has been deployed to overcome the associated data communication weaknesses between each ICS node through the use of block ciphers; however, the drawback of applying cryptographic algorithms to ICS is the additional communication latency. This paper investigates the relationship between security constructs and latency for closed loop control system with test conducted in a simulated environment. A case scenario is illustrated to demonstrate the impact of the results obtained to a real world context

Numerical Comparison of Line Search Criteria in Nonlinear Conjugate Gradient Algorithms

One of the open problems known to researchers on the application of nonlinear conjugate gradient methods for addressing unconstrained optimization problems is the influence of accuracy of linear search procedure on the performance of the conjugate gradient algorithm. Key to any CG algorithm is the computation of an optimalstep size for which many procedures have been postulated. In this paper, we assess and compare the performance of a modified Armijo and Wolfe line search procedures on three variants of nonlinear CGM by carrying out a numerical test. Experiments reveal that our modified procedure and the strong Wolfe procedures guaranteed fast convergence

Microfinance Banks and Entrepreneurship Development in Nigeria: A Case of Ogun State

The purpose of this study was to determine how microfinance impacts on entrepreneurship development in Nigeria with a special reference to Ogun State. The survey research design was adopted and data collected through questionnaires. The impact of microfinance on entrepreneurship development in Nigeria was analyzed using the Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression method. The study revealed the existence of positive relationship between microfinance and entrepreneurship development in Nigeria. It further revealed that microfinance contribute to entrepreneurial activities that can lead to sustainable development in Nigeria. The findings of this study show that microfinance institutions go a long way in the determination of the level of entrepreneurial productivity and development in the Nigerian economy. In order to enhance entrepreneurship which is a potent instrument of activating the economic growth in developing countries, job creation, wealth creation, poverty eradication, innovations, and its related welfare effects by microfinance, the study recommended that in order to enable the beneficiaries of micro finance schemes to fully appreciate the utility of the facility, the monetary authority (CBN) must continue to appraise the credit delivery channels and formulate policies that would facilitate the delivery of the facilities to the rural communities. Microfinance institutions need to put in more effort in financing entrepreneurial activities that can promote economic growth accessible to the poor, reform of the legal system to offer more protection to investors and creditors and also establishment of credit information exchange mechanism that would track all borrowings and repayments in the banking system no matter the size. Key words: Entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, microfinance bank, microfinance, loan