Mechanical Engineering-Conference Papers
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Browsing Mechanical Engineering-Conference Papers by Author "Falade, F."
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- ItemOpen AccessImplementation of Road Maintenance Works in Nigeria, using Labour- based Methods and Technology’(1996-12-07) Falade, F.Roads form an integral part of our lives and provide means of safe and economic transport of goods and people for various purposes. Presently, majority of our roads both in rural areas and urban centre are in a deplorable state because simple functional defects on them are being left to degenerate to structural defects due to lack of timely maintenance. The existing maintenance procedure is equipment intensive. The aging machineries require spare parts, refurbishment or utter replacement but the deregulation of the economy and devaluation of Naira have made it almost impossible to acquire these items, therefore, road maintenance suffers a serious neglect. In this paper, the existing maintenance methods and their short-comings are examined. Alternative methods are presented for rehabilitation and maintenance of roads at local, state and federal levels to an acceptable performance level throughout the year. Labour - and equipment - based construction methods of infrastructure are compared using a pilot project: Rehabilitation and maintenance of an existing Noforija - Imokun Yewa Road at Epe, as a case study. Labour - based methods and technologies are recommended as versatile tools to achieve an efficient way of keeping the roads in good condition considering the high level of available local resources and reduction In maintenance cost.
- ItemOpen AccessQuality Of Physical Facilities And Human Resources For Engineering Education In Africa.(2011-09) Falade, F.This paper assesses the quality of the facilities and resources for the training of engineers in some countries in Africa. The facilities are classified into internal and external. The internal facilities and resources are those within the training institutions while the external ones are those in the industry for use by the engineering students during the industrial attachment and after graduation for professional development training that is usually organized by professional body in each country. The internal facilities include classroom and laboratory spaces, teaching and research equipment, information communication technologies, library and periodicals while the external facilities includes office equipment and design software as well as projects to work on. In the training institutions and industry, highly skilled and experienced academics and practicing engineers are needed for proper transfer of skill to the prospective engineering graduates but to a large extent they are lacking. The basic infrastructure (energy and water) is in a poor state especially in the laboratories for the basic sciences as well as in the laboratories and workshops for engineering and technology; the situation is similar in the industry.Each country sets minimum standards (human and non-human resources) comparable to International Standards for engineering education but in general the minimum standards are hardly met quantitatively and qualitatively in most African Universities. The inadequacies in teaching, laboratory and workshop facilities as well as manpower for capacity building contribute to the diminution of the quality of engineering graduates in Africa. In order to improve the quality of facilities, the skills and abilities of the engineering personnel in the training institutions and industry, there is need for adequate funding. Partnership between universities and industry needs to be strengthened with the universities providing the platform for the creation of knowledge and the development of human resources while the industry provides platform for the commercialization of the research outputs.