An Agenda for Decolonising Law in Africa: Conceptualising the Curriculum

Decolonisation as a theory focus on challenging the colonial imperialist perspectives on Africa and Africans. It seeks to debunk hegemonic discourses on Africa by continually opposing and resisting those notions that cast Africans as primitive and backward.[1] Law permeates all realms of social behaviour; law is also a tool of social engineering. It is also a truism that society needs law to solve the problem of social order by protecting certain human interests.[2] Law in Africa has followed the standard and structure of the colonising powers (English, French, Spanish and Portugese) to the detriment of indigenous laws; though some African countries notably the English Speaking operate Legal Pluralism in order to include customary law. The decolonisation thesis is to jettison all that is colonial in the legal system; this idea may be laudable in principle. However, because Africa is bewildering in size with different cultures, language and political system, how will the curriculum be conceptualised. This paper therefore is an inquiry into conceptualising the Law in Africa curriculum, this becomes very necessary because it is a methodology against the experiences of insurgency against white hegemonic knowledge, social and intellectual domination.

An approach of modelling of the compaction of flax-carbon hybrid stack preforms

A model, based on the Van Wyk model, is developed to predict the compaction behaviour of stack sequence of dry fabric plies, and is used a set of 3 parameters (stiffness k, pressure sensitivity n and initial fibre ratio Vf0) with P = (k(Vf- Vf))n. The method originality is to construct the behaviour law of a complex stack sequence by the assembly of elementary behaviours. Elementary behaviours are identified using initial experimental compaction tests and are linked to the interaction of a fabric ply with its surrounding environment (another fabric ply or the surface of the compressive mould). This proposed modelling approach have been tested on various carbon, flax and carbon/flax hybrid stack sequence, and seems efficient to predict their compaction behaviour. Its validity is limited to the range of stack sequence of a reduced number of plies. With stack sequence made of numerous fabric plies, some new phenomena must be taken into account. In complement we proposed a method to decompose the compaction behavior curve into three stages (rigid body movement of the fabric plies, nesting of the plies, densification). This method is relevant to compare easily some compaction curves and to evaluate the internal strain state of a stack sequence.

Numerical prediction of cracking risk of reinforced concrete structures at early age

The paper presents a summary of the work concerning the prediction of cracking risk in reinforced concrete structures at early age that has been carried out by our team at the LMDC laboratory during the last ten years. It focuses on the principles that must be taken into account in numerical simulations (evolution of characteristics, behaviour law, numerical implementation, effect of reinforcement, etc.) in order to be able to predict the cracking pattern caused in structures by the thermal loading induced by hydration at early ages

FEATURES OF UKRAINIAN SOCIETY LAW CULTURE FORMING

In article question of law culture forming as value measuring of law persuasions is researched. Placed goal of article - determination of components and factors, that determine law culture forming. Tasks of article are determined by creating notion about components, structure and factors that form law position. Included determinations of law culture forming. Next components of law culture: law, lawrelationship, lawmind, legality and laworder, law behaviour, law socialization, law thinking, law active, lawful behaviour, system of law training and law education were placed. Connection between components of law culture was analysed, that make understand possibilities incarnation moral value in law activity and development of individe’s and state’s law culture, practical realization of law knowledge, that regulate different norms of social relationship. Led synthesis of law culture forming of personal age special features, that make conclusions about different corelations of law knowledge, law position, and presence of other components of law culture in some boards of young people and professionals. Comparative analysis of forming law culture of young people and professionals, personality and law views was made. By deductive method effectiveness of building democracy and destroying negative social phenomenon as way of forming high level of law culture was proved. Inductive and dialectical methods determine influence for separate components of law knowledge and persuasions, skills transformation of totalitary system to democracy and changes in this context moral-law value. In article analysed results of forming law culture, which may become achieved level of law behaviour, law training and erudition, development of law mind and possibility of using law knowledge, habits and skills by empiric methods were analysed. Certified, that law culture becomes показником of value of person and state.

Analysing how physical activity competes: a cross-disciplinary application of the Duplication of Behaviour Law

Background Despite the ongoing promotion of physical activity, the rates of physical inactivity remain high. Drawing on established methods of analysing consumer behaviour, this study seeks to understand how physical activity competes for finite time in a day – how Exercise and Sport compete with other everyday behaviours, and how engagement in physical activity is shared across Exercise and Sport activities. As targeted efforts are common in physical activity intervention and promotion, the existence of segmentation is also explored. Methods Time-use recall data (n = 2307 adults) is analysed using the Duplication of Behaviour Law, and tested against expected values, to document what proportion of the population that engage in one activity, also engage in another competing activity. Additionally, a Mean Absolute Deviation approach is used to test for segmentation. Results The Duplication of Behaviour Law is evident for everyday activities, and Exercise and Sport activities – all activities ‘compete’ with each other, and the prevalence of the competing activity determines the extent of competition. However, some activities compete more or less than expected, suggesting the combinations of activities that should be used or avoided in promotion efforts. Competition between everyday activities is predictable, and there are no specific activities that are sacrificed to engage in Exercise and Sport. How people share their physical activity across different Exercise and Sport activities is less predictable – Males and younger people (under 20 years) are more likely to engage in Exercise and Sport, and those who engage in Exercise and Sport are slightly more likely to Work and Study. High competition between Team Sports and Non-Team Sports suggests strong preferences for sports of different varieties. Finally, gender and age-based segmentation does not exist for Exercise and Sport relative to other everyday activities; however, segmentation does exist for Team Sports, Games, Active Play and Dance. Conclusions The Duplication of Behaviour Law demonstrates that population-level patterns of behaviour can yield insight into the competition between different activities, and how engagement in physical activity is shared across different Exercise and Sport activities. Such insights can be used to describe and predict physical activity behaviour and may be used to inform and evaluate promotion and intervention.

Identification of Mechanical Behavior Law Parameters for Polyphenylene Sulphide Composites Reinforced by Glass/Carbon Fibers, Graphite and Polytetrafluoroethylene

Mechanical behaviour law for thermoplastic polymers was established on the basis of phenomenological models. This work is intended to examine whether a constitutive equation used for thermoplastic polymers could be applied in case of their composites. G’Sell-Jonas model gave good results when used for the prediction of stress-strain characteristics at high strain rate, for semi-crystalline polymers subjected to mechanical tests. Data obtained through compressive test of polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) composites were processed by a numerical algorithm based on G’Sell-Jonas constitutive equations. Besides, a comparative analysis of experimental results and numerical model was done. The study showed clearly a good agreement between experimental and numerical results.

Comparison of Several Behaviour Laws Intended to Produce a Realistic Ti6Al4V Chip by Finite Elements Modelling

The final aim of finite elements modelling is to help in the choice of the cutting parameters and in the comprehension of the involved phenomena. Representing correctly the behaviour of the machined material is hard due to the extreme conditions encountered, although this is a key parameter to develop a realistic model. Four laws are used in this paper to represent the Ti6Al4V. They are all based on the Johnson-Cook law. This study shows that the influence of the behaviour law is high on the chip morphology and on the forces and that the strain softening phenomenon should be taken into account. For the cutting conditions adopted, it is however necessary to add damage properties in the chip to obtain a morphology and a cutting force evolution close to the experimental reference.

Constitutive Parameters of Mechanical Behaviour Law for Poly (Ether-Ether-Ketone) Based Composites with Carbon Nanotubes and Carbon Fibres

Phenomenological constitutive equations are applied successfully to predict stress-strain relationship for semi-crystalline polymers at high strain rates encountered in mechanical tests. The parameters of mechanical behaviour law for polymer composites with nanoscopic additives and carbon fibres can be identified by applying a known law over a lot of data obtained from compressive tests. The objective of this study is to investigate the applicability of the model G'Sell - Jonas in the case of poly (ether-ether-ketone) composites with carbon nanotubes and carbon fibres.

Contribution to the Determination of In Vivo Mechanical Characteristics of Human Skin by Indentation Test

This paper proposes a triphasic model of intact skin in vivo based on a general phenomenological thermohydromechanical and physicochemical (THMPC) approach of heterogeneous media. The skin is seen here as a deforming stratified medium composed of four layers and made out of different fluid-saturated materials which contain also an ionic component. All the layers are treated as linear, isotropic materials described by their own behaviour law. The numerical simulations of in vivo indentation test performed on human skin are given. The numerical results correlate reasonably well with the typical observations of indented human skin. The discussion shows the versatility of this approach to obtain a better understanding on the mechanical behaviour of human skin layers separately.