Affordances, constraints and information flows as ‘leverage points’ in design for sustainable behaviour

Copyright @ 2012 Social Science Electronic PublishingTwo of Donella Meadows' 'leverage points' for intervening in systems (1999) seem particularly pertinent to design for sustainable behaviour, in the sense that designers may have the scope to implement them in (re-)designing everyday products and services. The 'rules of the system' -- interpreted here to refer to affordances and constraints -- and the structure of information flows both offer a range of opportunities for design interventions to in fluence behaviour change, and in this paper, some of the implications and possibilities are discussed with reference to parallel concepts from within design, HCI and relevant areas of psychology

The Shifting Imaginaries of Corporate Crime

This article begins by setting out an analysis of the process of conventionalizing corporate crime that arises from the symbiotic relationship between states and corporations. Noting briefly the empirical characteristics of four broad categories of corporate crime and harm, the article then turns to explore the role of the state in its production and reproduction. We then problematize the role of the state in the reproduction of corporate crime at the level of the global economy, through the “crimes of globalization” and “ecocide,” warning of the tendency in the research literature to oversimplify the role of states and of international organizations. The article finishes by arguing that, as critical academics, it is our role to ensure that corporate crime is never normalized and fully conventionalized in advanced capitalist societies

An analysis of social skills generalization in two natural settings.

The interactional behavior of two groups of elderly mentally retarded residents of a community facility was measured in two generalization situations before, during, and after one group received social skills training. The training group received social skills training within a game format, whereas the contrast group simply played a game with no emphasis on interactional behavior. Results suggested that generalization to natural interactional situations may be delayed following training and that it is more likely in some situations (i.e., with trained peers) than others (i.e., in the presence of untrained peers)

Obscuring Corporate Violence: corporate manslaughter in action

In April 2008, the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act (CMCHAct) 2007 came into force in the UK. Since then, the Act has failed to live up to expectations, resulting in only 26 convictions in the first decade of its existence, despite thousands of work-related fatalities during this time. This article critically analyses these CMCHAct prosecutions in order to chronicle the problems of the law in action and to demonstrate how the Act serves to downplay the seriousness corporate killing. In so doing we approach law as an “active discourse” that is mutually constitutive of the broader social formation, so that it both creates but is also a product of the capitalist social order. Thus we explore the extent to which the CMCHAct ultimately privileges dominant beliefs that corporate killing is not ‘true’ crime and that corporate capitalism is an inherent good that must be defended, not disrupted

Non-resonant phase sensitive approach for time resolved microwave conductivity in photoactive thin films

Time-resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC) is a contactless technique utilized for the investigation of carrier density, transport properties, trapping phenomena, and recombination parameters in charge transport materials. Traditional TRMC methods rely on resonant cavities or resonators, which impose limitations on the frequency range and accuracy of measurements. In this study, we introduce an innovative approach that employs a non-resonant coplanar transmission line and a microwave interferometric detection scheme to investigate the phase-dependent complex microwave conductivity. Additionally, we demonstrate unique calibration techniques for determining the absolute complex microwave conductivity by combining transient photoconductivity (TPC) and electron spin resonance (ESR) as complementary methods. By utilizing a phase-sensitive microwave interferometer, our detection scheme significantly enhances measurement sensitivity and eliminates the need for a resonant cavity. This broadband detection system enables direct measurement of phase-dependent changes in film conductivity (Δσ). Moreover, it allows us to measure subtle variations in sample photoconductivity upon optical excitation and accommodates greatly restricted volumes (∼nL) consistent with typical device sizes. Here we demonstrate the utility of this technique on a series of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and the electron acceptor [6,6]-phenylC61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) thin films with varying concentrations of PCBM and film thickness