title: Teaching sustainability in design: assessing the usability of the design for amelioration tool

authors: Lubis, Pierre Yohanes

abstract: Purpose
This study aims to evaluate the usability and effectiveness of the Design for Amelioration (DfA) tool in an educational setting, examining its reception among industrial design students, its impact on the design process and areas for potential improvement.

Design/methodology/approach
A cohort of second- and third-year industrial design students applied the DfA tool in their studio projects over a 12-week period, using its structured framework to guide their decision-making. By incorporating people, planet and profit, the tool encouraged students to balance social responsibility, environmental impact and economic viability in their designs. After project completion, focus group discussions were conducted to gather insights into students’ experiences.

Findings
The findings indicate that the DfA tool was well-received, with students finding it accessible and beneficial in structuring their design process around sustainability. They appreciated its ability to promote holistic thinking across the three sustainability pillars, though they suggested refinements such as greater flexibility between stages and optional weightings for each pillar.

Originality/value
This study underscores the importance of structured sustainability tools in design education and provides insights into how tools like the DfA can be refined to enhance pedagogical impact. The findings contribute to sustainable design education discourse and highlight the role of usability-focused tools in shaping future design practices.

text: Teaching sustainability in design: assessing the usability of the design for amelioration tool Purpose
This study aims to evaluate the usability and effectiveness of the Design for Amelioration (DfA) tool in an educational setting, examining its reception among industrial design students, its impact on the design process and areas for potential improvement.

Design/methodology/approach
A cohort of second- and third-year industrial design students applied the DfA tool in their studio projects over a 12-week period, using its structured framework to guide their decision-making. By incorporating people, planet and profit, the tool encouraged students to balance social responsibility, environmental impact and economic viability in their designs. After project completion, focus group discussions were conducted to gather insights into students’ experiences.

Findings
The findings indicate that the DfA tool was well-received, with students finding it accessible and beneficial in structuring their design process around sustainability. They appreciated its ability to promote holistic thinking across the three sustainability pillars, though they suggested refinements such as greater flexibility between stages and optional weightings for each pillar.

Originality/value
This study underscores the importance of structured sustainability tools in design education and provides insights into how tools like the DfA can be refined to enhance pedagogical impact. The findings contribute to sustainable design education discourse and highlight the role of usability-focused tools in shaping future design practices.

year: 2025

title: Pseudovertical Temperature Profiles Give Insight into Winter Evolution of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer over the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica

authors: Zawar-Reza, Peyman

subjects: boundary layer

abstract: Measuring routine vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature is critical in understanding stability and the dynamics of the boundary layer. Routine monitoring in remote areas such as the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) of Antarctica is logistically difficult and expensive. Pseudovertical profiles that were derived from a network of inexpensive ground temperature sensors planted on valley sidewalls (up to 330 m above valley floor), together with data from a weather station and a numerical weather prediction model, provided a long-term climatological description of the evolution of the winter boundary layer over the MDV. In winter, persistent valley cold pools (VCPs) were common, lasting up to 2 weeks. The VCPs were eroded by warm-air advection from aloft associated with strong winds, increasing the temperature of the valley by as much as 25 K. Pseudovertical datasets as described here can be used for model validation.

text: Pseudovertical Temperature Profiles Give Insight into Winter Evolution of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer over the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica Measuring routine vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature is critical in understanding stability and the dynamics of the boundary layer. Routine monitoring in remote areas such as the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) of Antarctica is logistically difficult and expensive. Pseudovertical profiles that were derived from a network of inexpensive ground temperature sensors planted on valley sidewalls (up to 330 m above valley floor), together with data from a weather station and a numerical weather prediction model, provided a long-term climatological description of the evolution of the winter boundary layer over the MDV. In winter, persistent valley cold pools (VCPs) were common, lasting up to 2 weeks. The VCPs were eroded by warm-air advection from aloft associated with strong winds, increasing the temperature of the valley by as much as 25 K. Pseudovertical datasets as described here can be used for model validation.

year: 2013

title: Contextualizing Indigenous people and the state of exception: New Zealand's Waikeria Prison protest

authors: Martin, Jessica

abstract: On Tuesday, December 29, 2020, 16 protesters at Waikeria Prison, one of New Zealand's largest male prisons, engaged in a six-day standoff with prison guards to protest inhumane prison conditions. The Department of Corrections framed the event as an aimless riot, delegitimizing the intentional demonstration of resistance against state violence. Imprisoned intellectuals, specifically Imprisoned Black Radical tradition, have long examined and centered the prison as the harshest instrument of the state linked to the struggles of the collective. However, voices from imprisoned intellectuals are rarely considered in academic scholarship despite acute analysis of the state and liberation. This article employs the state of exception to contextualize the Waikeria protest. Particular attention is devoted to the ‘state of continuity,’ which allows for a broader understanding of a permanent state of racialized oppression and marginalization faced by Indigenous and Black communities in racialized-settler-colonial contexts. Populations designated as the exception are thus framed as a threat targeted for militaristic police intervention. This article concludes by extending the discussion of the state of continuity to include how expressions of rage and dissent by Indigenous and Black people are viewed as a direct threat to the sovereign order but are necessary for revolutionary change.

text: Contextualizing Indigenous people and the state of exception: New Zealand's Waikeria Prison protest On Tuesday, December 29, 2020, 16 protesters at Waikeria Prison, one of New Zealand's largest male prisons, engaged in a six-day standoff with prison guards to protest inhumane prison conditions. The Department of Corrections framed the event as an aimless riot, delegitimizing the intentional demonstration of resistance against state violence. Imprisoned intellectuals, specifically Imprisoned Black Radical tradition, have long examined and centered the prison as the harshest instrument of the state linked to the struggles of the collective. However, voices from imprisoned intellectuals are rarely considered in academic scholarship despite acute analysis of the state and liberation. This article employs the state of exception to contextualize the Waikeria protest. Particular attention is devoted to the ‘state of continuity,’ which allows for a broader understanding of a permanent state of racialized oppression and marginalization faced by Indigenous and Black communities in racialized-settler-colonial contexts. Populations designated as the exception are thus framed as a threat targeted for militaristic police intervention. This article concludes by extending the discussion of the state of continuity to include how expressions of rage and dissent by Indigenous and Black people are viewed as a direct threat to the sovereign order but are necessary for revolutionary change.

year: 2024-05-16