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This paper aims to explore how young students experience the contribution of a pedagogical assemblage based on design thinking (DT) while contributing to the transition to a more just and sustainable university.

This qualitative research considers the case of two pedagogical experiences developed at Universitat Politècnica de Valencià, Spain. In both experiences, a methodological proposal that includes practices of care, just transitions and DT was implemented. The data obtained through in-depth interviews, surveys and digital whiteboard labels was analyzed under the lens of three relational categories in the context of sustainability.

Learnings are acquired through five categories: place-based learning, prior learning, embodied learning, collaborative teamwork and intersectionality. The research shows how the subjective knowledge of young students positions them as co-designers and leaders of a University that drives a more just and sustainable transition.

The originality of the paper lies in the shift of DT from a human-based approach to a justice-oriented relational approach.

Financial mathematics is one of the most rapidly evolving fields in today’s banking and cooperative industries. In the current study, a new fractional differentiation operator with a nonsingular kernel based on the Robotnov fractional exponential function (RFEF) is considered for the Black–Scholes model, which is the most important model in finance. For simulations, homotopy perturbation and the Laplace transform are used and the obtained solutions are expressed in terms of the generalized Mittag-Leffler function (MLF).

The homotopy perturbation method (HPM) with the help of the Laplace transform is presented here to check the behaviours of the solutions of the Black–Scholes model. HPM is well known for its accuracy and simplicity.

In this attempt, the exact solutions to a famous financial market problem, namely, the BS option pricing model, are obtained using homotopy perturbation and the LT method, where the fractional derivative is taken in a new YAC sense. We obtained solutions for each financial market problem in terms of the generalized Mittag-Leffler function.

The Black–Scholes model is presented using a new kind of operator, the Yang-Abdel-Aty-Cattani (YAC) operator. That is a new concept. The revised model is solved using a well-known semi-analytic technique, the homotopy perturbation method (HPM), with the help of the Laplace transform. Also, the obtained solutions are compared with the exact solutions to prove the effectiveness of the proposed work. The different characteristics of the solutions are investigated for different values of fractional-order derivatives.

We present an approach for pricing American put options with a regime-switching volatility. Our method reveals that the option price can be expressed as the sum of two components: the price of a European put option and the premium associated with the early exercise privilege. Our analysis demonstrates that, under these conditions, the perpetual put option consistently commands a higher price during periods of high volatility compared to those of low volatility. Moreover, we establish that the optimal exercise boundary is lower in high-volatility regimes than in low-volatility regimes. Additionally, we develop an analytical framework to describe American puts with an Erlang-distributed random-time horizon, which allows us to propose a numerical technique for approximating the value of American puts with finite expiry. We also show that a combined approach involving randomization and Richardson extrapolation can be a robust numerical algorithm for estimating American put prices with finite expiry.

This study aims to investigate the behavior of the green biomass-derived copper (lignin/silica/fatty acids) complex, copper lignin/silica/fatty acids (Cu-LSF) complex, when incorporated into the nonpolar ethylene propylene diene (EPDFM) rubber matrix, focusing on its reinforcing and antioxidant effect on the resulting EPDM composites.

The structure of the prepared EPDM composites was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and the dispersion of the additive fillers and antioxidants in the EPDM matrix was investigated using scanning electron microscopy. Also, the rheometric characteristics, mechanical properties, swelling behavior and thermal gravimetric analysis of all the prepared EPDM composites were explored as well.

Results revealed that the Cu-LSF complex dispersed well in the nonpolar EPDM rubber matrix, in thepresence of coupling system, with enhanced Cu-LSF-rubber interactions and increased cross-linking density, which reflected on the improved rheological and mechanical properties of the resulting EPDM composites. From the various investigations performed in the current study, the authors can suggest 7–11 phr is the optimal effective concentration of Cu-LSF complex loading. Interestingly, EPDM composites containing Cu-LSF complex showed better antiaging performance, thermal stability and fluid resistance, when compared with those containing the commercial antioxidants (2,2,4-trimethyl-1,2-dihydroquinoline and N-isopropyl-N’-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine). These findings are in good agreement with our previous study on polar nitrile butadiene rubber.

The current study suggests the green biomass-derived Cu-LSF complex to be a promising low-cost and environmentally safe alternative filler and antioxidant to the hazardous commercial ones.

While the potential of human resource practices (HRPs) for promoting performance is widely recognized, even though crucial, employees’ assessment of HRPs remains under-researched, especially in emerging economies. Hence, the purpose of this research is to examine the influence of employee satisfaction with HRPs on job performance through the mediating role of job dedication (JD) and the moderating role of incentive gamification.

The current research adopts a quantitative method. Specifically, using a questionnaire survey, 418 valid responses collected (through purposive sampling) via cross-sectional method from the employees of Nigerian Information and Communication Technology (ICT) firms were used to test the research hypotheses empirically.

The results revealed that satisfaction with HRPs has a positive influence on job performance. Satisfaction with human resource practices has a positive influence on job dedication. Job dedication has a positive influence on job performance. The link between employees’ satisfaction with human resource practices and job performance is mediated by job dedication. The link between satisfaction with human resource practices and job dedication is moderated by incentive gamification, that is, the positive link is stronger when incentive gamification is high. The link between satisfaction with human resource practices and job performance is moderated by incentive gamification, that is, the positive link is stronger when incentive gamification is high.

The current study highlights the importance of employees’ assessments of human resource practices, which may be used to promote employee dedication, which in turn results in improved performance. The findings are helpful to open the black box of the impact of satisfaction with HRPs on job performance. The results also offer important new valuable guidance for practitioners and will aid the management of human resource practice design, audits, and communication.

This paper explores organization-level racialized work strategies for maintaining racialized organizations (Ray, 2019). It focuses on intentional actions to maintain dominant racial norms, demonstrating how work strategies are informed by dominant racial structures that maintain racial inequities.

We compiled a chronological case study (Yin, 2012) based on 168 news media articles and various organizational documents to examine responses to athlete protests at the University of Texas at Austin following the death of George Floyd. Gioia et al.’s (2013) method uncovered how dominant racial norms inform organizational behaviors.

The paper challenges institutional theory neutrality and identifies several racialized work strategies that organizations employ to maintain racialized norms and practices. The findings provide a framework for organizations to interrogate their strategies and their role in reproducing dominant racial norms and inequities.

In 2020, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement was reinvigorated within sporting and corporate domains. However, many organizations engaged in performativity, sparking criticism about meaningful change in organizational contexts. Our case study examines how one organization responded to athlete activists’ BLM-fueled demands, revealing specific racialized work strategies that maintain structures of racism. As organizations worldwide disrupt and discuss oppressive structures such as racism, we demonstrate how organizational leadership, while aware of policies and practices of racism, may choose not to act and actively maintain such structures.

Lead is a well-established environmental contaminant that over the last 50 years has become recognized as a neurotoxin with its greatest concern for the developing child (i.e. both in-utero and postnatally). What is problematic is that children exposed to lead often come from lower socioeconomic status (SES), are largely Black communities and are further at increased risk for developing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The literature on ACEs had focused much on trauma, single parenting, child abuse, lack of finances and stress, etc., but has not considered the intersectionality of these ACEs as risk factors within environmental neurotoxic exposures such as lead poisoning. This is important as most low SES communities are Black. In particular, within the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), Black families have been neglected of proper lead-abatement to their apartments for nearly 70 years.

This is a viewpoint/perspective paper that examines the lived experiences of Black folxs in NYCHA through a Black critical theory (BlackCrit) and antiblackness framework pertaining to ACEs, and lead poisoning within the NYCHA system of New York City. This perspective paper draws upon the last three years of news reports, five decades of publicly available data sets from NYCHA and the comptroller to raise an awareness of how Black children are treated by NYCHA generation after generation which can be argued as a mass atrocity against NYCHA residents. Furthermore, the systematic and institutionalized racism and environmental injustices by NYCHA and the state can also be considered as a crime against humanity. As such, BlackCrit could help to position awareness, advocacy and knowledge about Black folxs residing in NYCHA to achieve fair, safe and affordable public housing to experience Black joy across future generations.

Thus, rather than civic and state government response efforts focusing their full attention and resources to serving and supporting individuals affected by ACEs they should equally consider the environments in which Black people live and also allocate funds proportionally to address these areas often overlooked. Moreover, proportions of these funds should be redirected especially to lead-abatement and removal of known sources of lead exposures, evaluation of suspected sources of lead exposures (i.e. drinking water, baby food and formula, children’s juice and cereal products, superfund and other waste sites, electronic recycling plants, etc.) and accompanied by all affected children undergoing full and comprehensive neuropsychological testing and follow up studies paid for by the state. The goal should have two fundamental objectives: (1) accepting accountability for failing to address these preventable neuropsychological issues directly affecting Black children generation after generation and (2) offering the proper waived or reimbursable supports and resources to help Black children sustain the best quality of life (QOL) trajectory possible when diagnosed with lead poisoning.

The manuscript is a viewpoint/perspective paper grounded in BlackCrit and an antiblackness framework. There are ample public news reports and public data available from NYCHA on these matters over the last three years. However, the scope of this paper was not to delve too deep into these numbers per se, but rather to address the concerns leading up to and arguably contributing to, at least in part, to these numbers of lead-exposed Black children in NYCHA. Lead poisoning has never been considered as an ACE and its relationship to mass atrocity research is novel which may pave a new avenue for research of this kind through the utility of BlackCrit and antiblackness framework to support and advocate for change so that Black children can be provided with a basic human right of safe housing and experience Black joy.

BlackCrit has not been used in the context of lead poisoning research. Mostly individuals and families of middle- and low-income have been studied in the context of poverty and lead poisoning. However, many people who live in poverty, in public housing, within New York are Black. Thus, Black children are generation after generation exposed to unaddressed lead-abatement and it appears that now more than ever BlackCrit should become the framework for how this work should be discussed in the literature to raise awareness to state governments regarding Black folx's persistent lead poisoning, NYCHA's neglect and mass atrocity research as a long overdue advocacy effort to bring the necessary voice, authentic narrative, and actual knowledge of the lived experiences of Black families in NYCHA with lead poisoning.

The goal of this viewpoint/perspective paper should have two fundamental objectives (1) NYCHA and New York State accepting accountability for failing to address these preventable lead poisoning issues directly affecting Black children; and (2) offering the proper support and resources to help Black children sustain the best QOL trajectory possible when diagnosed with lead poisoning.

Lead poisoning research has never been approached through a mass atrocity and BlackCrit framework and perspective. This is the first report on bridging these fields within the context of NYCHA public housing neglect of lead-abatement and continued poisoning of current and future generations of Black children. This failure of NYCHA lead-abatement contributes annually to economic loss in New York State for many years to come which could be entirely avoided.

This study aims to stimulate scholarly attention and practical application pertaining to individuals recognized as “Docs.” Through conducting a comprehensive analysis and acquiring a profound understanding of its many connotations, the objective is to shift attitudes and approaches concerning those who are seen to possess knowledge and value within society.

For this study, culturally relevant pedagogies were used as theoretical frameworks in addition to Sankofa and concept explication being used as methodologies.

The authors identified three themes: (1) honorary cultural practice-community nomination of “professahs” and “docs,” (2) (Black) robinhoods – cultural signifiers of distinction and relatability and (3) docs as catalysts – elevating community via consciousness, trust and mentorship as significant understandings of this distinction.

The study emphasizes the importance of “Docs” in both academic and social contexts. The role of “Docs” serves to alleviate potential conflicts of being a Black intellectual. This study further reveals the ways in which Docs align with, promote or possibly undermine established frameworks of thought. Finally, this study provides institutions with opportunities to consider strategies for the utilization, recognition and integration of individuals who are frequently overlooked or undervalued.

The potential of vehicle ad hoc networks (VANETs) to improve driver and passenger safety and security has made them a hot topic in the field of intelligent transportation systems (ITSs). VANETs have different characteristics and system architectures from mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), with a primary focus on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication. But protecting VANETs from malicious assaults is crucial because they can undermine network security and safety.

The black hole attack is a well-known danger to VANETs. It occurs when a hostile node introduces phony routing tables into the network, potentially damaging it and interfering with communication. A safe ad hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV) routing protocol has been created in response to this issue. By adding cryptographic features for source and target node verification to the route request (RREQ) and route reply (RREP) packets, this protocol improves upon the original AODV routing system.

Through the use of cryptographic-based encryption and decryption techniques, the suggested method fortifies the VANET connection. In addition, other network metrics are taken into account to assess the effectiveness of the secure AODV routing protocol under black hole attacks, including packet loss, end-to-end latency, packet delivery ratio (PDR) and routing request overhead. Results from simulations using an NS-2.33 simulator show how well the suggested fix works to enhance system performance and lessen the effects of black hole assaults on VANETs.

All things considered, the safe AODV routing protocol provides a strong method for improving security and dependability in VANET systems, protecting against malevolent attacks and guaranteeing smooth communication between cars and infrastructure.

The research aims to investigate the impact of thermo-mechanical aging on SBR under cyclic-loading. By conducting experimental analyses and developing a 3D finite element analysis (FEA) model, it seeks to understand chemical and physical changes during aging processes. This research provides insights into nonlinear mechanical behavior, stress softening and microstructural alterations in SBR compounds, improving material performance and guiding future strategies.

This study combines experimental analyses, including cyclic tensile loading, attenuated total reflection (ATR), spectroscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) line scans, to investigate the effects of thermo-mechanical aging (TMA) on carbon-black (CB) reinforced styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR). It employs a 3D FEA model using the Abaqus/Implicit code to comprehend the nonlinear behavior and stress softening response, offering a holistic understanding of aging processes and mechanical behavior under cyclic-loading.

This study reveals significant insights into SBR behavior during thermo-mechanical aging. Findings include surface roughness variations, chemical alterations and microstructural changes. Notably, a partial recovery of stiffness was observed as a function of CB volume fraction. The developed 3D FEA model accurately depicts nonlinear behavior, stress softening and strain fields around CB particles in unstressed states, predicting hysteresis and energy dissipation in aged SBRs.

This research offers novel insights by comprehensively investigating the impact of thermo-mechanical aging on CB-reinforced-SBR. The fusion of experimental techniques with FEA simulations reveals time-dependent mechanical behavior and microstructural changes in SBR materials. The model serves as a valuable tool for predicting material responses under various conditions, advancing the design and engineering of SBR-based products across industries.