VTechWorks
VTechWorks provides global access to Virginia Tech scholarship, including journal articles, books, theses, dissertations, conference papers, slide presentations, technical reports, working papers, administrative documents, videos, images, and more by faculty, students, and staff. Faculty can deposit items to VTechWorks from Elements, including journal articles covered by the University open access policy. Email vtechworks@vt.edu for help.
Open Access Policy
Virginia Tech's open access policy enables researchers to deposit the accepted version of scholarly articles with no embargo.
Theses and Dissertations
Virginia Tech was first in the world to require ETDs in 1997, and continues to add scans of older theses and dissertations.
Open Textbooks
More than 50 freely available and openly licensed textbooks are among our most downloaded items.
Communities in VTechWorks
Select a community to browse its collections.
Recent Submissions
The Influence of Weather on Reproductive Behavior and Population Trends of Four-toed Salamanders (Hemidactylium scutatum)
Ferguson, Kalin Jo (Virginia Tech, 2026-04-10)
Environmental conditions influence amphibian reproduction, behavior, and development. Understanding these relationships is critical for developing effective management strategies to conserve populations and their habitats. However, knowledge gaps persist for many species, limiting our ability to predict responses to increasingly variable seasonal conditions driven by climate change. The first objective of this study was to further explain nest site fidelity in female four-toed salamanders (Hemidactylium scutatum) using photo-identification software (Hotspotter) to analyze individual ventral spot patterns. The second objective was to evaluate how seasonal weather patterns influenced the species' population abundance and trends over time at one site in Tennessee. I hypothesized that Hotspotter would accurately identify returning females and that females would exhibit nest site fidelity by returning to the same nesting area across multiple breeding seasons. To assess site fidelity, I used a Wilcoxon rank-sum test to compare re-nesting distances among individuals. To evaluate the effects of climate on reproduction, I examined the influence of daily maximum temperature, daily precipitation, and daily relative humidity on average clutch size and total annual nest abundance. Immediate and lagged climate effects were analyzed using a sliding window approach (1-48 months prior to nesting) within the R package climwin. I hypothesized that females would produce smaller clutches following unfavorable pre-nesting conditions and that the population would exhibit a recovery period of approximately two years. Results supported the site fidelity hypothesis, demonstrating that female-four-toed salamanders consistently rerun to the same or adjacent moss clump for oviposition. Climate analyses revealed that mid-fall to early-winter precipitation and early spring temperature in the year prior to nesting were the primary drivers of variation in clutch size, while only precipitation significantly influenced total annual nests. Our findings highlight the importance of long-term data for addressing knowledge gaps in nesting behavior and emphasize the need to protect critical habitat while continuing to collect data to better understand how four-toed salamanders may response to future environmental changes.
Influence of Structured Mentoring on the Leadership Identity, Well-being, and Capacity of Novice Principals
Galbreath, Elizabeth Nicole (Virginia Tech, 2026-04-10)
The principalship is among the most demanding, high-stakes roles in public education. For novice school leaders, the transition into this role is often marked by overwhelming expectations, emotional strain, and limited support, which contribute to burnout and early departure from the profession. The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry was to explore how structured mentoring relationships influenced novice public school principals' leadership identity development, emotional well-being, and professional sustainability during their first three years in the principalship. Data were collected through one-on-one semi-structured interviews with six novice principals who had previously participated in structured mentoring relationships through their district or state induction programs. The study examined how participants made meaning of their mentoring experiences and how those experiences shaped their confidence, resilience, and capacity to navigate the complexities of school leadership. Guided by a conceptual framework that positions leader well-being as central to leadership development and sustainability, thematic narrative analysis was used to identify patterns across participants' narratives. Five interrelated themes emerged: (a) leadership identity development, (b) emotional well-being and professional isolation, (c) mentoring structures and conditions, (d) informal mentoring and survival strategies, and (e) sustainability and retention. The findings indicated that structured mentoring most effectively supported novice principals when it was non-evaluative, trust-based, consistent, and attentive to emotional realities. When mentoring lacked these conditions, principals relied on informal networks and self-directed strategies to navigate the role. These findings suggest that structured mentoring functions not only as a technical support mechanism but also as a relational and well-being-centered structure that shapes leadership identity and professional sustainability. Implications for practice include the intentional design of mentoring programs that prioritize relational trust, emotional support, and identity-focused leadership development.
The Credibility Gap: Epistemic Injustice and Neurodivergence in U.S. Legal Contexts
Van Vorce, Hailey; Parti, Katalin; Armour, Chelsea; Edgin, Jamie O. (Sage, 2026-04-10)
Neurodivergent people, including individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, continue to face systemic barriers to meaningful and fair participation in the U.S. justice system. Legal standards governing competence, credibility, and culpability remain anchored in expectations of neurotypical communication and reasoning. These expectations do more than shape procedures; they define who is heard, believed, and ultimately brought to justice. This commentary examines forensic ableism, the privileging of neurotypical cognition and communication in legal contexts, through Fricker's framework of epistemic injustice, with a focus on testimonial injustice. In practice, credibility judgments are rooted in neurotypical norms that often devalue neurodivergent testimony. Across competency evaluations, credibility assessments, and capital sentencing decisions, disability-linked patterns of expression and interaction are frequently misinterpreted as signs of unreliability or diminished competence. Addressing forensic ableism requires the redesign of legal processes and broadened disability education to aid in the recognition of diverse cognitive and communication profiles as legitimate ways of knowing and participating. We call for reforms grounded in accessibility, epistemic humility, and collaboration with the neurodivergent community.
Was Sutherland right? An analysis of cryptocurrency offenders
Dearden, Thomas E.; Parti, Katalin; Hawdon, James E. (Emerald, 2026-04-09)
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the applicability of conventional criminological theories to white-collar offenders involved in cryptocurrency-related market manipulation, specifically pump-and-dump schemes. Using Sutherland’s differential association (DA) framework as a theoretical foundation, this research tests whether demographic and theoretical factors – such as self-control, DA, anomie and strain – predict illegal financial behavior in emerging digital markets.
Design/methodology/approach: Survey data from a national sample of US adults on the promotion of cryptocurrencies for financial gain were analyzed using t-tests and regression models.
Findings: The findings of this study suggest that traditional theories of crime, including DA, anomie and strain, lose predictive significance when demographic variables are considered. High-income, male and younger individuals were most likely to engage in cryptocrime in general. Overall, the results of this study highlight the complexity of white-collar criminality in digital spaces and suggest that financial and demographic factors outweigh conventional criminological theories when predicting involvement in cryptocrime.
Originality/value: This paper considers early notions of white-collar crime against modern online financial crimes. The authors addressed the intersection of criminological theory and modern cryptocurrency crime.
Library Committee: September 20, 2025
(Virginia Tech, 2025-09-20)