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
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Recent Submissions
What Does That Head Tilt Mean? Brain Lateralization and Sex Differences in the Processing of Familiar Human Speech by Domestic Dogs
Buckley, Colleen; Sexton, Courtney L.; Martvel, George; Hecht, Erin E.; Bradley, Brenda J.; Zamansky, Anna; Subiaul, Francys (MDPI, 2025-10-31)
Does the head tilt observed in many domesticated dogs index lateralized language processing? To answer this question, the present study evaluated household dogs responding to four conditions in which owners provided an increasing number of communicative cues. These cues ranged from no communicative/affective cues to rich affective cues coupled with dog-directed speech. Dogs’ facial responses were first coded manually using the Dog Facial Action Coding System (DogFACS), followed by an in-depth investigation of head tilt behavior, in which AI-based automated analysis of head tilt and audio analysis of acoustic features extracted from communicative cues were implemented. In a sample of 103 dogs representing seven breed groups and mixed-breed dogs, we found significant differences in the number of head tilts occurring between conditions, with the most communicative (last) condition eliciting the most head tilts. There were also significant differences in the direction of the head tilts and between sex groups. Dogs were more likely to tilt their heads to the right, and neutered male dogs were more likely to tilt their heads than spayed female dogs. The right-tilt bias is consistent with left-hemisphere language processing in humans, with males processing language in a more lateralized manner, and females processing language more bilaterally—a pattern also observed in humans. Understanding the canine brain is important to both evolutionary research through a comparative lens, and in understanding our interspecies relationship.
Developing, implementing, and transferring a faculty-led RCR training program
Trott, Kory; Lee, Lisa M. (Taylor & Francis, 2025-06)
Responsible conduct of research (RCR) education became a requirement for conducting federally sponsored research in the 1980s. Goals of RCR training include developing and fostering a culture of integrity in science as well as informing researchers about regulations that govern research. As happens with many federal mandates, satisfaction of NIH’s in-person RCR training requirement has become an exercise in check-the-box compliance training at many institutions. Completing RCR education to satisfy a regulatory requirement has subverted the more aspirational goals of RCR education. Virginia Tech’s division of Scholarly Integrity and Research Compliance developed an innovative RCR education program that focused on RCR training goals like increasing knowledge of and sensitivity to ethical issues related to research. The Virginia Tech Investigator Series invites members of the research community to engage in conversations about ethical research and innovation. The faculty-led presentations inspire conversations that reach beyond research methods and materials. The purpose of this paper is to describe the process and administrative structure that enabled us to create a community-led RCR program that increased voluntary participation while satisfying regulatory RCR education requirements. We highlight the transferrable nature of the program by describing its implementation at another very-high-research-activity university.
Decomposition of Food Price Changes: Food-at-Home and Food-Away-From-Home Prices
Bhattarai, Anukul (Virginia Tech, 2025-11-11)
Significant increases and fluctuations in the food price inflation of food-away- from-home (FAFH) and food-at-home (FAH) have been observed in the last couple of years. Many demand- and supply- driven factors may be responsible for such phenomena. On top of that, the total food price is a weighted average of FAH and FAFH prices. Hence, the effect of external shocks on each category can be different. The major goal of this paper is to capture the differential impact of major demand- and supply-related factors on the two aggregate food price categories, FAH and FAFH, and ultimately on the total price of food. We use the monthly Consumer Price Index data on FAH and FAFH from the Bureau of Labor Statistics from December 2003 to July 2024. Two Structural Vector Autoregressive (SVAR) models, one with all exogenous variables and total food price, and the other with all variables, FAH and FAFH prices, are used for our analyses. Results show that the contribution of FAH prices to total food prices is more than FAFH prices. The results from the impulse response analyses show that supply side factors such as farm product prices, transport prices, and wages have persistent positive effects on food prices. In contrast to FAFH, the effect of almost all shocks on FAH is in the same direction as that of the total food, suggesting a higher impact of FAH on total food. Forecast error variance decomposition and historical decomposition highlight the higher impact of supply related factors on food price variability. The findings from this study are important to understand how demand and supply shocks affect the inflation of different categories of food, which could ultimately affect the overall food price inflation.
2025 Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act Report
(Virginia Tech, 2025-09)
The Virginia Tech Police Department has been designated as the department responsible for compiling and publishing the university’s annual security and fire safety report. This document is intended to serve as the annual security and fire safety report, as required by the Higher Education Opportunity Act and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act. The purpose of the report is to provide information about security on campus, to include: campus and community crime statistics, fire statistics and safety information, policy information, safety tips, resource phone numbers and a brief overview of the many services the university provides. A map of the campus can be found online at www.maps.unirel.vt.edu/interactive and has been added to this report as Appendix A.
ROPES Hub Research Brief: Strengthening STEM Pathways - Lessons Learned in S-STEM Identity
Rodriguez, Sarah L.; Blaney, Jennifer M.; Richardson, Amy Jo; Knight, David B. (2025-11-11)