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

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

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

Open Textbooks

More than 40 freely available and openly licensed textbooks are among our most downloaded items.


Recent Submissions

Approaches to Indonesia Cultural Tourism Policy: Stakeholders’ Perspectives on The Cultural Tourism Governances in Bayan
Syah, Ahmad Mujafar; Hajarrahmah, Dini (Doctoral Program in Tourism, 2019-09-30)
In support to the initiative of Indonesia government on the priority destinations project (ten new Bali) where Mandalika in Lombok Island is being endorsed as one of “New Bali” targeted development destination, the research is aimed to analyze the effective roles of national and regional government on the development of cultural tourism destination in Bayan Village, North Lombok administrative region, as it is one of the alternative tourist attractions in Lombok Island. For the purpose of objectivity, this research has limited the source and scope of the observation only from related stakeholders and Lombok local tourism government thus the research employed an in-depth interview through designated stakeholders clusters. The research examined and summarized the finding from the stakeholders’ perspectives that have either direct or indirect concerns toward Bayan Village’s development from which; a proposed recommendation on a tourism policy framework for the cultural destination was concluded. Based on our finding, the situation where the development initiated both by national and regional tourism government in Lombok did not show a fair distribution to all promising destinations especially Bayan Village in North Lombok as one of the cultural tourism assets in North Lombok.
A Preliminary Study of Regional Creative Vision: Insights From Creative Enterprises’ Founders in Indonesia
Pratama, Andika Pratama; Maryunani, Salfitrie Roos; Badriyah, Mila Jamilah Khatun; Hajarrahmah, Dini (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, 2024-01-09)
A creative enterprise (i.e. enterprise in the creative industries) can be understood as an enterprise that relies principally on the creativity of individuals engaged in it. Thus, creativity can be said to define the entire pursuit of creative enterprises. This paper highlights the motivational aspect of creativity in the notion of creative vision based on insights from creative enterprises’ founders in three different regions in Indonesia (Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Bali), encompassing three creative sectors (cuisine, craft, and fashion). Based on in-depth interviews (face-to-face, onsite) with the founders, using convenience sampling, three forms of creative vision have been discovered (collective self-actualization, collective altruism, and co-creation), with each form predominantly signifying each region sampled. Through a collaborative effort of sense-making in the research team, the current preliminary study contributes to discourses about the nature of creativity or what it entails; it is derived not from the conscious understanding of what creativity is or means by experts and the likes, but from the actual vision of practitioners of creativity from the field where creativity is the soul. The findings emphasize how creativity can be defined: what does it mean to be creative?.
How Do Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Bali Survive the Pandemic? A Qualitative Study in Buleleng, Tabanan, Gianyar, and Denpasar
Widiastini, Ni Made Ary; Arsa, I Ketut Sida; Syah, Ahmad Mujafar; Hajarrahmah, Dini (Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Pos-Graduacao em Direito - CONPEDI, 2023-03-07)
Purpose: This study aims to explore the survival strategies carried out by local micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) actors to maintain their business, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic which lasted for more than two years. In Bali, the problems that arise with MSMEs are not only the layoff rate and loss of a number of consumers but also the emergence of competitors from new business actors who come from tourism workers affected by layoffs. Theoretical framework: Small and Medium Enterprises (Qosasi et.al: 2019) that are able to capture potential markets in the future are those who utilize Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in their business. Amadasun, D.O.E., Mutezo, A.T. (2022) show that the factors used to measure market-based strategies such as market orientation, the intensity of competition, and technology dynamics affect the competitive growth of SMEs. However, studies on the survival of SMEs in Bali are still important, given their role as the government's safety valve, namely the economic solution in times of crisis. Design/methodology/approach: The research was conducted using a qualitative approach through in-depth interviews with MSME actors at four locations in Bali, namely Buleleng, Tabanan, Gianyar, and Denpasar. From forty-two MSME owners, we found out four major implications of MSMEs’ survival strategies amid the pandemic and in response to major layoffs and skyrocketing competitions which are: revisiting the implications of business agility, understanding the options for market penetration, gaining support from the government, and leveraging product development ideas. Findings: People's lifestyles lead business actors to think creatively, as part of the creative industry. Creativity and innovation are mandatory in the creative industry. People's lifestyles that are increasingly developing along with the capitalist movement which always seduces the public with the various product trends it creates have become opportunities for business actors, including SMEs. The existence of the community's need for clothing, food, and ritual products as major needs, has led SMEs business actors to penetrate products and markets. Produce the products to fulfill domestic needs. Products that were initially consumed by tourists were developed into local products, in order to meet the needs of people who want a product with a western image. In practice, not only are products diversified, but the way of marketing is also shifting from offline to online. Platforms in the form of YouTube Facebook Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp are the choices for business actors, both in urban and rural areas spread across Bali. Research, Practical & Social implications: This research would hope to clearly navigate MSME actors toward the most applicable survival strategies in their respective region and enable an interchange of ideas of other tactical plans through a comparative business differentiation supplemented by this informed research.
Scintillation light in SBND: simulation, reconstruction, and expected performance of the photon detection system
Mariani, Camillo (2024-10-10)
SBND is the near detector of the Short-Baseline Neutrino program at Fermilab. Its location near to the Booster Neutrino Beam source and relatively large mass will allow the study of neutrino interactions on argon with unprecedented statistics. This paper describes the expected performance of the SBND photon detection system, using a simulated sample of beam neutrinos and cosmogenic particles. Its design is a dual readout concept combining a system of 120 photomultiplier tubes, used for triggering, with a system of 192 X-ARAPUCA devices, located behind the anode wire planes. Furthermore, covering the cathode plane with highly-reflective panels coated with a wavelength-shifting compound recovers part of the light emitted towards the cathode, where no optical detectors exist. We show how this new design provides a high light yield and a more uniform detection efficiency, an excellent timing resolution and an independent 3D-position reconstruction using only the scintillation light. Finally, the whole reconstruction chain is applied to recover the temporal structure of the beam spill, which is resolved with a resolution on the order of nanoseconds.
Connexin 43 regulates intercellular mitochondrial transfer from human mesenchymal stromal cells to chondrocytes
Irwin, Rebecca M.; Thomas, Matthew A.; Fahey, Megan J.; Mayán, María D.; Smyth, James W.; Delco, Michelle L. (2024-10-10)
Background: The phenomenon of intercellular mitochondrial transfer from mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) has shown promise for improving tissue healing after injury and has potential for treating degenerative diseases like osteoarthritis (OA). Recently MSC to chondrocyte mitochondrial transfer has been documented, but the mechanism of transfer is unknown. Full-length connexin 43 (Cx43, encoded by GJA1) and the truncated, internally translated isoform GJA1-20k have been implicated in mitochondrial transfer between highly oxidative cells, but have not been explored in orthopaedic tissues. Here, our goal was to investigate the role of Cx43 in MSC to chondrocyte mitochondrial transfer. In this study, we tested the hypotheses that (a) mitochondrial transfer from MSCs to chondrocytes is increased when chondrocytes are under oxidative stress and (b) MSC Cx43 expression mediates mitochondrial transfer to chondrocytes. Methods: Oxidative stress was induced in immortalized human chondrocytes using tert-Butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP) and cells were evaluated for mitochondrial membrane depolarization and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Human bone-marrow derived MSCs were transduced for mitochondrial fluorescence using lentiviral vectors. MSC Cx43 expression was knocked down using siRNA or overexpressed (GJA1 + and GJA1-20k+) using lentiviral transduction. Chondrocytes and MSCs were co-cultured for 24 h in direct contact or separated using transwells. Mitochondrial transfer was quantified using flow cytometry. Co-cultures were fixed and stained for actin and Cx43 to visualize cell-cell interactions during transfer. Results: Mitochondrial transfer was significantly higher in t-BHP-stressed chondrocytes. Contact co-cultures had significantly higher mitochondrial transfer compared to transwell co-cultures. Confocal images showed direct cell contacts between MSCs and chondrocytes where Cx43 staining was enriched at the terminal ends of actin cellular extensions containing mitochondria in MSCs. MSC Cx43 expression was associated with the magnitude of mitochondrial transfer to chondrocytes; knocking down Cx43 significantly decreased transfer while Cx43 overexpression significantly increased transfer. Interestingly, GJA1-20k expression was highly correlated with incidence of mitochondrial transfer from MSCs to chondrocytes. Conclusions Overexpression of GJA1-20k in MSCs increases mitochondrial transfer to chondrocytes, highlighting GJA1-20k as a potential target for promoting mitochondrial transfer from MSCs as a regenerative therapy for cartilage tissue repair in OA.