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 50 freely available and openly licensed textbooks are among our most downloaded items.


Recent Submissions

An Examination of Household Chaos and Neighborhood Collective Efficacy on Adolescents’ Legal Cynicism and Delinquency
Simmons, Amelia F. (Virginia Tech, 2025-10-10)
The purpose of this project is to examine how household chaos and neighborhood collective efficacy influence fifteen-year-old teens’ legal cynicism and delinquent behavior. This research utilizes the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) to conduct a path analysis. The theoretical framework for this project draws from social disorganization theory and ecological systems theory. This study longitudinally explores household chaos and neighborhood collective efficacy at year nine and legal cynicism and delinquent behavior at year fifteen to examine this relationship. Methodologically, the variables are examined using a path model and multivariate analyses. The results show that household chaos at year nine is a positive predictor for delinquency at year fifteen. There was no statistically significant association between neighborhood collective efficacy and the outcomes. The findings also point to the importance of maternal resources and structured socialization for children in adolescent outcomes. Implications for future research are also discussed.
This Autistic Professor Chooses Hope
McLain, Elizabeth (University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2025-04-21)
Simulating U.S. Presidents for a Friendly Chat: Applying Generative AI to Study Political History
Nour, Sami; Ghaffarzadegan, Navid; Naugle, Asmeret; Godfrey, Joseph R. (Springer, 2026)
Advancements in generative artificial intelligence have created new opportunities to develop large language model (LLM)-based simulation models. By designing distinct personas and training them with relevant information, modelers can simulate a wide range of agents, representing diverse personalities, socio-economic backgrounds, and demographics. The potential of these simulation models, often referred to as generative agents, extends beyond creating average representations of groups; they can also be tailored to simulate specific individuals, predicting their responses or opinions under various scenarios. In this study, we take on the challenge of simulating 60 U.S. presidents to demonstrate how this approach can contribute to the study of political history. We simulate 60 generative agents using an LLM (GPT o1) primed on the inaugural addresses of presidents from 1789 to 2025. We then ask each simulated president the question, “what factors influence the economy?” We validate the simulated responses with other LLMs tasked with predicting which president is most likely to have given each response. We then use a causal loop diagram generation tool called SD Bot to extract variables and relationships from the text responses and depict mental models. Finally, we quantify and visualize presidents’ relative similarities to each other as a network.
Virginia Horticulture Production Trends: 2017-2022
Stallknecht, Eric J.; South, Kaylee (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 2025-08-15)