China's infrastructure investment is ushering in a new round of growth. The equipment leasing industry maintains high growth rate. H Company has accumulated close to 200,000 service projects, of which personal contracts account for about 71%, and has initially established a brand effect among small and medium-sized customers. We fully leverage the efficiency advantages of private enterprises in digital construction, iterates the system based on needs, data analysis results, feedback, and uses the high-altitude operation platform as the entry point to achieve comprehensive online operation, such as online procurement process, full equipment lifecycle management, full business process management, financial management, and realizes standardization of the entire business process. In this context, it is particularly important to conduct theoretical sublimation based on practical experience and study the impact of digital transformation on the equipment leasing industry.It has found that: 1) Obstacle factors have a significant impact on the digital investment of enterprises; 2) Obstacle factors have a significant impact on the digital achievements of enterprises; 3) Enterprises generally realize that increasing digital investment can significantly enhance their digitalization; 4) The digital investment of enterprises has a significant impact on their leading business indicators, which indicates that different enterprises have relatively high plans; 5) The relationship between digital investment and business revenue growth is positively correlated, indicating that the higher the investment in digital transformation, the higher the growth rate of revenue. However, this correlation is not significant; 6) The digital investment of enterprises significantly promotes the improvement of operational efficiency. In the equipment leasing industry, practitioners generally recognize that increasing digital investment can promote the improvement of operational efficiency; 7) The more achievements of digital transformation in enterprises, the more significant the efficiency improvement, and this correlation is very obvious. When a company can truly produce good digital results, the promotion of operational efficiency is very obvious, which motivates business managers to work hard to produce excellent digital results in the current difficult situation.

Applying the theory of dynamic capabilities, this research explores the procedures and the outcomes of adaptations in disaster relief nonprofit organizations. Using the in-depth interviews and survey data from the managers of disaster relief nonprofit organizations in Arizona, Florida, and New Jersey, this research answers three key questions: 1) How do disaster relief nonprofit organizations apply their dynamic capabilities to make adaptations? 2) What are the impacts of dynamic capabilities, including sensing, learning, integrating, and coordinating capabilities, on the performance of disaster relief nonprofit organizations in service provision, public policy engagement, and community social capital cultivation? 3) Taking the network of Voluntary/Community Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD/COAD) as an example, can the dynamic capabilities of disaster relief nonprofit organizations explain the variation of network engagement and the gained benefits from the network among the VOAD/COAD members? The results show that the procedures of adaptation in disaster relief nonprofit organizations are associated with a rhizomic rather than a linear approach, which is implied by the theory of dynamic capabilities. Strategic connectivity, temporal simultaneity, and directional flexibility are the three critical features of the rhizome model. Additionally, dynamic capabilities significantly influence organizational performance in service provision, public policy engagement, and social capital cultivation, although sensing, learning, integrating, and coordinating capabilities shape performance differently. Moreover, network engagement, as an uncommon practice for disaster relief nonprofit organizations, is also impacted by the dynamic capabilities of disaster relief nonprofit organizations. The result shows that dynamic capabilities, especially learning capability, can promote the acquired benefits of disaster relief nonprofit organizations by bringing them more support in volunteer management and financial opportunities. The findings not only advance the current discussion about nonprofit engagement in disaster management but also add knowledge on dynamic capabilities in the third sector. The exploration of adaptations in disaster relief nonprofit organizations and the operation of the VOAD/COAD network provides valuable implications to both nonprofit managers and government officials.

This creative thesis project consists of a singing performance and literary review analysis. The interest for this project was fueled by my own experiences as an Undergraduate student with a musical background pursuing a major in Biological Sciences and minor in Business at Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University. Through an exploration of current research, this project analyzes the transformative impacts of playing music on individuals’ academic, creative, and life skills. Through the literature review, I found that music improves academic performance in students, leads to cognitive brain development, develops critical life skills including communication and leadership, as well as increases self-expression as an emotional outlet. The main goal of this project was to shed light on the benefits of playing music through a singing performance of five pieces to showcase my musical abilities, as well as advocate for the necessity of music in the school curriculum.

The Philippine Sea refers to the East and West Philippine Sea that are within the sovereign territory of the 7,641 islands of the Philippine archipelago. Historically, Spain, the United States, and Japan have colonized the islands, and the United States and China continue to maintain imperial interests in the area. Filipino/a/x diasporic activists in the U.S. and allies have participated in the anti-imperial struggle in support of demilitarization of the Pacific and of neo-colonized states across the globe. Responding to the problematics of anti-imperialism and solidarity, this dissertation advances the concept of agos or moving relations to attune to the sea as an analytic in theorizing activism, communication, and performance. This project was written on the unceded ancestral homelands of the Onk Akimel O’odham and Xalychidom Piipash, was inspired by the works of Black and Indigenous communities and scholars, and was influenced by Kale Fajardo’s notion of crosscurrents and Loma Cuevas-Hewitt’s concept of archipelagic poetics. Across critical organizational communication, critical intercultural communication, and performance studies, agos theorizes the relationalities of movements and the movements of relationalities. Utilizing critical qualitative, rhetorical, and performance methods, this project develops three instantiations of agos. In “Whirlpool Organizing,” the processes of anti-imperial organizers’ relationship and coalition building are examined to demonstrate the liquidities that animate dialectics and differences. In “Anchored Relationality,” U.S. diasporic Filipino/a/x’ varied and complex reconnections with Philippine waters are explored to illustrate the fluidities of positions and relations. In “Archipelagic Performance,” the staged production of “What sounds do turtles make?” is analyzed to showcase the flows of a decolonial and relational mode of performance.

This dissertation explores the possibility of Critical Communication Pedagogy outside of traditional classrooms through a critical and performance ethnographic approach from 15-months of data collection. Specifically, the author embraces the Chicana/Latina feminist methodology pláticas to co-create space with Latinx high school students who have experienced the foster care system. Through sixteen pláticas, the major themes explored include interrogating power, embracing embodied knowledge to question civility, and examining culture and identity. Additionally, the author embraces critical auto/ethnography to grapple with the tensions that arise for her, as a communication scholar, embracing a radical approach to laboring with youth beyond the classroom.

Tales from the Amusement Park is a collection of songs in the musical theatre style with music and lyrics by Matt Villar. The song cycle illustrates a series of vignettes, with each song featuring a different archetypal character (or group thereof) as they navigate a day in a popular amusement park. The project is written for piano and voices, and is most-suited to twelve or fewer voices. The debut performance occurred on March 26 in the Evelyn Smith Music Theatre, and featured twelve singers and one pianist. The cycle aims to connect the audience through the demonstration of "human moments" which are widely relatable, while also introducing them to unique and interesting characters.