This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.

In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.

Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.

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Description
Financing lease has bloomed as a new financing tool in China for the last several years. In this thesis I investigate the factors that influence China’s automobile financial leasing decisions by both lessors and lessees through market surveys. Based on Probit regression analysis of the data collected from 250 companies

Financing lease has bloomed as a new financing tool in China for the last several years. In this thesis I investigate the factors that influence China’s automobile financial leasing decisions by both lessors and lessees through market surveys. Based on Probit regression analysis of the data collected from 250 companies and 300 individuals, I find that a firm is more likely to use automobile financial leasing when its corporate tax rate is lower, growth potential is more stabilized, and profit is higher. It is also more likely to happen when a firm's long-term debt ratio and its degree of internationalization are higher. At the individual level, I find that the likelihood of individuals’ leasing decision is influenced by their risk preference, income level, and car price. Individuals’ gender, age and education level show no effect.

Using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) analysis, I further find that financing costs, service value-added, and products diversity are the three most important competitive factors for the auto financial leasing service providers. This is the case for both the corporate and individual customers in the sample. By contrast, the factors of sales channel and government relationship are found to be much less important. Finally, through an in-depth case study of the leasing company Shanghai Auto Financial Leasing, I find that the key factors determining the customers’ credit default risk are interest rate and automobile type. I also investigate factors that influence business risk during the automobile procurement stage, at the selling stage, and toward the disposition stage. The managerial implications of the above results are discussed throughout the thesis.
ContributorsLin, Zhen, Ph.D (Author) / Zhang, Anming (Thesis advisor) / Pei, Ker-Wei (Thesis advisor) / Chen, Hong (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
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Description
In accordance with the Principal Agent Theory, Property Right Theory, Incentive Theory, and Human Capital Theory, firms face agency problems due to “separation of ownership and management”, which call for effective corporate governance. Ownership structure is a core element of the corporate governance. The differences in ownership structures thus may

In accordance with the Principal Agent Theory, Property Right Theory, Incentive Theory, and Human Capital Theory, firms face agency problems due to “separation of ownership and management”, which call for effective corporate governance. Ownership structure is a core element of the corporate governance. The differences in ownership structures thus may result in differential incentives in governance through the selection of senior management and in the design of senior management compensation system. This thesis investigates four firms with four different types of ownership structures: a public listed firm with the controlling interest by the state, a public listed firm with a non-state-owned controlling interest, a public listed firm a family-owned controlling interest, and a Sino-foreign joint venture firm. By using a case study approach, I focus on two dimensions of ownership structure characteristics – ownership diversification and differences in property rights so as to document whether there are systematic differences in governance participation and executive compensation design. Specifically, I focused on whether such differences are reflected in management selection (which is linked to adverse selection and moral hazard problems) and in compensation design (the choices of performance measurements, performance pay, and in stock option or restricted stock). The results are consistent with my expectation – the nature of ownership structure does affect senior management compensation design. Policy implications are discussed accordingly.
ContributorsGao, Shenghua (Author) / Pei, Ker-Wei (Thesis advisor) / Li, Feng (Committee member) / Shen, Wei (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
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Description
The construction industry is very mundane and tiring for workers without the assistance of machines. This challenge has changed the trend of construction industry tremendously by motivating the development of robots that can replace human workers. This thesis presents a computed torque controller that is designed to produce movements by

The construction industry is very mundane and tiring for workers without the assistance of machines. This challenge has changed the trend of construction industry tremendously by motivating the development of robots that can replace human workers. This thesis presents a computed torque controller that is designed to produce movements by a small-scale, 5 degree-of-freedom (DOF) robotic arm that are useful for construction operations, specifically bricklaying. A software framework for the robotic arm with motion and path planning features and different control capabilities has also been developed using the Robot Operating System (ROS).

First, a literature review of bricklaying construction activity and existing robots’ performance is discussed. After describing an overview of the required robot structure, a mathematical model is presented for the 5-DOF robotic arm. A model-based computed torque controller is designed for the nonlinear dynamic robotic arm, taking into consideration the dynamic and kinematic properties of the arm. For sustainable growth of this technology so that it is affordable to the masses, it is important that the energy consumption by the robot is optimized. In this thesis, the trajectory of the robotic arm is optimized using sequential quadratic programming. The results of the energy optimization procedure are also analyzed for different possible trajectories.

A construction testbed setup is simulated in the ROS platform to validate the designed controllers and optimized robot trajectories on different experimental scenarios. A commercially available 5-DOF robotic arm is modeled in the ROS simulators Gazebo and Rviz. The path and motion planning is performed using the Moveit-ROS interface and also implemented on a physical small-scale robotic arm. A Matlab-ROS framework for execution of different controllers on the physical robot is described. Finally, the results of the controller simulation and experiments are discussed in detail.
ContributorsGandhi, Sushrut (Author) / Berman, Spring (Thesis advisor) / Marvi, Hamidreza (Committee member) / Yong, Sze Zheng (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description
Basilisk lizards are often studied for their unique ability to run across the surface of

water. Due to the complicated fluid dynamics of this process, the forces applied on the

water’s surface cannot be measured using traditional methods. This thesis presents a

novel technique of measuring the forces using a fluid dynamic force

Basilisk lizards are often studied for their unique ability to run across the surface of

water. Due to the complicated fluid dynamics of this process, the forces applied on the

water’s surface cannot be measured using traditional methods. This thesis presents a

novel technique of measuring the forces using a fluid dynamic force platform (FDFP),

a light, rigid box immersed in water. This platform, along with a motion capture

system, can be used to characterize the kinematics and dynamics of a basilisk lizard

running on water. This could ultimately lead to robots that can run on water in a

similar manner.
ContributorsSweeney, Andrew Joseph (Author) / Marvi, Hamidreza (Thesis advisor) / Lentink, David (Committee member) / Lee, Hyunglae (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description
Health is among the most basic needs of the people and driving force of social and economic development. The health nutrition & wellness industry is gradually becoming a global sunrise industry . However, the industry is faced many problems and challenges including weaknesses in the industry structure, fragmentations of supply

Health is among the most basic needs of the people and driving force of social and economic development. The health nutrition & wellness industry is gradually becoming a global sunrise industry . However, the industry is faced many problems and challenges including weaknesses in the industry structure, fragmentations of supply chain, low

efficiency in resources allocation, and lacking in quality on personnel training. To achieve core competitiveness and value creation, it is important that the health nutrition & wellness industry must meet the needs of Chinese market and its customers with a customer centric perspective to design a firm’s organization strucrture and management processes. This thesis is based on an analysis of the competitive landscape faced by the nutrition & wellness industry as exemplified by By-Health.Ltd. The investigation begins with an analysis and synthsis of the common industry practices on sales & distribution channels for their underlying similarities and differences in product strategies, branding strategies, and agency models on incentive design and profit sharing mechanisms. Through an empirical survey, this thesis also investigate customer’s demand for nutritious and healthy products. The results through factor analysis reveal that such demands are driven by individual factor, product factor, enterprise factor and environmental factor. The study concludes with a proposed framework to link customer value through three innovative designs in sales and distribution: community marketing model, sharing marketing model and Internet factory marketing model.
ContributorsGong, Binghui (Author) / Pei, Ker-Wei (Thesis advisor) / Cui, Haitao (Thesis advisor) / Gu, Bin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
The world population is aging. Age-related disorders such as stroke and spinal cord injury are increasing rapidly, and such patients often suffer from mobility impairment. Wearable robotic exoskeletons are developed that serve as rehabilitation devices for these patients. In this thesis, a knee exoskeleton design with higher torque output compared

The world population is aging. Age-related disorders such as stroke and spinal cord injury are increasing rapidly, and such patients often suffer from mobility impairment. Wearable robotic exoskeletons are developed that serve as rehabilitation devices for these patients. In this thesis, a knee exoskeleton design with higher torque output compared to the first version, is designed and fabricated.

A series elastic actuator is one of the many actuation mechanisms employed in exoskeletons. In this mechanism a torsion spring is used between the actuator and human joint. It serves as torque sensor and energy buffer, making it compact and

safe.

A version of knee exoskeleton was developed using the SEA mechanism. It uses worm gear and spur gear combination to amplify the assistive torque generated from the DC motor. It weighs 1.57 kg and provides a maximum assistive torque of 11.26 N·m. It can be used as a rehabilitation device for patients affected with knee joint impairment.

A new version of exoskeleton design is proposed as an improvement over the first version. It consists of components such as brushless DC motor and planetary gear that are selected to meet the design requirements and biomechanical considerations. All the other components such as bevel gear and torsion spring are selected to be compatible with the exoskeleton. The frame of the exoskeleton is modeled in SolidWorks to be modular and easy to assemble. It is fabricated using sheet metal aluminum. It is designed to provide a maximum assistive torque of 23 N·m, two times over the present exoskeleton. A simple brace is 3D printed, making it easy to wear and use. It weighs 2.4 kg.

The exoskeleton is equipped with encoders that are used to measure spring deflection and motor angle. They act as sensors for precise control of the exoskeleton.

An impedance-based control is implemented using NI MyRIO, a FPGA based controller. The motor is controlled using a motor driver and powered using an external battery source. The bench tests and walking tests are presented. The new version of exoskeleton is compared with first version and state of the art devices.
ContributorsJhawar, Vaibhav (Author) / Zhang, Wenlong (Thesis advisor) / Sugar, Thomas G. (Committee member) / Lee, Hyunglae (Committee member) / Marvi, Hamidreza (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description随着社会经济发展,人们生活水平提高,红木市场不断发展壮大。但红木市场中存在

原材料无法认证、加工工艺无法辨别、产品价格混乱的现象,成为我国红木市场三大痛

点。能否解决红木市场这三大痛点,成为未来红木行业能否健康顺利发展的关键因素。

针对红木行业存在的问题,本文应用市场交易效率理论、信息不对称理论、金融市场

微观结构理论对红木市场做理论梳理,通过实地调研获取红木企业发展现状、厘清传统红

木交易流程和各交易环节中存在的问题,尝试在信息不对称理论的框架下对行业和典型企

业进行分析,将红木市场的交易要素进行序列梳理,重构市场组织和流程再造,创造性地

利用现代的互联网技术,把涉及的非标准的市场要素进行标准化设计,使其成为可交易的

标准化标的产品,并在设计可操作性的红木交易平台上进行交易,从而解决现有红木市场

中信息不对称导致的市场交易效率低下问题。本文一共分为十一章,第一到第五章为绪论、理论研究和研究综述。主要根据市场交

易效率理论、信息不对称理论和金融市场微观结构理论,引出建立红木交易市场,从而为

后续红木交易市场的设计奠定理论基础。第五章,对红木产业及其市场的要素进行信息解

析,为后面的非标准的市场要素进行标准化设计提供依据。第六、第七章,主要对红木交

易市场的信息不对称现状、红木交易市场交易效率进行分析。第八、第九章,主要基于信

息对称条件下的交易要素标准化设计和交易架构设计。第十章,主要通过对实际数据抓

取,对红木交易平台的有效性进行实证对比验证。第十一章是本文的结论和建议。

由于红木交易平台的设计是弥补大宗交易的空白,特别是红木交易市场要素的非标

准化,给标准化交易架构的设计带来一定难度。红木交易平台未来运营与发展中可能会遇

到很多风险,特别是投资者资格认证、交易涉众等社会问题,本文限于篇幅没有进行研

究,留待今后实践中不断总结和修正。
ContributorsChiu, Yung (Author) / Pei, Ker-Wei (Thesis advisor) / Qian, Jun (Thesis advisor) / Wu, Fei (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
Multiaxial mechanical fatigue of heterogeneous materials has been a significant cause of concern in the aerospace, civil and automobile industries for decades, limiting the service life of structural components while increasing time and costs associated with inspection and maintenance. Fiber reinforced composites and light-weight aluminum alloys are widely used in

Multiaxial mechanical fatigue of heterogeneous materials has been a significant cause of concern in the aerospace, civil and automobile industries for decades, limiting the service life of structural components while increasing time and costs associated with inspection and maintenance. Fiber reinforced composites and light-weight aluminum alloys are widely used in aerospace structures that require high specific strength and fatigue resistance. However, studying the fundamental crack growth behavior at the micro- and macroscale as a function of loading history is essential to accurately predict the residual fatigue life of components and achieve damage tolerant designs. The issue of mechanical fatigue can be tackled by developing reliable in-situ damage quantification methodologies and by comprehensively understanding fatigue damage mechanisms under a variety of complex loading conditions. Although a multitude of uniaxial fatigue loading studies have been conducted on light-weight metallic materials and composites, many service failures occur from components being subjected to variable amplitude, mixed-mode multiaxial fatigue loadings. In this research, a systematic approach is undertaken to address the issue of fatigue damage evolution in aerospace materials by:

(i) Comprehensive investigation of micro- and macroscale crack growth behavior in aerospace grade Al 7075 T651 alloy under complex biaxial fatigue loading conditions. The effects of variable amplitude biaxial loading on crack growth characteristics such as crack acceleration and retardation were studied in detail by exclusively analyzing the influence of individual mode-I, mixed-mode and mode-II overload and underload fatigue cycles in an otherwise constant amplitude mode-I baseline load spectrum. The micromechanisms governing crack growth behavior under the complex biaxial loading conditions were identified and correlated with the crack growth behavior and fracture surface morphology through quantitative fractography.

(ii) Development of novel multifunctional nanocomposite materials with improved fatigue resistance and in-situ fatigue damage detection and quantification capabilities. A state-of-the-art processing method was developed for producing sizable carbon nanotube (CNT) membranes for multifunctional composites. The CNT membranes were embedded in glass fiber laminates and in-situ strain sensing and damage quantification was achieved by exploiting the piezoresistive property of the CNT membrane. In addition, improved resistance to fatigue crack growth was observed due to the embedded CNT membrane.
ContributorsDatta, Siddhant (Author) / Chattopadhyay, Aditi (Thesis advisor) / Liu, Yongming (Committee member) / Jiang, Hanqing (Committee member) / Marvi, Hamidreza (Committee member) / Tang, Pingbo (Committee member) / Yekani Fard, Masoud (Committee member) / Iyyer, Nagaraja (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description本文选取当前在学界和业界关注度较高的“新三板”企业作为研究对象,从融资效率和融资偏好角度实证了新三板企业当前的运行状况,补充了资本结构和融资效率的研究文献。利用二元选择回归以及分位数回归方法,探究了内部融资、债务融资以及权益融资偏好的影响因素。本文发现:1)对于内部融资,企业资产负债率越低、经营能力越强、盈利能力越好、抵押品越少以及公司成长性高的企业更倾向于使用内部融资,资产负债率对内部融资的负面影响边际增大;2)对于债务融资,资产负债率越低、盈利能力越好、经营能力越强、抵押品越多、公司成长性高的企业更倾向于使用债务融资;3)对于权益融资,盈利能力较差、经营能力较弱的企业更倾向于使用权益融资,而资本结构以及公司成长性对权益融资没有影响。分位数回归也发现,盈利能力、现金状况、总资产周转率、资产流动性、非债务税盾、民营企业以及公司成长性等变量对权益融资的影响较为稳定,提示公司的特征变量对权益融资并没有明显的主导作用。在融资效率上,本文也发现:1)于2012年挂牌新三板的企业整体融资效率不高,DEA融资效率为有效的企业占比仅为10%左右;但融资效率在逐年持续改善,表现出一个较好的发展势头。并且,对于做市转让的企业来说,2014年由协议转让改为做市转让以后,融资相对有效的企业数量增长明显快于协议转让企业,表明采用做市转让的企业融资效率优于采用协议转让的企业。2)市场整体融资规模并未达到挂牌企业的需求,导致一半以上企业尚未达到最优的生产经营状态,仍需要资金来增加生产资料的投入,以扩大生产规模获取规模收益。对于做市转让的企业来说,在2014年由协议转让改为做市转让以后,规模报酬递增的企业数量占比下降更快,表明做市转让制度要比协议转让制度从融资效率角度更能满足新三板企业的融资需求。
ContributorsWu, Jintao (Author) / Pei, Ker-Wei (Thesis advisor) / Li, Feng (Thesis advisor) / Wang, Tan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description当前各个城市都在努力推动“互联网+政务”的公共服务新模式,打造政府公共服务平台,提供“一站式”的服务资源,以民众需求为中心,解决民众信息查询、政府办事预约、政策咨询等公共活动的需要。可以看出,政务平台给民众的生活带来极大的便利,是当前各地政府响应中央建立“智慧城市”“数字中国”的重要举措。

本课题发现当前的政务平台逐步引入PPP模式,借助社会资源开发政务平台。但是,PPP模式是否有利于政务平台的建设,受到哪些因素的制约,如何更好地利用PPP模式进行开发工作,这些问题在现前的研究中没有得到很好地探索。带着这些问题,本课题对PPP模式在政务平台建设中的作用进行了深入剖析。主要研究内容如下:

在第一部分中,本课题政府公共服务和政务相关理论进行了全面整理,发现政务平台要想走出一条健康发展之路,需要借助社会资源进行市场化,而PPP模式符合当前政务平台建设的需要。本文对PPP模式在国内外电子政务的应用进行了分析,提出了本文的研究主题。

在第二部分中,本文对华东地区50座城市的政务平台进行了调研,对常见问题进行了整理,发现PPP模式已经广泛应用于政务平台建设中,且主要有四种模式,本文对50座城市的政务平台建设情况进行了数据采集,并进行了深入分析。

在第三部分中,结合调研现状和文献研究成果,提出了PPP模式影响政务平台建设的相关假设,并构建了计量模型。通过短面板分析验证假设,并进行了Robust分析,证实结论的普适性。

在第四部分中,本文分析了研究结果,认为政务平台采用PPP模式能够有效促进政务平台的建设水平,提高用户满意度;并且PPP模式与合作企业的估摸、信息的透明程度和平台的交互能力存在显著的交互作用,共同影响用户对政务平台的评价。政府引入PPP模式,充分对接可利用资源,并加强盈利控制,对当前政务平台的建设是具有积极意义的。
ContributorsZhao, Liang (Author) / Pei, Ker-Wei (Thesis advisor) / Chen, Xinlei (Thesis advisor) / Shao, Benjamin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019