Thematic analysis | EPFL Graph Search

Thematic analysis is one of the most common forms of analysis within qualitative research. It emphasizes identifying, analysing and interpreting patterns of meaning (or "themes") within qualitative data. Thematic analysis is often understood as a method or technique in contrast to most other qualitative analytic approaches - such as grounded theory, discourse analysis, narrative analysis and interpretative phenomenological analysis - which can be described as methodologies or theoretically informed frameworks for research (they specify guiding theory, appropriate research questions and methods of data collection, as well as procedures for conducting analysis). Thematic analysis is best thought of as an umbrella term for a variety of different approaches, rather than a singular method. Different versions of thematic analysis are underpinned by different philosophical and conceptual assumptions and are divergent in terms of procedure. Leading thematic analysis proponent

Intégration énergétique d’un procédé agroalimentaire à l’aide de la plateforme internet PinchLight

Benjamin Laulan

Résumé : Les procédés agroalimentaires sont des procédés industriels consommateurs de grandes quantités d’énergie, aussi bien de refroidissement que de chauffage. Il est donc intéressant d’optimiser cette consommation. L’analyse pinch, méthode systématique d’intégration énergétique, est un outil très utile dans cette optique. PinchLight est une plateforme internet facilitant la définition du problème et le calcul des outils d’intégration énergétique. Ce travail met en place une méthode pour effectuer les études sur ce logiciel. Un procédé de fabrication de café soluble est analysé. En particulier, les améliorations prioritaires à apporter au procédé ont été mises en avant : une économie pouvant atteindre 49% sur le cout total a été montrée. Finalement, une opération unitaire, la torréfaction, est étudiée plus en détails. Ce travail s’est accompagné d’un effort de modélisation important. En effet, chaque étape de cette ligne de production a été l’objet de la mise en place de modèle adapté. En particulier, un évaporateur multi effets et un torréfacteur (ou roaster) ont été créés. Abstract : Food industry processes are great consumers of energy, both for heating and cooling. So, it is interesting to optimize this consumption. Pinch analysis, which is a systematic method of energy integration, is a good tool to do so. PinchLight, a web platform develops in the LENI, at the EPFL, makes easier to define the problem and to compute energy integration tools. This work develops a general method to use this software. An example of detailed analysis is made on an instant coffee process: a 49% economy on total cost was reached. Finally, roasting, an important unit in this process, is studied more precisely. A model was developed during this work for each steps of this process. As an example, an evaporator multi effect and a roaster were created.

2010

Real estate issues

Matthieu Dulguerov

This thesis discusses the difficulties of pricing real estate by using the existing financial economic theory and investigates an alternative approach in order to take into account the 'unique' nature of real estate risk. It consists of three essays placing great emphasis on the risk handling problem. The first essay examines the risk-return trade-off of a mixed-asset portfolio that includes real estate using copula functions to model the dependence between real estate and financial assets. In particular, it analyses the role of direct as opposed to securitised real estate (mutual funds) in terms of diversification when the dependence structure is modelled by an appropriate copula. The empirical analysis is conducted using Swiss data for the period 1988-2008. It is shown that a better portfolio diversification is obtained with indirect rather than with direct real estate. The second essay addresses methodological issues in real estate pricing. Special attention is devoted to outlining pitfalls of the traditional income-based approach in terms of risk consideration. The evidence against the risk-adjusted discount rate's consistency with the cash flow's risk leads to an alternative approach based on the certainty equivalent cash flow for computing reservation prices. We include a precise definition of illiquidity as a measurable concept, formalize the computation of the illiquidity premium as well as the optimal marketing strategy for the seller. The third essay employs a detailed analysis of the price formation process to argue for the linkage of probable-price determination and the time necessary for a property sale. Within this framework, the factors accounting for the time required for a property sale are identified and used to explain the contradictions in the statistical studies found in the literature.

EPFL2009

The shaping effects of innovation and technology: from micro business model evolution to macro environment sustainability

Qinli Lu

Innovation is a prerequisite guarantee for the development of a country in this new era. It is an important driver not just for corporate growth but also for national social and economic transformation. Considering the strategic supporting role of innovation in the modern economic system, this thesis approaches the shaping effects of innovation and technology mainly from two important micro and macro perspectives, business model evolution and national sustainable development. The first essay takes business model innovation (BMI) in China as an entry point to investigate how novel elements can shape business models. There is a widespread perception that Chinese companies, compared to their Western counterparts, are not good at creating novel products and services. But in the arenas of e-commerce and other digital businesses, Chinese companies have become highly successful. This has led some observers to hypothesize that while Chinese firms may not excel at developing new-to-the-world products and services, they may be good in inventing new-to-the-world business models. To explore this phenomenon, I analyzed 137 suggested innovative business models in detail to investigate new-to-the-world features, yielding an overview of BMI in China. Based on these cases, a theoretical framework was proposed to investigate how innovative features can prompt successful BMI. I summarize the reasons behind BMI in China. The second essay explores the support from open innovation (OI) for BMI based on literature review and some inspiration from the first essay. Theoretical underpinnings are often cited as a necessity to advance the research of BMI. The study proposes that the development of OI and BMI keeps pace within a dynamic innovation process. To develop a consistent body of knowledge about BMI and OI, this conceptual paper sheds light on the relationships between OI and BMI by providing a framework and discussing its implications. The main investigations are as follows: 1) Why OI has strong impacts on BM development; 2) How OI can shape BMs; 3) What support OI can provide for BMI. The third essay analyzes the shaping effects of technology on environmental issues by carrying out an empirical study of tracing the imbalance of carbon emissions embodied in trade. The technological differences among developing and developed nations are tremendous, which have kept having strong impacts not only on economic and societal development but also on environmental sustainability. Thus, this study provides a new and critical perspective to reconsider the imbalance of carbon emissions regionally and globally, revealing essential policy implications for region-specific sustainable development strategies. The thesis makes several important contributions. For micro business model evolution, the thesis develops a theoretical framework to show how the values are delivered in a business model system and how innovative features can further prompt successful business model innovations, as well as a comprehensive analysis of the theoretical underpinning from open innovation for business model advance. For macro environmental sustainability, the thesis presents a comprehensive spatio-temporal analysis of carbon emissions embodied in trades of nations within and beyond BRI, contributing to methodological advances of measuring the impacts of technological differences on carbon footprints and emissions leakage, which is largely underexplored in current studies.

EPFL2020