The author of the thesis focuses on an analysis of cola-based soft drink market in the Czech Republic, which is by its internal structure different from the standard European market of such a kind.The main goal of the thesis is to describe the cola-based soft drink market in the Czech Republic in detail, identify profiles of cola-based soft drink consumers for the leading brands and evaluate consumer perception of these brands. The aim of the thesis is also to compare subconscious and real taste preferences and to identifiy taste recognizability of tested cola-based soft drinks with a focus on Kofola brand soft drink. To fulfill the goals of the thesis the author works with following datasources: a study of a market research company ACNielsen, the data analysis of research project MML-TGI, results of a consumer survey and of a blind taste test.

This thesis examines people's preferences for housing, specifically for housing in suburbs. Suburbs have negative economic, environmental and social consequences and most cities in developed countries is facing the growth of suburbs. The aim of the thesis was to examine the reasons why people move to satellite villages and how they change their preferences. People's preferences were tested by questionnaire survey conducted in Jesenice u Prahy. Residents are moving to this locality because they want to live in a house with a garden, in a quiet and clean environment. The opinion that people are moving to suburbs due to social status and prestige was not confirmed.

The diploma thesis is focused on preference learning. Preferences can be analyzed in many areas starting from economics, over the statistics to informatics. This thesis is focused on informatics point of view on preferences. At the beginning it is focusing on preferences in general and analyzing its origin in economical science. Then this knowledge base is used for analysis of informatics methods employed in preference learning which also includes machine learning and describes how these sciences are connected with each other. Practical part of work is focused on employing informatics preferences in practice. The basic tasks and methods are described at the beginning and followed by more detailed analysis of one the methods (UTA NM). The result consists of description and implementation of a REST web service that can be used for one of the preference learning tasks.

This diploma thesis focuses on the analysis of consumer behaviour and preferences of university students concerning tourism. The aim of the thesis is to prepare set of recommendations of marketing mix tools setting which should help tourism service providers to market effectively to students. The theoretical part deals with the explanation of basic terms that are used in the thesis. Furthermore, it provides the analysis of existing data and description of student consumer behaviour and trends in youth tourism. The practical part focuses on the research itself conducted by interviewing students at the universities all over the Czech Republic. The outcome are the recommendations and tipps which are based on the research analysis how to prepare effective marketing strategy and how to set individual tools of marketing mix in order to attract youth travellers.

This diploma thesis focuses on political-business cycle which is a theme frequently omitted in discussions about economic situation in the Czech Republic. Theoretical part of the work will provide readers with the topic of political-business cycle and its basic models which will serve as a support to the statistical research in the analytical part. Is fiscal policy in hands of Czech politicians an efficient tool to manipulate voters? The aim of the work is to answer this question and thus give a detailed look of political-business cycle on example of four regular electoral periods of Czech Parliament. To reach the goal of diploma thesis, we used regressive analysis to examine hypothesis if the date of elections influences certain folders of income and expenses of government budget. This hypothesis was not accepted on the significance level of 5 per cent. The reasons are mainly short time series of tested indicators.

Human behavior varies widely as does the design of spoken dialog systems (SDS). The search for predictors to match a user’s preference and efficiency for a specific dialog interface type in an SDS was the focus of this research. By using personality as described by the Five-Factor Method (FFM) and the Wizard of Oz technique for delivering three system initiatives of the SDS, participants interacted with each of the SDS initiatives in scheduling an airline flight. The three system initiatives were constructed as strict system, which did not allow the user control of the interaction; mixed system, which allowed the user some control of the interaction but with a system override; and user system, which allowed the user control of the interaction. In order to eliminate gender bias in using the FFM as the instrument, participants were matched in gender and age. Participants were 18 years old to 70 years old, passed a hearing test, had no disability that prohibited the use of the SDS, and were native English speakers. Participants completed an adult consent form, a 50-question personality assessment as described by the FFM, and the interaction with the SDS. Participants also completed a system preference indication form at the end of the interaction. Observations for efficiency were recorded on paper by the researcher. Although the findings did not show a definitive predictor for a SDS due to the small population sample, by using a multinomial regression approach to the statistical analysis, odds ratios of the data helped draw conclusions that support certain personality factors as important roles in a user’s preference and efficiency in choosing and using a SDS. This gives an area for future research. Also, the presumption that preference and efficiency always match was not supported by the results from two of the three systems. An additional area for future research was discovered in the gender data. Although not an initial part of the research, the data shows promise in predicting preference and efficiency for certain SDS. Future research is indicated.

Few studies have systematically evaluated whether preferences can reliably be identified using brief procedures. Typically, studies have used brief procedures to select potential reinforcers for use in intervention procedures. A total of 17 food and leisure paired-choice preference assessments were administered to 10 subjects in order to evaluate the extent to which the results of a brief (i.e., single-session) assessment correspond with those from more extended procedures (i.e., 5 sessions). Eleven out of the 17 brief and extended assessments identified the same stimulus as the most preferred (highest rank). Outcomes suggest that a brief assessment can be useful when a single, potent reinforcing stimulus is desired, and an extended assessment should be conducted when a larger number of preferred stimuli is desired.

In this research the validity of various computational techniques has been determined and applied the appropriate techniques to investigate and propose a good catalytic system for C-H bond activation and functionalization. Methane being least reactive and major component of natural gas, its activation and conversion to functionalized products is of great scientific and economic interest in pure and applied chemistry. Thus C-H activation followed by C-C/C-X functionalization became crux of the synthesis. DFT (density functional theory) methods are well suited to determine the thermodynamic as well as kinetic factors of a reaction. The obtained results are helpful to industrial catalysis and experimental chemistry with additional information: since C-X (X = halogens) bond cleavage is important in many metal catalyzed organic syntheses, the results obtained in this research helps in determining the selectivity (kinetic or thermodynamic) advantage. When C-P bond activation is considered, results from chapter 3 indicated that C-X activation barrier is lower than C-H activation barrier. The results obtained from DFT calculations not only gave a good support to the experimental results and verified the experimentally demonstrated Ni-atom transfer mechanism from Ni=E (E = CH2, NH, PH) activating complex to ethylene to form three-membered ring products but also validated the application of late transition metal complexes in respective process. Results obtained supported the argument that increase in metal coordination and electronic spin state increases catalytic activity of FeIII-imido complexes. These results not only encouraged the fact that DFT and multi-layer ONIOM methods are good to determine geometry and thermodynamics of meta-stable chemical complexes, but also gave a great support to spectroscopic calculations like NMR and Mossbauer calculations.

A comparação social é um elemento ubíquo na sociedade, na qual os indivíduos, consciente ou inconscientemente, utilizam emoções, habilidades e opiniões dos demais para se avaliarem, se aprimorarem ou se promoverem. Por sua constante presença nas relações interpessoais e na vida das pessoas, a comparação social tem sido investigada e reconhecida a partir de uma ampla gama de consequências como emoções, julgamentos, atitudes e comportamento, e dentro deste último o comportamento de consumo. Para a melhor compreensão e aplicação da comparação social para a área de marketing, no entanto, é fundamental entender que suas consequências não ocorrem de maneira homogênea e o que influencia nessa heterogeneidade. Diante disso, esta pesquisa foi desenvolvida, buscando investigar como elementos individuais, como os valores pessoais, e variáveis associadas às relações sociais, como a sensação de poder, podem atuar no fenômeno da comparação social e em suas consequências, buscando assim contribuir para o maior reconhecimento teórico e prático deste fenômeno. Foi delimitado como campo de estudo a comparação social estética devido aos impactos psicológicos e sociais que este campo possui nos indivíduos, principalmente nas mulheres, sendo estas delimitadas como a população desta pesquisa. A partir da realização de três estudos empíricos, utilizando os métodos survey e experimental, foi possível comprovar a moderação dos valores de autopromoção e da sensação de poder na comparação social estética. Os valores de autopromoção exercem um impacto positivo na comparação social, estando correlacionados positivamente com a orientação que os indivíduos têm em se compararem, assim como estão associados com as consequências psicológicas geradas a partir da comparação. A sensação de poder, por sua vez, apresentou um impacto negativo sobre a comparação social estética, minimizando suas consequências psicológicas. A partir desta pesquisa buscou-se contribuir para a teoria da comparação social, abordando-a a partir da visão ainda pouco explorada do fenômeno de comparação como bietápico e, assim, cooperar para minimizar a existente carência de poder preditivo que a comparação social sofre, a qual limita o reconhecimento do seu papel central para as ciências sociais e para a área de marketing. Juntamente a isso pretendeu-se propor novas possíveis estratégias que possam minimizar os efeitos negativos da comparação social estética imposta pela mídia na forma como as mulheres se percebem. / Social comparison is an ubiquitous element in society, where individuals consciously or unconsciously use others emotions, skills and opinions to evaluate, to promote or to improve themselves. For its continuous presence in interpersonal relations and in people's lives, the social comparison has been investigated and recognized for a wide range of consequences such as emotions, judgments, attitudes and behavior, and also consumption behavior. To improve the comprehension and application of social comparison to the marketing area it is necessary to understand that its consequences are not homogeneous through the individuals, and what can impact this heterogeneity. Considering that, this research was developed in order to investigate how individual elements, such as personal values, and variables associated with social relations, such as the power sense, can influence the phenomenon of social comparison and its consequences. By this, we expect to contribute to the improvement of theoretical and practical recognition of social comparison phenomenon. It was delimitated as a research field the aesthetics social comparison considering its psychological e social consequences to humans, specially women, being this gender the target population of this research. Through three empirical studies, one survey and two experimental studies, it was possible to prove the moderation of self-promotion values and the power sense at aesthetics social comparison. The self-promotion values had a positive impact at social comparison, firstly by its positive correlation with social comparison orientation, and second by influencing the intensity of psychological consequences of social comparison. The power sense, on the other hand, had a negative impact on the aesthetic social comparison, minimizing its psychological consequences. This research aimed to contribute to the theory of social comparison, addressing it from the still underexplored vision of social comparison as a two-stage phenomenon, and thus cooperate to minimize the existing lack of predictive power that this phenomenon suffers, limiting its recognition as a central role in the social sciences and in marketing field. Related to this, it was proposed new strategies that can be used to minimize the negative effects of aesthetic social comparison imposed by the media in the way women perceive themselves.

O objetivo central deste trabalho foi desenvolver um modelo empírico que mostrasse a existência, ou não, de diferentes probabilidades de consumo do álcool nas regiões abrangidas pela Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares (POF). Isto permite analisar se políticas energéticas para o setor de combustíveis devem ser diferenciadas por região. Em um segundo momento, esses resultados foram usados para a realização de simulações, por meio de modificações nas variáveis explicativas, da probabilidade de consumo do álcool. O intuito foi verificar as modificações esperadas, desses resultados, na demanda da gasolina e do álcool combustível e fazer comparação, por meio de ilustração, entre os resultados reais e os simulados em relação à emissão de CO2 resultante do consumo estimado para esses combustíveis. Os dados exibem baixa preferência pelo álcool no Brasil, abaixo de 10% do total da amostra. Em relação às probabilidades reais estimadas, a região Sudeste apresenta efeitos superiores aos alcançados para Brasil, aproximadamente 1,3 vezes maior. Os resultados encontrados em relação a acréscimos no preço do álcool combustível mostram, de maneira similar à verificada para Brasil, maior sensibilidade da redução da probabilidade para acréscimos entre os intervalos de variação de 05 e 20%. Variações no preço da gasolina de forma a aumentar o preço desse combustível causam maior diferença entre a probabilidade real e a simulada, aumento, do que reduções no preço do álcool. Para a região Sudeste, o impacto na probabilidade em virtude de aumentos no preço da gasolina é cerca de três vezes maiores do que os verificados em conseqüência de reduções no preço do álcool. Os resultados encontrados para as simulações que consideram reduções no preço da gasolina para a região Sudeste mostram que em torno de 40% de aumento nesse preço a probabilidade estimada aproxima-se de zero. Para Brasil, essa condição corresponderia a valores próximos a 35% de redução no preço desse combustível. De modo geral, para os intervalos de variações considerados, aumentos no preço da gasolina implicam aumentos em torno de três vezes maiores na probabilidade de consumo do álcool em relação a reduções no preço do álcool. As estimativas encontradas para a demanda total de combustíveis, gasolina e álcool, em litros, e a emissão de carbono, em toneladas por litro, esperados para um período de cinco anos e impactos na probabilidade para variação nos preços de 5% mostram que a demanda total e, consequentemente, a emissão de carbono verificada para Brasil é cerca de 2,5 vezes maior que à da região Sudeste. Examinando a diferença entre as estimativas de emissão de carbono esperadas para um comportamento futuro que exibisse a probabilidade real estimada de consumo atual e as probabilidades de consumo estimadas para alterações desse comportamento, via preço, tem-se que para as situações que implicam aumento da probabilidade de consumo do álcool combustível, ou seja, redução do preço desse combustível e aumento do preço da gasolina, reduções em torno 0,15% para o primeiro caso, e 0,37%, para o segundo, para Brasil. Para a região Sudeste, redução do preço do álcool originaria redução de cerca de 955,16 toneladas ano-1, e 2.519,13 toneladas ano-1 para semelhante percentual de aumento no preço da gasolina, o que corresponderia a reduções de 0,165 e 0,43% . Nota-se que alterações no preço da gasolina originam impactos em torno de 2,6 e 2,4 vezes maiores na redução de emissão para região Sudeste e Brasil, respectivamente. Aumento do preço do álcool implica em aumentar o nível de emissão de carbono em cerca de 1.969,81 toneladas ano-1 para Brasil, e 855,60 toneladas ano-1 na região Sudeste. Isto implica em aumentar o nível de emissões em 0,13% para Brasil e 0,15% para a região Sudeste. Para redução no preço da gasolina esse aumento no nível de emissões será de cerca de 0,28%, para Brasil, e 0,35%, Sudeste. Como previsto, mudanças no preço da gasolina provocam maiores alterações na demanda e emissão. Assim, os resultados do modelo base e os simulados mostram que programas políticos que promovam maior eficiência, autonomia, da gasolina possuem maior probabilidade de reduzir seu consumo do que no caso de programas que incentivem o consumo de combustíveis alternativos, como células de hidrogênio, biodiesel, gás natural e eletricidade. / The main objective of this work is developing an empirical model that can show the existence, or not, of different probabilities for the consumption of alcohol fuel in the regions covered by the Research of Family Budget (POF). It allows us to analyze if the energetic policies to the sector of fuels should be considered differently per region. On a second moment, these results were used to make simulations, by modifying the explicative variables of the probability for the consumption of alcohol. The intention was to verify the modifications expected in the demand for gasoline and alcohol, and make a comparison, through illustration, between the real results and the simulated ones, considering the emission of CO2, as a result of the estimated consumption for those kinds of fuel. The data show us a low preference for alcohol in Brazil, less than 10% of the total amount. Regarding the real probabilities estimated, the Southeast region presents effects that are higher to the Brazilian average, approximately 1.3 times higher. The results obtained in relation to increases in the price of alcohol demonstrate, similarly to what happens in the rest of Brazil, a more sensitive reduction of the probability for increases, between 5% and 20%. Variations in the price of gasoline, when it rises, results in a bigger difference between the real probability and the simulated one, more than a reduction in the price of alcohol. To the Southeast region, the impacts provoked by it, if we consider an increase in the price of gasoline, are three times higher than the impacts resulted from reductions in the price of alcohol. The results gotten through the simulations, where there is a decrease in the price of gasoline for the Southeast region, show that when we have an increase of 40% in that price, the estimated probability is around zero. In terms of Brazil, it would correspond to numbers close to 35% of reduction in the price of this kind of fuel. On the whole, considering the intervals of variations, rises in the price of gasoline result in an increase of around three times in the probability for the consumption of alcohol, in relation to decreases in the price of alcohol. The estimates found for the total demand for fuels, gasoline and alcohol, in liters, and the emission of carbon, in tons per liter, expected for a period of five years, and impacts in the probability of a variation of 5% in prices, show that the total demand and, consequently, the emission of carbon verified in Brazil is around 2.5 times higher than the one in the Southeast region. If we consider the difference among the estimates for the emission of carbon expected for a future behavior, which could show the real probability estimated for the current consumption and the probabilities of consumption estimated for alterations in this behavior, via price, we can see that for the situations that cause an increase in the possibility of consumption of alcohol, that is, decrease in the price of this kind of fuel, there is a decrease of around 0.15% for the first situation and 0.37% for the second one, in terms of Brazil. For the Southeast region, a decrease in the price of alcohol would be responsible for a reduction of 955.16 tons per year, and 2,519.13 tons per year for a similar percentage of increase in the price of gasoline, what would correspond to reductions of 0.165 and 0.43%. We can notice that alterations in the price of gasoline cause impacts of around 2.6 and 2.4 times higher in the reduction of emission to the Southeast region and Brazil, respectively. An increase in the price of alcohol involves an increase in the level of emission of carbon of around 1,969.81 tons per year, in terms of Brazil, and 855.60 tons per year, in terms of Southeast region. That means an increase in the level of emissions of 0.13% for Brazil and 0.15% for the Southeast region. If there is a decrease in the price of gasoline, the increase in the level of emissions will be of 0.28% for Brazil and 0.35% for the Southeast. As we had expected, changes in the price of gasoline cause bigger changes in demand and emission. So, the results gotten from the model and the simulated ones show us that political programs that promote more gasoline efficiency, autonomy, have a bigger chance of reducing its consumption than the programs that encourage the consumption of alternative fuels, such as hydrogen cells, biodiesel, natural gas and electricity.