The diploma thesis focuses on the product analysis of the company Pfanner, spol. s r.o. The practical part of the thesis handles with individual components of the product and compares firm and brand-name Pfanner with his nearest competitor and his products, the company Rauch Rankweil. Afterwards, thesis analyses the situation on the market of juices, nectars and sparkling beverages. The final assessment is focused on the competitors' performance on the market and their evaluation of sales value in the specific types of outlets.

Abstract When companies want to grow and gain market shares in a competitive industry it is im-portant to find out more about their potential market opportunities. This is often done by first conducting a market research. The tobacco industry is a very tricky environment to operate in and that is in terms of the health aspects and the superstition within the industry. In fact, the tobacco industry companies are moving towards more flexible production with smaller batches and need efficient handling equipment for this. And at your hand, you have a company that is manufacturing just this particular equipment, isn’t that perfect? The purpose of this thesis is to do a market research for a company, in this thesis referred to as Bintech, and to examine the market for their product in the tobacco industry. The research was conducted both quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative part con-sists of a numerous telephone calls all over Europe to every cigarette manufacturer that were to find. Out of 240 calls there were 80 relevant. The qualitative part consists of four in-depth discussion interviews with people involved in the tobacco industry. There is a hard competition in the tobacco industry that is forcing the tobacco companies to make changes in their production lines. Bintech is a company that has the facilities to manage customer communication in terms of developing new products after customer de-mand. The product in the tobacco industry the bin is in the material plywood and that have seemed to be a good choice. The sales strategy that suit the bin the best is the differentia-tion focus were Bintech should try to be unique for their customers and they are on their way. Even though the Bintech bins are at the higher price level, the users for sure will earn more money on having these bins than any others. / Sammanfattning När företag vill växa och vinna marknadsandelar i en konkurrensutsatt bransch är det vik-tigt att undersöka mer om de potentiella marknadsmöjligheterna. Detta görs ofta genom marknadsundersökningar. Tobaksbranschen är en väldigt svår miljö att arbeta i därför att det finns mycket hälsoaspekter att ta hänsyn till och även en misstänksamhet ibland de in-blandade parterna. Företagen i tobaksbranschen går emot en mer flexibel produktion med mindre satsstorlekar och behöver effektiv utrustning för detta. För handen har du ett före-tag som producerar just precis den här utrustningen, är det inte perfekt? Syftet för den här uppsatsen är att göra en marknadsundersökning för ett företag, som i uppsatsen kommer refereras till Bintech, och att utvärdera marknaden för deras produkt i tobaksbranschen. Undersökningen är utförd både kvantitativt och kvalitativt. Den kvantitativa delen består utav telefonsamtal runtom i Europa till cigarettillverkare som gick att finna. Utav 240 sam-tal återstod 80 relevanta. Den kvalitativa delen består utav fyra djupintervjuer med folk som är inblandade i tobaksbranschen. Det råder en hård konkurrens i tobaksbranschen och den tvingar tobaksföretagen till att göra förändringar i produktionen. Bintech är ett företag som har faciliteten att kunna han-tera kommunikationen med sina kunder och att utveckla nya produkter efter kundernas önskemål. Produkten i tobaksbranschen ” bin”-en är gjord utav plywood och det har visat sig vara ett bra val. Säljstrategin som passar produkten bäst är ”differentiation focus” där Bintech ska försöka att vara unika för sina kunder och de är på väg. Även att Bintechs ” bin” tillhör en lite högre prisnivå så kommer nog förmodligen använ-darna av den att tjäna mer pengar på den än på andra.

<p>Abstract</p><p>When companies want to grow and gain market shares in a competitive industry it is im-portant to find out more about their potential market opportunities. This is often done by first conducting a market research. The tobacco industry is a very tricky environment to operate in and that is in terms of the health aspects and the superstition within the industry. In fact, the tobacco industry companies are moving towards more flexible production with smaller batches and need efficient handling equipment for this. And at your hand, you have a company that is manufacturing just this particular equipment, isn’t that perfect?</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to do a market research for a company, in this thesis referred to as Bintech, and to examine the market for their product in the tobacco industry.</p><p>The research was conducted both quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative part con-sists of a numerous telephone calls all over Europe to every cigarette manufacturer that were to find. Out of 240 calls there were 80 relevant. The qualitative part consists of four in-depth discussion interviews with people involved in the tobacco industry.</p><p>There is a hard competition in the tobacco industry that is forcing the tobacco companies to make changes in their production lines. Bintech is a company that has the facilities to manage customer communication in terms of developing new products after customer de-mand. The product in the tobacco industry the bin is in the material plywood and that have seemed to be a good choice. The sales strategy that suit the bin the best is the differentia-tion focus were Bintech should try to be unique for their customers and they are on their way.</p><p>Even though the Bintech bins are at the higher price level, the users for sure will earn more money on having these bins than any others.</p> / <p>Sammanfattning</p><p>När företag vill växa och vinna marknadsandelar i en konkurrensutsatt bransch är det vik-tigt att undersöka mer om de potentiella marknadsmöjligheterna. Detta görs ofta genom marknadsundersökningar. Tobaksbranschen är en väldigt svår miljö att arbeta i därför att det finns mycket hälsoaspekter att ta hänsyn till och även en misstänksamhet ibland de in-blandade parterna. Företagen i tobaksbranschen går emot en mer flexibel produktion med mindre satsstorlekar och behöver effektiv utrustning för detta. För handen har du ett före-tag som producerar just precis den här utrustningen, är det inte perfekt?</p><p>Syftet för den här uppsatsen är att göra en marknadsundersökning för ett företag, som i uppsatsen kommer refereras till Bintech, och att utvärdera marknaden för deras produkt i tobaksbranschen.</p><p>Undersökningen är utförd både kvantitativt och kvalitativt. Den kvantitativa delen består utav telefonsamtal runtom i Europa till cigarettillverkare som gick att finna. Utav 240 sam-tal återstod 80 relevanta. Den kvalitativa delen består utav fyra djupintervjuer med folk som är inblandade i tobaksbranschen.</p><p>Det råder en hård konkurrens i tobaksbranschen och den tvingar tobaksföretagen till att göra förändringar i produktionen. Bintech är ett företag som har faciliteten att kunna han-tera kommunikationen med sina kunder och att utveckla nya produkter efter kundernas önskemål. Produkten i tobaksbranschen ” bin”-en är gjord utav plywood och det har visat sig vara ett bra val. Säljstrategin som passar produkten bäst är ”differentiation focus” där Bintech ska försöka att vara unika för sina kunder och de är på väg.</p><p>Även att Bintechs ” bin” tillhör en lite högre prisnivå så kommer nog förmodligen använ-darna av den att tjäna mer pengar på den än på andra.</p>

Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2R) is a promising route to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reach carbon dioxide net zero emissions to combat global warming. Currently, in order to investigate catalytically produced products from CO2R offline methods such as gas chromatography (GC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are used. These offline methods have a time resolution on the minutes to hours scale which leads to uncertainty of evaluating how products are produced from CO2R, such as knowing if a product is produced from electrochemical means or chemical conversion, and if a product is being produced in a linear rate of production or a different rate. This is where the ability to have real-time analysis of the products generated from CO2R is desirable, as it can more definitively answer many of these questions. Yet few analytical techniques have been developed in detail so far to achieve real-time analysis. Herein, we show the use of selected-ion flow-tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) that quantitatively measures in realtime an array of 10 C1, C2, and C3 products from CO2R such as ethanol, ethylene or methane. The custom-developed SIFT-MS selected ion mode scan measures the concentration of gas and liquid-phase products of CO2R at the same time and is compatible with any electrolyzer cell. We demonstrate that the SIFT-MS technique can reliably and accurately determine product concentration in real-time through the evaluation of Cu foil and its comparison to traditional techniques. Considering the narrow range of developed and deployed techniques for real-time quantitative product analysis for CO2R, this study on SIFT-MS is a critical tool for future research in accelerating and optimizing catalyst design for electrochemical CO2R applications. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc) / The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide can be used within electrolyzer devices to help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming. The process is when carbon dioxide is extracted from sources such as industrial plants and undergoes electrochemical reduction to be converted into 16 or more products that can be then sold within the market for profit. The common analysis methods currently used to analyze how much of each product is produced from an electrolyzer device does not reveal all the information needed to best design electrolyzer devices. This has led way to new analysis methods that are being explored that can find all the information needed for product analysis that leads to optimal electrolyzer design. This work investigated uses a special type of mass spectrometry that will allow for the full information to be found on the products from electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction leading to enhanced electrolyzer designs.

Yes / Product design decomposition and synthesis is a constant challenge with its continuously increasing complexity at each level of abstraction. Currently, design decomposition and synthesis analytical tasks are mostly accomplished via functional and structural methods. These methods are useful in different phases of design process for product definition and architecture but limited in a way that they tend to focus more on ‘what’ and less on ‘how’ and vice versa. This paper combines a functional representation tool known as System State Flow Diagram (a solution independent approach), a solution search tool referred as Morphology Table, and Design Structure Matrix (mainly a solution dependent tool). The proposed approach incorporates Multiple Domain Matrix (MDM) to integrate the knowledge of both solution independent and dependent analyses. The approach is illustrated with a case study of solar robot toy, followed by its limitations, future work and discussion.

This thesis analyses products of Cedro sole ltd., which is a company operating on nail care market in Czech Republic. Theoretical part defines basic terms and brings basis important for practical part. Practical part deals with company presentation, customers and the market company's operating on. This is followed by company's surroundings that describe the current situation on the nail care market. Marketing mix analysis shows ways of price setting, organisation of distribution and the ways of communication. All this is followed by product analysis of the sales numbers, revenues and margin during the studied years. Last part is focused on recommendations to improve sales numbers and market position.

ABSTRACT The increase of carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the atmosphere has become a severe environmental problem, since it could cause global warming due to greenhouse effects. Thus, the reduction of CO2 emission to tackle the greenhouse effect has become one of the most important tasks for sustainable development. The outcomes of this study would be valuable to evaluate the feasibility of applying photocatalytic reduction process to remove CO2 from the atmosphere as well as the flue gas. This study investigated the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 in a self-designed batch UV/TiO2 photocatalytic reactor. The photocatalysts tested included commercial TiO2 (Degussa P-25) and synthesized TiO2 via modified sol-gel process (i.e. NO3-/TiO2 and SO42-/TiO2). Stainless steel supports coated with TiO2 were packed in the batch reactor. The initial concentrations of CO2 ranged from 0.5% to 7.5%. The reductants investigated included hydrogen (H2), water vapor (H2O), and hydrogen with water vapor (H2+H2O). The incident UV light with wavelength of 365 nm was irradiated by a 15-watt low-pressure mercury lamp. The photocatalytic reaction was conducted continuously for approximately 48 hours. Reactants and products were analyzed quantitatively by a gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector followed by a methaneizer (GC/FID-Methaneizer). Experimental results indicated that stainless steel coated with TiO2 had better photoreduction efficiency than that of quartz glass. The optimal operating conditions of CO2 photoreduction were observed by using H2 over SO42-/TiO2, which could produce major products of CO and CH4 and minor products of C2H4 and C2H6. Sulfuric acid used as a stabilizer in the sol-gel process could produce TiO2 of high specific surface area. Results obtained from the operating parameter tests showed that the photoreduction rate increased with the initial concentration of carbon dioxide and resulted in more product accumulation. Higher photoreduction efficiency of carbon dioxide was observed by using the hydrogen (H2) than water vapor (H2O). The photoreduction rate of carbon dioxide increased with reaction temperature, which promoted the formation of products. In addition, proper water vapor (ie. relative humidity of water vapor =25%~75%) could increase the photoreduction efficiency. However, the photoreduction efficiency decreased white it was close to (ie. relative humidity of water vapor =75%~100%). Concurred with previous researches, the reaction rate of major products over SO42-/TiO2 were higher than previous investigations of CO2 photoreduction. This study proposed the reaction pathway using hydrogen and/or water vapor as the reductants. Moreover, a one-site Langmiur-Hinshewood kinetic model (L-H model) was successfully applied to simulate the reaction rate of CO2 during the photoreduction reaction process.

This diploma thesis has analysed current marketing strategy of the company Linde Material Handling ČR. Based on this analysis is formulated proper recommendations. All recommendations steps would have positive impact on improvements of the company competitiveness and the market position.

An increased interest in functional beverages is occurring, and omega-3 fatty acids (FA) are one of the most commonly sought ingredients to fortify such beverages. Omega-3 FA produce beneficial health effects, likely due to their anti-inflammatory properties. The majority of current omega-3 FA-fortified products include marine-derived omega-3 FA sources, often producing undesired flavors due to lipid oxidation. Little research regarding incorporation of alpha-linolenic acid in functional beverage formulation has been conducted. Alpha-linolenic acid is less susceptible to oxidation and may be a candidate to deliver omega-3 FA into the diet via functional products. Flaxseed is the richest plant source for alpha-linolenic acid; consumption may increase omega-3 FA intake and lower the omega-6:omega3 FA ratio, thereby, attenuating inflammation. Finely ground flaxseed was, therefore, incorporated into a chocolate milk foundation ("flaxmilk") to increase dietary omega-3 FA. An untrained consumer panel tasted and rated flaxmilk's palatability using a 9-point hedonic scale. A score of "6.0" ("like slightly") was targeted. A mean hedonic score of 6.35 was achieved, surpassing the targeted score and indicating an acceptable product. Sensory and analytical analyses of flaxmilk were conducted and compared to standard chocolate milk. Flaxmilk was significantly different in most physical, chemical and sensory characteristics compared to chocolate milk. A reduction in the omega-6:omega-3 FA ratio may attenuate inflammation; inflammation has been linked to osteoporosis. Thus, a secondary analysis of data collected from 202 women was conducted to estimate the dietary omega-6:omega-3 FA ratio and examine relationships between the omega-6:omega-3 FA ratio and total body and site-specific bone mineral density (BMD). The omega-6:omega-3 FA ratio had no appreciable association with any measure of BMD in the overall sample of women or in younger or older subsamples of women. In summary, consumers found flaxmilk to be an acceptable product, despite sensory and compositional differences compared to chocolate milk. The relationship between the omega-6:omega-3 FA ratio and BMD remains unclear. / Ph. D.

For more than a decade, since 2009, biodiesel production has led to excessive production of its by-product, glycerol, consequently decreasing its market value and creating waste issues for the biodiesel industry. Valorization of glycerol is a promising strategy to enhance the sustainability of the biodiesel industry. Electrochemical oxidation of glycerol stands out among the other methods (i.e., hydrogenolysis, dehydration, and catalytic oxidation) due to its simplicity, eco-friendliness, and cost-effectiveness. Glycerol electrooxidation reaction has a wide range of products including C3 (i.e., glyceric acid), C2 (i.e., glycolic acid) and C1 (i.e., formic acid) products, and a complex reaction pathway. Moreover, some of the products spontaneously convert to each other or form decomposition products in the strong alkaline medium, making the product analysis challenging. Therefore, this thesis started by establishing a foundation for the quantitative technical analysis method of glycerol electrooxidation products. Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (H-NMR) was developed as an alternative to High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) by providing the capability to assess the products in their medium and detect the chemical conversions in alkaline medium. Additionally, H-NMR is a highly sensitive technique with a low detection limit of 0.01mM for the GOR product, and its accuracy was confirmed with less than 8% error by using a sample product mixture with known concentrations. Most importantly, the proposed chemical pathways were determined by using H-NMR, assisting in a deeper understanding of the glycerol electrooxidation mechanism in an alkaline medium. Subsequently, this thesis explores an efficient catalyst for the glycerol electrooxidation reaction since the state-of-the-art catalysts developed for the glycerol electrooxidation reaction mostly include noble metals hindering their commercialization due to their high price and low stability resulting from susceptibility to CO poisoning. Specifically, catalysts that can hinder the C-C cleavage provide more economic advantages since C3 products have higher market prices than the C2 and C1 products. Thus, the primary aim of this thesis is to develop a cost-effective catalyst with high selectivity towards C3 products, by demonstrating high activity, and stability to make the glycerol electrooxidation reaction economically feasible. This thesis uses the catalyst development strategy of alloying the noble metal with the transition metal, where Pt and Cu were chosen, respectively. PtxCu100-x/C bimetallic alloy catalysts were prepared using the chemical reduction method. The effect of Pt:Cu ratio on the electrochemical performance was studied by using a three-electrode cell in an alkaline medium, revealing the Pt31Cu69/C as the best-performing catalyst with the highest Pt-mass normalized current density (5.9 mA μgPt-1), highest geometrical current density (75.3 mA cm-2), and low onset potential (~0.38V vs RHE) among Pt/C and other PtxCu100-x/C catalysts. Conducting parametric studies on the electrolyte concentrations and applied potential, the C3 selectivity of Pt31Cu69/C catalyst demonstrated the highest selectivity to GLY (75 %) and C3 (86 %) after 10 h chronoamperometry at optimal conditions. Subsequently, the impact of the metal oxide effect on the Pt-based catalyst, PtCu/C-CeO2, and Pt/C-CeO2 were prepared using the ball milling method. The CeO2 impact on the selectivity towards C3 products was investigated. PtCu/C-CeO2 showed the highest selectivity and concentration for C3 products compared to Pt/C-CeO2, Pt/C and PtCu/C. Additionally, temperature impact on the performance towards glycerol electrooxidation reaction was studied, revealing temperature increase further increases the selectivity and concentration for C3 products (90%, and 18.4 mM). All the catalysts prepared in this thesis were characterized physically using analytical techniques of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Fossil fuels need to be replaced by clean alternatives due to sustainability concerns. Consequently, as a renewable energy source, biodiesel production has been booming since 2009, producing large amounts of glycerol as a side-product. This overproduction devalorizes glycerol, creating a disposal problem for the biodiesel industry. Electrochemical valorization is a sustainable approach to upgrade glycerol into useful compounds such as glyceric acid and tartronic acid that have medical, food and cosmetic applications. However, glycerol electrooxidation reaction (GOR) has a complex reaction pathway with a wide range of products that can be converted to each other spontaneously in an alkaline medium, making it challenging to fully understand the GOR mechanism, thereby negatively impacts GOR catalyst development. This thesis develops the proton nuclear magnetic resonance method for quantitative analysis of GOR products, highlights the chemical reaction pathways in alkaline electrolyte, and develops PtCu/C and PtCu/C-CeO2 catalysts as selective GOR catalysts towards the valuable C3 products.