Title: Values, Desirability and Ideology in CNN Travel -- a Discourse Analysis on Travel Stories Author: Emmi Laine Course: Journalistikvetenskap, Kandidatkurs, H13 J Kand (Bachelor of Journalism, Fall 2013), JMK, Stockholm University, Sweden Aim: The aim is to examine which values and ideologies CNN Travel fulfills in their stories. Method: Qualitative discourse analysis. Summary: This Bachelor ́s thesis asks what is desirable, which are the values of CNN Travel, the major U.S. news corporation CNN ́s online travel site. The question has been answered through a qualitative discourse analysis on 20 chosen travel stories, picked by their relevancy, diversity, and their expressive tone. Due to the limited space and the specific textual method, the analysis was restricted to the editorial texts of these stories. The chosen method was discourse analyst Norman Fairclough ́s model of evaluation, which revealed the explicit and implicit ways the media texts suggest desired characteristics. These linguistic devices took the readers ́ agreement for granted, as they imposed a shared cultural ground with common values, which is a base for a mutual understanding. After identifying the explicit and implicit evaluations, they were organized according to some major discursive themes found in the texts, and finally analyzed in order to expose their underlying values. The results showed how these certain values brought forth certain ideologies, to some extent in keeping with recent research of tourism and travel journalism. As the study has been put into a larger context of related research, the following pages will first explain some larger concepts of discourse analysis, such as representation, cultural stereotypes, ideology and power. A cross-section from older to more contemporary theories in culture studies has been utilized; moving from Edward Said ́s postcolonial classic Orientalism, an example of cultural stereotyping, to the more recent topics of ‘promotion culture’ and consumerism, and tourism researcher John Urry ́s ideas about the consumption of places and the ‘tourist gaze.’ In the end, the study considers what kind of power does travel journalism possess over the represented tourism destinations. Finally, when questioning the travel journalists ́ legitimacy and power to represent the travel destinations, poststructuralist Michel Foucault ́s theory about the ‘regime of truth,’ as well as Antonio Gramsci ́s ideas of ‘hegemony,’ theory of dominance through consent, were discussed and confirmed.

Bulk metallic glasses represent a newly developed class of materials. Some metallic glasses possess combinations of very good or even excellent mechanical, chemical and/or magnetic properties uncovering a broad range of both industrial and vital applications. Besides all advantages metallic glasses have also significant drawbacks, which have to be overcome for commercial application. Apart from low critical thicknesses, brittleness and chemical inhomogeneity one important problem of metallic glasses is the lack of an appropriate theory describing their structure. Therefore, the search for new glass forming compositions as well as the improving of existing ones occurs at present by means of trial-and-error methods and a number of empirical rules. Empirical rules for good glass-forming ability of bulk metallic glasses have been established in recent years by Inoue and Egami. Two of these rules, (i) Preference of more than 3 elements and (ii) Need of more than 12 % radii difference of base elements, seem to be closely related to topological (geometrical) criteria. From this point of view topological parameters contribute essentially to the glass-forming ability. The third rule (iii) demands a negative mixing enthalpy of base elements and refers to the chemical interaction of the atoms. The generalized Bernal’s model (hard-sphere approximation) was used for the simulation of monatomic, binary and multi-component structures. Excluding chemical interaction, this method allows the investigation of topological criteria of the glass-forming ability. Bernal’s hard-sphere model was shown to be a good approximation for bulk metallic glasses and metallic liquids and yields good coincidence of experimental and theoretical results. • The Laguerre (weighted Voronoi) tessellation technique was used as the main tool for the structural analysis. Due to very complex structures it is impossible to determine the structure of bulk metallic glasses by means of standard crystallographic methods. • Density, radial distribution function, coordination number and Laguerre polyhedra analysis confirm amorphism of the simulated structures and are in a good agreement with available experimental results. • The ratio of the fractions of non-crystalline to crystalline Laguerre polyhedra faces was introduced as a new parameter . This parameter reflects the total non-crystallinity of a structure and the amount of atomic rearrangements necessary for crystallization. Thus, the parameter is related to the glass-forming ability. It depends strongly on composition and atomic size ratio and indicates a region of enhanced glass-forming ability in binary mixtures at 80 % of small atoms and atomic size ratio of 1.3. All found maxima of parameter for ternary mixtures have compositions and size ratios which are nearly the same as for the binary mixture with the maximum value of . • A new method of multiple-compression was introduces in order to test the tendency towards densification and/or crystallization of the simulated mixtures. The results of the multiple-compression of monatomic mixtures indicate a limiting value of about 0.6464 for the density of the amorphous state. Further densification is necessarily connected to formation and growth of nano-crystalline regions. • The results of the multiple-compression for binary mixtures shows a new maximum of the density at the size ratio of 1.3 and 30 % to 90 % of small atoms. This maximum indicates a local island of stability of the amorphous state. The maximal receivable density without crystallization in this region is enhanced compared to neighbouring regions. • The comparison of the parameter and the density to the distribution of known binary bulk metallic (metal-metal) glasses clearly shows that both parameters play a significant role in the glass-forming ability. • The polyhedra analysis shows regions with enhanced fraction of the icosahedral short-range order (polyhedron (0, 0, 12)) in the binary systems with the maximum at 80 % of small atoms and size ratio of 1.3. Comparison of the distribution of the (0, 0, 12) polyhedra to the distribution of known binary metallic (metal-metal) glasses and to the parameter shows that icosahedral short-range order is not related to the glass-forming ability and is a consequence of the high non-crystallinity (high values of ) of the mixtures and non vice versa. Results for the ternary mixtures confirm this observation. • A new approach for the calculation of the mixing enthalpy is proposed. The new method is based on the combination of Miedema’s semi-empirical model and Laguerre tessellation technique. The new method as well as 6 other methods including the original Miedema’s model were tested for more than 1400 ternary and quaternary alloys. The results show a better agreement with experimental values of the mixing enthalpy for the new model compared to all other methods. The new model takes into account the local structure at atom site and can be applied to all metallic alloys without additional extrapolations if the atomic structure of the considered alloy is known from a suitable atomistic structure model.

An integral part of business should be systematic and continuous process of creation, coordination and control of marketing activities. Marketing is important for easy penetration of the market, so that a prosperous and firm to ensure the continued existence market. The aim of the thesis is to analyze the marketing activities of selected service firms, mutual comparison of these activities on the basis of analyzes carried out to design the next process of improving these activities. For analysis, three firms were examined in which their marketing activities. Based on the analysis of the marketing mix, Porter's model, analysis of the communication mix and SWOT analysis to identify appropriate strategic approaches and suggestions for how marketing activities of units. Suggestions for improvement were recommended with respect to the financial possibilities owners analyzed service companies.

The Master´s thesis contains analysis of environment in the company SG - Geotechnika, a.s. to find its position in the competitive market. Methods and procedures of strategic management in the company SG - Geotechnika, a.s., have been applied. The company focuses, except others, on consulting and engineering works and monitoring of buildings in geology and hydrology.

The diploma thesis aims at the firms providing services, especially sport centres offering wide spectrum of sport services, relaxation and often mentioned wellness.The main goal of the diploma thesis was to appraise the competitiveness of sport centres in České Budějovice and give a survey of competitive background. To characterize sport realization in the region of South Bohemia and to recognize customers` requirements were the partial goals of the diploma thesis. To the achievement of the goals there were used the method of questionnaire research, SWOT analysis and Porter`s model method.The suitable arranged questionnaire has served the data describing competitinevess of particular sport centres. I have surveyed the information of the most popular and frequented sport centre. I have cooperated with this sportcentre and it was the basis of the above mentioned analysis.

The market position and competitiveness of company OSIVA BORŠOV, spol. s r.o. have been evaluated by means of strategic management´s methods and process. The internal and external background of this company have been analysed. There have been used these analyses: SWOT analysis, STEP analysis, Porter´s Model and Analysis of Competitors. Furthermore has been used the questionnaire inquiry. The market position of the company could be evaluated as highly satisfaing, due to the results of these analisys, in spite of the fact, that company must confront a very strong competition. So it´s very important to contemplate minor changes in the ring of competition and to contemplate and analyse competitors´s reaction. Some arrangements have been proposed to increase of competitiveness and prosperity of this company and by means of the SWOT analysis has been choosed strategy of the product´s developement as the most acceptable strategy, that consist in the modification of contemporary products and services.

The thesis processes problems of sales and services of IT (information technologies) products. It analyses current customers, services, which are provided for them, communication and sale of new products. How satisfied are current customers, where are deficiencies and those deficiencies minimize or absolutely remove. With help of structured questionnaire and other analytical methods to improve satisfaction of current and future customers with sales and services of products. The results of thesis are proposals for the improvement of global marketing policy of the firm.

The subject of this master's thesis is the analysis of the external and internal environment of Seats, a company operating on the automotive market. For the assessment of its current position, there were used the SLEPTE analysis, Porter´s five forces model, model 7S, and selected financial analysis methods. The results of these analyses are summarized in a SWOT analysis. Based on the executed analyses, recommendations to improve the company's economic situation have been suggested.

The subject of this diploma thesis is the analysis of the business entity Geodrill, s.r.o., which deals with the provision of services in the field of geology. Appropriately chosen analysis evaluates the external and internal environment of the business and its financial situation. The result of the thesis is the identification of suggestions and recommendations for improvement of the state.

The diploma thesis is focused on the analysis of a chosen company that deals with waste treatment and how to use it further. The overall company´s situation is evaluated thanks to the chosen analytical methods which investigate inner and outer company´s surroundings. The suggestions and recommendations leading to the improvement of the observed situation are formulated on the basis of the analyses.