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This chapter is about a group of designers, from the Piracema Lab that works with traditional craftspeople trying to avoid any imposition or direct intervention on the artisans in order to foster the development of the creative process. The process is initiated through workshops to make craftspeople aware of their personal history, of each other's experiences and local history. A local historian is always invited to talk about the town. The education process is based on research of the materials from the region for economic reasons and on the development of visual perception. The designers stimulate the participants to observe local things like patterns and forms in the architecture, in the surroundings and nature to be used as visual motives of the products to be created. I will refer to three experiences, two in the Amazon region and one in Africa.

Art is a complex, multiform, fluid human activity that is subjugated to time-space-place contexts and dependent upon social representation and values. But what is it for? This introduction to the book Art in Diverse Social settings begins with a general characterization of Art as universal language. Unlike verbal language, art is primarily processed in the sensorial and emotional fields and only later rationally; unlike science, it does not aim at explaining or predicting the laws of the world's phenomena, instead it communicates by showing (in essence, it has an expressive meaning). In today's world, art became an accessible good and a valuable human creation because of this reappraisal of artistic practices; art is today expressive in domains such as politics, citizenship, economy, ethics, sustainability or public affairs.

The introduction to this edited book explains why it is focused on the role of art in today's diverse society. Art is part of the worldviews and mindsets from which it results and as a complex and ambiguous product of culture and perception, it must be understood from multiple perspectives. As such, this book includes in the first part seminal chapters with a theoretical scope, which highlight conceptual, contextual and cultural issues of contemporary art. The chapters in the second and third parts of the book are exemplary case studies, describing concrete intervention projects, which use some form of art or composed artistic expression as a medium for communication and intervention in the contexts of social and professional organizations, public spaces or the community. A summary of each chapter is provided and linked to the main goal of the book.

This paper aims to develop a model to predict online review ratings from multiple sources, which can be used to detect fraudulent reviews and create proprietary rating indexes, or which can be used as a measure of selection in recommender systems.

This study applies machine learning and natural language processing approaches to combine features derived from the qualitative component of a review with the corresponding quantitative component and, therefore, generate a richer review rating.

Experiments were performed over a collection of hotel online reviews – written in English, Spanish and Portuguese – which shows a significant improvement over the previously reported results, and it not only demonstrates the scientific value of the approach but also strengthens the value of review prediction applications in the business environment.

This study shows the importance of building predictive models for revenue management and the application of the index generated by the model. It also demonstrates that, although difficult and challenging, it is possible to achieve valuable results in the application of text analysis across multiple languages.

This paper aimed to evaluate sensory acceptability of salad dressing formulated with different quantities of oregano essential oil (OEO) and salt as a starting point for the use of the spice as a natural preservative in food.

Sensory assessment of salad dressing with OEO was evaluated in relation to the following attributes: appearance, aroma, consistence, flavour and overall acceptability. Five formulations were developed with variation in the levels of OEO and sodium chloride through a 22 factorial design with a central point. A nine-point hedonic scale was used, besides purchase intent by a structured five-point scale.

There was no significant difference in the acceptance of the samples. Cluster analysis showed that formulation with intermediate quantities of salt and OEO was preferred by the consumers. OEO salad dressings with low salt content, regardless of OEO amount, presented higher intention to purchase.

Due to an increasing interest in the use of natural preservatives to replace chemical additives, this study provided a starting point for further investigations concerning sensory acceptability of OEO in food.

Finding the balance between pleasant flavour and significant reduction of the use of salt in foods for dietary reasons is a complex challenge. Furthermore, studies need to be performed concerning interaction between amounts of essential oils and salt.

This study provides insights that suggest a promising usage of OEO in food.