The global market for sports supplements has seen significant growth in recent decades, accompanied by a rising demand for natural products and increasingly multichannel digital communication strategies. This chapter critically analyses the communication of natural supplements in in a sporting context, including billboards and promotional advertisements. Particular attention is given to honey as natural sports supplement, examining the scientific evidence regarding its ergogenic potential and the practical implications of its communication to consumers globally and in Portugal. The literature review reveals a growing tension between marketing narratives and scientific rigour, highlighting the need for more effective regulatory frameworks and more responsible communication practices, such as the semiotic and contextual alignment between visual repertoires, audience values and communicational compliance, both on digital platforms and in physical outdoor advertising media.
This paper describes the main challenges encountered in the development and testing of an Integrated Digital Commerce System, designated Luna, an innovative solution that combines a mobile e-commerce application (m-commerce) with a web-based commercial management application. The developed system utilizes the agile Scrum methodology and adopts a three-layer architecture, relying on technologies such as PostgreSQL, Node.js, Express, React.js, and Flutter. Functional and usability tests were conducted to correct and anticipate system failures. The integration of IBM Watson into the navigation of the mobile application was particularly well received, as the Watson Assistant proved capable of understanding users’ questions and providing relevant answers. The test results demonstrated the effectiveness and efficiency of the platform, highlighting its potential to drive e-commerce and improve commercial management for small and medium-sized enterprises.
With the growing popularity of DevOps culture among companies and the corresponding increase in Microservices architecture development—both known to boost productivity and efficiency in software development—an increasing number of organizations are aiming to integrate them. Implementing DevOps culture and best practices can be challenging, but it is increasingly important as software applications become more robust and complex, and performance is considered essential by end users. By following the Design Science Research methodology, this paper proposes an iterative framework that closely follows the recommended DevOps practices, validated with the assistance of expert interviews, for implementing DevOps practices into Microservices architecture software development, while also offering a series of tools that serve as a base guideline for anyone following this framework, in the form of a theoretical use case. Therefore, this paper provides organizations with a guideline for adapting DevOps and offers organizations already using this methodology a framework to potentially enhance their established practices.
Accurate counting of panels in palletized stacks is a critical requirement in wood-based manufacturing environments. However it remains challenging under real industrial conditions due to perspective distortion, pallet misalignment, material variability and partial occlusions. This work presents a vision-based system for automated pallet panel counting designed for continuous operation on a production line using simple hardware, including low-cost cameras and controlled illumination. The presented approach combines an initial geometric transformation that compensates for perspective and angular misalignment with a set of complementary image filtering operations. Rather than directly translating individual filter responses into counting decisions, the extracted information is consolidated through a 2D-to-1D collapse strategy, which transforms the detection problem into a structured one-dimensional representation. The resulting signals are then interpreted using deterministic validation mechanisms that enforce global structural consistency, allowing ambiguous local responses to be resolved. The system was deployed in a real industrial environment and operated over several thousand pallets processed under continuous operation. The high observed performance across diverse pallet configurations and operating conditions demonstrating sustained reliable real-time operation under continuous industrial conditions.
This article examines the inclusion of neurodivergent individuals in tourism, an area that remains understudied. Considering the high prevalence and heterogeneity of neurodivergent conditions, this paper argues that tourism experiences are mainly designed for neurotypical individuals, resulting in sensory, communication, and social barriers that negatively impact the participation of neurodivergent individuals. Using a conceptual approach and integrating biopsychosocial and universal design models, the article proposes a theoretical model that positions neurodiversity as part of human variability, advocating for tourism products and services designed from the outset to meet diverse needs. Practices such as sensory-friendly environments, clear signage, and professional training are highlighted as essential for inclusion. This study highlights gaps in literature, which tends to focus solely on autism spectrum disorder in childhood and adopt a medical perspective. It emphasizes the importance of active participation by neurodivergent individuals in the tourism development process. It is concluded that advancements in the field require participatory research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and institutional commitment, thereby promoting a structural transformation that fosters true inclusion in tourism.
