Efeitos da eletroestimulação sobre os parâmetros eletromiográficos e dinamométricos do músculo quadríceps femoral

To analyze the effects of electrical stimulation at two frequencies on the EMG parameters (EMG) and dynamometer, in muscles with different typing. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a controlled clinical trial, randomized and double blind. Sixty healthy volunteers (23.6 ± 4.2anos; 54.2 ± 7.7kg, 1.62 ± 0.009 cm) of both sexes were divided randomly into three groups: control group (CG), experimental group 1 (SG1) with application of the current Russian 30 HZ and experimental group 2 (EG2) at 70 Hz The volunteers performed an initial assessment (AV1) on the isokinetic dynamometer with three repetitions maximum voluntary isometric (MVC) for knee extension concomitant uptake of EMG for the VM muscle, VL and RF. Later, after application of NMES, they underwent an experimental protocol of isometric fatigue using 70% of MVIC, ending with the completion of a final assessment (AV2) in the same manner as the AV1. RESULTS: By analyzing the profile of the 60 subjects in three broad, VM showed a higher value of RMS behavior when the VL and RF (p = 0.03 and p = 0.02). With respect to Fmed the RF muscle (p = 0.001) showed a higher value for the VM. The VM muscle showed significant increases of Fmed (p = 0.05) after electrical stimulation at 70 Hz when compared the AV1 AV2 and RF showed significant decreases (p = 0.009) after stimulation at 30 Hz during the fatigue showed an increase RMS in the VM and VL, with a reduction in RF. For the variable Fmed was observed in three broad decline during fatigue. CONCLUSION: Our findings provide evidence that the muscles VM, VL and RF fiber typing are different besides indicating that the frequency of NMES tend to relate to the muscle stimulated. Finally suggests the surface EMG as a noninvasive method for characterizing muscle

Correlação entre os parâmetros do cortisol salivar e o fenótipo de fragilidade em idosos institucionalizados

Introduction: The Frailty Syndrome is characterized by the decrease of energy reserve and the reduced resistance to stressors. Studies indicate that the neuroendocrine markers can be related to the appearance of this syndrome. The main endocrine answer to stress is the increase of cortisol levels. Objective: To analyze the correlation between the frailty syndrome the salivary cortisol in elderly residing in nursing homes. Method: A traversal study was accomplished, in João Pessoa city, PB, with a sample composed by 69 institutionalized elderly. The collected data refer to the frailty phenotype (weight loss, exhaustion, slowness, weakness, and lower level of physical activity) and to salivary cortisol parameters (first measure - 6-7h; second measure - 11-12h; third measure - 16-17h). In the statistical analysis the Pearson s correlation test was used, Chi square Test and Anova and Simple Linear Regression analyses. Results: The sample was composed by 37.7% of men and 62.3% of women, with age average of 77.52 (±7.82). There was a percentile of 45.8% frail elderly. The frail elderly obtained higher cortisol values in the third measure (p=0.04) and the frailty load was significantly associated to the first measure (r=0.25, p=0.04). The simple linear regression analysis presented a determination rate (R2=0.05) between frailty load and first cortisol measure. Conclusion: The largest cortisol values in the morning and before sleeping among the frail elderly supply indications that can have a relationship of cortisol increase levels and the frailty presence in elderly from nursing homes.

Custos e benefícios de um programa de exercício aeróbios na doença pulmonar obstrutica crônica: ensaio cliníco aleatório controlado

Pulmonary Rehabilitation, especially due to aerobic exercise, positive impact in reducing morbidity/mortality of patients with COPD, however the economic impact with costs of implementing simple programs of aerobic exercise are scarce. This is a blind randomized clinical trials, which aimed to evaluate the costs and benefits of a simple program of aerobic exercise in individuals with COPD, considering the financial costs of the Public Health System and its secondary endpoints. We evaluated lung function, the distance walked during six minutes of walking, the respiratory and peripheral muscle strength, quality of life related to health (QLRH), body composition and level of activity of daily living (ADL) before and after eight weeks of an aerobic exercise program consisting of educational guidance for both groups, control and intervention and supervised walks to the intervention group. The health costs generated in both groups were calculated following table Brazilian Public Health System. The sample consisted of forty patients, two being excluded in the initial phase of desaturation during the walk test six minutes. Were randomized into control and intervention group thirty-eight patients, three were excluded from the control group and one was excluded from the intervention group. At the end, thirty-four COPD comprised the sample, 16 in the control group and 18 in the intervention group (FEV1: 50.9 ± 14% pred and FEV1: 56 ± 0.5% pred, respectively). After for intervention, the intervention group showed improvement in meters walked, the sensation of dyspnea and fatigue at work, BODE index (p <0.01) in QLRH, ADL level (p <0.001) as well as increased strength lower limbs (p <0.05). The final cost of the program for the intervention group was R $ 148.75, including: assessments, hiking supervised by a physiotherapist and reassessments. No patient had exacerbation of IG, while 2 patients in the CG exacerbated, generating an average individual cost of R $ 689.15. The aerobic exercises in the form of walking showed significant clinical benefits and economic feasibility of its implementation, due to low cost and easy accessibility for patients, allowing them to add their daily practice of aerobic exercises

Comparação das respostas fisiológicas entre diferentes testes funcionais em obesos

obesity affects rightly functional capacity diminishing the cardiovascular system efficiency and oxygen uptake (VO2). Field tests, such as, Incremental Shuttle Walking Test (ISWT) and Six Minute Walk Test (6MWT) has been employed as alternative of Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test (CPX), to functional assessing for conditions which transport of oxygen to peripheral is diminished. Nevertheless, the knowing about metabolic variables response in real time and it comparing among different maximal and submaximal tests in obese is absent. Aim: to compare cardiopulmonary, metabolic response during CPX, ISWT and 6MWT and to analyse it influence of adiposity markers in obese. Material e Method: crosssectional, prospective study. Obese included if: (BMI>30Kg/m2; FVC>80%), were assessed as clinical, anthropometric (BMI, body adiposity index-BAI, waist-WC, hip- HC and neck-NC circumferences) and spirometry (forced vital capacity-FVC, Forced expiratory volume-1°second-FEV1, maximal voluntary ventilation-MVV) variables. Obese performed the sequence of tests: CPX, ISWT and 6MWT. Throughout tests was assessed breath-by-breath by telemetry system (Cortex-Biophysik-Metamax3B) variables; oxygen uptake on peak of activity (VO2peak); carbon dioxide production (VCO2); Volume Expiratory (VE); ventilatory equivalents for VO2 (VE/VO2) and CO2 (VE/VCO2); respiratory exchange rate (RER) and perceived effort-Borg6-20). Results: 15 obese (10women) 39.4+10.1years, normal spirometry (%CVF=93.7+9.7) finished all test. They have BMI (43.5+6.6kg/m2) and different as %adiposity (BAI=50.0+10.5% and 48.8+16.9% respectively women and men). Difference of VO2ml/kg/min and %VO2 were finding between CPX (18.6+4.0) and 6MWT (13.2+2.5) but not between ISWT (15.4+2.9). Agreement was found for ISWT and CPX on VO2Peak (3.2ml/kg/min; 95%; IC-3.0 9.4) and %VO2 (16.4%). VCO2(l/min) confirms similarity in production for CPX (2.3+1.0) and ISWT (1.7+0.7) and difference for 6MWT (1.4+0.6). WC explains more the response of CPX and ISWT than other adiposity markers. Adiposity diminishes 3.2% duration of CPX. Conclusion: ISWT promotes similar metabolic and cardiovascular response than CPX in obese. It suggesting that ISWT could be useful and reliable to assess oxygen uptake and functional capacity in obese

Evolução do reparo por excisão de nucleotídeo

The phylogeny is one of the main activities of the modern taxonomists and a way to reconstruct the history of the life through comparative analysis of these sequences stored in their genomes aimed find any justification for the origin or evolution of them. Among the sequences with a high level of conservation are the genes of repair because it is important for the conservation and maintenance of genetic stability. Hence, variations in repair genes, as the genes of the nucleotide excision repair (NER), may indicate a possible gene transfer between species. This study aimed to examine the evolutionary history of the components of the NER. For this, sequences of UVRA, UVRB, UVRC and XPB were obtained from GenBank by Blast-p, considering 10-15 as cutoff to create a database. Phylogenetic studies were done using algorithms in PAUP programs, BAYES and PHYLIP package. Phylogenetic trees were build with protein sequences and with sequences of 16S ribosomal RNA for comparative analysis by the methods of parsimony, likelihood and Bayesian. The XPB tree shows that archaeal´s XPB helicases are similar to eukaryotic helicases. According to this data, we infer that the eukaryote nucleotide excision repair system had appeared in Archaea. At UVRA, UVRB and UVRC trees was found a monophyletic group formed by three species of epsilonproteobacterias class, three species of mollicutes class and archaeabacterias of Methanobacteria and Methanococci classes. This information is supported by a tree obtained with the proteins, UVRA, UVRB and UVRC concatenated. Thus, although there are arguments in the literature defending the horizontal transfer of the system uvrABC of bacteria to archaeabacterias, the analysis made in this study suggests that occurred a vertical transfer, from archaeabacteria, of both the NER genes: uvrABC and XPs. According the parsimony, this is the best way because of the occurrence of monophyletic groups, the time of divergence of classes and number of archaeabacterias species with uvrABC system

Caicó: uma cidade entre a recusa e a sedução

This research has as object of study the city of Caicó, Rio Grande do Norte State, between the middle part of the decade of 1920 and the beginning of 1930. It intended to perceive the projects thought to the city of Caicó as well as the challenges due to the new ideas of modernity that were circulating around the contemporary world. So it consists in an important historical exercise about the relation between history and space in to the extent that itself comes to surface a city deals by diverse angles whose perspectives can be read in several "fragments of memory", such as newspapers, trials-crime, reports, memories, books, etc., those show the tension between the traditional and the modern way of life one. In this way, it´s tried to transform the space, giving it a new reference, inspired in what occurs in the Brazilian big cities and around the world, through the use of the techniques, of the electricity, of the movies, of the press, cars, medicine and so on. At the same time in that is necessary-itself deal with the permanencies such as the old manners and the droughts and theirs "flagellated" people. Therefore, it is in this difficult phase that is tried legitimize the city of Caicó as the "Capital of the Seridó", in the threshold between the refusal and the seduction

Caracterização estatística de processos sísmicos via Distribuição Generalizada de Pareto. Estudo de caso: João Câmara-RN

The work is to make a brief discussion of methods to estimate the parameters of the Generalized Pareto distribution (GPD). Being addressed the following techniques: Moments (moments), Maximum Likelihood (MLE), Biased Probability Weighted Moments (PWMB), Unbiased Probability Weighted Moments (PWMU), Mean Power Density Divergence (MDPD), Median (MED), Pickands (PICKANDS), Maximum Penalized Likelihood (MPLE), Maximum Goodness-of-fit (MGF) and the Maximum Entropy (POME) technique, the focus of this manuscript. By way of illustration adjustments were made for the Generalized Pareto distribution, for a sequence of earthquakes intraplacas which occurred in the city of João Câmara in the northeastern region of Brazil, which was monitored continuously for two years (1987 and 1988). It was found that the MLE and POME were the most efficient methods, giving them basically mean squared errors. Based on the threshold of 1.5 degrees was estimated the seismic risk for the city, and estimated the level of return to earthquakes of intensity 1.5°, 2.0°, 2.5°, 3.0° and the most intense earthquake never registered in the city, which occurred in November 1986 with magnitude of about 5.2º

Pecolação em uma rede multifractal

In this work we present the principal fractals, their caracteristics, properties abd their classification, comparing them to Euclidean Geometry Elements. We show the importance of the Fractal Geometry in the analysis of several elements of our society. We emphasize the importance of an appropriate definition of dimension to these objects, because the definition we presently know doesn t see a satisfactory one. As an instrument to obtain these dimentions we present the Method to count boxes, of Hausdorff- Besicovich and the Scale Method. We also study the Percolation Process in the square lattice, comparing it to percolation in the multifractal subject Qmf, where we observe som differences between these two process. We analize the histogram grafic of the percolating lattices versus the site occupation probability p, and other numerical simulations. And finaly, we show that we can estimate the fractal dimension of the percolation cluster and that the percolatin in a multifractal suport is in the same universality class as standard percolation. We observe that the area of the blocks of Qmf is variable, pc is a function of p which is related to the anisotropy of Qmf

Prevalência e fatores associados a lesões labiais e periorais decorrentes da exposição solar em trabalhadores de praia

This study aimed to verify the prevalence of lip and perioral lesions in worker who were under sunshine on the beaches of Natal/RN and to investigate possible associations of these with sociodemographic, occupational and general health variables. For this, 362 individuals who had one of the urban beaches (Ponta Negra / Environment / Redinha) in the city of Natal/RN as a working environment in the study. We excluded people under 18 years old. Data collection was done through epidemiological analysis and extra-oral validated questionnaire with questions that characterize socioeconomic and demographic factors, occupational exposure and general health. The male subjects (72.6%) were the majority in the sample. The people who worked directly exposed to high peaks of ultraviolet radiation, as well as informal workers predominated. Considering the total sample of individuals, ephelides in the perioral region (33.7%) and labial region (24.0%), solar lentigo perioral (15.2%) and actinic cheilitis (13.8%) stood out as the most prevalent lesions. Indoor workers and those who had a habit occurrence of injuries by 19% and 21% respectively higher when compared to outdoor workers and people without habits. The variable use of cap / hat was associated with the presence of cold sores (Qui2 = 1,328, p = 0,058). On the threshold of significance, the type of work was also associated with lesions in lip occurrence (p = 0,042). Men showed a lower incidence of perioral lesions when compared to female workers (PR=0,716, p valor = 0,002). The present study showed high prevalence of lip and perioral lesions. The premalignant lesions were the most identified, both as in lip skin. It is important therefore to be encouraged to adopt protective measures against excessive sun exposure, fairly and consistently

Correlato eletroencefalográfico do estado vibracional

O estado vibracional (EV) é descrito como uma sensação de vibração intensa por todo o corpo, em que o sujeito se mantém num estado de relaxamento psicofisiológico que pode ser gerado de forma espontânea ou autoinduzida. Pessoas que aplicam esta técnica relatam alterações do estado mental e emocional, tais como: relaxamento, disposição, limpidez de pensamento, equilíbrio emocional, melhoria do raciocínio, bemestar, entre outros. Estas são, entretanto observações subjetivas, sendo a mensuração deste fenômeno uma lacuna e um desafio para a ciência. O objetivo desta pesquisa é explorar sistematicamente o estado vibracional no âmbito da neurociência. Desta forma, medidas eletroencefalográficas (EEG) foram utilizadas para observar se a sensação subjetiva de EV é acompanhada por mudanças na atividade elétrica cerebral. Além disso, para avaliar se o EV provoca algum efeito positivo em funções cognitivas como atenção e memória, foi utilizado um teste de reconhecimento de palavras antes e depois da aplicação da técnica de EV. Foram também aplicados questionários de dados gerais socioeconômicos e de saúde, do perfil de estados de humor, de qualidade do sono, além de inventários psicológicos. O foco inicial do trabalho foi a análise estatística dos dados de EEG, ficando as outras análises para uma etapa posterior. Dois grupos de voluntários foram analisados, o primeiro formado por 14 sujeitos que praticam a técnica de EV há pelo menos 10 anos (Grupo Experiente - GEXP), e o segundo formado por 11 sujeitos que nunca haviam realizado a técnica (Grupo Controle - GCONT). O GCONT obteve instruções sobre a técnica de EV antes dos experimentos. Foram realizadas análises estatísticas dos registros eletroencefalográficos, para comparar os grupos, em quatro condições: Basal, Relaxamento, Não-EV (período em que o sujeito está engajado na tarefa, mas ainda não percebe o EV) e EV (período em que o sujeito percebe o EV). Uma vez que os sujeitos do GCONT relataram não ter conseguido atingir a condição de EV propriamente, a comparação entre grupos foi feita apenas nas três condições, Basal, Relaxamento e Não-EV. Para isso, foi usado o teste de Mann-Whitney U com um limiar estatístico de p<0,05. De forma geral, o GEXP apresentou maior potência na banda de frequência alfa 2 (9,5-11,0 Hz) em todas as condições. Durante o período Não-EV, o GEXP também apresentou uma maior potência na banda de frequência alfa 3 (11,5-13,0 Hz) na região temporal esquerda, e gama 1 (30,5-55,0 Hz) e gama 2 (65,0-80,0 Hz) em regiões central, parietal e temporal esquerda, mas menor potência na banda de frequência teta 1 (3,5 - 5,0 Hz), em regiões centro-parietais. Para a análise estatística intragrupo, entre as condições, utilizou-se o teste estatístico Wilcoxon pareado. Observaram-se diferenças significativas (p<0,005), principalmente em regiões centrais, em teta 1 (3,5-5,0 Hz), sendo maior no Relaxamento, quando comparado com as condições Basal e Não-EV, no GCONT, e com o Não-EV e EV, no GEXP. No GEXP, a potência de gama 1 (30,5-55,0 Hz) e gama 2 (65,0-80,0 Hz) foi difusamente maior durante o EV, se comparado às outras três condições. Para o GCONT, apenas a condição Basal apresentou maior potência de gama 1 (30,5-55,0 Hz) e gama 2 (65,0- 80,0 Hz), se comparado com o Relaxamento. O aumento de teta 1 no Relaxamento, principalmente no GCONT, pode estar associado a uma maior sonolência deste grupo durante esta condição. Já o aumento de alfa 2 durante o Não-EV e o EV, pode estar associado com processos de atenção e cognição (DOLPPERMAYR et al., 2002; FELL et al., 2010; KLIMESCH et al., 1999; RAY E COLE, 1985). Por outro lado, o aumento da potência de gama em sujeitos experientes na técnica de EV encontrado aqui e em trabalhos anteriores, em meditadores experientes (FELL et al., 2010; LEHMANN et al., 2001; LUTZ et al., 2004), poderia estar associado a alterações nos processos mentais e cognitivos destes praticantes, tais como atenção, memória operacional, aprendizagem e percepção consciente embora, análises adicionais devam ser realizadas para excluir a possibilidade de interferência de artefatos musculares nos dados de EEG. Estes resultados suscitam a hipótese de que no engajamento da tarefa do EV e durante o EV, os sujeitos do GEXP conseguem manter-se em um estado de alerta, porém com maior nível de relaxamento e concentração. Uma inspeção mais detalhada dos dados, além de outros experimentos com diferentes protocolos, um maior número de sujeitos e pesquisas longitudinais são necessários para que testar esta hipótese

Agricultura familiar: uma perspectiva da qualidade de vida do produtor rural orgânico da Paraíba

Knowledge of quality of life is a very complex and rich in cultural and subjective dimensions, understood in a broad sense and multivariate theme. Considering the rural areas from agriculture, it is observed that the production standard defines significant changes in the environmental context and the quality of life of rural workers. To explain the relationship between quality of life and Family Organic Agriculture, we sought to analyze the quality of life of the organic family farmer, after change in agricultural management. The research, based on a procedure exploratory study supported the articulation theoretically constructed, showed their relevance and allowed to delimit with greater security, the central question of work. The WHOQOL - 100 treated the instrument of research on quality of life that directed the field study with organic farmers from the town of Lagoa Seca / PB. Farmers and family members are from rural regions Almeida, Alvinho, Lagoa de Barro, Lagoa Gravatá, Oiti and Pau Ferro. The average time is 39 years farming and organic family farm is 16 years. In the analysis work was found that the process of production of vegetables and fruits is divided into 08 steps and with respect to workloads observations showed the presence of: physical loads, mechanical stresses, psychological burden and ergonomic factors. Most farmers reported symptoms were fatigue and cramps in the legs . Regarding the quality of life was noticed that the Psychological Domain contributed positively to the quality of life with mean and standard deviation (17.83 ± 12.78) and Domain Environment negatively contributing to the quality of life of this group (9.00 ± 6.82). We conclude that the practice of Family Organic Agriculture should be seen as an effective strategy in promoting quality of life and social values in between, since it presents environmental sustainability with regard to life and socio-cultural diversity of populations

Praça: lugar de lazer: relações entre características ambientais e comportamentais na Praça Kalina Maia Natal RN

Nowadays, the urban chaos brings some problems to the citizens such as mental fatigue, irritability and lack of attention, emphasizing the need for open urban spaces, capable to contribute to the restoration of physical and mental balance of people. By the variety of alternative uses available, many of them related to the stimulus of entertainment activities, the squares have been identified as restorative environments, especially by its potential as a place of leisure. In this context, the objective of this dissertation is to understand the use of the square as leisure environment, by a square in Natal RN, establishing the relationship between environmental and behavioral characteristics. More specifically, I attempt to identify the major activities that happen there, the people that develop them and the spatial and temporal configurations of this occupation. Among the 290 squares available in the city, the Kalina Maia Square was selected, which is located in the district of Lagoa Nova. The case study chosen was based on criteria relating to scale, shape, location on the urban environment, variability of uses and conservation status. In the study were used behavioral mapping place-centered and people-centered, behavior trace analysis and 14 interviews. The results show that the square is used by people from different ages and social classes, subdivided into groups with specific days and times. These users are usually engaged in activities related to various types of leisure, with sports predominance. The relationship between spatial configuration and behavior shows that there is a sectorization of uses, being possible to identify the environmental characteristics that most favor observed activities, especially in relation to shading and presence of furniture and equipment. Moreover, throughout the day it appears that the affordances inherent to the various fixed objects on the square are decoded differently by various categories of users, by giving them insights that help the development of leisure activities that characterize each group

Percepção de riscos ambientais de populações vulneráveis a inundações e deslizamentos de dunas em Natal-RN

In urban, flooding and landslides are among the troubles that most bring human and material loss. Therefore, this study objected to perform an analysis on the risk perception on the population living in social environmental vulnerable places in order to understand what is the way this population realize the risks they are exposed to and what are the outbrave strategies the develop. The first analyzed area was Complexo Passo da Pátria for the flooding risk problematic and then the Cidade Nova neighborhood threatened by the dunes slides. The areas locate, respectively, in the West and East zones of Natal-RN. Using an interview screenplay adapted from risk perception researches from different brazilian cities, it was collected primarily data on the variables: perception, evaluation and choice, safety threshold, adjustment, decision and participation. Due to the studied areas characteristics the qualitative approach adjusted itself to the difficulties for accessing the areas. The studied places characterize for its insecure situation like selling/using drugs, robbery and murder among others. Due to this situation the interviewed individuals were the ones that could be found more accessibly and available in the moment and the interviews were made in the community leader presence of each area. Through the discourse of the respondents analysis it was able to conclude that the interviewed population is exposed to a high vulnerability grade and risks. However it was identified substantial differences between the perception and risks of Complexo Passo da Pátria and bairro Cidade Nova, because in the first area the intervied ones can recognize the high risk they are exposed to in a more emphatic way to the interviewed ones for the Cidade Nova neighborhood. Furthermore, there is a heavy dissatisfaction for the population of the two places about the city hall positions relating to the present problems in the studied areas. It was also identified the strategy development of acquaintanceship with the risk in the research places beyond a feeling of belonging and affection between the dwellers and the places, yet it was more evident for Complexo Passo da Pátria. Though this analysis it was possible to understand and perceptions and the behavior of the individuals or social groups facing the risks as acceptance and rejection of determined risks beyond adaptation measures of living together with the persistence presence of risks. Therefore, qualitative nature researches emphasizing the perception approach are in the fundamental importance in the studies about risks making it possible to offer aids to the urban planning and management in the implement of effective preventive measures and compatible with the population aims

Diagnóstico da degradação ambiental no município de Areia Branca-RN por geotecnologias

The municipality of Areia Branca is within the mesoregion of West Potiguar and within the microregion of Mossoró, covering an area of 357,58 km2. Covering an area of weakness in terms of environmental, housing, together with the municipality of Grossos-RN, the estuary of River Apodi-Mossoró. The municipality of Areia Branca has historically suffered from a lack of planning regarding the use and occupation of land as some economic activities, attracted by the extremely favorable natural conditions, have exploited their natural resources improperly. The aim of this study is to quantify and analyze the environmental degradation in the municipality. Thus initially was performed a characterization of land use using remote sensing, geoprocessing and geographic information system GIS in order to generate data and information on the municipal scale, which may serve as input to the environmental planning and land use planning in the region. From this perspective, were used a Landsat 5 image TM sensor for the year 2010. In the processing of this image was used SPRING 5.2 and applied a supervised classification using the classifier regions, which was employed Bhattacharya Distance method with a threshold at 30%. Thus was obtained the land use map that was analyzed the spatial distribution of different types of the use that is occurring in the city, identifying areas that are being used incorrectly and the main types of environmental degradation. And further, were applied the methodology proposed by Beltrame (1994), Physical Diagnosis Conservationist under some adaptations for quantifying the level of degradation or conservation study area. As results, the indexes were obtained for the parameters in the proposed methodology, allowing quantitatively analyze the degradation potential of each sector. From this perspective, considering a scale of 0 to 100, sector A and sector B had value 31.20 units of risk of physical deterioration. And the C sector, has shown its value - 34.64 units degradation risk and should be considered a priority in relation to the achievement of conservation actions

Efeitos de tempestades magnéticas em sinais de gps, em Natal, Brasil

Satellites signals present disturbances (scintillations), due to presence of irregularities in the ionospheric plasma. In the present work, we dedicate to the study of the attenuation of these scintillations that is, an improvement in the signal, during the main magnetic storm phase during the period of October 2006 to February 2007. Using amplitude of scintillation 1.5GHz (L1) data of the net of satellites GPS, in the ionospheric station of Natal (5.84o S, 35.20o O, -20o dip) and geomagnetic indices, during the minimum solar cycle (referred to as cycle 23), demonstrating its anti-correlation between magnetic activity (Kp) and index of scintillation () (Bonelli2005 method, that works for solar maximum, Bonelli(2005)). These results show that these storms correspond to category I of Aarons (1991). The magnetic storms can generate irregularities when the electric feld of penetration eastward on the pre-reversal hour intensificating that and can too generate irregularities on midnight and sunlight period. The limitation of the method applied here is that it is not considering some storms that had also occurred during equinox and summer in the Brazilian region. For this reason, we will use additional data of the stations of São João de Cariri (Imager and Photometer) and of the station at Fortaleza (Digissonde data), as aid to analyze these storms. The storms that had been left out by the applied method, fit in the other two categories of Aarons, with one only exception (storm of January, 02). We show that in the day of the main phase of the magnetic storm, and with presence of bubbles (according to data of the Imager and Photometer), the speed of vertical drift ~E ~B (hF=t) is below 20m/s, that is the threshold found for Anderson al., (2004) (>20m/s as condition favorable to the formation of irregularities and increase in the scintillation index). This reduction of the speed is due to solar minimum