Um percurso sobre o patrimônio e a morfologia urbana do centro de Fortaleza-CE

The incursion into the historical area from Fortaleza´s downtown presents reminiscences of a heritage collection that can be recognized as city built heritage, in architectural and urban aspects. The neighborhood has in its urban tracing a synthesis of the various phases from the Brazilian architecture materialized in its tracing and built goods. This composition mainly covers the eclectic production, passing the time of art déco, including the period of modern production. This paper aims to identify the existing heritage collection. This study aims to identify the existing net assets, the temporality and spatiality that allow to recreate the neighborhood´s form urbain history. Based on the theoretical and methodological support of the urban morphology urban of authors such as Aldo Rossi (1966), Gordon Cullen (1971), José Lamas (1990), Kevin Lynch (1960), and Philippe Panerai (1999) was allowed on a predefined route, to build part of urban memory of Fortaleza. The historical and morphological study runs through a sequenced analysis developed on the articulated subsets, formed by the network neighborhood squares: Praça José de Alencar, Praça Capistrano de Abreu (Lagoinha), Praça Clóvis Beviláquia, Praça do Carmo, Praça Murilo Borges (BNB), Praça Coração de Jesus, Parque das Crianças, Praça do Riacho Pajeú, Praça dos Voluntários (Polícia), Praça do Ferreira, Praça Waldemar Falcão (Correios), Praça General Tibúrcio (Leões), Praça Figueira de Melo, Bosque Dom Delgado (Pajeú), Praça Cristo Redentor, Praça Caio Prado (Sé), Praça dos Mártires (Passeio Público), e Praça Castro Carreira (Estação). Separated the neighborhood based on this square system because it is perceived that there is in these public spaces a path which includes a portion of the urban history of Fortaleza. In addition to this there is a higher concentration of goods in its area in relation to others sectors of the neighborhood, where the loss of the characterization is an imperative of the urban set. In order to find this network of public spaces contained in the study area were proposed two routes based on the city limits of 1875 established by Adolfo Herbster (Fortaleza´s city plan).The path starts by known boulevards (Imperador, Duque de Caxias and Dom Manuel avenues) and the seafront. The study is grounded in the literature review, document and empirical theme, consisting of an overlay of maps, drawings and photographic collection that ratify this net assets as both architectural urban nowadays. Among the results, it was observed that before a current context of loss of locus of the concept of historical-cultural agglomerated, the squares express the strongholds of equity ambience that perhaps stand in urban morphology of the capital from Ceará.

Vulnerabilidade socioambiental no bairro de Mãe Luíza, Natal – RN/Brasil

This work has as object the elaboration of social environmental indicator of disaster risk that are present in precarious areas of human occupation, related to intense environmental dynamic from the perspective of the studies about the subject in Geography. The District of Mãe Luiza in Natal, capital city of Rio Grande do Norte, was defined as the study area. The place was chosen because it presents –historically- several vulnerability conditions and exposure to disaster risk. After a local social environmental description, two indexes were elaborated: the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI or IVS in Portuguese), based on 17 (seventeen) variables arranged on a questionnaire addressed to the population nucleus of the district, on regular grid (systematic sampling), classified into 5 (five) levels of SV from the weighted average; and the Physical and Natural Exposure to the Mass Movements Index (EMMI or IEMM in Portuguese) which had 16 (sixteen) variables that feature conditions of exposure to the mass movements in the district with classified levels from the weighted average of 1 (one) to 5 (five). The relationship between these two results, specialized in the district map, produced the Social Environmental Vulnerability Index (SEVI or IVSA in Portuguese) of Mãe Luiza, also classified into 5 (five) levels, following the Boolean logic correlation for cartographic overlay with use of computer software ArcGIS v.9.3, being named as: Very Low; low; average; high; and Very High Environmental Vulnerability in District. The study is based on the methodology proposed by Guerra et al (2009) for EMMI and by Almeida (2010) for SVI. They were modified and adapted according to the local reality, producing a new methodology in this study area. It was concluded that the neighborhood has most of its area with High and Very High Socio-environmental vulnerability to disasters, defined seven (7) critical areas, with Very High IVSA, and hazards associated with mass movements or flooding. In the end, the main issues that were found, such as generating elements for proposing mitigation measures and/or the proposed interventions were enumerated, related to structural order of vulnerability factors: how low constructive pattern of households; poor urban drainage; Real Estate forsaken in landslide routes; infrastructure ready access roads and slope containment. And social: as a lack of education about environmental risk; income and education of residents; presence of persons with limited mobility and/or those with special needs. This reality highlights the need for urgent action applied to the resolution and/or reduction of these problems, which is focusing the end of this work.

Modelagem dos efeitos da irradiação luminosa no cérebro de camundongos e rastreamento de neurônios durante experimentos de microscopia de fluorescência

The fluorescent proteins are an essential tool in many fields of biology, since they allow us to watch the development of structures and dynamic processes of cells in living tissue, with the aid of fluorescence microscopy. Optogenectics is another technique that is currently widely used in Neuroscience. In general, this technique allows to activate/deactivate neurons with the radiation of certain wavelengths on the cells that have ion channels sensitive to light, at the same time that can be used with fluorescent proteins. This dissertation has two main objectives. Initially, we study the interaction of light radiation and mice brain tissue to be applied in optogenetic experiments. In this step, we model absorption and scattering effects using mice brain tissue characteristics and Kubelka-Munk theory, for specific wavelengths, as a function of light penetration depth (distance) within the tissue. Furthermore, we model temperature variations using the finite element method to solve Pennes’ bioheat equation, with the aid of COMSOL Multiphysics Modeling Software 4.4, where we simulate protocols of light stimulation tipically used in optogenetics. Subsequently, we develop some computational algorithms to reduce the exposure of neuron cells to the light radiation necessary for the visualization of their emitted fluorescence. At this stage, we describe the image processing techniques developed to be used in fluorescence microscopy to reduce the exposure of the brain samples to continuous light, which is responsible for fluorochrome excitation. The developed techniques are able to track, in real time, a region of interest (ROI) and replace the fluorescence emitted by the cells by a virtual mask, as a result of the overlay of the tracked ROI and the fluorescence information previously stored, preserving cell location, independently of the time exposure to fluorescent light. In summary, this dissertation intends to investigate and describe the effects of light radiation in brain tissue, within the context of Optogenetics, in addition to providing a computational tool to be used in fluorescence microscopy experiments to reduce image bleaching and photodamage due to the intense exposure of fluorescent cells to light radiation.

Opportunistic Contact Graph Routing

L'ambiente di questa tesi è quello del Delay and Disruption Tolerant Networks (DTN), un'architettura di rete di telecomunicazioni avente come obiettivo le comunicazioni tra nodi di reti dette “challenged”, le quali devono affrontare problemi come tempi di propagazione elevati, alto tasso di errore e periodi di perdita delle connessioni. Il Bunde layer, un nuovo livello inserito tra trasporto e applicazione nell’architettura ISO/OSI, ed il protocollo ad esso associato, il Bundle Protocol (BP), sono stati progettati per rendere possibili le comunicazioni in queste reti. A volte fra la ricezione e l’invio può trascorrere un lungo periodo di tempo, a causa della indisponibilità del collegamento successivo; in questo periodo il bundle resta memorizzato in un database locale. Esistono varie implementazioni dell'architettura DTN come DTN2, implementazione di riferimento, e ION (Interplanetary Overlay Network), sviluppata da NASA JPL, per utilizzo in applicazioni spaziali; in esse i contatti tra i nodi sono deterministici, a differenza delle reti terrestri nelle quali i contatti sono generalmente opportunistici (non noti a priori). Per questo motivo all’interno di ION è presente un algoritmo di routing, detto CGR (Contact Graph Routing), progettato per operare in ambienti con connettività deterministica. È in fase di ricerca un algoritmo che opera in ambienti non deterministici, OCGR (Opportunistic Contact Graph Routing), che estende CGR. L’obiettivo di questa tesi è quello di fornire una descrizione dettagliata del funzionamento di OCGR, partendo necessariamente da CGR sul quale è basato, eseguire dei test preliminari, richiesti da NASA JPL, ed analizzarne i risultati per verificare la possibilità di utilizzo e miglioramento dell’algoritmo. Sarà inoltre descritto l’ambiente DTN e i principali algoritmi di routing per ambienti opportunistici. Nella parte conclusiva sarà presentato il simulatore DTN “The ONE” e l’integrazione di CGR e OCGR al suo interno.

Validation of Coded Aperture Coherent Scatter Spectral Imaging for Differentiation of Normal and Neoplastic Breast Tissues via Surgical Pathology

This study intends to validate the sensitivity and specificity of coded aperture coherent scatter spectral imaging (CACSSI) by comparison to clinical histological preparation and pathologic analysis methods currently used for the differentiation of normal and neoplastic breast tissues. A composite overlay of the CACSSI rendered image and pathologist interpreted, stained sections validate the ability of coherent scatter imaging to differentiate cancerous tissues from normal, healthy breast structures ex-vivo. Via comparison to the pathologist annotated slides, the CACSSI system may be further optimized to maximized sensitivity and specificity for differentiation of breast carcinomas.

Disability Discrimination: Obesity and the Court of Justice of the European Union’s decision in Karsten Kaltoft v Billund Kommune Case C-354/13 ECJ

Walker and Karsten are two important decisions in disability discrimination law – not solely on the basis of their legal and practical repercussions for the United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU), respectively, but because they capture the very ideological spirit of domestic and European anti-discrimination legislation. The former directly relates to disability discrimination in the UK and the entire EU is feeling the brunt of the Court of Justice of the European Union’s decision in the latter. This article explores the impact of both these decisions and to what extent the obese or those suffering from a functional overlay are now protected from being discriminated against by the Framework Directive 2000/78 and the United Kingdom’s Equality Act 2010.

UTILIZATION OF GIS AND SPATIAL ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES IN ARTISANAL AND SMALL SCALE MINING TO LOCATE A CENTRALIZED PROCESSING CENTRE

One of the global phenomena with threats to environmental health and safety is artisanal mining. There are ambiguities in the manner in which an ore-processing facility operates which hinders the mining capacity of these miners in Ghana. These problems are reviewed on the basis of current socio-economic, health and safety, environmental, and use of rudimentary technologies which limits fair-trade deals to miners. This research sought to use an established data-driven, geographic information (GIS)-based system employing the spatial analysis approach for locating a centralized processing facility within the Wassa Amenfi-Prestea Mining Area (WAPMA) in the Western region of Ghana. A spatial analysis technique that utilizes ModelBuilder within the ArcGIS geoprocessing environment through suitability modeling will systematically and simultaneously analyze a geographical dataset of selected criteria. The spatial overlay analysis methodology and the multi-criteria decision analysis approach were selected to identify the most preferred locations to site a processing facility. For an optimal site selection, seven major criteria including proximity to settlements, water resources, artisanal mining sites, roads, railways, tectonic zones, and slopes were considered to establish a suitable location for a processing facility. Site characterizations and environmental considerations, incorporating identified constraints such as proximity to large scale mines, forest reserves and state lands to site an appropriate position were selected. The analysis was limited to criteria that were selected and relevant to the area under investigation. Saaty’s analytical hierarchy process was utilized to derive relative importance weights of the criteria and then a weighted linear combination technique was applied to combine the factors for determination of the degree of potential site suitability. The final map output indicates estimated potential sites identified for the establishment of a facility centre. The results obtained provide intuitive areas suitable for consideration

Reconsidering the Origins of Forsbergh Birefringence Patterns

In 1949, P. W. Forsbergh Jr. reported spontaneous spatial ordering in the birefringence patterns seen in flux-grown BaTiO3 crystals [1], under the transmission polarized light microscope [2]. Stunningly regular square-net arrays were often only found within a finite temperature window and could be induced on both heating and cooling, suggesting genuine thermodynamic stability. At the time, Forsbergh rationalized the patterns to have resulted from the impingement of ferroelastic domains, creating a complex tessellation of variously shaped domain packets. However, evidence for the intricate microstructural arrangement proposed by Forsbergh has never been found. Moreover, no robust thermodynamic argument has been presented to explain the region of thermal stability, its occurrence just below the Curie Temperature and the apparent increase in entropy associated with the loss of the Forsbergh pattern on cooling. As a result, despite decades of research on ferroelectrics, this ordering phenomenon and its thermodynamic origin have remained a mystery. In this paper, we re-examine the microstructure of flux-grown BaTiO3 crystals, which show Forsbergh birefringence patterns. Given an absence of any obvious arrays of domain polyhedra, or even regular shapes of domain packets, we suggest an alternative origin for the Forsbergh pattern, in which sheets of orthogonally oriented ferroelastic stripe domains simply overlay one another. We show explicitly that the Forsbergh birefringence pattern occurs if the periodicity of the stripe domains is above a critical value. Moreover, by considering well-established semiempirical models, we show that the significant domain coarsening needed to generate the Forsbergh birefringence is fully expected in a finite window below the Curie Temperature. We hence present a much more straightforward rationalization of the Forsbergh pattern than that originally proposed, in which exotic thermodynamic arguments are unnecessary.

Ultra Thin PCC Overlays, HR-559, Construction Report, 1995

A 11.6 km (7.2 mi.) portion of IA 21 in Iowa County from the junction of US 6 north to the junction of IA 212, was selected for the research project. The project was divided into 65 different test sections of a PCC overlay of an existing asphalt concrete (AC) surface with thicknesses of 50 mm (2 in.), 100 mm (4 in.), 150 mm (6 in.), and 200 mm (8 in.). The joint spacings for these sections were 0.6 m (2 ft.), 1.2 m (4 ft.), 1.8 m (6 ft.), 3.7 m (12 ft.), and 4.6 m (15 ft.). Joints were sealed if the thickness of the pavement was over 100 mm (4 in.), unless specified. Two types of polypropylene fibers, monofilament and fibrillated, were added to the conventional PCC mix for designated sections. Three additional sections consisted of an asphalt overlay for comparison with the concrete overlay. Three different base preparations were used on the project, consisting of: patching and scarifying, patching only, and cold-in-place recycling. Sensors were placed in various test sections to measure the temperature and strain during and after construction of the overlay. Pullout tests were also conducted at various locations. Beams cylinders were made for each of the PCC mixes and tested for flexural and compressive strengths. Evaluation of the performance will be conducted through December 31, 1999.

Evaluation of Bond Retainage in Portland Cement Concrete Overlays by Infrared Thermography and Ground Penetrating Radar, HR-537, 1988

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the location and quantities of debonding in selected portland cement concrete (PCC) overlays. The project entailed an infrared thermographic survey and a ground penetrating radar survey of the PCC overlays to locate areas of debonding between the overlays and the original pavement. An infrared scanner is capable of locating these areas because of the temperature differential which is established between bonded and debonded areas under certain environmental conditions. A conventional video inspection of the top surface of the pavement was also completed in conjunction with the infrared thermographic survey to record the visual condition of the pavement surface. The ground penetrating radar system is capable of locating areas of debonding by detecting return wave forms generated by changes in the dielectric properties at the PCC overlay original pavement interface. This report consists of two parts; a text and a set of plan sheets. The text summarizes the procedures, analyses and conclusions of the investigation. The plan sheets locate specific areas of debonding, as identified through field observations.

Real-time analytics on large dynamic graphs

In today's fast-paced and interconnected digital world, the data generated by an increasing number of applications is being modeled as dynamic graphs. The graph structure encodes relationships among data items, while the structural changes to the graphs as well as the continuous stream of information produced by the entities in these graphs make them dynamic in nature. Examples include social networks where users post status updates, images, videos, etc.; phone call networks where nodes may send text messages or place phone calls; road traffic networks where the traffic behavior of the road segments changes constantly, and so on. There is a tremendous value in storing, managing, and analyzing such dynamic graphs and deriving meaningful insights in real-time. However, a majority of the work in graph analytics assumes a static setting, and there is a lack of systematic study of the various dynamic scenarios, the complexity they impose on the analysis tasks, and the challenges in building efficient systems that can support such tasks at a large scale. In this dissertation, I design a unified streaming graph data management framework, and develop prototype systems to support increasingly complex tasks on dynamic graphs. In the first part, I focus on the management and querying of distributed graph data. I develop a hybrid replication policy that monitors the read-write frequencies of the nodes to decide dynamically what data to replicate, and whether to do eager or lazy replication in order to minimize network communication and support low-latency querying. In the second part, I study parallel execution of continuous neighborhood-driven aggregates, where each node aggregates the information generated in its neighborhoods. I build my system around the notion of an aggregation overlay graph, a pre-compiled data structure that enables sharing of partial aggregates across different queries, and also allows partial pre-computation of the aggregates to minimize the query latencies and increase throughput. Finally, I extend the framework to support continuous detection and analysis of activity-based subgraphs, where subgraphs could be specified using both graph structure as well as activity conditions on the nodes. The query specification tasks in my system are expressed using a set of active structural primitives, which allows the query evaluator to use a set of novel optimization techniques, thereby achieving high throughput. Overall, in this dissertation, I define and investigate a set of novel tasks on dynamic graphs, design scalable optimization techniques, build prototype systems, and show the effectiveness of the proposed techniques through extensive evaluation using large-scale real and synthetic datasets.

Is there a need for “healthy” chocolate? Systematic literature review

Antecedentes: El chocolate tiene propiedades especiales que ayudan a proteger el cuerpo humano de enfermedades cardiovasculares, incrementa el colesterol HDL y reduce la presión sanguínea. El consumo de chocolate también ayuda a reducir el estrés, eleva el ´animo y reduce el cansancio. El propósito de esta revisión es identificar, seleccionar, organizar y resumir estudios que investiguen el chocolate en relación con la salud, las características sensoriales y las actitudes de las personas. Este artículo es parte de la tesis de maestría: Is there a need for “healthy” chocolate? Systematic literature review and consumer research in Belgium and in Denmark (Es necesario el chocolate “saludable”? Revisión sistemática de la literatura y estudio al consumidor en Bélgica y Dinamarca), presentada por la autora en Junio del 2015 a la Universidad de Aalborg en Copenhague. Métodos: Este estudio presenta tres áreas relacionadas con el chocolate: Chocolate y su relación con la salud; características sensoriales y aceptación del chocolate; y actitudes hacia el chocolate. Una revisión sistemática de la literatura fue realizada para identificar, seleccionar, organizar y resumir estudios que investiguen al chocolate en relación con estas tres áreas. Cuatro bases de datos fueron escogidas: PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus y Web of Science por sus extensiones y porque superponen investigaciones interdisciplinarias.Resultados: Se obtuvieron un total de 2062 hits en las cuatro bases de datos. Un total de sesenta artículos cumplieron los criterios y fueron identificados como relevantes. Los artículos fueron clasificados de acuerdo a las tres áreas incluidas en el estudio. En relación a la salud, se ha indicado en muchos estudios que los polifenoles en el chocolate pueden mejorar la salud, especialmente en enfermedades cardiovasculares. De acuerdo a las características sensoriales y aceptación del chocolate, se ha dicho que la forma del chocolate tiene una influencia en la percepción del mismo. Los polifenoles causan astringencia y amargor al chocolate, haciéndolo no muy apetecido para los consumidores; sin embargo, por razones de salud, los polifenoles deben ser conservados. Acerca de las actitudes hacia el chocolate, hay muchos factores que llevan al deseo incontrolable de consumir chocolate. El chocolate es el alimento más apetecido en Norte América, éste influencia el estado anímico y crea una sensación de saciedad. Conclusión: Con base en esta revisión se puede concluir que un chocolate “saludable” puede ser parte de una dieta saludable, a la gente le gusta disfrutar del chocolate, mujeres más que hombres. La literatura respalda las propiedades saludables que tiene el consumo del chocolate, por esto es necesario trabajar en el desarrollo de productos de chocolate.

High-sensitivity refractive index sensor based on large-angle tilted fiber grating with carbon nanotube deposition

This paper presents a highly sensitive ambient refractive index (RI) sensor based on 81° tilted fiber grating (81°-TFG) structure UV-inscribed in standard telecom fiber (62.5μm cladding radius) with carbon nanotube (CNT) overlay deposition. The sensing mechanism is based on the ability of CNT to induce change in transmitted optical power and the high sensitivity of 81°-TFG to ambient refractive index. The thin CNT film with high refractive index enhances the cladding modes of the TFG, resulting in the significant interaction between the propagating light and the surrounding medium. Consequently, the surrounding RI change will induce not only the resonant wavelength shift but also the power intensity change of the attenuation band in the transmission spectrum. Result shows that the change in transmitted optical power produces a corresponding linear reduction in intensity with increment in RI values. The sample shows high sensitivities of ∼207.38nm/RIU, ∼241.79nm/RIU at RI range 1.344-1.374 and ∼113.09nm/RIU, ∼144.40nm/RIU at RI range 1.374-1.392 (for X-pol and Y-pol respectively). It also shows power intensity sensitivity of ∼ 65.728dBm/RIU and ∼ 45.898 (for X-pol and Y-pol respectively). The low thermal sensitivity property of the 81°-TFG offers reduction in thermal cross-sensitivity and enhances specificity of the sensor.

Caracterização ambiental da microbacia do Córrego Espraiado.

A caracterização ambiental da microbacia estudada foi realizada com o objetivo de criar um conjunto de planos de informação (PI's), de modo a permitir um conhecimento apropriado do local pela equipe do projeto, o planejamento de atividades de pesquisa e a identificação de áreas de risco. A microbacia do Córrego Espraiado está localizada entre os municípios de Ribeirão Preto e Cravinhos. As informações básicas utilizadas na caracterização ambiental foram: I) conjunto de cartas planialtimétricas, escala 1:10.000 (IGC, 1992); II) mapa de solos, escala 1:25.000 (MIKLOS, 1996); III) imagem de satélite LANDSAT TM 5, passagem 01/09/93, bandas 3, 4 e 5. A partir destas informações foram gerados os planos: limite da microbacia, redes de drenagem e viária, modelo numérico de terreno (MNT), classes de declive, uso da terra (1995) e solos. Outros planos foram gerados a partir do cruzamento dos anteriores: potencial de infiltração e escoamento superficial da água, potencial natural de erosão, perdas de solo e expectativa de erosão. A versão do IDRISI utilizada foi a 4.1 (DOS). Para a entrada de dados vetoriais foi utilizado o TOSCA 2.12. Na geração dos mapas foi utilizado o COREL DRAW 4. Os planos foram exportados do IDRISI para o COREL DRAW no formato TIF. O limite da microbacia foi traçado sobre as cartas planialtimétricas e posteriormente digitalizado. Com este PI foi construída uma máscara, utilizada para extrair as células que não pertenciam à microbacia em vários procedimentos posteriores. As redes de drenagem e viária foram digitalizadas a partir das informações contidas nas cartas planialtimétricas e rasterizadas pelo módulo LINERAS, gerando os PI's correspondentes. As informações de altimetria passaram por processo semelhante ao anterior, porém na rasterização foi também usado o módulo POINTRAS. Posteriormente as informações de altimetria, já rasterizadas foram interpoladas de modo a preencher todas as células (módulo INTERCON), gerando o MNT da microbacia. Para eliminar os defeitos nas bordas da microbacia, foram também digitalizadas algumas informações de altitude fora do limite da microbacia. Finalmente, para excluir os resultados da interpolação, fora da área de interesse, foi utilizada a máscara realizando-se uma multiplicação entre planos, função presente no módulo OVERLAY. As classes de declive foram obtidas após o calculo da declividade por meio de função presente no módulo SURFECE e o MNT, resultando em um PI intermediário com os valores de declividade em cada célula. Então, utilizou-se o módulo RECLASS para agrupar as células em 7 classes. A imagem em "falsa cor" (composição colorida) foi obtida usando-se o módulo COMPOSIT e posteriormente registrada por meio do módulo RESAMPLE. As coordenadas UTM dos pontos de controle foram extraídos das cartas planialtimetricas. O PI-Uso Atual, foi obtido das informações também retiradas das cartas planialtimetricas, análise da imagem de satélite e de visitas ao campo, realizadas no ano de 1995. O arquivo vetorial produzido foi editado no TOSCA e os polígonos gerados, com o uso do módulo CYCLE. Finalmente o arquivo com os polígonos foi rasterizado (POLYRAS). O PI-Solos foi gerado da digitalização do mapa de solos semidetalhado produzido por MIKLOS (1996). Novamente foi utilizado o TOSCA, seguido dos módulos CYCLE e POLYRAS para produzir o arquivo matricial correspondente. O PI-Potencial de infiltração e Escoamento Superficial da Água foi obtido pelo cruzamento das informações de condutividade hidráulica dos solos e da declividade do terreno. Este PI e um passo intermediário de um método proposto para a identificação das áreas de risco de contaminação por agrotóxicos, apresentado em LUIS (1996) e GOMES (1996). Foram também gerados alguns PI's relacionados com o estudo de erosão na microbacia, utilizando a Equação Universal de Perdas de Solo - EUPS. O IDRISI forneceu os recursos necessários aos objetivos do trabalho. As principais deficiências encontradas são a interface homem/máquina e a criação dos polígonos com a TOSCA, onde há necessidade de informar para cada arco digitado os identificadores dos polígonos por ele dividido. Esta operação consome um esforço considerável e está sujeita a freqüentes erros.