Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:14:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ClaudiaPTC.pdf: 3289641 bytes, checksum: e41c19b786c3a7976dfecbc61abd2ca4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-10-05 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / In the 20th century, the acupuncture has spread on occident as a complementary practice of heath care. This fact has motivated the international scientific community to invest in research that seek to understand why acupuncture works. In this work we compare statistically volt age fluctuation of bioelectric signals caught on the skin at an acupuncture point (IG 4) another nearby on acupuncture point. The acquisition of these signals was performed utilizing an electronic interface with a computer, which was based on an instrumentation amplifier designed with adequate specifications to this end. On the collected signals from a sample of 30 volunteers we have calculated major statistics and submitted them to pairing t-test with significance leveI a = O, 05. We have estimated to bioelectric signals the following parameters: standard deviation, asymmetry and curtose. Moreover, we have calculated the self-correlation function matched by on exponential curve we have observed that the signal decays more rapidly from a non-acupoint then from an acupoint. This fact is an indicative of the existence of information in the acupoint / Ao longo do s?culo XX o uso da acupuntura passou a se disseminar no mundo Ocidental como pr?tica complementar de sa?de. Este fato tem motivado a comunidade cient?fica internacional a investir em pesquisas que buscam compreender por que a acupuntura funciona. Nesta disserta??o comparamos estatisticamente a flutua??o de voltagem de sinais bioel?tricos captados sobre a pele em um ponto de acupuntura (IG 4) e outro ponto pr?ximo de n?o-acupuntura. A aquisi??o desses sinais foi realizada utilizando uma interface eletr?nica com um computador, a qual foi baseada em um amplificador de instrumenta??o projetado com as especifica??es adequadas a este fim. Sobre os sinais coletados de uma amostra de 30 volunt?rios calculamos as estat?sticas relevantes e as submetemos ao teste t-pareado com n?vel de signific?ncia a = 0,05. Estimamos para o sinal bioel?trico as seguintes grandezas: desvio padr?o, assimetria e curtose. Al?m disso, calculamos a fun??o de auto-correla??o que foi ajustada por uma curva exponencial. Observamos que o sinal decai mais rapidamente no n?o-acuponto do que no acuponto. Tal fato ? um indicativo da presen?a de informa??o no acuponto