A pesquisa teve como propósito reconstituir a trajetória e a construção de novas habitações para um grupo de índios da etnia Xucuru-Kariri, remanejados do agreste alagoano para a Reserva de Caldas, município do sul de Minas, localizada na Fazenda Boa Vista, a 6 Km da área urbana. As habitações foram construídas empregando a \'terra armada\', através de uma adaptação tecnológica do bajareque mexicano associado à taipa de mão ou pau-a-pique que passou a ser denominada como \'novaterra\'. Depois de concluídas as habitações, foram realizadas análises relativas ao desempenho térmico, com o objetivo de se estabelecerem comparações entre o desempenho térmico de uma das unidades de terra e o de uma habitação edificada no mesmo local empregando materiais convencionais. Em períodos distintos de primavera-verão e outono-inverno e em situações distintas - na ausência e com a presença de forros, as variações de temperatura foram aferidas junto aos dois tipos de construção. Finalmente, entendeu-se a importância da elaboração de um \"guia de procedimentos da tecnologia adaptada\", com o objetivo de disseminar seu emprego em habitações, principalmente em regime de autoconstrução. Também concluiu-se sobre o importante papel do emprego da \'novaterra\' como reinterpretação das tecnologias de terra trazidas para o Brasil durante o período colonial, estabelecendo-se parâmetros para outras pesquisas sobre habitações sustentáveis e de baixo impacto para o meio ambiente. / The proposal of this study was to rebuild the path and build new houses for a Brazilian native Indian ethnic group Xucuru-Kariri, moved from the Alagoas countryside area (agreste) to the Caldas reserve, located in a city in the south Minas Gerais, at the Boa Vista farm, 6 km from the urban area. These new houses were earth-built through an adaptation from the Mexican bajareque technique associated with loam or lath-and-plaster, which was named novaterra. After the conclusion and occupation of the houses; in order to establish a thermal comparison, these novaterra houses temperatures were measured and compared to custom built ones, also located in the Caldas reserve. In distinct periods of spring-summer and autumn-winter the thermal variations were measured in both building types, also in distinct situation with and without ceiling. For the purpose of disseminating this technique and its application, mainly in self- building, a procedure guide of this adapted technique was prepared. In conclusion, the use of the novaterra technique and its importance as as an understanding of earth building techniques brought to Brazil in the colonial period, were understood establishing parameters for the research of sustainable, and low environmental impact habitations.

A pesquisa teve como propósito reconstituir a trajetória e a construção de novas habitações para um grupo de índios da etnia Xucuru-Kariri, remanejados do agreste alagoano para a Reserva de Caldas, município do sul de Minas, localizada na Fazenda Boa Vista, a 6 Km da área urbana. As habitações foram construídas empregando a \'terra armada\', através de uma adaptação tecnológica do bajareque mexicano associado à taipa de mão ou pau-a-pique que passou a ser denominada como \'novaterra\'. Depois de concluídas as habitações, foram realizadas análises relativas ao desempenho térmico, com o objetivo de se estabelecerem comparações entre o desempenho térmico de uma das unidades de terra e o de uma habitação edificada no mesmo local empregando materiais convencionais. Em períodos distintos de primavera-verão e outono-inverno e em situações distintas - na ausência e com a presença de forros, as variações de temperatura foram aferidas junto aos dois tipos de construção. Finalmente, entendeu-se a importância da elaboração de um \"guia de procedimentos da tecnologia adaptada\", com o objetivo de disseminar seu emprego em habitações, principalmente em regime de autoconstrução. Também concluiu-se sobre o importante papel do emprego da \'novaterra\' como reinterpretação das tecnologias de terra trazidas para o Brasil durante o período colonial, estabelecendo-se parâmetros para outras pesquisas sobre habitações sustentáveis e de baixo impacto para o meio ambiente. / The proposal of this study was to rebuild the path and build new houses for a Brazilian native Indian ethnic group Xucuru-Kariri, moved from the Alagoas countryside area (agreste) to the Caldas reserve, located in a city in the south Minas Gerais, at the Boa Vista farm, 6 km from the urban area. These new houses were earth-built through an adaptation from the Mexican bajareque technique associated with loam or lath-and-plaster, which was named novaterra. After the conclusion and occupation of the houses; in order to establish a thermal comparison, these novaterra houses temperatures were measured and compared to custom built ones, also located in the Caldas reserve. In distinct periods of spring-summer and autumn-winter the thermal variations were measured in both building types, also in distinct situation with and without ceiling. For the purpose of disseminating this technique and its application, mainly in self- building, a procedure guide of this adapted technique was prepared. In conclusion, the use of the novaterra technique and its importance as as an understanding of earth building techniques brought to Brazil in the colonial period, were understood establishing parameters for the research of sustainable, and low environmental impact habitations.

Outdoor workers are often subjected to thermal conditions beyond the comfort zone, but to what degree do such conditions affect the health and safety of those workers is still a matter requiring further investigation. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between thermal conditions and (1) heat-related disorders and (2) acute injuries using injury and illness data collected during the BP Deepwater Horizon clean-up operations. Over an eleven month period, 5,485 cases were identified as either heat-related or an acute injury (incident type) and further divided by severity. Daily weather data were used to estimate the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) based on the time of day. Heat Stress Levels intervals were defined using the estimated WBGT. Labor-hours by month were estimated by the prevailing shift length in the month and the number of workers. The incidents were assigned a Heat Stress Level and the number of labor-hours by heat stress level were determined. The next step was to calculate the incident rate ratio by Heat Stress Level against the baseline of thermal comfort. The results indicated that the rate ratios for heat-related disorders and acute injury increased for thermal conditions from 24⁰C-WBGT to 30⁰C-WBGT. There was a further significant increase in rate ratio for heat-related injury above 33 °C-WBGT. It was notable that the incident rates for both heat-related disorders and acute injuries increased at thermal conditions generally considered to be below the occupational exposure limit (OEL) at 30 ⁰C-WBGT. The rate of heat-related disorders increased substantially above the occupational exposure limit.