The teaching of History meets its past: memories of teaching staff during the civil-military dictatorship

The civil-military dictatorship, which took power in 1964, influenced the daily activities of schools and teachers. Many transformations occurred during this period, including the new legislation enacted under Law 5692/71 and changes which occurred due to the vigilance which teachers felt when working. The memories analyzed here of teachers from public schools in Sao Paulo show different perceptions of this surveillance, involving various forms of acceptance or resistance. The purpose of this article is to show that although there was no direct repression of schools, unlike in the universities, teachers at the elementary school also felt constrained and this can be seen in their educational practices and teaching concepts.

Coleção entomológica do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz: resgate de acervo científico-histórico disperso pelo Massacre de Manguinhos

Uma das mais ricas, antigas e diversificadas coleções entomológicas da América Latina, que alberga relevante parcela de nossa biodiversidade, foi drasticamente penalizada durante o episódio que ficou conhecido como o Massacre de Manguinhos, no qual dez eminentes pesquisadores tiveram seus direitos políticos cassados. Esta nota relata uma ínfima parcela da tragédia que desmantelou parte desse acervo e como 8.554 exemplares valiosos da ordem Diptera, pertencentes a 35 famílias, incluindo 99 exemplares-tipos, foram reincorporados à Coleção Entomológica do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, em suas posições originais nos armários de aço, após 35 anos. Esta reincorporação representa o primeiro resgate científico-histórico desse acervo, após o período da ditadura militar no Brasil.

Prevalência de hipertensão arterial em militares jovens e fatores associados

OBJETIVO: Estimar a prevalência de hipertensão arterial entre militares jovens e fatores associados. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal realizado com amostra de 380 militares do sexo masculino de 19 e 35 anos de idade em uma unidade da Força Aérea Brasileira em São Paulo, SP, entre 2000 e 2001. Os pontos de corte para hipertensão foram: >140mmHg para pressão sistólica e > 90mmHg para pressão diastólica. As variáveis estudadas incluíram fatores de risco e de proteção para hipertensão, como características comportamentais e nutricionais. Para análise das associações, utilizou-se regressão linear generalizada múltipla, com família binomial e ligação logarítmica, obtendo-se razões de prevalências com intervalo de 90% de confiança e seleção hierarquizada das variáveis. RESULTADOS: A prevalência de hipertensão arterial foi de 22% (IC 90%: 21;29). No modelo final da regressão múltipla verificou-se prevalência de hipertensão 68% maior entre os ex-fumantes em relação aos não fumantes (IC 90%: 1,13;2,50). Entre os indivíduos com sobrepeso (índice de massa corporal - IMC de 25 a 29kg/m2) e com obesidade (IMC>29kg/m2) as prevalências foram, respectivamente, 75% (IC 90%: 1,23;2,50) e 178% (IC 90%: 1,82;4,25) maiores do que entre os eutróficos. Entre os que praticavam atividade física regular, comparado aos que não praticavam, a prevalência foi 52% menor (IC 90%: 0,30;0,90). CONCLUSÕES: Ser ex-fumante e ter sobrepeso ou obesidade foram situações de risco para hipertensão, enquanto que a prática regular de atividade física foi fator de proteção em militares jovens.

O Itamaraty nos anos de chumbo: o Centro de Informações do Exterior (CIEX) e a repressão no Cone Sul (1966-1979)

Neste artigo, examina-se o funcionamento do Centro de Informações do Exterior (CIEX), órgão do Itamaraty e vinculado ao Serviço Nacional de Informações (SNI) que foi encarregado de espionar políticos e militantes contrários ao regime militar brasileiro que se exilaram nos países vizinhos. Trata-se de um estudo que visa a desvendar como agia um dos elos do sistema repressivo montado pela ditadura brasileira, que tinha um relativo grau de interação com as outras ditaduras militares da região do Cone Sul. O artigo demonstra que o Itamaraty colaborou intensamente com o regime militar brasileiro, inclusive com a repressão.

Confederações indígenas em luta por participação política, comercial e territorial: Argentina, 1852 - 1859

Entre 1852 e 1859, a atual Argentina se encontrava politicamente dividida entre Buenos Aires e a Confederação, que congregava as demais Províncias. Nesse período, diferentes grupos étnicos dos pampas, dos Andes e da Patagônia se organizaram em confederações indígenas com o objetivo de enfrentar os avanços territoriais, defender suas autonomias e a participação em lucrativas redes de comércio. Nesta luta por autonomia política, territorial e comercial, negociaram com os grupos criollos em luta pelo poder, avaliaram seus projetos e aderiram a aquele que os reconheceu enquanto interlocutores políticos e aliados militares. Participantes ativos da política argentina, conseguiram reconquistar territórios e oferecer intensas resistências aos criollos.

Teacher strikes in Brazil and its representations: ""orderly disciplined class"" and ""education workers"" (Sao Paulo, 1963-1979)

This article analyses the teacher strikes that took place in the state of Sao Paulo ( Brazil). These strikes produced new representations of the profession and gave a particular visibility to its interest aggregation processes. These same strikes appeared as major incentives for the organisation of teachers in Brazil. The October 1963 strike - about six months before the military coup of 1964 - was the first to mobilise the whole of the teaching profession of the Sao Paulo state: primary and secondary education, public and private schools were all involved. The two other strikes, organised by teachers in the public schools in 1978 and 1979, took place under the dictatorship. As such, they had a particular significance in the process of recovering civil liberties in the final stages of the military regime in the 1980s. This article is based on an analysis of the front-page covering of these teacher strikes by the two major journals of the state, O Estado de S. Paulo and Folha de S. Paulo. With Chartier`s concept collective representations in mind, this approach allows us to grasp how large-circulation journals diffuse images of the profession and its organisational configurations. These press pictures are analysed by dint of the analytical frame Roland Barthes advanced in the 1960s, i.e. by reading their denoted, connoted and symbolic messages.

Opportunistic and partisan election cycles in Brazil: new evidence at the municipal level

This article tests the hypothesis of opportunistic and partisan cycle models using a new large data set of Brazilian municipalities over the 1989-2005 period. The results show an increase in total and current expenditures and a decrease in municipal investments, local tax revenues, and budget surplus in election years. They also show that partisan ideology exerts a relative influence on the performance of the local public accounts. These results confirm that both opportunistic and partisan cycles have occurred in the management of the budgets of Brazilian municipalities after the end of the military government.

Florestan Fernandes and Interpretations of Brazil

Essays that became known as ""interpretations of Brazil"" appeared mostly between the proclamation of the Republic in 1889 and the spurt in academic life in the 1930s and later. These essays sought an overall analysis of Brazil. However, as universities developed, works of this kind began to lose ground to monographs with more circumscribed aims. The sociologist Florestan Fernandes greatly influenced this development, but his last important work, A revolucao burguesa no Brasil (The Bourgeois Revolution in Brazil), written after the military coup of 1964, differs from his other works, as is indicated by its subtitle, ""an essay of sociological interpretation."" On the one hand lies the ""essay,"" on the other the ""sociological interpretation."" The former allows him to ""interpret Brazil,"" but he does so with the eyes of a sociologist. Establishing a dialogue between A revolucao burguesa no Brasil and other interpretations of Brazil such as those of Prado Junior, Vianna, Buarque, and Freyre reveals the significance of this distinction.

Sweeping democracy: considerations on the political relations between Janio Quadros and the National Congress

This article examines the relation between President Janio Quadros and the National Congress during the early 1960`s. Based on the analysis of the discourse of these figures, it proposes that Quadros maneuvered to diminish the legitimacy of the Congress in the public opinion, thus disrespecting its constitutional competencies. Consequently, it shows that not only did the Congress structure political mechanisms in an attempt to recover its credibility with society, but also that this dispute and its results had important effects on President Joao Goulart`s administration and even on the 1964 military coup.

Historia Nova do Brasil: revisiting a polemical work

This article discusses the texts and purposes of the Historia Nova do Brasil series, a joint production of the Ministerio da Educacao e Cultura and the Instituto Superior de Estudos Brasileiros (Iseb) launched in 1964 and soon aborted by the military dictatorship. The intent is to reconstitute its context to present the many influences on this project and to examine its impact and the debates and disputes that resulted, to try to recover the details of this important effort at renewing the teaching of history in Brazil.

Image quality assessment and medical physics evaluation of different portable dental X-ray units

Introduction: Recently developed portable dental X-ray units increase the mobility of the forensic odontologists and allow more efficient X-ray work in a disaster field, especially when used in combination with digital sensors. This type of machines might also have potential for application in remote areas, military and humanitarian missions, dental care of patients with mobility limitation, as well as imaging in operating rooms. Objective: To evaluate radiographic image quality acquired by three portable X-ray devices in combination with four image receptors and to evaluate their medical physics parameters. Materials and methods: Images of five samples consisting of four teeth and one formalin-fixed mandible were acquired by one conventional wall-mounted X-ray unit, MinRay (R) 60/70 kVp, used as a clinical standard, and three portable dental X-ray devices: AnyRay (R) 60 kVp, Nomad (R) 60 kVp and Rextar (R) 70 kVp, in combination with a phosphor image plate (PSP), a CCD, or a CMOS sensor. Three observers evaluated images for standard image quality besides forensic diagnostic quality on a 4-point rating scale. Furthermore, all machines underwent tests for occupational as well as patient dosimetry. Results: Statistical analysis showed good quality imaging for all system, with the combination of Nomad (R) and PSP yielding the best score. A significant difference in image quality between the combination of the four X-ray devices and four sensors was established (p < 0.05). For patient safety, the exposure rate was determined and exit dose rates for MinRay (R) at 60 kVp, MinRay (R) at 70 kVp, AnyRay (R), Nomad (R) and Rextar (R) were 3.4 mGy/s, 4.5 mGy/s, 13.5 mGy/s, 3.8 mGy/s and 2.6 mGy/s respectively. The kVp of the AnyRay (R) system was the most stable, with a ripple of 3.7%. Short-term variations in the tube output of all the devices were less than 10%. AnyRay (R) presented higher estimated effective dose than other machines. Occupational dosimetry showed doses at the operator`s hand being lowest with protective shielding (Nomad (R): 0.1 mu Gy). It was also low while using remote control (distance > 1 m: Rextar (R) < 0.2 mu Gy, MinRay (R) < 0.1 mu Gy). Conclusions: The present study demonstrated the feasibility of three portable X-ray systems to be used for specific indications, based on acceptable image quality and sufficient accuracy of the machines and following the standard guidelines for radiation hygiene. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.