Construct validity of a figure rating scale for Brazilian adolescents

Background: Figure rating scales were developed as a tool to determine body dissatisfaction in women, men, and children. However, it lacks in the literature the validation of the scale for body silhouettes previously adapted. We aimed to obtain evidence for construct validity of a figure rating scale for Brazilian adolescents.Methods: The study was carried out with adolescent students attending three public schools in an urban region of the municipality of Florianopolis in the State of Santa Catarina (SC). The sample comprised 232 10-19-year-old students, 106 of whom are boys and 126 girls, from the 5th series (i.e. year) of Primary School to the 3rd year of Secondary School. Data-gathering involved the application of an instrument containing 8 body figure drawings representing a range of children's and adolescents' body shapes, ranging from very slim (contour 1) to obese (contour 8). Weights and heights were also collected, and body mass index (BMI) was calculated later. BMI was analyzed as a continuous variable, using z-scores, and as a dichotomous categorical variable, representing a diagnosis of nutritional status (normal and overweight including obesity).Results: Results showed that both males and females with larger BMI z-scores chose larger body contours. Girls with higher BMI z-scores also show higher values of body image dissatisfaction.Conclusion: We provided the first evidence of validity for a figure rating scale for Brazilian adolescents.

Solving the conundrum of Job: a probable biblical description of chronic renal failure with neurological symptoms

A doença descrita no livro bíblico de Jó é controversa, e tem interessado a teólogos, psiquiatras e dermatologistas, há tempos. Neste trabalho os autores apontam para evidências do diagnóstico de insuficiência renal crônica com alterações neurológicas.

On the regular-geometric-figure solution to the N-body problem

The regular-geometric-figure solution to the N-body problem is presented in a very simple way. The Newtonian formalism is used without resorting to a more involved rotating coordinate system. Those configurations occur for other kinds of interactions beyond the gravitational ones for some special values of the parameters of the forces. For the harmonic oscillator, in particular, it is shown that the N-body problem is reduced to N one-body problems.

Poder e violência: Hannah Arendt e a Nova Esquerda

Pós-graduação em Ciências Sociais - FFC

A dimensão política da dignidade humana em Hannah Arendt

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A dimensão política da dignidade humana em Hannah Arendt

A autora apresenta os principais traços do pensamento de Hannah Arendt sobre o tema da dignidade humana no mundo contemporâneo, que para a filósofa política de origem alemã caiu sob a hegemonia de um suposto progresso social, em nome do qual é justificada a sistemática exclusão de grupos maciços de indivíduos. De acordo com a autora, para Arendt - reconhecida como uma das principais estudiosas do totalitarismo - a despeito do caráter universal que a tradição ocidental atribuía à dignidade do homem, esta só é real e se torna efetiva quando os indivíduos fazem parte de uma comunidade na qual compartilham a liberdade e a responsabilidade. Isso é impossível sob o totalitarismo, que através do controle total do comportamento humano consegue dissolver os limites entre o domínio público e a esfera privada, forjando um mundo em que o sentido das ações humanas passa a remeter a finalidades voltadas para o progresso biológico ou social da espécie. Assim, o princípio da dignidade humana pode ser substituído pela descartabilidade em massa, sob um aparente véu de legitimidade. A autora também discute as relações estabelecidas por Arendt entre este fenômeno e a instabilidade inerente à própria estrutura do Estado-nação, agravada pelo capitalismo, e os perigos que representam as novas formas de dominação para a cultura ocidental e a própria humanidade

Theodor Adorno e Hannah Arendt: confluências no campo da filosofia da educação

The aim of this paper is to analyze the confluences between the thinking of philosophers Theodor Adorno and Hannah Arendt in critiquing totalitarianism and fascism in the post-World War II period. Looking for approximation between the works of both philosophers, the most relevant aspects of this criticism for the philosophy of education will be explicited.

A educação de adultos como socialização: Hannah Arendt versus Paulo Freire

This paper analyzes data under diametrically opposed theoretical frameworks. Encouraged by the sudden and recent popularity of Hannah Arendt, we decided to submit the data of a already presented dissertation to a “new” reference, extracted from Arendt’s famous text on the education crisis in the United States in the 1950. Data had been interpreted in the light of Paulo Freire’s epistemology. In further analyzes, from Arendt, our interpretations gained even more strength. However, in the final comparison between the two thinkers stand out irreconcilable differences: For Arendt, it is impossible to educate adults and the world of education should be detached from the world of politics, since the responsibility of the educator is based on tradition and authority while for Freire is indeed possible to educate adults and the responsibility of the educator – as in Sartre – leads to freedom. Our conclusion is to be possible the social education of adults if we educate ourselves with them in a dialogic relationship.