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Although heart rate variability (HRV) may be a crucial marker of mental health, how it is related to positive psychological factors (i.e. attitude to life and positive thinking) is largely unknown. Here we investigated the correlation of HRV linear and nonlinear dynamics with psychological scales that measured degree of optimism and happiness in patients with anxiety disorders. Results showed that low- to high-frequency HRV ratio (LF/HF) was increased and the HRV HF parameter was decreased in subjects who were more optimistic and who felt happier in daily living. Nonlinear analysis also showed that HRV dispersion and regulation were significantly correlated with the subjects’ optimism and purpose in life. Our findings showed that HRV properties might be related to degree of optimistic perspectives on life and suggests that HRV markers of autonomic nervous system function could reflect positive human mind states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The constant changes in the Life Orientation (LO) curriculum in the past two decades has left LO teachers feeling overwhelmed by the complex nature of the subject, thus necessitating an urgent need for their development and enrichment. However, this has become a mammoth task, as indicated in the few studies that have explored LO teachers' career development needs. This article seeks to narrow this gap by addressing the career development needs of LO teachers in the Gauteng Province with the view of enabling them to effectively implement the Life Orientation curriculum. This article is based on a study that employed a qualitative design, which comprised individual and focus group interviews to elicit responses from a purposively selected group of LO teachers. Themes that emerged from the data analysis are, the need for formal training, the need for subject and content knowledge development, the need for support from key stakeholders, the need for resources, and the need for stability in the LO subject. These needs are embedded within the activity theory (AT). The results of this study indicate that an urgency exists to address the LO teachers' career needs in the constantly changing world of work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study under investigation has encouraged the researchers to explore and describe the promotion of an awareness of cultural diversity through social development as a Learning Outcome in Life Orientation among grade 7 learners at schools. The researchers opted to use a basic interpretive qualitative research approach in order to describe and interpret the phenomena under study with forty-eight participants selected from the Life Orientation grade 7 class in one school in Gauteng Province South Africa. The participants were thus representative of different cultural groups because the class consisted of boys and girls learners from, for example, Zulu, Tswana, N.Sotho, English, Afrikaans and Zimbabwe culture. The findings showed that teachers had attempted to promote an awareness of cultural diversity at the school in a variety of ways. This means that they still need to create a climate in schools such that diversity is celebrated, invited, encouraged and sustained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent article, A. Maydeu-Olivares and D. L. Coffman (2006) presented a random intercept factor approach for modeling idiosyncratic response styles in questionnaire data and compared this approach with competing confirmatory factor analysis models. Among the competing models was the CT-C(M-1) model (M. Eid, 2000). In an application to the Life Orientation Test (M. F. Scheier & C. S. Carver, 1985), Maydeu-Olivares and Coffman found that results obtained from the CT-C(M-1) model were difficult to interpret. In particular, Maydeu-Olivares and Coffman challenged the asymmetry of the CT-C(M-1) model. In the present article, the authors show that the difficulties faced by Maydeu-Olivares and Coffman rest upon an improper interpretation of the meaning of the latent factors. The authors' aim is to clarify the meaning of the latent variables in the CT-C(M-1) model. The authors explain how to properly interpret the results from this model and introduce an alternative restricted model that is conceptually similar to the CT-C(M-1) model and nested within it. The fit of this model is invariant across different reference methods. Finally, the authors provide guidelines as to which model should be used in which research context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]