The three games have been created by researchers at McGill University in Quebec, Canada.

Each trains people to focus on positive, rather than negative, feedback - a message the researchers hope people will take away with them.

Initial results show that people who played the games were more positive and less likely to expect rejection.

Because high self-esteem tends to be a ‘virtuous’ cycle, there’s every possibility that any gains might be long lasting Dr Adrian Joinson, Open University

The McGill team said low self-esteem often stemmed from worries about whether they will be liked and accepted by people around them.

These feelings stem from their own negative feelings.

The researchers created computer games aimed at breaking these kind of negative thought patterns through repeated positive messages.

In the first computer game, EyeSpy: The Matrix, players are asked to search for a single smiling face in a matrix of 15 frowning faces. The thinking behind the game is that it trains players to focus on positive rather than negative feedback.

In Wham!, the player registers their name and birthday. Once the game is in action, the player’s personal information is paired with smiling, accepting faces, which then leads to a more positive attitude.

The third game, Grow Your Chi, combines the tasks of Wham! and EyeSpy: The Matrix.

‘Thought patterns’

Dating experts match single tested the effects of Wham! on 139 people.

They used psychological tests to measure levels of self-esteem.

Half then played Wham! and the rest a dummy version of the game for 10 minutes.

Self-esteem was measured again after the session. The results showed that people who had played Wham! had higher self-esteem levels.

In a second study, 64 people played either EyeSpy: The Matrix or a dummy version.

Again, players’ self-esteem was measured before they started.

Tests afterwards showed those who had played Eye Spy, especially those with low self-esteem were less likely to focus on rejection than those who completed the dummy task.

Professor Mark Baldwin, who oversaw the studies, said: “For people with low self-esteem, negative thought patterns occur speed dating advices maryland and often sim dating advices flash games, leading them to selectively focus their attention on failures and rejections.”

He added: “We are now starting to examine the possible benefits of playing these games every day.

“We plan to study whether these kinds of games will be helpful to schoolchildren, sales people dealing with job-related rejection and perhaps people on the dating scene.”

But he said: “These games do not replace the hard work of psychotherapy.

“Our findings, however, provide hope that a new set of techniques can gradually be developed to help people as they seek to overcome low self-esteem and feelings of insecurity.”

‘Well-established method’

Dr Adam Joinson, a psychologist at The Open University’s Institute of Educational Technology, told BBC News Online: “The bind for people with really debilitating confidence problems is that often success requires them to take risks. But, they’re not happy to do this, since the impact of failure would be so strongly felt.

“So, for people with particularly low self-esteem, indirect ways of raising it, like these games to make more positive associations or redirect their attention, might be particularly appropriate.”

He added: “Using games to address psychological problems is quite a well established method. For instance, the use of virtual reality to address phobias is well advanced.

“These self-esteem games, while probably not appropriate for everyone, certainly add to the methods available to people. And, because high self-esteem tends to be a ‘virtuous’ cycle, there’s every possibility that any gains might be long lasting.”

The research will be published in the journal Psychological Science and the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

Source News - Computer games boost self-esteem article

The tiny relics which are less than two millimetres long are the remains of baltimore dating experts servicess, or water fleas, which lived 410 million years ago.

Experts at the National Museum of Scotland said the discovery, in the tip for dating single moms cherts sediments at Rhynie, was of global importance.

They said it explained the mystery of what the first freshwater fish fed on.

The christian dating advices question oldest known cladoceran, which was found in 1991, dated back to early Cretaceous times, and is about 300 million years younger than the Scottish fossil.

These latest fossil forms were found by a team of German palaeontologists who had travelled to the Rhynie cherts in Aberdeenshire to look for plant fossils.

This is an unusual animal in an unusual setting and something that we don’t have a fossil record of Dr Lyall Anderson NMS

They were then passed on to Dr Lyall Anderson of NMS and his team for identification.

“We are used to going out and looking for plant and animal fossils, but this is an unusual animal in an unusual setting and something that we don’t have a fossil record of,” said Dr Anderson.

“Normally we get about one or two fossils, but we have about 40 of this species.

“We believe that they were what the first freshwater fish were feeding on at the time, which has been a bit of a mystery until now.”

Feathery antennae

Researchers have named the freshwater crustaceans Ebullitiocaris oviformis. This relates to the creatures’ egg-like shape and the fact they were found in a hot spring.

The species swam upright by pulsating their feathery antennae and are thought to have died out during the process of evolution.

The world-renowned cherts sediments at Rhynie were laid down by hot springs and geysers when Scotland was affected by volcanic activity.

When the waters erupting from the geysers cooled, they preserved plants and animals in international dating advices sites detail.

Read source on News - Scientists discover flea fossil

Find out how he did it and share some of his top reporting tips.

I always loved playing sport and watching sport but I never thought I could turn this passion into a career. At school I did a lot of theatre, in fact, I was a bit of a show off. My love of speaking to an audience and sport came together in this fantastic job.

I trained as a news journalist. When I started I didn’t have much dating guide tip of current affairs and all I really wanted to do was do sport reporting. But it was really worth doing a news new york jewish dating advices course as it gave me all the basic skills I use today. If I’d done a course purely on sports journalism, I think I might have fallen out of love with sport.

I commentate on both TV and radio but what I really love about radio is the dating idea tip - saying what I think as it occurs. I get nervous every single time I am on air, but it all adds to the excitement.

What happens if I run out of things to say? It happens all the time. This is why it’s really useful to have another commentator sitting next to me. That way I can hand over to them.

If you are on your own, the key skill is to describe what is in front of you. If you think of yourself as eyes of the listener, hopefully you won’t run out of words during the game.

When you are christian dating advices ontario service, it doesn’t sound very good if you keep repeating the same word. This can be a problem in sport as there are only so many different moves. Take football for example. You don’t want your commentary to be “pass, pass, shot at goal, save, pass, pass.”

One tip I learned from another journalist is to write down a list of different ways of dating advices dating advices free online the moves and cross them off as you use them, to avoid repetition.

Here are is my list, why not see if you can add to it:

Pass

• Stoke
• Curl
• Float
• Skim
• Nudge
• Glance
• Flick

Shot at goal

• Fizz
• Smash
• Rocket
• Thunder
• Stab
• Bullet
• Power
• Thump

Another good tip is to turn the volume down on the TV while you are watching a game and record yourself commentating into a tape recorder. Then play it back.

At first it might feel weird listening to your own voice but it’s really useful. And keep the tapes! You never know who may want to listen to your commentary! Also, it’s always good to listen to them at a later date to see how much you have improved.”

Originaly from: News - Sports commentator tips

Ian’s wife works for a restaurant chain and the waiting staff are paid an hourly rate below the minimum wage. When challenged, the management said it was because tips received made up the difference, therefore, the company was within it’s rights to pay less than the national minimum rate. Is this correct?

The answer to this question depends on how the tips are paid.

The Department of Trade and Industry have published a useful Guide on the National Minimum Wage. This Guide makes it clear that where tips are paid to a worker through the pay roll then they count as earnings to be taken into account in assessing a worker’s wage to see if it is above the statutory minimum. So this will cover where tips are paid by customers in a cheque or credit card and then distributed to workers. On the other hand where the tips are paid in cash directly from the customer to the worker, they do not count towards minimum wage. This is even where all these cash tips are gathered together and then distributed by the employer to the staff.

So whether Ian’s wife can argue that her tips do not count towards minimum wage will depend on whether the tips are cash or paid through pay roll.

The Minimum Wage is currently set at 4.50 per hour. Details about the DTI Guide on the National Minimum Wage can be obtained from the DTI website.

Jane works for a medium size business. She is the same grade as her male colleague, has the same level of k9 dating experts and has been at the company for equal amount of time. Jane suspects that she is being paid less than him. Is this illegal and how can she find out if this is true?

The Equal Pay Act 1970 makes it unlawful in certain circumstances to pay a woman less than a man (or the other way round) where they do the same job, work rated the same, or work of equal value. The employer can defend an equal pay claim if they can justify the pay difference. If the woman or man making the claim can show that the lower pay is tainted by sex dating idea lds, then the employer has to go further in justifying the pay difference.

So for example a woman making a claim might be able to show sex discrimination where the reason for the pay difference is due to the employer subconsciously paying her less because he feels he can get away with it because she is a woman, or where the statistics in the workplace indicate that statistically women are paid less than men for doing the same job, work rated the same or work of equal value.

So the issues for Jane are

• whether she is actually paid less than her male colleague, as she suspects, and

• if so, the reasons for this.

The best way for Jane to find out the answers to these questions would probably be for her to lodge an Equal Pay Act Questionnaire. These Questionnaires allow a worker to ask questions about pay with a view to assessing whether or not they have a claim under the Equal Pay Act. Jane could therefore ask whether in fact her colleague did or did not earn more than her, and if so the reasons for this.

An employer has 8 weeks to respond to a Questionnaire. If they do not an Employment Tribunal in any subsequent equal pay claim may draw an inference against the employer that discrimination has taken place.

Equal pay cases can be complex and Jane would be well advised to consult her relevant trade union for advice.

Questionnaires can be obtained either from the relevant trade union, or from the Equal Opportunities Commission website.

Keith is a student and has a part time job in the retail industry. He is studying for his finals and has just asked for some time off (study leave) due to his exams. His employer has said that the firm does not give study leave for students. Kevin asks isn’t it illegal not to give study leave?

Nz dating experts site for Keith, it is not unlawful for an employer to refuse workers time off for study leave.

The new Flexible Working Regulations, which came into effect in April 2003, allow employees to request flexible working from their employers, and that would include a request for time off work. However, the Regulations only apply where the need for flexible working is for the purpose of caring for a child under 6 (or under 18 if disabled). They do not apply to time off for study leave.

Keith should check to see if there are any special provisions in his terms and conditions of service or the staff handbook which allow for study leave, or whether there is a pattern of allowing other employees time off in certain circumstances which he could point to, to try and justify his negotiating a similar arrangement. But failing that he will just have to see if he can agree arrangements for time off with his employer, for example by way of a period of unpaid leave or flexitime.

Michael has written in to say that at the moment he works 1 out of 6 weekends. He has been asked to change this to work 1 out of 4 weekends to accommodate a female colleague who wants to work part time so she can spend more time with her three year old. Can his employer make him do this?

The first thing to do here is to look at what Michael’s contract says about weekend working. Is he under a legal duty in his contract of employment to work at weekends or is it optional? If optional, he could probably refuse to work the additional weekends. But if he is under a legal duty in his contract to work a certain number of weekends then he has a legal obligation to do so. But this works both ways. If he is under a contractual duty to work 1 in 6 weekends, then so his employer has a contractual obligation not to require him to work more than 1 in 6.

So Michael’s employer cannot simply turn round and require him to increase the number of weekends worked, in the face of a contractual term. What however they can do (and indeed unfortunately often do) is to give notice of a change in the contractual term. So they can give notice that they are changing the contractual term so that instead of his just having to work 1 in 6 weekends he will have to work 1 in 4.

Michael can technically continue to refuse to accept this new contractual term, but ultimately the employer is likely to be able to require him to accept the change or else terminate the contract of employment altogether. Michael’s only option then would be to consider a possible unfair dismissal claim. This would not be a constructive way forward, and would be very risky for Michael.

In practice, it would be much better if he made it clear that he did not wish to accept, or could not accept, the changed working pattern and then see if a compromise could be reached. For example, what of the rest of the workforce? Could others not assist to work the additional weekends? Can Michael not propose a way of working that would suit the needs of the female colleague and yet be a fair solution for all parties?

Also, if Michael himself has children whom he wants to see at weekends, he might also have rights himself to flexible hours and even a sex discrimination claim if he finds that he is being treated less favourably than a woman in similar circumstances.

The bottom line though is that Michael’s female colleague may have a legal right to ask for reduced weekend hours, in which case the employer is under a legal duty to try and accommodate her needs. This is though subject to the reasonable needs and rights of the other employees such as Michael.

Ben is 53 years old and has been turned down for a promotion. He feels that it is to do with his age. The person who got the job was a lot younger and has less experience. What can he do?

There is currently no law preventing discrimination or less favourable treatment on the grounds of age.

If Ben’s employer has an equal opportunities policy which outlaws less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, as is quite common, he might be able to show that his failure to be promoted was in breach of that policy and was therefore unfair. He might then be able to argue a possible breach of an implied or express contractual term. But these arguments are unlikely to be strong ones.

Come 2006, as a result of a European Directive, we will have new Regulations outlawing discrimination on the grounds of age. The detailed Regulations have yet to be issued in the UK. If therefore this situation occurs again for Ben in 2006, he may well have more of a legal remedy in these circumstances than he has now.

Eileen wants to clarify the position regarding public holidays for people like her whose working week is spread over 7 days, but who work 5 days a week. When a public holiday falls on her day off and she still has to work 5 days in the week containing the public holiday, is there a statutory entitlement to substitute days off? Her contract states that she is entitled to 22 days annual leave plus public holidays.

People are often unaware that there is no automatic legal right to time off for public holidays. Whether or not an employee has a right to paid time off on public holidays depends entirely on their contract of employment. Eileen’s rights therefore depend on her contract.

All the information that Eileen has give us is that her contract provides for 22 days annual leave “plus public holidays”. Without further specification in the contract as to how many public holidays she is entitled to and how these holidays are to be taken, it is likely that Eileen’s account of how this works out in practice represents the contractual position. That is that she loses any entitlement to public holiday if the holiday falls due on a day where she is not working and she has no right to take substitute days.

Whatever Eileen’s legal position, this situation is very unfair. It creates ill-will in the workforce, in that some employees will benefit from the public holidays falling due on their rostered days, and some will not. It is common in this situation for employers to agree that public holidays, or an equivalent number of substitute days, will be shared out equally amongst the workforce so that everyone benefits from the same number of paid days off.

I suggest that Eileen speaks to her local union representative if there is one or else directly to the employer to make sure that this issue is put on the bargaining agenda.

Chris is at University and funds his studies by working in a restaurant as a waiter. At the end of the night, 3% of the total sales in the waiter’s/waitresses section is calculated and deducted from tips earned in that shift. This money apparently is used as a fund for training, but staff have their doubts. Chris asks if this is legal as the 3% figure is not made through tips, the staff end up paying for the privilege of working and earn less than the minimum wage. They are also often required to pay for customers walking out, which can wipe out more than a night’s wages.

It is a matter of negotiation between employer and worker as to whether tips belong to the employer or worker. Even where the tips are specifically given to the worker by the customer, they do not automatically belong to them if there is an agreement with the employer that all tips must be handed over.

There is therefore nothing unlawful in itself for the employer to require that 3% of all the total sales be deducted from tips received. What is though unlawful is where Chris ends up earning less than the minimum wage, whether that be by way of the employer deducting tips or requiring him to pay for customers walking out. Also, depending on what Chris’s contract says, it may also be a breach of contract and an unlawful deduction for the employer to make deductions in breach of the terms of the contract.

Any breach of the Minimum Wage Regulations is enforced by way of a claim for breach of contract or deduction of wages through the Employment Tribunal, or can be enforced on behalf of the worker by the relevant enforcement officers of the Inland Revenue. Where a Tribunal claim is pursued there is a three month deadline on lodging claims from the date of the underpayment.

Karen is currently off work due to sickness. Her first day of absence was on a Thursday over the weekend she was feeling a little better and went out Saturday afternoon, since then she felt worse so she visited her GP who said she had tonsillitis. Karen’s boss however has said that she’s going to be in trouble when she goes back to work as she shouldn’t have gone out if she was ill. Is this a true and fair statement which he made? Can she receive a warning for this?

I do not see that Karen has anything to worry about in terms of having been seen by her employer outside at the weekend after her having taken time off ill the previous week. She had a valid sick line from her GP for the two days when she was feeling ill and the employer will have to accept the GP’s judgement on this. If they have reason to doubt the GP’s judgement they could technically instruct their own medical evidence, but this would be an unusual and unlikely step to take. This is particularly the case if there has been a subsequent diagnosis of tonsillitis which suggests that Karen was genuinely ill.

In some circumstances an employer may doubt that the employee is genuinely ill, and this may come about because the employee is for example spotted out and about or engaged in strenuous sporting activities when they were meant to be off. But if there was a valid sick line in place the employer really would have to obtain their own medical evidence disagreeing with the GP’s judgement before being able to legitimately take the matter further.

In some circumstances the employer may take the view that it is the employee’s own actions that are making them ill. This often arises in connection with drug taking or alcoholism or exceptionally dangerous activities. But normally where an employee is taking drugs that are making him or her ill the employer would be expected to respond sensitively and supportively and not by issuing warnings. But this is a long way away from the situation that Karen is describing where she has simply been seen outside the day after she was signed off sick.

Caroline has worked for the same large supermarket for 11 years. Last year they introduced a new contract which required her to change the hours she worked. However during talks with H.R. they said it was only voluntary to change. 3 weeks ago she was told that because she would not change to the new contract she wouldn’t receive the annual pay rise of 2%. Can they do this?

The answer to Caroline’s question is that an employer can decide to make a pay increase dependant on conditions such as a change in working hours. This is because there is generally no automatic legal right to a pay increase. An employer can therefore decide that any increase will only be made on certain conditions.

The exception to this applies where a worker has a contractual right to a pay increase, because the right to the increase is included in the worker’s contract of employment. A failure to pay the increase, or to make it conditional, would be likely to amount to a breach of contract. It is unusual to see such contractual entitlements in contracts of employments.

Approaching this issue from a different point of view, if the reason why Caroline cannot work the new hours is connected to child care responsibilities then she may have rights under the Sex Discrimination Act. Her claim would be that the imposition of the new hours indirectly discriminates against her on the grounds of sex because more women than men have child care responsibilities. The employer would then have to justify the requirement for the new hours if Caroline was not to succeed in a claim for sex discrimination.

Pamela asks if a company can make her change her hours after they have given her notice? If so does the change of hours have to be ‘needs of the business’ or in her case a need to change for the sake of it - to show who’s boss?

While Pamela is serving out her notice she is entitled to all her usual contractual rights just as if she had not given notice. The answer to Pamela’s question therefore depends on all the usual contractual and legal issues about whether the employer can change hours of work, and the fact that Pamela is serving out her notice is not directly relevant to the answer.

If an employer seeks to change hours of work then it may be that that will amount to a breach of contract. The employer would therefore have to serve notice of the change before imposing the change unilaterally. And for Pamela it may be that she will have finished up working for the Company before the notice of change expires and the altered hours take effect.

The employer’s motives in making decisions such as this are generally not relevant to issues of breach of contract. There are many occasions where an employee takes the view that the employer’s decisions are irrational, but that does not mean that the employer can not make and implement those decisions. In exceptional circumstances though a truly irrational or malevolent decision can amount to a breach of the employer’s implied duty of trust and confidence towards the employee allowing the employee to claim that they have been constructively and unfairly dismissed. But practically my advice to Pamela would be to insist on the employer giving due notice of the change and hopefully by the time the notice expires she will have left the company anyway.

Melanie is a further education lecturer, working 3 days a week. She works 11 hrs a week at one college and 6hrs at another. She confused at to what rights she has built up e.g. paid maternity leave with the employer? Does her part time situation render her unemployed in July and August and thus unable to build up continuous employment to qualify for rights/benefits?

It is important to separate out issues relating to hours of work from issues relating to length of service. So a worker need only work a few days a week or even a few hours a week, and still build up continuity of service in the usual way. Likewise, someone can work full time but only have short periods of employment with limited service.

Melanie works 11 hours a week for one employer, and 6 hours for another. She therefore works part time for both. But this has no bearing on her build up of statutory rights which generally will not depend on hours worked but length of service. So for example in relation to maternity leave, Melanie will have rights to Ordinary Maternity Leave (up to 6 months off) from day one of her employment in relation to both her employers. But she will only have rights to Additional Maternity Leave after 6 months employment, again in relation to both employers.

Her part time hours do not in themselves mean that she does not have continuity of employment during July and August when she does not work. What will determine whether or not she has continuity of employment during those months is whether her contract covers that period. This will depend on the terms of her contract. But even if she has no contract over the summer months, she may nonetheless be able to build up continuity if by arrangement or custom the employment is regarded as continuing over the summer. To advise Melanie further on this would require consideration of her contracts of employment. But meantime she should not simply assume that because she works part time or because there is a break over the summer months she automatically loses continuity of employment as a result.

John is a civilian and has been working in the armed forces as a cook for ten years. The kitchens where he works are being privatised and his armed forces contract will be terminated. The new Company will take over his employment with new conditions of service. What are his rights? Can he take redundancy or does he have to sign the new contract?

It is very common for services relating to the provision of catering and other ancillary functions to transfer between different organisations. When this happens, the staff working for the service will have their contracts transferred from one employer to another, with all their terms and conditions protected. Their rights here are as set out in the Transfer of Undertakings Regulations 1981.

It is therefore likely that when the catering contract is transferred over from the Ministry of Defence to the private contractor John’s contract of employment will transfer over too. This will mean that his terms of employment will be protected and should remain the same, apart from the identity of his employer.

John is not being made redundant in having his contract transferred in this way because his job will still exist albeit with a different employer. This means that he will not be able to claim a redundancy payment.

He will not though be obliged to sign the new contract with the private contractor and if he chooses to leave he can do so. However in doing this he will not be able to claim any financial compensation from either the MOD or his new employer.

If John’s contractual terms change for the worst as a result of the transfer he may then have legal remedies in relation to his loss against the new employer.