• Understanding self-respect and its relationship to self-esteem

  Clucas, Claudine; University of Chester

  The concept of self-respect has received little attention in the psychological literature and is not clearly distinguished from self-esteem. The present research sought to empirically investigate the bases of self-respect by manipulating adherence to morals together with interpersonal appraisals, or task-related competence, in hypothetical scenarios (Studies 1a and 1b) and a situation participants relived (Studies 2 and 3). Participants’ levels of state self-respect and self-esteem were measured. Studies 1-3 found main effects of adherence to morals on self-respect, with self-respect mediating the effect of adherence to morals on self-esteem, but little support for competence and interpersonal appraisals directly influencing self-respect. Self-respect uniquely contributed to anticipated/felt self-esteem alongside competence or interpersonal appraisals. The pattern of results supports the conceptualisation of self-respect as a component of self-esteem associated with morally principled conduct, distinct from performance and social self-esteem. The findings have implications for our understanding of self-esteem and moral behaviour.
• Police officers’ and Registered Intermediaries’ use of drawing during investigative interviews with vulnerable witnesses

  Mattison, Michelle Louise Ann-Marie; Dando, Coral; University of Chester; University of Westminster

  Attempts to enhance episodic retrieval focus largely on verbal strategies which do not always address the limited or impaired free recall ability of vulnerable witnesses. Asking a witness to draw while recalling episodic information has long been deemed an effective method of improving communication and cognitive performance. Thus far, research has revealed these effects within laboratory settings but with scarce attention paid to real-life interview practice. In this paper, we explore police officers’ and Registered Intermediaries’ use of drawing during investigative interviews with vulnerable witnesses. A sample of specialist practitioners (n=85), comprising of vulnerable witness interviewing police officers (n=50) and Registered Intermediaries (n=35) completed a self-report questionnaire. As expected, frequent use of drawing was reported by both practitioner groups, and there was a positive correlation between reported use and perceived effectiveness. There were similarities between groups in reported techniques employed when using drawing, but some differences were apparent and these were attributed to the differing functions in police and Registered Intermediary roles. Overall, a consensus between empirical research and practice is evident, but these findings warrant further exploration in order to establish whether such practice is wide-spread.
• A Modified Bordered Construction for Self-Dual Codes from Group Rings

  Gildea, Joseph; Kaya, Abidin; Tylyshchak, Alexander; Yildiz, Bahattin; University of Chester; Sampoerna University; Uzhgorod State University; Northern Arizona University (Jacodesmath Institute, 2019)

  We describe a bordered construction for self-dual codes coming from group rings. We apply the constructions coming from the cyclic and dihedral groups over several alphabets to obtain extremal binary self-dual codes of various lengths. In particular we find a new extremal binary self-dual code of length 78.
• Composite Constructions of Self-Dual Codes from Group Rings and New Extremal Self-Dual Binary Codes of Length 68

  Dougherty, Steven; Gildea, Joe; Kaya, Abidin; Korban, Adrian; University of Scranton; University of Chester; Sampoerna University ; University of Chester (American Institute of Mathematical Sciences, 2019)

  We describe eight composite constructions from group rings where the orders of the groups are 4 and 8, which are then applied to find self-dual codes of length 16 over F4. These codes have binary images with parameters [32, 16, 8] or [32, 16, 6]. These are lifted to codes over F4 + uF4, to obtain codes with Gray images extremal self-dual binary codes of length 64. Finally, we use a building-up method over F2 + uF2 to obtain new extremal binary self-dual codes of length 68. We construct 11 new codes via the building-up method and 2 new codes by considering possible neighbors.
• “Cautiously Optimistic” Older Parent-Carers of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities response to the Care Act 2014

  Gant, Valerie; Bates, Claire; University of Chester

  This paper discusses potential opportunities for best practice in the UK that may be brought about by the Care Act (2014). Carers in the UK were given new rights within this legislation with a focus on needs led assessment. The underpinning philosophy of the Care Act is to streamline previous legislation and offer a framework for carers and people in receipt of care, to enable a more personalised approach to care and support.

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