Foundation degrees in biomedical science: the student experience

The first cohort of students on a University of Westminster foundation degree completed the course recently. Here, Chrystalla Ferrier, Kelly Brookwell and Paul Quinn employ some reflective practice.

Transitions In Regional Science – Regions In Transitions: Regional Research In Central Europe

There are no exact boundaries of what constitutes Central Europe, but it is nevertheless very evident as a zone of interloping forces stretching across Europe. The result has been negotiated, conflictual and contested processes defining an essentially virtual, discursive, yet also actually existing, space of ‘Central Europe’. Yet, and this is the particular message of this collection of essays, ‘transition’ has not merely been a process ‘on the ground’ as object of investigation and discussion, but has also affected the observers, especially academic commentators and analysts – both within Central Europe, but also outside. This includes a growing interaction between discussions and analyses ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ Central Europe on the phenomenon of ‘transition’. The result has been mutual learning processes and changes of ways of looking at things and interpreting them. The book is divided into two parts, roughly reflecting the two key research questions.The first part (A) is devoted to transitions in regional science. Part B focuses on changes in variety of territorial structures and developmentissues caused by Central-European transitions and which are resulting in differential pathways of regional development in the region.

Untangling a Web of Lies: Exploring Automated Detection of Deception in Computer-Mediated Communication

Safeguarding organizations against opportunism and severe deception in computer-mediated communication (CMC) presents a major challenge to CIOs and IT managers. New insights into linguistic cues of deception derive from the speech acts innate to CMC. Applying automated text analysis to archival email exchanges in a CMC system as part of a reward program, we assess the ability of word use (micro-level), message development (macro-level), and intertextual exchange cues (meta-level) to detect severe deception by business partners. We empirically assess the predictive ability of our framework using an ordinal multilevel regression model. Results indicate that deceivers minimize the use of referencing and self-deprecation but include more superfluous descriptions and flattery. Deceitful channel partners also over structure their arguments and rapidly mimic the linguistic style of the account manager across dyadic e-mail exchanges. Thanks to its diagnostic value, the proposed framework can support firms’ decision-making and guide compliance monitoring system development.