Creativity vs. Performativity for Inclusion: Teachers’ Attitudes in Greece

In the rapidly changing world that we live in, where we cannot anticipate the social, political and financial developments even of the near future, education, one of the major signifiers of human development, cannot remain static. The aim of this research study is to accentuate the debate which has been ignited between traditional performative educational pedagogies and creative educational methods which have started gaining ground during the last years. Furthermore, it aims to explore the attitudes and views of Primary Education teachers (n=4) in Greece on several issues that arise from this debate through semi-structured interviews. Analysis showed that although teachers are eager to adopt and promote new creative teaching and learning methods, there are several constraints and dilemmas that should be overcome in practice. Moreover, it has been reported that creative approaches to teaching and learning have a very positive impact both on academic and socio-emotional development of students with or without special educational needs (SEN) and they are great contributors towards the inclusion of the former in the educational procedure

Creativity vs. Performativity for Inclusion: Teachers’ Attitudes in Greece

In the rapidly changing world that we live in, where we cannot anticipate the social, political and financial developments even of the near future, education, one of the major signifiers of human development, cannot remain static. The aim of this research study is to accentuate the debate which has been ignited between traditional performative educational pedagogies and creative educational methods which have started gaining ground during the last years. Furthermore, it aims to explore the attitudes and views of Primary Education teachers (n=4) in Greece on several issues that arise from this debate through semi-structured interviews. Analysis showed that although teachers are eager to adopt and promote new creative teaching and learning methods, there are several constraints and dilemmas that should be overcome in practice. Moreover, it has been reported that creative approaches to teaching and learning have a very positive impact both on academic and socio-emotional development of students with or without special educational needs (SEN) and they are great contributors towards the inclusion of the former in the educational procedure

Peptides with multiple disulfide bonds

This thesis concerns the synthesis of peptides with multiple disulfide bonds and for this purpose two peptides with three disulfide bonds each were selected. In particular, the two peptides studied are ω-MVIIA conotoxin, an open-chained peptide which is the active substance in a marketed drug for chronic pain and the cyclic peptide CyO2 cyclotide known for its remarkable resistance to enzymatic and chemical treatment due to its solid CCK motif. The synthesis of the linear sequence of both peptides was achieved by classical organic chemical reactions using the process of gradual addition of each amino acid and the convergent condensation of peptide fragments. The initial objective was the successful synthesis of each peptide sequence in high purity and the next one the selective formation of the disulfide bonds. In the latter investigation, the protecting groups of the cysteines as well as their position in the sequence proved of paramount importance for obtaining high regioselectivities in the formation of the disulfide bonds. In the case of conotoxin, the verification of the correct isomer was accomplished by the combination of chemical and enzymatic treatments while this approach was not suitable for the cyclotide since the CCK motif does not allow the generation of unambiguous fragments thus rendering necessary to examine the co-elution of the product with the natural peptide.Το αντικείμενο της παρούσας διδακτορικής διατριβής ήταν η σύνθεση πεπτιδίων με πολλαπλούς δισουλφιδικούς δεσμούς και για το σκοπό επιλέχθηκαν δύο πεπτίδια που το καθένα περιέχει τρεις δισουλφιδικούς δεσμούς. Συγκεκριμένα συντέθηκε η ω-MVIIA κωνοτοξίνη, ένα πεπτίδιο ανοιχτής πεπτιδικής αλυσίδας που αποτελεί τη δραστική ουσία ενός εγκεκριμένου φαρμάκου κατά του χρόνιου πόνου και το CyO2 κυκλοτίδιο το οποίο είναι ένα κυκλικό πεπτίδιο με πολύ σταθερό μοτίβο CCK που το καθιστά ανθεκτικό τόσο σε ενζυμική όσο και σε χημική κατεργασία. Η σύνθεση της γραμμικής αλληλουχίας των πεπτιδίων πραγματοποιήθηκε εφαρμόζοντας αντιδράσεις κλασικής οργανικής χημείας χρησιμοποιώντας τη μέθοδο της σταδιακής προσθήκης αμινοξέων καθώς και τη συμπύκνωση πεπτιδικών τμημάτων. Πρωταρχικό στόχο αποτέλεσε η επιτυχής σύνθεση της πεπτιδικής αλληλουχίας σε υψηλή καθαρότητα και δεύτερος ο εκλεκτικός σχηματισμός των δισουλφιδικών δεσμών. Οι προστατευτικές ομάδες των κυστεϊνών καθώς και η θέση αυτών στην πεπτιδική αλληλουχία απεδείχθησαν καθοριστικής σημασίας για τον εκλεκτικό σχηματισμό των δισουλφιδικών δεσμών. Στην περίπτωση της κωνοτοξίνης, η εξακρίβωση του σωστού ισομερούς πραγματοποιήθηκε με συνδυασμό χημικής και ενζυμικής κατεργασίας ενώ αυτή η προσέγγιση δεν ενδείκνυται στην περίπτωση του κυκλοτιδίου διότι το CCK μοτίβο καθιστά αδύνατη την παραγωγή μοναδικών θραυσμάτων και συνεπώς απαιτείται συνέκλουση με το φυσικό προϊόν

Epoxide Syntheses and Ring-Opening Reactions in Drug Development

This review concentrates on success stories from the synthesis of approved medicines and drug candidates using epoxide chemistry in the development of robust and efficient syntheses at large scale. The focus is on those parts of each synthesis related to the substrate-controlled/diastereoselective and catalytic asymmetric synthesis of epoxide intermediates and their subsequent ring-opening reactions with various nucleophiles. These are described in the form of case studies of high profile pharmaceuticals spanning a diverse range of indications and molecular scaffolds such as heterocycles, terpenes, steroids, peptidomimetics, alkaloids and main stream small molecules. Representative examples include, but are not limited to the antihypertensive diltiazem, the antidepressant reboxetine, the HIV protease inhibitors atazanavir and indinavir, efinaconazole and related triazole antifungals, tasimelteon for sleep disorders, the anticancer agent carfilzomib, the anticoagulant rivaroxaban the antibiotic linezolid and the antiviral oseltamivir. Emphasis is given on aspects of catalytic asymmetric epoxidation employing metals with chiral ligands particularly with the Sharpless and Jacobsen–Katsuki methods as well as organocatalysts such as the chiral ketones of Shi and Yang, Pages’s chiral iminium salts and typical chiral phase transfer agents