Each year in higher education institutions around the world millions of people embark on degree level study. Unfortunately many of these hopefuls, for whatever reason, fail to progress to their second year of their course. This phenomenon transcends national boundaries, and yet despite over 80 years of research, and significant investment in programmes, there remains little evidence of any sustained, systemic or operational improvements in retention performance. Just such a problem existed on the first year of the full-time business programmes at the University of Huddersfield. In 2002 and 2003 it was found that on average nearly 30% of students did not progress into year 2. This was the catalyst that initiated a seven year investigation of retention covering the academic years 2002-2009. It led to the establishment of two key objectives, firstly to establish the nature and incidence of student non-progression to year two, and following on from this to endeavour to investigate how the rate of non-progression could be reduced. The research approach taken in this thesis is a departure from traditional retention research in that it is practitioner based, i.e. it is research by an insider, in this case a year tutor. Working within a realist framework a pragmatic stance was taken, combining elements of action research to investigate the case of the first year of a business studies undergraduate programme in post-92 university. Two key episodes characterise the project, the first covering 2002 and 2003 involved the establishment of effective retention data systems and the second covering 2004-2008 involving a period of systemic intervention. Seven consecutive years of consistent quantitative and qualitative data collection and observation allowed for the construction of a detailed picture of retention. It also facilitated the effective evaluation of the subsequent retention solutions that were implemented. Over the period of the study 174 out of 753 students failed to progress to year 2. These 174 students could be classed into one of two non-progression categories: those who withdrew before the end of the academic year and those who did not withdraw but still failed to progress. Individual student withdrawal behaviour was unique and highly complex, but three types of withdrawal were identified, early leavers, late leavers and circumstantial leavers. Despite the strong interventionist and supportive policy, students identified as having problems would often actively avoid contact with the institution. Identification of the nature of student failure to progress provided a guide for potential solutions. Three general approaches were deployed: early intervention and engagement, academic skills support and institutional change in the form of teaching. Early intervention was an ongoing process and served to enable and support the key process of data collection and student-faculty contact. Academic skills support was shown to have an impact on individual student performance but its effect on retention was difficult to identify because of the need to control other variables. It was found that this type of retention programme tends to speak to students who have the relevant cultural capital or who are highly motivated and those deemed at risk are unlikely to make use of the service, a concern for all considering that the bulk of retention programmes follow this pattern. Institutional change was effected by changing the teaching delivery method and moving away from classic lecture structures to small groups. It was observed that students with lower UCAS entry points tended to benefit more under the seminar system, but it also proved to be effective in increasing student class attendance and the performance of all students. Furthermore the incidence of student academic failure was significantly reduced thus contributing to higher retention levels.

Higher Education is often cited as a key for the enhancement of the quality of graduates. In this research, the contribution of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in developing more enterprising graduates was investigated. The research specifically looked at the significance of the contribution of the learning activities embedded within the curriculum as part of experiential learning approaches, and how these contributed to equipping graduates with a range of generic transferable enterprise skills that are an essential part of employability skills. Nowadays, the idea of graduates with a bulk of knowledge, which they cannot apply, is no longer valid. Therefore, HEIs are under growing pressure to deliver graduates with the necessary range of skills that satisfy the demands of the employment marketplace. This research follows a qualitative research method through adopting an hermeneutic phenomenological methodology, and was conducted in the context of pharmacy education in the United Kingdom (UK) HEIs during 2011. The research primarily considers the views of pharmacy academics as to how pharmacy schools understand the concept of enterprise education, what efforts they place to develop students’ enterprise skills and the extent to which experiential learning activities are utilised to serve this objective. The research also considers opinions of pharmacy employers in the marketplace to evaluate their views about the need for enterprise skills by recent pharmacy graduates, and whether they are satisfied by the level of skills demonstrated by recent graduates. Furthermore, the research briefly considers views of pharmacy students to evaluate the extent to which they value the need for enterprise skills, and whether they believe the educational process is helping them in developing those skills. In order to consider the large amount of data obtained in this research, analysis of results was divided into four parts, each representing one major theme. This supported a more efficient discussion of analysis and drawing of conclusions in ways that clearly relate to the research objectives. The findings of this research show that HEIs consider the development of a range of students’ enterprise skills. However, the skills considered are generally focused around particular contexts, and are, thus, confined to certain parts of the curriculum rather than others. The research points out some gaps in the application of experiential learning approaches that possibly contribute to impeding the efficient development of graduate enterprise skills. In doing so, the research emphasises the importance of formally addressing the development of enterprise skills as part of schools’ strategies or philosophies in order to have them intentionally developed as part of the learning objectives across all modules by all academics. In conclusion, this research highlights the significance of the context in developing enterprise skills, and shows how the contexts in which enterprise skills are developed affect the way in which these skills are demonstrated, as well as the ability to demonstrate those skills in other contexts. Accordingly, the research proposes two original models suggesting that the more a person is exposed to different contexts in which he/she is allowed the opportunity to develop enterprise skills, the more that person’s skills become transferable. Last but not least, the research proposes a third original model suggesting six essential aspects of experiential learning. This model will help in implementing experiential learning approaches more efficiently in ways that could overcome the several identified gaps, and, thus, enhance the value of these learning approaches as means to develop graduates’ enterprise skills.

This thesis discusses children‘s perceptions of self and others in the context of the inclusion debate, including debates about the conceptualisation of disability from the medical/individual and social models. The chosen media to investigate children‘s perceptions are their visual and verbal representation of differences. Therefore, this investigation is concerned with the verbal and non-verbal aspects of communication, including an interest in finding spontaneously emerging metaphors. Linked to this concern with the representation of self and other in relation to differences and sense of belonging through visual and verbal activities, activities were designed to encourage the participants - young people with and without learning difficulties in more and less inclusive settings - to tell their stories using both forms of expression, following the principles of open-interview. The study is founded on notions of narrative as a means of interpreting the world and making sense of the lives of others. Therefore, the methods of inquiry are connected with narrative inquiry and auto/biographic research to some extent. Here the (life) stories are told not only in narrative form, but also in image-based representation of people, events, and meanings. An autobiographical thread is also developed alongside the presentation of the study and the process of producing it. Pursuing an agenda for social justice this research is intended to capture the participants‘ perceptions as a means to listen to their voices and ultimately to ‗turn up the volume‘ (Clough and Barton, 1998, p.129) of their voices, in the form of stories as a means of exploring ways to make the findings accessible beyond academia. The findings, that children were capable of expressing their perceptions both verbally and visually and that they visually portrayed differences between able/disabled people that they did not explicitly verbally express, contribute to methodological knowledge as well as the field of inclusive education and disability studies.

Pupils’ misbehaviour has been attracting the attention of media, educators and policy makers in many countries over the past several decades. The literature on the subject is extensive and ranges across different disciplines, foci and methodologies. However, the call for new understanding is still strong, as the interest in the topic seems not to abate. The present study adds to the literature by exploring how secondary school teachers manage incidents of minor misbehaviour in class. A case study methodology has been used, including classroom observations and interviews of six subject teachers, teaching the same year 8 bottom-set class, within one comprehensive secondary school. A third source of data is constituted by relevant school documents. Analysis of the six cases suggests a theory (the Congruence Hypothesis), which might explain why some teachers are more effective than others in tackling minor misbehaviour in school. Relying on evidence from the data, the hypothesis suggests that, among the many factors influencing pupils' behaviour, a significant element is the degree of congruence between the teachers' belief system, their classroom conduct and the school culture. The theory builds upon a social ecological perspective – which considers the individual, organization, community, and culture as spheres nested into one another like Russian dolls (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) - and takes into consideration two of those spheres: the individual (called the personal congruence level) and the organization (the institutional congruence level). It is hypothesized that the more the teachers are congruent at both personal and institutional level, the less likely it is that pupils will engage in minor misbehaviour. The concept of congruence finds sparse application within the educational field and makes almost no appearance in the area of pupils' misbehaviour. Consequently, the thesis can be considered as pioneer work. However, the aim of the study is not to present a definitive statement, but to put forward a model that could serve as a framework for further reflection and understanding. The findings are a useful addition to the knowledge-base relating to effective teaching on matter of classroom behaviour management. Potentially they have implications for a range of stakeholders in both the informal and formal educational sectors, ranging from teachers and school leaders to governors, teachers' trainers and policy makers

5 ABSTRACT Charles University Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Analysis Candidate: Anna Tláskalová Supervisor - specialist: Mgr. Martin Mžik Supervisor: doc. PharmDr. Radim Kučera, Ph.D. Title: LC-HRMS analysis of selected antihypertensive drugs in biological material for compliance assessment About 40 % of Czech population between the ages of 25 and 64 suffer from arterial hypertension. Although an array of effective antihypertensives is available nowadays, optimal blood pressure during treatment is reached by mere 30 % of the patients. This is mainly due to the patients' poor adherence to the treatment, who use their medicaments incorrectly or not at all. The adherence of a patient to the treatment, as well as pharmacokinetics, represent the most significant source of variability of the answer to the treatment and notably influences its outcome. The monitoring of plasmatic levels of antihypertensives is one of the methods of modern medicine which enables both an effective supervision of the incorrectly compensated patients, and the adjustment of dosage scheme. This diploma thesis focuses on development and optimisation of extraction procedures for selected antihypertensives (amiloride, amlodipine, betaxolol, bisoprolol, carvedilol, celiprolol,...

Approximately 10 years ago, “bath salts” were popularized as legal alternatives to the psychostimulants cocaine and the amphetamines, circumventing legislation with packages marked, “not for human consumption.” These products contained synthetic cathinones including 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), 4-methylmethcathinone (mephedrone), and 3,4-methylenedioxymethcathinone (methylone). The synthetic cathinones have similar pharmacology to controlled psychostimulants, increasing levels of dopamine (DA) in the synaptic cleft, while also exhibiting similar psychoactive effects such as increased energy and euphoria. Additionally, adverse effects of “bath salts” are similar to controlled psychostimulants, such as chest pain, shortness of breath, and hallucinations. Most preclinical investigations have only assessed the effects of these synthetic cathinones independently; however, case reports and DEA studies indicate that “bath salts” contain mixtures of these substances. Therefore, in a recent study by our laboratory, we examined effects of individual versus combined exposure to MDPV, mephedrone, and methylone. Interestingly, an enhanced effect on the levels of DA in a number of brain regions was observed, as well as significant alterations in locomotor activity following co-exposure to the cathinones. Here, we examine if the enhanced effects of the drug combination are due to pharmacokinetic (PK) interactions. Many of the same cytochrome isoenzymes metabolize each of these 3 drugs; thus, it is probable that the drugs’ PK would differ when administered individually as compared to in combination. We hypothesized that combined exposure to MDPV, mephedrone, and methylone would result in increased total drug concentrations when compared to individual administration. Briefly, adolescent male Swiss-Webster mice were injected intraperitoneally with either 10 mg/kg MDPV, 10 mg/kg mephedrone, 10 mg/kg methylone, or 10 mg/kg combined MDPV, mephedrone, and methylone. Following injection, brains and plasma were collected at the following time points: 1, 10, 15, 30, 60, and 120 minutes. Drugs were extracted via solid-phase extraction, and concentrations were determined using a previously published high pressure-liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method. All drugs quickly crossed the blood-brain barrier and entered the brain. PK data for methylone and mephedrone was consistent with our hypothesis. For methylone, the maximal concentration (Cmax) and the total drug exposure (as represented by the area under the curve (AUC)) were significantly higher when combined with mephedrone and MDPV in both matrices. For mephedrone, the Cmax was unchanged, but AUC in brain was increased when combined with the other two drugs. However, interestingly, for MDPV, the Cmax was unchanged, yet the AUC in brain was higher when MDPV was administered individually. These data provide insight into the consequences of co-exposure to synthetic cathinones in popular “bath salt” products.

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The research documented in this thesis took place against a background of concern for the wellbeing of children, the educational standards being achieved in schools and questions about the purpose of education itself, particularly within a Christian framework. The focus of the research was an ethnographic study into the factors influencing the development and nurture of children’s spirituality in a Church of England Primary School where faith, belief and spirituality are explored as part of the educational experience of pupils. All schools are expected to provide opportunities for children’s spiritual development according to the 1944 Education Act, which replaced the term “religion” with the term “spiritual”. For Anglican Church Schools such provision is perceived to be a priority. However, because they are church schools within a state system they are subject to the differing expectations of a dual inspection system. This creates certain tensions and a degree of complexity for the schools. Beginning with a focus on the potential contribution that Philosophy for Children could make to children’s spirituality, the study broadened its scope to take account of the larger questions and concerns (outlined above) which were impacting on the potential for schools to offer opportunities for spiritual development to children during their primary school experience. The case study is analysed using Bernstein’s pedagogic theories and models to elucidate the “double tension” which exists for Anglican Church Schools as they seek to achieve high academic standards and provide opportunities to explore spirituality both of which are central to the mission of church schools. This tension was evidenced in the leadership style, language and pedagogy operating within the case study school. The study concludes that recognising this tension seems to be a prerequisite for supporting church schools as they seek to fulfil their mission within the current educational climate.

The integration of deaf children into mainstream schools was heralded by the 1981 Education Act, but has been dogged by conflict about the appropriateness of two dominant approaches to communication. The oral/aural approach, most often followed, is concerned with teaching deaf children to learn to listen and listen to learn. The emphasis has been on the need to 'normalize' deaf children in order to promote their learning and development. The manual/visual approach has focused on sign usage to promote a child's development as a communicator and learner and can be tailored to the child's prospective membership of Deaf/deaf and hearing cultures. The aim of this study is to explore both the oral/aural and the manual/visual approach in relation to young deaf children's experiences of integration. Rather than focusing on modality specific aspects of communication, this study examines the wide range of both resources and strategies deaf children have for interaction in a variety of educational environments, using modality independent tools. This permits a broader examination of deaf children's opportunities for communication in integrated settings than has previously been undertaken. The research involved detailed analysis of direct observation data collected in nursery and reception classes over a period of eighteen months, during which time the experiences of a group of deaf children and matched hearing peers were compared and contrasted. It is argued that the preoccupations of professionals, and their purposes in promoting particular approaches to language and communication need to be challenged if deaf children are not to be disabled by oppressive practices in the name of integration. It is recommended that further research should aim to advance inclusive and empowering education for deaf children through more adequately recognizing the contribution of Deaf/deaf people to processes of enquiry.