All profits from the sale of the books are being donated to the Leeds Hospitals Charity (formerly YCC) which is the fundraising arm of St James’s Institute of Oncology, where Kate was treated.
The Other Side
A true story of one doctor’s journey as a patient coming to terms with a terminal cancer diagnosis. The hope is that by reading it healthcare professionals will be better able understand exactly what being the patient is really like and how their behaviours, no matter how small can impact massively on the people they look after. It is also a story of personal battles with control, learning how and when to relinquish this.
The Bright Side
The Bright Side tells the on-going story of a young doctor who is living with a rare and aggressive type of sarcoma that will end her life prematurely. It explores her return to work after a prolonged period of absence, her innermost thoughts and reflections about dying and her continuing interactions with health services. It also portrays her determined attitude to maintain positivity despite her tragic circumstances and her openness about dying.


The Chicago style includes two different systems: (1) notes and bibliography and (2) author-date.
The notes and bibliography style is mostly used in the humanities, for example literature and history. The notes and bibliography system presents bibliographic information in notes and a bibliography.
The author-date system is mostly used in the natural, and social sciences. In this system, sources are briefly cited in the text in parentheses by the author’s last name and date of publication. The short citations are amplified in a list of references, where full bibliographic information is provided.
The most commonly used version of Chicago in UCN studies is the author-date system.
Chicago A - example
Rienecker, Jørgensen and Skov, The good paper
Rienecker, Lotte, Jørgensen, Peter Stray and Skov, Signe. 2013. The goood paper: a handbook for writing papers in higher education. Frederiksberg: Samfundslitteratur.
Chicago B - example
(Rienecker, Jørgensen and Skov 2013)
Rienecker, Lotte; Jørgensen, Peter Stray og Skov, Signe. 2013. The good paper: a handbook for writing papers in higher education. Frederiksberg: Samfundslitteratur


As a preschool teacher, I am always looking for books and activities to go along with the theme of sharing and “Being a Good Friend”. I always go back to the classic by Marcus Pfister, “Rainbow Fish”. This year, we are reading this book in February which is National Friendship Month.
If you want to create your own little Valentine’s Day/Friendship Day party, here are some ideas for a fun day:
#1 :: Read “Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister
Set the tone for the story by sitting on a cozy blue blanket, near a fish tank or by listening to some under the sea sound effects. Begin by discussing the cover of the story and the special colors on the Rainbow Fish. While reading, ask your child some questions about the story such as “How do you think the little blue fish felt when Rainbow Fish said no?” Then discuss how Rainbow Fish feels after he shares his beautiful shiny scales. I like to give the children a piece of tin foil or shiny wrapping paper and share with them just as Rainbow Fish begins giving his scales away. They like to flaunt these shiny pieces just as much as the fish in the story. We practice giving each other scales and sharing.
#2 :: Enjoy a Rainbow Fish Snack
Goldfish crackers and “Sea Water” are perfect for a snack after the story. You can choose regular Goldfish crackers, but I prefer to buy the colored fish for a Rainbow theme with the story. “Sea Water”- just a fun name to put on regular drinking water.
#3 :: Create Rainbow Fish Sensory Bins
For this type of party play, I like to create wet and a dry sensory bin for those little hands to enjoy. Sensory bins are great for infants, toddlers and preschoolers to explore different textures and increase vocabulary.
Dry Sensory Bin :: sand, seashells, long strips of different colored blue construction paper, colored felt fish cut-outs, and small pieces of aluminum foil.
Wet Sensory Bin :: water, plastic magnetic fish, fishing rods, seashells, plastic octopus and starfish (other story characters)


In 1999 I published a collection of 103 of the best articles I have written for the Glasgow Herald during my 40 years as their Bridge Correspondent. The book sold out within six months of publication.
Since then I have had to disappoint many people who have requested a copy. To meet this demand all 103 articles have now been published on this web site. Click on the book to continue.
My father, Carl Dickel, died in 2010, aged 101. I have kept his web site alive and will do so for the foreseeable future.
e-mail any comments to: firstname.lastname@example.org


The Known World by Edward P. Jones
I am currently reading The Known World by Edward P. Jones. I’m not far enough into it to talk about the story or over-arching themes, yet. But I am loving the style. Each sentence feels like a story on its own: it hints at events yet to come and reveals details of the past that color the present and will direct the future. Yet the sentences also feel like a conversation you might have sitting on the porch in the evening in the company of an older friend who knows all the histories of everyone in your little town, knows the gossip, meanders through the stories, but never once judges, just tells the tales.
That being said, it does make for tough reading sometimes and I find myself dodging back and forth through the pages to make sure I know the stories of the character who is currently the focus of the writing.
I found this brief interview with Jones at NPR which I enjoyed. I think I would like the opportunity to have a glass of iced tea with Jones and listen to the stories in his head: of his characters and of his life. He seems much like the narrator of his novel, with all the stories, but also, no judgements.


|About the Book|
Romantic yet superbly erotic, Mae & Nathaniel - A Romantic Tale of Erotica, is erotic historical fiction at its best. It is the winsome tale of a restless young woman and the eye-opening night of sexual adventure she experiences with a rusticMoreRomantic yet superbly erotic, Mae & Nathaniel - A Romantic Tale of Erotica, is erotic historical fiction at its best. It is the winsome tale of a restless young woman and the eye-opening night of sexual adventure she experiences with a rustic stranger who brazenly appears at her bedside one fateful night. The stranger, a confident lover as well as a sensual teacher, is a man perfectly suited to guide the young belle, Mae, through her first foray into sexual intrigue and adventure. Mae is a sheltered woman of the old American South, who has been raised within the oppressive boundaries put upon women of the 19th century, and she is more than ripe for an illicit sexual tryst with the stranger when the opportunity suddenly presents itself. Maes adventure begins when the stranger unexpectedly appears in the moonlight of her bedroom and announces he has come to help her fulfill her sexual longings. Their unforgettable adventure begins the moment he climbs into bed with Mae and proceeds to take her on a one-night journey of sexual discovery. Set in the 19th century, Comfort Quinns charming yet explicit story takes the reader along as Mae and the stranger share a night of sexual exploration and pleasure, and, unlike most erotic stories, Mae & Nathaniel - A Romantic Tale of Erotica, offers the reader a thoughtful, intriguing story. It is a story told with warmth and intelligence, but without the crudeness of many contemporary erotic stories. Though Mae & Nathaniel is loosely set in the 1800s, Comfort Quinns prose is more interested in dealing with senses and sensuality than with facts or events. And Quinns feminine point of view brings a refreshing charm to her eroticism. In Mae & Nathaniel, Quinn weaves a lyrical tale of sensual exploration and the unexpected fondness that can develop when strangers meet. It is a celebration of sexual ecstasy and beautifully combines engaging writing with titillating sexual escapades.


Monday, June 2, 2008
Robert B. Parker's 23rd Spenser novel, published in 1996, is called Chance. In it, the famous Boston private eye is hired by a local mobster and his daughter to help find the daughter's missing husband Anthony. Anthony, it turns out, works for the family business and he has a few vices like women and gambling. With the help of his good friend Hawk, Spenser tracks across the country and back to find the man and, in doing so, ends up uncovering a web of lies and criminal activity that leads to a murder.
What I liked about Chance is that Parker uses some established characters and history from earlier books to build upon this one's main plot points. This tight continuity again helps ground the books into an established growing and changing universe for the Spenser novels. It also rewards long-time readers with some appearances of characters from earlier novels. I like that.


Wolf vs. Bear
Spring has arrived in Finland's vast forests, and the brown bears have awakened from hibernation to a grand feast of carcasses left over from the brutal winter. From now until late fall, these thousand-pound beasts will rule the land, but they're not alone. A mother gray wolf and her mate have seven pups to feed, and the only source of food is in the heart of bear country. The stage is set for an epic battle of speed, agility, and wit versus size, strength, and very bad tempers.


I intended to write a detailed examination of Amazon’s pricing problem with e-books. However after doing just a little research, I found there are plenty of people who have already provided excellent opinions and recommendations. So, instead of providing my classic unsolicited advice, I am posting links to the two most insightful pieces I found in addition to a general news story if you just want an overview on current events.
ChannelWeb: “Amazon Gives In To Publisher’s Demands For Higher E-Book Prices”
BusinessWeek: “Amazon’s E-Book Price Reversal: A Mixed Blessing” – considers the impact of pricing on demand for e-readers and e-books.
Maneker recognizes that sales of e-books will inevitably dominate sales of physical books and recommends the following:
“There is…a compromise that might benefit all parties. Amazon has been pushing the Kindle to heavy users of frontlist books. But the agency terms offer an opportunity for backlist books that gives everybody a win. With the agency model, a backlist book becomes a goldmine for publishers, authors, Amazon and Apple. Priced at $9.99, the publisher receives pretty much the same amount of money under agency terms as it would have for the wholesale book. Still protecting their preferred terms for electronic books, the publishers could maintain their 20-25% of net receipts formula for author royalties because the author would be getting more money ($1.75 vs. $1.05 in paperback royalties on a $13.95 physical paperback). Leaving the publisher with $5.25 in margin, more than they’d get from the physical paperback. When you include the savings in paper, printing and binding, freight and warehousing, the margin jumps even more.
This detente would flood the book market with titles that have stood the test of time where demand remains strong–a good incentive for Kindle and iPad buyers–while protecting the physical book distribution business. It would also buy publishers some time to divest the distribution assets that will inevitably erode as e-book selling takes off.”
Buckell write an extremely long piece, but it is worth the read given it comes from a concerned author. He laments that Amazon is attempting to abuse its market power to fix prices and thwart publishers’ ability to implement dynamic pricing. Buckell also describes process of making books in extraordinary detail. He explains his interest in writing this piece in personal terms:
“I’m not trying to exhort anyone to do anything, but to explain the situation I’m in, and to educate. I’m seeing a lot of people state things with certainty (points I try to knock down above) who have no involvement in the trade.
A lot of readers are going to take this out on authors, and I wanted to basically show my homework to explain things that people may not be aware of. People toss out prices of what eBooks ‘should be’ who’ve never even stopped to understand how the math of something like this works. They demand things they’d never demand of a jacket salesman, just because they think economics and supply and demand and volume don’t apply to eBooks. They do.
Seriously. I’ve thought about these things a lot. Mostly because I have a novel series that has not been renewed, and I keep running the numbers to see if I could write it as an eBook, and when I run these numbers, I come up looking at making a few thousand dollars for half a year’s worth of work based on how eBook sell now. Yes, there are a few J.A. Konrath’s selling well on Amazon, but as I’ve linked, other authors aren’t automagically selling thousands of eBooks there. Most who follow these footsteps sell hundreds. Not everyone becomes JK Rowling.”
The last point reminds me of Nassim Taleb’s “The Roots of Unfairness: the Black Swan in Arts and Literature“. Taleb notes that artists and writers work in a field where a few successful people take the majority of the rewards in the industry. He attributes this situation to largely unrecognized random events (luck!) that are highly improbably but have large impact (“Black Swans”). Moreover, he observes:
“The occurrence of the Winner-Take-All effect in any form of intellectual production has been accelerating along with the speed of reproduction and communications.”
So, ironically, e-books will continue the democratization of publishing and reading (through convenience, easy access, and low costs), but the percentage of winners may narrow further even while providing those winners more wealth than ever.


Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Christian Science Reading Room
Looking for answers to family problems, financial difficulties, or physical challenges? Visit our Reading Room. Our Reading Room is a bookstore, a library, and a haven for peaceful study and quiet contemplation that is available to the public. For more than 100 years, our Reading Room has been an active member of the Nashua, NH community.
You can read, borrow, or purchase the Bible, Bible commentaries, writings by Mary Baker Eddy, children’s books, and other Christian Science literature such as the Weekly Bible Lesson, The Christian Science Sentinel, and The Christian Science Journal. You can also catch up on national and world events by reading The Christian Science Monitor, a Pulitzer Prize winning international newspaper.
Many in today’s society are searching for healing and have found help through the power of prayer. Read the testimonies in the various Christian Science periodicals to see how others have found answers.
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It was a chilly day in late February when Kevin Cummings found an unexpected package in his mailbox: an advance copy of his new book, Freshwater Mollusks of the World: A Distribution Atlas.
Nearly four years earlier, snail expert Chuck Lydeard had contacted Kevin to see if he would be interested in helping compile the atlas. Lydeard’s vision was to create the first comprehensive summary of systematic and biodiversity information on the world’s 43 freshwater mollusk (snail, mussel, and clam) families.
As a renowned expert on freshwater mussels, Lydeard thought Kevin— an Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) scientist and curator of mollusks—would make a great co-author.
Lydeard and Kevin dove into the project feet first. Read about the Freshwater Mollusks project.


In light of the ongoing covid-19 pandemic and vaccine campaigns, researchers have discovered that antibodies developed against the virus may provide some level of immunity against other coronaviruses, including SARS and MERS. This finding has significant implications for future outbreaks of these viruses.
Background: SARS and MERS
SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) first emerged in China in 2002, causing a global outbreak that resulted in a high mortality rate. MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) is an even deadlier coronavirus, with a mortality rate of 1 in 3 infected individuals. Although control measures have largely stopped the spread of these viruses, sporadic MERS outbreaks still occur when the virus jumps from camels to humans.
In a study conducted by Florian Krammer and his colleagues at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, blood samples were collected from 85 individuals in the US who had received mRNA-based vaccines against covid-19, had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes covid-19), or both. These samples were compared to blood samples taken prior to the pandemic.
The blood samples were tested for antibodies against 21 different coronaviruses, including variants of SARS-CoV-2, SARS, MERS, and common cold-like coronaviruses. The results showed that the pre-pandemic blood samples had no antibodies that could bind to the tested coronaviruses, except for some binding to two cold-causing coronaviruses and a virus affecting cows.
In contrast, the samples taken during the pandemic showed antibodies that bound to most of the tested viruses to some degree. This suggests that individuals have developed a level of immunity that may not prevent infection, but could protect against severe illness and death. Additionally, T-cells, another arm of the immune system, may provide additional protection against coronaviruses.
Understanding the Immune Response
It is unclear why infection with SARS-CoV-2 and covid-19 vaccines generated such broad immunity compared to other coronaviruses. Previous research suggests that infection with a specific cold-causing coronavirus only leads to immunity against that particular virus. However, the pandemic may have triggered changes in the immune system, resulting in cross-reactivity of antibodies and immune memory.
Furthermore, the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes covid-19 is different from other coronaviruses, which could explain the broader immune response. The severity of the infection may have played a role in the development of stronger immunity.
Implications and Future Research
While the findings are promising, they do not negate the need for preparedness against future pandemics caused by related viruses like SARS or MERS. The possibility of new coronaviruses or entirely different viruses triggering future pandemics still remains. However, this research could aid in the development of vaccines that provide robust protection against the entire coronavirus family.


Super User Lifestyle and Trends
Too much exercise may be bad for your heart
Toronto, Feb 25 (IANS) Just as most therapies have a dose-response relationship whereby benefits diminish at high doses and the risk of adverse events increases, high level of intense exercise may also be bad for the heart, suggests a new study.
The researchers reviewed studies that looked into the relationship between exercise and heart problems and found that there is growing evidence that high levels of intense exercise may be cardiotoxic and promote permanent structural changes in the heart.
There is already fairly compelling evidence supporting the association between long-term sports practice and increased prevalence of atrial fibrillation -- abnormal heart rhythm characterised by rapid and irregular beating.
"Much of the discussion regarding the relative risks and benefits of long-term endurance sports training is hijacked by definitive media-grabbing statements, which has fuelled an environment in which one may be criticized for even questioning the benefits of exercise," explained study author Andre La Gerche from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
"This paper discusses the often questionable, incomplete, and controversial science behind the emerging concern that high levels of intense exercise may be associated with some adverse health effects," La Gerche noted.
The study was published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.
"The answers regarding the healthfulness of 'extreme' exercise are not complete and there are valid questions being raised," La Gerche said.
"Given that this is a concern that affects such a large proportion of society, it is something that deserves investment. The lack of large prospective studies of persons engaged in high-volume and high-intensity exercise represents the biggest deficiency in the literature to date, and, although such work presents a logistical and financial challenge, many questions will remain controversies until such data emege," La Gerche observed.


Recent Relevant Writing from the Team
Michaelson, V., King, N., Davison, C., Ascough, H., Pickett, W. “Inequalities in Spiritual Health: A Canadian Study.” BMC Public Health, accepted September, 2016. (Forthcoming)
Michaelson, V., Trothen, T., Ascough, H., Pickett, W. “Spirituality and Child Health: a Canadian Profile.” Journal of Pastoral Care and Counselling, accepted August, 2016. (Forthcoming)
Michaelson, V., Pickett, W., Davison, C. (2016). “Adolescent Perceptions of Health: A Mixed Methods Study.” Int J of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 11:32891 http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v11.32891
Michaelson, V., Pickett, W., King, N., Davison, C. (2016). “Testing the Theory of Holism: A study of Family Systems and Adolescent Health.” Preventive Medicine Reports, 4, 313-329 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2016.07.002 (role: co-·
Michaelson, V., Trothen, T., Davison, C., Pickett, W. (2016). “Bodies and Behaviours: A Study of Body Image in Adolescent Girls and the Canadian Church.” Practical Theology, 1-17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1756073X.2016.1223395 (role:
Michaelson, V., Brooks, F., Jirásek, I., Inchley, J., Whitehead, I., King, N., Walsh, S., Davison, C., Mazur, J., Pickett, W. (2016). “Developmental Patterns of Adolescent Spiritual Health in Six Countries. Social Science and Medicine: Population Health, 2, 294-303.
Michaelson V, Trothen TJ, Davison CM, Pickett W. (under review). Church and the health of adolescent girls: A focus on the body.
Davison CM, Michaelson M, McKerron M, Pickett W. (under review). Holism Revisited: Perspectives for public and pediatric health promotion. Health Promotion International, submitted March 31, 2015.
Hawe P, Bond L, Ghali L, Perry R, Davison CM, Casey D, Butler H, Webster CM, Scholz B. (2015) Replication of a whole school ethos-changing intervention: Different context, similar effects, additional insights. BMC Public Health 15(1), 265.
Edwards N & Davison CM. (2015). Strengthening Communities with a Socio-Ecological Approach: Local and international lessons in whole systems. Lars K. Halstrom, N. Guehlstorf and M. Parkes (Eds.). Ecosystems, Society and Health: Pathways through diversity, convergence and integration. McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Michaelson V; McKerron M; Davison CM. (2015). Forming ideas about health: A qualitative study of Ontario adolescents. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 10, 1-12.
Michaelson V, Robinson P, Pickett W. (2014). Participation in church or religious groups and its association with health: a national study of young Canadians. Journal of Religion and Health, 53(5), 1353-1373.
Walsh S, Huynh Q, Kukaswadia A, Harel-Fisch Y, Molcho M, Varnai D, Aaasvee K, Ravens-Sieberer U, Ottava V, Pickett W. (2013). Physical and emotional health problems experienced by youth engaged in physical fighting and weapon carrying. PLoS ONE, 8(2).
Huynh Q, Craig W, Janssen I, Pickett W. (2013). Exposure to public natural space as a protective factor for emotional well-being among young people in Canada. Bmc Public Health, 13(1), 407-407.
Burford BJ, Coren E, Davison CM, Thomas S, Doyle J, Armstrong R and Waters E. (2012). Cochrane Update- Evidence to support the needs of children and young people: Upcoming reviews from the Cochrane Public Health Group. Journal of Public Health 34(3), 467–470. doi:10.1093/pubmed/fds072
Freeman JG, King M, Pickett W, with Craig W, Elgar F, Janssen I, Klinger D. (2011). The health of Canada's young people: a mental health focus. Ottawa: Public Health Agency of Canada. Cat. no.: hP15-13/2011E-PDF, ISBN: hP15-13/2011E, 194p.
Family Based Health Promotion
Davison CM, Michaelson V and Pickett W. (2015). It still takes a village: The role of social supports in understanding unexpected health states in young people. BMC Public Health, 15(1), 295.
Michaelson V, Trothen T, Davison CM, Elgar FJ & Pickett W. (2014). Eucharistic eating, family meals and the health of adolescent girls: A Canadian study. The Journal of Practical Theology, 7(2), 125-143.
Adolescent Health and Equity
Parpia A, Davison CM, Freeman J. (under review). A Comparative Study of Emotional Well-Being of School-Aged Children Born in and Outside of Canada. 2014.
Walsh, S.D., De Clerq, B., Molcho, M., Harel-Fisch, Y., Davison, CM., Rich Madsen, K., Stevens, G.W.J.M and members of the HBSC immigration writing group. (under review). The relationship between ethnic school composition, classmate support and involvement in physical fighting and bullying among adolescent immigrants and non-immigrants in 11 countries. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, submitted June 20, 2015.
Byrnes J, King N, Hawe P, Peters P. Pickett W, Davison CM. (under review). Patterns of youth injury: A comparison across the northern territories and other parts of Canada. International Journal of Circumpolar Health, submitted March 16, 2015.
Pulver A, Davison CM, Parpia A, Purkey E, Pickett W. (under review). Nonmedical use of prescription opioids and injury risk among youth. Under review Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse, submitted February 10, 2015.
Pickett W; Michaelson V; Davison CM. (2015). Beyond Nutrition: Hunger and its Impact on the health of young Canadians. International Journal of Public Health, 60(5), 527-538.
Pulver A, Davison CM, Pickett W. (2015). Time-Use Patterns and the Recreational use of Prescription Medications Among Rural Youth. The Journal of Rural Health, 31(2), 217-228.
Pulver A, Davison CM, Pickett W. (2014). Recreational Use of Prescription Medications Among Canadian Young People: Identifying disparities. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 105(2), 121-126.
Davison CM (2013) Adding Nuance to our Discussions of Inequalities in Canada: Urban-Rural Health Differences. The Broadbent Institute Equality Paper Responses.
Christensen J, Davison C & Levac L (2012) Chronic housing needs in the Canadian North: Inequality of opportunity in northern communities. The Broadbent Institute Equality Paper Responses.
Davison CM & Hawe P (2012). School engagement among aboriginal students in northern canada: Perspectives from activity settings theory. Journal of School Health, 82(2), 65-74.
Janssen I, Boyce WF, Pickett W. (2012). Screen time and physical violence in 10 to 16 year old Canadian youth. Int J Public Health, 57(2), 325-331.
Pickett W, Davison C, Torunian M, McFaull S, Walsh P, Thompson W. (2012). Drinking, Substance Use and the Operation of Motor Vehicles by Young Adolescents in Canada. PLoS ONE 7(8): e42807. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0042807
Davison CM, Ghali LM & Hawe P. (2011). Insights into the School Environment that Surveys Alone Might Miss: An exploratory study using photovoice. Advances in School Mental Health Promotion 4(1), 44-51.
Carson V, Pickett W, Janssen I. (2011). Screen time and risk behaviours among 10-16 year old Canadian youth. Prev Med, 52(2), 99-103.
Vafaei A, Rosenberg M, Pickett W. (2010). Relationships between income inequality and health: A study on rural and urban regions of Canada. Rural and Remote Health, 10(2), 1430.
Currie C, NicGabhainn S, Godeau E, Roberts C, Smith R, Currie D, Pickett W, Richter M, Morgan A, Barnekow. Inequalities in young people’s health. HBSC International Report from the 2005/2006 Survey. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2008, 205 pages.
Oral Presentations of our Ideas
Favotto, L., Pickett, W., & Davison, C. Connection with a Screen: The Impact of Computer Mediated Communication on the Health of Canadian Adolescents. Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University. Kingston, ON. July 20, 2015
Davis L. Prevalence and Patterns of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption in Canadian Youth: The role of parental support. Department of Public Health, Queen's University. July 20, 2015.
Favotto, L., Davison, C., & Michaelson, V. Connection with a Screen: The Impact of Computer Mediated Communication on the Health of Canadian Adolescents. Health Research Trainees Day, Queen's University. Kingston, ON June 10, 2015
Niclasen B, Davison CM, King N, Pickett W. The context of food poverty in school children: A comparison of northern Canada and Greenland. The 16th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Oulu, Finland. June 6-8, 2015.
Favotto, L., Davison, C., & Michaelson, V. (2015) The Impact of Computer-Mediated Communication on the Health of Canadian Adolescents. Canadian Society of Epidemiology and Biostatistics Conference. Mississauga, ON. June 3, 2015
Haq F & Davison CM. What are hunger and food insecurity to Canadian adolescents? A qualitative study of youth perspectives and content validity analysis of a national survey item. Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics Conference, Mississauga, ON. June 1-4, 2015.
Davis L & Davison CM. Prevalence and patterns of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption in Canadian youth. Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics,Mississauga, ON. June 1-4, 2015.
Davison CM & Michaelson V. Child nutritional intervention research in the north: What are the possibilities? An introduction to the program of research for potential collaborators. Yellowknife, NWT. March 4, 2014.
Michaelson V. The potential relationship between spirituality and child health. Department of Public Health Sciences Seminar Series, Queen's University, Kingston, ON. February 26, 2014.
Pickett W. Beyond Hunger: Food insecurity as a potential determinant of health among Canadian adolescents. Department of Public Health Sciences Seminar Series, Queen's University, Kingston, ON. January 15, 2014.
Michaelson V & Pickett W. Space, time and stories: Nurturing the spiritual lives of children. Professional development workshop. Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Kingston, ON. January 8, 2014.


The immunosuppressive medications used to prevent allograft rejection after transplantation present a host of patient monitoring challenges for the pharmacist. Continuous monitoring is essential because of the potential for infection, malignancy, drug side effects, and drugdrug or drugnutrient interactions. Immunosuppressive agents may also be used to treat other disease states, including rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, and lupus nephritis. Therefore, pharmacists will be called upon to provide pharmaceutical care to a diverse population of patients using immunosuppressive medicines.
Pharmacists must be ready to monitor and counsel transplant patients or other patients who are taking immunosuppressants concurrently with herbal products. The increased popularity of herbal medicines may place these patients at risk for an herbalimmunosuppressive interaction.1,2 In the transplant patient this could result in potentially devastating toxic side effects or the loss of the transplanted allograft. Some herbal medicines are also potential nephrotoxins. Renal transplant patients and other patients on a cyclosporine-based regimen (Sandimmune, Neoral) should especially avoid herbal medicines. The initial transplant patient assessment and continued follow-ups should include questions on the use of herbal therapies.
Unfortunately, little is known or reported on interactions of herbals with immunosuppressants. The herbal medications selected for this review have a reported interaction in the literature or have the potential to interact with immunosuppressants pharmacokinetically or pharmacodynamically.
Cytochrome P-450 and P-glycoprotein
Potential pharmacokinetic drugdrug and drugnutrient interactions with cyclosporine, tacrolimus (Prograf) or sirolimus (Rapamune) that may pose a substantial clinical risk to the patient on immunosuppressants are well-known based on a growing wealth of knowledge about the cytochrome P450 (CYP) system. CYP3A represents the most abundant subfamily of enzymes within this system.3 It accounts for approximately 30% of all CYP content in the liver and as much as 70% in epithelial cells (enterocytes) of the small intestine. Major improvements in the scientific tools available to research this system allow the prediction of potential drugimmunosuppressive interactions.
|There are at least 10 constituents, or groups of components that may contribute to the pharmacologic effect of St. John's wort on cyclosporine.|
PGP has also been located in the enterocytes of the small and large intestine, where its role is to carry lipophilic molecules from the enterocyte back into the intestinal lumen for elimination. Many hydrophobic drugs are either metabolized by CYP3A or pumped back into the lumen by PGP after intestinal absorption and enterocyte uptake. Therefore, CYP3A and PGP, acting in tandem, may decrease the oral absorption and delivery of cyclosporine, tacrolimus or sirolimus.
Pharmacokinetic Immunosuppressive-Herbal Interactions
Cyclosporine/St. John's Wort: Case reports of St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) causing decreased serum levels of digoxin and indinavir were discussed previously in U.S. Pharmacist.1 Similar case reports of an interaction of St. John's wort with cyclosporine were documented in The Lancet.7 Both of these cyclosporine cases involved patients with stable heart transplant allografts who were maintained on a standard regimen of cyclosporine, azathioprine (Imuran) and corticosteroids. These cases are reviewed below.
* Case One: A 61-year-old patient was admitted for elective endomyocardial biopsy.7 The heart transplant had taken place 11 months earlier, and cyclosporine plasma levels were stable prior to being admitted for the biopsy. There were no signs of infection or hemodynamic compromise. The only patient complaint was a feeling of nonspecific fatigue. Three weeks prior to admission the patient started self-medicating with St. John's wort for mild depression. The biopsy revealed acute transplant rejection. A St. John's wortcyclosporine interaction was suspected. St. John's wort was discontinued, the cyclosporine dose was increased and bolus corticosteroids were administered; however, this therapy was ineffective in reversing the acute rejection. A second biopsy performed seven days later showed prolonged rejection. Azathioprine was switched to mycophenolate mofetil (Cellcept) and intravenous antithymocyte globulin was given for 10 days. Cyclosporine plasma concentrations remained within therapeutic range after the patient stopped taking St. John's wort. Further episodes of rejection were not noted.
* Case Two: A 63-year-old heart transplant recipient was started on St. John's wort by his psychiatrist because of anxiety and depression, three weeks before being admitted for elective endomyocardial biopsy.7 Prior to admission, the patient had an event-free course with stable cyclosporine plasma levels; however, on admission, cyclosporine plasma levels had dropped below the therapeutic range. Physical examination and laboratory values did not reveal a cause of rejection. The endomyocardial biopsy, however, showed acute heart transplant rejection. Cyclosporine returned to normal concentrations after the St. John's wort was discontinued. Further episodes of rejection were not documented.
In both of these cases, the strong temporal relationship suggests that treatment with St. John's wort caused the acute rejection, due to a drop in plasma cyclosporine concentration. There are at least 10 different constituents or groups of components that may contribute to the pharmacologic effect of St. John's wort. One component, naphtodiantron, is a known inducer of CYP3A. In addition, it has been suggested that St. John's wort extract may induce PGP.8 Overall, the combination of these two pharmacokinetic interactions decreases the oral bioavailability of cyclosporine. The same interaction should be considered in patients taking tacrolimus or sirolimus.
Cyclosporine/Rosemary: Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis [Labiatae]) is used externally to improve circulation in hypotonic circulatory disorders, rheumatic conditions, eczema, and as a poultice for poorly healing wounds. Rosemary is taken orally for dyspeptic disorders, loss of appetite, liver and gallbladder complaints, and blood pressure problems.9 It inhibits the binding of doxorubicin (Adriamycin) and vincristine (Oncovin) to PGP, thereby increasing the intracellular accumulation of these chemotherapy agents.10 Rosemary may thus also increase cyclosporine plasma concentrations by increasing its oral bioavailability, through inhibition of PGP activity. Literature documentation or case reports of cyclosporinerosemary interactions do not exist. However, a potential drug-herb interaction exists, and patients on cyclosporine-based regimens should be advised to avoid using rosemary for medicinal purposes.
A summary of the cyclosporineSt.
John's wort and cyclosporinerosemary interaction is provided in TABLE
Table 1. Documented and Potential
|Drug||Herb||Mechanism of Action||Description of Interaction||Counseling and Monitoring|
|Cyclosporine||St. John's wort||Induces CYP3A enzyme,
increases drug metabolism
Induces PGP in gut, reduces drug absorption
|cyclosporine drug levels||Advise patients to avoid taking St. John's wort while on cyclosporine|
|Cyclosporine||Rosemary||Inhibits the binding of cyclosporine to PGP||Potential in cyclosporine drug levels||Advise patients to avoid using rosemary for medicinal purposes while on cyclosporine|
Herbals with Purported Immunostimulating Effects
Pharmacists must also monitor the use of herbal medicines that have purported immunostimulating effects. Various agents have been recommended by herbalists as immunotonics or in patients with immunodeficiencies. In theory, these herbals may interact with immunosuppressants, possibly decreasing or offsetting the effects of the immunosuppressive regimen.1,2 Patients taking immunosuppressants should be counseled to avoid these immunostimulating herbs to prevent competing effects on the immune system. When considering the drug history of a patient, pharmacists should include questions on the use of echinacea, astragalus, ginseng, licorice root and alfalfa. Questions should also be asked on the use of zinc supplementation. It is important to keep in mind that these herbals may also be found in protein powders and other nutritional supplements. TABLE 2 summarizes information on immunostimulating herbs.
Echinacea: Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea) is used as an immune stimulant and lymphatic system antiseptic. It is also used for colds, cough, fever, bronchitis, tonsillitis, wound healing, asthma, glandular swelling, UTIs, and as a nasal decongestant.9 Given orally or parenterally, echinacea affects the immune system by increasing the number of white blood cells and activating the capacity for phagocytosis by human granulocytes. Other effects include increased production of T-helper cells and cytokines, such as interleukin-1, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor alpha.2
Astragalus: Astragalus (Tragacanth) is used as a laxative because it stimulates stretching of the intestinal wall, resulting in increased peristalsis.9 Astragalus may also potentially stimulate T-cell activity.
Ginseng: Ginseng (Panax ginseng) is used to improve athletic ability because it increases stamina, and may possibly lower cholesterol.9 It is also used as an immune stimulant to potentially nourish major immune system glands in an unspecified manner.
Licorice Root: Licorice root (Glycyrrhiza glabra) may stimulate the production of interferon.2 It is used as an antispasmodic and to promote healing of peptic ulcers by inhibiting gastric acid. Licorice is also used for colitis, diverticulitis, asthma, cough, bronchitis, eczema, and hypoglycemia.9
Alfalfa Sprouts: Patients may be using alfalfa sprouts (Medicago sativa) for arthritis, to improve thyroid function and to decrease cholesterol. It may also be used as a blood purifier, a diuretic, and an antiulcer and antidiabetic agent.9
Zinc: Although zinc
is not considered an herbal product, patients may use zinc gluconate lozenges
to prevent or treat the common cold. The mechanism of action of zinc is unknown;
however, studies suggest that zinc may induce interferon production and prevent
formation of viral capsid protein.2
Table 2. Herbals with Purported Immunostimulating Effects
|Herb||Purported Use||Contraindications||Adverse Reactions||Drug Interactions/ Comments|
|Arthritis, blood purifier, diuretic, antiulcer, cholesterol-lowering, anti-diabetic, improve thyroid function||1||Pancytopenia, SLE||Contains
vitamin K, can decrease INR with warfarin.
Do not exceed recommended dosage
|Rare allergic reactions||Take with adequate amounts of fluid.|
|Immune stimulant, lymphatic system antiseptic, colds, cough, fever||Multiple sclerosis, HIV, tuberculosis, leukosis, collagenosis, pregnancy||Fever, nausea, vomiting, allergic reactions||Additive hepatotoxic effects with anabolic steroids, amiodarone, methotrexate, ketoconazole. Patients with renal impairment should not use for more than 10 days.|
|Stimulate immune system, improve athletic ability, increase stamina, possibly lower cholesterol||Hypertension, pregnancy, hematologic disorders, renal failure, anticoagulant therapy, in infants||Ginseng abuse syndrome with overuse, nervousness, hypertension, insomnia, tachycardia, dermatitis, fever, bleeding||May increase clotting time with aspirin, dipyridamole, warfarin; avoid excessive caffeine; avoid with antidepressants; may increase toxicity of steroids|
Herbal Medicines that are Potential Nephrotoxins
Medicines that may be nephrotoxic (e.g., aminoglycosides and amphotericin B) should be used cautiously or avoided in patients on immunosuppressants. This is especially important for renal transplant patients, because of the potential for additive nephrotoxicity with cyclosporine or tacrolimus. Herbal medicines may also be potential nephrotoxins (TABLE 3).9 Pharmacists must continuously monitor patients on immunosuppressants and educate them on potentially nephrotoxic herbals, such as Acorus calamus, birch bark, Ruta gravolens, Aristolochia clematitis, Stephania tetranda, and Magnoliae officinalis.
Acorus Calamus: A. calamus (calamus) has spasmolytic, carminative (antiflatulent), and sedative effects.9 It is used as a tea for dyspeptic disorders to stimulate appetite and digestion and may also be used for gastritis and ulcers. In addition, calamus may be used externally for its hyperemic effects in rheumatism, gum disease, and angina (it improves blood circulation). Even though it is a relatively safe herbal medicine when administered properly, patients should be counseled against using it long-term and exceeding recommended dosages.
Birch Bark and Birch Leaf: Birch bark and leaves (Betula species) have been used in folk medicine for centuries as blood purifiers, for gout and rheumatism, and for hair loss and dandruff.9 They are also used as flushing-out therapy in bacterial and inflammatory diseases of the urinary tract, and for kidney and bladder stones. Birch should not be used in patients with impaired cardiac or renal function or in patients with an aspirin sensitivity because it contains high amounts of methylsalicylate.
Ruta Graveolens: R. graveolens (Rue) has been used as a folk remedy for menstrual complaints, as a contraceptive and as an abortive agent.9
Aristolochia Clematitis: A. clematitis (birthwort) is used as an immunostimulant and in allergically induced gastrointestinal colic and cholecystitis.9 Pure aristolochic acid acts similarly to the gout medication colchicine. Birthwort is a highly toxic drug and should not be administered even in small doses. Acute intake of toxic doses leads to gastroenteritis, vomiting, spasms, and severe kidney damage. The United Kingdom Committee on Safety of Medications placed an emergency ban on the import, supply and sale of aristolochia on July 28, 1999.11 This ban resulted from case reports of end-stage renal disease caused by ingestion of a Chinese herbal remedy that contained aristolochia.12 The herbal preparations were from different sources and were prescribed for eczema.
Stephania Tetranda and Magnoliae Officinalis: Case reports have also been published regarding S. tetranda and M. officinalis.13 Two women under the age of 50 were diagnosed with a rapidly progressive fibrosing interstitial nephritis after starting a therapy for weight loss. Both women received the treatment from the same clinic and eventually required dialysis. The case reports prompted the authors of the article to perform an epidemiological survey. Upon analysis of the data, the authors discovered that the weight loss clinic had initially used the same slimming regimen for 15 years. No cases of renal dysfunction or renal failure had been reported on this old regimen; however, before the two reported cases, the clinic had changed to a new regimen that included the herbs in question. Other nephrotoxins or adulterants, such as diuretics or anti-inflammatory agents, were not found in the herbal treatment. In total, the survey identified nine young women on dialysis or with preterminal renal failure who had followed the same weight loss regimen.
|Inquire about herbal use in an open, nonjudgmental fashion to provide an opportunity for patients to learn about the risks and benefits of these therapies.|
Phenylbutazone has also
been found as an illicit ingredient in herbal remedies. Renal toxicity associated
with phenylbutazone has been well-documented; proteinuria, hematuria, anuria,
oliguria, renal papillary necrosis and hypersensitivity-related renal dysfunction
may occur during therapeutic use.20,21 Traditional Chinese herbals
used to treat various forms of arthritis have been found to contain phenylbutazone.22
These formulations are readily available from Chinese medical halls and stipulate
that the only active ingredients are Chinese herbs.
Table 3. Nephrotoxic Herbal Medicinals
|Herb||Purported Use||Contraindications||Adverse Reactions||Comments|
External: rheumatism, gum disease, angina
|1||Nephrotoxic, bloody diarrhea, dermatitis||Used to make tea or put in bath water; avoid long-term use: do not exceed recommended dosage|
|Stimulate immune system, allergically induced GI colic and cholecystitis||1||Gastroenteritis, renal failure, carcinogenic||Highly toxic administration is prohibited; may be toxic as currently marketed|
|Diuretic, UTI, renal calculi||Aspirin sensitivity, impaired cardiac or renal function||Hypersensitivity reactions||Contains high amounts of methylsalicylate|
|Magnoliae officinalis||Flatulent dyspepsia, cough, asthma||1||Mucous membrane irritation or numbness, dermal irritation, hypersensitivity, CNS stimulant or depressant||Primary agent in Chinese herbal "Houpo;" may be nephrotoxic|
|Tetrandine has antiphagocytic, antioxidant, antitumor, analgesic, hypotensive, and antiplatelet effects||1||Other adverse effects unknown||Contains 21 compounds (19 are alkaloids); may be nephrotoxic|
|Antispasmodic, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Bell's Palsy, induce menstruation||1||Abortifacient, hepatotoxicity, photosensitizing||Fatal outcomes reported with overdose; may be toxic as currently marketed|
Role of the Pharmacist
It is the responsibility of the pharmacist to educate patients on the safe use of herbal products.23,24 The lack of scientific data on herbals makes it imperative for the pharmacist to take an active role, especially with patients on immunosuppressants. Pharmacists must keep an open dialogue with patients currently taking or contemplating the use of herbal medicines.
Because herbal medicines
are not considered drugs by some individuals, they are frequently not listed
by patients or mentioned during drug history interviews. Pharmacists recording
patient drug histories should include questions on herbal medicines or dietary
supplements. Pharmacists must inquire on the use of herbals in an open, nonjudgmental
fashion to provide an opportunity for patients to learn about the risks and
benefits of these alternative therapies. Patients should be asked the specific
reasons for using the herbal medicine. Pharmacists should also review the patient's
drug regimen to determine if herbal use is appropriate and not used to replace
conventional therapies that may be more effective in the patient's disease state.
During this review process, any herbal-related adverse events experienced by
the patient should be reported to the institution's Pharmacy and Therapeutics
Committee and, if warranted, to the FDA's MedWatch program.


The list of William Faulkner books I own and have read, often multiple times, is long. I know I missed a few titles along the way, but certainly I would have claimed to have read all of the Faulkner essentials and then some. No one ever mentions The Reivers when listing Faulkner’s major works, and it turns out I find that to be a shame. No, it’s not The Sound and the Fury, but this is not a work to be dismissed and unread. After all, isn’t it likely that even the worst work by a Nobel Prize winner has a good chance of being far better than the best book by an average writer? For my birthday my brother bought me a copy of The Reivers, published in 1962, a month before Faulkner’s death. A couple lines in the front jacket mirror my own conclusions, “The Reivers is, with no reservations whatsoever, one of the funniest books in our literature,” and, “But to those readers who have only sampled his work, The Reivers will be an especial delight.” Having believed I had read all of Faulkner’s good books, The Reivers truly was a wonderful surprise.
Turns out The Reivers is well loved and highly regarded by fans of Faulkner. For readers new to Faulkner, it may be a great place to start and for good reason. It’s one of the more accessible Faulkner books, it truly is comic, and it’s an adventure story not that dissimilar to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It is a kind of coming of age story about an 11 year old who on a short trip to Memphis, learns an immense deal about men, women, race, and the society he exists in.
This is definitely not a book you want to give too much of the plot away. In short, Lucius Priest (now 60) is reminiscing to his son about the time in 1905 when his grandfather bought the first automobile in Jefferson, Mississippi. 11 years old then, Lucius and older friend of the family, Boon Hogganbeck borrow/steal the automobile to drive up to Memphis. Soon after starting, they discover a stowaway hiding under a tarp in the back–Ned William McCaslin who is Black and a distant relative to Lucius. As with many Faulkner books, The Reivers includes many of the characters and relatives from the McCaslin/Edmondses family tree found in other works.
Soon after arriving in Memphis, Ned trades the automobile for a stolen race horse that won’t run, with the grand scheme to set up a horse race in which they can win the automobile back and keep the horse too. Ned has a secret that he believes will get the horse to “run”, a secret that was previously successful in getting a mule to win any race it entered. Arriving in Memphis, Boon visits a brothel where we meet Miss Reba, Boon’s “gal” Miss Corrine, and Minnie, a Black maid with a gold tooth that has Lucius smitten.
1905. Road trip. Brothels. Horse racing… and all under the treatment of Faulkner. Say. no. more. Similar to some of the stories in Go Down Moses, in Faulkner’s hand this “road trip” story unfolds on a scale of fabled proportion. Characters appearing in the novel are drawn out so vibrantly: Ned William McCaslin the brilliant con man and reader of men, Miss Reba who runs the bordello, Otis a 15 year old monster visiting his aunt Corrine at the brothel, and Butch, the horrific bastard of a White sheriff who embodies all that was so wrong for Blacks in the South. The language and dialogue is so rich and intelligent, even when coming out of the mouths of the ignorant.
I am going to mention as well that I began reading the book on a day that officially heralded in the era of “make America great again,” or so it is said anyway. As I began to read The Reivers I couldn’t help but think that, no, what makes America great is not an ugly rhetoric based on misinformation and lies, what makes America great (at least in part) are its artists, musicians and storytellers who distill the American experience into something we universally recognize and share. It’s literature like The Reivers that both makes America great, as well as depicts its greatness. Certainly I’m not suggesting that the South of 1905 is a benchmark in America we should be striving to return to. The racism and Jim Crow era is on full display in The Reivers, especially embodied in the sheriff, Butch. But counter to that darkness are some of the most dignified human portraits of Blacks, as well as relationships between Black and White, found in American literature. It shows its people’s shared humanity, intelligence, pluck, and ability of its people to have a solidarity with one another that is based not on color, but on character. The novel is a depiction of American people and of a society beginning to find mutual respect for each other, while also living with the realities of its persistent racism.
Given the age of Faulkner when he wrote it, coupled with the subtitle, “A Reminiscence,” this should be enough to inform readers that The Reivers will be something of a golden, wistful remembrance of childhood in the South, of a time when the very first automobiles ever seen were appearing on the roads. If you can imagine the novelty and wonder of even sitting in the first automobile to appear in town, let alone taking a road trip in it, then this may be the book for you. The novel is all of that, and yet a profound book as well. There is a fable-like quality to it, with larger than life characters and a depiction of a post Civil War America growing into itself.
Lastly, there is a hook in the story that once set, will keep you reading to the end: the secret of how Ned can make a horse who doesn’t want to run, run. I would absolutely love to tell you Ned’s secret ingredient–it’s really too good not to share. When I finally found out what that secret was, I laughed, and I mean really laughed. But I could never live with myself if I ever stole that opportunity to experience joy from someone. So I’ll leave you with this. Feeling uncertain about the world? Bogged down with social media posts and “Breaking News” about Beyonce’s pregnancy status? Cable news got you pulling out your hair? Stop, turn it off, buy a copy of The Reivers, and regain some hope in humanity.


Journal “Proceedings of the International Geometry Center” is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.
Open Access Journal: We define open access journals as journals that do not charge readers or their institutions for access. From the BOAI: definition of "open access"
"By 'open access' to this literature, we mean its free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited."


Tough at the Top follows the story of a naive new circus owner as he learns first-hand what it takes to be an engaging leader.
Adam has always dreamed of owning a circus. But when he becomes the new ringmaster of the Starlight Circus, he has to contend with an anxious tiger-tamer, a frustrated carousel owner, a delinquent trick-rider, a knife-thrower who hates his partner, and a troupe of clowns who work strictly to rule.
Fortunately, Adam has a guardian angel in the shape of the Starlight Circus fortune-teller. Her wise advice helps him steer the circus from the brink of disaster, towards an exciting and prosperous new future…
You’ve probably noticed that Employee Engagement has been big news in business for quite a while now, and with good reason.
Organisations with highly engaged employees significantly outperform those with less engaged employees in just about every performance measurement imaginable.
One thing in particular that highly performing businesses have in common though, is well-defined leadership habits. Numerous research and studies into employee engagement confirm that inspiring and motivational leadership behaviours are critical for creating a great place to work – and revolutionising the bottom line.
Using a fun, engaging and relatable metaphor, this un-put-downable business book is an essential read for any people manager who wants simple and accessible guidance on how to become a truly exceptional leader.
If you’re looking to:
Create a vision, mission and values that inspires your people to always go the extra mile
Build-in development opportunities that really bring the best out of everyone
Demonstrate the right behaviours that will encourage positive action from your employees
Or build an environment that supports innovation and creativity


Storytelling is more powerful than photography when it comes to capturing memories and moments. Photography can be beautiful and nostalgic, but it often lacks the ability to convey the emotion or feeling behind a particular moment. Storytelling can do that-it can evoke memories and feelings in a way that no photograph ever could. What’s more, stories can be passed down from generation to generation, ensuring that memories will never be forgotten.
Think about the last time you looked at a photograph. What did it make you feel? Now think about a time when someone told you a story. Which made you feel more?
Chances are, it was the story that made you feel more. That’s because stories have the ability to transport us back to a particular time and place. They can make us feel happy, sad, excited, or any other emotion under the sun. And that’s something that photography simply cannot do.
Sure, a photograph might be able to capture a moment in time, but it will never be able to capture the feeling or emotion behind that moment. That’s what makes storytelling so powerful. It has the ability to take us back to a time and place and make us feel like we’re right there again.
In a world where we are constantly bombarded with images, it’s easy to forget the power of storytelling. But the next time you’re feeling nostalgic, take a moment to sit down and tell a story. You’ll be surprised at how powerful it can be.


The Haiku Pathway is a one-of-a-kind in New Zealand and unique outside Japan.
It features over 40 haiku poems, the vast majority engraved on to river boulders, alongside a pathway that meanders either side of Uretara Stream and forms a peaceful park in the heart of a bustling country town.
The poems have been specially chosen to reflect their location and feature work by poets from New Zealand and overseas to form what is the largest collection of haiku “stones” in English and the only “haiku walk” outside Japan.
The pathway, which was a Millennium Project for the town, links into two other popular walks, the Bird Walk and Yeoman Walkway at The Landing, or visitors can enjoy the pathway to The Landing and then walk through town to view the murals.
Guidebooks to the pathway, which include a map to the poems, are available to purchase from Katikati Information Centre (The Arts Junction).
Look for the Haiku sign on the Main Road (beside Robert Harris café) for the entry to the car park.


blessed be He, prays.
What does He pray?
R. Zutra the son of Tobi said in the name of Rav: ‘May it be My will that My mercy may suppress My anger, and that My mercy may prevail over My other attributes, so that I may deal with My children in the attribute of mercy and bring inside the circle of justice’.
It was taught: R. Ishmael the son of Elisha said: I once entered into the innermost part of the Temple to offer incense and saw Akathriel Jah, the Lord of Hosts, seated upon a high and exalted throne. He said to me: Ishmael, My son, bless Me. l replied: May it be Your will that Your mercy may suppress Your anger and Your mercy may prevail over Your other attributes, so that You may deal with Your children according to the attribute of mercy and bring them inside the circle of justice. And He nodded to me with His head.
From this we learn that the blessing of an ordinary person must not be considered lightly in your eyes.


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01 March 2012 | 08:58 AM
by Rich Manning
For decades, the city of Ashland, Oregon was so strongly linked to the works of William Shakespeare that many people thought the play’s the only thing that happened in town. At first blush, it is easy to see why this was the case, since the Oregon Shakespeare Festival has lured people from around the globe to see the works of the nearly mythical literary icon performed at a world-class level for over seventy years. Yet as anyone who has recently visited Ashland can tell you, the association with The Bard merely scratches the surface of what is possible to enjoy within this modest community that lay between San Francisco and Portland. Indeed, there is a host of sumptuous yet rejuvenating activities to explore here; visceral life experiences that simultaneously provide a means of luxury while maintaining a feeling of escape.


I am Associate Professor and Director of the Comics Studies Program in the Department of English at the University of Oregon. I am also affiliated faculty in New Media and Culture as well as Women’s and Gender Studies. My books include the monograph How Comics Travel: Translation, Publication, Radical Literacies, and the edited volume The Art of the News: Comics Journalism. My work has been published in a number of edited volumes including The Oxford Handbook of Comic Book Studies, The Comics of Alison Bechdel, Comics Studies Here and Now, and Horrors of War. I have published articles in the journals PMLA, Studies in Comics, Feminist Media Histories, Media Fields, and Sport in Society. I am the curator of the traveling museum exhibit The Art of the News: Comics Journalism, which debuted at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in September 2021.
Contact me by email.


Provide stable Vehicle-to-Vehicle direct communication environment for platooning
Nov 28, 2023
Communication Required for Platooning
SoftBank is actively working towards the practical implementation of Vehicle-to-Vehicle direct communication technology (V2V) utilizing 5G through research and development on truck platooning on highways and validation experiments on autonomous driving and platooning Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems.
Reference:「The Future of Logistics: SoftBank Working to Evolve Truck Platooning with 5G」
Platooning requires two types of communication: one for vehicle control with low latency and another for video monitoring with low latency and high capacity. In the vehicle control communication, vehicles share position, speed, steering information, and other relevant data with each other for platooning. In the video communication, multiple video feeds, including the surroundings of following vehicles (FV) and the interior of the vehicles, are transmitted to the lead vehicle (LV) for safety confirmation purposes.
Types of Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication
There are two types of Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication technology: V2N2V (Vehicle to Network to Vehicle), where in-vehicle devices communicate through networks such as 5G or LTE, and direct V2V communication, which does not rely on network connectivity. In considering the frequency for V2V communication, the utilization of millimeter waves (mmW) is being explored due to their wide bandwidth*1, which allows for low-latency and high-capacity communication*2. Given the critical impact on safety, redundancy through multiple communication means is crucial to ensure uninterrupted communication in Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication.
In this article, we will introduce the challenges associated with V2V communication and the antenna diversity technology that addresses these issues.
*1: n257 (29 GHz band) of 5G is allocated with a 400 MHz allocation.
*2: In the "Working Party 5A Draft new Report ITU-R M.[CAV] Connected Automated Vehicles (21 Sep 2023)" document, the use of millimeter waves is being discussed.
Issues with Vehicle-to-Vehicle Direct Communication
Interference caused by reflections from the road surface, and other similar sources
In urban areas, communication between conventional base stations and vehicles often occurs in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) environments where the antennas of base stations and devices such as smartphones or mobile routers cannot have direct visual contact with each other. In these environments, multiple waves undergo reflections, diffractions, and other phenomena at various locations. Additionally, the propagation environment is constantly changing due to the movement of objects such as devices and obstacles along the propagation path.
On the other hand, V2V communication takes place in a line-of-sight (LOS) environment, where the antennas of the communicating vehicles are within direct visual contact. In this case, in addition to the direct waves that arrive without reflection, there are strong reflected waves that have reflected once or a few times from the road surface, road structures, surrounding vehicles, and other objects. This leads to the issue of radio interference.
As the inter-vehicle distance increases, the arrival angle difference and received power difference between the direct wave and the reflected wave decrease. This leads to significant power reduction in the received signal from the combined waveform due to phase differences based on the relative positioning of antennas. As a result, a phenomenon occurs where the received power of the combined waveform periodically fluctuates in a direction perpendicular to the reflection surface at the rear of the lead vehicle.
Optimization of antenna configuration by antenna diversity
To reduce the degradation of wireless communication quality caused by interference and provide a stable V2V communication environment, SoftBank has focused on antenna diversity technology. Antenna diversity involves using multiple antennas to transmit and receive radio waves, thereby improving communication quality. Optimizing the antenna configuration is essential.
By solving the approximation equation of a composite wave, it has been revealed that the variation period of composite wave's received power in the vertical direction with respect to the reflecting surface is determined by factors such as the frequency used, inter-vehicle distance, and distance between the transmitting antenna and the reflecting surface. These findings have been confirmed through experiments. The following graph shows an example of road surface reflection, but the same results were obtained with lateral reflections from side walls or neighboring vehicles.
As a result, it has become possible to determine the optimal spacing distance between the antennas used in antenna diversity. For example, in the case of a fixed inter-vehicle distance, setting the spacing distance as an odd multiple of half the period of fluctuation can compensate for wireless quality degradation at one antenna with the other antenna. However, if the inter-vehicle distance varies, separate optimization*3 is required within that range.
*3: SoftBank’s patent technologies
Assessment of Effectiveness in Demonstration Experiment
V2V Experimental Configuration
We took into account the road surface reflection wave and lateral reflection waves caused by road structures in the experiment. We employed a diagonal configuration with two antennas for diversity. Since the inter-vehicle distance varied, we optimized* the antenna spacing within a range of 15±5 m to ensure a negative correlation between the phase difference of the direct waves and reflected waves for each antenna.
In the lead vehicle, there is a radio unit and millimeter-wave antennas with a two antenna diversity configuration, installed inside the vehicle. In the following vehicles, there is a radio unit and millimeter-wave antennas with a two antenna diversity configuration, installed externally.
Regarding the millimeter-wave antennas, the lead vehicle utilizes an antenna that can select the optimal beam from multiple beams. Meanwhile, the following vehicles use a conventional directional antenna without beam selection capability.
Two vehicles were driven manually by a human operator, maintaining a measured inter-vehicle distance of 15±5 meters using laser rangefinders. The vehicles traveled approximately 1.1 kilometers, including curves, at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour.
Comparing the One-Way Latency using the CCDF (Complementary Cumulative Distribution Function) 1% value, it was observed that without antenna diversity (red legend), the latency increased significantly to approximately 2.5 seconds due to retransmissions caused by transmission errors. However, when antenna diversity was employed (blue legend), the latency reduced to approximately 6.3 milliseconds. This result, combined with the latency data prior to statistical processing, confirms the provision of a stable and low-latency V2V communication environment.
Regarding throughput, comparing the CDF (Cumulative Distribution Function) 1% value, antenna diversity again proved advantageous. The throughput achieved was approximately 52.5 Mbps. In the experiment, the MCS (Modulation and Channel Coding Scheme) was set low due to output constraints, and only one CC (Component Carrier, 100MHz) was used. However, with higher received power and the use of higher MCS and multiple CCs, it is possible to achieve transmission rates in the range of several hundred Mbps to Gbps, enabling the transmission of multiple high-definition videos and sensor raw data.
It has been demonstrated that by utilizing antenna diversity technology optimized with antenna configuration, a stable V2V communication environment can be achieved. This technology is expected to enable efficient operation of autonomous driving trucks and buses, which are receiving attention as a solution to the 2024 problem in the logistics and transportation industry.
SoftBank will continue to promote research and development of various technologies, including Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication, in order to realize the next-generation mobility society.


In 2012, Deutsche Bank staff decided to support a little known literacy research project with a big aim—to improve literacy outcomes for children in disadvantaged schools and communities in Ireland.
The project, Write to Read, was inspired by award winning doctoral research by Dr Eithne Kennedy from DCU’s Institute of Education. This research had demonstrated that intensive professional development for teachers, and investment in literacy resources to enable teachers to implement a holistic, evidence-based literacy framework could dramatically improve literacy outcomes for children in disadvantaged schools.
With support from Deutsche Bank, Write to Read has expanded to become a cross-city literacy project that currently works with 13 disadvantaged schools in Dublin city. Thanks to the matched fundraising efforts of Deutsche Bank staff, Write to Read has provided a wealth of high quality books to participating schools and teachers in those schools have transformed their approach to literacy with support from the project. Deutsche Bank has also enabled Write to Read to run poetry competitions and a Young Writers Academy to enable talented students to work with published authors to develop their storytelling abilities.
In this article, Ian Melia, Chief Operating Officer and Chief of Staff for Deutsche Bank Ireland discusses what motivates the company’s continued involvement with the project:
“Through their work providing high quality literacy support to disadvantaged children, Write to Read is changing the life outcomes of local pupils – helping level the playing field and allowing them to access opportunities that would otherwise be closed to them.
At Deutsche Bank we see it as hugely important that we support charities which can make a genuinely meaningful impact – this is clearly the case with Write to Read which helps improve children’s social mobility and develop their social, emotional and imaginative capacities.”
“Our staff get an enormous amount from this type of experience. It’s important that we remember how far children have to come just to access the things many of us take for granted. And for the children, we hope they benefit from getting to experience a new environment – maybe some of them will be able to imagine themselves working in a place like Deutsche Bank some day!
We also really enjoy that our support for the project has gone beyond simple financial support. From creating reading spaces in classrooms to designing bookmarks to encourage children and parents to read at home using Write to Read’s comprehension strategies, our team have really enjoyed contributing to the project in a meaningful way.”
“For all children, whatever their background, it’s important that we encourage them to dream big. Reading, and reading widely, helps all of us to imagine ourselves doing new and exciting things.”


- Newspaper and magazine publishing
- Media companies
- Nongovernmental organizations involved in publishing
The Istanbul Book Fair by TÜYAP Fairs is the largest event in the industry with no significant competitors. With almost half a million visitors, it is the fair with the most access to readers in Europe. Hundreds of events and book signings make the fair one of the foremost cultural activities in the city. The fair is held in association with the Turkish Publishers Association.
Tüyap Fairs and Exhibitions Organization Inc.
Tüyap Fair Convention and Congress Center, Cumhuriyet Mahallesi Eski Hadımköy Yolu Caddesi 9/1, 34500 Büyükçekmece, ISTANBUL
Phone: +90(212) 867 11 00
Fax: +90(212) 886 66 98


27 Nov at 19:30 to 27 Nov 21:45
Dereham Memorial Hall, 62A Norwich St, Dereham NR19 1AD
It is 1959, and widowed Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) risks everything to open up a bookshop in the sleepy seaside town of Hardborough. When she exposes the narrow minded townsfolk to the best literature of the day including Nabokov’s scandalizing “Lolita” and Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451”, she gains a kindred spirit and ally in the figure of Mr Brundish (Bill Nighy), who is himself sick of the town’s stale atmosphere, but has to reckon with the hostility of the other shopkeepers and of self-appointed doyenne Mrs Gamart (Patricia Clarkson).
“Courage is the central theme of this delightful film about books, passion and dreams. . . Lovers of books and admirers of determination will embrace this enchanting film. I hope you will enjoy it, too.” Urban Cinefile
Admission £6 or £5 for Friends of Dereham Memorial Hall
Pay on the door or online at www.ticketsource.co.uk/fodmh


Frank and Lucky Get Schooled is a picture book about a boy and a dog who become fast friends, explore the world around them, and learn a lot of stuff together. Does this have anything to do with how when Frank, our red-headed real-life son, was growing up, we had a black lab-mix rescue dog named Lucky?
And how Lucky was afraid of water until one day he saw some ducks on the bay and swam right out to speak with them and stayed there for hours?
And how he came in the house one time with slender green weeds with little round burrs so artfully clinging (really clinging) to his fur all over his entire body that he looked like an Art Nouveau masterpiece?
No. Total coincidence. This is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to real persons, dogs, or actual events is purely accidental. If it were non-fiction, there would also be a sister. As our daughter has pointed out to us. (Sorry, honeypie. Next time.)
I had so much fun making this book. I hope you have fun reading it. I hope your dog, if you have one, lets you. Some dogs do. Sometimes they like to listen:
And sometimes they have other ideas:
P.S. If you finish reading this book and think, I wish there were a book about kids and dogs and music, and wouldn’t it be cool if it also had snow in it, you are in luck. Some years ago, I made just such a book, called Snow Music. Click here for a preview.
Fun things to do after reading Frank and Lucky Get Schooled:
- Go for a walk.
- Make a friend.
- Share a snack.
- Learn some words in another language.
- Make a map.
- Go for another walk. Call it a hike, to make it more adventurous.
- Draw a story.
- Your turn:_____________________.
Snippets from reviews of Frank and Lucky Get Schooled:
“This is foremost a story of love between a boy and dog, but even readers who don’t have pets will want to get schooled with Frank and Lucky.” (School Library Journal, starred review)
“Though it initially looks like a simple picture-book story of a boy and a dog, it’s much, much more . . . it . . .encourages the innocent curiosity (in both boy and dog) and perception of genuine relevance that is the spur to good learning in elementary-schoolers and Nobel Prizewinners alike . . . perfect for homeschoolers, but the combination of humor and gentle wonder will perk up any classroom — or young mind.” (Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, starred review)
“Perkins’ pen-and-ink-and-watercolor illustrations use vignettes and speech/thought bubbles to marvelous effect. And the humor is hysterically tongue-in-cheek . . . As with Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith’s Math Curse (1995), this book should open readers’ eyes to the learning all around them. Of course, if they have learning companions like Lucky, so much the better.” (Kirkus, starred review)
“Perkins brings a warm, conversational tone to the narrative, while her mixed-media pictures play up the story’s humor . . . From interdisciplinary connections to unanswerable questions, Perkins demonstrates the value and rewards of investigating one’s world, whether human or dog.” (Publisher’s Weekly, starred review)
“The strands of school and life, boy and dog, and curiosity and investigation are firmly, joyfully braided throughout. Who needs Core Standards?” (Horn Book Magazine, starred review)
“Informative and entertaining, Frank and Lucky Get Schooled is an A+ picture book in every way.” (BookPage)


Developing a successful novel therapeutic is challenging and requires significant time and capital. It is important to identify issues early—both to limit failures in late-stage studies and to minimize potential for harm in clinical trials. For therapeutic antibodies or antibody-like molecules, preclinical tissue cross-reactivity (TCR) studies are a key tool for gathering and assessing important data about on- and off-target binding.
This white paper will explore:
- The role, value, and interpretation of TCR studies in modern therapeutic development.
- Key factors to consider—tissue selection, control items, etc.—when designing a TCR study to ensure robust data.
- How Precision can partner with you to optimize your study, utilizing unique specialty lab and tissue procurement capabilities.


English Classic Story Time – A Lifetime of Imagination, a Lifetime of Adventure
English Classic Storytime brings literature to life with our niche on-line membership video library of the classics, a global Book Club and and international community of lovers of English language. From Treasure Island to Alice in Wonderland, to the short stories of Oscar Wild to the musing of Sherlock Holmes English Classic Story Time has range of books for every age and ability all being read out loud by our talented readers. We cut the noise of everyday life and bringing stories back to the listener, the reader and the power of the author so imaginations can soar and knowledge can be gained. A full unabridged copy of the book, with illustrations as well as a vocabulary and expressions section and a quiz are included. A fully immersive experience to Entertain, Educate and Empower.


A year ago, I announced a new productivity experiment and invited you to join in. I created a simple spreadsheet where I would track 3 areas of my life on a weekly basis:
- Challenges (like 30 day challenges to form new habits)
- Focus skills
A year has passed and so it's time to look back and asses: did this productivity experiment work? Should I have done things differently?
Let's find out!
As you can tell from the video, my results from this experiment were mixed. And they were mixed in ways I didn't expect.
First, I didn't follow through - I didn't keep using the spreadsheet for the entire year.
That's in part just a lack of consistency on my part (told you I have this problem) and it's in part because I felt like it just wasn't working for me.
But looking back, I can tell that while it felt like the productivity tracking sheet wasn't doing anything for me, it did clearly yield some positive results.
The only thing that really didn't work in the experiment was tracking challenges on a weekly basis. I use other tools to track challenges and habits on a day-by-day basis and that's just far more effective.
But both the "focus skills" and the "books" parts of the tracking sheet had a clear, positive effect for me. My 2018 was better thanks to using this tracking sheet for a few months. I read far more books than usual and I learnt some new physical skills, despite a fairly lackluster training regimen.
My Favorite Books of 2018
Speaking of books: 2018 was one of my best years in terms of finding, reading and being inspired by books.
Here's a short list of some of my favorite reads from the past year:
- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari - this book made me wish I could keep seeing the world as I saw it while I was immersed in reading. I mourn everything I forget about this book already.
- Selfie by Will Storr - this book surprised me. Look at the title and read the blurb and you'll expect a certain narrative from this book. Read the book and get much more than that.
- Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier - this book is required reading for anyone working online. Actually, it's required reading for anyone with a smartphone.
- Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus by Douglas Rushkoff - this book pairs perfectly with the one above. Jaron Lanier lays out the consumer perspective and Douglas Rushkoff reveals the business side of the problems in the tech industry.
- Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker - hands down the best resource on sleep you can get.
- The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle - if you work with teams, read this book. This is the book I wish I'd had, before I started hiring people.
- What Doesn't Kill Us by Scott Carney - an odd one out in this list (although by far not the oddest book I read in 2018). This is an entertaining read about physical extremes and how they can help the human body thrive.
The Real Treasure
The story cliché is that the treasure you sought was inside you all along. I have a similar conclusion to my 2018 experiment - which failed but still succeeded, somehow.
The real treasure isn't in the specific tracking sheet that I shared at the beginning of 2018. It's not in any of the tools I use to track my habits and keep myself productive. It's in a general attitude of experimentation. It's in a "mad scientist" approach to life: try things out, see what happens and keep making adjustments that steer you towards your goals.
That is, above all, what I encourage you to do. Create your own experiment for 2019. Give it a go, even if you're not sure whether it will be great or a total waste of time.
Leave a comment letting me know what you're experimenting with in 2019. And also: I'd love to hear about your favorite books from lately.


SHAKESPEARE AT TULANE UNIVERSITY
THE FIRST FOLIO! EXHIBITION
The exhibition at the Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane — part of the international events planned for 2016 in observance of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death — will feature a First Folio of Shakespeare open to the famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy in Hamlet and, unique to Tulane’s version of the exhibition, a rare quarto of Hamlet on loan from Tulane parent and bibliophile, Stuart Rose. Printed in the large “folio” size, the First Folio is the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays. It was assembled after Shakespeare’s death in 1616 by two of his fellow actors, John Heminge and Henry Condell, and was published in 1623. The First Folio is the only source for eighteen of Shakespeare’s plays, among these some of his best known and most popular, including Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, and As You Like It, all of which might otherwise have been lost.
Visitors to the First Folio! exhibition will also have the opportunity to trace, across the Tulane campus, an "archival circuit" of rare materials connected with the history of book publication in Shakespeare's age, in the Howard-Tilton Library Special Collections Department; Shakespeare and race, at the Amistad Research Center; and Shakespeare and gender, at the Newcomb Archives and Vorhoff Library Special Collections Library.
The Folger Shakespeare Library acquired the First Folio that will visit Tulane in 1897 as part of their first acquisition of an extensive Shakespeare collection, the Warwick Castle Library. The Earl of Warwick assembled his library in the mid-nineteenth century with the help of J.O. Halliwell-Phillipps, an important Shakespeare scholar and collector. The touring copy is especially fine because the title and verse page are both original, just as they were printed in 1623. (Many other surviving copies of the First Folio have verse and title pages that are repaired or that have been replaced with facsimiles.) The Folger has in its care eighty-two copies of the First Folio, about a third of those that survive, by far the largest collection of First Folios in the world.
APRIL 23 Tulane in Stratford
The Wendell Brunious Band and Tulane School of Liberal Arts will take part in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon’s and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s Shakespeare Anniversary Celebrations.
APRIL 28Ferguson Lecture
The 27th annual Josephine Gessner Ferguson lecture: "Shakespeare in America" featuring James Shapiro (Columbia University), internationally renowned Shakespeare biographer and scholar. Freeman Auditorium, Woldenberg Art Center, 6:00 pm.
MAY 3 - JUNE 4Historic New Orleans Collection Exhibition
“Merry as the Day Is Long”: Shakespeare’s Hand in New Orleans exhibition on view in the Williams Research Center, 410 Chartres Street, Tuesday–Saturday, 9:30–4:30 pm. Admission to the exhibition is free.
MAY 9 First Folio! Exhibition
The exhibition opens at the Newcomb Art Museum with a Jazz Funeral for Shakespeare, conducted by Michael White and the Liberty Brass Band, 6:30 pm. The First Folio will be on display through May 31, 2016.
MAY 15 High School Teacher Workshop
A workshop for local high school teachers will be conducted on the site of the First Folio exhibition, by Scott Oldenburg (Tulane Associate Professor of English) 1:00-3:00 pm, open by application. To apply, contact the Tulane English Department at email@example.com
MAY 16 “Sonnets in the Gallery”
A reading of Shakespeare’s love poetry, on the site of the First Folio exhibition, will be hosted by Peter Cooley (Tulane Professor of English and Poet Laureate of the State of Louisiana), 1:00-3:00 pm, open to the public.
Public lecture, “All the World’s a Stage”: Shakespeare on the Stages and Streets of New Orleans, by Oliver Hennessey (Professor, English Department, Xavier University), May 18 at 6:00 p.m., WRC, 410 Chartres Street. Admission to the exhibition and the lecture is free.
MAY 22 Family Workshop
A workshop for families will be conducted at the Main Branch, New Orleans Public Library, 219 Loyola Avenue, by Adam McKeown, (Tulane Associate Professor of English), 1:00-3:00 pm, open to the public.
Newcomb Art Museum, Tulane University, 6:00 PM. Hillary Eklund, Associate Professor of English, Loyola University. Free and open to the public.
TULANE JAZZ FUNERAL IN STRATFORD
By special invitation from the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, Tulane University's School of Liberal Arts will participate in the 400th Anniversary Celebration of Shakespeare's death. Home of The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and Shakespeare's burial site at Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon will host several events to commemorate the Bard.
On April 23, 2016, Tulane University will bring New Orleans's own unique cultural contribution, a Jazz Funeral, to the anniversary parade in Stratford. Complete with music provided by The Wendell Brunious Band, this special parade will join Stratford's formal procession to honor and remember the greatest playwright and poet the world has known.
Trinity Church, the site of Shakespeare’s tomb, is situated on the banks of the River Avon and dates to the thirteenth century. It is the most visited parish church in England.
According to Bruce Raeburn, Director of the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane and Head of Special Collections in Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, jazz funerals are rooted in West African and European traditions and are “probably the most appropriate way that New Orleans musicians can honor a person of value. They are alternately slow and dirge-like, energetic and celebratory of life."
The School of Liberal Arts at Tulane University is collaborating with a wide range of national, local, and campus organizations in order to celebrate Shakespeare on the 400th anniversary of his death by bringing the First Folio! Exhibition to New Orleans and Louisiana. We wish to acknowledge all of our collaborators:
Tulane University’s participation in the Shakespeare Anniversary Celebration and the First Folio! Exhibition has been made possible by a generous gift from Stuart and Mimi Rose and the Stuart Rose Family Foundation.
On Shakespeare, Henry Clay Folger, and the First Folio (1623), see www.folger.edu
To view a full digital copy of the First Folio, click here
On the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, its Shakespeare connections, and Trinity Church, the site of Shakespeare’s burial, see www.stratford-upon-avon.org
On the sites maintained by and the outreach work of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, see www.shakespeare.org.uk
On Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, reconstructed as “a unique international resource dedicated to the exploration of Shakespeare's work and the playhouse for which he wrote” in London, see www.shakespearesglobe.com


Clinical trials have been very successful in evaluating the effectiveness of new treatments. However, over recent years the cost of trials has been steadily increasing, putting pressure on limited healthcare and research resources. There is therefore a great need for novel approaches to improve the efficiency of clinical trials, avoiding research waste and reducing the time taken to find effective new treatments.
Adaptive designs are an exciting innovation in clinical trials that have the potential to improve both the efficiency of trials and the outcomes of patients who volunteer for trials. In essence, adaptive designs allow information collected during the trial to be used to change (adapt) the design to optimise it. A large number of adaptations are possible, with different ones being useful in different situations.
Types of adaptive design
Multi-arm multi-stage is a type of design that allows a trial to test multiple interventions simultaneously and to use information collected to drop treatments that are found to be ineffective so that the trial can focus on the most promising ones. This is good for the patients recruited to the trial, who are more likely to get better treatment as ineffective treatments are more likely to be discarded during the trial; it is also beneficial in terms of the efficiency of the trial, as fewer patients are needed to achieve the same level of statistical power to detect whether the treatment is effective.
Adaptive designs can also be used when there is limited information available about the treatment’s likely effect on the primary outcome (the main outcome that researchers are interested in measuring during the trial). Normally this makes it difficult to choose an appropriate sample size (number of participants needed to take part in the study) and could mean that there is not enough information for researchers to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of a new treatment or mean that more patients have participated in the trial than needed to. The sample-size reassessment design is an adaptive approach that allows the sample size to be reassessed partway through the trial as information available. This allows an increase in sample size to be implemented where justified by promising results mid-trial, or a decrease if the number recruited so far is sufficient.
There is a growing interest in identifying which patients a treatment works well for and which it does not. The hope of precision medicine is to be able to quantify these individual differences using biomarkers. Biomarkers are biological measurements that may be associated with different effectiveness of a treatment, for example cancer treatments are often targeted at certain types of tumour mutations. Adaptive designs can be used to guide allocation of the patient to the treatment that has been most successful for similar patients. This leads to better treatment for the patient and to improved chances of identifying specific patient groups that respond well to new treatments.
Want to find out more?
Adaptive designs can be very valuable for improving the power, efficiency and ethics of a trial. If you would like support designing an adaptive trial please contact your local Research Design Service.