"Why walk when you can soar..."

These are the opening words on Tracy Todd’s website and they are a powerful affirmation of the person Tracy is today – a sought-after inspirational speaker whose uplifting presentations have inspired and given hope to many people. But it is difficult to imagine what she has overcome in a tough and often lonely journey.

At the age of twenty-eight her life was turned upside down when a horrific road accident left her a quadriplegic, paralysed from the neck down. Her life as an athletic, marathon-running young mother and teacher was abruptly shattered. Despite months of rehabilitation, Tracy often found herself wondering if her life was worth living. Everything she had taken for granted was now beyond her reach and frustration at her helplessness threatened to overwhelm her. Against the odds, Tracy chose to live.

Her strength of character and determination prevailed and, sustained by the support of her son, family and friends, her care assistants, and an unbelievably caring community, she set about gaining the independence to rebuild her life and reclaim her identity – which she has done, with dignity and grace. Brave Lotus Flower Rides The Dragon is an honest, inspiring and engaging memoir in which Tracy’s natural warmth and humour are tangible and, most importantly, she embodies what the human spirit can achieve.

New parents Pi and Cordelia have been enjoying a period of quiet since their last run-in with the reef's resident shark Troy.

Seeing an opportunity to kidnap Cordelia, Troy sends his loyal factotum Ronny into the community to distract Pi and the rest of his friends and neighbours while he concocts his plan of revenge.

But with Pi weary of strangers coming to the reef, it isn't long before he recognises Ronny's real intent and so sets about stopping Troy once and for all...

Your Damage Does Not Define You.

Underneath our designer clothes, makeup, jewellery, and photo filters are cracks left by abuse, mistakes, rejection, and disappointment. Bestselling author and pastor Michael Todd reveals his own damage: the hits he’s experienced from trauma, dumb choices, and lingering struggles passed down through generations. Using candid stories, engaging illustrations, and biblical wisdom, he encourages readers to be H.O.T.—humble, open, and transparent—and face the pain of past hits to move toward the triumphant future God has for them.

Damaged but Not Destroyed: From Trauma To Triumph will give you tools to identify the impact of your damage, see yourself the way God sees you, and realize that healing is all about progression, not perfection.

No matter how badly you’ve messed up, and no matter the pain you’ve experienced, nothing can destroy the God-given value of your life. It’s time to turn your damage into destiny! You may be damaged, but you are not destroyed.

The Encyclopedia of Fish Physiology is a comprehensive, introductory-level reference work that aims to unite readers in the wonders of this discipline. Fish live in almost every water system on this planet and represent more than half of all vertebrate species alive today. Fish physiology is a massive field of study and can be difficult to penetrate as most texts are written for readers with a post-secondary education in biology. This Encyclopedia aims to capture the interest of a more diverse group of readers, leading readers from core concepts to application in topics as far ranging as reproductive behaviours to surviving sub-zero temperatures. For example, from a foundation of heart anatomy, oxygen transport, and exercise physiology, readers can appreciate the challenges faced by migratory fish as river temperatures increase with climate change. The work aims and showing why biologists around the world choose to study fish physiology and what can be gained from such study. Chapters highlight where physiological systems and processes are conserved across vertebrate groups, which supports the use of fish as a vertebrate model for investigating fundamental problems in physiology and knowledge transfer to the medical field. Other chapters highlight unique specializations and adaptations that allow fish to survive in challenging environments, leading to a deeper appreciation of the natural world. Finally, other chapters demonstrate the consequences of perturbing physiological systems and how this knowledge can empower conservation strategies to protect fish. Much has changed in the field of fish physiology since publication of the previous, Prose award winning, edition. For example, we understand better the impacts of global climate change on the physiological systems of fish, and we have gained a deeper mechanistic understanding of physiological processes through technological advancements such as gene editing with CRISPR, whole genome sequencing, and quantitative ‘omic` approaches. The new edition will greatly expand the closing thematic section focused on applying fish physiology to real world challenges with topics including ocean acidification, declining habitat quality due to human activities, and the use of zebrafish in biomedical studies on tissue regeneration, neurological disorders and cancer. A new feature of the Encyclopedia is including presentation-ready summary slides of key concepts presented in each chapter, which will be a valuable tool for educators wishing to incorporate the Encyclopedia into class resources. All authors will be encouraged to enhance their chapters with multimedia features such as videos (ex. in fish behaviour chapters) and virtual microscope (ex. chapters on tissue morphology).

Research today demands the application of sophisticated and powerful research tools. Fulfilling this need, The Oxford Handbook of Quantitative Methods in Psychology is the complete tool box to deliver the most valid and generalizable answers to today's complex research questions. It is a one-stop source for learning and reviewing current best-practices in quantitative methods as practiced in the social, behavioral, and educational sciences. Comprising two volumes, this handbook covers a wealth of topics related to quantitative research methods. It begins with essential philosophical and ethical issues related to science and quantitative research. It then addresses core measurement topics before delving into the design of studies. Principal issues related to modern estimation and mathematical modeling are also detailed. Topics in the handbook then segway into the realm of statistical inference and modeling with chapters dedicated to classical approaches as well as modern latent variable approaches. Numerous chapters associated with longitudinal data and more specialized techniques round out this broad selection of topics. Comprehensive, authoritative, and user-friendly, this two-volume set will be an indispensable resource for serious researchers across the social, behavioral, and educational sciences.

In this book, the authors have placed culture in the forefront of their approach to study pain in an integrative manner. Culture should not be considered solely for knowing more about patients' values, beliefs, and practices. It should be studied with the purpose of unveiling its effects upon biological systems and the pain neuromatrix. The book discusses how a multidisciplinary and integrative approach to pain and analgesia should be considered. Some familiarity with the cultural background of patients and awareness of the provider's own cultural characteristics will allow the pain practitioner to better understand patients' values, attitudes and preferences. Knowledge of patients' cultural practices will allow determining the impact of culture on biological processes, including the origin and development of pain-related disease, and the patients' response to pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments. Acknowledging the interactions of molecules, genes and culture could yield a more appropriate and effective personalized pain medicine. Furthermore, this approach has the potential to transform the way pain medicine is taught to young students and future pain professionals, and in so doing meet the need of trained clinicians who are versed in multiple disciplines and are able to use an integrative approach to diagnose and treat pain. A personalized medicine will have non-negligible positive effects in improving doctor patient relationships, patient satisfaction, adherence to treatment plans, and health outcomes and inequities. It is hoped that the material in this volume will appeal to a broad cross-section of health practitioners, students and academicians, including pain medicine specialists, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, mental health, community and public health workers, health policy makers, and health administrators.

Granddaughter of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and sister of the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Fanny Hensel (1805-1847) was an extraordinary musician who left well over four hundred compositions, most of which fell into oblivion until their rediscovery late in the twentieth century. In Fanny Hensel: The Other Mendelssohn, R. Larry Todd offers a compelling, authoritative account of Hensel's life and music, and her struggle to emerge as a publicly recognized composer.

Transnational Cooperation: An Issue-Based Approach presents an analysis of transnational cooperation or collective action that stresses basic concepts and intuition. Throughout the book, authors Clint Peinhardt and Todd Sandler identify factors that facilitate and/or inhibit such cooperation. The first four chapters lay the analytical foundations for the book, while the next nine chapters apply the analysis to a host of exigencies and topics of great import. The authors use elementary game theory as a tool for illustrating the ideas put forth in the text. Game theory reminds us that rational actors (for example, countries, firms, or individuals) must account for the responses by other rational actors. The book assumes no prior knowledge of game theory; all game-theoretic concepts and analyses are explained in detail to the reader. Peinhardt and Sandler also employ paired comparisons in illustrating the book's concepts. The book is rich in applications and covers a wide range of topics, including superbugs, civil wars, money laundering, financial crises, drug trafficking, terrorism, global health concerns, international trade liberalization, acid rain, leadership, sovereignty, and many others. Students, researchers, and policymakers alike have much to gain from Transnational Cooperation. It is a crossover book for economics, political science, and public policy.

We typically think we have free will. But how could we have free will, if for anything we do, it was already true in the distant past that we would do that thing? Or how could we have free will, if God already knows in advance all the details of our lives? Such issues raise the specter of "fatalism". This book collects sixteen previously published articles on fatalism, truths about the future, and the relationship between divine foreknowledge and human freedom, and includes a substantial introductory essay and bibliography. Many of the pieces collected here build bridges between discussions of human freedom and recent developments in other areas of metaphysics, such as philosophy of time. Ideal for courses in free will, metaphysics, and philosophy of religion, Freedom, Fatalism, and Foreknowledge will encourage important new directions in thinking about free will, time, and truth.

Show Boat: Performing Race in an American Musical tells the full story of the making and remaking of the most important musical in Broadway history. Drawing on exhaustive archival research and including much new information from early draft scripts and scores, this book reveals how Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern created Show Boat in the crucible of the Jazz Age to fit the talents of the show's original 1927 cast. After showing how major figures such as Paul Robeson and Helen Morgan defined the content of the show, the book goes on to detail how Show Boat was altered by later directors, choreographers, and performers up to the end of the twentieth century. All the major New York productions are covered, as are five important London productions and four Hollywood versions.
Again and again, the story of Show Boat circles back to the power of performers to remake the show, winning appreciative audiences for over seven decades. Unlike most Broadway musicals, Show Boat put black and white performers side by side. This book is the first to take Show Boat's innovative interracial cast as the defining feature of the show. From its beginnings, Show Boat juxtaposed the talents of black and white performers and mixed the conventions of white-cast operetta and the black-cast musical. Bringing black and white onto the same stage--revealing the mixed-race roots of musical comedy--Show Boat stimulated creative artists and performers to renegotiate the color line as expressed in the American musical. This tremendous longevity allowed Show Boat to enter a creative dialogue with the full span of Broadway history. Show Boat's voyage through the twentieth century offers a vantage point on more than just the Broadway musical. It tells a complex tale of interracial encounter performed in popular music and dance on the national stage during a century of profound transformations.

EL Katz directs this dark comedy thriller starring Pat Healy, Ethan Embry, David Koechner and Sara Paxton. When Craig (Healy) loses his job and gets an eviction notice on his house he favours a drink at a local bar with old friend Vince (Embry) over returning home to his disapproving wife. When the cash-strapped duo are approached by a mysterious couple who propose a series of dares in exchange for money for their amusement Craig and Vince think their luck has arrived. As the dares get more dangerous and the wagers increase the pair start to wonder who these people really are. How far will they go to achieve the ultimate payout?

Double bill of children's features. 'Marmaduke' (2010) is a part live action, part CGI-animated family comedy based on the long-running comic strip. When the Winslow family moves from Kansas to Orange County, California with their goofy, accident-prone Great Dane, Marmaduke (voiced by Owen Wilson), the big dog experiences all kinds of trouble fitting in with his new canine neighbours. The film also features the voice talents of Emma Stone, William H. Macy, Sam Elliott, Steve Coogan and Kiefer Sutherland. 'Firehouse Dog' (2007) follows Rex, Hollywood's top-grossing canine known for his extreme athletic abilities and diva-like demeanour. His perks package, rivalling that of any A-list celebrity, includes Kobe beef, a poodle harem and a diamond collar. Unfortunately an accident that occurs while Rex is shooting a commercial leads his handlers to presume he's dead. But Rex is merely lost. Alone, filthy and unrecognisable in an unfamiliar city, how will Rex deal with a scenario much more common to dogs than his previous pampered existence?

Puffin Clothbound Classics are stunning collectable hardback editions of some of the best-loved classics in the world - including this charming edition of Kiki's Delivery Service, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2025.

'Everyone has some type of magic inside them. . .'

On her thirteenth birthday Kiki must decide whether she's going to leave home with her cat Jiji in tow and move to a town without another witch. She knows she has to use her magic to make a living, but Kiki's no good at potions or spells...

Can Kiki learn to control her magic and make her own way in the world?

Papyrological Texts in Honor of Roger S. Bagnall contains 70 new or substantially revised editions of documentary and non-documentary papyri and ostraca from Egypt edited by an international team of specialists. Texts span the 7th century B.C.E. to the 9th century C.E. They are written mainly in Greek but also in Latin, Egyptian, and Arabic. Each text is accompanied by a translation, line-by-line commentary, and photo. The volume includes the standard indices found in papyrological text editions.

The Hangover (2009)
Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis star as three friends who lose their best friend, Doug (Justin Bartha), just 40 hours before his wedding during the various drunken misadventures that occur at his Las Vegas bachelor party. The trio must attempt to retrace all the bad decisions they made the night before and figure out where things went wrong.

The Hangover: Part 2 (2011)
Alan (Galifianakis), Doug (Bartha), Phil (Cooper) and Stu (Helms) jet out to Bangkok for Stu's wedding to his Thai girlfriend (Jamie Chung). With the mortifying memories of Doug's bachelor party in Las Vegas forever etched in everyone's minds, Stu decides to play things safe. Surely nothing can go wrong with a sedate pre-wedding brunch... or can it? The supporting cast includes Liam Neeson and Juliette Lewis, while former president Bill Clinton makes a cameo appearance.

When war threatens her beloved city, Rowan and her mother must flee to the Dark Forest, meeting Grandpa and his white wolf Arto for the first time. Though she misses her father, Rowan makes new friends - including a trio of powerful witches. When she rescues a baby dragon from poachers, she discovers the secret of her own identity. Could Rowan really be a wildsmith? Fostering a whole clutch of dragons, the summer speeds by. But when danger threatens, Rowan and Grandpa must call on all their friends for help.

Spoof comedy that parodies 'The Hunger Games' (2012), 'The Hangover' (2009) and 'Ted' (2011).

When four friends travel to Las Vegas for a friend's bachelor party they intend to just have a quiet night of drinking in a casino motel. However, when they wake up the next morning to find that they are on a train and surrounded by a series of sex toys and paraphernalia as well as a woman called Effing (Tara Reid), they realise that they are trapped in a perverse version of 'The Hunger Games' where they are subjected to a series of fights to the death against tribute characters from well-known movies.

When Nyla has to leave her home in the countryside to start life again in the city, all she can think about is everything she misses from before. So when a comet comes crashing through the city streets and starts to glow and grow, Nyla can’t resist a chance to head somewhere that feels closer to what she had before … but what starts as an escape could be just the thing to make her finally feel at home. From the award-winning Joe Todd-Stanton, comes an exquisite and heartfelt picture book touching on the bewildering experience of moving house. This beautiful story explores how this can affect a child's sense of belonging, but also how it can open them up to new and wonderful experiences.

Follows the bestselling and multi-award winning The Final Year "Well-written, authentic and very moving." David Almond on The Final Year Nate’s eleven and has just finished Primary School. After a challenging final year, life is looking up. His brother has recovered from a life-threatening heart condition, he’s got the love of his mum, brothers and Auntie San, and he’s off to Secondary School with his two best mates. But while he's making new friends and avoiding the fists of Turner, his old nemesis, and struggling to come to terms with a strict new teacher and a sense of isolation from his brothers, a sudden surprise appearance in Nate's life threatens to throw him completely off course. And The Beast - the anger he tries so hard to control - reappears. Will Nate find a way to keep himself and his family together?

Gritty action thriller starring Cuba Gooding Jr. as a reporter trying to stop a serial killer. After discovering the dismembered body of his girlfriend, crime journalist Lewis Hicks (Gooding) finds a diary, seemingly left by the murderer, detailing a list of his next victims and the gruesome methods he will use to kill them. Realising his own name is on the list, Hicks must use all of his experience to track down the serial killer in a desperate race against time before the madman strikes again.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. Written by leading scholar Paul Todd, this Advanced Introduction draws on the author's decades of experience researching and teaching maritime law, offering a clear and concise introduction to the core areas of the field. In addition to providing a primer on the substance, it explains the worldwide applications of English law, and surveys the sources of law and how to locate them. It also highlights some of the difficulties in interpreting the law and pinpoints which individuals have been instrumental in doing so, and in making and developing the law. Key features include: broad but concise coverage of international sales, carriage of goods by sea, marine insurance and admiralty law the provision of references and citations for further study exploration of the recent and likely future developments for the field. The Advanced Introduction to Maritime Law will be a key resource for students and non-specialist scholars of commercial law, transport law and maritime law, while also appealing to professionals with an interest in expanding their knowledge of the topic.

Rowan starts to embrace her gifts as a magical wildsmith who heals and speaks to animals. But saving a young pegasus brings difficult decisions. Danger comes closer than ever, threatening her family and even Rowan's own life. When she is betrayed, which friends can she trust? With her family divided and war still raging, where does Rowan belong now?

Collection of feature-length animated adventures set in a Lego version of the DC universe. In 'Justice League: Cosmic Clash' (2016) the Justice League must defend Earth from Brainiac (voice of Phil LaMarr), a supercomputer that travels through space collecting planets, but with his sights set firmly on Earth, the heroes are going to have their work cut out. To make matters worse, as well as being seemingly impenetrable, Brainiac also has the ability to bend time. With members of the Justice League flung into different periods in Earth's history, will they be able to unite and defeat the dastardly foe? In 'Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom' (2015) evil Lex Luthor (John DiMaggio) forms a group of supervillains known as the Legion of Doom and plots to take over the world leaving the Justice League members, including Batman (Troy Baker), Superman (Nolan North), Wonder Woman (Grey Griffin), The Flash (James Arnold Taylor) and Green Lantern (Josh Keaton), to save the day. In 'Justice League: Gotham City Breakout' (2016) Batman reluctantly takes a holiday from fighting crime, with the members of the Justice League agreeing to protect Gotham City while he is gone. However, problems arise when the Joker (Jason Spisak) and the other villains breakout of Arkham Asylum. In 'Justice League Vs. Bizarro League' (2015) Superman decides he can no longer contain his evil mirror image Bizarro (North) in Metropolis and decides to send him back to his home planet. Once there the destructive clone forms his own rival group of superheroes to fight back. But when Darkseid (Tony Todd) threatens Bizarro's planet and the entire galaxy, Superman and the rest of the Justice League are forced to join forces with their polar opposites in the newly formed Bizarro League to defeat Darkseid and restore order to their universe.

Buddhist studies is a rapidly changing field of research, constantly transforming and adapting to new scholarship. This creates a problem for instructors, both in a university setting and in monastic schools, as they try to develop a curriculum based on a body of scholarship that continually shifts in focus and expands to new areas. Teaching Buddhism establishes a dialogue between the community of instructors of Buddhism and leading scholars in the field who are updating, revising, and correcting earlier understandings of Buddhist traditions. Each chapter presents new ideas within a particular theme of Buddhist studies and explores how courses can be enhanced with these insights. Contributors in the first section focus on the typical approaches, figures, and traditions in undergraduate courses, such as the role of philosophy in Buddhism, Nagarjuna, Yogacara Buddhism, tantric traditions, and Zen Buddhism. They describe the impact of recent developments-like new studies in the cognitive sciences-on scholarship in those areas. Part Two examines how political engagement and ritual practice have shaped the tradition throughout its history. Focus then shifts to the issues facing instructors of Buddhism-dilemmas for the scholar-practitioner in the academic and monastic classroom, the tradition's possible roles in teaching feminism and diversity, and how to present the tradition in the context of a world religions course. In the final section, contributors offer stories of their own experiences teaching, paying particular attention to the ways in which American culture has impacted them. They discuss the development of courses on American Buddhism; using course material on the family and children; the history and trajectory of a Buddhist-Christian dialog; and Buddhist bioethics, environmentalism, economic development, and social justice. In synthesizing this vast and varied body of research, the contributors in this volume have provided an invaluable service to the field