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For those who have experience in logic programming, either with Prolog or some other language, such as Lisp, or even a high-level symbolic programming language like Mathematica or Maple, this book could serve as a first course or a summary of Prolog programming. Research in logic programming is still an active area, and the approach taken in logic programming languages seems more natural from the standpoint of mathematical (predicate) logic. The author, in this short book, gives the reader an appreciation of Prolog and the philosophy and constructions behind logic programming. Many examples are employed that illustrate how to code in Prolog and how useful it can be in real-world applications.

In the first chapter, the author gives some justification for programming in Prolog, such as its symbol manipulation capability, automatic backtracking, the view that data structures and programs are of the same form, and the relational form of clauses. The syntax of Prolog is then discussed, and examples given of the three kinds of terms in Prolog. Readers with some background in category theory will appreciate the discussion more, as the author does employ some of this in the discussion, for example the view of addition as being a functor of a term. Terms are drawn in tree form in this chapter and throughout the book. The author then characterizes a Prolog program as a set of procedures, with each defining a predicate, and consisting of one or more (Horn) clauses. Unification of terms is discussed as a basic operation that determines when two clauses can be made equivalent by a substitution of variables. The execution of a program is viewed as a querying of the clauses, and the goal or e nd of the program is a proof that the goal is true.

Data structures in Prolog are discussed in chapter 2 as generalizations of programs using compound terms instead of just constants and variables. Lists are defined and their syntax discussed, along with dot and bracket notation. The implementation of simple arithmetic in Prolog is discussed. Several effective examples are given to illustrate arithmetic and list manipulation in Prolog.

Mappings, which are relations between two data structures, are the topic of chapter 3, and the author gives many examples illustrating how it is used to compose Prolog programs and how they act an both lists and more general trees.

The built-in predicate "cut" is discussed in the next chapter as a predicate to allow backtracking control of the program. The author gives many examples illustrating the problems involved with the use of "cut".

Difference structures are discussed in chapter 5 as a tool to simplify and increase program efficiency. A generalization of the idea of an accumulator, they allow one to work with "holes" in data structures during actual program execution. A list for example, can be viewed as "open" with its elements known only up to a point. It can then be filled in with an empty or a proper list. A difference list, discussed in the chapter, is then a list represented as a pair of "front" and "back", with the back being variable.

Applications of term rewriting are given in chapter 6, with symbolic differentiation launching the discussion. This is the more popular example of what Prolog-type languages can do, and is usually the reason given for beginning the use of symbolic programming languages. The author also discussed matrix multiplication in this chapter.

The next two chapters discuss the representation and manipulation of logical circuits using Prolog, including shift registers and coding circuits. This is followed in chapter 9 by an interesting discussion on how to write a compiler in Prolog, with the author discussing compilation for a single-accumulator computer, a RISC machine, and a stack machine. This is followed in chapter 10 by an even more interesting discussion on how to write a Fast Fourier transform in Prolog.

The last chapter of the book discusses how to use higher-order functional programming techniques in Prolog. For individuals, like myself, who are convinced that functional and logic programming are the most effective programming paradigms, this chapter is very interesting reading. The author defines an evaluator written in Prolog for these higher-order functional programs. Functional programming views computation as a collection of function applications on an expression representing a particular problem, and these functions can then be viewed as arguments to other functions. The lambda calculus from mathematical logic serves as the foundation for functional programming, and the author reviews this quickly, along with the technique of currying, in order to obtain facilities for functional programming in Prolog. Although short, this chapter introduces the reader to a fascinating area, and helpful references are given at the end of the chapter.

For years I've tried to find a short Prolog text for my Computer languages course. I cover Prolog in 4 weeks and so didn't want a huge 400+ page text. Clause and Effect comes in at about 1/2 inch thick. I've come to love this one for what it does. It introduces some basic topics, then includes a number of "worksheets" at the end of each chapter. It offers a "learning by doing" approach (the worksheets are short "lab exercises"). A word of warning - don't expect to learn everything about Prolog from this text. It does not go into the philosophy and theory of Prolog and logic programming. But for my needs it's perfect.

First, let me state that I am a lay person and that I found this book only after experiencing my own epidural complications. The book is well-organized, concise (sometimes a little too concise when a little more explanation would help), and only requires a reasonable number of trips to the medical dictionary if one is a lay reader. There are a few redundancies in the book (authors of individual chapters overlapping each other), but only a few. It is definitely not dry reading if there are things in there one needs to know!

I think Dr. Finucane has done a service to both the anesthesia provider community and the health care consumer to gather this information in a single volume. With regard to my own experiences, it answered many of my questions and made my remaining questions much more intelligent. I would recommend it highly to anyone considering regional anesthesia, or anyone considering another anesthesia method when regional anesthesia would also be a valid choice for a given procedure. The best way to have regional anesthesia is with a thorough understanding of risks and possible complications, and with an active commitment of the designated anesthesia provider to minimize those risks and complications. If you read this book before your anesthesia (instead of afterwards, like I did), you will be in an excellent position to obtain the former and judge the latter. Thank you, Dr. Finucane.

With the recent resurgence in regional anesthesia and the increase in courses in regional anesthesia techniques, this book fills an important aspect of practice not usually addressed. I was introduced to this important area with a lecture of this topic by Dr Finucane himself in a Bombay conference on anesthesia. In this book he highlighted an important idea that is lacking in most regional anesthesia training programs all over the world - that complications and its treatment ought to be taught at the beginning. The chapters were well organised, laid out and explanations simple and well explained. The areas covered were very comprehensive covering Obstetric, Acute and Chronic Pain Management involving various aspects as anatomy, physiology, pathology and management as well as prevention. I would like to congratulate Dr. Finucane and his contributors for this book.

This is an an easy to read but very informative book, excellent for students. The end of chapter glossary and list of commonly used drugs is invaluable. This book provides the need to know stuff about OT.

I am taking my Adult Physical Dysfunction class right now and almost every diagnosis in the book is one that we are studying. The case studies throughout the book are very helpful and BEST of all, the book gives an Occupational Performance Profile to let me (as a beginning OT) know which performance areas and components are being affected for each specific patient. It is a wonderful book.

I found this book to be quite helpful for research projects. I reccommend this book for students to use for these kinds of purposes.

Aside from the physical and mental costs associated, sometimes long after, with abortion, this small, but powerful book takes a look at the economic costs of abortion.

We like to think that our sins have no cost. This well-researched work demonstrates that in addition to the damage done to our soul, there is a long-term social effect on American society.

This book is NOT designed for theological debate. It is an important work to be read by people on both sides of the issue. It confronts the cumulative economic effects impacting society.

For example, could the labor shortages nationwide be the result of the widespread availability of abortion on demand?

The author uses charts and graphs to demonstrate, for example, that using cumulative abortion figures the estimated total federal tax revenues that would have been collected by those aborted in 1991 alone would have been more than $135,073,193,50.

The author also examines abortion's costs in relation to Gross Domestic Product, Education, Lower Birth Rates,Fertility,Adoption, and Population Growth.

Roberge provides a sobering analysis of the social, economic, and demographic effects of abortion on the country. If abortion continues unabated the long-range effects will clearly be seen in labor, social security, industrial productivity, and eventually national security.

I posted the only other review of this useful book. I would just like to make a couple of emendations. The author of this book compiles useful graphics and charts to explain why every 18 inches of topsoil will reduce radiation in a shelter by a factor of ten. This is helpful, as far as it goes.

I would just like to point out something that he doesn't go into in much depth, namely the fact that a shock wave from a nuclear blast could very easily blow away a lot of that topsoil, even if you were a few miles from the blast center. Also, he should go into more detail about the fact that the guidance systems of Russian, Iraqi, etc. missiles are not very well tested, thank God. The problem with this is that there is considerable uncertainty about where they might actually strike. We just can't be sure -- they could be "off" their intended targets by a matter of miles. Therefore, if, like me, you are absolutely terrified of the very high chance that this kind of war could happen in the not-necessarily-very-distant future, you should try hard to procure shelter AS FAR AS POSSIBLE from cities, oil refineries or military targets. Ever consider buying yourself some real estate in Saskatchewan? How about Manitoba? You might want to give the idea some careful thought. And once you've bought it, try building your shelter a lot more than three feet underground. Personally, I hope to build mine at least ten or fifteen feet down, when I can afford it. Finally, don't forget about HYDROPONICS. There are a lot of ways you can grow food in a shelter, if the outside environment should become lethal for crops. Please do as much research as you can about hydroponics online -- unless, of course, you don't consider having a reliable food supply after civilization falls apart to be a high priority. Good luck.

You are one seriously paranoid individual! Get yourself some help. Just thought you might benefit from some candid feedback.

First of all, it should be clarified that John F. Hoffecker's version of what constitutes "Eastern Europe" is the land between the Carpathian Mountains on the west and the Ural Mountains on the east. (Compare this with my review of "The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe"). The imprecise title may cause disappointment to some readers expecting a wider geographical scope for the book.

While this book can be seen a follow-up to his mentor Richard G. Klein's 1973 work "Ice-Age Hunters of the Ukraine", Mr. Hoffecker brings to the subject his own unique expertise in the general study of the archeology of people living in cold environments and applies it to the specific case of these people who amazingly managed to survive in this highly inhospitiable environment during the height of the Ice Age.

The book is divided into seven chapters. The first discusses general anthropological principles and theories pertaining to human adaptation and development in cold environments. The second outlines the environmental conditions of the specific area under study in the book.

The next two chapters focus on Neanderthal finds in the area. The following two chapters discuss the replacement of the local Neanderthal population by the Cro-magnons, and the development of their way of life in the cold Loess Steppe environment. The final chapter summarizes the discussion and is followed by an extremely valuable and extensive bibliography, more than half of which consists of non-English (primarily Russian) sources.

In reading this work I was struck by the ingenuity of these people in the ways they adapted to survive (such as cutting "meat freezers" into the permafrost ground to preserve food for leaner months ahead), and felt that they were much more intelligent than we generally credit prehistoric people as having been. Given the same materials and conditions to survive under, I doubt that I could do half as well as they did.

In summary, this book makes an extremely worthy contribution to the dire lack of knowledge about this subject available in English. The author makes extensive use of the work of Russian and Ukrainian archeologists, as well as knowledge gained from his own participation in digs in the area and access to collections of finds previously closed to Western scholars during the Soviet era.

My only reason for giving this book 4 stars instead of 5 is due to some disappointment with the illustrations in the book. All of them are merely reproductions of drawings of artifacts from earlier Soviet-era publications. With his access to the jealously-guarded collections Mr. Hoffecker has written of, it would seem to have been desirable to include new photographs of at least some of these artifacts which have never been seen by Western eyes.

It is hoped that this oversight can be remedied in the future by some sort of companion volume which focuses more on providing a visual record of the artifacts and sites in question to supplement the excellent information the author has provided in the present work.

John F. Hoffecker gives us a book about Ice-Age settlement in Eastern Europe. Starting with the Neanderthals and moving on to modern humans, he writes about how both adapted to the cold climates with technology, social organization, language and even the use of, or lack of, symbols.
'Desolate Landscapes' is one of the most detailed, most complete record of archaeological information I have ever found in any book. Primary sources from Russian literature added greatly to the knowledge we already have about Neanderthals and early modern man. Not light reading, but it can be delightful reading if you enjoy books on early humans or history.

This was a wonderful book. I enjoyed reading it to my neice who also enjoyed it. It is good that most disney movies are also books. It gives children the chance to learn while they enjoy their favorite disney story. Aladin happens to be one of mine.

In 141 pages Karen Kreider tells the story of Disney's Aladdin and goes beyond it. Supported by full color images directly taken from the film. A recommendation for any Disney lover. Great way to introduce the story of Aladdin to anyone who wants to learn more about the movie but can't watch it.

This collection of essays on DDE includes some classics of the literature, including Anscombe, Bennett (earlier work) and Foot. It is somewhat misleading to have Foot's piece included in the "contra DDE" section, particularly given her later piece "Morality, Action and Outcome," which is somewhat sympathetic to the doctrine. Anscombe's "Medalist's Address" is an underread and underappreciated piece of philosophy of action. It is a shame that the collection came out too early to include the provocative "Doing Away With Double Effect" by Alison McIntyre, but when an editor is dealing with such a heavily discussed issue in moral philosophy and action theory such is to be expected. All in all a useful collection.

Anyone who is interested in contemporary academic moral theory should own this book. The Doctrine of Double Effect states that it may be morally permissible to do something harmful to some people, in order to secure a greater good for others, but only if the foreseeable harm is unintended (i.e., you could think of it as a "side effect" of the action). For example, some draw a distinction in warfare between strategic bombing (in which military installations, factories, bridges and the like are targeted) and terror bombing (in which civilians, hospitals, schools and the like are targeted). As bombs often hit things that aren't targets, strategic bombers can foresee that they will hit some kindergartens and private homes. Yet there seems to be a moral difference between those who kill civilians in war as a side effect of carrying on their warfare, and those who intend the deaths of these civilians, as a necessary means to what they hope to accomplish.

This volume contains 19 essays, some of which defend and some of which criticize the doctrine. Paul Woodward has done an excellent job of selecting the most important essays on this subject, which is one that is central to contemporary moral philosophy.

I found this book a page tunner. It really brought me into the outside world and exposed me to my surroundings. I feel more in touch with the biotic factors around me.

This book is so good. I swear! Just buy it. Toms River Rules

William deBuys combines history, anthropology, ethnography, and environmental and land use science to show how all of these threads weave through three cultures -- Pueblo indian, Hispano, and Anglo -- in the Sangre de Cristo range of northern New Mexico to create a unique and fascinating place. The book is scholarly in its scope, but very readable. From the haunting, almost surreal image he paints in the Preface, in which he describes stumbling across a downed airplane in the snowbound mountains of the Pecos Wilderness, to the vivid character study of an Hispano couple reminiscing about their courtship and wedding over sixty years ago, deBuys's writing is consistenly fine. Anyone interested in this part of the country, or anyone interested in how a specific landscape acts and is acted upon by three radically different cultures, will enjoy this book. Highly recommended

Very well written, a lovely landscape of history, thoughts, and pictures... one of three books by the same author that lured me to that beautiful land of North Central New Mexico... if only for a visit... worth the money, worth the time, worth the magic.