This book contains a collection of articles on fractal image compression. Beginners will find simple explanations, working C code, and exercises to check their progress. Mathematicians will find a rigorous and detailed development of the subject. Non-mathematicians will find a parallel intuitive discussion that explains what is behind all the "theorem-proofs." Finally, researchers- even researchers in fractal image compression - will find new and exciting results, both theoretical and applied.

Prolog is a logical and a declarative programming language. The name itself, Prolog, is short for PROgramming in LOGic. Prolog's heritage includes the research on theorem provers and other automated deduction systems developed in the 1960s and 1970s. The inference mechanism of Prolog is based upon Robinson's resolution principle (1965) together with mechanisms for extracting answers proposed by Green (1968). These ideas came together forcefully with the advent of linear resolution procedures. Explicit goal-directed linear resolution procedures, such as those of Kowalski and Kuehner (1971) and Kowalski (1974), gave impetus to the development of a general purpose logic programming system. The "first" Prolog was "Marseille Prolog" based on work by Colmerauer (1970). The first detailed description of the Prolog language was the manual for the Marseille Prolog interpreter (Roussel, 1975). The other major influence on the nature of this first Prolog was that it was designed to facilitate natural language processing.

The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for protecting the United States from terrorism. It does so partly through the Urban Areas Security Initiative, though its distribution has been criticized for not reflecting risk. This monograph offers a practical definition of terrorism risk and a method for estimating it that addresses inherent uncertainties. It also demonstrates a framework for evaluating alternative risk estimates. Finally, it makes five recommendations for improving resource allocation.

The Words and Music of Frank Zappa moves beyond the details of Frank Zappa’s life (1940–93) toward a focused treatment of the rock and pop songs of this great American composer. Today Zappa’s music can be appreciated as a whole, emerging as a coherent, thoughtful, and innovative—if somewhat daunting—body of work. Author Kelly Fisher Lowe has left no aspect of that work unexamined, from Zappa’s role as a satirist of the highest order to his place in the genre of “progressive rock” and his importance as an influential critic of American culture and society. The volume begins with discussions of Zappa's role as a satirist and his musical style, then proceeds to an in-depth examination of his albums. Through this extended engagement with Zappa’s music, a surprisingly clear perspective on his personal views emerges, shedding light on his treatment of such topics as the falsified notion of love in popular culture, the compromising influence of money on popular music, and the concept of freedom in a systematized society. The book includes an official discography and an up-to-date bibliographic essay.