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Shellsort is a particular method of sorting data on digital computers. Associated with each variant of Shellsort is a sequence of integers that characterizes that variant. In the paper the author answers some open questions about the speed of Shellsort with certain characteristic sequences, and suggests a novel application of Shellsort, namely to sorting networks. Shellsort with any characteristic sequence that approximates a geometric progression and that has short coprime subsequences through takes O(n sup 3/2) units of time. For any sequence that approximates a geometric progression with an integer common ratio, this bound is the best possible. However, if the sequence consists of the descending sequence of positive integers less than n and having only 2 and 3 as prime factors, then Shellsort takes only O(n log squared n) units of time. Sorting networks based on Shellsort with this sequence operate approximately 1.5 times as fast as with previous methods.

A children's book detailing early American history from the Norsemen to the Revolution, meant for educational use.

History is brought to life in the second volume of American History Stories by Mara L. Pratt. It is a wonderful introduction for children to American history, this volume beginning with the causes of the American Revolution. Although each chapter is short, it is full of fascinating information, and so well-written that adults will enjoy it as much as children. (Summary by Laura Caldwell)<br /><br /><i>Reader's Note</i>: This edition contains patriotic songs of the time period. Where these songs have occurred, the lyrics have been read. The music for these songs may be found in the text.

3Key to the Science of Theology

By Parley Pratt

"The present Volume aims to embody, in a concise and somewhat original manner and style, a general view of the Science of Theology, as gathered from revelation, history, prophecy, reason and analogy. If the Work proves an introductory key to some of the first principles of the divine science of which it treats; if it serves to open the eyes of any of his fellowmen, on the facts of the past, the present, and the future; if it leads to investigation and inquiry, and calls public attention to the greater and more particular truths which have been, or are about to be, revealed as a standard by which to unite the people of all nations and of all religions upon the rock, the sure foundation of divine, eternal, uncreated, infinite and exhaustless Truth, it will have accomplished the end aimed at by THE AUTHOR." (Summary from preface)

4Blue Star

By Fletcher Pratt

The novel is set in a parallel world in which the existence of psychic powers has permitted the development of witchcraft into a science; in contrast, the physical sciences have languished, resulting in a modern culture reminiscent of our eighteenth century. </br></br> The protagonists are Lalette Asterhax, a hereditary witch, and Rodvard Bergelin, an ordinary government clerk who has been recruited into the radical conspiracy of the Sons of the New Day. Rodvard, though attracted to the daughter of a baron, is commanded by his superiors to seduce Lalette instead to gain the use of her blue star in the furtherance of their revolutionary aims. The witch is no more truly enamored of him than he is of her, but both fall in with the scheme for their own reasons, unaware of how much they are simply pawns in the larger scheme of things. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia)

This recording comprises chapters from two different works: How To Visit The English Cathedrals (1912) by Esther Singleton, and The Cathedral Churches Of England (1911) by Helen Marshall Pratt. Each book devotes a chapter to each cathedral, but this recording includes only the introductory chapters of general information. - Summary by David Wales

“Sugar Plums” by Ella Farman Pratt is a wonderful, sometimes tragic, collection of children's poems that run the spectrum between bliss and misfortune of seemingly ordinary days to the flights of fancy of children, parents and creatures alike; in places like stately homes, humble nests, city streets, and farm fields, just to name a few. Their stories are a masterful blend of whimsy and mischief, beauty and bewilderment, simplicity and, sometimes, sorrow. The journey that this collection takes its audience on is like no other - Summary by DOLZ

7Legends of Norseland

By Mara L. Pratt

Collection of tales from the Norse legends, from the beginning of the golden kingdom of the Aesir, to it's end within the flames of Ragnarok. (Summary by Ryan Williams)

8Key to the Science of Theology (Version 2)

By Parley Pratt

Written by Parley P. Pratt, a prominent early member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormons, "Key to the Science of Theology" was first published in 1855 and is considered a classic work of Mormon theology. The book covers a wide range of theological topics, beginning with a spiritual history of the Jews and Gentiles as they first gain and then lose knowledge of God, and then moving progressively into topics foundational to the expansive and peculiar cosmology of the Latter-day Saints. Pratt draws heavily on the scriptures, both Old and New Testaments as well as the LDS revelations, to persuade an audience of mixed religious traditions. One of the key themes of the book is the idea that God is a loving, personal being who is intimately involved in the lives of his children. Pratt emphasizes the importance of faith, repentance, and obedience to God's commandments in order to receive salvation and exaltation. Summary by James Bleckley

9Onslaught from Rigel

By Fletcher Pratt

“Mr. Pratt is well known for .… his excellent knowledge of warfare, and what a future war might be like. In this story he combines that knowledge with a vivid and fertile scientific imagination to construct an interplanetary story …. many scientists believe that life may originally have come to earth in the form of spores, from other solar systems and other universes. We therefore might really have had our home dim ages ago, on worlds distantly removed from our earth. <br><br> The ability to travel the interstellar spaces, however, might also be possessed by other creatures—creatures driven by fear, necessity and by the will to conquer. And if they come, in mighty waves, with scientific powers far beyond us, to dominate the earth, a terrible time will face the puny human race. <br><br> And in this story they do come, and provoke some of the strangest and most exciting adventures that have yet been recorded. (Summary excerpted from the Preface.)

10Potemkin Village

By Fletcher Pratt

Tolstoia, a colony on Venus, is populated by followers of the 19th century Russian novelist, Count Leo Tolstoi. They have developed their own curious political system that deems itself a pacifist Utopia. Curiously, however, any inhabitants who try to leave end up committing suicide. Our small band of heros and heroines have been despatched to Tolstoia to determine whether they should be given the permission of the Intercolonial Office to colonize a nearby group of uninhabited islands. Their mission is to determine whether Tolstoia really is Utopia or merely a Potemkin Village, created to fool the rest of humankind. - Summary by Winnifred Assmann