John O'Gorman

This is a very stimulating and challenging book. It doesn't shy away at all from many vexing and challenging issues, some of which have been debated by the profession for a very long time. Its audience is far more than advanced undergraduates, however. Due to its timely and specific relevance, it is as pertinent to the practising professional as it is to senior students who have decided that they wish to become professional psychologists. The book is useful to other professions as well, because of a number of the features the professions share in common. All professions can learn from the book's elaboration of what the term 'professional' might mean to us in contemporary life. I commend this book very highly." - Peter Sheehan AO Psychology is a science and a profession. As a science, it is concerned with the empirical investigation of behaviour and mental life and the theories this gives rise to. As a profession, it is concerned with promoting human well-being and performance. This book is about how ideas central to what it means to be a profession are expressed in the case of psychology. It is concerned with professional psychology, the features it shares with other professions, and the impact social change has had on professions in general. Those setting out on the path of professional practice will find it helpful to reflect on what being a member of a profession means. The book is written primarily for third-year psychology students who are looking eagerly to becoming practitioner psychologists. It begins with a discussion of what it means to describe a cultural practice as a profession, then moves on to a little history, the modern-day status of psychology, training, competencies, ethics, and the regulation and representation of psychology and psychologists. Suggested readings are included for each chapter.

This title covers the basic theory of design and implementation in depth using Linux as an example. It should appeal to an instructor who is already facing the challenge of drawing material from many sources, and encourage others to take up this approach to the teaching of operating systems.

The Grassroots series has been designed to meet the students needs. The books address core subjects, are concise and affordable. They provide the student with enough resources and support, to pass a one semester course. Grassroots books have a common theme; they will inspire, educate and stimulate even the most reluctant of students. Macmillan Press, the Authors, and the series editor, Fintan Culwin are all working towards a standard of excellence which will enlighten and encourage the reader to extend their knowledge.Operating Systems has a traditional arrangement of material. Chapter 1 introduces the reader to operating systems, and gives an overview of the rest of the book. Chapter 2 covers the traditional material on processes, but with more emphasis than usual on threads. Chapter 3 considers interactions between concurrent threads, including semaphores, message queues, and monitors. On the assumption that this is the only place where a student will meet concurency, it goes into the topic in some detail. Memory management is covered in Chapter 4, including segmentation and paging. Input/Output is dealt with over two chapters: Chapter 5 concentrates on the high-level, device independent aspects, while Chapter 6 looks at low-level aspects such as the interface with hardware, control of devices, and file organisation on disk. Chapter 7 introduces the reader to distributed computer systems, and goes into some detail on communication mechanisms, and various distributed services which can be built on top of these. Finally, Chapter 8 looks briefly at fault handling and security issues, in both stand-alone and distributed systems.