Locked

ESPN personality, former Dancing with the Stars contestant, and Paralympics champion Victoria Arlen shares her courageous and miraculous story of recovery after falling into a mysterious vegetative state at age eleven and how she broke free, overcame the odds, and never gave up hope. When Victoria Arlen was eleven years old, she contracted two rare diseases simultaneously and fell into a mysterious vegetative state. For two years her mind was dark, but in the third year, her mind broke free, and she was able to think clearly and to hear and feel everything—but no one knew. Her doctors wrote her off as a lost cause, and Victoria remained a prisoner in her own body for nearly four years. But every day, silently in her own mind, Victoria would pray to God, and she promised Him that if He gave her a second chance, she would make every moment count, and change the world for the better. At fifteen, against all odds and medical predictions, Victoria woke up. Finally she was able to communicate through eye blinks, and gradually, she regained her ability to speak and eat and move her upper body, but she faced the devastating reality of paralysis from the waist down because of damage to her spine. However, Victoria didn’t lose her strength or steadfast determination, and two years later, she won a gold medal for swimming at the London 2012 Paralympics. She went on to become one ESPN’s youngest on air-personalities and, after nearly ten years of paralysis, she learned to walk again and even competed on Dancing with the Stars. In Locked In, Victoria shares her inspiring story—the pain, the struggle, the fight to live and thrive, and most importantly, the faith that carried her through. Her journey was not easy, but by believing in God’s healing power and forgiveness, she is living proof that, despite seemingly insurmountable odds and challenges, the will to survive and resolve to live can be a force stronger than our worst deterrents.

Dr. Shawn Jennings shares his experiences in the struggle for recovery and acceptance of his new life after suffering a brain stem stroke.

The book reports two approaches of implementation of the essential components of a Digital Phase Locked Loop based system for dealing with wireless channels showing Nakagami-m fading. It is mostly observed in mobile communication. In the first approach, the structure of a Digital phase locked loop (DPLL) based on Zero Crossing (ZC) algorithm is proposed. In a modified form, the structure of a DPLL based systems for dealing with Nakagami-m fading based on Least Square Polynomial Fitting Filter is proposed, which operates at moderate sampling frequencies. A sixth order Least Square Polynomial Fitting (LSPF) block and Roots Approximator (RA) for better phase-frequency detection has been implemented as a replacement of Phase Frequency Detector (PFD) and Loop Filter (LF) of a traditional DPLL, which has helped to attain optimum performance of DPLL. The results of simulation of the proposed DPLL with Nakagami-m fading and QPSK modulation is discussed in detail which shows that the proposed method provides better performance than existing systems of similar type.

This thesis investigates passively mode-locked semiconductor lasers by numerical methods. The understanding and optimization of such devices is crucial to the advancement of technologies such as optical data communication and dual comb spectroscopy. The focus of the thesis is therefore on the development of efficient numerical models, which are able both to perform larger parameter studies and to provide quantitative predictions. Along with that, visualization and evaluation techniques for the rich spatio-temporal laser dynamics are developed; these facilitate the physical interpretation of the observed features. The investigations in this thesis revolve around two specific semiconductor devices, namely a monolithically integrated three-section tapered quantum-dot laser and a V-shaped external cavity laser. In both cases, the simulations closely tie in with experimental results, which have been obtained in collaboration with the TU Darmstadt and the ETH Zurich. Based on the successful numerical reproduction of the experimental findings, the emission dynamics of both lasers can be understood in terms of the cavity geometry and the active medium dynamics. The latter, in particular, highlights the value of the developed simulation tools, since the fast charge-carrier dynamics are generally not experimentally accessible during mode-locking operation. Lastly, the numerical models are used to perform laser design explorations and thus to derive recommendations for further optimizations.

A tutorial of phase-locked loops from analogue implementations to digital and optical designs. This text establishes a foundation of continuous-time analysis techniques and maintains a consistent notation as discrete-time and non-uniform sampling are presented. It examines charge pumps and the complementary sequential phase detector. Frequency synthesizers and digital divider analysis/techniques are also included in this edition.; Starting with a historical overview, presenting analogue, digital, and optical PLLs, discussing phase noise analysis, and including circuits/algorithms for data synchronization, this volume illustrates the techniques being used in this field.; The subjects covered include: development of phase-locked loops from analogue to digital and optical, with notation throughout; expanded coverage of the loop filters used to design second- and third-order PLLs; design examples on delay-locked loops used to synchronize circuits on CPUs and ASICS; new material on digital dividers that dominate a frequency synthesizer's noise floor; techniques to analytically estimate the phase noise of a divider; presentation of optical phase-locked loops with primers on the optical components and fundamentals of optical mixing; a section on automatic frequency control to provide frequency-locking of the lasers instead of phase-locking; and a presentation of charge pumps, counters, and delay-locked loops.; This volume includes the topics that should be of interest to wireless, optics, and the traditional phase-locked loop specialist to design circuits and software algorithms.

It had always been the three of us, and then it was the two of us-Ed and August. There was not, nor had there ever been a chance of a Noah and August. And that was fine. Because the truth was I had known Noah forever but I still had no idea who he really was. Especially not now. In this sizzling novella, one girl must choose between loyalty and love. August had the two best guy friends a girl could ask for in Noah and Ed. Then Ed confessed he felt more for her - and their new relationship changed everything. She had hoped it would be Noah that she'd end up with someday, but it's clearer than ever that Noah's just not interested in being a one-girl guy. When the small seaplane the three of them are on crashes, August finds herself injured and marooned on an island with ... Noah. Unsure of what's become of Ed, August and Noah do their best to not lose hope as they fight to survive on an island that is not as deserted as they first believed. But fighting the elements - and their attraction to each other - becomes a losing battle. Soon, a secret from Noah's past that could bind them to the island forever is revealed, and August must choose between giving into her feelings for him, or struggling to make it back home.

This book provides a comprehensive review of the latest research on the science, technology, and applications of mode-locked fiber lasers generating pulse trains with the evolving state of polarization at time scales ranging from a few pulse widths to 10,000 laser cavity round-trip times. It supports readers with a timely source of information on the current novel scientific concepts, and cost-effective schematics, in addition to an overview of the feasible applications. The book aims to demonstrate for the nonlinear science community a newly emerging field of nonlinear science, and so stimulates the development of new theoretical approaches and opens new horizons for the photonics community by pushing boundaries of the existing laser systems towards new applications. The new classes of optical sources and photonic devices explored in this book will be relevant with applications to other fields, including medicine, bio-photonics, metrology, and environmental safety. Key Features • Provides a cutting edge review of the latest emerging science, technology and applications in the field. • Tackles a topic with fast growing interest in USA, Europe and China. • Explores the simple and cheap design and tests of lasers, and outlines the feasible applications.

Applications of phase-locked loops play an increasingly important role in modern electronic systems, and the last 25 years have seen new developments in the underlying theories as well. Phase-Locked Loops presents the latest information on the basic theory and applications of PLLs. Organized in a logical format, it first introduces the subject in a qualitative manner and discusses key applications. Next, it develops basic models for components of a PLL, and these are used to develop a basic PLL model. The text then discusses both linear and nonlinear methods that are used to analyze the basic PLL model. This book includes extensive coverage of the nonlinear behavior of phase-locked loops, an important area of this field and one where exciting new research is being performed. No other book available covers this critical area in such careful detail. Improvements brought about by the advent of the personal computer, especially in the use of numerical results, are integrated into the text. This book also focuses on PLL component technologies used in system implementation.