Electronics Books

Finally, a Publisher book that is smart, helpful, and enjoyable to read. This book will help you get started with Publisher, create original and fabulous designs for your publications, learn new tricks, and discover cool and otherwise unknown features. This is well-researched and written with care and understanding of the product and the people who use it. I work on the Publisher user assistance team and let me tell you, this book is the best I've seen!

I'm so happy to see a book that documents how versatile designing in Microsoft Publisher can be. In clear, concise tutorials, the authors show how to use the Publisher Design templates as they are, how to alter the templates, and how to create your own publications based on basic design principles.

This is the best introduction to Publisher I've read. The tutorials are clear and focused, providing all the instruction you need to create everything from business cards and brochures to logos and letterhead. There are plenty of useful graphics, helpful tips, and design suggestions to get you started quickly. I especially liked the use of real-life scenarios that show you how to use Publisher to create documents tailored to specific business needs.

This guide is very helpful. I gives you hints, tricks and so forth. It is very easy to understand and I read it whenever I am losing in my season(I am the St.Louis Blues - go Blues! ). If you are already already good at this game it will make you a grand master. I am only average at the game at best.

I recently bought a Sega Dreamcast and NHL 2K. NHL2K is a very complicated game. I needed some help so I purchased this guide. It has improved my play dramatically. I am the best in my neighborhood and almost always win. A must buy for all those who need help with NHL2K

Prima's NHL strategy guide is the best NHL guide I have everread. It gives you cheats, tips and playing tactics. I would recomendyou all to buy it, that is of course if you have the game, if you don't buy the game as well...

Good book for those who are video-game challenged, like me. Helps me survive in the game.

A fantastic price for a very stylish and well-written action game. A variety of missions with humourous opponents and rewarding smart play make this game a joy to complete.

West shahrak,4 faz,north falamak,derakhshan street,forth alliy,
number 1493,second bell.

I'm absolutly sure that everyone can find something useful in this book, no matter who you are - a novice in this subject or well experienced researcher in optics.

This book is also useful as a reference book on nonlinear effects. I very often find this book in hand.

This is a serious book written at a graduate-student or advanced-under-graduate level for the practicing professional employed in designing optical telecommunications systems and components. I don't think the book was written with students particularly in mind, since (for example) there are no examples or problems in the book as typically found in university course work In his introduction, Agrawal says "[t]he book is aimed for researchers already engaged in or wishing to enter the filed of nonlinear fiber optics." As the title suggests, the book's emphasis is on nonlinear effects in optical fibers, as opposed to nonlinear effects in bulk materials.

The first chapter is pretty basic, and is mostly review material that describes things like the index cross section in an optical fiber, material issues, fabrication, chromatic dispersion, modal birefringence (which leads to polarization mode dispersion), non linear refraction and stimulated inelastic scattering. The review here is pretty brief (the chapter has only about 25 pages).

Chapter two develops the mathematics of wave propagation in optical fibers, including the mathematics of mode propagation and basic propagation equations derived from Maxwell's equations. This chapter actually develops several different differential equations; each based on various assumptions applicable to different pulse widths. These differential equations then form the basis for later investigations into various non-linear effects discussed in the book. Chapter two is thus a foundational chapter and should be read and understood completely before moving on. There is a brief discussion at the end of the chapter that describes numerical methods.

Chapter three describes group-velocity dispersion, including chromatic dispersion as well as dispersion-induced pulse broadening and higher-order dispersion and their implications for optical systems.

Chapter four introduces self-phase modulation and self steepening.

Chapter five describes optical solitons (including fundamental and higher order solitions), soliton lasers, and soliton-based communications systems.

Chapter 6 describes some techniques for optical pulse compression using gratings and chirped optical pulses. It also describes soliton-effect compressors.

Chapter 7 is devoted to the subject of cross-phase modulation, chapter 8 to stimulated Raman scattering, chapter 9 to stimulated Brillouin scattering, and chapter 10 to parametric processes, including four-wave mixing, parametric gain, and phase matching.

The book is quantitative, making (as you'd expect in a graduate text) liberal use of mathematics. The level of mathematics, however, should be well within the grasp of senior college students majoring in physics, engineering, or mathematics. The subject, however, is non-trivial, and you should expect this book to present a real intellectual challenge in reading and understanding all the details. I took about six months to finish the book, including time taken to fill in some details in the derivations and to plot some of the equations on my computer.

Agrawal makes good use of figures and illustrations, which I found particularly helpful. The book also has an adequate index that makes the book more valuable as a desk reference.

Each chapter cites a wealth of reference material in the literature so that any subject covered within its pages can be studied in more detail and from the original sources.

I would not make this a first study of nonlinear optics (although it was for me). Rather, I'd look for texts that discuss nonlinear effects qualitatively, and I'd try to expose myself to experiments that illustrate these nonlinear effects to gain a more qualitative understanding before diving into Agrawal's mathematical derivations. With a more qualitative basis first acquired, however, Agrawal's book is an invaluable tool for understanding the most obscure nonlinear effects in optical fibers.

This book is the first and foremost reference book on many aspects of nonlinear fibre effect. It is written for non-experts in fibres but is also an invaluable resource for those who are.

It starts off with a quick review of linear fibre characteristics (dispersion, loss, fabrication) and devotes a chapter each to a systematic study of how dispersion without nonlinearity and nonlinearity without dispersion affect pulse propagation. Higher order nonlinearity and dispersion are also covered.

From this introduction, the problem of having both nonlinearity and dispersion present is introduced, leading to solitons. This treatment does not go deeply into the algebraic solution of the NLS equation, but gives a good background of the properties of solitons.

Several other topics are covered which span a broad array of important nonlinear phenomenon in optical fibres under active research. This seems to be the book to buy if you need to know about solitons and other nonlinear effects, and is continually referenced.

this book has a lot of helpful information about nuendo. I highly recommend it for the starting musician. The CD that comes with the book makes the learning process even more simple. Enjoy this product.

This book has been extremely useful. The author gets right to the heart of each section and has you recording in no time at all.

In a recent book on the Beach Boys, there is a photograph of Brian Wilson with his most important musical instrument, the multi-track tape recorder. Today's bands don't need one of those. A reasonably high powered Apple and Nuendo software will do more than was possible with rooms full of equipment back in 1966 when Brian's photo was taken.

This book, one of the very few about Nuendo, is aimed at the Beginner to Intermediate level Nuendo user. It a good place to start, or to use as a reference book for the more advanced user. At about 500 pages, it is long enough to include everything you need to get full use out of the software, yet it is not so long and ponderous like many of the thousand page plus software books.

This is the only book on observers that I have been able to stick with. The subject is covered in a very understandable way that allowed me to:
1. Make it all the way through the book
2. Apply what I learned in the real world
3. Realize significant performance gains from the observer methods described
Outstanding!

As he did with his Control System Design Guide, George Ellis has managed to take a key concept, the observer, and explain it in terms that the average, practicing, control engineer can understand, and better yet: Apply. If you believe that all you need to know can be desribed in classical control terms, then this book is for you. If you shun anything that refers to "modern control theory," or "state space" then this book is for you. If you've always wanted to apply principles of modern control theory, but never figured out how to reduce it to practice, then this book is for you. If you're frustrated by the fact that you're colleagues eyes glaze over when you talk about "State Estimators," then this book is for you. Or if you simply want to be the control engineer that takes one or more of your best control loops up another notch in performance, then this book is for you. In this book, George Ellis explains, in simple control terms, what an observer is and how it can be applied. Ellis, provides plenty of information for you to asses the risk/benefit of applying observers to a process, e.g., how good must your process/sensor model be for the observer to be effective (You'll be surprised at how robust they are). Finally, Ellis provides many ready-to-run simulation examples, written in Visual Model-Q, a very powerful control system modeling environment. Visual Model-Q is in turn available to download at a great price: free!

Observers in Control Systems is a practical guide to observers, and is especially oriented towards motion control.

The author is a respected expert in the motion control industry, and he brings much experience to this difficult topic, presenting it in a clear and direct format. The author presents complex topics in a simple to understand fromat, and avoids the often overly complex math found in the traditional academic oriented texbooks.

This book has two novel features. The first is the author's use of the traditional signal flow diagrams and frequency analysis based approach to explaining observer theory. This approach makes these concepts much easier to understand, and avoids the complex and elaborate linear algebra required by other observer textbooks.

The second feature is the use of the dreadily ownloadable simulation program, ModelQ. ModelQ is a graphical simulation, modeling and analysis program that helps illustrate observer concepts. This software contributes greatly to the reader's understanding. Numerous examples are included to help illuminate various observer topics.

This book's practical and "hands-on" style makes it a must-have addition to your control textbook toolbox. You will be able to apply the techniques presented in this book to improve your control system designs.

If you're delving into ancient oddworld history by playing the first two (great) oddworld games for the PS2, then you have to have this book. In Abe's exodus you can spot 'hidden' areas because there are clusters of bottles somewhere on the screen. Not so in Abe's oddysee - the hidden areas are very hidden, and without this guide at least a few will always remain that way. Pick it up.

Oddworld is very hard and there are so much monsters and such.This tells you secrets,and how to get through the hard parts.If you're going to play Oddworld or buy it, don't play without this guide right by your side cause you're going to need it.

Well, to begin the game is great!Talk about good graphics it suprised me for being a 2D game!It could knock the socks off most 3D games!Can't wait till Munch's Oddysee(Oddworld)for PlayStation2.Now,about the guide.The guide is the best you can find,neatly organized,very well written and quite funny in some parts.A very good,well made guide and you will find that in no time at all you will have beaten the game.Also it's published by Brady Games(and one should remember that is done by Brady is top-notch(look at other Brady Guides)).Well it's your choice I would buy it if I were you.You could get the Official guide by Prima but it is full of errors and not as neat.I would choose this guide for ODDWORLD:ABE'S ODDYSEE.NOW BUY IT!

Chapter 12 is worth the price alone: The authors have done a remarkable job of getting to the heart of solitions.

This is the second book in a two-volume set. Volume IIIA (608 pages) deals primarily with system-related issues. The second volume, IIIB (515 pages) delves into greater detail regarding the design and performance of critical components used in optical fiber telecommunications.

Like volume IIIA, volume IIIB consists of chapters written by different authors. Although many of the chapter authors come from Lucent and/or Bell Labs, they do a good job of keeping the book at an academic level that is largely devoid of excess or offensive commercialism. This is a first-rate book that needs to be read and understood by anyone seriously engaged in engineering activities related to optical fiber telecommunications.

Each chapter is written in what is an essentially self-contained manner (though many chapters make reference from time to time to other chapters in either of the two volumes - a welcome thing as it brings continuity to the two-volume set). After a nice overview by Kaminow, volume IIIB dives right into what is arguably the single most important optical component to be developed for telecommunications in the 90's: the erbium-doped fiber amplifier. As with most chapters, chapter 2 does not overwhelm the reader with long mathematical derivations. Instead, it places at the engineer's disposal the relevant mathematical equations necessary for important analysis, as well as a wealth of references at the end of the chapter that facilitate further reading and the most quantitative analysis. This chapter covers all the important features of amplifier design, from gain to saturation, noise figure, coupling loss, polarization effects, pumping schemes, components, and various ways in which the amplifier may be used (in-line amplifier, power amplifier, etc.).

Chapter three covers transmitter and receiver design for amplified lightwave systems. The material in this chapter is high level. Topics include things like extinction ratio, rise/fall time, chirp, mode partitioning, and polarization mode dispersion. The emphasis is on how specific attributes of the transmitter and receiver interact with other components in the transmission system to affect overall system performance. Thus, the chapter not only discusses what laser chirp is, what causes it, and how to reduce it, it also delves into the system implications of chirp and describes why it is bad, and how to determine how much you can tolerate.

Chapters four, five, and six are something of a trilogy. Chapter four introduces the idea of laser sources in general for amplified and WDM lightwave systems. Chapter 5 continues the subject by describing advances in semiconductor laser growth and fabrication technology. Chapter 6 goes into more specific detail regarding vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. Of these three chapters, chapter four is the most generic, and (at least for me) by far the easiest to follow. Chapter four covers subjects like direct modulation of DFB lasers, external modulation, integration of modulator and laser, making DFB lasers with discrete and stable wavelengths for WDM systems, fiber-based lasers using fiber-Bragg gratings (FBGs), tunable lasers, and a smattering on waveguide gratings and DFB array WDM sources.

While chapter 4 was easy for me to follow, I found chapters 5 and 6 rather difficult. Both these chapters are very well written, and the authors are clearly quite expert in their fields. The material, however, is sufficiently specific to the details of design that I found myself lacking much of the prerequisite information and knowledge expected by the authors. I think that chapters 5 and 6 will be of most use to people who actually work in or very closely with semiconductor laser growth technology and/or vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. I did come away knowing lots more about these technologies than I did going into the chapters (things like how and why lattice strain is used in the design of semiconductor lasers, for example) but a more basic introduction would have helpful to me.

Chapter 7 put me back into more familiar territory with discussions about optical fiber components and devices. Topics include fiber dispersion compensators, fiber gratings, gratings in planar waveguides, and high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers. This chapter tends to be at a high level, with little specific information or mathematical equations.

Chapter 8 is really quite interesting. The title is "Silicon Optical Bench Waveguide Technology." Like chapters 5 and 6, chapter 8 gets into more detail about specific design and manufacturability issues. Since I have more background in this area, though, I found the chapter at about the right level for me (it did not leave me feeling as lost as chapters 5 and 6 did). One of the most interesting developments in this chapter (for me, at least) was the section on Fourier filter multiplexers. The chapter also has a relatively good quantitative description (you will need to fill in some of the derivations yourself) of couplers as well as star couplers and waveguide grating routers.

Chapter 9 is a good discussion on lithium niobate integrated optics, covering issues of design as well as performance and specification. It also highlights their applications as switches, modulators, and polarization scramblers/controllers as well as wavelength filters. Chapter 10, the last chapter, reviews photonic switching technologies. There is some useful information about switching fabrics, along with generic information about important specifications.

Both volumes have a good index and extensive chapter references, making this one of the best general-purpose desk reference volumes I've found for engineers involved in lightwave communications systems.

Optical Fiber Telecommunications III is designed for anyone engaged in engineering work related to the fiber-optics telecommunications industry. There seems to be little doubt about the revolutionary path leading to full deployment of fiber in the telecommunications backbone network, or the trends moving fiber closer to and closer to end users. Yet, while this continual deepening of fiber into the national network progresses steadily, a new revolution has overtaken photonics in the backbone: dense wavelength-division multiplexing, or DWDM. DWDM, perhaps more than any other technology, is the reason that the third edition of this seminal work is needed today. It's not too surprising, then, that most of the third edition is directly or indirectly related to design concerns related to DWDM.

This text is best described as an engineer's desk reference. The scope is large, necessitating breaking the book into two volumes. Volume III A deals mostly with system issues and concerns, delving into more esoteric component issues primarily to illustrate the wider network implications. Volume III B deals more with specific component design issues, such as sources, detectors, and erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs).

As a desk reference, there are few derivations of equations from first principles. Perhaps the closest derivation is that of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation in chapter 12 on soliton transmission. Even here, however, the derivation is sketchy at best. For the most part the book simply places the equations at the reader's disposal. I found most of the equations are explained well, and most of the chapter authors included numeric examples, charts, and graphs. This helps immensely in understanding the implications of the many equations presented throughout the text. For those interested in derivations, each chapter comes with extensive endnotes so that anyone interested in reviewing the original work can easily do so.

One problem with the text revolves around definitions of mathematical variables and constants. Though they are all defined as introduced to the reader, there is no glossary of these terms. I constantly found myself writing in the books margins little notes like "alpha is the total loss coefficient, first used in equation x on page y." Since different authors write each chapter in the book, it may not be practical to have a glossary of terms for the entire volume - usage will probably overlap. Still, it would be nice had the editors suggested that each chapter have a glossary of mathematical variables. It would make the book far more practical and useful as a desk reference. On a more positive note, however, the book does contain a detailed and useful index.

Even without derivations, the book contains a plethora of equations and charts to satisfy the needs of most quantitatively oriented engineers. It's a good introductory book for those with a modest background in optical telecommunications technology. It's also a useful book for those more familiar with the technology, but needing a handy reference source with most of the pertinent information conveniently bound between two covers. Volume A contains 15 chapters in roughly 600 pages. Volume B is slightly smaller, having 10 chapters in roughly 500 pages.

For me, the two most interesting and useful sections of the book were chapter 8, "Fiber nonlinearities and their impact on transmission systems," and chapter 12, "Solitons in high bit-rate, long-distance transmissions." Chapter 12 is probably one of the best written. Although the subject matter is among the most difficult covered in the book, L. F. Mollenauer, J.P. Gordon, and P. V. Mamyshev have done a remarkable job of explaining solitions in a quantitative, accurate, yet clear and concise manner.

The first chapter in the book, a brief overview by Ivan P. Kaminow, provides some interesting historical insights and background, but has relatively little pertinent information for the design engineer. The second chapter deals at a high level with SONET and ATM technologies, explaining the requirements that led to the development of these standards and some of their topologies such as chains and self-healing rings. Chapter 3 deals with coding and error correction in optical fiber. This chapter was interesting in its use of fundamental physics (such as quantum noise) to examine the need for coding.

The next chapters move from coding and protocol to issues in the physical layer. Chapter 6 deals with polarization effects, the origin of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) and how to measure PMD. On a similar theme, chapter 7 deals with the subject of chromatic dispersion and, perhaps more importantly, the subject of dispersion compensation. One of the interesting facts about DWDM is that elimination of dispersion is no longer a design goal, as it is with single-wavelength transmission systems. In DWDM systems the designer wants just the right amount of dispersion - not too much, and not too little. There are even situations in which the dispersion map matters - in other words, you cannot always count on being able to place large bulk amounts of compensating dispersion just in front of the optical receiver. Sometimes you need to distribute it along the fiber's length.

Two chapters, 9 and 10, deal with the specific design concerns of terrestrial and undersea lightwave systems, while chapter 14 deals with the substantial concerns of analog video transmission over optical fibers. Chapter 11 deals with advances in high bit-rate transmission systems (this chapter tends to be somewhat dated, and the situation will only get worse with passing time). Chapter 13 surveys the types of fiber architectures in current and possibly future networks. Finally, Ivan P. Kaminow finishes the book with a chapter on advanced multi-access lightwave networks, which is primarily the switched DWDM network (another chapter subject to dating).

This is an extremely valuable book for anyone involved in Photonics in the telecommunications network. I highly recommend it. Whether you read it cover to cover, or simply keep it handy as a desk reference, I'm sure you will find it well worth the cover price.

I found this book very helpful in learning to use all of Painter's features effectively. It was easy to read & has lots of good photos. My only wish is that it had more accurate instructions on using the CD.

My favorite section was on the Painter pallets. It shows example pictures for each "brush" & it's variants. Sample photos also showed the various options available in the gradient box. These made it far easier to know what tool to use.

Other sections of the book covered masking, image hose use, painting & composite techniques, special effects, working with type, enhancing & outputting images, animation & web application, and using Painter with other programs.

The CD contains some good movies on making blobs, creating an image hose from a floater, building and editing floaters maps and making mosaic or patterned type. It also includes tutorials on making movies & working with color.

This book is very useful, in that the ideas and follow-through presented will get you well into capable use of the software. The organization, quality and content are top-notch.
Job Well Done!

Wayne D
Arizona-where art is everywhere!

It's an incredible book! A must-have for all Painter users. The book contains step by step instructions to create amazing effects seen on fully colored pictures.

This is the best science book on the food chain that I have ever found.I fell in love with it and bought it for several people This book tells very gently, using very pleasing language in rhyme, what everything needs to live and why. The illustrations are beautiful and detailed. It has some repetitive language that is so pleasing to read. For example:

"Passing the energy needed to live
is a difficult gift for a creature to give.
but a chain unbroken along the way
links life in the meadow from day to day."

This book would be wonderful in every classroom. A beautiful, must have book.

I enjoyed how the author was able to bring a complicated subject to a level which both educates and interests young readers. Both my nephew and niece greatly enjoyed the book. They also retained the information which is presented in "Pass the Energy Please" because it is presented to the children in a creative way which neither bores nor confuses them. The author has found a great niche in her writing in which children can finally be entertained while at the same time come away with an important environmental concept.

What a book to use with your classroom. I am a fifth grade teacher and use this book as part of a unit on Ecosystems. (Although you could use this with younger or older children) The book shows food webs in a way that any child could understand. The text is a poem with a predictable rhythm that my students LOVE. We use this story for 4 different activities, two are Language arts based, and two are Science.