Twelve year-old Jackson Farley is a digital genius. On a robotics scholarship at a high-tech American university, he's having the time of his life - but then an explosion at the nuclear reactor on campus changes everything. Jackson and his fellow gamers are highly suspicious - the attack bears the hallmark of maniacal dot.com billionaire Devlin Lear and his rogue robots. And it appears to be part of a terrifying multimillion-dollar master plan. But Jackson can't believe Lear is behind the sinister dealings. Devlin Lear is dead. Isn't he?

Evil Yakusa gangsters, lethal martial arts, and awesome fighting robots - Jackson Farley is back in the latest techno blockbuster in the hugely popular Dot Robot techno-thriller series. Set against the glittering neon backdrop of Tokyo and in the dark and eerie forests of the Sea of Trees, digital genius Jackson and robotics expert Brooke English are hot on the trail of their missing friends, Japan's most famous professional gamers, the Kojima Twins. The twins have joined hundreds of kidnapped gamers as part of a secret Gold Farming ring, forced to play for virtual items such as spells and weapons, sold for huge profits. Jackson and Brooke must find their friends and fast. But when the world they've been kidnapped into isn't real, where do they even begin?

From aeronautics and manufacturing to healthcare and disaster management, systems engineering (SE) now focuses on designing applications that ensure performance optimization, robustness, and reliability while combining an emerging group of heterogeneous systems to realize a common goal. Use SoS to Revolutionize Management of Large Organizations, Factories, and Systems Intelligent Control Systems with an Introduction to System of Systems Engineering integrates the fundamentals of artificial intelligence and systems control in a framework applicable to both simple dynamic systems and large-scale system of systems (SoS). For decades, NASA has used SoS methods, and major manufacturers—including Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Northrop-Grumman, Raytheon, BAE Systems—now make large-scale systems integration and SoS a key part of their business strategies, dedicating entire business units to this remarkably efficient approach. Simulate Novel Robotic Systems and Applications Transcending theory, this book offers a complete and practical review of SoS and some of its fascinating applications, including: Manipulation of robots through neural-based network control Use of robotic swarms, based on ant colonies, to detect mines Other novel systems in which intelligent robots, trained animals, and humans cooperate to achieve humanitarian objectives Training engineers to integrate traditional systems control theory with soft computing techniques further nourishes emerging SoS technology. With this in mind, the authors address the fundamental precepts at the core of SoS, which uses human heuristics to model complex systems, providing a scientific rationale for integrating independent, complex systems into a single coordinated, stabilized, and optimized one. They provide readers with MATLAB® code, which can be downloaded from the publisher's website to simulate presented results and projects that offer practical, hands-on experience using concepts discussed throughout the book.

As technology presses forward, scientific projects are becoming increasingly complex. The international space station, for example, includes over 100 major components, carried aloft during 88 spaces flights which were organized by over 16 nations. The need for improved system integration between the elements of an overall larger technological system has sparked further development of systems of systems (SoS) as a solution for achieving interoperability and superior coordination between heterogeneous systems. Systems of Systems Engineering: Principles and Applications provides engineers with a definitive reference on this newly emerging technology, which is being embraced by such engineering giants as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon. The book covers the complete range of fundamental SoS topics, including modeling, simulation, architecture, control, communication, optimization, and applications. Containing the contributions of pioneers at the forefront of SoS development, the book also offers insight into applications in national security, transportation, energy, and defense as well as healthcare, the service industry, and information technology. System of systems (SoS) is still a relatively new concept, and in time numerous problems and open-ended issues must be addressed to realize its great potential. THis book offers a first look at this rapidly developing technology so that engineers are better equipped to face such challenges.

Discover the emerging science and engineering of System of Systems Many challenges of the twenty-first century, such as fossil fuel energy resources, require a new approach. The emergence of System of Systems (SoS) and System of Systems Engineering (SoSE) presents engineers and professionals with the potential for solving many of the challenges facing our world today. This groundbreaking book brings together the viewpoints of key global players in the field to not only define these challenges, but to provide possible solutions. Each chapter has been contributed by an international expert, and topics covered include modeling, simulation, architecture, the emergence of SoS and SoSE, net-centricity, standards, management, and optimization, with various applications to defense, transportation, energy, the environment, healthcare, service industry, aerospace, robotics, infrastructure, and information technology. The book has been complemented with several case studies—Space Exploration, Future Energy Resources, Commercial Airlines Maintenance, Manufacturing Sector, Service Sector, Intelligent Transportation, Future Combat Missions, Global Earth Observation System of Systems project, and many more—to give readers an understanding of the real-world applications of this relatively new technology. System of Systems Engineering is an indispensable resource for aerospace and defense engineers and professionals in related fields.

'Congratulations, Jackson. Welcome to MeX.' Dot.com billionaire Devlin Lear, founder of the top-secret defence force MeX, has been watching Jackson Farley. He knows he has found a digital genius. Along with three other brilliant gamers from different corners of the world, Lear needs Jackson to join him and stop the criminal heist of the century. And all by the power of the most highly advanced, state-of-the-art robots ever invented. Are Jackson and the MeX recruits as good as Lear thinks? And how does Jackson know quite who to trust when they can never meet face-to-face?

Out of Control chronicles the dawn of a new era in which the machines and systems that drive our economy are so complex and autonomous as to be indistinguishable from living things.