Thesis (M.Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-61). Also available in electronic version.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-170). Also available in electronic version.

Thesis (M.Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-104). Also available in electronic version.

A dissertation presented on distributed Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Internet applications, focusing on distributed resource sharing as a P2P application. The history of Internet applications is researched to point out the roots of P2P applications as well as the dependency between modern technology and legacy technology. P2P applications are compared with traditional client/server applications. A classification system for categorizing P2P applications according to functionality and computing model is devised. The classification system is used to group applications with similar attributes and behavior. Five main mechanisms utilized by all content sharing P2P applications are identified. These mechanisms are node discovery, content discovery, content retrieval, content publishing and content storage. Napster, Gnutella and Freenet are discussed in detail as examples of distributed P2P resource sharing applications which utilize these mechanisms. These applications are then compared to point out similarities and differences. Other P2P initiatives known to the author are briefly presented. Challenges that need to be overcome if P2Papplications are to be widely adopted are identified and discussed. A typical content sharing P2P application is implemented for constraint mobile devices such as cell phones. The unique characteristics, possibilities and challenges of P2P on mobile devices are explored. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Computer Science / unrestricted

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published_or_final_version / abstract / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks have seen tremendous growth in development and usage in recent times. This attention has brought many developments as well as new challenges to these networks. We will show that agent extensions to P2P networks offer solutions to many problems faced by P2P networks. In this research, an attempt is made to bring together JXTA P2P infrastructure and Jinni, a Prolog based agent engine to form an agent based P2P network. On top of the JXTA, we define simple Java API providing P2P services for agent programming constructs. Jinni is deployed on this JXTA network using an automated code update mechanism. Experiments are conducted on this Jinni/JXTA platform to implement a simple agent communication and data exchange protocol.