\contentsline {chapter}{List of Tables}{iv}
\contentsline {chapter}{List of Figures}{v}
\contentsline {chapter}{Abstract}{vi}
\contentsline {chapter}{\numberline {1}Introduction}{1}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {1.1}The Internet and Information Acquisition}{1}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {1.2}Purpose of the Research}{3}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {1.3}Research Questions}{3}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {1.4}Research Methods}{4}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {1.5}Thesis Plan}{4}
\contentsline {chapter}{\numberline {2}News Agents and the Internet}{6}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {2.1}Definition of an Agent}{6}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.1.1}Autonomy}{6}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.1.2}Personalisability}{7}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.1.3}Communication}{7}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.1.4}Delegation}{8}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.1.5}Domain}{8}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.1.6}Graceful Degradation }{9}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.1.7}Cooperation}{9}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.1.8}Anthropomorphism}{9}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.1.9}Expectations}{10}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {2.2}Types of Agents}{11}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.2.1}Autonomous Agents}{11}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.2.2}Symbolic and Cooperative Agents}{11}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.2.3}Anthropomorphic Agents}{12}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.2.4}Multi-agent Systems}{12}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {2.3}Difference Between Internet Search Agents and Search Engines }{13}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {2.4}Agents and Reasoning}{13}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.4.1}Expert Systems}{14}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {2.4.1.1}Forward Chaining}{14}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {2.4.1.2}Backward Chaining}{16}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {2.4.1.3}Breadth First Searching}{16}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {2.4.1.4}Depth First Searching}{16}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {2.4.1.5}Advantages and Disadvantages to Expert Systems}{18}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.4.2}Non Monotonic and Inexact Reasoning}{18}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {2.4.2.1}Key components in Inexact Reasoning}{18}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {2.4.2.2}Sources of Noise}{19}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {2.4.2.3}Fuzzy Logic}{20}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {2.5}Agents and the Internet }{20}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.5.1}Information and Newsgroups}{20}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {2.5.2}Examples of News Filtering Agents}{21}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {2.5.2.1}NewT}{21}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {2.5.2.2}INFOS (Intelligent News Filtering Organisational System)}{21}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {2.6}Summary}{23}
\contentsline {chapter}{\numberline {3}A Framework for Building News Filtering Agents}{25}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {3.1}Agent's NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol) Client }{26}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {3.2}Client Interface }{27}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {3.3}User's NNTP Client }{27}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {3.4}Dialog Based Feedback }{27}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {3.5}Expert System Filtering for an Agent }{28}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {3.6}Agent Learning and Updating the Rulebase}{28}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {3.7}Database of Matching Articles}{29}
\contentsline {chapter}{\numberline {4}Inter-agent Communication}{30}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {4.1}Inter-agent Communication Language for Agents}{30}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {4.1.1}General Syntax}{30}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {4.1.2}Send}{31}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {4.1.3}Get}{32}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {4.1.4}Example of Agent Interaction}{33}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {4.2}Agent to Agent Coordinator Interaction}{34}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {4.2.1}Retrieving Articles from the Database}{36}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {4.2.2}Communicating with other Agents}{36}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {4.3}Agent to World Interaction}{36}
\contentsline {chapter}{\numberline {5}Implementation of NFACT (News Filtering Agent Communication Tool) Example}{37}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {5.1}The Design of the News Agent }{37}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {5.1.1}Agent's NNTP Client }{37}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {5.1.2}Client Interface }{38}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {5.1.2.1}Before Retrieval}{38}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {5.1.2.2}After Retrieval}{40}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {5.1.3}User's NNTP Client }{42}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {5.1.4}Dialog Based Feedback }{42}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {5.1.5}Expert System Filtering for an Agent}{42}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {5.1.5.1}The Rete Algorithm}{43}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {5.1.6}Communication With Other User's Agents}{45}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {5.1.7}Database of Matching Articles}{46}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {5.1.8}Implementation Issues}{46}
\contentsline {chapter}{\numberline {6}Results from the implementation of NFACT}{47}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {6.1}Testing Strategy }{47}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {6.1.1}Methodology}{48}
\contentsline {chapter}{\numberline {7}Conclusion and Future Work}{53}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {7.1}Agent Model}{53}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {7.2}Future Research}{55}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {7.2.1}Security (Scope of Access to Articles)}{56}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {7.2.2}Socket Sharing for Agent Coordinators}{56}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {7.2.3}Implementation and Testing of the Agent Learning Facility}{56}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {7.2.4}Implementation and Testing of Agent Communication}{57}
\contentsline {chapter}{Appendix\ A\ The Internet}{62}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {A.1}Internet News}{63}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {A.1.1}Other Internet Services}{63}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {A.1.1.1}FTP (File Transfer Protocol)}{63}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {A.1.1.2}Telnet}{64}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {A.1.1.3}Gopher}{64}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {A.1.1.4}Archie}{64}
\contentsline {subsubsection}{\numberline {A.1.1.5}The World Wide Web (WWW)}{64}
\contentsline {chapter}{Appendix\ B\ Internet News}{66}
\contentsline {section}{\numberline {B.1}Design of NNTP}{67}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {B.1.1}Responses from the Server}{68}
\contentsline {subsection}{\numberline {B.1.2}Example of a Client Server Interaction}{69}