A framework for the dynamic management of Peer-to-Peer overlays

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) applications have been associated with inefficient operation, interference with other network services and large operational costs for network providers. This thesis presents a framework which can help ISPs address these issues by means of intelligent management of peer behaviour. The proposed approach involves limited control of P2P overlays without interfering with the fundamental characteristics of peer autonomy and decentralised operation. At the core of the management framework lays the Active Virtual Peer (AVP). Essentially intelligent peers operated by the network providers, the AVPs interact with the overlay from within, minimising redundant or inefficient traffic, enhancing overlay stability and facilitating the efficient and balanced use of available peer and network resources. They offer an “insider‟s” view of the overlay and permit the management of P2P functions in a compatible and non-intrusive manner. AVPs can support multiple P2P protocols and coordinate to perform functions collectively. To account for the multi-faceted nature of P2P applications and allow the incorporation of modern techniques and protocols as they appear, the framework is based on a modular architecture. Core modules for overlay control and transit traffic minimisation are presented. Towards the latter, a number of suitable P2P content caching strategies are proposed. Using a purpose-built P2P network simulator and small-scale experiments, it is demonstrated that the introduction of AVPs inside the network can significantly reduce inter-AS traffic, minimise costly multi-hop flows, increase overlay stability and load-balancing and offer improved peer transfer performance

Online misogyny and the alternative right: debating the undebatable

The aim of this critical intervention is twofold: first, to offer a few insights to the online misogyny debate based on a case-study involving myself and Milo Yiannopoulos, the prominent anti-feminist and self-styled ultra-conservative “bad boy;” second, to add a new, politically pronounced inflection to the meticulous work in the field, by arguing that although misogyny is not exclusively affiliated with a certain political register, its ferocious articulations in contemporary culture—especially online—should be understood as a type of discourse fuelled largely by a set of well-organised far-right, white supremacist determinations collectively camouflaged by the media-friendly term “alternative-right” (hereafter, “alt-right”). I contend that far from being a subculture that seeks to articulate a credible anti-establishment position, the alt-right is better understood as a polished, technologically adept strand of the far-right—a strand, what is more, that is easily assimilable by neoliberal socio-economic and political rationality. Much like neoliberalism itself, the alt-right is vehemently opposed to any form of politics or political imaginary that seeks to establish a socialist or socialist-democratic hegemony predicated on class consciousness, collectivism, and egalitarianism

The Ecosystem of Startups in Greece: An Explorative Study

Given that technology and innovation are rapidly rising the last few decades at excessively high rates, people tend to become more creative, searching for new ideas that, through their entrepreneurial spirit, transform into businesses, known as startups. This process of transforming an idea into an actual business that becomes productive and profitable sets the basis for entrepreneurship. Being interested in startups and the idea of creating an enterprise from scratch, I decided for my senior project to focus on these new well-known enterprises and, more specifically to zoom in on the startup ecosystem of Greece, which seems to have great potential for economic growth for the country but also faces a significant number of challenges, nowadays. This project aims to present the structure of the Greek startup ecosystem, the importance that it has for the Greek economy, as well as the most important challenges that startups face in the market. Through the conduction of a questionnaire and recorded interviews I was able to validate the odds that entrepreneurs have to face in Greece and separate them into four different aspects: 1) Regulatory Framework / Bureaucracy, 2) Government Involvement and Provision of Appropriate Incentives, 3) Taxation, 4) Team Development and Performance. I hope that this research will contribute to highlighting the importance and the potential of the Greek startup ecosystem, thus sending a message to the Greek government to redefine some of the measures that currently harming the startups, and provide the right incentives for them with the ultimate goal of creating a startup ‘nation’

Current clinical management of smoke inhalation injuries: a reality check

Smoke inhalation injury is a complex clinical condition and respiratory clinicians need to have a good understanding of its current clinical management. However, evidence derives mostly from retrospective cohorts and case series. Is this enough