【Abstract】With increasing uncertainties in the global economy, companies are facing fierce competition. Blockchain has the potential to enhance companies' competitiveness by streamlining processes, improving productivity and reducing costs. It is meaningful to study whether and when companies would adopt blockchain and under what conditions. We develop a game theoretic model to analyse the introduction of blockchain to companies from a big customer with bargaining power. In this study, ship operators need to decide their optimal adoption time when facing a request from a big shipper to adopt blockchain with a threat of substitution policy from the shipper. An algorithm is developed to obtain the numerical solutions of ship operators' optimal adoption time. Our analysis suggests that 1) the substitution policy only matters to small companies and is only necessary under fixed pricing model; 2) a threshold applies for substitution ratio and cut-off time to effectively induce small companies to adopt blockchain early; 3) blockchain developers should consider mixed pricing model instead of fixed pricing model for faster and wider blockchain adoption; 4) blockchain initiators should focus more on improving the technology's cost-effectiveness rather than rely heavily on externalities like substitution policies to promote blockchain adoption.
【Abstract】Supply chains around the globe are faced with difficulties and disruptions due to the worldwide pandemic situation and digital solutions are needed. There is significant research interest in the implementation of blockchain technology (BCT) for supply chain management (SCM). A challenge that remains is analyzing the interactions of BCT in different areas of SCM. This study aims to identify the influential dimensions of the impact of BCT adoption in SCM and to discuss the synergetic and counter-synergetic effects between these dimensions. Advantages, disadvantages, and constraints of adopting BCT in the SCM context are explored through a systematic literature review, which provides the foundation for identifying the dimensions of impact. The interactions between these dimensions are conceptually discussed. This study introduces three dimensions of the impact of implementing BCT in SCM: 'operations and processes', 'supply chain relationships', and 'innovation and data access'. These dimensions are interrelated and have overlapping areas within them, which leads to synergetic and counter-synergetic effects. The overlaps and synergies of the three dimensions of impact are illustrated, and the virtuous and vicious cycles of BCT adoption in SCM cases are highlighted. This study assists scholars and practitioners by clarifying the synergetic relationships within the dimensions of the impact of BCT in SCM and by providing considerations to prevent undesirable effects and expand desired ones.
【Abstract】Researchers and practitioners increasingly use posts on Twitter as an additional source of information to analyze cryptocurrency price movements. Previous studies that focus on the stock markets have shown that corporate sentiment disclosure impacts stock returns and trading volume. This study explores the reaction of the cryptocurrency market to the Twitter sentiments of issuers. It is found that cryptocurrency prices react positively to Twitter sentiments, while the trading volume reacts positively to the absolute value of the Twitter sentiments in a timely manner (within a period of 24 h). Further analysis in this study reveals that the market reactions are mainly driven by the incremental change in sentiments found in Twitter posts. This study sheds light on the trading behavior of investors in the cryptocurrency markets.
【Abstract】This work analyzes the influence of privacy concerns and different dimensions of currency-related trust on individuals' willingness to use Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), specifically a digital euro. A quantitative survey with 1034 respondents was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM). Empirical results indicate that multiple antecedents are associated with privacy concerns in the digital euro that in turn influence intention to adopt a digital euro. Especially soft trust factors such as credibility and image are found to influence both privacy concerns and the intention to adopt a digital euro. It contributes to the current literature by introducing trust as a second-order construct composed of hard and soft trust factors for digital currencies. The results provide valuable insights for researchers and practitioners aiming at designing and implementing CBDCs by demonstrating which factors need to be considered in order to achieve widespread adoption by citizens.
【Abstract】Smart contracts allow application developers to automate business processes through a decentralized computation architecture. Contemporary blockchain platforms such as Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric offer support for smart contracts through consensus mechanisms such as Proof-of-Work (PoW) or other types of transaction validation and ordering services. This article exploits smart contracts in the Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) blockchain platforms. In particular, we explore Tendermint and Hyperledger Besu, BFT blockchain platforms, and apply them to a decentralized e-prescription case study to evaluate their effectiveness. We adopt Hyperledger Besu and Tendermint in this research, given that both are BFT-based blockchains. Also, it is noteworthy that smart contracts in BFT blockchain platforms such as Tendermint are not well established and not widely adopted yet. Our article empirically evaluates the performance of smart contracts in Tendermint and Hyperledger Besu using a decentralized medical prescription case study and compares their results with Ethereum, a PoW blockchain. Our results demonstrate that BFT blockchain platforms are efficient for multistakeholder applications such as e-prescription and supply chains. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the implementation of smart contracts in BFT blockchain platforms, such as Tendermint and Hyperledger Besu.
【Abstract】In the past few years, blockchain has proven its necessity and unprecedented prospects in providing a secure environment for information exchange between two parties. The integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) with blockchain has enabled a digital transformation in many areas such as healthcare, supply chain, and financial services. Like blockchain, the programmable Software-Defined Network (SDN) is also achieving popularity due to its ability to reduce network management complexity. It is evident that incorporating SDNs with IoT-based healthcare systems can significantly improve healthcare management services. However, there are a number of challenges such as data confidentiality, user-centric design, integrity and privacy that makes it difficult to share sensitive information among different parties in a healthcare system. To overcome these challenges, we propose an architectural framework that incorporates blockchain with Software-Defined Wireless Body Area Networks (SDWBANs) to facilitate secure data sharing. We have also designed and integrated a smart contract based fine-grained access control policy to ensure that only data owners will have full control over their health data. The experimental outcomes show that the proposed model achieves good throughput and incurs a very low overhead in terms of latency compared to traditional cloud-based systems.
【Abstract】Network in Box (NIB) is a self-organizing and portable device. The six-generation wireless communication technologies (6G) can empower NIB with better spectrum efficiency by integrating satellite broadcasting. 6G enabled NIB is promising to promote the communication efficiency of Internet of Vehicles (IoV). IoV has emerged as the concrete practice of intelligent transportation. However, IoV is vulnerable to attacks from quantum computers because they use traditional RSA and elliptic cure cryptographic systems. Therefore, it is critical to improving the security of IoV against quantum computer attacks. This paper proposes the first secure scheme based on post-quantum techniques for 6G-enabled NIB to protect IoV against quantum attacks. On the one hand, a blockchain-based public key infrastructure is proposed to authenticate the IoV devices securely. On the other hand, we design a blockchain-based multi-party key agreement and communication system to support multi-party communication among IoV devices. The extensive theoretical analysis and experimental results indicate that the proposed blockchain system based on 6G-enabled NIB can achieve high security and efficiency for IoV.
【Abstract】As a novel distributed learning mechanism, federated learning has drawn widespread attention by allowing multiple parties to train an accurate model collaboratively without collecting their raw data. However, it relies on a trustworthy central server that still suffers from severe security challenges, such as model inversion attack and single point of failure. Thereby, a privacy-preserving and verifiable federated learning method based on blockchain is proposed to enable fully decentralized and reliable federated learning in untrusted network. In our scheme, we propose a secure aggregation protocol to guarantee the confidentiality of gradients while supporting clients dropping out during the workflow, and design a novel blockchain structure enabling global gradient verification to defend against potential tampering attack. In addition, a gradient compression method is proposed to reduce the communication overhead. Security analysis shows that our scheme can preserve the privacy by adding pairwise random masks to the gradients, and prevent Sybil attack by reasonable threshold setting in verifiable secret sharing. Experimental results on two real-world datasets illustrate that when the clients' dropout rate is less than 20%, our scheme can achieve almost the same accuracy as original federated learning, and performs better than similar blockchain-based federated learning methods in terms of computation overhead and communication overhead.
【Abstract】This paper presents a privacy-preserving average consensus algorithm for a discrete-time network with heterogeneous dynamic nodes in the presence of Gaussian privacy noises. Renyi divergence is used to measure the privacy, and a distributed algorithm is proposed for each node in the network to protect the initial output state and ensure consensus almost surely. The convergence rate of the proposed algorithm relates to the communication topology, dynamics of systems, and decaying rates of privacy noises. Moreover, by increasing neighbors of nodes in the network, the proposed algorithm can strengthen preservation. To demonstrate the theoretical results, a numerical example is carried out on a network of one hundred nodes. (C) 2022 The Franklin Institute. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
【Abstract】The metaverse promises an unimaginable future for digital travelers by enabling them to gain unique experiences (e.g., space travel) that would otherwise be impossible in non-virtual reality. Moreover, COVID-19 travel anxiety has triggered growing interest in virtual environments (e.g., metaverse travel) in the aftermath of the pandemic. The cost-conscious and tech-savvy behavior of travelers has been resurrected in the 'new normal'; however, the fear of missing out (FOMO) is now dictating travelers' choices for newness, immersive and rewarding travel experiences. To address these emerging trends, promising new technologies, and untested relationships, the present study explored the effects of COVID-19 travel anxiety on the readiness for metaverse space travel. In addition, the moderating influence of tech savviness and travel FOMO was tested on this relationship. Drawing on data of international expats (N = 386) in UAE, the finding based on structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that the international expat's readiness for metaverse space travel is positively influenced by their COVID-19 travel anxiety. Moreover, expats with high tendencies of travel FOMO and tech savviness will experience a stronger impact of COVID-19 travel anxiety on their readiness for metaverse space travel. These novel findings guided by prominent theories (e.g., self-determination, SOR, and protection motivation) offer new insights for policy makers and practitioners to strategically achieve digital-tourism transformation and sustainability through emerging and immersive metaverse technologies.
【Abstract】Due to its significant global impact, both domestic and international efforts are underway to cure the infection and stop the COVID-19 virus from spreading further. In resource-limited environments, overwhelmed healthcare institutions and surveillance systems are struggling to cope with this epidemic, necessitating a specific strategic response. In this study, we looked into the COVID-19 situation and to establish trust, accountability, and transparency, we employed blockchain's immutable and tamper-proof properties. We offered a smart contract (SC)-based solution (Block-HPCT) that has been successfully tested to preserve a digital health passport (DHP) for vaccine recipients; also, for contact tracing (CT) we employed proof of location concept, which aids in a swift and credible response directly from the appropriate healthcare authorities. To connect on-chain and off-chain data, trusted and registered oracles were integrated and to provide a double layer of security along with symmetric key encryption; both Interplanetary File System (IPFS) and Hyperledger Fabric were merged as storage center. We also provided a full description of the suggested solution's system design, implementation, experiment results, and evaluation (privacy and cost analysis). As per the findings, the suggested approach performed satisfactorily across all significant assessment criteria, implying that it can lead the way for practical implementations and also can be used for similar types of situations where contact tracing of infectious can be crucial.
【Abstract】Data gradually becomes a critical concern for the strategic resources in enterprises. Massive amounts of data with different types involved in the oil and gas industry can be obtained through IoT (Internet of Things) devices, supported by Blockchain technology with characteristics of immutability and credibility in distributed storage. Hence, credible data will be rationally used in Big Data analysis and Artificial Intelligence implementation. The global mutual trust protocol of Blockchain technology is the bridge among IoT devices, Big Data analysis and Artificial Intelligence implementation, and enables effective coordination of participation of multiple parties and ultimately break isolated island of information. Data governance is the prerequisite for data sharing. As a basic project, Data Sharing breaks data islands and business barriers, improving Data Governance capabilities in Digital Transformation and promoting high-quality development of the oil and gas industry) From the perspective of Digital Transformation, this paper reviews the current situation and problems of Data Governance by evaluating the Data Governance ability of oil and gas enterprises. Furthermore, a proposal is put forward to apply Blockchain technology to improve the Data Governance system and capabilities as the overall program of the oil and gas industry Data Governance system.
【Keywords】data governance; digital transformation; oil and gas industry; exploration and development; data sharing; governance capabilities; block chain; shale gas
【Abstract】Assets such as warehouse receipts are important for enterprises, which can be used to pledge in supply chain finance (SCF). However, traditional pledges are performed manually, which inevitably encounters inefficiency and security problems such as multiple pledges. To improve asset security, we propose a blockchain-based digital asset platform (BDAP) with multi-party certification. BDAP not only has a security protocol based on the threshold ECDSA algorithm to make related participants confirm the authenticity of assets but also embeds a Verifiable Byzantine Fault Tolerant (VBFT) mechanism, randomly selecting the consensus nodes and improving the safety of the nodes. Moreover, data stored on the blockchain makes traceability possible. Through a set of experiments, we have verified the functionality and performance of BDAP. When the pressure test reaches 100 concurrent user volume, BDAP's average response time is 1.441 s, showing a high ability to process transactions. However, now just a few open-minded banks are willing to access BDAP, it might take a long time to change the traditional perception of the participants in supply chain finance.
【Abstract】Smart contracts constitute the foundation for blockchain distributed applications. These constructs enable transactions in trustless environments using consensus algorithms and software-controlled verification rules. In the current state of the art, there is a shortage of works on the adaptability of smart contracts, and the re-use of their source code is limited mainly to cloning. The paper discusses the pattern of smart contract design and implementation with the overt declaration of verification rules. The author introduces two advantages of the pattern: Firstly, run-time reconfigurability of the list of smart contract verification rules to adjust for various transaction types. Secondly, the re-use of verification rules between different configurations of the smart contract, and among diverse smart contracts. The paper uses blockchain platform-independent stereotypes from a dedicated Unified Modeling Language (UML) profile for designing smart contracts and verification rules. The implementation of the pattern is developed in object-oriented Java language. The pattern exploits polymorphism and controls inheritance by using sealed classes with permission for specialization only for selected final ones. Thus, the pattern ensures two recently highly desired properties in smart contract design and development: re-use and security. Moreover, the declared verification rules list facilitates test automation and reduces test preparation effort due to the re-use of test classes among smart contract configurations. The pattern usage is illustrated in the example of renewable energy exchange within the prosumers community and amid various communities.
【Abstract】The metaverse has influenced the development of science and technology since it was proposed. While artificial intelligence (AI) is still one of the important technologies to solve problems in metaverse. The success of AI in various fields and the development of information technology make the integration of sports industry and AI an inevitable trend. Currently, the traditional physical education is experiencing qualitative changes, and the demand of integrating AI and metaverse into physical education is becoming more and more obvious. Football teaching is an important part of physical education, and Virtual Reality (VR) has the characteristics of immersion, interaction and imagination, which can build virtual and realistic football teaching process. In this study, through 360-degree panoramic VR football teaching videos empowered by the metaverse and K-means algorithm based on machine learning under AI, we study the strategies for improving the quality of football teaching in the mobile Internet environment. Therefore, we propose K-means based optimized 360-degree panoramic VR football teaching video delivery strategy. In addition, we conduct simulation experiments under content delivery networks simulator, and the simulation results show that the proposed strategy is superior to the baselines in terms of proxy server hit ratio, byte hit ratio, mean response time and students quality of experience. Moreover, through the 360-degree panoramic VR football teaching videos learning, students can intuitively analyze the actions and improve the teaching quality. The reconstruction of football teaching environment is beneficial to promote the combination of football teaching and smart learning.
【Abstract】The scientific research information system plays an essential role in improving management efficiency and promoting technological innovation in universities. With the increasing computational demand for human-centric research management, blockchain technology, with distributed storage, consensus sharing, and security traceability, has efficiently assisted the research information system in dealing with various issues such as big-data scale, information security, interconnection, rapid response, and private security. A novel scientific information system framework based on intelligent blockchain technology is proposed to promote university scientific research's information level and management efficiency. Moreover, four smart data contracts, including data collection, verification, sharing, and supervision, are custom-designed under an efficient scientific research information system. Those intelligent contracts provide reliable data security and traceability algorithms to guarantee the practical application of the scientific research information system. The results show that the constructed system can relieve the centralized storage pressure of scientific research information and solve the cross-subject sharing obstacle of massive safety data among different systems. Thereby, the system increases the transparency of scientific evaluation and realizes the credible supervision of scientific research information, which provides a way to promote the innovative application of blockchain technology in scientific research management in colleges and universities.
【Abstract】The production of videogames routinely uses automated techniques to generate content, rig animations, map light, and script behaviors. The automation of programming and artistic functions is increasingly baked into game engines that work with other software applications in 3D production ecosystems, which are laying the foundations for what is being pitched by platform companies as the future metaverse. Platform studies has analyzed automated decision-making through the politics of classification. Game studies has investigated engines such as Unreal and Unity as platform tools that consolidate power through asymmetries of interconnectivity and interoperability. This commentary discusses the automaticity of game engines as platform tools for designing and simulating interactive 3D worlds within and beyond games. Outlining the structuring force of game engines from game development and entertainment media to architecture, engineering, construction, and manufacturing, I speculate on the implications of engines for game workers and game studies.
