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Federated learning (FL) is a scheme in which several consumers work collectively to unravel machine learning (ML) problems, with a dominant collector synchronizing the procedure. This decision correspondingly enables the training data to be distributed, guaranteeing that the individual device's data are secluded. The paper systematically reviewed the available literature using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guiding principle. The study presents a systematic review of appliable ML approaches for FL, reviews the categorization of FL, discusses the FL application areas, presents the relationship between FL and Blockchain Technology (BT), and discusses some existing literature that has used FL and ML approaches. The study also examined applicable machine learning models for federated learning. The inclusion measures were (i) published between 2017 and 2021, (ii) written in English, (iii) published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and (iv) Preprint published papers. Unpublished studies, thesis and dissertation studies, (ii) conference papers, (iii) not in English, and (iv) did not use artificial intelligence models and blockchain technology were all removed from the review. In total, 84 eligible papers were finally examined in this study. Finally, in recent years, the amount of research on ML using FL has increased. Accuracy equivalent to standard feature-based techniques has been attained, and ensembles of many algorithms may yield even better results. We discovered that the best results were obtained from the hybrid design of an ML ensemble employing expert features. However, some additional difficulties and issues need to be overcome, such as efficiency, complexity, and smaller datasets. In addition, novel FL applications should be investigated from the standpoint of the datasets and methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain technology (BCT) is regarded as one of the most important and disruptive technologies in Industry 4.0. However, no comprehensive study addresses the contributions of BCT adoption (BCA) on some special business functionalities projected as financial variables like BCA integrity, transparency, etc. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to close this theoretical gap and determine how BCA has contributed to the four business sectors that were selected since FinTech had the greatest potential in these domains. The PRISMA approach, a systematic literature review model, was used in this work to make sure that the greatest number of studies on the topic were accessed. The PRISMA model's output helped identify relevant publications, and an analysis of these studies served as the foundation for this paper's findings. The findings reveal that BCA for companies with a disrupting financial technology (FinTech) attitude can help in securing corporate transaction transparency; offer knowledge, same-data, and information sharing; enhance fidelity, integrity, and trust; improve organizational procedures; and prevent fraud with cyber-hacking protection and fraudulence suspension. Moreover, blockchain's smart contract utilization feature offers ESG and sustainability functionality. This paper's novelty is the projection to four business sectors of the three-layer research sequence: (i) financial variables operated as BCA functionalities, (ii) issues, risks, limitations, and opportunities associated with the financial variables, and (iii) implications, theoretical contributions, questions, potentiality, and outlook of BCA/FinTech issues. And the ability of managers or practitioners to reference this sequence and make decisions on BCA matters is considered a key contribution. The proposed methodology provides business practitioners with valuable insights to reevaluate their economic challenges and explore the potential of blockchain technology to address them. This study combined a systematic literature review (SLR) with qualitative analysis as part of a hybrid research approach. Quantitative analysis was carried out on all 835 selected papers in the first step, and qualitative analysis was carried out on the top-cited papers that were screened. The current work highlights the key challenges and opportunities in established blockchain implementations and discusses the outlook potentiality of blockchain technology adoption. This study will be useful to managers, practitioners, researchers, and scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain technology has been used for the digitalization of physical asset management and data management processes in many areas in the industry and academia, including the water domain. Its potential as an immutable data storage system and smart contract integration has provided a plethora of use cases and utility in the domain of hydrology and water resources. This systematic review critically examines the application of blockchain technology in the field of water resources and hydrology. By analyzing 104 academic publications and 37 non-academic studies from 2017 to 15 October 2022, this paper identifies the current state of blockchain applications in water management, delineates their potential use cases, and assesses their practical utility and scalability. Despite the theoretical promise of blockchain for enhancing water governance, data security, and stakeholder trust, the review reveals a noticeable gap between theoretical potential and the existence of workable, real-time applications specifically in water resources management. The findings indicate that while blockchain technology has been effectively implemented in various sectors, its adoption in hydrological domain is still emerging, with limited empirical evidence to support full-scale deployment. The paper concludes with a call for more empirical research to validate theoretical benefits, address scalability and interoperability challenges, and integrate blockchain technology with real-time data networks for sustainable water management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of global information technology, smart agriculture has gradually become an important force to promote agricultural modernisation. Taking Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs as the research object, this paper constructs a full-chain traceability process for hairy crabs integrating blockchain and Internet of Things technology in response to the demand for the enhancement of its brand value and market competitiveness. The model covers all aspects of breeding, processing, and transport to sales; realises end-to-end transparent regulation; effectively guarantees the authenticity and non-tamperability of information; and enhances consumers' trust in the brand. At the technical level, this paper designs the ECMI (Enhanced Cuckoo Merkle Index) model, optimises the data storage and retrieval mechanism, and experimentally verifies the advantages of cuckoo filters over traditional Bloom filters in reducing false positives and improving query efficiency. This paper not only provides an efficient and safe traceability solution for the hairy crab industry in Yangcheng Lake but also provides technical support and practical cases for the further application of blockchain technology in smart agriculture, which is of great value for the realisation of the national rural revitalisation strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the degradation of the environment due to increasing ecological destruction and pollution, sustainable development has become the paramount objective of social progress. As a result, the concept of green development has garnered considerable attention, which is an important starting point for China to achieve stable economic development and sustainable ecological development. To achieve high-quality economic progress while advancing environmentally friendly practices, it is imperative to formulate and uphold a sound green credit system. However, the phenomenon of greenwashing by enterprises still exists, which compromises the efficacy of green credit and hinders the long-term sustainable and well-organized progress of green finance. Building on the background of green credit, considering the existence of blockchain and government subsidies and adopting the method of tripartite evolutionary game, this paper examines the strategic decisions made by the government, financial institutions, and small and medium-sized enterprises in the context of greenwashing. An emphasis is placed on the impact of blockchain technology on the three parties involved in the green credit market. The findings demonstrate that blockchain technology can diminish the likelihood of greenwashing by businesses and enhance the impact of government subsidies. However, it cannot replace the regulatory authority of the government in sustainable development. Moreover, excessive subsidies can stimulate more greenwashing practices, but eliminating subsidies does not eradicate the root of greenwashing. To encourage sustainable economic development and minimize corporate defaults, the government ought to reinforce supervision and establish a robust social surveillance and publicity mechanism. This paper broadens the research perspective on the effectiveness of green credit and provides some empirical and theoretical references for further promoting the green transformation of SMEs and the sustainable development of the ecological environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of current technology, computer vision technology has also achieved better development, providing more possibilities for digital image generation. However, traditional digital image generation methods have high operational requirements for designers due to difficulties in collecting data sets and simulating environmental scenes, which results in poor quality, lack of diversity, and long generation speed of generated images, making it difficult to meet the current needs of image generation. In order to better solve these problems and promote the better development of digital image generation, this paper introduced a virtual interaction design under current popular blockchain technology in image generation, built a generative model through the virtual interaction design under the blockchain technology, optimized the image generation, and verified it in practice. The research results show that the digital image generation number of the method in this paper is 641. This indicates that method generates more images, has better diversity in digital image generation, and better image quality. Compared to other digital image generation methods, this method can better meet the needs of high-quality and diverse images, better adapt to the needs of different image generation, and is of great significance for promoting the better development of image generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematic management of corporate safety risks in industrial parks has become a hot topic. And risk prevention and control mutual aid is a brand-new model in the risk and emergency management of the park. In the context of blockchain, how to incentivize enterprises to actively invest in safety risk prevention and control mutual aid has become a series of key issues facing government regulators. This paper innovatively combines Prospect Theory, Mental Accounting, and Evolutionary Game Theory to create a hypothetical model of limited rationality for the behavior of key stakeholders (core enterprises, supporting enterprises, and government regulatory departments) in mutual aid for safety risk prevention and control. Under the static prize punishment mechanism and dynamic punishment mechanism, the evolutionary stabilization strategy of stakeholders was analyzed, and numerical simulation analysis was performed through examples. The results show: (1) Mutual aid for risk prevention and control among park enterprises is influenced by various factors, including external and subjective elements, and evolves through complex evolutionary paths (e.g., reference points, value perception). (2) Government departments are increasingly implementing dynamic reward and punishment measures to address the shortcomings of static mechanisms. Government departments should dynamically adjust reward and punishment strategies, determine clearly the highest standards for rewards and punishments, and the combination of various incentives and penalties can significantly improve the effectiveness of investment decisions in mutual aid for safety risk prevention and control. (3) Continuously optimizing the design of reward and punishment mechanisms, integrating blockchain technology with management strategies to motivate enterprise participation, and leveraging participant feedback are strategies and recommendations that provide new insights for promoting active enterprise investment in mutual aid for safety risk prevention and control. The marginal contribution of this paper is to reveal the evolutionary pattern of mutual safety risk prevention and control behaviors of enterprises in chemical parks in the context of blockchain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current landscape of medical data management, processing data across diverse institutions and maximizing their value are paramount. However, traditional methods lack a secure and efficient mechanism for end-to-end traceability and supervision, posing challenges in distributed scenarios lacking mutual trust. Leveraging blockchain's decentralized, tamper-proof, and traceable features, this paper introduces a blockchain-based medical data management platform. This platform enables full-process management of raw data, operational behaviors, intermediate data, and final data, meeting the needs of trusted storage and supervision of data. We propose two methods, namely, naive method and DAG-based method, to realize forward tracking and backward tracing of medical data stored on the blockchain, respectively. We validated and analyzed the storage and query performance of the medical data management platform on real medical data, and we also conducted experimental analyses on the efficiency of the proposed traceability algorithm under different data scales and processing path lengths. The results demonstrate that our platform and traceability methods effectively meet the management needs of medical data distributed across institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain technology is an emerging technology, and cryptocurrency is the most well-known and successful blockchain application. With the development of the concept of blockchain technology, scientists and practitioners have found the potential of blockchain technology in the supply chain, which has led to much research on blockchain applications. There have been many reviews on the subject, but most of them are specific to particular supply chains and lack specific research on published papers. This paper addresses this research gap by examining, through qualitative analysis, the study finds that blockchain applications are moving in the direction of efficient automation. Appropriate consensus algorithms in different supply chain contexts will improve efficiency while reducing costs, while smart contracts play a huge role in security. Therefore, this paper explored articles related to the topic and explored articles in recent years by keyword combination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the rapidly evolving field of digital asset management, centralized and decentralized global registries have become essential tools for organizing, tracking, and distributing digital assets. However, existing systems often face challenges regarding security, censorship resistance, interoperability, customizability, and scalability. This research paper aims to address these gaps by proposing a novel decentralized global registry system based on blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The research paper makes several key contributions to the field of digital asset management. First, it provides a detailed system design for the proposed decentralized global registry, outlining its architectural components, functional modules, and integration with blockchain and NFT technologies. Second, it offers a thorough comparative analysis of the advantages and limitations of the proposed system in relation to existing centralized and decentralized registries. Finally, the paper presents potential use cases and practical applications of the proposed system in various industries, demonstrating its versatility and adaptability to different contexts and requirements. In conclusion, this research paper contributes significantly to the ongoing efforts to improve digital asset management by presenting a novel, decentralized global registry system based on blockchain technology and NFTs. The proposed system addresses the key limitations of existing solutions and offers a promising direction for future research and development in this critical field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity and interconnection within the financial ecosystem demand innovative solutions to improve transparency, security, and efficiency in financial reporting and liquidity management, while also reducing accounting fraud. This paper presents Blockchain Financial Statements (BFS), an innovative accounting system designed to address accounting fraud, reduce data manipulation, and misrepresentation of company financial claims, by enhancing availability of the real-time and tamper-proof accounting data, underpinned by a verifiable approach to financial transactions and reporting. The primary goal of this research is to design, develop, and validate a blockchain-based accounting prototype—the BFS system—that can automate transformation of transactional data, generated by traditional business activity into comprehensive financial statements. Incorporating a Design Science Research Methodology with Domain-Driven Design, this study constructs a BFS artefact that harmonises accounting standards with blockchain technology and business orchestration. The resulting Java implementation of the BFS system demonstrates successful integration of blockchain technology into accounting practices, showing potential in real-time validation of transactions, immutable record-keeping, and enhancement of transparency and efficiency of financial reporting. The BFS framework and implementation signify an advancement in the application of blockchain technology in accounting. It offers a functional solution that enhances transparency, accuracy, and efficiency of financial transactions between banks and businesses. This research underlines the necessity for further exploration into blockchain's potential within accounting systems, suggesting a promising direction for future innovations in tamper-evident financial reporting and liquidity management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain technology is expected to have a radical impact on most industries by boosting security, transparency, and efficiency. This work considers the potential benefits of blockchain-focused applications in industrial process monitoring. The research design facilitates a detailed bibliometric analysis and delivers insights into the intellectual structure of blockchain technology's application in industry via scientometric approaches. The work also approaches numerous sources in various industrial sectors to identify the transformative role of blockchain in industrial processes. Aspects such as blockchain technology's impact on industrial processes' transparency are discussed, while the paper does not ignore that success stories in applying blockchain to industrial sectors are often exaggerated due to a highly competitive environment that the cryptocurrency domain has become. Finally, the work presents major research avenues and decision-making areas that should be tackled to maximize the disruptive potential of blockchain and create a secure, transparent, and inclusive future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital transformation and new technologies have made people's lives easier and led to great results in most areas of business and society. Implementing blockchain technology is one of the best tools for establishing sustainable smart cities and societies. In terms of sustainable governance sophisticated and secure voting systems are necessary to achieve high integrity and transparency and null election fraud, and, in environmental sustainability, e-voting systems eliminate the mass waste of paper and transportation gas emissions; namely, e-voting systems are eco-friendly with high democratic outcomes. Blockchain technology can revolutionize e-voting by increasing the security and transparency of the voting process. Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) into blockchain-based e-voting systems further augments their effectiveness. AI algorithms can analyze voting patterns and detect irregularities, supporting the prevention of fraudulent activities and coercion. ML procedures can enhance voter authentication processes, improve accessibility for diverse demographics, and optimize the productivity of blockchain networks during peak voting periods. This study focuses on understanding citizen perceptions of blockchain-based e-voting in a smart city context using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The study's results indicate that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are important factors in determining citizens' intentions to use blockchain-based e-voting. Furthermore, trust in the technology and perceived security were found to influence the usefulness of blockchain-based e-voting positively. This study provides important insights for policymakers and technologists seeking to promote the adoption of blockchain-based e-voting systems in smart cities. The findings of the research supported the research model with positive results. In conclusion, our research model encourages the adoption of a blockchain-based e-voting system to enhance the future voting environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its status as one of the most ancient sectors worldwide, agriculture continues to be a fundamental cornerstone of the global economy. Nevertheless, it faces obstacles such as a lack of trust, difficulties in tracking, and inefficiencies in managing the supply chain. This article examines the potential of blockchain technology (BCT) to alter the agricultural industry by providing a decentralized, transparent, and unchangeable solution to meet the difficulties it faces. The initial discussion provides an overview of the challenges encountered by the agricultural industry, followed by a thorough analysis of BCT, highlighting its potential advantages. Following that, the article explores other agricultural uses for blockchain technology, such as managing supply chains, verifying products, and processing payments. In addition, this paper examines the constraints and challenges related to the use of blockchain technology in agriculture, including issues such as scalability, legal frameworks, and interoperability. This paper highlights the potential of BCT to transform the agricultural industry by offering a transparent and secure platform for managing the supply chain. Nevertheless, it emphasizes the need for involving stakeholders, having clear legislation, and possessing technical skills in order to achieve effective implementation. This work utilizes a systematic literature review using the PRISMA technique and applies meta-analysis as the research methodology, enabling a thorough investigation of the present information available. The results emphasize the significant and positive effect of BCT on agriculture, emphasizing the need for cooperative endeavors among governments, industry pioneers, and technology specialists to encourage its extensive implementation and contribute to the advancement of a sustainable and resilient food system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper creatively constructs blockchain development indicators using geographical characteristics to investigate the influence of blockchain development on the total factor productivity of listed companies. Our findings reveal that local blockchain development can significantly promote the improvement of the firms' total factor productivity. To alleviate endogeneity, this paper combines exogenous policy and geographic distance to construct instrumental variables. Moreover, the positive influence is more pronounced in non-SOEs, non-excess capacity industries, and samples with high initial productivity. After the robustness test, the results are still valid. The aforementioned results provide practical implications for Chinese listed companies to lay out digital business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to comprehensively review the main benefits, limitations, and challenges associated with the uptake of Blockchain technology in supply chain management (SCM). The study utilizes the literature review method, examining articles published from 2016 to 2022 and exploring the factors influencing the adoption and implementation of Blockchain in SCM. Multiple scholarly insights have shown no more hacking or cherry picking of options given for presenting data with high confidence and, therefore, reliability, as well as an ability to see everything in a highly limited way. An SCM looking at these multi-party evolutionary models shows that for Blockchain, the key advantages center on significantly increased security, confidentiality, traceability, transparency, data accuracy, privacy, efficiency, accountability, and trust. In contrast, the review has also detailed several limitations and challenges that must be overcome by firms and industries looking to adopt Blockchain within their SCM processes, which include problems with scaling, lower performance as a result of interoperability issues, legal and regulatory matters, very high initial implementation and ongoing maintenance costs, a struggle with standardization of the technology and the needed surveillance of this space, avoidance of technology adoption because of trust, the substantial energy used, low awareness, complexity of integrating with existing systems, being in its last mile in partnerships, and privacy. Even with this potential to transform and be disrupted across industry and its sectors, there are still very significant challenges for Blockchain. For those looking to actually utilize SCM and other sectors, understanding this from a variety of perspectives is of great interest to understand if the technology is fit for that sector and what strategies or networks need to be established or linked into with existing firms. Regardless, if these challenges can be overcome and responded to, then the greater protection and efficiency of current and future SCM processes will not only occur, but it can be the first significant node for broader industry-wide innovation and gains in efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology can enable autonomous AI agents to engage and execute economic and financial transactions. We critically examine the constraints on AI agents in achieving predefined objectives independently, especially due to their limited access to economic and financial institutions. We argue that AI's access to these institutions is vital in enhancing its capabilities to augment human productivity. Drawing on the theory of institutional economics, we propose that blockchain provides a solution for creating digital economic and financial institutions, permitting AI to engage with these institutions through the management of private keys. This extends AI's capabilities to form and execute contracts, participate in marketplaces, and utilize financial services autonomously. The paper encourages further research on AI as a general-purpose technology and blockchain as an institutional technology that can unlock the full capabilities of autonomous AI agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a novel government reserve strategy, employing a blockchain-supported second-hand E-commerce platform, specifically designed to mitigate the depreciation and expiration of disaster relief supplies. Utilizing the newsvendor model and convex optimization techniques, this study evaluates the efficacy of a rotational strategy for optimal pre-positioning of supplies, considering the dynamic conditions of supply chain performance. Additionally, the paper demonstrates how blockchain technology significantly enhances the traceability of supplies, which is crucial for effective supply management. Empirical data analysis reveals that exceeding a critical price threshold on the platform not only augments the government's optimal reserve levels but also substantially decreases operational costs. In scenarios where the supply chain is well coordinated, optimal reserve quantities are affected by variables such as the likelihood of disaster events, the success rate of sales, and a supply traceability index. This research extends the application of blockchain and E-commerce technologies within disaster management supply chains and offers new insights and practical approaches for improving E-commerce practices in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterprises adopting a circular economy approach can effectively solve the severe situation of resources and the environment, and recycling is considered an effective means to solve environmental issues. Simultaneously, blockchain technology (BT) has been used to enhance product quality trust. However, there is limited literature on how to choose between monopolistic and competitive recycling modes by considering BT. This paper uses a game involving a manufacturer, a retailer, and a third-party recycler (TPR) in a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC). The retailer can recycle on itself and compete with the TPR for recycling used products. The results show that BT adoption could increase the recycling rate and demand for remanufactured products. BT benefits the firms in the CLSC when they control usage costs, regardless of whether competitive recycling mode is used or not. In addition, whether BT is adopted or not, CLSC firms prefer competitive recycling mode only when the competitive intensity exceeds a specific threshold. Moreover, choosing an appropriate recycling mode can alleviate the negative impact of BT on the environment, then an all-win result can be obtained for CLSC firms, consumers, and society. These results can give suggestions for managers to optimize their supply chains regarding adopting BT and implementing recycling mode. In the future, we can expand our research on the transfer price of used products, the positive and negative effects of BT, and BT cost-sharing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare represents a transformative shift with substantial potential for enhancing patient care. This paper critically examines this integration, confronting significant ethical, legal, and technological challenges, particularly in patient privacy, decision-making autonomy, and data integrity. A structured exploration of these issues focuses on Differential Privacy as a critical method for preserving patient confidentiality in AI-driven healthcare systems. We analyze the balance between privacy preservation and the practical utility of healthcare data, emphasizing the effectiveness of encryption, Differential Privacy, and mixed-model approaches. The paper navigates the complex ethical and legal frameworks essential for AI integration in healthcare. We comprehensively examine patient rights and the nuances of informed consent, along with the challenges of harmonizing advanced technologies like blockchain with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The issue of algorithmic bias in healthcare is also explored, underscoring the urgent need for effective bias detection and mitigation strategies to build patient trust. The evolving roles of decentralized data sharing, regulatory frameworks, and patient agency are discussed in depth. Advocating for an interdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder approach and responsive governance, the paper aims to align healthcare AI with ethical principles, prioritize patient-centered outcomes, and steer AI towards responsible and equitable enhancements in patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), traffic sign detection plays an indispensable role in advancing autonomous driving and intelligent transportation. However, current road traffic sign detection technologies face challenges in terms of information privacy protection, model accuracy verification, and result sharing. To enhance system sustainability, this paper introduces blockchain technology. The decentralized, tamper-proof, and consensus-based features of blockchain ensure data privacy and security among vehicles while facilitating trustworthy validation of traffic sign detection algorithms and result sharing. Storing model training data on distributed nodes reduces the system computational resources, thereby lowering energy consumption and improving system stability, enhancing the sustainability of the model. This paper introduces an enhanced GGS-YOLO model, optimized based on YOLOv5. The model strengthens the feature extraction capability of the original network by introducing a coordinate attention mechanism and incorporates a BiFPN feature fusion network to enhance detection accuracy. Additionally, the newly designed GGS convolutional module not only improves accuracy but also makes the model more lightweight. The model achieves an enhanced detection accuracy rate of 85.6%, with a reduced parameter count of 0.34 × 10 7 . In a bid to broaden its application scope, we integrate the model with blockchain technology for traffic sign detection in the IoV. This method demonstrates outstanding performance in traffic sign detection tasks within the IoV, confirming its feasibility and sustainability in practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain offers a cutting-edge solution for storing medical data, carrying out medical transactions, and establishing trust for medical data integration and exchange in a decentralized open healthcare network setting. While blockchain in healthcare has garnered considerable attention, privacy and security concerns remain at the center of the debate when adopting blockchain for information exchange in healthcare. This paper presents research on the subject of blockchain's privacy and security in healthcare from 2017 to 2022. In light of the existing literature, this critical evaluation assesses the current state of affairs, with a particular emphasis on papers that deal with practical applications and difficulties. By providing a critical evaluation, this review provides insight into prospective future study directions and advances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cost prediction can provide a pharma supply chain industry with completing their projects on schedule and within budget. This paper provides a new multi-function Blockchain Technology-enabled Pharmaceutical Supply Chain (BT-enabled PSC) mathematical cost model, including PSC costs, BT costs, and uncertain demand. The purpose of this study is to find the most appropriate algorithm(s) with minimum prediction errors to predict the costs of the BT-enabled PSC model. This paper also aims to determine the importance and cost of each component of the multi-function model. To reach these goals, we combined four Supervised Learning algorithms (KNN, DT, SVM, and NB) with two Evolutionary Computation algorithms (HS and PSO) after data generation. Each component of the multi-function model has its importance, and we applied the Feature Weighting approach to analyze their importance. Next, four performance metrics evaluated the multi-function model, and the Total Ranking Score determined predictive algorithms with high reliability. The results indicate the HS-NB and PSO-NB algorithms perform better than the other six algorithms in predicting the costs of the multi-function model with small errors. The findings also show that the Raw Materials cost has a more substantial influence on the model than the other components. This study also introduces the components of the multi-function BT-enabled PSC model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain technology is emerging as a high-impact solution for the tourism industry, a topic chosen for its growing research relevance and potential to revolutionise the tourism sector in several areas. This study examines how the combination of Blockchain technology and P2P platforms advances sustainability and marketing in the tourism accommodation market. It attempts to fill a gap in the literature by focusing on its application in two areas, namely digital markets and technology, which are expanding. The originality of this research lies in its comprehensive review of blockchain applications in tourism from a practical point of view, which has been largely unexplored in the existing literature. Through a bibliometric review of forty-two papers, various Blockchain applications were identified, such as improving transparency, trust, and efficiency in hotel operations and eliminating intermediaries to reduce costs. The adoption of smart contracts and the use of cryptocurrencies have also emerged as key trends. These findings highlight the transformative potential of Blockchain technology to build trust between hosts and guests, streamline processes, and improve the customer experience. However, they emphasise the need for the careful planning and consideration of the challenges associated with implementing this technology. Future research should further explore the specific applications of Blockchain technology in tourism to optimise its impact on industry and ensure long-term sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, user-side energy storage has begun to develop. At the same time, independent energy storage stations are gradually being commercialized. The user side puts shared energy storage under coordinated operation, which becomes a new energy utilization scheme. To solve the many challenges that arise from this scenario, this paper proposes a community power coordinated dispatching model based on blockchain technology that considers shared energy storage and demand response. First of all, this paper analyzes the operating architecture of a community coordinated dispatching system under blockchain. Combined with the electricity consumption mode of communities using a shared energy storage station service, the interactive operation mechanism and system framework of block chain for coordinated dispatching are designed. Secondly, with the goal of minimizing the total cost of coordinated operation of the community alliance, an optimal dispatching model is established according to the relevant constraints, such as the community demand response, shared energy storage system operation and so on. Thirdly, the blockchain application scheme of community coordinated dispatching is designed, including the incentive mechanism based on the improved Shapley value allocation coordination cost, and the consensus algorithm based on the change rate of users' electricity utilization utility function. Finally, the simulation results show that the proposed community coordinated dispatching strategy in this paper can effectively reduce the economic cost, reduce the pressure on the power grid, and promote the consumption of clean energy. The combination of the designed cost allocation and other methods with blockchain technology solves the trust problem and promotes the innovation of the power dispatching mode. This study can provide some references for the application of blockchain technology in user-side energy storage and shared energy storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain-based battery tracking offers solutions to issues like information asymmetry, counterfeit battery risk, and technical barriers in assessing battery condition. This paper aims to identify the drivers behind manufacturers adopting blockchain for battery tracking and assess whether a mutually beneficial outcome exists. We develop a game model featuring two competing manufacturers, and extend it to include asymmetric competition and battery quality considerations. Equilibrium solutions reveal two main incentives for manufacturers to adopt blockchain: reverse profit compensation and enhancement of battery quality. Blockchain traceability facilitates retired battery recovery in a large-scale market, even when adoption costs outweigh reuse savings and collection prices are low. If one manufacturer implements blockchain, reducing blockchain costs or expanding the market can lead to a "win-win" outcome for competitors. Our findings offer novel managerial insights into manufacturers' blockchain adoption decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores participatory design methods for the interconnection of digital recording techniques, like digital photogrammetry and Gaussian splatting, with emerging domains such as the metaverse and blockchain technology. The focus lies in community engagement and the economic growth of urban and rural areas through blockchain integration, utilizing low-cost digitalization methods to create Web3 environments mirroring real settlements. Through a case study of an Italian village, the potential of participatory design and community-led development strategies in revitalizing neglected areas are explored, and the use of low-cost drone-based photogrammetry and Gaussian splatting in digitization are compared, highlighting their advantages and drawbacks considering the aim of this work, i.e., the creation of an interactive metaverse space. Ultimately, the study underscores the transformative role of digital technologies in reshaping design processes and fostering community development through a workflow, stressing collaborative decision-making and blockchain-driven economy, manufacturing, and maintenance through self-ownership models and performance-based smart contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain technology is very useful. This paper considers the application of blockchain technology to smart contracts, green certification, and market information disclosure, and introduces the carbon trading market price as a parameter to solve the dynamic incentive problem of the government for port enterprises to reduce emissions under the carbon trading policy. Based on the state change of port carbon emission reduction, this paper uses principal–agent theory to construct the dynamic incentive contract model of government without blockchain, with blockchain, and when carbon trading is considered under blockchain, respectively, and uses the optimal control method to solve and analyze the model. This paper finds that only when the opportunity cost of port enterprises is greater than a certain critical point and the fixed cost of blockchain is less than a certain critical point, the implementation of blockchain will help improve government efficiency. However, only when the critical value of carbon emission reduction of port enterprises and the unit operating cost of blockchain are small, the government should start the carbon trading market under blockchain technology. Through numerical simulation, this paper also finds that it is usually beneficial for the government to regulate and appropriately increase the carbon trading market price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing global interdependence of companies, their scope of responsibility for the environmental, social, and human rights impacts associated with their activities is also growing. In this context, companies are increasingly held accountable for social and ecological issues that lie within the sphere of action of their suppliers and sub-suppliers. They are thus faced with the challenge of meeting these demands for transparency, traceability, and compliance with standards in their Supply Chains (SCs). Based on the theoretical framework of Sustainable Supply Chain Transparency (SSCT) in Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM), this conceptual article aims at initiating the discussion on digitalization in SSCM. Therefore, a heuristical research framework, based on relevant fields in the management of sustainability oriented transparency (governance, cooperation and partner selection, traceability/tracking, and strategic and operational risk assessment) is developed. In relation to these fields, consequently, data-driven digital approaches are identified to which potentials for SSCT and control can be attributed. This initial analysis of existing digital approaches already shows that the market is developing dynamically, but is driven more by individual initiatives. In many cases, the approaches used so far are still in the trial phase or offer only limited solutions. Therefore, this paper contributes by giving an overview of the current application of the digitalization approaches in SSCM pinning our discussion on SSCT dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, blockchain technology has attracted substantial interest for its capability to transform supply chain management and finance. This paper employs evolutionary game theory to investigate the application of blockchain in mitigating financial risks within supply chains, taking into account the technology's maturity and the risk preferences of financial institutions. By modeling interactions among financial institutions, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and core enterprises within the accounts receivable financing framework, this study evaluates blockchain's impact on their decision-making and its efficacy in risk reduction. Our findings suggest the transformative potential of blockchain in mitigating financial risks, solving information asymmetry, and enhancing collaboration between financial entities and SMEs. Additionally, we integrate smart contracts into supply chain finance, proposing pragmatic procedures for their deployment in real-world contexts. Via a detailed examination of blockchain's maturity and financial institutions' risk preferences, this research demonstrates the primary determinants of strategic decisions in supply chain finance and underscores how blockchain technology fosters system stability using risk mitigation. Our innovative contribution lies in the design of smart contracts for the ARF process, rooted in blockchain's core attributes of security, transparency, and immutability, thereby ensuring efficient operation and cost reduction in supply chain finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The national adoption of any technology involves the tight cooperation between the government and the key players involved in the sector of significance. This study highlights a road map toward blockchain technology (BCT) adoption and how it can catalyze better collaboration between the national authorities who play a vital role in securing food systems. The study discusses novel organizational and management concepts to blockchain-based digital governance and lays the foundation for future research. The methodology involves a combination of a systematic review and field research with officials of Qatar's Food Security Program. As a result of analysing the case of Qatar, this paper analyzes the key features of both the BCT and the national food security goals of Qatar and investigates the technology–strategy fit. The outcomes include a blockchain collaboration matrix, "Technology Adoption and Stakeholder Effect" Matrix, and mapping the national strategies of Qatar Food Security to the capabilities of blockchain technology. Finally, this work concludes by providing concrete suggestions to help facilitate blockchain adoption within the national IT infrastructure, for better traceability and transparency in the food system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote sensing image is a vital basis for land management decisions. The protection of remote sensing images has seen the application of blockchain's notarization function by many scholars. Yet, research on efficient retrieval of such images on the blockchain remains sparse. Addressing this issue, this paper introduces a blockchain-based spatial index verification method using Hyperledger Fabric. It linearizes the spatial information of remote sensing images via Geohash and integrates it with LSM trees for effective retrieval and verification. The system also incorporates IPFS as an underlying storage unit for Hyperledger Fabric, ensuring the safe storage and transmission of images. The experiments indicate that this method significantly reduces the latency in data retrieval and verification without impacting the write performance of Hyperledger Fabric, enhancing throughput and providing a solid foundation for efficient blockchain-based verification of remote sensing images in land registry systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analytically explores the value of blockchain technology in building consumer trust in recyclers. We focus on an e-commerce closed-loop supply chain composed of an online platform and a manufacturer. In the forward chain, the platform selects a reselling or marketplace model to sell products. In the reverse chain, the platform collects used products, and the unknown whereabouts of the used products will cause consumer mistrust and be detrimental to the corporate image. Blockchain technology can address these challenges by improving the visibility of the recycling chain. By constructing differential game models, we specify the conditions for blockchain implementation and explore its impact on the online sales model choice and the E-CLSC performance. The findings show that the manufacturer consistently benefits from blockchain technology, while the platform decides to adopt it when the long-term profits outweigh the initial investment costs. Interestingly, the sales model selection will not change with the advent of blockchain technology. We further show the benefits of blockchain-enabled recycling and provide tangible insights for related practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Project implementations normally fail due to sustainable development problems that inhibit the usage levels required to facilitate successful implementations. This paper explores the successful implementation from a Bangladesh perspective. In particular, it identifies the possible applications of Blockchain in project procurement and management, and it develops a guideline for incorporating Blockchain into project management to improve the existing project and the procurement management practices in developing countries. This is a qualitative study with an interpretivist research methodology. By adopting an interpretive approach, this study construes knowledge as that only gained through social constructions, such as language, shared meanings, documents, industry reports, reviews of academic papers, and tools; it is a changing and relative phenomenon. This study reveals that developing countries are suffering in terms of the development of projects, including poor project management, a lack of transparency, poor procurement management, etc. A total of 38 issues were identified through this study, which are the main barriers to the successful implementation of public sector projects. One of the main reasons is due to the practice of awarding the lowest bidder during the procurement process due to the current regulatory requirements. This paper found that the Oracle platform, built on Blockchain technology as a cloud-computing platform, is one of the prominent E-procurement platforms that provides both the Blockchain platform and the cloud-based applications. Therefore, after observing and analysing the platform, it is found that Blockchain technology has the capability to resolve 25 issues out of 38 identified issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain technology, as a well-known technology in financial spaces, has many advantages in non-financial industries and supply chains. Two of the main benefits of blockchain technology are smart contracts and distributed decision-making processes. These features can be especially useful in implementing Industry 4.0. Moreover, this technology can increase productivity in supply chains by enhancing transparency, reducing operational costs, and improving monitoring and supervision throughout the lifecycle of products. In this paper, we introduce a blockchain-based architecture for a supply chain in cloud architecture. This approach leads to the more efficient implementation of Industry 4.0 and increases sustainability in the supply chain. In this study, we aim to investigate whether the proposed blockchain-based platform affects sustainability in the supply chain. From a sustainability perspective, we solve the large-scale problem of a cloud-based production–distribution system in centralized and distributed states. The results of the solution indicate a significant improvement in the decentralized state compared to the centralized state and this improvement enhances sustainability in the supply chain. We verify the proposed model by considering an axiomatic design algorithm. In the distributed model, the system cost is reduced by up to 45%, and the solving time is decreased by approximately 51% in pessimistic conditions and by about 87% in optimistic conditions. These improvements directly enhance economic and environmental sustainability, resulting in reduced energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital transformation, which significantly impacts our personal, social, and economic spheres of life, is regarded by many as the most significant development of recent decades. In an industrial context, based on a systematic literature review of 262 papers selected from the ProQuest database, using the methodology of David and Han, this paper discusses Industry 4.0 technologies as the key drivers and/or enablers of digital transformation for business practices, models, processes, and routines in the current digital age. After carrying out a systematic literature review considering key Industry 4.0 technologies, we discuss the individual and collective ways in which competitiveness in contemporary organizations and institutions is enhanced. Specifically, we discuss how these technologies contribute as antecedents, drivers, and enablers of environmental and social sustainability, corporate growth and diversification, reshoring, mass customization, B2B cooperation, supply chain integration, Lean Six Sigma, quality of governance, innovations, and knowledge related to dealing with challenges arising from global pandemics such as COVID-19. A few challenges related to the effective adoption and implementation of Industry 4.0 are also highlighted, along with some suggestions to overcome them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era where environmental and social pressures on companies are increasing, sustainable supply chain management is essential for the efficient operation and survivability of the organizations (members of the chain). Digital transformation and the adoption of new technologies could support the development of sustainable strategies, as they support supply chain processes, decrease operational costs, enable control and monitoring of operations and support green practices. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between sustainable supply chain management and digital transformation through the adoption of specific technologies (Blockchain technology, big data analytics, internet of things). It aims at theory building and the development of a conceptual framework, enabling the explanation of under which circumstances the above combination could lead to the development of sustainable performances. It also aims to examine how companies can increase their competitive advantage and/or increase their business performance, contributing both to academics and practitioners. After conducting a literature review analysis, a significant gap was detected. There are a few studies providing theoretical approaches to examining all three pillars of sustainability, while at the same time analyzing the impact of big data analytics, internet of things and blockchain technology on the development of sustainable supply chains. Aiming to address this gap, this paper primarily conducts a literature review, identifies definitions and theories used to explain the different pillars of flexibility, and examines the effect of different technologies. It then develops a theoretical conceptual framework, which could enable both academics and practitioners to examine the impact of the adoption of different technologies on sustainable supply chain management. The findings of this research reveal that digital transformation plays an important role to companies, as the combination of different technologies may lead to the development of significant capabilities, increasing sustainable performances and enabling the development of sustainable strategies, which can improve companies' position in the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A museum is the destination of the crystallization of history and culture, and a museum is the center for the development of heritage culture. The display and exhibition of historical relics can promote the harmonious development of society. However, there are many defects in traditional museums. The collection in the museum is scattered. The exhibition needs a specific time and place to open, and the exhibition mode is boring and lacks entertainment, which seriously limits the museum's dissemination of history and culture. In order to improve the public's number of visits, museums need to keep pace with the times. Using augmented reality technology can digitize the information in the museum and integrate it with the user's real environment, which solves the limitation of time and space for most users to visit the museum, and greatly increases the entertainment of users to visit the museum. In addition, the application of blockchain technology in digital museums can effectively ensure the security of museum cultural relics data and quickly restore the lost cultural relics information. The digital museum can help tourists realize cross-region viewing. Through multimedia software and hardware, it can greatly stimulate tourists' interest and attract tourists of different ages to visit. This article uses digital technology to present physical museums in a digital form on the network, but it is difficult for digital museums to conduct targeted analysis on tourists of different ages. This article will analyze the attraction ability of digital museums to tourists of different ages, thereby attracting tourists of different ages to visit. This paper compared traditional museums with digital museums based on augmented reality technology and blockchain technology. The experimental results showed that from the perspective of young people, the average interactivity of traditional museums and digital museums was 47.20% and 78.20%, respectively; from the perspective of the elderly, the average interactivity of traditional museums and digital museums was 59.04% and 70.36%, respectively. Therefore, the digital museum built by using augmented reality technology and blockchain technology can effectively improve the interaction with users. The digital museum can improve the interaction with tourists of different ages, attract a large number of tourists for virtual visits, and improve the cultural transmission and economic development of the digital museum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last few years, blockchain technology and NFTs have been the subject of much research in different sectors ranging from informatics, to medicine, to economics. Although it is most often associated with cryptocurrencies, due to its features of immutability and durability, this technology has found its place in various fields, including GLAM institutions. This article will review the literature from 2017 to 2022 dealing with blockchain and NFTs in the heritage sector. Topics covered, proposed models, and projects will be highlighted. Archives are currently leading the research into the use of blockchain technology and have already developed models such as TrustChain. However, libraries, museums, and galleries are also beginning to show an interest in the new technology and its potential benefits. Therefore, we also approached the GLAM sector as a whole, to emphasize the importance of the joint development on the advancement of shared approaches and protocols in utilizing blockchain technology to enhance the trustworthy management and preservation of digital resources. This is particularly important because GLAM institutions care for a shared heritage and serve a common audience. In the second part of the article we will discuss the proposed uses of the technology and highlight still unexplored topics that should be elaborated in further research. The aim of this paper is to make a synthesis of previous research and bring the potential of blockchain technology and NFTs closer to experts in the heritage field, given that they are still quite unknown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human resource data sharing is very important for the cooperation of human resource institutions. Since the human resource data-sharing service needs to take into account the needs of individuals and talent service institutions, it faces issues such as the security of information sharing and the traceability of information. Therefore, this paper constructs a human resource data-sharing service system based on blockchain technology. Its trust mechanism is based on the Fabric alliance chain, and the system makes full use of its advantages of decentralization and consensus. Our research mainly includes data sharing architecture design, consensus mechanism analysis, smart contract design, data sharing process, and blockchain construction. The contribution of this paper is mainly in two aspects. On the one hand, it explores the trust mechanism of human resource data sharing and gives the scheme of the Fabric alliance chain. On the other hand, the overall architecture and smart contract design are given on the construction of the blockchain, which provides a reference for future research on human resource data sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today's digital world necessitates the adoption of encryption techniques to ensure secure peer-to-peer communication. The sole purpose of this paper is to conglomerate the fundamentals of Blockchain, AI (Artificial Intelligence) and DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) encryption into one proposed scheme, KryptosChain, which is capable of providing a secure information exchange between a sender and his intended receiver. The scheme firstly suggests a DNA-based Huffman coding scheme, which alternatively allocates purines—Adenine (A) and Guanine (G), and pyrimidines—Thymine (T) and Cytosine (C) values, while following the complementary rule to higher and lower branches of the resultant Huffman tree. Inculcation of DNA concepts makes the Huffman coding scheme eight times stronger than the traditional counterpart based on binary—0 and 1 values. After the ciphertext is obtained, the proposed methodology next provides a Blockchain-inspired message exchange scheme that achieves all the principles of security and proves to be immune to common cryptographic attacks even without the deployment of any smart contract, or possessing any cryptocurrency or arriving at any consensus. Lastly, different classifiers were engaged to check the intrusion detection capability of KryptosChain on the NSL-KDD dataset and AI fundamentals. The detailed analysis of the proposed KryptosChain validates its capacity to fulfill its security goals and stands immune to cryptographic attacks. The intrusion possibility curbing concludes that the J84 classifier provides the highest accuracy of 95.84% among several others as discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain, a promising technology that has matured and nowadays is widely used in many fields, such as supply chain management, smart grids, agriculture and logistics, has also been proposed for the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) ecosystem to enhance the protection of the data that roadside units and vehicles exchange. Blockchain technology can inherently guarantee the availability, integrity and immutability of data stored in IoV, yet it cannot protect privacy and data confidentiality on its own. As such, solutions that utilise this technology have to consider the adoption of privacy-preserving schemes to address users' privacy concerns. This paper provides a literature review of proposed solutions that provide different vehicular services using blockchain technology while preserving privacy. In this context, it analyses existing solutions' main characteristics and properties to provide a comprehensive and critical overview and identifies their contribution in the field. Moreover, it provides suggestions to researchers for future work in the field of privacy-preserving blockchain-enabled solutions for vehicular networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The blossoming of cryptocurrencies during the last decade has largely influenced both the financial and the technological world. Bitcoin emerged on the edge of the financial crisis in 2008, signaling the very beginning of a financial and technological innovation, which in continuance would eventually create a lot of questions and debate previously unforeseeable. This paper aims to explore the impact of factors such as trading volume, information demand, stock returns, and exchange rates on the volatility of returns for decentralized and unbacked cryptocurrencies from 2016 to 2022 by employing the GARCH model. Based on each coin's innate functional characteristics and market performance quantified by their respective market capitalization, the selection included Bitcoin, Ether, and XRP as representative crypto coins for the category of decentralized and unbacked cryptocurrencies. The implementation of correlation analysis and the use of the GARCH model on influencing factors for each coin revealed that decentralized and unbacked cryptocurrencies are positively related to trading volume, information demand, and exchange rates while being indifferent to a certain extent to the stock market returns of the world stock index MSCI ACWI. The results of this study provide further insight into the behavior of cryptocurrency return volatility in the new, ever-changing, and highly unpredictable crypto market as well as aid investors in their decision-making process concerning portfolio optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the impact of the application of blockchain technology on enterprise performance, as well as the mechanism of enterprise risk and the information disclosure quality on this impact process, and taking the data of A-share listed companies in China's manufacturing industry from 2015 to 2022 as a research sample, this paper adopts methods such as multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) modeling to conduct an empirical investigation. Findings: The application of blockchain technology can improve enterprise performance. Enterprise risk plays a partial mediating effect, because blockchain technology can reduce enterprise risk and thereby improve enterprise performance. Information disclosure quality has an inhibitory influence on the process by which blockchain technology affects enterprise risk and a facilitating influence on the process by which enterprise risk affects enterprise performance. The results show that manufacturing enterprises with low information disclosure quality can reduce enterprise risk by combining with blockchain technology in production, management, and other aspects, thus improving enterprise performance and promoting sustainable development of enterprise economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth in the number of interconnected devices on the Internet (referred to as the Internet of Things—IoT), along with the huge volume of data that are exchanged and processed, has created a new landscape in network design and operation. Due to the limited battery size and computational capabilities of IoT nodes, data processing usually takes place on external devices. Since latency minimization is a key concept in modern-era networks, edge servers that are in close proximity to IoT nodes gather and process related data, while in some cases data offloading in the cloud might have to take place. The interconnection of a vast number of heterogeneous IoT devices with the edge servers and the cloud, where the IoT, edge, and cloud converge to form a computing continuum, is also known as the IoT-edge-cloud (IEC) continuum. Several key challenges are associated with this new computing systems' architectural approach, including (i) the design of connection and programming protocols aimed at properly manipulating a huge number of heterogeneous devices over diverse infrastructures; (ii) the design of efficient task offloading algorithms aimed at optimizing services execution; (iii) the support for security and privacy enhancements during data transfer to deal with the existent and even unforeseen attacks and threats landscape; (iv) scalability, flexibility, and reliability guarantees to face the expected mobility for IoT systems; and (v) the design of optimal resource allocation mechanisms to make the most out of the available resources. These challenges will become even more significant towards the new era of sixth-generation (6G) networks, which will be based on the integration of various cutting-edge heterogeneous technologies. Therefore, the goal of this survey paper is to present all recent developments in the field of IEC continuum systems, with respect to the aforementioned deployment challenges. In the same context, potential limitations and future challenges are highlighted as well. Finally, indicative use cases are also presented from an IEC continuum perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulatory authorities, consumers, and producers alike are alarmed by the issue of food safety, which is a matter of international concern. The conventional approaches utilized in food quality management demonstrate deficiencies in their capacity to sufficiently address issues related to traceability, transparency, and accountability. The emergence of blockchain technology (BCT) has provided a feasible approach to tackle the challenge of regulating food safety. This research paper presents a methodology for implementing blockchain technology to establish risk traceability in the context of monitoring, tracing, and authenticating agricultural products. The proposed system underwent a comprehensive evaluation, which placed significant emphasis on simulation parameters and assessment standards. The aim of the study was to demonstrate the effectiveness of the system through the assessment of various quantitative metrics, including throughput, latency, and resource utilization. The Hyperledger Fabric and Hyperledger Caliper were employed in the formulation and assessment of algorithms intended for agricultural supply chain management. The configuration comprising two entities and two peers achieved the highest write throughput (205.87 transactions per second; TPS), thereby demonstrating the network's effective transaction processing capability. In a two-organization, two-peer system, the mean latency for read operations exhibited variability spanning from 0.037 to 0.061 s, contingent upon the transaction rates and accounting for the duration needed for network processing and validation. The results were visually depicted, offering a distinct demonstration of the system's efficacy under various conditions. This study presents a quantitative analysis that illustrates the efficacy of the blockchain system in enhancing the traceability of agricultural products across the entire supply chain. The results of this research suggest that the implementation of blockchain technology could potentially enhance both the security and efficacy of food supply management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the Internet of Things (IoT) concept materialized worldwide in complex ecosystems, the related data security and privacy issues became apparent. While the system elements and their communication paths could be protected individually, generic, ecosystem-wide approaches were sought after as well. On a parallel timeline to IoT, the concept of distributed ledgers and blockchains came into the technological limelight. Blockchains offer many advantageous features in relation to enhanced security, anonymity, increased capacity, and peer-to-peer capabilities. Although blockchain technology can provide IoT with effective and efficient solutions, there are many challenges related to various aspects of integrating these technologies. While security, anonymity/data privacy, and smart contract-related features are apparently advantageous for blockchain technologies (BCT), there are challenges in relation to storage capacity/scalability, resource utilization, transaction rate scalability, predictability, and legal issues. This paper provides a systematic review on state-of-the-art approaches of BCT and IoT integration, specifically in order to solve certain security- and privacy-related issues. The paper first provides a brief overview of BCT and IoT's basic principles, including their architecture, protocols and consensus algorithms, characteristics, and the challenges of integrating them. Afterwards, it describes the survey methodology, including the search strategy, eligibility criteria, selection results, and characteristics of the included articles. Later, we highlight the findings of this study which illustrates different works that addressed the integration of blockchain technology and IoT to tackle various aspects of privacy and security, which are followed by a categorization of applications that have been investigated with different characteristics, such as their primary information, objective, development level, target application, type of blockchain and platform, consensus algorithm, evaluation environment and metrics, future works or open issues (if any), and further notes for consideration. Furthermore, a detailed discussion of all articles is included from an architectural and operational perspective. Finally, we cover major gaps and future considerations that can be taken into account when integrating blockchain technology with IoT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crowdsourcing design is generally monitored by the platform. However, the traditional crowdsourcing platforms face problems such as centralization, lack of credibility and vulnerability to single point of failure. Under the context of social manufacturing, how to address these potential issues has both research and substantial value. In this paper, we introduce decentralized blockchain technology for crowdsourcing service systems and propose a method to manage and control the process of crowdsourcing design services. We depict complex crowdsourcing logic by smart contract. The process of crowdsourcing design is not dependent on any third party. It is decentralized, tamper-proof, traceable and protects the privacy of users to a certain extent. We implement this crowdsourcing design system on a specific blockchain test network to experiment and test its functionalities. Experiment results show the feasibility and usability of our crowdsourcing design system. In the future, we will further improve the algorithmic logic of smart contracts so that they can run stably and securely in a complex node network environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are gaining in popularity and are already extensively implemented. New use cases for NFTs are constantly developing. NFTs may prevent counterfeiting since each token carries the owner's digital signature and is thus unique. For the usage of NFTs to progress in an institutional environment, the potential for using NFTs must be investigated in detail. This discovery prompted a comprehensive examination of NFTs developed between 2012 and 2022. The scope is confined to the journal and the keywords "Blockchain", "Block-chain", "Non-fungible Token", and "NFT" are used. Also excluded are studies based on interviews, articles in the press, non-English articles, reviews, conferences, book chapters, dissertations, and monographs. This evaluation includes 34 papers from the last decade. This research examines the current state and development trends of NFT. In addition, the gaps and difficulties in the related literature have been explored, with an emphasis on the limits. These results highlight many unsolved research questions and potential future research avenues that would likely be beneficial to academics and professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gain and oil are important compounds in global food supplies, and ensuring the quality and safety of grains and oil is a critical issue in the food supply chain security. Data traceability is the key factor in quality and safety management. Currently, it is a big challenge to ensure the reliability of data and guarantee the efficient exchange of data in various highly heterogeneous systems. To address this challenge, we develop a reliable traceability model applied to the grain and oil industry. In this paper, we first analyze the characteristics of the whole chain traceability information flow, and then we propose the concept that the connector for blockchain and industrial internet is suitable for data traceability in the grain and oil industry. Based on this concept, a reliable traceability model of grain and oil quality and safety is constructed. Finally, a reliable traceability prototype system for wheat quality and safety was designed, and the system implementation of the model was validated. The overall advantage of the proposed model is that the traceability information is safe and credible, the interaction is concise and efficient, and the security and full-process traceability of cross-chain information interaction are guaranteed. This paper fills the gap in the application of research chain network in the field of grain and oil traceability. Reference to this model can also be used to implement and adjust the traceability system, which is adaptable to stakeholders in the grain and oil industry. The model and techniques in this paper not only demonstrate value in real-world applications but also inspire further research in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]