From truth to trust: the impact of blockchain traceability on trust in product authenticity

In the global marketplace, customers are increasingly unaware of the source, provenance, and authenticity of products. Early research has shown that the introduction of blockchain technology into the supply chain area can make it more transparent and trustworthy. As a platform that supports distributed, cryptographically secure, auditable transactions, blockchain has expanded from the domain of digital cryptocurrency into the domain of physical asset provenance and ownership tracking and tracing. This research examines blockchain support of trust in product authenticity adopting a two-paper dissertation format. In the first conceptual paper, I develop a conceptual framework on blockchain technology\u27s unique features and characteristics and how it can boost trust in product authenticity. The second paper adopts the conceptual framework to test through a vignette experiment the effects of blockchain traceability, product identification, and the interaction between them on trust in product origin authenticity. Academics can use this research to develop new instruments to inform practice about how blockchain can boost trust in product authenticity. Results from this study can inform managers considering investments into blockchain solutions and unique product identification as a customer product authenticity, brand protection, or anti-counterfeiting strategy

Blockchain-Supported Food Supply Chain Reference Architecture

Department of Management EngineeringA food security issue increased rapidly due to numerous food frauds and tragic incidents and overall growth in the scale of food supply chain network in the last years. Since the recent evolution of Blockchain technology, it promises high potential ability to guarantee and trace the originality of products in supply chain network The main purpose of this research work is to build general Blockchain-supported food supply chain reference architecture model along with supplementary guidelines which could be applied in real-life supply chain cases with or without customization or inspire their design of supply chain system. A case driven bottom-up approach is used to create the reference architecture with the help of BOAT framework as a base tool to align the case details. A total of three food supply chain cases were utilized for the development of reference architecture and third case study of Mongolian meat trade supply chain was examined with the proposed solution and finally evaluated by the local experts. I believe this reference framework will help fellow researchers and industry practitioners to use this as a base knowledge without beginning from the scratches because current literature lacks extremely in this field. In overall, I expect this work will contribute to the current literature in the followings: 1. To expand the implementation mechanism of Blockchain solutions in general supply chain cases especially in food supply chain. 2. To provide practical exemplary implementation of real life case scenarios 3. To provide detailed analysis of benefits and weaknesses of using Blockchain in food supply chainope

Improving root cause analysis through the integration of PLM systems with cross supply chain maintenance data

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a system architecture for integrating Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems with cross supply chain maintenance information to support root-cause analysis. By integrating product-data from PLM systems with warranty claims, vehicle diagnostics and technical publications, engineers were able to improve the root-cause analysis and close the information gaps. Data collection was achieved via in-depth semi-structured interviews and workshops with experts from the automotive sector. Unified Modelling Language (UML) diagrams were used to design the system architecture proposed. A user scenario is also presented to demonstrate the functionality of the system

Design of a Secure Transmission System for Secure Key Injection During Initialization Phase of IOT Devices

In the last decade society has experienced an exponential growth in the number of devices connected to the Internet. Recently, new gadgets called Internet of Things devices have appeared in our homes. Although they often lack a physical interface to directly interact with them, they are able to read information from sensors and autonomously communicate with servers, performing decisions accordingly. However, most of the domestic devices that are being commercialized do not implement strict security policies, potentially leading to security breaches that compromise the user’s privacy. The following work provides an alternative to the WPS technology in the initial setup phase of these devices, in which the gadget has to be loaded with the Wi-Fi key so it can connect to the Internet. The use of infrared technology implementing a Diffie-Hellman key exchange protocol to inject this key makes the process much safer, without compromising the cost of the device or the user experience

Chemotion ELN : an Open Source electronic lab notebook for chemists in academia

The development of an electronic lab notebook (ELN) for researchers working in the field of chemical sciences is presented. The web based application is available as an Open Source software that offers modern solutions for chemical researchers. The Chemotion ELN is equipped with the basic functionalities necessary for the acquisition and processing of chemical data, in particular the work with molecular structures and calculations based on molecular properties. The ELN supports planning, description, storage, and management for the routine work of organic chemists. It also provides tools for communicating and sharing the recorded research data among colleagues. Meeting the requirements of a state of the art research infrastructure, the ELN allows the search for molecules and reactions not only within the user’s data but also in conventional external sources as provided by SciFinder and PubChem. The presented development makes allowance for the growing dependency of scientific activity on the availability of digital information by providing Open Source instruments to record and reuse research data. The current version of the ELN has been using for over half of a year in our chemistry research group, serves as a common infrastructure for chemistry research and enables chemistry researchers to build their own databases of digital information as a prerequisite for the detailed, systematic investigation and evaluation of chemical reactions and mechanisms

Sustainable supply chain management for blue economics in Northern Norway

In the first part of thesis, there was conducted a literature review of production and the supply chain with regards to fish farming, existing technologies, together with the potential of alternative digital technology. In the second part, a case study of a relevant manufacturer who is involved in all the aspects of the value chain was carried out to gain insight into relevant supply chain management. There was also carried out research on consumer wishes, and consumer behaviour, to further understand the value-potential of fish products. Solution contains necessities and potential-assessment of a new product service system, and the accompanying benefits for both the consumer and manufacturer

SoK: Design, Vulnerabilities and Defense of Cryptocurrency Wallets

The rapid growth of decentralized digital currencies, enabled by blockchain technology, has ushered in a new era of peer-to-peer transactions, revolutionizing the global economy. Cryptocurrency wallets, serving as crucial endpoints for these transactions, have become increasingly prevalent. However, the escalating value and usage of these wallets also expose them to significant security risks and challenges. This research aims to comprehensively explore the security aspects of cryptocurrency wallets. It provides a taxonomy of wallet types, analyzes their design and implementation, identifies common vulnerabilities and attacks, and discusses defense mechanisms and mitigation strategies. The taxonomy covers custodial, non-custodial, hot, and cold wallets, highlighting their unique characteristics and associated security considerations. The security analysis scrutinizes the theoretical and practical aspects of wallet design, while assessing the efficacy of existing security measures and protocols. Notable wallet attacks, such as Binance, Mt. Gox are examined to understand their causes and consequences. Furthermore, the paper surveys defense mechanisms, transaction monitoring, evaluating their effectiveness in mitigating threats

How is the communication of values, qualities, and motivations supported along the value chain from producer to consumer and vice versa?

First, we consider it helpful to give a short introduction into the topic of communication and share some reflections why this aspect is important to look at in the frame of the HealthyGrowth project. The general question is why communication is necessary and what the purpose of communication is. One aspect commonly mentioned concerns information as a means of marketing. As Karstberg (2015) notes: “Research shows that a significant barrier to consumers purchasing more organic foods is lack of information. This leads the relevant body of research to call for better communication around organic foods.” Zanoli and Naspetti (2002:652) expressed the need “to devise a better communication strategy” with a view to “informing consumers about the extra quality inherent in organic food” (Duffy et al. 2005:374). And Aertsens et al. (2011) add that consequently, “consumers’ lack of knowledge concerning organic food is an important factor slowing down growth”. So communication is of utmost importance when it comes to aspects of growth of the organic sector. However, ultimately communication is the basis of every human interaction. It is the process by which we create sense and meaning and built up relationships with each other. Communication is thus to be understood in its broadest sense, so that actually everything that carries meaning or conveys a message is to be understood as communication. It therefore comprises all forms of audio-visual interactions between people (face-to-face conversations, phone calls, skype/web-meetings etc.) as well as artefacts like receipts, contracts, e-mails, all forms of publication materials (e.g. brochures, leaflets, flyers, radio or TV commercials, video clips, newspaper ads etc.) and – not to forget – of course also the (organic) products themselves. This said the next point in question is what the purpose of communication is specifically within values based organic food chains. Regarding the overall objective the HealthyGrowth project, we are primarily interested to investigate the role of communication for maintaining trust and integrity during growth processes. In this respect, communication becomes particularly important for collectively developing desired qualities, discussing which values to communicate, establishing fairness,loyalty, identification and trust or simply negotiating volumes and prizes. Moreover, it plays also a crucial role for increasing the knowledge of stakeholders involved along the supply chain

An Application of Declarative Languages in Distributed Architectures: ASP and DALI Microservices

In this paper we introduce an approach to the possible adoption of Answer Set Programming (ASP) for the definition of microservices, which are a successful abstraction for designing distributed applications as suites of independently deployable interacting components. Such ASP-based components might be employed in distributed architectures related to Cloud Computing or to the Internet of Things (IoT), where the ASP microservices might be usefully coordinated with intelligent logic-based agents. We develop a case study where we consider ASP microservices in synergy with agents defined in DALI, a well-known logic-based agent-oriented programming language developed by our research group