Will blockchain emerge as a tool to break the poverty chain in the Global South?

Just like its recent predecessors, blockchain – also known as the distributed ledger technology – is considered to have the potential to cause major economic, political and social transformations in the Global South. The visible effects of this technology are already being noted there. We present early evidence linking the use of blockchain in overcoming some economic, social and political challenges facing the Global South. The article highlights the key applications and uses of blockchain in developing countries. It demonstrates how blockchain can help promote transparency, build trust and reputation, and enhance efficiency in transactions. The article looks at opportunities and key triggers for blockchain diffusion in these countries. It also delves into challenges and obstacles that developing economies are likely to encounter in the use of blockchain

Blockchain applications in food marketing

Este Trabajo de Fin de Grado analiza los fundamentos de la tecnología blockchain para obtener un conocimiento básico sobre lo que significa, su origen y evolución, su funcionamiento y las ventajas que ofrece sobre otras tecnologías digitales. Se presenta brevemente la utilidad de esta tecnología en los distintos sectores, pero, sobre todo, se detallan las aplicaciones y ventajas del blockchain en el marketing alimentario. Para una mejor comprensión, se analizan algunos casos de éxito y, por último, a fin de determinar el grado de conocimiento y aplicación del blockchain en el sector agroalimentario de Castilla y León se realiza un estudio empírico a través del análisis de los resultados de una encuesta contestada por 48 empresas.This Bachelor Thesis analyzes the fundamentals of blockchain technology to obtain a basic knowledge about what it means, its origin and evolution, its operation and the advantages it offers over other digital technologies. The usefulness of this technology in the different sectors is briefly presented, but above all, the applications and advantages of blockchain in food marketing are detailed. For a better understanding, some success stories are analyzed and finally, in order to determine the degree of knowledge and application of the blockchain in the agri-food sector of Castilla y León an empirical study is carried out through the analysis of the results of a survey answered by 48 companies

Access to Opioids in Palliative Care in Low-and Middle-Income Countries : The Case of Burkina-Faso -How Can Blockchain and Internet of Things Assist? –

Background: People requesting palliative care or suffering from pain are subjected to adhere to opioid-based treatment in order to alleviate their pain. Commonly, access to opioids is strictly controlled. Access to Healthcare delivery services remains challenging in Low-and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC). In Burkina-Faso (BF), a Sub-Saharan African (SSA) country, patients requiring palliative care (PC) are especially facing poor access to pain drugs such as morphine. Facing poor access to pain-alleviating medicine can severely impact the daily quality of life (QoL). On one hand, patients are experiencing poor opioids access. On another hand opioids abuse, leading to drug addiction is noticed. The question arising here is how can they face poor access and at the same time abuse the given drug? One plausible answer is the counterfeit chain, which provides illegal drugs. Beyond the counterfeit issues faced, the public health care system is also facing, amongst others, prescription falsification, fraud in the distribution, and stock shortage. Method & Design:  Mixed-Method-Design was applied to this study. National stipulations, regulations, and the state-of-the-art in the field of palliative care in BF were investigated and analyzed. Based on the investigation‘s outcomes and following the paradigm of design science research, and information system based improvement solution is proposed to tackle the poor access to opioids, improve the supply and distribution chain as well as to efficiently monitor the consumption of opioids in BF, and prevent patients from any health issues, drug addiction, and death. Objectives: The main objectives are to fight against opioid addiction, counterfeits, a stock shortage, and prevent related health safety issues. The main aim is to enable the traceability of any opioids prescription, secure the supply and distribution, and thus early detect any fraud in the system. This editorial paper would, therefore, focus on investigating the reasons underlying the poor access to opioids in palliative care in BF and make suggestions for improvement. A blockchain (BC) and the Internet of Things (IoT) based system to secure and improve opioids supply, distribution, and prescription will be proposed. Results: The contribution analysis reveals the potential of the proposed model to assist in many ways to improve access to opioids and to secure this access. The model could contribute to preventing drug abuse, overprescription, supporting off-label-use of opioids and thus providing a knowledge database for off-label use of opioids. This model shows promise to deliver accurate data and information about the exact opioid’s needs and consumption atlas. This will assist to better distribute the product in the entire country. A proof-of-concept of the proposed model is required. This is ongoing and will be presented in a forthcoming paper. Conclusion: This editorial paper investigates access to opioids in Burkina Faso. It pointed out by analyzing out the computer science perspectives the different causes of the crisis. A contextualized model is provided. A test in situ needs to be performed

Beyond Bitcoin: Issues in Regulating Blockchain Transactions

The buzz surrounding Bitcoin has reached a fever pitch. Yet in academic legal discussions, disproportionate emphasis is placed on bitcoins (that is, virtual currency), and little mention is made of blockchain technology—the true innovation behind the Bitcoin protocol. Simply, blockchain technology solves an elusive networking problem by enabling “trustless” transactions: value exchanges over computer networks that can be verified, monitored, and enforced without central institutions (for example, banks). This has broad implications for how we transact over electronic networks. This Note integrates current research from leading computer scientists and cryptographers to elevate the legal community’s understanding of blockchain technology and, ultimately, to inform policymakers and practitioners as they consider different regulatory schemes. An examination of the economic properties of a blockchain-based currency suggests the technology’s true value lies in its potential to facilitate more efficient digital-asset transfers. For example, applications of special interest to the legal community include more efficient document and authorship verification, title transfers, and contract enforcement. Though a regulatory patchwork around virtual currencies has begun to form, its careful analysis reveals much uncertainty with respect to these alternative applications

Disruptive Power of Blockchain on the Insurance Industry

Kindlustus on olnud globaalse majanduse võtmekomponendiks oma lisatasude suuruse, investeerimismahtude ja ennekõike oma isikliku ja äririski katva sotsiaalse ja majandusliku rolli tõttu. Aastate jooksul on antud sektoris olnud püsiv reform, kuid sellele vaatamata on kindlustuse tööstusharu jäänud suuremalt jaolt samaks oma ärimudeli ja toimimise osas. Seda sektorit domineerivad vahendajad, kes mängivad võtmerolli kliendi vajaduste mõistmises ja viivad selle kokku kindlale sihtgrupile mõeldud kindlustustootega. PwC poolt tehtud uuring raportis „Kindlustus 2020: Muutuse pööramine võimaluseks“ [1] võtab arvesse sotsiaalsed, tehnoloogilised, keskkondlikud, majanduslikud ja poliitilised faktorid ning viitab sellele, et kindlustuse sektoril on vajadus muutuda agentuuripõhisest jaotusmudelist kasutusepõhiseks ärimudeliks. Antud uurimustöö uurib plokiahela tehnoloogiat ja selle häirivat mõju kindlustussektorile hinnates praegust äriprotsessi ja –mudelit ning seda, kuidas see tehnoloogia suudab antud mudeleid täiustada. Uurimustöö järeldusena pakutakse uut protsessi suunda kindlustuse tööstusharule rõhutades kliendile pakutavat parema väärtusega teenust, kus on kasutusel plokiahela tehnoloogia. Võtmesõnad: plokiahela tehnoloogia, kindlustuse äriprotsess, jaotatud peaarvetehnoloogiaThe insurance industry has been a key component of the global economy by the amount of premiums it generates, the scale of its investment and more fundamentally, the essential social and economic role it plays in covering personal and business risk. Over the years, there have been a growing reform in this sector but despite some of these reforms, the insurance industry has remained much the same in its business model and operations. The sector has been dominated by intermediaries who play the key role of understanding and matching the need of the customer with specific tailored insurance product. A research conducted by PwC in a report titled “Insurance 2020: Turning change into opportunity” [1], takes into account STEEP (Social, Technology, Environmental, Economic and Political) drivers all points to the need of the insurance sector to evolve from the agency- based distribution model to an usage based business model. This paper examines the blockchain technology and its disruptive power in the insurance sector by evaluating the current business process and model in the industry and how this technology can improve this model. This paper concludes by proposing a new process flow for the insurance industry placing emphasis on better values service to the customer using blockchain technology

Hashing it Out: Blockchain as a Solution for Medicare Improper Payments

Part I highlights the inadequacies and inefficiencies of our Medicare payment system, focusing on the initiatives currently in place and the susceptibilities that persist. Part II offers a broad overview of the development, importance, features, and collateral technologies surrounding blockchain. Part III posits that Congress and HHS, through its various subsidiary agencies, should work in tandem with private stakeholders to create and/or implement a blockchain-based infrastructure to facilitate federal healthcare payments and support future growth of quality-based initiatives. This Note concludes with a recommendation for future agency research focusing on the viability and cost efficiency of a blockchain solution

The Indian Blockchain Landscape: Regulations and Policy Measures

Blockchain is considered to be a technology that has the potential to bring major political, social and economic benefits to developing economies such as India (Kshetri, 2017a). According to the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), blockchain-led increase in productivity and cost reduction can create value of up to US$5 billion in the Indian economy by 2023 (IANS, 2018). The research company ResearchAndMarkets.com's study indicated that the banking and financial services sector is expected to the leading sector to benefit from this technology (Business Wire, 2018)

Blockchain for Healthcare Systems: Concepts, Applications, Challenges, and Future Trends

-Electronic medical records are digital documents that contain medical data pertaining to a patient\u27s medical care. Because electronic health records are regularly exchanged amongst stakeholders in healthcare, they are prone to a range of challenges such as data misuse and loss of privacy and security. These challenges may be solved by utilizing blockchain-based technologies in the healthcare area. Blockchain is a decentralized innovative technology that can completely transform, reshape, and reinvent how data is stored and processed in the healthcare sector. In this article, we offer an overview of the blockchain, its formation, its types, and how it works. We review the various applications of blockchain in the medical field and how Blockchain revolutionized the medical industry. We highlight previous scientific research on the application of blockchain to electronic health record systems (EHRs). Finally, we discuss the open research problems that limit the use of blockchain in the medical field

Visualizing Provenance In A Supply chain Using Ethereum Blockchain

Visualization is a widely used in different fields of studies such as supply chain management when there is a need to communicate information to general users. However, there are multiple limitations and problems with visualizing information within traditional systems. In traditional systems, data is in control of one single authority; so data is mutable and there is no guarantee that system administer does not change the data to achieve a desired result. Besides, such systems are not transparent and users do not have any access to the data flow. In this thesis, the main goal was to visualize information that has been saved on top of a new technology named blockchain to overcome the aforementioned problems. All the records in the system are saved on the blockchain and data is pulled out from blockchain to be used in visualization. To have a better insight, a review has been done on relevant studies about blockchain, supply chain and visualization. After identifying the gap in literature review, an architecture was proposed that was used in the implementation. The implementation contains, a system on top of ethereum blockchain and front-end which allows users to interact with the system. In the system, all the information about products and all the transactions that ever happened in the system, are recorded on the blockchain. Then, data was retrieved from the blockchain and used to visualize provenance of products on Google Map API. After implementing the system, the performance was evaluated to make sure that it can handle different situations where various number of clients sending request to the system simultaneously. The performance was as expected in which system responds longer when number of clients sending requests were growing. The proposed solution fill the gap that was identified in the literature review. By adding provenance visualization users can explore previous owners and locations of a product in a trustable manner. Future research can focus on analysis of data which will allow organizations to make informed decisions on choosing popular products to sell