Modeling and Preserving Greek Government Decisions using Semantic Web Technologies and Permissionless Blockchains

Σε αυτή τη διπλωματική εργασία παρουσιάζουμε έναν ανασχεδιασμό της Διαύγειας, του ελληνικού κυβερνητικού προγράμματος για ανοικτή και διαφανή δημόσια διακυβέρνηση. Μελετάμε τον τρόπο με τον οποίο οι αποφάσεις των δημόσιων φορέων μπορούν να μοντελοποιηθούν χρησιμοποιώντας OWL οντολογίες και εξετάζουμε τον τρόπο με τον οποίο μπορούν να τεθούν SPARQL ερωτήματα πάνω σε αυτές. Με τη χρήση του bitcoin blockchain, αναγκάζουμε τις κυβερνητικές αποφάσεις να παραμείνουν αμετάβλητες. Παρέχουμε μια υλοποίηση ανοικτού λογισμικού, με ονομασία DiavgeiaRedefined, η οποία επιτρέπει τη δημιουργία και την οπτικοποίηση των αποφάσεων σε περιηγητή διαδικτύου, προσφέρει ένα SPARQL τερματικό για τη δημιουργία ερωτημάτων και παρέχει στους πολίτες ένα αυτοματοποιημένο λογισμικό επαλήθευσης ορθότητας των αποφάσεων, ανιχνεύοντας πιθανές ατιμίες ενός κακόβουλου χρήστη. Τέλος, παραθέτουμε πειραματικά αποτέλεσματα, καταλήγοντας ότι οι μηχανισμοί που χρησιμοποιούμε είναι αποτελεσματικοί.We present a re-engineering of Diavgeia, the Greek government portal for open and transparent public administration. We study how decisions of Greek government institutions can be modeled using ontologies expressed in OWL and queried using SPARQL. We also discuss how to use the bitcoin blockchain, to enable government decisions to remain immutable. We provide an open source implementation, called DiavgeiaRedefined, that generates and visualizes the decisions inside a web browser, offers a SPARQL endpoint for retrieving and querying these decisions and provides citizens an automated tool for verifying correctness and detecting possible foul play by an adversary. We conclude with experimental results illustrating that our scheme is efficient and feasible

Blockchain for Cities—A Systematic Literature Review

Blockchain is considered one of the most disruptive technologies of our time. Numerous cities around the world are launching blockchain initiatives as part of the overall efforts toward shaping the urban future. However, the infancy stage of the blockchain industry leads to a severe gap between the knowledge we have and the actions urban policy makers are taking. This paper is an effort to narrow this rift. We provide a systematic literature review on concrete blockchain use cases proposed by the research community. At the macro-level, we discuss and organize use cases from 159 selected papers into nine sectors recognized as crucial for sustainable and smart urban future. At the micro-level, we identify a component-based framework and analyze the design and prototypes of blockchain systems studied in a subset of 71 papers. The high-level use case review allows us to illustrate the relationship between them and the four pillars of urban sustainability: social, economic, environmental, and governmental. The system level analysis helps us highlight interesting inconsistencies between well-known blockchain applicability decision rules and the approaches taken by the literature. We also offer two classification methodologies for blockchain use cases and elaborate on how they can be applied to stimulate cross-sector insights in the blockchain knowledge domain

Re-engineering Nomothesi@ API Web Application: Improvements and Support new features

Σκοπός της συγκεκριμένης εργασίας είναι η ριζική αναδιοργάνωση του τρόπου λειτουργίας της διαδικτυακής πλατφόρμας Nomothesi@ API και η προσθήκη νέων λειτουργιών. Βάση εκκίνησης αποτέλεσαν οι προγενέστερες εργασίες με τίτλους “Νομοθεσί@: Πλατφόρμα για την Ελληνική νομοθεσία” (2014) και “Νομοθεσί@ API: Αναδιοργάνωση της Ηλεκτρονικής Πλατφόρμας” (2015). Η ήδη υπάρχουσα ηλεκτρονική πλατφόρμα, η οποία στηρίζεται σε ένα ενοποιημένο νομικό XML/RDF πρότυπο, παρουσίαζε προβλήματα, τόσο στην παρουσίαση των νομικών εγγράφων, όσο και στις λειτουργίες που παρείχε στο χρήστη. Στην εργασία αυτή, δόθηκε έμφαση στην αντικατάσταση της αποθήκευσης σε κλάσεις του νομικού εγγράφου, από ένα σύστημα το οποίο αποτελείται από μια δενδρική δομή Ν κόμβων σε κάθε επίπεδο. Στην πραγματοποίηση αυτής της αλλαγής αλλά και όλων των υπολοίπων μικρότερων τροποποιήσεων, συνέβαλε η νέα οντολογία που δημιουργήθηκε, έχοντας πάντα ως βάση το European Legislation Identifier (ELI). Ταυτόχρονα, προστέθηκαν λειτουργίες που σκοπό είχαν να επεκτείνουν το βαθμό αλληλεπίδρασης του χρήστη με την εφαρμογή και να του μεταδόσουν πληθώρα πληροφοριών. Η βασικότερη προσθήκη που έλαβε χώρα είναι αυτή των οντοτήτων, οι οποίες επιτρέπουν στο χρήστη να λάβει πληροφορία περαιτέρω των νομικών θεμάτων, σχετικά με κάποιο πρόσωπο, κάποιον τόπο κλπ. Κατά τον τρόπο αυτό, η εργασία συμβάλει ευρύτερα στην προσπάθεια της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης για ενίσχυση της ηλεκτρονικής διακυβέρνησης από τα κράτη-μέλη της, μέσω της ανοιχτής δημοσίευσης της ελληνικής νομοθετικής πράξης στο σύνολο της. Υποδεικνύει, ουσιαστικά, έναν νέο τρόπο αποθήκευσης πληροφορίας, όπως αυτή λαμβάνεται από το RDF σχήμα δεδομένων και εισάγει καινοτόμες ιδέες για την αξιοποίηση της, παρέχοντας επιπλέον λειτουργίες στο χρήστη.The purpose of this thesis is to radically re-engineer Nomothesi@ API web platform and to add new features. The starting point was the previous works titled "Nomothesi@: Greek Legislation Platform" (2014) and "Nomothesi@ API: Re-engineering the Electronic Platform" (2015). The existing platform, based on a consolidated legal XML/RDF template, presented inaccuracies in both the presentation of legal documents and the functionality it provided to the user. This work emphasizes on replacing the storage of legal documents in classes, by a N-ary tree structure in each level. This replacement, as well as all the other minor modifications, were made possible as a result of the new ontology that was created, always based on the European Legislation Identifier (ELI). Simultaneously, features were added to extend user's interaction with the application and to transmit a larger amount of information. The most important addition is the insertion of entities that allow the user to obtain further information about a person, a place, etc. Thus, this thesis contributes more to the European Union's effort to enhance e-Government by its member states, through the open publication of the whole of the Greek legislative act. It essentially develops a new way of storing information, as it is derived from the RDF data schema and it introduces innovative ideas on how to make use of it, providing additional features

Cyberspace, Blockchain, Governance:How Technology Implies Normative Power and Regulation

Technologies and their inherent design choices create normative structures that affect governance. This chapter aims to illustrate how blockchain technology in particular introduces new norms into a legal framework. We first analyze the different forms of governance by distinguishing between old and new governance. With a view to code that functions as legal norms, Blockchain technology is particularly suited to create governance structures and mechanisms. However, one needs to be aware of the norms that are implicitly introduced into the legal system by a specific blockchain technology. We look at the blockchain technology that underlies cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. This blockchain introduces a decentralized, transparent, cryptographically locked and thus immutable shared ledger. In summary, these design choices have normative powers over the user and over user interaction. If this is indeed the case, then regulators have to actively assess newly introduced digital ledger technology and other technologies for their effect on the normative and legal system.</p

Blockchain Technology and Operations Management: An Implementation Roadmap

Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology. While it has grown in prominence, its full potential and possible downsides are not fully understood yet, especially with respect to Operations Management (OM). This thesis aims to provide a bibliometric literature review through which the current literature is studied and analyzed. In this regard, four main clusters have been identified: (1) Blockchain and Supply Chain Management, (2) Blockchain Technology Adoption in Supply Chain Management, (3) Blockchain and Sustainability, and (4) Blockchain Application in Food Supply Chain (FSC). As a result of this bibliometric literature review, some consistent gaps in the literature have been identified. Specifically, we have found that most of these recent studies focus their attention only on the possible benefits and risks of Blockchain implementation in the specific area of Supply Chain Management. Additionally, it is not clear how an enterprise should practically approach and transform its operations to implement Blockchain Technology. Hence, to fill these gaps, a case study has been conducted with a specific focus on the road mapping of the main steps and initiatives an organization should undertake when starting a Blockchain transformation journey as well as on its impacts inside the general company’s operations.Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology. While it has grown in prominence, its full potential and possible downsides are not fully understood yet, especially with respect to Operations Management (OM). This thesis aims to provide a bibliometric literature review through which the current literature is studied and analyzed. In this regard, four main clusters have been identified: (1) Blockchain and Supply Chain Management, (2) Blockchain Technology Adoption in Supply Chain Management, (3) Blockchain and Sustainability, and (4) Blockchain Application in Food Supply Chain (FSC). As a result of this bibliometric literature review, some consistent gaps in the literature have been identified. Specifically, we have found that most of these recent studies focus their attention only on the possible benefits and risks of Blockchain implementation in the specific area of Supply Chain Management. Additionally, it is not clear how an enterprise should practically approach and transform its operations to implement Blockchain Technology. Hence, to fill these gaps, a case study has been conducted with a specific focus on the road mapping of the main steps and initiatives an organization should undertake when starting a Blockchain transformation journey as well as on its impacts inside the general company’s operations

Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Digital Finance

This open access book presents how cutting-edge digital technologies like Big Data, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Blockchain are set to disrupt the financial sector. The book illustrates how recent advances in these technologies facilitate banks, FinTech, and financial institutions to collect, process, analyze, and fully leverage the very large amounts of data that are nowadays produced and exchanged in the sector. To this end, the book also describes some more the most popular Big Data, AI and Blockchain applications in the sector, including novel applications in the areas of Know Your Customer (KYC), Personalized Wealth Management and Asset Management, Portfolio Risk Assessment, as well as variety of novel Usage-based Insurance applications based on Internet-of-Things data. Most of the presented applications have been developed, deployed and validated in real-life digital finance settings in the context of the European Commission funded INFINITECH project, which is a flagship innovation initiative for Big Data and AI in digital finance. This book is ideal for researchers and practitioners in Big Data, AI, banking and digital finance

Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Digital Finance

This open access book presents how cutting-edge digital technologies like Big Data, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Blockchain are set to disrupt the financial sector. The book illustrates how recent advances in these technologies facilitate banks, FinTech, and financial institutions to collect, process, analyze, and fully leverage the very large amounts of data that are nowadays produced and exchanged in the sector. To this end, the book also describes some more the most popular Big Data, AI and Blockchain applications in the sector, including novel applications in the areas of Know Your Customer (KYC), Personalized Wealth Management and Asset Management, Portfolio Risk Assessment, as well as variety of novel Usage-based Insurance applications based on Internet-of-Things data. Most of the presented applications have been developed, deployed and validated in real-life digital finance settings in the context of the European Commission funded INFINITECH project, which is a flagship innovation initiative for Big Data and AI in digital finance. This book is ideal for researchers and practitioners in Big Data, AI, banking and digital finance

The Value of Technics: An Ontogenetic Approach to Money, Markets, and Networks

This thesis investigates the impact of the digitalization of monetary and financial flows on the political-economic sphere in order to provide a novel perspective on the relations between economic and technological forces at the present global juncture. In the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis and with the rise of the cryptoeconomy, an increasing number of scholars have highlighted the immanence of market logic to cultural and social life. At the same time, speculative practices have emerged that attempt to challenge the political economy through financial experiments. This dissertation complements these approaches by stressing the need to pair the critical study of finance with scholarship in the philosophy of technology that emphasizes the value immanent to technics and technology – i.e. the normative and genetic role of ubiquitous algorithmic networks in the organization of markets and socius. In order to explore these events, I propose an interdisciplinary theoretical framework informed largely by Gilbert Simondon’s philosophy of individuation and technics and the contemporary literature on the ontology of computation, supported by insights drawn from the history of finance and economic theory. This novel framework will provide the means to investigate the ontogenetic processes at work in the techno-cultural ecosystem following the digitalization of monetary and financial flows. Through an exploration of the fleeting materiality and multifaceted character of digital fiat money, the social power of algorithmic financial logic, and the new possibilities offered by the invention of the Bitcoin protocol, this research aims to challenge some of the bedrocks of the economic orthodoxy – economic and monetary value, liquidity, market rationality – in order to move beyond the overarching narrative of capitalism as a monolithic system. The thesis instead foregrounds the techno-historical contingencies that have led to the contemporary power formation. Furthermore, it argues that the ontogenetic character of algorithmic technology ushers in novel possibilities for the speculative engineering of alternative networks of value creation and distribution that have the potential to reverse the current balance of power

Themelio: a new blockchain paradigm

Public blockchains hold great promise in building protocols that uphold security properties like transparency and consistency based on internal, incentivized cryptoeconomic mechanisms rather than preexisting trust in participants. Yet user-facing blockchain applications beyond "internal" immediate derivatives of blockchain incentive models, like cryptocurrency and decentralized finance, have not achieved widespread development or adoption. We propose that this is not primarily due to "engineering" problems in aspects such as scaling, but due to an overall lack of transferable endogenous trust—the twofold ability to uphold strong, internally-generated security guarantees and to translate them into application-level security. Yet we argue that blockchains, due to their foundation on game-theoretic incentive models rather than trusted authorities, are uniquely suited for building transferable endogenous trust, despite their current deficiencies. We then engage in a survey of existing public blockchains and the difficulties and crises that they have faced, noting that in almost every case, problems such as governance disputes and ecosystem inflexibility stem from a lack of transferable endogenous trust. Next, we introduce Themelio, a decentralized, public blockchain designed to support a new blockchain paradigm focused on transferable endogenous trust. Here, the blockchain is used as a low-level, stable, and simple root of trust, capable of sharing this trust with applications through scalable light clients. This contrasts with current blockchains, which are either applications or application execution platforms. We present evidence that this new paradigm is crucial to achieving flexible deployment of blockchain-based trust. We then describe the Themelio blockchain in detail, focusing on three areas key to its overall theme of transferable, strong endogenous trust: a traditional yet enhanced UTXO model with features that allow powerful programmability and light-client composability, a novel proof-of-stake system with unique cryptoeconomic guarantees against collusion, and Themelio's unique cryptocurrency "mel", which achieves stablecoin-like low volatility without sacrificing decentralization and security. Finally, we explore the wide variety of novel, partly off-chain applications enabled by Themelio's decoupled blockchain paradigm. This includes Astrape, a privacy-protecting off-chain micropayment network, Bitforest, a blockchain-based PKI that combines blockchain-backed security guarantees with the performance and administration benefits of traditional systems, as well as sketches of further applications

Data Loam: Sometimes Hard, Usually Soft. The Future of Knowledge Systems

Data Loam: Sometimes Hard, Usually Soft. The Future of Knowledge Systems is a landmark work. It details the wild proliferation of data and its profound methodological implications for arts and humanities, now enlivened by their ‘sticky cohesions’ with the knowledge systems of science, technology, engineering and maths. Vibrant and disruptive both as segment and infinite plane, the loam names a dynamic multiversal discourse, closer to a living, shape-shifting mesh. Its connections are self-organising complexities requiring the practical activities of distributed intelligences. We reclaim this as nothing less than art