Decision model to design a blockchain-based system for storing sensitive health data

The storage and sharing of sensitive health data in Blockchain-based systems implicates data protection issues that must be addressed when designing such systems. Those issues can be traced back to the properties of decentralized systems. A blessing but also a curse in the context of health data is the transparency of the Blockchain, because it allows the stored data to be viewed by all participants of the network. In addition, the property of immutability is in contrast to the possibility to delete the personal data upon request according to the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Accordingly, approaches to tackle these issues have recently been discussed in research and industry, e.g. by storing sensitive data encrypted On-Chain or Off-Chain on own servers connected to a Blockchain. These approaches deal with how the confidentiality and integrity of stored data can be guaranteed and how data can be deleted. By reviewing the proposed approaches, we develop a taxonomy to summarize their specific technical characteristics and create a decision model that will allow the selection of a suitable approach for the design of future Blockchain-based systems for the storage of sensitive health data. Afterwards, we demonstrate the utility of the decision model based on a use case for storing test results from a digital dementia screening application. The paper concludes with a discussion of the results and suggestions for future research

An Intrinsic Integrity-Driven Rating Model for a Sustainable Reputation System

In the era of digital markets, the challenge for consumers is discerning quality amidst information asymmetry. While traditional markets use brand mechanisms to address this issue, transferring such systems to internet-based P2P markets, where misleading practices like fake ratings are rampant, remains challenging. Current internet platforms strive to counter this through verification algorithms, but these efforts find themselves in a continuous tug-of-war with counterfeit actions. Exploiting the transparency, immutability, and traceability of blockchain technology, this paper introduces a robust reputation voting system grounded in it. Unlike existing blockchain-based reputation systems, our model harnesses an intrinsically economically incentivized approach to bolster agent integrity. We optimize this model to mirror real-world user behavior, preserving the reputation system's foundational sustainability. Through Monte-Carlo simulations, using both uniform and power-law distributions enabled by an innovative inverse transform method, we traverse a broad parameter landscape, replicating real-world complexity. The findings underscore the promise of a sustainable, transparent, and formidable reputation mechanism. Given its structure, our framework can potentially function as a universal, sustainable oracle for offchain-onchain bridging, aiding entities in perpetually cultivating their reputation. Future integration with technologies like Ring Signature and Zero Knowledge Proof could amplify the system's privacy facets, rendering it particularly influential in the ever-evolving digital domain.Comment: 36 pages,13 figure

Blockchain in agri-food chain : shaping an integrated food ecosystem

Agriculture is on the brink of entering a data-driven economy that will impact growth and business relations. The information- and communication revolution in the agri-food chain aspires to collect data at a low cost. Applying information- and communication technologies to the agri-food chain is believed to help optimise resources and therefore contribute to a smaller environmental footprint. At present, however, there are barriers and many issues that need to be resolved; For example, it is not an easy task to aggregate and interpret large amounts of detailed data to be used in decision support tools for farmers and primary producers. There are also transparency issues due to numerous intermediaries and a need for strengthening the link between different chain actors and levels in the agri-food chain. The agricultural has never before undergone such a digital transformation. In Great Britain and the Netherlands, Blockchain has been included in the agri-food chain. In Sweden, however, the agri-food chain does not yet apply this new digital structure. Even though digitalisation is used, Blockchain involves larger quantities of information and requires capacity of handling information in transparent and efficient ways. This study investigates the advantages and disadvantages with Blockchain and will hopefully lead to an answer whether Blockchain might influence the transaction costs and the collaboration in the agri-food chain in a positive way. This study was conducted via secondary sources about Blockchain complemented with four interviews. Because no practical experiments about Blockchain have yet been carried out in the Swedish agri-food chain, the study was limited to the respondents’ knowledge of Blockchain acquired from theoretical case studies and working experience. The result from the respondents and from the secondary sources give both positive and negative answers regarding whether Blockchain has potential to decrease transaction costs in the agri-food chain. The transaction costs that have been studied regard information/search costs, bargaining costs and enforcement costs. The study investigates Blockchain’s potential to reduce transaction costs in the Swedish agri-food chain. Transaction costs are additional costs not included in the value of the unit under transaction. The Swedish agri-food chain is characterised by several transaction costs caused by issues such as food frauds, insufficient trust among agri-food chain actors, transparency and traceability issues. The study concludes that with a Blockchain applied in the agri-food chain, several transaction costs can be reduced. Information costs can be reduced, as more information becomes accessible and traceable. Blockchain also has potential to reduce monitoring costs through cryptographic Smart Contracts and performance-based payment. However, Blockchain is not likely to encourage information sharing unless information sharing is monitored by statutory requirements. Also, the Blockchain network runs on high operation costs of electricity and Internet to verify the Blockchain network’s constant update on information

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

Validation of design artefacts for blockchain-enabled precision healthcare as a service.

Healthcare systems around the globe are currently experiencing a rapid wave of digital disruption. Current research in applying emerging technologies such as Big Data (BD), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Digital Twin (DT), Wearable Sensor (WS), Blockchain (BC) and Smart Contracts (SC) in contact tracing, tracking, drug discovery, care support and delivery, vaccine distribution, management, and delivery. These disruptive innovations have made it feasible for the healthcare industry to provide personalised digital health solutions and services to the people and ensure sustainability in healthcare. Precision Healthcare (PHC) is a new inclusion in digital healthcare that can support personalised needs. It focuses on supporting and providing precise healthcare delivery. Despite such potential, recent studies show that PHC is ineffectual due to the lower patient adoption in the system. Anecdotal evidence shows that people are refraining from adopting PHC due to distrust. This thesis presents a BC-enabled PHC ecosystem that addresses ongoing issues and challenges regarding low opt-in. The designed ecosystem also incorporates emerging information technologies that are potential to address the need for user-centricity, data privacy and security, accountability, transparency, interoperability, and scalability for a sustainable PHC ecosystem. The research adopts Soft System Methodology (SSM) to construct and validate the design artefact and sub-artefacts of the proposed PHC ecosystem that addresses the low opt-in problem. Following a comprehensive view of the scholarly literature, which resulted in a draft set of design principles and rules, eighteen design refinement interviews were conducted to develop the artefact and sub-artefacts for design specifications. The artefact and sub-artefacts were validated through a design validation workshop, where the designed ecosystem was presented to a Delphi panel of twenty-two health industry actors. The key research finding was that there is a need for data-driven, secure, transparent, scalable, individualised healthcare services to achieve sustainability in healthcare. It includes explainable AI, data standards for biosensor devices, affordable BC solutions for storage, privacy and security policy, interoperability, and usercentricity, which prompts further research and industry application. The proposed ecosystem is potentially effective in growing trust, influencing patients in active engagement with real-world implementation, and contributing to sustainability in healthcare

Warez

When most people think of piracy, they think of Bittorrent and The Pirate Bay. These public manifestations of piracy, though, conceal an elite worldwide, underground, organized network of pirate groups who specialize in obtaining media – music, videos, games, and software – before their official sale date and then racing against one another to release the material for free. Warez: The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy is the first scholarly research book about this underground subculture, which began life in the pre-internet era Bulletin Board Systems and moved to internet File Transfer Protocol servers (“topsites”) in the mid- to late-1990s. The “Scene,” as it is known, is highly illegal in almost every aspect of its operations. The term “Warez” itself refers to pirated media, a derivative of “software.” Taking a deep dive in the documentary evidence produced by the Scene itself, Warez describes the operations and infrastructures an underground culture with its own norms and rules of participation, its own forms of sociality, and its own artistic forms. Even though forms of digital piracy are often framed within ideological terms of equal access to knowledge and culture, Eve uncovers in the Warez Scene a culture of competitive ranking and one-upmanship that is at odds with the often communalist interpretations of piracy. Broad in scope and novel in its approach, Warez is indispensible reading for anyone interested in recent developments in digital culture, access to knowledge and culture, and the infrastructures that support our digital age

Warez

When most people think of piracy, they think of Bittorrent and The Pirate Bay. These public manifestations of piracy, though, conceal an elite worldwide, underground, organized network of pirate groups who specialize in obtaining media – music, videos, games, and software – before their official sale date and then racing against one another to release the material for free. Warez: The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy is the first scholarly research book about this underground subculture, which began life in the pre-internet era Bulletin Board Systems and moved to internet File Transfer Protocol servers (“topsites”) in the mid- to late-1990s. The “Scene,” as it is known, is highly illegal in almost every aspect of its operations. The term “Warez” itself refers to pirated media, a derivative of “software.” Taking a deep dive in the documentary evidence produced by the Scene itself, Warez describes the operations and infrastructures an underground culture with its own norms and rules of participation, its own forms of sociality, and its own artistic forms. Even though forms of digital piracy are often framed within ideological terms of equal access to knowledge and culture, Eve uncovers in the Warez Scene a culture of competitive ranking and one-upmanship that is at odds with the often communalist interpretations of piracy. Broad in scope and novel in its approach, Warez is indispensible reading for anyone interested in recent developments in digital culture, access to knowledge and culture, and the infrastructures that support our digital age

The Future of Marketing – An Investigation into Disruption and Innovation

The future of marketing, looking out as far as 2050, is envisioned in this thesis. According to a world-renowned futurist, one theory is the end of marketing as we know it. Another describes the discipline as entirely controlled by artificial intelligence, without the need for direct human interaction, while others foresee a healthy balance between humans and machines. The future of employment will therefore have a significant impact on marketing practice, as automation and machine learning may sharply reduce the need for ‘human marketers’. Despite existing research into the future, the future of marketing is largely overlooked by researchers. Exponential technological advancements are on the horizon, giving rise to the concept of the Singularity. The future is complex, perhaps chaotic, and futures studies are increasingly used in academia, business, and government as a means of coping with uncertainty. Marketing is the practice of identifying the needs of consumers, creating and communicating value, engaging with the right audience, and ultimately, increasing sales and profitability. While these goals are likely to endure, the means at which these are achieved are constantly evolving. This is of interest to those in business, especially due to the marketing potential of current innovations, for example Big Data, machine learning, augmented reality, blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, and more. This thesis asks, to what extent will these concepts impact the future of marketing? Further, how will the discipline evolve over the next thirty years, and what are the implications for marketing professionals today? This discovery-oriented thesis utilises qualitative research methods, including personal interviews and comparative analysis, in a grounded theory approach. These proved applicable as new in-depth information was gained beyond what is known to the researcher, and the discussions were broad – but bounded – using moderately scheduled interviews. Twelve business leaders and senior practitioners from different industries were interviewed, and three future scenarios were developed. The results were then compared with recent papers and articles produced by research organisations, think tanks, and well-known online publications. Three future scenarios are presented in this thesis: Possible, Probable, and Preferable. The Possible scenario embraces exponential innovation and the concept of the Singularity, i.e. a state at which artificial intelligence drives innovation. Our lives will be comprehensively tracked, and sophisticated prediction engines will map out our experiences to come. Employment in this scenario is a particularly contentious issue – while new job types will naturally arise in the coming years, they are unlikely to balance job losses. Shifting to a post-work society may be a factor, driven by the need to develop solutions that avoid an economic catastrophe. In the Probable scenario, current issues were given more weight, in the sense that inefficiencies and bureaucracy hinder the trajectory of innovation, thus delaying progress. In the Preferable scenario, the need for long-term planning was emphasised, especially with regards to larger societal and environmental issues. In this case, automation has less of an impact; it is carefully managed and supplements human work. The future of marketing can be described as intensely personal. Marketing systems will have access to consumers’ demographic information, behaviour, affinities, and physical location at any given time. Machine learning will optimise targeting and delivery, and smart devices link our physical selves to our digital entities, providing marketers with invaluable data. This study will argue that marketing is therefore one of the most valuable applications of artificial intelligence, and that the pace of change largely depends on the factors discussed in each of the scenarios and in the discussion chapters