The potential effect off-chain instant payments will have on cryptocurrency scalability issues – The Lightning Network

The rapid increase in popularity regarding cryptocurrency and specifically Bitcoin has been unprecedented over the past number of years. However, scalability has become a major barrier keeping it from gaining wide spread mass adoption. The purpose of this paper will be to investigate the potential effect off-chain instant payments will have on cryptocurrency scalability issues, with a focus on the Lightning Network. This will be achieved by means of a quantitative study through the process of testing various factors associated with the Lightning Network against another potential scalability solution, increasing block size limit. This study will provide comprehensive insight into off-chain instant payments generally and the Lightning Network specifically. This research paper will, therefore, primarily add to the body of knowledge indicating whether the Lightning Network is a potential solution to scaling the Bitcoin blockchain. In addition, it will lay a foundation for future research into the scalability of cryptocurrency

Connect2NFT : a web-based, blockchain enabled NFT application with the aim of reducing fraud and ensuring authenticated social, non-human verified digital identity

As of 2022, non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, the smart contract powered tokens that represent ownership in a specific digital asset, have become a popular investment vehicle. In 2021, NFT trading reached USD 17.6 billion and entered mainstream media with several celebrities and major companies launching tokens within the space. The rapid rise in popularity of NFTs has brought with it a number of risks and concerns, two of which will be discussed and addressed in this technical paper. Data storage of the underlying digital asset connected to an NFT is held off-chain in most cases and is therefore out of the NFT holders’ control. This issue will be discussed and addressed using a theoretical workflow developed and presented for a system that converges NFTs and verifiable credentials with the aim of storing underlying NFT digital assets in a decentralized manner. The second issue focuses on the rise of NFT infringements and fraud within the overall NFT space. This will be discussed and addressed through the development of a practical application, named “Connect2NFT”. The main functionality of this practical application will enable users to connect their Twitter social media accounts to the NFTs they own, thus ensuring that potential buyers or viewers of the NFT can comprehensively conclude who is the authentic owner of a specific NFT. An individual performance analysis of the proposed solution will be conducted in addition to being compared and evaluated against similar applications. Thorough development, implementation, and testing has been performed in order to establish a practical solution that can be tested and applied to current NFT use cases. The theoretical NFT storage solution is a minor but equally important contribution in comparison.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/mathematicsam2023Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineerin

An updated survey on the convergence of distributed ledger technology and artificial intelligence : current state, major challenges and future direction

In recent times, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) have become two of the most discussed sectors in Information Technology, with each having made a major impact. This has generated space for further innovation to occur in the convergence of the two technologies. In this paper, we gather, analyse, and present a detailed review of the convergence of AI and DLT in a vice versa manner. We review how AI is impacts DLT by focusing on AI-based consensus algorithms, smart contract security, selfish mining, decentralized coordination, DLT fairness, non-fungible tokens, decentralized finance, decentralized exchanges, decentralized autonomous organizations, and blockchain oracles. In terms of the impact DLT has on AI, the areas covered include AI data privacy, explainable AI, smart contract-based AIs, parachains, decentralized neural networks, Internet of Things, 5G technology and data markets, and sharing. Furthermore, we identify research gaps and discuss open research challenges in developing future directions.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=6287639Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineerin

A calibration facility for automatic weather stations

Environmental monitoring by automatic weather stations (AWSs) is growing as a result of the increasing number and reliability of surface observations. In order to ensure data traceability and obtain more comprehensive data on the performance of AWSs, a new transportable calibration facility was manufactured at the Italian Institute of Metrology (INRiM) in the framework of the project MeteoMet. The facility is equipped with temperature and pressure reference sensors directly traceable to the International System of Units (SI) to obtain meteorological data with well-documented calibration uncertainty. In this calibration system, temperature and pressure can be controlled simultaneously and independently so that all combinations over the ranges are possible. The nominal ranges are: absolute pressure 50 to 110 kPa and temperature -25 to 50 degrees C. The availability of a large range of atmospheric variability and the possibility of studying the mutual influence effects on sensors response are important characteristics of the facility. This apparatus is also designed to permit a control in humidity, in order to complete the characterization of the whole AWS pressure-temperature-humidity modulus. As a matter of fact, the final version of the facility will be equipped with a humidity generator for hygrometer calibrations. Finally, the calibration system is designed to be transportable, therefore allowing the calibration of AWSs located at sites that are difficult to access such as Ny-angstrom lesund (Svalbard) stations, where the facility was employed. The design and the technical characteristics are reported in this paper

Listening to People to Cure People. The LpCp tool, an instrument to evaluate hospital humanization

Scenario. In ambito sanitario, pochi sono oggi i metodi di stima che pongano l???accento agli aspetti legati alla sostenibilità sociale, in modo particolare all???umanizzazione, fondamentali in tutti quegli ambienti in cui il benessere psico-fisico della persona è decisivo; in linea con tale premessa, il progetto di ricerca ha voluto focalizzare l???attenzione sulle insufficienze delle valutazioni, onde poter sviluppare uno strumento previsionale basato sull???indagine tramite questionario, in grado di approfondire i molteplici aspetti e le dinamiche che possano influire sull???esperienza dell???utente in ospedale nonché suggerire, al contempo, in quali aree sia possibile applicare interventi e strategie migliorative. Metodo. La trattazione sui temi dell???umanizzazione in Sanità è stata incardinata su una prima fase investigativa, propedeutica alla conoscenza di aspetti d???ambito prettamente ospedaliero ??? per conoscere quali siano le interazioni instaurate tra la condizione fisica e quella emotiva nella reciprocità struttura-utenza ??? sia peculiari in altri ambiti. Il lavoro d???inchiesta sulle principali scale di valore ha dato modo di comprendere potenzialità e criticità in ciascuno e i tratti di maggiore interesse; si è potuto così giungere al cogliere le caratteristiche salienti di cui tener conto nell???elaborazione del sistema di valutazione. Nella fase applicativa della ricerca è stato concretizzato lo strumento Listening to people to Cure people (trad. ???ascoltare le persone per curare le persone???), meglio identificato con l???acronimo LpCp ??? tool, nello specifico costituito dai questionari di valutazione unitamente al software di elaborazione dati; la fase sperimentale del dispositivo ha visto operativamente la sua introduzione in una struttura di cura milanese da 600 posti letto. Risultati. LpCp ??? tool si è mostrato versatile ed efficace, portando alla luce carenze e potenzialità della struttura di riferimento. L???analisi delle numerose sfaccettature del singolo problema, attraverso punti di vista anche distanti (staff, pazienti/visitatori, tecnici) ha posto in evidenza le molteplici dinamiche della percezione, presupposto al produrre utili informazioni per capacitare le direzioni sanitarie al prendere decisioni circostanziate sul singolo problema e sull???utenza specifica. Interessante osservare come alcuni esiti, collateralmente, attestino scarsa attrattiva per alcuni temi come le dotazioni di attività ricreative e di servizi o, riguardo questi ultimi, l???asimmetria tra la loro presenza e la mancata percezione del pubblico della loro esistenza (supporti multilingua, funzioni di relazione con il pubblico, etc.). Conclusioni. Lo strumento è stato recentemente introdotto in altre realtà sanitarie in Milano per una fase di test su vasta scala. L???augurio è quello che LpCp - tool possa maggiormente sensibilizzare le Aziende e farle orientare verso tutti quegli interventi a favore dell???umanizzazione e del comfort; non si può infatti non ribadire come spesso sarebbe sufficiente implementare azioni di lieve entità, poco onerose, per vedere incrementare di molto la positiva percezione dell???utenza, oppure per prendere definitivamente coscienza di come esistano servizi importanti sottoimpiegati o affatto utilizzati a causa di erronea, o del tutto mancante, comunicazione

Healthcare sustainability challenge

Healthcare structures are supposed to protect and improve Public Health, but in the meanwhile they are highly energy-demanding and socially impactful structures, which cause negative side effects on the people’s health and on the environment. Building hospitals able to cope with the definition of Health as complete well-being and which can fit to the future means therefore constructing sustainable structures. Such complex realities work as a whole, single organism, that can be robust and productive only if every single part is healthy. So when it comes to healthcare facilities, sustainability has to be taken into account as both a main requirement and a quality issue, since they must be capable to deliver high standards also in changing circumstances. Starting from these assumptions the Sustainable High Quality Healthcare project is born with the aim of providing a new original insight into such a complex subject. Its goal is to define, through the construction of an innovative assessment system, solutions and strategies towards the realization of sustainable existing operative or in-design hospitals, where sustainability applies to the main macro-areas