Blockchain and IIoT Enabled Solution for Social Distancing and Isolation Management to Prevent Pandemics

Pandemics have always been a nightmare for humanity, especially in developing countries. Forced lockdowns are considered one of the effective ways to deal with spreading such pandemics. Still, developing countries cannot afford such solutions because these may severely damage the country’s economy. Therefore, this study presents the proactive technological mechanisms for business organizations to run their standard business processes during pandemic-like situations smoothly. The novelty of this study is to provide a state-of-the-art solution to prevent pandemics using industrial internet of things (IIoT) and blockchain-enabled technologies. Compared to existing studies, the immutable and tamper-proof contact tracing and quarantine management solution is proposed. The use of advanced technologies and information security is a critical area for practitioners in the internet of things (IoT) and corresponding solutions. Therefore, this study also emphasizes information security, end-to-end solution, and experimental results. Firstly, a wearable wristband is proposed, incorporating 4G-enabled ultra-wideband (UWB) technology for smart contact tracing mechanisms in industries to comply with standard operating procedures outlined by the world health organization (WHO). Secondly, distributed ledger technology (DLT) omits the centralized dependency for transmitting contact tracing data. Thirdly, a privacy-preserving tracing mechanism is discussed using a public/private key cryptography-based authentication mechanism. Lastly, based on geofencing techniques, blockchain-enabled machine-to-machine (M2M) technology is proposed for quarantine management. The step-by-step methodology and test results are proposed to ensure contact tracing and quarantine management. Unlike existing research studies, the security aspect is also considered in the realm of blockchain. The practical implementation of the proposed solution also obtains the results. The results indicate the successful implementation of blockchain-enabled contact tracing and isolation management using IoT and geo-fencing techniques, which could help battle pandemic situations. Researchers can also consider the 5G-enabled narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) technologies to implement contact tracing solutions.     

A Key Recovery System Based on Password-Protected Secret Sharing in a Permissioned Blockchain

In today’s fourth industrial revolution, various blockchain technologies are being actively researched. A blockchain is a peer-to-peer data-sharing structure lacking central control. If a user wishes to access stored data, she/he must employ a private key to prove ownership of the data and create a transaction. If the private key is lost, blockchain data cannot be accessed. To solve such a problem, public blockchain users can recover the key using a wallet program. However, key recovery in a permissioned blockchain (PBC) has been but little studied. The PBC server is Honest-but-Curious (HBC), and should not be able to learn anything of the user; the server should simply recover and store the key. The server must also be resistant to malicious attacks. Therefore, key recovery in a PBC must satisfy various security requirements. Here, we present a password-protected secret sharing (PPSS) key recovery system, protected by a secure password from a malicious key storage server of a PBC. We describe existing key recovery schemes and our PPSS scheme.     

CLEC: Combination Locality Based Erasure Code for Permissioned Blockchain Storage

Building a new decentralized domain name system based on blockchain technology is helping to solve problems, such as load imbalance and over-dependence on the trust of the central node. However, in the existing blockchain storage system, the storage overhead is very high due to its full-replication data storage mechanism. The total storage consumption for each block is up to O(n) with n nodes. Erasure code applied to blockchains can significantly reduce the storage overhead, but also greatly lower the read performance. In this study, we propose a novel coding scheme for blockchain storage, Combination Locality based Erasure Code for Permissioned blockchain storage (CLEC). CLEC uses erasure code, parity locality, and topology locality in blockchain storage, greatly reducing reading latency and repair time. In CLEC, the storage consumption per block can be reduced to O(1), and the repair penalty can also be lowered to O(1). Experiments in an open-source permissioned blockchain Tendermint show that CLEC has a maximum repair speed of 6 times and a read speed of nearly 1.7 times with storage overhead of only 1.17 times compared to the current work, a great improvement in reading performance and repair performance with slightly increased storage overhead via implementation.     

Integrating Blockchain Technology into Healthcare Through an Intelligent Computing Technique

The blockchain technology plays a significant role in the present era of information technology. In the last few years, this technology has been used effectively in several domains. It has already made significant differences in human life, as well as is intended to have noticeable impact in many other domains in the forthcoming years. The rapid growth in blockchain technology has created numerous new possibilities for use, especially for healthcare applications. The digital healthcare services require highly effective security methodologies that can integrate data security with the available management strategies. To test and understand this goal of security management in Saudi Arabian perspective, the authors performed a numerical analysis and simulation through a multi criteria decision making approach in this study. The authors adopted the fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) for evaluating the effectiveness and then applied the fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) technique to simulate the validation of results. For eliciting highly corroborative and conclusive results, the study referred to a real time project of diabetes patients’ management application of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The results discussed in this paper are scientifically proven and validated through various analysis approaches. Hence the present study can be a credible basis for other similar endeavours being undertaken in the domain of blockchain research.     

Application of blockchain in the field of intelligent manufacturing: Theoretical basis,realistic plights,and development suggestions

Blockchain technology is considered one of the promising technologies of the information technology era. The core features of blockchain, such as decentralization, transparency, high security, and tamper-proof nature, bring great convenience for large-scale social cooperation and data sharing. Blockchain has a broad application prospect in the field of intelligent manufacturing. The key issues of this field, such as distributed collaborative production, industrial big data sharing and security, transparent logistics, and supply chain, are naturally consistent with the core characteristics of the blockchain technology. This study aims to analyze the application of blockchain in the field of intelligent manufacturing. First, we introduce the basic connotation and applications of blockchain. Then, we propose the theoretical basis for the application of blockchain in the field of intelligent manufacturing. Finally, we point out the realistic plights and provide some suggestions to promote the application of blockchain in the field of intelligent manufacturing.     

Hyperledger fabric-based consortium blockchain for construction quality information management

Lack of trust has been an ongoing issue for decades in construction quality management, hindering the improvement of quality performance. The development of mutual trust depends on immutable, traceable, and transparent construction quality information records. However, current information technologies cannot meet the requirements. To address the challenge, this study explores a blockchain-based framework for construction quality information management, which extends applications of blockchain in the domain of construction quality management. A consortium blockchain system is designed to support construction quality management in which participants’ information permissions and lifecycle are discussed. Additionally, this study presents in detail the consensus process that aims to address the problem of information fraud. The automated compliance checking based on smart contracts is presented as well, aiming to assure that construction products meet regulation requirements. Finally, an example of the consortium blockchain network is visualized to validate the feasibility of blockchain-based construction quality information management. The research shows that blockchain can facilitate mutual trust in construction quality management by providing distributed, encrypted, and secure information records and supporting automated compliance checking of construction quality.     

Blockchain Technology Based Information Classification Management Service

Hyper-connectivity in Industry 4.0 has resulted in not only a rapid increase in the amount of information, but also the expansion of areas and assets to be protected. In terms of information security, it has led to an enormous economic cost due to the various and numerous security solutions used in protecting the increased assets. Also, it has caused difficulties in managing those issues due to reasons such as mutual interference, countless security events and logs’ data, etc. Within this security environment, an organization should identify and classify assets based on the value of data and their security perspective, and then apply appropriate protection measures according to the assets’ security classification for effective security management. But there are still difficulties stemming from the need to manage numerous security solutions in order to protect the classified assets. In this paper, we propose an information classification management service based on blockchain, which presents and uses a model of the value of data and the security perspective. It records transactions of classifying assets and managing assets by each class in a distributed ledger of blockchain. The proposed service reduces assets to be protected and security solutions to be applied, and provides security measures at the platform level rather than individual security solutions, by using blockchain. In the rapidly changing security environment of Industry 4.0, this proposed service enables economic security, provides a new integrated security platform, and demonstrates service value.     

Blockchain technology and its relationships to sustainable supply chain management

Globalisation of supply chains makes their management and control more difficult. Blockchain technology, as a distributed digital ledger technology which ensures transparency, traceability, and security, is showing promise for easing some global supply chain management problems. In this paper, blockchain technology and smart contracts are critically examined with potential application to supply chain management. Local and global government, community, and consumer pressures to meet sustainability goals prompt us to further investigate how blockchain can address and aid supply chain sustainability. Part of this critical examination is how blockchains, a potentially disruptive technology that is early in its evolution, can overcome many potential barriers. Four blockchain technology adoption barriers categories are introduced; inter-organisational, intra-organisational, technical, and external barriers. True blockchain-led transformation of business and supply chain is still in progress and in its early stages; we propose future research propositions and directions that can provide insights into overcoming barriers and adoption of blockchain technology for supply chain management.     

Blockchain-Enabled EHR Framework for Internet of Medical Things

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) offers an infrastructure made of smart medical equipment and software applications for healthcare services. Through the internet, the IoMT is capable of providing remote medical diagnosis and timely health services. The patients can use their smart devices to create, store and share their electronic health records (EHR) with a variety of medical personnel including medical doctors and nurses. However, unless the underlying commination within IoMT is secured, malicious users can intercept, modify and even delete the sensitive EHR data of patients. Patients also lose full control of their EHR since most healthcare services within IoMT are constructed under a centralized platform outsourced in the cloud. Therefore, it is appealing to design a decentralized, auditable and secure EHR system that guarantees absolute access control for the patients while ensuring privacy and security. Using the features of blockchain including decentralization, auditability and immutability, we propose a secure EHR framework which is mainly maintained by the medical centers. In this framework, the patients’ EHR data are encrypted and stored in the servers of medical institutions while the corresponding hash values are kept on the blockchain. We make use of security primitives to offer authentication, integrity and confidentiality of EHR data while access control and immutability is guaranteed by the blockchain technology. The security analysis and performance evaluation of the proposed framework confirms its efficiency.     

Data Secure Storage Mechanism of Sensor Networks Based on Blockchain

As the number of sensor network application scenarios continues to grow, the security problems inherent in this approach have become obstacles that hinder its wide application. However, it has attracted increasing attention from industry and academia. The blockchain is based on a distributed network and has the characteristics of nontampering and traceability of block data. It is thus naturally able to solve the security problems of the sensor networks. Accordingly, this paper first analyzes the security risks associated with data storage in the sensor networks, then proposes using blockchain technology to ensure that data storage in the sensor networks is secure. In the traditional blockchain, the data layer uses a Merkle hash tree to store data; however, the Merkle hash tree cannot provide non-member proof, which makes it unable to resist the attacks of malicious nodes in networks. To solve this problem, this paper utilizes a cryptographic accumulator rather than a Merkle hash tree to provide both member proof and nonmember proof. Moreover, the number of elements in the existing accumulator is limited and unable to meet the blockchain’s expansion requirements. This paper therefore proposes a new type of unbounded accumulator and provides its definition and security model. Finally, this paper constructs an unbounded accumulator scheme using bilinear pairs and analyzes its performance.     

Edge Computing-Based Tasks Offloading and Block Caching for Mobile Blockchain

Internet of Things (IoT) technology is rapidly evolving, but there is no trusted platform to protect user privacy, protect information between different IoT domains, and promote edge processing. Therefore, we integrate the blockchain technology into constructing trusted IoT platforms. However, the application of blockchain in IoT is hampered by the challenges posed by heavy computing processes. To solve the problem, we put forward a blockchain framework based on mobile edge computing, in which the blockchain mining tasks can be offloaded to nearby nodes or the edge computing service providers and the encrypted hashes of blocks can be cached in the edge computing service providers. Moreover, we model the process of offloading and caching to ensure that both edge nodes and edge computing service providers obtain the maximum profit based on game theory and auction theory. Finally, the proposed mechanism is compared with the centralized mode, mode A (all the miners offload their tasks to the edge computing service providers), and mode B (all the miners offload their tasks to a group of neighbor devices). Simulation results show that under our mechanism, mining networks obtain more profits and consume less time on average.     

Systematic literature review on smart contracts in the construction industry: Potentials,benefits, and challenges

The development of digital transformation in the construction industry has led to the increasing adoption of smart contracts. As programmable applications to automatically write, verify, and enforce transaction conditions, smart contracts can be used in different areas mainly to improve automation level, information security, and built digital environment enhancement. However, the smart contract is commonly mentioned as a blockchain appendage, while its unique connotation and value in the construction industry have not been recognized. Therefore, this study carries out a systematic review based on 81 research articles published from 2014 to 2021 on smart contract applications in construction to explore and highlight their potentials under domain-specific requirements. Results are analyzed according to research type categorization and domain codification. Eight research domains are identified, where the three most highly explored domains are contract and payment, supply chain and logistics, and information management. The integration of smart contracts with other innovative concepts and advanced technologies is analyzed. The applicability, benefits, and challenges of smart contract applications regarding different research domains are discussed.     

Task-Attribute-Based Access Control Scheme for IoT via Blockchain

As a new form of network, the Internet of things (IoT) is becoming more widely used in people’s lives. In this paper, related theoretical research and practical applications of the IoT are explored. The security of the IoT has become a hot research topic. Access controls are methods that control reasonable allocations of data and resources and ensure the security of the IoT. However, most access control systems do not dynamically assign users’ rights. Additionally, with some access control systems, there is a risk of overstepping other user’s authority, and there may exist a central authority that is a single point of failure. Therefore, to solve these problems, this paper proposes a Task-Attribute-Based Access Control scheme for the IoT via blockchain that combines the access control technologies of both the IoT and blockchain. This model, which merges the advantages of task-based access controls and attribute-based access controls, is perfectly integrated with blockchain technology. This model uses hash functions and digital signature algorithms to ensure the authenticity and integrity of the data, and it can dynamically allocate users’ minimum privileges and thus perfectly solves the single point of failure problem. The model is implemented using a Geth client and solidity code, and the simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the model.     

A New Anti-Quantum Proxy Blind Signature for Blockchain-Enabled Internet of Things

Blockchain technology has become a research hotspot in recent years with the prominent characteristics as public, distributed and decentration. And blockchain-enabled internet of things (BIoT) has a tendency to make a revolutionary change for the internet of things (IoT) which requires distributed trustless consensus. However, the scalability and security issues become particularly important with the dramatically increasing number of IoT devices. Especially, with the development of quantum computing, many extant cryptographic algorithms applied in blockchain or BIoT systems are vulnerable to the quantum attacks. In this paper, an anti-quantum proxy blind signature scheme based on the lattice cryptography has been proposed, which can provide user anonymity and untraceability in the distributed applications of BIoT. Then, the security proof of the proposed scheme can derive that it is secure in random oracle model, and the efficiency analysis can indicate it is efficient than other similar literatures.     

Internet of Things (IoT)–blockchain-enabled pharmaceutical supply chain resilience in the post-pandemic era

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the current operating environment of pharmaceutical supply chain (PSC) has rapidly changed and faced increasing risks of disruption. The Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain not only help enhance the efficiency of PSC operations in the information technology domain but also address complex related issues and improve the visibility, flexibility, and transparency of these operations. Although IoT and blockchain have been widely examined in the areas of supply chain and logistics management, further work on PSC is expected by the public to enhance its resilience. To respond to this call, this paper combines a literature review with semi-structured interviews to investigate the characteristics of PSC, the key aspects affecting PSC, and the challenges faced by PSC in the post-pandemic era. An IoT–blockchain-integrated hospital-side oriented PSC management model is also developed. This paper highlights how IoT and blockchain technology can enhance supply chain resilience and provides a reference on how PSC members can cope with the associated risks.     

Hesitant Fuzzy-Sets Based Decision-Making Model for Security Risk Assessment

Security is an important component in the process of developing healthcare web applications. We need to ensure security maintenance; therefore the analysis of healthcare web application's security risk is of utmost importance. Properties must be considered to minimise the security risk. Additionally, security risk management activities are revised, prepared, implemented, tracked, and regularly set up efficiently to design the security of healthcare web applications. Managing the security risk of a healthcare web application must be considered as the key component. Security is, in specific, seen as an add-on during the development process of healthcare web applications, but not as the key problem. Researchers must ensure that security is taken into account right from the earlier developmental stages of the healthcare web application. In this row, the authors of this study have used the hesitant fuzzy-based AHP-TOPSIS technique to estimate the risks of various healthcare web applications for improving security-durability. This approach would help to design and incorporate security features in healthcare web applications that would be able to battle threats on their own, and not depend solely on the external security of healthcare web applications. Furthermore, in terms of healthcare web application's security-durability, the security risk variable is measured, and vice versa. Hence, the findings of our study will also be useful in improving the durability of several web applications in healthcare.     

Toward resilient cloud warehousing via a blockchain-enabled auction approach

Cloud warehousing service (CWS) has emerged as a promising third-party logistics service paradigm driven by the widespread use of e-commerce. The current CWS billing method is typically based on a fixed rate in a coarse-grained manner. This method cannot reflect the true service value under the fluctuating e-commerce logistics demand and is not conducive to CWS resilience management. Accordingly, a floating mechanism can be considered to introduce more flexible billing. A CWS provider lacks sufficient credibility to implement floating mechanisms because it has vested interests in terms of fictitious demand. To address this concern, this report proposes a blockchain-enabled floating billing management system as an overall solution for CWS providers to enhance the security, credibility, and transparency of CWS. A one-sided Vickrey–Clarke–Groves (O-VCG) auction mechanism model is designed as the underlying floating billing mechanism to reflect the real-time market value of fine-grained CWS resources. A blockchain-based floating billing prototype system is built as an experimental environment. Our results show that the O-VCG mechanism can effectively reflect the real-time market value of CWSs and increase the revenue of CWS providers. When the supply of CWS providers remains unchanged, allocation efficiency increases when demand increases. By analyzing the performance of the O-VCG auction and comparing it with that of the fixed-rate billing model, the proposed mechanism has more advantages. Moreover, our work provides novel managerial insights for CWS market stakeholders in terms of practical applications.     

Droid-IoT: Detect Android IoT Malicious Applications Using ML and Blockchain

One of the most rapidly growing areas in the last few years is the Internet of Things (IoT), which has been used in widespread fields such as healthcare, smart homes, and industries. Android is one of the most popular operating systems (OS) used by IoT devices for communication and data exchange. Android OS captured more than 70 percent of the market share in 2021. Because of the popularity of the Android OS, it has been targeted by cybercriminals who have introduced a number of issues, such as stealing private information. As reported by one of the recent studies Android malware are developed almost every 10 s. Therefore, due to this huge exploitation an accurate and secure detection system is needed to secure the communication and data exchange in Android IoT devices. This paper introduces Droid-IoT, a collaborative framework to detect Android IoT malicious applications by using the blockchain technology. Droid-IoT consists of four main engines: (i) collaborative reporting engine, (ii) static analysis engine, (iii) detection engine, and (iv) blockchain engine. Each engine contributes to the detection and minimization of the risk of malicious applications and the reporting of any malicious activities. All features are extracted automatically from the inspected applications to be classified by the machine learning model and store the results into the blockchain. The performance of Droid-IoT was evaluated by analyzing more than 6000 Android applications and comparing the detection rate of Droid-IoT with the state-of-the-art tools. Droid-IoT achieved a detection rate of 97.74% with a low false positive rate by using an extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) classifier.     

上下冲击式速冻机流场和换热特性研究现状

目的 为了提高食品冻结的品质,需要对冲击式速冻机的结构尺寸和内部流场进行优化,改善冲击式速冻机的冻结效率.方法 综述影响该类速冻机换热特性的4个因素,即喷嘴的形状和尺寸,射流阵列的排布,喷嘴到输送带距离和喷嘴间距的改变,速冻机进出口压差等.结果 通过回顾计算流体力学技术和实验研究在这4个方面优化速冻机换热特性的案例,总结了上下冲击式速冻机流场变化的规律.结论 该研究为新型速冻机的优化设计提供了理论支撑.     

Blockchain applications in supply chains,transport and logistics: a systematic review of the literature

This paper presents current academic and industrial frontiers on blockchain application in supply chain, logistics and transport management. We conduct a systematic review of the literature and find four main clusters in the co-citation analysis, namely Technology, Trust, Trade, and Traceability/Transparency. For each cluster, and based on the pool of articles included in it, we apply an inductive method of reasoning and discuss the emerging themes and applications of blockchains for supply chains, logistics and transport. We conclude by discussing the main themes for future research on blockchain technology and its application in industry and services.