scholarly journals Blockchain-based Multi-Purpose Authentication Method for Anonymity and Privacy

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2S6) ◽  
pp. 409-414 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Service Provider ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Hash Functions ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Public Key ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Application Technology ◽  
Relevant Study ◽  
Elastic Curve ◽  
Smart Contract

Various applications using smart contract, a leading application technology of blockchain, are being rapidly introduced to the industrial sector. As a result, services in various fields are actively being developed. Currently, most of the services are offered on a variety of platforms, not blockchain-based. If these services are linked to prepaid features that provide anonymity in smart contracts, a more diverse service scenario could be created. In this paper, we propose scenarios that provide certification for various purposes based on smart contracts. It provides a scenario that provides the privacy of the contract signed by the customer while retaining the anonymity provided by blockchain. Smart contracts register keys that do not give a clue to guess the encoding keys and deliver hash functions of the child keys that change each time with authentication parameters.In addition, the master seed that can generate these authentication parameters is designed to be kept only by the user and the service provider to be able to verify them. It is proposed by considering both a single service provider transaction and a smart contract authentication model that is shared with a large number of service providers. To generate these child keys, we proposed a mechanism to use the method of generation of child keys based on the Elastic Curve Cryptography public-key method. Various attack scenarios were analyzed to complement the scenario and the efficiency of the proposed mechanism was analyzed. In addition, differences and excellence were compared by organizing scenarios that had the same purpose as scenarios in the relevant study

scholarly journals A Quantum Money Solution to the Blockchain Scalability Problem

Quantum ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Coladangelo ◽  
Or Sattath
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Cryptography ◽  
Quantum Communication ◽  
Payment System ◽  
Quantum States ◽  
Public Key ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Monetary Incentives ◽  
Smart Contract ◽  
Formal Tool ◽  
Classical Quantum

We put forward the idea that classical blockchains and smart contracts are potentially useful primitives not only for classical cryptography, but for quantum cryptography as well. Abstractly, a smart contract is a functionality that allows parties to deposit funds, and release them upon fulfillment of algorithmically checkable conditions, and can thus be employed as a formal tool to enforce monetary incentives. In this work, we give the first example of the use of smart contracts in a quantum setting. We describe a simple hybrid classical-quantum payment system whose main ingredients are a classical blockchain capable of handling stateful smart contracts, and quantum lightning, a strengthening of public-key quantum money introduced by Zhandry [55]. Our hybrid payment system employs quantum states as banknotes and a classical blockchain to settle disputes and to keep track of the valid serial numbers. It has several desirable properties: it is decentralized, requiring no trust in any single entity; payments are as quick as quantum communication, regardless of the total number of users; when a quantum banknote is damaged or lost, the rightful owner can recover the lost value.

Exploration of Product Centric Factors in Telecom Industry

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Swati Ganeti ◽  
Rajat Agarwal ◽  
Murali Krishna Medudula ◽  
Mahim Sagar
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Service Provider ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Factor Loading ◽  
The Other ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Network Connection ◽  
Telecom Service ◽  
Telecom Industry

Telecom industry is one of those industries which has changed dramatically during the past decade. With more and more players entering in this industry, competition is ever increasing. The war between these players is slowly shifting from the price to the augmentation. This paper aims at exploring such factors which influence a customers preference of one telecom service provider (TSP) over the other. It is a descriptive research where study has been conducted among the consumers of different telecom service providers (TSPs). By reviewing the existing literature in this domain, we explored different factors which affect the consumers decision to prefer one telecom service provider over the other. A consumer targeted questionnaire was designed where consumers were asked about the factors they consider (with their relative importance quantified using Likert scale), before buying a new network connection to know the relative importance of the various factors. Factor Analysis was performed to club various variables into distinct factors. Statistical techniques then helped in identifying the relative importance. From the Factor Loading matrix the following five factors were generated:- Overall service quality, Point of Purchase Differentiator, Promotion Measures, Tariff Plans and Size of the Network. Further study in the behavioural perceptions of consumer shows that the most important factor in influencing the customer buying behavior is Service Quality. The second most important factor is cost and various plans offered by the telecom service provider. Network connectivity was considered by almost all the respondents and consumers prefer the largest network player. The study also found that promotional measures dont influence the customers as expected.

scholarly journals Characteristics of wipe sampling methods for antineoplastic drugs in North America: comparison of six providers

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Chabut ◽  
Jean-François Bussières
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Monitoring ◽  
Service Provider ◽  
Sampling Methods ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Limit Of Detection ◽  
The United States ◽  
Antineoplastic Drugs ◽  
Wipe Sampling ◽  
Pubmed Database ◽  
Google Search

Abstract Objectives Several societies have published guidelines to limit the occupational exposure of workers. Several of these guidelines recommend periodic (once or twice a year) environmental monitoring of specific sites where antineoplastic drugs are prepared and administered. However, most of the guidelines provide no guidance concerning which antineoplastic drugs should be monitored, the preferred sampling sites, appropriate test methods or limits of detection. The aim of this study was to characterize providers that quantify antineoplastic drug measured on surfaces. Methods This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. To identify service providers offering environmental monitoring tests, we searched the PubMed database and used the Google search engine. We contacted each service provider by email between June 3rd and June 15th, 2020. We specified the objective of our study and described the information needed and the variables of interest with standardized questions. Additional questions were sent by emails or via teleconferences. No statistical analyses were performed. Results We identified six providers offering services to Canadian hospitals, either based in Canada or in the United States. Five of these providers were private companies and one was a public organization. Each service provider was able to measure trace contamination of 3–17 antineoplastic drugs. Five of the providers quantified drugs using ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MSMS), which allowed for lower LODs. The sixth provider offered quantification by immunoassay, which has higher LODs, but offers near real-time results; the surface area to be sampled with this method was also smaller than with UPLC-MSMS. The services offered varied among the service providers. The information about LODs supplied by each provider was often insufficient and the units were not standardized. A cost per drug quantified could not be obtained, because of variability in the scenarios involved (e.g. drug selection to be quantified, number of samples, nondisclosure of ancillary costs). Four of the six service providers were unable to report LOQ values. Conclusions Few data are available from Canadian service providers concerning the characteristics of wipe sampling methods for antineoplastics. This study identified six north-American providers. Their characteristics were very heterogeneous. Criteria to consider when choosing a provider include the validation of their analytical method, a low limit of detection, the choice of drugs to be quantified and the sites to be sampled, obtaining details about the method and understanding its limits, and price. This should be part of a structured multidisciplinary approach in each center.

Reducing transportation emissions

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 674-703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrik Pålsson ◽  
Ola Johansson
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Freight Transportation ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Logistics Service Providers ◽  
Minor Influence ◽  
Transportation Emissions ◽  
Reduce Emissions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the intention of companies to reduce transportation emissions by 2020 and the barriers and the discriminating factors that affect the reduction. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review identified potential logistical and technical actions and their barriers, and discriminating factors for reducing transportation emissions. A survey of freight transport-intensive industries in Sweden examined the effects of, intention for implementation of and barriers to 12 actions to reduce CO2 emissions from freight transportation. In total, 172 logistics managers responded, representing a response rate of 40.3 per cent. Findings – Logistics service providers (LSPs) and freight owners are likely to reduce a considerable amount of CO2 emissions from freight transportation by 2020 using a combination of actions. The lowest level of confidence was for reducing CO2 emissions by changing logistics structures, while there was greater confidence by means of operational changes. The actions have few barriers, but there is often a combination of barriers to overcome. Three discriminating factors influence the intention of a firm to reduce transportation emissions: perceived potential, company size and LSP/freight owner. The industrial sector of a freight owner has minor influence. Companies that are particularly likely to reduce emissions are LSPs, large companies, and those that perceive a large reduction potential. Research limitations/implications – Logistical and technical barriers appear to hinder companies from implementing actions, while organisational barriers and external prerequisites do not. Barriers cannot be used to predict companies’ intentions to reduce transportation emissions. The authors examined the impact of three discriminating factors on reduction of transportation emissions. The research is based on perceptions of well-informed managers and on companies in Sweden. Practical implications – The findings can be used by managers to identify firms for benchmarking initiatives and emissions-reducing strategies. Originality/value – The study provides insights into intended CO2 reductions in transportation by 2020. It presents new knowledge regarding barriers and discriminating factors for implementing actions to reduce transportation emissions.

scholarly journals Dynamic Plan Control: An Effective Tool to Manage Demand Considering Mobile Internet Network Congestion

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Xiaoyu Ma ◽  
Jihong Zhang ◽  
Yuan Cao ◽  
Zhou He ◽  
Jonas Nebel
Keyword(s):  
Programming Problem ◽  
Service Provider ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Network Capacity ◽  
Mobile Internet ◽  
Mixed Integer ◽  
Mobile Service ◽  
Data Traffic ◽  
Potential Customers

Rapidly increasing mobile data traffic have placed a significant burden on mobile Internet networks. Due to limited network capacity, a mobile network is congested when it handles too much data traffic simultaneously. In turn, some customers leave the network, which induces a revenue loss for the mobile service provider. To manage demand and maximize revenue, we propose a dynamic plan control method for the mobile service providers under connection-speed-restriction pricing. This method allows the mobile service provider to dynamically set the data plans’ availability for potential customers’ new subscriptions. With dynamic plan control, the service provider can adjust data network utilization and achieve high customer satisfaction and a low churn rate, which reflect high service supply chain performance. To find the optimal control policy, we transform the high-dimensional dynamic programming problem into an equivalent mixed integer linear programming problem. We find that dynamic plan control is an effective tool for managing demand and increasing revenue in the long term. Numerical evaluation with a large European mobile service provider further supports our conclusion. Furthermore, when network capacity or potential customers’ willingness to join the network changes, the dynamic plan control method generates robust revenue for the service provider.

Legally Enforceable Smart-Contract Languages

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Vimal Dwivedi ◽  
Vishwajeet Pattanaik ◽  
Vipin Deval ◽  
Abhishek Dixit ◽  
Alex Norta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Smart Contract ◽  
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations

Smart contracts are a key component of today’s blockchains. They are critical in controlling decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO). However, smart contracts are not yet legally binding nor enforceable; this makes it difficult for businesses to adopt the DAO paradigm. Therefore, this study reviews existing Smart Contract Languages (SCL) and identifies properties that are critical to any future SCL for drafting legally binding contracts. This is achieved by conducting a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of white- and grey literature published between 2015 and 2019. Using the SLR methodology, 45 Selected and 28 Supporting Studies detailing 45 state-of-the-art SCLs are selected. Finally, 10 SCL properties that enable legally compliant DAOs are discovered, and specifications for developing SCLs are explored.

Smart Contract: Concept, Financial Essence, World Experience and Opportunities of Practical Use

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 1871-1893
Author(s):  
Vasilii A. DADALKO ◽  
Vladimir V. NIKOLAEVSKII ◽  
Andrei D. NEKRASOV ◽  
Dar’ya S. SHERSTNEVA
Keyword(s):  
Banking Sector ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Utilization Efficiency ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Financial Instruments ◽  
Complex Concept ◽  
Smart Contract ◽  
Fundamental Possibility ◽  
The Moment

Subject. The article considers smart contracts as digital financial instruments, their financial and economic essence, which is defined as digital instruments for the settlement of financial relations. Objectives. The aim is to introduce into scientific use such a system concept as digital financial instruments and mechanisms based on the consideration of their economic, legal and financial essence. Methods. The study rests on systems approach that enables to present a smart contract from a technological, economic, legal and financial position as a set of elements with their specific functions defining its complex concept. Results. We reveal the nature of financial relations, arising at the time when bilateral or multilateral transactions are concluded and smart contracts are presented as ways to automatically settle them. Completion of a smart contract is a confirmation of the completion of the transaction and the moment of termination of financial relationship. The article shows the fundamental possibility of using smart contracts in the system of budget relations as a tool for the settlement of a multilateral transaction. Conclusions. Currently, smart contracts are an essential element of a new stage in the development of financial technologies. Specialists in the financial and banking sector recognize the emerging opportunities for their use in the system of financial relations. The paper shows an example of possible use of smart contracts in the settlement of budget relations and in improving the utilization efficiency of budget funds.

Administrative risks challenging the adoption of smart contracts in construction projects

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asli Pelin Gurgun ◽  
Kerim Koc
Keyword(s):  
Construction Projects ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Risk Category ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Smart Contract ◽  
Criteria Weights

PurposeAs a remedy to usually voluminous, complicated and not easily readable construction contracts, smart contracts can be considered as an effective and alternative solution. However, the construction industry is merely known as a frontrunner for fast adoption of recent technological advancements. Numerous administrative risks challenge construction companies to implement smart contracts. To highlight this issue, this study aims to assess the administrative risks of smart contract adoption in construction projects.Design/methodology/approachA literature survey is conducted to specify administrative risks of smart contracts followed by a pilot study to ensure that the framework is suitable to the research question. The criteria weights are calculated through the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process method, followed by a sensitivity analysis based on degree of fuzziness, which supports the robustness of the developed hierarchy and stability of the results. Then, a focus group discussion (FGD) is performed to discuss the mitigation strategies for the top-level risks in each risk category.FindingsThe final framework consists of 27 sub-criteria, which are categorized under five main criteria, namely, contractual, cultural, managerial, planning and relational. The findings show that (1) regulation change, (2) lack of a driving force, (3) works not accounted in planning, (4) shortcomings of current legal arrangements and (5) lack of dispute resolution mechanism are the top five risks challenging the adoption of smart contracts in construction projects. Risk mitigation strategies based on FGD show that improvements for the semi-automated smart contract drafting are considered more practicable compared to full automation.Originality/valueThe literature is limited in terms of the adoption of smart contracts, while the topic is receiving more attention recently. To support easy prevalence of smart contracts, this study attempts the most challenging aspects of smart contract adoption.

Trust but Verify: The Oracle Paradox of Blockchain Smart Contracts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah Albizri ◽  
Deniz Appelbaum
Keyword(s):  
Internal Control ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Weak Link ◽  
Design Science ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Independent Verification ◽  
Smart Contract ◽  
Control Application

Although research shows that blockchain provides fairly immutable virtual provenance workflows, proof that the Blockchain accurately represents physical events lacks truly independent verification. This dilemma, the Oracle Paradox, challenges blockchain architecture and is perhaps one reason why businesses have hesitated to adopt smart contracts. Blockchain proponents claim that people can serve as trusted Oracles in a smart contract. However, auditing research shows that people are the weak link in almost every internal control application, including those pertaining to blockchain. People are susceptible to collusion, bribery, error, and fraud and these tendencies are not entirely mitigated by blockchain technologies (Balagurusamy et al. 2019; Nakamoto 2008). This research proposes a framework to mitigate the paradox of the Oracle: A Business Process Management (BPM) model of a Blockchain Smart Contract-enabled Supply Chain with IoT as the sole "third-party" Oracle participant, utilizing Design Science research.

Measuring the Performance of Maintenance Service Outsourcing

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 524-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Miguel Cruz ◽  
Adriana Maria Rios Rincon ◽  
Gregory L. Haugan
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Service Provider ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Cox Model ◽  
Turnaround Time ◽  
Spare Parts ◽  
High Positive Correlation ◽  
User Training ◽  
A Value ◽  
Maintenance Service

The aims of this paper are (1) to identify the characteristics of maintenance service providers that directly impact maintenance service quality, using 18 independent covariables; (2) to quantify the change in risk these covariables present to service quality, measured in terms of equipment turnaround time (TAT). A survey was applied to every maintenance service provider (n = 19) for characterization purposes. The equipment inventory was characterized, and the TAT variable recorded and monitored for every work order of each service provider (N = 1,025). Finally, the research team conducted a statistical analysis to accomplish the research objectives. The results of this study offer strong empirical evidence that the most influential variables affecting the quality of maintenance service performance are the following: type of maintenance, availability of spare parts in the country, user training, technological complexity of the equipment, distance between the company and the hospital, and the number of maintenance visits performed by the company. The strength of the results obtained by the Cox model built are supported by the measure of the Rp,e2 = 0.57 with a value of Rp,e= 0.75. Thus, the model explained 57% of the variation in equipment TAT, with moderate high positive correlation between the dependent variable (TAT) and independent variables.

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