scholarly journals Blockchain for COVID-19: Review, Opportunites and a Trusted Tracking System

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dounia Marbouh ◽  
Tayaba Abbasi ◽  
Fatema Maasmi ◽  
Ilhaam Omar ◽  
Mazin Debe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tracking System ◽  
Security Analysis ◽  
Clinical Trial Data ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
The Cost

<p>The sudden development of the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the limitations in modern healthcare systems to handle public health emergencies. It is evident that adopting innovative technologies such as blockchain can help in effective planning operations and resource deployments. Blockchain technology can play an important role in the healthcare sector such as improved clinical trial data management by reducing delays in regulatory approvals, streamline the communication between diverse stakeholders of the supply chain etc. Moreover, the spread of misinformation has intensely increased during the outbreak and existing platforms lack the ability to validate the authenticity of data, causing people to panic and act irrationally. Thus, developing a blockchain-based tracking system is important to ensure that the information received by the public and government agencies are reliable and trustworthy. In this paper, we focus on blockchain abilities to track the COVID-19 data collected from various sources including news, healthcare professionals, researchers etc, verify and append them in a secure and trusted distributed ledger. Thus, we propose a generic framework using Ethereum smart contracts and oracles to track real-time data related to the number of new cases, deaths and recovered cases obtained from trusted sources. We present detailed algorithms that capture the interactions between stakeholders in the network. The smart contract code was developed and tested in Remix environment. We present the cost and security analysis incurred by the stakeholders and highlight the challenges and future directions of our work. Our work demonstrates that the proposed solution is economically feasible and ensures data integrity, security, transparency, data traceability among stakeholders. </p>

scholarly journals Blockchain for COVID-19: Review, Opportunities and a Trusted Tracking System

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dounia Marbouh ◽  
Tayaba Abbasi ◽  
Fatema Maasmi ◽  
Ilhaam Omar ◽  
Mazin Debe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tracking System ◽  
Security Analysis ◽  
Clinical Trial Data ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
The Cost

<p>The sudden development of the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the limitations in modern healthcare systems to handle public health emergencies. It is evident that adopting innovative technologies such as blockchain can help in effective planning operations and resource deployments. Blockchain technology can play an important role in the healthcare sector such as improved clinical trial data management by reducing delays in regulatory approvals, streamline the communication between diverse stakeholders of the supply chain etc. Moreover, the spread of misinformation has intensely increased during the outbreak and existing platforms lack the ability to validate the authenticity of data, causing people to panic and act irrationally. Thus, developing a blockchain-based tracking system is important to ensure that the information received by the public and government agencies are reliable and trustworthy. In this paper, we focus on blockchain abilities to track the COVID-19 data collected from various sources including news, healthcare professionals, researchers etc, verify and append them in a secure and trusted distributed ledger. Thus, we propose a generic framework using Ethereum smart contracts and oracles to track real-time data related to the number of new cases, deaths and recovered cases obtained from trusted sources. We present detailed algorithms that capture the interactions between stakeholders in the network. The smart contract code was developed and tested in Remix environment. We present the cost and security analysis incurred by the stakeholders and highlight the challenges and future directions of our work. Our work demonstrates that the proposed solution is economically feasible and ensures data integrity, security, transparency, data traceability among stakeholders. </p>

scholarly journals Blockchain for COVID-19: Review, Opportunities and a Trusted Tracking System

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dounia Marbouh ◽  
Tayaba Abbasi ◽  
Fatema Maasmi ◽  
Ilhaam Omar ◽  
Mazin Debe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tracking System ◽  
Security Analysis ◽  
Clinical Trial Data ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
The Cost

<p>The sudden development of the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the limitations in modern healthcare systems to handle public health emergencies. It is evident that adopting innovative technologies such as blockchain can help in effective planning operations and resource deployments. Blockchain technology can play an important role in the healthcare sector such as improved clinical trial data management by reducing delays in regulatory approvals, streamline the communication between diverse stakeholders of the supply chain etc. Moreover, the spread of misinformation has intensely increased during the outbreak and existing platforms lack the ability to validate the authenticity of data, causing people to panic and act irrationally. Thus, developing a blockchain-based tracking system is important to ensure that the information received by the public and government agencies are reliable and trustworthy. In this paper, we focus on blockchain abilities to track the COVID-19 data collected from various sources including news, healthcare professionals, researchers etc, verify and append them in a secure and trusted distributed ledger. Thus, we propose a generic framework using Ethereum smart contracts and oracles to track real-time data related to the number of new cases, deaths and recovered cases obtained from trusted sources. We present detailed algorithms that capture the interactions between stakeholders in the network. The smart contract code was developed and tested in Remix environment. We present the cost and security analysis incurred by the stakeholders and highlight the challenges and future directions of our work. Our work demonstrates that the proposed solution is economically feasible and ensures data integrity, security, transparency, data traceability among stakeholders. </p>

scholarly journals Blockchain for COVID-19: Review, Opportunites and a Trusted Tracking System

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dounia Marbouh ◽  
Tayaba Abbasi ◽  
Fatema Maasmi ◽  
Ilhaam Omar ◽  
Mazin Debe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tracking System ◽  
Security Analysis ◽  
Clinical Trial Data ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
The Cost

<p>The sudden development of the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the limitations in modern healthcare systems to handle public health emergencies. It is evident that adopting innovative technologies such as blockchain can help in effective planning operations and resource deployments. Blockchain technology can play an important role in the healthcare sector such as improved clinical trial data management by reducing delays in regulatory approvals, streamline the communication between diverse stakeholders of the supply chain etc. Moreover, the spread of misinformation has intensely increased during the outbreak and existing platforms lack the ability to validate the authenticity of data, causing people to panic and act irrationally. Thus, developing a blockchain-based tracking system is important to ensure that the information received by the public and government agencies are reliable and trustworthy. In this paper, we focus on blockchain abilities to track the COVID-19 data collected from various sources including news, healthcare professionals, researchers etc, verify and append them in a secure and trusted distributed ledger. Thus, we propose a generic framework using Ethereum smart contracts and oracles to track real-time data related to the number of new cases, deaths and recovered cases obtained from trusted sources. We present detailed algorithms that capture the interactions between stakeholders in the network. The smart contract code was developed and tested in Remix environment. We present the cost and security analysis incurred by the stakeholders and highlight the challenges and future directions of our work. Our work demonstrates that the proposed solution is economically feasible and ensures data integrity, security, transparency, data traceability among stakeholders. </p>

scholarly journals Blockchain-based Supply Chain Traceability for COVID-19 PPE

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilhaam Omar ◽  
Mazin Debe ◽  
Raja Jayaraman ◽  
Khaled Salah ◽  
Mohammed Omar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Security Analysis ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Frontline Workers ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Lack Of Information

<div>The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted many industries, in particular the healthcare sector exposing systemic vulnerabilities in emergency preparedness, risk mitigation, and supply chain management. A major challenge during the pandemic was related to the increased demand of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) resulting in critical shortages for healthcare and frontline workers. The lack of information visibility combined with the inability to precisely track product movement within the supply chain requires an robust traceability solution. Blockchain technology is a distributed ledger that ensures a transparent,</div><div>safe, and secure exchange of data among supply chain stakeholders. The advantages of adopting blockchain technology to manage and track PPE products in the supply chain include decentralized control, security, traceability,</div><div>and auditable time-stamped transactions. In this paper, we present a blockchain-based approach using smart contracts to transform PPE supply chain operations. We propose a generic framework using Ethereum smart contracts and</div><div>decentralized storage systems to automate the processes and information exchange and present detailed algorithms that capture the interactions among supply chain stakeholders. The smart contract code was developed and tested in Remix environment, and the code is made publicly available on Github. We present detailed cost and security analysis incurred by the stakeholders in the supply chain. Adopting a blockchain-based solution for PPE supply chains is economically viable and provides a streamlined, secure, trusted, and transparent mode of communication among various stakeholders.</div>

scholarly journals Blockchain-based Supply Chain Traceability for COVID-19 PPE

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilhaam Omar ◽  
Mazin Debe ◽  
Raja Jayaraman ◽  
Khaled Salah ◽  
Mohammed Omar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Security Analysis ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Frontline Workers ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Lack Of Information

<div>The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted many industries, in particular the healthcare sector exposing systemic vulnerabilities in emergency preparedness, risk mitigation, and supply chain management. A major challenge during the pandemic was related to the increased demand of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) resulting in critical shortages for healthcare and frontline workers. The lack of information visibility combined with the inability to precisely track product movement within the supply chain requires an robust traceability solution. Blockchain technology is a distributed ledger that ensures a transparent,</div><div>safe, and secure exchange of data among supply chain stakeholders. The advantages of adopting blockchain technology to manage and track PPE products in the supply chain include decentralized control, security, traceability,</div><div>and auditable time-stamped transactions. In this paper, we present a blockchain-based approach using smart contracts to transform PPE supply chain operations. We propose a generic framework using Ethereum smart contracts and</div><div>decentralized storage systems to automate the processes and information exchange and present detailed algorithms that capture the interactions among supply chain stakeholders. The smart contract code was developed and tested in Remix environment, and the code is made publicly available on Github. We present detailed cost and security analysis incurred by the stakeholders in the supply chain. Adopting a blockchain-based solution for PPE supply chains is economically viable and provides a streamlined, secure, trusted, and transparent mode of communication among various stakeholders.</div>

Stroke Prevention in Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation

1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (03) ◽  
pp. 166-169
Author(s):  
Judith O’Brien ◽  
Wendy Klittich ◽  
J. Jaime Caro
Keyword(s):  
Atrial Fibrillation ◽  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Care Home ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Clinical Trial Data ◽  
Outcome Data ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Bleeding Events ◽  
Discharge Data ◽  
The Cost

SummaryDespite evidence from 6 major clinical trials that warfarin effectively prevents strokes in atrial fibrillation, clinicians and health care managers may remain reluctant to support anticoagulant prophylaxis because of its perceived costs. Yet, doing nothing also has a price. To assess this, we carried out a pharmacoe-conomic analysis of warfarin use in atrial fibrillation. The course of the disease, including the occurrence of cerebral and systemic emboli, intracranial and other major bleeding events, was modeled and a meta-analysis of the clinical trials and other relevant literature was carried out to estimate the required probabilities with and without warfarin use. The cost of managing each event, including acute and subsequent care, home care equipment and MD costs, was derived by estimating the cost per resource unit, the proportion consuming each resource and the volume of use. Unit costs and volumes of use were determined from established US government databases, all charges were adjusted using cost-to-charge ratios, and a 3% discount rate was applied to costs incurred beyond the first year. The proportions of patients consuming each resource were estimated by fitting a joint distribution to the clinical trial data, stroke outcome data from a recent Swedish study and aggregate ICD-9 specific, Massachusetts discharge data. If nothing is done, 3.2% more patients will suffer serious emboli annually and the expected annual cost of managing a patient will increase by DM 2,544 (1996 German Marks), from DM 4,366 to DM 6,910. Extensive multiway sensitivity analyses revealed that the higher price of doing nothing persists except for very extreme combinations of inputs unsupported by literature or clinical standards. The price of doing nothing is thus so high, both in health and economic terms, that cost-consciousness as well as clinical considerations mandate warfarin prophylaxis in atrial fibrillation.

A comparison of the cost of research in South Africa's public research and higher education institutions

2008 ◽  
Vol 104 (11/12) ◽  
Author(s):  
D.R. Walwyn
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Public Research ◽  
Pricing Policy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Annual Salary ◽  
Research Sector ◽  
Salary Survey ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Comparative Information

Despite the importance of labour and overhead costs to both funders and performers of research in South Africa, there is little published information on the remuneration structures for researchers, technician and research support staff. Moreover, there are widely different pricing practices and perceptions within the public research and higher education institutions, which in some cases do not reflect the underlying costs to the institution or the inherent value of the research. In this article, data from the 2004/5 Research and Development Survey have been used to generate comparative information on the cost of research in various performance sectors. It is shown that this cost is lowest in the higher education institutions, and highest in the business sector, although the differences in direct labour and overheads are not as large as may have been expected. The calculated cost of research is then compared with the gazetted rates for engineers, scientists and auditors performing work on behalf of the public sector, which in all cases are higher than the research sector. This analysis emphasizes the need within the public research and higher education institutions for the development of a common pricing policy and for an annual salary survey, in order to dispel some of the myths around the relative costs of research, the relative levels of overhead ratios and the apparent disparity in remuneration levels.

The Internet Trap

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Hindman
Keyword(s):  
The Internet ◽  
Net Neutrality ◽  
The Public ◽  
Attention Economy ◽  
Digital News ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Over Time

The Internet was supposed to fragment audiences and make media monopolies impossible. Instead, behemoths like Google and Facebook now dominate the time we spend online—and grab all the profits from the attention economy. This book explains how this happened. It sheds light on the stunning rise of the digital giants and the online struggles of nearly everyone else—and reveals what small players can do to survive in a game that is rigged against them. The book shows how seemingly tiny advantages in attracting users can snowball over time. The Internet has not reduced the cost of reaching audiences—it has merely shifted who pays and how. Challenging some of the most enduring myths of digital life, the book explains why the Internet is not the postindustrial technology that has been sold to the public, how it has become mathematically impossible for grad students in a garage to beat Google, and why net neutrality alone is no guarantee of an open Internet. It also explains why the challenges for local digital news outlets and other small players are worse than they appear and demonstrates what it really takes to grow a digital audience and stay alive in today's online economy. The book shows why, even on the Internet, there is still no such thing as a free audience.

Corrupt Practices in the Public Health Sector: A Focus on Metropolitan Local Government Areas of Kano State, Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Mohammed Mustapha Namadi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Healthcare Provision ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Sector ◽  
The Government

Corruption is pervasive in Nigeria at all levels. Thus, despite recent gains in healthcare provision, the health sector faces numerous corruption related challenges. This study aims at examining areas of corruption in the health sector with specific focus on its types and nature. A sample size of 480 respondents aged 18 years and above was drawn from the eight Metropolitan Local Government Areas of Kano State, using the multistage sampling technique. The results revealed evidence of corrupt practices including those related to unnecessary-absenteeism, diversion of patients from the public health facilities to the private sector, diverting money meant for the purchase of equipment, fuel and diesel, bribery, stealing of medications, fraud, misappropriation of medications and unjustifiable reimbursement claims. In order to resolve the problem of corrupt practices in the healthcare sector, the study recommended the need for enforcement of appropriate code of ethics guiding the conduct of the health professionals, adoption of anti-corruption strategies, and strengthening the government monitoring system to check corruption in public health sector in order to ensure equitable access to healthcare services among the under-privileged people in the society.

Strategy for Protecting the North Sea: A Chemical Industry Perspective

1991 ◽  
Vol 24 (10) ◽  
pp. 269-276
Author(s):  
J. R. Lawrence ◽  
N. C. D. Craig
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Chemical Industry ◽  
Important Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
The North ◽  
Anthropogenic Inputs ◽  
Seven Principles ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
The Cost

The public has ever-rising expectations for the environmental quality of the North Sea and hence of everreducing anthropogenic inputs; by implication society must be willing to accept the cost of reduced contamination. The chemical industry accepts that it has an important part to play in meeting these expectations, but it is essential that proper scientific consideration is given to the potential transfer of contamination from one medium to another before changes are made. A strategy for North Sea protection is put forward as a set of seven principles that must govern the management decisions that are made. Some areas of uncertainty are identified as important research targets. It is concluded that although there have been many improvements over the last two decades, there is more to be done. A systematic and less emotive approach is required to continue the improvement process.

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