Abstract: With rapid development of enabling technologies such as Internet of Things, robotics, and big data, the fourth industrial revolution known as “Industry 4.0” (I4.0) has become a great opportunity for productivity innovation around the world. Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), as a typical implication of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) in I4.0 era, has attracted significant attention. It aims at optimizing resources and improving production efficiency for manufacturing industry through deep interconnection of physical equipment, wide collection of multi-dimensional data, intelligent awareness of environment and automatic control. Blockchain is a kind of distributed ledger technology and has features including decentralization, anti-tamper, transparency, anonymity, and contract-autonomy. These features are helpful to improve the services and promote the development of IIoT. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on the literatures applying blockchain technology into IIoT. We firstly introduce the related works and background knowledge. And then, the motivations and benefits for applying blockchain into IIoT are discussed in detail. Furthermore, based on the layered architecture of blockchain we summarized in the previous work, we outline the research framework of blockchain in IIoT. Meanwhile, the related application research is presented from the perspectives of devices security, data collection and sharing, and industrial application. Moreover, we explore the technical requirements of blockchain platforms in IIoT applications. Finally, some challenges and future directions on blockchain in IIoT, as well as broader perspectives, are concluded for further study.

Abstract: This research aims to fill the research gap with empirical evidence that exists about the impact of blockchain and smart inventory systems on supply chain performance in the retail industry in the UAE. The proposed model is uniquely researched as no prior research explores the link between supply chain performances, blockchain, and smart inventory in prestigious academic journals. A quantitative technique with convenient cluster sampling is used. A descriptive, exploratory, causal and analytical design was applied—a sample size of 303 respondents was used for data analysis through regression and hypothesis with ANOVA. The findings revealed a significant positive impact of blockchain and smart inventory systems on SC performance. Limited construct-based research can be focused on more industries and constructs for future studies. There are numerous chances for businesses to leverage blockchain technology to their advantage over the competition, giving them the chance to strengthen their market position. Managers must carefully consider the qualities of their goods, services, and supply chains to ascertain whether they require or would sufficiently benefit from blockchain.

Abstract: Since the last decade, cloud-based electronic health records (EHRs) have gained significant attention to enable remote patient monitoring. The recent development of Healthcare 4.0 using the Internet of Things (IoT) components and cloud computing to access medical operations remotely has gained the researcher's attention from a smart city perspective. Healthcare 4.0 mainly consisted of periodic medical data sensing, aggregation, data transmission, data sharing, and data storage. The sensitive and personal data of patients lead to several challenges while protecting it from hackers. Therefore storing, accessing, and sharing the patient medical information on the cloud needs security attention that data should not be compromised by the authorized user's components of E-healthcare systems. To achieve secure medical data storage, sharing, and accessing in cloud service provider, several cryptography algorithms are designed so far. However, such conventional solutions failed to achieve the trade-off between the requirements of EHR security solutions such as computational efficiency, service side verification, user side verifications, without the trusted third party, and strong security. Blockchain-based security solutions gained significant attention in the recent past due to the ability to provide strong security for data storage and sharing with the minimum computation efforts. The blockchain made focused on bitcoin technology among the researchers. Utilizing the blockchain which secure healthcare records management has been of recent interest. This paper presents the systematic study of modern blockchain-based solutions for securing medical data with or without cloud computing. We implement and evaluate the different methods using blockchain in this paper. According to the research studies, the research gaps, challenges, and future roadmap are the outcomes of this paper that boost emerging Healthcare 4.0 technology.

Abstract: Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain are the two disruptive technologies emerging from the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) that have introduced radical shifts in the industry. The amalgamation of AI and blockchain holds tremendous potential to create new business models enabled through digitalization. Although research on the application and convergence of AI and blockchain exists, our understanding of the utility of its integration for business remains fragmented. To address this gap, this study aims to characterize the applications and benefits of integrated AI and blockchain platforms across different verticals of business. Using bibliometric analysis, this study reveals the most influential articles on the subject based on their publications, citations, and importance in the intellectual network. Using content analysis, this study sheds light on the subject’s intellectual structure, which is underpinned by four major thematic clusters focusing on supply chains, healthcare, secure transactions, and finance and accounting. The study concludes with 10 application areas in business that can benefit from these technologies.

Abstract: Financial service providers find blockchain technology useful to enhance authenticity, security, and risk management. Several institutions are adopting blockchain in trade and finance systems to build smart contracts between participants, improve efficiency and transparency, and open up newer revenue opportunities. Blockchain’s unique recording capabilities make the existing clearing and settlement process redundant. Banks and other financial entities are adopting blockchain-enabled IDs to identify people. Better results come from organisations’ capacity to foresee emerging trends in financial blockchain applications and develop blockchain functionality. The transfer of asset ownership and addressing the maintenance of a precise financial ledger. Measurement, communication, and analysis of financial information are three significant areas to be focussed on by accounting professionals. Blockchain clarifies asset ownership and the existence of obligations for accountants, and it has the potential to improve productivity. This paper identifies and studies relevant articles related to blockchain for finance. This paper focuses on Blockchain technology and its importance for financial services. Further takes up various tools, strategies, and featured services in Blockchain-based financial services. Finally, the paper identifies and evaluates the significant applications of Blockchain technology in financial services. Credit reports significantly impact the financial lives of customers. Recent data breaches demonstrate the superior security of blockchain-based credit reporting over conventional server-based reporting. Blockchain-based systems enable the faster, more cost-effective, and more customised issuance of digital securities. With its adoption, the market for investors can be expanded, costs for issuers can be reduced, and counterparty risk can be reduced due to the ability to customise digital financial instruments to the demands of investors. It uses mutualised standards, protocols, and shared procedures to give network users a single common source of truth. Participants in the business network can now more easily collaborate, manage data, and agree with this technology’s application.

Abstract: Centralization has dominated classic scientific, social, and economic developments. Decentralization has also received increasing attention in management, decision, governance, and economics, despite its incomparability in AI. Going beyond centralized and distributed AI, this article reviews and delineates the conceptual map, research issues, and technical opportunities of decentralized AI and edge intelligence. The complementarity and metasynthesis between centralized and decentralized AI are also elaborated. We further assess where decentralized AI and edge intelligence can enable and promote smart blockchain, Web3, metaverse and decentralized science disciplinarily, technically, practically, and more broadly.

Abstract: Blockchain is a revolutionary technology that enables users to communicate in a trust-less manner. It revolutionizes the modes of business between organizations without the need for a trusted third party. It is a distributed ledger technology based on a decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) network. It enables users to store data globally on thousands of computers in an immutable format and empowers users to deploy small pieces of programs known as smart contracts. The blockchain-based smart contract enables auto enforcement of the agreed terms between two untrusted parties. There are several security vulnerabilities in Ethereum blockchain-based smart contracts, due to which sometimes it does not behave as intended. Because a smart contract can hold millions of dollars as cryptocurrency, so these security vulnerabilities can lead to disastrous losses. In this paper, a systematic review of the security vulnerabilities in the Ethereum blockchain is presented. The main objective is to discuss Ethereum smart contract security vulnerabilities, detection tools, real life attacks and preventive mechanisms. Comparisons are drawn among the Ethereum smart contract analysis tools by considering various features. From the extensive depth review, various issues associated with the Ethereum blockchain-based smart contract are highlighted. Finally, various future directions are also discussed in the field of the Ethereum blockchain-based smart contract that can help the researchers to set the directions for future research in this domain.

Abstract: Background: Blockchain is a digitally managed, distributed, and decentralized ledger used to record transactions in an immutable format. Its characteristics in providing trust, transparency, and traceability make it attractive for applications where transactions are involved. Originally intended to support financial transactions, the technology has gained attention even in non-financial sectors such as health care, manufacturing, retail, and government services. Methods: For centuries, the various functions of manufacturing industries have worked based on the relationship and trust that they have with their upstream and downstream stakeholders. In addition, as the conventional factories are growing into giant gigafactories, the participation of several intermediaries further complicates the supply chain and logistics operations. Hence, the article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the role of blockchain technology in addressing supply chain and logistics-related challenges by analyzing, organizing, and reviewing the literature. Results: The study shows that blockchain technology can transform the supply chain and logistics into secure, agile, trusted, and transparent functions. A conceptualized application scenario demonstrates the benefits of blockchain technology in providing provenance and traceability to critical products. Conclusions: In particular, a private or permissioned blockchain is suitable for multi-organizational businesses such as supply chain and logistics. In addition, IoT-blockchain integration, smart contracts, and asset tracking has immense benefits in the future.

Abstract: The real-world use cases of blockchain technology, such as faster cross-border payments, identity management, smart contracts, cryptocurrencies, and supply chain–blockchain technology are here to stay and have become the next innovation, just like the Internet. There have been attempts to formulate digital money, but they have not been successful due to security and trust issues. However, blockchain needs no central authority, and its operations are controlled by the people who use it. Furthermore, it cannot be altered or forged, resulting in massive market hype and demand. Blockchain has moved past cryptocurrency and discovered implementations in other real-life applications; this is where we can expect blockchain technology to be simplified and not remain a complex concept. Blockchain technology’s desirable characteristics are decentralization, integrity, immutability, verification, fault tolerance, anonymity, audibility, and transparency. We first conduct a thorough analysis of blockchain technology in this paper, paying particular attention to its evolution, applications and benefits, the specifics of cryptography in terms of public key cryptography, and the challenges of blockchain in distributed transaction ledgers, as well as the extensive list of blockchain applications in the financial transaction system. This paper presents a detailed review of blockchain technology, the critical challenges faced, and its applications in different fields. Blockchain in the transaction system is explained in detail with a summary of different cryptocurrencies. Some of the suggested solutions are given in the overall study of the paper.

Abstract: Nowadays, blockchain technology and industry has developed rapidly all over the world, which is inseparable from continuous innovation and improvement on smart contract technology. Therefore, by summarizing the working principle and application research status of blockchain smart contract, this paper analyzes the development and challenges of smart contract. Firstly, we introduce the model and operation principle of blockchain smart contract for the overall architecture, analyze the deployment process of smart contract with Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric and EOSIO, and make a comparative analysis from the technical level. And taking Byteball, InterValue and IOTA platforms as examples, we introduce the deployment process and application potential for DAG-based blockchain smart contract. Additionally, we also summarize the application research of smart contract for international and Blockchain Oracle, and discuss its innovative application and development trend in the future. Secondly, we introduce the application status of smart contract with Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric platforms from the aspects of financial transactions, Internet of things, medical applications, and supply chain, and further discuss EOS (enterprise operation system), Blockchain Oracle and other application fields. Furthermore, we introduce the application advantages and challenges to smart contract for industrial Internet from the fields of manufacturing, food industry, industrial Internet of things and industry 4.0. Finally, we discuss the challenges faced by smart contract with technical issues, analyzes the impact on large-scale applications and mining system on the sustainable development of smart contract, and looks forward to the future research direction of blockchain smart contract.

Abstract: This paper discusses the impact of e-governance powered by blockchain in the project and program management industry. With the rise in technological innovations, many countries have turned to e-governance for efficiency in service delivery, transparency, and decision-making. E-governance backed by blockchain technology entails improving the public services provision by implementing structures of information and communication technologies. There are many challenges with the traditional project management approach that causes organizations and its stakeholders’ cost and time. Thus, the introduction of blockchain has given many organizations a new approach to adopt in order to eliminate the challenges associated with the typical project management approach. In spite of the cutting-edge technology of blockchain and its broad applications in program management and e-governance, there are still many challenges that restrain its adoption on a broader scale. The research discusses the challenges of the blockchain deployment in the program management field and e-governance in private and government sectors and it highlights the efforts put by both sectors to make use of the technology. Also, the research covers the opportunities and the advantages of a blockchain adoption in various segments. The paper uses various case studies in the UAE, in both private and government sectors, and a qualitative research approach was implemented. The case studies were on government entities such as Smart Dubai and the Ministry of Health Prevention and also private entities like DP World and Emirates NBD. The paper concludes with recommendations and solutions on how to maximize the benefit of blockchain in the program management industry and how it is improving the decision-making process.

Abstract: AbstractConfiguring a trustworthy Internet of Things (IoT)–enabled building information modeling (BIM) platform (IBP) is significant for modular construction to ensure transparency, traceability, a...

Abstract: The Internet of Things (IoT) has become a popular computing technology paradigm. It is increasingly being utilized to facilitate human life processes through a variety of applications, including smart healthcare, smart grids, smart finance, and smart cities. Scalability, interoperability, security, and privacy, as well as trustworthiness, are all issues that IoT applications face. Blockchain solutions have recently been created to help overcome these difficulties. The purpose of this paper is to provide a survey and tutorial on the use of blockchain in IoT systems. The importance of blockchain technology in terms of features and benefits for constituents of IoT applications is discussed. We propose a blockchain taxonomy for IoT applications based on the most significant factors. In addition, we examine the most widely used blockchain platforms for IoT applications. Furthermore, we discuss how blockchain technology can be used to broaden the spectrum of IoT applications. Besides, we discuss the recent advances and solutions offered for IoT environments. Finally, we discuss the challenges and future research directions of the use of blockchain for the IoT.

Abstract: Federated learning enables clients to train a machine learning model jointly without sharing their local data. However, due to the centrality of federated learning framework and the untrustworthiness of clients, traditional federated learning solutions are vulnerable to poisoning attacks from malicious clients and servers. In this paper, we aim to mitigate the impact of the central server and malicious clients by designing a Privacy-preserving Byzantine-robust Federated Learning (PBFL) scheme based on blockchain. Specifically, we use cosine similarity to judge the malicious gradients uploaded by malicious clients. Then, we adopt fully homomorphic encryption to provide secure aggregation. Finally, we use blockchain system to facilitate transparent processes and implementation of regulations. Our formal analysis proves that our scheme achieves convergence and provides privacy protection. Our extensive experiments on different datasets demonstrate that our scheme is robust and efficient. Even if the root dataset is small, our scheme can achieve the same efficiency as FedSGD.

Abstract: The advent of blockchain technologies is transmuting the way conventional supply chains are being managed. Due to the complexity of dealing with many actors involved in the supply chain networks, contemporary supply chains have limited visibility, transparency, and accountability. Likewise, supply chains are increasingly facing the challenge of integration and sustainability. In this vein, blockchain technologies can play a groundbreaking role in improving the traceability, accountability, and sustainability of complex supply chain networks. The present study examines the instrumentality of blockchain technologies in enabling supply chain mapping and supply chain integration. The study also tests the direct impact of blockchain technologies on supply chain sustainability. Data are collected from 132 Malaysian Electrical and Electronics firms using a close-ended questionnaire. The study employs Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and Partial Least Squares-Multi Group Analysis (PLS-MGA) for analyzing the hypothesized relationships. The results show that blockchain technologies do not have a direct impact on supply chain sustainability. Nevertheless, this finding reveals a robust indirect effect of BT, through SC integration and SC mapping, on the SC sustainability. The study's findings imply that the notion of the sustainable supply chain can be significantly attained by mapping upstream, midstream, and downstream supply chains. The well-mapped supply chain can further improve supply chain sustainability. The findings of the study also suggest the adoption of blockchain technologies as a broad-based strategy to attain multi-tier goals, for example, supply chain mapping, sustainability, and integration.