DataMesh+: A Blockchain-Powered Peer-to-Peer Data Exchange Model for Self-Sovereign Data Marketplaces.

In contemporary data-driven economies, data has become a valuable digital asset that is eligible for trading and monetization. Peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplaces play a crucial role in establishing direct connections between data providers and consumers. However, traditional data marketplaces exhibit inadequacies. Functioning as centralized platforms, they suffer from issues such as insufficient trust, transparency, fairness, accountability, and security. Moreover, users lack consent and ownership control over their data. To address these issues, we propose DataMesh+, an innovative blockchain-powered, decentralized P2P data exchange model for self-sovereign data marketplaces. This user-centric decentralized approach leverages blockchain-based smart contracts to enable fair, transparent, reliable, and secure data trading marketplaces, empowering users to retain full sovereignty and control over their data. In this article, we describe the design and implementation of our approach, which was developed to demonstrate its feasibility. We evaluated the model's acceptability and reliability through experimental testing and validation. Furthermore, we assessed the security and performance in terms of smart contract deployment and transaction execution costs, as well as the blockchain and storage network performance.

OPTORER: A Dynamic Routing and Touring Service for Indoors and Outdoor Tours.

This paper introduces a new routing and touring service both for outdoor and indoor places of touristic and cultural interest designed to be used in the wider area of Attica, Greece. This service is the result of the work performed in OPTORER (OPTORER: OPtimal rouTing and explOration of touRistic and cultural arEas of interest within Attica given personalized adaptive preferences, promoted underlying purpose, and interactive experience), project, and it aspires to offer a range of innovative and thematic routes to several specified points of interest in the selected area of Attica, encouraging the combination of indoor and outdoor routes in a single tour. The aim is to optimize the user experience while promoting specific, user-centric features, with safety and social welfare being a priority for every designed tour, resulting in enhancing the touristic experience in the area. Using a common smartphone device, as well as common wearable devices (i.e., smartwatches), the OPTORER service will provide an end-to-end solution by developing the algorithms and end-user applications, together with an orchestration platform responsible for managing, operating, and executing the service that produces and presents to the end user results derived from solving dynamically complex optimization problems.

[THE ON-LINE TURNOVER OF BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE ADDITIVES. PART 2. CUSTOMS CONTROL FOR THE TURNOVER OF IMPORTED DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS ON MARKETPLACES AS A MEASURE TO PROTECT THE LIFE AND HEALTH OF CITIZENS].

Various dietary supplements are used as prevention, and in some cases treatment, of a large number of pathological processes in the human body. The purchase of such dietary supplements on various online platforms, including marketplaces, as evidenced by the results of monitoring the Russian online market for 2021-2022, turned out to be the riskiest for human life and health: the components actually contained do not correspond to the declared ones, the presence of Dietary supplement of prohibited substances, lack of a state registration certificate, the presence of which confirms the safety of such dietary supplement for use. The listed violations in the conditions of complete lack of control during the sale of dietary supplements on marketplaces confirm the danger to health, and in some cases, to human life. Uncontrolled use of such products can lead to serious side effects and complications: allergic reactions, kidney failure, liver failure, complications from the gastrointestinal tract, nervous system and genitourinary tract. In this regard, issues related to ensuring the safety of human health and life in the event of their purchasing dietary supplements on marketplaces are relevant. The analysis carried out in the study confirmed the existence of a problem of unreliable declaration of imported dietary supplements on marketplaces by participants in foreign economic activity. In this regard, this article examines the requirements of technical regulations that must be observed when importing dietary supplements into the territory of the EAEU, studies in detail the issue of the possibility of selling imported dietary supplements on marketplaces, and formulates appropriate conclusions and recommendations for eliminating identified problems, which will eliminate possible sales of low-quality products on the marketplace. and prohibited products and identify sellers selling dietary supplements with violations.

A Decentralized Marketplace for Patient-Generated Health Data: Design Science Approach.

BACKGROUND: Wearable devices have limited ability to store and process such data. Currently, individual users or data aggregators are unable to monetize or contribute such data to wider analytics use cases. When combined with clinical health data, such data can improve the predictive power of data-driven analytics and can proffer many benefits to improve the quality of care. We propose and provide a marketplace mechanism to make these data available while benefiting data providers. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to propose the concept of a decentralized marketplace for patient-generated health data that can improve provenance, data accuracy, security, and privacy. Using a proof-of-concept prototype with an interplanetary file system (IPFS) and Ethereum smart contracts, we aimed to demonstrate decentralized marketplace functionality with the blockchain. We also aimed to illustrate and demonstrate the benefits of such a marketplace. METHODS: We used a design science research methodology to define and prototype our decentralized marketplace and used the Ethereum blockchain, solidity smart-contract programming language, the web3.js library, and node.js with the MetaMask application to prototype our system. RESULTS: We designed and implemented a prototype of a decentralized health care marketplace catering to health data. We used an IPFS to store data, provide an encryption scheme for the data, and provide smart contracts to communicate with users on the Ethereum blockchain. We met the design goals we set out to accomplish in this study. CONCLUSIONS: A decentralized marketplace for trading patient-generated health data can be created using smart-contract technology and IPFS-based data storage. Such a marketplace can improve quality, availability, and provenance and satisfy data privacy, access, auditability, and security needs for such data when compared with centralized systems.

Exploring consumer vulnerability in the consumption of menstrual products: Insights from a developing country.

Consumer experiences in the consumption of menstrual products and the factors that underpin consumer vulnerability in the consumption process have largely been overlooked in marketing research. This research addresses this gap by examining consumer experiences of vulnerability in the consumption of menstrual products in a developing country context. Data from in-depth interviews and netnography reveals women's embodied experiences of vulnerability, with structural barriers, such as regulatory gaps and exclusionary marketing practices adversely affecting the women's physical and emotional well-being. Contributions to consumer vulnerability literature and implications for health marketing and policy are discussed.

Association Between Provider-Sponsored Health Plan Ownership and Health Insurance Marketplace Plan Quality.

BACKGROUND: Over 15.3 million Americans relied on the individual health insurance market for health coverage in 2021. Yet, little is known about the relationships between the organizational characteristics of individual market health insurers and quality of coverage, particularly with respect to clinical outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To examine variation in marketplace insurers' quality performance and investigate how performance varies by insurer organizational characteristics. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: 381 insurer products, representing 184 unique insurers in 50 states in 2019 and 2020. MAIN MEASURES: Marketplace plan clinical quality measures reported in the 2019-2020 CMS Plan Quality Rating System dataset and insurer-product organizational attributes identified from several data sources, including non-profit ownership, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association membership, Medicaid focus and whether or not the insurer product is vertically integrated with a provider organization. KEY RESULTS: Among the 381 insurer products in this study, 35% are part of a provider-sponsored health plan (PSHP) and 70% of these entities received four stars or above for overall quality performance. Overall, PSHPs exhibited higher quality than non-PSHPs for both clinical quality management (0.36 increased on a 5-point scale; 95% CI = 0.11 to 0.62; P = 0.005) and enrollee experience (0.27; 95% CI = 0.03 to 0.50; P = 0.03) summary indicators. Medicaid focused insurers were associated with lower performance on enrollee experience, plan administration, and various outcomes related to clinical quality. CONCLUSIONS: Provider-sponsored health plans in the health insurance marketplaces are associated with higher-quality care, as measured by CMS clinical quality measures.

Coverage Disruptions and Transitions Across the ACA's Medicaid/Marketplace Income Cutoff.

BACKGROUND: The Affordable Care Act takes a "patchwork" approach to expanding coverage: Medicaid covers individuals with incomes 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL) in expansion states, while subsidized Marketplace insurance is available to those above this income cutoff. OBJECTIVE: To characterize the magnitude of churning between Medicaid and Marketplace coverage and to examine the impact of the 138% FPL income cutoff on stability of coverage. DESIGN: We measured the incidence of transitions between Medicaid and Marketplace coverage. Then, we used a differences-in-differences framework to compare insurance churning in Medicaid expansion and non-expansion states, before and after the ACA, among adults with incomes 100-200% of poverty. PARTICIPANTS: Non-elderly adult respondents of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey 2010-2018 MAIN MEASURES: The annual proportion of adults who (1) transitioned between Medicaid and Marketplace coverage; (2) experienced any coverage disruption. KEY RESULTS: One million U.S. adults transitioned between Medicaid and Marketplace coverage annually. The 138% FPL cutoff in expansion states was not associated with an increase in insurance churning among individuals with incomes close to the cutoff. CONCLUSIONS: Transitions between Medicaid and Marketplace insurance are uncommon-far lower than pre-ACA analyses predicted. The 138% income cutoff does not to contribute significantly to insurance disruptions.

Using an experimental tobacco marketplace to pilot test the substitutability of JUUL e-cigarettes and other alternative nicotine and tobacco products for conventional cigarettes among vulnerable populations.

The Experimental Tobacco Marketplace (ETM) is an online research marketplace where increasing the cost of cigarettes is used to investigate the substitutability of other fixed-price tobacco products such as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). The ETM is useful for modeling effects of potential policy changes on use of various concurrently available products. To our knowledge, the ETM has not been used to investigate substitutability of newer generation e-cigarettes or populations at increased risk for smoking, heavy smoking, nicotine dependence, and smoking-attributable adverse effects. In the current pilot study, participants were 30 adult daily smokers with socioeconomic disadvantage or comorbid psychiatric conditions (substance-use disorder or mental illness). In each session, cigarette prices increased ($0.12, $0.25, $0.50, $1.00. and $2.00 per cigarette) while prices for alternative products remained fixed. Across three ETM sessions, either all products, all products except little cigars and cigarillos (LCCs), or all products except ENDS (JUUL e-cigarettes) were available. Linear regression was performed on individual participant data using log-transformed cigarette price to determine demand and substitution. Cigarette demand decreased as price increased across sessions (significantly non-zero slopes, ps ≤ 0.0001). When all products were available, ENDS substitution increased as cigarette price increased (significantly non-zero slope, p = .016). When LCCs were unavailable, ENDS again were a significant substitute (p = .008). When ENDS were unavailable, LCCs did not substitute (ps ≥ 0.48). In all sessions, participants rarely purchased other products (e.g., snus). Overall, ENDS were the most robust substitute for cigarettes, further underscoring the potential importance of ENDS availability on the impact of tobacco regulatory policies.

Utilization of preventive services by women enrolled in the Affordable Care Act's Health Insurance Marketplace.

The Health Insurance Marketplace has offered access to private health insurance coverage for over 10 million Americans, including previously uninsured women. Per Affordable Care Act requirements, Marketplace plans must cover preventive services without patient cost-sharing in the same way as in employer-sponsored insurance (ESI). However, no study has evaluated whether the utilization of preventive services is similar between Marketplace enrollees and ESI enrollees. Using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data for 2014-2016, we identified working-age women with Marketplace plans (n = 792, N = 2,567,292) and ESI (n = 13,100, N = 52,557,779). We compared the two groups' receipt rates of five evidence-based preventive services: blood pressure screening, influenza vaccine, Pap test, mammogram, and colorectal cancer screening. Unadjusted results showed marketplace enrolled women had significantly lower odds of influenza vaccination, Pap test, and mammogram. However, after controlling for other factors, Marketplace insurance was not associated with lower receipt rates of preventive services, except for influenza vaccination (Adjusted OR = 0.64; 95% CI = 0.50-0.82). Regardless of an individual's private insurance type, higher educational attainment and having a usual source of medical care showed the strongest association with the receipt of all investigated preventive services. With the increased role of the Marketplace as a safety net in the COVID-19 pandemic, more research and outreach efforts should be made to facilitate access to preventive services for its enrollees.

Selling sex: what determines rates and popularity? An analysis of 11,500 online profiles.

Sex work, or the exchange of sexual services for money or goods, is ubiquitous across eras and cultures. However, the practice of selling sex is often hidden due to stigma and the varying legal status of sex work. Online platforms that sex workers use to advertise services have become an increasingly important means of studying a market that is largely hidden. Although prior literature has primarily shed light on sex work from a public health or policy perspective (focusing largely on female sex workers), there are few studies that empirically research patterns of service provision in online sex work. This study investigated the determinants of pricing and popularity in the market for commercial sexual services online by using data from the largest UK network of online sexual services, a platform that is the industry-standard for sex workers. While the size of these influences varies across genders, nationality, age and the services provided are shown to be primary drivers of rates and popularity in sex work.

An unsupervised machine learning approach for the detection and characterization of illicit drug-dealing comments and interactions on Instagram.

Background: Growing use of social media has led to the emergence of virtual controlled substance and illicit drug marketplaces, prompting calls for action by government and law enforcement. Previous studies have analyzed Instagram drug selling via posts. However, comments made by users involving potential drug selling have not been analyzed. In this study, we use unsupervised machine learning to detect and classify prescription and illicit drug-related buying and selling interactions on Instagram. Methods: We used over 1,000 drug-related hashtags on Instagram to collect a total of 43,607 Instagram comments between February 1st, 2019 and May 31st, 2019 using data mining approaches in the Python programming language. We then used an unsupervised machine learning approach, the Biterm Topic Model (BTM), to thematically summarize Instagram comments into distinct topic groupings, which were then extracted and manually annotated to detect buying and selling comments. Results: We detected 5,589 comments from sellers, prospective buyers, and online pharmacies from 531 unique posts. The vast majority (99.7%) of comments originated from drug sellers and online pharmacies. Key themes from comments included providing contact information through encrypted third-party messaging platforms, drug availability, and price inquiry. Commonly offered drugs for sale included scheduled controlled substances such as Adderall and Xanax, as well as illicit hallucinogens and stimulants. Comments from prospective buyers of drugs most commonly included inquiries about price and availability. Conclusions: We detected prescription controlled substances and other illicit drug selling interactions via Instagram comments to posts. We observed that comments were primarily used by sellers offering drugs, and typically not by prospective buyers interacting with sellers. Further research is needed to characterize these "social" drug marketplace interactions on this and other popular social media platforms.

Design and Evaluation of a Heterogeneous Lightweight Blockchain-Based Marketplace.

The proposal of this paper is to introduce a low-level blockchain marketplace, which is a blockchain where participants could share its power generation and demand. To achieve this implementation in a secure way for each actor in the network, we proposed to deploy it over efficient and generic low-performance devices. Thus, they are installed as IoT devices, registering measurements each fifteen minutes, and also acting as blockchain nodes for the marketplace. Nevertheless, it is necessary that blockchain is lightweight, so it is implemented as a specific consensus protocol that allows each node to have enough time and computer requirements to act both as an IoT device and a blockchain node. This marketplace will be ruled by Smart Contracts deployed inside the blockchain. With them, it is possible to make registers for power generation and demand. This low-level marketplace could be connected to other services to execute matching algorithms from the data stored in the blockchain. Finally, a real test-bed implementation of the marketplace was tested, to confirm that it is technically feasible.

A Survey: Security, Transparency, and Scalability Issues of NFT's and Its Marketplaces.

Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) are ownership records stored on a blockchain, and they are typically digital items such as photos and videos. In many ways, an NFT is like a conventional proof-of-purchase document, such as a paper invoice or an electronic receipt. NFTs are attractive among other things because of verifiability; each sale is recorded as a blockchain transaction, allowing ownership to be tracked. Also, NFTs can be used to transfer digital assets between two mutually distrusting parties, since both the crypto payment and the asset transfer take place in one transaction. With NFTs, all marketplaces can freely trade with the help of decentralized applications (DApps). It is currently estimated that there are over 245 NFT marketplaces (NFTM) listed with over 1000 blockchains as of August 2022 with 68 million blockchain wallet users. With the expansion of markets, they must face challenges and issues. The objective of this review is to study the market dynamics of NFT ecosystems. It also focuses on technical components that enable NFTs and their marketplace. The review provides a deeper understanding of its components, how they are related, and why they are important. The paper analyses the challenges faced by NFTs and marketplaces in terms of security, transparency, scalability, and the consequences leading to these issues and how they will address them, as well as future opportunities.

A Comprehensive Survey on the Internet of Things with the Industrial Marketplace.

There is no doubt that new technology has become one of the crucial parts of most people's lives around the world. By and large, in this era, the Internet and the Internet of Things (IoT) have become the most indispensable parts of our lives. Recently, IoT technologies have been regarded as the most broadly used tools among other technologies. The tools and the facilities of IoT technologies within the marketplace are part of Industry 4.0. The marketplace is too regarded as a new area that can be used with IoT technologies. One of the main purposes of this paper is to highlight using IoT technologies in Industry 4.0, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is another feature revised. This paper focuses on the value of the IoT in the industrial domain in general; it reviews the IoT and focuses on its benefits and drawbacks, and presents some of the IoT applications, such as in transportation and healthcare. In addition, the trends and facts that are related to the IoT technologies on the marketplace are reviewed. Finally, the role of IoT in telemedicine and healthcare and the benefits of IoT technologies for COVID-19 are presented as well.

Decentralized Personal Data Marketplaces: How Participation in a DAO Can Support the Production of Citizen-Generated Data.

Big Tech companies operating in a data-driven economy offer services that rely on their users' personal data and usually store this personal information in "data silos" that prevent transparency about their use and opportunities for data sharing for public interest. In this paper, we present a solution that promotes the development of decentralized personal data marketplaces, exploiting the use of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs), Decentralized File Storages (DFS) and smart contracts for storing personal data and managing access control in a decentralized way. Moreover, we focus on the issue of a lack of efficient decentralized mechanisms in DLTs and DFSs for querying a certain type of data. For this reason, we propose the use of a hypercube-structured Distributed Hash Table (DHT) on top of DLTs, organized for efficient processing of multiple keyword-based queries on the ledger data. We test our approach with the implementation of a use case regarding the creation of citizen-generated data based on direct participation and the involvement of a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). The performance evaluation demonstrates the viability of our approach for decentralized data searches, distributed authorization mechanisms and smart contract exploitation.

The Line between Medicaid and Marketplace: Coverage Effects from Wisconsin's Partial Expansion.

CONTEXT: States have experimented with the income eligibility threshold between Medicaid coverage and access to subsidized Marketplace plans in an effort to increase coverage for low-income adults while meeting other state priorities, particularly a balanced budget. In 2014, Wisconsin opted against adopting an ACA Medicaid expansion, instead setting the Medicaid eligibility threshold at 100% of the poverty level-a state-funded partial expansion. Childless adults gained new eligibility, while parents and caregivers with incomes between 101-200% of poverty lost existing eligibility. METHODS: We used Wisconsin's all-payer claims database to assess health insurance gains, losses, and transitions among low-income adults affected by this partial expansion. FINDINGS: We found that less than one third of adults who lost Medicaid eligibility definitely took up commercial coverage, and many returned to Medicaid. Among those newly eligible for Medicaid, there was little evidence of crowd-out. Both groups experienced limited continuity of coverage. Overall, new Medicaid enrollment of childless adults was offset by coverage losses among parents and caregivers, rendering Wisconsin's overall coverage gains similar to nonexpansion states. CONCLUSIONS: Wisconsin's experience demonstrates the difficulty in relying on the Marketplace to cover the near poor and suggests that full Medicaid expansion more effectively increases coverage.

From anxiety to control: Mask-wearing, perceived marketplace influence, and emotional well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mask-wearing has been one of the most prominent, conflicted, and deeply divided issues in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across two studies, we seek to understand how beliefs and behaviors around mask-wearing are associated with the relationship between anxiety about the coronavirus and feelings of control over one's health outcomes during the pandemic. In Study 1, we find that beliefs in the response efficacy of mask-wearing moderate the relationship between anxiety and control. Study 2 extends these results by investigating the underlying process. Specifically, we find that the relationship between anxiety and control is mediated by self-reported mask-wearing behavior and that the relationship between anxiety and mask-wearing behavior is moderated by consumers' perceived marketplace influence. These findings have important public policy and marketing implications in the context of physical, emotional, and economic well-being.

Salt and marine products in the Classic Maya economy from use-wear study of stone tools.

Microscopic study of the edges of Late to Terminal Classic Maya (AD 600-900) chert stone tools from the Paynes Creek Salt Works, Belize, indicates most tools were used for cutting fish or meat or working hide, which was unexpected, given the virtual absence of fish or other animal remains at this large salt-production complex. Use-wear study shows that a minority of stone tools have edge-wear from woodworking. Our study suggests that salting fish was a significant activity at the salt works, which corresponds to Roman, Chinese, and other East Asian civilizations, where salt and salted fish were critical components of food storage, trade, and state finance. Based on analogy with modern Maya salt producers at Sacapulas, Guatemala, we provide estimates of the amounts of salt and salted fish produced at the Paynes Creek Salt Works and the implications for the Classic Maya economy. Salt cakes and salted fish were preserved commodities that could be stored and traded in the marketplace.

Characteristics of Acute Childhood Illness Apps for Parents: Environmental Scan.

BACKGROUND: Providing parents with resources that aid in the identification and management of acute childhood illnesses helps those parents feel better equipped to assess their children's health and significantly changes parental health-seeking behaviors. Some of these resources are limited by accessibility and scalability. Remote locations and staffing limitations create challenges for parents aiming to access their child's health information. Mobile health apps offer a scalable, accessible solution for improving health literacy by enabling access to health information through mobile devices. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study is to create an inventory of acute childhood illness apps that are available to North American parents and caregivers, assess their quality, and identify the areas in which future apps can be improved. METHODS: We conducted an environmental scan to identify and summarize app information for parents and digital health researchers. The Google and Apple app marketplaces were used as search platforms. We built a list of search terms and searched the platforms for apps targeted at parents and related to acute pediatric illnesses in the United States and Canada. We assessed apps meeting the inclusion criteria using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS), a validated tool for assessing the quality of health apps. The MARS examines apps on 5 subscales: engagement, functionality, aesthetics, information quality, and subjective quality. Data were analyzed by MARS subscale averages and individual item scores. RESULTS: Overall, 650 unique apps were screened, and 53 (8.2%) were included. On a scale of 1-5, apps had an average engagement score of 2.82/5 (SD 0.86), functionality score of 3.98/5 (SD 0.72), aesthetics score of 3.09/5 (SD 0.87), information quality score of 2.73/5 (SD 1.32), and subjective quality score of 2.20/5 (SD 0.79). On the same scale of 1-5, app scores ranged from 2.2/5 to 4.5/5 (mean 3.2, SD 0.6). The top 3 MARS-scored apps were Baby and Child First Aid (4.5/5), Ada (4.5/5), and HANDi Paediatric (4.2/5). Taken together, the top 3 apps covered topics of emergency pediatric first aid, identification of (and appropriate response to) common childhood illnesses, a means of checking symptoms, and a means of responding to emergency situations. There was a lack of Canadian-based app content available to parents in both marketplaces; this space was filled with content originating primarily in the United Kingdom and the United States. In addition, published evidence of the impact of the included apps was poor: of 53 apps, only 5 (9%) had an evidence base showing that the app had been trialed for usability or efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need for evidence-based acute childhood illness apps of Canadian origin. This environmental scan offers a comprehensive picture of the health app landscape by examining trends in acute childhood illness apps that are readily available to parents and by identifying gaps in app design.

Economics at the FCC 2020-21: Closing the Connectivity Gap, COVID-19 and Telehealth, Spectrum Auctions, Communications Marketplace Report, and Economic Research.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is responsible for regulation in the communications marketplace and for management of the nation's non-federal radio frequency spectrum. During the past year, FCC economists assisted in the development of initiatives that were aimed at closing the connectivity gap which proved especially critical in light of the COVID-19 pandemic; contributed to the Commission's extensive responses to COVID-19; were involved in various spectrum auctions; evaluated competition in the communications marketplace in the 2020 Communications Marketplace Report; and published a series of working papers.