Blockchain-enabled immutable, distributed, and highly available clinical research activity logging system for federated COVID-19 data analysis from multiple institutions.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to develop a distributed, immutable, and highly available cross-cloud blockchain system to facilitate federated data analysis activities among multiple institutions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We preprocessed 9166 COVID-19 Structured Query Language (SQL) code, summary statistics, and user activity logs, from the GitHub repository of the Reliable Response Data Discovery for COVID-19 (R2D2) Consortium. The repository collected local summary statistics from participating institutions and aggregated the global result to a COVID-19-related clinical query, previously posted by clinicians on a website. We developed both on-chain and off-chain components to store/query these activity logs and their associated queries/results on a blockchain for immutability, transparency, and high availability of research communication. We measured run-time efficiency of contract deployment, network transactions, and confirmed the accuracy of recorded logs compared to a centralized baseline solution. RESULTS: The smart contract deployment took 4.5 s on an average. The time to record an activity log on blockchain was slightly over 2 s, versus 5-9 s for baseline. For querying, each query took on an average less than 0.4 s on blockchain, versus around 2.1 s for baseline. DISCUSSION: The low deployment, recording, and querying times confirm the feasibility of our cross-cloud, blockchain-based federated data analysis system. We have yet to evaluate the system on a larger network with multiple nodes per cloud, to consider how to accommodate a surge in activities, and to investigate methods to lower querying time as the blockchain grows. CONCLUSION: Blockchain technology can be used to support federated data analysis among multiple institutions.

Blockchain applications for secured and resilient supply chains: A systematic literature review and future research agenda

Firms are using blockchain technology to prevent fraudulent activities through consensus mechanisms and help identify data tampering through its underlying characteristics, such as immutability, encryption transparency, and operational resilience. However, a holistic review of blockchain application in building a cyber-secure supply chain remains elusive, which can impede the advancement of the field when competing arguments are made, and pure replications are initiated. Therefore, the present study carries a systematic literature review to assess the state of literature review on the significance of blockchain in developing a cyber-secure and resilient supply chain. A systematic review of 122 peer-reviewed papers published between 2012 and 2022 has been conducted using a structured methodological approach. Further, the Theory, Context and Methodology (TCM) framework has been applied to suggest avenues for future research. Our analysis reveals six dominant themes related to blockchain and its adoption, blockchain application for resilience, blockchain application for cyber-security, blockchain and its role in intermediation, disintermediation and reintermediation, challenges of blockchain adoption and benefits of blockchain applications in the supply chain. Although the role of blockchain application in the cyber secure and resilient supply chain has been recognised, very little attention has been given to contextual factors affecting its adoption and consequences on key performance parameters. The present study contributes to the literature by synthesising the prime findings of reviewed papers and the managerial impli-cations, thereby giving a holistic view of the existing research and presenting an array of future opportunities for firms to adopt blockchain technology in the supply chain.

Test, Trace, and Put on the Blockchain?: A Viewpoint Evaluating the Use of Decentralized Systems for Algorithmic Contact Tracing to Combat a Global Pandemic.

The enormous pressure of the increasing case numbers experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a variety of novel digital systems designed to provide solutions to unprecedented challenges in public health. The field of algorithmic contact tracing, in particular, an area of research that had previously received limited attention, has moved into the spotlight as a crucial factor in containing the pandemic. The use of digital tools to enable more robust and expedited contact tracing and notification, while maintaining privacy and trust in the data generated, is viewed as key to identifying chains of transmission and close contacts, and, consequently, to enabling effective case investigations. Scaling these tools has never been more critical, as global case numbers have exceeded 100 million, as many asymptomatic patients remain undetected, and as COVID-19 variants begin to emerge around the world. In this context, there is increasing attention on blockchain technology as a part of systems for enhanced digital algorithmic contact tracing and reporting. By analyzing the literature that has emerged from this trend, the common characteristics of the designs proposed become apparent. An archetypal system architecture can be derived, taking these characteristics into consideration. However, assessing the utility of this architecture using a recognized evaluation framework shows that the added benefits and features of blockchain technology do not provide significant advantages over conventional centralized systems for algorithmic contact tracing and reporting. From our study, it, therefore, seems that blockchain technology may provide a more significant benefit in other areas of public health beyond contact tracing.

Immunity Passport Ledger: Digital Certificates Implemented on a Permissioned Blockchain

The global outbreak of Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) which in 2020 reached pandemic scale, has been a central topic of debate in our society. Concerns over the ease of transmission of the infection led to the imposition of measures restricting freedom such as curfews, lockdown, general confinement, and closure of trade. Technology was one of the tools used to resist to the spread of the disease using applications that, on one hand, track contacts to warn users that were close to someone infected and, on the other hand, provide immunity digital certification. Despite the relevance of these options, end users have no confidence, transparency, and responsibility that the registration and use of their health data are ethical, secure, anonymous, and available through verifiable credentials and, most importantly, is being used for its main purpose. Consequently, a solution based on a distributed ledger technology, such as blockchain, is introduced to assure the trustworthiness and integrity of user’s data. Since the proposed application embraced user privacy, we conducted a comparative study between permissioned blockchains, that includes an authorization ion layer and ensures that certain actions can only be performed by identifiable participants. We concluded that Hyperledger Fabric was an option that fulfilled all the requirements to develop a platform for the immunity passport ledger. Its modularity and versatility accommodates the needs that were initially proposed for the development of a proof of concept. The work leads us to propose that further research be conducted regarding scalability and performance evaluation. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

A Review of Blockchain Based Solutions for Fight Against Pandemics

Starting in late 2019, a highly infectious coronavirus disease spread rapidly to all over the world and caused many deaths worldwide. This disease known as COVID-19 caused more than 180 million cases including more than 4 million deaths. Numerous false reports, misinformation, and unsolicited fears in regards to coronavirus, are being circulated regularly since the outbreak of the COVID-19. We can solve some of the problems of the pandemic with new technologies like blockchain, therefore we can control its spread until an effective and affordable vaccine is found. Blockchain can combat pandemics by enabling early detection of outbreaks, protecting user privacy, and ensuring reliable medical supply chain during the outbreak tracking. When ill people are detected, it is possible to quickly and accurately share their diagnostic information and clinical presentation with blockchain. We can also hide patients' identity while sharing that information. Anonymization is supported in blockchain and it's stronger than other techniques. Moreover, blockchain is transparent so that every disease event can be kept tabs on transparently. There are a lot of blockchain solutions in literature which is proposed recently to combat COVID-19-like pandemics. In this study, we aim to give the details of blockchain and why we can use it for fight against pandemics and review proposed solutions. We summarized the problems of pandemic and the benefits of blockchain technology. We highlighted the defects of solutions in literature and propose alternatives. © 2021 IEEE

The Social Data Foundation model: Facilitating health and social care transformation through datatrust services

Turning the wealth of health and social data into insights to promote better public health, while enabling more effective personalized care, is critically important for society. In particular, social determinants of health have a significant impact on individual health, well-being, and inequalities in health. However, concerns around accessing and processing such sensitive data, and linking different datasets, involve significant challenges, not least to demonstrate trustworthiness to all stakeholders. Emerging datatrust services provide an opportunity to address key barriers to health and social care data linkage schemes, specifically a loss of control experienced by data providers, including the difficulty to maintain a remote reidentification risk over time, and the challenge of establishing and maintaining a social license. Datatrust services are a sociotechnical evolution that advances databases and data management systems, and brings together stakeholder-sensitive data governance mechanisms with data services to create a trusted research environment. In this article, we explore the requirements for datatrust services, a proposed implementation—the Social Data Foundation, and an illustrative test case. Moving forward, such an approach would help incentivize, accelerate, and join up the sharing of regulated data, and the use of generated outputs safely amongst stakeholders, including healthcare providers, social care providers, researchers, public health authorities, and citizens.