Distributed Ledger Technology, The Blockchain

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    Overview of Licensing Platforms based on Distributed Ledger Technology
    ( 2019-01-08) Schoenhals, Alexander ; Hepp, Thomas ; Leible, Stephan ; Ehret, Philip ; Gipp, Bela
    The licensing of creative work is of broad and current interest. The European Commission proposes that when uploading a licensed digital work, the uploader should be checked by the system that one has the necessary rights. Technically this law is difficult to implement, as images with different intentions are shared, and even small changes like watermarks make it difficult to reveal similarities. The characteristics of distributed ledger technology could provide excellent support for the licensing and management of the rights of use. In this work, non-technical and technical criteria are defined to achieve an overview of the state-of-the-art solutions in the field of blockchain-based licensing platforms. Based on the criteria, different licensing platforms are reviewed, and the results are presented in a comparison matrix.
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    Exploring Preliminary Challenges and Emerging Best Practices in the Use of Enterprise Blockchains Applications
    ( 2019-01-08) Lacity, Mary ; Khan, Shaji
    Enterprise blockchain applications can allow trading partners to transact directly without relying on trusted third parties and promise to: eliminate the need for reconciliations, instantly track and trace assets through a supply chain, provide unbeatable data provenance, settle transactions quickly and cheaply, and enable an information security model that is fault tolerant, resilient, and available. Many of these promised benefits seemingly address the challenges of non-blockchain based inter-organizational systems. However, this research indicates that blockchain based inter-organizational applications pose significant challenges of their own. Based on interview and participant observation data, we identified five challenges: (1) competing blockchain standards, (2) adjusting to different shared governance models, (3) intellectual property concerns (4) industrial espionage risks, and (5) regulatory uncertainty. We also identified emerging practices stakeholders are using to address those challenges when considering enterprise blockchain applications.
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    Preparing for Blockchain Technology in the Energy Industry: How Energy Sector Leaders Can Make Informed Decisions During the Blockchain Adoption Process
    ( 2019-01-08) Farahmand, Haideh
    This research was motivated by the lack of literature about the constructs influencing the decision to adopt blockchain technology. This paper contributes to the knowledge by integrating common adoption and diffusion theories with a 2017 framework for blockchain adoption. This paper brings together competing adoption models with different sets of technology acceptance determinants and proposes a new model to identify constructs (i.e., ease of understanding, perceived usefulness, the perceived ease of use, knowledge acquisition, self-efficacy, and the novelty and complexity of the new technology application) as essential determinants of blockchain technology adoption at individual and organizational levels. The study offers a new model and research agenda to help executives and managers prepare for blockchain adoption and make informed decisions to speed up the adoption process. This research is focused on energy companies, which are known to be slow to adopt new technologies.
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    Towards a Distributed Ledger System for Supply Chains
    ( 2019-01-08) Asprion, Petra ; Hübner, Philipp ; Moriggl, Pascal
    Interoperability and traceability of digital supply chains are becoming a major competitive factor. Businesses operating in supply chains need to share interoperable information and systematically track product and service deliveries. This research investigates a novel approach to model digital supply chains and operationalizes this through a "Distributed Ledger System" in combination with "Smart Contracts". Based on design science, relevance and rigor for a novel approach are derived. As resulting ‘artifacts’, exemplary supply chains using colored Petri-nets are modeled as a structured and automatable instance for the sketched ‘Token-flow Supply Chains’. For the operation of our visionary scenario, a baseline concept with an associated architecture is drafted. We argue that the outlined approach and related artifacts are predestined to achieve a new quality of performance and innovation including bridging the current challenges for digital supply chains.
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    Towards a Decentralized Process for Scientific Publication and Peer Review using Blockchain and IPFS
    ( 2019-01-08) Tenorio-Fornés, Antonio ; Jacynycz, Viktor ; Llop-Vila, David ; Sánchez-Ruiz, Antonio ; Hassan, Samer
    The current processes of scientific publication and peer review raise concerns around fairness, quality, performance, cost, and accuracy. The Open Access movement has been unable to fulfill all its promises, and a few middlemen publishers can still impose policies and concentrate profits. This paper, using emerging distributed technologies such as Blockchain and IPFS, proposes a decentralized publication system for open science. The proposed system would provide (1) a distributed reviewer reputation system, (2) an Open Access by-design infrastructure, and (3) transparent governance processes. A survey is used to evaluate the problems, proposed solutions and possible adoption resistances, while a working prototype serves as a proof-of-concept. Additionally, the paper discusses the implementation, in a distributed context, of different privacy settings for both open peer review and reputation systems, introducing a novel approach supporting both anonymous and accountable reviews. The paper concludes reviewing the open challenges of this ambitious proposal.
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    The Symbiosis of Distributed Ledger and Machine Learning as a Relevance for Autonomy in the Internet of Things
    ( 2019-01-08) Burkhardt, Daniel ; Frey, Patrick ; Lasi, Heiner
    The Internet of Things (IoT) describes the fusion of the physical and digital world which enables assets on the edge to send data to a platform where it gets analyzed. Defined actions are then triggered to influence cross-functional edge activities. Furthermore, on the platform tier functionalities and relations need to be identified and implemented to realize assets operating autonomously and ubiquitously. The exploration of this paper results in the identification of autonomous characteristics and shows functional components to implement autonomous assets on the edge. Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and its fusion with Machine Learning (ML) as an area of Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides an integral part to realize the described outline. Thus, the recognition of DLT’s and ML’s usage in the IoT and the evaluation of the relevance as well as the synergies build the main focus of this paper.
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    Requirement-driven Taxonomy Development – A Classification of Blockchain Technologies for Securities Post-Trading
    ( 2019-01-08) Notheisen, Benedikt ; Willrich, Sven ; Diez, Maximilian ; Weinhardt, Christof
    In recent years, blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) and its disruptive potential has been one of the most discussed topics in the field of information systems. Driven by the prospect of cost savings and efficiency gains, financial markets are at the core of these discussions. However, in the increasingly convoluted and constantly evolving market of technology providers and platforms, organizations struggle to find a solution that fulfills the specific requirements of their application scenario. To evaluate the suitability of different blockchain-based platforms for securities post-trading, we develop a new methodology to create a technology classification that takes the demands of a specific application context into account. The resulting requirement-based taxonomy sheds light on factors that impede the adoption of blockchain- and DLT-based post-trading, highlights future research challenges, and offers a valuable tool to induce communication between involved stakeholders.
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    Towards a Comprehensive Blockchain Architecture Continuum.
    ( 2019-01-08) De Rossi, Leonardo Maria ; Abbatemarco, Nico ; Salviotti, Gianluca
    The increasingly need for companies to keep a high level of synchronization globally and the advent of new technologies are pushing more and more to move decision-making and operational power from the centre of organizations to their edges. The blockchain could be the key technology to make this change possible. However, there is no bridge yet capable of shortening the still long distance between this new technological phenomenon and today's business realities. Our work aims precisely at this goal; we propose a framework of blockchain models to help practitioners understanding and potentially implement new solutions based on this technological paradigm. In particular, we have developed an ontology that helps to identify and clarify in detail what are the concepts and structures revolving around this technology, and built a continuum of blockchain architectural solutions, ranging from a classic centralized IT architecture to one completely distributed within a public ecosystem.
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    Understanding the Role of Actor Heterogeneity in Blockchain Splits: An Actor-Network Perspective of Bitcoin Forks
    ( 2019-01-08) Islam, Najmul ; Mäntymäki, Matti ; Turunen, Marja
    This paper investigates the focal actors and their heterogeneity in blockchain splits. Disagreements in blockchain communities often lead to splits in the blockchain and the community. For example, disagreements within the Bitcoin community on increasing the block size led to the blockchain split and creation of Bitcoin Cash. We build on actor-network theory to investigate blockchain split as a translation process, and employ case study methodology to examine Bitcoin splits. We identify several human actors, such as miners, developers, merchants, and investors, as well as non-human actors including ideologies, exchanges and computer programs involved in Bitcoin splits. Our results show that actor heterogeneity, that is, the complex constellation of diverse actors, plays a key role in blockchain splits. We further describe how the human and non-human actors’ fluid moves into micro and macro positions in the network affect the development of the split. We also discuss the role of these actors and their engagement in forming micro and macro agencies in blockchain splits. Our study adds to the understanding of actor behavior and network dynamics in decentralized information systems such as blockchain and open source software.
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    Blockchain Technology Application in the Sharing Economy: A Proposed Model of Effects on Trust and Intermediation
    ( 2019-01-08) Mehrwald, Pascal ; Treffers, Theresa ; Titze, Maximilian ; Welpe, Isabell
    Combining blockchain technology and smart contracts has the potential to facilitate disintermediation and realize true peer-to-peer transactions provided that sufficient trust is build. An advanced research model of blockchain-mediated trust is conceptualized by incorporating extant trust building concepts. The conceptualized model helps to advance future empirical trust research in connection with blockchain technology in the sharing economy by suggesting moderating and mediating effects on trust in online settings.