The transformation of dynamic supply chains within the realm of offsite manufacturing presents a unique and compelling opportunity to effectively respond to shifts in market demand. However, this paradigm shift also entails novel challenges and prospects for streamlining processes, augmenting efficiency, and ultimately driving success across production workflows and logistical operations. Dynamic supply chains necessitate unimpeded access to high-quality, dependable data to facilitate real-time, data-driven decision-making. Furthermore, owing to their inherently intricate nature, these supply chains are subject to a heightened vulnerability to disruptions and delays, surpassing those encountered in traditional supply chains. Against this backdrop, this paper proposes a framework that synthesises the convergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), Building Information Modelling (BIM), and blockchain technology (BCT) into a cohesive and integrated system, thereby optimising the efficiency and transparency of supply chain management operations. The proposed framework takes cognisance of the challenges inherent in ensuring information traceability, mitigating fragmented information, enhancing interoperability, and fortifying reliability throughout the design, production, and implementation phases of assets within dynamic supply chains operating in the offsite manufacturing domain. To illustrate the efficacy of our proposition, we present a framework that exemplifies the seamless integration of a permissioned, open-source distributed ledger, which forms the bedrock of our support infrastructure for IoT and BIM integration. Through rigorous analysis, we showcase the effectiveness of the developed framework in the form of a designed Supply Chain Management Model (SCMM-PDO), which harmonises the physical, digital, and operational layers within a robust system architecture (BCT.IoT-BIM). The integration of these technologies provides a decentralised solution, reinforcing supply chains with improved security, reliability, and quality control mechanisms, thus enhancing the efficiency of the supply chain network. It is anticipated that this transformative integration will yield substantial improvements in key performance indicators (KPIs) such as operational efficiency, cost reduction, and the cultivation of trust and accountability across supply chain activities. The research proposes an IoT and BIM conceptual framework that simulates the dynamic supply chain operations, facilitating real-time analysis and prediction of supply chain participants' behaviours from resources, processes, and assets. Furthermore, the integration of IoT-BIM (digital twinning) with a blockchain-based system, such as Hyperledger Fabric, engenders a secure and transparent framework for the diligent tracking of assets and information throughout the supply chain. The findings of this study offer an all-encompassing conceptual framework for the secure and transparent tracking of asset information by integrating Blockchain-based technologies with IoT and BIM. This research endeavour thus expands the existing body of knowledge, establishing a foundation for future investigations within this proliferating field.
For businesses specializing in ameliorating goods, such as seasoned cheese, traditional financing models pose unique challenges. Inventory financing relies heavily on past performance, often overlooking the inherent value increase associated with proper aging. This can lead to limited access to capital, hindering growth and operational stability. Warehouse financing emerges as a specialized solution specifically designed for businesses with maturing inventory. Lenders recognize the future value potential of these goods, offering secured loans based on anticipated market appreciation. This approach unlocks immediate cash flow, empowering businesses to cover operational costs, invest in expansion, or manage cash flow fluctuations. This study develops and discusses inventory problems for the specific class of "ameliorating" products, integrated with the warehouse financing technique, to combine the two topics and highlight their main features but above all their scientific and practical importance. The models proposed are focused on a decentralized scenario (single actor perspective) and a centralized scenario (supply chain perspective) to compare the optimal solution in terms of the aging period while maximizing the annual profit. Furthermore, from the supply chain perspective, a multi-supplier single-manufacturer supply chain is proposed with a deteriorating raw material (i.e., fresh milk). While cheese is a prime example, warehouse financing can benefit a diverse range of businesses dealing with ameliorating goods (such as wines, coffee, and aged spirits).
Decentralized finance is a revolutionary change in the financial system, using blockchain technology to build a diverse and open network of financial services. By cutting out middlemen, DeFi promotes financial equality and reaches out to more people. Smart contracts can complete transactions without the need for traditional banks to lower costs and improve efficiency in lending, borrowing, trading, and yield farming activities. The proposed research compares four leading DeFi lending protocols: AAVE, MAKERDAO, COMPOUND, and VENUS Finance. We have used Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural networks to analyze historical data and measure key parameters, such as lending and borrowing rates, Total Value Locked (TVL), Market Capitalization, and token price dynamics. We found that AAVE and COMPOUND exhibit similar mean rates but AAVE offers more precise predictions. MAKER provides potentially higher returns but with a higher degree of unpredictability. VENUS, despite its precise predictions, yields the lowest returns due to its lower mean lending rate. Overall, the approach enhances the understanding of the dynamics within the DeFi ecosystem, helping stakeholders to make informed decisions. Index Terms—Decentralized, Blockchain, LSTM, Time Series Analysis.
Mikhail Kartavchenko, Maksim Izmaylov, Alexander Kartavchenko, Nikita Svirskii · 9 authors
The Stablecoin Trilemma—balancing stability, decentralization, and capital efficiency—remains a significant challenge in the decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape. This study introduces an innovative stablecoin system, USC, designed to overcome the inherent limitations of existing models by simultaneously achieving stability, decentralization, and capital efficiency. The USC system leverages a combination of decentralized assets, including the hypothetical native token CAPE and ETH, integrated through key components such as the Treasury, Treasury Credit Module, CAPE Bonder, and Merchant. A comprehensive Python-based simulation spanning 298 days was conducted to evaluate the system’s performance under varying market conditions. ETH price movements were meticulously modeled using historical data from the Binance/USDT trading pair, with specific periods of daily growth and decline to test the system’s resilience. Additionally, CAPE price determination was simulated using a hypothetical liquidity pool. The simulation results demonstrated that the USC system effectively maintained the usc_support metric above the critical threshold of 1 throughout the study period, indicating that each USC remained fully backed by the underlying assets. The Treasury Credit Module played a crucial role by offering a stable 10% Annual Percentage Rate (APR), incentivizing participants to lock their USC and thereby reducing the circulating supply during asset depreciation periods. Furthermore, the Merchant component provided a substantial safety net with a borrowing capacity of up to 67,315 ETH (approximately $160.6 million at the simulation’s final ETH price), which is nearly three and a half times the Treasury’s holdings. This extensive liquidity provision enhanced the system’s ability to maintain stability during significant market downturns. However, the study acknowledges several key limitations, including the lack of realistic participant behavior modeling, the absence of external shocks such as regulatory changes or technological failures, and the lack of empirical validation through real-world testing. These limitations highlight the need for further research and development to address behavioral complexities, incorporate unforeseen variables, and validate the system’s performance in live environments. In conclusion, the USC stablecoin system presents a promising framework for resolving the Stablecoin Trilemma by integrating decentralized assets and innovative financial mechanisms. While the simulation results are encouraging, demonstrating robust stability, the system’s practical implementation will require overcoming significant technical, regulatory, and operational challenges.
Tõnis Raamets, Jüri Majak, Kristo Karjust, Kashif Mahmood · 5 authors
Today's manufacturing companies have begun to increasingly use digital tools to increase their company production efficiency, to ensure a low-price level, high quality, and fast delivery time of the product or service in the conditions of increasing competition in the globalized economy. An important part of improving the company's efficiency indicators is the ever-more relevant organization of transport operations on the production floor and the digitization and automation of these processes. More and more companies have adopted or plan to do so in the near future with autonomous mobile robots (AMR) to manage production logistics. The rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the advanced hardware and control software of AMR enable autonomous operations in dynamic environments, which gives them the ability to communicate and negotiate independently with other resources, such as machines and systems, and thus decentralize decision-making in production processes. Decentralized decision-making allows the system to dynamically respond to changes in system state and environment. Such developments have affected traditional planning and control methods and decision-making processes, but also place greater demands on the software used and integrated Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms for the execution of these decisions. In this study, we provide an overview of how to pilot the integration of an AMR system with AI functionality in the production logistics of the food industry using the concept of a 3D virtual factory. The paper proposes an approach for the performance analysis of AMR for the transportation of goods on the production factory floor, which is based on 3D layout creation and simulation, monitoring of key performance indicators (KPIs), and integration of AI for proactive decision-making in production planning. The relevance and feasibility of the proposed approach are demonstrated by a food industry case study.
Abstract Deploying self‐organizing systems is a way to cope with the logistics sector's complex, dynamic, and stochastic nature. In such systems, automated decision‐making and decentralized or distributed control structures are combined. Such control structures reduce the complexity of decision‐making, require less computational effort, and are therefore faster, reducing the risk that changes during decision‐making render the solution invalid. These benefits of self‐organizing systems are of interest to many practitioners involved in solving real‐world problems in the logistics sector. This study, therefore, identifies and classifies research related to self‐organizing logistics (SOL) with a focus on transportation. SOL is an interdisciplinary study across many domains and relates to other concepts, such as agent‐based systems, autonomous control, and decentral systems. Yet, few papers directly identify this as self‐organization. Hence, we add to the existing literature by conducting a systematic literature review that provides insight into the field of SOL. The main contribution of this paper is two‐fold: (i) based on the findings from the literature review, we identify and synthesize 15 characteristics of SOL in a typology, and (ii) we present a two‐dimensional SOL framework alongside the axes of autonomy and cooperativity to position and contrast the broad range of literature, thereby creating order in the field of SOL and revealing promising research directions.
Dec 1, 2023·International journal of intelligent computing and information sciences/International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Information Sciences
Mohamed A. Abo-Soliman, Eman shaaban, Mirvat Al-Qutt, Karim Emara
The use of distributed ledger technology for industrial IoT devices is increasing recently to ensure network security and data protection. Factories and manufacturing plants inclined lately to deploy both Industrial IoT and DLT applications in order to enable autonomous secure operations. IoT helps in simplifying business processes, improving user’s experience and leading to better cost efficiencies, while DLT ensures security, transparency and trust. DLT-based IoT supports secure automation for industrial systems and fosters transformation into the industry 4 age. However, DLT still faces several challenges such as scalability, high cost and security. Moreover, there is no clear understanding about DLT-IoT architecture by a wide range of the industrial community. This work introduces DLT as a major key component of industrial IoT systems that benefits the industry with high level of protection and trust. It also surveys different DLT consensus with regard to industry in order to construct a comparative analysis between the most common algorithms. The study concludes by a selection criteria chart for building integrated DLT-IoT solution suitable for different types of businesses.
Our Pharmaceutical Supply chain systems using smart contracts can have wide range of applications across the pharmaceuticals industry.Smart contracts are self-executing agreements with the terms of the agreement directly written into the code.They can be use to automate the process of supply chain management and reduce costs, increase transparency and account ability, and improve patient safety.
Existing blockchain system face scalability issues when processing massive amounts of data.These issues primarily arise due to their consensus based block generation methods.Sharding has emerged as a promising on chain solution to enhance the scalability of blockchain.This technology increases throughput by dividing the main network into several sub-networks, called shards, which can process transactions in parallel.However, implementing sharding in blockchain system presents two significant challenges: Cross shard transactions and load imbalance between different shards.Cross shard transaction refers to transactions generated between accounts belonging to different shards.Load imbalance occurs when specifical one shard processes a disproportionately higher transaction load than others.These challenges can lead to increased network delay, confirmation time, latency, and fees due to complicated inter-shard communication, thereby reducing blockchain throughput.To address these challenges, this paper proposes an innovative account relocation scheme.This scheme aims to optimize load balancing in blockchain sharding using a round robin algorithm.To validate the effectiveness of our approach, we utilized a simulator that incorporates real Ethereum data.We then compared the degree of load balancing achieved by our method against existing methods, such as schemes that use no-relocation and random relocation.Our results indicate a significant improvement in load balancing performance compared to previous approaches.
As part of TIV's DHW on Vehicle 5.0, this letter introduces a novel concept, Logistics 5.0, to address high complexities in logistics Cyber-Physical-Social Systems (CPSS). Building upon the theory of parallel intelligence and leveraging advanced technologies and methods such as blockchain, scenarios engineering, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations and Operations (DAOs), Logistics 5.0 promises to accelerate the paradigm shift towards intelligent and sustainable logistics. First, the parallel logistics framework is proposed, and the logistics ecosystem is discussed. Then, the human-oriented operating systems (HOOS) are suggested to providing intelligent Logistics 5.0 solutions. Logistics 5.0 serves as a critical catalyst in realizing the “6S” objectives, i.e. Safety, Security, Sustainability, Sensitivity, Service, and Smartness, within the logistics industry.
Gongfan Chen, Chuanni He, Simon M. Hsiang, Min Liu · 5 authors
Central project managers devote massive efforts to monitor, track, coordinate, and take actions to diagnose and prognose governed constraints and remove them to enable a reliable workflow.The blockchain-enabled smart contract can streamline the work process by predefining "intelligent" consensus to facilitate central managers' jobs.However, the inability of smart contracts to handle unexpected events under complicated environments posited challenges in realizing it automatically.This study aimed to develop adaptive mechanism to mediate production bottlenecks caused by constraints.First, the research identified the four main types of constraints and their levels of variability from a prefabricated project.Then, a simulation model was established to quantify the impacts of different constraints and determine the fair payment rules.Lastly, different constraint-bundled scenarios and execution policies were developed and encoded in the smart contracts for automated executions.Smart contracts can assist construction managers to motivate reliable production and minimize waste caused by bottlenecks in the system.
Over time, several procurement methods have been adopted to facilitate the successful delivery of construction projects with minimal financial losses in order to offer maximum value to clients. In recent years, the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) procurement model has been introduced for better overall financial performance. In this model, every member of the project team has a stake in overall profit or risk irrespective of the extent of their roles and change orders and correction of errors and omissions are managed effectively with minimal contractual disruptions. This paper aims to address some of the previously cited barriers in earlier scholarly work, and it proposes a conceptual framework that integrates two novel concepts towards tackling technological and financial barriers in adopting IPD namely, BIM and Smart Contracts (SC). A framework is developed for a BIM-blockchain-IPD whereby the BIM model is integrated with blockchain technology, thereby acting as an immutable and transparent information repository and a platform for interdisciplinary collaboration in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) projects. The smart contract feature of blockchain technology offers an automated equitable distribution of risk and reward amongst project stakeholders based on agreements at project inception. Thus, the research contributes to a more efficient project delivery method by avoiding information asymmetry amongst stakeholders through a tamper-proof, BIM-enabled Common Data Environment (CDE). The proposed framework is validated with qualitative analysis of information obtained based on AEC industry procurement workflows
Khiem Huynh Gia, Huong Hoang Luong, Hong Khanh Vo, Phuc Nguyen Trong · 14 authors
Current traditional shipping models are increas-ingly revealing many shortcomings and affecting the interests of sellers and buyers due to having to depend on trusted third parties. For example, the Cash-on-Delivery (CoD) model must depend on the carrier/shipper, or the Letter-of-Credit (LoC) model depends on the place of the Letter certification (i.e., bank). There have been many examples demonstrating the riskiness of the two models above. Specifically, in developing countries (e.g., Vietnam), the demand for exporting goods and trading between sellers and buyers have not yet applied the benefits of current technology to improve traditional shipping models. Two typical examples in the last five years that have demonstrated the risks of both sellers and buyers when applying CoD and LoC models are the problem of keeping the money of the seller of GNN Expresses (2017) as well as risks in losing control of 4 containers of cashew nuts when exporting from Vietnam to Italy (2021). A series of studies have proposed solutions based on distributed storage, blockchain, and smart contracts to solve the above problems. However, the role of the shipper has not been considered in some approaches or is not suitable for deployment in a developed country (i.e., Vietnam). In this paper, we propose a combination model between the traditional CoD model and blockchain technology, smart contracts, and NFT to solve the above problems. Specifically, our contribution includes four aspects: a) proposing a shipping model based on blockchain technology and smart contracts; b) proposing a model for storing package information based on Ethereum’s NFT technology (i.e. ERC721); c) implementing the proposed model by designing smart contracts that support the creation and transfer of NFTs between sellers and buyers; d) deploy smart contracts on four EVM-enabled platforms including BNB Smart chain, Fantom, Celo, and Polygon to find a suitable platform for the proposed model.
Dongmin Lee, Leyang Wen, Jin Ouk Choi, Sang Hyun Lee
Volumetric modular construction (VMC) needs streamlined supply chain coordination to achieve its full potential benefits, such as reduced schedule and cost, with consistent quality. Studies have noted that blockchain technology has significant potential for increasing the efficacy of supply chain coordination by providing reliable information sharing among VMC stakeholders. However, it is not well known how blockchain technology’s enhanced information sharing ultimately can lead to better supply chain coordination in VMC. To address this issue, we developed and tested a blockchain-based information collecting, storing, and sharing system with an automated contract execution method. A sensor-integrated decentralized application collects project information and sends it to the blockchain network to be shared among project participants for data-driven actions in VMC. We demonstrated the system through a hypothetical case project in which stakeholders took photos with their mobile devices to share the module’s status information to trigger an automated payment promptly, facilitating efficient supply chain coordination. The results show that any photos collected from the stakeholder’s mobile device can be traceably stored and shared in the suggested blockchain system regardless of their file size, triggering nearly real-time automated payments. The primary contribution of this study is the development and demonstration of a blockchain system that realizes accountable project-related information sharing with automated contract execution functions across VMC stakeholders for better supply chain coordination.
In this essay, we innovatively put forward the idea of “NFT-ing the NFT.” A standard on “divisible NFTs” will allow hundreds of millions of future metaverse inhabitants to share ownership and collectively be the user and creator of metaverse items. The first idea of “NFT-ing the NFT” is to NFT non-fungible tokens with a single, consistent representation. These NFTs include music, movies, virtual real estate, club membership, and so on. For example, a song’s NFT can be divided into 25 NFTs, allowing 25 buyers to own the piece jointly. For an NFT representing virtual real estate, separating a 100 sqm NFT land into ten 10 sqm of NFT lands enables more residents to own a piece of land. It promotes land transfers, which are conducive to the overall metaverse economy.
Construction supply chains (CSC) are characterized by their converging structure and the hierarchical payment system which is inherently related. Due to the pursuit of diverging goals and mutual interdependencies, risks and trust problems between stakeholders occur. Contracts are used to govern these complex collaborations. To track compliance to contract terms, various activities are executed by involved stakeholders. These activities do not add any value to an end-product, cause intransparency, are costly and cause conflicts. Therefore, a combination of asset tracking and blockchain technology is investigated in this paper to address these problems. A plug-and-play framework of interacting applications and a workflow to operate them are proposed. Proof of this concept is provided by developing prototypical applications and by testing them in various practice-based scenarios. Simplified asset tracking throughout supply chains was realized and linked to smart contracts. This resulted in semi-automated compliance tracking and an immutable record of transactions. Therefore, this work provides more insight into combining asset tracking and blockchain for compliance checking in the construction industry. By doing so, further automation of construction processes, increased transparency between stakeholders and a reduction of conflicts can be enabled. However, it remains clear that many other variables impact on transparency and trust; and while technology can make improvements, considerable procedural security and control measures are needed in addition. Therefore, we focus on semi-automation of workflows using distributed ledger technology.