The agricultural sector is still lagging behind from all other sectors in terms of using the newest technologies. For production, the latest machines are being introduced and adopted. However, pre-harvest and post-harvest processing are still done by following traditional methodologies while tracing, storing, and publishing agricultural data. As a result, farmers are not getting deserved payment, consumers are not getting enough information before buying their product, and intermediate person/processors are increasing retail prices. Using blockchain, smart contracts, and IoT devices, we can fully automate the process while establishing absolute trust among all these parties. In this research, we explored the different aspects of using blockchain and smart contracts with the integration of IoT devices in pre-harvesting and post-harvesting segments of agriculture. We proposed a system that uses blockchain as the backbone while IoT devices collect data from the field level, and smart contracts regulate the interaction among all these contributing parties. The system implementation has been shown in diagrams and with proper explanations. Gas costs of every operation have also been attached for a better understanding of the costs. We also analyzed the system in terms of challenges and advantages. The overall impact of this research was to show the immutable, available, transparent, and robustly secure characteristics of blockchain in the field of agriculture while also emphasizing the vigorous mechanism that the collaboration of blockchain, smart contract, and IoT presents.

The emergence of smart cities and sustainable development has become a globally accepted form of urbanization. The epitome of smart city development has become possible due to the latest innovative integration of information and communication technology. Citizens of smart cities can enjoy the benefits of a smart living environment, ubiquitous connectivity, seamless access to services, intelligent decision making through smart governance, and optimized resource management. The widespread acceptance of smart cities has raised data security issues, authentication, unauthorized access, device-level vulnerability, and sustainability. This article focuses on the holistic overview and conceptual development of smart city. Initially, the work discusses the smart city idea and fundamentals explored in various pieces of literature. Further various smart city applications along with notable implementations, are put forth to understand the quality of living standards. Finally, the article depicts a solid understanding of different security and privacy issues, including some crucial future research directions.

Although blockchain-based digital services promise trust, accountability, and transparency, multiple paradoxes between blockchains and GDPR have been highlighted in the recent literature. Some of the recent literature also proposed possible solutions to these paradoxes. This article aims to conduct a systematic literature review on GDPR compliant blockchains and synthesize the findings. In particular, the goal was to identify 1) the GDPR articles that have been explored in prior literature; 2) the relevant research domains that have been explored, and 3) the research gaps. Our findings synthesized that the blockchains relevant GDPR articles can be categorized into six major groups, namely data deletion and modification (Article 16, 17, and 18), protection by design by default (Article 25), responsibilities of controllers and processors (Article 24, 26, and 28), consent management (Article 7), data processing principles and lawfulness (Article 5,6 and 12), and territorial scope (Article 3). We also found seven research domains where GDPR compliant blockchains have been discussed, which include IoT, financial data, healthcare, personal identity, online data, information governance, and smart city. From our analysis, we have identified a few key research gaps and present a future research direction.

No abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the world and limited work/personal life activities. Besides the loss of human lives and agony faced by humankind, the pandemic has badly hit different sectors economically, including the travel industry. Special arrangements, including COVID test before departure and on arrival, and voluntary quarantine, were enforced to limit the risk of transmission. However, the hope for returning to a normal (pre-COVID) routine relies on the success of the current COVID vaccination drives administered by different countries. To open for tourism and other necessary travel, a need is realized for a universally accessible proof of COVID vaccination, allowing travelers to cross the borders without any hindrance. This paper presents an architectural framework for a GDPR-compliant blockchain-based COVID vaccination passport (VacciFi), whilst considering the relevant developments, especially in the European Union region.