SACM - United Kingdom
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://drepo.sdl.edu.sa/handle/20.500.14154/9667
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Item Restricted The Application of Blockchains to Railway Condition Monitoring(University of Birmingham, 2025-05) Alzahrani, Rahma A; Easton, John MAgeing infrastructure and fragmented data ownership present major challenges to remote condition monitoring technologies in the European railway sector. Despite the potential of these technologies to improve efficiency and safety, their deployment is often limited by issues related to data silos, stakeholder mistrust, and the lack of transparent, enforceable cost attribution models. This thesis investigates how blockchain and smart contract technologies can be leveraged to address these challenges. The research focuses on key questions: how blockchain can reduce centralisation and mistrust; how it can improve transparency and compliance in data cost attribution; how smart contracts can automate and streamline the attribution process; how blockchain can ensure data integrity without storing large volumes of data; and what practical applications blockchain may have in railway operations. A blockchain-based framework was designed and implemented to enable fair, transparent, and legally compliant attribution of data costs across stakeholders. The system incorporates smart contracts to enforce agreement clauses without third-party involvement. The performance of the developed framework was tested under various scenarios to assess scalability, execution efficiency, and compliance with railway sector requirements. The primary contributions of this research are: the development of a cross-border data accounting framework; the establishment of operational links between the framework and real-world business and commercial processes; and a working proof-of-concept tailored to the European rail industry. These contributions demonstrate that blockchain can serve as a practical and scalable foundation for trusted, decentralised data management in multi-stakeholder transport environments.11 0Item Restricted Blindly Backrunning Private Transactions With Fully Homomorphic Encryption(Imperial College London, 2024-09) Althonayan, Majed; Passerat-Palmbach, JonathanBlockchains and cryptocurrencies have experienced a monumental rise over the past decade. With Ethereum alone having around 1 million transactions per day [1], making it increasingly more attractive to opportunists who attempt to extract monetary value from transactions. This is, however, often at the expense of the user. As a result, it is of paramount importance to ensure that users are protected from malicious agents who exploit the public, transparent nature of Blockchains for individual gain. A Blockchain is a chain of blocks, each of which consisting of transactions that are executed sequentially. The ability to alter this order of transactions (by insertion, removal and re-ordering of transactions) can lead to the extraction of additional value commonly referred to as Maximal Extractable Value (MEV). MEV has led to the extraction of $750 million from Ethereum before the merge [2]. Although certain forms of MEV are universally considered to have adverse effects on users and their experience, other forms of MEV, such as arbitrage and liquidations, are believed to have a positive effect in regulating the markets. This research introduces a promising solution that allows searchers to backrun transactions, leveraging the effects of arbitrage while mitigating the harmful effects of MEV. It expands on the work done by Flashbots by utilising fully homomorphic encryption to enable the blind backrunning of transactions by searchers through the fhEVM framework [3] on the UniswapV2 decentralised exchange. This paper also addresses the challenges faced by previous works, aiming to reduce the computational overhead and enhance the solution’s usability. Despite computational constraints, this paper presents a novel solution to the outlined aims through the advancement of known solutions by allowing searchers to combine multiple transactions and accept a greater number of UniswapV2 methods, thereby allowing searchers to generate complex and novel arbitrage opportunities. This advancement is aided with use of the fhEVM framework [3] which was utilised to build and deploy the solution on the public network. This paper represents a solid foundation for future research with the aim of further enhancing the use of fully homomorphic encryption in decentralised finance to create a fairer, more ethical ecosystem.16 0Item Restricted Explainability Requirement in Blockchain Smart Contracts: A Human-Centred Approach(The university of Birmingham, 2024-07) Alghanmi, Hanouf; Bahsoon, RamiBlockchain smart contracts have emerged as a transformative technology, enabling the automation and execution of contractual agreements. These self-executing software programs leverage blockchain's distributed and immutable nature to eliminate the need for third-party intermediaries. However, this new paradigm of automation and authority introduces a complex environment with technical intricacies that users are expected to understand and trust. The irreversible nature of blockchain decisions exacerbates these issues, as any mistake or misuse cannot be rectified. Current smart contract designs often neglect human-centric approaches and the exploration of trustworthiness characteristics, such as explainability. Explainability, a renowned requirement in Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) aimed at enhancing human understandability, transparency and trust, has yet to be thoroughly examined in the context of smart contracts. A noticeable gap exists in the literature concerning the early development of explainability requirements, including established methods and frameworks for addressing requirements analysis phases, design principles, evaluation of their necessity and trade-offs. Therefore, this thesis aims to advance the field of blockchain smart contract systems by introducing explainability as a design concern, fundamentally prompting requirements engineers and designers to cater to this concern during the early development phases. Specifically, we provide guidelines for explainability requirements analysis, addressing what, why, when and to whom to explain. We propose design principles for integrating explainability into the early stages of development. To tailor explainability further, we propose a human-centred framework for determining information requirements in smart contract explanations, utilising situational awareness theories to address the `what to explain' aspect. Additionally, we present `explainability purposes' as an integral resource in evaluating and designing explainability. Our approach includes a novel evaluation framework inspired by the metacognitive explanation-based theory of surprise, addressing the `why to explain' aspect. The proposed approaches have been evaluated through qualitative validations and expert feedback. We have illustrated the added value and constraints of explainability requirements in smart contracts by presenting case studies drawn from literature, industry scenarios and real-world projects. This study informs requirements engineers and designers regarding how to elicit, design and evaluate the need for explainability requirements, contributing to the advancement of the early development of smart contracts.35 0Item Restricted A Simulation Framework for Evaluating the Performance of Blockchain-based IoT Ecosystems(Newcastle University, 2024-09-05) Albshri, Adel; Solaiman, EllisRecently, it has been appealing to integrate Blockchain with IoT in several domains, such as healthcare and smart cities. This integration facilitates the decentralized processing of IoT data, enhancing cybersecurity by ensuring data integrity, preventing tampering, and strengthening privacy through decentralized trust mechanisms and resilient security measures. These features create a secure and reliable environment, mitigating potential cyber threats while ensuring non-repudiation and higher availability. However, Blockchain performance is questionable when handling massive data sets generated by complex and heterogeneous IoT applications. Thus, whether the Blockchain performance meets expectations will significantly influence the overall viability of integration. Therefore, it is crucial to evaluate the feasibility of integrating IoT and Blockchain and examine the technology readiness level before the production stage. This thesis addresses this matter by extensively investigating approaches to the performance evaluation of Blockchain-based IoT solutions. Firstly, it systematically reviews existing Blockchain simulators and identifies their strengths and limitations. Secondly, due to the lack of existing blockchain simulators specifically tailored for IoT, this thesis contributes a novel blockchain-based IoT simulator which enables investigation of blockchain performance based on adaptable design configuration choices of IoT infrastructure. The simulator benefits from lessons learnt about the strengths and limitations of existing works and considers various design requirements and views collected through questioners and focus groups of domain experts. Third, the thesis recognises the shortcomings of blockchain simulators, such as support for smart contracts. Therefore, it contributes a middleware that leverages IoT simulators to benchmark real blockchain platforms' performance, namely Hyperledger Fabric. It resolves challenges related to integrating distinctive environments: simulated IoT models with real Blockchain ecosystems. Lastly, this thesis employs Machine Learning (ML) techniques for predicting blockchain performance based on predetermined configurations. Contrariwise, it also utilises ML techniques to recommend the optimal configurations for achieving the desired level of blockchain performance.69 0Item Restricted Verification of Smart Contracts using the Interactive Theorem Prover Agda(Swansea University, 2024-07-25) Alhabardi, Fahad; Setzer, AntonThe goal of this thesis is to verify smart contracts in Blockchain. In particular, we focus on smart contracts in Bitcoin and Solidity. In order to specify the correctness of smart contracts, we use weakest preconditions. For this, we develop a model of smart contracts in the interactive theorem prover and dependent type programming language Agda and prove the correctness of smart contracts in it. In the context of Bitcoin, our verification of Bitcoin scripts consists of non-conditional and conditional scripts. For Solidity, we refer to programs using object- oriented features of Solidity, such as calling of other contracts, full recursion, and the use of gas in order to guarantee termination while having a Turing-complete language. We have developed a simulator for Solidity-style smart contracts. As a main example, we executed a reentrancy attack in our model. We have verified smart contracts in Bitcoin and Solidity using weakest precondition in Agda. Furthermore, Agda, combined with the fact that it is a theorem prover and programming language, allows the writing of verified programs, where the verification takes place in the same language in which the program is written, avoiding the problem of translation from one language to another (with possible translation mistakes).7 0Item Restricted Verification of Smart Contracts using the Interactive Theorem Prover Agda(Swansea University, 2024-07-25) Alhabardi, Fahad Faleh; Setzer, AntonThe goal of this thesis is to verify smart contracts in Blockchain. In particular, we focus on smart contracts in Bitcoin and Solidity. In order to specify the correctness of smart contracts, we use weakest preconditions. For this, we develop a model of smart contracts in the interactive theorem prover and dependent type programming language Agda and prove the correctness of smart contracts in it. In the context of Bitcoin, our verification of Bitcoin scripts consists of non-conditional and conditional scripts. For Solidity, we refer to programs using object- oriented features of Solidity, such as calling of other contracts, full recursion, and the use of gas in order to guarantee termination while having a Turing-complete language. We have developed a simulator for Solidity-style smart contracts. As a main example, we executed a reentrancy attack in our model. We have verified smart contracts in Bitcoin and Solidity using weakest precondition in Agda. Furthermore, Agda, combined with the fact that it is a theorem prover and programming language, allows the writing of verified programs, where the verification takes place in the same language in which the program is written, avoiding the problem of translation from one language to another (with possible translation mistakes).12 0Item Restricted Peer-to-Peer Accommodation Sub- letting Blockchain-based Platform(University of Technology Sydney, 2024-04-11) Alzahrani, Asma Ateeq; Hussain, FarookhThis study introduces Block2Let, a blockchain-based peer-to-peer (P2P) platform for accommodation sub-letting. A systematic literature review carried out revealed that the P2P accommodation industry relies heavily on third parties. This exposes the industry to various challenges ranging from breach of data integrity to violation of user privacy, poor transparency, and lack of trust. In addition, most existing P2P accommodation sharing platforms lack adequate decision support systems to guide property sub-leasers on fair pricing and local tourism experiences. To address these research gaps, this study develops the Block2Let, a platform that combines blockchain, smart contracts, artificial intelligence, and local experiences to provide an end-to-end solution for a complete tourism experience. The platform is based on the Ethereum blockchain which ensures the security, reliability, and transparency of transactions as property details are verified, validated, and encrypted before being stored on the blockchain. Furthermore, smart contracts are employed to automate and enforce agreements between original property owners, original leasers, and sub-leasers. Also, an AI algorithm is built to predict the optimal price of properties listed on the Block2Let marketplace. This provides a guide for sub-leasers in making informed decision when bidding for a property. Finally, the platform includes local experience offers from tourism operators. Sub-leasers who make successful bids can select from such local experience packages.26 0Item Restricted Smart Contracts and Contractual Obligations under CISG Critical Analysis(Saudi Digital Library, 2023) Arabi, Hala; Howells, GeraintThe topic of Smart Contracts has recently gained increased attention due to the rapid emergence of blockchain technology. This paper evaluates whether The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) is adequate to regulate smart contracts and the associated payment and delivery obligations. The substantial literature on smart contracts allows for the assessment of CISG effectiveness in regulating them. Moreover, as smart contracts continue to evolve, undergo modifications, and are adopted in various sectors, there will be a need to reassess existing regulations to ensure their compatibility and effectiveness. Hence, the objective of this study is to offer a contemporary perspective on the ability of the CISG to govern smart contracts in international transactions involving the sale of goods.60 0Item Restricted Corda to Ethereum Interoperability: the Use Case of Wholesale to Retail CBDC Transfer(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-12-01) Alkahtani, Munera; Vadgama, NikhilThe rapid evolution of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) has shown a new era of digital innovation with profound implications for various industries, particularly in the financial sector. Central to this transformation is the emergence of Central Bank Digital Currencies(CBDCs), representing a pivotal development in modernizing monetary systems. DLT has proven to be the best technology candidate for developing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) use cases due to its many features, such as transparency and immutability. This dissertation explores the interoperability between two prominent DLTs, Corda and Ethereum, to facilitate the issuance and seamless transfer of CBDCs. The methodology employed in this research revolves around a bridge/router architecture, acting as middleware to bridge between the source DLT (Corda) and the target DLT (Ethereum). The study leverages the Cross-Blockchain Integration Design Decision (CBIDD) framework to systematically select an appropriate interoperability approach. A prototype was implemented using Node.js along with Corda and Ethereum smart contracts, utilizing the native features of Corda, Ethereum, and Web3.js. A preliminary evaluation depicts that the latency is influenced more by the DLs than the bridge components.17 0Item Restricted Blockchain Based Open Education Platform(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-11-27) Alshehri, Mansour; Aniello, Leonardo; Bills, OliverE-learning is a growing market that within the coming few years may double in size due to rapid improvements in technology, such as the rise of cloud computing, in addition to the sudden closure of education and work facilities that took place during Covid19 which paved the way towards more expansions in remote services. Such sudden changes have motivated the transformation of teaching and working from on-site to online settings. Provided the majority of ICT* are still mainly centralized which allows the world to develop and our daily routines to continue. Blockchain, on the other hand, can offer good services for education, such as this platform, and find solutions to some faced dilemmas, such as price souring and the censorship of control that are found on centralized platforms. Cost efficiency and the ease of implementation that blockchain networks provide, combined with efforts that communities of developers lend a hand for, have made it possible for some applications, such as voting and supply chain control, to surge from such implementations. Some blockchain based platforms are already serving customers with video streaming, however, particularly for education and teaching, it is still far behind the centralized one as there is no obvious development to mention which calls for this project to rise. A centralized server, within a virtual environment, backed up by data stored on a blockchain based network helps deliver the final product of the project. The hassle is that centralized platforms empower features that cause price fragility, and stationed themselves on a single point of failure that blockchain based networks can tackle even when involved partially. Regarding traditional mitigations towards these issues, blockchain as a concept differs and introduces itself in consistency with community ambitions, like those who suffer financially and have needs to access cheaper content to get qualified. This project is willing to stand up as a PoC, provided some components of the final product may appear in centralized form as it is still difficult to only depend on blockchain based services.47 0