Attention Markets of Blockchain-Based Decentralized Autonomous Organizations

The attention is a scarce resource in decentralized autonomous organizations(DAOs),as their self-governance relies heavily on the attention-intensive decision-making process of“proposal and voting”.To prevent the negative effects of pro-posers’attention-capturing strategies that contribute to the“tragedy of the commons”and ensure an efficient distribution of attention among multiple proposals,it is necessary to establish a market-driven allocation scheme for DAOs’attention.First,the Harberger tax-based attention markets are designed to facilitate its allocation via continuous and automated trading,where the individualized Harberger tax rate(HTR)determined by the pro-posers’reputation is adopted.Then,the Stackelberg game model is formulated in these markets,casting attention to owners in the role of leaders and other competitive proposers as followers.Its equilibrium trading strategies are also discussed to unravel the intricate dynamics of attention pricing.Moreover,utilizing the single-round Stackelberg game as an illustrative example,the existence of Nash equilibrium trading strategies is demonstrated.Finally,the impact of individualized HTR on trading strategies is investigated,and results suggest that it has a negative correlation with leaders’self-accessed prices and ownership duration,but its effect on their revenues varies under different conditions.This study is expected to provide valuable insights into leveraging attention resources to improve DAOs’governance and decision-making process.

Decentralized Optimal Control and Stabilization of Interconnected Systems With Asymmetric Information

The paper addresses the decentralized optimal control and stabilization problems for interconnected systems subject to asymmetric information.Compared with previous work,a closed-loop optimal solution to the control problem and sufficient and necessary conditions for the stabilization problem of the interconnected systems are given for the first time.The main challenge lies in three aspects:Firstly,the asymmetric information results in coupling between control and estimation and failure of the separation principle.Secondly,two extra unknown variables are generated by asymmetric information(different information filtration)when solving forward-backward stochastic difference equations.Thirdly,the existence of additive noise makes the study of mean-square boundedness an obstacle.The adopted technique is proving and assuming the linear form of controllers and establishing the equivalence between the two systems with and without additive noise.A dual-motor parallel drive system is presented to demonstrate the validity of the proposed algorithm.

Anomaly-Resistant Decentralized State Estimation Under Minimum Error Entropy With Fiducial Points for Wide-Area Power Systems

This paper investigates the anomaly-resistant decentralized state estimation(SE) problem for a class of wide-area power systems which are divided into several non-overlapping areas connected through transmission lines. Two classes of measurements(i.e., local measurements and edge measurements) are obtained, respectively, from the individual area and the transmission lines. A decentralized state estimator, whose performance is resistant against measurement with anomalies, is designed based on the minimum error entropy with fiducial points(MEEF) criterion. Specifically, 1) An augmented model, which incorporates the local prediction and local measurement, is developed by resorting to the unscented transformation approach and the statistical linearization approach;2) Using the augmented model, an MEEF-based cost function is designed that reflects the local prediction errors of the state and the measurement;and 3) The local estimate is first obtained by minimizing the MEEF-based cost function through a fixed-point iteration and then updated by using the edge measuring information. Finally, simulation experiments with three scenarios are carried out on the IEEE 14-bus system to illustrate the validity of the proposed anomaly-resistant decentralized SE scheme.

Designing a Secure and Scalable Data Sharing Mechanism Using Decentralized Identifiers(DID)

Centralized storage and identity identification methods pose many risks,including hacker attacks,data misuse,and single points of failure.Additionally,existing centralized identity management methods face interoperability issues and rely on a single identity provider,leaving users without control over their identities.Therefore,this paper proposes a mechanism for identity identification and data sharing based on decentralized identifiers.The scheme utilizes blockchain technology to store the identifiers and data hashed on the chain to ensure permanent identity recognition and data integrity.Data is stored on InterPlanetary File System(IPFS)to avoid the risk of single points of failure and to enhance data persistence and availability.At the same time,compliance with World Wide Web Consortium(W3C)standards for decentralized identifiers and verifiable credentials increases the mechanism’s scalability and interoperability.

Transparent and Accountable Training Data Sharing in Decentralized Machine Learning Systems

In Decentralized Machine Learning(DML)systems,system participants contribute their resources to assist others in developing machine learning solutions.Identifying malicious contributions in DML systems is challenging,which has led to the exploration of blockchain technology.Blockchain leverages its transparency and immutability to record the provenance and reliability of training data.However,storing massive datasets or implementing model evaluation processes on smart contracts incurs high computational costs.Additionally,current research on preventing malicious contributions in DML systems primarily focuses on protecting models from being exploited by workers who contribute incorrect or misleading data.However,less attention has been paid to the scenario where malicious requesters intentionally manipulate test data during evaluation to gain an unfair advantage.This paper proposes a transparent and accountable training data sharing method that securely shares data among potentially malicious system participants.First,we introduce a blockchain-based DML system architecture that supports secure training data sharing through the IPFS network.Second,we design a blockchain smart contract to transparently split training datasets into training and test datasets,respectively,without involving system participants.Under the system,transparent and accountable training data sharing can be achieved with attribute-based proxy re-encryption.We demonstrate the security analysis for the system,and conduct experiments on the Ethereum and IPFS platforms to show the feasibility and practicality of the system.

Decentralized Semi-Supervised Learning for Stochastic Configuration Networks Based on the Mean Teacher Method

The aim of this paper is to broaden the application of Stochastic Configuration Network (SCN) in the semi-supervised domain by utilizing common unlabeled data in daily life. It can enhance the classification accuracy of decentralized SCN algorithms while effectively protecting user privacy. To this end, we propose a decentralized semi-supervised learning algorithm for SCN, called DMT-SCN, which introduces teacher and student models by combining the idea of consistency regularization to improve the response speed of model iterations. In order to reduce the possible negative impact of unsupervised data on the model, we purposely change the way of adding noise to the unlabeled data. Simulation results show that the algorithm can effectively utilize unlabeled data to improve the classification accuracy of SCN training and is robust under different ground simulation environments.

On Designs of Decentralized Reputation Management for Permissioned Blockchain Networks

In permissioned blockchain networks,the Proof of Authority(PoA)consensus,which uses the election of authorized nodes to validate transactions and blocks,has beenwidely advocated thanks to its high transaction throughput and fault tolerance.However,PoA suffers from the drawback of centralization dominated by a limited number of authorized nodes and the lack of anonymity due to the round-robin block proposal mechanism.As a result,traditional PoA is vulnerable to a single point of failure that compromises the security of the blockchain network.To address these issues,we propose a novel decentralized reputation management mechanism for permissioned blockchain networks to enhance security,promote liveness,and mitigate centralization while retaining the same throughput as traditional PoA.This paper aims to design an off-chain reputation evaluation and an on-chain reputation-aided consensus.First,we evaluate the nodes’reputation in the context of the blockchain networks and make the reputation globally verifiable through smart contracts.Second,building upon traditional PoA,we propose a reputation-aided PoA(rPoA)consensus to enhance securitywithout sacrificing throughput.In particular,rPoA can incentivize nodes to autonomously form committees based on reputation authority,which prevents block generation from being tracked through the randomness of reputation variation.Moreover,we develop a reputation-aided fork-choice rule for rPoA to promote the network’s liveness.Finally,experimental results show that the proposed rPoA achieves higher security performance while retaining transaction throughput compared to traditional PoA.

COVID-19 Classification from X-Ray Images:An Approach to Implement Federated Learning on Decentralized Dataset

The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated our daily lives,leaving horrific repercussions in its aftermath.Due to its rapid spread,it was quite difficult for medical personnel to diagnose it in such a big quantity.Patients who test positive for Covid-19 are diagnosed via a nasal PCR test.In comparison,polymerase chain reaction(PCR)findings take a few hours to a few days.The PCR test is expensive,although the government may bear expenses in certain places.Furthermore,subsets of the population resist invasive testing like swabs.Therefore,chest X-rays or Computerized Vomography(CT)scans are preferred in most cases,and more importantly,they are non-invasive,inexpensive,and provide a faster response time.Recent advances in Artificial Intelligence(AI),in combination with state-of-the-art methods,have allowed for the diagnosis of COVID-19 using chest x-rays.This article proposes a method for classifying COVID-19 as positive or negative on a decentralized dataset that is based on the Federated learning scheme.In order to build a progressive global COVID-19 classification model,two edge devices are employed to train the model on their respective localized dataset,and a 3-layered custom Convolutional Neural Network(CNN)model is used in the process of training the model,which can be deployed from the server.These two edge devices then communicate their learned parameter and weight to the server,where it aggregates and updates the globalmodel.The proposed model is trained using an image dataset that can be found on Kaggle.There are more than 13,000 X-ray images in Kaggle Database collection,from that collection 9000 images of Normal and COVID-19 positive images are used.Each edge node possesses a different number of images;edge node 1 has 3200 images,while edge node 2 has 5800.There is no association between the datasets of the various nodes that are included in the network.By doing it in this manner,each of the nodes will have access to a separate image collection that has no correlation with each other.The diagnosis of COVID-19 has become considerably more efficient with the installation of the suggested algorithm and dataset,and the findings that we have obtained are quite encouraging.

Decentralized content sharing in mobile ad-hoc networks:A survey

The evolution of smart mobile devices has significantly impacted the way we generate and share contents and introduced a huge volume of Internet traffic.To address this issue and take advantage of the short-range communication capabilities of smart mobile devices,the decentralized content sharing approach has emerged as a suitable and promising alternative.Decentralized content sharing uses a peer-to-peer network among colocated smart mobile device users to fulfil content requests.Several articles have been published to date to address its different aspects including group management,interest extraction,message forwarding,participation incentive,and content replication.This survey paper summarizes and critically analyzes recent advancements in decentralized content sharing and highlights potential research issues that need further consideration.

Blockchain-Based Decentralized Authentication Model for IoT-Based E-Learning and Educational Environments

In recent times,technology has advanced significantly and is currently being integrated into educational environments to facilitate distance learning and interaction between learners.Integrating the Internet of Things(IoT)into education can facilitate the teaching and learning process and expand the context in which students learn.Nevertheless,learning data is very sensitive and must be protected when transmitted over the network or stored in data centers.Moreover,the identity and the authenticity of interacting students,instructors,and staff need to be verified to mitigate the impact of attacks.However,most of the current security and authentication schemes are centralized,relying on trusted third-party cloud servers,to facilitate continuous secure communication.In addition,most of these schemes are resourceintensive;thus,security and efficiency issues arise when heterogeneous and resource-limited IoT devices are being used.In this paper,we propose a blockchain-based architecture that accurately identifies and authenticates learners and their IoT devices in a decentralized manner and prevents the unauthorized modification of stored learning records in a distributed university network.It allows students and instructors to easily migrate to and join multiple universities within the network using their identity without the need for user re-authentication.The proposed architecture was tested using a simulation tool,and measured to evaluate its performance.The simulation results demonstrate the ability of the proposed architecture to significantly increase the throughput of learning transactions(40%),reduce the communication overhead and response time(26%),improve authentication efficiency(27%),and reduce the IoT power consumption(35%)compared to the centralized authentication mechanisms.In addition,the security analysis proves the effectiveness of the proposed architecture in resisting various attacks and ensuring the security requirements of learning data in the university network.

Edge of Things Inspired Robust Intrusion Detection Framework for Scalable and Decentralized Applications

Ubiquitous data monitoring and processing with minimal latency is one of the crucial challenges in real-time and scalable applications.Internet of Things(IoT),fog computing,edge computing,cloud computing,and the edge of things are the spine of all real-time and scalable applications.Conspicuously,this study proposed a novel framework for a real-time and scalable application that changes dynamically with time.In this study,IoT deployment is recommended for data acquisition.The Pre-Processing of data with local edge and fog nodes is implemented in this study.The thresholdoriented data classification method is deployed to improve the intrusion detection mechanism’s performance.The employment of machine learningempowered intelligent algorithms in a distributed manner is implemented to enhance the overall response rate of the layered framework.The placement of respondent nodes near the framework’s IoT layer minimizes the network’s latency.For economic evaluation of the proposed framework with minimal efforts,EdgeCloudSim and FogNetSim++simulation environments are deployed in this study.The experimental results confirm the robustness of the proposed system by its improvised threshold-oriented data classification and intrusion detection approach,improved response rate,and prediction mechanism.Moreover,the proposed layered framework provides a robust solution for real-time and scalable applications that changes dynamically with time.

Automated market makers and decentralized exchanges:a DeFi primer

Recent advancements in decentralized finance(DeFi)have resulted in a rapid increase in the use of Automated Market Makers(AMMs)for creating decentralized exchanges(DEXs).In this paper,we organize these developments by treating an AMM as a neoclassical black-box characterized by the conversion of inputs(tokens)to outputs(prices).The conversion is governed by the technology of the AMM summarized by an‘exchange function’.Various types of AMMs are examined,including:Constant Product Market Makers;Constant Mean Market Makers;Constant Sum Market Makers;Hybrid Function Market Makers;and,Dynamic Automated Market Makers.The paper also looks at the impact of introducing concentrated liquidity in an AMM.Overall,the framework presented here provides an intuitive geometric representation of how an AMM operates,and a clear delineation of the similarities and differences across the various types of AMMs.

Global Practical Stabilization of Discrete-Time Switched Affine Systems via a General Quadratic Lyapunov Function and a Decentralized Ellipsoid

This paper addresses the problem of global practical stabilization of discrete-time switched affine systems via statedependent switching rules.Several attempts have been made to solve this problem via different types of a common quadratic Lyapunov function and an ellipsoid.These classical results require either the quadratic Lyapunov function or the employed ellipsoid to be of the centralized type.In some cases,the ellipsoids are defined dependently as the level sets of a decentralized Lyapunov function.In this paper,we extend the existing results by the simultaneous use of a general decentralized Lyapunov function and a decentralized ellipsoid parameterized independently.The proposed conditions provide less conservative results than existing works in the sense of the ultimate invariant set of attraction size.Two different approaches are proposed to extract the ultimate invariant set of attraction with a minimum size,i.e.,a purely numerical method and a numerical-analytical one.In the former,both invariant and attractiveness conditions are imposed to extract the final set of matrix inequalities.The latter is established on a principle that the attractiveness of a set implies its invariance.Thus,the stability conditions are derived based on only the attractiveness property as a set of matrix inequalities with a smaller dimension.Illustrative examples are presented to prove the satisfactory operation of the proposed stabilization methods.

A Decentralized Autonomous Control on Highly Redundant Robot Manipulators

The control method of highly redundant robot manipulators is introduced. A decentralized autonomous control scheme is used to guide the movement of robot manipulators so that the work done by manipulators is minimized. The method of computing pseudoinverse which needs too many complicated calculation can be avoided. Then the calculation and control of robots are simplified. At the same time system robustness/fault tolerance is achieved.

DECENTRALIZED ADAPTIVE CONTROL FOR LINEAR TIME INVARIENT SYSTEMS WITH FIRST ORDER INTERCONNECTIONS

A new decentralized adaptive control scheme is presented for linear time invariant systems with first order interconnections. The proposed control scheme with “proportional plus integral” terms is used to improve the convergence rate and the ultimate bound of the tracking error. It is important to note that the adaptive scheme uses lower adaptive gains and smaller control inputs to avoid input saturation and oscillatory behavior. Simulation results are illustrated for controlling a dual inverted pendulum and a multivariable turbofan engine using the proposed adaptive scheme. These simulations validate out conclusions.

A New Soil Infiltration Technology for Decentralized Sewage Treatment:Two-Stage Anaerobic Tank and Soil Trench System

The low removal efficiency of total nitrogen （TN） is one of the main disadvantages of traditional single stage subsurface infiltration system, which combines an anaerobic tank and a soil filter field. In this study, a full-scale, two-stage anaerobic tank and soil trench system was designed and operated to evaluate the feasibility and performances in treating sewage from a school campus for over a one-year monitoring period. The raw sewage was prepared and fed into the first anaerobic tank and second tank by 60% and 40%, respectively. This novel process could decrease chemical oxygen demand with the dichromate method by 89%-96%, suspended solids by 91%-97%, and total phosphorus by 91%-97%. The denitrification was satisfactory in the second stage soil trench, so the removals of TN as well as ammonia nitrogen （NH4^＋-N） reached 68%-75% and 96% 99%, respectively. It appeared that the removal efficiency of TN in this two-stage anaerobic tank and soil trench system was more effective than that in the single stage soil infiltration system. The effluent met the discharge standard for the sewage treatment plant （GB18918-2002） of China.

Decentralized Dynamic Event-Triggered Communication and Active Suspension Control of In-Wheel Motor Driven Electric Vehicles with Dynamic Damping

This paper addresses the co-design problem of decentralized dynamic event-triggered communication and active suspension control for an in-wheel motor driven electric vehicle equipped with a dynamic damper. The main objective is to simultaneously improve the desired suspension performance caused by various road disturbances and alleviate the network resource utilization for the concerned in-vehicle networked suspension system. First, a T-S fuzzy active suspension model of an electric vehicle under dynamic damping is established. Second,a novel decentralized dynamic event-triggered communication mechanism is developed to regulate each sensor's data transmissions such that sampled data packets on each sensor are scheduled in an independent manner. In contrast to the traditional static triggering mechanisms, a key feature of the proposed mechanism is that the threshold parameter in the event trigger is adjusted adaptively over time to reduce the network resources occupancy. Third, co-design criteria for the desired event-triggered fuzzy controller and dynamic triggering mechanisms are derived. Finally, comprehensive comparative simulation studies of a 3-degrees-of-freedom quarter suspension model are provided under both bump road disturbance and ISO-2631 classified random road disturbance to validate the effectiveness of the proposed co-design approach. It is shown that ride comfort can be greatly improved in either road disturbance case and the suspension deflection, dynamic tyre load and actuator control input are all kept below the prescribed maximum allowable limits, while simultaneously maintaining desirable communication efficiency.

Decentralized robust H-infinity descriptor output feedback control for value-bounded uncertain descriptor large-scale systems

For a class of value-bounded uncertain descriptor large-scale interconnected systems, the decentralized robust H∞ descriptor output feedback control problem is investigated. A design method based on the bounded real lemma is developed for a decentralized descriptor dynamic output feedback controller, which is reduced to a feasibility problem for a nonlinear matrix inequality （NLMI）. It is proposed to solve the NLMI iteratively by the idea of homotopy, where some of the variables are fixed alternately at each iteration to reduce the NLMI to a linear matrix inequality （LMI）. A given example shows the efficiency of this method .

Decentralized model reference adaptive sliding mode control based on fuzzy model

A new design scheme of decentralized model reference adaptive sliding mode controller for a class of MIMO nonlinear systems with the high-order interconnections is propcsed. The design is based on the universal approximation capability of the Takagi - Seguno （T-S） fuzzy systems. Motivated by the principle of certainty equivalenteontrol, a decentralized adaptive controller is designed to achieve the tracking objective without computafion of the T-S fuzz ymodel. The approach does not require the upper bound of the uncertainty term to be known through some adaptive estimation. By theoretical analysis, the closed-loop fuzzy control system is proven to be globally stable in the sense that all signalsinvolved are bounded, with tracking errors converging to zero. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.

Cyber-Physical Production Systems for Data-Driven,Decentralized,and Secure Manufacturing-A Perspective

With the concepts of Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing gaining popularity,there is a growing notion that conventional manufacturing will witness a transition toward a new paradigm,targeting innovation,automation,better response to customer needs,and intelligent systems.Within this context,this review focuses on the concept of cyber–physical production system(CPPS)and presents a holistic perspective on the role of the CPPS in three key and essential drivers of this transformation:data-driven manufacturing,decentralized manufacturing,and integrated blockchains for data security.The paper aims to connect these three aspects of smart manufacturing and proposes that through the application of data-driven modeling,CPPS will aid in transforming manufacturing to become more intuitive and automated.In turn,automated manufacturing will pave the way for the decentralization of manufacturing.Layering blockchain technologies on top of CPPS will ensure the reliability and security of data sharing and integration across decentralized systems.Each of these claims is supported by relevant case studies recently published in the literature and from the industry;a brief on existing challenges and the way forward is also provided.