Worcester Polytechnic Institute

About: Worcester Polytechnic Institute is a education organization based out in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Data envelopment analysis. The organization has 6270 authors who have published 12704 publications receiving 332081 citations. The organization is also known as: WPI.

Blockchain for the future of sustainable supply chain management in Industry 4.0

Abstract: The objective of this study is to provide an overview of Blockchain technology and Industry 4.0 for advancing supply chains towards sustainability. First, extracted from the existing literature, we evaluate the capabilities of Industry 4.0 for sustainability under three main topics of (1) Internet of things (IoT)-enabled energy management in smart factories; (2) smart logistics and transportation; and (3) smart business models. We expand beyond Industry 4.0 with unfolding the capabilities that Blockchain offers for increasing sustainability, under four main areas: (1) design of incentive mechanisms and tokenization to promote consumer green behavior; (2) enhance visibility across the entire product lifecycle; (3) increase systems efficiency while decreasing development and operational costs; and (4) foster sustainability monitoring and reporting performance across supply chain networks. Furthermore, Blockchain technology capabilities for contributing to social and environmental sustainability, research gaps, adversary effects of Blockchain, and future research directions are discussed.

Characterizing privacy in online social networks

Abstract: Online social networks (OSNs) with half a billion users have dramatically raised concerns on privacy leakage. Users, often willingly, share personal identifying information about themselves, but do not have a clear idea of who accesses their private information or what portion of it really needs to be accessed. In this study we examine popular OSNs from a viewpoint of characterizing potential privacy leakage. Our study identifies what bits of information are currently being shared, how widely, and what users can do to prevent such sharing. We also examine the role of third-party sites that track OSN users and compare with privacy leakage on popular traditional Web sites. Our long term goal is to identify the narrow set of private information that users really need to share to accomplish specific interactions on OSNs.

Defect‐free palladium membranes on porous stainless‐steel support

Abstract: Defect-free Pd membranes were prepared by an electroless plating technique on porous stainless-steel tubes. The effective surface of Pd membranes was up to 75 cm2. The helium flux was not detected at room temperature and pressure difference of 3 atm. At 350°C hydrogen permeances of up to were obtained. A t a pressure difference of 1 atm and 350°C, selectivity coefficients as high as J(H2/JN2) = 5,000 were observed. Fluxes of gases, impermeable through the Pd, were quantitatively described as a combination of Knudsen diffusion and viscous flow through the gaps created in the Pd layer at high temperatures. The stability of the prepared membranes at temperatures up to 700°C was investigated. The membranes were stable at 350°C over a period of 1,100 h, with no significant changes in the steady-state hydrogen flux and with a recrystallization texture and aggregation of Pd grains.