Community energy groups: Can they shield consumers from the risks of using blockchain for peer-to-peer energy trading?

Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading is emerging as a new mechanism for settling the ex-change of energy between renewable energy generators and consumers. P2P provides a mechanism for local balancing when it is facilitated through distributed ledgers (‘blockchains’). Energy communities across Europe have uncovered the potential of this technology and are currently running pi-lots to test its applicability in P2P energy trading. The aim of this paper is to assess, using legal literature and legislation, whether the legal forms available to energy communities in the United Kingdom (UK) can help resolve some of the uncertainties around the individual use of blockchain for P2P energy trading. This includes the legal recognition of ‘prosumers’, the protection of their personal data, as well as the validity of ‘smart contracts’ programmed to trade energy on the block-chain network. The analysis has shown that legal entities, such as Limited Liability Partnerships and Co-operative Societies, can play a crucial role in providing the necessary framework to protect consumers engaging in these transactions. This is particularly the case for co-operatives, given that they can hold members liable for not respecting the rules set out in their (compulsory) governing document. These findings are relevant to other European countries, where the energy co-operative model is also used

Consumer Demand for Blockchain-Enabled Peer-to-Peer Electricity Trading in the United Kingdom: An online survey experiment

Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading could help address grid management challenges in a decentralizing electricity system, as well as provide other social and environmental benefits. Many existing and proposed trading schemes are enabled by blockchain, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) relying on cryptographic proof of ownership rather than human intermediaries to establish energy transactions. This study used an online survey experiment (n = 2064) to investigate how consumer demand for blockchain-enabled peer-to-peer energy trading schemes in the United Kingdom varies depending on how the consumer proposition is designed and communicated. The analysis provides some evidence of a preference for schemes offering to meet a higher proportion of participants’ energy needs and for those operating at the city/region (as compared to national or neighbourhood) level. People were more likely to say they would participate when the scheme was framed as being run by their local council, followed by an energy supplier, community energy organization, and social media company. Anonymity was the most valued DLT characteristic and mentioning blockchain’s association with Bitcoin led to a substantial decrease in intended uptake. We highlight a range of important questions and implications suggested by these findings for the introduction and operation of P2P trading schemes

TRUNK POSTURE AND STATICO-DYNAMICAL SPINE ANALYSIS– COMPARING ULTRASOUND BASED VS. OPTICALLY BASED MEASUREMENT SYSTEM

The purpose of this study was to compare two different methods measuring trunk posture and statico-dynamical spine analysis. 32 patients participated in this cross sectional study. Comparing measured values a wide congruence could be demonstrated with marginal underestimating in kyphosis and lordosis data for the ultrasound based system. The largest deviation could be shown for pelvic obliquity measured in mm. Trunk inclination, vertical deflection and pelvic obliquity measured in degree showed proper analogy for both measuring systems. Validity, reliability based on particular technical principles could be verified

Differential Gene Expression by RamA in Ciprofloxacin-Resistant Salmonella Typhimurium

Overexpression of ramA has been implicated in resistance to multiple drugs in several enterobacterial pathogens. In the present study, Salmonella Typhimurium strain LTL with constitutive expression of ramA was compared to its ramA-deletion mutant by employing both DNA microarrays and phenotype microarrays (PM). The mutant strain with the disruption of ramA showed differential expression of at least 33 genes involved in 11 functional groups. The study confirmed at the transcriptional level that the constitutive expression of ramA was directly associated with increased expression of multidrug efflux pump AcrAB-TolC and decreased expression of porin protein OmpF, thereby conferring multiple drug resistance phenotype. Compared to the parent strain constitutively expressing ramA, the ramA mutant had increased susceptibility to over 70 antimicrobials and toxic compounds. The PM analysis also uncovered that the ramA mutant was better in utilization of 10 carbon sources and 5 phosphorus sources. This study suggested that the constitutive expression of ramA locus regulate not only multidrug efflux pump and accessory genes but also genes involved in carbon metabolic pathways