Blockchain Papers

Malte Möser, Rainer Böhme

No abstract is available for this record.

Kurt Holukoff

In this dissertation, the author argues that constructivist foundations of political liberalism require a rarely recognized sort of pluralism—not only the familiar pluralism between ideas about how we ought to live that are the stock in trade of standard accounts of liberalism, but a pluralism about political foundations as well. The author argues that making sense of this requires revision to the way we sometimes understand key concepts (such as obligation), and develops an inconsistency-tolerant, pluralism friendly deontic logic for this purpose. 
\n A pluralist friendly obligation is argued to be one that represents moral and political principles in contrastive terms (analogous to contrastive explanation from Bas Van Fraassen), in virtue of the need to order acting upon prescriptions. The author develops a class of mathematical objects choices to model answers to why we should choose one policy over alternatives.
\n Constructivist foundations also turn out to be prima facie pluralist foundations, in virtue of the nature of the norms guiding abstraction. This leads to a proof that, in a weakest base logic, legitimate moral or political codes in a pluralist context must reference each other. Upon explicating the distinction between perspectives that could consider unrealizable plans and perspectives that are themselves unrealizable, the author proves that in our world liberalism is itself an unrealizable plan. These results clearly illuminate what is at stake when justifying foundations for a liberal state.

Omri Y. Marian

This Essay proposes a conceptual framework for the regulation of transactions involving cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies offer tremendous opportunities for innovation and development but are also uniquely suited to facilitate illicit behavior. The regulatory framework suggested herein is intended to support (or at least not impair) cryptocurrencies’ innovative potential. At the same time, it aims to disrupt cryptocurrencies’ criminal utility. To achieve these purposes, this Essay proposes a regulatory framework that imposes costs on the characteristics of cryptocurrencies that make them especially useful for criminal behavior (in particular, anonymity) but does not impose costs on characteristics that are at the core of cryptocurrencies’ generative potential (in particular, the decentralization of value-transfer processes). Using a basic utility model of criminal behavior as a benchmark, this Essay explains how regulatory instruments can be so designed. One such regulatory instrument is proposed as an example — an elective anonymity tax on cryptocurrency transactions in which at least one party is not anonymous.

Alex Biryukov, Ivan Pustogarov

Bitcoin is a decentralized P2P digital currency in which coins are generated by a distributed set of miners and transaction are broadcasted via a peer-to-peer network. While Bitcoin provides some level of anonymity (or rather pseudonymity) by encouraging the users to have any number of random-looking Bitcoin addresses, recent research shows that this level of anonymity is rather low. This encourages users to connect to the Bitcoin network through anonymizers like Tor and motivates development of default Tor functionality for popular mobile SPV clients. In this paper we show that combining Tor and Bitcoin creates an attack vector for the deterministic and stealthy man-in-the-middle attacks. A low-resource attacker can gain full control of information flows between all users who chose to use Bitcoin over Tor. In particular the attacker can link together user's transactions regardless of pseudonyms used, control which Bitcoin blocks and transactions are relayed to the user and can \ delay or discard user's transactions and blocks. In collusion with a powerful miner double-spending attacks become possible and a totally virtual Bitcoin reality can be created for such set of users. Moreover, we show how an attacker can fingerprint users and then recognize them and learn their IP address when they decide to connect to the Bitcoin network directly.

Nicole Mirjanich

Bitcoin, a virtual currency created in 2009, has resulted in the unlikely pairing of the underworld criminals with the Harvard educated Winklevoss brothers. The online currency can be obtained by “mining” through solving complex equations, and can be bought and sold on Bitcoin Exchanges. It is primarily utilized for investment in Bitcoin financial products as well as speculating on the value of the currency. It is also used as a method of payment for legal and illegal goods and services. This comment addresses the regulatory issues Bitcoin faces, namely the regulation and taxation of financial products. After providing a fundamental definition of Bitcoin and how it operates, this Comment explores issues stemming from anonymity, price volatility, and use in criminal activity. It then provides an analysis of classifying and regulating Bitcoin as currency and examines how FinCEN and Treasury Regulations issued by the IRS will reduce criminal activity stemming from anonymity. Next, it discusses how SEC and CFTC regulations could stabilize Bitcoin’s volatile market value, and explains why the IRS was incorrect to classify Bitcoin as property. It concludes by addressing the policy implications of classifying Bitcoin as currency under various regulatory laws.

Elżbieta Chrabonszczewska

Abstract The aim of the paper is to present the phenomenon of the new virtual currency bitcoin, and analyse its economic significance. The paper examines the origin, notion, functions and mechanism of emission of the BTC. The theoretical aspects of creation of the BTC and its advantages and weakness are also explained. The results of the analysis show that bitcoin does not eliminate current problems of traditional currency but also generates new risks for its users. The risks could as well affect the central banks (the legal risk, the risk to payment system stability, and the reputation risk). Three contributions of this paper to the problem of the BTC are worth distinguishing. Firstly, the scientific literature lacks information and data about the BTC - the main source of information is the Internet which reliability cannot be fully guaranteed. Secondly, periodical examination of development of the risk connected with the BTC is necessary. Thirdly, it is a basis to begin discussion on the new virtual currency which bitcoin is.

Marta Aguilar Gil, José María Bleda García

Spain’s Transition to Democracy set the stage for the organization of a national healthcare system. The adoption of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 was a political milestone that led to the recognition of every citizen’s right to healthcare and the right of autonomy of the different regions that make up the SpanishState. The most distinctive characteristic of the healthcare model set up in those early years of political transition was the decentralization of the healthcare system which transferred political and administrative power on matters of public health to the 17 autonomous communities. It took more than 20 years to complete this decentralization process. Due to the economic crisis and the election of a conservative government, the National Healthcare System is being seriously questioned, its very sustainability in doubt as reform measures are being taken that are considered a threat by many institutions and organizations to public welfare.

K. H. McIntyre, Kristine Harjes

Bitcoin is a decentralized, open-source cryptocurrency used to make private, peer-to-peer transactions anywhere across the world. Although the individuals involved are (mostly) anonymous, every Bitcoin transaction is a matter of public record; anyone can view every Bitcoin transaction ever made. Following the methodology developed by Evans and Lyons (2002), this paper adapts and estimates a FX microstructure model that emphases order flow, the difference between buyer- and seller-initiated trading volume, to the Bitcoin market Using a data set consisting of all major currency transactions occurring on the Mt. Gox exchange, our results are quite similar to prior microfinance research on traditional currencies insofar order flow is a significant determinant of Bitcoin spot rates.

Peter Kranke

No abstract is available for this record.

Подаєнко, Юлія Леонідівна

In the era of strengthening and accelerating globalization processes the necessity of establishing intercultural dialogue is becoming of high priority, significantly altering its fundamental principles and objectives of its creation. After the end of the era of bipolarity the new concepts of world order are emerging and spreading. There is a need to find new tools for the competitive development of states and other approaches for international relations. In this context the role of flexible factors increases together with the effectiveness of «soft» influence instruments on the system of international relations by promoting a positive image of a country based on the attractiveness of the values and culture of the nation.Analysis of the specifics of cultural diplomacy functioning in different EU countries reveals the following three traditional European models, each of which is characterized by the specificity of national political strategies of France, Britain and Germany.Thus, the first model reflects the foreign policy of France that systematically includes intercultural cooperation in the practice of international relations. Cultural diplomacy of France is characterized by a rigid centralization and direct state control.The second model – British – is based on the principle of indirect control (so called principle of «arm’s length») when intercultural collaboration is funded wholly or partly by the government, usually via the Foreign Office, while the administrative and coordinating functions delegated to non-governmental institutions (such as the British Council, which has departments worldwide) .A kind of intermediate option between French and British models is German decentralized organizational model. On the one hand, it is partly controlled be the state and international cultural activities are partially centralized, and on the other – is based on the principle of power distance («Staatsferne»), characteristic feature of the federal government of Germany.Creation of the brand «Europe» is directed towards the development of mode of thinking across the whole Union and positioning «Europe in the world» format. At the same time it is not directed towards searching and focusing on the differences and peculiarities of the individual European countries. In this respect, it is important to actively develop new areas of cultural dialogue and exchange both within the Union and beyond.The realities of European societies have such peculiar features as the multifaceted contributions of other cultures and civilizations; localization and nationalization of cultures; linguistic and ethnocultural pluralism as a result of the historical formation of the European nation-states; deepening current presence of other cultures in Europe; and finally, the cultural diversity of European society. These features require appropriate solutions, strategies and programs in the field of establishment and further development of cultural diplomacy at European as well as on the national levels.European cultural diplomacy will always be dealing with the sum of individual national cultures, languages, historical heritage. Moreover, the cultural programs of all 27 Member States are very actively and almost autonomously developing. On the one hand, it can be seen as enrichment and enhancement of European culture and subsequently diplomacy; on the other hand, it gives rise to the emergence of discussions about its absence and utopianism. At present Europe is cannot be seen as an example of goal-oriented and effective common cultural diplomacy, but the potential for this is significant. The main thing for the EU in this context is not to turn into a «giant museum», caring only about preservation and maintenance of cultural sites of individual countries. Taking all this into consideration, the question of what should be the European cultural diplomacy in the modern era is now considered the most controversial.

Jadwiga Suchecka

The purpose of this article is to present the main directions of changes in the Estonian health care system following the transformation of the national economy and the accession of Estonia to the European Union. Special attention has been paid to the ways of sourcing, and the collection and redistribution of financial resources allocated to health care in different periods of the transformation. The initial changes introduced far-reaching decentralization of the health system, while further reforms led to his re-centralization. The intensity of the re-centralization of finance and health management processes was accelerated after 2008, when the impact of the global financial crisis on the condition of the economy of Estonia was significant. As a result of the introduced changes, Bismarck’s mixed system – a hybrid system – has been formed.

Jean-Paul Delahaye

No abstract is available for this record.

Zhi Yi Shao, Bo Yang

Shao et al. proposed a novel method for computing private set intersection based on searchable encryption. Compared with the traditional protocols, their technique requires much less computation for the client to obtain the intersection. Concretely, the client only computes m (the cardinality of the client’s input set) multiplications, m hashes, and one modular exponentiation. However, their protocol only satisfies security against semi-honest behaviors. In this paper, we aim to promote the security of Shao et al.’s protocol. Our solution woks in the CRS model, and is based on the non-interactive zero knowledge proof and the succinct non-interactive argument. The proposed protocol satisfies security against malicious adversaries and needs only one round interaction.

Xiaoqiang Guo, Yan Yan, Lihong Li, Hong Wang

The problem of secure multi-party computation(SMPC) is one of the most fundamental problems in information security. First, we introduce the basic concept of SMPC and four SMPC basic agreement: key distribution,oblivious transfer, bit commitment and zero knowledge proof. Secondly, we separately illustrate commitment schemes  commitment transfer protocol, commitment sharing protocol and commitment multiplication protocol. Finally, we present unconditionally secure multi-party computation with a passive adversary, an active adversary, general adversary structures.

Konrad Zacharzewski

Autor w pionierskiej dla nauki prawa polskiego publikacji poświęconej bitcoinowi (oraz innym tzw. walutom wirtualnym) sformułował wiązkę podstawowych tez na temat tego przedmiotu stosunków prywatnoprawnych. Podstawowe znaczenie ma postawienie i wnikliwe uargumentowanie tezy, która głosi, że bitcoin (oraz inne tzw. waluty wirtualne) jest innym niż pieniądz miernikiem wartości. Jest więc legalny jako taki, w zakresie wszystkich wyobrażalnych sfer jego faktycznego i potencjalnego zastosowania. Zobowiązania przewidujące świadczenie wyrażone w bitcoinie są - ponad wszelką wątpliwość - zaskarżalne, możliwe do zasądzenia przez sąd i wyegzekwowania. Wykorzystanie bitcoina na płaszczyźnie stosunków prywatnoprawnych opiera się na znanych konstrukcjach prawa cywilnego, przewidzianych przez kodeks cywilny. Ponieważ bitcoin nie jest rzeczą, przechodzi ze zbywcy na nabywcę po spełnieniu przesłanek przewidzianych dla rozporządzenia wierzytelnością. Może być przedmiotem sprzedaży i zamiany, a także innych zobowiązań przewidujących świadczenie typu dare, a więc np. przedmiotem pożyczki, zastrzeżenia zadatku, czy też kary umownej. Konstrukcja prawna bitcoina wpisuje się w wyartykułowaną i wnikliwie uzasadnianą na łamach innych publikacji Autora koncepcję środków symbolizujących prawo podmiotowe. Na tej zasadzie bitcoin jest po prostu prawem podmiotowym związanym z nośnikiem, co tłumaczy jednocześnie charakter prawny oraz dopuszczalne płaszczyzny praktycznego zastosowania. Dlatego bitcoin zasadniczo należy zakwalifikować do tej samej kategorii, co znaki legitymacyjne stwierdzające obowiązek świadczenia, dokumentowe papiery wartościowe oraz zdematerializowane instrumenty finansowe. Niniejsza publikacja stanowi pierwszą z dwóch poświęconych przez Autora bitcoinowi. W drugiej Autor podejmuje więcej kwestii szczegółowych (zob. Monitor Prawniczy 2015, nr 4).

Ossi Ala-Peijari

Bitcoin is a distributed, virtual currency without centralized control. While a few services accept bitcoins directly, it is also possible to exchange bitcoins into fiat currency and vice versa. Bitcoins are effectively computation puzzles that are mined based on a bruteforce algorithm. As computation requires electricity, it can be stated that the miners are exchanging energy for bitcoins. However, electricity is not usually free and the energy efficiency of the mining devices can vary. Thus, some low-efficiency devices could be considered mainly as an environmental hazard because the expense of using the electricity exceeds the profits. The miners are competing with each other to find solutions, which has resulted in an arms race to use specialized hardware for mining. While this improves energy efficiency, the computational limit for profitable Bitcoin mining is still a moving target. In this thesis, we study and analyse past developments in this limit and try to estimate its future directions.

Joe Lao

A soft control of the network activity through varying reward in a proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency is reported. Rewards are the necessity to incent the contributors activities (i.e., mining) in order to maintain the PoW network. Contrary to constant rewarding in a certain period implemented in most of cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin, we propose a network-dependent rewarding model system, primarily including two phases: 1) activities encouraging phase in which higher rewards are issued at higher network activities; and 2) discouraging further increase of activities by reducing rewards. The advantages of this system include 1) fair distribution of rewards among a variety of contributors, and 2) enforcing a limit to the network activity and hence the cost of maintaining the PoW network. This mechanism requires network contributors to show their participation in order to earn maximum rewards, i.e., proof-of-mining.

Lillian J. Ratliff, Carlos Barreto, Roy Dong, Henrik Ohlsson · 6 authors

As smart meters continue to be deployed around the world collecting unprecedented levels of fine-grained data about consumers, we need to find mechanisms that are fair to both, (1) the electric utility who needs the data to improve their operations, and (2) the consumer who has a valuation of privacy but at the same time benefits from sharing consumption data. In this paper we address this problem by proposing privacy contracts between electric utilities and consumers with the goal of maximizing the social welfare of both. Our mathematical model designs an optimization problem between a population of users that have different valuations on privacy and the costs of operation by the utility. We then show how contracts can change depending on the probability of a privacy breach. This line of research can help inform not only current but also future smart meter collection practices.

Ferdinando M. Ametrano

In the history of money bitcoin represents an outstanding medium of exchange, independent from central authorities. Therefore, it has experienced impressive demand which, combined with inelastic supply, has led to huge price appreciation. Nonetheless, transaction volume has not been increasing accordingly. At the core of this conundrum is the very poor performance of bitcoin as unit of account: dramatic deflationary price instability makes bitcoin just impractical for commerce, but completely unserviceable for salaries, mortgages, and deferred payments in general. Ametrano (2014a) has championed as Hayek Money the proposal to engineer cryptocurrencies with fully automatic algorithmic non-discretionary elastic supply: the monetary rule of pegging to a price index would dynamically rebase the outstanding amount of money and achieve price stability. It is proposed here to implement Hayek Money as multiple coexisting units of account wrapped around the unmodified bitcoin (or any other cryptocurrency). Prices would be stable in terms of these rebased-bitcoin units of account: different coexisting cryptocurrencies all backed by the same bitcoins, each one with its own floating bitcoin-equivalent rebasing index. These cryptocurrencies would define a new monetary standard, with striking resemblance to the gold standard as improved by the compensated dollar proposed by Fisher (1913). In this Fisher Money scenario bitcoin would be digital crypto-gold and exchange rates would be floating, not fixed, being just the relative prices of the respective cryptocurrency price indexes.

Huijian Dong, Dong Weiguo

Bitcoin has two major roles: as currency and as financial asset. This paper attempts to address these roles: whether Bitcoin is a real currency, and what its financial features are. Using daily data of the exchange rates quoted from the world major Bitcoin dealer since the inception of Bitcoin and the spot market exchange rates, we calculate the triangle arbitrage asset price to decompose the features of this currency. The results suggest significant liquidity discount of Bitcoin and risk premium as a financial asset in terms of British Pound Sterling (2.46%) and Chinese Yuan (0.3%). There is idiosyncratic risk component associated with Bitcoin implied by the Granger causality tests. Bitcoin, as investment objectives instead of currency unit, is associated with excess risk and low returns. Such poor performance discourages investors to spend Bitcoin as currency and to pursue the arbitrage profit. Investors store and hold Bitcoin as fixed asset. In addition, both arbitrage stickiness and low Treynor ratio are persistent over time.

Kay Noyen, Dirk Volland, Dominic Wörner, Elgar Fleisch

Sensing-as-a-Service (S2aaS) is an emerging Internet of Things (IOT) business\nmodel pattern. To be technically feasible and to effectively allow for broad\nadoption, S2aaS implementations have to overcome manifold systemic hurdles,\nspecifically regarding payment and sensor identification. In an effort to\novercome these hurdles, we propose Bitcoin as protocol for S2aaS networks. To\nlay the groundwork and start the conversation about disruptive changes that\nBitcoin technology could bring to S2aaS concepts and IOT in general, we\nidentify and discuss the core characteristics that could drive those changes.\nWe present a conceptual example and describe the basic process of exchanging\ndata for cash using Bitcoin.\n

Trilok SinghPardhi, Rajeev Pandey, Uday Chourasia

Provable data possession (PDP) is one of the techniques to ensure the integrity of data in storage outsourcing. Here in this paper, we speak to the creation of an efficient PDP method for distributed cloud storage to maintain the scalability of service and data migration. On the basis on homomorphic verifiable response and hash index hierarchy we projected a cooperative PDP (CPDP) method. We confirm the security of our method based on multi-prover zeroknowledge proof scheme, which can satisfy knowledge soundness, fullness , and zero-knowledge properties. As well, we expressive performance optimization mechanisms for our method, and in particular present an capable method for selecting finest parameter values to reduce the addition expenses of storage service providers and client. Our experiment shows that our solution introduces lower addition and communication overheads in evaluation with noncooperative approaches.

Yvonne Hartman, Sandy Darab

Introduction The counterculture that arose during the 1960s and 1970s left lasting social and political reverberations in developed nations. This was a time of increasing affluence and liberalisation which opened up remarkable political opportunities for social change. Within this context, an array of new social movements were a vital ingredient of the ferment that saw existing norms challenged and the establishment of new rights for many oppressed groups. An expanding arena of concerns included the environmental damage caused by 200 years of industrial capitalism. This article examines one aspect of a current environment movement in Australia, the anti-Coal Seam Gas (CSG) movement, and the part played by participants. In particular, the focus is upon one action that emerged during the recent Bentley Blockade, which was a regional mobilisation against proposed unconventional gas mining (UGM) near Lismore, NSW. Over the course of the blockade, the conventional ritual of waving at passers-by was transformed into a mechanism for garnering broad community support. Arguably, this was a crucial factor in the eventual outcome. In this case, we contend that the wave, rather than a countercultural artefact being appropriated by the mainstream, represents an everyday behaviour that builds social solidarity, which is subverted to become an effective part of the repertoire of the movement. At a more general level, this article examines how counterculture and mainstream interact via the subversion of “ordinary” citizens and the role of certain cultural understandings for that purpose. We will begin by examining the nature of the counterculture and its relationship to social movements before discussing the character of the anti-CSG movement in general and the Bentley Blockade in particular, using the personal experience of one of the writers. We will then be able to explore our thesis in detail and make some concluding remarks. The Counterculture and Social Movements In this article, we follow Cox’s understanding of the counterculture as a kind of meta-movement within which specific social movements are situated. For Cox (105), the counterculture that flourished during the 1960s and 1970s was an overarching movement in which existing social relations—in particular the family—were rejected by a younger generation, who succeeded in effectively fusing previously separate political and cultural spheres of dissent into one. Cox (103-04) points out that the precondition for such a phenomenon is “free space”—conditions under which counter-hegemonic activity can occur—for example, being liberated from the constraints of working to subsist, something which the unprecedented prosperity of the post WWII years allowed. Hence, in the 1960s and 1970s, as the counterculture emerged, a wave of activism arose in the western world which later came to be referred to as new social movements. These included the civil rights movement, women’s liberation, pacifism and the anti-nuclear and environment movements. The new movements rejected established power and organisational structures and tended, some scholars argued, to cross class lines, basing their claims on non-material issues. Della Porta and Diani claim this wave of movements is characterised by: a critical ideology in relation to modernism and progress; decentralized and participatory organizational structures; defense of interpersonal solidarity against the great bureaucracies; and the reclamation of autonomous spaces, rather than material advantages. (9) This depiction clearly announces the countercultural nature of the new social movements. As Carter (91) avers, these movements attempted to bypass the state and instead mobilise civil society, employing a range of innovative tactics and strategies—the repertoire of action—which may involve breaking laws. It should be noted that over time, some of these movements did shift towards accommodation of existing power structures and became more reformist in nature, to the point of forming political parties in the case of the Greens. However, inasmuch as the counterculture represented a merging of distinctively non-mainstream ways of life with the practice of actively challenging social arrangements at a political level (Cox 18–19; Grossberg 15–18;), the tactic of mobilising civil society to join social movements demonstrates in fact a reverse direction: large numbers of people are transfigured in radical ways by their involvement in social movements. One important principle underlying much of the repertoire of action of these new movements was non-violence. Again, this signals countercultural norms of the period. As Sharp (583–86) wrote at the time, non-violence is crucial in that it denies the aggressor their rationale for violent repression. This principle is founded on the liberal notion, whose legacy goes back to Locke, that the legitimacy of the government rests upon the consent of the governed—that is, the people can withdraw their consent (Locke in Ball & Dagger 92). Ghandi also relied upon this idea when formulating his non-violent approach to conflict, satyagraha (Sharp 83–84). Thus an idea that upholds the modern state is adopted by the counterculture in order to undermine it (the state), again demonstrating an instance of counterflow from the mainstream. Non-violence does not mean non-resistance. In fact, it usually involves non-compliance with a government or other authority and when practised in large numbers, can be very effective, as Ghandi and those in the civil rights movement showed. The result will be either that the government enters into negotiation with the protestors, or they can engage in violence to suppress them, which generally alienates the wider population, leading to a loss of support (Finley & Soifer 104–105). Tarrow (88) makes the important point that the less threatening an action, the harder it is to repress. As a result, democratic states have generally modified their response towards the “strategic weapon of nonviolent protest and even moved towards accommodation and recognition of this tactic as legitimate” (Tarrow 172). Nevertheless, the potential for state violence remains, and the freedom to protest is proscribed by various laws. One of the key figures to emerge from the new social movements that formed an integral part of the counterculture was Bill Moyer, who, in conjunction with colleagues produced a seminal text for theorising and organising social movements (Moyer et al.). Many contemporary social movements have been significantly influenced by Moyer’s Movement Action Plan (MAP), which describes not only key theoretical concepts but is also a practical guide to movement building and achieving aims. Moyer’s model was utilised in training the Northern Rivers community in the anti-CSG movement in conjunction with the non-violent direct action (NVDA) model developed by the North-East Forest Alliance (NEFA) that resisted logging in the forests of north-eastern NSW during the late 1980s and 1990s (Ricketts 138–40). Indeed, the Northern Rivers region of NSW—dubbed the Rainbow Region—is celebrated, as a “‘meeting place’ of countercultures and for the articulation of social and environmental ideals that challenge mainstream practice” (Ward and van Vuuren 63). As Bible (6–7) outlines, the Northern Rivers’ place in countercultural history is cemented by the holding of the Aquarius Festival in Nimbin in 1973 and the consequent decision of many attendees to stay on and settle in the region. They formed new kinds of communities based on an alternative ethics that eschewed a consumerist, individualist agenda in favour of modes of existence that emphasised living in harmony with the environment. The Terania Creek campaign of the late 1970s made the region famous for its environmental activism, when the new settlers resisted the logging of Nightcap National Park using nonviolent methods (Bible 5). It was also instrumental in developing an array of ingenious actions that were used in subsequent campaigns such as the Franklin Dam blockade in Tasmania in the early 1980s (Kelly 116). Indeed, many of these earlier activists were key figures in the anti-CSG movement that has developed in the Rainbow Region over the last few years. The Anti-CSG Movement Despite opposition to other forms of UGM, such as tight sands and shale oil extraction techniques, the term anti-CSG is used here, as it still seems to attract wide recognition. Unconventional gas extraction usually involves a process called fracking, which is the injection at high pressure of water, sand and a number of highly toxic chemicals underground to release the gas that is trapped in rock formations. Among the risks attributed to fracking are contamination of aquifers, air pollution from fugitive emissions and exposure to radioactive particles with resultant threats to human and animal health, as well as an increased risk of earthquakes (Ellsworth; Hand 13; Sovacool 254–260). Additionally, the vast amount of water that is extracted in the fracking process is saline and may contain residues of the fracking chemicals, heavy metals and radioactive matter. This produced water must either be stored or treated (Howarth 273–73; Sovacool 255). Further, there is potential for accidents and incidents and there are many reports—particularly in the United States where the practice is well established—of adverse events such as compressors exploding, leaks and spills, and water from taps catching fire (Sovacool 255–257). Despite an abundance of anecdotal evidence, until recently authorities and academics believed there was not enough “rigorous evidence” to make a definitive judgment of harm to animal and human health as a result of fracking (Mitka 2135). For example, in Australia, the Queensland Government was unable to find a clear link between fracking and health complaints in the Tara gasfield (Thompson 56), even though it is known t

Samo Turšič

V okviru diplomskega dela je bila izdelana informacijska resitev, ki omogoca izvajanje razlicnih trgovalnih strategij nad kriptovaluto Bitcoin. Podprte borze so Bitstamp, Btc-e ter MtGox. Na podrocju tehnicne analize za Bitcoin že obstajajo razne resitve, ki trgovalcem pomagajo pri trgovanju in jim svetujejo s pomocjo tehnicnih indikatorjev in vzorcev. Vendar ima vsaka resitev svoje slabosti, ki se jih je želelo odpraviti. Razvita je bila spletna aplikacija v tehnologiji Node.js, ki poleg izvajanja strategij na zgodovinskih podatkih za vsako podprto borzo ponuja se prikaz grafa vrednosti kriptovalute skozi cas z japonskimi svecniki ter grafa globine trga skupaj s knjigo narocil. Uporabnik ima možnost implementirati tudi lastno strategijo. Trgovalni podatki, ki so potrebni za delovanje spletne aplikacije in morajo biti osveženi, se s podprtih borz pridobivajo preko vmesnikov API s pomocjo javanskih programov in shranjujejo v podatkovno bazo MongoDB.