ABSTRACT
The Corona pandemic has led to the increased use of online tools throughout society, whether in business, education, or daily life. This shift to an online society has led social scientists to question the extent to which increased forms of control, surveillance and enforced conformity to ways of thinking, attitudes and behaviors can be promoted through online activities. This question arises overtly amidst a pandemic, but it also lurks behind the widespread diffusion of smart energy systems throughout the world and the increased use of smart meters in those systems. The extent to which forms of monitoring, disciplining and sanctioning of energy behavior and practices could come to reality is thus an important question to consider. This article does so using the ideas of Michel Foucault, together with research on smart energy systems and current trends in energy policy. The article closes with a discussion of energy democracy and democratic legitimacy in the context of possible effects of smart technologies on community energy systems.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Dietary flavonoids, especially flavonols, are discussed as potentially preventive agents in the etiology of diseases such as coronary heart disease, stroke, and cancer. However, their consideration in epidemiologic studies is hampered by difficulties in exposure assessment. AIM OF THE STUDY: By comparison with dietary intake estimates, fasting plasma flavonoid concentrations should be evaluated as possible biomarkers of the ordinary dietary intake. METHODS: 7-d dietary records were completed by 48 healthy female students. Flavonoid intake was estimated by means of available literature data on the flavonoid content of foods. Fasting plasma samples were taken at the end of the record period for flavonoid determination (HPLC). RESULTS: The mean intake estimates (7-d period) of quercetin, kaempferol, naringenin, and hesperetin amounted to 17.9, 4.7, 12.1, and 17.4 mg/d, respectively; the corresponding mean plasma concentrations were 22.9, 10.7, 8.2, and 22.2 nmol/l. For all four flavonoids significant correlations between 7d-intake results and fasting plasma concentrations (r = 0.30-0.46, p < 0.05) existed. As expected from the known short elimination half-life of some plasma flavonoids, distinctly higher correlation coefficients were found for the relationship between intake estimates for the last day before blood sampling and the fasting plasma concentrations (r = 0.42-0.64; p < 0.01). The intraindividual variation in fasting plasma flavonoid concentrations during ad libitum intake was found to be rather high (mean coefficient of variation between 82 and 91 %; n = 4). CONCLUSIONS: The flavonoid content in fasting plasma samples seems to be a suitable biomarker of short-term intake and a possible biomarker of the medium-term intake. Due to the high intraindividual variation the combined use of plasma flavonoid concentrations and dietary intake estimates may be the best choice in epidemiologic studies.
