code: public static Short convertToByte(RLPElement rpe) {
  	Short result=0;
  	if ((rpe.getRawData()!=null) || (rpe.getRawData().length==1)) {
  			result=(short) ( rpe.getRawData()[0] & 0xFF);
  	} 
  	return result;
  }
docs: Converts a byte in a RLPElement to byte
  
  @param rpe RLP element containing a raw byte
  @return short (=unsigned byte)