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We summarize the results and perspectives from a companion article, where we presented and evaluated an alternative architecture for data storage in distributed networks. We name the bio-inspired architecture RAIN, and it offers file storage service that, in contrast with current centralized cloud storage, has privacy by design, is open source, is more secure, is scalable, is more sustainable, has community ownership, is inexpensive, and is potentially faster, more efficient, and more reliable. We propose that a RAIN-style architecture could form the backbone of the Internet of Things that likely will integrate multiple current and future infrastructures ranging from online services and cryptocurrency to parts of government administration.

Main description: In seinem erstmals 1934 erschienenen Buch London. The Unique City erzählt Steen Eiler Rasmussen die faszinierende Geschichte einer Weltstadt. Seine auf umfangreiche Recherchen zur Stadtgeschichte, zu den Lebensformen der Londoner sowie auf eigene langjährige Beobachtungen gestützte Analyse von Londons städtebaulicher und architektonischer Entwicklung macht sein Buch London. The Unique City zu einem Standardwerk. Auch heutigen Lesern gibt der Autor ein lehrreiches stadtgeschichtliches und urbanistisches Kompendium an die Hand. Die erfahrungsbasierte Idee, daß die Zukunft der Stadt von eigenverantwortlich handelnden, sich ihrer Kultur bewußten Bürgern entscheidend mitgeprägt werden kann, von Menschen, die sich für ihre Stadt einsetzen, sie mitgestalten und diese Aufgabe nicht dem Staat überlassen, hat rund 80 Jahre nach dem Jahr der Erstveröffentlichung nicht nur nicht an Aktualität verloren. Der internationale Stadtdiskurs, wie ihn etwa die einflußreichen Urban Age-Konferenzen geführt haben, revitalisiert diese Idee und demonstriert deren Perspektiven an zahlreichen Beispielen. Steen Eiler Rasmussen (1898-1990) war einer der letzten großen Architekten, die ihre Arbeit in einen weiten gesellschaftlichen Kontext stellten. In Kopenhagen zum Architekten ausgebildet, war er in seinen jungen Jahren so erfolgreich, daß er bereits mit 24 Jahren in den 'Academic Council of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts' in Kopenhagen gewählt wurde. 1924 übernahm er die Dozentur des neu gegründeten Stadtplanungsinstituts, bevor er 1938 zum Professor ernannt wurde. Als Dozent an der Architectural Association hielt er sich 1927 für einige Monate in London auf. Nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg ging Rasmussen nach England. Dort wurde er 1949 als Produktdesigner in die 'Royal Society of Arts' berufen. Als Gastprofessor lehrte er am MIT (1952) und in Yale (1954). 1958 folgte die Berufung zum Lethaby Professor für Architektur am Royal College of Art in London. Rasmussen war darüber hinaus langjährig Direktor der Architekturfakultät der Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Dänemark. Seine Beobachtungen und Analysen veröffentlichte er in zahlreichen Publikationen. Deren weitaus berühmteste ist das hier vorgelegte Buch London. The Unique City.

In seinem erstmals 1934 erschienenen Buch London. The Unique City erzählt Steen Eiler Rasmussen die faszinierende Geschichte einer Weltstadt. Seine auf umfangreiche Recherchen zur Stadtgeschichte, zu den Lebensformen der Londoner sowie auf eigene langjährige Beobachtungen gestützte Analyse von Londons städtebaulicher und architektonischer Entwicklung macht sein Buch London. The Unique City zu einem Standardwerk.

AbstractThis paper presents a formal stability analysis of a simplified Kondratieff wave model. For normal parameter values the model has a single unstable equilibrium point which, combined with nonlinear constraints in the model's table functions, creates a characteristic limit cycle behavior. For other parameter values, the model generates damped oscillations instead of the limit cycle or overwhelms the nonlinear constraints and exhibits sustained exponential growth or total collapse.By linear stability analysis we first determine the conditions for a Hopf bifurcation, the transition from a stable to an unstable equilibrium. Using global analysis, we outline the phase portrait of a fully developed limit cycle. By the same method we examine the conditions under which the nonlinear functions fail to contain the system so that exponential runaway or collapse occurs. We then develop a DYNAMO program to calculate the Lyapunov exponents of the system during a simulation and discuss how these can be measures of the divergence or convergence of nearby trajectories. Finally, we illustrate how subsequent period doublings and chotic behavior can occur if the model is driven exogennously by a weak sine wave, representing, for instance, the shorterm business cycle.

We present and evaluate an alternative architecture for data storage in distributed networks that ensure privacy and security, we call RAIN1 . The RAIN network architecture offers a distributed file storage service that: (1) has privacy by design, (2) is open source, (3) is more secure, (4) is scalable, (5) is more sustainable, (6) has community ownership, (7) is inexpensive, (8) is potentially faster, more efficient and reliable. RAIN has the potential to democratize and disrupt cloud storage by eliminating the middle-man: the large centralized data centers. Further, we propose that a RAIN style privacy and security by design architecture could form the backbone of multiple current and future infrastructures ranging from online services, cryptocurrency, to part of government administration.

AbstractDizygotic twinning rates have changed over time, which has been seen as a sign of a decline in fecundity. Since a woman's birthweight has been shown to be a marker of her fecundity, maternal birthweight may correlate with subsequent twinning rates. In the Danish National Birth Cohort (1996–2002), we examined if maternal birthweight, and whether she was born at term or preterm, correlated with her probability of multiple birth. For 20,719 live born infants, we had self-reported information about maternal birthweight, collected during the first wave of the 7-year follow-up, and information on multiple births from record linkage. The association between maternal birthweight and multiple births was investigated by use of logistic regression and presented as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Compared to women born at term with a birthweight of 3001–4000 g, women with a birthweight > 4500 g appeared to have higher chance of multiple birth while women with a birthweight of 4001–4500 had a lower chance, especially if the analysis was restricted to women with a BMI < 25 (Adjusted ORs 2.3 [1.0–5.4] and 0.4 [0.2–0.9] respectively). Odds ratios for dizygotic twinning were of the same magnitude. In women with a BMI ≥ 25, no obvious pattern was present. Our findings do not indicate that twinning is a fecundity indicator. Women with a birthweight that may indicate a pregnancy complicated with gestational diabetes had the highest rate of multiple birth. These findings are new and should be put to a critical test in other data sources.

The vulnerability of urban populations to crises, poor urban decision making, or terrorism means that city stability is a national security issue. And as cities continue to grow, their components are becoming increasingly intertwined, forcing public works officials to treat urban systems as a "system of systems." The Urban Security Initiative is an integrated, science-based approach that will link computer models of a range of urban processes so that managers can better understand urban interdependencies, make realistic predictions of city vulnerability and sustainability, and improve planning and management. Several pilot studies are also focusing on urban issues where environment, infrastructure, and society are linked, including (a) transportation and toxic plumes crises; (b) earthquake damage to infrastructure and city regrowth after such disasters; (c) pollution's effects on airborne transport of particulates and their eventual fate in surface water and groundwater; and (d) a novel, computer-based technique for obtaining consensus on difficult urban issues with large numbers of stakeholders.