With the trend toward greater urbanization and the rapid emergence of mega-cities continuing unabated, many policy makers ask themselves whether some cities are becoming too large, and whether policies should be aimed at stimulating the growth of intermediate-sized cities. In this chapter we use a simple model of a system of cities, together with some basic urban and aggregate data, to answer s...

Although the role of IT is salient in sporting mega-events (e.g. instant replay, goal-line technology), IS research has not yet paid any attention to the processes by which technologies are selected for and implemented at these mega-events, the strategies used by actors, nor the consequences of such implementations on actors in related sectors and industries. To tackle this underdeveloped resea...

To compare parasitism and inflammatory process in esophagus and colon from chronic chagasic patients, immunohistochemistry was carried out to research for T. cruzi and to evaluate the inflammatory infiltrate in the muscular and myenteric plexus in 39 esophagi (20 with and 19 without megaesophagus) and 50 colons (25 with and 25 without megacolon). The frequency of T. cruzi in megaesophagus was 2...

The future of mega-events has never been more uncertain. ongoing COVID-19 pandemic introduced an unparalleled level doubt regarding the kind that will take place in coming years. While 2019 call for papers could not predict such a radical shock, this special issue arrives at quite unique moment reflection. Prior to 2020, cities were already questioning traditional format (e.g. Olympics and Expo...

Recently, as urbanization and industrialization progresses, we have witnessed an increasing number of very large scale development projects (termed mega projects in this paper) all around the world, especially in developing and emerging countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRICs). At the same time, issues with mega project decision-making are drawing special attention from invest...

Modeling thermal comfort provides quantitative evidence and parameters for effective and efficient urban planning, design, and building construction particularly in a dense and narrow inner city, which has become one of many concerns for sustainable urban development. This paper aims to develop geometric and mathematical models of wind and thermal comfort and use them to examine the impacts of ...

In the last half century former international adversaries have become cooperators through networking and knowledge sharing for decision making aimed at improving quality of life and sustainability; nowhere has this been more striking then at the urban level where such activity is seen as a key component in building "learning cities" through the development of social capital. Although mega-citie...

Reporting health data for large urban areas presents numerous challenges. In the case of Toronto, Ontario, amalgamation in 1998 merged six census subdivisions into one mega-city, resulting in the disappearance of standard reporting units. A population-based approach was used to define new health planning areas. Census tracts were used as building blocks and combined according to residential inc...

Vertebrate claudin proteins are integral components of tight junctions, which function as paracellular diffusion barriers in epithelia. We identified Megatrachea (Mega), a Drosophila transmembrane protein homologous to claudins, and show that it acts in septate junctions, the corresponding structure of invertebrates. Our analysis revealed that Mega has transepithelial barrier function similar t...