Self-stabilised fractality of sea-coasts through damped erosion

Erosion of rocky coasts spontaneously creates irregular seashores. But the geometrical irregularity, in turn, damps the sea-waves, decreasing the average wave amplitude. There may then exist a mutual self-stabilisation of the waves amplitude together with the irregular morphology of the coast. A simple model of such stabilisation is studied. It leads, through a complex dynamics of the earth-sea interface, to the appearance of a stationary fractal seacoast with dimension close to 4/3. Fractal geometry plays here the role of a morphological attractor directly related to percolation geometry.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Preferences for Landscape Styles and Landscape Elements

Visual preferences for various landscapes have been of long-standing interest to researchers. However, the direct relationship of landscape style with preference as well as cross-cultural comparison of preferences between Western and non-Western groups has received little attention. Three aspects of this problem are addressed in this study. First, the characteristics of preferences for three landscape styles, namely, Korean, Japanese, and Western are presented. Second, characteristics of preferences for three landscape elements-water, vegetation, and rock-are analyzed. Finally, a photo-questionnaire was used to make cross-cultural comparisons of preferences between a Korean group and a Western tourist group. It was found that regardless of cultural differences, both Japanese landscape style and the landscape element water were most preferred by both Koreans and Western tourists. For the Koreans, Western landscape style was more preferred than their own Korean landscape style whereas Korean landscape style is more preferred by Western tourists. The results point to both landscape style and landscape elements as the influencing factors on landscape preference, regardless of cultural differences, and there are both differences and similarities in preferences between Korean and Western groups.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66732/2/10.1177_0013916592244003.pd

A relação entre o social e o natural nas abordagens de hazards e de desastres The relation between the social and the natural in the approach of hazards and disasters

O artigo aborda as teorias dos Hazards e dos Desastres. Nos últimos anos estas duas tradições teóricas têm recebido novos impulsos pela renovação de seus marcos de referência conceitual. Construídas em torno de uma longa tradição de pesquisa empírica, estas teorias explicam os impactos provocados por fenômenos como enchentes, terremotos, tornados e epidemias mediante a integração analítica das dimensões natural e social. Neste sentido, seu estudo pode fornecer subsídios para a interpretação destes problemas no Brasil.<br>The article deals with the theory of hazards and disasters. Over the past years, these two theoretical traditions have received new impulse through the renovation of their conceptual foundations. Constructed around a long tradition of empirical research, these theories explain the impacts brought by phenomena like floods, earthquakes, tornadoes and epidemics through the analytical integration of social and natural dimensions. In this regard, its study may provide grants in order to interpret these problems in Brazil