Aesthetic Attractiveness Research Articles

Green buffers near industrial plants, examples in Jefferson County TX

Green buffers between industrial plants and residential areas have multiple purposes in mitigating air pollution and protecting the environment. This study focuses on providing information on examples of green space development by industries near residential areas in Jefferson County, Texas. One represents a full buffer where residences were totally removed, another is a partial buffer where some residences were removed in a neighborhood and the third represents vegetation of a formerly industrial facility. Additional estimates on benefits of buffer spaces with respect to a pollutant plume are also considered. The study used geospatial and property data from 1966 to 2020. The transition from a residential area to a full or partial buffers highlights possible mitigation of air pollution impacts while serving additional functions, such as boosting stormwater infiltration and improving the aesthetic attractiveness of the area. The transformation from oil tanks to forested space may display the potential for environmental remediation, but not all spaces are suitable for fully forested buffers, as safety and other limitations should be considered. With the analysis of the classic Plume Equation insights can be provided regarding the possible impact of green buffers on ground-level pollutant concentrations. The calculations for atmospheric stability classes A-F and for various stack heights provide an understanding of how different conditions may affect the pollutant concentrations. The presence of a green buffer can play a crucial role in controlling ground-level pollution concentrations and reduce a community’s perception of risk.

NOTION OF TREND "PHYGITAL" IN CULTURE

In today’s rapidly changing world, new trends, technologies and no-tions, combining various aspects of the digital age, are actualized. In the cul-tural environment, an actual phenomenon is the phygital world «thrown» into everyday life as a marketing move and claiming an ideological position in fu-ture. Phygital art is becoming an important part of the creative and media in-dustry, bringing investment and aesthetic attractiveness to the creation of vir-tual concert programs, films, games and exhibitions. The purpose of the study is to generalize and fix the phenomenon «phygital» in the cultural environment and determine its mechanisms and essential characteristics.

An Observational Study on Cosmetics Use-related Adverse Effects: Cosmetovigilance Need of the Day.

The pursuit of aesthetic attractiveness and increased awareness have contributed significantly to the growth of the cosmetic industry. However, it is crucial to recognize that even the minimal use of cosmetics may have harmful consequences for both the overall well-being and the broader community, an issue that has yet to be adequately recognized or addressed. This study is aimed at providing insights into the usage pattern of consumer behavior regarding skin care products and to assess the prevalence and determinants of cosmetic-related adverse events among the general populace. A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out for four months in a satellite city of the National Capital Region (NCR) of India. The data from 435 respondents was collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using frequencies and percentages. Among 435 participants, 32.9% experienced one or more adverse effects owing to the use of skincare products; the prevalence was higher in females (36.3%). Hair loss, allergies, and dry skin were the most frequently reported adverse effects. The majority of the adverse reactions were reported with soap (21%), followed by shampoo (17%). The gender-wise difference between adverse effects of skin care products was found to be statistically significant. To improve the system's efficiency, a comprehensive review of the current regulatory protocols for cosmetics is crucial. Additionally, it is essential to widely disseminate information on Cosmetovigilance and promote the reporting of any adverse effects of cosmetics within the community; this is the demand of the present time.

A Method for Indoor Space Lighting Layout Design Based on Variable Granularity Co-evolution

This paper addresses the essential but tricky project of indoor area lighting graph, underscoring its importance in reaching energy efficiency, aesthetic attraction, and useful illumination. traditional lights design methods regularly fall short in adaptability and optimization, main to suboptimal illumination and electricity inefficiency. To triumph over these limitations, we suggest a unique approach employing a variable granularity co-evolutionary set of rules for indoor area lighting plan diagram. Our method initiates with a mathematical modeling of the indoor space, setting more than one optimization targets like lighting fixtures efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and aesthetic issues. The core of our method lies within the integration of a variable granularity method with a co-evolutionary set of rules. This amalgamation enables dynamic granularity modifications based on evolutionary progress, enhancing the search efficacy throughout multiple goals. Next steps include actual-time environmental tracking and comments integration, permitting adaptive lighting fixtures diagram modifications. Experimental results reveal the superiority of our approach over conventional techniques, showcasing huge upgrades in lighting fixtures best and energy intake. The proposed technique's adaptability and efficiency mark a widespread advancement in wise lighting fixtures diagram.

Comparative cross-sectional study of socio-psychological orthodontic needs and oral habits in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

This cross-sectional study analyzed the socio-psychological need for orthodontic treatment in children and adolescents with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and its association with deleterious oral habits. Children/adolescents aged 6-14 years old, with and without ASD, and their respective caregivers were included. Caregivers completed a questionnaire addressing children and adolescents' deleterious oral habits. To assess the socio-psychological need for orthodontic treatment, we utilized the aesthetic component of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Needs (IOTN). Caregivers and an orthodontist independently used the standardized IOTN aesthetic attractiveness scale containing ten intraoral photographs and compared them with the most similar condition of the child/adolescent. Data collection occurred at two universities in northeastern Brazil and at an ASD referral center. Statistical analyses encompassed descriptive statistics, Shapiro-Wilk, Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney, and Chi-squared tests with linear trend (α5%). The study involved 144 participants, evenly divided into two groups (ASD and non-ASN). The ASD group showed higher average IOTN-AC scores as evaluated by both professionals (mean score=4.78 [±2.34], p=.182) and caregivers (mean score=4.31[±2.71], p=.992). Caregivers reported notably elevated IOTN-AC scores in cases where onychophagy was absent (p=.049). Patients with ASD are indicated as having a relatively higher socio-psychological need for orthodontic treatment.

What drives our aesthetic attraction to birds?

In the Anthropocene, the era when the imprint of humans on nature is pervasive across the planet, it is of utmost importance to understand human relationships with other species. The aesthetics of nature, and of species, is one of the values that plays a role in shaping human-nature relationships. Birds are ubiquitous across the world. The beauty of birds exerts a powerful tug on human emotions, and bird-rich areas attract scores of eco-tourists. People naturally find some birds more beautiful or interesting than others, but we currently lack a global understanding of the specifics of what makes a species aesthetically attractive. Here, we used a global citizen-science database on bird attractiveness covering nearly all extant bird species, to show that there are specific visual features that drive our aesthetic appeal for some bird species over others. First, our aesthetic attraction is highest for smaller birds with specific, vivid colors (e.g., blue and red, and departing from brown-grey) and extreme ornaments (a long crest or tail). Second, our aesthetic attraction is highest for species with broad ranges, possibly because such species may be more familiar to us. The features that make us attracted to a particular bird strongly align with broad human visual aesthetic preferences in modern society. Unveiling the visual features underpinning our aesthetic attraction to birds is a critical step towards optimizing conservation (e.g., via conservation marketing) and education campaigns, and leverage the cultural ecosystem service potential of birds.

The iratebirds Citizen Science Project: a Dataset on Birds’ Visual Aesthetic Attractiveness to Humans

Amidst a global biodiversity crisis, shedding light on the factors that make us like a species can help us understand human’s nature-related attitudes and inform conservation actions, e.g. by leveraging flagship potential and helping identify threats. Despite scattered attempts to quantify birds’ aesthetic attractiveness to humans, there is no large-scale database providing homogeneous measures of aesthetic attractiveness that are comparable across bird species. We present data on the visual aesthetic attractiveness of bird species to humans, generated through an internet browser-based questionnaire. Respondents (n = 6,212) were asked to rate the appearance of bird species on a scale from 1 (low) to 10 (high) based on photographs from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Macaulay Library. The rating scores were modeled to obtain final scores of visual aesthetic attractiveness for each bird. The data covers 11,319 bird species and subspecies, with respondents from multiple backgrounds providing over 400,000 scores. This is the first attempt to quantify the overall visual aesthetic attractiveness of the world’s bird species to humans.

Assessing the aesthetic attractivity of European butterflies: A web-based survey protocol.

Aesthetic attractivity stands as an underestimated yet fundamental feature of species in conservation biology, significantly driving disproportionate protection efforts towards charismatic species. Despite the evidence, few attempts sought to precisely quantify the impact of aesthetic attractivity in defining priority of species for conservation actions (e.g. inclusion in International Union for Conservation of Nature red lists and protection lists). This study protocol describes the setting of an online test (available from April 2022 to April 2023 at www.unveiling.eu) designed to i) quantify the aesthetic attractivity to humans of the 496 European butterfly species and ii) identify which features (both in the perceived animal and in the perceiver) influence the aesthetic attractivity of a given butterfly species. The test is divided in 5 sections (personal data, ranking, single morphological features, emotional engagement, dispositional variables) aimed at profiling the relation each participant has with the species examined. In the long-term, evaluating butterflies' aesthetic attractivity could facilitate the critical assessment of current conservation strategies, such as the process of selection of flag and umbrella species by research institutions, environmental associations and Non Governative Organizations. This is expected to provide the much-needed evidence to set up unbiased biodiversity conservation strategies and counteract the selective anthropogenic pressure which favours the extinction of unattractive species, being no or less protected compared to charismatic species.

РОЗВИТОК ЕТНІЧНОГО ТУРИЗМУ В ПОЛІЕТНІЧНОМУ ПРОСТОРІ (НА ПРИКЛАДІ ЧЕРНІВЦІВ)

The algorithm and the methods of social-geographic study of ethnic tourism within poly-ethnic environment of a big city have been suggested. The stages to study ethnic tourism resources have been analyzed as follows: the study of geographical and historical specificities of formation of population ethnic structure; establishment of the degree of population ethnic variety and its dynamics; the study of the material and the spiritual cultural heritage of ethnic groups; quantitative estimation of attractiveness of ethnic tourism objects; mapping of ethnic tourism objects and development of ethnographic excursion routes. Chernivtsi as polyethnic and multi-cultural city is a notable example of sustainability of the development of ethnic tourism. The poly-ethnicity and multiculturality of the city was favored by its ethno-geographic disposition at the junction of three ethnic lands and the centuries-old history when the city was part of different states where each state essentially effected on population’s ethnic structure and left its imprint on city-planning and architectural environment as well as on its citizens’ material and spiritual culture. Chernivtsi is regarded to be an architectural pearl (represented by various architectural styles), and is downtown possesses the status of the area of conservation. The Government has registered 706 monuments of cultural heritage in Chernivtsi, where 20 monuments are of national value, and the architectural ensemble of the former residency of Bukovynian and Dalmatian Metropolitans is included into the UN List of World Heritage Sites. The objects of cultural heritage of the old city were grouped and systemized by their ethnic belonging. Relative quantitative (point-based) evaluation of ethnic tourism resources was conducted as to degree of their attractiveness. The whole diversity of ethnic tourism resources was for the purpose of primary point-based evaluation grouped into 15 blocks, each of them having their own specificity, own cognitive and attractive potentiality, and own methods of their study. Evaluation scales take into account the significance, aesthetic attractiveness, and the informative value of ethnic tourism objects. Ukrainians, Germans, Austrians, Romanians and Moldavians, Jews, Poles, Armenians were those ethnic groups that left the most notable “traces” in the material and spiritual cultural heritage within the poly-ethnic space of Chernivtsi. Mapping the objects of ethnic tourism allowed for the establishment of particularities of spatial disposition of the objects of respective ethnic culture and subsequent development of excursion routes to the biggest ethnic communities of Chernivtsi. Novelty. The objects of cultural heritage of Chernivtsi were grouped and systemized according to their ethnic belonging; the attractiveness of all ethnic tourism objects was evaluated according to developed point-based scale. Mapping the objects of ethnic tourism was helpful in the development of ethnographic excursion routes to the biggest ethnic communities of the city.

Voronoi Diagrams Generated by the Archimedes Spiral: Fibonacci Numbers, Chirality and Aesthetic Appeal

Voronoi mosaics inspired by seed points placed on the Archimedes Spirals are reported. Voronoi (Shannon) entropy was calculated for these patterns. Equidistant and non-equidistant patterns are treated. Voronoi tessellations generated by the seeds located on the Archimedes spiral and separated by linearly growing radial distance demonstrate a switch in their chirality. Voronoi mosaics built from cells of equal size, which are of primary importance for the decorative arts, are reported. The pronounced prevalence of hexagons is inherent for the patterns with an equidistant and non-equidistant distribution of points when the distance between the seed points is of the same order of magnitude as the distance between the turns of the spiral. Penta- and heptagonal “defected” cells appeared in the Voronoi diagrams due to the finite nature of the pattern. The ordered Voronoi tessellations demonstrating the Voronoi entropy larger than 1.71, reported for the random 2D distribution of points, were revealed. The dependence of the Voronoi entropy on the total number of seed points located on the Archimedes Spirals is reported. Voronoi tessellations generated by the phyllotaxis-inspired patterns are addressed. The aesthetic attraction of the Voronoi mosaics arising from seed points placed on the Archimedes Spirals is discussed.

Sandstone rock outcrops in the Outer Eastern Carpathians in Ukraine: Assessment of geotourism potential by the GAM and Brilha methods

In this paper, we assess geotourism potential of sandstone rock formations in the Outer Eastern Carpathians on the territory of Ukraine. We focus on the seven sites with sandstone rock outcrops, which are popular among hikers due to their aesthetic attractiveness and historic significance. Applying the two well-acknowledged methods of geotourism potential assessment, namely the Geosite Assessment Model (GAM) and the Brilha method, we evaluate significance of the selected rock formations as geological and geomorphological sites, which can be valuable for scientific and educational use as well. In the process of the analysis, we compare the assessment methods in terms of how complementary or contradictory results they may render if they are applied simultaneously to the same cases. We find that sandstone rock outcrops in the Ukrainian part of the Outer Eastern Carpathians are underexplored as geotourism attractions and more scientific attention is required to those and similar sites in the area to fully appreciate their potential.

Quantitative evaluation of attraction intensity of highway landscape visual elements based on dynamic perception

In order to quantify the aesthetic attraction of visual elements of highway landscape space, the concept of visual attraction intensity of highway landscape space is proposed, and the factors and indicators of visual attraction elements are clarified. Based on the perspective of human factors, taking passengers as the main attraction, taking 30 landscape elements from three typical highway landscape scenes, namely mountain highway landscape, plain highway landscape and elevated highway landscape, as the research object. The real-time evaluation and data processing system of subjective landscape preference has been independently developed, and combined with the processing and analysis of human-machine-environment synchronous quantitative analysis technology and in-depth learning, a “subjective+objective” quantitative evaluation model of highway landscape visual element attraction intensity based on dynamic perception has been constructed, revealing the quantitative relationship between highway landscape visual attraction elements and attraction intensity, The quantitative method and action law of the attraction intensity of highway landscape and the dynamic aesthetic perception of the attraction subject is clarified. It is found that the change of highway planning alignment, high green view rate and low enclosure have positive effects on the subjective preference score of the landscape (0.690), and there is a significant positive correlation between green view rate and enclosure; the richer the landscape elements such as mountains, trees and water bodies, the stronger the visual attraction, but the complexity of the landscape elements increases the cognitive load of the area of interest. Among the physiological indicators, there are significant correlations between EEG and ECG (0.790), EDA and ECG (0.632), and subjective preference and passengers' eye-movement behavior and EDA; as well as the change pattern of attraction intensity based on the dynamic perception of tunnel area. The results show that the attraction intensity of visual elements of highway landscape space based on dynamic perception is consistent with human aesthetic preference, visual perception and physiological response, which verifies the scientificity, appropriateness and accuracy of eye-movement analysis method and physiological analysis method for quantitative evaluation of aesthetic preference of highway landscape.

Neighborhood characteristics encouraging micromobility: An observational study for tourists and local users

This paper provides insight on the factors associated with shared micromobility usage in urban areas exploring the influence of socio-demographic factors and elements of the built environment at a fine level of analysis using spatial regression techniques. In this context, this study aims to extend existing knowledge on the subject differentiating from existing literature in three aspects: 1) conducting an analysis in a European city, and particularly a city in France, which has been a pioneer in the use of micromobility services; 2) Exploring differences between trips made by locals and trips made by foreign tourists revealing variations in usage patterns; 3) Introducing new variables associated with urban density and parking availability, as well as aesthetic attractiveness and touristic attractions. Results show that areas with increased percentage of young population present higher e-scooter trip density. Average income also has a positive effect, and this effect is higher in parts of the city where low incomes are observed. The presence of public transport stations, as well as shops and restaurants, increase e-scooter rides in an area. Local roads and cycling infrastructure encourage e-scooter usage, with this effect being stronger for areas in proximity to some major road segment. Finally, high density areas and areas where finding parking is difficult and costly, are also associated with higher e-scooter use. Results can help urban planners in local policy implementation, and shared mobility operators in vehicle redistribution strategy and fleet sizing.

Geoheritage resources and new direction of infrastructural growth in Egypt: From geosite assessment to policy development

Geoheritage can be exploited as a valuable geological resource in many countries and regions. Field investigations in a northeastern area of Egypt, to be named provisionally as the Qattamiya–Galala Corridor, permit to establish its geoheritage resources. Methodologically, this study includes identification and general description of geoheritage sites (geosites) on the basis of field experience, their semi-quantitative assessment by multiple criteria with scoring system, and qualitative documentation of their actual exploitation. This work uses the assessment approach already tested in Egypt and beyond. It focuses on geosites’ uniqueness (rarity) and several other properties such as number of geoheritage types, accessibility, vulnerability, need for interpretation, and scientific, educational, touristic, and aesthetic importance, each of which is scored. A total of 15 geosites are established and ranked from local to global. They belong to nine geoheritage types (palaeogeographical, sedimentary, stratigraphical, tectonic, economical, palaeontological, geomorphological, geohistorical, and igneous). Their perfect accessibility, absence of dangers, and aesthetic attractiveness should be noted. Many of these geosites need professional interpretation, i.e., they are not informative to unprepared visitors. These geoheritage resources are already exploited actively for the purposes of geosciences education and research. However, almost all geosites are not used in tourism. Importantly, many geosites are linked to mining activities or located close to beach recreation destinations. Their effective management requires conservation (cataloguing and physical maintenance) and geotourism development (installation of interpretive panels and marketing). A suitable option to achieve these tasks is geopark creation. The presence of important geoheritage resources in the study area and in the other parts of Egypt raises questions about development of the national policy for geoheritage resources exploitation. Particularly, this policy should address such issues as establishing legal frameworks and norms of geoheritage exploitation, creating and expanding national geopark network, and paying attention to waste management. Conjugation of major, country-level initiatives like the Galala project with geopark creation seems to be promising aspect of the geoheritage resources policy.

Inside the Michelangelo effect: The role of art and aesthetic attractiveness on perceived fatigue and hand kinematics in virtual painting.

It has recently been discovered that during a virtual reality task of painting, if the subjects have the illusion of recreating an artistic masterpiece, they improve their performances and perceive less fatigue compared to simply coloring a virtual canvas. This phenomenon has been called the Michelangelo effect. However, it was unclear if this effect was related to the aesthetic experience of beauty or if it was specific to artistic stimuli. To clarify this point, 26 healthy subjects performed the virtual task of erasing a blank sheet on the canvas, revealing an image that could be a painting or a photo, classified as beautiful or not. Beautiful paintings were famous artistic portraits, non-beautiful paintings were rough reproductions of them. Photos of popular people were matched with paintings according to their similarity for somatic traits, posture, and clothes. Beautiful and non-beautiful photos were classified according to whether the pictured person was famous or not for their beauty. For each stimulus the objective beauty, subjective beauty, and effort to complete the task perceived by the subject were self-assessed on a numerical rating scale, recorded and analyzed. Furthermore, the hand kinematic trajectory was instrumentally recorded and its spatiotemporal parameters were computed. Less fatigue was perceived for the paintings than for the photos (p =.020), but not for beautiful versus non-beautiful stimuli (p =.325). Only in the artistic stimuli, subjective beauty was found to be negatively correlated with perceived fatigue (p =.030) and performed errors (p =.005). The kinematic parameters were found to be affected by the interactions between the gender of the participant and that of the person in the photo. These results supported the idea that the Michelangelo effect was stronger when subjects interacted with artefacts, modulated by the perceived beauty of the artistic stimulus.

Public perception of Invisalign® clear aligner treatment: A cross-sectional survey-based study

Objectives: The demand for clear aligner treatment has increased in recent years. Thus, this study investigated public knowledge regarding Invisalign clear aligner treatment. Material and Methods: A web-based survey was administered through different social media platforms covering different aspects of Invisalign treatment, namely: Treatment efficiency, patient discomfort, appliance esthetic attractiveness, oral hygiene maintenance, and treatment aesthetic results. Participants were also asked to outline their perception of Invisalign treatment cost. A Likert-type scale was used to rank the participant responses. Data were analyzed with the Chi-square test and Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. Results: Out of 934 eligible adult participants, 19.6% were aware of Invisalign. Most of the Invisalign-familiar respondents were unaware of its cost (27.9%) but agree it is generally better (49.7%), requires fewer visits (38.2%), results in shorter treatment duration (39.4%) and reduced teeth discomfort (35%), more esthetically attractive (64%), yields easier oral hygiene maintenance (55.2%), and produces superior esthetic results (43.7%) than traditional braces. In addition, males and average-income participants were more likely to believe that Invisalign treatment produces superior esthetic results than traditional braces (P = 0.0002 and P = 0.002, respectively). Average-income participants also believed that Invisalign treatment was generally better (P < 0.0001). While participants in the age-range 55–64 years strongly believe, it is cheaper (P < 0.0001) than traditional braces. Conclusion: This study highlighted the lack of public knowledge about Invisalign treatment. The results also indicated the importance of ensuring public access to reliable information backed up by high-quality evidence.

Amor Loci: Auden in Rookhope

I present a conspectus of the imaginative geography of the English poet WH Auden. This imaginative geography is avowedly the product of a rootless, cosmopolitan which extols domestic virtues against the backcloth of an originary poetic homeland in Rookhope in the Northern Pennines of England. Auden’s poetry addresses eternal questions about the conditions under which communities thrive or decline, what dividends they bestow upon their members, the costs and benefits of choosing to cultivate local knowledge and attachments and how communities coexist at different scales. Auden’s topopoetics reflects his search for affective bonds in a life marked otherwise by placelessness. It is a quest for a sense of place in the absence of insideness – in this respect it affects more widespread concerns of how to belong to place in an age of hyper-globalisation. Although the landscape of the Northern Pennines held a profound aesthetic attraction for Auden, it was the numinous experience of his youth in Rookhope that allowed him to attach his poetic and personal biography to the place and ascribe its meaning. This amounted to a kind of elective belonging, albeit stripped of any sociological connotation or political commitment.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM DESIGN AS A FACTOR OF LANGUAGE LEARNER AUTONOMY DEVELOPMENT

Foreign language learner autonomy is a key capacity of a successful person in the 21st century due to the growing need for life-long education in the conditions of Euro integration and globalization. Modern educational institutions try to incorporate various means and forms of learning to develop learner autonomy. The article aims at the investigation of the peculiarities of Foreign Languages classroom design as a factor of foreign language learner autonomy development. Special emphasis is placed on the idea of Foreign Languages classroom zoning. The authors outline necessary equipment and strategies of its use in the process of autonomous students’ work in the Word Corner, Language Portfolio, Library and Face the Challenge Zones. The use of such educational facilities as Wordwall, Word Maps, Personal Tokens, Washing Line as means to decorate the classroom and promote foreign language learner’s autonomy is described too. The article suggests several approaches to short-term and long-term planning of student autonomous work in the Foreign Languages school classroom in the “Face the Challenge” zone. The simplicity, mobility and cost-effectiveness of the suggested facilities (furniture, seating, decorations) are their main advantages for both teachers and students. Rainbow design of work zones, materials and facilities in Foreign Languages classroom is presented as a way to integrate them all to represent the idea of student equality, unity and collaboration. The choice of rainbow design of the Foreign Languages classroom is approved by its aesthetic attractiveness, positive informal associations and universal awareness by teachers, students and parents. Suggested ideas of Foreign Languages classroom zoning and design of its educational environment are investigated as means to develop 21century 4C skills of critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration.

Complexity and Geoheritage Importance of Granite Pseudokarst from the Belaya River Gorge (Western Caucasus)

New investigations in the Western Caucasus contribute to the understanding of granite pseudokarst (sensu lato) and megaclasts linked to river erosion. A plot on the bank of the Belaya River (Mountainous Adygeya, Western Caucasus) was selected to examine diverse and abundant pseudokarst features (small rock basins, hollows, potholes, and channels) and large clasts. Morphological analysis of these features clarifies their general characteristics and genetic interpretations. Pseudokarst features can be classified into two major categories, namely the relatively small (<1 m) and large (>1 m) features. Potholes, which are usually 1–3 m in size, are the most characteristic features occurring on two levels, i.e., on steep walls of the gorge (half-filled with river water) and on slightly inclined surfaces of a terrace-like landform (subaerial exposure). In both cases, their walls from the side of the river are broken. Apparently, these potholes were formed on the river bottom. Subsequent incision of the gorge elevated potholes and the river has eroded them from one side. Apparently, some pseudokarst features are related to macroturbulent flood flows and granite weathering. Due to its scientific uniqueness and aesthetic attractiveness, this granite pseudokarst constitutes geoheritage, which can be exploited for the purposes of geoscience research and geotourism development.

The Relationships Between Motivation, Prior Knowledge, Involvement, Attitude, and Behavioral Intention: Focusing on Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival

motivations, attitude, and behavioral intention toward the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, China. It is also to test moderating roles of gender and past travel experience between these factors. Design/methodology/approach - Data was collected from potential Chinese visitors, after which 420 usable surveys were processed. Findings - To investigate our hypotheses, we used descriptive, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. We found that aesthetic attractiveness, purchase of local products, and involvement had positive effects on attitude toward the festival. Attitude toward the festival had a significant effect on behavioral intention to visit. Finally, it was also found that gender and past travel experience significantly moderated the interrelationships between these factors. Research implications or Originality Theoretical and managerial implications, as well as, suggestions for future research are discussed.