FRACTALS-COMPLEX GEOMETRY PATTERNS AND SCALING IN NATURE AND SOCIETY

The investigation of phenomena involving complex geometry, patterns and scaling has gone through a spectacular development in the past decades. For this relatively short time, geometrical and/or temporal scaling have been shown to represent the common aspects of many processes occurring in an unusually diverse range of fields including physics, mathematics, biology, chemistry, economics, technology and human behavior. As a rule, the complex nature of a phenomenon is manifested in the underlying intricate geometry which in most of the cases can be described in terms of objects with non-integer (fractal) dimension. In other cases, the distribution of events in time or various other quantities show specific scaling behavior, thus providing a better understanding of the relevant factors determining the given processes. Using fractal geometry and scaling as a language in the related theoretical, numerical and experimental investigations, it has been possible to get a deeper insight into previously intractable problems. Among many others, a better understanding of growth phenomena, turbulence, iterative functions, colloidal aggregation, biological pattern formation, stock markets and inhomogeneous materials has emerged through the application of such concepts as scale invariance, self-affinity and multifractality. The main challenge of the journal devoted exclusively to the above kinds of phenomena lies in its interdisciplinary nature; it is our commitment to bring together the most recent developments in these fields so that a fruitful interaction of various approaches and scientific views on complex spatial and temporal behaviors in both nature and society could take place.