Magical Transformation Research Articles

Visually security privacy medical data protection scheme using compressive sensing and improved duffing chaotic system

Health and medical data frequently contain sensitive patient information that must be protected. Existing visual security schemes for medical images exhibit limitations in the imperceptibility of cipher images and the performance of image reconstruction. This paper introduces and evaluates a novel approach called Visual Meaningful Image Encryption (VMIE) for securing medical images. The proposed VMIE scheme employs a chaotic system based on the Duffing equation for initial encryption. Medical images are processed and encrypted in a sparse domain. A Bidirectional Chaotic Magic Transformation (BCMT) algorithm is then applied to scramble the sparse medical images. The scrambled data undergoes compression and diffusion. An adaptive embedding strategy employing the Discrete Cosine Stockwell Transform (DCST) integrates confidential data into the host image. The performance of the proposed chaotic system is validated through theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. Simulation results, along with comparisons to existing schemes, demonstrate the efficacy of the VMIE method in enhancing visual security and its suitability for natural images. The VMIE approach presented in this paper offers a promising solution for securing medical images, effectively addressing the limitations of current visual security schemes.

Witchcraft and the Uncanny Origins of Cinema

Around the turn of the twentieth century, the rise of cinema as an art form and as a medium of communication offered new ways of transmitting old myths. The gothic figure of the witch offered a frisson of transgression that was ultimately contained on the big screen, especially in works considered to be unthreatening because of their playful nature. The power of transformation ascribed to witches was mirrored in the power of film itself, as demonstrated by cinema's origin story, the ‘lucky’ accident that took place as Méliès filmed on the Place de l’Opéra, in which men appeared to become women and a trolley turned into a hearse. This essay examines the gendered (and often transgendered) struggle for dominance in films depicting witches and magical transformation in the context of the Freudian uncanny in a number of early films, including several silent-era precursors to MGM's Wizard of Oz (Fleming 1939).

MULTIMODAL UKRAINIAN BRAND NARRATIVE: SEMIOTICS, STRUCTURE, ARCHETYPES

The aim of the study is to identify the structural-narrative, semiotic, and archetypal properties of the Ukrainian multimodal narrative as a semiotic space of secondary signification and social mythologization. The data for analysis include slogans and promotional multimodal videos (video narratives) of the Ukrainian brand “Золотий вік” (Golden Age). Based on multimodal research, semiotics and advertising mythology theories, as well as the theories of cultural archetypes, and utilizing multimodal, narrative, narrative-semiotic, and archetypal analysis, in conjunction with conceptual integration tools, the article has achieved the following key results. The Ukrainian brand narrative is a multimodal discursive construct formed by a combination of multiple semiotic codes realized through verbal and non-verbal sign systems via auditory and visual channels. The modules are integrated through multimodal video narratives, constructing a semiotic world integrated with the secondary signified “love” and the associated concepts that replace the denotative meaning of the brand as a jewelry company and its products as ornaments. The secondary signified is verbalized through slogans, visualized through plots, voiced by background songs or voice-over narrators, and encoded by cultural codes in their intertextual and archetypal aspects. Multimodal video-narratives, featuring various characters, narrative plots, and formal-narrative structures, exhibit isomorphism with respect to the possible worlds they construct, archetypal images, motifs, and characters, as well as analogous narrative plots with differing levels of reduction in structural narrative elements. The verbal module, based on a slogan, as well as invariant auditory accompaniment common to all video narratives – the song “Love” and off-screen narrative, supports a hermeneutic code because it contains a key metaphor based on the slogan and peripheral metaphorical components that reveal the conceptual features of its target space. The audio-visual module forms a proaritic code based on the narrative plots of advertising clips in a three-component possible world: extratextual frame narrative, textual pseudoreal narrative, and fairytale narrative. The cultural code is realized through various multimodal resources. The slogan and the brand name include explicit references to the source intertext based on the song. In the video narratives, techniques of interdiscursivity are used, combining elements of melodrama, a romantic story, and a fairy tale, as well as references to archetypal images, motifs, and elements of the archetypal cyclical time. Central to these are the archetypal images of dreams, magic, hearts, and motifs of the magical helper-giver, the journey, crossroads, and magical transformation of those who receive a branded gift. The main archetypes are those of gold and the ring-circle, associated with the symbolism of the sun. Cyclical temporality, associated with mythological time, is actualized by recurring motifs and underpins the unity of love and preciousness from the perspective of the connotations of “eternity” – as eternal spiritual and material values. The semantic code of connotations is related to the secondary signification meanings, which associate the brand’s products with “embodied” love and is based on all the brand’s narrative modules, constructing its social mythology. The symbolic code is based on archetypal symbols and the core value of the brand in its implicit opposition to values foreign to the brand, appealing to the motivational value of “love and the need for belonging” in the hierarchy of human motivations. The perspective for further research is the analysis of the pragmatics of multimodal narratives in Ukrainian brands.

QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE READINESS OF OLDER PRESCHOOL CHILDREN TO STUDY AT SCHOOL

Scientific considerations made it possible to conclude that the final stage of the diagnostic procedure is the assessment of measurements. Therefore, the article presents the generalized result of a set of diagnostic tasks in the form of assessments: levels and scores. They reflect a certain degree of development in older preschoolers of important components of personal development and activity: emotional-valuable, cognitive, regulatory, creative, and playful while end-to-end abilities and skills that underlie the key competencies of future school studying. Based on the practical application with 6-7-year-old preschoolers of the set of diagnostic tasks "Magic Transformations", the qualitative and quantitative indicators of five levels of the child's readiness for start to study at primary school were characterized. Qualitative and quantitative indicators of a child's readiness to study at primary school are described as. The child's readiness for schooling is fully developed (63 – 47 points). The readiness of the child to study at school is sufficiently developed (46 – 32 points). The child's readiness to study at school is in the formative stage (31 – 16 points). The readiness of the child to study at school is conditional (15 – 7 points). The child is not ready for school (6 – 0 points). In the future, it is planned to subject a scientific assessment of the educational, educational, and developmental influences on preschoolers from the side of adults in the matter of preparing preschoolers for studying at school, with further implementation of developments in the practice of working with children.

The Impact of Social Class on Speech and Speech Inventiveness in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion

The paper analyses the impact of social class on speech and further magical transformation of speech, which refers here speech inventiveness. Pygmalion, which was written by Bernard Shaw and is considered to be one of the most well-known works of contemporary British theater, exploits verbal violence in the guise of common language in order to impose authority over persons who are illiterate. Professor Higgins constantly mistreats the lower class flower girl Liza (Eliza) in the play, but as a result of the phonetic teachings she receives from her, Liza finally goes through a significant social transformation. Liza gains social standing as a consequence of her phonetic education and subsequent language skill improvement, but she also feels alienated because she has left her class as a result of the knowledge she has learned and is not fully welcomed by a different class. To put it another way, Liza's education in phonetics helped her to conform to society and do so, but it did not materially improve her social status.

Emotionale Fähigkeiten in den (neo-)existenzialistischen Perspektiven von Sartre und Moran

Abstract The paper explores emotional abilities from the (neo-)existentialist perspectives of Jean-Paul Sartre and Richard Moran. First, it reconstructs Sartre’s understanding of emotions as active comportments achieving a magical transformation of the world. Second, it explores what existentialists mean by first-person authority: Regarding my own emotions, I cannot only explore what I feel, but I also need to ask myself what to feel. The claim is that my emotions depend on me committing to them. Third, I highlight a difference between a neo-existentialist account which focuses on reflective self-constitution, and a vintage existentialist approach which focuses on pre-reflective self-awareness. Forth, I point out that (neo-)existentialism helps to make explicit the normative claim which is implied when speaking of abilities regarding one’s emotions. The claim is that it is up to me to either endorse my emotions or to change who I am to feel differently. Finally, I indicate the limits of such an approach when it comes to social structures of inequality and domination.

Fairy-Tale Reanimation Wanted for Better Futures

Among genres of the fantastic, fairy tales are set apart in their traditional and most popular versions by the hope they seek to elicit through magical transformations and expectation of happy endings. Their success testifies to their paradoxical functions as pathways showing the route to a ready-made adult life but also imaginative solutions to problems experienced by those who are small, vulnerable, or different. The proliferation of adaptations in the contemporary fairy-tale web signals the need to revitalize fictions in danger of losing their appeal as generators of hope. We consider two fairy-tale adaptations—a graphic novel and a feature film—and their wondrous reanimating strategies, specifically revitalizing the genre’s crossover appeal and recognizing relations across differences. Our approach recognizes that fairy tales can open up possibilities for being and acting in the world that are not confined to socially sanctioned paths.

Visually meaningful image encryption scheme based on new-designed chaotic map and random scrambling diffusion strategy

Since most of the existing image encryption algorithms hide the plaintext information by encrypting the image into a noise like image, the encrypted image is very different from the original image, and the visual security of the encrypted image is ignored. In view of this defect, a visually meaningful image encryption scheme combining new chaotic mapping and parallel compressed sensing is proposed, which makes the image content and vision get double protection. Firstly, a newly designed one-dimensional chaotic map derived from the fractional form of trigonometric function is used for constructing the controlled measurement matrix and disturb the strong correlation of images. Secondly, a bidirectional random scrambling algorithm based on chaotic magic transformation (CMT) is designed to disturb the wavelet packet coefficient matrix of plain image. Then, the scrambled secret image is encrypted and compressed with the help of chaotic measurement matrix and the newly designed random chaotic pixel diffusion strategy. Finally, the secret image is hidden in another large carrier image such as plain image through the wavelet packet transform embedding algorithm. As a result, an image is protected by both visual and information security. Simulation results and security analysis make clear that the proposed encryption scheme is feasible and effective under the premise of guaranteeing visual security and decryption quality.

Structure-switchable aptamer-arranged reconfigurable DNA nanonetworks for targeted cancer therapy

The structural DNA nanotechnology holds great potential application in bioimaging, drug delivery and cancer therapy. Herein, an intelligent aptamer-incorporated DNA nanonetwork (Apt-Nnes) is demonstrated for cancer cell imaging and targeted drug delivery, which essentially is a micron-scale pattern with the thickness of double-stranded monolayer. Cancer cell-surface receptors can make it perform magical transformation into small size of nanosheet intermediates and specifically enter target cells. The binding affinity of Apt-Nnes is increased by 3-fold due to multivalent binding effect of aptamers and it can maintain the structural integrity in fetal bovine serum (FBS) for 8 h. More interestingly, target cancer cells can cause the structural disassembly, and each resulting unit transports 4963 doxorubicin (Dox) into target cells, causing the specific cellular cytotoxicity. The cell surface receptor-mediated disassembly of large size of DNA nanostructures into small size of fractions provides a valuable insight into developing intelligent DNA nanostructure suitable for biomedical applications.

STUDY OF THE READINESS OF OLDER PRESCHOOL CHILDREN FOR SYSTEMATIC EDUCATION IN THE CONDITIONS OF REFORMING THE UKRAINIAN SCHOOL

The article presents some results of the scientific of the research diagnostic readiness of children for learning at school. The newest approaches to the diagnostic assessment of a child's readiness for school were characterized. There is shown the novelty of the research on this issue. In particular, it consists of the development, and substantiation of complex methodological tools for assessing the readiness of older preschool children to study in primary school in the period of the reformation of the school system, taking into account new educational trends of competence approach to assessing their personal development. The diagnostic tasks were created. The “Magic Transformations" is a set of diagnostic testing actions for studying the child's readiness for school. This method combines pedagogical and psychological methods of examination. It is based on the process of interaction between an adult and a child The authors note that the main criterion of the current state of readiness of the child to study in primary school is the established manifestation of indicators of intellectual, motivational, emotional, and volitional maturity of the child, which is reflected in the statistically generalized and average values. The obtained quantitative data will be considered as a reference point for the first approximation to predict the success of the child's future learning activities.

Brutal Aesthetics: Dubuffet, Bataille, Jorn, Paolozzi, Oldenburg

Brutal Aesthetics: Dubuffet, Bataille, Jorn, Paolozzi, Oldenburg

Video Review: The Soothsayings of Iris

Video Review: <i>The Soothsayings of Iris</i>

Apuleius Madaurensis. Metamorphoses, Book III. Text, Introduction, and Commentary by Leonardo Costantini

Reviewed by: Apuleius Madaurensis. Metamorphoses, Book III. Text, Introduction, and Commentary by Leonardo Costantini Donald Lateiner Apuleius Madaurensis. Metamorphoses, Book III. Text, Introduction, and Commentary. By Leonardo Costantini. Leiden and Boston: Brill. 2021. Pp. xiii, 375. The "Groningen Commentaries" on the Metamorphoses began with Rudy van der Paardt's edition of Book 3 (Amsterdam 1971). Recent developments in the study of ancient fictions and of Apuleius with regard to his career, context, and the influences on him have required a new commentary on this book, which relates Lucius' arrest and trial for murder during the parochial Risus festival as well as his transformation into an ass. Costantini differs at points from van der Paardt's predecessor commentary and copiously adduces perceptive but less familiar Italian scholarship. He divides the third book into three principal sections occupying few days: the Risus festival's capital trial (ch. 1–12), Lucius and Photis' erotic pleasures (ch. 13–20), and Lucius' disastrous curiosity and risible transformation (ch. 21–29). The incidents of Pamphile's lust for a handsome blond lad and the consequent (but previously narrated) unheroic "utricide" (3.18) are also covered. Costantini provides a conservative text (printed consecutively, 20–41), a wide-ranging introduction of twenty-seven pages, and commentary on its twenty-nine chapters. Thirteen [End Page 383] chapters offer extended introductions on germane topics, such as "Pamphile turning into an owl: the motif of metamorphic witches" in Chapter 21. Chapter 3 (Comm. 74–89) has an introduction to declamation in the ancient novel and to the head night-watchman's oratorical strategy. Costantini notes that Apuleius presents all the canonical elements of a forensic accusation in the gruesome trial scene interrupting Lucius' witless search for magical transformation. He explicates, for example, puzzling phrases such as praeconis amplo boatu (3.3) by tracing Apuleius' figurative use of a verb initially denoting the bellowing of oxen, first to Varro, but before him, to Ennius and Pacuvius. For further history, Costantini refers readers forward to 5.29 (GCA 2004, 333–334), where we meet Venus, another histrionic seeker of attention, quam maxime boans.1 The mock trial allows the sophist/novelist and the desperate dabbler in magic Lucius to dazzle with inappropriate but otherwise impressive rhetoric of a long literary lineage. In the Introduction to Chapter 4, the author surveys the characters of Met. 3. Here Costantini points out stock comic elements in the maid Photis, the host Milo, the witch Pamphile, Lucius' fabricated latrones, and the real ones by whom he is abducted with their Plautine slapstick, door-banging irruption. Lucius is ass-ish before he becomes Lucius-ass. The "reality-show" drama, as Costantini observes (9, and Comm. 3.3.2–9), features the commander of the night-watch's grotesque narrative and the grieving women "relatives" of the three dead men—magically inflated goat-skin-bags. Forensic oratory and hysteria introduce Lucius' pompous but unprepared defense and "hilarious" (3.12), humiliating moment of truth.2 The Introduction to Chapter 8 examines Apuleius' "baroque aesthetics" (Louis Callebat's phrase),3 situating it in the Antonine epoch, and highlighting its innovative stylist, Fronto the hypochondriac (23). Numidian Fronto, the imperial Tutor to Marcus Aurelius (and Lucius Verus) and consul in 143, wrote a Laudes Fumi et Pulveris (and another essay carefully praising Carelessness) explicitly with a view of producing pleasure, not wisdom. The Frontoniani embraced early Latin writers and popular speech; Apuleius was arguably his most successful enthusiast. The style's characteristics include obscure archaizing, epicisms, neologisms, idiolectic syntax, pleonasms, diminutives, suspected hapax legomena (which may have once been less rare or even colloquial), and colloquial phrases. Is plusculus (3.17.2), for example, archaic or colloquial—or both? Costantini limits the noted effect of Apuleius' Platonism in Book 3 to the "negative characterisation" (21) of Lucius—wisely so. He frequently notes allusions to and quotations of Plautus, Cicero, Vergil, and Ovid, and illustrates how metaliterary references to comedy, tragedy, and epic enrich the narrative texture. Travel narratives invite sudden peripeteiai and inset narratives such as Diophanes the Chaldaean's prophetic words to [End Page 384] young Lucius: gloria satis florida...

CREATIVE IMAGINATION AS A COMPONENT OF SENIOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN'S PSYCHOLOGICAL READINESS FOR LEARNING IN THE NEW UKRAINIAN SCHOOL

The article analyzes the role of creative imagination in preschoolers’ psychological readiness for learning. Creative imagination, being the leading new formation at preschool childhood and an essential sign of a new type of thinking, is, therefore, an evidence of the transition from preschool to primary school age and an indicator of intellectual readiness to learn at school. The authors studied theoretically the development of senior preschoolers' creative imagination. Despite numerous works on preschool childhood, scientists’ attention to creativity, creativity development, ingenuity and creative imagination as an important part of preschool education and a component of first-form children’s psychological readiness for learning have increased only recently. Namely, creative imagination should be regarded as an integral component (and an indicator) of senior preschoolers’ readiness to learn in the new Ukrainian school. The authors discussed the assessment, development and control stages of the experimental part of the scientific research, as well as the goals and content of each stage. The express-method, used by the authors to diagnose children’s creative imagination, included a special "Magic transformations" technique: children were asked to finish the drawings of standard (familiar to children) geometric figures. The children’s drawings were assessed as creative products in its narrow meaning, that is, as a result of creative problem solving. The criteria for senior preschoolers’ creative imagination were determined: the focus on creating a mental image, independence in creating a mental image, an initiative in creating a mental image, and the desire to create a new mental image. Analysis of the obtained experimental data revealed the need for a special program and favorable conditions for the development of senior preschoolers' creative imagination. The authors describe in detail the method developing creative imagination during learning the basics of literacy. Children's activities are considered as the leading means for creative imagination development. According to a popular opinion, a leading means for developing senior preschoolers' creative imagination is speech activities, in particular, reading and writing. The authors note that the developmental effect of the method is due to the promotion of children's imagination and creativity, not only their mastering of operational activities, i.e. reading letters. A detailed statistical analysis allowed concluding that the development of children's creative imagination with the basics of literacy was quite effective. The further research may focus on expanding the range of creative tasks for the development of senior preschoolers’ creative imagination, taking into account children’s individual characteristics, as well as on clarifying the creative imagination criteria. Besides, preschoolers’ psychological readiness for school, peculiarities of preschooler’s imagination as well as the experimental and statistical confirmation of the leading role of preschoolers’ creative imagination in their psychological readiness for learning may also be the subjects of new scientific research.

CREATIVE IMAGINATION AS A COMPONENT OF SENIOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN'S PSYCHOLOGICAL READINESS FOR LEARNING IN THE NEW UKRAINIAN SCHOOL

The article analyzes the role of creative imagination in preschoolers' psychological readiness for learning. Creative imagination being the leading new formation of preschool childhood and an essential sign of a new type of thinking, is, therefore, an evidence of the transition from preschool to primary school age and an indicator of intellectual readiness to learn at school. The authors present the results of a theoretical study of the development of senior preschoolers' creative imagination. Despite numerous works on preschool childhood, only recent years have seen increased scientists' attention to the problem of developing creativity, creativity, ingenuity and creative imagination as an important part of preschool education and a component of first-graders' psychological readiness for learning. It is the creative imagination that should be an integral component (and an indicator) of senior preschoolers' readiness to learn in a new Ukrainian school. The authors discuss the assessment, development, and control stages of the experimental part of scientific research, as well as the goals and content of each stage. The express-method used by the authors to diagnose children's creative imagination included a special "Magic transformations" technique, which asks children to finish the drawings of standard (and thus familiar to children) geometric figures. The children's drawings were assessed as creative products in its narrow meaning, that is, as the results of solving a creative problem. The senior preschoolers' creative imagination criteria were found to include the focus on creating a mental image, independence in creating a mental image, the initiative in creating a mental image, and the desire to create a new mental image. Analysis of the obtained experimental data revealed the need for a special program and favorable conditions for the development of senior preschoolers' creative imagination. The authors describe in detail the method of development of creative imagination by teaching the basics of literacy. Children's activities are considered as the leading means for the development of children's creative imagination. According to a popular opinion, a leading means for developing senior preschoolers' creative imagination is speech activity, in particular, reading and writing. The authors note that the developmental effect of the method is due to the promotion of children's imagination and creativity, not only their mastering of operational activities, i.e. reading letters. A detailed statistical analysis allowed concluding that the development of children's creative imagination by teaching them the basics of literacy was quite effective. The authors believe that further research may focus on expanding the range of creative tasks for the development of senior preschoolers' creative imagination, taking into account children's individual characteristics, as well as on clarifying the creative imagination criteria. Besides, preschoolers' psychological readiness for school, peculiarities of preschooler's imagination as well as the experimental and statistical confirmation of the leading role of preschoolers' creative imagination in their psychological readiness for learning may also be the subjects of new scientific research.

The Disney ‘Princess Bubble’ as a Cultural Influencer

The Disney ‘Princess Bubble’ as a Cultural Influencer

Queer Transformations and Transgressive Bodies in the Fairy Tales of Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy

In Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy’s animal tales such as “The White Cat,” “The Blue Bird,” and “The Bee and the Orange Tree,” magical transformations enable the principle characters to transgress the limits imposed upon them by their gender and species, challenging misogynistic and anthropocentric hierarchies that reinforce the superiority of men over women, mind over body, and humans over animals. The metamorphosing bodies of the characters function as narrative sites where multiple identities and sexualities intersect. Creating hybrid identities and queer relationships that expand a restrictive heteronormativity, these stories demonstrate the fluid and dynamic nature of sex, gender, and desire.

COVID‐19 and children. From Luis Sepulveda to Madam Mim

When Luis Sepulveda was asked about his source of inspiration for writing ‘The Story of a Seagull and The Cat Who Taught Her to Fly’, he immediately referred to his children. It took him 2 years to write his masterpiece, translated in over 40 countries with several theatre and film adaptations: the children's own imagination, the surrealism and the language without ambiguities but at the same time full of poetry were all functional to develop and finalise the novel (because there is nothing more difficult than writing a story for children!). COVID-19, which sadly killed the famous Chilean writer, has become a source of daily conversation and the related information overload, rumours and misinformation along with the loss of daily routine and rapidly changing situation may lead to anxiety, depression and loneliness. Children may feel the same and most importantly have often the sense of what the adults surrounding them are feeling. While talking and trying to help children understand what is currently happening as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic can be challenging, this remains crucial to enable them to cope with it and to relieve their fears – at least partially. A series of materials have been developed by international agencies like the Centers for Disease Control1 and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF),2 with the aim of building up children self-confidence as well as educating them on hand-washing and other protection measures. The history of cinema could also lend a very important hand on this occasion. As brilliantly exposed by an article in 2017,3 The Sword in the Stone, animated musical fantasy comedy based on the novel of the same name by T.H. White, can provide surprising information about medical knowledge and social impact of an infectious disease, especially as conveyed to non-medical people. In the Sword in the Stone, Merlin challenges Madam Mim to save Arthur and the fight is performed through several magical transformations. Finally, Merlin defeats Madam Mim by transforming himself into a fictional germ called malignalitaloptereosis which infects her (Fig. 1). The choice to defeat Madam Mim by a viral infection is indicative of the knowledge of the risks related to viral diseases. In those years (late 1950s/early 1960s), measles represented a great social and public health problem and a fervid research activity was taking place to counteract it. A very recent collaboration of more than 50 organisations working in the humanitarian sector under the coordination of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (IASC MHPSS RG) has led to the production of a new story book (‘My Hero is You, How kids can fight COVID-19!’) to help children understand and come to terms with COVID-19. The process culminating in this fascinating project included a global survey distributed in Arabic, English, Italian, French and Spanish to assess children's mental health and psychosocial needs during COVID-19 outbreak. Survey results were used to conceive a framework of topics to be addressed through the story. Feedback from over 1700 children, parents, care givers and teachers from around the world took place and helped to review and tailor the final version of the story.4 In this very unusual situation, both the fragility but also the creativity of the childhood brain must be taken into consideration – as Arthur would put it ‘Just because you can't understand something, it doesn't mean it's wrong!’ – and the only way to mitigate the impact of this kind of event on a child's mind is an all-family and all-society approach when dealing with information and measures related to current pandemic – previous examples particularly outside medical background may be extremely helpful to address children's needs during emergencies. Our inspiration has come from our children. Therefore, we would like to express our love to Bianca, Lorenzo Maria, Arianna Shevan, Tessa Emilia and Talitha Julia.

The author's approach to the level of definition and formation of artistic and productive competence of children of senior preschool age

The article outlines the structure of the phenomenon "artistic and productive competence" based on theoretical research of modern scientific psychological and pedagogical literature. The existing approaches to defining the concept of preschoolers’ imagination are described. The essence of artistic, creative imagination of senior preschoolers lies in their ability to create a sensual image independently, to transform this image from the invisible into the visible.&#x0D; The author's method of determining the level of senior preschoolers’ creative imagination is presented. It is noted that the teacher analyzes the results of the child's geometric shape drawing during the game diagnostic task "Magic Transformations" in order to determine it.&#x0D; The author describes the technology of using art as an integrator of the development of a preschool child’s creative abilities. The article deals with the author's technology of image creation, that is aimed at: 1) the development of emotional and sensory perception of objects and phenomena of the environment; 2) providing conditions for the self-expression of each child. The author 's view on the use of art as a means of development of the child' s personality is proposed.&#x0D; Technology of image creation involves the development of the ability to see and understand the beautiful in nature, in the environment through emotional perception; comprehension of the communicative function of art by the child; use of music, literature, games, creative tasks to create an image; activating interest in socializing in artistic activities. The article identifies work with the grain of the image as the most optimal method of working with children, which is not regulated by certain rules, and provides for centering on the source of the image.&#x0D; The pedagogical conditions that are necessary to optimize the use of the technology of education in pre-school educational establishments are proposed for the implementation of the work. These pedagogical conditions are aimed at special pedagogical stimulation of the child's internal forces.

Beauty salon- a marketplace icon

ABSTRACT Beautification rituals are powerful elements of consumer cultures that transcend time and place. In an age of “moral terrorism” to “invest” in the body as an imperative, beauty salons -a twentieth century invention- have become a ubiquitous resource for individuals’ self-actualization through consumption. This market-mediated place dedicated to beauty services is less investigated than the extensive multidisciplinary literature available on beauty and the body. We argue in this paper that beauty salons achieve iconicity through the interplay of four critical dimensions that reinforce one another: (1) the spatial performances of withdrawal from the world, (2) the mediation of experiences of gendered intimacies, (3) the articulations of complex narratives of magical transformations, and (4) the subtle claims of medico-scientific truths that captivate consumers.