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Von heute auf morgen and Lulu , the twelve-tone operas of Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg, respectively, can be interpreted as works that sought to uphold a traditional formalism of Germanic opera construction amidst the post-Expressionistic aesthetics that the newer Zeitoper style strove to abolish. This new style aimed to popularize opera by embracing a new simplicity of contemporary values that discouraged the perpetuation of prior operatic dispositions. This dichotomy of old vs. new is presented in an analysis of the Von heute and Lulu libretti that traces their symbolic representation of womanhood and marriage from the male gaze, whereby an overlapping depiction emerges in both operas in their similar but varying treatment of these themes as parodies of their composers' time and the ongoing cultural conflict between moralities rooted in the past and non-conforming values that embrace modernized change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Minimally invasive injectable dermal fillers are one of the most commonly used aesthetic treatments for facial soft tissue restoration. Different formulations may be used simultaneously to target multiple areas of concern. Due to differences in their rheological properties that directly impact the recommended injection technique and overall result, the formulations in the Aliaxin® line are each designed to target different soft facial tissues. This case series addresses two potential treatment approaches and a combination approach specifically developed to achieve harmony and promote a full but soft facial appearance. To reach this goal, we used two different formulations: Aliaxin® Shape and Restore (ASR) and Aliaxin® Global Performance (AGP). Four patients, 35-55 years received treatments with ASR, AGP, or both products. Utilizing the two protocols simultaneously achieved targeted support, lift, and volume, along with effective full facial softening and an authentic aesthetic outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the authors (K-H. Y.) convened a panel of seven aesthetic experts from South Korea and Australia to create guidelines for treating facial lines of the upper face with letibotulinumtoxinA. The panel members provided recommendations for injection sites, dosage, and injection techniques for using letibotulinumtoxinA and also considered relevant anatomy, patient assessment and selection, and individual variations to evaluate clinical strategies for minimizing complications. The panelists provided recommendations for treating forehead horizontal lines, glabellar frown lines, and lateral canthal lines. The guidelines developed by the panel will support clinical practitioners of all skill levels in providing safe and effective aesthetic treatments of the forehead, glabellar complex, and lateral canthal lines with letibotulinumtoxinA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Memory is the picturisation of past events and the process of storing events and incidents with priority in the long-term memory (LTM) or the short-term memory (STM). It is accordingly a microscopic chemical change in the brain between the neurons at the connecting point. Bringing memory into literature serves as a compendium of different cultures, cultural and collective memories, identities and social disputes besides the fact that it also serves for imaginaries, aesthetics and philosophy. This paper aims to explore the retrieval of memory through the secondary cues as represented in the postmodern short story "The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu, an American science fiction and fantasy writer who follows an unconventional and non-sequential narration. The secondary cues are identified by the application of the Level of Processing theory by Fergus I. M. Craik and Robert S. Lockhart to specify the processing of how memory is treated with stimuli which are the auditory and visual cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author draws attention to "Daoist" themes in Morrissey's art and personality. The link between Morrissey and Daoism can be established via Oscar Wilde, whose relationship with Zhuangzi's philosophy has been much commented upon. Morrissey's worldview and art have been shaped by Wilde, whose Complete Works Morrissey received from his librarian mother at the age of eight. The self-estranging irony, the incorrect behavior, as well as the conviction that aesthetics is more important than ethics, are emblematic of Zhuangzi, Wilde, and Morrissey. Linking themes of East Asian philosophies to Morrissey's art is historically justified. There is an affinity between Daoism/ Buddhism and the subcultural context from which Morrissey emerges. Morrissey becomes the Oscar Wilde of post-punk. Morrissey rejects all taints of rock'n'roll machismo and plays up to social awkwardness of the misfits and the outsider. The article also deals with the following themes : strength arising from weakness, uselessness, aimless wandering, language skepticism, identity, authenticity, handicap, camp, and finally, the aesthetics of awkwardness. Awkwardness transcends mere clumsiness (which is no aesthetic quality at all) and becomes potentially attractive. Morrissey's wuwei strategy of non-pretentious acting creates an aesthetics of awkwardness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes how computational generative models can describe aspects of the artistic process, and how these generative models can provide tools for formulating and testing psychological theories of art. The term "generative models" here refers to algorithms that can generate artistic imagery, video, text, or other artistic media, including techniques developed in both computer graphics and AI research. Generative models can both describe artistic processes and offer useful experimental tools. This paper first outlines different ways to understand the types of research in generative models. It then surveys several recent examples of using generative models to develop theories and to perform experiments. The paper then discusses misleading uses of the concept of "AI-generated art" in psychological studies, and the need for study of our relationship with new artistic technologies. Finally, the paper offers a few remarks on pursuing interdisciplinary research across psychology and computer graphics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paul Locher passed away on 20 August 2024. Paul was an outstanding scientist and a central figure in the field of empirical aesthetics. He made important contributions to numerous areas including the study of symmetry, balance, facial attractiveness, museum behaviour, artwork composition and restoration, and aesthetics of food, but in particular to the study of eye movements in aesthetic appreciation of artworks. Indeed, his research on eye tracking is a touchstone for visual perception in empirical aesthetics. Here, a group of Paul's colleagues remember and celebrate him through a set of recollections that honour how he shaped their research and lives. It is hoped that this will offer a glimpse into the wonderful scholar and human being that Paul was, and why he will be sorely missed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study tested the effect of title type on the aesthetic evaluation of Japanese poetry. Ninety participants read a Japanese poem presented with either a "descriptive" title, an "elaborative" title, or no title. Participants then gave ratings according to their aesthetic experiences on the poem. The results revealed that the title type significantly influenced the readers' aesthetic evaluations. Specifically, descriptive titles promoted more thought about the poem compared to elaborative titles. This finding can be attributed to the enhanced processing fluency afforded by descriptive titles, which allows readers to more readily understand and grasp the key characteristics of the poem, thereby facilitating thought evocation. These results extend previous findings on the influence of titles on the aesthetic appreciation of paintings and music to the domain of poetry. Furthermore, they highlight the role of processing fluency in possibly mediating the relationship between title type and aesthetic evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aesthetic production, that is, the processing of material with a focus on the experiential and formal qualities of resulting objects and the process itself, encompasses basic dimensions of art, creativity, craft, and design. To explore these dimensions, we propose the Rubicon model of action phases as a general framework. Additionally, we introduce Schiller's aesthetics as an interactive account of formal/mental and material/physical aspects of aesthetic production and derive testable hypotheses from it. First, we expect form- and material-related experience to converge over an aesthetic production task; second, we assume that physical and mental actions occur with different prevalence across the action phases. These hypotheses were strengthened in a quasi-experimental mixed-methods study on a clay-molding task in an educational real-world setting (N = 30). The results suggest understanding aesthetic production as a dynamic intertwining of object-related and subject-related experience, action, and embodiment, which supports the transdisciplinary significance of aesthetic production for self-development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a digital environment, this study tested how setting (museum vs. street), reputation (established vs. unestablished), and style (abstract vs. representational) affected people's aesthetic perception of art. Art novices, quasi-experts, and experts were randomly assigned to rate paintings that varied in setting, reputation, and style. Although there was no significant main effect of setting, follow-up pairwise comparisons showed that novices gave higher aesthetic judgment to paintings in street settings. There was a significant interaction between reputation, style, and expertise, such that the greater the expertise, the greater the differences in ratings between established and unestablished paintings, and the smaller the differences between abstract and representational style paintings. Quasi-experts and experts gave higher ratings to established rather than unestablished paintings, and all groups preferred representational over abstract style; however, the expert preferences reversed with unestablished paintings. The study found that the effect of reputation and expertise persisted after controlling for painting familiarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Aesthetic Responsiveness Assessment (AReA) is a self-report scale for measuring individual differences in the strength of responses to art objects and events. Its 14 items sort into three subscales: aesthetic appreciation (AA), intense aesthetic experience (IAE), and creative behaviour. The present research evaluated the dimensionality of the AReA using tools from network psychometrics, particularly bootstrap exploratory graph analysis. Using a sample of English-speaking adults (n = 1071), the network analyses closely replicated the number and item composition of the AReA subscales, but one of the items—a cross-loaded item proposed to be in both the AA and IAE subscales—was not replicated. Using the bootstrap sampling distributions, we suggest item assignments that avoid awkward dual-loadings and provide a simpler dimensional structure. Taken together, the results reveal clear strengths of the AReA and illustrate how emerging network tools can illuminate and guide psychometric decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An exploratory study was conducted investigating the concept of beauty related to music listening—"musical beauty." The study implemented an online qualitative questionnaire aimed to evaluate how listeners construe the concept of beauty, the pieces of music considered to be beautiful, and the intrinsic and/or extrinsic features that listeners attribute to musical pieces being considered as "most beautiful." Analysis of long-answer responses provided by English-speaking participants (n = 32) reveals the way that listeners characterize "musical beauty" and contributes to empirical evaluation of musical aesthetic experiences. Listeners in this study construe beauty in two ways: one construal emphasizes the perceivable or recognizable intrinsic features of the piece of music, while the other emphasizes the affective or emotional extrinsic features of their listening experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do aesthetic preferences for images of neatly organized compositions (e.g., images collected on blogs like Things Organized Neatly©) generalize across cultures? In an earlier study, focusing on stimulus and personal properties related to order and complexity, Western participants indicated their preference for one of two simultaneously presented images (100 pairs). In the current study, we compared the data of the native Dutch-speaking participants from this earlier sample (N = 356) to newly collected data from a native Chinese-speaking sample (N = 220). Overall, aesthetic preferences were quite similar across cultures. When relating preferences for each sample to ratings of order, complexity, soothingness, and fascination collected from a Western, mainly Dutch-speaking sample, the results hint at a cross-culturally consistent preference for images that Western participants rate as more ordered, but a cross-culturally diverse relation between preferences and complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The link between music and emotion, as articulated from a cognitive perspective, assumes that music carries expressive cues that convey or induce emotional responses in listeners. Studies following this paradigm often investigate how responses converge or diverge among individuals, social groups, and cultures. However, results vary from one study to another, with few satisfactory explanations as to why. We contend that emotional responses to music are adaptable, arising from a conscious and subconscious continuous processing of the overarching situational context and its interaction with psychophysical, cultural, and personal variables. By integrating theory and data from multiple domains, we present the Framework for Adaptable Musical Emotions (FAME), which explains emotional responses to music through the mechanism of emotion adaptability on a continuum of evolutionary to fleeting time frames. FAME represents an advance on models of music and emotion that primarily focus on decoding emotional signals from the sounded music. FAME provides the first basis for predictions of emotional adaptability and situational context and may explain previously observed variability in emotional responses to music, guiding future research, and novel understandings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preference for harmony (PfH) has been posited to represent an individual difference in the preference for stimuli that are relatively simple, regular, and/or harmonious. We tested whether variations in PfH may also reflect the extent to which individuals prefer stimuli that are more familiar, irrespective of their structural features. To this end, we examined the association between PfH and two behavioral measures of the preference for familiarity, one based on individual differences in the strength of the mere-exposure effect and the other based on preferences for musical chords that appear more versus less frequently within Western musical corpora. Our results showed modest but reliable positive correlations between PfH and both measures. These findings qualify the original interpretation of PfH by suggesting that it at least partially reflects a predilection for stimuli that are more familiar, not just structurally simpler, more regular, and/or more harmonious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robert Motherwell is regarded as one of the great American abstract expressionists. He was highly intelligent and articulate about his art. In this essay, I explore the thesis that the ability to make fine category discriminations, which can be indexed by language, is necessary to produce great art. I argue that Motherwell might not have been as great an artist if he were not so articulate. Relying on a constructivist view, I argue that fine-grained categories of human emotions can be represented in language; language carves out affective space in a way that makes these states explicit and easier to communicate. Ineffability in art implies exhausting the effable. Being articulate about emotions allows one to reach for higher states of ineffability and aspire to great art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses the lens of the rural village to explore the connection between relationality and friction in Juli Zeh's novel Über Menschen which was published in the context of Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. The article analyses how Zeh represents the village in this novel as a relational space where the haphazard social and physical proximity of difference means that people with diverse interests and ideologies brush up against each other. In Zeh's text relationality is thus not just about harmonious co-living, but it emerges as a fractious mode of association that involves social conflict, difference and storytelling. Drawing on Anna Tsing's analysis of the creative possibilities of friction, the article explores the role of social discord and incompatibility in trying to plot a way of connecting across, and living together with, difference. In an attempt to preserve German social diversity, Zeh mobilizes individual encounters, engagements, and disagreements with the other against strategies of total exclusion, emphasizing continued engagement with difference as a way of fostering social cohesion and care. This article debates to what extent Zeh's aesthetics live up to her concern with relational complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the philosophy of religion proposed by Ernst Cassirer, myth and religion are two symbolic forms whose goal of representation is the idea of the sacred; to achieve this, both use different aesthetic representations such as totem, ritual, or art to configure their own idea of the divine. Through a critical examination of the author's work, both the structure and the form of mythical and religious thought are analyzed to describe the aesthetic function fulfilled in each form. To illustrate the contribution that art offers in the contemplation of the divine in both modalities, we will use Ratzinger's sermon "The Feeling of Things, the Contemplation of Beauty.". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A patient presented desiring to improve her esthetics and reduce masseter muscle pain prior to her upcoming wedding. Although the patient had a full-mouth rehabilitation with porcelain restorations at age 16, she presented with extensive overjet, unbalanced occlusion, and lack of contact from premolar to premolar. The clinician was faced with the challenge of determining the best course of treatment. After completing thorough record-taking and a detailed analysis following a systematic approach, the clinician developed a facially driven treatment plan that was carried out over eight phases. The patient's existing crowns were replaced at a reduced vertical dimension of occlusion, esthetics were enhanced, muscle pain was relieved, and her goals were achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present contribution, dealing with the intellectual legacy of Michel Foucault forty years after his death, I offer an analysis of some possible relations between certain aspects of Foucault's project of a history of sexuality, Richard Shusterman's somaesthetic investigation of the experience of lovemaking, and some recent attempts to critically rethink sexuality in the context of feminist scholarship. My approach towards Foucault's thinking in this contribution is not philological or attentively reconstructive but rather selective and interpretive. In the first section, I briefly examine Foucault's general view of sexuality as a "limit-experience"; then, in the second section, I specifically focus my attention on his (critical) analysis of "the penetration model"--an expression coined by Foucault in the context of his inquiry into Greco-Latin sexual culture. In the third section, I take into examination the important influence of Foucault's aesthetics of existence on Shusterman's somaesthetics and, in particular, on his book Ars Erotica. Finally, in the fourth section, I make reference--without any ambition of completeness or systematicity--to the question of the relation between Foucault's thinking and contemporary feminism, focusing my attention on some recent proposals for a critical rethinking of sexuality by feminist scholars such as Bini Adamczak, Ilka Quindeau, Amia Srinivasan, Tamara Tenenbaum, and bell hooks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines Foucault's legacy in terms of its contribution to the field of somaesthetics. It demonstrates how Foucault's work on embodiment, care of the self, pleasure, sexuality, and aesthetics of existence were inspirational to the founding of somaesthetics and can serve as exemplars of somaesthetic philosophy. However, the essay also explores the ways that current somaesthetic research departs from Foucault's theories by critiquing their limitations with respect to several important issues. These issues include the varieties of pleasure, the multicultural scope and diversity of ars erotica, the range of aesthetics and art, and the demand for truth and heroism in the art of living a beautiful life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the knowledge and preference of patients treated at a Dental School in Jaraguá do Sul, Brazil, about using aligners and the reasons for choosing this device as a treatment option. Design: A cross-sectional study. Participants: A total of 82 participants aged 18–45 years recruited at a screening clinic. Methods: A questionnaire was completed in person using a tablet with digital forms. Results: Almost half of the participants (49%) knew about aligners; 40% were aged 18–24 years, and 77% were female. When observing the images of the types of orthodontic appliances, the aligners had an acceptance rate of 80%. Among the reasons that led to the preference for choosing aligners, 68% cited aesthetics and 42% comfort. Conclusion: Recently, clear aligners have become a popular choice for orthodontic treatment, particularly among adults. Despite their popularity and effectiveness, many patients still need more information about aligner treatment. Over half of the respondents did not know what orthodontic aligners were. Younger participants had more knowledge about aligners than older participants. Patients still need more knowledge about the types of appliances available for orthodontic treatment. When presented with images of the kinds of devices available, almost 80% of participants showed greater satisfaction with aligners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Logos: A Journal, of Religion, Philosophy Comparative Cultural Studies & Art (08687692) is the property of Logos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Pädagogik is the property of Julius Beltz GmbH & Co. KG Beltz Juventa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study aimed to compare the smile's attractiveness in patients submitted to the treatment of gummy smiles with botulinum toxin or maxillary impaction surgery. The retrospective sample comprised 26 patients divided into two groups: Group 1 (BTX): 13 patients (12 females and 1 male) with a mean age of 28.06 years (s.d. = 6.09) and mean gingival exposure during smile of 5.18 mm (s.d. = 1.51) treated with botulinum toxin; Group 2 (SURGICAL): 13 patients (9 females and 4 males) with a mean age of 30.59 years (s.d. = 5.72) and mean gingival exposure during smile of 5.21 mm (s.d. = 1.55) treated with orthognathic maxillary impaction surgery. The group of evaluators comprised 317 participants, divided into 143 orthodontists (85 females and 58 males) with a mean age of 41.40 (s.d. = 9.30); 62 dentists (47 female and 15 male) with a mean age of 35.44 (s.d. = 10.44), and 112 lay people (74 female and 38 male) with a mean age of 46, 91 (s.d. = 10.11) in a questionnaire on Google Forms. Without knowing the therapy used, the evaluators assigned scores to the photographs of the posed smile taken before (T1) and after (T2) treatment. Intergroup comparison of smile attractiveness was performed using the t-independent, one-way ANOVA, and Tukey tests. There was a significant improvement in smile attractiveness with treatment in both groups; however, the improvement was significantly better in the surgical group than in the BTX group. Orthodontists rated smile attractiveness significantly higher than dentists and laypersons for the final phase of the BTX and surgical groups. There was a significant improvement in the smile attractiveness with botulinum toxin application and orthodontic-surgical treatment. However, orthognathic surgery promoted a greater improvement in smile attractiveness than the application of botulinum toxin. • The overall perception of smile attractiveness was evaluated for 2 types of gummy smile treatment. • There was a significant improvement in smile attractiveness with surgical orthodontic treatment and application of botulinum toxin. • Orthognathic surgery promoted a greater improvement in smile attractiveness than the application of botulinum toxin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Registered nurses report the experience of delivering end of life care in emergency departments as challenging. The study aim was to understand what it is like to be a registered nurse providing end of life care to an older person in the emergency department. A hermeneutic phenomenological study was conducted in 2021, using semi-structured interviews with seven registered nurses across two hospital emergency departments in Queensland, Australia. Thematic analysis of participants' narratives was undertaken. Seven registered nurses were interviewed; six of whom were women. Participant's experience working in the emergency department setting ranged from 2.5–20 years. Two themes were developed through analysis: (i) Presenting the patient as a dying person; and (ii) Mentalising death in the context of the emergency department. Nurses providing end of life care in the emergency department draw upon their personal and aesthetic knowing to present the dying patient as a person. The way death is mentalised suggests the need to develop empirical knowing about ageing and supportive medical care and ethical knowing to assist with the transition from resuscitation to end of life care. Shared clinical reflection on death in the emergency department, facilitated by experts in ageing and end of life care is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cahiers d'Études Africaines is the property of Editions EHESS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Machine learning models can potentially provide alternative options in the field of architecture as aesthetic judgment tools, owing to their high capacity and data-driven environments. If a machine learning model can produce aesthetic evaluation results similar to those of humans, the process may be highly promising for further applications in architectural decision-making. In this study, we propose a series of interconnected workflows for a rigorous comparison, including data collection, machine learning, parametric designs, robotic fabrication, and human surveys, to test the compatibility between human judgment and machine learning models in the aesthetic assessment of architectural objects on the same design objects. We observed a wide gap between the aesthetic judgments of the two groups. We discuss certain drawbacks and current limitations to improve the vulnerability of the study process and conclude by providing an outlook for the subsequent direction of a similar study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability, beauty, and power are notions that hit our contemporary perception every day. However, they have been an integral part of architecture and urban planning in various forms since the ages. The paper presents their fundamental descriptions, followed by an assessment of their mutual relations and impact on architecture through a triangular architectural relation model developed by the authors of the article. Using the theoretical thought experiment, it highlights eight boundary models along with their main characteristics, in particular, the implosion, explosion, shared-control, utilitarian, no-control, supremacy, inside-forced, and outside-forced architectural related models. Such models can help predict future events, explain past events, make decisions, and plan strategies, or reveal problems and propose new solutions. Other applications include determination of the causes of certain results or finding out the responsibility and mechanisms that led to them. The authors are of the opinion that the mutual denominator of sustainability, beauty, and power represents ethics that should be forced in architectural education and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few validated aesthetic assessment instruments in breast reconstruction use discrete scales to facilitate studies with multiple evaluators. This research aimed to propose an aesthetic assessment scale for reconstructed breasts. A scale was suggested using discrete variables, with responses ranging from 1 to 10, and the responses for each category could be summed to obtain an average that could be used in studies with multiple evaluators. To test the instrument suggested in this study, 5 experienced plastic surgeons assessed 46 patients. For all the analyses, a rejection level for the null hypothesis of 5% (p < 0.05) was adopted. The suggested scale obtained valid intraclass correlation coefficients, with 0.9 for the overall aesthetic evaluation of the breast and the lowest being 0.77 for defining the inframammary fold. We observed good diagnostic accuracy in all comparisons, with the area under the curve ranging from 0.85 to 0.97. Regarding convergent validity, we observed correlations of 0.77 (p < 0.001) between breast volume and volume symmetry, 0.66 (p < 0.001) between breast shape and contour naturalness. The test-retest reliability was 0.708, which is considered good. The results of this study support the effectiveness of the proposed new aesthetic evaluation scale, revealing consistency among different evaluators and over time. Convergent validation strengthens the relationship between the variables of the new scale and those of the Garbay scale. Furthermore, the robust diagnostic accuracy highlights the clinical utility of the new scale in assessing aesthetic outcomes in breast reconstructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kazakhstan's film industry, which dates back to the 1930s, has created various works that reflect the country's culture, history, and sociopolitical situation, highlighting its rich past. Studying Kazakh cinematic legacy is essential for maintaining its important aspects, analysing filmmaking processes, and discovering practical applications of visual narrative. This research aimed to analyse the evolution of visual approaches in Kazakh cinema over different eras, examining how these techniques reflect cultural, social, and technological changes in Kazakhstan. The study employed several research methods, including analytical research, systematization, comparison, and generalization. Through these approaches, the researchers were able to examine the different periods in the development of Kazakh cinema. This examination provided insights into how Kazakh cinema evolved and developed across various historical stages. This study examined the image of the world reflected in the films “Amangeldy” (1938) directed by M. Levin, “Racketeer” (2007) by A. Satayev, and the film “Paralympian” (2023) by A. Bayrakimov. This study employed analytical research, systematization, comparison, and generalization methods. The research allowed for an examination of the developmental periods of Kazakh cinema, providing insight into its evolution across different stages. An analysis of visual techniques in Kazakh films revealed their unique characteristics and contributions to the country's cultural heritage. The study also explored current trends in visual methodologies, particularly the use of digital technologies, which offer new possibilities for cinematographers. It emphasizes the importance of balancing these new trends with Kazakhstan's cultural values and traditions. The findings on visual techniques in Kazakh cinema may prove valuable for contemporary cinematographers and students interested in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kenyan-born, US-based artist Wangechi Mutu is fascinated by the human body and its nonhuman possibilities. In Mutu's collaged works, human forms are repeatedly ripped apart and reassembled within fantasy landscapes that speak of decomposition and regrowth. This article analyzes the significance of trees to Mutu's project of dismantling the human. Drawing from critical plant studies, forest ecology, cultural anthropology, and the mycological turn, it argues that Mutu's artworks forcefully reclaim the nonhuman as a site of Black expressive culture. These artworks blur ontological distinctions between the human and the arboreal through xyloid sexuality, a weirding of human eroticism and reproduction that pushes desire, procreation, and sexual fulfillment beyond species boundaries. Mutu's use of xyloid sexuality can be understood as a radical utopian gesture to supplant the violence of the colonial gaze with a powerfully more-than-human Black gaze. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a historical overview of the legislative development in Spain regarding the protection and conservation of artistic and historical heritage between 1900 and 1933. It discusses key laws and regulations enacted during this period, as well as the challenges faced in preserving Spain's cultural treasures. The article also examines the sale and export of frescoes from the Hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga, with some fragments ending up in museums in the United States. It raises questions about the ethical and cultural considerations of artwork exchanges and the importance of preserving cultural legacy. [Extracted from the article]

This article aims to explore characteristics of queer imagination that cultivate alternative desires and bodily relationships, making them more tangible as possible alternatives. By doing so, it provides an opportunity for educators to think about the pedagogical qualities of queer imagination and how they can offer alternative perceptual strategies that overcome limitations imposed by a recent influx of far-right laws and initiatives. It explores possible aesthetic and pedagogical models based on queer imagination that resist preestablished and essentialized understandings of how things are. The implications of this pedagogy indicate how educators and students might become queer connoisseurs who appreciate the ephemeral queerness of art objects. These queer imaginative strategies for envisioning alternative life possibilities should be of special interest to those interested in supporting the experience of queer students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the critical examination of aesthetic injustice in education, particularly in relation to the suppression of imagination and creativity through systemic harm. Topics include the impact of book banning on students' intellectual and emotional development, the role of imagination in resisting oppressive ideologies, and the ongoing struggle for racial and social justice within educational contexts, highlighting the transformative potential of imagination while also acknowledging the persistent dangers of oppressive structures that undermine marginalized communities.

The article focuses on the risk of aesthetic injustice in education, particularly in relation to imagination and its role in maintaining democracy. Topics include the rise in book bans in U.S. schools, the concept of aesthetic injustice as a form of oppression that limits imaginative capacities, and the interplay between aesthetic and epistemic injustice, which highlights combatting such injustices requires attention to both epistemic and aesthetic dimensions to ensure that individuals retain the ability to imagine alternative possibilities for themselves and society.

In this article, I explore how art can help Asian immigrants in Ontario understand the public spaces and the community of Toronto. Using Shusterman's Pragmatist Aesthetics as a theoretical framework, this study asks: How does navigating and responding to issues of equity, inclusion, and environmental resiliency foster residents' understanding? The study is based on field research that involved a series of improvised art and performance activities in Toronto's outdoor public spaces from February 2022 to May 2022. I argue that art can enable individuals to recognize and challenge the inequity in public places and develop relational understandings and practices that can inform public policy and inspire further research and action. The findings reveal that participants' social interactions through artmaking in public spaces enhanced their personal growth, learning, and creativity, connecting their everyday lives with formal education. This article highlights the impact of diasporic experiences in shaping the process of placemaking within these spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyaluronic acid (HA)-based injectables continue to grow in popularity and are used worldwide to improve facial changes associated with aging. Profhilo® Structura (IBSA Farmaceutici Italia, Lodi, Italy) is a novel HA-based product that uses nano hybrid complex of hyaluronic acid (NAHYCO)® technology to create hybrid cooperative complexes consisting of high and low molecular weight HA. Profhilo® Structura's high concentration (45 mg of total HA) and rheological properties (ie, viscosity [resistance to flow] and elasticity [stickiness]) have been specially formulated to restore facial adipose tissue. Because of their early involvement in the facial aging process, the superficial medial and lateral-temporal cheek fat compartments are good candidates for treatment. However, recommendations and guidelines are necessary to ensure that treatment is safe and effective. Three experts were invited to IBSA Farmaceutici Italia Srl to discuss clinical rationale, optimal injection techniques, and clinical outcomes for treating the superficial medial and lateral-temporal cheek fat compartments with Profhilo® Structura. These techniques were developed using patients presenting with either initial hypotrophy of fat compartments within the preauricular area (ie, sinkers) or jowl sagging due to hypotrophy within the preauricular and zygomatic areas (ie, saggers). Targeting these areas using the optimal injection site can maximize product diffusion and minimize the risk for vascular compromise. Targeting these areas also leads to lateral tightening and lipolifting effects due to adipose tissue restoration. The experts agreed that Profhilo® Structura is currently the first and only HA-based injectable treatment that can integrate and restore the adipose tissue in these affected fat compartments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The classification of an individual's skin type is important because it helps dermatologists and aesthetic clinicians select the most effective methods for treating the skin. To select suitable cosmetic products and procedures that help ensure healthy and beautiful skin, clinicians must consider the patient's skin type. An individualized classification of skin types allows the clinician to develop personalized skin care recommendations that consider an individual's genetic and physiological characteristics. In the fields of dermatology and aesthetics, the classification of skin types is the basis for scientific research. Skin type classification systems are additionally important for both dermatologists and aesthetic practitioners because they influence the selection of cosmetic products, procedures, and treatments. The purpose of this paper was to provide a detailed review and evaluation of the relevance, suitability, and benefits of the new ABCD Classification of Skin Types, to compare it with other systems for classifying skin types, and to identify parameters for its improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to examine consumer perceptions of aesthetic attributes of textile-based assistive devices (ADs) and the language used by consumers to express those perceptions and concerns. Previous investigations of user feedback for ADs have largely focused on functional attributes rather than aesthetics. Design/methodology/approach: An interpretivist research philosophy was selected to investigate the meaning behind consumer perceptions and to understand their viewpoints on the aesthetic dimensions of ADs. Using product reviews for two ADs sold on Amazon.com as data, the researchers conducted qualitative data analysis through coding and interpretation of meanings behind reviews to determine consumers' perceptions related to their ADs. Findings: The authors identified consumer concerns linking to aesthetics evidenced as a multisensory integration of visual, tactile and olfactory cues. Consumer-preferred language used to address aesthetic preferences was found to supplement the literature. Aesthetic considerations were found to be impactful on avoiding stigma and encouraging or discouraging continued use of the devices. Practical implications: Findings may contribute to the development of textile-based ADs with improved aesthetics to enhance user experiences. New ways of using consumer language to interpret user needs may assist in future research and design practice for consumer products. Originality/value: The use of consumer product reviews as a rich source of user data is discussed in this paper. As previous research on assistive technology has largely focused on functionality, results of this analysis offer insight into consumers' aesthetic judgments related to ADs and bring a sensory perspective to the research area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explored how personality shapes encounters with art within a virtual art gallery. An online sample of 264 adults completed questionnaires before freely wandering around a virtual gallery, which spanned three rooms and contained 24 artworks (half abstract, half representational) of various sizes and genres. We examined how the Big Five personality traits, aesthetic fluency, and aesthetic responsiveness predicted visit behavior: overall visit time, distance traveled in the gallery, the proportion of time spent viewing artwork, and how long and from what distance people viewed each individual artwork. Openness to experience had widespread effects on virtual visit behaviors, followed by extraversion, and variation in artwork features (area and abstraction) predicted viewing time and distance for individual artworks. We discuss how virtual galleries may contribute to understanding both traditional museum visitors and the emerging study of online virtual visitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is (1) to determine the set of literary and aesthetic competencies when reading literature and (2) to quantify the possible effect for the formation of Literary and Aesthetic competence when using innovative information technologies. The establishment of the array of literary and aesthetic competencies was achieved through the synthesis of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2018) and a comprehensive analysis of relevant scholarly literature. The researchers determined the substantial effect of mobile applications in building three out of five aesthetic competencies (D = 1.12 for expressive perception, D = 1.55 for emotional closeness and D = 0.82 for cognitive elaboration). Hence, based on the research outcomes, the approach adopted by the experimental group (utilisation of mobile applications for reading) facilitates the attainment of heightened literary competence through a more aesthetically comprehensive experiential engagement with the study of literary works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding an artwork is essential for aesthetic experiences. But how does one form an understanding of art? To investigate this still poorly addressed process, we hypothesized that the easier a stimulus is processed (i.e., higher fluency), the easier it should be understood. We focused on artwork inherent features (i.e., style and content) and their interactions affect processing. Making use of the brightness–positivity association, the overall brightness of paintings (i.e., as stylistic feature) was manipulated to match their content (positive vs. negative). We hypothesized that a congruency of style and content would facilitate the processing of paintings resulting in a better understanding, but also, greater liking, and (exploratively) higher artistic value. Our data indicated no congruency effects between brightness and content, but that content alone was a strong predictor for art processing and—in an exploratory approach—highlighted the importance of individual differences in terms of art interest and knowledge in our sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether aesthetic perception is stable over time for individuals and among individuals remains to be elucidated. In the current study, we investigated the effects of physical properties and categories of image features, and personal traits, on within- and across-participant visual aesthetic consistencies. We constructed an image library that consisted of 598 pictures and covered nine different categories. Forty-three adults without previous experience in art training conducted aesthetic evaluations of all images with a 7-point Likert scale twice on two consecutive days. The results mainly indicated that (a) complexity of images had a negative correlation on both within- and across-participant consistencies, while average hue had a positive effect; (b) concreteness of images contributed greatly to consistencies, with abstract images being associated with lower consistencies; (c) personal traits did not correlate with visual aesthetic consistencies. Our findings suggest that some stimulus-related, rather than person-related factors have effects on visual aesthetic consistency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]