Transformation

Transformation may refer to:

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• Transformation can serve as a synonym for metamorphosis and shapeshifting, the (physically impossible) change of a thing into another in myth and fiction.
• In molecular biology:
• In genetics transformation involves the genetic alteration of a cell resulting from the introduction, uptake and expression of foreign DNA.
• In cell division, the transformation process converts normal cells into cells that will continue to divide without limit. Normal cells can divide only a certain number of times before they stop dividing. Transformed cells no longer have such a limit (for example, cancer cells) and can grow and divide potentially forever.
• In mathematics, transformation as a general term applies to mathematical functions, usually but not always meaning that they are considered in terms of their geometry and are invertible.
• In chemistry, a chemical transformation shows the conversion of a substrate to a product omitting the reagents or catalysts.
• In music, a transformation consists of any operation or process that may be applied to a musical variable, usually a set or tone row in twelve tone music, such as transposition, inversion, multiplication, retrograde, or rotation and combinations thereof. See: operation, permutation.
• In military operations, transformation is the process of transitioning to a lightweight, fast-moving force that heavily utilizes network-centric warfare. http://www.oft.osd.mil/
• In post-apartheid South Africa, transformation has come to mean the processes by which the previously disenfranchised (predominantly black) majority enter the mainstream of public life and commercial activity. Legislation and public policy make black economic empowerment a key aspect of most equity-related business deals or government contracts.
• Transformation is the title of a 2000 novel by Carol Berg
• In anime, magical girls may use a naked transformation to change from their "normal" to "magical" forms, although typically they will be partially obscured for purposes of censorship in order to maintain an equivalent to PG rating. The purpose of this is simply as an act of pure fanservice. The video cut that features this is known as a transformation sequence. In the anime Transformers they transform from a vehicle-mode into a more powerful warrior mode.
• In New Age-like contexts, transformation can refer to a nebulous but often sudden spurt of personal psychic growth, personal enlightenment or self-realisation, which may also imply transforming the Universe into a "better" place.