The Classification of Real Singularities Using SINGULAR. Part I: Splitting Lemma and Simple Singularities

We present algorithms to classify isolated hypersurface singularities over the real numbers according to the classification by V.I. Arnold (Arnold et al., 1985). This first part covers the splitting lemma and the simple singularities; a second and a third part will be devoted to the unimodal singularities up to corank 2. All algorithms are implemented in the SINGULAR library realclassify.lib (Marais and Steenpass, 2012).Comment: 12 pages, 1 tabl

Searching for Evidence of Life in Deep Time and Space

Cyanobacterial mats provide insights into ancient benthic microbial communities and their biosignatures. Thick mats occupy hypersaline saltern ponds at Guerrero Negro, Baja California, Mexico. Mat biota maintains rapid rates of biogeochemical processes under steep and rapidly changing environmental gradients. Cycling of C, O, and S all increased identically with temperature, indicating the tight coupling of these cycles. An enormous microbial diversity exhibits a highly structured spatial distribution of populations. Combined universal clone libraries from all mat layers indicated Bacteria/Archaea/Eukarya ratios of 57:7:1. More than 10,000 unique bacterial sequences were present. The relative abundance of Archaea increased with depth - below 10 cm, solvent-extractable archaeal lipids were twice as abundant as bacterial lipids. Only 15 species of Eukarya were found among 890 clones analyzed. Degradation of the mats insoluble macromolecular organic fraction (IMOM) by hydropyrolysis released a complex variety of linear, branched and polycyclic alkane structures, e.g., hopanes, methylhopanes and steranes. Covalent binding of these biosignatures into IMOM aids their long-term geological preservation. Mars rover missions revealed evidence of long-lived fluvial lacustrine systems and organics in associated mudstones. NASAs Mars 2020 rover mission will examine sediments in Jezero crater, including a delta and shoreline carbonate deposits, environments that on Earth have sustained microbial mats

Plagiarism in e-learning systems: Identifying and solving the problem for practical assignments

A big part of life long learning is the move from residential lectures to distance education. Distance education falls under the multi-modal policy of the teaching institution and thereby a change in student contact. The lecturer facilitating the distance education course is also faced with a problem where the quality and originality of submitted assignments need to be checked. This has always been a difficult task, as going through practical assignments and looking for similarities is a tedious job. Software checkers are available, but as yet, have not been integrated into popular online e-learning systems. If closer contact and warning to students are given at an early stage the problem is minimized as they know they are being closely monitored. As will be shown in this article, plagiarism is a current problem with online practical submissions. We will also show how this problem can be minimized through the integration of plagiarism checking tools and other checking methods into e-learning systems

An analysis of factors linked to the decline in maternal mortality in Nepal

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A Case Study of Growth of Community Revitalization Movement in Chizu, Tottori Prefecture, Japan

Kaso is the deterioration of community infrastructure resulting from the migration of young people from rural areas to urban centers. It occurred in Japan during the period of rapid economic growth after World War II. Due to the conservative nature of remaining rural residents, community revitalization is often difficult. This paper uses the theory of social norms to analyze a case of successful community revitalization resulting from community empowerment

A phenomenological exploration into the personal experience and impact of therapist self-disclosure on the therapist

Extensive research has been carried out on self-disclosure within the therapeutic relationship. The emphasis remains on disclosure offering therapeutic benefit for the client. Thus, the therapist primarily enters the therapeutic space in the service of healing for the client. However, it may be that they too (therapists) in their position as a ‘wounded healer’ (Jung, 1993) receive some relief, benefits, or discomforts to themselves regarding their unresolved deficits, traumas and emotional injuries as a result of their shared self-disclosures. Researching this topic highlighted a potential gap in this area, namely what was the impact and personal experience of therapist self-disclosure on the disclosing therapist? A Qualitative methodology encompassing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) felt appropriate as it allowed for non-intrusive enquiries whilst giving participants the flexibility and freedom to share their individual, unique findings and meaning-making in their purest form (Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009). This study was interested in exploring the impact and experience of therapist self-disclosure on the disclosing therapist. A sample size of five therapists was interviewed. The participants’ subjective and personal experiences of this phenomenon were explored and investigated via an in-depth, semi-structured interview. The data analysis and interpretation of the data produced three master themes: firstly, ‘what is self-disclosure’ - exploring the complexities involved in this phenomenon. The second master theme, ‘risks involved in therapist self-disclosure’ focused on explorations into professional and relationship risks. The final master theme explored ‘the personal impact and experience of therapist self-disclosure on the disclosing therapist’. This involved the emotional and psychological impact of therapist self-disclosure on the therapist, power awareness, the therapist’s use of self and the therapist as a ‘wounded healer’. This study highlighted the importance of therapists remaining cognisant of the complexities involved in therapist self-disclosure and its impact upon them (and by implication the client). In this way, they may honour the duality existing within this phenomenon. The findings highlighted that therapists are indeed impacted on a personal level by their self-disclosures. Thus, training programmes and supervision need to give greater focus to and guidelines for the use of therapist self-disclosure in relation to trainees and newly qualified therapists as these aspects all have implications for better practice, self-care, training and ethics