Until recently, the influence of basal liquid water on the evolution of buried glaciers in Mars' mid latitudes was assumed to be negligible because the latter stages of Mars' Amazonian period (3 Ga to present) have long been thought to have been similarly cold and dry to today. Recent identifications of several landforms interpreted as eskers associated with these young (100s Ma) glaciers calls this assumption into doubt. They indicate basal melting (at least locally and transiently) of their parent glaciers. Although rare, they demonstrate a more complex mid-to-late Amazonian environment than was previously understood. Here, we discuss several open questions posed by the existence of glacier-linked eskers on Mars, including on their global-scale abundance and distribution, the drivers and dynamics of melting and drainage, and the fate of meltwater upon reaching the ice margin. Such questions provide rich opportunities for collaboration between the Mars and Earth cryosphere research communities.

The Mountain West Clinical Translational Research – Infrastructure Network (MW CTR-IN), established in 2013, is a research network of 13 university partners located among seven Institutional Development Award (IDeA) states targeting health disparities. This is an enormous undertaking because of the size of the infrastructure network (encompassing a third of the US landmass and spanning four time zones in predominantly rural and underserved areas, with populations that have major health disparities issues). In this paper, we apply the barriers, strategies, and metrics to an adapted educational conceptual model by Fink (2013). Applying this model, we used four tailored approaches across this regional infrastructure network to: (1) assess individual faculty specific needs, (2) reach out and engage with faculty, (3) provide customized services to meet the situational needs of faculty, and (4) utilize a “closed communication feedback loop” between Professional Development (PD) core and MW CTR-IN faculty within the context of their home institutional environment. Summary statement results from participating faculty show that these approaches were positive. Grounded in best educational practice approaches, we have an opportunity to refine and build from this sound foundation with implications for future use in other CTR-IN networks and institutions in the IDeA states.

Six snow-pit records recovered from Siple Dome, West Antarctica, during 1994 are used to study seasonal variations in chemical (major ion and H202), isotopic (deuterium) and physical stratigraphic properties during the 1988-94 period. Comparison of δD measurements and satellite-derived brightness temperature for the Siple Dome area suggests that most seasonal SD maxima occur within ±4 weeks of each 1 January. Several other chemical species (H2O2, non-sea-salt (nss) SO4 2-, methanesulfonic acid and NO3-) show coeval peaks with SD, together providing an accurate method for identifying summer accumulation. Sea-salt-derived species generally peak during winter/spring, but episodic input is noted throughout some years. No reliable seasonal signal is identified in species with continental sources (nssCa2+ nss Mg2+), NH4+ or nssCl-. Visible strata such as large depth-hoar layers (>5 cm) are associated with summer accumulation and its metamorphosis, but smaller hoar layers and crusts are more difficult to interpret. A multi-parameter approach is found to provide the most accurate dating of these snow-pit records, and is used to determine annual layer thicknesses at each site Significant spatial accumulation variability exists on an annual basis, but mean accumulation in the sampled 10 km2 grid for the 1988-94 period is fairly uniform.

Information about glacier volume and ice thickness distribution is essential for many glaciological applications, but direct measurements of ice thickness can be difficult and costly. We present a new method that calculates ice thickness via an estimate of ice flux. We solve the familiar continuity equation between adjacent flowlines, which decreases the computational time required compared to a solution on the whole grid. We test the method on Columbia Glacier, a large tidewater glacier in Alaska, USA, and compare calculated and measured ice thicknesses, with favorable results. This shows the potential of this method for estimating ice thickness distribution of glaciers for which only surface data are available. We find that both the mean thickness and volume of Columbia Glacier were approximately halved over the period 1957–2007, from 281 m to 143 m, and from 294 km3 to 134 km3, respectively. Using bedrock slope and considering how waves of thickness change propagate through the glacier, we conduct a brief analysis of the instability of Columbia Glacier, which leads us to conclude that the rapid portion of the retreat may be nearing an end.

People with dementia living in residential care often face the dual disadvantage of increasing difficulty with communication and reduced opportunities for conversation. Social interaction is central to wellbeing of residents with dementia, so it is important that care staff have the skills to engage in conversation with them. We studied conversations in 20 care staff–resident dyads, to examine conversation structure and content, patterns of engagement within conversations, including the topics around which engagement occurred, and communication behaviours by care staff that appeared to facilitate (or impede) participation by residents. The transcripts were analysed using Discursis, a computational information visualisation tool that allows interactive visual inspection, in context, of the contributions by each speaker, the turn-taking dynamics, and the content recurring within and between speakers. We present case examples (a) where care staff did most of the talking, initiated topics and were responsible for most recurrence of content; (b) where talk was more evenly shared between partners, with some topics initiated and/or elaborated by participants with dementia; and (c) where participants with dementia talked most, with care staff supporting the conversation. We identified accommodative strategies used by care staff, such as reflecting back the other person's responses to sustain engagement. We also noted care staff behaviours that impeded communication, such as not listening attentively and not allowing sufficient time for responses. The results from this study highlight aspects of social communication within the aged care context and suggest ways in which rewarding interactions between staff and residents with dementia might be encouraged.

Background: People with dementia have a range of needs that are met by informal caregivers. A DVD-based training program was developed using research-based strategies for memory and communication in dementia. The effectiveness of the training on the caregiver experience and the well-being of the person with dementia was evaluated.

Methods: A pre-test/post-test controlled trial was undertaken with caregiver–care-recipient dyads living in the community. Measures of the carers’ knowledge of memory and communication strategies, burden, positive perceptions of caregiving, and perceptions of problem behaviors were taken pre- and three months post-intervention. The depression and well-being of the person with dementia were also evaluated. Satisfaction with the training and feedback were measured.

Results: Twenty-nine dyads (13 training group, 16 control group) participated. Bonferroni's correction was made to adjust for multiple comparisons, setting α at 0.00385. A significant improvement was found in caregivers’ knowledge for the training group compared to the control group (p = 0.0011). The training group caregivers reported a reduction in the frequency of care recipient disruptive behaviors (p = 0.028) and increased perceptions of positive aspects of caregiving (p = 0.039), both at a level approaching significance. The training group care recipients had increased frequency of verbally communicated depressive behaviors at a level approaching significance (p = 0.0126). The frequency of observed depressive behaviors was not significantly different between groups.

Conclusions: This approach to training for caregivers of people with dementia appears promising for its impact on knowledge and the caregiving experience. Further research could monitor the impact of the training on broader measures of depression and well-being, with a larger sample.

Insurance accounting has for many years proved a challenging topic for standard setters, preparers and users, often described as a “black box”. Will recent developments, in particular the July 2010 Insurance Contracts Exposure Draft, herald a new era?

This paper reviews these developments, setting out key issues and implications. It concentrates on issues relevant to life insurers, although much of the content is also relevant to non-life insurers.

The paper compares certain IFRS and Solvency II developments, recognising that UK insurers face challenges in implementing new financial and regulatory reporting requirements in similar timeframes. The paper considers resulting external disclosure requirements and a possible future role for supplementary information.