RESPOND - Improving regional health system responses to the challenges of migration through tailored interventions for asylum-seekers and refugees: Cognitive Pretest

RESPOND is a research project of the Department of General Medicine and Health Services Research at Heidelberg University Hospital. The aim of the project is to provide the necessary scientific evidence to make care structures for asylum seekers more effective, more efficient, and more appropriate to their needs. This pretest focuses on questions concerning the state of health, access to care, quality of care, and health literacy. The questions were tested via face-to-face cognitive interviews in Serbian, Arabic, Farsi, Russian and English. Simultaneous interpreters were added to the interviews via video conferencing

Demographische Standards: Kognitiver Pretest

Die demographischen Standards, eine gemeinsame Empfehlung von ADM Arbeitskreis Deutscher Markt- und Sozialforschungsinstitute e.V., der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialwissenschaftlicher Institute (ASI) und des Statistischen Bundesamtes, dienen der Vereinheitlichung der Erhebungsinstrumente sozio-demographischer Merkmale von Befragten in Umfragen. Es gibt eine Version für persönlich-mündliche und schriftliche Befragungen und eine für telefonische Befragungen. Die erfassten Merkmale reichen von in sozialwissenschaftlichen Umfragen standardmäßig erhobenen Konzepten wie Alter und Geschlecht über Fragen zur Staatsangehörigkeit und Familienstand, Schul- und Berufsabschluss bis hin zum Erwerbsstatus. Die Fragen 1 bis 12A der demographischen Standards sollten in diesem Pretest kognitiv getestet werden, um a) für die Harmonisierung der Erhebungsinstrumente für sozio-demographische Merkmale in den bei GESIS durchgeführten (Teil-)Erhebungen (Allgemeine Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften, Comparative Candidates Survey, GESIS Panel, German Longitudinal Election Study, Comparative Study of Electoral Systems, European Social Survey, European Values Study, International Social Survey Programme) empirische Evidenz zu schaffen, um b) zu einer zukünftigen Anpassung und Verbesserung der Standards beizutragen und um c) als Grundlage für die Beratung bei GESIS zur Messung sozio-demographischer Merkmale in Umfragen zu dienen. Hierbei sollten die folgenden Fragestellungen untersucht werden: Werden die Items wie intendiert von den Befragten verstanden? Welche Formulierungen bedürfen einer Überarbeitung und wie sollten sie verbessert werden? Sind die Items aus der Version für persönlich-mündliche Befragungen, wie vorgesehen, gleichermaßen für schriftliche und Online-Befragungen geeignet oder bedarf es hier spezifischer Anpassungen? Zu diesem Zweck hat das GESIS-Pretestlabor einen kognitiven Pretest durchgeführt. Getestet wurden die Fragen in allen vier Befragungsmodi: persönlich-mündlich, schriftlich, telefonisch und als Online-Fragebogen

Biodiversity post-2020: Closing the gap between global targets and national-level implementation

National and local governments need to step up efforts to effectively implement the post-2020 global biodiversity framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity to halt and reverse worsening biodiversity trends. Drawing on recent advances in interdisciplinary biodiversity science, we propose a framework for improved implementation by national and subnational governments. First, the identification of actions and the promotion of ownership across stakeholders need to recognize the multiple values of biodiversity and account for remote responsibility. Second, cross-sectorial implementation and mainstreaming should adopt scalable and multifunctional ecosystem restoration approaches and target positive futures for nature and people. Third, assessment of progress and adaptive management can be informed by novel biodiversity monitoring and modeling approaches handling the multidimensionality of biodiversity change

ReSurveyEurope : A database of resurveyed vegetation plots in Europe

Aims: We introduce ReSurveyEurope — a new data source of resurveyed vegetation plots in Europe, compiled by a collaborative network of vegetation scientists. We de- scribe the scope of this initiative, provide an overview of currently available data, governance, data contribution rules, and accessibility. In addition, we outline further steps, including potential research questions. Results: ReSurveyEurope includes resurveyed vegetation plots from all habitats. Version 1.0 of ReSurveyEurope contains 283,135 observations (i.e., individual sur- veys of each plot) from 79,190 plots sampled in 449 independent resurvey projects. Of these, 62,139 (78%) are permanent plots, that is, marked in situ, or located with GPS, which allow for high spatial accuracy in resurvey. The remaining 17,051 (22%) plots are from studies in which plots from the initial survey could not be exactly relocated. Four data sets, which together account for 28,470 (36%) plots, provide only presence/absence information on plant species, while the remaining 50,720 (64%) plots contain abundance information (e.g., percentage cover or cover–abun- dance classes such as variants of the Braun- Blanquet scale). The oldest plots were sampled in 1911 in the Swiss Alps, while most plots were sampled between 1950 and 2020. Conclusions: ReSurveyEurope is a new resource to address a wide range of re- search questions on fine-scale changes in European vegetation. The initiative is de- voted to an inclusive and transparent governance and data usage approach, based on slightly adapted rules of the well-established European Vegetation Archive (EVA). ReSurveyEurope data are ready for use, and proposals for analyses of the data set can be submitted at any time to the coordinators. Still, further data contributions are highly welcom

ReSurveyEurope: A database of resurveyed vegetation plots in Europe

Abstract Aims We introduce ReSurveyEurope — a new data source of resurveyed vegetation plots in Europe, compiled by a collaborative network of vegetation scientists. We describe the scope of this initiative, provide an overview of currently available data, governance, data contribution rules, and accessibility. In addition, we outline further steps, including potential research questions. Results ReSurveyEurope includes resurveyed vegetation plots from all habitats. Version 1.0 of ReSurveyEurope contains 283,135 observations (i.e., individual surveys of each plot) from 79,190 plots sampled in 449 independent resurvey projects. Of these, 62,139 (78%) are permanent plots, that is, marked in situ, or located with GPS, which allow for high spatial accuracy in resurvey. The remaining 17,051 (22%) plots are from studies in which plots from the initial survey could not be exactly relocated. Four data sets, which together account for 28,470 (36%) plots, provide only presence/absence information on plant species, while the remaining 50,720 (64%) plots contain abundance information (e.g., percentage cover or cover–abundance classes such as variants of the Braun‐Blanquet scale). The oldest plots were sampled in 1911 in the Swiss Alps, while most plots were sampled between 1950 and 2020. Conclusions ReSurveyEurope is a new resource to address a wide range of research questions on fine‐scale changes in European vegetation. The initiative is devoted to an inclusive and transparent governance and data usage approach, based on slightly adapted rules of the well‐established European Vegetation Archive (EVA). ReSurveyEurope data are ready for use, and proposals for analyses of the data set can be submitted at any time to the coordinators. Still, further data contributions are highly welcome