Mapping change of functional forest traits and diversity using airborne laser scanning in the canton Aargau 2014-2019

Forests contribute substantially to ecosystem functions and services making their ecological quality valuable. Due to climate change, monitoring diversity is becoming increasingly important to record a possible decline. High functional diversity has been related to a decreasing vulnerability to disturbances like diseases, storms and insect attacks. Remote sensing and especially LiDAR are promising methods to assess functional traits and diversity in forests and have been linked to plant diversity and ecosystem functioning. However, large-scale and multitemporal analyses using LiDAR datasets are just at the beginning. This thesis aims to assess functional forest traits and diversity metrics out of ALS data and to compare them between the years 2014 and 2019. Three morphological traits, namely canopy height, foliage height diversity and plant area index were estimated for the entire forest area of the canton Aargau under defoliated conditions. Then, functional richness and divergence were computed out of the traits. For three subregions of the canton, occlusion in the lower canopy was computed to assess if traits and diversity metrics are influenced. More complex derivations of ALS point clouds, e.g. plant area index, richness or divergence, were found to be more sensitive to external influences like different sensor and flight settings and occluded fractions of the canopy volume. Various spatial patterns of the derived traits and diversity metrics were mapped, e.g. a decrease or smaller increase in steep and high altitude regions. Richness values showed a very large global increase of 123%, which cannot solely be attributed to biotic changes, but is rather caused by the sensitivity to sensor-related factors. The results demonstrate how the development of robust methods for trait and diversity estimations is important. The incorporation of sensor and flight parameters into the estimation methods is crucial for improved performance in multitemporal analyses using ALS point clouds

Kleiner Gratulationsstrauss zum Jubiläum oder: "Wenn es die BzL nicht gäbe"

Als Aussenstehender bin ich der Bitte der Redaktion der \u27\u27Beiträge zur Lehrerbildung" gerne nachgekommen und habe einige Abonnentinnen (wo sind sie geblieben?) und Abonnenten der BzL eingeladen, ihre Meinung zur jubilierenden Zeitschrift zu formulieren. Wie es sich gehört, ist der kleine Gratulationsstrauss des Lobes voll. Und doch enthält er auch einige Anregungen, die vielleicht ihre Auswirkungen auf die weitere Entwicklung der Jubilarin haben werden. Die wichtigste aus meiner Sicht: viersprachiges und damit plurikulturelles Land, müsste dies nicht auch in den \u27\u27Beiträgen zur Lehrerbildung" auf angemessene Weise zum Ausdruck kommen? Als Reichtum des Austausches unter den verschiedenen pädagogischen Kulturen? nIch schliesse mich den Gratulationen herzlich an und wünsche den BzL ein weiterhin fruchtbares Wirken

Gesundheitsförderung in der Grundausbildung von Lehrerinnen und Lehrern in der Schweiz

Zusammenfassung: Die Schule ist in verschiedener Hinsicht ein für Gesundheitsförderung geradezu prädestinierter Ort. Deshalb kommt auch der Vorbereitung zukünftiger Lehrkräfte auf ihre Aufgaben im Bereich der Gesundheitsförderung eine grosse Bedeutung zu. Trotz positiver Einzelbeispiele und einer Anzahl von engagierten Vorkämpferlnnen für die Verankerung von Gesundheitsförderung in der Grundausbildung von Lehrkräften weisen die Ergebnisse einer Umfrage bei den schweizerischen Lehrerbildungsinstituten darauf hin, dass in rund 30% der Ausbildungsstätten Gesundheitsthemen keinen expliziten Platz haben. Auch in den anderen Instituten ist die Stellung der Beauftragten für Gesundheitsförderung oft marginal. Die durch die Untersuchung intendierten Auswirkungen in der Praxis wurden nur teilweise realisiert: Zwar wurden die Ergebnisse von der Schweizerischen Konferenz der kantonalen Erziehungsdirektoren publiziert, doch ist es nicht gelungen, eine weiterfübhrende Gruppe von Beauftragten für Gesundheitsförderung an den schweizerischen Lehrerbildungsinstituten zu konstituiere

Demenz, Depressionen und Aktivitäten des täglichen Lebens als Risikofaktoren von Stürzen bei Betagten

Summary: Objectives: Falls among elderly are a well-recognised public health problem. The purpose of the present study was to explore the relation between dementia, number of depressive symptoms, activities of daily living, setting, and risk of falling. Methods: Data for the analysis came from a cross-sectional study about dementia, depression, and disabilities, carried out 1995/96 in Zurich and Geneva. The random sample stratified, by age and gender consisted of 921 subjects aged 65 and more. The interview was conducted by means of the Canberra Interview for the Elderly, extended by short questionnaire. The subject was classified as a faller if the subject and/or the informant had reported a fall within the last 12 months prior to the interview. Logistic-regression analysis was used to determine the independent impact of dementia, depressive symptoms, and ADL-score on risk of falling. Results: The stepwise logistic regression analysis has revealed a statistically significant association between dementia (OR 2.14, 95% Cl 1.15-3.96), two resp. three depressive symptoms (OR 1.64, 95% Cl 1.04-2.60) as well as four or more depressive symptoms (OR 2.64, 95% Cl 1.39-5.02) and the risk of falling. There was no statistically significant relationship between studied risk factors and the risk of being one-time faller. However, we found a strong positive association between dementia (OR 3.92, 95% Cl 1.75-8.79), four or more depressive symptoms (OR 3.90, 95% Cl 1.55-9.83) and the risk of being recurrent faller. Moreover, residents of nursing homes (OR 8.50, 95% Cl 2.18-33.22) and elderly aged 85 or more (OR 2.29, 95% Cl 1.08-4.87) were under statistically significant higher risk of sustaining recurrent falls. Conclusions: The results of the present study confirm that dementia and depression substantially increase the risk of fallin

Occupational and leisure time physical activity in contrasting relation to ambulatory blood pressure

Background: While moderate and vigorous leisure time physical activities are well documented to decrease the risk for cardiovascular disease, several studies have demonstrated an increased risk for cardiovascular disease in workers with high occupational activity. Research on the underlying causes to the contrasting effects of occupational and leisure time physical activity on cardiovascular health is lacking. The aim of this study was to examine the relation of objective and self-report measures of occupational and leisure time physical activity with 24-h ambulatory systolic blood pressure (BP). Methods: Results for self-reported physical activity are based on observations in 182 workers (60% male, mean age 51 years), while valid objective physical activity data were available in 151 participants. The usual level of physical activity was assessed by 5 items from the Job Content Questionnaire (high physical effort, lifting heavy loads, rapid physical activity, awkward body positions and awkward positions of head or arms at work) and one item asking about the general level of physical activity during non-working time. On a regular working day, participants wore an ambulatory BP monitor and an accelerometer physical activity monitor during 24 h. Associations were examined by means of Analysis of Covariance. Results: Workers with an overall high level of self-reported occupational physical activity as well as those who reported to often lift heavy loads at work had a higher mean systolic BP at work, at home and during sleep. However, no associations were observed between objectively measured occupational physical activity and BP. In contrast, those with objectively measured high proportion of moderate and vigorous leisure time physical activity had a significantly lower mean systolic BP during daytime, while no differences were observed according to self-reported level of leisure time physical activity. Conclusions: These findings suggest that workers reporting static occupational physical activities, unlike general physically demanding tasks characterized by dynamic movements of large muscle groups, are related to a higher daily systolic BP, while high objective levels of moderate and vigorous leisure time physical activity are related to lower daytime systolic BP. Ambulatory systolic BP may be a physiological explanatory factor for the contrasting effects of occupational and leisure time physical activity

Die schweizerische Bildungsforschung der Nachkriegszeit im Spiegel ihrer Institutionen und ihrer Themen - von der Geschichte zu aktuellen Fragestellungen

Der Artikel analysiert zum einen die Entwicklung der Institutionen der schweizerischen Bildungsforschung ab der Nachkriegszeit, der Struktur der Forschungsorganisation und der einzelnen Forschungsinstitutionen und versucht zum zweiten, einen Überblick über die Themen der schweizerischen Bildungsforschung zu geben. Dazu wird verfolgt, wie sich bestimmte Themen über die Zeit hin entwickelten und es wird auch die Themensetzung auf nationaler Ebene dargestellt. (DIPF/Bi.)In the institutional development of educational research in Switzerland since World War II, five important phenomena are identified: 1) the spectacular increase in the number of research institutions between 1965 and 1975 mainly due to the then emerging interest of politicians in educational research (in this place, the accent is put not on university institutions, but on the new research and development units within public administration); 2) the creation of partially market- oriented research institutions within university departments in the nineties; 3) the rapidly growing importance of small and very small private educational R&D-enterprises in the nineties; 4) the restructuring – linked to New Public Management – of several educational R&D-institutions within cantonal public administration, and 5) the creation of a few institutions enhancing the identity of educational research and the cooperation between research, politics, administration and teaching. The identification of research themes over the last fifty years poses some methodological problems. It seems that there is a rather stable «courant normal» mainly in psycho-pedagogical research and research in didactics; in addition, there are a few themes such as the contribution of education to economic growth and international competitivity, and curriculum research which have been important at the beginning as well as at the end of the observed period. From recent history, the article finally goes over to some present issues and some perspectives for the near future. (DIPF/Orig.

Das schweizerische Bildungswesen auf dem Prüfstand. Der OECD-Bericht "Bildungspolitik in der Schweiz" und die EDK-Berichte "Bildung in der Schweiz von morgen"

Es kommt hierzulande nicht mehr allzu häufig vor, dass Berichte zum Bildungswesen bis in die Tagespresse vordringen und damit - zumindest potentiell - Gegenstand einer breiten öffentlichen Diskussion werden. 1990 waren zwei Ausnahmen zu verzeichnen: sowohl die von der Schweizerischen Erziehungsdirektorenkonferenz (EDK) veröffentlichten Berichte zum Projekt Bildung in der Schweiz von morgen" [1] als auch der von der OECD im Rahmen eines Länderexamens herausgegebene Expertenbericht "Bildungspolitik in der Schweiz" [2] durchbrachen die Schallmauer der Bildungsinsider. Einer der Gründe dafür liegt sicher darin, dass beide Publikationen das Bildungswesen als Ganzes zum Gegenstand machen und damit die gewohnte sektorielle Betrachtungsweise überwinden. Der folgende Artikel setzt sich zum Ziel, diese beiden Berichte inhaltlich und in ihrer Entstehungsweise kurz vorzustellen und Interessierte davon zu überzeugen, dass es sich lohnt, sie integral zu lesen