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Documentation of child neglect : do assessment tools make a difference?
No full textBackground: Neglect is the most common form of child maltreatment and has serious consequences for the development of children. Assessing child neglect is challenging because it involves recognizing acts of omission rather than commissions. If situations of neglect are not documented adequately, protective measures may not be taken.
Objective: This study examines the influence of the assessment tool SAT-BL on the documentation of neglect. By including other assessment characteristics in the analysis, we aim to better understand what influences whether child neglect is documented or not in a case.
Participants and setting: Data from 319 assessment case files were analyzed in a case-control study. Case files from six different CPSs were included with assessments starting between 2016 and 2020.
Methods: Information was systematically collected from case files. Logistic regression models were constructed with documented child neglect as the dependent variable.
Results: Results showed that in cases assessed with the SAT-BL tool, neglect was documented significantly more (50 %) than when no tool was used (30.64 %). Regression analysis revealed a nearly four-times higher probability of documenting child neglect when using the assessment tool SAT-BL while controlling for other predictors. Other factors, such as documented risk factors, the number of professionals involved, conducted home visits and proposed child protection orders, also showed significant associations with neglect documentation.
Conclusion: Results of our analysis indicate that using an assessment tool with definitions increases documentation of child neglect. There is a need for definitions and thresholds when assessing child neglect
Gewässermorphologische Analyse nach den Hochwasserereignissen vom Sommer 2024 : Pilotprojekt an der Borgne (VS)
No full textDie Wasserkraftnutzung, Eingriffe in den Geschiebehaushalt und die Verbauung der Gewässer führten dazu, dass an vielen Schweizer Gewässern – wie an der Borgne – heute kein flussmorphologischer Gleichgewichtszustand mehr besteht. Morphogene Hochwasser wirken daher vielfach in die Richtung eines natürlicheren, resilienteren Zustands. Die Erhaltung dieses Zustands nach Hochwasserereignissen birgt ein grosses Sparpotenzial. Verbauungen müssen nicht zwingend wiederhergestellt werden, besonders auf Flächen im Gewässerraum und dort, wo keine relevanten Infrastrukturen betroffen sind. Die neu entstandenen Gerinneflächen weisen ein grosses ökologisches Potenzial auf und können regionale Lebensraum-Defizite sogar vollständig beheben. Damit kann gleichzeitig ein wichtiger Beitrag zur Erreichung der Umsetzungsziele der strategischen Revitalisierungsplanung geleistet werden. Die vorliegende Methode bietet die Möglichkeit, die kantonale Ausscheidung der Gewässerräume und die Priorisierung der Revitalisierungsstrecken zu überprüfen und allenfalls entsprechend anzupassen. Eine systematische, flächenbasierte Analyse der morphologischen Veränderungen nach Hochwasserereignissen, wie sie mit vorliegender Methode und der Webanwendung möglich ist, bietet wichtige Grundlagen zur Förderung des Dialogs verschiedener Interessengruppen unter Berücksichtigung der lokalen, spezifischen Gegebenheiten
Urbane Umweltbildung : Positionspapier
No full textIn der Schweiz leben 84% der Bevölkerung in Städten und Agglomerationen. Warum aber finden Umweltbildungsveranstaltungen oft abseits dieser Lebenswelt in Wäldern und Naturschutzgebieten statt? Ausgehend von dieser Frage haben Mara Figini und Thomas Hofstetter von der Forschungsgruppe Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation und Umweltbildung gemeinsam mit der schwedischen NGO Växtvärket aus Malmö ein Positionspapier für urbane Umweltbildung entwickelt
Der Weg zum smarten Spital der Zukunft : der SHIFT Transformationsmasterplan des Innosuisse Flagships SHIFT (Smart Hospital: Integrated Framework, Tools and Solutions)
No full textUnser SHIFT Transformationsmasterplan: Die digitale Transformation im Gesundheitswesen erfordert weit mehr als den Einsatz neuer Technologien – sie verlangt einen klaren, ganzheitlichen Plan, der über das Warum und Was hinausgeht und vor allem das Wie in den Mittelpunkt stellt. Genau hier hat SHIFT angesetzt und eine praxisnahe, wissensbasierte Blaupause für Spitäler entwickelt, die zeigt, wie die Digitalisierung nachhaltig und wirkungsvoll umgesetzt werden kann - und zwar im Rahmen eines Whitepapers.
Unser Transformationsmasterplan (TMP) beschreibt in fünf grundsätzlichen Arbeitspaketen den Weg hin zum smarten Spital: Ausgangspunkt ist die gemeinsame Entwicklung eines klaren Commitments und einer positiven Haltung gegenüber dem Wandel. Darauf aufbauend werden die notwendigen struktu-rellen und organisatorischen Voraussetzungen geschaffen – von klaren Rollen und Verantwortlichkeiten bis hin zur Bildung eines zentralen Transformationsteams. Erste Digitalisierungsschritte werden gezielt durch Pilotprojekte erprobt, die greifbare Erfolge aufzeigen und Vertrauen schaffen. Anschliessend wird das Gelernte auf breiter Basis skaliert und durch Schulungs- und Veränderungsformate im gesamten Spital verankert. Damit diese Entwicklung langfristig Bestand hat, unterstützt SHIFT auch die nachhaltige Sicherung des Wandels, etwa durch moderne Führungsansätze, kontinuierliche Innovationsimpulse und regelmässige Kulturchecks. So entsteht ein integerer, bedarfsorientierter Transformationspfad, der Spitälern den Weg zur smarten, zukunftsfähigen Organisation weist
Empirical disturbance indicator values for vascular plants derived from a chronosequence after a large forest fire in Valais, Switzerland
No full textAs opposed to indicator value systems for physical site conditions, disturbance indicator values have only recently received more attention. The existing disturbance indicator value systems were derived using expert assessments of species or expert assessments of habitats to which releves were classified. Here we present the first indicator value system derived purely from empirical vegetation data collected after a wildfire. The fire devastated 3 km2 of forest on a south facing slope in Valais, Switzerland. It started in xerothermic vegetation at 800 m a.s.l. and reached up to 2100 m a.s.l. where alpine vegetation grows in cooler and moister climate. Data was collected on 155 permanent 200 m2 plots 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 and 20 years after the fire. In addition to this timeseries, 61 releves were conducted in the adjacent intact forest 21 years after the fire using the same method. Given the entire dataset, we applied eHOF modeling to estimate the response of individual species abundance in log10(time) after the fire. From each response curve, we derived an indicator value by computing the expected value of log10(time) under the curve. We computed the correlation of our indicator values with existing systems including disturbance indicator value systems, CSR strategies and LHS plant traits. Out of the 288 plant species for which an indicator value could be computed, for 32 species model I (horizontal line), for 9 species model II or III with a decreasing trend, 95 species model II or III with an increasing trend, and for 152 species a unimodal model IV or V was selected. We found low correlation of our indicator values with all compared systems (Pearson ρ < 0.46). This result may be due to challenges with estimating FDIVs, ecological mechanisms specific to post fire succession, setting it apart from existing systems and methodological challenges with the derivation of existing disturbance value systems. We discuss the mechanisms specific to post fire succession based on the response curves of selected species. Those mechanisms render the low correlation with existing indicator values plausible underpinning the high dimensionality and complexity of disturbance as a driver for plant community composition. We are looking forward to future studies testing the di`erent methodologies for deriving indicator values, benchmarking the existing systems in different settings, and extending our system using more data
One century of change : stronger diversity decline in lowland than in mountain grasslands in Central Europe
No full textQuantitative long‐term assessments of the extent and direction of biodiversity change due to anthropogenic environmental change are challenging because representative baseline data older than a few decades are very rare. This is also the case for grasslands in temperate Europe, which can harbour high species diversity at small spatial scales, but have undergone strong and varied changes, particularly in relation to the agricultural intensification that peaked in the middle of the last century. We resampled 416 historical vegetation records (originally sampled between 1884 and 1931) of 0.09 m2 from grasslands across Switzerland at a wide range of elevations (300–2500 m) and moisture levels to assess the changes in taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity, as well as community characteristics, and tested whether the magnitude of change depended on elevation. We found severe declines in alpha, beta, and gamma taxonomic diversity over the last century, with species richness being on average 26% lower in the resurvey plots than in the historical plots. Functional and phylogenetic alpha diversity were also lower in the resurvey plots than in the historical plots, although the differences were less pronounced. The loss in all three diversity metrics decreased with elevation. This was linked to stronger increases in nutrient‐demanding, mowing‐tolerant, and competitive species, particularly grasses (Poaceae), at lower than at higher elevations. This elevational pattern reflects the strong influences of land use and eutrophication, which are more pronounced at lower elevations. By contrast, the effect of global warming on vegetation has so far been subordinate. The smaller diversity changes at higher elevations offer the potential to maintain a high proportion of the historical plant diversity in mountain grasslands
Towards an AI-based security consultant for SMEs
No full textThis research project aims to automate basic tasks of security consultants for Swiss SMEs using a data-driven approach. The architecture collects security-relevant company information to create a
Digital Twin of Organization (DTO). This digital replica serves as a model where an LLM is tailored to perform a company-specific security assessment. Instructions from tools and remedial measures are analyzed via a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system to generate concrete implementation steps. The goal is to equip Swiss SMEs with a tool to identify major risks and obtain specific actions to mitigate them
Bringing wind energy models up to speed : updated life cycle inventory data for on- and offshore wind energy generation
No full textIntroduction: Wind energy is playing an increasingly relevant role in the electricity mixes worldwide. In Europe, the installed capacity doubled from 148 GW to 285 GW in the last decade, covering 19% of the electricity demand in 2024. In addition, the average nominal capacity of newly installed wind turbines, both onshore and offshore, increased considerably. Despite these advancements, recent environmental assessments of wind energy still largely relied on outdated inventory data. This work therefore provides up-to-date inventories for wind energy for the Swiss Life Cycle Inventories database. The overall objective of the study was to provide up-to-date inventory for the European electricity mix from wind energy and the Swiss electricity from wind energy. These electricity datasets will serve to update national European electricity mixes and can be used for reliable comparisons within different energy technologies as well as for reliable background data for supply chain inventory. Outcomes of the work will feed into the IEA Wind Task 60 CYCLEWIND.
Methodology: The established life cycle inventory (LCI) data considers all life cycle stages of electricity produced from wind energy, including component manufacturing, installation, operation and maintenance (O&M) and decommissioning & waste treatment (Figure 1). Separate infrastructure datasets were created for the wind turbines and the Electrical Balance of Plant (EBoP). Infrastructure datasets for wind turbines consist of a dataset for the moving parts (including blades, hub and nacelle), a dataset for the tower and a dataset for the foundation/substructure. The EBoP is divided into four separate infrastructure datasets in the case of offshore wind power, being array cable, export cable, land-based substation and offshore substation. In the case of onshore wind power, the EBoP consists of two infrastructure datasets being array and export cable combined and the substation. Each infrastructure dataset includes manufacturing transportation, installation, decommissioning and waste treatments for original and replaced components, according to their relative shares.
Environmental impacts:
• Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are dominated by the infrastructure of the wind turbine (moving parts, tower and foundation), with a contribution of between 77-93% to the overall GHG emissions (Figure 2).
• The higher environmental impacts of electricity produced by offshore wind farms can primarily be explained by the impacts from vessel activities.
• The Swiss and European wind electricity mix show GHG emissions of 18.1 and 15.0 g of CO2-eq/kWh, respectively.
• Total environmental impact and cumulative energy demand are 13-16% higher in the Swiss electricity mix compared to the European electricity mix.
Technology comparison:
• Total environmental impact of Swiss wind power is 8.8 times lower compared to the average consumer mix in Switzerland, while the total environmental impacts of European wind power are 19 times lower compared to the ENTSO-E mix.
• In comparison to the Swiss production mix, the GWP of Swiss wind power is 5.8 times lower, while the GWP of European wind power is 31 times lower than the GWP of the ENTSO-E mix.
Conclusion: Wind power, along with hydropower, is one of the electricity products with the lowest environmental impact
The role of uncertainty in anxiety disorders among young adults : a study in university students
No full textTeil des Forschungsprojekts "Gesund im Studium an der ZHAW (HES-Z)": https://www.zhaw.ch/de/gesundheit/forschung/forschung-public-health/projekte/gesund-im-studium-an-der-zha
From research to practice in manufacturing : interactive session I
No full textControl research has the potential to address longstanding challenges in automation, efficiency, and sustainability across various technological systems. Transitioning from academic to commercial environments brings new challenges that require specific skills and perspective shifts. This presentation explores the pathways in developing commercialized products based on control research. Commercialization begins with research results but quickly requires moving beyond scientific value to demonstrate commercial potential. We examine how to develop effective pitches that communicate both technological excellence and market viability, identify funding opportunities beyond traditional research grants, and understand evaluation criteria used by investors. We provide practical strategies on turning research into commercial applications, and explore how this process enables researchers to think of their work not only as pushing the field forward, but as a means to advance technology and influence society positively