Modelling firm (re-)location choice in UrbanSim

Over the last decade, low economic growth rates resulted in intensified competition between nations, regions, and towns in trying to attract new firms and inhabitants. In particular, the establishment of new firms has become one of the most vital objectives of governments and public authorities all over Europe. To raise the attractiveness of a region, different instruments have been used: tax reductions, incentives for new establishments, as business destination promotion activities, supply of outstanding infrastructure and public services. On the one hand, this paper investigates effects of different possible options for cantonal and municipal authorities’ intent to attract firms: improvements in transport infrastructure, designation of new building zones, and last but not least tax reductions. These actions have been tested by simulating the decisions of existing firms. The parameters for these simulations have been estimated with a discrete choice model using data of the cantons St.Gallen and both Appenzell as well as Zurich. On the other hand, the paper aims to provide an approach to implement these models in UrbanSim. UrbanSim is a software-based simulation system for supporting planning and analysis of urban development, incorporating the interactions between land use, transportation, the economy, and the environment. At the moment, UrbanSim is adapted to an European context (see the according research project SustainCity, www.sustaincity.eu).

Les comportements face au VIH/sida parmi les migrants originaires d'Afrique subsaharienne en Suisse : Enquête ANSWER 2013-2014

L'enquête Internet ANSWER (African Net Survey WE Respond!) auprès des migrants provenant d'Afrique subsaharienne (ASS) a été menée entre septembre 2013 et février 2014, sur mandat de l'OFSP et avec la collaboration de l'ASS. Cette enquête s'inscrit dans le cadre du mandat de surveillance épidémiologique de deuxième génération du VIH et des autres IST auquel l'IUMSP participe activement. Le but de cette enquête a été de décrire dans cette population les connaissances, attitudes et comportements (en particulier, les comportements sexuels, l'usage de préservatifs et la réalisation de tests de dépistage du VIH) en lien avec la prévention du VIH et des autres infections sexuellement transmissibles. Une analyse exploratoire de facteurs associés à certains comportements (partenaires multiples, utilisation de préservatifs, réalisation de tests) a également été menée. Il s'agissait d'une enquête par Internet auto-administrée disponible en 7 langues, à laquelle les personnes originaires d'Afrique subsaharienne étaient invitées à participer. Un groupe d'accompagnement composé de professionnels de la prévention du VIH et de médiateurs culturels de différents pays africains a participé activement à toutes les étapes du projet (conception du questionnaire, traductions, cognitive testing, promotion de l'enquête, mobilisation communautaire)

Coping concordance in couples

Funding information National Institute of Mental Health, Grant/Award Number: MH60366Peer reviewedPostprin

Planning for the Future: A Land-Use and Transport Interaction Model for Switzerland

Spatial and transport planners, authorities, real estate developers, investors, re-locating residents and businesses have different questions related to space and transport. These questions may concern specific land parcels, or cover a much larger area such as a city, a region, or even a whole nation. Amongst others, these questions include: - How will our society respond to influences of global economy and political decisions (e.g. regarding demographics and firmographics)? - Which strategies will help authorities and politicians to reach their goals? - What are the spatial effects (and side-effects) of these decisions and demographic changes (e.g. spatial/social segregation, use of resources and infrastructure, climate impact)? To answer these questions, different scenarios have been simulated including all 3000 municipalities in Switzerland using the integrated transport and land use simulation tool FaLC (Facility Location Choice Simulation Tool). FaLC incorporates interactions between land use, transportation, economy and public policy and has been developed in a joint project between the Institute for Transport Planning and Systems (IVT) at ETH Zurich, regioConcept (Switzerland) and ESMO (Slovakia). The models in FaLC focus on the effects of changing infrastructure supply, political decisions, and economic conditions on the spatial behaviour (location and relocation choices, transport flows) of persons (places of residence, work, leisure and shopping), firms (domicile, branches) and goods (freights, wholesale, retail, cash flow). In FaLC, persons move (or stay) in a certain space divided into a number of subareas (locations), comparable to a chess board. The agents' movement includes the daily commuters between home, work and leisure, as well as long-term decisions such as; where they live, work and generally spend their spare time. The first prototype of FaLC is already in operation and ready to create future scenarios. The implemented case study for Switzerland focusses basically on three scenarios: - Effects of road network modification - Effects of company taxes reduction - Effects of land regulation modification This paper shows the effects and side-effects of these assumed spatial interventions. Additionally, it discusses some problems of the chosen micro-simulation approach (e.g. data availability, white noise, choice of subsets)

Cultural competency of health-care providers in a Swiss University Hospital: self-assessed cross-cultural skillfulness in a cross-sectional study

Background: As the diversity of the European population evolves, measuring providers’ skillfulness in cross-cultural care and understanding what contextual factors may influence this is increasingly necessary. Given limited information about differences in cultural competency by provider role, we compared cross-cultural skillfulness between physicians and nurses working at a Swiss university hospital. Methods: A survey on cross-cultural care was mailed in November 2010 to front-line providers in Lausanne, Switzerland. This questionnaire included some questions from the previously validated Cross-Cultural Care Survey. We compared physicians’ and nurses’ mean composite scores and proportion of “3-good/4-very good” responses, for nine perceived skillfulness items (4-point Likert-scale) using the validated tool. We used linear regression to examine how provider role (physician vs. nurse) was associated with composite skillfulness scores, adjusting for demographics (gender, non-French dominant language), workplace (time at institution, work-unit “sensitized” to cultural-care), reported cultural-competence training, and cross-cultural care problem-awareness. Results: Of 885 questionnaires, 368 (41.2%) returned the survey: 124 (33.6%) physicians and 244 (66.4%) nurses, reflecting institutional distribution of providers. Physicians had better mean composite scores for perceived skillfulness than nurses (2.7 vs. 2.5, p < 0.005), and significantly higher proportion of “good/very good” responses for 4/9 items. After adjusting for explanatory variables, physicians remained more likely to have higher skillfulness (β = 0.13, p = 0.05). Among all, higher skillfulness was associated with perception/awareness of problems in the following areas: inadequate cross-cultural training (β = 0.14, p = 0.01) and lack of practical experience caring for diverse populations (β = 0.11, p = 0.04). In stratified analyses among physicians alone, having French as a dominant language (β = −0.34, p < 0.005) was negatively correlated with skillfulness. Conclusions: Overall, there is much room for cultural competency improvement among providers. These results support the need for cross-cultural skills training with an inter-professional focus on nurses, education that attunes provider awareness to the local issues in cross-cultural care, and increased diversity efforts in the work force, particularly among physicians

Detecting and describing heterogeneity in health care cost trajectories among asylum seekers.

The mechanism underlying the health care cost trajectories among asylum seekers is not well understood. In the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, a nurse-led health care and medical Network for Migrant Health ("Réseau santé et migration" RESAMI) has established a health care model focusing on the first year after arrival of asylum seekers, called the "community health phase". This model aims to provide tailored care and facilitate integration into the Swiss health care system. The aim of this study is to explore different health care cost trajectories among asylum seekers during this phase and identify the associated factors. We detected different patterns of health care cost trajectories using time-series clustering of longitudinal data of asylum seekers in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. These data included all adult asylum seekers and recipients of emergency aid who entered the canton between 2012 and 2015 and were followed until 2018. The different clusters of health care cost trajectories were then described using a multinomial logistic regression model. We identified a concave, an upward trending, and a downward trending cluster of health care cost trajectories with different characteristics being associated with each cluster. The likelihood of being in the concave cluster is positively associated with coming from the Eastern Mediterranean region or Africa rather than Europe and with a higher share of consultations with an interpreter. The likelihood of being in the upward trending cluster, which accrued the highest costs, is positively associated with 20-24-year-olds rather than older individuals, coming from Europe than any other region and having a mental disorder. In contrast to the other two clusters, the likelihood of being in the downward trending cluster is positively associated with having contacted the RESAMI network within the first month after arrival, which might indicate the potential of early intervention. It is also positively associated with older age and living in a group lodge. Asylum seekers are heterogeneous in terms of health care cost trajectories. Exploring these differences can help point to possible ways to improve the care and supporting services provided to asylum seekers. Our findings could indicate that early and patient-centered interventions might be well-suited to this aim

Industry Led Use-Case Development for Human-Swarm Operations

In the domain of unmanned vehicles, autonomous robotic swarms promise to deliver increased efficiency and collective autonomy. How these swarms will operate in the future, and what communication requirements and operational boundaries will arise are yet to be sufficiently defined. A workshop was conducted with 11 professional unmanned-vehicle operators and designers with the objective of identifying use-cases for developing and testing robotic swarms. Three scenarios were defined by experts and were then compiled to produce a single use case outlining the scenario, objectives, agents, communication requirements and stages of operation when collaborating with highly autonomous swarms. Our compiled use case is intended for researchers, designers, and manufacturers alike to test and tailor their design pipeline to accommodate for some of the key issues in human-swarm ininteraction. Examples of application include informing simulation development, forming the basis of further design workshops, and identifying trust issues that may arise between human operators and the swarm.Comment: Accepted at AAAI 2022 Spring Symposium Series (Putting AI in the Critical Loop: Assured Trust and Autonomy in Human-Machine Teams

Triple P (Positive Parenting Program): theoretischer und empirischer Hintergrund und erste Erfahrungen im deutschsprachigen Raum

'Dieser Artikel stellt die theoretischen, empirischen und klinischen Grundlagen eines mehrstufigen erziehungs- und familienunterstützenden Präventionsprogramms (Triple P: Positive Pa-renting Program) dar, welches die Förderung elterlicher Erziehungskompetenzen und die Reduktion von Verhaltensproblemen und emotionalen Störungen bei Kindern und Jugendlichen zum Ziel hat. Der Beitrag stellt die einzelnen Interventionsmethoden, Trainingselemente, Formen von Triple P und dessen Neuerungen sowie insbesondere die Verbreitung und Implementierung des Elterngruppenprogramms in Deutschland und der Schweiz dar. Die empirischen Belege zur Wirksamkeit des Programms aus Australien sowie aus dem deutschsprachigen Raum werden resümiert und Schlussfolgerungen für die Untersuchung der weiteren Verbreitung des Programms dargestellt.' (Autorenreferat)'This article reviews the theoretical and empirical background of Triple P (Positive Parenting Program). The aims of this prevention program as well as the different techniques that are used in order to help parents to improve their educational skills are presented. One main focus of this article is to draw the development of Triple P, its features and specifically its implementation in Europe. It is shown, how Triple P is disseminated in Germany and Switzerland and how parents rate their satisfaction and acceptance of Triple P in these two countries.' (author's abstract

Cobalamin deficiency resulting in a rare haematological disorder: a case report

INTRODUCTION: We present the case of a patient with a cobalamin deficiency resulting in pancytopaenia, emphasizing the importance to define, diagnose and treat cobalamin deficiency. CASE PRESENTATION: A 52-year-old man from the Democratic Republic of Congo presented to the emergency department with shortness of breath and a sore tongue. Physical examination was unremarkable. His haemoglobin was low and the peripheral blood smear revealed pancytopaenia with a thrombotic microangiopathy. The findings were low cobalamin and folate levels, and high homocysteine and methylmalonate levels. Pernicious anaemia with chronic atrophic gastritis was confirmed by gastric biopsy and positive antiparietal cell and anti-intrinsic factor antibodies. Cobalamin with added folate was given. Six months later, the patient was asymptomatic. CONCLUSION: Cobalamin deficiency should always be ruled out in a patient with pancytopaenia. Our case report highlights a life-threatening cobalamin deficiency completely reversible after treatment