Varicella zoster and fever rash surveillance in Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Background In Lao PDR, the epidemiology of varicella infection is uncertain, since it is not a notifiable disease and VZV outbreaks are rarely reported as fever/rash (F/R) diseases. Methods We estimated the seroprevalence of VZV (IgG ELISA) in different age cohorts (9 months to 46 years; N = 3139) and investigated VZV and 6 other viruses in patients during F/R outbreaks and in an ad hoc sentinel site in the context of the national reporting system (IgM ELISA, PCR). Results At least 80% of the sampled population had evidence of VZV infection before the age of 15. The largest increase in seroprevalence occurred between the age groups 1 to 5 and 6 to 7 year-olds. A VZV outbreak (clade 2) also occurred in this age group mostly during the first year of primary school (median age 6 years, interquartile range 4.0–7.5). During a dengue outbreak, 6% had varicella. At our F/R sentinel site, 14% of children with viral etiology were laboratory diagnosed as varicella and among others, a sizeable number of measles (N = 12) and rubella cases (N = 25) was detected compared to those reported for the whole country (N = 56 and 45), highlighting nationwide a large challenge of underreporting or misdiagnosis of these notifiable diseases because of lack of diagnostic laboratory capacity. Conclusion We recommend strengthening the clinical and laboratory diagnosis of VZV, measles and rubella, the surveillance and reporting of notifiable F/R diseases by retraining of healthcare workers and by setting up sentinel sites and enhancing laboratory capacity

Quantifying capacities and interactions of complex multimodal signalized intersections: On the example of Bellevue intersection

This thesis provides the traffic engineer a methodology which allows him/her to evaluate the benefits of design measures by using simple input data. It has been developed by analysing the Bellevue intersection in Zurich, Switzerland. Step 1 of the methodology is the calculation of saturation flows. It is largely inspired by the procedure provided by the Highway Capacity Manual. Step 2 identifies whether the saturation flow can be reached and which limitations there are. These include presorting (i.e. uneven usage of lanes upstream of a diverge with unequal demands), shared lanes or short storage areas. In step 3, all data is plugged into a MATLAB algorithm developed as part of this thesis. It returns the capacities and the signal plans. A case study to identify possible improvements for Bellevue is conducted. Bellevue intersection can be divided up into 4 sub-intersections. For each of them, a set of different scenarios is analyzed. Those scenarios are consolidated into 5 test cases which are run in VISSIM to check the interaction between subintersections

Towards a functional, transport-market-oriented definition of regional traffic

In literature, many authors address issues related to regional traffic. However, there is no clear and agreed definition of what regional traffic actually is, especially regarding its delimitation from long-distance traffic, but also from city & agglomeration traffic. Practice in different countries across Europe uses many different approaches to set the boundary between long- distance traffic and regional traffic. Most of them are dominated by regulatory and financial aspects rather than transport-system-based considerations. First of all, this paper will provide an overview of definitions currently used in practice and literature across Europe in general and Switzerland in particular, including their respective advantages and disadvantages. Afterwards, it will propose a generic transport-market-oriented definition, which allows assigning a given line of public transportation with a given demand pattern to either regional traffic, long-distance traffic or city & agglomeration traffic

How does rail perform against autonomous buses?: Two case studies in Switzerland

The emergence of autonomous buses has potentially large consequences within the system of public transportation. At the moment, buses have low fixed costs and high marginal costs. For each additional bus put in operation to increase the available capacity, an additional driver has to be paid a salary. On the other hand, rail has high fixed costs and lower marginal costs. With autonomous buses, the comparative advantage of rail in terms of economies of scale is coming under pressure. In this paper, the conclusions of a doctoral thesis aiming at the holistic assessment of the competitive situation of trains and buses in regional transport shall be presented. It establishes a framework including a cost-allocation model for operating cost of trains and buses, the maintenance cost of infrastructure as well as the possibility to take into account non-monetary benefits such as shorter travel or access times. After presentation of the main results of the aforementioned assessment framework, the latter shall be applied to two case studies of regional railway lines in Switzerland: Schwanden – Linthal and St. Gallen – Weinfelden

Application of a Cost-Allocation Model to Swiss Bus and Train Lines

Public transport costs are an important decision factor when making system design choices and network or timetable planning. Although many cost models of varying degrees of sophistication have been proposed in literature, practitioners often use relatively simple models such as purely vehicle-kilometer-based cost estimations. This paper applies a cost-allocation model to Swiss bus and train lines. The proposed model is based on operating statistics including ‘productive hours’, vehicle-kilometers, vehicle number and size. The cost model is then applied to a case study for a generic public transport line with a typical demand distribution. The case study calculates the demand level at which train service becomes more effective than bus service for various combinations of minimal frequency, average speed and maximum number of coupled Electric Multiple Units

Consequences of automated transport systems as feeder services to rail: SBB fund for research into management in the field of transport

This research project aims at addressing the question of how interchange stations between rail and autonomous feeder services (either private or shared cars, autonomous buses) need to be designed and where they should be placed in order to meet best the requirements of customers. Furthermore it is investigated how station density along a rail corridor should develop: should new additional stations be built or should in contrary existing ones be closed such that customers would use a feeder to reach the nearest hub