DUG User Guide. Version 2.1

This user guide accompanies the DUG tool which is a public tool for applying the “Degree of urbanisation” (DEGURBA) model at one kilometer grid. DUG stands for Degree of Urbanisation Grid. It has been developed in the frame of the “Global Human Settlement Layer” (GHSL) project of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, with the overall objective to support the DEGURBA activities. The tool builds on the GHS SMOD model that implements settlement model classifier at 1 km grid. The tool uses population and built-up grids as input data, and optionally a water mask. It has been developed and tested using GHS P2016 datasets ; however other grids can be used on user responsibility. This user guide is a comprehensive guide to all aspects of using the DUG tool. It includes instructions for the set-up of the software, the use of the tool and the manipulation of the data. It presents briefly the basic principles and background information on the methodology and its implementation. Some guidelines on the parametrization are also provided.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

Human settlements in low lying coastal zones and rugged terrain: data and methodologies

This document describes the assessment of global terrain data and a procedure to combine terrain data with newly available human settlement data. The aim is to quantify settlements in low-lying coastal zones and in topographically rugged terrain. For terrain data we use the Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission Digital Elevation Model made available at 90m (3 arc sec), for settlement data we use the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) data set released in 2016 composed of built-up area (GHS-BU), population (GHS-POP) and settlement model (GHS-SMOD) grids and available for 4 epochs, 1975, 1990, 2000 and 2015. We show that SRTM at 90m and GHSL can be combined in a meaningful way. However, we could not generate accuracy assessment on the resulting figures as both datasets do not come with accuracy assessment. In addition, as the data extend only up to 60degrees north, the analysis is not completely global even if it covers the large part of the populated land masses. Preliminary results show that it is possible to derive quantitative measures related to the increase of population in coastal zones, and in steep terrain that may be considered prone to natural hazards. Preliminary analysis indicates that the rate of population growth for the four epochs in the low-lying coastal areas is higher than the global population growth rate. In addition, we show that we are able to measure the spatial expansion of settlements over steep slopes especially in the large cities in developing countries (i.e. Lima), but also in coastal settlements of developed countries (e.g., Italy and France).JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

Assessment of the Added-Value of Sentinel-2 for Detecting Built-up Areas

Monitoring of the human-induced changes and the availability of reliable and methodologically consistent urban area maps are essential to support sustainable urban development on a global scale. The Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) is a project funded by the European Commission, Joint Research Centre, which aims at providing scientific methods and systems for reliable and automatic mapping of built-up areas from remote sensing data. In the frame of the GHSL, the opportunities offered by the recent availability of Sentinel-2 data are being explored using a novel image classification method, called Symbolic Machine Learning (SML), for detailed urban land cover mapping. In this paper, a preliminary test was implemented with the purpose of: (i) assessing the applicability of the SML classifier on Sentinel-2 imagery; (ii) evaluating the complementarity of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2; and (iii) understanding the added-value of Sentinel-2 with respect to Landsat for improving global high-resolution human settlement mapping. The overall objective is to explore areas of improvement, including the possibility of synergistic use of the different sensors. The results showed that noticeable improvement of the quality of the classification could be gained from the increased spatial detail and from the thematic contents of Sentinel-2 compared to the Landsat derived product as well as from the complementarity between Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 images.JRC.G.2 - Global security and crisis managemen

Atlas of the Human Planet 2017: Global Exposure to Natural Hazards

The Atlas of the Human Planet 2017. Global Exposure to Natural Hazards summarizes the global multi-temporal analysis of exposure to six major natural hazards: earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, tropical cyclone winds, and sea level surge. The exposure focuses on human settlements assessed through two variables: the global built-up and the global resident population. The two datasets are generated within the Global Human Settlement Project of the Joint Research Centre. They represent the core dataset of the Atlas of the Human Planet 2016 which provides empirical evidence on urbanization trends and dynamics. The figures presented in the Atlas 2017 show that exposure to natural hazards doubled in the last 40 years, both for built-up area and population. Earthquake is the hazard that accounts for the highest number of people potentially exposed. Flood, the most frequent natural disaster, potentially affects more people in Asia (76.9% of the global population exposed) and Africa (12.2%) than in other regions. Tropical cyclone winds threaten 89 countries in the world and the population exposed to cyclones increased from 1 billion in 1975 up to 1.6 billion in 2015. The country most at risk to tsunamis is Japan, whose population is 4 times more exposed than China, the second country on the ranking. Sea level surge affects the countries across the tropical region and China has one of the largest increase of population over the last four decades (plus 200 million people from 1990 to 2015). The figures presented in the Atlas are aggregate estimates at country level. The value of the GHSL layers used to generate the figures in this Atlas is that the data are available at fine scale and exposure and the rate of change in exposure can be computed for any area of the world. Researchers and policy makers are now allowed to aggregate exposure information at all geographical scale of analysis from the country level to the region, continent and global.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

Megacities Spatiotemporal Dynamics Monitored with the Global Human Settlement Layer

Megacities are urban agglomerations hosting at least 10 million inhabitants. The rise in number, population size, and spatial extent of megacities are among the most prominent manifestations of the process of urbanisation taking place in the contemporary urban age. Until recently, urban growth has been quantified with data derived from satellites mainly for single megacities or for a limited subset of them. With the current advances in Remote Sensing and data processing, the integration of satellite data with other datasets could become a key contributor to the data revolution and support more complete urban studies and better informed policymaking. Although many remote sensing-derived products exist, few are open and free and possess the adequate resolution, information and contents to monitor the process of urban expansion. This research article builds on the premier open and free geospatial information contained in the Global Human Settlements Layer (GHSL) data package (produced at the European Commission - Joint Research Centre). This research takes advantage of existing GHSL data to identify megacities and to analyse their spatial and demographic change over the last 25 years (between 1990 and 2015). This paper quantifies how much and how fast megacities have expanded in spatial and demographic terms, and we provide graphical examples of the different manifestations of growth across megacities. The main findings of our research reveal an average demographic growth in megacities exceeding 2% a year between 1990 and 2000, and of 1.9% a year between 2000 and 2015. In the first period (1990 to 2000), megacities have expanded faster than the global average and more than the average of other urban centres. In the second period, global urban population increase has been greater than that of megacities. The comparative analysis of megacities however, reveals swift population growth in several cases: in seven cities population more than doubled between 1990 and 2015, and in six the average annual population growth exceeded 4% a year. Spatial expansion of megacities tends to occur at rates slower than that of population. In 27 cities built-up per capita has decreased over 25 years, by more than 10% in 17 cities. Megacities also differ in population density (in 2015), which in five is above 10,000 inhabitants per square kilometre, while in others, especially the ones in high-income countries, density remains around half this figure. Results highlight the value of new remote sensing-based data and methods for mapping and characterizing global urbanisation processes, in a consistent and comparable manner across space and time. The provision of open and free data ensures methods and findings can be audited and analyses extended to other cities, while the temporal dimension enables monitoring urbanisation and intergovernmental policies on sustainable urban development

Operating procedure for the production of the Global Human Settlement Layer from Landsat data of the epochs 1975, 1990, 2000, and 2014

A new global information baseline describing the spatial evolution of the human settlements in the past 40 years is presented. It is the most spatially global detailed data available today dedicated to human settlements, and it shows the greatest temporal depth. The core processing methodology relies on a new supervised classification paradigm based on symbolic machine learning. The information is extracted from Landsat image records organized in four collections corresponding to the epochs 1975, 1990, 2000, and 2014. The experiment reported here is the first known attempt to exploit global Multispectral Scanner data for historical land cover assessment. As primary goal, the Landsat-made Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) reports about the presence of built-up areas in the different epochs at the spatial resolution allowed by the Landsat sensor. Preliminary tests confirm that the quality of the information on built-up areas delivered by GHSL is better than other available global information layers extracted by automatic processing from Earth Observation data. An experimental multiple-class land-cover product is also produced from the epoch 2014 collection using low-resolution space-derived products as training set. The classification schema of the settlement distinguishes built-up areas based on vegetation contents and volume of buildings, the latter estimated from integration of SRTM and ASTER-GDEM data. On the overall, the experiment demonstrated a step forward in production of land cover information from global fine-scale satellite data using automatic and reproducible methodology.JRC.G.2-Global security and crisis managemen

Does Construing relate to Acculturation Attitudes and Psychological Well-being in Polish Immigrants in the U.K?

There is evidence for increased rates of psychoses and mood disorders in immigrant populations, with some contradictory findings showing that migrants have better mental health outcomes than their native-born counterparts. Explanatory theories considered individual and contextual factors. Acculturation processes are regarded to play an important part, but again there are contradictory findings. The relationships between immigration, acculturation and mental health are complex and more explorations are needed. The aim of this study was to explore whether construing before and after emigration was related to acculturation processes and mental health in Polish immigrants in the U.K. Forty adult immigrants participated in this study; measures of psychological well-being, cultural attitudes, and repertory grid interviews were used. Participants reported positive attitudes towards Polish and British cultures, significantly more positive attitudes towards the heritage culture. As a group, participants compared favourably to their counterparts living in Poland in terms of levels of psychological well-being. They also construed themselves more favourably following emigration. Nevertheless 20% of participants reported a history of mental health difficulties. Nearly half (45%) of participants reported clinically significant levels of distress, which is more than double the national prevalence rate in the U.K. The main findings of this study indicated a relationship between how Polish migrants construe themselves and significant others, their psychological adjustment and cultural attitudes. More positive attitudes towards Polish culture were associated with higher levels of positive affect. A positive view of Polish culture was associated with a relatively more salient construing pre-emigration. Contrary to the prediction, high levels of conflict in construing of significant others before emigration was related to a positive view of Polish culture. A relatively more conflicted view of self post-emigration was related to less positive attitudes towards British culture. As predicted, more structured construing post-emigration was linked with better mental health outcomes. Furthermore, a relatively more favourable view of self following immigration was associated with higher levels of positive affect and fewer symptoms of psychological distress. The latter was also linked with relatively lower levels of conflict in construing of 'self after emigration'. Case examples are presented. Recommendations for clinical practice and further research are made

Global Human Settlement Analysis for Disaster Risk Reduction

The Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) is supported by the European Commission, Joint Research Center (JRC) in the frame of his institutional research activities. Scope of GHSL is developing, testing and applying the technologies and analysis methods integrated in the JRC Global Human Settlement analysis platform for applications in support to global disaster risk reduction initiatives (DRR) and regional analysis in the frame of the European Cohesion policy. GHSL analysis platform uses geo-spatial data, primarily remotely sensed and population. GHSL also cooperates with the Group on Earth Observation on SB-04-Global Urban Observation and Information, and various international partners andWorld Bank and United Nations agencies. Some preliminary results integrating global human settlement information extracted from Landsat data records of the last 40 years and population data are presented.JRC.G.2-Global security and crisis managemen

Cisplatin-induced emesis: systematic review and meta-analysis of the ferret model and the effects of 5-HT3 receptor antagonists

PURPOSE: The ferret cisplatin emesis model has been used for ~30 years and enabled identification of clinically used anti-emetics. We provide an objective assessment of this model including efficacy of 5-HT(3) receptor antagonists to assess its translational validity. METHODS: A systematic review identified available evidence and was used to perform meta-analyses. RESULTS: Of 182 potentially relevant publications, 115 reported cisplatin-induced emesis in ferrets and 68 were included in the analysis. The majority (n = 53) used a 10 mg kg(−1) dose to induce acute emesis, which peaked after 2 h. More recent studies (n = 11) also used 5 mg kg(−1), which induced a biphasic response peaking at 12 h and 48 h. Overall, 5-HT(3) receptor antagonists reduced cisplatin (5 mg kg(−1)) emesis by 68% (45–91%) during the acute phase (day 1) and by 67% (48–86%) and 53% (38–68%, all P < 0.001), during the delayed phase (days 2, 3). In an analysis focused on the acute phase, the efficacy of ondansetron was dependent on the dosage and observation period but not on the dose of cisplatin. CONCLUSION: Our analysis enabled novel findings to be extracted from the literature including factors which may impact on the applicability of preclinical results to humans. It reveals that the efficacy of ondansetron is similar against low and high doses of cisplatin. Additionally, we showed that 5-HT(3) receptor antagonists have a similar efficacy during acute and delayed emesis, which provides a novel insight into the pharmacology of delayed emesis in the ferret