Risk Data Hub software and data architecture

Risk Data Hub is an initiative of Disaster Risk Management Knowledge Centre (DRMKC) and consists of a publicly available web-GIS platform intended to improve the access and sharing of curated European-wide risk data, tools and methodologies for fostering Disaster Risk Management (DRM) related actions. The implementation of the concept is made of multiple steps, including the definition of type of analysis to be presented, the design of methodologies to compute data needed, the design of database architecture and software tools and finally the development of the software. This document will focus on the design of software architecture, starting from a high level analysis of the business needs, going to the explanation of the solutions proposed, considering previous works in the topic of Disaster Risk Management and showing how the existent Loss Database architecture has been extended to fit the requirements of a complex and multi-context application.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

Decision Making Improvement for Disaster Risk Management (DRM) through technological support

The workshop “Decision Making Improvement for Disaster Risk Management (DRM) through technological support” was held in Bucharest, Romania on 16th of October 2019, part of the 4th DRMKC Annual Seminar. The key objective of the session was to increase the collaboration with national/regional/local authorities and other institutions, aligning the development of the tools to the needs and concerns expressed at local/national level. To accomplish its objective, the workshop brought together technical and scientific experts with end users of the platforms, who have faced the main challenges related to data, knowledge and institutional practices while offering technological support for DRM. Showcases and feedback from national authorities and institutions were presented, as they were experienced when using the platforms presented in the session: the DRMKC Risk Data Hub, GRRASP and RAPID-N. The session was divided in two parts, in the first it was presented the general characteristics and functionalities of the platforms, followed in the second part by showcases of using these platforms in various applications by the local authorities and institutions.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

INFORM scientific and technical improvements in 2017: Missing values imputation and IT developments

The JRC is the technical and scientific leader of the INFORM model, and responsible for methodological improvements, and their implementation. This publication describe the INFORM methodological and technical improvements implemented by JRC in the 2017. On despite the indicators have been selected on be base of their reliability, consistency continuity and completeness, most of the them don’t cover all the countries for all the year. This results in a significant number of missing values, irregularly distributed among countries, time and indicators. This report describes an innovative approach for predicting missing values using advanced statistical technics. We also present the IT developments in support to the INFORM model, including the web platform for managing the INFORM Subnational models and the improvements in the API.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

The Risk Data Hub loss datasets

The aim of this document is to report the methodology used to create the Historic Events module and the use that can be done of damage and loss data. The RDH Historical Event Catalogue consists in a collection of past events data occurred in EU created from a wide array of data published in several sources and datasets. This collection makes use of inventoried data; precisely different open access datasets have been interrogated collecting European-related records on past disastrous events. Both hazard and loss data have been systematically collected from various sources, checked, linked and homogenized to be provided in tabular and geospatial format in order to create the RDH Historical Event Catalogue. The work carried out consists in an effort done to improve the existing lack of homogeneous and comparable data on past events occurred across European Countries. This work represents an assemblage of sources that become complementary. Considering that each source focuses on different aspects of the impact events, the objective of the collection is to describe the phenomenon, gather data on loss and damage records and present the spatial extent of the damages. Finally, analyses intended to illustrate ways of examining global loss data and identifying possible trends in terms of peril or geographical prone areas within the European Countries are performed on the collected damage and loss data.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

Risk Data Hub – web platform to facilitate management of disaster risks

The management of disaster risks of different kinds (manmade, natural) is ruled at European level by a number of policies covering various sectors (e.g. environmental, industrial, civil protection, security, health), scales (EU wide, regional, national) and operational actions (preparedness, prevention, response and recovery). A range of research and technological developments, are motivated to support the implementation of these policies and actions across various scales reaching local level. However, the effectiveness of Disaster Risk Management (DRM) depends greatly on the efficiency of managing relevant information. Complex forms of decision-making needs technological support for achieving DRM objective of reducing risk. Disaster Risk Management Knowledge Centre (DRMKC) is currently developing a web-based geographical information system (WebGIS) aiming to support the implementation of international actions for DRM from global or regional level to local-national level. With this study, we present the DRMKC Risk Data Hub, a tool that improves the access and share of curated EU-wide disaster risk information relevant for DRM related actions. We also identify the key characteristics of a WebGiS platform needed to address in the most efficient way aspects of disaster risk management. Risk Data Hub acts as a knowledge hub, links policy and practice through geospatial technology and mapping, combines top-down strategies with bottom-up methodological approaches and sets the bases for science-based information for DRM polices. Currently, Risk Data Hub structures the information into three modules that covers the Exposure Analysis – as one of the main drivers of risk, Historic Events – as an EU-wide loss and damage database and Risk Analysis module - as collection of good or existing practices.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

Risk factors for postoperative depression in 150 subjects treated for drug-resistant focal epilepsy.

Objective.The primary goal was to identify risk factors for post-surgical depression in subjects operated on for drug-resistant epilepsy. Secondary goals were to confirm the high rate of depression in subjects suffering from epilepsy (prior to surgery) and to look for first post-surgical depressive episode.Methods.Case series study of 150 subjects surgically treated for partial epilepsy (side of surgery: 72 right, 78 left; site of surgery: 97 Unilobar Temporal, 17 Unilobar Frontal, 14 Posterior, 22 Multilobar). All subjects routinely had three psychiatric evaluations: before surgery (baseline) and at 6 and 12 months after surgery. Psychiatric diagnoses were made according to DSM-IV-TR criteria. Bivariate (Fisher exact test and Kruskal–Wallis rank sum test) and multivariate (logistic regression model fitting) analyses were performed.Results.Thirty-three (22%) subjects had post-surgical depressive episodes, 31 of them in the first 6 months. Fourteen out of 33 experienced depression for the first time. Post-surgical depressive episodes are not associated with gender, outcome on seizures, side/site of surgical resection, histological diagnosis, psychiatric diagnoses other than depression. Depressive episodes before surgery and older age at surgery time are risk factors for post-surgical depression (p = 0.0001 and 0.01, respectively, at logistic regression analysis). No protective factors were identified.Conclusions.Our data show that lifetime depressive episodes and older age at surgery time are risk factors for post-surgery depression. Moreover, a prospective study could be useful in order to assess whether depression is really a consequence of surgery

Update of Risk Data Hub software and data architecture

This document, as an update of the first technical report (JRC114712) on software and data architecture, will focus on the design, starting from a high level analysis of the business needs, going to the explanation of the solutions proposed, considering previous works in the topic of Disaster Risk Management and showing how the existent Loss Database architecture has been reviewed to fit the requirements of a complex and multi-context application. For a more generic overview of the concept of the DRMKC Risk Data Hub, the reader can consult the report “The Disaster Risk Management Knowledge Centre – Risk Data Hub: Vision Paper & roadmap”, European Commission, Ispra, 2019, JRC119384.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

The Risk Data Hub loss datasets - The Risk Data Hub Historical Event Catalogue

In recent decades, the systematic collection of disaster related data has rapidly become a crucial concern; there is a growing recognition of the importance of post-disaster loss data, which are an essential mean to inform policy decisions oriented to reduce disaster risk as they are strictly linked to a variety of aspects: from the understanding of the impacts of occurred events to the calibration and validation of forecasting models till the evaluation of progresses in reducing disaster risk. Post-event damage and loss data have an intrinsic key role in all the phases of the DRM. Records of damage and losses occurred due to past disastrous events are not always available. Rarely countries have procedures and databases to collect and store post-event damage data; in many countries there are no organizations in charge of collecting data and open global datasets often have different quality of data (Petrucci at al., 2018). At European level loss and damage data are available through global multi-hazards databases (Wirtz, K., et al., 2014), but there is no authoritative loss database that can provide a trend at European level (De Groeve, 2015). The Disaster Risk Management Knowledge Centre (DRMKC) is currently developing a web-based geographical information system platform, the DRMKC Risk Data Hub (RDH), which aims at improving the access and share of curated EU-wide disaster risk information in order to support the implementation of international actions for DRM. Currently, Risk Data Hub structures the information into three modules that covers the Exposure Analysis, Historic Events – as an EU-wide loss and damage database and Risk Analysis module. The aim of this document is to report the methodology used to create the Historic Events module and the use that can be done of damage and loss data. The RDH Historical Event Catalogue consists in a collection of past events data occurred in EU created from a wide array of data published in several sources and datasets. This collection makes use of inventoried data; precisely different open access datasets have been interrogated collecting European-related records on past disastrous events. Both hazard and loss data have been systematically collected from various sources, checked, linked and homogenized to be provided in tabular and geospatial format in order to create the RDH Historical Event Catalogue. The work carried out consists in an effort done to improve the existing lack of homogeneous and comparable data on past events occurred across European Countries. This work represents an assemblage of sources that become complementary. Considering that each source focuses on different aspects of the impact events, the objective of the collection is to describe the phenomenon, gather data on loss and damage records and present the spatial extent of the damages. Finally, analyses intended to illustrate ways of examining global loss data and identifying possible trends in terms of peril or geographical prone areas within the European Countries are performed on the collected damage and loss data

Index for Risk Management - INFORM

The Index for Risk Management - INFORM - is a composite indicator that identifies countries at risk of humanitarian crisis and disaster that would overwhelm national response capacity. It provides an open, transparent, consensus-based methodology for analysing crisis risk at global, regional or national level. The INFORM model is based on risk concepts published in scientific literature and envisages three dimensions of risk: Hazards & exposure, Vulnerability, and Lack of coping capacity. The INFORM model is split into different levels to provide a quick overview of the underlying factors leading to humanitarian risk and builds up the picture of risk by more than 50 core indicators. Any changes in the INFORM methodology are always applied to at least the five previous years of data to preserve the consistency of the trend analysis. The results of INFORM can support decisions about crisis and disaster prevention, preparedness and response, as well as strategies that build resilience. For example, INFORM can be used to: help develop priorities for risk management, preparedness and building resilience; support decisions about resource allocation; and to monitor risk trends over time.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

Personality Profile of Male Adolescents With Tourette Syndrome: A Controlled Study

Tourette syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by multiple tics and commonly associated with behavioral problems, especially obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The presence of specific personality traits has been documented in adult clinical populations with Tourette syndrome but has been underresearched in younger patients. We assessed the personality profiles of 17 male adolescents with Tourette syndrome and 51 age- and gender-matched healthy controls using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent version, along with a standardized psychometric battery. All participants scored within the normal range across all Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent version scales. Patients with Tourette syndrome scored significantly higher than healthy controls on the Obsessiveness Content Scale only (P =.046). Our findings indicate that younger male patients with Tourette syndrome do not report abnormal personality traits and have similar personality profiles to healthy peers, with the exception of obsessionality traits, which are likely to be related to the presence of comorbid obsessive compulsive symptoms rather than tics