201 research outputs found
Deciding (Or not) on the acceptable level of seismic risk: First behavioural considerations on the L’Aquila trial
No full textThis work analyses the issue of the acceptable level of risk in the civil protection field from a behavioural perspective. Choosing the acceptable level of risk for a community is a task that political decision-makers are charged with. However, it so happens that politicians do not manage to accomplish this. The reasons for this and some possible solutions have been broached by Di Bucci and Savadori (2018). Starting from that paper, this work aims at proposing some preliminary reasoning on the so-called L’Aquila trial, which involved scientists and Civil Protection officers after the 6 April 2009 Abruzzo earthquake (Italy). Behavioural sciences provide a key to understanding what happened through heuristics and biases that affected all the actors in this story, including the local population, the media, and judiciary, in the frame of coming to no practical decision about the acceptable level of risk. The conclusion is that scientific, technical, and professional communities could and should foster the awareness of people, the media, and political decision-makers (and judiciary), and allow the communities and their decision-makers to take on participated and shared decisions on their acceptable level of risk. These should include the consequences of their decisions and, in a broader perspective, the residual risks that, in a general appraisal, they will decide to accept
Risk perceptions and COVID-19 protective behaviors: a two-wave longitudinal study of epidemic and post-epidemic periods
No full textWe investigated how perceived risk and protective behaviors changed as the coronavirus epidemic progressed. A longitudinal sample of 538 people responded to a COVID-19 risk perception questionnaire during the outbreak and post-epidemic periods. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), we examined the mean level change of selected constructs and differences in their relationships. We tested a risk perception pathway in which affective attitude, informed by experience, shaped risk perceptions and protective behaviors. The model also postulated a social pathway in which cultural worldviews, like individualism and hierarchy, predicted risk perceptions and protective behaviors through social norms. Latent mean difference analyses revealed a decrease in social distancing behaviors and an increase in hygiene-cleanliness, corresponding to a reduction in risk perceptions and social norms and a rise in direct and indirect experience, while affective attitude remained substantially stable. Cross-sectional and longitudinal path analyses showed that affective risk perception, primarily informed by affective attitude, and social norms promoted behavior consistency regardless of epidemic contingencies. Instead, analytic risk perceptions were linked to protective behaviors only during the outbreak. Although risk perceptions dropped over time, analytic risk perceptions dropped more steeply than affective risk perceptions. Our findings supported the distinction between affective and deliberative processes in risk perception, reinforcing the view that affective reactions are needed to deploy analytic processes. Our study also supports the claim that perceived social norms are essential to understanding cultural worldview-related protective behaviors variability
Temporal distance reduces the attractiveness of p-bets compared to $- bets
No full textAlthough people normally prefer a more certain option over a riskier option of equal expected value, sometimes they are tempted to choose the riskier, but more rewarding one. Such temptation is even stronger when people decide for the distant future as compared with the near future. In Experiments 1 and 2 we showed that increasing temporal distance makes people more likely to choose a high risk $-bet (€400, 0.02;0) over a low risk p-bet (€14, 0.60;0). Furthermore, the risk aversion shift increased proportionally to the time delay and persisted even for long delays (6 months). In Experiment 3, we showed that this temporal effect is associated with a decrease in positive feelings towards the p-bet, and with a decrease in the positive evaluation of the high-probability (60%) of the p-bet, but not with an increase of the positive evaluation of the high-payoff (400 euro) of the p-bet. In Experiment 4, we showed that increasing the salience of the probability feature tended to decrease the temporal effect, while increasing the salience of the prize did not vary the strength of the effect. Results are in line with an affect-based explanation of the temporal effect
Percezione e paura dei rischi tecnologici
No full textIl sistema esperienziale basato sulla componente emotiva è determinante nella percezione del rischio nucleare. Tale sistema, che ha garantito la sopravvivenza dell’uomo, talvolta induce in errore e non riesce a rendere conto della diversità dei giudizi sul nucleare. Questo risultato non può che essere imputato all’apprendimento, e in particolare al diverso tipo di apprendimento cui gli individui sono esposti
Color and abundance: Influencing children's food choices
No full textPackaging color and product availability are factors influencing consumer preferences. However, their impact on children's choices is scarce. The current research examines whether the size of the set of items and the packaging color might shape children's choices. In three experiments (N = 887), we investigated the effect of these two variables on children's choices of food items in a laboratory setting. The results showed that food items provided in larger piles of identical products were preferred to those provided in smaller piles of identical products, even though children could only choose one item to take away, showing evidence of an "abundance bias". In addition, food products packaged in red were preferred to those packaged in green. A moderation effect was also observed whereby children preferred red-packaged items more when offered within a larger group of identical items (abundance) and less when offered within a smaller group of identical items. The findings provide insight into the psychology of color and abundance as choice attractors in children's consumer preferences for food products
A behavioural approach for seismic risk mitigation
No full textEarthquake is a natural calamity that cannot be predicted, and even though one day, hypothetically, this might be possible, its occurrence will not anyhow be avoided. Its unpredictability, together with its inescapability, poses the accent on preparedness and prevention, which represent the sole activities that can be pursued in order to mitigate its catastrophic effects. Within this scenario, human behaviour becomes extremely relevant. Two main actors of seismic risk mitigation are especially important: the population and the policy-makers, the latter in charge of safety and protection of the civil community. Contrary to a rational calculus, which would like people to protect themselves more and more as risk increases, we observe instances of inefficient behaviours, dictated to a large extent by the cognitive strategies with which people deal with when making decisions in the domain of seismic risk. Moreover, this expectation is largely unattended, because of the controversial behaviours and different perspectives of the two actors in dealing with seismic risk. The paper approaches the problem through the tools of behavioural economics, trying to investigate possible cognitive biases and risk misperception which can trigger crowding out either of individuals or policy-makers for undertaking seismic risk reduction measures, with the final goal of supporting and improving the effectiveness of risk reduction strategies designed at governmental level. A particular focus is dedicated to Italy, as being a country with high seismic risk and, on the other hand, significant skills on seismic risk reduction strategies
Synthetic blocks for bone regeneration : A systematic review and meta-analysis
No full textThis systematic review is aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of synthetic block materials for bone augmentation in preclinical in vivo studies. An electronic search was performed on Pubmed, Scopus, EMBASE. Articles selected underwent risk-of-bias assessment. The outcomes were: new bone formation and residual graft with histomorphometry, radiographic bone density, soft tissue parameters, complications. Meta-analysis was performed to compare new bone formation in test (synthetic blocks) vs. control group (autogenous blocks or spontaneous healing). The search yielded 214 articles. After screening, 39 studies were included, all performed on animal models: rabbits (n = 18 studies), dogs (n = 4), rats (n = 7), minipigs (n = 4), goats (n = 4), and sheep (n = 2). The meta-analysis on rabbit studies showed significantly higher new bone formation for synthetic blocks with respect to autogenous blocks both at four-week (mean difference (MD): 5.91%, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.04, 10.79%, p = 0.02) and at eight-week healing (MD: 4.44%, 95% CI: 0.71, 8.17%, p = 0.02). Other animal models evidenced a trend for better outcomes with synthetic blocks, though only based on qualitative analysis. Synthetic blocks may represent a viable resource in bone regenerative surgery for achieving new bone formation. Differences in the animal models, the design of included studies, and the bone defects treated should be considered when generalizing the results. Clinical studies are needed to confirm the effectiveness of synthetic blocks in bone augmentation procedures
Identification and Characterization of Planktonic Biofilm-Like Aggregates in Infected Synovial Fluids From Joint Infections
No full textRecent in vitro studies reported the exceptional ability of some bacterial species to form biofilm-like aggregates in human and animal synovial fluids (SF), but evidences from infected clinical samples are still lacking. In this study, we investigated whether this bacterial phenotype was present in infected SFs collected from joint infections and if it was maintained in in vitro settings. SFs sent for culture to the Laboratory of Microbiology of our institute were directly analyzed by means of confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), and the infective agents were isolated for further in vitro tests. Moreover, sterile SF was collected from patients who did not receive previous antibiotic therapy to investigate the formation of bacterial aggregates, together with biofilm and matrix production on a titanium surface. Finally, antibiotic susceptibility studies were performed by using bovine SF. Four Staphylococcus aureus, one Staphylococcus lugdunensis, and one Prevotella bivia strain were identified in the infected SFs. The CLSM analysis showed that all staphylococci were present as a mixture of single cells and bacterial clumps surrounded by an exopolymeric substance, which comprised SF-derived fibrin, while all P. bivia cells appeared separated. Despite that, differences in the ability to aggregate between S. aureus and S. lugdunensis were observed in clinical SFs. These different phenotypes were further confirmed by in vitro growth, even though the application of such ex vivo approach lead all staphylococci to form exceptionally large microbial aggregates, which are several folds bigger than those observed in clinical samples. Planktonic aggregates challenged for antibiotic susceptibility revealed a sharp increase of recalcitrance to the treatments. Although this is still at a preliminary stage, the present work confirmed the ability of staphylococci to form free-floating biofilm-like aggregates in infected SF from patients with joint infections. Furthermore, the obtained results pointed out that future in vitro research on joint infections will benefit from the use of human- or animal-derived SF. Even though this approach should be carefully validated in further studies comprising a larger microbial population, these findings pose new challenges in the treatment of infected native and prosthetic joints and for the approach to new investigations
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