Dread Risk Research Articles

STRIDE-Based Cybersecurity Threat Modeling, Risk Assessment and Treatment of an In-Vehicle Infotainment System

In modern automobiles, the infotainment system is crucial for enhancing driver and passenger capabilities, offering advanced features such as music, navigation, communication, and entertainment. Leveraging Wi-Fi, cellular networks, NFC, and Bluetooth, the system ensures continuous internet connectivity, providing seamless access to information. However, the increasing complexity of IT connectivity in vehicles raises significant cybersecurity concerns, including potential data breaches and exposure of sensitive information. To enhance security in infotainment systems, this study applied component-level threat modeling to a proposed infotainment system using the Microsoft STRIDE model. This approach illustrates potential component-level security issues impacting privacy and security concerns. The study also assessed these impacts using SAHARA and DREAD risk assessment methodologies. The threat modeling process identified 34 potential security threats, each accompanied by detailed information. Moreover, a comparative analysis is performed to compute risk values for prioritizing treatment, followed by recommending mitigation strategies for each identified threat. These identified threats and associated risks require careful consideration to prevent potential cyberattacks before deploying the infotainment system in automotive vehicles.

Older women's experience with COVID-19 pandemic: A study of risk perception and coping among culturally and linguistically diverse population in South Australia.

A global catastrophe-the COVID-19 pandemic-appears to have two-dimensional health consequences for older adults: high risk of being infected and psychological distress. There is limited evidence on how the pandemic has impacted the life and coping of older adults who are culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD), women in particular. This study explored the COVID-19 risk perception and coping strategies of older CALD women in South Australia. A mixed-methods research design was employed, involving a 31-items coping and emergency preparation scale for survey and semi-structured interviews with participants. The older CALD women were approached through 11 multicultural NGOs. One hundred and nine women participants from 28 CALD communities completed the online surveys; 25 of them agreed to a telephone interview and provided their contact details. 15 older CALD women ultimately participated in interviews. Mean sum-score of dread risk, unknown risk, and fear (M: 43.5; SD: 4.9) indicated that the participants were somewhat anxious and worried. Mean sum-score of coping (M: 79.8; SD: 9.3) reported their compliance with expert advice and disinfection practices but accessing health information (M: 2.8; SD 1.4) and tendency to minimize anxiety (M: 2.1; SD: 1.2) were below neutral. Significant variations were found in coping in terms of age, meaning that the women aged 75 years and older were less likely to cope with the pandemic (P = 0.01). Emergency preparation differed based on the participants' residence and occupation status. The deductive-inductive thematic analysis of interview data was framed around three priori themes: risks of being affected, emotional and behavioral coping, and emergency preparation and access to services. Evidence shows a fear among the older CALD women with an endeavor to cope and prepare for emergency situations. This suggests the requirements for interventions that improve coping and reduce the risk of stress among them.

Mitigating Heat Exposure: Exploring the Role of Knowledge, Risk Perception, and Precautionary Behavior

Increasing ambient temperatures due to climate change have significantly impacted workers’ physical and mental workloads, affecting their health and safety. Promoting precautionary behaviors, especially among outdoor workers, is an effective strategy widely recommended for addressing these challenges. Precautionary behavior represents an essential protective mechanism that can be adopted at the individual level. This study explores the connections among Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), risk perception, and precautionary behavior. Descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modeling with the Partial Least Squares approach were used to analyze the data. This study was conducted at two forest management units in Central Java and East Java, Indonesia, where daily air temperatures are relatively high. The research involved 100 respondents, comprising 50 indoor and 50 outdoor workers. The findings of this investigation reveal that OSH-related knowledge among indoor workers predicts their precautionary behavior. Nevertheless, according to the model, attempts to improve precautionary behavior through knowledge enhancement are estimated to be unsuccessful among outdoor workers. Nonetheless, OSH-related knowledge can facilitate workers in developing a more realistic perception, especially regarding the “dread risk factor” among forestry workers, which can positively impact their precautionary behavior. Keywords: forestry worker, heat exposure, mediation analysis, occupational health, psychometrics paradigm

Risk Perceptions and Public Acceptance of Autonomous Vehicles: A Comparative Study in Japan and Israel

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are rapidly transforming the automotive industry due to rising consumer interest in these vehicles worldwide. However, few studies have compared different countries in terms of public acceptance of AVs. This study compares public acceptance of AVs as a function of risk perceptions in two countries leading the AV industry—Japan and Israel. We set our study within the risk-as-feelings framework. In contrast to “risk as analysis,” which invokes factual reasoning to bear on risk assessment and decision making, “risk as feelings” takes affective cues such as the sense of dread and unfamiliarity into judgments of risk. To this end, we conducted two web-based surveys in Japan in 2017 and Israel in 2021. In a between-subjects design, we manipulated introductory video information to portray various combinations of risk factors commonly associated with AVs: system errors, external interferences with car controls (e.g., hacking), and the inability of the AV to cope with unexpected events. Next, participants were surveyed about how they perceive the risks of AVs and other well-known technologies and activities. Results showed that acceptable risk, perceived risk, and perceived benefit of AVs were all generally higher in Israel than in Japan. The opposite pattern was found for a “risk adjustment factor,” suggesting that the Japanese seek more safety before acceptance than Israelis. Furthermore, we conducted a factor analysis on seven risk dimensions, resulting in a two-factor model of dread and unfamiliarity. Cognitive mapping of AVs and other technologies and activities in the two-factor plane revealed that the AV technologies we studied (i.e., AV-car levels 3 and 4; AV-bus levels 3 and 4) have high unfamiliarity risk but moderate dread risk compared to technologies and activities such as smoking, flying, and handguns. After exposure to video-based educational content, unfamiliarity risk was less influential but dread risk—in particular, related to human-made risks—became more influential. The results indicated that manufacturers and policymakers should emphasize mitigating human-made risks instead of focusing on improving public familiarity with AVs to garner trust and improve public acceptance of the technology.

Is Covid-19 a dread risk? The death toll of the pandemic year 2020 in long-term and transnational perspective

"Dread risks" are threats that can have catastrophic consequences. To analyse this issue we use excess mortality and corresponding life years lost as simple measures of the severity of pandemic events. As such, they are more robust than figures from models and testing procedures that usually inform public responses. We analyse data from OECD countries that are already fully available for the whole of 2020. To assess the severity of the pandemic, we compare with historical demographic events since 1880. Results show that reports of high excess mortality during peak periods and local outbreaks should not be taken as representative. Six countries saw a somewhat more increased percentage of life years lost (over 7%), nine countries show mild figures (0–7%), while seven countries had life year gains of up to 7%. So, by historical standards, Covid-19 is worse than regular flu, but a far cry from the Spanish Flu, which has become the predominant frame of reference for the current pandemic. Even though the demographic impact is modest, psychological aspects of the pandemic can still lead to transformative futures, as the reactions of East Asian societies to SARS I in 2003 showed.

간호대학생의 코로나19 위험인식과 개인방역 수칙

The purpose of study was to assess the relationship between perception of COVID-19 risk (dread risk and unknown risk) and perception and compliance of COVID-19 precautions in nursing students. A convenience sample of 340 nursing students from three universities answered a self-administered questionnaire. The results indicated that low levels of perceived unknown risk increased perception and compliance of precautionary behaviors. Furthermore, concern about COVID-19 infection and support to universities and government for responding to COVID-19 were associated with compliance of precautionary behaviors. The findings suggest that providing evidence on COVID-19 and precautionary behaviors is needed to improve awareness and compliance of personal quarantine rules for COVID-19 prevention.

Investors' reactions and firms' actions in the Covid-19 period: The case of Taiwan

This study investigates the stock performance of industries in the panic, rebound, and post-V-shaped periods separated by Covid-19 events in Taiwan, in which industries are classified as the detrimental, impaired, neutral, and beneficial groups. Prices of these four industries slumped about the same in the panic period but subsequently rose differently in the rebound and post-V-shaped periods, implying that investors make investment decisions by perception when facing dread risk but by analytic assessments after dread risk recedes. Regression tests show that prices of individual stocks in the same industry dropped differently in the panic period, reflecting investors' bounded rationality in that they are emotional at the industry level but rational at the firm level. Also, logistic regressions indicate that investors tend to be overoptimistic about the impaired and detrimental industries in the rebound period. More than 10% of firms repurchased their stocks but only a small portion of firms issued equity in the Covid-19 period, revealing that firms would participate in short-run trading but halt long-run investments when facing uncertainty. This study contributes to the literature by showing investors' behavior and firms' actions in different periods of Covid-19.

A Pandemic Risk Perception Scale.

We propose a Pandemic Risk Perception Scale. Our scale comprises two constructs, Dread Risk and Personal Exposure, divided into five dimensions: Infection Risk, Emotional Health Risk, Health System Risk,Financial Risk, and Alimentary Risk. Using multidimensional item response theory, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling on two samples of respondents, our results show that Alimentary Risk, Health System Risk, and Emotional Health Risk are the main dimensions of risk perception for the COVID‐19 pandemic. Furthermore, Infection Risk has a minor impact on the pandemic's risk perception, suggesting the presence of different dynamics between personal and general risk perceptions for the COVID‐19 pandemic.

How might controlled fusion fit into the emerging low-carbon energy system of the mid-twenty-first century?

We examine the characteristics that fusion-based generation technologies will need to have if they are to compete in the emerging low-carbon energy system of the mid-twenty-first century. It is likely that the majority of future electric energy demand will be provided by the lowest marginal cost energy technology-which in many regions will be stochastically varying renewable solar and wind electric generation coupled to systems that provide up to a few days of energy storage. Firm low-carbon or zero-carbon resources based on gas-fired turbines with carbon capture, advanced fission reactors, hydroelectric and perhaps engineered geothermal systems will then be used to provide the balance of load in a highly dynamic system operating in competitive markets governed by merit-order pricing mechanisms that select the lowest-cost supplies to meet demand. These firm sources will have overnight capital costs in the range of a few $/Watt, be capable of cycling down to a fraction of their maximum power output, operate profitably at low utilization fraction, and have a suitable unit size of order 100 MWe. If controlled fusion using either magnetic confinement or inertial confinement approaches is to have any chance of providing a material contribution to future electrical energy needs, it must demonstrate these key qualities and at the same time prove robust safety characteristics that avoid the perceived dread risk that plagues nuclear fission power, avoid the generation of long-lived radioactive waste and demonstrate highly reliable operations. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Prospects for high gain inertial fusion energy (part 1)'.

Risk perception and social acceptability of autonomous vehicles: A case study in Hiroshima, Japan

Given the impending introduction of self-driving cars to Japan within the next several years, gaining a better understanding of public opinion and risk perception of autonomous vehicles (AVs) is crucial. Though AVs have numerous potential social and economic benefits, including reduced travel time and environmental impacts, their implementation will depend on public acceptance. This study expanded on existing work by directly examining which aspects of AV use and function most affect risk perception. Participants were shown short animated video clips depicting the introduction of AVs into society at large, as well as three specific possible risk factors: system error, external interference with car controls (i.e., hacking), and the inability of the car to cope with unexpected events. Participants were then surveyed about their attitudes toward AVs and other potentially risky activities and technologies. The study established that the perceived advantages of all AV types (cars and buses, different automation levels) outweighed their perceived risks. Consistent with prior research, the two major aspects of perceived risk were dread and unfamiliarity. The results showed compared with other technologies, AV scores were neutral for dread risk but higher for unfamiliarity risk. The finding of high unfamiliarity indicates that public acceptance and perceived risks are likely to change as the public's knowledge increases. We also found that receiving information about a potential system error indirectly reduced AV acceptability, where dread and unfamiliarity to the AV risks served as mediators. The results suggest that proper management on the diffusion of information, which includes public information campaigns, test-ride events and transparency about safety options, will likely influence the ultimate social acceptability of AVs and will be crucial towards its successful introduction on the market.

Perceived risk and demands for countermeasures against diabetes and radiation in Fukushima after the nuclear accident: Effects of self-rated risk trade-off view and provision of risk information

It is crucial to examine how risk perception, risk trade-off view, and provision of risk information affect demands for countermeasures against multiple risks after a nuclear disaster. We investigated factors associated with the perceived dread risk of radiation exposure or diabetes and the self-rated risk trade-off view. We examined how the risk perception, self-rated risk trade-off view, and provision of risk information affected the perceived magnitude of the risks and the demands for countermeasures. We distributed an online questionnaire to 2806 panelists aged 20–69 years in the Fukushima Prefecture in 2018 and received 1044 valid responses. Both the perceived dread risk of radiation exposure and diabetes was associated with evacuation experience and trustworthy sources of information. The self-rated risk trade-off view was associated with gender, occupation, educational background, trustworthy sources of information, and a diabetes diagnosis. The perceived magnitude of radiation risk and the demand for countermeasures were governed by the perceived dread risk of radiation rather than the types of information provided or the self-rated risk trade-off view. Conversely, the perceived magnitude of diabetes risk and the demand for countermeasures were associated with both the perceived dread risk of diabetes and the self-rated risk trade-off view. The provision of risk comparison information slightly enhanced the demand for societal countermeasures against diabetes. The perceived dread risk is more strongly associated with the perceived magnitude of the risk and the demands for countermeasures than provided information. Development of a self-rated risk trade-off view is useful for encouraging countermeasures against diabetes.

The Dynamic Effects of Perceptions of Dread Risk and Unknown Risk on SNS Sharing Behavior During Emerging Infectious Disease Events: Do Crisis Stages Matter?

In response to the increasing prevalence of emerging infectious disease (EID) threats, individuals are turning to social media platforms to share relevant information in ever greater numbers. In this study, we examine whether risk perceptions related to user-generated content have dynamic impacts on social networking site (SNS) sharing behavior in different crisis stages. To answer this question, we applied psychometric analysis to evaluate how dread risk and unknown risk can characterize EID threats. Drawing broadly on the literature of risk perceptions, self-perception theory, and crisis stages, we relied on microblogs collected from Sina Weibo, utilizing the vector autoregression model to analyze dynamic relationships. We found that perceptions of dread risk have a dominant and immediate impact on SNS sharing behavior in the buildup, breakout, and termination stages of EID events. Perceptions of unknown risk have a dominant and persistent impact on sharing behavior in the abatement stage. The joint effect of these two types of risk perception reveal an antagonism impact on SNS sharing behavior, and perceptions of dread- and unknown risk have interaction effects from the buildup to termination stages of EID events. To check robustness, we analyzed keywords related to perceptions of dread- and unknown risk. The results of this study support the empirical application of Slovic’s risk perception framework for understanding the characteristics of EID threats and provide a picture of how perceptions of dread- and unknown risk exert differential time-varying effects on SNS sharing behavior during EID events. We also discuss theoretical and practical implications for the crisis management of EID threats. This study is among the first that uses user-generated content in social media to investigate dynamic risk perceptions and their relationship to SNS sharing behavior, which may help provide a basis for timely and efficient risk communication.

Bad News Has Wings: Dread Risk Mediates Social Amplification in Risk Communication.

Social diffusion of information amplifies risk through processes of birth, death, and distortion of message content. Dread risk-involving uncontrollable, fatal, involuntary, and catastrophic outcomes (e.g., terrorist attacks and nuclear accidents)-may be particularly susceptible to amplification because of the psychological biases inherent in dread risk avoidance. To test this, initially balanced information about high or low dread topics was given to a set of individuals who then communicated this information through diffusion chains, each person passing a message to the next. A subset of these chains were also reexposed to the original information. We measured prior knowledge, perceived risk before and after transmission, and, at each link, number of positive and negative statements. Results showed that the more a message was transmitted the more negative statements it contained. This was highest for the high dread topic. Increased perceived risk and production of negative messages was closely related to the amount of negative information that was received, with domain knowledge mitigating this effect. Reexposure to the initial information was ineffectual in reducing bias, demonstrating the enhanced danger of socially transmitted information.

Presenting information on regulation values improves the public's sense of safety: Perceived mercury risk in fish and shellfish and its effects on consumption intention.

Risk communication aims to promote health and understanding through information exchange; however, explanations regarding the basis of regulation values for the public are insufficient. Moreover, it is unclear how information presentation affects the public’s sense of safety and their consumption intentions. We first investigated the relationship between perception of mercury-risk in fish and shellfish and individual attributes and knowledge. We then examined how presenting information on regulation values and primary factors regarding perception affected sense of safety toward regulations and food-consumption intentions. An online survey was conducted with Japanese individuals (N = 1148). Respondents were randomly assigned to one of three groups based on the presentation level of regulation values. People who frequently consumed tuna had a high perception of dread risk of mercury. This suggests that the dread risk perception of mercury does not determine tuna-type consumption behavior; rather, individuals’ consumption behavior determines dread risk perception of mercury. Among those with high tuna-type consumption, those receiving information that a safety factor of 10 times had been considered showed a significantly greater sense of safety than did the group that was not presented with information on regulation values (odds ratio (95% confidence interval): 2.04 (1.18–3.53), p < 0.05). However, presentation of regulation values showed a weak but significantly positive correlation with excessive intake of tuna-type fish (odds ratio: 2.95 (0.93–9.32), p < 0.10). Presenting the information on regulation values increases sense of safety; however, it may also lead to excessive intake.

Public Participation in Risk Regulation: The Flaws of Formality

Dread risks draw significant public attention in both the administrative process and the courts. Yet there are a number of dysfunctions at the intersection of procedures, participation, and agency decision-making regarding such risks. This Article elaborates the participatory dysfunctions for dread risk regulation, considering formal APA procedures as well as casting complexity as a variety of formality. Inspired by recent executive actions for improving participation and incorporating social science insights into the regulatory process, this Article sets a research agenda that spans the fields of risk perception, procedural justice, and administrative law.

Perception on the Risk of the Sonora River Pollution

This study applies the “psychometric paradigm” of risk perception to the heavy mineral spill in the Sonora River (Mexico). A total of 241 inhabitants of the polluted area with a mean age of 46.3 years participated in the study, completing an interview questionnaire at the onset of the disaster. The results allow us to establish a profile of the 18 characteristics comprising the model and a multiple regression analysis shows that some characteristics of the dimensions of dread risk and unknown risk explain a percentage of the magnitude of the perceived risk. In addition, the behaviors recommended by the authorities were classified by the participants according to their estimated usefulness. Significant differences were observed. Avoiding contact with the water was considered the most effective, followed by recommendations on the use of the water, with actions related to the environment and how to avoid pollution being considered the least effective. In sum, the strategy deployed allows us to observe how the victims perceive the disaster and organize the behaviors proposed by the authorities.

Laypeople's and Experts' Risk Perception of Cloud Computing Services

Cloud computing is revolutionising the way software services are procured and used by Government organizations and SMEs. Quantitative risk assessment of Cloud services is complex and undermined by specific security concerns regarding data confidentiality, integrity and availability. This study explores how the gap between the quantitative risk assessment and the perception of the risk can produce a bias in the decision-making process about Cloud computing adoption. The risk perception of experts in Cloud computing (N=37) and laypeople (N=81) about ten Cloud computing services was investigated using the psychometric paradigm. Results suggest that the risk perception of Cloud services can be represented by two components, called dread risk and unknown risk, which may explain up to 46% of the variance. Other factors influencing the risk perception were perceived benefits, trust in regulatory authorities and technology attitude. This study suggests some implications that could support Government and non-Government organizations in their strategies for Cloud computing adoption.

Dispute and morality in the perception of societal risks: extending the psychometric model

The psychometric paradigm has identified two classic dimensions, dread and unknown risk, structuring the perception of risks. We propose that disputed risk and morality are two additional dimensions that are relevant to describe the cognitive representation of societal risks. Disputed risk captures two aspects of a societal risk: first, that consensus about scientific evidence is low, and second, that the public debate about the risk issue is highly controversial. Morality refers to judgments of reprehensibility, capturing the fact that societal risks frequently involve violations of moral principles. In a survey study employing two samples, a household sample (N = 418) and a student sample (N = 88), participants evaluated 24 societal risks on 23 psychometric scales intended to assess the four constructs dread, unknown risk, disputed risk, and morality. Principal component analyses yielded three dimensions: a common dimension of dread and morality, a disputed risk dimension, and unknown risk. We also assessed judgments of overall riskiness for all risks. Morality and dread both proved to be strong and distinctive predictors of perceived overall riskiness in regression analyses; disputed risk and unknown risk, in contrast, do not play a substantial role as predictors. These findings were replicated across both samples. We conclude that disputed risk constitutes a novel and unique psychometric dimension; morality, on the other hand, coincides with dread in the cognitive representation of societal risks, while still showing a distinct and strong effect in the prediction of risk judgments.

Does it pay to reveal safety information? The effect of safety information on flight choice

The case of flights safety lends itself as a natural case study for choice under of information asymmetry that involves dread risk and emotional factors. Specifically it allows one to experiment how the releasing of information will affect consumer choice. Previous studies, which followed the deregulation of commercial aviation, raised concerns about the corresponding potential for a marked deterioration in airline safety. Measures to prevent that decline were subsequently proposed. Specifically, it was argued that the public sector should establish and release flight safety indicators in addition to accidents’ statistics, which are currently available. It was argued that such safety indicators will also enable airlines to diversify their safety offerings. Underlying this argument are the assumptions that consumers’ flight safety preferences vary and that, provided with safety information, consumers will use it when making decisions. The present work, however, refutes the first assumption and sheds light on the second. It further investigates whether and how consumers react to and interpret safety information when choosing a flight, while accounting explicitly for a psychological trait. Employing an advanced experimental design and econometric approach, we find that: 1. When formal flight safety ratings are supplied, individuals abandoned their priors and rely on the information provided. 2. When it comes to “bad death” probabilities, people are not sensitive to the different shades of safety, and instead, they simply discern flights as either safe or unsafe. 3. Under a certain conditions disclosed information can alleviated fear and change the decision making of airline passengers.

Risk Communication in Chemical Sector in Connection to the Role of Risk Assessment

Chemical related risk analysis and communication were discussed in connection with the role of risk assessment. Some of the chemicals are thought to be one of the hazards that tend to consider as dread and unknown risk. Owing to the institutionalization of Pollutant Release Transfer Register (PRTR) and development of risk assessment have gradually revealed new aspect of risk analysis and communication. In this review, we briefly discuss about the representative cases and discuss the role of risk assessment to risk communication.