Gender homophily from spatial behavior in a primary school: A sociometric study

We investigate gender homophily in the spatial proximity of children (6–12 years old) in a French primary school, using time-resolved data on face-to-face proximity recorded by means of wearable sensors. For strong ties, i.e., for pairs of children who interact more than a defined threshold, we find statistical evidence of gender preference that increases with grade. For weak ties, conversely, gender homophily is negatively correlated with grade for girls, and positively correlated with grade for boys. This different evolution with grade of weak and strong ties exposes a contrasted picture of gender homophily.     

Power Eliminates the Influence of Body Posture on Facial Emotion Recognition

We investigated how power priming affects facial emotion recognition in the context of body postures conveying the same or different emotion. Facial emotions are usually recognized better when the face is presented with a congruent body posture, and recognized worse when the body posture is incongruent. In our study, we primed participants to either low, high, or neutral power prior to their performance in a facial-emotion categorization task in which faces were presented together with a congruent or incongruent body posture. Facial emotion recognition in high-power participants was not affected by body posture. In contrast, low-power and neutral-power participants were significantly affected by the congruence of facial and body emotions. Specifically, these participants displayed better facial emotion recognition when the body posture was congruent, and worse performance when the body posture was incongruent. In a following task, we trained the same participants to categorize two sets of novel checkerboard stimuli and then engaged them in a recognition test involving compounds of these stimuli. High, low, and neutral-power participants all showed a strong congruence effect for compound checkerboard stimuli. We discuss our results with reference to the literature on power and social perception.     

Quantitative Risk Analysis on the Transport of Dangerous Goods Through a Bi‐Directional Road Tunnel

A quantitative risk analysis (QRA) regarding dangerous goods vehicles (DGVs) running through road tunnels was set up. Peak hourly traffic volumes (VHP), percentage of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), and failure of the emergency ventilation system were investigated in order to assess their impact on the risk level. The risk associated with an alternative route running completely in the open air and passing through a highly populated urban area was also evaluated. The results in terms of social risk, as F/N curves, show an increased risk level with an increase the VHP, the percentage of HGVs, and a failure of the emergency ventilation system. The risk curves of the tunnel investigated were found to lie both above and below those of the alternative route running in the open air depending on the type of dangerous goods transported. In particular, risk was found to be greater in the tunnel for two fire scenarios (no explosion). In contrast, the risk level for the exposed population was found to be greater for the alternative route in three possible accident scenarios associated with explosions and toxic releases. Therefore, one should be wary before stating that for the transport of dangerous products an itinerary running completely in the open air might be used if the latter passes through a populated area. The QRA may help decisionmakers both to implement additional safety measures and to understand whether to allow, forbid, or limit circulation of DGVs.     

A Bayesian bivariate hierarchical model with correlated parameters for the analysis of road crashes in Italian tunnels

Statistical Methods & Applications - An analysis of crashes occurring in 252 unidirectional Italian motorway tunnels over a 4-year monitoring period is provided to identify the main causes of...