Physical Presence during Moral Action in Immersive Virtual Reality.

Research on morality has focused on differences in moral judgment and action. In this study, we investigated self-reported moral reasoning after a hypothetical moral dilemma was presented on paper, and moral reasoning after that very same dilemma was experienced in immersive virtual reality (IVR). We asked open-ended questions and used content analysis to determine moral reasoning in a sample of 107 participants. We found that participants referred significantly more often to abstract principles and consequences for themselves (i.e., it is against the law) after the paper-based moral dilemma compared to the IVR dilemma. In IVR participants significantly more often referred to the consequences for the people involved in the dilemma (i.e., not wanting to hurt that particular person). This supports the separate process theory, suggesting that decision and action might be different moral concepts with different foci regarding moral reasoning. Using simulated moral scenarios thus seems essential as it illustrates possible mechanisms of empathy and altruism being more relevant for moral actions especially given the physical presence of virtual humans in IVR.

Detection of antibacterial activity of an enzymatic hydrolysate generated by processing rainbow trout by-products with trout pepsin.

Trout by-product hydrolysates, generated using trout pepsin, were characterized and studied in terms of their antibacterial effects against food contaminants and fish farming pathogens. After a hydrolysis time of 25 min, the hydrolysates demonstrated inhibitory activity against several gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The degree of hydrolysis (DH) was found to exert a considerable influence on antibacterial activity, with a significant increase in the observed inhibitory effect at the beginning of hydrolysis. The highest antibacterial activity was obtained at a DH of 30% (enzyme/protein ratio 0.04 U/mg of protein, enzyme activity 6.5 U/mg protein, hydrolysis conditions 37°C, pH 3.0). The highest antibacterial activity detected was against the fish farming bacteria Flavobacterium psychrophilum and Renibacterium salmoninarum, with minimal inhibition concentrations of 2mg/ml and 5mg/ml, respectively. The amino acid determination of the hydrolysate (DH 30%) revealed that lysine, leucine, alanine, arginine, glycine, aspartic acid and glutamic acid residues represented the major amino acids.