Imagining wrong: fictitious contexts mitigate condemnation of harm more than impurity

Over five experiments we test the fictive pass asymmetry hypothesis. Following observations of ethics and public reactions to media, we propose that fictional contexts, such as reality, imagination, and virtual environments, will mitigate people’s moral condemnation of harm violations, more so than purity violations. That is, imagining a purely harmful act is given a “fictive pass,” in moral judgment, whereas imagining an abnormal act involving the body is evaluated more negatively because it is seen as more diagnostic of bad character. For Experiment 1, an undergraduate sample (N = 250) evaluated nine vignettes depicting an agent committing either violations of harm or purity in real life, watching them in films, or imagining them. For Experiments 2 and 3, online participants (N = 375 and N = 321, respectively) evaluated a single vignette depicting an agent committing a violation of harm or purity that either occurred in real life, was imagined, watched in a film, or performed in a video game. Experiment 4 (N = 348) used an analysis of moderated mediation to demonstrate that the perceived wrongness of fictional purity violations is explained both by the extent to which they are seen as a cue to, and a cause of, a poor moral character. Lastly, Experiment 5 (N = 484) validated our manipulations and included the presumption of desire as an additional mediator of the fictive pass asymmetry effects. We discuss implications for moral theories of act and character, anger and disgust, and for media use and regulation

Is Innovation a Driver of Sustainability? An Analysis from a Spanish Region

[EN] 1. Background. It is well-known that innovation contributes to economic growth, improves productivity and enables competitive advantage. However, beyond these matters, it would be of interest to know what role innovation plays in relation to sustainability. This paper focuses on whether innovation is a driver of sustainability in its three dimensions: social, economic and environmental. 2. Methods. The study was conducted with companies in the Valencian community (Spain) to analyze whether they significantly contribute to sustainability as innovators. Economical sustainability was assessed based on economic and financial profitability; social sustainability was assessed by employment generation. To determine whether companies contributed to environmental sustainability, we considered those which, apart from a reputation ("label") in innovation, had some kind of environmental certification. 3. Results. Our results indicate that innovative companies are more profitable and generate more employment. However, there are no differences in terms of performance and employment generation between innovative companies and those that are also environmentally sensitive. 4. Conclusion. Innovation is a driving force of economic and social sustainability in the studied area, but environmental sensitivity is not a driver for economic and social sustainability.Llorca-Ponce, A.; Rius-Sorolla, G.; Ferreiro-Seoane, FJ. (2021). Is Innovation a Driver of Sustainability? An Analysis from a Spanish Region. Sustainability. 13(16):1-31. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169286S131131

Disgusting but harmless moral violations are perceived as harmful due to the negative emotions they elicit

Harmless but disgusting moral violations can be justified as harmful to others due to the negative emotions they elicit. The relationship between the emotions of anger and disgust and the harm associated to these emotions as a result of a moral violation was investigated. Results showed that a disgusting moral violation (taboo violation) described as harmless to others is more related to disgust than to anger. Such violation created a presumption of harm of three different types: to the community, nature, and the individual. Disgust was a mediator between the taboo violation and the presumption of harm to nature, whereas anger was a mediator between the taboo violation and the presumption of harm to the individual. In general, results also showed that in moral violations that are harmless to others, the emotions of anger and disgust allow people to presume harm to symbolic entities such as nature and the community as a result of such violations

Designing a videoconference system for active networks

Active networks are receiving increasing attention due to their promises of great flexibility in tailoring services to applications. This capability stems from the exploitation of network devices whose behavior can be changed dynamically by applications, possibly using technologies and architectures originally conceived for mobile code systems. Notwithstanding the promises of active networks, real-world applications that clearly benefit by them are still missing. In this work we describe the design of a videoconference system conceived expressly for operation over active networks. The goal of this activity is to pinpoint the benefits that mobile code and active networks bring in this application domain and to provide insights for the exploitation of these concepts in other application domain

Algorithm to calculate a large number of roots of the cross-product of Bessel functions

This paper describes an algorithm to calculate a large number of roots of the cross-product of Bessel functions and of their first derivatives. The algorithm initially finds the roots of the zeroth order using an auxiliary function that exhibits the same roots as the original cross-products but with better behavior for numerical root search with the Newton-Raphson algorithm. In order to find the roots for higher orders, the algorithm follows a pyramidal scheme using the interlacing property of the cross-product of Bessel functions. The algorithm shows globally convergent behavior for a large range of values of the argument and of the order of the Bessel functions. The roots can be computed to any precision, limited only by the computer implementation, and the convergence is attained in six iterations per root in average, showing a much better performance than previous works for the calculation of these roots

Accretion disks in luminous young stellar objects

An observational review is provided of the properties of accretion disks around young stars. It concerns the primordial disks of intermediate- and high-mass young stellar objects in embedded and optically revealed phases. The properties were derived from spatially resolved observations and, therefore, predominantly obtained with interferometric means, either in the radio/(sub)millimeter or in the optical/infrared wavelength regions. We make summaries and comparisons of the physical properties, kinematics, and dynamics of these circumstellar structures and delineate trends where possible. Amongst others, we report on a quadratic trend of mass accretion rates with mass from T Tauri stars to the highest mass young stellar objects and on the systematic difference in mass infall and accretion rates

Multipactor radiation analysis within a waveguide region based on a frequency-domain representation of the dynamics of charged particles

A technique for the accurate computation of the electromagnetic fields radiated by a charged particle moving within a parallel-plate waveguide is presented. Based on a transformation of the time-varying current density of the particle into a time-harmonic current density, this technique allows the evaluation of the radiated electromagnetic fields both in the frequency and time domains, as well as in the near- and far-field regions. For this purpose, several accelerated versions of the parallel-plate Green’s function in the frequency domain have been considered. The theory has been successfully applied to the multipactor discharge occurring within a two metal-plates region. The proposed formulation has been tested with a particle-in-cell code based on the finite- difference time-domain method, obtaining good agreement.The authors would like to thank ESA/ESTEC for having funded this research activity through the Contract “RF Breakdown in Multicarrier Systems” ͑Contract No. 19918/06/NL/GLC͒

Analyzing Corona breakdown with a finite element-based electromagnetic solver

This paper demonstrates how an already developed finite element code for solving electromagnetic problems can be manipulated and simply extended so as to investigate complicated corona breakdowns. A safe criterion based on the eigenvalue analysis is used in order to predict the maximum electric field that a structure can withstand without suffering from a corona breakdown. Comparison with other semi-analytical techniques developed by researchers solely focusing on high power phenomena verifies the results of the developed algorithm