Variedades do naturalismo moral

The present text aims to make an examination of the varieties of moral naturalism, and for this it will examine some anti-naturalist and anti-realist arguments. It will also argue that existent theories can be considered on two dimensions, the metaphysical and epistemological dimension, and the dimension of motivation and normativity. In the first dimension, there is non-reductive naturalism and reductive naturalism of the non-analytic variety. Turning to the second dimension, the dimension of normativity and moral motivation, we find internalist naturalism, simple externalist naturalism and externalist naturalism with the standard-based account of normativity. At the end, the text will say something in favor of moral realism and to a kind of naturalism in specific. Key words: moral naturalism, normativity, moral realism, moral non-realism.O presente texto pretende fazer um exame das variedades de naturalismo moral, e para isso examinará alguns argumentos anti-naturalistas e anti-realistas. Irá também arguir que teorias existentes podem ser consideradas em duas dimensões, a dimensão metafísica e epistemológica e a dimensão da motivação e da normatividade. Na primeira dimensão está o naturalismo não redutivo e naturalismo redutivo da variedade não analítica. Quanto à segunda dimensão, a dimensão da normatividade e da motivação moral, encontramos o naturalismo internalista, o naturalismo externalista simples e naturalismo externalista com o tratamento padrão da normatividade. Ao final, o texto dirá algumas palavras em favor do realismo moral e de um tipo de naturalismo em específico. Palavras-chave: naturalismo moral, normatividade, realismo moral, antirealismo moral

Simultaneous Nonlinear Model Predictive Control and State Estimation: Theory and Applications

As computational power increases, online optimization is becoming a ubiquitous approach for solving control and estimation problems in both academia and industry. This widespread popularity of online optimization techniques is largely due to their abilities to solve complex problems in real time and to explicitly accommodate hard constraints. In this dissertation, we discuss an especially popular online optimization control technique called model predictive control (MPC). Specifically, we present a novel output-feedback approach to nonlinear MPC, which combines the problems of state estimation and control into a single min-max optimization. In this way, the control and estimation problems are solved simultaneously providing an output-feedback controller that is robust to worst-case system disturbances and noise. This min-max optimization is subject to the nonlinear system dynamics as well as constraints that come from practical considerations such as actuator limits. Furthermore, we introduce a novel primal-dual interior-point method that can be used to efficiently solve the min-max optimization problem numerically and present several examples showing that the method succeeds even for severely nonlinear and non-convex problems. Unlike other output-feedback nonlinear optimal control approaches that solve the estimation and control problems separately, this combined estimation and control approach facilitates straightforward analysis of the resulting constrained, nonlinear, closed-loop system and yields improved performance over other standard approaches. Under appropriate assumptions that encode controllability and observability of the nonlinear process to be controlled, we show that this approach ensures that the state of the closed-loop system remains bounded. Finally, we investigate the use of this approach in several applications including the coordination of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles for vision-based target tracking of a moving ground vehicle and feedback control of an artificial pancreas system for the treatment of Type 1 Diabetes. We discuss why this novel combined control and estimation approach is especially beneficial for these applications and show promising simulation results for the eventual implementation of this approach in real-life scenarios

The reactions of bromotrichloromethane and bromine with halogenated methanes

Over the past few years, the abstraction and addition reactions of trichloromethyl radicals, produced by the photolysis of bromotrichloromethane have been studied in this laboratory. The addition reactions of the trichloromethyl radical have thrown considerable light onto the factors influencing the direction of addition to substituted olefins. The hydrofen abstraction reactions from substituted alkanes have indicated that the trichloromethyl radical is comparable in selectivity to the bromine atom. The purpose of this work was to obtain absolute Arrhenius parameters for the abstraction of hydrogen from a representative selection of polychlorofluoromethanes. The results obtained are compared with the results obtained for similar reactions with methyl tadicals and trifluoromethyl radicals. In order to reduce the unknown rate constants in the computer analysis of the proposed reaction mechanism, the brominations of all the halomethanes, for which literature data did not exist, were carried out. The thesis is divided into two parts: - Part I deals with the reaction of trichloromethyl radicals with difluoromethane (section I); chlorofluoromethane (section II), dichloromethane (section III) and dichlorofluoromethane (section IV) and Part II deals with the competitive brominations of chlorofluoromethane, dichloromethane and dichlorofluoromethane

Exploring sequence-function space in the Old Yellow Enzyme superfamily

Biotechnology and bioinformatics have made it increasingly apparent that there is a vast wealth of protein ‘dark matter’, i.e., sequence and functional information that is yet to be discovered and harnessed for fundamental or applied gains. For example, the superfamily of Old Yellow Enzymes (OYEs) with ~88 characterized enzymes in the literature, is shockingly underexplored, despite \u3e85 years of research and their proven industrial application. We have applied large scale bioinformatic and synthetic biology approaches to systematically sample and functionally characterize \u3e120 representatives across the entire OYE superfamily, which is comprised of \u3e70,000 members. Our efforts have more than doubled the current OYE knowledgebase and have yielded native biocatalysts with improved activity and expanded substrate specificity. Furthermore, our multidisciplinary approach serves as an adaptable pipeline for the analysis of other superfamilies, improving the current standard of investigative processes for the field. The comprehensive characterization of enzyme superfamilies, especially those with proven biocatalysis capabilities, offers tremendous opportunities for future developments of green and sustainable chemical processes