A grande quantidade de dados gerada em diversas áreas do conhecimento cria a necessidade do desenvolvimento de técnicas de mineração de dados cada vez mais eficientes e eficazes. Técnicas de agrupamento têm sido utilizadas com sucesso em várias áreas, especialmente naquelas em que não há conhecimento prévio sobre a organização dos dados. Contudo, a utilização de diferentes algoritmos de agrupamento, ou variações de um mesmo algoritmo, pode gerar uma ampla variedade de resultados. Tamanha variedade cria a necessidade de métodos para avaliar e selecionar bons resultados. Uma forma de avaliar esses resultados consiste em utilizar índices de validação de agrupamentos. Entretanto, uma grande diversidade de índices de validação foi proposta na literatura, o que torna a escolha de um único índice de validação uma tarefa penosa caso os desempenhos dos índices comparados sejam desconhecidos para a classe de problemas de interesse. Com a finalidade de obter um consenso entre resultados, é possível combinar um conjunto de agrupamentos ou índices de validação em uma única solução final. Combinações de agrupamentos (clustering ensembles) foram bem sucedidas em obter soluções robustas a variações no cenário de aplicação, o que faz do uso de comitês de agrupamentos uma alternativa interessante para encontrar soluções de qualidade razoável, segundo diferentes índices de validação. Adicionalmente, utilizar uma combinação de índices de validação pode tornar a avaliação de agrupamentos mais completa, uma vez que uma maioria dos índices combinados pode compensar o fraco desempenho do restante. Em alguns casos, não é possível lidar com um único conjunto de dados centralizado, por razões físicas ou questões de privacidade, o que gera a necessidade de distribuir o processo de mineração. Combinações de agrupamentos também podem ser estendidas para problemas de agrupamento de dados distribuídos, uma vez que informações sobre os dados, oriundas de diferentes fontes, podem ser combinadas em uma única solução global. O principal objetivo desse trabalho consiste em investigar técnicas de combinação de agrupamentos e de índices de validação aplicadas na seleção de agrupamentos para combinação e na mineração distribuída de dados. Adicionalmente, algoritmos evolutivos de agrupamento são estudados com a finalidade de selecionar soluções de qualidade dentre os resultados obtidos. As técnicas desenvolvidas possuem complexidade computacional reduzida e escalabilidade, o que permite sua aplicação em grandes conjuntos de dados ou cenários em que os dados encontram-se distribuídos / The large amount of data resulting from different areas of knowledge creates the need for development of data mining techniques increasingly efficient and effective. Clustering techniques have been successfully applied to several areas, especially when there is no prior knowledge about the data organization. Nevertheless, the use of different clustering algorithms, or variations of the same algorithm, can generate a wide variety of results, what raises the need to create methods to assess and select good results. One way to evaluate these results consists on using cluster validation indexes. However, a wide variety of validation indexes was proposed in the literature, which can make choosing a single index challenging if the performance of the compared indexes is unknown for the application scenario. In order to obtain a consensus among different options, a set of clustering results or validation indexes can be combined into a single final solution. Clustering ensembles successfully obtained results robust to variations in the application scenario, which makes them an attractive alternative to find solutions of reasonable quality, according to different validation indexes. Moreover, using a combination of validation indexes can promote a more powerful evaluation, as the majority of the combined indexes can compensate the poor performance of individual indexes. In some cases, it is not possible to work with a single centralized data set, for physical reasons or privacy concerns, which creates the need to distribute the mining process. Clustering ensembles can be extended to distributed data mining problems, since information about the data from distributed sources can be combined into a single global solution. The main objective of this research resides in investigating combination techniques for validation indexes and clustering results applied to clustering ensemble selection and distributed clustering. Additionally, evolutionary clustering algorithms are studied to select quality solutions among the obtained results. The techniques developed have scalability and reduced computational complexity, allowing their usage in large data sets or scenarios with distributed data

Neste trabalho estudamos alguns modelos com conservacao de particulas, que apresentam uma transicao de fase entre um estado estacionario ativo e infinitos estados absorventes. Os estados ativos de cada modelo sao compostos por configuracoes equiprovaveis, correspondendo, de acordo com a formulacao gibbsiana da Mecanica Estatistica, a um ensemble microcanonico. Efetuando uma mudanca de ensemble, podemos calcular as grandezas fisicas para cada um destes modelos utilizando a tecnica de matrizes de transferencia, explicada neste trabalho. Realizamos simulacoes destes modelos e confirmamos as hipoteses que sustentam o uso desta tecnica. Por fim, analisamos dois modelos derivados dos anteriores que nao podem ser estudados com base nesta tecnica. / In this work we studied some models with particle conservation which present a phase transition between an active stationary state and infinitely many absorbing states. The active states of each model consist of equiprobable configurations, corresponding, according to Gibbs's formulation of Statistical Mechanics, to a microcanonical ensemble. Carrying out an ensemble change, we can calculate the physical quantities for each one of these models using the transfer matrix technique, explained in this work. We performed simulations of these models and confirmed the hypothesis that sustain the use of this technique. Finally, we analysed two models derived from the previous ones for which this technique cannot be applied.

Le sujet principal de la Thèse est l’optimisation de la compliance des structures élastiques minces. Le problème consiste en déterminer la configuration la plus résistante, lorsqu'une quantité infinitésimale de matériau élastique est soumis à une force fixée et est confinée dans une région de volume infinitésimal.La résistance au chargement peut être mesurée en calculant une fonctionnelle de forme, la compliance, dans laquelle la forme représente le volume occupé par le matériau élastique. Donc nous sommes conduits à étudier un problème de minimisation d'une fonctionnelle de forme, sous une contrainte appropriée.Nous nous intéresserons plus particulièrement au cas où la région de design est un fil fin, représenté par un cylindre de section transverse infinitésimale. L'étude est motivée par des problèmes d'ingénierie: les structures minces sont très intéressantes d'un point de vue pratique.La stratégie utilisée tire son inspiration des travaux récents par I. Fragalà, G. Bouchitté et P. Seppecher, dans lesquels les auteurs considèrent des plaques élastiques [G. Bouchitté, I. Fragalà, P. Seppecher: Structural optimization of thin plates: the three dimensional approach., Arch. Rat. Mech. Anal. (2011)]. Cependant il faut souligner que le cas du cylindre est loin de se résumer à une variante technique du cas des plaques. Comme nous le verrons en effet, le modèle limite obtenu dans l'analyse asymptotique 3d-1d est plus riche et subtile que celui correspondant à une analyse asymptotique 3d-2d.L'étude des configurations optimales pour le modèle limite obtenu nous a conduit à une problématique nouvelle: l'existence de vraies forme optimales (donc sans apparition de structures composites) pour une barre en régime de pure torsion est liée à l'existence de solutions pour un problème non standard de frontière libre dans le plan. Ce problème représente un challenge et nous nous contenterons de donner quelques premiers résultats et perspectives.Par ailleurs, en liaison avec ce problème, nous développerons une stratégie nouvelle pour caractériser la dérivée de forme pour le minimum d'une fonction intégrale. La théorie de dérivées de forme est un sujet très largement étudié (voir e.g. la monographie de A. Henrot et M.Pierre Variations et Optimisation de Formes. Une Analyse Géométrique, Springer Berlin (2005), et les références qui y sont contenues), mais les techniques classiques qui y sont utilisées s'appuient sur des hypothèses de régularité non vérifiées dans notre cas. / The main topic of the Thesis is the optimization of the compliance of thin elastic structures.The problem consists in finding the most robust configurations, when an infinitesimal amount of elastic material is subjected to a fixed force, and contained within a region having infinitesimal volume.The resistance to a load can be measured by computing a shape functional, the compliance, in which the shape represents the volume occupied by the elastic material. Thus we are led to study a minimization problem of a shape functional, under suitable constraints.In particular, we treat the case in which the design region is a thin rod, represented by a cylinder with infinitesimal cross section. The study finds its motivation in engineering problems: thin structures are very convenient to be used in practical applications.The approach we adopt draws inspiration from some recent works by I. Fragalà, G. Bouchitté and P. Seppecher, in which the authors deal with the case of thin elastic plates [G. Bouchitté, I. Fragalà, P. Seppecher: Structural optimization of thin plates: the three dimensional approach., Arch. Rat. Mech. Anal. (2011)]. We point out that these two problems are not merely technical variants one of the other, due to the substantial difference between the limit passages 3d-1d and 3d-2d, namely from 3 to 1 and from 3 to 2 dimensions.The study of optimal configurations led us to face another interesting variational problem: actually to establish whether homogenization phenomena occur in bars in pure torsion regime turns out to be equivalent to solve a nonstandard free boundary problem in the plane. This new problem is very challenging and, besides the link with torsion rods, it has mathematical interest in itself. One of the tools which can be employed to attack the problem is shape derivative for minima of integral functionals. The theory of shape derivatives is a widely studied topic (see e.g. the monograph by A. Henrot and M.Pierre Variations et Optimisation de Formes. Une Analyse Géométrique, Springer Berlin (2005), and the references therein), but the approach we propose in new and relies on assumptions which are weaker that the classical ones.

Lake Pleasant, a work for wind ensemble, receives its title from the composer’s memories of visiting a cottage on a small lake that straddles the border of Indiana and Michigan. The primary influence of the piece derives from the howling sound produced by the echoes of traffic noise one hears while standing on the opposite side of the lake in the quiet of night. The recollection of this soundscape takes the musical form of nine clarinets spread throughout the audience accompanied by pairs of flutes, oboes, saxophones, trumpets, and a single piccolo. While the placement of performers in the audience allows for the music to emulate the atmosphere evoked by the work’s influence through the use of physical space and timbral similarities, the spacial relationships explored through the music also serve as primary structural elements.

abstract: Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, written in 1912 for an ensemble of flute, clarinet, piano, violin, cello, and voice/narrator (with certain instrumental doublings), has, since its premiere, greatly influenced composers writing chamber music. In fact, this particular instrumentation has become known as the “Pierrot Ensemble,” with variations on Schoenberg’s creation used by Igor Stravinsky, Luciano Berio, and many other composers. There are many resources devoted to music for chamber winds composed during the twentieth century, including those inspired by Schoenberg’s configuration. Additionally, many sources have comprehensively covered known chamber music composed before 1900. However, there is very little research dedicated to chamber wind music composed since 2000. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the body of research about the music by: 1) creating an annotated bibliography of 21st century wind chamber music.; and 2) thereby catalyzing the discovery of recently composed wind chamber music. Moreover, I hope to address and encourage diversity through my research. To that end, the Composer’s Diversity Database was used as a primary resource for discovering compositions written since 2000 for wind/percussion-based ensembles comprising six to thirteen players. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2019

This is the first published edition of Suita Maryjna (1987), a nine-movement Marian suite intended for three-part treble chorus, string quartet and two flutes composed by the Polish neoclassicist composer Irena Pfeiffer (1912-1986). The work was most likely intended for performance during Pope John Paul II’s pilgrimage to the Wawel Cathedral in Cracow, Poland in June 1987. It is structured according to a Marian prayer service known as the Jasna Góra Appeal, first prayed in the Jasna Góra Sanctuary in Częstochowa, Poland when the nation gained its sovereignty in 1918. The appeal was popularized by Pope John Paul II, who prayed it across Poland during his pilgrimages. Following the 1987 pilgrimage, Pfeiffer sent a manuscript of Suita Maryjna to the Lira Ensemble, a professional ensemble in Chicago specializing in Polish music, song and dance. Pfeiffer played an important role in the Lira by serving as a long-distance artistic advisor and by providing co-founder and current artistic advisor Lucyna Migala with modern Polish compositions for nearly twenty-five years. Suita Maryjna became a cornerstone of the ensemble’s repertory and was performed frequently, including in a studio recording in 1996. This edition of Suita Maryjna is placed in the context of Pfeiffer’s career, with particular attention to her working relationship with Pope John Paul II and the Lira Ensemble. Moreover, it discusses how Suita Maryjna reflects archaism, one of several strands of Polish neoclassicism in which diverse styles from earlier historical periods are fused.

Sizhu was written for the standard Pierrot ensemble though with percussion replacing the singer. This particular ensemble is capable of producing a multitude of colors while maintaining the balance inherent to a chamber group. The Chinese name, si’zhu, is a literal and figurative metaphor for these elements of the ensemble. Literally translated “silk” (sī) and “bamboo” (zhú), the word is a generalization for Chinese classical music developed in the Jiangsu province (Jiāngnán sīzhú) that utilizes strings, or “silk” instruments, and flutes, or “bamboo,” instruments in combination. A typical work involves two or more players of either ilk. In reference to the work presented here, Sizhu is a metaphor for the western instruments (flute and clarinet as “bamboo,” and violin and cello as “silk”) that are employed within the piece. It also refers to my use of a Chinese melody in the compositional process. The song, Er Quan Ying Yue (The Moon Reflected In Second Spring), was composed and performed regularly on the streets by the blind erhu player A Bing. The song has been fragmented, stretched, and varied to the point of near inscrutability, though it becomes more comprehensible following the mid-point. It inspires both structural and local events. The work also employs aspects of the spectral style. The first section is a slow distortion and transformation of the A harmonic spectrum; specific partials are emphasized as the spectrum expands and contracts. Additionally, fragments of the Chinese melody appear within the confines of each specific harmonic structure. The second part completely diverges utilizing assimilated pentatonic scale permutations. Finally, the third section synthesizes these two elements of musical material within the piece as the instruments morendo into silence.

This dissertation explores Machine Learning in the context of computationally intensive simulations. Complex simulations such as those performed at Sandia National Laboratories for the Advanced Strategic Computing program may contain multiple terabytes of data. The amount of data is so large that it is computationally infeasible to transfer between nodes on a supercomputer. In order to create the simulation, data is distributed spatially. For example, if this dissertation was to be broken apart spatially, the binding might be one partition, the first fifty pages another partition, the top three inches of every remaining page another partition, and the remainder confined to the last partition. This distribution of data is not conducive to learning using existing machine learning algorithms, as it violates some standard assumptions, the most important being that data is independently and identically distributed (i.i.d.). Unique algorithms must be created in order to deal with the spatially distributed data. Another problem which this dissertation addresses is learning from large data sets in general. The pervasive spread of computers into so many areas has enabled data capture from places that previously did not have available data. Various algorithms for speeding up classification of small and medium-sized data sets have been developed over the past several years. Most of these take advantage of developing a multiple classifier system in which the fusion of many classifiers results in higher accuracy than that obtained by any single classifier. Most also have a direct application to the problem of learning from large data sets. In this dissertation, a thorough statistical analysis of several of these algorithms is provided on 57 publicly available data sets. Random forests, in particular, is able to achieve some of the highest accuracy results while speeding up classification significantly. Random forests, through a classifier fusion strategy known as Probabilistic Majority Voting (PMV) and a variant referred to as Weighted Probabilistic Majority Voting (wPMV), was used on two simulations. The first simulation is of a canister being crushed in the same fashion as a human might crush a soda can. Each of half a million physical data points in the simulation contains nine attributes. In the second simulation, a casing is dropped on the ground. This simulation contains 21 attributes and over 1,500,000 data points. Results show that reasonable accuracy can be obtained by using PMV or wPMV, but this accuracy is not as high as using all of the data in a non-spatially partitioned environment. In order to increase the accuracy, a semi-supervised algorithm was developed. This algorithm is capable of increasing the accuracy several percentage points over that of using all of the non-partitioned data, and includes several benefits such as reducing the number of labeled examples which scientists would otherwise manually identify. It also depicts more accurately the real-world usage situations which scientists encounter when applying these Machine Learning techniques to new simulations.

Paul Dooley’s composition, Masks and Machines (2015), is a significant new work for wind ensemble and was the winner of the National Band Association’s William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest award and the American Bandmasters Association’s Sousa/ABA/Ostwald Composition Contest. Masks and Machines has received positive critical acclaim and numerous performances, including a performance at the 2015 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, Illinois by the North Texas Wind Ensemble under the direction of Eugene Corporon and a performance at the 2016 American Bandmasters Association Conference in Lexington, Kentucky by the United States Marine Corps Band under the direction of Jason K. Fettig. The purposes of this dissertation are 1) to place Masks and Machines in its historical perspective within the history of wind band compositions; 2) to provide an overview of the artistic styles that influenced the composer, such as Stravinsky’s Neoclassical works, Bauhaus Art, and Fortspinnung; 3) to elaborate on the musical traits and characteristics of Masks and Machines via formal analysis; and 4) to offer a guide to rehearsal and performance of the work. The Introduction discusses Masks and Machines in its historical context as a highly acclaimed wind ensemble composition within the canon of twentieth century wind band works. Chapter 1 includes a detailed biography of Paul Dooley. Chapter 2 discusses the visual art and musical influences on Paul Dooley and how these influences come to life in his wind band compositions. Chapter 3 is an analysis of Masks and Machines with thematic excerpts and discussions on form, instrumentation, orchestration, and compositional techniques. Chapter 4 provides a rehearsal and performance guide aimed to facilitate a successful performance of Masks and Machines. Chapter 5 includes a transcription of two interviews with the composer and focuses primarily on compositional influences, processes, and techniques regarding Masks and Machines and other wind band compositions by Dooley, such as Point Blank (2012), Meditation at Lagunitas (2014), and Mavericks (2016).

John Mackey’s Wine-Dark Sea: Symphony for Band(2014) is a work of epic proportions and was the winner of the William D. Revelli Composition Contest of the National Band Association in 2015. Wine-Dark Sea: Symphony for Bandhas received much acclaim and many performances including a recording by the University of Texas Wind Ensemble in 2016. The purposes of this dissertation are 1) to provide historical information on the genesis of the work through interviews with its composer, John Mackey, and commissioning director, Jerry Junkin; 2) to provide an analysis of how the programmatic elements of Homer’s Odysseyinteract with the musical aspects of the work. The first chapter discusses biographical information essential to the understanding of John Mackey’s music. Chapter two includes information specific to the creation of Wine-Dark Sea: Symphony for Band. Chapters three through five provide analytical information alongside programmatic information to provide a clear understanding of how the music and programmatic elements combine to create the work. Chapter six concludes the document with some performance suggestions for the conductor. An appendix of information including graphs of how dynamic range corresponds to programmatic elements and interviews with the composer, John Mackey, and the commissioner, Jerry Junkin, are also provided.