How can we apply mathematical notions of complexity and emergence to music, and how can these mathematical ideas then inspire new musical works? Using Steve Reich's Clapping Music as a starting point, we look for emergent patterns in music by considering cases where a piece's complexity is significantly different from the total complexity of each of the individual parts. Definitions of complexity inspired by information theory, data compression, and musical practice are considered. We also consider the number of distinct musical pieces that could be composed in the same manner as Clapping Music. Finally, we present a new musical compositions to demonstrate some of these ideas.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering / Fred Hasler and Russ Murdock / The correlation between natural and artificial lighting and the human circadian rhythm was researched to determine how changing artificial lighting design could improve the working environment in healthcare facilities. Research showed that human circadian rhythm is largely influenced by daylight and the accompanying light color (CCT) change in a day. Consequently, healthcare providers who are not exposed to daylight are isolated from this natural indicator. This can disjoint their circadian cycles from a normal rhythm and lead to physiological and psychological complications. Daylighting and standard artificial lighting design conditions were observed at Mercy Regional Medical Center (MRMC) in Manhattan, Kansas,. Then, healthcare providers at MRMC were anonymously surveyed about their perceived alertness throughout a typical working shift . The data was charted and plotted against a normal circadian rhythm to demonstrate whether a normal or disjointed cycle was experienced by healthcare providers. The comparison of this data to observed lighting conditions exhibited the necessary influence of daylight on achieving a normal circadian rhythm. This study reinforced the information available from many other sources connecting healthcare lighting and the circadian rhythm. Working on this premise, research suggested two lighting designs that would improve the working environment in healthcare facilities. The first of these would be the inclusion of circadian rooms. Special rooms in a healthcare facility would be available to staff in order to provide light therapy. Short wavelength blue light, experienced at optimal times throughout a shift, would act as stimulants (similar to daylight cues), adjusting employees' circadian cycles to normal when daylight exposure was unattainable. Alternately, a healthcare facility working on set, not-staggered, shifts could incorporate a variable lighting system. This system would rely on specialized lights to alter light color (CCT) throughout a shift to mimic daylight rhythms. Accordingly, staff would be exposed to daylighting cues from artificial sources and experience normal circadian rhythms.

Contemporary understanding of the brain indicates that a reciprocal relationship exists between mind and body. Biological functioning adjusts to the consequences of our behavior and our behavior is influenced by our biology. This is the case with the stress responsivity system. The stress hormone cortisol follows a biologically-predetermined daily cycle of secretion (controlled by circadian rhythm) that correlates with expected activity throughout the day, however this cycle can accommodate to different environmental changes that can occur. It has been noticed that individuals who report stress problems also report sleep problems. I hypothesized that sleep quality can predict maladjustments in cortisol’s rhythm. All participants provided saliva samples and had to take the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Salivivay cortisol was measured via was enzyme-immuno-assayed for cortisol. I analyzed the data for three independent studies: (1)12 samples were taken for basal and lab days in 65 individuals. People who scored worse in total PSQI showed decreased stress reactivity (γ 21=-.02, t(63)=-2.27, p=0.026) and faster recovery (γ31=-0.102, t(608)=-2.044, p=0.041). (2)6-8 samples per day across 5 days in 120 maltreated or control adolescents. I used a 3-level hierarchical linear model to examine rhythms within each day and within each individual. The cortisol rhythm was flattened on days when adolescents had poor sleep latency (β;=.013, p=.025 for time-since-waking, β=-.0008, p=.039 for quadratic time-since-waking). (3) 10 samples were taken in 44 skydivers for jumping and basal days. Those who scored worse in sleep latency had slower reactivity (γ31=-0.16, t(284)=-3.701, p<.001) and slower recovery (γ31=0.22, t(284)=3.311, p<0.001). Stress and sleep problems are related to cognitive and physiological issues; finding an appropriate connection between them can be elemental in preventing problems.

Metric dissonance in Brahms’s music is not an unfamiliar topic. Hemiola, offbeat accents, and syncopations are Brahms’s common metric strategies. These metric manipulations often facilitate a displacement between the audible and the notated downbeats, leading many scholars to question the importance of Brahms’s notated meters and notated barlines. However, Brahms does not hesitate to change the notated meter when he wants a new one to prevail, especially in his solo songs. Out of 194 songs for solo voice with piano accompaniment written and published during Brahms’s life time, 41 of them involve notated meter changes. This dissertation offers a new perspective on the function and expressive effect of notated meter changes in Brahms’s songs—a topic that has gone largely unexplored in current scholarship on rhythm and meter. I outline three types of meter changes: (1) the brief appearance of a new meter or meters; (2) different meters for sections with different affects; (3) the quick and regular alternation of triple and duple/quadruple meters, a technique typical in Slovakian and Bohemian dances, which Brahms employed to preserve the composite rhythm in folk or folk-like poetry. A close analysis of the notated meter changes in Brahms’s songs reveals how much his careful attention to the notated meter reflects his sensitivity to the pacing of music and words. Drawing upon poetic prosody and metric analysis, this dissertation shows how this pervasive but underexamined aspect of Brahms’s songwriting style relates to both the sound and sense of the poems he sets.

Luciano Perrone (1908 - 2001) foi músico baterista e percussionista de grande importância no Brasil. Atuando na Rádio Nacional desde sua inauguração, exerceu um papel central na consolidação tanto do gênero musical samba quanto do instrumento musical bateria. Sua carreira inicia quando o instrumento está recém-consolidado - o primeiro pedal de bumbo comercialmente produzido, marco nesse processo, data de 1910. Por sua vez, os primeiros registros da bateria no Brasil são de 1917. Ocupando posição de grande renome nessa primeira geração de bateristas do Brasil, Perrone coopera ao longo de quase toda sua carreira com o maestro Radamés Gnattali, que conhece em 1929. O interesse neste objeto de pesquisa se justifica a partir da importância da música popular na formação de uma identidade nacional. Conforme Vianna (1995), tanto uma quanto a outra se constituíram simultaneamente e mutuamente. Por circular em diversas práticas (bateria, percussão popular, percussão erudita), podemos entender Perrone a partir da noção de mediador (cf. HENNION: 1993, 2003 e VELHO: 2001). A partir do levantamento da trajetória e obra de Luciano Perrone, os objetivos do trabalho são: a) aprofundar a análise acerca da existência de elementos característicos em sua performance e a permanência ou mudança dos mesmos na consolidação de um estilo brasileiro na bateria - questões iniciadas nos trabalhos de Serra (2007) e Barsalini (2009); e b) investigar o processo de construção de Perrone como referência por gerações posteriores de músicos, e a intensificação deste processo na atualidade. Para isso, trabalha-se a partir de fontes bibliográficas, discográficas e de campo, de forma a abordarmos nosso objeto a partir de diversas perspectivas. Em termos de sua trajetória no contexto do campo musical brasileiro, percebe-se uma importante descontinuidade na execução do samba na bateria representada pelo surgimento da Bossa Nova. Inaugurando uma nova leitura da noção de modernidade em música, a Bossa Nova opera uma polarização entre o tradicional e o moderno na qual o estilo de Perrone encontra dificuldade de se encaixar. Por sua vez, do ponto de vista rítmico, analisamos a performance do samba na bateria por Luciano Perrone e por outros instrumentistas, contribuindo para aprofundar a descrição do gênero. Finalmente, a partir da centralidade da onomatopeia na concepção sambística de Luciano Perrone, comparamos o uso de recursos semelhantes em gravações de samba e em outras práticas musicais. A utilização deste procedimento por compositores de samba de diferentes estilos e trajetórias nos permite tecer algumas conclusões com validade para além de nossa amostragem, em busca de elementos característicos do gênero. Partindo desta investigação, constatou-se a manutenção de fraseados ligados ao paradigma rítmico do tresillo em sambas relacionados ao paradigma do Estácio (SANDRONI, 2001). / Luciano Perrone (1908-2001) was an important drummer and percussionist in Brazil. He performed in Rádio Nacional - the most important Brazilian radio broadcaster during the first half of the 20th century - and played a central role concerning both samba as a music style and the drumset as an instrument. Perrone started his career when the drumset was a recent instrument - the first commercially available bass drum pedal, a landmark, dates from 1910, and its first appearance in Brazil happens in 1917. In the first generation of Brazilian drummers, he is among the most proeminent, and works through most of his career cooperating with composer and arranger Radamés Gnattali. The interest in our research subject lies in the importance of popular music in Brazilian national identity. As stated by Vianna (1995), both are constituted simultaneously and mutually. Also, because of Perrone\'s work in several practices (drumset, popular percussion, concert percussion), he can be understood as a mediator (HENNION: 1993, 2003; VELHO, 2001). From Luciano Perrone\'s biography and work, the goals of this thesis are: - Improve the analysis on the characteristic elements of his performance on the drums, and conservation or change on these elements in a Brazilian drums style, issues Serra (2007) and Barsalini (2009) started to address, and; - Investigate Perrone\'s role as a reference to other generations of musicians, a process growing stronger in recent times. To reach these goals, one works with bibliographic, discographic and fieldwork sources, in order to address our subject from multiple perspectives. Concerning his trajectory in Brazilian musical field, there is an important gap concerning samba\'s execution on the drumset with Bossa Nova. This style promotes a new reading of the concept of modernity, and creates a polarization between traditional and modern in which Perrone\'s style has difficulties to fit in. On the other hand, from the rhythmic point of view, one analyzes Luciano Perrone\'s and other musician\'s samba performances on the drumset, contributing to improve this music style\'s comprehension. Finally,from the perception of the central role played by onomatopoeia in Perrone\'s performance of samba, one compares this procedure in different samba\'s and other musical practices\' recordings. Through the use of onomatopoeia by multiple samba composers from different styles, one arrives at conclusions which can extrapolate the analyzed sample, in search for samba\'s stylistic traces at large. It is then possible to identify the persistence of tresillo\'s paradigm-related phrases in sambas related to Estácio\'s paradigm (SANDRONI, 2001).

Reabsorbing ~7% of the sodium load, the distal convoluted tubule plays key roles in blood pressure (BP) homeostasis. Here, Na-Cl co-transport (NCC) is the major route for apical Na entry making thiazide diuretics (NCC inhibitors) a mainstay hypertension treatment. Predictive adaptations of sodium excretory rhythms are supported by an intrinsic renal clock, which regulates transporter activity according to physiological need. Peripheral clocks can be influenced by glucocorticoids, which also have a circadian rhythm. We therefore hypothesized that NCC’s diurnal rhythm is regulated by glucocorticoids. C57BL6 mice were kept on a 12h light cycle with subjective day starting at 7am. Urine was collected in 12h periods and kidneys harvested at 1am (night) and 1pm (day). Slc12a3 (NCC encoding gene) mRNA and NCC protein abundance were similar between day and night but NCC phosphorylation at threonine 53 was significantly higher at night compared to day. Plasma and urinary corticosterone levels were elevated at night. Glucocorticoid inducible leucine zipper (GILZ) and serum and glucocorticoid inducible kinase (SGK1) transcripts also increased at night. Chronic corticosterone infusion flattened the plasma corticosterone rhythm within an intermediate physiological range. The diurnal rhythm of pT53 NCC was dampened in these mice but not in vehicle-treated mice. Blood pressure was monitored in the mice by radiotelemetry. After 2 weeks of baseline measurements mice received chronic corticosterone or vehicle for 3weeks, during the last 10 days of which they received ~80 mg/kg hydrochlorothiazide in their drinking water. At night systolic BP (SBP) was unaffected by any treatment whereas during the day SBP significantly increased following corticosterone but was unaffected by vehicle. Cosinor analysis of SBP in corticosterone and vehicle treated mice showed a marked reduction in rhythmicity, increased MESOR and reduced amplitude. In animals receiving corticosterone HCTZ partially rescued daytime SBP. This manoeuvre also improved SBP rhythmicity, reduced MESOR and increased amplitude. These data indicate that NCC phosphorylation has a diurnal rhythm that is in part regulated by glucocorticoids. They also show that alteration of the glucocorticoid rhythm affects the blood pressure rhythm in part through its effect on NCC phosphorylation. These findings may be clinically relevant in the pathogenesis of hypertension in conditions associated with elevated glucocorticoid levels such as metabolic syndrome and chronic stress.

No description available.

This thesis introduces a web of concepts to analyse Brahmsian metre and move toward a more nuanced understanding of metrical expression and narrative in his music. Recent analytical studies of metre in common-practice Western classical music have utilised a powerful analogy of consonance and dissonance between tonal and metrical dimensions. More theoretical studies, particularly of Brahms's music, have investigated how metrical states can be systematised, both abstractly and by Brahms, to create a sense of tonicity. This thesis synthesises and extends these approaches. Metrical dissonance is suggested to offer only an insufficient purchase on Brahms's metrical style, and the concept of accentual counterpoint is suggested as an alternative that gives fuller power to the explication of Brahms's metrical complexity, but without reducing that complexity. The complexity of metrical states that Brahms employs, in turn, is explored. Brahms's path to the composition of extraordinary metrical complexity in his Op. 78 violin sonata shows both his increasing systematisation of metrical states and his increasing ability to separate and manipulate metrical accent-types, the latter supporting the concept of accentual counterpoint. That metre has expressive power invites the concept of metrical narrative. An attempt is made to unite a recent theory of musical narrative with metrical analysis, inviting readings of different narrative archetypes within Brahms's metrical trajectories, with a focus on non-romantic narratives as a complement to traditional readings of unity. The pitch-metre analogy, and particularly the typicality of tonicity in metrical organisation, is problematised by those works by Brahms that begin and end in different notated metres. These instances, apparent manifestations of directional metre, are analysed, principally using the theories of hypermetre, metrical dissonance, metrical states and accentual counterpoint, with the hypothetical concepts of organisation (directional metre, metrical narrative and metrical tonicity) as interactive heuristics. Moving from organisation back to expression, the thesis closes by exploring a problem within current theories of form and phrase structure: the difference between musical expansion and extension. It highlights a metrical manifestation of this created as an effect of accentual counterpoint, dubbed metrical expansiveness, and examines the interaction of this effect with form and narrative.

No description available.

The fruit fly Drosophila exhibits robust daily behavioral rhythms, which are driven by a network of circadian pacemaker neurons in the fly brain. The Narrow Abdomen (NA) sodium leak channel functions rhythmically in pacemaker neurons, downstream of the molecular circadian clock, to depolarize resting membrane potential and promote neuronal excitability. Loss of NA function (NA-LOF) strongly disrupts behavioral rhythms, and these behavioral phenotypes are consistent with decreased circadian neuronal activity. Yet despite some recent advances, the mechanisms of NA channel function and regulation in the circadian system are still not well understood. To further elucidate the role of the NA channel in the circadian neuronal network, we generated mutated versions of the NA transgene and assessed the effects of transgene expression in Drosophila circadian pacemaker neurons. Expression of a putative gain of function na transgene (na-GOF) in pacemaker neurons generates unique behavioral phenotypes, suggesting novel effects on neuronal excitability or/and the molecular circadian clock. Next, we investigated how NA-LOF and NA-GOF mutations affect circadian neuron activity through optical recording of fluorescent voltage and calcium sensors expressed in these neurons. Using the fluorescent voltage sensor ArcLight, we find that both NA-LOF and NA-GOF manipulations suppress spontaneous membrane activity in clock neurons in the Drosophila brain. This finding was surprising because the behavioral effects of NA-LOF and NA-GOF are quite distinct. However, the information provided from these spontaneous assays may be a combination of neuronal input and output, and in some cases information is combined from multiple cells. To further characterize the neurophysiological effects of NA channel manipulation, we next paired optical recording with pharmacology in brain explants. Here we find that both wild-type and NA-LOF DN1p clock neurons are strongly depolarized by the acetylcholine receptor agonist nicotine, while NA-GOF neurons show little response. This suggests that NA-GOF expression already depolarizes the membrane potential of these neurons. We also assessed intracellular calcium levels in the DN1p clock cells after applying the inhibitory neurotransmitter glutamate at either morning (peak) or evening (trough) timepoints. We find that wild-type DN1p neurons show a strong decrease in calcium at the peak timepoint and a much smaller decrease at the trough. In contrast, NA-GOF DN1p neurons show decreases at both timepoints, indicating that they have elevated calcium levels (and elevated activity) at the trough time. Through immunostaining, we find that NA-GOF expression alters the core clock protein PERIOD levels in sLNv and LNd neurons during early day. Taken together, this study shows that overexpression of NA-GOF ion channel in Drosophila pacemaker neurons induce unique behavioral phenotypes, likely by depolarizing membrane potential and increasing neuronal activity. We propose that these changes in neuronal activity may feedback to alter the oscillation of molecular clocks. While these transgenic studies have been informative, we have also established gene-editing methods in order to distinguish the effects of gene mutation from effects of overexpression. We have used the CRISPR-Cas9 system to target the endogenous na locus. In the initial step, we replaced na exons 1-13 with a fluorescent marker flanked by attP integration sites. Through subsequent integrase-mediated recombination, we hope to generate a series of na mutations of interest, including gain-of-function mutations, for future studies.