It is the purpose of this thesis to show that Max Reinhardt made a definite contribution to the theatre through ensemble acting.

Multiscale analysis procedures for composites often involve coupling the macroscale (e.g., structural) and meso/microscale (e.g., ply, constituent) levels. These procedures are often computationally inefficient and thus are limited to coarse subscale discretizations. In this work, various computational strategies were employed to enhance the efficiency of multiscale analysis procedures. An ensemble averaging technique was applied to stochastic microscale simulation results based on the generalized method of cells (GMC) to assess the discretization required in multiscale models. The procedure was shown to be applicable for micromechanics analyses involving both elastic materials with damage and viscoplastic materials. A trade-off in macro/microscale discretizations was assessed. By appropriately discretizing the macro/microscale domains, similar predicted strengths were obtained at a significantly less computational cost. Further improvements in the computational efficiency were obtained by appropriately initiating multiscale analyses in a macroscale domain. A stress-based criterion was used to initiate lower length scale GMC calculations at macroscale finite element integration points without any a priori knowledge of the critical regions. Adaptive multiscale analyses were 30% more efficient than full-domain multiscale analyses. The GMC sacrifices some accuracy in calculated local fields by assuming a low-order displacement field. More accurate microscale behavior can be obtained by using the highidelity GMC (HFGMC) at a significant computational cost. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) order-reduction methods were applied to the ensuing HFGMC sets of simultaneous equations as a means of improving the efficiency of their solution. A Galerkin-based POD method was used to both accurately and efficiently represent the HFGMC micromechanics relations for a linearly elastic E-glass/epoxy composite for both standalone and multiscale composite analyses. The computational efficiency significantly improved as the repeating unit cell discretization increased (10-85% reduction in computational runtime). A Petrov-Galerkin-based POD method was then applied to the nonlinear HFGMC micromechanics relations for a linearly elastic E-glass/elastic-perfectly plastic Nylon-12 composite. The use of accurate order-reduced models resulted in a 4.8-6.3x speedup in the equation assembly/solution runtimes (21-38% reduction in total runtimes). By appropriately discretizing model domains and enhancing the efficiency of lower length scale calculations, the goal of performing highidelity multiscale analyses of composites can be more readily realized.

The project "Make This Make Sound" started as a way to explore my relationship with playing violin. The violin was something I loved to play but it still felt separate from me. I wanted to handcraft instruments that had a more intimate relationship with the player. As the instruments were being created, I was interested to see how other players would feel about the instruments together in an ensemble, since playing in an ensemble was something that made me feel more comfortable as a musician. The instruments lend themselves to an experimental music making process as they do not have a history that must adhere to traditional Western music standards. A series of play sessions, some with only practicing musicians, and the rest with only amateur musicians were facilitated to gather feedback on how the instruments could be played. This was done to investigate the question: How can making new instruments facilitate an experimental music making process with musicians of varying skill levels? / Master of Fine Arts / The project "Make This Make Sound" started as a way to explore my relationship with playing violin. The violin was something I loved to play but it still felt separate from me. I wanted to handcraft instruments that had a more intimate relationship with the player. As the instruments were being created, I was interested to see how other players would feel about the instruments together in an ensemble, since playing in an ensemble was something that made me feel more comfortable as a musician. The instruments lend themselves to an experimental music making process as they do not have a history that must adhere to traditional Western music standards. A series of play sessions, some with only practicing musicians, and the rest with only amateur musicians were facilitated to gather feedback on how the instruments could be played. This was done to investigate the question: How can making new instruments facilitate an experimental music making process with musicians of varying skill levels?

Triabolous is a three movement composition for trombone, woodwind quintet, and one percussionist. The three movements Agitato, Andante, and Allegro, are of equal length resulting in a total performance time of 15 minutes. The piece is primarily a trombone solo; however, the trombone does not function as a solo throughout the total composition. There are portions of every movement where the trombone is silent or added to the quintet as an auxiliary wind instrument.

Score based on on a story from Fun With Your New Head, by Thomas M. Disch.

The aim of this study is to examine heart rate variability (HRV) alteration after the injection of atropine and saline and to determine if ensemble averaging affects the outcome of frequency domain analysis. The HRV data is pre-processed using ensemble averaging and then frequency domain and statistical analysis is done. The HRV readings originate from a previous study of four rats. Ensemble averaging reduces the mean drift effect in the data. The original and ensemble is then processed through an Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The results show that the ensembled data allows frequency peaks and changes to be seen more clearly than the FFT of the original data set. Through statistical analysis it is also shown that the change in HRV from the atropine injection is much greater than the change in HRV from the saline injection.

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