The Computational Attitude in Music Theory

Music studies’s turn to computation during the twentieth century has engendered particular habits of thought about music, habits that remain in operation long after the music scholar has stepped away from the computer. The computational attitude is a way of thinking about music that is learned at the computer but can be applied away from it. It may be manifest in actual computer use, or in invocations of computationalism, a theory of mind whose influence on twentieth-century music theory is palpable. It may also be manifest in more informal discussions about music, which make liberal use of computational metaphors. In Chapter 1, I describe this attitude, the stakes for considering the computer as one of its instruments, and the kinds of historical sources and methodologies we might draw on to chart its ascendance. The remainder of this dissertation considers distinct and varied cases from the mid-twentieth century in which computers or computationalist musical ideas were used to pursue new musical objects, to quantify and classify musical scores as data, and to instantiate a generally music-structuralist mode of analysis. I present an account of the decades-long effort to prepare an exhaustive and accurate catalog of the all-interval twelve-tone series (Chapter 2). This problem was first posed in the 1920s but was not solved until 1959, when the composer Hanns Jelinek collaborated with the computer engineer Heinz Zemanek to jointly develop and run a computer program. Recognizing the transformation wrought on modern statistics and communications technology by information theory, I revisit Abraham Moles’s book Information Theory and Esthetic Perception (orig. 1958) and use its vocabulary to contextualize contemporary information-theoretic work on music that various evokes the computational mind by John. R. Pierce and Mary Shannon, Wilhelm Fucks, and Henry Quastler (Chapter 3). I conclude with a detailed look into a score-segmentation algorithm of the influential American music theorist Allen Forte (Chapter 4). Forte was a skilled programmer who spent several years at MIT in the 1960s, with cutting-edge computers and the company of first-rank figures in the nascent fields of computer science and artificial intelligence. Each one of the researchers whose work is treated in these case studies—at some stage in their relationship with music—adopted what I call the computational attitude to music, to varying degrees and for diverse ends. Of the many questions this dissertation seeks to answer: what was gained by adopting such an attitude? What was lost? Having understood these past explorations of the computational attitude to music, we are better suited ask of ourselves the same questions today

Workshop on Fuzzy Control Systems and Space Station Applications

The Workshop on Fuzzy Control Systems and Space Station Applications was held on 14-15 Nov. 1990. The workshop was co-sponsored by McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Company and NASA Ames Research Center. Proceedings of the workshop are presented

Backwards is the way forward: feedback in the cortical hierarchy predicts the expected future

Clark offers a powerful description of the brain as a prediction machine, which offers progress on two distinct levels. First, on an abstract conceptual level, it provides a unifying framework for perception, action, and cognition (including subdivisions such as attention, expectation, and imagination). Second, hierarchical prediction offers progress on a concrete descriptive level for testing and constraining conceptual elements and mechanisms of predictive coding models (estimation of predictions, prediction errors, and internal models)

Recent Application in Biometrics

In the recent years, a number of recognition and authentication systems based on biometric measurements have been proposed. Algorithms and sensors have been developed to acquire and process many different biometric traits. Moreover, the biometric technology is being used in novel ways, with potential commercial and practical implications to our daily activities. The key objective of the book is to provide a collection of comprehensive references on some recent theoretical development as well as novel applications in biometrics. The topics covered in this book reflect well both aspects of development. They include biometric sample quality, privacy preserving and cancellable biometrics, contactless biometrics, novel and unconventional biometrics, and the technical challenges in implementing the technology in portable devices. The book consists of 15 chapters. It is divided into four sections, namely, biometric applications on mobile platforms, cancelable biometrics, biometric encryption, and other applications. The book was reviewed by editors Dr. Jucheng Yang and Dr. Norman Poh. We deeply appreciate the efforts of our guest editors: Dr. Girija Chetty, Dr. Loris Nanni, Dr. Jianjiang Feng, Dr. Dongsun Park and Dr. Sook Yoon, as well as a number of anonymous reviewers

FY 1991 scientific and technical reports, articles, papers, and presentations

Formal NASA technical reports, papers published in technical journals, and presentations by MSFC personnel in FY 1991 are presented. Papers of MSFC contractors are also included. The information in this report may be of value to the scientific and engineering community in determining what information has been published and what is available

Framework for evaluating water quality information system performance

1994 Fall.Includes bibliographic references (pages 280-308).Water resource and water quality managers are being held increasingly accountable for the programs they manage. Much progress has been made in applying total systems perspectives to the design and operation of water quality monitoring and information programs, and towards rationalizing those programs with respect to management objectives and information needs. A recent example of that progress is the development of data analysis protocols to enhance the information system design process. However, further work is necessary to develop approaches which can help managers confront the water quality management environment of the future, which will be characterized by: (1) fewer purely technical questions, (2) more complex problems with social, economic, political and legal ramifications, and (3) actively managed and continuously improved water quality information systems. This research concludes that the management of water quality information systems for continuous improvement requires: (1) a competent system design process, (2) comprehensive documentation of system design and operation, and (3) a routine and thorough performance measurement and evaluation process. The framework for evaluating water quality information system performance presented in this dissertation integrates the experience of several disciplines into an instrument to help water quality managers accomplish these requirements. The framework embodies four phases: (1) evaluation planning, (2) watershed and management system analyses, (3) information system analysis, and (4) information system performance evaluation. The application of the framework is demonstrated in the evaluation of water quality monitoring programs associated with a unique municipal water transfer project. Water quality professionals of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey are surveyed as to its potential application to large (e.g., regional or national) systems. Those exercises indicate the framework to be a convenient, economic, and flexible instrument useful towards enhancing water quality information system performance. Recommendations for future research to refine the framework and to extend its scope and utility are also presented