7 Declaration 9 Copyright 10 Acknowledgements 12 Publications from this Thesis 14 Notation and Acronyms 16

........................................................................................................ iii Preface.......................................................................................................... vii Publications ..................................................................................................vii Acknowledgements .........................................

.................................................................................................i Papers included in this thesis.............................................................iii My contribution to the papers...........................................................iv Acknowledgements ..............................................................................v

........................................................................................................................ i Publications Arising From the Thesis....................................................................... vi Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... vii Table of

................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... v Publications included in the thesis ............................................................................................

............................................................................................................ 4 Thesis declaration .............................................................................................. 6 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................ 7 Chapter 1: Introduction .....................................

.............................................................................................................................................. ii Declaration by author ....................................................................................................................... iv Publications during candidature .............................................................................

To the best of my knowledge and as understood by the student in the Thesis/Dissertation Agreement, Publication Delay, and Certification/Disclaimer (Graduate School Form 32), this thesis/dissertation adheres to the provisions of Purdue University's " Policy on Integrity in Research " and the use of copyrighted material. ii I dedicate this thesis to my parents, who always support my goals. iii AC...

Acknowledgements I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Bryant York, for his guidance during my research and during the writing of this thesis. His many suggestions and questions improved the clarity and completeness of this paper. I would also like to thank my thesis reader, Dr. David Maier, for his thorough commentary on later drafts of this thesis.

ii List Of Published Papers iii Acknowledgements iv List Of Abbreviations Used In The Thesis v Table of