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{\LARGE\bf Acknowledgments}
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I would like to begin by expressing my sincere thanks to my
supervisor, Anthony Bonner, for his guidance, advice, and
assistance for preparing this thesis. I feel so honour to work
with him. The completion of this work would not have been 
possible without him sharing his time, experience, and
knowledge with me.

A special thank to my second reader, Alberto Mendelzon,
for his time and effort on reviewing this thesis. I also 
appreciate the help from Eric Harley on numerous technical problems.

Last, but not least, without the lifelong encouragement and support
of my parents, none of this would ever have been possible.

