ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my committee for their assistance and guidance through the dissertation process. I would like to express my thankfulness and gratitude to Dr. Gregory Frazier for his willingness to serve as chair of my committee, for going out of his way to meet with me and for exploring unfamiliar methodologies and research territory. Specifically, I would like to thank Dr. Patricia Swafford for taking time out of her busy schedule to meet with my chair and myself. In addition, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my outside committee member, Dr. Victor Sower. I truly appreciate his willingness to travel, advise, console and act as a sounding board. To his wife, Judy, I would like to say thank you for your patience throughout the process and always knowing what to say and when to say it. I wish to thank Dr. Edmund Prater for reviewing and suggesting ways to improve this research. In addition, I wish to thank Dr. Alan Cannon and Dr. Mary Whiteside for their insights, recommendations, suggestions and support. I owe much gratitude to my friends, Deanne, Matt and Hieu. Thank you