Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would cordially thank my advisor, Professor Antonia Zhai, for her great help, enduring patience, and invaluable advices throughout my entire doctoral program. I also say thank you to Professor Mats Heimdahl, Professor David J. Lilja, and Dr. Michael Whalen for their generous help, encouragement, and suggestions during my thesis research. I also thank them for serving as members of my examination committee. Moreover, I would like to thank Professor Pen-Chung Yew and Professors Wei-Chung Hsu for their encouragement and help during my Ph.D studies and studies and for providing advice about my career. I also appreciate my fellow co-workers: Jinpyo Kim, Shengyue Wang, Jin Lin, Venkatesan Packirisamy, Yangchun Luo, Vineeth Mekkat, Ragavendra Natarajan, Jieming Yin, and Anup P Holey for their friendship and technical help. I am also indebted to my personal friends Professor Ziguo Zhong, and Dan Wang for their enormous help and encouragement in life and in research during my Ph.D studies