Abstract

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express appreciation to my advisor Dr. Linda Allen for her guidance, encouragement, help and great patience through my work on this the-sis. Also I am grateful to Dr. Truman Lewis and Dr. Clyde Martin for their instructive advice and support. My gratitude goes to Dr. Michael D. Bensen for providing data and for his advice throughout this project. I would also like to thank Dr. Marcia Slomowitz and Dr. Ann Remmis for their help in providing literature on these studies.