% Thesis Declaration --------------------------------------------------- \begin{declaration} %this creates the heading for the dedication page I hereby declare that except where specific reference is made to the work of others, the contents of this dissertation are original and have not been submitted in whole or in part for consideration for any other degree or qualification in this, or any other University. This dissertation is entirely the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration, except where specified in the text. This dissertation contains less than 65,000 words, excluding table of contents, tables, figures, titles, footnotes, references and appendices and 150 figures. %Permission has been granted by board of graduate studies to exceed the recommended limits 150 figures and to include a CD-ROM in the dissertation. This dissertation is presented less than 65,000 words and 210 figures. \flushright Krishna Kumar Soundararajan\\ 2014 \end{declaration}