Acknowledgements First, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Tom Steele. His skilled guidance, thoughtful advice, constant support and deep knowledge of physics have benefited me enormously. I would also like to thank the members of my advisory committee, Dr. Murray Bremner, Dr. Rainer Dick, Dr. Glenn Hussey, and Dr. Kaori Tanaka, as well as my external examiner, Dr. Marcelo Loewe. I am grateful for their advice, support and encouragement. Thanks also to my collaborators on the articles included in this thesis: Ryan Berg, Dr. Ian Blokland, Dr. Derek Harnett, Dr. Hong-Ying Jin, Dr. Ken Moats, and Dr. Ailin Zhang. Part of this work was completed at Shanghai University, which I thank for its hospitality. I am also grateful to the National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the University of Saskatchewan for financial support. I am grateful to my family and friends for their unwavering support and encouragement. Without them, this thesis would not have been possible. Thanks to Ryan Berg, Brian Bewer, Yasmin Carter, Katie Knorr, Keith Kotyk, Martin Lepage, John McLeod, Denin Nienaber, Eric Nienaber, Kurt Nienaber, Percy Paul, Gareth Perry, Fred Sage, Zhi-Wei Wang, Mark Wurtz and Melissa Wurtz. Mange Takk to Margaret and Thor Kleiv for their kind hospitality when I first arrived in Saskatoon and for their constant encouragement since then. Special thanks are due to my teacher, mentor, colleague and friend Dr. Derek Harnett for setting me on this path in the first place. Above all I thank my family for their love and support. iv