To my Parents,
and to you, Alla and Anna
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my co-advisors, Dr. William
Glaunsinger and Dr. Michael McKelvy for their guidance, support and encouragement. Thanks
are also due to Renu Sharma, David Wright, and Yolanda Ruiz for their help and willingness
to help.
I wish to acknowledge the National Science Foundation for
support through grants DMR 91-06792 and INT-8914990 and to the Donors of The Petroleum
Research Fund, administered by the American Chemical Society, for partial support.
Electron microscopy was conducted in the Materials Science Electron Microscopy Laboratory
and at the Center for High Resolution Electron Microscopy (supported by NSF grant
DMR-9115680) at Arizona State University. I also wish to thank the Center for Solid State
Science for use of its Materials Facility. |