To my family iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Mostafa H. Ammar. During my doctoral studies at Georgia Institute of Technology, he has provided me with insightful vision, thoughtful guidance, and valuable comments. It has been a great pleasure to have him as an advisor. Without his guidance, this dissertation would not be successf...

The artist,. . ., like the thinker or the scientist, seeks the truth and makes his appeal.”1 The artist, however, enjoys a superior level of freedom and in doing so he “must strenuously aspire to the plasticity of sculpture, to the color of painting, and to the magic suggestiveness of music.” Plasticity is the foundation of the Manifesto of the Futurist Sculpture2: “the Futurist sculptor percei...

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisor Dr. William H. Robinson first. I am thankful for the advice he gave me on my research as well as graduate study and the patient guidance. His advice on research and career are important for my future development. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Bharat L. Bhuva for his thoughtful advice on my thesis work. I also want to thank the SAF-T grou...