Dedication

This thesis is, first of all, for my wife Kelly. Without her patience and support, I would not have been able to complete this degree. Also for my kids, Mixon, Selah, and Isaac, who have kept me laughing and sane throughout the process.

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them.

~Galileo Galilei, (1615)