ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


 The author wishes to thank the chairman of his supervisory

committee, Dr. A. W. Westerberg, Associate Professor of Chemical

Engineering, for suggesting the research topic and for his guidance

through the course of the research. Thanks are also extended to

Dr. S. W. Director, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, and

Dr. F. D. Vickers, Associate Professor of Computer and Information

Sciences, for serving on the supervisory committee.

 The financial support of the Graduate School and of the College

of Engineering is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are also extended

to the National Science Foundation for the financial support afforded

by grants GK-18633 and GK-41606. In addition to assistantship

support, these grants provided computer funds for the development of

the programs in GENIE. The author accepted these funds with mixed

feelings, as he believes that in a free society research should be

supported by private concerns, rather than by the goi'ernet.

 The a.ithor extends special thanks to nis wife, Jan, iho not only

provijdd encouragement when it was ,, os:t neded1, but also served as

copy editor and typist for this dissertation.