FRONTISPIECE Finer than a strand of hair, are a thousand subtle points here: Not everyone who tonsured head, the way of the friars knoweth! 1 Hāfez Fourteenth-Century Persian Poet 1 Translated from Persian by the author. ii DEDICATION To my parents: Those to whom I owe whatever I have learned and whatever I have achieved, and To my sister: For her all-time support and understanding. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to express my most sincere appreciation to my thesis advisor, Professor

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... alil Najafi for his all-time support, encouragement and advice. If it was not for his deep understanding and patience, as well as respectful and humane attitude towards his students, going through hardships of the research would totally be impossible for me. My sincere acknowledgement goes to Dr. Rebecca Peterson, my supervisor and mentor, for all her unbelievably responsible, respectful and kind support of my research over the past years. I would also like