The first name I would like to place on record is of Prof. K. Babu Joseph, my PhD supervisor and good friend, without whose patient listening and creative ideas, this work would not have been possible at all. For every new idea in this thesis I owe him a lot. Even in the midst of his busy schedule as the vice chancellor of the Cochin University, he used to find time to trigger off new ideas and fix the problems I often got stuck with. I also wish to acknowledge the great hospitality of Mrs. K. Babu Joseph. She was always courteous to encourage students with delicious dishes when discussions went on to the odd hours of the day.
I wish to acknowledge the contributions of Prof. Ajit Kembhavi, Dean, Visitor Academic Programmes, Inter University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune for the successful completion of this work. His initiative and encouragement to apply neural networks for astronomy related problems turned out to be the most successful validation of the models developed in this research.
I graciously acknowledge the friendly associations with Prof. Stephen C. Odewahn and his wife Annalisa. The expertise of Stephen has helped me all the way in this research work. In particular, it was greatly beneficial for me to stay with him working on the Galaxy Morphology classification project in the department of Astronomy at Arizona State University.
I acknowledge the support I received from all research scholars at Cochin university and IUCAA. In particular, I wish to express my sincere thanks to the Director Prof. Jayant Narlikar and the Inter University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, for giving me all facilities in the center for my research work. Thank you Sarah and Kalpana for the computing facility at IUCAA offered to me, Dr.Yogesh Wadadekar, for the late night hours of discussions.
I wish to place on record the contributions of Prof. M.T. Simon, my M.Sc Professor and good friend who taught me the art of intuitive reasoning in science. His clarity in understanding and ability for abstract mathematical modeling has been a great inspiration for me. I am thankful to Prof. V. C. Kuriakose, Cohin University of Science and technology for providing me the computing facility at the IUCAA Research Center. I express my gratitude to Prof. P.J. Joseph, my B.Sc professor and family friend who encouraged and supported me a lot in venturing on new possibilities. I am thankful to Dr Moncy V John, my M.Sc teacher and family friend who always patiently listen and comment on my wandering ideas. My sincere thanks are due to Dr. Sushant Ghosh in the Mathematics department of Nagpur Science College who has helped me with his expertise at various stages of this research work.
I acknowledge the sacrificial dedication of my parents to their belief in the importance of education. They inspired me with the importance of learning and the clarity in understanding from childhood
I also wish to express my sincere thanks to my wife Sofy and our children Gisa and Joe. Sofy was bold enough to sail the family across all odds and the children cooperated in managing everything while I was away dedicated to this work. I owe them the most for the successful completion of this work.
I am thankful to the University Grants Commission for awarding me the FIP grant to support this research.
Finally I express my sincere thanks to one and all in the departments of Cochin University and also at St. Thomas College for their open support and constant encouragement in making this research work possible.