Acknowledgement for my Ph.D thesis I would like to express my special thanks to my supervisor (A/Prof. T). I wouldn’t have the chance to start my Ph.D study without T. He has provided the patient guidance, encouragement and advice throughout my Ph.D time. I have been extremely lucky to have a supervisor who cared so much about my work, and who responded to my questions and queries so promptly. I would also like to thank my joint supervisor (Dr. M), for sharing his valuable time and ideas to supervise my Ph.D. study. In each sentence of my published paper during my Ph.D, I can see M’s efforts. I would like to thank Prof. M for writing the IELab datafeeds, and Prof. Y for providing the data of chapter 4. Without such a great team, I wouldn’t possibly have these rich data to complete my Ph.D thesis. It is also my pleasure to have Prof. R as my co-supervisor. I must thank my parents for supporting my Ph.D study, even I haven’t been home for the past three and half years. They missed me but respected my decisions.