This work is concerned with a group of proteins which were originally consid- ered to be an esoteric phenomenon but which have now been shown to play critical roles both in normal and stressed cells as well as being involved in a variety of human diseases. It is the purpose of this work to give a comprehen- sive view of these proteins and their various aspects. After an introductory chapter providing an overview of these proteins, the work is divided into four main sections each of which deals with one important aspect of these proteins. Thus, the first section contains a series of chapters...

A research project entitled Biomechanics of Structure and Function of Living Cells, Tissues, and Organs was launched in Japan in 1992. This data book presents the original, up-to-date information resulting from the research project, supplemented by some of the important basic data published previously. The aim of collecting the information is to offer accurate and useful data on the mechanical properties of living materials to biomechanical scientists, biomedical engineers, medical scientists, and clinicians. The data are presented in graphs and tables (one type of data per page) arranged in...

Toshio Mura has written extensively on micromechanics over the years, and in part due to his writings and many others in the field, micromechanics has gradually emerged as a recognized discipline in the study of mechanics of materials. The idea is to bring both the mechanics and physics on the micro scopic level to the macroscopic scale, so that the deformation and fracture processes of materials can be better understood. While much apparently remains to be done, this approach has already shed new light on certain selected topics and has proved to be fruitful. It is indeed a happy occasion to...