The International Conference on Fracture Mechanics Technology Applied to Material Evaluation and Structure Design was held in Melbourne, Australia, from August 10 to 13, 1982. It was sponsored jointly by the Australian Fracture Group and Institute of Fracture and Solid Mechanics at Lehigh University. Pro fessor G. C. Sih of Lehigh University, Drs. N. E. Ryan and R. Jones of Aeronau tical Research Laboratories served as Co-Chairmen. They initiated the organiza tion of this international event to provide an opportunity for the practitioners, engineers and interested individuals to present and...

Neovascularization isanormalphaseoftissue repair mechanlsm. In theeye, however, sproutingofnewvessels withinavasculartissuesandtheirgreatertendencytobleed havedetrimentaleffectsonvision. Diabeticretinopathy, corneal neovascularization, age-related macular degeneration, retinal veinocclusion, andretinopathy of prematurity are major causes of blindness. In all, uncontrolled proliferationofnewvesselsistheunderlying pathologicalcauseleadingtotheinexorablelossofvision. Development of lasertechnologiesandtheir wide use in ophthalmology have broughtsomehopeforthetreqtment of these diseases. However,...