Porous Rock Failure Mechanics: Hydraulic Fracturing, Drilling and Structural Engineering focuses on the fracture mechanics of porous rocks and modern simulation techniques for progressive quasi-static and dynamic fractures. The topics covered in this volume include a wide range of academic and industrial applications, including petroleum, mining, and civil engineering. Chapters focus on advanced topics in the field of rock's fracture mechanics and address theoretical concepts, experimental characterization, numerical simulation techniques, and their applications as appropriate. Each chapter reflects the current state-of-the-art in terms of the modern use of fracture simulation in industrial and academic sectors. Some of the major contributions in this volume include, but are not limited to: anisotropic elasto-plastic deformation mechanisms in fluid saturated porous rocks, dynamics of fluids transport in fractured rocks and simulation techniques, fracture mechanics and simulation techniques in porous rocks, fluid-structure interaction in hydraulic driven fractures, advanced numerical techniques for simulation of progressive fracture, including multiscale modeling, and micromechanical approaches for porous rocks, and quasi-static versus dynamic fractures in porous rocks. This book will serve as an important resource for petroleum, geomechanics, drilling and structural engineers, R&D managers in industry and academia.

Many proprotein convertases (PC), especially furin and PACE4, are involved in pathological processes such as viral infection, inflammation, hypercholesterolemia, and cancer, and have been postulated as therapeutic targets for some of these diseases. In this chapter, we review mostly our work using animal models of squamous cancers that have been induced by chemical or UV carcinogenesis protocols to highlight the role of PCs in the development and progression of experimental tumors. After demonstrating in wild type mice the role of PACE4 in tumor progression as well as detecting the expression of PACE4 and furin in human non-melanoma skin cancers, we developed transgenic mice that over-express either PACE4 or furin in squamous epithelia, including the epidermis. This was accomplished by targeting the expression of the corresponding PC by using the promoter of the bovine keratin 5. Both K5-PACE4 and K5-Furin transgenic mice showed increased susceptibility to a two-stage carcinogenesis protocol of chemical carcinogenesis. Similar studies conducted in K5-PACE4 mice also showed an increased sensitivity to ultraviolet B radiation carcinogenesis. In most of these experiments, we were able to demonstrate that compared to the control wild type mice, the over-expression of the transgene in the epidermis increased the number of benign and malignant skin tumors and also had an effect on tumor progression as evidenced by the presence of less differentiated tumors and more frequent local and distant metastases in many of the transgenic lines. Interestingly, double transgenic mice in which PACE4 and furin are targeted to the epidermis did not show any additive effect, pointing to a probable in vivo overlap of functions at least in cutaneous tissues. The tumor-enhancing effects of PACE4 and furin further support their possible role as therapeutic targets. Furthermore, a proof of principle for PC inhibition as a therapeutic tool has been substantiated by an in vivo experiment in which the PC-inhibitor, decanoyl-RVKRchloromethylketone, was topically administrated to the skin of wild type and transgenic mice treated with chemical carcinogenesis protocols, resulting in a significant decrease of tumor development and progression.