This book contains the fully peer-reviewed papers presented at the Third Engineering Foundation Conference on Small Fatigue Cracks, held under the chairmanship of K.S. Ravichandran and Y. Murakami during December 6-11, 1998, at the Turtle Bay Hilton, Oahu, Hawaii. This book presents a state-of-the-art description of the mechanics, mechanisms and applications of small fatigue cracks by most of the world's leading experts in this field. Topics ranging from the mechanisms of crack initiation, small crack behavior in metallic, intermetallic, ceramic and composite materials, experimental measurement, mechanistic and theoretical models, to the role of small cracks in fretting fatigue and the application of small crack results to the aging aircraft and high-cycle fatigue problems, are covered.

It is well accepted that progress in biological and biochemical researches is based mainly on a better understanding of life processes on a molecular level. For this, modern chemical techniques for structural elucidation even of sophisticated biomolecules and theoretical and mechanistic considerations involving biological macromolecules help the understanding of structure-function relations, metabolic processes, molecular and cellular recognition and the reproduction of life. On the other hand, controlled manipulation of the struc ture of biological macromolecules and the synthesis of well designed biomimetic models are the basic tools used in bio organic chemistry, a field at the -border line between classical biochemistry and classical organic chemistry. For this, increas ing number of chemists and biochemists are studying simple synthetic molecules as models of enzyme action, ion transport across membranes and in general receptor-substrate inter action. This new series, Bioorganic Chemistry Frontiers, will at tempt to bring together critical reviews on the progress in this field. In this second volume of the series, six different active domains are covered and are presented to stress the diversity and scope of bioorganic chemistry. They include the design of artificial nucleases (Corey, Zuckermann, and Schultz), molecu lar tweezers (Zimmerman), hydrolytic cleavage with metal complexes (Chin, Banaszczyk, Jubian, Kim, and Maejen), dif ferent aspects of molecular recognition (Hamilton), supramole cular assemblies and functional models of membranes and enzymes (Murakami and Kikuchi) and the concept ofmolecu lar topology (Sauvage and Dietrich). Each subject uses a "molecular" language common to the chemist, the biologist, and the pharmacologist."

Theory of Elasticity and Stress Concentration Yukitaka Murakami, Kyushu University, Japan A comprehensive guide to elasticity and stress concentration Theory of Elasticity and Stress Concentration comprehensively covers elasticity and stress concentration and demonstrates how to apply the theory to practical engineering problems. The book presents a new approach to the topic without the need for complicated mathematics, and the principles and meaning of stress concentration are covered without reliance on numerical analysis. The book consists of two parts: Part I - Theory of Elasticity and Part II - Stress Concentration. Part I treats the theory of elasticity from the viewpoint of helping the reader to comprehend the essence of it. Part II treats the principle and meaning of stress concentration and guides the reader to a better understanding of it. Throughout the book, many useful and interesting applications of the basic new way of thinking are presented and explained. Key features: * Unique approach to the topics. * Encourages the readers to acquire the new way of thinking and engineering judgement. * Includes examples, problems and solutions. This book provides essential reading for researchers and practitioners in the structural and mechanical engineering industries.