Cytoplasmic dynein is responsible for intra-cellular transport in eukaryotic cells. Using Fluctuating Finite Element Analysis (FFEA), a novel algorithm that represents proteins as continuum viscoelastic solids subject to thermal noise, we are building computational tools study the mechanics of these molecular machines. Here present methodology obtaining material parameters required represent fl...

The boundary element methodology is applied to the analysis of non-linear viscoelastic solids. The adopted non-linear model uses the same relaxation moduli as the respective linear relations but with a time shift depending on the volumetric strain. Nonlinearity introduces an irreducible domain integral into the original integral equation derived for linear viscoelastic solids. This necessitates...

This paper characterized bovine extraocular muscles (EOMs) using creep, which represents long-term stretching induced by a constant force. After preliminary optimization of testing conditions, 20 fresh EOM samples were subjected to four different loading rates of 1.67, 3.33, 8.33, and 16.67%/s, after which creep was observed for 1,500 s. A published quasilinear viscoelastic (QLV) relaxation fun...