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The International Conferences on Nonlinear Mechanics (ICNM-x) have been regarded as important series conferences in mechanics circles. The previous four meetings in the series were successfully held in Shanghai and Beijing in 1985, 1993, 1998 and 2002, respectively. In recent years, new achievements in this field have been made. Therefore, it is appropriate to organize a new conference on this vitally important area of applied mathematics and mechanics. The Fifth International Conference on Nonlinear Mechanics (ICNM-V) will be held in Shanghai. The Conference aims to provide an international forum for presenting the latest results and stimulating wider academic exchange for experts in the related fields all over the world.

In an inaugural article in the latest issue of PNAS, George C Schatz writes on Using theory and computation to model nanoscale properties. Here is the abstract of the article:

I had known Liviu since his early days in the Engineering Science and Mechanics Department at Virginia Tech when I was just beginning my own academic career. I had received my PhD from this department in 1981 in an area (composite materials) that at the time was at the cutting edge of high technology. In 1985 I had come back to VA Tech from the industry to continue working in this exciting area in which the ESM Department excelled world-wide. Liviu had arrived shortly thereafter with an already established reputation as a top-notch scientist.

Active polymers are being developed to mimic a salient feature of life: movement in response to stimuli. Large deformation can lead to intriguing phenomena; for example, recent experiments have shown that a voltage can deform a layer of a dielectric elastomer into two coexistent states, one being flat and the other wrinkled. This observation, as well as the needs to analyze large deformation under diverse stimuli, has led us to reexamine the theory of electromechanics.

In the recent issue of Science, researchers from UCLA (Chung et al) report on an ambient pressure synthesis (using arc melting) of a compound, namely, rhenium diboride, which is superhard. Apparently, the material leaves scratch marks on the surface of diamond. Here is the abstract of the paper: