“…Viscoelastic behavior has been observed and studied in cells (Bausch et al 1999;Guilak 2000;Guilak et al 1999Guilak et al , 2000Heidemann et al 1999;Trickey et al 2000) and a number of biologic tissues such as articular cartilage (Mak 1986;Woo et al 1980), bone , skeletal muscle (Best et al 1994), cardiovascular tissue , tendon (Atkinson et al 1999;Graf et al 1994), and ligament (Haut and Little 1969;Provenzano et al 2001; Thornton et al 1997;Woo 1982, Woo et al 1981. Structural, phenomenological, and continuum models have been formulated to describe these viscoelastic behaviors (Bingham and DeHoff 1979;Corr et al 2001;Decraemer et al 1980;Dehoff 1978;Egan 1987;Fung 1972;Johnson et al 1996;Lakes and Vanderby 1999;Lanir 1979Lanir , 1980Lanir , 1983Sanjeevi et al 1982;Shoemaker et al 1986;Viidik 1968). The most commonly applied model of viscoelastic behavior in biomechanics has been the quasilinear viscoelasticity (QLV) model of Fung (1972).…”