Networks connected/connectedness

PSDVB copolymers and their ion exchange derivatives consist of a three dimensional four-connected network structure. Such networks may have a statistically isotropic structure that includes tetrahedral cells, such as the X" unit structure described by Flory (6). The four-connectedness results from the expected pairwise chain connecting function of... 

Connectedness of a neutral network, implying that it consists of a single component, is important for evolutionary optimization. Populations usually cover a connected area in sequence space and they migrate (commonly) by the Hamming distance moved. Accordingly, if they are situated on a particular component of a neutral network, they can reach all sequences of this component. If the single component of the connected neutral network of a common structure spans all sequence space, a population on it can travel by random drift through whole sequence space. 

We interpret the flare effect as a cooperative extension of molecules over the volume seen as birefringent. This cooperative extension would arise if the chains were behaving as if connected, that is, like a transient network. The fact that this connectedness arises only beyond a given concentration signifies that a cooperative effect is involved, implicit in the network model just described. The fact that it appears only at a critical strain rate, e , however, introduces a new important factor the time dependence of the connectedness. Namely, the connectedness can exist only over a very short time (t J defined by... 

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