Self-organization, definition

The design of artificial self-organizing systems is based on the ability of some molecules which contain simultaneously hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups to form molecular assemblies of definite structure in solution. Examples of the assemblies that can be used to suppress undesirable recombination processes are polyelectrolytes, micelles, microemulsions, planar lipid membranes covering an orifice in a film separating two aqueous solutions, unilamellar vesicles, multilamel-lar vesicles and colloids of various inorganic substances (see reviews [8-18] and references therein). 

As concluded in Sections 6.3 and 6.4, the function of the control system is to shift the nutrient fluxes between different end points and organs, so piling up of nutrients or metabolites is avoided. The control is not absolute in the sense that there are definite rules that govern the precise function of the control system. It rather appears that the system operates in a self-organizing manner that is able to cope with the very different possible nutrients regarding both composition, quantity, and timing. 

The most general definition of a template is as a structure-directing agent. In surfactant solutions the final templated polymers can be either discrete nanoparticles or mesostructured bulk materials as a consequence of polymerization, respectively, in the non-continuous or continuous domains of the template. Thermodynamically stable media, such as microemulsions, equilibrium vesicles, or lyotropic mesophases are especially useful as templates because of their structural definition and reproducible morphologies. The mesostructure of a thermodynamically stable template is defined by composition and temperature, but this same feature makes the structure unstable to changes in temperature, pH, or concentration. The aim of template synthesis is to transfer the self-organized template structure into a mechanically and chemically stable, durable, and processable material. 

Complexity is used in very different fields (dynamical systems, time series, quantum wavefunctions in disordered systems, spatial patterns, language, analysis of multielectronic systems, cellular automata, neuronal networks, self-organization, molecular or DNA analyses, social sciences, etc.) [25-27]. Although there is no general agreement about the definition of what complexity is, its quantitative characterization is a very important subject of research in nature and has received considerable attention over the past years [28,29]. 

Mesoporous Silk ax and Silica-Organic Hybrids, p. 852 Nanocasting Strategies and Porous Materials, p. 950 Self-Assembly Definition and Kinetic and Thermodynamic Considerations, p. 1248 Self-Assembly Terminology, p. 1263... 

Neither of these impressive biomimetic total syntheses can, of course, definitively prove that Nature creates these natural products using similar Diels—Alder reactions. However, the facility by which their starting substrates were able to self-organize into the final target molecules in the laboratory certainly is a strong indication that Nature would attempt to accomplish similar levels of efficiency in her synthesis of these natural products. In fact, because of the dozens of examples of such Diels—Alder self-assemblies in the chemical literature, it would seem highly probable that Nature frequently employs the Diels—Alder reaction in her biosynthetic pathways, but in ways that are often subtle and difficult to detect since they do not require direct enzymatic participation. ... 

Emeraldine base (EB) and emeraldine salt (ES) forms of poly(o-methoxyaniline) (POMA), are able to construct biomolecular hybrids with DNA showing a fibrillar network structure of invariant fibrillar diameter for different hybrid compositions. An approximate model of the Na-DNA/POMA-ES system indicates nanostmctured self-organized assembly of the components in the hybrid [100]. However, the most desired property of fibers for the electronic devices technology is their orientation in a definite direction. Self-assembly of oriented PANI arrays can be achieved in the presence of inorganic acids and by changing the PANI/acid concentration ratio, (Fig. 1.6) [101, 102]. 

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