Connectors are used in component-based systems as first-class entities to abstract component interactions. In this paper, we propose a way to compose connectors by using fine-grained elements, each of them representing a single, well-defined function. We identify an experimentally proven set of connector elements, which, composed together, model four basic component interconnection types (proce...

This paper presents an important extension of our contribution to FESCA ’04, which presented a generic framework for connector architectures. These architectures were defined by components, consisting of a body specification and a set of export interfaces, and connectors, consisting of a body specification and a set of import interfaces plus connecting transformations in both cases. A major res...

Network-based analyses of brain imaging data consistently reveal distinct modules and connector nodes with diverse global connectivity across the modules. How discrete the functions of modules are, how dependent the computational load of each module is to the other modules' processing, and what the precise role of connector nodes is for between-module communication remains underspecified. Here,...

The bacteriophage phi29 DNA packaging motor, one of the strongest biological motors characterized to date, is geared by a packaging RNA (pRNA) ring. When assembled from three RNA fragments, its three-way junction (3WJ) motif is highly thermostable, is resistant to 8 M urea, and remains associated at extremely low concentrations in vitro and in vivo. To elucidate the structural basis for its unu...

Taming complexity is a fundamental goal of software engineering. The core techniques that have been successful in practice are those that separate concerns, especially variants of architectural abstractions called components and connectors. We argue that General Theories of Software Engineering (GTSE) should be organized by components and connectors to distinguish conceptually distinct elements...