  A wide variety of biological as well as non-biological processes and
phenomena involving ion channels, binding, pH, folding/unfolding and effects of
chain length are well represented by multiphasic profiles, a series of straight
lines separated by discontinuous transitions, often in the form of
noncontiguities (jumps). The lines appear to be perfectly straight, with no
indication of any curvilinearity. Adjacent lines are quite often parallel or
nearly so and are then necessarily separated by jumps. If the data are
sufficiently detailed and precise, the conventional curvilinear profiles must
be rejected for a variety of reasons, whereas sudden changes of state occur in
many physical systems (see Conclusions).
