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Abstract

This work introduces a technique for approximating the conformation space of rigid and semi-rigid kinematic chains with finite inverse kinematic solutions using graph-like constructs called stacked graphs. The technique is developed in the context of nucleic acids, in particular ribonucleic acid (RNA), whose phosphate backbone can be modelled as a kinematic chain. Additionally, a process for identifying stable RNA conformations and likely conformational pathways is demonstrated. As a secondary result, a potentially novel relationship between stacked graphs and symmetric groups is uncovered and briefly investigated.