The fact that the stripe phase and pseudogap in the cuprate superconductors
occur in the same doping regime is emphasized. A model based on charge
confinement in self-organized nanometer-scale stripe fragments is proposed
to understand various generic features of the normal-state energy gap
including the magnitude of the gap, its anti-correlation with the
superconducting gap, and the d-wave symmetry in its K-dependence.
This model also provides a basis for understanding other anomalous normal-state
properties such as the linear temperature dependence of electrical resistivity
