ANSC6@UMDC.UMD.EDU (04/29/91)
A request was made concerning a shareware program on neuron function. A
series of programs were announced on this list some time ago, and one of those
was a program on action potentials of neurons. What follows is that
announcement (with the description of the other programs edited out). Good
luck.
Mark Varner
ansc6@umdc.umd.edu
Reply-To: colburn@handel.cs.colostate.edu (Alex Colburn)
Geneplot, Actpot, and Growplot Versions 4.0
I am announcing the availability of three programs I
wrote as a biology graduate student at the University of Iowa.
These are educational programs for IBM PCs and clones that
allow students to experiment with Population Genetics, Action
Potentials, and Population Growth. I wrote the first version
of these programs while I was a Teaching Assistant for Iowa's
Animal Biology course in the spring of 1988. There has been
continual revision and testing since then, and currently these
programs are a fundamental part of the Animal biology course.
They have also been used at Grinnel College and Yale. I have
recently revised these programs for VGA graphics.
All of the programs have a graphical interface, and
require at least a CGA graphics with 256K RAM, although there
are versions for the PC JR. I wrote these programs with the
philosophy that computer simulations should allow the student
to do experiments that are not feasible to do in a classroom
situation. This is not an animated text book.
(Description of Genetics & Population Growth Programs
deleted by MAV)
Actpot: The goal of this program is to allow students
to learn the basic properties of the action potential. They will
learn about: the relationship between the membrane voltage and the
underlying currents; The initiation of the action potential,
threshold; Absolute and relative refractory periods; Multiple action
potentials; Synaptic integration, the Role of excitatory and
Inhibitory synaptic input. This simulation is based on the
Hodgkin and Huxley model of the squid giant axon.
If you feel that you might be interested in using these programs
please contact me at:
email colburn@handel.cs.colostate.edu
home:
Alex Colburn
130 Brairwood #621
Ft Collins Co, 80521
(303) 221-9489
Alex.colburn@handel.CS.ColoState.Edu (Alex Colburn) (05/04/91)
In article <9104291354.AA01995@genbank.bio.net> ANSC6@UMDC.UMD.EDU writes: >A request was made concerning a shareware program on neuron function. A >series of programs were announced on this list some time ago, and one of those >was a program on action potentials of neurons. What follows is that >announcement (with the description of the other programs edited out). Good >luck. > >Mark Varner >ansc6@umdc.umd.edu > > >Reply-To: colburn@handel.cs.colostate.edu (Alex Colburn) > >Geneplot, Actpot, and Growplot Versions 4.0 > > I am announcing the availability of three programs I >wrote as a biology graduate student at the University of Iowa. I've been getting a lot of mail lately concerning my biology simulations, so I thought I'd give an update on the status. Currently Anyone can Anonymously ftp demonstrations from handel.cs.colostate.edu They are in a directory /pub. The filename is called biosims.zip. This is all that is available at the moment. When I first announced these programs I received quite vote of disaproval because I need to charge a fee to cover costs. I put everything concerning this project on a far back shelf until I can do it properly, meaning putting together some bound users guides and study aids. Including a text readme file with the programs just isn't good enough. The simulations without a users guide are quite useless because they are not animated textbooks. They are more like lab experiments in which one may try different things to learn basic principles. When I can afford to spend time and $$ printing off and sending the manuals, I'll try to get back to everyone who has expressed interest. (I apologize to those I haven't replied to yet) I'll be back at iowa sometime in june, my email address will colburn@tessa.iaf.uiowa.edu. If anyone seriously wants to use any programs for a course give me a call and we can work something out. I probably won't have a chance to reply to email since it is the end of the semester and finals are here. Alex.