Number Of Other Points Research Articles

The Constitution of the meaning of education and the cultural-semiotic environment ‒ mainstream revolution in modern pedagogy

The article deals with two main topics: an attempt is made to characterize the meaning of modern education and introduce the concept of a cultural-semiotic environment, the concept of which is proposed by the author and a group of methodologists and practitioners of pedagogy. The idea of the meaning of education is briefly explained, the process of meaning formation is set in more detail. Characterizing this process, the author analyzes one case and shows that meaning formation allows solving problematic situations by constructing narratives (schemes, metaphors, symbols, etc.) and a new objectivity; as a result, a new reality is created, as well as conditions for new activities. To define the meaning of modern education, the concept of an educational environment (as formed in education, related to pedagogical communication, semiotic loaded) is introduced. In addition, the current situation in the field of education is described. The leading position of the teacher is not the management and formation, but the support of the personality, stimulating and puzzling it, hints and help, organizing conditions and space for the student's activity and creativity, joint search for solutions, demonstration of their own position and work, willingness to discuss problems together with students and a number of other points that lie within the same reality. Four educational needs are analyzed, which form the appropriate pedagogical audiences: "universal" education, "specialized", "interest-based" and "missionary". The conclusion is made that the meaning of education is a complex field of meanings, assuming from the side of pedagogy and science the arrangement of the cultural and semiotic environment, and from the individual thinking, choice and actions. The complexity of building such a dual-use environment (providing the formation of an average type of person and the support of different types of personality) is that it should work for the four specified types of education, acquaint a developing young person with the main types of problem situations, and form the competencies necessary to resolve them.

A fuzzy virtual temperature sensor for an irradiative enclosure

This paper presents the idea of virtual temperature sensors for irradiative enclosures. Such a virtual sensor is an algorithm which receives the temperature of a number of points in the enclosure and estimates the temperature of another point (or a number of other points). This paper proposes a data-driven method based on fuzzy inference systems to develop temperature virtual sensing algorithms. The proposed method is validated on an experimental setup with exhibiting excellent estimation accuracy with no need to thermo-physical properties of the enclosure. In this research, the designed and validated algorithm estimates the temperature of a single point; however, the methodology can be evidently extended to multiple points.

A Virtue for Courageous Minds: Moderation in French Political Thought, 1748-1830

Much has been written about the radical and democratic Enlightenments, but little about the moderate Enlightenment; the present study, beginning with Montesquieu's Esprit des lois and following the tradition of moderation up to and beyond the Revolution, is a selective contribution to the topic. An introductory chapter offers a brief history of moderation from the ancient world to the present, where the concept is more difficult to define; its meaning becomes clearer, however, in the context of the chosen period, where it is, essentially, hostility to the abuse of power, whether from the Right or the Left, combined with a theory of mixed government or balanced constitution. Separate chapters on Montesquieu, the monarchiens of 1789, Jacques Necker, Mme de Staël, and Benjamin Constant offer a series of surveys that are detailed and competent rather than new or exciting. Perhaps it is difficult to give a lively account of these ‘moderate’ political views, which today often seem rather commonplace; one wonders, however, whether the writers referred to were always as moderate (or consistent) as the author would have us believe. What is one to make of the ‘moderate’ Montesquieu who presents Jornandez the Goth as one of those valiant warriors whose achievement was to liberate men from ‘les fers forgés au midi’ and to teach them that, ‘la nature les ayant faits égaux, la raison n'a pu les rendre dépendants que pour leur bonheur’ (Esprit des lois, xvii, 5)? As for Constant, it is surprising that so much space should be devoted to his early career, during the Directory, when the form of ‘moderation’ he preached was the dubious one of propping up a government that survived only by means of unconstitutional expedients. In his later years he preferred to forget these early writings and his defence of the coup d'état of Fructidor. Besides, as Henri Grange demonstrated in Benjamin Constant: amoureux et républicain, 1795–1799 (Paris: Belles lettres, 2004), the real moderates of this period were not the politicians (particularly Barras) whom Constant supported, but the constitutionnels (Roederer, Dupont de Nemours, and others), whom he ignored or misrepresented as dangerous royalists or radicals. It is also surprising that this ‘moderation’ of the younger Constant is presented as compatible with his mature liberalism (p. 237), which, in fact, is characterized by hostility to unconstitutional acts and particularly to mesures d'exception. As for the later Constant, there is little discussion of De l'esprit de conquête (1814), which surely offers his most eloquent defence of moderation, and no really detailed analysis of the relation between his views on political moderation and those he held on religion and perfectibility. On these and a number of other points, one would have welcomed a more probing critical approach, especially to contradictions (real or apparent) and difficulties in the texts. However, while Aurelian Craiutu's presentation of the representatives of the moderate tradition is rather bland, his book will be read with interest, particularly as a contribution to the constitutional history of the period.

WORRYING ABOUT WASHINGTON

Chinese commentators assessing the 2010 US Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) acknowledged a number of ways in which they felt it was “better” than the 2001 NPR but still found much to criticize and many reasons for concern regarding the review's implications for China and for strategic stability. They welcomed the reduction of US nuclear inventories and reliance on nuclear weapons, the commitments to seek ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and to not conduct nuclear tests, the declaration that the United States would continue to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in deterring non-nuclear attacks, and a number of other points. Commentators generally devoted more attention to issues that were seen to have negative implications for China's deterrent (e.g., continued development of missile defense capabilities and advanced conventional weapons). Their assessments of the NPR were initially colored by the downturn in Sino-US relations in the months prior to the review's release but became more positive as the overall bilateral relationship improved.

Single Pass Seed Selection Algorithm for k-Means

Problem statement: The k-means method is one of the most widely used clustering techniques for various applications. However, the k-means often converges to local optimum and the result depends on the initial seeds. Inappropriate choice of initial seeds may yield poor results. k-means++ is a way of initializing k-means by choosing initial seeds with specific probabilities. Due to the random selection of first seed and the minimum probable distance, the k-means++ also results different clusters in different runs in different number of iterations. Approach: In this study we proposed a method called Single Pass Seed Selection (SPSS) algorithm as modification to k-means++ to initialize first seed and probable distance for k-means++ based on the point which was close to more number of other points in the data set. Result: We evaluated its performance by applying on various datasets and compare with k-means++. The SPSS algorithm was a single pass algorithm yielding unique solution in less number of iterations when compared to k-means++. Experimental results on real data sets (4-60 dimensions, 27-10945 objects and 2-10 clusters) from UCI demonstrated the effectiveness of the SPSS in producing consistent clustering results. Conclusion: SPSS performed well on high dimensional data sets. Its efficiency increased with the increase of features in the data set; particularly when number of features greater than 10 we suggested the proposed method.

Beware of subgroup analysis

We appreciate the opportunity to respond to the thoughtful comments submitted by Dr. Lemaire [1] about our article titled “Serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin as a marker of renal function in children with chronic kidney disease” in Pediatric Nephrology [2]. After careful reassessment of the data, we stand by the results and conclusions reported in our article. Dr. Lemaire states that our work “is more suited for hypothesis generation.” Indeed, we concluded that “the present study suggests serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) as a candidate for inclusion in a panel of biomarkers.” We stated important limitations of the study [cross-sectional design, small sample size, applicable only to young subjects with chronic kidney disease (CKD)], which also indicate the preliminary nature of the study and in no way makes this study conclusive. Despite limitations of the statistical analysis, related primarily to the small sample size, the difference in relationship between NGAL, cystatin C, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at low levels of GFR persisted even after artificial manipulation of the data (i.e. removal of a data point for NGAL) performed by Dr. Lemaire. Using the actual data set, our analysis resulted in a decrease of R2 value for GFR–NGAL from 0.38 to 0.26 and not to 0.20, as reported in Dr. Lemaire’s letter [1]. The R2 of 0.26 still represents a significant improvement over the cystatin C–GFR (R2 = 0.08) or eGFR–GFR (R2 = 0.12) relationships. We also feel that there is no justification to arbitrarily consider one of the NGAL data points as an outlier, as suggested in Dr. Lemaire’s letter [1]. In Dr. Lemaire’s letter, the clustering of points in the graph of eGFR and GFR speaks only to these two variables, not to any other pair of variables. The fact that there is a negative correlation in this group, rather than being artifactual, may be due to the fact that eGFR does not work so well for a certain percentage of the patients in this subgroup analysis. A close examination of this “subgraph” shows a number of points fitting very nicely on the original regression line and a number of other points drifting out to the right of the line. We cannot discern whether there may be something different about these subjects compared with those that fit on the line so well. But why were there no points to the left of the regression line? Perhaps the GFR–eGFR relationship breaks down at this low level of GFR for some patients, depending on the underlying disease processes. In any case, we are not ready to concede that the negative correlation seen is artifactual in this case. We do concede that the correlations produced at a GFR <30 will provide limited information, as this only contains 20% of the range of GFRs in the study and therefore truncates this distribution. But this limitation was induced by using a widely accepted cutoff (GFR <30 ml/min per 1.73 m2). In any case, the correlation analyses, and specifically the subgroup analyses, were performed, as we stated in the manuscript, “to further investigate the relationships between studied biomarkers and measured GFR.” Our conclusions are not based on the subgroups analyses but on the results of the regression residual and receiver operating characteristics analyses. The subgroup analyses were presented only to confirm that the correlations seen in the whole group also held for subgroups, and there is no inconsistency at the low end of the GFR distribution. The results, regardless of the R2 value, still suggest that NGAL outperforms other markers of kidney function in our study. Does this statistical finding make NGAL a useful GFR surrogate? Definitely not, and in this respect, we agree with Dr. Lemaire. As we indicated in the article, larger confirmative studies are necessary to evaluate the role of NGAL and other potential biomarkers of kidney function in children with CKD. Further, as we suggested in the manuscript, the true value of NGAL may be confirmatory of progressive decline in kidney function, as it appears to perform especially well in the moderate range of reduced GFR. Monitoring CKD activity requires biomarkers that provide clinicians with quick, noninvasive, and specific measurements that correlate with kidney pathophysiology. Current biomarkers of CKD and its progression, serum creatinine and urine protein, have serious limitations in serving these goals [3]. Remarkably, much of the controversy surrounding the early diagnosis of acute and chronic kidney disease is being solved by the adaptive response of the stressed kidney itself [4]. The application of innovative technologies has begun to identify novel biomarkers that reflect tissue pathology and predict disease progression prior to the development of abnormalities in traditional biomarkers [5]. NGAL holds promise as a method for monitoring CKD progression, and it has been gratifying to witness the recent literature providing further support to this notion [3].

Belgrade as new Jerusalem: Reflections on the reception of a topos in the age of despot Stefan Lazarevic

Belgrade as new Jerusalem: Reflections on the reception of a topos in the age of despot Stefan Lazarevic

A Date Which Will Live: Pearl Harbor in American Memory (review)

Reviewed by: A Date Which Will Live: Pearl Harbor in American Memory Caroline Chung Simpson A Date Which Will Live: Pearl Harbor in American Memory. By Emily S. Rosenberg. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2003. "This book," author Emily S. Rosenberg concludes at the close of her study of Pearl Harbor, "has attempted to work against the revelatory and event-centered tradition that generally seeks to uncover the 'reality' of the past and to stabilize historical meaning" (189). Instead, Rosenberg tries to understand Pearl Harbor less as an event, or a chain of causal effects (the facts surrounding December 7, 1941 have long since been exhaustively "uncovered") than as an unstable and contingent series of memory acts reflecting debates about, primarily, militarism or military culture and racial politics in the United States in the last six decades. She goes beyond simply asserting that Pearl Harbor is "a date which will live" (as recent invocations of the event in the wake of 9-11 seem to have affirmed) in order to focus instead on how it "lives" in a thousand guises and symbolizes dozens of often conflicting historical "lessons" (5). This study pays homage to the important recent scholarship on history and memory, a field of theory that dispenses with the illusion of a public/private divide between history and memory by exposing the unstable aesthetic and affective terms of official forms of remembrance. Rosenberg's adoption of this view of "history/memory" allows her to appreciate especially how the representation of Pearl Harbor has been shaped by "diverse print, celluloid, electronic and commemorative media" (7), amid a half century of cataclysmic cultural and political upheaval. [End Page 81] The book is divided into two sections. The first lays out the foundational meanings that initially became associated with Pearl Harbor, and the second section examines the significant post-1991 revisions and re-transcriptions of Pearl Harbor's meaning. Topics include the immediate post-WWII debates about what Pearl Harbor did or did not reveal about "backdoor" government deceit and American-Japanese relations, as well as the impact of the many controversies surrounding the fiftieth anniversary celebrations and the increasing visibility of Japanese American internment in academic and popular accounts of the early years of World War II. The ten chapters are short, usually no more than twenty pages (one chapter, "Commemoration of Sacrifice" is barely ten pages, in fact). As a result, this study is best approached as an attempt to sketch, rather than to question or re-vision, the broader significance of these episodes in shaping the cultural stakes and practices of remembering Pearl Harbor. Although Rosenberg is a historian, her analysis would probably disappoint those historians seeking comprehensive, detailed engagements with these complex debates and the archives that continue to amass about them. Asian American historians, in particular, will find nothing new or provocative in the chapter on Japanese American internment, for example. Rosenberg characterizes Japanese American narratives of the internment as either "compliance" (or "model minority") and "resistance" (142) stories, a familiar if somewhat reductive viewpoint. Curiously, this assertion appears in the context of a passage where Rosenberg quotes Lisa Lowe's observation that "stereotypes that construct Asians as the threatening 'yellow peril,' or alternatively, that pose Asians as the domesticated 'model minority'" (143) serve to maintain the coherence of the United States in the face of histories of racism that often exceed its logic. A number of other points of historical "fact" would likewise benefit from more questioning or troubling. In Chapter 5, "Bilateral Relations", which treats the controversies that arose in the months leading to the fiftieth anniversary of Pearl Harbor in 1991, Rosenberg observes that "the emergence of strong identity politics during the 1980s and 1990s," acting in concert with "the end of the cold war," established the tense terms of the global debates about the commemoration of Pearl Harbor (102). Yet nothing more is said about the convergence of these ideological shifts in the rhetoric or tenor of the debates. Neither does the chapter confront the question of how these cultural formations affected the rising demands within the United States for a presidential apology for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nor the meaning of the...

EURIPIDES, MEDEA 131-213

AbstractThe Parodos of Medea, with the following musical exchanges between Chorus, Medea (offstage) and Nurse, has some unsatisfactory features in the manuscripts and in editions, for which some new remedies are proposed. Already in the Entry-verses (131-8) the detail of the text has long been controversial, on grounds partly linguistic, partly metrical. Later, at 160 Medea is heard invoking "Themis and Artemis", in words directly referred to by the Nurse at 168-9 as addressed to "Themis and Zeus", and less directly at 208-9 by the Chorus as addressed to "Themis (wife) of Zeus". The apparently irrelevant '′Αρτεμι in 160 has been variously emended by Weil and others. A number of other points of interest (especially of metre) are discussed in passing. But the most important single proposal is a transposition putting lines 160-72 after 173-203; thus on the one hand making the antistrophe 173-83 directly sequential to the strophe 148-59, and on the other hand making the concluding choral epode (204-13: "I heard . . .") directly responsive to the Nurse's question at 168-70 ("Do you hear . . .?"). The Nurse's sinister forecast at 171-2 becomes her parting words, as she goes into the house (we shall not see her again) to fetch her mistress.

The use of B-field measurements in an airborne time-domain system: Part I. Benefits of B-field versus dB/dt data

Standard airborne electromagnetic (AEM) systems measure the response of the ground using an induction coil, which in the time-domain outputs a voltage proportional to the time rate of change of the magnetic field dB/dt. A recent development to the GEOTEM system allows B-field data to also be acquired. These two forms of data (dB/dt and B-field) are compared by examining power spectra, model data and field examples.The power spectrum of the B-field excitation waveform has significantly more energy than the dB/dt power spectrum at low frequencies, while at high frequencies the dB/dt spectrum has more energy. The impact of this different distribution of energy can be seen in model data: the ratio of the signal to the noise for good conductors is significantly enhanced on B-field data and reduced on dB/dt data. In fact, for very good conductors (between 2000 S and 100 000 S) the dB/dt response is reduced to such an extent that it is below the noise level, while the B-field response is still significantly above the noise level. On the other hand, the signal-to-noise ratio of poor conductors is greater in the dB/dt data than the B-field data.Field and model data show that the B-field response of good conductors (about 100 S) is greater than the response of poorer conductors, whereas for dB/dt data it is less. Thus, the B-field profiles are generally easier to interpret than dB/dt data, as the larger amplitude zones are generally more indicative of conductive zones.Two field examples (from Frobisher Bay and the Ottawa Valley) illustrate a number of other points. Spheric noise appears reduced in the B-field data. This implies that it may be possible to acquire AEM measurements in certain areas and at certain times when dB/dt data would be too noisy. Also, the range of values covered by the B-field data is much less than that covered by the dB/dt data. This makes it easier to display B-field data on an image or a profile.

The myth (or folly) of the 3% deficit/GDP Maastricht 'parameter'

A relation is presented defining the boundary, algebraically and geometrically, to the sustainability area of public finance. The relation (and area) involve three magnitudes: deficit/GDP, debt/GDP, and rate of growth. It is shown that the parameters stated in the famous Annex to the Maastricht Treaty (60 percent for the debt/GDP ratio and 3 percent for the deficit/GDP ratio) represent only one particular point on the above mentioned boundary relation to the sustainability area. There exists an infinite number of other points sharing the same characteristics. On the basis of the OECD data referring to the end of 1996, it is shown that all major European countries find themselves outside the sustainability area, except Belgium and Italy, i.e., exactly the opposite of what is widely believed to be the case in current discussions. Copyright 1998 by Oxford University Press.

The maxima of absorption lines in stellar spectra (second paper)

§ I. In a previous paper† we have applied the theory of hightemperature ionisation, first developed by Saha, to the positions of maximum intensity of absorption lines in the stellar sequence of spectra. During the past year the series relationship of lines belonging to treblyionised silicon and to ionised carbon, which are important in the spectra of the hotter stars, have been discovered by A. Fowler. ‡ It is the object of the present paper to use A. Fowler’s results to calculate by the method of maxima the temperatures and pressures in the reversing layers of the hotter stars. We can supplement these results by provisional estimates for certain other spectra. We deal also with a number of other points which arise in applications of the theory. § 2. Resume of the Method.—We use the terms “ principal series ” or “ principal lines” to denoto series or lines which are absorbed in transitions from the normal state of a neutral, singly-ionised, or multiplyionised atom to an excited state, or state of higher energy. We use the

Dimensioning telephone networks with budget constraints

We present a theoretical study of a modified version of the dimensioning problem for telephone networks where the network does not contain any existing capacity and where the available capital is severely limited, a situation which can occur in private networks as well as in the public networks of developing countries. In the latter, case, the budget constraint is generally of paramount importance. This has two effects. First, the grade of service constraint is replaced by a budget constraint. Another difference from the original problem arises because the network may be operating under overload most of the time. This paper examines some cases of overload for which the link ordering is maintained. The main result of this paper is the derivation of a set of equations similar to the classical optimality equations that lead to the ECCS method, but for the modified version of the problem. As a consequence, we expect that it will be possible to obtain a fast iterative heuristic algorithm similar to the one currently used to solve the classical problem. A number of other points of theoretical interest are also discussed, mainly with the objective of gaining insight into the structure of the modified problem.

Comments on "Modeling of cylindrical objects by circular dielectric and conducting cylinders" [with reply

In the above-titled paper (see ibid, vol. 40, p.96-9, 1992) A. Z. Elsherbeni and A. A. Kishk introduced a general method and semianalytical solution for the modeling of composite two-dimensional scatterers. The commenters point out that unnecessarily large numbers of terms were used for thin conducting wires with TM excitation. The original authors point out that the expression for the number of terms they used is needed for the more general case. The commenters also suggest that the wire grid model for the scattering by a conducting cylinder yields, in general, a matrix equation of smaller order relative to the matrix equation generated by the circular cylinder model. The authors refute this suggestion and clarify a number of other points as well.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Asymptotically optimal estimation for the reduced second moment measure of point processes

SUMMARY A modification of the rigid motion correction estimator for the reduced second moment measure of a stationary, isotropic point process is shown to possess an asymptotic optimality property as the observation region grows. Furthermore, a modification of the translation correction estimator for stationary, anisotropic point processes has a similar defined as K(t) = A-'E(number of other points within t of x |point at x), where t> 0, xe Rd. For a stationary Poisson process in two dimensions, K(t) = Xt', so deviations of K (t) from irt2 are one way of describing deviations from the Poisson model. To estimate K(t) based on observing N(.) in some bounded region A c Rd, we need to account for the fact that for points within t of the boundary of A, we do not get to observe the number of other points within t of them. Ripley (1988, Ch. 3) and Stein (1991) describe various estimators that correct for this edge effect. While the estimator suggested by Stein (1991) appears to work fairly well, its motivation is somewhat ad hoc. This paper describes how to construct an estimator motivated more clearly by the goal of attempting to minimize the mean squared error of the estimator when N(.) is Poisson subject to an unbiasedness constraint. Furthermore, among a large class of estimators, the estimator developed here is proven to come very close to minimizing the mean squared error when A is large and N(.) is Poisson. The estimator is obtained by applying the Haijek Projection Lemma (Hajek, 1968, Lemma 4.1) to the rigid motion correction due to Miles (1974) and Ohser & Stoyan (1981). The same approach also works for stationary but possibly anisotropic processes, in which case the recommended estimator is obtained by applying the Hajek Projection Lemma to the translation correction due to Ohser & Stoyan (1981).

Some remarks on quasi-crystal structure

The Fourier transform of a skeletal delta function that characterizes the most striking features of experimental quasicrystal diffraction patterns is evaluated. The result plays a role analogous to the Poisson summation formula for periodic delta functions that underlie classical crystallography. The real-space distribution can be interpreted in terms of a backbone comprising a system of intersecting equiangular spirals into which are inscribed (self-similar) gnomons of isosceles triangles with length-to-base ratio the golden mean τ. In addition to the vertices of these triangles, there is an infinite number of other points that may tile space in two or three dimensions. Other mathematical formulae of relevance are briefly discussed.

Chromatic and luminance signals in visual memory.

The efficiency of chromatic and luminance signals was studied in a set of tasks requiring the discrimination of two colors. Discrimination was measured around an adapting achromatic light and a number of other points in a three-dimensional color space. As a baseline, discrimination thresholds were measured under conditions permitting a side-by-side comparison of stimuli in space or time. For the spatiotemporal configurations used in these experiments, chromatic signals were more efficient than luminance signals in terms of the difference in cone excitation required at the discrimination threshold. When stimuli were separated in both space and time, so that memory was required for their comparison, the efficiency of luminance signals was attenuated further, while chromatic signals retained their efficiency. Further experiments showed that the addition of a memory requirement did not impair the accuracy of luminance discrimination when the two test colors could be placed in distinct perceptual categories with respect to the surround color. Our results indicate that chromatic signals are particularly efficient in simple color discrimination tasks requiring even the barest amount of memory, especially when the perceptual categorization scheme is not available for the comparison of stimuli.

Some medieval Yemenite numismatic problems – observations on some recently sold coins

The article addresses some of the problems arising from the publication of a recent numismatic catalogue including coins from all parts of the Islamic world. The problems concern in particular the coins of the medieval Yemen and the article comprises a critique of those coins listed under the Arabian peninsula and the Yemen.Catalogue nos. 101 and 104 are dealt with in some detail since they are erroneously ascribed to mints in Mecca and Minā, respectively. The former is struck in the name of a Zaydī imam, the latter is Rasulid and labelled as having been struck “for a special occasion”. The intriguing question of the mysterious Ayyubid prince, al‐'Ādil Abū Bakr, arises too (nos. 125 etc.), although no definitive answer can yet be suggested. Much more information is now available on the striking of coins in Tha'bāt during Rasulid times. A number of other points bearing on the numismatics, the history, and the geography of the medieval Yemen are discussed in the article.

Dendrites of cat's spinal motoneurones: relationship between stem diameter and predicted input conductance.

1. The electroanatomy of motoneuronal dendrites was analysed using data from fifty-two dendritic trees of four completely reconstructed cat spinal motoneurones that had been labelled with intracellularly injected horseradish peroxidase. The cells belonged to m. triceps surae, and their physiological properties covered much of the known range for this muscle. 2. For each dendritic tree, the input conductance, as seen from the soma, was calculated by the method of Rall (1959), using anatomical measurements of the length and diameter of all branches and different assumed values for dendritic membrane resistivity. 3. There was a strong positive correlation between dendritic stem diameter and the calculated dendritic input conductance. Dendritic input conductance was approximately equal to a constant x (stem diameter)3/2 x (dendritic membrane resistivity)-0.76. 4. The relationship between dendritic stem diameter and computed input conductance was equal to that of Rall's equivalent-cylinder model of a dendritic tree. However, from a number of other points of view, the properties of the reconstructed dendrites differed from those of the model: (a) at branch points, the sum sigma(daughter diameters 3/2) was, on average, 19% greater than the 3/2 power of the parent diameter; (b) dendritic branches often showed a significant amount of tapering, and the mean overall degree of diameter decrease per branch was about 12%; (c) the termination of dendritic branches occurred at widely different distances from the soma within single dendritic trees (true for anatomical as well as for computed electrotonic distances). 5. When used in conjunction with previously published measurements of motoneuronal input resistance and proximal anatomy (Kernell & Zwaagstra, 1981), the present results gave further support to the conclusion that differences in membrane resistivity are of great importance for differences in motoneuronal input resistance. Furthermore, this conclusion was also confirmed by direct observation of the properties of the present four motoneurones: irrespective of the assumed ratio between somatic and dendritic membrane resistivity, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between the measured neuronal input resistance and the required membrane resistivity of soma and dendrites.

Simple model for an optimiser

A simple model of a building is developed to analyse the preheating curve for optimised heating. The model considers an effective thermal mass of the building so that internal air temperature can be used rather than a mean fabric temperature. With this model a curve similar to that of Birtles and John is derived. At low outside temperatures and with small heating plant this curve is found to bend over. The model results can be explained in terms of a time constant and a plant size ratio. Variable heat emitter output is also considered and the characteristic curve retains the same form. Birtles and John's empirical constants are related to building parameters of the simple model. The response factor for a building as used in the CIBSE Energy Code is found to relate approximately to the model. It is pointed out, however, that the CIBSE admittance method used in deriving the response factor is slightly erroneous. A number of other points relating to optimiser performance are explained by the model.