This document describes Serf Software Suite, a freeware program called Electrophy that can analyze electrophysiological data. It accepts different file formats and can simulate synaptic currents, estimate rate constants, and perform statistical tests on data. It can also fit curves and analyze spike trains and single channel recordings. The suite includes other programs for creating graphs, changing desktop backgrounds, converting files to sound, and creating musical works from recordings.

1. Serf Software Suite
Electrophy A freeware program to analyze
electrophysiological data.
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2. INTRODUCTION
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'Introduction to Electrophysiological Methods
and Instrumentation' covers all topics of interest
to electrophysiologists in all fields, from the
reliable penetration of cells, the behavior and
function of the equipment, to the mathematical
tools available for analyzing data. It discusses the
pros and cons of techniques and methods used in
electrophysiology and how to avoid their pitfalls.

3. ABOUT
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• Electrophy is a program to analyze
electrophysiological data for MS-Windows 98,
2000, XP and Vista. Support for W95 has been
discontinued since v 4.40.
• Electrophy accepts ASCII data, ISO-2 data and
files in AxonInstruments formats for the PC
(PClamp, Fetch etc) and the MacIntosh
(Axograph type 1 and 2).
It has an interface for use with Media
Cybernetics IP+ scripts

4. University of Education
WORKING OF SOFTWARE
.
• Simulation of synaptic currents, unitary patch-clamp
currents, macroscopic currents and dwell
time histograms.
• Estimation of rate constants in a Markov
chain model, using your experimental data
(macroscopic currents and single-channel dwell
time histograms).
• Statistical tests for data in spreadsheet columns:
linear correlation, chi-2 test, Student's t-test,
Fisher's F-test, Tukey's q-test (one-way anova).
• Carry out curve fitting using either build-in or
user-defined functions.

5. APPLICATION
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• A one-stop source for practical information on
electrophysiology equipment
• Introduces possibilities and solutions, along with the
problems, pitfalls, and artifacts of equipment and electrodes
• Presents the fundamentals of signal processing of analog
signals, spike trains and single channel recordings as well as
procedures for signal recording and processing
• Includes appendices on electrical safety, on the use of CRT
monitors in research and foundations of some of the
mathematical tools used
• Gives lists of symbols used in science, in circuit diagrams and
electrophysiological set-ups
• Comprehensibly presents the calculation of single-channel
dwell-time histograms from rate constants

6. University of Education
Scientific and Fun
Software for MS-Windows
• The programs of the Serf Software
Suite, Electrophy, Sounds, Cells&Maps and Clusters, are each
build around the same drawing sheet that will hold the
illustration to be published. Although a particular program of the
suite may not be able to generate all types of graphical elements,
it can read and display all of them. Hence, any of the programs
can play the role of head editor. The programs have build-in
spreadsheets for inspection and edition of the graphs on the
drawing sheet.
Create your graphs easily with XLPlot . It reads ascii files and it
outputs a vector drawing. It is the 'light' version of Serf Suite
programs.

7. University of Education
•
JRTalk.dll is an interface to Serf
Suite programs, XLPlot commands and the math
library.
Wallpaper changes your desktop image every
now and then. Create a bitmap list and place a
shortcut to Wallpaper.exe in your startup folder
and it will execute automatically each time that
you start your PC.

8. University of Education
•
File-to-Sound converts any file into sound. Just
drag files onto the F2S window and it starts
playing the files.
The Best of Windows page presents collection of
musical works created with Soundmaps. Ex
machinapresents musical works created with
Soundmaps and Deun ex Machina amongst
which Electrophysiologicalrecordings that
become music.

9. CONCLUSION
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• In only minutes carry out baseline correction,
leak and common signal subtraction, detect
single channel openings, synaptic currents or
spikes with high precision and make your
publish-ready dwell time histograms, dot plots,
post/peri stimulus time histograms (PSTH),
spike interval histograms, EPSP size, rise or
decay time histograms etc.

10. REFRENCES
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• Introduction to Electrophysiological Methods
and Instrumentation" by F. Bretschneider and
J.R. de Weille.