[15] Analyzing transport kinetics with desk-top hybrid computers

Modern technology has converted the powerful and rapid calculating resources of a computer into a desktop unit, easily accessible to a bench scientist. This chapter describes various programs that may be used on a routine basis to acquire kinetic data to manipulate the data and optimize parameters. These programs are based on well-established kinetic equations from the literature and serve to integrate these equations into paradigms for an analysis. Access to this type of resource may encourage workers in the field of membrane transport to extend the limits of their experimentation beyond the measurements of initial fluxes or equilibrium distributions and to get at the more difficult problems of transport among multiple compartments. These programs help in calculating permeability coefficients for water and solute from osmotic data and volume changes. The descriptions are general enough; therefore, those who are familiar with the BASIC language and with analog computer networks can adapt them to their own microcomputers and hybrid analog/digital instruments.