which is responsible for matters related to the development of the International System of Units (SI), preparation of successive editions of the SI brochure, and advice to the CIPM on matters concerning units of measurement. It is the CCU which considers in detail all new scientific and technological developments related to the definition of units and the SI. In practice, when it comes to the definition of the SI, the CGPM simply formally approves the recommendations of the CIPM, which, in turn, follows the advice of the CCU. The CCU has the following as members: national laboratories of the Member States of the CGPM charged with establishing national standards; relevant intergovernmental organisations and international bodies; international commissions or committees; scientific unions; personal members; and, as an ex officio member of all Consultative Committees, the Director of the BIPM. All the decisions and recommendations concerning units are collected in a brochure called The International System of Units (SI), which is published by the BIPM and periodically updated. Units and prefixes The International System of Units consists of a set of base units, derived units, and a set of decimal-based multipliers that are used as prefixes. The units, excluding prefixed units, form a coherent system of units, which is based on a system of quantities in such a way that the equations between the numerical values expressed in coherent units have exactly the same form, including numerical factors, as the corresponding equations between the quantities. For example, 1 N = 1 kg × 1 m/s2 says that one newton is the force required to accelerate a mass of one kilogram at one metre per second squared, as related through the principle of coherence to the equation relating the corresponding quantities: . Derived units apply to derived quantities, which may by definition be expressed in terms of base quantities, and thus are not independent; for example, electrical conductance is the inverse of electrical resistance, with the consequence that the siemens is the inverse of the ohm, and similarly, the ohm and siemens can be replaced with a ratio of an ampere and a volt, because those quantities bear a defined relationship to each other. Other useful derived quantities can be specified in terms of the SI base and derived units that have no named units in the SI, such as acceleration, which is defined in SI units as m/s2. Base units The SI