The design of a Tort law to control accidents

In this paper we analyse a two-stage game involving the government and n agents who engage in a single activity (driving). The government establishes the legal policy setting and the agents proceed to play a non-cooperative game of incomplete information with a risk of accident in which their behavioral strategy is their level of care. We examine the Nash-equilibrium conditions for single-activity accidents between heterogeneous agents, ‘good’ drivers or ‘bad’ drivers allowing a variable damage function and a liability rule defined on the cube. The relative desirability for society of alternative equilibria and the conditions under which they can obtain are discussed. The constraints which circumscribe the ability of the government to induce an equilibrium involving careful driving are demonstrated. It transpires that when the proportion of good drivers increases, it becomes more difficult to sustain a careful equilibrium whereas an equilibrium of reckless behavior becomes easier to sustain. Various extensions of the models are also presented.     

Computational modeling of the mechanisms of the free radical-chain reaction of alkanes with oxygen. The oxidation of isobutane,n-butane,and isopentane

A general computational method for obtaining complete solutions of time-dependent kinetic equations has been developed and applied to free radical-initiated reactions of alkanes with oxygen. The method has been applied to the low-temperature, peroxide-initiated oxidations of isobutane and isopentane. Using available independently measured and estimated values for the rate constants and activation parameters for each of the 20 proposed reaction steps for the oxidation of isobutane, the rates and products have been calculated for both the liquid phase and gas phase in the range of 100°–155°C. The calculated rates and products of oxidation agree with published experimental values. The oxidation of isopentane was examined by a 32-reaction model. The rate constants were estimated using values for the appropriate rate steps in the oxidation of n-butane and isobutane. The calculation of the oxidation rate and products agree with our experiments.     

Potential energy surfaces and lifetimes for spontaneous fission of heavy and superheavy elements from a variable density dependent mass formula

The potential energy surface for spontaneous fission is calculated using realistic density distributions for finite nuclei. Particular emphasis is placed on the region of the potential between the saddle and scission point. The method involves computing the energy of the system using an energy density functional consistent with varible density distributions and nuclear masses and obtained from a statistical many body theory. The results show that there exists an external or scission barrier to the fission process. Lifetimes and mass distributions which are computed using these potential energy surfaces are found to be in adequate agreement with observations for ²³⁴U, ²³⁶U, ²⁴⁰Pu, ²⁴⁴Cm, ²⁴⁸Cf, and ²⁵²Cf. Our predicted upper limit for the spontaneous fission half-lives of elements 112 and 114 is one year but the calculation indicates that these could be considerably shorter than a year.     

Use of enzymes in peptide synthesis

Recent experiments in several laboratories have emphasized the benefits of proteolytic enzymes as effective catalysts for the formation of peptide bonds for synthesis and semisynthesis. This review summarizes successful applications in both stepwise synthesis for small peptides and fragment condensation to produce large polypeptides and proteins.