Digital Commons Network^™

The Inapplicability Of Market Theory To Adoptions, Tamar Frankel, Francis H. Miller

Faculty Scholarship

Judge Posner addresses an important issue. More than 130,000 couples in this country want to adopt children, and plenty are available. But most couples want healthy, white infants, and those children are in short supply. To get the child of their choice, these couples are forced to pay large sums of money to intermediaries. On the other hand, many unwed, teenage women face unwanted pregnancies. Many of them opt for abortion, which is relatively inexpensive, or for carrying to term and raising the children themselves, which is governmentally subsidized. But few of these women choose to have the child and …

Use Of Comparative Risk Methods In Regulatory And Common Law, Michael S. Baram

Faculty Scholarship

Several persistent problems afflict risk decisionmaking. In the regulatory context, agencies confront the problems of how to prioritize risks for best use of their limited resources and how to determine "how safe is safe enough," or a risk limit, when action is to be taken on a particular risk.

In the trial courts hearing toxic tort actions, the jury must often determine whether an activity is "unreasonably dangerous" or a product is "defective" because of its risk attributes.

To resolve these problems, many have proposed the use of risk comparisons. Now that we can quantify risks, why not compare them …

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Regulation Of Radiation Hazards In The Workplace: Present Problems And New Approaches To Reproductive Health, Neal Smith, Michael S. Baram

Faculty Scholarship

On December 20, 1985, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) proposed revisions to its Standards for Protection Against Radiation [hereinafter Standards].¹ If adopted, the new Standards will provide additional protection for millions of workers and their unborn children. The effects of the Standards will extend, however, far beyond the health of those exposed to radiation. Specifically, the NRC's proposal may provide a new paradigm for regulating health hazards that have no safe threshold level of exposure. It will also focus debate on whether or not women should be precluded from working in fetotoxic environments

Contract Law As A System Of Values, Jack M. Beermann

Faculty Scholarship

Contract law has changed dramatically since the heyday of free contract ideology. The false conflict in the cases and literature between facilitation of market transactions and regulation to achieve social aims has been transcended, largely due to the realization that social aims are behind all of contract law. In place of this false conflict, new questions about the values advanced through contract law have been posed. Contract theory needs an account of the values underlying doctrines that were previously justified (wrongly) as means to effectuate the intent of the parties. Hugh Collins has given us such an account in his …

Are Mit Students Rational?, Nils Gottfries, Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

This paper reports the results of a survey conducted~ in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus dining hall~ The aim of the survey was to delineate students' perceptions of marginal cost,~ in a very specific, but not uncommon, situation. A majority of the respondents' answers suggest a complete misunderstanding of the relevant marginal costs. This study attempts to find out how individuals perceive ~their opportunity sets in a specific choice situation. The individuals studied are ~students who have meal plans at the M.LT. dining halls. Each term students pay a high price for the meals until a certain number of …

Masking Copyright Decisionmaking: The Meaninglessness Of Substantial Similarity, Amy B. Cohen

Faculty Scholarship

Traditionally courts have place great weight on the issue of substantial similarity in adjudicating copyright infringement lawsuits. Once success is proven, a court will usually find infringement if the works are viscerally determined to be substantially similar. This Article criticizes the traditional approach as failing adequately to distinguish copying from misappropriation, failing adequately to distinguish ideas from expression, failing to provide adequate guidelines for determining misappropriation, and as overlapping with fair use determinations. The Article also criticizes variations on the traditional approach imposed by the Third and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeal as not remedying the traditional approach's fundamental shortcomings. …

The Future Of Corporate Federalism: State Competition And The New Trend Toward De Facto Federal Minimum Standards, John C. Coffee Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

What sensible compromise can be struck between Bill Cary's and Ralph Winter's views of the competition among states for corporate charters? This is the relevant question to ask in response to Professor Romano's stimulating paper, because if one ends in an intermediate position between Cary and Winter (as she does and as I do), then one needs to focus on the protections shareholders should be accorded both to protect them from exploitation at the hands of a state pursuing tax revenues and from excessive regulation by a state whose regulatory efforts are intended in fact to realize ulterior objectives unrelated …

Rico: The Crime Of Being A Criminal Parts I And Ii, Gerard E. Lynch

Faculty Scholarship

One of the most controversial statutes in the federal criminal code is that entitled "Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations," known familiarly by its acronym, RICO. Passed in 1970 as title IX of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, RICO has attracted much attention because of its draconian penalties, including innovative forfeiture provisions; its broad draftsmanship, which has left it open to a wide range of applications, not all of which were foreseen or intended by the Congress that enacted it; and the sometimes dramatic prosecutions that have been brought in its name.

RICO's complexity has attracted several efforts to unscramble …

The Molluscan Community Associated With The Scleractinian Coral Oculina Varicosa., John K. Reed, Paula M. Mikkelsen

Faculty Scholarship

The molluscan community associated with the scleractinian coral Oculina varicosa is compared among four reef sites: inner shelf (6 m), midshelf (27 m), outer shelf (42 m), and shelf edge (80 m). Enumeration ofall the mollusks from 41 coral samples yielded 5,132 individuals and 230 species-level taxa, including 155 gastropods, 68 bivalves, I scaphopod, 5 polyplacophorans, and I cephalopod. Of these taxa, approximately 47% were free living (motile), 32% symbiotic (parasitic or commensal), 18% epilithic (fouling), and 3% endolithic (boring). The species assemblage at the 80-m reef was very distinct from that at 6 m. Approximately 75% of the individuals …

Informed Consent For The Man On The Clapham Omnibus; An English Cure For The "American Disease"?, Frances H. Miller

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Biological And Geological Processes At The Shelf Edge Investigated With Submersibles., John K. Reed, Charles M. Hoskin

Faculty Scholarship

Studies of living reefs along the shelf edge off eastern Florida and the Bahamas suggest the interrelation of physical, biological, and geological processes. JOHNSON-SEA-LINK submersibles were used to sample corals and sediment with a manipulator or by lock-out diving. Videotape and 35 mm cameras, CTD system, and transmissometer were used to document the dives. Sediment traps, light meters, time-lapse camera, thermographs, and current meters were deployed and recovered. A 222 km long reef system of discontinuous pinnacles capped with living and dead Oculina coral was studied off Florida. Upwelling may contribute to growth and community structure of the reef system. …

Effects Of Natural And Artificial Thalassia On Rates Of Sedimentation., M. N. Almasi, Charles M. Hoskin, John K. Reed

Faculty Scholarship

Sediment traps were used to measure the rate of deposition in a Thalassia seagrass meadow and in an adjacent (sandy) grass-free area. The average depositional rate of mud in the Thalassia bed was 4.96 g trapˉ¹ weekˉ¹, and in the sandy area, it was 3.04 g trapˉ¹ weekˉ¹ in the summer. In winter, these rates were 1.60 and 1.50 g mud trapˉ¹ week ˉ¹, respectively. Electromagnetic current-meter measurements showed that the mean flow velocity in the grass-free area is higher than in the seagrass area. Therefore, the increased depositional rate of mud within the seagrass is due to slowing of …

Restitution, Criminal Law, And The Ideology Of Individuality, Richard C. Boldt

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Search For The S Meson In Antiproton-Proton Interactions, William J. Fickinger, R. Marino, D. K. Robinson

Faculty Scholarship

The interaction between antiprotons and protons has been studied in the range 1910 to 1990 MeV center-of-mass energy in a drift-chamber experiment at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron. The total cross section has been determined at eleven different incident momenta, and the elastic cross section between 8 and 30 deg in the laboratory has been measured with an energy resolution of about 5 MeV. The cross section for annihilation into charged mesons has also been measured, with the same resolution. There is no evidence in any of these channels for the existence of a narrow resonance.

Public Rights And The Federal Judicial Power: From Murray's Lessee Through Crowell To Schor, Gordon G. Young

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Dialectic Of Rights And Politics: Perspectives From The Women's Movement, Elizabeth M. Schneider

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Equilibrium Polymerization Of Chains And Rings: A Bicritical Phenomenon, Rolfe G. Petschek

Faculty Scholarship

The equilibrium polymerization of chains and rings together is a (n=1) critical phenomenon with aspects of bicriticality, governed by exponents not found in any symmetric O(n) model. The bicritical nature of the critical point is the result of a competition between a transition to form long-chain polymers and a transition to form an infinite-rings condensate. As a result the fraction of monomers incorporated in chains and in rings varies with temperature according to a different power law than that for the total fraction of polymerized material and is governed by an exponent that depends on the crossover exponent φfor …

Made In The U.S.A.: Legal And Ethical Issues In Artificial Heart Experimentation, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

The death of William Schroeder in Louisville, Kentucky, on August 6, 1986, brought to a close a remarkable chapter in public human experimentation. Artificial heart implants represent the most public experiments in the history of the world. The manner in which they are conducted is a matter of utmost public and professional concern, since it graphically portrays the seriousness with which we take our laws and ethical rules regarding the protection of the rights and welfare of human subjects. Unfortunately, the brief history of artificial heart implants is neither a happy nor a proud one. Begun with high hopes and …

The Ethics Of Embryo Research: Not As Easy At It Sounds, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

Mark Twain once said of Wagner's music, "It's not as bad as it sounds." Likewise, it may be said of Peter Singer and Helga Kuhse's stroll through the issues involving embryo research: "It's not as easy as it sounds."

Today it seems clear that Aldous Huxley's version of a Brave New World is much closer to the mark than George Orwell's 1984. We will not have to be dragged into a technologically dominated future by a totalitarian government; we will go willingly, cheering almost any change as "better" and accepting science as always "improving" on nature. This childlike faith …

Universality Classes For The Isotropic-To-Nematic Transition In Systems Of Interacting, Semiflexible Polymers, Rolfe G. Petschek

Faculty Scholarship

This paper discusses the behavior of simple models of interacting, semiflexible, nonchiral polymers. The Ursell-Mayer expansion is used to systemize calculation of the properties of such systems and avoid problems encountered with the strong, bonding interactions in a direct analysis of this problem. The formation of a nematic phase is discussed within a field theory which is equivalent, order by order in perturbation theory, to the Ursell-Mayer expansion. Symmetry analysis allows two universality classes; one has the usual, tensor order parameter, the other has a vectorlike order parameter. The vectorlike order parameter has no direct physical interpretation (distinguishing the transition …

Comment On "Universality Of The Kosterlitz-Thouless Transition In 4he Films As A Function Of Thickness", Rolfe G. Petschek

Faculty Scholarship

[No abstract available]

The Cost Of Acceptability: Blue Buses, Agent Orange, And Aversion To Statistical Evidence, Neil B. Cohen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Confronting The Immunization Problem: Proposals For Compensation Reform, Wendy K. Mariner, Mary E. Clark

Faculty Scholarship

After decades of reports on the need for considered
public policy on immunization,' it is time for action. The
"problem" of immunization is complex, but the constituent complexities have been recognized for years. In a recent report on Vaccine Supply and Innovation, the Institute of Medicine referred to vaccines as "an elegant solution to one of the perennial problems of the human race-infectious
disease." Vaccines are effective, inexpensive, simple to produce, and easy to deliver. They have succeeded in quelling the threat to public health of such formerly devastating diseases as smallpox, poliomyelitis, and diphtheria. Today, however, the prospects for …

The Painful Prescription: A Procrustean Perspective?, Frances H. Miller, Graham A.H. Miller

Faculty Scholarship

The United States and Great Britain have often been called two countries divided by a common language. In the field of medicine, common language facilitates comparisons, but it can obscure basic value differences as well. Henry Aaron, Ph.D., and William Schwartz, M.D., in their influential book The Painful Prescription: Rationing Hospital Care,1 analyzed how and why Britain (as compared with the United States) has apparently limited the use of such high-technology procedures as kidney dialysis, CT scans, coronary-artery surgery, x-ray films, and intensive care beds. The authors then speculated about whether similar responses will be forthcoming in this …

Chemical Industry Accidents, Liability, And Community Right To Know, Michael S. Baram

Faculty Scholarship

The Bhopal, India tragedy and other industrial accidents (e.g., Seveso, Flixborough, Mexico City, Institute, WV) have frightened the citizens of developed and undeveloped countries. These accidents, along with numerous hazardous waste problems, have led to a dramatic loss of public confidence in chemical industry management and their safety experts. The occurrence of such accidents also provides vivid evidence of the serious gap between government legislative promises and government performance in the actual control of industrial hazards.'

As a result, persons who believe they have been injured or put at risk by industry are now using tort law to secure private …

Assessment Of Shelf Registration: How Much Diligence Is Due Investors?, Roberta S. Karmel

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Conflict Of Laws (1986), James Paul George, Fred C. Pedersen

Faculty Scholarship

Conflicts of law occur when foreign elements appear in a lawsuit. Nonresident plaintiffs or defendants, incidents in other state or countries, and lawsuits outside of Texas are all foreign elements that may create conflicts problems with judicial jurisdiction, choice of law, or the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. This Article will review Texas conflicts of law during the Survey period from late 1984 through 1985. The Survey includes cases from Texas state and federal courts, and non-Texas cases affecting Texas practice.

During the Survey period, judicial jurisdiction continued its uncertain theoretical expansion, with Texas courts raising important questions. Foreign …

Comment On "Role Of Long-Wavelength Degrees Of Freedom In The Rod-To-Coil Transition In Polymers", Rolfe G. Petschek

Faculty Scholarship

[No abstract available]

Difference Spectra: Dominance Of Two-Body Cascades In Antiproton-Neutron Annihilations At Rest, R. Debbe, William J. Fickinger, D. K. Robinson

Faculty Scholarship

A novel method of analysis which eliminates the combinatorial background in searches for states produced in p¯n annihilations and in association with a recoil Ï€- is presented. The difference between Ï€- and Ï€+ spectra on p¯n annihilations is the spectrum of the recoiling Ï€- or difference spectrum. We applied this analysis to the exclusive channels p¯n→2Ï€-Ï€+, 2Ï€-Ï€+Ï€0, 3Ï€-2Ï€+. A new prominent state of mass and width ≃1480 and 100 MeV/c2 is present in the first and dominates the third channel. These three channels are interpreted in terms of two-body intermediate states only. The suppression or absence of ‘‘direct’’ annihilation is …

Evidence For A New State Produced In Antiproton Annihilations At Rest In Liquid Deuterium, R. Debbe, William J. Fickinger, R. Marino, D. K. Robinson

Faculty Scholarship

Inclusive charged-pion spectra from p¯d annihilations at rest have been measured in a high-statistics experiment in search of broad states. Analysis of these spectra reveals an enhancement of the π- spectrum at 315 MeV/c. This may be interpreted as a production of a new state of mass 1485 MeV/c2 and width at most 200 MeV/c2 recoiling against the π-. This quasi two-body final state accounts for a large fraction of the p¯n annihilations.