Death of microbial cells: rate constant calculations.

The previously published procedure for calculation of rate constants associated with the death of microbial cells is shown to be so sensitive to variation in experimental data as to render it impractical for this application. The only obvious modification to the published procedure met with only limited success. It is concluded that a fresh search should be undertaken for the solution to this fundamental problem. The success of such further attempts may depend upon an alternative description of the normal probability integral rather than upon refined experimentation.