Apple Fall Research Articles

Why Does the Apple Fall Far from the Tree? How Early Political Socialization Prompts Parent-Child Dissimilarity

Children are more likely to adopt their family's political views when politics is important to their parents, and the children of politically engaged parents tend to become politically engaged adults. When these transmission dynamics are considered together, an important hypothesis follows: the children who are most likely to initially acquire the political views of their parents are also most likely to later abandon them as a result of their own engagement with the political world. Data from the Political Socialisation Panel Study provide support for this hypothesis, illuminate its observational implications and shed light on the mechanisms, pointing to the role of new social contexts, political issues and salient political events. Replications using different data from the US and the UK confirm that this dynamic is generalizable to different cohorts and political periods.

When does the Apple Fall from the Tree? Static Versus Dynamic Theories Predicting Intergenerational Transmission of Convictions

Criminal behavior of parents substantially affects the criminal behavior of children. Little is known, however, about how crime is transmitted from one generation to the next. In order to test two possible explanations against each other, we pose the question whether the timing of the criminal acts of fathers is important for children’s chances of committing crime. Static theories predict that it is the number of delinquent acts performed by fathers that is important, and that the particular timing does not affect the child’s chance of committing crime. Dynamic theories state that the timing is important, and children have a greater chance of committing crime in the period after fathers have committed delinquent acts. Results show that the total number of convictions of a father is indeed very important, but also the exact timing is key to understanding intergenerational transmission of crime. In the year a father is convicted the chance his child is also convicted increases substantially and it decays in subsequent years. This decay takes longer the more crimes father has committed. Our results show that some of the assumptions of the static theories at least need to be adjusted.

John Aubrey, Hint-Keeper: Life-Writing and the Encouragement of Natural Philosophy in the pre-Newtonian Seventeenth Century

In a prose satire written by Samuel Butler, 'An Occasional Reflection on Dr Charleton's feeling a Dog's Pulse at Gresham-College', the physician Walter Charlton is said to have invaded the Royal Society's fastnesses 'by Surreptition and Inviolation, and to have secretly deprived the Hint-Keeper' of a precious gift to the Society, the 'King of Macassar's Poison', and to have experimented on it in secret.1 Butler, an acute and well-informed satirist of scientific culture, also talks of the 'Hint-Keeper' in his character of 'A Pretender'. Here, the puffed-up pretender to knowledge 'fancies himself as able as any Man, but not being in a Capacity to try the Experiment, the Hint-keeper of Gresham College is the only competent Judge to decide the Controversy'.2 The character, seemingly Butler's invention, is thus an instrument of moral argument. But who is he, what does 'hint-keeping' involve, and what is the connection between keeping hints and the expression of an ethical position? I propose to answer these questions by considering the idea of the hint and practice of hint-keeping in the writing and scientific pursuits of Butler's friend and biographer John Aubrey, and his circle. I suggest that if we pay attention to the forms of knowledge transmitted and preserved by the hint we may find it to be a containing structure for some distinctive qualities of the culture and values of the early Royal Society. For both Aubrey's scientific practice and the rhetorical forms in which he commemorated the 'fine Notions and Inventions' of his biographical subjects are characteristic of a short-lived moment in the history of science, that of the pre-Newtonian seventeenth century, or the period before the publication of Newton's Principia in 1687.But what is a hint? To begin to answer this, we may revisit the central anecdote of seventeenth-century natural philosophy, in the form in which it was recorded by the antiquary William Stukeley. Stukeley records that he spent a warm April day in 1726 with Isaac Newton. Drinking tea under some apple trees, Newton told him howthe notion of gravitation came into his mind. It was occasion'd by the fall of an apple, as he sat in a contemplative mood. Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to him self. Why should it not go sideways or upwards, but constantly to the earth's centre? Assuredly, the reason is, that the earth draws it. There must be a drawing power in matter: and the sum of the drawing power in the matter of the earth must be in the earth's center, not in any side of the earth. Therefore dos this apple fall perpendicularly, or towards the center. If matter thus draws matter, it must be in proportion to its quantity. Therefore the apple draws the earth, as well as the earth draws the apple.and so on.3 Newton is represented in this anecdote as intuiting his theory in a perfect nutshell, one fine afternoon under a tree, in pastoral solitude in Lincolnshire, with no mention of any scientific community, subsequent correspondence with Hooke, meetings with Halley or any kind of false starts or interruptions: a pre-Adamic, immediate, creation of light. Its narration in this form, as an exquisitely coherent tale, focussed exclusively on its intellectual content, has encouraged Newton's worshippers in their wish to imagine that his theory was 'Invented and perfected at the same time', the praise which, when voiced by Sir John Hoskins at the reception of the first book of the Principia at the Royal Society, so angered Hooke and prompted him to cry plagiary.4 By telling his friend a tale of a theory, so comprehensively intuited in retirement in a garden, rather than a more socialised narration of the path to the mathematically-demonstrated 'perfected' state of the Principia, and its subsequent extraordinary acclaim, Newton gave the world its most powerful biographical image of genius. Paolo Frisi tells the story of the twenty-two months' unbroken solitary concentration which produced the Principia: but it is the divine inspiration, rather than the human perspiration, which gave the apple anecdote its power. …

Newton's Apple

Isaac Newton may have seen an apple fall, but it was Robert Hooke who had a better idea of where it would land. No one really knows whether or not Isaac Newton actually saw an apple fall in his garden. Supposedly it took place in 1666, but it was a tale he told in his old age more than 60 years later, a time when his memory was failing and his recollections of events did not always match known facts. However, one thing is certain—falling objects were to play a key part in Newton's eventual understanding of how objects move.

Myths, Evidence About Employee Turnover

DR. TELLIS-NAYAK is a vice president at My InnerView, which promotes an evidence-based approach to quality in long-term care. He has a doctorate in sociology from Michigan State University. As a professor, researcher, and consultant, he has taught medical sociology and gerontology. DR. TELLIS-NAYAK bears responsibility for references to research and other literature cited in this series. References pertaining to specific data drawn from the archives of My InnerView are proprietary and may not be used in any fashion without the written authorization of My InnerView. Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why; and mankind took a giant step forward. Most of us cruise through life well prepared to answer life's questions but with little ability to question our answers. An intellectual inertia encumbers all mortals, professionals and lay people alike. We are slow to question received wisdom. In long-term care, the constant lament about the shortage of certified nursing assistants (CNAs) shows how belief rather than rationality can drive policy. For sure, stability of CNAs lies at the heart of quality. Yet few discussions have been driven by assumptions so thinly justified by findings. ▸ Assumption: The widespread and massive CNA turnover is indicative of the malaise that afflicts long-term care and of the poor quality the profession is noted for. ▸ Research finding: First, although nearly half a million CNAs turn over yearly, turnover in 10 states in the U.S. averages 44% and dips as low as 21% in Hawaii. My InnerView data show a good number of facilities around the nation hold the CNA turnover to below 10%, compared with the fast-food industry, which has employee turnover of more than 300%. Second, some turnover, in fact, is desirable when less-devoted workers leave or are terminated, and fresh, idealistic workers replace them. Third, the turnover rate gets inflated when talented and motivated CNAs move up in the profession and enrich the supervisory and managerial ranks with their bedside experience. Many LTC nurses in top executive and policy positions began their careers as CNAs. ▸ Assumption: CNA turnover nationwide surpasses 70% and the hemorrhage at some nursing homes tops 150%. Such instability means constant change and discontinuity for residents. It erodes staff morale. ▸ Research finding: Much of the turnover among CNAs occurs soon after recruitment and on the fringes of a solid core of stable caregivers who ensure continuity of care and relationships. In a sample of 293 nursing homes in the My InnerView database, 12% of the 4,452 CNAs had quit within 3 months of their start day and nearly 70% had spent less than 5 years at the same nursing home. But a solid 70% did serve in the same facility for more than a year. Furthermore, 15% had been there for 5–10 years. ▸ Assumption: The huge turnover of CNAs combined with nearly 52,000 CNA positions unfilled nationwide (i.e., an average of 8.5% vacancies that climb to 16.5% in some states) shows long-term care holds little appeal and creates a CNA shortage. ▸ Research finding: Consider Florida with its 61% CNA turnover and 2,700, or 8.1%, CNA vacancies in 2002. Training programs in the state prepare CNAs in numbers that exceed the need. It is the oppressive environment in which they work, rather than long-term care's poor public image, that soon disillusions new recruits. ▸ Assumption: Why specifically do so many CNAs turn their back on long-term care? Directors of Nursing (DONs) typically respond: “The job stress is more than CNAs are willing to endure.” Nursing home administrators (NHAs) typically respond: “It's their low wages. Fast- food chains in town pay better.” ▸ Research finding: Job stress and low wages do rank high as causes of CNA dissatisfaction. But they do not bother CNAs as much as does the disrespect and unconcern they experience on the part of the DON and the NHA. My InnerView's analysis of satisfaction survey data leads to a firm conclusion: good managers relate to CNAs as caregivers, not as a human resource. They reach out to the persons behind the CNA role and evoke their loyalty. In practice, the evidence-based approach (EBA) requires that we regularly test our strategy against measurable outcomes. Ideally, it is a mind-set that always searches for the proof, an inquisitive curiosity that seeks answers to questions and even raises questions about the answers. In referring to his achievements, Albert Einstein said, “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”

Evaluation of Resistance to Tufted Apple Bud Moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) Within and Among Apple Cultivars

The natural resistance of five commercial apple cultivars to Platynota idaeusalis (Walker) was investigated in a Pennsylvania orchard. Densities of P. idaeusalis larvae were found to vary significantly, in both larval generations, among leaf types within trees, and among cultivars. Fruit injury and fruit drop also varied among cultivars but were not closely linked to larval density. The concentrations of two major phenolic compounds in apple foliage, phloridzin and its hydrolysis product phloretin, were poor predictors of P. idaeusalis density, although foliar phloridzin concentrations were related to both premature apple fall and to fruit injury by second generation larvae. When P. idaeusalis larvae were fed phloridzin incorporated into artificial diet, they exhibited minor increases in pupal weight and decreases in development time. These responses were shown to be the result of a balance between increases in growth efficiency and decreases in relative growth rate and assimilation efficiency. Variation in foliar phloridzin and phloretin concentrations does not appear to be the mechanism underlying natural resistance of different apple cultivars to P. idaeusalis.

Invention as a Link in Scientific and Economic Progress1

INVENTION and discovery are so closely allied that they are often confused. In our common speech the two terms awfrequently used as synonymous, and if one seeks an exact line of dmarcation between them one finds it difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish one from the other in any but the most general terms. Both involve an increase in knowledge which may be great or slight, and may have an immediate effect or may take a lifetime or more to consolidate. Both involve scientific imagination. Each may be only a happy idea, the inspiration of a moment or in some cases an accident, but the testing of the idea and its final enunciation as a physical truth or as a finished invention may occupy many years. Newton is reputed to have discovered the theory of gravitation on seeing an apple fall from a tree, but assuming that to have been the birth of the idea, we know that the completion of his discovery and the proof of the universal law of gravitation took the best part of his lifetimeand involved the invention of new branches of mathematics to complete the proofs.

The Whistle in the Stomach, Who Blew It First? A Question of Priority

To the Editor:— The story is different from that told by Benjamin Franklin, but the moral is strikingly similar. Eleven or twelve years ago I was possessed by the ambition to devise a method by means of which the exact length of the esophagus migh be clinically determined. While waiting for inspiration I did the customary thing I whistled. Like Newton's discovery of the law of gravitation at seeing the apple fall, to me, likewise, came the idea while wetting my whistle. Since my at the esophagus and my for the esophagus were like whistling jigs to a milestone, why, thought I, whistling, not try to whistle into the esophagus? The result was that I did some more and succeeded in hearing the sound of a whistle issuing from the innermost recesses of the abdominal viscera. To my ear it sounded like the first cry of my

Celestial Chemistry *

IT now and then happens in the history of the human race upon this planet, that one particular generation witnesses the most stupendous advancement of knowledge, this advancement generally coming from what one might consider an exceeding small germ of thought. You will at once call to mind several such instances. You will recollect how once a Dutchman experimenting with two spectacle-glasses produced the Telescope; and how the field of the known and the knowable has been enlarged by the invention of that wonderful instrument. Again, you recollect how once Sir Isaac Newton was in a garden and saw an apple fall, and how the germ of thought which was started in his mind by that simple incident fructified into the theory of universal gravitation. You will also acknowledge that each step of this kind has more firmly knit the universe together, has welded it into a more and more perfect whole, and has enhanced the marvellous beauty of its structure.