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The length-of-service composition of a firm's labor force is of considerable interest to the employer, not only as an index of labor force specific experience, but also as a good description of its age composition. The first part of the paper analyses the effect of independent changes in the hire rate, and in the quit rate, on the distribution of length-of-service. In particular, it is shown that a realistic reduction in the quit rate rotates the length-of-service distribution in favor of those with short seniority in the company. This effect, and the effect of changes in hire rates, are illustrated with particular length-of-service specific quit schedules and hire rates. Two examples of the recent literature on a firm's ability to retain its labor force are examined and found defective in their interpretation of the length-of-service distribution. The paper closes with some implications of the obtained results for the ageing of the employed labor force and a speculative proposition on the economic consequences for firms of a declining rate of expansion, summarized as the Necessity-to-Grow principle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on recent developments related to rural sociology in the U.S. Homer L. Hitt resigned as head of the Departments of Sociology and Rural Sociology and as associate dean of the Graduate School to become dean of Louisiana State University at New Orleans, Louisiana. On April 28-29, 1958, the first annual "Louisiana Conference on the Aging" was held on the campus. This conference was sponsored jointly by the Department of Sociology and the Louisiana Commission on the Aging. Outstanding scholars in gerontology were brought to the campus for the two-day session. Evan T. Peterson has joined the staff of the Division of Sociology and Rural Life, Mississippi State University, as assistant sociologist and assistant professor of sociology and rural life. The twentieth annual meeting of the Ohio Valley Sociological Society was held on May 1-2, 1958, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Host for the meeting was the Department of Sociology, University of Cincinnati. The 1959 meeting of the Society will be held in Columbus, Ohio.

Generational analysis has developed rapidly in recent years. Three progressive stages of theory and research can be traced: (a) a ‘classic’ period during which competing perspectives were developed regarding the impact of youth groups on social structure (Mannheim, Parsons and Eisenstadt, Davis and others); (b)a phase focused on interpretations of the youth protest movement or on processes in old age, and characterized by the development of new conceptual and methodological tools to examine change over time; (c) a period of consolidation and reformulation, with more precise specification of competing theoretical frameworks and the analysis of a growing body of empirical data. From this effort five issues emerge which summarize the perspective of generational analysis: (a) definition and dimensions of ‘genera- tion’ as a construct; (b) assessment of continuity or discontinuity between age groups; (c) exploration of the persistence of generation units over time; (d) analysis of within-generation solidarity; (e) articulation between generations and other dimensions of social structure. A feedback model appears useful in assessing the relationship between generations and social stability or change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The time course of sulfate uptake in relation to respiration is shown for aging slices of potato, Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Russet. For comparative purposes, a time course for phosphate uptake is also shown. Malonic acid depressed both the respiratory rise and the sulfate accumulating ability of aging discs. A low dose of ultraviolet radiation given at the onset of aging reduced sulfate uptake by one‐half without lowering respiration. We hypothesize that sulfate uptake is controlled by at least two mechanisms: one associated with oxidative metabolism and the other mediated by protein synthesis [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rate of decarboxylation of DL-tryptophan-carboxyl-14C in homogenates of cotyledons, hypocotyls and roots of sterile and non-sterile cucumber seedlings of 4, 8 and 11 days was measured. Tryptophan decarboxylating activity is highest in hypocotyls, lowest in cotyledons. In all organs the activity decreases with age. This enzyme activity does not parallel the IAA level in the organs during ageing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A crucial but underdeveloped aspect of generational analysis concerns the importance of class groupings on the development of generation-based issues, and the necessity of examining the way in which superordinate and subordinate class groupings mediate the experience of age-cohort membership. If one distinguishes the demographic (or cohort) perspective on generations from that which focuses on smaller age-based groupings that provide specific impetus for social change (generation units), one can explore the antecedents of generation unit formation among upper-middle class youth of the past decade, and examine the role of social and technological innovation in the creation of alternative generational styles. Four types of generational units among youth are delineated-radicalism, freakism, communalism, and revivalism—and the possibility of generational units among the elderly is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Red kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) plants were grown in nutrient solution and in nutrient solution plus four bars of added NaCl. Chlorophyll and protein decay occurred much more rapidly in intact leaves from plants subjected to four bars of added NaCl in the growth medium than in intact leaves from plants without added NaCl. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) content in intact leaves of salt treated plants was higher than in intact leaves from plants grown in nutrient solution alone. However, the tendency for RNA content variation in leaves during the experimental period was the same for both control and salt treated plants. The results support the idea that salinity enhances senescence and suggests that hormone imbalance plays an important role in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the literature on aging and the family that were published in the 1960s. The age of marriage and the birth of first child has been decreasing. Couples tend to have fewer children due to which their child rearing responsibilities end at an earlier age. The data derived from the studies during the period suggest that the bond between parents and children continue, even after the marriage of the adult children. Parent and their children visit and provide aid to each other.

While, at the present time, the falling birth rate is inevitably bringing about an ageing of the population, that is to say an increase in the proportion of old people in the community, whether 60 or 65 be taken as the threshold of old age, medical advances have, for their part, resulted in a rise in the numbers of the elderly and have given more and more adults a chance of reaching old age. It should be borne in mind that the over 65 years of age represent eight to 12 per cent of the total population in the industrialized countries, as against three to five per cent in the developing countries and also that this is a phenomenon which has made itself felt in this century, except in the case of France. It is not surprising that it should have been primarily the number of older people that first attracted the attention of those concerned with social work, whether organized or voluntary, the consequence concealed the cause. A few illusions, still nourished by an understandable defensive reflex, concerning the increased longevity of the human race, are delaying the moment when the general public will become aware of the real facts of this problem, still-it must be admitted-shrouded in obscurity.

This article attempts to bring out major points of similarity in findings of research on relations of old people to their family of procreation, and in particular on the problem of intergenerational cohesion. If theories are understood as conceptual models closely connected with generalizations of empirical data, then theory formation should proceed only when sufficient results have been collected. Social gerontology has now reached a stage when such theory formation becomes possible. During recent years, gerontological research both in the United States and in European countries has grown rapidly and enough data have already accumulated from different national and regional cultures to attempt the development of preliminary theoretical propositions on the basis of generalizations stemming from research. According to the conception of theory formation in sociology, theoretical propositions presuppose systematic, coherent material with conclusions that may be integrated and transformed into such a proposition.

A pattern of degeneration, which terminates in total autolysis of the cells concerned, is described for certain stelar cells (termed prostelar cells) in young regions of the root in cress. The early senescence of these cells is characterized by extensive cytolysome formation, while final autolysis follows tonoplast dissolution. Degenerated prostelar cells are soon replaced by differentiating cambial derivatives. It is suggested that the sequence of events which occurs during the degeneration of these cells is under genetic control and the possibility of genetic programmes controlling certain senescence processes in plants is considered. These observations are discussed in the light of generally held concepts of plant anatomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unusual pattern of senescence occurs in the root caps of embryos of Zea mays subjected to an artificial ageing treatment. After an initial reversal of membrane damage in the first stages of germination, precocious senescence was observed in the zone of differentiation of the root cap at the 48-hour stage of germination. These senescent changes occurred suddenly, with apparently normal cells being found immediately adjacent to cells in which the entire protoplast had degenerated. Acid phosphatase activity was confined to lysosome-like organelles in the still-organized cells, but was distributed throughout the ground cytoplasm of the adjacent senescent cells. The degenerative changes appeared to progress from the outermost cells proximally towards the chronologically younger cells. Thus the precipitous senescent changes were probably caused by the release of hydrolases normally confined within lysosomes, and the precocious senescence was due to an acceleration of a genetically-controlled process of ageing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rate of ageing of a batch of caryopses of Zea mays was accelerated by placing in a controlled environment of high temperature and humidity. Samples were withdrawn representing a sequence of increasing physiological ageing, and selected stages were subjected to ultrastructural and cytochemical investigation. Membrane aberrations increased with increasing age of the embryos. The damage was seen immediately upon imbibition, but there was much evidence of repair of this damage at later stages of germination. The existence and operation of mechanisms for the repair of such damage are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No detectable differences in RNA populations from 7-day-old (young) and 17-day-old (senescent) first seedling leaves of barley were found by RNA-DNA hybridization competition experiments. It is suggested that enzymatic changes during senescence may result from minor changes at the transcription level or alterations at the translation level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although no cell division was detected in the radicle during the first 24 hours of imbibition by the caryopses of Zea mays, fine structural changes showed the re-establishment of a developmental pattern during this period. Such changes included mitochondrial differentiation, the appearance of dictyosomes and a complex system of ER, and the association of ribosomes to form polysome-like structures. Association between ER and lysosome-like bodies was seen during this stage, together with an intensification of the acid phosphatase reaction within the lysosomes. By the 48-hour stage, easily-separated, senescent cells had been produced and cell division had begun. Vesicles produced by the hypersecretory activity of the dictyosomes were either incorporated into the developing lysosomes or passed through the cell membrane to the wall. In the outermost cells the lysosomes finally ruptured and acid phosphatase activity became detectable in the ground cytoplasm. The development of the lysosomes and the hypersecretory activity of the dictyosomes are discussed as evidence of constructive changes implying genetic control of cellular senescence in the root cap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present experiment is designed to investigate some variables which might account for the seemingly contradictory data in the literature and to clarify the issue of constancy as a unitary process. Studies of constancy as a function of age have yielded inconsistent data. Although many investigators and theorists have dealt with the problem of perpetual constancy, an adequate understanding of the phenomenon is lacking. Much of the controversy has been concerned with the traditional problem of nativism versus empiricism.

The article presents information on various theories of human aging. One approach characterizes aging as an outcome of mutations in the somatic cells of the body. Curtis states this theory quite succinctly, spontaneous mutations are postulated to occur in the somatic cells of the body, and since they are, in general, irreversible, their numbers will tend to accumulate with age. Since every mutation tends to curtail some cellular function, the cells will gradually become inefficient or die as the mutations accumulate. When this process takes place in a sufficiently large percentage of the cells of the body, senescence gradually develops. From his own investigations and his evaluation of the literature, researcher Howard J. Curtis believes that there is no question but that the old question as to whether cells age or not has been answered: in the mammal they do. Further, he believes that the two types of mammalian cells, dividing and non-dividing, play different roles in the process of senescence. The dividing cells are able to rejuvenate themselves by cell division but may develop cancer partly because of an unfavorable mutation they are unable to eliminate. The non-dividing cells gradually accumulate mutations and become senescent.

This article presents an examination of the way in which pre-retirement anticipation of the retired status contributes to adjustment in retirement, considering the role of anticipatory factors in facilitating adjustment, their relationship to success in creating a retirement role, and in the achievement of general satisfaction with retirement. The findings suggest that in every instance the two most important factors are an accurate pre-conception of retirement and a favorable pre-retirement attitude toward retirement. Planning for retirement, which is often cited as a main objective of pre-retirement counseling programs, is shown to be of relatively less direct importance. Among those who lack an accurate pre-occupation of retirement, planning impedes rather than facilitates adjustment, and it is shown to be related to successful creation of a role to fill the retirement vacuum only among those who hold a favorable pre-retirement attitude.

The article reports an investigation of the behavior of persons of different ages in a decision making situation in which stimuli to be judged differ in ambiguity. With a stimulus which allows two possible interpretations, the way an individual decides is both a function of stimulus qualities and of his characteristic modes of decision-making and presumably of cognitive functioning in general. To explore decision making in this situation we have chosen to compare two predictably different groups, namely older and younger persons. While it is hoped that this study will contribute to further understanding of the psychological changes which occur in aging, the experiment was conceived within a more general interest in cognitive functioning, and decision making in particular, as they may be a function of personality organization. To this end the age dimension is less important in its own right than as a possible index of different types of ego functioning.