Showing posts with label to. Show all posts
Showing posts with label to. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

How to Recruit an Army




































Plants primarily secrete nectar as an energy source to tempt pollinators to visit their flowers, but the secretion of this substance appears to have evolved long before flowering plants appeared. Many plants, including some ferns, secrete nectar from extrafloral nectaries - i.e. nectaries in other positions on the surface of the plant. 

Legumes, like the common vetch Vicia sativa in the image above, have extrafloral nectaries on their stipules (the small, leaf-like projections on either side of the base of a leaf stalk). The extrafloral nectary is the black spot on the image above and a closer look ....




... reveals what its function might be. Ants are famous for their attraction to sweet substances and regularly visit the plant for the sugar that leaks out of these locations. This might deliver two kinds of selective advantage to the plant that would outweigh the cost of using some of its assimilated sucrose in this way. In some plants it might deflect ants, which are usually very inefficient pollinators, away from the larger source of nectar thats there to service more efficient pollinators, like bees. In other plants it may be a way of recruiting  a defensive army of ants because they become aggressive towards herbivorous insects that might try to plunder their food supply; in Acacia trees for example, the defensive benefits of hosting ants are well documented.




Extrafloral nectaries are found in a wide variety of plants and are often located on leaf petioles and mid-ribs. This is a vertical section through an extrafloral nectary on the underside of the mid-rib of a cotton plant (Gossypium sp.), stained with fluorescent dyes. The bright yellow cells at the top are xylem vessels, conducting water to the leaf blade. The very small, brick shaped blue cells below are dividing cambial cells and also phloem sieve elements that are conducting assimilated sucrose away from the leaf blade. Below that are some larger, blue-stained parenchymatous cells and then, at the very bottom, there are thin-walled finger-shaped cells which constitute the extrafloral nectary tissue, on the lower surface of the leaf mid-rib.

The blue staining is due to cellulose in the cell walls binding to a dye called calcofluor, which then fluorescence blue in UV light. You can see from this image that theres a very thin cellulose cell wall in those finger-shaped extrafloral nectary cells, because they barely fluoresce. So they easily leak sucrose that accumulates in them. The other interesting feature of this section is the orange staining in the small cells immediately above those extra-floral nectary cells. This is the endoplasmic reticulum/ Golgi complex inside the cells - the membranes and secretory vesicles that manufacture substances and transport them between cells via channels in the cell walls called plasmodesmata; these brightly-fluorescing cells seem to be highly metabolically active, so maybe the nectary cells are secreting something else, as well as sucrose.

There are some scientific papers on cotton extrafloral nectaries, their role and how they might be exploited in biological control programmes in this crop here, here and here.


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Manners And Etiquette How To Show Hospitality At Home

"There is an emanation from the heart in genuine hospitality which cannot be described, but is immediately felt, and puts the stranger at once at his ease."
--Washington Irving.


Were we to look up the meaning of the word hospitality in the dictionary, we would find it defined as the act of receiving and entertaining guests kindly, generously, and gratuitously, without expectation of reward.
According to such a definition, much that passes for hospitality in the social realm does not deserve the name. Society is a give-and¬-take arrangement, somewhat resembling the gift exchange we practise at Christmas. If you do not give you do not get; if you do not entertain you are not invited, unless it is understood that circumstances prevent your doing so. Then one is asked for what one can contribute in the way of good company, promotion of gayety, and the like. One "pays her way" by being agreeable, well gowned, popular. Thus, in a way, much social hospitality is merely social bargaining. The woman who feels indebted to her circle--or circles, for these impinge upon each other--gives a large reception or "at home." She can seldom do more than welcome the coming and speed the parting guest. Her greeting is "So delighted to see you here;" her farewell, "Good-bye; so glad you were able to come." Her guests have greeted each other in much the same casual fashion, have had some refresh¬ments warranted to destroy their appetite for dinner; have shown a handsome gown and hat--and perhaps had the former injured in the crush. One is reminded of Bunthornes "Hollow! Hollow! Hollow!!"

Real Hospitality
Quite different is this from what we offer when we invite our friends to visit us. Here is genuine hospitality--the receiving and entertaining gratuitously those whose companionship we enjoy. One of the chief joys of having ones own home is the pleasure of being able to welcome ones friends and afford them the privilege of enjoying it also. An invitation of this kind means we are willing to incommode ourselves, incur expense, and give a measure of our time to the entertainment of those of our friends whose society we wish to enjoy familiarly. Thus it seems that an invitation to visit a friend in her home is a compliment of no mean order, although Nicole says: "Visits are for the most part neither more nor less than inventions for discharging upon our neighbors somewhat of our own unendurable weight."

Short Visits

Visits are of much shorter duration than in those "old times" people talk about so enthusiastically--and would find so tire¬some were they to return again. Then visitors stayed week after week; were urged to remain longer when they proposed departure. The story goes of a Virginia planter who invited an old war-time friend to visit him. At the end of a month the major proposed departure. His host objected so strenuously that he agreed to stay another month. And so it went on, the guest regularly proposing to leave, the host hospitably insisting on his remaining, until in the end the old veteran died in and was buried from his friends house. This, however, is an example not to be emulated in these less hospitable days.
There is a saying, "Short visits make long friends," that is worth consideration by those who visit. Probably the truth of the saying has been so often attested that it has given rise to the custom of specifying the date of arrival and departure of a guest when giving the invitation. It has become to be understood that the vague, indefinite invitation "Do come and see us sometime," means nothing. No one would think for a moment of taking it in good faith. If the giver wishes to entertain her friend she will ask if it will be convenient for her to visit her at a certain specified date. Nothing less counts. An understanding of this might save the unexperienced from the awkwardness of making an unwelcome visit.

The Unexpected Visit
Nothing is worse form than "the surprise visit." Generally you do surprise your hostess and very often most disagreeably. A housekeeper does not enjoy an intrusion--for such it is--¬of that kind any more than you would be pleased to have a chance caller rush unannounced into your private rooms. Even among relatives and the most intimate friends, there is nothing to justify the unexpected arrival. Nothing so strikes terror to a womans soul as the thud of trunks on the piazza and the crunch of wheels on the gravel, meaning someone has "come to stay."
Such an arrival is a piece of presumption on the part of the visitor. She assumes she will be welcome at any time she chooses to present herself. This may be true; but at the same time there is an obligation of courtesy which requires her to consult her friends convenience. Instead, she consults her own and utterly ignores that of her hostess, who is thus forced into entertaining her.

The Inopportune Arrival
Many awkward and sometimes amusing anecdotes are told in connection with the inopportune visit. Thus not long ago the newspapers chronicled the plight of a woman who undertook to surprise an acquaintance from whom she had not heard for several years. She was driven to their house and dismissed the carriage. A strange face met her at the door, and she learned that her friend had removed to another city nearly a twelvemonth before. "Served her right" will be everybodys verdict.
Suppose one arrives unexpectedly and finds the friends house full of other and invited company. Then, if ever, she ought to feel herself "a rank outsider." If she is tactless enough not to give notice of her intended arrival, she probably has not the good sense to depart as quickly as possible. The man of the house may have to sleep on the parlor sofa, or the children on the floor, and ninety-nine times out of a hundred the whole family will wish her in Halifax.
Or she may arrive to find some member of the family ill, or house-cleaning or repairing in progress, or the house in the hands of the decorators. Indeed, so many unforeseen accidents may occur to make her visit an unpleasant memory, both to herself and her hostess, that only the most selfish and inconsiderate of women will so violate the social conventions as to make "surprise visits."

Visits That Save Expense
Something equally reprehensible is the visit we pay to a friend in town where we have business or desire a pleasure trip, and do not propose to have it cost us much of any¬thing. We force hospitality on our acquaintances in order to save hotel bills. They know it, and they feel about it just exactly as we would in their places--that is, that it is an imposition on good nature and a mean and selfish thing to do.
"We gave up our house and went to boarding simply because my health and my husbands salary were inadequate to the demands made upon them by our out-of-town relatives and acquaintances, who used us as a restaurant and hotel. There was seldom a week when we did not give ten or twelve meals and two or three nights lodging to people better able to pay for them than we were to furnish them. So we gave up housekeeping." This is an actual experience.

MANNERS AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS FOR OUR GREAT MIDDLE CLASS
AS WELL AS OUR BEST SOCIETY
Correspondence, Cards and Introductions, Dress for Different Occasions, Weddings, Christenings, Funerals, Etc.,
Social Functions, Dinners, Luncheons.
Gifts, "Showers," Calls, and Hundreds of Other Essential Subjects so Vital to Culture and Refinement of Men, Women, School-Girls and Boys at Home and in Public.
By MRS. ELIZABETH JOHNSTONE
Excerpt from the book:
MOTHERS  REMEDIES
Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers of the United States and Canada.
By DR. T. J. RITTER
PUBLISHED BY G.H. FOOTE  PUB. CO. DETROIT MICH 1921

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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN CAT 5 TWISTED PAIR NETWORK CABLES

INTRODUCTION.  The purpose of this article is to show you how to make the two kinds of cables which can be used to network two or more computers together to form quick and simple home or small office local area networks (LANs).  These instructions can also be used to make patch cables for networks with more complex infrastructure wiring.
The two most common unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) network standards are the10 Mhz 10BASE-T Ethernet and the 100Mhz 100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet.  The 100BASE-TX standard is quickly becoming the predominant LAN standard.  If you are starting from scratch, to build a small home or office network, this is clearly the standard you should choose.  This article will show you how to make cables which will work with both standards.
LANS SIMPLIFIED.  A LAN can be as simple as two computers, each having a network interface card (NIC) or network adapter and running network software, connected together with a crossover cable
The next step up would be a network consisting of three or more computers and a hub.  Each of the computers is plugged into the hub with a straight-thru cable (the crossover function is performed by the hub).
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Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Google’s Swiffy Tool Converts Flash To iOS Friendly HTML5

There was a lot of buzz the other day when Google announced its new tool Swiffy. This tool has been designed to automatically convert your Flash content so you could use it on you iPad. At the moment the biggest file you can convert is 512 KB. This is a comparative small file, certainly very few of my files or SWF presentations would fit within this constraint. 
So am I excited that some Flash content can be converted in this two part process? Yes.

Is Swiffy the answer? Maybe but I not sure it is there yet in its current form and with its current restrictions.
(By the way, would it kill Google to create some sexier interface for some of the great tools they have in their arsenal.)
Other people seem convinced this will be a giant killer - read the Cultofmac article
Google’s just helped put another nail in Adobe Flash’s coffin. Their new tool is called Swiffy, and it allows you to easily convert simple SWF Flash animations and games into HTML5 compliant code, viewable and interactable on any iPhone or iPad.
Swiffy’s not a miracle worker — it works best on simpler Flash animations and games, and it only works in WebKit browsers like Safari, Mobile Safari and Chrome. That said, the demonstrations are pretty impressive.
For best results, Google recommends exporting your Flash animation as an SWF file. Here’s how it works:
A SWF file is converted in two phases: the Swiffy compiler (which you can use on this website) processes the SWF file and generates a JSON file. A client-side JavaScript runtime loads that JSON file and renders it using HTML, SVG and CSS
Pretty cool. In another year, I’m guessing even Adobe will stop trying to claim that Flash is indispensable for experiencing the web. The battle’s already over, and even Adobe’s so-called allies are now giving up the fight.


http://www.cultofmac.com/googles-swiffy-tool-converts-flash-to-ios-friendly-html5/102771#more-102771

Anyway, have a look at Swiffy it might work a treat for your needs. Kelly Tenkely at ilearntechnology says it works for her.

Swiffy works directly from your web browser, I have tried it out in Firefox, Safari and Chrome.  It worked in all three well!  It will also work from Mobile Safari which means it will work from your iDevice. 
http://swiffy.googlelabs.com


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How to set up a MobileMe account on the iPad



A very useful little how-to from knowyourcell.com


MobileMe is Apples own sync service - let us show you how to set up an account on your iPad



MobileMe is a service that ensures your iPad and computers are always in sync. It updates calendars, contacts and email over the air to all of your devices so you never have to plug your iPad in again.
MobileMe also allows you to create galleries of your photos and locate your iPad if its lost or stolen. If your iPad has been stolen, MobileMe also allows you to remotely display a message on the screen, or even wipe all the data from your iPad with one click.
So, you want to set MobileMe up with your iPad ? Heres how to do it:
  1. First youll need to set up a MobileMe account. Head to the MobileMe website to do this.
  2. Once youve set up a MobileMe account, youll need to set it up on your iPad. To do this, tap settings from the home screen.
  3. Head to Mail, Contacts, Calendars and then add account.
  4. Select MobileMe from the type of account.
  5. Enter your account information (name, username, password and account description). Tap save.
  6. You can then select what youd like to sync using your MobileMe account.
  7. Youll need to activate the Find my phone feature in the Mail, Contacts, Calendars settings if you want to be able to find your phone when its lost or stolen. From here, head to Fetch New Data and ensure its turned on.
  8. If you already have contacts and calendars saved on your iPad, you can merge these with the MobileMe account -- youll be asked if youd like to do this when you set the account up.

http://www.knowyourcell.com



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Monday, March 9, 2015

Apps for Adding Text to an Image













Path on: Swipe to Type was an app recommended to me on twitter recently. This is a very cool little app. Draw a line and then type the text and the text follows the line you have drawn. I love that I can get students to annotate photos to document their learning and allow them to incorporate some design elements as well. These can be added to a collage or uploaded to their blogs. Here are a series of apps that allow you to add text to photos, most of them free. Enjoy!


Path On: Swipe to Type: $1.99 AU
Draw a line with your finger and your text will appear along the line. Path On features almost 300 different fonts--no additional cost and unlimited use, of course, with the ability to adjust the size, alignment and letter spacing. You are also provided with simple shapes, like a spiral, circle, or square.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/path-on-swipe-to-type/id596696015?mt=8


Curved Text on Photo: $1.99 AU
Curved Text helps you to add beautiful curved texts on your photo. With tons of curve shapes, text styles, artistic fonts and background templates, you can add unique texts in ways youve never imagined. You can also apply effects, frames and stickers to your photo with powerful photo editor.
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/curved-text-on-photo/id584748197?mt=8



Phonto Text on Image: FREE
Phonto is a simple app that allows you to add text to pictures. More than 200 fonts are available as well as changing text size and text colour. Add a gradient to your text or even a stroke colour. Then add a shadow colour or change the background colour before rotating your text. It has it all.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/phonto-text-on-image/id438429273?mt=8


Photo Notes HD: FREE
You take great pictures, why not spruce them up with some funny captions!  Add some text to your pictures! You have complete control over the position, size and orientation of the caption. You control the color and the font. You can even point those little thought bubbles right at your cats furry head! 
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/photo-notes-hd/id381633795?mt=8



Pic-O-Gram: FREE
With “Pic O Gram” you now have a very easy way to add words, texts, and captions to your photos. Add clever and funny titles, and meaningful captions to make your photos stand out more. Post them on your social networks and watch as the likes, shares, retweets, and comments come rolling in. “Pic o Gram” gives you the tools to make your already amazing photos even better.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/pic-o-gram/id657812563?mt=8


Quick Fonts: FREE
Quick Fonts makes it fast and easy to insert cool, fun, and beautiful fonts and texts to you pictures. Choose from over 200 style fonts to add a little something extra to your photos. Quick Fonts is so easy to use that anyone can do it. The best part of all is that it’s a completely free app.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/quick-fonts/id705048134?mt=8


Text2Pic: FREE
If you want to add text, music and voice to your photo and share it instantly. Add audio to your photo selected from song library or record your voice. Choose which part of the audio (song, record voice) you want by dragging the slider and then add, update, delete text easily. Huge collection of great templates

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/text2pic/id536817268?mt=8


Text on Pictures: FREE
Text on Pictures let you easily add any texts, captions, cool stickers or emoji to your pictures in seconds, and share it in one touch. We focus on providing you a simple, easy to use and visual enjoyment app! 150+ hand picked fonts with slider colour picker that let you preview whats the best one. Add 120+ emoji and stickers for more funny and 30+ text effects.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/texts-on-pictures-free-add/id595086167?mt=8


ShotText: FREE
ShotText allows you to add unlimited number of texts, messages, captions, shapes, icons and emojis to images/photos. You can change the text, font, shape and sizes as well as add background and border colors. All text, shapes and images can be rotated

https://itunes.apple.com/app/shottext/id699579226?mt=8
Phonto - Text on Images:


Text onPhoto: FREE
With the help of this wonderful application for iPhone, iPad, iPod, you will be able to make your photos or pictures look amazing just in a few steps by adding stylish text: name, commentary or note where and when the photo was taken and who is in the photo. More than 200 awesome and stylish fonts will really make your photo stand out!

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/text-on-photo/id773215109?mt=8




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