Investigating periphyton biofilm response to changing phosphorus concentrations in UK rivers using within-river flumes

The excessive growth of benthic algal biofilms in UK rivers is a widespread problem, resulting in loss of plant communities and wider ecological damage. Elevated nutrient concentrations (particularly phosphorus) are often implicated, as P is usually considered the limiting nutrient in most rivers. Phosphorus loadings to rivers in the UK have rapidly decreased in the last decade,due to improvements in sewage treatment and changes to agricultural practises. However, in many cases, these improvements in water quality have not resulted in a reduction in nuisance algal growth. It is therefore vital that catchment managers know what phosphorus concentrations need to be achieved, in order to meet the UK’s obligations to attain good ecological status, under the EU’s Water Framework Directive. This study has developed a novel methodology, using within river mesocosms, which allows P concentrations of river water to be either increased or decreased, and the effect on biofilm accrual rate is quantified. These experiments identify the phosphorus concentrations at which algae becomes P-limited, which can be used to determine knowledge-based P targets for rivers. The ability to reduce P concentrations in river water enables algae–nutrient limitation to be studied in nutrient-enriched rivers for the first time

Attraction of Melitaea cinxia butterflies to previously-attacked hosts : a likely complement to known Allee effects?

Clumped distributions of herbivorous insect eggs often result from independent assess- ments of individual plants by different ovipositing females. Here we ask whether, in addition, plants might be rendered more or less attractive to ovipositing Melitaea cinxia butter ies by presence of conspeci c eggs and/or by prior larval attack. Both eggs and larval damage rendered Veronica spicata plants signi cantly more accept- able; the effect of eggs was particularly strong. Larval damage caused a marginally signi cant increase in acceptability of Plantago lanceolata, but there was no trend for an effect of eggs on this host. Variable oviposition preferences of Melitaeine butter ies are known to drive their metapopulation dynamics by affecting rates of emigration and patch colonization. Therefore variable host acceptability, as documented here, should do likewise, reducing emigration rates at high population densities where V. spicata is present in the landscape and complementing Allee effects that are already known in this system.Peer reviewe

Spectral properties of finite laser-driven lattices of ultracold Rydberg atoms

We investigate the spectral properties of a finite laser-driven lattice of ultracold Rydberg atoms exploiting the dipole blockade effect in the frozen Rydberg gas regime. Uniform one-dimensional lattices as well as lattices with variable spacings are considered. In the case of a weak laser coupling, we find a multitude of many-body Rydberg states with well-defined excitation properties which are adiabatically accessible starting from the ground state. A comprehensive analysis of the degeneracies of the spectrum as well as of the single and pair excitations numbers of the eigenstates is performed. In the strong laser regime, analytical solutions for the pseudo-fermionic eigenmodes are derived. Perturbative energy corrections for this approximative approach are provided.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure

Extinction-colonization dynamics and host-plant choice in butterfly metapopulations.

Species living in highly fragmented landscapes often occur as metapopulations with frequent population turnover. Turnover rate is known to depend on ecological factors, such as population size and connectivity, but it may also be influenced by the phenotypic and genotypic composition of populations. The Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia) in Finland uses two host-plant species that vary in their relative abundance among distinct habitat patches (dry meadows) in a large network of ~1700 patches. We found no effect of host species use on local extinction. In contrast, population establishment was strongly influenced by the match between the host species composition of an empty habitat patch and the relative host use by larvae in previous years in the habitat patches that were well connected to the target patch. This "colonization effect" could be due to spatially variable plant acceptability or resistance or to spatially variable insect oviposition preference or larval performance. We show that spatial variation in adult oviposition preference occurs at the relevant spatial scale and that the other possible causes of the colonization effect can be discounted. We conclude that the colonization effect is generated by host preference influencing the movement patterns of ovipositing females. Migrant females with dissimilar host preferences have different perceptions of relative patch quality, which influences their likelihood of colonizing patches with particular host composition

Symmetric Instantons and Skyrme Fields

By explicit construction of the ADHM data, we prove the existence of a charge seven instanton with icosahedral symmetry. By computing the holonomy of this instanton we obtain a Skyrme field which approximates the minimal energy charge seven Skyrmion. We also present a one parameter family of tetrahedrally symmetric instantons whose holonomy gives a family of Skyrme fields which models a Skyrmion scattering process, where seven well-separated Skyrmions collide to form the icosahedrally symmetric Skyrmion.Comment: 22 pages plus 1 figure in GIF forma

Impact of a specialty trained billing team on an academic otolaryngology practice

PURPOSE: To determine how the incorporation of specialty specific training for coders within a focused billing team affected revenue, efficiency, time to reimbursement, and physician satisfaction in an academic otolaryngology practice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our academic otolaryngology department recently implemented a new billing system, which incorporated additional training in otolaryngology surgical procedures for medical coders. A mixed model analysis of variance was used to compare billing outcomes for the 6 months before and 6 months after this new approach was initiated. The following metrics were analyzed: Current Procedural Terminology codes, total charges, time between services rendered and billing submission, and time to reimbursement. A survey of department physicians assessing satisfaction with the system was reviewed. RESULTS: There were 4087 Current Procedural Terminology codes included in the analysis. In comparing the periods before and after implementation of the new system, statistically significant decreases were found in the mean number of days to coding completion (19.3 to 12.0, respectively, p \u3c 0.001), days to posting of charges (27.0 to 15.2, p \u3c 0.001), days to final reimbursement (54.5 to 27.2, p \u3c 0.001), and days to closure of form (179.2 to 76.6, p \u3c 0.001). Physician satisfaction with communication and coder feedback increased from 36% to 64% after initiation of the new program. CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of additional specialty training for medical coders in the otolaryngology department of a large medical system was associated with improved revenue cycle efficiency. Additionally, this model appears to improve physician satisfaction and confidence with the coding system