STUDY QUESTION Does an intensive weight reduction programme prior to IVF increase live birth rates for infertile obese women? SUMMARY ANSWER An intensive weight reduction programme resulted in a large weight loss but did not substantially affect live birth rates in obese women scheduled for IVF. WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN Among obese women, fertility and obstetric outcomes are influenced negatively wit

Circular business models are foreseen to contribute to enabling prolonged lifetimes of products and components through successive cycles of reuse, repair, remanufacturing and closing material loops. To realize economic viability and resource efficiency savings from a circular business model, early consideration and integrated planning of the product lifecycle and value creation architectures at th

Fires have influenced atmospheric composition and climate since the rise of vascular plants, and satellite data have shown the overall global extent of fires. Our knowledge of historic fire emissions has progressively improved over the past decades due mostly to the development of new proxies and the improvement of fire models. Currently, there is a suite of proxies including sedimentary charcoal

This paper analyses how the “alpha male” of the tourism academy tribe is imagined in celebratory contexts. The tradition is interesting from a gender perspective, in that the majority of celebratory portraits found in tourism research journals are those of male scholars. Whether this is regarded as a coincidence or a consequence of the resilience of a glass ceiling, it is interesting to investigat

Tin oxides are semiconductor materials currently attracting close attention in electronics, photovoltaics, gas sensing, and catalysis. Depending on the tin oxidation state - Sn(IV), Sn(II), or intermediate - the corresponding oxide has either n- or p-type natural conductivity, ascribed to oxygen or metal deficiency in the lattice. Such crystalline imperfections severely complicate the task of esta

We report on a theoretical study of cavity-free lasing of neutral nitrogen molecules in femtosecond laser filaments with a nonadiabatic Maxwell-Bloch model, compared with recent pump-seed experiments. The nonadiabaticity of the lasing process is revealed and it is found that electron-neutral collisions dominate the dipole dephasing rate. Moreover, we show that the asymmetry between forward and bac

Tunnel junctions are essential components of multijunction solar cells. These highly doped p/n junctions provide the electrical interconnect between the subcells that constitute a multijunction solar cell device. The conductivity and the peak tunneling current of tunnel diodes are known to be severely affected by thermal load. This is a general phenomenon observed in tunnel junctions despite the m

We construct certain matricial analogues of mass transport for positive definite matrices of equal trace. The framework aims to devise ways of interpolating positive definite matrices that tradeoff between "aligning up their eigenstructure" and "scaling the corresponding eigenvalues". Motivation for the work is provided by power spectral analysis of multivariate time series where linear interpolat

Context. High-resolution spectroscopy across spatially resolved stellar surfaces aims at obtaining spectral-line profiles that are free from rotational broadening; the gradual changes of these profiles from disk center toward the stellar limb reveal properties of atmospheric fine structure, which are possible to model with 3D hydrodynamics. Aims. Previous such studies have only been carried out fo

Quantitative characterization of a high-power glow-mode gliding arc (GM-GA) discharge operated in open air is performed using a current-voltage lumped model that is built from the perspective of energy balance and electron conservation. The GM-GA discharge is powered by a 35 kHz alternating current power supply. Instantaneous images of the discharge volume are recorded using a high-speed camera at

Self-other similarity judgment asymmetry refers to the tendency of people to judge others to be more similar to themselves than they judge themselves to be similar to others. This effect can be explained with both a cognitive model (Tversky, 1977) and a motivational explanation (Codol, 1987). Recent research has provided initial evidence for the core assumption of the motivational explanation and

Quantitative nuclear medicine imaging is an increasingly important frontier. In order to achieve quantitative imaging, various interactions of photons with matter have to be modeled and compensated. Although correction for photon attenuation has been addressed by including x-ray CT scans (accurate), correction for Compton scatter remains an open issue. The inclusion of scattered photons within the

We present a detailed elemental abundance study of 90 F and G dwarf, turn-off, and subgiant stars in the Galactic bulge. Based on high-resolution spectra acquired during gravitational microlensing events, stellar ages and abundances for 11 elements (Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Fe, Zn, Y and Ba) have been determined. Four main findings are presented: (1) a wide metallicity distribution with distinc

This paper focuses on the translation of managerialism in the Swedish public sector. A field study of the attempts by two large municipalities to launch a grand reform in the name of managerialism, that is, a purchasersupplier reform, shows the by now familiar difficulties of trying to change public organizations. Thus the actual consequences of actions taken in the name of managerialism are perha

Advanced Parkinson's disease (APD) is characterized by increased functional disability, caused by motor complications, the presence of axial symptoms, and emergent disease- and drug-related non-motor symptoms. One of the advanced therapies available is intrajejunal infusion of levodopa/carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG); however, patient selection for this treatment is sometimes difficult, particular