This paper proposes using the opposition-based learning (OBL) strategy in the shuffled frog leaping (SFL). The SFL divides a population into several memeplexes and then improves each memeplex in an evolutionary process. The OBL by comparing the fitness of an individual to its opposite and retaining the fitter one in the population accelerates search process. The objective of this paper is to in...

BACKGROUND Increasing firearm violence has resulted in a strong drive for stricter firearm legislations. Aim of this study was to determine the relationship between firearm legislations and firearm-related injuries across states in the United States. METHODS We performed a retrospective analysis of all patients with trauma related hospitalization using the 2011 Nationwide Inpatient Sample dat...

Stop Flow Lithography (SFL) is a microfluidic-based particle synthesis method for creating anisotropic multifunctional particles with applications that range from MEMS to biomedical engineering. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has been typically used to construct SFL devices as the material enables rapid prototyping of channels with complex geometries, optical transparency, and oxygen permeability....

BACKGROUND The evaluation of smoke-free legislation (SFL) in the UK examined the impacts on exposure to second-hand smoke, workers' attitudes and changes in respiratory health. Studies that investigate changes in the health of groups of people often use self-reported symptoms. Due to the subjective nature it is of interest to determine whether workers' attitudes towards the change in their work...

AIMS Multidisciplinary heart failure (HF) clinics are a cornerstone of contemporary HF management. The stent-for-life (SFL) initiative improves mortality after ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), but its impact in post-STEMI HF is not well characterized. Here we assessed the impact of SFL among patients referred to a multidisciplinary HF clinic over a 15 year time period. METHODS AND ...

OBJECTIVE Serum fibrinogen level (SFL) is thought to be one of the risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD). The purpose of this study was to measure the SFL in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). METHODS This study was performed in patients with ACS, admitted in Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Babol, Iran, from February 2005 to June 2006. Two hundred patients with ACS were divided i...

An automatic technique is developed for integrating two electrical resistivity logs obtained during Leg 133, namely, the deep induction log (ILD) and the spherically focussed log (SFL). These logs are routinely run by the Ocean Drilling Program in lower resistivity sedimentary environments, where drilling through soft, poorly consolidated lithologies often results in variable hole diameters. Ex...

Thoracic aortic surgery often causes massive bleeding due to coagulopathy. Hypofibrinogenemia is one of the major causative factors, but the utility of the intraoperative administration of fibrinogen concentrate has not yet been proven. The aim of this study was to estimate incidence of hypofibrinogenemia and to evaluate efficacy of using fibrinogen concentrate intraoperatively. The perioperati...

A cytotoxic (IgG2b) monoclonal antibody (McAb) for a novel erythroid differentiation antigen was generated by hyperimmunizing young mice with mononuclear cells obtained from livers of 20- to 22-week-old fetuses. This McAb, designated SFL 23.6, shows an extremely well-defined reactivity with the cells of the erythroid lineage at all stages of maturation as evident from the labeling of morphologi...

As the title of this volume suggests, it is intended to showcase the current situation of systemic functional linguistics (hereafter SFL) research in China. Apart from a foreword by Guowen Huang, an editors’ preface as well as an introduction by Zhuanglin Hu, the collection comprises 21 chapters. The first two chapters, with M.A.K. Halliday and J.R. Martin as the author respectively, function a...