Stabilized mixed finite elements with embedded strong discontinuities for shear band modeling

A stabilized mixed finite element with elemental embedded strong discontinuities for shear band modeling is presented. The discrete constitutive model, representing the cohesive forces acting across the shear band, is derived from a rate-independent J2 plastic continuum material model with strain softening, by using a projection-type procedure determined by the Continuum-Strong Discontinuity Approach. The numerical examples emphasize the increase of the numerical solution accuracy obtained with the present strategy as compared with alternative procedures using linear triangles.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Study of a stabilized mixed finite element with emphasis on its numerical performance for strain localization problems

The numerical performance of a stabilized mixed finite-element formulation based on the pressuregradient- projection method (PGP) using equal-order (linear) interpolation is evaluated by solving solid mechanics problems, such as structural limit load determination and strain localization modelling. All of them present incompressibility kinematical constraints induced by the constitutive behaviour. This work is specially devised to obtain critical conclusions about the use of PGP model when the mechanical response is governed by strain-softening macroscopic mechanisms. In this context, we report some detected limitations in the present formulation due to the existence of pathological mesh bias dependence once the strain localization process becomes dominant, and linear kinematics is used. An additional contribution is the numerical comparative analysis of two different strategies, for solving the complete linear equation system, addressed to a finite-element parallel code. The numerical results are compared with the standard Galerkin formulation and with an alternative stabilized mixed finite-element procedure (pressure stabilizing Petrov–Galerkin scheme).Fil: Sánchez, Pablo Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones en Métodos Computacionales. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Centro de Investigaciones en Métodos Computacionales; ArgentinaFil: Sonzogni, Victorio Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones en Métodos Computacionales. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Centro de Investigaciones en Métodos Computacionales; ArgentinaFil: Huespe, Alfredo Edmundo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones en Métodos Computacionales. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Centro de Investigaciones en Métodos Computacionales; Argentin

Stabilized mixed finite elements with embedded discontinuities for shear bans modelling

A stabilized mixed finite element with elemental embedded strong discontinuities for shear band modeling is presented. The discrete constitutive model, representing the cohesive forces acting across the shear band, is derived from a rate-independent J(2) plastic continuum material model with strain softening, by using a projection-type procedure determined by the Continuum-Strong Discontinuity Approach. The numerical examples emphasize the increase of the numerical solution accuracy obtained with the present strategy as compared with alternative procedures using linear triangle

A macroscopic damage-plastic constitutive law for modeling quasi-brittle fracture and ductile behavior of concrete

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: [Sánchez, P.J., Huespe, A.E., Oliver, J., Diaz, G. and Sonzogni, V.E. (2012), A macroscopic damage‐plastic constitutive law for modeling quasi‐brittle fracture and ductile behavior of concrete. Int. J. Numer. Anal. Meth. Geomech., 36: 546-573. doi:10.1002/nag.1013], which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/nag.1013. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.A new phenomenological macroscopic constitutive model for the numerical simulation of quasi-brittle fracture and ductile concrete behavior, under general triaxial stress conditions, is presented. The model is particularly addressed to simulate a wide range of confinement stress states, as also, to capture the strong influence of the mean stress value in the concrete failure mechanisms. The model is based on a two-surface damage-plastic formulation. The mechanical behavior in different domains of the stress space is separately described by means of a quasi-brittle or ductile material response: (i) For positive values of the mean stress (tensile states), an isotropic continuum damage model with strain softening is considered. In this context, and in order to avoid the Boundary Value Problem ill-posedness induced by the softening law, a regularization technique based on the Continuum Strong Discontinuity Approach (CSDA ) is adopted, which results equivalent to a damage model with embedded cohesive cracks providing anisotropic responses. (ii) A plastic model governs the material behavior when the mean stress is negative (confinement states). It is based on the classical plastic flow theory. In particular, a yield criterion similar to that of Willam and coauthors, which depends on the three stress invariants, is used. Additional features defining the plastic response are: an isotropic strain hardening law and a non-associative flow rule. The paper presents the numerical implementation of the model using an efficient integration algorithm, namely, the Impl-Ex scheme. Several widely known experimental tests (such as uniaxial, biaxial and triaxial tests) carried out on concrete specimens are used to calibrate and validate the performance of the proposed formulation. Finally, a classical 2D reinforced concrete beam example is analyzed in order to show the predictive capability of the model in structural analysis applications.The first, second and fifth author acknowledge financial support from ANPCyT of Argentina through grants PICT 2006-1232, PICT 2008-1228 and from Conicet. Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology trough grant BIA2008-00411 is gratefully acknowledged by the third author.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Effects of a glyphosate-based herbicide on systemic metabolic alterations and histologic hepatic changes present in an animal model of insulin resistance

Introducción: el estrés oxidativo y la inflamación asociados a la insulinorresistencia (IR) contribuyen a generar esteatohepatitis no alcohólica. También la exposición al glifosato, un herbicida ampliamente utilizado, incrementa la peroxidación lipídica hepática con aumento de radicales libres de O2. Objetivos: evaluar los efectos de la administración prolongada de un herbicida a base de glifosato sobre la generación de IR, estrés oxidativo y cambios histológicos hepáticos en animales tratados con una dieta rica en sacarosa (DRS). Metodología: ratas Wistar macho (~300 g) recibieron Credit®por vía intraperitoneal (~50 mg/kg de glifosato tres veces por semana; grupo G, n=6), sacarosa al 30% en el agua de bebida (grupo S, n=6), ambos tratamientos (grupo G+S, n=8), o ninguno de ellos (grupo C, n=7). Tras una exposición de 8-10 semanas se midieron glucemia e insulinemia basales y tras una carga deglucosa intraperitoneal. En la semana 13, tras la eutanasia, se extrajo el hígado (tinciones con hematoxilina-eosina y tricrómica de Masson, TBARS).Resultados: no hubo diferencias significativas en los niveles glucémicos basales o postcarga. Los tratamientos con G o S generaron incrementos leves de la IR evidenciados por el índice HOMA-IR, mientras que la combinación de G+S llevó a un aumento altamente significativo de este parámetro. También fue más marcado, en estos animales, el grado de lipoperoxidación (TBARS) medido en homogenatos hepáticos. La evaluación histológica mostró signos de esteatosis y fibrosis en los grupos G y G+S, e infiltrados inflamatorios en todos los grupos tratados.Conclusiones: aislado o en combinación con sacarosa, el herbicida a base de glifosato aumentó el grado de esteatosis y fibrosis a nivel hepático. Por otro lado, la administración del herbicida incrementó la magnitud de la insulinorresistencia inducida por la DRS generando un mayor estrés oxidativo a nivel hepático.Fil: Reus, Verónica. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Huespe, Ivan. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Contini, María del Carmen. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Cabagna Zenklusen, Mariana Cristina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Recce, Carlos Enrique. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Jauregui, Soledad. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Andres, Denise. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Repetto, Esteban Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos; ArgentinaFil: Cymeryng, Cora Betriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos; ArgentinaFil: Arias, Pablo. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin