19 research outputs found

    Dynamical analysis of homogenized second gradient anisotropic media for textile composite structures and analysis of size effects

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    International audienceIn order to predict the dispersion relation of 3D composite structures in the low frequency range, we construct effective first and second order grade continuum models. The effective properties of textile composites are obtained computationally by an equivalent strain energy method based on the response of the representative volume unit cell (RUC) under prescribed boundary conditions as described in Goda and Ganghoffer (2016). The expressions of the phase velocities for the three modes of wave propagation in a 3D context (longitudinal, horizontal shear and vertical shear) reveal that the second order continuum is dispersive, due to the presence of the second order elasticity constants. The shape change of the phase velocity when increasing the wave number shows the dispersive behavior of the second gradient medium, whereas Cauchy medium is non dispersive. Plots of the iso-frequency contour for the two investigated composites in the case of second gradient and Cauchy effective medium show that the second gradient contributions does not modify the anisotropic behavior of the considered composites. Important size effects on the dynamical behavior are shown, especially reflected by the dispersive behavior and the anisotropic dynamic responses, due to the significant overall increase of the second order rigidity matrix when increasing the RUC size

    A variational approach of homogenization of piezoelectric composites towards piezoelectric and flexoelectric effective media

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    The effective piezoelectric properties of heterogeneous materials are evaluated in the context of periodic homogenization, whereby a variational formulation is developed, articulated with the extended Hill macrohomogeneity condition. The entire set of homogenized piezoelectric moduli is obtained as the volumetric averages of the microscopic properties of the individual constituents weighted by the displacement and polarization localization operators. This framework is extended in a second part of the paper to the computation of the flexoelectric effective properties, thereby accounting for higher gradient effects that may be induced by a strong contrast of properties of the composite constituents. The effective properties of inclusion-based composites are evaluated numerically as an illustration of the general homogenization theory and the respective effect of the volume fraction and relative tensile modulus of the reinforcement is assessed numerically

    High serum LDH and liver metastases are the dominant predictors of primary cancer resistance to anti-PD(L)1 immunotherapy

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    International audienceAim: Anti-PD-(L)1 immunotherapies improve survival in multiple cancers but remain ineffective for most patients. We applied machine-learning algorithms and multivariate analyses on baseline medical data to estimate their relative impact on overall survival (OS) upon anti-PD-(L)1 monotherapies. Method: This prognostic/predictive study retrospectively analysed 33 baseline routine medical variables derived from computed tomography (CT) images, clinical and biological meta-data. 695 patients with a diagnosis of advanced cancer were treated in prospective clinical trials in a single tertiary cancer centre in 3 cohorts including systemic anti-PD-(L)1 (251, 235 patients) versus other systemic therapies (209 patients). A random forest model combined variables to identify the combination (signature) which best estimated OS in patients treated with immunotherapy. The performance for estimating OS [95%CI] was measured using Kaplan–Meier Analysis and Log–Rank test. Results: Elevated serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDHhi) and presence of liver metastases (LM+) were dominant and independent predictors of short OS in independent cohorts of melanoma and non-melanoma solid tumours. Overall, LDHhiLM+ patients treated with anti-PD-(L)1 monotherapy had a poorer outcome (median OS: 3.1[2.4–7.8] months]) compared to LDHlowLM-patients (median OS: 15.3[8.9-NA] months; P < 0.0001). The OS of LDHlowLM-patients treated with immunotherapy was 28.8[17.9-NA] months (vs 13.1[10.8–18.5], P = 0.02) in the overall population and 30.3[19.93-NA] months (vs 14.1[8.69-NA], P = 0.0013) in patients with melanoma. Conclusion: LDHhiLM+ status identifies patients who shall not benefit from anti-PD-(L)1 monotherapy. It could be used in clinical trials to stratify patients and eventually address this specific medical need
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