Morphology on the cloud Virtual Campus, an integrated didactic platform for biomedical studies

The current Core Curricula of Degree courses in Biomedical areas has enormously compressed the hours dedicated to the student for self-learning in morphological subjects. The result is a reduced student attitude to integrate the information received by attending lectures and practical sessions, with the indispensable consultation of texts dealing with morphological and \u2018functional\u2019 subjects, a key experience to autonomously logically identify the rational of the morphology/function relationship in the human body, at the macroscopic and microscopic level. These changes are occurring at a time when new medical imaging technologies become more and more informative in both morphological and functional areas. As a consequence, we are modifying our way of organize lessons compared to the generations of colleagues who have preceded us. More and more frontal lessons are organized with a logical morpho-functional approach. For example, the reference to the anatomy of the living, displayed through invasive or not invasive imaging, is added to the necessary and traditional anatomy of the cadaver. The reference to the pathology helps to define how the alteration of morphological integrity is reflected on function, both at the macro and microscopic level, and so on. However, there are no organized easy-to-use guided tours for the student to allow, in the shortest possible time, to \u2018rationally see\u2019 what he has studied, in the various imaging contexts available at the macro- and microscopic level. At the same time, there are no \u2018data bank\u2019 of resources for the preparation of the lessons. That is why we have imagined \u2018virtual campus\u2019 an integrated digital learning platform for self-learning. The platform has been thought and realized thanks to a group of teachers of \u2018morphologic\u2019 and \u2018functional\u2019 biomedical subjects and computer engineers belonging to a publishing house. The presentation will explain the rationale behind the platform, its structure and the educational opportunities offered

Numerical investigation of wire-clamp contact for a drawing machine

Machines for cold wire drawing are widely spread in the industrial field to reduce wires' section. The system is complex, because the axial pulling force has to correctly deform wires into the drawing dies. The present work focuses on a continuous press and pulling system, with a track-chain. Normal force at the steel clamps can be generated independently on the axial force, but avoiding slipping and local yielding at the external surface of the wire. The work presents a numerical model of wire-clamp contact, focusing on the yielded area at the wire surface, and aimed at the identification of the limit clamping force that avoids slipping and yielding. Reliability of results is critically discussed, based on the choice of element formulation and type, and mesh refinement. Based on this analysis, control parameters of the drawing machine are modified to experimentally verify this limit normal force estimated by the numerical model