X-ray imaging virtual online laboratory for engineering undergraduates
Written by: Alberto Corbi, Daniel Burgos and Franck P. Vidal, Francisco Albiol and Alberto Albiol
Published on: Summary
Distance learning engineering students (as well as those in face-to-face settings) should acquire a basic background in radiation–matter interaction physics (usually in the first semesters). Some students in this group may feel some degree of aversion towards these types of pure science-related subjects (mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc). In online learning scenarios, the average student is already an adult (37 years old or above) and may see no particular application of the aforementioned courses in their current or future professional life. Besides this, online institutions tend to lean too much on applet-based simulations. Although they may shed some light on the theory associated with the studied physical processes, these animated and interactive examples also seem to be ’ stripped down’ versions of the real events, and are felt to be disconnected from current scientific environments and engineering settings. For this reason, we describe a novel virtual lab approach to teach the basics of the low-energy interactions present in average x-ray settings. It combines real scientific simulation frameworks with modern computing techniques such as virtualization, cloud infrastructures, containers, networking and shared collaboration environments. It also fosters the use of hugely demanded development tools and programming languages and addresses the fundamentals of digital radiography and the linked electronic standards for image storage and transmission. With this mixed approach, blending scientific concepts, healthcare and state-of-the-art software solutions, our virtual labs have proven (over a period of five academic terms) to be both very attractive to and pedagogically successful (technically, and scientifically) for online engineering undergraduates. For the sake of completeness, we also propose a hands-on activity that mimics the geometrical peculiarities of x-ray rooms with the help of visible light and cheap materials.
Keywords
- X-ray physics,
- virtual laboratory,
- online learning,
- digital standards,
- collaborative environments,
- cloud technologies,
- containers”
Award
3rd place - Vidal, F. P., Afshari, S., Albiol, A., Albiol, F., Bellot, A., Brun, A. L., Chou, C.-Y., Desbarats, P., García, M., Giovannelli, J.-F., Hatton, C., Henry, A., Kelly, G., Michelet, C., Mihail, R. P., Racy, M., Rouwane, A., Seznec, H., Sújar, A., Tugwell-Allsup, J., and Villard, P.-F.: "X-ray simulations with gVirtualXray in medicine and life sciences". Dirk Bartz Prize for Visual Computing in Medicine and Life Sciences 2025 (Eurographics Medical Prize).
Publications
- Vidal, F. P., Afshari, S., Albiol, A., Albiol, F., Bellot, A., Brun, A. L., Chou, C.-Y., Desbarats, P., García, M., Giovannelli, J.-F., Hatton, C., Henry, A., Kelly, G., Michelet, C., Mihail, R. P., Racy, M., Rouwane, A., Seznec, H., Sújar, A., Tugwell-Allsup, J., and Villard, P.-F. (2025). Meuschke, M. & Kuhlen, T. W. (Eds.). “X-ray simulations with gVirtualXray in medicine and life sciences”. Dirk Bartz Prize for Visual Computing in Medicine and Life Sciences 2025 (Eurographics Medical Prize). DOI: 10.2312/evm.20251974
- Corbi, A., Burgos, D., Vidal, F. P., Albiol, F., & Albiol, A. (2019 , December). X-ray imaging virtual online laboratory for engineering undergraduates. European Journal of Physics 41(1). Focus on Medical Physics. doi:10.1088/1361-6404/ab5011
Citations
@INPROCEEDINGS{Vidal2025DirkBartz,
author = {F. P. Vidal and S. Afshari and A. Albiol and F. Albiol and
A. Corb\'i Bellot and A. L. Brun and C.-Y. Chou and P. Desbarats and
M. Garc\'ia and J.-F. Giovannelli and C. Hatton and A. Henry and
G. Kelly and C. Michelet and Radu P. Mihail M. Racy and A. Rouwane and
H. Seznec and A. S\'ujar and J. Tugwell-Allsup and P.-F. Villard},
booktitle = {Dirk Bartz Prize for Visual Computing in Medicine and Life Sciences 2025 (Eurographics Medical Prize)},
title = {{X-ray simulations with gVirtualXray in medicine and life sciences}},
year = 2025,
editor = {Monique Meuschke and Torsten W. Kuhlen},
publisher = {The Eurographics Association},
ISBN = {978-3-03868-281-3},
DOI = {10.2312/evm.20251974}
}
@article{Corbi2020EurJPhys,
title = "X-ray imaging virtual online laboratory
for engineering undergraduates",
keywords = "X-ray physics, virtual laboratory, online learning, digital standards,
collaborative environments, cloud technologies, containers",
author = "Alberto Corbi and Daniel Burgos and Franck\,P. Vidal and
Francisco Albiol and Alberto Albiol",
note = "Focus on Medical Physics",
year = 2019,
month = dec,
doi = "10.1088/1361-6404/ab5011",
volume = 41,
journal = "European Journal of Physics",
issn = "0143-0807",
publisher = "IOP Publishing",
number = 1,
}