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Following the successful OPTIMAX summer school\ud held in Salford, 2013 and Lisbon, 2014 we organized\ud OPTIMAX2015 summer school in Groningen. Fifty\ud three people participated, comprising PhD, MSc\ud and BSc students as well as tutors from the five\ud European partners. Professional mix was drawn\ud from engineering, medical physics/ physics and\ud radiography. This summer school was hosted by the\ud Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen in\ud the Netherlands. It was funded by the partners. Two\ud students from South Africa were invited by the Hanze\ud University and one additional student from the United\ud Kingdom who was funded by Nuffield. The summer\ud school comprised of lectures and group work in which\ud experimental research projects were conducted in five\ud teams. Team project focus varied, two concentrating\ud on CT reconstruction techniques and image quality,\ud one on image quality high and low noise levels on DR\ud systems, one on reliability and validity of detecting\ud low dose radiation when using radiation detection\ud applications and devices for smartphones. And one\ud about ultrasound validity and reliability measuring\ud rectus femoris muscle size. The summer school\ud culminated in a poster market and conference,\ud in which each team presented a poster and oral\ud presentation on the conference.\ud This book contains two parts, the first six chapters of\ud this book shows the structure of organizing a summer\ud school like OPTIMAX. The second part contains the\ud oral papers in written format, in journal article style,\ud and after editing they have been included within\ud this book. At the time editing this book, several of\ud the experimental papers has been commenced\ud development work in order to make them fit for\ud submission to conferences.

OPTIMAX 2016 was held at the University of Salford\ud in Greater Manchester. It is the fourth summer\ud school of OPTIMAX with other renditions having\ud been organized at the University of Salford (2013),\ud ESTeSL, Lisbon (2014) and Hanze UAS, Groningen\ud (2015). For OPTIMAX 2016, 72 people participated\ud from eleven countries, comprising PhD, MSc and BSc\ud students as well as tutors from the seven European\ud partner universities. Professional mix was drawn\ud from engineering, medical physics/ physics and\ud radiography. OPTIMAX 2016 was partly funded by\ud the partner universities and partly by the participants.\ud Two students from South Africa and two from Brazil\ud were invited by Hanze UAS (Groningen) and ESTeSL\ud (Lisbon). One student from the United Kingdom was\ud funded by the Nuffield Foundation. The summer\ud school included lectures and group projects in\ud which experimental research was conducted in five\ud teams. Each team project focus varied and included:\ud optimization of full spine curvature radiography\ud in paediatrics; ultrasound assessment of muscle\ud thickness and muscle cross-sectional area: a\ud reliability study; the Influence of Source-to-Image\ud Distance on Effective Dose and Image Quality for\ud Mobile Chest X-rays; Impact of the anode heel effect\ud on image quality and effective dose for AP Pelvis:\ud A pilot study; and the impact of pitch values on\ud Image Quality and radiation dose in an abdominal\ud adult phantom using CT. OPTIMAX 2016 culminated\ud in a poster session and a conference, in which the\ud research teams presented their posters and oral\ud presentations.\ud This book comprises of two sections, the first four\ud chapters concern generic background information\ud which has value to summer school organization and\ud also theory on which the research projects were built.\ud The second section contains the research papers\ud in written format. The research papers have been\ud accepted for the ECR conference, Vienna, 2017 as\ud either oral presentations or posters.

This year OPTIMAX settled in Oslo. After the success\ud of previous years, we are proud to present the fourth\ud Ebook. As in previous years, the group was made\ud up of PhD-, MSc- and BSc students as well as\ud tutors from the seven European partner universities.\ud Professional mix was drawn from medical physics/\ud physics and radiography. OPTIMAX 2017 was partly\ud funded by the partner universities and partly by the\ud participants. Two students from South Africa and two\ud from Brazil were invited by Hanze UAS (Groningen)\ud and ESTeSL (Lisbon) summer school included\ud lectures and group projects in which experimental\ud research was conducted in four teams.\ud \ud Four research projects were performed with a focus\ud on radiation dose optimization and image quality,\ud namely: Possible dose reduction for pediatric patients\ud for conventional radiology; Can the tube voltage be\ud lowered with the use of direct-conversion flat panel\ud detector system?; Impact of body size and kV in chest\ud radiography; Quantity assessment on Image quality of\ud CBCT images of head phantom with implants of metal\ud and ceramic objects.The last day of OPTIMAX 2017\ud there was a poster session and a conference, in which\ud the research teams presented their posters and oral\ud presentations.\ud \ud This book comprises of two sections, the first two\ud chapters concern generic background information\ud about international teamwork during the OPTIMAX\ud summerschool.\ud \ud The next chapters with theory on which the research\ud projects were built. The second section contains\ud the research papers of the four research projects.\ud Two research papers, Can the tube voltage be\ud lowered with the use of direct-conversion flat-panel\ud detector system? And Impact of body size and kV in\ud chest radiography: Experimental receiver operating\ud characteristic analysis using a Multipurpose Chest\ud Phantom “Lungman” have been accepted for the ECR\ud conference, Vienna, 2018 as oral presentations.

This year, OPTIMAX was warmly welcomed by\ud University College Dublin. For the sixth time\ud students and teachers from Europe, South Africa,\ud South America and Canada have come together\ud enthusiastically to do research in the Radiography\ud domain. As in previous years, there were several\ud research groups consisting of PhD-, MSc- and BSc\ud students and tutors from the OPTIMAX partner\ud Universities or on invitation by partner Universities.\ud OPTIMAX 2018 was partly funded by the partner\ud Universities and partly by the participants.\ud \ud \ud This year, five research projects were performed with\ud a focus on education on dose- and image quality\ud optimization.\ud \ud \ud The research projects were:\ud CT Simulation as an Active learning tool\ud Redesigning a Radiography Practical Active\ud Learning Space\ud Does Radiographer Training Across Europe Alter\ud Image Viewing Patterns and Decisions?\ud An Investigation into the Use of Lead Shielding\ud Protection in Abdominal Radiography\ud Inter-user Variability in DXA Scanning and\ud Analysis\ud \ud \ud The summer school was concluded with a poster\ud session and a conference, where the research\ud teams presented their results. All five abstracts were\ud submitted to the European congress of Radiology\ud (ECR) and, when accepted, will be presented by the\ud students as posters, or oral presentations.\ud \ud \ud This book comprises of two sections, the first section\ud contains several chapters about new educational\ud applications for Radiology Education. The second\ud section contains the research papers of the five\ud research projects.\ud \ud \ud Steering committee OPTIMAX 2018\ud \ud \ud Hogg P, School of Health Sciences, University of\ud Salford, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom\ud Buissink C, Department of Medical Imaging and\ud Radiation Therapy, Hanze University of Applied\ud Sciences, Groningen, The Netherlands\ud Aandahl I, Department of Life Sciences and\ud Health, Oslomet, Oslo, Norway\ud Jorge J, Haute École de Santé Vaud – Filiè TRM,\ud University of Applied Sciences and Arts of\ud Western Switzerland, Lausanne, Switzerland\ud O’Conner M, University College Dublin, Dublin,\ud Ireland\ud