HIT SIZE EFFECTIVENESS IN RELATION TO THE MICRODOSIMETRIC SITE SIZE

This paper examines the effect of site size (that is, the diameter of the microdosimetric volume) on the hit size effectiveness function (HS EF), q(y), for several endpoints relevant in radiation protection. A B ayesian and maximum entropy approach is used to solve the integral equ ations that determine, given microdosimetric spectra and measured init ial slopes, the function q(y), All microdosimetric spectra have been c alculated de novo. The somewhat surprising conclusion of this analysis is that site size plays only a minor role in selecting the hit size e ffectiveness function q(y). It thus appears that practical means (e.g. conventional proportional counters) are already at hand to actually i mplement the HSEF as a radiation protection tool.