EVALUATION OF NAA PROCEDURES BY MEANS OF INFORMATION-THEORY

This work gives a survey of the use of information theory in optimizat ion of neutron activation analysis (NAA) procedures. In an introductor y part the principles of information theory are briefly outlined. Then , particular examples of the use of information theory are given: opti mization of irradiation, counting and decay times in multielement NAA by means of the INFO program, investigation of the influence of measur ement bias on information properties in gamma-ray spectrometry, evalua tion of different standardization procedures including the k0 comparat or technique, optimization of separation procedures in NAA measurement s in NAA, choosing of an appropriate reference material for quality as surance in NAA and investigation of the role of interferences in NAA. Application of information theory in NAA can lead to interesting and v aluable results especially in optimization of NAA methodology. This ap proach can often save both time and money otherwise spent on unnecessa ry irradiation and measurements.