In this thesis, a detailed review and analysis is undertaken of the numerical and theoretical data employed in the various National and International Dosimetry Protocols and Codes of Practice currently in use. Air kerma to dose conversion factors for megavoltage photon and electron beams are then derived, using each of the protocols, for a variety of commonly used ionisation chambers and it is found that differences in the resultant values are present for both photon and electron beams. For example, for a NE2571 graphite walled cylindrical ionisation chamber, the maximum variation in the air kerma to dose conversion factor for photons <I>C_w,λ</I> occurs at a "nominal" energy of 25MV, where the difference between the maximum and minimum values of <I>C_w,λ</I>is 5.1%, while the maximum difference between the different protocols in the air kerma to dose conversion factor for electrons <I>C_w,e</I>occurs at a mean incident energy of 9 MeV, where the difference between the maximum and minimum values of <I>C_w,e</I> is 2.7%. Analysis of the conversion factors indicates that the cause of these differences is due to a combination of both the numerical data and theoretical factors employed, although the major contributions to the differences arise from the use of different sets of stopping power ratios in the different protocols; in turn the use of different sets of stopping power ratios arises partly from different methods of specifying beam quality. An experimental approach was, therefore, developed to determine the consistency of each protocol's air kerma to dose conversion factors with an absolute value for one quality of beam, i.e. the relationship to a photon calibration standard, and also to examine the consistency between photon and electron beam modalities. When Cobalt-60 gamma rays were used as a calibration quality and comparative measurements were made in photon beams of nominal energies from 6MV to 25MV, and electron beams of nominal incident energies from 5MeV to 20MeV, inconsistencies were found in the majority of protocols and, for photon beams this was found to be attributable to inadequate description of photon beam quality.

Purpose: Fractionation in radiotherapy is the scheduled break up of a total treatment dose into individual doses. The goal of this thesis is to seek a mathematically optimal dose schedule, in the context of a biological tissue dose-response model, the linear-quadratic function. Methods: We examined the mathematical properties of the fractionation problem in the context of an arbitrary number of sensitive-structure constraints and determined the properties of the optima. We also implemented a numerical search technique to solve the problem. Results: On the theoretical side, we confirmed and extended the results in the literature. We showed the optima always occur at the intersection of two or more constraints or at the equal dose per fraction point (or at any arbitrary feasible point on the boundary, which includes the two points just mentioned). On the numerical side, we successfully implemented a simulated annealing algorithm to our problem.

The main purpose of this thesis is to encourage the development of bioeffect planning as an experimental tool by which means bioeffect plans may be compared with standard isodose plans. This thesis also addresses the fundamental problems of the derivation of useful biological models for clinical application and the description of tumour and normal tissue parameter values and their variability. Particular emphasis has been placed on comparing the predictive value of the models and parameters against clinical results of fractionated and continuous irradiation either alone or combined. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, [1999]

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Canterbury, 2007. / Typescript (photocopy). "Year: 2005-2007." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-132). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Univ., 2004. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Univ., 2005. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2004. / Also available online.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2006. / Härtill 6 uppsatser.

Thesis (MTech (Radiography))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 186-202). Also available online.