Strengthening health data on a rare and heterogeneous disease: sarcoma incidence and histological subtypes in Germany

Background: The population-based incidence of sarcoma and its histological subtypes in Germany is unknown. Up-to-date information on a disease with an incidence comparable to other cancer entities is of high public health relevance. The aim of this study was to determine this incidence and to detect significant changes in incidence trends using data from German epidemiological cancer registries. Methods: Pooled data from the German Centre for Cancer Registry Data with a primary diagnosis occurring in 2013 were used. To date, this is the latest data on cancer incidence available for Germany. All German cancer registries with sufficient completeness were included (10 out of 11), covering a population of 70.0 million people, representing 87% of the German population. All malignant sarcomas according to the RARECARE Project and the WHO classification 2002 were considered for analysis and, above all, gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) of uncertain behaviour. Sensitivity analysis was performed excluding certain histologies. Results: The analysis included 3404 cases in men and 3442 cases in women diagnosed in 2013. The age adjusted sarcoma incidence (European standard) was 7.4 (men) and 6.6 (women) per 100,000 inhabitants. About 70% of sarcomas were soft tissue sarcomas, about 22% GIST, and about 9% bone sarcomas. The most common histological subtypes besides GIST were fibrosarcomas (14%) and liposarcomas (12%) in men and complex mixed and stromal neoplasms (22%), non-uterine leiomysarcomas (10%) and fibrosarcomas (9%) in women. Considering the trend for the years of diagnosis 2004 to 2013, there was a significant increase in incidence for GIST while the incidence of soft tissue sarcomas (only men) as well as of bone sarcoma stayed constant over time. As to soft tissue sarcoma in women, the incidence stayed constant up to the year 2009 and significantly decreased afterwards. Conclusion: This study is the first detailed analysis of a German-wide population-based sarcoma incidence showing results comparable to the incidence detected in the RARECARE Project

The SKA Particle Array Prototype: The First Particle Detector at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory

We report on the design, deployment, and first results from a scintillation detector deployed at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO). The detector is a prototype for a larger array -- the Square Kilometre Array Particle Array (SKAPA) -- planned to allow the radio-detection of cosmic rays with the Murchison Widefield Array and the low-frequency component of the Square Kilometre Array. The prototype design has been driven by stringent limits on radio emissions at the MRO, and to ensure survivability in a desert environment. Using data taken from Nov.\ 2018 to Feb.\ 2019, we characterize the detector response while accounting for the effects of temperature fluctuations, and calibrate the sensitivity of the prototype detector to through-going muons. This verifies the feasibility of cosmic ray detection at the MRO. We then estimate the required parameters of a planned array of eight such detectors to be used to trigger radio observations by the Murchison Widefield Array.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, 3 table

Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage

The fundamental capability of Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) is game changing for space exploration. A first generation Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (NCPS) based on NTP could provide high thrust at a specific impulse above 900 s, roughly double that of state of the art chemical engines. Characteristics of fission and NTP indicate that useful first generation systems will provide a foundation for future systems with extremely high performance. The role of the NCPS in the development of advanced nuclear propulsion systems could be analogous to the role of the DC-3 in the development of advanced aviation. Progress made under the NCPS project could help enable both advanced NTP and advanced NEP

A new layout optimization technique for interferometric arrays, applied to the MWA

Antenna layout is an important design consideration for radio interferometers because it determines the quality of the snapshot point spread function (PSF, or array beam). This is particularly true for experiments targeting the 21 cm Epoch of Reionization signal as the quality of the foreground subtraction depends directly on the spatial dynamic range and thus the smoothness of the baseline distribution. Nearly all sites have constraints on where antennas can be placed---even at the remote Australian location of the MWA (Murchison Widefield Array) there are rock outcrops, flood zones, heritages areas, emergency runways and trees. These exclusion areas can introduce spatial structure into the baseline distribution that enhance the PSF sidelobes and reduce the angular dynamic range. In this paper we present a new method of constrained antenna placement that reduces the spatial structure in the baseline distribution. This method not only outperforms random placement algorithms that avoid exclusion zones, but surprisingly outperforms random placement algorithms without constraints to provide what we believe are the smoothest constrained baseline distributions developed to date. We use our new algorithm to determine antenna placements for the originally planned MWA, and present the antenna locations, baseline distribution, and snapshot PSF for this array choice.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRA

WSClean : an implementation of a fast, generic wide-field imager for radio astronomy

This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.Astronomical widefield imaging of interferometric radio data is computationally expensive, especially for the large data volumes created by modern non-coplanar many-element arrays. We present a new widefield interferometric imager that uses the w-stacking algorithm and can make use of the w-snapshot algorithm. The performance dependencies of CASA's w-projection and our new imager are analysed and analytical functions are derived that describe the required computing cost for both imagers. On data from the Murchison Widefield Array, we find our new method to be an order of magnitude faster than w-projection, as well as being capable of full-sky imaging at full resolution and with correct polarisation correction. We predict the computing costs for several other arrays and estimate that our imager is a factor of 2-12 faster, depending on the array configuration. We estimate the computing cost for imaging the low-frequency Square-Kilometre Array observations to be 60 PetaFLOPS with current techniques. We find that combining w-stacking with the w-snapshot algorithm does not significantly improve computing requirements over pure w-stacking. The source code of our new imager is publicly released.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Effects of Short Range Correlations on Ca Isotopes

The effect of Short Range Correlations (SRC) on Ca isotopes is studied using a simple phenomenological model. Theoretical expressions for the charge (proton) form factors, densities and moments of Ca nuclei are derived. The role of SRC in reproducing the empirical data for the charge density differences is examined. Their influence on the depletion of the nuclear Fermi surface is studied and the fractional occupation probabilities of the shell model orbits of Ca nuclei are calculated. The variation of SRC as function of the mass number is also discussed.Comment: 11 pages (RevTex), 6 Postscript figures available upon request at [email protected] Physical Review C in prin

Gridded and direct Epoch of Reionisation bispectrum estimates using the Murchison Widefield Array

We apply two methods to estimate the 21~cm bispectrum from data taken within the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) project of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). Using data acquired with the Phase II compact array allows a direct bispectrum estimate to be undertaken on the multiple redundantly-spaced triangles of antenna tiles, as well as an estimate based on data gridded to the $uv$-plane. The direct and gridded bispectrum estimators are applied to 21 hours of high-band (167--197~MHz; $z$=6.2--7.5) data from the 2016 and 2017 observing seasons. Analytic predictions for the bispectrum bias and variance for point source foregrounds are derived. We compare the output of these approaches, the foreground contribution to the signal, and future prospects for measuring the bispectra with redundant and non-redundant arrays. We find that some triangle configurations yield bispectrum estimates that are consistent with the expected noise level after 10 hours, while equilateral configurations are strongly foreground-dominated. Careful choice of triangle configurations may be made to reduce foreground bias that hinders power spectrum estimators, and the 21~cm bispectrum may be accessible in less time than the 21~cm power spectrum for some wave modes, with detections in hundreds of hours.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Safe, Affordable, Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Systems

The fundamental capability of Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) is game changing for space exploration. A first generation Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (NCPS) based on NTP could provide high thrust at a specific impulse above 900 s, roughly double that of state of the art chemical engines. Characteristics of fission and NTP indicate that useful first generation systems will provide a foundation for future systems with extremely high performance. The role of the NCPS in the development of advanced nuclear propulsion systems could be analogous to the role of the DC-3 in the development of advanced aviation. Progress made under the NCPS project could help enable both advanced NTP and advanced Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP)