I hope that the evaluation framework introduced in the paper can become used by other researchers working on mutational signatures.
There is a numerical benchmark reported in Fig. 4 with absolute runtimes and memory usages that can directly be reproduced with the provided source code. The benchmark was performed on the author's computer, and since numerical performance and parallel scaling can be somewhat hardware-dependent, it would be of interest to see whether a performance that is comparable to the one reported in the paper can be reproduced by others on their own computers in practice. The benchmark simulates a growing tissue from one to 10,000 cells in just ten minutes, so this offers an easy entry point into tissue modeling and simulation. No input data is needed to reproduce the output. The program has no dependencies.
Most electron beam physics is considered in the context of a vacuum, but there are applications to long-range electron beam transmission in air. As particle acceleration sources become more compact, we may have the chance to take particle beams out to the real world. The example provided in the paper describes that of x-ray backscatter detectors, where significantly stronger signals could be achieved by scanning objects with electron beams. This paper forms the basis for a potential new mode of particle-beam research, and it is important to ensure the reproducibility of this work for groups who wish to explore the applications of this new technology.
The method is trained on the data that were available, but it is meant to be re-trainable as soon as new data are published. It would be great to be really sure that even someone else will be able to do it. In case we receive any feedback, we would be really happy to improve our Github repository so as to make the reproduction easier!
There are many applications to multi-MeV X-rays. Their penetrative properties make them good for scanning dense objects for industry, and their ionising properties can destroy tumours in radiotherapy. They are also around the energy of nuclear transitions, so they can trigger nuclear reactions to break down nuclear waste into medical isotopes, or to reveal smuggled nuclear-materials for port security. Laser-driven X-ray generation offers a compact and efficient way to create a bright source of X-rays, without having to construct a large synchrotron. To fully utilise this capability, work on optimising the target design and understanding the underlying X-ray mechanisms are essential. The hybrid-PIC code is in a unique position to model the full interaction, so its ease-of-use and reproducibility are crucial for this field to develop.
