University of California, Santa Cruz

About: University of California, Santa Cruz is a education organization based out in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Galaxy & Population. The organization has 15541 authors who have published 44120 publications receiving 2759983 citations. The organization is also known as: UCSC & UC, Santa Cruz.

RegCM4 : model description and preliminary tests over multiple CORDEX domains

Abstract: A new version of the RegCM regional climate modeling system, RegCM4, has been recently developed and made available for public use. Compared to previous versions, RegCM4 includes new land surface, planetary boundary layer, and air–sea flux schemes, a mixed convection and tropical band configuration, modifications to the pre-existing radiative transfer and boundary layer schemes, and a full upgrade of the model code towards improved flexibility, portability, and user friendliness. The model can be interactively coupled to a 1D lake model, a simplified aerosol scheme (including organic carbon, black carbon, SO4, dust, and sea spray), and a gas phase chemistry module (CBM-Z). After a general description of the model, a series of test experiments are presented over 4 domains prescribed under the CORDEX framework (Africa, South America, East Asia, and Europe) to provide illustrative examples of the model behavior and sensitivities under different climatic regimes. These experiments indicate that, overall, RegCM4 shows an improved performance in several respects compared to previous versions, although further testing by the user community is needed to fully explore its sensitivities and range of applications.

Flexible solid-state supercapacitors: design, fabrication and applications

Abstract: Increasing power and energy demands for next-generation portable and flexible electronics such as roll-up displays, photovoltaic cells, and wearable devices have stimulated intensive efforts to explore flexible, lightweight and environmentally friendly energy storage devices. Flexible solid-state supercapacitors (SCs) have attracted increasing interest because they can provide substantially higher specific/volumetric energy density compared to conventional capacitors. Additionally, flexible solid-state SCs are typically small in size, highly reliable, light-weight, easy to handle, and have a wide range of operation temperatures. In this regard, solid-state SCs hold great promise as new energy storage devices for flexible and wearable electronics. In this article, we review recent achievements in the design, fabrication and characterization of flexible solid-state SCs. Moreover, we also discuss the current challenges and future opportunities for the development of high-performance flexible solid-state SCs.

Overview of the SDSS-IV MaNGA Survey: Mapping nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory

Abstract: We present an overview of a new integral field spectroscopic survey called MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory), one of three core programs in the fourth-generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) that began on 2014 July 1. MaNGA will investigate the internal kinematic structure and composition of gas and stars in an unprecedented sample of 10,000 nearby galaxies. We summarize essential characteristics of the instrument and survey design in the context of MaNGA's key science goals and present prototype observations to demonstrate MaNGA's scientific potential. MaNGA employs dithered observations with 17 fiber-bundle integral field units that vary in diameter from 12'' (19 fibers) to 32'' (127 fibers). Two dual-channel spectrographs provide simultaneous wavelength coverage over 3600-10300 A at R ~ 2000. With a typical integration time of 3 hr, MaNGA reaches a target r-band signal-to-noise ratio of 4-8 (A–1 per 2'' fiber) at 23 AB mag arcsec–2, which is typical for the outskirts of MaNGA galaxies. Targets are selected with M * 109 M ☉ using SDSS-I redshifts and i-band luminosity to achieve uniform radial coverage in terms of the effective radius, an approximately flat distribution in stellar mass, and a sample spanning a wide range of environments. Analysis of our prototype observations demonstrates MaNGA's ability to probe gas ionization, shed light on recent star formation and quenching, enable dynamical modeling, decompose constituent components, and map the composition of stellar populations. MaNGA's spatially resolved spectra will enable an unprecedented study of the astrophysics of nearby galaxies in the coming 6 yr.

Identification of Functional Elements and Regulatory Circuits by Drosophila modENCODE

Abstract: To gain insight into how genomic information is translated into cellular and developmental programs, the Drosophila model organism Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (modENCODE) project is comprehensively mapping transcripts, histone modifications, chromosomal proteins, transcription factors, replication proteins and intermediates, and nucleosome properties across a developmental time course and in multiple cell lines. We have generated more than 700 data sets and discovered protein-coding, noncoding, RNA regulatory, replication, and chromatin elements, more than tripling the annotated portion of the Drosophila genome. Correlated activity patterns of these elements reveal a functional regulatory network, which predicts putative new functions for genes, reveals stage- and tissue-specific regulators, and enables gene-expression prediction. Our results provide a foundation for directed experimental and computational studies in Drosophila and related species and also a model for systematic data integration toward comprehensive genomic and functional annotation.

The California-Kepler Survey. III. A Gap in the Radius Distribution of Small Planets*

Abstract: The size of a planet is an observable property directly connected to the physics of its formation and evolution. We used precise radius measurements from the California-Kepler Survey to study the size distribution of 2025 Kepler planets in fine detail. We detect a factor of ≥2 deficit in the occurrence rate distribution at 1.5–2.0 R⊕. This gap splits the population of close-in (P < 100 days) small planets into two size regimes: R_p < 1.5 R⊕ and R_p = 2.0-3.0 R⊕, with few planets in between. Planets in these two regimes have nearly the same intrinsic frequency based on occurrence measurements that account for planet detection efficiencies. The paucity of planets between 1.5 and 2.0 R⊕ supports the emerging picture that close-in planets smaller than Neptune are composed of rocky cores measuring 1.5 R⊕ or smaller with varying amounts of low-density gas that determine their total sizes.