Estimation of the Spatial Suitability of Winter Tourism Destinations Based on Copula Functions.

Climate and weather are important factors that determine winter tourism destinations and snow resources and temperature affect the income of the winter tourism industry. Against the background of climate change, abnormal fluctuations in climate elements bring a series of challenges for winter tourism and cause potential losses to the tourism industry. To effectively assess and plan winter tourism destinations, this study establishes the snow abundance and meteorological suitability indices from snow resource and weather conditions to express winter tourism resources, respectively. The coupling relationship of the two indices was used to analyze the spatial suitability of winter tourism destinations based on the copula function. By case analysis, it was found that the Frank copula one is the best fitting function for winter tourism suitability analysis. The Yushu⁻Jiutai⁻Yitong⁻Dongliao line is the boundary of spatial suitability in the study area. The eastern areas of the boundary have great potential for winter tourism and could strive to develop ice-snow projects, whereas the western regions are relatively weak. This study has guiding significance for winter tourism destination development and resource spatial layout.

Black coral as a new environmental recorder: The lead profiles in coral skeletons over the past century.

Lead (Pb) is a typical heavy metal pollutant in the environment, and most Pb contamination comes from human activities. In the present work, the Pb contents of two black coral specimens (Cirrhipathes spp.) collected from the northern South China Sea were measured by synchrotron radiation micro X-ray fluorescence (SR µ-XRF) analysis with 2.5 µm resolution. The results showed that sample SY-1 from the Sanya Bay (near the continent) exhibited higher Pb levels and greater fluctuations than sample XS-1 from the Xisha Islands (off the continent), reflecting the influence of terrestrial input and atmospheric deposition in coastal surface seawater. The present work also demonstrated that the Pb profile in black coral nearshore was highly influenced by human activities, mainly by war and economic development. Thus, black coral may serve as a new potential environmental Pb recorder with SR µ-XRF analytical technology.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy investigation on human breast cancer cells.

BACKGROUND: Nanoparticles are potentially used for early cancer detection, accurate diagnosis, and cancer treatment. RESULTS: In this paper, the breast cancer cells treated with gold colloidal suspension were carefully studied by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra. Raman spectroscopy combining with high-resolution electron microscope is employed to investigate the interaction of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) with the intracellular components. The TEM images show that the GNPs are taken into the living cells and enveloped into some vesicles named 'lick up vesicles' in the cytosol. CONCLUSIONS: The SERS spectra and SERS mapping of cells indicate that the major Raman bands are mostly assigned to the vibration characteristics of proteins, and the C-H in-plane bending mode of the substituted benzene in Phenylalanine is remarkably enhanced. Finally, the interaction mechanisms of the GNPs with the intracellular components are further discussed in detail.

In situ raman spectral mapping study on the microscale fibers in blue coral (Heliopora coerulea) skeletons.

The presence and localization of organic matrix associated with the aragonite phase in the fibers of blue coral Heliopora coerulea skeletons were studied by in situ microRaman mapping spectra, with a spatial resolution of ~0.3 µm. Spatial variations in the amounts and chemical compositions of the fibers were imaged. The results showed that the amide I and the α-helix of amide III were perpendicular to the c-axis of fibers' growth, whereas the ß-turns/sheet of amide III was in the parallel conformation. Visible S-S and C-S bonds were consistent with the XANES results, which indicated the existence of organic sulfur in coral skeletons. Regular cyclic changes between aragonite and organic matrix refined a stepping growth mode of the fibers' biomineralization. An inorganic PO(4) bond was detected and exhibited the same concentration variation trends as the v(4) aragonite bands. Instead of providing an ocean P proxy on the subseasonal to centennial scale by LA-ICPMS, the possibility was raised of producing high resolution surface ocean phosphorus records on daily environmental variation via P/Ca variation cycles determined from Raman mapping data.

[Raman spectra of monkey cerebral cortex tissue].

Monkey cerebral cortex, an important part in the brain to control action and thought activities, is mainly composed of grey matter and nerve cell. In the present paper, the in situ Raman spectra of the cerebral cortex of the birth, teenage and aged monkeys were achieved for the first time. The results show that the Raman spectra for the different age monkey cerebral cortex exhibit most obvious changes in the regions of 1000-1400 and 2800-3000 cm(-1). With monkey growing up, the relative intensities of the Raman bands at 1313 and 2885 cm(-1) mainly assigned to CH2 chain vibrational mode of lipid become stronger and stronger whereas the relative intensities of the Raman bands at 1338 and 2932 cm(-1) mainly assigned to CH3 chain vibrational mode of protein become weaker and weaker. In addition, the two new Raman bands at 1296 and 2850 cm(-1) are only observed in the aged monkey cerebral cortex, therefore, the two bands can be considered as a character or "marker" to differentiate the caducity degree with monkey growth In order to further explore the changes, the relative intensity ratios of the Raman band at 1313 cm(-1) to that at 1338 cm(-1) and the Raman band at 2885 cm(-1) to that at 2 932 cm(-1), I1313/I1338 and I2885/I2932, which are the lipid-to-protein ratios, are introduced to denote the degree of the lipid content. The results show that the relative intensity ratios increase significantly with monkey growth, namely, the lipid content in the cerebral cortex increases greatly with monkey growth. So, the authors can deduce that the overmuch lipid is an important cause to induce the caducity. Therefore, the results will be a powerful assistance and valuable parameter to study the order of life growth and diagnose diseases.

Raman spectroscopic investigation on the interaction of malignant hepatocytes with doxorubicin.

Raman spectroscopy has proven to be a very powerful technique and is currently experiencing a renaissance. In this paper, it is used to explore the interaction between doxorubicin and malignant hepatocytes in vitro. For the addition of doxorubicin, the band intensity at 1609 cm-1, mainly assigned to C=C in-plane bending mode of phenylalanine and/or tyrosine residues, increases significantly, and the intensities of the bands at 1585 and 1313 cm-1, mainly due to the guanine bases, decrease greatly. In addition, Raman spectra are investigated at different doxorubicin concentrations, and the mean areas ratios of the band at 1450 to that at 1003 cm-1, A1450/A1003, fluctuate according to the doxorubicin concentration increasing, which suggests that doxorubicin affects the relative content of lipid in cells.

[Raman spectroscopic investigation on the interactions between liver Cancer cells (SMMC-7721) and fufang Luxiancao particles].

Luxiancao is a new medicine for liver cancer, and is purely natural botanical It has good curative effects and few side effects. The curative mechanism of Luxiancao is unknown. In the present paper, the authors used a 514. 5 nm laser to measure the changes in the Raman spectrum of liver cancer cells (SMMC-7721) treated by Luxiancao at different concentrations. The study can help us know more about the mechanism, efficiency and side effects of Luxiancao. The results show that significant changes were observed in the cells' Raman spectra after reacting with Luxiancao. The intensities at 785 and 1 092 cm(-1), corresponding to DNA phosphate backbone vibration, were reduced; and the Raman bands for the bases A and G at 1 312 and 1585 cm(-1) also decreased, indicating that Luxiancao may be inserted in DNA bases and influence the DNA replications, resulting in the reduction in DNA content and breaking of the DNA strands. Besides, the intensity of 1 360 cm(-1), belonging to Trp, decreased gradually and disappeared in the end, indicating the Trp of cancer cells began to be exposed when adding in Luxiancao. The bands at 1 004 cm(-1) for Phe and 1 656 cm(-1) for proteins alpha-helix also decreased, suggesting that there were changes in the structure of protein and circumstance of amino acid. Moreover, the effects on cancer cells were enhanced gradually with the HCPT concentration increasing. Since a Raman spectrum is a chemical fingerprint of a sample, the different concentration dependent changes in the Raman spectra of individual cells due to reacting with Luxiancao can overcome the limitations of other detection systems used for quantitative and qualitative analysis of the drug.

Regular variations in organic matrix composition of small yellow croaker (Pseudociaena polyactis) otoliths: an in situ Raman microspectroscopy and mapping study.

The stonelike otoliths from the ears of fish consist of calcium carbonate crystallites embedded in an organic matrix framework. The organic matrix has long been known to play a pivotal role in the biomineralization of otoliths, and different methods have been used to conduct investigations on it. A new sensitive method for the in situ study of the regular variations in the organic matrix composition of serial small yellow croaker otoliths by Raman microspectroscopy and mapping is described. The major collagen bands were always observed around 1,272 cm(-1) (amide III) and 1600-1690 cm(-1) (amide I), and 1443 and 2800-3100 cm(-1) (bending and stretching modes of CH groups, respectively). Aromatic amino acids, such as phenylalanine and tyrosine, were identified at 1,003 cm(-1) and at 830 and 853 cm(-1). Tryptophan was assigned at 1,555 cm(-1), and it was firstly found in otoliths. A regular calcification process in otoliths was observed in Raman spectral mapping results. Corresponding changes were clearly seen in the concentrations of the organic matrix and aragonite (CaCO3) in otoliths.

[Micro-Raman spectra for gastritis and gastric ulcer tissues].

Micro-Raman spectroscopy was employed to identify gastritis tissues and gastric ulcer tissues. The primary spectral differences between the two types of samples include, for gastric ulcer tissues, (1) the intensity of the peak at 781 cm(-1) ascribed to cytosine decreases, while the peaks ascribed to adenine and thymine respectively at 793 and 823 cm(-1) become stronger; (2) the bands of amide I and amide III at 1654 and 1320-1270 cm(-1) respectively, characteristic of alpha-helix structural protein, lose their intensities, and the tryptophan band at 1332 cm(-1) and phenylalanine band at 1003 cm(-1) reduced significantly, while the tryptophan marker at 1554 cm(-1) up shiftes to 1556 cm(-1) with increasing intensity; (3) a blue shift of 1073 cm(-1) line, the characteristic Raman band of lipid, and a reduction in the ratio of 1303 cm(-1) assigned to in-phase CH2 twisting motion to 1268 cm(-1) from =CH in-plane deformation were observed; (4) statistic analysis shows that the ratio of Raman intensities at bands 1449 cm(-1) originating from CH2 group to 1660 cm(-1) from amide I provides a promising standard to distinguish the two tissues.