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China’s everyday heritage gardens, epitomizing social and spatial logic through classical layouts, offer a window into the nexus between Chinese culture and spatial design. Using space syntax and statistical methods, we examined 27 such gardens in Suzhou, categorizing them into four groups by spatial attributes. We first quantified building spatial traits, then delved into their syntactical relationships, guiding the final clustering. Cluster A, with 17 gardens, marries architectural diversity with spatial harmony, ensuring navigability. Cluster B’s seven gardens prioritize open landscapes, minimizing buildings for clarity. Cluster C, comprising two expansive gardens, blends architectural variety with spatial coherence, albeit with some navigational complexity. Unique, Cluster D, solely Yi Garden, presents a rich spatial and architectural tapestry, demanding deeper visitor engagement. This work sheds light on the intertwining of garden design and spatial structures, underscoring influences like ownership and cultural milieu, suggesting broader applicability to heritage gardens.

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The improvement of rural living environment is a comprehensive strategic measure to promote the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas. Taking rural areas in Suzhou as the survey object, a sampling survey was conducted to obtain the expenditure amount, proportion, and structure of long-term management fees for rural living environment in Kunshan City, Taicang City, Zhangjiagang City, Changshu City, as well as some administrative villages in Wujiang District, Wuzhong District, High-tech Zone, and Xiangcheng District under Suzhou City in 2021 and 2022. The main factors affecting the expenditure of long-term management fees for rural living environment were analyzed. As a result, it was found that there is a significant decrease in the proportion of per household expenses for the improvement and daily management of the living environment in Suzhou, as well as the total expenditure on the improvement and daily management of the living environment to the annual income, and the proportion of expenditure on garbage cleaning in the improvement and daily management of the rural living environment in Suzhou. There are three ways to reduce costs and increase efficiency: first, optimize the assessment mechanism for village cadres, and fully leverage the leading role of village cadres; secondly, fully leverage the incentive effect of the point system to re optimize village public health outsourcing service projects; thirdly, in the urban-rural fringe, it is possible to consider packaging the cleaning project as a whole to improve the overall efficiency of village cleaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Drought risk assessment plays a crucial role in effective drought management. However, it is often challenging due to the intricate relationships among various indicators and the lack of practical guidance. This study presents a drought risk assessment model developed using the Semi‐partial Quadratic Subtraction Set Pair Potential (SQSSPP) method, which is derived from the theory of set pair analysis. The indicator system comprises 21 indicators divided into four subsystems. The SQSSPP method utilizes uncertainty information in the overall development trend of regional drought risk states by extracting connection numbers from the Subtraction Set Pair Potential (SSPP), improving the reliability of evaluation results. The SQSSPP method is validated through a case study of Suzhou City, China, from 2007 to 2017. Three grades are used to evaluate comprehensive drought risk. The result shows an overall decreasing trend over time, with a level III risk in 2010 and consistently at level II from 2011 to 2017. Indicators in the hazard and resilience subsystems are the primary factors influencing drought risk in the Suzhou City. Specific indicators requiring emphasis for improvement are identified, including arable land rate, agricultural population ratio, reservoir regulation rate, current water supply capacity, and irrigation index. The SQSSPP method not only provides targeted drought risk assessment but also provides valuable guidance for future water resource management. While the study focuses on Suzhou City, the proposed approach is applicable to broader‐scale risk management evaluations and practices.

Studying the carrying capacity of regional water resources is an important way to discover and solve regional water resource problems. In view of issues such as water resource shortage and water environment pollution in the northern Anhui Plain, an evaluation index system was constructed based on the main body frame method with Suzhou City as an example. The water resource carrying capacity of Suzhou City from 2012 to 2021 was evaluated by technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) with combination weighting, and the obstacle degree model was introduced to obtain the obstacles to the improvement of the water resource carrying capacity in Suzhou City. The results indicate that the water resource carrying capacity in Suzhou City fluctuated (critical overload–mild overload–critical overload) from 2012 to 2021. The supply and demand of water resources in the city are in a tight balance. The amount of water supply per capita, the COD emissions per 10 000 GPD, and the daily treatment capacity of urban sewage treatment plants are the main obstacles hindering the improvement of water resource carrying capacity in Suzhou City. The evaluation results and methods are reasonable and reliable and can be used as a reference for evaluating water resource carrying capacity in other cities.

Suzhou City, located in the Yangtze River Delta in China, is prone to flooding due to a complex combination of natural factors, including its monsoon climate, low elevation, and tidally influenced position, as well as intensive human activities. The Large Encirclement Flood Control Project (LEFCP) was launched to cope with serious floods in the urban area. This project changed the spatiotemporal pattern of flood processes and caused spatial diversion of floods from the urban area to the outskirts of the city. Therefore, this study developed a distributed flood simulation model in order to understand this transition of flood processes. The results revealed that the LEFCP effectively protected the urban areas from floods, but the present scheduling schemes resulted in the spatial diversion of floods to the outskirts of the city. With rainstorm frequencies of 10.0% to 0.5%, the water level differences between two representative water level stations (Miduqiao (MDQ) and Fengqiao (FQ)) located inside and outside the LEFCP area, ranged from 0.75 m to 0.24 m and from 1.80 m to 1.58 m, respectively. In addition, the flood safety margin at MDQ and the duration with the water level exceeding the warning water level at FQ ranged from 0.95 m to 0.43 m and from 4 h to 22 h, respectively. Rational scheduling schemes for the hydraulic facilities of the LEFCP in extreme precipitation cases were developed according to flood simulations under seven scheduling scenarios. This helps to regulate the spatial flood diversion caused by the LEFCP during extreme precipitation.

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ObjectiveTo investigate the characteristics of common deafness gene mutations in newborns in a district of Suzhou municipality, Jiangsu province for the prevention and treatment of hereditary hearing loss.MethodsMicro blood samples were collected from 12 211 newborns delivered at four general hospitals in Suzhou High-Tech Zone from July 2018 through July 2022 for detections of 20 mutant loci of four common deafness genes GJB2 (35delG, 176_191del16, 235delC and 299_300delAT), GJB3 (538C > T and 547G > A), SLC26A4 (281C > T, 589G > A, IVS7-2A > G, 1174A > G, 1226G > A, 1229C > T, IVS15+5G > A, 1975G > C, 2027T > A, 2162C > T and 2168A > G) and mitochondrial 12SrRNA (1095T > C, 1494C > T and 1555A > G) with congenital deafness gene detection kit. Gender and yearly differences in detection rates of the deafness gene mutations among the newborns were analyzed.ResultsAmong 12 211 newborns, 680 (5.57%) were found to carry the 4 common deafness genes, with the detection rates of 2.80% for GJB2, 1.77% for SLC26A4, 0.67% for mitochondrial 12SrRNA, and 0.43% for GJB3, respectively. Of the 20 mutant loci detected, the detection rate was the highest (2.05%) for heterozygote 235delC mutation in GJB2 gene, followed by 1.16% for heterozygote IVS7-2A > G mutation in SLC26A4 gene. There were no significant yearly and gender differences in the total detection rate and the composition ratio of gene mutations among the neonates (all P > 0.05), but there was a significant yearly difference in the detection rate of mitochondrial 12SrRNA gene (P < 0.01) and a significant gender difference in the detection rate of GJB2 gene (P = 0.04). ConclusionAmong newborns in Suzhou High-Tech Zone, the dominantly detected deafness gene mutations were GJB2235delC and SLC26A4 IVS7-2A > G mutation. The total detection rate of common deafness genes did not significantly differ between male and female newborns and in different years but there were gender and yearly differences in gene-specific detection rate. The results should be considered in genetic screening for neonatal deafness.

ObjectiveTo analyze the variation in positivity rates of five respiratory pathogens before and during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic among 0 – 14 years old child inpatients with acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) in Suzhou city for the prevention and treatment of ALRI in children. MethodsThe participants of the study were 9 005 children aged 0 – 14 years and hospitalized from 2018 through July 2022 due to ALRI (with discharge diagnosis codes of J09-J18 and J20-J22 of International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision) at a tertiary children′s hospital of Suzhou city. We extracted the participants′ medical records and results of sputum specimen detection on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza virus A (FluA), influenza virus B (FluB), Streptococcus pneumoniae (Spn), and Haemophilus influenzae (Hi). The yearly and monthly detection rates of the five respiratory pathogens were described and compared to examine variations in the detection rates before (2018 – 2019) and during (2020 – July 2022) the COVID-19 pandemic. ResultsCompared to those in the same period of 2018 – 2019, the detection rate of FluA and FluB decreased significantly in 2020 (1.3% and 1.7%), 2021 (0.1% and 1.0%), and January – July of 2022 (3.5% and 3.2%) (all P < 0.05); there was no significant alteration in detection rate of RSV in 2020 (P > 0.05), but the detection rate was significantly higher in 2021 (20.8%) and in 2022 (18.9%) (both P < 0.05); the detection rate of Spn decreased significantly in 2020 (11.2%) and 2022 (8.9%) (both P < 0.05), while there was no significant change in the detection rate of Spn in 2021 (P > 0.05); significantly decreased detection rate of Hi was observed in 2020 (6.8%), 2021 (7.5%), and 2022 (4.0%) (all P < 0.05). In comparison to the average levels of non epidemic season, the monthly detection rate of RSV increased significantly to 13.9%, 9.2%, 28.8%, 43.5%, and 35.3% for the months of July – November, 2021 (P < 0.001 for all). Before 2020, the main co-infection detected was the infection of Hi and Spn or Flu, but in 2020, mainly detected co-infections were Hi plus Spn, Flu plus Hi, and RSV plus Spn; in 2021 and 2022, the main co-infection of RSV plus Spn was detected. There were differences in age group-specific detection rates of the five pathogens, with more RSV infections detected among the hospitalized children under one year of age, FluA or FluB infection in those age one year and over, and Spn or Hi infection in the hospitalized children under age of 6 years. ConclusionNon-pharmaceutical interventions on the COVID-19 pandemic could have a certain impact on detection rates of five common respiratory pathogens among 0 – 14 years old hospitalized children with ALRI in Suzhou city. The result suggests the necessity of pathogen surveillance in prevention and control of respiratory infections in children.

Knowledge of the evolutionary characteristics of urban functional centers and their formation mechanisms is a prerequisite for promoting urban renewal and optimizing these centers. Taking the central urban area of Suzhou as an example, the driving mechanisms of spatial-temporal differentiation were determined through examining long-term data of urban points of interest, kernel density estimation, and location entropy. The findings are as follows. First, the spatial distribution of urban functional centers evolves from a monocentric to a polycentric pattern, with a significant pattern of primary and secondary differential order. In the case of Suzhou, the city has evolved from a single center to a multi-center functional system with one main center and four sub-centers, which is in accordance with the layout of the functional centers determined by the urban master plan. Second, The services of functional centers shift from public function to a dominance of lifestyle function and then to consumer dominance, which supports the trend of the transformation into a consumption-oriented city. The spatial differentiation of the dominant function types of each center is significant, with both a complementary division of labor and a corresponding trend of functional specialization. Under China's unique governance system, the intervention of planning policies is bound to have a significant impact on the spatial and temporal differentiation of urban functional centers. Therefore, based on the perspective of urban planning and policy, we have constructed an analytical framework for the evolution of functional centers at multiple scales and with multiple actors acting together. Macro policies are transmitted downward through national strategies and regional plans to guide the overall evolution of space and functions; at the meso policy level, the active local government builds a blueprint plan through planning tools, such as development plans and urban master plans, links with market mechanisms, and carries out urban management to promote the generation of multiple functional centers in the city. At the micro-policy level, action policies such as urban function relocation, spatial regeneration, and the creation of special spaces in new towns are coordinated to promote the function relocation and agglomeration of functional centers in the city. Multi-scale planning policies jointly construct a nested mechanism to drive the evolution of functional centers; however, the degree of spatial and temporal matching between planning policies and market mechanisms determines the formation and evolution paths of functional centers. The mismatch between the "blueprint" approach of urban planning and the flexibility of the market mechanism, the failure of the transmission of planning policies at the upper and lower levels, or the change of planning can cause a bias in the generation and evolution of functional centers. The contribution of this study is, first, to establish a spatial and temporal cognitive framework for the evolution of functional centers and to explore the evolutionary pattern of the dominant function types of functional centers based on fine-grained data. We found that the dominant functions of urban functional centers in the case study area go through an evolutionary process of "public function-living function-consumption function". A similar process has not yet been documented in other cities, underscoring the need to verify the model through multi-case comparisons. Second, the special urban governance environment in China requires that researchers and planners view policy interventions at multiple scales in order to fully understand the spatial and temporal evolution of urban functional centers and so establish a policy cognitive framework for the evolution of functional centers. Understanding the role of planning policy interventions forms the basis for the subsequent implementation of targeted planning interventions.

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Copyright of Tropical Geography is the property of Tropical Geography Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

ObjectiveTo investigate the knowledge on cervical cancer and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, and intention choice of daughters′ free HPV vaccination scheme among mothers of school-age girls for providing evidence to administrative departments in developing relevant vaccination strategies. MethodsUsing convenient sampling and a self-designed questionnaire, we conducted an online survey among 1 648 mothers of girls aged 9 – 15 years through official WeChat website of Suzhou Vaccination during October 2022. The data collected from 1 484 eligible respondents were statistically analyzed. Results Of the 1 484 respondents for the four listed HPV vaccination schemes available to their daughters (including free domestic bivalent or subsidized HPV vaccine supplied by health administrative departments), 699 (47.10%) selected plan 2 (free domestic bivalent HPV vaccine or partially subsidized vaccination of other HPV vaccines); 565 (38.07%) selected plan 1 (with cash subsidy for other HPV vaccination according to the price of two-dose vaccination of domestic bivalent HPV vaccine); 161 (10.85%) selected plan 3 (free vaccination of domestic HPV vaccine or self-paid vaccination of other HPV vaccines); and 59 (3.98%) selected plan 4 (self-paid vaccination of all other HPV vaccines available). Nine-valent HPV vaccine was the most frequently selected vaccine reported by the four groups of respondents with different intention choice of the vaccination scheme, with the selecting ratios of 94.16%, 83.26%, 55.28%, and 98.31% for the respondents reporting the intention choice of vaccination plan 2, 1, 3, and 4, respectively. The respondents' intention choice of daughters′ free HPV vaccination scheme differed significantly by educational background (χ2 = 53.77, P < 0.05), monthly household income (χ2 = 49.07, P < 0.05), and the score of cognition on cervical cancer and HPV vaccine (χ2 = 8.19, P = 0.04). The results of multivariate logistic regression model showed that compared to those with a monthly household income of ≥ 20 001 (Chinese Yuan), the respondents with a monthly household income of ≤ 5 000 were more likely to select the plan 1 (odds ratio [OR] = 5.65), plan 2 (OR = 5.31), and plan 3 (OR = 14.34) other than the plan 4; the respondents with a monthly household income of 10 001 – 15 000 were likely to select the plan 3 (OR = 2.59) other than the plan 4; and the respondents with a monthly family income of 5 001 – 10 000 were more likely to select the plan 3 (OR = 2.60) other than the plan 4. ConclusionIn Suzhou city, about one half of the mothers of school-age girls intend to select free domestic bivalent vaccine or partially subsidized vaccination of other vaccines for their daughters′ free HPV vaccination scheme, with nine-valent HPV vaccine being the most frequently selected vaccine, and the intention choice is mainly influenced by maternal monthly household income and education background.

The concept of green and low-carbon development is integrated into territorial spatial planning and district control research. It is one of the systematic policy tools for emission reduction and carbon sequestration, greatly contributing to achieving the double carbon goal. This paper presents a method for measuring the carbon emissions of urban territorial spaces using multisource big data, aiming to identify the spatial patterns and levels of carbon emissions at microspatial scales. The spatial patterns of carbon emissions were used to construct a carbon balance zoning method to evaluate the regional differences in the spatial distribution of carbon emissions, taking Suzhou as an example to achieve carbon balance zoning at the micro scale of the city. Based on our research, the following was determined: (1) Suzhou's total carbon emissions in 2020 was approximately 240.3 million tons, with the industrial sector accounting for 81.32% of these emissions. The total carbon sink was about 0.025 million tons. (2) In Suzhou City, the high-value plots of carbon emissions are mainly located in industrial agglomeration areas. By contrast, low-value plots are primarily located in suburban areas and various carbon sink functional areas, exhibiting a scattered distribution. (3) The territorial space unit was divided into four functional areas of carbon balance, with 36 low-carbon economic zone units accounting for 37.11%, 29 carbon-source control zone units accounting for 29.90%, 14 carbon-sink functional zone units accounting for 14.43%, and 18 high-carbon optimization zone units accounting for 18.56%. As a result of this study, carbon balance zoning was achieved at the grassroots space level, which will assist the city in low-carbon and refined urban governance. Some ideas and references are also provided to formulate policies for low-carbon development at the micro scale of a city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilizes four environmental indicators derived from six-phase Landsat images (TM, OLI, and TIRS) to construct a remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) and to quantitatively and comprehensively assess the spatiotemporal changes in the eco-environmental quality (EEQ) of Suzhou City, China. The environmental indicators consist of the wetness index (WI), greenness index (GI), dryness index (DI), and heat index (HI). The obtained results showed: (1) positive effects of the WI and GI, as well as negative effects of the DI and HI, on the EEQ of Suzhou City in the 2002–2022 period. The GI was observed to have the greatest impact on the RSEI of Suzhou City. (2) The average RSEI values of Suzhou City exhibit a "W" shape pattern in the 2002–2022 period. The lowest and highest average RSEI values were 0.632 and 0.746, respectively, while the average annual RSEI value was 0.702. The EEQ of Suzhou City was observed to be at a relatively good level. (3) The EEQ of Suzhou City exhibits sharp declines in the periods of 2006–2010 and 2014–2018, for which the degraded RSEI area covers 440.60 and 404.16 km2, while the area ratios are 56.13% and 51.48%, respectively. The EEQ of Suzhou City has substantially increased during the periods of 2010–2014, 2018–2022, and 2002–2022, showing improved RSEI areas of 583.7, 390.13, and 347.02 km2 and area ratios of 74.36%, 49.70%, and 44.21%, respectively. The results of this study provide a scientific basis for the protection, utilization, and development of the ecological environment (EE) of Suzhou City. They also provide valuable references and data support for the sustainable development, the high-quality development of the EE, and the construction of the ecological civilization of Suzhou City. The policymakers of environmental protection departments in Suzhou City can use this study's inferences to devise local environmental protection policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building regional ecological network can alleviate the notable contradiction between land use and ecological development in the process of rapid urbanization. Suzhou is the center city of the Yangtze River Delta urban cluster and a typical water network city, but high intensity land use has fragmented its ecological space. The study firstly introduced the patch generation land use simulation (PLUS) model to simulate the land use under the ecological priority scenario in Suzhou in 2032, combining the land use data in 2002, 2012 and 2022 to provide basis for the construction of ecological network in the later stage. Secondly, the ecological sources of the four periods were identified by combining morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) and landscape connectivity analysis, and the ecological corridors and nodes of each period were screened and classified by minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model, gravity model and hydrological analysis. Then we superimposed the screened sources, corridors, and nodes to construct an ecological network pattern in Suzhou that can develop in harmony with the land use dynamics. Finally, the degree of optimization was verified by the network structural evaluation in comparison with the ecological network in 2022. The results indicate that (1) Suzhou has the largest area of water among the land use types, with good ecological substrate. Under the guidance of the ecological green development strategy, the woodland and grassland areas will slightly increase in 2032. The overall land use pattern will generally remain consistent with that in 2022, and landscape fragmentation will be mitigated. (2) A total of 23 ecological sources are identified, mainly located near Taihu Lake, Yangcheng Lake and Yangtze River. Among them, Taihu Lake is the most important ecological source. 76 ecological corridors are screened, including 31 construction corridors, 22 protected corridors and 23 potential corridors, mostly water corridors. 54 ecological nodes are selected, divided into 21 general strategic points, 12 potential strategic points, 11 restorative strategic points and 10 break points. (3) The plan forms an ecological spatial pattern of “three cores, four pieces, multiple corridors and multiple sources” and proposes corresponding refined management measures to promote sustainable development in the Yangtze River Delta region. In addition, this study aims to propose a framework for ecological network construction coupled with land use simulation, which can provide new ideas for ecological construction of similar regions affected by urbanization around the globe.

In the Internet era, the integration of the Internet and traditional businesses has been extensive, and the relationship between information technology and traditional location is an important topic of concern to the academic community. The urban catering industry under the influence of the Internet includes O2O (Online To Offline) in-store catering industry and O2O delivery catering industry. The study of its spatial distribution and influencing factors will help to more comprehensively understand the impact of the Internet on the urban catering industry space. The Internet catering industry space is formed by the Internet influence effect on the physical catering industry space. Therefore, the spatial distribution of the urban Internet catering industry is determined by the spatial influence effect of the Internet and the urban space in which the catering industry is located. Owing to the differences in their operation modes, the two types of Internet catering industries, O2O in-store catering and O2O delivery catering, cater to different functional types of urban space, resulting in different spatial distribution preferences of these two types. Therefore, this study takes Suzhou, a highly heterogeneous city center, as an example, and compares the spatial distribution of O2O in-store catering industry and O2O delivery catering industry in the old city center and the new city center, and discusses the Internet catering industry with reference to the spatial distribution of the physical catering industry. The results reveal the following: (1) Traditional urban space has a significant impact on the spatial pattern of the catering industry, that is, the impact of the Internet on the catering industry space is based on the existing urban space, and the impact of the Internet on the urban space is reflected in the existing urban space functions. (2) The Internet has different effects on different types of commercial services. Although the overall agglomeration characteristics of the Internet catering industry are obvious, the O2O catering industry in Daodian has the characteristics of agglomeration in high-level centers, while the distribution of the O2O catering industry in Daojia is more balanced. (3) The two types of Internet catering business operation models have different degrees of fit with the specific functional types of urban space. The catering industry in the tourism core area has strong in-store consumption characteristics and weak home-based consumption characteristics. (4) The spatial organization mode of commercial-graded point-like distribution in the new urban area promotes the development of commercial agglomeration, resulting in a greatly enhanced agglomeration of the O2O catering industry in the new urban area, thus inhibiting the diffusion effect of the Internet on the catering industry. To sum up, with the in-depth integration of Internet information technology and residents' daily lives in the future, its impact on urban spaces will be greatly enhanced. The influence of structure and commercial space form will continue to expand.

The analytic hierarchy process is used to construct the health evaluation index system and grading standard of small- and medium-sized rivers in the region. Based on the principles of RBF and GRNN neural network algorithms, the river health evaluation models of radial basis function neural network (RBF) and general regression neural network (GRNN) algorithms are constructed, respectively. The network training samples are constructed by the interpolation method. The standard value of river health classification evaluation is taken as the "prediction" sample to "predict". Then the results are applied as the division basis of the river health classification evaluation, which is to evaluate and analyze the health status of small and medium rivers in Suzhou Prefecture. The results indicate that: (1) the RBF and GRNN neural network models have exactly the same results in evaluating the health of small and medium rivers in the region, and are basically the same as the back propagation (BP) neural network evaluation results. RBF and GRNN neural network models have the advantages of fast convergence speed, high prediction accuracy, harder to fall into local minima, less adjustment parameters, and only one spread parameter, which can predict and evaluate the network faster, which is a large calculation advantage. (2) The health evaluation level of the main rivers in Suzhou Prefecture is from grades II to III, that is, between healthy and sub-healthy. This grade objectively reflects the health status of small- and medium-sized rivers in the region, which can provide a reference for the sustainable management of regional rivers and ecological environment construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing the temporal and spatial evolution of soil nutrients is a prerequisite for implementing precision agriculture and sustainable soil management. The spatial and temporal variation characteristics of soil organic matter, total N, available P, and available K in arable soil in Suzhou City in 2010 and 2019 were analyzed by inverse distance weighted spatial interpolation analysis method. The results showed that the soil nutrients of arable soil in Suzhou increased slightly in 2019 compared with 2010. The soil organic matter of arable soil was relatively scarce in Dangshan County, Xiaoxian County, and Sixian County, and abundant in the middle towns of Yongqiao District, with an average value of 17.95 g·kg-1, an increase of 6.15%. The area with intermediate soil organic matter content accounted for 76.00% of the total cultivated land area; the soil total N content was the same, with an average value of 1.06 g·kg-1. The area with medium soil total N content accounted for 60.80% of the total cultivated land area. The available P in arable soil was more abundant in the southern townships of Dangshan, with an average value of 16.44 mg·kg-1, an increase of 10.73%. However, the available P in arable soil was lacking in the northern Yongqiao District, and deficient in the northern and southern towns of Sixian. The area with medium content of available P in arable soil accounts for 60.33% of the total arable soil area. The soil available K in arable soil was generally medium in Xiaoxian and Dangshan, rich in towns in the middle of Yongqiao District, towns in the west of Lingbi, and abundant in towns in the north of Sixian, with an average value of 149.37 mg·kg-1 an increase of 9.84%.The area with intermediate available K in soil accounts for 47.30% of the total arable soil area. The content of available P in sandy ginger black soil, paddy soil, and yellow-cinnamon soil increased significantly, with an increase of 27.76%, 23.08% and 16.68%, respectively. The content of available K in sand black soil and paddy soil increased slightly by 18.37% and 14.62%. The available K of limestone soil decreased slightly by 11.86%. The soil nutrients of arable soil in Suzhou City showed a general increase in organic matter, stable total N, a significant increase in available P, and a steady increase in available K. The northern part of Suzhou City should pay attention to increasing the application of organic fertilizer and nitrogen fertilizer, and the eastern part should pay attention to supplementing phosphate fertilizer and potassium fertilizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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To promote the application of entropy concepts in uncertainty analysis of water resources complex system, a quantitative evaluation and obstacle factor diagnosis model of agricultural drought disaster risk was proposed using connection number and information entropy. The results applied to Suzhou City showed that the agricultural drought disaster risks in Suzhou during 2007–2017 were all in middle-risk status, while it presented a decreasing trend from 2010. The information entropy values of the difference degree item bI were markedly lower than those of the difference degree b, indicating that bI provided more information in the evaluation process. Furthermore, the status of drought damage sensitivity and drought hazard were improved significantly. Nevertheless, high exposure to drought and weak drought resistance capacity seriously impeded the reduction of risk. Thus, the key to decreasing risk was to maintain the level of damage sensitivity, while the difficulties were to reduce exposure and enhance resistance. In addition, the percentage of the agricultural population, population density, and percentage of effective irrigation area were the main obstacle factors of risk and also the key points of risk control in Suzhou. In short, the results suggest that the evaluation and diagnosis method is effective and conducive to regional drought disaster risk management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of land subsidence causes geo-hazards to the natural environment and the infrastructure in Suzhou city, the most economically developed city in Jiangsu Province, China. In this work, multisource synthetic aperture radar (SAR) datasets acquired during 2003–2017 by ENVISAT ASAR (C-band), ALOS PALSAR (L-band), COSMO-SkyMED (X-band) and Sentinel-1A (C-band) are used to record and describe spatiotemporal variations in land subsidence in Suzhou after the prohibition of groundwater exploitation in 2005 with the Small Baseline Subset Interferometric SAR (SBAS-InSAR) method. Correlation analysis between the ENVISAT ASAR and ALOS PALSAR results demonstrated that the SBAS-InSAR method is feasible for land subsidence monitoring in Suzhou city. The multisource InSAR results were validated by levelling survey data of 24 points, and the precision of the InSAR results is less than 5 mm/year. The InSAR results show that the land subsidence rate ranges from − 90 to 40 mm/year in Suzhou city. The maximum annual subsidence rate along the Metro line, over the residential areas and industrial areas reached − 37 mm, − 77 mm and − 90 mm, respectively. However, there is land rebound in some old urban areas. The land subsidence results are compared with the groundwater level at nine wells distributed in Xiangcheng and Wuzhong districts, and the comparison results show that the rise in groundwater level leads to land rebound after the prohibition of groundwater exploitation by the local government in 2005. Our study indicated that land subsidence in Suzhou city has been mitigated with the implementation of groundwater prohibition measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to predict the spatial and temporal distribution pattern of Oncomelania hupensis (O. hupensis) on a fine scale based on ecological niche models, so as to provide insights into O. hupensis surveillance.Methods: Geographic distribution and environmental variables of O. hupensis in Suzhou City were collected from 2016 to 2020. Five machine learning algorithms were used, including eXtreme gradient boosting (XGB), support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), generalized boosted (GBM), and C5.0 algorithms, to predict the distribution of O. hupensis and investigate the relative contribution of each environmental variable. The accuracy of the five ecological niche models was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) with ten-fold cross-validation.Results: Five models predicted that the potential distribution of O. hupensis was in southwestern areas of Wuzhong, Wujiang, Taichang, and Xiangcheng counties. The AUC of RF, XGB, GBM, SVM, and C5.0 algorithms were 0.8233, 0.8051, 0.7938, 0.7897, and 0.7282, respectively. Comparing the predictive results and the truth of O. hupensis distribution in 2021, XGB and GBM models were shown to be more effective. The six greatest contributors to predicting potential O. hupensis distribution included silt content (13.13%), clay content (10.21%), population density (8.16%), annual accumulated temperatures of ≥0°C (8.12%), night-time lights (7.67%), and average annual precipitation (7.23%).Conclusions: Environmental factors play a key role in the spatial and temporal distribution pattern of O. hupensis. The XGB and GBM machine learning algorithms are effective and highly accurate for fine-scale prediction of potential O. hupensis distribution, which provides insights into the surveillance of O. hupensis.

Objective: To investigate the Oncomelania hupensis snails spread and its spatio-temporal clustering characteristics in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province from 2016 to 2023, so as to provide insights into precision control of O. hupensis snails in the City., Methods: O. hupensis snail surveillance data in Suzhou City from 2016 to 2023 were collected, and the areas of O. hupensis snail spread and areas of emerging and re-emerging snail habitats were retrieved. The spatial distribution characteristics and clustering types and locations of environments with O. hupensis snail spread were investigated using global and local spatial auto correlation analyses with the software ArcGIS 10.7, and the clustering and cluster areas of O. hupensis snail spread were identified in Suzhou City using spatio-temporal scans with the software SaTScan 10.0.2., Results: O. hupensis snail spread covered an area of 677 171 m 2 in Suzhou City from 2016 to 2023, including 376 230 m 2 emerging snail habitats and 300 941 m 2 re-emerging snail habitats. Global spatial autocorrelation analysis showed overall clustering of O. hupensis snail spread in Suzhou City from 2016 to 2023 (Moran's I = 0.066, P = 0.007), and there were spatial clustering of areas with O. hupensis snail spread in 2019 (Moran's I = 0.086, P = 0.001) and 2021 (Moran's I = 0.045, P = 0.003). Local spatial autocorrelation analysis showed clusters of O. hupensis snail spread in Suzhou City from 2016 to 2023, with high-high clusters in Guangfu Township and Dongzhu Street, and the high-high clusters of O. hupensis snail spread were mainly distributed in southwestern Suzhou City. Spatio-temporal scans identified two clusters of areas with O. hupensis snail spread and areas of re-emerging snail habitats in Suzhou City from 2016 to 2023, with large clustering areas found in Guangfu Township, Dongzhu Street, Tong'an Township and Wangting Township [relative risk ( RR ) = 22.34, log likelihood ratio ( LLR ) = 163 295.32, P < 0.001] and small clustering areas in Xukou Township, Mudu Township and Xiangshan Street ( RR = 2.73, LLR = 921.92, P < 0.001)., Conclusions: There was spatial clustering of O. hupensis snail spread in Suzhou City from 2016 to 2023. Improved quality of O. hupensis snail control and intensified management of environments at a high risk of O. hupensis snail spread are recommended in Suzhou City.

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Southern Jiangsu Province has a dense water network. Under the guidance of the new concept of harmonious development between humans and nature proposed at the 19th CPC National Congress, it is of great significance to build a good spatial relationship between the town and its water system. Using the grid method, this paper calculates the fractal dimension of construction land and water space of 20 towns in Suzhou City since 1995, finding that the fractal dimension of town construction land rises rapidly, whereas that of water space drops slowly on a high dimension. In addition, the spatial form of town construction land and water space form are characterized by planar aggregation and sporadic growth respectively. The paper discusses the evolutionary characteristics of the fractal correlation of construction land and water space in towns with low-, medium-, and high-density water networks, as well as the represented spatial form relations and the underlying relationship between humans and nature. It concludes with an ecological restoration strategy of the two-way interaction between construction land and water space in different types of towns, which may provide a reference for the ecological progress of towns in southern Jiangsu Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization in China has severely disturbed the underlying surface and river systems. The stream structure parameters of Suzhou City were analysed to study the evolution and spatial differentiation of a water system undergoing urbanization. The influencing pattern of different urbanization processes on river system structure and hydrological processes was detected by statistical methods and simulation analysis. The results show that urban sprawl is influenced by both the natural environment and the social economy. At different stages of urbanization, the spatial urban expansion and the natural river characteristics influence the evolution of the river network: during rapid urbanization, the decline in surface water ratio and river density is more intense. The decrease of surface water ratio and river density in rapidly urbanized areas was greatest, followed by that in area urbanized in the 1980s, with few changes in the old town. Under high urbanization, river system indicators tend to stabilize. The rivers' hydrological features were affected by urbanization, with water yield in the study area increasing from 0.81 to 0.95 m3/m2 (1991–2015). The same rainfall intensity results in higher flood levels and greater risk of flooding under rapid urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the statistical data of Suzhou City from 2009 to 2015, the authors built an index system of society, economy and population for eco - environment and urbanization development of the city. The weight of the indexes was calculated with entropy method. The overall quality of eco - environment and urbanization level were e-valuated with the comprehensive method. The coordination degree between the eco - environment and urbanization was analyzed with the coordination degree model. The results showed that the eco - environment quality and urbanization of Suzhou City increased gradually before 2013. The eco - environment developed severely inharmoniously with urbanization process in 2009, basically inharmoniously from 2010 to 2012, harmoniously from 2013 to 2014 and fundamentally harmoniously in 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the spatial distribution of Suzhou gardens in the Qianlong period (AD 1736–1796) through an innovative method combining spatial syntax and historical textual analysis. Through a spatial syntax approach, a street axis model analysis suggested that the greater the degree of integration and prosperity of a street, the denser the distribution of gardens surrounding it. A canal axis model analysis indicated that more gardens were built around canals that were less integrated and had less traffic. The accuracy and reliability of the axis model analysis results were validated using historical documents and images. The following was observed: (1) Gardens were densely distributed in the prosperous commercial areas at the northern and southern ends of Suzhou City. The more prosperous the location of a garden, the greater the influence on its popularity. (2) Gardens were concentrated in residential areas with booming businesses. (3) Large numbers of gardens were built along canals with poor traffic functions. Building gardens by diverting water into them reflected the complementary relationship between urban geographical characteristics and garden-building techniques. (4) Gardens promoted commercial development, and commerce drove the preservation and continuation of gardens. The findings revealed the complementary relationship between garden preservation and commercial development.

Suzhou city was the cultural centre of ancient south China. It continues the urban pattern of more than 800 years ago. Suzhou gardens are the essence of Chinese gardening art, as well as the valuable world cultural heritage site. This paper compared the evolution in the distribution and scale of Suzhou gardens among five historical periods, and discussed the influence of urbanization on gardening. It revealed that: (1) The distribution of Suzhou gardens was affected by the layout and changes of the political centre and commercial centre of Suzhou city; (2) The scale of Suzhou gardens was mainly affected by the available land scale within the city and the wealth of its owner; (3) The cityscape of ‘half city occupied by gardens’ was largely resulted from the rapidly increasing number of small courtyard gardens in the Qing Dynasty; (4) The evolution of Suzhou gardens’ distribution and scale affected interior layouts. The evolution and social development of ancient cities can affect the distribution and scale of gardens. At the same time, the popularization of gardening art also optimizes the cityscape.

The purpose of the study is to analyze the response of river system to the climate change and rapid urbanization process in Suzhou, Taihu Lake plain area. The study selected the drainage density, water surface ratio, fractal dimension and tributaries development coefficient as representative parameters. Based on GIS technology, the spatial and temporal variation of river networks caused by urbanization and climate change in the study area in the past 50 years was analyzed. On this basis, the study focused on the quantitative response of river network changes to urbanization and precipitation change, and the development trend of river system under highly urbanization. The results showed that: ① The river system in Suzhou presented a high spatial heterogeneity and rapid descending tend in the past 50 years. The drainage density, water surface ratio, fractal dimension and evolution coefficient of branch river were decreased by 5. 6% , 19% , 1. 2% and 3% , respectively. ② Compared with climate change, highly urbanization was recognized as the stronger driving factors of river system degrading in the past 50 years. Urbanization contributed over 67% to each unit of river network change. ③ With the increase of urbanization, the drainage density, fractal dimension and evolution coefficient of branch river first showed growing trend and then started to decay, presenting a curve in “inverted U shape”. The influence of high urbanization to river networks grew from weak to strong. Currently, the development of river network and urbanization rate was in the right of the curve. With the mutual adaption between the urbanization and the development of river network systems, they will evolve into a high-level development stage in the future. This research investigated the developing rule and relationship of urbanization and river network systems, providing support for the river network health and green development and protection in similar area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To analyze the prevalence of kidney stones in Suzhou city of Anhui province during 2015 to 2016, and to analyze the risk factors of kidney stones in this region, and to provide basis for the prevention and treatment of kidney stones. A total of 110 patients with kidney stones, who were treated in Suzhou Municipal Hospital from January 2015 to December 2016, were selected as study group, and 110 healthy people were selected as control group in the same period. The basic information, clinical data and dietary habits of the two groups were investigated, and the risk factors of kidney stones were analyzed by single factor and multiple factor Logistic regression analysis. Among 108 patients aged 18~75 years with kidney stones, the highest proportion was 45~55 years old, accounting for 34.04%, followed by 35~45 years old, accounting for 25.53%, and the age of 55~65 years old was accounted for 17.02%.Univariate analysis showed that the incidence of kidney stones in Suzhou city was related to smoking index, drinking index, dietary habits, daily drinking water, history of kidney stones in direct relatives, urinary tract infection and body mass index (BMI) (P<0. 05),but it was not related to educational level and monthly income (P>0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis results showed that drinking index≥ 200, eating meat and eggs, eating seafood, daily drinking water <1000 mL, having history of kidney stones in direct relatives, having history of urinary tract infection, BMI>24 kg/m2 were risk factors of patients with kidney stones in Suzhou city (P<0.05). The age of patients with kidney stones in Suzhou city is mainly concentrated in 45~55 years old, and the risk factors of incidence in this region, including drinking index≥ 200, eating meat and eggs, eating seafood, daily drinking water <1000 mL, having history of kidney stones in direct relatives, having history of urinary tract infection, and BMI>24 kg/m2, can be used as a reference for the prevention and treatment of kidney stones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In April 2013, a hospital in Suzhou City notified authorities of a patient with nitrite poisoning with two other family members who had similar toxic symptoms five days prior. We investigated the event to identify the cause, source and possible route of contamination. Methods: A case was defined as any person living in the Yang Shan Hua Yuan community who had been diagnosed with cyanoderma and food poisoning symptoms from 15 to 25 April 2013. Active case finding was conducted by interviewing community residents and reviewing medical records from local clinics; information was then retrospectively collected on the patient’s food history, cooking procedures and food sources. Results: We identified three nitrite poisoning cases, one male and two females, from the same family. The time between dinner and onset of illness was less than an a hour. A retrospective survey showed that a substance presumed to be sugar mixed with asparagus on 17 April and with stir-fried asparagus on 21 April wasthe suspected contaminant. The presumed sugar came from a clean-up of a neighbouring rental house. Nitrite was detected in a vomitus sample, the sugar substance and two leftover food samples. Conclusion: This family cluster of nitrite poisoning resulted from the mistaken use of nitrite as sugar to cook dishes. We recommend that sodium nitrite be dyed a bright colour to prevent such a mistake and that health departments strengthen food hygiene education to alert people about the danger of eating unidentified food from an unknown source.

A model of Suzhou water resources carrying capacity (WRCC) was set up using the method of system dynamics (SD). In the model, three different water resources utilization programs were adopted: (1) continuity of existing water utilization, (2) water conservation/saving, and (3) water exploitation. The dynamic variation of the Suzhou WRCC was simulated with the supply-decided principle for the time period of 2001 to 2030, and the results were characterized based on socio-economic factors. The corresponding Suzhou WRCC values for several target years were calculated by the model. Based on these results, proper ways to improve the Suzhou WRCC are proposed. The model also produced an optimized plan, which can provide a scientific basis for the sustainable utilization of Suzhou water resources and for the coordinated development of the society, economy, and water resources.

Underground urbanization aids sustainability by contributing to the optimization of land use plans, diversification of urban functions, safeguarding of utility supplies and enrichment of social life. Underground space as a valuable land resource can be integrated into a general urban resources management scheme and development policy, by rationalizing resource supply according to economic demand, and by coordinating stakeholders from the public administration, private developers and users. After benchmarking best practices in administration and management, from seven cities (Helsinki, Singapore, Hong Kong, Minneapolis, Tokyo, Shanghai and Montreal), critical success factors are extracted to guide a pilot project implementation. The way to incorporate underground space planning into conventional urban planning process is exemplified by a pilot project of Suzhou City in China, which investigated thoroughly the supply potential of its underground space resource as well as the demand potential of the urban economy on underground space development. The core value of the case study in Suzhou City is based on active involvement of provincial and municipal governments, who supported territorial data collection, administrative consultation and the development of GIS-based decision-making tools. The typicality of the present case study refers to an old Chinese city with a modern Central Business District owning important economic functions for the Yangtze region. Underground Space in Suzhou City is considered as a new land resource manageable with a quantitative and spatial inventory for future allocation. An economic model putting forward a “3D land value” index will be illustrated for underground building projects. This index helps to regulate underground space development according to the resource supply potential and economic demand potential. This strategic framework including potential analysis, local implementation and instrumental innovation was developed from an international cooperation program named “Deep City project” between Switzerland and China. Further discussions on considering societal impacts affected by underground space use indicate future research directions for underground space operations management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary source, influence factors and spatial distribution characteristics of agricultural non-point source pollution in Suzhou City（a typical area of the Yangtze River Delta）were analyzed by inventory analysis, equivalent standard load and Nemerow analysis methods of water quality. Results showed that the absolute real emissions of COD, ammonium nitrogen, TN and TP from agricultural non-point source pollution in Suzhou were still greater, which was 171 268.2, 6 510.5, 21 839.3 t·a-1 and 3 335.7 t·a-1, respectively. And the agricultural nonpoint source pollution in Suzhou was combined with production and life sources. In addition, livestock industry was an important source of the emission of COD and total phosphorus, while ammonium nitrogen and total nitrogen were mainly coming from rural life source. However, Taicang City was the most severe area of COD and TP emission, while ammonium nitrogen and TN were mainly discharged from the Suzhou urban area. The mean value of comprehensive water quality index（CWQI）of Suzhou City was 2.6, reaching the moderate pollution level. As for the different zones in Suzhou City, the comprehensive water quality index of Changshu and Taichang all reached serious pollution level; Suzhou urban area and Kunshan were light pollution and Zhangjiagang was moderate pollution, respectively. In contrast, there was no significant relationship between the agricultural non-point source pollution intensity and local agro-forestry economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Integrated planning process for sustainable underground development. [•] Macro scale development potential appraisal (deep city applicability scores). [•] City scale policy formulation for underground urbanism (case study: Geneva city). [•] Large urban scale potential zoning and development forecast (case study: Suzhou city). [•] Micro scale economic premium index assessment and building project marketability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]