It is widely acknowledged that urban form significantly affects urban thermal environment, which is a key element to adapt and mitigate extreme high temperature weather in high-density urban areas. However, few studies have discussed the impact of physical urban form features on the land surface temperature (LST) from a perspective of comprehensive urban spatial structures. This study used the ordinary least-squares regression (OLS) and random forest regression (RF) to distinguish the relative contributions of urban form metrics on LST at three observation scales. Results of this study indicate that more than 90% of the LST variations were explained by selected urban form metrics using RF. Effects of the magnitude and direction of urban form metrics on LST varied with the changes of seasons and observation scales. Overall, building morphology and urban ecological infrastructure had dominant effects on LST variations in high-density urban centers. Urban green space and water bodies demonstrated stronger cooling effects, especially in summer. Building density (BD) exhibited significant positive effects on LST, whereas the floor area ratio (FAR) showed a negative influence on LST. The results can be applied to investigate and implement urban thermal environment mitigation planning for city managers and planners.

Ecological quality assessment is fundamental to revealing changes in ecological environments before the development of effective ecological conservation policies. The complex ecological environment can be assessed more reliably when multiple remote sensing indices are integrated, such as in the use of the prevalent Remote Sensing-based Ecological Index (RSEI). However, for effective ecological quality assessment, the requirement of acquisition time consistency for images has become an outstanding issue for broadening the application of the RSEI. In this study, we adjusted the RSEI to the Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) algorithm that predicts synthetic images instead of real images. Based on this algorithm, we mapped time-series RSEI (ts-RSEI), which provide comparable results for tracing the dynamics of ecological quality at any time. Our major findings are as follows: (1) The RSEI is very sensitive to the timespan of the image acquisition dates, with the Mean Absolute Difference (MAD) of 0.111 (19.2%) when the interval between dates exceeds one month. (2) The ts-RSEI from synthetic images is comparable to the RSEI from real images, with the MAD of 0.075 (10.5%), which is superior to that of two real images with the timespan of half-a-month. (3) For Hangzhou, the ecological quality was maintained for almost the past 35 years (the ts-RSEI changed from 0.679 to 0.705). However, special attention should be paid to the spatial polarization between natural (“better”) and human-dominated (“worse”) environments. The high temporal consistency and the capability of any- time mapping of the ts-RSEI are expected to be of value to policy makers and authorities in implementing effective ecological conservation measures.

Detailed analysis of the evolution characteristics of landscape ecological risk is crucial for coastal sustainable management and for understanding the potential environmental impacts of a man-made landform landscapes (MMLL). As a typical open coastal wetland, large-scale human activities (e.g., tidal reclamation, fishery activities, wind farm construction, and port construction) have substantially affected the evolution of the coastal ecological environment. Previous landscape ecological risk assessment studies have documented the effectiveness of assessing the quality of ecological environment processes. However, these studies have either focused on the noncoastal zone, or they have not considered the evolution of the spatial characteristics and ecological risk evolution of the landscape at an optimal scale. Here, we present a landscape ecological risk pattern (LERP) evolution model, based on two successive steps: first, we constructed an optimal scale method with an appropriate extent and grain using multi–temporal Landsat TM/OLI images acquired in the years 2000, 2004, 2008, 2013 and 2017, and then we calculated landscape ecological risk indices. Based on this model, the entire process of the spatiotemporal evolution of ecological risk patterns of the open coastal wetlands in Jiangsu, China, was determined. The principal findings are as follows: (1) The main landscape types in the study area are tidal flats and farmland, and the main features of the landscape evolution are a significant increase in aquafarming and a substantial decrease in the tidal flat area, while the landscape heterogeneity increased; (2) In the past 20 years, the areas of low and relatively low ecological risk in the study region were greatly reduced, while the areas of medium, relatively high, and high ecological risk greatly increased; the areas of high-grade ecological risk areas are mainly around Dongtai and Dafeng; (3) The area of ecological risk from low-grade to high-grade occupied 71.75% of the study area during 2000–2017. During the previous periods (2000–2004 and 2004–2008), the areas of low-grade ecological risk were transformed to areas of middle-grade ecological risk area, while during the later periods (2008–2013 and 2013–2017) there was a substantial increase in the proportion of areas of high-grade ecological risk. Our results complement the official database of coastal landscape planning, and provide important information for assessing the potential effects of MMLL processes on coastal environments.

Conventional fillers have limitations on the modification of proton exchange membranes because of differences in the sizes and physicochemical properties of matrix molecules. Designing skeleton molecules is a vital way to address the limitations by enabling precise distribution in the matrix and inducing automatic nanoscale aggregation and separation of hydrophilic–hydrophobic phases. In this work, a novel SDF-PAEK polymer was synthesized with a rigid hydrophobic backbone, short high-density trifluoromethyl side chains and long flexible aliphatic pendant side chains as a skeleton molecule for the Nafion membrane. Due to the unique molecular interaction selectivity during the membrane formation process, SDF-PAEK automatically matches the Nafion molecular conformation by self-assembly. Combining an improved solution formulation and membrane-casting method, the degree of composition can therefore rise to 20%, which can effectively reduce the cost. Morphological studies show that there is a certain degree of bicontinuous phase microcrystalline domains, and the proton transport channels are highly concentrated. In contrast to the Nafion membrane, SDF-PAEK@Nafion-15% exhibits better performances with higher selectivity (9.73 × 10⁴ S s cm⁻³) and single-cell maximum power density (PD_max–139 mW cm⁻², at 80 °C), which demonstrates the feasibility of SDF-PAEK as a novel PEM skeleton molecule for fuel cell applications.

Gains and losses in ecosystem service values (ESV) in coastal zones in Zhejiang Province during rapid urbanization were analyzed in terms of land-use changes. Decision-making on coastal development based on ESV estimation is significant for the sustainable utilization of coastal resource. In this study, coastal land-use changes in Zhejiang Province during rapid urbanization were discussed based on remote-sensing derived land-use maps created in the years 1990, 2000 and 2010. The ESV changes in coastal zones in Zhejiang Province from 1990 to 2010 were estimated by using the established ESV estimation model. The analysis results demonstrate the following: (1) with the continuous acceleration of urbanization, land-use types in coastal zones in Zhejiang Province changed significantly from 1990 to 2010, demonstrated by considerable growth of urban construction land and reduction of forest land and farmland; (2) in the study period, the total ESV in coastal zones in Zhejiang Province continuously decreased in value from RMB 35.278 billion to 29.964 billion, a reduction of 15.06%; (3) in terms of the spatial distribution of ESV, the ESVs in coastal zones in Zhejiang Province were generally converted from a higher ESV to a lower ESV; (4) estimates of ESV for the three years 1990, 2000 and 2010 appear to be relatively stable; and (5) land-use intensity in coastal zones in Zhejiang Province continuously increased during the 20 years. The spatial distribution of land-use intensity was consistent with that of the ESV change rate. Disordered land-use changes from forestland and farmland to urban construction land was a major cause of ESV loss.