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This paper aims to analyze the impact of justice reform on entrepreneurship in China, utilizing a staggered difference-in-differences model. The research reveals that the implementation of justice reform has a sizable positive effect on entrepreneurship, both statistically and economically significant. The influence is more pronounced in areas with higher trust, lower legal environment, and in rural areas. Government quality and innovation are two possible mechanisms. This paper emphasizes the significant role of the justice environment in fostering business innovation and entrepreneurship, and highlights the economic significance of government quality, providing a new perspective for encouraging entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanopore metagenomic sequencing enables rapid annotating microbiological ecosystems, and the previous glacier-related sequencing applications (e.g., targeted ice sheets, ice lake, and cryoconite holes) inspire us to explore high-altitude glacier meltwater at Qilian Mountain, China (3000 to 4000 m above sea level, MASL). Our findings suggest that (1) despite only several hundred meters apart, the microbial communities and functionalities are quite different among vertical alpine distributions; (2) the high-altitude Qilian meltwater microbiome serve several main metabolic functions, including sulfur oxidation, selenite decomposing, photosynthesis, energy production, enzymic, and UV tolerant activities. Meanwhile, our Nanopore metagenomic results indicate that the microbial classifications and functionalities (e.g., chaperones, cold-shock, specific tRNA species, oxidative stress, and resistance to toxic compounds) of Qilian meltwater are highly consistent with the other glacial microbiome, emphasizing that only certain microbial species can survive in the cold environment and the molecular adaptions and lifestyles remain stable all over the world. Besides, we have shown Nanopore metagenomic sequencing can provide reliable prokaryotic classifications within or among studies, which therefore can encourage more applications in the field given faster turnaround time. However, we recommend accumulating at least 400 ng nucleic acids (after extraction) and maximizing Nanopore library preparation efficiency before on-site sequencing to obtain better resolutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obtaining equal urban public services is essential to social fairness. This paper presents and assesses the equal distribution of urban public service facilities in China by examining 177 public primary schools in downtown Hangzhou. First, we collect data on the spatial distribution, population access to services, and student enrolments from the case schools. Second, we build spatial and social equity models to assess the rate of present facilities' equity. This paper assesses spatial equity with factors such as school ranking, enrolments per thousand residents, and home-to-school distance by using the index's scoring method. The Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient were used for social equity evaluation, in which household registration, housing, and the number of school-age children per family reflect the education demand features, and the enrolments present the supply-side features. The findings show that the spatial distribution of the public primary schools in Hangzhou varies significantly from the centre to the periphery. In other words, accessibility decreases from the centre to the periphery direction. In terms of social equity, most citizens have access to low-quality education resources, while only a few citizens can enjoy high-quality education. Equal access to public primary schools faced three problems. First, there was insufficient investment by the local government, particularly in compulsory education. Second, there are variations in education investment among different administrative units in a district and historical inertia. For the sake of a fair distribution of public primary school services, it is essential to increase investment in compulsory education, upscale the enrolment of primary and middle schools, and boost teachers' competencies. Furthermore, to improve social equity, faculty exchange programs between non-key schools and top key schools should be launched. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Norovirus (NoV) is the primary cause of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) on a global scale. Numerous studies have demonstrated the immense potential of wastewater surveillance in monitoring the prevalence and spread of NoV within communities. This study employed a one-step reverse transcription-quantitative PCR to quantify NoV GI/GII in wastewater samples (n = 2574), which were collected once or twice a week from 38 wastewater treatment plants from March 2023 to February 2024 in Shenzhen. The concentrations of NoV GI and GII ranged from 5.0 × 10 4 to 1.7 × 10 6  copies/L and 4.1 × 10 5 to 4.5 × 10 6  copies/L, respectively. The concentrations of NoV GII were higher than those of NoV GI. Spearman's correlation analysis revealed a moderate correlation between the concentration of NoV in wastewater and the detection rates of NoV infections in sentinel hospitals. Baseline values were established for NoV concentrations in Shenzhen's wastewater, providing a crucial reference point for implementing early warning systems and nonpharmaceutical interventions to mitigate the impact of potential outbreaks. A total of 24 NoV genotypes were identified in 100 wastewater samples by sequencing. Nine genotypes of NoV GI were detected, with the major genotypes being GI.4 (38.6 %) and GI.3 (21.8 %); Fifteen genotypes of NoV GII were identified, with GII.4 (53.6 %) and GII.17 (26.0 %) being dominant. The trends in the relative abundance of NoV GI/GII were significantly different, and the trends in the relative abundance of NoV GII.4 over time were similar across all districts, suggesting a potential risk of cross-regional spread. Our findings underscore the effectiveness of wastewater surveillance in reflecting population-level NoV infections, capturing the diverse array of NoV genotypes, and utilizing NoV RNA in wastewater as a specific indicator to supplement clinical surveillance data, ultimately enhancing our ability to predict the timing and intensity of NoV epidemics., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors confirm that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that may have had an influence on the work described in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Translucent skin is an attribute widely appreciated by people in East Asian countries. There have been studies in the literature to describe the phenomenon by means of clinical grading, instrumental measurement and image analysis. However, due to its subjective and complex nature, skin translucency has not been comprehensively and rigorously characterized and modelled, particularly in the Chinese population. This study is to develop a mathematical model that quantitatively describes skin translucency from visual cues objectively measured from the skin., Materials and Methods: The study was designed to characterize and model skin translucency by incorporating expert evaluation, panel perception and image analysis of multiple skin visual attributes in one analysis. Faces of 36 Chinese females aged 18-65 years old were evaluated by a dermatologist to obtain clinical translucency scores. Subject pairs were formed with a relatively high and low translucency score in each pair. Their faces were judged in person by 9 panellists in paired-comparison (2-AFC) fashion to pick a 'more translucent skin' from each subject pair. Front-view facial images of the subjects were taken, and multiple colour and other visually perceivable skin attributes were measured using image analysis. Bradley-Terry analysis and multiple regressions were performed to correlate the panel choices of 'more translucent skin' with the objectively measured skin parameters., Results: Multiple skin colour properties affected the panel choices towards translucent skin. Among them skin tone lightness and skin glossiness had positive effects on skin translucency while the hue, colour unevenness, severity of red and dark spots affected it negatively. Subsurface light reflection and skin visual smoothness had some effect but were not statistically significant. A mathematical model was constructed to predict a person's skin translucency from objectively measured skin attributes., Conclusion: The subjective property of skin translucency can be characterized and quantified via a comprehensive modelling process involving clinical grading, panel evaluation, image-based measurement of skin attributes and statistical analysis. A novel skin parameter, Skin Translucency Index (STI) was established, which provides a way to measure skin translucency, making it possible to assess treatment efficacy before and after product application., (© 2022 Society of Cosmetic Scientists and Societe Francaise de Cosmetologie.)