The new rule, which will force payments platforms and online retailers to strongly authenticate purchases of £28 or more has been delayed by another six months amidst the COVID-19 pandemic

D. V. Gusak and E. V. Karnaukh
Theor. Probability and Math. Statist. 99 (2020), 77-89.
Abstract, references and article information

Asian Ethnic Cultural Performances 2019 will be staged on Sunday to demonstrate the diversity of Asia’s cultures.

The event will feature ethnic performances and activities with representatives from 19 Asian countries and places taking part.

Korean traditional Nongak and Taepyeongmu dances, a Japanese Tokushima Awa dance, Indian classical and Bollywood dances, and folk dance performances of countries such as Bangladesh, Laos, Vietnam, the Philippines and Sri Lanka will be showcased.

Hong Kong and Macau arts groups will stage a hip hop lion dance and a cheerleading performance.

Other activities include traditional arts and crafts, costume and food displays, as well as a bamboo musical instrument workshop.

A CIBS mobile studio supported by Radio Television Hong Kong will also be set up to let members of the public learn about broadcasting.

The event will be held from 2pm to 6pm at the Cultural Centre Piazza. Admission is free.

Click here for details.

The Leisure & Cultural Services Department’s Community Oral History Theatre Project will be launched in Kowloon City District on January 15.

An oral history theatre performance and a sharing session will kick off the project.

The performance will feature an excerpt from the production of Sai Kung, Therefore I Live.

It will be held at Hung Hom Community Hall.

Admission is free with tickets.

Click here for details.

The Science Museum is presenting the special Unlocking the Secrets - The Science of Conservation at The Palace Museum exhibition to tie in with the 600th anniversary of the Forbidden City in 2020.

More than 100 artefacts from the Palace Museum collection are being showcased to highlight the application of science and technology in conservation.

They include bronzes, clocks, textiles, thangkas, wood furniture, lacquerware and inlaid works along with ceramics, calligraphy and hand-painted copies of ancient paintings.

The show also presents the Conservation Office’s work by showcasing intriguing restoration cases so that visitors can learn more about the work and skills of conservators as well as their mission to preserve Hong Kong’s heritage assets.

The Science Museum will launch a series of interactive family activities, including demonstrations and workshops conducted by Palace Museum conservators, guided tours featuring theatrical plays and storytelling, and visits to conservation laboratories.

Jointly presented by the Leisure & Cultural Services Department and the Palace Museum, the exhibition will run until March 18 next year.

Call 2732 3232 for enquiries.

The Space Museum will present Turtle Odyssey 3D between January 1 and April 30 where audiences can join sea turtle Bunji for a remarkable adventure and meet an astonishing range of strange and fascinating creatures, including breaching whales, manta rays and clownfish.

Bunji's journey starts from the moment her fragile egg cracks open below the warm sand of an Australian beach.

Having traversed thousands of kilometres of open oceans, she returns after decades with mysterious precision back to the very beach where she was born to lay eggs and start the next generation.

Her journey reminds the audience of how interconnected all creatures are, moving them to cherish these beautiful and vulnerable sea turtles even more.

The 41-minute show will be screened daily at 2.40pm and 6.10pm. An additional show at 11.10am will be available on Sundays and public holidays.

Tickets are available at the Space Museum Box Office and URBTIX. The museum is closed on Tuesdays except public holidays.

Click here for details.

How do you determine whether or not to attend a particular conference? As a working example to see through to natural generalizations, let’s use the JMM. [Just to choose a conference we’ve all heard of, attend at least once in … Continue reading →

Required reading for any academic is Philip Roth’s “The Human Stain.” In the first few pages an older, tenured professor is “forced to retire.” Why? There were two students who never were present when he called roll. Even after roll … Continue reading →

Several fundamental weaknesses have been exposed in the most common Wi-Fi security protocols.

"Driverless cars, robot butlers and reusable rockets--if the big inventions of the past decade and the artificial intelligence developed to create them have taught us anything, it's that maths is undeniably cool. And if you’re still not convinced, chances are you’ve never had it explained to you via a live experiment with a pigeon before. Temporary pigeon handler and queen of making numbers fun is Dr Hannah Fry, the host of this year's annual Royal Institution Christmas Lectures." Learn more in "Christmas Lectures presenter Dr Hannah Fry on pigeons, AI and the awesome power of maths," by Rachael Pells, inews, December 23, 2019.

Heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) regulates cellular adaptation to challenges such as heat shock and oxidative and proteotoxic stresses. We have recently reported a previously unappreciated role for HSF1 in the regulation of energy metabolism in fat tissues; however, whether HSF1 is differentially expressed in adipose depots and how its levels are regulated in fat tissues remain unclear. Here, we show that HSF1 levels are higher in brown and subcutaneous fat tissues than in those in the visceral depot and that HSF1 is more abundant in differentiated, thermogenic adipocytes. Gene expression experiments indicated that HSF1 is transcriptionally regulated in fat by agents that modulate cAMP levels, by cold exposure, and by pharmacological stimulation of β-adrenergic signaling. An in silico promoter analysis helped identify a putative response element for activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) at −258 to −250 base pairs from the HSF1 transcriptional start site, and electrophoretic mobility shift and ChIP assays confirmed ATF3 binding to this sequence. Furthermore, functional assays disclosed that ATF3 is necessary and sufficient for HSF1 regulation. Detailed gene expression analysis revealed that ATF3 is one of the most highly induced ATFs in thermogenic tissues of mice exposed to cold temperatures or treated with the β-adrenergic receptor agonist CL316,243 and that its expression is induced by modulators of cAMP levels in isolated adipocytes. To the best of our knowledge, our results show for the first time that HSF1 is transcriptionally controlled by ATF3 in response to classic stimuli that promote heat generation in thermogenic tissues.

(Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan) They know it's addictive. They know it's linked to dangerous lung diseases. And they know it delivers more nicotine than the cigarettes it's supposed to replace. But the social aspects of vaping drives young people to use Juul and other e-cigarettes, according to nearly two-thirds of teens and young adults in a new study. Less than 5% say the availability of fruity flavors drives use of e-cigarettes by members of their generation, and only 10% say addiction does.